Fisher boat or as your Sodomites about Lots house or Sauls soldiers about Dauid In modum coronae They had shut him in on all sides as a band of souldiers beset a Castle or as the Wicked the Iust which is as much to say In circuitu Impij ambulabant The Wicked walked in a Circle And they learned this of the Deuill of whom Saint Peter saith He goes about seeking whom hee may deuoure They came about him Vpon so good a day a day of good workes and on the day of the renouation of the Temple when they were to treat of the renouation of their soules Circumdederunt They came athwart two walls which would haue made euen the Deuills of Hell to haue turned cowards The one was The respect to this so solemne a Feast The other To the Temple and the sacred Pledges thereunto belonging None but Reprobates will store vp iniuries reuenge treasons gaming banqueting whoring and the like villanous actions for the Sabboth day Nazianzen saith That the principall end of this or the like Feast is a remembring of God and a gratefull acknowledgement of those many fauours wee haue receiued from him but that which was then and is now a dayes most practised is a forgetfulnesse of God and an vnthankefulnesse for benefits receiued Where I would haue you to obserue nor is it vnworthy your noting that God did on the Sabboth day do the greatest works that euer hee did he rewarded the Angels crowning them with glorie he threw the Dragon his followers down from Heauen hee freed his people from Aegypts captiuitie hee was borne into the world after so many sighes hee rose againe he sent his holy Spirit he ouercame the vnbeleefe of Thomas on the Sabboth day he shall iudge the Quicke the Dead In a word all your festiuall dayes whatsoeuer were instituted in memoriall of extraordinarie fauours conferred vpon vs and all these the Ingratefull repay with new offences Touching the Temple or Church wherein God is to bee honoured Nilus saith That a Christian should beare no lesse respect to this his holy place than if he were in Heauen Ieremie maketh a fearefull threatning against Babylon applying it against her and against her King and the Medes Acuite sagittas implete pharetras arma arma And why so Vltio Domini vltio Templi He weigheth there the wrongs which Nebuchadnezzar had done to Ierusalem by dishonoring Matrons deflouring Virgins killing little children tormenting old folkes burning houses their robberies and their spoyles and yet all these he passeth ouer in silence the Prophet as one that found himselfe thereat much agrieued pressing onely the prophanation of the Temple and that he had made it a stable for his Horses They came about him Amongst many other things that they layd to our Sauiour Christs charge one was I can destroy the Temple wherein they did not only accuse him of blasphemie for making himselfe of the same omnipotencie with God but for his irreuerence also and disrespect to the Temple Saint Augustine in his booke de Ciuit. Dei reporteth That the Goths hauing sackt Rome as many as betooke themselues to the Churches of Saint Peter and Saint Paul remained free so much could the respect of sacred places preuaile with these cruell Barbarians but it would not serue our Sauiour Christs turne with the Iewes though he had made a Law touching the immunitie of the Temple They came about him Here was that prophecie of Dauid fulfilled Many calues encompassed me about and the fat Buls besieged me Euthymius saith That by your Calues he meanes the common people and by your Buls the Noble men And he saith That they all came about him and compassed him round in forme of a ring and that they roared like Lyons and snarled at him like so many dogges when in a Common-wealth the bulls are confederat with the dogs when the Lyons take part with the wolfes When your Patritij ioyne with your Pleybeians your Nobilitie with the Communaltie and all to doe mischiefe giue that Common-wealth for lost and vndone when your Gouernador and his Alguazil when your Alcalde and his Procurador when your Oydor and his Escriuano when your Secritario and his Oficial do goe hand in hand together it is all one Chrysostome expounding those words of Saint Luke Dimitte nobis Barrabam Loose Barrabas He saith That they that were theeues did desire a theeues libertie And if they sought so earnestly to saue a theefe it was not much that they should condemne the innocent Esay bewayling Ierusalems ill hap who hauing heretofore beene holy had now turned whore entertaining all sorts of men one while theeues another while murderers c. Rendring anon after the reason Principies infideles socij furum It is no maruaile that Princes should strike hands with theeues being that they are willing to share with them in their thefts Heretofore Princes were wont to fauour the good and punish the bad Dauid saith of himselfe That when he did bethinke himselfe a mornings hee propounded to himselfe not to pardon any notorious offender nor to spare the life of the wicked nor those that were ill members of the Common-wealth In matutino interficiebam omnes operantes iniquitatem Oh what a happy estate of a Common-wealth was here for a Prince hating the wicked so much he could not chuse but fauour the good But now the world was growen to that passe That your Herods your Pilats your High-Priests and your Pharisees in stead of doing of this when they bethinke themselues in the morning they call their Page vnto them and say Goe to such a one remember my seruice vnto him and know how he hath slept to night c. Now adayes your Gouernors are adored in their Ministers because they serue them with the hands of Iudas and bring bribes vnto them strangling Iustice with this close couetousnesse They came about me They did fill and shut vp the doore through which hee was to passe thinking there to make an end of him but when either God or a man whom God fauours is thus inclosed on euery side this hedging of him in will not serue their turne for he hath wings to flye from them To this purpose Dauid being persecuted by Saul composed some of his Psalmes The Kings Souldiers had once compassed him in round In modum Coronae Vowing that he should not escape their fingers vnlesse hee had the wings of a bird to flye from them In the Lord put I my trust Why say you then vnto my soule that she should flye like a Sparrow to the Mountaines c. But hauing God for my shield and my defence I may safely lay me downe to sleepe and take my rest O Lord a great squadron may affright a very good man when he shall see they haue beset him But why should I feare as long as thou doest gard and protect me Thou art my refuge in tribulation c. Saul sent some to
God another while as a miserie incident to man The word Zagar signifies Vociferatio A crying out aloude as when a Citie is set on fire and in danger to be burnt Some perhaps may conceiue that this was too strict a commaund to inioyne this punishment vpon dumbe beasts and poore little infants that had not yet offended But first of all they did therein pretend to incline Gods mercy towards them Secondly to mooue the more repentance by a common sorrow Thirdly as at the funeralls of Princes and Generals not onely the principall and meaner persons mourne in blackes but their horses weare the like liuery of sorrow their drummes beat hoarse couered with blacke Cypres their auncients are trailed along on the ground their swords and their lances with their points the contrary way in token that both the horses the drums the auncients and the armes haue lost their Master so likewise did the case stand with the Citie of Niniuie c. Ionas put Niniuie to such a strict penance and sorrow for their sinnes that it did appease the wrath of God towards them The Prophet presumed it should be destroyed and therefore Ionas went out of the Citie and sate on the East side thereof and there made him a booth and sate vnder it in the shadow till he might see what should bee done in the Citie Thinking perhaps with himselfe that God would not now make an end of the Citie all at once but that he would destroy a great part thereof as he did in the adoration of the golden Calfe when as pardoning the people hee slew a great number of them Now God had prepared a Gourd for Ionas