towards such as came to him full of imperfection weaknes and ignorance and wee must receiue after a sweet manner our neighbours when they come to vs full of necessity ignorance enduring with a serene countenance their importunity rudnes and giuing eare and satisfaction to their questions and benignely instructing them in those thinges which are fit for them to be knowne by them according to the capacity of euery one and remouing the ignorance wherin they are comforting theÌ„ with the knowledge of truth and the hope of saluation and appeasing their conscience deliuering theÌ„ from vaine scruples and feares To this doth the Apostle Saint Paule Gal. 6. aduise in these words My brethren if any of you be surprised by any sinne as it happens to them who sinne out of Passion or weaknes orignoraÌ„ce and not out of meer malice and who are as it were preuented and surprised by that sinne into which they fal because they haue not well considered the ill they doe in respect whereof they are the more worthy of mercy and more easy to be reformed If any such I say haue fallen you who are spiritual men and liue according to spirit that is according to the true and spirituall vnderstanding of the Lawe of God instruct and informe well such a kinde of sinner as this and doe it not with sharpenes rigour but with sweetnes and gentlenes both of words and deedes wherin true Benignity consists And for this purpose let euery one consider himselfe and reflect well vpon his owne weaknes and danger and how subiect he is to fall as the other did and peraduenture worse And from hence he will grow to instruct and correct others with the sweetnes of mercy and Benignity and not with too much rigour and seuerity least himselfe also growe both to be tempted and conquered This in substance is deliuered by the Apostle and with great reason he wisheth him who treateth such as haue fallen into sinne without mercy and Benignity that he looke well to himselfe least he be teÌ„pted and ouercome For in very truth it is the punishment which he deserues and which ordinarily almighty God inflicts vpon such as rashly iudge and condemne their neighbour for committing any fault and as despise him for it to let them fall into the same sinne As on the other side our most piteous Lord is wont to vse supreme Benignâ—ty and mercy towards such others as vse Benignity mercy towards their weak and imperfect brethren This did that great and admirable woman Christina with great ponderation and feeling affirme when shee said There is no thing in the whole world which doth more moue Christ our Lord to vse Benignity and mercy towards men then to see that themselues are benigne and mercifull towards others and such Benignity and mercy cannot but leade them on to a happy death which will deliuer them vp to eternall life THE III. CHAPTER Of the Benignity which Christ our Lord vsed towards the Apostles enduring and curing their defects THis very manner of Benignity did Christ our Lord vse towardes his blessed Apostles whilst he conuersed with them in mortall flesh For during all that time which was the space of three yeares they were very imperfect and liued in great ignorance and by reason of their much rudnes made litle profit of the great light of doctrine which was propounded to them and of that so admirable example of the life of Christ our Lord which they had before their eyes Let vs produce some examples to proue this truth Our Lord had already wrought that illustrious miracle in the sight of his disciples Matt 15 of feeding fiue thousand men with fiue loaues of bread and shortly after another necessity offering it self wherin our Lord was pleased to feed foure thousand men with seauen loaues and hauing already tould his disciples that he would not permit those troupes of men woemen to returne home to their houses till he had fed them they conceiued it to be a matter of so much difficulty that as if it had indeed been impossible for our Lord to doe they said where can wee be able to procure in this desert such a quantity of bread as would be necessary for the feeding of such a multitude What a great imperfectioÌ„ was this in them and what a strange rudenes and blindenes of heart that hauing seen with their owne eyes that our Lord had wrought so many like and greater miracles then that they did not yet beleeue and confide so much in him as that with so few loaues he was able to feed so much people and especially considering that he had declared himselfe to haue a will to doe it and that he had wrought the like in the selfe same case some few dayes before And yet these disciples making him answere with so little faith and indeed with so little good manners our most blessed Lord did yet treate them with so great tendernes and sweetnes that he blamed or reproued them not nor shewed himselfe a whit disgusted or offended for the little account and estimation which they shewed themselues to haue of his power But passing by all this he asked them how many loaues they had and they saying that they had seauen he coÌ„manded the troupes to sit downe and he gaue them all to eate of those seauen loaues and he made the Apostles gather vp seaueÌ„ baskets full of the ouerplus and in this sorte he did by that action of his let them see their rudenes and he remoued their ignorance setled them faster in their faith And this was so great a fault in the Apostles that the confessing and publishing of it themselues after the coming of the Holy Ghost was an act of great humility in them and the suffering and curing it by our Lord with so great pitty and mercy was admirable Benignity in him So saith Saint Chrysostome It is worthy of great admiration to see the Apostles so great friends to the truth as that themselues who wrote the