over against the terrestriall Paradise from whence he was banished that in his very punishment he might see the happinesse he had lost by his foul fault Now you must adde to the rest of his sufferings the great Chaos which like a diamond wall is between hell and Paradise together with the privation of all comfort those losses without remedy that wheel of eternity where death lasteth for ever and the end begins again without ceasing and the torments can never fail or diminish 4. Do good with those goods which God hath given you and suffer them not to make you wicked but employ your riches by the hands of virtue If gold be a child of the Sun why doe you hide him from his father God chose the bosome of rich Abraham to be the Paradise of poor Lazarus So may you make the needy feel happinesse by your bounty your riches shall raise you up when they are troden under your feet The Prophet saith you must sow in the field of Alms if you desire to reap in the mouth of Mercy Aspirations O God of justice I tremble at the terrour of thy judgements Great fortunes of the world full of honour and riches are fair trees oft times the more ready for the ax Their weight makes them apt to fall and prove the more unhappy fuell for eternall flames O Jesus father of the poor and King of the rich I most humbly beseech thee never give my heart in prey to covetousnesse which by loading me with land may make me forget heaven I know that death must consume me to the very bones I shall then possesse nothing but what I have given for thee Must I then live in this world like a Griffin to hoard up much gold and silver whereof I shall never have use still be vexed with care how to preserve it O most merciful Lord suffer me not to be taught by hell fire that which I may have neglected to learn out of thy Gospel I most heartily renounce all luxury and pomp of the world and this carnall life which would alwayes busie it self about my body If thou be pleased to make me rich I will be so for the poor and if thou make me poor I wil make my self rich in thee who art the true riches of thine elect The Gospel upon Friday the second week in Lent S. Matth. 21. Of the Master of a Vineyard whose Son was killed by his Farmers ANother Parable hear ye A man there was an housholder who planted a Vineyard and made a hedge round about it and digged in it a presse and builded a Tower and let it out to Husbandmen and went forth into a strange Countrey And when the time of fruis drew nigh he sent his servants to the Husbandmen to receive the fruits thereof And the Husbandmen apprehending his servants one they beat another they killed and another they stoned Again he sent other servants more then the former and they did to them likewise And last of all he sent to them his Son saying They will reverence my Son But the Husbandmen seeing the Son said within themselves This is the heir come let us kill him and we shall have his inheritance And apprehending him they cast him forth out of the Vineyard and killed him When therefore the Lord of the Vineyard shall come what will he doe to those Husbandmen They say to him The naughty men he will bring to nought and his Vineyard he will let out to other Husbandmen that shall render him the fruits of their seasons Iesus saith to them have you never read in the Scriptures The stone which the builders rejected the same is made into the head of the corner By our Lord was this done and it is marvellous in our eyes Therefore I say to you that the Kingdome of God shall be taken away from you and shall be given to a Nation yielding the fruits thereof And he that falleth upon this stone shall be broken and on whom it falleth it shall all to bruise him And when the chief Priests and Pharisees had heard his Parables they knew that he spake of them And seeking to lay hands upon him they feared the multitudes because they held him as a Prophet Moralities 1. We have reason to fear all that is in us yea even the gifts of God All his favours are so many chains If they bind us not to doe our duty they will bind us to the punishment due for that neglect Our soul is given us by God as a thing borrowed from heaven we must not be too prodigall of it We must dig up ill roots as we doe in land cultivated The time will come that we must render up the fruits shall we then present thorns Examine every day how you profit and what you doe draw every day a line but draw it toward eternity What can you hide from God who knows all What can you repay to God who gives all and how can you requite Jesus who hath given himself 2. How many messengers doth God send to our hearts without intermission and how many inspirations which we reject So many Sermons which we do not observe so many examples which we neglect Jesus comes in person by the Scrament of the Altar and we drive him from us to crucifie him when we place the Devil and Mortall sin in his room What other thing can we expect for reward of all these violences but a most fearful destruction if ye do not prevent the sword of justice by walking in the paths of mercy Our vanities which at first are like small threds by the contempt of Gods grace come to be great cables of sin He that defers his repentance is in danger to lose it and will be kept out of the Ark with the croking Raven since he hath neglected the mourning of the sorrowfull Dove 3. It is a most horrible thing to see a soul left to it self after it hath so many times for saken the inspirations of God It becomes a desolate Vineyard without inclosure The wild Boar enters into it and all unclean and ravenous creatures do there sport and leap without controul God hangs clouds over it but will let no drop of water fall upon it The Sun never looks upon it with a loving eye all there is barren venemous and near to hell Therefore above all things we must fear to be forsaken of God Mercy provoked changes it self into severe Justice All creatures will serve as Gods instruments to punish a fugitive soul which flies from him by her ingratitude when he drawes her to him by the sweetnesse of his benefits Aspirations ALas O great father of the worlds family I am confounded to see thy vineyard so ill ordered made so barren and spoiled My passions domineer like wild beasts and devour the fruits due to thy bounty I am heartily sorry I have so little esteemed thy graces and to have preferred all that which makes me contemptible before thee