and made it to come vp ouer him that it might bee a shadow ouer his head and deliuer him from his griefe Other Authors giue it other names But the strangenesse of it was that it grew vp all in a day The Prophet was exceeding glad to see himselfe so wel sheltred by this Gourd from the heat of the Sunne which did shrewdly scortch him Laborauerat enim It vexed him verie sore So that before it went verie ill with him and his ioy was so much the more encreased for that he saw God had such a care to cherish and make much of him Sure thought he he makes no small account of me that vseth me thus kindly But God shortly after prepared a worme which smote the Gourd that it withered Et percussit Sol super caput Iona astuabat The Sunne beat vpon the head of Ionas and he fainted Who could haue the patience to endure this Was it the Sun or was it fire that should thus prouoke him to cry out Melius est mihi mori quam viuere It is better for me to die than to liue But God reprehended Ionas for this desperate speech of his Putas ne bene irasceris Iona How nâ—w Ionas What 's the matter with thee Doost thou well to bee angrie for the Gourd Doost thou find thy selfe grieued that I haue made this Gourd to wither which came vp in a night and perished in a night and wilt thou not suffer me to be sencible of the destruction of this so great a Citie wherein there are sixescore thousand persons which cannot discerne betwixt the right hand and the left Doth it touch thee that thou art not esteemed in thine owne Countrie And wilt thou not pittie Niniuie whom thou hast drawne by thy preaching vnto them to repentance Niniuie yeelded vnto thee at the first words of thy voyce but Iuda still stands out obstinately in her malice against my calling vpon her And therefore at the day of judgement the men of Niniuie shall condemne them for a stiffe necked generation and a hard hearted People seeing they without any miracles were conuerted and turned vnto me at the preaching of one poore â—â—nas Et ecce plus quam Ionas hîc And behold a greater than Ionas here Hierusalem seeing so many miracles perseuereth in her incredulitie and therefore Niniuie shall stand and Hierusalem shall be destroyed At the day of judgement thou shalt stand confounded and ashamed that a barbarous ignorant and vnbeleeuing Nation which is a great disgrace to a man of honor that one that is so farre inferiour to thee should come to be so farre preferred before thee As those Cities where most of our Sauiours great workes were done were vpbraided by him because they repented not pronouncing a woe to Chorazin and a woe to Bethsaida For if saith he the great workes which were done in you had been done in Tyrus and Sydon they had repented long agone in Sacke-cloath and Ashes Regina Austri The Queene of the South shall rise in judgement c. Some man may say The historie of Niniuie was sole and without example in the world it 〈◊〉 not it's fellow For which cause he sets downe another example of the Queen of the South of whom there is mention made in the third of the Kings and in the second of Chronicles The Queene of the South came from Morol an Islâ—â—â— of Aethyopia as Origen Saint Hierome Saint Austen Anselmus and Iosephus saith and onely to heare the wisedome of Salomon Et ecce 〈◊〉 quam Salomon hîc And behold a greater here than Salomon It was much that the barbarous people of Niniuie should beleeue Ionas who sought after them and not they after him But much more is it that an Aethyopian Queene should seeke after â— King to hir so great trouble and cost Ecce plus quam Salomon hîc When the Preacher is of that great power and authoritie that he both sayes and does the little fruit that they reap thereby is euermore attributed to the hardnesse of the hearer And that he might teach this People this lesson he saith Ecce plus quam Salomon hîc Behold a greater than Salomon is here He was greater than Ionas for if he were obeyed by the Niniuites our Sauiour had obeysance done him by all the Elements if Ionas had a grace in his deliuerie and spake with a spirit it was our Sauiour that gaue it him if Ionas did inlighten a Citie our Sauiour did illuminate the whole world if Ionas did preach bloud threatnings and death our Sauiour did publish our saluation life and hope of Heauen He was better than Salomon for his wisedome was humane and earthly but that of our Sauiour diuine and heauenly Salomon neuer wrought any miracles but those of our Sauiour were without number In a word betweene the Queene of the South and the Pharisees betweene our Sauiour and Salomon there is a great antithesis and contrarietie The Queene was a Barbarian and ignorant they Doctours and learned in the Lawes she wonderfull desirous to heare a man they loath to heare a God she offered to Salomon great gifts they to our Sauiour vinegar and gall shee did so wonder at Salomons wisedome that she said Fame had belied him and that Report came too short of his praise but
seeke to suppresse it the more it shewes it selfe Certain Pharisees aduising our Sauior Christ to get him gone out of Herods Dominions and to flie the Kingdom returned them this answer Tell King Herod for all this his heat and spleene against me that I will cure the sicke and cast out deuils to day and to morrow Et tertia die consumer Signifying thereby that hee would liue for all him as long as he listed dye when he listed S. Ambrose when the emperor Theodosius was so mightily incensed against him for his boldnes in preaching said vnto him May it please your Imperiall Maiestie it becomes not an Emperour nor is it in his power to impose silence vpon the Preacher of Gods word Nor does it befit a Preacher to hold his peace where there is iust reason to reprehend The one is an affront offered vnto God whose Legat hee is that preacheth the other cowardise in Gods Minister who carrying with him the warrant of Gods word ought not to be afraid of any thing Many doe excuse themselues of vsing reprehensions for that they suppose they will be Sin prouecho without profit and worke little good vpon their Auditorie And yet our Sauiour Christ did seuerly reprooue the Pharisees though they were neuer awhit the better for it that others might reape fruit thereby and be admonished by other mens harmes Iudgen â—t according to the appearance but judge righteous iudgement Our Sauiour Christ said formerly vnto the Pharisees Why doe yee seeke to kill mee For euer since the time of the forementioned Miracle they sought to slay him the common people charging him with a Daemonium habes c. But Christ making no replie to the vulgar passing that ouer went about to prooue the small reason that they had to plot his death because he had done this good deed vpon the Sabboth day Vnum opus feci omnes admiramini Saint Chrisostome expoundeth this admiramini to be a condemning of him to bee a transgressour of the Law On the Sabboth saith our Sauior yee Circumcise and Circumcision is no breach of the Sabboth much lesse the healing of him that is lame Circumcision healeth the soule but woundeth the bodie But I in lesse time cure both body and soule Circumcision is of the antient Fathers the Sabboth of Moses you suffer the Circumcision and so did Moses If of this worke there followeth no transgression neither ought there of mine The Iewes hereunto might answer Circumcision is of the antient Fathers and confirmed by Moses but thy worke is of a base vulgar and ordinarie person Whereunto our Sauiour answereth Nolite iudicare secundum c. Iudgement ought to be made onely of mens actions without acception of persons Ye magnifie Moses as Saint Austen saith and Abraham Isaac and Iacob and yee despise mee my workes beeing more strange and wonderfull Without doubt ye are accepters of persons The Pharisees might replie Circumcision is a diuine precept but thy worke is not so This argument is of no force for the obseruation of the Sabboth was likewise a diuine precept but because that of the Circumcision was the more antient of the two they did prefer this before that And therefore Christs worke being greater than the Circumcision wee are to suppose that it was diuine and by consequence to be preferred before it To conclude it seeming to the Pharisees an