enuy did vse him and how in Samaria they sold an asse head for fourescore pence and they gaue but thirty for his Fol. 310 Chap. 12 Christ complaineth vnto his Father that all other martyrs had their paines and troubles inflicted vpon them at diuers times and he is all at once Fol. 318 The Contents of the fift Word WHy the son of God did bid all those which were athirst come vnto him and yet said vpon the crosse that hee himselfe was a thirst Fol. 335 Chap. 2 How the Crowes gaue the Prophet Helias meat and how the Iewes gaue Christ neither meat nor drinke Fol. 342 Chap. 3 How the hangmen drank the wine which was brought vnto him and the other theeues and did suffer Christ to die with thirst Fol. 349 Chap. 4 He followeth the authority of the Prophet Osee speaketh of the garments which Christ left in pledge Fol. 356 Chap. 5 Where is brought a figure of Tobias and declared to the purpose Fol. 362 Chap. 6 Here the Author followeth the figure which hee touched before which is declared well to the purpose and there is brought also a prophesie of Ieremy Fol. 368 Chap. 7 Of a new thirst which King Dauid had which was a thirst not to drinke but to saue himselfe Fol. 376 Chap. 8 God complaineth that we forsake him for vile base things and doth compare vs vnto old pooles Fol. 381 Chap. 9 How the sonne of God did not refuse to drinke gaule vineger although he kniw it would kill him Fol. 385 Chap. 9 How the synagogue could giue Christ nothing to drink but rotten dregs Fol. 390 Chap. 11 How the synagogue gaue Christ that to drink that she her selfe was that is gaule and that which shee had that is vineger Fol. 393 Chap. 12 How that the thirst that Christ had vpon the crosse was not so much for drink as to desire to suffer for vs. Fol. 398 Chap. 13 Where he goes forward with the figure aforesaid Fol. 405 Chap. 14 Of the cruelty and ingratitude that the Iews vsed in giuing Christ gaule and vineger and how hee satisfied for euery sinne in particular Fol. 407 The Contents of the sixt Word HEre are put diuers vnderstandings of this speech Fol. 429 Chap. 2 Against disordered eaters and drinkers and how Christ was a greater martir than any other and there is declared a prophesie of Esayas Fol. 434 Chap. 3 Of the greatnesse of the son of God and how all things haue weight and measure and number sauing onely the humanity of Christ Fol. 441 Chap. 4 Herein is entreated of the greatnesse and wealth of Salomons temple how that in the holy temple of Christs humanity the holyghost hath bestowed greater workmaÌ„ship riches spiritual gifts theÌ„ the teÌ„ple which SalomoÌ„ built Fol. 448 Chap. 5 How that al the misteries prophesies which God had prophesied of him were fulfilled in Christ in Ierusalem Fol. 455 Chap. 6 Here hee entreateth of that high praier which Christ made vpoÌ„ the table saying Pater sancte non pro mundo rogo sed pro illis vt serues eos a malo In which praier if he obtained constaÌ„cy stoutnes for his Apostles yet he forgot not the weak saying Non rogo vt tollas eos a muÌ„do Fol. 463 Chap. 7 Herein hee entreateth of the variety and diuersity of names of the sacrifices of the old Testament of the excellency of the sacrifice of the new Testament Fol. 473 Chap. 8 Wherein is declared a figure when Moyses did annoint the altar seuen times with one finger and how that vnction was a figure of Christ and fully accomplished in his most sacred humanity Fol. 480 The Contents of the seuenth Word HOw God is the only and true comforter and how hee was Deus vltionum to the Synagogue and is to the church Pater misericordiarum Fol. 486 Chap. 2 Of the difference that is betwixt Dauids testament Christs testameÌ„t seeing the ane commaÌ„deth to reuenge other mens iniuries and the other pardoneth his own death Fol. 492 Chap. 3 Of the difference betwixt the bloud of Abel and the bloud of Christ how vnlike their cries vnto God are Fol. 496 Chap. 4 Where Christ complaineth on the ChristiaÌ„ mans soule because shee was vngratefull for the benefite of her creation and redemption Fol. 498 FINIS Here beginneth the first of the seuen words which Christ our redeemer spake vpon the altar of the Crosse saying Pater ignose illis quia nesciuns quid faciunt that is My father pardon these which crucifie me because they know not what they doe CHAP. I. Pater ignosce illis quia nesciunt quid faciunt THe sonne of God spake these words at the houre of his death vpon the altar of the crosse as if he would say O my eternal iust holy father the first thing that I request of thee on this crosse is that thou wouldest forgiue all these which take my life from me seeing they know not how highly they offend thy goodnes clemencie Super inimicos mees prudent em me fecistâ— saith king Dauid in his Psalmes as if hee would say O great God of Israell I giue thee many thanks for that thou hast endued me with the vertue of prudence by the which I haue learned to doe my selfe good by the enemies which persecute me and forgiue them the iniuries which they haue done vnto me For the better vnderstaÌ„ding of that which Christ said vpon the crosse and of that which Dauid vttered in this Psalme it is to bee vnderstood that amongst all the Cardinall vertues the first and chiefest is Prudence because that without her iustice endeth in cruelty temperancie in weakenesse sloth and idlenesse fortitude in tyranny might and power in pride boldnesse in folly and madnesse and knowledge and skill in malice Plate said that Prudence was such a great gift that with her alone the wise man amerâ—â—lâ—th that whâ—â—h is past strengtheâ—â—th that which is broken ruleth and gouerneth that which is present prouideth for that which is to come redresseth that which is amisse and mainteineth that which is well done Eschines the great orator sayth I haue known many Grecians of my time which were eloquent in that which they spake subtile in that they inuented bold in that which they tooke in hand wary in their doings close and dissembled in that they went about to haue and also modest in their behauior which notwithstanding for want of a little wisedome and prudence lost all in one houre Socrates said oft vnto his schollers that they were not tied and bound wholly vnto the letter of that which he taught them for I am your maister said he to tell you only what you are to doe but prudence must afterward teach you when you are to doe it and how you are to doe it and whether you are to doe it or not and if you are to doe it then why are you to doe it Cicero to Atticus sayth Thou art not
the son martyrize his mother S. Barnard vpon those words Maior est iniquitas mea which Cain spake sayth thus O good Iesus that that charity is greater vvhich thou diddest vse than that which thou diddest command me O redeemer of my soule seeing that on the Mount of Caluary the Friday which thou diddest suffer vpon the crosse thou diddest not only put thy owne life for vs but also thy blessed mothers When didst thou condemne thy selfe to die not pardon thy mother but whē the knife of thy passion did take away thy owne life from thee and pierce thy mothers soule The greatest matter that the sorrowfull mother could inherite was some thorne fallen from thee or some of thy blood shed vpon her or some peece of thy flesh which stucke vpon the crosse or some of the haires of thy head which were cast abroad Shee did also inherite the hatred which the people bare vnto her sonne because that from that day forward shee was called the mother of him which was put to death of him which was possessed with a deuill of the Southsayer Publicane His sorrowfull mother did inherit also all the holy colledge of the twelue Apostles Isichius vpon Leuiticus sayth thus Christ tooke his precious mother to the Mount of Caluary because she should be a witnesse of his passion and credite her with the bloud of our redemption for to beleeue hold for a certainty that we are redeemed it sufficeth if the Virgin tell vs that she saw her son die The son of God came into the world and paied his father the debt which was due for all the sinnes of the world of which paiment his will vvas that his mother should be a witnesse because she might giue testimony after his death how his father was paied the world redeemed sinne at an end the heauen already opened and the deuill ouercome The end of the third word which Christ our redeemer spake vpon the crosse ⧠Here beginneth the fourth word which the sonne of God spake vpon the Crosse when hee complained vpon his father saying Deus meus deus meus vt quid me dereliquisti That is to say My God my God why hast thou forsaken me CHAP. I. How Christ in this speech more than in all the rest seemeth to change his stile of speaking HEloij beloij lamazabathani Hoc est deus deus meus quare me dereliquisti This is the fourth word which the redeemer of the vvorld spake on the altar of the Crosse vvhich speech is no lesse dreadfull than pittifull nor pittifull than dreadfull and it is as if hee would say My God my God My father my father what haue I done irreuerently against thee that thou shouldst forsake me in so narrow a strait as this is There are offered vnto vs in this diuine speech high mysteries and deepe secrets to entreat of whereof wee can giue no reason if vvee bee not fauoured vvith Gods diuine assistance whom with teares wee doe humbly beseech that it would please him to lighten vs vvith his grace and succour vs vvith his helpe and aid The reason is to bee knowne vvhy the sonne of God did change his manner of speaking rather in this speech than in all the others which hee vsed as the Euangelists do record it saying Heloij heloij lamazabathani Was it because hee should be vnderstood of all men seeing that hee vvas crucified for all men It is also to bee knowne vvhy hee doth repeat this vvord God twise saying My God my God as though God vvere deaffe in hearing him It is also to bee vveighed vvhy hee called him God and not Father seeing hee vvho complained vvas the sonne and hee vnto whom hee complained was his Father It is also to bee maruelled at that seeing hee did not cal him father but God why he did adde this vvord My saying My God my God as though his Father were his God onely and not the God of all others It is also very much to be noted why hee doth rather complaine that his Father had forsaken him than put him to death seeing that hee knew very well that Pilate was not of power to take away his life from him if his eternall father had not giuen him license to doe it And although hee did complaine of his Father vvhy did hee not say My Father why doest thou forsake mee but My God vvhy hast thou forsaken mee making account of that vvhich hee hath suffered and not of that vvhich then hee did suffer Although all these thinges are easily rehearsed yet they are not easie to bee expounded but because they are diuine secrets and done betwixt diuine persons onely they passe mans capacity yea the Angels vnderstanding To come then vnto the mysteries it is first to bee seene vvho complaineth and vnto whome hee complaineth vvhereof hee complaineth and vvhere hee complaineth and before whome hee complaineth and vvith vvhat wordes hee complaineth Hee vvho complaineth is Christ hee vnto whome hee complaineth is his Father that whereof hee complaineth is because hee had forsaken him the place where was on the crosse and hee complained before his mother with these words My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee These are most pittifull words to heare and tender to prouoke vs to weepe for if vve consider how the sonne of God spake them being nailed vpon the crosse his body naked and his enemies round about him and that vpon a dunghill what heart is there that would not breake to thinke on it Seeing wee know beleeue and confesse that Christ was true God and that his father was also God and both were but one God how can it enter into mans vnderstanding that one who is God should complaine vpon him who is also God If between one God and another there bee complaints is it any great matter if men sometimes fall at ods Wee see it fall out daily that the sonne complaineth of the Father and one friend vpon another yea one man vpon himselfe but that Christ who is God should complaine vpon his father who is God it is a thing neuer heard of before nor humane weakenesse is not able to conceiue it For seeing no man cōplaineth on another but for some wrong done vnto him what grieuance could the eternall Father haue done vnto his sonne whom he loued so well For seeing we know that Christ is the sonne of God and his onely beloued sonne and with whome God hath left all his treasures in keeping how is it possible that God should haue dealt hardly with him seeing that he deserued it not neither his father desired it According vnto that which we haue said our reason is good which way so euer wee doe wind our selues for if wee say that the father did that vnto his sonne which hee ought not wee can neither say it nor affirme it then if we say that the sonne complained vvithout occasion we dare not presume so to say in so much that we
eie and life for life why doest thou O mighty redeemer giue thy hands vnto those which bind thē thy feet vnto those which pierce them with nailes thy eies vnto those which make thee blind and thy life vnto those which take thy life from thee If thou wilt not reuenge thy iniuries why doest thou not let iustice doe iustice vpon thy enemies S. Barnard sayth in a sermon from the time that our Sauiour was taken in the garden vntill hee was crucified on the crosse the works which he did were many but the words which he spake were very few whereby hee gaue vs to vnderstand that in time of great vexations and persecutions it is fitter for vs to helpe our selues with patience than with eloquence In this first praier which the sonne made vnto the father it is to be noted who the father is what that is that he asketh of whom he asketh when he asketh from whence he asketh how hee asketh and for whome hee asketh for by so much the more one businesse is greater than another by how much the inconueniences are greater which it draweth after it He who asketh is the sonne he of whom he asketh is the father that which he asketh is pardon the place frō whence hee asketh is the crosse the time is when hee dieth those for whom are his enemies the maner how is with many teares in so much that a praier offered vvith all these circumstances ought of great reason to be heard This praier of Pater ignosce illis Father pardon them is a very high praier seeing that he vvhich made it vvas the sonne of God vvho saith Si quid petieritis patrem in nomine meo dabit vobis And if this bee so how is it possible that the father should not graunt all that which the sonne requesteth seeing hee promiseth to giue all things that shall be demanded in his name If this be a great praier by reason of him which maketh it it is also a very great high praier by reason of him vnto whom it is made which is Pater misericordiarū deus totus consolationis The father of mercies and the God of all comfort the vvhich eternall father created vs vvith his power guideth and gouerneth vs vvith his vvisedome sustaineth and vpholdeth vs with his essence and forgiueth vs with his elemency how is it possible that a sonne vvhich hath such a father or a father vvhich hath such a sonne should not grant his demand This praier of Pater ignosce illis was also very great because of the place vvhere it was made which was in the mount of Caluarie and on the altar of the crosse vvhere the vvrath of the eternall father was appeased his blessed sonne put to death the vvicked deuil ouercome the old sinne forgiuen and all the world there redeemed S. Ambrose vpon S. Luke sayth how much the Iewes dishonoured the holy temple so much Christ honored the Mount of Caluary for they made a den of theeues of the house of praier and the sonne of God made a house of praier of a den of theeues O good Iesus what is there now that thou doest not make cleane what doest thou not renue what doest thou not sanctifie what doest thou not make holy seeing thou wentest to the Mount of Caluary to pray for sinners which before was infamous by reason of execution done there vpon malefactors The sonne of God praying on the infamous and stinking place of the Mount of Caluary giueth all men license to pray vnto God where they will and how they will and for whome so euer they will because the perfection of praier doth not consist of the place where wee pray but of the small or great deuotion with the which wee pray According vnto that which the Samaritane woman said vnto Christ That many Iews would not pray but within the temple and it may bee to take away this error wee doe read that the son of God did not pray there but preach only which our blessed Sauiour did because no man should excuse himselfe from praier deuotion saying that the temple was shut vp Vbertinus saith that the sonne of God is not ashamed to pray Pater ignosce illis on the dunghill of the Mount of Caluary and art thou ashamed to pray alone in thy house O what a high charge and office the office of meditation and praieris considering that Christ his being naked on the crosse with his handes bound and tied his feet peirced with nailes his head crowned with thornes his mouth seasoned with vineger did not hinder him to pray Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them and seeing hee pardoned and forgaue with his heart and praied with his tongue CHAP. II. How the sonne of God said vnto his father that those which crucifie him be not his enemies but his friends QVid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum his plagatus sum in dom◠eorum qui me diligebant said God by the Prophet Zachary in the thirteenth chapter as if he would say Who hath giuen thee these cruell wounds in the middest of thy hands the Prophet answered and said Lord they wounded mee thus in the house of those which loued mee much These words were not spoken voluntarily nor of euery man seeing they cannot be applied neither to the nature of mankind nor of angell because men are not wont to receiue stripes and words in their friends houses but in their enemies The Prophet toucheth a new thing and a high mystery in saying that he was whipped and wounded in the house of his well-willers and therefore it is needfull for vs to lift vp our vnderstanding to discouer and reach vnto this high secret because that high mysteries are fit only for heroicall and high persons This demand and this answere passed on the altar of the crosse betwixt the eternall father which asked and his blessed sonne which answered who not being content to entreat only for his enemies saying Pater Father forgiue them would also haue excused them and take all blame from them in saying Nesciunt quid faciunt They know not what they doe the father said vnto him Quid sunt plagae istae so said the father vnto his son which is as much as to say O my son if thou doest say that none of these Iewes are guiltie and culpable of thy death and passion I pray thee tell me who made these cruell wounds in the midst of thy tender hands The son answered his father His plagatus sum in domo eorum qui me diligebant which is as much as to say O holy and eternall father I receiued these wounds which thou seest in my tender hands in the house of those which were my friends and if I be ioifull in receiuing them why art not thou glad in forgiuing them Thou knowest well O my father that nothing can be called an iniury in this world but only that which is done against our proper will If
I die by thy commandement and to obey thy will and because so it is needfull for the world why should I call them enemies which execute thy commandements Giue me leaue O my father giue me leaue seeing I must die to sell my death deerely giue me leaue seeing I lose my life to employ it well which I shall thinke well bestowed if thou pardon those which take my life from mee and haue pitie on those which offend thee for what doth it auaile that I die for sinners if thou wilt not forgiue them their sinnes Thou knowest O my good father that by pardoning and suffering the redemption of the vvorld must bee vvrought If thou shouldest not be satisfied vvith the death vvhich I suffer and with the life vvhich I offer thee in giuing mee another life I vvould offer it vnto thee giuing me another death I vvould accept it to the end O my good father that thou shouldst be wholly appeased and all mankind pardoned O euerlasting goodnesse O infinite charitie O inspeakable clemency showne in this answere calling that a house of friends vvhich was a fortresse of enemies and going about to excuse those vvhich he should accuse and in purposing to appease him vvhome hee should haue stirred vp to vvrath and indignation Fulgencius vpon this place sayth Notwithstanding all the enemies and persecutors vvhich the sonne of God had in this vvorld yet he neuer vsed this vvord Enemie vvhich is euident by this demand of his fathers vvho asking him vvhere hee had ben so euilly handled and wounded sought out a new deuise because he vvould auoid this vvord of enemy and lay the fault vpon his friend rather than confesse that he had any enemies because God vvas vvont to haue many familiar friends in the house of the synagogue vvhich vvere holy men our blessed sauiour vvould not account of the iniuries vvhich the Iewes did presently vnto him nor of the vvounds vvhich they gaue him but respected rather the seruices vvhich the old Patriarkes had done vnto him It is greatly to be noted and weighed that in the answere vvhich the sonne gaue vnto the father he did not say that he had been vvounded in the house of those vvhich then loued him but in the house of those vvhich vvere vvont to loue him for hee sayth In domo eorum qui me diligebant and not qui me diligunt yet notwithstanding all this he doth not only not call them enemies but telleth his father that they did vnto him the vvorks of friends What meaneth this O sweet Iesus vvhat meaneth this If those of the house of Israell vvere thine in times past I pray thee diddest not thou vnto them more good turns than they did seruices vnto thee If thou doest reckon of the seruices which the fathers did vnto theâ—â— a thousand years agoe why doest thou not make account of the vvounds vvhich their children gaue thee not longer than one houre agone O good Iesus O redeemer of my soule vvhat humane iudgement yea vvhat angels vnderstanding is able to conceaue or reach vnto this vvhy thou shouldest rather respect old seruices vvhich ordinarily other men forget than thy owne iniuries vvhich run freshly from thy blood like streames Seeing we haue already told you vvho praied vvhich vvas the son and vnto whome he praied vvhich vvas the father and vvhere hee praied to vvit vpon the crosse it is time now to tell you vvhat praier he made and for whom he praied for seeing the sonne of God betooke himselfe to praier in such a narrow extremitie it is to be thought that hee entreated some great and vveighty matter Vbertinus sayth That vvhen the diuine vvord vvas nailed vpon the crosse as it vvere almost dead hauing his flesh pierced vvith nailes his bowels burning vvith the loue of charitie forgetting his owne selfe and hauing his enemies in remembrance lifting vp his holy eies vnto heauen said Pater ignosce illis qui nesciunt quid faciunt vvhich is as much as to say O my eternall and blessed father in recompence of my comming into the vvorld preaching thy name appeasing thy vvrath reconciling thee vnto the vvorld I desire of thee this one thing for a spiritual guerdon and reward of all my trauailes that is that thou vvouldest pardon these sinfull Iewes father I am very vvell pleased that thou vvouldest not yeeld vnto my naturall desire of life vvhen I praied vnto thee in the garden if it vvould now please thee to heare mee in praying for them for I thinke it a farre greater benefit that they liue in their soules than a hurt vnto me to die in body Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them for I die because they sinned and if I die it is because they may liue and in so difficult a matter as this it is far greater reason that thou haue more regard vnto my new death than vnto their old fault Father forgiue them seeing the death vvhich preuailed on the wood I haue here crucified with mee vpon the crosse the vvhich being so it is far greater reason that thou esteeme more of the charitie vvith the vvhich I die for them than of their malice vvith the vvhich they put me to death Father forgiue them for if thou vvilt punish these Iewes with all rigour of iustice it will bee but a small punishment to condemne them for euer to hell but if thou doest otherwise as there was neuer any wickednesse done like vnto this so likewise thou shalt neuer bestow thy accustomed mercy like as in forgiuing these their offences Father forgiue them for if my death be sufficient to redeeme all those which shall hereafter be borne or be already borne it is not reason that these vnhappy Iewes should vvant the benefit of it and so much the more because that if my blood be shed by thy holy will and consent it would be reason that it should bee well emploied by thee Forgiue them O my father forgiue them for seeing the partie iniuried which am I do pardon the iniury why wilt not thou O my father pardon that which concerneth thy iustice What hath iustice to doe there where there is no complaint of one against another Father forgiue them seeing the time is now come whereof the Prophet speaketh Tempus miserendi deus tempus miserendi Time of forgiuing good Lord a time of forgiuing it is neither iust nor reasonable that rigor should take place there where mercie by thee hath ben publickely proclaimed If it be true as true it is that misericordia veritas obuiuerunt sibi and also that iusticia pax osculatae sunt Why wilt thou execute iustice vpon this people seeing the Prophet sayth that peace and iustice haue embraced one the other Father forgiue them seeing I aske it in the end of my life and intreat thee at the houre of my death thou must thinke my father that it behooueth me very much that they be pardoned because that by my example none should
presume to call himselfe my seruant in my church if he doe not reconcile himselfe first vnto his brother Father forgiue thē for seeing the old law endeth when I shal say Consummatum est All is finished and the new law beginneth when I shall say Commendo spiritum meum I commend my spirit it would not be reasonable that vnder the law of Grace we should cōsent that any thing should be vnfitting or vnsit nor that vnder the law of Loue wee should permit ranckor and malice Father forgiue them for if in the wildernesse of Aaron whē thou wast angry vvith all the Iewes thou diddest forgiue them and reconcile them vnto thee for no other cause but only because Moses and Aaron did offer a little incense vnto thee why wilt thou not forgiue them now seeing I doe now offer for them not incense but my selfe crucified Father forgiue them for seeing they bee thy creatures by creation thy clients by law my children by redemption my brethren by bloud my acquaintance by education my followers in doctrine and so neare of kindred vnto my disciples why should I consent to their losse and condemnation Father forgiue them seeing I came not into the vvorld to procure thee enemies but to giue thee new friends and to take thy old griefes and sorrowes from thee for otherwise if by my death this people should remaine in thy disgrace and hatred it would seeme that my death would rather moue thee to indignation than appease thy wrath If my death make not an attonement betwixt you who is able to doe it O my good father when thou diddest command me to come downe from heauen and also to die vpon the crosse diddest not thou promise and agree that thy anger and my life and my life and thy anger should haue an end at the same houre Father forgiue them and fulfill thy agreement giue that which thou hast promised and seeing in thy presence my life is deerer vnto thee than thy anger I am glad and willing to die if by that meanes thy ire may bee appeased O blessed praier O holy wish and request neuer heard of before O happie petition which thou madest sweet Iesus in thy last houre wherein thou diddest shew by deeds all that thou haddest preached with words seeing thou diddest entreat for those which put thee to death aske pardon for those which crucified thee Let all the praiers bee brought forth that euer were made in the world and we shall easily perceiue that there was neuer any equall vnto this praier of Christs for there was neuer any which had that intent which hee had nor asked that which hee asked nor compassed that which hee compassed What did the great Patriarch Iacob request of Laban his father in law but only his faire daughter Rachel for his spouse What did the women of Israell demaund of the women of Aegypt saue only their siluer and gold What did Anna Helcans wife and Samuels mother request of God in the temple sauing only that it would please him to giue her a son What did the Iew maid called Axa aske of her father Calaph but only the pasture which held water because the other which hee had giuen her was drie What did the mother of the Zebedees require of Christ but onely that hee would make them the greatest lords of his kingdome Which of all these doe aske any thing of God for their enemies or yet for their friendes Euery man did aske for that which was fittest for his owne turn euery man sought for that which was good for himselfe no man entreated for his neighbour no man remembred his enemie no man made intercession for another no man loaded himselfe with other mens faults Only the son of God made man praieth for his enemies in the last supper saying Pater keepe those which beleeue in me and praieth also vpon the crosse for his enemies saying Pater ignosce illis so that like a mercifull lord he defendeth the good and pardoneth the wicked CHAP. III. How the son of God put himself a mediator betwixt God and mankind and what torment he receiued thereby QVaesiui de eis virum qui interpeneret sepem staret oppositus contra me these are the words of the great God of Israell spoken to the Prophet Ezechiell being in the captiuitie of Babilon not far from the riuer Cobar in the two and twentith chapter of his prophesie And it is as if he would say Ezechiell I haue beene many a day angrie with Ierusalem and I seeke out a holy and a vertuous man which should put himselfe like a hedge betwixt mee and the people of Israell because their offences might not come vnto mee nor my punishment reach vnto them Wee may inferre of the complaint which our Lord maketh in this place what great scarsitie there was in the synagogue of good men seeing he found not one among them all which was worthie to appease the wrath of the Lord and to helpe and succour the people The merites of good men are of great force and power before God for to pardon the euill in their faith which is easily seene in all the cities of Sodome which he did pardon for ten good mens sake and all the twelue tribes of Israel which he pardoned for one alone but alasse neither in the synagogue was there found that one neither in Sodome those ten To say the truth it was no maruaile that hee was not to be found in all the synagogue with those conditions which God required in him for he ought to haue ben a man in discretion and not a child and the Lord himselfe was to make choice of him and no other and he was to be an Hebrew and not a Gentile he was to put himselfe a mediator betwixt God and the people and it was required that he should be partiall on neither side And our Lord was not content onely with this but that mediator ought also to haue desert and merit in him to appease Gods indignation and not sinne to stirre him to wrath S. Gregory vpon Ezechiell sayth I doubt whether a man endued with these conditions and shining with these vertues might bee found amongst the Angelicall Hierarchies how much lesse among humane creatures because such a one should bee more than man yea he should be equall with God Abraham Isaac Iacob and Dauid and all the letanie of the old and new testament were not equall with God nor any thing more then men seeing they were borne in sinne and attained vnto no diuine secret without it were reuealed vnto them The sonne of God only was equall vnto God and the diuine vvord only vvas more than man because in him and in no other those cōditions of a holy man were found which God sought for and the vertues which should pacisie God his wrath and anger The first condition which God required was that this mediator should be a man in wisdome and not a child which may
