bee was principally intended by our holy Prophet in this place And I doe not commend it to you now for the praise of it but for the the vse of it the one beeing beyond my power to performe worthily the other beeing in your power to practise proffitably ye haue price enough in your purses as I tolde you and I would wish you to buy of it often Let not once a yeare content you which the Church doth binde ye to once a moneth in act and euery day in desire is little enough for those that know the sweete of it Little enough I say if wee haue a liuely faith and haue tasted how good it is But woe bee to vs. Wee apprehend it not and therefore wee buy it no faster Wee feele not the operation of it and therefore wee neglect it It is to bee lamented with many teares how carelesse wee bee and almost insensible in this point as will soone bee seene by vs if wee take not heede betimes Wee are like to a sea wall that must bee alwaies repayring which if wee be not by this holy Sacrament we shall goe euery day decaying further from heauen euery gust of winde and sea will make a breach vpon vs and euery little temptation will surround vs. It is Gods worke to repaire vs and not mans And if wee will bee vertuous by our selues or honest of our selues and thinke a Sacrament but an idle ceremony the next newes will bee of vs that we haue neither vertue at all in vs nor scarce common honestie All that be faithfull know what they receiue but all take not delight in it because they know not the benefit of it yea more then this let vs call and cry to them neuer so loude that they will taste often of it and try the good of it as they will doe by some thing which is hard or harsh enough to them at the first but with vse made pleasing yet in this heauenly Bread they will not doe it nor force themselues a whit to loue it because it pleaseth not sense This noble Sacrament hath many good things in it and the Ancients haue neuer done praising it and extolling it euen out of their owne feeling I haue read much but I reade no Doctor like the Doctor of Doctors Christ himselfe who best could tell what good wee receiue by it Hee hath tolde vs in two words as much as shall bee needefull at this time Ioh. 6. in me manet ego in eo Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood shall dwell in mee and I in him To dwell in him saith Saint Augustine is to be a peece Tract 27. in Ioh. or member of him To be in him is to be one body with him And as Saint Chrysostome saith Hom. 60. non fide tantum sed ipsa re nos suum corpus efficit He doth incorporate vs vnto him not only by faith but in very deede as much to say wee doe not onely thinke it and beleeue it but our very soule doth also feele it and finde it to bee so and glorieth in it for that wee are made all one with so great a Maiesty Truely there is no two can bee one so as wee with God by this heauenly Bread receiued not the neerest friends that are not the greatest louers in the world not Angels and Seraphins yet wee are one with God by receiuing of God What should wee feare whom should wee dread on earth Rom. 8. The blessed Apostle saith If God bee for vs who can bee against vs how much more may wee say it if God be not onely for vs but in vs for so he saith Et ego in eo and I in him which words Saint Augustine expoundeth also very well in the same place how God is in vs. Hee tolde vs before how we dwell in him now he tels vs how he dwels in vs. Hee dwels in vs saith he as in his temple or place dedicated to his seruice not content with stately temples and goodly buildings made with hand walled with stone 3. King 7. couered with lead on the outside with gold and all that is pretious on the inside large faire and wide to receiue a multitude Not thus content I say but makes his chappell of ease in our hearts his tabernacle in our breasts his priuy chamber or closset in our bosomes to sit with vs to conferre with vs and as it were to solace with vs in priuate Et ego in eo How is this I in him not in a generall sort as God is euery where but in particular as hee was in Salomons temple when his Arke of Testimony was brought in 3. King 8. Impleuerat domum domini gloria domini there wee reade a Cloude entred and filled the house with glory Heere not a Cloude or shaddowe this ego in eo but the Sunne it selfe comes in and filles vs indeede with glory These bee great matters I speake of and wee may not slippe them out nor let them slippe from vs lightly To be all one with God not with earthly kings to be vnited with God not with Angels or Archangels to be the temple of God not a pallace for a Prince to bee a resting place for Iesus not a couch of golde for Ashuerus Who can tell what glory this is to vs what a priuiledge what an aduancement in the sight of the whole heauenly warfare euen greater then any Prince