I die by thy commandement and to obey thy will and because so it is needfull for the world why should I call them enemies which execute thy commandements Giue me leaue O my father giue me leaue seeing I must die to sell my death deerely giue me leaue seeing I lose my life to employ it well which I shall thinke well bestowed if thou pardon those which take my life from mee and haue pitie on those which offend thee for what doth it auaile that I die for sinners if thou wilt not forgiue them their sinnes Thou knowest O my good father that by pardoning and suffering the redemption of the vvorld must bee vvrought If thou shouldest not be satisfied vvith the death vvhich I suffer and with the life vvhich I offer thee in giuing mee another life I vvould offer it vnto thee giuing me another death I vvould accept it to the end O my good father that thou shouldst be wholly appeased and all mankind pardoned O euerlasting goodnesse O infinite charitie O inspeakable clemency showne in this answere calling that a house of friends vvhich was a fortresse of enemies and going about to excuse those vvhich he should accuse and in purposing to appease him vvhome hee should haue stirred vp to vvrath and indignation Fulgencius vpon this place sayth Notwithstanding all the enemies and persecutors vvhich the sonne of God had in this vvorld yet he neuer vsed this vvord Enemie vvhich is euident by this demand of his fathers vvho asking him vvhere hee had ben so euilly handled and wounded sought out a new deuise because he vvould auoid this vvord of enemy and lay the fault vpon his friend rather than confesse that he had any enemies because God vvas vvont to haue many familiar friends in the house of the synagogue vvhich vvere holy men our blessed sauiour vvould not account of the iniuries vvhich the Iewes did presently vnto him nor of the vvounds vvhich they gaue him but respected rather the seruices vvhich the old Patriarkes had done vnto him It is greatly to be noted and weighed that in the answere vvhich the sonne gaue vnto the father he did not say that he had been vvounded in the house of those vvhich then loued him but in the house of those vvhich vvere vvont to loue him for hee sayth In domo eorum qui me diligebant and not qui me diligunt yet notwithstanding all this he doth not only not call them enemies but telleth his father that they did vnto him the vvorks of friends What meaneth this O sweet Iesus vvhat meaneth this If those of the house of Israell vvere thine in times past I pray thee diddest not thou vnto them more good turns than they did seruices vnto thee If thou doest reckon of the seruices which the fathers did vnto theâ—â— a thousand years agoe why doest thou not make account of the vvounds vvhich their children gaue thee not longer than one houre agone O good Iesus O redeemer of my soule vvhat humane iudgement yea vvhat angels vnderstanding is able to conceaue or reach vnto this vvhy thou shouldest rather respect old seruices vvhich ordinarily other men forget than thy owne iniuries vvhich run freshly from thy blood like streames Seeing we haue already told you vvho praied vvhich vvas the son and vnto whome he praied vvhich vvas the father and vvhere hee praied to vvit vpon the crosse it is time now to tell you vvhat praier he made and for whom he praied for seeing the sonne of God betooke himselfe to praier in such a narrow extremitie it is to be thought that hee entreated some great and vveighty matter Vbertinus sayth That vvhen the diuine vvord vvas nailed vpon the crosse as it vvere almost dead hauing his flesh pierced vvith nailes his bowels burning vvith the loue of charitie forgetting his owne selfe and hauing his enemies in remembrance lifting vp his holy eies vnto heauen said Pater ignosce illis qui nesciunt quid faciunt vvhich is as much as to say O my eternall and blessed father in recompence of my comming into the vvorld preaching thy name appeasing thy vvrath reconciling thee vnto the vvorld I desire of thee this one thing for a spiritual guerdon and reward of all my trauailes that is that thou vvouldest pardon these sinfull Iewes father I am very vvell pleased that thou vvouldest not yeeld vnto my naturall desire of life vvhen I praied vnto thee in the garden if it vvould now please thee to heare mee in praying for them for I thinke it a farre greater benefit that they liue in their soules than a hurt vnto me to die in body Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them for I die because they sinned and if I die it is because they may liue and in so difficult a matter as this it is far greater reason that thou haue more regard vnto my new death than vnto their old fault Father forgiue them seeing the death vvhich preuailed on the wood I haue here crucified with mee vpon the crosse the vvhich being so it is far greater reason that thou esteeme more of the charitie vvith the vvhich I die for them than of their malice vvith the vvhich they put me to death Father forgiue them for if thou vvilt punish these Iewes with all rigour of iustice it will bee but a small punishment to condemne them for euer to hell but if thou doest otherwise as there was neuer any wickednesse done like vnto this so likewise thou shalt neuer bestow thy accustomed mercy like as in forgiuing these their offences Father forgiue them for if my death be sufficient to redeeme all those which shall hereafter be borne or be already borne it is not reason that these vnhappy Iewes should vvant the benefit of it and so much the more because that if my blood be shed by thy holy will and consent it would be reason that it should bee well emploied by thee Forgiue them O my father forgiue them for seeing the partie iniuried which am I do pardon the iniury why wilt not thou O my father pardon that which concerneth thy iustice What hath iustice to doe there where there is no complaint of one against another Father forgiue them seeing the time is now come whereof the Prophet speaketh Tempus miserendi deus tempus miserendi Time of forgiuing good Lord a time of forgiuing it is neither iust nor reasonable that rigor should take place there where mercie by thee hath ben publickely proclaimed If it be true as true it is that misericordia veritas obuiuerunt sibi and also that iusticia pax osculatae sunt Why wilt thou execute iustice vpon this people seeing the Prophet sayth that peace and iustice haue embraced one the other Father forgiue them seeing I aske it in the end of my life and intreat thee at the houre of my death thou must thinke my father that it behooueth me very much that they be pardoned because that by my example none should
and chiefest goodnesse that was and man inclined vnto wickednesse God did command him to better and amend himselfe vnto which he answered that he would bee merry and take his pleasure by reason whereof man went euery day worse and worse and God more angry and incensed euery day against him Pope Leo sayth That God doth not weigh whether we be weake or strong in health or sicke rich or poore simple or wise but that which he desireth is that we should be good and he is angry if we be naught and therupon it is that hee neuer casteth any good man out of his presence nor hee admitteth no naughty man into his house Gregory sayth That hee could not suffer one sinne in him who was an Angell and doest thou thinke he will suffer so many sinnes in thee who art but a man And hee sayth further that God would rather suffer that an Angell should take heauen from him and man the world than suffer one only sinne either in the one or in the other because that to make a new heauē he is of sufficient power but to like and approue a sinne neither is his power able to doe it neither can it bee comprehended vnder his clemency Seeing then that God is such an enemie vnto sinne and seeing that man doth so much couet to sinne how can they bee but contrary the one vnto the other and vse one another like enemies Holy Iob doth weepe and sigh saying Non est qui possit vtrumque arguere that is there was no man who durst be a mediator betwixt them nor put himselfe betweene them to the end that man might giue ouer sinning God withdraw his hand from punishing Damascen sayth When God and man and man and God were at strife and variance and the one alwaies aboue in heauen and the other continually vpon the earth there vvas no meane to make them meet nor no court to agree them in because there came none downe from heauen to vs nor any fit person went hence from vs to heauen The son of God came thē into the world and put himself a mediator between them both that is betweene God and flesh O how much wee are bound to Christ for that which he did for vs and much more for the manner with the which he did it for the more to bind the one and the other he tooke the diuinity of his Father with the which he might pardon vs and tooke flesh of man with the which hee might suffer with vs. In so much that because he tooke his kindred and alliance of both hee was able to make them both friends O how costly this friendship and kindred was to the son of God and grieuous also seeing that it did cost him his bloud which was in him the life which hee possessed so farre forth that for to make mee friends with God he became an enemy vnto himselfe It is certaine that when two enemies doe draw their vveapons to fight if another venter in betwixt them that both their blowes do light vpon him in so much that hee vvho parreth them is hurt or slaine and those which were at debate proue afterward good friends On the Mount of Caluary and on the altar of the crosse as God and man and man and God had summoned the one the other to a place of defiance blessed Iesus put himselfe betwixt them both to cut off the strife because hee knew that if hee had not taken away all anger at that place they vvould haue remained perpetuall enemies As man threw sinnes at God and God punishment vpon man it fell out that the sinne which man fought with and the punishment with the which God did chastise fell all vpon the Mediatour who had not deserued it O good Iesus and glory of my soule vpon whome but vpon thee did thy Father lay his old anger vpon whome but vpon thee did man lay his fault Doe not then vexe thy selfe O holy Iob and saie Non est qui ponat manum suam in ambobus seeing hee is already come from heauen and already borne in the world vvho hath put his hand betwixt God and man yea and hath both his hands cut off by them Haue not they both trow you cut off his hand seeing his Father ordained that hee should die and man put the fault on him for which hee should bee crucified O diuine mediatour O holy stickeler which of the Angels could doe the like or vvhat man could attempt that which thou hast done That is willingly and vpon good and long deliberation thou diddest offer thy selfe to lose thy life to set God and man in concord and vnitie The sonne of God then doth complaine vpon his Father with iust cause saying Why hast thou forsaken mee seeing that hee did load all his wrath vpon his backe and man likewise lay all the burden of his sinnes vpon his shoulders vpon him in that place God did emptie all his wrath and in that place mans sinnes tooke their end O that this is a glorious time and a happie age which vvee of the Catholicke church liue in for hauing Christ for our Mediatour there can no sinne goe vp to the Father but it must first meet with Christ nor any punishment come downe vpon man but it must also come by him The sonne of God being a meane betwixt his Father and vs who doubteth but that hee will stop our sinne in himselfe that it ascend not to heauen and also keepe backe the punishment of his Father that it doe not descend into the world As otherwise it would if Christ should not make himselfe a meane betwixt vs. CHAP. IIII. How Christ complaineth on his Father because hee bathed his body with the bloud of his vaines and drowned his heart in waters of distresse CIrcumdederunt me sicut aqua tota die circūdederunt mesimul Psalme 88. The sonne of God spake these words continuing his complaint against his Father and it is as if hee would say What meaneth this O my Father what meaneth this Wast thou not content to breake thy anger vpon me and remoue all my friends from me but now anew thou wilt compasse mee with a great floud of water in the which my life is drowned Christ doth set foorth at large all his trauails and bewaileth the want of friends for hee sayth that the waters were great and he saith twise that they besieged him and that they came all together vpon him and that they came so ragingly that they tooke away all his forces First of all we must examine here of what kind of waters our Lord speaketh in this place whether they bee sea waters or of a riuer or fountaine or of a lake because that in all these a man may drowne himselfe and lose his life We read onely of two punishments which God hath inflicted by waters the one in the floud of Noe in which almost all the world perished the other which he vsed against the people of
grieued to see his body plagued than to see his goods taken from him This then was the reasoning and dialogue which passed betwixt God the diuell touching Iobs tentation whereof we may inferre how much more that is to be esteemed which the sonne of God offered than Iephthes sacrifice because the one offered his daughter and the other his owne proper life The victory which Iephthe had was a costly victory vnto him but Christs was more costly because that Iephthe did ouercome and liue but the sonne of God did ouercome and die and there is no dearer victory in the world than that which is bought with the exchange of a mans proper life Although Iephthe did loue his onely daughter well yet Christ did loue his precious flesh better because it was vnited vnto the diuine eslence and therefore the better hee did loue it the more was his griefe in losing it Aristotle sayth That wise men doe loue their liues better than others of the vulgar people because they see themselues more necessary vnto the Commonwealth and euery common good is to be preferred before a particular And according vnto this saying of the Philosopher as the sonne of God was wiser than all men and better than all men so without doubt by so much the more he loued his life by how much it was most profitable to all men Sathan said well Pellem pro pelle dabit homo A man will giue one skin for another For if a man would haue asked the captaine Iephthe which of these two thinges he would rather haue done either haue sacrificed his daughter or his owne person it is to bee thought that hee would rather haue sacrificed his daughter twise than his owne person once Seneca in his booke of Clemency sayth That because it is a naturall thing vnto vs to liue and a dreadfull and fearefull thing to die wee are much afraid of our owne death and beare another mans easily Theophilus saith That it is much to be maruelled that Christ would die but it is much more to bee wondered at that hee would die with so good a will because that without augmenting his glory yea rather diminishing it hee offered himselfe willingly vnto them to the end that they should take his life from him The figure sayth further that Iephthes daughter went two months weeping and wailing her virginity on those solitary mountains with other virgines and maids which bare her company What was the meaning that that pare virgine bemoned and bewailed her virginity but onely that shee was sorry that shee had not been married and had a husband and that she had no children to mourne for her death or inherite her goods It seemeth to bee a dishonest matter for a virgine to weepe and bewaile her owne virginity if there were no other hidden sence vnder this letter because that in scripture the more obscure a saying is the more fuller it is of mystery Wee haue already said that Christs sacred flesh is figured by that tender virgine and now wee say againe that as Iephthes daughter bewailed her owne virginity so did Christ likewise his only it is to be noted that there is a difference betwixt weeping and weeping virginitie and virginity The sonne then doth complaine on his father saying Why hast thou forsaken me which he vttered because hee had not emploied his most pure virginity and most holy innocency as he desired to doe for as he was borne a virgine a virgine hee died and if hee came innocent into the world with his innocency hee returned vnto heauen againe Let no man thinke that Christ bewailed and wept his virginity because hee did inuiolably keepe his most holy flesh for if his mother did not lose it in bringing him into the world neither could hee lose it by liuing in the world The chastity which the scripture speaketh of and the virginity which Christ bewaileth with Iephthes daughter is not the corruptible virginity but the incorruptible not the virginity of the body but of the soule the which doth make our Lord great with holy speeches and diuine inspirations and therefore if hee bee great with these diuine inspirations he bringeth forth afterward holy workes S. Augustine vpon those wordes Desponsauit te mihi in fide sayth Spirituall and holy men haue as great need to marry their foules with Christ as worldlings haue to seeke husbands for their daughters and if I haue said as great now I say more need because a maid may bee saued without the company of a husband but a soule cannot be saued vnlesse she take Christ with her S. Barnard sayth O how farre more higher is the spirituall matrimony than the corporall the one is betweene the wife and her husband the other betwixt the soule and Christ of the one come children which sometimes do breed griefe anger of the other there do proceed workes which doe alwaies good If Iephthes daughter doe weepe her departing out of this world a virgine euen so doth Christ weepe and lament his virginitie because hee hath left no greater a spirituall posteritie after him for he would willingly haue left all the hearts in the world great with child with good vertuous desires and all soules deliuered of good workes When God said by the Prophet Esayas Numquid ego qui alijs generationem tribue sterilis ere That is Shall I be barren my selfe and giue issue vnto others hee did not speake this for any desire which hee had to marry himselfe with any woman but for the great zeale which hee had to marry and couple himselfe with our soules because that in all ages and all times the chastity of the body is a holy thing and in all ages all times the barrennesse of the soule is naught and discommendable What doest thou weepe for then O good Iesus what doest thou weepe I weepe my virginity with the daughter of Iephthe because I haue scarse found any in all the world who will marry with my diuine grace nor who will be great with child with my diuine inspirations and that which I mislike most of all is that if I begin to dally and make loue with any sinfull soule she turneth her backe towards mee and is ready to flie from mee I bewaile my virginitie because that in three and thirty yeares which I haue liued in the world with al the sermons which I haue preached and with all the dead which I haue raised vnto life and with all the diuels which I haue cast out and all the sinnes which I haue forgiuen it seemeth vnto mee that I haue made small gaine and done little good in respect of the paines which I haue taken I bewaile my virginity because that being come in person into the world hauing instructed all the people shed my bloud rent and torne my flesh lost my reputation and bestowed my life yet I see now that there is scarse any one found who would benefit himselfe with my bloud or who
heauen Origen vpon Exodus sayth That because the old law was a shadow of the new and that all those which were of the Synagogue were sad and terrified therefore they did vse so many kinds of instruments such diuerse sorts of musicke because that by theÌ„ they might forget the sorrow sadnesse which they were in But when the fulnesse of time came in the which God sent his sonne into the world hee brought mirth with him he brought pleasure with him hee brought the ioies of heauen with him where they doe nothing else but laugh and reioice as we doe nothing else but mourne and weepe Did not trow you our ioyfull Isaac come laughing into the world seeing that when hee was borne the Angels did sing Gloria in excelsis Deo Glory bee to God on high Damascen sayth That if the words which God spake and the works which he did be weighed with grauity they doe all giue vs ioy comfort and put vs in a great confidence of our saluation and take away the distrust of damnation because hee spake and did much more in the fauour of clemency than hee did in the rigour of iustice And because wee may not seeme to speake at randome it is reason that wee bring forth some few sentences which hee vttered in the fauour of mercy and pittie Christ to the Hebrewes said If any man shal keepe my vvord hee shall not die for euer that is His soule shall neuer perish Si quis sermonem meum seruauerit non morietur in aeternum It is reason that wee marke who spake these words vvhy hee spake them and vnto whom hee spake them Hee who spake them was our laughing Isaac and the cause vvhy hee spâ—ke them vvas because he vvould make the vvorld reâ—oice vvith such good news yet for a recompence for this good newes they rewarded him very badly seeing that because he said in Pilates house that there vvas another world that his kingdome was not of this vvorld they clothed him with purple in Herods house as if he had been a foole He spake these vvords vnto the cursed Iewes when they called him a Samaritane which vvas as much as to call him an Hererike when they said that hee had a diuell which was as much to say that hee was a Nigromancer Doest thou not think my good brother that our merry Isaac vvas full of â—â—ughter vvheÌ„ he answered so sweetly vnto such outragious blasphemie O sweet answere O heauenly speech vvho but thou did promise vs another life after that this vvas ended Doest thou not think that our Isaac is full of laughter seeing that vvhen the Iewes doe goe about to stone him hee puttâ—th himselfe betwixt God and our faults to the end that they may charge all the blowes vpon his backe Did not hee laugh trow you vvhen as hee had cast the Diuell out of them yet they called him a man possessed vvith a Deuill When the sonne of God said that his yoke vvas sweet hee did let vs vnderstand thereby plainly that his holy lavv vvaâ— a cheerefull lavv a gracious lavv and a loifull lavv and so truly it is because all good men keepe it cheerefully and all naughty men breake it vvith vveeping Secondly the figure aboue named saith that Isaac vvas very rich and that hee had many flockes of sheepe and many heards of kine and a great number of bondslâ—ues both men and vvomen To say the truth the sonne of God had neither sheepe nor kine nor bondmen but hee fâ—â—d that vvhich was signified by them because his comming into the world was not to possesse sheepe and kine nor to be wealthy in them but his comming was to redeeme our soules and to bee a mediator for our sins When the Prophet said thou hast made all thinges subiect vnder his feet sheepe and oxen he spake it not only in respect of sheepe which went in the stubble or of kine which fed in pastures but in respect of sinners soules which were in their bodies the which he did so much esteeme and for the which he did so much that although his father did put them vnder his feet yet our good Isaac did put them vpon his head By Isaacs sheepe the good people of Israel were vnderstood which came vnto the knowledge of Christ such were Lazarus Nicodemus Ioseph Zacheus the good thiefe and many others all which were of the number of the elect By Isaacs oxen and kine which are of the greater sort of beasts all the Gentiles from whome all wee which are Christians doe descend for euen as a cow is greater than a sheepe euen so the holy mother the church is greater thaÌ„ the Synagogue These are the kine which the sonne of God came to seeke these are the sheep which our Isaac came to keepe for of the other flocke and heard which old Isaac had our redeemer of the world neuer had calse nor lambe The figure sayth also that Isaac had a great family and many bondwomen which serued him at table many men which gathered in his wealth Our Isaac was a poore man in this kind of bondmen and women as hee was of beards and flockes of cattell and sheepe for his pouerty was so great that no man would liue with him nor dwell in his house Christ had another manner of family than Isaac had his family was noble aboundant and holy because there resorted vnto it the powers of heaueÌ„ the fathers which were departed the iust which reioiced in his comming and all the good men of the world What should become of the iust man sayth Anselmus if he had not the sonne of God for his guide and captain What meaneth he when he sayth Vbiduo vel tres congregati fuerint in nomine meâ— ibi ego sum But that wheresoeuer or howsoeuer two or three iust men bee in Christs name that he will be there in the middest of them O what great difference there is betwixt old Isaacs family and our Christs family because that in Isaacs family they call those of his house youths seruants and men bond slaues but in our blessed Iesus family hee calleth his his friends companions and brothers O high mystery and diuine Sacrament why doth Iesus call all his friends saying Amicimeiestis and another time Brothers saying Dic fratribus meis but onely to let vs vnderstand that hee had redeemed them with his precious bloud and iustified them with his diuine grace Who would not be glad O good Iesus who would not bee glad to loue thee serue thee and follow thee seeing that thou art so courteous in thy words and so gratefull in thy deeds Who would not be glad to dwell in thy house and who would not be willingly one of thy family seeing that thou doest call strangers thy acquaintance thy enemies thy friends thy seruants thy companions and vngratefull men thy brothers Who did euer take such great care of his family as thou didst O good Iesus seeing that
vnto the hangmen and that because vvee should vnderstand that to the catholicke church there fell the entire and whole coat seeing that shee dooth fully beleeue that Christ is both God and man and vnto the Synagogue there happened his torn coat seeing they beleeue that hee is no more than a bare man Saint Augustine sayth By Christs two garments are vnderstood both his bodies that is his true body made and compacted of his holy members and his mysticall body which are all good Christians and because thou maiest perceaue my brother how much thou art bound vnto Christ know thou that hee did esteeme better of his mysticall body vvhich are Christians than of his owne true body which vvas made of his owne members What vvas his meaning that hee suffered them to take away and teare in pieces the one of his coats and yet neuer touch the other but only that hee is more grieued when any man doth speake euill of his church than to haue laid hands vpon his owne proper person Remigius sayth O how whole and entire hee did leaue vs the vnsowne coat of his church and yet naughty Christians and perfideous Heretikes doe rent his coat into as many pieces as they doe raise dissentions and stirre vp heresies in the church It was Christs holy vvill to die not only without a coat but also not to haue one thred of a coat vpon him which hee did suffer to the great preiudice of his grauity and losse of his credite Who was euer or vvho euer shall bee so graue in his doctrine as the sonne of God vvas and so honest in his person And seeing that Esayas sayth that hee was offered vp because hee would it is to bee beleeued that seeing they could not crucifie him if he himselfe vvould not so they could neither haue stripped him naked vnlesse he had consented vnto it Wherof it followeth in a good consequence that if hee would die for our redemption that hee did let himselfe bee stripped for our comfort What did it signifie that the sonne of God did put off all his garments but that hee did dispossesse himselfe of all his good workes I and thou thou and I my brother haue great need to die clothed and clad to wit vvith our owne faith and good vvorks and also bee helped by others For as for holy Iesus as hee came out of the vvombe of his mother vnited vnto the diuine essence so hee had no necessity of his owne vvorkes to saue himselfe nor of other mens merits to pardon vs. Cyrillus vpon S. Iohn sayth Of as much as the sonne of God did merite praying on the mountaine preaching among the people healing the diseased in hospitals by suffering among his enemies and dying vpon the crosse I say hee did spoile and make himselfe naked of all that and put it vpon vs insomuch that wee are heires of his bloud with which he redeemed vs and successors of all the merits which hee heaped together O glorious inheritance and happie wealth which thou good Iesus diddest leaue to the parishioners of thy church seeing that by the meanes thereof vvee are made sonnes of the Father brothers of the sonne puples of the Holy ghost companions to the Angels parishioners of the church and heires of thy glory O vvhat great difference there is betwixt the inheritance of heauen and an inheritance in the world Worldlings leaue their children store of goods and reuenues and much debate and strife to defend them and many enemies to persecute them but our good Lord in lieue of great wealth did leaue vs his grace and in steed of enemies did leaue vs his merites What should haue become of all the sinners of the world if as Christ died spoiled and depriued of his goods so hee would haue died clothed vvith all his merits What should become vnto prowd men if hee would not haue left them his humilitie and vvhat of cruell men if hee would not haue left them his charitie What end should angry men come to if he should not haue left them his patience and vvhat vvere it of all sinners if hee should not haue left them his clemency Cyprian sayth If Christ would haue ascended to heauen vvith all that which hee merited in this world and not impart it among vs and as it were vnclothed himselfe of them as of certaine garments there should not haue been in the world at this day a church to preach in nor Priest to bee ordained nor Sacrament to bee administred Cyrillus sayth to this purpose If the sonne of God would haue merited for himselfe alone and died for himselfe alone wee might haue said with reason that hee had come into the vvorld and tooke flesh vpon him for himselfe and not for vs. But let such blasphemy bee farre from our tongues and thoughts and farre from our heart because our good Lord died not for himselfe but for vs nor did not merite for himselfe but for vs. Hugo de sancto victore sayth Because that the great Redeemer of the world did leaue vs his garments for reliques and his merites for Treasures the Church his spouse hath at this day Sacraments to giue sacrifices of a contrite heart to offer sweet doctrine to preach and rewards to promise for amendment of life CHAP. IIII. He followeth the authority of the Prophet Osee and speaketh of the garments which Christ left in pledge PArtiti sunt vestimenta mea super ea miserunt sirtem said Christ in the 21 Psalme complaining vnto his Father on the crosse as if hee would say O my good Father thou wast not content only that they should spoile me of my garments and turne me naked to my great shame but also that the hangmen should deuide my coat and the souldiours cast lots vpon him We must see in this place how many coats there were and whose they were and among whome they were deuided because all our saluation dooth consist in being excluded or admitted vnto that deuision There were but two garments in all and Christ was the maister of them and they were deuided betwixt hangmen and souldiours the place where was by the crosse and the manner how was by lots These two garments were deuided betwixt the Gentlemen which kept and guarded Christ and the hangmē which crucified Christ insomuch that according vnto the merite or demerite of euery one of them they receiued their part of the garment Theophilus saith Who are meant by these gentlemen and knights but the vertuous and iust and who by the hangmen but sinners and naughty men O infinit goodnesse O clemency neuer seene before such as thine was O good Iesus vpon the altar of the crosse where thou diddest barre no man of the inheritance of thy sweatings and deuiding of thy merits depriue no man exclude no man nor disinherite no man but there fell aswel one part to the hangmen which lifted thee vp vpon the crosse as to Nichodemus who tooke thee down from the same Isichius
