WEDNESDAY AFTER THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 20.18 Ecce ascendimus Hierusalem Behold we goe vp to Ierusalem OVr Sauiour Christ walking to Ierusalem where hee was to giue vs life and to lose his owne hee went discoursing of his death of the persons that should occasion it and of those circumstances which were to accompanie it For a traueller doth busie his thoughts in nothing more than in that which he is to doe when hee comes to his journeys end Pharaoh persecuting the children of Israell did eagerly pursue them and casting with himselfe what course he should take with them when he once ouertooke them I will take away saith hee the riches that they haue rob'd vs of and diuide the spoyle so shall my soule bee reuenged of them and my anger rest satisfied Those holy women which went to the Sepulchre to annoint our Sauiour Christ said amongst themselues as they walked along Who shall rolle vs away the stone from the doore of the Sepulchre This is not only a businesse well beseeming vs vpon the way but discouereth likewise the pleasure and content that the Traueller takes therein Commonly trauelling is tedious and wearisome vnto vs which that it may the better bee passed ouer he that vndertaketh a journey imployeth his thoughts vpon such things as may delight him most and by that means beguiles the wearisomenesse of the way Besides they that loue a thing well and haue their minds set vpoâ— it vsually take pleasure in talking thereof saith Plutarch refreshing thereby the remembrance of those things that are best beloued by them Epipha 〈…〉 saith That our Sauiours so much talking of his death was thereby to engage himselfe therein the more for by making all those that were there present with him witnesses of his words That he should now die it stood vpon his honour his credit and his truth there was now no stepping backe but with extreamâ— losse of his reputation But he being throughly resolued to die makes here vnto vs a more especiall and particular description of his death Behold we goe vpâ—â— Ierusalem this shall bee the last time that euer I shall goe vp to Ierusalem noâ— many goe along with me but ere long I shall bee left all alone The Sonne oâ— man shall be deliuered vnto the chiefe Priests and vnto the Scribes and theâ— shall deliuer him to the Gentiles to mocke and to scourge him to beat and buffet him about the cheekes to reuile him to his teeth and to spit in his face beeing relinquished and forsaken of all men For it is written I will smite their Sheapeheard and the sheepe shall be scattered The persons that shall take my life from mee shall be the Princes of the Priests and the Romane power the circumstances scoffes scornes scourges c. But after this so foule a storme I shall recouer a very cheerefull Hauen and rest in safety The third day will I rise againe Behold we go vp to Hierusalem Saint Marke saith Iesus went before and they were amased and as they followed they feared Where we are to consider That hee that goes to receiue Death showes great content great courage and great valour But those that go to receiue Life great cowardize great sorrow and great feare Whence it came to passe that our Sauiour Christ went apace before and that his Disciples followed slowly after He went before them The pleasures hee tooke therein clapt wings to his feet Some may aske How can this his ioy sute with the sorrow which he suffered in the garden But this ioy was verie fitting and conuenient for him to the end that they who hereafter should see him sad might thinke that the winde of this his sorrow blew it selfe out of another corner the contentment of his death continuing still on foot Epiphanius sayth That this our Sauiours sorrow grew from the desire that he had to dye For if hee should alwayes haue exprest this his willingnesse that he had to dye the Deuil fearefull of his owne hurt would haue sought to haue diuerted it And as Pilats wife was drawne to solicite his life so would he likewise haue solicited all Hierusalem to saue him had hee so well knowne then as he did afterwards that Christs death would haue bin so aduantagious to mankind He was willing likewise to prouoke thereby his and our aduersary to put him more eagerly vpon the businesse persuading himselfe that this his sorrow proceeded out of feare Most men sayth Epiphanius feare to dye only our Sauiors feare was not to dye Christ by his feare of life sought to secure his death Howbeit we must withall acknowledge that he did truely both greeue and feare And as they followed they feared That our nature should suffer cowardize and feare seeing death neere at hand as wee haue seene the experiment of it in the greatest Saints that are in Heauen as in Elias Iob and Saint Paul so not to feare death is the priuiledge and fauour of Grace To feare it is the condition of nature which doth naturally desire the conseruation of it's beeing and the preseruation of it's life Nor is it much that Nature should discouer in man this weakenesse and cowardize when as being vnited to the God-head in our Sauiour Christ he did begge and intreat according to this his inferiour part to wit his humanity If it be possible let this cup passe from me Whereupon Leo the Pope sayth Ipsa vox non exaâ—diti magna est expositio sacramenti The mystery that Christ should begge and not be heard is That our Nature would not willingly purchase any good thing at so deere a rate as the price of it's life and being Nolumus spoliari sed superuestiri We would not be stripped but ouer-clothed And albeit the Disciples had so many lectures of death read vnto them yet could they not remooue the feare of death from them And if humane nature wrought vpon our Sauiour Christ according to that inferiour portion of his though so well incountered with his content and readinesse to dye it is not much that his Disciples should lagger behind and shâ—w themselues so lazie and cowardly as they did Filius hominis tradetur principibus sacerdotum c. The sonne of Man shall be deliuered to the chiefe Priests c. The reasons why our Sauiour made such a particular peice and exact draught of his death of his torments and his crucifixion are very many whereof some haue been formerly related and those that now offer themselues are as followeth The first Our Sauiour proceeded therein very leasurely with a great deale of deliberation for this so sad a storie that it may be of profit vnto vs is not to be posted ouer in hast nor to bee looked on all at once but by peecemeale and a leasurely gazing thereupon For there is not a wheale nor a stripe in that diuine Body but may very well take vp our thoughts in the contemplation
One Angel was enough to ouerthrow a mountaine one onely sufficeth to mooue these coelestiall Orbes but it is Saint Chrysostomes note That Euerie one was glad to put a helping hand to so worthie a burthen â— this As many earnestly thrust themselues forward to beare a foot a leg or an arme of some great Monarch In â—inum Abrahae Into the bosome of Abraham Some vnderstand by this his bosome the neerest place about Abraham As in that of the Euangelist All the Apostles supt with our Sauiour Christ but Saint Iohn onely leaned his head in his bosome And in that other Vnigenituâ— qui est in sinu patris c. The onely begotten who is in the bosome of the Father As also that A dextris At his right hand So likewise Many shall lie downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob And the Church singeth Martinus Abrahae sinu laetus excipitur Mortuâ—s est autem Diues sepultus est But the rich man died and was buried The Greeke makes there a full point and then presently goes on In inferno autem cum esseâ— in tormentis But when he was in hell in torment But of Lazarus it is not said That they buried him whither it were for that he had no buriall at all or for that beeing so poore and miserable a creature Earth made no mention of him as Heauen did not of the rich man But we read of the rich man Sepultus est He was buried Hitherto did reach the jurisdiction of his riches and the peculiar of his prosperitie great Ceremonies watchfull attendance about his Corps many Mourners Doles to the Poore Tombes of Alabaster Vaults paued with Marble Lamentations odoriferous Ointments pretious Embalmings Funerall Orations solemne Banquets In all this I confesse the rich man hath a great aduantage of him that is poore But in this outward pompe lies all the rich mans happinesse and when hee hath entred the doores of darkenesse and is shut vp in his graue like the Hedge-hogge hee leaues his Apples behind him and nothing remaines with him but the prickles of a wounded conscience his howlings his lamentations weeping gnashing of teeth and whatsoeuer other torments Hell can affoord Diuitiarum jactantia quid contulit nobis The ostentation and glory of riches what good doth it bring vnto vs O would to God that I had bin some poore Sheepheard O how too late haue I fallen into an account of myne owne hurt O World would to God I had neuer knowne thee He died and was buried There is no felicitie so great that can diuert the euill of Death let the rich man liue the yeares of Nestor the ages of Methusalem in the end hee must descend into the graue The cleerest Heauen must haue it's Cloud and the brightest day must haue it's night the Sunne though neuer so shining must haue it's setting the Sea though neuer so calme must haue it's storme If the good things of this life were perpetuall they that are in loue with them might pretend some excuse but beeing that worldly pleasure is a Wheele that is alwayes moouing a Riuer that is alwayes running a Mill that is alwayes going and grinding vs to dust How canst thou settle thy selfe sure thereupon The highest places are the least secure the Moon when she is at the full foretells a waine and the Sunne when it is at the heigth admits a declination the house the higher it is built the more subiect it is to falling And the Nest saith Abdias that is neerest to the Starres God doth soonest throw it downe The rich man died He tells not how he liued but how he died for death is the eccho of mans life and he hauing led so cruell and so mercilesse a life what good could he hope for at his death Quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui laboraui in gemitu meo c. The first part Reason prooueth vnto vs The second Weeping howling In my life time I aske God forgiuenesse for my sinnes For the man that is vnmindfull of this in his life God doth not thinke on him at his death Many call vpon God at the houre of their death and it makes a mans haire to stand an end to see a man carelesse in so dangerous a passage only because Death is the eccho of our life Others will cal vpon Iesus but as that crucified Theefe that dyed without deuotion For that heart which is hard in his life is likewise hard in his death Cum esset in tormentis When he was in torment c. Here is an indefinite tearme put for a vniuersall For albeit euery one of the damned doe suffer the full measure and weight of his sinnes and acording to Saint Austen and Saint Gregory suffer most in that particular wherein they most offended And that therefore the rich man did suffer more in his tongue than any other member of his bodie yet notwithstanding there is not any one that is dâ—mned which doth not generally suffer in all his whole bodie and in euery part of his soule For as Heauen is a happinesse that imbraceth all happinesse so Hell is a misery that includeth all miseries There was neuer yet any tyrant in the world in whose prisons and dungeons all torments were inflicted at once But in that of Hell there is not any torment which is not felt at one and the same instant The body that shall generally suffer And for this fire and cold will suffice which are generall torments The soule shall likewise generally suffer sorrow and paine not only because the fire shall burne it which though corporall yet shall it's flames haue an operatiue vertue and working vpon the soule but because all hope being lost of any kind of joy whatsoeuer there shall therein be deposited all the reasons that may be of sorrow and of miserie Likewise there shall be particular torments for the sences of the bodie for the faculties of the soule the eyes shall enioy so much light as shall serue to see fearefull Visions so sayes Cirillus Alexandrinus and on the other side they shall suffer such thicke and palpable darknesse that they shall imagine them to be the ghastly shadowes of death Saint Chrysostome saith That they shall see the huge and infinite numbers of the Damned taking notice of all those that conuersed with them in their life time as fathers grandfathers brothers and friends And if the varietie multitude that are in a deep dungeon if the ratling of their chains the clattring of their shackles their hunger their nakednesse the noyse coyle confusion which they make cause a horrour in as many as both see and heare it what a terrour then will it be to see the miserable torments and to heare the fearefull shriâ—kes and pittifull outcries of those that are damned to the bottomlesse pit of hell The eares will suffer with their howlings their lamentations their blasphemies their cursings their ragings their dispairings
punishments Desiderium Impij mâ—nimentum est pessimorum so saith Salomon To this end the Scripture recounteth that the earth swallowed vp Korah Dathan Abiram the rest of those rebellious schismaticks wrapping them in flames smoke the Censers remaining in the midst of the fire Moses commanded that they should be taken out broad plates made of them for a couering of the Alter Vt haberent postea filij Israel quibus commonerentur That they might serue as a memoriall and warning to the children of Israell As false weights doe that are nayled vp in the Market place grounds that are ploughed with salt and the heads of malefactors in the highway Because the people of God had intangled themselues with the Moabites there perished of them twentie foure thousand but God commanded that the Princes should be hanged against the Sunne Saint Augustine saith That this was done for an admonishment to the people The Seuentie read Ostende eos Domine contra Solem That God and all the world may see them and that they may remaine as a perpetuall example to posteritie The Historie of the Machabees reports vnto vs That Nicanor vttered a most beastly blasphemie saying That his power was as great as that of God but the diuine justice punishing this his insolencie his head was set vp on the highest tower in the citie his right hand which he had held vp so proudly they nayled it against the doore of the Temple and caused his tongue to be cut in little pieces and to be cast vnto the Fowles Pharaohs and his Peoples death the booke of Wisedome saith That it was conuenient that the people of Israell should see it and consider it Vt ostenderet quemadmodum inimici eorum exterminabantur That the people might trie a meruailous passage and that these might find a strange death Theodoret brings a comparison of him that makes an Anotomie or dissection vpon a dead bodie for the instruction of those that are liuing And Zacharie paints out vnto vs a Talent of lead And this was a woman that sate in the midst of the Ephah whose name or title was Impietie or Wickednesse which hee saith was carried vnto Babylon Vt poneretur super vasem suum To be established and set vp there in her owne place that beeing set vp aloft vpon a Piller shee might continue there for a perdurable example Aulus Gellius in his Noctibus Atticis saith That Princes haue three ends in their punishments The one The amendment of the fault And to this end Pilat commaunded our Sauiour Christ to be whipt Corripiam eum c. The other The authoritie of the offended for if disrespect should not bee punished it would breed contempt The third For the terror and example of others for Iusticia aliena est disciplina propria Other mens punishment is our instruction And that man is a foole whom other mens harmes cannot make to beware When the Lyon was sicke all the beasts of the field went to visit him onely the Foxe stayed behind and would not goe vnto him and being askt the reason he answered I find the tracke of many going in but of none comming out and I am not so desperate as to cast my selfe wilfully away when as I may sleepe in a whole skinne The footsteps of the Angells that fell may aduise vs of our pride the ashes of Sodome tell vs of our filthinesse the Gallowes of Iudas forewarne vs of our auarice and the hell of this rich man restraine vs from our cruelties When God punished the Iewes hee scattered them farre and neere ouer the face of the whole earth that they might strike a feare into all other Nations A corporall medicine fits not all sores but corporall punishment meets with all faults Fili recordare quia recepisti bona in vita tua Sonne remember that thou in thy life receiuedst good things This is a dangerous trucke a fearefull exchange which makes humane happinesse not onely to be suspected but also abhorred Iob calls Death a Change Expecto donec veniat immutatio mea I stay waiting for my Change And as your Sheepe which in Syria breed fine wooll passing along to Seuill suffer a change and are apparelled with a rougher and courser sort of wooll so these your pamper'd persons of this world and those that fare daintily and deliciously euerie day shall change the soft wool of tender sheep into the harsh haires of goats camels Nature in all things hath ordered a kind of alternatiue change or interchangeable mutation as is to be seene in nights and in dayes in Sommer and in Winter The like doth succeed in the order of Grace there cannot bee two Hells neither shall there be two Glories A Phylosopher asking one Which of these two hee had rather be either Craesus who was one of the richest but most vicious men in the world or Socrates who was one of the poorest but most vertuous men in the world His answer was That in his life he would be a Croesus but in his death a Socrates So if it had beene put to this rich mans choice I doe thinke he could haue wisht in his heart to haue beene in his life Diues and in his death Lazarus Balaam shewed the like desire Moriatur anima mea morte Iustorum Let my soule die the death of the Righteous But they desire an impossibilitie for Death is a kind of trucke or exchange Fili recepisti bona in vita tua Lazarus similiter mala Sonne remember that thou in thy life time receiuedst thy pleasures and likewise Lazarus paines now therefore is he comforted and thou art tormented But I wil no longer torment your patieence God of his infinite goodnes c. THE SIXTEENTH SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 21. MARC 12. LVC. 20. Homo quidam plantauit Vineam A certaine man planted a Vineyard THis is a Law Suit or Tryall betweene God and his People wherein according to the tenor of the Processe his people are condemned as vngratefull cruell disrespectiue forgetfull of their dutie and thrust out of all that they had as vnworthie of that good which they possessed This Storie much resembles the Statua of Nebucadnezar whose head was of gold whose brest was of siluer whose bodie of brasse whose legs of yron and whose feet of clay For God hauing begun first vnto them with many great kindnesses extraordinarie fauours and vndeserued courtesies he goes descending and declining from them till they fall into the greatest disgrace disfauor that any soule can receiue from the hands of God A certaine man planted a Vineyard He planted so perfect a Vineyard that it might truly be said What could I haue done more vnto my Vineyard And this is a strange indeering on Gods part That he should make choice of this Vine-stocke from amongst all the rest of the Countries and Nations of the World When the most High had
still after her he gaue occasion to Diogenes to breake this jeast vpon him That this faire mayden had like a Chicken wrung his necke thus aside looking still backward as his Chariot went forward The seuenth is of Irenaeus Saint Ambrose and Saint Chrysostome It being manifested in this blind man That God is our sole Creator and that no hands but his onely can mold and fashion vs anew Man considering the Worlds great beautie was desirous to search out the author thereof and the Deuill boasting forth and assuming to himselfe the glorie of this admirable piece of worke blazoned it forth vnto them I am the Lord of all this Vniuerse I made the worâ—d and I possesse it Whereupon Man gaue vnto him the honour of God the greater part of the world adoring him in his Idolls God finding himselfe thus wronged did permit in man these maimes and defects in the eyes hands and feet and other the like monstrous mis-shapednesse Now if the Deuill had the power to repaire these imperfections he might then enioy this glorie But if all the Idols as Baruc saith being put together cannot giue sight to the Blind how can they then be God The wonderfullest worke that God euer made was Man and in Man the greatest artifice and workemanship are his eyes Our Sauior therfore had so ordred it that this man should be born blind that his eys being fashioned giuen him by his hand the world might acknowledge him to be their God and their Redeemer When hee had thus spoken hee spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle c. Saint Ambrose dwels much vpon these ceremonies And much adoe is made about the cost and cure of this poore mans eyes O Lord thou hast restored other men by a bare word onely so didst thou reuiue the widowes sonne lying on the beere and so didst thou raise vp Lazarus from the graue thy voice alone was sufficient In the creation of man thou didst onely vse the dust of the earth and therefore man is said to be made de limo terrae And albeit some doe affirme that man was made de luto of the durt or mould of the earth yet the Hebrew word expresses it to no other fulnesse than that man was made of dust And our vulgar translation saith Puluis est But how is it that these eyes must cost a little more labour than all the other eyes besides and all those other liues thaâ— God hath giuen man There are â—hree reasons rendred The first of Saint Cyprian who saith That this blind man had not onely laesaâ— potentiam the facultie disinabled where the sight did reside as many blind men who hauing the organs of their eyes whole and the apples cleare see nothing at all But this man had otherwise the organs of his eyes wanting vnto him the hollow places thereunto belonging beeing like shop windowes close shut vp and skinned ouer as the rest of the face and that our Sauiour did fill vp those emptie holes with durt which he had moulded and knedded together into a masse or lumps of clay with the helpe of his spittle And this was the reason why they afterwards said vnto him How were thine eyes opened But to giue a man an arme a hand or a foote it may sooner be imagined than made by any but by our Sauior Christ who was God Whence I infer That because God had breathed the spirit of Life into Man there were certain Hereticks that stickt not to say that the Soule of Adam was of the substance of God they might better haue sayd that it was made of the substance of the eyes of this blind man The second For that the Pharisees did attribute these our Sauiours Miracles to the Deuill he did proue in this blind man that onely the vertue of God was powerfull to worke this wonder First Because no naturall vertue can giue sight to the blind And therefore by consequence the Deuill could not doe it whose miracles are wrought by applying the naturall vertue of the Creatures as Saint Austen teacheth Secondly He made good this his miracle by curing him with this clay or dust which was verie good meanes rather to put out than doe any good to the eyes Whereas if the Deuill should haue cured him hee must haue done it by applying some helpfull vertue that had beene accommodated and fitted for the sight Onely it is God that can worke these strange effects by contrarie causes The third is of Saint Ambrose Our Sauior Christ was willing to aduantage this mans sight both in bodie and in soule And therefore it is a farre greater miracle to create the eys than to raise vp the dead to life This blind man was to be the battalion that was to withstand many great incounters and contradictions As the strict examination of his blindnesse what were his parents what his birth what his breeding And therefore it was requisit that he should be armed with a great deale of light with a great deale of courage constancie and resolution not onely to answere the arguments which the passion and hard-heartednes of the Iudges were to presse him withall but to suffer banishment extrusion from their Synagogue which sentence of excommunication they were to pronounce against him I must worke the workes of him that sent mee while it is day c. I must not let slip the short time of my life death drawes neere and it behooues mee to make hast The Husbandman when hee sees the ground is throughly soked with raine he hastens to the sowing Saint Austen cals good Workes the Seedes of blessednesse which we must sow in our life time that we may reap the fruit of them hereafter They went foorth weeping sowing in teares but they shall returne with ioy bearing sheaues in their bosome I must worke c. Good God What doth this import thee It importeth Man to looke vnto it In that correspondence which God holds with Man hee will that they bee partners and share gaines alike and therefore hee calls our good his and his glorie ours Our Sauior Christ suffers death his death is our redemption And therefore it is said It was meet that Christ should dye Saint Paul preacheth this Doctrine and giuing the World to vnderstand thereof hee discouereth Christs glorie vttering thereupon I shall shew vnto you how fit it was that he should suffer for my sake The night commeth when no man can worke c. Euerie one hath his day which is the period of his sowing season and of his labour which done he may haue the happinesse to take his quiet rest in the night He that shall goe about to make of night day shall find hee is much deceiued for The night commeth when no man can worke That which importeth is That while wee haue time we doe good for to this end Time is giuen vnto vs. And if the figge tree because it did not bring foorth
