all Arts either Liâ—â—rall or Mechaniâ—all we giue 〈◊〉 â—redit to them that are therein most eminent As to the best Diuine the best Physitian the best Lawyer and to him that is our best friend because we are fully persuaded that he will not deale doubly with vs but deliuer vs the very truth and represent things as they are In the saluation of the soule we will not beleeue our Sauiour who is the best Artist and our best friend but the diuell the world and the flesh which are our three mortall enemies The first being the father of lyes the first cause and first inuenter of them that is to say Ex proprijs loquitur out of his owne Mynt he coynes them the other two haue inherited and professed lying time out of mind fiue thousand yeares agoe and vpward If it be not as I tell you tell me I pray when did the world treat truth Salomon stiles it Diuitem mendacem A rich lyar As for the flesh when did that euer leaue off to lye it was one of Sampsons fooleries That he knowing the intention of his false hearted Dalila and that her purpose was to deliuer him vp into the hands of the Philistims and hauing thrice caught her with the theft as we say in her hand yet for all this faire warning would not take better heede but melting with two drops two poore teares that trickled downe her cheekes stickt not to reueale vnto her the secret of his strength and where it lay And Dalila complaining Thou hast thrice beguiled me and told me lyes yet this good honest man neuer titted her in the teeth with her lightnes and her treason It is a strange kind of blindnes That thy flesh should commit so many treasons and poppe thee in the mouth with so many lies and yet thou shouldest still beleeue her But the Moores beleeue Mahomet who lyes vnto them The Gentiles those Idols that deceiue them and onely Christ comes to be the descreydo a man of no credit among vs and to whom we will not giue beleefe S. Bernard talking in his name with a Christian askes him the question Why doest thou more affect my enemie and thine than me I did create thee I did redeeme thee with my blood I did beare thee vp in the palmes of my hands Sure it is because thy soule is full of euill humours A foole receiues not the words of Wisedome vnlesse thou tell him that which is in his owne heart It is Salomons As is an house that is destroyed so is wisedome vnto a foole There is nothing more pleasing and peaceable than a well built house and nothing more vnpleasing and vnpeaceable than an old ruinous house that is ready to fall And so is wisedome to a foole If I say the truth c. One of the most lamentable miseries of this age is That truth doth not carry that credit and estimation as a lye doth As the true sores of a poore wretched creature doth not mooue mans heart to that pittie as your false ones doe so truth doe not generally goe so farre as doth a lye For a lye is no sooner sowne but it presently growes vp and spreads it selfe amaine ô good God how easily is it beleeued how willingly entertained Our Sauiour Christ being risen the High Priests and other the Prelates of those times persuaded the souldiers that were set to gard the graue that they should giue it out that his Disciples had stolne him away But how my Masters replyde the souldiers can we doe this without danger to our selues or be able to answer the matter For if the President should call vs to account and examine vs about it eyther we must answer that we were asleepe and testigos dormidos you know no hazen â—e Sleeping witnesses will not be admitted for proofe nor stand good in Law Or that his Disciples did set vpon vs and tooke him thence by force which likewise will hardly be beleeued and will not sound halfe handsomely First that silly fishermen should set vpon souldiers Secondly the stone not being taken away we cannot well auouch that they stole him away yet notwithstanding the Clergie were instant vpon them and told them doe you but say as we bid you and it is enough for If it come to the Presidents eare we will worke with him well enough Whereupon hauing withall well greased their fists they published the theft And the glorious Euangelist Saint Matthew tells vs This saying is noysed amongst the Iewes vnto this day The like passeth in point of Heresie What hath ruined so many Kingdomes destroyed so many Churches and tormented so many Saints but the lyes of your Arch-Heretikes who will not pardon God himselfe In a word God was to come into the world for to giue testimony of the truth Whereas for the receiuing of a lye one wicked mans asseueration is sufficient Osee saith That there is no truth in the earth no mercy no knowledge of God but that all is lies thefts murders and adulteries Mendacium furtum homicidium inundauerunt Where the word inundauerunt is worthy your weighing A riuer while it runnes betweene two bankes and keepes it sâ—lfe within it's bounds the wayes are free and open to all But when it leapes out of his bed and ouerflowes the fields and the high wayes you know not in the world how to finde sure footing nor where you or your horse may safely tread There were euermore lyes in the world but now they haue broken their bounds in that strange manner and leapt so farre from forth their bed that no man well knowes which way to take What a world of Euidences did Dauid shew vnto Saul of his loue vnto him What notable seruices did he doe him in that hiâ— single combat against Goliah In getting so many victories against the Philistims In playing vnto him vpon the harpe when the diuell tormented him Afterward Saul pursuing him in the mountaines hunting after his death as if he had beene a beare or wild bore once Dauid tooke away his speare and the pot of water that stood at his beds head another time he cut off the lappet of his garment This Saul saw with his eyes and confessed it with his mouth saying Iustior me es Thou art more righteous than I. And yet in the end he gaue more credit to those lyes which your Court whisperers buzz'd into his eares than to those truths which himselfe felâ— with his hands He that is of God heareth Gods words ye therefore heare them not because ye are not of God Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory expound this place of your Prâ—cogniti and those thaâ— are predestinâ—ted And S. Iohn doth diuide al the whole world into two sorts of persons Qui ex deo est non peccat qui peccat ex diabolo est The children of God and the children of the diuell The one heares Gods Word the other heares it not And though this be not a
Tobias to accompanie him in his journey to Samaria when Zenacharib so streightly besieged it one Angell slaying so many thousands of braue valiant Souldiers But greater is that fauour which he promiseth here to the Iust Angelis suis Deus mandauit de te The Lyons garded Daniel in Babylon the Whale Ionas the Arke of Bulrushes Moses In omnibus vijs tuis In all thy ways be it in the aire in the earth or in the sea Gods Angels will so gard thee that thou shalt not dash thy foot against a stone Many Emperours and Kings haue scattered Gold on the ground through which they haue gone many haue beene drawne in their Chariots by Lyons and Elephants but farre more pretious are the hands of Angells and hee that hath them to helpe him need not to touch theground with his feet Scriptum est enim Angelis suis. The first victorie that the Deuill got in the world was by interpreting in a sinister sence those words of God which he had deliuered to our first Parents and this course doth hee continue here with our Sauiour and the same doth his followers the Hereticks obserue to this day Saint Peter calls them vnlearned and wauering and saith of them That they depraue and peruert the Scripture to their owne ruine and destruction Saint Cyril handleth this point verie elegantly in one of his Epistles And Origen saith That as the children of Corah did put strange fire vpon the Alter so your Hereticks by altering the Scripture put strange fire to the Alter of Truth Saint Chrysostome That they immitate the Deuill by citing Scripture falsely as the Deuill did in this temptation seeking as it were by a cleere and manifest truth to persuade our Sauiour to entertaine a notorious lie and to admit of a monstrous follie securing him that his person should be protected by Angells from any ensuing harme if hee would but throw himselfe downe from the Pinacle of the Temple I terme it follie for as Man hee had no reason to doe any such rash and inconsiderate action and as God hee had no neede to play the Tumbler and to flie in the aire Haec omnia tibi dabo All these things wil I giue thee Saint Ambrose saith That in these three temptations the Deuill had laid three ginnes wherewith hee vseth to intrap man in those three Ages of his to wit his childhood his manhood and his elder age The disorder of children consists in eating they are ordinarily crauing stil crying out for more meat little young Gluttons and such syllie fooles as to haue an Apple they will part with a piece of Gold That of our youthfuller yeres when wee begin to write man is to runne headlong into all desperate and vndiscreete actions For the liuelihood of youth hath euer hetherto beene impatient humerous and braine-sicke That of old age is all couetousnesse storing vp for a deere yeare and filling his Wallets then fullest when his iourny is shortest resembling herein those riuers which the neerer they come to the Sea which is their end so much the more water they sucke and draw vnto them Some may thinke that the Deuill playd the foole in offering all to him that despised all For Christ contemned the wealth and glorie of this World For to offer bread to the Hungerie honour to the Ambitious and riches to the Couetous the Deuil might haue had some good ground to worke vpon But that he should offer al to him that scorned all hee could offer this was great weakenesse in him yet deerely beloued doe not you reckon this so slight a temptation and so poore an onset as you would make it For all Hell hath not a more powerfull peece of Ordnance to batter our brests withall than this it is the only murdring peece that hee hath and what man is able to resist it Quis est hic laâ—danimus eum Show me the man that I may commend him Thou shalt not find one amongst the Princes of the people nor amongst the Ministers of Kings nor amongst the seats of Iustice nor amidst the honestie of Married-folkes nor the modestie of Maidens no nor in the Monasteries of your Nunnes nor the Cells of your Hermits in the Wildernesse In old time all the States of the the world were in competition about the electing of an Emperor among the Gods The Priests chose Appollo for his Wisedome the Souldiers Mars for his Valour the Merchants Mercurie for his negociating the Phisitions Aesculapius for the eminencie of his Cures But when it was brought to that passe that they must settle vpon some one to bee Emperour by a ioynt consent they all made choice of Iupiter because hee was the God that came downe into the World in a showre of Gold All these things will I giue thee The Deuill doth not here offer that which he is able to giue But is rather so poore That of all those Kingdomes whereof he makes so large a profer he hath not so much as one poore spike-hole in a wall The richnesse of a Prince is to be seene in his Ward-robe and Richnesse of his prouision There comes in before him a hundred Mules Sumpter-Clothes on their backes imbrodered with silke siluer and gold with their goriets of massie-plate c. Iob painting foorth the Deuils Ward-robe sayth Ante faciem 〈◊〉 praecedat egestas i. Want shall goe before his face All his Ward-robe is couered ouer with pouertie and want all his treasures are dissembled wares counterfait stuffe Lift vp his Sumpter-clothes open his Trunckes and you shall finde nothing but stones and apples making show of the one to our Sauiour of the other to Eue. So that hee is so poore that hee hath not so much as one farthing of all those immense treasures which hee offers But he offereth that which he would giue if hee were as he is not Lord of all the World Such was the perplexitie and anxietie of minde that hee had to know who was Christ our Sauiour that if all the Kingdomes of the earth had beene his hee would giue them all to see him humbled at his feet Hee offers thee but little because he makes little reckoning of thee for thou art so base minded that thou wilt sell thy selfe vnto him at an easie rate But how could the Deuil hope with these onely seeming and apparent goods to worke so great a Conquest on so valiant a Brest I answer That it is the Deuils policie to bait our Wils and Affections with the apprehension of imaginarie goods rather than with the inioying of true and reall goods indeed Nay the glories of the World once inioy'd causeth a kind of surfet and loathing which is often an occasion of our growing out of loue with them 〈◊〉 vanitatum omnia vanitas Where the wise man did not tearme all things vaine as that the trees should not yeeld vs their fruites the earth her food and riches or that the Sunne should not shine But