body because that if he had not hindered that his body had not ben passible at all It was for no other cause but Propter nostram salutë that our great Redeemer suffered the death vpon the crosse as if he had been a sinner Candolfus sayth Christ sometimes gaue place that the glory of his soule should redound and fall vpon the members of his body as it happened in the hill Thabor by reason vvhereof his precious flesh vvas so tender in suffering and so passing desirous to returne to the fruition of the same glory that the absence and delay of that diuine and heauenly comfort did bring Christ most grieuous torment Vpon those vvords of the Psalme Abyssus abyssum inuocat Saint Basil sayth for as much as the soule of the sonne of God vvas full of glory and his precious body loaden with grieuous paine and anguish O how oftentimes the depth of his trauailes and griefes did feruently desire and sigh after the depth of his comfort and consolation the vvhich his eternall Father vvould not impart vnto him vntill hee had ended the redemption of the vvorld O great goodnesse O infinite charity who but thou O my good Iesus vvas hungry vvith bread in his hand thirsty vvith vvater in his mouth naked vvith garments in his chests sad and afflicted with glory in his soule Vpon those vvords Tristis est anima mea S. Barnard sayth It is no maruell if my soule bee sorrowfull and full of anguish because the houre of my glory and felicity is not yet come but in thee O good Iesus why should thy flesh bee so wearied And why should thy soule be comfortlesse seeing that thou carriest with thee all the glory which is in heauen or in earth Vbertinus vpon this place sayth The Redeemer of the world being in the agony of death and very neere the end of his life remembring himselfe of that heauenly comfort and diuine influence vvhich from the glory of his soule was woont to bee imparted to his precious body spake this word Sitio as if he would say O how great the thirst is vvhich I suffer in this last houre and terrible agony to vvit of that influence and heauenly comfort which was woont to bee imparted from my owne soule vnto my owne flesh because this death and passion which my owne Father doth lay vpon this my weake flesh is not onely grieuous but doth also exceed all other humane punishment The great thirst that Christ suffered vpon the crosse and the cooling vvater which hee desired was not the water of the fountain of the hill Lybanus nor yet that which ran in the riuer Silo but that heauenly consolation which the glory of his soule vvas vvont to cause in him for that other humane thirst could not so much grieue him considering how neere hee vvas to the end of his life Wee haue vsed all this discourse to extoll the word of the figure which sayth Et traxit piscem in siccum It is to bee vnderstood that young Tobias did kill the fish vpon the sand vvhich would haue killed him in the water When thinkest thou did Tobias draw the fish vpon drie land but vvhen the eternall Father did leaue his blessed sonne vpon the crosse without any humane consolation O how drie was that drie tree vpon which the heauenly fish hanged vvho hauing been brought vp in the deepe sea of the diuine essence had not there so much as one drop of water to drinke What can be pitied more in this life than for a fish hauing been brought vp in the water yet afterward to die for vvant of vvater Tobias fish was hard by the vvater side and yet died vvith thirst and Christs flesh vvas coupeled with his holy soule and died also vvith thirst because the eternall Father to giue vs drinke of his water of heauen killed his owne onely sonne with thirst and brought him to die vpon the sands of this world If Tobias should not haue drawne the fish to the land hee could not haue mastered him if Christ had not become man neither could he haue died for howsoeuer it be naturall for vs to die yet it is much more naturall for God alwaies to liue What meaneth it that the selfe same fish of whome Tobias thought he should haue been deuoured lay dead afterward at his feet but that that God which all the powers of heauen did feare and tremble at we see now meek gentle hanged vpon the tree When God was nothing but God in his own diuine essence being all the world did feare him and tremble but after that hee came vpon our sandie humanity set foot vpon the drinesse of this world hee who before made others afeard was himselfe afraid and he who before did throw downe others fell himselfe and he who before enriched others became poore and he who gaue all comfort wept himselfe and hee who killed before died Desertum faciam mare eius siccabo venum eius said God by the Prophet Ieremy chap. 51. as if he would say I will make all his sea as drie and without vvater as desart and solitary mountains are woont to bee and I will cut off all the vaines and streames of his depth because there shal flow no water at any end These words must curiously be expounded for God to say that the sea shall bee as drie as a solitary mountaine and that hee will cut off all the vaines of his course throughout all the world seemeth to bee a new speech and a thing that was neuer seene to be beleeued Leauing the letter speaking according vnto the sence of these words the eternal Father doth forewarne his precious sonne that he wil not onely deale with him like one which will not he are him nor giue him any comfort but also that he will cut off all occasions whereby hec may any way receiue comfort in so much that to make the sea become a desart is to make of God a true man and to cut off the vaines of the sea is to cut off all heauenly consolation What other thing was that deepe sea but onely the diuine essence And what else was it to make a drie desart of the raging sea but to make him who was the eternal God a true mā God said by the mouth of his Prophet Desertum faciammare eius speaking of his son and as he did prophecie so he did accomplish it for when he hanged vpon the altar of the crosse he neuer made answere to any petition which hee made him nor yet to quench his thirst gaue him so much as one cup of water What a strange thing is this O eternall Father what a strange thing is this For thy bastard abortiue childrē thou didst drawwater out of the liuely rock for thy lawful son hast thou not so much as one drop Whē Agar her son Ismael were ready to perish with thirst in the mountaines of Bersabee neere vnto the Mount Lybanus
seeing it was spoken by the theefe which suffered by Christ In the third which was Behold thy mother what part hath the church therein seeing hee spake it onely vnto the disciple which was there present and to his mother which wept by him In the fourth which was Why hast thou forsaken me what hath the church therein seeing he speaketh only vnto his Father and complaineth of his Father vnto his Father In the fift which is I am a thirst what part hath the church therein seeing that thereby hee dooth shew the exceeding great thirst which hee sustaineth for the torments which hee suffereth In the seuenth vvord which is Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit what part hath the church therein seeing the sonne goeth out of the world and commendeth his spirit vnto his Father If we haue any part of all the seuen vvordes it is in Consummatum est in giuing vs knowledge by his owne mouth of the perfection and end of the old lavv and of our full redemption seeing he spake then vnto vs only and forthe end of all our sins vvhich vvere at one time redeemed euen as Christ did end his life and gaue vp his blessed ghost O profound mystery O vnspeakable secret and neuer heard of before in Consummatum est seeing that it is nothing else to say Consummatum est but to giue notice vnto all the vvorld that the church is novv begun and the Synagogue cast dovvne the Scripture fulfilled his life ended His precious bloud is ended the vvhich is so dravvne out that there remained no one drop in his vaines for hee came vvith a determination into the vvorld fully to accomplish all the loue vvhich hee bare vs and to shed for vs all the bloud vvhich hee possessed That is Consummated vvhich I came into the vvorld for and my fathers commandement is also accomplished for vvhom I came into the vvorld to manifest his holy name for so I haue done and if I came to lighten the vvorld to preach I haue preached and giuen it light The greife of my body is ended the torments of my members the persecutions of my enemies the wearinesse of my bones the multitude of my trauels are all at an end All that which the Prophecies prophecied all that which the Patriarkes signified all that which the holy men desired and all that which our Fathers craued of God is finished and consummate The riches of the Temple the highnesse of the kingdome the rigour of the law the purenesse of Preisthood and the honour of the people is at an end The hatred of the Iewes the enuy of the Pharisies the hypocrisie of the Saduces the malice of the Scribes is fully at an end What was euer seen that Christ began which he brought not in the end to full perfection Wee are those which doe hardly begin any good thing and if we doe begin it scarse bring it to the middle and if wee bring it to the middle we neuer end it The sonne of God is he only who beginneth all thinges when he will continueth them as he ought and finisheth them as he lusteth When Christ went to Ierusalem to suffer he said vnto his disciples Ecce ascendimus Hierosolimam consummabuntur omnia quae scripta sunt de me and when he praied ouer the supper he said Opus consummaui quod dedisti mihi and on the altar of the crosse he said also Consummatum est giuing vs to vnderstand by that speech that like vnto a man hee doth giue that which he is commanded pay that which he doth owe and accomplish that which he doth promise S. Cyprian sayth Much greater O my good Iesus much greater is the taking of the torments which thou hast endured than the wasting of the grace which wee haue lost and farre greater is thy paine than our fault and thy offering than our offence and therefore thou doest say Consummatum est because that now the fault of the seruant is ended with the death of the sonne Anselmus sayth O how truly thou doest say O my good Iesus Consummatum est for hauing thy eies broken as thou hast thy shoulders opened thy hands piersed and the world redeemed what doth there remaine to end seeing that thou art at an end Damascen sayth When vpon the crosse the sonne of God sayth Consummatum est If he would haue vsed the rigour of his iustice as he did vse his accustomed clemency had it thinke you haue been much that all the world should haue ended with him seeing the Lord ended and died there which did create it Remigius sayth O bill of paiment O precious money O sure account O acquittance of God which thou doest giue vs O good Iesus when thou doest say Consummatum est seeing that thou doest assure vs by that speech that the bond obligation which the deuil had ouer our humane nature is payd by thee and cancelled and blotted our and also cast into dust ashes Fiue thousand yeares and more we were bound to hell and subiect vnto the deuill but the sonne of God going to the crosse to die he vnbound vs from the seruice of the Deuill and as he went by little and little towards his end the obligation went wearing away in so much that with this speech Consummatum est the soule went out of his body and sinne tooke his end in vs. O high Lord O great redeemer when thou saiest Consummatum est what is that which doth not end seeing that thy life doth end Gods humane life dooth end death to hell sinne to the world idolatry to gentility ceremonies to the law and figures to the Scripture Pope Leo sayth by this word Consummatum est was ended the reproch of the crosse the banishment from heauen the power of the diuell the treason of the disciple the denying of Peter the sentence of Pilate the indignation of the people the life of the sonne and the comfort of the mother O comfortlesse mother O virgine borne without the like what griefe did thy sorrowfull heart feele when thou heardest thy sonne say that his life was ended thou continuing as thou didst without thy sonne What meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this With this speech Consummatum est the paine endeth to those which languished in desiring thee the offence of the wicked ceaseth the bloud of thy vaines drieth vp and yet doe not the teares of thy mothers eies end With this speech of Consummatum est All is finished dost thou drie the teares of those which haue offended thee their fill and dost thou make no reckoning of thy blessed mother who vnto the crosse hath followed thee If vnder that speech doe enter all whome thou hast created why doest thou leaue out thy mother of whom thou wast borne Most blessed mother of God certainly is not left out because that here on the crosse is finished and accomplished the quietnesse of her heart the light of her eies the contentment of her
my brethren by grace I am thy only begotten sonne by nature Saint Augustine vpon this place saith As the father and the sonne are one and the same thing not only by equality of substance but also for equality of will so the disciples are one thing with Christ not by nature but by a bond of loue and fellowship And he addeth further that because the perfection of a iust man is no other thing but the participation which he hath with the diuine likenesse we are good in so many degrees in how many we draw neere to the likenesse of God Christ sayth plainly for whom hee praieth seeing he sayth Quia tui sunt and also for whom he doth not pray seeing he sayth That he doth not aske for the world so that those be participant of his praier which do serue Christ and he excludeth those which follow the world O how happy those be which follow Christ and which loue Christ and serue Christ because they only be partakers of his praier the which loue and seruice euery man should proue in himselfe not in the words which hee speaketh of Christ but in the workes which he doth for his seruice Chrisostome saith We should bee afeard very much my brethren that Christ did not say I pray vnto thee father for those who cal themselues thine but onely for those which are thine because there are many now adaies in the church of God who are baptised call themselues Christians and doe goe to church who whē they are gone from thence are prowd enuious couetous carnall and blasphemers of which wee may say that they call themselues of Christ but they bee not of Christ For such beasts as these Christ doth not pray nor such naughty men as these haue no part in Christs praier not because Christs holy praier doth not reach vnto all but because they remaine out of it because they continue in their sinnes Cyrillus vpon Saint Iohn sayth Why doest thou aske for thy disciples for if they bee thy Fathers thou hast no need and if they bee not his what hast thou to doe with them That which I aske for them is that as they are his by faith they may be his also by charity for it would little auaile them to bee constant in faith if they should not be also feruent in loue Remigius sayth There is no doubt but the sonne of God was neuer asked by any nor importuned by any nor suborned by any to pray for those of his colledge but of himselfe hee moued himselfe to pray and commend them to his Father giuing vs thereby to vnderstand what great care he hath to looke vnto vs if wee be not carelesse to serue him But how should not that other part make vs afeard astonied when Christ said I pray not for the world seeing hee excludeth from his praier all vaine light worldlings which are al worthily shut out of his church seeing they would not follow his doctrine When the sonne of God sayth Non rogo pro mundo hee sayth that he doth not pray for the proud man hee sayth that hee doth not pray for the enuious man for the fleshly man for the couetous man for the blasphemer for vnto such persons their paradise is their vices and hell Gods commādemēts How saith Christ shall I aske for the world seeing I am not knowne of any neighbour in it Rupertus vpon S. Iohn sayth Seeing that Christ sayth I doe not aske for the world let euery man mark what life hee leadeth for thereby hee may see what part hee hath in Christs praier for the rewarder of vertues is Christ and the pay-maister of vices is the diuell Tel me I pray thee why the sonne of God should pray for them which are blinded in the world and whose glory is this wicked world seeing the captaine and ringleader of such is the diuell S. Augustine vpon S. Iohn sayth Why doth the sonne of God say in his praier I do not entreat for the world but because the transgressor of the precept is hee who committeth the sinne and hee who committeth the sinne is the louer of the world and the louer of the world is the seruant of the diuell and the seruant of the diuell is a neighbor and inhabitant of hell Bonauenture in the life of Christ sayth When the deuill goeth about to make me sinne and when the flesh goeth about to ouercome mee and when the world goeth about to pamper and make much of me I presently doe call to mind that speech of Christ I pray not for the world and that Rise to iudgement and that Goe into euerlasting fire Although these three enemies are strong to ouercome yet these are three mighty arrowes to shoot at them for if we remember I doe not pray the father for the world Rise to iudgement Go into euerlasting fire who dare commit a sinne nor yet take his sleepe by night Christ sayth further Non pro eis tantum rogo sed pro eis qui crediturisunt in me as if hee should say O my holy and blessed Father behold that my church must be very much encreased and must dure vnto the worlds end by reason whereof I doe not aske thee only for these which sit at my table but also for all those vvhich vvill beleeue in mee hereafter And hee sayth further Non rogo vt tollas eos de mundo sed vt serues cos a malo as if hee should say Although my elect bee not of the vvorld nor haue no part in the vvorld and the vvorld hate them yet I doe not aske thee that thou vvouldest take them out of the vvorld but that thou vvouldest deliuer them from all euill Speaking litterally our Lord asketh here of his Father that hee vvould not take all his Disciples so soone out of the world partly because they bee not well grounded in matters of perfection and partly because the Gentiles should be lightned by thē if they should haue died with Christ all the world should haue ben vnconuerted Theophilus saith When the son of God sayth vnto his Father I doe not craue of thee that thou wouldest take them out of this world but that thou wouldest keepe them from euill aboue all things I say that blessed be that mouth which spake that blessed be they for whom he spake it seeing thereby wee bee certified that how bad so euer wee bee our Lord doth labour alwaies to bring vs to his seruice Marke then the infinite goodnesse and charitie of our Lord who when hee had said I doe not aske for the world sayth presently I doe not desire that thou wouldest take them out of the world The which words he spake immediately after the other because wee should not bee bold to sinne trusting vnto Gods mercy and yet if wee doe chance to fall that wee should not perseuere and dispaire To say that Christ should not entreat for the world it is a dreadfull speech and yet to pray that
eie and life for life why doest thou O mighty redeemer giue thy hands vnto those which bind thē thy feet vnto those which pierce them with nailes thy eies vnto those which make thee blind and thy life vnto those which take thy life from thee If thou wilt not reuenge thy iniuries why doest thou not let iustice doe iustice vpon thy enemies S. Barnard sayth in a sermon from the time that our Sauiour was taken in the garden vntill hee was crucified on the crosse the works which he did were many but the words which he spake were very few whereby hee gaue vs to vnderstand that in time of great vexations and persecutions it is fitter for vs to helpe our selues with patience than with eloquence In this first praier which the sonne made vnto the father it is to be noted who the father is what that is that he asketh of whom he asketh when he asketh from whence he asketh how hee asketh and for whome hee asketh for by so much the more one businesse is greater than another by how much the inconueniences are greater which it draweth after it He who asketh is the sonne he of whom he asketh is the father that which he asketh is pardon the place frō whence hee asketh is the crosse the time is when hee dieth those for whom are his enemies the maner how is with many teares in so much that a praier offered vvith all these circumstances ought of great reason to be heard This praier of Pater ignosce illis Father pardon them is a very high praier seeing that he vvhich made it vvas the sonne of God vvho saith Si quid petieritis patrem in nomine meo dabit vobis And if this bee so how is it possible that the father should not graunt all that which the sonne requesteth seeing hee promiseth to giue all things that shall be demanded in his name If this be a great praier by reason of him which maketh it it is also a very great high praier by reason of him vnto whom it is made which is Pater misericordiarū deus totus consolationis The father of mercies and the God of all comfort the vvhich eternall father created vs vvith his power guideth and gouerneth vs vvith his vvisedome sustaineth and vpholdeth vs with his essence and forgiueth vs with his elemency how is it possible that a sonne vvhich hath such a father or a father vvhich hath such a sonne should not grant his demand This praier of Pater ignosce illis was also very great because of the place vvhere it was made which was in the mount of Caluarie and on the altar of the crosse vvhere the vvrath of the eternall father was appeased his blessed sonne put to death the vvicked deuil ouercome the old sinne forgiuen and all the world there redeemed S. Ambrose vpon S. Luke sayth how much the Iewes dishonoured the holy temple so much Christ honored the Mount of Caluary for they made a den of theeues of the house of praier and the sonne of God made a house of praier of a den of theeues O good Iesus what is there now that thou doest not make cleane what doest thou not renue what doest thou not sanctifie what doest thou not make holy seeing thou wentest to the Mount of Caluary to pray for sinners which before was infamous by reason of execution done there vpon malefactors The sonne of God praying on the infamous and stinking place of the Mount of Caluary giueth all men license to pray vnto God where they will and how they will and for whome so euer they will because the perfection of praier doth not consist of the place where wee pray but of the small or great deuotion with the which wee pray According vnto that which the Samaritane woman said vnto Christ That many Iews would not pray but within the temple and it may bee to take away this error wee doe read that the son of God did not pray there but preach only which our blessed Sauiour did because no man should excuse himselfe from praier deuotion saying that the temple was shut vp Vbertinus saith that the sonne of God is not ashamed to pray Pater ignosce illis on the dunghill of the Mount of Caluary and art thou ashamed to pray alone in thy house O what a high charge and office the office of meditation and praieris considering that Christ his being naked on the crosse with his handes bound and tied his feet peirced with nailes his head crowned with thornes his mouth seasoned with vineger did not hinder him to pray Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them and seeing hee pardoned and forgaue with his heart and praied with his tongue CHAP. II. How the sonne of God said vnto his father that those which crucifie him be not his enemies but his friends QVid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum his plagatus sum in dom◠eorum qui me diligebant said God by the Prophet Zachary in the thirteenth chapter as if he would say Who hath giuen thee these cruell wounds in the middest of thy hands the Prophet answered and said Lord they wounded mee thus in the house of those which loued mee much These words were not spoken voluntarily nor of euery man seeing they cannot be applied neither to the nature of mankind nor of angell because men are not wont to receiue stripes and words in their friends houses but in their enemies The Prophet toucheth a new thing and a high mystery in saying that he was whipped and wounded in the house of his well-willers and therefore it is needfull for vs to lift vp our vnderstanding to discouer and reach vnto this high secret because that high mysteries are fit only for heroicall and high persons This demand and this answere passed on the altar of the crosse betwixt the eternall father which asked and his blessed sonne which answered who not being content to entreat only for his enemies saying Pater Father forgiue them would also haue excused them and take all blame from them in saying Nesciunt quid faciunt They know not what they doe the father said vnto him Quid sunt plagae istae so said the father vnto his son which is as much as to say O my son if thou doest say that none of these Iewes are guiltie and culpable of thy death and passion I pray thee tell me who made these cruell wounds in the midst of thy tender hands The son answered his father His plagatus sum in domo eorum qui me diligebant which is as much as to say O holy and eternall father I receiued these wounds which thou seest in my tender hands in the house of those which were my friends and if I be ioifull in receiuing them why art not thou glad in forgiuing them Thou knowest well O my father that nothing can be called an iniury in this world but only that which is done against our proper will If
