to the variety of perturbations which if they find a resting place in your hart will grow to exercise dominion ouer you and bring you at last to any grieuous sinne Be still doing somewhat that the Diuell may euer find you imployed If the Apostles who might haue liued vpon the Ghospell laboured with their hāds least they should ouercharge others and gaue almes to them from whome they might haue reaped carnall thinges for their spirituall why should not you prouid those thinges which are fit for your owne vse Either make some baskets of reedes or els of small wicker let the ground be raked and the garden beds diuided by some straight line into which as soone as you haue cast the seed of Kitchin herbes and other plants be set in order the springing waters may be brought and you may sit by as if you did euen see the contents of those most excellent verses The water on the ◅row of that steep passage playes VVhich falling on the p◅bles a soft noyse doth rayse And by th◅se liuely springes the Sunne-burnt fieldes allayes Let your vnfruitfull tree either be inoculated or ingraffed thas so in a small tyme you may eat the sauoury fruit of your labours Take order to make Bee-hiues to which the Prouerbes of Salomon send you and learne in those little bodies the order both of Monasticall and Monarchicall discipline Knit nets for taking of fish and write also somewhat that bot◅ your body may get food and your mind may be filled with reading The lasy person contents himselfe with bare desires The Monasteries of Egypt haue this custome that they admit of no man who will not vse corporall labour and that not so much for the necessity of corporall food as for the good of the soule Let not your mind wander vp and downe in pernitiou◅ cogitations nor be like to fornicating Hierusalem which partes her feet to all corners When I was a young man and when the deserts of solitude compassed me in I was not able to endure the incentiues of vice and the ardour of my nature which though I ◅amed with often fasting yet my mind would be boyling vp in other thoughts For the subduing whereof I committed my selfe to one who of a ◅ew was become a Christian and I made my selfe subiect to his discipline to the end that after I had passed by the sharpnes of Quintilian the easy flowing of Cicer◅ the graue stile of Fronto and the smoothnes of Pl◅y I might begin to study the Alphabet and meditate vp on these hissing and broken-winded wordes What labour i◅ cost me what difficulty I endured how often I despaired how often I ceased and how I began againe with a desire and strife to learne both my conscience who felt it is the witnes and so is theirs also who liued with me And I thanke our Lord that now I gather sweet fruit frō the bitter seed of those studies I will tell you also of another thing which I saw in Egypt There was a young man a Grecian in the Monastery who neither by abstinence of diet nor by any aboundance of the pains he tooke was able to extinguish the flame of flesh and blood This man being thus in danger the Father of the Monastery did preserue by this deuise He commanded a certaine graue person of the company that he should haunt the other wi◅h brables and reproaches in such sort that after the iniury was offered that other might be the first who also made cōplaint The witnesses being called did testify in his behalfe who had done the wrong The other would weep against that lye but no man was found who would belieue the truth only the Father would subtilly come in to his defence that so the brother might not be swallowed vp by too excessiue griefe What shal I say more There passed a yeare after this manner Vpon the ending whereof the young man being interrogated about his former thoughts whether yet they ◅gaue him any trouble Father sayth he I haue much adoe to liue and should I haue a mind to fornication If this man had beene alone by what meanes would he haue beene able to ouercome The Philosophers of this world are wont to driue away an old loue with a new like one naile with another which the seauen Persian Princes did to King Assuerus that the concupiscence which he had towards Queen Vasthi might be moderated by the loue of other Virgins They cure one vice and sinne by another but we cōquer vice by the loue of vertue Decline sayth he from euill d◅ good Seeke peace and pursue it Vnles we hate euill we cannot loue that which is good or rather we must do good that we may decline from euill we must seeke peace that we may fly from warre Nor doth it suffice vs to seeke it vnles we follow it with all endeauour when it is found for it is still flying from vs but being obtayned it exceeds all imagination and God holdes his habitation therein according to that of the Prophet And his place is in peace And it is elegantly sayd that Peace is persecuted according to that of the Apostle Persecuting bospitality For we must not inuite men with a sleight and complementall kind of speech and as I may say from the teeth outward but we must hold them fast with the whole affection of our mind as persons who after a compendious manner come to make vs rich No art is learnt without a Master Euen dumbe creatures and the heardes of wild beasts follow their leaders The Bees haue their Princes Cranes follow one of the flocke after a kind of learned manner There is but one Emperour and one supreme Iudge of a Prouince Rome as soone as it was built could not endure two brothers togeather for Kinges and so it was consecrared in paricide Esau and Iacob fought battailes in the wombe of Rebecca Euery Church hath one Bishop one Arch-Priest and euery Ecclesiasticall order relyes vpon his owne gouernours In a Ship there is one man who steeres in a house one Lord and the VVord comes but from one person how great soeuer the Army be And that I may not make my Reader weary by repetitions my whole speech tends but to this that I may teach you that you are not to be committed to the gouernement of your owne will but that you must liue in the Monastery vnder the discipline of one Father and in the conuersation of many that you may learne humility of one patience of another one man may teach you silence another meeknes Do not that which you desire eat that which you are bidden cloath your selfe with that which they offer performe the taske which is imposed be subiect to him to whome you desire not to be subiect come weary to your bed so that you may sleep euen as you go and as soone as you are sleeping soundly be compelled to rise Recite the Psalmes in your turne wherein not the sweetnes
because we once worshipped Idols we should not now worship God least we may seeme to exhibit the same honour to him which formerly we exhibited to Idols That was done to Idols and therefore it was to be detested but this is done to Martyrs and therefore it is to be receaued But abstracting frō Martyrs Relickes there are tapers lighted through all the Churches of the East when the Ghospell is to be read how brightly soeuer the Sunne then shine Not forsooth to driue away darkenes but to declare our ioy by that testimony Wherupon those Euangelicall Virgins haue their lampes euer lighted And it is sayd to the Apostles Let your loynes be girt your lampes burning in your handes And of Iohn Baptist it was sayd that He was a lampe which did both burne and shine that vnder the tipe of visible light the other light might be shewed wherof we read in the Psalme Thy word O Lord is a lanterne to my feet and a light to my steps So that the Bishop of Rome doth ill who ouer the bones of the dead men Peter and Paul which according to our beliefe are venerable and according to you are vile poore ◅usi doth offer sacrifices to our Lord and holdes their tombes to be the Altars of Christ. And not only he of one Citty but the Bishops of the whole world erre who contemning this Tauerne-keeper Vigilantius enter into the Churches of these dead men wherein this most base dust and I know not what kinde of ashes lyes wrapped vp in linnen that it selfe being defiled may defile all thinges els and which are like those Pharisaicall sepulchres exteriourly adorned when within the ashes being impure according to you all other thinges may be also vnsauoury and