thy Disciples wash their hands c. Amongst other innumerable differences of the just man and the Sinner foure fit well for our present purpose The first is That the just hath no eyes saue to looke vpon his owne sinnes and the Sinner hath not any saue onely to prie into other mens faults The Aegyptians had an eye and that a strict one too ouer the Children of Israell but so had not the Israelites ouer the Aegyptians And the Booke of Wisedome rendring the reason thereof saith Onely vpon them there fell a heauie night but thy Saints had a verie great light Dauids eye-sight serued him to see the Sheepe that 〈◊〉 stolne from his subiect but had neuer an eye to look out to behold his owne robbing of another man both of his wife and his life Our Sauiour Christ said of the Pharisees That they could spie a moat in another mans eyes but not see the beame that was in their owne Dauid though he were in grace and fauour with God yet did his sins so trouble him that he thought no man was so great a Sinner as himselfe Which made him to crie out Peccatum meum contrame est and anon after to come vpon his knees vnto God with Haue mercie vpon mee â— God according to thy louing kindnesse and according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out my transgressions Here he embarkes all the mercies of God hee makes a stop and stay of them he arrests them that they may not goe from him hauing so great need of them as he had So must thou and I and all of vs desire beg the like at Gods hand and to thinke with our selues that no mans sinnes in the world are more or greater than ours The second is grounded vpon a certaine kind of language phrase of Scripture which saith That he that feareth God will looke wel vnto his wayes haue an eye to his actions and throughly examine his owne conscience Qui timet Deum conuertetur ad corsuum but he that doth not feare God minds none of all these And of this mind is Petrus Chrysologus treating of the Prodigall Abijâ— in Regionem longinquam He went into a farre Countrie This journey of his saith he was farther off in point of his vnderstanding than of place for there is no Region more remote than that which remooues vs from God and makes a Sinner to goe on in the wickednesse of his wayes Saint Paul doth earnestly aduise vs that we should redeeme the time Because the dayes are euill that is so short that they vanish in an instant Iacob stiled a hundred thirtie eight yeares of his life Malos annos Euill yeares for that they 〈◊〉 full of trouble and vexation A man that is much imployed and full of businesse his ordinarie phrase is No tengo bora mia I am not myne owne man no not for an houre I am so taken vp with businesse that I am made as it were a slaue and drudge vnto them Salomon called those Euill dayes which were spent in searching into other mens liues in reading Histories and other worldly actions which doe little or nothing at all concerne vs. The Apostle would haue vs to redeeme them Redeeme those thou hast sould and mis-spent for many were with me Thy Angells did guard me And amongst those many that had not an eye vnto their wayes I had alwaies a care to looke vnto my steps The third is That the Sinner lookes vpon the just as on the Attorney that accuseth him the Executioner that torments him the Crosse that grieues afflicts him The Sinner doth behold the Iust with attention and seakes to take his life from him because in looking vpon him he beholds his owne condemnation The Elephant troubles that water which represents his owne foulenesse vnto him And the Ape breaks that glasse wherein he sees his own ilfauoured face A righteous man falling downe before the Wicked is like a troubled Well and a corrupt Spring But the just man lookes vpon a Sinner as vpon a wand that beats the dust out of him as Gods Hangman or the Instrument to execute his will So King Dauid looked vpon Shimei when he cursed him so Gods People vpon Pharaoh and Nebucadnezar so the Prophet on the Lyon which took his life from him on the way Saint Augustine compares the Sinner to a Milstone and a Winepresse the one clenseth the Oyle the other purgeth the Wine But it is not so with the Wicked for they are like dust that are scattered before the face of the wind The Hebrew renders it Like a Measure that leuels out a thing to it's iust bredth and length defends it from colds and heats Saint Augustine expounding that place of Genesis Major seruiet Minori That Esau who was the elder brother should serue Iacob that was the younger askes the question Wherein Esau did serue him being that he was alwayes an enemie vnto him And his answer is That hee did serue him euen in his forsaking of him and his persecuting of him The fourth and last difference is That there being many things worthy commendation and of much vertue and goodnesse in the Iust the Sinner will neither haue an eye to see them nor a tongue to praise them but to find out the least moat or atome of ill he is Eagle-eyed And like vnto the Vulture ouer-flying the pleasant fields and passing by the sweet smelling pastures pitches vpon the blade bone of an Asse or the carkasse of some stinking Carrion or like vnto the Flie who hauing the whole bodie and that a faire one too to light vpon makes choice to fall vpon no other place but some tumour or swelling Those that did accompanie the Spouse enuying her prosperitie did murmure and gybe at her saying That for a Queene shee was somewhat of the blackest Whereunto she answered That indeed she was blacke yet faire withall Aaron and his sister Mirian murmured against Moses Because hee had taken an Aethyopian to wife Is it not a fine thing said they that a Gouernor of so many Soules a Ruler and Commander ouer Gods People should marrie with a Blackamoore The Rule which we are to obserue is matter of Vertue let vs fixe our eys vpon other folkes vertues and turne them aside from those good gifts which are in our selues Aemulamini charissimata meliora but in matter of vice we must do the contrarie c. Why doe not thy Disciples wash their hands The seeing of one doe amisse is many times the condemning of all And this Leaprosie cleaues closest to the Vulgar Saint Augustine saith Thâ—t the state Ecclesiasticall hath more particularly a great vnhappinesse in this with the Common people for though such a woman bee an Adultresse yet for all this other husbands doe not thinke a jot the worse of their owne wiues And though such a mans sonne bee a Theefe they doe not therefore hate their owne children But if a
besides the vntunable and harsh musicke of the Deuills roaring and yellowing like so many mad Bulls that with the dinne and hideousnesse of the noyse Heauen and Earth might haue seemed to come together and the whole frame and machine of the Orbes to haue crackt and fallen in sunder The smell the taste the touch the will the vnderstanding and the memorie both irrascible and concupiscible shall not be employed vpon any thing as Saint Augustine hath noted it from whence they shall not receiue most grieuous paine and torment But of all other torments that of their desperation will be the greatest because there will be no wading through this Lake that burnes with fire and brimstone nor no end at all to these their endlesse miseries That ten thousand nay a hundred thousand yeares continuance in hell shall not suffice to satisfie for their sinnes that the fountaine of mercie should be shut vp for euer not affoording them so much as one drop of cold water to coole the tongue that God will not admit for the offences of three dayes the satisfaction of seuentie times seuen thousands of yeares This is that Magnum Chaos inter vos nos This is that great Chaos that huge Gulfe which is set betweene you and vs it is Chaos impertransibile that impassable Gulfe wherein to fall it is easie but to get out impossible Many of the Saints vpon this consideration deepely weighing these things with themselues haue made great exclamations as S. Chrysostome Petrus Crysologus and others If we beleeue say they that this imprisonment is perdurable tâ—is fire is eternall and that these torments are endlesse How comes it to passe that we eat liue and sleepe as we do O the madnesse of those men who seeke fit and handsome dwellings for three dayes and omit to thinke of those eternall habitations which continue world without end O the sottishnesse of those which couet such short and transitorie contentments O the blindnesse of those who for a moment of pleasure wil aduenture an eternitie of pain Is it much that these holy Saints should exclaime Is it much that they should weepe teares of bloud who beleeue that this rich man doth frie in perpetuall flames because he was pittiles voyd of mercy seeing on the one side so many Lazaruses naked ful of sores driuen if not beaten away from our dores whose beds are the hard benches and open porches of the Rich whose meat are the scraps and offalls and oftentimes onely the bare crummes of the rich mans boord whose drinke are the waters of those Riuers and Fountaines where the Beasts doe drinke whose wardrobe are rags whose cattle vermine whose store miserie whose tables are their knees and whose cups are their hands And on the other side so many Gluttons who feeding like beasts vomit forth that they eat at their tables where they sit Mensae repletae sunt vomitu beeing as emptie of pittie as they are full of wine Optimo vino delibuti non compatiebantur super contritionem Ioseph who dying like Oxen in a stall fat and ful fed it is no meruaile if as Esay sayth they make Hells sides to stretch and cracke againe Propter hoc dilatauit infernus Os suum I would faine aske some one of those which heare me this day My friend tel me I pray thee thinkest thou or hast thou any hope that thou art the only man in this world that shall liue here for euer Doost thou beleeue that Death shall one day come to the threshold of thy doore and call for thee and that thou must hereafter giue a strict account of thy workes words and thoughts before the tribunall seat of God If thou doost tell me then againe Whither thou hadst rather desire the felicitie of Lazarus in that other life or the eternall torments of this rich man Art thou persuaded that thou canst weare out two thousand yeares in a bed of fire But if the verie thought thereof cause feare and horror in thee and makes euerie bone and ioynt in thy bodie to shake and tremble Why doost thou not seeke to flie from so great a danger Flie saith Saint Austen yet now euen to day whilest thou hast time Pater Abraham rogo vt mittas Lazarum aut vnum ex mortuis Father Abraham I pray thee send Lazarus or one from the Dead c. Origen saith That this rich man did desire That either Lazarus or some one from the Dead might bee sent to preach this point thinking with himselfe That Abraham might happely send him vnto himselfe as to one that by this time verie wel knew his owne errour and that so by this meanes he might haue some pause or breathing time from these his torments Whither this was so or no it may by some be doubted but this is a cleere case That the maine motiue that mooued him thereunto was the desire that he had that his brethren and kinsfolke might be drawne vnto repentance and thereby come to be saued and escape those intollerable torments which he indured Saint Chrysostome saith That Abraham did not yeeld to the rich mans petition because hee was not absolute Lord of that place But that our Sauiour Christ supplied that defect and carried himselfe like a most mercifull and kind louing Lord to the end that that stiffe necked Nation might not alledge in their excuse That hee had not sent them a Preacher from that other life to aduise them what passed there But our Sauiour for whom this businesse was reserued did not raise vp Lazarus the Poore but Lazarus the Rich who vpon occasion preacht great notable things vnto them concerning the life to come And he likewise raised vp the sonne of the widow of Naim that hee might also doe the like But those that will not beleeue the Prophets it is our Sauiours owne saying will lesse beleeue the Dead Quia crucior in hac flamma Because I am tormented in this flame Gods chastisements are like Lightning which kill one but fright many and the vengeance which God taketh of one sinner is an occasion giuen to the Iust to wash their hands in his bloud According to that of Dauid Cum viderit vindictam manus suas lauabit in sanguine peccatoris And Saint Gregorie expoundeth it thus That the Iust doth wash his hands in the bloud of a Sinner when by another mans punishment he learnes to amend his owne life There is nothing doth more terrifie a Theefes heart than the gallowes and rope wherewith his fellow was hanged Funes peccatorum circumplexi sunt me Legem tuam non sum oblitus when I saw another strangled those cords which choked him sate likewise close to my necke but giuing thee thankes ô Lord that thou hadst kept mee from comming to so bad an end I did resolue with my selfe that I would not forget thy Law And therefore God would haue vs to lay vp in an euerlasting remembrance as it were his seuerest and sharpest
vs take his Inheritance They did not say This is the sonne but the Heire discouering therein the dropsie of their couetousnesse for greedinesse of the Fruits they killed his Seruants and for greedinesse of the Inheritance they killed the Heire Couetousnesse is the root of all euill Pride is the seed of all sinnes and Couetousnesse the root which maintaines them The Seed is that beginning which giues them their beeing the Root that which sustaines and nourishes them in their verdure From the Tree you may easily lop the boughes but hardly remooue the roots First Because they are so deep that we cannot well come at them And secondly Because they are couered and buried vnder ground When Couetousnesse taketh deepe rooting in the heart of man it is couered ouer with the cloake of Sanctitie and of Vertue they are hard to bee digged out From this Vice two great huts doe arise The one That it is the Leauen of all our ill Salust saith That it destroyes the Vertues and the Arts and in their places brings in Infidelities and Treasons standing at open defiance both with God and Man Ecclesiasticus saith That there is nothing worse than a couetous man for such a one would euen sell his Soule for loue of money The Princes of Iudah saith Osee were like them that remooued the bound Saint Hierome and Lyra note That the Prophet borrowed this Metaphor from the Husbandmen who inlarge the bounds of their Inheritance growing by little and little on that which is another mans And that the Gouernours of the two Tribes did reioyce in the seruitude and captiuitie of the other ten for to inlarge their owne Lands and Territories and to augment their jurisdiction To reioyce in the inlarging of their owne was not much amisse but to take pleasure in another mans miserie is so great a sinne that God threatens seuerely to punish it I will poure forth saith he myne indignation vpon them like water In other his chastisements he vseth the word stillare now that which is distilled comes away in little drops and with a great deale of leisure but heere he saith Effundam iram meam Like a storme that comes so suddenly vpon him that he cannot escape it The Prophet Amos saith That amongst many other sinnes which the Sonnes of Ammon had committed one was a verie desperate one For three transgressions of the Children of Ammon and for foure I will not turne to it Because they haue ript vp the women with child of Giliad that they might inlarge their borders For bordering vpon those of Gilead they slew their women that were great with child that they might inherit their possessions ad dilatandum terminum suum As Queene Iesabel caused Naboth to bee put to death that she might haue his Vineyard In a word In that verie houre when Couetousnesse killed the Sonne of God What punishment were it neuer so cruell might not such an offence iustly feare The second hurt is That it is a vice of all other the hardest to bee remedied Phylon calls it Wickednesses Fort where all sinnes are protected and defended Saint Chrysostome saith That Gold turnes men into Beasts nay into beastly and abhominable Deuils Whereby he signified That it was an vnreclaimable sin Saint Ambrose That the couetous man reioyceth to see the Widow weepe and the Orphan to crie which is a foule sinne Saint Bernard paints out the Chariot of Couetousnesse to be drawne by cruell fierce and desperate both Coachman and Horses Iudas his owne heart opens this truth in regard that all the diligences all the fauours that our Sauiour Christ did him in washing his feet with water and it may be with the teares that trickled from his eyes his permitting him to dip his finger in the same dish with him and to bestow his best morcells vpon him were not of power to mollifie and soften this stonie heart of his Come let vs kill him Verie fitly is Sinne called a breake-necke or a downfall not onely in regard of that heigth from whence the Sinner falls and the deepenesse of the pit whereinto hee is to descend but because of his retchlesnesse and his carelesnesse by falling headlong from one sinne into another til he come to the bottome of all villanie and wickednesse And this is the reason why the Scripture makes so much reckoning of the first sinne we commit The first sinne that Saul committed was the pittie that he shewed to Amaleck And though in it selfe it were not so grieuous a sinne yet hee perseuered afterwards in enuying and persecuting Dauid hee committed great cruelties in Nob as a Moore could not doe more he slew fourescore and fiue Priests that wore a Linnen Ephod And because his faults were so heinous the Scripture mentioneth not any one saue that of his pittie towards Amaleck because that was the first round in the Ladder by which he fell afterwards downe into Hell Beatus vir qui non abijt Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the councell of the Vngodly 〈◊〉 stood in the way of Sinners and hath not sate in the seat of the Scornefull There are three happinesses that a man is said to enioy The one Not to fall into the pit of Sinne. The other If he doe fall not to continue long therein The third That if he doe perseuer in sinne that he bee not bewitched therewith nor make it his Seat For Sinne according to Saint Austen produceth Custome and Custome a necessitie of sinning Thus doth God punish one sinne with another a lesser sinne with a greater which is the greatest and seuerest rigour which the Tribunall of Gods Iustice inflicteth Seneca tells vs The prime and principall punishment of a Sinner is his sinning for then God falls presently a punishing sinne vpon sinne The Scripture reckoning vp all the sinnes of Herod as his tyrannies cruelties his swinish nature and his incestuous life it addeth super haec omnia as though all the rest in comparison of this were as nothing That hee had beheaded Saint Iohn Baptist because he preached Truth vnto him And this was the greatest vengeance that God could take of his former sinnes With Vria's murder God reuenged Dauids adultrie And Nathans reproouing him was the appeasing of Gods wrath against him For if God should not haue vsed this his mercy towards him what would haue become of Dauid Saint Ambrose expounding those words which Christ vttered vnto Peter Thou shalt denie me thrice saith That this placing of these three denialls was not onely a foretelling of them but of setting likewise a bound and limit vnto them to the end that hee should not denie his Master any more than three times God reuenged his first deniall by his second being forced to forsweare That he knew him not and his second by the third aggrauating the same with so many protestations and Anathema's But if Christ had not looked backe vpon him and taken pittie of
must arme our selues with prayer fasting mortification But the carelesse man which lyes open and offers himselfe euery moment to al occasions of sinning that man he either robs or kils if not both and leaues him so wholly besides himselfe that hee shall see the losse of his substance of his honour and of his health with loathsome diseases that he shall see himselfe despised murmured at pried into and made the common byword of the Citie wherein he dwels and shall not bee sencible of the harme that hangeth ouer his head And therefore Saint Paul preacheth vnto vs Mortifie your members which are vpon the Earth fornication vncleanenesse c. For which the wrath of God commeth vpon the children of vnbeliefe Another letter reads of Disobedience For Dishonestie as Thomas hath obserued doth in such sort harden and obdurate the soule that it will neither heare admonitions nor obey any counsell And therefore sayth Osee They will not giue their mindes to turne vnto their God for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them Surgam ibo ad Patrem meum I will rise and goe to my father He resolued with himselfe to rise For the posture of a sinner is jacere To lye downe The iust shall rise but the sinner shall lye groueling on the ground Non resurgent impij in iudicio The wicked shall not rise in iudgement It is true that all men shall rise but the wicked non stabunt in iudicio they shall not be able to stand to it when they come to their triall but shal hang the head Petrus Chrysologus paraphrasing those words of the Centurion Puer meus iacet sayth that our Sauiour did controlle this his speech and that he sayd not well in saying Puer meus My boy lyes sicke Whereunto he shapeth this answer for him Meus est quia iacet si tuus esset non iaceret Hee is mine because he lyes were he thine he should not lye as he doth There are many places of Scripture that proue and make good these two phrases of speech And this very place confirmeth vnto vs that sinne is called a lying or a falling and righteousnesse a rising or a standing I will rise and goe to my Father Two Motiues might put him vpon this determination The one His hunger and the extreame want wherein he was For albeit it be a common saying Que la pobreza no es vileza That it is no shame to be poore Yet hunger is so sharpe set and of that strength and force that it will breake through stone-walls it not onely shakes off sloathfulnesse but aduentures vpon all difficulties be they neuer so desperate Valerius Maximus sayd That her Lawes were cruell Lawes because they prohibit nothing And if hunger put spurs to her heeles for to commit such great cruelties as to force Mothers to 〈◊〉 their owne children she will vse sharper rowells to atchiue things that are lawfull and honest As to spurre on this Prodigall to returne home to his fathers house And necessitie doth not onely open mans eyes but also mooues Gods bowells to compassion of his wretched case Da nobis auxilium de tribulatione Affoord vs ô Lord that fauour which riseth from tribulation And I say which riseth because his eye is euer waighting on those that are in affliction The other His calling to mind of his former felicitie Saint Austen weigheth with himselfe how much it importeth a man to haue beene bred vp in Vertue in the tender yeares of his youth for liuing afterwards amidst the thornes and bryers of sinne it pricks him vp to a remembrance of that quietnesse of conscience which hee inioyed before hee became sinn's slaue And when God preserues a sinner in his sinne and forbeares to punish him according to his ill deseruings it ought to bee a great motiue vnto him to make him to leaue it It is a case worthy great admiration that in that so generall a destruction which the Babilonians made in Ierusalem burning their houses pillaging their goods and taking their liues from them yet they should leaue those captiuated Cittisens those instruments wherewith they were woont to serue their God in his Temple Saint Ierome and Saint Basil are of opinion That this was an especiall prouidence and dispensation of God that in this their banishment they should conserue the memorie of their fore-passed mirth and melody that being prouoked therby to greater sorrow they might bewaile their sins recouer some hope of their restoration And the recordation of our lost good is not only a great helpe to make man to returne againe vnto himselfe but also to moue God to take compassion of him Thou findest thy selfe so ouerburthened with the weight of thy sins that thou art in a manner quite deiected with them but for al this be not put out of heart but call to mind that God was thy Father and the Captaine and Leader of thee foorth in thy youth and thy first Loue and delight And therefore Amodo voca me Hencefoorth call vpon him And no doubt but in doing so Gods bowels of compassion will show themselues tender vnto thee I will goe to my Father and say I haue sinned against Heauen c. Hee resolues to craue helpe of him whome hee had offended like vnto your Magot-a-pyes who being pursued by the Hawke flye for succor to the Faukener seeking shelter from him So Samuel aduised the people when they had offended God Vos fecistis malum grande Ye haue committed a great euill yet neuerthelesse depart not from the Lord. If God be angry with thee make him propitious to thee not by flying from him but by flying to him Peccaui in Caelum He sayes That he had sinned against Heauen More for that it was a witnesse against him than for any harme that he had receiued from thence For in your earthly Tribunals with indearing our faults we oftentimes increase our punishments but in that of heauen the more the delinquent condemnes himselfe the more he doth lessen his punishment The reason is for that sinne may be considered two manner of wayes Either as it is an offence against an infinite Goodnesse Or as it is a wound and miserie to our Soule As it is an offence it calls for justice and incenseth Gods wrath against vs. As it is a wound it mooueth him to mercie and to clemencie And as the greatest misery causeth the greatest compassion the more a Sinner doth aggrauat his sinne the more he doth extenuate Gods anger and worketh the more pittie in him Dauid harpt vpon this string For thy Names sake ô Lord be mercifull vnto my sin for it is great Lord thy Mercie is aboue all thy Works that the world should know thee by this name is the greatest Attribute that thou takest delight in for thy Names sake therefore let me beseech thee that thou wilt haue mercie on my miserie for it is exceeding great Make me one of
Augustine saith That this Conuersion was an especiall Myracle of Christs affronts and wounds He deliuered vp himselfe to the shame and reproch of the Crosse that he might glorifie this theefe That he might saue a theefe was the intent of his dying betweene two theeues And in another place he saith That he was nayled on the Crosse and suffered his blood to be shed that he might cleanse a will that was growne so aged and foule with sinne Thomas saith That it is Gods great mercie that those that are growne old in their sinnes should be saued For hauing by ill and long custome their taste so quite marred and spoyled they abhor that which should giue them health and dye in the end by the hands of their owne foolish longings On their graues that died by the fire of Gods wrath whilest the flesh of their quayles was yet betweene their teeth this Epitaph was put Sepulchra concupiscentiae For commonly these their masters and their delights are both buryed together And therefore S. Paul saith Now these are ensamples to vs to the intent that we should not lust after euill things as they also lusted The truth is alwayes answerable to the figure and if you prolong your longings as they did in your life time your death like theirs will be likewise bad Saint Bernard treating vpon that place of Saint Matthew The axe is now put to the root of the tree saith That the tree doth for the most part fall to that side whereunto the weight of it's boughs causeth it to incline and that our lustfull longings and desires are the boughs of this tree inclining the contrary way And therefore if a mans whole life shall leane wholly vnto sinne and incline it selfe to wickednesse it must be Gods exceeding great mercie if it fall at last vnto Grace Gods mercy was also the more in regard of this theeues blaspheming of him The theeues likewise reuiled him Saint Augustine Epiphanius Anselme Saint Ierome Saint Ambrose and Beda saith That the plurall number is put here for the singular and that onely one thiefe did blaspheme by the figure Synedoche or Analogia as it seemeth to Saint Augustine which according to Saint Ierome is a figure frequently vsed in Scripture Saint Luke saith That the souldiers gaue our Sauiour vinegre to drinke whereas the rest of the Euangelists speake onely of one Of the calfe Exodus saith These ô Israel are thy Gods Nebuchadnezzar said to the three children Sydrach Misech and Abednego speaking of the Statue of gold Ye will not worship our Gods Dauid treating of Herod and Pilat as appeareth by that of the Acts saith The Kings of the earth band themselues and the Princes are assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ. Saint Paul in his Catalogue which he makes of the Saints saith They stopped the mouths of Lyons Daniel being the onely man that did it so Secti sunt When it was onely Esayas that was sawne asunder Againe Circuierunt me loris which had onely reference to Elias And it is a very vsuall phrase both in the Latine and the Spanish tongue to say Alexandros Annibales Scipiones c. And a maine argument hereof is that sharpe and seuere reprehension wherewith hee rebuked his companion that blasphemed Christ saying vnto him Fearest thou not God seeing thou art in the same condemnation Who if he had blasphemed our Sauiour would neuer haue so roundly reprooued him Of a contrary opinion to this is Saint Ierome Saint Chrysostome Cyril Hilary Thomas Origen Theophilact Euthimius Saint Ambrose and Saint Marke and Saint Matthew seeme to expresse as much in plaine termes but be it in that sence that they would haue it it is but so much the more indeering of Gods mercie who also hath compassion euen of the beasts of the field According to that which Esay prophesied The wild beasts shall honour me the Dragons and the Ostriches because I gaue water in the desert and flouds in the wildernesse to giue drinke to my people euen to mine elect as if he should haue said It is not much that the starres of heauen should praise me or the Quire of Angels or the children of God which are captiuated by their knowledge of me the benefits that I haue heaped vpon them But that a theefe a villaine one that was bred vp in bushes and lay lurking to doe mischiefe in the thickest of the woods and in mountainous places that such a one should praise and magnifie my name it must haue an Epithite beyond more than much Lastly The diuine prouidenc◠shew'd it selfe in hauing hid and laid vp such it's treasures in a theefe Hast thou entred into the treasure of the snow or hast thou seene the treasures of the hayle which I haue hid against the time of trouble c. In the frozen brest of a sinner and in those stormes of our sinnes as thicke and as hard as hayle God hath hidden and stored vp as Saint Gregorie saith against the day of trouble the great and rich treasures of his grace There were two theeues crucified with him one on the right hand and the other on the left The doubt which in this storie doth most grauell mens thought is That of two theeues which were crucified on either side of our Sauior the one should be saued and the other damned S. Aug. renders two reasons thereof And first of all we are to suppose that there it not any cause of predestination Before that they had done either good or euill I loued Iacob and hated Esau So saith Saint Paul And in another place Hath not the Potter power out of the same masse or lumpe to make one vessell for honour and another for dishonor Some for to serue in the kitchin and some to set vpon the table The iudgements of God are secret which wee must rather reuerence than inquire into crying out with the same Apostle O altitudo aiuitiarum c. Secondly it is to be supposed that of our vocation to faith there is likewise no cause giuen And therefore in this point we must take Saint Augustine along with vs who saith Quare hunc trahat hunc non trahat id est Ad fidem noli iudicare si non vis errare Iudge not why he drawes this man to Faith and not that And here Saint Augustine brings in the example of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar whom God sought to draw vnto him with one and the selfe-same kind of force and violence But the one did follow him that lent him his hand to direct him and the other refused to be guided by him They were both men according to nature both Kings according to their dignitie both had sinned alike Quoad culpam for they had made Gods people slaues and vsed them very ill and hardly and quoad poenam they were both of them punished with stripes from heauen The warning was alike to both but how then comes it to passe That the
