changed their Lordes and formes of gouerment and not only the feilds haue bene bedevved but euen great Riuers haue beene dyed vvith bloud The (e) The great weakenesse of man euen besides his Wic kednes vveakenesse of man euen abstracting from expresse and malicious vvickednes is a lamentable thing to looke vpon Hovv often do vve erre in that vvherin vve procure least to faile vvho hath not desired and euen purchased many things vvhich he thought had beene a meanes to make him happy from vvhich yet he hath gathered nothing but the bitter fruit of misery No (f) The miserable incōstācy of man Cane is so vveake no vvinde is so inconstant and vvauering from the imoueable North as man is frō the Center of his rest by the variety of contrary dispositions which raigne in him Making him to be now merry and then melancholy now deuout then distracted Nay he sometymes who is valiant temperate wise happy within an hower after will be fearefull luxurious indiscreet and miserable and euen himselfe shall scarce know how that growes nor why So that not only euery Country and Citty family is vpon all warnings subiect to mutation towards the worse but there is no particular man who euen in his owne bosome hath not the woefull sense of such disorder confusion and restlesse variety of discourse that vnlesse our Lord God had vouchsafed and resolued vpon some remedy neither would our possessession haue beene free from desolation nor our bodies from destruction nor our soules from damnation S. Augustine exclaimeth thus by occasion of his owne particular and what then might he haue done vpon the general Tibi (g) How iustly my we all imitate that incōparable Saint in saying this Confes lib. 6. cap. 16. S. Leo ser 2. de Natiuit Dom. laus Tibi gloria fons misericordiarum ego fiebam miserior tu propinquior To thee be prayse to the be glory O thou fountaine of mercy I grew further of from thee by misery thou camest nearer me by mercy For when the world was at the worst and wickedest then did our Lord the God of heauen and earth whose very nature is goodnesse it selfe whose will is power and whose worke is mercy resolue vpon the remedy therof His (h) Nor should we content our selues in doing small seruices to such a Lord of loue as this pitty was not satisfied with contynuing the whole world to our assistance and seruice although by sinne we had forfeited the same It was not satisfied with mainteyning to vs the vse of our faculties and senses wherby we had yet procured to employ our selues wholly to his dishonor It was not satisfied with rayning downe sweet showers of other blessings blowing ouer many bitter stormes of vengeance which his iustice would faine haue powred vpon vs. In fine it was not satissied with such expressions as are wont to be made by the deerest partes of flesh and bloud nor would lesse serue his turne then to giue vs his owne only Sonne for our totall redresse And yet not only for the sauing vs from hell which is but the paine due to sinne but for the guilt also it selfe of sinne which is in comparably worse For so God loued the world that he gaue his only begotten Sonne to the end that (i) By Faith working with charity but Faith without workes is dead as sayth S. Iames. Prou. 22. whosoeuer should beleeue in him Ioan. 3. might not perish but haue euerlasting life And so that was verified which was said by the mouth of his holy Spirit Diues pauper obuiauerunt sibi Dominus autem operator vtriusque The rich man and the poore haue met one another and our Lord is the worker of both For who so rich as God he being the abundance and the very inexhaustednesse itselfe of all plenty and what is so poore a thing as man and such a man as was euen vpon the very brimme of dropping downe into the bottome of hell if our mercifull Lord had not put himselfe betwene him and home The Originall Roote and Motiue of the infinite Loue of Christ our Lord to the Saluation of man is discouered CHAP. 9. THE Loue which our Lord Iesus was pleased to shew mankind is found to be very different from that which the men of this world are wont to beare to one another For either we loue them who are rich that they may reward vs or who are vsefull that they may help vs or who are beautifull that they may delight vs and the best kind of loue which we are wont to beare is when we giue it by way of gratitude for some benefits or fauours which vve haue receiued But (a) The differēce of the loue which our Lord beares to vs in respect of that which we beare to one another man in relation to Christ our Lord was so poore and so deformed a thing and so vvholly disobliging him to loue as that there vvas nothing in man which might so much as speake of challenging any at his hands It may also seeme a greater vvonder hovv he could induce himselfe to loue vs since as there vvas no merit on our side so there vvas no passion or blinde capriciousnesse on his vvhich yet is the thing that cooples creatures together many tymes in the chaynes of loue vvithout all desert For (b) The former doubt is solued by considering the first motiue of the loue of our Lord to vs. the soluing of this doubt at the very roote therof we must resort to the motiue of the loue of Christ our Lord. Amor de Dios. Which was not as Doctour Auila doth excellently shew any perfection in vs but only that which was in himselfe and which by his contemplation of his eternall Fathers wil was put in motion towards mankind It depended vpon that solemne decree which with infinite mercy was made by the most blessed Trinity of imploying him vpon the Redemption and Saluation of the world When therfore he became Incarnate in the pure wombe of his all-immaculate mother in the very instant of the Creation of that most holy soule which was infused into his pretious body it was indued vvith all those incomparable blessings and graces vvherof vve haue already spoken and all vpon no other originall ground but onely because our Lord God vvas pleased to amplify extend his bountiful hand ouer that sovvle and so to exalt his ovvne goodnes both tovvards it and vs. Nor euen vvas that soule then in case to haue performed any one act vvhich might be meritorious in the sight of God out of vvhose pure and primitiue grace and mercy those vnspeakeable benefits vvere bestowed But vvhen in that happy instant vvherin it vvas created it did first open the eyes (c) What vnspeakeable affections would be raysed in that soule by that sight of her already deified vnderstanding and did see her selfe freely made that excellēt thing vvhich God is only able
very dunge doth saue both men beasts so greately hath God multiplyed his mercy How deere is this Oyle and yet how cheape It (b) How Grace is both deer cheape is cheape and common and withall it giueth health If it were not cheape it would neuer haue been powred vpon me if it were not wholsome it would neuer be able to recouer me Without doubt saith he there is a resemblance betwene the name of spouse and oyle nor did the holy ghost in vayne compare them to one another For my part vnlesse somewhat which is better do occurre to you I hold it to be for these three qualities For it shyneth it feedeth and it annoynteth It entertaines the fire it feeds the body it asswageth paine It is Light Food Phisicke Now see if it be not iust so in this name of the Spouse It shyneth when it is preached It feedeth when it is considered and asswageth and suppleth when it is inuoked Is not saith he this name of Iesus both Light Food Phisicke to you What doth so nourish and fat the soule which feeds vpon it All food of the soule is dry if it be not bedewed with this Oyle It is inspide if it be not sprinkled with this salt If (c) Obserue admire and imitate this sweet Saynt thou write I haue no gust in it vnlesse I may read the name of Iesus there If thou dispute or conferre it contents me not vnlesse I heare the sound of Iesus Iesus is hony in the mouth it is musicke in the eare and it is a melting kind of ioy in the hart Thus doth this holy Saint expresse himselfe in the place alleadged concerning this particular He also sheweth there at large how it is that (d) Our Lord Iesus is not only the Food but light also and the Phisicke of the whole world light illuminating the world and the pretious Phisicke curing all the wounds miseries therof as heere for breuities sake I haue onely shewed our of him that it is the food which strengthneth vs in all our weakenes Such hath beene the spirit of deuotion of the Saints in the Christian Catholike Church from the first to the rest and now at last in this present age towards this holy name of Iesus Nay we see that by his goodnes it is rather improued then decreased now For in very many Citties there are kept euery weeke though not in the same but different churches thereof deuout solemnities in memory and honor of this supereminent name of our Lord Iesus And we also see that the two great Lights of this last age of ours S. Ignatius of Loyola S. Teresa were so deerly deuoted to this holy name that the latter of them for this cause hath deserued to haue the name of her owne family as it were forgotten and that now she is knowne insteed therof by the Name (e) The Deuotion of S. Ignatius S. Teresa to the name of Iesus of IESVS as being called Teresa of IESVS And the former though he kept his owne name to his owne person yet to shew how intirely and how irreuocably he had giuen all away to the seruice of our Lord Iesus and withall to proue the reuerēce religiō which he bare to that diuine name of his he did in the instituting of his Society renounce the appellation of his owne name and (f) See in the life of the Saint he ordayned it to be eternally called vnder the honour and only auow of the holy Name of Iesus I omit heer to shew how supernaturally the Saint was concurred withall heerin by our Lord himselfe how by the visible head of his Church the Society hath bene successiuely confirmed vnder this Title but I only consider what deuotion these two so high seruāts of our Lord had to it in conformity of that spirit which hath still inflamed the hartes of the former Saints of the Catholike Church In this (g) The wonderful effects which haue beene wrought by the deuotion of Christiās to the holy name of Iesus Name it is that deuills haue beene cast both out of bodyes and soules That the faith hath bene planted among Pagās That worlds of miracles both corporall and spirituall haue bene wrought in confirmation therof That Martyrs haue bene made tryamphant ouer all the bitter torments which men or deuills could inflict That so many millions of vgly and importunate temptations haue bene ouercome millious of desolations motions of despaire driuen away millions of serene sweet comfortes brought into the soule and in fine that whatsoeuer is miserable and sinfull hath bene remoued and whatsoeuer is holy and happy hath bene procured for Christians at the liberall hand of our Lord. Yet all this is not so idly meant nor is to be so ill vnderstood as if these benefits would acrew to such as should only care to pronounce the bare Name of Iesus without any reuerence or faith and loue of him whose name it is But only they are praysed heer and that most worthily who are deuoted to his diuine name as signifying the Sauyour of the world who is expressed therby the same being a means by which the mind is made to ruminate and reflect often vpon him And they who ar not yet deuoted are exhorted to it as to the loue of a liuely picture of an admirable Originall or rather as of a curious cup wherin most pretious liquor is contayned or in fine as of the very compendium whole abbreuiated History of all that excesse which our Lord did say or do or els endure in this mortall life for the redemption of man And indeed how can they loue our B. Sauiour who delight not in that deere name of his which declares him so cleerly to be a Sauiour and who follow not the stepps of the holy seruants and Saints of God whose harts haue so tenderly melted in their deuotion to this sacred name of our Lord Iesus Of the great loue which our Lord shewed to vs in his Epiphany or Manifestation to the Gentiles in the person of the three Kings CHAP. 16. BVT to returne againe and so to take our leaue of those Sheephards who were surprised by this new borne Lord of ours as if it had beene with the netts of loue neere at hand we may obserue how he tooke those three Kings by shooting them from a farre off with a starre which strooke them at the hart S. Augustine complaines but he doth it like himselfe after a most deer and tender manner that our Lord had also peirced his hart with loue Confes l. 9. cap. 2. Sagittaueras tu cor nostrum charitate tua gestabamus verba tua transfixa visceribus Thou hadst saith he O Lord shot through our hartes with thy loue and we bare thy words in our bowells wherby they were strucken from side to side In like manner did he shoot through the harts of these holy men in whose person he consecrated
how he loued that man Ibid. Yet Lazarus indeed his friends had obliged our Lord by particular seruices to his owne sacred person wheras the holy Text affirmes in many other places that his diuine pitty mercy did worke most tenderly also towards others vpon whom he had no other eye at all then as they were parts of mankind all which he did so deerly loue And therfore he pittied both their generall and particular miseries as appeares by the story of the widdow in the death of her sonne Luc. 7. Matt. 13. Mar. 8. Matt. 23◠and of the people in the wildernes for their distresse of hungar and especially of the citty of Ierusalem when with his eyes full of teares he lamented their misery as hath bene said else where The holy Scripture also affirmeth not only that he pittied them Matt. 1◠Marc. 8. but that himselfe would professe and say as much And besides he ordayned that the notice of it should be left to vs vpō record And what charming words were those when he would bid them Aske (1) Ioan. 16. and haue that their ioye might be full and when he would say What (2) Marc. 10. wilt thou haue me doe Yea and also in expresse termes Be it vnto thee (3) Matt. 15. as thou wilt thy selfe As if he were content that man should be as it were his owne caruer out of the very omnipotency of God and that the mercy of God were to haue no other measure then mans owne desire And when he would say My selfe will (4) Matt. 8. goe and cure the sicke person at thy house And when being the soueraigne King of glory he would yet become a begger of a cup of could water of the (5) Ioan. 4. Samaritan women whilst the while he was filling her soule with the water of grace which instantly might take all possibility of further thirst from her And when he would call them by many and most tender names as we haue shewed vpon another occasion And when he would begge of them that they would sinne no more And when he would so labouriously defend and plead the cause of S. Mary (6) Luc. 37. Magdalene his enamoured penitent And when he confounded that hypocrysy and pride of the Iewes and had such diuine pitty of the poore (7) Ioan. 8. Adultresse And whē he would goe as he did to him who was borne (8) Ioan. 9. blind whome himselfe would needs vouchsafe to seeke as soone as he was excommunicated by the Iewes And hauing found him he gaue him comfort and passed sometyme in his conuersation and withdrew that curtaine which he suffered still to hange betwixt him and others and told him at last in plaine powerful tearmes (9) Ibid. That the Sauiour of the world was then speaking to him The great laboriousnesse of Loue which our Lord Iesus expressed in the working of his Miracles is more declared CHAP. 43. NOVV withall this loue which our Lord expressed in the working of his miracles was no nice or wary kind of loue For it cost him excessiue paines labour and imployed him in iourneying through all that hilly cōtry on foote as may be seene throughout the whole Euangelicall history to find matter Matt. 9. Marc. 6. for his mercy of that kind to worke vpon And sometymes all Iewry not being able to containe and compasse in those bowells of his charity he would be breaking out into the skirts of the Gentiles Matt. 25. which he began to ennoble sanctifie by his presence And whersoeuer he were he was importuned by poore people to take pitty on them and he had so much towards them that he had none of himselfe But he prayed for them by night he laboured for them by day that so hard that as sometymes (1) Matt. 4. 12. 15. he had no bread to eate so at othertymes he had not so (2) Marc. 3. much as leaue or tyme to eate it in yea or so much as (3) Marc. 2. 3. euen scarce meanes to stirre through the presse of people which came about him At all howers was he ready to giue them health if they had beene ready alwaies to receaue it But the Country in sommer begin extremly hoat for them to haue repaired to him in the heate of the day would haue bene perhaps but to haue exchanged one sicknes for another Or els though the Patients would haue bene glad to be carryed or conducted the men vvho vvere to help them had not charity inough to endure the trouble But hovvsoeuer the Patients or their friends did stand affected the Phisitian was still at hand and he desired no better Fee then to be doing them fauour And (a) What troopes of sicke persons were brought to our B. Lord for eure Luc. 4. so therfore in the euenings about Sunne-set the holy Scripture shevves vvhat troopes of people of all those villages tovvnes and citties vvould come in about him Drawing out dying men into the sight of that truer brighter sunne vvhich vvas euer shining tovvards them as at noone day Not only did he cure them all but besides the benefit it self of their health he imparted it vvith so much tendernes of loue as not to permit that there should be so much as any one of them all vvhome he vvould not touch vvith his ovvne pure povverfull hands though he vvas infinitely able to haue cured them all at once Luc. 4. and vvith the least vvord of his mouth or euen vvith the wil of his hart At other tymes agayne he vvould accomplish their desires in another forme And as before he cured them by touching them vvith his owne sacred flesh to shew his loue so novv he vvould doe it by letting thē touch his garments Marc. 6. or his person to shevv his povver There might you haue seeme as if it had bene a very Market or Faire of sicke Folkes of all diseases both of body and mind which went Progresse with him whersoeuer he had a mind to goe Some leaning vpon staues some carried in mens armes and some in their beds vpon wheele barrowes A running (*) A running cāpe of souldiers who had been wounded by sinne camp it was of souldiers who had all beene wounded in the warre by their enemies and they hoped for help by flying towards the Cullours of this Captaine And we may make account that though he were the King both of heauen and earth yet he tooke not so much gust in being courted by the Angells of heauen as he did in being haunted by this hospitall which went euer creeping after him on earth This (b) Many Hospitalls in one hospitall had all kindes of hospitals made vp in one One hospital for al sortes of ordinary diseases as Feauers Dropsies Fluxes of bloud and the like Another for the Blind Another for the Lame Another for the Deafe Another for the Dumbe Another for
