you tell me what good do these second marriages produce which may serue to counteruaile so great miseryes Would we know what kind of thinges widdowes ought to be Let vs read the Ghospell according to Luke And Annâ—… the Prophetesse sayth he was the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asser. Phanuel in our tongue signifyes the face of God Aser is translated to signify both riches felicity Because therfore she had endured the burden of widowhood from her youth til she came to be fourescore and foure yeares old and departed not from the Temple of God insisting day and night by fasting prayer therefore did she deserue spirituall grace and to be stiled the daughter of the face of God and to be endowed with the riches and felicity of her ancestours Let vs remember the widow of Sarepta who preferred the hunger of Elias before her owne or her childrens health So that she being to dye with her sonne that night resolued to leaue her guest safe behinde her and choosing rather to loose her life then her giuing of almes did in that handfull of floure prepare for her selfe the seminary of a haruest from our Lord. The floure is sowed the vessels of oyle springes out In Iury there was scarcity of wheat for the graine of corne was dead there there flowed great fountains from the widowes oyle We read in Iudith if men be yet disposed to receaue that booke of a widow who was defeated by fasting and defaced by mourning weedes who lamented not her dead husband but sought the coming of a new spouse by the extreme neglect of her owne person I see that she appeares with a warlike sword and with a bloody right hand I perceaue she hath the head of Holophernes which she hath brought euen from the middest of her enemies A woman ouercomes men and chastity cuts off the head of lust and changing suddenly her habit she comes backe to that conquering neglect of her selfe more glorious then all the ornaments of this world could giue her Some there are who ignorantly reckon Deborah among the widowes thinke that Barach the Captaine was the sonne of Deborah though the scripture speake otherwise By vs she shall be named in regard that she was a Prophetesse and is reckened among the number of the Iudges And because she could say How sweet are thy wordes to my throat more then hony or the honycombe to my mouth she tooke the name of a Bee being fed by the flowers of holy Scripture and being imbrued by the odour of the Holy Ghost and composing the sweet iuyce of Ambrosia with her Propheticall mouth Noemi which signifyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which we may interpret The comforted her husband and children being dead in foraigne parts brought bake her chastity into her country and being sustained by that prouision she had a Moabite for her sonnes wife that this prophecy of Isay might be fulfilled Send forth O Lord the Lambe the subduer of the earth from the rocke of the desert to the mountaine of the daughter of Sion I com now to the widow of the Ghospell that poore widow more rich then all the people of Israell who taking a grayne of Mustard-seed and putting leuen into three cakes of flower did by the grace of the holy Ghost temper a confession of the Father and the Sonne and did cast two mytes into the Treasury Whatsoeuer she could be worth in all the world and all her riches without exception she offered in both the Testaments of her fayth These are the two Seraphims who thrice did glorify the Trinity and are layd vp for a treasure to the Church whereupon a burning coale being by the â—…onges of both those Testaments doth purify the lippes of a sinner Why should I repeat these auncient particulars and produce the vertues of woemen out of books when you may propose many to your selfe in the Citty where you liue whose example you ought to imitate And that I may not seeme to speake of them in particular by the way of flattery the holy Marsella will serue your turne who corresponding with the stocke wherof she came hath presented vs with some what out of the Ghospel Anna liued seauen years with her husband froÌ„ the tyme of her virginity Marsella seauen moneths The former expected the coming of Christ this later holdes him fast whome that other receaued The former saw him crying the later preaches him triumphing The former spoke of him to all such as expected the redemption of Israel the later cryes out thus with the nations which are now redeemed A brother doth not redeeme a man shall redeeme And out of another Psalme A man is borne in her and the most high hath founded her I remember that almost two yeares since I wrote some bookes against Iouinian wherein by the authority of Scriptures I fully satisfyed the questions which came against me where the Apostle grants liberty of second mariages And there is no necessity to repete them here at full length since you may haue what I haue writen there And now that I may not exceed the measure of an Epistle I will only giue you this lesson Remember daily that you must dye for then you will not be thinking of a second mariage Saint Hierome to Paulinus about the institution of a Monke A Good man bringeth forth good thinges out of the good treasure of his hart and the Tree is knowne by his fruit-You measure vs by your owne vertue and being great you extoll vs who are little and you fill the lowest roome ar the banket that you may be aduanced by his direction who makes the Feast For what is there in vs or how little is there that we should deserue to be praysed by learned wordes that we who are poore and meane should be commended by that mouth wherby that most religious Prince is defended But do not my deare brother esteeme of me according to the number of my yeares value not my wise dome by my age but my age by my wisedome according to that of Salomon A mans wisedome is his grey haires For Moyses was commaunded to choose seuenty six such Priestes as he knew to be Priestes that is to say such as were to be esteemed according to their wisedome not according to their age And Daniel whilest he was yet a youth gaue iudgment vpon aged men and their lasciuiousnes condemned them of vnchastity I say you must not iudge of a mans sufficiency after the rate of his age nor must you therefore thinke me to be more vertuous because I began to serue in the campe of Christ before you Paul the Apostle was changed from being a persecuter to be a vessell of election and being last in order he became first in merits because though he were the last he laboured more then they all Iudas of whome it was sayd But thou O man who diddest eate fainlliarly with me and wast my captaine and we walked
to the variety of perturbations which if they find a resting place in your hart will grow to exercise dominion ouer you and bring you at last to any grieuous sinne Be still doing somewhat that the Diuell may euer find you imployed If the Apostles who might haue liued vpon the Ghospell laboured with their hāds least they should ouercharge others and gaue almes to them from whome they might haue reaped carnall thinges for their spirituall why should not you prouid those thinges which are fit for your owne vse Either make some baskets of reedes or els of small wicker let the ground be raked and the garden beds diuided by some straight line into which as soone as you haue cast the seed of Kitchin herbes and other plants be set in order the springing waters may be brought and you may sit by as if you did euen see the contents of those most excellent verses The water on the ◅row of that steep passage playes VVhich falling on the p◅bles a soft noyse doth rayse And by th◅se liuely springes the Sunne-burnt fieldes allayes Let your vnfruitfull tree either be inoculated or ingraffed thas so in a small tyme you may eat the sauoury fruit of your labours Take order to make Bee-hiues to which the Prouerbes of Salomon send you and learne in those little bodies the order both of Monasticall and Monarchicall discipline Knit nets for taking of fish and write also somewhat that bot◅ your body may get food and your mind may be filled with reading The lasy person contents himselfe with bare desires The Monasteries of Egypt haue this custome that they admit of no man who will not vse corporall labour and that not so much for the necessity of corporall food as for the good of the soule Let not your mind wander vp and downe in pernitiou◅ cogitations nor be like to fornicating Hierusalem which partes her feet to all corners When I was a young man and when the deserts of solitude compassed me in I was not able to endure the incentiues of vice and the ardour of my nature which though I ◅amed with often fasting yet my mind would be boyling vp in other thoughts For the subduing whereof I committed my selfe to one who of a ◅ew was become a Christian and I made my selfe subiect to his discipline to the end that after I had passed by the sharpnes of Quintilian the easy flowing of Cicer◅ the graue stile of Fronto and the smoothnes of Pl◅y I might begin to study the Alphabet and meditate vp on these hissing and broken-winded wordes What labour i◅ cost me what difficulty I endured how often I despaired how often I ceased and how I began againe with a desire and strife to learne both my conscience who felt it is the witnes and so is theirs also who liued with me And I thanke our Lord that now I gather sweet fruit frō the bitter seed of those studies I will tell you also of another thing which I saw in Egypt There was a young man a Grecian in the Monastery who neither by abstinence of diet nor by any aboundance of the pains he tooke was able to extinguish the flame of flesh and blood This man being thus in danger the Father of the Monastery did preserue by this deuise He commanded a certaine graue person of the company that he should haunt the other wi◅h brables