but if the haruest be fruitfull whole loaues lie in euerie corner of the house Before that God had inriched the earth with his presence all those former yeres were barren Grace and Health were giuen vs by drammes but that yeare came at last which crowned all the rest that blessed yere of his Maiesties diuine bountie Benedices coronae anni benignitatis tuae then was Grace to the soule and health to the bodie giuen vs by Arrob's and by Quintalls Quia virtus de illo exibat sanabat omnes Whilest the night lasteth though it be cleere and the Moone shine bright yet the light is short but when the day is come and the beames of the Sunne appeare they beautifie the whole world with their light All that time was night Nox praecessit c. Secondly The shadow still comes short of the substance The Fish-poole was a figure of Baptisme it cured one to day and another tomorrow but Baptisme healed one two nay three thousand sometimes in one day c. Qui prior descendebat He that first went downe God would hereby teach vs what a thing Diligence was for the obtaining of the gifts of Grace for albeit God doth of his owne goodnesse and free gift conferre his Graces vpon vs without any merits or deseruings of our own for else were it not Grace yet doth he not bestow his blessings on those who are not willing to embrace them which will not seeke after them and striue for to winne the Garland as those doe that runne in a race and as he that makes most speed gaines the Crown so in the Fish-poole he that made most hast got his health He that first went downe Vidisti hominem velocem stauit coram Reges Kings neuer reward lazie seruants The like course God taketh his greatest fauors he throws vpon those his seruants who set not their feet on the ground for those that serue him in Heauen he will haue them to be Spirits and Flames of â—ire Qui faciâ— Angelos suos Spiritus Ministros suos Flammam ignis but those that serue him here vpon earth he calls them Clouds Qui sunt isti qui sicut nubes volant He that first went downe c. This seemeth an vnequall Law for that the disposition of the Sicke was not equall for how could he that was benumm'd and lame of his feet preuent the diligence of that man that had the vse of his leggs and he that was consumed wasted with weaknesse him that was sick of a slighter disease And those thirtie eight yeares of this poore sicke man argue the great oddes that others had of him Nor doe I know how this inequality may bee salued vnlesse that the diligence of other folkes towards those that are thus grieuously afflicted put to their helping hand and seeke to ballance them by their diligence with those that haue lesse impediment and therefore wanting those good meanes this poore man told our Sauiour Hominem non habeo I haue not a man Some men will say That God is the giuer of temporall blessings of health wealth honour and what not and that he doth no wrong in giuing or taking them away as he shall thinke fit Suting with that which he said to the Labourer in the Vineyard Amice non facio tibi iniuriam An non licet mihi facere quod volo Friend I offer thee no wrong May I not doe with myne owne what I will So that hee might you see giue this man a disposition to regaine his health and hee might likewise not giue it him Saint Paul saith Vnus accipit brauium One receiued the prize In those your Races which were vsed amongst your Graecians and your Romans many hoped to beare away the Garland but this hope did belie all of them saue one But in that Race which we runne for Heauen Omnes qui rectè currunt comprehendunt All that runne well doe gaine it is Saint Augustines And Saint Chrysostome declaring that place of Esay Omnes sitientes venite ad Aquas All yeâ— that thirst come vnto the Waters sayes That hee animates all the world to come and drinke their fill neuer fearing that that Fountaine of Grace can euer bee drawne drie Et erat homo triginta octo annos habens in infirmitate The man had beene diseased thirtie eight yeares Hee declares the long continuance of his disease to make the greatnesse of the miracle to appeare the more as he said of Lazarus when he had now beene foure dayes dead Iam faetet Hee doth alreadie stinke and of the woman that had an Issue of bloud twelue yeares long which had spent all her substance vpon Physitions and could not be healed of any and that other which had a Spirit of infirmitie eighteene yeares and was bowed together and could not lift vp her selfe in any wise Whom some interpret to be the Deuill by those words of our Sauiour This daughter of Abraham whom Sathan hath bound Eight and thirtie yeares of sickenesse would require