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
kill a beast but in Christs holy law one death tooke away all deaths one life did buy all liues and one paine tooke away all paines and offences When the Apostle calleth Christ Hostiam viuentem he wanteth not a deepe secret and a profound mystery because that in the old law they called Hostiā the sacrifice which was offered against those which were enemies they offered nothing but dead sacrifices because the beast which they did offer was neither called sacrifice nor Hostia vntill his life had been taken from him The sonne of God gaue the name of Hostia a sacrifice when he died and the name of life when he rose againe and therefore wee may very well call him a liuely sacrifice a holy sacrifice a pure sacrifice and holy bread seeing that hee is the sacrifice and Hostie which giueth life vnto all and is the holiest sacrifice of all other and the purest and the cleanest bread of all others Anima cum obtulerit oblationem sacrificij domino similae erit eius oblatio fundet super eam oleum ponet thus Leuit. 2. God spake these words vnto Moyses because he should tel them the people of Israel as if hee should say If any will offer any sacrifice which shall bee acceptable vnto mee offer mee it of the purest floure mingled with oile and therewithall he shal adde a little frankincense If wee doe curiously looke vnto it of three things onely our Lord requireth an offering of vs that is pure floure good oile and sweet incense the which things are easiy to bee found light to offer and not costly to buy S. Ambrose sayth In this wee may see what a great desire our Lord hath to pardon the sinnes which we commit against him in that he himselfe doth teach vs what sacrifices we should offer vnto him What is vnderstood by that fine sifted floure but that most sacred humanity of the sonne of God This holy floure was so sifted and putrified that all the Angels which shall come to see it and all the men in the world which shall come to clense it shall not find in that sacred humanity one smal grite of originall sinne nor on spot of mortall sinne nor one little dust of any other small sinne Of this most pure floure Christ did knead the sacramentall bread in his last supper which he left vs in the church which doth differ farre from that which mother Eue did leaue her children because that in eating of that we doe sinne and receiuing of this we doe liue What is the incense which God commaunded vs to offer with the floure in his Temple but the diuinity which is ioined with the humanity in Christ Vntill the gate of the Temple the floure was carried by it selfe and the incense by itselfe but being brought to the gate of the Temple the one was incorporated with the other which mystery was most notably accomplished in the comming of Christ because that so farre asunder was mankind which was here vpon earth from the diuinity which was in heauen but the son of God comming into the world immediately God with man and man with God became one What is the oile with the which God commanded the floure and incense to be tempered but that which in the blessed Trinitie wee call the holy-ghost The coniunction bond of loue betwixt the Father and the son and hee who did incorporate the floure with the incense was no other but the holy-ghost for so said the prophesie Vnxit te deus deus tuus eleo letetia and so said the Angell vnto the virgine when he said Spiritus sanctus superueniet in te That which the Prophet called oile the Angell afterward did cal the holy-ghost insomuch that the cake which God demanded of floure oile and incense was nothing else but the humanity of him which was made by the father and by the son and by the holy-ghost A cake so well seasoned a sacrifice so highly well made which of the saints would not offer and which of the Angels would not adore The sacrifice which God did demand in times past was not that which the Synagogue did offer but that which the catholike church doth now offer for they did offer him dow wet in vineger and foustie oile and most sharpe incense but the sacrifice which wee doe now offer him is the humanity and diuinity of Christ vnited and put together by the handes of the holy-ghost It is no reason that the Christian and deuour reader should be ignorant why God commanded but a part of the floure to bee offered but all the incense To put a measure in the floure was to say that the humanity of it selfe was limitted and had an end and to put no measure in the frankincense was to say that in the diuinity there is neither beginning nor end which is most true because the workes which the sonne of God did were limmitted and circumscribed in that that he was man but being kneaded with the oile of the holy-ghost he made them infinite in value and weight To come then to our first purpose the text sayth si oblatio tua fuerit de sartagine simile conspersa oleo absque fermento diuides eam minutatim fundas super cam oleum as if he should say The fritter which thou shalt offer vnto me shall bee made of the floure of the meale without leauen kned with very good oile and then being well pricked thou shalt sprinckle it ouer with new oile If there should bee no mystery hidden vnder this Iudaicall sacrifice wee might haue occasion to thinke that our Lord were a glutton and giuen to variety of meats seeing that in the beginning of this chapter he asked of thē fritters or cake dressed with good oile and now againe a cake made of the floure of wheat and that without leauen small broken and fried in a frying pan in very whote oile Of this high and new sacrifice what is the floure but the humanity which suffered what the oile but the loue with the vvhich hee died and what the frying pan but the crosse where hee died To say that God the Father did aske for a cake made in a frying pan and to say that the crosse of his sonne was the frying pan and that the fine floure of his precious flesh was fried in that fryingpan and that the oile with the which it was fried was the loue with the which he redeemed vs is no vnreuerent speech to vse neither is there any errorin affirming it seeing wee he certain that there is no word writtē in holy Scripture which is not full of high mystery The property of the fryingpan is being put vpon the fire the fire dooth not wast him nor melt him as hee doth many other thinges and beside hee maketh those meats which are cold hard and not to be eaten whote soft and very sauourous What was the death and passion of our redeemer Iesus Christ but a frying
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
the Babilonians Egyptians Chaldeans Persians and Medes Greekes and those of Palestine because the law of the Gospell hath been preached and receiued in those places Chrysostom saith That the son of God came to take flesh for the fall of the Temple of Salomon the city of Ierusalem the sacrifices of Iuda the ceremonies of Israell and of the old Mosaicall law and of the pride of all the Synagogue which was all ended and gaue vp the ghost with this word Consummatum est The sonne of God came into the world for the ouerthrow of all sinnes for if hee was as hee vvas the truth it selfe hee was a great enemy of lies and because he highly loued charitie he hated cruelty and because hee highly commended humilitie hee persecuted enuy vvhich vvas the cause that no man did euer reprehend vice more sharplier than hee nor no man did euer extoll vertue like vnto him The sonne of God came into the vvorld to the vtter ruine of the famous city of Hierusalem seeing there vvas not one tower in the citie vvhich vvas not throwne downe no vvall which was not broken no house vvhich vvas not barnt no Temple vvhich vvas not beaten to the ground no treasurie vvhich vvas not robbed nor orchard vvhich vvas not spoiled no Virgine vvhich was not violated no woman which was not forced no man which was not either slaine or taken captiue The sonne of God came into the world for the ouerthrow of the Synagogue seeing he left them no kingdome whither to goe vnto no citie where to dwel no king to rule them no Patriarke to honour no Prophet to giue them counsell no army to defend them no captain to fight for them The soune of God came into the world in ruinam the ouerthrow of the Pharisies and Sadduces cōsidering that he took away their hypocrisie from thē by which they preuailed their authority by which they commanded their doctrine with which they deceaued their couetousnesse with the which they robbed and their Symony with the which they made themselues rich CHAP. IIII. Of the third word which old Simeon spake vnto the Virgine in the Temple and of three authorities touching this purpose IN resurrectionem multorum in Israel in signum cui contradicetur said holy Simeon vnto the blessed Virgine that day when she presented the child Iesus in the Temple as if hee would say I haue told thee my daughter Mary how this thy son and my Lord shall bee a stumbling blocke to many and an occasion that many which are fallen shall rise againe and many which goe astray conuerted and he shal be a marke and a signe which shall bee spoken against by many Origen saith That it doth wel appear that holy Simeon spake by the mouth of the holy Ghost when hee said that the son of God was come into the world not only for all naughty wicked men to stumble at but also because that al goodnesse and good men should bee raised vp by him because it is the dutie of a good Phisitian not only to purge the humor which offendeth but also to strengthen it What fruit should we receiue by his comming into the world if he should only throw downe the wicked and not raise vp the good Whē our Lord saith by Ieremy Consolabor me de inimicis meis he would vvith a farre better will forgiue vs rather thā punish vs but because all that is in God is God himselfe hee cannot doe lesse than vse his iustice giuing notwithstanding alwaies place vnto his mercy When he sayth Woe bee vnto mee vvoe be vnto me I must reuenge mee of my enemies what can bee spoken with a more tender heart or vvhat iustice can bee done vvith greater mercy seeing that hee first weepeth for the sinner before he punish the sinne and first shed many tears before he shew discipline vpō the malefactors In the iudgemēt seat of vvorldly iudges they punish sinnes without iustice then mocke at the sinners but in the house of God they first vveepe for the sinners and then they punish the sinne because there is nothing more strange to God than reuenge nor nothing more gratefull vnto him than mercy Perditio tua ex te Israel ex me autem saluatio said God by the Prophet osee as if hee vvould say O vvhat paines I take with thee O Israel for if thou lose thy way I put thee into it againe if thou stumble I hold thee vp if thou see not I direct thee if thou fall I lift thee vp if thou defile thy selfe I make thee cleane if thou bee blind I giue thee light if thou doubt I counsell thee This speech of the Prophet is vvorthy to bee noted and also vvept and to bee bewailed vvith many teares seeing that hee telleth vs and admonisheth vs by it how little vvee are able to doe of our selues how little wee are worth how little wee possesse how little vvee know seeing that it is in our owne power to fall but vvee are not able to rise vvithout the helpe of God Thou saiest very vvell O great Simeon that the soune of God is come In resurrectionem multorum for after wee are fallen and defiled if hee doe not giue vs his hand who is able to lift vs from the ground What had become of the people of Israell when they were captiue in Egypt if our Lord had not deliuered them from thence vvith his mighty hand What would haue become of good King Dauid when he slue innocent Vrias and committed adultery with his wife Bersabee if God had not giuen him counsell by the mouth of the Prophet Nathan and lightened his heart What had become of king Ezechias when our Lord cōdemned him to death and that vnto a suddain death if our Lord had not visited him by the hands of the Prophet Esay and accepted his tears What had become of the Apostle Saint Peter when hee denied Christ three times if our Lord when he was tied to a pillar had not looked vpon him and prouoked him to teares What had become of S. Paul when hee went to the city of Damasco to apprehend all such which called vpon the name of Christ if our Lord had not spoken vnto him by the way and of Saul would not haue made him Paul and of a persecutor of Christ had not made him a preacher of the Gospell What would become of thee and me and of all the sinners of the world if good Iesus should not giue vs light because wee should not stumble and giue vs his hand to rise againe S. Barnard to this purpose saith It may be said better of me than of any O my good Iesus That thy perdition is of thy selfe Israel and thy saluation of mee For if I hit aright in any thing it is onely through thy grace and if I erre it is through my owne malice and therefore my owne sinne is able to make me fall but to rise againe I haue need of thy mercy
griefes sorrowes because all other men haue power only to hear theÌ„ but no skill to remedy them Irenaeus sayth If I be a cold he who wisheth me vvel can bring me to the fire if I be hungry giue mee a little bread if I bee thirsty giue mee a cup of vvater if I bee naked giue mee a shirt but if my soule bee sad and comfortlesse vvhat comfort can he giue me but only bid me haue patience S. Augustine to the Hermites saith Hee who will comfort the soule ought to be in the soule and he vvho will remedy the heart should dwell in the heart but because no man hath his abiding there but onely the sonne of the liuing God of him and of no other our remedy and ease must proceed Cicero in an Epistle saith O how hee is deceiued which saith and thinketh that the griefes of the heart are lenified and eased by seeing faire meddowes vvalking by fresh riuers eating dainty meats hearing pleasant musicke For all these things can but suspend my griefes for an houre or two but they cannot root them out and much lesse remedy them Tell mee I pray thee how can the instruments vvhich found in my eares remedy my griefes vvhich are inclosed in my bowels How can the pleasures and ioies which my eies receiue in beholding meddowes and forrests giue ease to my paines vvhich lie in my bones What doth dainty faire mitigate the anxiety of mind What comfort can an aâ—â—licted mind take if they giue him no other remedy but bid him haue patience What careth my sorrowfull heart for my friends words if when they are gone from mee my sorrowes remaine Seeing that all the pleasures and ioies of the vvorld reach no further than vnto the fiue sences it is a certaine thing that as pleasures are seated in those sences so likewise griefes are rooted in the heart Plato sayth That griefes and delights are great enemies and that they dwell farre one from another and therevpon it happeneth that there is no delight and pleasure which entâ—reth into the inward part of the heart nor no griefe which commeth out further than the heart Cassiodorus saith That as we seeke for an expert Pilote to saile with and a skilfull Phisition to cure vs with so for to comfort our griefes and heauinesse we should seeke out cunning men in them because that no man can take more pitty on another than he who hath been wearied iniuried by suffering WheÌ„ the son of God came into the world hee came not to learne to read nor to write nor to swim nor to preach for all this is but drosse and mire in comparison of that which hee knew before hee came into the world That which hee came hither to learne by experience was that which hee knew before onely by science that is to accustome himselfe to suffer corporall passions and vexations because he might haue the more compassion vpon the afflicted Chrysostome sayth That the sonne of God came to trafficke in this vvorld like vnto a rich wealthy merchant that is by carrying to heauen that which there wanted by bringing from thence that which wanted here for there ther wanted meÌ„ therfore took some thither with him here there wanted merits therefore left store behind him The son of God came into the world because there wanted men in heauen to enioy his glory and because we wanted grace to deserue it so we gaue him humane flesh