impure And then casting vp that base vncleanes out of the profound hell of your stomach you dare say thus Therfore belike the soules of Martyrs loue theyr ashes and houer about them and are euer present with them least perhaps if some petitioner might come thither they should not be able to heare them if themselues were absent O prodigious Monster fit to be posted away into the ◅urdest root of the whole earth you scoffe at the Relickes of Martyrs together with Eunomius the authour of this heresy you procure to cast a scandall vpon the Churches of Christ Nor are you frighted by finding your selfe in such company as that you speake those very things against vs which he spake against the Church For none of his followers will go the Churches of the Apostles and Martyrs that forsooth they may adore the dead Eunomius whose bookes they esteeme to be of more authority then the Ghospells and in him they hold the light of truth to be as other heresies affirmed that the holy Ghost came into Montanus yea and they say that Manichaeus is that very holy Ghost That most learned man Tertullian that you may not vaunt your selfe to be the first finder out of this wickednes writes against this heresy of yours which broke out long ago against the Church an excellent booke which he termed Scorpiacum vpon a most iust reason because by a circling kind of wound that Heretike spread his poison vpon the body of the Church by that heresy which anciently was called of Cain and which sleeping or rather lying buryed a long tyme is now by Dormitantius raised to life It is a marueile you say not that Martyrdomes are not to be endured because God doth not seeke the blood of so much as goates or bulles and much lesse will he require that of men Which when you shall haue sayd yea although you shall not say it you shall be so accounted of as if you sayd it For he who affirmes that the Relicks of Martyrs are to be troden on forbids that blood to be shed which is vnwor◅hy of any honour Concerning Vigils and sitting vp at night which are often to be celebrated in Martyrs Churches I haue giuen a briefe answere in another Epistle which I wrote almost two yeares since to Riparius the holy Priest If therefore you thinke that they are to reiected least otherwise we may seem to celebrate many seuerall Easters and that we keep not solemne Vigils at the end of euery yeare by the same reason no sacrifices should be offered to Christ vpon the Sundaies least we should seeme to celebrate the Easter of the Resurrection of our Lord often so we should not haue one Easter but many Now that abuse and fault which is many tymes committed in the night betweene young men and the basest sorte of woemen is not to be imputed to deuout persons because some such thing is many tymes found to be committed euen in th◅ Vigil the Easter but now the fault of few must not preiudice this Act of Religion For euen without Vigils men may commit that sinne either in their owne or others houses The treason of Iudas destroyed not the fayth of the Apostles and so the ill Vigills of others must not destroy our Vigils but rather let them be constrained to watch to chastity who sleep to lust For that which was good being done once cannot be euill if it be done often And if it be culpable through any fault it is not culpable because it was done often but because it was done at all Let vs not therfore belike watch at Easter least the long entertained desire of some adulterer may chaunce to be fullfilled then least the wife find occasion of committing sinne least she exempt her selfe from being shut vp by her husbandes keye Whatsoeuer is rare is so much the more ardently desired I cannot runne ouer all those particulers which are mentioned in the letters of those holy Priests but some I will produce out of his owne bookes He frames arguments against those wonders and miracles which are wrought in Martyrs Churches and he sayth they are good for vnbelieuers but not ◅or belieuers As if now the question were for whose sake and not by what power they are wrought But well let Miracles be wrought for Infidells who because they would not belieue speech and doctrine may be brought by Miracles to the fayth Our Lord wrought Miracles for such as were yet incredulous and yet the Miracles of our Lord are not be taxed because they were for Infidels but they were to be admired so much the more because they were of so great power as to tame euen the stifest mindes and oblige them to imbrace the fayth Therfore I will not haue you tell me that miracles are for Infidels but answere me how there comes to be so great a presence of wōders and miracles in most base dust and I know not what kind of ashes I find I find O you the most vnhappy of all mortall men what grieues you and what frights you The impure spirit which compels you to write those thinges is often tormented with this most base dust yea and is tormented this very day and he who dissembles the wounds which
dying was not shrowded in cloathes of her giuing What cripples were not maintayned by her purse whome causing to be sought for with extreme curiosity ouer the whole citty she would hold it to be her owne losse in particular if any weake or hungry person were sustayned by any food but hers She euen stript her owne children to her friends who would be chiding her for this excesse she would say she meant to leaue them a greater inheritance then she found namely the mercy of Christ. Nor could she long endure the visits and courting which was due to her most noble house and to that high stock of hers according to the account of the wold She grieued at the honour which was done her and made hast to decline and fly from the face of such as gaue her prayse And when the Imperiall letters h◅d brought the Bishops both of the East and West to Rome for composing the dissentions of some Churches she saw those admirable men and Bishops of Christ Paulinus the Bishop of the Citty of Antioch Epiphanius of Salamina in Cyprus of whome she had Epiphanius for her owne guest and Paulinus though lodging in an other house she possessed as her owne by the care she had of him Being inflamed by the vertues of these men she deuised from one minute to another how to forsake her country And not being mindfull of her house not of her children not of her family not of her estate not of any thing which belonges to this world she had an earnest desire to be going on euen alone and vnaccompanyed as a man may say to the desert of those Anthonies and Pauls At length the winter being spent and the sea being open the Bishops returning to their Churches she also in her desire and with the vowes of her hart went sayling with them Why shall I deferre it longer She went downe to the Sea port her brother her kinred her allyes which is more then this her children following her striuing with their earnest suits to ouercome that most tender mother The sailes were by that time spread and by stretching of the Oares the ship was drawne into the deepe Little Toxotius cast forth his begging hands vpon the shoare Ruffina who then was marriageable did in silence craue with teares that she would expect to see her bestowed But Paula the while cast vp her dry eyes towards heauē surmounting her dear affectiō towards her children by her deuotion towards God She knew not her selfe to be a mother that she might approue her selfe for a hand-mayd of Christ. Her very bowels were racked within her and as if she had bene torne from the very parts of her owne body so did she fight with grief in this so much the more admirable to all as she carryed a great loue to them which was to be conquered When people are in the hands of enemyes in the sad condition of captiuity there is no one thing more cruell then for parents to be separated from their children And yet euen this did her full faith endure against the rights of nature nay her ioyfull hart did desire it and contemning the loue of her children through her superiour loue towards God she contented her selfe with onely Eustochium who was the cōpanion both in her holy purpose nauigation In the meane time the shippe plowed vp the Seas all the passingers who were embarked with her looking backe vpon the shoare