our selues 2. Cor. 2. Philip. â— Ezech. 9. Iohn 11.35 Zach. 1â— 10 Eccl. 22. Eccl. 38. Gods mercie the Spring from whence all his blessings flow Prou 31. Sin is death it selfe The character of a yong man The raising of Lazarus Christs greatest myracle Psal. 107. â—0 1. Cor. 15.54 Death is a large draught but Christ swallowed it downe 3. Reg. 1â— Mat. 6.7 God regards not the length of our praiers but their strength Exod. 4. Psal. 137. Workes out-speake Words Cant. 4. â— 3 Reg. 1â— Beloued a name of great preheminence Gods fauours seldome come single 4. Reg. 20.3 The â—ighteous euer mind full of Gods seruice forgetful of their Mat. 25. Iniuries done to God more greeuous to the righteous than if done to themselues Psal. 39. No loue where no releefe 4. Reg. 1. Osee 4.12 Ezech. 21.21 4. Reg. 19. Psal. 37.5 His will must be ours The peruersenesse of mans will Esay 58.3 The best reward that God can giue his followers Mans miserie the blason of Gods Maiesty Iob. 6.2.3 Iob. 1. Nothing more properly ours than Vertue In all humane goods the cretures haue the start of man The goodnes of Gods condition toward Penitents expressed two manner of wayes First he neuer remembers their sinnes Esay 38.17 Secondly hee neuer forgets our seruices Mat. 26. 2. Reg. 8.16 Gen. 31.13 Malach. 3.16 Death whither temporall or spirituall called a Sleep that fitly Iob. 33. Iud. 3. Gen. 20. Luk. 12. 1. Reg. 2.6 Christs passions differing from ours Sin discoasts a man froÌ„ God Psal. 1.6 Reasons why Christ wept Ier. 9.17.18 Ibid. 21. The death of the soule is a true death that of the bodie but a shadow Men carelesse of nothing more than of their soules Dead Lazarus the embleme of a Sinner Old sins like old sores hardly cured A threefold death of the Soule Amos 11. Gods loue seene by the delayes he vseth in his punishing Genes 1â— Iob. 7. Why the heathen erected Pyramides ouer their deceased Psal. 29. The difference betwixt Lazarus rising out of the graue our Sauiour Occasions to sin must bee auoyded Why God appeared to Moses in a Bush. Gods iudgement euerie way compleat 1. Reg. 16. Christ why called the Light of the world 1. Ioâ—n 1.5 1. Tim. 6.16 The benefit of this Light Gen. 3. Baruc 3.34 The reason why some hate and shunne it Iohn 6. Iob. 29. Iob. 7. In mans life theâ—e are two wayes and he had need of a Guide The glorie of the Sunne Mat. 5. Rom. 8. Luc. 17. Christ testified by many yet not embraced of the Pharisees Three conditions required in euery Testimonie Christ the â—â—ly true Sunne that seeth all things Eccl. 23. Hier. 17. Apoc. 3. Inconueniences which would haue followed the peccabilitie of Christ. Apoc. 7. 2. Reg. 11. Sinne maketh the most valiant man a Coward Iob 25. No man free from sinne Iob 9.30 Iob 38. Two things required in men of eminencie and place conscience and fame Publike persons must looke to their fame as well as to their conscience Looking-glasses why placed about the Lauer of the Temple The vse of Belâ— in the border of the Priests garment Priuat persons must conceale their workes but men of publike ranke must shew themâ—elues examples Gen. 39.3 Our Sauiours innocencie exemplified by his death Christs equal proceeding against the diuell a patterne for all Magistrates Ioh. 11. The Crosse and death of Chriâ—ttormented the diuell more than himselfe Ioh. 8. Truth lesse welcome to the â—ares of men than flatteries and lies The World the Flesh â—nd the Diuell all lyars Prou. 18. Eccl. 21. Mat 28. What mischiefes haue proceeded from lying Gods word how to be heard that the heariâ—g it may testifie our Predestiâ—ation Foure circumstances requiâ—red to the hearing of Gods Word Act. 13. 1. Tim. 6. Prou. 23. The soule of the just that of a sinner wherein differing Men are neuer worse than when they thinke all is well Passion alters all properties to it selfe Better to be mad than passionate Patience when most to be applauded Luc. 22. Marc. 11.1 To suffer iniuries a great noblenesse Iob. 18. A patient man whereunto resembled Iobâ— Clemencie a profitable vertue Exod. 32. Gods honour must euer be preferred before our own Truth can neuer be altogether supprest Mat. 10. ObliuioÌ„ hath two bosomes Iudges ought to be free from passion 2. Râ—g 14. Daniel 3. Why Christ withdrew himselfe from the Pharisees A hard heart can neuer be mollified Prou. 26. Luke 23.16 Reuenge in man a sâ—mptome of Cowardize â—erem 3. No policie preualent against the word and wisdome of God Enuie of all vices the most vnfortunate to it selfe fortunate to others Mat. 23. Luk. 11. Like Priest like People Psal. 106. Num. 25. 1. Pet. â— Prou. 1. â— Iosh. 1. Honest seruice little respected by earthly Princes No policie preualent against the wisedome of God God must be serued by vs before man Gen. 3. It is bad seruice to share in other mens sinnes Our longest life but little 2. Mac. 7.36 2. Mac. 6. Iob 9. Christ must be sought while he may be found Amos 2. Act. 2. Good neuer truly liked till lost Neuer any mâ—â— so hated of the world as Christ. Time a pretious Iewell Leuit 23. Num. 29. Why instituted Leuit. 23.43 Pride incident to Man Good men are verie rare â—sal 71. Eccl. 49. Apoc. 12. Heauen not gotten without paines No appetite so fierce as that of a sinner Ier. â— Exod. 4. Dan. 7. What ment by the water of life Esay 42 43 44. Prou. 5. Ezecâ— 35. Ioel. 2. The Holy Ghost Why compared to water 2. Cor. 4. The power of Gods word The force of Eloquence Gods power neuer more seene than in his Passion Acts 20. Why Christ desiring to die did flâ—e to auoide death Gods Counsells vnsearchable Mat. 6. Iosh 8. Aduantage against an enemy no Cowardize Men flye sometimes to come on the fiercer To flye in time of persecution how farre lawfull 1. Mac. â— 9.9 In some cases it is fortitude to flye 2. Reg. 4. Iob 40. Eccles. 22. Why Christ desiring to die would flye to auoid death Power should neuer bee showne but in extremity The greater Chrisâ—â— shame the greater our redemption 3. Reg. 15. Vaine-glory not to be affected Men couet honor though with the hazard of others God vseth no partialitie in the dispensation of his fauours We must not relye on others Vertue but our owne Honor where no merit is ads to our shame not to our shining Worship should not wait but vpon worth Honour a bait which all men bite at Eccl. 43. Kindred the ouerthrow of many Prelats Enuy neuer greater than amongst brethren Kindred will cleaue to a man in his prosperity but neuer look on him in aduersitie Three Feasts of dedication among the Iewes 3. Reg. 8. Esdr. â— 1 Mach. 1. Mans Heart Gods Temple 2. Cor. 6. Leuit 26. Mans Soule must bee renewed to make it a fit habitation for God Psal. 51. Baptisme the fouâ—datâ—on of Christian
Take heed of that man that hath his breath in his nosthrills Whereby it is signified That if hee should once grow angrie with vs hee would quickely make an end of vs. There was neuer yet any Prophet in the World so holy nor so soft-spirited but that somtime or other he did breake foorth into anger Esay called the Gouernours of his people The Princes of Sodome Saint Iohn Baptist stiles them Vipers Saint Chrysostome the Empresse Eudoxia Herodias And our Sauiour Christ these Scribes Generatio mala adultera A wicked and adulterous generation c. Generatio mala adultera An euill generation Ill for the ill and inueterated custom of their Vices Saint Stephen Vos semper Spiritui sancto resistitis sicut patres vestri ita vos Ye alwayes resist the high God euen as your fathers so yee Dauid Generatio praua atque exasperans Moses Generatio enim peruersa est infideles filij An vnthankefull hard-hearted and disloyall generation Vae semini nequam filijs sceleratis Woe to the wicked seed Ezechiel Generatio tua de terra Canaan pater tuus Amorrheus mater tua Cethea Thy ofspring is from the land of Canaan thy Father was an Amorite thy Mother a Hittite All these places doe blazon foorth the ill race of that people For albeit the herencie of Vice and of Vertue be not constringitiue and that there is no such necessitie in it nor alwayes followes the order of Nature for wee see a Dwarfe begot by a Gyant a Hare of a Lyon nor likewise in the state of Grace for of a holy Father sometimes issues an vngracious Son as Esau of Isaac and Absalon of Dauid yet notwithstanding if a man bee discended of a bad race it is a miracle if hee prooue good Arbor mala non potest bonos fructus facere An euill tree cannot bring foorth good fruit The Spanish Prouerbe sayth Bien aya quien a los suyos parece Gods blessing be with him hee is so like his parents hee suckt his goodnesse with his milke hee inherited his Fathers vertues Transgressorem ex vtero vocaui te sayth Esay Thou hast beene a transgressor from the Wombe Alenhornar se hazen los panes tuertos The loaues went away from their first setting into the Ouen All this is included in these words Generatio mala An euill generation Adultera Hee does not note them in this world for children that had beene begotten in adulterie for this had beene their parents fault and not theirs And Aristotle sayth Ab his quae a natura insunt nec laudamur nec vituperamur i. Whatsoeuer is naturally in vs redounds neither to our praise nor dispraise Both the ill the well born do confesse Ipse fecit nos non ipsi nos It is God that hath made vs and not we our selues For if it had beene in our choice to chuse our owne fathers wee would haue beene all gentlemen Two things did our Sauiour here pretend to notifie vnto vs. 1 The one that they had degnerated from the vertue of their forefathers and for this reason Dauid calls them strange chldren Filij alieni menti ti sunt mihi filij alieni inueter ati sunt And in another place Libera me de manu filiorum alienorum Deliuer mee out of the hands of strange children They did boast that they had Abraham to their father Nos patrem habemus Abraham But Christ giues them the lye and tells them Vos ex patre Diabolo estis For the