to suffer with and he gaue vs his holy grace wherby wee might merit O holy and glorious exchange seeing that he changed with vs quietnesse for trauell innocency for infamy spirit for flesh life for death and glory for painâ—â— Now that 〈◊〉 haue declared how the sonne of God came into the world to learne vexations and troubles the better to haue compassion on them in others it is conuenient that wee declare now how that the mother of God did inherite her sons sword of sorrows as hee did inherite his father Dauids seat of griefes and trauails CHAP. VI. Of the sword of griefe which killed the sonne of God and went through his blessed mother ETtuam ipsius animam doloris gladius pertransibit said Simeon to the Virgine in the second chapter of S. Luke as if he would say The sword of the passion of this thy sonne shall bee so cruell O high Virgine that at one stroke it shal take his life from him pierce thy soule The like prophecy was neuer heard of in times past nor read in any booke nor any so sorrowfull a prophecie euer spoken of as this was which the Virgine newly deliuered heareth this day which the good old Simeon vttereth vnto her for what saith the prophecy but that at one time in the selfesame day in the same hour and with the selfesame sword they will doe iustice vpon the sonnes flesh and vpon the mothers bowels There are found swords commonly to cut off a theefes eare to behead a murderer to quarter a traitor to cut a blasphemous tongue but a sword that can pierce the soule and mind there is no other to bee found but this sword of Christs The sword which Cain killed his brother with the sword which Moyses killed the Egyptian with and the sword which king Dauid slew the Philistime with and Helias sword with the which he slew the Idolaters and Phiâ—â—es sword with the which he slew the Ammonites did all wound the body but alas Simeons sword brused the flesh of the sonne and did not fauor the bowels of the mother Vbertinus noteth that Simeon doth not say that a sword of sorrow shall strike thee but Pertransibit that is that that sword vvill not bee content onely to wound but as it were with a mortall thrust shall peirce thy blessed soule from one side vnto the other And then that deadly sword peirced her from one side vnto the other when all the sorrowes and griefes which the sonnes flesh endured did load the heart of the dolorous mother with griefe The wordes of Auegratia plena which the Angel vsed and those which Simeon spake doloris gladius pertransibit went togither and were of equall force for euen as the Virgines soule was so full of grace that she could receiue no more so her heart was so full of griefe that shee could endure no more There could not a greater griefe be spoken of than that which the mother was to suffer which was vttered in saying that a sword should pierce her heart from one side vnto the other and indeed as old Simeon had prophecied so it came to passe because there was neuer Martyr which suffered more torment in the martyring of his body than the blessed Virgine suffered in seeing her son martyred And this speech tuam ipsius animam is very much to bee noted for although other holy men were grieued at the death of Christ yet none so much as his holy mother for in other men the griefe was as it were
a blow but in the Virgins heart a thrust Simeon doth threaten none that the sword of grief shal pierce but only the mother of Christ to let vs vnderstand that as she was the creature vnto whom Christ imparted most of his comfort so it was she vnto whom he gaue most of his dolors insomuch that as she did most deserue so she did most suffer O great Simeon why doest thou threaten the mother onely with the sonnes sword seeing that not only the martyrs did feele his death and passion but it seemeth also that the Angels themselues did lament and weepe for it For what martyr is there in heauen O sweet Iesus which did not feele thy death and die for thy holy law It is therefore said that the holy Virgine did by a speciall grace and priuiledge feele more grieuously the death of her sonne than any other creature of the world because it is a propertie of our Lord to impart most bitter feeling of his passiō vnto those soules whom hee doth most tenderly loue When Simeon said that shee should feele her sonnes passion more than any other it vvas to say that Christ would leaue his passion and torment in keeping with her aboue others to the end that they might bee knowne afterward vnto the world in so much that it was vnto thee blessed Virgin vnto whom the sonne of God bestowed his greatest loue on earth and vnto whome hee imparted most of his sorrowes Vnto whom then should wee run for a true sufferer of his sorrows but vnto thee O mother of God now full of ioy and consolation though then full of sorrowes and passion O that thy soule is glorious and thy heart most happie blessed Lady seeing thou was not martyred with the Emperour Neroes sword as the Apostle Saint Paule was but vvith the selfesame that thy sonne was in so much that as in the incarnation loue coupled you together so in his passion dolour seperated you one from the other Flebat Anna mater Tobiae irremediabilibus lachrymis Tobie chapter 10 as if hee would say The honourable Matrone Anna old Tobias wife and young Tobias mother vvept the absence of her welbeloued sonne vvith remedilesse teares saying Woe bee vnto mee vvoe bee vnto mee my sonne and my heart vvhat vvill become of mee without thee or is it possible for mee to take any rest in thy absence Whither art thou gone from mee vvhere hast thou absented thy selfe the light of my cies and staffe of my old age comfort of my life and hope of my house How is it possible that thy father could obtaine of himselfe or of mee to send thee to recouer a little money so farre from vs What greater disaster could fall vnto vs than to lose our sonne for the recouering of a little coine I vvould to God that that money ha◠neuer beene due vnto my house for for the ease of my heart there is no treasure like as to haue thee vvith mee O my deere sonne O my sonne O my heart how vnfortunately did I consent that thou shouldest depart out of my sight considering that it vvas most certaine that hauing thee vvith mee I vvanted nothing What shall my sorrowfull eies doe now seeing they cannot see thee but fill themselues vvith vveeping for thee Such sorrowfull vvords and grieuous complaints could not be vttered but of a tender heart nor could not be spoken but of a child deerly beloued Mimus the Philosopher saith That because the tongue is a crier and a publisher of that vvhich is in the heart it is most certaine that if there bee loue in the hart that he crieth Loue and if there be nothing but sorrow griefe in the heart he publisheth also nothing but sorrow For the better vnderstanding of this dolorous figure it is to bee noted that as Isaac vvas the figure of Christ in that vvhich hee vvas to suffer so Tobias mother vvas the figure of that that the immaculate Virgine was to weepe insomuch that the virgins glorious martyrdome was prophecied by Simeon and figured in holy Anna. The mystery did well answer vnto the Sacramēt seeing the blessed virgin was a mother Anna a mother the one wept the other wept the one had but one only son the other had but one onely son the Virgines son went a far iourney Annas son went a far iourney Tobias mother vvept remedilesse tears the mother of Gods tears were also without remedy Yong Tobias took his iourney at his fathers cōmandement the son of God was incarnate by his fathers commandement if Tobias went to gather vp money which his father had lent Christ also came to recouer soules which his father had lost What shall I say more but that Christ and Tobias and Tobias and Christ vvere sent by their owne fathers and lamented by their owne mothers O that the Virgine had better reason to vveepe for her sonne vvith remedilesse teares than Tobias mother had because her sighes and reares found remedy and comfort but the mother of God found no remedy nor comfort O sorrowfull vvoman and comfortlesse mother for what comfort could thy teares find seeing thou diddest see him end his life in one day vpon the crosse whome thou wast thirty yeares a bringing vp O comforelesse mother and mother of discomfort thou art shee which should weepe with remedilesse teares and not the mother of young Tobias because her sonne came home well married but thy precious sonne remained dead vpon the crosse O honourable Anne and blessed old woman it is an Angell which led him an Angell which accompanied him an Angell which married him and an Angell which guarded him and an Angell which brought him backe againe Therefore leaue thy teares for her who is the mother of him which is crucified considering that a traitor sold her sonne a sinner denied him a tyrant condemned him and a wicked people put him to death Our Lady wept with remedilesse tears seeing that she not Tobias his mother did lose the staffe which did support her the glasse which she looked in the light with which shee saw the rest wherein she tooke ioy her only hope and that which shee most of all loued Seneca to this purpose sayth That the griefe is not so great when thinges are lost by little and by little as when they are lost all at once and therefore it is a great matter for a man to bee accustomed to endure and hardened in suffering Who doth doubt at all but that the suddaine losses which fall vnto vs are more grieuous than those vvhich come not all together if they had apprehended the sonne of God in one day accused him on another giuen sentence on him the other and executed him on the other although the griefe could not but haue beene great yet it had been tollerable but to see that in foure and twenty houres they apprehended him accused him gaue sentence on him and put him to death vvhat heart is able
of vvater and his heart brake in two vvhen hee remembred the vow vvhich he had made in the vvarre and that he could do no lesse than kill his daughter The father then said vnto his daughter O my daughter and sole inheritrize how vnfortunate vvas thy destinie and how vnlucky vvas my fortune in that I must open my mouth and make that promise to such great preiudice to thy life and hurt vnto my house His daughter answered him and said If thou hast opened thy mouth my father to make any vow vnto the great God of Israel let mee bee no hinderance for the performance of it for I vvill like it well onely because I see thee victorious ouer thy enemies And she added further and said only I aske of thee my father that thou wouldest giue mee two months space before thou doest sacrifice mee in the Temple to bewaile my Virginity in these sorrowful mountains with others my companions And when those two months were past the tender virgine bewailing and weeping the losse of her life and virginity vnbestowed the Father performed his vow and sacrificed his daughter Because Iephthe that captaine had that famous victory but yet with vufortunate losse of his onely daughter all the young maids and virgines of the people of Israell agreed a meeting to weepe and lament the death of Iephthes daughter foure daies in the yeare and although the people of the Iewes did omit thinges of greater weight than that was yet they did neuer forget to mourn and lameÌ„t those daies The holy scripture doth promise vs many great matters in this figure of Iephthe worthy to be knowne hard to expound Who is vnderstood by the famous captaine Iephthe but the sonne of the liuing God and redeemer of the world He who said all power is giueÌ„ me in heauen and earth is more valerous and mighty than Ieph the was because that Iephthes authority extended no further than the land of Iury but the sonne of Gods did reach ouer heauen earth The scripture maketh mention that when Iephthe was a yong man those of his countrey put him from his fathers inheritance banished him out of the land and how that in progresse of time hee deliuered them from their enemies and vvas captaine ouer them all That which the neighbours of Gilead did to Iephthe the inhabitants of Ierusalem did to Christ whome they banished out of the Synagogue and depriued of his Fathers inheritance and yet neuerthelesse hee deliuered them from their sinnes and vvas the redâ—emer of them all The truth doth very vvell answere to the figure in this place and the sence vnto the letter For as they which did banish Iephthe out of all the kingdome did afterward entreat him to bee their guide and captaine so those which said to Pilate crucifie crucifie him did afterward on the Mount of Caluary strike their breasts and say aloud Verè hic filius deifuit This man was truly the son of God Who was vnderstood in Iepthes daughter a virgine faire and young but only that flesh and humanity of the Word S. Ambrose vpon those words Speciosus sorma sayth Who is so beautifull who is so pure who so holy as that most sacred flesh vvas and is The daughter of Iephthe was not knowne of any man and Christs humanitie was also vnknowne of man seeing that it was not conceiued by consent of husband but formed and framed by the vvebe of the holy ghost Iephthe did promise to offer in the Temple his only daughter for the victory which hee had obtained against his enemies and Christ did promise to offer vpon the crosse his owne flesh for the victory and conquest vvhich he had against sinnes so that Iephthe did offer only the daughter vvhich hee had begotten and the sonne of God did offer his owne proper body Is it not thinke you a greater matter for a man to offer his owne flesh than that vvhich is born of his flesh Iephthe vvas very loath and grieued to offer his onely daughter and it vvas a great corrasiue to the daughters heart to see her selfe sacrificed by her owne Father but in the end shee vvas more ioyfull and glad of the victory vvhich her Father receaued against his enemies than grieued that her owne life should bee sacrificed O how vvell one mystery doth answere vnto another for vvhen the flesh said Let this cup passe from mee vvith the daughter of Iephthe hee vvas loath to die but vvhen hee said Not as I vvill but as thou vvilt hee was glad to suffer so that that sacred flesh vvas very vvilling to bee sacrificed because that the diuine Word should obtaine victory ouer sinnes Doest thou not thinke my brother that one mystery doth very vvell answere another and that one secret is very vvell compated vvith another seeing that that virgine vvas sacrificed for her fathers honour and that diuine and sacred flesh also sacrificed for the honour and glory of his father Iepthe had a great reuenge ouer his enemies but Christ a farre greater ouer sinne and yet it is to be noted that by how much the greater those two victories vvere so much the more greater vvere the prices vvhich they vvere bought for because the one did cost his daughters life and the other his owne What can be deerer than that vvhich doth cost a mans life Pellem pro pelle cuncta dabit home pro animasua saith Iob chapter 2. The Scripture maketh mention in Iob that as there appeared before the iudgement of God many vvicked men the deuill made one among them for good men doe neuer assemble themselues to doe good but Sathan is there also to doe them some hurt Our Lord said vnto Sathan from vvhence doest thou come and vvhither hast thou gone To this Sathan answered I haue gone about all the earth and vvalked through it to see whether I could happen vpon any more that vvere mine Our Lord replied hast thou seene my good seruant and trusty friend Iob vnto vvhome no man on the earth may bee compared And doest thou not know Sathan that Iob is a holy man sincere in condition vpright in his conscience fearfull in that vvhich the law commandeth vvithout malice one vvho continueth till this day in his innocency Thou hast stirred me vp against him that I should kil his sonnes destroy his sheepe and deere and that his oxen should be stolne froÌ„ him and all his vvealth taken from him and that I should depriue him of all his honour Sathan answered vnto this and said Know Lord that a man vvill giue all his vvealth substance vvith condition to saue his life Pellem pro pelle dabit hemo that is A man vvill giue al his sheepe skins all the cowes hides in the vvorld to keepe his owne flesh If thou vvilt trie Lord vvho thy friend Iob is lay thy hand vpon his owne person and fill his bodie with a leprosie and then thou shalt see that hee will bee more