presume to call himselfe my seruant in my church if he doe not reconcile himselfe first vnto his brother Father forgiue thē for seeing the old law endeth when I shal say Consummatum est All is finished and the new law beginneth when I shall say Commendo spiritum meum I commend my spirit it would not be reasonable that vnder the law of Grace we should cōsent that any thing should be vnfitting or vnsit nor that vnder the law of Loue wee should permit ranckor and malice Father forgiue them for if in the wildernesse of Aaron whē thou wast angry vvith all the Iewes thou diddest forgiue them and reconcile them vnto thee for no other cause but only because Moses and Aaron did offer a little incense vnto thee why wilt thou not forgiue them now seeing I doe now offer for them not incense but my selfe crucified Father forgiue them for seeing they bee thy creatures by creation thy clients by law my children by redemption my brethren by bloud my acquaintance by education my followers in doctrine and so neare of kindred vnto my disciples why should I consent to their losse and condemnation Father forgiue them seeing I came not into the vvorld to procure thee enemies but to giue thee new friends and to take thy old griefes and sorrowes from thee for otherwise if by my death this people should remaine in thy disgrace and hatred it would seeme that my death would rather moue thee to indignation than appease thy wrath If my death make not an attonement betwixt you who is able to doe it O my good father when thou diddest command me to come downe from heauen and also to die vpon the crosse diddest not thou promise and agree that thy anger and my life and my life and thy anger should haue an end at the same houre Father forgiue them and fulfill thy agreement giue that which thou hast promised and seeing in thy presence my life is deerer vnto thee than thy anger I am glad and willing to die if by that meanes thy ire may bee appeased O blessed praier O holy wish and request neuer heard of before O happie petition which thou madest sweet Iesus in thy last houre wherein thou diddest shew by deeds all that thou haddest preached with words seeing thou diddest entreat for those which put thee to death aske pardon for those which crucified thee Let all the praiers bee brought forth that euer were made in the world and we shall easily perceiue that there was neuer any equall vnto this praier of Christs for there was neuer any which had that intent which hee had nor asked that which hee asked nor compassed that which hee compassed What did the great Patriarch Iacob request of Laban his father in law but only his faire daughter Rachel for his spouse What did the women of Israell demaund of the women of Aegypt saue only their siluer and gold What did Anna Helcans wife and Samuels mother request of God in the temple sauing only that it would please him to giue her a son What did the Iew maid called Axa aske of her father Calaph but only the pasture which held water because the other which hee had giuen her was drie What did the mother of the Zebedees require of Christ but onely that hee would make them the greatest lords of his kingdome Which of all these doe aske any thing of God for their enemies or yet for their friendes Euery man did aske for that which was fittest for his owne turn euery man sought for that which was good for himselfe no man entreated for his neighbour no man remembred his enemie no man made intercession for another no man loaded himselfe with other mens faults Only the son of God made man praieth for his enemies in the last supper saying Pater keepe those which beleeue in me and praieth also vpon the crosse for his enemies saying Pater ignosce illis so that like a mercifull lord he defendeth the good and pardoneth the wicked CHAP. III. How the son of God put himself a mediator betwixt God and mankind and what torment he receiued thereby QVaesiui de eis virum qui interpeneret sepem staret oppositus contra me these are the words of the great God of Israell spoken to the Prophet Ezechiell being in the captiuitie of Babilon not far from the riuer Cobar in the two and twentith chapter of his prophesie And it is as if he would say Ezechiell I haue beene many a day angrie with Ierusalem and I seeke out a holy and a vertuous man which should put himselfe like a hedge betwixt mee and the people of Israell because their offences might not come vnto mee nor my punishment reach vnto them Wee may inferre of the complaint which our Lord maketh in this place what great scarsitie there was in the synagogue of good men seeing he found not one among them all which was worthie to appease the wrath of the Lord and to helpe and succour the people The merites of good men are of great force and power before God for to pardon the euill in their faith which is easily seene in all the cities of Sodome which he did pardon for ten good mens sake and all the twelue tribes of Israel which he pardoned for one alone but alasse neither in the synagogue was there found that one neither in Sodome those ten To say the truth it was no maruaile that hee was not to be found in all the synagogue with those conditions which God required in him for he ought to haue ben a man in discretion and not a child and the Lord himselfe was to make choice of him and no other and he was to be an Hebrew and not a Gentile he was to put himselfe a mediator betwixt God and the people and it was required that he should be partiall on neither side And our Lord was not content onely with this but that mediator ought also to haue desert and merit in him to appease Gods indignation and not sinne to stirre him to wrath S. Gregory vpon Ezechiell sayth I doubt whether a man endued with these conditions and shining with these vertues might bee found amongst the Angelicall Hierarchies how much lesse among humane creatures because such a one should bee more than man yea he should be equall with God Abraham Isaac Iacob and Dauid and all the letanie of the old and new testament were not equall with God nor any thing more then men seeing they were borne in sinne and attained vnto no diuine secret without it were reuealed vnto them The sonne of God only was equall vnto God and the diuine vvord only vvas more than man because in him and in no other those cōditions of a holy man were found which God sought for and the vertues which should pacisie God his wrath and anger The first condition which God required was that this mediator should be a man in wisdome and not a child which may
he suffered in his members When the Apostle sayth That the sonne of God offered vp praiers and supplications vpon the altar of the crosse hee declareth as Theophilactus sayth That the praier ignosce illis was extended vnto the good and vnto the bad in so much that for his enemies he offered praiers for the pardon of their sinnes and for his friends hee offered vp oblations for to confirme them in his grace As the sonne of God was Lord ouer all men and died for all men so vpon the crosse he praied for all men For if the wicked had need of him to help them to rise the good also had need of his helpe to keep them from falling Anselmus in his meditations sayth That when the Apostle sayth that the sonne of God was not content to pray only with deuotion but also offered vp that praier vnto his owne father it is to let vs vnderstand that for the sauing of all the world hee offered vp his paines and sorrowes for a recompence his life for a satisfaction his person for a reward his bloud for a price and his soule for a sacrifice It is also to bee weighed that the sonne of God made not this holy praier of Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them sitting but vpright not being at libertie but bound not in a low voice but aloud not laughing but weeping that which is most to be maruelled at the words that he praied with were very few but the tears he bathed them with were very many O good Iesus O my souls pleasure who could be worthy to stand at the foot of thy crosse to see how thy bloud ran from the thornes and thy tears flow from thy eies in so much that at the same hour and moment thou diddest water the earth with tears and pierce the heauens with sighes O what a sacred word was that O what a holy praier was Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them seeing that it was made by the sonne of God vpon the altar of the crosse accompanied with sighes washed with the bloud of Christ and offered vp with the tears of the redeemer Although the sonne of God requested the greatest matter of his father and of the greatest weight that euer was demaunded of him that is to wit Pardon of his precious death yet the tears which hee shed were so many and the loue so great with the which he asked it that if he had asked a greater matter of him his father would neuer haue denied it him S. Basill sayth O what great hurt sinnes bring vnto vs considering that for to lighten vs of them and obtaine pardon for them it was needfull for Christ to pray vnto his father for theÌ„ and offer oblation and crie out and suffer his bloud to bee shed and tears to poure downe from his eies so that thou O good Iesus diddest buy my great offences by the weight of thy bloud tears Our Lord when he praied for his enemies vpon the crosse taught vs what forme and fashion wee ought to keepe when wee pray that is to shed bloud from our members and fall tears froÌ„ our eies The son of God wept when he praied for his enemies and art not thou ashamed to laugh and talke when thou praiest for the remission of thy sinnes Yea and if thou canst not weep in thy praiers yet tel me why thou doest talke ouermuch Barnard sayth That it is more then a iest rather then a praier if at one time thou wouldest pray and talke for if thou bee not attentiue vnto that that thou praiest neither will our Lord be vnto that that thou demandest Defecerunt prae laâ—hrimis oculi mei sayth Ieremie in his Lamentations as if he should say I had such great compasston to see all the Iewes led captiue vnto Babilonia that my eies with very weeping lost their sight And indeed there is no greater token that a man is in true charity then to see him haue compassion of other mens hurts and therevpon it happeneth that good men weepe sooner for the wicked then for themselues the which happened also vnto Christ vpon the crosse who wept first for his enemies before they wept for their owne sinnes It is a very proper thing vnto the chosen people of God to weepe a like for other mens harmes and for their owne because it is the propertie of true Christian charitie to take as great griefe to see his brother lost as pleasure to see himselfe saued One of the greatest priuiledges that good men haue is that euen as they merit in taking comfort and ioy of the good that is done to good men so they are greeued at the hurt which falleth vnto euill men in so much that the good man and the iust reapeth profit commodity of euery mans conuersation Who doubteth but that the lamentation which Christ made vpon the crosse was far greater then that which Ieremie made on the Mount Sion But now it is to be vnderstood that Ieremy wept for one people onely and the sonne of God for all the vniuersall world Ieremy wept only tears from his eies but the son of God wept tears from his eies and shed bloud from his vains Further Ieremie complained that by weeping he had lost his sight onely but our sweet sauior did not only loose his sight with weeping vpon the crosse but also his very life O good Iesus my soules delight what patience is sufficient or by vvhat iustice is it reason that I should commit the offence and thou shed the teares Art thou not content vvith Ierâ—my to make fountains of tears of thy eies but also to make streames of bloud of thy vains With all those sighes which proceed from thy heart with so many griefes which thy members endure with so many teares which run from thy eies and with so much bloud which floweth from thy vains who would not graunt thy request and who would not haue compassion of that which thou sufferest O who can be able tosay with Ieremy Defecerunt prae lachrimis oculi mei Because that the greatest hap which could light vnto mee were that in amending my faults I could recouer my soule and in weeping many teares lose my sight CHAP. V. Why the father answered not his sonne when hee praied for his enemies VOs cogitastis malum de me sed deus vertit illud in bonum ego pascam vos paruulos vestros When the great Patriark Iacob died in Aegypt and that all his childreÌ„ remained vnder the power and will of their brother Ioseph and being afeard least hee should call to mind how they had sold him vnto the muleters of Aegypt the good Ioseph spake these words vnto them You my brethreÌ„ did think that you had done me great hurt but you did me great good for your selling of me was the occasioÌ„ that I came vnto prosperity and to rule and gouerne all Aegypt in so much that the great goodnesse of our Lord
them the Centurion immeadiately there said Vere hic erat filius dei Truly this was the sonne of God and the good theefe also said Domine memento mei Lord remember me In whose power saith Fulgentiusâ— but onely in the vertue and power of the praier of Paterignosce illis within a short space after that Christ had so praied did some strike their breasts and some say This man was iust By the merite of this holy praier the Apostles conuerted three thousand men in one day and fiue thousand another day by reason that the sonne of God had gotten pardon for the excommunicated synagogue glorious S. steuen was baptized holy Paul conuerted and the good Matthew called to be an Apostle O what a difference there is betwixt the praier which Christ made in the garden that which he made vpon the crosse in the one heeswet blood and in the other he shed teares in the one he praied that the bitter challice might passe and in the other pardon for the synagogue and that which Iesus praied for himselfe was denied him that which hee praied for others was graunted him In so much that his blessed father had more pitie on the sinnes of that people than on the flesh of his owne sonne O great goodnest O infinit charity The Sonne of God is in the garden alone hee is prostrate on the ground giuing vp his ghost and yet ready for a new combat his blood issueth from all the pores of his body he praieth thrise for himselfe and thou wilt not heare him and when he praieth for his enemies doest thou heare him at the first word Why dost thou not graunt him his request seeing that when hee praied vpon the crosse for his enemies he called thee nothing but Father but when he praied in the garden alone for himselfe he called thee My Father which is a sweet word and a word of a gentle and courteous sonne What would become of vs saith S. Ierome if Christ should not in his glory aboue repeat that word vnto his father Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them Christ said once only Father forgiue mine enemies and he repeateth it a thousand thousand times in heanen for his Christians for euen as wee neuer cease from sinning so the sonne of God neuer ceaseth to pray for vs. Saint Steuen did not see Christ sitting by his father but on foote and the reason was because that at that instant when S. Steuen fell downe on his knees to pray for his enemies Christ rose immediatly also to pray and make intercession for them so that that praier which Saint Steuen made here vpon earth our sweet Iesus presented presently vnto his father in heauen It is deeply here to be weyed that Christ did not say Lord forgiue them but Father forgiue them because this word Lord is a fearefull word but this word Father is a word of ioy and therefore when one man calleth another Father it seemeth that hee doth bind him to answere him friendly and not to deny him any thing that he demandeth Wee shall find often in holy scripture that when God was angry with the Hebrewes hee said alwaies Ego Dominus qui loquor vobis I am the Lord which speake vnto you but when he would as it were flatter them and make much of them he alwaies said vnto them Ego ero illis in patrem I will be a father vnto them that is that hee would deale with them like a pitifull father and not like a rigorous Lord. In so much that this word Pater Father breedeth loue and this word Lord bringeth feare Alwaies when the sonne of God made any great praier or asked any great fauour at his fathers hands hee began his petition with Father O iust father O holy father making reckoning that by calling him father nothing should be denied him which was his sonne If Iesus Christ should haue begun his praier with Lord as he began it with Father it would haue seemed that he had called vpon Gods iustice power not vpon his wil mercy therfore in saying Father he intreated him that hee would not iudge as a Lord of iustice but like a father of mercy O depth of all goodnes O bowels full of charity what els didst thou meane when thou begannest thy petition with Father but that thou wouldest giue him to thy enemies for a father who is thine owne proper father what goodnes in all the world can be equall vnto thine or what like charity can be found seeing thou art the plaintife the party offended yet thou gauest him vnto thy enemies for a mercifull father whom thou shouldst haue giuen for a rigorous iudge Then let vs conclude that when the sonne said vnto his father Pater ignosce illis that at one time he praied vnto him that hee would forgiue them their sinnes that at the same time hee would vouchsafe to take them for his children CHAP. VI. How Christ praied for his enemies on the crosse more heartilie then hee did in the garden for himselfe seeing the one praier was made with condition and the other not SVpra dorsum meum fabricauerunt peccatores prolongauerunt iniquitatem suam These are the wordes of King Dauid in the 128 Psalme spoken in the name and person of the sonne of God and they are as if he should say I know not O mother the Synagogue what I haue done against thee nor wherin I haue offended thee yet thou hast gainsaid mee from my childhood thou hast persecuted mee from my manhood thou hast defamed mee euer since I began to preach vnto thee and in the sweetest time of al my life thou hast crucified mee But this is nothing O mother Synagogue this is nothing in comparison of that that thou diddest lay all thy sinnes vpon my shoulders which neuer had lost their innocency nor neuer done vnto thee any iniury Supra dorsum meum And sinners haue built vpon my backe seeing that Adam hath cast his disobedience vpon me Eue her gluttony Cain her sonne his murder king Dauid his adultery the Tyrant Roboam his Idolatrie and all the Synagogue her malice Is it not true that sinners haue built vpon my backe seeing that I must be punished and pay for all the offences that the sinfull Iewes committed The Iewes would willingly haue loaden Christ on both his shoulders that is they would haue cast vpon him both the paine and the offence but good Iesus tooke vpon him the punishment like a redeemer but charged not himselfe with the guilt of sinne like an offender S. Augustine vpon S. Iohn saith That the sonne of God doth not complaine that they burdened both his shoulders but only one seeing he saith Supra dorsum Vpon my backe although his enemies would haue ouercharged and wearied them both by killing his humanitie and darkening his diuinitie by blotting his fame and credite and hindering his doctrine but our mighty redeemer suffered them onely to lay
the punishment on him and take his life from him Basil sayth That sinners build vpon one shoulder only when they haue no other goodnesse in them but the bare name of Christians only and iust men build vpon both his shoulders when they are at one time both Christians and vertuous men Thou must know brother that in the law of Christ it is not sufficieÌ„t that a man be called a Christian vnlesse he be also such a one indeed Sinners build vpon one of Christs shoulders onely when they serue God in wish and desire onely and serue the world with all their might and power which is a mean rather to condemne them then to saue them for in the Church of God there are many condemned by good wishes desires but not one by good workes Christ complaineth that cursed Heretikes doe build vpon one shoulder when they confesse only his humanitie take away his diuinity which is great wickednesse falshood for he is as true a God as he is a man and as true man as he is true God Christs complaint of the Synagogue doeth not end here but hee saith further Et prolong auerunt iniquitatem suam as if he would say Thou was not content O ingrateful Synagogue to impute thy offence vnto mee and lay all the punishment due for it vpon my backe but thou hast also prolonged thy naughtinesse and perseuered in thine infidelity heaping sinne vpon sinne malice vpon malice enuie vpon enuie and idolatry vnto idolatry When did the forsaken Iewes prolong their iniquitie but when at the foot of the crosse they were nothing forrie to haue crucified Christ but were grieued to see him rise againe S. Barnard sayth that Christ had great reason to say that the Iewes had prolonged their iniquitie because that at the time of his passion for the better reuengement vnto their malicious hearts and the more to torment Christs blessed members they would haue been glad that day had been longer and that Christs life had continued a longer time The hatred which those wicked Iewes bate vnto Christ was so great that sometimes they desired nothing more then to see him yeeld vp the ghost and sometime they were neuer satisfied and full in doing him iniury insomuch that if they did crucifie him with their haÌ„ds they did also crucifie him much more with their hearts Wee should haue great compassion vpon the Iewish nation which doe prolong their iniquity vntill the end of the world for as the Apostle sayth the Synagogue shall neuer be all lightened vntill all the Gentiles bee conuerted It may be said not only of the Hebrewes but also of many Christians that Prolong auerunt iniquitatem suam who in stead of amending themselues goe on euery day empairing themselues so that they are like vnto those which are sick of the dropsie who the more they drinke the more they thirst so they the more they sinne the greater lust they haue to sinne And as Christ with great reason said that the Hebrewes did prolong their iniquitie against him with the like reason may they say of Christ that towards them he prolonged his mercy seeing he was as hastie in procuring their pardon as they were in causing his passion What shold become of me O sweet Iesus what should become of me saith Anselmus if as euery day I adde naughtinesse to naughtinesse and so prolong my iniquitie thou diddest not adde goodnes vnto goodnesse and so prolong mee thy misericordiam O sweet Iesus and my soules delight of whom may it so truly be said as of thee that thou hast prolonged thy mercy seeing that thou wast vpon the crosse as it were gaping for death and yet pardoning thy enemies And although I doe euery day prolong my iniquity and thou euery moment prolong thy mercy notwithstanding thy mercy exceedeth my iniquitie for otherwise my sorrowfull soule should long agoe haue knowne what thy rigorous iustice had beene Cyprian saith vpon the passion of our Lord that hee hath much more prolonged his mercy seeing hee said not in his praier Father forgiue them if thou wilt but absolutely that hee would forgiue them and that not by the rigour of iustice due vnto them but by the sole mercy of him which made the petition Behold then O my soule behold that with greater deuotion affection the sonne of God praied for thee vpon the crosse than hee did for himselfe in the garden seeing that he said there Father if thou wilt let that chalice passe but on the crosse he said not If thou wilt but Father forgiue them In so much that it seemeth that hee left the care of his passion vnto the will of his father but the pardon of his enemies hee desired presently to be giuen What meaneth this O sweet Iesus what meaneth this It seemeth that thou doest put it in consultation whether thou shalt die or not saying vnto him Father if thou wilt and doest thou not giue thy father leaue to thinke whether he shall pardon that wicked people or not but that he should there presently forgiue them The sonne of God saith vnto his father as Gregory reports Father forgiue them and not If thou wilt because we should vnderstand that when wee forgiue and be reconciled vnto our enemies we should doe it so sincerely and heartily and with such good wil that we should neuer turne our face from them nor neuer deny them our communication I will not saith Hugo call that a Christian forgiuing when we forgiue our enemy vnder condition neuer to speake vnto him nor goe by his gate nor dwell where hee hath to doe for our redeemer excepted no condition in the pardon of his passion It is also deepely to bee weighed that the sonne of God did not say vpon the crosse Father forgiue him but Father forgiue them That is he asked forgiuenesse not for one in particular but for all the whole world in generall Whereof it is inferred that seeing hee praied for all that there was sinne in all When Christ said Pardon them and not pardon him he gaue cause of great hope vnto all sinners that they should bee pardoned by him seeing hee forgot not to redeeme any nor to pardon any man nor leaue out any man not spoken for of his father but made all men partakers of his passion As the sonne of God said vnto his father Pardon them so if he had said Pardon him he would haue put all the church in an vproâ—e and hurliburly and al the world in a confusion and doubt in knowing who were condemned and who pardoned Rabanus vpon S. Matthew sayth That when the Maker hanged vpon the crosse if hee had said Pardon him as he said Pardon them then we should not haue known whether hee had pardoned Iudas which sold him or Herod which scorned him or Pilat which condemned him or S. Peter which denied him or Caiphas which blasphemed him And he saith further that the cause why Christ said vnto his father Pardon
them and not pardon him was because our good Lord is so liberall in giuing and so noble in pardoning that he cannot forgiue any one sinne alone if there remaine any other hidden offence in the sinner Factious and enuious men are wont to pardon some of their enemies not other some but the sonne of God for a certainty dooth not so but he would forgiue all men togâ—ther and redeeme all men togither S. Iohn said not of Christ behold him who taketh away the sinne of the world but said behold him who taketh away the sinnes of the world He said not vnto Mary Magdalen thy sinne is released but thy sinnes are forgiuen thee In so much that in matter of sinnes God cannot but either wholly winck at them or wholly pardon them For as S. Ierome sayth No man euer heard the sonne of God say I pardon thee such a sinne or this sinne or that sinne but hee alwaies said I pardon thee all thy sinnes and therevpon praying vpon the crosse vnto his father hee did not say Pardon him but said Father pardon them For it seemed vnto him that the value of the bloud which hee shed was of such price that those for whome hee died were but few although hee died for those which were absent as well as for those which were present for the quicke and for the dead for those which were already past and for those which were to come for the iust and for the sinners that one drop of his bloud which he should shed would bee sufficient to redeeme a thousand of worlds and if this were so what reason had hee to bestow it vpon one alone seeing there did abound for all the world The sonne of God debated not the matter nor plaied not the huckster with his father in contending how much bloud shall I giue thee for their pardon because he would let vs vnderstand in this that he paied very well yea and repaied for al the sinnes which were forgiuen For to conclude all the sinnes in the world might haue ben numbred but the price of the bloud of Christ could not bee valued O good Iesus O my soules hope if in fauour of great sinners thou diddest say Father forgiue them why doest thou not say in my behalfe who am a great sinner Pater ignosce illi Forgiue him If the Iewes haue beene vngratefull towards thee for the miracles which thou diddest amongst them haue not I been much more ingratefull for the benefites receiued of thee If thou diddest pray for the Israelites which did kill thee once why doest thou not pray for me which kill thee euery day Doe not I put thee to death euery day and euery houre seeing I doe crucifie thee as oft as I sinne against thee Seeing the sinnes which are seuerally in other meÌ„ are together in me why dost thou not say Father forgiue him as thou didst say Father forgiue theÌ„ Say then O my good Iesus say vnto thy Father Father pardoÌ„ this sinner seeing that by how much the more my sins offences are greater then other mens by so much the more thy mercy will shine by forgiuing me CHAP. VII How God is more mercifull now then hee was in time past and why Christ did not say that he did pardon his enemies when he asked pardon for them of his father POnam contra te omnes abommationes tuas non parcet oculus meus super te These are the woordes of the great God of Israell spoken with much anger and verie great furie to the people of Israel by the mouth and preaching of the holy Prophet Ezechiel chapter 7. as if he would say I am so angry with thee O Synagogue and haue pardoned thee so often that I am now determined to lay open all thy wickednes and not forgiue thee any one of them because that as mercy doth follow thy amendment so iustice rigor may follow thy hardnesse of heart Before the sonne of God came into the world to take mans flesh vpon him God was much more accustomed to vse his iustice then his mercie seeing that in all the story of the old Law those which hee chastised were very many in number and those whome hee forgaue very few And that we may proue it to haue ben so from the beginning of the world how did he punish Adam and Eue his wife for no other cause but for eating the apple which was forbidden them Did hee not condemne the wicked Cain to wander throughout all the world and haue a shaking in his head for the murder which hee vsed against his brother Who is ignorant how God did drowne many in the vniuersall floud for the sinne of the flesh and sunke those of Sodome for the sinne against nature and let the ground open and swallow vp Dathan and Abiron for the rancor of enuie And did not God command Moyses and Iosua to take out of the campe and stone to death the Iew for hiding a barrell of gold at the sacke of Ierricho and another Israelitie for gathering stickes vpon the Sabboth day Hieremie neuer endeth to bewaile the captiuitiy of Babilon whereof hee sayth Destruxit non pepercit hee destroied and spared not But God commaunded that all that kingdome should bee made desolate and destroied not pardoning nor forgiuing any one When the Lord commanded king Saule to go take Amelech his kingdome hee aduised him and instructed him that from the king himselfe which sate in his throne vnto the beast which fed in the meadow hee should not pardon any one but sley and kill them euery one In the ninth chapter of Ezechiell God said these wordes vnto the striking Angel Senem iuuenem virginem paruulum interfice sanctuario meâ— incipe c. as if he would say Go throughout all the city of Ierusalem put to the sword all the old men and all the young men all the virgins and all the children and because no man shall thinke that any place may saue him thou shalt begin this my punishment with the Priests of the Temple Cadent à latere tuo mille decem millia à dextris tuis sayth the Psalmist as if he would say Thou doest so seuerely reuenge thy iniuries O great God of Saboth and so punish our offences that as oft as I looke vpon thee I see both thy armes armed and both thy hands couered with bloud insomuch that if a thousand men are fallen at thy left hand there are other ten thousand slairie at thy right hand When the eternall God had seene that they had put to death his welbeloued sonne being accustomed to punish presently and not to pardon he darkened the light of the sunne made the earth to quake rent the vaile of the Temple and opened the sepulchres of the dead because those which were dead should rise againe and take reuengemeÌ„t of those which were aliue WheÌ„ the son of God perceiued that al this was done for his sake