workes the thoughts and the desires are not of Abraham but the Deuill 2 The other because they had married now the second time with Vntruth and made a match with false gods hauing diuorced from them the truth of the true and euerliuing God And for the better declaration of this Doctrine it is to be noted First That the vnderstanding and the truth haue a kind of marriage between them Quae sibi sponsam mihi assumere sapientiam I desired to marry hir such loue had I vnto hir beauty And one that Comments vpon these words sayth That from the Vnderstanding and Truth well vnstorstood there doth grow a greater vnitie than there doth arise from betweene the matter and the forme Secondly That betweene the Soule and God by the meanes of the Truth of Faith there is another kind of spirituall marriage made whereof Ose sayth Desponsabo te mihi in fide I will marrie thee vnto mee for euer yea I wil marry thee vnto me in righteousnesse and in iudgement and in mercy and in compassion I will euen marrie thee as if this were that wedding-ring that made all sure vnto mee in Faithfulnesse And this knot is knit so fast that Saint Paul could say He that cleaueth vnto God is one spirit with him And for that the people of the Iewes had fallen some while into Heresie another into Idolatrie falsely expounding the Law and forsaking the Fath of God to follow a Calfe and Idols whereof God taxes them euery foote in the Scriptures stiling them adulterers harlots children workers of fornication so here hee now sayth Generatio adultera Mala adultera Euill and adulterous First he sayes Mala and then Adultera Tearming them in the first place Ill in the second Adulterous For the ordinarie way to loose faith is an euill life But as the vomitting vp of our meate turneth sometime to our good so is it now and then in the ridding of our stomacke of Vertue And in this sence Saint Ambrose sayd Profuit mihi Domine quod peccaui It was well for me ô Lord that I sinned For repentance may restore Grace in a higher degree But if this weakenesse shall take such violent hold vpon vs that wee shall fall once to vomiting of bloud it will goe hard with vs if not cost vs our liues In like manner a sinner perseuering in his sinnes comes at last to loose his Faith And this is one of the seuerest punishments of Gods Iustice Whereof Ieremy sayd Peruenit gladius vsque ad animam Whence Saint Ierome gathereth that then the sword pierceth to the Soule when there is no signe of life left in it In your buildings the first danger doth not consist in their sudden falling to ground but they goe mouldring away by little and little and decay by degrees So likewise in this our Spiritual building the first danger is not the losse of our Faith nor our first demolishing our falling into Heresies but before we come to that wee goe by little and little first lessening then loosing our vertues and heaping sin vpon sin till at last Mole ruit sua all comes tumbling down to our vtter destruction Saint Paul doth much commend earnestly recommend vnto vs a good conscience Quam quidem repellentes naufragauerunt à fide Faith grounded vpon an euill conscience is like a house that is built vpon the sand which when the waters rise the
them that this Tempest was miraculous Gods prouidence had before hand prouided a Whale readie to receiue Ionas and when as he thought he should haue beene swallowed vp in the Deepe and that the waters should enter into his soule crying out in his meditations Pelagus â—peruit me vestes terrâ— concluserunt me The â—â—ouds compassed mee about all thy surges and all thy waues passed ouer me c. Then did the Whale open his mouth then when in his affliction he cried vnto the Lord I am cast away out of thy sight the waters compassed me about vnto the soule the depth closed mee round about and the weeds were wrapped about my head then euen then did the Whale open his mouth and swallowing him vp whole into his bellie defended him from the jawes of death Ionas being herein like vnto a delinquent whom the Gaoler takes into his custodie to secure his person Iob saith That God hath girt in the sea on the one side with mountaines and valleys Circumdedit illud terminis suis and on the other side with sand Posuit arenam terminum Maris And as Ionas was shut vp in the Whales bellie as in a prison so was the Whale inclosed in that prison of the Sea Nunquid Mare ego sum aut Caete Am I a Sea or a Whale fish that thou keepest mee in ward Now if God had both before and behind on this side and that side pitcht so many nets for Ionas hee could verâ—e hardly escape him his flying could not saue him but in this Whales maw contrarie to all the lawes of Nature God maintaines and preserues his life If the stomacke of a Whale will digest an anchor of Yron as Tertullian tells vs it must then of force consume Ionas and if instead of aire he drawes in water he must necessarily be choaked But he that deliuered Daniel from the hungrie mouths of Lyons and those three children from the flames of the firie Furnace it is not much that hee should conserue Ionas in the deepest and darkest dungeon that euer liuing man was clapt vp in The wonder was that though himself were prisoner yet he had left vnto him so free an vnderstanding that hee was able to make so elegant an oration to God out of so foule a Pulpit The Prophet did dwell vpon this great miracle which God had vsed towards him and did recouer so much strength and confidence that he stucke not to say Rursus videbo templum sanctum tuum Yet will I looke againe toward thy holy temple I liue in good hope not onely to see my selfe freed out of this loathsome Gaole but to humble my selfe on my knee in thy holy Temple giuing thee thankes for the great mercie and fauour which thou hast shewed towards me For the present I will make this sluttish corner my Oratorie assuring my selfe that from thence my prayers shall be acceptable vnto thee who like some great Prince or Monarch of the world is respected in any place whatsoeuer of thy jurisdiction so that there is no doubt that any thy poorest vassall whatsoeuer may bee heard by thee The Children of Babylon were heard from the Furnace Daniel from the Lyons Den Iob from the Dunghill Dauid from amiddest the Thornes and Bushes And so I make no question but I shall be from the bowells of this Beast In omni loco dominationis eius benedic anima mea Domino O my soule blesse the Lord in euerie place of his power These three dayes Ionas spent in prayer at the end whereof God commanded the Whale to cast out Ionas vpon the Coast of Niniuy And the Whale obaying his Empire crost the Seas many Leagues and there threw the Prophet forth vpon drie Land though full of froathie slime and vnctuous stuffe free from the horror of that deepe and darkesome dungeon From hence did the Gentiles faigne those their fabulous tales of Hercules beeing swallowed vp by another Whale of Arion playing on his harpe riding on the backe of a Dolphine For as it is noted by Clemens Alexandrinus and Saint Basil the Heathen Philosophers did steale these truths from vs founding thereupon their falshoods And giuing credit to their lyes they did not beleeue our truths Many of the Niniuites comming downe to the shoare-side were strucken with admiration to see such a monstrous strange prodigious man and the fame thereof flying to the Citie before they were affrighted with the sad news that hee brought they stood astonished at the strangenesse of the case which questionlesse was a great cause that they did afterwards harken vnto him and giue creditto what he said In the end taking this for his Theame Adhuc quadraginta dies Niniue sâ—â—uertetur â—et forty dayes and Niniuie shall bee ouerthrowne Not threatning onely the ruine of the Citie but also of the Towers Walls Pallaces Citizens Children Women and Old men euen to the very beasts of the field so great was the feare that entred into all their breasts that without any further Miracles laying their beleefe vpon the Prophet they presently gaue beginning to that their great repentance which was the strangest that euer was yet heard of The King layd aside his purple roabes and his rich and costly clothes the throan of his Greatnesse Maiestie and couered himselfe with sacke-cloth and â—ate in ashes causing his clothes of State to bee pulled downe his walls of his pallace to be left naked of their hangings of cloth of Gold and other peeces of Arras beeing no lesse curious than glorious For Sardanapalus was one of the loosest and most licentious men that hee had not his like in all the World The like did all the great Officers of his Pallace the Princes and Wealthyest men of his Citie as also all the faire and beautifull Ladies And there was a Proclamation presently made through all Niniuie by the Councell of the King and his Nobles with expresse charge That neither man nor beast bullocke nor sheep should tast any thing neither feed nor drinke water but that man and beast should put on sack-cloth and cry mightily vnto God To the end that the bellowing of their bulls the bleating of their sheepe goats the howling of their dogs the teares of their children the sighes lamentations of their mothers might mooue Heauen to take pitie of them And aboue all they did cry out most grieuously for their sinnes For albeit they are offences towards God yet are they miseries vnto man and as quatenus peccata so farre foorth as they are sinnes they prouoke and stirre vp Gods Iustice against vs So quatenus they are miseriae as they are miseries vnto vs they incline and mooue our good God to take mercie compassion of vs. The same reason which wrought God to destroy the World the same likewise mooued him neuer to destroy it more Cogitatio hominis prona est ad malum Mans thoughts are proâ—e vnto euill One while hee considers it as an offence vnto
