all that which may giue him any disgust or paine And so Benignity falls out to be the act and exercise of Charity with that perfection which wee haue declared and interiourly it embraceth the act of beneuolence and loue and exteriourly the exercise of beneficence liberality affability and of all sweetnes in conuersation It is also one of the fruites of the Holy Ghost For an act of vertue in regard that it proceedeth froÌ„ thence and giueth gust to him who performeth it is called a fruite and therefore Benignity being an act of Charity and causing delight in him by whom it is possessed is accounted amongst the fruits of the Holy Ghost All this is confessed by the Saints when they speake of Benignity Saint Isidorus saith That man is said to be Benigne who doth good with a good will and vseth sweetnes in his wordes And Saint Anselmus declaring what Benignity is saith thus Benignity is a good affection of the will a serenity of heart in vertue whereof a man doth for Gods sake giue all he can after a gratious and cheerfull manner and discourseth and conuerseth gently and sweetly with his neighbours And Saint Thomas explicating the nature of Benignity saith that it is the very sweetnes tendernes of Charity which spreads communicates it self exteriourly that as natural fier doth melt mettel make it flow so the fier of loue which is Benignity maketh a maÌ„ scatter what he hath towards the succour of the necessities of his neighbours This is that which the Saints say of Benignity and the summe of it all is this that it is the tendernes of Charity which doth not only communicate a mans exteriour goods to his neighbour but together with them it communicates his owne very bowells which is to discouer both by wordes and workes the dearnes sweetnes of Charity The Apostle declareth this by saying Charity is Benigne Which signifieth that it makes the man who possesseth it not to be straight handed but apt to communicate his goods and not to be harsh or bitter but that he communicate euen his very hart by conuersing with all men after an affable and sweet manner And to giue vs to vnderstand this truth the holy Scripture doth by one the selfe same Hebrew and Greeke word which signifieth Benignity in doing good signify also a softnes and sweetnes in the manner of shewing mercy And so whereas Dauid saith Our Lord is sweet towards all another letter saith Our Lord is benigne towards all And whereas he saith That maÌ„ is gentle sweet who sheweth mercy another translation saith The man who sheweth mercy is Benigne And therfore S. Basil when he would explicat what it was for a man to be Benigne saith that it is he who doth liberally enlarge himselfe to doe good to all such as are in necessity And he confirmeth it by that Psalme which saith Our Lord is benigne towards all and by that other which also saith That a man is Benigne who sheweth mercy and imparteth his goods to such as are in necessity In this Benignity did Christ our Lord instruct vs and perswade vs to it by many examples Mysteries of his holy life which wee wil eÌ„deauour to declare The first and principall Mystery wherein he discouered his Benignity was that of his Incarnation In that the most high sonne of God was pleased to become a naturall man to appeare visibly in the world in mortall flesh obnoxious to the miseries and penalties of other men and in that he did all this to doe good to man and to draw him to his loue and so to saue him not onely did he discouer an immense loue towards vs but a loue which was also most sweet and dear And not onely did he communicate his blessings to vs but he also did it with supreme liberality and gust and ioy of his owne sacred heart And together with his blessings he communicated to vs his very selfe namly his body his blood his blessed soule and his diuinity and all that which he hath yea and euen all that which he is he communicated to vs by many admirable mysterious waies This did the Apostle signify by saying WheÌ„ in the time of grace the Benignity immeÌ„se loue of our God and Sauiour to man did manifest it selfe to the world he saued and freed vs from our sinnes not by the title of Iustice and the merit of our workes which were not of any valew without Christ our Lord for the arriuing to that end but through his owne great mercy and most gratious bouÌ„ty and by meanes of that sacred Lauatory which is holy Baptisme whereby wee are engendred a second time to be the sonnes of God and renewed by a spirituall generation renouation which is wrought by the holy Ghost which Holy Ghost the eternall Father hath by meanes of his gifts and graces infused and coÌ„municated to vs in great abundaÌ„ce through the merits of Christ our Lord to the end that being iustified through the grace of the same Lord wee might from this instant become heires of eternall life which now wee hould by certaine hope and which hereafter wee shall haue in actuall