she only turned her eyes from thence that so she might not see thē whom she could not behould without torment I confesse that no woman could more loue her children to whom before she went she gaue away whatsoeuer she had best Being arriued at the Iland of Pontia which aūciently had bene ennobled by the banishment of that most excellēt of woemen Flauta Domitilla vnder the Emperour Domitian for confessiō of the name of Christ beholding those Coles wherin she had suffred a long martyrdome she then tooke vp the wings of faith and desired to visit Ierusalem and the holy places The windes were thought sluggish and all speed was slowe Committing her selfe to the Adriaticke Sea between Scylla and Carybbis she came as by a lake to Methona and there refreshing her selfe a little laying her seasicke limmes vpon the shoare by Malea Cythera and the Cyclads which are sprinkled ouer that Sea and those waues being the more furious by the often indenting of the land and hauing also passed by Rhodes and Lycia at length she came to Cyprus Where casting her selfe at the feet of the holy and venerable Epiphanius she was deteyned by him ten dayes not for her regalo as he meant it but for the worke of God as indeed it proued For vewing all the Monasteries of that quarter she left to the vttermost of her power certeyne almes to beare the charge of those brothers whom the loue of that holy man had drawen thither from the seuerall parts of the whole world From thence she made a short cut ouer to Seleucia then going vp to Antioche being deteyned a while by the charity of the holy Confessour Paulinus in the hart of winter her owne hart being most hot with a liuely faith the noble creature who auntiently vsed to be carryed by Eunuches hands did put her selfe now to trauaile vpon an asse I omit to speake of Caeles the way to Syria and Phenices for I meane not to writ her Iournall but will only name those places wherof mention is made in holy Scripture And leauing Berytus the Colony of Rome as also the auntient Citty of Sidon she went into the little tower of Elias vpon the shoare of Sarepta wherin hauing adored our Lord our Sauiour she came to Coph which now is called Ptolemais by those sandes of ◅yrus where Paul prayed vpon his knees And passing by the fields of Mageddo which were priuy to the death of Iosias she entred into the land of Philistim wondred at the ruines of Doe which was once a most powerfull Citty and on the contrary side she saw the tower of Strato which was called Cesarea by Herod King of Iury in honour of Augustus Cesar wherein she beheld the houses of Cornelius which grew to be a Church of Christ and the little houses of Phillip and foure chambers of the prophetising virgins and then Antipatris a towne halfe ouerthrouen which Herod had called by the name of his father and Lidda changed into Diospolis made famous by the resurrection of Dorcas to life of Aeneas to health Not farre from thence was Arimathea◅ the little towne of Ioseph who buryed our Lord and Nobe which aūtiently was the Citty of Priests now a sepulture of the dead and Ioppe also the hauen of Ionas when he fled and to the end that I may giue some little touch of the inuention of Po◅ts which was the spectatrix of Andromade when she was tyed to the rocke And then renewing her Iourney she went on to
be iustly sayd O thou wicked seed prepare thy children to be slaine by the sinnes of thy Father The former man being condemned by the authority of the Church of Rome is not so properly to be sayd to haue giuen vp his Ghost as to haue cast it out in the middest Pheasants Swines flesh but this Tauerne keeper of Callagura who by nickename in respect of the towne where he was borne was called the dumbe Quiâ—…tilian sophisticates his wine with water and out of the stocke of that ancient fraud he striâ—…es to mingle the poyson of his perfidious doctrine with the Catholike fayth to impugne virginity to hate chastity and at the full table of secular persons to declaime against the fasting of Saints whilest himselfe is playing the Philosopher among his cuppes and feeding licorishly vpon 〈◊〉 cakes he will needes be stroked with the sweet finging of Psalmes In such sort as that in the middest of his bankets he voutchsafes not to heare any other songes then of Dauid Idithus Asaph and the sonne of Chorah These thinges do I vtter with a sad and griâ—…ued mind not being able to containe my selfe nor to passe by the iâ—…iuries which are done to the Apostles and Martyrs with a deaâ—…â—…eare O vnspeakable abuseâ—… he is sayd to haue found Bishops who are partakers with him of his crime if they may be called Bishops who ordaine no Deacons but such as first haue marryed wiues not belieuing that any vnmarryed man can be châ—…st and shewing thereby how holily themselues liue who suspectiall men of ill and vnles they see that Priests haue wiues with great bellyes and that their children be crying in their Mothers armes they giue theÌ„ not the sacraments of Christ. But what shall then become of the Orientall Churches What of the Churches of Egypt of the Sea Apostolike which receiue men to Priesthood either before they are marryed or when then are widowes or if still they haue wiues yet they leaue to do the part of husbandes But this hath Dormitantius taught releasing the raynes to lust and doubling by his exhortations that ardour of flesh and blood which vsually boyles vp in youth or rather quenching it by the the carnall knowledg of woemen That so now there may be nothing wherein we differ from horses and swine and such brute beasts of whom it is written They runne towardes woemen as horses which are mad with lust do to their kind and euery man goeth euen neying after his neighbours wife This is that which the Holy Ghost sayth by Dauid Do not grow like the horse and mule in whome there is no vnderstanding And againe he sayth of Dormitantius and his companions Keep in with the bridle and bit the iawes of them who draw not neere to thee But now it is tyme that setting downe his owne words we procure to make them a particular answere For it is possible otherwise that some maligne interpreter or other will againe alleadge that my selfe haue deuised matter to which I may answeare with a Rhetoricall kind of declamation like that which I wrote into France to the Mother and Daughter who were in discord The holy Priestes Riparius and Desiderius are the occasions of this Epistle for they write that their Parishes were infected by the neighbourhood of this man and by our brother Sesinnius they haue sent vs those bookes which snorting vpon a surfet he hath vomited out And these men affirme that many are found who fauouring the vices of his life are content to heare the blasphemies of his doctrine The man is ignorant both in knowledge and wordes he is of vngratefull speech and who cannot so much as defend a truth but yet in regard of worldly men and poore woemen who go loaden with their sinnes and who are euer learning and neuer arriue â—…o the knowledge of the truth I wil make answeare to his trash in this one single sitting vp at night least otherwise I might seeme to despise the letrers of those holy men who haue entreated me to do thus much But this man followes the kind of which he comes as being descended from murdering theeues and from a people made vp of many natioÌ„s Whome Cneius Pompeius hauing conquered Spayne and hastening to celebrate his triumph thrust downe from the top of the Pyrenean hills and gathered them together into one towne whereupon the Citty was called by no other name but of Conuenae that is to say of People gathered together Thus farre doth he reach now in exercising murdering thefts vpon the Church of God and descending from the Vectonians the Arabatians and Celâ—…iberians he ouerrunnes the Churches of France not carrying in his hand the ensigne of Christ but the standard of the Diuell Pompey did the same in the Easterne parts also And the Cilician and Isaurian Pirates murdering theeues being ouercome he built a Citty for them betweene Cilicia and Isauria bearing his owne name But that Citty doth still liue vnder the lawes of their forefathers and no Dormitantius is sprung vp there The Countreyes of