prefiscini God blesse it least perhaps selfe-loue might breed within it or rather because enuy did pretend flattery I omit superstition but sure it is whether the world be not worthy of things worthy or because God permits the diuel still to exercise his inueterate enuy or whether the substance of these beauties is not durable howsoeuer it is things wonderfully amiable haue no long continuance Whilst vertue is in health malice hates it and loue neglects it and if it perish not quickly of it selfe enuy murders it enuy will consume it selfe vntill it bee consumed Which coniunction of enuy and murther the Greekes expressed in the similitude of their names there is but one letter betweene enuy death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that is a deadly and dismall letter So the Apostle ioynes them together Rom. 2.19 Full of enuy and murther And Gal. 5.2 The workes of the flesh are enuies and murthers Wherefore if thou wilt preuent the one suppresse the other Thou beholdest in another that good which is not in thy selfe either it is thine owne fault or in recompence thou hast that which hee wanteth Or why doest thou maligne him when God gaue it him or may not God dispose of his owne or is there not another world to giue euery man satisfaction Further alasse what is there in this world worthy of enuy is not euery good thing haunted with his spirit are not the vertues of the best poore inough but wee must paire them by detraction if thou wilt needs enuy enuy within thy self to see the worse part get the better to see the prosperitie insolencie of the flesh aboue the spirit Woe to them saith Saint Iude which walke in the way of Cain for they contemne the simplicitie of Grace for they admire things transitorie and there is no loue in them From which sinnes the blessed spirit of loue preserue vs which combineth the Father and the Sonne vnto whom one GOD bee all honour praise and confession for euermore Amen The end of the first Sermon THE SECOND SERMON Of Humane Miserie IOB 3.20 Wherefore is the light giuen to him that is in misery and life to them which are bitter in spirit THINGS Tragicall which in themselues are fearefull and vnpleasant notwithstanding they are represented or remembred with delight But besides that the suffsrings of the Saints recorded in Scripture doe affoord vnto a Christian further instruction namely with the Greeke Church to pray to haue his purgatorie in this life and to say with S. Austen Domine hic seca hic vre vt in aeternum parcas Lord here lance mee and here lash me that thou maist spare mee for euer A famous patterne of these passions was happy Iob and amongst other his tragicall exclamations is this miserable and dolefull complaint powred out of the aboundance of his griefe In which text consider two things First the griefe and passion of Iobs minde expressed by an interrogation quare wherefore Secondly the cause and matter of his griefe in the words following which is the misery of mankind and that hee diuides into two kinds the troublesome things which we do out of these words light and labour and the miserable things that we suffer in the words following and life to them that are bitter in spirit For hee thinketh that light doth aggrauate our labours and life augment our sufferings This interrogation wherefore is not a word of indignation or murmure against God but of sorrow and complaint For sighes and groanes and miserable outcries they are the irruptions of a heart burdened with griefe which if it should not finde passage that way would bee combust or cleaue asunder And they are caused oftentimes from extreame heate and affection of loue when the minde being stricken with some vnexpected accidents vttereth tearmes which seeme to be of hatred and disgrace which notwithstanding doe indeed proceed onely from the affection of loue troubled and distracted Such affectionate speeches the Psalmes the Canticles and the booke of Iob they be full of where the Saints of God are expressed varying themselues into all shapes of affections Into feare into hope into chiding into weeping into sudden silence into shew of despaire into forsaking and suddenly into earnest intreating Hence we learne two things The first that the violence of affection and griefe it may be pleasing vnto God sometimes and compatible with the gouernement of reason and of grace There is in vs naturally in some more in some lesse a softnesse and flexiblenesse of nature which takes impression of griefe it is created of God and the operations of it are not in vaine When God is angry hee will haue vs grieue when hee chides or when hee scourges hee will haue vs weepe and powre out our soules into deprecations and complaints Yea then our loue appeares to him when wee melt like waxe before the heate of his anger when we seeke him and sorrow that wee cannot find him and when wee feele the discontinuance of his fauour This bleeding of the heart of man it is delightsome both to God and to vs therefore saith Saint Austine Possumne audire abs te Domine Cur fletus dulcis sit miseris an hoe tibi dulce est quod speramus ex audire te Neither is the extremity of any passion to be blamed but the perturbation or disobedience to reason Therefore wee read in Scripture of the boly men of God when they were afflicted with any occasion of griefe that their sorrow is expressed in termes of greatest lamentation They rend their hearts and their garments they afflict their soules with fasting they put on sackecloth and ashes because as Saint Ierome saith Ieiunus venter hahitus lugubris Ambitiosius dominum deprecantur Lastly their words are dolefull aboue all the Tragicall exclamations that Art can find How exceeding great was the lamentation of Ieremy for the good King Iosias that it came to bee a Prouerbe as the mourning of Hadadrimon in the valley of Megiddon Wherefore there being a meane and measure in mourning two extremities are to be auoided the first is dulnesse and sencelessenes of heart a pretended calmenesse but indeed a stoicall and vnnaturall carelessenesse proceeding from the loue of case and want of compassion and affection either in our owne troubles or the troubles of others These men will neither weepe nor exclaime nor giue any signes of violent passions as if this were fortitude and patience which is rather stupidity and want of charity What father will like his sonne if vpon his displeasure he shew himselfe nothing daunted nor moued in his countenance nor stricken at the heart to looke pale or to humble his voyce or to weepe or to deiect his eyes Will a father call this patience or stubbornesse in his sonne Such are they who when their heauenly Father afflicts them make hast presently to stop their passions that neither teares nor groanes nor complaints may finde any passage through too much