world and to loose his owne soule Therefore it is a lesse ill to be possessed in Bodie than in Soule For sinne onely is that true euill which depriueth vs of true good Likewise He that is spiritually possessed is in worse case than he that hath a deuill in soule and body And of this truth there are two euident reasons The one that to haue a Deuill in the bodie is no small occasion whereby the Soule is saued Saint Paul said of the incestuous person Let him be deliuered vnto Sathan for the destruction of the Flesh that the Spirit may be saued in the day of the Lord Iesus Whither it were by way of excommunication as it seemeth good vnto Thomas the Deuills tormenting him following his excommunication as Caietan will haue it or whither he did deliuer him ouer to the Deuill as to Gods Executioner without excommunicating him as Saint Hierome is of opinion or whither the Apostles had licence to doe all or any of these at their pleasure sure I am that Saint Ambrose saith That the deliuering ouer of these Sinners vnto the Deuill was a putting of them into some paine or griefe of body by the hands of the Deuill as he tormented Iob to the end that they might be drawne to repentance for their sinnes And this agrees with that of Saint Chrysostome That Saint Paul did deliuer the incestuous man ouer to the Deuill tanquam pedagogo aperiens ei poenitentiae ianuam As to a Schoolemaster opening to him the doore of Repentance Saint Hierome saith Tanquam Quaestionario as to an Informer or Baylife But they differ in this That when the Informers accuse the Baylifes attach it is commonly for others good but when the Deuill accuseth or layes hold of a man it is for hurt Saint Ambrose saith That when the Deuill had got leaue to tempt Iob hee got it for to worke his destruction Wilt thou take the Deuill with a hooke like a Fish or with a string like a Bird Yes thou shalt lay that poyson for him as a bait wherewith he thought to destroy thee Wherein is to be seene the wisedome and omnipotencie of God in that hee turnes these trickes and subtilties of the Deuill against Man to Mans benefit who being willing to swallow him vp at a bit choakes himselfe and doth rather benefit than hurt him Wherein is plainely to be seene the good hap which this dumbe man had in suffering in his bodie for if his hurt had layne onely in his soule they would neuer haue brought him to our Sauiour Christ and it might haue so fallen out that he might haue remained for euer in this his miserie so that the torment of his bodie was the occasion whereby he remained sound both in bodie and in soule as commonly those did whom our Sauiour cured The second reason is That there is no Christian can bee supposed to bee so wicked that it being put to his choice to chuse one of these two either to be dumbe deafe and blind or to be one of those blasphemous Iewes who said In Beelzebub eijcit Daemonia In Beelzebub he casteth out Deuills would not rather make choyce of this mans misfortune than of the Iewes hardnesse of heart He brings seuen Diuils worse than himselfe When this foule Fiend enters into a man he makes way for a great many more of his fellowes For the Deuil being rather the Soules Bawd than it's Bridegroome he beares no loue thereunto but God because she is his true Spouse is tender of her and will not suffer the least wind of sinne to blow vpon her but will looke louingly and carefully vnto her But of this we haue treated heretofore And it came to passe while he spake a certaine woman amidst the multitude lifting vp her voyce c. Our Sauiour Christs Sermon did not make the least gap in the hard hearts of the Scribes and Pharisees but it wrought such great admiration in the brest of a certaine woman called Marcella that lifting vp her voyce amidst the Doctours and praising our Sauiour Christ she cried out aloud Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the paps that gaue thee sucke These Pharisees condemns thee for one that hath made a couenant with Beelzebub but I say that from the verie instant of thy conception thou wast a holy man and that therefore blessed was the wombe that bare thee c. and that the leaprosie of originall sinne did not worke vpon thee as it did vpon all the rest of Mankind And that those paps which thou suckedst being likewise blessed they could not giue milke to a Sinner And because thy conception and thy birth were both holy Gods blessing bee with that mother which conceiued and brought forth such a sonne Saint Augustine saith That it was not onely Marcella that vttered these praises of our Sauiour but that many others also beeing taken with the strangenesse of this miracle fell into an extraordinarie commendation of him But if the Gospell make mention of one only it may be vnderstood that Marcella was the first that sung in that tune and that many others followed on and bore a part therein And this sutes well with that of Saint Luke They glorified him saying A great Prophet is risen vp amongst vs One while confessing him to be God another while the Messias Of this applause and commendation of our Sauiour wee haue two forcible reasons The one That generall good which Christ did here vpon earth and more particularly that which he did to this poore miserable man For to doe good but especially to the Poore is a powerful motiue of praise Confitebor Domino nimisin ore meo in medio multorū laudabo eum qui astitit a dextris pauperis I wil acknowledge God with a loud voice in the middest of many will I praise him who stood at the right hand of the Poore This doth that phrase as Saint Augustine hath noted it inferre of Nimis in ore meo not betweene the teeth nor in some by-corner but in medio Multorum in the middest of the Congregation And therefore saith Eccles. Splendidum in panibus benedicent labia multorum He that succoureth the poore he that slaketh hunger all the World shall ring of his praise and thousands of blessings shall be throwne vpon him All Nations of the earth did euermore celebrate and honour those that were publike benefactors to the Commonwealth and the Citisens thereof by erecting Statues vnto them that there might remain an eternall memorie and immortall fame of their noble actions As Pliny reporteth of Athens Plutarch of Lacedemonia and many Historiographers of Rome Leo the tenth did bring downe the price of salt for the which Rome thought themselues so much bound vnto him that they did set vp his Statue in the Capitoll with a motto that spake thus Optimi liberalissimique Pontificis memoriae But your Kings and Princes now a dayes doe make such a common practise of pilling and polling the
the Christ. In fauour of the second to wit That they did not know him wee haue on our side the temptation of our Sauiour Iesus Christ for if the Deuils had known him they would not haue tempted him Secondly They knowing him to bee the Christ and the Messias they must likewise know him to bee the naturall Sonne of God for the Deuils could not be ignorant of that in Hel which the most learned in Iudaisme had attained to here on earth Thirdly and it is the reason of that glorious Doctor Saint Hierome No man hath known the Father but the Sonne and he to whom the Sonne was willing to reueale it If the Father then did not reueale his Sonne to the Deuills nor the Sonne himselfe reueale the same why then surely they could not know him But some one will say That the Sonne did reueale himselfe to the Deuils not by infusing any light of Faith into them as hee did into those three Kings that came vnto him from the East and to the Prophets that were before them nor the light of Glorie as hee hath to the Blessed but by the light of his miracles and prophecies and by some secret and hidden signes of his presence for that is S. Austens opinion which the Deuils might better attaine vnto than men And this reason sufficiently proueth That they knew him before they tempted him yea that they knew him euen from his birth for then did they presently perceiue in Iesus Christ our Saâ—ior and Redeemer Miracles Prophecies and great signes of God And albeit the miracles were not then so many as those which he wrought afterwards when he had vnfolded and spred abroad the sailes of his Omnipotencie yet a few were enough to make the Deuill who hath so great an insight into naturall causes to conceiue and see how farre short Nature came in this great businesse Fourthly The glorious Apostle Saint Paul treating of our Sauiour Christ by the name of Wisedome saith That none of the Princes of this World knew him for had they knowne him they would neuer haue crucified him And this may likewise be vnderstood of the Deuill whom our Sauiour stiles the Prince of the world but in case it be vnderstood of men the Earth not comming to the knowledge thereof to whom God might haue reuealed it hell could hardly know it In this doubt there are me thinkes two truths that are most certaine The one That the Deuill had not a full and assured knowledge that our Sauiour Christ was the naturall Son of God for his knowledge was not the knowledge of Faith nor any cleere vision but onely opinion And as a man of verie great vnderstanding being without the light of Faith howbeit by the miracles and prophecies of our Sauiour Iesus Christ he might happely beleeue that hee was the Sonne of God yet some one doubt or other will be stil remaining that he may not be that promised Sonne So the Deuil euer since our Sauior Christ was borne had many and those strong suspitions that God was become Man These jealousies and suspitions were dayly by so much the more increased in the Deuill by how much the more our Sauiour Christ went dayly discouering the signes and tokens of his Diuinitie till at last seeing himselfe as it were conuinced by the euidence thereof that he might put himselfe out of this perplexitie he first goes about to tempt him and afterwards to solicite his death And this is the opinion of that glorious Doctor Saint Hierome vpon the eigth Chapter of Saint Mathew where he saith That all the Deuils did beat vpon this haâ—â—â— went nosing and winding of it out and were wonderfull both fearefull iealous of the same but that none of them did assuredly know so much And Saint Augustine in his bookes De Ciuitate Dei saith That our Sauiour and Redeemer Iesus Christ manifested himselfe so far forth to the deuils as himself was willing and he would no more than what was fitting thought that fitting which was sufficient to daunt and terrifie them to free those that were predestinated from his tyrannie And this was the tracke that they did treâ—d in and all that they could gather out of his miracles and former prophecies Gregorie Naziaâ—â—â—â— saith That the Deuils had a great deale of knowledge of the paines torments which they did feele when our Sauiour Christ did cast them forth of the bodies which they had possessed And of this knowledge that is to bee vnderstood which is here deliuered by Saint Luke Because they knew him to be Christ. The other That God did hold this their knowledge in suspence in doubt by taking flesh in the wombe of an espoused Virgine Which was purposely done as Ignatius saith that hee might bee concealed from the Deuill for otherwise the Deuils could hardly be ignorant that he was the Sonne of the Virgine Marie and not the Sonne of Ioseph THE XXIII SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE THIRD SONDAY IN LENT IOHN 4.5 Venit Iesus in Ciuitatem Samariae quae dicitur Sychar And Iesus came into a Citie of Samaria which was called Sychar IN matter of Conuersion this action of our Sauiours seemeth of all other the most famous for the manifesting of Gods mercy In matter of Faith we know verie well That hee that shall seeke him as he ought shall find him And of this Truth God hath giuen many testimonies in Scripture They that seeke meâ— early shall find me And in another place If thou seekest her aâ— silâ—er and searchest for her as for Treasures thou shalt find her And elsewhere it is said Seeke and yee shall find knocke and it shall be opened vnto you Wee know likewise that some haue found him that haue not sought him I was found of them that â—â—â—ght me not but none did light on him with so little labour and at so cheape â— rate as this Samaritane S. Paul was tumbled off from his horse on the ground and was strooken blind the Adulteresse passed through a purgatorie of 〈◊〉 and confusion Marie Magdalen for her part poured forth a sea of teares and the good Theeâ—e was faine to betake himselfe to a great deale of faith loue patience and hope but this woman I know not what labour or paines it cost her more than the letting downe of a Bucket and rope into the Well to draw a little water That such a dishonest woman as this was whom fiue husbands could not suffice and had entertained a Ruffian or Swash-buckler to be her companion and champion that so base and vile a woman as shee was consider her which way you will in her linage her fortune her life her behauiour her age oâ— whatsoeuer else that sauours of basenesse that Christ should make choice of her to publish his name to bee as it were one of his Euangelists and Preachers of his Gospell cannot but appeare to the World to be one of the greatest demonstrations of