vnworthie thing that the authoritie of a common man should be parallel'd with that of the antient Patriarches they condemned him for a transgressour Wherupon our Sauiour sayes vnto them Nolite iudicare secundum faciem First of all he here condemneth in Iudges the accepting of persons contrarie to so many places of Scripture which condemne this inequalitie Ecclesiasticus saith Fortissimus non habebit in illis patientiam And though God be so merciful a God of such great sufferance yet here by an Hyperbole he will not haue patience with those Iudges which for hatred loue or profit shall bee mooued to pronounce an vniust sentence nor with those princes and potentates of the World which in matters of Iustice shall carrie an vneuen hand And hee commandeth those Kings that were to raigne ouer his people that they should beare the booke of the Law about them and should read therein all the dayes of their life That they may learne to feare the Lord thir God For If the feare of God doth not bridle them they are head-strong and cannot be ruled Iudges haue for their bridle God and the King Kings onely God And against those that shal loose their respect towards him he saith Heare therefore ô ye Kings and vnderstand learne ye that be Iudges of the ends of the Earth Giue eare ye that rule the multitudes and glorie in the multitude of people For the rule is giuen you of the Lord and power by the most high which will trie your workes search out your imaginations Because that ye beeing officers of his Kingdome haue not iudged aright nor kept the Law nor walked after the will of God horribly and suddenly will he appeare vnto you for an hard iudgement shall they haue that beare rule And the mightie shall be mightily tormented To many great sinners God giues a long life hauing an eye to the ill that waytes for them but bad Gouernours and Iudges hee cuts short and permits them not to liue out their dayes And therefore Nolite iudicare secundum faciem ita parvum aâ—dietis vt magnum And because sticking many times vpon Gods recommending vnto them the cause of the poore and the fauour that should bee showen them as well in their person as matter of Iustice and considering on the other side their miserie and want some pittifull Iudge contrary to Iustice many incline to fauour his cause our Sauiour addeth Rectum iudicium iudicate Let not your eyes nor your hearts be carried away with the miserie of the poore nor the prosperitie of the rich And as God hath commanded Regard not the Person of the mightie So likewise he saith Regard not the Person of the Poore but judge rightly And this sence is that which is pretended in the Text. Secondly he condemneth all kind of rash iudgements all doubtfull things where there are not manifest proofes or some indicia or signes of euil there to leane to the better part And so Thomas teacheth them To iudge solely vpon suspition is meer rashnesse which commonly ariseth from these three grounds The one That the Iudge is vicious himselfe Stultus omnes stultos aestimat so sayth Ecclesiasticus The theife thinkes all to be like himselfe c. The other proceeds from passion which commonly iudgeth ill vpon light occasions of him whom he either hateth or enuieth The third from long experience of things past And therefore Aristotle saith That old men are verie iealous and suspicious And this is the least blameable for suspition is apt to entertaine a sinister opinion but experience will
Enableth vs to doe what Nature cannot 50 The order of it different from that of Nature 108 Not obtained without diligence 166 H Haire HAire hath bin hurtfull vnto many  Harlot The price of a Harlot no lasting portion 397 Her manners ibid. Hardnesse of heart In the Iewes without paralelle 206 They that liue in it iustly suffered to dye in it 58 117 Markes whereby to know a hard heart 296 A hard heart can neuer be mollified 537 Health Life is no life without it 239 Heart It cannot loue and hate both at once 117 Mans heart Gods temple 557 c. Of the whole man God desires only the heart 369 What is vnderstood by heart 371 It hath many enemies and all within it selfe ibid. The heart of the Earth what 130. Hearers Curious hearers reprooued 124 Heauen The ioyes of it 194 Not purchased without violence 230 391 545 In our passage to it no tyes of Nature to be regarded 311 The glorie of it 627 Hell The paines of it how dreadfull 244 c. All other paines but pastimes to these 453 Honour Despised of Christ. 327 Neuer without it's burden 35 Gods children more ambitious to deserue it than inioy it 192 Earthly honours brooke no partnership 228 The desire of honour not alwayes to bee condemned 327 Honours where no merit is addes but to our shame 554 Desired of all 555 Hope More prevailent with man than feare 190 The nature of both 619 Sathans practise to depriue Iob of his hope 620 Hospitalitie Pleasing to God 375 God the onely keeper of it 443 Humilitie Twofold one of the Vnderstanding another of the Will 33 The onely way to Heauen 217 No Humilitie like our Sauiours 635 Hunger A great temptation 80 Why Christ would hunger 78 Hypocricie Feignes the good it hath not 15 A kind of Stage-play 16 The Hypocrite hath no hope of Heauen 18 The danger of hypocriticall and luke-warme Christians 268 301 Hypocrisie straines at a Gnat and swallowes a Camell 262 368 I Ego I. A Word of great authoritie 45 Iealousie A true symptome of basenesse 338 Iewes A jealous and enuious people 315 Gods many fauours toward them 316 Their subtiltie and incredulitie 565 566 The murderers of all Gods Saints 602 In nature both like the Bore and the Beare 604 Ignorance A maine cause of all our euill 401 591 Images What difference betwixt the maker of them and the worshipper 151 Incredulitie A maine let to Christs miracles 322 Incontinencie Is a Sinne which hath two properties 570 Informers Like the flyes of Aegypt in a common weale  Ingratitude The first fault that euer was committed 143 Neuer vnpunished of God 144 No cut to vnkindnesse 224 God substracts his blessings from the vngratefull 270 It is vsually the requitall of goodnesse 330 The Embleme of it 383 568 To returne euill for good a diuelish sin 635 Inheritance Gods inheritance may run a twofold danger 248 Iniuries Must be patiently digested 47 When and how to beforgiuen 333 c. To suffer them is true noblenesse 533 Intercession Not to be vnderstood but of the liuing 379 Two things required to make it effectuall 378 Ionas Whence descended 132 Reasons mouing him to flye 133 Why he would be cast into the Sea 136 The Marriners charitable affection towards him 137 Iugde No small comfort that Christ shall bee our Iudge 94 Two properties of a Iudge 95 He must not be rash 137 Iudges must incline to mercie 421 A good Iudge compared to a Crane 458 Iudgement Why attributed to Christ. 94 Iudgement how to be guided 471 c. All shall appeare in iudgement 98 The day of Iudgement desired of the Iust. 99 Pilats Iudgement against Christ. 640 The most vniust that euer was 641 Iudas Foolish two wayes in the sale of our Sauiour 634 The vilenesse of his fault ibid. Iustification A greater worke than either the creation of the World or of Angels 294 572 The first step to it is mercie and pitie 397 Set out by diuers apt similitudes 573 582 K Knowledge See Learning Wisedome TO know thy selfe the beginning of perfection 480 L Lambes A Name attributed to the iust and why 154 Law Whereunto vsefull 40 The law of Taliation 46 Lawes if many gainefull to some but losse to the most 363 Learning See Wisedome Not gotten without labour 464 c. God the giuer of it 466 Lent Why called the Spring of the Church 10 Liberalitie Must be waited on by Frugalitie 444 Life This life onely a procession of quicke and dead 489 True life is to meditate on death 1 4 490 c. Short life content with short allowance 8 542 Whether better a publique or a priuat life 107 An euill life the losse of Faith 128 Long life the enlargement of sinne 136 Life seldome wearisome to any 174 The euills of this life are onely seeming euills 179 180 Life without health no life 239 Why desperat sinners are suffered to liue long 241 Nothing permanent in this life 243 This life is onely toyle and labour both to the wicked and the iust 396 Light Twofold 