and reproaches in such sort that after the iniury was offered that other might be the first who also made cōplaint The witnesses being called did testify in his behalfe who had done the wrong The other would weep against that lye but no man was found who would belieue the truth only the Father would subtilly come in to his defence that so the brother might not be swallowed vp by too excessiue griefe What shal I say more There passed a yeare after this manner Vpon the ending whereof the young man being interrogated about his former thoughts whether yet they ◅gaue him any trouble Father sayth he I haue much adoe to liue and should I haue a mind to fornication If this man had beene alone by what meanes would he haue beene able to ouercome The Philosophers of this world are wont to driue away an old loue with a new like one naile with another which the seauen Persian Princes did to King Assuerus that the concupiscence which he had towards Queen Vasthi might be moderated by the loue of other Virgins They cure one vice and sinne by another but we cōquer vice by the loue of vertue Decline sayth he from euill d◅ good Seeke peace and pursue it Vnles we hate euill we cannot loue that which is good or rather we must do good that we may decline from euill we must seeke peace that we may fly from warre Nor doth it suffice vs to seeke it vnles we follow it with all endeauour when it is found for it is still flying from vs but being obtayned it exceeds all imagination and God holdes his habitation therein according to that of the Prophet And his place is in peace And it is elegantly sayd that Peace is persecuted according to that of the Apostle Persecuting bospitality For we must not inuite men with a sleight and complementall kind of speech and as I may say from the teeth outward but we must hold them fast with the whole affection of our mind as persons who after a compendious manner come to make vs rich No art is learnt without a Master Euen dumbe creatures and the heardes of wild beasts follow their leaders The Bees haue their Princes Cranes follow one of the flocke after a kind of learned manner There is but one Emperour and one supreme Iudge of a Prouince Rome as soone as it was built could not endure two brothers togeather for Kinges and so it was consecrared in paricide Esau and Iacob fought battailes in the wombe of Rebecca Euery Church hath one Bishop one Arch-Priest and euery Ecclesiasticall order relyes vpon his owne gouernours In a Ship there is one man who steeres in a house one Lord and the VVord comes but from one person how great soeuer the Army be And that I may not make my Reader weary by repetitions my whole speech tends but to this that I may teach you that you are not to be committed to the gouernement of your owne will but that you must liue in the Monastery vnder the discipline of one Father and in the conuersation of many that you may learne humility of one patience of another one man may teach you silence another meeknes Do not that which you desire eat that which you are bidden cloath your selfe with that which they offer performe the taske which is imposed be subiect to him to whome you desire not to be subiect come weary to your bed so that you may sleep euen as you go and as soone as you are sleeping soundly be compelled to rise Recite the Psalmes in your turne wherein not the sweetnes
he giues to you confesses those which he giues to others Vnles perhaps after the manner of Gentiles and prophane persons such as P◅rphyrius and Euuomius were you will pretend that these are but trickes of the Diuells and that indeed the Diuells cry not out but only that they fayne themselues to be in torment Take my counsaile goe to the Martyrs Churches and you shall be one day dispossest There shall you find many of your fellowes and you shall be burnt not by the tapers of Martyrs which displease you but by inuisible flames and then you will confesse what you now deny you wil freely publish your owne name though now you speake in the name of Vigilantius and say that either you are Mercury for your desire of money or Nocturnus according to the Amphitryo of Plautus who sleeping in adultery with Al◅mena Iupiter made two nights of one that Hercules might be borne full of strength Or els that you are Father Bacchus for your drunken head and you tankard hanging at your backe and your face euer red your lips foming and your vnbridled tongue rayling Whereupon there being a sudden earth-quake in this Prouince which raysed all men from their sleep you being the most discreet wise of mortall men were praying naked and represented to vs an Adam and an Eue as they were in Paradise Sauing that they hauing their eyes open and seeing themselues naked did blush and couer their secret partes with leaues of trees but you being as naked of cloathes as voyd of vertue and frighted with a sudden feare hauing somewhat in you of the surfet of the former night did expose the obscene parts of your body to the eyes of the Saints that you might shew how discreet a man you were Such enemyes as these hath the Church These are the Captaines who fight against the blood of Martyrs such Oratours as these thunder out against the Apostles or rather such madd Dogs as these barke against the disciples of Christ. I confesse my feare least perhaps in your opinion it might seem to grow from superstition When I haue bene angry when I haue had any ill thought in my mind and haue beene deluded by any imagination in the night I dare not goe into the Martyrs Churches I doe all so tremble both in body and minde Perhaps you will scoffe at me for this as if it were the dotage of some old woman But I blush not to hold fast the fayth of those woemen who were the first in seeing our Lord after his resurrection who were sent to his Apostles and who in the person of the Mother of our Lord sauiour were recomended to the same holy Apostles Go you belching on with the men who lead a worldy life I will fast with those woemen yea and also with those Religious men who carry chastity euen in their countenance and hauing their faces pale through continuall abstinence declare the modesty of Christ. Me thinkes you also seem to be troubled at another thing and that is least if chastity sobriety and fasting should continue to take deep footing in France your Tauernes would make little gayne and so you should not be able to continue those Vigills of the Diuel those drunken feasts all night lōg It is related to me besides in the same letters that you forbid men to be at any charge for the vse and comfort of those holy men who liue at Ierusalem against the authority of the Apostle Paul yea and of Peter also and of Iames and Iohn who gaue handes to Paul and Barnabas in testimony of their consent with them and required them to be mindefull of the poore But now if I should answere these thinges you would presently barke out and say that I am pleading myne owne cause you who haue been so liberall to all the world as that if you had not come to Iesuralem had not powred forth your own money or that of your Patrons we should all forsooth haue bene in danger to starue For my part I will but say that which the blessed Apostle Paul deliuers almost in all his Epistles and enioyneth the Churches which had bene conuerted among the Gentiles namely that vpon the first day after the Sabboth that is to say vpon the Sunday men were all to conferre about that alms which should be sent to Hierusalē either by their disciples or by others whome they should appoint and that if it proued to be of moment himself might either carry or send it In the Acts of the Apostles speaking to Foel◅x the Gouernour he sayth thus After many yeares being to giue much almes to the men of my nation and to make oblations and vowes I came to Ierusalem where they found me purifyed in the Temple But had he not also power to dispose of some part of that which he had receaued of others vpon the Churches in other parts of the world which growing to be Christian he had instructed by his preaching But yet he desired to impart the almes to the poore of those holy places who leauing their fortunes for Christ had deuoted themselues wholly to the seruice of our Lord. It were a long businesse if I would reflect vpon all the testimonies which might be brought out of euery one of those Epistles wherein the Apostle endeauours and with his whole affection makes hast to ordaine that money should be addressed to the faythfull at Hierusalem and to the holy places not to satisfy couetousnes but for their necessary comfort not for the gathering together of riches but for the vphoulding of their weake bodies and for the auoyding of hunger and cold this custome continuing in Iury euen to this day not only among vs Christians but among the Iewes also that they who meditate vpon the lawes of our Lords day and night and who haue no Father vpon earth but only God should be cherished by the charities of the Synagogues of the whole world with a fit equality not that some should be at ease and some in misery but that the aboundance of some might serue to supply the wāt of others But you will answere that euery man may do this in his owne country and that poore people will not be wanting to be mainteyned vpon the charity of the Church And so also neither doe we deny but that almes is to be giuen to all kind of poore people yea though they be euen Samaritans and Iewes if there be enough for all But the Apostle directeth indeed that we should giue almes to all but especially to them of the houshold of fayth in respect of whome our Lord sayd in the Ghospell Make your selues friendes by the Mammon of iniquity who may receaue you in the eternall Tabernacles Now I pray you can those poore people who among their rags and corporall mi◅eries haue burning lust ruling ouer them can they I say haue any eternall Tabernacles who possesse neith◅r present nor future thinges For not absolutly such as are