possession This is deliuered by Saint Paule And Saint Bernard vpon these words declaring that Benignity of God which was discouered in this Mystery discourseth thus Before the humanity of Christ our Lord appeared in the word the Benignity of God was hidden from vs. There was already in God this Benignity mercy which in him is eternall but so great Benignity as this was not knowen before nor was there any meanes how to to know it And although it were promised by the Prophets yet men vnderstood it not and felt it not and many did not so much as beleeue it But when that time arriued which had been ordained by the diuine wisedome Almighty God came in mortall flesh and being vested with his sacred Humanity and appearing to the eyes of our flesh blood his Benignity came to be made knowne for by no meanes could he more haue manifested his Benignity then by taking our flesh and by no meanes could he more haue declared his mercy then by vndertaking our misery Let maÌ„ consider and vnderstand from hence how great care God hath of him and how much he esteemeth him and for how mighty an end he made him since he did and suffered so great thinges for him And thus by this Humanity wee may know his Benignity for how much the lesse he became by his Humanity so much the greater doth he shew himselfe to be in bounty and by how much the more he abased himselfe for vs so much the more amiable doth he shew himself to vs. This is said by Saint Bernard and so it is a most clear truth that nothing hath made so great discouery â—o vs of the bounty and Benignity of God nor hath moued obliged vs so to loue and praise him as for that he hath
saying O admirable humility of Christ our Lord that to a contemptible and defeated man without strength or health in any part of his body whom the Priests of the lawe would haue despised and disdained euen so much as to touch our most Bâ—nigne Lord was content to giue the name of Sonne There came to Christ our Lord Marc. 5. Luc. 8. a woman who had a fluxe of blood she touched the skirt of his garment and remained whole and our Lord hauing brought her forth to light and she hauing confessed the benefit which she had receiued our Lord said publickly to her daughter thy faith hath made thee whole go in peace He honoured her by calling her daughter and by attributing her cure to her owne faith making her rich with Peace and ioy of heart which was an effect of the pardon of her sinnes and of the grace he gaue her And thus by honouring the paraliticke with the name of Sonne and this womaÌ„ by the name of daughter we see it was no particular priuiledge which he gaue to this or that person onely but that it was the coÌ„moÌ„ stile which our most benigne Lord vsed honouring with this name such meane and poore meÌ„ and woemen as came to him for any helpe His disciples being poore and meane and very full of defects at such time as he conuersed with them in mortall flesh sometimes he called Sonnes yea and at some other times he would call them by that diminitiue whereby fathers call their sonnes little children to vnfould so much the more that sweetnes of loue wherwith he called them Sonnes At other times he would call them Friends and after the ResurrectioÌ„ when the glory of his sacred Humanity and the Maiesty of his Diuinity was more discouered he called them his Brothers when he spake of them to others in their absence For once he said to S. Mary Magdalene Goe tell my brethren I ascend to my Father and to your Father And againe he said to the Maries Goe tell my brethren that they are to goe into Galilea and that they shall see mee there All these are titles of great honour and glory and that our Lord should vse them towards men who were so meane and poore and at a time when still they were so imperfect and especially that he did it after they had quite forsaken him in his Passion was an effect of extreme Benignity in him THE XII CHAPTER Of other examples which Christ out Lord gaue vs of his Benignity in the same kinde CHrist our Lord preaching in a Sinagogue Luc. 13. they placed a woman who was deformedly bent downe to the grouÌ„d by that diuell wherewith she was possessed Now he hauing cured her they calumniated him in respect that he had done it vpon the Sabboth and he defending his miracle from that slander said Which of you will not vpon a Sabboth day let your oxe or asse be vntyed and carryed to the waters If this may well be done how much more is it conuenient to vntie the bond of sickenes wherby Satan had bound vp this daughter of Abraham although it were vpon the Sabboth day That title of the whole world which was most honourable amongst the Iewes and whereby they prised themselues and wherin they gloried most was to be called the sonnes of Abraham and so vpon a certaine occasion when they were disposed to magnify this honour they said to Christ Wee are the sonnes of Abraham And whereas it had beene curtesy