therfore he coÌ„mitted the pardoÌ„ vnto him which was most iniuried protesting that himself was not offended with theÌ„ O sweet Iesus how canst thou say that thou wast not offended nor iniured by theÌ„ being as thou wast iniuried crucified by their hands and although thou do not coÌ„plaine vpon theÌ„ nor reuenge thee on them nor yet accuse theÌ„ yet O my redeemer why dost thou excuse them Barnard saith That the son of God was replenished with such great charity and such inspeakable pity towards those which crucified him that he could not obtaine leaue of himselfe to impute any fault vnto them seeing he had charged himselfe with the pain due for it Cyprian saith That seeing Christ was the true mediator pacifier stikler betwixt his father the world it would haue beene euilly thought of to say that any one of them were his enemies and therevpon it is that seeing hee had no enemie there amongst them hee had no necessitie to say on the crosse I pardon them If the sonne of God saith S. Chrysostome hanging vpon the crosse should haue said I also pardon them it would haue beene thought that hee receiued greater griefe for the torment which hee himselfe suffered than of the iniuries which were done vnto his father which for a certentie was not so for if it were possible Christ would more willingly returne againe into the world to die than endure to see one iniury done vnto his father Who dare now O good Iesus saith S. Barnard who dare aske a reuenge of the iniuries done vnto him seeing thou diddest make such small account of those which were done vnto thy selfe Doest not thou recken of the cruell thornes which pierced thy holy head and shall I make account of an angry word which my brother speaketh against me How shall I dare to say that I haue enemies seeing thou doest handle those which nailed thee vnto the crosse like brothers It ought to be a strange speech in the mouth of a Christian to say This is my enemy for in making thy brother thy enemie thou doest loose Christ and causest him to be no more thy friend It is much to be noted that Christ entreated not his father to pardon them after they were dead but asked that he would pardon them quickly yea that very quickly because he would let vs vnderstand that the value of his precious blood was of such great price that at that instant that it began to be shedde at the same time it began to doe good The redeemer of the world would not leaue vs out of the fauor of his father nor an enemy vnto any in token wherof hee came into the world saying Et in terra pax hominibus Peace vnto men vpon earth and went out of the world saying Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them The son of God saith Cassiodorus vpon the Psalms is not like vnto the children of this world who leaue vnto their children a little wealth with much strife seeing that by that speech of Father forgiue them hee redeemed vs with his blood baptized vs with his teares annointed vs with his sweat instructed vs with his doctrine loosed vs from the deuill and reconciled vs vnto his father O how much are wee bound vnto thee sweet Iesus for praying vnto thy father that he would forgiue his enemies before and not after thy death that is before the teares of thy eies were dried vp and whilst the wounds of thy body were yet fresh What would haue become of mankind if Christ at his death had bin angry with vs When he said in his last Sermon Pacem meam do vobis I giue you my peace What else meant he but that he left vs reconciled vnto his father and vnited vnto himselfe How could the eternall father saith Anselmus deny his blessed sonne the pardon which hee demaunded seeing he asked it with such milde wordes with such sorrowfull teares with such fresh wounds with such louing bowels with such continual sighes and with such great and passing griefe Wee may then conclude that when Christ praied his father to pardon quickely and without delay he teacheth vs that before we die and go out of this life it is conuenient for vs to pardon all iniuries for otherwise those in the other world shall haue great occasion to weepe which would not in this world speedily forgiue CHAP. VIII How our Lord reckoneth with the Synagogue and of fiue cruelties which the Iewes vsed in the death of Christ SIt Dominus iudex inter te inter me said the most renowmed king Dauid vnto his Lord and king king Saul Reg. chap. 24. as if hee would say I will haue no other iudge betwixt me and thee O great king of Israel but onely the mighty God of heauen vnto whom it is well known how faithfully I doe serue thee and how cruelly thou doest handle me Origen saith that king Dauid ought to haue great priuitie with God seeing hâ—e chose him for the iudge of all the words he spake of all the thoughts he conceiued of all the workes which he did of all the enmities he suffered yea and of all the friendships he followed Dauid could not iustifie his cause better than to referre the iustice of it vnto the hands of God who is so iust in his person so vpright in his iudgement that neither praiers bow him neither threatnings feare him nor gifts mooue him nor words deceiue him When good king Dauid cited Saul to appeare before the iudgement of God Dauid could haue cut off his head if hee would as hee did the gard of his garment but yet hee would not doe it because hee did set more by Gods fauour than by Sauls euill will Saul was a capitall enemie vnto king Dauid hee caused him to flee his countrey forsake his kindred depriued him of his riches banished him his court separated him from his wife and proclaimed him to be his publike enemie And yet notwithstanding all this Dauid if hee had listed could haue beene reuenged of Saul as especially when hee stole the bottle from vnder his beds head and cut away a piece of his garment yet the pitifull king Dauid would not onely not do it but shewed himselfe angry with those which durst counsell him vnto it Origen saith that onely because Saul was annointed king by the God of Israel it seemed vnto good king Dauid that hee deserued pardon and that that was a sufficient cause to make him reuerenced of all and offended by none Wee are annointed with a better ointment than king Saul was for hee was annointed with the oyle of the Oliue tree but wee are annointed with the blood of Christ and therfore he who doth persecute a Christian doth persecute one who is annointed by Christ Good king Dauid respected it not that Saul did abuse his regall vnction and annointing but onely because that hee was annointed by a good Spirit in so much that Dauid regarded it not that Saul
greater the sighs of the faithful the tears which issued out of his mothers eies or the bloud which gushed out of Christ vains or the blasphemies which the wicked Iewes vttered with their mouth but yet our holy meek Iesus did first pardō the iniuries before he was mindful of the tears O good Iesus O redeemer of my soule saith Anselmus as thou dost say Father forgiue thē why dost thou not say dry the eies of my sorrowfull mother stanch the bloud of my tender vains heal the woūds of my gētle flesh haue pity cōpassion of these faithfull women which here weep for my sake as thou didst say in thy last supper saith Ciprian Mandatū nouū do vobis I giue you a new cōmandemēt so maist thou now say vpō the crosse I giue you a new exāple seeing that neuer any before thee hath taught vs so perfect a maner how to loue nor so liuely an exāple how to pardon it was a strange a new kind of goodnes which Iesus vsed in asking pardon first for those which crucified him rather then for those which followed him for his mother which accompanied him for without comparison the griefe which he had to see the souls of his enemies perish was farre greater vnto him thē to see his mothers eies run downe with tears Let no man thē wonder nor maruel that our good Iesus did remēber himself first of the people which murdered him before his mother which bare him because he came not into the world to drie mēs eies frō weeping but to sauesoules from perishing Secōdly the son of God shewed his mercy in asking pardon for his enemies with kind sweet words that is not by calling him God or Lord or creator but only father which is a word answerable vnto mercy pity contrariwise this word God or Lord doth alwaies signifie iustice Whē Christ said Father forgiue them hee would haue said Lord forgiue them or my God forgiue them it would haue seemed that he would haue had the pardon according vnto the rigor of iustice the which if he had required or his father granted there is no doubt at al but before the son of God should haue yeelded vp his ghost the ground would haue opened swallowed thē vp Whē the son of God would ask any great thing of his father he began his praier alwaies with Father as whē he said I confesse vnto thee O father whē he said Father into thy hands I cōmend my spirit What meaneth this O redecmer of my soule what meaneth this Is thy pity so great towards vs and thy mercy so abundant that thou doest pray for thy enemies with the same wordes as thou doest pray for thy own affairs S. Chrysost vpon S. Mathew noteth That the excōmunicated Iews did alwaies change their stile maner of speech whē they spake vnto Christ for once they said Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini anone after they said Vah qui destruis tēplū but as for the son of God as his mind was sincere clear inwardly so his words were holy outwardly were not think you his words holy his thoughts pure cleare whē he said vnto his Father Father forgiue them seeing hee praied with his tongue pardoned with his heart S. Barnard crieth out O sweet Iesus O redeemer of my soule what couldest thou haue said or what shouldest thou haue done more for thy enemies thā pardon them with all thy heart make intercession for thē with such sweet louing words Thirdly Christ shewed his goodnes mercie in asking pardon in the presence of such as were there that is in the presence of his sorrowful mother of his welbeloued disciple his deer friend Mary Magdalen his cousins and kindred shewing that as all men were by him redeemed so also all should be by him pardoned Vbertinus to this purpose saith O good Iesus in the death which thou didst suffer and in the pardon which thou diddest giue to thy enemies thou diddest not only helpe thy selfe there with thy tongue but also with thy heart seeing thou didst entreat thy father with thy tongue that he would haue pity on them and diddest also beseech thy mother with thy heart that she would forgiue them Rabanus vpon S. Matthew saith That it was not without a high mystery hidden sacrament that the son of God when he died would haue his mother his kindred there the reason was because they should all be witnesses of his pardon as they were of his passion for our holy Lord had a greater desire that his bloud should benefite his enemies than that his kindred should entreat at his death for him Wherfore O good Iesus saith Anselmus wherfore didst thou bring thy mother all thy family to the foot of the crosse but only because as thou didst suffer in thy flesh so they should also fuffer in their hearts as thou didst forgiue thē thy death they should also forgiue thē their iniuries wrongs done by thē Bonauenture saith that as the son of God said father forgiue thē opēly so he said mother forgine thē insecret in so much that as the hangmē did martirize the sonne so the son martirized the mother leauing her bound to weep his death but not licensed to reuēge it O my Iesus O my soules health I beseech thee that as thou didst get pardon of thy father and mother for thy enemies so thou wouldst get me pardon for my sinnes saying Father forgiue mother forgiue him seeing I am hateful vnto thy father by reason of the sins which I commit against him vngratefull vnto thy mother for the benefites which I haue receiued of her O happy holy day in which thou didst die seeing that on that day the Father forgaue his iniury the son pardoned his death the mother pardoned her martyrdome Saint Iohn pardoned his reproch and perill Mary Magdalen her anguish and distresse and the good theefe was pardoned of his sinne How was it possible that the Father should not forgiue the world of their sinnes seeing that on one day in one houre and at one time they said Father forgiue them the son by letting his bloud streame from his vaines the mother by suffering her tears flow from her eies and the sadde familie by piercing the heauen with their sighes Because saith Ciprian the office of the son of God was to put together that which was broken and reconcile those which disagreed hee would not depart out of this world before hee had made an attonement betwixt his friendes and his foes beseeching his father to forgiue thē cōmanding his mother not to accuse thē The sorrowful mother had great reason to challenge the Iews for the life which they took frō her son and also the father for the wrongful death which they put him to therefore our most merciful redeemer besought of his father that he wold not cōdemn thē into
much good vnto your nation because there is nothing worse bestowed than that which is done vnto an vngratefull people Anselmus sayth That it cannot bee vnderstood nor compassed with mans wit that all the wisest of the law should bee at the Mount of Caluary to accuse Christ and one only theefe to defend him When â—as that Prophecy accomplished Perdam sapientiam sapientum prudentiam prudentium I will lose the wisedome of the wise But when on the altar of the crosse all the synagogue did accuse thee and one onely theefe excuse thee doest thou find no sufficienter surely and witnesse to preach thy patience to extoll thy mercy to praise thy liberality and to defend thy innocency than a theefe ready to be hanged That which thou doest thou doest very well O my good Iesus because no man can giue abetter testimony of thy charitie and clemency thaÌ„ rich Zachaeus whome thou diddest visite and the Publicane Matthew whom thou diddest receiue and the infamous Samaritane whom thou diddest conuert and the adulterous woman whom thou diddest defend and the good theefe whom thou did dest pardon Considering that thou diddest come into the world for sinners diddest eat with sinners conuerse with sinners and diddest die for sinners who can be a better surety or witnesse for thee than sinners The good theefe did not only excuse Christ and intreat for him but did also accuse himselfe saying Nos quidem instè patimur as if hee would say Thou and I I and thou my companion if we suffer any thing wee suffer it worthily because they haue giuen vs our torment according to our offence There are very few which make a more glorious confession than this because it is so much against our nature to suffer a reproch that we will rather suffer torment than confesse our fault Our first father being asked by God why he had transgressed his commandement did cast the blame vpon the womâ—â— who had deceiued him and she being asked why she did deceiue him made answere that the serpent was importunate with her and did persuade her and so in stead of confessing they began to excuse themselues S. Augustine vpon the Apostles words sayth Woe be vnto me woe bee vnto me for I doe inherite sinne from my father an excuse from my mother lying from the diuel folly of the world to make much of my selfe of the flesh and pride of my selfe insomuch that I am not content to be mâ—ght but I would also bee counted good Seneca writing vnto his friend sayth thus Our nowes from hence are these the wals of Rome are ruined the Temples not visited the Priests fled the treasure robbed old men are dead young men are wicked and mad vices are lords of all O my good friend Eucilius if these seeme great faults there are other greater than these in Rome and they are that no man dooth confesse himselfe culpable of any of these things but the Dictator laieth the blame vpon the Consull the Consull vpon the Censor the Censor vpon the Praeâ—â—r the Praetor vpon the Aedile and the Aedile vpon the Quaestor insomuch that because no man doth confesse his fault wee neuer hope to haue an ameÌ„d meÌ„t of it O my soule saith Anselmus O my heart why doest thou confesse vs but because thou shouldest amend vs. Woe be vnto me woe be vntome there is no sin that Peommit for the which I haue not an excuse that is the deuill deceiued me my friend entreated me I was weak and feeble the world drew mee on I tooke not heed insomuch that I am more faulty in my excuse than in committing the offence Iustus prior est accusator sut said the wise man in his Prouerbes The greatest token that a man is iust and honest is that hee knoweth not how to accuse another of any thing that he seeth nor excuse himselfe of any thing that he doth WheÌ„ the Angel rebuked the children of Israel in Galgalos they did presently break down their Idols cloth themselues with fackclothes by reason whereof when the Lord saw that they began to confesse their fault and not excuse it hee did not only pardon them but did also comfort them WheÌ„ king Dauid tooke away Bersabe vnto his house and sent her husband vnto the wars wheÌ„ the Prophet Nathan sent from God did reprehend him for it hee did there presently confesse his fault and was there presently absolued for it When Achab the murderer was rebuked by the Prophet Helias for stoning Naboth to death because hee denied him his Vineyard hee wept immediately and fasted repented him of that which he had done and therfore he was absolued of his fault before the Prophet went out of the threshold of his dore Who euer hath confessed with his heart which hath not ben pardoned at Gods hands Why doest thou thinke that the theefe obtained pardon so quickly at Gods hands but because hee excused Christ instructed his fellow and accused himself This was a glorious confession and a fault worthy of pardon seeing that on the Mount of Caluary and not in the Temple vpon the tree not in place of confession publickly not secretly aloud and not in muttering wise hee confessed the sonne of God to be our redeemer and himselfe a sinner O holy theef saith Chrisostome Why doest thou not ask that they would vnlose the cords which thou art bound with or pull out the nailes which thou art nailed with or looke vnto thy house family because thou art now going out of this world or that they would bury thy sorrowfull body Truly that seemeth to bee an exceeding great loue which thou didst beare vnto Christ seeing thou diddest forget thy selfe and remember him excuse his innocency proclaime thine own offences It would not hurt vs at all to confesse that which thou diddest confesse saying Nos quidem iustè patimur Wee doe iustly suffer For if our faults were put in a ballance on one side and our punishment on the other without comparison our Lord doth dissemble much more than hee doth punish For if our Lord would punish all our offences according to their desert we could liue but a small time CHAP. X. How the son of God was more gratefull vnto the good theefe which bare him company on the crosse than Pharoahs cupbearer was to Ioseph who accompanied him in prison MEmen to mei cum bene tibi fuerit vt suggeras Pharaoni vt educas me de isto carcere quia huc innocens missus sum These are the words of holy Ioseph speaking vnto Phareahs chiefe cupbearer as if he would say For a reward of interpreting thy dream for letting thee vnderstand that thou shouldest vpon the morrow returne again to the pallace and vse thy old office of the cupbearer I beseech thee that thou wouldest bee mindfull of me and entreat the king that hee would let mee out of this dungeon where I haue beene two yeares without cause or desert at all There
put mee to death on the Mount of Caluary and on the Mount of Caluary they kill thee at high noone daies they execute mee and at the same houre they execute thee thou art as neere the end of thy life as I am neere to death and therfore Lord remember me thus as wee depart both together out of this world so also we may both together goe into heauen What reason doth permit it or what iustice doth suffer O my good Lord that thou shouldest take me for thy companion to suffer on the crosse with thee and when thou doest go into heauen to leaue mee here behind thee Seeing thou wilt depart out of this world to death and that through such a narrow passage and long way whom canst thou take with thee better than the theefe which was thy fellow vpon the tree It is necessary that thy poore mother liue thou hast left thy Iohn thy cousin to his owne custodie Peter thy Disciple hath denied thee Iudas thy steward hath sold thee all the Iewes haue beene vngratefull vnto thee and therfore seeing that thou doest see no body neere thee who doth confesse and acknowledge thee but my selfe alone who am here alone with thee Lord remember mee and either giue mee somewhat in thy Testament or take mee with thee to Paradise O holy Nazarean and blessed Prophet seeing that thou diddest heare Ionas out of the Whales belly Daniel out of the lake of Babilonia Ioseph out of the dungeon of Egypt Ieremy out of the darke well and diddest heare Dauid when he said Tibi soli peccaui I haue sinned vnto thee only why doest thou not heare-mee when I crie Lord remember mee Domine memento mei Behold O my good Lord behold O my good companion now my eies doe breake now my last houre is come now my sight faileth mee and my speech is troubled and my soule is pulled out of my body and therefore in this narrow passing and doubtfull way vnto whome should I say better than vnto thee Lord remember me yea and all the whole Psalme of Miserere Iosue was a theefe seeing he stole grapes fron Chanaan Dauid was a theefe seeing hee stole the bottle of water from Saul Rachael was a theefe seeing she stole the idols from her father Ionathas was a theefe seeing hee stole hony from the hiue Iosaba was a theefe seeing he stole the infant Ionas and yet thou diddest not command any one of all these to bee hanged nor send them from thy houseuf this be so and if thou diddest forgiue those which stole thy goods wilt thou not forgiue mee poore theefe who turne for thy honours sake and keepe thee company in this place Seeing that of old time thou art accustomed to forgiue very famous theeues and dissemble very notorious thefts why doest thou not forgiue me among them and absolue me of my sinnes If thou wilt haue tears for the thefts which I haue done thou seest that they run downe my cheekes if thou doest content thy selfe to see bloud thou seest that there is no drop left in mee if thou wilt haue mee whip my selfe I am already bowelled if thou wilt haue mee repent I say vnto thee Soli peccaui if thou wilt haue mee make entire satisfaction how canst thou haue me to do it not hauing halfe an houre to liue Lord Iesus remember mee and bee my surety vnto thy father in the other world and put mee with thy chosen flocke write mee in thy booke and place mee in thy glory seeing that the faith of which thou art doth flourish onely in thy mother and remaineth in my heart Remember mee O good Iesus and if thou wilt depart out of this sorrowfull life into the other before mee I beseech thee leaue mee the step of thy foor to tread in and a path-way to follow thee for if I acknowledge thee for my God and receaue thee for my God and beleeue in thee for my God being as thou art dismembred and crucified shall not I serue thee and praise thee farre better when I shall see thee glorified Darest thou trust me with thy crosse because I should worship it and with thy body because I should accompany thee and with thy mother to comfort her and with thy honour to defend it and with thy church to augment it and with thy faith to maintaine it and wilt thou not put thy glory into my hands that I may alwaies praise thee in it When they condemned thee to bee crucified and brought mee to bee executed I heard thee say there before Pilate That thy kingdome was not of this world and then seeing thou art a king and hast a kingdome remember mee and take me with thee and I will tell thy father what thou hast suffered to serue him and all the fauours which thou hast done for me Now that the good theefe hath made his praier vnto God and recommended himselfe vnto him it is reason now that the naughty theefe haue license to speake which is my naughty and peruerse heart because the theefe which hanged on the left hand of God did blaspheme Christ but once but thou my soule doest blaspheme him euery day Remember mee O sweet Iesus and haue mercy on mee O my soules glory to the end that the shedding of thy pretious bloud be not euilly bestowed in mee for at the time when thou diddest shed it thou diddest not feeele so grieuously the vvant of it in thy bodie as thou diddest feele the vngratefulnesse of the whole world And when is thy precious bloud vnthankfully shed for mee but when I yeeld vnto that which my Sensuality demâ—ndeth of mee and not vnto that which thy Gospell counselleth mee What is all that worth which I would if thou wilt not If thou goest to seeke out theeues and if thou doest hunt after sinners why doest thou seeke for any more than for mee because there is no theefe who hath committed greater robberies than I nor any sinners who hath done more greeuous sins than I O patient and benigue Lord if the wickednesse of my heart and the offences which I haue committed in secret were knowne notoriously vnto the iudges of the world as they are knowne vnto thee I should many yeares agoe haue beene hanged and in the other world condemned I will not say with the Prophet Dauid Where be thy old mercies seeing that I see them enter euery day into my gates because I doe not make more hast to sinne than thou to pardon mee The pardon which thou diddest giue vnto the good theefe doth giue vs also great hope to obtaine pardon at thy hands for he being come to the gibbet condemned for his offence went away sanctified with thy Grace If thou do giue theeues and robbers kingdomes what wilt thou do and giue vnto theÌ„ whom thou doest loue and are chosen of thy father If thou diddest giue the kingdome of heauen to a rouer and a theese for speaking one onely word vnto thee and seruing thee one
will and also all his might and authority What being had the father which the sonne had not what knew the father which the sonne knew not what could the father doe that the sonne could not doe what had the father that the sonne also had not What is it to say that hee loued him tenderly but that the father loued him with most entire loue insomuch that he denied him nothing which he had nor hid nothing from him of that hee did know Let vs leaue off the loue of the Father and let vs speake somewhat of the loue of the mother who loued her precious sonne with a tender heart and wept for him with tender bowels O most sacred Virgine how shouldest thou not loue thy blessed sonne very tenderly seeing that vvhen thou diddest bring him into the world thou vvast young and tender When the Virgine that bringeth foorth a child is tender the child vvhich shee bringeth forth is tender the time also young and tender why should not the loue with which shee loueth it bee also tender If Iacob who had twelue children loued one of them with tender and sweet loue is it to bee thought that the mother of God hauing but one onely sonne would not loue it with most tender and sweet loue and so much the rather because Iacobs loue was deuided into the loue of many sonnes but our blessed Ladies loue was wholly drawne to the loue of one only S. Barnard vpon Missus est saith That there is no loue vpon earth which may not bee waighed and measured excepted only the loue which the sonne of God bare vnto his mother and the mother vnto her sonne the vvhich vvas such that all the Angels could not measure it nor yet all the saints weigh it Anselmus saith That those which are fathers and those which are called mothers cannot loue their children as much as the Virgine did loue hers nor yet they are not bound vnto so great loue because they are bound to loue their neighbours as themselues their brothers as themselues and their God more than themselues Loue which is deuided into so many parts cannot possibly bee equall with that loue which the Virgine bare her sonne Loue that is pure and not fained cannot bee spread abroad but gathered in one not in many but in one not deuided but entire not stroken but heaped vp not for a time but for euer not finding excuses or faults but suffering not suspitious but confident and trusting And he who obserueth not these lawes hath no cause to say that hee loueth These causes ought neither to want in him who loueth nor in him which is beloued for if they doe wee should not call them louers but acquaintance for vnder the law of loue there is neither a defect admitted nor a complaint suffered There is no defect admitted because loue maketh all whole there is no complaint suffered because loue maketh all gentle and mild there is no iniury done because loue dissembleth all there is no sloth in loue because heis watchfull he is not a niggard because he can denie nothing O glorious Queene O the light of my felicity who did euer better keepe these high bonds of loue like vnto thee The blessed mother of God Tenerè diligebat filium suum For being as he was flesh of her flesh bones of her bones bloud of her bloud bowels of her bowels how should she loue him but like vnto her owne entrals Tenerè diligebat filium suum She loued her sonne tenderly seeing she loued him as her sonne she loued him with the zeale due to a bride groome serued him as her husband vsed him as her brother reuerenced him like a father worshipped him as a God Shee loued him tenderly seeing she went to Bethelem and with the teat in his mouth she carried him into Egypt and being a child of twelue years she brought him into the Temple and neuer forsooke him al the time that he went a preaching and that which is most of all to be noted she wept for all his trauails and vexations and with her fingers ends supplied all his necessities And how did shee supply them but by watching in the night and weauing in the day She loued him tenderly seeing shee adored him in his presence she contemplated on him in his absence she succoured him in his necessities shee followed him in his iournies and comforted him in his aduersities What would the child that the mother would not likewise and what did the mother aske that the sonne did not giue her They liued in one house they did eat at one table and that which shee gained with her fingers was common betwixt them and that which was giuen to him for preaching they spent together What should I say more they praied for all sinnes together and they wept for all sinnes together CHAP. II. How that if the loue which the mother bare vnto her sonne was great so likewise the loue which the sonne bare his mother was no lesse and to proue this there is expounded asaying of the Canticles INtroduxit me rex in cellam vinariam ordinauit in me charitatem said the espoused of her espouse and bridegroome talking of rich iewels which hee gaue her and it is as if she would say The light of my eies and ioy of my heart toke me by the hand and led me into the wineseller and told me the order of true loue S. Barnard saith O welbeloued bride why doest thou tel it abroad that thy bridgroom carried thee to drinke into the wineseller taught thee how to bee farther in loue seeing thou shouldest be angry to haue it spoken of and to doe it thou shouldest be ashamed Other brides are wont to goe to the meddowes to gather flowers to gardens to cut fruits to shops to buy gownes to the common places of recreation to visite their friends and doest thou go to the winesellers among the cups Doest thou not know that the noble and fine dame is noted of Incontinency if she smell of nothing but of wine So strange a matter wine ought to be vnto thee O thou bride of the Lord for to thinke of it would be imputed vnto thee for a curiosity to aske for it an euill example to smell of it a fault to drinke it a scandall and to bee dronke a sacriledge Plato sayth That in the glorious times and golden age of the world kinsmen kissed their kinswomen for no other reason but for to know whether they had drunk any wine for if they had they either were put to death for it or banished into some island If Plutarch doe not deceiue vs it was an inuiolable law in Rome that if any Matron of Rome had any necessity to drinke wine either because shee was weake or because shee was sicke the Senate onely should giue license vnto her and she notwithstanding drinke it out of Rome Macrobius saith That two Senators chiding in Rome the one told the other that his wife