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
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
lodgings but they remeÌ„bred to kil him in the day time betwixt three four of the clock because that at that time al men go abroad to walke in the market place It was an old plague of the Synagogues to embrue flesh theÌ„selues in the bloud of the prophets holy men as of Esaias whoÌ„ they sawed in peeces Ieremy whoÌ„ they drowned in a wel Micheas whom they buffeted to death Zachary whom they stoned to death Ezechiel whom they imprisoned and because the curse of their predecessors should reach vnto those which were theÌ„ aliue they be thought theÌ„selues to take Christs life froÌ„ him blemish his good name credite DamasceÌ„ saith that wheÌ„ the Iews crucified Christ they chose a bright a fair day without cloud darknes because Christ should be seen of al meÌ„ not vnknown of any because their purpose intent was aswel to discredit him as to kill him For wheÌ„ the EuaÌ„gelist saith that wheÌ„ Christ gaue vp the ghost the sun was darâ—â—ed it is an vnfallible argumeÌ„t that it was a bright a clear day but the sun waxed darke vpon the sudden because he would with his shadow haue couered him whoÌ„ the Iewes had put to open shame S. Ciprian saith That when the Iews put Christ to death they were not coÌ„tent only to make choice of a bright day cleare but also they would haue a long day as coÌ„monly the daies are the 25 of March because they might haue time in one day to accuse him giue iudgement on him crucifie him The 4. point was that although they could haue put him to death alone yet they would not do it without coÌ„pany the coÌ„pany they gaue him was not of honest meÌ„ but of two arrand theeues It is to be weighed that the Iews neuer gaue Christ the prehemineÌ„ce or highest room but only vpoÌ„ the crosse and gibbet where they crucified him betwixt two theeues they put him in the midst as if he had ben the greatest theef among theÌ„ al the most notorious offender Albertus saith That the Iews hanged our good Iesus betwixt two malefactors as if he had ben a captain a ringleader of theÌ„ to make vs think therby how bad a person that Prophet was seeing that in comparison of him the theeues were of a better life Put the case saith S. Ierom that al the testimonies which they brought against Christ had been true and that they had proued by sufficient witnesse those crimes which they laid against him yet notwithstanding hee deserued not that kind of punishmeÌ„t nor to be executed with such infamous theeues because the Imperiall laws doe command such only to be partakers of equall punishment which were confederates in the offence If the sonne of God drew sinners vnto him receiued them truly it was not for that he would helpe them or further them in sinne but to draw theÌ„ to good life in so much that by his blessed company they were not peruerted but much more conuerted The fifth wrong was that although they might haue put him to another kind of death which was not so scandalous to heare of nor so cruell to bee endured as the death of the crosse yet they would put him to no other death but that because hee should end his life with great cruelty smart For the torment of the crosse was holden to be the terriblest that was to suffer the least pitifull to giue and therefore they crucified none vnlesse it were such a one as without amendment did breake the law or such a one as durst be a traitor to the king Was hee pardie a breaker of the law who said openly Non veni soluere legem sed adimplere I came not to breake the law but to fulfill the law Is he pardy a traitor who said openly Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari Giue that which is Caesars vnto Caesar and that which is Christs vnto Christ They not the sonne of God were breakers of the law they were Traitors vnto the king they caused sedition among the people yea they stole away the sacrifices in so much that against all order of iustice those transgressors murdered him which was holy the Traitors put to death him who was loiall the guiltie crucified the innocent and the theeues crucified their iudge Chrisostome sayth That as the hatred which they bare vnto Christ did passe al other hatred in the world and as the enuie they bare Christ was far greater then any other which could sinke into mans heart so also they would that the death which they gaue Christ should exceed the deaths which all other men did suffer Who doubteth but if a worser death they could haue inuented a worser death he should haue had It is to be weighed that being an old custome that the iudges which giue senteÌ„ce and not which accuse should appoint the maner of death which the party which offendeth should endure yet the Iewes would not leaue Christs death vnto Pilates arbiterment but they themselues would presently design appoint what death he shold die Tel me I pray you what death did they appoint him or what torment did they chuse out for him Barrabas the theefe being loused let free by the common consent agreement of them al Pilat asking theÌ„ what they would doe by Iesus of Nazareth they cried all aloud with one voice Crucifie crucifie him because hee is guilty of death with few words they condemn Christ vnto many cruel terrible torments that is that he should die quickly seeing they say that he is guilty of death that he should die vpon the crosse seeing they said crucifie him that hee should bee twise crucified considering that they say crucifie crucifie him As touching the first they entreat Pilat to put Christ to death and Pilat said that he found no cause in him why hee should die but in fine his resistance preuailed not so much as their importunity The Iews did not request of Pilat that he would whip Christ or banish him or obiect any reprochfull crime against him but that he would immediatly put him to death that because the holy doctrine which he preached and the euill life which they led were imcompatible the one with the other And as for the second the forsakeÌ„ Iews were not content to demand of Pilat that Christ should be put to death and with that death which they themselues desired but that they should immediately crucifie him on a crosse which kind of punishment was neuer giuen but vnto very naughty wicked persons and for very heinous and enormious saults S. August vpon S. Iohn noteth that the Iewes were not conteÌ„t to cry vnto Pilat once that he would crucifie him but they doubled their cry said crucifie him crucifie him to let vs vnderstand that they meant aswell to crucifie his fame and credite as they did crucifie his person Origen saith That by entreating Pilate twise to
sinne and wickednesse in hell so also there is nothing but naughty and wicked men Wee are much more bound vnto our Christ than Samaria vnto their king Iehu because that that king did only rid Samaria of naughty men but the sonne of God made cleane purged all the earth from sinne Who are the children of Achab whose heads king Iehu cut off and who are the priests of Baal which the also slew but Idolatry which hee tooke away from the Gentiles and the Mosaicall law which hee tooke from the Iewes What is the charriot which the son of God went vp into to accomplish such high and strange things but onely the crosse vpon the which our holy Lord attained such and so many great victories It is to be noted that the king Iehu did not aske Ionadab whether their apparell were alike or neat of one fashion but if they loued one another alike to let vs vnderstand that without comparison our Lord doeth much more regard the loue which wee beare him than the seruices which wee doe him Saint Basil vpon the Prophet which saith Bonorum meorum non eges Thou wantest not of my goods saith I see wel my God I see well that how much the more need I haue of thee the lesse thou hast of me and if thou hast need of mee it is not in respect of the goods of fortune but the loue of my mind Note also that the king of Israel and no other tooke Ionadab by the hand to lift him vp into the charriot whereby we are to vnderstand that onely the sonne of God no other Saint of heauen is able to giue vs grace to loue him giue vs strength to follow him Who is able to follow thee or hath power to imitate thee O redeemer of the vvorld if thou doe not first stretch out thy hand vnto him who is able to lift himselfe vp vnto the charriot where thou doest triumph or vnto the crosse whither thou goest to die if thou doe not take vs by the arme to lift vs vp and if thou doe not hold vs by the hand least wee fall How had it beene possible for Mary Magdalen to haue forsaken her prophane life or Matthew his renting of custome or Paul his persecution or the thiefe his assailing of men by the high vvay if the sonne of God had not taken them by the hand and lifted them vp vnto the crosse with him When in the holy scripture by the feet are vnderstood good purposes and desires and by the hands good works what meaneth he by giuing Ionadab his handes and not his feet for to mount into the chariot but that our good Lord doth rather take hold of the good works which wee doe then of the good purposes which wee haue Gregory in his Register saith If thou wilt get vp vpon the chariot of the crosse with thy captaine Ionadab thou must not get vp with thy tongue which are good words nor with thy feet which are good wishes and purposes but with thy hand which are good deeds because S. Iohn dooth not say Veebaâ—ecoruÌ„ Their words nor Desideria coruÌ„ Their desires but Opera corum sequuntur illes Their works follow theÌ„ It is also to be noted that the king of Israell would not suffer the captaine Ionudab to goe vp into the chariot to him vntill hee had certified and assured him that hee was his true friend in so much that they vnited their hearts before they ioined their hands After the â—â—itation of these two friends we must haue amity and loue with Christ if we wil haue him to helpe vs vp into the chariot and the amity and friendship which wee ought to haue with him is to loue him as hee loueth vs for Christ our Lord will first bee loued of vs then serued by vs. S. Basil saith That if any maÌ„ did labor in the church of God and take pains and forgetteth to loue wee may well say of such a one that he shall not only not bee accepted but that God will thinke him also importunate and troublesome because God will not be serued by men of greatstrength such as are forcible but of such as are free of heart And further the king of Israel was not content to ask Ionadabs heart but that hee should giue it him vpright sincere and entire which Christ also demandeth of vs because the son of God will neuer take him for his friend who hath his heart crooked sinister and not vpright And who hath his heart vpright and sincere but the seruant of our Lord and hee which hath no other thing in this world nor seeketh after any thing but onely Iesus Christ Who is hee who hath his heart crooked and awry but hee who is without life who hath care neither of Christ neither of himselfe but goeth euery houre more and more sinking and as it were drowned in the world Dauid knew this very wel when he said Cor mundum crea in me deus spiritum rectum innoua in visceribus meis as if he would say O great God of Israel O great Lord of the house of Iacob I beseech thee that thou wouldest create a new heart in mee and fauor me with the gift of a new spirit which may be both right and true for the heart which I brought from the womb of my mother is such a one as I dare not offer it vnto thee nor he dareth not appear in thy presence because it is vnclean with sinne and loaden with thoughts and care O good Iesus O my soules hope what better praier can I make vnto thee or what iuster petition can I make vnto thee then that thou wouldest create a new heart in mee That is that you wouldest giue mee a cleane heart with the which I may praise thee and a new spirit with the which I may loue thee Giue me O good Lord giue me a new spirit because mine is old vnpleasant vnto thee giue me a cleane and a chast heart because mine is foule and stinking before thy face for if thou do not no praier of mine can bee acceptable vnto thee nor no worke that I doe can bee meritorious vnto thee Cassiodorus noteth That king Dauid was not content that hee was noble in bloud a Prophet by office a king in degree and in surname and calling of a roiall tribe but he asketh of God aboue all things that hee would giue him a cleane heart and poure the holy ghost into him to let vs vnderstand that it doth little auaile vs to bee gratefull vnto the world if withall wee bee hatefull vnto God Then wee are hatefull vnto God and out of his sauour vvhen our hearts bee vncleane and loaden with many spirits and then wee haue many spirits when vvee please others better then wee please God Which the Prophet liketh not but praieth vnto God that it would please him to giue him a cleane heart to beleeue in him and an vpright to serue him Why
follow reason The end why the vvise man did aske for a heart easie to bee instructed was because hee might know how to chuse vvhat vvas conuenient and eschew that vvhich vvas hurtfull for if a man cannot doe this a brute beast can do that which a man cannot doe because wee see by experience that hee eateth euery day of one food for his sustenance and of others he eateth at times for a purgation S. August de verbis Apostoli saith That it is so great a gift to haue a mind apt to learne in this vvorld vvhat is good and vvhat is bad that he giueth it but vnto very few for this being knowne there is nothing else to be known To come then vnto our purpose had not this good theefe a heart easie to bee taught vvhat vvas good vvhat euill and that farre better than the other theefe his companion seeing he said vnto our Lord Remember me commending himselfe vnto Christ and the other said blaspheming Christ if thou be Christ saue thy selfe and vs Origen vpon Matthew saith Care not my brother for being a theefe in hope to saue thy selfe as the good theefe did to saue him for God gaue him not heauen so lightly but that he paied somewhat for it FOr if he gaue him the kingdome of heauen it vvas because he did confesse him vvhen al denied him praised him when all men blasphemed him accompanied him vvhen all men forsooke him and defended him vvhen all men accused him O high iudgements of God O inscrutable secrets of Gods diuine prouideÌ„ce vvhich of the Saints deserue to vnderstand them or vvhich of the Seraphins is able to attaine vnto theÌ„ Let all the vvise men of the vvorld come together let all the Hierarchies holy principalities assemble themselues what count can they yeeld or vvhat reason can they alledge vvhy three houres onely in the which the good theefe vvas vpon the crosse vvith Christ did profit him more than Iudas three vvhole years continually that he went vvith Christ Agreeable vnto the saying of the Apostle what auaileth it the gardener if he labour in his garden plant lettise and water them with the water of the morning if our Lord doe not visite it with his grace Chrisostome de laudibus latrâ—nis sayth The theefe stole and Iudas gaue almes the theefe filled his belly and Iudas fasted the theefe stole and Iudas praied the theefe followed the world Iudas serued Christ yet notwithstanding al this the theef is saued Iudas coÌ„demned What dooth it auaile vs to serue if it please not the sonne of God God looked first vpon Abel then vpon his sacrifices in the world they look first vnto the gift although hee who giueth it bee naught but in the house of God they regard more the merit of him who giueth thaÌ„ the value of the thing which he giueth The merits of this theefe were very great considering he serued Christ neither yeares nor monthes nor weekes but houres and those very few but hee emploied them so well that if he sinned a long time he repented suddenly amended with speed saued himselfe in a short space Vbertinus saith That it is to bee noted that the scripture passeth with silence who this theefe was from whence he was what age hee was of what law he obserued of what