Fraunce haue a domesticall enemy and now they see a man of a troubled brayne and fit to be bound vp as Hipocrates directed that mad men should be hauing a seat in the Church and among other wordes of blasphemy deliuering also these To what purpose is it for thee with so great respect not only to honour but to adore also that I know not what I should call it which thou worshippest in that little portable violl And againe in the same booke VVhy doest thou adoringly kisse that dust wrapped vp in a little cloath And afterward VVe see that almost after the manner of the Gentils it is introduced into our Churches vnder the pretence of Religion to light huge heapes of waxen tapers and euery where they kisse and adore I know not what little dust in a little violl wrapped about in some pretious linnen cloath Such men as these do doubtles impart great honour to the most blessed Martyrs in thinking that they may be illustrated by those most base waxe lights whome the Lambe who is in the middest of the Throne doth illuminate with the whole brightnes of his Maiesty But who O you mad headed man Did euer adore the Martyrs Who thought that a man was God Did not Paul and Barnabas when they were thought by the Lycaonians to be Iupiter and Mercury and had a mind to offer them sacrifice teare their garments and declare that they were but men Not but that they were better then Iupiter or Mercury who were dead long before but because vnder the errour of Paganisme the honour which was due to God was deferred to them This we also read of Peter who when Cornelius desired to adore him raysed him vp by the hand sayd Rise vp for I am also a man And dare you say That same I know not what which you worship in that little violl to be carryed vp and downe What is that thing which you
miserable and sinnefull creature am I held worthy to kisse the manger wherein my Lord being an infant cryed to pray in that stable where the Virgin Mother was deliuered of our Lord being made a child This is my rest because it is in the country of my Lord here will I dwell because my Sau◅our made choice thereof I haue prepared a lampe for my Christ my soule shall liue to him and my seed shall serue him Not farre from thence she went to the tower Ader that is to say Of the flocke neere which Iacob fed his flockes and the shepheardes who watched by night deserued to heare Glory be to God on high and peace on earth to men of a good will And whilest they kept their sheep they found the Lambe of God with that cleane most pure fleece which when the whole earth was dry was filled with celestiall dew and whose blood tooke away the sinnes of the world and droue away that exteminatour of Egypt being sprinkled vpon the posts of the house And then presently with a swift pace she began to go forward by that old way which leades to Gaza to the power of the riches of God and silently to reuolue within her selfe how the Ethiopian Eunuch prefiguring the Gentiles did change his skinne and whilest he was reflecting vpon his old way found the fountaine of the Ghospel From thence she pasled towards the right hād From Bethsur she came to Escoll which signifyes a Bunch of grapes and from whence in testimony of the extreme fertility of that soile as a type of him who sayd I haue trod the wine presse alone not one of the Gentils was with me those discouerers or spyes carryed home a bunch of Grapes of a wōderfull bignes Not farre from thence she entered into the little houses of Sarah and viewed the antiquities of the infancy of Isaac and the relikes of Abrahams Oake vnder which he saw the day of Christ and reioyced Rising vp from thence sh◅ ascended vp to Chebron which is Cariath Arbe that is to say the towne of the foure men Abraham Isaac Iacob and the great Adam whome according to the booke of Iesus Naue the Iewes conceiue to be buryed there although many thinke that the fourth man was Caleb whose memory they continue by shewing there a part of his side Hauing viewed these places she would not proceed to Chariath Cephor that is to say the little towne of letters because contemning the killing letter she had found the quickning spirit And she wondered more at those superiour and inferiour waters which Othoniel the sonne of Iephone Kenaz had gotten insteed of that Southerne Land dry possession and by Aquiducts had moistened those fieldes of the old testament that he might find the redemption of old sinnes in the water of Baptisme The next day the Sunne being risen she stood vpon the brow of Chaphar Barucha that is the Towne of benediction to which place Abraham followed our Lord looking downe from thence vpon a large desert that Land which of old was belonging to Sodomah and Gomorrah Adamah and Seboin◅ She then contemplated those Vines of Balsamum in Engaddi and the Calfe of Segor and Zoara which in the Syrian language signifyes The little one She remembred the little hollow caue of Lot and being all bathed in tears she admonished the Virgins who accompanyed her to take heed of Wine wherein Luxury is and whose fruites are the Moabites Ammonites I make too long stay in the South where the spouse found out her fellow-spouse as he was layd and where Ioseph was inebriated with his brethren But I will now returne to Hierusalem and betweene Thecua and Amos I will behold the b◅ightly shining light of Mount Oliuet from whence our Sauiour ascended vp to his Father and vpon which mountaine a red Cow was yearely burnt by way of Holocaust to our Lord the ashes whereof did expiat the people of Israel wherupon also the Cherubin passing away from the Temple according to Ezechiel there was founded a Church to our Lord. After this going into the Sepulcher of Lazarus she saw the house of Mary and Martha and Bethphage the towne of sacerdotall iawes and that place where the wanton asses coult of the Gentiles accepted the bridle of God and being ouerspred with the Apostles garments gaue an easy seat to the rider Then did she descend by a straight way towards Iericho reuoluing in her mind that wounded man of the Ghospell and withall the clemency of the Samaritan which signifyes a Guardian who layd the man being halfe dead vpon his beast and brought him to the stable of the Church whilest the Priests and Leuites with vnmercifull harts passed by She also saw the place called Adonim which is by interpretation of blood because much blood was wont to be shed there by the frequent incursion of murdering theeues She saw the Sicomore tree of Zach◅us that is to say the good workes of penance whereby he trod vnder foot his former sinnes which were full of extortion and cruelty beheld that high Lord of ours from the height of vertue And neer that way she saw those places of the blind men where receiuing their fight they prefigured the mysteries of both those people which were to beliue in our Lord. Being entred into Iericho she saw that Citty which Hiell founded in Abiram for his eldest sonne and whose gates were placed in Segub for his youngest She beheld the tents of Galgala and the whole heape of foreskinnes and the mystery of the Circumcision and the twelue stones which being transferred thither out of the bottome or bed of Iordan did strengthen the twelue fomdations of the Apostles and that fountayne of the lawe which auntiently was most bitter and barren of waters but now the true Elizeus had seasoned it with his wisedome and indued it both with suauity and plenty The night was scarce passed when she came with extreme feruour of deuotion to Iordan She stood vpon the bancke of the riuer and as soon as the Sunne was vp she remembred the Sunne of Iustice and how the Priests had formerly set their dry feet in the middest of the riuer when the streame made a fayre way by the staying of the water halfe or the one side and halfe on the other vpon the commandement of Elias and Elizeus and how our Lord by his baptisme clensed those waters which had bene infected in the tyme of the flood by the death of all mankind It will be a long businesse if I shall take vpon me to speake of the valley of Achor that is to say Of troubles and tumult wherin couetousnes and th◅ft were cond◅mned and of Bethel the house of God wherin the poore naked Iacob slept vpon the bare ground and laying that stone vnder his head which in Zachary is described to haue seuen eyes and in Esay is called the corner stone saw a ladder reaching vp to heauen toward which our Lord inclined