God would not haue that which was the beginning of it's life to be the instrument of it's death And this may be verified of the wearinesse and wounds of our Sauiour Christ neither the torments of the Deuill nor the fire of Sodom nor the water of the Floud which drowned all the world nor hel it selfe ought so much to feare thee as to see thy God thus wearied and wounded for thee Sedebat sic He sate thus Saint Chrysostome Euthymius and Theophilact say Sedebat sic non in cella aut in loco honoratiori sed in terra He sat thus not in a chaire or some more honorable place but on the ground Conforming himselfe according to the time and place he sate him downe as well as he could not being curious of the softnesse easinesse or conueniencie thereof Wherein are condemned two sorts of persons The one They who for one houres paines will haue a thousand dainties to delight themselues withall and for one houres labour a thousand refreshings They indeere this storme and tempest of theirs more than any Galley-slaue that tugs at the oare they extoll their labour so high aboue the skies that there is no earthly reward that can recompence their paines It is such a strange thing for them to put themselues to any trouble and so vaine is their presumption that the sea and the sands are too little to content them And this is commonly the condition of base people that are preferred to honourable place The other They who will not be pleased with accommodating themselues as well as they can or content themselues with that which is sufficient for them but are still seeking after more than is enough And this is too common amongst vs. He sate thus vpon the Well A woman saith Saint Augustine eame to the well and found a Fountaine there which she little thought of And he farther sayth That he sate him downe vpon the Well to the end that we should not seeke to draw water out of this depth but endeauour to draw water out of that Fountaine which is aboue all the waters in the world This Well is the water of life let vs draw from hence that we may drinke of the cup of Saluation One of the attributes of Christ is Oyle or Balsamum poured forth and scattered abroad whose propertie and qualitie is to swimme vpon the water The water drawne from the Well giues a great deale of trouble and little satisfaction it is a brackish water that quenches not the thirst but this soueraigne Fountaine affoordeth vs that sweet and comfortable water which quencheth the flames of the firie lusts and affections of this life and allayeth the thirst of our sinnes Of that water of the mysticall Rocke which in those dayes of old did quench the thirst of sixe hundred thousand persons Thomas and Lyra affirme That it followed the Campe and that God would not that any other water should giue them reliefe but the water of the Rocke which was a figure of our Sauior Christ This Water was Christ. This woman came for water to Iacobs Well but this could not quench neither her nor thy thirst but another Fountaine that sate vpon the lid or couer of this Well His Disciples were gone into the Citie to buy meat Saint Chrysostome hath obserued That our Sauior Christ and his Disciples had but little care of their bellie yet it being now high noone and hauing had so long and painfull a journey they were inforced to goe buy them some victuals Wâ—â— vnto that land whose Princes eat betimes in the morning and Woe vnto them that rise vp early to follow drunkennesse He that hath not broke fast at one of the Clocke in the afternoone what will he say or thinke of him that rises vp to eat by day-breake Seneca saith That Glâ—ttonie hath reached farther than possibly the wit of man could reach Natâ—â—e makes gold and pearles Art money and jewels of all this Gluttony makes a daintie dish to please the palate And in another Epistle he saith That we need not so much wonder at our many sickenesses and infirmities hauing so many Cookes and Kitchen Bookes so many inuentions of sundrie sorâ—â— of dishes and seuerall kinds of seruices euerie one of them beeing it selfe a sâ—â—knesse Philon paints forth a Glutton in the Serpent to whom God said Terram comedes First Because he trailes his brest vpon the earth which is his food Secondly In regard of the poyson which he alwaies beares in his mouâ—h so the Glutton hath alwaies his mind on that which he is to eat and poyson in his mouth because he goes eating of that which shortens his life Thirdly For that God admitting the excuse of Adam and Eue did not allow of the Serpents excuse Maledictus super omnia animantia Cursed art thou aboue all the Creatures c. Which was all one as if he should haue said That others sinnes might receiue excuse but to forsake God for to fill the bellie is inexcusable They went into the Citie to buy meat Saint Chrysostome saith That it is superâ—â—uous prouidence in a Traueller to carrie with him an Alforias or a Walleâ— because he shall neuer want vpon the way that which shall be sufficient to â—â—â—â—sfie his hunger and he farther addeth That it is a needlesse care in the Souldiers of Iesus Christ. The fiercest beast dies not of hunger nor the Corke tree in the Desert though neuer so much pilled at any time sâ—arueth All the trees of the field shall be filled c. And can the Seruant of God then want When I sâ—ntâ—yee forth without a scrip was there any thing wanting vnto you If there be any need at all of prouision saith the said Chrysostome it is for our journy for that other life for besides that it is a long one and a narrow one there is no baiâ—ing place by the way no Inne no Victualling house no Fountaine no Well no Brooke nor Sheepheards Cottage It is a Sea voyage wherein you must carrie all your Matalotage and prouision with you readie killed powdred vp The rich Glutton when he was gone hence because he made not his prouision before hanâ— could not meet with so much as one drop of water It was about the sixt houre Saint Cyril saith That the Euangelist sets downe this word About in token that euen in the least things we should haue a great care of the truth considering how hatefull a thing a lie is And here hee giues a reason of his Sedebat why he sate there The one was His extreame heat and wearinesse The other which was the maine cause His expecting of the woman of Sâ—maria's comming to the Well waiting there for her as an Hunâ—sâ—an for his Game and het want of water makes the way for her to come thither Iesâ—â— sitting there all the while Saint Augustine saith Sedeâ—aâ— iuxta pâ—tâ—um â—ed 〈◊〉 quiâ—sâ—ebat He sate by the Well but tooke no
vestures of the Priests are their good workes Sacerdotes tui induantur iustitiam Let thy Priests be cloathed with Righteousnesse And these are to sound aloud being not holy onely in their tongue but also in their actions There must be a bell and there must be a clapper preaching and doing must goe together one will not doe well without the other Our Sauiour Christ aduiseth vs That we should hide our works and not make them knowne Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth Least the wind of vaine-glory chance to blow away the fruit thereof But in a Prince and a Prelat God would haue their workes to be more publike that they should not onely be holy but also seeme so for the good example of the people God placed Ioseph in the gouernment of Egypt because his life was so notoriously good that his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand It is a thing worthy the consideration That a Slaue in the house of an Infidell should professe so much vertue so much truth so much faithfulnesse so much courtesie and so much modestie that he should make him ruler of his house and put all that he had in his hand Oh how well beseeming are these and the like good things for the gouernment of a kingdome In regard of his death and that likewise for many good and great reasons First it was fitting That the testimonie of our Sauiours innocencie should precede to the end that it might appeare to the world that the Diuell by this his death was robbed and spoiled of his Empire through his righteousnes Saint Augustine deliuereth three things vpon this point The one That God did iustly deliuer man ouer to the Empire of the diuell for that he suffered himselfe to be ouercome by his subtletie and cunning The other That so great is the signiorie and dominion that the diuell hath ouer him that he neither can with all the strength that he hath ouercome his temptations nor auoid death which he incurred through sinne Not that the diuell had any more right or power ouer him than a hangman hath for the tormenting of a delinquent who receiues his command from the Iudge The third and last which is likewise of Leo and Saint Gregory the Pope That God might very well free man from the slauery and bondage of the diuell by his vertue and power without doing the diuell any wrong Euen as a Iudge who hath deliuered ouer an offender to the hangman to torment him may change his mind and set him free yet notwithstanding was willing to treat this busines by way of Iustice as if the diuell had proper right thereunto First for that it had beene but small glorie to Gods greatnes that the Creator should â—onâ—est with his creature and an infinite power with a limited Secondly That he might not make his iustice suspected For he that hath the least Iustice on his side doth now and then flye to his force and power The diuell was to be ouercome saith Saint Augustine by iustice and not by might Miro aequitatis iure certatum est said Leo the Pope Whence the Princes of the earth may learne this lesson That sithence the Prince of heauen proceeded so fairely and so iustly with so base and bad a creature hauing no tye or obligation thereunto let not any Prince of the earth presume to say Sic volo sic iubeo sit pro ratione voluntas But rather hearken to that of Iob If I refused to be iudged with my seruant c. Besides it is to be noted That the diuell did exceede his Commission and that God hauing giuen him power for to torment sinners he fell a tormenting of our Sauiour Christ who was most innocent he pursued him to the death till he had placed him vpon the Crosse. The cause was propounded in the Tribunall of the most blessed Trinitie the diuell was condemned and depriued of that power which was giuen him And so is that place of Saint Paul to be vnderstood De peccato damnauit peccatum And that of Saint Iohn Now is the iudgement of this world now shall the Prince of it be cast out That hapned to the diuell which befâ—ll Adam God gaue him free leaue and full liberty to inioy all the trees in Paradise saue one onely and no more and he onely pitcht his palat vpon that and tasted but of that one and no more God gaue the diuell leaue to tempt all onely interdicting him That he should not touch vpon our Sauiour Christ and yet he pusht most at him And to the end that this fault and punishment of the diuell should remaine notorious to the world it was fit that the testimony of his innocencie should goe before and that he should say Quis ex vobis c. Which of you c. Guaricus saith That the death Crosse of our Sauiour Christ was more the diuells death and crosse than his For our Sauiour Christ rose again the third day but the diuell neuer since was able to lift vp his head And as two going forth vpon a challenge into the field are vsually both run through and slaine so our Sauiour Christ and the diuel were both nayled to the Crosse Christ to his greater glory the diuell to his vtter destruction If I say the truth why doe ye not beleeue me The truth is the Blanke and Marke of our vnderstanding and being that man ought naturally to loue it it is a metaphisicall case that he should come to abhorre it In satisfaction of which difficulty we haue already rendered three reasons Whereunto we may here adde that other which our Sauiour Christ gaue vnto the Pharisees by Saint Iohn Yee seeke to kill me because my word hath no place in you There are some stomackes so ouerladen with euill humours That they no sooner receiue good meate but they vomit it vp againe and by a depraued disposition turne that which is sweet into sowernes In like sort there are some soules so full of hatred enuy couetousnesse and vncleanenesse that they rise at Gods truths and are ready to spue them vp though they be sweeter then the hony or hony-combe To him that is sicke of a Quartane the brawne of a Capon is vnsauourie but a pickled pilchard a strong onyon and a piece of powdered beefe haue an excellent rellish with him To a brest surcharged with the things of this world of force the doctrine of heauen must be vnsauoury Eyes that are couered with clouds as with a curtaine hate the light and cannot endure the splendour of the Sun Bonitatem disciplinam sciâ—ntiam docemini Saint Ierome renders it bonum gustum And from hence ariseth one of the greatest abuses in all the world to wit That we are readier to beleeue an enemie that lyes vnto vs than a friend that tells vs the truth In
