the day of his Ascension did place our Soveraigne good Onely Serpents and covetous men desire to sleep among treasures as Saint Clement saith But the greatest riches of the world is poverty free from Covetousnesse Aspirations I Seek thee O invincible God within the Abysse of thy brightnesse and I see thee through the vail of thy creatures Wilt thou alwaies be hidden from me Shall I never see thy face which with a glimpse of thy splendour canst make Paradise I work in secret but I know thou art able to reward me in the light A man can lose nothing by serving thee and yet nothing is valuable to thy service for the paine it selfe is a sufficient recompense Thou art the food of my fastings and the cure of my infirmities What have I to do with Moles to dig the earth like them and there to hide treasures Is it not time to close the earth When thou doest open heaven and to carry my heart where thou art since all my riches is in thee Doth not he deserve to be everlastingly poor who cannot be content with a God so rich as thou art The Gospel upon the first Thursday in Lent S. Matthew 18. of the Centurions words O Lord I am not worthy ANd when he was entered into Caphearnaum there came unto him a Centurion beseeching him and saying Lord my boy lieth at home sick of the palsie and is sore tormented And Iesus saith to him I will come and cure him And the Centurion making answer said Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof but onely say the word and my boy shall be healed For I also am a man subject to Authority having under me souldiers and I say to this go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and be doth it And Iesus hearing this marvelled and said to them that followed him Amen I say to you I have not found so grea faith in Israel And I say to you that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heaven but the children of the kingdoms shall becast out into the exteriour darknesse there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And Iesus said to the Centurion go and as thou hast believed be it done unto thee And the boy was healed in the same houre Moralities 1. OUr whole Salvation consists in two principals The one is in our being sensible of God the other in our moving toward him the first proceeds from faith the other comes of charity other virtues O what a happy thing it is to follow the example of this good Centurion by having such elevated thoughts of the Divinity and to know nothing of God but what he is To behold our heavenly father within this great family of the world who effects all things by his single word Creates by his power governs by his councell orders by his goodness this great universality of all things The most insensible creatures have ears to hear him Feavers and tempests are part of that running camp which marcheth under his Standard They advance and retire themselves under the shadow of his command he onely hath power to give measures to the heavens bounds to the sea to joyn the east and west together in an instant and to be in all places where his pleasure is understood 2. O how goodly a thing it is to go unto him like this great Captain To go said I Nay rather to flie as he doth by the two wings of charity and humility His charity made him have a tender care of his poor servant to esteem his health more dear then great men do the rarest pieces in their Cabinets He doth not trust his servants but take the charge upon himselfe making himself by the power of love a servant to him who by birth was made subject to his command What can be said of so many Masters and Mistresses now adayes who live alwayes slaves to their passions having no care at all of the Salvation health or necessities of their servants as if they were nothing else but the scumme of the world They make great use of their labours and service which is just but neglect their bodies and kill their soules by the infection of their wicked examples Mark the humility of this souldier who doth not thinke his house worthy to be enlightened by one sole Glimpse of our blessed Saviours presence By the words of Saint Augustine we may say he made himself worthy by believing and declaring himself so unworthy yea worthy that our Saviour should enter not only into his house but into his very soul And upon the matter he could not have spoken with such faith and humility if he had not first enclosed in his heart him whom he durst not receive into his house 3 The Gentiles come near unto God and the Iews go from him to teach us that ordinarily the most obliged persons are most ungratefull and disesteem their benefactpurs for no other reason but because they receive benefits daily from them If you speak courteously to them they answer churlishly and in the same proportion wherein you are good you make them wicked therefore we must be carefull that we be not so toward God Many are distasted with devotion as the Israelites were with Manna All which is good doth displease them because it is ordinary And you shall finde some who like naughty grounds cast up thorns where roses are planted But we have great reason to sâ—ar that nothing but Hell fire is capable