that miracle whereunto they all of them readily offered themselues with a great deale of alacritie and this was a great triall of their Faith But it would haue beene greater if God had commanded them to set their backes and shoulders against the waues keeping them there and deferring his succour till the thread of their hope were broken in twaine and they readie to perish This deferring is vsually the vigill of Gods greater mercies Saint Gregorie declareth to this purpose that place of Esay Ad punctum in modico dereliquisse in miserationibus magnis congregaui te He deferred his helpe to the last push but the greater the delay was the greater was his mercie As wee see Gods deferring of his Iustice is oftentimes the occasion of the seuerer punishment Saint Chrysostome saith That Christs so long deferring to alay this storme was to teach vs that we are not at the first flaw of a Tempest to call for present faire weather but rather to crie out with Dauid Non me derelinquas vsquequaque Let not thy not relieuing of mee bee eternall Forsake me not ô Lord for euer but let thy succour come when it shall seeme best vnto thee not my but thy will be done God likewise refuseth sometimes to affoord his help out of the pleasure that hee taketh to see the Righteous row against the streame and to tugge and wrestle with all the might they can against the troubles and afflictions of this world Seneca touching though as a Heathen vpon this straine saith That there is not in all the earth a spectacle more worthie Gods beholding than to see a stout man wrestling against aduerse fortune Saint Chrysostome dwelles much vpon the great care which God tooke in notifying to the Deuill that hee should not touch Iob in his life Veruntamen animam illius serua But yet preserue his life Not that Iob should haue receiued any hurt by the losse of his life but because God would not loose the pleasure of seeing this stout combat fought out betwixt him and his enemie Si de medio tuleris Theatrum non plaudet amplius And as your Heathen Emperours tooke great delight in seeing a Christian enter the Listes with a wild Beast so the King of Heauen takes much pleasure in seeing one of his Saints maintaine fight against those fierce Beasts of Hell Et putauerunt Phantasma esse And they tooke him for an apparition Here is one feare vpon another therefore it was not much they should crie out The wind and the waues had sorely affrighted them and that which was to bee the remedie of their danger made them to apphrehend a new danger fearing now more their succour than their hurt being herein like vnto many who feare their good but not their euil the Glutton doth not feare drunkennesse and that fulnesse which lessens his health and puts his life in danger but feares those syrrops and purgations which he is to take for his recouerie The bad Christian feareth not the fault he hath committed which is the greatest euill but feareth to doe pennance for the same which is for his greatest good The Atheist feareth not death nor the graue but saith We haue made a couenant with Death and Hell yet he feareth pouerty hunger and the enemie that threatens him but not God who can swallow him vp quicke in the flames of Hell fire He feares an earthly Iudge that may put him to torment but not that Iudge of Heauen that can condemne to endlesse paines which are neuer to haue end THE FIFTH SERMON VPON THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT TOVCHING OVR SAVIOVRS TEMPTATION MAT. 4. LVC. 4. MARC 1. Ductus est Iesus ab Spiritu in Desertum And Iesus was led by the Spirit into the Wildernesse THis famous Combat betwixt two of the stoutest and valiantest Captaines that euer tryde their valour in a single Duel wil very well deserue the looking on and require our diligent attention taking vp as well our eyes as our eares This battell then that is here described by the Euangelist is the notablest and the strangest that euer was in former or euer shall bee seene in future Ages The Combattants are two great Princes whose power all the world acknowledgeth and whose wisedome admits no comparison the one the Prince of Light the other the Prince of Darkenesse The field wherein they fought was a Wildernesse where they had nothing to sustaine themselues withall but stones Their Weapons Wit and Words the faculties of the Vnderstanding and the vse of the Tongue The Deuills end was to repaire a double losse or two-fold ouerthrow at our Sauiour Christs hands The one That he could neuer catch him in any the least fault nor find him tripping in any one action that euer he did And this was it that did mad him to the heart and mightily incense his rage that amongst all mankind there neuer yet beeing any though neuer so famous neuer so iust that had escaped his clutches without receiuing some foyle or other as Adam Noah Abraham Dauid the like good and holy men that now a man in the eye of the World of no better than a meane and ordinarie ranke for such a one was our Sauiour held to bee should escape his fingers and should shew himselfe to bee the onely Phoenix of the world The other that he did not yet perfectly know by that euidence of his humane nature by those great suspitions which he might haue of his diuine essence by calling to mind those menaces that were threatned against him in Paradice I will put enmitie betwixt the woman and thee betwixt thy seed and her seed hee shall bruise thy head c. And he began to thinke with himselfe What wil become of me if this be the Bug-beare foretold by the Prophets Questionlesse if this be the man I shall hardly escape a broken pate Our Sauiours end was not any desire of his owne proper worth and merit nor any vaine-glorie to shew his valour for it could bee no great glorie to boast of nor no such wonderfull conquest that the Sonne and Heire apparent of Heauen should subdue the Deuil But his end was thereby to sanctifie our temptations as he had done all the rest of our miseries by taking them vpon himself because they should recouer a new beeing and a new honour And that those temptations which heretofore did serue as steepe Rockes to throw vs downe into Hell should serue as Ladders to bring vs to Heauen Theodores saith That as Physitions make Treacle out of Serpents so our Sauiour Christ drew an Antidote and wholsome Medicine from the Deuil and his deceits and subtleties so that now Temptation hath lost his name and strength and of Gally-slaues we are made Freemen by Iesus Christ. Secondly Our Sauiour Christ did pretend by this fight to rid the world of that great feare wherin it liued Wherby we may suppose the feareful power of the Deuill
the middle part borowing that metaphore from all other liuing creatures who haue their heart placed in the midst of the bodie Tribus ditbus tribus noctibus Three dayes and three nights Our Sauiour Christ was buried about the sixth watch in the Euening and rose againe vpon Sunday morning According to which account hee remaineed onely two nights in the graue Saint Austen S. Ierome Beda and Theophilact say That by the figure Syâ—ecdoche they are to be taken for three nights and three dayes taking the part for the whole But peraduenture the plainer exposition will be this that wee should vnderstand by three dayes and three nights three naturall dayes consisting of twentie fouâ—e houres apiece it being an ordinarie phrase amongst the Iewes to confound the day and the night making them all one as it appeareth in Genesis Exodus Deutronomie and in the booke of the Kings For in very deed our Sauiour Christ did not continue in the graue three nights but abode there some part of three naturall dayes Viri Niniuitae surgent in Iudicio The Men of Niniuie shall rise vp in judgement Some interpret this threatning to be an effect of justice others of mercie of justice by charging this people with the repentance of Niniuie No man will spare his enemie if he can catch him vpon the hip The Groome of the Stable that shall play the Rogue and the Theefe with thee thou wilt call him to a reckoning euen for his Curry-combe and his Apron and afterwards turne him out of doores But of a good Seruant and one that hath beene faithfull vnto thee thou wilt take no account at all his honestie shall excuse him O yee false Hypocrites yee Scribes and Pharisees Why would yee call vengeance vpon your selues by saying Let all the bloud of the Righteous come vpon vs This will make yee pay at last that which perhaps ye did not thinke yee did owe. To a Sinner Omnia cooperantur in malum All things turne to the worst And therefore all creatures shall rise vp against these wicked and stiffe necked Iewes The Heauens shall he call from aboue and the earth to iudge his People The Scripture it selfe shall bring in euidence against them for their ingratitude The Oxe knoweth his Owner To him that shall not acknowledge Christ and his Church the Asse shall beare witnesse against him Et Asinus prâ—sepe domini sui To him that shall despise the inspirations of Heauen the Kyte shall accuse him Câ—gnouit miluus tempus suum To him that shall be carelesse of his eternall good he shall be tit in the teeth with the Ant Vade piger ad formicam To him that is disobedient the Historie of Ionas shall be alledged against him but as the Whale swallowed Ionas but sent him forth again without any harm done vnto him so our Sauiour Christ was swallowed vp by the Earth but not to his hurt and both it and all the Elements acknowledged him to be their Lord and Master which was more than the Pharisees would doe To Saint Chrysostome this threatning seemeth to be an effect of mercie For by proposing vnto them the example of Niniuie he desires to draw them to repentance It was another kind of threatning that God vsed towards his people for worshipping the golden Calfe Let me goe that I may destroy them and blot out their name Theodoret is of opinion That this was Gods great mercie towards them For by that threatning he set before Moses the wickednesse of the people and did thereby aduise him that he should make intercession for them that he might not punish them in his wrath After that generall deluge and inundation of waters which drowned the whole world God did set a bow in heauen and it may be he might haue tooke it in his hand for to threaten the Earth But Saint Ambrose hath noted That to the end that the World should take it as a token of Gods mercie towards them he made the points or ends of it to touch the earth that the World might thereby be assured That Gods Iustice would not shoot any more Arrowes downe from heauen Tertullian treating vpon that place of the Apocalips Repent or else I wil come against thee shortly and wil remooue thy Candlesticke out of his place except thou amend he saith That so great is the goodnesse of God that though hee might with a great deale of reason denie vs his mercie he doth not only not deny it vs but he threatneth vs and also intreateth for vs to the end that we may accept of this his mercie for no father can be immagined to be halfe so pittifull as he is Saint Austen crieth out O Lord what am I that thou shouldst command me to loue thee What am I that thou shouldest be offended with me And Why doost thou threaten me with great miseries if I doe not loue thee I am much bound vnto thee for the one but more for the other In louing thee I see how much I get by it in threatning mee I see how much reckoning thou makest of me S. Ephrem discoursing of those of Niniuie saith That God had mercie of them and that he forgaue them their sinnes Et mendax potius haberi quam crudelis tâ—dit He would rather be held a lyar than accounted â—ruell The men of Niniuie shall rise vp in judgement Some Diuines grant That the Niniuites in that generall judgement shall be Iudges ouer many that shall be condemned by a judgement of comparison so a Niniuite shall condemne a Pharisee He did credit a stranger one that was spewed out of a whales mouth one that had neuer wrought any miracles nor had any prophecies in his fauour but thou proud Pharisee didst not beleeue thy naturall Lord whom his Doctrine his miracles heauen and earth had declared to be thy Messias and thy God This Niniuite fasted put on sack cloath and ashes but thou didst not lay aside thy delicacies and thy dainties He made the Beasts of his house to fast but thou didst not so much as will thy Seruants to abstaine A Moore shall condemne in a comparatiue kind of judgement a bad Christian This Moore entred into his Mesquitae with a great deale of respect reuerence humbling himselfe on his knee to a thing of nothing but thou prophanest my Temples and blasphemest mee to my face In a word If the fruits of repentance weigh downe the ballance of eternall punishment Why should we preferre temporall pleasures before eternall happinesse but because those Iudges are in that day to sit Sedebitis super Sedes duodecim and the Accusers to stand face to face to the Accused the sence thereof in this place shall not be ill vnderstood if we shall say That they shall condemne them by accusing them for we likewise commonly say That the Accuser condemneth him that is guiltie when by his testimonie hee doth conuince him Viri Niniuitae This Citie of Niniuie Eusebius
them that this Tempest was miraculous Gods prouidence had before hand prouided a Whale readie to receiue Ionas and when as he thought he should haue beene swallowed vp in the Deepe and that the waters should enter into his soule crying out in his meditations Pelagus â—peruit me vestes terrâ— concluserunt me The â—â—ouds compassed mee about all thy surges and all thy waues passed ouer me c. Then did the Whale open his mouth then when in his affliction he cried vnto the Lord I am cast away out of thy sight the waters compassed me about vnto the soule the depth closed mee round about and the weeds were wrapped about my head then euen then did the Whale open his mouth and swallowing him vp whole into his bellie defended him from the jawes of death Ionas being herein like vnto a delinquent whom the Gaoler takes into his custodie to secure his person Iob saith That God hath girt in the sea on the one side with mountaines and valleys Circumdedit illud terminis suis and on the other side with sand Posuit arenam terminum Maris And as Ionas was shut vp in the Whales bellie as in a prison so was the Whale inclosed in that prison of the Sea Nunquid Mare ego sum aut Caete Am I a Sea or a Whale fish that thou keepest mee in ward Now if God had both before and behind on this side and that side pitcht so many nets for Ionas hee could verâ—e hardly escape him his flying could not saue him but in this Whales maw contrarie to all the lawes of Nature God maintaines and preserues his life If the stomacke of a Whale will digest an anchor of Yron as Tertullian tells vs it must then of force consume Ionas and if instead of aire he drawes in water he must necessarily be choaked But he that deliuered Daniel from the hungrie mouths of Lyons and those three children from the flames of the firie Furnace it is not much that hee should conserue Ionas in the deepest and darkest dungeon that euer liuing man was clapt vp in The wonder was that though himself were prisoner yet he had left vnto him so free an vnderstanding that hee was able to make so elegant an oration to God out of so foule a Pulpit The Prophet did dwell vpon this great miracle which God had vsed towards him and did recouer so much strength and confidence that he stucke not to say Rursus videbo templum sanctum tuum Yet will I looke againe toward thy holy temple I liue in good hope not onely to see my selfe freed out of this loathsome Gaole but to humble my selfe on my knee in thy holy Temple giuing thee thankes for the great mercie and fauour which thou hast shewed towards me For the present I will make this sluttish corner my Oratorie assuring my selfe that from thence my prayers shall be acceptable vnto thee who like some great Prince or Monarch of the world is respected in any place whatsoeuer of thy jurisdiction so that there is no doubt that any thy poorest vassall whatsoeuer may bee heard by thee The Children of Babylon were heard from the Furnace Daniel from the Lyons Den Iob from the Dunghill Dauid from amiddest the Thornes and Bushes And so I make no question but I shall be from the bowells of this Beast In omni loco dominationis eius benedic anima mea Domino O my soule blesse the Lord in euerie place of his power These three dayes Ionas spent in prayer at the end whereof God commanded the Whale to cast out Ionas vpon the Coast of Niniuy And the Whale obaying his Empire crost the Seas many Leagues and there threw the Prophet forth vpon drie Land though full of froathie slime and vnctuous stuffe free from the horror of that deepe and darkesome dungeon From hence did the Gentiles faigne those their fabulous tales of Hercules beeing swallowed vp by another Whale of Arion playing on his harpe riding on the backe of a Dolphine For as it is noted by Clemens Alexandrinus and Saint Basil the Heathen Philosophers did steale these truths from vs founding thereupon their falshoods And giuing credit to their lyes they did not beleeue our truths Many of the Niniuites comming downe to the shoare-side were strucken with admiration to see such a monstrous strange prodigious man and the fame thereof flying to the Citie before they were affrighted with the sad news that hee brought they stood astonished at the strangenesse of the case which questionlesse was a great cause that they did afterwards harken vnto him and giue creditto what he said In the end taking this for his Theame Adhuc quadraginta dies Niniue sâ—â—uertetur â—et forty dayes and Niniuie shall bee ouerthrowne Not threatning onely the ruine of the Citie but also of the Towers Walls Pallaces Citizens Children Women and Old men euen to the very beasts of the field so great was the feare that entred into all their breasts that without any further Miracles laying their beleefe vpon the Prophet they presently gaue beginning to that their great repentance which was the strangest that euer was yet heard of The King layd aside his purple roabes and his rich and costly clothes the throan of his Greatnesse Maiestie and couered himselfe with sacke-cloth and â—ate in ashes causing his clothes of State to bee pulled downe his walls of his pallace to be left naked of their hangings of cloth of Gold and other peeces of Arras beeing no lesse curious than glorious For Sardanapalus was one of the loosest and most licentious men that hee had not his like in all the World The like did all the great Officers of his Pallace the Princes and Wealthyest men of his Citie as also all the faire and beautifull Ladies And there was a Proclamation presently made through all Niniuie by the Councell of the King and his Nobles with expresse charge That neither man nor beast bullocke nor sheep should tast any thing neither feed nor drinke water but that man and beast should put on sack-cloth and cry mightily vnto God To the end that the bellowing of their bulls the bleating of their sheepe goats the howling of their dogs the teares of their children the sighes lamentations of their mothers might mooue Heauen to take pitie of them And aboue all they did cry out most grieuously for their sinnes For albeit they are offences towards God yet are they miseries vnto man and as quatenus peccata so farre foorth as they are sinnes they prouoke and stirre vp Gods Iustice against vs So quatenus they are miseriae as they are miseries vnto vs they incline and mooue our good God to take mercie compassion of vs. The same reason which wrought God to destroy the World the same likewise mooued him neuer to destroy it more Cogitatio hominis prona est ad malum Mans thoughts are proâ—e vnto euill One while hee considers it as an offence vnto
they made so slight account of our Sauiours words and workes that they require new miracles at his hands but this their cauelling with him shal occasion their condemnation To conclude The principal things that Niniuie shal charge them with are two The first The speedinesse of their repentance and the hast that they made to turne vnto God For as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it in three dayes Ionas effected that in Niniuie which our Sauiour could not bring to passe in thirty yeres and vpward Saint Ambrose That they who deferre their repentance till the houre of their death ought not to bee denied the Sacraments if they desire them but I dare not be so bold saith the said Father to warrant them their saluation Rahab had scarce put the Spies out of her window but that she presently hung out that coloured string the token that was giuen her for the safeguard of her life Philon takes into consideration that exceeding great hast which the Aegyptians made to rid their Countrie of the children of Israell they held it no wisedome to deferre their departure one minute of an houre longer if they could so soone haue freed themselues from them considering in what great danger they were of loosing their liues Much lesse discretion is it to defer the repentance of our sinnes from day to day considering how dayly we are in perill of perishing in Hell The second The greatnesse sharpenesse and rigour of their Repentance not onely in the men but in the women children and cattell They thought with themselues That fortie dayes of sorow were too little and too few for so many yeares of sinning and therefore they did striue all that they could that the extremitie of their punishment might make amends for that long time wherin they had offended Lanabo per singulas noctes lectum meum i. I will euerie night wash my Couch with my tears Chrys. saith CulpaÌ„ fuisse vnius noctis lachrimas multorum That it was but one nights sinne but many nights teares Amplius laua me O Lord wash me yet a little more that I may be cleane Now was he clensed but ill assured of this his cleannesse c. For the washing out of the staines and spots of our sinnes one laâ—â—r one rinsing one bucking is not sufficient no though we haue neuer so much sope and ashes to scoure them cleane and bear out our hearts vpon the blocke of our sencelesse soules it must ô Lord be the water of that immense and mightie sea of thy Mercie that and nothing but that can doe it And therefore Haue mercie vpon me ô God according to thy great mercie THE NINTH SERMON VPON THE THVRSEDAY AFTER THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT MAT. 5. MARC 7. Secessit Iesus in partes Tyri Sydonis Iesus withdrew himselfe into the coasts of Tyre and Sydon THis Historie hath beene handled by mee heretofore The summe whereof is That our Sauiour Christ withdrawing himselfe to the parts of Tyrus and Sydon hee did a worke of mercie that was full of strange circumstances A woman came forth to meet him descended of that accursed Chaâ— desiring his helpe for a daughter of hers that was possessed with a Deuill And howbeit our Sauiour had taken the paines to come fiue and twentie leagues for to heale that soule as one that well knew the price and worth thereof yet he gaue her so many shrewd disgraces and put-by's that would haue dismayed the stoutest spirit aliue and haue cooled the courage of him that had beene most confident of his strength But this woman did not flag a whit for all this nor would bee so beaten off but one while making vse of the intercession of the Apostles another while confessing herselfe to be no better than a Dogge and begging like a Dogge not the bread it selfe which was for the children but the crummes that fell from the 〈◊〉 which neuer yet was denied vnto Dogges she perseuered in her petition laying such a strong and forcible batterie to the pittie and mercie of Christ that it being in it selfe inuincible yet it yeelded to a womans importunitie Incouraging vs thereby and putting vs in good hope that nothing shall be denied vnto vs if we shall earnestly call vpon God perseuer in the pursuit of our humble petitions And there is good cause of comfort for vs Quoniam confirmata est super nos misericordia eius His mercie is confirmed vnto vs as well as his grace whose effect is infallible and most certaine And as a continuall feauer that is once confirmed and setled vpon vs is an assured messenger of death so the mercie of God being once confirmed vnto vs it is not possible that it should euer faile vs. Egressus Iesus secessit Some doe apply this word to the Sonne of Gods comming foorth into the World Some to the strength and vertue which our humane nature recouered by this his comming Which is all one with that of Saint Austen if God had not beene Man Man had not beene free The Scripture calleth Christ our Sauiour The desire hope of the Gentiles And to him that shall doubt How the Gentiles not hauing knowledge of the Son of God nor of his comming could bee called their hope and their desire First of all I answere That amongst the Gentiles God had some friends as the Sybils and many which beleeued in him In the land of Hus he had Iob. And if it shall be obiected That so small a number of the Gentiles were not sufficient to giue a name and beeing of this their hope and desire I must answere secondly That all creatures did naturally desire and long for him as the dry ground doth gape for water or as the captiue doth desire his libertie Sicut terra sine aqua tibi Thirdly Saint Austen answeres That the desired ought first to bee knowne But it is the fashion of the Prophets to take FuturuÌ„ pro praeterito The future for the preterperfect Tence And here it is to bee noted That with Tyrus and Sydon that happened vnto him in particular which succeeded vnto him in the world in generall He was long before offended with this Country as it appeareth in Ioel Quid mihi vobis Tyrus Sydon What haue I to doe with you ô Tyre and Sydon In Ezechiel Tu ergo fili hominis assume lamentum super Tyrum Now therefore ô sonne of Man take vp a lamentation for Tyre In Esay Onus Tyri vlulate naues maris The burden of Tyre â—owle ye ships of the Sea How then did God make peace with the World by his Sonne Gratificauit nos in dilecto filio suo And hee offered the like kindnesse vnto Tyrus and Sydon Memor ero Rahab Babilonis Ecce alienigeni Tyrus hic fuerunt illic c. I will thinke vpon Rahab and Babilon the Morians and them of Tyre c. Secessit in partes Tyri Sydonis Hee went into the