188 The excellencie of that light which is spirituall 189 Christ why called the Light of the World 517 The benefit of this Light ibid. c. Reasons why some hate and shun it 519 What is meant by Light of life 522 Looking-Glasses Why placed about the Lauer in the Temple 526 Lord. A name implying Honour and Power 32 Loue To loue our selues wee need not be commaunded 42 We must loue our enemies 43 The causes why we cannot 49 How our loue must be ordered 56 The perfection of it how to be discouered 57 Neuer without feare 92 How God should be loued 377 Gods loue is alwaies working 388 435 475 c. 477 It cannot be repayd but with loue 475 No loue where no reliefe 503 Gods loue seene by his delayes in punishing 513 Loue and Hate transforme a man alike into their obiects 564 Nothing more tedious to one that loues than the absence of what he loues 633 Loue triumpheth ouer God himselfe 635 Lyar Lying The World the Flesh and the Deuill all lyars 528 The mischiefe of lying 529 M Madnesse TWofold 604 Magistrates Should bee free from what they punish in others 360 457 Like sheepe-heards they should feed their flockes rather than fleece them 437 In choice of State ministers what ought to be regarded 441 Magistrates should be bold in reforming publique abuses 454 c. More heede the conuersion of the offendor than the correction of his offence 455 Two things they should specially looke vnto their conscience and their fame 526 They must be examples 527 Christ in his proceeding against the Deuill a patterne for all magistrates ibid. That Common-wealth is lost in which the magistrates and their ministers are both bad 563 They should euer haue Gods Laws before their eyes 588 Ill Rulers sent by God to punish the people 600 They should account no time their owne but other mens 631 Malice Will
open to others view and their owne confusion Nor shall these our sinnes bee conspicuous onely to others but euerie offendor shall see and plainely perceiue his owne particular sinnes For there is no man that fully knowes his owne sinnes while hee liueâ— here in this world And so doth Saint Basil interpret that place of the Psalmist Arguam te statuam contra te faciem tuam Euerie man shall then behold himselfe as in a glasse In a word This day will be the summing vp of all those oâ—â— former dayes wherein as in a beadroll wee shall read all the loose actions of our life all our idle words all our euill workes all our lewd thoughts or whatsoeuer else of ill that our hearts haue conceiued or our hands wrought So doth a graue Author expound that place of Dauid Dies formabuntur nemo in eis In that day shall all dayes be formed and perfected for then shall they bee cleerely knowne Et nemo in eis This is a short and cutted kind of speech idest There shall not bee any thing in all the world which shall not bee knowne in that day The other wonder shall be That all this businesse shall bee dispatcht in a moment In ictu oculi saith Saint Paul In the twinckling of an eye The Greeke Text in stead of a moment renders it Atomo which is the least thing in nature Concluding this point with that saying of Theophilact Haec est res omnium mirabilissima This is the greatest wonder of all Statuet Oues à dextris eius Haedos à sinistris He shall place the Sheepe at his right hand and the Goats at the left Dayly experience teacheth vs That what is good for one is naught for another that which helpeth the Liuer hurteth the Spleene one and the selfe same Purge recouers one and casts downe another the Light refresheth the sound Eye and offendeth the sore Wisedome saith That those Rods which wrought amendment in the Children of Israell hardned the hearts of the Aegyptians the one procured life the other death darkenes to the one was light light to the other darknesse When Ioshuah pursued the Ammorites God poured downe Hailestones Lightning and Thunder to Gods enemies they were so many Arrowes to kill them to his friends so many Torches to light them In the light of thy Arrowes saith Abacuc Death to the Wicked is bitter to the Good sweete Iudgement to the Goats is sad heauie but to the Sheep glad ioyfull to the one a beginning of their torment to the other of their glorie And therefore it is here said He shall place the Sheepe at his right hand From this beginning ariseth the Iust's earnest desiring of this our Sauiours comming and the Wicked's seeking to shun it Which is made good by Saint Austen vpon that place of Haggie Hee shall come being wished for of all Nations And his reason is because our Sauiour Christ being desired it is fit that he should be knowne and for want of this knowledge it seemeth vnto him that this place doth not so much suit with his first as his latter comming Saint Paul writing to his Disciple Timothie sayes That the Iust doe long for this judgement His qui diligunt aduentum eius Agreeing with that of Saint Paul to the Romans That the Iust passe ouer this life in sighs tribulations expecting that latter day when their bodies shall bee free from corruption and from death Saint Iohn introduceth in his Apocalyps the soules of the Iust crying out Vsque quò Domine sanctus verax Non judicas vindicas sanguinem nostrum de his qui habitant in terra How long Lord holy and true c. Saint Austen and Saint Ambrose both say That they doe not here craue vengeance on their enemies but that by his comming to judgement the Kingdome of Sinne may haue an end Which is the same with that which we dayly beg in those words of our Paternoster Thy Kingdome come And Saint Iohn in his last Chapter saith The Spirit and the Spouse say Come Come Lord come quickely make no long tarrying That the Sinner should hate this his comming is so notorious a truth that many when things goe crosse with them would violently lay hands on themselues and rid themselues out of this miserable world if it were not for feare of this Iudgement And this was the reason why Saint Paul in saying It is decreed that all men shall die once presently addeth After death Iudgement Other wise there would be many as well discreet as desperate persons that would crie out Let vs die and make an end of our selues at once for a speedie death is better than a long torment This is that that keepes these fooles in awe and quells the vaine confidence of man in generall Tunc dicet Rex his qui à dextris eius erunt vsque esuriui c. Then shall the King say to them on his right hand I was hungrie c. Hee begins with the rewarding of the Good for euen in that day of justice he will that his mercie goe before as well for that it is Gods own proper worke as also for that it is the fruit of his bloud and death Venite Benedicti Patris mei Come yee blessed of my Father a most sweet word in so fearefull a season possidete Regnum Come yee and take possession of an eternall Kingdome Quia esuriui I was hungrie c. Some man may doubt Why Christ at the day of judgement being to examine all whatsoeuer actions of vertue doth here onely make mention of mercie I answer For that Charitie is that Seale and Marke which differenceth the Children of God from those of the Deuill the good Fisâ—es from the bad and the Wheat from the Chaffe Ecce ego judico inter Pecus Pecus so saith Ezechiel and in summe it is the summe of the Law as Saint Paul writeth to the Romans Secondly He maketh mention onely of the workes of mercie for to expell that errour wherein many liue in this life to wit That this businesse of Almes-deeds is not giuen vs as a Precept whereby to bind vs but by way of councel and aduice whereby to admonish vs. And this is a great signe token of this truth for that there is scarce any man that accuseth himselfe for the not giuing of an Almes But withall it is a foule shame for vs to thinke that God should condemne so many to eternal fire for their not shewing pittie to the Poore if it were no more but a bare councell and aduice Gregorie Nazianzen in an Oration which he makes of the care that ought to bee had of the Poore proueth out of this place That to relieue the poore and the needie is not Negotium voluntarium sed necessarium not a voluntarie but a necessarie businesse And Saint Augustine and Thomas are of opinion That we are bound to relieue the necessities of