Euangelicall history would not couer those so great faults of their owne For it was no little one that they could so soon forget that miracle which our Lord had wrought so lately before in the multiplication of the fiue loaues of bread And Theophylact addeth thus It was not reason that they should so soon haue forgotten that miracle whereby our Lord had giuen food in the wildernes to more persons with fewer loaues of bread But the disciples were men very grosse and of meane vnderstanding which our Lord permitted to be so to the end that when afterward wee should finde them so full of discretion and wisedome we might know that it was the gift of diuine grace which caused it But their ignorance and vntowardnes being so great as wee see it was our Lord did not yet rebuke or reproach them for this fault but cured it with great Benignity and instructed vs thereby not to put our selues in choler with
necessity which they had of making recourse to strong remedies for they were sinnes which were inherited from their predecessors who had been wicked and they were deeply rooted in their hearts Christ our Lord did especially make such seuere and sharpe reprehensions when they did falsly sooth and flatter him For many times when they darted out iniurious words against him he reprehended thē not but answered them with all sweetnes shewing his humility and meekenes and teaching vs to suffer wrongs with patience But when they flattered him he reprehēded them indeed as when with counterfeit hearts they said Master wee desire a signe of thee from heauen for then he answered them thus Matth. 12. You wicked and adulterous generatiō And when they said Master wee know that thou art true and teachest the way of God according to truth For then he said why doe you tempt mee you hipocrites discouring therby that he vnderstood their hearts and that he would not pay himselfe with their flatteries conterfeit praises and teaching all the world that wee were not to take gust in being soothed nor to desire to be praised by men So did S. Chrysostome obserue vpon these wordes Master wee desire that thou giue vs a signe frō heauen Where he saith that first they iniured him saying he had a diuell and that then they flattered him calling him Master And therefore it is that he reprehendeth them with vehemency saying that they were a wicked generation So that when they affront him with ill words he answereth them with meekenes and when they flatter him with a false heart he giues them sharpe wordes Our most blessed Lord discouering to vs thereby that he was free from all passion and that neither he was put to impatience by affrōts nor that he was inueigled by flatteries THE XVI CHAPTER That is was conuenient that Christ our Lord should vse these seuere reprehensions to teach the Prelates of his Church how they should proceed against sinners and how the Saints haue been euer wont to proceed BEsides these reasons why Christ our Lord did so sharply reprehend the sinnes of the Scribes and Pharises there is yet another and it is for the instructing of the Prelates of the Church after what manner they are to reproue the sinnes of publickē obstinate and rebellious sinners which are of the more grieuous sorte and more preiudiciall to others and that they are to doe it publickly with great weight and force of words to the end that obstinate sinners may finde how wicked they are and that they may reforme themselues and that others may feare and take warning by their ill example and that all sinnes and sinners are not to bee reproued after the same manner but some gently and sweetly and others with seuerity and rigour according to the quality of the sinne and the obstinacy of the sinner the hurt which he doth thereby to others And that these seuere reprehensions which are made in punishment of delinquents must not be vsed by all but by Superiours who haue authority for the same and that the end which such mē haue must not be the affront nor the trouble of the sinner but the reformation both of him others And therfore Charity which teacheth vs to be sweet and benigne towards some kinde of sinners because that course is fit for the good of their soules the selfe same Charity teacheth vs to be seuere and strict towardes others because that also is conuenient to the and that others may be warned and they reformed Saint Gregory noteth this in these words Some offences are to be reprehended with vehemency to the end that the delinquent who of himselfe perhaps vnderstāds not the grieuousnes of his sinne may come to finde it by the wordes of him who reprehends and that he may growe to feare the committing of that sinne which he thought to be but light by the very seuerity wherwith it is corrected And it is the duty of the Superiour to correct with great seuerity those offences of their subiects which are not gently to be endured but he must not doe it out of anger but out of a holy zeale for feare least if he correct not faults as he ought himself grow to be faulty and that the punishment which was due to the offences of his subiects doe fall vpon himselfe through his negligence And the same Saint saith in another place that their sinnes who haue not lost shame are to be reprehended after another sorte then theirs who haue lost all shame For seuere reprehēsion is necessary for the reformation of them who are growne impudent but such as are still ashamed of their sinnes are vsually better reformed by some milde exhortation This stile of seuerely reprehending the more griouous and pernitious sorte of sinnes which haue been cōmitted by the powerfull men of this world and by the false guide of soules hath been obserued by the auncient Saints who were mooued to it by the Holy Ghost and the Saints also of