to punish those who despise the Graces of God and esteem that which comes from him as a thing of no value Aspirations O Almighty Lord who ' doest govern all things in the family of this world and dost binde all insensible creatures by the bare sound of thy voice in a chaine of everlasting obedience Must I onely be still rebellious against thy will Feavers and Palsies have their ears for thee and yet my unruly spirit is not obedient Alas alas this family of my heart is ill governed It hath violent passions my thoughts are wandering my reason is ill obeyed Shall it never be like the house of this good Centurion where every thing went by measure because he measured himself by thy commandments O Lord I wil come resolutely by a profound humility an inward feeling of my self since I am so contemptible before thine eyes I will come with Charity towards these of my houshold and toward all that shall need me O God of my heart I beseech thee let nothing from henceforth move in me but onely to advance my coming toward thee who art the beginning of all motions and the onely repose of all things which move The Gospel for the first Friday in Lent S. Mat. 5. Wherein we are directed to pray for our Enemies YOu have heard that it was said thou shaâ—e love thy neighbour
ENTERTAINMENTS For LENT First Written in French and Translated by Sir B. B. The delight of sinne is momentary the torment Eternal LONDON Printed for I. W. and are to be sold by Philemon Stephens the younger at the Kings Arms over against the middle Temple gate in Fleet-streete 1661. To the most Excellent Majesty of Henriette Maria Queen of Great Britain Madame AMongst all the publick joyes for your Majesties happy return I know not better how to expresse my own particular then by most humbly presenting to your Majesty my Translation of this excellent French Book in the solitude of a Prison which was made more easie by some relation it had to your Majesties service And I presume the rather upon this Dedication because all that good which is derived to us from France wherof I conceive this may be a part should receive honour and inâ—rease of value from your Majesty that it may so diffuse it self with moâ—e authority and profit amongst those who may be capable to receive â—t Your Majestie having read the Orginall â—oth well know that the principall scope of it is â—o teach the love of God and contempt of this world with many other principall virtues And for the practice of them all this age â—ould not have hoped for so rare an example to â—nstruct all the great Ladies of Christendome â—s it hath found in your Majesty as well by â—our admirable fortitude and perfect resignation to Gods holy will in all your Majesties extreme afflictions dangers and pressures at Sea and Land as also by your Majesties many sacred retirements in the most holy time of the year to sprinkle your pleasures voluntarily with some of that Gall which was upon our Saviours lips when he suffered his bitter passion and death for our sins Our great Divines affirm that the present sufferings of Mount Calvary lead directly to the future glories of Mount Thabor And therefore since your Majesty hath patiently endured so many unjust and rigorous Crosses in the Mount Calvary of this World we have great reason to hope that our blessed Saviour hath prepared for your Majesty a most glorious Crown in the next which will never have end And this shall ever be the incessant and fervent prayer of Madame Your Majesties poor and most humbly devoted Beadsman Basil Brook Table of all the Gospels and particulars of our Saviours passion mentioned in this book with their Moralities and Aspirations UPon the word of Genesis lib. 1. cap. 3. Thou art dust and to dust thou shalâ— return Fol. 1 Vpon the Gospel of Saint Matthew cap. 6. Of hypocriticall fasting 4 Vpon Saint Matthew the 18. af the Centurions words O Lord I am not worthy 8 Vpon Saint Matthew the 5. Wherein we are directed to pray for our enemies 12 Vpon Saint Matthew the 6. Of the Apostle danger at sea 15 Vpon Saint Matthew the 4. Of our Saviours being tempted in the desart 19 Vpon Saint Matthew the 25. Of the judgement day 25 Vpon Saint Matthew the 21. Iesus drove out the buyers and sellers out of the Temple 30 Vpon Saint Matthew th 12. The Pharisees demand a sign of Iesus 33 Vpon Saint Matthew the 15. of the woman of Canaan 38 Vpon S. Iohn c. 15. Of the probatick pond 42 Vpon Saint Matthew the 17. Of the transfiguration of our Lord. 46 Vpon Saint Iohn the 8. Iesus said to the Iews Where I go ye cannot come 5â— Vpon Saint Matthew the 23. Iesus said the Pharisees sit in Moyses chair believe therefore what they say 54 Vpon S. Matthew the 20. The request of the wise of Zebedee for her sons Iames and Iohn 58 Vpon Luke the 16. Of the rich Glutton and poor Lazarus 62 Vpon Saint Matthew the 21. Of the master of the vineyard whose sonne was killed by his farmers 67 Vpon S. Luke the 16. Of the prodigall Child 71 Vpon Saint Luke the 11. Iesus cast out the devil which was dumbe 77 Vpon S. Luke the 4. Iesus is required to do miracles in his own countrey 81 Vpon Saint Matthew the 18. If thy brother offend thee tell him of