of this present World which will by no meanes admit of any Ministers of State but such as they themselues shall nominate or as if they were creatures of their making shall wholly depend vpon them But the Spirit of God made answer vnto Ioshuah by the mouth of Moses Quid aemularis pro me Enuiest thou for my sake and addeth anon after Would to God all the Lords people were Prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit vpon them So that men are neuer wanting for to gouern a Commonwealth but eys of charitie and discretion to distinguish of those that are fit and to make a good and iudicious choice Tolle grabatum tuum ambula Take vp thy bed and walke Our Sauiour here commands him That he should shake off his former idlenesse and sloathfulnesse Hora surgendi My son saith Ecclesiasticus hast thou slept long in sinne awake and rouse vp thy selfe and doe so no more but pray for thy foresinnes that they may be forgiuen thee The second thing to be noted is That our Sauiour said vnto him Arise take vp thy bed and walke one maine reason whereof was That it might appeare that new strength was put into him being growne able on the sudden to beare his bed vpon his backe The other That none might presume that it was the Angell that had wrought this cure vpon him Thirdly To take all cauelling from the enuious for the disauowing of this miracle and that the World might praise and publish the same Vt miraculum videretur saith Saint Augustine nemo simâ—latum opinaretur For this cause he willed those baskets of broken bread meat to be kept when hee fed so many thousands with so little prouision And him that he healed of his Leaprosie that hee should go and present himselfe to the Priests Taking the like course with diuers others holding them as necessarie diligences for the auerring of these his miracles considering what a captioâ—â— and incredulous kind of people he was to deale withall Et statim factus est sanus homo ille And presently the man was made whole It is an easie thing with God to inrich him that is poore in an instant Vpon one only Dixit in the creation presently followed a Facta sunt Creauit omnia simul He created all things at once saith Wisdome so in the reparation of this poore man it is said Statìm sanus factus est homo ille He was presently made whole He said vnto Martha Resurget frater tuus Thy brother shall rise againe Whereunto she answered I know that he shall rise againe in the resurrection at the last day Christ might take this ill as a wrong done vnto the loue which he bare to Lazarus That shee should thinke him so neglectfull of his friend as to let his fauor towards him be so long in comming Saint Chrysostome saith That your bad Physitions are the Butchers of a Commonwealth and your good the Botchers of mans life who patch and mend it making this fleshie cloathing of ours and this our rotten carkasse to hold out as long as it can But God who is his Arts-master and a wondrous nimble Workman made this sicke man so perfectly whole and so instantly strong that hee was able to take his bed vpon his backe and walke And if by this he shewed that hee did now fully enioy health of bodie in his going streightway to the Temple hee made good proofe of his Soules health Which is no more than what S. Austen doth infer vpon those words which our Sauiour afterwards said vnto him Now sinne no more c. Saint Augustine vpon this our Sauiours healing of this man alone saith That herein he seemed somewhat too sparing and too niggardly to those other that had need of his helpe Wherunto I answer first of all That for those things which our Sauior Christ did or did not the wit of man cannot be a competent Iudge Secondly That this was a meere act of his mercie and not to be questioned Besides health perhaps to the rest might haue proued hurtful vnto them though not to their bodies yet to their soules Thirdly Tertullian saith That the operation of the Fish-poole beeing now to cease and loose iâ—'s vertue That our Sauiour by curing him who was the longest the most sicke amongst them gaue thereby an induction entrance to all that were sicke to come and repaire to him for helpe As if hee should haue sayd He that desires to be made whole from hence forward let him goe no more to the Fish-poole nor stay there expecting the Angells comming for when hee comes he heals but one at once but come you all vnto me I shal heale you al. Tolle grabatum Take vp thy bed This would seeme to be too heauie a burthen for him A man would haue thought that it had beene enough for him to haue beene punished with thirtie eight yeres keeping of his bed without being put now at last to beare it on his backe But if God can giue such great strength to so weake a man that the burthen of his bedding seemes no weightier than a straw the heuier it is the lighter it is especially if God shall put but the least helpe of his little finger thereunto Da quod jubes jube quod vis Giue what thou commandest and command what thou pleasest Secondly Christ here sets before vs a modell and pattern of true repentance before with a Iacebat He lay all forlorn now with a Surge he walkes sound vpright before he was torpens stupefactuâ— benumm'd and stupefied now he was in his ambulare walke before his bed did beare him and now hee beares his bed Tolle grabatum tuum This was to signifie That he was to run a contrary course to that he did before and to tread out the prints of his forepassed sinnefull life So that according to Chrysologus that which heretofore was a witnesse of his â—nfirmitie shall henceforth be a testimonie of his health Vniuersum eius stratum â—ersasti in infirmitate eius Thou turnedst his bed topsituruie first this way then â—hat way till thou hadst made it more easie for him Thou changest saith Geneâ—rard his weakenesse into strength and his sicknesse into health it was before a â—ick bed now a sound one before a bed of sorrow now of joy before a bed of sinne now of teares This Miracle was the Fermentum Leuen of the death of our Sauior Christ for picking a quarell with him vpon this occasion they resolued to kill him and this their intention dayly encreased as oft as they called to mind this action of his And therefore he afterwards said vnto them as Saint Iohn reports it in his seuenth Chapter Vnum opus feci omnes admiramini sanè I haue done one worke and yee all meruaile I heale a poore sicke man on the Sabboth day and yee all blesse your selues as though I had a Deuill
besides the vntunable and harsh musicke of the Deuills roaring and yellowing like so many mad Bulls that with the dinne and hideousnesse of the noyse Heauen and Earth might haue seemed to come together and the whole frame and machine of the Orbes to haue crackt and fallen in sunder The smell the taste the touch the will the vnderstanding and the memorie both irrascible and concupiscible shall not be employed vpon any thing as Saint Augustine hath noted it from whence they shall not receiue most grieuous paine and torment But of all other torments that of their desperation will be the greatest because there will be no wading through this Lake that burnes with fire and brimstone nor no end at all to these their endlesse miseries That ten thousand nay a hundred thousand yeares continuance in hell shall not suffice to satisfie for their sinnes that the fountaine of mercie should be shut vp for euer not affoording them so much as one drop of cold water to coole the tongue that God will not admit for the offences of three dayes the satisfaction of seuentie times seuen thousands of yeares This is that Magnum Chaos inter vos nos This is that great Chaos that huge Gulfe which is set betweene you and vs it is Chaos impertransibile that impassable Gulfe wherein to fall it is easie but to get out impossible Many of the Saints vpon this consideration deepely weighing these things with themselues haue made great exclamations as S. Chrysostome Petrus Crysologus and others If we beleeue say they that this imprisonment is perdurable tâ—is fire is eternall and that these torments are endlesse How comes it to passe that we eat liue and sleepe as we do O the madnesse of those men who seeke fit and handsome dwellings for three dayes and omit to thinke of those eternall