pronounce an vniust sentence against him but he tooke him into his house hand to hand And finding vpon the speach which passed betwene them that our Lord had no designe vpon the honours and aduantages of this world nor (f) Our Lord had nopretēce vpon any other kingdom then that of heau◠pretended to the exercise of any other kingdome then that of heauen to which he endeauoured to draw men by teaching them to obey God who is the supreme King therof and the Iudge for his part not caring what became of heauen or heauēly things Ioan. 18. he came quickly forth againe declared that he found the man not guilty How Pilate examined our Blessed Lord and how he sent him to Herod Of the scorne which Herod put vpon him How the returned him to Pilate and how Pilate resolued at last to scourge him CHAP. 63. BVT they persisted in their malicious clamours and protested that the prisoner had bene sowing rumours Luc. 13. making stirres throughout all Iury beginning at Galiley and proceeding as farre as that very place Now Galiley was belonging to the iurisdiction of Herod who had bene the murtherer of S. Iohn Baptist and betwene Pilate and him Ibid. there had bene ill (a) A curtesy of a Courtier quarter till that tyme. But he chauncing to be then at Ierusalem this Pilate put a Court-tricke vpon him for he sent the prisoner to him as if it had bene out of a kind of respect wheras chiefely it was because he would faine be rid of the cause To Christ our Lord nothing came amisse who still with his accustomed humility patience silence obedience and most ardent loue and desire of the saluation of mankind did apply himselfe to renounce any gust of his owne and gaue himselfe all away to theirs And this true Prince of Peace was cōtent to vndergoe all that paine and to endure all that scorne which would be put vpō him both at Herods Court and in the way Ibid. betwene him and Pilate vpon condition that so he might be an occasion of recōciling the emnities of those two though both conspired to his preiudice For he knew that by that curtesy Ibid. which Herod would take so kindly at the hands of Pilate from that tyme forward they would be friends This Herod was a famous infamous person for his sensuality his cruelty and a world of other vices And for as much as he had heard often speach of Christ our Lord and of the reputation which he had both for his wonderfull workes and for his admirable wisedome he had an (b) The curiosity of Herod Ibid. extreme curiosity to satisfy himselfe in those two points In conformity therof he earnestly desired to see some miracle of his working And for as much as concerned the fame of his wisedome he procured by a world of questions which he asked to see whether truth would answere to the voyce which ran of him But our Lord IESVS who was not come into the world to make men sport but to doe them good nor to satisfy the curiosity of their heads but to impart true sanctity to their harts would not vouchsafe to loose one word vpon that wretched King nor cared he through his loue to be suffering for vs to defend himselfe against all those impudent lyes which by the Priests and Elders were thundred out in a perpetuall storme of words against him Yet euen Herod himself could not be so vniust as to allow of the plea which was made in accusation of him for as much as concerned the substance of his cause but yet (c) The falle and foolish iudgemēt of the wife men of this world Ibid. conceauing by occasion of his continuall silence that either he was some silly fellow in himselfe or els perhaps that in comparison of him our Lord thought himselfe to be of farre inferiour speach and wit and therfore would not discredit himselfe by saying any thing he did contemne him with his whole guard of souldiers after a most disdaineful manner and in token therof he returned him to Pilate with a fooles coate vpon his backe This act amongst the rest bred an extraordinary contempt of Christ our Lord in the peoples minde in regard that Herod and his Court were esteemed as a kind of Touch wherby men might be knowne distinctly iustly for what they were But howsoeuer this contempt did our Lord vouchsafe to vndergoe and this coate of scorne was he contēt and glad to weare for our confusion in respect of our former vanity and for our instruction how we are to carry our selues in future occasions Which (d) Agreat lesson of many vertues at once must not be to stand vpon the reputation of our sufficiency wit or knowledge we who are but wormes and flyes when the King of glory the word the increated Wisedome of Almighty God wherby all things were made is content for our sakes to cast himselfe before the eyes of our Faith all contemned and derided as any Idiot or naturall foole might be Nor are we to care though our patience be accounted feare or our humility basenes or our silence simplicity Nor when it concernes the seruice of God and the good of soules are we to shrinke from our duty and good desires though all the world should despise and hate vs for it But when Pilate found that Herod had not thought him worthy of death he was glad of that occasion and pressed it hard vpon the Iewes as knowing indeed that it was not the zeale of Iustice but the rage of enuy which had incensed them against him Sometymes he questioned our Lord IESVS to see if any thing would come from him in the strength wherof he might acquite him But our Lord who desired nothing lesse then what might tend to his owne discharge and nothing more then what might tend to our aduantage was so profoundly and inuincibly silent as did amaze the Iudge Marc. 25. And woe had bene to vs if this silence of our Lord had not bene exercised by him through the merit wherof the eternall Father will looke with mercy vpon those millions of sinnes which be howerly cōmitted through the impertinent indiscrect and vncharitable impure speach of men Sometymes againe the Iudge would be vsing all the art he had to make them desist from their desire of his ruine Marc. 25. Luc. 23. and in particular he thought of two expedients The former of them was to punish him so cruelly out of very pitty as that with the sight therof they might be moued with compassion towards him So that he resolued to haue him scourged and to that end he deliuered him ouer to the discretion of his souldiers who had none The torment of Christ our Lord Audi Piiac 120. in this mistery of his flagellation is excellently pondered by Father Auila He faith therfore to this effect That (e) Note this for it deserueth all attention if a
hath framed the partes of this world of ours and of all the bodies conteyned therin with such exact perfectiō that nothing can either be added or dimished without making it either lesse faire in it selfe or lesse fit for the other parts therof The very least of these things he gouerneth with that depth of Wisedome and addresseth it to the seuerall ends by soe apt and admirable wayes that not so much as a haire can fall frō a head nor a sparrow light on the ground nor a fly can eyther liue or dye but by his pleasure and prouidence (h) A most strange but most certaine truth euen that little miserable thinge doth serue as a part without which the whole as hath beene said would be lesse beautifull Nothing happens to him by channce nothing by surprise but all things are done by eternall Councell And which increaseth the wonder al this is determined by one simple act of his without any deliberation at all or the interposing of the least delay and this so perfectly and so fully that hauing with his owne infinite Wisedome contemplated his owne workes by the space of infinite ages he could neuer find that any thing was not most wisely done nor any thing which was capable of the least amendment or alteration The (i) The infinite goodnes of Christ our Lord as he is God infinitenes of his Goodnes doth also appeare by innumerable wayes but especially by this That although his diuine Iustice be euery whit as infinite as his Mercy yet his Mercy extending it selfe first to vs euen out of his owne intrinsecall eternall goodnes to vs and vpon no originall motiue on our parts his (k) How the mercy of God may be sayd to be greater then his Iustice whilst yet both are infinite Psal 44. Ose 13. Iustice doth neuer exercise or imploy it selfe vpon his Creatures but by reason of some former expresse prouocation from them and therfore it is most truely said That his mercy is aboue all his workes and that the perdition of Israell is from it selfe What shall we say in further proofe of his Goodnes but that he hauing made vs all of nothing and being able with the same ease to make a million of better worlds then this he doth yet so court wooe vs to loue him to be intirely happy in him as if himselfe might not be so vnlesse we would be pleased to graunt his suite To these miserable vngratefull creatures of his he doth so deerly and so many waies communicate himselfe as that no one of thē doth exist which doth not in euery moment of tyme participate of his diuine Goodnes in most abundant and various manner He seekes vs when we are lost he calls vs when we goe astray he imbraceth vs as soone as we dispose our selues to returne notwithstanding the millions of sinnes which we may haue cōmitted against him He (l) The diuers wayes whereby God communicateth his misteries to vs. makes himself all in all to vs now performing the office of a King by commaunding now of a Captaine by conducting now of a Mother by cherishing and continually of a Pastour by feeding vs sometymes with Comforts wherby we may be incouraged and sometimes by Crosses through the ouercomming wherof we may be fortified and refined Nor (m) Consider of this truth with great attention for it is of vnspeakable comfort is there any one instant in this whole life of ours wherin by vertue of his former grace we may not euen by some act of our very thought alone acquire new degrees of grace as will be shewed more largely afterward to euery one of which degrees a seuerall degree of eternall glory in heauen doth correspond and euery one of which degrees of glory though it should last but for an instāt is incomparably more worth them all the pleasures and treasures and honours which euer were or will be tasted in this world by all the race of man betweene the creation of Adam and the day of Iudgment If we consider this truth as we ought and if God of his mercy will inable vs to feele it in our very harts we shall instantly admire the infinite liberall goodnes of his diuine Maiesty who would not so much as permit any euill at all in the world if it were not to deriue more good from thence then otherwise would haue accrewed without that euill Rom. 8. For all thinges do cooperate to the good of Gods seruants as S. Paul affirmes and S. Augustine inferreth thereupon That euen our very sinnes when they are forsaken do cooperate as seruing to inflame vs with greater loue of God and consequently they bespeake for vs more resplendent thrones of glory in the kingdome of Heauen then without those sinnes we should haue had So infinite I say is the goodnes of God and so excessiue is his loue as will further yet appeare by that which followes wherby the excellency of the soule of Christ our Lord as Man is to be declared The Loue of our Lord Iesus as he is Man is much commended to vs by the consideration of the Excellency of his Soule CHAP. 2. SINCE the dignity of the Soule of Christ our Lord is a great part of the ground of his immense loue to Man as will be shewed particularly afterward it may heer come fitly in to point at the supreme excellency of this Soule First therefore it must be taken for graunted that Christ our Lord had an Vnderstanding which was created at that instant when he was endued with a true and naturall soule of man Heereupon it followeth that he had a knowledge also which was created which was distinct from his diuine knowledge This truth was thus declared by Pope Agatho S. Synod Act. 6. 8. We publish and confesse that the two Natures of Christ our Lord and ech of them had the naturall proprietyes which respectiuely belonged to such naturs And the Councell of Calcedon doth in like sort define That he tooke to himselfe a perfect reasonable soule without the want of any propriety belonging to such a one and that in all thinges it was like to that of ours excepting sinne There was anciently indeed an heresy of certaine persons who were called Gnostici as S. Irenaeus relates Affirming that Christour Lord was ignorant of many thinges Iran lib. 1. aduer haer ca◠17. and that he learned many thinges vnder the direction of some Maister as other men might doe And so also (a) The heretikes of al ages are lead by the same spirit of errour Calu. in Harmoni◠passim do Sectaries of this last age of ours blaspheme being lead by the same spirit of errour as well in this as many other thinges whilst they lay an imputation of ignorance vpon Christ our Lord. But the holy Catholike Church abhorreth all such impious conceit as this and so al her Doctours with S. Thomas do auow That (b) Christ our Lord man had
euer the beatificall vison of God Ioan. 8. Ioan. 11. our Lord Iesus as he was man had euer the beatificall vision of God This truth is thus declared in the Ghospell by the mouth of Christ our Lord I speake those thinges which I haue seene with the Father and where I am that is to say in Glory there shall my seruant also be For since he was from and in the very beginning the naturall Sonne of God and the vniuersall Father and head both of men Angells the influence whereof was to be deriued into all the members it was but reason and it could not be otherwise but that his Soule should be endued with this Beatificall knowledge as is declared by the holy Fathers By this knowledge he beheld and did contemplate the most B. Trinity after a manner incomparably more sublime and noble then any or all the other creatures put togeather And because by how much the more cleerely God is seene so much the more are creatures seene in him it will follow that the Soule of Christ our Lord did behould in God not only innumerable thinges but euen outright all those things concerning creatures which euer were at any tyme or which are or shall heereafter be since (c) It belongeth to Christ our Lord as le is our Iudge to know all â—â—inges vhich coÌ„terne the creatures vhom he is to iudg Matt. 28. â—8 he is the Lord of all the Iudge of all and hath all power giuen to him both in heauen and earth for the iust and orderly execution wherof it is euident that he must haue the knowledge of them all The Catholike Fathers and Doctours do also ascribe a second kind of knowledge to the soule of Christ our Lord which (d) Christ our Lord a Man had also infused knowledg they call Infused as being a kind of supernaturall light whereby it did certainely and clearely discerne and know all thinges created And although it be not so expresly contayned in holy Scriptures that Christ our Lord was indued with this knowledge in particular and distinct manner since they only affirme That he knew all thinges which is sufficiently made good by that beatificall vision whereof I spake before yet are there pregnant consequences weighty reasons which exact at our hands a firme beliefe that he had also this other Infused knowledge For the soule of Christ our Lord was alwayes truely Blessed he vvas not only a Runner tovvardes felicity as all other humane creatures are in this life but he vvas a Comprehender of it euen from the very first instant of his Conception It vvas necessary therfore that his soule being Blessed should haue all the endowments of a blessed Soule vvherof this Infused knowledge is one and vvhereby it did certainly and clearely know all thinges created vvhether they vvere natural or supernaturall And that in themselues and in their proper kind or element as they call it and not as only appearing and shining in another glasse as they are seene by that former Beatificall vision but directly and immediatly in themselues And for this it is that the incomparable S. Augustine doth declare That the Angels are endued both with a Morning and an Euening knowledge vnderstanding by the former the beatificall vision and by the latter the knowledge vvhich they call infused Our Lord Iesus had moreouer a third kinde of knowledge which is termed by the name of Experimentall This (e) Of the experimentall knowledg of Christ our Lord. knowledge is acquired by the industry of the senses and it was the fame in Christ our Lord for as much as concernes the meanes wherby it was gathered with the knowledge which we coÌ„passe in this life But yet with this great difference That in Christ our Lord it was without any danger of errour wheras in vs it is with very great difficulty of iudging right And it is in consideration of this kind of knowledge that the holy Euangelist affirmed Christ our Lord to proceed and grow Luc. 2. But those miserable men wherof I spake before hauing the sight of their Faith so short as not to discerne in his sacred soule any other kind of knowledge then this last did absolutely impute ignorance to it at sometymes of his life more then others as if it had not beene Hypostatically vnited to God in whome not onely the knowledge of all things but (f) Nothing is but so far as it is in God euen the very things themselues remayne and if they did not so remaine they could not be Now vpon this which concerneth the knowledge of Christ our Lord it followeth cleerly that he knew all things playnely which are which shall be and which euer were It followeth also that he neuer ceased in any one minute of his life from the consideration of what he knew since he had such knowledge as was wholly independant vpon those images or formes which vse to be impressed vpon the Phansy therfore the working of his knowledge was no way interrupted euen when he was sleeping And yet againe it followeth that hauing a perfect comprehension of all things created together with the causes and effects of them all he (g) Christ our Lord as Man was indued with the perfect knowledg of all arts and sciences consequently was endued with the truth of all Arts and Sciences He had moreouer a most sublime guift of (h) He had a most sublime guift of Prophesy Prophesy and that not after a transitory manner as others haue bene enriched with it by God but permanently and sticking as it were as close vnto him as his owne Nature And lastly it must follow that he was the possessour of all (i) Christ our Lord as Man was a most perfect possessor of prudence Prudence and the partes therof which might any way be fit either for the ordering of his owne actions or for the direction and gouerment of others So that by vvhat vve haue seene he might vvell be naturally the Maister and guide of al mankind which yet will more cleerly appeare by the Power and Sanctity of that pretious Soule The Power and Sanctity of the Soule of Christ our Lord is considered wherby we may also the better see his excessiue Loue. CHAP. 3. BESIDES the Consideration of the deuine Wisedome and knowledge of Christ our Lord I should deserue no excuse if vvhen there is question of his infinite Loue to vs I should not also touch vpon the Power and the Sanctity of his soule Which if they be seriously considered vvill greatly serue though I meane but euen to touch and go to set forth his dignity in himselfe and consequently it vvill put a more expresse and perfect stampe of value vpon his infinitely deere tender loue to vs. For (a) How euery seuerall excellency in Christ our Lord doth iustly rayse the valew of his loue the more he knowes and the more continually he cares and the more wisedome he enioyes and
