with the constant martyr Romanus How willingly his mother gaue him to the hands of the tormentor kissing him but once which was as little as a mother could doe Nee immorata est fletibus tantum osculum Impressit vnum vale ait dulcissime Et eum beatus regna Christi intraueris Memento matris Now if a man inquire into the inward mouing cause for which the world was so strangely carried away with affection vnto Christ hee shall find it to bee faith Which faith though the Scripture opposeth to vision yet calleth it a kinde of sight So faithfull Abraham desired to see Christs day and saw it and reioyced By faith Moses indured patiently as if he had seene the inuisible And by the eye of faith all the Saints since the Apostles beleeuing them that saw him haue loued him as firmly as if themselues had seene him They seeing the head beleeued of the body wee seeing the body beleeue concerning the head Namque habet fides oculos suos quibus quodammodo videt verum esse quod nondum videt For faith hath it eyes whereby in some manner it sees that to be true which as yet it sees not saith S. Austē Faith is opposed to the corporall view of things visible and to the demonstratiue knowledge of things intelligible Which knowledge is also called intuitiue knowledge Now the bodily sight of Christ in his humilitie was onely proper to them that liued in his time Though by imagination wee can likewise represent vnto our selues the same But the sight of his spirituall and glorified body shall be the reward of all And as for the intelligible visiun of invisible glory of the Godhead of Christ and of the eternall Trinitie they that see it here in twy-light shall then behold it as at noone day and loue it there with incomparable feruencie of spirit if they continue here in that modell of warmth which this life affoordeth The hope whereof how greatly doth it sustaine the patience of his absence and confirme the constancy of louing Christ vnseene when we haue so good assurance to see his spirituall body and that happinesse which neuer eye hath seene Where if he shew his fiue wounds and the veritie of all which hee did and suffered in this life what can be wanting to the destruction of that which is in part and conuerting faith into vision Meane while wonderfull is that grace which makes vs now to loue him For although the conuersion of the world the strange preseruation of the Catholicke Church the authoritie of the same Church the bloud of so many Martyrs the fulfilling of Prophecies the superexcellent learning of Catholicke Writers and Catholick Gouernours with many other vnanswerable arguments haue in a manner demonstrate the whole truth of Christian Religion Insomuch that hee which will not now beleeue without seeing wonders is himselfe a wonder saith S. Austen Yet in many ages when God hath permitted generall inundations of Gothes and Vandals of Turkes and Saracens ouer the Christian world which the old serpent hauing spued out of his mouth desired to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the woman to bee carried away of the floud or when fearefull tempests of heresie doe obscure the Church that for a time neither Sunne nor moone appeare till controuersies bee determined till ancient records bee se arched and vnquiet nouelists suppressed the safest way was alwayes to cast himselfe into the bosome of the Church that faith might support where knowledge failes and the loue of Christ continue where he was not seene Faith is the subsistence of matters hoped for and the euidence of things not seene by the firme embracing whereof in the midst of all miserable temptations and inuestigable errours the faithfull louers of Christ Iesus haue loued him whom they neuer saw neither with the eye of sense nor the eye of reason Great friendship hath there beene betwixt men which neuer saw one anothers faces yet true report of wisedome and vertue hath bred strange coniunction and familiaritie of mindes as if their soules had met together in the night when their bodies rested or because that mindes being incorporeall neede not visible presence to vnite them nor are their loues separated by distance of place Which if it be true in natural loue and humane affection how much more certaine is it in spirituall and Diuine where not onely similitude of nature combines but also vnitie of spirit If thou louest none but whom thou seest saith S. Austen then shouldst thou not loue thy selfe Neque enim teipsum nisi in speculo vides Many men there be whose wisdome will not suffer them to bee credulous their hands haue eyes and their hearts haue eyes they beleeue that which they see and they will loue that which they see vnknowne vnbeleeued vnseene vnloued But vnto the most of faithfull Christians Almightie God hath left more things to bee beleeued then knowne that there might bee place for reward For hope that is seene is no hope Euery one