fro with it's vnruly appetites is al one Et vita inter Effoeminatos Another Letter hath it Scortatores The connexion is good for Youth runnes it selfe quickely vpon the Rockes of death through it's sensualities and lewdnesse of life There are two daughters of the Horse-leech which still crie Giue giue And the Wiseman pointing them forth vnto vs saith The one is Infernus The other Os Vuluae The Graue the one and Lust the other And the Wiseman did linke these two together with a great deale of conueniencie and fittingnesse for if Lust bee neuer satisfied the Graue lesse This truth is likewise made good forasmuch as the Scripture stileth Sinne Death If I doe this I must die the death So said Susanna to the Iudges that made vnlawfull and dishonest loue vnto her And Cain seeing himselfe charged with fratricide at that verie instant he gaue himselfe for a dead man Whosoeuer shall meet me will kill me Youth then beeing a house whereinto the raine doth drip so fast and at so many places it is no meruaile that life should cease and soone decay It is prouerbially said Loue is as strong as Death And as Loue doth vsually set vpon Youngmen so doth Death and where Loue striketh Youth Death may spare his Dart. The Antients painted a Youngman starke naked his eyes with a Vaile or Bend before them his right hand bound behind him and his left left at libertie and Time followiâ—â— him close at the heeles and euer and anon pulling a thred out of the Vaile Hee was drawne naked to shew with what little secrecie hee had vsed his delights and pleasures with his right hand bound behind him to expresse that he did not doe any thing aright his left free and at libertie signifying that he did all things aukwardly and vntowardly he was portrayed blind because he doth not see his owne follies but Time goes opening his eyes by little and little day by day brings him to the true knowledge of his errors And he that was dead sate vp and began to speake The Dead presently obeyed the voyce of the Liuing And hee sate vp God cryeth out aloud to those that are dead in their Soules yet doe they not obey his voyce Arise thou that sleepest c. Hee began to giue thankes vnto him that had done him this so great a fauour Thou hast deliuered mee ô Lord from the dooâ—es of death and therefore I will celebrate thy prayses and magnifie thy name in the Gates amiddest the Daughters of Syon It is Saint Chrysostomes note That the word Doores is put here in the plurall number because many are the dangers out of which God deliuereth a sinner That all may speake of thy praise and talke of thy wondrous workes And there came a feare vpon all It may seeme to some That the word Loue would better haue become this place and beene fitter for this present purpose and occasion All a man would thinke should rather haue expressed their loues vnto him sung forth his prayses and offered their seruice vnto him In those former punishments of a World drowned and ouerwhelmed with Water of a Sodome burned and consumed with Fire it was verie fit and meet that it should strike feare and amasement into all But in such a case as this What should cause them to feare Hereunto I answer That nothing doth strike such a feare and terrour into man as the great and wonderfull mercies of God A Roman Souldier told Iulius Caesar It much troubles me nor can I be heart-merrie as oft as I thinke on the many fauours that I haue receiued from thy liberall hand but doe rather hold them as so many wrongs and iniuries done vnto me for they are so beyond all requitall that I must of force proue vngratefull which makes me to feare that thou wilt proceed against me for a heinous offendor in this kind In like manner so many are the mercies of God towards man and so infinite that they may be held as Vigiles of his future seuerer Iustice. Iacob did in a manner vtter the same sentence against himselfe Minor sum cunctis miserationibus tuis The least of thy mercies is greater than all my merits nor can the best seruices that I can doe thee make satisfaction for the least of those fauours which I haue receiued from thy bounteous liberalitie Grant ô Lord that what is wanting in our owne worthinesse may bee made vp in the mercies and merits of our Sauiour Iesus Christ To whom with the Father c. THE XXX SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 11.1 Erat quidam languens Lazarus Now a certaine man was sicke named Lazarus of Bethanie c. PEtrus Crysologus calls this Signum signorum Mirabile mirabilium Virtutem virtutum The signe of signes the wonder of wonders and the Vertue of vertues or the power of powers Saint Augustine Miraculorum maximum The myracle of myracles which of all other did most predicate and blazon forth Christs glorie Saint Hierome preferres it before all the rest that he wrought here vpon earth By this prenda or pledge of his Diuinitie Death remained confounded the Deuills affrighted and the lockes and barres of Hell broken Genebrard That it is the voice of a Crier which goes before a Triumpher who makes Death the triumphant Chariot of his Maiestie and glorie That a valiant Warriour should make a braue and gallant shew on horsebacke hauing his Courser adorned and set forth with curious and costly Caparisons it is not much but to seeme handsome and comely in Deaths palenesse weakenesse and foulenesse beeing so ghastly a thing to looke on God onely can doe this Ante faciem eius saith Abacuc ibit mors Death â—â—all flie before his face Christ doth deliuer vs from a double death the one of the soule the other of the bodie He deliuered them from their distresses Death is swallowed vp in victorie He that drinketh takes the cup in his hand and doth therewith what it pleaseth him so did our Sauiour deale with Death therfore he called it a cup drinking the same vp at one draught wherein he dranke a health to all Beleeuers Saint Bernard vpon this occasion saith of him Mirabilis potator es tu Thou art a strange kind of drinker O Lord before thou tastedst of this cup thou saidst Transeat Let it passe and after thou hadst dranke thereof thou saidst Sitio I thirst The Flesh was afraid but the Spirit got the victorie ouer Death with that ease as a good Drinker doth of a good cup of drinke when he is verie thirstie In a word Not onely because this was a myracle wrought vpon a dead person that had lien foure dayes buried in his graue but because the sacrilegious councell of the Scribes and Pharisees had layd their heads together and plotted the death of our Sauiour Christ as also in regard of those other circumstances That the deceased
praise of it 41 Apparell How to be limitted 235 The abuse of it 236 B Baptisme THe foundation of Christian building 558 Bethesda the figure of it 165 Beloued A name of good preheminence 502 Bells The vse of them 526 Beelzebub Why resembled to a flye 295 Benefit See Courtesie Well bestowed if much desired 546 Beautie The force of it 571 Blessing Why Isaac would haue conferred the blessing on Esau. 227 God measures out his blessings to vs more by Loue than Wisedome 262 He substracts them from the vngratefull 270 C Centurion HIs behauiour iustified 36 His faith commended 34 Capernaum The glorie of it 23 315 Why Christ would worke no myracles there 318 There began the preaching of the Gospell 315 Change A change to be seene in all things 247 Charitie See Mercy and Vnmercifulnesse Much respected of God 100 praised of Men. 307 Must be practised towards all 337 How it differs from couetousnesse 439 Chaire What is meant by Moses his Chaire 212 Chastisement See Punishment Gods chastisements whereunto resembled 244 To what purpose they serue ibid. More in shew than in substance 452 Children What care Parents should haue of them 226 If vertuous their Parents glorie 310 Christ a Schoole-master euen to these 462 Foure degrees of child-hood and whereunto alluding 602 Christ. See Death His comming to Iudgement 93 With what Maiestie it shall be 96 97 His combat with the deuill 71 How called the hope of the Gentiles 142 Why called the Sonne of Dauid rather than of Abraham 149 His transfiguration and the reasons of it 184 c. The necessitie of it 187 The qualitie 188 Glorious in his Passion three manner of waies 192 His bodie two-fold Naturall and Mysticall 193 His Passion the fountaine of our glorie ibid. He suffered onely because he would 200 His willingnesse to dye 219 Why called the Sonne of Man 223 His blood why shed in the Vine-yard 265 If conceiued in the heart soone discouered 309 His Pedigree the noblest that euer was 310 His workes of two sorts 318 No Monopoly to bee made of his Worth 326 As he was meeke in reprouing so he was stout in reuenging 359 He brings Health and Holinesse wheresoeuer he commeth 374 Compared to the Sunne 388 The onely Well of liuing Water 394 A Controller of curious nicenesse ibid. The prerogatiue of his flesh 379 More mooued at our disasters than he was at his owne 494 Why without peccabilitie 524 c. His innocency exemplified both by his life death 526 Neuer any so abused by the World as he 537 543 Hee must be sought while he may be found 543 His power neuer more seene than in his Passion 549 605 He prooues his Diuinity by no other testimonie than his workes 556 Alwayes ready to forgiue Sinners 583 Why called a Bull. 605 His life was to bring the Iewes to knowledge his death the Gentiles 605 His Humility the character of his Loue. 637 His company a sure protection 622 Euery part of him affoords a Sinner confidence 645 His Dietie when most concealed ibid. His bloud ought to be much regarded 647 The difference betwixt his Triumph those of Men. 16 Christians Led more by Custome than Deuotion 414 Many now worse enemies to Christ than were the Pharisees 267 Many Christians why called sheepe 567 Church Why persecuted 65 Likened to a Rocke ibid. Her greatest persecution is to want persecution ibid. Her firmenesse 250 Gods fauour towards her 345 Why stiled a well ordered Army 440 In her infancie she needed miracles 326 She thriues because watered with the blood of Christ and his Martyrs 251 Clemencie A profitable vertue 534 Communion Two dignities to be considered in it One of the Person that receiueth Christ the other of the Preparation wherewith he doth receiue it 33 636 Confession When to be made 203 The onely way to absolution 281 Without it no true comfort 288 Sathan would keepe vs from it ibid. Contemplation Must not bee seuered from action 488 Nor preferred before it 413 Conscience If guiltie the greatest torture 567 Cooperation Necessarie in things that concern the sauing of our Soules 147 Counsaile Where good Counsell is wanting all runs to ruine 436 State Counsells more to pill the poore than to preserue them 437 No man so wise but may need good Counsell 587 Ill Counsel produceth ill effects ibid. Countrey Euery man must loue his owne Countrey 275 316 Conuersion Three conuersions celeberated by the Church 615 That of the Theefe miraculous 616 Couetousnesse Foolish and vnnecessarie 8 The roote of all euill 234 Nothing worse than a couetous man 263 No Vice more seuerely punished ibid. None so hard to be reformed ibid. The onely God that commands the World 264 Men vsually couet what is especially commended 407 Couetousnesse and Mercy how they differ 439 Neuer satisfied 441 Naught in a Magistrate ibid. Worse in a Minister 448 457 489 Courtesie The receit of a courtesie is the ingaging of our libertie 226 A good turne is a strong fetter 253 Courteous behauiour the greatest gaine 445 Court Courtier The Courts of Princes like the poole of Bethesda 162 The life of a Courtier is wholly vpon hope ibid. Crosse. Heauens key 623 The death of the Crosse an iniurie to nature 644 Crueltie See Vnmercifulnesse Curiositie Dangerous in diuine matters 125 as also in searching into other mens liues 477 Curiositie and Temperance are stil at variance within vs. 521 D Death THe Glorious change whereunto it brings the child of God 242 No greater dishonour than to dye by the hand of a base enemie 74 Naturall to shunne Death and to seeke Life 219 Christs willingnesse to dye ibid. Christs death to be considered two manner of wayes c. 222 c. As a mans life is so is his death 243 Why called a change 247 We ought to pray against suddaine death 331 492 The death of the wicked full of terror 332 The death of the Saints is the weakening of the place in which they dye 426 Little regarded or remembred 489 The remembrance of it affoords two benefits It is incident to all 490 c. The liuing more to be pitied than the dead 494 Death a large draught but Christ swallowed it downe 499 Why termed a Sleepe 509 c. Christs death how different from ours 510. The death of the Soule a true death that of the body onely a shadow 512 Why the Heathen erected Pyramids ouer their dead 514 Christs death the Deuills worst torment 528 549 Why Christ desiring to dye fled to auâ—yd death ibid. c. Christs death did alter the nature of things 645 The Deuil neuer more deluded than by Christs death 646 Preparation against death necessarie 597 Deuill He layes vpon Man three burthens 17. His description 71. His trade is wholly to doe euill 80 Why he appeared to Eue in the forme of a Serpent 81 His subtiltie 82 A great prouoker to Gluttonie and why Ibid. His malice oftentimes outrunnes his Wit 85 He is
Homo quia cinis es Remember Man that thou art but Dust. THE remembrance of death saith Climachus is amongst other remembrances as bread amongst other meats howbeit it is more necessarie for the soule than bread for the bodie For a man may liue many dayes without bread but the soule cannot doe so without the remembrance of death And it is the generall opinion of all the best and holiest Writers Perfectissimam vitam esse continuam mortis meditationem i. That the most perfect life is a continuall meditation of death Chrysostome expounding that place of Saint Luke Qui vult venire post me i. He that will follow me saith That Christ commandeth vs not to beare vpon our backes that heauie burthen of the woodden Crosse but that we should alwayes set our death before our eyes making that of Saint Paul to be our Imprese Quotidiè morior i. I die dayly In the second of the Kings it is recounted that the holy King Iosias did clense the people from their Altars their Groues and high places where innumerable Idolatries dayly increased and to amend this ill he placed there in their stead bones skulls and the ashes of dead men Whose iudgement herein was very discreete For from mans forgetting of his beginning his end arise his Idolatries and so reuiuing by those bones the rememberance of what they were hertofore what they shal be hereafter he did make them amend that mischief Verie many nay numberlesse are those men which adore the noblenesse of their Linage and out of a desire that they haue to make good their descent and beginning they multiplie Coats one vpon another hang vp Scutchions blazon forth their Armes tell you large histories of their pedigrees and genealogies and many times most of them meere lies and fables Ezechiel did represent these vnto vs in those twentie fiue yong men which were besotted and rauished in beholding the Sunne which by way of exposition signifieth the adoring of the glorie of their birth But leauing these as fooles who glorie in the gold that glisters the Church teacheth thee another lesson and sayes vnto thee Memento homo Remember man c. God created Adam of the basest matter of verie durt but this Durt being molded by Gods owne hand and inspiring it with so much wisedome councell and prudence Tertullian calls it Cura diuini ingenij i. The curiousnesse of Gods wit but man growing proud hereupon and hoping to be a God himselfe God doomed him to death and wrapped him againe in his durtie swadling clouts with this inscription Puluis es in puluerem reuerteris i. Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Adam did not without some mysterie cloath himselfe with greene leaues for as Saint Ambrose hath noted it he gaue therein as it were a signe and token of his vaine and foolish hopes But as the mother when theâ—ee hath stung her childs finger runnes with all hast to get a little durt and claps it to her little one which doth assuage the swelling and giue it ease so those busie Bees of hel dayly stinging vs striking into our breasts the poyson of their pride arrogancie the Church with dust and ashes with a Cinis es incinerem reuerteris i. Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne abates this pride and tells vs of that swelling arrogancie of ours When God reuealed to Nebucadnezar how little a while his Empire was to last he shewed him a statue of diuers mettalls the head gold the brest siluer the bellie brasse the legges yron the feet clay and a little stone which descended from the mountaine lighting on the feet dasht the statue in pieces But in stead of taking this as a forewarning of his end and to haue it still before his eyes he made another statue of gold from top to toe which is held to be a durable and lasting mettal so that the more God sought to dis-deceiue him the more was he deceiued with his vaine hopes And this is a resemblance of that which dayly hapneth vnto vs for God aduising vs that our best building is but durt our idle thoughts vaine hopes imagine it to be of gold And mans life being so short that as Nazianzen said it is no more than to goe out of one graue to enter into another out of the wombe of our particular mother into that of the common mother of vs all which is the Earth we flatter our selues with the enioying of many long yeres of life But the Church being desirous to cut off this error saith Memento homo i. Remember man By Ezechiel God threatned his people with a great slaughter that they only should escape that were marked in the forehead with the Hebrew letter Tau which is the last in the alphabet some say that it hath the figure of a crosse and it may be that when Ezechiel did write this he had that figure before him and S. Hierome saith That in stead of Tau the Samaritanes did vse the figure of a crosse The Hebrews by this letter vnderstand the end as beeing the last in the ABC And God was willing that those that bore this marke in their forehead that is should haue their end before their eyes should liue but that those that liued forgetfull of their end that they should die And the Church beeing desirous that her children should escape this danger prints this in their minds Terra es Earth thou art c. It is well weighed by Rupertus that after God had condemned Adam to death he bestowed vpon his wife the name of Life Mater cunctarum gentium i. The mother of al the liuing Scarce had God condemned him to punishment but he by- -by shews that he had forgot it And therfore did God permit the death of innocent Abel to the end that in Abel he might see thâ— death of the body and in Caine the death of the soule for to quicken his memorie From Adam we inherit this forgetfulnes not remembring to day what we saw but yesterday the general desire of man striues all it can to perpetuate our life which if it were in our hands we would neuer see death But because the loue of life should not rob vs of our memorie and that fearing as we are mortall wee might couet those things that are eternall seeing that walles towers marble and brasse molder away to dust we may euer haue in our memorie Memento homo Remember man c. Many holy Saints haue stiled the memorie the stomach of the soule as Gregorie Bernard Theodoret Austen Nazianzen c. And God commanding Ezechiel That he should notifie vnto his people certaine tâ—â—ngs that he had reuealed vnto him and charging him that he should remember himselfe well of them he said Comede quaecunque ego do tibi i. Eat whatsoeuer I giue thee And in another placehe commanded him that he should eat a Book wherin were written Lamentationes
that miracle whereunto they all of them readily offered themselues with a great deale of alacritie and this was a great triall of their Faith But it would haue beene greater if God had commanded them to set their backes and shoulders against the waues keeping them there and deferring his succour till the thread of their hope were broken in twaine and they readie to perish This deferring is vsually the vigill of Gods greater mercies Saint Gregorie declareth to this purpose that place of Esay Ad punctum in modico dereliquisse in miserationibus magnis congregaui te He deferred his helpe to the last push but the greater the delay was the greater was his mercie As wee see Gods deferring of his Iustice is oftentimes the occasion of the seuerer punishment Saint Chrysostome saith That Christs so long deferring to alay this storme was to teach vs that we are not at the first flaw of a Tempest to call for present faire weather but rather to crie out with Dauid Non me derelinquas vsquequaque Let not thy not relieuing of mee bee eternall Forsake me not ô Lord for euer but let thy succour come when it shall seeme best vnto thee not my but thy will be done God likewise refuseth sometimes to affoord his help out of the pleasure that hee taketh to see the Righteous row against the streame and to tugge and wrestle with all the might they can against the troubles and afflictions of this world Seneca touching though as a Heathen vpon this straine saith That there is not in all the earth a spectacle more worthie Gods beholding than to see a stout man wrestling against aduerse fortune Saint Chrysostome dwelles much vpon the great care which God tooke in notifying to the Deuill that hee should not touch Iob in his life Veruntamen animam illius serua But yet preserue his life Not that Iob should haue receiued any hurt by the losse of his life but because God would not loose the pleasure of seeing this stout combat fought out betwixt him and his enemie Si de medio tuleris Theatrum non plaudet amplius And as your Heathen Emperours tooke great delight in seeing a Christian enter the Listes with a wild Beast so the King of Heauen takes much pleasure in seeing one of his Saints maintaine fight against those fierce Beasts of Hell Et putauerunt Phantasma esse And they tooke him for an apparition Here is one feare vpon another therefore it was not much they should crie out The wind and the waues had sorely affrighted them and that which was to bee the remedie of their danger made them to apphrehend a new danger fearing now more their succour than their hurt being herein like vnto many who feare their good but not their euil the Glutton doth not feare drunkennesse and that fulnesse which lessens his health and puts his life in danger but feares those syrrops and purgations which he is to take for his recouerie The bad Christian feareth not the fault he hath committed which is the greatest euill but feareth to doe pennance for the same which is for his greatest good The Atheist feareth not death nor the graue but saith We haue made a couenant with Death and Hell yet he feareth pouerty hunger and the enemie that threatens him but not God who can swallow him vp quicke in the flames of Hell fire He feares an earthly Iudge that may put him to torment but not that Iudge of Heauen that can condemne to endlesse paines which are neuer to haue end THE FIFTH SERMON VPON THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT TOVCHING OVR SAVIOVRS TEMPTATION MAT. 4. LVC. 4. MARC 1. Ductus est Iesus ab Spiritu in Desertum And Iesus was led by the Spirit into the Wildernesse THis famous Combat betwixt two of the stoutest and valiantest Captaines that euer tryde their valour in a single Duel wil very well deserue the looking on and require our diligent attention taking vp as well our eyes as our eares This battell then that is here described by the Euangelist is the notablest and the strangest that euer was in former or euer shall bee seene in future Ages The Combattants are two great Princes whose power all the world acknowledgeth and whose wisedome admits no comparison the one the Prince of Light the other the Prince of Darkenesse The field wherein they fought was a Wildernesse where they had nothing to sustaine themselues withall but stones Their Weapons Wit and Words the faculties of the Vnderstanding and the vse of the Tongue The Deuills end was to repaire a double losse or two-fold ouerthrow at our Sauiour Christs hands The one That he could neuer catch him in any the least fault nor find him tripping in any one action that euer he did And this was it that did mad him to the heart and mightily incense his rage that amongst all mankind there neuer yet beeing any though neuer so famous neuer so iust that had escaped his clutches without receiuing some foyle or other as Adam Noah Abraham Dauid the like good and holy men that now a man in the eye of the World of no better than a meane and ordinarie ranke for such a one was our Sauiour held to bee should escape his fingers and should shew himselfe to bee the onely Phoenix of the world The other that he did not yet perfectly know by that euidence of his humane nature by those great suspitions which he might haue of his diuine essence by calling to mind those menaces that were threatned against him in Paradice I will put enmitie betwixt the woman and thee betwixt thy seed and her seed hee shall bruise thy head c. And he began to thinke with himselfe What wil become of me if this be the Bug-beare foretold by the Prophets Questionlesse if this be the man I shall hardly escape a broken pate Our Sauiours end was not any desire of his owne proper worth and merit nor any vaine-glorie to shew his valour for it could bee no great glorie to boast of nor no such wonderfull conquest that the Sonne and Heire apparent of Heauen should subdue the Deuil But his end was thereby to sanctifie our temptations as he had done all the rest of our miseries by taking them vpon himself because they should recouer a new beeing and a new honour And that those temptations which heretofore did serue as steepe Rockes to throw vs downe into Hell should serue as Ladders to bring vs to Heauen Theodores saith That as Physitions make Treacle out of Serpents so our Sauiour Christ drew an Antidote and wholsome Medicine from the Deuil and his deceits and subtleties so that now Temptation hath lost his name and strength and of Gally-slaues we are made Freemen by Iesus Christ. Secondly Our Sauiour Christ did pretend by this fight to rid the world of that great feare wherin it liued Wherby we may suppose the feareful power of the Deuill