the more power he practiseth the more holynes he possesseth the more happy are the creatures vvhom he loues The (b) The power of Christ our Lord as man Power therfore vvhervvith Christ our Lord vvas endued as man vvas so vvonderfully great that he could vvorke vvhat miracles he vvould and at his pleasure vvas he able to inuert the order of all naturall things and all this by vvhat meanes he would think fit This Power he also had in as permanent a manner as vve haue said already that he had his Prophesy nor vvas it only obtayned for him by his particular prayers made to God from tyme to tyme according to the exigence of occasions as it hath beene graunted to some of the seruants of God But vve read that vvhen he vvas passing and doing other thinges Luc. 8. yet vertue euen then issued out of him vvherby the vvorking of miracles is meant And els vvhere it is also affirmed that the vertue which issued out of him Luc. 6. cured all diseases And the leaper vvho vvas recouered in the Ghospell vvas inspired by the good spirit of God to say thus to Christ our Sauiour O Lord if thou wilt Matt. 8. thou canst make me cleane And our Lord did shevv that he vvas not deceaued therin For instantly he said I will Be cleane Novv all this Power he employed for our good both corporall and spirituall but especially for our spirittuall good For euen in the Ghospell vvhen he cured mens bodyes by way of illuminating their eyes enabling their limmes and restoring their liues he cured also many of their soules and the seuerall infirmities vvhich they vvere subiect to as vvill be shevved els (c) In the discourse of the Miracles of Christ our Lord. vvhere Nor vvrought that holy omnipotent hand of his any outvvard miracle vvherin some invvard mystery was not locked vp as some rich Ievvel might be in some rare Cabbinet The (d) The sanctity of the soule of Christ our Lord. Sanctity also of Christ our Lord vvas supreme For Sanctity being nothing but a constant and supernaturall cleanes and purity of the soule wherby it is made acceptable and deare to God hovv holy must that soule needs be vvhich vvas so highly (e) The soule of no Saynt in heauen was to haue been any other then odious in the sight of God but for the merits of Christ our Lord. deere to him as that it is only in regard of that soule that all other soules are not odious and vgly in his sight Supreme I say was the Sanctity of Christ our Lord for by the grace of the Hypostaticall vnion he was made holy after a most high and incomprehensible manner and he became The beloued Sonne of God receauing grace beyond al power of expression That so from thence as from the treasure-house of Sanctity all men might take according to their capacity Not only as from the greatest Saint but as from the sanctifyer of them all and as I may say from the very dye of sanctity whereby all they who euer thinke of becomming Saints must take their coulour and luster all they who will may fetch what they desire out of this store So that we may see with ease inough how incōparably much more the Sāctity was of Christ our Lord then that of any or all the other creatures put togeather For among them God hath giuen drops to some and draughts to others but to him grace was communicated by streames and floudes beyond all measure or set proportion His soule indeed could not haue beene vnited to the diuinity without a most speciall grace but that being once supposed the other could not chuse but follow as connaturall And by the force of this Sanctity of Christ our Lord he was wholy naturally made incapable of sinne yea and of any morall defect whatsoeuer Concerning the Vertues which are called Theologicall namely Fayth Hope and Charity the last only of the three could lodge in him for the former two being (f) Why christ our Lord was vncapable of Fayth Hope Hope and Faith were incompatible with the cleare vision and perfect fruition of God which he still enioyed But (g) Christ our Lord possessed all the morall vertues in all perfection as for the morall vertues as Liberality Magnanimity Patience Purity Mercy Humility and Obedience withall the rest it appeares by the history of his sacred life and death that he had them all and that they were most perfect in him and euer most ready to be put in practise as not being impeached by so much as the offer of any contraryes All the guifts of Gods spirit were in him nay he was the resting and reposing place of that spirit This Soule of Christ our Lord was therefore inhabited by all the vertues Isa 11. and graces of God as heauen is by so many seueral quires of Angells in heauen but that which did sublime them all was Charity This soule if it be well considered will looke as if it were some huge wide bottomlesse sea of Christall but (*) The vnspeakeable working of the soule of Christ our Lord in the spirit of loue a Christall sweetly passed and transpierced with a kind of flame of loue It was vnspeakably quiet and yet in a kind of perpetuall agitation by the impulse thereof like the flame of some torch which is euer mouing and working yet without departing from it selfe It is like that kind of Hawke which keeping still the same pitch aloft in the ayre doth stirr the winges with a restlesse kind of motion whilest yet the body doth not stirre It spendes but wasteth not it selfe by spreading grace vpon all the seruants of God after an admirable manner Sometymes looking into the hartes of men and by that very looking changing them sometymes by sending as it were certaine inuisible strings from his hart to theirs and so sweetly drawing them to himselfe whilst (h) No soule can moue one pace towardes God but drawn by the loue of Christ our Lord. yet the world would ignorantly conceaue that they went alone But aboue all that which may strike our weake and darke mindes with wonder is to consider the profoundity and (i) The admirable order with still was held in the soule of Christ our Lord notwithstanding the wonderfull multiplicity of acts with he exercised al at once order which is held in that diuine Soule though it looked vpon almost infinite thinges at once Still did it adore the Diuinity still did it abase and euen as it were annihilate his owne humanity still did it most straitly imbrace with strong armes and patronize with the working bowels of tender mercy all the miseryes of al the Creatures in the whole world vnspeakably ardently thirsting after the glory of God and the felicity of man and eternally keeping all the facultyes of his mind erected vpon that high and pure law of Charity So excellent and so noble was this
diuine Soule of Christ our Lord through the high endowmentes wherewith it was enriched by the eternall Father Wherein no passion did euer once presume to lead the way to reason but was glad of so much honour as to follow it And though whatsoeuer concerned the vegetatiue and sensitiue powers of the soule may seeme little in respect of what is sayd concerning the reasonable which inuolueth both those others yet since nothing is little which is able to do seruice and homage to him who is so truly great it may deserue to be considered how those (k) The vegetatiue and sensitiue powers of the soule were wholly in the hand of the will of Christ our Lord. Vegetatiue and Sensitiue powers were wholy in the hand of his will And so he could haue chosen whether his body should grow or whether his meate should nourish or whether his flesh should feele or whether his bloud vpon the inflicting of a wound should follow or whether his person should send out any such images or species of it selfe as whereby it might become visible to the eyes of others And (l) The body of Christ our Lord though it were a true and naturall body yet was it wholly in his power to determine how far it should be subiect to the conditions of such a body more or lesse in fine in his choice it was whether he would let himselfe be lyable to any of those propertyes and conditions to which the rest of man is subiect And now because the graces and perfections of his sacred body doe contribute to the excellency of his diuine person I will also procure to describe the supereminent beauty and dignity of that sacred flesh and bloud For thus we shall grow to haue a perfect notion of his whole person which will conuey such an influēce of valew vpon euery act of loue which afterward he will be shewed to haue expressed as I hope will make vs wholly giue our hart to him by way of homage for his incomparable benefits The dignity of the pretious body of Christ our Lord is declared wherby the excellency of his loue is magnified CHAP. 4. THE Spirit of God in his holy Scripture doth prophetically delineate the beauty dignity of the sacred Humanity of our Lord Iesus I meane of his sacred flesh and bloud It speaketh of him thus Psalm 44. speciosus forma prae filijs hominum A (a) The beauty of the body of Christ our Lord. person indued with another manner of most excellent beauty then was euer to be seene in any other Creature And indeed euen abstracting from what is reuealed to vs by way of faith concerning his beauty in particular what kind of admirable thing must that Humanity needs be according to all discourse of reason On the one side let vs consider that this sacred body of his was compounded of no other matter but that purest bloud Royall of his al-immaculat virgin mother Royal (b) The dignity sanctity of his descēt it was by her discēt from so many kings Sacerdotall and Propheticall by her being also deriued from the Sanctity of Prophets of Preists Great prerogatiues were these but yet they are the least of them wherewith this holy body of our Lord was endued For it was much more dignified in that before it came to be his the body of the sacred virgin did cohabite with her owne most happy most accomplished soule Wherby (c) How sublimly spirituall the B. virgin was her very flesh was gowne after a sort to be euen Spirit as we see the very soules of sensuall persons to participate as it were the very nature of flesh Much more aduantage did it yet receiue in that the holy Ghost did frame this body of our B. Lord out of the bloud in the wombe of our B. Lady And most of all was it aduanced by this That in the instant when she conceaued his incomparable soule was infused and both his soule and body was Hypostatically vnited to the diuinity Of the happines of that soule already we haue spoken and euen by this little which heere is touched we may behould his body as the prime maister-peece of all visible beauty Amongst (d) Why the body of our B. Lord must needs be admirably beautiful the Children of this world we see indeed that euen they who are borne of handsome through the disorder which naturally accompanieth generation and besides it also growes sometymes through a disconformity which nurses haue to the mothers But his body was framed by the neuer erring hand of the holy Ghost heere the mother and the nurse were one and the same most holy Virgin Mary The excellency of Corporall Beauty doth consist (e) The conditiōs which are required for the making vp of perfect Beauty either in complexion for as much as concernes coulour or in feature or shape for as much as concernes proportion or in facility and grace for as much as concernes disposition and motion We see how any one of these partes of beauty if it be eminent doth affect the eye and hart of a beholder although such a person do either want the other two or haue them at the most but in some moderat degree And the perfection of any one part pleads the excuse of wanting any other And whether therfore shall we be so bold as to thinke that Christ our Lord was not endued with them all in all perfection or els so blinde as notwithstanding such vnspeakeable beauty as his was not to be enamoured of him It is not inough that a body haue only beauty for the perfection therof but (f) For the complemēt of Beauty there are requyred health strengh withall it must haue health and strength Now what want of health could the body of our B. Sauiour haue whose soule was not onely free but so infinitely farre from the curse both of Actuall and Originall sinne the true cause not only of sicknes but of death And what infirmity or weakenes could that Humanity be subiect to vnlesse he had would Isa 63. as indeed he would for our greater good which not onely was not obnoxious to any distemper of humours but withall it was made to be one person with allmighty God himselfe And now let him that can conceaue heerby the sublimity euen of his Corporall beauty Quis est iste saith the Prophet Esay Who is he that commeth out of Edom with his garments dyed from Bozra this beautifull one in his robe walking on in the multitude of his strength This S. Denis affirmes Decael Hierarch c. 7. to haue beene spoken in person of the (g) All the Angells in heauen were amazed to see the beauty of the body of Christ our Lord. Celestiall Spirits they being possessed with an admiration of the vnspeakable Beauty of Christ our Lord Whose diuinity was vested with our humanity as with a robe which once was white though it grew to be
to compreheÌ„d and vvhen it knevv from vvhat hand it came and found it selfe to be in possession of an absolute principality ouer all the Creatures and did contemplace al those Hierarchies of Celestiall spirits in heauen who being prostrate in his sight did adore him in that happy instant as S. Paul affirmes Tell me saith doctour Auila if euer this can possibly be told with what loue would this soule being such a one loue him who had glorified it to such a height with what kind of desire would it couet that some occasion might be offered wherby it might haue meanes to please so mighty a Creatour and benefactour Are the tounges of Cherubims and Seraphims able to expresse this loue Let vs further adde sayth he that vpoÌ„ this extreme desire it was declared to the soule of Christ that the will of God was to saue maÌ„kind which had perished by the sinne of Adam and that this blessed Sonne of his should for the honor of God and in obedience to his holy will encharge it selfe with this worke and should take this glorious enterprize to hart and should neuer rest till he had brought it to a perfect end And (e) It is loue which setteth all causes and creatures on worke for the obtaining their end for that the way which all Causes and Creatures hold is to worke for loue since they all do worke for some end or other which they desire the loue wherof being conceaued in their hartes doth make them worke therfore since Christ our Lord was to take this enterprise of the redemption of mankind vpon him it followeth that he would loue men with so great a loue that for the desire which he had to see them remedied and restored to their Tytle of glory he would dispose himselfe to do and suffer whatsoeuer might be fit for such an end And now sayth D. Auila since that soule which was so ardently desirous to please the Eternall Father did know so well what it was to do with what kind of loue would it turne it selfe towards men for the louing and imbracing of them through the obedience which he carryed to his Father We (f) Note this comparison see that when a peece of Artillery dischargeth a bullet with store of powder and that the buller goes glancing as by way of brickwall from the place to which it was designed it beateth backe with so much greater force as it was carried thither with greater fury Since then the loue which this soule of Christ conceaued towards God did carry such an admirable force because the powder of Grace which was in a manner infinite did giue the impulse and when after it had proceeded in a right line to wound the hart of the Father it rebounded from thence to the loue of men with what kind of sorce and ioy would it turne towards them both in the way of loue and help This Consideration is made in effect as heer is lyes by the holy man Doctour Auila to shew the infinite loue of Christ our Lord to vs. Wherin (g) We must clyme towardes the knowledg of the loue of Christ our Lord by degres we may also yet further helpe our selues by rysing as by so many degrees through the seuerall loues which are borne by creatures to one another For we fee hovv vehemently men haue loued their frind vve see hovv men haue loued themselues vve see hovv Saints haue loued their Sanctifier but vvhat trash is all this if it be compared vvith the loue of Christ our Lord to God vvhich loue is both the ground and measure of his loue to vs. We may iustly therfore cry out in the vvay of extreme admiration Aug. CoÌ„fes lib. 11. cap. 9. Quis comprchendet quis enarrabit There is no tongue there is no povver created which can comprehend and much lesse declare the bottomlesse and boundlesse Ocean of this loue The mystery of the Incarnation is more partiticularly lookt into and the loue of our Lord Iesus is woÌ„derfully expressed therby CHAP. 10. FOR the restoring therfore the streÌ„gthning of our vveake and vvounded soules to the eternall honor and glory of God the Father and in obedience to his vvise and holy vvill did Christ our Lord vvith incomprehensible loue vndertake the worke of our Redemption and sollicitously procure our sanctification for as much as concerned him but that could not be completely wrought without our concourse Because as S. Austen saith vvhen he speaketh of God to man Qui tecreauit sine te non te saluabit sine te He that created thee without thee will (a) We must cooperate with the grace of God or else the merits of Christ our Lord will neuer be applied to vs. not saue thee without thy selfe In this enterprise he resolued to employ and as it were to giue himself away from the first instant of his precious life vntill the last Any one only act of his through the infinite value of the diuine person to vvhich both his soule and body were hypostatically vnited had not only byn sufficient but abundant euen ex rigore Iustitiae for the redemption both of this world as many millions more of worlds as the omnipotency of God could haue created howsoeuer there be * Caluin Sectaries who tremble not to say That he selt euen the paines of the very damned soules in that soule of his as if the worke of mans redemption could not haue beene wrought otherwise Where by the way it well appeares euen to halfe an eye whether the Catholike Doctrine or that other do erect a higher Trophee to the honor of Christ our Lord. But the while euery single act of his being indeed so all-sufficient for the reconciliation of man to God it followeth heere as will be also touched elsewhere that some one only act was performed by him in the way of Iustice to appease that infinite Maiesty offended and (b) Consider heeâ— and wonder at the ardent loue of Christ our Lord to man that all the rest which were so many millions as he alone is able to number were performed in the way of ardent and tender loue to vs. So that Dauid had all reason to maguify the mercy of Almighty God and to acknowledge that Copiosa apud eum redemptio Psalm 129. that it was no pinching or scant redemption which was prepared for vs but abundantly of ouer measure and downe-weight And now it the bounty of God the loue of our Lord Iesus to man were such that where one single act of his might haue serued the turne of our Redemption he would not yet be content with doing the lesse where he had meanes to expresse the more how much lesse would it be agreable to those bowells of his Charity and mercy which vnder that very name of tendernesse Lue. â—â— are so often celebrated by his owne holy spirit in holy Scripture that he should redeeme vs by another lesse glorious and gracious