stocke hee descended because that Pilate being a Romane iudge could aswell crucifie the Gentiles as hang the Iews The scripture kept close the secret of this secret to let vs vnderstand that for our saluation it maketh little to the purpose whether wee be noble men or meane men rich or poore well spoken of or infamous but only that wee hold Christ for our Lord and king and that wee keepe faithfully his holy law S. Basil vpon the Psalmes saith That all the things of this world suffer an excuse but those things which touch the good of our conscience the seruice of the catholike church do admit none at all And that there is no excuse to be admitted in the seruice of God let vs look vnto the good theef which suffered on the crosse with Christ who for to aske pardon of his error and to repent him of his sinnes was not hindered at all by being infamous nor coÌ„demned nor crucified nor of base linage nor yet that hee had so smal time to repent How great sinnes so euer we haue or how late soeuer we come vnto the crosse let vs not distrust to bee heard nor despaire to bee admitted for wee doe not read of this theefe that he was baptized or confessed yea or that he had repented vntill he was put vpon the crosse Cyrillus crieth out O great mercy O infinite goodnesse what sweats did that theefe endure for thee what discipline did hee giue his flesh what number of yeares did he serue thee in what holy pilgrimages did he bestow his time that thou shouldest within three hours pardon his offences and no other but thou thy selfe take him to glory Barnard saith O who could become a theefe with the good theefe seeing that one fight of thee made him a Christian and one word brought him to heauen We see daily that some steale in their childhood some in their youth some at mans estate some in their old age â—nd some euen vnto the gallowes but yet to steale vpon the gallowes of whom do we read it but of this holy theefe There was neuer any famous theefe that euer did so famous a robbery before he came to the gallowes as this good theefe did euen vpon the gallowes considering that before all their faces he stole away the kingdome of heaueÌ„ O that this was a happy theft which the theefe stole vpon the crosse considering that hee stole the sonne from his father their Lord from the Angels and their creator from the Iewes and their redeemer from the Christians Who euer saw any thing like vnto this who euer heard any thing like vnto this or who euer read any thing like vnto this Thy feet nailed thy armes crucified thy hands bound all thy body disiointed and withal hanging vpon the crosse and yeelding vp the ghost yet doest thou steale from others When other men ask pardon of the people say their beliefe restore things taken away as all other theeues doe at that time thou doest go about to steale anew O good Iesus O the comfort of my soule wilt thou not giue me license to rob and steale with this theefe That which I would steale should bee the bloud which thou diddest shed the loue which thou diddest die with and the charity which caused thee to die and the crosse on which thou diddest die but woe and alasse if I would steale all this I should first crucifie my selfe O my soule O my heart if you will steale and rob with this theefe suffer your selues to be taken then to be bound then to bee dismembred and crucified for as in the world when wee are at liberty money is stolne so
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
Wee haue read of no drunkards we haue seene no drunkards nor yet heard of any drunkards which haue made themselues such onely vvith pure bloud for although barbarous men loue to shed bloud yet they loue not to drinke it The catholicke church hath no â—ewell comparable vnto this nor no greater riches in her holy shop than the bloud of the Saint of all Saints and with the which shee healeth vs vvhen vvee are sicke shee vpholdeth vs vvhen vvee fall maketh vs cleane when wee finne and iustifieth vs vvhen vvee die The Apostles vvere drunke vvith this kind of drunkennesse when they said Wee must rather obey God than man and S. Peter was drunke in this sort when hee said Let vs make three Tabernacles in this place and S. Paul when hee said I am not ready onely to be bound but also to die and S. Laurence when he said it is broiled inough turne it now and eat of it The more pure wine S. Steuen had drunke of the more impatiently hee would haue felt the stones vvhich hee vvas stoned vvith and S. Laurence the coales and S. Bartholomew his sword but after they had entred into this holy seller and drunke of this holy bloud he suffered the stones as if they had been roses and the coals as if they had been lillies And therefore the bride had great reason to commend and not to bee angry with her loue for bringing her into this diuine seller where shee slept without being awaked and vvatched and yet sate not vp all night and entred into it without infamy and liued with change and did eat without paying for the shot O good Iesus O the glory of my soule wilt thou not let me goe into this holy tauerne to drinke there if I lust one drop Giue me leaue O good Iesus giue me leaue because I may know thy grace and tast of thy precious bloud for of all other drinkes in the world the more I drinke of them the greater thirst I feele of all the drops of bloud which thou hast shed most freely wilt thou not giue mee one to assuage the thirst of this sinfull soule It is also to bee noted that the bride doth not only boast that her bridegroome did bring her to the tauerne to drinke but did also teach her there the order which she shold keep in louing in so much that of a plain maid he taught her to be a curious louer This that the bride said Ordinauit in me charitatem is worthy of great heed seeing that by that the Scripture will let vs vnderstand that there is no loue firme and stable if there be not an order in the maner of louing If there be saith Ouid an order in fishing in fouling fighting shall there not be also in louing And he saith further that all which fish loue not nor all which hunt loue not nor al which fight loue not but al which loue fish hunt and fight because he fisheth well who fisheth for others good wil he hunteth well who hunteth after others bowels fighteth wel who fighteth for anothers hart S. Barnard saith Take heed O my soule take heed that that do not happeÌ„ vnto thee that happeneth in vain worldly loue where often those which loue chide those disagree which loue wel not so much for any treasoÌ„ which the one hath done to the other as for want of order in louing He who is not wise in his loue is not my friend but my enemy hee doth not loue me but diffame me Origen vpon these words saith That wheÌ„ there is no order in loue al endeth in disorder for loue endeth in hatred well-willing in detesting seruing in offending praising into diffaming speaking into not hearing care into forgetfulnes diligeÌ„ce into slouth ofteÌ„ visiting into long absence and sighing into coÌ„plaining S. August saith O how well the bride saith he hath set charity in me in good order because that by how much the more ferueÌ„t the zeale is the spirit vehemeÌ„t and the loue sodain by so much the more it is coÌ„uenient that he who loueth be wise because that the zeale may be printed in him the spirit moderated in him charity set in order Anselmus saith also O how well my good Iesus hath set charity in good order in me when he giueth me his holy grace to loue our Lord only for himself in himself by himself giueth me also grace to loue my neighbor only for God and in God and because he is the house of God Cyprian vpon the Creed sayth He cannot bee said with truth that Ordinauit in me charitatem vvho loueth God not because hee is good but because he should giue him Paradise and hee who forsaketh sinne not because it is naught but for feare of hell and if he loue his neighbour it is not because hee is a Christian but because hee is his friend in so much that such a one would neither loue God nor his neighbor but in hope to get some profite by it This kind of loue the Deuill had in the beginning vvho when he should haue loued God in God and for God loued himselfe in himselfe and for himselfe insomuch that when he went about to climbe aboue himselfe he fell lower than himselfe Then God doth ordaine all things in charitie sayth Remigius when he setteth mee in the right way and doth lighten me and when my loue beginneth in him continueth in him and endeth in him because that cannot be called true loue which is not grounded in God for God and by God Irenaeus in an Homily saith I will say theÌ„ with the bride that he hath ordained charity in me when hee hath set such order to my eies that they see no vaine thing and when hee stoppeth my ears that they heare no prophane things bridle my tongue that he speak no superfluous things shut vp my heart that hee desire no forbidden thing S. Gregory vpon Iob sayth That seeing there is nothing bad but that which our Lord hath forbiddeÌ„ we dare say boldly that no maÌ„ ought to desire that which is not lawfull for him to get S. Ierome to Priscilla saith O vvith vvhat great truth he may say with the bride Ordinauit in me charitatem vvho holdeth himselfe for a sinner and others for iust and hee who acknowledgeth a fault in himselfe and preacheth innocency in others for otherwise it should bee no Christian charity neither is it permitted in the law of God to loue goodnesse in my neighbour and retaine naughtinesse in my selfe To come at the last vnto our purpose vvho in this life hath or shall enter so farre into the shop and storehouse of our Lord as the mother of our Lord and that without spot No man went so farre into the selleâ— of our Lord nor no man drunke off so many wines as she did because shee left no cup vntasted of neither was there any grace of the holy ghost vvhich shee was not
Anselmus in his Meditations saith What greater weakenesse of maine can there bee or what greater mishap than that if I defile my selfe I cannot make my selfe clean againe if I be sicke I cannot make my selfe whole againe if I ray my selfe I cannot wash my selfe againe yea and if I sinne I cannot repent of my selfe if our Lord doe not first giue mee his light as hee did the good theefe on the crosse and if hee doe not first looke vpon mee as hee did looke vpon S. Peter from the piller Heale mee good Lord and I shall bee made whole Saue me and I shall be saued saith king Dauid as if he would say No man is able to heale mee O my good Lord if thou doe it not nor no man is able to saue me if thou dost not saue me O my redeemer because no mā knoweth my wound but thou nor my felicity consisteth in none but in thee Cassiodorus vpon the Psalme saith That we should note how that the Prophet doth first aske of our Lord that he would make him whole before hee saue him for if our Lord doe not first wash the fault from vs it is in vaine to thinke that hee should giue vs his glory S. Basil vpon this place Sana me domine sayth That if thou doe not goe vvith me nor I with thee the more I goe about to heale my selfe the sicker I grow when I think to goe forward I turne backward vvhen I imagine that I goe streight then I find my selfe most out of the way when I labour to goe most cleane and neat I find my selfe then most of all vncleane and that vvhich is the worst of all is that I know not vvherein I doe best nor cannot guesse vvhen I doe amisse Anselmus vpon the same place Heale mee good Lord and I shall bee vvhole saith Who but thou O my sweet Iesus can cure mee and giue mee any temedy to such hidden wounds and such manifest offences to faults of such quality as mine are to such carelesse care such vncleane thoughts such wicked crimes such damnable bowels and such inconsiderate speeches Heale mee good Lord and I shall bee made vvhole for it auaileth me very little to vse helpe and not bee made vvhole to fight and kill my selfe to swimme drowne my selfe 〈◊〉 to studie and not profit to take a iourney and neuer come to the end to aske and neuer haue any thing giuen mee to serue and neuer deserue any thing Heale me good Lord I shall be made vvhole of the pride which ouerthroweth mee of the enuy vvhich rotteth in me of the anger vvhich vvasteth mee of the gluttony vvhich disquieteth me of sloth vvhich dulleth me of couetousnesse vvhich maketh me cruell and of all sensuality vvhich neuer leaueth me Heale me Lord I shall bee free from the world vvhich deceiueth me from the deuill which tempteth me from the flesh which pampereth mee from my enemies which persecute me from my friends which importune me from my euill thoughts which torment me and from malicious men vvhich diffame me Heale me good Lord and I shall bee healed not of a scab but of a sin not of blindnes but of filthines not of the members of my body but of my thoughts not of my body but wickednes not of swollen feet but of disordinate appetites Heale me Lord and I shall be healed of my vnruly desires of the wantonnesse of my eies of my ouermuch speaking of the coldnes of my workes of the stealth of my hands of the malice of my thoughts and of the worme of my couetousnes O good Iesus my only trust heale my soule because I haue offended thee in thought I haue offēded thee in delight I haue offended thee in omission I haue offended thee in consent I haue offended thee in deed therefore vnto thee my fault I confesse and therfore good Iesus take pity vpon me Sprinckle me with isope I shal be made clean Lauabis me super niuē dealbabor saith the Psalmist as if hee would say When it shal please thee whē thy son shal come into the world thou shalt sprinckle me with holy Isope wash me with thy precious hād by which sprinckling and washing I shall not only bee clean and without fault but I shal remain whiter than all the snow of the highest mountains Who is he saith Aymon who cōmandeth vs to wash our selues but only the eternal father who is he who washeth vs but only his precious son with what doth he wash vs but with his holy bloud and who bee those which he doth wash but such as are of his holy church O glorious Isope and happy washing place in the which the Angels if they had license to come down and the heauenly powers if they durst would wash themselues in There were many riuers in Samaria but Naaman was healed in none but in the riuer of Iordan there were many cesterns pooles in Ierusalem but the diseased were helped only in the Probatica There were many fountaines in Palestine but Dauid could neuer slackē his thirst but in the fountain of Bethelem Wee will inferre of all this that there hath been very much bloud shed in the world but none could euer make vs cleane but only the bloud of Christ All water washeth not euery fish poole maketh not cleane euery fountaine filleth not neither doth all bloud make whole a beasts bloud hurteth mans bloud defileth but the bloud of Christ doth make whole doth wash doth fill and content If wee looke curiously into the Scripture and especially into the Apocalips thou shalt find it to bee true that S. Iohn did not see any Saint of heauen wash himselfe in the water which did run in the riuer but onely in the bloud which did run from the lambe O of what great vertue this holy bloud is of seeing that for to wash vs and bath vs in it we need no great quantity but a very smal deale which is easily seene in that the Prophet doth not ask that he would make him a pole of bloud to wash him in but that it would please him to sprinckle him with a little Isope dipped in it A very little is sufficient O my good Iesus and it sufficeth to be sprinckled with it and not washed seeing that one drop of thy precious bloud sufficeth to fil thy glory with many and to people thy church with many good men It is much to be noted that he vseth this word Sprinckle me with Isope and I shall be made cleane for by casting water with Isope one drop falleth here and another there this man is wet with it and that man is drie euen so it falleth out in the bestowing of Christs holy bloud for although it were shed for all the world yet notwithstanding it was not emploied vpon all men The bloud of the sonne of God is sprinkled with Isope seeing that the Christian is saued with it and the Pagan condemned the inst
