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
togeather in the house of God was the betrayer of his friend and of his Master and was reproued by our Sauiours wordes and tyed the knot of his owne vgly death vpon a high tr◅c On the other side the theefe exchanged the Crosse for Paradice and made that punishment of his murders to stand for Martyrdome How many do at this day euen by liuing long carry themselues as it were dead to Church and being whited sepulchres without are full of dead mens bones within A sudden lusty heat is better then along tepidity In fine you hearing those words of our Sauiour If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all though hast and giue it to the poore and follow me do turne those wordes into deeds being naked do follow the naked Crosse and so doe more lightly and nimbly clime vp Iacobs ladder you haue changed you mind with your habite and do not with a full purse affect any glorious kind of filth but with cleane hand and a pure hart you prize your selfe to be poore in deed and in spirit For there is no great matter in countersetting or making ostentation of fasting by carrying a pale and wanne face about and for a man to bragge of carrying a poore cloake vpon his backe when he is rich in reuenues That Crates of Thebes who formerly had bene extremely rich when he came to be a Philosopher at Athens cast away a great somme of gold nor did he thinke that a man could possesse vertue and riches both together But we being all stuffed with gold will needs follow Christ who was so poore and attending to our former rich estates vnder the pretence of enabling our felues to giue almes how shall we distribut the goods of other men faithfully to others when we do so fearfully reserue our owne It is an easy matter for a full belly to dispute of fasting It deserues no comendation to haue liued at Ierusalem but to haue liued there wel That Citty is to be desired that to be praised not which kils the Prophets and which hath spilt the blood of Christ but which the impetuousnes of the riuer doth make glad which placed vpon the hill cannot be concealed which the Apostle cals the mother of Saints of which Citty he reioyces that he is made a free-denison Neither yet by saying this do I taxe my selfe of inconstancy or condemne that which I do that so I should in vayne seem to haue left my friends and country after the example of Abraham but I dare not circumscribe the omnipotency of God to so narrow as compasse and to confine him to a small place of the earth whom heauen is not able to contayne The faithfull are not waighed by the diuersity of places but by the merit of their faith And they who are true adorers adore not the father either in Ierusalem or in Mount Gasarim for God is a spirit and they must do it in spirit and truth The spirit breaths where it will The earth the fulnes therof is our Lords Since the whole world was bathed with that celestial dew the fleece of Iury being dry and many coming from the East and VVest haue reposed in the bosome of Abraham God hath giuen ouer to be only knowne in Iury and to haue his name great in Israell but the sound of the Apostles is now gone ouer the whole earth and their wordes euen to the ends of the world Our Sauiour speaking to his Disciples when he was in the Temple sayd thus Ryse vp let vs goe hence And to the Iews Tour house shall be left desert to you If heauen earth shall passe certainly all thinges which are earthly shall passe And therfore the places of the Crosse and Resurrection shall profit thē who carry their Crosse who ryse daily with Christ and who make themselues worthy of such an excellent habitation But they who say The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord Let them heare the Apostle say You are the temple of our Lord and the holy Ghost dwells in you And that heauenly Court is open alike both towardes Hierusalem and towardes Britanny For the kingdome of God is within you Anthony and all those swarmes of Monkes of Egypt and Mesopotamia Pontus Capad◅cis and Armenia neuer saw Hierusalem and heauen is open to them without any relation to this Citty Blessed Hilarion who was of Palestine and liued there did neuer spend but one day in the seeing of Hierusalem to the end that being so neere hand he might neither seeme to contemne those holy places nor yet on the other side might seeme to shut vp our Lord in any one place From the tymes of Adrian to the empire of Constantine which imported about the tyme of a hundred and foure score yeares in the place of the Resurrection there was an Idoll of Iupiter In the rocke of the Crosse there was placed a marble statue of Venus to be worshipped The persecutours who were authours therof conceiuing that they might abolish our Fayth of the Resurrection and of the Crosse when they had polluted the holy places by their Idols That wood which is called Thamus that is to say of Adonis did ouershaddow the most imperiall place of the whole world namely this Bethleem of ours whereof the Psalmist sayth Truth is sprung out of the earth and in that hollow place where Christ being an Infant did once cry the paramour of Venus was lamented But you will aske me to what end I am so large in this particular To the end that you may not thinke that any thing is wanting to your fayth because you haue not beene at Hierusalem and that you may not esteeme vs to be the better men because we enioy this habitation But whether you liue here or there you shall obtaine of our Lord a reward which shall be equall to your workes But yet that I may plainely confesse what the pulse of my hart is in this businesse considering both your purpose that ardour of mind wherewith you haue disclaimed the world I do really belieue that you will then find difference in places if forsaking Cittyes the concourse of people which is found therein you will dwell in some little retyred corner feeke Christ in the desert and pray alone in the mountaine with Iesus enioy the neighbour-hood of these holy places That is to say that both you may estrange your selfe from the Citty and not loose the purpose of being a Monke I speake not this for Bishops or Priests who haue other imployments but I speake of it for a Monke and such a one as formerly was noble in the world who layd the price of his possessions at the feet of the Apostles thereby teaching that money was to be troden vnder foot that so liuing in humility and secrecy he might continue to despise that which he had once despised If the places of the Crosse and of the Resurrection were not exceedingly frequented in this Citty where
widowes and virgins imitate her let marryed woemē reuerence her let such as are faulty feare her and let Priests looke with much respect vpon her Saint Hierome to Marcella by occasion of the sicknes and true conuersion of Blesilla ABRAHAM was tempted concerning his sonne and was found so much the more faithfull Ioseph was sould into Aegypt that he might feed his Father and his brethren Ezechias was frighted by the sight of death at hand that so pouring himselfe forth in teares his life might be prolonged for fifteen years The Apostle Peter was shaken in the Passion of our Lord that weeping bitterly he might heare those wordes Feed my sheepe Paul that rauening wolfe and who withall grew to be a second Beniamin was blinded in an extasis that so he might se afterwards being compassed in by a sudden horrour of darkenes he called vpon God whom he had persecuted long as man And so now O Marcella we haue seem our Blesilla boyle vp for the space of almost thirty dayes in a burning feauer to the end that she might know that the Regalo of that body was to be reiected which soon after was to be fed vpon by worms Our Lord Iesus came also to her and touched her hand and behould she rises vp and doth him seruice She had some little tincture of negligence being tyed vp in the swathing bāds of riches she lay dead in the sepulchre of this world But Iesus groaned deepely and cryed out in spirit saying Come forth Blesilla As soon as she was called she rose and being come forth she eates with our Lord. Let the Iewes threaten and swel let them seeke to kill her who is raised vp to life and let the Apostles onely reioyce at it She knowes that she owes him her life who restored it to her She knowes that she now imbraces his feet of whose iudgment she formerly was affrayd Her body lay euen almost without life and approaching death did euen shake her panting limmes Where