in the world can euer bestow on vs though it were to set vs in a throane by him Et ego in eo and I in him saith God himselfe Who can heare these words drowsily as though they were but words and belonged not vnto vs many a horse knowes when his master is on his backe and will shew it by his carriage are not we better then horses who can heare these quickening words and starts not out of a dead sleepe who heares ego in eo and aspires not to haue that ego in him often with often receiuing and when he hath receiued who can sinne wilfully that day or soone after 3. Reg. 19.8 Elias walked forty daies in the strength of one loafe how much more may we hold out in the strength of this heauenly morsell vntill the next time wee come to receiue it who cannot forget and forgiue that carries the Lord of mercy in his bosome who can wrong his neighbour in word or deede and carries the rightfull iudge in his owne body who can harbour an euill thought in his soule that hath made his soule the altar of God who can delight in vncleane talke that hath made his mouth an entrance into this temple who can thinke of nothing but buying and selling in this temple that is the temple himselfe of him that made it Et ego in eo How is God in vs is it as a commer and goer and as a passenger onely No but as a dweller or inhabiter for so the word manet signifies As
forgotten how little care of vs when we be dead and put into a hole to reuenge our quarrell euery one is not Patroclus who had an Achilles to reuenge him It hath beene comfort to many that their death should cost many deaths Epaminondas died ioyfully of his deadly wound when hee heard that hee had wonne the field Wee neither winnne field nor shield by it but content our selues with a little fearefull honour which is no honour Wee little remember that our life is all our stocke and what merchant will aduenture all at once to make but owne of owne If I kill I kill but one if I be killed also I loose two What is gotten by this if a man had many liues hee might hardly spend one idlely Hauing but one life then and to spend it so prodigally I would thinke he had too much of one And I cannot but here while I thinke of it digresse a little from the matter although not much And great Princes I hope will not blame me if I remēber them of an intolerable abuse of their Jrascible part if they take not heede And their fault therin is the greater and commoner the more absolute their authority is where no man is to controle them in the power that is giuen them by Gods assignment They are appointed by God or rather put in trust to bee his vindices ad iram Reuengers for God to execute his wrath vpon those that bee euill Rom. 13. and wrong doers ijs qui mali sunt I speake not of the power they haue ouer their subiects which is meant directly in this place but of that they haue ouer their equals in other countries if they or theirs be wronged may right themselues by the sword if cause require It is seldome seene that right is on both sides And therfore how many battels we reade of or heare of so many wrōgs most cōmonly yea so many massacres or wilfull murthers on t 'one side which is horrible to thinke that it should be amongst Christians Some goe to it with as slender pretences as may be Some with iustice enough but vniustly Our Charles the eight will neuer be forgotten who ranne through Italy like a fury for recouery of Scicilie and Naples set townes and people on fire where he came robbed Churches and profained them rauished women and cutte their throates when they had done In a towne of Tuscane where they had nothing to do but to passe it through yet spared they not man or woman poore innocent people till they had slaine seauen hundred of them How farre was this from Charles the wise his grandfather a most peaceable and powerful Prince Charles of Burgundy likewise had the name of a worthy Prince yet not to be excused for the malice he bare to them of Leodes where he made his souldiers carry firebrands in t 'one hand and their swords in t'other throughout his army He left not a stone of their walles one vpon an other to wreake his will on them for a very small cause And against the Switchers soone after what outrage committed he where he hung fiue hundred captiues at once without all redemption brake promise foulely with those of Granson demanded of his subiects a sixt of their goods but they would not yeelde him a penny vnlesse he would come home and leaue those idle they might haue said pernicious warres And to goe no further then our next neighbours what a diuelish fight was that betweene the Switchers and some of the Cantons because they would not leaue their league with Austria They grew to that rancour and mortall feud that when they had vanquished them in a sore battel they were not thus content but made stooles and tabels of their dead bodies to sit on and feast vpon And that which is more they opened their breasts and drunke their blood to one an other and pulled out their hearts to teare them with their teeth Would ye thinke this were in Christendome I giue but a few examples in stead of many and am ashamed to tell what hath hapned neerer our time The like not read of scare in all the Bible that faithfull were against faithfull Yet with vs daily Christians against Christians and suffer their faith to sleepe the whilest There want not prelates and clergie-men to forward Princes in such businesse and to sowe pillowes to euery bedde There want not histories great plenty to extoll their doings Ezech. 