habitations which continue world without end O the sottishnesse of those which couet such short and transitorie contentments O the blindnesse of those who for a moment of pleasure wil aduenture an eternitie of pain Is it much that these holy Saints should exclaime Is it much that they should weepe teares of bloud who beleeue that this rich man doth frie in perpetuall flames because he was pittiles voyd of mercy seeing on the one side so many Lazaruses naked ful of sores driuen if not beaten away from our dores whose beds are the hard benches and open porches of the Rich whose meat are the scraps and offalls and oftentimes onely the bare crummes of the rich mans boord whose drinke are the waters of those Riuers and Fountaines where the Beasts doe drinke whose wardrobe are rags whose cattle vermine whose store miserie whose tables are their knees and whose cups are their hands And on the other side so many Gluttons who feeding like beasts vomit forth that they eat at their tables where they sit Mensae repletae sunt vomitu beeing as emptie of pittie as they are full of wine Optimo vino delibuti non compatiebantur super contritionem Ioseph who dying like Oxen in a stall fat and ful fed it is no meruaile if as Esay sayth they make Hells sides to stretch and cracke againe Propter hoc dilatauit infernus Os suum I would faine aske some one of those which heare me this day My friend tel me I pray thee thinkest thou or hast thou any hope that thou art the only man in this world that shall liue here for euer Doost thou beleeue that Death shall one day come to the threshold of thy doore and call for thee and that thou must hereafter giue a strict account of thy workes words and thoughts before the tribunall seat of God If thou doost tell me then againe Whither thou hadst rather desire the felicitie of Lazarus in that other life or the eternall torments of this rich man Art thou persuaded that thou canst weare out two thousand yeares in a bed of fire But if the verie thought thereof cause feare and horror in thee and makes euerie bone and ioynt in thy bodie to shake and tremble Why doost thou not seeke to flie from so great a danger Flie saith Saint Austen yet now euen to day whilest thou hast time Pater Abraham rogo vt mittas Lazarum aut vnum ex mortuis Father Abraham I pray thee send Lazarus or one from the Dead c. Origen saith That this rich man did desire That either Lazarus or some one from the Dead might bee sent to preach this point thinking with himselfe That Abraham might happely send him vnto himselfe as to one that by this time verie wel knew his owne errour and that so by this meanes he might haue some pause or breathing time from these his torments Whither this was so or no it may by some be doubted but this is a cleere case That the maine motiue that mooued him thereunto was the desire that he had that his brethren and kinsfolke might be drawne vnto repentance and thereby come to be saued and escape those intollerable torments which he indured Saint Chrysostome saith That Abraham did not yeeld to the rich mans petition because hee was not absolute Lord of that place But that our Sauiour Christ supplied that defect and carried himselfe like a most mercifull and kind louing Lord to the end that that stiffe necked Nation might not alledge in their excuse That hee had not sent them a Preacher from that other life to aduise them what passed there But our Sauiour for whom this businesse was reserued did not raise vp Lazarus the Poore but Lazarus the Rich who vpon occasion preacht great notable things vnto them concerning the life to come And he likewise raised vp the sonne of the widow of Naim that hee might also doe the like But those that will not beleeue the Prophets it is our Sauiours owne saying will lesse beleeue the Dead Quia crucior in hac flamma Because I am tormented in this flame Gods chastisements are like Lightning which kill one but fright many and the vengeance which God taketh of one sinner is an occasion giuen to the Iust to wash their hands in his bloud According to that of Dauid Cum viderit vindictam manus suas lauabit in sanguine peccatoris And Saint Gregorie expoundeth it thus That the Iust doth wash his hands in the bloud of a Sinner when by another mans punishment he learnes to amend his owne life There is nothing doth more terrifie a Theefes heart than the gallowes and rope wherewith his fellow was hanged Funes peccatorum circumplexi sunt me Legem tuam non sum oblitus when I saw another strangled those cords which choked him sate likewise close to my necke but giuing thee thankes ô Lord that thou hadst kept mee from comming to so bad an end I did resolue with my selfe that I would not forget thy Law And therefore God would haue vs to lay vp in an euerlasting remembrance as it were his seuerest and sharpest
the heart there is no excuse We read in the Legend That the Deuil met with Machariâ—s and told him I haue the odds of thee in a thousand things thou fastest and I neuer eat thou watchest and I neuer sleepe thou sometimes takest paines and I am neuer idle yet thou hast one great aduantage of me to wit thou hast a cleane heart and myne is full of rancor and malice c. This people honours me with their lips but their heart is farre from me This is an excellent Lesson for those that pray and sing in the Quire that prayer which is onely with the tongue God makes little reckoning of it Saint Cyprian sayth That the Church doth admonish the People that at the time of diuine Seruice they should haue their hearts in Heauen Sursum corda And although their answer be Habemus ad Dominum yet many doe repeat it by rote like Parats without any kind of attention at all Thou desirest of God That hee would heare thee when thou art so farre off from thy selfe that thou doost not heare thy selfe and wouldest haue him to be mindfull of thee when God knowes thou doost not mind thy selfe It is a wofull thing that men should say Seruice as if they did not say it and that they should pray as if they did not pray and that they should sing as if they did not sing The Lateran Councell saith Studiosecelebrent deuote quantum Deuâ— dederit And they willed it so to be done In virtute sanctae obedientiae Saint Paul Be fulfilled with the Spirit speaking vnto your selues in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall Songs singing and making melodie to the Lord in your hearts Whereupon Saint Hierome saith Audiant hi quibus psallenâ—i in ecclesia officium est Let your singing men giue eare to that which they sing in the Church And Gratian puts it in the Decretals And the Glosse saith Non clemens sed amans clamat in aâ—re Dei It is not the loudnesse of the voyce but the louingnesse of the heart that rings in Gods eare In a word The power of Prayer must come from the Soule Saint Gregorie saith That Abels Sacrifice was so well accepted of God because hee had first offered the same in his heart and that it was not so much esteemed for that it was of the best of his flockes but for the deuotion wherewith he offered it vp And Cains out of a contrarie respect so sleightly regarded But in vaine they worship me teaching for Doctrine mens Precepts By these Precepts of men he vnderstandeth those which are contrarie to the Lawes of God as it is well noted by Irenaeus And in those dayes there were verie many among them as Thomas Saint Hierome and Epiphanius hath obserued Saint Paul sayth as much Improoue rebuke exhort for the time will come when they will not suffer wholesome Doctrine but hauing their eares itching shall after their owne lusts get them a heape of Teachers and shall turne their eares from the truth and shall be giuen vnto Fables Where Faith is indangered there must wee not vse a soft and smooth hand Now the Pharisees following Iewish Fables and applying themselues to the precepts of men did turne away from the truth they placed their holinesse in outward ceremonies they receiued the offerings of stolne things God abhorring nothing more The Saduces did denie the immortalitie of the soule the resurrection of the dead finall judgement reward and punishment The Galileans denied obedience to any saue to God The Herodians did beleeue that there was no other Messias