were then the succours of her friends Where were those words which vse to be more vayne then any smoke She ows nothing to thee O vngratefull kinred of flesh and blood she who is dead to the world who is reuiued to Christ. Let him who is a Christiā reioyce and he who is offended at this declares himselfe not to be a Christian. The widow who is free from the tye of marriage hath no more to do but to perseuer But you will say that some will be scandalized at her browne coat Let them he scādalized also at Iohn thē whome there was none greater amōgst the sonnes of men who being called an Angel baptized our Lord himselfe and was clad with a camels skinne and was girt in by a girdle of haire If meane fare displease them there is nothing meaner then locusts Nay let Christian eyes be scādalized rather at these woemen who paint themselues with red and whose plastered faces being deformed euen with extreme whitenes make them like Idolls from whome if before they be aware any drop of teares breake out it makes ◅ furrow in their cheeks whome euen the number of their years cannot teach them how old they are for they strew their crowne with strange haire and they dresse vp their past youth in wrinckles of their present age and in fine though they trēble with being so old yet in presence of whole troupes of their grand-children they will still be tricked vp like delicate and tender maides Let a Christian woman be ashamed if she would compell Nature to make her handsome if she fullfill the care of her flesh towardes concupiscence for they who rest in that cannot please Christ as the Apostle sayth Our widow formerly would be dressing her selfe with a stiffe kind of care would be inquiring all day long of the glasse what it might be that she wanted And now she confidently sayth But all we contemplating the glory of our Lord with a cleare face are transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of our Lord. Then did her maides marshall her haire in order and the crowne of her head which had made no fault was imprisoned by certaine Coronets crisped with irons But now her head is so much neglected as to know that it carryes inough if it be but vayled In those dayes the very softnes of downe would seeme hard and she would scarce be content to ly in beds when they were euen built vp to giue her ease but now she ryses vp full of hast to pray and with her shrill voice snatching the Allelluia out of the others mouthes her selfe is the first to prayse her Lord. Her knees are bent vpon the bare ground and that face which formerly had beene defiled and daub'd with painting is now often washed with teares After prayers they rattle out the Psalmes and her very necke her weake hammes and her eyes pointing towardes sleep can hardly yet through the excessiue ardour of her mind obtaine leaue that they may take rest Her browne coat is least fowled when she lyes vpon the ground She is poorely shod and the price of her former guilded shooes is now bestowed vpon the poore Her girdle is not now distinguished by studdes of gold and precious stone but it is of woll as simple poore as can be made such as indeed may rather tye in her cloathes then gird her body If the serpent enuy this purpose of hers and with faire speech perswade her to eat againe of the forbidden Tree let him be stricken with an Anathema let it be sayd to him as he is dying in his owne dust Goe backe Sathan which by interpretation is aduersary For an aduersary he is of Christ and he is an Antichrist who is displeased with the Precepts of Christ. Tell me I pray you what such thing euer did we as the Apostles did vnder the colour whereof men should be scandalized at vs They forsooke an old Father and their nets and ships The Publican ryses from the custome-house and followes our Sauiour one of the Disciples being desirous to returne home and declare his purpose to his friends is forbidden by the commandment of his Master Euen buriall not giuen to one by his Father and it is a kind of piety to want such piety for the loue of our Lord. Because we weare no silke we are esteemed to be Monkes because we will not be drunke nor dissolue our selues in loud laughter we are called seuer and sad people If our coat be not faire and white we are presently encountred with the by-word of being Impostours and Greekes Let them slander vs with more sly cunning if they will and carry vp downe their fat-backes with their full panches Our Blesilla shall laugh at them nor will she be sory to heare the reproaches of these croaking frogs when her Lord himselfe was called Belzebub Saint Hierome to Pope Damasus BECAVSE the Eastern part of the world being
call by the name of I know not what I would faine vnderstand what you meane by it Speake plainely that you may with perfect liberty blaspheme That same I know not what kind of little dust in that little violl wrapt about with a precious linnen cloath He is grieued that the Relikes of Martyrs are preciously couered and wrapped vp and that they are not foulded in cloutes or course haire clouths or cast in fine into some dunghill that so Vigilantius alone being drunke a sleep might be adored So that belike we commit sacriledge when we go into the temple of the Apostles Constantine the Emperour was also sacrilegious who transferred the holy Relikes of Andrew Luke and Timothy to Constantinople at the presence of which Relikes the Diuels roare and the Inhabiters of Vigilantius confesse that they feele the presence thereof Yea and Augustus Arcadius is not only to be accounted sacrilegious but a soâ—… also who hath carryed a thing most base and euen loose ashes in silke and in a case of gold The people of all Churches must be also fooles who went to meet those holy Relickes and entertayned them with so much ioy as if they had beheld the Prophet present liuing with them in such sort as that the swarmes of people did euen reach from Palestine to Chalcedon and did sound forth the praise of Christ with one voice Belike they adored Samuel not Christ whose Priest Prophet Samuel was You think he is dead and therefore you blaspheme But read the Ghospel The God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Iacob is not the God of the dead but of the liuing If therefore they be aliue they are shut vp belike according to your opinion in some honest prison For you say that the soules of the Apostles and Martyrs are in â—…he besome of Abraham or in a place of reposc and ease or vnder the Altar of God and that they cannot be present at their tombes and where els they will So that belike they are endewed with the dignity of Senatours who are not condemned to be kept in some abhominable prison but shut vp in some honest and free custody in the fortunate Ilands and Elisian fields But will you prescribe a law for God Will you tye vp the Apostles in chaines in such sorte as that they shall be kept in prison till the day of iudgment and not be with their Lord they of whome it is written They follow the Lambe wheresoeuer he goes If therefore the Lambe be euery where they also who are with the Lambe are to be belieued to be euery where And if Lucifer the rest of the Diuells waÌ„der ouer the whole world and by their too excessiue swiftnes be euery where at hand shall Martyrs after the effusion of their blood be shut vp in a chest and not be able to go forth You say further in your booke that whilest we liue we may pray mutually for one another but after we shall be dead the prayer of noe one is to be heard 〈◊〉 another especially since Martyrs desiring the reuenge of theyr blood were not able to obtayne it But if the Apostles and Martyrs being yet liuing in these mortal bodies might pray for others when still they ought to be solicitous for themselues how much more can they do it after they haue obtayned their crownes their victories triumphes That one man Moyses obtayned pardon of God for six hundred thousand armed men and Steuen the imitatour of our Lord and the first Martyr of Christ begges fauour for his persecuters and shall they be of lesse power when they haue begun to be with Christ Paul the Apostle affirmes that two hundred seuenty six mens liues were saued in the ship at his suit and when being dissolued he shall be with Christ shall his mouth be stopped and shall he not dare to speake a word for them who throught the whole world did belieue vpon his preaching the Ghospell And shall Vigilantius this liuing dog be better then that dead Lyon I might rightly alleadge this