19. and magnifie their names for executing brauely vpon their owne tribe Pom. Let. and alliance without all respect of nature and pitty He that kils most is extolled most saith one A Christian is but a dogge to him if he be angry And if a Prince be of quiet disposition and peaceable and thinkes he hath enough of his owne to gouerne in peace and feare of God as Numa and Salomon did they count them scarce worth writing of because there be no battles nor conquests in his time Where contrary they should thinke him wise for sparing and not spending so much treasure and blood vpon that which they cannot keepe no longer then they be stronger and haue no more title to most commonly then is sealed with an edge on their next neighbours flesh It is a wonder to see what paines and eloquence our writers bestow in this kinde to set forth the glory they thinke but indeed the sinne and shame of their countries if it were not apparantly iust and honourable which they tooke in hand We reade in the booke of Iudges how ten tribes fought against one which was Beniamin The quarrell was iust the reuenge approoued of God for a horrible crime committed in Beniamin and the whole tribe ouerthrowne by them except a few Yet when they had done their worst doluerunt they were pittifully grieued at it and penitentiam egerunt Iudg. 21. their sorrow was expressed in deedes and care to make them amends as it their appeares They vaunted not of their valour nor made bragges of the blood they spilt but lamented with teares and with wringing of hands for that was past and could not now be recalled How many Princes haue wee knowne in Christendome that haue shewne much sorrow for twenty or forty thousand slaine on a day of the same tribe themselues were of and bought with the same blood Yea haue they not made tryumphs and bonefires for it when they came home and Te deum sung in Churches for them when they had more neede of a miserere There haue beene thrice fiue hundred yeares since the comming of Christ and the fourth is begunne In the first fiue hundreth began our greatest Monarchies In the second they grew Christian and were of great example In the third they beganne to neglect religion and to preferre their owne ends pulling from each others greatnesse and abiding no equals which caused much warre What will become of this fourth fiue hundreth we know not yet But if the rest holde out like the
death by Martyrdome an other thing to be an actour in it by fighting which may not be For howsoeuer the disgrace be it is either past or to come If past it is reuenge to fight and reuenge is absolutely vnlawfull in a subiect If to come we fight for nothing For that which is to come is not yet vnlesse it were vpon assault as I said before Secondly if they alleadge the booke of Kings where Joab entertained the challenge of Abner twelue to twelue and fought it out I answer they were of seuerall allegeance and in case of iust warre Dauid had then no more but Iuda vnder him the rest followed Jsboseth the son of Saul whom Abner then serued and I often haue tolde you the difference betweene iust warre and priuate combate And if ye thinke this a distinction of my owne without warrant because it is somewhat new to ye 2. Reg. 1. reade the third of Kings where king Dauid calleth it the blood of warre in peace to reuenge your selues by sword and gaue iudgement accordingly vpon Joab that hee should dye for it Thou shalt not suffer him saith hee to Salomon to dye in peace because he hath spilt the blood of warre or blood that may not be spilt but in warre in time of peace And what is it the Duellor spils or would spill but his fellowes blood When in time of peace Some there be haply that thinke it to be sinne to fight thus because all that be godly thinke it Yet their errour is that they thinke it excusable And that out of Saint Pauls owne words 1. Cor. 10. not vnderstanding the scripture where he saith Let no temptation take holde of ye but humane that is to say a mans temptation a tēptation belonging to a man and not to a beast a temptation of dishonor which beasts are