commented there he indited there hee translated And for this cause many learned Diuines amongst whom S. Ierom Eusebius with diuers of late memorie haue carefully described all the sacred places and religious monuments of the Holy land that those which haue not seene them really might see them imaginarily and nourish their Diuine cogitations without supestition without any great cost or trouble I that they might see Canaan a farre off as Moses did from mount Phasga Now looke what hath been said concerning deuotion nourished by sight the same is true likewise of the other learned sense namely hearing as the hearing of musicke or eloquent discourse which being vsed without curious scrupulositie and affectation how greatly they increase the loue of God and of his true worship it appeares to any liberall and ingenious disposition vnlesse any man thinke the vse of musicke proper to stirre vp vanity to nourish pleasure to maintaine lightnesse and obscenitie And not 1 To raise vp mens minds to meditation of heauenly ioyes whereof musick may seeme a kinde of type 2 To confider the harmonie and consent of the world how all Ages all Nations all Languages praise Him 3 Out of the mouthes of Babes sucklings hee prepareth praise 4 To expiate the eares which haue beene polluted by wanton madrigals and lasciuious ditties 5 To kindle the affections with loue of God 6 Lastly to praise him with learned hymnes who is the giuer of all excellencies Vnlesse any man thinke that eloquence was giuen naturally to adorne folly and flatteries to ouerthrow right to colour falshood and deceaue simplicity and to be misvsed when it is appliyed to strengthen truth to sweeten diligence and commend pietie Quis ita desipiat vt hoc sapiat saith Saint Augustine 4. de Dectrina Chr. And if any man obiect that Saint Austin could not resolue himselfe concerning the lawfull vse of artificiall Musicke in Churches it is false For though hee speakes of his owne experience that the delight of his sense did sometimes preuaile aboue reason yet hee confesses the excellent vse of Musick for deuotion And for being too scrupulous hee checkes himselfe calling it nimia seueritas and concludes that hee approues the custome of the Church Vt per oblectamenta aurium infirmior animus in affectum pietatis assurgat That by delight of the eare the weake minde of man might rise vp into pious affections whereof hee makes himselfe an example with delightsome remembrance how hee was moued to teares at the hearing of artificiall Church Musicke Cum reminiscor lachrymas quas fudi ad cantus ecclesiae tuae magnam instituti huius vtilitatem agnosco Besides what Saint Austine saith there of artificiall musicke may bee as well an argument against plaine song and common tunes in Churches which affect some men as much and of many are sung with as great affectation Againe if for this difficulty they would wholy reiect the lawfull vse of musicke let them reade the two chapters next going before they shal find that he maketh the same difficulty in the vse of all the senses which if they will refuse therefore then must they neither see nor smell nor eate nor drinke But this holy man there expresses his carefulnesse to auoide sin as also did Saint Athanasius whom hee there citeth But how farre their spirit was from preiudicing others or from scrupling mens consciences in the vse of the approued Institutions of the Church their other speeches and actions are sufficient witnesses Wherefore to shorten this discourse let vs all endeuour to haue a zealous and deuout loue of Christ both that which riseth out of knowledge and vnderstanding and that which riseth out of sense and affection And to this purpose vse all those meanes which the practise of most holy Fathers and the law of Nature her selfe doth warrant which is not sensuall loue but affectionate and holy raised out of sense As they which saw Christ loued him the more not for the lineaments of his body but being enflamed with consideration that they should see their Creator become Flesh who is in his owne Nature inuisible That they should see the same passions as in themselues in him which was Impassible and all their owne infinrmities without deformitie of sinne That man might not now chuse but loue God vnlesse he would not loue himselfe This I say bred admiration and loue in them a spirituall loue yet raised out of sense and is chiefe part of that which wee properly call deuotion And thus much of the first part of my Text namely the loue of Christ being seene Where I haue shewed how much sight augmenteth loue And how all other sensible meanes and externall practises are incitements and inuitations to encrease deuotion Deuotion which is the onely happinesse of this life and to be preferred before wisedome subtilty or discourse being indeed the end and perfection of all The delicious taste of heauenly ioyes which God giues vnto his Saints here that they may long after the fruition of the whole Whereof Saint Austine speakes in the 40 chap. of the 10. booke of his Confessions Et aliquando intromittis me Domine in affectum multum inusitatum introrsum ad nescio quam dulcedinem quaesi