many Bookes that are written thereof especially by a Sea of judgement where your shallow wits are vsually drowned Concerning this Article which is so notorious there is not a Prophet an Euangelist a Sybil nor any of the holy Fathers which do not make confession thereof yea the verie Angells said vnto the Disciples This Iesus who was taken from you shall So come where this particle Sic So doth not so much exprimere modum as similitudinem not the true manner of his comming but after what likenesse he shall come Now doth he sit at the right hand of his Father and shall possesse that Throne till that he shall come to iudge the world and make his enemies his footstoole According to that of Dauid Sit at my right hand Vntill I make thy enemies thy footstoole a sentence which was repeated afterwards by S. Paul to the Hebrews Not that the sitting at the right hand of his father shal euer haue any end for as Saint Chrysostome and Gregorie Nazianzen hath noted it the word Vntill doth not point at any set time but the mutation of the place which our Sauiour Christ is to make for that terme of time that the Iudgement shall last himselfe comming thither in person to set all things in order Vsque in diem restitutionis omnium so saith Saint Luke And by reason of the notoriousnesse thereof the Euangelist doth not say that hee shall come but supposeth as it were his present comming with a Cum venerit c. The Sonne of Man Iudiciarie power or this Potestas judiciaria as the Schoole-men call it is proper to all the Trinitie but is here attributed to the Sonne as Wisedome is likewise attributed vnto him which is the soule of the Iudge So that the Sonne as he is God is the eternall Iudge and the Lord vniuersall to whom the Father hath communicated this dominion by an eternall generation Generando non largiendo saith Saint Ambrose But as he is man the blessed Trinitie gaue him this power in tempore by vniting him to our nature Hee gaue him power to doe judgement And Saint Iohn giues the reason thereof Because he is the Sonne of Man it beeing held fit that Man should be saued by Man Gods mercie gaining thereby glorie and Mans meannesse authoritie And therefore it was thought fit that Man should be iudged by Man Gods justice remaining thereby iustified and Mans Cause secured For What greater securitie can man haue than that hee should bee Mans Iudge who gaue his life for Man shedding his bloud on the Crosse for Mans saluation So doth Saint Austen expound that place alledged by Saint Iohn Dedit ei judicium facere quia filius hominis est On the one side here is matter of hope comfort on the other of feare and trembling Who will not hope for pittie from a man and such a man that is my brother my aduocate my friend who to make me rich had made himselfe poore c. But who can hope for any comfort from that man that was iudged sentenced and condemned vniustly by man vnto death Who can hope for any good from that man whose loue man repaid with dis-loue and whose life with death These Yrons are too hard for the stomacke of man to digest it had need of some Ostriches helpe I will not destroy Ephraim because I am God and not Man God is woont to requite bad with good discourtesies with benefits his loue commonly encreaseth when mans diminisheth but mans brest is somewhat streighter laced In a word This his beeing Man is a matter of feare and by how much the more was Mans obligation by so much the more shall the son of mans vengeance bee For the pretious bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ and his cruell yet blessed wounds are the Sanctuarie of our hopes especially to those that trust in him and lay hold on him by Faith but for the vnthankefull sinner they shall be matter of cowardise and of terrour and to our Sauiour Christ minister occasion of greater punishment and a more rigorous reuenge Esay introduceth the Angels questioning our Sauior at his entrance into Heauen Quare rubrum est vestimentum tuum sicut calcantium in torculari Why are thy garments ô Lord like vnto those that tread the Wine-presse You say wel for I haue troden like the grapes my enemies vnder foot and my garments are sprinkled and stained with their bloud O Lord this bloudie spoyle would well haue beseemed thee on earth But what doost thou make with it here in Heauen Dies vltionis in corde meo The day will come when I shall bee reuenged at full of those ill requited benefits which I bestowed on my People and all that patience which I then sâ—ewed shall be turned into wrath and endlesse anger Saint Chrysostome interpreting that place of Saint Mathew Sanguis eius super nos Let his bloud be vpon vs and our children saith thus The time shall come that the bloud that might haue giuen you life shall occasion your death it shall be vnto you worse than that Fire of Babylon which the King intended for death though in the end it turned to life The bloud of Christ was intended for life but it shall end in death Hosea saith Vâ— eis cum recesserâ— ab eis Another Translation hath it Caro mea ab eis When the Sonne of mans mercie was come to that heigth as mans thought could not set it higher to wit That God in mans fauour should take mans flesh vpon him woe vnto those men who were vnmindfull of so great a blessing for this extraordinarie courtesie of his being so vnthankfully entertained and so ill requited shall be their condemnation for whose saluation it was intended Cornua eius sicut Rinocerotis saith Deutronomie The Vnicorne is the mildest the patientest beast that is and it is long ere he will be prouoked to anger but if he once grow hot and angrie there is no creature more fierce and furious than he is Ex tarditate ferocior as Pierius vseth it by way of adage Saint Austen collecteth hence another conuenience Euerie iudgement saith he requireth two especiall and important things The one That the Iudge feare not the face of the Mightie The other That he hide not his face from him that is brought before him For the first The Scripture hath it euerie where Regard not the countenance of the Mightie For the second Iob pondering the perdition of a certain Prouince saith That the Iudges thereof would not suffer themselues to be seen The earth is giuen into the hands of the Wicked he couereth the faces of the Iudges And therefore God will not be seene by the damned for by their verie seeing him they should be freed from their punishment and therefore in this respect it was fit that Christ should come to iudge the world as Man In Maiestate sua In his Maiestie The Interlinearie hath it In Diuinitate
affectionating vs for Heauen than in purchasing Heauen for vs or in conquering the Deuill and Hel For one onely drop of his bloud was sufficient to do this but for to affectionate our will all his bloud in his bodie would scarce suffice And therefore Saint Cyprian saith That he was willing to suffer so much though he might and that in rigour haue satisfied with so little For though a little might haue serued the turne for to worke our redemption yet a little was not enough for to inflame our hearts with the fire of his loue This sence may suit with that saying of Saint Paul so diuersly commented Gaudeo in passionibus meis adimpleo quae desunt passionum Christi in carne mea I reioyce in my sufferings for you and fulfill the rest of the afflictions of Christ in my Flesh. Why should the Apostle say so For what can be wanting to those passions of Christ which were so aboundant and all sufficient Marry That wee might make true benefit thereof and that hee might infuse this affection into our hearts the Apostle saith I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ. Volumus a te signum videre i. We would haue a signe from thee Saint Luke addeth De coelo from Heauen alij tentantes signum de coelo quaerebant It is the condition and nature of Hypocrites to be friends and fauourers of Miracles which make a great noise in the world but doe little or no good at all They are Admirationis magis quam pietatis things rather of admiration than pietie An Hypocrite will outwardly cloath himselfe with the Camels haire of a Iohn Baptist with the mortification of a Saint Ierome and with Penitence it selfe but because in the inward man Charitie is wanting vnto him his bowels haue no compassion but are full of extortion and crueltie And therefore Saint Paul giueth this caueat vnto vs and it is a good one Nemo vos seducat volens in humilitate religione Angelorum Let no man deceiue you with feigned humilitie nor a dissembled deuotion reuealing vnto yee that they haue had the vision of Angels and that they appeared thus and thus vnto them for if to remooue mountaines from one place to another without Charitie be but a beating of the Ayre quasi aerem verberans or like the sound of bels which suddenly vanisheth so likewise these their visions without charitie shall be but vaine and idle Of Antechrist the Apocalips saith That hee shall cause fire to come downe from Heauen and Saint Efrem that hee shall remooue Islands and mountaines and that hee shall walke vpon the waues of the Sea as on drie Land and that hee shall flie in the Ayre and take no harme And Rabanus That hee shall make the fields to brinâ— forth flowers in the heart of Winter as if it were in the midst of May That he shall discouer the bottomelesse beds of the Sea that hee shall raise vp the dead and put Nature quite out of her course But all these shall bee false and lying Prodigies which shall be directed to a kind of vaine and deceitfull admiration In prodigus signis mendacibus as Saint Paul hath it So in like manner the Hypocrite lyeth with his countenance his eyes his feet his hands his mouth and his apparell Vendiâ— fumum sayth Chrysologus emit applausum Hee selleth smoake and buâ—es the applause and acclamation of men Our Sauiour Christ was those waters of Shiloa which did runne silently along and did quench the thirst of those that were ready to die through drought Which was meant of our Sauiour as Epiphanius hath it in his exposition vpon that place of Esay Pro eo quod abiecit populus iste aquas Siloe quae currunt cum silentio Because this people hath refused the waters of Shiloh that runne softly now therefore c. He was that tree of Life whose verie leafes did affoord health to all those that were vnder the shaddow thereof And peraduenture these Pharisees did require signes from Heauen because by that benefit which the people did receiue by his miracles here on earth he carried all the world after him We would haue a signe from heauen What after so many miracles These Pharisees are the stampe and figure of certaine Consciences which haue a continual conflict within themselues or to speake more properly they are a Chancerie consisting of Iudges guiltie persons and Pleaders Inuicem se accusantium defendentium as Saint Paul tels vs Accusing and excusing one another Reason is the Iudge Selfe-will is the guiltie person and the Pleader is that Worme which accuseth and gnaweth their conscience And when the guiltie person seeth that the Pleader accuseth him and that the Iudge condemnes him though miracles doe abound yet hee appealeth to some other miracle like vnto a bad debtour who when his time of payment is come craues a longer day One findes himselfe at Death's doore and sees that he is like to die and that in all likelihood he is to goe to Hell for that his ill gotten wealth condemnes him hee weeps cries out makes grieuous lamentation purposeth promiseth and resolueth to amend his life and to make restitution God heares him giues him life and health and when he sees that he is sound well and that his Pleader presseth him to make restitution he appeales to another miracle Another findes that he hath slipt a thousand times vpon this or that occasion he knowes his owne weakenesse and that he cannot looke but he must lust and purposing without any ill intention in the world to entertaine honest conuersation with this and that woman returnes too day like the Swine againe to his mire and too morrow appeales to another miracle Saint Austen reports in his Confessions That hee had a great conflict within himselfe his Will had a purpose to leaue these human delights and pastimes and when the day of his purpose and promise was come this Pleader puts him in mind of it but he appeales to another day This then was a great part of this peoples fault that they did complaine That God did not deale so kindly with them as he was woont We haue not seene our signes there is now no Prophet The greatest of all the Prophets that euer were or shall bee came amongst them and did more miracles than all of them put together and when they should haue confest themselues to haue beene conuicted with so many miracles they appeale to another miracle The Pharisee which inuited our Sauiour tooke him to be no Prophet because he did not diue into the depth of that loathsome and sinnefull brest of Marie Magdalen If thought he hee were a Prophet hee could not chuse but know what kind of woman this was But finding afterwards that he knew Magdalens heart and that his own did not beleeue he was a Prophet he appealed to another miracle We would see a signe c. To what
the sinnes of 〈◊〉 Youth and it shall lie downe with him in the dust And presently rendring the reason thereof he further saith That Custome made wickednesse seeme sweet 〈◊〉 his mouth and that he hid it vnder his tongue like a Pastilla de boca that hee fauoured it and would not forsake it but kept it close in his mouth So that hâ—â— that hath once enured himselfe to tast much ill it is not much that he should nâ—â— desire his health Balaams Asse complained of his masters ill vsage and accoâ—ding to Saint Augustine it was a seuere reprehension for the Prophet but Balaâ—â— was not any whit amased to heare his beast speake because his thoughts were carried away with couetousnesse this is Saint Augustines opinion but Lyra he saith That it was through his accustomation to Witcheries and Sorceries Monstrosis assuefactus ad vocem Asinae non expauit For Custome makes things that are monstrous familiar vnto vs. Euerie where we indeere Iobs sufferings because they came vpon him on such a sudden an and vnequall fashion I was in wealth saith the Text but he brought me to naught he hath taken mee by the cheeke and beaten mee hee cutteth my reynes and poureth my gall on the ground he hath broken me with one breaking vpon another and runneth vpon me like a Gyant myne eye is dimme for griefe and my strength like a shadow my dayes are past myne enterprises broken and the thoughts of my heart haue changed the night for the day and the light hath approched for darkenesse the graue must be my house I must make my bed in the darke I must say to Corruption Thou art my father and to the Worme Thou art my mother and my sister c. These afflictions were as harsh to Iob beeing not vsed and beaten to them as Vice through Custome is pleasing to the Wicked Voluptabar saith Austen in caeno Babilonis tanquaÌ„ in cinamonijs vnguentis pretiosis Babylons durt was as Amber and the stench of her streets as pretious Oyntments vnto me And after that he had in his Meditations endeered the euills of this present life he bewailes the wretched condition of those that are bewitched with the loue of this life who thereby following their pleasures come to loose a thousand liues Homer in his Odysses paints forth the deceits of Circes and that Vlysses escaped them by beeing aduised thereof by Mercurie The hearbe Moly whose root is blacke and the Floure white the symbole of the knowledge of our selues and those Syrens of whom Esay maketh mention vnder the names of Zim Ohim of Ostriches and Satyres that shall dance there both which are figures of the delights of this world whereunto many are so wedded that the Prophet could terme them Men setled on their Lees. Wilt thou be made whole He first askes him being as yet vnspoken vnto whither he were willing to be healed or no O what a noble proceeding was this in our Sauiour that hee would first aske our good will All other humane goods God giues and takes away as hee sees fit without asking our consent but hee is willing to aske here of this sicke man his good wil for that there is nothing so much ours as that Fili praebe mihi cor tuum My sonne giue me thy heart alwaies considering this with himselfe that for our condemnation our owne wil is Causa positiua the positiue cause thereof Perditio tua ex te Israel but for our justification it is causa sine qua non we cannot be saued without it And to this purpose tend those remarkable words of Saint Augustine Qui creauit te sine te non saluabit te sine te He that made thee without thee will not saue thee without thee So that our will though it be not the principall cause of our good yet is it the chiefest cause of our ill Two Moores that are Slaues the one desires his libertie the other his captiuitie the will of the latter is the positiue cause of his hurt and the will of the former doth him no good vnlesse his Redeemer ransome him Hominem non habeo I haue not a man This as Caietan hath noted was a faire and mannerly answer For so natural â—s the desire of life that it is a wonder to see any man wax weary thereof though â—e find himselfe neuer so vnhealthie We read of those our antient fathers that â—ome of them liued nine hundred yeares but wee read not of any of them that â—hought them too many or too much Pharaoh asking Iacob how old hee was he told him That the whole time of his pilgrimage was an hundred and thirtie yeares that few and euill had the dayes of his life beene and that hee had not attained to the yeares of the life of his fathers in the dayes of their pilgrimages Elias fled from death when hee saw how neere Iezabels hand was to take his life from him howsoeuer vnder the Iuniper tree hee seemed much to desire it Vpon Paradise God had put a strange gard not onely a blade of a sword shaken to keepe the way of the Tree of Life but many Cherubins also that were like so many flames of fire What ô Lord doost thou meane by this so powerful a gard for so cowardly and feareful a creature as man O sir in Paradise there is a Tree that beares the fruit of Life and out of the desire that man hath to liue he will presse vpon the swords point and rush through fire and water to get in And though a lesse gard might happely serue turn in regard of man yet wil it not suffice to keepe the Deuill out and if he should chance to rob this tree of her fruit he would carrie the whole world after him out of the great loue and affection that they haue vnto Life Saint Augustine greatly endeering this loue saith That it were a great happinesse for man if he bore but that loue to life eternall as he doth to this that is temporall and that he would but labour as much to obtaine that as he seeketh to conserue this But this poore wretched man indeeres it much more who at the end of thirtie eight yeares hauing led a life that was worse than death should yet desire to liue longer I haue not a man This is the reason why God sets his eye vpon thee begins to looke towards thee for the onely meanes to make God to fauor vs is when he sees the World hath forgot vs. The cause why so many suitors thriue no better is because they seeke more after the fauour of men than of God Where Nature casts vs off there Grace takes vs vp when the World abandoneth vs then God embraceth vs. The Rauens young ones are forsaken by her and God feedeth them In the Indies there are no Physitions yet are there wholsome Hearbes wherewith they cure their diseases In like manner where the World affoordeth few
tuam libera me de aquis multis Aquae multae non potuerunt extinguere charitatem The proportions of this word Aqua are two The one That the troubles of the Godly doe passe away like waters That though the waters be now and then troubled they afterwards grow cleere againe But Hell is stiled with the name of Stagnum a standing Poole Missi sunt in Stagnum ignis because it is a punishment that alwaies stands at one stay and is stil the same c. The heart of the Godly finds this ease that it liues in hope of recouerie and the euills of the Righteous are neuer so many but that they haue some shadow of good Adam did supplie his nakednesse with Figge leaues Death which is the greatest ill to mans life dulleth the sence which is a kind of good but Hell giues no hope of ease no shew of comfort From which God of his mercie keepe vs c. THE ELEVENTH SERMON VPON THE SATVRDAY AFTER THE FIRST SONDAY IN LENT AND VPON THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 17. MARC 9. LVC. 9. Assumpsit Iesus Petrum Iacobum Iohannem Iesus tooke vnto him Peter and Iames and Iohn OVr Mother Church solemnizing once a yeare the Mysteries of our Sauiour Christ this it solemniseth twice one day after another giuing vs thereby a sauour of that glorie which is represented in this Mysterie on these two accustomed festiuall dayes Here in this world they are ended the verie selfe same day they are celebrated and the ending of that dayes pleasure is the beginning of our next dayes labour But in that other world saith Esay Erit mensis ex mense Sabathum ex Sabatho From moneth to moneth and from Sabboth to Sabboth shall all Flesh come to worship before me Amongst your Iewes the first day of your moneths and your Sabboths were verie solemne things And Esay taking the moneth for the first day saith In that glorie which we looke for one moneth shall ouertake another and there shal be Sabboth vpon Sabboth He might haue said without vsing any kind of figure a perpetuall Feast a perpetuall Sabboth and a perpetuall Rest. Mans happines in this life is like to a Rose that is beset round about with Thorns which to day costs vs deere to get and tomorrow is withered away But that supreame happinesse shall not onely be eternall and perdurable but without any the least prickle of sinne to offend our tender Soules He tooke vnto him Peter c. First of all Damascene saith That our Sauiour did not carrie all his Apostles with him vp to the Mount for it was not fit that Iudas should enioy so great a blessing in whom that prophecie of Esay was fulfilled In terra sanctorum iniquè gessit non videbit gloriam Dei Hee who in so holy a companie committed such a vile treacherous act as to betray and sell his Master for the loue of a little money did not deserue to enioy the glory of Tabor So that to the end Iudas might not complaine That Christ had discarded him and quite shut him out from this blessing this holy Saint saith That those other good holy men were for his sake debard of that good whence we may gather what hurt many an honest man receiues by keeping a lewd knaue companie But because it might haue seemed a scandalous piece of businesse to haue left Iudas all alone by himselfe the rest remained with him Iudas his companie being no lesse dangerous to the Colledge of Iesus his Disciples than it was tedious and wearisome to our Sauiour himselfe Insomuch that when Iudas was gone out of the house where Christ supt with his Disciples which he did presently vpon the receiuing of the sop he said Nunc glorificatus est Filius hominis Now is the Sonne of man glorified When Christ multiplied his miracles Saint Iohn saith Non erat Spiritê° datus quia Christus nonduÌ„ erat glorificatus The holy Ghost was not yet giuen because that Iesus was not yet glorified Why Christ being neere vnto his death should hold himselfe to be glorified and in the working of miracles not to be glorified For the decision of that point I shal referre you vnto Saint Augustine You see here how the wind was come about Iudas was no sooner gone out but he saith hee is glorified but before knowing who should betray him hee told Peter Vos mundi estis sed non omnes i. Yee are cleane but not all The Cockle was taken away and the Wheate now pure and cleane and our Sauiour tooke it for a great glorie vnto him to see himselfe thus wholly rid of his companie Secondly Gregory Nazianzen sayth That hee tooke those three along with him because he alwayes loued them best Showing thereby that Princes may lawfully haue their Priuadoes and Fauourites to whome they may giue more grace and countenance than to others but withall that they ought to bee such as should bee disinterressed and not desire any more for themselues than their Princes grace leauing the rest of his fauours to bee communicated to others as well as themselues Saint Iude once askt of our Sauiour Christ How comes it to passe that thou shouldst manifest thy selfe vnto vs and not vnto the World Hee thought that the Sunne should inlighten all But because he did first bestow his light on the mountaine tops it was fit that the grace which they receiued they should gratis confer vpon others Like good Stewards The Euangelist cals Saint Peter foole because hee would haue all for himselfe and those that were there with him And if Elias and Moses were admitted to mount Tabor it was because they were louers of the common good Moses once disired of God that he would let him see his face but God told him hee could not see his face and liue It seemeth that here Moses shewed himselfe to bee but a coward What to inioy a poore life for the present wouldst thou forgoe so great a happinesse But it was not the loue of his owne life but the loue that he bare to his people who would haue had a great misse of him Whereof there was afterwards verie good proofe when God sayd vnto him Let me make an end of this people at once and I will make thee a mightier and a better Nation Whereunto hee answered I am so farre from giuing way to this That I shall beseech thee either to pardon them or to blot me out of the Booke of life for I had rather not liue than liue without them Doost thou offer to lay down thy life for thy people And wilt thou not loose it to see God face to face The one was a particuler the other a common good Thirdly Hee tooke onely three along with him manifesting thereby that hee was as sparing of his Glorie in this life as he was liberall of his Crosse. Tertullian sayth That hee tooke those three with him not so much to make
our humane eyes did see in Christ our Sauiour onely the course cassocke of our basenesse and the scorne and contempt of his owne person as Esay paints it forth Who will beleeue the gold of his Diuinitie Saint Augustine in his bookes De Ciuitate Deipunc saith That all the transformations of those gods which the Gentiles did celebrate in Birds Bulls Stones Trees Fountaines Fires and graines of Gold were directed to this end that the World should beleeue that vnder the forme of mortall men this our own proper matter lay hid some power supernaturall Who would beleeue that Christ was God if he had not giuen some glimpse of his Riches Who would haue relied vpon his protection Without some particular reuelation who would haue dreamt of his omnipotencie In a subiect so weake who would surmise it Imagine an Angell in the shape and figure of an Ant none will beleeue that this was an Angell vnlesse hee should at some time or other discouer some part of his brightnesse It was also fitting that Christ should discouer vnto vs some of those his hidden treasures to the end that those that were his might be persuaded that they might safely sleepe vnder the shadow of his wings Moses beeing employed in that businesse of Aegypt O Lord saith he whom shall I say hath sent me Ego sum quâ— sum I am that I am And anon after Ego sum Deus Abraham Deus Isaac Deus Iacob I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob Tel Pharaoh that I am that I am He that cannot not be That I am he that haue prospered protected Abraham Isaac Iacob Which was not only a making of himselfe known what he was but were likewise pledges to his people that they should lay their confidence libertie liues their persons vpon him I am that I am by my essence I am he that alwayes was and euer shall be it is I that haue power ouer euerie thing and beg nothing of any man The Princes of the earth because they are to day tomorrow and are no more they cannot giue vs any assurance of our hopes and because they haue no pledges of their own but what they borrow from others their fauours cannot be secured vnto vs For as Saint Augustine saith Remota jactantia quid sunt homines nisi homines When Princes will shew themselues in their pompe and state they borrow here and they borrow there they are no bodie vnlesse they bee accompanied with the great Lords of the Kingdome vnlesse they be attended on by a Gard of Halberdiers vnlesse they be rich and gloriously apparelled and brauely mounted In a word these are externall transfigurations and of such things as are more others than our owne but that of our Sauiour Christ was of his owne proper goods without beeing beholding to any Et resplenduit facies eius sicut Sol. And his face did shine like the Sunne In the beginning of the world God did handsell his Word with the Light for before darkenesse had ouerspread the face of this confused Chaos Tenebrae erant super faciem c. And as hee that diueth into the bottome of the sea for Pearle as he goes spurtling the oyle out of his mouth goes as it were thereby ingendering light so God by venting this word out of his mouth fiat Lux created the Light discouering thereby the essence and nature of things Some haue not stickt to say that the Light gaue the red colour to the Rubie the Greene to the Emerald and the Skie colour to the Iacinth c. And though this be not so yet so it is that without this Light these colours could not haue beene distinguished nor could we haue enioyed that humane beautie and beautifull splendor which now we doe In the Spheare of the Spirit God made another Light which was Christ our Sauiour Ego sum Lux mundi this Light doth as farre exceed the former as the Spirit doth the Body Dauid makes mention of these two Lights in that Psalme of his Coeli enarrant c. The Heauens declare thy c. Of that of the Sunne he saith Tanquam Sponsus procedens de thalamo suo This is the Bridegroome of Nature and comes forth of his Chamber cloathed all in Gold Bur that Spirituall Light is more fayre and more beautifull by farre Lex Domini immaculata id est immaculatior c. The Law of the Lord is pure that is purer c. The beames of the Sunne neuer yet had the power to pierce so far as to inlighten the Soule but those of the Sun of Righteousnesse doth both inlighten it conuert it He that tooke the day from the night and the light from darkenesse made light to breake forth from out the darkenesse of our hearts to the end that Gods fauourable countenance shining vpon vs through his Sonne we may come to the fuller knowledge of him For this Light did on t only eclipse and darken that of the Sun as that of many Torches doth a poore sorrie Candle nor onely inrich the aire with the beames of his brightnesse nor onely made a Heauen of this Mountaine by gilding the stemmes the barke the boughes and leaues of the trees as also the stones thereof with it's glorious rayes but it did likewise illumine the soules of the Disciples who from that verie instant by the euidence of such diuine demonstrations remained conuinced and euer after acknowledged him to be both God Man For albeit God cannot be seene by the eyes of the Flesh yet such signes and tokens may be seen of God that we may verie wel say that God himself is seen Physiognomie is a Science which by the signes and markes of the face doth prognosticate the inclination and propension of the Soule One that was skilled in that Art looking steadily on the face of Socrates told his Schollers That hee had the markes of a man that was ill giuen Whereunto he answered That hee said true in regard of the Starres but withall that Sapiens dominabitur Astris Looke vpon Christ our Sauiour and you shall see first of all that he hath a great inclination to our good and that hee made especiall manifestation thereof in Mount Tabor for as the angrie looke of a King is the Messenger of Death so the cheerefulnesse of his countenance declareth clemencie and life The roaring of a Lyon makes the Beasts of the Forrest affraid and the indignation of a King maketh his Vassalls to quake and tremble but his fauour is like the dew vpon the grasse Saint Ambrose saith That our Sauiour Christs appearing here like Sunne and Snow were true pledges of the great desire that he hath of our good for there is not any thing that doth make the earth so fruitfull as the Sun with his heat and the Snow with it's moysture Saint Hierome in that Epistle of his to Palmachius against the errors of Iohannes