the Leaprous Another for the Paraliticques Another for the Lunatiques and another for persons who were possessed by deuils who would euer haue contynued so vnlesse that right hand of God had cast them out But (c) A straÌ„ge spectacle what a spectacle then would it haue bene to see a number of diseased distressed and defeated persons at an instant all become new men All the Dumbe being able to speake the Deafe to heare the Lame to goe the blind to see the mad men to discourse with reason and the dying men to shew health and strength How I say would they looke with a face of wonder and amazement vpon one another as scarcely beleuing what they felt and heard and saw when they found the scene of all the world to be so changed at once For then Christ our Lord of whome S. Peter said Act. 10. Quod pertransijt benefaciendo curing all such as were oppressed by the diuell euen as fast as he could goe was rayning (d) The great labour and the great loue of our Lord. downe from those liberall hands of his the seuerall blessings wherof euery one had greatest need And this he did with a hart so tenderly behoulding in euery particular creature the image of his eternal Father that it made him loue the meanest of them a million of tymes more then his owne pretious life And so obseruing how in euery one of theÌ„ that Image was growne to be defaced which himselfe had made he tooke care to reforme it which no power but his could arriue vnto There haue bene in the world certaine ambitious sculptours who conceauing theÌ„selues withall to be of matchlesse Skil would take pleasure and pride when they were in making any curious Image or statue to leaue some eare or fingar or some part of the foot vnfinished Therby sending out a secret kind of defiance to any other of their profession who would presum to make that like the rest But (e) The omnipotent power lone of the diuine Artificer this heauenly Sculptour of ours who made not only the formes but the matter also of the creatures was both more cunning more charitable then the former For at the first he made al the Images of his Father most complete nor was there any want of that perfection vvhich they could desire And aftervvard vvhen they grevv to be defaced broken through the falls vvhich they tooke by actual sinne besides Adams fall which infected theÌ„ vvith original sinne one of theÌ„ wanting an arme another an eye for all these and the like vvere the effects and fruits of sinne he vvas pleased to bring vvith a kind of greedy hart the same hand of strength vvhich before had made those armes and eyes to restore them as by a kind of second creation But O thou infinite God! and vvho shal euer be able to tell vs hovv the tendernes of this loue did make that very hart of thine a kind of most true interiour (f) How the hart of our Lord was the true hospitall of mercy Iob. 29. hospitall wherby all those other hospitalls vvere fed and vvhereinto their miseries vvere receiued and from vvhence they vvere supplyed vvith all that mercy vvherof they had need For if Iob had such a hart as made him be an eye to the blinde a foote to the lame and a Father to the Orphane for as much as he grieued at the miseries vvhich lay vpon poore people and procured to remoue them by vvorkes of mercy hovv much more are vve to beleeue it of Christ our Lord. In (g) No mercy must coÌ„pare with that of Christ our Lord. comparison of vvhose least mercy the greatest mercy of Iob vvas meere cruelty Tell vs therfore deere Lord hovv full that hart of thine vvas of eyes and hovv many vvayes they vvere looking all at once for our both teÌ„porall and eternall good For whilst thou wert curing the bodies of some thou hadst an ayme at the miraculous recouery of the soules of others He cured S. Peter and S. Andrew of the intricate netts and perplexed cares of worldly busines And S. Iames and S. Iohn Matt. 4. Marc. 1. Matt. 9. Marc. â—â— Luc. 5. Luc. 7. not only of wordly affaires but of wordly affections to their friends S. Matthew he brought from vnlawfull gaynes and S. Mary Magdalene from impure pleasures And euery one of these many many more at an instant by the only cast of a countenance or some one single word of his sacred mouth hauing first receaued a tincture from his enamoured hart How the corporall Miracles of our Lord Iesus had an ayme at the reformation of soules and did tend to the discouering and facilitating the beliefe of great Mysteryes CHAP. 44. THE corporall miracles themselues did all carry a kind of respect to the soules either of theÌ„ on whome they were wrought or els of others And that not only by way of purging them in point of life but of illuminating them also by way of most perfect vnderstanding and beliefe yea and yet further by vvay of vniting them to himselfe through pure and perfect loue Fitting euery thing vvith diuine vvisedome to euery person according to the seuerall disposition which he was found to haue Christ our Lord as S. Augustine saith did intend That whatsoeuer he wrought corporally S. Aug. serm 44. de verbis Domini might spiritually also be vnderstood He wrought not saith he those miracles for the miracles alone but that as those things which he exposed to the sight of men were acknowledged to be strange so those other things which he insinuated therby to the vnderstanding might be imbraced as true And S. Gregory declares to the same effect That the miraculous workes of Christ our Lord Hom. 21 in Euang. did shew one thing by the power which they expressed did declare another by the mistery which they coÌ„tained There (a) The relation which corporall diseases haue to spirituall was not therfore a corporal miracle wrought by Christ our Lord which had not also a relation to the discouery and cure of some spirituall disease of the minde The defenes of men did shew a not complying with heauenly inspirations Theyr blindenes a darknes of vnderstanding Their Feuers a boyling vp of sensual appetite which caused extreme disorder in the will Their leaprosies a rooted impurity of the soule Their Lunacies a mad inconstancy of the minde Their Paralisies an vnaptnes and weakenes towards all good workes Their dropsies a gredines after gaine together with a swelling vp of Pride And sinally their being possessed a state of men who were reprobately giuen ouer to sinne together with the bitter seruitude wherin the deuill holdeth such as become his slaues No one sigh was vttered by Christ our Lord no one teare was shed but with intention to instruct vs how to deplore our misery and how to implore the diuine mercy There was (b) The misteries which were contayned
himselfe Of the great Loue of our Lord in conueying the Blessed Sacrament to vs vnder the species of bread and wine Why it is neyther necessary nor conuenient nor scarce possible for all Christians to communicate of the Chalice Of diners kinds of Vnion And how liberall our Lord is to vs in letting vs all frequent these diuine Mysteries so often CHAP. 49. AS the loue of our Lord IESVS was full of inuention in disposing him to performe this worke so (a) The great loue of our Lord doth admirably appeare by diuers circumstances was it also in the manner of contriuing and dispensing it according to the capacity of man And first concerning the formes or species vnder which he is presented to vs what other could haue bene thought of either more agreable or more gustful to the nature of man thē they of bread wine If for the punishmēt of our sinnes or the mortification of our senses he had bene pleased to ordaine that we should haue receiued him in the formes of pitch or inke as himselfe would therby haue bene subiect to no indignity at all so yet still we must haue acknowledged that it had bene infinite mercy for vs to haue receiued such a pretious Iewell as that in how course or homely case soeuer it had come But bread and wine are the very stanes of corporall strength and comfort and he confined his body and bloud to the species of these two creatures that so this superscription as it were of the Loue-letter which he was writing to vs might prepare vs for an expectation of those sublime and sweet contēts which lay within Yet (b) The Bloud of our Lord is alwayes together with his body and for that reason it was necssary for lay people to receaue both the body and the bloud distinct Nay there are many other reasons which make it neyther conueniēt nor yet possible to receaue them so because there are some who haue a naturall auersion from the tast and euen from the very sent of vvine which no man euer had from bread Because there are some countries so remote both from the Sunne and from the Sea as that there wine is hardly to be found Because in the infinite multitudes of Christians it would be impossible for all to receaue of the sacred Chalice without indangering yea and committing much irreuerēce Because some would be so sicke of pestilent feauers as that euen a drop of wyne would doe them hurt Because persecutions would be sometymes so great as that it might be fit to leaue the blessed Sacrament in the custody of some particular men and women to be receiued by themselues for their comfort in some great exigent of distresse and danger as was often done in the primitiue Church by the testimony of Tertullian and others and which could not be done with the Chalice for any long tyme or euen almost at all in any hoat country For these reasons I say and for many others which by the wisedom and loue of our Lord IESVS were thought conuenient and especially because his body is a liuing body and consequently it cannot be without the bloud he was pleased that both the bloud the body should remaine vnder the species both of bread wine that so he who receaued one might be sure to receaue them both And (c) In the sacrifice of the Masse the reason is very different howsoeuer for as much as concernes the Sacrifice of the Masse both the bread and wine are seueraly to be offered consecrated and consummated by the Priest for in these three acts the substance of the holy Sacrifice doth confist and not in the prayers or Scriptures which doe either precede or follow or interlace them since these latter doe but serue as an addition for deuotion for a spirituall ornament to that high action For as much I say as this Sacrifice which is dayly offered vp vpon the Altar is to be a most liuely representation of the bloudy Sacrifice of our Lord vpon the Crosse a representation for as much as concernes the manner of it but no representation for as much as concernes the thinge because both the one and the other is but only one and the very selfe same Sacrifice yet when there is only questiō of receauing the blessed body and bloud of our Lord ' IESVS in the nature of a Sacrament the same Lord was pleased (d) The Church is to ordaine of many things according to that spirit of discretion which reigneth in it to leaue it to that spirit of discretion wherwith he would eminētly indue his Church to ordaine when it should be conuenient for necessary it could no way be to vse both the bread the wine distinct and when but the one of them alone It is also well obserued by spirituall writers that the very species of bread and wine doe inuite and bespeake our soules to a very intrinsecall vnion both with God and our neighbour In these species we may cōsider that there is an vnion of two sorts The one of them hauing bene setled by nature the other growing on by industry or art The naturall (e) Two kinds of vnion which are shewed by bread wine vnion consisteth in this That many graynes doe grow vpon one eare of corne and many grapes vpon one cluster of the vine with great resemblance to one another The artificiall vnion which is made betwene them doth defeate the former naturall vnion that so that former may become more perfect For first by plucking off or pressing the grapes or breaking and grinding the graynes of Corne and then by separating the chaff and husks and branne and skinnes stones it growes to be one paste or liquor which is perfected and purified afterward by heate the must by the naturall heate which it hath and the bread by the heate of fire And thē we can not know which graine of corne in particular was white and which was browne or which grape was great which was small These (f) How these two kinds of Vnion are found in men Vnions also there are and are to be in men The naturall as they are men of flesh and bloud and the other supernaturall as they are faithfull Christians regenerated by grace and animated therin by his diuine Sacraments In vertue of the former vnion we loue our kindred and friends And because this loue doth vse to carry imperfection with it through the influence of selfe loue and the mixture of temporall vayne respects Christ our Lord commeth to vs in this supernaturall Sacrament and doth take as it were our soules and the desires therof all in peeces casting away that which is inordinate vnmortified and any way vnfit concerning honour or estate or delight or any other earthly thing whatsoeuer and he doth so boyle and bake vs in the blessed Sacrament by the fire of his charity as that we may grow to be perfectly vnited both to him
thou blocke vp and freeze and deceaue and impouerish and abase and afflict and dissipate the whole soule of man into many seuerall waies and all at once Thou dost not onely vâ—xe men which implyes a painefull tossing from one thing to another but withall thou dost racke them by strange inuentions within themselues making them liue and dwell in 〈◊〉 as in their proper sphere and cenâ—eâ— Thou dost thou dost it is well knowne 〈◊〉 dost and we all are bound to hate thee fâ—â— it Thou art that monster which did take that (d) The vnhappy Iudas man and by the dust of Passion thou didst first put out his eyes The Passion of couetousnes by occasion that he kept the purse and the Passion of Pride and Enuy because he found that some were fauoured more then he And when thou hadst made him (e) How sinners are not only blind but mad Blind thou didst also make him Mad. He first beleeuing impossible and incompatible things to be most true and acting afterward in conformity of that beliefe some other things as if they had bene iust which were eternally to haue bene abhorred Now as Iudas was once an Apostle and highly in the fauour and grace of God so it is morally impossible that he should fall into such extremes vpon a sudden Nemo repentè sit malus and much lesse pessimus especially from a state of such eminency as that Nor could the deuill be so voyd of wit as to offer at a clap to perswade an Apostle be betray and sell his Maister and such a Maister and for such a tryfle No this is seldome or neuer attempted or if it be it is not wont to take effect Infallibly he began with him as we vse to say at small game and he (e) The sleps wherby a soule may quickly fail from the top to the bottome would first aduise him to neglect some knowne inspiration of God and then to omit the exercising of some vertue and after that to giue way to some little inordinate affection and then voluntarily to coÌ„mit some light veniall sin and so by his ingratitude hauing disobliged the mercy of God from giuing him particular succour and himselfe growing dayly more weake and consequently the deuill more stronge he fell into mortall sinnes and at last he came by these insensible degrees into such an Abisse of impiety as it was for him to sell and betray his heauenly maister He therfore who loues danger Eccles 3. shall be sure to perish in it he who makes himselfe deafe to diuine inspirations and makes no difficulty to resolue vpon committing certaine veniall sinnes will not possibly be able to continue long from such as are mortall A man who shootes in a weake bow at a long marke must ouer-lay or els he will be sure to fall short Now there is not any longer way then from the sinfull hart of man to sanctity of life nor is there any weaker bow then the powers of our minde which are so afflicted by so many spirituall wounds And if any man will resolue and hope by the grace of God neuer to commit any mortall sinne let him ouerlay so much as to be carefull not to commit any veniall so and only so he may perhaps keep his soule from the guilt of any which is mortall But such in Iudas was the worke of sinne and such was the treachery which he committed Yet our Lord IESVS was still holding on his speedy pace in the way of loue For (f) The inuincible patience meeknes of our Lord Iesus in the strength therof it was that he did not so much as turne his mouth aside from receiuing that pill of death froÌ„ that Apothecary of hell But rather he did behold the wretch with a countenance compounded of meekenes to asswage his cruelty and of misery to extinguish his enuy And because that countenance was not of force inough to worke with him he spake to him as hath bene said and he had care euen then to saue his honour and he called him Friend Wishing him first to looke in vpon himselfe and to reflect vpon the thing which he was come to do by saying as I haue shewed Ad quid venisti and when that would not serue he aduised him by saying further Osculo filium hominus tradis to looke vpon his person he being the Sonne of the Virgin and to consider whether it were fit to betray the Sonne of such a mother and that by a kisse And howsoeuer the hardnes of that Tygars hart were foreseene from all eternity by the eye of God yet the same eye did also see that it would be hard through his one fault whether God in effect would or no. And although (g) There was mercy still for Iudas if he would haue repented he deserued to be wholy abandoned for his former wickednes yet euen then and afterward if sufficiency of grace would haue serued the turne it was certainly offred and pressed vpon him by our Lord IESVS but he would none How willingly our blessed Lord would haue saued euen that wretched soule and not only haue giuen him sufficient but efficacious grace may also appeare in the sermon which he made after the last supper where he saith That he had lost Ioan. 17. but onely that child of perdition that the Scriptures concerning him might be fulfilled As if he could not haue endured it without much griefe of hart but onely for the accomplishment of that which his eternall Father was pleased to permit who foresavv hovv vvicked that man vvould be Of our Lords great loue to vs in permitting that fall of Iudas and of that vnspeakeable mercy which he shewed otherwise in the mystery of his apprehension CHAP. 59. BVT novv as God can dravv good out of euill so doth Christ our Lord aboundantly expresse his mercy and charity to mankind by this act of Iustice vpon Iudas in leauing him to himselfe For vvho is he that vvil any longer presume vpon his ovvne strength Our Lord hath set many burning beacons before vs but especialy two that we may know and fly the danger vvhich threatneth vs on all sides Out of the old Testament besides many others vve haue the example of Salomon (a) Salomon a Type of Christ our Lord A penne of the holy Ghost A man to vvhome God had said Aske haue The vvisest and the vvorthiest King of the vvhole vvorld and withall a Prophet And yet this Cedar of Libanus vvhich might seeme to haue bene made of incorruptible vvood vvas so vvrought into at the roote by the vvorme of lust that dovvne it fell and the fall was great For he precipitated his soule to vvorship in the place of the God of himselfe 3. Reg. 11. and of his Fathers as many Idolls as the humours of his coÌ„cubines would lead him to and it is more then we know if euer he rose againe by pennance And heere we haue in the new