perficiatur in me nescio quid erit quod vita ista non erit Now to the second part which is the loue of Christ not seene Quem cum non videritis diligitis whom yee loue though yee haue not seene This not onely S. Peter heere but S. Paul also with many other Worthies haue admired to see how soone the world without compulsion consented to follow and to loue Him whom they neuer saw How so many thousands and millions were moued with such a strange instinct to leaue their goods their wiues their children parents their deerest Country and lastly to loose their liues so willingly for loue of him whom they neuer saw This amazed the vnbeleeuing world to see her number daily minished and most furious persecutors become the hottest louers What secret influence so raigned in mens hearts what cruel loue made them so impatient that they ranne showting to their death Wherefore forsooke they all their present ioyes which they not onely saw but caryed in their eyes to loue him whom they saw not Crying Hunc amemus huno amemus Nothing could bribe them or abalienate their mindes Youth was not moued with beauty nor old age with money nor children with feare of death nor States-men with preferment No contumelies no disgraces preuailed they suffered all things they endured all things and all this for the loue of him whom they neuer saw The new married preferred the graue before the bed Honourable and beautifull maides choose rather to bee called virgins of Christ then queenes to great Princes The fraile sexe was crowned with Martyrdome and compassionate mothers ouercomming nature beheld with cheerefull countenance their swete infants killed for the loue of Christ as wee read of that happy childe which died
in their bags indigested The last degree of Cain his exceeding wickednesse that hee killed his brother his naturall brother and his onely brother and which aggrauates his villany in whom were all the kinds and degrees of brother-hood vndiuided For then there were not brothers some by the father some by the mother brothers by friendship not by bloud brothers by affinity not by consanguinity brothers that is the same Country-men not strangers brothers of the same Religion and not diuers but all these strings of loue and affection they were vnited in one Neither did he it for want of lands and territories for was he not heire of the whole earth but Ambition and Couetousnesse are impatient of consort and fellowship be they neuer so much dilated Further by this murther Caine is guilty of the bloud of Christ and all the blessed Progeny which should haue beene deriued from him Nay yet further he hath slaine all posterities that followed all generations may call him cursed For if God had destroyed him and giuen Eue no more children as iustly he might haue done the propogation of man-kind had beene cut off and this faire world shut vp as soone as it was made like goodly new houses which haue no inhabitants But the loue of brothers will not suffer me to passe it thus which the more sacred it is with the greater sinne was it violated by this vnnaturall Why did he not consider that hauing a brother his strength was doubled For what are brothers but two in one two in labour but one in enioying two against all others one betwixt themselues What aduantage is it to bee in two places at once to watch when he sleepeth to haue his health when hee is sick and all this not by a deputy but by himselfe for this vnion is in some sence naturall not onely of affection Two hands two feet two eyes two cares in one body do resemble brothers which are two bodies in one Wherefore fraternall loue being a patterne of all loue when wee would haue any to loue entirely wee stile them by the name of brethren As brethren enuy not one another for the loue of husband and wife though it bee great yet it is not naturall but grafted the loue of parents and children greater but not reciprocall for loue descendeth not ascendeth but the loue of brothers is naturall and collaterall neither ouer-awed with reuerence nor by satiety intermitted How full of sweetnesse is it to remember saith Valerius that we liued in the same lodging before that we were borne and past the time of our infancy in the same cradle smiled vpon the same parents preserued by the same prayers and vowes drawing equall honour from the same Ancestors hauing had the same parents the same wombe the same bloud the same beginning the same education the same nobility the same estate the same discipline why should they not will and nill the same bee of the same minde and affections But this is the mischiefe of sinne and of the deuill that the sweetest loue turneth into the sharpest hatred brothers being incensed are vnquenchable as much water will not quench their loue so not the Ocean their hatred Because euery iniury is more grieuous proceeding from a friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what will Brutus stab Caesar that strikes him to the heart And our Sauiour to his Apostles Iohn 6. will you also forsake mee you But this woefull discord of brethren is not vsually kindled but by extraordinary wrong What was it that enslamed Cain wherefore slew he him This interrogation is to stirre vs to attention and makes way for an euident reason following Rom. 9.22 for no man will demand of himselfe vnlesse his answere be plaine and ready Then the reason is because his owne workes were euill and his brothers good Because his owne workes were euill therefore will he make them worse and because his brothers workes were good did that onely offend him that his brother did not offend if he liked his owne euill workes better why was he not content with them and if he loued his brothers good workes why did he not make his owne like them So wickednesse is loathsome to the wicked yet he will retaine it and thought he chuse to bee euill yet he would not bee so accounted But what were his euill workes No man is extremely sinfull all at once vice groweth vpon men by degrees therefore