and since all Saints haue had Emulators and since there was a serpent euen in Paradice by whose enuy death entred into the world Our Lord had raised vp Adad the Idumean who might giue her now and then a knocke least she should extoll her selfe and he admonished her often and as it were with a kind of goad of the flesh least the greatnes of her vertue might snatch her vp too high and considering the vices of other woemen she might thinke her selfe to be placed out of all reach I would be saying to her that she must yeild to that bitter enuy and giue place to madnes which Iacob had done in the case of his brother Esaw and Dauid in that of Saull who was the most implacable of all enemyes whereof the one flede into Mesopotamia the other deliuered himselfe vp to strange people choosing rather to be subiect to enemyes then to enuyous persons But she would be answering me thus You might iustly say these thinges if the diuell fought not euery where against the seruants and handmayds of God if he got not the start of them in being the first at all those places whithersoeuer Christians went to fly Though I were not deteyned here by the loue of these holy places and if I were able to find my BethleÌ„ in any other part of the world but this yet whh should not I ouercome the bitternes of enuy with patience Why should I not breake the necke of pride by humility and to him who strikes one of my cheekes offer him the other Paul the Apostle saying Ouercome you euill with good Did not the Apostles glory when they suffered contumely for our Lord Did not our Sauiour humble himselfe taking the forme of a seruant being made obedient to his father euen to the death and that the death of the crosse that he might saue vs by his Passion If Iob had not fought and ouercome in the battell he had not receiued the crowne of iustice nor heard this word of our Lord Doest thou thinke I had any other mind in prouing thee then that thou mightest appeare iust They are said to be blessed in the Ghospell who suffer persecution for iustice Let our conscience be secure that we suffer not for our â—…innes then our afliction in this worâ—… doth but serue vs for matter of reward If at any time any enemy of hers had bene malepert and had proceeded so farre as to offer her any iniury of words she would resort to that of the Psalme VVhen the sinner set himselfe before me I held my peace and was silent euen from good thinges And againe I was like to a deafe person who heard not and like one who being dumbe did not open his mouth and I became as a man who doth not heare and hath not in his mouth any word of reproofe In temptations she would frequent those wordes of Deutronomy Your Lord God tempteth you that he may know whether you loue the Lord your God with your whole hart with your whole soule In aflictions and troubles she would repeat the words of Esay You who are weaned from milke and taken from the tet must expect tribulation vpon tribulation and hope vpon hope Yet expect a little for the malice of lips and for the wicked tongue And she would bring this testimony of scripture for her comfort because it belongs to such as are weaned and come to an estat of strength to endure tribulation vpon tribulation that they may deserue to haue hope vpon hope As knowing that tribulation works patience patience probation probation hope and hope makes not ashamed and that iâ—… the outward man grow into decay yet the inward man may be renewed And that this light and momentary tribulation of yours at the present may worke an eternall waight of glory in you who care not for the visible but for inuisible thinges for those thinges which are visible are teÌ„porall but those which are inuisible are eternall And that the time wil not be long though out impatience may thinke it so but quickle they shall see the help of God saying to them I haue heard you in a fit tyme and I haue succoured you in the day of saluation and that crafty lips and wicked tongues were not to be feared but that we must reioyce in our Lord and helper and that we must heare him admonishing vs thus by his Prophet Feare not the slaunders of men be not troubled at their blasphemies for the worme shall consume them as it would doâ—… a garment and the â—…oath shall deuoure them as if they were wooll And by your patience you shall possesse your soules And The sufferinges of this life are not worthy of that future glory which shall be reuealed in vs. And in an other place VVe must suffer tribulation vpon tribulation that we may proceed with patience in all thosâ—… thinges which happen to vs. For the patient man is full of wisedome but he who is pufill animous is extremely a foole withall In her frequent infitmities and sickenesses she would say VVhen I am weake then am I strongest and we keep a treasure in brickle vessells till this mortality of ours put on immortality and this corruption be apparelled with incorruption And againe As the sufferinges of Christ haue superabounded in vs so also hath consolation abouÌ„ded in vs through Christ. And then againe As you are companions in suffering so shall you also be in receauing comfort In her sorrowes she would say thus VVhy O my soule 〈◊〉 thou sad and why art thou troubled within me Put thy trust in God for still I will confesse to him who is the health of my countenancâ—… and my God In her dangers she would say He that will come after me must deny himselfe and take vp his Crosse and follow me And againe He that will saue his life shall loose it and he that for my â—…ake will be content to loose his life shall saue it When she suffered losses in her fortunes and when the ouerthrow of all her patrimony was declared to her she sayd But what doth it profit a man if he gaine the whole world and hurt his owne soule withal VVhat exchaÌ„ge shall a man giue for his soule And Naked I came out of my Mothers wombe and naked I shall returne As it pleased our Lord so is it done blessed be the name of our Lord. And that other Do not loue the world nor those things which are in the world for whatsoeuer is the world is the desire of the flesh the conâ—…upiscence of the eyes and the pride of this life which is not of the father but of the world and the world passes with the coÌ„cupiscencâ—… therof For I know when her friends wrote to her of the daÌ„gerous inâ—…irmities of her children especially of her Toxotius whome she did most dearely loue when she had effectually fullfilled that saying I am troubled haue not spoken she broke forth with
shew the antiquity of his nobility some few yeares since when he had the prefecture of the Citty ouerthrowe breake downe burne that denne of Mithra and all those prodigious Idols wherby C◅rax Niph◅ Nilon Leo Perses Helios and father Bromius or Bacchus are dedicated to those vses and hauing sent these hostages before him did he not obtayne the Baptisme of Christ Gentility suffers a kind of desolation of a wildernes euen in the Citty The Gods which heretofore we adored by the Nations of the world are now onely remayning in the tops of houses with skrich Owles The Ensignes of the Crosse are now become the standa◅s of the campe The healthful picture of the same Crosse serues to beautify the Purple Robes of Kings the bright burning gemmes of their diademes Now the Egyptian Serapis is turned Christian Marnas who is shut vp in Gaza mournes and perpetually trembles for feare of the euersion of that Temple Out of India Persia and Ethiopia we daily ◅nterteyne whole troopes of Monckes The Armenian hath layd his quiuers aside the ◅uns learne the Psalter the frozen Scythia doth euen boyle vp through the heat of faith The red and yellow Army of the Getes carry Churches like Tents round about and therefore is it perhaps that they make their part good against v◅ by way of Armes because they embrace our Religion I am almost fallen away into an other matter the wheele running round whilest I was thinking vpon a little pitcher my hand hath made a great tankerd For my purpose was to direct my speech vpon the request of holy Marcella and you to a Mother that is to your selfe and to teach you how you are to instruct our Paula who was consecrated to Christ before she was borne and whome you conceiued in your vowes before you did it in your wombe Somewhat we haue seene in our tyme of the propheticall Bookes Ann◅ exchanged barrennes for fruitfullnes and you haue now changed your said fruitfullnes for hopefull children I speake it confidently you shall haue more children you who haue payd the first borne to God These are those first borne which were offered in the law So was Samuel borne and so was Sampson and so did Iohn Baptist reioyce and exult vpon the arriuall of Mary For he heard the words of our Lord thūdering in his eares by the mouth of the virgin and he stroue to breake forth of his Mothers wombe that he might haue met him So that she who was borne by repromission must obtaine such instruction from her parentes as may be worthy of her birth Samuel was brought vp in the Temple Iohn was prepared in the desert The former was venerable by his sacred haire and druncke neither wine nor any other thing which could inebriate and whilest he was yet but a little one he had conuersation with our Lord. The later flyes from Citties he was bound in by a girdle of haire he was fed with locusts and wild hony and in type of the pennance which he was to preach he was apparelled with the spoile or skine of the Camel that most crooked beast So must that soule be instructed which is to become the Temple of God Let her learne to heare and speake nothing but that which belongs to the feare of God Let her not vnderstand a fowle word and let her be ignorant of the songes which