left this Balsamum for the annointing and curing of it Which was a great Excesse Dauid called him a Worme a Scoffe a Taunt and the Reproch of the People for that whilest he liued in the world he tooke vpon him all the affronts and contempts that man could cast vpon him And because there is not any loue comparable to that of our Sauiour Christ nor all the loues in the world put together can make vp such a perfect loue as also for that there was not any affront like vnto his nor all the affronts of the world could equall the affronts that were offered vnto him that on the one side hee should loue so much on the other suffer so much this was a great Excesse Nazianzen seeing vs swallowed vp in this sea of miseries vseth a kind of Alchimie by ioyning his greatnesse with our littlenesse his powerfulnesse with our weakenesse his fairenesse with our foulenesse his beautie with our deformitie his riches with our pouertie the gold of his Diuinitie with the durt of our Flesh And as the greater drawes the lesser after it so our basenesse did ascend to an heigth of honour And this was a great Excesse but farre greater to esteeme this Excesse as a Glorie whence the Saints of God haue learned to stile Tribulation and the Crosse Glorie Secondly This Excesse may be termed Glorie because it was the most glorious action that God euer did For what could be greater than to see Death subdued Life restored the Empire of sinne ouerthrowne the Prince thereof dispossessed of his Throne Iustice satisfied the World redeemed and Darknes made Light Thirdly It may be said to be Glorie because that by this his death a thousand Glories are to follow thereupon Propter qoud Deus exaltauit illum c. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euerie knee bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth And this was the reward of his obedience and of his death And the reason thereof was that the World seeing it selfe captiuated by so singular a benefit men should make little reckoning either of their goods or their liues for this his exceeding loue towards them but desire in all that they can to shew themselues thankefull And therefore Esay cries out O that thou wouldest breake the Heauens and come downe and that the Mountaines might melt at thy presence c. What a great change and alteration wouldest thou see in the world thou wouldst see Mountaines that is hearts that are puffed vp with pride humbled and laid leuell with the ground Thou wouldst see Waters that is brests that are cold and frozen boyle with the fire of Zeale and wholly employ themselues in thy seruice And in his sixtieth Chapter treating of the profits and benefits which we shall receiue by Christs comming he saith For brasse will I bring gold and for yron will I bring siluer and for wood brasse and for stones yron I will also make thy gouernment peace and thine exactours righteousnesse Violence shall no more be heard of in thy Land neither desolation nor destruction within thy Borders but thou shalt call Saluation thy Walls and praise thy Gates The Lord shal bee thine euerlasting Light and thy God thy Glorie Bonum est nos hic esse c. It is better being here than in Ierusalem let vs therefore make here three Tabernacles c. Saint Gregorie calls Honour Tempestatem intellectus i. The vnderstandings Storme or Tempest in regard of the danger it driues man into and the easinesse wherewith in that course he runnes on to his destruction Si dederit mihi Dominus panem ad vescendum c. It was Iacobs speech vnto God after that he had done that great fauour of shewing a Ladder vpon earth whose top reached vp to Heauen you know the Storie but the vow that hee vowed vnto God was this If God will be with me and will keepe me in this journey that I goe and will giue me bread to eat and cloathes to put on then shall the Lord be my God and I shall neuer forget this his kindnesse towards me More loue a man would haue thought he might haue shewn towards God if he had promised to serue though he had giuen him neither bread to eat nor cloathes to put on But Saint Chrysostome saith That he seeing in this vision of his the prosperitie that God was willing to throw vpon him did acknowledge the thankefull remembrance of this his promised hoped for happines For Prosperitie is euermore the comparison of Obliuion Saint Bernard expounding that place of Dauid Man being in honour hath no vnderstanding saith That the prosperitie wherein God placed man robbed him of his vnderstanding and made him like vnto the Beasts that perish And here now doth Saint Peter loose his memorie Nor is this a thing so much to be wondred at for if there be such riches here vpon earth that they robbe a man of his vnderstanding and alienate him from himselfe if the sonne that is borne of a mother who hath suffered great paines in the bringing of him forth Iam non meminit praessurae hath forgotten his mothers throwes and thinkes not on the wombe that bore him if the great loue of this world and the prosperitie thereof can make vs so farre to forget our selues it is no strange thing that we should be farre more transported and carried away with heauenly things Dauid following the pursuit of his pleasures amidst all the delights of this life he cries out Onely thy glorie can fill me that only can satisfie me Remigius vnfolds this verse of the glorie of the Transfiguration and it may be that this Kingly Prophet did see it by the light of Prophecie And if so fortunate a King as he was did forget all those other goods that he enioyed and saith That hee desires no other good nor no other fulnesse What meruaile is it that a poore Fisherman should bee forgetfull of good or ill And as hee that is full fed likes nothing but what is the cause of this his fulnesse reckoning all other meats soure though they be neuer so sweet so he that shall once come to tast of that good will say No maâ— bien I desire no other good but this What sayth Saint Paul Sed noâ— c. But we also which haue the first fruits of the Spirit euen wee doe sigh in our selues waiting for the adoption euen the redemption of our bodie c. Though Paul enioyed the first fruits of the Spirit and extraordinarie regalos and fauours yet hee groaned and trauelled in paine for Heauen What saith Saint Chrysostome Is thy soule become a Heauen and doost thou yet groane for Heauen Do not thou meruaile that I groan hauing seene that in Heauen which I haue seen QuoniaÌ„ raptus fuiâ—â— Paradisum I see the good which the
him if from the Thirstie the Fountaine shall flie from his lips what is able to quench his thirst if from the Blind the light from the child his father from the wife her husband from the souldier his captaine and from the scholler his master shall be taken away of whom shall they seeke helpe Turne not away thy face neither decline from thy seruant Iob held Hell lesse fearefull than Gods displeasure O that thou wouldst hide me saith he in the graue that thou wouldest keepe me secret vntill thy wrath be past But Dauid held it the greater harme of the two that God should hide his face from him Though thou beest angrie with me yet turne not thy face from me The same Iob saith Why doost thou hide thy face this is to vse me as an enemie Iacob wrestling with God although hee saw hee was displeased yet hee would not let him goe till hee had blest him O Lord I will endure thine anger but not thine absence By way of Hyperbole S. Paul said to those of Ephesus Yee were without Christ and without God in this world Weighing therein verie well with himselfe what the world is and what God is What then shall this his departure be eternall It goes hard with vs when God shal threaten his going away and we shall not haue the heart to entreat him to stay Ieremie lamenting his misfortunes one while in the name of his people that were carried away captiues into Babylon another while in his own proper person as one that lay fast fettered in yrons making a relation of his sorrowes goes adding griefe vnto griefe He did put me in a darke Dungeon he did shut mee vp as in a graue amongst the Dead He hath enclosed my wayes with hewen stone hee hath shut his windowes against me hee hath not left mee a loope-hole to looke out hee hath clapt gyues and shackles on my feet I put vp a Petition vnto him And he would not hearken vnto my prayer Yet notwithstanding all this doe you but aske the Prophet Whither God had then a purpose to destroy him and he will tell you That it was the least of his thought No these were the stripes of a father that loues his child better than he loues himselfe who beats him but with teares in his owne eyes If God then be so good and louing a father vnto vs that he falls a weeping when hee giues vs but a few jerkes those with a gentle hand How can he desire our eternall punishment The Lord will not vtterly cast vs off That God should for euer take his leaue of thee the fault must be in thee not in God Can God take away his kindnesse for euer How can hee shut the gates of his house against thee who is still knocking at the doores of thy house Non in perpetuum triturabis triturans saith Esay If God doe thresh thee as with a flaile it is not because hee takes delight to bruise thee with his threshing of thee but that he may seuer the corne from the chaffe c. This our Sauiours threatning is full of mercie full of loue for he would neuer haue said so often to the Iewes Ego vado if hee had not desired that they should haue said againe vnto him Do not thou go from vs. If it be our Sauiours delight to be amongst the children of men how can hee take pleasure in departing eternally from vs. Et quaeretis me i. And yee shall seeke me This second threatning is more fearefull than the former Yee shall seeke mee but yee shall not find me In the pursuit of any kind of good whatsoeuer hard is that mans happe who seeks and finds not who calls and receiues no answer who sues obtains not who liues in hope but sees no end of his hopes Our Sauior Christ lookt for a Figge on the Figge tree and because he found none there his displeasure was such that he laid a seuere curse vpon it Amongst those many feares of the generall judgement Saint Iohn in his Apocalyps saith Man shall seeke after death and shall not find it though those find it too that neuer seeke after it This is a great vnhappinesse but when the businesse is betwixt God and vs it is a far more miserable misfortune to seeke him and not to find him not onely because they sometimes find him who seeke not after him Inuentus sum à non quaerentibus me I am found of those that seeke me not but also because any other good whatsotuer a man may hate abhor as a thing that is ill Vae qui dicitis bonum mâ—lum Wo be to you that call good euill he that despaires of life desires death and counts it as a good But who can hate God who doth naturally desire our happinesse But this miserie yee draw vpon your selues who by abhorring me and persecuting me saith Saint Augustine as an enemie of God are driuen to seeke vnto God calling hourely vpon him for your Messias with great anguish of heart and with teares in your eyes but because yee haue refused that happinesse which offered it selfe vnto you and entred within your gates but was reiected groping the walls like blind men at noone day yee looke after a new occasion of happinesse but by how much the more yee shall desire a new Messias by so much the more shall yee persecute me and those which shall preach my Name throughout the world And by how much the more yee shall persecute me so much the longer shall your errour remaine with yee and ye shall continue in this your wilfull stubbornenesse till yee die in your sinnes Hence I inferre how dangerous a thing an errour is especially in point of our saluation how dangerous an ill performed Confession yet by vs reputed for good how dangerous a secure but vnsound conscience how dangerous for a man to erre in his account in the beginning how dangerous highly to offend God and yet thinke that therein wee doe him good seruice A Moore killeth a Christian and hee thinkes that hee hath pleased God verie well in so doing A Schismaticke throwes downe Images breakes glasse windowes and defaces all carued faces and thinkes that he shewes therein a great deale of zealous respect and reuerence vnto God The Iew hates the name of Christ and persecuteth him that takes it in his mouth And he thinks that he doth an acceptable thing in Gods sight O what a fearefull affronting of his errour will it be to the Moore how shamefully will hee see himselfe cosined when he shall behold his Mahomet burning in Hell flames To the Iew to see Christ our Sauiour come with the Majestie and glorie of God to iudge the taunts and scoffes and other cruelties which they vsed towards him To the Heretickes to see the Saints whom they haue burned to sit as Assistants at their condemnation Then will they cry out when it will be too late Erauâ—mus in
of his life and the accursednes of his death being no way able to take hold vpon him Those verie things saith he that blind thee ought to conuince thee and to affectionate thee vnto him for none but God could doe thus much for thee And it is a lamentable case that those good things that hee did for thee that thou mightest beleeue in him and loue him should be motiues vnto thee for to offend him God hauing commanded that Ierusalem should bee re-edified after their first freedome from Babylon there were some graue men grounded in Iudaisme who misinterpreting as Saint Hierome hath noted it the prophecie of Ezechiel said Haec est lebes nos autem carnes This Citie is the caldron and we be the Flesh For God to command vs to rebuild this Citie is as if he should will vs to make a Caldron wherein to boyle our selues Of his loue they made a loathing and interpreted his fauour to be an iniurie God took this their vnthankefulnesse so ill that he quitted them the second time both of their countrie and their libertie It is you that haue made Ierusalem a Caldron of the prophets I will bring you out of the middest thereof and deliuer you into the hands of strangers yee shall fall by the sword and this Citie as yee falsly suppose shall not be your Caldron neither shall yee be the flesh in the midst thereof The same reason is repeated by the Prophet Ose I gaue yee wine wheat oyle gold and siluer but yee spent it in the seruice of the Idoll Baal therefore will I take from yee my wine my wheat c. Filius hominis tradetur The Sonne of man shall be deliuered The death of our Sauiour Christ may be considered two manner of wayes Either as a Historie Or as it is Gospell As a Historie it is so sad and so lamentable as that it cannot but cause great pittie and compassion The relation which Pilate made to the Emperor of Rome is sufficient of it selfe to melt stones into teares which was as followeth In this Kingdome there was a wonderfull strange man his behauiour beautie beyond all other in the world his discretion and wisedome coelestiall his grauitie and sobernesse of carriage beyond all comparison his words mystical the grace wherewith he deliuered them strooke his enemies with astonishment neuer any man saw him laugh weepe they haue his workes sauoured of more than man he neuer did any man harme but much good hath he done to many he healed by hundreds such as had been sicke of incurable diseases he did cast out Deuills he raised the Dead and his miracles beeing numberlesse they were done all for others good he did not worke any miracle wherein was to be seene the least vanitie or boasting in the world The Iewes out of enuie layd hold on him and with a kind of hypocrisie and outward humilitie rather seeming than being Saints trampled him vnder foot and marred his cause I whipt him for to appease their furie and the people being about to mutine I condemned him to the death of the Crosse. A little before he breathed his last hee desired of God that he would forgiue those his enemies which had nailed him to the Crosse. At his death there were many prodigious signes both in heauen and earth the Sunne was darkened and the graues were opened and the Dead arose After he was dead a foolish Iew thrust a Speare into his side shewing the hatred in his death which the Iewes bare vnto him in his life What Tragedie can bee more mournefull or what imaginarie disaster can appeare more lamentable As it is Gospel you shall see in this his death innumerabie truths First of all let not the asperousnesse and hardnesse to the way of happinesse discourage any man for hauing such a good guide as our Sauior Iesus Christ it shall though 〈◊〉 be neuer so hard to hit be made plaine and easie vnto vs Howbeit it bee elsewhere said The way to heauen is streight and inaccessable because there are few that tread in that tracke Yet now the case is altered and Saint Paul cals thus vnto vs Accedamus ad eum qui imitiauit nobis viam It will cost vs some sweat and some labour yet not so much as may dishearten vs and it shall be a wholesome sweat and a safe and sure labour Iacob saw God holding the Ladder which reached to Heauen whereunto hee set his helping hand the better to secure it to the end that euerie man as Philon hath noted it might without feare climbe vp to the top of it S. Hierome goes a little further and says That hee did not thereby onely promise safetie but helpe for God did stretch out his hand from aboue and did reach it forth vnto those that were willing to get vp According to that of Dauid Emitte manum tuam de alto i. Send out thy hand from aboue Lysias when he had gathered about fourescore thousand Foot with all the Horsemen he had he came against the Iewes thinking to make Ierusalem an habitation of the Gentiles and because of his great number of Footmen his thousands of Horsemen and his fourescore Elephants the Captains and Souldiers of Gods people were quite out of heart making prayers with weeping and teares before the Lord That hee would send a good Angell to deliuer Israell And as they were besides Ierusalem there appeared before them vpon horsebacke a man in white cloathing shaking his harnesse of gold Then they praised the mercifull God all together and tooke heart insomuch that they were readie not onely to fight with men but with the most cruell beasts and to breake downe walls of yron Marching then forward in battell array hauing an helper from heauen running vpon their enemies like Lyons they slew eleuen thousand footmen and sixteene hundred Horsemen and put all the other to flight Another Horseman was he that Saint Iohn saw vpon a white Horse bearing this for his Motto Vincens vt vinceret Which takes from vs all feares of atchieuing the victorie for Heauen Secondly it assureth vs That he that offereth vs so much can denie vs nothing he could not well giue vs more nor would hee giue vs lesse than that which he hath alreadie so liberally bestowed vpon vs. Yet this gift may receiue increase as Saint Bernard hath noted it according to the manner of it For in all things whatsoeuer are to be considered the thing What and the thing How or Why the Accident and the Substance and sometimes Gods Attributes doe shine more in the Accident than in the Substance Whence I inferre That he that gaue so much with so much loue and sees that it is all cast away and that his loue is so ill requited it is not much if he be much offended with vs. Ergo in vacuum laborani c. In vaine then haue I laboured and to no purpose haue I spent my strength Whom will it not grieue
presently appeared two young men notable in strength excellent in beautie and comely in apparell which stood by him on either side and scourged him continually and gaue him many sore stripes till he was readie to giue vp the ghost and all the People praised the Lord that he had honoured his owne place with so great and strange a miracle But Heliodorus escaped in the end with life at the intercession of Onias the High-Priest And the King asking Heliodorus afterwards Who were meet to be sent yet once againe to Ierusalem he said If thou hast any enemie or traitor send him thither and thou shalt receiue him well scourged if he escape with his life for in that place no doubt there is an especiall power of God But a more sweet pleasing temple vnto God than Ierusalem is the bodie soule of man Templum Dei c. The Temple of God is holy which Temple yee be He made a promise to Ierusalem that no vncircumcised person should put his foot within it much lesse doe any harme vnto it How then doth God consent that the deuils should lodge so long in man and should trample and tread him vnder foot and torment him in that extreame manner as they doe Saint Chrysostome in his bookes De Prouidentia doth multiplie reasons heerevpon and in his second part he setteth downe sixe the chiefest whereof I take to be The feare and terrour which God pretendeth to put man in with the sight of one possessed with a Deuill There are many men in the world whom God must bring vnto him by ill for good will doe no good vpon them Saint Augustine expounding that verse of Dauid Descendant in infernum viuentes Let them go downe aliue into the Pit addeth Ne descendant morientes Let them not goe downe dead Old wiues say That wee must goe Saint Iames his way either in our life or our death But more truly may it be said of Hell That to the end wee may not goe into it at our death we must enter into it in our life not like Dathan and Abiram who went downe quicke into it but with the consideration and earnest thinking of him that is possessed with a Deuill For if in this life when as yet the finall sentence is not giuen the Deuill doth vse a Sinner thus hardly What will he doe vnto him when God shall seale his Warrant for Hell and pronounce condemnation againsthim Origen noteth it That there was not any kind of paine in the world wherewith the Deuill did not torment Iob afflicting him with the fires of Saint Anthonie the sores of Lazarus the Collicke the Gout the Canker c. Effudit viscera eius Galen saith It is impossible that many Infirmities should meet together in one and the selfe same part of the bodie But in Iob in euerie part of his bodie the Deuill had put paine vpon paine and sore vpon sore Now if on him such rigour was shewne who was appointed to bee the patterne of Patience What cruell torments shall be executed on him that is to be made the example of Gods diuine justice The second reason is That in the infancie of the Church it was fitting that there should be some chastisements that should carrie a sound and a noyse with them to the end that as Dionysius hath noted it the Wicked might be terrified therewith In the Old Testament God tooke this course Vae tibi cimbalo alarum Esay speakes this of Aegypt hee termes it a Bell with wings for the seuere and many strokes which the bell with wings shall beat it withall It is an excellent Symbole of Fame because as it flyes it sends foorth a shrill sound Appian the historian cals the Emperor Tiberius The Cimball of the world because his fame did ring and sound through all the nations of the Earth After many other plagues God threatned the Aegyptians with a murren or pestilence and anon after renders the reason of it That his name might be declared throughout all the world And as when the great Bell tolls in Arragon the whole Kingdome is strucken into feare and amasement for that clapper neuer wags but vpon some strange and extraordinarie occasion so the whole world was strucken into a great feare of those rods and scourges wherewith the Aegyptians were so sorely beaten Rahab said vnto the Spies which entred into Ierico Our hearts did faint and there remained no more courage in any because of you For I know that the Lord hath giuen you the Land and that the feare of you is fallen vpon vs. And the Princes of the Philistines could say vnto their People Be yee not rebellious and stiffe necked lest it happen vnto you as it did vnto Aegypt It remained for a Prouerbe to after Ages The Plagues of Aegypt light vpon thee To this end God permitted in the primitiue Church many demoniated persons some for forsaking the Faith some for abusing the Sacraments others for blasphemies and the like Himineus and Alexander were deliuered ouer vnto Sathan that they might learne not to blaspheme others for incest others for pride so according to Epiphan S. Hier. Nebucadnezar was by the Deuil turned into a beast others for their enuie Spiritus Domini mali vigebat Saul But that the Deuill should make a man deafe blind and dumbe this of all other is the seuearest punishment This is To deliuer men oâ—â—r to a reprobate sence that they may doe those things which are not fitting for them Thomas saith That God suffers this yet not beeing the Author of so great an ill by remoouing for a time his especiall fauour leauing the Vnderstanding to walke a while in darkenesse The Sunne is the vniuersall cause of the light but if a man will shut vp his doores and his windowes close it is his owne fault If hee abide in darkenesse God is the vniuersall cause of the spirituall light of our Soules but if any one shall despise this Light he vseth to leaue him in the darke And hence was it that these three inconueniences did befall this man to wit Deafenesse Blindnesse and Dumbnesse which was one of the greatest rigours of his Iustice. Esay saith I saw the Lord sitting vpon a high Throne like a Iudge that sits in state the house full of smoke and the Seraphins of fire publish his furie and the sent of their sinnes which had gone vp into his nosthrils Those two Seraphins that couered Gods face are a representation of his wrath Though when the time of punishing is come God vseth to open his eyes but now the Seraphins couer his eyes in token that he would strike this man with blindnesse And therefore it is said That the foundation of the Temple did shake Then anon after followed the punishment Excaeca cor populi huius aures eius aggraua Other Interpreters vse the Imperatiue vttering this sentence in a commanding kind of voyce Excaecetur cor populi huius c. Let