before this oblation it is probable that he was disobedient to his parents proud voluptuous preferring the world despising the simplicity of innocency and the infirmity of vertue and comming thus affected how could his offering please God how could the fruites of the earth be acceptable when the fruites of good workes were wanting an honest man will not take a gift from a knaue much lesse will God admit of such giftlesse giftes Thought he by those giftes to bribe the Almighty and procure conneiuance to his sinnes so it was and so it is the daily practise of secular manners to serue God onely to make vse of him for as religious men saith Saint Austine doe vse the world that they may enioy GOD so the vngodly do vse GOD that they may more freely enioy the world which indeed is to make themselues a friend of the righteous GOD that they may more plenteously enioy the vnrighteous Mammon Abel was not thus conditioned but offered vnto God himselfe also by mortification and sacrificed in the faith of that alone Sacrifice to come with liuing sacrifice God accepted neglecting the inanimate oblation of Cain Viua accipien◠terrenarecusans saith Prudentius the sight of these vertues made Cain to deiect his countenance and enuy followed and murther the brood of enuy So the brethren of Ioseph being moued with enuy sold him into Egypt and there can bee nothing excellent but the eye of enuy espyes it An euill eye saith our Sauiour therfore euill because anothers is good a sore eye which cannot endure to looke vpon a quality that is bright and amiable in his brother This insatiable vice being that which first moued the Diuell against our nature intire and first moued Cain against Abel it is one also of the first vices which appeareth in our nature Vidi puerum amaro vultu in tuentem collactaneum suum I haue seene an infant saith S. Augustine looke bitterly vpon his fellow-suckling Confess and it is one of the last sinnes Hence is bewitching commonly in old women which antiquitie did beleeue to be effected by the poyson of an enuious eye as appeareth by the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and fascinus that is killing with the eye this made them so fearefull of any singular or admirable nature least it should bee blasted with enuy and perish especially if it were a maturitie before his season praecox fructus a hasty fruit wit or valour aboue his yeares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Menander therfore when any one praised it they were wont to say
selfe-loue or indolence hasting to heale their hearts before they are wounded and to comfort their consciences before they be afflicted Heerevpon they condemne all deep sorrow and lamentation as soft and effeminate or want of faith and patience all funerall rites and ceremonies as Heathenish and Vnchristian all solemne afflicting of the soule himnes supplications fasting and almes deeds which notwithstanding hath beene practised of holiest men and women in all ages In the eighth of the Actes the second verse deuote men beare out the body of the blessed Martyr Saint Stephen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and made great lamentation The word signifies extremity of griefe with beating and knocking of the breast With what extraordinary sorrow did Saint Austine mourne for the death of his mother Et libuit flere in conspectu tuo de Illa pro illa de me pro me dimisi lachrimas vt effluerint quantum vellent Lastly which is the greatest commendations of this goodnesse and softnesse of nature wee reade that our Sauiour Christ was deeply moued and did weep at the departure of his friend wherevpon the Iewes obserued how greatly hee loued him God hath created in our hearts Dulce nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this sweete name of naturall affection Which is as a sparke of that eternall loue wherewith the indiuided Trinity is enslamed Which is so spirituall and actiue that being moued it doth presently heat and dissolue the heart into passion The second extreme to be auoided is immoderation of griefe which proceeds from impatience and vnbeleefe For when men beleeue not that God is the God of the dead as well as of the liuing and of the sicke as of the whole that all things worke vnto the good of the godly then loue sayling them and their hope they sorrow like them which haue no hope And how can they haue any hope when they want the Comforter who is so called saith Saint Austiue that they which suffer losse of things temporall might bee comforted with hope of things eternall Therefore when any crosse befals them through immoderate loue of these transitory things they are infinitely deiected full of bitter thoughts of cursing and howling Desperate mourners not capable of consolation accusers of God reuolters from Religion One example for all take the King of Israell in that miserable siege and famine of Samaria how he railes first against the Prophet of God secondly against God himselfe for that is the methode and these are his blasphemous words Behold what euill commeth from the Lord why should I wait longer vpon the Lord Ecce tantum malia Domino quid amplius expectabo à Domino A true example of impatience and insidelity Likewise the Gentiles when the hand of God was vpon them they vsed to breake out into exclamations and accusations against God as in that Atque Deos atque astra vocat crudelia mater As Quiutilian quis mihi alius vsus vocis quā vt incusem Deos And Iure per mala mea per infelicem conscientiam Hence rise their funerall pompes and superstitious exequies for the dead Sacrificing of men and women in honour of the defunct ertificiall howling and cutting of their flesh ambitious Sepulchers and excessiue feasts of many daies continuance In which kind euery Nation had some peculiar vanity and superstition aboue the rest Lastly in all their troubles and calamities they captiuate their vnderstandings to their affections wayling without restraint raging against God and his creatures