stiles the life of man a Warfare a Wrestling a Race a Combat a Reward a Crowne things that are not atchieued without labour trouble seruice sweats and some deseruing in our selues Vbi non sunt Boues praesepe vacuum est Where there are no Oxen the Cratch is emptie where no paines no profit Herculei auri celebrant labores saith Boëtius The Chronicles of Hercules were his Labours And Plautus Pars est fortuna laborum Come out of those Borders We are not onely to leaue sinne but also to remoue from vs all occasion of sinning God said vnto Abraham Eijce ancillam Agar 〈◊〉 his Slaue oâ— Bondwoman she was that Leuen which had sowred the sweet â—â—ace of his house God might as well haue commanded him to correct and punish her for her insolent behauiour but because he would haue the occasion of any farther falling out taken away he layes this command vpon him Eijce ancillam filium eius Ismael ô Lord might Abraham haue said is but a child and in regard of his tender age disciplinable and corrigible he can as yet do but little harme But this would not serue his turne there was no remedie but hee must be sent packing too that all occasion may be taken away of his mothers returning backe to see him Salua te in Monte ne stes c. Get thee out of the Citie and escape into the Mountaine lest thou be destroyed It was the Angells aduice vnto Lot lest so circumuicinant and neere neighbouring occasion might prooue dangerous vnto him Quantum distat Ortus ab Occidente longe fecit à nobis iniquitates nostras Looke how wide the East is from the West so farre hath he set our sinnes from vs. In the Captiuitie of Babylon the Children of Israell hid in a verie deepe pit the holy Fire as a man would hide Treasure hoping hereafter they might come againe to the fetching of it out but when this their Captiuitie was ended when they came to seeke for it they found in stead thereof a coagulated and crudded kind of water as when it is frozen but when the beames of the Sunne began to touch vpon it it turned againe to fire So they that couer the fire of their affection with the ashes of absence with a hope to returne to reuiue that heat howbeit it be more cold and more frozen than water yet with the Sunne of their presence and the heat of occasion those coles of loue begin to kindle anew and to breake forth into their woonted flames Saint Augustine reports of Alipius That hauing resolued with himselfe neuer to looke vpon your Fencers Prizes vpon a time through the earnest importunitie of his friends hee was drawne along to the Theatre where those bloudie sports were performed protesting that he would keepe his eyes all the while shut and not so much as once open them yet it so fell out that vpon a sudden great shout of the People he looked abroad to see what the matter was Whereupon hee became another man and altered his former purpose so that his hatred to this sport was turned into a loue and liking of it Ecclesiasticus saith That as a cleere Fountaine is to the thirstie and as the shade to him that is scortched with heat such is occasion to a man that is accustomed to ill In filia non auertente se firma custodiam Giue her for lost if thou quit not the occasion Clamabat Miserere mei She cried Haue mercie vpon me Vocall Prayer is sometimes profitable and sometimes necessarie profitable because it stirreth vp our inward deuotion And is as Saint Augustine hath obserued that blast which bloweth and kindleth the fire that is within vs. Those that are more perfect than others spend much time in meditation and contemplation of the Spirit but those that are lesse perfect because their inward heat quickly failes them they must haue recourse to the breath of vocall Prayer and call out aloud with this Canaanitish woman for the Heart and the Lips are an acceptable Sacrifice vnto God Ex voluntate mea confitebor ei Saint Paul calls it The fruit of the Lips Osee A Sacrifice Vituli Labiorum The calfes of our Lips Miserere mei Fili Dauid Haue mercie vpon me thou Sonne of Dauid Saint Augustine saith That whatsoeuer may be lawfully desired may be lawfully required of God And beeing there be three sorts of things some so good that it is impossible the vse of them should be bad as Grace Vertue Glorie and the necessarie sustenance of the bodie which we dayly beg of God others so ill that they can neuer be good as Sinne and Wickednesse and others indifferent which of themselues are neither good nor euill as Riches and other the like temporall Goods The first wee may alwaies and at all times begge of God without any condition or limitation the second neuer the third must euermore haue this reseruation If it bee ô Lord for thy seruice or thy honour and glorie c. Now this Canaanitish woman crauing mercie for her selfe and her daughter it beeing so holy and pious a petition she might absolutely preferre the same to our Sauiour Haue mercie vpon me thou Sonne of Dauid Saint Basil pondereth the elegancie of this prayer so wholly stript from any proper presumption in it selfe and so cloathed throughout from top to toe with the mercie of God There is not any greater pouertie saith Saint Bernard than that of our owne merits nor any falser riches than that of our own presumption And he preuailes most with God who presumes least of himself for the mercies of God are not occasioned from our deseruings but from his own infinite goodnesse as Leo the Pope sets it down vnto you more at large Gods mercie is so infinite and so immense that there is no comparison betwixt our merits and it so short is our rightuousnesse of his goodnesse Saint Chrysostome sayes That mercie must bee like a free Port that opens vnto the sea and affoords franke passage vpon all occasions or whither soeuer we are bound without paying so much for importation or so much for exportation c. O Sonne of Dauid Although our Sauiour were of the Seed of Abraham as well as of the House of Dauid yet with this People more preuailed this appellatiue of Dauid for that the promise which God had made to this King was fresher in remembrance more especiall and more honourable as Saint Chrysostome and Euthimius vpon this verie place haue noted it vnto vs So that both the nobler and the learneder sort among them besides the People in generall did not onely hold it as an Article of their Faith but for a great glorie vnto them that their Messias was to descend from the loynes of Dauid Scriptum est Quia de semine Dauid venit Christus And our Sauiour asking of the Pharisees Whose sonne their Messias should bee they did all agree in this That hee
should come from the Stocke of Dauid Now whither it were that this Cananitish woman by giuing him this attribute thought with her selfe That he had some obligation to fauour the Gentiles for the first Troupes that Dauid had were of fugitiue Slaues and Forreiners which came to his ayd Et factus est eorum Princeps or whither the power that she saw he had in casting out Deuils wrought thus vpon her or whither the much honour that hee had alwaies shewne to women or all of these together were motiues of her pretension I cannot tell you but sure I am that shee did beleeue That our Sauiour Christ came into the world for to saue sinners and for the generall good of all Mankind for the Iew and for the Gentile and that the Deuills were subiect vnto him differing therein from the Pharisees who made him Belzebubs Factor and that there was no disease so incurable which this heauenly Physition was not able to cure and that he had past his word to the greatest Sinners That if they should call vpon God for mercie and beleeue in his sonne Christ Iesus whom he had sent into the world he would free them from forth the depth of their miseries Non respondit ei verbum He answered not a word Origen and almost all the rest of the Saints judge this silence of our Sruiour to bee verie strange in regard of the strangenesse of the circumstances First of all Because that Fountaine saith Origen which was alwaies woont to inuite and call vs to drinke doth now denie water to the Thirstie the Physition that came to cure the Sicke refuse to helpe his Patient that Wisedome which cried out in the Market place with a loud voyce Venite ad me that it should now remaine dumbe Who may not stand amased at it O Lord thou doost not onely accept of Prayer but doost like of the bare desire to doe it not onely of the lips but of our willingnesse to mooue them Et voluntate labiorum illius non fraudasti eum saith Dauid And Wisedome Optaui datus est mihi sensus When I prayed vnderstanding was giuen me and when I called the Spirit of Wisedome came vnto me Secondly That those prayers cries which come not from the heart should notbe heard it is not much Aufer à me tumultum carminum tuorum saith Amos Take thou away from me the multitude of thy Songs for I will not heare the melodie of thy Viols And all because they were not from the heart And in another place Populus hic labijs me honorat corde autem longe est They honour me saith Esay with their lips but their heart is farre from me But this Cananitish woman did by her voice expresse her hearts griefe and most true it is That parents many times louing their children better than themselues are more sencible of their sorows than of their owne Thirdly it being so pious a businesse as the freeing of her daughter from the torment of the Deuill and being sent besides of God into the world Vt dissoluat opera Diaboli the Apostles as well pittying the daughters miserie as the mothers sorow besought our Sauiour in her behalfe saying Dimitte illam Fourthly There must be some great matter in it some extraordinarie reason why Christ should bee now more dumbe than at other times But of that wee haue spoken elsewhere Clamaui per diem non exaudies nocte non c. they are the words of the sonne of God to his eternall Father What ô Lord sayth hee shall I call vpon thee night and day and wilt thou not heare mee Thy silence can bee no scandall vnto mee because I know the secrets of thy heart and thy loue towards mee Marry vnto others it may giue great offence In the former Chapter of this Storie wee haue giuen some reasons of this silence Of those which haue since offered themselues let the first bee that of S. Chrisostome If our Sauiour Christ sayth he should haue made present answer to the Canaanitish woman her patience her perseuerance her prudence her courage and her faith would not haue beene so much seene nor manifested to the World So that our Sauiour was not dumbe out of any scorne or contempt towards her but because in the crysoll of these his put-byes and disdaines hee might discouer the treasure of her Vertues And for this cause did Christ heape so many disgraces vpon her one on the necke of another one while not seeming to take any notice of her griefs another while stiling the Iews children and her selfe a dog Wherewith this poore woman was so far from being offended or taking any exception at it that humbly casting her self downe at his feet shee did worship and adore him allowing all that he sayd to be true that these disgraces were worthily throwne vpon her confessing her selfe to bee no better than a dog yet notwithstanding shee comes vpon him againe with an Etiam Domine Yet the crums ô Lord c. That with kind words and faire promises and other gratious fauours God should incourage his souldiers put strength and boldnesse into them and winne their loue and affection it is not much but that with disdaines and disgraces they should receiue augmentation and increase like Anteus who the oftner he was by Hercules throwne to the ground the abler and stronger hee grew it is more than much Hee that is in Loue hath his affection rather inflamed than abated by disdaines And this Canaanitish woman was falne so farre in loue with our Sauiour that his neglecting of her could not quench the heat of her affection In a word because to fight against the disfauours of God is one of the greatest proofes that a Soule can make of her prowesse that this womans valour might bee the more seene Non respondit ei verbum Hee answered not a word c. The second is of Saint Gregorie Many times saith he God doth defer this or that fauor which we beg at his hands and for no other cause but that he would haue vs to perseuer in Prayer God is so well pleased that wee should pray and sue vnto him that with him hee is Magis importunus qui importunat minus Most troublesome that is least troublesome Saint Austen sayth that out of the pleasure and delight that hee taketh therein God will haue vs to intreat him euen for those things which are alreadie decreed vpon in his diuine Councell And as his prouidence giues vs the fruits of the Earth by the meanes of trauell and tillage so he giues vs many good things many rich blessings by the means of prayer Abrahams posteritie rested verie secure in regard of the promise which God had made vnto them And yet for all this would hee haue Isaacs prayers to bee the meanes that Rebecca of barren should become fruitfull There was great certaintie that God would send raine after that great
cheese in the seruice of God than to bee a prince of Aegypt It is a common prouerbe Que vale mas migaia de Rey â—ue satico de cauallero A crumme in a Kings Court is more to bee esteemed than a shiue of bread in a Gentlemans Hall The children of Israell were well enough contented with Pharaohs seruitude as long as hee allowed them straw for their bricke What little allowance would content them then in Gods house The couetous rich Mizer in the Gospell beeinâ— in Hell beg'd but one drop of water Mitte Lazarum vt intingat extremum digiti sui Send Lazarus vnto mee that hee may but dip his finger c. Hee was discreet in his desire for one onely drop of water from Heauen will quench the flames of that vast burning lake of Hell Abraham being but a particular man God was willing to make him famous in the world and for this end he added to his name but one only letter Non vltra vocaberis Abram sed Abraham Thy name shall be no more called Abram but Abraham This no nada this thing as it were of nothing which God bestowed vpon him was enough to make him prosper and thriue in the world to be the stocke and root of such an illustrious Linage as the world had neuer since the like O mulier magna est Fides tua fiat tibi sicut vis O woman great is thy Faith Our Sauiour might as well haue said Thy humilitie thy perseuerance thy wisedome thy patience the acknowledgement of thine owne miserie thy confessing thy selfe to be but a Dogge But I acknowledge thee saith Saint Augustine to be so worthie a woman that I much wonder at thy worth and the more I thinke on it the more I rest astonished Thou didst knocke call and begge well therefore didst thou deserue that the doores of thy Sauiours bowells and tender compassion should bee opened vnto thee They are and he answeres to thy sute Fiat tibi sicut vis Bee it vnto thee as thâ—â— wouldst haue it not limitting thee to a what or a how but as thou wilt thy selfe Thou desirest that I should free thy daughter from the torment of the Deuill doe thou free thy daughter I leaue it to thee to doe it I assigne ouer my power and authoritie vnto thee O my good Lord how calme art thou now growne how milde how gentle to this poore silly woman shee hath got the masterie of mee shee hath quite ouercome mee I was not able to beate her off she came within me and forced me to yeeld and what will threatnings or brauings auaile mee beeing thus vanquished The Heauen is woont to show it selfe fearefull and terrible at the beginning of some great tempest throwing out thunder and lightning hideous to behold but at last it ends in a milde shower that makes the fields fertill and inricheth the earth Fulgura in pluuiam fecit Hee turnes the lightning and thunder into raine The horror of that dismall Deluge ended in a beautifull Rainebow Saint Austen sayth That God dealeth sometimes so with sinners Mortificat viuificat deducit ad infernum reducit Hee mortifieth and he quickneth he deduceth vs to Hell and reduceth vs from Hell Ioseph was in a great rage with his brethren at the first and seemed to bee inexorale noting them to be Spies and Theeues but this was but dissembled displeasure more violent than lasting And as water beeing repressed and restrained in it's course doth more impetuously rise and swell so his great pittie that he had of them and the loue that he bare vnto them burst foorth at last into teares and being not able any longer to conceale himselfe from them hee telles them as well as his snobbing and sobbing would interruptingly giue him leaue Ego sum frater vester I am your brother c. So our Sauiour Christ did dissemble himselfe in this bâ—sinesse turning her off so often as he did till beeing not able to hold out any longer he sayd vnto her O mulier magnae est fides tua fiat tibi sicut vis O woâ—â—â— great is thy Faith be it vnto thee as c. Nunquid obliuiscitur misereri Deus aut contiâ—â—bit in ira misericordias suas He will sometimes withhold his mercies as if he had quite forgotten them it is an effect of his prouidence now and then to defend them but this still tendeth to our greater good Be it vnto thee as thou wouldst haue it Our Sauiour was somewhat slow in dispatching this woman but it was to better her dispatch O thou Canaanite thou maist thinke thy selfe well dispatcht with these crummes now all is remitted to thyne owne good liking Fiat tibi sicut vis there is thy discharge And though thou hast staid long for it yet that is not to bee accounted long which comes at last he negotiates not ill who endeth his negotiation before he depart from the presence of his King obtaining not onely his suit but withall a dispatch The Kings and Princes of the earth will giue thee bread when thou hast no teeth to eat it a bed when thy bones cannot rest in it they are so bruised and broken and when they haue granted thee thy desire thou shalt not haue that dispatch Saul made an open Proclamation That he that should kill Goliah that gyant-lâ—ke Philistine should marrie his daughter the right was in Dauid but this fauour was affoorded him out of season and not in it's due time for shee was married to another that neuer drew his sword in the quarell Dauid finding himselfe herewith agrieued and complaining that he was not wel dealt withal he receiued answer That his reward was sure enough and therefore he needed not to doubt of it but that his businesse might be dispatcht he must first kill a hundred Philistines so that his promised reward cost him the killing of one and his dispatch the killing of a hundred The world is the same now as it was then the dispatch costs more than the thing wee pretend is worth I see many Images of deuotion in the Court as our Ladie of Pilgrims our Ladie of Pains and our Ladie of good Successe but I know not why or wherefore there being more need a great deale to erect and set vp a Ladie of good Dispatch Seneca saith That those that are Pretenders will more patiently endure the cutting off of the thread of their pretension than to haue their hopes drawne out from day to day Saint Ambrose vpon that place of Saint Luke Statim Gallus cantauit Presently the Cocke crew noteth three Statims or three Presently's Presently the Cocke crew Presently Peter wept and Presently God forgaue him But your Ministers of Iustice as also in Court doe now a days delay a man as a Physition doth a Cure that he may be honoured the more and payed the better Twentie yeares did Iacob serue his father in Law Laban fourteene for his wiues and
sixe for their dowrie and being so due a debt as it was hee went so long deferring the payment thereof that if God had not taken his part he might haue returned home for ought I know with the staffe that he brought with him Mutasti mercedem meam decem vicibuâ— Thou hast deceiued me and changed my wages ten times There is no honestie in such kind of dealing there are too many of these now a dayes but God amend them And so I commend you to God THE TENTH SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT IOANNIS 5.1 Erat dies Festus Iudaeorum erat Hierusalem probatica piscina There was a Feast of the Iewes and there is at Ierusalem by the place of the Sheepe a Poole AMongst those many other Fish-pooles which belonged to Ierusalem besides those which Salomon had made for his own particular vse and pleasure Extruxi mihi Piscinas aquarum I made Cisternes of water c. this of all the rest was the most famous Iosephus calls it Stagnum Salomonis because it was built by this King neere vnto the Temple for the seruice of sacred things it was a Poole that was walled round about whereunto your heards and flockes of cattell could not come and some say That this was the place where the Priests hid the holy Fire which Nehemias afterwards found to bee conuerted into a thicke water It was walled round about and had fiue seuerall open porches full of diseased people some of one infirmitie and some of another This Hospitall ioyned to the backe of the Temple to shew that the poore haue no other prop in this life to vphold them saue Gods backe this must bee their strength hereunto must they leane it is our Sauiours shoulders that must not onely beare vs vp but our infirmities by taking them vpon himselfe In Saint Chrysostomes time the Hospitals were set apart from the Temples for feare of receiuing infection from those contagious diseases For the poore did lie like so many Dogges at the doores of Gods house A Theefe that he may the better enter that house where there are many doggs holds it his best course to stop their mouths with somthing or other We are all Theeues and that we may enter peaceably into Gods House there is no better meanes than to giue something to the poore which like so many Dogges lie at the gate Twice in the Old Testament hath God commanded That no man should petition him with emptie hands Non apparebis in conspectu meo vacuus And Saint Chrysostome expounding this place saith He enters emptie handed who comming to craue something of God doth not first bestow an Almes vpon the poore according to that rule of our Sauior Christ What yee shall doe to one of these little ones c. Citing likewise for confirmation of this Doctrine that place of Ecclesiasticus Ante Orationem prepara animam tuam Before thou prayest prepare thy self c. When thou hast enough remember the time of hunger and when thou art rich thinke vpon pouertie and need To shew pittie to the poore he termes it Animae preparationem A preparing of the soule And it is not much that God should take pleasure therein seeing men are so well pleased therewith I will appease him with gifts saith Iacob when he went forth to meet his brother Esau. And Ester comming before Assuerus to beg a boone at his hand it is said That one of her maids of Honour bare vp her arme and the other her traine This is a Type of Prayer accompanied with Fasting and Almes-deeds which two are able to negotiate any thing with God and where there is such an Ester there is not any Assuerus though neuer so great who will not bow the Scepter of his mercie towards her Ecclesiasticus saith Giue an almes to the poore and it shall entreat for thee and preuaile There is in Ierusalem by the place of the Sheepe a Poole God did honour his Temple with this Poole where there was a perpetuall prouision for health and it was a prouidence full of conueniencie that God should conferre his fauours where his name is praysed and that Man should receiue them there where hee praiseth him Te decet Hymnus Deus in Syon tibi reddetur votum in Hierusalem In Syon ô Lord they sing Hymnes vnto thee in Ierusalem they make their vowes Open in these places the hands of thy bountie Et replebimur in bonis domus tuae And we shall bee filled with the good things of thy house Amongst other fauours which God promised to his house this was one In loco isto dabopacem â—n that place I will grant thee peace The name of Peace intimateth all manner of good things whatsoeuer here art thou to beg and here to receiue the granting of thy petitions And for this cause God calls his house the house of Prayer which is ordained to begge those things of God which we stand in need of and to praise him for what he giues and we receiue The Court is the Worlds Epitome an abreuiation or short abridgement of this greater Vniuerse for that it hath in it whatsoeuer is dispersed throughout the face of the earth And this Poole is a figure of the Court First of all in this Poole there are a great many of sicke diseased persons those of verie foule and filthie diseases blind wasted in their bodies benumm'd withered lame and maimed Iacere To lie in Scripture is spoken of those that are dead as it appeareth in Exodus in the Booke of Tobias and so of those that lie at the point of death as likewise of Lazarus when he lay at Diues his gate So saith Saint Iohn in this place Multitudo languentium iacebaâ— i. There lay a great multitude of sicke men In the Court there are a great many that lie sicke of diuers and sundrie diseases of the Soule an Apoplexy seiseth vpon all the sences of the bodie one pretension or other possesseth the sences of the bodie and the faculties of the Soule and vpon all whatsoeuer belongs vnto man as his honour his wealth his conscience and truth c. This man came to the Poole benumm'd and at the end of thirtie eight yeares was more benumm'd than at first and if our Sauiour Christ had not helped him it is probable he would haue perished Many come to the Court to recouer themselues of an infirmitie that followes them called Pouertie and after many yeares trauell and paines taking they prooue poorer than before and oft die of that disease whereas if they had bin contented with their former meane estate they might perhaps not haue died so soone And although they get the Office they pretend yet doe they neuer come to be rich because their profits doe not equall their charges Seneca saith That if these men would haue taken councell of those who haue tryed this poole some few yeares they would alter their mind If
willingnesse to be whole Vis sanus â—iers but in the Court before thou commest to the Fiat of thy pretension thou hast eaten out thy cloake and it is wonder if the courtesie quit the cost Seuenthly The Angell that came to the Fiâ—h-poole as all the Commentators vpon this place haue it was one and the same no accepter of persons but left euerie one to his owne diligence and industrie and hee that could soonest get into the water he was the man that was cured Had he been an Angel of court as he was of Heauen he must haue beene aduised some houres before his comming of the businesse and peraduenture he would haue taken gifts and rewards not onely of those that were to haue their estate bettered by him but of al other the Pretenders And it were no ill councell that there should be but one onely in Court that should heale vs in this case and not to haue them so often changed for those which are put out remain fat and full and those that newly come in weake and hunger-staru'd And as those Flies that are alreadie full doe lesse afflict the wounds of the Poore so c. Baruch tells vs That the Iewes that were in Babylon sent great store of money to those that were in Ierusalem that they should pray vnto God for the life of Nabucadonazzar Balthazar his son And though this may seeme rather a tricke of Court than otherwise and to sauour of flatterie yet that which makes for our porpose is That they did desire the life of those Tirants for feare lest God should send them worse in their stead The like was spoken by a woman to Dyonisius the Tyrant whose death was generally desired of all Angelus autem Domini descendebat de Caelo But the Angell of the Lord came downe from Heauen The Angell did descend at certaine times and with onely touching the Water hee did inrich it with so powerfull a vertue that no infirmitie was incurable for it This water doth much expresse that health which the Saints enioy in Heauen that drop of water which the rich man desired doth much expresse its comfort and happinesse for that the tip of the least finger dipped therein was powerful enough to quench those euerlasting flames It was much that the water touched by the Angell should free all infirmities and take away all the tormenting paines vpon earth but how much I pray if this Angell were God For the common receiued opinion is which is followed by Saint Austen That God representing himselfe in the Old Testament in the forme of an Angell or an Angell appearing in the person of God saith Ego Deus nomen meum Iehouah I am God my name is Iehouah And he said vnto Iacob Cur quaeris nomen meum quod est mirabile Why inquirest thou aftâ—â— my name which is is Wonderfull And in verie deed hardly could an Angell by his owne proper vertue and power leaue the waters of the Fish-poole so rich not being able to doe or vndoe any thing in nature nor suddenly either to take away or adde accidents to any thing And Saint Ambrose saith That this Angell did represent the Holy Ghost to whom are attributed the effects of Sanctification But suppose that it were not God himselâ—e nor any Minister representing his person but one of those Angells which serue as Messengers to his Maiestie this case is worth our consideration if we will but looke vpon that which Goâ— doth and the loue which he sheweth to a poore sicke man without helpe neglâ—cted and forgotten he sends a Prince of his Pallace to heale him and to set hiâ— free from any disease whatsoeuer God stileth the Angell his Face and his Countenance Praecedet te facies meâ— My Face shall goe before him the rest of the creatures he calleth Vestigiâ— Pedum suorum The prints of his feet And amongst these Vestigia those that are benumm'd in their limmes those that are sicke of the Palsey and those that are Iame seeme sitting in their chaires and vnable to goe to be the verie dregs and off-scumme of the earth now that God should command his Angells that they should take vpon them the care of the Poore such sillie wormes and poore snakes as they bee is a great indeering of his loue towards them which made Saint Paul to say Omnes sunt administratorij Spiritus They are all ministring Spirits To those of the Spirit it might verie well be but that God should minister helpe to filthie loathsome and miserable flesh God could not endure to doe such kindnesses vnlesse hee had an especiall loue vnto them The Scripture scarce any where makes mention of the righteous man that is afflicted here vpon earth but that an Angel comes from Heauen to comfort him And for this may suffice that generall Proclamation Quod vni ex minimis meis fecistis c. What ye haue done to the least of mine c. This truth is made good vnto vs by many Histories as that of Agar Daniel Tobias Elias and Ioseph Nay to God himselfe an Angell came to comfort him when he was so ful of sorrow and heauinesse in the Garden And this was it that mooued the Apostle to say Gloriamur in tribulationibus We glorie in tribulations For there is no Loadstone that drawes the yron more vnto it than Tribulation doth the Regalos and comforts of Heauen And as the flameâ—worketh most vpon that wood which is trodden downe with the feet so the glorie of God worketh most vpon that heart which is most oppressed c. Mouebatur aqua The water was mooued Saint Ambrose obserueth That the moouing of the water did serue to aduise the comming of the Angell for little would his comming haue imported them if the noyse thereof had not giuen them notice of it for hidden treasure and concealed wisedome are neither vsefull nor profitable And of this miraculous motion there may be rendred some naturall reason for that wee see that your Lakes and your Pooles are more vnquiet and naturally make more noyse when there is much raine towards Other literall and moral reasons are set down elsewhere vpon this place Sanabatur vnus One was healed A Fish-poole Porches Angells Water Motion What a do is here Some men may thinke that this is too large a circuit for so small a building I answer That with God it is as hard to heale one as many and he that can cure one man who is a little world of himselfe can with as much ease giue remedie to the greater But those were barren yeares and Gods mercie was yet in Heauen Misericordia Domini in Coelo saith Dauid and as before a great rain some few drops begin first to fall so now at the stooping of the Heauens at the breaking forth and showring vpon the earth the great mercies of God it is no meruaile that some small drops should precede In barren yeres bread is giuen vs by ounces