greater and a better watch in our Paradise than Adam had in his because that the Cherubin did but stand at the gate but the sonne of God is the gate it selfe When he said I am the gate what did hee mean else but that he was the key with the which we should open he was the gate through the which we should enter in and he the guide which should direct vs and he the Paradise which we should enioy It is also to bee noted that the sword with the which the Cherubin kept Paradise was neither of siluer nor gold nor yron but was of pure fire which is a new and an vnusuall thing which no man would beleeue if it were not in Scripture It is a thing often tried for yron to haue fire in it and for yron to bee in fyre but that a fyre should bee called a sword is neuer read but of that sword which kept Paradise To apply thē the figure vnto the thing figured al mē are as it vvere yron ouercast with rust that is fallen into original sinne or actuall great or small the sword of the liuing God excepted in vvhō there was neuer found any sin nor the rust of any fault but was alwaies like vnto a sword of fire made in the forge of the holy Ghost What was the sword vvhich kept Paradise but onely Iesus vvhich suffered on the crosse When thou diddest say O my sweet Iesus I come to put fire on the earth art not thou happily all fire seeing that thou dost come to put all the vvorld on fire O how much better the sword is vvhich the church hath than that vvhich the synagogue vsed Because her sword did let no man enter into Paradise but ours doth open the gates vnto vs. What shall I say more but that her sword vvas of fire vvhich did burn ours is but of Loue vvhich giueth comfort O sword of holy loue my sweet Iesus hovv happy I should be if I vvere dead vvith thy knife because that that killing should bee a rising from death that bowelling of me a letting of bloud my end a nevv beginning and my dying a liuing Our Lords mercy is such that he saith not Ego mortifico but he saith I doe giue life nor he saith not I will strike but hee saith I will make whole in so much that if he kill vs it is to raise vs to life againe and if he◠wound vs it is to make vs whole againe Then our Lord doth mortifie vs when he killeth our inclinations in vs and thē we are stroken with his hand whē we are punished with his great mercy and like a good surgeon hee neuer seareth the quicke flesh but the rotten member which infecteth the rest And because Simeon saith that the dolours and the sword of her sonne went through the mothers heart it is expedient for vs to stay somewhat in declaring the greifes which Christ suffered because that thereby we shall know them which he imparted vnto his mother Cum esset Dauid in spelumcā Obdollam conuenernat ad eum omnes qui erant in angustia oppressi aere alieno saith the Scripture 1. Reg. 22. as if he would say When king Dauid hid himselfe in the den of Obdolla there came vnto him all such as were banished by the order of iustice or fled for debts of all which sorrowfull Dauid was the Prince and captaine for of all the afflicted he was the most afflicted This is a high figure and deepe mystery worthy of great consideration because in it is figured very much by Dauid and namely the great griefes which Christ endured O that it were farre better for me poor sinner which write this that my soule did tast of them than for my fingers to write them Because that the doctrine which the sonne of God teacheth is of that quality that although it bee very good to preach it yet it is farre better to follow it There were many figures of Christ in the old law but none so liuely as Dauid was in proof whereof they did not call Christ the sonne of Adam nor the sonne of Moyses but the sonne of Dauid partly because hee was of his princely Tribe partly because he was not so liuely figured in any as in him God said vnto Dauid by special priuiledge I haue found a mā according vnto my own hart the Father said of Christ only this is my welbeloued sonne in so much that that loue which God bare in times past vnto Dauid was figured afterward in the loue which hee bare to his deere beloued sonne Dauid was also a figure of the sonne of God in that that as Dauid was persecuted by his maister the king of Israel without cause euen so Christ vvas persecuted of the Israelites not hauing offended them at all insomuch that if Saul did persecute Dauid of pure enuy the Iewes did persecute Christ of pure malice Dauid was also a figure of Christ in the denne of Obdollam where if Christ had been Dauid had neuer beene the captaine and prince of all the afflicted and banished men but the son of God had been their ringleader as hauing endured more griefe and vexation than all they because he did exceed all heathenish gods in power and all the Angels in merite and all the Martyrs in suffering King Dauid vvas badly handeled by his brothers defied and chalenged by Golias banished by Saul skoffed at by Michol stoned by Simei persecuted by Absalon robbed by the Amalechites vvarred by the Philistims watched by the Ceilitas and iniuried by the Ammonites But notwithstanding that king Dauid suffered many griefes and troubles yet they may bee numbred But what shall we say of those which good Iesus endured which were so many in number that no man is able to reckon them nor yet at all follow them Being a verified matter that king Dauid had tenne kindes of people which did persecute him that he had twelue tribes or kingdomes which did obey him it is now to be knowne who was his son vvho inherited his kingdomes and vvho was his sonne who succeeded him in all vexations and griefes Salomon sonne vnto Bersabee and Dauid succeeded him in the inheritance of his twelue kingdomes vvith vvhome his father left him no warres to maintaine no enemies to resist him no succeeds to contend with him no factions to pacifie nor debts to pay What did not the good old man leaue his sonne considering that he left him al his kingdomes in peace and great treasures laid vp for him But vvhen forgetfull Salomon saw that his father had left him great store of vvealth and no vvarres hee bestowed all that in vices vvhich hee should haue bestowed against his enemies King Salomon inherited kingdomes and vices vices and kingdomes seeing hee had threescore Queenes crowned to his wiues and seuē hundred concubines Salomon did inherite vices and all other daintinesse seeing he himselfe doth commend himselfe that his eies coueted nothing which was denied
world haue had no power yet notwithstanding sin hath had a dwelling place in them because there did neuer man liue so cleane who knew not what sinne was Cassiodorus sayth I for my part thinke sinne more mightier than any other enemy because the world and the diuell can but deceiue me but wicked sin can hurt me damn me For if there were no manner of sin in the world we should need neither gallowes nor sword Christ onely may say hee hath deliuered me from my enemies because he no other was free from sinne because all other creatures knew what sinne was and all knew what punishment for it was O how happy a man he should be who could say with the Prophet he hath deliuered me from my strongest enemies for it is nothing else to say that God hath deliuered him from his enemies but that our Lord hath deliuered him from his sinnes The Prophet had great reason to call sinne not only an enemy but also his strongest enemy seeing that without other helpe he threw the Angell out of heauen cast Adam out of Paradise depriued Iudas of his Apostleship and condemned all the world to death Is not sinne thinke you the mightiest of all other enemies seeing that hee is able and strong inough to carry mee to hell The power of my visible enemy reacheth no further than to take my life from mee but sinne the Traitour is an enemy so strong that hee is able to take my life from me depriue me of grace cast me out of glory hurt my soule and condemne mee vnto paine Who had such enemies as the sonne of God had that is so wicked in their cogitations so malicious in their speech and so cruell in their deedes Were not the lashes which opened Christs shoulders very cruell enemies the nailes which broke his sinewes the thornes which tore his temples and the speare which opened his side and the Synagogue which tooke his life from him Yet Christ called none of all these his enemies nor did not handle them like his enemies but only sins which hee did not only call enemies but mighty and strong enemies giuing vs therby to vnderstand that we should hold none for our enemie but onely sinne When good king Dauid said Persequar inimicos meos comprehendam illos Hee spake it not in respect of the enemies which persecuted his person but for sinnes which did damnifie his soule For seeing that good king Dauid did pardon Saul and Simei and others his mortall enemies how could hee counsell vs that wee should persecute ours When he saith I will persecute my enemies vntill I destroy them he spake of no other enemies but of his sinnes the which it is conuenient for vs to persecute and cast from vs. And it is not without a mystery that hee sayth Persequar comprehendam Because that as the enemy which is offended if he be not taken turneth againe and biddeth vs a more fierce battaile than hee did before euen so dooth the diuell and sinne deale with vs the which if we doe not driue away vtterly from vs and root out from our hearts they turn againe against vs like vnto most mighty and strong enemies What doth it auaile the huntsman if hee run after the Hare if he take her not what doth it is profite thee if thou run after sinne and detest sinne and speake euill of it if thou doest not ouertake sinne and what else is it to ouertake sinne but to ouercome and destroy sinne vtterly O how many there be which say I wil persecute my enemies and how few there bee which say and I haue taken them for if they cast out sinnes to day on one side of their house they turne againe to morrow and knocke at the ring of the dore and it is opened presently vnto them CHAP. III. How Christ complaineth of his Father because hee tooke all his friends from him in his passion and all others which he knew ELongasti ame amicum proximum notos meos a miseria These are the words which the sonne of God spake continuing his former complaint vttered by the Prophet Dauid Psalm 87 as if he would say Thou shouldest haue contented thy selfe O my Father when thou didst vnload al thy wrath vpō my weake body not seperate anew my friends frō me hinder those to come vnto me which were my known acquaintance Christ cōplaineth in this place of his Father that he tooke his friends from him seeing that he sayth thou hast remoued my friends from me he complaineth that he took his kinsmen from him that hee tooke his acquaintance from him and at that instant when hee vvas in greatest misery This is a pittifull complaint which the sonne of God now maketh because there is no griefe to be compared vnto that nor no hurt equall vnto the taking away of a mans trusty and faithfull friend Horace asketh what hee is able to doe or what hee hath who hath no friends To what purpose doth he liue which hath no friends Mimus the Philosopher sayth That a man dieth as oft as he loseth any of his good friends and sayth further that as the body is made of diuers members so the heart of friends and there vpon it is that as the body cannot liue without it haue many members so likewise the heart cannot liue vvithout friends They killed Dauids greatest enemy which was Saul and his deerest friend who was Ionathas in one day and hee was so agreeued at the death of his friend that by turns after hee had wept the death of his friend hee wept his enemies death also We doe not read that our redeemer did weep for the death of holy Ioseph his maister nor for all the trauails which he eudured in this world but he wept for the death of Lazarus his good friend whose death hee could not endure but immediately did raise from death againe If Plutarch the great Philosopher doe not deceiue vs Plato came from Asia vnto Cicilia for no other cause but to see Phocion the Philosopher who was his deere friend Cicero in his booke of Friendship sayth That the Philosophers do cōmend nothing more vnto vs nor wise men did esteeme of no riches more than of the conuersation of their friends because that without friends it is not lawfull for vs to liue nor yet very sure to die Aristorle being asked what friendship was answered That it was nothing else but one soule which ruled two hearts and one heart which did dwell in two bodies Diogenes sayth That seeing there is no greater paine than to deale with naughty men nor no greater comfort than to conuerse with good men for my owne part I confesse and say that I had rather die vvith him whom I hold for my friend than liue with him whome I esteeme my enemie Eschines the Philosopher being demanded how one friend should be towards another answered betwixt true friends there is but one yea and one
nay one liking one misliking one agreeing one disagreeing one wil and one nill one loue and one hatred Experience doth teach vs that how good soeuer the bread be yet it mouldeth and wine becommeth vineger and garments teare and flesh waxeth stale and years passe away but friendship alone is that which neuer wearieth good conuersation is that that neuer doth loathe Pliny in an Epistle sayth If thou wilt be honored giue honour vnto others If thou wilt bee succoured succour others If thou wilt be loued loue others For if thou wilt haue a friend thou must either make him or find him and in that case I say that it is better for thee to make him by good turns than buy him with money Peter of Rauenna sayth in a Sermon of the holy Ghost O what a sweet thing it is to haue friends to loue and to loue to bee loued againe for the qualities of true friendship are that it feareth no sword it dreadeth no arrow it refuseth no spear nor esteemeth not his life but embraceth death with cheerefulnesse rather than make any default in friendship Isidorus sayth That the priuiledges of true friendship are that it maketh prosperous fortune more pleasant and aduerse more easie maketh doubtful things certaine and fiercenesse meeke and maketh that light which is greeuous heauy Hermogenes sayth When thou art in prosperity in this world thou oughtest to suspect all friendship for thou doest not know whether they loue that which thou hast or thy selfe which doest possesse it for true friendship is not knowne when thou hast much to giue but when thou art in necessity to aske Is there saith S. Ambrose any greater cōsolation in this miserable vvorld thā to haue a faithful friend with whom thou maist open thy breast communicate thy secrets discouer thy heart impart thy pleasures and giue part of thy griefes If thou doest make a bed to lie in and build chimnees to warme thee in and garners for thy corne vvhy doest thou not seeke bowels to hide the secrets of thy bowels And thou must know that thou oughtest nor to trust the secrets of thy heart but vnto another who is thy heart Saint Ierome vnto Ruffinus sayth Whē thou dost enter into friendship with any faithfull friend Ruffinus learne better how to keepe him than thou diddest keepe Ierome for a good friend is not found euery where the is long a seeking for and seldome gotten he is hardly kept and easily lost he is recouered very slowly and the want of him felt very quickly Chilo the Philosopher sayth I am halfe of my friend and my friend is halfe of me in so much that I must seeke him in me and my selfe in him because he is I and I am hee And hee saith further that when my friend dieth in him whom I loued halfe of my selfe died with him and halfe of him remaineth aliue with mee in so much that by my will I should die if it were not to keepe that part of him which remained in me aliue This vertue of friendship could not bee better praised than this Philosopher hath done it seeing hee doth confesse that halfe of himselfe is in the graue with his friend and that halfe of his friend was aliue in his soule and that he desired to liue for no other reason but because his friend should not die in him To come then vnto our purpose if all this be true we should haue great compassion vpon Christ seeing his Father tooke his friends from him separated his kin