But Iobs lamenting was not of this kinde neither are his words otherwaies to bee interpreted then as signes of extraordinary griefe easing his oppressed heart although not without some perturbation Hitherto of the griefe and passion of Iobs minde expressed by this interrogation Quare wherefore Which is a word of sorrow not of indignation Now to the matter and cause of his griefe namely that such benefites of God as light and life should bee so blotted with miseries and vexation of spirit Although according to the vsuall interpretation these words haue one and the same sence light and life and labour and bitternesse of soule yet their proper acception and signification will affoord vs this difference of discourse All the misery of man is either labour or bitternesse of soule By labour vnderstand all that wee do with difficulty and impediment whether they be actions and operations of the mind or body By bitternesse of soule is ment all that wee suffer in our soules either immediately or from the body or any outward affliction These two diuers kinds of misery do planely and distinctly appeare in that sentence of woe which God pronounceth against Adam In dolore comedes heere is the misery of suffering In sudore comedes there is the misery of working In like manner the good things which we enioy they bee either such as guide and ease our actions which Iob comprehends vnder the name of light or those which sustaine and benefite our passions which are contained in the word Life For the first Light is of three sorts sensible intellectuall and spirituall Sensible light is either artificiall or naturall Concerning naturall light as of it selfe nothing is more sweet and cheerefull so to the spirit which is in wearinesse and toyle nothing is more tedious In the 10 of Eccle. the 7 verse Lighe is sweete And in the Creation light is the first creature that is made and first hallowed Hence is it adorned with so many Epithits in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore as poore labourers by singing do sweeten their paines for which cause S. Basil cals their singing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sauce of their toyle So the light of the Sunne doth lighten their labour and makes them more cheerefull in their worke Yet how much pleasanter is light to them that are at liberty and rest which haue leasure to contemplate the beauty of the heauens or to discourse of the benefites of light But if they bee bound to some grieuous taxe and incessant labour as the Israelites then light is but an eye-sore Whilst they see their owne vexation and how much worke they haue to doe whilst they see others sporting and themselues toyling Lastly whilst they see their misery to bee exposed to the sight of all They see youth dancing and age wooing women walking to theaters to see and to be seene Lastly they see the day distribrute beauty and cheerofulnesse to all creatures but vnto themselues vnto birdes vnto buildings to the clouds to the aire to the earth to the waters And therefore vnto them which in time of old tyranny were condemned ad lapicidiuas yet this was some comfort that they neither so much saw their own miserie nor the happinesse of others The Sunne in the creation was ordained for signes and seasons to rule the day and to shine vpon the earth but after sinne had brought in labour the sun became a taske-maister to call men forth vnto their worke as it is in
before Their bodies how much the stronger so much the longerenduring of sicknesse of consumption of death Vaine-glorious cruell dissembling rising by the ruines of others Lastly what is man-age but the Giantnesse of sinne and the power of miserie But when these ages of childe-hood youth and man-hood are worne into old age then you haue the recapitulation of humane miserie the infirmitie of childe-age the incorrigibilitie of Boy-age the subtiltie of Man-age and all these greater here then in the former Ages Here the prodigalitie of youth is dried vp into auarice pride and lust bee sinnes here out of fashion but not out of vse vndecent and vnbeseeming vices Here wisedome doateth and of power to sinne is left a will to sinne the greater torment Lastly what is old age but the store-house of repentance and obliuion the ragges of life the ashes of a lustfull body and wearinesse of a wandring minde Atque hi sunt manes quos patimur these are the miseries which we suffer in all ages sin and sorrow and folly vexation and bitternesse of spirit Hence spring complaints and discontent either for want or disease or the frustration of our hopes or some other euill No prosperitie without change and in the midst of laughter the heart is heauie What way and course of life can a man cut out wherein there is not trouble and vexation of spirit Theologie neuer so full of questions the law as full of difficulties as men of quarrels Physicke as manifold in cures as the appetite in absurd desires In Courts few prosper and those that prosper perish The Countrey makes beasts and the Citie Diuels Single life is solitarie and marriage ill company This is the miserie of life Now followes the life of Miserie Who knowes not that life and all the comforts of life they bee but increase of afffliction to those that are plunged in griefe What pleasure is there in melodie to a man that mournes And to him that is in an ague how vnseasonable is the discourse of loue and iollitie Eternitie of torment is the hell of hell so continuance or life in miserie there is the misery of misery Space of time diminishes sorrow that is past but increaseth that which is present because it weakens patience and prolongs the hope of deliuerance Therefore the Patriarch complaines that his dayes were few and euill Not euill and few For to haue a short time allotted him and yet euill dayes intermixed is more euill But being afflicted with euill yeares to haue them shortened is lesse euill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O daies few and euill