is alone 85 Vpon Saint Matthew the 15. The Pharisees asked why do thy Disciples contradict ancient traditions 90 Vpon Saint Luke the 4. Iesus cured the fever of Simons mother in law 94 Vpon Saint Iohn the 4. Of the Samaritan woman at Iacobs well near Sichar 98 Vpon Saint Iohn the 8. Of the woman found in adultery 104 Vpon Saint Iohn the 6. Of the five fishes and two barley loaves 107 Vpon Saint Iohn the 6. Of the whipping buyers and sellers out of the Temple 113 Vpon Saint Iohn the 7. the Iews marvell at the learning of Iesus who was never taught 117 Vpon Saint Iohn the 9. Of the blind man cured by clay and spittle 121 Vpon Saint Luke the 7. Of the Widows son raised from death to life at Naim by our Saviour 128 Vpon Saint Iohn the 11. Of the raising up Lazarus from death 132 Vpon Saint Iohn the 8. Of our Saviours words I am the light of the world 137 Vpon Saint Iohn the 8. Of these words Who can accuse me of sin Vpon Saint Iohn the 7. Iesus said to the Pharisees you shall seek and not find me and he that is thirsty let him come to me 145 Vpon Saint Iohn the 7. Iesus went not into Iury because the Iews had a purpose to take away his life 149 Vpon Saint Iohn the 10. The Iews said If thou be the Messias tell us plainly 153 Vpon Saint Iohn the 7. Of Saint Mary Magdalens washing our Saviours feet in the Pharisees house 158 Vpon Saint Mary Magdalens great repentance 162 Vpon Saint Iohn the 11. The Iews said What shall we do for this man doth many miracles 164 Vpon Saint Iohn the 12. The chief Priests thought to kill Lazarus because the miracle upon him made many follow Iesus 167 Vpon Saint Matthew the 21. Our Saviour came in triumph to Ierusalam a little before his passion 172 Vpon Saint Iohn the 12. S. Mary Magdalen anointed our Saviours feet with precious ointment at which Iudas repined 177 Vpon Saint Iohn the 13. Of our Saviour washing the feet of his Apostle 181 Moralities upon the garden of Mount Olivet 187 Moralities of the apprehension of Iesus 192 Aspiration upon Saint Peters passionate tears 193 Moralities upon the Pretorian or Iudgement Hall 194 Moralities for Good Fryday upon the death of Iesus Christ 198 The Gospel for Easter day Saint Mark the 16. 211 The Gospel for Easter Munday S. Luke 24. 215 The Gospel on Tuesday S. Luke 24. 220 The Gospel on Low Sunday Saint Iohn the 20. 224 Entertainments for Lent And for the first Day upon the Consideration of Ashes THou art Dust and to Dust thou shall return Gen. 3. 1. It is an excellent way to begin Lent with the consideraon of dust whereby Nature gives us beginning and by the same Death shall put an end to all our worldly vanities There is no better way
demand a sign of Jesus THen answered him certain of the Scribes and Pharisees saying Master we would see a sign from thee who answered and said to them The wicked and advouterous generation seeketh a sign and a sign shall not be given it but the sign of Ionas the Prophet For as Ionas was in the Whales belly three dayes and three nights so shall the Sonne of man be in the heart of the earth three dayes and three nights The men of Nineveh shall rise in the judgement with this generation and shall condemne it because they did penance at the preaching of Ionas And behold more then Ionas here The Queen of the south shall rise in the judgement with this generation and shall condemne it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdome of Solomon and behold more then Solomon here And when an unclean spirit shall go out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth not Then hee saith I will returne into my house whence I came out And coming he findeth it vacant swept with besomes and trimmed then goeth he and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked then himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last of that man be made worse then the first So shall it be also to this wicked generation As he was yet speaking to the multitudes behold his mother and his brethren stood without seeking to speak to him and one said unto him behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without seeking thee But he answering him that told him said who is my mother and who are my brethren And stretching forth his hand upon his Disciples he said Behold my mother and my brethren for whosoever shall do the will of my Father that is in heaven he is my brother and sister and mother Moralities 1. 