could not liue at that time when Christ was liuing nor see the wonders which he wrought or which his Prophets did before him or his Apostles after him Yet many will say hereafter if we had liued in those times or if whe had talked with one risen from the dead we had surely repented Indeede the Tyrians Sidonians if they had seene the miracles at Corazin and Bethsaida they would haue turned their purple into sackcloth but they had sufficient helpes and so hast thou neither knowest thou whether thou mightst be so obdurate through thine owne first wilfull negligence that the sight of Christ wold haue caused no more loue in thee then it did in Herod who defired of long to see him and not beleeuing Moses and the Prophets neither wouldest thou beleeue if one should rise from the dead S. Austen sayes hee was often tempted to desire a signe from God concerning him selfe but by Gods grace he alwayes resisted that temptation So our Sauiour taxeth the Gentleman of Cana in Galilee whose sonne was sick at Capernaum Vnlesse you see signes and wonders you will in no wayes beleeue The Atheist if he might see the Diuell he would hate him And the Idolater if hee may haue a palpable visible God hee will worship him Make vs Gods to goe before vs cry the Israelites as if things that were inuifible were not They that desire to see the holy Cittie vpon distrust or curiositie which is concupiscence of the eye or dwelling farre off greatly indanger their present estate their fame their liues and neglect their necessary functions I see not how they can warrant that action Against which S. Gregorie Nissen speakes in an Epistle of his Locall motiou saith he makes thee not neerer vnto God which is in all places And it is better to goe a pilgrimage from thy body to God then from thy countrey to Iurie for whilst wee are at home with the body wee are steangers vnto God Ierusalem is not now
selfe-loue or indolence hasting to heale their hearts before they are wounded and to comfort their consciences before they be afflicted Heerevpon they condemne all deep sorrow and lamentation as soft and effeminate or want of faith and patience all funerall rites and ceremonies as Heathenish and Vnchristian all solemne afflicting of the soule himnes supplications fasting and almes deeds which notwithstanding hath beene practised of holiest men and women in all ages In the eighth of the Actes the second verse deuote men beare out the body of the blessed Martyr Saint Stephen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and made great lamentation The word signifies extremity of griefe with beating and knocking of the breast With what extraordinary sorrow did Saint Austine mourne for the death of his mother Et libuit flere in conspectu tuo de Illa pro illa de me pro me dimisi lachrimas vt effluerint quantum vellent Lastly which is the greatest commendations of this goodnesse and softnesse of nature wee reade that our Sauiour Christ was deeply moued and did weep at the departure of his friend wherevpon the Iewes obserued how greatly hee loued him God hath created in our hearts Dulce nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this sweete name of naturall affection Which is as a sparke of that eternall loue wherewith the indiuided Trinity is enslamed Which is so spirituall and actiue that being moued it doth presently heat and dissolue the heart into passion The second extreme to be auoided is immoderation of griefe which proceeds from impatience and vnbeleefe For when men beleeue not that God is the God of the dead as well as of the liuing and of the sicke as of the whole that all things worke vnto the good of the godly then loue sayling them and their hope they sorrow like them which haue no hope And how can they haue any hope when they want the Comforter who is so called saith Saint Austiue that they which suffer losse of things temporall might bee comforted with hope of things eternall Therefore when any crosse befals them through immoderate loue of these transitory things they are infinitely deiected full of bitter thoughts of cursing and howling Desperate mourners not capable of consolation accusers of God reuolters from Religion One example for all take the King of Israell in that miserable siege and famine of Samaria how he railes first against the Prophet of God secondly against God himselfe for that is the methode and these are his blasphemous words Behold what euill commeth from the Lord why should I wait longer vpon the Lord Ecce tantum malia Domino quid amplius expectabo à Domino A true example of impatience and insidelity Likewise the Gentiles when the hand of God was vpon them they vsed to breake out into exclamations and accusations against God as in that Atque Deos atque astra vocat crudelia mater As Quiutilian quis mihi alius vsus vocis quā vt incusem Deos And Iure per mala mea per infelicem conscientiam Hence