a dreadfull change will it be to a damned soul at her separation from this life to live onely in the company of devils in that piercing sence of torments eternal punishment It is a very troublesome thing to be tied with silken strings in a bed of Roses for the space of eight dayes together What may we then think of a damned soul which must dwell in a bed of flames so long as there shall be a God 4. Make use of the time given you to work your salvation live such a life as may end with a happy death so obtain that favourable judgement which shall say Come O thou soul blessed of God my Father possess the kingdome which is prepared for thee from the beginning of the world There is no better means to avoid the rigour of Gods judgements then to fear them continually Imâ—tate the tree mentioned in an Emblem which being designed to make a ship and finding it self wind shaken as it grew upon the land said what will become of me in the sea If we be already moved in this world by the bare consideration of the punishment due to sin think what it will be in that vast sea dreadful Abysse of Gods judgements Aspirations O King of dreadfull Majesty who doest justly dam and undeservedly save souls save me O fountain of mercy Remember thy self sweet Jesus that I was the cause of that great journey which thou tookest from God to man and do not destroy me in that dreadfull day which must decide the Question of my life or death for all eternity Take care of my last end since thou art the cause of my beginning the onely cause of all that I am O Father of bounties wouldest thou stop a mouth which desires so earnestly to praise and confess thee everlastingly Alas O eternal Sweetness wouldst thou dam a soul which hath cost thee so much sweat and bloud giving it for ever to those cruel and accursed pâ—wers of darknesse Rather O Lord pierce my heart with such a fear of thy judgements that I may alwayes dread and never feel them If I forget awake my memory if I flie from thee recall me again If I deferre my amendment stay for me If I return do not despise my soul but open those armes of mercy which thou didst spread upon the Crosse with such rigorous justice against thy self for satisfaction of my sins The Gospel upon Tuesday the first vveek in Lent out of S. Matth. 21. Jesus drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple ANd when he was entered Ierusalem the whole city was moved saying Who is this And the people said this is Iesus the Prophet of Nazareth in Galilee And Iesus entered into the Temple of God and cast out all that sold and bought in the Temple and the Tables of the bankers and the chairs of them that sold pidgeons he overthrew and he saith to them it is written my house shall be called the house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves And there came to him the blind and the lame in the temple and he healed them And the chief Priests and Scribes seeing the marvellous things that he did and the children crying in the Temple and saying Hosanna to the sonne of David they had indignation and said to him hearest thou what these say And Iesus said to them very well have you never read that out of the mouthes of infants and sucklings thou hast perfected praise and leaving them he went forth out of the city into Bethania and remained there Moralities 1. JEsus entering into Jerusalem vvent strait to the Temple as a good Son goes to his Fathers house as a high Priest to the Sanctuary as a sacrifice to the altar He doth very lively interest himself in the goods of His heavenly Father and chaseth out every prophane thing out of that sacred place to give thereby glory to the living God and to put all things in order It is a vvicked stain to Religion vvhen Ecclesiasticall persons are vicious and vvhen Churches are prophaned Saint Chrysostome sai h that priests are the heart of the Church but vvhen they are vvicked they turn all into sin A decaying tree hath alvvayes some ill quality about the root so vvhen any people are vvithout discipline the pastours are vvithout virtue The vvant of reverence in Churches begets the contempt of God they cannot have Jesus in their hearts vvhen they give him affronts even in his ovvn Temple 2. His House saith he is a house of prayer but your heart should be the sanctuary and your lips the door So long as you are vvithout the exercise of prayer you shall be like a Bee vvithout a sting vvhich can make neither honey nor wax Prayer is the chiefest and most effectuall means of that Angelicall conversation to which God calls us by the merits of his passion and by the effects of his triumphant resurrection It is the sacred businesse which man hath with God and to speak with Saint Gregory Nazianzen it is the art to make our souls divine Before all things you must put into an order the number the time the place the manner of your prayers and be sure that you pay unto God this tribute with respect ferver and perseverance But if you desire to make a very good prayer learn betimes to make a prayer of all your life Incense hath no smell without fire and prayer is of no force without charity A man must converse innocently purely with men that desires to Treat worthily with God 3. Keep your person and your house clean from ill managing all holy things and from those irreverences which are sometimes committed in Churches It is a happy thing for a man to be ignorant of the trade of buying and selling benefices and to have no entercourse with the tribunals of iniquity Many other sinnes are written in sand and blown away with a small breath of Gods mercy But the faults of so great impiety are carved upon a corner of the altar with a graver of steel or with a diamond point as the Prophet saith He deserves to be made eternally culpable who dries up the fountain which should wast himself or poisons the stream which he himself must drink or contaminates the sacraments which are given him to purifie his soul Aspirations SPirit of God which by reason of thy eminent height canst pray to no body and yet by thy divine wisdome makest all the world pray to thee Give me the gift of prayer since it is the mother of wisdome the seal of virginity the sanctuary for our evils and fountain of al our goods Grant that I my adore thee in Spirit with reverence stedfastnesse and perseverance and if it be thy divine pleasure that I pray unto thee as I ought inspire unto me by thy vittue such prayers as thou wilt hear by thy bounty The Gospel upon Wednesday the first week of Lent S. Matth. 12. The Pharisees