goodnesse and mercie although he haue ben neuer so great a sinner so as he liue and die a Christian for seeing he pardoned those which would not bee pardoned hee will much rather pardon those which aske for pardon S. Barnard as if hee were in a maze sayth thus vnto Christ O good sauiour O my soules delight if thou wilt pardon thy death why doest thou pardon it before thou bee dead they tooke thy life from thee to the end that thou shouldest forget such a greeuous iniury done vnto thee and make no reckoning to be reuenged It is a tollerable thing to forgiue the iniury done vnto thy self but why doest thou forgiue the iniury done vnto thy sorrowfull mother and thy blessed father not calling the parties offended vnto it Thy mouth is now ready to receiue vineger thy person to be mocked thy side to bee pierced thy bodie to bee buried and yet doest thou make intercession for that wicked people Doest thou entreat for those which crucifie thee and doest thou not remember those which weepe by thee Now that thou hast pitie on the offences of the synagogue why hast thou not also compassion of the tears of thy blessed mother S. Cyprian vpon the passion of our Lord sayth All things end with thee and all forsake thee O sweer Iesus vpon the altar of the crosse sauing only thy patience with the which thou did dest suffer thy torments and thy charitie with the which thou diddest forgiue thy enemies seeing thou doest pray for those which crucifie thee entreat for those which blaspheme thee hold thy peace against those which spit on thee excuse those which accuse thee and pardon those which pardon not thee O my redeemer what a pitifull heart hast thou that considering how the Iewes themselues gaue thee licence to take reuengement on them saying Sanguis eius super nos His bloud vpon vs yet thou diddest not only not vse this libertie giuen thee but forsookest it there pardoned thy iniury O how contrary these two speeches are Sanguis eius sit super nos Let his bloud fall vpon vs and Ignosce illis Pardon them seeing that by the first the Iewes craue punishment of God and in the last Christ asketh pardon of his father for them in so much that the bloud of Christ which they asked to bee against them the son of God asketh that it may be for them What hast thou to do O good sauiour what hast thou to do with the Iews sayth Vbertinus and hangmen and torturers They goe about to condemne thee and thou to saue them they to accuse thee and thou to excuse them they to carry thee to Pilate to bee condemned and thou to thy father that they may be pardoned they to say crucifige crucifige crucifie him crucifie him and thou to say Ignosce ignosce Pardon them Pardon them At what time the son of God hanging vpon the crosse praied on one side vnto his father and on the other side the Hebrews praied Pilate there was a great conflict betwixt Gods iustice and mercie for iustice willed the praier of Sanguis eius Let his bloud fall vpon vs to be heard and contrary mercy forbad it and would haue Pater ignosce illis but in the end mercie had the vpper hand and reuengement had no part therein Whose heart saith Bonauenture would not bleed and who would not loue thee O good Iesus to see thee say to thy father my father forgiue them and not my father examine them and to see that thou doest forgiue theÌ„ without asking yeeldest vnto them without entreaty and pardonest them without amendment It is such a high mysterie sayth S. Augustine and a hidden Sacrament to see the sonne of God release iniurie with mercie and clemencie and not punish their crime with reuenge and that the praier of Ignosce illis Forgiue them preuailed against that of Sanguis eius His bloud light vpon vs that although it may well be rehearsed yet it cannot bee well comprehended and vnderstood CHAP. IIII. Of many high qualities and conditions which the praier of Father forgiue them had in it and how it is meet for vs to follow it in our praiers CVm clamore valido lachrimis efferens preces supplicatienes exauditus est pro sua reuerentâ—â— sayth the Apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrewes chap. 5. as if hee would say When the sonne of God was crucified vpon the tree of the crosse hee made many requests vnto his father with many supplications entreated him praying vnto him with a loud voice and pouring down many tears before him This praier was well heard of the eternall father and very acceptable vnto his diuine clemencie partly because hee who praied was a person worthy of great reuerence and partly because the praier which he made was founded vpon great pitie and mercie It appeareth well that he which praied was of an excellent and perfect condition and hee very mighty vnto whom he praied and that which hee praied of great merit and the manner which hee obserued in praier a perfect platforme of praier seeing that the Apostle in this place laieth down such high conditions of this praier which Christ made vpon the crosse Whereof although much be spoken yet there remaineth much more not spoken of First then he saith that Christ praied once on the crosse because he saith Cum clamore with a crie and with a high and loud voice because he saith valido strong and that with tears Cum lachrimis and that hee praied and offered his praier at the same time vnto his father and that the quality of the praier was to entreat and beseech preces supplicationes and that his praier was heard of his father at that very instant when hee made it because hee sayth exanditus est pro sua reuerentia The condition and qualitie of the praier which the sonne of God made vpon the crosse which the Apostle toucheth here is very great and worthy to bee marked and obserued with great heed and followed with great diligence for if we faile in any one of these conditions we are said rather to crie out then to pray Theophilus vpon the Apostle sayth That when the Apostle saith that the sonne of God praied with a loud voice vpon the crosse hee meaneth that hee offered and directed his praier with all his heart and with all his will vnto God only and vnto no other For to say the truth hee is said to pray aloud whose mind is not distracted and drawne into many thoughts When the Apostle saith that Christ praied aloud on the crosse and with a strong voice he letteth vs vnderstand with what a feruent desire and great deuotion he praied for there is nothing requested aloud and by crying out which is not either through abundance of loue or ouermuch griefe Both together forced Christ to crie out vpon the crosse that is the great loue he bare vnto his friends and the ouermuch paine
them and not pardon him was because our good Lord is so liberall in giuing and so noble in pardoning that he cannot forgiue any one sinne alone if there remaine any other hidden offence in the sinner Factious and enuious men are wont to pardon some of their enemies not other some but the sonne of God for a certainty dooth not so but he would forgiue all men togâ—ther and redeeme all men togither S. Iohn said not of Christ behold him who taketh away the sinne of the world but said behold him who taketh away the sinnes of the world He said not vnto Mary Magdalen thy sinne is released but thy sinnes are forgiuen thee In so much that in matter of sinnes God cannot but either wholly winck at them or wholly pardon them For as S. Ierome sayth No man euer heard the sonne of God say I pardon thee such a sinne or this sinne or that sinne but hee alwaies said I pardon thee all thy sinnes and therevpon praying vpon the crosse vnto his father hee did not say Pardon him but said Father pardon them For it seemed vnto him that the value of the bloud which hee shed was of such price that those for whome hee died were but few although hee died for those which were absent as well as for those which were present for the quicke and for the dead for those which were already past and for those which were to come for the iust and for the sinners that one drop of his bloud which he should shed would bee sufficient to redeeme a thousand of worlds and if this were so what reason had hee to bestow it vpon one alone seeing there did abound for all the world The sonne of God debated not the matter nor plaied not the huckster with his father in contending how much bloud shall I giue thee for their pardon because he would let vs vnderstand in this that he paied very well yea and repaied for al the sinnes which were forgiuen For to conclude all the sinnes in the world might haue ben numbred but the price of the bloud of Christ could not bee valued O good Iesus O my soules hope if in fauour of great sinners thou diddest say Father forgiue them why doest thou not say in my behalfe who am a great sinner Pater ignosce illi Forgiue him If the Iewes haue beene vngratefull towards thee for the miracles which thou diddest amongst them haue not I been much more ingratefull for the benefites receiued of thee If thou diddest pray for the Israelites which did kill thee once why doest thou not pray for me which kill thee euery day Doe not I put thee to death euery day and euery houre seeing I doe crucifie thee as oft as I sinne against thee Seeing the sinnes which are seuerally in other meÌ„ are together in me why dost thou not say Father forgiue him as thou didst say Father forgiue theÌ„ Say then O my good Iesus say vnto thy Father Father pardoÌ„ this sinner seeing that by how much the more my sins offences are greater then other mens by so much the more thy mercy will shine by forgiuing me CHAP. VII How God is more mercifull now then hee was in time past and why Christ did not say that he did pardon his enemies when he asked pardon for them of his father POnam contra te omnes abommationes tuas non parcet oculus meus super te These are the woordes of the great God of Israell spoken with much anger and verie great furie to the people of Israel by the mouth and preaching of the holy Prophet Ezechiel chapter 7. as if he would say I am so angry with thee O Synagogue and haue pardoned thee so often that I am now determined to lay open all thy wickednes and not forgiue thee any one of them because that as mercy doth follow thy amendment so iustice rigor may follow thy hardnesse of heart Before the sonne of God came into the world to take mans flesh vpon him God was much more accustomed to vse his iustice then his mercie seeing that in all the story of the old Law those which hee chastised were very many in number and those whome hee forgaue very few And that we may proue it to haue ben so from the beginning of the world how did he punish Adam and Eue his wife for no other cause but for eating the apple which was forbidden them Did hee not condemne the wicked Cain to wander throughout all the world and haue a shaking in his head for the murder which hee vsed against his brother Who is ignorant how God did drowne many in the vniuersall floud for the sinne of the flesh and sunke those of Sodome for the sinne against nature and let the ground open and swallow vp Dathan and Abiron for the rancor of enuie And did not God command Moyses and Iosua to take out of the campe and stone to death the Iew for hiding a barrell of gold at the sacke of Ierricho and another Israelitie for gathering stickes vpon the Sabboth day Hieremie neuer endeth to bewaile the captiuitiy of Babilon whereof hee sayth Destruxit non pepercit hee destroied and spared not But God commaunded that all that kingdome should bee made desolate and destroied not pardoning nor forgiuing any one When the Lord commanded king Saule to go take Amelech his kingdome hee aduised him and instructed him that from the king himselfe which sate in his throne vnto the beast which fed in the meadow hee should not pardon any one but sley and kill them euery one In the ninth chapter of Ezechiell God said these wordes vnto the striking Angel Senem iuuenem virginem paruulum interfice sanctuario meâ— incipe c. as if he would say Go throughout all the city of Ierusalem put to the sword all the old men and all the young men all the virgins and all the children and because no man shall thinke that any place may saue him thou shalt begin this my punishment with the Priests of the Temple Cadent à latere tuo mille decem millia à dextris tuis sayth the Psalmist as if he would say Thou doest so seuerely reuenge thy iniuries O great God of Saboth and so punish our offences that as oft as I looke vpon thee I see both thy armes armed and both thy hands couered with bloud insomuch that if a thousand men are fallen at thy left hand there are other ten thousand slairie at thy right hand When the eternall God had seene that they had put to death his welbeloued sonne being accustomed to punish presently and not to pardon he darkened the light of the sunne made the earth to quake rent the vaile of the Temple and opened the sepulchres of the dead because those which were dead should rise againe and take reuengemeÌ„t of those which were aliue WheÌ„ the son of God perceiued that al this was done for his sake
that his father would destroy all the word for to reuenge his death hee lifted vp his eies vnto heauen and with a sorrowfull voice said Father forgiue them because they know not what they doe as if he would say O my eternall and holy father I beseech and pray thee that thou wouldest forgiue this vnhappy people seeing thou shouldest make more account of the bloud which I shed for thē than of the offence which they haue committed against thee It is now now time for a thousand to fall on thy left side and ten thousand on thy right for seeing that I stand betwixt them and thee it is not reason that they should fall but rise nor that thou shouldest punish but pardon them O what a happie time O what a happy age the Catholike church liueth in in the which hee which is iniuried is reconciled and made our friend the iudge become our aduocate and spokesman for vs our accuser turned to bee our defender and hee who was woont to feare vs with iustice doth now flatter vs and entice vs to him with mercy How shal Dauid be able to say now Cadent à latere eius mille A thousand shall fall on his side seeing the sonne of God hath said vpon the crosse Father forgiue them In the law of grace and vnder the yoke of Christ it is not time to goe astray but aright not to cast away our selues but to saue our selues not a time of iustice but of mercie not to punish but to pardon neither is it time to fall but to rise It is much to be noted that the sonne of God did neuer command any man to fall and throw downe himselfe but rather bad all men rise vp as it appeareth in the ninteenth of S. Matthew where hee sayth Rise vp and take thy bed and in another place Arise maid and hee said vnto him whom hee raised from death in Naim adolescens tibi dico surge and likewise hee said in the garden to his Disciples Rise let vs goe It is the propertie and office of the diuell to counsell and procure men to fall for so he counselled Christ in the desart when he said I will giue thee all these things Si cadens adoraueris me as if hee would say I will make thee Lord ouer all the world if thou wilt but fall downe on the ground O my sweet Iesus I wil liue with thee who commandeth me to rise and not with the diuell who counselleth mee to fall for hee is desirous to haue me fall and thou and no other art able to helpe mee vp again Why should I liue with the diuell who deceiueth me a thousand waies or with the world which putteth mee in a thousand dāgers or with the flesh which asketh of me a thousand pleasures O redeemer of my soule O sweet delight of my life I will liue and die with thee and no other for if I bee sick thou dost heale me if I be sorrowful thou dost cōfort me if I be falling thou dost help me if I be falne thou dost helpe me vp if I haue sinned thou dost pardon me He is the disciple of the diuell who goeth about to throw down his brother he is the sonne of Christ who doth helpe to lift vp his neighbor for we are not able in this life to do any mā a greater fauor then to keepe his credit honor to help him to saue his soule When the giuer of life said vpon the crosse Father forgiue them by those speeches he ment to obtain two things of his father That is that hee would neither punish their bodies like vnto murderers nor condemne their soules like vnto traitors O infinite goodnesse O clemency neuer heard of before O redeemer of my soule doest thou dissemble with the trecherous pardon murderers excuse traitors vndertakest for the credite of the infamous turnest vnto sinners It is litle when I say thou doest turn vnto sinners seeing thou doest not only turn vnto them but also die for them What is the reason O good Iesus what is the reason that thou doest pray vnto thy father that he would forgiue them and doest not say I doe forgiue them When thou saiest Father pardon them why doest thou not say also I pardon them Art thou the partie iniuried art thou the partie shamed and disgraced art thou the partie agreeued and doest giue the libertie of pardoning them vnto another It is a high mysterie and a hidden Sacrament to thinke that the sonne of God would not say I pardon them but entreat his father to pardon them making greater reckoning of the iniurie which they had done vnto his father then of the death which they procured vnto himselfe The reason why the sonne of God would not say I pardon them although hee were the partie offended was to tell vs plainly That hee did not esteeme those which put him to death his enemies rather his deer brothers great good doers vnto the world hauing more regard vnto the good vvhich they had done in causing the world to be redeemed then vnto the hurt which they did in causing himselfe to bee murdered When good Iesus said Father forgiue thē it is no more thē to say thou art he my good father who must forgiue thē because they haue brokē thy law discredited thy doctrine violated thy temple put to death thy son If thou dost say that I should forgiue thē I say I haue no cause to forgiue for I take my death as wel reuenged my life as well bestowed seeing that by the merit thereof all the world may liue heauen made open vnto all men S. Augustine sayth That if the sonne of God had holden the Iewes for his enemies as they accounted of him it was in his power to forsake them and goe preach vnto others but because hee esteemed of them as of his kindred in bloud neighbours by nature brothers by law disciples in doctrine it was not needful for him to say on the crosse I forgiue thē seeing he was not angry towards thē nor moued at al with thē They bare rancor and hatred vnto Christ but nor Christ vnto thē therfore notwithstanding all the reproches they vsed towards him al the iniurious speeches they gaue him he neuer left off preaching vnto thē nor neuer ceased to work miracles amongst them With what face could they say that Christ was their enemy seeing hee raised their dead cast out diuels frō them instructed their childrē cured their friends of diseases also forgaue thē their sins Seeing the son of God had done the works of a friend among them that of a true friend why should he say vpō the crosse I do also forgiue thē seeing he did not hold any one of thē for his enemy If sweet Iesus was angry with thē if he misliked thē it was not for the iniuries which they did vnto him but for the offences they cōmitted against his father
was a most wicked and naughtie king but onely that God had made him a king Thereupon Saint Ambrose saith and that very well that according vnto the example of Dauid thou oughtest not to looke vnto the malice with the which thy enemy entreateth thee but vnto the vnction wherewith he is made a Christian and whether he be a christian or not thou art not the iudge of this busines but he who is thy God and his who is to punish the iniury which thou hast done vnto him in him the reuengement which thou hast taken on thee Comming then vnto our purpose The words which Dauid spake vnto Saul that is Let our Lord be a iudge betwixt me and thee the Sonne of God may say vnto the Synagogue and vnto all her children and that hee alone shall bee the iudge betwixt them as well of all the good which Christ did vnto the Synagogue as of the hurt he hath receiued by her Which of all the Angels if he would come downe vnto vs which of the dead if hee could rise againe what man were hee neuer so wise were able to number the multitude of benefits which were ceiued by him and the incredible torments which they gaue him Let our Lord bee a iudge betwixt me and thee O Synagogue for no other can be how much more greater my loue was with the which I redeemed thee than the torments which in my passion thou gauest me and that how thy hatred was far greater than all the cruelties thou vsedst towards me Therefore I call thee into iudgement O Synagogue before God not to the end that he should chastise thee but onely to iudge betwixt mee thee how that there is no worke of pity and mercy which I left vndone for thee and how there was no cruelty of torment which thou didst not assay against mee Speaking then more particularly of the pardō which the sonne of God gaue the Hebrewes it were reason to shew what they did to deserue it and what mooued Christ to giue it for by so much the more excellent bountifull is the pardon by how much the lesser the occasions were to giue it The Iewes did Christ fiue notorious iniuries at the time of his death the least of all which if it had bene throughly punished had deserued not onely not to be pardoned but also condemned into eternall fire For saith Hilarius what punishment worthy of their desert can be giuen vnto them who take away life from him which is the giuer of life The first wrong which they did vnto Christ was that they crucified him through malice not finding any fault in him at al which appeareth plainly by that that they did let goe Barrabas the manslaier and condemned the sonne of God iudging him to bee an honester man who killed those which liued thē that great Prophet which raised vp those which were dead Christ was a giuer of alms and Barrabas was a theefe Christ was quiet and a peacemaker and Barrabas a sower of sedition Christ a great preacher and Barrabas a great robber and assailer of men by the high way Christ a maister of all good men and Barrabas a captain of all scandalous men and yet notwithstanding all this they condemned Christ to be put immediately to death and sent Barrabas home vnto his house O how wicked a demād made you O yee Iews and peruerse petition in asking that he may liue which killeth those which are aliue and that hee should die who raiseth to life those which were dead Who is there in your citie who can heale the sicke and diseased or raise the dead vnto life if this Prophet die So great was the hatred which they bare vnto the son of God that to heare him once named they were much troubled in Barrabas name they much reioiced which they shewed manifestly when they cried al with one voice that Pilate should deliuer them Barrabas and crucifie Christ O what a happy man should I bee if my loue towards thee were so great as their hatred was towards thee for by that meanes as they tooke a wrong course in chusing Barrabas for themselues so I should doe aright in making choise of thee for my selfe It had not ben to haue beene maruelled at if they had erred in their choise if Pilat had giuen thē their choise betwixt two theeues or two mankillers or other two strangers vnto them but giuing thē the choise betwixt an assailing theefe and a most holy Prophet and they presently to chuse the wicked one vse iniustice against the good one it could not bee but they did it through great want of wisedome and greater abundance of malice The second iniury was that if they had put the sonne of God to death in some mean village it would not haue ben so great an infamy and reproch vnto him but the excommunicated Iewes the better to reuenge themselues vpon Christ and to put him to the greater shame put him to death in the great city of Ierusalem where he was very well known by his preaching allied vnto many honorable Persons by consanguinity What wrong like vnto this was euer done vnto any man or what reproch comparable vnto this that is to lead him to bee crucified at the Mount of Caluary through the same streets which he was wont to passe through to the Tēple to preach Seneca sayth That it is a greater griefe then death it selfe to a man that is shamefast and of a valiant courage to see himselfe troden downe where he hath ben honored and contumeliously handled where he hath been highly esteemed for he feeleth the present torment and griefe he greeueth and perceiueth that which his enemies speake Because the son of God was mighty in doing miracles faire and amiable in his countenance profitable in his doctrine and a friend vnto the weale publicke hee was beloued of all and enuied of many by reason whereof he greeued much at the open dishonour they did him and that publickly they tooke his life from him What griefe could hee be free from seeing himselfe carried openly and condemned vnto the death of the crosse that his friends accompanied him weeping and his enemies scorning mocking him The third was that although they could haue put him to death secretly in his chāber or in some darke night yet they neuer ment once to do it but they brought him forth at one of the clocke they condemned him at three they crucified him at six they murdered him at nine It was not for want of diligēce but through abundance of malice that they chose that houre because thē the sunne sheweth his beames most brightest most people passe through the streets Chrisostome vpon S. Matthew sayth That the Iews would not put Christ to death in the morning because all men were not vp nor in the night because all were at their rest nor yet late in the euening because many had withdrawn thēselues to their
lodgings but they remeÌ„bred to kil him in the day time betwixt three four of the clock because that at that time al men go abroad to walke in the market place It was an old plague of the Synagogues to embrue flesh theÌ„selues in the bloud of the prophets holy men as of Esaias whoÌ„ they sawed in peeces Ieremy whoÌ„ they drowned in a wel Micheas whom they buffeted to death Zachary whom they stoned to death Ezechiel whom they imprisoned and because the curse of their predecessors should reach vnto those which were theÌ„ aliue they be thought theÌ„selues to take Christs life froÌ„ him blemish his good name credite DamasceÌ„ saith that wheÌ„ the Iews crucified Christ they chose a bright a fair day without cloud darknes because Christ should be seen of al meÌ„ not vnknown of any because their purpose intent was aswel to discredit him as to kill him For wheÌ„ the EuaÌ„gelist saith that wheÌ„ Christ gaue vp the ghost the sun was darâ—â—ed it is an vnfallible argumeÌ„t that it was a bright a clear day but the sun waxed darke vpon the sudden because he would with his shadow haue couered him whoÌ„ the Iewes had put to open shame S. Ciprian saith That when the Iews put Christ to death they were not coÌ„tent only to make choice of a bright day cleare but also they would haue a long day as coÌ„monly the daies are the 25 of March because they might haue time in one day to accuse him giue iudgement on him crucifie him The 4. point was that although they could haue put him to death alone yet they would not do it without coÌ„pany the coÌ„pany they gaue him was not of honest meÌ„ but of two arrand theeues It is to be weighed that the Iews neuer gaue Christ the prehemineÌ„ce or highest room but only vpoÌ„ the crosse and gibbet where they crucified him betwixt two theeues they put him in the midst as if he had ben the greatest theef among theÌ„ al the most notorious offender Albertus saith That the Iews hanged our good Iesus betwixt two malefactors as if he had ben a captain a ringleader of theÌ„ to make vs think therby how bad a person that Prophet was seeing that in comparison of him the theeues were of a better life Put the case saith S. Ierom that al the testimonies which they brought against Christ had been true and that they had proued by sufficient witnesse those crimes which they laid against him yet notwithstanding hee deserued not that kind of punishmeÌ„t nor to be executed with such infamous theeues because the Imperiall laws doe command such only to be partakers of equall punishment which were confederates in the offence If the sonne of God drew sinners vnto him receiued them truly it was not for that he would helpe them or further them in sinne but to draw theÌ„ to good life in so much that by his blessed company they were not peruerted but much more conuerted The fifth wrong was that although they might haue put him to another kind of death which was not so scandalous to heare of nor so cruell to bee endured as the death of the crosse yet they would put him to no other death but that because hee should end his life with great cruelty smart For the torment of the crosse was holden to be the terriblest that was to suffer the least pitifull to giue and therefore they crucified none vnlesse it were such a one as without amendment did breake the law or such a one as durst be a traitor to the king Was hee pardie a breaker of the law who said openly Non veni soluere legem sed adimplere I came not to breake the law but to fulfill the law Is he pardy a traitor who said openly Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari Giue that which is Caesars vnto Caesar and that which is Christs vnto Christ They not the sonne of God were breakers of the law they were Traitors vnto the king they caused sedition among the people yea they stole away the sacrifices in so much that against all order of iustice those transgressors murdered him which was holy the Traitors put to death him who was loiall the guiltie crucified the innocent and the theeues crucified their iudge Chrisostome sayth That as the hatred which they bare vnto Christ did passe al other hatred in the world and as the enuie they bare Christ was far greater then any other which could sinke into mans heart so also they would that the death which they gaue Christ should exceed the deaths which all other men did suffer Who doubteth but if a worser death they could haue inuented a worser death he should haue had It is to be weighed that being an old custome that the iudges which giue senteÌ„ce and not which accuse should appoint the maner of death which the party which offendeth should endure yet the Iewes would not leaue Christs death vnto Pilates arbiterment but they themselues would presently design appoint what death he shold die Tel me I pray you what death did they appoint him or what torment did they chuse out for him Barrabas the theefe being loused let free by the common consent agreement of them al Pilat asking theÌ„ what they would doe by Iesus of Nazareth they cried all aloud with one voice Crucifie crucifie him because hee is guilty of death with few words they condemn Christ vnto many cruel terrible torments that is that he should die quickly seeing they say that he is guilty of death that he should die vpon the crosse seeing they said crucifie him that hee should bee twise crucified considering that they say crucifie crucifie him As touching the first they entreat Pilat to put Christ to death and Pilat said that he found no cause in him why hee should die but in fine his resistance preuailed not so much as their importunity The Iews did not request of Pilat that he would whip Christ or banish him or obiect any reprochfull crime against him but that he would immediatly put him to death that because the holy doctrine which he preached and the euill life which they led were imcompatible the one with the other And as for the second the forsakeÌ„ Iews were not content to demand of Pilat that Christ should be put to death and with that death which they themselues desired but that they should immediately crucifie him on a crosse which kind of punishment was neuer giuen but vnto very naughty wicked persons and for very heinous and enormious saults S. August vpon S. Iohn noteth that the Iewes were not conteÌ„t to cry vnto Pilat once that he would crucifie him but they doubled their cry said crucifie him crucifie him to let vs vnderstand that they meant aswell to crucifie his fame and credite as they did crucifie his person Origen saith That by entreating Pilate twise to