from him left him no comfort by his acquaintance It is much to be noted that Christ doth complaine that his Father took but one friend frō him one kinsman but many of his acquaintance to note vnto vs that of faithfull friends there is scarse one to be found and of vertuous kinsmen hardly one but of acquaintance a great number O that hee knoweth but meanly what friendship is who putteth a friend a kinsman and his acquaintance vnder one reckoning because that I am to call him only my friend who loueth me him my kinsmā who is a good Christian all other my neighbours cōpanions my acquaintance To speak properly Christ had but one friend only who was his Father no other friend like vnto him one only which was of his kindred who was his mother none other like vnto her but he had great acquaintance among the Iews in that great conflict which he had in his passion his friend forsooke him his kindred did not helpe him and his acquaintaince shewed themselues vngratefull Thou diddest remoue farre from me my friend seeing that thou O my Father wouldest not heare me when I praied vnto thee in the garden following the inclination of the flesh and thou diddest remoue my kin from me seeing that my mother could not help me on the Mount of Caluary and thou diddest remoue my acquaintance from me seeing that there I was put to death by them O in what great danger and in what a narrow strait the son of God vvas at the time of his passion seeing he complaineth that his Father did not heare him his mother did not helpe him and none of his friends would know him Thou diddest say very well O sweet Iesus that Elongasti a me amicum proximum seeing thy friend who was thy father could comfort thee but would not thy kin who was thy mother would but could not helpe thee and thy acquaintance who was Iudas neither would nor could accompany thee in so much that vpon the altar of the crosse thou diddest abound in torment and want friends O that wee had a farre better friend of thee than thou haddest of vs seeing that Totum belli pondus versum est in Saul When as to make an attonement betwixt vs and thy Father he did lay all the danger of the warre vpon thy shoulders Non est qui vtrumque possit arguere ponere manum suam in ambobus sayth Iob chapter 9. As if hee would say The one is so strong and the other so obstinate that there is no man able to satisfie thē nor who dareth put his hand between thē Whē that holy mā Iob saith that he saw two men at a variance which al the world could not make friends set at agreement yet did not name thē it is small doubt but he vnderstandeth some great secret hiddē mystery Of these two which holy Iob speaketh of who is the strong mightie one but only our eternal God who the obstinate man but he who is without cōfort Cyrillus saith That God man man God did hādle one another very hardly because man did nothing but sin God did neuer cease to punish thervpō it is that in those daies they called God Deus vltionū deus vltionū twise because he did neither pardon their bodies of punishment nor their soules of the fault Because God was the highest
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
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
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
benches of the Temple If there were no greater matter contained vnder this complaint and rebuke and if the sence were not of greater weight than the letter and the thing figured worthier than the figure it was no new thing nor rare fault to drinke of another mans wine or cast himselfe vpon some cloke laid to pledge or to sleepe in the holy Temple That which God speaketh here and that which our Lord complaineth of reacheth further than it seemeth for and dooth draw vs vnto a deeper mystery than outwardly it appeareth for if we marke it well God did neuer speake vnto the Synagogue but it did redound afterward to some mystery in the church First the Prophet in this place maketh mention of certain garments secondly that those garments were a pawne and pledge thirdly that they were laid neere vnto an altar fourthly that drunkards lay vpon them fiftly that they dranke there much wine sixtly that that wine was the wine of condemned persons and then that they dranke within the holy Temple What one of these words dooth want his mystery or what circumstance is there not worthy of deepe consideration In the selfesame sort that this was prophecied by Osee it was fulfilled by Christ for wine being brought for Christ to drinke of and also the other theeues the Iewes did not onely not giue it them but did themselues drinke it then being very dronk they took Christs clothes and cast them on the ground and sate vpon them When the Prophet sayth that they dranke the wine lay down vpon the garments hard by the altar hee sayth most truly for the first church that euer was in the world was the Mount of Caluary the first altar was the crosse the first sacrifice offered vp for the redemption of man was his own body to be crucified on good Friday vpon the same altar of the crosse the first faithfull were the Virgine and Saint Iohn with the other Apostles and secret disciples In that holy Temple and by that sacred altar who were they which leaned were cast down vpon the garments but onely the vnhappy and vnfortunate Iewes Thinke it is a great mystery that the Prophet did not see those of his Synagogue sitting but leaning neere vnto the altar to let vs vnderstand that they be neither open Christians nor conceiled Iewes for Christians they could not bee because they will not beleeue in Christ and if they will bee Iewes they haue no Temple where to Iudaize Robertus sayth Vntill this day the Iewes are not prostrate before the altar which is Christ to beleeue him nor yet on their knees to worship him nor on foot to defend him nor embracing him in signe of loue but leaning to offend him because their intention is to tread his holy garments vnder feet and keepe off Iesus Christ from them with their elbowes Taking this prophesie in another sence it is to bee noted that oftentimes in Scripture by good garments are vnderstood good works and by torne garments naughty workes and therevpon it is that as the body is clad and fostered with a new garment so the soule is decked and garnished with holy workes And because that the curious Reader may not thinke that we speak at randome we will proue our saying by Scripture What was the meaning that Saint Iohn saw Christ Vestitum ponere which was to see him with a long garment but to see him loaden with vertues from the head to the foot Hee that went to the wedding not hauing his nuptiall garment but because hee was vncomely clothed was carried to prison who is represented vnto vs but hee who although he doe lead an euill life yet dooth dare to enioy Christian liberty When God doth command in the Apocalips Omni tempore vestimenta tua sint candida let thy garments be white alwaies what doth he signifie but that we should be all cleane and vertuous When the Scripture saith that Iacob made his sonne Ioseph Tunicam polymitam that is an embrodered garment downe to the ground What was the meaning that his garment did reach so low but that the sonne of God should be perfite in all vertues What did it signifie that the Iewes did cast clothes vnder the asse feet to goe ouer and the Apostle put them vpon the asse which Christ rode vpon but that he misliked all that the Synagogue did and approoued all that the church did S. Augustine sayth Because in holy writ by the garments which wee weare are vnderstood the works which wee doe wee may truly say that no man goeth well clothed but the vertuous man nor no man with a torne coat but the wicked and naughty sinner Christ did vse but two garments in this world the one next his skin which was without seame the other an vpper garment which serued him for a cloke coat in so much that Christ did shew the perfection of his pouerty not only in his diet but also in the simplenesse of his apparell Barnard sayth The sonne of God did teach vs not onely to liue but also to apparell ourselues because his holy garments were few in number vild in colour small of price good in profite but cleane in vse Hylarius sayth Although the garments which the sonne of God ware were but few vild torne yet the Scripture dooth much esteeme of them not for the value vvhich they are vvorth but for the great mysteries which they did signifie Origen in an Homily sayth What vvere the garments vvhich the sonne of God vvent alwaies clad vvith but his diuine and humane nature wherof he was made His coat without seame and in which there neuer entred needle nor scissers was his diuine nature in great purity glorious from the beginning in the which there was no beginning nor shall bee no end for that nature is now as it was from the beginning and shall be for euer as it is at this instant By the other coat vvhich vvas sowne and cur is vnderstood Christs sacred humanity vvhich vvas formed by the Holy-ghost and borne of the Virgine Mary and therefore Christs vvearing of these two coats doth signifie that hee and no other is God and man and the sonne vvhich vvas incarnate Before that Christ tooke flesh hee had but one coat to couer selfe withall which was his diuinity but after that hee came into the vvorld he put on another coat vvhich vvas his humanity and by that means he did lend vs his coat to make vs holy and vvee did lend him ours to make him a man Saint Chrisostome sayth The one of Christs coats to wit that vvhich vvas vvithout seame continued vvhole and vntorne in his passion but his vppermost garment vvas rent and torne to giue vs to vnderstand that although his enemies had power to lay hands vpon his sacred humanity yet they had none at all to touch his diuinity Damascen sayth One of Christs coats fell vvhole and entire vnto the knights and the other torne and ragged
are predestinated and he shall be placed in the kingdome of heauen Saint Augustine saith in a Sermon As the sonne of God did command vs to keepe new precepts so he did promise vs new rewards for it and as hee gaue great commandements so hee gaue great rewards wherevpon it is that vntil hee came into the world no man commanded that which hee commanded nor no man promised that which he promised Christ said not in vaine Ecce noua facio omnia but because hee instituted the Sacrament which was a hard thing to reach vnto and commanded vs to beleeue the blessed Trinity which is a high matter to vnderstand willed vs to beleeue him both God man which is a new thing to bee receiued charged vs to loue our enemies which is a hard matter to doe and commanded vs to keepe his law only which was a new thing in the world to doe S. Thomas in his book against the Gentiles sayth That as the sonne of God did not command those of the old law to beleeue great things so he did not promise them but small things and because hee commanded his chosen Christians to beleeue hard things and performe things which were not easily done he promised that they should possesse and emoy very high rewards To come then vnto the text of Vestimentis pignoratis c. It is to bee noted that as the seruice of the iust was to bee done here vpon earth and the reward which they are to receiue to be giuen aboue in heauen because wee should not thinke that hee mocked vs in deferring our paiment to the other world his pleasure was to leaue vs a good gage and pledge in this world vntill he should reward vs for our good life in heauen The pledges which Christ left vs in this world were his precious garments his holy works and his most holy Sacraments Why did Christ thinkest thou leaue vs so many pledges in this life but because hee will vnpawne them afterward aboue in his glory In his glory aboue all those pledges shall bee taken away and haue an end because that in heauen we shall need to hope for nothing because we shall see that with our eies which now we desire nor we shall haue nothing to beleeue because there shall be nothing hidden wee shall haue no cause to feare because there shall bee no death wee shall need to aske for nothing because life is there euerlasting neither shal we desire any thing seeing that glory is there perpetuall O how happie be all Christian people seeing they haue not only Christs garments for a pledge and hostage but also Christ himselfe remaining with vs vnder the visible signs of the Sacrament vntil he giue himselfe vnto vs in heauen glorified Let no man maruell to heare vs say that we haue Christ for a pledge pawne for that which his Father promised vs seeing that the Apostle saith also that we haue the Holy ghost for a pledge for that which the son commanded vs Ipse est pignus haereditatis meae as if he would say God the eternal Father hath giuen vs the gifts of the holy Ghost and all the garments and merites of his sonne for a pledge of that which hee hath promised vs and this no longer but vntill hee will carry vs to his eternall glory and giue vs the fruition of his diuine essence What Christian is there who will bee afraid to loose himselfe and not haue a hope to saue himselfe hauing as wee haue for an assurance of our saluation as Christs robes in pawne and the gifts of the Holy ghost in hostage Super vestimentis pignoratis all holymen doe leane when they ioine their workes with Christs workes for all that we doe is little worth vnlesse we tie it vnto Christs merits It is to be weighed that the Prophet Osee did not see the garments by themselues and elbowes by themselues but garments with elbowes and elbowes with garments to giue vs to vnderstand that we cannot merite with our own works and that Christ wil not alwaies saue vs by himselfe by reason whereof it is necessary that wee fasten our armes vpon his workes and that he sticke his workes vpon our elbows armes CHAP. V. Where is brought a sigure of Tobias and declared to the purpose EXentera hunc piscem cor eius fel iecur repone tibi Tobias 6 chap. The Angell Raphael spake these words vnto young Tobias as if hee would say Crie not nor bee not afraid of this fish but take him out of the water flay him cut him in the middle and take out his heart his gaule and liuer and keepe it all for thy selfe because it is all very medicinable to cure a sicke man The story of Tobias is very well knowne to the learned in Scripture When he sent his young sonne Tobias to Rages a towne of the Medes for the recouering of tenne markes of siluer which he had lent his friend Gabelus when hee was captiue in Babilon and when yong Tobias came to the riuer Tygris to wash his feet there came foorth a very great fish to the banck side toward him with such boldnesse as if hee would haue eaten and swallowed him vp before that hee could flie from him When the Angell saw the fiercenesse of this fish and the great feare that the youth was stroke into hee began to encourage him saying Feare not the fish because the fish ought rather to be afraid of thee and therefore it is necessary that thou do by him that which he would haue done to thee because another cannot recouer health before this fish bee killed Tobias tooke heart by the encouragement of the Angell and fastening on the fish by the gilles drew him out of the water and stripped him and tooke out his heart and his gaule and his liuer as the Angell his master had commanded him to doe Now that Tobias fear was past when the fish was dead and drawne he said vnto his Angell Tell mee brother Azarias to what purpose thou diddest command mee to keepe the fishes heart gaule and liuer and diddest not bid me eat at all of him To this the Angell answered Thou must vnderstand my sonne Tobias that this thy iourney and this chance which hath befaln vnto thee wanteth not a great mystery as hereafter it shall appeare But for the present let it suffice thee to know that the meat of this fish is good for trauailers to eat of and the heart good to cast out diuels and the gaule good to heale the blind and the liuer soueraine for to cure other externall diseases There are presented vnto vs many deepe mysteries in this figure if it may please God to giue mee the knowledge to expound them for in it is set foorth the wonderfull death which the sonne of God suffered and the inspeakeable fruit and benefite vvhich vvee receiue by it Here is to bee vnderstood who Tobias is vvhich taketh the iourney what the fish