apprehend Dauid Michal saued his life by letting him out a window Why did they not follow in pursuit of him being so much offended as they were at this tricke which Michâ—l had put vpon them Some Hebrewes make answer hereunto That God had damd vp the window or cast a myst before their eyess that they could not perceiue the manner of his escape Ecclesiasticus saith The congregation of the wicked is like tow wrapped together Their end is a flame of fire to destroy them An Armie of Reprobates can no more stand against the godly than bundles of Towe or Flaxe before a flaming fire How long c. The Iewes comming round about our Sauiour they said vnto him Quousque c. How long doest thou make vs doubt As Loue transformeth a man so doth Hate Vulnerasti cor meum soror mea said the Bridegroome to his Spouse Another letter hath it Excordasti Which alludeth vnto that which the Spouse answered Ego Dormio cor meum vigilat But how can the Spouse sleepe and her heart wake yes her husband had stolne away her heart and that waked with him when she was asleepe Now Hate no lesse transformeth than Loue. Saul did not liue in himselfe but in Dauid Haman not in himselfe but in Mardochee the Pharisees not in themselues but in Christ. And therfore they say Thou causest our soules to doubt Thou hast robd vs of our soules we are not our selues but as bodies without a soule And in token that the cause of this their suspension was Enuie they confesse these their so many distractions vexations and torments of the mind All other kind of sinnes bring paine and torment with them but it is after they haue tasted of their sinnes but Enuie torments before hand The Pharisees had scarce seen Christs Miracles and the applause which his doctrine had in the world when they began to suffer and to be grieued And this is the reason why this Vice is harder to be cured than any other Good doth ordinarily quench ill as water quencheth fire But Enuie because it makes another mans good his ill that which to other vices is death is to Enuy life It is the fire of brimstone which the more water you throw on it the more it burneth They came about mee like so many Bees who are exasperated and grow angry with those that doe them no harme but good They waxed hot like fire among thornes which no water can quench Animam nostram tollis Where I would haue thee to weigh the word Tollis Thou takest away our soule thou makest vs to doubt c. Thou art in fault that we liue in this paine and passion It is the common course of your greatest sinners to lay the blame of their sinne vpon God O Lord Why hast thou made vs to erre from thy wayes saith Esay and hardned our heart from thy feare It is a sin inherited from Adam who laid the fault of eating the apple vpon God The woman which thou gauest me to be with me c. She that thou gauest me to be my companion to be my cherisher and my comforter Who would haue thought that she would haue intreated any thing at my hands that should not haue beene very lawfull and honest The sicke man is wont to lay the fault on the Clymat wherein hee liueth and on those meates wherewith hee is nourished Seneca tells a tale of a certaine Shee-slaue who one morning when she awaked finding her selfe blind laid the fault that she could not see vpon the house desiring that she might be remooued to another The cause of your Eclypses is the earth which interposes it selfe betweene the Sunne and the Moone Whereas hee that shall impute the fault to the Sun shall but betray his ignorance Of the Eclipses of these Iewes the cause thereof was their passions their couetousnesse and their enuie If our Sauiour Christ preached vnto them they desired Miracles if he wrought Miracles they desired Doctrine from his workes they appealed to his words and from his words to his workes and laying the fault on the Sun they said Animam nostram tollis Thou makest vs to doubt If thou be the Christ tell vs plainly In three words they vttered three notorious lies The first Dic nobis palam Tell vs plainly for all that thou hast hitherto sayd vnto vs is as nothing The second Dic nobis palam and we will beleeue thee The third Dic nobis palam for that is the reason why wee haue not hitherto beleeued thee Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome haue both obserued that in these their lies there was a great deale of craft subtletie which was this That the Iewes did still presume that our Sauiour Christ would boast himselfe to bee King of the Iewes and that he was temporally to sit in Dauids Throne they went about to draw this from him that they might haue some ground of accusation against him and therefore they thus cried out vnto him Dic nobis palam Tel vs plainly for in all the rest that they desired of him our Sauiour Christ had giuen them full satisfaction For if Palam be to publish a thing openly and not to doe it in hugger-mugger or in some by-corner or other I haue alwayes preached publiquely in your Synagogues and in the middest of your Market-places And I sayd nothing in secret If Palam shall carrie with it a kind of boldnesse and libertie yee may call to mind my whipping of you out of the Temple the seueritie of my reprehensions and that I called yee the children of the Deuill that I might publish your euill thoughts to the world c. If Palam shall signifie Cleerely or Manifestly what more cleere or manifest truth could ye heare than that which I haue preached vnto you Wil you that I shal tel you in a word who I am I and the father am one Of the materiall Sunne a man may complaine That an earnest eying of it and a steadie fixed looking thereupon may make vs blind but on the Sunne of Righteousnesse no man can lay this fault for hee himselfe giues that light whereby our eyes are inabled to see The commandement of the Lord is pure and giueth light vnto the eyes And therefore Saint Paul calls the old Law Night and the Law of Grace Day In that Law the Sunne had not shewed it selfe all was clouds and darkenesse and albeit they did inioy some light it was but a glimpse or as the light of a candle through some little chinke but when the Sonne of God appeared in the flesh that darkenesse of the night was driuen away and the day appeared c. I told yee and yee beleeue not the workes that I doe in my fathers name they beare witnesse of me Our Sauiour Christ had prooued himselfe to be both God and Man by such conuenient meanes that it had beene follie if not meere madnesse to haue desired better
mulierem Seeest thou this Woman No Simon thou doest not see her For thou doest imagine her to be a sinner whereas indeed she is a Saint Many sinnes are forgiuen her That the sinnes of Mary Magdalen were many the reasons before alledged the seuen diuels driuen out of her deliuered by Saint Marke and Saint Luke and the name of Sinneresse in so populous a City are sufficient testimonies of this truth But a stronger proofe thereof are those words vttered by our Sauior Christ Many sinnes are forgiuen her Wherein we are to consider his franknesse and freenesse in forgiuing Shewing his power and omnipotencie in nothing more than in pittying our infirmities and pardoning our offences For that so great a forgiuer of sinnes should say Many sinnes are forgiuen thee doth argue that her sinnes were many And would to God That those many deuotos or seruants that are deuoted to Mary Magdalen be not more for those many sinnes which she had before she was conuerted than those many deseruings which she afterwards had For we haue reason to be iealous of our selues that we are more affected to sins than teares to carelesnesse than repentance For we daily see in our liues and conuersations many sinnes like vnto hers but little or no repentance like hers Many comfort themselues with the teares of this holy woman this blessed Saint of God it seeming vnto them that they haue a kind of confidence in their brests that they likewise shall bewaile their sins as she did It is no wonder to see them sinne at euery step but it were a wonder to find them euery foot weeping They will follow her in her faults but not in her amendment in her sins but not in her teares Nazianzen saith of himselfe Diutius viuendo nihil aliud assequor quam vt maiorem vitiorum aceruum colligam By liuing long I get no other good than make the heape of my sinnes the bigger The child of God weepes and it grieues him to the heart that he cannot amend as he would and that the longer his life lasteth the more sinne he treasureth vp but the sinner doth treasure vp vengeance for the day of vengeance but neuer sheds a teare to wash away his sins and to quench those flames of hell which without them his soule may eternally suffer O Lord graunt vs the grace that as we haue sinned with Mary Magdalen so with her we may returne againe vnto thee and that hauing tâ—e like repentance we may find the like forgiuenesse of our sinnes Grant this sweet Iesus for thy mercies sake c. THE XXXVII SERMON VPON THE FRâ—DAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOH. II. Colligerunt Pontifices Pharisaei Concilium Then gathered the high Priests and Pharisees a Councel THe high Priests and the Pharisees called a Councell to sit vpon the weightiest cause that was euer consulted of vpon earth wherein foure things did concurre First of all A Councell for to deliberate what course were best to be taken for amongst many the truth would be the better debated and in graue businesses it is fit that persons should be called thereunto that are men of Authoritie and Learning Secondly therefore the high Priests are called to this Councell Thirdly the Pharisees who sat as Iudges vpon all matters touching doubts of Faith and causes of Religion Fourthly and lastly The cause of this Councell or Consultation which was our Sauiours raising vp of Lazarus For they saw that this Myracle had conuerted many Collegerunt ergo Concilium They called therefore a Councell Hitherto