flesh or ◅ls by coming into poor◅ houses might pay the punishment of those antient sinnes be shut vp in this present life and in their bodies as in a prison Which as soon as she had heard and related to me letting me know who the man was and that a necessity lay vpon me of resisting this most wicked viper destroying the beast whō the Psalmist mentions saying Do not deliuer vp to beasts the soules of such as confesse to the And Re◅uke O Lord these beasts of the reed who writing iniquity do speake a ly against our Lord and exalt their mouths against the most high I met with the man by his owne discourse whereby he procured to deceiue her I shut him vp by asking him this short question VVhether or no he belieued the future resurrection of the dead When he had answered that he did I pursued him thus Shall the same bodies rise or shall they be other When he had said the same I asked him whether in the selfe same sexe or in another Vpon which question holding his peace and tossing his head too fro like some snake least he should be hurt because said I you hold your peace I will answere my selfe for you and inferre the consequences If a woman shall not rise as a woman nor a man as a man there will be no resurrection of the dead For the sex implyes distinct parts and the parts make vp a whole body but if there be no sex and parts what will become of the resurrection of bodies which consist not without parts and sex And then if there be no resurrection of bodies there can be no resurrection of the dead But as for that also which you obiect towching marriage If they shall be the same parts it must follow that there will be marriage it is answered by our Sauiour saying You erre not knowing the Scripture not the vertue of God For in the Resurrection of the dead they shall neither marry nor be marryed but shall be like the Angels of God In that he saith they shall neither marry nor be marryed the diuersity of sex is shewed for no man saith of wood or stone that they shall neither marry nor be marryed which are not capable of marriage but of them who may marry yet for beare to do it by the power grace of Christ. If you reply and aske How then shall we be like to Angells since among the Angells there is no difference of male and female I will answere you in few words Our Lord doth not repromise to vs the substance but the conuersation and felicity of Angells As Iohn Baptist euen before he was beheaded was called an Angell and all the Saints and Virgins of God do expresse in themselues the life of Angells euen in this world For when it is sayd You shall be like to Angels a resemblance is promised but the nature is not changed And answere me besides how you interprete that Thomas touched the handes of our Lord after the Resurrection and saw his side boared through with a Lance And That Peter saw our Lord standing vpon the shoare and eating part of a broyled fish and a hony combe Certainly he who stood had feet he who shewed a wounded side had doubtles a belly brest without which he could not haue sides which must be contiguous to them both He who spake did speake with a tongue a pall◅ and with teeth For as the quill hath relation to the stringes so the tongue presses towards the teeth and makes a vocall sound He whose handes were felt must by cōsequence haue armes Since therefore he was sayd to haue all the parts he must necessarily haue had the whole body which is framed of the partes and that no feminine but masculine that is of the sexe wherein he dyed If now you shall reply that by the same reason we must eate after the Resurrection and that our Lord entred in when the doores were shut against the nature of true and solid bodies giue eare a while Do not draw our Fayth into reproach by speaking of meat after the Resurrection For our Lord bad them giue meat to the Daughter of the Archi◅ynagogue when she was raised again to life And Lazarus who had been dead foure dayes is written to haue fed with him at the same table least his Resurrection should be thought to be but a conceit But if because he entred in while the dores were shut you would therefore striue to proue that his body was but aeriall and spirituall by the same reason it must also haue beene but spiritual before he suffered because he walked then vpon the Sea which is contrary to the nature of waighty bodyes And the Apostle Peter who also walked vpon the waters with a wauering pace must be belieued to haue had but a spirituall body whereas the strength power of God is shewed more when any thing is done against nature And to the end that you may know that by the greatnes of wonders not the change of nature but the omnipotency of God is shewed he who walked by fayth began by in fidelity to sinke downe vnles the hand of our Lord had kept him vp when he sayd VVhy dost thou doubt O thou of little fayth But I marueile that you will haue so obstinate a mind when our Lord himselfe did say Bring in thy finger hither and touch my handes and reach forth thy hand and put it into my side and be not incredulous but belieue And els where See my handes and my feet for it is I. Feele and see for a spirit hath no flesh and bones as you see I haue And when he had sayd so he shewed them his hands his feet I tell you of bones and flesh and handes and feet you come talking to me of Globes of the Stoickes and certaine doting fancies of the ayer But if now you aske me VVhy an infant who neuer sinned is possest by a Diuell or of what age we shall be wh◅ we rise againe since we dye of seuerall ages I shall answere you good cheape with this The iudgments of God are a great abysse And O the altitude of the riches of the wisedome and knowledge of God how inscrutable are his iudgments and how vnsearchable his wayes For who hath knowne the sense of our Lord or who hath beene called by him to counselle But the diuersity of ages doth not change the truth of bodies For since our bodies doe continually change and either encrease or decrease we shoud by that reason be euery one of vs many men as we daily vndergo changes I was an other being ten yeares old an other at thirty an other at fifty an other now that I haue my whole head ful of hoary haires Therfore according to the traditions of the Churches and of the Apostle Paul we must answere thus That we shall rise in perfe◅t man in the measure of the age of the fulnes
Here iâ—… thy crib O Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Magâ—… Presents brought to God 〈◊〉 The holy and blessed Paulâ—… departed this life vpon the seauenth of the Kalends of February on the Tuesday after Sun-set She was buryed on the fifth of the Kalends of the same moneth Hoâ—…rius Augustus being the sixt time Consull and fellow Consull with Aristâ—…ius She lined in her holy purpose fiue yeares at Rome and twenty yeares at Bethleem She had in all fifty 〈◊〉 yeares of age eight moneths and one and twenty daies S. Hierome to Nepotianus of the life which a Priest ought to lead VVhereof I haue omitted the former part or rather Preface which is both very long and but personal and not belonging at all to the chiefe matter in hand which is what liâ—…es Priests aâ—… to leâ—…d HEARKEN as the Blessed Cyprian aduises not to such thinges as are eloquently deliuered but to such as haue strength and truth in them Hearken to him who in function is your brother in age your father who brings you from the swathing clouâ—…es of faith to a perfect age and who setting downe rules throughout all the steps of your life may instruct others also by your meanes I well know that both already you haue learned such thinges as are holy that you are dayly learning them of the Blessed man Heliodorus your vncle who is now a Bishop of Christ and the example of whose vertue may be the very rule of a mans life But yet accept of these our endeauours how poore soeuer they may be ioyne you this booke to his that as he instructed you how you might be a Monke this may teach you how to be a perfect Priest A Priest therfore who serues the Church