the world is wont to sing Let her tongue be enured to sweet Psalmes whilest it is young Away with the vsuall wantonnes of children and let the girles and waiting maides be remoued from secular conuersation least what they haue learned ill they teach worse Let some Alphabet of letters be made for her either of Boxe or Iuory let them be called by their names Let her play with them that so her very playing may be learning and let her not only learne the order of the letters that the memory of names may passe into the tune of some songe but let euen that very order he inuerted and let the last letters be mingled with them of the middest and they of the middest with the foremost that she may not only know them by roat but by vse But when she beginnes with a weake shaking hand to draw her stile vpon waxe let either the tender ioyntes of her fingers be ruled by the casting of some hand ouer hers or els let the letters be grauen vpon some little table that the lines may be drawne still shut vp in margens by the same hollowes so they may not wander abroad Let some reward be propounded to her when she beginnes to ioyne the sillables and let her be animated by such kind of Presents as are wont to take the most flattering hold vpon that tender age Let her also haue companious in learning whom she may enuy and by whose prayses she may be stung If she be at all slowe of wit let her not be chidden but you must raise it with comendation of her that she may be glad when she hath conquered and be sorry when she is ouercome You must chiefly take care that she be not brought to mislike learning and that the bitter way of teaching her in her infancy may not be remembred by her whē she shall haue passed beyond those tender yeares Those names whereby she shall accustome her selfe by little and little to knit words together must not be casuall but appointed and industriously compiled namely of the Prophets the Apostles let the whole series of the Patriarkes from Adam be brought downe as it is deliuered in Matthew and Luke That so whilest she is about this other businesse a preparation of matter may be made for her memory to be layd vp thereby for after tymes Some Master must be chosen of fit yeares for her and of good life knowledge And I hope a learned man will not thinke much to do that in the behalfe of a noble virgin which Aristotle did for the sonne of Phillip who tooke the office of clarckes or booke wrighters away by teaching him first to reade Those thinges are not to be contemned as little without which great thinges cannot stand The very ayre or manner of the letters and the first teaching of Rules doth sound after one fashion out of a learned mouth and after another if the man be ignorant and rude And therefore you must prouide that through the foolish dandlings of woemen your daughter get not a custome of pronouncing certaine halfe wordes Nor to play with gold or gay cloathes though it be but in iest for the former of these two things hurts the tongue the latter hurts the mind and she may chance learne that when she is young which afterward she must be fayne to vnlearne The māner of Hortensius his speech was gotten by him in his fathers armes That is hardly scraped out which young vnfashioned mindes haue drunke in Who shall be able to reduce purple wooll to the former whitenes A new vessell long
retaynes both that odour and taste whereof it receiued the first impression The Grecian history relates how Alexander that most powerfull King and conquerour of the world had not power to want the defect of his Tutour Leonides both in his gate and behauiour otherwise wherewith he was infected being a little one For it is a matter of much ease to grow like an other in any thing which is ill and you may readily imitate their vices to whose vertues you cannot ariue Let not euen her nurse be giuen to wine nor be wanton or tatling Let her be carryed by some modest creature let the man who ouerlookes her be a graue person When she sees her grandfather make her skippe into his bosome and hang about his necke and sing Alleluia to him whether he will or no. Let her grand mother snatch her to her selfe and acknowledge that she smyles like her father Let her be amiable to all and let the whole kinred reioyce that such a rose is sprung from thence Let her quickly be told what her other grand mother and aunt she hath and for the seruice of what Emperour and for what Army she is brought vp though yet she be but a green souldier Let her desire to be with them and let her threaten you that she will be gone to them from you Her very habite and cloathing must tell her to whom she is promised Take heed you bore not through her eares that you paynt not that face which is consecrated to Christ either with white or red nor oppresse her necke with gold pearle nor load her head with gemmes nor make her haire yellow and bespeake not by that meanes a part of hell-fyer for her Let her haue an other kind of pearles by the selling whereof afterward she may purchace that one great Pearle which is the most pretious of all A certaine noble woman of the highest rancke vpon the comaundment of Hymetius her husband who was vncle to the virgin Eustochium did once change the manner of her habit and dressing and knit vp her neglected haire after a secular fashion desiring thereby to ouercome both the purpose of the virgin her selfe and the desire of her mother But behould the very selfe same night she sees when she was at rest that an angell was already come towards her threating punishment with a terrible voice and storming out these words Hast thou presumed to preferre the comaundment of thy husband before Christ Hast thou presumed to tou◅ the head of the virgin of God with thy sacrilegious handes which euen at this instant shall wither vp that thou mayest feele with tormentes what thou hast done and at the end of the fifth moneth from hence thou shalt be lead downe to hell All these thinges were fulfilled in the selfe same order as they were foretold and the swift destruction of that miserable creature declared the latenes of her penance So doth Christ reuenge himselfe vpon the violater of his temples and so doth he defend his owne iewels and most pretious ornaments I haue related this particular not that I would insult vpō the calamities of vnfortunat creatures but that I may admonish you with how great feare and caution you must preserue that which you haue promised to God H◅ls the Priest offended God by the sinnes of his sonnes He must not be made a Bishop who hath luxurious and disobedient children But on the other side it is written of woman that she shall be saued by the bringing forth of children if they remayne in faith and charity and sanctification with chastity But now if a sonne of perfect age and who hath discretion to guide himselfe be put vpon the account of his parents when he doth il how much more shall it be so in the case of sucking and weake children who according to the iudgment of our Lord know not their right hand from the left that is to say the differēce between good ill If you will prouide with extraordinary care that you daughter be not bitten by a viper why will you not prouide with the like care that she may not be stroken by that beetle which beates vpon the whole earth that she may not drinke of the golden cup of Babylon that she go not forth with Dina to se the daughter of a straung nation that she dance not and weare not curious cloathes Poyson is not offered vnles it be ouerspred with hony and vice deceiues not but vnder the shadow and shew of vertue But how will you say The sinnes of fathers are not punished vpon the children nor of the children vpon the parents but that soule which sinnes shall dye This is said of them who haue discretion and of whom it is written in the Ghospell He is of age let him speake for himself But he who is a little one and who iudges of thinges like a little one till he come to the yeares of discretion and till the letter of Pythagoras the Y bring him to the parting of the two wayes both the good and ill of such a one is imputed to the parents Vnles you will perhaps conceiue that the children of Christians if they receiue not Baptisme are onely guilty of that sinne and that the wickednes hath no relation to them who would not giue the Baptisme especially if it be at such tyme as when they who are to receiue Baptisme haue no power to refuse it But so on the other side the good of those Infants is also the gayne of their parents It was in your power whether or no you would offer vp your daughter though yet your case be different who made a vow of her before you conceiued but that now you should neglect her breeding whē you haue offered her will touch you selfe in point of danger He who makes oblation of a Sacrifice which is lame or maymed or defiled with any spot is guilty of sacriledge and how much more will she be punished who is negligent in preparing a part of her owne body and the purity of an vntouched mind for the embracements of the King When she beginnes to be a little growne and to encrease in wisedome age and grace both with God and man after the example of her spowse let her go to the Temple of her true father with her parents but let her not depart with them out of the Temple Let thē seeke her in the iourney of this world and amongst the troupes of her kinred but let them find her no where els but in the secret retiring place of holy scriptures asking questions of the Prophets and Apostles couering her spirituell mariage Let her imitatat Mary whome Gabriel found aboue in her chamber and who was therefore stroken with feare because she saw a man as she was not wont to do Let her imitate her of whom it is said All the glory of that daughter of the King i◅ from within Let her also say to her elect being wounded by