being the most sensible part of al the rest and indeed the very source and seate of sense the former torment was not so great as it might haue bene But heere with hands which they arme with iron grauntlets they wreath sharpe thornes of great length into the forme of a hat Ioan. 19. which carryeth also the forme of an Imperiall Crowne and they clap it hard vpon and into his head which they beseige as it were round about with torments farre exceeding all humane conceipt It is true that before he had bene stroken at seuerall tymes in the high Priests house both with the fist and with the flat of the hand but now his head is beaten not with their hands for they could not haue so much as touched him without wounding themselues but the Reed which whilst it was in his hands serued for a note of scorne being taken into theirs became came an instrument of excessiue paine For laying load with it vpon his head their cruelty was so witty as to be able and that without any labour at all to themselues to make at once as many new wounds in that most sensible part of the whole body as there were thornes in that cursed-blessed-Crowne A fence of (d) The great torment which those thornes must needs giue our Lord. thornes made with care is able to keepe wild beasts within the prison of a Parke as well as if the inclosure were of wood or stone And although they haue hides which are like houses thatcht with hayre yet they dare not put themselues vpon the passing of such pikes as those If a single short thorne doe but enter into the most dull and fleshy part of the hand it puts a man out of patience till it be pluckt forth And if it chāce to get betwene the flesh and the nayle it makes a shift to goe for a kind of torment And many tymes it breeds the losse of a nayle and sometymes of a ioynt and it hath fallen out that it hath kept men so long from sleepe as to cast them into feuers and so to depriue thē by degrees of life What torment then did our blessed Lord endure when that faire Common of his forehead grew subiect to such an inclosure of thornes which imbraced as with so many cruell armes not only that part but all the rest of his diuine head round about We haue seene men wounded in so sensible partes of the body that the Tents which are put in doe giue them more paine euery tyme when they are drest then euen the very wounds themselues would doe And it groweth sometimes so farre as to make thē swoone And who shall then be able to comprehend the vnspeakeable torment which now was caused to our blessed Lord who had so many wounds in that fōtaine of his quicke feeling and so many seuerall Tents as there were thornes which did not only search the wōds but make them And euery one of them growing so much deeper and consequently bringing more parts of the head which till then had bene vntoucht into the same confederacy of cruell paine as those bloudy men would haue a mind to strike him at seuerall tymes ouer the head with that Reed And thus it was cleerly and completely fulfilled of Christ our Lord that A plant a pedis vsque ad verticem capitis Ioan. 1. from the very sole of the foote to the very crowne of his head there was not a spot free from bitter paine He felt (e) Our Lord felt that in his body which the Prophet Dauid all sinners feele in their soules Psalm 17. that in the vniuersall torment of his body which the Prophet Dauid found concerning the miseries of his soule when in the bitternes therof he thus expressed himselfe Non est sanitas in carne mea à sacie irae tuae non est pax ossibus meis à facie peccatorum meorum There is no health in my flesh by reason of thy wrath nor there is no peace in my bones by reason of my sinnes And verily it seems as if it had bene an expresse prophesy of the degrees wherby the tormēts of our Lord should grow vp at length to the top of torment towards the appeasing the wrath of God by the propitiation which he would offer for the sinne of man Since as soone as they had depriued the whole masse of his sacred flesh of health and beauty by that cruell scourging they put themselues vpon an inuention how to passe into and pierce his bones in the most noble and pretious part of him which was his head by that bloudy Crowning To such excesse as this did the sinne of man in generall arriue to such an outrage did those wretches in particular extend themselues and with such an extasis of loue did Christ our Lord apply his minde to the saluation for as much as might concerne him of the whole world as for that purpose to beare this infinite kind of paine shame with an infinite kind of loue and ioy in the Superiour part of his soule How we ought to carry our selues in the Consideration of the Ecce Homo Behould the man and how our Blessed Lord did carry himselfe both interiourly and exteriourly at that tyme and especially of his inuincible silence and contempt of all humane comfort for Loue of vs. CHAP. 66. BEEING thus drest vp he was led out by Pilates order to be seene and pittied by the people if that poore man might haue had his will Our Lord might then haue serued well for the very deuise and earacter of torment so he was as to such a one the word which Pilate gaue him Ioan. 19. was Ecce Homo Behold the man And verily it was no more then needed that Pilate should say he was a man for as they had vsed him he had scarce the resemblance of such a creature Himself had professed by the mouth of his holy Prophet I am a worme and no man Psalm 21. A worme which being trodden vpō did not repine that we who indeed are the true worms might not be oppressed by our inuisible enemy but be adopted Rom. 8. by the merit of his humility and charity into the liberty of the glory of sōnes of God A worme but a silly worme which spinns herselfe to death for the good of others and cōuerteth leaues which may serue for an Embleme of the vaine hart of man into a substance of vse and honor And though Pilate did not speake immediately to vs when he said behould the man yet this once we will doe as he desires And not only will we behould him but it shall be against our wils if euer we behould any thing els but only for the loue of him We will behould that man who became man being God and who being man grew yet so much lower then man as to be the outcast of men to the end that we who are the worst of men
our selues to beare towards this Lord of loue since ours is so full of frailty misery and vnfaithfull dealing What a kind of nothing will it proue if it be all compared with one only spark of this pure pretious loue qui attingit à sine vsque ad sinem fortiter disponit omnia suauiter Sap. 8. Wheras ours doth nether reach home nor last long nor is it of any intense degree but so very luke warme that vnlesse the heate of hart and the thirst of our Lord were very great he would cast vs out of his mouth not sucke vs in as he doth that so we may be incorporated into himselfe The Iewes preferre Barabbas before Christ our Lorde and Pilate through base feare gaue sentence of death against our Lord and with incessant Loue he endured all CHAP. 67. OExcessiue cruelty of those enuious hypocriticall Iewes for the appeasing wherof the mercy of Pilate was euen cōstrayned after a sort to be thus cruell He shewed him to them being scourged and crowned after this bloudy manner with hope that hauing drawn from him such a streame of bloud and tormenting him still with that crowne of thornes it might haue satisfied the thirst of their rage Togeather with that spectacle of pitty he made a protestation of our Lords innocency but it would not serue For they as if already they had bene confirmed in malice in hell it selfe did stil demaund with a cōstant and generall clamour that he might be crucified Matt. 27. So (a) All turned to the disaduantage of Christ our Lord. as this designe of Pilats came to faile nothing had been gayned therby but the shedding of almost al the bloud of Christ our Lord one drop wherof was a milliō of tymes more worth in true accōt thē as many creatures worlds as God himselfe can make the piercing of that head where lay the wisedome of the wisedome of God We may yet see by the way that though Pilate had a great desire to free him in regard of his innocency yet euen that desire was accompanied with an extremely-base conceite of Christ our Lord Since he resolued not to maintaine his cause but thought him a fit man vpon whom conclusions might be tryed and to put him at a venter to the sufferance of that intollerable scorne and paine rather thē he would speake one resolute word in his behalfe Our Lord all the while had the wisedome wherwith to weigh euery one of those thoughts of his to the very vttermost that it could beare and he had patience to endure it and aboue al he had the loue wherwith to offer it to his eternall Father for our discharge Yet Pilate still went on with a velleity or coole kind of appetite to saue his life and he set another Proiect on foote which he thought might peraduenture take effect and that was grounded vpon this custome The Iewes Matt. 27. Marc. 17. Luc. 23. were wont in honour and reuerence of their great Passeouer to free some prisoner who was lyable to death by the hand of Iustice There was at that tyme a seditious murtherer in prison and he was called Barabbas Now Pilate was of opinion that putting the question betwene Christ our Lord and that wicked man they would neuer haue bene able to let that murtherer weigh downe our Lord IESVS in the ballance of their pitty But he was deceaued and they demaunded the sauing of Barabbas and cryed out amaine whē there was speach of who should be dismissed Non hunc sed Barabbam not him but Barabbas whē there was speach of what should be done with IESVS they sayd Tolle Tolle crucifige eum Away with him Away with him let him be crucified If then our (b) A deep wound inflicted vpon the tēder hart of Christ our Lord. blessed Lord were not wounded with griefe he neuer was nor could be wounded That he should liue to see the day wherin that people which was his owne flesh and bloud which had particularly bene chosen of God which he instructed with so much care which he had cured of all diseases with so much power that people which so lately before vpon that day which now hath the name of Palme-sunday had exhibited to him the greatest triumph in tokē of homage which perhaps had bene seene in the whole world Matt. 21. Marc. 11. Ioan. 12. That now I say it should so abase him below a Barabbas a seditious and bloudy thiefe notwithstanding that Pilate who was a Pagan and in other respects a most wicked man did let them see that yet he was a Saint in respect of them by intreating them rather to dismisse the King of the Iewes (c) Note this contrapositiō then him on the other side that Christ our Lord should with so profōd meekenes endure such a height of scorne without shewing that he misliked it without oncce reproaching the wicked life of that malefactour by so much as setting out the innocency of his owne without vpbrayding the ingratitude of that lewd natiō by so much as saying that he had neuer murthered any of them as the other had done but to let them do their worst by way of offence and he the while to do his best by way of patience and loue and euen then to giue vp to God that very act of his acceptation both for Barabbas and for them who were much more faulty then that wretched man what shall we say heere but that the hart of our Lord was grown a whole world of griefe loue and that we are miserable who cānot euen consume with the very thought therof But woe be to vs for we are so far frō this as that euen we our selues are the body wherof that wicked race of Iewes was a figure For so often doe we also prefer Barabbas before Christ our Lord as we choose the forsaking of God for the committing of a mortall sinne of whatsoeuer kind it be Nay therin we doe preferre euen the very diuell before God himselfe And yet so infinite is his loue as that still he beares it at our hands as then he bare it at theirs But shall we now lend an eye to our Lord IESVS as he was procuring to pay the debt of Pilats curtesy to him or rather of that lesse malice then was vttered against him by those Iewes As God he did cast into the hart of Pilats wife a vehement desire that her husband would not cooperate to his destruction as he was mā yet the frozen hart of that miserable creature would not kindle it selfe by such a sparke But the Iewes pressing hard and pretending Luc. 13. Ioan. 19. that Christ our Lord had made himselfe a King and protesting that they would haue no King but Cesar and withall that (d) The same argument preuayls too must in these dayes if Pilate should dismisse Christ our Lord they would proue him to be no saithfull subiect and friend
should be pierced or but euē the typ of his eare should be publikely bored through for anothers fault would not thinke that he had wrought a kind of wonder of loue But now the sinewes are they which are truly sensible of sharpe and stinging paine Whereof we see the experience in them who are subiect to the tooth-ach Which as it is the thing that makes dogs mad so euen men are little better if indeed they haue it in extremity and all but because some one sinewe is fretted by the descent of rhewme which remaines about the roote of a tooth The torments therfore which our blessed Lord endured as before by his Crowne of thornes so now by the nayles of his hands and feet what were they but great things which wāt a name since they were suffered in parts which were the proper seates as a man may say of the sesitiue soule where the sinews meet wherby the whole body after a compēdious māner might be most afflicted To this let vs add the consideration of this other truth which was once touched before That through the perfection and purity of his complexion and constitution Christ our Lord had incomparably a quicker sēse of feeling then any creature who euer liued Againe let it be weighed how he was a continuall Maister of himselfe and was neuer to be put to any such saynting as men sometymes are subiect to who by any great excesse of lasting paine are brought from any feeling at all therof Yea the reason of Christ our Lord was so farre from being trāsported in the least degree as that he felt (e) Our Lord did feel euery one of his paynes as distinctly as it he had felt but only one the remainder of euery one of the buffets which had bene giuen him and of euery one of the stripes of his body of euery one of the thornes of his sacred head and of euery one of the nayles of his blessed hands and feete in as distinct and cleere and seuerall a manner as if he had suffered but that one only single paine whatsoeuer it were So also the seuerall causes which afflicted his minde did neither yeild to one another nor drowne nor maister them of the body but euery single griefe of his minde was as distinctly felt as any one of thē alone could be Wheras when others are subiect to seuerall paine and griefe the maister-paine is that which carryes away all their thoughts from the rest As a vehement fit of the Goute or Stone puts away all remēbrance of an ague and as a very killing griefe of minde will make a man forget any bodily paine Yet all this paine or rather all these multitudes of seuerall and most exceshue corporal paines togeather with a cleere beholding of the deadly and vndeserued malice wherwith they inflicted them vpon him were not of power either to winde him vp into the due estimation of his owne soueraigne dignity which was so prophaned or to let him down into any diminution of his charity or to make him behould mankind which by their sinnes must all be accompted to haue conspired togeather more or lesse to his death with any other eyes then of endlesse pitty though by instāts they wentin creasing their cruelty For howsoeuer a man might thinke that what they had already done must needs be al which they could doe and that nothing more remayned to be deuised which might add to the misery of our blessed Lord Yet see a while how farre the rage and wit of cruelty and of enuy is able to reach For by (f) The torments of our Lord still increased rearing the Crosse vp aloft in the ayre that it might fall with more strength and force into that hole which had bene made of purpose for it in the earth and that so it might be able to sticke fast therin what a dissolution must the whole frame of the body of our Lord needs find in all the ioynts therof Infallibly the parts of his pretious body were all disioynted And least it should be thought that this were but a pious and only possible imaginatiō without further grōd let it be remembred how Dauid said of these persecutors in the person of Christ our Lord Psalm 21. Dinumerauerunt omnia ossae mea They numbred all my bones Which cannot well be done whē they are fitted to their natural places but when they are once wel put out of ioynt they push forth and appeare to any eye with ease And in another place it is said of him in his owne person Ierem. 23. Contremuerunt omnia ossa mea which implyes such a generall kind of commotion of all the bones in the skinne as so many stones would be subiect to in any bagg if it were well shaken Nay his torments were moreouer of that kind as that during all those full three howers wherin he was hanging vpon the crosse they increased of themselues by the naturall weight of his owne body For that weight made fresh wounds both in his hands and feete by making the former grow higher and wider and the whole frame of his body more out of ioynt We (g) How the torments of Lord were renewed haue seene already how the wounds of his head had bin renewed increased by those blowes of the Reed and so also euen by the very weight therof they went increasing euery minute We haue seen how the wōds of his body which were giuen him by those scourges were renewed by the often putting on and off his cloathes And now they were all increased by the excessiue cold which his nakednes gaue him through his comming so lately from that fire of heate which his flagellation his coronatiō his procession and his creeping or crawling vp the hill had cast him into And that cold was also augmented afterward by another miraculous accident which was growing vpon the whole world at once as I must shortly shew And heere we see how the weight of his pretious body doth still increase the torment of his sacred hands and feete and consequently of the whole body it selfe Of the excessiue torments of our Lord and how he was blasphemed by all sortes of persons and of the diuine patience and Loue wherwith he bare it all CHAP. 70. THIS passion was so highly beyond all president of former ages and persons as that our Lord himselfe though he vsed at that all tymes else to carry his sufferance in profound silence did yet inuite vs thus long before to the consideration therof Ierem. 1. by the mouth of his holy Prophet O vos omnes qui trāfitis per viam attendite videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus O all you who passe by the way obserue see if there be any griefe like this of mine Vent saith another in the person of Christ our Lord in the Passion Psalm 68. in altitudinem maris tempestas demersit me I came into the depth of