rise their funerall pompes and superstitious exequies for the dead Sacrificing of men and women in honour of the defunct ertificiall howling and cutting of their flesh ambitious Sepulchers and excessiue feasts of many daies continuance In which kind euery Nation had some peculiar vanity and superstition aboue the rest Lastly in all their troubles and calamities they captiuate their vnderstandings to their affections wayling without restraint raging against God and his creatures But Iobs lamenting was not of this kinde neither are his words otherwaies to bee interpreted then as signes of extraordinary griefe easing his oppressed heart although not without some perturbation Hitherto of the griefe and passion of Iobs minde expressed by this interrogation Quare wherefore Which is a word of sorrow not of indignation Now to the matter and cause of his griefe namely that such benefites of God as light and life should bee so blotted with miseries and vexation of spirit Although according to the vsuall interpretation these words haue one and the same sence light and life and labour and bitternesse of soule yet their proper acception and signification will affoord vs this difference of discourse All the misery of man is either labour or bitternesse of soule By labour vnderstand all that wee do with difficulty and impediment whether they be actions and operations of the mind or body By bitternesse of soule is ment all that wee suffer in our soules either immediately or from the body or any outward affliction These two diuers kinds of misery do planely and distinctly appeare in that sentence of woe which God pronounceth against Adam In dolore comedes heere is the misery of suffering In sudore comedes there is the misery of working In like manner the good things which we enioy they bee either such as guide and ease our actions which Iob comprehends vnder the name of light or those which sustaine and benefite our passions which are contained in the word Life For the first Light is of three sorts sensible intellectuall and spirituall Sensible light is either artificiall or naturall Concerning naturall light as of it selfe nothing is more sweet and cheerefull so to the spirit which is in wearinesse and toyle nothing is more tedious In the 10 of Eccle. the 7 verse Lighe is sweete And in the Creation light is the first creature that is made and first hallowed Hence is it adorned with so many Epithits in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore as poore labourers by singing do sweeten their paines for which cause S. Basil cals their singing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sauce of their toyle So the light of the Sunne doth lighten their labour and makes them more cheerefull in their worke Yet how much pleasanter is light to them that are at liberty and rest which haue leasure to contemplate the beauty of the heauens or to discourse of the benefites of light But if they bee bound to some grieuous taxe and incessant labour as the Israelites then light is but an eye-sore Whilst they see their owne vexation and how much worke they haue to doe whilst they see others sporting and themselues toyling Lastly whilst they see their misery to bee exposed to the sight of all They see youth dancing and age wooing women walking to theaters to see and to be seene Lastly they see the day distribrute beauty and cheerofulnesse to all creatures but vnto themselues vnto birdes vnto buildings to the clouds to the aire to the earth to the waters And therefore vnto them which in time of old tyranny were condemned ad lapicidiuas yet this was some comfort that they neither so much saw their own miserie nor the happinesse of others The Sunne in the creation was ordained for signes and seasons to rule the day and to shine vpon the earth but after sinne had brought in labour the sun became a taske-maister to call men forth vnto their worke as it is in
before Their bodies how much the stronger so much the longerenduring of sicknesse of consumption of death Vaine-glorious cruell dissembling rising by the ruines of others Lastly what is man-age but the Giantnesse of sinne and the power of miserie But when these ages of childe-hood youth and man-hood are worne into old age then you haue the recapitulation of humane miserie the infirmitie of childe-age the incorrigibilitie of Boy-age the subtiltie of Man-age and all these greater here then in the former Ages Here the prodigalitie of youth is dried vp into auarice pride and lust bee sinnes here out of fashion but not out of vse vndecent and vnbeseeming vices Here wisedome doateth and of power to sinne is left a will to sinne the greater torment Lastly what is old age but the store-house of repentance and obliuion the ragges of life the ashes of a lustfull body and wearinesse of a wandring minde Atque hi sunt manes quos patimur these are the miseries which we