is alone let her be affraid let her not haue conuersation with secular persons nor cohabit◅ with ill bred Virgins Let her not be present at the marriage of your seruants nor mingle her selfe with the sports of the vnquiet family I know some who haue aduised that the virgin of Christ may not bath her selfe with so much as Eunches nor with marryed woemen for the former lay not downe the mindes of mē and the later by their great bellyes shew about what busines they haue bene For my part I am vtterly against liking that a virgin of ripe yeares should vse bathes at all who ought to be ashamed and euen not to see her selfe naked For if she macerate her body and reduce it to seruitude by watching and fasting if she desire to extinguish the incentiues and flame of lust of her boyling youth by the coolenes of abstinance if by the desire of neglecting her selfe she make hast to put her natural beauty in disorder why should she on the other side stirre vp couered fyer by the entertainment and incouragement of Bathes Insteed of silke and gemmes let her loue the diuine bookes wherein not the picture which is limmed with gold vpon Babylonian parchment but an exact and learned edition or coppy may giue delight Let her first learne the Psalter let her diuert her selfe from vanity by those songes and let her life be instructed by the Prouerbs of Salomon In Ecclesiastes let her learne to despise worldly thinges In Iob let her follow the examples of vertue and patience Let her passe from thence to the Ghospels and neuer lay them out of her hands Let her sucke in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles with the whole affection of her hart And when she hath enriched the store-house of her brest with those goods let her commit the Prophets to memory the fiue bookes of Moyses the bookes of Kinges the Cronicles and the volumes also of Esdras and Hester At the last she may without danger learne the Canticle of Canticles which if she had red in the beginning she might perhaps haue been wounded through want of vnderstanding that nuptiall songe of spirituall Marriage which is expressed vnder corporall wordes Let her take heed of all Apocriphall bookes And if at any time she will read them not for the truth of doctrine but for the reuerence which is due to Miracles let her know that they are not theirs vnder whose names they go◅ and that many vitious thinges be mingled there with and that the man had need of much prudence who is to seeke gold in durt Let her euer haue the workes of Cyprian in her hand and she may with a secure foot runne ouer the Epistles of Athanasius and the bookes of Hilarius Let her be delighted with their tracts and wits in whose bookes the piety of faith wauers not And as for other Authours let her read them so as that she may ra ther iudge of them then be ruled by them But you will say how can I being a secular woman obserue all these things at Rome in such a great crowd of people Do not vndergo that burden which you are not able to beare but when you shall haue wenaed her with Isaac and shall haue clad her with Samuell send her to her grandmother and her aunt Restore that most pretious gemme to the chamber of Mary and let it be set vpon the cradle of Iesus who is crying out there like an infant Let her be brought vp in the Monastery let her life be spent among those quiers of virgins let her not learne to sweare let her hold a lye to be a sacriledge let her be ignorant of the world let her liue angelically let her conuerse in flesh without flesh let her ◅ld all others to be like her selfe And that I may passe ouer the rest with silence let her free you from the difficulty danger of cōseruing her It is better for you to wish for her when she is absent then to be frighted concerning her vpon al occasions when she is present about what she is saying with whome she is speaking towardes whome she makes a signe and vpon whome she lookes with a good will Deliuer this little one ouer to Eustochium the childes very crying now like an infant is a kind of prayer for you Deliuer to Eustochium this companion of sanctity whome hereafter she may leaue her heire thereof Let her looke vpon her Aunt loue her and admire her euen from her infancy whose speech whose gate and whose conuersation is the very doctrine it selfe of vertue Let her be in the lappe of her grandmother who may hereafter reap in her grand-child whatsoeuer she sowed in her daughter who hath learned by long experience to bring vp to conserue to instruct virgins whose crowne is wouen with chastity and it hath the increase of a hundred fould O happy virgin O happy Paula the daughter of Toxotius who through the vertue of her grandmother and of her aūt is more honourable by sanctity then by nobility of stock O that you might happē to see that mother and sister in law of yours and behold those great mindes in little bodies I doubt not but according to that modesty wherwith you are naturaly indued you would outstrip your daughter and change that first sentence of God for that second law of the Ghospel nor would you only contemne the desire of having more posterity but would rather offer your selfe to God But because there is a time for embracing and a time for abstayning and the wife hath not power ouer her body And Let euery one who is called continue in the same vocation in our Lord. And since he who is vnder the yoke with another must so runne as not to leaue his cōpanion in the durt doe you restore that wholly in your ofspring which you defer in the meane time concerning your selfe Anna did neuer receaue her sonne againe whom she vowed to God when once she had offered him in the Tabernacle esteeming it to be an indecent thing that he who was to be a Prophet should grow vp in her house who had still a desire of more children In fine after she had conceiued and brought him forth she durst not approach to the Temple nor appeare empty handed before our Lord till first she had payd what she ought and hauing made an immolation of that sacrifice and returning home she brought fiue children for her selfe for her first borne was brought forth by her for our Lord. Admire you the fidelity of this holy woman Imitate also her fayth If you will send Paula hither my selfe make you a promise that I will be both her teacher and her foster-foster-father I will carry her vpon my shoulders and though I be an old man I will by imitation of stammering frame wordes fit for her and will esteeme my self much more glorious then that Philosopher of the world I who shall not be instructing that Macedonian King
who was to be destroyed by poison but a hand-maid and spouse of Christ our Lord to be prepared for his celestiall kingdome Saint Hierome to Furia about keeping her selfe in state of widdowhood YOV desire me by your letters and you entreat me in a lowly kind of manner to answere you and I will write how you ought to liue and conserue the crowne of widowhood without touch to the reputation of your chastity My mind reioyces my hart exults and the affection of my soule doth euen earne with gladnes to see you desire that after your husbands life which your mother Titiana of holy memory did mainteyne and performe a long time whilest her husband liued Her petition and prayers are heard She obtayned that her only daughter should arriue to that which her selfe when she was aliue did possesse You haue besides a great priuiledge from the house whereof you came in that since Camillus his dayes it is hardly writen that any woman of your family was euer marryed a second tyme. So that you are not so prayse-worthy if you coÌ„tinue a widdow as you will deserue to be detested if you keep not that being a ChristiaÌ„ which PagaÌ„ woemen haue kept for so many ages I say nothing of Paula Eustochium who are the flowers of your stocke least by occasion of exhorting you I may seeme to prayse them I also passe by Blesilla who following your husband and your brother ran through much tyme after the account of vertue in a short space of her life And I wish that men would imitate that for which woemen may be praysed and that wrinkled old age would restore what youth doth offer of his owne accord I do wittingly willingly thrust my hand into the fyre The browes will be knit the arme will be stretched out angry Chremes rage till his face swell The great Lords will staÌ„d vp against this letter the nobility of lower ranke wil thunder crying out that I am a witch I a seducer and fit to be carryed away into the furthest part of the world Let them add if they will that I am also a Samaritan to the end that I may acknowledge the title of my Lord. But the truth is I deuide not the daughter froÌ„ the mother nor doe I bring that of the Ghospell let the dead bury the dead For he liues whosoeuer he be that belieues in Christ But he that belieues in him must also walke as he walked A way with that enuy malignitity which the sharpe tooth of 〈◊〉 tongued men would euer be fasting vpon Christians that whilest they feare reproach they may be vrged to forsake the loue of vertue Except it be by letters we know not one another and then piety is the onely cause where there is no notice of flesh and blood Honour you father if he seperate you not from the true Father So long you must acknowledge the tye of blood as he shall know his Creatour For otherwise Dauid will speake thus to you in playne termes Hearken O daughter see and incline thyne eare and forget thy people and thy fathers house and the King will earnestly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord. A great reward for hauing forgoten a father The King will earnestly desire thy beauty Because you sawe because you inclined your eare and haue forgotten your people your fathers house therfore the King will earnestly desire your beauty and will say to you Thou art all