as wherby he would conuince and oblige the Eternall Father to graunt it It was true that they knew not that he was the naturall Sonne of God but that ignorance was their fault and a iust punishment of blindnes for their other sinnes And the workes which he had done did manifest him to be what he said he was And though he had not bene the Sonne of God yet their owne conscience told them that he could not but be a man of God and of a most innocent and holy life and therfore they ought in reason to haue been very farre from intending such a ruine as they brought him to There was therfore much to be said against them little for them But yet our Lord through his infinite loue did let passe that much Hebr. 5. and laid hold of that little And he was heard by the Father for his reuerence And many of those miserable men were conuerted by the mighty hand of God and not only many of them but many millions of our soules in after ages are dayly conuerted in the vertue and strength of this holy Prayer Now withall this soueraigne Doctour did then read many lessons in one Namely (c) The instuction which is giuen vs by this prayer of Christ our Lord. that we must excuse the faults and much more the disputable cases which occurre by way of question whether or no our neighbours haue done ill yea and euen we are to pardon our greatest enemies in admiration and imitation of this diuine charity of Christ our Lord. For whatsoeuer affronts or wrongs they may be offering to put vpon vs who sees not what fleabytings they must be in cōparison of the wo into which our Lord was cast vpō the crosse Besides that he was the King of glory and did suffer for vs who were the most wicked slaues of Sathan Since therefore we were forgiuen being the enemies of God and who were in all reason to be condemned to hell fire for our many and most grieuous sinnes what rigour shall we not deserue at his hands if we forgiue not our enemies for loue of him Now to let vs see withall how farre he was from loosing any thinge in the sight of God by induring the bitter paine and ignominy of the Crosse he tells vs in language plaine inough that the Father who before had deliuered all power into his hands did meane nothing lesse then to resume the same and he shewed euen then that he was God For instantly he (d) The admirable mercy of our Lord to the good Thiefe Luc. 23. subscribed the petition of the Good Thiefe who rebuked the blasphemy of his companion and besought our Lord that he would remember him when he should be in his kingdome with such a gratious Fiat and vpon one single and short request as may aboundātly let vs see that we serue no lesse thē an infinite God that it costs him nothing to giue kingdomes or rather that it costs him much but that he is content to impart them to vs at an easy rate Yea euen as easy as it is to aske so easy shall it be for vs to haue if death preuent vs of being able to doe other workes of pennance And besides we learne by this that our Lord is so liberall and so full of loue to our felicity as that he takes no day with vs if the disposition which we bring be good any more then he did to this happy Thiefe who heere did make so good a ful point of stealing as that after a sort he may be accōted to haue stolne away the kingdome of heauen and he obtayned that this sentence should be pronounced by the mouth of truth it selfe It shall be so and this very day thou shalt be with me in Paradise O infinite goodnes of our Lord who had fogotten as it were to speake when it cōcerned him to haue answered for himselfe but who had neuer yet learnt to hold his peace when his speach might cōcerne the comfort saluation of such as desired the same Hereby we may cleerly find the great force of Grace which at an instant is able to make a great Saint of the greatest sinner So that as we may not presume of Gods mercy at the last hower of our life because we see what became of he wicked Thiefe so by the good Thiefes exāple we are bound not to despaire therof Withall we may well perceaue in the person of Christ our Lord who was wholy innocent and of the good Thiefe who was growne penitēt of the wicked Thiefe who was hardened in his sinne that (e) There is no kind of people which is not in this life to beare a Crosse Bell. de sept verbis in this life of tryall there is no kind of mē who can expect to liue without their Crosse as heere we see that all three sorts of men are crucified Good men haue their Crosses and so haue the bad and so also haue they who of bad grow good But with this difference it goes that the Crosses of good men end in glory and of the bad in euerlasting torment and shame Now since our Lord was so mercifull to this good Thiefe though he had led all his life in sinne how much more would it concerne him not to be vnmindfull of his deerest friends and especially of his all-immaculate mother and his beloued Disciple This Mother and Disciple had found him out as he was passing betwene Pilats Court and Mount Caluary For as much as concernes the excessiue griefe which had dominion ouer the hart of the sacred Virgin I shall haue oportunity to speake heereafter of it and for the present I only take occasion heerby to loue the loue of our Lod who by ordayning that his blessed Mother with S. Iohn should be present neere his Crosse at the tyme of his Passion besides the enamoured penitent Saint Mary Magdalen and Mary of Cleophas and Salome was pleased to add to his owne former griefe this second griefe which consisted in that he saw them grieue And especially in discerning with the eyes of his minde the fulfilling of that sad prophesy of Simoon who foretold that the sword of sorrow Luc. 2. should one day pierce the very soule of his blessed Virgin-Mother He had no will to call her Mother in regard that he would not wōd her yet more deeply by putting her in mind of such a seeming miserable Sonne But especially he forbare (f) The reason why our Lord did not call our B. Lady by the name of mother from the Crosse to vse that name because he being so odious in the eyes of all that wicked and abused world it could not chuse but to haue bene of great disaduantage to her at that tyme to be known and considered for his mother by so many as were spectators there But he did that in other words with admirable charity which did liberally prouide for the comfort both of
be the last of his life But (b) The reason why our Lord declared his thirst this Lord of ours was pressed so close by his spirituall thirst of suffering as it were infinite things for the loue of vs and for the gayning instructing our soules by these examples of his inuincible patience as that it made him contemne euen forget his owne materiall thirst though it were to him of excessiue paine This Originall of Religious Obedience which is Christ our Lord doth also shew heerby the forme wherin Religious persons are to expresse themselues to their Superiours Which (c) A good lesson for Religious men is not to be so much by way of earnest desire of that which they would haue as by way of declaration of that wherof they are in want and when that is done the Superiours are to proceed as they see cause For so did Christ our Lord forbeare to desire to drinke and he only said That he was thirsty to those souldiers who were made his Superiours by his owne admirable humility and charity submitting himselfe entirely to their wills who were bribed and bent to doe him all the mischiefe they could For when he told them of his thirst what was it which they could find in their harts to giue him The same thing which they had offered him before in iest and in the way of scorne the same they were content to giue him now in earnest for a conclusion to all their cruell courtesies When they were going to crucify him they would not giue him wine til it were distempered with Gaul Matt. 27. Marc. 25. which is the Embleme of malice and bitternes And now that he is giuing vp the Ghost they present him with a spunge full of Vinegar which is the Embleme of rage and sowernes O vncharitable wretches and who made you of men such sauage monsters But O infinite Charity and meekenes and patience of Christ our Lord who accepted of al without the least reproofe of their impiety And as at the foote of the Crosse he had refused to drinke of that Gaul because it was mingled with wine to the end that he might be suffering whilst he liued without any drop of the wine of comfort yea or so much as the being knowne to want it so now that he was vpō the very point of death he refused not to drinke of that pure vinegar because it was all sharpe and sower He left those draughts which should haue any mixture of comfort in them with Crosses for those Martyrs whome he meant to make glorious by following his diuine example And by his taking the vinegar of tribulation he did conuert it into the wine of strength cōfort after a cōtrary māner to that wherby wicked men are wont through their ingratitude to turne the wine of his blessings into the vinegar and Gaul of sinnes agaynst him Abusing the abundance of his mercy and making that a motiue of their wicked liberty which would tye any honest hart so much the more inseparably to his seruice He also dranke this vinegar to (d) The many excellēt reasons why our Lord was pleased both to endure and to declare his thirst the end that as already he had sanctified the mortificatiō of the other senses by his example for the instruction and consolation of his faithfull seruants so also they might be taught by this to be far and very farre from all superfluous care of meate and drinke and much more from all inordinate delight therin since all the sweete meates wherwith our blessed Lord was pleased to make vp his mouth in this mortall life was but a draught of vinegar out of a sponge at his death By this drinking therfore he enableth vs to be content with course and common and vnpleasant meat and drinke and by the merit of his thirsting after this corporall drinke he hath killed and quenched our spirituall thirst after vaine and vicious delights which nourish and feed vp our soules in sinne And so also on the other side according to S. Augustines expositiō of the sixty eight Psalme our Lord IESVS did not only declare his extreme thirst of corporall drinke but also his ardent thirst after the saluation of his enemies and of all the world How infinitely therfore shall we be without excuse if we giue him not to drinke of our good deeds since he is so greedy of them and was so tormented for want therof Yea and how worthy shall we be of all reproach and paine if he hauing begun to vs in so sad a Cup with desire thirst of our good we shall not procure to resemble him by thirsting both in body and soule after the aduancing and increasing of his Glory Of the entyre consummation of our Redemption which was wrought by Christ our Lord vpon the Crosse and of the perfection of his diuine vertues expressed there CHAP. 75. OVR Lord IESVS hauing drunke this vinegar declared that whatsoeuer had bin prophesied to be accomplished by himselfe was now fulfilled and he signified it by saying this word Consummatum est All is fulfilled And as he who only refresheth and filleth the soule of man with whole flouds of ioy was already content to be tormented with thirst so now for the apparailing of our soules with the life of Grace he was ready to deuest himselfe of the life of Nature He had formerly complyed with the care which he had of our instruction and now we haue seeue how he hath accomplished our Redēption by his Passion By meanes of this Passion he finished the building of his Church And since he had formerly layd a note of folly Ioan. 19. vpon such a man as should beginne to rayse a building and not bring it afterward to perfection our Lord who was the increated Wisedome of the Eternall Father must needs be farre from falling into any errour of the same kind And indeed it was wholy necessary that in his great goodnes to vs he should not depriue vs of such a diuine example of perseuerance as now we haue obtayned by the Cons̄mation of his course of Passion vpon the Crosse since (a) All labour is lost without perseuerance Deut. 23. without perseuerance all our labour is but lost Our Lord did therfore perseuere and he did perfect that which he had begun If the workes of God are most truly sayd to be entirely perfect his Passiō was to be so in most particular māner which amōgst these other workes is said with a kind of eminency to be his worke Now what sufferance could be more perfect in the way of humility then for the Lord of life and glory most willingly to endure a death of excessiue contumely and shame at the hands of his Rebellious Sonnes and most wicked slaues What more perfect in the way of patience and purity of hart then to suffer without the accesse of any imaginable comfort as Christ our Lord vouchsafed to doe What more perfect in the
way of conformity and obedience then without once harkening to the inferiour part of the soule to range the Superiour to the will of God not only with solid patience but with supreme ioy What more perfect in the way of Charity then to endure the extremity of affront paine for his mortall enemies And at the very tyme when those enemies were tormenting him for him to be protecting them and negotiating their cause with bitter sighes in the cares of almighty God What more (b) The incomparable perfection of the worke of the passion of our Lord. perfect in the way of contemplation then in such distresse to be looking at ease so many wayes at once from the death and contumely of a Crosse as if it had bin from some tower of recreation and delight To haue God himselfe and all the world so perfectly and cleerly in his eye and all at once To be offering euery graine of all the Passion in forgiuenes of all the sinnes of the whole world wherof then he saw euery one more distinctly and cleerly thē any man did euer see any one of his own What more perfect in the way of diligence in giuing vs direction how to carry our selues then that when himself was so deeply wounded by those incomparable torments and affronts he would furnish vs with such diuine documents and examples drawne from his owne sacred person Wherby we may become victorious in all our combats find the edge of our afflictions so abated as that they should neuer cast vs vpon despaire What thing is more perfect in the way of corporall sufferance then so to suffer as that there may be nothing which suffers not There is nothing higher then the head and we haue seene how the head of Christ our Lord did suffer by that hideous crowne of thornes There is nothing lower then the feete and we haue seen how the feete haue suffered by cruel nayles There is nothing of a man more wide or large then his hands spread abroad at the armes end and we haue also seene how he suffered by nayles driuen through his hands Those hands wherin he said that he (1) Isa 49. had written vs and (2) Ioan. 12. wherby he would draw vs towards himselfe with diuine pitty when once he should be exalted vpon the Crosse In fine there is nothing more then all and we haue seene how he hath bene scourged all ouer pierc't and fettered and spit vpon and boxt and buffeted and bored and beathen through with Iron for the pure loue of vs. And euen whilst he was hanging vpon the Crosse in expectation of death he vouchsafed still to be affronted and blasphemed beyond all morall beliefe and he the while euen when vinegar was giuen him to drinke in that torment of thirst which he endured did regorge in the deernes of his loue to vs. He perfected (c) How our Lord Iesus did perfect the figures and sacrifices of the old law vpon the Crosse wherof he also fulfilled the prophesies Luc. 22. 1. Cor. 11. the imperfection of the old law in the law of grace which he did promulgate heere He perfected all the Sacrifices of the old Testament in this Sacrifice of himselfe vpon the Crosse the memory wherof he had already commaunded his Priests to perpetuate by the dayly oblation of his owne pretious body and bloud vpon their Altars He perfected all the Prophesies which were made concerning his owne life and death He perfected all those figures which had bene deliuered of him in the old Testament for the disposing of the mindes of the faithfull towards the beliefe of their Messias who was thē to come We haue heere the history of Noe. For as he was made drunke Genes 9. by the vine which he planted and had his nakednes discouered by his children so was our Lord stript naked more then once as we haue seene and that by his children of whome his Prophet in his person said Isa 1. Filios enutriui exaltaui ipsi autem spreuerunt me I tooke care to breed and bring vp my children and they tooke pleasure to despise and dishonor me He was also inebriated by the loue which he bare to his people which like a vine he planted with miracles and pruned with Doctrine and watered with bloud And that vine inebriated him also with another kind of wine the wine of torments and reproach wherwith he was stuft and cloyd By which kind of liquor although he were not because he would not be disgusted yet we haue heard him by his Prophet thus complaine of this vine after a most deere and killing manner Isa 5. Expectauit vt faceret vuas fecit autem labruscas I expected that my vine should haue yielded me wine for the comfort of my hart but it yielded me nothing but veriuyce which hath set my teeth on edge We haue heere a better then that (1) Num. 21. Brasen serpent the sight of whome will cure the bytings of all those serpents which are our sinnes We haue heere the true Dauid who kild that Gyant (2) 1. Reg. 17. Golyas being a figure of the Prince of darkenes with the fiue stones of his fiue sacred wounds and he cut of the Gyants head with the Gyants sword conquering the Deuill by death which was his weapon drawne by sinne The same might be shewed in al the other figures which were deliuered of our Lord in the old Testament which were perfected and fulfilled vpon the Crosse So that our Lord might iustly say Consummatum est The worke of my Passion the worke of mans redemption both in regard of the thing it selfe and of the manner how it hath bene wrought and borne is perfect consummate and complete Of our Lords last prayer to his eternall Father of his excessiue griefe and loue expressed in the separation of his soule from his body and of the grace beauty of the Crucifix CHAP. 76. THERE did now remaine no more but that our Lord IESVS hauing taken care of the whole world and hauing particulerly powred forth those seuerall benedictions vpō it frō that treasure-house of the Crosse should also commend himselfe into the hands of the eternall Father A te principium tibi desinit might the soule of Christ our Lord say to God He began his Passion with the inuocation of his Father Luc. 22. in the Garden he cōtinued it by praying to him whē the Crosse was erected with himselfe vpon it and now he concluded it by recommending himselfe into his hands still vnder the sweet and gracious tytle of his Father Instructing vs therby in all our actions especially in such as are of moment most of all when we are either endeauouring or enduring any thing which doth immediatly concerne the glory of God and the true good of men as this mistery of our redēption highly did to prepare our selues by Prayer before we beginne to eleuate our mindes often to