the Euangelicall Lawe haue vsed the like being instructed by the example of Christ our Lord though it be true that these later haue obserued it with greater moderation and more mixture of suauity then the former for so the Lawe of grace requires The Prophet Nathan 2. Kings 12. chap. reproued Kinge Dauid and hauing first propounded him a parable he concluded saying Thou art that man who hath cōmitted so great wickednes as to take the wife of another and for this sinne the sword shall neuer faile to hang ouer thy house as a punishment both of thee and thy descendents The Prophet Elias 2. Kings 18. chap. hauing heard that imputation which King Achab layed vpō him in these wordes Art thou that man who troublest Israel did reproue him for that wickednes which he had committed against God and his Prophets and made answere to him after this manner I am not the man who trouble Israell but thou and the house of thy Father are they who trouble it because thou hast forsaken the lawe of our Lord. The Prophet Elizeus 4. Kings 3. chap. reprehending the sinnes of King Ioram who was in company with Kinge Iosaphat when he desired the Prophet to obtaine of God that he would send downe water to the army for that it was ready to dy of thirst made him this answere What hast thou to doe with me goe to the Prophet◠of thy Father and of the mother and if it were not for the respect of Kinge Iosaphat who is present for my part I would not so much as looke vpon thee The man of God who was sent by him to Samaria 4. Kings 13. chap. and found King Ieroboam who was in Bethelle offering sacrifice vpon an Altar like a Priest did addresse his speech as to the Altar and thereby reprehended him after this manner A sonne shall be borne of the house of Dauid called Iosias and he shall kill those Priests vpon thee who are now offering incense
all that which may giue him any disgust or paine And so Benignity falls out to be the act and exercise of Charity with that perfection which wee haue declared and interiourly it embraceth the act of beneuolence and loue and exteriourly the exercise of beneficence liberality affability and of all sweetnes in conuersation It is also one of the fruites of the Holy Ghost For an act of vertue in regard that it proceedeth froÌ„ thence and giueth gust to him who performeth it is called a fruite and therefore Benignity being an act of Charity and causing delight in him by whom it is possessed is accounted amongst the fruits of the Holy Ghost All this is confessed by the Saints when they speake of Benignity Saint Isidorus saith That man is said to be Benigne who doth good with a good will and vseth sweetnes in his wordes And Saint Anselmus declaring what Benignity is saith thus Benignity is a good affection of the will a serenity of heart in vertue whereof a man doth for Gods sake giue all he can after a gratious and cheerfull manner and discourseth and conuerseth gently and sweetly with his neighbours And Saint Thomas explicating the nature of Benignity saith that it is the very sweetnes tendernes of Charity which spreads communicates it self exteriourly that as natural fier doth melt mettel make it flow so the fier of loue which is Benignity maketh a maÌ„ scatter what he hath towards the succour of the necessities of his neighbours This is that which the Saints say of Benignity and the summe of it all is this that it is the tendernes of Charity which doth not only communicate a mans exteriour goods to his neighbour but together with them it communicates his owne very bowells which is to discouer both by wordes and workes the dearnes sweetnes of Charity The Apostle declareth this by saying Charity is Benigne Which signifieth that it makes the man who possesseth it not to be straight handed but apt to communicate his goods and not to be harsh or bitter but that he communicate euen his very hart by conuersing with all men after an affable and sweet manner And to giue vs to vnderstand this truth the holy Scripture doth by one the selfe same Hebrew and Greeke word which signifieth Benignity in doing good signify also a softnes and sweetnes in the manner of shewing mercy And so whereas Dauid saith Our Lord is sweet towards all another letter saith Our Lord is benigne towards all And whereas he saith That maÌ„ is gentle sweet who sheweth mercy another translation saith The man who sheweth mercy is Benigne And therfore S. Basil when he would explicat what it was for a man to be Benigne saith that it is he who doth liberally enlarge himselfe to doe good to all such as are in necessity And he confirmeth it by that Psalme which saith Our Lord is benigne towards all and by that other which also saith That a man is Benigne who sheweth mercy and imparteth his goods to such as are in necessity In this Benignity did Christ our Lord instruct vs and perswade vs to it by many examples Mysteries of his holy life which wee wil eÌ„deauour to declare The first and principall Mystery wherein he discouered his Benignity was that of his Incarnation In that the most high sonne of God was pleased to become a naturall man to appeare visibly in the world in mortall flesh obnoxious to the miseries and penalties of other men and in that he did all this to doe good to man and to draw him to his loue and so to saue him not onely did he discouer an immense loue towards vs but a loue which was also most sweet and dear And not onely did he communicate his blessings to vs but he also did it with supreme liberality and gust and ioy of his owne sacred heart And together with his blessings he communicated to vs his very selfe namly his body his blood his blessed soule and his diuinity and all that which he hath yea and euen all that which he is he communicated to vs by many admirable mysterious