fayre my friend and there is no spot in thee What is more beautifull then a soule which is called the daughter of God and eares for noe exteriour ornaments She belieues in Christ and being aduanced to this high honour she passes on to her spouse hauing him for her Lord who is her husband What troubles are found in these other marriages you haue found in the marriages themselues and being satisfyed euen to a glut with the flesh of quailes your iawes haue bene filled with extreme bitternes You haue cast vp those sharpe and vnwholosome meates you haue rendred that boyling vnquiet stomacke Why will you cramme you selfe againe with that which did yea hurt like a Dog returning to his voâ—…it and a Sâ—…w made cleane in a wallowing place of durt Euen bruit beastes and wild birdes are not apt to fall againe into the same ginnes and nets Are you perhaps affrayd that the family of your Furia's should faile and that your father should not haue some little child sprunge from your body who may craule vp and downe his brest and bedaube his necke with filth As if all they who were marryed had borne children or they who haue had children had them euer answerable to the stocke whereof they came Belike Cicero'es sonne did resemble his father in eloquence and your auncestour Cornelia who was indeed the example both of chastity and fecundity was glad belike that she brought the Gracchi into the world It is a ridiculous thing to hope for that as a thing certaine which you see that many haue not others haue lost when they had it But to whom shal you resigne so great riches to Christ who cannot dye Whom shall you haue for your heire him who is also your Lord. Your father will be troubled at it but Christ will be glad your family will mourne but the angels will reioyce Let your father do what he will with his estate you belong not â—…o him of whom you were borne but to him by whom you were regenerated who redeemed you with that great price of his owne blood Take heed of those nurses and those woemen who are wont to carry the children in their armes and such venemous creatures as they who desire to seed their bellyes euen out of your very skinne They perswade you not to that which is good for you but for themselues And they are often giuing out those verses VVilt thou alone consume thy youth in vayne And children sweet and loues rewards disdayne But men will say that where the sanctity of chastity is there is frugality where frugality is there are the seruants put to losse They thinke themselues robbed of whatsoeuer they carry not away and they consider but how much and not of how much they receiue it Wheresoeuer they see a Christian they encounter him with that coÌ„mon scorne of being an Impostor Thâ—…se people sow most shamefull rumours and that which came first from themselues they giue out to haue had from others being both the authors and exaggerators of the report A publique â—…ame grows out of a meere lye which being once come to the Matrons eares and hauing bene canuased by their tongues passes on and penetrates euen through whole Prouinces You shall see many of them fall into the very rage of mad people and with a spotted face and vipers eyes and woorm-eaten teeth raile at Christians Heeâ—… one who in some stately purple mantle goes And mumbling out some filthy thing through her fowle nose Trippes vp her
wordes and doth her toothles mouth disclose And then forsooth all the company makes a buz on her side and the audience barkes out against vs yea and some of our owne institute ioyne with theâ—… being both the detractors and the detracted Against vs they haue tongue inough but they are dumbe in finding fault with themselues as if eueÌ„ they were also any other thing then Monkes and that whatsoeuer is spoken against Monkes did not redound vpon Priests who are the fathers of Monks The losse of the sheep is a reproach to the shepheard as on the other side the life of that Monke deserues praise who reuerences the Priests of Christ and detracts not from that order whereby he is made a Christian I haue said thus much to you O daughter in Christ not doubting of your purpose for you wolud neuer haue desired my letters of exhortation if you had made any question of the good of single marriage but to the end that you might vnderstand the wickednes of seruants who set a price vpon you and the sleights of kinsmen and the pious errour of your father to whoÌ„ though I will easily allow that he loues you yet I cannot grant that it is a loue according to knowledge But I say with the Apostle I confesse they haue zeale but not according to knowledge Do you rather imitate for this I must often repeat that holy mother of yours whom as often as I remember it occurres to me to thinke of her ardent loue towards Christ her palenes through fasting her almes to the poore her obsequiousnes to the seruants of God the humility both of her exteriour and of her hart and her speech which was so moderate vpon all occasions Let your father whom I name with honour and all due respect not because he is of Consular authority and a Seuator but because he is a Christian fulfil the effect of his name Let him reioyce that he begat a daughter not for the world but for Christ or rather let him grieue that you haue lost your virginity in vayne and with all haue not gathered the fruit of marriage Where is the husbaÌ„d which he gaue you Though he had bene amiable though he had bene good death would haue snatched all away and his departure would haue vntyed the knot of flesh and blood I beseech you take speedy hold of the occasion and make a vertue of necessity The beginning of Christians doth not so much import as the end Paul began ill but ended well and the beginnings of Iudas are praised but his end was made daÌ„nable by his trechery Read Bâ—…chiel WhoÌ„soeuer the iust man shall sinne his iusticâ—… shall not deliuer him and the impiety of the wicked shall not hurt him whensoeuer he shall be conuerted from his impiety This is Iacobs ladder by which the Angels ascend and descend from the top whereof our Lord leaning do wâ—…e ward reaches out his hand â—…o such as are weary sufâ—…eyning the weake steps of them who climbe by the contemplatiâ—… of himselfe But as he desires not the death of a sinner but that he may be conuerted and liue so he hates such as are tepid they quickly make him ready euen to cast the gorge She to whomâ—… more iâ—… forgiuen loueth more That vncleane woman who was baptised in the Ghospell in her teares and she who had formerly deceiued many with the haire of her head was saued by wiping the feet of our Lord. She brought not frizled dressings with her nor crackling shooes nor eyes which were smoaked ouer with Antimony So much the fowler she was so much was she the fayrer What should painting white or red doe vpon the face of a Christian whereof the one tels a lye in making red the lips and cheeks the other doth as much in making white the forehead and necks They are fyer to enflame young people they are the entertainments and encouragements of lust and they are testimonyes of an vnchast mind How will such a one weepe for her sinnes whose teares shew her skine and do euen make furrowes in the face This is not an ornament according to our Lord but it is a couering of Antichrist Wâ—…h what confidence can a woman lift vp that face to heauen which the Creator of all thinges knowes not It is impertinent for any to alledge her youth or tender yeares The widow who hath left to please her husband who according to the Apostle is a widow indeed hath need of nothing but perseuerance It is true that she remembers â—…her former pleasure she knowes what she hath lost and wherin she tooke delight but these burning arrowes of the diuell are to be quenched by the rigour of watching and fasting Either let vs frame our discourse according to that kind of life which we seem to lead otherwise or els let vs seem to liue according to the discourse we hold Why do we professe one thing practise another The tongue talkes of chastity and the exteriour of the whole body iust the contrary And this I haue thought good to say of the dressing and habit of the body But the widow who liues in delights is dead euen whilest she is aliue and this is not my saying but the Apostles What is the meaning of this She is dead euen whilest she is aliue She seemes indeed to liue in the eyes of ignorant people and not to be dead in Christ from whome no secret is concealed The soule which sinnes the same shall dye Some mens sinnes are manifest precede their iudgment but some other â—…ena sinnes follow it And so also good deedes are manifest and such as are not good cannot lye hid He speakes therefore to this effect There are some who sinne publikely and so freely that so soone as you see them you presently vnderstand them to be sinners but others who hide theâ—… sinnes with 〈◊〉 are knowne afterward by their conuersation and in like manner the good deedes of some are very publike and they of others are not knowne to vs but only by long experience afterward To what purpose is it therefore that we stand bragging of chastity which is not able to wine credit foâ—… it selfe without her companions and accâ—…ssaries which are A lâ—…st 〈◊〉 Thirst The Apostle macâ—…rares his body 〈◊〉 bringes it vnder the subiection of his soule for feare leasâ—… otherwise he should not find that to be in himself which he had inioyned to others And shall a young woman whose blood is boyling vp with meat be secure concerning her chastity â—… Neither yet whilest I am saying this do I condemne those meates which God hath created to be vsed by vs with thankesgiuing but I take from young people maides the motiues and intertainments of pleasure They are not the firâ—… of Aetnâ—… nor that land of Vulcan nor eyther 〈◊〉 or Oâ—… which boyle vp in so huge â—…heat as do the most inward â—…ines of young people when they are full of vâ—…ine