'T is a very ill sign when we desire signs to make us believe in God The signs which we demand to fortifie out faith are ofttimes marks of our infidelity There is not a more dangerous plague in the events of worldly affairs then to deal with the Devil or to cast nativities All these things fil men whith more saults then knowledge For divine Oracles have more need to be reverenced then interpreted He that will find God must seek him with simplicity and professe him with piety 2. Some require a sign and yet between heaven and earth all is full of signs How many creatures soever there are they are all steps and characters of the Divinity What a happy thing it is to study what God is by the volume of time and by that great Book of the world There is not so small a floure of the meddows nor so little a creature upon earth which doth not tell us some news of him He speaks in our ears by all creatures which are so many Organ-pipes to convey his Spirit and voice to us But he hath no sign so great as the word incarnate which carries all the types of his glory and power About him onely should be all our curiosity our knowledge our admiration and our love because in him we can be sure to find all our repose and consolation 3. Are we not very miserable since we know not our own good but by the losse of it which makes us esteem so little of those things we have in our hands The Ninivites did hear old Ionas the Prophet The Queen of Saba came from farre to hear the wisdome of Solomon Jesus speaks to us usually from the Pulpits from the Altars in our conversations in our affairs and recreations And yet we do not sufficiently esteem his words nor inspirations A surfeited spirit mislikes honey and is distasted with manna raving after the rotten pots of Egypt But it is the last and worst of all ills to dispise our own good Too much confidence is mother of an approaching danger A man must keep himself from relapses which are worse then sinnes which are the greatest evils of the world he that loves danger shall perish in it The first sinne brings with it one Devil but the second brings seven There are some who vomit up their sinnes as the sea doth cockles to swallow them again Their life is nothing but an ebbing and flowing of sinnes and their most innocent retreats are a disposition to iniquity For as boild water doth soonest freez because the cold works upon it with the greater force so those little fervours of devotion which an unfaithfull soul feels in confessions and receiving if it be not resolute quite to forsake wickednesse serve for nothing else but to provoke the wicked spirit to make a new impression upon her It is then we have most reason to fear Gods justice when we despise his mercy We become nearest of kin to him when his Ordinances are followed by our manners and our life by his precepts Aspirations O Word Incarnate the great sign of thy heavenly Father who carriest all the marks of his glory and all the characters of his powers It is thou alone whom I seek whom I esteem and honour All that I see all I understand all that I feel is nothing to me if it do not carry thy name and take colour from thy beauties nor be animated by thy Spirit Thy conversation hath no trouble and thy presence no distaste O let me never lose by my negligence what I possesse by thy bounty Keep me from relapses keep me from the second gulf and second hell of sinne He is too blind that profits noting by experience of his own wickednesse and by a full knowledge of thy bounties The Gospel upon Thursday the first week in Lent out of S. Matthew the 15. Of the woman of Canaan ANd Iesus went forth from thence and retired into the quarters of Tyre and Sidon And behold a woman of Canaan came forth out of these coasts and crying out said to him have mercy upon me O Lord the Son of David my daughter is sore vexed of a Devil who answered her not a word And his Disciples came and besought him saying dismisse her because she cryeth out after us And he answering said I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel But she came and adored him saying Lord help me who answering said It is not good to take the bread of children and to cast it to the dogs but she said yea Lord for the dogs also eat of the crums that fall from the tables of their masters Then Iesus answering said to her O woman great is thy faith be it done to thee as thou wilt and her daughter was made whole from that hour Moralities 1. OUr Saviour Jesus Christ after his great and wondrous discent from heaven to earth from being infinite to be finite from being God to be man used many severall means for salvation of the world And behold entring upon the frontiers of Tyre and Sidon he was pleased to conceal himself But
in sinnes and dost thou teach us And they did cast him forth Iesus heard that they câ—st him forth and when he had found him he said to him Dost thou believe in the Sonne of God He answered and said Who is the Lord that I may believe in him And Iesus said to him Both thou hast seen him and he that talketh with thee he it is But he said I believe Lord and falling down he adored him Moralities 1. JEsus the Father of all brightnesse who walked accompanied with his twelve Apostles as the Sun doth with the hours of the day gives eyes to a blind man and doth it by clay and spittle to teach us that none hath power to do works above nature but he that was the Authour of it On the other side a blind man becomes a King over persons of the clearest light being restored to light he renders again the same to the first fountain from vvhence it came He makes himself an Advocate to plead for the chiefest truth and of a poor beggar becomes a confessor after he had deplored his misery at the Temple gate teacheth all mankind the estate of its own felicities We should in imitation of him love the light by adoring the fountain of it and behave our selves as witnesses and defenders of the