to humane miserie is because the Princes and Potentates of the earth doe not see them Though God had sent downe one of his Angells yet this diseased man continued vncured thirtie eight yeares and if God had not come himselfe to helpe him he might haue died of that sickenesse When our necessities shew themselues they speake though we be silent What need Lazarus to beg as long as his sores had so many tongues and mouths to sue for him Domine vidisti ne sileas responde pro me Why shouldst thou looke ô Lord that I should speake vnto thee doost thou not see in what a wofull case I am In matter of prouisions or conferring of pensions albeit that the persons that pretend say not a word for themselues yet their merits and good deseruings will sufficiently recommend their cause and plead hard for them which if it were otherwise it were better to bee a cogging lying knaue than a religious and modest Courtier for he shall speed the better of the two Two pretend one and the selfe same place the one sues extolls his seruices and lyes the other sayes nothing but lookes that his merits and good seruices should speake for him In Babylon which is a confusion of Tongues it shall bee giuen to the loudest talker but in a wise and well gouerned Commonwealth to him that shall hold his peace When the Lord had seene him It is vsuall with Physitions and Surgeons when they goe about to cure loathsome sores Leaprosies Scurfes Cankers and the like to put their Patients to a great deale of pain Eusebius and Gregorie Nazianzen affirme That our Sauiour Christ did farre exceed all other Physitions First Because hee cured an infinite sort of sicke folkes of all manner of diseases Secondly Because our Sauiours bowells of compassion were tendernes mercie and pittie it selfe Cum iam multum tempus haberet When he had beene there a long time It is a great happinesse for a man when hee shall suffer so long that God himselfe shall come vnto him and say It is enough The paines here vpon earth are happie pains vnto vs for that they end â—n this that God makes an end of them at last and says vnto thee No more it â—s enough But that of Hell is a heauie torment for that hee that is condemned must abide in prison donec reddat nouissimum quadrantem Till hee pay the vttermost â—arthing and because he hath not wherewithall to pay one onely Mite he must â—e forced to lie there for euer and to endure eternall torment without any hope of redemption There are likewise punishments in this life which are but introductions as it were to those of Hell there are some likewise that are Martyres Diaboli The Deuils Martyrs who suffer for his sake and because they did destiâ—ate themselues rather to him than vnto God God hath predestinated them to Hell But here in this place thirtie eight yeres seeming a great many vnto God mooued with pittie he sayes to this sicke man Vis sanus fieri c. Wilt thou be made whole c. Vis sanus fieri Wilt thou be made whole Saint Cyril saith That one of the greatest pledges of Gods mercie is To preâ—ent the prayers of the Afflicted giuing them ease of their griefes before they â—ske his helpe resembling that Fountaine which calls and inuites the thirstie to â—rinke Erit Fons patens domui Iacob like vnto the Pepin tree which bowing downe his boughes offers it's fruit vnto vs when it is ripe Sicut malum inter ligna syluarum sic amicus meus c. So that on Heauens part our desires shall not be frustrated nor our hopes deluded Saint Augustine saith That there is a great deale of difference betweene Vâ—â—le velle fortitèr integrè Willing a thing and willing it stoutly and entirely The Sluggard saith Salomon will and wil not turning himselfe too and fro vpon his bed as a doore vpon his hinge now the doore though it mooue a little yet iâ— still keepes it's place And in another place the same Saint Austen saith That he had made triall in himselfe of two contrarie wills one which led him on to Vice another to Vertue as one that is forced to rise and yet would faine lie a bed Vertue crying out to him on the one side Surge qui dormis Arise thou that sleepest vice on the other Ne surgas sed dormias Arise not but sleep for it is a sweet a pleasing thing to sleep Illud placebat vincebat hoc libebat vinciebat faring with such as with those that are in loue whose torments bid them leaue off buâ— the content they take therein makes them fast fettered in Loues prison Certain men asked of Thomas of Aquine How we might goe to Heauen His answere vnto them was By desiring to goe thither but aduising withall That this our desire must be a true and feruent desire That Physition who knowes thy diseases grieuousnesse and thy impatiencie will not sticke to say vnto thee Sir if you haue a mind to be wel you must haue a mind to be patient you must not by your fretting fret your sore and make it worse Quis est homo qui vult vitam Diligit dies habere bonos Who is he that would not liue long Who that would not see good days Many rather than they will be tied to those conditions which Dauid in the next words following sets before them Prohibe linguam tuam à malo labiâ— tuâ— ne lâ—quantur dolum diuerte à malo fac bonum inquire pacem persequere eam c. Keepe thy tongue from euill and thy lips from speaking guile turne from Iniquitie and doe that which is good enquire after Peace and follow it Many that they may not passe through these balls of fire had rather continue still sicke than endure any the least paine to be cured Old Sickenesses and antient Customes are a second kind of nature therefore our Sauiour Christ Cum cognouisset quod multum tempus haberet When he knâ—â— that he had beene long sicke would now linger the time no longer Your Moorish Slaue after he hath endured many yeares of seruitude is so farre from desiring his liberrie that he scarce thinkes vpon it the Oxe vsed to the yoke willingly submits himselfe vnto it an old Souldier will neuer goe without his Armes and therefore Tullie calls them Militum Membra A Soldiers Limmes for through vse they are no more troublesome to him than a leg or an arme for continuall trauell hardneth the hoofe Et superatur omnis fortuna ferendo so said the Poet In a word Custome makes things little lesse familiar vnto vs than Nature 〈◊〉 treating of those which haue beene accustomed to sinne from their youth saith That they leaue not their vices till they leaue to liue Ossa eius replebuntur vicijs adolescentiae suae cum eo in pulâ—ere dormient His bones are full of
tuam libera me de aquis multis Aquae multae non potuerunt extinguere charitatem The proportions of this word Aqua are two The one That the troubles of the Godly doe passe away like waters That though the waters be now and then troubled they afterwards grow cleere againe But Hell is stiled with the name of Stagnum a standing Poole Missi sunt in Stagnum ignis because it is a punishment that alwaies stands at one stay and is stil the same c. The heart of the Godly finds this ease that it liues in hope of recouerie and the euills of the Righteous are neuer so many but that they haue some shadow of good Adam did supplie his nakednesse with Figge leaues Death which is the greatest ill to mans life dulleth the sence which is a kind of good but Hell giues no hope of ease no shew of comfort From which God of his mercie keepe vs c. THE ELEVENTH SERMON VPON THE SATVRDAY AFTER THE FIRST SONDAY IN LENT AND VPON THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 17. MARC 9. LVC. 9. Assumpsit Iesus Petrum Iacobum Iohannem Iesus tooke vnto him Peter and Iames and Iohn OVr Mother Church solemnizing once a yeare the Mysteries of our Sauiour Christ this it solemniseth twice one day after another giuing vs thereby a sauour of that glorie which is represented in this Mysterie on these two accustomed festiuall dayes Here in this world they are ended the verie selfe same day they are celebrated and the ending of that dayes pleasure is the beginning of our next dayes labour But in that other world saith Esay Erit mensis ex mense Sabathum ex Sabatho From moneth to moneth and from Sabboth to Sabboth shall all Flesh come to worship before me Amongst your Iewes the first day of your moneths and your Sabboths were verie solemne things And Esay taking the moneth for the first day saith In that glorie which we looke for one moneth shall ouertake another and there shal be Sabboth vpon Sabboth He might haue said without vsing any kind of figure a perpetuall Feast a perpetuall Sabboth and a perpetuall Rest. Mans happines in this life is like to a Rose that is beset round about with Thorns which to day costs vs deere to get and tomorrow is withered away But that supreame happinesse shall not onely be eternall and perdurable but without any the least prickle of sinne to offend our tender Soules He tooke vnto him Peter c. First of all Damascene saith That our Sauiour did not carrie all his Apostles with him vp to the Mount for it was not fit that Iudas should enioy so great a blessing in whom that prophecie of Esay was fulfilled In terra sanctorum iniquè gessit non videbit gloriam Dei Hee who in so holy a companie committed such a vile treacherous act as to betray and sell his Master for the loue of a little money did not deserue to enioy the glory of Tabor So that to the end Iudas might not complaine That Christ had discarded him and quite shut him out from this blessing this holy Saint saith That those other good holy men were for his sake debard of that good whence we may gather what hurt many an honest man receiues by keeping a lewd knaue companie But because it might haue seemed a scandalous piece of businesse to haue left Iudas all alone by himselfe the rest remained with him Iudas his companie being no lesse dangerous to the Colledge of Iesus his Disciples than it was tedious and wearisome to our Sauiour himselfe Insomuch that when Iudas was gone out of the house where Christ supt with his Disciples which he did presently vpon the receiuing of the sop he said Nunc glorificatus est Filius hominis Now is the Sonne of man glorified When Christ multiplied his miracles Saint Iohn saith Non erat Spiritê° datus quia Christus nonduÌ„ erat glorificatus The holy Ghost was not yet giuen because that Iesus was not yet glorified Why Christ being neere vnto his death should hold himselfe to be glorified and in the working of miracles not to be glorified For the decision of that point I shal referre you vnto Saint Augustine You see here how the wind was come about Iudas was no sooner gone out but he saith hee is glorified but before knowing who should betray him hee told Peter Vos mundi estis sed non omnes i. Yee are cleane but not all The Cockle was taken away and the Wheate now pure and cleane and our Sauiour tooke it for a great glorie vnto him to see himselfe thus wholly rid of his companie Secondly Gregory Nazianzen sayth That hee tooke those three along with him because he alwayes loued them best Showing thereby that Princes may lawfully haue their Priuadoes and Fauourites to whome they may giue more grace and countenance than to others but withall that they ought to bee such as should bee disinterressed and not desire any more for themselues than their Princes grace leauing the rest of his fauours to bee communicated to others as well as themselues Saint Iude once askt of our Sauiour Christ How comes it to passe that thou shouldst manifest thy selfe vnto vs and not vnto the World Hee thought that the Sunne should inlighten all But because he did first bestow his light on the mountaine tops it was fit that the grace which they receiued they should gratis confer vpon others Like good Stewards The Euangelist cals Saint Peter foole because hee would haue all for himselfe and those that were there with him And if Elias and Moses were admitted to mount Tabor it was because they were louers of the common good Moses once disired of God that he would let him see his face but God told him hee could not see his face and liue It seemeth that here Moses shewed himselfe to bee but a coward What to inioy a poore life for the present wouldst thou forgoe so great a happinesse But it was not the loue of his owne life but the loue that he bare to his people who would haue had a great misse of him Whereof there was afterwards verie good proofe when God sayd vnto him Let me make an end of this people at once and I will make thee a mightier and a better Nation Whereunto hee answered I am so farre from giuing way to this That I shall beseech thee either to pardon them or to blot me out of the Booke of life for I had rather not liue than liue without them Doost thou offer to lay down thy life for thy people And wilt thou not loose it to see God face to face The one was a particuler the other a common good Thirdly Hee tooke onely three along with him manifesting thereby that hee was as sparing of his Glorie in this life as he was liberall of his Crosse. Tertullian sayth That hee tooke those three with him not so much to make
hee said Quid faciam What course shall I take with these men Secondly He intimates a strange kind of sorrow arising from this perplexity If I am Lord where is my feare If I be a father where is my honour In the end hee resolued with Gaifas Let my Sonne die He indeered as much as he could the force of his loue sending him to saue these Murderers from death but this could not appease their malice To slay his Prophets was more than a great malice but to take away the life of his onely Sonne and heire was excessiue Saint Hierome saith There was no weight no number no measure in the ones clemencie nor in the others malice This was a Consummatum est a fulnesse of his meâ—cie a fulnesse of their malice Verebuntur filium meum They will reuerence my Sonne Saint Luke addeth a Fortè thereunto And the Greeke Originall a Forsitan Howbeit it may goe for an Affirmatiue as well as Vtique Forsitan petisses ab eo ipse dedisset tibi aquam c. And so againe Si crederitis Moysi crederetis forsitan mihi If yee had beleeued Moses yee would likewise haue beleeued me And so it sorts well with that Text both of Saint Mathew and Saint Marke who absolutely say Verebuntur filium meum They will reuerence my Sonne In neither of these is a May bee or a Forsitan and onely to signifie the great reuerence which was due vnto him Where by the way Saint Chrysostome hath noted this vnto vs That God for all these their outrages did desire no furtheâ— satisfaction from them than to see them abasht and ashamed ofthis their ingratitude and crueltie Benigno Domino sufficiebat sola vindicta pudoris misit enim confundere non punire It was their blushing not their bleeding that he desired hee wisht their shame and not their confusion Parum supplicij satis est patri pro â—â—lio God is so kind and louing a Father that hee thinkes a little punishment enough for his Children Saint Bernard saith That the whole life of our Sauiour Christ from the Cratch to the Crosse was to keepe vs from sinning out of meere shame and that his maine drift euer was to leaue vs confounded and ashamed of our selues that our sinnes and wickednesse should force God against his will to punish vs For he takes no delight in the death of a Sinner Ecclesiasticuâ— makes a large memoriall of those things which ought to make a man blush and be ashamed of himselfe Be ashamed of whoredome before a father and mother be ashamed of lies before the Prince and men of authoritie of sinne before the Iudge and Ruler of offence before the Congreation and People of vnrighteousnesse before a companion and friend and of theft before the place where thou dwellest before the truth of God his Couenant to lean with thine elbows vpon the bread or to be reproued for giuing or taking of silence to them that salute thee to look vpon an harlot to turn away thy face from thy Kinseman or to take away a portion or gift or to be euill minded towards another mans wife or to solicite any mans mayd or to stand by her bed or to reproach thy friends with words or to vpbraid when thou giuest any thing or to report a matter that thou hast heard or to reueale secret words Thus mayst thou well be shamefaced shalt find fauour with all men This Erubescite must be the burthen of the Song to euerie one of these Versicles It is a foule and a shamefull thing to doe any of these things in the presence of graue persons to whom we owe a respect Much more foule in the presence of God who stands at thy elbow in all thy actions But foulest of all to commit these things in the presence of the Sonne of God whome his Father sent to bee thy Master thy Tutor and nayled him to the Crosse for thy sinnes that thou mightst bee ashamed to commit the like againe considering the great torment that he suffered for thee Some deuout picture or Image doth sometimes restraine a desperate sinner from committing some foule offence What would it worke then with him had God himselfe stood there present before him It may be they will reuerence my Sonne Say that wee take this Fortâ— or Forsitâ—â— in the same sence as the words themselues sound it is a point worthie our conâ—ideration That the innumerable summe of those infinite fauours which God did to his Vineyard should end in a Peraduenture and stand vpon hap-hazard A man may thinke it somewhat strange That God should come to any place vpon vncertainties but God is so good a God that he doth not so much proportion his blessings by the measure of his Wisedome as his Loue not that he doth not certainly know what we will be but because he would faine haue vs to be what we should be For if he should reward vs according to those our actions which he in his prescience and eternall essence foresees will come to passe Who of vs should be left aliue or who of vs should bee borne Onely the Innocent saith Theodoret should then be fauoured And therefore rather than it should bee so he was willing to put it vpon the venture how or what we might prooue heereafter He knew before hand that Lucifer should fall that Adam should sin that Saul should turn disobedient that Iudas should sel him betray him yet did he not forbeare for all this to throw his fauours vpon them S. Ambrose asketh the question Why Christ would make choice of Iudas when as he knew before hand that he would betray him And his answer thereunto is That it was to justifie his loue and to shew the great desire that he had that all should bee saued yea euen Iudas himselfe And therefore knowing his couetous disposition hee made him his Purse-bearer that he might shut the doore to his excuses and that he might not haue iust cause to say That he was in want lackt mony so was forced out of meere necessitie to betray and sel his Master which otherwise he would neuer haue done but the deliuering ouer the Purse vnto him tooke away that obiection Well then What can this Traitor say for himselfe That Christ did not countenance him as he did the rest or that hee made light reckoning of him Neither will this hold water for hee had made him an Apostle hee was listed in the rolle with the rest hee wrought miracles as well as his Fellowes receiued many other fauours from his Masters hands The same reason may serue as well for the Iewes as Iudas For our Sauior knew that they should put him to death yet for all this would not he cease to shew his loue vnto them Hic est haeres venite occidamus eum nostra erit haereditas This is the heire come let vs kill him and let
the heart of this people bee made blind and their eares dull Cum ejecisset Daemonium locutus est mutus When the Deuill was gone out the Dumbe spake The Deuill was first to be driuen out before the Dumbe could speake First The dore or the window is to be opened that the light may come in First you must turne the cocke of the Conduit or plucke out the stopple before the water can gush out The penitent man must first cast the Deuill out of his bosome before hee can make any good Confession First the Preacher must cast him out of his heart before hee can preach any sound Doctrine What confession can a Sinner make while the Deuill dwells in his soule What sorrow or feeling can hee haue of his former faults What purpose of amendment for the future What acknowledgement of the heinousnesse of his crimes What shame or what feare of offending Antiently men did confesse themselues only vnto God to whom euery secret of the heart was so open that mans thought and intention was sufficient with the penitent his condemning himselfe by his own mouth Yet notwithstanding Ezechias said I will recount all my yeares in the bitternesse of my soule And Dauid Anni mei sicut araneae meditabuntur With that care and melancholie wherewith the spiders weaue their webs drawing euery thred out of their owne bowells so will I meditate on the yeares of my life drawing out threds of sorrow and repentance for euerie fault that I shall commit from the bottome of my heart If thou canst be content to imploy all thy sences for the good of thy bodie not do the like for thy soule thou doost therein wrong thy soule heauen and God Thou weepest and wailest for the losse of these earthly goods but shedst not a teare for the losse of those rich treasures of heauen Two things are inioyned the penitent The one a full and intire Confession The other a strict examination of their owne conscience And that so strict as may befit so great and waighty a businesse as is the saluation of the Soule and then may the Dumbe speake and the Preacher preach For if the Deuill be still pulling him by the sleeue what good crop can he render vnto God of his Hearers What light can hee giue to his Auditorie who is himselfe possessed by the Prince of Darknes Open thou my lips o Lord I shal set forth thy praise do thou pardon me my sins I shal sincerely preach thy Word The Scribes Pharisees who were teachers but not doers of the Law Ieremy cals them false Scribes What they wrought with their pen they blotted out with their works The like kind of fault that partie committeth who singeth Psalms vnto God in the Quire and yet hath the Deuill in his brest And then how different must this mans thoughts be from his words He can hardly say Confitebor tibi Domine in toto corde meo I will confesse vnto the Lord with my whole heart as long as he hath giuen himselfe ouer vnto Sathan The Dumbe spake This man prostrating himselfe at our Sauiours feet might verie well say Blesse the Lord ô my Soule and all that is in mee praise his holy Name The Lord looseth them that are bound the Lord inlightneth the Blind Praise the Lord ô my Soule I will praise the Lord in my whole life A Sinner that truly repents himselfe and that sees himselfe freed from the Deuill and from Hell is neuer satisfied with giuing thankes vnto God and in praising his holy Name as oft as hee considers the great mercie which God hath shewed towards him Saint Augustine saith That although the creating of Angells and the justifying of Soules doe equally argue Gods great power yet the second is an act of farre greater mercie He casteth out Deuills through Beelzebub the chiefe of the Deuills Origen Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose say That the Deuills haue their studies and their cares apart This is their first Tenent Some say they treat of Auarice some of Luxurie others of Ambition others of Reuenge some perturbe mens minds occasioning great sorrow others excesse of foolish joy and mirth Secondly They hold That in euerie one of these seuerall vices there is a superiour Deuill which hath command ouer many that are inferiour vnto him And he that is the Chiefetaine of one of these Legions is not obedient to any Saint whatsoeuer except him that excells in humilitie whose lowlinesse of mind may be able to incounter with his pride of heart S. Marke relateth That our Sauiour deliuering one ouer that was possessed of a Deuill to his Disciples to the end that they should make him whole howbeit they had boasted That Deuills also were subiect vnto them yet they could not doe it Afterwards asking Iesus the cause of their not curing him hee answered Such kind of Deuills as these are not cast out but with Prayer and fasting This Deuill should seeme to be a Prince of some Legion and none could doe any good vpon him saue such Saints of God as were wonderfull meeke and humble and with Fastings did beat downe the bodie of sinne and by frequent and feruent prayer prostrate their Soules Thirdly Many of these deuils do possesse diuers parts of the body which correspond with that vice which they are subiect to And as the soldier who sealing a wall or a fort stickes his dagger or his Pike in some part of the wall where hee meanes to get vp so the Deuill seekes to pitch his standard there where hee may aduance it with most ease and most to his honour and glorie Alfegor that dishonest Deuill domineeres most in the Loyns as it is noted by Saint Gregorie in his Exposition of that place vpon Iob Virtus eius in lumbis eius His strength lies in his loynes Pluto the Prince of Couetousnesse raignes most in the hands Our Sauiour Christ healed a hand that was withered signifying thereby That it was a couetous hand and yeelded not the fruit of good workes Beelzebub who is the Prince of Pride rules principally in the head This Beelzebub by interpretation is the Prince of Flies whither it were or no that they gaue him this name in regard of those many Flies which his Sacrifices did breed or whither it were because the Acharonitae did presume that he had freed them from certaine filthie and loathsome Flies or for that the Flies are alwayes buzzing about the head and face or because the Deuill and these Flies are much alike in their euil disposition According to that of Salomon Muscu morientes perdunt suauitatem â—â—guenti Dead Flies doe marre the sweetnesse of the Oyntment or for that the Flie is the Emblem of a proud Deuill Ipse est Rex super omnes filios superbiae This Deuill is a proud daring Deuill proud in his Motto Similis ero Altissimo I will bee like to the most High and proud in that his proffer To haue
the King of Kings our Sauiour Christ to doe him homage Hâ—c omnia tibi dabo si cadens adoraueris me All these things will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me Or whither he were so called for that other attribute of his to wit his daringnesse and his audaciousnesse Nihil audacius musca Nothing bolder than a Flie And for this cause saith Homer did the Lacedemonians beare Flies for their Deuice in their Shields which is confirmed by Pierius The Deuill occupieth the North I will set in the sides of the North. From the North commeth all euill Your Flies they doe the like Plinie saith That your Bees are forced to forsake their hiues and to flie out of your Northerne parts for the trouble that the Flies there giue them The Deuill is importunate impudent neuer ceaseth neuer growes wearie with tempting vs And no lesse vexatiue and troublesome are your Flies Saint Gregorie calls these our sensuall imaginations Flies Pierius reporteth That to the importunate man they gaue the name of Flie And there is no such busie bodie as the Deuill Lastly Your Flies doe abound most in the Dog dayes and the greater is the heat of our sensualities the greater store of Deuills it hatcheth Of Marie Magdalen Saint Luke saith That our Sauiour Christ cast out of her seuen Deuills And howbeit there were other great Gods amongst the Gentiles according to Vatablus his report as one Balberid that is Dominus Fideus that presideth in al kind of dealing and contractations in Innes and Victualling houses and was so rich an Idoll by reason of the great Almes and deuotions which your Traders and dealers in the world did offer vnto him that by the helpe thereof Abimelech killing seuentie of his brethren carried away the Kingdome of Israell There was likewise one Belfegor who did command in Chiefe in Gluttonie and was a verie poore Idoll in regard that they who were deuoted vnto him spent all that they could rape and wring in bellie-cheere and gourmandizing Notwithstanding all these Beelzebub whom they likewise called the God of Acharon was more famous than all the rest of that rabble And the Prophets for to diuert the People from the adoration of these Idolls did impose infamous names vpon them as Beelzebub God of the Flies And the People wondred Acknowledging That they had neuer seen so prodigious a miracle in Israel Nunquam apparuit sic in Israel Insomuch that some of them whispered amongst themselues That he was the Sonne of God Nunquid â—ic est Filius Dei others did desire signes from Heauen others said In Beelzebub c. Saint Hierome saith That this was that Deuill which deceiued Eue as also he that tempted our Sauiour Iesus Christ. But here is to be seene a greater miracle than this That Christ giuing sight to this one blind man should leaue so many others more blind than he Which made Esay crie out Obstupescite admiraâ—ini Stay your selues and wonder they are blind and make you blind It were able to strike a man into amasement to see that a poore sillie old woman should see the light of Heauen and the blind likewise that is borne blind and that the Scribes and Pharisees should continue so blind as they doe The heart that is hardned is like vnto the Anuile which the more you beat vpon it the harder it waxeth Or like vnto sand which the more the waters wash it the closer it settles and growes the tougher Of Nabals heart the Scripture saith Mortuum est cor eius factum est quasi lapis That his heart dyed within him and that he was like a stone Saint Bernard giues vs fiue markes by which wee may know the hardnesse of a mans heart The first Neque compunctione scinditur It is not toucht with compunction It hath no feeling of it's hurt and perdition Our Sauiour healing one that was possest with a Deuill Suspiciens Caelum ingemuit Casting his eyes vp to Heauen he wep't and lamented mourning for him that mourned not for himselfe Alexander would haue killed himselfe for hauing killed his friend Clitus Lâ—â—cretia stab'd her selfe when she saw she had lost her honesty But the sinner is not sencible of farre greater losses than these The second Nec pietate mollitur It is not mollified with Gods Pitie and Mercie towards it The clemencie which he showeth towards it ought to reduce it to repentance But it despiseth as Saint Paul saith the riches of his goodnesse and longanimitie And these are riches that are treasured vp to their owners condemnation God treasures vp Mercie for thee and thou treasurest vp Wrath against the day of Vengeance All which shall turne to thine owne hurt The third Nec mouetur precibus It is not mooued with prayers and intreaties Tota die sayth Esay c. I haue spred out mine hand all the day long to a rebellious people The selfe same words are repeated againe by Saint Paul To begge with hands lifted vp is a ceremony which men vse with God God sayth that he vseth the like with men as if he were Man and Man God The fourth Flagellis induratur Like that of Pharaoh The more hee is punished the more his heart is hardned According to that of Iob Cor eius indurabitur quasi lapis stringetur quasi malleatoris incus His heart shall be hardned as a stone or as the anuile that is hammered on by the Smith Whereunto suteth that of Ieremy Indurauerunt facies suas super Petram They haue made their faces harder than a stone The fifth Inhumanum propter res humanas Inhumane to it selfe for humane commodities Who like Narcissus being in loue with their owne beautie will rather dye than forsake so vaine a shadow Of these men it may bee sayd Wee haue made a league with Death and a couenant with Hell The appointed time shall ouertake these men or some disperat sickenesse shall cease vpon them Thou shalt preach to one of these obstinat sinners That he confesse himselfe make his peace with God by acknowledging his sinnes by being hartily sorry for the same and by crauing pardon and forgiuenesse of God But his answere will be What Shall men thinke that I doe it out of feare No I am no such coward c. All these conditions are summed vp in those which our Sauiour vttered of the euill judge Nec Deum timeo nec homines Vereor I feare neither God nor Man Others tempted him seeking a signe from Heauen From this varietie of opinions Saint Austen inferreth the little reckoning that we are to make as well of mens iudgements as their iniuries For mine owne part leauing Saint Austen herein to your good likings Let not mine owne conscience condemne mee before God all the rest I account as nothing What sayth Esay Nolite timere opprobrium hominum Feare not the affronts and calumnies of men And Christ giues you a verie good