demand a sign of Jesus THen answered him certain of the Scribes and Pharisees saying Master we would see a sign from thee who answered and said to them The wicked and advouterous generation seeketh a sign and a sign shall not be given it but the sign of Ionas the Prophet For as Ionas was in the Whales belly three dayes and three nights so shall the Sonne of man be in the heart of the earth three dayes and three nights The men of Nineveh shall rise in the judgement with this generation and shall condemne it because they did penance at the preaching of Ionas And behold more then Ionas here The Queen of the south shall rise in the judgement with this generation and shall condemne it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdome of Solomon and behold more then Solomon here And when an unclean spirit shall go out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth not Then hee saith I will returne into my house whence I came out And coming he findeth it vacant swept with besomes and trimmed then goeth he and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked then himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last of that man be made worse then the first So shall it be also to this wicked generation As he was yet speaking to the multitudes behold his mother and his brethren stood without seeking to speak to him and one said unto him behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without seeking thee But he answering him that told him said who is my mother and who are my brethren And stretching forth his hand upon his Disciples he said Behold my mother and my brethren for whosoever shall do the will of my Father that is in heaven he is my brother and sister and mother Moralities 1. 'T is a very ill sign when we desire signs to make us believe in God The signs which we demand to fortifie out faith are ofttimes marks of our infidelity There is not a more dangerous plague in the events of worldly affairs then to deal with the Devil or to cast nativities All these things fil men whith more saults then knowledge For divine Oracles have more need to be reverenced then interpreted He that will find God must seek him with simplicity and professe him with piety 2. Some require a sign and yet between heaven and earth all is full of signs How many creatures soever there are they are all steps and characters of the Divinity What a happy thing it is to study what God is by the volume of time and by that great Book of the world There is not so small a floure of the meddows nor so little a creature upon earth which doth not tell us some news of him He speaks in our ears by all creatures which are so many Organ-pipes to convey his Spirit and voice to us But he hath no sign so great as the word incarnate which carries all the types of his glory and power About him onely should be all our curiosity our knowledge our admiration and our love because in him we can be sure to find all our repose and consolation 3. Are we not very miserable since we know not our own good but by the losse of it which makes us esteem so little of those things we have in our hands The Ninivites did hear old Ionas the Prophet The Queen of Saba came from farre to hear the wisdome of Solomon Jesus speaks to us usually from the Pulpits from the Altars in our conversations in our affairs and recreations And yet we do not sufficiently esteem his words nor inspirations A surfeited spirit mislikes honey and is distasted with manna raving after the rotten pots of Egypt But it is the last and worst of all ills to dispise our own good Too much confidence is mother of an approaching danger A man must keep himself from relapses which are worse then sinnes which are the greatest evils of the world he that loves danger shall perish in it The first sinne brings with it one Devil but the second brings seven There are some who vomit up their sinnes as the sea doth cockles to swallow them again Their life is nothing but an ebbing and flowing of sinnes and their most innocent retreats are a disposition to iniquity For as boild water doth soonest freez because the cold works upon it with the greater force so those little fervours of devotion which an unfaithfull soul feels in confessions and receiving if it be not resolute quite to forsake wickednesse serve for nothing else but to provoke the wicked spirit to make a new impression upon her It is then we have most reason to fear Gods justice when we despise his mercy We become nearest of kin to him when his Ordinances are followed by our manners and our life by his precepts Aspirations O Word Incarnate the great sign of thy heavenly Father who carriest all the marks of his glory and all the characters of his powers It is thou alone whom I seek whom I esteem and honour All that I see all I understand all that I feel is nothing to me if it do not carry thy name and take colour from thy beauties nor be animated by thy Spirit Thy conversation hath no trouble and thy presence no distaste O let me never lose by my negligence what I possesse by thy bounty Keep me from relapses keep me from the second gulf and second hell of sinne He is too blind that profits noting by experience of his own wickednesse and by a full knowledge of thy bounties The Gospel upon Thursday the first week in Lent out of S. Matthew the 15. Of the woman of Canaan ANd Iesus went forth from thence and retired into the quarters of Tyre and Sidon And behold a woman of Canaan came forth out of these coasts and crying out said to him have mercy upon me O Lord the Son of David my daughter is sore vexed of a Devil who answered her not a word And his Disciples came and besought him saying dismisse her because she cryeth out after us And he answering said I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel But she came and adored him saying Lord help me who answering said It is not good to take the bread of children and to cast it to the dogs but she said yea Lord for the dogs also eat of the crums that fall from the tables of their masters Then Iesus answering said to her O woman great is thy faith be it done to thee as thou wilt and her daughter was made whole from that hour Moralities 1. OUr Saviour Jesus Christ after his great and wondrous discent from heaven to earth from being infinite to be finite from being God to be man used many severall means for salvation of the world And behold entring upon the frontiers of Tyre and Sidon he was pleased to conceal himself But