truth 2. God is a light and by his light draws all unto him he makes a break of day by his grace in this life which becomes afterward a perfect day for all eternity But many lose themselves in this world some for want of light some by a false light and some by having too much light 3. Those lose themselves for vvant of light vvho are not all instructed in the faith and maximes of Christian Religion and those instead of approching near the light love their ovvn darkness They hate the light of their salvation as the shadovv of death and think that if you give them eyes to see their blindnesse you take away their life If they seem Christians they yet have nothing but the name the appearance the book of Jesus is shut from them or if they make a shew to read they may name the letters but never can produce one right good word 4. Others destroy themselves by false lights who being wedded to their own opinions adoring the Chimeraes of their spirit think themselves full of knowledge just happy that the Sun riseth only for them and that all the rest of the world is in darkness they conceive they have the fairest stars for conductors but at the end of their career they find too late that this pretended light was but an Ignis fatuus which led them to a precipice of eternal flames It is the worst of all follies to be wise in our own eye sight and the worst of all temptations is for a man to be a devil to himself 5. Those ruine themselves with too much light who have all Gods law by heart but never have any heart to that law They know the Scriptures all learning sciences they understand every thing but themselves they can find spots in the Sun they can give new names to the stars they perswade themselvs that God is all that they apprehend But after all this heap of knowledge they are found to be like the Sages of Pharaoh and can produce nothing but bloud and frogs Thay embroil and trouble the world they stain their own lives and at their deaths leave nothing to continue but the memory of their sins It would be more expedient for them rather then have such light to carry fiâ—e wherewith to be burning in the love of God and not to swell and burst with that kind of knowledge All learning which is not joined with a good life is like a picture in the aire which hath no table to make it subsist It is not sufficient to be elevated in spirit like the Prophets except a man do enter into some perfect imitation of their virtues Aspirations O Fountain of all brightnesse before whom night can have no vail who seest the day spring out of thy bosome to spread it self over all nature wilt thou have no pity upon my blindness will there be no medicine for my eyes which have so often grown dull and heavy with earthly humours O Lord I want light being alwaies so blind to my own sinnes So many years are past wherein I have dwelt vvith my self and yet know not what I am Self-love maketh me sometimes apprehend imaginary virtues in great and see all my crimes in little I too often believe my own judgement and adore my own opinions as gods and goddesses if thou send me any light I make so ill use of it that I dazle my self even in the brightnesse of thy day making little or no profit of that which would be so much to my advantage if I were so happy as to know it But henceforth I will have no eyes but for thee I will only contemplate thee O life of all beauties and draw all the powers of my soul into my eyes that I may the better apprehend the mistery of thy bounties O cast upon me one beam of thy grace so powerfull that it may never forsake me till I may see the day of thy glory The Gospell upon Thursday the fourth week in Lent St Luke the 7. Of the Widows Son raised from death to life at Naim by our Saviour ANd it came to passe afterward he went into a City that is called Naim and there wâ—nt with him his Disciples and a very great multitude And when he came nigh to the gate of the City behold a dead man was carried forth the only Son of his Mother and she was a Widow and a great muâ—â—itude of the City with her whom when our Lord had seen being moved with mercy upon her he said to her Weep not And he came near and touched the Cossin And they that carried it stood still and he said Young man I say to thee Arise And he that was dead sate up and began to speak And he gave him to his Mother and fear took them all and they magnified God saying That a great Prophet is risen among us and that God hath visited his People And this saying went forth into all Iewry of him and into all the Countrey about Moralities JEsus met at the Gates of Naim which is interpâ—eted the Town of Beauties a young man carried to burial to shew us that neither beauty nor youth are freed from the Laws of death We fear death and there is almost nothing more immortal here below every thing dies but death it self We see him alwaies in the Gospells we touch him every day by our experiences and yet neither the Gospells make us sufficiently faithfull nor our experiences well advised 2. If we behold death by his natural face he seems a litle strange to us because we have not seen him well acted We lay upon him sithes bows and arrows we