suffer in all ages sin and sorrow and folly vexation and bitternesse of spirit Hence spring complaints and discontent either for want or disease or the frustration of our hopes or some other euill No prosperitie without change and in the midst of laughter the heart is heauie What way and course of life can a man cut out wherein there is not trouble and vexation of spirit Theologie neuer so full of questions the law as full of difficulties as men of quarrels Physicke as manifold in cures as the appetite in absurd desires In Courts few prosper and those that prosper perish The Countrey makes beasts and the Citie Diuels Single life is solitarie and marriage ill company This is the miserie of life Now followes the life of Miserie Who knowes not that life and all the comforts of life they bee but increase of afffliction to those that are plunged in griefe What pleasure is there in melodie to a man that mournes And to him that is in an ague how vnseasonable is the discourse of loue and iollitie Eternitie of torment is the hell of hell so continuance or life in miserie there is the misery of misery Space of time diminishes sorrow that is past but increaseth that which is present because it weakens patience and prolongs the hope of deliuerance Therefore the Patriarch complaines that his dayes were few and euill Not euill and few For to haue a short time allotted him and yet euill dayes intermixed is more euill But being afflicted with euill yeares to haue them shortened is lesse euill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O daies few and euill briefe and tedious How it lies vpon vs beloued to lengthen them by good deeds And so much the more because the shortest of the yeare is certaine but the shortest of our life is vncertaine Let vs frustate the tenure of iniquitie and in euery age doe the vertue of the age not the sinne of the age that so not liuing after custome but after truth nor making profusion of the bloud of CHRIST that it may not faile vs at our greatest neede wee may preserue the seale of our redemption inuiolate and bee bold euery one of vs to pray O my GOD let not the end of my deuotion bee suddaine but after much mortification of heart and long consumption of languishing desires to see thee make a ripe dissolution of my flesh and spirit close vp my wearied thoughts and receiue mee to thy mercie Amen Liue sweete IESV and reigne with the Father and Holy Ghost one God c. The end of the second Sermon THE THIRD SERMON Of the loue of Christ 1. PET. 1.8 Whom you loue though yee haue not seene THAT which blessed Saint Peter commends in the dispersed Iewes of Asia Pontus Cappadocia that they loued Iesus whom they had not seene The same is the praise of all deuout Catholickes who haue liued these many yeares that being scattered from sea to sea vnder euery starre and throughout all lands yet they loue their one Head vnseene as they loue their many fellow-members vnseene Which is a singular commendation in the Daughter of Christ dispersed His espoused Church so deerely to affect Him whom Shee neuer saw Whereas the daughters of men make sight a necessary antecedent of affection and will esteeme highly of no obiect vntill the eye haue set a price of it This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though contained in the aduerbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or else vnderstood not expressed in the originall implies another loue of Christ namely as hee was visible in the state of Mortality making that to be the greater but this the harder As if hee should say You loue Christ whom you haue not seene How much more vehement would your loue haue beene if you had seene him These then be the two parts of my Text First the loue of Christ being seene Secondly the loue of Christ being not seene If any man loue not our Lord Iesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha Of all the senses there is none so proper a mediator of loue as is the sight It is the beginning of loue according to the Prouerb exaspectu nascitur amor and it is the perfection thereof whilst we desire to see that whereof we haue much read or heard Therefore we loue our eves aboue all parts of our body giuing them the names of the most louely creatures in the world as the Sunne and Moone O oculi gemiua sydeva And that which wee loue deerest wee compare it to the eye as Ocule ocelle ni and Psal 7.8 Keepe mee as the apple of an eye Now the causes why sight so much procureth loue First it is the most spirituall sense and may bee called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a corporall minde whereby we vnderstand things sensible By reason of which affinity videre is put for intelligere For this cause the mind best liketh that obiect which is commended to her by the eye Secondly it is the quickest sense and therefore doth soonest fire the affections According to that Segnius