our ill the Sinner that inuents new mischiefes doth outreach the Deuill and goes beyond him And questionlesse in not passing the bounds of Gods diuine will and Empire the Deuill is more moderate than Man For the Deuill askt leaue of God for to tempt Iob but Man will not be so respectfull as to aske his leaue but will not sticke to kill thousands of men without licence Bonauenture saith That they thrust him out of the Citie for a blasphemer for proclaiming himselfe to bee the Messias It is commanded in Leuiticus That the Blasphemer should be carried forth of the Citie and bee stoned to death And therefore our Sauiour Christ extra portam passus est suffred without the gate and Saint Stephen was stoned without the Citie And our Sauiour had no sooner said in the presence of Caiphas Amodo c. Henceforth shall yee see the Sonne of Man comming in the clouds of Heauen but the Iewes presently cried out Blasphemauit He hath blasphemed So likewise our Sauior expounding that prophecie of Esay the Nazarites might also take occasion to say Blasphemauit And this their offering to throw him downe from the edge of the hill doth no way contradict their stoning of him for they might haue done that after they had thrust him downe dealing by him as Saint Hierome reports Saint Iames whom they call our Sauiours brother was dealt withall they first threw him downe from the Rocke and afterwards cut off his head To cast him headlong downe c. Methinkes it seemeth somewhat strange vnto me That our Sauiour should come down from Heauen to Nazareth for to giue life vnto men and that Nazareth should seeke to tumble him downe thereby to worke his death That with the losse of his owne life and the price of his most pretious bloud hee should redeeme them from death and that they in this vnthankefull and vnciuile manner should goe about to take away his life O vngratefull People God was not willing to bestow any miracles on them who would not entertaine so great a miracle God vseth to requite the thankes of one fauour with conferring another greater than the former So doth Saint Bernard expound that place of the Canticles He made his left hand my pillow and I doubt not but he will hug and embrace me with his right hand For I shal shew my selfe so thankefull for the one that my Spouse will vouchsafe to affoord me the other But those courtesies which Nazareth had receiued they so ill requited that euen to the houre of his death none did our Sauior Christ greater iniurie Nay in some sort this their wrong was greater than that which Hierusalem did him for this Citie treating of the death of our Sauiour did obserue some forme of Iudgement and onely the Ministers of Iustice had their hands in it but Nazareth in a most furious manner like the common people when they are in a mutinie hasted vp to the edge of the hill to throw him downe headlong contrarie to all Law and Iustice. In Hierusalem there were some that did not consent vnto his death but in Nazareth all of them conspired against him Omnes in Synagoga repleti suntira All that were in the Synagogue were filled with anger and that on the Sabboth day when it was not lawfull for them to gather stickes and make a fire c. But he passed through the middest of them and went his way The common receiued opinion is That he made himselfe inuisible to them and so got from them leauing their will and determination deluded Saint Ambrose and Beâ—â— say That he turned their hearts Cor Regis in manu Domini quo voluerit c. The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord and hee turneth it c. Like vnto those Officers of the Scribes and Pharisees who went forth to apprehend him who altering their purpose returned saying NuÌ„quid sic loquutus c. Did euer any man speake thus He might likewise take from them their force their strength that they might not bee able to put forth a hand to hurt him and leauing them like so many blockes might passe through the middest of them as beeing the Lord both of their soules and bodies And as he once left the Iewes with their stones frozen in their hands so now leauing the Nazarits astonished Per medium illorum ibat This Ibat doth inforce a perseuerance and continuation in token that God wil leaue his best beloued countrie that citie which was most graced and fauored by him if it be so gracelesse as to prooue vngratefull When God carried Ezechiel in spirit to the Temple discouering great abhominations vnto him and said vnto him These things my People commit Vt procul recedam à Sanctuario meo They giue mee occasion thereby to forsake them and to get mee farre enough from them So hath he departed from Israell from Asia Affrica many other parts of Europ forsaking so many cities temples so much heretofore fauored by him and so much made of Nazareth signifies a Floure a Crowne or a Garland and the Nazarites were once the onely Floures in Gods Garden that is in his Church they were religious persons that were consecrated to his seruice and therefore Nazareth is by them more particularly called Christs own Countrie for that therein he had beene often spiritually conceiued But because of the Nazarits Ierem. doth lament Thatthey being more white than milke were become as blacke as a cole by reason of their vnthankfulnesse Therfore in Colledges and religious places with whom God communicates his fauours in a more large and ample manner they ought of all other to shew themselues most gratefull for the more a man receiues and the more he professeth the more he ought to doe Cum enim crescunt dona rationes etiam crescunt donorum Dei so saith Saint Gregorie But he passed through the middest of them and went his way Howbeit death to the Iust is not sudden nor can be said to take him hence vnawares Though the Righteous be preuented with death yet shall hee be in rest The Church notwithstanding doth not vse this prayer in vaine A subitanea improuisa morte libera nos Domine From sudden death good Lord deliuer vs. Saint Augustine in his last sickenesse prayed ouer the penitentiall Psalmes and shedding many teares sayd That though a man were neuer so iust and righteous yet was hee not to die without penitence Saint Chrysostome tells vs That when Feare at the houre of death doth set vpon the Soule burning as it were with fire all the goods of this life she enforceth her with a deep and profound consideration to meditate on those of that other life which is to come And although a mans sinnes bee neuer so light yet then they seeme so great and so heauie that they oppresse the heart And as a piece of timber whilest it is in the water any
the weakest arme is able to mooue it but beeing brought to the shore hath need of greater strength so sin whilest it floateth on the waters of this life seemeth light vnto vs but being brought to the brinke of death it is verie weightie and it will require a great deale of leisure consideration and grace to land it well and handsomely and to rid our hands of it Of this good sudden death depriueth vs And although it is apparent in Scripture That God doth sometimes permit the Iust to die a sudden death as Origen Saint Gregorie and Athanasius Bishop of Nice affirmeth as in Iobs children on whom the house fell when they were making merrie and in those who died with the fall of the Tower of Siloah who according to our Sauiours testimonie were no such notorious sinners yet commonly this is sent by God as a punishment for their sinnes Mors peccarorum pessima i. esse debet An euill death was made for an euil man And Theodoret expounding what Dauid meant by this word Pessima saith That in the proprietie of the Greeke tongue it is a kind of death like vnto that of Zenacheribs Souldiers who died suddenly And Iob treating of him that tyranniseth ouer the world saith Auferetur Spiritâ—â— oris sui Cajetan renders it Recedet in Spiritu oris sui He shal die before he be sicke without any paine in the middest of his mirth when he is sound and lustie Their life being a continuall pleasure at their death they scarce feele any paine because it is in puncto in an instant Sophonias requireth of them That they will thinke on that day before it come wherein God will scatter them like the dust Esay threatning his People because they had put their trust in the succors of Aegypt saith This iniquitie shall be vnto you as a breach that salleth or a swelling in an high wall whose breaking commeth suddenly in a moment and the breaking thereof shall be like the breaking of a Potters pot and in the breaking thereof there shall not bee found a sheard to take fire out of the hearth or to take water out of the pit And the word Requisita mentioned by the Prophet intimateth a strong wall that is vndermined rusheth downe on the sudden How much their securitie is the more so much the more is their danger because it takes the soldiers vnawares But if this so strong a wal should chance to fall vpon a Pitcheâ— of earth it is a cleere case that it would dash it into so many fitters seuerall little pieces that there would not a sheard therof be left for to take vp so much as an handfull of water or to fetch a little fire from our next Neighbours house This effect doth sudden death worke it is a desperat destruction to a sinner And therefore Christ though without sin seeks to shun it that he might teach thee that art a Sinner to auoyd it Secondly our Sauior sought to shun this violent death because his death was reserued for the Crosse as well because it was a kind of long and lingering death as also for diuers other conueniencies which wee haue deliuered elsewhere Passing through the midst of them he went his way Our Sauiour Christ might haue strooke them with blindnesse if he would as the Angell did those of Sodome or haue throwne them downe headlong from the Cliffe but because they complained That he wrought no miracles among them as he had in other places he was willing now at his departure from them to shew them one of his greatest miracles by taking their strength from them hindring the force of their armes and leauing them much astonished and dismayed Though now and then God doth deferre his punishments for that the sinnes of the Wicked are not yet come to their full growth yet we see that he spared not his Angels nor those whom he afterwards drowned in the Floud nor those of Sodome nor of others lesse sinnefull than they nor his owne children of Israell of all that huge number being more in number than the sands of the sea not suffering aboue two to enter into the land of Promise how is it possible that hee should endure the petulancie of this peremptorie people these grumbling Nazarites who in such a rude and vnciuill fashion in such an imperious and commanding voice should presume to say vnto him taking the matter in such deepe dudgeon Fac hic in Patria tua But as when the Romane Cohorts came to take our Sauiour Christ they fell backward on the ground at his Ego sum I am hee which was a fearefull Miracle for no cannon vpon earth nor any thunderbolt from Heauen could haue wrought so powerfull an effect so now passing through the midst of them with a graue and setled pace leauing them troubled angrie amased hee prooued thereby vnto them That he was the Lord and giuer both of life and death c. THE TWENTIETH SERMON VPON THE TVESDAY AFTER THE THIRD SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 18. Si peccauerit in te frater tuus If thy brother shall trespasse against thee c. OVr Sauior Christ instructing him that had offended his brother what he ought to doe giues him this admonition Go vnto thy brother and reconcile thy selfe vnto him and if thou hast offended him aske him forgiuenesse Notifying to the partie offended that he should pardon him that offended if he did intreat it at his hands but if he shall not craue pardon he instructeth Peter in him all the Faithfull What the offended and wronged person ought to doe If thy brother trespasse against thee goe and tell him his fault betweene thee and him c. and if he heare thee thou hast woon a brother but if he will not vouchsafe to heare thee proceed to a second admonition before two or three witnesses and if he will not heare them tell it vnto the Church and if he shall shew himselfe so obstinate that he will not obey the Church let him be vnto thee as a heathen man and a Publican So that our Sauiour Christs desire is That the partie wronged should pardon the partie wronging and reprooue him for it for if it bee ill not to pardon it is as ill not to reprooue For to intreat of a matter so darke and intricate that the Vnderstanidng were to take it's birth from the ordinarie execution of the Law there were not any thing lesse to be vnderstood for there is not any Law lesse practised nor any Decree in Court lesse obserued I desire that God would doe mee that fauour that he did Salomon God giue me a tongue to speake according to my mind the pen of a readie Writer cleerenesse of the case which I am to deliuer true distinction grace knowledge or as Bonauenture stiles it resolutionem in declarando and to iudge worthily of the things that are giuen me For so many are the difficulties the questions and the
his busines and so wholly taken therewith that he cared not for any thing else And this is expressed in the word Ibat He went Which argues a continuation in his going on Some man may make a doubt and say though vnaduisedly Had it not beene better for our Sauiour to haue beene in the mount of Oliues or in the garden of Gethseman or on the hills of Ephrem than to goe thus from house to house from Castle to Castle and from Citie to Citie Whereunto I first of all answer That it is enough that he did not so because it was not the better course Secondly because he was the same that was personally promised to that blessed Land and that there was not a corner in all that Countrie to be left out which should not finde the fauour of his diuine influences Thirdly the exercises of the life actiue and contemplatiue are those two wings whereby the soule sores vp to heauen And because one wing will not serue the turne to reach to so high a pitch we must not onely serue God in our prayers and meditations but also in the releeuing and succouring of our neighbour And therefore our Sauiour Christ spent the nights in prayer Per noctabat in oratione and the dayes in healing bodies and curing of soules Petrus Damianus vpon the life of Elias and Elisha saith That there is no remote solitary mountaine which doth not ground it's retyrednesse vpon some one example or other of the Saints One is a friend to the world and a louer thereof and this man alleages That Elias spent many dayes in the widow of Sareptaes house And that Elisha soiourned with the Shunamite that was a great and principall woman in her country And that both of them did treat with great Princes and Potentates Another is a friend and a louer of delicacies and alleageth That Elisha and Elias did accept of them But these men doe not consider That if these Prophets did forgoe their solitude it was more for the good of others that liued abroad in the world than themselues as also for the raising vp of the dead And if they did receiue good intertainment it was no more than was necessary for the sustenance of their bodies Elisha would none of Naamans gold Nor Elias be feasted by King Ahab and Iezabell his wife It is a thing worthy the consideration That our Sauiour Christ hauing not so much as one pennie of money wherewith to pay Caesar his Tribute willed Saint Peter to open the fish that he had taken with his angling rod. Our Sauiour permitted Peter that he should catch such a multitude of fishes that the nets did breake with the fulnesse of them But now hee would not haue him catch but one onely fish For a Church-man ought to fish for all the fishes that he can possibly take and the more he takes he doth God the more seruice but for those money-fishes that haue pence in their bellies he must take but one onely and that too for to pay Tribute not for himselfe nor to satisfie his owne couetous desires or his idle pleasures Ecce defunctus efferebatur Behold there was a dead man carryed out c. This word Eccè in the Scripture requires the eyes of the body and the eyes of the soule insinuating a great deale of attention But to come here with an Eccè it being so common a thing in the world as nothing more to see the dead dayly carryed forth to their buriall it seemeth a superfluous labour and a needlesse kind of diligence especially being that this our life is no other thing but a continued Procession of the quicke and the dead When Adam saw Abel was slaine and lay dead on the ground being the first man of whom death had taken possession he was so heart-strucken and so amased thereat so fearefull so sorrowfull and so sad that for many yeares after hee was not freed from this feare and horrour nor were the teares dryed vp from his eyes For albeit that God had notified vnto him That he was to dye the death yet did he not as yet know by experience what kind of thing death was But after that death had flesht himselfe in mans blood cutting downe more liues than a Sythe doth grasse in your faire and goodly medowes this his feare and horrour began by degrees to slack and fall off An Eclypse of the sunne doth strangely intertaine the sences attention not onely for to see so faire a Planet lapt vp in mourning weedes but also for that it so seldome hapneth But the Eclypses of mens liues though they be the fairest sunnes vpon earth they so hourely nay so momentarily succeede with vs that we can scarse which way soeuer we looke turne our eyes aside from them And not to speake of those lingring deaths wherein through sicknes we lye languishing a long time besides those occasioned by famine pestilence and warre yet those other sudden and vnexpected deaths which daily succeed may euery houre find our eyes occupied For wee see them euer and anon written on the wall as was that of Balthasar hanging on the oake as that of Absalon dipt in a dish of milke as that of Sisara represented in a dreame as that of Holophernes appearing at a feast as that of Iobs children put in the porridge pot as that of Elishaes Disciples Mors in olla in the bed as that of Adulterers and in the Apoplexie as that of your Gluttons Yet notwithstanding all this and that it is euery dayes example yet such and so great is the solicitude and care which the diuell takes to blot the remembrance of the dead from out the hearts and heads of the liuing That at euery step we see the dead carried forth to their graues and are so farre from ingrauing the thought thereof in our breasts that at euery step we forget it There is not that man aliue which doth not feele and experiment death in himselfe complying with that sentence of God Morte morieris Thou shalt dye the death Man is no sooner borne into the world but deaths processe is out against him which is not long in executing As the weeke wasteth the candle the worme the wood and the moath the cloath so as the discreete woman of Tekoa said to Dauid Wee must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered vp againe The riuers haue recourse to the Sea and are swallowed vp in the deepe anâ— this is the end of them so is it with our liues they bend from their very birth to the bed of death we leape from our swathling cloathes into our winding sheeâ—e This is the end of all flesh Seneca compares this our life to an houre glasse and as the sand runnes out so runnes away the houre so as time runnes on our life runs away and as it was dust so to dust it returnes When two Ships sayle each by other it seemeth to
them That the one flyes like an arrow out of a bow and cuts the waues with a swift wing and that the other is a slugge and sayles very slowly And therefore of the way of a Ship in the sea and of a young man running on in a wanton course whereunto may be added the vncertaintie of the day of our death Salomon saith That they were things too wonderfull for him and past his finding out Efferebatur He was carryed out The word Efferebatur is worthy our consideration it being a plot and deuise of the diuell to carry the dead out of their Cities to bee buried for to blot the memory of the dead out of the minds of the liuing In the remembrance of death the Saints of God found these two great benefits The one Amendment of life The other Happinesse in death Touching the former it is by one common consent agreed vpon by the Fathers That the perfection of our life doth consist in the continuall meditation of death Plato called Philosophie Mortis meditationem A meditation of death affirming That the whole lesson of our life was to learne to dye The like saith Gregory Nazianzene Many Saints and Doctors haue demurr'd vpon this point In that God should deferre till the day of iudgement the reward of the body this may seeme an inequalitie to some but there is none at all in it For the dust and ashes of the body doe perswade and preach vnto vs the contempt of the world Asahel beeing slaine by Abner lying dead on the ground as many as came to the place where Asahel fell and dyed stood still as men amased This is that valiant Captaine this that vndoubted Souldier There is nothing that doth so quel the courage of Man and daunt his spirits as death it is natures terrour Those Spies that were sent out to discouer the Land of Promise were strucken into a great feare and amasement at the sight of those huge and monstrous Gyants In comparison of whom said they we seemed as Grashoppers Dreading that they were able to deuoure them aliue and to swallow them downe whole And therefore made this false relation at their return The land through which we haue gone to search it is a land that eateth vp the Inhabitants thereof but the people that raised this euill reporr died by a Plague More truly may it be said of Death That hee deuoureth the Inhabitants of the earth this is he that tameth the fiercest Gyants That dreame of Nabucadonezars which might haue beene powerfull receiuing it by reuelation to make him abate his pride and lay aside his arrogancie the Deuill presently blotted these good thoughts out of his remembrance The like course doth the Deuil now take with vs. He doth not go about to persuade vs as he did our father Adam that we are immortall But in two things he goes beyond vs and is too cunning for vs. The one That our death shall be delayed God saith Mors non tardat Death lingers not The Deuill sayes Tardat It lingers Moram faciet It loyters My Lord will delay his comming said the seruant in the Gospell But this feined supposition was his certaine perdition Ezechiel did prophecie the ruine of Ierusalem and the death and destruction of her Citisens telling them their desolation was neere at hand There shall none of my wordes be prolonged but the word which I haue spoken shall be done saith the Lord God But the Deuill did otherwise persuade with them making them to say The vision that hee seeth is for many dayes to come And hee prophecieth of the times that are farre off The wanton woman in the Prouerbes which inuited the yong man to her bed and boord sought to intice him by this meanes The good man is not at home hee is gone a long journey Therefore let vs take our fill of loue c. From this vaine hope of life ariseth that our greedinesse and couetousnesse to inioy and possesse the goods of this life And a little beeing more than enough for him yet it seemeth vnto man much cannot suffice him And it is an euill thought in man and much to be pittied that a man should afflict himselfe for that which neither hee himselfe nor all his posteritie shall liue to enioy O foolish man doost thou thinke thou shalt returne to liue againe in those goodly houses that thou hast built and to reinioy those pleasant gardens and orchards that thou hast planted No But mayst rather say to thy selfe These my eyes shall neuer see them more Why then so much carke and care for three dayes or thereabouts The Romans would not build a temple to Death nor to Pouertie nor Hunger judging them to bee inexorable gods But more inexorable is Death for man neuer returnes againe from Death to Life And therefore the Antients painted Death with the Tallons of a Griffine Saint Luke painting foorth the vigiles of the day of Iudgement and the anguish and agonie of the World he saith That many shall waxe fearefull and trouble their heads to see and thinke on those things Which shall befall the whole World Pondering in that place that they shall not bee sensible of their owne proper danger nor the aduenture wherin they stand of their saluation or condemnation yet cease not to afflict themselues with the losse of the World and that the world shall be consumed and be no more But ô thou foolish man if thou must dye return thither no more what is the world to thee when thou art at an end the World is ended with thee And if thou beest not to inioy it any more what is it to thee if God doe vtterly destroy it And all these euils arise from the forgetfulnesse of Death Hee liues secure from Danger that thinkes vpon the preuenting of Danger Saint Chrysostome expounding that place of Saint Luke He that will follow me must take vp his Crosse dayly and so come after mee Signifying that what our Sauiour pretended was That we should alwayes haue our death before our eyes I dye dayly saith the blessed Apostle Saint Paul My imagination workes that dayly vpon me which when my time is come Death shall effect There is no difficultie that is runne through at the first dash and there is not any difficultie so hard to passe through as Death A Shooe-maker that he may not loose the least peece of his leather or make any wast of it casts about how he may best cut it out to profit tries it first by some paper patterne c. Plutarch reporteth of Iulius Caesar that he beeing demaunded which was the best kind of Death Answered That which is sudden and vnlooked for Iulian the Emperour dying of a mortall wound gaue thankes vnto the gods that they did not take him out of this life tormenting him with some prolix and tedious sickenesse but by a hastie and speedie death And for that they doe not