we know whether he commanded him to do these things for the sins which he hath committed or for sins which hee hath seene in the Iudaicall people Who euer saw Christ weepe or command any man to weep but he had occasion to doir and reason to command it The reason why Ieremy weepeth is Quid ablata est fides de ore corum Because there is now no faith in the house of Iacob because the goodnes truth of Israel is perished Behold how God doth not complain here of vs for that we do not offer sacrifice nor because wee pay not our tithes nor because we break the holy fasting daies nor because they are couerous nor because they are carnall glurtons because nature inuiteth inclineth vs to all these carâ—lesnesse humane frailty excuseth vs. That which our Lord coÌ„plaineth of is that they are faithlesse in heart idolaters and that they can speake nothing with their mouth but lies which two vices are perrillous for vs to be saued with very hard to ameÌ„d Ciprian vpoÌ„ the Creed saith Although the Apostle saith that faith without works is dead yet I had rather do sinful works being a faithful Christian theÌ„ vertuous works being a faithlesse Pagan because that our Lord doth easilier lighten him which beleeueth that which he coÌ„mandeth theÌ„ him which blasphemeth him and his church Damascen saith That the diuel dare neuer tempt mightily any but such as he perceiueth to be weak in faith and in that case hee careth not much to teÌ„pt him hardly with other vices if he see him weak cold in faith because the diuel is better at ease to see a man doubtful wauer in faith theÌ„ to see him coÌ„mit all other sins in the world What dooth the diuell watch at or ouerwatch but to see whether thou bee doubtfull in the faith of Christ what hast thou if thou hast not true faith what wantest thou if thou wantest not the true faith of Christ O good Iesus O the light of my soule I beseech thee that thou wouldest not depriue me of thy faith that thou wouldst not cast me out of thy church that thou wouldst not take thy mercy froÌ„ me for if thou wilt not suffer me to fall from thy faith I shal alwaies haue a hope that in the end I shal be saued To come theÌ„ vnto our principal purpose who made vnhappy Iudas hang himselfe what was the cause the good theefe was saued but only the great faith the theefe had the sinful infidelity which the other fel into because Iudas wold not beleeue that Christ was our maker and because the good theefe beleeued that Christ was our redeemer Iudas sold Christ and the other beleeued in Christ insomuch that in beleeuing knowing litle men come to offend much So much saith Gregory the faith of a good ChristiaÌ„ is more meritorious by how much the fewer argumeÌ„ts reasons it is grounded on because the merit of the catholick faith doth not coÌ„sist on that which we see with our eieâ— but in that which we beleeue with our hearts If we compare the faith of the good theef with the faith of the old fathers we shal find it to be true that he did so far exceed theÌ„ in faithfully beleeuing as they did go beyond him in good liuing How should not Abraham beleeue in God considering how God spake vnto him from heaueÌ„ aboue and vsed him as if he had beene his particular friend The thecues faith was greater thaÌ„ his because that Christ neuer spake vnto him one word of beliefe neither did hee euer see him in heauen but only hanged vpon the crosse The Prophet Esay did beleeue in God when he saw him sit on high in his throne beset with thousands of Seraphins but the the eues faith was greater because hee neuer saw Christ but crucified and accompanied with theeues The Prophet Maises had faith when hee saw the God of Israel speake vnto him out of a bush and that the bush wasted nor burnt not but the faith of the good theefe was greater than this considering that hee saw Christ loaden with thorns which burnt nor in show but in troth pierced his braine S. Peter had faith when hee saw Christ goe vpon the waters but the good theefes faith was greater considering he saw Christ not spurn the waters but saw him bathed in bloud from the feet to the head Mary Magdalen had faith when she saw him raise her brother Lazarus from death to life who had beene foure daies dead but the good theefe had greater faith then this considering how he neuer saw Christ raise the dead but only saw himselfe die vpon the crosse like a malefactor S. Iohn the Euangelist had faith when he had ssept vpon our Lords breast after he had supped vvith him in the parlar but the theefes faith vvas greater then this seeing that hee beleeued in the sonne of God not sleeping vpon stis breast but suffering vvith him by his side vpon the crosse S. Iames had faith vvhen hee savv Christ transfigured in the hill Tabor and the Fathers of the old law adore him but the good theefes faith was greater then this considering hee saw not the sonne of God transfigured but disfigured hee saw not his face shine but his body torne in pieces O happy and glorious theefe who but thou hath stoine the faith from the synagogue which of old shee was wont to haue and stolne Christ from them in whom then they beleeued not Impart and deuide vnto me part of the faith which thou didst steale from the Synagogue and Christ which thou diddest rob away on the Mount of Caluary for although I was not thy companion in suffering yet now I will bee in beleeuing That which I would haue thee impart vnto mee is the entire faith which thou hast the holy wordes which thou speakest the abundance of bloud which thou sheddest the true confession which of God thou makest and the Christian charity with the which thou doest correct the other theefe O that this theefe hath a happy inheritance seeing that with the theft of worldly things he easily got the gallowes and with the theft which hee stole vpon the crosse hee got glory Chrysostome of the praise of the theefe saith thus In whom O good Iesus in whom did thy holy faith remaine when thou diddest depart out of this life but in thy sorrowfull mother who wept at the foot of the crosse in that holy theefe who suffered on thy side O good Iesus O redeemer of my soule saith Barnard what a small number of friends thou hadst with thee on the crosse and what a multitude of enemies about thee considering that thou hadst there but two faithfull Christians that is thy blessed mother which did beleeue in thee with her heart and that iust theefe which did confesse thee with his mouth Seeing it was nothing else to be a Christian but to beleeue in Christ and serue Christ
and vs as if he would say If thou bee the Christ which the Iewes hope for deliuer thy selfe from death and quite vs from paine Cyprian vpon the passion of our Lord sayth O that that is a wicked word and a detestable praier which thou O naughty theefe doest vtter with thy mouth when thou doest persuade the son of God to come downe from the crosse for if he do suffer die it is for nothing that toucheth him but for that which toucheth thee and is most expedient for me Why dost thou aske him that hee would saue thee and also himselfe seeing that he suffereth of his owne accord dieth for thy naughtinesse The beginning of this naughty theeues perdition was when he said if thou be the sonne of God and not thou art the son of God in which words it seemed that hee doubted whether hee were the sonne of God or not and so hee doubted in his faith and made a scruple whether he were the redeemer of the world or not and so hee fell into infidelitie which is the highest wickednesse of all other Cyrillus vpon S. Iohn saith That the good theefe said not If thou be Christ neither did S. Peter say I beleeue if thou bee Christ but the one said faithfully Lord remember me and the other likewise said I beleeue because thou art the sonne of God insomuch that no man can be lightened or pardoned which maketh any doubt at all in the faith of Christ The Apostle saith in his canonicall Epistle if any man want wisedome let him aske it of God not doubting in faith as if he would say If any man haue need of any great matter let him take heed that he do not aske it with a faith that is luke warme for if our Lord do not grant vs that which we aske him it is rather because wee know not how to ask him than because hee hath not a desire to giue it Damascen sayth If he who asketh be not a Pagan and that which he asketh bee not vniust and hee who asketh be holy and the place where he asketh be also sacred and he for whoÌ„ he asketh be needy why should he doubt to obtaine it considering that of himselfe hee is so mercifull O good Iesus O my soules pleasure giue me thy grace that I may say vvith the blind man in Ieremie O sonne of Dauid haue mercy vpon mee and keepe mee from saying vvith the naughty theefe if thou be Christ saue thy self and me too seeing that like a true Christian I confesse thy mighty power and call for thy great mercy Christostome saith The naughty theese thought that as Pilate had condemned him for a robber by the high way so he had executed iustice vpon Christ for stirring the people to sedition and that Christ did no lesse esteeme of his life than hee did abhorre death vvherein certainly he vvas much deceiued for he did not so earnestly desire to liue as Christ did desire to die The Iews persuaded Christ that hee should come downe from the crosse and this naughty theefe did also persuade him that hee vvould slie from the crosse that vvhich the sonne of God did not loue to hear of nor would not do for if he had forsaken the crosse all the vvorld should haue beene crucified S. Barnard sayth I doe not desire thee my good Iesus that thou come down froÌ„ the crosse nor that thou slie from the crosse but that thou vvouldest put me there with thee because it would be more reasonable that they should giue sentence vpon me for thee than that they should giue sentence vpon thee for me It may bee gathered of all that which wee haue spoken what great courage we haue need of to begin any good worke and a far greater to finish it for our enemies are ready alwaies about to deceiue vs the flesh to mooue vs men to hinder vs and the world to trouble vs. CHAP. VIII Of the great charity which the good theefe had towards the naughty theefe in correcting him of euill doing and in aduising him of the good which he lost COmmendat deus omnem charitatem suam in nobis saith the Apostle writing vnto the Romanes in the fift chap. as if he would say The God and Lord which I preach vnto you O Romanes dooth commend nothing more vnto you than charity in louing your neighbours with all your heart the which loue you must shew them not so much because they loue you as because they serue God Holy Paule did preach and teach vs many things whereof some were to make vs afeard some to giue vs counsell some to teach vs some to comfort vs as this matter which we now handle the which being wel looked into and read with attention we shal find that hee giueth vs as much as hee hath and loueth vs as much as he ought For the better vnderstaÌ„ding of this speech we must suppose that the loue of God charity and grace go alwaies coupled together in so much that no man can haue heauenly loue without heauenly charity no man can haue heauenly charity but he must haue heaueÌ„ly grace he who hath heauenly grace cannot faile but goe to glory Damascen sayth That Loue and Charitie and Grace are only one gift and the greatest which came from heaueÌ„ is called Grace because it is giuen without any price and it is called Charity because it is high and it is called Loue because it doth ioine and vnite vs with God in so much that when he recommendeth his Charity vnto vs he trusteth his Loue with vs. WheÌ„ our Lord doth commend vs his Loue as a thing left to keepe with vs if we marke it well what else is it but a token whereby we should marke with what Loue he loueth vs and with what Charity he entreateth vs O happy pledge O luckie trust when our Lord credited vs with his eternall Loue his infinite Grace and vnspeakable Charity the which vertues he gaue vs because we should not liue ingratefully with them and that in our death we should buy heauen with theÌ„ When our Lord doth giue vs charge to keepe his Charity what else is that but to doe vs the fauour to giue it vs If he would not haue giuen it vs hee knew well where to keepe it without giâ—ing it vs to pledge but hee saith that hee dooth commend it vnto vs to keepe and not giue it vs because wee should bee very carefull in keeping it and fearefull to lose it because we cannot be saued without it Bede vpon the Apostle sayth One friend can giue to another his iewels of siluer and gold but he cannot giue him the loue which hee hath in his heart for although he can shew it yet hee cannot passe it vnto him but the sonne of God did not onely shew vs his loue but did also giue it vs. He did shew vs his great loue when hee tooke mans flesh vpon him and he doth giue vs his sweet
put mee to death on the Mount of Caluary and on the Mount of Caluary they kill thee at high noone daies they execute mee and at the same houre they execute thee thou art as neere the end of thy life as I am neere to death and therfore Lord remember me thus as wee depart both together out of this world so also we may both together goe into heauen What reason doth permit it or what iustice doth suffer O my good Lord that thou shouldest take me for thy companion to suffer on the crosse with thee and when thou doest go into heauen to leaue mee here behind thee Seeing thou wilt depart out of this world to death and that through such a narrow passage and long way whom canst thou take with thee better than the theefe which was thy fellow vpon the tree It is necessary that thy poore mother liue thou hast left thy Iohn thy cousin to his owne custodie Peter thy Disciple hath denied thee Iudas thy steward hath sold thee all the Iewes haue beene vngratefull vnto thee and therfore seeing that thou doest see no body neere thee who doth confesse and acknowledge thee but my selfe alone who am here alone with thee Lord remember mee and either giue mee somewhat in thy Testament or take mee with thee to Paradise O holy Nazarean and blessed Prophet seeing that thou diddest heare Ionas out of the Whales belly Daniel out of the lake of Babilonia Ioseph out of the dungeon of Egypt Ieremy out of the darke well and diddest heare Dauid when he said Tibi soli peccaui I haue sinned vnto thee only why doest thou not heare-mee when I crie Lord remember mee Domine memento mei Behold O my good Lord behold O my good companion now my eies doe breake now my last houre is come now my sight faileth mee and my speech is troubled and my soule is pulled out of my body and therefore in this narrow passing and doubtfull way vnto whome should I say better than vnto thee Lord remember me yea and all the whole Psalme of Miserere Iosue was a theefe seeing he stole grapes fron Chanaan Dauid was a theefe seeing hee stole the bottle of water from Saul Rachael was a theefe seeing she stole the idols from her father Ionathas was a theefe seeing hee stole hony from the hiue Iosaba was a theefe seeing he stole the infant Ionas and yet thou diddest not command any one of all these to bee hanged nor send them from thy houseuf this be so and if thou diddest forgiue those which stole thy goods wilt thou not forgiue mee poore theefe who turne for thy honours sake and keepe thee company in this place Seeing that of old time thou art accustomed to forgiue very famous theeues and dissemble very notorious thefts why doest thou not forgiue me among them and absolue me of my sinnes If thou wilt haue tears for the thefts which I haue done thou seest that they run downe my cheekes if thou doest content thy selfe to see bloud thou seest that there is no drop left in mee if thou wilt haue mee whip my selfe I am already bowelled if thou wilt haue mee repent I say vnto thee Soli peccaui if thou wilt haue mee make entire satisfaction how canst thou haue me to do it not hauing halfe an houre to liue Lord Iesus remember mee and bee my surety vnto thy father in the other world and put mee with thy chosen flocke write mee in thy booke and place mee in thy glory seeing that the faith of which thou art doth flourish onely in thy mother and remaineth in my heart Remember mee O good Iesus and if thou wilt depart out of this sorrowfull life into the other before mee I beseech thee leaue mee the step of thy foor to tread in and a path-way to follow thee for if I acknowledge thee for my God and receaue thee for my God and beleeue in thee for my God being as thou art dismembred and crucified shall not I serue thee and praise thee farre better when I shall see thee glorified Darest thou trust me with thy crosse because I should worship it and with thy body because I should accompany thee and with thy mother to comfort her and with thy honour to defend it and with thy church to augment it and with thy faith to maintaine it and wilt thou not put thy glory into my hands that I may alwaies praise thee in it When they condemned thee to bee crucified and brought mee to bee executed I heard thee say there before Pilate That thy kingdome was not of this world and then seeing thou art a king and hast a kingdome remember mee and take me with thee and I will tell thy father what thou hast suffered to serue him and all the fauours which thou hast done for me Now that the good theefe hath made his praier vnto God and recommended himselfe vnto him it is reason now that the naughty theefe haue license to speake which is my naughty and peruerse heart because the theefe which hanged on the left hand of God did blaspheme Christ but once but thou my soule doest blaspheme him euery day Remember mee O sweet Iesus and haue mercy on mee O my soules glory to the end that the shedding of thy pretious bloud be not euilly bestowed in mee for at the time when thou diddest shed it thou diddest not feeele so grieuously the vvant of it in thy bodie as thou diddest feele the vngratefulnesse of the whole world And when is thy precious bloud vnthankfully shed for mee but when I yeeld vnto that which my Sensuality demâ—ndeth of mee and not vnto that which thy Gospell counselleth mee What is all that worth which I would if thou wilt not If thou goest to seeke out theeues and if thou doest hunt after sinners why doest thou seeke for any more than for mee because there is no theefe who hath committed greater robberies than I nor any sinners who hath done more greeuous sins than I O patient and benigue Lord if the wickednesse of my heart and the offences which I haue committed in secret were knowne notoriously vnto the iudges of the world as they are knowne vnto thee I should many yeares agoe haue beene hanged and in the other world condemned I will not say with the Prophet Dauid Where be thy old mercies seeing that I see them enter euery day into my gates because I doe not make more hast to sinne than thou to pardon mee The pardon which thou diddest giue vnto the good theefe doth giue vs also great hope to obtaine pardon at thy hands for he being come to the gibbet condemned for his offence went away sanctified with thy Grace If thou do giue theeues and robbers kingdomes what wilt thou do and giue vnto theÌ„ whom thou doest loue and are chosen of thy father If thou diddest giue the kingdome of heauen to a rouer and a theese for speaking one onely word vnto thee and seruing thee one
Nathan the Prophet vnto Dauid the great Prophet Esaias vnto Manasses his holy Prophet Ieremy vnto King Ozias the Prophet Daniel vnto Balthasar and the Satiricall Prophet Helias vnto king Achab. The sonne of God sent a greater imbasie and greater Embassadours vnto the theefe than God the father did vnto the Kings seeing that vnto the theefe which was crucified on the crosse with him he sent no other embassador than himselfe so by this meanes the embasie and the Embassador were all one thing Was it not think you the selfesame thing seeing that it was Christ which sent the message the selfesame Christ which carried it Origen in an Homilie sayth thus The greatest message that euer came from heauen into the world was that of the incarnation and the next vnto it was that which Christ did vnto the good theefe insomuch that by the comming of the sonne of God the gate of glory was opened and in the promise made vnto the good theefe the possession of it was taken The embasie which Iohn Baptist brought vs was that the kingdome of heaueÌ„ was at hand but the good theef saith not that he is neer vnto heauen but that he is within heauen S. Iohns was a great embasie when he said Behold the lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world but that of the theeues was better wheÌ„ he said Behold him here who hath already redeemed the world The embasie that Samuel brought vnto Dauid was good wheÌ„ as of a shepheard he annointed him king but the embasie which Christ did vnto the good theef was farre better because that there passed almost fourty years betwixt the time that the kingdome was promised vnto Dauid and the time that it was deliuered vnto him but the theef had his kingdome promised him at two of the clock in the afternoone and was giuen him presently toward night The reward for bringing thee news of such a great embasie as that of Christs was that is the promise of glory he would let no man haue but he would win it himself insomuch he who promised glory gaue glory was the glory it self O good Iesus redeemer of my soule dost thou well see that in promising glory Paradise that thou doest promise nothing but thy self what meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this Dost thou trust malefactors coÌ„meÌ„d thy self vntorouers offer thyself vnto sinners coÌ„mit thy self vnto theeues If thou thinkest thy selfe ouercharged with this theefe giue him the Prouince of Achaia giue him part of Assyria giue him the kingdome of Palestine giue him the monarchy of Asia for in giuing him as thou doest giue him thy selfe if thou were not God as thou art it would seeme that thou shouldest preiudice many Is there any other Paradise but to enioy thee is there any other glory than to see thy face is there any greater contentment than to be in thy company is there any goodnesse but that which commeth from thy hands This day thou shalt bee with me in Paradise where thou shalt see me face to face enioy my essence dwell with my person haue the fruition of my glory thy death shall die and thy life shall rise againe This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise where thou shalt be alwaies mine and I will be thine where thou shalt serue mee and where I will loue thee without end where thou shalt leaue sinning and I neuer cease to doe thee good This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise where thou shalt see ioy without sorrow health withour griefe life vvithout death light vvithout darkenesse company vvithout suspition plenty vvithout want and glory without end This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise where youth doth neuer waxe old old age doth neuer appeare beauty neuer fadeth health neuer decaieth ioy neuer waxeth lesse griefe is neuer felt no vvailing euer heard nosorrow euerseene and death feareth nor This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise where thou shalt go from the goulfe to the â—â—auen from the battaile to the triumph from the streame to the spring from darkenesse vnto light from vvaâ—â— to vvealth from a dreame vnto the truth from faith to hope from cold loue to perfect and seruent Charitie This day thou shalt bee vvith mee in Paradise vvhere thou shalt not know how to vveepe but laugh not complain but bee â—oifull nor aske but gâ—â—e not blaspheme but blesse not sigh but sing not hate but loue not mislike but praise not die but liue This day thou shalt bee â—â—th mee in Paradise vvhere thy handes shall touch that which they desiced thy eies see that thâ—â— they looked for thy eares heare that which they loued and thy heart possesse that which hee groned for This day thou shalt bee vvith mee in Parachse vvhere thou shalt nor feare the deceits of the Diuell the cockering of the flesh the vanitie of the world the ambushes of thy enemies the suddaine passions vvhich fall out euery day the necessity of euery hour nor yet the anxiety and griefe of mind This day thou shalt bee vvith mee in Paradise vvhere there is no night which is darke nor day which decreaseth no rough Winter nor troublesome Summer no cold to freeze thee no heat to distemper thee no famine to weaken thee no thirst to make thee drie no death to make thee afraid nor life which shall haue any end O my soule O my heart wilt thou not tell mee vvhat thou doest thinke vpon or what thou doest contemplate on seeing thou hearest not this which is spoken doest thou not marke vvho speaketh it nor vnto vvhom hee speaketh it nor doest thou regard vvhere it is spoken Hee vvho speaketh is the sonne of God hee vvith vvhom hee speaketh is a theefe that which he sayth is that he promiseth Paradise the place vvhere hee speaketh is the Mount of Caluary the houre vvhen hee speaketh is at the point of death and those before whome hee speaketh is the vvhole Synagogue Is it possible that an imbasie accompanied vvith these many circumstances should not bee new and heard For in Scripture there is nothing necessary that is not full 〈◊〉 mystery Certainly this was a very new thing seeing that Christ neuer had this word Paradise in his mouth not from the time of his incarnation vntill the last houre that hee departed out of this world and then hauing no other there but the theefe which bare him company at that time he promised him Paradise O my soule if thou wilt haue part in Paradise behold vvhat a one the sonne of God is vvho giueth it and behold vvhat hee doth vnto the theefe vnto vvhom hee gaue it and as thou diddest see vvhat they doe so doe thou force thy selfe to doe the like O my soule O my heart doest thou not see that our Lord who giueth Paradise is vpon the crosse and that the theefe vnto whom heauen 〈◊〉 giuen is also vpon the crosse therefore that the crucified doth nor giue
the theefe Doest thou defer it to her who brought forth Christ take pity on him who bare him coÌ„pany on the crosse seeing thou doest augmeÌ„t tears in her diminish offences in him It was a word of great fauor which hee did vse vnto Mary Magdalen that Remissa tibi peccata multa Many sins are forgiuen thee but yet that was greater which he did vse to the good theefe because hee vsed greater liberty with him thaÌ„ with hir for if he loued her pardoned her he loued the theef like a friend pardoned him like a Christian rewarded him lika a iust man Barnard saith vnto this purpose That it is a signe of great loue to pardon but a greater sign to giue pardon because that pardon is sometime giueÌ„ by force but a gift neuer coÌ„meth but of free wil. OrigeÌ„ vpoÌ„ Mathew crieth out O deepe mystery O diuine sacrameÌ„t who euer heard or saw the like vnto this that is betwixt the sunne rising the sunne setting the theef was condemned by Pilat shamed by the criers iusticied by the hangmen confessed by his owne mouth by Christ pardoned and also brought vnto Paradise What meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this Who is able to reach vnto the reason why Abel vvith his innocency Nee with his iustice Abraham with his faith Dauid with his charity Moyses with his meekenesse Iâ—b vvith his patience Tobias with his franknesse Lazarus with his pouerty should so long desire to see Christ and the theefe presently enioy him S. Ambrose sayth That Christ receiued in a new kind of martyrdome all the torments vvhich were giuen the theefe as a naughty man from the houre and moment that he defended Christ and confessed with Christ insomuch that if he began to suffer like a theefe and a rouer hee ended and died like a glorious martyr This happy theefe was a very glorious martyr seeing he suffered neere Christ and with Christ where Christ suffered and in the same manner that Christ suffered and which is most of all hee was the first martyr after Christs passion and the first Saint which the sonne of God did canonize after his death S. Stouen was the first martyr after Christs ascention but from Christs death vntill he ascended into heauen there was no other Mattyr in the vvorld but the theefe whose conuersion Christ caused whose teares hee accepted whose martyrdome hee approued whose passion hee canonized and whose soule hee glorified S. Augustine sayth O good Iesus O my soules delight considering that thou doest saue him who accuseth his owne faults and him who excuseth thy innocency the maintainer of thy credit the confessor of thy essence the companion of thy person wilt thou not saue also this sinfull soule of mine For so great a battaile as thou hast won this day for so great a victory as thou hast obtained and also for so much bloud as hath issued from thee it is a small prize to carry away with thee but one theef only because that by so much the greater the triumph is by how many more prisoners the triumpher is followed with all And if it will not please thee to take mee thither with thee tarry thou here with me O good Iesus for I desire no other glory of thee in this miserable world but that thou wouldest let mee haue alwaies a good conscience Origen sayth in an Homily that it is much to be noted and a thing to be wondered at that Christ did not say vnto the theefe Amen dico vobis although there were many more there but hee said Amen dico tibi to let vs vnderstand that by forgiuing him alone hee shewed his mercy and by not pardoning others hee shewed his great iustice There were store of sinners about the crosse as well as hee which peraduenture would haue beene pardoned as well as he but amongst them all the theefe onely deserued to heare his pardon but by this hee maketh vs know that there is no man which hath cause to dispaire of pardon seeing hee forgaue him and yet that we presume not too much of pardon seeing he forgaue him alone Let the conclusion of all this be that wee remember before wee sinne that our Lord did not pardon the multitude that was there present and after wee haue sinned let vs remember that hee pardoned the theefe which suffered with him and in so doing we shall feare his iustice and remember his mercy the which I humbly beseech him that it would please him to vse here with grace afterward with glory Amen Amen The end of the second word which Christ our redeemer spake vpon the Crosse ⧠Here beginneth the third word which the sonne of God spake vpon the Crosse vnto his blessed mother Mulier ecce filius tuus Woman behold here thy sonne CHAP. I. That the loue which the mother of God had did exceed the loue of all other men and also the loue of Angels SIcut water 〈…〉 it a agâ— te diligebaâ—â— these are the words of holy Dauid 2. Reg. chapâ—â—â— 1. when 〈…〉 brought him that king Saul his enemy and Prince Ionathas his great friend were slaine in a battaile which they had with the Philistims The Iewes gaue this battaile to the 〈…〉 the wild mountaines of Gâ—â—boe and when the sorrowfull newes came to king Dauid that king Saul had lost the battaile hee began aloud to crie and shed many grieuous teares and said as followeth in dolefull wise O famous and renowmed Israel why doest thou not weepe for the losse of so many excellent men which this day they haue slaine thee and noble Princes which this day are perished within thee How is it possible that the strongest of Israel haue fallen downe so ignominiously and the most famous of Iuda haue ended their life by sword O how well king Saul Ionathas should haue loued one the other when they were aliue seeing that they left not the one the other in death although the cruell sword was able to take away their liues from them yet certainly it was not able to take away their hearts from them with the which they loued one the other What sword durst wound their hearts or what launce durst touch their flesh considering that Saul and Ionathas were in running more light than eagles and in sight more strong than lions Ionathas arrow was neuer shot but he hit Sauls sword drawn but he stroke Weepe then O ye daughters of Israel weep vpon the death of your king Saul who clothed you in scarlet in your passeouer and gaue you iewels of gold in your weddings O ye mountains O ye mountains of Gilboe I curse froÌ„ henceforth anathematize you for euer to the end that it neuer raign water vpoÌ„ you by day nor any dew fal vpoÌ„ you by night seeing that you consented that the enemies of Israel should there kill Saul and slay my good friend Ionathas in the same place O my faithfull and old friend Ionathas why