Christian the semblance of a Christian and that as he is a Christian so he seeme to bee a Christian for albeit the Root giues life vnto the Tree yet if it haue neither leaues nor boughes it is but an vnseemely sight Modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus saith Saint Paul Let your patient mind for so the Vulgar render it be knowne to all men for if it bee wholly hidden in the soule it will hardly be perceiued Saint Augustine expounding that place of Saint Mathew Beware of false Prophets which come vnto you in Sheepes cloathing but inwardly are rauening Wolues saith It were fit that because the Wolfe puts on the Sheepes skinne that the Sheepe should lay aside his owne skinne and clap on that of the Wolfe There were two Alters belonging to the Temple the one without which was of stone wheron the beasts were offred the other within which was of gold wheron Incense was offered God was serued in them both but in conclusion the inward Alter was so farre preferred before the outward that Philon saith That one poore crumme of Incense offered from a tender heart and a merciful soule was of more worth than all the sacrifices that were offered without Regard yee me not because I am blacke for the Sunne hath looked vpon me Saint Bernard saith That the Spouses despising of this outward beautie did arise from that great esteeme wherein she held the inward brightnesse and resplendour of the soule which is a fire which consumeth and burneth vp the beautie of the bodie Dauid calls the Church one while the Kings daughter another while the Kings Bride but hee paints her richliest forth vnto vs in her soule The Kings daughter is all glorious within not despising also the beautie of the bodie Cloathed in a Vesture of gold wrought all with needleworke and set forth with diuers and sundrie colours verie beautifull to behold The Bridegroome aduiseth his Spouse That shee should weare her colours in her heart and as if that were not sufficient enough he wills her to weare them on her arme Our Sauior Christ in his praying and other occasions vsed these exterior acts Saint Paul saith I will pray with the Spirit but I will pray with the vnderstanding also There is the vse of your tongue set downe If I pray with my tongue the Spirit also praieth So that God will haue the exercise of soule and bodie both together First Because God being Creator of both it is fit that hee should bee serued by both Secondly For mans satisfaction For in regard that Man cannot see mans Faith nor that pittie and compassion that he beareth in his bowells it is requisite that he should manifest the same by some outward signes for he can hardly shew himself religious towards God who is irreligeous towards Man And therfore it is said With the heart we beleeue vnto Righteousnes but with the mouth we confesse to Saluation Occasion is offered to receiue the Sacraments or a necessitie of giuing a testimonie of our Faith here euery Christian is bound to manifest the same by outward signes Thirdly The sanctitie and holynesse of the Soule doth giue force and vertue to that of the bodie and that of the bodie doth confirme and augment that of the Soule the heart giues vigour and vertue to deuout eyes to hands lifted vp and to knees humbly kneeling on the ground And these outward ceremonies doe strengthen increase and inflame the Spirit and inward deuotion Saint Augustine saith That God hath no need of these ceremonies for the better manifestation of our mind but that Man hath need thereof for to kindle stir vp more zeale and feruour in himselfe being that by them the hearts affection is the more set on fire And Saint Cyprian That by humbling our selues vpon our knees in the sight of God we are not to endeauour to please and serue him onely with the thoughts and meditation of the soule but also with the disposition of the bodie and the voyce of the tongue Dauid drawing neere to his end a little before he died did much indeere this Doctrine to his sonne Sâ—lomon Haue a care that thou keepe the commandements of thy Lord thy God and all the ceremonies belonging thereunto as it is written in the Law of Moses that thou maist prosper in all that thou doost and in euerie thing whereunto thou turnest thee But their heart is farre off from me The whole man take him all together may make sweet musicke in Gods eares like vnto an Organ which by different Keys makes different sounds but God delights most in the musicke of the heart for the lips the feet and the hands being capable of suffering violence the heart is not subiect thereunto The cleannesse of the heart ought to performe the exercise of all the vertues but Fastings Prayers and Almesdeeds comming forth of a soule heart like waters flowing from a foule conduit corrupt those wholesome waters Abhominatio est mihi saith God by Esay This is to put new patches into an old garment and new wine into old stinking Vessells Saint Augustines saith That that which God principally forbids in the Decalogue are the desires of the heart whereunto the Schoolemen ad the exteriour act though there is no wickednesse like to the inward wickednes and if the outward be more punished it is because of it's more hurt through it's ill example The workes of Vertue are not all equall yet al of them haue one ground foundation which is the loue feare of God Abraham was charitable Dauid humble Eliah zealous Moses milde Iob patient Martha solicitous Marie deuout God must be paid in al these seueral coines Let euerie man looke vnto the cleannesse of his owne soule and let him exercise himselfe in that which he is able crying out with the Psalmist To thee will I confesse in the vprightnesse of my heart It was a great goodnesse of Gods mercie towards vs to place our felicitie and our good in a thing so proper vnto vs that no man is able therein to hinder vs. If he had inioyned vs Fasting wee might haue complained of our weakenesse if Almesdeeds we might haue complained of our pouertie and so haue excused our selues but for the keeping cleane of our heart and for to loue and feare our God as none can 〈◊〉 vs thereof so none ought to outstrip vs therein For the expences of the Sanctuarie neither might the Rich offer more nor the Poore lesse and this was a type and figure of the spiritual offering of our â—oules wherein we are all equal alike and that not without the great prouidence of Heauen to the end that no man might haue cause to alledge an excuse Hast thou trauelled abroad to plant Gods Religion amongst Infidels No Hast thou kept thy bodie vnder by disciplining thy selfe No Eatest thou flesh in Lent Yes For thâ—se things euerie one may alledge many excuses but for the foulenesse of
haue beene at a stand immagining with themselues That being there is so great a difference betweene the Old Law and the New betweene God and God a God of Vengeance and a God of Mercie betweene a Lyon and a Lambe that Christs friends should haue had a priuiledge and that scarce a house of theirs should haue knowne what sickenesse danger or death had meant In the Floud Noahs house was preserued in the flames of Sodome that of Lot and in that generall massacre of the First-borne of Aegypt the houses of the Hebrewes were vntoucht And God sending the man cloathed with Linnen which had the writers Inkehorne by his side to take notice of the people of Hierusalem hee commanded them to set a marke vpon the forehead of his friends that hee might ouerskip them and not touch them in the day of destruction But here now a friends house is not priuiledged no not the house of Peter What should be the reason of it There are many but the main reason is this With God tribulation was euermore a greater token of his loue fauor than prosperity what said Iob when he sate scraping his sores vpon the Dunghill In my prosperitie I onely heard thee but now in my affliction I see thee S. Chrysostome saith That Cain in killing Abel thought that Heauen would doe him those fauours which it did his brother but he was deceiued for God did better loue a dead Abel than a liuing Cain Non extraxisti sed incendisti Philon saith That the fire in the bush was so far from consuming or burning it that it left it fresher and greener than it was before But for all this our miseries in the Old Law were neuer seene to be so honourable as afterwards when God had clapt the thornes which were the fruit of our sinnes vpon his owne head then did they recouer so high a Being and grew to that worth that the heauier God layes his hand vpon vs the more is his loue toward vs. The marke of our happinesse is the Sonne of God not glorified but scourged spit vpon crowned with thorns torne with whips and nailed to the Crosse and therefore to bee conformed to the Image of his Sonne is fitting for vs. In the Apocalyps his feet are put into a hot firie Ouen This was a ritratto or picture of his many troubles and though this Ouen or firie Furnace speake them much yet sure they were farre greater and beyond the tongues expression The Angells did scatter the coles of Gods wrath abroad in the World sometimes lighting in one place and sometimes in another but whose coles could bee hotter than his whose feet like vnto fine Brasse lay burning as in a Furnace She was taken with a great Feuer The Euangelist heere amendeth our vsuall manner of speech for with vs it is commonly said Tengo grandes calenturas I haue a great Feuer whenas indeed the Feuer hath thee God often afflicts the soule in the sence that the soule thereby may be made sencible God like the Bridegroome to the Spouse speakes a thousand sweet words to the Soule hee courts her wooes her with an Aperi mihi soror mea c. Open to me my sister c. but this makes her the more to shut the doore against him The Soule when it is in prosperitie growes proud it is deafe and will not heare she must bee wrought vpon inter angustias she must feele the rod before she will haue any feeling Ionas in the Whales bellie the Prodigall in the pig-stie the Sicke in his Feuer thinks and calls vpon God we listen vnto the Deuill when wee are in the middest of our Feasts our Banquets our Maskings our sports and pastimes but onely hearken vnto God inter angustias when we are afflicted and in miserie God being willâ—ng to cure those that were stung with the Serpents made a Serpent of brasse and caused it to be set vp that by looking theron they might be healed Gregorie Nissen askes the question Whither it had not beene a shorter cut and a more speedie and effectuall remedie to haue made an end of all these Serpents at once But he answers thereunto If he should haue freed them from those Serpents Which of them would haue lifted vp his eyes to Heauen And therefore let those Serpents continue still and those wounds of the bodie seeing they cure those of the Soule According to that of Salomon The blewnesse of the wound serueth to purge the euill Saint Gregorie the Pope saith That the wound of the Soule is taken away by making another wound of repentance and true sorrow Euthymius citeth to this purpose that verse of Dauid Qui dat niuem sicut lanam Snow to the earth is as wooll because it keepes it warme and giues heat therevnto for to bring forth floures and fruits wherwith to glad the Spring and beautifie the Sommer AnÌ„o de nieues anÌ„o de bienes saith the Spanish Prouerbe A yere of snow a yeare of ioy The snow of sickenesse and of affliction in stead of cooling the Soule it giues it heat and fruitfulnesse that it may bring forth floures and fruits of good life She was taken with a great Feauer The Phisitions call a Calenture or burning Feuer Calorem extraordinarium An extraordinarie heat or calidam intemperiem a hot distemperature which being kindled in the heart and taking fire disperseth it selfe through all the parts of the bodie catcheth hold of them offends them and discomposeth that harmonie of the humors wherein our health consisteth Saint Isidore deriues it from Feruor or that hast and speed wherewith it runneth and disperseth it selfe through our bodies Valerius Maximus sayth That in antient time they did offer sacrifice thereunto as to a Goddesse because of all other sicknesses a Feuer is that which commonly comes to make an end of our liues For as heat well tempered giues life so beeing distempered it brings death But if we shall goe philosophising from the infirmities of the bodie by way of analogie or proportioning them to the soule Loue to the soule is as Heat to the bodie And when it doth not exceede the Laws of God which is the life of our soule it inioyes perfect health but when it growes once to an excesse it falls into a Calenture or burning Feuer And this excesse succeedeth two maner of wayes Either by louing that more which ought to be loued lesse Or by not louing that enough which ought to be loued most The Spouse sayd of her Bridgroome Ordinauit in me charitatem He showed his Loue vnto mee He made exceeding much of mee He brought me into the wine celler and Loue was his banner ouer me He stayd me with flaggons and comforted me with apples when I was sicke of Loue His left hand was vnder my head and his right hand did embrace mee Extraordinarie was this Loue of the Bridegroome to his Spouse preferring her before all other things whatsoeuer God
Gods both bountie and goodnesse This made Esay to crie out Good newes good newes I bring you I haue ioyfull tydings to tell you Fountaines haue gushed forth in the Desart waters haue shewne themselues in the Wildernesse and riuers appeare where there was nothing before but drie land Grace doth vsually follow the steps of Nature and though ordinarily your Brookes and your Riuers keepe themselues within their owne bounds and precincts yet sometimes they leape out of those beds that were purposely made for them and ouerflow those brinkes that bind them in watering those thirstie places that stood in need of their refreshing Iust so stands the case with Grace for although it commonly keeps it's vsuall and ordinarie course yet now and then it swells aboue it's chanels and riseth out of it's bed making the wildernes a poole of waters the barrainest grounds most fruitfull and the greatest Sinners the greatest Saints And heere some one perhaps will say I will wait for the like comming of Gods mercie but let me tell him whosoeuer he be That this is not a going for water to the Fountaine but that the Fountaine should bee brought home vnto vs. It is sufficient that wee haue so franke and free a God that will now then conferre these his great fauours vpon vs without our seeking of them But what will not he doe for thee if thou shalt seeke him with thy whole heart Such a one our Sauior compares to that Merchant which sought after pretious pearles of inestimable value Wherein he notifieth vnto vs that extraordinarie diligence wherewith we are to seeke after him and this is that Via Regia or the Kings Highway in which we must walke if we mean to find him and this was the track that was troad in by all the Saints of Heauen Hi sunt qui venerunt ex magna tribulatione c. These are they which came out of great tribulation c. Others our Sauiour compareth to hidden Treasure which is found by chance and seldome hapneth and this it was this womans good lucke to light vpon which was reuealed to some few but from thousands of others hidden and concealed c. He came into a Citie of Samaria called Sycar The Saints doe render two reasons of this journey Saint Cyril saith That newes was brought vnto the Pharisees That Christ had more Disciples than Iohn Baptist though Christ himselfe did noâ— baptise which raised such an inraged enuie in the hearts of them that it comming to our Sauiours knowledge he left Iudea and went for Galilee Being inforced to passe through the midst of Samaria Wherein he gaue to the Ministers of the Gospell a twofold Lecture The one That they ought sometimes to preferre sufferance before boldnesse and rather to dissemble some feare than to show themselues too forward and to flye from the sword of anger than to oppose themselues against the edge thereof And therefore it is sayd If ye bee persecuted in one Citie flye into another Many account it a great point of valour and that they prooue themselues to bee stout men in standing stiffely to their Cause and maintaining it with an vndaunted resolution but this is rather Weakenesse than Fortitude For in some occasions the greatest Victorie is to suffer himselfe to be vanquished The other and let this be the second occasion of our Sauiours iournie That the Minister of Gods word who is to loue all to desire all should bee saued and that all should haue the hearing of the Gospell not to sow all the seed of Gods word in populous Cities Clemens Alexandrinus compareth our Sauior to the Sunne which inlightneth the World expelleth Darkenesse augmenteth Plants fomenteth Flowers breeds Gold in the veines of the Earth Pearles in the shells of the Sea inricheth and beautifieth all Creatures and leaues no corner of the earth which hee doth not visite and comfort with the beames of his light and splendor The Pharisees murmuring that our Sauiour Christ cured the sicke on the Saboth he said vnto them My Father worketh hitherto and I worke It is said in Genesis He rested from all his worke which he had made True it is that God had then put an end to all the workes of his Power but not to all the workes of his Loue. For in doing good deedes the three diuine persons neuer take any rest And as his loue in it selfe is perpetuall so doth it still continue towards his Creatures Dionisius stileth Loue Mobile incessabile â—eruens superferuens He might likewise haue termed it Vniuersale for there is not that worme whereunto it 's vertue doth not extend it selfe In a word As that Husbandman in the Gospell did not leaue out any part of the land but did sow the same all ouer so our Sauior Christ did plough that holy Land which had the happines to haue him set his feet thereon and did sow in it the seed of his Word and by his Apostles did afterwards spred the same abroad through all the World and here now fals himselfe a worke at Sichar And there was Iacobs well That the memorie of dead friends should be so powerfull with God as to make him affoord fauours to the liuing it is much But that the places where his friends liued should worke this effect vpon him it is more than much But the Wel of Iacob teacheth vs this truth the good fortune that this woman had to find our Sauiour sitting there where Abraham had erected an Altar vnto God where he had receiued those great promises for his posteritie where Iacob digg'd that Well which was a great reliefe to that Citie God treating of annointing Dauid King willed it to bee done in Hebron And why there more than in any other place Abulansis renders this reason That that people did not deserue so good a King as Dauid but a Tyrant like his predecessors And because in Hebron Adam Abraham Isaac and Iacob were there interred he would that it should be in Hebron that the place might supply that defect which was wanting in the peoples desert Our Sauior Christ being born in Bethlem the Angells came to tell the tidings thereof to the Sheapheards And why to the Sheapheards What aduantage haue they of Grace Nature or Fortune aboue other men Saint Ierome sayth That the antient Patriarchs had fed their flockes in those fields and that in this as likewise in Rachels beeing buried there consisted this their happinesse So that not onely the Saints of God but those places wherein they liued or dyed will be a meanes for thee to meet with God As in the place where sinners meet as in your Conuenticles of Heretickes and Witches the Deuill comes amongst them offering them imaginarie fountaines of delights So in holy places thou shalt presently meet with God who will offer thee fountaines of liuing waters c. Tertullian treating of the Amphitheaters where men went in to kill one another sayd Tot daemones quot 〈◊〉
he made vpon Iohn calls the Mount of Oliues Montem chrismatis vnguenti And Bede addeth That the top of this Mount doth typifie the heigth of our Sauiour Christs pittie and mercie And the Euangelist here aduiseth vs That hee came from the Mount of Oliues to the Temple where this Storie succeeded because a worke of so great mercie and clemencie could not conueniently come from any other place Moses descended downe from Mount Sinay but with so rigorous a Law that he brake the Tables in pieces that all the People might not thereby indanger their damnation Sinay is a Bush and from Bushes what can be expected but bruises and brushings and all sharpenesse of rigour But from the Mount of Oliues nothing could come thence but Oyle which is that common Hieroglyph of mercie and compassion First For it's softnesse and sweetnesse and therefore did the Diuine prouidence so order the businesse that Priests and Kings should bee annoynted therewith signifying thereby how louing milde and gentle they ought to be Secondly Because it strengtheneth and inableth those members which are weake and feeble Deus olâ—um permisit saith Clemens Alexandrinus ad leuandos labores Your Wrestlers did vse to annoynt themselues with Oyle not only that they might slip the easier out of their Aduersaries hands but also because it made their joynts and their limbes more strong and nimble Thirdly For that it is a soueraigne salue for all kind of wounds for there is not any thing that doth so comfort so supple so assuage and disperse any malignant humor and cure any festred sore sooner than your pretious Oyles The Samaritane cured with Oyle the wounds of that Traueller whom hee found wounded on the way to Ierico Esay complaineth That no man would sucke and draw forth the bloud from the wounds of his People nor annoynt them with Oyle Vulnus plaga tumens non est circumligata nec sota oleo Fourthly For it's stilnesse softnesse of nature and little noyse that it maketh beat it or batter it neuer so much poure it out neuer so violently it makes no noyse but shews it selfe still and quiet whence grew that adage mentioned by Plautus and Plato Oleo tranquillior More still than Oyle Fiftly For the vertue that is in it for allaying of storms at Sea and repressing of the rage of the billowes for as Plinie and Celius affirme Oleo mare tranquillatur With Oyle the sea is calmed Sixtly Because there is not any liquor that doth more spread and diffuse it selfe Oleum effusum nomen tuum Thy Name is as an oyntment poured out sayd the Spouse to her Beloued And the Saints declare the same of the person of our Sauiour Christ. Seuenthly and lastly Because amidst all other liquors it is still vpppermost and is alwayes swimming aloft and euermore keeping it selfe aboue the rest all which are proprieties of pittie and compassion of mercie and louing kindnesse which is soft supple and sweet this is that which giueth ease to our troubles and remedie to our paines this is that which refresheth and strengthneth our weake and feeble Members this is that which cures our wounds and assuages the swelling of them this is that which suffers and sayth nothing though neuer so hardly vsed this is that which composeth differences turbulent strifes the raging enmities of this Worlds sea and this is that which is a generall salue for all sores a friend at need and the greatest representation of Gods glorie for he is not seene in any attribute that he hath so much as in this Misericordia eius super omnia opera eius His mercie is aboue all his workes And to this purpose Pieriâ—s reporteth That it was concluded by a ioynt consent that the Images of the gods should be wrought of no other kind of wood saue that of the Oliue He went vnto the Mount of Oliues and came againe into the Temple c. These were our Sauiours stations from the Mount to the Temple and from the Temple to the Mount in the Mount he prayed in the Temple he preached These are those two imploiments of Martha Marie figured in Lea Rachael herein is sum'd vp the perfection of Christian religion Where it is to be noted that Marie was still rauisht as it were with the loue of our Sauior and the sweeâ—nesse of his words and Martha with the care to doe him seruice Rachael was verie faire but barren Leah foule tendereyed but fruitfull The contemplatiue life is wonderfull beautiful but not fruitfull the actiue life is foule and bleere-eyed nor is it any wonder hauing it's hands continually busied about wounds and fores but is fruitfull in children and he that inioyes the beautie of Rachael and the fruitfulnesse of Leah the contemplation of Marie and the practise of Martha hath attained to the heigth of Vertue and Holinesse Ecclesiasticus commendeth the sonne of Onias for these two qualities As a faire Oliue tree that is fruitfull and as a Cypresse tree which groweth vp to the Clouds The Oliue is the embleme of fertilenesse for it's fruit and it's multitude of branches and sprigges sprouting forth of it sicut nouellae Oliuarum The Cypresse is the Symbole of beautie for although it beareth no fruit yet it shoots vp like a Pyramis to an extraordinarie heigth and both of them make the stampe of a holy Prelate whose mercie and compassion is most fruitfull and whose prayer is most beautifull and pleasing for there is not any thing that man can imagine to bee more faire than that a creature by this meanes should come to grow so sweetly familiar with his Creator And all the People came vnto him and he taught them Some man may doubt How the effects of Gods Word beeing so powerfull and so full of life Viuus est Sermo Dei efficax poenetrabilior omni gladio and this People shewing themselues so deuout in hearing him it should come to passe that our Sauiour comming so early into the Temple and tarrying there all day long to teach and instruct them in the truth they fell into so many sinnes as they did and in the end into the greatest that euer was heard of But that may be answered of those the Faithfull that were then which Saint Bernard speaketh of those that are now That many professe themselues to be Christians and applie themselues to all those obligations that are befitting Christians and performe all other Christian actions and come out of custome to Sermons to diuine Seruice to the celebration of the Sacrament adoration in the Temple And this is no great matter for them to do considering they are borne and bred amongst Christians in farre stricter duties is the Moore tyed to his Mahomet and to the Lawes of his Alcaron and in a farre more rigorous manner is the Gentile bound to his false gods for that they sacrificed their sonnes and daughters to Idols Immolauerunt filios suos