eight and thirtie yeares of meditation And first of all let vs consider what a sad and miserable life this poore man led Animus gaudens floridam vitam facit spiritus tristis exsiccat ossa A merrie life makes a cheerefull countenance but that which is sad and mournfull withereth the flesh and not onely consumes the outward beautie but also rotteth the bones Another Letter hath it Animus gaudens benefacit medicina A ioyfull heart causeth good health but a sorrowfull mind drieth the bones A joccond mind disposeth the body as physicke nor is there any physicke for man comparable to that of Ioy. According to that which the Wise man saith in another place Nihil aliud sub Coelo quam laetari benefacere To make a cheerefull countenance there is nothing vnder Heauen like to a ioyefull heart but by the sorrow of the heart the mind is heauie In moerore animi deijcitur spiritus another Letter giues it Frangitur a man is broken thereby and grownd in pieces as corne vnder a millstone Ecclesiasticus renders the reason of it painting forth the condition of a heauy and sorrowfull soule Sicut in percursura tritici permanebit stercus c. As when one sifteth the filthinesse remaineth in the sieue so the filth of a man remaineth in his thought For as the woman that winnoweth the corne leaues nothing in the sieue but the chaffe which is as it were farinae stercus The dung of the meale so if you will but sift the thought of a sorrowfull man which is as it were the sieue and throughly winnow his good and euill dispositions the good ones quickly runne from him and the bad remaine behind But what ioy can a man take that lieth bed-ridden eight and thirtie yeares A great griefe though but short will kill the strongest man aliue Multos enim occidit tristitia Sorrow hath killed many and though it doth not
c. What thing more naturall than to giue our heart vnto God for those generall benefits of Creator Redeemer and Conseruer and for many other particulars which cannot bee summed vp And yet the Deuill doth blot them out of our hearts and sowes in stead thereof so many ingratitudes as Heauen stands astonished therat Though therfore it be a naturall thing to loue our friend Nam Ethnici hoc faciunt i. For euen the Heathens doe this Yet the Deuill soweth a kind of hatred in our hearts so abhorrible to nature that feigned friendship comes to bee doubled malice And the world is so farre gone in this case that it is now held as strange as happy that one friend should truely loue another Hence is it that the Scripture makes so many inuectiues against false friends Ecclesiasticus saith There is a friend for his owne occasion will not abide in the day of thy trouble Salomon saith Vir iniquus tentat amicum suum i. A violent man enticeth his neighbour In that chapter of false and true friendship so many things are there spoken touching false friends as very well prooue that commandement was not superfluous Diliges amicum tuum And that which Chrysostome sayes doth much fauour this doctrine for that one of the reasons why God commanded man to loue his enemie was to affoord matter of loue to the Will for friends are so rare and so few that it would remaine idle and vaine if wee should not loue our enemies Odio habebis inimicum tuum Thou shalt hate thy enemie Irenaeus Saint Basil Saint Ambrose Saint Chrysostome Epiphanius and Hilary hold That this Law was permissiue like the libell of Diuorce Ad duritiam cordis vestri i. For the hardnesse of your heart So that a lesse euill is permitted for the auoyding of a greater And therefore Saint Austen sayth That God neuer permitted that wee should hate our enemie but his sin As thou doost hate the shadow of a figge-tree or the wall-nut and yet regardest an image that is made of the wood thereof or as thou takest the ring of a fire-pan by that part which is cold and fliest from that which is hot and will burne thy hands In like sort thou must loue thy enemie as hee is the image of God and hate him as hee is a sinner And in another place the same Doctor sayth That God put it in the singular number Odio habebis inimicum tuum i. Thou shalt hate thy enemy signifying thereby that wee should hate the Deuill but not our brother And that wee erre in this our hate for it is no wisedome in vs to hate our enemy who doth vs so much good but the Deuill who doth vs so much harme First then I say That this Law is not of God for God is Loue as Saint Iohn sayth and Loue cannot make a Law of dis-Loue Secondly it is not pleasing vnto God for the Scripture being so full of those good things that hee did for his enemies only to stirre vp mans heart to diuine Loue hee would