greater and a better watch in our Paradise than Adam had in his because that the Cherubin did but stand at the gate but the sonne of God is the gate it selfe When he said I am the gate what did hee mean else but that he was the key with the which we should open he was the gate through the which we should enter in and he the guide which should direct vs and he the Paradise which we should enioy It is also to bee noted that the sword with the which the Cherubin kept Paradise was neither of siluer nor gold nor yron but was of pure fire which is a new and an vnusuall thing which no man would beleeue if it were not in Scripture It is a thing often tried for yron to haue fire in it and for yron to bee in fyre but that a fyre should bee called a sword is neuer read but of that sword which kept Paradise To apply thē the figure vnto the thing figured al mē are as it vvere yron ouercast with rust that is fallen into original sinne or actuall great or small the sword of the liuing God excepted in vvhō there was neuer found any sin nor the rust of any fault but was alwaies like vnto a sword of fire made in the forge of the holy Ghost What was the sword vvhich kept Paradise but onely Iesus vvhich suffered on the crosse When thou diddest say O my sweet Iesus I come to put fire on the earth art not thou happily all fire seeing that thou dost come to put all the vvorld on fire O how much better the sword is vvhich the church hath than that vvhich the synagogue vsed Because her sword did let no man enter into Paradise but ours doth open the gates vnto vs. What shall I say more but that her sword vvas of fire vvhich did burn ours is but of Loue vvhich giueth comfort O sword of holy loue my sweet Iesus hovv happy I should be if I vvere dead vvith thy knife because that that killing should bee a rising from death that bowelling of me a letting of bloud my end a nevv beginning and my dying a liuing Our Lords mercy is such that he saith not Ego mortifico but he saith I doe giue life nor he saith not I will strike but hee saith I will make whole in so much that if he kill vs it is to raise vs to life againe and if he◠wound vs it is to make vs whole againe Then our Lord doth mortifie vs when he killeth our inclinations in vs and thē we are stroken with his hand whē we are punished with his great mercy and like a good surgeon hee neuer seareth the quicke flesh but the rotten member which infecteth the rest And because Simeon saith that the dolours and the sword of her sonne went through the mothers heart it is expedient for vs to stay somewhat in declaring the greifes which Christ suffered because that thereby we shall know them which he imparted vnto his mother Cum esset Dauid in spelumcā Obdollam conuenernat ad eum omnes qui erant in angustia oppressi aere alieno saith the Scripture 1. Reg. 22. as if he would say When king Dauid hid himselfe in the den of Obdolla there came vnto him all such as were banished by the order of iustice or fled for debts of all which sorrowfull Dauid was the Prince and captaine for of all the afflicted he was the most afflicted This is a high figure and deepe mystery worthy of great consideration because in it is figured very much by Dauid and namely the great griefes which Christ endured O that it were farre better for me poor sinner which write this that my soule did tast of them than for my fingers to write them Because that the doctrine which the sonne of God teacheth is of that quality that although it bee very good to preach it yet it is farre better to follow it There were many figures of Christ in the old law but none so liuely as Dauid was in proof whereof they did not call Christ the sonne of Adam nor the sonne of Moyses but the sonne of Dauid partly because hee was of his princely Tribe partly because he was not so liuely figured in any as in him God said vnto Dauid by special priuiledge I haue found a mā according vnto my own hart the Father said of Christ only this is my welbeloued sonne in so much that that loue which God bare in times past vnto Dauid was figured afterward in the loue which hee bare to his deere beloued sonne Dauid was also a figure of the sonne of God in that that as Dauid was persecuted by his maister the king of Israel without cause euen so Christ vvas persecuted of the Israelites not hauing offended them at all insomuch that if Saul did persecute Dauid of pure enuy the Iewes did persecute Christ of pure malice Dauid was also a figure of Christ in the denne of Obdollam where if Christ had been Dauid had neuer beene the captaine and prince of all the afflicted and banished men but the son of God had been their ringleader as hauing endured more griefe and vexation than all they because he did exceed all heathenish gods in power and all the Angels in merite and all the Martyrs in suffering King Dauid vvas badly handeled by his brothers defied and chalenged by Golias banished by Saul skoffed at by Michol stoned by Simei persecuted by Absalon robbed by the Amalechites vvarred by the Philistims watched by the Ceilitas and iniuried by the Ammonites But notwithstanding that king Dauid suffered many griefes and troubles yet they may bee numbred But what shall we say of those which good Iesus endured which were so many in number that no man is able to reckon them nor yet at all follow them Being a verified matter that king Dauid had tenne kindes of people which did persecute him that he had twelue tribes or kingdomes which did obey him it is now to be knowne who was his son vvho inherited his kingdomes and vvho was his sonne who succeeded him in all vexations and griefes Salomon sonne vnto Bersabee and Dauid succeeded him in the inheritance of his twelue kingdomes vvith vvhome his father left him no warres to maintaine no enemies to resist him no succeeds to contend with him no factions to pacifie nor debts to pay What did not the good old man leaue his sonne considering that he left him al his kingdomes in peace and great treasures laid vp for him But vvhen forgetfull Salomon saw that his father had left him great store of vvealth and no vvarres hee bestowed all that in vices vvhich hee should haue bestowed against his enemies King Salomon inherited kingdomes and vices vices and kingdomes seeing hee had threescore Queenes crowned to his wiues and seuē hundred concubines Salomon did inherite vices and all other daintinesse seeing he himselfe doth commend himselfe that his eies coueted nothing which was denied
world haue had no power yet notwithstanding sin hath had a dwelling place in them because there did neuer man liue so cleane who knew not what sinne was Cassiodorus sayth I for my part thinke sinne more mightier than any other enemy because the world and the diuell can but deceiue me but wicked sin can hurt me damn me For if there were no manner of sin in the world we should need neither gallowes nor sword Christ onely may say hee hath deliuered me from my enemies because he no other was free from sinne because all other creatures knew what sinne was and all knew what punishment for it was O how happy a man he should be who could say with the Prophet he hath deliuered me from my strongest enemies for it is nothing else to say that God hath deliuered him from his enemies but that our Lord hath deliuered him from his sinnes The Prophet had great reason to call sinne not only an enemy but also his strongest enemy seeing that without other helpe he threw the Angell out of heauen cast Adam out of Paradise depriued Iudas of his Apostleship and condemned all the world to death Is not sinne thinke you the mightiest of all other enemies seeing that hee is able and strong inough to carry mee to hell The power of my visible enemy reacheth no further than to take my life from mee but sinne the Traitour is an enemy so strong that hee is able to take my life from me depriue me of grace cast me out of glory hurt my soule and condemne mee vnto paine Who had such enemies as the sonne of God had that is so wicked in their cogitations so malicious in their speech and so cruell in their deedes Were not the lashes which opened Christs shoulders very cruell enemies the nailes which broke his sinewes the thornes which tore his temples and the speare which opened his side and the Synagogue which tooke his life from him Yet Christ called none of all these his enemies nor did not handle them like his enemies but only sins which hee did not only call enemies but mighty and strong enemies giuing vs therby to vnderstand that we should hold none for our enemie but onely sinne When good king Dauid said Persequar inimicos meos comprehendam illos Hee spake it not in respect of the enemies which persecuted his person but for sinnes which did damnifie his soule For seeing that good king Dauid did pardon Saul and Simei and others his mortall enemies how could hee counsell vs that wee should persecute ours When he saith I will persecute my enemies vntill I destroy them he spake of no other enemies but of his sinnes the which it is conuenient for vs to persecute and cast from vs. And it is not without a mystery that hee sayth Persequar comprehendam Because that as the enemy which is offended if he be not taken turneth againe and biddeth vs a more fierce battaile than hee did before euen so dooth the diuell and sinne deale with vs the which if we doe not driue away vtterly from vs and root out from our hearts they turn againe against vs like vnto most mighty and strong enemies What doth it auaile the huntsman if hee run after the Hare if he take her not what doth it is profite thee if thou run after sinne and detest sinne and speake euill of it if thou doest not ouertake sinne and what else is it to ouertake sinne but to ouercome and destroy sinne vtterly O how many there be which say I wil persecute my enemies and how few there bee which say and I haue taken them for if they cast out sinnes to day on one side of their house they turne againe to morrow and knocke at the ring of the dore and it is opened presently vnto them CHAP. III. How Christ complaineth of his Father because hee tooke all his friends from him in his passion and all others which he knew ELongasti ame amicum proximum notos meos a miseria These are the words which the sonne of God spake continuing his former complaint vttered by the Prophet Dauid Psalm 87 as if he would say Thou shouldest haue contented thy selfe O my Father when thou didst vnload al thy wrath vpō my weake body not seperate anew my friends frō me hinder those to come vnto me which were my known acquaintance Christ cōplaineth in this place of his Father that he tooke his friends from him seeing that he sayth thou hast remoued my friends from me he complaineth that he took his kinsmen from him that hee tooke his acquaintance from him and at that instant when hee vvas in greatest misery This is a pittifull complaint which the sonne of God now maketh because there is no griefe to be compared vnto that nor no hurt equall vnto the taking away of a mans trusty and faithfull friend Horace asketh what hee is able to doe or what hee hath who hath no friends To what purpose doth he liue which hath no friends Mimus the Philosopher sayth That a man dieth as oft as he loseth any of his good friends and sayth further that as the body is made of diuers members so the heart of friends and there vpon it is that as the body cannot liue without it haue many members so likewise the heart cannot liue vvithout friends They killed Dauids greatest enemy which was Saul and his deerest friend who was Ionathas in one day and hee was so agreeued at the death of his friend that by turns after hee had wept the death of his friend hee wept his enemies death also We doe not read that our redeemer did weep for the death of holy Ioseph his maister nor for all the trauails which he eudured in this world but he wept for the death of Lazarus his good friend whose death hee could not endure but immediately did raise from death againe If Plutarch the great Philosopher doe not deceiue vs Plato came from Asia vnto Cicilia for no other cause but to see Phocion the Philosopher who was his deere friend Cicero in his booke of Friendship sayth That the Philosophers do cōmend nothing more vnto vs nor wise men did esteeme of no riches more than of the conuersation of their friends because that without friends it is not lawfull for vs to liue nor yet very sure to die Aristorle being asked what friendship was answered That it was nothing else but one soule which ruled two hearts and one heart which did dwell in two bodies Diogenes sayth That seeing there is no greater paine than to deale with naughty men nor no greater comfort than to conuerse with good men for my owne part I confesse and say that I had rather die vvith him whom I hold for my friend than liue with him whome I esteeme my enemie Eschines the Philosopher being demanded how one friend should be towards another answered betwixt true friends there is but one yea and one
at the very instant that thy enemies appreheÌ„ded thee in the gardeÌ„ thou didst request nothing else at their hands but that they would take thee and set thy family at liberty In his last supper and in his last Sermon when he said Pater Father keepe them which beleeue in mee and such as will beleeue in me hee did well shew the loue which he bare vnto his family seeing hee praied vnto his Father for those which were already borne and for those which should be born afterwards for these which were absent and for those which were present as well for the dead as for those which were aliue O happy is that soule vvhich doth dwell in the family of the sonne of God seeing that hee loueth him before that hee is borne and vvhen hee is borne giueth him iustice and after his death glory The figure sayth further that all those of the kingdome of Palestine did greatly enuy the Patriarke Isaac and all his house not because hee had done them any hurt or vvrong but because hee vvas mightier than all they Sâ—neca in his booke of Anger sayth That there is no enuie more dangerous than that vvhich proceedeth of another mans prosperitie for as long as the good lucke of the one doth last the others enuy and malice is neuer at an end All the intent and purpose of an enuious man is to turne him backe vvhich goeth before beat downe him which is on high throw him downe which â—s more fortunate than himselfe discredite him vvho is in greater honour and empouerish him vvho is richer than himselfe Hâ—race sayth That the property of an enuious man is that as anothers prosperity dooth encrease so his enuy doth also grow whereof it followeth that because hee cannot abide him hee hateth him with his heart diffameth him vvith his tongue iniurieth him vvith his hands and stirreth vp also others against him Good Isaac did neuer hurt the Palestines his neighbours hee did neuer forray their mountaines nor eat vp their pastures nor violate their vviues nor speake euill against them nor breed any discord amongst them but did succour them as if they had bâ—en his brothers and entreat them as if they had been his children Yet notwithstanding all this being besotted and dronke with enuy and obstinate in malice they commanded good Isaac to goe out of the land forsake his vvealth and breake vp his houshold And further the people of Palestine not content vvith all this agreed by the consent of the people and by a clattering of a counsell to stop vp his vvels vvhich his seruants vsed and his flockes dranke of They could not haue shewed their malice nor bewraied their enuie more in any thing than in demming vp Isaacs vvels of vvater because that vvithout the element of vvater neither men can liue nor beast sustaine himselfe To come then vnto our purpose vvhat mortall man hath there euer been is or shall bee who hath been so much enuied as the sonne of the liuing God was What was the cause of such vntollerable enuie in the Israelites but his excellency in knowledge his skilfulnesse in learning his vprightnesse in iustice and the purity of his life The Iewes raged and were ready to hurt themselues to see Christ vtter such great mysteries of Scripture as hee did preach so many sermons vnto the people doe such strange miracles in the city preach publickly against vice and draw vnto his companie those which were alwaies accounted honest The Iews malice against Christ was greater than the Palestines against Isaac because they did nothing but command Isaac to go out of the land but the Iewes did not commaund Iesus but they themselues with their owne hands drew him out and not satisfied with that they agreed afterward to crucifie him They did shut vp the water where Isaac did drinke but they did open Iesus hands and side and therefore comparing hurt with hurt and losse vvith losse it was a greater losse to take Christs life from him than to take Isaacs vvater from him Is it not thinke you a greater hurt to open a mans vaines of bloud vvith the vvhich hee liueth than to shut vp a mans wels vvhereof hee drinketh If men shut vp my wels I open others if I haue no vvater I drinke vvine if they expell me out of this country I goe vnto another but if they draw my bloud from me vvho vvill giue me more bloud and if they breake my vains vvho vvill lend me others and if they take my life from mee vvho vvill helpe me vnto another Christ then vvas vvorser handled through enuy than Isaac for if Isaac did liue in honour he vvent away vvith honour and if he came aliue into the land he vvent away aliue but vvhat shall we say of holy and blessed Iesus vvhose family they did scatter abroad through enuy vvhose mother they seperated away from him vvhose bloud they shed vvhose doctrine they contaminated and vvhose fame they obscured and al through enuy and malice Chrisostome sayth As all the riches of man doth consist in his soule his credite his life and goods so the Pharisaicall enuy and malice did leaue Christ none of all these for they tooke his soule from him they discredited him in his fame they depriued him of his life and left him no goods at all How farre thinkest thou did all his goods reach but onely vnto a torne cassocke and a bare coat And yet most cursed enuy came and tooke the garments away from him and gaue the one vnto the hangmen which did put him to death and the other coat vnto the souldiers vvhich kept him What pouerty then in all the vvorld can bee equall vnto this vvhich Christ our Lord suffered hanging vpon the crosse seeing they haue drawne his soule from him shed his bloud bereaued him of his life and diuided his garments Although the enuy and malice vvhich the Palestines bare to Isaac vvere great yet they did neuer lay hands vpon him but they did lay hands vpon the sonne of God vvhen they did apprehend him they did lay their feet vpon him vvhen they did kicke him they did lay their tongue vpon him vvhen they did blaspheme him and they did lay their hearts vpon him vvhen they did hate him The Author continueth this matter and expoundeth another figure to this purpose TVlit mulier velamen expandit super â—s putei quasi siccans ptisanas sic latuit rex 2. Reg. chap. 17. For the better vnderstanding of these vvordes you must know that there vvere sent from Dauids campe two young men into Ierusalem to know vvhat determination and counsell Absalon and Achitophel had taken against Dauid to the intent that Chusi vvho vvas Dauids true friend and Absalons fained friend and yet dwelling vvith him might let Dauid vnderstand what Absalon purposed to do And as Chusi did send to these two yong men vvho vvere Achimaas and Ionathas Absalons determination a certaine young man had spied them neere
improba as if hee would say Many famous men in watres and learned in sciences haue been banished from Athens not for any fault which they committed but for malice conceiued against them the which were rather willing and glad to liue in banishment than to dwell in an vngratefull citie Valerius Maximus sayth That the most notablest man that the renowmed Lacedemonia did euer bring forth was that great Philosopher Lycurgus because among all those which liued before his time those which succeeded him there was none equall vnto him in knowledge nor none which went beyond him in life The Oracle of Pithius Apollo being asked in what reputation he did hold Lycurgus made answere I am very doubtfull vvhether I should put him among the number of men or place him among the companie of Gods Notwithstanding that the Oracle had giuen this high testimony of Lycurgus and that he was pure in his life eloquent in learning constant in paines and very wise in his lawes yet all these vertues and excellent gifts could not keepe him from proouing the vngratefulnesse of his thanklesse citizens And therefore they did not onely iniury him in words but also they did shew by cruell deeds the hatred which they bare him and the hurt which they wished him for once they burned his houses and another time they followed him with stones and another time they dashed out one of his eies another time they expelled him from among the people and in the end for a recompence and reward of gouerning that Commonwealth eight and thirtie years they banished him out of the country and so hee died Plautus sayth That there is no loue worse bestowed than that which is bestowed vpon an vngrateful man because that man loueth nothing at all who loueth an vngratefull man I haue spoken all this against the vice of vngratitude and vsed so many examples because euery man might perceiue what great reason God hath to complaine vpon vngratefull men for seeing that the Philosophers doe inueigh so bitterly against them it would be but small reason that they should be defended by Christians S. Cyprian sayth Christ doth complaine of our ingratitude because that for so great vnspeakable a benefite as he did for vs in dying vpon the crosse hee did not bind vs to follow him in that kind of death or that we should die for him by the sword but that which good Iesus did bind vs vnto is that we should haue his blessed passion in a remembrance and loue him with all our heart How shall any man sayth Barnard beleeue that thou wilt venter thy life for Christ and for his faith seeing thou doest not remember his death in all thy life If thou wilt sayth Vbertinus haue the death of Christ help thee in thy last houre remember that death of his euery day because the sonne of God doth alwaies take pittie vpon those in their last houre vvhich doe remember his passion in their life time Christ saith And my griefe is alwaies before my eies because that among all the griefes which are ingratitude is cause of the greatest of them and among all the sinnes and naughtinesse which are this is the greatest for if there were no vngratefull men vnto God there should bee no sinne at all in the world Christ doth cal the sinne of vngratefulnesse dolour and griefe because that hee is alwaies grieued with it for the griefe which hee had of the thornes is past his whipping had an end and the paine of the crosse dured no longer than his life did last but the griefe of ingratitude is renued in him daily Christ doth also say that the griefe which hee doth complaine of is his owne griefe Dolor meus by which louing speech he doth let vs vnderstand that he is much more grieued to see vs sinne than it grieueth vs to be sinners Why doth Christ say in his complaint my griefe and not our griefe but onely because that wee doe not feele so great paine and griefe when we are punished by him as good Iesus feeleth to thinke that he must punish vs. I would to God that it would please his diuine clemency that I were so sory to commit an offence as it doth grieue him to punish me for then I thinke that I should not know how to sinne nor God should haue nothing to punish He complaineth also that he doth not only suffer griefe but he sayth that that grief is alwaies in his sight and therefore because wee doe neuer giue ouer sinning it is certaine that his griefe of compassion wil neuer haue an end Cease then my brother and giue ouer sinning and then the paine which thou doest endure will presently haue an end When thou shalt heare vs say that God hath any griefe or paine thou must not thinke that it is a griefe or paine which hee suffereth but onely a most entire and louing compassion which he hath vpon vs. When the sonne of God sayth vpon the crosse vnto his Father Why hast thou forsaken mee the chiefest complaint that hee formeth in that place is because hee causeth him to suffer so cruell a passion for such vngratefull people CHAP. IX How the sonne of God complaineth vpon the Synagogue that hauing carried them vpon his backe yet they be vngratefull vnto him AVdite me domus Iacob residuum domus Israel qui portamini ab vtere meo vsque ad senectam God spake these words by the Prophet Esayas chap. 46 as if he would say Hear me now he are me all you of the house of Iacob and all you which haue escaped of the house of Israel giue credite vnto my words seeing that I am the God which carry you vpon my shoulders from the houre of your birth vntill your death Vnder these few words God doth touch very many great matters for first he beginneth to call them then he biddeth them giue eare then he saith that it is hee who calleth them then he noteth who they bee whom hee calleth then how vvell he loueth them when hee sayth Qui portamini ab vtero adsenectutem But we must note first of all in this place why the Lord doth seperate the house of Iacob frō the house of Israel and why hee doth call the house of Iacob an entire house and the house of Israel a broken and dissolued house for he sayth heare mee all you of the house of Iacob all you of the house of Israel which haue escaped and remaine If Iacob and Israell and Israel and Iacob bee all one thing and all one house fauing that one man had two names how vvas it possible for the one to stand the other to fal In very truth in old time all the Synagogue had but one God one people one linage one king one law but when they began to sinne and play the Idolaters our Lord did immediately deuide thē By the one house by the other are vnderstood the church and the Synagogue whereof the one which
doth tell vs in this authoritie when he sayth Quid vltra debut facere vincae meae and S. Paul when he said Tradit semetipsum pro me where the one speaketh of the great care which our Lord hath in gouerning and maintaining vs and the other of the bitter paine hee tooke in redeeming vs. Our Lord sayth very well what should I haue done more vnto my vineyard seeing that he tooke humane flesh for vs washed away our offences endued vs with his grace incorporated vs in his church and made vs capable of glory What should he hauedone more considering that he hath left vs his body to receiue his merites to help our selues with his Saints to imit-te his Gospel to keepe and his Sacraments for a medicine Quid vltra debus facere considering how he made our bodies of nothing created our soules to his owne likenesse giuen vs Angels to guard vs and bestowed all the earth vpon vs What should he do more seeing that hee hath commanded the sunne to giue vs light the earth to sustaine vs the fire to heat vs the water to wash vs the aire to recreate vs What should he doe more for vs seeing thâ—t ouer and aboue all other beasts hee hath giuen vs iudgement to discerne good from bad memory to rememberthings pâ—st and a will to loue that which is holy and good If these benefites doe seeme great vnto thee yet I tell thee further that he hath done more than this for thee which thou hast forgotten of which our Lord wil call for an account at the great day of his generall accounts What are these new sauours or when doth hee vnto vs any other good turnes but when hee turneth some dangerous hurt from vs Griefe of mind anxietie of heart feares of life suddaine passions touching our credite and fame with such like as are woont to assault vs euery minure of an houre although we thinke not on them so that if our Lord should not keepe vs with his mighty hand wee should liue with paine and die with perill What are those mischiefes which doe most of all weary vs and which are neuer from vs but dreadfull death vnspeakable griefe bitter teares extreame sorrow and vntollerable feare These fine dolours doe bait and ouerthrow all mortal men because they are so common among great men and so vniuersal among the meaner sort that vntill this day we haue known none exempted from them and wee haue heard of none who haue died and not tried them If euery man will examine his owne person he shall find it to bee true that he knoweth all these mischiefes and euils not by any science which hee hath heard but by experience within himselfe seeing that we see nothing else euery houre but euery man to weepe and bewaile his infinite paines and griefes And because we may not seeme that we doe speake at pleasure we will speake of euery word a little to bring thee to remembrance how euery one of these griefes is experimented in thy selfe As concerning the first which is death what mortall man was euer borne in this life whom death in the end hath not made an end of and put into his graue With this condition we come into the world and liue in the world that in the end wee must leaue the world and that by reason of a common law which he hath giuen vs. The second griefe are teares and what mortall man did euer liue in this world with such great ioy but hath wept at some time or other and that heartily Horace sayth That weeping is so naturall a thing vnto all mortall men that we be borne weeping liue weeping and die weeping Demosthenes sayth That a man hath need of a maister to learne all offices and duties vnlesse it be weeping because there is nothing wherof a man hath such abundance and plenty as of cares in his mind complaints in his tongue and teares in his eies The third paine is sorrow for what mortall man did euer attaine vnto such sure and quiet state of life that hee should neuer need to fetch at any time a deepe sigh O that it is well seene in the life of holy Iacob that to mourne sigh and weepe are offices and duties so annexed vnto the miserable life of man that we shall first see our selues dead than free from them The griefes which trouble our mindes are so many and the anxieties which charge our bowels are so huge and strong that lamenting and vvailing is taken for a remedy and sighing for a comfort and weeping for an ease because it happeneth often to afflicted minds that the more teares they shed the more ease their hearts receiue The fourth paine which is griefe what man hath euer beene so strong and healthy who hath not beene throwne downe with some sicknesse or beaten vvith some great affliction O that the Apostle said very well that vvee haue a treasure in fickle vessels seeing that vvee are so weake in strength and feeble of health that wee doe nothing but keepe our selues from the sunne least hee burne vs and from cold least it goe through vs and from the aire least it distemper vs from the vvater least it stop vs and from meat least vvee disgest it not Auerroes sayth That because these inferiour bodies are subiect vnto the superiour influences of the heauens they passe great perill and are endangered by the starres and planets for the elements often changing in themselues the bodies which are made of them doe also the like Of all the riches of this life there is none equall or to bee compared vnto health because that all other paines and griefes either time doth cure or discretion doth moderate The fist paine vvhich is feare vvhat mortall man had his heart euer so at rest that no feare hath euer come vpon him or in vvhome no suddaine passion hath raigned Menander sayth That of necessitie there must raigne in mens hearts mirth or sorrow loue or hatred paine or ease and hope or feare but of all these sorrow and hatred paine and feare are those which doe most of all raigne in our bowels because we see mirth and loue pleasure and hope either late or neuer come to our dore Cicero in his Commonwealth sayth put case that wee loue many things yet without comparison wee feare more thinges and that which is worst of all is that our loue doth change euery day but our feare doth neuer depart from vs. Plautus sayth How merry so euer our countenance bee and how full soeuer of laughter thy mouth bee and howsoeuer the tongue talketh yet neuerthelesse the sorrowfull heart is loaded with feare for hee feareth least his credite and honour shall bee taken from him or least they steale away his vvealth or least his life be neere an end or least that vvhich hee loueth should be long absent Xenophon saith What pleasure or contentment can raigne in any mortall mans heart seeing that wee suffer so many griefes