all goes well a faire course was taken but in the end they mar'd all by plotting mischiefe against our Sauiour Christ. It had beene better for them to haue receiued him to haue approoued those prophesies which were foretold of him and to haue inlightned the people by instructing them in this his doctrin but they met together for no other end but to eclipse and darken the sunne then when the beames thereof did most shine Then gathered the high Priests and the Pharisees a Councell After that the diuell had tempted our Sauiour finding him somewhat sharpe and sower towards him Saint Luke saith Reliquit eum diabolus ad tempus The diuell gaue him ouer for that bout and would haue no more to doe with him for the present but left him then of purpose waiting for a better season and opportunitie Vsque ad tempus For a time Euthymius askes for how long And his answer is Till that the Priests and the Pharisees had called a Councell This was the diuells plot though they did not then thinke so when they met in Councell And yet they were no sooner sat but that Sacrilegious decree went foorth from amongst them To put him to death Some man perhaps will aske me How the diuell could hope to get the greater victorie of our Sauiour Christ by this meanes working the same more by the high Priests and the Pharisees than by himselfe First of all I answer thereunto One that serues on horsebacke is imagined to be of greater force and power than he that serues on foot And as a certain glosse hath it which Thomas alleageth The wicked are the diuells horses and being horsed vpon the high Priests and the Pharisees it is not much that hee should presume to take away our Sauiours life If the high Priests and the Pharisees had been horsed vpon the diuells backe the danger had not beene so great But when the diuell shall ride vpon high Priests and Iudges c. it is a fearfull thing Secondly Saint Ambrose saith That albeit the diuell be the Author of all mischiefe yet hath he sent forth many learned and nimble witted schollers which haue wonderfully aduanced his cause suting with that of the Apostle who calls the wicked Inuentores malorum Inuenters of euill The diuell was the first Inuenter therof but afterwards there were some men that discouered much more malice Magellanes was the first that passed the Streights but afterwards others went so farre beyond him that he is cast behind Thirdly the diuell by himselfe alone can commonly doe little vnlesse wee serue and supply him with materials Comestor reports it to be a tradition amongst the Rabbines that in the making of the golden Calfe the diuell performed two Offices the one of a Smith the other of a Mettall-founder but that the Hebrewes furnished him with Materialls they found the stuffe for the women who commonly are most superstitious and by consequence fittest to be the diuells instruments furnished him with their eare-rings bracelets iewels of gold Here now in like maner the diuel did imploy his best industry and diligence he was the cause ofthis Consultation and the plotter of this Councell but the high Priests and the Pharisees were they that ministred the materials helping him with their voices They called a Councell Peace is the fruit of Grace The fruits of the Spirit are Loue Ioy and Peace And for that sinners liue aloofe off
Dragons and Scorpions and therefore of the two it is the lesser euill to liue amongst these known wild beasts than such beastly minded men Your Wolfes that are clad in sheepes cloathing our Sauiour markes out to be the vtmost of euill S. Ambrose treating of the sorrow which the stones shewed at our Sauiours death and that they were so sensible thereof that they did split in sunder saith That our Sauiour found more pitty in those stones than in his peoples brests Whence by the way it is to be noted That when those that gouerne and sit at the helme are generally naught and wicked it is needfull then for vs to flye vnto the wildernesse for it is better to liue with Dragons and Scorpions than with them When there is an earthquake in the Citie all hast out of it and get them into the fields All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken What doe ye stay for then Why do ye stand looking and gazing one on another as if you had nothing to doe when destruction is so neere at hand In a word Daniel is cast into the Lyons Den and the same is sealed with the Kings owne Signet not for any hurt that he had done the Lyons nor for any harme that hee had done his companions and play-fellowes but throwne in thither by the malice of the Princes of the people and the Iudges of the land O Lord deliuer vs from the oppression of powerfull Princes and the vnconscionable dealing of corrupt Iudges That there should be but one bad Gouernour or but one bad Iudge it is ill because such a one is the fountaine whereof all doe drinke Si autem nequam fuerit totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit But that there should be two such bad members in a Common-wealth is a great deale worse Of those two naughty Iudges that wronged Susanna God said Et egressa est iniquitas à Babylone Your briberies your thefts and your adulteries tooke life from them in whom they should haue dyed But when the whole Bench of Iudges shall be bad get thee gone into the desart flye to the wildernes for it is too great a boldnes then not to be as others are He that hath a mangie hand couers it with a cloth binds it vp close and dissembles the matter as much as he can but if he see other men in the same case as himselfe is in he looseth all shame The first day that a man enters into the Pallace or some place of gouernment c. He saith Dominus sit in corde meo God be in my heart but after some sixe weekes he changeth his mind and saith Let vs make profit of our places as others doe Birds that are free and at libertie talke as Nature hath taught them but being put into a Cage prate according to the vse and custome of the Country Your Thrush of Castile and that of Cataluna haue one and the same note in the field but in the Cage one sayes Deu and the other Dios. I feare me I haue troubled your patience too long and therefore I will rather here abruptly end than tyre you our God of his infinite goodnesse c. THE XXXVIII SERMON VPON THE SATURDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOH. 12. Cogitauerunt Principes sacerdotum vt Lazarum interficerent THe High Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death also This Gospell containeth diuerse and sundry mysteries but the first and chiefest is a resolution taken by the Priests to put Lazarus to death As if God could not raise him from a violent death who had raised him from a naturall death They thought with themselues that Lazarus holding his life by miracle it would be an addition of credit and reputation to our Sauiour And as to take away his life they had no other reason but his many Miracles so did they likewise seeke to cut off Lazarus thinking it very vnfit that he should be a witnesse to make good the greatest Miracle that euer our Saiuour wrought and that by his life and words he should notifie Christs Diuinitie to the Iewes and Gentiles that came to visit him The High Priests consulted That the Diuell hath the disposing of the gouernments and dignities of the world is a notorious lye though when he tempteth any he would seeme to make it haue some appearance of truth Hee said vnto our Sauiour Christ All this will I giue thee Representing vnto him a briefe Cosmographie of all the whole world Insinuating That hee was Lord of all and had the bestowing of all The like speech he vsed when being askt of God from whence he came he answered I am come from compassing the earth I haue rounded my Heritage And doubtlesse Hee that shall narrowly looke into those who command and rule the greater part of the world will I feare me beleeue that the diuell did put the same into their hands but the truth is That God is the sole Lord of all S. Iohn stiles him in his Apocalyps King of Kings and Lord of Lords and paints him foorth with many Crownes vpon his head And on his head were many Crownes in token that hee hath the donation of Scepters and Crownes Artaxerxes stiled himselfe the great King and had appertaining to his Empire 127 Prouinces Nebuchadnezzar was a mighty Prince but these and all that euer were or shall be are but Pigmies to God It is God that giues and takes away Kingdomes Per me Reges regnant By me Kings raigne And when he diuided it amongst the sonnes of Adam he did limit them their bounds beyond which they were not to passe When the most high God deuided to the nations their inheritance when he separated the sonnes of Adam he appointed the borders of the people according to the number of the children of Israel The Statue of Nebuchadnezzar which signified the Empires of the earth was but a Statue in a dreame and so vanished like a dreame The Kings and Emperors of the earth some dye others are borne are heere to day and gone to morrow Hodie est rex cras morietur But Gods Empire endureth for euer Pliny saith That the election of Traiane may be a sufficient argument to prooue That God setteth vp Kings not onely among Christians but the Gentiles Suting with that of Homer Ex Ioue Reges This truth being supposed some man may aske me How comes it then to passe that God places in that Citie where his name is called vpon where he hath his house and his Altar these high Priests who after they had decreed the death of Christ did treat of killing Lazarus Which difficultie is the more augmented because for the most part the gouernours of this world are naughtie men as was to be seene in the Roman Empire Thales Milesius the prime wise man of Greece being demanded what hee had obâ—erued in the world to be of most difficultie Answered Tyrannum senem To see a Tyrant come to be an old