briefe and tedious How it lies vpon vs beloued to lengthen them by good deeds And so much the more because the shortest of the yeare is certaine but the shortest of our life is vncertaine Let vs frustate the tenure of iniquitie and in euery age doe the vertue of the age not the sinne of the age that so not liuing after custome but after truth nor making profusion of the bloud of CHRIST that it may not faile vs at our greatest neede wee may preserue the seale of our redemption inuiolate and bee bold euery one of vs to pray O my GOD let not the end of my deuotion bee suddaine but after much mortification of heart and long consumption of languishing desires to see thee make a ripe dissolution of my flesh and spirit close vp my wearied thoughts and receiue mee to thy mercie Amen Liue sweete IESV and reigne with the Father and Holy Ghost one God c. The end of the second Sermon THE THIRD SERMON Of the loue of Christ 1. PET. 1.8 Whom you loue though yee haue not seene THAT which blessed Saint Peter commends in the dispersed Iewes of Asia Pontus Cappadocia that they loued Iesus whom they had not seene The same is the praise of all deuout Catholickes who haue liued these many yeares that being scattered from sea to sea vnder euery starre and throughout all lands yet they loue their one Head vnseene as they loue their many fellow-members vnseene Which is a singular commendation in the Daughter of Christ dispersed His espoused Church so deerely to affect Him whom Shee neuer saw Whereas the daughters of men make sight a necessary antecedent of affection and will esteeme highly of no obiect vntill the eye haue set a price of it This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though contained in the aduerbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or else vnderstood not expressed in the originall implies another loue of Christ namely as hee was visible in the state of Mortality making that to be the greater but this the harder As if hee should say You loue Christ whom you haue not seene How much more vehement would your loue haue beene if you had seene him These then be the two parts of my Text First the loue of Christ being seene Secondly the loue of Christ being not seene If any man loue not our Lord Iesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha Of all the senses there is none so proper a mediator of loue as is the sight It is the beginning of loue according to the Prouerb exaspectu nascitur amor and it is the perfection thereof whilst we desire to see that whereof we haue much read or heard Therefore we loue our eves aboue all parts of our body giuing them the names of the most louely creatures in the world as the Sunne and Moone O oculi gemiua sydeva And that which wee loue deerest wee compare it to the eye as Ocule ocelle ni and Psal 7.8 Keepe mee as the apple of an eye Now the causes why sight so much procureth loue First it is the most spirituall sense and may bee called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a corporall minde whereby we vnderstand things sensible By reason of which affinity videre is put for intelligere For this cause the mind best liketh that obiect which is commended to her by the eye Secondly it is the quickest sense and therefore doth soonest fire the affections According to that Segnius irritant animos immissa per aures quam quae sunt oculis subiecta sidelibus Thirdly it is the surest euidence and most certaine demonstration Whence by metaphor the word demonstration is drawne And therefore the fruition of eternall happinesse is called Vision Lastly it is the most vnwearied and vnsatiable sense the eye being neuer satisfied with seeing Which makes for the continuance of loue For loue hateth nothing more then mutability and fastidious inconstancie For these causes I say sight is the most peculiar Factor for Loue. Now that wee may the better vnderstand this loue of Christ which they had that saw him in the flesh let vs consider a little of the diuers kindes of loue There is a sensuall loue or rather lust which the base Iewes nor other Infidels euer suspected in Christ Iesus although hee loued the two sacred sisters of Bothania and though Saint Iohn leaned in his bosome and many woemen vsed to
accompany him therefore the malicious Iewes amongst all their false accusations durst not offer to staine his credite with the least suspition of any folly There is another loue rising from concupisence of the eye which is not lust but curiositie When men desire to see rare or strange things without any further benefite but to satisfie the eye Such loue no doubt had many of the Iewes who desired to see Iesus for his fame and wonders but with a naturall and humane loue Other loues there be whereof some bee lawfull some vnlawfull some sensuall some intellectuall but all naturall and humane But the loue which wee enquire after is spirituall and sacred yet much communicating with sense and affection For the vnderstanding whereof I must premise these I haue obserued a double loue of God There is a kind of loue which is holy but meerely spirituall when the soule being a spirit loueth the Father of Spirits in spirit abstracting all mediation of body and bodily accident vsing no helpe of imagination or any sense But considering him to bee an eternall Goodnesse Incorporeall Incomprehenble the Authour of all being and of all good Whereupon the will doth immediately embrace this obiect of Goodnesse resteth her selfe in the loue and delight thereof This loue will haue no communion with sense or any imagination drawne from sense or any affection accounting them to bee perturbations and staines of this sincere delight This religious loue is more contemplatiue and therefore in the Angels and in men of knowledge and vnderstanding nourished by vision and by discourse To this the Platonicks speake proportionably who were esteemed the most Theologicall Phylosophers They making the perfection of mans felicity to consist in this intellectuall loue