irritant animos immissa per aures quam quae sunt oculis subiecta sidelibus Thirdly it is the surest euidence and most certaine demonstration Whence by metaphor the word demonstration is drawne And therefore the fruition of eternall happinesse is called Vision Lastly it is the most vnwearied and vnsatiable sense the eye being neuer satisfied with seeing Which makes for the continuance of loue For loue hateth nothing more then mutability and fastidious inconstancie For these causes I say sight is the most peculiar Factor for Loue. Now that wee may the better vnderstand this loue of Christ which they had that saw him in the flesh let vs consider a little of the diuers kindes of loue There is a sensuall loue or rather lust which the base Iewes nor other Infidels euer suspected in Christ Iesus although hee loued the two sacred sisters of Bothania and though Saint Iohn leaned in his bosome and many woemen vsed to
accompany him therefore the malicious Iewes amongst all their false accusations durst not offer to staine his credite with the least suspition of any folly There is another loue rising from concupisence of the eye which is not lust but curiositie When men desire to see rare or strange things without any further benefite but to satisfie the eye Such loue no doubt had many of the Iewes who desired to see Iesus for his fame and wonders but with a naturall and humane loue Other loues there be whereof some bee lawfull some vnlawfull some sensuall some intellectuall but all naturall and humane But the loue which wee enquire after is spirituall and sacred yet much communicating with sense and affection For the vnderstanding whereof I must premise these I haue obserued a double loue of God There is a kind of loue which is holy but meerely spirituall when the soule being a spirit loueth the Father of Spirits in spirit abstracting all mediation of body and bodily accident vsing no helpe of imagination or any sense But considering him to bee an eternall Goodnesse Incorporeall Incomprehenble the Authour of all being and of all good Whereupon the will doth immediately embrace this obiect of Goodnesse resteth her selfe in the loue and delight thereof This loue will haue no communion with sense or any imagination drawne from sense or any affection accounting them to bee perturbations and staines of this sincere delight This religious loue is more contemplatiue and therefore in the Angels and in men of knowledge and vnderstanding nourished by vision and by discourse To this the Platonicks speake proportionably who were esteemed the most Theologicall Phylosophers They making the perfection of mans felicity to consist in this intellectuall loue and as I may say abstracted ideall delight spend much inke in blacking and dispraising bodily and sensible things calling them shadowes of things spirituall images and not substances obscurers of the vnderstanding And the body to bee the sepulcher of the soule and the affections to bee as the rebellious rogues and vnquiet multitude in a Common-wealth There is another kind of sacred loue which is placed in the affections being not meerely spirituall but making vse of all sensible obiects for the enslaming thereof Thus wee loue God whilst wee consider the excellent beauty of all his creatures giuing him the eminencies of them all and turning our affections from euery creature to burne towards him which is the Authour of all these And this is most properly called deuotion nourished by sense and sensible accidents without which no Religion of any Age or Nation euer flourished Wherefore the most wise God knowing man by nature to haue so much cōmerce with body and bodily things ordained so many Ceremonies and Sacraments in his worship And at the time appointed sent his Sonne in the visible forme of a man that Hee being Spirit and flesh both these our loues both spirituall and caruall might bee spent on him That our affections might haue something to feede on as well as our vnderstandings And this is the loue whereof the Apostle heere speakes which was in the Saints that see Christ in the flesh Which is seated in the affections and is called deuotion And surely if wee looke into the examples of piety and deuotion in all times you shall finde that the most holy and pious men were men of the most hottest affections as the Prophets as King Dauid as Saint Augustine who after their loues were diuerted from doting vpon vanity and worldly shadowes They out-stripped all men in the ardencie of deuotion as their Writings and Meditaons witnesse breathing nothing but spirit Psal 18.1 Ex intimis visceribus diligam te demine And S. Austens Workes to a iudicious Reader will plainely shew that though hee bee the most profound Father yet hee speakes more out of his heart then his head full of actionate deuotion euen then when the subiect of his Discourse is subtilty and vnderstanding