and to take away the portions that were deposited for the maintenance of Widowes who wept most bitterly this generall lamentation made way to Gods Tribunall hee sent downe one on a goodly faire horse armed at all points who ouerthrew Heliodorus vpon the pauement and presently two young men fell vpon him and whipt him with scourges till they left him as it were for dead For this cause did God comfort this Widow at the gates of the Citie where the Iudges had their Tribunalls notifying vnto them that they should take Widowes into their tutelage protection and the rather for that a supremer Iudge the Iudge both of Heauen and Earth was willing to take so much the more care of them by how the more was their solitude and priuate course of life Saint Hierome writing to Furia and Eustochius vttereth excellent things of those that are true Widows indeed and of those that are Widowes but in jeast and sport Of the former Iudith and Anna Samuels mother were notable examples And amongst the Gentiles Artemisia Queene of Caria who not desirous to buâ—ie her husband in Vrnes of siluer or gold buried him in her owne bowells by drinking downe his ashes in contemplation whereof there is a verie medicinable herbe called after her name Artemisia which all Widowes in stead of other hearbes or flowers ought to haue lying by them vpon their Estrado's their beds and their chamber windowes Of those other fabulous widowes Alcione may serue as an example who tooke on so extreamely for the death of her husband that the gods were faine to comfort her and when they had giuen her comfort she was metamorphised at last into a Bird bearing the same name of which Saint Ambrose sayth That it liues about riuers of waters the feathers thereof being greene and the beake red in token that those Widowes that so quickely receiue comfort their life is commonly greene and youthfull and their words red and full of amorous passions lanching themselues forth like Ships into a sea of vices and voluptuous pleasures turning their vails to sailes which faile with euerie wind Christ taking pittie of her c. It is not here said That he pittied the son but the mother for they that die are not so much to be pittied as they that liue for if he that dies goe to Hell we wrong Gods justice if we take any commiseration of them and if they goe to Heauen their happinesse doth not require it hauing more reason to enuie than pittie them Lots wife was turned into a piller of salt because she sorrowed for the burning of Sodome and in Heauen as there can be no miserie so is it impossible that there should be any commiseration so that pittie is onely to bee reduced to those that liue The Scripture calleth death Rest and Sleepe Saint Paul saith I would not haue you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleepe that yee sorrow not euen as others which haue no hope And Ecclesiasticus giueth vs this aduice Weepe moderately ouer the dead seeing he is at rest The Scripture calls life a Warfare a pilgrimage a Husbandmans taske or day labour a nauigation c. Mans life is a warfare vpon earth and his dayes like the dayes of an hireling c. The souldier desireth to see the end of his Warre and the Traueller his trauell ended to returne againe into his owne Countrie an hireling looketh for a reward of his worke a Mariner for a good voyage and man for death Gaudent vehementer cum inuenerint mortem Great was mans misfortune that he was to enter into a sea so full of miseries But as Nazianzen saith death againe was great gaine vnto him Taking pittie of her c. Greater was Christs sorrow and compassion for this disaster than that of this Widow woman for that harme which hapneth vnto vs toucheth vs in comparison but lightly but toucheth God euen in the verie apples of his eyes and this did Christs mercie and pittie manifest in the hast that he made in other his myracles He had many suitors to intreat him to raise vp Lazarus as Martha and Marie so likewise to restore the Centurions seruant to his former health he was solicited by the Priests and the Elders Here onely his mercie mooued him thereunto and therefore it is said Misericordia motâ—s In the firie Bush that flamed and was not consumed with the fire God did represent those firie scourges wherewith they scourged his People and the fire of those Furnaces wherein they baked their bricke and therefore he said vnto Moses Vade Goe thy wayes which is all one as if he should haue said vnto him It is I that am thus scortched and scourged and therefore Vade hast thee to Pharaoh But some will obiect If God be so hastie to helpe his People why did he suffer them to be imbroiled 40 yeres before they could cast out the Ammorits the Iebusites especially it beeing the Land which hee had promised vnto them Whereunto himselfe giues this resolution Their sinnes were not yet growne vp to their heigth So that his leading them all this while through the Wildernesse was a lesse miserie than their remaining in Aegypt and therefore he dismisseth Moses with a Vade giuing him full power and Commission to free his People willing him to hasten away that they might be eased of their torment as if himselfe had felt the smart thereof more than they Hee could not indure that his friends should suffer affliction and because he had said Cum ipso sum in tribulatione he would not be taxed of the breach of his word So that when God is with thee in thy tribulation he will giue an issue to thine afflictions because hee suffers in them as well as thy selfe and if he doe not come in to helpe thee it is because thy sinnes haue made him vnsencible thereof But doe thou mouere à peccato and thou shalt find him as it is here in my Text miseriâ—ordia motus He said vnto her Weepe not It caused much admiration seemed somwhat strange to those that were there present that our Sauiour seeing the teares and anguish of this sorrowfull and wretched widow should vpon so sad an occasion say vnto her Noli flere Weepe not We know that there are diuers and sundrie sorts of teares Some are occasioned by the excessiue sorrow and griefe of our owne sinnes of this nature were those teares of Marie Magdalen of Dauid and of Peter Others are drawne from vs vpon a fellow-feeling and sorrowfulnesse for other mens faults of this kind were those of Saint Paul Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote vnto you with many teares so much was he grieued with the newes he receiued from them of that incestuous person and the punishment of Excommunication inflicted vpon him And to the Philippians I haue told you often and now tell you euen weeping that they are the enemies of the
and in stead of shrill and cheerefull flourishes the trumpets sound hoarse so now in this our Mary Magdalens death who was the chiefe Captaine and Ring-leader of the vices of that Citie a hollow sound of sighes was heard and a grieuous noyse of confused grones and broken throbs breathing out these wofull words ô my good Lord I haue beene like vnto the Serpent for on the one side I sustained my selfe by the earth without once offering to lift mine eyes from the earth on the other side I did prostrate my selfe laying traps and snares for thy feet soliciting the men of this City to tread thy Lawes vnder their feet Oh Lord since I haue thus playd the Serpent tread thou vpon mee crush me in the head and bruise out all the venome that is in me O sweet Iesus the Serpent vseth to enter in betweene the rocks and rub off her old skinne and leauing it there behind her to renew her selfe againe I much desire to cast off my old skinne and to leaue it in the wounds of these thy feet and on my strong rocke Christ Iesus I wot well ô Lord that so vile and lewd a woman as I am is to be made no more reckoning of than the durt that is trod vnder foot in the streetes Mulier fornicaria quasi stercus in via conculcabitur But many times the dung of the earth doth serue for the rootes of trees and other plants and because thou art that Diuine plant whose branches reach vp as high as heauen permit ô Lord that I though but durt and dung may lye at thy feet The Cananitish woman did shew a great deale of humility when she tearmed her selfe a dogge but Mary Magdalen much more â—earming her selfe dung And she wiped his feet with the haires of her head S. Ambrose asketh the question Why some of his Apostles did not wash our Sauiours feet either before or after that he had washt all theirs He renders two reasons The one for that Mary Magdalen had washt them and hee would not that this lustre which those her tears had giuen them should be lost by washing them with ordinarie and common water And the comparison is good For he that is washed with the water of Angels will refuse to be washed with any other water The other saith Saint Ambrose for that we should wash those his diuine feet with the teares of our eyes That mysticall lauing of the Apostles feet which was directed to the cleansing of their soules could not fit with our Sauiour Christ who was free from the least filth of sinne If any Lauatorie likes him it is that of our teares because in them the heart is softned Besides Those eyes and hayres which were so well imployed did expresse her good desire and thoughts And there is not any Sacrifice so acceptable vnto God as to see the desires and thoughts of our hearts to be offered vp at his feet Chrysologus saith That after God had seene the resolution and courage of Abraham in the sacrificing of his sonne he cared not a rush for all the rest and therefore cryed vnto him Lay not thine hand vpon the child neyther doe any thing vnto him for now I know thou fearest God c. For I take no pleasure in the death of the Innocent nor in the shedding of blood my delight is to see thy will submit it selfe at my feet My sister my spouse thou hast wounded mine heart Thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes and with a hayre of thy necke Following the selfe-same Metaphor to wit That the hayres are the thoughts and the eyes the desires As if her beloued should haue said vnto her One desire one thought my spouse one resolute determination one firme purpose hath quite robd me of my heart And he that shall indeere the delight that he takes in one single hayre will take much more pleasure in that whole skayne of gold Bonauenture sayes That shee did behold our Sauiour by stealth and peeping through the lattice of her hayres did euer and anon snatch a sight of him But after that she had once inioyed the brightnes of his face and the sweetnes of his eyes whence he shot forth such sweet shafts of loue and that did light so right vpon her that her heart was taken therewith It seeming vnto her That the skie was now cleere and the weather very faire and prosperous she did vnruffle the sides of her haires and spred them abroad to the wind finding so good a gale And as he that hath escaped many dangerous fits of death at sea is neuer satisfied with kissing the earth when hee comes ashoare so Mary Magdalen thought shee could neuer haue her fill of kissing the blessed earth of those her Sauiours most holy feet And as the Traueller that hath passed through the deserts of Arabia his mouth being as dry as those sandie grounds or as tinder that is ready to take fire being driuen to drinke of foule and vnsauourie puddles no sooner comes to a cleere fountaine but hee rushes hastily to the water and neuer makes an end of drinking so did it fare with Mary Magdalen c. With her hayres Absalons hayre was Absalons halter Sampsons lockes serued as bands to bind him fast the Philistims by those hayres haling him to prison My hayres haue been no lesse cruell to me than theirs were to them God he is said to haue a head of gold but hayres as blacke as the Rauen. But I being a Rauen in my soule for blacknesse had my hayres of gold c. And annoynted them with oyntment Saint Gregorie saith That Mary Magdalen entertained our Sauiour Christ at this feast with two great regalos or dainties The one That it was she that made him the feast For albeit the Pharisee had inuited him he had not set before him one sauourie morsell For what could sauour well in the house of a proud scorner that is giuen to mocke and scoffe And howbeit for the body the cheere was good enough yet if it had not beene for Mary Magdalen the soule might haue fasted But she did supply that defect by affording matter to our Sauiour to taxe the Pharisee of discourtesie c. Seest thou this woman I entred into thy house and thou gauest me no water to my feete but she hath washed my feet with teares Thou gauest me no kisse But shee since the time that I came in hath not ceased to kisse my feet Mine head with oyle thou didst not annoynt but she hath annoynted my feet with oyntment c. The other That at the feet of our Sauiour she made a generall sacrifice of all those things wherewith she had before offended him as of her eyes mouth hayres hands heart and soule not leauing out so much as that her oyntment which is that which women are loathest to leaue and doe latest and hardliest part withall Saint Bernard saith That Mary Magdalen did climbe vp to heauen
put Lazarus to death This their rage and furie can not bee sufficiently indeered Esay saith Wee roare all like beares and mourne like doues These are both extreames The Beare is a very furious beast the Doue very mild and gentle the one doth shake the mountaines with his roarings the other scarce throbs forth her mournings from her brest the one if you rob her of her young ones is all rage and fiercenesse it selfe Like a Beare robbed of her Whelpes the other is softnesse and gentlenesse it selfe who if you take away her young vseth no other resistance but mourning and a soft murmuring and therefore Osee saith that she hath no heart It was noted of this people That they were like doues that mourned with their friends but like furious beares towards their enemies What greater furie than to seeke to kill Lazarus What madnesse more notorious Marsilius Ficinus saith That there is a twofold madnesse One of the braine The other of the heart The one long the other short The one makes men madd the other angry Aulus Gellius reporteth of the Sclauonians That when they are angrie they kill like the Basiliske with their verie lookes Ecclesiasticus saith That Enuie and Wrath shorten the life and bring age before the time Salomon saith That three things mooue the earth and that the fourth is not to be endured pointing out the fourth to bee a Slaue that is made his Masters heyre for a Slaue being seated in honour growes to be so insolent that it is a thing insufferable Better may this bee verified of the appetite which being a Slaue if it once through wrath rebell against reason it treads it vnder foot captiuates it and ill intreates it Because that for his sake many of the Iewes went away and beleeued in Iesus One of the greatest miseries that can befall a soule is To make good the occasion of ill As one of the greatest pledges of Gods loue is to take occasion from ill to doe good so one of the greatest pledges of malice is to take occasion from good to doe ill God gaue vnto the children of Israel the gold and siluer of the Egyptians whether it were in requitall and payment of their troubles or that he was Lord of all and so might dispose thereof as hee listed and of this gold and siluer they afterwards made a calfe giuing thereunto that glorie and worship which was due onely vnto God Osee saith they did the like with Baal I multiplyed their siluer and gold which they bestowed vpon Baall God gaue them a brazen Serpent to the end that by looking thereon they might be healed of the bitings of the Serpents From this fauour they tooke occasion to commit Idolatrie offering incense thereunto as vnto God till such time as Ezechias brake it in peeces God doth proceede by contrary courses From Adams sinne he tooke occasion to redeeme the world and as it seemeth to Saint Augustine if Adam had not sinned God had not come in person to redeeme him And Saint Gregory calls it Foelix peccatum A happy sinne because it brought with it so soueraigne a Redeemer And in many other occasions we may say that of a sinner which Esay saith Recepit de manu domini duplicia pro omnibus peccatis suis. And that which Dauid saith ofan vngratefull people Pro iniquitate vide tentoria Aethiopiae Hee there summes vp the many and great fauours which he had receiued and in euery one of them we shall find pro iniquitate They consulted to put Lazarus to death The blanke and marke whereat they shot was to darken and eclypse the name of our Sauiour Christ and to cast a cloud ouer that glory which could not possibly but shew it selfe in seeing Lazarus to be raised vp from death vnto life This dammage the Lord did repaire with two great honours The first That most solemne triumph wherewith they receiued him wherof we shall treat hereafter The second of certaine Gentiles which came according to the custome to the feast Leo the Pope saith That the Romans made a religion of it to adore the seuerall gods of all Nations and therefore they intreated Saint Philip that he would be a meanes that they might haue a sight of our Sauiour Christ and that they might bee admitted to speake with him Saint Philip communicated this matter with Saint Andrew and they both acquainted our Sauiour therewith And Iesus answered The houre is now come that the Sonne of man shall bee made manifest The Apostles did not vnderstand the mysterie thereof but our Sauiour Christ tooke that his comming to be the despertador de su muerte the awaker and reuiuer of his death For although he imployed both his life and his person in Israel yet his death was to draw the Gentiles to his knowledg and obedience And these Gentiles being so desirous to see him and to talke with him taking this to be the Vigile of his death and vocation of the Gentiles Hee told them Now is the houre come wherein the Son of man is to be glorified not onely amongst the Iewes but the Gentiles also Hee calls his death his glorification For albeit to dye be weakenesse yet to dye as Christ dyed was vnspeakeable valour and vertue Hee neuer shewed himselfe more strong than when hee was most weake and neuer lookt sweeter than when death was in his face Hee had hornes comming out of his hands And there was the hiding of his power Those hands which were nayled to those armes of the Crosse were those hornes wherewith hee ouerthrew the power of the world and of hell Iacob said of Simeon and Leui at the houre of his death In their selfe-will they digged downe a wall which the Seuentie translate thus Eneruauerunt taurum They weakened a Bull By this bull vnderstanding our Sauiour Christ. First for it's beautie Quasi primogeniti tauri pulchritudo eius His beauty shall be like his first borne bullocke Secondly For that as the bulls strength lyes in his hornes so did Christ discouer his strength vpon the Crosse Ibi abscondita est fortitudo eius Thirdly because according vnto Pliny the Bull looseth his fiercenesse when hee but sees the shadow of the Figge-tree And our Sauiour Christ shewed himselfe most weake when hee saw the shadow of the Crosse desiring pardon then of his Father for his enemies who like dogges against a Bull had with open mouth set themselues against him Many dogs are come about mee But hee repayd though not allayd their rage with this so louing and so sweet a prayer Father forgiue them c. The Pharisees seeing themselues thus mockt and deluded and that their plots and intentions tooke not effect they brake foorth and sayd Perceiue yee not how we preuaile nothing and how that the world goeth after him And albeit Saint Chrysostome saith That these speeches were vttered by his friends thereby to persuade the Pharisees that
that he did him and the great reward hee bestowed vpon him Amongst other Motiues the first shall be the Title of the Crosse Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes It was prophesied That his Kingdome should take it's beginning from the Crosse Dominus regnabit à ligno The Iewes did secretly honour the word à ligno The Saints did openly reuerence it Christ had giuen great pledges in his birth that hee was à King by Angels Shepheards and Kings In his life by the obedience of all sorts of creatures Who is this whom the winds and seas obey By the voices of the Diuells themselues by the whips of the Temple and by his last Supper Here bee some standing here which shall not taste of death vntill c. In his passion My kingdome is not of this world and ye shall see the Son of man comming in power But in his death hee gaue farre greater pledges All the creatures gaue testimonie of their Creator The diuels cried out so sayes Eusebius Caesariensis Pan magnus interijt And howbeit on Pilats and the peoples part the Title of the Crosse was placed there in scoffe and scorne of him yet the diuine prouidence made vse of these liuing instruments And as in the creation he walked on the waters so in the reparation of mankind he passed through punishments and paines of our Sauiour Christ making their iests turne to earnest The same consideration being likewise to be had concerning the Crowne the Scepter and the Robe of purple which in derision they put vpon him c. Hilarie and Bonauenture both say That our Sauiour Christs Patience was one great Motiue In heauen the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost beare witnesse In earth the Holy Ghost Water and Blood All these testimonies proue the Diuinitie of Christ. But to let passe those of heauen The Holy Ghost doth prooue that hee was a Diuine person whose voyce was so powerfull when the Spirit tooke his leaue of his body that it forced the Centurion to say Vere filius Dei erat iste Truely this man was the Son of God The Water which was miraculous prooues that he was a Diuine person for it is not possible that water should naturally flowe from a dead body The Blood that prooues it not onely in regard of it's muchnesse but that it was shed with so much patience For though his wounds were many and his torments great yet like a sheepe before the Shearer he neuer once opened his mouth or shew'd the least resistance And Euthymius and Theophylact adde That the prayer which he heard him make to his Father Father forgiue them which was the first that he vttered on the Crosse did worke that amasement in this theefe That he said with himselfe Sure this is no man And thereupon began to haue an assured hope of the forgiuenesse of his sinnes For thought he he that is so desirous to pardon those that had vsed him so cruelly not onely tormenting him in his body but also scoffing and flouting at him to vexe if it were possible his soule will surely farre more willingly pardon me who being heartily sorry for my sinnes desire to become his seruant I haue heard that the Kings of Israel are mercifull but none of them all had so generous and free a heart as our Sauiour Christ. Tertullian saith That hee came into the world for to shew himselfe a God in his suffering making Patience the badge and marke of his Diuinitie And that the power which he shewed in pardoning being so great much greater was that which hee shewed in suffering It was much that he should suffer for man much more in that he suffered for man when as man would not suffer him to be God To admit a Traytour to his boord to bid him welcome to feast him and make much of him that finding himselfe so kindly vsed he may make him surcease from his plotted treasons winning him vnto him by these and the like courtesies well may a man doe this but that God should admit a Iudas to his table that he should eate with God God witting That he would goe from the table to execute his treason to sell God and to deliuer him vp into the hands of his enemies onely God and his patience could suffer so great an iniurie which made Saint Augustine to say A potentia discimus patientiam S. Chrysostome Origen and S. Ierome are or opinion That the alteration of the sunne and the elements wrought the same effect vpon the theefe as it did vpon Dyonisius in Athens when he cryed out Either the world is at an end or this man is God Vincent Ferrariensis saith That the shadow of our Sauiour Christ did inlighten this Theefe And that the shadow of Saint Peter healing bodies it was not much that the shadow of Christ should heale soules Whereunto may be applyed that of Dauid Thou hast shadowed my head in the day of battaile Petrus Damianus saith That the blessed Virgin might bee a meanes of this Theeues Conuersion by intreating her sonne that he would be pleased to open the eyes of his soule Whether she were mooued thereunto because the good theefe did not reuile Christ or whether which Saint Augustine reports though some attribute the same to Anselmus That in her iourney to Aegypt hee being Captaine of the Theeues did the blessed Virgin many good seruices being much taken with the prettinesse of the child and the sober and modest countenance of the mother sure I am that it was a happines so sole in the world consisting of such strange circumstances That no man did or euer shall enioy the like good lucke And as we cannot expect a second death of our Sauiour Christ so such a second happy incounter as this was cannot bee hoped for This Theefe came in that good time when as heauen did shoure downe mercies when there was a plenary Indulgence and Iubilee granted when God did poure forth the balme of his Blood for to ransome man when the doores of heauen and the wounds of Christ were equally open when the fountaine of liuing water did cry out in the middest of the world If any man thirst let him come vnto mee and drinke when our Sauiour had such a longing desire to see the fruit of his labors and sweats when he had put that petition to his Father which began with Ignosce illis Forgiue them And it seeming vnto him That his Father was too slow in granting his request he did thus pittifully complaine vnto him O my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why came I into the world Why was I borne in pouertie liued in labour and dyed in sorrow What Haue I laboured then in vaine Secondly it was his happinesse as Saint Gregory Nissen hath obserued That he inioyed our Sauiour Christs side and his shadow that he was so close vnder his wing He that sayles in a little Barke with a