to abate and humble the proudest of all Creatures then to represent his beginning and his end The middle-part of our life like a kind of Proteus takes up on it severall shapes not understood by others but the first and last part of it deceive no man for they do both begin and end in Dust It is a strange thing that Man knowing well what he hath been and what he must be is not confounded in himself by observing the pride of his own life and the great disorder of his passions The end of all other creatures is less deformed then that of man Plants in their death retain some pleasing smell of their bodies The little rose buries it self in her naturall sweetnesse and carnation colour Many Creatures at their death leave us their teeth horns feathers skins of which we make great use Others after death are served up in silver and golden dishes to feed the geatest persons of the world Onely mans dead carcase is good for nothing but to feed worms and yet he often retains the presumptuous pride of a Giant by the exorbitance of his heart and the cruell nature of a murderer by the furious rage of his revenge Surely that man must either be stupid by nature or most wicked by his own election who will not correct and amend himself having still before his eyes ashes for his glasse and death for his mistres 2 This consideration of Dust is an excellent remedy to cure vices and an assured Rampire against all temptations S. Paulinus saith excellently well That holy Iob was free from all temptations when he was placed upon the smoke and dust of his humility He that lies upon the ground can fall no lower but may contemplate all above him and meditate how to raise himself by the hand of God which pulls down the proud and exalts the humble Is a man tempted with pride The consideration of Ashes will humble him Is he burned with wanton love which is a direct fire But fire cannot consume Ashes Is he persecuted with covetousness Ashes do make the greatest Leeches and Bloud-Suckers cast their Gorges Every thing gives way to this unvalued thing because God is pleased to draw the instruments of his power out of the objects of our infirmities 3. If we knew how to use rightly the meditation of death we should there find the streames of life All the world together is of no estimation to him that rightly knows the true value of a just mans death It would be necessary that they who are taken with the curiosity of Tulips should set in their Gardens a Plant called Napell which carries a flower that most perfectly resembles a Deaths head And if the other Tulips do please their senses that will instruct their reason Before our last death we should die many other deaths by forsaking all those creatures and affections which lead us to sin We should resemble those creatures sacred to the Egyptians called Cynocephales which died piece-meal and were buried long before their death So should we bury all our concupiscences before we go to the grave and strive to live so that when death comes he should find very little businesse with us Aspiration O Father of all Essences who givest beginning to all things and art without end This day I take Ashes upon my head thereby professing before thee my being nothing and to do thee homage for that which I am and for that I ought to be by thy great bounties Alas O Lord my poor soul is confounded to see so many sparkles of pride and covetousnesse arise from this caitiffe dust which I am so little do I yet learn how to live and so late do I know how to die O God of my life and death I most humbly beseech thee so to govern the first in me and so to sweeten the last for me that if I live I may live onely for thee and if I must die that I may enter into everlasting blisse by dying in thy blessed love and favour The Gospel upon Ashwednesday S. Matthew 6. Of Hypocryticall Fasting WHen you fast be not as the hypocrites sad for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast Amen I say to you that they have received their reward Put thou when thou doest fast anoint thy head and wash thy face that thou appear not to men to fast but to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret will repay thee Heap not up to your selves treasures on the earth where the rust and moth do corrupt and where thieves dig thorow and steal But heap up to your selves treasures in heaven where neither the rust nor moth doth corrupt and where thieves do not dig thorow nor steal For where thy treasure is there is thy heart also Moralities 1. THat man goes to Hell by the way of Paradise who fasts and afflicts his body to draw the Praise of Men. Sorrow and vanity together are not able to make one Christian Act. He deserves everlasting hunger who starves himself that he may swell and burst with vain glory He stands for a spectacle to others being the murderer of himself and by sowing vanity reaps nothing but wind Our intentions must be wholly directed to God and our examples for our neighbour The Father of all vertues is not to be served with counterfeit devotions such lies are abomination in his sight and â—ertullian saith they are as many adulteries 2. It imports us much to begin Lent well entring into those lists in which so many holy souls have run their course with so great strictnesse having been glorious before God and honourable before men The difficulty of it is apprehended onely by those who have their understandings obstructed by a violent affection to kitchin stuffe It is no more burdensome to a couragious spirit then feathers are to a bird The chearfulnesse which a man brings to a good action in the beginning does halfe the work Let us wash our faces by confession Let us perfume our Head who is Jesus Christ by almes deeds Fasting is a most delicious feast to the conscience when it is accompanied with purenesse and charity but it breeds great thirst when it is not nourished with devotion and watered with mercy 3. What great pain is taken to get treasure what care to preserve it what fear to lose it and what sorrow when it is lost Alas is there need of so great covetousnesse in life to encounter with such extream nakednesse in death We have not the souls of Giants nor the body of a Whale If God will me poor must I endeavour to reverse the decrees of heaven and earth that I may become rich To whom do we trust the safety of our treasures To rust to moths and thieves were it not better we should in our infirmities depend only on God Almighty comfort our poverty in him who is onely rich and so carry our souls to heaven where Jesus on