Hence it is that woemen bee called the deuoute Sexe by reason of the feruencie of their loue According to that Thy loue to mee was wonderfull passing the loue of woemen Whereof excepting the mother of God amongst thousand others the most eminent examples be Mary Magdalene and Mary the Egyptian Which two holy women the one hauing seene Christ the other the place where hee was crucified they changed their lewd lusts for hallowed and incorruptible loue they washed their wanton eyes with teares And for the latter her whole flesh which had beene fired with lust shee sacrificed it an whole burnt-offering vnto God exhaling it with fasting and penance vntill her dying day Lastly deuout old age which after much dammage and losse of grace would gladly preserue the relique of deuotion they keepe it in the warmth of their affections as appeareth by their tendernesse to Religion often weeping fasting and Almes-deeds This being so naturall a ground that deuotion especially confisteth in affection and that affections are chiefly moued by sensible obiects and bodily exercise Therefore all Religions necessarily haue Ceremonies and inuitations of this kind Some profitable some necessary some superstitious For the eye as goodly Temples ornaments of pictures vestures and such like Musick for the eare See Caluin Instit q. 4. c. 10 Set times of fasting prayers offering and other outward actions The ruine whereof ouerthrowes deuotion See the Marginall note in the Geneua Bible Hither you may referre Allegories and Metaphors which bee the greatest part of cloquence in Sermons and bee nothing else but speaking pictuers according to that Gal. 3.1 Before whose eyes Christ Iesus was described crucified with in you Seeing then that these things cannot bee gaine-said How ill do they deserue of Christianity who delight in nothing so much as ruines of Churches Church Orders and Church Ceremonies They place no more holinesse in a Temple then a Schoole-house Counsell them to fast they answer they fast from sinne Tell them of sitting bare at Diuine Seruice they answere all things are vncouered before God They giue no honour to the Sacraments bid them kneele at the entring into a Church and when they receiue the holy Eucharist they answere they bow the knees of the heart They offer no other sacrifice but the calues of their lippes Insteed of Almes they giue poore men good counsell as if men could cate precepts and drinke good counsell They are affected with the sight of no sacred Monument Nay if our Sauiour himselfe were aliue they would not go farre to see him or not haue worshipped him for feare of superstition Hence comes it thar they haue so common a conceit of the blessed Virgine that bare him in her wombe that they giue so little priuiledge to the Apostles that eate and drunke with him Finally to any holy place where hee walked or any Saint to whom hee appeared They would hold it no happinesse to haue touched the hemme of his garment Then Nathaniel was vnwise who desired to see Iesus
euery strange thing hee heares of and to haue euery costly thing which he sees how can this loue of Christ bo in him He which hateth his brother whom he daily sees how can hee loue his Sauiour whom hee neuer saw When the concupiscence of the eye is waxen dimme and the faire forbidden fruit is faded Alas how will yee wish that yee had seene lesse and lesse loued that yee saw and more loued him whom yee neuer saw Behold him in his members behold him in his poore distressed membes behold him harbourlesse and naked behold him hungry and thirsty Cloth him lodge him feed him if you loue him that when you shall see him comming in the Clouds with glory yee may heare Come yee blessed for when I was hungry you fed mee when I was naked you clothed mee Which happinesse Hee grant vs that liueth and raigneth with the Father and Holy Ghost to whom bee all praise and glory euermore Amen The end of the third Sermon THE FOVRTH SERMON Of the frailty of Man 1. PET. 1.24 All flesh is as grasse and all the glory of man as the flower of grasse THIS is the echo of a cry in the fortieth chapter of Esay the sixth verse rebounding from the solidity of Peter The voice said cry Because all flesh the whole world must heare And because the whole world is so ingurgitate in the dulnesse of flesh that without a cry they cannot heare It seemes then that God will haue this cry to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à resonance in our eares which no melodie of pleasure should take away The Heathen man caused one to cry daily vnto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember thou art a man And there are two maine cries in the Scripture The one puts vs in minde of our immortality which S. Ierom saith hee heard alwaies sounding in his eares Arise you dead and come to iudgement The second of our mortality and is of necessity precedent to the former proclaimed