the son martyrize his mother S. Barnard vpon those words Maior est iniquitas mea which Cain spake sayth thus O good Iesus that that charity is greater vvhich thou diddest vse than that which thou diddest command me O redeemer of my soule seeing that on the Mount of Caluary the Friday which thou diddest suffer vpon the crosse thou diddest not only put thy owne life for vs but also thy blessed mothers When didst thou condemne thy selfe to die not pardon thy mother but whē the knife of thy passion did take away thy owne life from thee and pierce thy mothers soule The greatest matter that the sorrowfull mother could inherite was some thorne fallen from thee or some of thy blood shed vpon her or some peece of thy flesh which stucke vpon the crosse or some of the haires of thy head which were cast abroad Shee did also inherite the hatred which the people bare vnto her sonne because that from that day forward shee was called the mother of him which was put to death of him which was possessed with a deuill of the Southsayer Publicane His sorrowfull mother did inherit also all the holy colledge of the twelue Apostles Isichius vpon Leuiticus sayth thus Christ tooke his precious mother to the Mount of Caluary because she should be a witnesse of his passion and credite her with the bloud of our redemption for to beleeue hold for a certainty that we are redeemed it sufficeth if the Virgin tell vs that she saw her son die The son of God came into the world and paied his father the debt which was due for all the sinnes of the world of which paiment his will vvas that his mother should be a witnesse because she might giue testimony after his death how his father was paied the world redeemed sinne at an end the heauen already opened and the deuill ouercome The end of the third word which Christ our redeemer spake vpon the crosse ⧠Here beginneth the fourth word which the sonne of God spake vpon the Crosse when hee complained vpon his father saying Deus meus deus meus vt quid me dereliquisti That is to say My God my God why hast thou forsaken me CHAP. I. How Christ in this speech more than in all the rest seemeth to change his stile of speaking HEloij beloij lamazabathani Hoc est deus deus meus quare me dereliquisti This is the fourth word which the redeemer of the vvorld spake on the altar of the Crosse vvhich speech is no lesse dreadfull than pittifull nor pittifull than dreadfull and it is as if hee would say My God my God My father my father what haue I done irreuerently against thee that thou shouldst forsake me in so narrow a strait as this is There are offered vnto vs in this diuine speech high mysteries and deepe secrets to entreat of whereof wee can giue no reason if vvee bee not fauoured vvith Gods diuine assistance whom with teares wee doe humbly beseech that it would please him to lighten vs vvith his grace and succour vs vvith his helpe and aid The reason is to bee knowne vvhy the sonne of God did change his manner of speaking rather in this speech than in all the others which hee vsed as the Euangelists do record it saying Heloij heloij lamazabathani Was it because hee should be vnderstood of all men seeing that hee vvas crucified for all men It is also to bee knowne vvhy hee doth repeat this vvord God twise saying My God my God as though God vvere deaffe in hearing him It is also to bee vveighed vvhy hee called him God and not Father seeing hee vvho complained vvas the sonne and hee vnto whom hee complained was his Father It is also to bee maruelled at that seeing hee did not cal him father but God why he did adde this vvord My saying My God my God as though his Father were his God onely and not the God of all others It is also very much to be noted why hee doth rather complaine that his Father had forsaken him than put him to death seeing that hee knew very well that Pilate was not of power to take away his life from him if his eternall father had not giuen him license to doe it And although hee did complaine of his Father vvhy did hee not say My Father why doest thou forsake mee but My God vvhy hast thou forsaken mee making account of that vvhich hee hath suffered and not of that vvhich then hee did suffer Although all these thinges are easily rehearsed yet they are not easie to bee expounded but because they are diuine secrets and done betwixt diuine persons onely they passe mans capacity yea the Angels vnderstanding To come then vnto the mysteries it is first to bee seene vvho complaineth and vnto whome hee complaineth vvhereof hee complaineth and vvhere hee complaineth and before whome hee complaineth and vvith vvhat wordes hee complaineth Hee vvho complaineth is Christ hee vnto whome hee complaineth is his Father that whereof hee complaineth is because hee had forsaken him the place where was on the crosse and hee complained before his mother with these words My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee These are most pittifull words to heare and tender to prouoke vs to weepe for if vve consider how the sonne of God spake them being nailed vpon the crosse his body naked and his enemies round about him and that vpon a dunghill what heart is there that would not breake to thinke on it Seeing wee know beleeue and confesse that Christ was true God and that his father was also God and both were but one God how can it enter into mans vnderstanding that one who is God should complaine vpon him who is also God If between one God and another there bee complaints is it any great matter if men sometimes fall at ods Wee see it fall out daily that the sonne complaineth of the Father and one friend vpon another yea one man vpon himselfe but that Christ who is God should complaine vpon his father who is God it is a thing neuer heard of before nor humane weakenesse is not able to conceiue it For seeing no man cōplaineth on another but for some wrong done vnto him what grieuance could the eternall Father haue done vnto his sonne whom he loued so well For seeing we know that Christ is the sonne of God and his onely beloued sonne and with whome God hath left all his treasures in keeping how is it possible that God should haue dealt hardly with him seeing that he deserued it not neither his father desired it According vnto that which we haue said our reason is good which way so euer wee doe wind our selues for if wee say that the father did that vnto his sonne which hee ought not wee can neither say it nor affirme it then if we say that the sonne complained vvithout occasion we dare not presume so to say in so much that we
must deliuer the father of all fault and allow the sonnes complaint to bee good To vnfold our selues of this businesse it is to bee noted that Christ said by the Prophet Abinfantia creuit mecum miseratio Because he began to suffer from his childhood and yet hee neuer complained vntill the time came that hee should die Leo vpon the Passion of our Lord sayth That the noble mens children of this world crie our presently when they see any trouble come vpon them and aske for succour but neuer any man saw our Lord open his mouth to complaine vntill a quarter of an houre before they would pull his heart out of his body S. Chrisostome vpon Luke crieth out sayth What newes is this O redeemer of the vvorld vvhat news is this When they lay hands on thee thou takest it quietly vvhen they blaspheme thee thou makest as though thou vvere deaffe vvhen they vvhip thee thou doest hold thy tongue whon they doe crucifie thee thou doest suffer vvhen they kil thee thou doest dissemble and yet doest thou open thy mind euen as thou art yeelding vp thy ghost Why doest thou complaine vpon thy father alone hauing as thou hast so many enemies which haue offended thee that is Iudas who sold thee Peter which did denie thee Pilate which gâ—ue sentence on thee Herod vvho scorned thee and all the people vvhich put thee to death Demosthenes the Philosopher sayth That a man ought neuer begin that vvhich hee cannot bring to an end nor say that vvhich he cannot proue nor aske that which cannot be giuen him nor loue that vvhich cannot be gotten noâ— contend with him vvhome hee cannot reuenge nor yet complaine of that which cannot bee remedied Seneca in an Epistle sayth That no man should say that hee complaineth vnlesse he thinke that he shall haue remedy against his complaint for otherwise he doth himselfe hurt in complaining stirreth him vnto anger of vvhom he complaineth Tell mee then O good Iesus what remedy hâ—st thou for thy coÌ„plaint seeing that thou hast not halfe an houre to liue Doest thou make thy request vnto thy Father when thy soule is euen now departing from thy body Who euer heard of or euer saw the like that the end of thy vexitions to bee the beginning of thy complaint in thirty and three yeares that thou diddest conuerse with vs thou diddest neuer braule with any thou diddest neuer iniury any man nor neuer complaine of any man and now being at the very point of death doest thou complaine only vpon thy Father O what great mystery and deep secret this thy complaint doth couer seeing that in such a time and such a narrow strait thou doest complaine when all other are woont to pardon their iniuries and reconcile their enmities and aske pardon for their offences Pauper in laboribus a iuuentute mea exaltatus autem humiliatus conturbatus these wordes the Prophet Dauid sayth in the person of Christ Psalme 88 as if hee would say I haue been brought vp in trauails and pouerty from my childhood and then I was lifted vp and then made low and afterward troubled and persecuted Thy fears haue made me afraid and thy angers haue broken vpon me and thy trauails haue compassed me about and they haue compassed me about altogether as it were a vie and ouer and aboue all this thou hast set my friend farre from me and hast seperated him who was my neighbour farre from me If wee doe deepely looke into the complaints which the sonne maketh in this place against his eternall Father wee shall find that they are many in number great in quality and in respect incomparable cruell in their kind and vnworthy of him vnto whom they are sent Basil vpon the Psalme sayth That speaking like a man it seemeth in humane reason that the innocency of good Iesus did not deserue neither could it be in the clemency of his good Father that the diuine pittie should load vpon weake humanity so many torments together and heape so many troubles vexations The first complaint which the sonne made against his Father is Quod pauper in laboribus sum a iuuentute mea to wit That he brought him vp poorely from his childhood he made him liue with hunger and go like a banished man from place to place Cicero sayth in an Epistle When a young man doth suffer trauails and endure pouerty if he bee not a foole and an idiot he beareth it with a great courage by remembring that his Father was poore in the same manner but if his Father had been rich and now hee himselfe poore this is such a misfortune that there is no patience able to endure it nor heart which can dissemble it What should the sonne of God thinke when hee remembreth what a rich Father hee had and that hee did spend all his treasure vpon other mens children and suffer him to goe poorely naked and a hungred and scorned by all men The Apostle speaking of Gods riches sayth Deus qui dines es in omnibus as if hee would say Thou art the God only which doth possesse great riches and art the Lord which hath many lordships because thou shouldest want nothing thy selfe and to impart much of the ouerplus vnto others Gloria diuitiae in domo eius saith the Prophet his house is full of glory and there is infinite wealth in his chamber If God then haue glory for those which are in heauen with him and bee also a father who hath wealth for such as are with him in this world what was the cause why he did not impart some of this vnto his sonne Ambrose vpon this word Pauper in laboribus sayth That most sacred humanity came in pouerty of glory seeing that his Father did not suffer his soule to impart somewhat of his glory vnto his body and his person also liued in pouerty seeing hee had nothing proper vnto himselfe in this life in so much that as the father was rich in all things so the sonne was poore of all things Plato in his Timaeo sayth That although pouerty bee no euill thing in a good man yet notwithstanding mans nature doth much abhorre it because there can none but he be called very fortunate who is able to giue vnto others neither is there any other very vnfortunate but hee who must of necessity aske of others It is to bee thought that Christs humanity did feele his pouerty and necessity which hee endured aswel because his father had very much to bestow vpon him as for that hee must oftentimes aske for that which hee had need of S. Bonauenture sayth in the life of Christ Christ had much a doe to maintaine himselfe and those of his Colledge for sometimes he asked that which he had need of and they gaue it him not and at other times he asked not and yet they sent him in so much that there did striue in his tender heart at one time the hunger
which hee suffered and the shame which he had to aske Hunger did bid him to aske and shame did bid him to forbeare in so much that there passed very few daies in the which his stomacke was not very hungry or his holy face couered with shame Ginomius the Philosopher being asked what pouerty was answered That pouerty of his owne nature was very euilly conditioned because it giueth no contentment vnto the person in whome it is no sauour at the table no tast in the cup no warmth in the gowne nor any life in the purse What contentment can a poore man haue seeing they scorne him before his face What sauour hath he at his table seeing that oftentimes it is time to haue dined before the fire be made in his house What tast can he haue in his cup seeing that sometime hee doth not send once a weeke vnto the tauern What trust can a poor creature haue in his purse seeing that his purse did cost him more than that which is in it Christ had great reason to say that hee vvas brought vp poorely and with great paine from his infancy seeing that he was borne poore liued poore and died poore insomuch that as hee was the most holiest of all holy men so was he the poorest of all poore men Exaltatus autem humiliatus conturbatus which is the second complaint which the sonne maketh of the Father And it is as if he would say Besides that my Father hath brought me vp in pouerty great misery he hath remembred to giue me honour the better afterward to diffame me and to exalt mee to throw mee afterwards downe in so much that my fame hath beene spread abroad throughout all this kingdome and my infamy hath flowne afterward throughout al the world This is a very pittifull complaint and a very deepe speech and therefore it is necessary for vs to expound it well and read it vvith great heed Seneca in his second booke of Anger saith Laetiores reliquit fortuna quos nunquam aspexit quà m ques aspexit postea deseruit as if he would say It was better with them and they were more merrier which fortune did neuer exalt nor neuer thought on than with those whom fortune had once lifted vp to great honour and afterward thrown down again Boetius in his first booke of Comfort sayth In falicissimum genus infortunij est hominem fuisse faelicem As if he would say There is no torment in the world to bee compared vnto that that when a man doth remember that hee hath beene happy in time past and that he is fallen from that estate because such a mans heart doth bewaile his present misery and sigh after the felicitie which he was wont to enioy What griefe can he take for honour who neuer knew what it was Macrobius in his Saturnales sayth That if wee want any thing all that we can doe is to desire it but if we doe once obtaine it then lose it the heart is not content with desiring it only but doth also lament the losse of it because it is a farre greater griefe to lose that which once we haue enioied than that which we neuer had although we doe desire it neuer so much The son of God did complaine on his owne father because he had exalted him and afterward throwne him downe because there was neuer sonne more honored by his father than Christ nor neuer sonne so much abased as Christ was afterward on the Mount of Caluary The better to vnderstand this speech exaltatus humiliatus wee must suppose that God did neuer giue nor neuer will giue vnto any those graces and preheminences which hee gaue vnto his welbeloued sonne because there is no creature worthy to receiue them nor any Angell of that capacity that he is able to haue them imparted vnto him The sonne was exalted by his Father seeing hee gaue him his owne diuine essence and power and in that his flesh should be vnited vnto that diuine nature and because the holy Ghost was the maker and framer of all that mystery and because he should take flesh of a Virgine and she remained a Virgine The sonne was highly exalted by his father considering that hee gaue him so much power vpon earth as hee had aboue in heauen The sonne of God was highly exalted by his father considering that hee gaue him the most excellent soule that euer was or shall bee created and gaue him power to cast out diuels and authoritie to raise the dead and power ouer al the elemeÌ„ts also gaue him license to pardon sinnes The sonne of God was greatly honoured when hee gaue him himselfe for his father a pure Virgine for his mother holy Ioseph for his maister the great Baptist for his embassadour the great Euangelist for his Secretary holy Peter and Saint Paule for his Preachers Christ was highly honoured by his Father considering that he made Iohn baptize him in the riuer of Iordan and caused the holy Ghost to bee present with him and his glory to shine there vpon him and openly acknowledge him to bee his welbeloued son Behold then how the sonne of God was exalted and honoured by his father but alasse as hee endeth his speech with exaltatus he sayth presently that he was humiliatus conturbatus that he was throwne downe and troubled so that according vnto this prophecy the end of his honour was the beginning of his infamy Christ was abiected and abased by his father because that from his young tender infancy his father began to hold a rigorous hand ouer him for in the first three and thirty years which he liued he neuer gaue him license to shew his power nor employ his knowledge nor set forth his learning nor win credite and fame in the world Christ was abiected and made low by his father seeing that of God he made him a man of eternall temporall of one that was inuisible visible and of one that was immortall mortall of one who was strong mighty weake and of a free man a bondsâ—aue according to his humanitie The sonne of God was abased and abiected by his father considering how he suffered the Pharisies to persecute him by malice the Priests by enuy the Scribes by couetousnesse the Gentiles through ignorance and the Synagogue by obstinacy Christ was brought low and abased by his father seeing he gaue his enemies leaue to point at him as if hee had been an enchanter diffame him as an Idolatour accuse him of blasphemy rebuke him of sedition and condemne him for a Traitor CHAP. II. How Christ doth complaine vpon his father because he doth breake all his anger vpon his body IN me transierunt irae tuae terrores tui conturbauerunt me saith Dauid as if he would say Thou was not content O my Father thou wast not content to bring mee vp in such great misery as thou didst thou wast not content to exalt mee and throw mee downe againe but
was Iacobs came wholly vnto the church and Israels fell vnto the Synagogue but almost ouerthrowne not because she deserued it not but because all which was written might bee fulfilled According vnto this Prophecy the Angell said vnto the virgine in his embasie He shall raigne in the house of Iacob he said not he shall raigne in the house of Israel because the Synagogue did then draw towards an end and the church vnto her beginning in the sonne of God God then calleth the house of Iacob which is the church calleth those which remained of the house of Israel which is the Synagogue because Saint Peter was the residue of Israel and Saint Paul was the residue of Israel and all those of his Colledge were the remnant of Israel the which the sonne of God vvent throughout all the Iewish nation to gather together as it had been crummes of bread hurled abroad Now that wee know what the house of Iacob is and those who remained of the house of Israel it is now reason also that wee know what hee will doe vvith them and why he doth call them and why he vsed a speech vnto them which was neuer hard of before that is that hee doth beare them vpon his shoulders from their mothers wombes God will haue nothing else with them but onely that they beleue in him and heare him seeing he sayth Audite me Heare me and withall hee doth put them in remembrance of the great benefites that hee doth for them to wit carry them vpon his shoulders Portamini ab vtere and therfore if we will haue Gods fauour we must beleeue the words which he doth speake and bee thankfull vnto him for all the benefites that hee shall bestow vpon vs. Robertus vpon Esay sayth If wee will compare that which God requireth at our hands with that that hee doth giue vs vvithout comparison hee doth bind himselfe vnto more than that which hee doth bind vs vnto for hee doth bind vs to nothing but to beleeue in him and hee doth bind himselfe to maintaine and gouerne vs Ab vtero vsque ad senectam that is from the time that wee bee first borne vntill our dying day our Lord doth bind himselfe to bring vs vp like his children and maintaine vs like his brothers in so much that like a pittifull Father and a mercifull Lord hee giueth vs that which we haue need of and counselleth vs that which we haue to doe O infinite goodnesse and exceeding charity of thine my good God considering that by this speech Ab vtero portamini thou doest bind thy selfe to giue vs food to liue vvith and by Audite me thou doest bind thy selfe to giue vs counsell to saue our selues vvith and therefore vvee haue of thee a Lord to helpe vs and a Father to counsell vs. Our Lord vvhich did create vs is a better Father vnto vs than man vvhich doth beget vs seeing that hee sayth Qui portamini ab vtere By vvhich fatherly speech hee doth let vs vnderstand that hee doth not only prouide for our necessities but doth also dissemble our iniquities O that our Lord doth say very vvell Qui portamini ab vtero seeing that hee doth beare vs on his shoulders as oft as hee doth vvinke at our wickednesse for if hee should punish vs for euery fault according vnto his iustice wee should by this time haue had no memory left of vs. If our Lord should not beare vs vpon his shoulders and dissemble vvith our faults to prouoke vs to repentance hee should scarse haue any at all to punish aboue two or three houres and for the first sinne only if it had pleased him he might haue condemned vs to hell What temporall father doth so long suffer his owne children as our Lord doth all vs. What father doth carry his child in his armes aboue an houre as our Lord doth vs all our life time Before wee bee borne wee offend him in originall sinne after we be borne we offend him al the rest of our life with other grieuous sinnes yet notwithstanding all this hee doth bring vs vp like his children and deale vvith vs like brothers What vvouldest thou haue mee say more vnto thee but that from our mothers wombe our wickednesse doth striue with his goodnesse hee in forgiuing vs and wee in offending him O great goodnesse and vnspeakable clemency what father or mother did euer the like for their children that thou my good Iesus hast done for my sinfull soule There is no liuing creature this day in the world that doth giue milke vnto his young ones aboue two yeares but our eternall Father and Christ his precious sonne from our birth vntill our old age doth giue vs the milke of his grace the bread of his doctrine the helpe and succour of his church the pardon of his clemency and the reward of his glory Dilexit me tradidit semetipsum pro me sayth S. Paul◠as if hee would say Doe not maruell you Galathians that I did preach so vehemētly vnto you that I did exalt Christs name with such great feruency for I tell you if you know it not that besides that hee loued mee very much hee suffered himselfe to be crucified for me This is so strange a thing that S. Paul speaketh of in this place that vnlesse a man bee acquainted with the phrase of Scripture hee would take scandale at it for when Paul saith that Christ died for him not mentioning any other he seemeth to exclude the redemption of all the world beside What meaneth this O diuine Paul what meaneth this if the sonne of God did giue himself for thee why doest thou preach him to bee the redeemer of all mankind Were thy sinnes so grieuous and so enormious that they had need of all Christs bloud to redeeme them If God should send into the world a new redeemer for the taking away of euery sinne how were it possible that God could send so many seeing that hee had no more sonnes but Christ Tell me I pray thee how could so glorious a humanity so profitable a life such sound doctrine such a copious redemption such a dreadfull death bee emploied in thee alone and not benefite any but thy selfe If it bee so O Paule that Christ gaue himselfe for thee and not for me what haue I more to doe with Christ than with a holy Prophet If hee died for thee alone is it not reasonable that thou alone sholdest be thankfull for his death God forbid that it should be so neither doth his mercy permit that the Apostle onely should be redeemed and all the world besides depriued of the bloud of Christ for his redemption was so copious and there was such abundance of bloud shed for vs that on Christs part redemption did abound and there wanted on ours to be redeemed Did not redemption think you abound on his part seeing that one drop of his bloud was sufficient for all redemption and did there not want
did fear death No man ought to maruell that the sonne of God did feare death but that which we should maruell at is that hee made his martyrs not feare death and that they should goe so freely to death seeing that they goe more cheerefully to be martyred than Princes doe goe to be crowned The sonne then doth complaine vnto his Father saying Why hast thou forsaken me because that hauing takē our infirmities sinnes and sorrowes vpon himselfe it is no reason that wee should bee so vngratefull and vnthankfull vnto him CHAP. XI Christ complaineth vnto his Father how badly enuy did vse him and how in Samaria they sold an asse head for fourscore pence and they gaue but thirty for his INuidebant ei fratres sui nec poterant ei quidquam pacificè loqui Genesis 37. chap. The Scripture declaring the great hatred which Iacobs eleuen sons bare vnto their brother Ioseph speaketh these words and the meaning is this The elder brothers did hate the yong very much because his father did loue him best and make most of him and their hatred and enuy grew to that depth that they could not endure to see him nor speake one friendly word vnto him Saint Paul thought that enuy was the root and foundation of the perdion of mankind seeing hee sayth that Propter inuidiam mors intrauit in mundum and therefore it shall be great reason that we declare what enuie is and what hurt it doth and who is Queene of enuy Aristotle sayth That enuy is nothing else but a passion of the mind a mortall anguish to see another man in credite and honour imagining that to be his discredit Horace sayth The greatest griefe that we haue with enuy is that it is not in the eies for so it would bee seene nor in the hands for it would bee felt nor in the tongue for it would bee heard but his chaire and seat is in the secretest place of the heart and mind where it abideth complaining of euery man and tormenting him who possesseth it Menander saith The mother of enuie is swelling pride and cursed ambition and therefore they neuer goe asunder or very seldome but where pride is there is enuy and where enuy there pride S. Augustine sayth Take away enuy and presently all that is mine is thine and all that is thine is mine Origen sayth Enuy doth grow so fast vpon me by reason of the disordinate loue which I beare vnto my owne person for thereby I beare malice vnto my inferiors for feare least they become my equals and I enuy my equals least they goe beyond mee and I spight my superiors because they doe me no good S. Ierome in a Sermon sayth That the difference betwixt a malicious man and an enuious man is that the malicious man doth loue nothing but that that is naught and the enuious man doth hate nothing but that which is good S. Gregory in the fift booke of his Morals sayth The naughty man doth enuy none but such as he seeth in higher estate than himselfe or whom hee seeth to bee of better life than himselfe or whome hee heareth better spoken off than himselfe whereof it insueth that how much the other doth grow encrease in goodnesse so much the enuious man doth vexe and torment himselfe Isidorus sayth Take heed of enuy my brother take heed for it is nothing else but a certaine disease which doth trouble thy sences burneth thy breast gnaweth thy bowels grindeth thy heart wasteth thy life darkeneth thy memory and condemneth thy soule Seneca sayth That a man doth seldome enuy him whom he can ouercome but him whom he cannot vanquish And the selfesame Seneca sayth further It is more expedient for vs to beware of the enuy of our friends than of the hatred and displeasure of our enemies because the enemy carrieth his hatred in his tongue and I take heed of him but because my friend hideth his enuy in his heart it cannot be known nor I cannot beware of him Laertius saith I would to God that all enuious men had their eies scattered ouer all the world that because other mens goods and welfare is a torment vnto them they might bee tormented with so many tortures as they see other mens hap and felicity encrease Diogenes sayth There hath no man liued in this world in fame and credite but hee hath presently felt the worme of enuy whereof it followeth that the poor and miserable man doth only escape the enuious mans hands Demosthenes in an Oration sayth What shall I doe wretched man as I am or whether shall I goe For if I desire to liue in pouerty misery doth weary me and if I chuse to be rich enuie doth torment mee To come then vnto our purpose all this discourse hath tended vnto no other end but to admonish all men of honest life and of a cleane conscience to beware of enny because the Deuill is such a friend vnto this vice that if hee see a man to bee very enuious hee will tempt him with no other sinne Cicero sayth What hath caused all the vvarres which we haue had with strāgers all the dissensions which wee haue had among our selues but aboundance of wealth and the enuy which men haue borne vnto Rome Although Christ vvas poore yet hee vvas hated of the vvicked accused of malice and persecuted vvith enuy But his pouertie being so great as it was and hiding his power as he did wherof should any man enuie him They did not enuy Christ for the feature of his body seeing there vvere other beautifull also nor for his stocke and kindred seeing there vvere others noble also not for his eloquence seeing there were others learned nor for his vvealth seeing there vvere others more vvealthy but that vvhich they did most of all enuy at vvas his Catholicke doctrine vvhich hee did preach and holy life which hee did lead because that none of the Prophets vvhich vvent before him did preach of such high points as hee did nor yet any one of them did liue so sincerely as hee did Saint Augustine vpon those words Sciebat enim quod per inuidiam tradidissent eum sayth The enuy conceiued against good life is more dangerous than that vvhich is bred by reason of our vvealth for if hee bee a naughtie man vvhich is possessed of this vvealth hee vvill endeuour himselfe rather to encrease his substance than amend his life Let vs compare then the enuie vvhich Iacobs sonnes bare vnto their brother Ioseph vvith the enuie vvhich they did beare vnto Christ and vvee shall see how vvell the figure dooth answere vnto the thing figured and the spirit vnto the letter seeing that the one vvas fold by enuie into Aegipt and the other also through enuie crucified Ioseph did mislike his brothers doings and therefore they did enuie him and Christ did not like the Iewes doings and therefore they did hate him and they did persecute Ioseph because hee did accuse them before their