not command vs to hate them Saint Paul sayth That the bloud of Christ speakes better things than that of Abell For this cryeth for vengeance that for pardon and forgiuenesse The bloud of a dead man is wont to discouer the murderer his wounds bleeding afresh one while it naturally calleth for reuenge another it boyles and breakes forth into flames at the very presence of the murderer another while the vitall spirits which the murderer left in the wounds returne to their naturall place and with great force gush foorth afresh But bee it as it may bee I am sure the bloud of Christ speaketh better things than that of Abell for this discouereth the murderer and that in the presence of those that crucified him prayed vnto God to forgiue them as not knowing what they did Thirdly that it was contrary to Gods intention In Exodus hee commanded that he that should meet with an Oxe of his enemies that was like to perish or an Asse that was haltered intangled he should helpe both the one the other Now hee that wills vs to be thus friendly to a beast what would he wee should doe to the owner thereof Nunquid Deo est cura de bobus Hath God care of Oxen In Deut. God commanded that they should not hate the Idumean nor the Aegiptian who according to Clemens Alexandrinus were their notorious enemies In the Prou. it is said When thy enemy falleth reioyce not at his ouerthrow For God may exchange fortunes and his teares may come to thy eyes and thy ioy to his heart And Eccl. tels vs Hee that seeketh vengeance shall find vengeance And those that haue beene possessed with the Spirit of God haue much indeared this Theame as Dauid Iob Tobias and diuers others Fourthly it is against the law of Nature I aske thee if thine enemie should bee appointed to bee thy iudge thou hauing offended the Law wouldest thou not hold it an vnreasonable thing and wilt thou then bee iudge of thine owne wrongs God is onely a competent judge In causis proprijs i. In his owne matters The rest is force and violence The Gibeonites held themselues wronged by Saul complained grieuously thereof vnto Dauid Dauid demanded of them Quid faciam vobis i. What shall I doe vnto you They replyed Non est nobis super argento auro quaestio i. Our question is not about Siluer and Gold What is it then sayd hee that you would haue Virum qui attriuit nos oppressit inique ita deleredebemus vt neque vnus quidem residuus â—it de stirpe eius in cunctis finibus Israel i. The man that consumed vs him would wee so destroy that not one should bee left of his stocke in all the borders of Israell That there might not so much as a cat or a dogge bee left aliue of the house of Saul But where reuenge is so full of rage and runs madde as it were it is good to take the sword out of their hand and that no man may haue authoritie to reuenge his owne wrongs be the cause neuer so iust and holy Elias slew foure hundred Prophets it was Gods cause but God did not giue him leaue to kill Iesabel who had done himselfe such wrong Saint Peter sentenced Ananias and Saphira but not Herod who imprisoned him and condemned him to death Dauid did not take vengeance of Shimei for feare he should haue exceeded therein as also for that it was causa propria his owne cause The Law of Nature tells vs Quod tibi nonuis alteri ne feceris Doe not that to another which thou wouldst not haue done to thy selfe Tobias notified the same to his sonne Quod ab alio oderis fieri tibi vide ne tu aliquando facias And Ecclesiasticus Learne from thy selfe what is fit for thy neighbour Our Sauiour Christ hath set vs
the Chronicles deliuereth the same vnto vs and of Adam the Schoolemen do affirme That he could hardly haue giuen all things their proper names as Saint Chrysostome hath obserued it if God had not infused that knowledge into him to call them after that fitting and conuenient manner And this knowledge was communicated to Christ euen from the verie instant of his conception by meanes whereof hee saw all things in their proper species besides that blessed knowledge whereby he saw them in God as in a glasse Of this infused knowledge Saint Iohn saith God gaue not the spirit by measure vnto him but it was without limitation for hee that is sonne and heire to his father is not to be stinted as those that are seruants And therefore it is said The Spirit of the Lord shall rest vpon him the spirit of wisedome and vnderstanding the spirit of councell and might the spirit of knowledge c. This infused knowledge was setled in others by fits not in all times all places nor so generally in all things as in our Sauiour Christ from whom it sprouted as water from a Fountaine