and which way this may handsomely bee done This is a prudent proposition for a Prince when occasion is offered of some extraordinary expence to treat with his Counsell how and which way these monies are to be raised and ordered Hee that goes about to build him a stately pallace will first aske counsel of his purse how he shall bee able to compasse it A King that breakes his League and is to enter into a War with his neighbour Prince will first consult with his subiects how he shall vndergoe it For to goe out with tenne thousand against an Enemie that brings twentie thousand into the field is not wisedome And he must haue an eye vnto this Vâ—de whence and which way he shall leuie both men and money For if it must bee from the bloud of the poore that bloud which is thus wrung from them is to draw the best bloud out of his owne bodie to the indangering of his life if not of his soule Those Princes seldome or neuer thriue who misseled by euill counsellors say with Rehobaam Whereas my Father did burden you with a greeuous yoke I will yet make your yoke heauier My Father hath chastised you with rods but I will correct you with scourges And my least part shall be bigger than my fathers loynes So vnmerciful and intollerable are the greeuances oppressions which Kings Ministers exercise vpon the poore that the widdow weeps and the orphant sheds teeres the teeres thatd â—ckle from their cheekes howsoeuer Kings may conceiue they fall to the ground I must boldly tell them that they ascend vp as high as Heauen and are there turned into flashes of Lightening and their cries into Thunder against those Ministers that are the cause thereof and those Princes that suffer the same and consent thereunto They must consider vpon what ground they goe For if the cause be honest pious and necessarie as to keepe souldiers from staruing that lye in garrison to bridle the insolencies of the enemies of the Faith to supplie the necessarie prouision of the Kings house and the like it is well and good and God forbid but we should thinkâ— that to be verie well imployed which is so spent and it is fit that euery man that is of abilitie should contribute to the charge But to impouerish some to inrich others to pill the Commonwealth to make fat a fauorite to dispeople townes for to make forrests to put Naboth out of his lawfull possession nay and his life too to make thy selfe a house of pleasure and gardens to feast and banquet in c. I will leaue this to their owne consideration without pressing this point any further least contrarie to Salomons Counsaile by wringing the nose too hard I might happen to draw bloud and so offend the head Whence shall we buy bread From the beginning of the world vntil then it was neuer propounded in any Princes Councell how the Hungrie should be fed or any care taken how the Naked should be cloathed But how to raise money for the Princes expences for the more magnificent maintenance of his Maiestie and for the vpholding of his Estate this is euerie dayes example And if the royal Patrimonie shall be impawned there shall be sitting vpon sitting proiect vpon proiect how to bring him out of debt to fill his Coffers and all of them will put a helping hand to lay more and more burthens on the backes of the Poore but whence the Poore should be fed how your decayed Townes should bee repaired how your ruined Commonwealths restored to their former honour and greatnes let the great ones aduise vpon that if it stand not with the hurt of their greatnesse for I can say little vnto it Saint Bernard hath obserued That our Sauiour Christ said thrice vnto Peter Pasce Oues meas Feed my Sheepe but that hee neuer said vnto him no not so much as once That he should sheere them Signifying thereby That it is the office of a good Prelat to haue an especiall care that his Sheepe be well fed both with spirituall and corporall food and not to studie the raising of his Rents the racking of his Tenants nor his owne priuate profit Whence shall we buy bread Our Sauiour Christ consulted with all his Disciples concerning this businesse And therefore he sayd vnto them Giue yee them to eate And although the Disciples tooke care for the prouision of these things they did not lift their eyes vp any higher then to the distribution of their almes But our Sauiour being willing to tax them for this their little faith he would first make a verification of those few loafes that they had in their keeping Quot panes habetis c. How many loaues haue yee He began first with Philip eyther perhaps because he was not present at what had passed or because hee seemed to take the greatest care how these should haue wherewithall to eate or because he was lesse frugall and prouident than the rest as Saint Chrysostome noteth it or because he was not so quicke witted and of that nimble apprehension as his fellowes as it seemeth to Saint Cyrill In conclusion two necessities incountring together one of the body another of the soule one of bread and another of fayth our Sauiour Christ began first with that of the soule hauing recourse to that his office of a Sauiour who made more reckoning of the more than of the lesse Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them Saint Marke saith in the name of the rest Let vs goe and buy two hundred penny worth of bread Wherunto Philip answered that two hundred penny worth of bread would not bee sufficient for them nay two hundred royalls would not come to a bit a man At which time he had turned his eye aside from our Sauiours omnipotency placing his eyes vpon his purse strings to see how strong they were Whereas the blessed Virgin casting her eyes off from the Master of the feast threw them on her sonnes omnipotencie So short sighted is mans wisedome that in seeing ordinary meanes faile he holds the relieuing of his wants desperate not so much as once thinking what a thing it is to put our trust in God And it is a fearefull thing to thinke that man sinning hopes that God will pardon him and that suffering hunger and nakednes God should not helpe him Thou committest a mortall sinne thou reckonest not much of it hoping that God will be good vnto thee and forgiue thee thy trespasse thou sufferest hunger and nakednesse and yet despairest of comfort fearing more to be starued to death than to be damned to hell Canst thou hope then for so great a fauour as to be saued by his mercy and pitty towards thee and shalt thou despaire in these lesser things of the infinite prouidence of God It is a great shame for thee so to doe and such a fowlenes as none in a Christian can be more Hence
and to take away the portions that were deposited for the maintenance of Widowes who wept most bitterly this generall lamentation made way to Gods Tribunall hee sent downe one on a goodly faire horse armed at all points who ouerthrew Heliodorus vpon the pauement and presently two young men fell vpon him and whipt him with scourges till they left him as it were for dead For this cause did God comfort this Widow at the gates of the Citie where the Iudges had their Tribunalls notifying vnto them that they should take Widowes into their tutelage protection and the rather for that a supremer Iudge the Iudge both of Heauen and Earth was willing to take so much the more care of them by how the more was their solitude and priuate course of life Saint Hierome writing to Furia and Eustochius vttereth excellent things of those that are true Widows indeed and of those that are Widowes but in jeast and sport Of the former Iudith and Anna Samuels mother were notable examples And amongst the Gentiles Artemisia Queene of Caria who not desirous to buâ—ie her husband in Vrnes of siluer or gold buried him in her owne bowells by drinking downe his ashes in contemplation whereof there is a verie medicinable herbe called after her name Artemisia which all Widowes in stead of other hearbes or flowers ought to haue lying by them vpon their Estrado's their beds and their chamber windowes Of those other fabulous widowes Alcione may serue as an example who tooke on so extreamely for the death of her husband that the gods were faine to comfort her and when they had giuen her comfort she was metamorphised at last into a Bird bearing the same name of which Saint Ambrose sayth That it liues about riuers of waters the feathers thereof being greene and the beake red in token that those Widowes that so quickely receiue comfort their life is commonly greene and youthfull and their words red and full of amorous passions lanching themselues forth like Ships into a sea of vices and voluptuous pleasures turning their vails to sailes which faile with euerie wind Christ taking pittie of her c. It is not here said That he pittied the son but the mother for they that die are not so much to be pittied as they that liue for if he that dies goe to Hell we wrong Gods justice if we take any commiseration of them and if they goe to Heauen their happinesse doth not require it hauing more reason to enuie than pittie them Lots wife was turned into a piller of salt because she sorrowed for the burning of Sodome and in Heauen as there can be no miserie so is it impossible that there should be any commiseration so that pittie is onely to bee reduced to those that liue The Scripture calleth death Rest and Sleepe Saint Paul saith I would not haue you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleepe that yee sorrow not euen as others which haue no hope And Ecclesiasticus giueth vs this aduice Weepe moderately ouer the dead seeing he is at rest The Scripture calls life a Warfare a pilgrimage a Husbandmans taske or day labour a nauigation c. Mans life is a warfare vpon earth and his dayes like the dayes of an hireling c. The souldier desireth to see the end of his Warre and the Traueller his trauell ended to returne againe into his owne Countrie an hireling looketh for a reward of his worke a Mariner for a good voyage and man for death Gaudent vehementer cum inuenerint mortem Great was mans misfortune that he was to enter into a sea so full of miseries But as Nazianzen saith death againe was great gaine vnto him Taking pittie of her c. Greater was Christs sorrow and compassion for this disaster than that of this Widow woman for that harme which hapneth vnto vs toucheth vs in comparison but lightly but toucheth God euen in the verie apples of his eyes and this did Christs mercie and pittie manifest in the hast that he made in other his myracles He had many suitors to intreat him to raise vp Lazarus as Martha and Marie so likewise to restore the Centurions seruant to his former health he was solicited by the Priests and the Elders Here onely his mercie mooued him thereunto and therefore it is said Misericordia motâ—s In the firie Bush that flamed and was not consumed with the fire God did represent those firie scourges wherewith they scourged his People and the fire of those Furnaces wherein they baked their bricke and therefore he said vnto Moses Vade Goe thy wayes which is all one as if he should haue said vnto him It is I that am thus scortched and scourged and therefore Vade hast thee to Pharaoh But some will obiect If God be so hastie to helpe his People why did he suffer them to be imbroiled 40 yeres before they could cast out the Ammorits the Iebusites especially it beeing the Land which hee had promised vnto them Whereunto himselfe giues this resolution Their sinnes were not yet growne vp to their heigth So that his leading them all this while through the Wildernesse was a lesse miserie than their remaining in Aegypt and therefore he dismisseth Moses with a Vade giuing him full power and Commission to free his People willing him to hasten away that they might be eased of their torment as if himselfe had felt the smart thereof more than they Hee could not indure that his friends should suffer affliction and because he had said Cum ipso sum in tribulatione he would not be taxed of the breach of his word So that when God is with thee in thy tribulation he will giue an issue to thine afflictions because hee suffers in them as well as thy selfe and if he doe not come in to helpe thee it is because thy sinnes haue made him vnsencible thereof But doe thou mouere à peccato and thou shalt find him as it is here in my Text miseriâ—ordia motus He said vnto her Weepe not It caused much admiration seemed somwhat strange to those that were there present that our Sauiour seeing the teares and anguish of this sorrowfull and wretched widow should vpon so sad an occasion say vnto her Noli flere Weepe not We know that there are diuers and sundrie sorts of teares Some are occasioned by the excessiue sorrow and griefe of our owne sinnes of this nature were those teares of Marie Magdalen of Dauid and of Peter Others are drawne from vs vpon a fellow-feeling and sorrowfulnesse for other mens faults of this kind were those of Saint Paul Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote vnto you with many teares so much was he grieued with the newes he receiued from them of that incestuous person and the punishment of Excommunication inflicted vpon him And to the Philippians I haue told you often and now tell you euen weeping that they are the enemies of the
fro with it's vnruly appetites is al one Et vita inter Effoeminatos Another Letter hath it Scortatores The connexion is good for Youth runnes it selfe quickely vpon the Rockes of death through it's sensualities and lewdnesse of life There are two daughters of the Horse-leech which still crie Giue giue And the Wiseman pointing them forth vnto vs saith The one is Infernus The other Os Vuluae The Graue the one and Lust the other And the Wiseman did linke these two together with a great deale of conueniencie and fittingnesse for if Lust bee neuer satisfied the Graue lesse This truth is likewise made good forasmuch as the Scripture stileth Sinne Death If I doe this I must die the death So said Susanna to the Iudges that made vnlawfull and dishonest loue vnto her And Cain seeing himselfe charged with fratricide at that verie instant he gaue himselfe for a dead man Whosoeuer shall meet me will kill me Youth then beeing a house whereinto the raine doth drip so fast and at so many places it is no meruaile that life should cease and soone decay It is prouerbially said Loue is as strong as Death And as Loue doth vsually set vpon Youngmen so doth Death and where Loue striketh Youth Death may spare his Dart. The Antients painted a Youngman starke naked his eyes with a Vaile or Bend before them his right hand bound behind him and his left left at libertie and Time followiâ—â— him close at the heeles and euer and anon pulling a thred out of the Vaile Hee was drawne naked to shew with what little secrecie hee had vsed his delights and pleasures with his right hand bound behind him to expresse that he did not doe any thing aright his left free and at libertie signifying that he did all things aukwardly and vntowardly he was portrayed blind because he doth not see his owne follies but Time goes opening his eyes by little and little day by day brings him to the true knowledge of his errors And he that was dead sate vp and began to speake The Dead presently obeyed the voyce of the Liuing And hee sate vp God cryeth out aloud to those that are dead in their Soules yet doe they not obey his voyce Arise thou that sleepest c. Hee began to giue thankes vnto him that had done him this so great a fauour Thou hast deliuered mee ô Lord from the dooâ—es of death and therefore I will celebrate thy prayses and magnifie thy name in the Gates amiddest the Daughters of Syon It is Saint Chrysostomes note That the word Doores is put here in the plurall number because many are the dangers out of which God deliuereth a sinner That all may speake of thy praise and talke of thy wondrous workes And there came a feare vpon all It may seeme to some That the word Loue would better haue become this place and beene fitter for this present purpose and occasion All a man would thinke should rather haue expressed their loues vnto him sung forth his prayses and offered their seruice vnto him In those former punishments of a World drowned and ouerwhelmed with Water of a Sodome burned and consumed with Fire it was verie fit and meet that it should strike feare and amasement into all But in such a case as this What should cause them to feare Hereunto I answer That nothing doth strike such a feare and terrour into man as the great and wonderfull mercies of God A Roman Souldier told Iulius Caesar It much troubles me nor can I be heart-merrie as oft as I thinke on the many fauours that I haue receiued from thy liberall hand but doe rather hold them as so many wrongs and iniuries done vnto me for they are so beyond all requitall that I must of force proue vngratefull which makes me to feare that thou wilt proceed against me for a heinous offendor in this kind In like manner so many are the mercies of God towards man and so infinite that they may be held as Vigiles of his future seuerer Iustice. Iacob did in a manner vtter the same sentence against himselfe Minor sum cunctis miserationibus tuis The least of thy mercies is greater than all my merits nor can the best seruices that I can doe thee make satisfaction for the least of those fauours which I haue receiued from thy bounteous liberalitie Grant ô Lord that what is wanting in our owne worthinesse may bee made vp in the mercies and merits of our Sauiour Iesus Christ To whom with the Father c. THE XXX SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 11.1 Erat quidam languens Lazarus Now a certaine man was sicke named Lazarus of Bethanie c. PEtrus Crysologus calls this Signum signorum Mirabile mirabilium Virtutem virtutum The signe of signes the wonder of wonders and the Vertue of vertues or the power of powers Saint Augustine Miraculorum maximum The myracle of myracles which of all other did most predicate and blazon forth Christs glorie Saint Hierome preferres it before all the rest that he wrought here vpon earth By this prenda or pledge of his Diuinitie Death remained confounded the Deuills affrighted and the lockes and barres of Hell broken Genebrard That it is the voice of a Crier which goes before a Triumpher who makes Death the triumphant Chariot of his Maiestie and glorie That a valiant Warriour should make a braue and gallant shew on horsebacke hauing his Courser adorned and set forth with curious and costly Caparisons it is not much but to seeme handsome and comely in Deaths palenesse weakenesse and foulenesse beeing so ghastly a thing to looke on God onely can doe this Ante faciem eius saith Abacuc ibit mors Death â—â—all flie before his face Christ doth deliuer vs from a double death the one of the soule the other of the bodie He deliuered them from their distresses Death is swallowed vp in victorie He that drinketh takes the cup in his hand and doth therewith what it pleaseth him so did our Sauiour deale with Death therfore he called it a cup drinking the same vp at one draught wherein he dranke a health to all Beleeuers Saint Bernard vpon this occasion saith of him Mirabilis potator es tu Thou art a strange kind of drinker O Lord before thou tastedst of this cup thou saidst Transeat Let it passe and after thou hadst dranke thereof thou saidst Sitio I thirst The Flesh was afraid but the Spirit got the victorie ouer Death with that ease as a good Drinker doth of a good cup of drinke when he is verie thirstie In a word Not onely because this was a myracle wrought vpon a dead person that had lien foure dayes buried in his graue but because the sacrilegious councell of the Scribes and Pharisees had layd their heads together and plotted the death of our Sauiour Christ as also in regard of those other circumstances That the deceased
were seuered from their bodies how could they crie Saint Gregorie resolues it thus That their desires did crie out aloud Moses did not vnfold his lips nor once open his mouth and yet God said vnto him Why doost thou 〈◊〉 vnto me onely because his desires did set out a throat So Abels bloud was said to crie out against Cain So that with God a few words will suffice Besides your better sort of women ought to be verie sparing of their words Auaritia in verbis saith Plautâ—s in fâ—eminis semper laudabilis Of a lewd and naughtie woman Salomon reporteth That she inuiting a young man irretiuit â—um sermonibus prouoked him with her words Ecclesiasticus saith That wisedome and silence in a woman is the gift of God Nature may giue beautie bloud prosperitie and other good gifts but wisedome and silence God giues Sicut vitâ—a cocciâ—â—â— labia tuâ— Thy lips are like a thred of scarlet and thy talke iâ— comely Those your womens haires which are dis-sheâ—â—led and blowne abroad with the wind they did vse to brâ—id bind them vp with a red ribbond And therefore the Bridegroome compareth his spouses lips to a thred of Scarlet or some red coloured fillet to bind them vp the better to show that she should not be too lauish of her tongue but of few words and those too vpon fit occasion The second consideration in this their discretion was That they called him Lord Domine c. Your greatest Kings and most powerfull Princes vpon earth haue no dominion or empire ouer the soule neither are they able to adde or take away one dramme of the spirit But thou ô Lord Thou art the vniuersall Lord both of Heauen and Earth and we are thy handmaides and seruants and therefore thou canst not denie vs thy fauour Saint Ambrose expounding those wordes of Dauid Seruus tuus sum ego I am thy seruant saith That they who haue many Lords and Masters here vpon earth cannot cleaue vnto God Seruâ—â— tâ—us sum ego serui dominati sunt nostri Those creatures which God hath giuen vs to be our slaues flesh the dainties the delicacies the delights pleasant pastimes of this world shall haue dominion ouer them The third Quem amas He whom thou louest Amatus or beloued is a more honourable name than that of Angell Apostle Martyr Confessor or Virgine Lucifer was an Angell Iudas an Apostle The Heretick will not sticke to say that hee dyes for Christs cause and that he is a Martyr and a Confessor your Vestalles stiled themselues Virgines yet all these names haue beene lyable to sinne to misfortune and Hell But the name of Beloued is not compatiblâ— in that kind And Christ hath got the start of Man in his loue For hee loued vs first And where he once loues he neuer leaues off Besides Two things I would haue you to note which are vsuall with the Saints and children of God The one to set before their eyes the fauours they haue receiued to alledge them to shew themselues thankefull for them and to praise and commend them The other Not to shew themselues forgetful of their seruices towards God Knowing that it is Gods condition and qualitie when he bestoweth one fauour to ingage himselfe for a greater Ezechias alledged vnto God his holinesse and goodnesse of life O Lord remember now how I haue walked before theein truth and with a perfect heart and haue done that which is good â—n thy sight Saint Gregorie presseth hereupon Were it not better to alledge thy miserie than to represent those many good things which thou hast done all which thou hast receiued from his hand But with God to alledge them and to shew our selues thankefull for former receiued fauors is a powerfull meanes for the receiuing of far greater benefits and blessings from him After that Dauid had made a large muster of his tribulations He sayth Conuersus viuificasti me de abissis terrae iterum reduxisti me Thou hast quickned mee and hast brought mee againe from out the deepes of the Earth Where I would haue you to ponder the word iterum For God neuer does one single fauour Secondly the righteous are forgetfull of their owne seruices for that they hold them so meane and so vile that they iudge them vnworthy Gods sight And when in that generall iudgement God shall say I was naked and yee couered me c. The Saints shall answere Lord when did we see thee naked c. And it is noted by Theodoret that these are not words of courtesie or out of mannerlines but of meere forgetfulnesse For it is their fashion so to despise their owne seruices and deseruings that they doe wholy forget them The fourth consideration of their discretion was That so especiall is the fauor which God showes vnto his friends and the griefe which he conceiueth of any that shall befall them that they held it a greater point of Wisedome to alledge that hee was his friend than their brother Saint Bernard sayth That albeit the defect of my seruices doe dishearten mee yet Gods great mercies and his many fauours doe incourage mee For it is not Gods fashion to forsake his friends And therfore saith Saint Austen Non enim amas deseris The Princes of the Earth are now and then well content their friends should suffer because in them Power and Loue is not equall But those in whom these attributes goe hand in hand ought not to suffer their friends to miscarrie They would seeme here to put this vpon Christ and to make this cause his owne O Lord That wee should loose our brother it is no great losse because in thee wee haue a brother But thou ô Lord amongst so many thy professed enemies hast lost a great friend It is the condition of Gods Saints to greeue for the death of the Iust because God receiues a losse in them and to resent their own proper iniuries not for that these iniuries are done to themselues but for that they are iniuries done vnto God Tabescere me fecit zelus meus quia obliti sunt verba tua inimici mei Vpon which place Genebrard giues this exposition That mine owne iniuries doe not so much offend mee for that they are mine but because they are offences done vnto thee And Dauid in his thirtith Psalme treateth of some crosses and affliction that God by sickenesse had layd vpon him after he had built his pallaces Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled I was loath to dye not for mine owne sake for it were happinesse to me if I should dye to day or to morrow but not for thee What profit is there in my bloud when I go downe to the pit What seruice can Dauid do thee when he is layd in his sepulchre But ô Lord in his life in his honor in his crowne and in his kingdome he may do thee good seruice This ô Lord concernes thee and
seeke after figs. Dying he had not any one that would giue him so much as a iarre of water when he cryed out Sitio I thirst they gaue him vinegre and gall to drinke Pope Leo saith of him The dayes that were appointed for him he began them in persecution and ended them in persecution In his infancie he began with the Crosse and at his end he dyed on the Crosse. Which was as Gregorie Naziâ—nzen saith a Prognostication That that Disciple that will seeke to follow his master shall neuer want a crosse to carry nor matter wherein to suffer But Iesus hid himselfe and went out of the Temple Vpon this place we haue formerly rendered foure reasons why our Sauiour Christ auoyded these â—tones by flight and now adding others anew thereunto Origâ—n saith That hee withdrew himselfe out of compassion considering that his counsells made the Pharisees more rebellious and more hard than before Rebellem non vult perdere Hee shund the occasion that they might not be vtterly lost accommodating himselfe to that of Saint Paul Dâ—te lâ—cum ira Giue way to anger One of Gods great mercies is to flye from a sinner that hee may not bee bound sodainly to destroy him In Exodus he gaue his people an Angell to be their guide saying I will neyther be your Captaine nor your Guide for through your stiffe-neckednesse and rebellion ye will runne great hazard vnder my command In some Parables the holy Euangelists put the word Peregrè profectus est He is gone afarre off For albeit God be alwayes present yet it is his exceeding great mercy now and then not to bee present For there is no compatibilitie with his diuine presence and our shamelesnes and loosenes of life And so putting on as it were a kind of dissimulation he makes as if he went away from vs and did not see what we doe Euthymius saith That our Sauiour Christ would rather exercise his patience in flying than his power in punishing Fugiendo magis quam puniendo For although he should haue destroyed theÌ„ yet would they neuer the sooner haue repented Complying with that of the Prophet Esay Dissipati neque coÌ„puncti In the garden he made those that came to take him to â—eele and fall on their backs with an Ego sum I am he But they not acknowledging this his diuine power proceeded on in their apprehending of him God deliuer vs from the resolution of a Reprobate for there is not that miracle either in heauen or on earth that will bridle and restraine him Of those which began to build the Towet of Babel the Scripture saith Nor will they yet leaue off But such is the goodnes of Gods nature and is so kind and louing vnto vs That hee doth to the ill good though they turne this good to 〈◊〉 But he does not doe any ill vnto them for his patience is such That he doth not thinke it much that euen those that were most ill should inioy some good Hugo de sancto victore declareth that place of the Prouerbs Answer a foole according to his foolishnes And Answer not a foole according to his foolâ—shnesse After this manner iâ— a foole shâ—ll amend by reprehension giue it him but if there be no hope of amendment giue it him not God doth commonly treat of the most good and the least ill but the wicked man of the least good and the most ill Wherein he prooues worse than Pilat For he laboured to set our Sauiour Christ at liberty vsing the meanes for the effecting of it to haue him well whipt I will chastise him and let him loose But the Iewes would not rest conâ—ented with that but went on in accomplishing the greatest sinne that was euer committed in the world Pope Gregory saith That our Sauiour Christ hid himselfe and went out of the Temple flying from the stones which they were about to fling at him for to shew That the world was all this while in an errour in holding it a point of honour and a braue and manly action to answer affronts with affronts iniuries with iniuries and to reuenge them to the full holding it basenes and cowardize either to suffer a wrong or shunne the occasion thereof Wherein he hath shewed his great loue vnto vs. For hee applying himselfe to the estimation which man maketh of his honour permitteth vs to defend our reputation though it be with the hurt of the Aggressor or Assaylant and that we should not flye that we might not loose it So that Christ flying from the Pharisees and hiding himself casting their sinnes behind his backe whilest he shewed them his backe and seeking to hide their faults by hiding himselfe from them he did more for them than they did for themselues It is likewise a point of Honour That a husband should not receiue the wife which hath bin false and treacherous vnto him But God saith As a woman rebelleth against her husband so haue ye rebelled against me Thou hast played the harlot with many louers yet turne againe to me saith the Lord and I will heale your rebellions Then shalt thou call me saying my Father and shalt not turne from mee To whom with the Sonne and the Holy Ghost be all honour power c. THE XXXIII SERMON VPON THE MVNDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOHN 7. Miserunt Principes Sacerdotum Ministros vt apprehenderent Iesum The Chiefe Priests sent their Officers to apprehend Iesus HEre the chiefe of the Priests waiting on the voyce and crie of the people watching which way they were inclined beholding how they were ready to mutine that many dayly were conuerted conuinced by those myracles which were so great both in quality number that they could not be wrought by any but the Messias whom they had so long looked for fearing some alteration both in their State and Religion and deuising with themselues how they might cut off this Good as if it had beene some Canker or Plague of the Common-wealth They sent Officers to take him In which Discourse is discouered the force and efficacie of Gods Word and how little the industrie and policie of man is able to preuaile against this Diuine Wisedome The High-Priests sent to take him The motiue hereunto was their enuie a vice so vnfortunate and so vnluckie that accounting for it's felicitie and for it's good anothers ill commonly the ill raineth downe vpon the head of the Enuious and the good vpon that of the Enuied Iosephs brethren threw him into a pit and then sould him and all but out of enuie and this their selling of him was the meanes of his excelling of them and their casting of him downe the raising of him vp thus purposed aduersitie turned to future prosperitie Haman that was King Assuerus his Fauorite had listed Gods people in seuerall rolles with a ful resolution to haue them massacred all in one day he had set vp a high gallowes whereon