waies This did the Apostle signify by saying WheÌ„ in the time of grace the Benignity immeÌ„se loue of our God and Sauiour to man did manifest it selfe to the world he saued and freed vs from our sinnes not by the title of Iustice and the merit of our workes which were not of any valew without Christ our Lord for the arriuing to that end but through his owne great mercy and most gratious bouÌ„ty and by meanes of that sacred Lauatory which is holy Baptisme whereby wee are engendred a second time to be the sonnes of God and renewed by a spirituall generation renouation which is wrought by the holy Ghost which Holy Ghost the eternall Father hath by meanes of his gifts and graces infused and coÌ„municated to vs in great abundaÌ„ce through the merits of Christ our Lord to the end that being iustified through the grace of the same Lord wee might from this instant become heires of eternall life which now wee hould by certaine hope and which hereafter wee shall haue in actuall possession This is deliuered by Saint Paule And Saint Bernard vpon these words declaring that Benignity of God which was discouered in this Mystery discourseth thus Before the humanity of Christ our Lord appeared in the word the Benignity of God was hidden from vs. There was already in God this Benignity mercy which in him is eternall but so great Benignity as this was not knowen before nor was there any meanes how to to know it And although it were promised by the Prophets yet men vnderstood it not and felt it not and many did not so much as beleeue it But when that time arriued which had been ordained by the diuine wisedome Almighty God came in mortall flesh and being vested with his sacred Humanity and appearing to the eyes of our flesh blood his Benignity came to be made knowne for by no meanes could he more haue manifested his Benignity then by taking our flesh and by no meanes could he more haue declared his mercy then by vndertaking our misery Let maÌ„ consider and vnderstand from hence how great care God hath of him and how much he esteemeth him and for how mighty an end he made him since he did and suffered so great thinges for him And thus by this Humanity wee may know his Benignity for how much the lesse he became by his Humanity so much the greater doth he shew himselfe to be in bounty and by how much the more he abased himselfe for vs so much the more amiable doth he shew himself to vs. This is said by Saint Bernard and so it is a most clear truth that nothing hath made so great discouery â—o vs of the bounty and Benignity of God nor hath moued obliged vs so to loue and praise him as for that he hath
corrupt intention OVr Lord shewed great Benignity in yeelding so liberally and sweetly to all that which the persōs who came to him desired of him with good intention and true desire of finding remedy by his meanes but he discouered it much more in yeelding liberally to that which was desired of him with a corrupt minde and with a meaning to calumniate him and to drawe some word out of his mouth or to note some action wherby they might defame him and condemne him to death There came to him a man of the Lawe Luc. 10. after a counterfeit manner to tempt him and he asked him what he was to doe for the obtaining of eternall life but our Lord did not discouer his treachery nor reprehended his wickednes but graunted that which he desired instructing him with wordes full of sweetnes concerning the truth of what he was to know and doe for the obtaining of eternall life There came a Pharisee to him Matth. 22. who was learned in the Lawe to aske him which was the greatest commaundment of the Lawe and he came with a malitious minde and not with a desire to vnderstand the truth but to finde matter whereof to accuse him And yet he without shewing any feeling or disgust either in his countenance or wordes did answere to the questiō with much facility suauity and he taught him the truth The Pharisees did often inuite him to eate with them Luc. 7. 11. Matth. 22. not with charity but with a peruerse and malitious intention which was to see if he did or said any thing which might be taxed and finding nothing whereof they could take hould wherewith to hurt him they procured to serue themselues of his piety and religiousnes towardes the making good their ill purpose and therefore they inuited him vpon their Sabboth daies and would place sicke persons before him to the end that curing them vpon the Sabboth they might accuse him for not obseruing it And our Lord knowing the malice and wicked intention wherewith they inuited him did not yet excuse himselfe from going but with great facility graunted the suite they made accepted their inuitation and he went to their houses and did eate with them and comfort them by his presence illuminate them by his doctrine and edify them by his example And though he vsed most exact temperance in eating and drinking yet to accommodate himselfe to them to shew himselfe affable and benigne towards them he fed vpon those ordinary meats which they vsed And euen this was a proofe of his very vnspeakeable Benignity that coming into the world to suffer for man and carrying such an intense loue towards the Crosse and such a most ardent desire to abstaine from all earthly comfort and regalo and to take all that to himselfe which was most painfull and grieuous that so he might suffer the more for man and satisfy the diuine Iustice more perfectly and discouer and exercise that loue so much the more which he carryed both to the eternall Father and to the whole race of mankinde yet neuertheles he did in many things remit much of this rigour at some times and did both in his feeding and cloathing serue himselfe of ordinary and vsuall things so to shew himselfe more appliable