out of Ecclesiastes if I should confesse that Paul were dead in spirit but Saints in fine are not sayd to be dead but to be sleeping Whereupon Lazarus who was to rise againe was sayd to sleep and the Apostle forbiddes the Thessalonians to be afflicted for such aâ—… sleep But you sleep euen when you wake and you write wheÌ„ you sleep you propound to me an Apocriphall booke which is read by you and such as you are vnder the name of Esdras where it is writteÌ„ that after death no one must dare to pray for any other which booke I neuer read For to what purpose should I take that booke in hand which the Church doth not receaue Vnles perhaps you will produce Balsamus to me and Barbelus and the treasure of Manichâ—…us and the ridiculous name of Leusibora and because you dwell at the foot of the Pirenean mountaines and are a neighbour to Spayne you aduance those incredible monsters of opinioÌ„ which were vented by Basilides that most auncient but ignorant vnskillfull Heretike you propound that which was condemned by the authority of the whole world For in your little Commentary you take a testimony out of Salomon as if it made for you which Salomon indeed neuer wrote to the end that as you had then another Esdras so now you may haue another Salomon And if you will go read those fayned Reuelations of all the Patriarches and Prophets and when you shall haue learnt them you may sing them in the weauing houses of woemen or rather propound them to be read in your tauernes that so by meanes of these bables you may the more easily prouoke the vnlearned vulgar to drinke hard But as for tapers of waxe we light them not in cleere day as you idly slaunder vs but to the end that by this comfort we may temper the darknes of the night and that we may watch by light least otherwise being blind we should sleep in darknes like you And if any either through the vnskillfullnes of simplicity of secular men or yet of deuout woemen of whome we may truely say I confesse they haue the zeale of God but not according to knowledge do this for the honour of Martyrs what are you the worse for that The Apostles did also long ago complaine that a pretious oyntment was cast away but they were reproued by the voice of our Lord. For neither did Christ need that oyntment nor the Martyrs this light of tapers and yet that woman did that in honour of Christ and the deâ—…otion of her mind was accepted And whosoeuer light tapers haue their reward according to their fayth as the Apostle sayth Euery one aboundes in his owne sense But do you call such persons as these Idolaters I deny not but that all we who belieue in Christ came from the errour of Idolatry for we are not Christians by generation but by regeneration And belike
he giues to you confesses those which he giues to others Vnles perhaps after the manner of Gentiles and prophane persons such as P◅rphyrius and Euuomius were you will pretend that these are but trickes of the Diuells and that indeed the Diuells cry not out but only that they fayne themselues to be in torment Take my counsaile goe to the Martyrs Churches and you shall be one day dispossest There shall you find many of your fellowes and you shall be burnt not by the tapers of Martyrs which displease you but by inuisible flames and then you will confesse what you now deny you wil freely publish your owne name though now you speake in the name of Vigilantius and say that either you are Mercury for your desire of money or Nocturnus according to the Amphitryo of Plautus who sleeping in adultery with Al◅mena Iupiter made two nights of one that Hercules might be borne full of strength Or els that you are Father Bacchus for your drunken head and you tankard hanging at your backe and your face euer red your lips foming and your vnbridled tongue rayling Whereupon there being a sudden earth-quake in this Prouince which raysed all men from their sleep you being the most discreet wise of mortall men were praying naked and represented to vs an Adam and an Eue as they were in Paradise Sauing that they hauing their eyes open and seeing themselues naked did blush and couer their secret partes with leaues of trees but you being as naked of cloathes as voyd of vertue and frighted with a sudden feare hauing somewhat in you of the surfet of the former night did expose the obscene parts of your body to the eyes of the Saints that you might shew how discreet a man you were Such enemyes as these hath the Church These are the Captaines who fight against the blood of Martyrs such Oratours as these thunder out against the Apostles or rather such madd Dogs as these barke against the disciples of Christ. I confesse my feare least perhaps in your opinion it might seem to grow from superstition When I haue bene angry when I haue had any ill thought in my mind and haue beene deluded by any imagination in the night I dare not goe into the Martyrs Churches I doe all so tremble both in body and minde Perhaps you will scoffe at me for this as if it were the dotage of some old woman But I blush not to hold fast the fayth of those woemen who were the first in seeing our Lord after his resurrection who were sent to his Apostles and who in the person of the Mother of our Lord sauiour were recomended to the same holy Apostles Go you belching on with the men who lead a worldy life I will fast with those woemen yea and also with those Religious men who carry chastity euen in their countenance and hauing their faces pale through continuall abstinence declare the modesty of Christ. Me thinkes you also seem to be troubled at another thing and that is least if chastity sobriety and fasting should continue to take deep footing in France your Tauernes would make little gayne and so you should not be able to continue those Vigills of the Diuel those drunken feasts all night lōg It is related to me besides in the same letters that you forbid men to be at any charge for the vse and comfort of those holy men who liue at Ierusalem against the authority of the Apostle Paul yea and of Peter also and of Iames and Iohn who gaue handes to Paul and Barnabas in testimony of their consent with them and required them to be mindefull of the poore But now if I should answere these thinges you would presently barke out and say that I am pleading myne owne cause you who haue been so liberall to all the world as that if you had not come to Iesuralem had not powred forth your own money or that of your Patrons we should all forsooth haue bene in danger to starue For my part I will but say that which the blessed Apostle Paul deliuers almost in all his Epistles and enioyneth the Churches which had bene conuerted among the Gentiles namely that vpon the first day after the Sabboth that is to say vpon the Sunday men were all to conferre about that alms which should be sent to Hierusalē either by their disciples or by others whome they should appoint and that if it proued to be of moment himself might either carry or send it In the Acts of the Apostles speaking to Foel◅x the Gouernour he sayth thus After many yeares being to giue much almes to the men of my nation and to make oblations and vowes I came to Ierusalem where they found me purifyed in the Temple But had he not also power to dispose of some part of that which he had receaued of others vpon the Churches in other parts of the world which growing to be Christian he had instructed by his preaching But yet he desired to impart the almes to the poore of those holy places who leauing their fortunes for Christ had deuoted themselues wholly to the seruice of our Lord. It were a long businesse if I would reflect vpon all the testimonies which might be brought out of euery one of those Epistles wherein the Apostle endeauours and with his whole affection makes hast to ordaine that money should be addressed to the faythfull at Hierusalem and to the holy places not to satisfy couetousnes but for their necessary comfort not for the gathering together of riches but for the vphoulding of their weake bodies and for the auoyding of hunger and cold this custome continuing in Iury euen to this day not only among vs Christians but among the Iewes also that they who meditate vpon the lawes of our Lords day and night and who haue no Father vpon earth but only God should be cherished by the charities of the Synagogues of the whole world with a fit equality not that some should be at ease and some in misery but that the aboundance of some might serue to supply the wāt of others But you will answere that euery man may do this in his owne country and that poore people will not be wanting to be mainteyned vpon the charity of the Church And so also neither doe we deny but that almes is to be giuen to all kind of poore people yea though they be euen Samaritans and Iewes if there be enough for all But the Apostle directeth indeed that we should giue almes to all but especially to them of the houshold of fayth in respect of whome our Lord sayd in the Ghospell Make your selues friendes by the Mammon of iniquity who may receaue you in the eternall Tabernacles Now I pray you can those poore people who among their rags and corporall mi◅eries haue burning lust ruling ouer them can they I say haue any eternall Tabernacles who possesse neith◅r present nor future thinges For not absolutly such as are