without vs and so many feares torment vs within vs. Loe then you see these fiue principal griefs prooued vnto you although it was not needfull to prooue them seeing wee see that all men doe die all men weep that all men are full of sorrow that all men complaine and that all men liue in feare If wee could happily meet with any man now adaies vvho would bind himselfe to keepe vs from these griefes and cure vs of these feares vvhat vvould vvee denie him or vvhat vvould vvee not giue him If we pay bountifully and bee thankfull vnto the Phisitian vvho doth cure vs of one griefe vvhat should vvee pay or giue him or what thankes should vvee render vnto him who vvould cure vs of all Verè languores nostros ipse pertulit dolores nostres ipse portauit sayth Esayas chapter 54. As if hee would say The Redeemer of the vvorld and the heire of all eternities vvas he vvho tooke our infirmities vpon himselfe and did load and burthen himselfe with all our griefes sorrows In old time Esculapius the inuenter of Phisick was much set by the Greekes esteemed of Hipocrates their first Phisitian the Thebanes of Anthony Musa their first surgeon and the Romanes of Archagnatus their first Phisitian whome they adored for a time like an Idoll and in the end stoned him in Campus Martius The Greekes the Romanes the Thebans had neuer such a Phisitian as wee Christians haue of Christ for all other Phisitions of the vvorld can but counsell vs but our great Phisition hath science to counsell experience to cure and power to heale S. Augustine sayth There was neuer any such manner of curing in the world as Christ brought with him because that all other Phisitions before his time if they found any man sicke they left him sicke and if they found him in paine they left him in paine but holy Iesus did neuer lay his band vpon any that was diseased but hee left him whole Hilarius sayth WheÌ„ the Gospell saith of Christ Totum hominem saluum fecit bee spake it not so much for corporall infirmities as hee did for spirituall diseases the which are woont to proceed not of corrupted humours but of sinnes vvhich had taken root S. Ambrose sayth The sonne of God did then heale me of all my griefes when he tooke them vpon himselfe for seeing that they had such possession of me so long time rooted and wxt old in me how was it possible that any man should take them from me if hee had not cast them vpon himselfe Hee did cast my death vpon himselfe when he did die vpon the crosse hee did cast my sorrow vpon himselfe when he was in his agonie he did cast my teares vpon himselfe vvhen hee did vveepe for my sinnes hee did load my griefe vpon his owne backe when hee did taste vineger and gaule and hee did take my feare vpon himselfe when he did feare death like a man When a temporall Phisitian commeth to visite a sicke person hee dooth comply with him by taking him by the pulse and by giuing him a regiment of life and if hee find him to haue an ague hee leaueth him vvith it insomuch that they may better bee called counsellours seeing they doe giue counsell onely than Phisitians seeing they cure not God forbid that any such thing should bee said of our Phisitian seeing that from the time that he came down from heauen to cure the world he himselfe became sicke cured him who was sick and he who was sicke did rise vp aliue and the Phisitian remained there dead and the reason of that was because he changed the health which he brought with him with the sicknesse which the other had O that this exchange was a glorious and happy exchange which thou diddest make with me good Iesus seeing that thou didst change thy goodnesse for my naughtinesse thy clemency for my iustice thy health for my infirmity thy innocency for my malice and thy paine and punishment for my fault And because we haue made mention before of fiue notable paines euils with the which all mortall men are beaten and afflicted it is reason that wee see in this place how the sonne of God did bear our weaknesses vnburdening vs of them and burdening himselfe with them Verè languores nostros ipse pertulit when he said in the garden of Gethsemani my soule is heauy vnto death for with those dolefull words he loaded his soule wâ—â—h my heauinesse and did vnload vpon me all his ioy WheÌ„ did our ioy begin but in his greatest sorrow So long as God did not know by experience what sorrow was we did neuer know what mirth was and from that day that hee began to weepe we began to laugh Hee did truly take our infirmiries vpon him when good Iesus vpon his knees in the garden said vnto his Father Transeat a me calix iste for in that agonie hee did cast all my feare vpon himselfe to the end that I should afterward be lesse timorous Before that God tooke flesh he was feared of all men and did feare no man and wicked man did feare all things and was feared of no body but since the time that Christ like a fearefull man said my soule is sorrowfull and heauy there is no reason that we should fear any thing for his feare was sufficient to make all the world couragious S. Barnard vpon that saying Cum ipso sum in tribulatione sayth Seeing that thou doest bind thy selfe O good Iesus by these words to be alwaies at hand with me and to be by my side when I shall be afflicted and persecuted why or for what cause or whereof should I bee afeard There is no cause to feare the flesh seeing that thou diddest make thy selfe flesh there is no cause to feare the deuill seeing that thou hast ouercome him there is no cause to feare sinne because thou hast brought it to an end there is no cause to feare the world because thou hast ouercome it there is no cause to feare man seeing thou hast redeemed him neither will I feare thee O my good Iesus but loue thee Before that thou diddest make thy selfe man I was man who did feare now I am he who is feared sinne doth feare mee because I admit him not the flesh feareth mee because I cherish him not the diuell feareth me because I beleeue him not and the world feareth me because I follow him not He did then truly take our infirmities vpon him when as vpon the altar of the crosse he did crie with a loud voice and many teares and when hee praied and shed many teares with the which hee did wash away our offences He did then take our infirmities vpon him when as in the last houre he did yeeld vp his ghost Inclinato capite accepting the death which his Father did offer him to transferre life into vs. Damascen sayth From what time did we loose the shame of death but since Christ
come into the world condemned to death Zaram onely who was the figure and the sonne of God who was the thing figured were those who had their finger tied with a coloured thred because he and no other was to die for the world and redeeme vs out of sinne What other meaning had the thred of scarlet sauing onely the shedding of his precious bloud The difference betwixt thee O my sweet Iesus and other condemned persons is this that they are tied in a hempen cord and thou in a thred of scarlet and they about the necke and thou about the finger and they are lead to be hanged and thou to be crucified A thiefe is led away bound with a great tope because he is drawne to death by force but the sonne of God is tied with a small fine thred because hee dieth not by force but of his owne free will for if it were not his good pleasure so to doe neither the Angels nor men nor the diuels were able to put him to death O high mystery O diuine Sacrament who euer saw or heard that before a child were borne or knew what sinne was yet that he should come out of his mothers wombe already condemned What mercy can be compared vnto this that before his mother should giue him milke to sucke his owne father threatened him that he should die crucified Elegit suspendium anima mea ossa mea mortem nequaquam vltra iam viuam saith Iob chap. 7. And he spake them when his children were dead and his body plagued and his goods lost and himself vpon the dunghill and it is as if hee would say My paines and dolours doe so narrowly beset mee about and my griefe is come to that bitternesse that my soule hath chosen to be hanged and my life to come at an end because I am a weary to suffer any longer and doe loath my life Such pittifull complaines as these are and such tender vvordes cannot proceed but from an afflicted and grieued heart and from a man which desireth death Because it is the property of one which is distressed to complaine vnto all those which comfort him fill himselfe with weeping with all those which come to visite him What else would holy Iob say when he sayth Elegit suspendium anima mea ossa mea mortem but that his soule desired to bee hanged and his bones chuse death and his life to bee at an end O holy man thou hast nothing left thee but thy soule and wouldest thou haue it hanged nothing left but thy bones and doest thou desire to haue them dead thou hast nothing left but thy life and vvouldest thou loose it Thou must vnderstand my good brother that Iob did not speake these dolefull vvordes in his owne name but in Christs name vnto vvhome this speech dooth most properly belong Because that from the beginning of the vvorld vntill this day there vvas neuer soule so sorrowfull as his nor neuer body so martyred as his vvas Saint Chrisostome vpon these vvords of the Apostle Fidelis deus qui non permittit nos tentari vltra id quod possumus sayth thus Our Lord is very faithfull and pittifull because hee tempteth no man aboue that vvhich hee is able to suffer nor suffereth no man to haue greater paine than he is able to beare the sonne of God excepted onely vpon vvhome the Father laid in the iudgement of men torment and paine not able to bee indured and withall innumerable temptations What vvilt thou require more in this case but that God the Father laid martyrdome vpon Saints by ownces but vpon his blessed sonne by great loads and burdens Whaâ— great distresse vvas his soule in thinke you and vvhat griefe did oppresse his heart vvhen hee sighed for the gallowes and his body desired his graue When did thy soule desire to bee hanged but vvhen thou diddest crucifie thy blessed humanity vpon the crosse when did thy bones couet death but vvhen thou diddest loose thy life for the elects sake When the Scripture sayth Elegit Hee did chuse it is signified that thou diddest die willingly for vs and when he saith Suspendium his death was signified and withall his determination which he had to redeeme the world and that our redemption should be hanged vpon the tree And vvhen he sayth Ossa mea the multitude of people is set forth which were at his death as well the good as the bad the quicke as the dead the good to see themselues redeemed by him and the bad to see themselues reuenged of him All humane pains are brought vnto three principall heads that is to the trouble and trauell of the body to the griefe and sorrow of the mind and to the losse of life These vexations are woont to happen at diuerse times and also be deuided and laid vpon diuerse persons and hee who hath griefe of body feeleth no sorrow of mind and if hee haue anguish of mind yet not so great that it should take his life from him because our Lord is so pittiful that hee dooth not looke vnto the multitude of our offences but vnto the vveakenesse of our forces God was more pittifull vvith all mankind than vvith his owne only sonne considering that hee gaue other men their troubles and paines by peeces and vnto his sonne all at once For hee gaue him sorrow and griefe of mind seeing hee sayth My soule hath chosen to bee hanged and hee gaue him the paines of the body seeing hee sayth that his bones desired death and hee tooke away his life considering that hee sayth Iam non viuam What vnspeakable sorrow and what sea of tempest should tosse and vexe that blessed soule vvhen hee said My soule hath chosen to bee hanged that is that it vvould bee a comfort vnto him to bee crucified What cruell griefe should crush his bones when hee said and my bones death thinking it an ease to see his bones in their graue rather than to suffer such intollerable torment What a iest did they make of his doctrine and how little did they regard his person seeing hee sayth I vvill liue no longer that is that hee vvould forsake vs because vvee are incorrigible and because vvee doe not deserue his company hee vvill not bestow his grace among vs. This speech may otherwise bee very vvell vnderstood because the time vvhich hee did suffer and die in did take from him all that might mittigate his paine and comfort his heart No other Martyr could euer say My soule hath chosen hanging because there vvas none of them vvhich vvanted comfort in their sorrows and helpe in their pains and aboue all this vvas a great comfort to them to thinke for how good a maister they suffered and vvhat a great reward they expected for their martyrdome That vvhich did comfort Martyrs in their Martyrdome did discomfort Christ in his passion For if hee did die it vvas for a lost and peruerse nation and the reward hee looked for
was perpetuall ingratitude because there was neuer so great a matter performed as when Christ died because vve should liue and yet there vvas neuer deed so vngratefully requited as his death was by vs. Saint Barnard sayth O good Iesus O my soules ioy Art thou not content to loose thy life for my life but that thy sorrow and griefe should continue also vntill they take thy soule from thee vpon the crosse If the sonne of God had said only Tristis est anima mea it had beene tollerable but to say Vsque ad morteÌ„ it is a thing not to be any way indured For it was only he and no other in whom the paine ended at the same time that his soule departed from him Cyprian saith That by this speech Vsque ad mortem the son of God dooth bind himselfe to die sorrowfully and comfortles taking no ease at all in his passion because there was no portion of the inferiour part which griefe did not wholly possesse nor any bone in all his bodie vvhich vvas not brused and broken with griefe and paine Christ sayth Eleg it suspendium anima mea because that as all the time that hee liued in this vvorld hee kept the glory of his soule in suspence because it should not fall vpon his body so at the time of his passion hee did keepe his reason in suspence because it should not comfort his soule For if Christ vvould haue giuen his glorious soule license to impart some small sparkle of her glory vnto the body hee had neuer been comfortlesse and if hee would haue giuen license vnto his reason to haue comforted him in his passion hee should neuer haue felt his passion so sharpe and bitter But because our redemption should bee more copious and aboundant hee would admit no comfort nor consolation at all Ne fortitudo lapidum fortitudo mea nee caro mea sayth holy Iob As if hee vvould say O great God doe not punish mee so rigorously nor shew thy selfe so cruell against mee because my heart is not so hard as a stone to feele no paine nor my flâ—sh as hard as copper that no torments are able to hurt it Hee who spake these words did craue aid for his griefe and fauour for his anguish seeing hee did confesse that his heart vvas not able to beare them nor his strength able to sustaine them There are some men so sencelesse that they feele no kind of tribulation no more than if their hearts vvere made of stone and contrary there are some of so tender a nature that if a man doe but touch their coat they crie out that they may bee heard vnto heauen in so much that the first like vnto beasts feele nothing and the other like impatient men neuer cease crying When the holy man sayth That his heart vvas not like a heart of stone hee meant that hee did feele all tribulation and anguish euen vnto the heart and vvhen hee said that his flesh vvas not made of copper or brasse his meaning was that although he did feele all tribulation yet hee did neuer complaine of it in so much that if hee did feele it as a man yet hee did dissemble it like a wise man S. Gregory in his Morals saith Iob doth very wisely vnder these vvords shew vs the manner how bad men and good men doe suffer their anguish and hee compareth those which feele no tribulation vnto a stone and those which complaine on them alwaies vnto sounding copper for indeed hee who feeleth no griefe at all is like vnto a stone and to feele it and hold his peace is the part of him who is wise and discreet Christs heart vvas not of stone because hee should not feele neither was his flesh of copper to complaine for hee did feele all paine and anguish more than any man and did suffer it better than any for in all the time of his passion he did neuer complaine vpon any when hee suffered nor did neuer command a reuenge to bee taken on any when he died CHAP. XIII How the son complaineth of his Father because that he had condemned him to die before that Iudas had sold him QVare me posuisti contrarium tibi factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis These words are vttered by holy Iob in the person of the sonne of God speaking vnto his Father vpon the crosse their meaning is this O my Father why art thou so contrary vnto me as if I were thy enemy doth it not content thee that for my friends sake I am grieuous vnto my selfe and complaine on my selfe It is an ordinary thing to see one man complaine vpon another and to see me complaine vpon my selfe is no new thing but to complaine on thee and my selfe at once is a hard case for although my tongue can count my griefes and tribulations yet my heart cannot suffer them If Christ did complaine of Herod for mocking him or of Pilate for giuing sentence on him it was no maruell but to complaine on his Father it seemeth that there is no patience able to endure it For seeing that hee should haue defended him it seemeth a very hard part to suffer him to bee crucified The sonne of God dooth frame two great complaints in these wordes the one of his eternall Father the other of himselfe and therefore it is very conuenient that we declare how the eternall Father did send his sonne to die and how hee himselfe went to suffer on the crosse and in so doing wee shall find that the one did that which hee did moued therevnto with charity and the other to suffer that which hee suffered was mooued with pitty Qui proprio filio non pepercis sed pro omnibus nobistradidit illum saith S. Paul and his meaning is this The loue which God bare vnto all the world was so exceeding great that he would not pardon the death of his owne proper sonne but would haue him crucified for all Being as he was his naturall sonne his only sonne and so holy a sonne and so welbeloued a sonne was it not a thing most wonderfull that hee would suffer him to be crucified Dauid had many sonnes besides Absalon and yet when the captaine Ioab had slaine him in field Dauid was almost besides himselfe and cried out O my sonne Absalon O my sonne Absalon who will doe mee the fauour to kill me and restore me thee again He that gaue such sorrowful words for the death of a sonne would he not thinke you haue powred out farre more pittifull lamentations if he had been handled as Christ was crucified To haue killed a seruant for to saue his sonne any Father would haue done but to kill his sonne for to saue his seruant onely the Father of Christ did who hauing no other sonne but him gaue them him as freely to be carried to be crucified as if they had led him to be crowned Damascen sayth The eternall Father did well know that our businesse could not
I am making O from my selfe then God desend me When such graue and wise men doe complaine on themselues wee haue small reason to trust to our selues because a wise man should distrust none more than himselfe I will iustly say Factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis for if I bee in the kings displeasure I forsake his countrey if I am pursued by iustice I flie from it if I be troubled with a naughty neighbour I remoue into another street but hauing my owne proper wil to my enemy how should I possibly flie from my selfe Who will not say I am made grieuous vnto my selfe seeing that within my owne heart I harbour loue and hatred contentment and discontment my will and my nill my liking disliking my ioies and my griefes and also my delight and my sorrow For my owne part I say and confesse that I am grieuous vnto my selfe considering that I vvillingly would that I had no such vvill for pride doth puffe mee vp enuy dooth consume mee gluttony doth wast mee anger causeth mee hatred incontinency dooth disquiet mee in so much that if I doe abstaine from sinne it is not because I haue not a vvill vnto it but because I am vveary and can sinne no more O how true it is Quòd factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis for if I bee sicke it is because I haue eaten too much if I bee poore it is because I tooke my pleasure too much if I bee imprisoned it is because I haue stolne if I bee sad it is for that I loued if I bee ashamed it is for somewhat that I haue coÌ„mitted if I be disconteÌ„ted it is through my own choise and if I haue committed an errour in my owne choise whom should I blame but my selfe If the truth bee well examined there is no man who ought to be more grieued with any man than with himselfe for as of one part we doe nothing else but complaine of the troubles and trauels which we suffer so on the other part we our selues doe continually seeke them If it be true that I am grieuous vnto my selfe with whome shall I haue a good peace if I my selfe doe make warre against my selfe Who shall deale with me that I bee not grieuous and troublesome seeing that I my selfe cannot bee content vvith my selfe By what meanes can I possibly set my neighbours at one if my sensuality and reason doe bandy one against the other Who vntill this day hath euer had more cruell enemies against him than I haue now of my owne thoughts and desires considering that they draw me to that which is good afeared and amazed and vnto that which is vvicked vvith great confidence and boldnesse I doe conclude then and say that considering the time which I lose and the small profite which I make the care I haue in sinning and careleslenes I haue in amending the great goodnesse I receiue at God his hands and how little I serue him the euill which I doe and the good which I hinder I am greatly ashamed to liue very sore afraid to die The end of the fourth word which Christ our redeemer spake vpon the Crosse Here beginneth the fift of the seuen words which the sonne of God spake vpon the Crosse to wit Sitio that is I am a thirst CHAP. I. Why the sonne of God did bid all those which were a thirst come vnto him and yet said vpon the crosse that he himselfe was a thirst SCiens Iesus quia omnia consummata sunt vt consummaretur Scriptura dicit Sitio These are one of the seuen words which Christ spake vpon the crosse which S. Iohn rehearseth in the 19 chapter as if he would say The sonne of God knowing that all that touched the redemption of all the world was now finished hauing an intention that all the scripture should be accomplished he spake the fift word saying Sitio that is I am a thirst Christ did well know that it was written in the Psalme In siti mea potauerunt me aceto seeing that to fulfill the Scripture he suffered that great thirst to the end that all the mysteries should bee accomplished vvhich were prophecied of his death The Prophets had prophecied many things in Christs name which hee should doe when hee came into the world among the which they had prophecied that he should suffer very great thirst and therefore to say that he had thirst to fulfill the Scripture was to say that hee did suffer that torment to vngage his vvord Christ did deale like a friend with all the Prophets and holy men of old time considering that to the cost of his life and great trauell of his holy person he did accomplish and fulfill all that which they had laid downe in Scripture to the great credite of the Prophets and great glory of holy writ and with the great trauell of his owne person Christ said preaching that there was no tittle no point nor sentence of holy Scripture vvhich should not be fulfilled according vnto the letter The first mystery of the incarnation Ecce virgo conciptes was fulfilled litterally seeing himselfe vvas a virgine and borne of a virgine and also the last mystery of his passion was accomplished litterally Dederunt in escam meam fel in siti mea potauerunt me aceto Seeing that they gaue him vpon the crosâ—e gaule and vineger to drinke What did Christ meane when he said that to fulfill the Scripture hee had such great thirst but that hee might now freely depart and goe out of this vvorld seeing that all the redemption was ended and the Scripture accomplished The simple Reader ought not to imagine that the sonne of God would not haue come into the world nor redeemed the world nor endured this torment and thirst if it had not been written in the Prophets for hee must learne that the Scriptures are tied vnto Christ and not Christ vnto the Scriptures because that they should not haue been written if hee should not haue been borne and crucified and yet he should haue been borne and crucified although the scripture had not spoken it Venerable Beed sayth Seeing that all Christs actions are great and those of his death and passion most great it is much to be noted and to bewondered at why it was the pleasure of the sonne of God that his thirst should be his last work and that he would depart out of this life with great thirst S. Augustine sayth The last griefe and paine which Christ suffered was his thirst the last complaint which hee made vvas of his thirst and the last request vvhich hee made vvas for a cup of vvater and the last torment vvhich he endured vvas of the gaule vineger and mire vvhich hee dranke because that immediately after that hee had tasted of that cup he gaue vp his ghost vnto his Father Seeing therfore that this thirst is the last torment the last request the last complaint and the last vvorke that Christ did in
this vvorld it is conuenient that vvee tell vvho hee is vvho suffereth this thirst vvhere hee dooth suffer it for vvhome hee doth suffer it and at vvhat time he doth suffer it Hee vvho suffereth is Christ the place vvhere is vpon the crosse I am hee for vvhose sake hee suffered it the time vvas vntill death insomuch that with the same great thirst vvhich hee endured his soule vvas drawne and pulled out of his body The high mysteries of the crosse of Christ may vvell bee compared vnto the eating of Pine-apples and their kernels the vvhich the oftener they be cast into the fire and taken out the more kernels they yeeld to eat and more huske to burn That which happeneth vnto the labourer vvith those Pines and kernels dooth happen vnto vs in these diuine mysteries in the vvhich the more vvee thinke vpon the passion and crosse the more secrets vvee discouer and the more mysteries vvee find Cyprian sayth That vvhich men dispose of a little before their death is alwaies of greater importance than that vvhich vve deale vvith in our life time because it is done vvith greater heed prouided for with deeper consideration ordered vvith better discretion rated and determined vvith better conscience No man did euer dispose better of his life and soule than Christ did of his owne person and the church because hee disposed of them vvith more care than Iacob vvth more pittie than Isaac with more discretion than Iosue vvith greater wisedome than Dauid and greater bounty and liberality than Salamon Mulier da mihi bibere said Christ to the Samaritane vvoman As if hee vvould say Giue mee a cup of vvater good woman because thou seest that I am weary of the way and very thirsty When Christ said vnto the woman Da mihi bibere and also when he said vpon the crosse I am a thirst it was a signe that he had been a thirst many daies and also many yeares and very desirous to quench his thirst with water That which Christ sayth in the 7 of Saint Iohn seemeth to bee very contrary vnto this If any man bee a thirst let him come vnto mee Vpon a solemne day of Easter Christ cried publikely in the market place If any man bee a thirst let him come vnto mee O high mystery and deepe secret who is able to vnderstand that which Christ sayth in this place seeing that sometime hee asketh the Samaritane woman for a little water and on the crosse hee sayth that he dieth with thirst and yet on the other side hee maketh open proclamation that all vvhich bee thirsty should come vnto him How can these two speeches hang together Woman giue mee some drinke and this If any man bee a thirst let him come vnto mee Doest thou inuite all men to come to drinke at thy Tauerne and hast thou not a cup of water for to quench thy owne thirst For the better vnderstanding of this it is to bee noted that God doth take some things of vs and yet there are some things which God doth giue vnto vs which is easily perceiued in that hee tooke flesh of vs when hee would become man and yet if wee vvill become pure and holy hee must impart his grace vnto vs. This being so vvhen Christ sayth If any man bee a thirst let him come vnto mee hee doth giue vs to vnderstand that hee is the fountaine of grace of the vvhich vvee should all drinke of and vvhen hee sayih Woman giue mee some drinke he doth let vs also vnderstand that there are some things in vs of the which hee would bee serued vvithall When the sonne of God sayth If any man bee thirsty let him come vnto mee to vvhat vvater thinkest thou doth he inuite thee but vnto the water of his grace and of his glory And when hee sayth vnto the Samaritane woman giue me drinke what water thinkest thou did he ask but onely patience and obedience Christ doth inuite vs to drinke of his great goodnesse and fauours and hee craueth of vs of the water of the pooles of our poore seruice saying Da mihi bibere in so much that to shew the great loue which hee doth beare vnto his creatures hee faineth that hee hath need of their seruices S. Barnard vpon those wordes of the Psalme Sitiuit anima mea ad deum fontem viuum sayth O what a great difference there is betwixt the thirst of the good and the bad because the bad thirst after nothing but wickednesse and the good after vertues the bad after temporall things and the good after spirituall the one after sinne and the other after amendment so that all the thirst of the wicked is after sinne and the thirst of the good after salnation Basil vpon the Psalme sayth The Prophet vvould neuer haue said My soule hath thirsted after God a liuely spring if hee could haue found the fountayne of glory in this vvorld and the vvater of grace in this life But alasse of how many vvaters soeuer wee drinke of and how many waters soeuer wee seeke for wee shall neuer meet with the water of life vntill vvee come to enioy the diuine essence Hugo de sancto victore vpon the Psalme sayth All the thinges of this life are drie fountaines and dead waters conrary all things of glory are fresh fountaines and water of life for there and not here vvee shall liue all contented and not thirst at all All which liue in this vvorld liue in hunger and thirst because all the vices vvhich wee like of doe hurt and not profite make vs sorrowfull and not ioifull vveary and not recreate vs loath and not fill vs. What vicious man is there in the world who the more he doth giue himselfe to vice is not the more thirsty after them Let not the Deuill deceaue thee my brother in saying I vvill now cloy and glut my selfe vvith vice for the more thou doest eat and drinke and bee merry although thou doe seeme to bee fully satisfied yet thou art not so but onely a vveary Saint Barnard vpon the Passion of our Lord sayth What dooth it meane that the sonne of God went out of this vvorld dead with thirst but onely that there is nothing in this world that can quench the thirst of our soule Anselmus sayth How is it possible O my good Iesus how is it possible that I should liue in the vvorld contented and fully satisfied seeing that thou diddest depart out of it hungry and thirsty S. Ierome vpon S. Luke saith All that the vvorld doth giue vs to quench our thirst withall is but vineger and all that hee giueth vs to mittigate our hunger is but gaule the which thinges being vvell prooued doe take away our life and not our thirst Robertus vpon Saint Iohn sayth That for the son of God to die vvith thirst is to let vs vnderstand that haue we neuer so many dignities let vs heap vp neuer so much riches and let vs proue neuer so many vices