and sweet towards them with whō he conuersed and fed to make himselfe more inuitable by all men and to giue them all the greater hope of their saluation So saith the venerable Abbot Euthymius It was fit that our Lord who came to take away finne should be benigne and sweet and that he should accommodate himselfe to the weakenes of men to gaine them for heauen as he did and for this cause he went to the table of sinners and fed vpon their meates though he did it in a most temperate and religious manner as it becometh holy men to doe And although at times he condescended thus to the vsuall custome of men for the winning of them he did not for all this giue ouer his manner of austere and painfull life which he also exercised at certaine times as namely during those forty daies which he fasted in the desert This was said by Euthymius wherby it is cōfirmed that so to admit of the inuitatiō of sinfull people and especially such as did inuite him with a malitious minde as if it had been but to eate with them was a worke of supreme Benignity whereby he shewed his most sweet loue in the strength whereof he had a meaning to cōfort and saue all the world Especially he shewed this vnspeakeable Benignity in the time of his Passion For being in the house of Caiphas Matth. 23. Luc. 22. before that Councell of vniust Iudges they asking him whether he wore Christ and the Sonne of God or no our Lord seeing that they asked it not with a desire of knowing the truth or for the doing of Iustice but onely from his answere to take occasion of blaspheming him and condemning him to death and accusing him to Pilate to the end that he might execute that vniust sentence which they had giuen against him And obseruing that by reason they were so wicked so vaine and proud they were most vnworthy of any answere yet neuertheles that soueraigne Maiesty of Christ the Kinge of glory refused not to giue them answere and disdained not to speake to them but in very modest wordes was content to declare to them who he was by saying thus Herafter when my Passion is at an end the Sonne of man shall be sitting at the right hand of the power of God which was as much as to say that he was to raigne discouer his power and authority as he was God coequall to the eternall Father And they enducing another question hereupon saying Therefore belike thou art the sonne of God he answered also to that saying your selues say that I am so which was to answere truth but with very modest and humble words whereby though he gaue to vnderstand that in very truth he was the Sonne of God yet he affirmed it not expressely as it was fit not to doe to such as would not profit by it though the answere had been more expresse cleer And by answering them after this manner he also shewed his inclination to answere them more plainely and directly to what they asked if they would haue knowen the truth to haue beleeued it And this he signified by saying If I tell you what you aske you will not beleeue mee and if I aske you any thing to the end that I may teach you truth you will not answere mee Our Lord by answering these questions which were asked by Iudges so wicked so cruell and so vndeseruing of any respect at this hands did shew how free his heart was from all passion and choler since he answered with so great serenity peace of minde and therby he preuented that aspersion which they would haue cast vpon him if he had been wholly
the tempest he began with teares to recommend himself to Christ our Lord and to beg remedy at his hands He passed in this anguish six whole daies without eating any thing and still continuing in this affliction Christ our Lord appeared to him in great brightnes and beauty and comforted him and fed him and commaunded him to cut the mast which was the ordinary remedy wherof the ship seemed capable in that extremity For though our Lord was resolued to deliuer the poore man yet he was pleased withall that he should also do his part He put himselfe therfore to cut the mast and because he alone was not able to doe it the Angells of heauen helped him in it When this visit was at an end and the man had disposed himselfe to sleepe our Lord came againe and appeared to him and gently touching his eare with his hand and gently pulling it he waked him and required him to goe about the doing of those things which were necessary for his nauigatiō and in that which himselfe could not doe he had the assistance of the Angells Another time he appeared to him sitting in the pupp of the ship where the sterne is wont to be letting him see that it was he who gouerned her The good man came to the feet of our Lord and perceiuing that he vouchsaffed to be so familiar and Benigne towards him that he did so cherish and inuite him to himselfe he tooke great courage and confidence and bent his head downe sometime towards his sacred feet and sometimes reposed it in his bosome Our Lord departed then hauing both by word and deed affoarded those great fauours and regaloes of so great Benignity to this old Catechumenus And the ship being directed and conducted by the fauour of heauen sailed three and twenty daies by sea and and passing by Africke and Sicily and by the Faro of that Iland he came at last to the coast of Lucana which is the lower part of Calabria There the inhabitants did receiue him and were all eye witnesses of the miracle seeing him come safe in a ship which was all defeated without sterne or men to gouerne her From thence they conducted the old man to Saint Paulinus who receiued him with great loue and baptised him and whereas first his name was Valgius he called him now by the name of Victor And the Saint affirmes that this was a very well conditioned and a sincere innocent kinde of man and that he would