by this Harbinger Omnis caro foenum All flesh is grasse and all the glory of man Wherefore hee that hath eares to heare let him heare 1. the common meannesse of his nature al flesh is grasse All there is the community Flesh that is the name of his nature thirdly Grasse there is the meanenesse of his nature In the second part the meanenesse of the excellency of his nature The glory of man that is the execllency The flower of grasse there is the frailty of his excellence Lastly without exception all all the glory of man is as the flower of the grasse All flesh is grasse For God hauing made all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one bloud although they haue variety of distinction yet they all meete in this ground that they are grasse I am no better then my fathers saith Elias And the Apostles make themselues leuell in the same vaile of miserie with the common people of Iconium that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subiects of the same sufferings For this cause the Holy Ghost calles the poore mans body the flesh of the rich Despise not thou thine owne flesh Now the second poynt is the name of our nature which is here called flesh The body is our worse halfe and flesh the worse of the worse for it is tender and subiect to change and losse Further the flesh lusteth against the spirit Therfore S. Gregori cals it with coÌ„tempt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this enuious little flesh By this name the Scripture calling the body or the whole man and vsing the part for the whole yet would not haue the part to bee the whole for then we should bee like the Cretians who were nothing but belly and beast or as the Israelites who seeking to fat their flesh the Psalmist saith that God sent leanesse into their soules Howsoeuer then you interpret the word flesh either of the body or of the nature and estate of man which confisteth much of things bodily or of carnalitie which is perishing of the soule in fauour of the body Of all these the Prophet cries aloud Omnis caro foenum all flesh is grasse To enter then vpon this argument which is the grassie substance of our nature did not the first man spring out of the earth and though he grew amongst the delicious fruits of paradice and had no poyson in his roote yet he continued not in honour but being transplanted into that common where we grow spred his degenerous of-spring ouer the whole earth whose seed multiplying innumerable was nourished with no other food vntill the floud came and corrupted the vertue thereof Since which time although our diet bee changed and flesh be nourished with flesh yet the chiefe of that flesh is but grasse concocted and conuerted into flesh and the flesh of men and beasts are both resolued into one dust which dust by perpetuall reuolution in the same circuit sends forth againe that aliment which sustames both them and vs. Before that iust and vniversall deluge had discoloured the earth it seemeth probable that as the dayes of man were of a greater length so the vegerable verdure of the earth was of more continuance in all habitable elymates thereof But after that calamitie immediatly in the distinction which tho Almighty established a greater portioÌ„ was allotted to the harder times the sweet seasons of the yeare were contracted and decaying Autumne the aspetitie of barren Winter prolonged Agreeably whereunto the spaces of our life were measured The yong springall soone passeth through his greene hopes and ripe manhood being straightned in the middest encroching age extends the rest in trouble and tempest vntill death There is Cruda viridisque senoctus whom the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who through the indulgence of a milde Winter besides the venorable antiquitie of their gray haires which is the uncture of wifedome and sage experience haue also fresh vigour in their bloud and actinity in their wittes and vnderstandings But for the most part the strength of these yeares is labour and sorrow for it is soone cut downe and with one blast of Gods anger they flye away So the famous Champion sighed to see his â—ere and dead armes And Helen wept when shee sawe her withered beautie in the glasse So that the Philosophy of nature doth restraine our pride comprising the progresse and persection of our life within the period of one yeare Quale gonus foliorum tale est hominum There is a time of growing and a time of fading but no part of our time passeth out of this coÌ„passe Which affordeth matter of consideration For as plants depend vpon the planots and are more beholding to the Suimne their father then the Earth their mother so that which we liue although it be supplied by an inward cause like to that power where with the earth was first indued by the creating Word yet the fauour or displeasure of heauen conferreth more to this effect then either the natiue