enough towards that woman if Christ our Lord had said It had been conuenient to free this afflicted Woman from that misery or to deliuer this miserable creature from that infirmity he could not content himselfe therwith but was resolued to honour her with the most glorious name which could be vsed amoÌ„gst the Iewes by saying This daughter of Abraham this woman who according to the extraction of flesh and blood is desceÌ„ded of Abraham yea and in the way of spirit also for she is an imitatour of his faith When Christ our Lord receiued that message Ioh. 11. concerning the sicknes of Lazarus and being resolued vpon his death which succeeded within few daies after to raise him vp againe to life he said to his disciples Our friend Lazarus sleepes and I will goe waken him It had been enough and more then enough for a Lord of so great Maiesty to haue said Lazarus sleepeth or since he would needes doe him honour to say Lazarus my seruant or Lazarus whose guest I haue been sleepeth and with this he had done him much honour Yet his enamoured heart could not content it selfe with this but he would needes passe on and say our friend Lazarus which is a word of the greatest curtesy and honour For if it goe for a point of high honour to be accounted the friend of an earthly Kinge and for a great fauour and regalo to any vassaile that a King should call him by that name what honour must it be for a mortall man to be accounted a friend by Christ our Lord the Kinge of heauen and what kinde of felicity and comfort must it be to be called so by Christ our Lord himselfe and that not in complement but from the very rootes of his heart And so Christ our Lord honouring Lazarus with this word of friend did also honour his disciples equalling them with himselfe and making them his companions in the friendship of Lazarus and declaring that they were all his friends This Benignity which Christ our Lord did vse both in word and deed whilest yet he liued in mortall flesh hath been also vsed by him since he ascended vp to heauen towards many seruants of his to whom he hath seuerally appeared And leauing many examples of Saints to whom he hath done it sometimes in the forme of a childe and sometimes of a most beautifull young man sometimes of a most glorious person and hath honoured and comforted them both with words and deedes of must sweet loue Wee will speake here of one admirable apparition and that of great authority whereof we haue made some mention elswhere to another purpose and in respect it was vouchsaffed to a person of very meane quality it doth so much the more disclose the Benignity of Christ our Lord and makes vs the more confident of his goodnes Saint Paulinus Bishop of Nola relateth how certaine ships going from Sardinia towards Italy grew into a great tempest close by the Iland and the rest of them breaking and sinking there one of them which was fraught with corne did not split but yet was extremely ill treated by the storme The marriners did all leaue her and left also in her an old poore man of Sardinia who was yet no Christian but had begun to be catechised in that faith and it was his office to clense and pumpe the ship When the maÌ„ obserued him selfe to be alone and in a ship which had neither anker nor sterne for she had lost all in
by this true explication which wee haue made it remaineth very cleare that the serious and seuere reprehensions wherwith Christ our Lord his Saints haue corrected the great crimes of sinners are not cōtrary to that Benignity which he taught vs but are full of the dearnes sweetnes of true Charity THE XVII CHAPTER Of the Benignity wherewith a Christian is to be glad of the good of his neighbour and to approue and praise the same and of the example which Christ our Lord gaue vs thereof ONe of the principall things besides those whereof wee haue spoken which belong to the vertue of Benignity and the sweet manner of conuersing with our neighbours is to be glad of their good and to praise them yet with that moderatiō which prudence requireth and to that end which Charity seeketh For this maketh a seruant of God to be amiable and sweet and thus he augmenteth Charity towards his neighbours he groweth more able to be of vse to soules For by this meanes his instruction and admonition will be the better receiued and the example of his good life better allowed and he will haue more efficacy to moue others So saith the worthy Doctor and Bishop Guiltelmus Parisiensis Benignity is the loue of anothers good and wee call those men Benigne who as soon as they discouer a good thing in their neighbours doe instantly loue it and loue him for it and from hence it growes that they praise and set him forth in wordes For the exercise of this vertue there is need of great consideration and much discretion and light from heauen For as by the vse therof with moderatiō being directed to the right end it is of great profit