That fountaine of the Rocke strucke by the Rod of Moses it had beene a foule sinne in the Israelites to haue searched into the veins of Nature whence these waters gushed out and not to thinke on Gods grace from whence this fauour flowed And no lesse absurde was it in the Iewes to seeke in the Schooles and Vniuersities after those veines of liuing water of that diuine learning of our Sauiour Christ which was that true rocke and not to direct their eyes towards God who is the true giuer of knowledge Lastly It was a foule fault in them to thinke that God is tied to humane meanes knowing quod Deus scientiarum Dominus est That God is the Lord of sciences and that it was the Holy-Ghost that taught and instruucted those the Prophets taking one from following the heards of Kyne Oxen and another from keeping of Sheepe Non sum Phopheta saith Amos of himselfe I am not a Prophet nor the sonne of a Prophet but a Heardsman of Tekoah And of Dauid it is said That he tooke him from the Sheepefold following the Ewes with young He indewed Daniel being a child with wisedome and Ioseph with vnderstanding to declare King Pharaohs dreame Nor was it needfull for him to draw these men out of the Schooles of Athens nor to take them from forth the Vniuersities of Greece c. As soone as euer our Lord God had discouered to the glorious Apostle Saint Paul the beames of his light he presently departed to Arabia and to Damascus to preach the Gospell hee might haue gone first to Hierusalem to take acquaintance of those other Apostles of more antient standing and to conferre with them what he should preach but this did not seeme vnto him a conuenient meanes to credit his Doctrine Nec veni Hierosolimam ad Antecessores meos to the end that the Gentiles might not presume that this his Doctrine was of the earth and not of Heauen as afterwards he told the Galathians The Gospell which was preached by me is not afterman neither did I receiue it of man neither was I taught it but by the reuelation of Iesus Christ. And the Ephesians What I receiued from the Lord I deliuered vnto you But because the Iews did surpasse all the world in passion and malice they did attribute all to the Deuill whom the Gentiles had made their god My Doctrine is not myne c. The Commentators make three expositions vpon this place My Doctrine is not myne but I haue receiued it from my father The Doctrine of the Father and of the Sonne as he is God is one and the same as is their essence nor is there any other difference more than that he hath receiued it from the Father but as he is man it is in it selfe diuers as is their nature because it is an accident and an infused habit though the truth thereof in both is one and the same Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine expound this saying of our Sauior as he is man and that this Doctrine of his was not his but of his father that sent him abroad to preach and publish it to the World And the same Saint Augustine in some other places deliuereth it of Christ as he was God but affirmeth in the end That it may be interpreted either way Saint Cyril Saint Chrysostome declare this of Christ as he is God but which way soeuer you take either sence doth signifie That Christ is the Sonne of God The second Exposition is My Doctrine is not myne that is It is not onely myne but his that sent me And this sence and meaning is founded vpon many places of Scripture wherein this Negatiue Non is the same with Non solum Not onely As for example It is not yee that speake but the spirit of the father which speaketh in you i. Not you alone but the spirit of the Father Againe Doe not thinke that I alone will accuse you to the Father there is another also that accuseth you euen Moses in whom yee trust because yee beleeue not that which he wrote of mee that is Hee doth not only beleeue in me Thirdly He that beleeueth in me doth not beleeue in me but in him that sent me In the fourth place Whosoeuer shall receiue me receiueth not me but him that sent me That is Not onely me Lastly I laboured more aboundantly than them all yet not I but the grace of Godwhich was with me The third It is not myne nor did I inuent it nor is it the Doctrine of men but of God Many Philosophers haue out of an ouerweening conceit gon a wandring and inuented new sects and strange Doctrines that they might haue the honour to be accounted authours of nouelties answerable to that which God said of certaine false Prophets They speake a vision of their owne heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord Woe vnto the foolish Prophets that follow their own spirit and haue seene nothing And it is