Christ should rise againe for hee would neuer haue made a sute vnto him whom he saw was a dying man if he had thought there had been an end of him He assuredly did beleeue the immortalitie of the soule and looked after another life being more carefull thereof than his fellow-theefe who desired only this temporal life saying vnto Christ Salua temetipsum nos If thou be that Christ saue thy selfe and vs. This our good Theefe beleeued that which Christ spake before Pilat My Kingdome is not of this world Quite contrarie to those Apostles of his who stroue for chaires of preheminence one desiring to sit at his right hand the other at his left supposing his Kingdome to bee a temporall Kingdome Againe His Hope was no lesse great than his Faith Quis credet ei qui non habet nidum c. Who will ground the hopes of his happinesse vpon that man that hath not a house to put his head in nor a bed to sleepe in yet this Theefe had set vp his rest vpon him that had no resting place Great was the hope that Daniel had in the Lyons Den but he there saw that the Lions did lick the shooes on his feet like louing Curs Great was Aminadabs confidence who was the first that aduentured to set vpon the sea and to enter the deepe but he had seen great prodigies in Aegypt Great was that assurance of Dauids when being beset round on al sides by Saul his souldiers said vnto him Transmigra in montem sicut passer But he answered Ego dormiui somnuÌ„ coepi surrexi quia Dominus suscepit me they would haue had him flye like a bird vnto the hill But hee told them That hee would lay him down and sleep in peace for the Lord was his keeper and would make him dwell in safetie He had such confidence in his God that hee tooke no great care concerning his enemies Lastly His Loue was no lesse great than his Hope Loue saith Salomon is as strong as death But here Loue was much more strong than death for death was now scorned by Loue. They hung not him vp vpon the Crosse for any loue that he bare to our Sauiour Christ yet before he dyed he would haue giuen a thousand liues to haue purchased his loue and it was a greater griefe torment vnto him that he saw he was not crucified for Christ than the Crosse it selfe was vnto him So that beginning to suffer like a Theefe hee became to dye like a Martyr Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Neuer did any former ages see a fauor comparable vnto this First in regard of that which heauen is in it selfe being that next vnto the hypostaticall vnion it is the greatest good that the omnipotencie of God can giue vs. All other good leaueth vs still hungry this onely affoordeth fulnesse I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appeare All doe seeke after heauen and doe appetere Deum as their vltimum bonum Desire the fruition of God as their chiefest felicitie But because they neither know what God nor heauen is they haue scarce peept in with their heads within the doores of that Supreame Princely Pallace but that they are rauished with that strange and vnspeakeable admiration that blessing themselues they breake out in this manner This surely is God Their weake apprehension not being able to conceiue the least glorie of that great Deitie so that Esay might very well say I am found of those that seeke not after me The capacitie of our conceit and the modell of our imagination is but a thimblefull in respect of that immense Ocean of Gods greatnesse And therefore true is that saying That the Iust doth finde that which hee doth not seeke for And if the crummes which fall from that diuine Table doe robbe a man of his vnderstanding banish all other thoughts from him and doe as it were alienate him from himselfe how will he be transported when he shall drinke at the fountaine of that riuer of delights and when God shall say vnto him Open thy mouth wide and I wâ—ll fill it So incomparable is the greatnes of this good That God suffers himselfe to be rob'd by the labours and sweats of man When we buy a thing dog-cheape we vse to say it is stolne Put in one scale fastings almes-deedes sacke-cloth and ashes the torments of Martyrs the troubles of Confessours and in another scale one houre nay one minute of heauen and in reason of buying and selling heauen is robbed by vs. And hereunto doth allude that phrase in Scripture Et violenti rapinus illud And the violent take it by force Now then that after so many thefts robberies deaths our Sauiour Christ should grant so great a good to this Theefe a greater fauour cannot be imagined Secondly in regard of the aduantage he had of others We know that in glory some shall enioy more some lesse As one starre dâ—ffers from another in brightnesse All shall inioy eternal glorie but not all the same degrees in glorie But consider I pray you the great aduantage that this Theefe made for he held it to bee a great happinesse vnto him if God would be but pleased to afford him any the least corner of heauen Abbot Arnaldo a graue and antient Authorhathaduentured to say That God had giuen him the chaire wherein Lucifer sate S. Cyprian saith Quid tu Domine amplius Stephano contulisti c. Oh Lord what could that Protomartyr Saint Stephen inioy more or that thy beloued Disciple which did leane his head in thy bosome And as Cirillus Ierosolimitanus saith What could the long seruices of those that endured the heate of the day obtaine more at Gods hands But God makes theÌ„ this answer I do not thee no wrong didst thou agree with me for a pennie Some labourers were working hard at the Vineyardfrom the first houre others from the third houre others began at the ninth houre others wheÌ„ the sunne was vpon setting First came Adam then Noah after him Abraham and the rest of the holy Prophets but the Theefe came iust at the Sunne-setting Saint Chrysostome saith That the same day that Adam was cast out of Paradise of the earth the same day did this Theefe enter into the Paradise of heauen The word Amen or verely doth imply as much Aniently the Tribes were diuided set apart vpon two hils the one breathing forth curses Cursed is he that honoureth not his Father Cursed is he that leadeth the blind out of the way the other blessing Blessed be thou in the Citie blessed in the field c. Onely the difference was in this That to these their maledictions and cursings they did euer say Amen For as it is in the Prouerbe Para el mal sobraua pannÌ„ For ill there was neuer yet cloth wanting there was stuffe still enough ready at hand But to their blessings they answered with
hee will that thou giue the glorie vnto him and take the profit to thy selfe That Workeman should doe ill who hauing built a house with another mans Purse should goe about to set vp his owne Armes vpon the Frontispeece Iustinian made a Law That no master-Workeman should set vp his name within the bodie of that building which hee made out of anothers cost Christ sets thee aworke and wills thee to Fast to Pray to giue Almes but Who is at the cost of this so good and great a worke God thou hast all thy materials from him the building is his it is his Purse that payes for all giue the gloâ—ie therefore and the honor thereof vnto him Gloriam meam alteri non dabo i. I will not giue my glorie to another Content thy selfe with Heauen which is promised vnto thee if thou doost well which is a sufficient reward for any seruice that thou canst doe The third That Fasting Praying giuing of Almes done onely for Gods sake is of that great price and estimation that it is ill employed on any other than God And for that God weighes all things in his hand as in a ballance and knowes the weight of euery good worke and the true value therefore it grieues him that thou shouldst doe these good things for so vile and base a price and is sorrie to see thee so poore and foolish a Merchant that thou wilt part wirh that which is as much worth as Heauen to thee for that which is lesse than earth to wit onely that the World may say Such a one fasteth Why doost thou thus crucifie thy flesh Why debarre thy bellie of food Why being readie to die for hunger doost thou not eat Why lift vp thy eyes to Heauen for so poore a thing as to winne applause vpon earth Sterni lutum quasi aurum saith Iob those works that are done for God are gold done for the world durt They lay vp this their treasure in the tongues and eyes of men which is a chest that hath neither locke nor key vnto it The fourth That Fasting is a Plaister for our wounds a Medicine for our griefes a Salue for our sinnes and a Defence against Gods wrath But thou must take heed that thou doe not make this Plaister poison this Medicine sicknesse this Salue a sore and this Defence our destruction For where God hath a Church there the Deuill hath a Chappell and where hee throwes in seed the other will sow tares Naboth a Subiect of King Achab had a Vineyard in Samaria neere vnto the Kings Palace the King had a mind vnto it Naboth will not part with it the King growes sad refuses his meat Iezabel comes to see him makes a jest of it takes pen in hand dispatches a Ticket to the Gouernors of that Citie sealed with the Kings Seale to proclaime a Fast subornes two witnesses to sweare That they heard Naboth blaspheme God the King the innocent Naboth is stoned to death and his goods confiscated In which action there are two things worthie our consideration The one That the circumstance of blaspheming God and the King vpon a solemne day of Fast as it is noted by Vatablus was so grieuous that of force hee must be condemned to die for it in so great veneration was Fasting in those dayes The other That it serued as a cloake for the taking away of the Vineyard for the falsifying of witnesses and injustice in the Iudges Who should haue then seene the People to fast would haue thought it had beene done out of zeale Gods honour and a desire to doe him seruice But it was meerely a tricke of the Deuils which hee had plotted with himselfe Hee threw poyson vpon vertue seeking to draw euill out of good Wee must therefore beware least these our good actions receiue hurt by euill intentions Like Hypocrites Hypocrisie runnes a quite contrarie course to these foure points before specified and crosses the same three or foure manner of waies First It feigneth the good which it hath not As the proud Man Humility the Cholericke Patience the Wanton Honestie the Miser Liberalitie This leger-demaine is that which hath more generally spred it selfe through mens brests being desirous that the bodie should serue for the soule as painting for the face which being blacke makes it seeme white The painted Image of diuers colours whereof Wisedome speaketh stirreth vp in Fooles a kind of pleasure and delight This stampe though it be there set vpon Idolaters may bee truly set vpon Hypocrites for the comparison will hold well in both Hee that shall truly and steddily looke vpon the face of an Hypocrite shall in him behold an Image flourished ouer with sundrie colours but counterfeit and feigned as the white of Chastitie the watched of Zeale the red of Loue. But this is but a dunghill couered ouer with snow the Hypocrite sheweth teares in his eys deuotion in his mouth sorrowfulnesse in his countenance and mortification in his flesh But he is not the man he seemes to be for the Painter though he giue the Varnish of the colour he cannot giue heate nor life hee may giue the likenesse but not the truth of a thing he painteth snow which is not cold fire which doth not burne birds which doe not flie beasts which doe not goe hee will paint a S. Hierome with a stone but it shall neuer hit him on the breast he will paint a Saint Francis with a discipline or whip in his hand which shall neuer giue him so much as one stripe or lash on the bodie like vnto that Statue which Michol put into Dauids bed clad with his cloathes which cosined the King and those that came with him Or like vnto a dead man which being beheld afarre off seemeth to be aliue or vnto Ezechiels Temple which was fairely painted without but within full of abhominations A Painter or a Statuarie frameth a verie perfect Image in the exterior parts but the Picture doth not enter into the substance of the wood or marble Nature beginneth with the inner parts it first fashioneth the heart then it organeth giueth life to the other parts of the bodie Whereas feigned Repentance beginneth in the outward parts of the body but true in the inward parts of the soule Our Sauiour in the Garden had first great sorrow in his soule and from thence that sweat of bloud was deriued to his bodie The Hypocrite hath the appearance of a Saint the apparell of a Saint the place of a Saint the figure of a Saint and nothing in him which is not Saint-like but like those Assisters at Christs death that had put on his cloathes Hee that shall see a common Hangman with Christs seamelesse coate vpon his backe wil take him to be a second Messias When Iacob saw Iosephs coat dipt in bloud thinking some wild beast had deuoured him he cried out Tunica filij mei est fera pessima deuorauit eum i. 'T is the garment
ouer-comest thy enemy and triumphest ouer him Et nemo maestus triumphat i. No man is sad when he triumpheth Fourthly because the ioy of the Spirit is great and maketh vs to continue in the seruice of God For he that once tasteth the sweetnesse of louing him hardly can forget him Vt in eo crescatis in salutem si tamen gustatis quoniam suauis est Dominus i. That yee may grow vp in him vnto saluation if so bee yee tast how sweet the Lord is And this cheerefulnesse God will not haue in the Soule onely but in the body also for it is meant of both Hilarem datorem diligit Deus And the glory of the kings daughter although Daui◠saith that it ought to be principally within Gloria filiae regis ab intus The glorie of the Kings daughter is within yet is it likewise to bee manifested outwardly In fimbrijs aureis circumamicta varietate i. Her clothing is of wrought gold and her rayment of needle worke For God hauing created all he will be serued with all For this God respected Abell and his offering and not Caine. And he was not pleased with him onely for that hee had offered vp the best of his flocke but for the willingnesse wherewith he did it and cheerefulnesse of heart and countenance And this put Cain quite out of countenance and made him to hang the head Who can offer the chaffe of his corne to God with a good face Annoint thy head God wil that we shew our selues glad cheerfull when we serue him Aaron was sad for the death of his daughters Moses reprehending him because he had not eaten that day of the Sacrifice hee told him Quomodo potui comedere aut placere Deo in Ceremonijs mente lucubri i. How could I eat or please God in the Ceremonies with a mournefull mind And the Text saith That Moses rested satisfied Baruc saith That the Starres beeing called by their Creator answered Adsumus We are here and they did giue their light Cum jucunditate With delight God had no need of their light in Heauen Lucerna eius est Agnus His light is the Lambe but because God commanded them to affoord man light they did it cheerefully If they without hope of reward serue thee with that alacritie thou whose hope is from God Vnge caput tuum Annoint thy head Annoint thy head The Gospell aduertiseth thee to be merrie the Church to mourne How are these two to be reconciled I answer That all thy felicitie consisting in thy sorrow thou mai'st verie well be merrie to see thy self sad Greene wood being put vpon the fire weepes and burnes A deepe valley is cleere on the one side and cloudie on the other Mans brest is sad in one part and ioyfull in the other Saint Paul specifies two sorts of sorrow one which growes from God the other from the world that giues life this death Saint Iohn sets down two sorts of death one verie bad the other verie good so there are two sorts of sorrow c. Baruc saith That the soule that sorroweth for his sinnes giues glorie vnto God Leuiticus commandeth That they should celebrate with great solemnitie the day of expiation Et affligetis animas vestras And yee shall afflict your soules It seemes not to sound well That men should make a great Feast with afflicting their soules but for Gods friend no Feast ought to be accounted so great as to offer vnto him a sorrowfull and contrite heart For as there is nothing more sad than sinne so is there nothing so cheereful as to bewaile it Ne vidiaris hominibus jeiunans i. That thou seeme not to men to fast For herein is a great deale of danger A Monke told the Abbot Macharius I fast quoth he in the City in that sort that it is not possible for a man to fast more in a Wildernesse Whereunto he replied For all that I think there is lesse eaten in the wildernesse though there be no eyes as baits to feed this thy vanitie Our Sauior did marke out three sorts of Eunuchs some by nature some made so by the world and some by God so likewise are there three sorts of Fasters some to preserue their Complexion some for to please the World others for Gods sake Abulensis doubting Why God permitted not vnto his People those triumphs which other nations did so much glorie in answereth That he would not suffer them because they should not fauour of them for the People said in their heart though they did not professe it with their mouth Manus nostra excelsa non Dominus fecit haec omnia i. Our own high hand and not the Lord hath done all these things Whereas they should say Non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam i. Not vnto vs ô Lord not vnto vs but to thine owne name giue the glorie Pater tuus qui videt in abscondito i. Your Father who sees in secret On the one side the Church humbles thee by calling thee Dust on the other it raiseth thee vp by confessing thy selfe to be the sonne of such a father Pater tuus qui videt in abscondito who is of that Maiestie that mortal Man durst not presume to say he were the sonne of such a Father vnlesse he himselfe had obliged vs to acknowledge him for our Father Rupertus saith That all the Patriarkes of the old Testament had vsually in their mouth this humble confession Tu Pater noster es nos Lutum Thou art our Father we are Clay as they that on their part had much whereof to be ashamed but on Gods much to glorie in that he would giue the name of Sonne to Durt And who by his grace of Durt makes vs Gold And so much concerning the word Father Who seeth in secret He liues hid from thee but not thou from him for hee beholdeth with his eyes thy good seruices and hath such an especial care of thy wants as if his prouidence were only ouer thee and he that tooke pitty of the beasts of Niniuie and of Achabs humiliation will not easily forget a son whome he so much loueth c. Reddet tibi i. Shall recompence thee This word Reddet indeareth the worthines of Fasting Fast for Gods sake and he wil pay thee What greater worthinesse than to make God thy debtor Shall he see thee fast for him and shall not he reward thee others runne ouer their debts as if they did not mind them and perhaps neuer meane to pay them but God Reddet And therefore reade in Esay That certain that had fasted charged him with this debt Ieiunauimus non aspexisti humiliauimus animas nostras nescisti We haue fasted and thou hast not regarded vs wee haue humbled our soules and thou did'st not know it But he disingaged himselfe of this debt saying I did not tie my selfe to these Fasts you
his hat cloake jerken and breeches but he wrapping them close about him with the helpe of his hands and teeth he kept himselfe vnstripped by the Wind who could doe no good vpon him so he giues off Then comes me forth the Sunne who came so hot vpon him that the man within a verie litttle while was faine to fling off all and to strippe himselfe naked The verie selfe same heat and courage did the Sunne of Righteousnesse vse in that last eclipse of his life when from the Crosse he did so heat inflame the hearts of them that were present that they did teare and rent their cloathes Et Velum Templum scissum est And as the barrennest ground is made fruitfull by the Husbandmans industrie so goodnesse ouercommeth euill Fortis vt mors dilectio i. Loue is strong as Death The stoutest the valiantest and the desperatest man aliue cannot resist Death no more can he Loue. Omnis natura bestiarum domita est à natura The nature of beasts is tamed by Nature Against that harme which the Philistines receiued by Mice the Princes made Mice of Gold let thy enemie bee as troublesome to thee as they mold him into Gold and hee wil neuer hurt thee more S. Chrysostome considereth the truth of this in Saul who bearing a deuelish hatred against Dauid yet by Dauids twice pardoning him his life made him as tractable as wax and he captiuated by this his kindnesse brake out into this acknowledgement Iustior me est He is iuster than I for I returned thee il for good and thou me good for ill S. Chrysostome concludes this Historie with a strange endeering That Dauids drawing teares out of Sauls hard heart did cause him more to wonder than did Moses and Aaron when he strucke the Rocke and the waters gushed forth We want not examples of this Doctrine euen in those things that are inuisible The toughest Impostumes are made tender by Vnctions Plinie saith That the roughest sea is made calme with oyle In the Prouince of Namurca they burne stone in stead of wood and that fire will bee quenched with Oyle Against the Impostume of hatred the raging sea of an angrie brest and the flames of a furious enemie there is no better remedie than Mildnesse Sermo mollis frangit iram A soft answer mitigates wrath Orate pro persequentibus vos Pray for them that persecute you This Prayer may be grounded vpon two reasons The one That the hurt is so great to him that doth the wrong that he that is wronged ought to take pittie and compassion of him and beeing it is Damnum animae The hurt of the soule which the offended cannot repaire of himselfe hee must pray vnto God for him That he would be pleased to repaire it Philon treating of the death of Abel saith that Cain killed himself non alterum not another and that Abel was not dead but aliue because he kild but the bodie which was none of his and left him his soule which was his And of Caine That his bodie remained aliue which was none of his and his soule slaine which was his and therefore Clamat sanguis Abel The bloud of Abel cries c. The other That there are some such desperate enemies that are made rather worse than better by benefits being like therein vnto Paper which the more you supple it with Oyle the stiffer it growes or like vnto sand which the more it is wet the harder it waxeth or like vnto an anuile which is not stirred with the stroke of the hammer or like vnto Iudas who comming from the washing of our Sauiors feet went forth afterwards with a greater desire for to sel and betray him whereas being in this desperate case hee should rather haue had recourse vnto God Prayer therefore is proposed vnto vs as the greatest charme and powerfullest exorcisme against the obstinacie rebellion of an enemie For vpon such occasions as these Prayer is woont to worke miracles Saint Stephen prayd for those that stoned him to death which wrought so powerfull an effect that Saint Austen saith That the Church is beholding in some sort to this his Prayer for the conuersion of Saint Paul And Saint Luke That the Heauens were opened hereupon vnto him he saw Christ standing in glorie at the right hand of his Father And it is worth the noting That the ordinarie Language of the Scripture is That our Sauiour Christ is said to sit at the right hand of God the Father but now here in this place the word Stantem Standing is vsed as if Christ had stood vp of purpose to see so rare and strange an accident and claue the Heauens in sunder offering him all the good they did containe or that he did seeme to offer him his Seate as it were as to a child of God vt sitis filij patris vestri That yee may be the children of your Father And this grace and fauor which God shewes vnto those that pray for their enemies was peraduenture a motiue to our Sauiour Christ to make that pittifull moane vpon the Crosse bewayling the Iewes cruell pâ—oceeding against him and praying that his death might not be layd to their charge Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them Hee might haue hoped that these his charitable prayers would haue opened the Gates of Heauen for the Sonne of Glorie to enter in But in stead thereof the Sunne was darkened and a blacke mantle as it were in mourning spred ouer all the earth whilest he himselfe vttered these words of discomfort My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The doores of Heauen are shut against me my God hath forsaken me But the mysterie is That Heauen was shut against him that it might be opened vnto you and euen then was it opened to the Theefe and to many that returned from Mount Caluarie percutientes pectora sua i. Smiting their brests as also to that Centurion that said Verè filius Dei erat iste This was truly the Sonne of God There may be rendred another reason of this our Sauiours praying vpon the Crosse Which is this That for to obtaine fauors from Gods hand there is no meanes comparable to that of praying for our enemies In me loquebantur qui sedebant in Porta in me psallebant qui bibebant vinum ego autem orationem meam ad te Domine tempus beneplaciti Deus Dauid speaking there as a figure of Christ saith That his enemies sate like judges in the Gates of the Citie entertaining themselues with stories of his life and that they went from Tauerne to Tauern and from one house to another singing Songs in dirision of him descanting and playing vpon him but I turning towards God prayed heartily for them as knowing there was not any time fitter than that for the obtaining of my request Tempus beneplaciti An acceptable time c. The like he saith in the 180 Psalm Pro eo vt me
to be reuenged of him for the death of the young man hee sayd vnto them Hearken ô yee wiues of Lamech Let it not once enter into your thoughts to take reuenge on my life for though the vengeance which God appointed for the killing of Caine had a limitation yet the reuenge of my death shall be without taxe and without measure Setuplum vltio dabitur de Cain de Lamech autem septuagies septies Cain shall be reuenged seuen times but Lamech seuentie times seuen times Wherein he sets downe a finite number for an infinite In a word Lamech in this word Septuagies septies shewes That the reuenge that should bee taken thereof should be without terme without limitation wherein he seemes to make mans crueltie to contest with Gods mercie The other is Of those that hate their enemies so to the death that though they themselues die yet they will not let their hatred die with them but leaue it in their last Will and Testament to their heires to take reuenge of their wrongs and to prosecute their enemies vnto death Being herein like vnto Dido who throwing out her curses and maledictions on Aeneas and desiring the Tygres and other wild beasts to reuenge her wrong breathed her last with this inuocation Hoc precor hanc vocem extremaÌ„ cum sanguine fundo i. This is my prayer I wish no other good and this I poure forth with my latest bloud Whence I would haue you to note That this hardnesse of mans heart at his death is in punishment of his hardnesse of heart in his life Hac anima aduersione saith Saint Austen punitur peccator i. This is a sinners punishment And in another place Cor durum male habebit in nouissimo It shall goe ill with a hard heart in the latter day And Ieremie treating of those that persecuted him Reddes eis Domine vicem iusti dabis eis scutum cordis Thou shalt pay them in their owne coyne thou shalt vse them as they vsed their enemies thou shalt giue them a heart like a shield of Brasse it shall be hard in their life time and hard at their death No prayers could mollifie them nor shall their entreatie mooue thee for only the merciful shall only find mercie Now for the reforming of both these excesses Saint Paul saith Sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram Let not the Sunne goe downe before your wrath goe out Let not the one set before the other be setled Saint Chrysostome renders two reasons of this saying Sol non occidat c. The one That the Sunne doth fauour and serue you with his light and with his influences cherishing your health and your life and does not return home at night brawling and complayning that he hath bestowed this his loue seruice vpon an vngrateful vnthankful person There is no creature but wil grumble repine to serue such a one Ingemescit It sighes and groanes c. saith Saint Paul but the Sunne does not grudge at his seruing of you The second That the night is of it selfe sad melancholly and in a disposition to troublesome thoughts and immaginations Now then that your fantasie may not present you with an armie of fearefull cogitations and the dismall representations of reuenge before that the night comes on quiet that raging sea within thy brest by throwing Oyle vpon it become soft gentle by clensing thy heart of all rancour and malice If the beames of the Sunne cannot pierce through a thicke cloud they will hardly make their way through the pitchie darkenesse of the night being that they are naturally then in their augmentation When the cheerefulnesse of the day employment in businesses and the companie and comfort of our friends cannot remooue the clouds of our anger the night will hardly scatter them who is the mother of painefull thoughts For as the infirmities of the bodie encrease by the absence of the Sunne so in like sort doe the diseases of the soule I know not whither Ioshuah were toucht or no with this Spirit when hee willed the Sunne to stand still when he was in the pursuit of his enemies It seemeth vnto some That it is a verie hard matter and more than flesh and bloud can beare to pardon fresh iniuries the bloud boyling then in our brest But this is answer'd by that example of our Sauior Christ who when his wounds did poure forth bloud on euerie side yet his tongue cryde out Ignosce illis quia nesciunt quid faciunt Forgiue them for they know not what they doe Where I would haue you to note that the word faciunt is of the present Tense When they were boring his feet with nailes Saint Austen to this purpose saith Is petebat veniam à quibus adhuc accipiebat iniuriam He craued pardon for those of whom euen then hee suffered wrong For he did not so much weigh that he died by them as that he died for them Cum esset in sanguine suo saith Ezechiel dixit Viue i. When he was in his owne bloud he said Liue. And Saint Bernard That hee offered vp his life Non interpellantâ—bus sed repellentibus non inuocantibus sed prouocantibus Not for those that inuoked him but prouoked him The replies of the Flesh are infinite and without number Some say Whilest wee liue in the world we must follow the fashions of the world and liue according to it's Lawes and that if a man put vp one iniurie he shall haue a thousand put vpon him I answer hereunto That it is a fouler fault to seeke out reasons to defend and maintaine sinne than to commit it And if thou shalt tell mee thou desirest to be reuenged because thou art weake and canst not bridle thy anger I shall the rather pittie thee and shall withall councell and aduise thee to aske pardon of God for this thy weakenesse and infirmitie But that thou shouldst defend thy offence with reasons and force of argument it is not a thing to bee immagined but more against reason it is to reason against God Let vs now leaue the Gospell and the sacred Scriptures and let vs bring this businesse within the spheare of reason I say then That it is the Language of him that knowes not what reason is as if it were possible there could be any reason against God The Clowne rests so well contented with his poore Cottage that he wil not change it for the Kings Pallace And the worldly man likes so well of the lawes and fashions of the world that he sticks not to preferre them before those of God Others stand vpon their honour alledging How can a man liue in the world without the vpholding of his honour and repution I answere It is not to bee found in the Scripture That Christ doth councell any man to suffer in his honor for him or to loose his reputation Marry hee hath promised a reward vnto him that for his sake