but Herod The Esseni that men ought not to sacrifice in the Temple nor sweare vpon necessitie nor haue proprietie of goods To all these our Sauiour sayth They worship mee in vaine They do but loose their labor in honoring me and in seruing me That which goeth into the mouth defileth not the man c. There is no meat in it's owne nature that hurteth the soule Saint Paul saith To the cleane all things are cleane but to the vncleane nothing is cleane For the sinne is not in the meat but in the vse thereof and when we ought to abstaine God saw all that hee had made and lâ—â— it was very good The forbidden tree was good but it was Adams disobedience that made it bad Euery creature of God is good saith Saint Paul and nothing ought to beerefâ—sed if it be receiued with thankes giuing But the forge wherein this is ill forged is the heart Out of the heart come euill thoughts The heart in Scripture is sometimes taken for the Vnderstanding Their foolish heart was full of darkenesse Sometimes for the Will Where is their treasure there is their heart allso Sometimes for the Memorie Let not my words depart out of thy heart all the dayes of thy life And sometimes for the soule Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart From a good soule come good thoughts and good workes and from an euill soule euill thoughts and euil workes As this fountaine is so are the waters that flow from thence either troubled or cleere And as to repaire a sicknesse wee must haue recourse to it's cause so all your Saints adresse themselues to the soule Dauid desired of God that he would giue him a new heart fearing that the heart that now he had would neuer leaue it's woonted trickes but runne according to it's old byas Create in me a cleane heart ô God and renew a right spirit within me And if that may not be done then he desires an Amplius laua me Wash me till my spots be taken away and that I be whiter than the snow Fiat cormeum immaculatum in iustificationibus tuis c. At the doore of Paradice God placed one or many Cherubims For Cherubin is there in the plurall beeing set there to cowe Man and to keepe him backe So many Cherubims were not set there for Man onely but for the Deuill who had taken of the fruit of the tree of Life and deliuered it vnto Man But the Deuill is farre more greedie of the heart of Man than of the tree of Life And therefore we are to desire of God that he will bee pleased to set a guard vpon it From the heart comes Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Testimonies and Slanders Here is a powerfull hellish squadron which assaults the heart Saint Paul makes a larger muster of all these souldiers These are the knowne workes of the flesh dishonesties filthinesse vncleanenesse fornications adulteries witchcrafts sorceries enmities contentions emulations angers debates dissentions enuies drunkennesse and murder There are no countries regions nor cities sayth Saint Chrysostome that containe such a companie of enemies and all of them conspiring against a poore miserable heart What so many rauening wolfes against one silly sheepe so many greyhounds let slip against one cowardly hare so many kites against one single chicken so many eagles against one poore pigeon
still after her he gaue occasion to Diogenes to breake this jeast vpon him That this faire mayden had like a Chicken wrung his necke thus aside looking still backward as his Chariot went forward The seuenth is of Irenaeus Saint Ambrose and Saint Chrysostome It being manifested in this blind man That God is our sole Creator and that no hands but his onely can mold and fashion vs anew Man considering the Worlds great beautie was desirous to search out the author thereof and the Deuill boasting forth and assuming to himselfe the glorie of this admirable piece of worke blazoned it forth vnto them I am the Lord of all this Vniuerse I made the worâ—d and I possesse it Whereupon Man gaue vnto him the honour of God the greater part of the world adoring him in his Idolls God finding himselfe thus wronged did permit in man these maimes and defects in the eyes hands and feet and other the like monstrous mis-shapednesse Now if the Deuill had the power to repaire these imperfections he might then enioy this glorie But if all the Idols as Baruc saith being put together cannot giue sight to the Blind how can they then be God The wonderfullest worke that God euer made was Man and in Man the greatest artifice and workemanship are his eyes Our Sauior therfore had so ordred it that this man should be born blind that his eys being fashioned giuen him by his hand the world might acknowledge him to be their God and their Redeemer When hee had thus spoken hee spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle c. Saint Ambrose dwels much vpon these ceremonies And much adoe is made about the cost and cure of this poore mans eyes O Lord thou hast restored other men by a bare word onely so didst thou reuiue the widowes sonne lying on the beere and so didst thou raise vp Lazarus from the graue thy voice alone was sufficient In the creation of man thou didst onely vse the dust of the earth and therefore man is said to be made de limo terrae And albeit some doe affirme that man was made de luto of the durt or mould of the earth yet the Hebrew word expresses it to no other fulnesse than that man was made of dust And our vulgar translation saith Puluis est But how is it that these eyes must cost a little more labour than all the other eyes besides and all those other liues thaâ— God hath giuen man There are â—hree reasons rendred The first of Saint Cyprian who saith That this blind man had not onely laesaâ— potentiam the facultie disinabled where the sight did reside as many blind men who hauing the organs of their eyes whole and the apples cleare see nothing at all But this man had otherwise the organs of his eyes wanting vnto him the hollow places thereunto belonging beeing like shop windowes close shut vp and skinned ouer as the rest of the face and that our Sauiour did fill vp those emptie holes with durt which he had moulded and knedded together into a masse or lumps of clay with the helpe of his spittle And this was the reason why they afterwards said vnto him How were thine eyes opened But to giue a man an arme a hand or a foote it may sooner be imagined than made by any but by our Sauior Christ who was God Whence I infer That because God had breathed the spirit of Life into Man there were certain Hereticks that stickt not to say that the Soule of Adam was of the substance of God they might better haue sayd that it was made of the substance of the eyes of this blind man The second For that the Pharisees did attribute these our Sauiours Miracles to the Deuill he did proue in this blind man that onely the vertue of God was powerfull to worke this wonder First Because no naturall vertue can giue sight to the blind And therefore by consequence the Deuill could not doe it whose miracles are wrought by applying the naturall vertue of the Creatures as Saint Austen teacheth Secondly He made good this his miracle by curing him with this clay or dust which was verie good meanes rather to put out than doe any good to the eyes Whereas if the Deuill should haue cured him hee must haue done it by applying some helpfull vertue that had beene accommodated and fitted for the sight Onely it is God that can worke these strange effects by contrarie causes The third is of Saint Ambrose Our Sauior Christ was willing to aduantage this mans sight both in bodie and in soule And therefore it is a farre greater miracle to create the eys than to raise vp the dead to life This blind man was to be the battalion that was to withstand many great incounters and contradictions As the strict examination of his blindnesse what were his parents what his birth what his breeding And therefore it was requisit that he should be armed with a great deale of light with a great deale of courage constancie and resolution not onely to answere the arguments which the passion and hard-heartednes of the Iudges were to presse him withall but to suffer banishment extrusion from their Synagogue which sentence of excommunication they were to pronounce against him I