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
a diet for the patient to extenuate the humours then they procure him some sweat to expell ventosities then they let him bloud to correct the matter and then they giue him a purgation to rid and empty him of all that is superfluous and hurtfull in him The Phisitian doth all this giuing a receit in a paper and sending it to the Apothecary and ministring it to the patient in so much that the Phisitions cure is in the pulse which he doth handle and receit which hee ordaineth When good Iesus sayth by Esayas Veni vt mederer contritis corda although he obserued this order in curing the diseased yet he obserued it not in administring his medicins For the swearing bleeding and purging which the diseased should haue receiued our benigne Iesus tooke vpon him when hee was in health Doest thou not thinke that he kept a diet when he did fast not only forty daies but considering that all his holy life was a longer diet Doest thou not thinke that hee sweat all our sinnes when in his agony in the garden his bloud did run by all his pores Doest thou not thinke that he bled all the corruption of our sinnes when hee did scarce leaue a drop of bloud in all his vaines Doest thou not thinke that he purged the corruption and perdition of all the world when he tooke the purgation of gaule and soure vineger Not without a high mystery then and a profound Sacrament hee said vpon the crosse Consummatum est as he ended to take that purgation giuing vs thereby to vnderstand that the diseased man was purged let bloud sweat and was healed and that there was nothing else to be done in him if he did not fall againe by fault CHAP. III. Of the greatnesse of the sonne of God and how all thinges haue weight and measure and number sauing only the humanity of Christ COnsummatus factus est obtemperantibus sibi causa salutis aeternae Hebrewes 5. The Apostle speaketh these wordes talking with the Iewes of the high perfections which were in Christ as if he should say This sonne of God which I preach vnto you was very perfect in himself and was cause that all such as did beleeue in him should attaine to euerlasting life and saluation by him There are some which be neither good to thēselues nor vnto others and there are some which be good to others and not good to themselues and there are other who are good to themselues and all others and of these the sonne of God was seeing the Apostle sayth That he was Consummatus to wit that the sonne of God is good in all perfection and to all good men very profitable Vnder these few words the Apostle comprehendeth many graue sentences that is he will call vs to memory who the son of God is therefore he saith Quod consummatus factus est also what profite we receiue by his comming and therefore hee saith Quod fuit causa salutis aeterna These two things are not of such small quality but that vnder them all the holy scriptures are comprehended For hauing said what Christ is and what he hath done in the world there is nothing more to bee sought for in all the Gospell Because Christ did say on the crosse Consummaetum est and because the Apostle S. Paule doth say of Christ Consummatum factus est it is conuenient for vs to turne againe to these words because we may see in them how great Christs omnipotency is vnto the which no poore creature is able to reach vnto To speake of the greatnesse and omnipotency of God is to goe about to take the heauens with our hands or measure the earth by handy breads or the sea by ounces Cum inceperit hora tunc finiet said the wise mā as if he would say The greatnesse of God is so high to reach vnto so inscrutable to vnderstand so inuisible to see so omnipotent to comprehend that when we think that we are come to an end of vnderstanding it then we are but at the beginning of searching it Holket vpon these words sayth What would the wise man say that when we should make an end then we should begin but that if we will speake of the greatnesse of God either that we neuer begin to magnifie it or neuer end to praise it S. Augustine in his fourth booke De Trinitate sayth The cause why the mysteries of God doe make all the world afeard is not because God is one but Trinus and that he is one the Iew is easily conuinced and the Moore also to beleeue it but that God is Trinus and one as he is none doth beleeue it but the Christian And he sayth further that which God doth make vs wonder at in his diuinity Christ doth in his humanity for if he had but one thing alone in him we should dare to speak of his greatnesse but hauing three things in him which are diuinity flesh and soule and that all three are brought reduced to one diuine person the vnderstanding will be aweary to thinke of it the tongue dumbe to rehearse it Omnia fecit deus in numero pondere mensura sayth the wise man as if he should say Our Lord is so certaine in all that he doth and so wary in all that hee taketh in hand that bee they neuer so many he numbreth thē all be they neuer so great hee weigheth them and be they neuer so broad he measureth them so that in the house of God there is number weight and measure The most sacred humanity of the son of God commeth not vnder this reckoning for being as it is vnited vnto the word it is so perfect and adorned with such high merit that there is no number to count it nor wait to weigh it nor yet yard to measure it As concerning the first Christs humanity wanteth this which we haue said of number seeing he is but one person and according to the Philosopher no vnity is a number but the beginning of number Vpon those words of the Prophet Tu solus cog nouisti nouissima antiqua S. Basil sayth Alone and not accompanied with any the son of God is vnited to the word and in his holy gouernance no man sitteth with him nor no man doth beare him company in that high principality for as in that he is God he hath being by his owne proper production so in that that hee is man hee is first created and of all things created he is the beginning of number Vpon those words Omnia per ipsum facta sunt Irenaeus sayth Euen as all things were made by Christ in that that he was God so they were made by him in that that he was man because he was the first thing which God intēded in the creation to create all things for him as vnto him who should be heire of all by reason whereof we owe vnto the son of God not only our redēption but also our
and a great louer In Salomons Temple the things of gold were so measured those of wood so leuelled that when they were laid downe there was no Ax nor hamber heard When the Holy-ghost did frame the Temple of the most sacred humanity of Christ in the wombe of the blessed Virgine Mary hee framed it so iust and made it in all perfection so exquisite that there was there no axe of sinne nor hamber of the diuell The windowes of that temple were broader within than vvithout to signifie vnto vs that the loue which Christ had secretly in his entrails was farre greater and broder than the wounds were which hee suffered for vs and although that at the beginning he doth lead his a straight and narrow way yet after that they doe tast of his heauenly loue he maketh all things broad and large vnto them In this holy Temple of Christ we must offer pure gold and excellent siluer which wee doe then when in heart we beleeue him and with our mouth confesse him There must also be offered latten copper and brasse by which we may vnderstand the vertue of patience for as those mettals doe suffer many blowes and serue to many vses so the vertue of patience doth suffer many iniuries and maketh many men vertuous It is fit for vs to offer there a â—acinth stone which is of the colour of heaueÌ„ to signifie therby vnto vs that al our works desires shold be directed to attain heaueÌ„ because that is in heauen which we do beleeue on earth there he dwelleth whoÌ„ we preach here and that is recompenced there which wee suffer here Wee should offer also in the liuely Temple of that blessed humility scarlet wel coloured and fine whereby is vnderstood the memory which wee ought to haue of his holy passion the which if it was troublesome for him to suffer is most profitable for vs to contemplate O how happy should he be of whoÌ„ it might be said thy hears are like vnto the scarlet of the king died in the gutters What are the heares but my thoughts and what are the gutters but his precious wounds and what is the coloured scarlet but his most precious flesh died in his owne precious bloud O who could be worthy to wash in this bloud the heares of his thoughts euery day a little time for seeing them of that colour they would presently be acceptable to Christ Thou shouldest offer also in this most holy TeÌ„ple scarlet twise died that is loue doubled if thou wilt know what loue doubled is we tell thee that it is the loue of God and the loue of thy neighbor He offereth scarlet twise died who doth the works of charity vnto his neighbour and giueth no euill speech vnto any man and hee doth also offer scarlet twise died who offereth his soule vnto God and part of his goods vnto his neighbour in necessity God did also command fine white linnen to be offered vnto him whereby a chast and a clean conuersation is vnderstood because there is nothing in this world in greater danger than the fame of a vertuous person Flie then my brother flie the occasions of the world and trust not so much as thy selfe for how much the finer the thrid of thy fame is the sooner it will be broken spotted if thou haue not a viligant care ouer it God commaunded likewise that they should offer him in his Temple timber of the wood Cethin because it was incorruptible whereby are vnderstood all perfect works and well finished and this hee noteth that if in vertuous workes wee haue not great constancy and peseuerance the worme dooth consume them like as they doe timber God doth also command that they should offer in his Temple goats heare if they had nothing else nor no other riches and therevpon the Lord may offer what he will and man what hee can What other thing are the goats heare which thou art to offer vnto him but only our sharpe and austere workes with the which wee are to serue him With a vile and base and rough couering cloath of gold and fine silke is kept and with a seuere life fame is conserued and a clean conscience because that dainty meats and curious apparell are not to bee vsed among perfect men O how happy hee should bee who might say with Christ Consummatum est that is that he followed our Lord vntil the last houre as hee might and offered vnto him that which he had CHAP. V. How that all the mysteries and prophesies which God had prophesied of him were most highly fulfilled in Christ in Ierusalem ECce ascendimus Hierosolimam consummabuntur omnia quae scripta sunt de filio hominis Luke 18. Christ spake these wordes vnto his disciples in the last iourney that hee made with them in this life and it as if hee would say Behold we goe vp into the great city of Ierusalem where all the prophesies shall bee fulfilled which are written of mee and where the sonne of the virgine shall bee deliuered vnto the Gentiles shal be scorned and spet vpon whipped and put to death and after three daies they shall see him risen again Before all things it is principally to be noted that whersoeuer this aduerb Ecce is put there is alwaies signified some great mystery as in Esayas Ecce Behold a virgine shall bring forth in the incarnation Ecce Behold the handmaid of the Lord in the transfiguration Ecce Behold a white cloud in the temptation Ecce Behold the Angels shall minister vnto him and in his resurrection Ecce behold an earthquake The things which Christ spake vnto them in this place were so high and the mystery so great which hee discouereth vnto them that they could not onely not vnderstand it but they were also afeared and began to tremble to heare it for they thought it a violent thing that they should martyr a holy man and they thought it a very strange thing that any man should rise againe Theophilus vpon S. Matthew sayth That it is much to bee noted that in all other iournies which Christ made it is alwaies said that hee went in the company of his disciples this one excepted where hee sayth that hee went before them to declare the great ioy that hee had to see that hee went to die and suffer passion for those whom he meant to redeeme and saue The difference betwixt those which take in hand any iourney is this that hee who goeth with greatest ioy goeth alwaies formost because hee would soonest come to the end and so it fell out here for Christ hauing a greater desire of our redeÌ„ption and saluation than the Apostles had made most hast on the way Secretum meum mihi secretum meum mihi said God by Esayas chap. 24. as if he would say From the beginning of the world in the deapth of the eternity I haue kept close a secret which no maÌ„ knoweth O infinit good O high Trinity what is this
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
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
pan put to the fire The sacred humanity of Christ being put in the fryingpan of the crosse notwithstanding all the torments which they gaue him and all the iniuries and reproches which they spake against him they neuer diminished any part of his vertue for although for the space of three daies his soule was seperated from his body yet they deuide not his Diety from his soule nor from his body Isichius vpon Leuiticus sayth Before that the sonne of God was fried in the frying pan of the crosse his flesh was so raw that it could not bee eaten but after that the fire of his passion did season it vs and frie it there is nothing in heauen more sauerous nor nothing on the earth more profitable Cyrillus in another sence saith There were four things in this sacrifice fire the pan oile and flour These four things were found in the passion of Christ that is the fire which the Iewes kindled to the end hee should dieithe frying pan vvas the crosse which they sought out where hee should die and the oile the loue and charity with the vvhich hee died there for to redeeme the world and the floure his most sacred flesh vvhich there was fried O glorious sacrifice O eternall meat that thou art O sonne of the liuing God seeing that fried and whote and seasoned thou diddest giue thy selfe in the frieng pan of the crosse to the end that all men might eat thee and none excused from seruing thee When the sonne of God said Nisi manducaueritis carnem filij hominis his Disciples being scandalized Abierunt retrorsum dixerunt durus est hic sermo But after that that most sacred flesh was seasoned fried in the frying pan of the crosse it was soft sweer to tast of sauerous to eat and profitable to be taken Sume tibi sartaginem ferream ponas eam murum ferreum inter te eiuitatem said God by the Prophet Ezechiel chap. 4 as if hee should say Goe thy way out of the city and thou shalt put a frieng pan of iron betweene thee and the city because thou maiest neither see her nor shee hurt thee Who euer saw or heard the like that the Lord should command the Prophet to fight with a frying pan and defend himselfe behind the same Tell me O Ezechiel what hurt couldest thou do with a frying pan seeing it hath no point or how couldest thou defend thy selfe vnder it considering that it will scarse couer thy head If thou wilt goe to fight take a launce with thee and if thou wilt go to defend thy selfe from thy enemies take thy Target because the frying pan is fitter for the kitchē thā the warre and better to dresse meat with than to fight O glorious crosse O holy frying pan where the flesh of my God was fried where his bloud was shed where his charitie vvas enflamed where our fault was melted and where his life was ended The frying pan of the Synagogue was neither good for warres nor profitable for peace But thou holy crosse and happy frying pan wast hee with the which the diuell was ouercome God pacified the world redeemed and the heauen opened What thing can I put betwixt thee and mee O good Iesus but this precious crosse frying pan where thou diddest end thy life that my sin might not come vnto thee nor thy punishment passe to me Doe thou