his wickednesse for he is just like a fish that playes with the baite when the hook sticks fast in his throat We must waite and â—ttend for help from heaven patiently withâ—ut being tired even till the fourth which is is the last watch of the night All which proceeds from the hand of God comes ever in fit time and that man is a great gainer by his patient attendance who thereby gets nothing but perseverance 3. They know Jesus very ill that take him for a Phantome or an illusion and cry out for fear of his presence which should make them most rejoyce So do those souls which are little acquainted with God who live in blindenesse and make much of their own darknesse Let us learn to discerne God from the illusions of the world The tempest ceaseth when he doth approach and the quietnesse of our heart is a sure marke of his presence which fils the soul with splendour and makes it a delicious Garden He makes all good wheresoever he comes and the steps which his feet leave are the bounties of his heart To touch the Hem of his Garment cures all that are sick to teach us that the forms which cover the blessed Sacrament are the fringes of his holy humanity which cures our sins Aspirations O Lord my soul is in night and darknesse and I feel that thou art far from me What Billows of disquiet arise within my heart what idle thoughts which have been too much considered Alas most redoubted Lord and Father of mercy canst thou behold from firm land this poor vessel which labours so extreamly being deprived of thy most amiable presence I row strongly but can advance nothing except thou come into my soul Come O my adored Master walk upon this tempestuous Sea of my heart ascend into this poor Vessell say unto me take courage It is I. Be not conceited that I will take thee for an illusion for I know thee too well by thy powers and bounties to be so mistaken The least thought of my heart will quiet it self to adore thy steps Thou shalt raigne within me thou shalt disperse my cares thou shalt recover my decayed senses thou shalt lighten my understanding thou shalt inflame my will thou shalt cure all my infirmities And to conclude thou only shalt work in me and I will be wholly thine The Gospel upon the first Sunday in Lent S. Matthew the 4. Of our Saviours being tempted in the Desart THen Iesus was led of the spirit into the Desart to be tempted of the Devill and when he had fasted fourty dayes and fourty nights afterward he was hungry And the tempter aproached and said to him If thou be the Sonne of God command that these stones be made bread Who answered and said it is written not in bread alone doth man live but in every word that procedeth from the mouth of God Then the Devil took him up into the holy City and set him upon the pinacle of the Temple and said to him If thou be the son of God cast thy self down for it is written that he will give his Angels charge of thee and in their hands shall they hold thee up lest perhaps thou knock thy foot against a stone Iesus said to him again It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Again the Devil took him up into a very high mountain and he shewed him all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them and said to him all these will I give thee if falling down thou wilt adore me Then Iesus saith to him avant Satan for it is written the Lord thy God shalt thou a dore and him only shalt thou serve When the Divil left him and behold Angels came and ministred to him Moralities 1. IEsus suffered himself to be tempted saith Saint Augustine to the end he might serve for a Mediatour for an example for a remedy to work our victory over all temptations We must fight on his side Our life is a continuall warfare and our dayes are ChampioÌ„s which enters into the lists There is no greater temptation then to have none at all Sleeping water doth nourish poyson Motion is the worlds soul fighting against temptations is the soul of virtues and gloâ—y doth spring and bud out of tribulations Virtue hinders not temptation but surmount it Jesus fasted saith the ordinary Glosse that he might be tempted is tempted because he did fast He fasted fourty dayes and then was hungry he did eat with his Disciples the space of fourty dayes after his resurrection without any more necessity of meat then the Sun hath of the earths vapours to make us thereby know that it onely appertained to him to teach that great secret how to manage vvant and abundance by vvich S. Paul vvas glorified 2. The first victory over a temptation is tâ— knovv that vvhich tempts us Some temptations are gay smiling at their beginning as those of love and pleasure vvhich end in terrible bitter stormes Others are troublesome and irksome Others doubt full and intricate Others rapide and sudden vvhich cease upon their prey like an Eagle Others are close and catching These are the snares of Satan vvho fomes like a Bore to arsike a Lion and hisseth like a Serpent We should alvvayes have an eye ready to mark from whence the temptation comes whither it tends what is the root of it what the course what the progresse and what power it may have over our spirit 3. Solitude of heart fasting prayer the word of God are weapons of an excellent temper which the word incarnate teacheth us to use in this conflict These things are to be used with discretion by the counsell of a good directour to whom a man must declare all his most secret thoughts and bear a breast of Christall toward him with a firm purpose to let him see all the inward motions of his heart It is also good to note here that our Lord would expresly be tempted in that Desart which is between Jerusalem and Jericho where the Samaritan mentioned in the parable did poure wine and oyl into the sores of the poor wounded man to teach us that by his combat he came to cure the wounds of Adam and all his race in the very place where they were received 4. Sin is killed by flying the occasions of it Absence resistance coldnesse silence labour diversion have overcome many assaults of the enemy Somtimes a Spiders web is strong enough to preserve chastity at other times the thick walls of Semiramis are not sufficient God governs all and a good will to concur with him is a strong assurance in all perils and it will keep us untoucht amidst the flames of lust 5. Since it imports us so much to fight valiantly let us bring the hearts of Lions Where is our Christianity if we do not give testimony of it to God both by our sidelity and courage How many Martyrs have been rosted and broild because