both in cloathing and speech and behauiour rancke From the death of her husband to the time of her owne death she did neuer eat with any man how holy soeuer he were no not although he were placed in Episcopall dignity She went not to any bathes in but cases of danger of her life Euen when she was opprest with the most sharp feauers she lay vpō no soft beds but she rested vpon the hard ground being only ouerspred with certeyn little poore cloathes of haire if that indeed may be accou◅ rest which coupled the dayes and nights with almost continuall praiers ful filling that of the Psalme I will wash my bed euery night and I will water my couch with teares And euen in that time of rest you would take her eyes to be as some sluces of water and so would she lament her least sinnes as that you would esteeme her thereby to be guilty of most grieuous crimes And when we would be often warning her that she should take care of her eyes and preserue them for the reading of holy scripture she would vse to say That face is to be made vgly which against ◅he precept of God I haue so often daubed That body is to be afflicted which hath been treated with so much delicacy A long laughter is to be recompenced with a constant lamentation Soft limen and pretious stuffes of silke must be changed into ragged haire cloathes I who haue pleased a husband and a world desire now to please Christ. If in the company of her so many and so great vertues I shall praise chastity in her I may well seem superfluous For in this vertue euen when she was a secular womā she was the example of al the Matrons in Rome Where she behaued her selfe so as that the report euen of wicked tongues did neuer presume to deuise any thing against her There was nothing more pittifull then her minde nothing more benigne towardes meane people She courted not such as were mighty neither yet did she fastidiously despise such as were proud affected the vanity of glory If she saw a poore body she re◅ieued him if a rich man she exhorted him to vse charity Only in liberality she exceeded measure and whilest she was paying interest she would often borrow of one to discharge another that so she might still haue some meanes not to deny an almes to him who asked it I confesse my errour When I found her too open handed I reprehended her with that saying of the Apostle Let not others be so comforted ac that your selues be aflicted therby but doe it with d◅scretion and weighing of circumstances that your abundance may be the relief of others wantes their abundāce of yours And that of our Sauiour in the Ghospell Let him who hath two coates giue one to him who hath none and I would tell her that we must procure not to do that willingly which we may not alwayes do and many thinges of this kind Which she with an admirable modesty and most sparing speech would yet discharge calling God to witnesse that she did all things for his sake and that she had this earnest desire that she might dy◅ begging and that she might not haue one penny to leaue her daughter and that at her death she might be shrowded in the sheet of anothers gift For conclusion she said If I shal aske almes I may find many who will giue it me but if this begger haue not that of me which I may affoard him euen out of anothers store and so shall chance to dy for want thereof at whose hands shall his life be required For my part I desired her to be more cautious in the distribution of her temporall estat but she being more ardent in her faith flew close to her Sauiour with her whole hart being poore in spirit did follow her poore Lord repaying him what she had receiued since he had bene made poore for her In fine she obtayned what she desired left her daughter in great debt which hitherto she is owing and confides not in her owne strength but in the mercy of Christ that she shall be able to pay it It is vsuall with many of our Matrons to bestow their gifts at the sound of the trumpet and carrying a profuse hand towardes some few to withdraw their bounty from the rest from which vice she was wholy free For so did she deuid her Charity among them all as was necessary for euery one not towardes excesse but for necessity No poore man could goe empty from her which yet she was not able to compasse by the greatnes of her estate but by her prudence in dispensing and this she would euer be repeating Blessed be the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy And As water quenches fire so doth almes extinguish sinne And againe Make your selues friendes of the vniust Mammon that they may receaue you into eternall Fabernacles And Giue almes and behold all thinges are cleane to you And the wordes of Daniel admonishing Nabuchodonozor the King that he was to redeeme his sinnes with almes She would not cast away her money vpon these stones which are to passe away with this world but vpon those liuing stones which rowle vp down the earth and wherof in the Ap◅calips of Iohn the Citty of the great King is built and which as the Scripture sayth must be conuerted into Saphires and Emmerolds and Iaspers and other gemmes But these thinges may be common to many and the Diuell knowes that the top of vertue is not placed in this Whereupon he sayd to our Lord after Iob had lost his substance after his house was ouerthrowne after his children were slaine A man would giue a skin for a shinne and whatsoeuer he hath for the s◅uing of his life but stretch forth thy hand and touch his flesh and bones and see if he will not curse thee to thy face We know that very many haue giuen almes who gaue nothing of their owne body who haue stretched forth th◅ir handes to the poore but yet haue beene ouercome by the pleasures of the flesh to haue painted the outside whilest that within hath beene all full of dead bones But Paula was no such person but was of so great abstinence that almost she exceeded measure and contracted weakenes of body by excessiue fasting labour For except vpon holy dayes she did scarce vse oyle in her meat that by this one instance it may be knowne what iudgment she made of wine of sewet or larde and fish hony and egges and other things which are delightfull to the taste For the very eating whereof some take themselues to be extremely abstinent and if they stuffe their belly with these thinges they thinke their honesty is in safety But enuy euer followes vertue and lightning strikes the highest hils Neither is it any wonder if I say this of men since euē our Lord was crucified through the zeale of the Pharis◅es