of Christ let him first interpret that word and when he hath defined the same let him striue to be that very thing which the word signifyes For if the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greeke do signify portion in Latin then it will follow that Priests are called so either because they are of the portion of our Lord or els because our Lord is the portion or part of Priests But he who either is the part of our Lord or who hath our Lord for his pâ—…rt ought to shew himselfe to be such an one as that he possesses our Lord is possessed of our Lord. He who possesses our Lord saith with the Prophet Our Lord is my part can possesse nothing but our Lord and if he will haue any thing besides him our Lord wil not be his part As for example if he will haue gold siluer or choice of costly houshould stuffe our Lord with these Partes will not voutchafe to be his Parte And if I be the parte of our Lord and the bounder wherby his inheritance is measured and do not take a Parte amongst the rest of the Tribes but as a Leuit and Preist do liue of the Tenthes and sâ—…ruing the Altar do liue vpon the oblations of the Altar if I may haue food and cloathing I will be content therewith and being naked I will follow the naked Crosse I beseech you therefore and repeating my suit to you againe and againe I will admonish you that you thinke not the O 〈◊〉 of Priesthood to be a kind of warefare after the old fashion that is to say that you seeke not the commodities of the world in the warfare of Christ that you procure not to be richer then when you began to be a Priest that it be not said of you Their Priestes haue not 〈◊〉 of profit to them For many haue bene richer being Monkes then when they were secular persons and Priests There are some who possesse more riches now in the seruice of Christ being poore then formerly they possessed by their seruice vnder the rich and false diuell and the Church doth euen groane with their being rich whom before the world knew for beggers Let your table be frequented by poore people and Pilgrimes let Christ be a guest with them See you fly as you would do the plague any Priest who is a negociator of affairs and who growes rich of poore and glorious insteed of base Ill speech corrupts good manners You contemne gold an other maÌ„ loues it you tread riches vnder your feet an other man hunts after it you cordially loue silence meekenes recollection but another likes prating and bouldnes and takes no pleasure but in streates market-places fayres and to be sitting in Apothecaryes shoppes In such a difference of manners what agreement can there be Let your house either seldome or neuer be troden vpon by woemens feet and be you either equally ignorant or doe you equally like all the maydes and virgins of Christ. Doe not dwell with them vnder the same roofe and presume not vpon your former chastity You are not holyer then Dauid noâ—… can you be wiser then Salomon Be euer remembring how a woman cast the inhabitant of Paradise out of his possession When you are sicke let some deuout brother of yours assist you and some sister or your mother or some other woman who is of vntouched â—…ame with the world If you haue not perhapes of your consaguinity who are withal of piety the Church entertaines many old widowes who may performe that duty and receiue some benefit by their seruice that so your sicknes may also inable you to gather their fruit of almes I know of some who haue recouered in body and begun to fall sicke in mind She affoardes you a dangerous kind of seruice vpon whose countenance you are often looking with attention If in regard you are a Priest some Virgin or widow must needes be visited by you yet neuer goe into their house alone Take such company with you as may not defame you by their society If some â—…ector or some Acolytus or some other who hath the Office of singing in the Church follow you let them not be adorned with cloathes but good conditions noâ—… haue they haire curled with irons but promise vertue by the very apparance of their persons Sit neuer with any woman alone in secret and without some witnes or looker on If you be to say any thing in familiar manner the woman hath some aunâ—…ent person belonging to the house or some Virgin or wiâ—…e or widow she is not so inhumane as that she hath none besides you with whome she dares trust her selfe See you be carefull of giuing no ground to suspicions and procure to preuent whatsoeuer may probably be deuised against you A holy affection doth noâ—… admit the vse of frequent Presents handkerchiâ—…es and scarâ—…es and garments which haue bene kissed and meat which hath beene â—…sted to your hand nor â—…he changing of certaine deare delightfull letters These wordes My light my hâ—…ny my desire and all those delicacies and conceits and certaine ciuilities which deserue to be derided and the rest of those â—…oyes of louers we blush at euen in Comedies we detest euen
togeather in the house of God was the betrayer of his friend and of his Master and was reproued by our Sauiours wordes and tyed the knot of his owne vgly death vpon a high tr◅c On the other side the theefe exchanged the Crosse for Paradice and made that punishment of his murders to stand for Martyrdome How many do at this day euen by liuing long carry themselues as it were dead to Church and being whited sepulchres without are full of dead mens bones within A sudden lusty heat is better then along tepidity In fine you hearing those words of our Sauiour If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all though hast and giue it to the poore and follow me do turne those wordes into deeds being naked do follow the naked Crosse and so doe more lightly and nimbly clime vp Iacobs ladder you haue changed you mind with your habite and do not with a full purse affect any glorious kind of filth but with cleane hand and a pure hart you prize your selfe to be poore in deed and in spirit For there is no great matter in countersetting or making ostentation of fasting by carrying a pale and wanne face about and for a man to bragge of carrying a poore cloake vpon his backe when he is rich in reuenues That Crates of Thebes who formerly had bene extremely rich when he came to be a Philosopher at Athens cast away a great somme of gold nor did he thinke that a man could possesse vertue and riches both together But we being all stuffed with gold will needs follow Christ who was so poore and attending to our former rich estates vnder the pretence of enabling our felues to giue almes how shall we distribut the goods of other men faithfully to others when we do so fearfully reserue our owne It is an easy matter for a full belly to dispute of fasting It deserues no comendation to haue liued at Ierusalem but to haue liued there wel That Citty is to be desired that to be praised not which kils the Prophets and which hath spilt the blood of Christ but which the impetuousnes of the riuer doth make glad which placed vpon the hill cannot be concealed which the Apostle cals the mother of Saints of which Citty he reioyces that he is made a free-denison Neither yet by saying this do I taxe my selfe of inconstancy or condemne that which I do that so I should in vayne seem to haue left my friends and country after the example of Abraham but I dare not circumscribe the omnipotency of God to so narrow as compasse and to confine him to a small place of the earth whom heauen is not able to contayne The faithfull are not waighed by the diuersity of places but by the merit of their faith And they who are true adorers adore not the father either in Ierusalem or in Mount Gasarim for God is a spirit and they must do it in spirit and truth The spirit breaths where it will The earth the fulnes therof is our Lords Since the whole world was bathed with that celestial dew the fleece of Iury being dry and many coming from the East and VVest haue reposed in the bosome of Abraham God hath giuen ouer to be only knowne in Iury and to haue his name great in Israell but the sound of the Apostles is now gone ouer the whole earth and their wordes euen to the ends of the world Our Sauiour speaking to his Disciples when he was in the Temple sayd thus Ryse vp