from the world with great thirst But the fountains of our Saviour free us from the desire of all creatures and do establish within mans spirit an object of which the heart can never lose the delight O happy Samaritan saith Saint Ambrose which left her pot empty that she might return fall of Iesus Christ She did no wrong to her fellow citizens for if she brought no water to the town yet she made the fountain it self come thither 3. Is it not a shamefull thing that God should seek us amongst the heats of his love and sufferings desireth nothing but us is contented with the possession of our heart and yet we cannot be content with him Shal not we forsake all the discorders of a sensuall life which hinder the effect of Gods grace Shall not we forsake and leave behind us our pitcher bidding farewell to all those occasions which lead us to sinne to avoid that fire whereof we have reason to fear the smoke Aspirations O Unexhaustible fountain of all beauties that my soul hath been long alienated from thee I have so many times run after the salt waters of worldly pleasures and contentments which have not ceased to kindle a wicked thirst within my veins in such a violent proportion that I could not quench it now O sweet Saviour my soul being weary and distasted with all the fading delights of this transitory world doth languish incessantly after thee Whether the break of day begin to gild the mountains with his brightnesse whether the Sunne be advanced high in his course or whether the night do cast a dark vail over all mortall things I seek and desire thy entertainments which are the onely sweet Ideas of my soul I plunge my self within the contemplation of thy greatnesse I adore thy powers The thirst which torments me by loving thee is so precious that I would not lose it to drink Nectar and I can never quench it but in the strean s of those delights and pleasures which proceed from the throne of the holy Lamb. The Gospel upon Saturday the third week in Lent S. Iohn the 8. Of the woman found in adultery ANd Iesus went into the mount Olivet and early in the morning again he came into the temple and the people came to him and sitting he taught them And the Scribes and Pharisees bring a woman taken in adultery and they did set her in the midst and said to him Master this woman was even uow taken in adultery And in the law Moses commanded to stone such What sayest thou therefore and this they said tempting him that they might accuse him But Iesus bowing himself down with his finger wrote in the earth When they therefore continued asking him he lifted up himself and said to them He that is without sin of you let him first throw the stone at her And again howing himself he wrote in the earth And they hearing went out one by one beginning at the Seniors and Iesus alone remained and the woman standing in the midst And Iesus lifting up himself said to her Woman where are they that accused thee Hath no man condemned thee Who said No man Lord. And Iesus said Neither will I condemn thee Go and now sin no more Moralities 1. MEn naturally love better to censure the life of another then to examine their own The Ravens accuse Doves and he sits often upon a Tribunall to condemn vice who doth lodge it in his heart Many resemble the Cocks which crow against a Basilisk and yet bear the seed of it in their intrails Reason would alwayes that we begin to reform others by the censure of our own life No word can carry such life vigour with it as that which is followed by action To talk all and do nothing is to build with one hand and destroy with the other The land of the living shall never be for those who have their tongues longer then their arms 2 To what purpose is it to speak good words and yet lead an ill life A man can neither hide himself from God not himself his conscience is a thousand witnesses Those who were ready to lift up their hands to stone the adulterous woman were diverted and departed with confusion seeing their sins written in the dust with certain figures to expresse them If we could alwayes behold our own life before our eyes as a piece of Tapistry we should there see so many Serpents amongst flowers that we would have more horrour of our own sins then will to censure those who are like our selves 3. God shews mercy but will not suffer his mildnesse to be abused sin must not print its steps upon his clemency It is a false repentance for a man to act that which himself hath condemned and after so many relapses to take but one fall into everlasting pain The ordinary Glosse observes that our Saviour bended down when he wrote upon the earth to shew that the remembrance of our sins lay heavy upon him But when he began to pardon he arose up to teach us what joy and comfort he takes in the Kingdome of his mercy Aspirations O Soveraign Judge who sittest upon a Tribunal seat born up with truth and power make me rather judge mine own life then censure the lives of others Must I be full of eyes without and blind within Shew me my stains and give me water to wash them out Alas I am altogether but one stain and thou art all purity My soul is ashamed to see it self so dark before thy light and so smutted over before thine immortall whitenesse Doe not write me upon the ground as a child of earth write me in heaven since I am the portion which thou hast purchased with thy precious blood Blot out my sins which are but too deeply graven upon my hands and pardon by thine in finite mercy what thou mayest condemn by justice The Gospel upon Sunday the fourth week in Lent S. Iohn 6. Of the sive Fishes and two Barly Loaves AFter these things Iesus went beyond the Sea of Galilee which is of Tiberias and a great multitude followed him because they saw the sigus which he did upon those that were sick Iesus therefore went up into the mountain and there he sate with his Disciples And the Pasche was at hand the Festivall day of the Iewes When Iesus therefore had lifted up his eyes and saw that a very great multitude cometh to him he saith to Philip Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat and this he said tempting him for himself knew what he would doe Philip answered him two hundred penyworth of bread is not sufficient for them that every man may take a little piece One of his Disciples Andrew the brother of Simon Peter saith to him There is a Boy here that hath five Barly Loaves and two Fishes but what are these among so many Iesus therefore saith Make the men sit down And there was much grasse in the place The men