and since all Saints haue had Emulators and since there was a serpent euen in Paradice by whose enuy death entred into the world Our Lord had raised vp Adad the Idumean who might giue her now and then a knocke least she should extoll her selfe and he admonished her often and as it were with a kind of goad of the flesh least the greatnes of her vertue might snatch her vp too high and considering the vices of other woemen she might thinke her selfe to be placed out of all reach I would be saying to her that she must yeild to that bitter enuy and giue place to madnes which Iacob had done in the case of his brother Esaw and Dauid in that of Saull who was the most implacable of all enemyes whereof the one flede into Mesopotamia the other deliuered himselfe vp to strange people choosing rather to be subiect to enemyes then to enuyous persons But she would be answering me thus You might iustly say these thinges if the diuell fought not euery where against the seruants and handmayds of God if he got not the start of them in being the first at all those places whithersoeuer Christians went to fly Though I were not deteyned here by the loue of these holy places and if I were able to find my BethleÌ„ in any other part of the world but this yet whh should not I ouercome the bitternes of enuy with patience Why should I not breake the necke of pride by humility and to him who strikes one of my cheekes offer him the other Paul the Apostle saying Ouercome you euill with good Did not the Apostles glory when they suffered contumely for our Lord Did not our Sauiour humble himselfe taking the forme of a seruant being made obedient to his father euen to the death and that the death of the crosse that he might saue vs by his Passion If Iob had not fought and ouercome in the battell he had not receiued the crowne of iustice nor heard this word of our Lord Doest thou thinke I had any other mind in prouing thee then that thou mightest appeare iust They are said to be blessed in the Ghospell who suffer persecution for iustice Let our conscience be secure that we suffer not for our â—…innes then our afliction in this worâ—… doth but serue vs for matter of reward If at any time any enemy of hers had bene malepert and had proceeded so farre as to offer her any iniury of words she would resort to that of the Psalme VVhen the sinner set himselfe before me I held my peace and was silent euen from good thinges And againe I was like to a deafe person who heard not and like one who being dumbe did not open his mouth and I became as a man who doth not heare and hath not in his mouth any word of reproofe In temptations she would frequent those wordes of Deutronomy Your Lord God tempteth you that he may know whether you loue the Lord your God with your whole hart with your whole soule In aflictions and troubles she would repeat the words of Esay You who are weaned from milke and taken from the tet must expect tribulation vpon tribulation and hope vpon hope Yet expect a little for the malice of lips and for the wicked tongue And she would bring this testimony of scripture for her comfort because it belongs to such as are weaned and come to an estat of strength to endure tribulation vpon tribulation that they may deserue to haue hope vpon hope As knowing that tribulation works patience patience probation probation hope and hope makes not ashamed and that iâ—… the outward man grow into decay yet the inward man may be renewed And that this light and momentary tribulation of yours at the present may worke an eternall waight of glory in you who care not for the visible but for inuisible thinges for those thinges which are visible are teÌ„porall but those which are inuisible are eternall And that the time wil not be long though out impatience may thinke it so but quickle they shall see the help of God saying to them I haue heard you in a fit tyme and I haue succoured you in the day of saluation and that crafty lips and wicked tongues were not to be feared but that we must reioyce in our Lord and helper and that we must heare him admonishing vs thus by his Prophet Feare not the slaunders of men be not troubled at their blasphemies for the worme shall consume them as it would doâ—… a garment and the â—…oath shall deuoure them as if they were wooll And by your patience you shall possesse your soules And The sufferinges of this life are not worthy of that future glory which shall be reuealed in vs. And in an other place VVe must suffer tribulation vpon tribulation that we may proceed with patience in all thosâ—… thinges which happen to vs. For the patient man is full of wisedome but he who is pufill animous is extremely a foole withall In her frequent infitmities and sickenesses she would say VVhen I am weake then am I strongest and we keep a treasure in brickle vessells till this mortality of ours put on immortality and this corruption be apparelled with incorruption And againe As the sufferinges of Christ haue superabounded in vs so also hath consolation abouÌ„ded in vs through Christ. And then againe As you are companions in suffering so shall you also be in receauing comfort In her sorrowes she would say thus VVhy O my soule 〈◊〉 thou sad and why art thou troubled within me Put thy trust in God for still I will confesse to him who is the health of my countenancâ—… and my God In her dangers she would say He that will come after me must deny himselfe and take vp his Crosse and follow me And againe He that will saue his life shall loose it and he that for my â—…ake will be content to loose his life shall saue it When she suffered losses in her fortunes and when the ouerthrow of all her patrimony was declared to her she sayd But what doth it profit a man if he gaine the whole world and hurt his owne soule withal VVhat exchaÌ„ge shall a man giue for his soule And Naked I came out of my Mothers wombe and naked I shall returne As it pleased our Lord so is it done blessed be the name of our Lord. And that other Do not loue the world nor those things which are in the world for whatsoeuer is the world is the desire of the flesh the conâ—…upiscence of the eyes and the pride of this life which is not of the father but of the world and the world passes with the coÌ„cupiscencâ—… therof For I know when her friends wrote to her of the daÌ„gerous inâ—…irmities of her children especially of her Toxotius whome she did most dearely loue when she had effectually fullfilled that saying I am troubled haue not spoken she broke forth with
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
who liberally affoarded all thinges to sicke folkes and would also giue them flesh to eat whensoeuer her selfe wa◅sicke she gaue her selfe no such liberties and in that seemed vniust that being so full of pitty to others she exercised so much seuerity vpon her selfe There was none of the younger sort healthfull and strong who gaue her selfe to so much abstinence as Paula did with that broken and aged and weake body of hers I confesse that in this poynt she was somewhat too peremptory for she would not spare her selfe nor hearken to any admonition I will tell you what I know by experience In Iuly when the heates were at the highest she fell into a burning feauer and when by the mercy of God she was recouering after she had bene despaired of and the Physitians were perswading her that for the getting of some strēgth she would vse a little wine which was very small least continuing to drinke water she might grow hydropicke when I had priuately desired the blessed Pope Epiphanius to aduise or rather to compell her to drinke wine she as she was discret of a quicke piercing wit did presently find that she was as it were betrayed and smiling declared that that was my doing which was his saying To be short when the blessed Bishop after hauing vsed much perswasion was gone forth I was asking her what he had done she answered I haue gone so farre as that almost I haue perswaded the old man that I might drinke no wine I haue related this particular not that I allow of those burdens which are vndertaken inconsideratly aboue ones strength for the scripture fayth Take not a burdem vpon thee but only to the end that I may proue euen hereby the ardour of her mind and the desires of her faithfull soule And she said My soule thirst towards thee and how plentifully doth my flesh also thirst A hard thing it is to keep the meane in all things And indeed according to that sentence of the Philosopher vertue is in the meane and excesse is reputed vitious which we expresse by one short little sentence Take not too much of any thing She who was so peremptory and strict in the contempt of food was tender in the occasions of her greif and was euen defeated by the death of her friends and especially of her children For in the death both of her husband of her daugters she was euer in danger of her owne life And though she would Signe both her mouth and her brest and procure to mollify a mothers grief by the impression of the Crosse yet she was ouercome by her affection and those bowels of a mother did euen astonish her tender hart and though she were a conquerour in her mind yet she was conquered by the frailty of her body And once vpon such an occasion a sicknesse taking hold of her did possesse her for so long a time that it gaue care to vs daunger to her But she reioyced said Miserable creature that I am who shall free me from the body of this death But here the discreet Reader will say that I writ matter of reproofe rather then praise I take Iesus to witnes whom she serued in deed and whom I serue in desire that I fayne nothing on either