togeather in the house of God was the betrayer of his friend and of his Master and was reproued by our Sauiours wordes and tyed the knot of his owne vgly death vpon a high tr◅c On the other side the theefe exchanged the Crosse for Paradice and made that punishment of his murders to stand for Martyrdome How many do at this day euen by liuing long carry themselues as it were dead to Church and being whited sepulchres without are full of dead mens bones within A sudden lusty heat is better then along tepidity In fine you hearing those words of our Sauiour If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all though hast and giue it to the poore and follow me do turne those wordes into deeds being naked do follow the naked Crosse and so doe more lightly and nimbly clime vp Iacobs ladder you haue changed you mind with your habite and do not with a full purse affect any glorious kind of filth but with cleane hand and a pure hart you prize your selfe to be poore in deed and in spirit For there is no great matter in countersetting or making ostentation of fasting by carrying a pale and wanne face about and for a man to bragge of carrying a poore cloake vpon his backe when he is rich in reuenues That Crates of Thebes who formerly had bene extremely rich when he came to be a Philosopher at Athens cast away a great somme of gold nor did he thinke that a man could possesse vertue and riches both together But we being all stuffed with gold will needs follow Christ who was so poore and attending to our former rich estates vnder the pretence of enabling our felues to giue almes how shall we distribut the goods of other men faithfully to others when we do so fearfully reserue our owne It is an easy matter for a full belly to dispute of fasting It deserues no comendation to haue liued at Ierusalem but to haue liued there wel That Citty is to be desired that to be praised not which kils the Prophets and which hath spilt the blood of Christ but which the impetuousnes of the riuer doth make glad which placed vpon the hill cannot be concealed which the Apostle cals the mother of Saints of which Citty he reioyces that he is made a free-denison Neither yet by saying this do I taxe my selfe of inconstancy or condemne that which I do that so I should in vayne seem to haue left my friends and country after the example of Abraham but I dare not circumscribe the omnipotency of God to so narrow as compasse and to confine him to a small place of the earth whom heauen is not able to contayne The faithfull are not waighed by the diuersity of places but by the merit of their faith And they who are true adorers adore not the father either in Ierusalem or in Mount Gasarim for God is a spirit and they must do it in spirit and truth The spirit breaths where it will The earth the fulnes therof is our Lords Since the whole world was bathed with that celestial dew the fleece of Iury being dry and many coming from the East and VVest haue reposed in the bosome of Abraham God hath giuen ouer to be only knowne in Iury and to haue his name great in Israell but the sound of the Apostles is now gone ouer the whole earth and their wordes euen to the ends of the world Our Sauiour speaking to his Disciples when he was in the Temple sayd thus Ryse vp let vs goe hence And to the Iews Tour house shall be left desert to you If heauen earth shall passe certainly all thinges which are earthly shall passe And therfore the places of the Crosse and Resurrection shall profit thē who carry their Crosse who ryse daily with Christ and who make themselues worthy of such an excellent habitation But they who say The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord Let them heare the Apostle say You are the temple of our Lord and the holy Ghost dwells in you And that heauenly Court is open alike both towardes Hierusalem and towardes Britanny For the kingdome of God is within you Anthony and all those swarmes of Monkes of Egypt and Mesopotamia Pontus Capad◅cis and Armenia neuer saw Hierusalem and heauen is open to them without any relation to this Citty Blessed Hilarion who was of Palestine and liued there did neuer spend but one day in the seeing of Hierusalem to the end that being so neere hand he might neither seeme to contemne those holy places nor yet on the other side might seeme to shut vp our Lord in any one place From the tymes of Adrian to the empire of Constantine which imported about the tyme of a hundred and foure score yeares in the place of the Resurrection there was an Idoll of Iupiter In the rocke of the Crosse there was placed a marble statue of Venus to be worshipped The persecutours who were authours therof conceiuing that they might abolish our Fayth of the Resurrection and of the Crosse when they had polluted the holy places by their Idols That wood which is called Thamus that is to say of Adonis did ouershaddow the most imperiall place of the whole world namely this Bethleem of ours whereof the Psalmist sayth Truth is sprung out of the earth and in that hollow place where Christ being an Infant did once cry the paramour of Venus was lamented But you will aske me to what end I am so large in this particular To the end that you may not thinke that any thing is wanting to your fayth because you haue not beene at Hierusalem and that you may not esteeme vs to be the better men because we enioy this habitation But whether you liue here or there you shall obtaine of our Lord a reward which shall be equall to your workes But yet that I may plainely confesse what the pulse of my hart is in this businesse considering both your purpose that ardour of mind wherewith you haue disclaimed the world I do really belieue that you will then find difference in places if forsaking Cittyes the concourse of people which is found therein you will dwell in some little retyred corner feeke Christ in the desert and pray alone in the mountaine with Iesus enioy the neighbour-hood of these holy places That is to say that both you may estrange your selfe from the Citty and not loose the purpose of being a Monke I speake not this for Bishops or Priests who haue other imployments but I speake of it for a Monke and such a one as formerly was noble in the world who layd the price of his possessions at the feet of the Apostles thereby teaching that money was to be troden vnder foot that so liuing in humility and secrecy he might continue to despise that which he had once despised If the places of the Crosse and of the Resurrection were not exceedingly frequented in this Citty where
battered by the auncient fury of that people doth teare euen into fitars the seameles coat of our Lord which is wouen from the top to the bottome and since the foxes do root vp the vine of Christ so that in the midest of those leaking lakes which hold no water it is hard to find where that sealed fountaine that shut garden is therefore haue I thought fit to consult with the chayre of Peter and that fayth which was praysed by the Apostles mouth demaÌ„ding food from thence for my soule where formerly I had taken the baptismal habit of Christ. For neither could the vastity of that watry element nor the interposition of those long tracts of earth prohibit me froÌ„ inquiring after that precious pearle Wheresoeuer the body is thither will the Eagles resort The patrimony hauing beene wasted by the prodigal son the inheritance of the Father is only preserued incorrupt by you There doth the earth which is a fruitfull soyle returne our Lords seed with purity that a hundred fould but here the corne being ouerwrought by the furrow degenerates into cockle and wild oates Now doth the Sunne of iustice ryse vp in the West and that Luciser who is fallen doth place his throne aboue the starres in the East You are the light of the world you the salt of the earth you the golden and siluer vessells and here the vessels are of earth or wood which do but expect the iron rod and eternall fire Therefore though your greatnes fright me yet doth your humanity inuit me I desire a sacrifice of saluation from the Priest and the succour which belongs to a sheep from his pastour Let Enuy auoyd let the Ambition of that high Roman seat recede I am speaking with the successor of a Fisherman and a disciple of the Crosse. I who in the first place follow none but Christ am ioyned by communion to your Beatitude that is to the chayre of Peter Vpon that rocke doe I know that the Church is built Whosoeuer eateth the Lambe out of this house is a profane person Whosoeuer is not in the Arke of Noe shall perish when the flood growes to be in height And because for my grieuous sinnes I haue betaken my selfe to that desert which deuides Syria from the barbarous confines on the other side nor can I alwayes be crauing the Holy of our Lord from your Sanctity being so hugely distant from you in place therfore here do I follow the Confessours of Egypt your colleagues and like some poore barke I lye vnder the lee of those great shippes I know not Vitalis I reiect Meletius I haue nothing to do with Paulâ—…nus VVhosoeuer doth not gather with you scaâ—…ters that is to say he who is not of Christ is of Antichrist But now O excessiue cause of griefe after the Niceâ—… fayth after the decree of Alexandria against three Hypostasies wherein the Westerne Church did also ioyne there is a new name exacted of me being a man of Rome by the Prelate of the Arians and the Campensians What Apostles I pray you were they who declared this What new Maister of the Gentiles which was Paul taught this Let vs enquire what they may be thought to vnderstaÌ„d by three Hypostasies They say they do but meane three subsisting persons We answere that we also belieue iust so The sense will not serue their turne