worldy men playes the Tyrant in the world snatching turning all things from the true scope and intention for which they were made by God diverting them to prophane uses by turbulent and forcible wayes The world pleaseth it self to set up Idols every where to make it self adored in them as cheif Soveraign It makes use of the Sun to light his crimes of the fatnesse of the earth to fatten his pleasure of apparrell for his luxury of all metals to kindle Avarice and of the purest beauties to serve sensuality And if by chance it love any creature with a well-wishing love and as it ought to be loved that is not permanent The wind is not more inconstant nor a calm at Sea more unfaithfull then worldly friendship For sometimes it begins with Fire and ends in Ice It is made as between a pot and a glasse and is broken sooner then a glasse The ancient Almans tried their children in the Rhine but true friendship is tried in a sea of Tribulation It is only Jesus the preserver and restorer of all things who loves us from Eternity to Eternity We must follow the sacred steps of his examples to reduce our selves to the finall point of our happinesse 2. The water a first was a mild element which served the Majesty of God as a floting Charior since as the Scripture saith his Spirit was carried upon the waters from whence he drew the seeds which produced all the world But after man had sinned like a suprâ—me Judge he made use of the gentlest things to be the Instruments of our punishments The water which carried the divine mercies was chosen at the deluge to drown all â—ankind Now at this time Iesus sanctified it by his sacred touch He took the Bason which being in his hands became greater and more full of Majesty then all the Ocean Our spots which eternity could not wash clean are taken away at Baptisme by one onely drop of water sanct fied by his blessing He prevents the bath of his bloud by the bath of an element which he doth expresly before his institution of the blessed Sacrament to teach us what purity of life of heart of faith of in ention and affections we must bring to the holy Eucharist It is necessary to chase away all strange gods which are sins and passions before we receive the God of Israel we must wash our selves in the waters of repentance change our attire by a new conversation It is too much for us to give flesh for flesh the body of a miserable man for that of Iesus Christ The consideration of our sins should bring up the bloud of blushing in our cheeks since they vvere the onely cause vvhy he shed his most precious bloud upon the Crosse for us Alas the heavens are not pure before his most pure spirit vvhich purifies all nature Then hovv can we go to him vvith so many voluntary stains and deformities Is it not to cast flowers upon a dunghill and to drive Swine to a clear fountain when we will go to Jesus the Authour of innocency carrying with us the steps and spots of our hainous sins 3. Iesus would not onely take upon himself the form of man but that also of a base servant as saint paul saith It vvas the office of slaves to carry water to wash bodies which made David say that Moab should be the Bason of his hope expressing thereby that he would humble the Moabites so low that they should serve onely to bring water to wash unclean houses Alas vvho vvould have said that the Messias was come amongst us to execute the office of a Moabite What force hath conquered him vvhat arms have brought him under but onely love Hovv can vve then become proud and burn incense to that Idoll called point of honour when we see hovv our God humbled himself in this action Observe with vvhat preparation the Evangelist said that his heavenly Father had put all into his hands that he came from God and went to God and yet instead of taking the worlds Scepter he takes a Bason and humbles himself to the most servile offices And if the waters of this Bason cannot burst in us the foul imposthume of vanity we must expect no other remedy but the eternal flames of hell fire Aspirations O King of Lovers and Master of all holy Loves Thou lovest for an end and till the accomplishment of that end It appertains only to thee to teach the Art of loving well since thou hast practised it so admirably Thou art none of those delicate friends who only make love to beauties to gold and silk thou lovest our very poverty and our miseries because they serve for objects of thy charity Let proud Michol laugh while she list to see my dear David made as a water bearer I honour him as much in that posture as I would sitting upon the throne of all the world I look upon him holding this Bason as upon him that holds the vast Seas in his hands O my mercifull Jesus I beseech thee wash wash again and make clean my most sinfull soul Be it as black as hell being in thy hands it may become more white then that Dove with silver wings of which the Prophet speaks I go I run to the fountains I burn with love amongst thy purifying waters I desire affectionately to humble my self but I know not where to find so low a place as thine when thou wast humbled before Iudas to wash his traitours feet Vpon the Garden of Mount Olivet Moralities 1. JEsus enters into a Garden to expiate the sin committed in a Garden by the first man The first Adam stole the fruit and the second is ordained to make satisfaction It is a strange thing that he chose the places of our delights for suffering his pains and never lookt upon our most dainty sweets but to draw out of them most bitter sorrows Gardens are made for recreations but our Saviour finds there onely desolation The Olives which are tokens of Peace denounce War unto him The plants there do groan the flowers are but flowers of death and those fountains are but fountains of sweat and bloud He that shall study well this Garden must needs be ashamed of all his pleasant Gardens and will forsake those refined curiosities of Tulips to make his heart become another manner of Garden where Jesus should be planted as the onely tree of life which brings forth the most perfect fruits of justice 2. It was there that the greatest Champion of the world undertook so great combats which began with sweat and bloud but ended with the losse of his life There were three marvelous agonies of God Death of Ioy and Sorrow of the Soul and Flesh of Iesus God and Death were two incompatible things since God is the first and the most universal of all lives who banisheth from him all the operations of death and yet his love finds means to unite them together for our