and as I may say abstracted ideall delight spend much inke in blacking and dispraising bodily and sensible things calling them shadowes of things spirituall images and not substances obscurers of the vnderstanding And the body to bee the sepulcher of the soule and the affections to bee as the rebellious rogues and vnquiet multitude in a Common-wealth There is another kind of sacred loue which is placed in the affections being not meerely spirituall but making vse of all sensible obiects for the enslaming thereof Thus wee loue God whilst wee consider the excellent beauty of all his creatures giuing him the eminencies of them all and turning our affections from euery creature to burne towards him which is the Authour of all these And this is most properly called deuotion nourished by sense and sensible accidents without which no Religion of any Age or Nation euer flourished Wherefore the most wise God knowing man by nature to haue so much cōmerce with body and bodily things ordained so many Ceremonies and Sacraments in his worship And at the time appointed sent his Sonne in the visible forme of a man that Hee being Spirit and flesh both these our loues both spirituall and caruall might bee spent on him That our affections might haue something to feede on as well as our vnderstandings And this is the loue whereof the Apostle heere speakes which was in the Saints that see Christ in the flesh Which is seated in the affections and is called deuotion And surely if wee looke into the examples of piety and deuotion in all times you shall finde that the most holy and pious men were men of the most hottest affections as the Prophets as King Dauid as Saint Augustine who after their loues were diuerted from doting vpon vanity and worldly shadowes They out-stripped all men in the ardencie of deuotion as their Writings and Meditaons witnesse breathing nothing but spirit Psal 18.1 Ex intimis visceribus diligam te demine And S. Austens Workes to a iudicious Reader will plainely shew that though hee bee the most profound Father yet hee speakes more out of his heart then his head full of actionate deuotion euen then when the subiect of his Discourse is subtilty and vnderstanding Hence it is that woemen bee called the deuoute Sexe by reason of the feruencie of their loue According to that Thy loue to mee was wonderfull passing the loue of woemen Whereof excepting the mother of God amongst thousand others the most eminent examples be Mary Magdalene and Mary the Egyptian Which two holy women the one hauing seene Christ the other the place where hee was crucified they changed their lewd lusts for hallowed and incorruptible loue they washed their wanton eyes with teares And for the latter her whole flesh which had beene fired with lust shee sacrificed it an whole burnt-offering vnto God exhaling it with fasting and penance vntill her dying day Lastly deuout old age which after much dammage and losse of grace would gladly preserue the relique of deuotion they keepe it in the warmth of their affections as appeareth by their tendernesse to Religion often weeping fasting and Almes-deeds This being so naturall a ground that deuotion especially confisteth in affection and that affections are chiefly moued by sensible obiects and bodily exercise Therefore all Religions necessarily haue Ceremonies and inuitations of this kind Some profitable some necessary some superstitious For the eye as goodly Temples ornaments of pictures vestures and such like Musick for the eare See Caluin Instit q. 4. c. 10 Set times of fasting prayers offering and other outward actions The ruine whereof ouerthrowes deuotion See the Marginall note in the Geneua Bible Hither you may referre Allegories and Metaphors which bee the greatest part of cloquence in Sermons and bee nothing else but speaking pictuers according to that Gal. 3.1 Before whose eyes Christ Iesus was described crucified with in you Seeing then that these things cannot bee gaine-said How ill do they deserue of Christianity who delight in nothing so much as ruines of Churches Church Orders and Church Ceremonies They place no more holinesse in a Temple then a Schoole-house Counsell them to fast they answer they fast from sinne Tell them of sitting bare at Diuine Seruice they answere all things are vncouered before God They giue no honour to the Sacraments bid them kneele at the entring into a Church and when they receiue the holy Eucharist they answere they bow the knees of the heart They offer no other sacrifice but the calues of their lippes Insteed of Almes they giue poore men good counsell as if men could cate precepts and drinke good counsell They are affected with the sight of no sacred Monument Nay if our Sauiour himselfe were aliue they would not go farre to see him or not haue worshipped him for feare of superstition Hence comes it thar they haue so common a conceit of the blessed Virgine that bare him in her wombe that they giue so little priuiledge to the Apostles that eate and drunke with him Finally to any holy place where hee walked or any Saint to whom hee appeared They would hold it no happinesse to haue touched the hemme of his garment Then Nathaniel was vnwise who desired to see Iesus