are predestinated and he shall be placed in the kingdome of heauen Saint Augustine saith in a Sermon As the sonne of God did command vs to keepe new precepts so he did promise vs new rewards for it and as hee gaue great commandements so hee gaue great rewards wherevpon it is that vntil hee came into the world no man commanded that which hee commanded nor no man promised that which he promised Christ said not in vaine Ecce noua facio omnia but because hee instituted the Sacrament which was a hard thing to reach vnto and commanded vs to beleeue the blessed Trinity which is a high matter to vnderstand willed vs to beleeue him both God man which is a new thing to bee receiued charged vs to loue our enemies which is a hard matter to doe and commanded vs to keepe his law only which was a new thing in the world to doe S. Thomas in his book against the Gentiles sayth That as the sonne of God did not command those of the old law to beleeue great things so he did not promise them but small things and because hee commanded his chosen Christians to beleeue hard things and performe things which were not easily done he promised that they should possesse and emoy very high rewards To come then vnto the text of Vestimentis pignoratis c. It is to bee noted that as the seruice of the iust was to bee done here vpon earth and the reward which they are to receiue to be giuen aboue in heauen because wee should not thinke that hee mocked vs in deferring our paiment to the other world his pleasure was to leaue vs a good gage and pledge in this world vntill he should reward vs for our good life in heauen The pledges which Christ left vs in this world were his precious garments his holy works and his most holy Sacraments Why did Christ thinkest thou leaue vs so many pledges in this life but because hee will vnpawne them afterward aboue in his glory In his glory aboue all those pledges shall bee taken away and haue an end because that in heauen we shall need to hope for nothing because we shall see that with our eies which now we desire nor we shall haue nothing to beleeue because there shall be nothing hidden wee shall haue no cause to feare because there shall bee no death wee shall need to aske for nothing because life is there euerlasting neither shal we desire any thing seeing that glory is there perpetuall O how happie be all Christian people seeing they haue not only Christs garments for a pledge and hostage but also Christ himselfe remaining with vs vnder the visible signs of the Sacrament vntil he giue himselfe vnto vs in heauen glorified Let no man maruell to heare vs say that we haue Christ for a pledge pawne for that which his Father promised vs seeing that the Apostle saith also that we haue the Holy ghost for a pledge for that which the son commanded vs Ipse est pignus haereditatis meae as if he would say God the eternal Father hath giuen vs the gifts of the holy Ghost and all the garments and merites of his sonne for a pledge of that which hee hath promised vs and this no longer but vntill hee will carry vs to his eternall glory and giue vs the fruition of his diuine essence What Christian is there who will bee afraid to loose himselfe and not haue a hope to saue himselfe hauing as wee haue for an assurance of our saluation as Christs robes in pawne and the gifts of the Holy ghost in hostage Super vestimentis pignoratis all holymen doe leane when they ioine their workes with Christs workes for all that we doe is little worth vnlesse we tie it vnto Christs merits It is to be weighed that the Prophet Osee did not see the garments by themselues and elbowes by themselues but garments with elbowes and elbowes with garments to giue vs to vnderstand that we cannot merite with our own works and that Christ wil not alwaies saue vs by himselfe by reason whereof it is necessary that wee fasten our armes vpon his workes and that he sticke his workes vpon our elbows armes CHAP. V. Where is brought a sigure of Tobias and declared to the purpose EXentera hunc piscem cor eius fel iecur repone tibi Tobias 6 chap. The Angell Raphael spake these words vnto young Tobias as if hee would say Crie not nor bee not afraid of this fish but take him out of the water flay him cut him in the middle and take out his heart his gaule and liuer and keepe it all for thy selfe because it is all very medicinable to cure a sicke man The story of Tobias is very well knowne to the learned in Scripture When he sent his young sonne Tobias to Rages a towne of the Medes for the recouering of tenne markes of siluer which he had lent his friend Gabelus when hee was captiue in Babilon and when yong Tobias came to the riuer Tygris to wash his feet there came foorth a very great fish to the banck side toward him with such boldnesse as if hee would haue eaten and swallowed him vp before that hee could flie from him When the Angell saw the fiercenesse of this fish and the great feare that the youth was stroke into hee began to encourage him saying Feare not the fish because the fish ought rather to be afraid of thee and therefore it is necessary that thou do by him that which he would haue done to thee because another cannot recouer health before this fish bee killed Tobias tooke heart by the encouragement of the Angell and fastening on the fish by the gilles drew him out of the water and stripped him and tooke out his heart and his gaule and his liuer as the Angell his master had commanded him to doe Now that Tobias fear was past when the fish was dead and drawne he said vnto his Angell Tell mee brother Azarias to what purpose thou diddest command mee to keepe the fishes heart gaule and liuer and diddest not bid me eat at all of him To this the Angell answered Thou must vnderstand my sonne Tobias that this thy iourney and this chance which hath befaln vnto thee wanteth not a great mystery as hereafter it shall appeare But for the present let it suffice thee to know that the meat of this fish is good for trauailers to eat of and the heart good to cast out diuels and the gaule good to heale the blind and the liuer soueraine for to cure other externall diseases There are presented vnto vs many deepe mysteries in this figure if it may please God to giue mee the knowledge to expound them for in it is set foorth the wonderfull death which the sonne of God suffered and the inspeakeable fruit and benefite vvhich vvee receiue by it Here is to bee vnderstood who Tobias is vvhich taketh the iourney what the fish
is which put him into a fright what garbish he tooke from him what skin he stripped him of what is the flesh which hee broiled what is the heart which hee tooke out of him what the liuer and vvhat the gaule which hee kept Although wee speake but a word on euery word yet this seemeth to bee a figure full of great secrets To come then to the point who is Tobias who goeth to recouer his fathers goods but onely all mankind who goeth euery day a iourney to recouer the grace which his father Adam lost Dum sumus in seculo peregrinamur ad dominum sayth the Apostle As long as vvee liue in this mortall vvorld no man can say that hee hath a dwelling place or neighbour but onely that hee is a pilgrime and a way-faring man and the end of our iourney and pilgrimage is to seeke for the grace vvhich our first father lost vs and the glory which our eternall father promised vs. Then wee say a man is a pilgrime when he maketh no abode any where but goeth on and staieth no longer in a place than hee can get necessaries for his iourney If vvee aske a man what hee doth it is an ordinary answere to say that hee either plaieth or doth his businesse or some such like which in truth is not so but his better answere is to say that he wasteth and consumeth himselfe and that he is a dying for a mans life goeth away in playing and labouring Seneca sayth Doth not thy life thinkest thou goe away seeing that euery houre thy life is an houre shorter and euery day a day shorter Saint Augustine vpon the Apostles words sayth If a man be asked how old he is or what yeares hee hath he is wont to answere either thirty or fortie or such like which is cleane contrary vnto that which hee should answere for hee should not say he hath so many yeares but that he wanteth so many yeares for if he haue any years at all it bee those which hee looketh for for as for those which are past they are now none of his The Philosopher saith that De tempore non habemus nisi Nunc Whereby hee meaneth that wee haue no time but the present moment because that the time past is already gone and the time to come is vncertain Cicero de senectute sayth What hath a man that hath liued an hundred yeares but only time lost a grieued heart a weary body smal help a loathing life a vading credite and death at his gates O how well the Apostle sayth As long as wee bee in this world Peregrinamur ad dominum seeing that by how much the more wee increase in age so much the more vvee decrease in life And to say the truth to die young or to die old is nothing else but to come to our Inne betimes or late Remigius sayth The Apostle doth call vs pilgrimes and strangers with great reason because he seeth that we haue no goods in this world which are proper to our selues for if euery man would leaue that which were another bodies for a certaine he should be left very naked For sayth Alchimius the Philosopher if the sheep should take thy garments from thee the kine thy shoes the worms thy silke the earth thy linnen the vines thy wine the corne thy bread the trees their fruit the fountaynes their waters tell mee I pray thee of thy selfe and by thy selfe what shouldst thou haue what shouldest thou be worth or what shouldest thou bee able to doe Horace sayth to this purpose Be not prowd like a lion nor exasperate thy selfe like an ounce for if euery one would take from thy house person that which is his there would be no liuing creature more base thā thou seeing that thou hast neither industry to maintaine thy selfe nor weapons to defend thy selfe Wee haue said all this to proue that if Tobias was a pilgrime wee are also pilgrimes But alas alas hee is accompanied with the good Angel who keepeth him and we compassed with a thousand enemies vvhich besiege vs. Doe not wee trow you take our voiage beset with a thousand perils and hindered with as many troubles considering that the deuill doth tempt vs the flesh molest and prouoke vs the world deceiue vs friends faile vs our heart sorroweth our health decaieth and our life daily shorteneth The figure sayth that as Tobias went on his iourney the fish came to the bancke to swallow him vp whereof in the end hee receiued more profite than feare insomuch that by the same fish of vvhich hee thought hee should haue beene deuoured his father receiued remedy What was that great fish of which Tobias thought he should haue been deuoured but only the sonne of the eternall God vvhen he came to redeeme the vvorld The fish vvas bred in the bottome of the riuer and the sonne of God was borne in the bosome of the eternall Father and how deepe soeuer the riuer Tygris vvas yet the sea of the diuine essence is farre more deeper Augustine in his booke of the Trinity sayth Wilt thou see how much more deeper the eternity of the Father and of his sonne is than the sea For it is possible to empty the sea for all his greatnesse but for the secrets of the holy Trinity it is impossible fully to vnderstand The fishe comming out of the vvater droue young Tobias into a great feare but Christ caused a greater feare when hee came into the vvorld seeing the Angels bowed themselues the kings adored him the starres vvere changed the Iewes were mooued and the deuils vvere aseard The feare vvhich the fish put Tobias in continued but halfe an houre but the fear which Christ put the vvorld in dureth vntill this day for being afeard and amazed the Iews and Pagans cannot yet persuade themselues that Christ should be the God whō they should beleeue in and the Lord which shall iudge them When that fish went out of the riuer to the bancke of two which were there present the one which was the Angel knew him the other which was Tobias was afeard and euen so in like maner when the sonne of God came downe from heauen vnto the earth the Synagogue was scandalized and the church receiued him in so much that according vnto old Simeons prophecie this diuine fish came to the shore of the world for the resurrection of the good and the scandale of the wicked Praeparauit dominus piscem grandem vt deglutiret Ionam sayth the holy Scripture Ionas 2. As if hee would say At the very instant when the cruell Marriners did cast the Prophet Ionas into the bottome of the sea immediately our Lord prepared a great fish which swallowed him aliue and which kept him in his bowels safe and sound As before wee met with Tobias and his fish so now wee haue lighte vpon Ionas and his fish whereof the one was greatly afeard and the other swallowed vp by reason whereof wee must seeke out some
secret in them and discouer some mystery in the expounding of them Whose figure doth Ionas represent but onely the good and godly and who were the Marriners which threw him into the sea but onely wicked men Then the Marriners doe cast Ionas into the sea when the wicked doe persecute and cast downe the good because there is no greater torment to a naughty man than to heare a good man praised in his presence Of all those which were in that ship onely Ionas was a holy and vertuous man as it doth plainly appeare because there was no one which spake against the throwing of him into the sea but were all of one opinion in that fact for albeit naughty men bee sometime at variance among themselues yet in doing of mischiefe they easily agree in one O in what greater danger good mens fame and credite is in among the wicked than their liues and goods in the deepe seas which is plainly seene in that that men did cast the holy Prophet Ionas from them and the waters did receiue him into them Origen vpon holy Iob sayth What should become of the good if God had no care ouer them What would not naughty men venter to doe with their smal shame lesse conscience if their power should stretch as far as their malice If thou wilt see my brother the care that God hath to keepe thee if thou haue a care to serue him thou shalt see it in the holy Prophet Ionas in that our Lord had prepared long before a fish to saue him than the Marriners had determined to drowne him The fish which did saue the Propher Ionas did not put him by him nor on him nor vnder him but within him and so kept him so warily in his entrals that neither the fish durst kill him nor the waters drowne him O that thy goodnesse is infinit thy charity very great my good Iesus seeing that thou doest acquit all those which the world doth condemne loue those which the world hateth receiue those which he casteth off foster those which he suffereth to perish and giuest honour vnto all those which the world doth dishonour Aymon vpon Ionas saith The Prophet Ionas slept in the lowest part of the ship the Marriners did cast him into the bottome of the sea the Whale kept him in the secretest part of his bowels I mean by this that Christ dooth put vs in the daintiest part of his bowels for it is his propertie to keepe those in his hart which loue him from the hart S. Ierome saith If thou doe put Christ in thy eies to looke vpon him he doth put thee in his to looke vpon thee If thou place him in thy eares to heare him he doth place thee in his to heare thee if thou haue him in thy tongue to praise him he hath thee in his to honour thee if thou put him in thy heart to loue him hee doth put thee in his to loue thee insomuch that where thou doest put Christ Christ doth also in the same place put thee Vpon those words of the Psalme Iacta cogitatū tuū in domine S. Basil saith Yeeld thy selfe my brother yeeld thy selfe to the will of God goe whither he will direct thee do that which he commandeth thee giue him that which he asketh of thee beleeue him in that which he telleth thee for as hee preserued the Prophet Ionas in the Whales belly so hee will preserue thee in the dangers of this life By this which happened vnto the Prophet Ionas it is very euident that thre is nothing firm stable but that which God doth sustain nor nothing sure but that which God doth keep seeing that that holy Prophet was drie among the waters found comfort in danger a remedy against death and profite in his enemy Did he not find a remedy against death and profite in his enemy seeing the water did not only not drowne him nor the huge and great fish kill him but was in the Whales belly with as great contentment and delight as a Prince is in his roiall pallace We haue spoken all this because no man should omit to doe his duty or goe with the truth as farre as hee can for feare of temptation or ielousie of naughty persons because our Lord who deliuered Tobias that the fish should not deuour him and Ionas from the sea that it should not drowne him will also deliuer thee from temptations which follow thee from the enemies which persecute thee CHAP. VI. Here the Author followeth the figure which hee touched before which is declared well to the purpose and there is brought also a prophesie of Ieremy APprehende branchiam eius trahe eum ad te quod cum fecisset traxit eum in siccum Tobias 6. chapter These are the wordes which the Angel Raphael spake vnto yong Tobias as if he would say I haue told thee already that thou shouldest not feare this fish but rather as he came vnto thee so thou shouldest goe and meet him and apprehend him by the head and pull out his gilles all which I would not tell thee vnlesse I thought it conuenient for thee Although Tobias did not then know the Angel for to be an Angel but thought him to bee another man like himselfe yet notwithstanding he gaue credit vnto his speech and accepted of his counsell so that Tobias did immediately kill and panch the fish vpon the sand which thought to eat him in the vvater We doe in this place aduertise the curious Reader that he shall not be able to vnderstand this chapter if he doe not read the chapter afore going because this figure of Tobias vvas there begun and from thence is cited To continue then this figure the text sayth that Tobias did sit vpon the fish and tooke him by the sinnes neer vnto the head and by the gilles in the throat and drew him to the sand there did cut off his head and strip him and tooke out his heart liuer and kept his gaule for himselfe and did eat part of him and salted the rest for his iourney Who is Tobias but the Iudaicall people What was the fierce sea but the passion of Christ And vvhat vvas the great fish but the same Christ And vvhat vvas the sand vvhere the fish was panched but the high Mount of Caluary where Christ vvas put to death Tobias did greatiustice vpon that vnhappie fish vvhen hee panched him on the sands but the Synagogue did farre greater cruelties vpon Christ vvhen they tooke Christs life away on the Mount of Caluary for if Tobias did kill the fish it vvas because the Angell vvhich kept him did so command him but if the Synagogue did put Christ to death it was done of meere enuy and malice For the better vnderstanding of this place it is here to bee noted that it was done by a continuall miracle that Christ did neuer suffer his most holy soule to communicate and impart her glory vnto his
body because that if he had not hindered that his body had not ben passible at all It was for no other cause but Propter nostram salutë that our great Redeemer suffered the death vpon the crosse as if he had been a sinner Candolfus sayth Christ sometimes gaue place that the glory of his soule should redound and fall vpon the members of his body as it happened in the hill Thabor by reason vvhereof his precious flesh vvas so tender in suffering and so passing desirous to returne to the fruition of the same glory that the absence and delay of that diuine and heauenly comfort did bring Christ most grieuous torment Vpon those vvords of the Psalme Abyssus abyssum inuocat Saint Basil sayth for as much as the soule of the sonne of God vvas full of glory and his precious body loaden with grieuous paine and anguish O how oftentimes the depth of his trauailes and griefes did feruently desire and sigh after the depth of his comfort and consolation the vvhich his eternall Father vvould not impart vnto him vntill hee had ended the redemption of the vvorld O great goodnesse O infinite charity who but thou O my good Iesus vvas hungry vvith bread in his hand thirsty vvith vvater in his mouth naked vvith garments in his chests sad and afflicted with glory in his soule Vpon those vvords Tristis est anima mea S. Barnard sayth It is no maruell if my soule bee sorrowfull and full of anguish because the houre of my glory and felicity is not yet come but in thee O good Iesus why should thy flesh bee so wearied And why should thy soule be comfortlesse seeing that thou carriest with thee all the glory which is in heauen or in earth Vbertinus vpon this place sayth The Redeemer of the world being in the agony of death and very neere the end of his life remembring himselfe of that heauenly comfort and diuine influence vvhich from the glory of his soule was woont to bee imparted to his precious body spake this word Sitio as if he would say O how great the thirst is vvhich I suffer in this last houre and terrible agony to vvit of that influence and heauenly comfort which was woont to bee imparted from my owne soule vnto my owne flesh because this death and passion which my owne Father doth lay vpon this my weake flesh is not onely grieuous but doth also exceed all other humane punishment The great thirst that Christ suffered vpon the crosse and the cooling vvater which hee desired was not the water of the fountain of the hill Lybanus nor yet that which ran in the riuer Silo but that heauenly consolation which the glory of his soule vvas vvont to cause in him for that other humane thirst could not so much grieue him considering how neere hee vvas to the end of his life Wee haue vsed all this discourse to extoll the word of the figure which sayth Et traxit piscem in siccum It is to bee vnderstood that young Tobias did kill the fish vpon the sand vvhich would haue killed him in the water When thinkest thou did Tobias draw the fish vpon drie land but vvhen the eternall Father did leaue his blessed sonne vpon the crosse without any humane consolation O how drie was that drie tree vpon which the heauenly fish hanged vvho hauing been brought vp in the deepe sea of the diuine essence had not there so much as one drop of water to drinke What can be pitied more in this life than for a fish hauing been brought vp in the water yet afterward to die for vvant of vvater Tobias fish was hard by the vvater side and yet died vvith thirst and Christs flesh vvas coupeled with his holy soule and died also vvith thirst because the eternall Father to giue vs drinke of his water of heauen killed his owne onely sonne with thirst and brought him to die vpon the sands of this world If Tobias should not haue drawne the fish to the land hee could not haue mastered him if Christ had not become man neither could he haue died for howsoeuer it be naturall for vs to die yet it is much more naturall for God alwaies to liue What meaneth it that the selfe same fish of whome Tobias thought he should haue been deuoured lay dead afterward at his feet but that that God which all the powers of heauen did feare and tremble at we see now meek gentle hanged vpon the tree When God was nothing but God in his own diuine essence being all the world did feare him and tremble but after that hee came vpon our sandie humanity set foot vpon the drinesse of this world hee who before made others afeard was himselfe afraid and he who before did throw downe others fell himselfe and he who before enriched others became poore and he who gaue all comfort wept himselfe and hee who killed before died Desertum faciam mare eius siccabo venum eius said God by the Prophet Ieremy chap. 51. as if he would say I will make all his sea as drie and without vvater as desart and solitary mountains are woont to bee and I will cut off all the vaines and streames of his depth because there shal flow no water at any end These words must curiously be expounded for God to say that the sea shall bee as drie as a solitary mountaine and that hee will cut off all the vaines of his course throughout all the world seemeth to bee a new speech and a thing that was neuer seene to be beleeued Leauing the letter speaking according vnto the sence of these words the eternal Father doth forewarne his precious sonne that he wil not onely deale with him like one which will not he are him nor giue him any comfort but also that he will cut off all occasions whereby hec may any way receiue comfort in so much that to make the sea become a desart is to make of God a true man and to cut off the vaines of the sea is to cut off all heauenly consolation What other thing was that deepe sea but onely the diuine essence And what else was it to make a drie desart of the raging sea but to make him who was the eternal God a true mā God said by the mouth of his Prophet Desertum faciammare eius speaking of his son and as he did prophecie so he did accomplish it for when he hanged vpon the altar of the crosse he neuer made answere to any petition which hee made him nor yet to quench his thirst gaue him so much as one cup of water What a strange thing is this O eternall Father what a strange thing is this For thy bastard abortiue childrē thou didst drawwater out of the liuely rock for thy lawful son hast thou not so much as one drop Whē Agar her son Ismael were ready to perish with thirst in the mountaines of Bersabee neere vnto the Mount Lybanus
commanded vs to doe vvorkes vvhich should bee very vnpleasant and vnsauoury vnto sensualitie although very conformable and very profitable Christ did drinke bitter gaules and gaue vs of the same to drinke for vvhen hee vvas poore he commaunded vs to bee poore also hee vvas persecuted and commanded vs to suffer persecution hee pardoned his iniuries and commanded vs to pardon ours he suffered death being without fault and charged vs to suffer it being in fault all which things are as vnsauoury and bitter to accomplish as hony is sweet in eating O what bitter gaules our Sauiour dooth command vs to eat when he sayth The way is streit which leadeth vnto life but he turneth these bitter gaules into sweet hony-combes when hee sayth My yoke is sweet for if the way vnto heauen be bitter yet it is made very sweet by going in Christs company The yoke of the world doth make vs beleeue that he is of hony and yet he is but of gaule and contrariwise the yoke of Christ dooth threaten vs that hee is of hony for immediately as wee bow our heads to carry him Christ putteth himselfe on the other side to helpe vs. CHAP. VII Of a new thirst which King Dauid had which was a thirst not to drinke but to saue himselfe SItiuit anima mea ad doum fontem viuum Psalme 41. These words king Dauid vttered shewing a new thirst which hee had and therevpon maketh a new petition as if hee would say O what a great thirst my sorrowfull soule endureth and how shee desireth to drinke of the fountaine of the water of life for if she cannot obtaine to drinke of it she can doe no lesse but die with thirst The renowned king Dauid in very tender words doth shew vs a new kind of thirst and a manner of drinking which was neuer before seene and a quality of a water which was neuer discouered before a name of a fountaine neuer before heard of First he sayth that hee endureth thirst secondly that the thirst is in his soule thirdly that his thirst is of the water of the fountaine fourthly that the fountaine is of water of life and lastly it is called a diuine fountaine It is necessary that wee first examine what thirst Dauid speaketh of and what water he desireth to drink of for as there are many kinds of waters and many sorts of such as are thirsty so there is also many kinds of thirste and many things wherewith to quench the same If Euripides doe not deceiue vs corporall thirst is caused of the hear of the liuer or of the inflaming of choler or of eating salt things so that indeed true thirst is nothing else but ouermuch heat and want of moisture With this corporall thirst the people of Israel was troubled in the wildernesse and Dauid when he desired the water of Bethleem and the captaine Sisara when hee fled from the battaile and also Sampson when there gushed out water vnto him out of an asses iawe bone King Artaxerxes also was troubled with this thirst when flying from the battaile he was glad of water at a poore mans hands And this thirst is very common and wearisome and costly if it bee to be quenched with wine and dangerous vnto those which giue themselues to drinke too much of it The thirst which the poore Israelites suffered in the wildernesse and the water which they drank out of the roâ—k did cost them very deerly for at the same time they dranke and wept It did cost the poore captaine Sisarah very deerely also when hee did aske the Prophetesse Debora for drinke for at the same time shee gaue him a cup of milke to drinke and put a pogge in his temples to kill him with When great king Dauid thirsted after the water of the cesterne neere vnto Bethleem although his seruants did bring him of it hee would not drinke of it nor durst not tast it This materiall thirst which doth weary and molest vs daily is such that there is no wine in the world which can wholly quench it nor any water that can so coale it but it will come againe Which is easily perceiued for if we drinke at dinner wee drinke better at supper and the more a man doth drinke the more he may and although we kill our â—hirst for a time yet it is not fully taken away To come then vnto our purpose is this the thirst which the Prophet speaketh of and whereof hee complaineth This should not bee his thirst this should not be his anxiety nor yet his complaint nor that which he so feruently desired for being as he was so mighty and great a king hee wanted neither noble wines to drinke of nor dainty waters to recreate himself withal There were three cesterns of water in Ierusalem the one at the gate called Salinaria where all those of the citie dranke of the other hard by the Mount Sion where those drank which were out of the city the other at the gate of the Temple where the flesh which was sacrificed was washed Seeing then that there were so many cesternes in Ierusalem who could hinder Dauid of them or let him for drinking of that cold water If he would not drinke of these waters because they were standing had he not the riuer Iordane hard by Had he not hard by the floud Cedron which came from the Mount Lybanus If he desired water of the well in Syon he had it if fountaine water in Bethleem he had it if wine made of grapes in Larude he had it if liquor made of dates it was brought out of Egypt so that if his thirst had been like vnto ours hee had more meanes to quench it than that thirst which hee suffered This is not the thirst which molested him nor the griefe which troubled him for if the thirst which hee endured had proceeded froÌ„ the heat of the liuer or of eating of salt meats it is not to bee thought that hee would haue enregistred it in holy Psalms O renowned Prince and mighty king wilt thou not tell what thy thirst was of If you will know after what I thirsted where my griefe lay and what the paine was which I endured I let you vnderstand Quòd sitiuit anima mea ad deum fontem viuum and the meaning this O sorrowfull man that I am and comfortlesse seeing that the thirst which I endure proceedeth not of a corrupted liuer for mine is sound whole nor of burnt choller for there is no such thing in me my thirst is then not that which the body suffereth but that which my sorrowfull soule endureth The thirst which I suffer and the drinesse which I abide is so hard to bee extinguished that no liuing creature is able to take it from me nor any water to quench it O happy is the soule which thirsteth after nothing but after our Lord for looke what the thirst is which the soule hath such is the water which she seeketh to mittigate it