our hearts the remembrance of his manifold benefits To whom with the Father the Sonne c. THE XXXVI SERMON VPON THE THVRSEDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY LVC. 7. Rogabat Iesum quidam Pharisaeus vt manducaret cum illo c. A certaine Pharisee requested Iesus That he would eat with him c. ROgabat Iesum c. And one of the Pharisees desired Iesus that he would eat with him The whole Historie of Marie Magdalen is reduced to these three estates Of a Sinner Of a Penitent Of a Saint For all which she was most famous In that her first estate of her â—ewd course of life she obtained a plenarie pardon and full remission of her sinnes Were she either Widow as Saint Hierome would haue it or one that was neuer married as common opinion cries it Petrus Chrysologus saith That she had made the Citie so infamous that she might more fitly be called Peccatum Hierosolimae quam Peccatrix The Sinne of Ierusalem than a Sinner because by reason of the bad fame and euill report that went of her the whole Citie did suffer therein and was in a manner spoyled and vndone some being taken with her beautie others with her gracefull behauiour not a few with the pleasantnesse of her wit and liberall language but most with her ill example occasioning murmuration in some obduration in othersome causing them not onely to speake ill but also to doe ill In a word shee was Pestis generalis A generall plague and Commune scandalum A common scandall to all The circumstances of her perdition were strange First In that her sinne was a sinne of dishonestie wherein wee vsually see these two effects The one That it clings like bird-lime to our soules Thomas saith That it is Peccatum maximae inhaerentiae That it is a sinne of all other that cleaueth closest vnto vs and stickes longest by vs. Saint Hierome That it much resembleth the Bird called the Phoenix which doth reuiue and renew her selfe with the fire which she kindleth with the motion of her wings Thou mournest thou bewailest and repentest thee of the dishonest sinne which thou hast committed and desirest to giue it ouer that it may dy in thee but with the wings of thy thoughts thou blowest those coles afresh and makest them flame more than before so that thinking to kill the lusts of the flesh thou doost quicken them giue them new life so that what thou bewailedst before for dead thou now embracest as liuing and huggest it in thy bosome as a man claspes his deerest friend in his armes that after some long swoune recouers againe A holy Hermit that led a deuour and solitarie life talking one day with the Deuill demanded of him Which amongst the Sinnes was the greatest He told him Dishonestie And he replying What are not Blasphemie Murther and Swearing far greater sinnes Whereunâ—o he answered In point of Diuinitie these are the greatest but the Rents and In-comes of the sinnes of the flesh are farre greater and this is the reason why I doe not tempt any with blasphemie or murther but some one desperate person or other but with dishonestie all sorts of men the Merchant imployes his Stocke in that kind of trading which shall turne most to his commoditie the Vsurer puts forth his moneys where he may haue most profit and best securitie There is not any other sinne that like a plague hath spred it selfe so generally ouer the world as that of the Flesh and this was the cause that God repented himself that he had made man and if at any time in the world there hath been any one that hath shewed himselfe so valiant as to resist the assaults of hell yet in the end the verie same partie hath beene shrewdly encountred with the concupiscence of the flesh as Saint Gregorie hath noted it of Salomon Et non custodiuit quae mandauit ei Dominus It made him breake Gods command The other effect is that it blinds the Vnderstanding as wee shall shew you hereafâ—er The second circumstance is That it is an impudent and shamelesse sinne Marie Magdalen by this meanes losing all feare of God and shame of the world When a Riuer runnes betweene two banks well planted with trees which serue as wals to hedge it in the waters thereof doe no harme but if these Riuers breake their bankes and make their way ouer those walls they ouerflow and spoyle all that is in their way Whilest our life shall bee bounded in betwixt shame and feare no great harme can come of iâ— but when a Soule shall liue deuoyd of shame or feare Lord haue mercie vpon it Our Sauiour Christ taking it to be the extremitie and vtmost of all euill said of a Iudge I neither feare God nor Man He that shall cast vp his accounts with Heauen aboue and with his Honour here beneath and when he hath made this reckoning shall thinke with himselfe that hee hath nothing to lose What bridle can restâ—aine him One of the reasons why God commanded That a man should not defame his neighbour was That he should not make his sinne perdurable Saint Hierome saith That we should rather priuatly admonish than publiquely punish Lest if such a one should once lose shame he should dwell in his sinne for euer Amongst noble Natures Honour is the bridle of Vice and in case they should not professe Vertue yet will they haue a care to vphold their credit Saint Augustine saith That God did not augment the Monarchie of the Romans for their vertue because whilest they adored false gods they could hardly professe it but because hauing set Honour before their eyes it was a great bridle to curbe in their vices The third circumstance is That she should purchase her selfe the name of a Sinneresse in so populous a Citie This was it that made the Euangelist say Behold a woman in the Citie which was a Sinner this of Saint Luke was a great endeering of the offence De qua septem Daemonia eiecerat Out of whom hee had cast seuen Deuils Now by these seuen Deuils is to bee vnderstood the manifoldnesse of her sinnes this is Saint Gregories opinion but Saint Ambrose will haue thereby to be vnderstood seuen reall Deuils indeed He dried vp the issue of bloud in Martha and droue out the Deuils in Marie and it is no small proofe thereof that two Euangelists should expresse the same in plain and ful words for when one Euangelist sets downe a thing in darke and obscure termes another vsually explaines the same but Saint Marke and Saint Luke both herein agree and say Out of whom he had cast seuen Deuils and Saint Hierome in the life of Hâ—larâ—on and Prosper likewise affirmeth That this was a chastisement which God did often vse in great sinnes The fourth circumstance is The great hurt which she occasioned to the souls and bodies of men a great cause whereof was her extreame beautie Sambucus
amongst some of his Emblemes which hee hath made of humane beautie he paints forth in one of them a Lyon a Hare a Fowle and a Fish for there is not any creature more couragious than a Lyon nor any more cowardly than a Hare nor any creature higher than the Fowle nor lower in his mansion than the Fish all which render and yeeld themselues prisoners to beautie Balac liued in great feare of Gods People and when he could not get Balaam to curse them aduising with his Councell Balaam being the first proiector he sent as Lyra noteth it a squadron of the fairest women that his Countrie could affoord amongst the Israelites who did beare in their Banner for their Deuice the Image of Belphegor and they who before did seeme to that King to be inuincible rendred themselues captiues to the beautie of those Moabitish women Et initiati sunt Belphegor comederunt sacrificia mortuorum They married them and adored their Idoll and as Iosephus sets it downe it was not onely the common people but many of the chiefest amongst them that offended in this kind For the flesh being not onely baited but blinded with this outward beautie it hath no eyes to behold the light of the Sunne Supercecidit ignis that is The fire of Concupiscence fell downe and they saw not the Sunne The light of myne eyes is not with me thus Dauid discoursed with himselfe treating of his adulterie Osee compareth Adulterie to a heated Ouen whence comes forth the flame which burnes and the smoke which blindes Seest thou a man besotted with the loue of this or that woman and of that doting affection towards her that hauing â—uffered for her sake in his honor his estate and his health if he do not take vp himselfe in time and looke out some remedy for this sore you may boldly say he is blind Saint Iohn painting foorth the fall of Lucifer saith That the bottom lesse pit was opened with a key for Lucifer according to Rupertus had the first handsell of hell and from forth that infernall pit there went out such a thicke smoke that it darkened the Sun and the Starres And this is the stampe and figure of him that shall throw himselfe downe headlong into the bottomlesse pit of dishonestie whence commeth forth so much smoke that it blindeth the Sun of the vnderstanding and darkneth those starres of the faculties of the soule From these circumstances do I draw the difficulty of Mary Magdalens Conuersion grounding my supposition vpon these three truths The first That for God to iustifie a soule is a farre greater matter than to create heauen and earth and all that therein is This hath beene prooued elsewhere And Iob exprest as much when he said The creating of me was the least of thy mercies towards me Exaltare saith Dauid Exalt thy selfe ô God aboue the heauens and let thy glory be vpon all the earth that thy beloued may bee deliuered So that if we should put into the one hand of God the world created and into the other a soule conuerted the glory of this hand is the greater And there are two very good reasons for it The one For that in the creating of the world God had no repugnancie or resistance but in the conuerting of a soule he may meet with opposition by reason of mans peruerse will Et qui creauit te sine te non saluabit te sine te For though bee created thee without thy will he will not saue thee wâ—thout thy will God takes more pleasure in conuerting a soule than in all the rest of those wonders which he wrought with his hands Auerte oculos tuos à me quia ipsi me auolare fecerunt Turne away thine eyes from me for euen they haue made me flye away Auolare is the same in that place as Superbire inflare Rabby Salomon renders it Insolentior factus sum animo To see thy eyes heretofore so withdrawne from me and now so busie in beholding â—e So great is the contention which is betwixt the loue of God and the loue of the world betweene the desires of the flesh and of the Spirit That the one doth striue to take the sword out of the others hand Alterius vires subtrahit alter amor Plotinus calls Loue a Painter Diuine Loue that paints and humane Loue that paints This painteth forth our felicitie in riches beauty and feasting That in pouerty teares and fasting For to ingraue such an image as this in our hearts to paint such a picture we must blot out all those colours which any other loue hath drawne there The other For that in creating the world God did not shew himselfe to bee weary but made it as it were a kind of entertainment and passe-time Ludens in orbe terrarum But in redeeming mankind he was wearied out euen to the shedding of his blood and the loosing of his life The second truth is That it is the easiest thing in the world with God to inrich a sinner with his grace God sent Ieremy to the Potters house who beginning to worke vpon a peece of clay it not fadging to his mind he tore it in sunder and molding it anew fashioned it afterwards to his owne good liking and content CaÌ„not I deale by you as the potter doth with his clay Is my power lesse than his Noah kept a Lyon in the Arke but he continued still a Lyon But our Sauiour Christ in his Church turnes the Lyon into a Lambe The pots in the Lords house shall be like the bolls before the Altar Saint Ierome saith That he did prophetically decypher the time of the new Law wherein the black-souted Caldrons should bee so bright and beautifull that they should serue for flagons full of flowres and bolls of sweet and pretious odours Esay treating of the facilitie wherewith God doth worke this change and alteration draweth his comparison from a little cloud which a contrary wind taketh and makes it disappeare in a moment I shall put away thy transgressions like a cloud and thy sinnes as a myst Ecclesiasticus compares it vnto yce which the Sunne no sooner shines vpon but it is melted Thy sinnes shall melt away as the yce in the faire weather Dauid borroweth his comparison from a frozen Torrent set vpon by a furious South-west wind and letting loose those waters causeth them to leape out of their beds For your frost and yce are the waters fetters which keepe them close prisoners Hibernis vinculis soluta saith Nazianzene And Niuale compede vinctum saith Horace of the riuer Iberus But all these comparisons are too large and spatious in respect of Gods least breath which in an instant doth banish sinne from our breasts and inricheth it with grace The third That in regard of Man it is a thing of great difficulty especially if the foule fiend hath got the masterie and possession of our will When a man hath
Leo vt insidiator viarum vsque ad Crucem reus sit Christi repente Confessor This is a wonderfull change that a high-way robber condemned here to the Crosse should in the turning of a hand come to confesse Christ. In this one action did all the attributes of God shine and shew themselues in a most glorious manner and especially his wisedome in making these extreames to meet and ioyne together so on the sodaine and as it were in an instant Ecclesiastes saith That there is a time to bee borne and a time to dye a time to plant and a time to plucke vp that which is planted a time to slay and a time to heale a time to breake downe and a time to build a time to weepe and a time to laugh All these extreames did his wisedome knit and linke together In this action meete those two extreames of being borne and of dying for as much as wee see this theefe dye to the world and to bee borne anew to Christ. And the death of the righteous the Church stiles it a birth Those of planting and plucking vp that which is planted because grace is here planted in the soule of the theefe and sinne pluckt vp Those of slaying and healing for that our Sauiour Christ receiues these mortall wounds in his owne bodie and healeth those of the theefe Those of building and breaking downe that is built In regard that the body of sinne is destroyed and the building of grace is set vp in him Those of weeping and laughing in that the theefe doth now bewaile his sinnes and laughes for ioy to heare the gladsome newes of heauen In a word the more incurable that the diseases are which a Physitian cureth the more saith Saint Augustine is his skill and cunning to be commended Gods omnipotencie was likewise seene herein Saint Chrysostome saith That it was so great a Miracle that the Sunne should be darkened that the earth should tremble and shake that the stones should dash their heads one against another or that the vayle of the Temple should bee rent in twaine as was the inlightning of a blind vnderstanding the mollifying of a hard and stonie heart and the remoouing from the soule the vayle of it's ignorance And the truth of this may very well bee prooued by Moses his rod to whose Empire though the earth the sea the elements light darkenesse and all creatures whatsoeuer were obedient yet could it not mooue hard-hearted Pharaohs brest He likewise discouered his omnipotencie in making the Theefe an instrument to reuenge himselfe of the Diuell of the Pharisees of Pilat and of the people Of the diuell who as Saint Ambrose saith had blasoned it abroad to the world and triumphed greatly therin That our Sauiour Christ hauing but twelue Apostles he had woon one of them from him persuading him that it were the better life of the two to be a theefe than an Apostle but for a Iudas a poore base theefe which stole but blankes and farthings from the pouertie of that sacred Colledge Christ won a theefe from him which had spent his whole life in the diuels seruice and had committed many famous robberies and notorious thefts Theeues are the diuells weapons but our Sauiour Christ being the stronger of the two tooke from him the greatest theefe in the world leauing him with his owne sword confounded and ashamed I haue compared thee ô my Loue to the troupes of horses in Pharaohs charriots Salomon had great store of horses of the Aegyptian race for to furnish his charriots and to feare his enemies as the French vse to wage warre against Spaine with Spanish Gennets He then saith that as Salomon made war against the Aegyptians with the horses of Aegypt so the Church confoundeth the diuell with his owne Armes which are theeues and robbers Confounding and making ashamed Pilat the high Priests the Pharisees and the people with the tongue of a theefe There is not any thing in the world more infamous than a theefe Of all basenesse it was the greatest that our Sauiour should die as a theefe It was much that hee should become man Exinaniuit semetipsum more that hee should take vpon him the forme of a seruant Formam serui accipiens and more then that That he should be no more esteemed of than a worme of the earth and more yet then this That he should take vpon him in his Circumcision the image of a sinner but most of all that hee should die as a notable theefe betwixt two theeues In the garden he said Ye come forth to apprehend me as if I had beene a Theefe There he was taken like a theefe here condemned to death as a theefe that no man might take pittie of him There is no man that dies by the hand of Iustice but is pittied of the people saue only the theefe not one that takes compassion of him He that seeth a theefe hung vp in the high-way vseth as he passeth by to say Benedictum lignum per quod fit Iustitia Blessed be that gallowes on which such good Iustice is done The Church receiueth the Iewes the Moore and the Gentile but will not entertaine a theefe In Leuiticus God did forbid the Weasil and the Mouse and the frog also the Rat and the Lyzard and the Cameleon and the Crocodile and the Mole as vncleane and vnfit to be eaten and if you will but reade in the naturall Histories the conditions and properties of these creatures you shall see that they are all theeues It made many men maruell That the Crocodile being so great a creature the diuine Historian should reckon him vp amongst these other contemptible small creatures And Rodolphus Flauiacensis renders the reason of it to be this That they haue all of them theeuish qualities The Crocodile more particularly swims in the sea runnes on the land one while by day another while by night she layes a verie little egge which afterward growes to be a great beast and goes still increasing as long as shee liueth and is not onely the stampe and figure of a Sea-pyrat but of a Land-robber which night and day seekes all occasions to rob and steale Like vnto that theefe which in some poore country village begins first to fall a pilfring of some sixe royalls and from this so small a beginning raiseth his stock to fiftie thousand Ducats and comes at last to be a Regidor a Cauallero and a Titulado And by this so vile and errant a theefe as is here now treated of our Sauiour Christ did confound all Ierusalem He might haue made vse of the tongue of a Prophet or an Euangelist but as Sampson shewed his valour in conquering a thousand armed men with the iawe-bone of an Asse which had not approued it selfe to be so great had he made vse of Golias his sword or Hercules club or of Theseus his mace so our Sauiour Christ c. Gods mercie in this case did also shew it selfe exceedingly Saint
the Iewes and Romans setting to their shoulders to ouerthrowe the life of our Sauiour Christ one lost his Kingdome another his Monarchy this man his goods that man his life many both their bodies and soules This is that Interficitis vniuersi vos And as that speare which Saul threw did not touch Dauid but smote the wal So the nailes wounds scourges and thornes toucht our Sauiours Humanitie but not his Diuinitie So that the speare which was flung at him missing his Godhead and hitting onely his Manhood the Deuill was thereby taken mocked ouerthrowne amazed and astonished In Exodus God beeing willing to giue an end to the plagues of Aegypt he commanded that euerie family of the children of Israell should on a certaine night kill a Lambe and that they should sprinkle the posts of the doores of their houses with the blood thereof and that when the Angell should passe by slaying the first borne of Aegypt he should skip ouer the posts that were sprinckled with the blood of the Lambe which the Israelites that night had eaten to supper S. Chrysostome saith That the Angell did feare the blood of that Lambe because it was a type and figure of that true and most innocent Lambe who was to haue his blood sprinckled on the posts of the Crosse. If then an Angell of God were affraid of the blood of a beast because it was a figure of that blood which was to be shed on the Crosse for the sauing of sinners and such as were Gods chosen people What feare and terrour shall the blood and death of our Sauior Christ God and Man strike into Hell Saint Paul sayth Triumphans illos in semetipso Triumphing ouer them in the Crosse subduing powers principalities c. It is Anselmes obseruation that the triumphers of this world make their triumph by shedding the blood of their enemies but our Sauiour Christ triumphed ouer the deuils and ouer sinne and death by shedding his owne proper blood God did antiently in those times of old take the same course with his enemies as other tâ—â—umphers in the world were woont to doe Glorificabor in Pharaone c. I will get mâ— honour vpon Pharaoh and vpon all his Hoste vpon his Chariots and his Horsemen that the Aegyptians may know that I am the Lord. God made himselfe then to bee knowne by destroying drowning and killing of them But now hee would get himselfe a name and fame by dying himselfe on the Crosse. This strange and new kind of victorie Esay paynteth foorth by introducing our Sauiour Christ who ascendeth all bloodie vp vnto Heauen and by bringing in those Angells who aske the question Who is this that comes thus stained and dy'd in his owne blood and yet is both faire and valiant Who is this as it is in the Text that commeth from Edom with red garments from Bozrah He is glorious in his apparell and walketh with great strength Wherefore is thine apparell red and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-presse And the answere to this demand is Ego propugnator ad saluandum I am mightie to saue I spake in righteousnesse and past my word to saue the World and to take them out of the hard bondage of the deuill of sinne and of death and I haue performed my promise and beene as good as my word by leauing their enemies ouercome by â—reading them vnderfoot and by stayning all my rayment with blood and by bringing downe their strength to the earth But Quare ergo rubrum est vestimenium tâ—â—m Why is thy rayment redde What a Conqueror and yet so beâ—â—â—eared with blood It is answered I trode mine enemies vnder my foot as hee tâ—at crushing grapes â—readeth in the Winepresse and my garments are sprinckled and my â—ayment stayned with their blood Calcaui eos in furore meo I troad thâ—m in â—â—â—â—â—â—ger and troad them vnderfoot in my wrath for the day of vengeance was in 〈◊〉 heart and the yeere of my redeemed was come And so I was their sauiour But how could this be said of the Deuills and of Sinne beeing that they haue neither of them blood 'T is true But humane nature hath both flesh and blood Whereof they had made themselues Lords and Masters And because I had sayth Christ put on this particular nature not in regard as it was in mee for so it was impeccable and without sinne but in regard of the rest of mankind from whome it was inseparable and not to bee remooued and so must neede Sinne whilest that was about them Christ was prodigall of his owne innocent and pretious Blood that he might saue ours which was altogether tainted and corrupted He endured the Crosse that wee might receiue the Crowne he cast himselfe into the Armes of Death that hee might rayse vs vp to eternall life for which his great and vnspeakable Mercie towards vs most wretched vile and miserable Sinners to him the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons one true and euer liuing God bee rendred all Prayse Honour and Glorie Might Maiestie Power and Dominion as most due World without end Amen Laus Deo A Table of all the principall matters contained in this Booke A Abraham HOped where hee had no reason to hope page 68 69. In sacrificing Isaac hee sacrificed the ioy and content of his life 187 His courage was againe tried by being forced to forsake his countrey 275 Adam For a foolish longing lost the greatest Empire 273 His knowledge was infused 466 If he had accused himselfe hee had freed his posteritie 288 The sight of Abel being dead was a terror to Adam euer after 489 He layd the burden of his transgression vpon God 564 Hee knewe by reuelation that his marriage did represent that of Christ and his Church but he knew not the meanes 608 If he had not excused his fault he had not bin shut out of Paradise 625 Hee was buried where Christ was crucified 642 Admiration Whence it proceedeth 35 It is commendation ibid. It waiteth not but on things that are rare 320 345 Vsually the child of Ignorance 465 Christ on the Crosse the chiefest obiect that euer it had 639 Aduantage Against an Enemie no cowardize 551 Adulterie How punished in former times 418 The foulenesse of the Sin ibid. Condemned euen by nature 419 Affliction Beneficiall 27 But not to the wicked 28 Why God afflicteth his children 63 69 179 It altereth the verie forme of Man 638 Ambition A strong temptation 90 Blind in what it pursueth 228 It knows nor reason nor religion 229 The nurce and mother of many Cruelties 230 Three sorts of Ambition 229 Anger See Wrath. It ought to be restrained 58 Sometimes necessarie 126 As hurtfull a Sinne as Enuy. 328 c. Angels The Protectors of Gods children 89 Their Power 97 They reioyce at our comming to Heauen 282 Euill Angels To what seruices deputed 97 Antechrist His wonders shall be lying and deceitfull yet many 120 Antiquitie The