not capable of therfore may seem to be excepted or wincked at here by this word humane I answer howsoeuer it may lessen the fault of the wronged more then of him that wrongeth for point of offence yet nothing it makes for their purpose For I neuer heard that place vnderstood of such grosse and vulgar temptations but rather as Saint Augustine expounds it of such as the godlier sort commit by mentall detracting Esa 14. or suspition sometimes without cause and such like Called humane because it is not diabolical as Lucifers was of pride or malice humane because it is not of beasts as ye say frō lust or from reuenge humane because it touches at humane infirmity and puts vs in mind that we are but men Rom. 6. the best of vs. Humanum dico propter infirmitatem saith Saint Paul in an other place I call it humane saith he because of our infirmity by the which the best that are fall seauen times a day and cannot therefore be meant by Duell which commonly comes of pride anger Prou. 24. or base vulgar feare and is neuer seuered from contempt of lawes And it is ridiculous to say as some say that if their manhood were knowne once in a combat or two they would doe so no more Like the woman that tryed her chastity so long till she wounded it But where doe they liue trow yee that thinke so No mans house on fire neere them to shew their courage in No occasions of manhood neere hand in defence of some innocent that is in danger of robbing or beating Nothing neere them to make their valour and spirit knowne but they must goe into the fielde to make it lesse knowne of all true esteemers They vouch the authoritie of Francis the first for satisfaction of the lye giuen But that makes nothing for priuate Duell which both that Prince was much against and in his owne case refused if we beleeue Surius Yea none more against it then our Henry the fourth a Magnanimous Prince who now liueth As by his rigorous edicts against this enormity which I touched before it may appeare What else our Duellors can say for themselues I knowe not Marshall Biron was to be commended for his valour and fortune otherwise but not for his three to three combate with Mounsieur Cerancy where his side slew the other side and was driuen to liue basely for it till his father got his pardon but God neuer gaue him a quiet minde after Hee sought to witches and sorcerers and in the end aspiring to be Duke of Burgundy a base Burgundian strok of his head Neither are the two combats of late between Don Philippin Crequi in any sort to be followed For although they were of contrary allegeance noble personages stout warriors both of them the one bastard brother to the Duke of Sauoy the other a Baron of France yea though the Duke himselfe out of passion inforc't his brother to it the second time where they fought desperately in their shirts and Philippin was runne through and stucke to the ground yet the Duke perceiued quickly that he had done amisse and sent after him with speede to bring him backe againe when it was too late Neither durst any man there bury him in Christian buriall as great a man as he was What further authoritie they can hammer out of diuilesh custome is all they haue Good customes are laudable but Malus mos abolendus est Custome may not make sinne lawfull or make it lesse but rather greater saith Ramundus Lesse seene I grant and therfore more dangerous as we see by many examples How comes any vice to reigne as it doth and to dance vnseene but by daily ill custome Hath not vsury gotten vp to such an height of ill custome that many cannot see the iniustice of it yea maintaine it to be lawfull and that is heresie How common are dreadfull oathes by ill custome so as the swearer neuer thinkes of it but rather sweares that he sware not So of drunkennesse so of ribauldry and ribauld plaies where the people laugh not so fast but the diuell out-laughs them What should I speake of dicing tabling and carding at this day in such excesse either for long sitting at it or greatnes of the gaine night and day nights and daies spent in it forgetting health nature iustice loose their time gaine losse and ruine their estates Why so Want they witte Not so They doe as others doe Gallants teach it them and they teach others Custome makes it familiar and all passeth cleere with vs vnder colour of company keeping and nothing else to doe and I doe but as I will be done to And therefore you that be souldiers or men of spirit no maruell if ye be deceiued also in your kinde Euery man is taken and tript in his owne humour Yee know what belongs to fight but not alwaies when yee may doe it and when not Remember still the saying of the Athenians Nullum inhonestum vtile Themistocles told Aristides a way how to conquer the Lacedemonians and to bee reuenged on them Aristides related it to the Senate