was loaden with many sacrifices and beleeued in many Christs and offered many Holocausts but the holy church hath but one sacrifice beleeueth but in one Christ and doth offer but one Holocaust Neither doth Abraham say that the Lord would prouide a sacrifice for any other but for himselfe seeing hee sayth Dominus prouidebit sibi for vntill the very instant and houre that his sonne was crucified on the crosse he was neuer pleased nor pacified for the offēce which was done vnto him Neither did Abraham say that he would prouide indifferētly any sacrifice but specially that sacrifice which was called Holocaustum because that in al other sacrifices there remained alwaies one part for the priest to eat of another for him which offered it for to take away But it was not so in that sacrifice which they called Holocaustū because that in it all the whole beast was quartered cut in peeces burnt so being made ashes was wholly offered vnto God Was it not think you an Holocaust a great Holocaust which Christ offered seeing there was no spot in it wherby it should be cast away nor any mēber in his body which was not tormented To come then vnto our purpose it is to be noted that we haue made all this discourse to proue that in the mystery of this word Sitio which end because that the Iewes did but borrow them vntill our Lord should prouide them a sacrifice which by Abraham he promised vnto all the world Isidorus vpon Genesis sayth The sacrifice which God promised to send into the world ought to bee worthy of him vnto whom it was offered and profitable vnto him who did offer it which could not bee by dead calues and the bloud of goats and vnpleasant liquors nor yet with bloudy hands How was it possible that the sacrifices of time past should please the Lord or profit the sinner which did offer them seeing their altars did seeme rather butchers shambles than temples of Priests Rabanus sayth Abrahams sacrifice was profitable vnto himselfe and hurtfull vnto his sonne seeing he should there haue lost his life and because we may know that this is true the Lord did ordaine that Abrahams sword should onely threaten his sonne Isaac and afterward kil the son of God Our Lord seeing what smal benefite should be gotten by the death of that child what griefe it would cause vnto this old Father although hee gaue him license to draw his sword yet hee did not consent that it should come neere the child the which our Lord would neuer haue hindered if the death of that child could haue ben sufficient to redeeme al the world God the Father was older than Abraham and loued his sonne better than Abraham did his yet notwithstanding all this seeing that in that only sacrifice did consist mans saluation he consented that they should take his life from him Esichius vpon Leuiticus sayth That that which Abraham did was only good vnto himselfe alone because hee did accomplish that which was commanded him but when he said that the Lord would prouide a sacrifice vnto himselfe that was profitable vnto all the world considering that by that prophecie wee were warranted and made sure that we should be redeemed by the sonne of God Origen sayth That it is much to be noted how that all the sacrifices of the old law did proceed from two things only that is from the beasts which they did kill and the fruit which they plucked from trees Of their beasts they did offer the head and feet vnto the Lord the caule the flesh and the entralls and of trees incense storax fruit grapes aloes mirrhe oile and sweet odours And God was not content only that euery mā should offer what pleased himselfe but onely of that which God in the law commāded that is of beasts that they should offer the greatest of fruits the best of perfumes the sweetest of mettales the richest of liquors the most excellente If we beleeue the Philosopher in his book De animalibus The first thing that is engendred is the heart and the last the gaule when a beast dieth it is contrary for the first thing that corrupteth is the gaule and the heart the last thing that dieth The Commentator sayth That as the gaule is the last thing that is ingendred in man so it is also the most filthiest and basest thing that is in him Of all liquors the wine is the most precious and contrary no liquor worser than the dregs of soure corrupted wine Doest thou thinke my brother that we haue trauelled in vaine in prouing vnto thee that the gaule is the worst part of the beast and putrified dregs the worst of liquors The end why wee haue spoken all this is because that when the Redeemer of the world was dead with thirst vpon the altar of the crosse they gaue him these two thinges to drinke that is bitter gaule which is the last and worst part of the beast and dregs and vineger which is the worst of all liquors S. Augustine vpon S. Iohn sayth The purest clearest and cleanest of the Synagogue was already ended and gone and turned into vineger and lees by reason wherof they gaue Christ nothing to drinke but gaule vineger giuing vs therby to vnderstand that they did not giue him only that which they had in the Synagogue but also that which themselues were For what was all the Synagogue but soure vineger and bitter gaule It was not without a high mystery that they offered that which they did to Christ vpon the crosse for as the gaule is the last and the vildest thing that is in the beast so the Synagogue was now at an end and at the vvorst of all her life in so much that shee was become nothing els but a gaule of malice and also vineger of couetousnesse Saint Ierome sayth Euen as vineger hath been good wine because it was gathered of the best of the vine so the people of the Iews were somtimes good because they had good mē among them in so much that there is no other meaning in that they gaue Christ wine mingled with mire and soure vineger to drinke but that the people were now corrupted and scarse one good man left among them How came this hap among you O you Iewes that all the wine of your vessels is become soure vineger and all the hony of your hiues turned into bitter gaule Then your wine began to turne into vineger when you would not receiue Christ for your Redeemer and then all your hony turned into gaule when you did defame his doctrine and bereaue him of his life The Synagogue striketh great pity into my heart to see that in time past they did offer vnto their God sacrifices Holocausts and offerings and afterward gaule and vineger and dregs by which cursed and wicked offering they took away their makers life brought their Commonwealth vnto an end CHAP. XII How that the thirst
art vnto the children of vanity and lightnesse who doe shew their essence and yet are nothing shew their power and yet can doe nothing shew their wisedome and yet doe know nothing CHAP. XIII Where he goeth forward with the figure mentioned before ADhue sitit expergifactus sayth Esay in the place before named as if hee would say When the redeemer of the world did awake vpō the crosse hee did awake very drie and thirsty which was so great a thirst that it continueth vntill this day it is most certaine that when a man doth suffer many griefes at one time that he speaketh of that which grieueth him most and pointeth with his hand where his greatest paine lieth The anguishes which Christ suffered in his mind were innumerable and the griefes which hee endured in his body were intollerable and that which is most of all to be meruelled at is that his torments being so many and so sharpe as they were yet he complained of none of them on the crosse but only of the thirst which he endured Saint Barnard sayth O good Iesus O redeemer of my soule hauing so many things to complaine on doest thou onely complaine of thirst Thy shoulders are naked and whipped thy hands broken thy head bleeding thy flesh brused and yet doest thou complaine on nothing but of the thirst which troubleth thee and of want of water Doest thou complain that thou art thirsty and not that thou art bloudy hast thou not greater want of thy bloud than of water Seeing the bloud which runneth from thy head doth bath thy face wet thy tongue why doest thou aske againe for water For a quarter of an houre that thou hast to liue doest thou complaine that thou wantest water O that the thirst which I suffer saith Christ is not to drinke wine or water but to see your amendment and carry you with mee to my glory for seeing that I am now taking my iourney to heauen I haue a great thirst to take my elect with mee The thirst which I haue the drinesse which I endure is not so much to drink any liquor as to redeem you and saue you and reconcile you with my Father and therefore if thou haue no pitty on mee yet at the least take some on thy selfe O that I had rather that thou haddest some pitty on thy selfe than on mee because it is a greater griefe to see thee lost than to see my self suffer S. Augustine sayth Thou diddest adde vnto all thy anguishes this word Sitio shewing thereby such a great thirst and representing outwardly the exceeding loue that thou diddest beare me inwardly and vnspeakable charity which caused thee to make but small account of all that thou diddest suffer in respect of that desire which thou haddest to suffer And he sayth further O my good Iesus I know well that thy thirst is not for thy selfe but for me and this thy anguish is for no other cause but for the saluation of my soule and when thou saiest that thou hast a desire to drinke that is as much to say as to suffer more for mee in so much that the care that thou hast ouer me is so great that by meanes thereof thou doest wholly forget thy selfe What meaneth this O redeemer of my soule what meaneth this Thy ioints being loosed one from another thy eies broken thy mother hauing her farewell and hauing complained on thy Father doest thou say anew I am a thirst What pitty may be compared vnto this or what goodnesse equall vnto this Oredeemer of my soule Wee see by this word Sitio that death was sufficient to take all thy dolors and griefes from thee and yet that it was not inough to cut off the loue which thou haddest to redeeme vs. Who is able to say truly that thy loue did end vpon the crosse considering that for the loue of thy elect thou diddest yet thirst after more griefes and anguishes All this Saint Augustine spake Chrisostome sayth When the eternall word said vpon the crosse I am a thirst I doe not beleeue that hee did so much aske for water to drinke as hee did aske for time of his Father to suffer more griefe and torment For as the candle when it is going out doth cast the greatest light so Christ the more his death drew neere the more his loue and charity doth kindle towards vs. Remigius vpon Saint Matthew sayth Although the diuine prouidence did reduce all the trauailes of his life vnto three yeares and that also hee brought all the torments of the crosse vnto three houres yet it is not to bee beleeued that Christ his infinite charity was contented with this short time and therefore I thinke for my owne part that the thirst which hee shewed vpon the tree vvas not so much to drinke of any water of the riuer as to declare and make manifest his loue vnto the world Fulgentius in a Sermon sayth The sonne of God did thinke that seeing his Father had not giuen him charity by waight so hee should not giue him torment by measure by reason whereof hee cried aloud on the crosse Sitio to let vs vnderstand by this thirst that seeing the gifts which hee receiued had no end that the torments likewise which he receiued should not be limitted CHAP. XIIII Of the crueltie and ingratitude that the Iewes vsed in giuing Christ gaule and vineger and how he satisfied for euery sinne in particular DEderunt in escam meam fel in siti mea potauerunt me aceto sayth Christ by the Prophet as if hee would say Being vpon the altar of the crosse full of torments loaden vvith griefes compassed with enemies I had scarsely spoken the word Sitio but they gaue mee gaule to eat and vineger to drinke There is much matter to bee spoken vpon this that is what drinke they gaue him when they gaue it him where they gaue it him why they gaue it him in what they gaue it him and how quickly they gaue it him The drinke which they gaue him was gaule and vineger the place where was vpon the crosse the time was when hee was yeelding vp the ghost the cause why was to helpe him to die they gaue it him in a reed and a spunge and that presently when he had thirst so that all these circumstances doe aggrauate the fault in them Wee find that the diuell made two banquets in this world the one in the terrestriall paradise vnto our Father where he gaue him the fruit of the tree to eat the other to Christ in the desert where he inuited him to stones of the field the which might haue ben ground sifted and so mingled that they might haue been eaten The Iewes gaue Christ worser meat than the diuell offered him in the desart for they gaue him gaule to eat and vineger to drinke which are bitter and soure horrible in tast and mortal in eating For as the Philosopher sayth The truest loue is the loue of children the smell
because there are vnited in him all the goodnesse of glory and grace As all that which is made in the word is life al that which is out of it is death so all that which is wrought in Christ for his honour and glory is life and all that which is not done in him and by him is all death S. Iohn goeth forward and sayth And the life was the light of men which he speaketh for the light of reason which hee did imprint in the soules which were blind by sinne the which blindnesse was remedied with the light of the humanity of Christ the which although it do not shine like vnto the most simple diuine light yet it was sufficient to lighten all humane nature and hee addeth further That the light doth shine in darkenesse Et tenebrae eum non comprehenderunt which words may be no lesse verified of the humanity of Christ than of the diuinity of the word Hilarius vpon those words sayth In respect of the diuine clearnesse all other creatures may bee called darkenesse because it is impossible that the diuine should not alwaies shine but the humane hath euery houre need of light God doth shine in the darkenesse of our sinnes seeing that none but hee can forgiue them and in this point it is no other thing to say Tenebrae eum non comprehenderunt but that his most great mercy cannot be made empty S. Barnard in a Sermon sayth God is mighty in forgiuing sinnes but he is most mighty in forgiuing those which are often committed wherein is shewed his infinite mercy seeing that he is not comprehended by them nor limited in pardoning them but hee doth pardon them when he will how he will and vnto whom he will In that that hee is man Christ hath also darkenesse where he may shine that is to wit all pure creatures be they neuer so holy and chosen seeing that of themselues they haue no light at all if they doe not receiue it of the sonne of God S. Ierome sayth The perfection and light of Christ is so great that being compared vnto that which other Saints haue it seemeth that it maketh them somewhat vnperfect which is to bee vnderstood not because there is any want in them but because there is a great abundance of excellency Irenaus in a Sermon sayth Although God tooke from the spirit of Moyses to giue vnto those elders which should be iudges with him yet notwithstanding Moyses continued wiser than they so it is in Christ from whom how much grace so euer the holy men doe take or haue taken yet they did neuer draw his grace drie nor at any time compared themselues with him We haue vsed all this long discourse to prooue how well the Apostle said of Christ Quod CoÌ„summatus factus est seeing that by these words it doth appeare that he had all perfections in him and by his Consummatus est which he spake vpon the crosse that all our wickednesse is now finished and at an end CHAP. IIII. Herein is entreated of the greatnesse and wealth of Salomons temple and how that in the sacred and holy temple of Christs humanity the holyghost hath bestowed greater workmanship riches and spirituall gifts then were in the temple which Salomon did build EDificauit Salomon domum domini consummauit eam 3. Reg. chap. 6. that is King Salomon builded a house for our Lord hee made such speed in the building of it that he neuer ceassed vntill he had finished it Origen vpon this place sayth The loue which God beareth mankind is so great that it pleased him to make himselfe a neighbor and an inhabitant of this world and therfore he would haue Salomon build an house here vpon earth where he might with ease communicate with euery person And because that this materiall temple was a figure of the true temple which was Christ and because the Scripture sayth of the one Quod consummauit eam and Christ also sayth of his Consummatum est we will first tell you how magnificent Salomon was in building of his and then wee will declare vnto you how liberall the holy Ghost was in framing that of Christ The case thnâ—estandeth thus that in the yeare foure hundred and fourescore after that the Iewes went our of Aegypt and in the fourth yeare after that Salomon inherited the kingdome in the second month of that yeare which was in Aprill the building of the Temple began and was finished in all perfection in the seuenth yeare There were alwaies busied in the working of that temple a hundred fiftie and three thousand and sixe hundred workmen and all this in time of peace for otherwise in time of warre it might haue been that some should haue builded and others defended Of this great number of workmen fourescore thousand brought stones out of the mountaines and seuenâ—y thousand carried burdens on their shoulders and the three thousand and sixe hundred were as it were ouerseers and commanders The vassales of the king of Tyrus are not compreheÌ„ded vnder this number who did cut wood on the Mount Lybanus and yet they were many in number as it may appeare in that Salomon did send them at one time twenty thousand load of corne and twenty thousand of barley and twenty thousand quintales of oile and forty thousand measures of wine Neither are there included in this number the Marriners which brought timber nor the engrauers which engraued images nor the goldsmithes which wrought in siluer which were a great number seeing that the metall which they wrought was much The Scripture maketh no mention of the siluer that was spent there but he sayth only that there was such abundance of it in Salomone house as there are stones on the earth What shall wee say of the gold that was spent there which would seeme incredible to all the world Before that king Dauid died he left three thousand measures of gold for the building of the Temple which hee offered of his owne and not of that which he had taken in warre All the nobles of the Realme did offer also for the building of that holy edifice fiue thousand measures of gold besides others mettals of lattin copper and tinne whereof there is no waight laid downe because the quantity of it exceedeth number What riches was spent there may bee easily gathered in that that the Temple was all couered with gold from the top vnto the bottome that not of plain gold like a painted table but curiously cut kerned In this prowd building this word gilding is sildome vsed but this word clad with gold and enterlaced with gold and couered with gold is oft spoken and therefore that which Salomon did of pure gold is more theÌ„ now adaies is wont to bee gilded The Glosse sayth That the floore of the greatest place which they called Sancta and the floore of the lesser which they called Sancta sanctorum were both paued with fine gold and all this for the
secret and from whom dost thou hide it If there bee more than one secret why doest thou call it two and if there be but one why doest thou say twise My secret to my selfe My secret to my selfe Hee doth twise iterate this word Secret because there be two mysteries and yet calleth them in the singular number because they are but of one Christ in whom they were accomplished and for whose cause they were vnto the world reuealed What greater secret or what greater mystery or what higher Sacrament could there be in the world than for Christ to tell his disciples that being God he should die being man he should rise againe And it was not without a great mystery that Christ would draw his disciples from the people draw them to the way and talke with them in secret letting them vnderstand by these circumstances that that which he would tell them should be a great secret seeing that he did not tell it theÌ„ but in great secret Chrisostome vpon S. Mathew sayth All the glory of God and all the saluation of the Gentiles consisteth in the death which Christ died and in the bloud which for al the world he shed and therefore because the mystery was so high so strange he would not discouer it but vnto those of his holy colledge and vnto them also in great secret It was a high mystery to say That being God he should die and it was also as strange to say That he who was man should rise again and he would not reueale it vnto the people because they should not bee scandalized but reuealed it to those of his holy colledge for their benefit because that the most preciousest treasures are alwaies kept in the best and surest chests It is not then without cause that the text sayth Assumpsit eos secretò to let vs thereby vnderstand that wee should not reueale high secrets to all men nor yet hide theÌ„ from some men Now that Christ hath drawne his disciples into the field and lead them somewhat beside the way the text sayth that hee spake secretly vnto them saying Behold wee goe vp to Ierusalem as if hee should say My children my brethren I will open a secret vnto you such as you haue neuer heard before that is that we draw now neere vnto Ierusalem where I am to suffer and now the time is come when I must suffer the death which they will giue shall be such as my Father hath ordained and which in the Scripture is prophecied and which by mee is accepted And because our Lord here sayth that he must die in Ierusalem and not els where the prophesie of the Psalme is to be considered 73. which sayth Deus autem rex noster ante secula operatus est salutem in medie terrae His meaning is Our God and our king hath determined to redeeme the world in a place which is in the middle of the world If vvee read Ptholome in his tables and beleeue Strabo in his booke of the situation of the world they will say that the situation of the city of Ierusalem is in the middle of the earth and that that precisely is the nauell and center of the vvorld According vnto the prophesie alledged Christ dying in Ierusalem hee died in the middle of the world because that IerusaleÌ„ hath on the South side the kingdome of Aegypt on the East side the kingdome of Arabia and on the West side the Mediteranâ—an sea doth compasse it and one the North side the kingdome of Syria Basill the great sayth vpon the Psalmes There could nothing bee more fit and conuenient than that hee who was the meane and mediator that God should pardon our sinne should die as hee did in the middle of the world for if hee should haue died in the East or in the West they would haue thought that they had been redeemed that all the rest had continued coÌ„demned By reason wherof our Redeemer of the world would die in the middest of all men seeing that he suffered for all men Barnard in an Epistle sayth When the Prophet saith that our Lord hath wrought our saluation in the middle of the earth hee meaneth that he loueth the mean very much hateth extreames for he doth aswell hate the extream of fasting as ouermuch eating and hee hateth as well extreame pouerty as too much vvealth and he hateth as well too great basenesse of mind as extream pride and hee hateth as well extreame ignorance as ouermuch eloquence Cyprian sayth In this thou maiest see what an enemy Christ is to extreamties and how little hee fauoureth such as vse them in that that for to giue vs an example that in all thinges wee should cleaue to the meane and flie the extreames his will was to die in the middle of all the world Wee must note also that Christ sayth Ecce ascendimus for by this hee sheweth that hee goeth not to his death forced or constrained by any but of his owne loue the vvhich infinite loue as it brought him from heauen to take flesh so it dooth lead him to die on the crosse When the son of God sayth vnto his Disciples Behold we go vp to Ierusalem this is no speech of a malefactor but of a great Redeemer because the vvicked man neuer sayth vnto his friendes I goe to die but looke they carry or lead mee to receiue iustice O high mystery O diuine Sacrament vvho euer heard that such a man as Christ vvas young healthfull free and iust of his owne proper vvill should say vnto his Disciples Behold I go to Ierusalem to die as if hee vvould say Behold I goe to bee merry and to great ioy Aymon sayth What sayth hee else vvhen hee sayth Behold vve goe vp to Ierusalem but make it knowen vnto the rulers of the church that he goeth to die before his information bee drawne before the sergeants do take him before the hangmen doe keepe him and before that the iudge hath giuen sentence on him Rabanus vpon this place sayth When Christ sayth vnto his Disciples Behold vvee goe vp to Ierusalem it is as if hee vvould say Behold and marke vvell that when you shall see mee hanged vpon the crosse like vnto a malefactor doe not thinke that I am onely a man for if to die bee the condition of a man yet to die vvillingly is the property of God alone Hee vvho is a pure man dieth although hee vvould not but hee vvho is God and man dieth vvhen hee vvill and such vvas the sonne of God vvho tooke death vvhen hee vvould and took againe his life vvhen it pleased him Remigius in a certaine Homily sayth In this speech of Behold vvee goe vp to Ierusalem the sonne of God dooth shew two things vnto vs that is That hee goeth to die and that hee goeth to suffer that death of his owne accord so that we owe him for two debts the one for the bloud vvhich hee shed and the other
for the loue vvith the vvhich he shed it Cyrillus saith also If as Christ said Behold I goe to Ierusalem to die of my owne voluntary vvill hee should haue said Behold they draw me to be iusticied by force vve should haue ben bound vnto him for the martirdome which he suffered not for the wil vvith the which he suffered But seeing he saith plainly that he goeth of his own voluntary vvill to the butchery of the Mount of Caluary to bee executed it is certaine that if vvee owe him much for that hee did suffer we owe him much more for the loue vvith the which he did suffer S. Ierome sayth likewise in this speech of Ecce ascendimus our great sheepheard dooth admonish all other sheepeheards that when necessity doth so require they should not oppose themselues against any tyrant if they vvould put thē to death but also offer themselues to death for the saluation of their flocke because there is no higher degree of martyrdome than to die for the sauing of his neighbour Simon de Gassia sayth For the sonne of God to say vnto his disciples Behold I goe to die and not They carry mee to kill me was to let them vnderstand that to the Christian religion profession of the Gospell vvee should not bee drawne by force but goe willingly because our Lord doth not so much regard the feet with the which wee seeke him as hee doth behold out intentions with which we loue him And Christ saith further Et consummabuntur omnia quae scripta sunt de me as if he would say The cause vvhy I goe to Ierusalem is because all things vvhich are vvritten of mee by the Prophets may bee fulfilled and accomplished Origen sayth All thinges vvhich vvere vvritten of Christ are brought vnto three things and all those to be fulfilled by him to wit that vvhich he should doe that vvhich he should suffer and the reward vvhich he should haue aswell for that vvhich hee did in his life as for that vvhich he suffered at his death That which Christ did vvas to plant the church that vvhich he suffered was a most cruell death the reward vvhich he receiued vvas his glorious resurrection insomuch that in his holy life in his dreadfull death and passion and glorious resurrection all the holy Scripture is contained These two speeches vvhich Christ spake doe very vvell agree that is that vvhich he sayth here Consummabuntur omnia and the other vvhich he vttered vpon the crosse Consummatum est For in that that he died and rose againe all vvas fulfilled that was vvritten of him But speaking more particularly Christ sayth that in entring into Ierusalem he should be deliuered vnto the Gentils and that he should bee mocked vvith iniurious vvords and spet vpon with grosse spettle and whipped with much discipline and that he should also bee crucified and put to death with great nailes Who euer saw or heard the like vnto this that they should vnload such a heape of iniuries and such a multitude of torments vpon so tender a body and so iust a person Dedit percutientibus se maxillam saturabitur opprebrijs saith Ieremy chap. 3. Speaking of Christs iniuries as if hee should say The redeemer of the world will bee so patient in his trauails and so obedient vnto his persecutors that hee himselfe will offer his cheeke to be buffetted and he will put himselfe before them because they should fill him with iniuries How well so euer Ieremy did prophesie this yet Christ did fulfill it better seeing that he offered vnto his enemies not onely his cheeke that they might buffet it but also all his holy body that they might kill it What meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this The Prophet Elias did she from the citie of Ierusalem because Queene Iezabel should not cut off his head and doest thou goe to Ierusalem where thou knowest that they wil depriue thee of thy life Great king Dauid fled from the city of Ierusalem and went out of it because hee would bee no more persecuted of king Saul and doest thou goe to Ierusalem to bee crucified In this point sure thou art not Dauids sonne nor Helias companion for if they flie from Ierusalem to saue their liues thou goest to Ierusalem to offer thy selfe to death If thy death had been a common death it might haue been born with but seeing that it was more grieuous to suffer the circumstances of thy death than death it selfe what necessity constrained thee or what charity mooued thee why thou shouldest not haue fled with thy Father Dauid or absented thee with the Prophet Ely It is a thing worthy to bee noted that Christ putteth it for the greatest point of his Martyrdome that he should be iniuried and also that he should be scorned and mocked By which complaint hee doth let vs vnderstand that the sonne of God did grieue more at the iniurious words which they spake vnto him than at the lashes and discipline which they gaue him Ieremy doth not say that Christ should be filled in his passion with stripes flagellis but opprobrijs reuilings and iniuries and the reason is because stripes lashes passe no further than the shoulders but iniuries entred vnto the entrails Who is he in the world which wil not be more grieued at an iniurious word thā with the point of a speare Ieremy maketh no reckoning of the thornes nor of the nailes nor of the lashes but onely of the iniuries which Christ suffered seeing that hee saith Saturabitur opprobrijs because hee passed through those torments but one day but hee suffered iniuries and blasphemies euery day In these words of Ieremies He shall be filled with iniuries he signified vnto vs the cruelty of his torments and the multitude of his iniuries for as hee who is full hath no more place in his stomacke to fill so there was no torment which to the sonne of God they left vngiuen nor no iniury vnspoken For what torments were there which they gaue him not or what iniuries could there be spoken which they vttered not Hugo de sancto victore vpon Ieremy sayth Because the son of God would declare that hee was the iustest of all others and of all martyrs the greatest martyr he said that he should be filled with iniuries and reuilings because that in all other martyrs they did lay hands with no other intention but to martyr them but in Christ they laid hands to kill him tongues to iniury him S. Ierome on this place sayth Ieremy saith very well of Christ Quod saturabitur opprobrijs for wee doe not read of any Martyr that he was martyred with tongues but with hands the son of God alone is he whose life they tooke away with their hands and fame with their tongues Isichius vpon Leuiticus sayth With great reason the Prophet Ieremy sayth of Christ That he should be filled with iniuries seeing wee see that in his holy passion liers doe sell the