let vs goe hence And to the Iews Tour house shall be left desert to you If heauen earth shall passe certainly all thinges which are earthly shall passe And therfore the places of the Crosse and Resurrection shall profit thē who carry their Crosse who ryse daily with Christ and who make themselues worthy of such an excellent habitation But they who say The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord Let them heare the Apostle say You are the temple of our Lord and the holy Ghost dwells in you And that heauenly Court is open alike both towardes Hierusalem and towardes Britanny For the kingdome of God is within you Anthony and all those swarmes of Monkes of Egypt and Mesopotamia Pontus Capad◅cis and Armenia neuer saw Hierusalem and heauen is open to them without any relation to this Citty Blessed Hilarion who was of Palestine and liued there did neuer spend but one day in the seeing of Hierusalem to the end that being so neere hand he might neither seeme to contemne those holy places nor yet on the other side might seeme to shut vp our Lord in any one place From the tymes of Adrian to the empire of Constantine which imported about the tyme of a hundred and foure score yeares in the place of the Resurrection there was an Idoll of Iupiter In the rocke of the Crosse there was placed a marble statue of Venus to be worshipped The persecutours who were authours therof conceiuing that they might abolish our Fayth of the Resurrection and of the Crosse when they had polluted the holy places by their Idols That wood which is called Thamus that is to say of Adonis did ouershaddow the most imperiall place of the whole world namely this Bethleem of ours whereof the Psalmist sayth Truth is sprung out of the earth and in that hollow place where Christ being an Infant did once cry the paramour of Venus was lamented But you will aske me to what end I am so large in this particular To the end that you may not thinke that any thing is wanting to your fayth because you haue not beene at Hierusalem and that you may not esteeme vs to be the better men because we enioy this habitation But whether you liue here or there you shall obtaine of our Lord a reward which shall be equall to your workes But yet that I may plainely confesse what the pulse of my hart is in this businesse considering both your purpose that ardour of mind wherewith you haue disclaimed the world I do really belieue that you will then find difference in places if forsaking Cittyes the concourse of people which is found therein you will dwell in some little retyred corner feeke Christ in the desert and pray alone in the mountaine with Iesus enioy the neighbour-hood of these holy places That is to say that both you may estrange your selfe from the Citty and not loose the purpose of being a Monke I speake not this for Bishops or Priests who haue other imployments but I speake of it for a Monke and such a one as formerly was noble in the world who layd the price of his possessions at the feet of the Apostles thereby teaching that money was to be troden vnder foot that so liuing in humility and secrecy he might continue to despise that which he had once despised If the places of the Crosse and of the Resurrection were not exceedingly frequented in this Citty where
to God to whome all things liue by that posture of reuerence Anthony therefore hauing shrouded the body brought it forth and singing hymnes and psalmes according to the tradition of the Christian Church was troubled that he had not there some spade wherewith he might dig and make a graue And wauing between the variety of seuerall passions and casting with his thoughtes many wayes he sayd thus within himselfe If I returne to the Monastery it is a iourney of no lesse then three dayes if I stay heere I shall loose my tyme labour my best way would be euen to dye and by casting my selfe headlong against this warryer of thyne O Christ to deliuer vp my last breath Whilst he was reuoluing these things in his mind behould from the more inward part of the desart two Lyons bore themselues with speed towardes him their manes al wauing about their neckes At the first vpon this sight he was much frighted yet then instantly casting vp his mind to God he remayned as void of feare as if he had but seene some paire of Doues But the Lyons hauing directed their course to the corps of that other blessed ould man made a stand and fawning with their tailes they lay downe at his feet roaring out with a huge noyse so as a man might plainely vnderstād that they bewayled the death of Paul after the best manner they could Soone after they also began to scrape the ground with their pawes casting out sand as if it had beene with a kind of strife who should do it fastest they digged a place which might be able to containe a man and then instantly casting downe their necks and wagging their eares they went towardes Anthony and as if they had demanded some wages for their paynes they licked both his handes and feet But he vnderstood it as if they had desired a blessing from him and therefore instantly inlarging his hart towardes the prayse of Christ for that euen these dumme Beasts did also vnderstand that there was a God he expressed himselfe thus O Lord without whose becke neither doth any leafe fall from a Tree nor any Sparrow light vpon the ground be good to these creatures as thou knowest And so making a signe with his hand he gaue them a commandement to be gone As soone as they were departed he submitted his old shoulders to the waight of that holy corps and laying it downe in the graue and then casting earth vpon it he made a kind of tombe according to the manner But then vpon the next day least this pious heyre should not become the owner of some of the intestates goods he tooke the coat which Paul had wouen for himselfe after the manner of Baskets of Palme leaues And so returning to his Monastery he made relation of al to his Disciples in order as it had passed and vpon the solemnities of Easter Pentecost he euer vsed to weare the coat of Paul And now vpon the end of this little worke I will take the liberty to aske those men who haue such store of Lands as that they hardly know the names therof they who apparell their houses in marble thread the price of whole Mānours vpon roapes of pearle what thing was euer wanting to this halfe naked man You drinke in cupps made of precious stone this man satisfyed Nature by the vse of a paire of hollow handes You imbroder your garments with gold but he had not so much as the meanest cloath which belonged to any drudge of yours But then Heauen on the other side will be open to that poore man and you with your guilt will go downe to Hell He was still cloathed with Christ though he were naked you being clad with silke haue lost the garment of Christ. Paul lyes couered vnder poore light dust and he shall rise vp againe into glory wheras you are pressed downe by those weighty and costly Tombes of stone and are to burne in hell fire with your wealth I beseech you be good to your selues or els at least be good to your riches which you loue so well Why wrappe you vp the bodyes of your dead friendes in goulden cloathes Why do you not permit that Ambition and Pride may cease at least in the midest of your sorrowes and teares Are not perhaps the Carkases of rich men able to rot vnles they be layd vp in filke I beseech you whosoeuer you be that read this be mindfull of Hierome that sinnefull man to whome yet if our Lord should graunt his wish he would much rather choose the coat of Paul with his merits then the purple of Kinges with their paynes FINIS THE LIFE OF S. HILARION THE HERMITE WRITTEN BY S. HIEROME THE ARGVMENT HILARION was a Monke borne at Thabatha a little towne of Palestine a disciple of that great Anthony with how singular abstinence and sanctity he lead his life and with how great Miracles it was continually illustrated euen when he procured tolye most concealed S. Hierome doth largely and learnedly expresse and so as that a man may cleerely see the true patterne of a perfect Monke in his personne THE LIFE BEING to write the life of S. Hilarion I inuoke the holy Ghost who inhabited his soule that so he who gaue power