recount this benefit and apparition of Christ our Lord with so great tēdernes and deuotion that whosoeuer heard him could not choose but weepe from the heart By this example and many others ouer which I passe for breuities sake Christ our Lord hath discouered that the Benignity and and sweetnes of his condition which he vsed towards miserable mē whilest he liued in this world in mortall flesh is still conserued by him and still he vseth it towards such as will profit by it THE XIII CHAPTER Of the Benignity and curtesy of speech which the holy Apostles vsed in imitation of Christ our Lord. THis Benignity of speaking in sweet ciuill words which was vsed by Christ our Lord towards men he commaunded his disciples in the Ghospell that they should also vse towards their neighbours And so when he sent them to preach to the people of Israell he commaunded that as soon as they were entring into any house they should instantly salute them who were in it saying peace be to this house desiring and begging of God the most holy gift of peace for them all And this was to teach them that they were to be curteous and affable and benigne to all them with whom they conuersed The Apostles obserued this order very exactly S. Peter the Prince of the Church called the wicked Iewes his Brethren who had crucified our Lord saying Act. 23. Brethren I confesse that you did it by ignorance doe penance and you shall be forgiuen And such as were conuerted he called his fellowes and equalls 2. Pet. 1. in the faith and grace of Christ our Lord. And the great Euāgelist Saint Iohn called the faithfull his much beloued children And writing to a Christian woman called Electa he saith in the letter to the Lady Electa and her children whom I truly loue And writing to another Christian called Caius he saith to my much beloued Caius whome I doe very truly loue But what then shall wee say of Saint Paule With what Benignity with what curtesy and good māners and with what regalo did he speake to all men For speaking to the Iewes who still continued in their infidelity he saith Act. 13. Men and Brethren and the sonnes of Abraham to you was that word sent from heauen which giueth saluation And speaking to the Christians who had been conuerted from gentility he saith Philip. 4. My brethren much beloued and much desired who are my ioy and my crowne And in another place he saith 1. Tim. 2. You are my hope my ioy and my glory And speaking to Kinge Agrippa who was a wicked Prince by nation a Gentile and by sect a Iew he made him an exordium full of estimation curtesy and good fashion saying I bold my self happy ô Kinge Agrippa in that I am to defend my selfe before thee concerning those thinges whereof I am accused by the Iewes especially since thou knowest the customes and questions which are amongst them and therefore I beg thy patience in hearing mee By these few wordes so full of diuine sweetnes and eloquence he made him so propitious and gained so farre vpon his good will as to make him gladly and with great attention giue eare to a discourse and sermon full of diuine mysteries And speaking to Festus the Iudge a Gentile and an Idolater hauing heard this word of iniury from his mouth Paule thou speakest like a madd man too much learning hath put thee out of thy wits for him selfe being blind vnderstood nothing but earthly thinges and so the mysteries of heauen which S. Paule expressed seemed madnes to him he answered thus Most excellent Festus I am not madd the wordes which I haue spoken to thee are full of sobriety and truth What admirable Benignity was this not to be offended or disgusted nor a whit altered by such a great affront as it was to be called mad man and to answer with so great serenity of minde and so great sweetnes of wordes so full of curtesy and good manners as to call him good or Excellēt who was an impious Idolater and he might say so too with truth for although he were not Good or excellent in his Religion nor in that kinde of vertue which maketh a man iust in the sight of almighty God yet he was very vertuous in conuersation and morally vertuous and so vsing a word of a double signification in a true sence he honoured him as much as he could yet still speaking truth The Apostle did much declare his Benignity
if he had said Behould here a man truly good not dissembling or counterfeit but that vertue which he sheweth in his exteriour fashion and publicke conuersation which is subiect to the sight of men is possest by him in the secret most interiour part of his heart which is seen by Almighty God This was a true and moderate praise and much good grew to Nathaniell by it for therby he vnstood that Christ our Lord knew the secrets of his heart and he was certified of it so much the more by the further answere of Christ our Lord. For saying to him where knew you mee he answered I sawe thee when thou wert vnder the sigtree It should seem that Nathaniell had retired himselfe vnder that tree to pray or to doe some other good worke and so he inferring thereby as a wise man might well doe that Christ our Lord knew all thinges he beleeued perfectly in him and tooke him for his Master Let vs deliuer another example of the same truth Christ our Lord Luke 19. came into the house of Zaccheus the Publican and he mooued him by his wordes and by his presence to so great pennance and change of life that not onely he resolued to giue ouer all those sinnes into which he had fallen to restore all that to the restitution wherof he was obliged but to render it foure fould thereby giuing satisfaction for the fault he had mitted by voluntarily vndergoing the paine which the lawe imposed vpon such persons as tooke away the goods of others and besides all this he gaue halfe his substance to the poore