the necessary place of worship the word is neere thee and euery faithfull soule is Ierusalem For as goodly vineyard which cost the Husbandman much care and his servants long labour being the sweetest plot of ground which hee could chuse and hauing the indulgence of the heauens and all the elements to cherish it whilst it was tender and flourished and at the time of vintage all men resorted thither to see the beauty and temperate situation and to reape the fruit which grew not else where but after the fruite was gathered the hedges being broken and the swine hauing defaced it and other beasts haunting it though the Winter beautie thereof be louely yet the necessity of comming thither it abolished and the conuenience of seeing is much limitted So Ierusalem that pleasant Citty of God where the word of life grew so watred by Prophets so watched by Angels during the beautie and glory of her summer age thither the Tribes came vp and from all Countries there they worshipped but when the fulnesse of time was come wherein the grapes of this holy vine were pressed and the bloud thereof conueighed by Apostles and Euangelists throughout the world to cheare the hearts euen of the coldest nations Ierusalem became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Prophet speaketh no longer necessary and though euer holy and reuerend yet often dangerous to be visited being polluted by wilde infidels and now possessed of vnchristened Turkes The orchard of Balsamon is remoued from the Hilles of Engaddi into Egypt and so saluation which was only of the Iewes is now translated to the Gentiles Et Assyrium vulgo nascitur amomum To conclude then although the most worthy and deuoute Christians haue increased their deuotion and pietie by sight of the holy monuments at Ierusalem yet many who neuer saw them haue beene more godly then some others that haue seene them and beleeue as firmely and loue Christ Iesus their redeemer as deerly as if they had seene him or seene the place where he was seene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For sayes Gregory Nissen if thy inward man be full of bad thoughts although thou standest vpon Golgotha or mount Oliuet or vnder the monument of his resurrection thou art as farre from Christ as they which neuer acknowledged him The same is true of all sensible meanes and outward actions which if they bee not ioyned with sinceritie of the spirit they are vnprofitable to vs and disstastfull to the father of spirits Many are content to performe these externall actions which they do perfunctory meerely for fashion without any tincture of spirit Especially where there is a multitude of ceremonies as in the Romane Church and in the superstition of the Easterne Churches is most apparant Wee are all by nature ready to chuse that which is of eafier performance and in actions matters of Religion which of all others are most tedious because they touch the conscience the crafty Mind would gladly rest herselfe and thinke to discharge all by light workes of the body and of the senses Is this the fast which I haue chosen saith God for a man to bow his necke being weake with abstinence to put on sackecloth and ashes Is this the fast which I haue choson Nay is not this the fast which I haue chosen to loose the bands of wickednesse and to let the oppressed go free and to deale thy bread vnto the hungry Where God hates the outward obedience if it bee without fasting from sinne And in comparison better spirituall worship without externall then externall without that which is spirituall So hee saith Rend your hearts and not your garments And I will haue mercy and not sacrifice Where the aduerbe is a Comparatiue rather then a Negatiue And therefore the Septu well translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sub 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbids neither nay hee commands both but preferres the one before the other So many saith Saint Austine they will eate no flesh in Lent but they will bite and deuoure their brethren They will drinke no wine but they will drink iniquity like water What profites it to bee pale with fasting and at the same time to bee leane with hatred and euuy What profites it if wee abstaine from flesh which is sometime lawfull and do those things which are neuer lawfull therefore I say with Scripture and with holy Fathers that as the presence and sight of Christ would little haue encreased loue in his Disciples vnlesse they had also seene him with the eyes of the inward man No more doe any sensible and externall meanes further deuotion if they bee separated from the inward and spirituall motions of the heart My sonne giue mee thy heart Why drawest thou neere mee with thy lips when thy heart is farre from mee To proceed then though euery one haue not that glorious pretogatiue giuen them to bee Martirs to die for loue of him that died for their saluation Yet ouery one may mortifie his earthly members and die to sin which is a kind of Martirdome In like manner though euery one could not see Christ and so loue him yet they may loue him whom they haue not seene by faith which is a kind of sight Nay if they which saw him and loued were such as would not loue him vnlesse they had seene him greater is their reward that loue him whom they haue not seene For what said our Lord to Saint Thomas Thomas because thou seest thou beleeuest happy are they which beleeue and see not What remaines now but to prouoke you to the loue of him whom you doe not see who first loued you vnseene Nay when you were worse then nothing Whom you hope to see and see him as he is Let mee say vnto the afflicted that liue in obscurity and misery wait till the cloud bee broken and the Sunne shine out Let mee say vnto the simple and ignorant but louing and faithfull bee constant and you shall see as you are seene Let mee say vnto the wise and learned helpe yee the weak sighted and make him louing that is blind Lastly to all men though you loue him which is vnseene yet let your loue bee seene Loue in deed and not in word By this wee know that wee loue him if wee keepe his Commandements If your loues burne vehemently vpon things temporal and visible how are you said to loue him whom yee haue not seene Siluer and gold and gay apparell ample possessions and goodly buildings faire flesh and bloud compounded of corruptible elements whatsoeuer deceiptfull time hath coloured or the world hath set a glosse on if yee bee euer gazing and admiring these things how are yee said to loue him whom you haue not seene When woemen go to see and to bee seene when men the litle good they do they do it to be seene of men When most had rather seeme then bee good how are they said to loue him whom they haue not seene He that longs to see