they should not tyre out themselues any longer in persecuting of him seeing it was to no end but all went crosse with them Saint August yet saith That they were the speeches of his enemies which bemoned their owne disgrace and misfortune There could not bee any blindnesse more foule and beastly than that of the high Priests and Pharisees who hauing had so many tryalls how little their power and their trickes could preuaile against our Sauiour Christ that all this while they could not perceiue that this was Gods businesse against which nor counsell nor wisedome can preuaile Saint Peter preaching Christs resurrection the high Priests and Pharisees called him before them notifying vnto him That he should not any more touch vpon that point but hee told them That he was bound rather to obey God than man And perceiuing his resolution Dissecabantur cordibus suis They burst for anger when they heard it and consulted to slay both him and his companions But Gamaliel a Doctour of the Law being there present and one that was honoured of all the people aduised those that sat there in Councel to put the Apostles forth for a little space out of the Councell house which done he then said vnto them Men of Israel bee well aduised what ye doe concerning these men Time will prooue whether this be a Truth or a Lye that these men vtter It is not long since that one Theâ—des boasted himselfe to be a Prophet who was followed by some foure hundred Disciples but in the end he was condemned to death and they al which obeyed him were scattered and brought to nought After this man rose vp Iudas of Galilee and drew away much people after him but he in the end also perished and all his followers And therefore I now say vnto ye forbeare a while and refraine your selues from these men and let them alone For if this their doctrine be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot destroy it In a word Time will bring this to light but to go about to take away their liues now from them were to set your selues to fight against God The like did the Prince of the Ammonits deliuer to Nebuchadnezzars Lieutenant Generall at the Siege of Bethulia If God fauour and protect this people all Nebuchadnezzars forces are not able to subdue them And this was that which made Iob so confident Be thou on my side and let all the world be against me I care not Saul did vse all his best endeauours and employed all the force and strength he had to worke Dauids death one while in his owne person seeking to nayle him with his Speare to the wall another while by setting vpon him with his souldiers but neuer yet could the power of a King preuaile without Gods permission against a silly flye Gods protection is aboue all his workes so the Princes of the earth the high Priests the Pharisees the Clergie and the Laytie did cry out against Christ but were forced to say in the end We preuayle nothing at all They were strangely blinded that they could not perceiue Gods power herein Lord so open our eyes that we may see the light of thy glorious Gospell To whom c. THE XXXIX SERMON MAT. 26. MARC 14. LVC. 22. IOH. 18. Of St. Peters Deniall and Teares OF Peters deniall there are two opinions as opposite as false The one That Peter had lost his Faith Grounding the same vpon the testimonie of Saint Ambrose Postquam Petrus fidem se perdidisse defluit maiorem gratiam reperit quam amiâ—it After that Peter had bewailed his lost faith the grace he found was more than that he lost And in that our Sauiours reprehension to his Disciples at his departure to heauen Hee reprooued their vnbeleefe and hardnesse of heart Where he excepted not Peter This opinion is primarily contrary to those words of our Sauiour Christ I haue prayed for thee Peter that thy faith might not faile thee Secondly it is contrary to naturall reason For to passe sodainly from one extreame to another though God doth it by extraordinary wayes yet neyther Nature nor Art nor the Diuell doth it be it either from ill to good or from good to ill Nemo repentè turpissimus said the Poet. The sanctitie of Peter sure was one of the greatest and to passe sodainely from a Saint to an Infidell which is numbred amongst those sins that are the most hainous it cannot sinke into my head Besides Faith is like vnto your Ermine who had rather mori quam foedari rather dye than durtie it selfe And therefore Faith is cloathed in white a colour wherein the least spot or soyle shewes foulest Corresponding with that of Saint Paul Hauing the mysterie of faith in a pure conscience The conscience wherein Faith is to reside must be pure and cleane and as it goes soyling so it goes lessening and losing it selfe And as is the blood of the soule and the last humour which is vomited forth as it is to be seene in those that are sea-sicke so is it in the vertues of Faith Peruenit gladius saith Ieremie vsque ad animam The sword hath entred euen vnto my soule Saint Ierome That the sword is come vnto the soule Quando nihil in anima vitale reseruatur When there is not any vitall thing that is reserued in the soule when all goodnesse is gone out of it But Saint Peter was not come to that desperate passe his case was farre otherwise And if Saint Ambrose say That he lost his Faith he vnderstood thereby that loyaltie and fidelitie which Peter ought better to haue kept or that confession of his faith which vpon that occasion he was bound to haue made according to that of Saint Paul With the heart we beleeue vnto righteousnesse but with the mouth wee confesse vnto saluation And for that reprehension which our Sauiour Christ bestowed vpon his Disciples at his departure for heauen it is a cleere case that it was not directed to Peter as appeareth by the words following where it is said That the rest when they were told by the women that he was risen from the dead it seemed vnto them as a feigned thing neither beleeued they them But Peter was one of the first that ranne vnto our Sauiours Sepulchre and reuealed to the rest the glorious resurrection of his Lord and Sauiour Other Doctours excusing Peter say That in this Deniall he spake Amphibologically his words carrying a doubtfull or double meaning and yet might admit a good construction and this opinion S. Ambrose S. Hilary and S. Cyril toucht vpon but the truth is that S. Peter did grieuously sinne therein and that he had lost his loue but not his faith Some treating of the occasions that made God to turne his eye from Peter some they say were on Peters part others on our Sauiours And the first and chiefest occasion was Saint Peters confidence and
of his loue why God did not say vnto him I now know that thou louest God The reason is That when a iust man comes to the top and heigth of his loue he may presume of himselfe that he hath then begun to loue And for that feare is the first step to loue he sayd Nunc cognoui quod timeas c. By the whole drift of this discourse that conclusion of Ecclesiasticus remaineth cleere Lift not thy selfe vp in the thought of thy soule like the Bull. Let not thy thoughts and hopes make thee doe the things that are vaine and foolish Hee instances in the bull an vntamed beast which doth not acknowledge heauen Why wilt thou leaue thy leafes and thy fruit and remaine like a dotard in the desart Iob saith If he layd folly on his Angels how much more on them that liue in houses of clay If in the purest steele he found rust and in the finest cloth the Moth c. S. Augustine saith Nullum peccatum facit homo quod non possit facere alter homo si desit rector per quem factus est homo Man doth not commit that sinne which another may not â—oe if that Ruler doe not direct man by whom man is made The second occasion on Peters part was the Pallace of Caiphas Saint Ambrose saith That Peter comming to warme himselfe at the Pallace came to denie the truth For where Truth it selfe was taken prisoner he had need of a great deale of courage that should not incline to a lye Aeneas Syluius reporteth That Fredericke Archduke of Austria would goe a nights disguised through the Tauerns and Victualing houses belonging to the Court only to heare what they sayd of himselfe and his Ministers being demanded why he did expose his person to that perill his answer was Because in Court they neuer tell truth Plutarch recounteth of King Antiochus That hauing lost himselfe a hunting hee lighted vpon a Cottage where were a companie of shepheards and asking them being at supper What the world said of the King and his Ministers The King said they hath the report of a good honest gentleman but that the State was neuer worse gouerned than now for it is serued by the greediest and the gripingest Ministers that were in the world and when he came backe againe to Court he told those that were about him Since I first tooke possession of this my Kingdome I neuer heard the truth of things till yesterday Amongst foure hundred Prophets which Ahab consulted onely hee met with one that would not lye vnto him and the King hated him for telling him the truth Saint Ambrose calls the Pallace Basilica deriuing it from the Basiliske which kills with it's looke Of this creature Aelian saith That he vomiteth forth his poyson vpon a stone And it fits well for Peter whom our Sauiour Christ termed Petram vpon whom the diuell whom the Scripture stiles a Basiliske vomited foorth his poyson Our Sauiour Christ receiued much kindnesse and courtesie in the house of Martha of Zacheus and the Pharisee but in Herods Pallace they made a foole of him In that of Pilat they whipt him and crowned him with thornes and in that of Caiphas he receiued so many affronts that God onely knowes what they were according to that which Dauid said in his name Tu scis impropirum meum confusionem meam The third occasion was That hee would enter into the Pallace by being brought in by the hands of a woman Saint Bernard saith Si infidelitas intrat quid mirum si infideliter agat Maximus Tirronensis saith That Peters sinne was much like vnto that of Adam there being imployed in both of them a man a woman and a diuell Adam had a warning not to eate Peter not to denie Eue was the occasion that Adam did eate and Cayphas maid-seruant that Peter did denie In a word a woman was the instrument of all our deaths and threw downe to the ground those two Columbs and pillars of the world but Peters fall was the fouler for Eue proceeded with inticements and flatteries and Adam suffered himselfe to be ouercome Ne contristaret delitias Lest he should grieue his Loue. But this woman saith Saint Augustine proceeded with threatnings now a woman is very powerfull in matter of allurements inticings dalliance and deceiuing through profession of loue but in matter of feare as Saint Gregorie hath obserued shee is very weake A woman triumphed ouer Sampson Dauid Salomon Sisera and Holophernes by making loue and vsing deceit but here a maid with only a bunch of keyes hanging at her girdle triumphed ouer Peter by feare The fourth occasion was Saint Peters offering to thrust into the Pallace Ioseph could not auoid the occasion because his Mistresse called him vnto her Dauid did cast his eye aside by chance but Peter did seeke occasion And he that loues anger shall perish by it He doth not say He that loues warre or victorie but he that loues danger Many of the children of Israel did cut off the thumbs from their fingers because they would excuse themselues from prophanation by singing the songs of Sion and being importuned thereunto Sing vnto vs one of the songs of Sion They answered How shall we sing one of the Lords songs in a strange land c. Osee saith Non vocabis me vltra Baalim sed vocabis me vir meus Baalim is the same as Vir meus But because there was an Idol that was called Baalim God said Doe not call me Baalim to the end that no man may presume that thou yet bearest Baalim still in thy mind or for to take all occasion from thee of thinking thereof any more On Gods part there are likewise very good reasons The first shall be of Saint Gregorie Saint Peter being to bee a Pastor it was fit that he should fall into so foule a fault least that afterwards he should be scandalized by other mens offences and carry too sharpe and hard a hand towards sinners Saint Augustine touches vpon the same reason in his bookes de Ciuitate Dei persuading the Bishops of Galilea That Clemencie should sway more with them than seueritie loue than power softnesse than sharpnesse for there is no man that liues without sinne And if our Sauiour Christ should haue censured Peter after his first deniall he would not haue reapt from thence so much fruit as now he did The second shall be of Saint August who sayes That it is a wholesomâ— medicine for a proud man to suffer him to fall into some grieuous and manifest sinne to the end that the foulenesse of that fault may abate his pride Saint Peter was so peremptorie and so presumptuous that he did presse this point with such a deale of confidence and boldnesse that he told his Master Though that all men shall be offended by thee yet will I neuer bee offended And Christ then telling him that hee should denie him thrice