Christ our Lord perceiuing so good beginnings of a holy life in Zaccheus did praise him by saying of him to the standers by This day is true saluation wrought in this house For the Master and owner of it is already a true sonne of Abraham not only now by the extraction of flesh and blood but by the imitation of his faith and vertue In this sorte therefore did Christ our Lord praise Nathaniell who was a new beginner in his schoole of vertue and good life and so also did he praise Zaccheus And the praise was true and moderate it did no more then declare in plaine wordes that the one of them was a man truly good and the other truly penitent by meanes of these words he strengthned and encouraged them both to perseuer and grow in the good course which they had begunne But not only did Christ our Lord praise them who had good intentions who were truly good and vpright and well meaninge soules as Nathaniell already was before and Zacchaus was growne to be but he approued and praised also that good which was said or done by such as came to him euen with an ill minde There came a man Luc. 10. who was learned in the Lawe to tempt him asking what he was to doe for the obtaining of eternall life Christ our Lord demaunded of him how it was written in the Lawe He answered It is written that thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbour as thy selfe Our Lord thē said to him by way of allowing praising what he had formerly said Thou hast answered well doe as thou hast said and as the Lawe commaundeth and thou shalt obtaine euerlasting life There came another time a Pharisy to our Lord Mat. 22. Marc. 12. in name of all the rest to see if he could draw some such answere from him as whereby he might calumniate him and he asked him which was the greatest commaundment of the law And Christ our Lord hauing answered him that it was to loue God with all the heart the Pharisy approued the answere of our Lord and added thereunto these words that to loue God with all the heart and the neighbour as ones selfe was a better worke and more acceptable to God then all the Holocausts and other Sacrifices of the Lawe Then our Lord liking the speech of this man did praise him saying Thou art not farre from the kingdome of God Which is as much as to say Thou art not farre from beleeuing and obeying the Ghospell and obteining true saluation For the knowing of a diuine truth so important and the approouing it by the supernaturall gift of God was a disposition for the being conuerted to him and to acknowledge Christ himselfe who was sent into the world to saue it Christ our Lord if he would haue encreased his Iustice vpon these two learned mē in the Law might haue seuerely reprooued the ill mind wherewith they were come to him and he might haue discouered the craft and malice which they carryed in their hearts for so also they would haue vnderstood that he knew all things and thereby he might haue put them to confusion and shame Yet this he would not do but he heard them with admirable meekenes and answered their questions with supreme Charity And he approoued that which they had said well though it were very little and very imperfect and he praised it with strange Benignity that so he might remooue that peruersenes of minde from thē which they brought to him and encourage them to encrease in the knowledge and loue of truth till at length they might grow subiect to it And so by this true Benignity he changed their hearts and sent them bettered from him and he taught vs withall that not only we are to praise good men for the true vertue which they haue but that we may also praise with moderation euen in imperfect and wicked men the good they doe or say to the end that they may growe to take affection to vertue and may so detest and driue out of their hearts the wickednes which they haue and goe encreasing in the good way begunne as also to gaine their good will to make them beneuolous and kinde which is a very good disposition towards the inducing them to receiue in good part the doctrine which we shall deliuer and the reprehensions which we may haue cause to vse And therefore Saint Gregory aduiseth that when they who are endowed with authority and wisdome for this purpose reproue sinners who are pusillanimous weak they shal do wel to mingle some sweetnes of praise the sharpenes of correction that so they may the better admit of the doctrine and reproofe which is giuen them The Saint expresseth it in these words Wee shall better drawe such sinners as are not peruerse proud but weake and poore of heart to the way of heauen if whilst we reprehend the euil thinges which they haue done wee ioyntly praise those good thinges which wee know to be in them to the end that by this meanes such praise may confirme and strengthen thē in their weakenes who were humbled by that reproofe Thus did S. Paule proceed with those Christians of Thessalonica For they hauing fallen into the fault of giuing credit to certaine false Prophets who taught thē that the day of iudgment