not think my brother doe thou not think that God commanded the Prophet to put betweene him and the city a frying pan for any good that it would doe him but for that which the frying pan signified for thereby was signified the crosse and the crucified which should be a mediator betweene God and the world O sweet Iesus O my soules delight where but in the frying pan of thy dolors and griefes and where but in the oile of thy charity and loue diddest thou end consume and fry my enormious sinnes Where but in the frying pan of the crosse where thou saiedst Consummatum est giuing vs to vnderstand by that last speech that there thou haddest ended and made a full account of our sinne and thy anger of our perdition and thy passion of our ignorance and thy life CHAP. VIII Wherein is declared a figure when Moyses did annoint the altar seuen times with one finger and how that vnction was a figure of Christ and fully accomplished in his most sacred humanity DIgito suo vnxit Moyses altare septies oleo vnctionis this is written in the 40 chapter of Exodus as if hee should say In the same day that Moyses did institute his brother Aaron bishop and ordained also his children Priests hee did annoint the great altar seuen times and that with one finger and did consecrate it with oile Cyrillus vpon this place sayth That although all the holy Scripture be full of mysteries yet there is greatest attention to bee giuen when it speaketh of the altar or of a Priest because that that mystery cannot be handeled and not talk of the mysteries of Christ If we doe looke into the words of the text we shall find that that which is annointed is the altar that with the which it is ointed is holy oile and the manner how is with one finger only and that seuen times and that which was further ointed were all the ornaments of the altar These were the qualities of the altar neere vnto it were the holy breads before it burned lampes on the side of it they did put the candlestickes on the top of it the offered sacrifices at the foot of it they shed the bloud behind it were the people ouer against it was the vaile vpon it was the Cherubin about it were the curtaines This altar was made of wood which would not rot there could come none to it but the Priests they could not goe vp to it by steps nor staires night and day lampes burned there other fire which should not be put out Although the altar of the Synagogue had many priuiledges and great freedomes yet it had a counterpeise with it which was that vpō it they slew all the beasts which they did offer vnto God therefore it was sometimes so bloudy so loaden with flies that it seemed rather a bord in the butchery to cut flesh on then an altar of the church Who is the true altar the holy altar and the cleane altar but only the sonne of the liuing God Origen sayth In the Temple of the Synagogue the altar was one thing and the Priest another another thing that which they offered but in the altar of the church the altar where they offer and the Priest which doth offer and the sacrifice which is offered and he vnto whom it is offered is one and the same thing Leo in a Sermon of our Lords Supper sayth In this high supper and in this holy altar the sonne of God is the ultar and the meat and he who inuiteth and he who is inuited
he who eateth and is eaten hee who annointeth and is annointed he who offereth and is offered What preheminences had the altar of the old Synagogue which are not greater in the Catholicke church Their altar was of the wood of the Mount Lybanus ours of the most sacred humanity of Christ theirs was of wood which would not corrupt and ours of flesh which cannot sinne theirs was made bloody with other bloud than their owne and ours is washed with his own bloud vpon theirs they did kil beasts vpon ours they forgiue vs our offences to theirs there could none go vp but the Priests of the tēple but vnto ours al the sinners of the world may come vnto in theirs there burned a fire of light which must euery houre be kindled and put together but in ours there burneth the fire of his loue and charity which can neuer be extinguished O holy altar O glorious altar of the crosse in which there is offered not dead beasts but mens sins not to proue thē but to pardon them where our weake seruices are offered not because thou wouldest praise thē O Lord but because thou wouldest accept them and where also the merits of thy holy sonne are offered not for his own sake who was without sin but for ours who can doe nothing but sinne The altar of the Synagogue had no step nor staire because the common sort did beleeue nothing in God but his essence but to the altar of our catholick church which is a congregation of the faithful they go vp by three steps because we beleeue in one essence three persons The text also saith that the altar of the synagogue was annointed with one finger only who shal we say that this finger is but the selfesame holyghost Hilarius de Trinitate saith In al the Trinity there is but one arm that is the Father of whom the Prophet saith Et brachiū meū cōfortauit eum neither is there any more but one hand which is the son of whom also the Prophet saith Filius meuses tuego hodie genui te nor there is in all the Trinity but one finger of whō the scripture saith Digitus dei hic est In the vnctions creations of vs there are many fingers occupied that is my great grandfather begat my grandfather and my grandfather my father my father begat me I begat my son and my sonne begat my nephew but in the generation of Christ there was applied one only finger which was the person of the holy-ghost August in a sermon sayth Seeing that he which doth beget is one and hee who is begotten is one and she who doth bring forth is one and he for whom hee is borne is one which is the world why should there haue been more then one finger which was the Holy-ghost The text sayth further that the altar was not annointed once only but seuen times a row What is meant that Christ was annointed seuen times a row but only that all the seuen gifts of the holy-ghost were bestowed vpon him It is to bee noted that in all the sacrifices which they made of kine sheepe and goats and pigeons the altar was alwaies annointed with bloud sauing when they ordained Aaron a priest at what time they did annoint it with oile alone the which was not done without a mystery The reason thē is this that because al their sacrifices were done to take away the Iews sins the which were to bee taken away with shedding of bloud Quia sine sanguinis effusione non fit remissio sayth the Apostle there was no need of effusion of bloud in the sacrifice which did only represent Christ because in him there was no sinne at all Why should they haue annointed with bloud the altar of the humanity of Christ considering that not onely there was no sin in him but in him all the sins of the world were to be taken away If the curious Reader would deeply vnderstand this high figure let him turn Moyses name into the Father and Aarons name into Christ and the altar into humanity and the name of annointing into gift and bloud into the water of baptism the finger into the holy-ghost and then hee shall truly find how well the truth doth answere vnto the figure and the letter to the spirit The text sayth further in the same chapter Vnxit altare cum omnisuppellectili as if hee should say After that Moyses had made an end of annointing the altar with holy oile hee did also annoint all things that did belong to the altar that is ewars basins candlestickes towels hookes chafindishes Let no man thinke it to bee a iest that God commanded to annoint with holy oile not only the altar but also all things which did appettaine to the altar because that by this is discouered one of the greatest priuiledges that Christ had which no man did euer but hee enioy in the world What should it meane that at the altar of the Synagogue there remained nothing which was not annointed with oile but that there was nothing in the humanity of the word which was not fully replenished with the holy-ghost Why is Christ called Sanctus sanctorū but because his holy vnction was more holy thā that of all the other saints When the church doth wash her creatures in baptism shee doth with water wash and as it were only there annoint soules which were defiled with original sin the which soules are made so clean pure with that vnction that if they should depart presently out of this life they should imediately by Gods fauor go to glory O vnhappy that we be for although they wash annoint our soule in baptism yet there remaineth our memory to be annointed seeing that wee forget God there remaineth our vnderstanding to be annointed seeing we think of other things thā of God there remaineth our will to be annointed seeing that wee put our loue on other things besides God also our hart remaineth to be annointed seeing we giue it to another thā to god What shall we say of our poore body seeing there is no part or mēber of it which is annointed seeing my eies can see nothing but vanity my ears hear nothing but lightnes my toung nothing but lie my mēbers cōmit sin my hands theft what shal I say of such a body is he not rather rottē thē annointed whē the Apostle S. Paul said with weeping tears alas woe be vnto me vnhappy vnfortunate man who wil deliuer me frō the seruitude of this body would he haue spoken such pitiful words if the powers of his body had been annointed with holy oile of loue charity the church like a pittiful mother doth annoint vs with the wholsome water of baptisme when we be born afterward she doth wash and annoint vs vvith loue charity whē she doth giue vs grace to loue god forgiue our neighbors the first vnctiō is to help vs that we do not sin
now anew thou doest breake all thy anger vpon me and doest lay vpon my back all thy dreadfull feares It is a new speech and a grieuous complaint to say that the father should breake his anger vpon his sonne and that hee maketh his soule afeard And therefore it is necessary for vs to shew what anger is and how it can be verified that there is anger in God Possidonius the Philosopher being asked what anger was answered In my opinion anger is nothing else but a short and a suddaine folly Aristotle defyning it said that anger was but a kindeling of the bloud an alteration and mouing of the heart a forgetting of wit sence and a troubling of the iudgement Eschines being demanded from whence anger proceeded said that it proceeded from the heat of the bloud and of the abundance of choller and a vapour of the gaule and fiercenesse of the heart Macrobius sayth That no man should chide with one that chideth nor with him who is chidden vntill the cause be knowne on both sides for the cause is not in the anger which wee shew in chiding but in the iustice or iniustice of the cause for which wee chide Seneca in his first booke of Anger sayth That the conditions of an angry man are not to beleeue his friends to bee sodden in all his businesse helpe himselfe with his hands not to respect dangers speake suddenly and maliciously and bee angry for a smal occasion and admit no reason Chilo the Philosopher sayth That if any man aske him what hee thinketh of anger hee will answere that it is a thing easie to be written of and easie to persuade and sweet to bee counselled against but very hard to bee bridled Saint Basil vpon the Psalme Neque in ira tua corripias me sayth That Anger is such a dangetous thing that if wee doe giue it entrance into our will it doth afterward make our nill of our will Then wee yeeld our will vnto anger when wee begin to trouble our selues with small matters and then anger doth that which is not our wil when in great matters we would not be angry in so much that if wee doe not resist anger in the beginning we shall neuer or late cast it out of our house Wee haue spoken all this to the end that wee should maruell the more how it should be in God and how he should bee moued like a man seeing that as there is no man able to take his eternall being from him so there is no man able any way to trouble him Who should bee able to trouble him seeing wee know that God is a spirit and hath no heart in his breast no bloud in his vaines no vapour rising from his gaule no gaule in his lights no forgetfulnesse in his memory no alteration in his iudgement S. Ierome vpon the Prophet O see saith That God is so wise that no man is able to deceiue him so mighty that no man is able to resist him so constant that no man is able to mooue him so inuisible that no man is able to touch them so iust that no man is able to oppresse him Then if it bee so that hee cannot bee deceiued oppressed nor moued how is it possible that any anger should raigne in him as it doth in a man When the sonne sayth vnto the Father In me transierunt iraetuae hee sayth plainly that hee hath vnloaden his great anger vpon him and hath cast all his griefes vpon his shoulders For the better vnderstanding of this complaint which Christ maketh it is to bee noted that for the space of many yeares God had enmities and hatred and found himselfe agrieued moued and disquieâ—ed for at the same houre that he created creatures the Angels would haue been equall with him man began to disobey him sinne began to preuaile and also to persecute his friends God had three notorious enemies in the world which are man the deuill and sinne whereof man went about to lift vp himselfe in Paradise the diuell to take heauen from him and sinne to rule and gouern the whole world O that these were vnspeakeable griefes which these three enemies caused God to haue and their disobedience toward him exceeding great heaping daily sin vpon sinne wickednesse vpoÌ„ wickednesse neuer going about to amend themselues nor God to be pacified Our Lord did dissemble all kind of disobedience and all manner of sinne vntill his sonne came into the world vpon whose humanity hee did so fully vnload and vnburden his anger and griefe as though hee had been the only inuenter of sinne Gregory in his Morals sayth That the world is a strong enemy the deuill a stronger and sinne the Traitor the strongest of all for if there were no sinne in the world God would not bee angry nor man should not bee condemned nor the Deuill vvould not goe about so diligently neither should there bee any hell for the vvicked Damascen sayth thus It dooth vvell appeare that the eternall Father did breake all his anger vpon his precious sonne and that hee did vnburden himselfe and load all his vvrath vpon his humanitie seeing that before his sonne did take flesh hee did nothing but punish and after that hee died did nothing but pardon Haue you seene since God hath broken his anger vpon his sonne either the vvorld drowned vvith vvater as in the floud or burnt vvith fire as in Sodome and Gomorra Hath there beene seene since God brake his anger vpon his sonne such captiuities as the people of the Iewes vvere in or such plagues as vvere in Aegypt or such famine as were in Dauids time or such warres as were in the Machabees time Christ had great reason to say vnto his father In me transierunt irae tuae seeing that hee broke all his anger and discharged all his wrath vpon him Eripuit me de inimicu meis fortissimis ab his qui oderunt me saith the Prophet Dauid speaking vnder the person of Christ That is in recompence that my Father hath vnloaden vpon mee all his wrath and anger he hath deliuered me from my mightiest enemies and hath put from my side such of my enemies which did hate mee exceedingly What doest thou say O sweet Iesus what doest thou say doest thou die by the hands of thy enemies and yet doest say that thy father hath deliuered thee from them My father hath not deliuered me from the deuill seeing that he doth tempt me nor from the Pharisies seeing that they haue accused mee nor from the Scribes seeing that they haue diffamed mee nor from the Gentiles seeing that they haue crucified me but he hath deliuered me from sinnes which are the strongest of all my enemies Are they not the strongest of all seeing they rule and maisterall Augustine vpon the Apostles words sayth Of three enemies which we haue sinne is the strongest of them al because many holy men haue gone before vs in old times vpon whom although the deuill and the