bee brought to passe but by his sonnes meanes and he knew also very well that so old a strife would cost his sonne very deerely and notwithstanding all this he gaue his full consent that hee should bee condemned to die And that which most of all did shew his goodnesse and our wickednesse is that the diuels against whome he did plead striue did not giue sentence against Christ but man for whom hee did plead and whose cause he did defend Theophilus dooth seeme to say that it importeth more to say that the father did suffer his sonne to bee crucified than to say that hee doth suffer sinne which appeareth by the Apostle when hee sayth Quòd pro nobu omnibus tradidit illum and hee sayth not Quòd permisit but hee sayth that hee did deliuer and giue his sonne to bee crucified If the father did giue him to be crucified who was able to defend him If we doe giue credite vnto the Prophet Esayas the sonne dooth charge no man with his death and passion sauing only his Father seeing that hee sayth in the Fathers name Propter peccata populi mei percussieum as if hee would say Let no search bee made for the death of my sonne because I was he who stroke him and wounded him and crucified him and buried him because the sinnes of my people could not be clensed but with the bloud of my sonne Dauid was of the same opinion in the 88 Psalm saying thou hast shortened the daies of his life hast thrown his seat vpon the ground Who was able to cut off his daies or cast downe his seat but only he who gaue him life and honored him with a seat All this was figured not onely in Abraham who had drawne his sword to kill his sonne but also in king Moab who for the liberty of the people did kill his own sonne from the top of a wall Origen vpon the Apostle sayth Although it seeme to be a thing against humanity for the father to be a butcher of his owne sonne and make an anatomy of him yet it was no cruelty for the father to make his sonne to die for the redemption of the world but rather a great point of charity because it was decreed from the beginning that as our hurt came by disobedience so our bulwarke and defence should bee by obedience Theophilus sayth God left his sonne in the hands of death with an intention that because that if shee did set vpon him without cause hee should loose the right which he had vpon others and so it befell vnto him for because hee ventered vpon him who was iust hee lost his action against him who was a sinner S. Augustine vpon S. Matthew saith There were at Christs death first Christs father and then the sonne the Lieutenant Pilate Iudas the Disciple and all the people of the Iews and as they were all of diuers conditions so they were of diuers intentions Pilate gaue sentence on him for feare Iudas sold him for couetousnesse the Iews slew him by malice the Father deliuered him for charity and the sonne offered himself to die with pittie and he sayth further Doe not say O you Iewes doe not say If hee be the sonne of God let him come downe from the crosse for you would haue crucified him long before that time if his Father had not denied you him afterward whē he would and how hee vvould hee deliuered him vnto you What did Pilate in the death of Christ but sinne what did Iudas in the passion of his Maister but sinne what did the Iewes in crucifieng Christ but sinne The passion of Christ our redeemer the Father permitted the sonne suffered the holy ghost approued in so much that wee bee not bound for our redemption vnto those who put him to death for to reuenge their iniuries but vnto those who suffered it to redresse our faults O how much we owe vnto God the Father for his clemency seeing that because hee would not punish my offence in my selfe he punished his own sonne for it not according vnto his innocency but vnto my great offence the which his holy sonne did lay vpon his owne shoulders to the intent to disburden me of it Anselmus in his Meditations saith Say O my soule say with the Prophet I am he who sinned I am hee who haue offended thee I am hee who hath sinned for the Lambe thy sonne what hath he done Let thy fury bee turned against me O Father who haue committed the fault and not against thy sonne who is without spot and let not the cruell speare of yron pierce his heart who can doe nothing but loue and let him enter into my heart who can do nothing but sinne O fatherly affection and fauour neuer heard of before what is there in me to giue thee or what is there in all the world to serue thee with seeing that for to seeke out him vvho vvas lost to redeeme him vvho vvas sold to vnlose him vvho vvas bound and deliuer him out of captiuity who was taken prisoner thou diddest make thy owne sonne captiue O infinite goodnesse and vnspeakable clemency what pittie did constraine thee or vvhat charity did ouercome thee that to giue light vnto the blind to heale the lame put him in the right way who went astray to make cleane the vncleane to lift him vp who was fallen and pardon him who had offended thou wouldst not pardon thy owne sonne What priesthood can bee compared vnto thy Priesthood or what sacrifice is like vnto thy sacrifice seeing that in old time they did offer nothing vnto the Priest but some liue beast for the sins of the people and thou diddest not offer but thy own proper sonne The sonne then hath great occasion to complain of his Father saying Why hast thou put me contrary vnto thy self seeing that he commanded that sonne which hee loued best to die for those which most of all did hate him He followeth this matter in a morall sence FActus sum mihimet ipsi grauis sayth Iob as we haue already said Although saith hee I complaine of many yet I complaine of none more than of my selfe and although many things doe wage battaile against me yet I am the greatest enemy vnto my selfe Origen vpon this place sayth It is a thing neuer heard of and a very strange complaint for although a man bee neuer so culpable yet he desireth to excuse himselfe and accuse others Irenaeus in a Sermon sayth We fall euery day and stumble and sinne yet notwithstanding all these faults no man dooth confesse himselfe to bee naught nor acknowledge his brother to bee good Petrarch sayth That men complaine of the sea that it is dangerous of the aire that it is corrupt of his friend that he is a dissembler of the time that it is troublesome and yet I see no man sayth he who complaineth of himselfe therfore wee are like vnto young gamesters which neuer blame their owne play
Barnard sayth If this that is said Cumipso sum in tribulatione be not performed in thee thinke with thy self that thou doest not suffer that tribulation for Christ but for thy friend and thy selfe and therfore in that case let him help and succour thee for whome thou doest suffer that danger If thou doe not make reckoning of Christ nor thinke on him nor suffer for his sake what hath Christ to doe with thy paint and trauaile If thou do suffer for the flesh let the flesh help thee if thou suffer for the world let the world deliuer thee if thou suffer for thy friend let thy friend giue thee aid if thou doe suffer for Christ to Christ commend thy selfe for if thou doe serue others what reason is it that thou shouldst ask fauour of him Saint Basil sayth What friend had God at any time whom hee forgot or in what tribulation did hee euer see him when hee helped him not Gregory in his Register sayth Hee who did not forget Noe in the floud nor Abraham in Chaldea nor Lot in Sodome nor Isaac in Palestine nor Iacob in Assyria nor Daniel in Babilon doest thou think that he will forget thee in thy affliction and tribulation Remigius sayth If this promise of Cum ipso sum in tribulatione bee not kept with thee thinke that our Lord dooth it either for thy greater profite or his owne seruice for the greater the tribulation is which thou endurest the more thou doest merite for thy soule and if it be not for this cause it is because thou shalt fall into some greater danger from the which our Lord doth keepe his holy hand and diuine succour to deliuer thee And because that the curious Reader may not thinke that wee swarue from our purpose it is to bee noted that the Prophet Helius whose figure we handled was beset with three grieuous persecutions that is with the warre which was in Iury with the famine which was ouer all the land and with Iezabels hatred He durst not preach for feare of the Queene hee durst not goe abroad for feare of the warre hee durst not hide himselfe for feare of famine and hunger in so much that this holy Prophet was so much without hope of remedy that he knew not whether hee should haue his throat cut openly or whether he should die for hunger secretly Our Lord therefore to fulfill his promise Cum ipso sum in tribulatione tooke him out of Iury vnwitting to the souldiors and did hide him in Carith where no man could see him and sent him meat by crowes to feed on and did prouide him a streame of water to drinke of Wee may gather by this example what a good Lord wee haue and what care hee hath ouer vs if wee serue him seeing that hee doth pay vs for all wee doe and succour vs for all that we suffer for him To come now vnto the purpose all this figure was fulfilled in Christ at the foot of the letter for as Heliac was persecuted by Iezabel so was Christ of the Synagogue and Christ found as great a famine of good men as Helias did in Samaria of victuals Hugo de sancto victore sayth vpon those words of Ieremy Paruuli petierunt panem The bread which the little ones cried for to ear and the lamentation which Ieremy made because there was no man to giue it him was not vnderstood of the materiall bread which was woont to bee in the arke but of spirituall bread wherewith the soules are fed and to say that there was no man found to giue it them was as much as to say that there was no good man left to preach vnto them Chrisostome in an Homily sayth In Commonwealths well gouerned the want of a good man is greater than the famine of bread and wine because we haue seene that God hath sent a famine for the demerits of one man alone and after abundance for one good mans sake alone Ambrose sayth Famine warre and pestilence are much to bee feared in naughty Commonwealths and where there are no good persons for although our Lord doth suffer them to come for a time yet he doth not consent that they should long time endure What goodnesse haue Commonwealths in them if they haue no good men in thē And what want they if they doe not want good men Saint Augustine in his Confessions sayth When I hear a knill rung for the dead my soule is presently driuen into a perplexity whether I should weepe first for the good which die or the bad which liue because there is as great reason that we should weepe for the life of the bad as for the death of the good Now that we haue prooued that the want famine of good men is more dangerous in a city than a dearth of victuals who doth doubt but that the scarsenesse which Christ sound in the Synagogue was greater than that which Helias found in Palestine What good thing or what good man could there be in the Synagogue where the Viceroy Pilate was a Tyrant the famous high Priest Caiphas a Symoniacle the maisters the Pharisies Hypocrites and the counsellours the Sadduces Heretikes and their kings and Prophets all ended The sonne of God did kill this hunger when hee gaue the world a church for a Synagogue Apostles for Prophets a law of loue for a law of feare a new Testament for an old the spirit for the letter the truth for the figure and his holy grace for our old offence What would haue become of vs if Christ had not left so many good men in his church Hee left vs many Martyrs many confessours many virgines many doctors in so much that when Christ died although hee left not the vvorld many bookes to read in yet hee left vs many Saints to follow The figure sayth further that Helias went to hide himselfe in the water-brooke of Carith which was a figure that the sonne of God should come to take flesh and hide himselfe in the entralls of the Virgines wombe and as it was figured in Helias so it was accomplished in Christ because that vnder his humanity vvhich hee tooke vpon him hee did hide his diuinity which hee carried with him When the Prophet Esayas said Verè tues deus absconditus hee knew well that God would hide himselfe for a time and remoue himselfe from their eies seeing that the catholicke Church did acknowledge him and the vnhappy Synagogue was vngratefull vnto him Recede hinc absconde te in torrentem Carith the eternall Father spake these words vnto his precious sonne as if hee had said vnto him Goe my sonne goe and hide thy selfe in the world because thou maist redeeme the world Where thou shalt hide thy power because thou maist suffer thou shalt hide thy wisedome because they may mock thee thou shalt hide thy prudence because they may take thee to bee vnwise thou shalt hide thy iustice because they are to iudge thee like a blasphemer
is which put him into a fright what garbish he tooke from him what skin he stripped him of what is the flesh which hee broiled what is the heart which hee tooke out of him what the liuer and vvhat the gaule which hee kept Although wee speake but a word on euery word yet this seemeth to bee a figure full of great secrets To come then to the point who is Tobias who goeth to recouer his fathers goods but onely all mankind who goeth euery day a iourney to recouer the grace which his father Adam lost Dum sumus in seculo peregrinamur ad dominum sayth the Apostle As long as vvee liue in this mortall vvorld no man can say that hee hath a dwelling place or neighbour but onely that hee is a pilgrime and a way-faring man and the end of our iourney and pilgrimage is to seeke for the grace vvhich our first father lost vs and the glory which our eternall father promised vs. Then wee say a man is a pilgrime when he maketh no abode any where but goeth on and staieth no longer in a place than hee can get necessaries for his iourney If vvee aske a man what hee doth it is an ordinary answere to say that hee either plaieth or doth his businesse or some such like which in truth is not so but his better answere is to say that he wasteth and consumeth himselfe and that he is a dying for a mans life goeth away in playing and labouring Seneca sayth Doth not thy life thinkest thou goe away seeing that euery houre thy life is an houre shorter and euery day a day shorter Saint Augustine vpon the Apostles words sayth If a man be asked how old he is or what yeares hee hath he is wont to answere either thirty or fortie or such like which is cleane contrary vnto that which hee should answere for hee should not say he hath so many yeares but that he wanteth so many yeares for if he haue any years at all it bee those which hee looketh for for as for those which are past they are now none of his The Philosopher saith that De tempore non habemus nisi Nunc Whereby hee meaneth that wee haue no time but the present moment because that the time past is already gone and the time to come is vncertain Cicero de senectute sayth What hath a man that hath liued an hundred yeares but only time lost a grieued heart a weary body smal help a loathing life a vading credite and death at his gates O how well the Apostle sayth As long as wee bee in this world Peregrinamur ad dominum seeing that by how much the more wee increase in age so much the more vvee decrease in life And to say the truth to die young or to die old is nothing else but to come to our Inne betimes or late Remigius sayth The Apostle doth call vs pilgrimes and strangers with great reason because he seeth that we haue no goods in this world which are proper to our selues for if euery man would leaue that which were another bodies for a certaine he should be left very naked For sayth Alchimius the Philosopher if the sheep should take thy garments from thee the kine thy shoes the worms thy silke the earth thy linnen the vines thy wine the corne thy bread the trees their fruit the fountaynes their waters tell mee I pray thee of thy selfe and by thy selfe what shouldst thou haue what shouldest thou be worth or what shouldest thou bee able to doe Horace sayth to this purpose Be not prowd like a lion nor exasperate thy selfe like an ounce for if euery one would take from thy house person that which is his there would be no liuing creature more base thā thou seeing that thou hast neither industry to maintaine thy selfe nor weapons to defend thy selfe Wee haue said all this to proue that if Tobias was a pilgrime wee are also pilgrimes But alas alas hee is accompanied with the good Angel who keepeth him and we compassed with a thousand enemies vvhich besiege vs. Doe not wee trow you take our voiage beset with a thousand perils and hindered with as many troubles considering that the deuill doth tempt vs the flesh molest and prouoke vs the world deceiue vs friends faile vs our heart sorroweth our health decaieth and our life daily shorteneth The figure sayth that as Tobias went on his iourney the fish came to the bancke to swallow him vp whereof in the end hee receiued more profite than feare insomuch that by the same fish of vvhich hee thought hee should haue beene deuoured his father receiued remedy What was that great fish of which Tobias thought he should haue been deuoured but only the sonne of the eternall God vvhen he came to redeeme the vvorld The fish vvas bred in the bottome of the riuer and the sonne of God was borne in the bosome of the eternall Father and how deepe soeuer the riuer Tygris vvas yet the sea of the diuine essence is farre more deeper Augustine in his booke of the Trinity sayth Wilt thou see how much more deeper the eternity of the Father and of his sonne is than the sea For it is possible to empty the sea for all his greatnesse but for the secrets of the holy Trinity it is impossible fully to vnderstand The fishe comming out of the vvater droue young Tobias into a great feare but Christ caused a greater feare when hee came into the vvorld seeing the Angels bowed themselues the kings adored him the starres vvere changed the Iewes were mooued and the deuils vvere aseard The feare vvhich the fish put Tobias in continued but halfe an houre but the fear which Christ put the vvorld in dureth vntill this day for being afeard and amazed the Iews and Pagans cannot yet persuade themselues that Christ should be the God whō they should beleeue in and the Lord which shall iudge them When that fish went out of the riuer to the bancke of two which were there present the one which was the Angel knew him the other which was Tobias was afeard and euen so in like maner when the sonne of God came downe from heauen vnto the earth the Synagogue was scandalized and the church receiued him in so much that according vnto old Simeons prophecie this diuine fish came to the shore of the world for the resurrection of the good and the scandale of the wicked Praeparauit dominus piscem grandem vt deglutiret Ionam sayth the holy Scripture Ionas 2. As if hee would say At the very instant when the cruell Marriners did cast the Prophet Ionas into the bottome of the sea immediately our Lord prepared a great fish which swallowed him aliue and which kept him in his bowels safe and sound As before wee met with Tobias and his fish so now wee haue lighte vpon Ionas and his fish whereof the one was greatly afeard and the other swallowed vp by reason whereof wee must seeke out some
vsing thy infinite power thou didst make of the dry desart great abundāce of water why thē dost thou make vnto thy son of an abundant sea a dry desart thou didst send meat to the Prophet Daniel when he was cast vnto the Lyons although no man did demand it at thy hards wilt thou not giue thy precious son a little water at such great entreaty Cōsidering that whē the famine was at Samaria thou didst cōmand the Crowes to carry the Prophet Helias food and the riuer Carith to giue him drinke why doest thou not helpe thy owne sonne whom thou hast ingendred of thy owne substance with a little water in this his extream thirst Considering that thou diddest turn the sower waters of Marath to be sweet because those cursed people should drinke of them why wilt thou giue thy precious sonne neither of the sweet nor sowre O what great encreasing of torments to Christ are framed in the figure of Tobias ioined with the prophesie of Ieremy seeing the one did draw the fish to the drie land and the other made a desart of the sea for vpon that drie tree of the crosse Christ was exceeding drie seeing hee could not obtain a little water to drink of and hee was also in a great desart seeing that hee found not so much as one friend to comfort himselfe with The fourth mystery which the figure containeth is that Tobias did open the fish and took out his gaule and his heart both which did him his afterwards great good the one for his owne marriage and the other to cure his fathers blindnesse It is greatly to be noted that in all that fish Tobias found nothing which was not worthy of the keeping commodious and profitable in curing sauerous in eating The best that euer hath been or shall be in the world was the Creator and Redeemer of the world whose words were holy whose doctrine was profitable whose workes were maruellous and whose bowels were most louing What did Tobias vnto that fish that the Iewes did not vnto Christ If the fish was drawne out of the riuer so was Christ from the people if the fish was put vpon drie land so was Christ carried vnto the Mount of Caluary if the fish was stripped so was Christ whipped if the fishes throat was cut Christ was also crucified if the fish was opened so was Christ pierced with a speare if the fish was cast into the fire so was Christ also cast into the sepulchre This which wee haue said is but a little in respect of that which wee will say and that is that the holy catholike Church hath drawne out this blessed fishes gaule with the which hee cureth vs and heart with the which hee loueth vs and liuer with the which he pardoneth vs bowels with which hee dooth cherish vs. O good Iesus O my soules health who hath euer had or who euer shall haue a more louinge heart than thou to loue vs or so sound a liuer to pardon vs or so profitable a gaule to cure vs or such tender bowels to cherish vs What wilt thou denie me now or what wilt thou not now giue mee O my good Iesus seeing that for to shew thy clernency and mercy vpon me thou art hanged vpon a drie tree made a dead fish opened drawne and bowelled for my sake What loue can bee compared vnto thy loue seeing that for that which touched me and not for any thing that belonged to thee thou diddest consent that they should open thy heart and diddest permit them to rend and teare thy bowels What am I able to giue thee O good Iesus what can I giue thee vnlesse it be my heart which is filthy for thine which is cleane my rotten liuer for thy vvhole one my bitter gaule for thy sweet one and my wicked and hurtful bowels for thy most louing ones Which are the greatest relickes which are this day in heauen or earth but the heart liuer and bowels which Christ left vnto his church O how happy should he be who should haue such relickes in his custodie for hauing thy heart in custodie how couldest thou chuse but loue me and hauing thy bowels in keeping how wouldest thou but pardon me How is it possible O my good Iesus how is it possible that there should bee any euill thing in thee vvhen as the church hath thy precious gaule for a relicke Since the beginning of the vvorld there hath neuer been any such thing seene or heard that is that among the relickes vvhich the church dooth account for the best the gaule is one of the most precious because that vvithout that bitter gaule neither the world could haue beene redeemed nor the Prince thereof haue beene ouercome What is the gaule which the church keepeth in her treasure but only the bitter passion which Christ suffered The richest iewell which the Synagogue had was the Manna vvhich came from heauen the greatest treasure which the church hath is the gaule and passion of Christ Betwixt vvhich two vvhat great difference there is it is easily perceiued because that the profite cōmodity of our gaule doth continue vntil this day will continue for euer but the memory of that old Manna is already lost O glorious gaule O happy gaul which thou good Lord diddest leaue vnto thy catholick church for if it did kill thee it did make mee whole if it gaue thee paine it gaue me glory if it was gaule vnto thee it was hony to me if thou diddest end thy life vvith it yet my soule vvas redeemed vvith it Christs passiō vvas bitter gaule vnto Christ and yet Christs death vvas a sweet gaule for the redeeming of all the vvorld for if vnto him there fell trauell pain yet vnto vs there fell rest quietnesse if it fell to his lot to suffer yet it fell to vs to reioice be glad if the soure fell vnto him the sweet fell vnto vs in so much that hee chose the gaule for himselfe and left the hony for vs. Iurauit patribus dare terrans fluentem lacte melle said the Prophet Moises Exod. 13 As if he vvould say You shall well remember O yee children of Israel how you did agree vvith our Lord he vvith you that both of you by oth that you should neuer serue any other Lord but him and that he would giue you a land vvhich should flow milke and hony Notwithstanding this oth the children of Israel were such naughty periures that our Lord determined not to giue them a land which should flow hony but which should bring them forth gaule seeing hee made it batten for to sow in rugged and rough to trauell in vnhealthfull to dwell in vveake in defence drie to drinke in and very poore to maintaine it selfe God did make a farre better agreement vvith his Church than vvith the Synagogue for hee did not send vs a land vvhich should bring forth honey but gaule and therefore hee