side but that I deliuer truthes as one Christian should do of another and that I writ no panegyricke but a story of her and that those thinges which go for vices in her would be vertues in an other I call them vices according to the mind whereof I was and to the desire of all the sisters and brothers who loued her and are looking for her now she is gone But she hath fulfilled her course she hath kept the faith now enioyes the crowne of iustice and followes the lambe wheresoeuer he goes She is now satisfyed to the full because she was hungry she sings thus with ioy As we haue heard so haue we seen it in the Citty of the Lord of power in the Citty of our God O ble◅ed change of things she wept that she might for euer reioyce she despised these leaking cesternes that she might find the fountayne which is our Lord. She wore a haircloath that now she might be apparelled in white roabes say Thou hast torne my sackloath and hast apparelled me with ioy She fed vpon ashes like bread and she mingled her drinke with teares saying My teares were bread to me day and night that she might feed for euer vpon the bread of Angels sing Taste see how sweet our Lord i◅ And My hart hath earnestly vttered a good word I consecrat my workes to the King And she saw those words of Esay or rather the words of our Lord by Esay fulfilled in her selfe Behold they who serue me shall eat but you shall be hungry Behold they who serue me shall drinke but you shall be thirsty Behold they who serue me shall reioyce but you shall be shamefully aflicted Behold they who serue me shall exult but you shal cry out in the sorrow of your harts shall howle through the contrition of your spirit I was saying that she euer fled from those leaking Cesternes that she might find the fountayne which is our Lord might sing with ioy As the hart desires the fountaynes of water so doth mysoule aspire to thee O my God when shal I come appeare before th◅face of God I will therfore briefly touch how she auoyded those durty lakes of the heretikes and esteemed them to be no better ther Pagans A certaine crafty old companion and who in his owne opinion was a shrewd kind of schollar begā without my knowledge to propound certaine questiōs to her and say VVhat sinne hath an Infant committed that he should be possessed by a Diuell It what age shall we be when we are to rise from the dead If in the age when we dye some of vs will need nurses after the resurrection If otherwise it will not be a resurrection of the dead but a transformation of them into others Besides there will either be a diuersity of the Sexes of man and woman or there will be none If there be it will follow that there will be marriage and carnall knowledge yea and generation If there be not then taking away the difference of Sex they will not be the same bodies which rise againe for an earthly habitation doth aggrauate and oppresse the vnderstanding which hath many thinges to thinke of but they shall be spirituall and subtill according to the Apostle The body is sowed carnall and it shall rise spiritual By all which he desired to proue that reasonable soules for certaine vices auntient sinnes were slipped downe into bodies and according to the diuersity and demerit of the same sinnes were to be subiect to such or such a condition so that either he should enioy health of body or riches and nobility of parents or els should fall into sicke
Anâ—… I haue chosen â—…o be an abiect in the house of my God rather then to dwell in the tabernacles of siâ—… And when vpon occasion I would be asking her why she was silent and would not answere whither she were in any payne or no she answered me in Greeke That she had no trouble but that she saw all things before her in tranquility peace After this she was silent and shutting her eyes as one who by this time despised mortall thinges she repeated those verses aforesaid but yet so that it was as much as we could do to heare her and then applying her finger to her mouth she made the signe of a Crosse vpon her lippes Her spirit fainted and panted apace towards death and her soule euen earnest to breake out she conuerted the very ratling of her throate wherewith mortall creatures vse to end their life into the praises of our Lord. There were present the Bishops of Ierusalem and of other Citties and an innumerable multitude of Priests and Leuites of inferiour rancke All the Monastery was filled with whole Quiers of virgins and Monks And as soon as she heard the Spouse calling thus Rise vp aâ—…d come O thâ—… my neighbour my beautifull creature and my doue for behold the winter is spent and past and the rayâ—…e 〈◊〉 goâ—… â—…he answered thuâ—… with ioy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iâ—… our land the time of pruning 〈…〉 land of the liâ—…ing From that time forward there was nâ—… lamentation nor dolefull crye as is wont to be vpon the death of men of this world but there 〈◊〉 whoâ—… swarmes of people who châ—…ed out the Psalmeâ—… in different tongues And Paula body being translated by the hands of Bishops 〈◊〉 they bending theâ—… necks vnder the Bier whilest some other Bishops carryed lampes tapers before the body and others led on the Quiers of them who sung she was layd in the midle of her Church of the Natiuity of our B. Sauiour The whole troope of the Citties of Palaestine came in to her funerall Which of the most hidden Moncks of the wildernes was kept in by his Cell which of the virgins was then hidden vp by the most secret roome she had He thought himself to oomiâ—… sacriledge who performed not that last Office to such a creature The widowes and the poore after the example of Dâ—…cas shewed the cloathes which she had giuen them The whole multitude of needy people cryed out that they had lost their mother and their nurse And which is strange the palenes of death had not â—…anged her face at all but a certaine dignity and deceâ—… did so possesse her countenance that you would not haue thought her dead but sleeping The Psalmes were sounded forth in order in the Hebrew and Greeke and Latin in the Syrian tongue not onely for those three dayes till her body was interred vnder the Church and neer the caue of our Lord but during the whole weeke all they who came in did the like belieuing best in those funerals which themselues made and in their owne teares The venerable virgin her daughter Eustochium like an infant weaned from her nurse could scarce be drawen from her mother She kissed her eyes and euen adhered to her face and embraced her whole body and euen would 〈◊〉 bene buryed with her mother I take Iesus to witneâ—… that there remayned not one penny to her daughter but as I said before she left her deeply in debt and which yet is matter of more difficulty an immense multitude of brothers and sisters whom it was hard to feed and impious to put away What is more 〈…〉 of a most noble family dâ—…d 〈◊〉 with a hâ—…ge 〈◊〉 should haue giuen away all she had with so great faith 〈◊〉 â—…o be come almost to the very extremity of pouerty 〈◊〉 others brag of their moneyes and of alme â—…ast into the poore maâ—… boxe of the Presents which they 〈◊〉 â—…ung â—…in â—…pes of gold No one hath giuen more to the poore then she 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing to her selfe Now â—…he 〈◊〉 riches and those good thinges which neither the â—…ye hath seeâ—… nor the care hath heard nor hath it ascended into thâ—… hart of man We lament our owne câ—…e we shall seem but to enuy her glory if we lament her longer who is raigning Be you secure O Bustochium that you are enriched with a great inheritance Our Lord is your part and to the end that your ioy may be the more complet your mother is crowned with a long martyrdome For not only is the effusion of blood reputed for such a confession but the vnspotted seruice of a deuout mind is a daily martyrdome The former crowne is wreathed made of roses and violets the later of lillies Wherupon it is written in the Canticle of Canticles My beloued is whit and red bestowing the some rewardes vpon such as ouercome whether it be in peace or warre Your mother heard these words with Abraham Go forth of thy country of thy kinred and come into the land which I will shew the and she heard our Lord commanding thus by Ieremy Fly you out of the middle of Babylon and saue your soules And till the very day of her death she returned not into Chaldea nor did she couer the pots of Egypt nor that stincking flesh but being accoÌ„panyed with quierâ—… of