must worke the workes of him that sent mee while it is day c. I must not let slip the short time of my life death drawes neere and it behooues mee to make hast The Husbandman when hee sees the ground is throughly soked with raine he hastens to the sowing Saint Austen cals good Workes the Seedes of blessednesse which we must sow in our life time that we may reap the fruit of them hereafter They went foorth weeping sowing in teares but they shall returne with ioy bearing sheaues in their bosome I must worke c. Good God What doth this import thee It importeth Man to looke vnto it In that correspondence which God holds with Man hee will that they bee partners and share gaines alike and therefore hee calls our good his and his glorie ours Our Sauior Christ suffers death his death is our redemption And therefore it is said It was meet that Christ should dye Saint Paul preacheth this Doctrine and giuing the World to vnderstand thereof hee discouereth Christs glorie vttering thereupon I shall shew vnto you how fit it was that he should suffer for my sake The night commeth when no man can worke c. Euerie one hath his day which is the period of his sowing season and of his labour which done he may haue the happinesse to take his quiet rest in the night He that shall goe about to make of night day shall find hee is much deceiued for The night commeth when no man can worke That which importeth is That while wee haue time we doe good for to this end Time is giuen vnto vs. And if the figge tree because it did not bring foorth
and to take away the portions that were deposited for the maintenance of Widowes who wept most bitterly this generall lamentation made way to Gods Tribunall hee sent downe one on a goodly faire horse armed at all points who ouerthrew Heliodorus vpon the pauement and presently two young men fell vpon him and whipt him with scourges till they left him as it were for dead For this cause did God comfort this Widow at the gates of the Citie where the Iudges had their Tribunalls notifying vnto them that they should take Widowes into their tutelage protection and the rather for that a supremer Iudge the Iudge both of Heauen and Earth was willing to take so much the more care of them by how the more was their solitude and priuate course of life Saint Hierome writing to Furia and Eustochius vttereth excellent things of those that are true Widows indeed and of those that are Widowes but in jeast and sport Of the former Iudith and Anna Samuels mother were notable examples And amongst the Gentiles Artemisia Queene of Caria who not desirous to buâ—ie her husband in Vrnes of siluer or gold buried him in her owne bowells by drinking downe his ashes in contemplation whereof there is a verie medicinable herbe called after her name Artemisia which all Widowes in stead of other hearbes or flowers ought to haue lying by them vpon their Estrado's their beds and their chamber windowes Of those other fabulous widowes Alcione may serue as an example who tooke on so extreamely for the death of her husband that the gods were faine to comfort her and when they had giuen her comfort she was metamorphised at last into a Bird bearing the same name of which Saint Ambrose sayth That it liues about riuers of waters the feathers thereof being greene and the beake red in token that those Widowes that so quickely receiue comfort their life is commonly greene and youthfull and their words red and full of amorous passions lanching themselues forth like Ships into a sea of vices and voluptuous pleasures turning their vails to sailes which faile with euerie wind Christ taking pittie of her c. It is not here said That he pittied the son but the mother for they that die are not so much to be pittied as they that liue for if he that dies goe to Hell we wrong Gods justice if we take any commiseration of them and if they goe to Heauen their happinesse doth not require it hauing more reason to enuie than pittie them Lots wife was turned into a piller of salt because she sorrowed for the burning of Sodome and in Heauen as there can be no miserie so is it impossible that there should be any commiseration so that pittie is onely to bee reduced to those that liue The Scripture calleth death Rest and Sleepe Saint Paul saith I would not haue you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleepe that yee sorrow not euen as others which haue no hope And Ecclesiasticus giueth vs this aduice Weepe moderately ouer the dead seeing he is at rest The Scripture calls life a Warfare a pilgrimage a Husbandmans taske or day labour a nauigation c. Mans life is a warfare vpon earth and his dayes like the dayes of an hireling c. The souldier desireth to see the end of his Warre and the Traueller his trauell ended to returne againe into his owne Countrie an hireling looketh for a reward of his worke a Mariner for a good voyage and man for death Gaudent vehementer cum inuenerint mortem Great was mans misfortune that he was to enter into a sea so full of miseries But as Nazianzen saith death againe was great gaine vnto him Taking pittie of her c. Greater was Christs sorrow and compassion for this disaster than that of this Widow woman for that harme which hapneth vnto vs toucheth vs in comparison but lightly but toucheth God euen in the verie apples of his eyes and this did Christs mercie and pittie manifest in the hast that he made in other his myracles He had many suitors to intreat him to raise vp Lazarus as Martha and Marie so likewise to restore the Centurions seruant to his former health he was solicited by the Priests and the Elders Here onely his mercie mooued him thereunto and therefore it is said Misericordia motâ—s In the firie Bush that flamed and was not consumed with the fire God did represent those firie scourges wherewith they scourged his People and the fire of those Furnaces wherein they baked their bricke and therefore he said vnto Moses Vade Goe thy wayes which is all one as if he should haue said vnto him It is I that am thus scortched and scourged and therefore Vade hast thee to Pharaoh But some will obiect If God be so hastie to helpe his People why did he suffer them to be imbroiled 40 yeres before they could cast out the Ammorits the Iebusites especially it beeing the Land which hee had promised vnto them Whereunto himselfe giues this resolution Their sinnes were not yet growne vp to their heigth So that his leading them all this while through the Wildernesse was a lesse miserie than their remaining in Aegypt and therefore he dismisseth Moses with a Vade giuing him full power and Commission to free his People willing him to hasten away that they might be eased of their torment as if himselfe had felt the smart thereof more than they Hee could not indure that his friends should suffer affliction and because he had said Cum ipso sum in tribulatione he would not be taxed of the breach of his word So that when God is with thee in thy tribulation he will giue an issue to thine afflictions because hee suffers in them as well as thy selfe and if he doe not come in to helpe thee it is because thy sinnes haue made him vnsencible thereof But doe thou mouere à peccato and thou shalt find him as it is here in my Text miseriâ—ordia motus He said vnto her Weepe not It caused much admiration seemed somwhat strange to those that were there present that our Sauiour seeing the teares and anguish of this sorrowfull and wretched widow should vpon so sad an occasion say vnto her Noli flere Weepe not We know that there are diuers and sundrie sorts of teares Some are occasioned by the excessiue sorrow and griefe of our owne sinnes of this nature were those teares of Marie Magdalen of Dauid and of Peter Others are drawne from vs vpon a fellow-feeling and sorrowfulnesse for other mens faults of this kind were those of Saint Paul Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote vnto you with many teares so much was he grieued with the newes he receiued from them of that incestuous person and the punishment of Excommunication inflicted vpon him And to the Philippians I haue told you often and now tell you euen weeping that they are the enemies of the
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