Enableth vs to doe what Nature cannot 50 The order of it different from that of Nature 108 Not obtained without diligence 166 H Haire HAire hath bin hurtfull vnto many  Harlot The price of a Harlot no lasting portion 397 Her manners ibid. Hardnesse of heart In the Iewes without paralelle 206 They that liue in it iustly suffered to dye in it 58 117 Markes whereby to know a hard heart 296 A hard heart can neuer be mollified 537 Health Life is no life without it 239 Heart It cannot loue and hate both at once 117 Mans heart Gods temple 557 c. Of the whole man God desires only the heart 369 What is vnderstood by heart 371 It hath many enemies and all within it selfe ibid. The heart of the Earth what 130. Hearers Curious hearers reprooued 124 Heauen The ioyes of it 194 Not purchased without violence 230 391 545 In our passage to it no tyes of Nature to be regarded 311 The glorie of it 627 Hell The paines of it how dreadfull 244 c. All other paines but pastimes to these 453 Honour Despised of Christ. 327 Neuer without it's burden 35 Gods children more ambitious to deserue it than inioy it 192 Earthly honours brooke no partnership 228 The desire of honour not alwayes to bee condemned 327 Honours where no merit is addes but to our shame 554 Desired of all 555 Hope More prevailent with man than feare 190 The nature of both 619 Sathans practise to depriue Iob of his hope 620 Hospitalitie Pleasing to God 375 God the onely keeper of it 443 Humilitie Twofold one of the Vnderstanding another of the Will 33 The onely way to Heauen 217 No Humilitie like our Sauiours 635 Hunger A great temptation 80 Why Christ would hunger 78 Hypocricie Feignes the good it hath not 15 A kind of Stage-play 16 The Hypocrite hath no hope of Heauen 18 The danger of hypocriticall and luke-warme Christians 268 301 Hypocrisie straines at a Gnat and swallowes a Camell 262 368 I Ego I. A Word of great authoritie 45 Iealousie A true symptome of basenesse 338 Iewes A jealous and enuious people 315 Gods many fauours toward them 316 Their subtiltie and incredulitie 565 566 The murderers of all Gods Saints 602 In nature both like the Bore and the Beare 604 Ignorance A maine cause of all our euill 401 591 Images What difference betwixt the maker of them and the worshipper 151 Incredulitie A maine let to Christs miracles 322 Incontinencie Is a Sinne which hath two properties 570 Informers Like the flyes of Aegypt in a common weale  Ingratitude The first fault that euer was committed 143 Neuer vnpunished of God 144 No cut to vnkindnesse 224 God substracts his blessings from the vngratefull 270 It is vsually the requitall of goodnesse 330 The Embleme of it 383 568 To returne euill for good a diuelish sin 635 Inheritance Gods inheritance may run a twofold danger 248 Iniuries Must be patiently digested 47 When and how to beforgiuen 333 c. To suffer them is true noblenesse 533 Intercession Not to be vnderstood but of the liuing 379 Two things required to make it effectuall 378 Ionas Whence descended 132 Reasons mouing him to flye 133 Why he would be cast into the Sea 136 The Marriners charitable affection towards him 137 Iugde No small comfort that Christ shall bee our Iudge 94 Two properties of a Iudge 95 He must not be rash 137 Iudges must incline to mercie 421 A good Iudge compared to a Crane 458 Iudgement Why attributed to Christ. 94 Iudgement how to be guided 471 c. All shall appeare in iudgement 98 The day of Iudgement desired of the Iust. 99 Pilats Iudgement against Christ. 640 The most vniust that euer was 641 Iudas Foolish two wayes in the sale of our Sauiour 634 The vilenesse of his fault ibid. Iustification A greater worke than either the creation of the World or of Angels 294 572 The first step to it is mercie and pitie 397 Set out by diuers apt similitudes 573 582 K Knowledge See Learning Wisedome TO know thy selfe the beginning of perfection 480 L Lambes A Name attributed to the iust and why 154 Law Whereunto vsefull 40 The law of Taliation 46 Lawes if many gainefull to some but losse to the most 363 Learning See Wisedome Not gotten without labour 464 c. God the giuer of it 466 Lent Why called the Spring of the Church 10 Liberalitie Must be waited on by Frugalitie 444 Life This life onely a procession of quicke and dead 489 True life is to meditate on death 1 4 490 c. Short life content with short allowance 8 542 Whether better a publique or a priuat life 107 An euill life the losse of Faith 128 Long life the enlargement of sinne 136 Life seldome wearisome to any 174 The euills of this life are onely seeming euills 179 180 Life without health no life 239 Why desperat sinners are suffered to liue long 241 Nothing permanent in this life 243 This life is onely toyle and labour both to the wicked and the iust 396 Light Twofold 188 The excellencie of that light which is spirituall 189 Christ why called the Light of the World 517 The benefit of this Light ibid. c. Reasons why some hate and shun it 519 What is meant by Light of life 522 Looking-Glasses Why placed about the Lauer in the Temple 526 Lord. A name implying Honour and Power 32 Loue To loue our selues wee need not be commaunded 42 We must loue our enemies 43 The causes why we cannot 49 How our loue must be ordered 56 The perfection of it how to be discouered 57 Neuer without feare 92 How God should be loued 377 Gods loue is alwaies working 388 435 475 c. 477 It cannot be repayd but with loue 475 No loue where no reliefe 503 Gods loue seene by his delayes in punishing 513 Loue and Hate transforme a man alike into their obiects 564 Nothing more tedious to one that loues than the absence of what he loues 633 Loue triumpheth ouer God himselfe 635 Lyar Lying The World the Flesh and the Deuill all lyars 528 The mischiefe of lying 529 M Madnesse TWofold 604 Magistrates Should bee free from what they punish in others 360 457 Like sheepe-heards they should feed their flockes rather than fleece them 437 In choice of State ministers what ought to be regarded 441 Magistrates should be bold in reforming publique abuses 454 c. More heede the conuersion of the offendor than the correction of his offence 455 Two things they should specially looke vnto their conscience and their fame 526 They must be examples 527 Christ in his proceeding against the Deuill a patterne for all magistrates ibid. That Common-wealth is lost in which the magistrates and their ministers are both bad 563 They should euer haue Gods Laws before their eyes 588 Ill Rulers sent by God to punish the people 600 They should account no time their owne but other mens 631 Malice Will
neuer be asswaged 530 562 Blind and simple in all her practises 592 c. Euer her owne foe 646 Man The name of man imports three things 3 The qualitie of his thoughts 601 His pride and vanitie 2 Two definitions of him 625 Deferres his promises 159 His attributes obliuion and basenesse 3 His best knowledge is to know himselfe 4 The benefit arising from this knowledge 6 7 His onely supporter God 160 Nothing his owne in this life 251 Nor can he doe any thing of himselfe 252 The Vine of all plants most resembleth him 255 God is able to make of him what he pleaseth 256 Good men are scarce 259 Nothing so foule as man without his God 279 He is the Deuils Cittadell 285 Why Sathan is so malicious against him 291 Of all creatures the most furious if not guided by reason 329 Christs Art in gaining him 637 The Deuill not more cruell 381 425 598 Why God suffers in him so many corporall weakenesses and defects 480 c. 506 Inferiour to the creatures in all humane goods 508 His wayes are two and he needs a guide 520 608 Masters How to vse and esteeme their seruants 25 c. They must visit and helpe them in their sickenesse 31 The benefit of hauing Christ our Master 115 Meditation Like Gun-pouder 5 Meekenesse Preuailes vpon the fiercest persons 51 Memorie The true vse of it 3 Mercy See Charitie Pitie Loue. Gods omnipotency seene most in his mercy 54 The practise of mercie brings with it the greatest glorie 55 It differenceth Gods children from those of the Deuill 100 Workes of mercie most enquired after in the day of Iudgement 105 Mercie and Iustice the two Poles of Gods gouernment 108 Mercie a sure motiue to Mercy 153 Merciful men the fittest to be about Princes ib. God defers not his Mercy but to augment it 159 Not so plentiful vnder the Law as vnder Grace 165 Gods Mercy euer in competition with mans malice 260 He that would find Mercy must seeke it 387 Iudges must incline to Mercy 421 455 c. An argument of goodnesse in whomsoeuer it is found 424 'T is Gods care to worke his children to Mercie 435 Hee delights in no attributes of his owne so much as this 481 'T is the Spring from whence all his other blessings flow 496 Sometimes so great that wee cannot thinke on it but with terrour 498 Merits Vtterly cryed down 148 321 Ministers See Preachers Magistrates Miracles When to be wrought 85 324 Why not in vse now Ibid. Hypocrites fauour them much 120 c. The nature of Christs miracles 122 c. How they differed from those of the Deuill ibid. Why miracles should be desired 123 More frequent in the time of Grace than vnder the Law ibid. Prophesies more auailable 190 Neither necessarie to saluation nor sufficient 326 Christs miracles all wrought for the reparation of our miseries 430 Mirth See Sorrow The best Phisicke 167 Money The instrument of all mischiefe 274 Moores Of all people the most fearefull and why 73 Mortification If true neuer without mirth 19 20 Moses Chaire What it meant 212 N Niniue THe greatnesse of it 132 How the Niniuites shall rise vp in Iudgement against Christians at the latter day 132 O Obliuion HAth two bosomes 535 Offence See Iniurie Offerings No honour to God when hurtfull to others 366 Offices The sale of them the ruine of a Kingdome 457 Oliue Why the Hieroglyphicke of Mercy 413 What was typified by the mount of Oliues 412 Order The want of it any where brings all into confusion 441 P Paradise See Heauen Parents MVst be loued of their children 275 They must haue a care of them 226 Partialitie In all things to be auoyded 440 Most of all in Iudgement 472 Passion See Christ. Death Christ glorious in his Passion three manner of wayes 192 Punctuall in discribing it 220 It should be seriously considered ibid. 222 'T is the fountaine of our glory 193 Passion alters all properties to it selfe 532 Patience Christs Patience more staggered the Deuill than all his Miracles 55 The excellency of it 68 Once wounded outragious 356 Patience and Hope the onely meanes to bring vs to Heauen 156 Acceptable to God and profitable to our selues 169 172 A patient Eare shall reape great profit 349 Patience when most to be applauded 533 A patient man whereunto resembled 534 Patience the badge of Christs Diuinity 622 People Nothing fiercer than their furie 314 Persecution Whether Lawfull to flye in time of persecution 551 Persuasions If false the most dangerous inuasions 202 Peter Two opinions concerning his deniall 607 How it may be sayd he lost his Faith ibid. The occasions of his fall 608 His sinne like that of Adam 610 More iniurious to Christ than all his Enemies 612 Why he asked not pardon for his deniall 614 Pittie Hath alwayes a Prayer for them that need it 378 Euer profitable to them that vse it 476 Pharisees and Scribes Their wicked behauiour towards Christ. 113 Their office 112 What they were 210 Physitians Ought to visit the poore 31 Christ the best 171 177 380 Bad Physitians the Butchers of a Common-weale 177 Place Many haue often fared the better for the place in which they were 388 Pleasures Of this life altogether vanitie 186 197 Whereunto compared 410 Power Neuer to be showne but in extremitie 552 Pouerty The whole life of our Sauiour was a patterne for it 636 The poore more respected of God than the rich 30 They haue vsually the nobler minds 189 Forsaken of all 277 As necessary for the rich as the rich for them 374 Praise All the retribution that man can make to God for all that hee receiueth from him is to praise him 401 Precedents More auaileable than Precepts 214 Predestination A speciall marke of it 155 Preachers Priests Prelats Ought to haue but one Wife one Vine one Liuing 254 Their seuerall names in holy Writ 260 How the World vseth them ibid. Hot fiery spirits vnfit for this office 567 The vnworthinesse of the Person no preiudicâ— to the Function 597 Christs preaching powerfull 100 106 The office of a preacher 133 The efficacie of Ionas his preaching 139 141 The best preachers haue not alwaies the most Auditors 141 Priests are to be both Sheep-heards and Christians 196 Three sorts of preachers 213 Those of looser life to what resembled 214 Their maine aime is the glorie of God 215 The honour of priest-hood 448 A Preacher should neuer boast of his parts 468 He must reprooue boldly 471 Preaching and Practise should neuer bee seuered 527 Like Priest like People 540 Kindred the ouerthrow of many Prelats 555 Ignorant and sluggish Prelats the destruction of Gods Vineyard 253 Prayer Prayer and Almes the wings of Faith 22 We must pray for our enemies 52 Reasons and inducements hereunto 53 The excellency of Prayer 114 efficacy 144 Why God sometimes denies vs what we pray for 130 149 Prayer must be our practise in aduersitie 138 Vocall prayer
into a garden Euery mans soule is a vineyard to him selfe and he must dresse it The hasard wherunto the Vine-yard of the soule is exposed The vine hath no bounds no more hath the will of man The spouse compared to the vine Cant. 8.5 Gods absence from vs is nothing else but his conniuing at our sinnes From Gods conniuence growes our presumâ—tion and his seuerity Gods wrath the longer deferred the fiercer Trust is euer the surest tye Luke 19. Math. â—5 1. Tim. 2.7 Deut. 2â— Euery man may claim the fruit of his owne labors God requireth nothing at our hands but what is for our owne good Iob. 35 7. Micah 7.1 Ob. God is no racking Landlord Sol. He requâ—â—es of vs but a little Ezech. 33.6 7. Ministers in this world must expect nothing but hard measure Gods mercy is euer in competition with mans malice God in his punishing of man desires more his blushing than his bleeding Ecâ—lâ— 41.17 Gods Loue ceaseth not for mans wickednesse Nothing worse than a couetous man Ose 5.10 No vice more seuerely punished than Couetousnesse Amos 1.13 3. Reg. 20. No vice so hard to be reformed as Couetousnesse 1. Kings 22. Psal. 1. Gods course in punishing of sinne is to reuenge the lesser with the greater 1. Mac. 1. 2. Tim. 2. Sinners are vsually taken in their owne Snares Why the blood of Christ was not shed in the Vineyard Esay 65.5 Math. 27.6 Ezech. 28. Ezech. 16. God labours euery way the conuersion of a sinner Ierem. 6.8 Gen. 9.15 Esay 34. God omits no meanes to bring vs to himselfe Deut. 20.10 2. Kings 20. Many Christians now worse enemies to Christ than were the Pharisees 4. Kings 17.33 Gods punishments of two sorts Psal. 6.1 Ierem. 10.24 Selfe loue the ouerthrow of man Prou. 21.30 Iob. 40. Psal. 118.21 The translatioÌ„ of Gods kingdome from the Iewes to the Gentiles Esay 5. Osee 3.4 Ieremy 12.7 Math. 23.38 Eccl. 10. Prou. 2.22 Dâ—â— 6. Dan. 4. 3. Reg. 14.15 3. King 16. 4. King 9. God substracts his Blessings wheÌ„ we proue vngratefull 1. Reg. 2. Esay 22. 1. Kings 2. The distrubution of the matter This world is nothing but a mixture of good euill Prou. â— Eccl. 2 18. The wicked loue not to bee checkt in their proceedings Psal. 123. Psal. 10.12 Iob 22.13.14 Too much liberty the bane of youth Prou. 29.15 Eccl. 30. â—0 Eccl. 33.20 Eccl. 7 1â— Psal. 137. To forget God is to goe into a far cuntry Prou. 3. Iudg. 1. â—â— Psal. 38. Malach. 2. 3. Reg. 14. Prou. 3. Esay 38. Ier. 13. Lament 4. The wicked whereunto compared No miserie so great but sin will reduce vs vnto it Ierem. 17 Psal. 32. Ose. 5.4 The posture of a sinner is to lye groueling The remembrance of fore-passed felicity a great means to bring vsto Repentance Confession in Gods Court the onely way to Absolution Sinne is an offenceto God a wound to our owne Soules Psal. 25.10 Gods bountie often causeth our neglect The Angells reioyce at our comming vnto Heauen God aloâ—e must vntie the Deuills knots Esay 49. Coloss. 2.14 Diuersreasons why Christ paused vpon the casting out of this Deuill (1.) On our part (2.) Reasons on the Deuils part Psal. 126. Psal. 86. Gen. 3. Apoc. 9. Ephes. 6. (3) Reasons on Christs part Iob 40.20 Luc. 11. Mat. 12. Without confession no true comfort Osee. 13. The Deuils craft is to shut vp our mouths from Confession Gen. 39. Wis. 10.1 Dumb ministers the Deuills best agents Ose. 4.8 4. Kings 7.9 Iob. 2.5 Why God permits him to be so mischieuous 2. Mac. 3. Iosh. 2.9.11 1. Tim. 1.20 Esay 6. Two things required in euery true Penitent The iustifying of Soules a greater act of mercie than the creating of Angells Iob. 3. Luk. 16. Ierem. 1. Esay 14. Mat. 9. Mat. 12. Esay 29. 1. Reg. 2.5 Rom. 2. Esay 65.2 Rom. 10. No scourge to that of the Tongue Mat. 9. Prou. 26.4.5 The Deuills though at discord amongst themselues do yet vnite their forces against Man Iob. 41. Iam. 4 1. The word Sathan what it implyeth Mat. 1 â— No Theefe nor Tyrant to the Deuill Tyrants are euer their own torturest Reasons by which the deuill assures himselfe of peaceably possessing his spoiles Ob. Sol. Ill must betide all neutralls betwixt God and Sathan Apoc. 3. The casting out of Deuills not alwaies a signe of the comming of Gods Kingdome Acts 19.14 Wisd. 14. Prou. 5.22 Why Sathan is stiled the Prince of the world 1. Cor. 10. Luke 22.53 Apoc. 20. Luke 8. The Deuill finds no rest but where he may doe mischiefe Three sorts of persons possessed with Deuills Rom. 8.38 No creature so hurtfull to man as sinne A lesser ill to be possessed in bodie than in soule 1. Cor. 5.5 1. Tim. â— 20 Ose. 10 11. To thâ—esh in Scripture is to rule with tyranny Isa. 25.10 Esay 45.15 God is woont by weake means to confound the Mightie Christs conception in the heart is presently discouered Eccle. 30.3 Christs pedigree the noblest of longest continuance The Virgin not blessed for bearing Christ but beleeuing in him To bee the wife or daughter of a King a greater honour than to be his Mother Iohn 3.29 Nothing more fierce than the fury of the people Eccle. 26.5 Esay 61.7 Luke 4. Esay 26. The glory of Capernaum Esay 9.12 Iohn 21. Deut. 31. Rom. 11. T is naturall in all men to loue their Country Esay 61.1 Marc. 6.5 Luc. 10. Math. 11. Luke 14. Christs works of two sorts Why our Sauiour would worke no miracles in Capernaum Act. 7. Exod. 2. Num 23. Exod. 15. Num. 14. Num. 16. 1. Kings 19. Esay 65. Hier. 20. 3. Reg. ca. vlt. Micah 2. Luke 4. The nature of 〈◊〉 Admiration waits not but on things that are rare Math. 4. Iud. 9. To chalâ—enge any thing froÌ„ God as due is the way to go without it Psal. 30. Wisd. 1. Coloss. 1. Eph. 1 Esay 4â— Iob 11.7 Math. 13. Morc 6. Incrudelity a maine stop to Christs Miracles Math. 7.29 God somtimes neuer more our friend than when he denies vs our requests Mat. 26. â— Pet. 2. Luk. 12. Miracles neuer wrought but where Good was likely to ensue Mâ—th 4. The seueral conditions of Christians in seeking their Saluation Luke 9. Mark 9. Miracles not necessarie to Saluation nor sufficient The desire of honour 〈◊〉 alwaies to condemned 2. Cor. 11. God in the disâ—ensing of his fauors respects no persons Prou. 15.12 Amos 5.10 Enuie a dangerous beast Anger a sin no lesse hurtfull than Enuie Prou. 17.3 Prou. 27.4 The Nazarits base demeanor towardâ— Christ Ieuit. 4. Act. 7 Our Sauiour neuer any where so ill treated as in Nazareth How Christ is sayd to haâ—e passed thorough them We ought to pâ—ay against sudden death Sap. 4. Esay 30. God oft defers his punishments that our sins may grow to maturity Offences how and when to be forgiuen and reproued In treating of diuine matters we ought alwaies to craue the assistanâ—e of
God Wisd. 7.15 Colloss 4.6 Sin a monster and why Esay 64. Brotherly corrâ—ction hath place euery where Ios. 7. 1. Kings 4. 2. Kings 12. 2. Kingâ— 24. Ionas 1. Math. 8. Eccle. 17. Aâ—os 1.11 Charitie is to be practised towards all Men. Gal. 6.1 Iames 5. Leuit. 19.17 Eccle. 17. He that would reproue an other must first correct himselfe Prou. 24.28 Iealousie a true Symptome of basenesse Iam. 4. Ezech. 23. Proâ— 20.9 Gal. 6. Old sores must not be rubbed vp Some grow the worse for being reproued Prou. 25.20 Iâ—r 2. Gal 6. Reprehension must be guided by discretion Eccle. 28.12 Prou. 15. No â—eueâ—ge must be sought Prou. 19.28 Amos 5.12 'T is in vaine to correct a man in the heat and heigth of sinne 1. Kings 25. Eccl. 8. Eccle. 20.19 Reprehension must be priuat Prou. 22. Eccle. 41.12 Gen. 45. Gen. 4. Num. 12. Mark 1. Gods fauor towards his Chuâ—ch Mat. 18. Exod. 32. Num. 16. When the Salue can doe no good the Saw must Deut. 17. The Gospell more milde than the Law All feare and cowardise must be laied aside in the correcting of our Brethren Prou. 29. He that refuseâ—h correctioâ— shall bee oâ—ertakeâ— with suâ—â—en destruction A patient eare shall reape great profit Prou. 15. Cant. 4. The best seruice we can doe to God is to reclaime a sinner from his sinne 1. Cor. 9. Euuie the guide that brought the Pharises to our Sauiour Informers as great a plague in a common weale as the flyes of Aegâ—pt Psal. 52.5 Apoc. 16. Psal. 1â— 3 1. Psal. â—1 1 The godly looke carefully to their wayes What is â—ent by 〈◊〉 of Time (3.) The godly make vse of the Sinner for their owne good so doth not he of them Prou. 25. (4.) The wicked like the fly will be allwaies sucking as â—he botch Cant. 1. (1.) Patience once wounded turns to deadly rage (2.) Enuie hath more of the Deuils venom in it than any other vice (3.) 'T is base in any to seeke his owne credit by the discredit of another Esay 57. Luke 18 Some delight in nothing but doing euill (4.) The wicked are wholy giuen to condemne Vertue and commend Vice Esay 5.20.23 (5.) He that would reproue an other must first redresse himselfe The punishment of sinne belongs onely vnto God Esay 6.5 Rom. 3.5 4. Kings 3. 2. Reg. 11. Christ as he was meeke in reproouing so he was stout in reuenging Esay 11. Deâ—t 30. Gods protecting of his children in the old Law differing from that in the new Mat. 25. For a man to commit that which himâ—elf should punish iâ— as strange as shamefull Eccl. 20. God payes euery man in his owne coyne 2. Chro. 26. Iob. 31. 2. Reg. 12. 1. Reg 26. True zeale carries with it both lightning and thunder Hypocrisie straines at a gnat swallowes a Camell Esayâ— Many laws in a Common-wealth bring gaine to some but losse to most Couetousnes the onely God that coÌ„mands the world Acts 16.16 Leuit. 16. Traditions how far forth to be regarded Varietie of traditions Tradition the Churches perdition Chist not called Custome but Truth Our offrings are no honor to God when they harme another Two sorts of sinners the one shamleâ—ly bold The other seemingly holâ— 1. Tim. 1. Mat. â— 3. Luke 11. Iosh. 9. Osee 7. Philip 4. Caâ—t 1.5 1. Cor. 14. 3. Kings 2. Of the whole Man God most desireth the heart why To pray with the tongue only noâ— pleasing to God Ephes. 5. To the cleane all things are cleane Gen. 1.31 1. Tim. 4.4 What is vnderstood by the Heart Rom. 1. Mat. 16. Deut. 4. Mat. 22. Psal. â—1 The Heart hath many enem es all within it selfe No fowlnes to that of sin Christ refuseth no house where there is a will to entertaine him Acts 15. Eccl. 14. 2. Cor. 8.14 Chrâ—st brings healâ—han holinesse wheresoeuer hee comes Gen. 18. 2. Peter 2. Gen. 19. Ezecâ— 9 4. The thornes of Christ are the triumph of our troubâ—â—s Apoc. 1.15 Prosperitie the soules bane God is seldome thought vpon but in our miserie Prou. 20. Cant. 2.4 Two things cause a feuer in the soule How God ought to be loued 1. Iohn 2. Mat. 25. Pittie hath alwaies a prayer in readinesse for those that neede it Mat. 10. Two things required that our intercession may be efâ—â—ctuall Deut. 5. Iob 42. Gen. 20. Exod. 32. 1. Reg. 7. Psal. 34. Vaine-glorie euermore to be auoyded Malach. 4. Zach. 9. Man for disobedience shal be condemned by the creatures No creature but is pliable to the will of God Esay 10. Psal. 10â— Psal. 78.49 Psal. 148. Euen things without sence are obedient vnto God Psal. 106. Acts. 12. He that hath receiued a benefit must expresse his thankfullnes Epâ— 4. The embleme of ingratitude Lâ—c. 13.14 Why the Deuils roâ—ed wheÌ„ our Sauior cast them out Mat. 16.20 Luke 4.34 Math. 22. Two things Whereof the Iewes accused Christ. Luke 23. 1. Cor. 1. This Storie a most excellent dâ—monstration of Gods mercie Prou. 8. Prou. 2. Esayâ—5 â—5 Rom. 10. A discreet feare is better than a forward boldnes Math. 10. Iohn 5.17 Gen. â— 2 Gods loue doth neuer rest but is still working 2. Reg. 2. 1. Reg. 30. 2 Reg. 16. Psalm 78. Sap. 18. Ionoh 4.8 Reasons why Christ would thus weare out himselfe Psalm 69. Psalm 29. Esay 4. Tob. 12. Esay 40. Sap. 11.22 The great cost paiâ—es that Christ was at for our redemtion Esay 53. Deut 20. Heauen is not gotten with a Song Gen 3. Gods loue to Man in his Creation The like in his Redemption Zacar 13. Zaâ—har 13.5 Gen. 32.26 Our sins the cause of all Christs sufferings Christ the only Well of refreshing water 1. Cor. 10. Esayâ— GluttoÌ„s compared to Serpents for diuers reasons No Trauellers in this life caâ— want that which is sufficient Exod. 2. Esay 6. The Iust yet haue a double aduantage ouer the Wicked Wanton women vsually subiect to two great miserieâ— Iâ—rem 2.36.37 Micah 1.7 She lets out her selfe that she may hyre others Ezech. 16.33 Hose 2.5 Hose 2.8 Hos. 2.9.10.11 Iob 9.25.26 The first step to justification is mercy and pittie Thirst a greater torment than hungar While the Heart is aboue the starres the heele hath no feeling of the Stockes 2. Reg. 16. 16. Ther 's hope of a â—ree if it be neuer so little greene Apoc. 3.8 Ezech. 16. Ierom. 3. Christ respects not our knowledge but our Faith The leauing of sinne a sure marke of our Predestination Psal. 93. Eccles 1. Ignorance a maine cause of all our euill Prou. 19. All that Man can giue vnto God is to praise him for what he receiueth from him 1 Sam. 1. 1. Chron. 29. Two baits at which women vsually bite No doubt of Gods giuing if there bee none in our asking Phiâ—â—p 4. Iob. 22. 3. Reg. 8. 2. Chron. 2. Ier. 2.13 Iob. 15.16 Psal. 23.2 Worldly contents not â—ttained without much toyle Iud. 16. 1. Ioâ—n 2.16 The Riuers of this world are three Ob. Sol.
Symons house and Symons wiues mother c. Our Sauiour Christ had a great desire to cure her and this good Widdow had as great a care to welcome him and to serue him and her Feuer did more grieue her out of the hinderance of her seruice than the cause of her torment And Christ on the other side did accept of this inuitation more for to recouer the Sicke than to recreate himsâ—lfe The Sicke did desire more to giue him kind entertainment for to manifest her loue than to receiue health for to mitigate her paine Both their desires rested well satisfied that of Christ in healing the Sicke and that of the Sicke in seruing of Christ. And though the Angells might enuie this her care yet did she seeke to outstrip the Angels in her desire to serue her Lord. Here may we see the practise of that which Ecclesiasticus recommendeth vnto vs Let noâ— the portion of thy good desires ouerpasse thee giue and take and sanctifie thy soule c. Giue away the goods of the earth and thou shalt receiue those of Heauen According to that of S. Paule Let your aboundance supply their wants that their aboundance may supplie yours for by this chopping and changing of pouertie for plentie and of plentie for pouertie neither of both haue cause to complaine That embleme of Alciat is well knowne vnto you A lame man and a blind man met boâ—h by chance at a riuer the lame man guided the blind man and the blind man carried the lame man on his shoulders In like manner saith Chrysostome wee must succor one another the whole must cure the Sicke and the Sicke must giue the whole louing and friendly entertainment The whole house was inriched by this reception of our Sauiour the mother and the daughter by being not onely made whole but holy If giuing entertainment to an earthly Prince inricheth the whole house that receiues him with earthly blessings How much more shal their happinesse be who feast the king of Heauen God hath often notified vnto vs the great content that he takes in hospitalitie especially towards the poore the stranger That thou shouldst lodge and feast a King thou countest it a great fortune and happinesse vnto thee for honours fauours rewards follow thereupon but in entertaining the poore thou doost him this kindnesse for no other respect in the world but because he is the Image of God Hospâ—talitatis nolite obliuisci quidam enim c. Alluding to that hospitage of Abraham who thinking he had entertained strangers in his house entertained Angels And S. Austen and S. Gregory Some men say they thinking that they only feed the Poore they are mistaken for therein they feast our Sauiour himselfe Chrysologus saith That in the brest of the Blessed it is not possible there should be any desire or longing but if it were possible to haue any sure it would be that of relieuing the poore The Sonne of God hath not a pillow whereon to leane his head Why did Christ take pleasure in such a strange kind of pouerty Because thou shouldest take pleasure in giuing him entertainment When Abraham went forth to meet the three men from out his Tent bowing himself down to the ground before him who he thought was the chiefest among them he said Lord if I haue now found fauour in thy sight goe not I pray thee from thy seruant let a little water I pray you be brought and wash your feet and rest your selues vnder the shaddow of this Tree and I will bring a morcell of bread that you may comfort your hearts afterward yee shal goe your wayes They accepted of his kindnesse and thanked the good old man but he vsing none of these courtly complements in his plaine countrie fashion assured them that they were heartily welcome and that hee thought himselfe beholding vnto them that they would take such as they found Abraham he runnes me to the beasts takes me a tender and good Calfe kills it giues it to his seruant who hasted to make it readie then he hies him in to Sarah wils her presently to make readie at once three measures of fine meale to knead it quickely and make Cakes vpon the hearth The cloath is now layd bread butter milke and the Calfe which hee had prepared is set before them they fall too Abraham he in the mean while stands by and waits vpon them When they had eaten they tooke their leaue and went on their way and hee likewise went with them to bring them on the way This vertue Lot had learned from him Saint Paul commends him highly for it And Peter stiles him Iust He was righteous both in seeing and hearing Chrysost. saith That he staid waiting for these strangers in the street at the gates of the Citie till it was late in the night that they might not light into the vncleanly conuersation of these wicked Citisens So that it was late ere hee met with these Angels and adoring them as Abraham had done before he said vnto them My Lords I pray you turne in now into your seruants house And the Angells making shew that they would abide in the Street all night hee pressed vpon them earnestly and in a manner pulled them in by force Coegit illos Hee was wonderfull instant vpon them This inforced courtesie of his they afterwards fully requited by notifying vnto him How that Sodome was to bee destroyed with fire from Heauen And although the Angells made hast to be gone and to haue Lot to get him packing out of the Citie yet they deferred the punishment a while that he might haue time to warne his sonnes in Law to bee gone Lot thereupon went out and spake vnto his sonnes in Law which had married his daughters sayd Arise get you out of this place for the Lord will destroy the Citie but he seemed vnto his sonnes in Law as though he had mocked Then the Angels hasted Lot saying Arise take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here left thou be destroyed in the punishment of the Citie And as hee prolonged the time the Angels caught both him and his wife and his two daughters by the hands and brought him as it were forth by force and set him without the Citie so he was saued and the rest were burned In this vertue of Hospitalitie there are manie famous women much renowned in the Old Testament as the Shunamite that entertained Elisha and the widdow that harboured Elias Rahab who receiued the Spies that were sent to Ierico All of them being so happie in this their hospitality that it seemeth God sent them such good guests more for the good of those that gaue them this friendly entertainement than that of those who were entertained by them And if a man shall pay so well for his Lodging how much more will God requite it Symons wiues mother was taken with a great Feuer Many of the Saints