Virgins is made a fellow-Citizen of our Sauiour ascending vp to those heauâ—…ly kingdomes from the litle Bethleem she saith to that true Nâ—…mi Thy People is my people thy God my God I haue dictated this booke for you at two sittings vp with the same grief which you selfe susteynes For as often as I put my selfe to writ and to performe the worke which I had promised so often did my fingars growe numme my haÌ„d faynted my wit fayled and euen my vnpolished speech so farre from any elegancy or conceit of words doth witnes well in what case the writer was Farewel O Paula helpe thou by thy prayers this last part of his ould age who beares thee a religious reuâ—… Thy faith and workâ—… haâ—… ioyned thee in society to Christ and now being present thou wilt more easily obtayne what thou desirest I haue finished thy monnment which no age will be able to destroy I haue cut thy Elogium vpon thy sepulcher and I haue placed it at the foot of this volume that wheresoeuer our worke shal arriue the Reader may vnderstand that thou werâ—… praised and that thou art buryed in Bethleem The Title written on the Tombe She whom the Paulâ—…'s got the Scipio's 〈◊〉 The Graccho's and great 〈◊〉 race Lyes here interâ—…'d cal'd Paula heretofore Eustochiums mother Court of Romes chief grace Seekes for Christ poore and Bethlems rurall face Written vpon the Front of the Grot. Seest thou cut out of rocke this narrow 〈◊〉 T is Paulas house who now in heauen raâ—…nes And leauing brother kinred country Rome Children and wealth in Bethlems grâ—…t remaynes
he vses to others he arrogates the reputation of knowledge to himselfe Gregory Nazianzen myne old Master being desired by me to expound what that Sabboth called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meant in Luke he did elegantly allude thus I will instruct you about this busines when we are at Church where the whole people applauding me you shall be forced whether you will or no to know that whereof you are ignoranâ—… now There is nothing so easy as to deceiue a poore base people and an vnlearned assembly by volubility of speech which admires whatsoeuer it vnderstands not Marcus Tullius of whome this excellent Elogium was vsed Demosthenes depriued you of being the first Oratour you him of being the only Oratour sayth that in his Oration for Quintus Gallus concerning the fauour of the people and such as speake absurdly before them which I would fayne haue you marke least you should be abused by these errours I speake of that whereof my selfe haue lately had experience A certaine 〈◊〉 a man of name and learned who made certaine Dialogues of Poets and Philosophers when in one and the same place he bringes in Euripides and Menander and Socrates and Epicurus discoursing altogether one with another whom yet we know to haue liued not only at different tymes but in different ages what applauses and acclamations did he moue For in the Theatre he had many condisciples who performed not their studies together Be as carefull to auoid blacke course cloathes as white Fly from affected ornaments at as full speed as you would do from affected vncleanes for the one of them sauours of delicacy the other hath a taste of vaine glory It is a commendable thing I say not to vse no linnen but not be worth any for otherwise it is a ridiculous thing and full of infamy to haue the purse well filled then to bragge that you are not worth so much as a handkerchiue There are some who giue some little thing to the poore to the end that they may receiue more and some man seekes after wealth vnder the pretence of vsing Charity which is rather to be accounted a kind of huÌ„ting then almes-giuing So are beasts and birds and so are fishes taken Some little bayte is layd vpon the hooke that the money bagge of the Matrons may be brought forth vpon that hooke Let the Bishop to whome the care of the Church is committed consider whome he appointes to ouersee the dispensation of goodes to the poore For it is better for a man not to haue any thing to giue away then impudently to begge somwhat for himselfe to hide Nay it is a kind of arrogancy for one to seeme more meeke and mercifull then the Priest of Christ is We cannot all do all thinges some one is an eye in the Church an other is a tongue an other a hand an other is a foot an eare or a belly and so forth Read the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians How diuers members serue to constitute onâ—… body But yet let not the rusticke and simple man thinke himselfe to be holy because he knowes nothing nor if a man be eloquent and skillfull must he esteeme that he hath as much sanctity as he hath tongue and of the two defects it is much better that he haue a holy rudenes then a sinfull eloquence Many build vp wals and raise pillars in Churches the marbles shine the roofes glister with gold the Altar is set with pretious stones and the while no care is taken to chose fit Ministers for Christ. Let no man obiect to me that rich temple of the Iewes the Table the Lampes the Incensories the Basons the Cuppes the Morters and other thinges made of gold Then were these thinges approued by our Lord when the Priest did immolat sacrifices and when the blood of beasts was the redemption of sinnes Though all these things did go before in figure yet they were written for our instruction vpon whâ—… the ends of the world are come But now when our Lord by being poore hath dedicated the pouerty of his house let vs thinke vpon his Crosse and esteem of riches as of durt What marueile is it that Christ called riches by the name of vniust Mammon Why should we admire and loue that which Peter doth euen after a kind of glorious manner professe himselfe not to haue For other wise if we onely follow the letter and that yet the apparance of the history speaking of gold and riches delight vs then together with the gold let vs take vp other thinges too and let the Bishop of Christ marry virgins and make them their wiues If that argumeÌ„t I say be to hold then let him who hath any skarre or other corporall deformity be depriued of his Priesthood though he haue a vertuous minde let the leprosy of the body be accounted a worse thing then the vices of the soule Let vs encrease and multiply and fil the earth and let vs not sacrifice the lambe nor celebrat the mysticall Pascha because these thinges are forbidden by the law to be done any other where then in the Temple Let vs fasten the tabernacle in the seauenth moneth and let vs chant out the solemne fast with the sound of the cornet But now if comparing all these to spirituall thinges and knowing with Paul that the law is spirituall and that the words of Dauid are true who sings thus Open thou myne eyes and I will consider the wonderfull thinges of thy law we vnderstand them as our Lord also vnderstood them and as he interpreted the Sabboth either let vs despise gold with the rest of the superstitions of the Iewes or else if we shall like gold let vs also like the Iewes whom of necessity we must either like or dislike together with the gold The Feasting of secular persons and especially of such as swell vp in high place of honour must be auoyded by you It is an vgly thing that before the doores of a Priest of Christ crucifyed who was so poore and had no meat of his owne the Officers of CoÌ„suls bands of souldiers should stand wayting and that the gouernour of the Prouince should dine better at your house then at the Court. And if you shall pretend â—…at you do such thinges as these to the end that you may obtayne fauour for inferiour and miserable people know that a temporall Iudge will deferre more to a mortifyed Priest then to a rich one will carry more veneratioÌ„ to your vertue theÌ„ to your wealth Or if he be such a one as that he will not fauour Priests speaking for afflicted persons but wheÌ„ he is in the middest of his cups I shall be well content to want the obtayning of such a suit and will pray to Christ in steed of the Iudge who can helpe me better and sooner then he It is better to confide in our Lord then to confide in man It is better to hope in our Lord then to hope in
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