was then to come very suddenly whereby they were put into much disorder and trouble before he reprehended this lightnes of theirs he praised them saying 2. Thess 1. Wee must giue many thanks to God for the great encrease of yours faith which is growing euery day and for the encrease also of your fraternall charity which aboundeth its euery one of you and encreaseth daily both by your louing and doing good to one another But when he had praised them in these other words he benignely reprehendeth them saying chap. 2. Wee beseech you brethren by the coming of Christ our Lord to iudgment and by the glorious and blessed vnion which wee are all to haue together at that day that you depart not so easily from giuing credit to vs and from hauing the true sence of those thinges which you haue learned of vs and that you be not troubled or frighted by what others tell you and in a word that none may haue power to deceiue you By this diuine artifice the sacred Doctour of the nations did reprehend them when first he had comforted and encouraged thē by recording that vertue which he knew to be in them and the good opinion which he had of them to the end that hauing cōpunction to see that they had failed of the good which they had begunne they might the better accept of the reproofe he gaue them and so might reforme themselues thereby THE XIX CHAPTER How wee must praise vertue for the making it be more esteemed and of the examples which Christ our Lord gaue vs to this purpose WEe must also praise the vertue of good men to declare how great a good that is and how that which seemeth little and of meane value in the sight of mē is indeed very great and hath a most high reward in the sight of God to the end that other men may esteem greatly of it and carry much affection to it labour hard to acquire it Let vs deliuer some examples hereof Saint Peter Matt. 16. confessed to Christ our Lord that he was the true Sonne of God saying Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God It seemed a small matter and of no merit that Saint Peter hauing conuersed so long with Christ our Lord seen with his owne eyes so great and so euident miracles and heard such doctrine contemplated such an exāple of life that he should piously incline his heart to belieue that he was the true Messias the naturall Sonne of God For this did not cost him the shedding of his blood nor the tormenting of his body with affliction and penance but only to produce a pious affect of the will and to performe an act of obedience in the vnderstanding But Christ our Lord praised him and gaue testimony that this inward act of his was of supreme value and estimation in the sight of Almighty God and that on earth he should receiue admirable fauouurs from God for the same that in heauen he should enioy an immēse reward of glory And that frō that instāt he might begin to be happy by that certen hope and pawne which was giuen him of that infinite good which he was afterward to possesse and enioy during all eternity All this he declared by saying Blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Ionas for men who are made of flesh and blood were not able with al the humane wisdome they haue to teach thee this truth My celestiall Father it is who hath reueiled it to thee vpon thee will I build my Church and to thee will I giue the keyes of the kingdome of heauen By these words Christ our Lord praised by faith and deuotion of Saint Peter and declared to the world of how soueraigne value before Almighty God and how richly to be rewarded with celestiall and eternall blessings one single act of vertue may be which is performed by a iust mā though it be easily produced and in a short time and how little soeuer it may cost and especially an interiour act of liuely faith which a iust man hath no difficulty at all to performe Christ our Lord being in the Atrium of the Temple Marc. 12. Luc. 21. behoulding thē who were easting almes into the chest which was to serue for the reparation of the Temple for the maintenance of the Priests and for the relief of the poore amōgst the rest of them who cast in their almes which without doubt was then done both by many and in plentifull manner for it was neer Easter at which time there came much people to Ierusalem from all parts there cometh a very poore widow and casteth into the chest two of the least little peeces of money or mites Our Lord seeing her and being pleased to praise her much for the act which shee had done and the almes which shee had giuen called his disciples and pointing out the woman said thus to them This widow hath cast a greater almes into the chest and made a greater present to the Temple then all the rest who haue giuen almes this day And our Lord shewed diuers reasons why shee had giuen more then any of them First because in proportion of her poore condition it was more for her to giue a mite then for others to giue store of crownes And because the rest gaue the almes out of that which did aduance beyond their necessary maintenance and that they gaue not all but a part therof but this widow gaue that which was necessary to her selfe and shee gaue it all But the principall reason which he was pleased to signify vnder this was for that shee gaue her almes with a greater affection and desire to giue and with more ardour of charity then al they which he declared by her hauing giuen all that she had being in precise necessity thereof for her owne reliefe In this sorte did Christ our Lord praise the almes of this poore widow and by praising her he manifested to all the children of his Church how highly the good worke of a iust person is valued in the sight of Almighty God the great account he makes therof and how he will reward it in heauen and how he meanes not to giue the reward according to the quantity of the worke but according to the good will and loue of God and our neighbour wherewith it is performed He will also haue vs learne frō hence first to esteem greatly of the good works which our neighbours do how litle soeuer they may be and and approue them and praise thē before men for their edification and much to value those good men who doe them though they be poore of meane condition and estate since God who sees their hearts doth prize them much And secondly he will haue vs learne by this to be animated towards the doing of good works and to exercise the acts of Religion and charity with much affection and desire to please God and to doe more then wee doe although