noblest Image and peece of Architecture that can be deuised The head being inclined downeward towards a kisse of peace and the armes extended abroad which shew that it is wholy against their will that they imbrace vs not because they are nayled And the whole frame of the body carrying and conuaying it selfe downe by degrees into a point after such a louely gracefull maÌ„ner as that not only the eye of Christianity but euen of curiosity it selfe can desire no more But (f) The straite obligation of Christians to our Lord Iesus Christ as for vs to whome it belongs in a farre superiour kind to this it will become vs to adore him who suffered so for vs withall the powers of our soule and to wish that in some proportion he would make vs able to pay our debts by euen dying for the loue of him as he vouchsaft to doe for loue of vs. In the meane tyme we may well be humble and wonder how we are able to belieue such things as these and yet to liue Of the great Loue of God expressed in those prodigious thinges which appeared vpon the death of our Blessed Lord. Of the hardnes of mans hart which keepes no correspondence with so great loue Of the bloud and water which flowed out of the side of Christ our Lord and how he did in all respects powre himselfe out like water for our good CHAP. 77. IT pleased the greatnes and goodnes of Almighty God that immediatly before the death of Christ our Lord Matt. 27. the veile of the Temple should rend it selfe that the earth should quake that the stones should cleaue that the Sepulchers should open and many of the dead should rise shew theÌ„selues in Ierusalem (a) The vse of the prodigiâ—â— which appeared vpon the death of our Lord Iesus so these thinges might serue for a figure of the great conuersions from the obstinacy and death of sinne which were to follow vpon the death of our B. Lord. As also to the end that those inanimate creatures might reproach the ingratitude of them who had life and reason and that the people of the other world might coÌ„demne the vast impiety of them of this who had murthered thus the Lord of life Now the same action lyes against all sinners of these dayes aswell as against them of those For whosoeuer do commit any mortall sinne doe by the testimony of S. Paul their best towards the recrucifying of our Lord Iesus Hebr. 6. and they preferre Barabbas before him as hath bene said And howsoeuer the finne of those persecutours seeme to haue beene greater then ours can be in regard that they concurred not only maliciously but immediatly to his destruction yet for as much as they did not though they ought to haue knowne expresly that he was the Sonne of God which we acknowledge and beleeue him to be and because the holy Ghost was not then descended as now he is into our soules or desires to be if we be ready to receaue him that sinne which would be lesse in it selfe is greater in vs. And we are not worthy to liue if we fly not from all that which giues disgust dishonor to such a Lord and if we suffer not with him who suffered so cruell things for vs. We shall else be lyable to that sad complaint of S. Bernard For speaking against the hardnes of mans hart which refuseth to relent towards the true loue of God wheras yet those very stones and earth relented he sayth most sweetly thus Bernard serm de Pass Dom. Solus homo non compatitur pro quo solo Christus moritur Christ our Lord dyed for man alone and yet man alone takes no compassion of Christ our Lord wheras yet other creatures for whome he dyed not had compassion that is in theyr kind they suffered with him The (b) The deadly malice of the Iewes to Christ our Lord which ouerliued his death malice of those Iewes was such as to thinke all that nothing which we haue heere described to haue bene inflicted vpon the persoÌ„ of Christ our Lord when he was aliue And therfore they thought that he could not be dead so soone Ioan. 19. Bloudy wretches they were For if malice had not put them out of their wits they would rather haue wondred how he could haue liu'd so long considering how barbarously he had bene treated But though he were dead their contempt hate was still aliue a Captaine looking on Ibid. had so little pitty as to pierce his sacred side with a Launce and to execute cruelty vpon his Corpes which no Ciuill person would haue done vpon the carcasse of a beast Our Lord before he dyed forsaw what they meant to do and resolued to suffer it and so to gayne the glory of ouercomming by suffering by being ouercome And he was pleased Rom. 5. that where their sinne and malice did abound there should his grace and loue superabound For behould he had reserued certain bloud and water next his hart and the Eagle S. Iohn who had eyes wherwith to behould the Sunne did see it issue out of his side He deliuered himselfe in these words Ioan. 19. Et continuò exiuit sanguis aqua That instantly bloud and water did issue forth As if he should haue sayd that they had lyen there to watch their tyme to the end that as soone as euer the ouerture should once be made by that point of the Launce they would instantly not fayle to spring out and spend themselues for the good of man For through the opening of that wound Beniamin was borne Gen. 35. though Rachel his mother dyed in trauaile And the Church of Christ our Lord doth proceed from thence and like another Eue it was fram'd out of the side of our B. Sauiour who was the second Adam when he was dead as the former Eue was framed out of the side of the first Adam Gen. 2. when he was sleeping And therfore no meruaile if the Church of Christ our Lord all her lawfull and faithfull children doe carry a most profound internall tender loue and reuerence to the Crosse of Christ our Lord especially to this sacred wound of his side as to the country from whence shee came and whether shee procures to goe And in conformity of this loue the same Church is carefull to be stil refreshing our memory of this Crosse making the (c) The frequent vse of the holy signe of the Crosse signe therof in all her Sacraments Ceremonies and Benedictions teaching her true Catholikes not to be ashamed therof but to blesse our selues often according to the custome of all ancient Saints with that holy signe vpon our foreheads vpon our mouths vpon our harts that so the whole man may be euer walking in remembrance of this mistery and that so we may be the better disposed to beare with patience and loue any contempt or
God forbid that now any creature should coÌ„tinue to crucify her in her honour and in the fame of her sanctity or in the effects of her mercy The Iewes crucified the Sonne but let no man be so wicked as to crucify the mother Let no maÌ„ now be like those Heretiques of auncient time who thinking belike that the sword of sorrow Antidico marianitae apud Ephiphan haer 78. Luc. 2. which was foreseen foretold by holy S. Simeon and of which it was said that it should pierce her hart from side to side at the crucifying of our Lord did not make the wound wide inough and therfore they would needs procure to keepe it open with their venemous teeth and tongues Let men I say be like them so much the lesse as the Turks themselues in their AlcoraÌ„ haue bin coÌ„uinced so far by the certaine and cleere truth of the purity and perfection of our blessed Lady as in seuerall places by way of exclamation and admiration to say thus of her Alcor Mahom. Azoar 5. 75. O Maria c. O Mary thou art more pure and right and cleere then all other men or women who doth perpetually attend to please God alone There is none borne of the children of Adam free from sinne but Mary and her Sonne There is none amongst the children of Adam whome SathaÌ„ hath not defiled excepting Mary and her Sonne If any wicked man would needs haue a spight to any other euen of them who are recorded in holy writ they might haue more colour for there are few who were not subiect to some apparent fault 2. Reg. 11. 3. Reg. 11. There was a time when Dauid committed a most inexcusable murther Salomon fell away to Idolatry the Prophets and Apostles had their defects And such as were free from fault were yet found to execute some seuerity which howsoeuer Matt. 26. in it selfe it were iust and good yet such persons vse to be lesse attractiue of the loue of others If any man should be incestuous I would meruaile the lesse although he should cry out against S. Paul because he deliuered ouer one of that confraternity to the deuill by excommunication 1. Cor. 5. Or if he would breake his promise made to God though he rayled against â— Pâ—eter Act. â— because Ananias Saphira were strocâ—â—Ì„ dead in the Apostles preseÌ„ce for that finne Or being wholy giuen ouer to frequent Taâ—ernes and playes to worke his vnbridled will whatsoeuer it may cost if he haue no mind to S. Iohn Baptist whome he counts to haue bene a melancholy kind of man that he was no good Courtyer Matt. 14. in reprouing Herod for his faults to his face Or being a Prophanour of the worship of God I should not woÌ„der so very much though he maligned the very fountaine of sanctity Christ our Lord himselfe because he whipt such offeÌ„dours as those out of the Temple Ioan. 2. But in this sacred Virgin as on the one side there was neuer the least defect at all of which any creature could iustly taxe her so on the other she had no such Office as might oblige her to the executioÌ„ of any seuerity vpon the pretence wherof they could grow to be auerted from her Of her excellency otherwise I shall say somewhat afterward but for her discharge in point of Innocency I would but aske the sowrest Critiques of the world What action of hers they did euer note what word they did euer read or heere or what (e) The excessiue suauity of our B. Lady coppy of her countenance they did euer take in a true light which did not eueÌ„ smell with sweetnes and goodnes Yet peraduenture this will not serue because themselues will not be such as they ought They loue not to see the sensuality and pride of theirowne liues reproached by the example of her high purity and most holy humility And they conceaue her to cast more shame vpon them then euen the example of Christ our Lord himselfe would doe From the imitation of whome they would excuse themselues because he was God aswell as man wheras she was no more then a mere creature though most eminently inspired by the grace of God which yet they also in their proportions may be But if they would once procure to imitate this Queene of heauen in her vertues Note there is no soule capable of reason which could euer detaine it selfe from becoming the trumper of her prayses If any narrow-harted man be inclined out of ambition to enuy such as aspire to temporall Greatenes his Enuy must looke after another obiect since she was poore and priuate and loued to be so If he hate all cruelty of condition he may better imploy that hate vpon what other creature he will for in this sacred Virgin he could neuer see any thinge which might offend him vnlesse he will be angry with her for hauing neuer resented any indignity that could be done her in this life If he loue to be reuenged of such as doe him any wronge that passion can haue noe place vpon this Queene of Heauen who neuer did him or any any other wrong then to giue her flesh and bloud to God that he might spend and shed it for the redemption of man But (f) How we are obliged to pitty to admire and loue this Queene of heaueÌ„ if on the other side there be any thinge which he can resolue to pitty in her he may see a world of paine for the Crosses of her sonne supported by him for the finnes of vs his wicked seruants If there be any thing which he can be content to admire in her he sees nobility of bloud dignity of calling and sanctity of life all met in one If he be not so fierce but that there is some thing which he may be induced to loue in her he may behould most incomparable beauty of body with an vnspeakeable suauity of minde who neuer in all her life gaue any one crosse-answere nor shewed so much as a strange eye to any creature nor complayned of any incommodity nor refused to be subiect to any impertinency nor fayled to succour any misery But if we will looke vpon her story with vntroubled eyes we shall find all the traces of her pure feete to haue bene full of a kind of diuine profound perpetuall humble suffering sweetnes which at last will oblige men to be her slaues Of the incomparable sanctity which is implyed to haue beene in our Blessed Lady by the consideration of the high dignity of her calling and how that maÌ„ner of speach is to be vnderstood in holy Scripture wherby our Blessed Lady doth seeme in the eye of some to be disaduantaged CHAP. 82. AND how indeed could it be chosen but that her externall actions should leaue behind them an admirable odour whose soule did so regorge with the most sublime perfection of sanctity which might be agreable to the dignity of
were Relatiues and that after a sort it would redound vpon them both a like there could be no doubt but that howsoeuer he were so vnworthy as not to be gratefull to her for her sake yet he would not faile to be so for his owne What kind of (a) How our Lord was as it were obliged to fill our B. Lady with all perfectiō thing must they therfore make Almighty God who allow him not to haue endued our Blessed Lady withall the priuiledges and prerogatiues of sāctity and grace wherof a pure creature could be capable since he tooke flesh of her and that she was ordayned from all eterniry to giue a new being and nature and life to himselfe Wherby he was to atcheeue the most glorious enterprize which euer he had vndertaken or euer would And so much more wicked is it to thinke any such thing of God euen because he is God and is not a whit the emptier for filling any other with himselfe And because he is supreme goodnes and knowes not how to be ouercome with curtesy But now since he descended to this Incarnation in the B. Virgins wombe especially and expresly for the meere cōmunication of himselfe to all his reasonable creatures what flouds of grace must he needs be beleeued to haue rayned downe vpon that happy soule by whose only meanes vnder himselfe he was afterward to deriue himselfe to others Yea and finally if this blasphemy could be a truth that God had sought his owne and not our end therby and that it were possible to conceaue God to be wise and not conceaue him to be also good yet euen wisedom alone would haue obliged him to doe all that for her which could possibly haue bin done to a created nature since himselfe was to be so highly interessed therby his very body hauing bin wholy hers The glory or shame of any mother and her Sonne are so neere of kinne that they will not part and how much more of this Sonne and mother since this mother gaue this Sonne all the humane nature he had by the operatiō of the holy Ghost And (b) That body which our B. Lady gaue to Christ our Lord is that very body which is to raigne eternally at the right hād of God that very body so bestowed by her as to remaine raigne at the right hand of God for all eternity It is therfore of much honour to Christ our Lord the more honorable and excellent his Blessed Mother was And by this we way also easily discerne the immensity of height to which our Blessed Lady is exalted She being raysed vp so neere to the Deity of Christ our Lord it selfe and beholding that omnipotent God both personally and eternally to subsist and liue in her nature And by the infinite merit of that person of his to be working such store of spirituall miracles in the world adorning men heere with guifts of grace and crowning them afterward with glory So great is our Blessed Lady so much more as shall be shewed afterward and her adnersaries and ours haue no cause to scandalize themselues with vs for saying so For to that which they are wont to say that we equall her to Christ our Lord I will desire them to receaue this short true answere that afterward I may proceed in her prayses without any further feare of offending them By so good a worke we all acknowledge and beleeue our Lord IESVS to be true and perfect God and that our Blessed Lady though the most excellent meere creature that euer was to haue bin no more then a meere creature Now (c) There lyes no comparisort at all betweene our B. Lady and Christ our Lord as God it followes heervpon that there was is more excellency in him as God then her by more millions of degrees then there is greater quātity in the bulke of the whole world then in the least little moate which wanders vp and downe in the ayre For in a word he is infinite she but finite therfore there lyes no kind of comparison betwene them two Let it be also considered that euen what she had of dignity and greatues did all originally as will further be shewed afterward depend vpon that first Grace wherby she was elected without any merit at all of hers through the only goodnes of God who drew her by his diuine vnderstanding before all eternities and did execute it afterwards vpon her when the fulnes of tyme was come out of the whole race of mankind with intention to make her that happy creature which should giue flesh and bloud and life to the increated Word and Wisedome of God the secōd person of the most holy Trinity Which diuine life of his he would afterward lay downe vpon the Crosse for the redemption of the world and the totall destruction of our death That (d) The ground Originall cause of all our B. Ladies sanctity out of the same free goodnes she was made a most pure vessell of the holy Ghost at the very first instant of her sacred and immaculate Conception that so as she was to be the mother of God she might also be made most worthy of so incomparable a dignity And that to this end she was most beloued adorned and enriched withall that plenitude of diuine graces and vertues prerogatiues which might any way be conuenient for the incomprehensible high office to which she was assumed That not only she was infinitely inferiour indeed of her selfe a meere Nothing in respect of God but that she was also incōcomparably of lesse excellency and dignity then Christ our Lord as he was man And that since euen the soule of Christ our Lord himselfe did not deserue that first Grace wherby it pleased God to assume and vnite it hypostatically to the second person of the most blessed Trinity in vertue of which vnion the Grace and merit of that soule after a sort was infinite so much lesse could the soule of the B. Virgin deserue the first Grace which was imparted to it whervpon all her other greatnes did originally depend That (e) The great preheminēce of Christ our Lord euen as he is man beyond our B. Lady Christ our Lord did merit as it were infinitely of himselfe and for himselfe but that the Blessed Virgin could neuer haue merited any thinge but in vertue of the merits of Christ our Lord. That Christ our Lord was absolutely and of himselfe by nature holy and indued at the first instant wherin his soule was vnited to the Word with such an immensity of all diuine graces as was wholy incapable of any increase That he was our sole Redeemer and Sauiour and for himselfe did need no Sauiour nor Redeemer That he was not conceaued in the way of ordinary generation but by way of Obumbration of the holy Ghost in the most pretious and pure wombe of the all-immaculate Luc. 1. and B. Virgin But that she came into