to him may giue speech to me wherwith to manifest the same and so my wordes may grow to equall his deedes For as Crispus sayth their merites who haue wrought wonders haue beene held iust as great by men as the more excellent kind of wits haue beene able to magnify them by wordes Alexander the Great the Macedonian whome Daniel calls the Ramme or Leopard or Goat when he came to Achilles his tombe Happy sayth the young man art thou who enioyest such a mighty publisher of thy merits reflecting thereby vpon Homer But as for me I am to relate the conuersation and life of a person so great and so qualifyed as that Homer himselfe if he were present would either enuy the excellency of the subiect or els would sinke vnder the burden For though S. Epiphanius the Bishop of Salamin◅ in Cyprus who conuersed much with Hilarion wrote his prayses in a short Epistle which is vsually read yet one thing is to prayse a dead man according to the nature of a common place and another to relate the vertues which were proper to that dead man Whereupon we also rather vnder his fauour then with meaning to shew him any disrespect will set vpon the worke which was begun by him resoluing to contemne the exceptions of ill tongued men who formerly detracting from the life which I wrote of Paul will now perhaps doe as much for this of Hilarion taxing the former of excesse in solitude and chalenging the later for exposing himselfe ouermuch to publicke view that so he who say euer hid might be thought as good as not to haue beene at al and this other who was seene by so many might be held thereby in lesse high
ly hidden from the inhabitants also of that place but the men woemen there hauing their faces all growen wanne and worne with hunger came crowding to desire some showres of rayne of the seruant of Christ that is of the successour of the Blessed Anthony As soone as he beheld them he was stricken with strange griefe and casting his eyes vp to heauen and raysing both his handes on high he instantly obtayned what they desired But behould that dry and sandy country as soone as it was wel watered with raine budded forth vpon the sudden such a multitude of Serpents and other venemous creatures that innumerable persons had instantly perished if they had not made recourse to Hilarion But all those Sheepheards Country people applying certaine Oyle which he had blessed did assuredly recouer their health Yet perceauing himselfe to be also obserued there with strange kindes of honour he went on to Alexandria resolued to proceed from thence to that desart of the more remote Oasa and because from the first tyme that he had beene a Moncke he had neuer remayned in any Citty he turned a while to certaine Brothers wel knowne to him in Brutium not farre from Alexandria who when they had receaued the old man with an admirable kind of ioy they suddenly heard the night being then at hand that his disciples were making ready his Asse and that he was prouiding to be gone And therfore casting themselues at his feet they desired him to change his mind and then lying also prostrate before the threshold of the doore they professed that they would rather dy then loose such a guest He answered them after this manner I make hast to be gone for the preuenting of your trouble and you shall be sure to know heereafter that I went not hence so suddenly without cause The next day therefore they of Gaza went forth with their officers for they knew that Hilarion was come thither the day before and they entred into the Monastery and when they found him not there they sayd thus to one another Are not those thinges true which we haue sayd of this man A Magitian he is and knowes future thinges But the Citty of Gaza when once Hilarion was gone out of Palestine and Iulianus had succeeded in the Empire hauing already destroyed the Monastery made a petition to the Emperour for the death of Hilarion and Hesychius and they obtayned it and warrants were sent out through the whole world that they should be sought Hilarion therfore being gone from Brutium entred into Oasa by an impenetrable kind of desart and there hauing spent little more or lesse then a yeare he could only thinke of sayling ouer to some Ilandes that whome the earth had published at least the Sea might conceale for the fame of him had also arriued as farre as that place where thē he was and now he could no longer hide himselfe in the Easterne partes of the world where he was knowne to so many both by reputation and person About that very tyme Adrianus a disciple of his came suddenly to him out of Palestine bringing newes that Iulian was slaine and that a Christian Emperour began to raigne and that it became him to returne ro the Relickes of his Monastery He heard but detested that motiō hauing procured a Camell he came through a vast solitude to Paretonium a Sea-towne of Libya but the vnfortunate Adrian being willing to returne to Palestine and seeking to enioy his former glory vnder the title of his Master did him many wronges and at last hauing trussed vp those things togeather which had beene sent to Hilarion by certaine Brothers he went away without his priuity Vpon this occasiō because we are not likely to haue any other I will only tell you for the terrour of such as despise their Maisters and teachers that shortly aftér this man did rot of the Kings euill The old man therefore hauing one of Gaza with him did embarke himselfe vpon a ship which was bound for Sicily and when by the sale of a booke contayning the Ghospell which himselfe being young had written with his owne hādes he meant to haue payd for his passage the Masters sonne was suddenly possesséd by a Diuell about the middest of the Adriatike sea and began to cry out and say Hilarion thou seruant of God why dost thou not permit vs to be in safety euen at Sea Giue me day till I may come to land least being cast out heere I be precipitated into the Abysse He made answere to him thus Stay if my God will let thee stay but if he will cast thee out why dost thou lay it to my charge who am a sinnefull man and a beggar This he sayd least the Marriners and Marchants who were in the ship should publish him when they came to land But soone after this the boy was freed both his father and the rest who were present giuing their wordes that they would not name him at all Being entred within Pachinum which is a Promōtory of Sicily he offered the Maister his booke of the Ghospels for the passage of himselfe and the man of Gaza which Maister euen from the first had no mind to receaue it especially when he saw that they had nothing but that booke and their cloaths and so at last he swore he would not take it But the old man being inflammed through the experimentall comfort he had in being poore did reioyce so much the more both because in very deed he had nothing of this world and for that he was also esteemed a beggar by the Inhabitants of that place And yet doubting least some Marchants who vsed to come out of the Easterne parts might detect him he fled towardes the In-land that is some twenty miles from the Sea and there in a kind of wild little Country making daily vp some fagot of wood he would lay it vpon the backe of his disciple and that being sold in the next Towne did help them to some very little bread which might serue by way of reliefe both to themselues and such others as by chaunce vsed to passe that way But indeed according to that which is written The Citty placed vpon a hill cannot be concealed For when a certaine Buckler-maker was tormented in S. Peters Church at Rome the vncleane spirit cryed out in him after this manner Some few dayes since Hilarion the seruant of Christ came into Sicily and no mā knowes him and he thinkes he lyes secret there but I will go and reueale him Soone after this the same man shipping himselfe at Porto with his seruants arriued at Pachinum the Diuel conducting him till he might prostrate himselfe before the little poore cottage of the old man he was immediatly cured This first miracle of his in Sicily drew an innumerable multitude of sicke men as also of deuout persons to him so farre forth that a certaine man of much quality being sicke of a Dropsy was cured by