sonne of God did so immediately after die vpon the crosse that in ending his draught of gaule and vineger hee began out of hand to yeeld vp his ghost If old Hystoriographers doe not deceiue vs Socrates among the Athenienses Midonius among the Lacedemonians â—rias among the Thebanes Escarrus among the Romanes by drinking of poyson ended their liues not because that their desire vvas to drinke of that poyson but because their enemies through force caused them to doe it God forbid that my penne should vvrite such blasphemy of my good Iesus vnto whome no man offered gaule and vineger no man entreated him vnto it no man forced him to take it but he of his owne will said Sitio I am a thirst and drie for if hee would haue dissembled his thirst and held his tongue they would neuer haue giuen him that detestable drinke Isidorus sayth What man or what Angel is able to reach vnto this secret that is that the sonne of God being then to giue vp his last breath yet should say that hee thirsted after a cup of water Why doest thou say so late Sitio and aske either for wine or water for seeing that thou art euen at the last farewell of thy life it cannot otherwise be but as thou art a drinking thy soule must depart from thee It had been a far lesser trouble and griefe to haue endured thirst halfe a quarter of an houre which Christ had to liue than haue suffered the thornes which boared through his head and all the rest of the torments which he had passed through that day but that his pleasure was to suffer them all and complaine of his thirst only because the thornes were onely a torment but his thirst signified a mystery vnto his Church There is a mystery in Christs being a thirst there is a mystery in that that he manifested it there is a mystery in that they gaue him wine mingled with mire and another in that they mixed it with gaule there is a mystery in that they offered it him in a reed and giuing him it with Isope containeth a mystery and in that he tasted of it and did not drinke it there is also a mystery contained If it be diligently looked into the mystery of the Sacrament where Christ communicated with his disciples excepted and the Sermon with the which he did comfort theÌ„ and the praier which he made when hee did sweat bloud also excepted there is no mystery written with so many circumstances as this of the thirst which Christ suffered whereof he complained And therefore marke with great heed all that the holy Scripture writeth of Christs thirstines because that with how many more circumstances a thing is vttered in Scripture to so many more weightier considerations it dooth inuite vs. CHAP. X. How the Synagogue could giue Christ nothing to drinke but rotten dregs PArum est mihi vt suscites faeces Israel dedi te in lucem gentium vt sis salus mea vsque ad extremuÌ„ terrae Esay 48. These wordes are vttered by the eternall Father speaking with his only sonne when he sent him into the world and they are as if hee would say being my onely begotten sonne taking vpon thee so hard an enterprise as is the redeeming of the world thou shouldst be content to restore the house of Iacob only and the dregs of Israel because the end why I send thee into the world is to giue light vnto al the Gentiles and redeeme all the whole world There are brought in in that communication the Father which speaketh the sonne vnto whom he speaketh the Synagogue of whom he speaketh and the end why hee is sent and also the great importance of the iourney seeing that by the meanes thereof hee will lighten the blindnesse of the Gentiles and streine the dregs of the Iewes And when he sayth Vt sis salus mea our Lord doth highly extoll the loue which hee beareth vs seeing that as wheÌ„ one man doth commend an important affaire vnto another the Father saith here vnto his son that it toucheth his owne safety and life that a full generall redemption be made of all men not excluding any one at all When the father sayth vnto his sonne Dedi te in lucem gentium vt sis salus mea what will he say but that it is most agreeable vnto his clemency that he holdeth it for a point of his honour that all enter in and be comprehended vnder his generall redemption the wine and the dregs the good and the bad the Gentile and the Iew the quicke and the dead The Father who dooth commend vnto his sonne the grounds and dregs dooth hee not more earnestssy commend cleane and holy things In Gods shop the lees which hee casteth abroad are better than all the wine that the diuell keepeth together I meane that one whom our Lord hath humbled and brought low is better than all those which the diuell hath lifted vp And because that our Lords calling of the Iewes lees and dregs of Israel seemeth to be a scandalous iniurious speech it is necessary for vs to declare how these dregs tooke their foundation for it is not possible for vs to expound the holy Scripture as we should vnlesse wee doe first vnderstand the letter For the better vnderstaÌ„ding of this which the Prophet Esay saith that which Boetius saith in his first booke of Comfort maketh much for our purpose that is Quòd infaelicissimum genus infortunij est hominem fuisse faelicem and his meaning is that there is no greater disaster or infelicity in the world thaÌ„ for a man to haue been on the top of felicity and then to be thrown down because such one doth nothing els but sigh after the honor which he hath lost neuer ceaseth bewailing the infamy which he hath gotteÌ„ WheÌ„ holy Iob thought with himselfe called to mind the time when he was rich and of great estimation and very healthfull of body and then saw himselfe vpon a dunghill vviping wormes off his owne body vvhat griefe of mind should oppresse him and vvhat a sea of thoughts vveary him When our Lord degraded and put out of their kingdomes Nabuchodonoser and Antiochus if wee looke vvell vnto it wee shall perceaue that the teares which they wept and the griefes which they complained on were rather to thinke of the honours which they had lost than of the punishment which they presently endured Cleopatra queen of Egypt Brias captaine of the Greeks and stout Hannibal of the Carthaginenses and the Consul Cato among the Romans slew themselues with their owne hands after that aduerse fortune had taken away their honours What will not a shamefast man doe what will hee not suffer what will hee not settle himselfe vnto after hee seeth himselfe disgraced and fallen from his honour Seneca in his booke of Clemency saith If all men were of my opinion there should bee more compassion taken on him who
falleth from his estate than of him who loseth his wits because that he who is become a foole dooth not remember that euer hee was wise but the disgraced man and he who is troddeÌ„ down doth alwaies bewaile his infortunate mishap To come theÌ„ vnto our purpose there was neuer nation so much made of at Gods hands as the people of Israel was because hee called them his louing sonne his peculiar people his chosen vineyard his enclosed orchard and Commonwealth whom he most of all affected He went for their sakes into Egypt he opened them the red sea he gaue them Manna from heauen hee gaue them Angels to keepe them Priests to guide them dukâ—es to defend them countries to inhabite and great riches to ioy in What did hee not giue them if they asked it and what did he denie them if they requested it seeing that in the day time he made them a shadow of a cloud and in the night gaue them light with a pillar of fire All these priuiledges dured no longer thaÌ„ Abraham Isaac and Iacob liued and the rest of the fathers and with theÌ„ all familiarity died Tertullian sayth That as long as there were holy men among the Iewes they were welbeloued of God but when the people of Israel went worser and worser our Lord did forget them and had no care at all ouer them For as the church sayth Sicut to colimus ita nos visita Is it much that God should be carelesse in doing of vs good if we grow cold in his seruice S. Augustine sayth in an Homilie When the sonne of God came into the world to take flesh vpon him the Synagogue had fallen into decay long before which they shall easily see to bee true who will diligently read the Scriptures For the Prophet Malachias doth call her soot Ieremy drosse Baruch a putrified worm Ezechiel a moth Amos a wild vine Abdias smoke Osee a sinke for as hee was wont to inuent names to honour thee so now hee seeketh names of infamy to discredit thee And like vnto one who is angry and discontented God calleth his people of Israel dregs and sinke and soot and smoke for as the Iewes grew more and more in sinnes so God punished them more and more and quipped and taunted them with new names What greater iniury could he doe to them or what greater reproch could hee vse towards them than call them filthy dregs and rotten lees Fulgentius in a Sermon sayth According vnto the prophecy of Esayas Can you O you Israelites denie mee that there is any thing left of your Priesthood of your royall scepter of your rich temple of your ancient kingdome of your famous people but the lees which smell and the dregs which stinke Christ found very stinking dregs in al the Iewish Priesthood seeing we read of it in the books of the Machabees that they gaue not the roome of the high Bishop vnto him who best deserued it but vnto him who bought it for most money The sonne of God found very rotten dregs in the roiall scepter of Iuda considering that it was vsurped of the Romanes and tyrannized by Herods Christ found filthy grounds in all the Scriptures seeing that the Rabines had falsified them and interpreted them according vnto their owne meaning Christ found the Hebrew tongue stained in lees and dregs and the reason was because that as the vnfortunate Iewes had been captiues in diuerse parts so they spake diuerse languages Was not the Synagogue now become stinking and filthy dregs seeing that there was no vice in the world which was not found in her In the Princes Christ found pride in the Priests enuy in the Pharisies hypocrisie in the old men malice in the young men ignorance in the popular and vulgar sort couetousnesse CHAP. XI How the Synagogue gaue Christ that to drinke that shee her selfe was that is gaule and that which she had that is vineger ECce ignis ligna vbi est victima holocausti Genesis 22. These lamentable speeches passed betwixt the Father and the sonne the sonne and the Father in manner of a dialogue the one asking and the other answering The case was then this that when Abraham had brought his sonne Isaac from among the people and being gone vp to the hill with his hands bound the wood set on a heap and the fire kindled and the sword drawn to sacrifice his sonne he said vnto his Father behold father here is the wood and the fire made where is the beast which shall bee sacrificed To this demand the sorrowfull Father answered this Dominus prouidebit sibi victimam holocausti sili mi as if he would say Take thou no care my sonne take no care for the Lord will prouide a sacrifice which shall be more acceptable vnto him than all the sacrifices of the world This prophecie which the Patriark Abraham vttereth is so excelleÌ„t high that although many haue read it yet very few vnderstand it for although it be short in words yet the mysteries which it containeth are many What meaneth this O old Abraham what meaneth this God doth command thee to kill and burne and sacrifice and offer thy owne sonne and doest thou prophecy that our Lord will prouide for a sacrifice farre better than this which thou doest bring O high mystery diuine Sacrament for the holy man hauing his sonne in a readinesse to be sacrificed the wood prepared to cast him into the fire made to burne him the sword drawne to kill him and a commandement from God to offer him yet carelesly saith that the Lord will prouide another sacrifice Abraham dooth not speake here with the Synagogue his mother for for her the sacrificing of Isaac was prepared which was the figure of a sacrifice but he spake with our mother the holy catholicke church for whom God would prouide another new sacrifice which was Christ crucified in whome all the sacrifices of the law were to end and the Sacraments of the church take their beginning Because all meÌ„ might know that Abraham did not speake of the sacrifice of Isaacs sonne but of the sacrifice of Christ which was to come our Lord said not that hee had already prouided a sacrifice but that he would prouide neither did he say that he would prouide it for another but for himselfe neither that hee would prouide many but one neither that he would indifferently prouide for any but a killed sacrifice laid whole on the altar Theophilus vpon the Apostle sayth That in all the old Testament there was no sacrifice so excellent nor so strange nor so costly as that of Abraham Isaac his sonne And seeing that Abraham the maker of that sacrifice doth prophecie that there shall bee another sacrifice which shall excell his why do not you O you Iewes receiue Christ as a true sacrifice Neither did Abraham say that he would prouide many sacrifices but only one for if we marke it well it was the poore Synagogue which
was loaden with many sacrifices and beleeued in many Christs and offered many Holocausts but the holy church hath but one sacrifice beleeueth but in one Christ and doth offer but one Holocaust Neither doth Abraham say that the Lord would prouide a sacrifice for any other but for himselfe seeing hee sayth Dominus prouidebit sibi for vntill the very instant and houre that his sonne was crucified on the crosse he was neuer pleased nor pacified for the offēce which was done vnto him Neither did Abraham say that he would prouide indifferētly any sacrifice but specially that sacrifice which was called Holocaustum because that in al other sacrifices there remained alwaies one part for the priest to eat of another for him which offered it for to take away But it was not so in that sacrifice which they called Holocaustū because that in it all the whole beast was quartered cut in peeces burnt so being made ashes was wholly offered vnto God Was it not think you an Holocaust a great Holocaust which Christ offered seeing there was no spot in it wherby it should be cast away nor any mēber in his body which was not tormented To come then vnto our purpose it is to be noted that we haue made all this discourse to proue that in the mystery of this word Sitio which end because that the Iewes did but borrow them vntill our Lord should prouide them a sacrifice which by Abraham he promised vnto all the world Isidorus vpon Genesis sayth The sacrifice which God promised to send into the world ought to bee worthy of him vnto whom it was offered and profitable vnto him who did offer it which could not bee by dead calues and the bloud of goats and vnpleasant liquors nor yet with bloudy hands How was it possible that the sacrifices of time past should please the Lord or profit the sinner which did offer them seeing their altars did seeme rather butchers shambles than temples of Priests Rabanus sayth Abrahams sacrifice was profitable vnto himselfe and hurtfull vnto his sonne seeing he should there haue lost his life and because we may know that this is true the Lord did ordaine that Abrahams sword should onely threaten his sonne Isaac and afterward kil the son of God Our Lord seeing what smal benefite should be gotten by the death of that child what griefe it would cause vnto this old Father although hee gaue him license to draw his sword yet hee did not consent that it should come neere the child the which our Lord would neuer haue hindered if the death of that child could haue ben sufficient to redeeme al the world God the Father was older than Abraham and loued his sonne better than Abraham did his yet notwithstanding all this seeing that in that only sacrifice did consist mans saluation he consented that they should take his life from him Esichius vpon Leuiticus sayth That that which Abraham did was only good vnto himselfe alone because hee did accomplish that which was commanded him but when he said that the Lord would prouide a sacrifice vnto himselfe that was profitable vnto all the world considering that by that prophecie wee were warranted and made sure that we should be redeemed by the sonne of God Origen sayth That it is much to be noted how that all the sacrifices of the old law did proceed from two things only that is from the beasts which they did kill and the fruit which they plucked from trees Of their beasts they did offer the head and feet vnto the Lord the caule the flesh and the entralls and of trees incense storax fruit grapes aloes mirrhe oile and sweet odours And God was not content only that euery mā should offer what pleased himselfe but onely of that which God in the law commāded that is of beasts that they should offer the greatest of fruits the best of perfumes the sweetest of mettales the richest of liquors the most excellente If we beleeue the Philosopher in his book De animalibus The first thing that is engendred is the heart and the last the gaule when a beast dieth it is contrary for the first thing that corrupteth is the gaule and the heart the last thing that dieth The Commentator sayth That as the gaule is the last thing that is ingendred in man so it is also the most filthiest and basest thing that is in him Of all liquors the wine is the most precious and contrary no liquor worser than the dregs of soure corrupted wine Doest thou thinke my brother that we haue trauelled in vaine in prouing vnto thee that the gaule is the worst part of the beast and putrified dregs the worst of liquors The end why wee haue spoken all this is because that when the Redeemer of the world was dead with thirst vpon the altar of the crosse they gaue him these two thinges to drinke that is bitter gaule which is the last and worst part of the beast and dregs and vineger which is the worst of all liquors S. Augustine vpon S. Iohn sayth The purest clearest and cleanest of the Synagogue was already ended and gone and turned into vineger and lees by reason wherof they gaue Christ nothing to drinke but gaule vineger giuing vs therby to vnderstand that they did not giue him only that which they had in the Synagogue but also that which themselues were For what was all the Synagogue but soure vineger and bitter gaule It was not without a high mystery that they offered that which they did to Christ vpon the crosse for as the gaule is the last and the vildest thing that is in the beast so the Synagogue was now at an end and at the vvorst of all her life in so much that shee was become nothing els but a gaule of malice and also vineger of couetousnesse Saint Ierome sayth Euen as vineger hath been good wine because it was gathered of the best of the vine so the people of the Iews were somtimes good because they had good mē among them in so much that there is no other meaning in that they gaue Christ wine mingled with mire and soure vineger to drinke but that the people were now corrupted and scarse one good man left among them How came this hap among you O you Iewes that all the wine of your vessels is become soure vineger and all the hony of your hiues turned into bitter gaule Then your wine began to turne into vineger when you would not receiue Christ for your Redeemer and then all your hony turned into gaule when you did defame his doctrine and bereaue him of his life The Synagogue striketh great pity into my heart to see that in time past they did offer vnto their God sacrifices Holocausts and offerings and afterward gaule and vineger and dregs by which cursed and wicked offering they took away their makers life brought their Commonwealth vnto an end CHAP. XII How that the thirst
that Christ had vpon the crosse was not so much for drinke as to desire to suffer more for vs. EXpergefactus lassus adhuc sitit anima eius vacua est Esay chap. 29. The Prophet Esay vttereth these words speaking in generall of the great trauails and most greiuous thirst which the sonne of God suffered in particular and it is as if he would say The great Messias waked out of his sleepe like vnto a man who had escaped out of a lithargy or some drousie disease whē he beheld the state of his soule he found that she was empty For the Prophet to say that the sonne of God slept vpon the crosse and that after he waked and was weary and found his heart empty seemeth a strange and a doubtfull thing vnto pittifull eares For if it be true that hee suffered how was it possible that he slept and if he slept how could it be that he suffered What is more strange vnto torment than sleepe and what a greater enemy to sleepe than torment Considering that the sonne of God hanged vpon the altar of the crosse his feet bare his hands torne his side pierced his sinews wrested and his bones put out of ioint how could it bee that he should sleepe or take any rest at all He who should hang vpon the crosse as Christ did that is weary wasted bloudy nailed and one ioint drawn from another would he not haue greater ability and inclination to complaine than desire of sleepe The Prophet vttereth foure things in this prophecie the first that Christ did awake out of a sleepe and dreame which he slept the second that he awaked aweary the third that hee awaked thirsty the fourth that hee found his heart empty Of all these foure things the one doth make vs most of all to maruell for to say that Christ was aweary I beleeue it to say that he was a thirst I agree vnto it and that he wanted all comfort I do also admit But to say that he slept there is that which maketh me to wonder because his eternall Father did not send him thither to sleepe but to redeem all the world It is much to bee noted in this place that the famous Augustine sayth against Manichaeus Saepè imo saepissimè in sacris literis circumstantiae scripturarum declarant Scripturam as if he would say It happeneth oftentimes that when the Scripture is darke and obscure that the circumstances before going and comming after doe declare and explain the same Scripture and one Prophet doth declare another and one text another This then being so it is conuenient for vs to find out in Scripture some kind of sleepe and by that we may coniecture and gesse at the manner of sleeping which the son of God slept vpon the crosse and also wee shall know when how and wherefore Christ did awake out of his sleepe Excitatus est tanquam dormiens dominus tanquam potens crapulatus vino sayth the Prophet Dauid Psalm 77. as if he would say Our Lord did awake out of his dreame like a man that is sleeping and hee rose out of that dreame like a man full of power and like vnto one who had drunke wine It is a verefied truth in our Christian faith that God is a pure spirit and a substance not compounded but simple which hath no flesh which may putrifie nor bones which may be brokē nor hunger which may cause him to eat nor stomack to disgest with nor vapours to ascend and prouoke him to sleepe nor yeares to make him old If it bee true that there is no time which can make God old nor meat which can force him to sleepe is it not also true that his sleepe is otherwise to be vnderstood than ours and that he awaketh in another manner than we doe When the Philosopher sayth That sleep is the image of death what else doth he mean but that a man which sleepeth is nothing else but an image of a dead man Mark well the conditions of a dead man and thou shalt find the same in one which sleepeth for he who is in his bed asleepe and hee who is in his graue can neither speake nor heare nor vnderstand those which call vpō them nor feele those which touch them nor offend those which abuse them nor complaine on those which blaspheme them nor reuenge on those which hurt them Who will not say that our Lord dooth not sleepe this kind of sleep seeing we see that in naughty men he doth dissemble their ambition the blasphemies which they speak the adulteries which they commit the incests they go about and the malice which they thinke What is sleepe in a man but to haue all his members at rest And what else is sleeping in our Lord but the suspending of his vengeance and punishment The wicked men thinke that because our Lord doth suffer them to liue in the world and not punish thē that therefore he is asleep that he hath no care ouer the things of this world which is an errour without all doubt for they must know if they know it not that that which wee call in a man sleeping is called in God dissembling Vpon those words of the Prophet Dormitauerunt omnes S. Ambrose sayth Our Lord doth winke at the naughtinesse of wicked men not because he hath a desire that they should sinne but because he hopeth that they should amend which if they doe not the Lord awaketh for their wickednes and laieth his heauy hand ouer thē Whē is our Lord seen to awake out of his sleep but whē he laieth his hand ouer the naughty mā doth chastise him for his errour Euen as whē one will giue another a great blow the higher he doth lift his hand the greater stroke hee doth giue him in the self same sort the longer time our Lord doth stay and wait for the wicked the more rigorously and with lesser pity he doth punish him Whereof thinkest thou doth it proceed that God doth awake to punish thy sinne but because he doth see thee sleepe so long time in sinne Isidorus saith Wilt thou see curious reader that our Lords casting himselfe to sleepe is nothing else but to dissemble at our faults and that to awake is nothing else in him but to begin to punish thy sinne thou maiest perceiue it by that that as the Prophet had said Excitatus est tanquam dormiens hee added immediately Etpercussit eos in pectora eorum What other thing doth the Prophet say vnto vs by these words but that at the selfe same time houre and moment that the Lord did awake out of his sleepe he did put his rigorous hand ouer the Princes of the Gentiles Looke well vnto it my brother looke well vnto it and be not deceiued and if thou think that our Lord is asleepe hath no regard of thy doings take thou heed for it is the temptation of the diuell and that none of the least with the
the loue of God and of the profit that this loue of God doth in the soule HAurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus saluatoris Esay 12. chapter The Prophet Esay spake these words speaking vnto good Christians of the Catholicke church and of the great good that Christ will doe in her and they are as if hee would say When the Messias promised in the law shall come into the world all such as were drie and thirsty shall receiue great ioy with great abundance of waters to refresh and recreate their persons The Prophet dooth promise foure things in this place that is that they shal not draw water but waters not out of one well or fountaine but fountaines not by force but willingly not out of euery well but of the fountaine of our Sauiour Agar wanted the fountaine how much more fountains the children of Israel found water but soure the Patriarke Iacâ—l found sweet water but he had great strife in getting it They brought king Dauid water but it was of a cesterne insomuch that the Synagogue was so poore that shee could not get a cup of cleane water The catholicke church may hold her selfe very happie and rich seeing that God hath promised her abundance of waters cleare and cleane flowing from the fountaine of her Sauior and Redeemer It is much to bee noted and also to bee meruelled at to see that our Redeemer Iesus Christ said vpon the crosse Sitiâ— and yet saith that hee hath waters and fountains to refresh and quench the thirst of all the world What meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this Hast thou not one drop of water for thy selfe to drinke of and yet doest thou inuite all the world to drinke of thy fountaines It doth wel appeare O my good Iesus that thou hast all that good for me and keepest all trauailes vnto thy selfe seeing that of thy sweet water thou doest inuite all men to drinke but the gaule and vineger thou doest giue no man to tast What are the fountaines that thou wouldest haue vs drinke of but thy holy wounds with the which we were redeemed O sacred fountains O holy wounds which are so delectable to behold and so sweet to tast that the Angels are desirous to drinke of them and all creatures are willing to bath themselues in theÌ„ They are fountains which alwaies flow they are waters which alwaies run what do they flow but bloud water whither do they flow but to the Catholick church Holy Iesus did giue vs much more than Esay did promise vs for Esay did promise vs nothing but waters but he gaue vs afterwards waters of his bowels blond of his vains O good Iesus O holy fountaine from whence but from the fountaine of thy bowels did the water flow to wash our spots and from whence but from thy precious vaines did the bloud runne to redeeme our offences It is gathered in scripture that the waters of Rasim were most swift the waters of Iorda troubled the waters of Bethleem were pooles and standing the waters of Marath were bitter the waters of Siloe were soure The waters of thy wounds O my Redeemer are not of these qualities for they are safe to saile in cleane to behold sweet to tast and profitable to keepe What meaneth hee to say that you shall draw waters In gaudio but that as we were redeemed with his great loue and will so we should serue him with great ioy and mirth Hee doth draw waters of the fountaines of Christ with ioy and miâ—th who doth serue him with good will and hee doth draw bloud out of Christs wounds with sorrow and griefe who doth serue him with an evill will whose seruice is neither acceptable to God nor profitable vnto him which doth it for as our Lord doth giue nothing which hee doth giue but with ioy and mirth so he will not that any man serue him but with pure affection and entire good will With what great loue the sonne of God hath redeemed vs and with what a liuely will he wil be serued wee may gather by his owne doctrine and see it in his owne louing words Ignem veni mittere in terram quid vâ—lo nisi vt accendatur Luke 12. This high word no man could say but hee only who was the word of the eternall Father and the meaning is this If thou wilt know why I came downe from heauen vnderstand thou that it was for no other cause but to burne and set all the world on fire and therfore I bring this light with me because it may burne day night and that thou maiest blow it that it goe not out Christ speaketh to the same purpose in another place when hee sayth Non venipacem mittere sed gladium as if hee should say Let no man thinke that I came into the world to giue it peace and quietnesse but to put a gallowes and asword in it the gallowes to doe iustice on the wicked and the sword to martirize the good These words are worthy of the noting and also to be feared of all mortall men for hauing created the world what meaneth he to say that hee came into the world but to put it all to fire and bloud What man is there this day in the world so noble in birth or so rich in wealth but if he proclaime publickely that hee will burne both man and woman but they wil presently lay hands on him bind him hand foot or coÌ„demn him for want of discretioÌ„ What can be more straÌ„ger or what inueÌ„tioÌ„ may be like vnto that for our Lord to tel vs. also warne vs that he hath brought nothing else with him but a firebrand to burne and a sharpe sword to cut our throats Vpon those wordes Non veni mittere pacem sed gladium S. Augustine sayth If wee will well vnderstand that which Christ sayth in this place we should not only not bee scandalized at it but also highly thanke him for it for to say the truth with that fire he doth seare our dead flesh and with that knife he doth let out our corrupt bloud Beda vpon the Apostle sayth What is the sire which Christ brought from heauen into the world but his exceeding great loue The quality of this high fire is to heat and not burne to giue light and not hurt to burne and not consume to putrifie and not wast to warme and not to grieue O good Iesus and light of my soule what sensuality can ouercome mee or what tentation can throw mee downe if at the coales of thy fire I warme my selfe and giue my selfe light with the flame of thy loue What can hee doe what is in him or what regard is there of him in this life who doth not warme himselfe at the fire of thy loue What made S. Andrew goe cheerfully and singing to be crucified but the fire of the loue which burned in him What made S. Agnes goe more ioifully to martyrdome than