Antichrist that shall be called Pater errorum The father of errors Our Sauiour Christ teacheth vs here two things The one That God is the Fountaine of Wisedome and that as the Earth cannot yeeld it's fruit without water from Heauen so the heart of man cannot affoord any fruit without the Doctrine of God Concrescat vt plunia doctrina mea flâ—at vt ros eloquium meum The Husband in the Canticles was willing to insinuate as much when he compared the brests of his Spouse to two little Kids Duo vbera tua sicut duo hinnuli Caprae Thy two brests are like two young Kids that are twins which feed among the Lillies pouring forth in due season their milke vnto vs in a plentifull manner Some Commentators vnderstand by these two brests the two Testaments which like two brests spring aboundantly communicating
merit it is rather an affront than an honor They giue thee an office or some dignitie because thou hast presented them with some foolish bable or other or hast carryed a shooe-clout in thy pocket to wipe such a Noble mans shooe it is an infamous Title both in the giuer and the receiuer They doe thee some fauour for kindreds sake and because thou art of their blood it is a Title of little honour to him that receiues it and of lesse Christianitie in him that giues it They preferre thee to be the Princes seruant what good does that doe thee It is so base a Title That no Noble Spirit will desire it Thou gettest thy pretension by offering thy loue and seruice to this or that Court Lady it is a dangerous pretension Thou art raised by such a Lord because thou hast serued him in his vnlawfull pleasures this is a damnable Title God conferres his fauours vpon no other Title than a mans owne proper vertue Vpon Noah But why Because thou wast vpright before me in thy generation And in the day of iudgement who are they that shall be rewarded and why shall they be rewarded Come ye blessed of my Father receiue a Kingdome For I was hungry c. Vpon this Title is grounded the reward of a good death Blessed are they that dye in the Lord for their workes follow them Not because he was an Apostle a Prophet a Doctor a Confessor a Prince a Prelat can he pretend a reward but because he was a good Christian and did all the duties belonging thereunto Their works follow them as a handmaid doth her Mistres or a Page his Master If thou wilt haue honour striue to win it Your Antients set two vessells before Iupiter The one of exceeding sweet liquor the other exceeding sower and no man could come to taste of the hony vnlesse he did first trie the gall The Romans had two Temples adioyning each to other one of Honour the other of Vertue but there was no comming to that of Honour but by that of Vertue My time is not yet come but yours is alwayes ready I expect eternall and perdurable glory but yee short and momentary in regard of mine Christ must suffer and so enter into glory But this time is not yet come for you Your time is alwayes ready That season sutes best with you that is seasoned with honours and pleasures This is the North-starre of the world All sayle by it S. Augustine in his bookes de Ciuit. Dei prooueth with great elegancie That the Romans had not any God which they so much adored as that of Honour and for the Author of this truth he alledgeth Salust Ista ergo landis auiditas cupido gloriae omnia illa miranda fecit laudabilia scilicet atque gloriosa secundum existimationem hoâ—â—num This greedines of humane glory triumphed ouer all the rest of the things in Rome and not onely in Rome but in Greece And in most of your other Nations there was not a Captaine or Philosopher which did not eclipse all the other vertues that he inioyed with the shadow of this desire of Honour This did Seneca Plutarch Aristotle and Plato pretend And Socrates himselfe who did so much blazâ—n his pouertie and seem'd to take a pride in it came to be an Idolater of Honor and Fame This pill they swallowed downe and conceiuing a kind of immortality to be lapt therein cram'd their conceits therewith making the discommodity of life dangers sweats troubles c. seeme sauoury vnto them Which is a kind of birdlime which clingeth so close to our hearts that Gods greatest Saints do complaine and bewaile the great difficulty in being loosed and freed therefro Saint August did intreat of God with teares and sighes that he would free him from this plague Domine sine secatione tentamur tu nosti de hac re ad te gemitum cordis mei flumina oculorum meorum And if a Saint so humbly minded as none more doth thus weepe sigh and groane what shall become of him that is as arrogant as hee is ignorant And in another place this