be to you And when he had said this he shewed them his hands and side The Disciples therefore were glad when they saw our Lord He said therefore to them again Peace be to you As my Father hath sent me I also do send you When he had said this he breathed upon them and he said to them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them and whose you shall retain they are retained But Thomas one of the twelve who is called Didymus was not with them when Iesus came the other Disciples therefore said to him We have seen our Lord. But he said to them Vnlesse I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side I will not believe And after eight dayes again his Disciples were within and Thomas with them Iesus cometh the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said Peace be to you Then he saith to Thomas Put in thy finger hither and see my hands and bring hither thy hand and put it into my side and be not incredulous but faithfull Thomas answered and said to him My Lord and my God Iesus saith to him Because thou hast seen me Thomas thou hast believed Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed Moralities 1. JEsus the Father of all blessed harmonies after so many combats makes a generall peace in all nature He pacifieth Limbo taking the holy Fathers out of darknesse to enjoy an eternall light and sending the damned to the bottom of hell He pacifies the earth making it from thenceforth to breathe the aire of his mercies He pacifieth his Apostles by delivering them from that profound sadness which they conceived by the imaginary losse of their dear Master He pacifieth Heaven by sweetning the sharpnesse of his heavenly Father quenching by his wounds the fire which was kindled of his just anger Every thing smileth upon this grear Peace-maker Nature leaveth her mourning and putteth on her robes of chearfulness to congratulate with him his great and admirable conquests It is in him that the heavenly Father by a singular delight hath poured out the fulnesse of all Graces to make us an eternal dwelling and to reconcile all in him and by him pacifying by his bloud froÌ„ the Cross all that is upon earth and in heaven This is our Iosuah of whom the Scripture speaketh that he clears all difference and appeaseth all battels No stroke of any hammer or other iron was heard at the building of Solomons Temple and behold the Church which is the Temple of the living God doth edifie souls with a marvellous tranquillity 2. The Sun is not so well set forth by his beames as our Saviour is magnificently adorned with his wounds Those are the Characters which he hath engraved upon his flesh after a hundred ingenious fashions The Ladies count their pearls and diamonds but our Saviour counts his wounds in the highest attire of his Magnificences It is from thence that the beauty of his body taketh a new state of glory and our faith in the resurrection is confirmed that the good fill themselves with hope Miscreants with terrour and Martyrs finde wherewith to enflame their courage These divine wounds open themselves as so many mouths to plead our cause before the Celestiall Father Our Saviour Jesus never spake better for us then by the voice of his precious Bloud Great enquity hath been made for those mountains of mirth franking cence which Solomon promiseth in the Canticles but now we have found them in the wounds of Jesus It is from thence that there cometh forth a million of sanctified exhalations of sweetnesse of peace and propitiation as from an eternall sanctuary A man may say they are like the Carbuncle which melteth the wax upon which it is imprinted for they melt our hears by a most profitable impression At this sight the eternall Father calmes his countenance and the sword of his justice returneth into the sheath Shall not we be worthy of all miserie if we do arme these wounds against us which are so effectuall in our behalf And if this bloud of our Abel after it hath reconciled his cruell executioners should finde just matter to condemn us for our ingratitudes Iohn the second King of Portugall had made a secret vow never to refuse any thing which should be asked of him in the virtue of our Saviours wounds which made him give all his silver vessels to a poor gentleman that had found out the word And why should not wee give our selves to God who both buyeth and requireth us by the wounds of Jesus 3. Jesus inspireth the sacred breath of his mouth upon his Apostles as upon the first fruits of Christianity to repair the first breath and respiration of lives which the Author of our â—ace did so miserably lose If we can obtain a part of this we shall be like the wheels of Ezekiels mysterious chariot which are filled with the spirit of life That great Divine called Mathias Vieâ—na said that light was the substance of colours and the Spirit of Iesus is the same of all our virtues If we live of his flesh there is great reason we should be animated by his Spirit Happy a 1000. times are they who are possessed with the Spirit of Jesus which is to their spirit as the apple of the eye Saint Thomas was deprived of this amorous communication by reason of his incredulity He would see with his eyes and feel with his hands that which should rather be coÌ„prehended by faith which is an eye blessedly blind which knoweth all within its own blindnesse is also at hand which remaining on earth goeth to find God in Heaven Aspirations GReat Peace-maker of the world who by the effusion of thy precious bloud hast pacified the wars of fourty ages which went before thy death This word of peace hath cost thee many battails many sweats and labours to ciment this agreement of Heaven and earth of sence and reason of God and man Behold thou art at this present like the Dove of Noahs Ark thou hast escaped a great deluge of passions and many torrents of dolours thrown headlong upon one another Thou bringest us the green Olive branch to be the marke of thy eternall aliances What Shall my soul be so audacious and disordered as to talk to thee of war when thou speakest to her of peace To offer thee a weapon when thou offerest her the Articles of her reconciliation signed with thy precious bloud Oh what earth could open wide enough her bosome to swallow me if I should live like a little Abiron with a hand armed against Heaven which pours out for me nothing but flowers and roses Raign O my sweet Saviour within all the conquered powers of my soul and within my heart as a conquest which thou hast gotten by so many titles I will swear upon thy wounds which after they have been the monuments of thy fidelity shall be the adored Altars of my vows sacrifices I will promise thereupon inviolable fidelity to thy service I will live no more but for thee since thou hast kild my death in thy life and makest my life flourish within thy triumphant Resurrection FINIS