truth sooles mocke wisedome the guilty whip innocency the wretched spet vpon glory and the dead kill life S. Barnard in a sermon of the passion sayth What heart is able to endure it or what fingers able to write it to see that the liberty of captiues is sold the glory of Angels scorned and mocked the morning starre of the world spet at the Lord of all scourged whipped and he who is the rewarder of trauels murthered S. Ambrose vpon S. Luke sayth Of Christ only of no other Ieremy sayth Quod saturabitur opprobrijs seeing that he was sold like a malefactor mocked like a foole spet at like a vile person whipped like a theefe and put to death like a traitor S. Hilary in an Homily sayth According vnto the prophesie of Ieremy the sonne of God shall be filled with iniuries seeing that he is sold of the Symoniacles mocked of hypocrites whipped of tyrants spet at by blasphemers and put to death by heretikes Let our conclusion then be that not without a high mystery nor profound sacrament Christ before hee should suffer said these words of Consummabuntur and in the end of his suffering Consummatum est to let vs vnderstaÌ„d that at one time Christs life did end and if we be such as we ought to be our faults CHAP. VI. Here hee entreateth of that high praier which Christ made vpon the table saying Pater sancte non pro mundo rogo sed pro illis vt serues eos a malo In which praier if he obtained constancy and stoutnesse for his Apostles yet he forgot not the weake saying Non rogo vt tollas eos a mundo PAter sancte claritatem quam tu dedisti mihi dedi eis vt sint Consummati in vnum Iâ—h 17. These words are spoken by the mouth of the son of God praying vnto his Father after he had made a sermon before supper the highest and longest that euer hee preached in all his life time as if hee should say O my holy eternall mighty and blessed Father that which I entreat and request of thee in this last houre is that seeing I haue giuen to my Disciples part of the light and science which thou hast giuen mee thou wouldest also giue them grace to bee perfect in that kind of perfection as thou are wont to make perfect the elect By occasion of those words which Christ spake vpon the crosse that is Consummatum est and by reason of that other which he spake praying vnto his Father Consummati sunt it shall bee necessary for vs to declare in this place what that is which the redeemer of the world spake in his praier and what the Scripture sayth of it It is here to be noted who hee is which praieth where hee praieth when he praieth and how he praieth and for whome he praieth what he praieth for oftentimes in Scripture the circumstances how a thing is done makes it either weighty or very weighty Hee who praieth is Christ the place where is the pâ—râ—or the time is at supper how is with lifting vp his eies the things which hee praieth are very high they for whom are his disciples In this high praier Christ spake dainty words most graue sentences very secret mysteries very necessary aduises and very profitable counsels by reason whereof it is conuenient to read them with attention and note them with deuotion Christ then sayth in the beginning of his praier Pater sancte serua eos in nomine tuo qui tui sunt pro eis rogo non pro mundo as if he should say My holy and blessed father that which I ask of thee for these thy children and my disciples is that thou deliuer them from sin keep them in thy seruice seeing that they bee my brothers by nature and thy children by grace and if I aske any thing of thee it is not for those which are of the world but for those which thou doest keepe vnder thy safegard O sweet words for the good and sorrowfull for the bad seeing that by them are diuided and seperated the perfect from the foreseene the elect from the reprobate Gods friends from the children of perdition and also the neighbours of heauen from the louers of the world Howsoeuer Christ our redeemer praied from the hart for those which he loued from the heart yet he set this word Sancte Pater before his praier because it is a very naturall thing that this word Pater maketh a father attentiue to here the child and maketh his eies tender to behold him and his heart gentle to loue him and openeth his entrails that hee can deny him nothing What sweeter words can come to a fathers eares than to heare his sonne call him father As a sonne welbeloued and tendered once Christ calleth his father my father another time iust father another time Lord and father sometimes holy father and sometimes father and nothing else so that such as his praier was such was the name which hee gaue him It is not then here without a mystery that hee calleth him Pater sancte because hee who praied in this praier was most holy hee to whom hee praied was holy that which hee praied were holy things the place where hee praied was a holy place and hee for whom he praied was his holy colledge What doest thou aske O good Iesus what doest thou aske Pardon for my sheepe that God would deliuer them from Wolues pardon for my disciples that God would keepe them from the diuell pardon for my elect that God would seperate them from sinne and pardon for my friendes that God would take them vp into heauen As thou art going thy iourney to the crosse at the point of death in the euening of thy agony and wheÌ„ they come to apprehend thy person among so many thinges which thou doest aske of thy Father doest thou ask nothing for thy selfe O heauenly care O vnspeakable loue O charity neuer heard of before such as thine is O creator of my soule towards all mankind seeing that in such a dismal day in such a narrow strait as thou art in thou hast cause sufficient to craue of thy father for thy selfe sauing only that to remember me thou doest forget thy selfe And Christ sayth that he doth aske for such as are his that is for those which in the depth of his eternity are predestinated and are in the number of the elect to the end that they may bee one thing in the father as the father and the sonne are one thing Let the curious reader marke in this place that this abuerbe Sicut dooth not in this place make an equality betwixt God and man but onely a resemblance and a likenesse for vnlike the which because Arrias would not vnderstaÌ„d became to be an infamous heretike When Christ said Sint vnum in me his meaning was this That which I aske of thee O heaueÌ„ly Father is that as those of my colledge be thy children and
kill a beast but in Christs holy law one death tooke away all deaths one life did buy all liues and one paine tooke away all paines and offences When the Apostle calleth Christ Hostiam viuentem he wanteth not a deepe secret and a profound mystery because that in the old law they called Hostiā the sacrifice which was offered against those which were enemies they offered nothing but dead sacrifices because the beast which they did offer was neither called sacrifice nor Hostia vntill his life had been taken from him The sonne of God gaue the name of Hostia a sacrifice when he died and the name of life when he rose againe and therefore wee may very well call him a liuely sacrifice a holy sacrifice a pure sacrifice and holy bread seeing that hee is the sacrifice and Hostie which giueth life vnto all and is the holiest sacrifice of all other and the purest and the cleanest bread of all others Anima cum obtulerit oblationem sacrificij domino similae erit eius oblatio fundet super eam oleum ponet thus Leuit. 2. God spake these words vnto Moyses because he should tel them the people of Israel as if hee should say If any will offer any sacrifice which shall bee acceptable vnto mee offer mee it of the purest floure mingled with oile and therewithall he shal adde a little frankincense If wee doe curiously looke vnto it of three things onely our Lord requireth an offering of vs that is pure floure good oile and sweet incense the which things are easiy to bee found light to offer and not costly to buy S. Ambrose sayth In this wee may see what a great desire our Lord hath to pardon the sinnes which we commit against him in that he himselfe doth teach vs what sacrifices we should offer vnto him What is vnderstood by that fine sifted floure but that most sacred humanity of the sonne of God This holy floure was so sifted and putrified that all the Angels which shall come to see it and all the men in the world which shall come to clense it shall not find in that sacred humanity one smal grite of originall sinne nor on spot of mortall sinne nor one little dust of any other small sinne Of this most pure floure Christ did knead the sacramentall bread in his last supper which he left vs in the church which doth differ farre from that which mother Eue did leaue her children because that in eating of that we doe sinne and receiuing of this we doe liue What is the incense which God commaunded vs to offer with the floure in his Temple but the diuinity which is ioined with the humanity in Christ Vntill the gate of the Temple the floure was carried by it selfe and the incense by itselfe but being brought to the gate of the Temple the one was incorporated with the other which mystery was most notably accomplished in the comming of Christ because that so farre asunder was mankind which was here vpon earth from the diuinity which was in heauen but the son of God comming into the world immediately God with man and man with God became one What is the oile with the which God commanded the floure and incense to be tempered but that which in the blessed Trinitie wee call the holy-ghost The coniunction bond of loue betwixt the Father and the son and hee who did incorporate the floure with the incense was no other but the holy-ghost for so said the prophesie Vnxit te deus deus tuus eleo letetia and so said the Angell vnto the virgine when he said Spiritus sanctus superueniet in te That which the Prophet called oile the Angell afterward did cal the holy-ghost insomuch that the cake which God demanded of floure oile and incense was nothing else but the humanity of him which was made by the father and by the son and by the holy-ghost A cake so well seasoned a sacrifice so highly well made which of the saints would not offer and which of the Angels would not adore The sacrifice which God did demand in times past was not that which the Synagogue did offer but that which the catholike church doth now offer for they did offer him dow wet in vineger and foustie oile and most sharpe incense but the sacrifice which wee doe now offer him is the humanity and diuinity of Christ vnited and put together by the handes of the holy-ghost It is no reason that the Christian and deuour reader should be ignorant why God commanded but a part of the floure to bee offered but all the incense To put a measure in the floure was to say that the humanity of it selfe was limitted and had an end and to put no measure in the frankincense was to say that in the diuinity there is neither beginning nor end which is most true because the workes which the sonne of God did were limmitted and circumscribed in that that he was man but being kneaded with the oile of the holy-ghost he made them infinite in value and weight To come then to our first purpose the text sayth si oblatio tua fuerit de sartagine simile conspersa oleo absque fermento diuides eam minutatim fundas super cam oleum as if he should say The fritter which thou shalt offer vnto me shall bee made of the floure of the meale without leauen kned with very good oile and then being well pricked thou shalt sprinckle it ouer with new oile If there should bee no mystery hidden vnder this Iudaicall sacrifice wee might haue occasion to thinke that our Lord were a glutton and giuen to variety of meats seeing that in the beginning of this chapter he asked of thē fritters or cake dressed with good oile and now againe a cake made of the floure of wheat and that without leauen small broken and fried in a frying pan in very whote oile Of this high and new sacrifice what is the floure but the humanity which suffered what the oile but the loue with the vvhich hee died and what the frying pan but the crosse where hee died To say that God the Father did aske for a cake made in a frying pan and to say that the crosse of his sonne was the frying pan and that the fine floure of his precious flesh was fried in that fryingpan and that the oile with the which it was fried was the loue with the which he redeemed vs is no vnreuerent speech to vse neither is there any errorin affirming it seeing wee he certain that there is no word writtē in holy Scripture which is not full of high mystery The property of the fryingpan is being put vpon the fire the fire dooth not wast him nor melt him as hee doth many other thinges and beside hee maketh those meats which are cold hard and not to be eaten whote soft and very sauourous What was the death and passion of our redeemer Iesus Christ but a frying
All mortal men go after their pleasures and hunt for delight but alasse they seeke them in the house of the God of trauels which is the world and forsake the Lord of consolations which is God and therefore they goe astray in that which they seeke and goe discomforted in that which they desire Barnard in a sermon sayth O what a great comfort it is to the good that they haue him for their God and Lord who is the God and Lord of all consolations for it is not to be beleeued that being the God of al comforts that he doth not impart some of them vnto his and especially seeing that hee doth not discomfort those which offend him who will not beleeue but hee will comfort those which serue him When the Apostle sayth that our God is the God of all consolations and not onely that but also the father of mercies we haue great cause to loue him and to be thankfull vnto him seeing that not long before hee called himselfe the God of reuenge as now he dooth call himselfe the Father of mercies S. Ambrose sayth What greater news could we hear or what could he giue vs for a greater reward then for our Lord to giue himselfe vnto vs for our father his sonne for our brother the holy-ghost for our maister his church for our mother the Sacraments for a medicine his death for a pardon his bloud for our redemption Isichius vpon Leuiticus sayth Marke the depth of the Scripture and thou shalt see that when he speaketh of mercies it doth not call God Deus misericordiarum The God of mercy but Pater misericordiarum the Father of mercies and when it talketh of iustice it doth not call him Pater vltionum but Deus vltionum The God of reuenge because it is the office of God to punish and the duty of the father to pardon The Prophets did oft vse this word Deus God and helped themselues little with this word Pater Father and Christ contrariwise did oft benefite himselfe with this word Pater Father and sildome with this name Deus God giuing vs thereby to vnderstand that the time of iustice was now ended and that the time of mercy was come Isidorus De summo bono sayth O eternall goodnesse and depth of all vvisedome vvhy should I distrust in thy great clemency being that thou art my Father and Father of all mercy Let the Pagans distrust in thee who beleeue thee not let the vvicked distrust in thee vvho serue thee not for I vvill hope in thee vvith those vvhich serue thee and loue thee For although I cannot wholly serue thee I labour as much as I can not to offend thee Anselmus vpon the Apostle sayth After I heard thee say O my good Iesus Pater ignosce illis and the Apostle say Pater misericordiarum Although my naughty life make mee afraid yet thy great mercy commeth immediately to my mind for the same day that thou diddest make thy selfe man thou diddest change thy name from the God of Reuenge into the Father of Mercies O glorious and happy chaunge that is the changing the name of God into the name of Father and the name of a Reuenger into the name of a Defender the name of Iustice into the name of Mercy the name of a Creator into the name of a Redeemer all which thou diddest chaunge vvhen thou wast made man and diddest suffer on the crosse for mee Saint Augustine vpon the Apostles vvordes sayth Tell mee O good Iesus tell mee O great Redeemer after thou haddest chaunged the name of Deus vltionum into the name of Pater misericordiarum what diddest thou see so hard that thou diddest not bring to passe or vvhat sinne diddest thou see so enormious that thou diddest not pardon In calling thy selfe the Father of mercies thou diddest forgiue Matthew his exchanges Mary Magdalene her vanities the Samaritane her Adulteries the good theefe his theft and the fisher-man Peter his denying of thee the Apostles forsaking of thee and thy enemies putting thee to death Irenaeus sayth Seeing that the time of Deus vltionum is past and that the time of Pater misericordiarum is come haue mercy on mee O great God of Israel haue mercy on mee and when shall this bee but vvhen thou vvilt giue me strength to serue and praise thee and endue mee vvith grace to saue mee O Father of mercies O the God of all consolation vvhen shall my soule heare for her selfe Pater ignosce illi as the vvicked Synagogue did heare thee say Father forgiue them What doth it auaile mee that thou hast pardoned those vvhich did then put thee to death if thou doe not also now forgiue vs vvhich most vvickedly offend thee Children for children sinners for sinners there is as great reason that thou shouldest pardon those of thy holy church as those of the Synagogue for if they vvere children of the God of reuenge vvho did put thee to death then they are also children of the Father of mercies who do offend thee now Saint Augustine in his Confessions sayth O Father of mercies and God of all comfort if it bee true that I vvas vvith those vvhich tooke thy life from thee vpon the crosse vvhy shouldest thou not as well forgiue mee my fault as thou diddest then theirs Vnto thee O eternall Father I say Mea culpa and vnto thee O holy sonne I confesse my offence in that that if I vvas not vvith Iudas vvhen hee sold thee yet I vvas vvith the vvicked and vngratefull Iewes vvhen they did crucifie thee for if they did fasten thee on the crosse vvith nailes I did there crucifie thee vvith my sinnes Anselmus in his Meditations sayth O good Iesus O the blisse of my soule vvho carried thee to the crosse but the loue which thou haddest to redeeme vs And what tormented thee but thy dolours And what tooke thy life from thee but my sinnes And by whom haue I life but by thy merits O Father of mercies if it be true that for my demerits thou diddest lose thy life and that by thy great merits I recouered my soule dost thou not thinke that thou hast much in my faults to pardon in my soule to redresse and amend Barnard sayth O creator of all things O redeemer of all sinnes vnto thee O my God I offer my selfe and before thee O my Lord I present my selfe not such a one as thou diddest leaue mee when thou diddest create mee but such as one as thou foundest mee when thou redeemedst mee What a one diddest thou leaue mee but made to thy image and semblance and what a one diddest thou find mee but with my innocency lost and loaden with sinne O father of mercies pardon mee seeing that I am a worke of thy owne hands pardon me seeing that I am one of thy children and seeing I say vnto thee vpon my knees Tibi soli peccaui it is reason that thou answer me O my God with Miscriatur tui CHAP. II. Of the
difference that is betwixt Dauids testament and Christs testament seeing the one commandeth to reuenge other mens iniuries and the other pardoneth his owne death NOn deduces canicies eius pacifice ad inferos 3. Reg. chap. 2. King Dauid being in the last point of his life commanded his sonne and heire apparent Salomon to be called vnto him vnto whome hee spake these words Thou rememberest my sonne Salomon when my seruant and capraine Ioab did slay captaine Abner and Amasias who were scruants vnto king Saul the which offence because I cannot reuēge in my life the charge shll be laid vpon thee to see that hee goe not quietly to his graue and Dauid said further vnto him Thou shalt also remember that when I fled from thy brother and my son Absolon my enemy Simei came against me and followed mee all the field ouer cursing me and casting stones at me Look vnto it like a wise and a discreet man and that hee depart not in peace out of this world That which Dauid commanded his sonne Salomon to doe was not commanded to one who was deaffe for if hee did command him to kill two hee did kill three or foure that is the infant Abdonias the captaine Ioab Simei and the Priest Abiathar In al his kingdome Dauid had no captaine which had done him so great seruice nor no seruant which had loued him better than old Ioab yet neuerthelesse he had more respect to reuenge the iniuries done to others than vnto their seruices past If Dauid had not been welbeloued and by Scripture commended his Testament should much haue scandalized vs seeing that at the time of his death when men forbid iniuries hee commandeth by his Testament to take away mens liues It is to be beleeued that he being so acceptable to God as he was that he had consulted with God for otherwise being in so narrow a straight as he was in it was more than time for him to prepare himselfe to confesse his sins than to command the death of his enemies O how vnlike Dauids Testament is vnto Christs for Dauid commaunded in his to reuenge other mens deaths but Iesus Christ our Redeemer commanded his owne proper death to be pardoned How happy we be which be the inheritours of Christ and how vnhappy they be which bee the successours of Dauid which is easily seene by their Testaments for Dauids soule goeth out of his body saying Filine ignoscas illis and Christ yeeldeth his last breath saying Pater ignosce illis What similitude is in this when the one commaundeth to slay Ioab who neuer once touched so much as his garment and the sonne of God willeth to forgiue those which tooke away his life How would Dauid forgiue his owne death seeing he commandeth to reuenge another mans wilt thou see the difference betwixt the charity of the one and the goodnesse of the other Thou maiest see it in that that king Dauid would not pardon Ioab and Simei whose sinnes were so old that they were forgotten and meeke Iesus did pardon the Iewes whose wickednes was new and fresh How wouldest thou haue the wounds of him vvho pardoneth more fresher and the wickednesse of those which are pardoned more newer but to haue them at the same time crucifieng as he is pardoning Aymon sayth Much good may Dauids Testament doe him which hee made being annointed for I will hold with that which Christ made when he was crucified for the one seeketh out those which are culpable to kill and the other seeketh out faults to pardon Saint Augustine vpon our Lords wordes saith O how much better it is to fall into the hands of God then into the hands of men which is easily seene in the death of king Dauid and in the death of the sonne of God where the one commandeth to slay his owne seruants and the other willeth pardon to his cruel enemies Hugo de sancte victore sayth I do not enuy king Salomon for the kingdome which king Dauid his father left him nor for his will which he commāded him to accomplish because he left him the heire of his kingdome with such a condition that whē he should giue the last gaspe the other should presently begin to murder and kill In the same day and in the same houre that good king Dauid died as the captaine Ioab was in the Temple a praying kind Salomon sent immediately to sley him insomuch that before they could put Dauid in his graue they tooke away poor Ioabs life O my good Iesus the conditions of thy Testament be not like vnto these seeing that in the last farwell on the altar of the crosse thou diddest not command thy successors to reuenge but to forgiue nor to take away mens liues but to pardon iniuries so that as the Synagogue was a house of buying and selling so thou madest thy church a house of pardon Christ himselfe did whip those who bought and sold in the Temple and the selfesame son of God did pardon those whom he found in his house of pardon whereof wee may inferre that he is no inhabitant of his house who dareth reuenge an iniury Christ did shew himselfe to be the sonne of Dauid in being meeke as hee was but he shewed it not in being vindicatiue as he was for when he died vpon the crosse he did not leaue in al the world any one sinne to forgiue nor any iniury for his heires to reuenge If as Dauid did command to reuēge the misdemeanour which his seruants did him Christ should haue commanded to reuenge the sinnes which the Iewes committed against him it had not been possible to haue been done because the sinners had too many sinnes and the tormentors wanted torments CHAP. III. Of the difference betwixt the bloud of Abel and the bloud of Christ and how vnlike their cries vnto God are ACcessistis ad sanguinis aspersionem melius loquentem quam Abel sayth the Apostle writing vnto the Hebrewes chap. 9 as if hee should say We are very happy which beleeue in Christ and receiue his gospel seeing wee bee redeemed by his death and bought with his precious bloud And because thou maiest the better esteeme of the price of this bloud know thou that it crieth before the eternal father better than the bloud of Abel because that cried Iustice Iustice and the bloud of the sonne of God crieth Mercy Mercy S. Ierome sayth The Apostle dooth highly set forth the bloud of Christ whose soueraine price and high merit hee would not compare with the other blouds of the old Testament but with the bloud of the first iust man that euer was in the world the bloud of the holiest saint that is in heauen Origen saith The Apostle should haue done Christ great iniury if hee should haue compared his bloud with the bloud of calues and goats of the old Testament because the bloud of those beastes did serue to no other purpose but to defile the staires and to take away their liues but the
to call him wise which hath seene much read much and knoweth much but him onely who knoweth how to vse it well and apply it in time and place for there is nothing more preiudicial to a Commonwealth then to be gouerned by one which hath great knowledge and small wisedome The famous S. Augustine sayth in an epistle when the sonne of God said Estote prudentes sicut serpentes Be yee wise like serpents what else would hee say but that simple and wise men were better for the gouernment of his church than the learned arrogant Seneca in a booke De virtutibus sayth The wise man loueth with moderation serueth with care suffereth with patience speaketh with measure visiteth without disquietnesse promiseth that which hee is able to performe concealeth his intention trusteth whome hee ought holdeth his tongue in that he knoweth and neuer striueth with him which is mightier than himself Noui Dauid viruâ— bellicâ—sum prudentem verbis said a knight of the Iewes vnto king Saul being possessed with the diuell as if he had said I know one of Isaies sons called Dauid who can deliuer thee of this euill who is in age a youth in bloud noble in countenance shining bright red heared low of stature strong in forces and aboue all very considerate and wise in his words It is much to bee noted that the holy scripture doth not commend Dauid for that he shewed wisdome in his behauiour and countenance or in gouernment but only in speaking because there is no one thing whereby a man is knowne to bee endued with the vertue of prudence and wisdome more than by the words he vttereth with his mouth Seneca sayth That all the things of this life haue a place of remaining a being in which they are maintained and time in which they are made a qualitie and condition vnto which they incline and an end where they rest which wee say by reason of speaking in the which also is required a conuenient time for that which we are to vtter and order in knowing how to speake Vae mihi quia tacui said the Prophet Ieremy as if hee would say Woe be to me woe bee to me O mighty God of Israell for all the sins which I haue known and all the naughtinesse which I haue concealed and dissembled the which if I had reuealed would haue been amended and the which if I had discouered should haue ben punished Also the wicked Cain said Maior est iniquitas mea quam vt veniam merâ—ar the which words it had beene better for him neuer to haue spoken than to haue vttered for he did sinne much more in not acknowledging mercy in God than in depriuing his brother Abel of his life behold then how Ieremy was found fault with for holding his tongue and Cain rebuked for speaking whereof we may inferre what great need we haue of the vertue of prudence because she may instruct vs what to say and aduise vs likewise what wee ought not to vtter Salomon said like a very wise man Yempus taceÌ„di tempus loquendi in which words he giueth vs license to speak and brideleth vs to hold our tongue because it is an extremity to be alwaies silent and the signe of a foole to talke ouermuch Cicero in an epistle sayth That a man is knowne to bee good or bad by the workes he doth but he is knowne to be wise or a foole by the words hee speaketh To come then to our purpose all this long discourse which we haue made is to proue that the sonne of God was very patient in holding his peace and very discreet in speaking for he neuer spake vnlesse therby hee thought hee should doe good nor did neuer hold his peace vnles he thought that scaÌ„dale should rise of his speech Bâ—de sayth vpon these words dâ—râ—ine verba vitae habes That the son of God was so discreet and wary in his words that he neuer opened his mouth vnlesse it were to preach nor neuer held his peace vnlesse it were to pray Christs owne enemies reported openly of him Quòd nunquà m homo sic loquutus est that no man euer spake as hee spake for he neuer murmured against any man he neuer accused any man nor iniuried any for iniury done vnto him S. Barnard sayth O sweet Iesus redeemer of my soule the Prophet saith very well of thee Ignitum eloquium tuum considering that all thy holy words moued vs to pitty stirred vs to charity inuited vs to goodnes trode downe wickednesse prouoked teares conuerted Commonwealths lightened our consciences and made our hearts meeke and gentle They presented Christ before foure seats of iudgement the day of his holy passion that is before Pilate before Herod before the high priests houses the Pontife Caiphas and the tree of the crosse before his father before whom he spake onely and in the presence of the others was for the most part alwaies silent and that for certaine not without a high mistery and hidden secret The mistery then of this secret is that he wold not answer in the first two Tribunals when they accused him of wickednesse and scandale but vpon the crosse where he was an aduocate he began presently to speake and plead for vs saying Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them in so much that for to excuse my offences he omitteth to answere for himselfe What meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this Thou doest not answer wheÌ„ thou art spoken vnto in that that toucheth thy selfe and in that that concerneth mee doest thou answere not spoken vnto Doest thou make intercession for my fault doest thou not remember thy owne life Who but thou did euer excuse those which accused him and defend them which condemne him Anselmus in his meditations sayth O quam ignitum est eloquium tuum My sweet Iesus seeing that on the crosse thou diddest excuse mee which was in the fault and returnedst no answere for thy self being without fault the which thou didst being enflamed with loue and very full of griefe Now that thou doest intreat now that thou doest craue why doest thou not entreat thy good father that hee would mitigate thy griefes as well as forgiue sinners Hast thou no pittie of thy owne holy members which are loosed one from another and hast thou it towards thy enemies which are not as yet conuerted vnto thee Seeing thou art aswell bound to defend the innocent as make intercession for the wicked why hast thou no pittie vpon thy owne innocent flesh aswell as of my enormious crimes Vbertinus sayth O quam vehementer est ignitum eloquium tuum My good Lord seeing thou doest excuse him who is culpable entreatest without entreaty forgiuest without satisfaction heapest vp for those which will not repay thee and also diest for those which haue put thee to death Seeing the law of Moses commandeth that the malefactor should pay a tooth for a tooth a hand for a hand foot for foot eie for