truth sooles mocke wisedome the guilty whip innocency the wretched spet vpon glory and the dead kill life S. Barnard in a sermon of the passion sayth What heart is able to endure it or what fingers able to write it to see that the liberty of captiues is sold the glory of Angels scorned and mocked the morning starre of the world spet at the Lord of all scourged whipped and he who is the rewarder of trauels murthered S. Ambrose vpon S. Luke sayth Of Christ only of no other Ieremy sayth Quod saturabitur opprobrijs seeing that he was sold like a malefactor mocked like a foole spet at like a vile person whipped like a theefe and put to death like a traitor S. Hilary in an Homily sayth According vnto the prophesie of Ieremy the sonne of God shall be filled with iniuries seeing that he is sold of the Symoniacles mocked of hypocrites whipped of tyrants spet at by blasphemers and put to death by heretikes Let our conclusion then be that not without a high mystery nor profound sacrament Christ before hee should suffer said these words of Consummabuntur and in the end of his suffering Consummatum est to let vs vnderstaÌ„d that at one time Christs life did end and if we be such as we ought to be our faults CHAP. VI. Here hee entreateth of that high praier which Christ made vpon the table saying Pater sancte non pro mundo rogo sed pro illis vt serues eos a malo In which praier if he obtained constancy and stoutnesse for his Apostles yet he forgot not the weake saying Non rogo vt tollas eos a mundo PAter sancte claritatem quam tu dedisti mihi dedi eis vt sint Consummati in vnum Iâ—h 17. These words are spoken by the mouth of the son of God praying vnto his Father after he had made a sermon before supper the highest and longest that euer hee preached in all his life time as if hee should say O my holy eternall mighty and blessed Father that which I entreat and request of thee in this last houre is that seeing I haue giuen to my Disciples part of the light and science which thou hast giuen mee thou wouldest also giue them grace to bee perfect in that kind of perfection as thou are wont to make perfect the elect By occasion of those words which Christ spake vpon the crosse that is Consummatum est and by reason of that other which he spake praying vnto his Father Consummati sunt it shall bee necessary for vs to declare in this place what that is which the redeemer of the world spake in his praier and what the Scripture sayth of it It is here to be noted who hee is which praieth where hee praieth when he praieth and how he praieth and for whome he praieth what he praieth for oftentimes in Scripture the circumstances how a thing is done makes it either weighty or very weighty Hee who praieth is Christ the place where is the pâ—râ—or the time is at supper how is with lifting vp his eies the things which hee praieth are very high they for whom are his disciples In this high praier Christ spake dainty words most graue sentences very secret mysteries very necessary aduises and very profitable counsels by reason whereof it is conuenient to read them with attention and note them with deuotion Christ then sayth in the beginning of his praier Pater sancte serua eos in nomine tuo qui tui sunt pro eis rogo non pro mundo as if he should say My holy and blessed father that which I ask of thee for these thy children and my disciples is that thou deliuer them from sin keep them in thy seruice seeing that they bee my brothers by nature and thy children by grace and if I aske any thing of thee it is not for those which are of the world but for those which thou doest keepe vnder thy safegard O sweet words for the good and sorrowfull for the bad seeing that by them are diuided and seperated the perfect from the foreseene the elect from the reprobate Gods friends from the children of perdition and also the neighbours of heauen from the louers of the world Howsoeuer Christ our redeemer praied from the hart for those which he loued from the heart yet he set this word Sancte Pater before his praier because it is a very naturall thing that this word Pater maketh a father attentiue to here the child and maketh his eies tender to behold him and his heart gentle to loue him and openeth his entrails that hee can deny him nothing What sweeter words can come to a fathers eares than to heare his sonne call him father As a sonne welbeloued and tendered once Christ calleth his father my father another time iust father another time Lord and father sometimes holy father and sometimes father and nothing else so that such as his praier was such was the name which hee gaue him It is not then here without a mystery that hee calleth him Pater sancte because hee who praied in this praier was most holy hee to whom hee praied was holy that which hee praied were holy things the place where hee praied was a holy place and hee for whom he praied was his holy colledge What doest thou aske O good Iesus what doest thou aske Pardon for my sheepe that God would deliuer them from Wolues pardon for my disciples that God would keepe them from the diuell pardon for my elect that God would seperate them from sinne and pardon for my friendes that God would take them vp into heauen As thou art going thy iourney to the crosse at the point of death in the euening of thy agony and wheÌ„ they come to apprehend thy person among so many thinges which thou doest aske of thy Father doest thou ask nothing for thy selfe O heauenly care O vnspeakable loue O charity neuer heard of before such as thine is O creator of my soule towards all mankind seeing that in such a dismal day in such a narrow strait as thou art in thou hast cause sufficient to craue of thy father for thy selfe sauing only that to remember me thou doest forget thy selfe And Christ sayth that he doth aske for such as are his that is for those which in the depth of his eternity are predestinated and are in the number of the elect to the end that they may bee one thing in the father as the father and the sonne are one thing Let the curious reader marke in this place that this abuerbe Sicut dooth not in this place make an equality betwixt God and man but onely a resemblance and a likenesse for vnlike the which because Arrias would not vnderstaÌ„d became to be an infamous heretike When Christ said Sint vnum in me his meaning was this That which I aske of thee O heaueÌ„ly Father is that as those of my colledge be thy children and
he should not spoile the world of the good is a speech of great comfort for seeing that hee would not haue the world without good ones it is a signe that hee would that by them wee should be conuerted When the Lord would drowne all the world with a floud he did first put Noe in safety and when he would send fire vpon Sodome and Gomorra hee placed Lot vpon a high hill and when hee would punish the murmurers in the desert hee commanded Moyses and Aaron to goe out to the field so that it is a great signe that God is angry with some when hee taketh the good out of their company Vnhappy Iudas immediately after hee had departed out of that holy colledge hanged himselfe and it happened otherwise in S. Peter whom although Christ suffered to fall yet hee did not abandon him and put him out of his sight for as soone as hee had committed the fault Christ presently looked him in the face Iudas was a disciple and S. Peter was a disciple Iudas did sinne and S. Peter did sinne the one did sell Christ the other did denie Christ Iudas was damned and S. Peter saued and the reason was because Christ was where Peter sinned and would not bee where Iudas did hang himselfe In the two great captiuities of Babilon there were many iust men carried away captiue among the wicked as Thobias Daniell and Esdras and Abdias all which our Lord did send thither not because they had committed any sinne against him but for the consolation and remedy of some sinners What should become of sinners and naughty persons if our Lord should take away all good men from amongst them In the merit of the good and vertuous God doth sustaine vs which are sinners for otherwise because we are Gods enemies the sonne would not shine vpon vs nor the heauen would not raine vpon vs the aire would moue it selfe and the earth open and wild beastes would deuour vs and the diuels would kil vs. Gregory sayth That sinners may haue great hope when our Lord dooth not draw the iust from among them for in not seperating the good from the bad it is a token that by the merits and handes of those good men hee will draw vs from that which is naught and lead vs to that vvhich is good Ambrose sayth In those words which Christ spake I aske not for the world hee dooth threaten vs with his iustice and in the other speech of Non tollas eos de mundo hee doth flatter vs with his mercy seeing that in the one hee setteth away the obstinate from obtaining of mercy and in the other hee giueth hope vnto the weake that they shall haue part in his clemency I beseech thee then O my good Iesus I beseech thee that thou wouldest not seperate mee from among the good or else put not the good from mee for if I should not bee good for conscience at the least I should bee for shame It is also much to bee noted that our Lord dooth not entreat his Father that hee would not take the good out of the world but that hee would keepe them from all perill and daunger in so much that in his most high praier hee dooth neither forget the vveake nor bee carelesse of the good because for sinners hee praieth that they bee not forsaken of the good and for the iust hee praieth that they bee not ouermaistered by sinners If it bee true that Saint Gregory sayth Deus qui nos in tantis periculis and that the Apostle sayth Periculum in mari periculum in terra and also the Prophet Hoc mare magnum speciosum why doth not the sonne of God pray that his Father would deliuer vs from more than one danger seeing there are so many in the world It seemeth that there should bee some great euill in the vvorld seeing that Christ maketh mention of it and of no other as so it is truly for if that euill had not come into the world there should haue beene no hell in the other Irenaeus sayth As in heauen there is one holy one aboue all holy ones which is God and in hell there is one euill aboue all euils which is the diuell so there is in the world one naughty thing which passeth all the rest which is sinne Tell mee I pray thee what naughtinesse would there bee in the world if in the world there were no sinne Hunger and cold thirst and wearinesse we do vniustly call euils or naughty things because they are not naught of themselues but onely the reliques of that great euill for if wee had not knowne what thing sinne had beene neither should vvee haue knowne what hunger and cold had meant For to deliuer vs from this great euill Christ dooth teach vs to pray when wee say Sed libera nos a malo and so Christ in his praier sayth Non rogo vt tollas eos de mundo sed vt liberes eos de malo So that wee are to craue nothing else of our Lord but that hee would deliuer vs from sinne and guide vs in his seruice What doest thou aske thy Father O my good Iesus for thy elect what doest thou ask for thy welbeloued disciples I doe not aske riches for them for that is a fraile thing I doe not aske honour for them for that is a vaine thing nor life for that is transitory nor ease because there is none in this world I aske onely that thou wouldest deliuer them from sinne for my disciples cannot possesse greater riches than to haue their hearts cleare from sinnes Christ addeth further in his praier and sayth Non pro eis tantum rogo sed pro eis qui credituri sunt in me as if hee should say I doe not pray onely O my Father for these which eat at my table but for all those which will hereafter enter into my church because that thou being in mee by nature and I being with them by grace they may bee perfect in one perfect charitie Christ made his praier in very good order for first hee praied for himselfe then for his Disciples then for weake sinners and in the end for all those vvhich vvere to come If Christ should haue praied only for those which sat at his table what should haue become of all those which should afterward be borne in his catholicke church Chrisostome sayth That Christ praied for the quicke and for the dead for the present and for the absent for those which were already born for those which should afterward be born insomuch that all the fauors which God dooth for vs at this day Christ did merit for vs by his life and bloud and obtained them with his praier S. Augustine sayth In the merit of those words which Christ spake in his praier Non tantum pro eis rogo wee which are now in his church haue as great part in the merits of this life in the bestowing of his bloud and in the
the secōd to make vs clean of al that which we haue already sinned O what small need Christ hath to bee so many times annointed nor by the church helped for from the first instant of his incarnation was annointed not only the altar of his most holy humanity to enioy presētly the diuine essence but also all the members of his holy body were annointed because they might neuer sinne nor neuer be seperated from God The figure of annointing the altar with all the furniture was spoke of none but of Christ nor fulfilled in none but in Christ alone because it doth easily appeare that as the holyghost left no part in his soule nor body which he did not sanctifie and make holy so there was no power in his soule nor body which to our benefite hee did not imploy Wee may better say of Christ than of Moyses hee dooth annoint the altar Cum omni suppellectile seeing that with his feet hee visited the altars of the Temples with his hands cured the sick with his tongue preached to the people and with his heart forgaue sinners The end of the fift word which Christ our redeemer spake vpon the altar of the Crosse These foure chapters are all which the Author left made vpon the seuenth word which Christ spake vpon the crosse that is In manus tuus c. For whilest that he was a making it it pleased our Lord to take him out of this life CHAP. I. How God is the only and true comforter and how hee was Deus vltionum to the Synagogue and is to the church Pater misericordiarum BEnedictus deus pater domini nostri Iesu Christi pater misericordiarum deus totius consolationis qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra These are the words of the Apostle speaking of the goodnes and mercy of our Lord God as if hee should say Blessed and praised bee the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who is the father of all mercies and God of all comfort and who is the true consolation of all our tribulations With a high stile and lofty wordes the Apostle doth extoll the greatnesse and power of God in calling him Father and Father of mercies and God and the God of consolations and aboue all that he keepeth them not for himself only but doth succour vs with them in all our tribulations O how happy is the Apostle who vttereth these words and how blessed wee Christians for whom hee spake them and how blessed is Christ by whose merits they were spoken What grauer sentences or sweeter words could bee spoken seeing that by them he maketh himselfe of God our Father of a iudge our aduocate of a Lord our brother of a reuenger mercifull of him which was cruell gentle meek of him which could not be spoken with most affable and of one which was inuisible treatable Thou maist haue pitty on me and I haue pitty on thee and I can comfort thee thou canst comfort me but to haue pitty on all who can doe it but only the father of mercies and comfort all men who is able to doe it but only the father of all consolations If I be sicke one may cure me if I be naked another can cloth me if I be sad a freind can somewhat comfort mee but tell mee I pray thee who is able to helpe mee in all tribulation and distresse but only our Lord who doth cōfort vs in all our tribulations Who sayth by the Psalme Cum ipso sum in tribulatione of whom speaketh the Apostle Quod consolatur nos in omni tribulatione of who was he euer called whom he did not helpe The father of our Lord Iesus Christ is he who in calling vpon him doth open in speaking to him doth answer who being demanded any iust thing doth graunt it By peeces by patches and by crownes men can giue vs of their pleasures and the world his delights onely hee who is the God of all comfort can comfort vs in our distresses and succour vs in our necessities It is much to be noted that the Apostle doth not say the God of consolation but the Lord of all consolation whereof wee may inferre that all comfort which dooth not come of him is dissolute or fained or imperfect Wee should haue great pitty on those men which say Let vs go sport our selues at the water let vs goe walke in a garden who seeme rather to play the Idolaters then to recreate themselues seeing they put all their felicity and case in seeing a greene meddow in the running of the riuer in flourishing trees and to sit in a banketting house Seneca in an Epistle sayth Let no man thinke that consolation dooth consist in that which wee see with our eies or heare with our eares or touch with our hands or smel with our nose but only in that which the heart desireth for no man can bee at rest if his heart haue not contentment With variety of meats the tast is recreated the sight reioiceth in faire sights the hearing is delighted with sweet musick the smell is pleased with aromaticall perfumes and the feeling ioieth in soft thinges but what shall the poole heart doe which neither taketh tast in meats nor pleasure in musicke nor delight in that which it seeth nor contentment in that which it smelleth what other thing saith the church when she sayth Sursum corde but that we should lift vp our hearts vnto God seeing that there is no perfect consolation for them below in the world Al wicked men would bid God much good doe it him with his glory if they could find any perfect case vpon earth for their hearts but because they cannot find it bee he neuer so bad hee sighteth to goe to heauen We say all this because the Apostle saying that hee is the God of all consolation how can any man haue any consolation in this life vnlesse hee giue it him who is the God of all consolation How great soeuer a lord Hector was in Troy how great soeuer Alexander was in Asia and how mighty soeuer Caesar was in Rome notwithstanding Christ was greater in his church because all those Princes were such ouer their cities only but the sonne of God is the God of all consolations What greater pleasure then to giue pleasure to whom thou louest what greater contentment then to giue contentment to whome thou likest Our Lord kept this treasure for himselfe alone and reserued this segniory for himself that is Quod sit deus totius consolationis and therevpon it is that if he will not shew that which hee can doe and impart among vs that which he hath no iust mā should liue cōtētedly nor any Angell happily If as one is lord of many possessions and inheritances he were also of many pleasures and consolations what would wee not giue for them what would wee not bestow to attaine vnto them and vnto what would we not put our selues to take them
I am making O from my selfe then God desend me When such graue and wise men doe complaine on themselues wee haue small reason to trust to our selues because a wise man should distrust none more than himselfe I will iustly say Factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis for if I bee in the kings displeasure I forsake his countrey if I am pursued by iustice I flie from it if I be troubled with a naughty neighbour I remoue into another street but hauing my owne proper wil to my enemy how should I possibly flie from my selfe Who will not say I am made grieuous vnto my selfe seeing that within my owne heart I harbour loue and hatred contentment and discontment my will and my nill my liking disliking my ioies and my griefes and also my delight and my sorrow For my owne part I say and confesse that I am grieuous vnto my selfe considering that I vvillingly would that I had no such vvill for pride doth puffe mee vp enuy dooth consume mee gluttony doth wast mee anger causeth mee hatred incontinency dooth disquiet mee in so much that if I doe abstaine from sinne it is not because I haue not a vvill vnto it but because I am vveary and can sinne no more O how true it is Quòd factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis for if I bee sicke it is because I haue eaten too much if I bee poore it is because I tooke my pleasure too much if I bee imprisoned it is because I haue stolne if I bee sad it is for that I loued if I bee ashamed it is for somewhat that I haue coÌ„mitted if I be disconteÌ„ted it is through my own choise and if I haue committed an errour in my owne choise whom should I blame but my selfe If the truth bee well examined there is no man who ought to be more grieued with any man than with himselfe for as of one part we doe nothing else but complaine of the troubles and trauels which we suffer so on the other part we our selues doe continually seeke them If it be true that I am grieuous vnto my selfe with whome shall I haue a good peace if I my selfe doe make warre against my selfe Who shall deale with me that I bee not grieuous and troublesome seeing that I my selfe cannot bee content vvith my selfe By what meanes can I possibly set my neighbours at one if my sensuality and reason doe bandy one against the other Who vntill this day hath euer had more cruell enemies against him than I haue now of my owne thoughts and desires considering that they draw me to that which is good afeared and amazed and vnto that which is vvicked vvith great confidence and boldnesse I doe conclude then and say that considering the time which I lose and the small profite which I make the care I haue in sinning and careleslenes I haue in amending the great goodnesse I receiue at God his hands and how little I serue him the euill which I doe and the good which I hinder I am greatly ashamed to liue very sore afraid to die The end of the fourth word which Christ our redeemer spake vpon the Crosse Here beginneth the fift of the seuen words which the sonne of God spake vpon the Crosse to wit Sitio that is I am a thirst CHAP. I. Why the sonne of God did bid all those which were a thirst come vnto him and yet said vpon the crosse that he himselfe was a thirst SCiens Iesus quia omnia consummata sunt vt consummaretur Scriptura dicit Sitio These are one of the seuen words which Christ spake vpon the crosse which S. Iohn rehearseth in the 19 chapter as if he would say The sonne of God knowing that all that touched the redemption of all the world was now finished hauing an intention that all the scripture should be accomplished he spake the fift word saying Sitio that is I am a thirst Christ did well know that it was written in the Psalme In siti mea potauerunt me aceto seeing that to fulfill the Scripture he suffered that great thirst to the end that all the mysteries should bee accomplished vvhich were prophecied of his death The Prophets had prophecied many things in Christs name which hee should doe when hee came into the world among the which they had prophecied that he should suffer very great thirst and therefore to say that he had thirst to fulfill the Scripture was to say that hee did suffer that torment to vngage his vvord Christ did deale like a friend with all the Prophets and holy men of old time considering that to the cost of his life and great trauell of his holy person he did accomplish and fulfill all that which they had laid downe in Scripture to the great credite of the Prophets and great glory of holy writ and with the great trauell of his owne person Christ said preaching that there was no tittle no point nor sentence of holy Scripture vvhich should not be fulfilled according vnto the letter The first mystery of the incarnation Ecce virgo conciptes was fulfilled litterally seeing himselfe vvas a virgine and borne of a virgine and also the last mystery of his passion was accomplished litterally Dederunt in escam meam fel in siti mea potauerunt me aceto Seeing that they gaue him vpon the crosâ—e gaule and vineger to drinke What did Christ meane when he said that to fulfill the Scripture hee had such great thirst but that hee might now freely depart and goe out of this vvorld seeing that all the redemption was ended and the Scripture accomplished The simple Reader ought not to imagine that the sonne of God would not haue come into the world nor redeemed the world nor endured this torment and thirst if it had not been written in the Prophets for hee must learne that the Scriptures are tied vnto Christ and not Christ vnto the Scriptures because that they should not haue been written if hee should not haue been borne and crucified and yet he should haue been borne and crucified although the scripture had not spoken it Venerable Beed sayth Seeing that all Christs actions are great and those of his death and passion most great it is much to be noted and to bewondered at why it was the pleasure of the sonne of God that his thirst should be his last work and that he would depart out of this life with great thirst S. Augustine sayth The last griefe and paine which Christ suffered was his thirst the last complaint which hee made vvas of his thirst and the last request vvhich hee made vvas for a cup of vvater and the last torment vvhich he endured vvas of the gaule vineger and mire vvhich hee dranke because that immediately after that hee had tasted of that cup he gaue vp his ghost vnto his Father Seeing therfore that this thirst is the last torment the last request the last complaint and the last vvorke that Christ did in
this vvorld it is conuenient that vvee tell vvho hee is vvho suffereth this thirst vvhere hee dooth suffer it for vvhome hee doth suffer it and at vvhat time he doth suffer it Hee vvho suffereth is Christ the place vvhere is vpon the crosse I am hee for vvhose sake hee suffered it the time vvas vntill death insomuch that with the same great thirst vvhich hee endured his soule vvas drawne and pulled out of his body The high mysteries of the crosse of Christ may vvell bee compared vnto the eating of Pine-apples and their kernels the vvhich the oftener they be cast into the fire and taken out the more kernels they yeeld to eat and more huske to burn That which happeneth vnto the labourer vvith those Pines and kernels dooth happen vnto vs in these diuine mysteries in the vvhich the more vvee thinke vpon the passion and crosse the more secrets vvee discouer and the more mysteries vvee find Cyprian sayth That vvhich men dispose of a little before their death is alwaies of greater importance than that vvhich vve deale vvith in our life time because it is done vvith greater heed prouided for with deeper consideration ordered vvith better discretion rated and determined vvith better conscience No man did euer dispose better of his life and soule than Christ did of his owne person and the church because hee disposed of them vvith more care than Iacob vvth more pittie than Isaac with more discretion than Iosue vvith greater wisedome than Dauid and greater bounty and liberality than Salamon Mulier da mihi bibere said Christ to the Samaritane vvoman As if hee vvould say Giue mee a cup of vvater good woman because thou seest that I am weary of the way and very thirsty When Christ said vnto the woman Da mihi bibere and also when he said vpon the crosse I am a thirst it was a signe that he had been a thirst many daies and also many yeares and very desirous to quench his thirst with water That which Christ sayth in the 7 of Saint Iohn seemeth to bee very contrary vnto this If any man bee a thirst let him come vnto mee Vpon a solemne day of Easter Christ cried publikely in the market place If any man bee a thirst let him come vnto mee O high mystery and deepe secret who is able to vnderstand that which Christ sayth in this place seeing that sometime hee asketh the Samaritane woman for a little water and on the crosse hee sayth that he dieth with thirst and yet on the other side hee maketh open proclamation that all vvhich bee thirsty should come vnto him How can these two speeches hang together Woman giue mee some drinke and this If any man bee a thirst let him come vnto mee Doest thou inuite all men to come to drinke at thy Tauerne and hast thou not a cup of water for to quench thy owne thirst For the better vnderstanding of this it is to bee noted that God doth take some things of vs and yet there are some things which God doth giue vnto vs which is easily perceiued in that hee tooke flesh of vs when hee would become man and yet if wee vvill become pure and holy hee must impart his grace vnto vs. This being so vvhen Christ sayth If any man bee a thirst let him come vnto mee hee doth giue vs to vnderstand that hee is the fountaine of grace of the vvhich vvee should all drinke of and vvhen hee sayih Woman giue mee some drinke he doth let vs also vnderstand that there are some things in vs of the which hee would bee serued vvithall When the sonne of God sayth If any man bee thirsty let him come vnto mee to vvhat vvater thinkest thou doth he inuite thee but vnto the water of his grace and of his glory And when hee sayth vnto the Samaritane woman giue me drinke what water thinkest thou did he ask but onely patience and obedience Christ doth inuite vs to drinke of his great goodnesse and fauours and hee craueth of vs of the water of the pooles of our poore seruice saying Da mihi bibere in so much that to shew the great loue which hee doth beare vnto his creatures hee faineth that hee hath need of their seruices S. Barnard vpon those wordes of the Psalme Sitiuit anima mea ad deum fontem viuum sayth O what a great difference there is betwixt the thirst of the good and the bad because the bad thirst after nothing but wickednesse and the good after vertues the bad after temporall things and the good after spirituall the one after sinne and the other after amendment so that all the thirst of the wicked is after sinne and the thirst of the good after salnation Basil vpon the Psalme sayth The Prophet vvould neuer haue said My soule hath thirsted after God a liuely spring if hee could haue found the fountayne of glory in this vvorld and the vvater of grace in this life But alasse of how many vvaters soeuer wee drinke of and how many waters soeuer wee seeke for wee shall neuer meet with the water of life vntill vvee come to enioy the diuine essence Hugo de sancto victore vpon the Psalme sayth All the thinges of this life are drie fountaines and dead waters conrary all things of glory are fresh fountaines and water of life for there and not here vvee shall liue all contented and not thirst at all All which liue in this vvorld liue in hunger and thirst because all the vices vvhich wee like of doe hurt and not profite make vs sorrowfull and not ioifull vveary and not recreate vs loath and not fill vs. What vicious man is there in the world who the more he doth giue himselfe to vice is not the more thirsty after them Let not the Deuill deceaue thee my brother in saying I vvill now cloy and glut my selfe vvith vice for the more thou doest eat and drinke and bee merry although thou doe seeme to bee fully satisfied yet thou art not so but onely a vveary Saint Barnard vpon the Passion of our Lord sayth What dooth it meane that the sonne of God went out of this vvorld dead with thirst but onely that there is nothing in this world that can quench the thirst of our soule Anselmus sayth How is it possible O my good Iesus how is it possible that I should liue in the vvorld contented and fully satisfied seeing that thou diddest depart out of it hungry and thirsty S. Ierome vpon S. Luke saith All that the vvorld doth giue vs to quench our thirst withall is but vineger and all that hee giueth vs to mittigate our hunger is but gaule the which thinges being vvell prooued doe take away our life and not our thirst Robertus vpon Saint Iohn sayth That for the son of God to die vvith thirst is to let vs vnderstand that haue we neuer so many dignities let vs heap vp neuer so much riches and let vs proue neuer so many vices