prerogatiues prayses of this most gratious most glorious Queene of heauen the ornament both of this and the other world wherby she is delineated in the old Testament may be well content to vanish in the sight of those others which are most perfectly declared in the new The wonderfull excellencies of our B. Lady which are declared in the new Testament be heere set forth CHAP. 86. LET therfore that be first remēbred which was touched before vpon other occasiōs that the holy Scripture is wont to expresse it self in few words that they vse to be deliuered in a very positiue māner least otherwise the earnestnes of asseueration might derogate from the authority of that infallible spirit of truth wherby they are written Let it be also considered that little is said in the whole Euangelicall history of Christ our Lord himselfe in the way and vnder the Tytle of expresse prayse For he was to giue himselfe for a perfect patterne of profōd humnility which permits not a man either to prayse himselfe or to like that it be done by his next fellowes His resolution was that his workes should speake of him and so they did and this was also the case of our Blessed Lady who as she was next him in grace so was she also next him in humility But yet neuerthelesse as it was necessary that Christ our Lord should be declared to the world for the Sauiour of it and for the Sonne of God and of the Blessed Virgin wherby the incomparable excellency of his person was to be discerned and the admirable perfection of his actions discouered so by a necessary consequence of that relation which runs betwene a Sonne and his mother the dignity of her person who was the mother of God must also needs be incidētly not only incidently but expresly also shewed and the matchlesse sanctity of all her actions and operations therby inferred For notwitstanding all the reseruation which I haue said to be vsed in holy Scripture let vs see if it haue bin able to containe it selfe from magnifying our Blessed Lady euen in other termes then by only saying that she was the Mother of God Which word alone had yet bene sufficient to aduance her as farre aboue al the world of creatures both in heauen and earth as a single figure being placed before a whole million of Cyphers would expresse a number which would scarce be told I will first in a word point out the priuiledges and prayses of this perpetuall Virgin which are mentioned in holy Scripture in effect as they ere raunged togeather by Canisius lib. 1. c. 2. that deuout and learned seruant of hers And from thence I will proceed to a short consideration of those diuine vertues which were imparted to her togeather with those prerogatiues which were necessarily to be supposed to be in her by those prayses For of her and to her it was said by the Archangell Gabriel and note that he said it not as in his owne person but as in the person of God himselfe whose Ambassador he was All haile O thou full of Grace Luc. 2. Our Lord is with thee Blessed art thou amongst women Thou hast found grace with God Thou shalt beare a Sonne and thou shalt call his name Iesus That Sonne of thine shall be great and he shall be called the Sonne of the most High Our Lord God will giue him the seate of his Father Dauid He shall raigne in the house of Iacob for euer and that kingdome shall haue no end Vpon thee shall the holy Ghost descend and the vertue of the most high shall ouershadow thee And so therfore that which of thee shall be borne holy shall be called by the Sonne of God Vpon her presence also it was and vpon the first sound of her sacred voyce that S. Elizabeth was indued with the spirit of Prophesy and ful-filled with the holy Ghost Luc. 1. that her Sōne did spring in her wombe with ioy as hath bin said which supposeth the vse of reason then imparted to him Vpon her Visitation it was that S. Elizabeth was not able to containe her selfe but cryed out to this effect with an extaticall kind of loud voyce Is it possible that this poore creature should receaue such a fauour as not only to be saluted by the mother of my Lord but that she should preuent me with such a painefull visit How come I to be capable of such high honour Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruite of thy wombe Happy I say art thou who hast belieued for whatsoeuer our Lord hath sayd to thee shall be performed And heerupon the humble and loyall soule of the sacred Virgin when she found that her Cosin had receaued a reuelation of the diuine mystery which had bin wrought in her◠lent her tongue to the holy Ghost Luc. 1. who therby pronounced that holy Canticle of the Magnificat And so farre was she (a) The holy Ghost did force the sacred tongue of our B. Lady to giue her selfe due prayse ouerruled therby as prophetically to foretell her own excellency and not only to say That our Lord had done great things to her but that all generations of men should call her blessed It is but reason O Queene of heauen that those Generations should call thee blessed by whose only meanes vnder God his curse is to be remoued from them And if the good (b) A consequence which cānot be denied Luc. 11. womā in the Ghospell vpon the seeing and hearing of Christ our Lord when he was teaching did proclaime the blessednes of that wombe which had borne such a Sonne and of the breasts which had giuen him sucke and if according to the iudgmēt of antiquity she was inspired therin by the holy Ghost Beda l. 4. c. 4◠in Luc 11. she of whome our Venerable Country man S. Bede affirmes that by the example of her faith and deuotion whilst the Pharisies were tempting blaspheming Christ our Lord she did both confound the slaunders of those principall Iewes who then were present and the persidiousnes of those Heretiques who would spring vp in tyme which was then to come how much more are we to blesse her who haue so much more knowledge of her excellencies then the other had For she did but conceaue her at that time to be mother of some great Prophet or man of God wheras we are taught by the light of faith that she was no lesse then the mother of God himselfe How miserable therfore are they who do their best to giue both the holy Ghost and her the lye whilst they acknowledge her not to be truly blessed for as much as they make her subiect both to originall to actuall sinnes An incomparable dignity it was for thee O sacred Virgin to be made the mother of the euer-liuing God And if we with our misty sight discerne that dignity to haue bene so great what did those pure sweet
thinke that we should need no exhortation to frequent the corporall works of Mercy as feeding the hungry and thirsty cloathing the naked visiting and comforting sicke persons and prisoners and the like since by his owne sacred mouth he hath told vs in his holy Ghospell that he will assume men to heauen if they shall haue done these works and adiudge men to hell it they doe them not But this blessed Lord of ours doth yet assigne such another reason in that very place as to a soule which hath tasted of his diuine loue is incomparably of more force then the former And it is that he hath vouchsafed to put his very selfe into the person of that beggar or distressed person Quod vni ex minimis meis fecistis mihi secistis Matt. 25. That so he might make vs happy by his receiuing from our miserable vnworthy hands a peece of courtesy and seruice Which he is pleased to apply to his owne most excellent diuine person And now since our (k) Spirituall workes of mercy are incoÌ„parably of more account with God then corporall Corpoall works of mercy to our neighbours are taken by himselfe as such liuely tokens of our loue to him who shall be able to declare how much more gratefully he will take it that we be carefull and liberall in the works of mercy which are spirituall So much more gratefull to him are these latter then those former works as the spirituall and immortall substance of the soule is more valuable then the base and dying substance of the body Nay one soule according to S. Chrysostome Orat. 3. contra Iudaeos is more worth then the whole materiall world put togeather Now the spirituall worke of mercy which is exercised by one man towards another in reducing such as erre in teaching such as are ignorant and in fine in drawing a soule from wickednes of life to Gods seruice doth produce as the instrument of God and by the helpe and strength of his holy hand l Miraculous thinges are wrought in the soule whoÌ„ it returneth to God 2. Pet. 1. strange things in the soule For it destroyeth the kingdome of Sinne it infuseth grace it maketh that man of an enemy and traytour which he was to God to become both his Sonne and Heire it enricheth him with the merits of Christ our Lord and it makes him partake of a diuine nature Nay it is most certainly and cleerly true that the man who coÌ„uerts a soule doth by the goodnes of our Lord acheiue a more great and glorious enterprise theÌ„ Christ our Lord himselfe was pleased to do by his illuminating of the blind or raysing of the dead or in fine by working any other miracle which was meerly corporall Since therfore this worke of helping soules is so very great how immense must that loue and mercy of our B. Lord haue bin who was pleased to (m) How easily great thinges are done in Gods seruice enable men thereunto and that at so easy a rate as that by the goodnes of God it is performed many tymes by the only exchange of a few words either of counsell to them or instruction of them or by prayer for them And by these happy men that is partly and daily fulfilled which was done in great measure Colos 2. by the blessed Apostle when he said Adimpleo ea quae desunt passionum Christi pro corpore eius quae est Ecclesia I fulfill those things which are waÌ„ting to the passion of Christ our Lord for that body of his which is the Church Not but that the passioÌ„ of Christ our Lord is all-sufficient in it selfe for the redeeming and sauing of a thousand worlds but that which the blessed Apostle doth insinuate as wanting to the passion of Christ our Lord was the application thereof by Faith and Pennance which last supposeth also Hope and Loue to the soules of Christians This I say is that wherin the B. Apostle imployed himselfe and this is that very thing to which the men of God do now attend and this in fine is that whereby we way testify our Loue to our Lord Iesus in a most excelleÌ„t manner And I begge of the same Lord that he will giue vs store of grace wherby we may loue him as we ought and serue him in such sort to all purpose 〈◊〉 he desireth and deserueth at our hands FINIS THE TABLE OF CHAPTERS Chap. 1. OF the Loue of our Lord Iesus Christ declared by shewing his Greatnes as he is God pag. 1 Chap. 2. The Loue of our Lord Iesus as he is Man is much coÌ„mended to vs by the consideration of the Excellency of his Soule pag. 10 Chap. 3. The power Sanctity of the Soule of Christ our Lord is considerd wherby we may also the better see his excessiue Loue. pag. 15 Chap. 4. The dignity of the pretious body of Christ our Lord is declared wherby the excellency of his loue is magnified pag. 21 Chap. 5. How the Beauty of our Lord Iesus Christ did coÌ„uince coÌ„quer all lookers on sauing only where excesse of sinne had put out the eyes of the soule pag. 25 Chap. 6. The admirable visible grace and disposition of the person of Christ our Lord is further declared pag. 29 Chap. 7. The same discourse is prosecuted and concluded coÌ„cerning the excellent Beauty of our Lord especially of the attractiuenesse of his sight pag. 35 Chap. 8. How this infinite God superexcellent Man our Lord Iesus Christ did with incomparable loue cast his eye of mercy vpon mankind pag. 43 Chap. 9. The Originall Roote and Motiâ—e of the infinite Loue of Christ our Lord to the Saluation of man is discouered pag. 48 Chap. 10. The mystery of the Incarnation is more particularly lookt into and the loue of our Lord Iesus is wonderfully expressed therby pag. 52 Chap. 11. Of the immense Loue of Christ our Lord expressed to Man in his holy Natiuity pag. 57 Chap. 12. How by the Pouerty of our Lord Iesus in his Natiuity poore men are comforted and the rich are kept from being proud pag. 61 Chap. 13. Of the vnspeakeable loue which our Lord Iesus expressed to vs in his Circumcision pag. 66 Chap. 14. Of the name of Iesus and the incomparable loue which our Lord doth shew to vs by that name pag. 75 Chap. 15. The same discourse concerning the holy Name of Iesus is further prosecuted pag. 78 Chap. 16. Of the great loue which our Lord shewed to vs in his Epiphany or Manifestation to the Gentiles in the person of the three Kings pag. 82 Chap. 17. It is shewed by the PresentatioÌ„ of our Lord Iesus in the TeÌ„ple how infinite loue he bare to vs. pag. 90 Chap. 18. How in the flight which our Lord Iesus made to Egypt he discouered his vnspeakeable Loue to man pag. 96 Chap. 19. The great Loue of our Lord Iesus is further shewed in his flight to Egypt pag. 101 Chap. 20. Of the
great Loue which our Lord Iesus shewed by his disputing and teaching in the Temple pag. 107 Chap. 21. Of the excessiue loue which our Lord Iesus shewed to vs in that he would vouchsafe to be Baptized pag. 114 Chap. 22. The discourse concerning Baptisme is contynued and the great Loue of our Lord in the institution of that Sacrament is more declared pag. 120 Chap. 23. Of the vnspeakeable Loue to vs which our Lord Iesus shewed in his being tempted in the wildernes by the Diuell pag. 126 Chap. 24. The excellent examples and instructions which our Lord Iesus gaue vs with great Loue in this mystery of his Temptation pag. 13â— Chap. 25. The Temptations which the Diuell did seeke to put vpon our Lord Iesus are declared opened pag. 135 Chap. 26. It is shewed how we are to carry our selues in the vse of holy Scripture and we are instructed concerning Lent and we are incouraged towardes the vse of Pennance so this mystery of the Temptation is concluded pag. 140 Chap. 27. Of the great Loue which our Lord Iesus shewed to mankind in the Vocation of his Apostles pag. 145 Chap. 28. The incomparable Loue wherwith our Lord instaÌ„tly rewarded the speedy obedience of the Apostles pag. 151 Chap. 29. Of the excessiue Loue which our Lord Iesus shewed to maÌ„ in the mystery of the TransfiguratioÌ„ pag 157 Chap. 30. The incoÌ„parable ioy which the Apostles tooke through the loue which our Lord Iesus shewed theÌ„ in his TraÌ„sfiguration how himselfe was content to want the glory of it both before and after for the loue of them pag. 152 Chap. 31. The most excellent instructions which our Lord through his loue did giue to man in this mystery of the Transfiguration pag. 166 Chap. 32. Of the vnspeakeable loue which our Lord Iesus shewed by deliuering to vs his admirable Doctrine of the manner which he held in teaching vs. pag. 171 Chap. 33. Of the tender loue which 〈◊〉 Lord Iesus shewed by the incommodity which he was subiect to whilst he deliuered his Doctrine to vs and of the surfet which some are subiect to if we take not heed by the aboundance of his blessings pag. 176 Chap. 34. The same discourse is continued concerning the great loue which our Lord Iesus expressed in his Doctrine pag. 181 Chap. 35. The incomparable purity of the Doctrine of Christ our Lord and with how great loue he helpeth vs towards the practise therof pag. 186 Chap. 36. Of the vnspeakeable Loue of our Lord Iesus in ordeyning that the greatest part of his diuine Doctrine should remaine in writing and of the great benefit which growes to vs by the holy Scripture pag. 195 Chap. 37. How carefull we must be not to be rash in the vse of holy Scripture and of the great obscurity therof pag. 201 Chap. 38. How the holy Scripture growes to be so very obscure and of the infinite wise loue which our Lord hath shewed to vs euen therin pag. 209 Chap. 39. Of the great teÌ„dernes of the Loue of our Lord which is shewed to man by the expresse words of holy Scripture and first of the old Testament pag. 216 Chap. 40. The infinite teÌ„der Loue of our Lord which is expressed in the Scriptures of the new Testament pag. 226 Chap. 41. Of the excessiue loue which our Lord Iesus shewed to man by the Miracles which he wrought on earth pag. 233 Chap. 42. How all the miracles of the new Testament doe tend to mercy and how our Lord did neuer deny the suite of any one and of the tender manner which he held in granting them pag. 239 Chap. 43. The great 〈◊〉 of Loue which our Lord Iesus expressed in the working of his Miracles is more declared pag. 247 Chap. 44. How the corporall Miracles of our Lord Iesus had an ayme at the reformation of soules and did tend to the discouering and facilitating the beliefe of great mysteries pag. 252 Chap. 45. Of the infinite Loue which our Lord Iesus shewed to vs in the institution of the blessed Sacrament and the holy Sacrifice of the Masse pag. 257 Chap. 46. How our Lord would not harken to those reasons which might haue disswaded him from shewing this great mercy to man Of the necessity of a visible Sacrifice and how our Lord himselfe doth still offer it pag. 264 Chap. 47. Of the iudgement which the holy Fathers of the Church haue alwayes made of this holy Sacrifice and B. Sacrament and the great veneration which they had them in and the â—â—â—iues wherby we may be induced to doe the like pag. 270 Chap. 48. How we do both feed are fedd vpon in the B. Sacrament of the admirable effects which it must necessarily cause in such as do worthily receaue it and of the reason why it must be so and of the Figures which forshewed the same pag. 277 Chap. 49. Of the great Loue of our Lord in conueying the B. Sacrament to vs vnder the species of bread and wine Why it is neither necessary nor conuenient nor scarce possible for all Christians to coÌ„municate of the Chalice Of diuers kinds of Vnion And how liberall our Lord is to vs in letting vs all frequent these diuine Mysteries so often pag. 284 Chap. 50. The misery is shewed and the errour is partly coÌ„uinced of such as do not 〈◊〉 the beliefe of those diuine mysteries pag. 292 Chap. 51. Of the Obligation which we haue to God for so great a benefit and who are most bound to be denoted to it and why and how happy they must needs be who frequent it with deuotion pag. 298 Chap. 52. Of the infinite Loue which our Lord Iesus discouereth to mankind in his sacred Passion with a reflection vpon the dignity of his diuine person the vse which heere we are to make thereof pag. 304 Chap. 53. Of the most tender diuine Loue care which our Lord Iesus shewed at his entrance into the PassioÌ„ in his last sermon long prayer to his eternall Father pag. 308 Chap. 54. The horrour terrour and sorrow of Christ our Lord togeather with his Prayer in the GardeÌ„ pag. 313 Chap. 55. What griefe it must needs cause to our B. Lord to be estranged from feeling comfort in God pag. 319 Chap. 56. The incoÌ„parable sorrow of Christ our Lord through his consideration of the dishonour of God and the sinne and misery of man togeather with the sight of what himselfe was to suffer pag. 324 Chap. 57. Of the excelleÌ„cy of Prayer declared by occasion of that Prayer of our B. Lord in the Garden pag. 331 Chap. 58. The apprehensioÌ„ of Christ our Lord a iust expostulatioÌ„ with the traytour Iudas for that hideous treason of his togeather with a descriptioÌ„ of mortall sin the danger which we are put into by all voluntary veniall sinnes pag. 335 Chap. 59. Of our Lords great loue to vs in permitting that fal of Iudas of that vnspeakeable mercy which he shewed