but they must haue the very name because I know not what poison lyeth hid in the sillables of those wordes And we cry out that if any man will not confesse three Hypostasies or Enypostata that is three subsisting persons let him be accursed And because we do not learne words we are iudged to be Heretikes But if any man vnderstanding Hypostasis to be Vsia or Substance shall say that there is any more then one Hypostasis in three persons he is an aliene from Christ and vnder this confession we are marked togeather with you by the burning iron of the same coÌ„munioÌ„ Determine therfore if it please you I will not feare to say there are three Hypostasis if you bid me But yet if you bid me then let a new fayth be found out different from that of Nice and let vs who are Orthodoxall confesse our Fayth in such wordes as the Arians vse All the schooles of learning know no other signification of Hypostasis but Substance And now who is he who with a sacrilegious mouth will speake of three Substances in God The nature of God is one and only one and it is most truly so for that which subsists of it selfe hath not his being from any other but it is his owne Other thinges which are created though they may seeme to be yet indeed they are not for sometymes they were not and that may againe not be which once was not God only who is eternall that is who hath no beginning doth properly enioy the name of Essence And therfore he sayd thus out of the bush to Moyses I am he that I am And againe He that is sent me It is true that then there were Angels Heauen Earth and Sea and how then can God challenge the name of Essence as proper to himselfe which is common to others But because that only Nature is perfect 〈◊〉 one Deity doth subsist in three persons which truly is and iâ—… one Nature whosoeuer he be that will say they are three namely three Hypostasies that is three Substances doth endeauour vnder a colour of piety to affirme that God hath three Natures And if that be so why are we separated by Church-walls froÌ„ Arius who are vnited to him in false beliefe let then Vrsicinuâ—… be ioyned to your Holynes and let Auxentius keep society with Ambrose Let this be farre from the Roman fayth let not the harts of Religious people sucke in so great a sacriledge as this Let it suffice for vs to affirme one substance and three subsisting persons perfect equall and coeternall Let there be if it please you no more talke of three Hypostasies but let vs sticke to one It is suspitious when words are differing the sense being the same Let the aforesayd beliefe suffice for vs or if you thinke it fit that we speake of three Hypostasies with their interpretations we will not refuse to do it But belieue me there lyes poyson vnder the hony and Sathan hath transfigured himselfe into an Angell of light They interpret the word Hypostasis well and yet when I professe my selfe to belieue it as they expound it I am held an Heretike for my labour But why do they hold fast that one word with such anxiety Why ly they hid vnder that ambiguous manner of speech If they belieue it as they expound it I do not condemne that which they imbrace If I belieue so as they pretend themselues to hold let them giue me leaue to expresse myne owne sense in myne owne wordes And therefore I beseech your Holynesse by Christ crucifyed by the saluation of the world by the
selfe-substantiall Trinity that by your letters you will giue me authority either to reiect or to vse the name of seuerall Hypostasies And least the retyrednes of this place where I liue should disappoint you voutchsafe to send to me by the letter-carryers direct yours for me to Euagrius the Priest whome you know well and signify to me withall with whome you would haue me keep communion at Antioche For the Campensians being coupled with the Heretikes of Tharsis affect nothing els but that being vpheld by the authority of communicating with you they may publish three Hypostasies in the auncient sense Saint Hierome to Pope Damasus THE importunate woman in the Ghospell deserued to be heard at last And one friend obtained bread of another though himselfe and his seruants had shut vp their doores and though it were midnight God himselfe whome no power can ouercome was conquered by the prayers of a Publican The citty of Niniue which was to perish by sinne stood on foot by tears But why do I fetch the matter vp so high To the end that you being great may looke on me who am little that you being a rich shepheard may not contemne me who am a sicke weake sheep Christ conducted the murdering Theef from the crosse into Paradise and least any man should thinke that this conuersion was too late he made that punishment of his murder to be a Martyrdome to him Christ I say doth ioyfully imbrace the prodigall Sonne when he returnes and leauing ninety nine sheep that single poore one which remayned is brought home vpō the shoulder of the good shepheard Paul of a persecuter is made a preacher his carnall eyes are blinded that he may see the better with his mind he who carryed the seruants of Christ bound before the Counsell of the Iews did glory afterward to see himselfe in bonds for Christ. I therfore who as I wrote before receiued the garment of Christ in the Citty o◅ Rome do now remayne in the barbarous confines of Syria And least you should thinke that I do it in obedience to the sentēce of some other my selfe was obliged by my selfe to vnderge this taske which I had deserued But as the heathen Poets say he changes the Clyme not his mind who passes ouer the Seas So hath my incessant enemy followed me as that now I endure greater assalts in the wildernes For here the rage of the Arians being vpheld by the pillars of the world doth rage Here doth the Church deuided into three parts vse al diligence to draw me to it the auncient authority of the troupes of Monkes which are round about me rises vp against me But I in the meane time cry out that if any man be in coniunction with the chaire of Peter that man is myne Meletius Vitalis and Paulinus say that they adhere to you I might belieue it if onely any one of them did affirme it b◅t now either all of them lye or two at least Therefore I beseech your Holynes by the Crosse our Lord by the glory of the world which was crucified by the Passion of Christ that as you follow the Apostls in honour so yow wil follow them also in merit So may you sit in that Throne to iudge with those twelue so may there be another who may gird you like Peter when you are old so may you become a Citizen of heauen with Paul as you shal signify to me by your letters with whome I ought to communicate in Syria Do not despise that soule for which Christ dyed Saint Hierome to a Mother and a daughter by way of caution against keeping ill company A Certaine Brother coming out of Frāce relates to me that he hath a Sister who is a virgin and a Mother who is a widow and that they liue in seuerall habitations and yet in the same Citty that either because their dwellings are solitary or els for the conseruing of their little meanes they had seuerally taken certaine Priests to gouerne them so that they were ioyned to others with ◅esse reputation thē they had bene seperated between themselues And when I had sighed deeply and signifyed much more by silence then I could haue done by speech I beseech you saith he reproue them by your letters and draw them backe to good agreement that the mother may acknowledge the daughter the daughter the mother I āswered him thus you put me indeed to a faire taske that I being a stranger should reconcile them when a sonne and a brother could not do it As if I sat in some Episcopall chaire and were not shut vp in a little Cell and being farre remote from troups of men do not either lament my sins past or procure to auoid such as are at hand besides the ill fauourednes of it for a man to he hid in body and to wander ouer the whole world with his tongue Then sayd he you are to fearfull And where is now that courage wherewith you haue so wittily touched the whole world for you haue bene a kind of Lucilius This said I is that which puts me of and suffers me not so much as to opē my mouth For since by reprouing the faults of others my selfe am growne faulty and according to the vulgar saying VVhen euery man doth so wrangle and contradict me me thinkes I do neither heare nor touch and euen the very wals beat reproaches backe vpon me drinkers of wine make songes of me I being constrayned by sad experience haue learned to hold my peace esteeming it better to place a guard before my mouth a strong doore before my lippes then that my hart should decline towards the wordes of malice for feare least whilest I taxe vice in others my selfe should fall into the vice of detraction When I had said thus much he answered me after this manner To say truth is not to detract nor doth a priuate reprehension amount to make a generall doctrine since they are few or none who fal within the compasse of that fault I besech you therefore not to permit me to be come in vayne who haue bene vexed by so long a iourney For our Lord knowes that next after my visiting these holy places my chief occasion was that by meanes of your letters I might cure both my Sister and my mother Well then said I I am content to do as you bid me for both my letters serue for the other side of the Sea that speech which is dictated vpon so particular an occasion as this will hardly find any other whom it may offend But as for you I beseech you that the matter may be carryed with great secret that when you shall haue taken it with you by way of prouision it my aduice be harkened to we may reioyce together but if it be contemned which I rather feare yet I may haue lost but my words and you the labour of a long Iourney First O you mother and daughter I desire you may