I neuer touched her flesh for feare least I might loose that in peace which I had preserued in warre Many dayes passed on betweene vs in this kind of matrimony this mariage making vs more acceptable to our Lords and Maisters as freeing them from all suspition of our running away yea sometymes it would fall out that I might be absent in that desert for a whole moneth togeather like a Shepheard well trusted with his flocke After a long space of tyme whilest I was sitting alone in the wildernes seeing nothing but heauen and earth before me I began to consider with my selfe in silence and to reuolue many thinges in my heart which I had knowne when I conuersed with the Moncks and especially I called to mind the countenance of that Father of myne who had instructed who had cherished and who had lost me And whilest I was beating vpon these thoughtes I behould a flocke of Antes to swarme in a certaine straight passage who carryed burdens euen greater thē their own bodyes some of them had taken vp certaine seeds of herbes with their mouths as if it had been with pincers others were carrying earth out of ditches and would make certaine fences against the entry in of water some remembring that there was a winter to come tooke of graines of corne brought thē in least the earth when it should grow wet might conuert the corne already gathered into new corne for the next yeare others carryed the bodyes of their dead with a sad kind of solemnity and which yet is more to be wondered at there was none going forth of all that troupe who would hinder any one that entred in but rather if they discouered any who were in danger of falling vnder their waight or burden they would lend him their shoulders to keep him vp What shall I say more That day shewed me a pleasant obiect Whereupon remembring Salomon who sendes vs to imitate the sharp sighted prouidence of Antes and stirring vp our sloathfull mindes by their example I began to be weary of my captiuity and to aspire towardes the Cels of Monkes againe and to loue the resemblance of those Antes in that they labour in common where nothing is proper to any one but all thinges belong to all When I went backe to my lodging I see the woman coming towardes me nor was I able to dissemble the sorrow of my heart She asked me why I was so troubled I tell her my reasons and she exhorted that we might take our flight I coniure her to promise silence she giues me assurance and so continually whispering about this busines we were layd and tossed betweene hope and feare I had in that heard two Goates of a huge bignes which being killed I make vessells of their skinnes and I prepare their flesh for our prouision And the first euening when our Lords might conceaue that we were layd to rest we set vpon our iourney carrying the skinnes and the meat When we were come to a riuer which was some ten miles of we commit our selues to the waters hauing first layd our selues vpon these skines which were stuffed out and we holpe our selues with our feet as it might haue beene with oares that so the riuer carrying vs downeward and landing vs much lower on the other side of the bancke then where we put our selues into the water they who followed vs might loose the trace of our feet But in the meane tyme our flesh being wet and part of it also being lost it did hardly promise vs food for three dayes We drunke euen to satiety by way of prouision against the thirst which we were to haue afterward We ranne and yet euer looking behind our backes made more way by night then by day partly by reason of the danger which might haue growne to vs by the Saracens and partly through the excessiue heate of the Sunne Wretch that I am I tremble euen whilest I am but telling it and though indeed I be wholy now secure yet all my body quakes to thinke thereof For after the third day we saw a farre of in a doubtfull kind of sight two men sitting vpon Camells who were coming towardes vs at full speed and presently our mind which was apt to foretel mischiefe to vs began to thinke that our Lord and Maister had resolued our death and that we euen saw the Sunne grow blacke towardes vs. Whilest we were thus in feare conceaued our selues to be betrayed by our footesteps printed vpon the sand we found a Caue vpon our right hand which pierced farre vnder ground But fearing least we might fall vpon some venemous beastes for Vipers and Basiliskes and Scorpions such other creaturs declining that great heat of the Sunne are wont to betake themselues to the shad we entred indeed into the Caue but instantly at that very entrāce we committed our selues to a hollow which was within vpon the right hād not daring to proceed any further on least by flying one kind of death we might haue fallē vpon another conceauing this within our selues that if God will help vs as being miserable we shall be safe but if he despise vs as being sinnefull we shall fall into the handes of death What kind of heart do you think we had What kind of fright were we in when our Lord a fellow slaue of ours were standing neere the Caue and by the print of our feet were already arriued as farre as that darknes would giue them leaue O death how much more grieuous art thou in expectation then in effect Euen againe my tongue growes to falter with feare and care and as if my Lord were but now crying out vpō me I haue not the heart to whisper out a word He sent his slaue to fetch vs out of the Caue himselfe houldes the Camells and hauing drawne his sword he expects our coming forth In the meane tyme that seruant being gone three or foure cubites on we seeing him with his backe towardes vs for the nature of our sight is such as that all things are darke to those who enter into any obscure place after they haue beene in the Sunne we heard his voice sound through the denne Come forth you villaines out you who are designed for death VVhat do you expect VVhy do you stay get you out our Lord calls you he expects you with patience Whilest he was yet speaking behould we saw euen in that darknes that a Lyonesse already rushed vpō that man hauing strangled him drew him all bloody in Deare Iesus how full were we of terrour and of ioy withall We perceaued our enemy destroyed though our Lord and Maister knew it not For when he saw the delay he suspected that we two had resisted one and so not being able to differ his wrath he came forward to the Caue with his sword in his hand and reproaching his slaue of cowardise with a furious kind of rage he was first seised vpon by the Beast before he came to our retreate Who are they which can belieue that the Beast should fight for vs in our owne presence But being freed from that feare the like destruction presented it selfe before our imaginations sauing that it was safer to endure the rage of a Lyonesse then the wrath of a man We were afflicted with feare euen to the very heartes and not venturing so much as once to stirre we expected the euent of the busines in the middest of so many dangers being only defended as with a wal by the conscience which we had of our chastity The Lyonesse being wary least she might chance to fall into some snare and finding that she was seene takes fast hould of her whelpes and carryes them forth and leaues the lodging to our vse Neither yet were we so credulous as to breake out in hast but expecting long and sometimes thinking to go out we neuer had a fancy as if we were to fall vpon wild beasts But at length after the end of the next day the horrour in which we were being remoued out we went in the euening and we saw some kind of Camels whome for the excessiuenes of their speed they call Dromedaries ruminating vpon those meates which they had eaten before and then drawing them downe againe into their stomackes And we mounting on them and being refreshed with new prouision arriued by that desert to the Roman Garrisons vpon the tenth day after there being presented to the Tribune we gaue him an orderly account of what had passed From thence we were sent ouer to Sabinus the Gouernour of Mesopotamia where we receaued a iust price for our Camels And because that Abbot of myne did now rest in our Lord when I was brought to that place I restored my selfe to the Monckes and I deliuered her ouer to the Virgins louing her as my Sister but not trusting my selfe with her as with my Sister This story did Malchus being ould relate to me when I was young and now my selfe being ould I haue deliuered it to you and I present a history of Chastity to chast persons aduising such as are virgins to keep their chastity with care Tell you it ouer to posterity to the end tha◅ they may know that in the midest of swordes deserts and wild beasts Chastity can neuer be captiued and that a man who is consecrated to Christ may well be killed but not conquered FINIS