and edification towards the encrease of vertue so vsing it without moderation and without rectitude of intention it is both very hurtfull to his soule who praiseth and to his also who is praised For this reason Saint Bonauenture approueth this saying of Seneca praise that with moderation which is praise worthy dispraise that which is blamable with more moderation For superfluity of praise is liable to reproof as well as tēperate dispraise Well then let vs goe on declaring the errour which is committed and the hurt which groweth by inordinate praise and the manner intention which praise must haue to the ēd that it may be truly giuen according to vertue For a man to praise his neighbour for that which is naught is a great sinne and not onely doe they fal into it who praise a man for some reuenge which he may haue taken of an enemy or for hauing affrōted that person who did him iniury by some word or for hauing vttered some carnall speech performing some actiō of that kind but they also who praise sūptuous buildings superfluous humours gifts curious rich cloathes delicious costly dyet and all that which hath any tincture of vanity and pride and the regalo of this flesh blood and the loue of the world For all these thinges are ill and hurtfull to the soule of a Christian who to the end that he may get to heauen must deny himselfe and imbrace the Crosse of Christ our Lord. To all these flatterers who praise that which they should reprehēd Esay chap. 5. saith Woe be to them who praise wicked thinges as if they were good and who hould the darknes of errour for the light of truth and true light for darkenes and who esteem the bitter life of sinners to be sweet and the sweet life of vertue to be bitter In like manner it is vitious for a man to praise temporall naturall thinges as if they were the greatest principall gifts of God as riches nobility strength and beauty of the body For these are blessings of little value and they make not a man to be better in himselfe or more estimable in the sight of God such praise breeds much hurt to the soule for it makes a man greatly loue and praise those thinges which he should despise from which he should estrange his heart The holy scripture condemneth this vice saying doe not praise men for the corporall beauty which they haue nor despise them for their poore meane apparance Consider that the Bee being but a very little creature giueth so excellent a fruite as that it is the most sweet of all sweet thinges for there is nothing more sweet then hony The meaning is that as the little Bee hath efficacy to produce such a fruite so may a little body a meane presence haue much vertue And that which the Holy Ghost saith of the beauty of the body he will haue vs vnderstand of all other naturall and temporall gifts which are of so little value that a man is noe further worthy of estimation or praise for them thē if he had them not but onely so farre forth as there may result some profit to the soule thereby This was taught vs both by the example and diuine wordes of Christ our Lord For a certaine deuoute womā hauing seen his miracles and hauing heard his doctrine was not able to conteine herselfe but that she must needes praise that Mother aloud who had brought forth such a Sonne saying Blessed is the wombe which have thee and the brests which gaue thee sucke But Christ our Lord gaue her this answere Nay rather blessed are they who heare the word of God and keepe it By which wordes he discouered to vs how that free gratuite blessing whereby the most sacred Virgin was made Mother of the naturall Sonne of God did not alone and of it selfe make her happy or blessed nor worthy of the reward of heauen nor more great in the sight of God but the vnspeakeable vertue and suauity and grace wherby Almighty God did exalt and dignify her for such an office that which afterward he gaue her in regard of so high a dignity was the thing which made her so truly happy If then so admirable a gift as that was did not deserue great praise for it selfe alone but for that vertue and sanctity which went in company thereof how much more must all temporall blessings and gifts of nature which in themselues are so poore and perishing be vnworthy of praise but onely so farre forth as they may be found to assist and concurre towards the good of the soule So saith Saint Chrysostome declaring these wordes of Christ our Lord. By this sentence Christ our Lord did make vs know that it would not haue profited the Virgin to haue brought forth the Sonne of God if shee had not withall been endowed with that faith and incomparable sanctity which shee had And therefore as I said if so great a dignity would not haue profited the blessed Virgin without the vertue and sanctity of her soule how much more clear is it that it will serue vs to little purpose before Almighty God to haue Saints to our Fathers or sonnes or kinred or such other