Sacred Doctor saith The purer thou art from this vncleannesse the liker shalt thou be vnto God And in an Epistle of his hee saith That by how much the Moone is more full and faire in our eyes it participateth so much the lesse of the same which is all one with that of Ecclesiast The light thereof diminisheth vnto the end and groweth wondrously in her changing These words seeme to carry a contrarietie but it is not so for the Moone doth decrease to our seeming towards the end of it's waning and yet euen at that very time it increaseth wonderfully receiuing from the Sun by the contrary part a far greater light It seemed then to these kins folke of Iesus Christ our Redeemer That the Feast of Ierusalem was a fit time for to gaine much honour and therefore said vnto him Depart hence and manifest thy selfe to the world Whereunto hee answered ye desire to see me in great honour and estimation with the world expecting out of my reputation and credit to reape vnto your selues a temporall reward but I doe rather desire to see my selfe dis-esteemed of the world because thereupon dependeth your spirituall promotion Saint Bernard discoursing how the blessed Virgin Mary and the glorious Saint Ioseph went to seeke Iesus when he was lost when he was 12 yeare old amongst his kindred and acquaintance saith That many miscarry by their kinsfolks means And I my selfe haue known many Prelats of very good parts and extraordinarie gifts of whom I haue beene afraid that their kinsfolke haue beene the cause of their condemnation and casting downe into hell For it is a wofull case That for 200 Ducats pension which a Prelat bestowes on a Student hee should oblige him to run ouer all the Diuine Seruice and not to leaue out so much as any one prayer and that he should confer on a kinseman thirty thousand Ducats pension without obliging him to pray a Pater-noster or say an Aue-Mary Two bloody mischiefes come vnto vs by our brethren and kindred The one in point of precedencie Enuie working most vpon those that are brethren especially if one get the start of the other or chance to be preferred before him As the History of Iosephs brethren proueth it vnto vs who for those his dreames of his future prosperity put him down into a pit and sold him away So stood the case in Abimilecks busines who for Superiorities sake and that hee might raigne slew at once 70 of his brethren Holy king Dauid could not escape this mischiefe His brethren could haue eaten him as we say with salt to see that he should pop forth and enter into the field with that mettall and courage against that great Gyant Goliah himselfe being the least amongst his brethren And was it not so I pray with Abel and Cain For a brother
that he did him and the great reward hee bestowed vpon him Amongst other Motiues the first shall be the Title of the Crosse Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes It was prophesied That his Kingdome should take it's beginning from the Crosse Dominus regnabit à ligno The Iewes did secretly honour the word à ligno The Saints did openly reuerence it Christ had giuen great pledges in his birth that hee was à King by Angels Shepheards and Kings In his life by the obedience of all sorts of creatures Who is this whom the winds and seas obey By the voices of the Diuells themselues by the whips of the Temple and by his last Supper Here bee some standing here which shall not taste of death vntill c. In his passion My kingdome is not of this world and ye shall see the Son of man comming in power But in his death hee gaue farre greater pledges All the creatures gaue testimonie of their Creator The diuels cried out so sayes Eusebius Caesariensis Pan magnus interijt And howbeit on Pilats and the peoples part the Title of the Crosse was placed there in scoffe and scorne of him yet the diuine prouidence made vse of these liuing instruments And as in the creation he walked on the waters so in the reparation of mankind he passed through punishments and paines of our Sauiour Christ making their iests turne to earnest The same consideration being likewise to be had concerning the Crowne the Scepter and the Robe of purple which in derision they put vpon him c. Hilarie and Bonauenture both say That our Sauiour Christs Patience was one great Motiue In heauen the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost beare witnesse In earth the Holy Ghost Water and Blood All these testimonies proue the Diuinitie of Christ. But to let passe those of heauen The Holy Ghost doth prooue that hee was a Diuine person whose voyce was so powerfull when the Spirit tooke his leaue of his body that it forced the Centurion to say Vere filius Dei erat iste Truely this man was the Son of God The Water which was miraculous prooues that he was a Diuine person for it is not possible that water should naturally flowe from a dead body The Blood that prooues it not onely in regard of it's muchnesse but that it was shed with so much patience For though his wounds were many and his torments great yet like a sheepe before the Shearer he neuer once opened his mouth or shew'd the least resistance And Euthymius and Theophylact adde That the prayer which he heard him make to his Father Father forgiue them which was the first that he vttered on the Crosse did worke that amasement in this theefe That he said with himselfe Sure this is no man And thereupon began to haue an assured hope of the forgiuenesse of his sinnes For thought he he that is so desirous to pardon those that had vsed him so cruelly not onely tormenting him in his body but also scoffing and flouting at him to vexe if it were possible his soule will surely farre more willingly pardon me who being heartily sorry for my sinnes desire to become his seruant I haue heard that the Kings of Israel are mercifull but none of them all had so generous and free a heart as our Sauiour Christ. Tertullian saith That hee came into the world for to shew himselfe a God in his suffering making Patience the badge and marke of his Diuinitie And that the power which he shewed in pardoning being so great much greater was that which hee shewed in suffering It was much that he should suffer for man much more in that he suffered for man when as man would not suffer him to be God To admit a Traytour to his boord to bid him welcome to feast him and make much of him that finding himselfe so kindly vsed he may make him surcease from his plotted treasons winning him vnto him by these and the like courtesies well may a man doe this but that God should admit a Iudas to his table that he should eate with God God witting That he would goe from the table to execute his treason to sell God and to deliuer him vp into the hands of his enemies onely God and his patience could suffer so great an iniurie which made Saint Augustine to say A potentia discimus patientiam S. Chrysostome Origen and S. Ierome are or opinion That the alteration of the sunne and the elements wrought the same effect vpon the theefe as it did vpon Dyonisius in Athens when he cryed out Either the world is at an end or this man is God Vincent Ferrariensis saith That the shadow of our Sauiour Christ did inlighten this Theefe And that the shadow of Saint Peter healing bodies it was not much that the shadow of Christ should heale soules Whereunto may be applyed that of Dauid Thou hast shadowed my head in the day of battaile Petrus Damianus saith That the blessed Virgin might bee a meanes of this Theeues Conuersion by intreating her sonne that he would be pleased to open the eyes of his soule Whether she were mooued thereunto because the good theefe did not reuile Christ or whether which Saint Augustine reports though some attribute the same to Anselmus That in her iourney to Aegypt hee being Captaine of the Theeues did the blessed Virgin many good seruices being much taken with the prettinesse of the child and the sober and modest countenance of the mother sure I am that it was a happines so sole in the world consisting of such strange circumstances That no man did or euer shall enioy the like good lucke And as we cannot expect a second death of our Sauiour Christ so such a second happy incounter as this was cannot bee hoped for This Theefe came in that good time when as heauen did shoure downe mercies when there was a plenary Indulgence and Iubilee granted when God did poure forth the balme of his Blood for to ransome man when the doores of heauen and the wounds of Christ were equally open when the fountaine of liuing water did cry out in the middest of the world If any man thirst let him come vnto mee and drinke when our Sauiour had such a longing desire to see the fruit of his labors and sweats when he had put that petition to his Father which began with Ignosce illis Forgiue them And it seeming vnto him That his Father was too slow in granting his request he did thus pittifully complaine vnto him O my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why came I into the world Why was I borne in pouertie liued in labour and dyed in sorrow What Haue I laboured then in vaine Secondly it was his happinesse as Saint Gregory Nissen hath obserued That he inioyed our Sauiour Christs side and his shadow that he was so close vnder his wing He that sayles in a little Barke with a