open to others view and their owne confusion Nor shall these our sinnes bee conspicuous onely to others but euerie offendor shall see and plainely perceiue his owne particular sinnes For there is no man that fully knowes his owne sinnes while hee liueâ— here in this world And so doth Saint Basil interpret that place of the Psalmist Arguam te statuam contra te faciem tuam Euerie man shall then behold himselfe as in a glasse In a word This day will be the summing vp of all those oâ—â— former dayes wherein as in a beadroll wee shall read all the loose actions of our life all our idle words all our euill workes all our lewd thoughts or whatsoeuer else of ill that our hearts haue conceiued or our hands wrought So doth a graue Author expound that place of Dauid Dies formabuntur nemo in eis In that day shall all dayes be formed and perfected for then shall they bee cleerely knowne Et nemo in eis This is a short and cutted kind of speech idest There shall not bee any thing in all the world which shall not bee knowne in that day The other wonder shall be That all this businesse shall bee dispatcht in a moment In ictu oculi saith Saint Paul In the twinckling of an eye The Greeke Text in stead of a moment renders it Atomo which is the least thing in nature Concluding this point with that saying of Theophilact Haec est res omnium mirabilissima This is the greatest wonder of all Statuet Oues à dextris eius Haedos à sinistris He shall place the Sheepe at his right hand and the Goats at the left Dayly experience teacheth vs That what is good for one is naught for another that which helpeth the Liuer hurteth the Spleene one and the selfe same Purge recouers one and casts downe another the Light refresheth the sound Eye and offendeth the sore Wisedome saith That those Rods which wrought amendment in the Children of Israell hardned the hearts of the Aegyptians the one procured life the other death darkenes to the one was light light to the other darknesse When Ioshuah pursued the Ammorites God poured downe Hailestones Lightning and Thunder to Gods enemies they were so many Arrowes to kill them to his friends so many Torches to light them In the light of thy Arrowes saith Abacuc Death to the Wicked is bitter to the Good sweete Iudgement to the Goats is sad heauie but to the Sheep glad ioyfull to the one a beginning of their torment to the other of their glorie And therefore it is here said He shall place the Sheepe at his right hand From this beginning ariseth the Iust's earnest desiring of this our Sauiours comming and the Wicked's seeking to shun it Which is made good by Saint Austen vpon that place of Haggie Hee shall come being wished for of all Nations And his reason is because our Sauiour Christ being desired it is fit that he should be knowne and for want of this knowledge it seemeth vnto him that this place doth not so much suit with his first as his latter comming Saint Paul writing to his Disciple Timothie sayes That the Iust doe long for this judgement His qui diligunt aduentum eius Agreeing with that of Saint Paul to the Romans That the Iust passe ouer this life in sighs tribulations expecting that latter day when their bodies shall bee free from corruption and from death Saint Iohn introduceth in his Apocalyps the soules of the Iust crying out Vsque quò Domine sanctus verax Non judicas vindicas sanguinem nostrum de his qui habitant in terra How long Lord holy and true c. Saint Austen and Saint Ambrose both say That they doe not here craue vengeance on their enemies but that by his comming to judgement the Kingdome of Sinne may haue an end Which is the same with that which we dayly beg in those words of our Paternoster Thy Kingdome come And Saint Iohn in his last Chapter saith The Spirit and the Spouse say Come Come Lord come quickely make no long tarrying That the Sinner should hate this his comming is so notorious a truth that many when things goe crosse with them would violently lay hands on themselues and rid themselues out of this miserable world if it were not for feare of this Iudgement And this was the reason why Saint Paul in saying It is decreed that all men shall die once presently addeth After death Iudgement Other wise there would be many as well discreet as desperate persons that would crie out Let vs die and make an end of our selues at once for a speedie death is better than a long torment This is that that keepes these fooles in awe and quells the vaine confidence of man in generall Tunc dicet Rex his qui à dextris eius erunt vsque esuriui c. Then shall the King say to them on his right hand I was hungrie c. Hee begins with the rewarding of the Good for euen in that day of justice he will that his mercie goe before as well for that it is Gods own proper worke as also for that it is the fruit of his bloud and death Venite Benedicti Patris mei Come yee blessed of my Father a most sweet word in so fearefull a season possidete Regnum Come yee and take possession of an eternall Kingdome Quia esuriui I was hungrie c. Some man may doubt Why Christ at the day of judgement being to examine all whatsoeuer actions of vertue doth here onely make mention of mercie I answer For that Charitie is that Seale and Marke which differenceth the Children of God from those of the Deuill the good Fisâ—es from the bad and the Wheat from the Chaffe Ecce ego judico inter Pecus Pecus so saith Ezechiel and in summe it is the summe of the Law as Saint Paul writeth to the Romans Secondly He maketh mention onely of the workes of mercie for to expell that errour wherein many liue in this life to wit That this businesse of Almes-deeds is not giuen vs as a Precept whereby to bind vs but by way of councel and aduice whereby to admonish vs. And this is a great signe token of this truth for that there is scarce any man that accuseth himselfe for the not giuing of an Almes But withall it is a foule shame for vs to thinke that God should condemne so many to eternal fire for their not shewing pittie to the Poore if it were no more but a bare councell and aduice Gregorie Nazianzen in an Oration which he makes of the care that ought to bee had of the Poore proueth out of this place That to relieue the poore and the needie is not Negotium voluntarium sed necessarium not a voluntarie but a necessarie businesse And Saint Augustine and Thomas are of opinion That we are bound to relieue the necessities of
make it a Den of Theeues working all impietie and wickednesse in these sacred Assemblies The last reason of our Sauiours being so angrie was To see the couetousnesse that was in his Ministers Nothing mooues Gods patience more than the couetousnesse of Priests especially when they shal make a benefit to their purse from the bloud of the Alter Notable is that place of Balaam when he went to curse the People of Israell the Asse which carried him thither was willing to shew him his errour God opening his mouth and making his tongue to speake And Saint Austen strucken into amasement at the rarenesse thereof confesseth Thaâ— he knows not what greater wonder than this could possibly be immagined thaâ— that the Prophet should not bee affrighted hearing an Asse to open his mouth and reprooue him And he renders two reasons for it The one That Sorceries and Witcheries were so common in those dayes for there was not any nation that had not it's Magicians and Sorcerers as Trismegistus in Aegypt Zâ—râ—astes in Persia Orpheus in Greece besides many Sybels in diuers other countries The other That he was blinded with that good round summe of money which he was to receiue out of hand Habentes pretium diuinationis in manibus king Balack's Messengers had so greased his fists with good gold that hee minded not that so great a miracle as the talking of his Beast And this is a thing worthy the noting That Saint Hierome and Saint Austen doe not onely make him a Prophet but a holy Prophet and that his couetousnesse had thus misseled him And as Saint Peter saith Through couetousnesse shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you whose iudgement lingreth not and whose damnation slumbreth not which haue forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the sonne of Bozor who loued the wayes of vnrighteousnes but was rebuked for his iniquitie the dumbe Asse forbidding him his madnesse by speaking vnto him in a mans voyce He began to cast out all the Buyers That one man should bee able to doe more than a whole Squadron seemeth somwhat strange but that none of those whom he whipt should dare to giue him so much as a word is much more strange The first reason saith Saint Hierome which is also repeated by Thomas was That the Maiestie of the Deitie shined in his face Whither or no that in our Sauiour Christ that Maiestie were ordinarie or whither hee had then put it on for that it is a common custome with God in those disrespects done to his temple to discouer his greatnesse the more And so when he punished Heltodorus who would haue rob'd the Treasurie of the Temple wherein were deposited those moneys which belonged vnto Widdowes and Orphans the Text saith Spiritus omnipotentis Dei magnam fecit suae ostentionis euidentiam The Lord of Spirits and the Prince of all power caused a great apparition so that all that presumed to come in with him were astonished at the power of God and fainted and were sore affraid A Lyon when hee waxeth angrie sparkeleth fire forth of his eyes and with his roaring makes all the beasts of the Forrest affraid to flie from his anger The Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda was angrie his eys flamed forth fire O culi eius tanquam flamma ignis saith the Apocalyps And Saint Hierome That the beames of his wrath brake forth that he roared out with a loud voyce What make these Theeues heere in my House c. Who is able to withstand him Who can resist his rage Seneca in the Tragedie of Hercules represents him there in that mad and furious manner that making towards his sonne the verie sight of him strucke him dead Whereunto suteth that which the Prophet Abacuc saith of God Aspexit dissoluit Gentes He beheld and cloue asunder the Nations This force and power of Gods eye forced Iob to say Potestas terror apud Deum est Dominion and feare are with him The second is That great cowardise which the face of Vertue casts on that of Vice the Armies of Enemies the sight of Deuills are not more fearefull to behold There shall not in that finall day of Iudgement be any torment equall to that which the Damned shall feele when they shall see the face of our Sauiour Christ whom they scorned scoffed and reuiled Iosephs brethren were astonished when they heard hiâ— say Ego sum Ioseph I am your brother Ioseph whome yee persecuted and sould into Aegypt c. To those eyes which haue alwayes liued in darkenesse the light is most painefull vnto them And of the damned in Hell Iob saith Si subito aparuerit aurora arbitrantur vmbram mortis The morning is to them euen as the shadow of death For this cause some Doctors for their greater punishment will haue the Damned that are in Hells Dungeon lie with their faces vpward looking towards Heauen And Seneca in the Tragedie of Hercules saith That when he dragg'd Cerberus out of that darke place as soone as he saw the light he drew himselfe backe with that force that hee had almost throwne that Conquerour to the ground And in that rape of Proserpina by Pluto it is feigned That when his Coach Horses came to see the light they striued with all their might and maine to returne backe againe to Hell In like manner those glittering beames of light which brake forth from the eyes of our Sauiour Christ did dazle those of these Money-changers and made them to rest as men amased Iosephus reporteth That there were three Sects amongst the Iewes the Essei the Iebusei and the Saducei and besides these they had certaine Scribes which were their Sages or the wisest men amongst them The Greeks called them Philosophers the Chaldaeans Magi the Latines Doctors And of these there were some in euerie Tribe and in euerie Sect in euerie State as it passeth now amongst vs. Epiphanius saith That they had two Offices The one To expound the Law and to preach it to the People who came euerie Sabboth to their Synagogues as appeareth in the Acts. And as Iosephus and Philon hath it They were called Lectores Readers because they read vnto them and Scribes because they expounded the Scriptures And Esdras termes them Scribes and Readers And Saint Luke relateth That Paul Barnabas comming to Antiochia and entring into the Synagogue a Scribe read the Law and Saint Paul preached vnto the People The second Office was To be Iudges He shall be deliuered to the Princes and to the Scribes and they shall condemne him to death so saith Saint Mathew And those that presented the Adulteresse to our Sauiour Christ were the antientest of all the rest of the Sects for it appeareth in Leuiticus That they began with that Law that commanded them not to drinke wine nor any thing that might distemper them That yee may haue knowledge to discerne betwixt that which
end serue miracles from Heauen if thou hast not eyes to behold those that are done on earth It were better for thee to craue eyes of God than miracles Agar beeing readie to die for thirst in the Desert shee had water iust before her but she was so blinded with passion and her stomacke did so swell against her mistresse that shee did not see it And God opened her eyes Saint Chrysostome compareth the Pharisees to a sandie ground which though it sucke in neuer so much water yet it still remaines hard and drie And albeit God had showred downe such store of miracles vpon them yet all was as nothing because they were not disposed to take notice of them nor to make that good vse of them as they ought to haue done Hee that goes on his way musing on this or t'other thing though many passe along by him yet in this his melancholly humour his thoughts being otherwise taken vp he neither mindes nor sees any thing Philon compares them to Statua's because they see things as though they saw them not Two qualities or especiall properties had those miracles of our Sauiour Christ by which euerie man might haue knowne them The first That they all tended to the profit and benefit of man Tunc apperientur oculi caecorum Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened said Esay Caeci vident Claudi ambulant Leprosi mundantur The Blind see the Lame walke and the Lepers are clensed saith Saint Mathew Virtus de illo exibat sanabat omnes Vertue went out of him and healed all saith Saint Luke And in our Creed we confesse Propter nos propter nostram salutem descendit de Coelis For vs and for our saluation hee descended from Heauen So that those miracles which hee was to shew heere vpon earth is a condition and qualitie so notorious of those which were prophecied and foretold of the Messias that to haue them to come from Heauen was a thing vnknowne to the learned Doctors of those times Thou sendest thy seruant on an errand and saist vnto him In such a walke thou shalt meet with a man clad in greene wearing a hat with a feather in it of such and such colours c. Now if he should so farre mistake himselfe as to goe to one that were cloathed all in blacke and deliuer thy message vnto him wouldst thou not hold him to be a foole Saint Austen in his Exposition vpon those words of the seuentieseuenth Psalme Immissiones per Angelos malos saith That commonly those signes which direct themselues to ill are of the Deuill as those which hee did in destroying Iobs Substance Ignis de Coelo cecidit as also those which shall bee wrought by Antechrist But God alwaies directs his miracles to our good But here by the way it is to be noted That with the Ill Ill can doe much and Good little Theodoret in those his Questions vpon Genesis saith That when Pharaoh perceiued that God began his Plagues with such poore things as Flies he lost a great part of that feare which he had before but that if he had begun where he left which was the death of al the first born his heart would haue treÌ„bled in his breast The Philistines tooke Armes against the Israelites thinking with themselues That God had spent the greatest part of his power in Aegypt In a word with the Ill ill is most powerfull And for all the miracles of our Sauiour Christ were directed vnto good Saint Ambrose saith Luuriabantur iâ— Christo Nothing would please their palate but daintie morcells like little children who are cockered vp vnder their mothers wing or like Gluttons who when their bellies are full and cloyed with ordinarie dishes seeke after nicer and choicer fare to prouoke their appetite The Scribes and Pharisees in like manner hauing taken a surfet of those miracles which our Sauior wrought vpoâ— earth would needs out of daintinesse desire miracles from Heauen which if they would haue beene bettered by them he would not haue stucke with them to haue let them had them either from Heauen or Hell but hee knew it was to no purpose And therefore God one while as the Authour of Nature another while as the Authour of Grace doth euermore abhorre all excesse except in cases of necessitie And he that created all things In pondere numero mensura In weighâ— number and measure cannot but abhorre all superfluous and vnprofitable things And this may serue for an instruction to vs to part with the superfluities of our House Quod superest date pauperibus Giue the remainder of that which is left to the poore King Achazâ—id â—id ill for that he would not aske a signe and the Pharisees did worse in demanding one from Heauen the one offended in the lesse the other in the more the one was too backeward the other too forward For God hauing descended downe from Heauen in his owne person they could not than this desire a greater miracle But they were the sonnes of those fathers who enioying the bread of Angells were quickely wearie of it and long'd for Quailes insomuch that God was forced to take away their liues from them because he knew not how to satisfie their longings The second qualitie and propertie of our Sauiours miracles was That he did them with Empire and command ioyning this his Empire with his doctrine they did cleerely prooue that he was God as it is noted by Thomas Saint Chrysostome brings in here a comparison which makes much to the purpose that wee haue in hand Thou entrest saith he into a Pallace thou knowest not the Prince or Lord thereof thou espiest one before whom all the rest stand bare and rising vp from their seats obey whatsoeuer hee commandeth Now when thou seest this thou canst not be so simple but thou must needs know that this is their king and chiefe commander In the Iewes it was not much that they should doubt whither our Sauior Christ were Lord of heauen earth or no but when they saw that the Winds did obey him the Waues the Dead the Liuing Heauen and Earth and that he did command all creatures with that supreame power and Empire they might then verie well haue fallen into this reckoning as to say This is the Lord of all The Centurions though they had no learning yet did they light vpon this truth Verè Filius Dei erat iste This was truly the Sonne of God The one of them led thereunto when he saw in what a strange manner the whole world was troubled The other when in good manners with a Domine Noli vexari Lord Trouble not thy selfe he seemed loath to giue our Sauiour that trouble saying vnto him I am but a poore Captaine an ordinarie Commander and yet when I lay my commandment vpon my seruants they obey me much more reason then is it that sickenesse should be subiect to thy Empire c. And
winds blow is suddenly throwne downe and carried away Optimum est gratia stabilire cor It is an excellent thing that the heart be established with grace that when ye shall be set vpon with diuers and sundrie strange Doctrines yee may stand immoouable and not be shaken with euerie vaine blast of wind Signum non dabitur eis nisi signum Ionae A signe shall not bee giuen them but that of Ionus Now Ionas his signe was the death and resurrection of our Sauiour which Austen calls Signum signorum miraculum miraculorum The signe of signes and miracle of miracles And hee that will not benefit himself by that What other miracle or signe can he expect shall doe him good It is much greater than any other vpon earth by how much the harder it is for one to come out of the heart of the earth and to bee restored to life after he is once dead a greater miracle by farre than that of Ionas his being spewed out of the Whales bellie And the said Saint prooueth that our Sauiour Christ is God and man man because hee entred dead into the bowells of the earth and God because hee came forth from thence aliue So that our Sauiour came to grant them much more than they desired For if they desired miracles from Heauen at our Sauiours death there appeared fearefull ones vnto them Athanasius saith That the Sunne was darkened in token that all those great and noble acts which God had done were eclipsed and darkened in this one of our Redemption Theophilact saith That our Sauiour after his Resurrection wrought no more miracles for that to die and rise againe by his own proper power was the vtmost both of his power and miracles Iudaei signum petunt c. The Iewes require a signe the Graecians seeke after wisedome but I preach vnto you the greatest Signe and the greatest Wisedome in the world to wit Christ crucified Eusebius Emisenus dwelleth much vpon Iacobs wrestling with the Angell In which conflict Iacob remaining Victor craueth a blessing of the Conquered And this is mystically meant of our Sauiour who representing himselfe in the shape of an Angell shewed himselfe vpon the Crosse tortured torne and ouercome yet grew thereby more powerfull and more free hearted for to blesse the world No signe shall be giuen them It is not without a mysterie that our Sauior saith No signe shall be giuen For that signe of his death and resurrection hee knew would profit them so little that it was needlesse to giue them any at all Christ treating of his bloud saith by Saint Luke Which for you and for many shall bee poured out And by Saint Mathew Which shall be poured out for all But many shall not take the benefit of this effusion of his bloud Some did wash their stoles in the bloud of the Lambe others said Sanguis eius super nos id est Let his bloud be vpon vs accusing themselues herein to bee guiltie of the shedding of his bloud And amongst the Faithfull there are many of whom Saint Paul saith Reus erit corporis sanguinis Domini who receiuing it vnworthily shall remaine guiltie of this so pretious a Treasure And in another place That they shall incurre great punishment which doe defile this bloud Et sanguinem testamenti pollutum duxerit Signum non dabitur ei nisi signum Ionae No signe shal be giuen them but that of Ionas For the miracle of Christs death and resurrection was not to bee denied to any Saint Thomas protested That he would not beleeue vnlesse hee might see the prints of our Sauiours wounds which being so strange a capitulation and to outward seeming so discourteous a proceeding our Sauiour Christ yeelded vnto his request and made towards him and made shewe thereof vnto him for the signes of our Sauiours death and Crosse were neuer yet denied to any Esay saith And in that day the root of Ishai which shall stand vp for a signe vnto the People the Nations shall seeke vnto it and his rest shall be glorious The Septuagint and Saint Hierome read Et qui stat The root of Iesse that is to say Ille qui stat in signum populorum congregabit profugos Israel dispersos Iuda colligit à quatuor plagi◠terra He shall set vp a signe to the Nations and assemble the dispersed of Israell and gather the scattered of Iuda from all the foure corners of the world Hee borrowes the metaphore from a militarie Ensigne and saith That Christ our Sauior that suffered on the Crosse and died for our sinnes and rose againe for our saluation shall gather together those that are dispersed through the foure corners of the earth Which is all one with that of Saint Iohn who said That he was not only to die for his People Sed vt Filios Dei qui dispersi erant congregaret in vnum But that he might gather together into one the children of God that were dispersed Into one that is into one Church by Faith Signum non dabitur nisi signum Ionae God did not graunt vnto them that which they desired for God will not be propitious in yeelding to our desires when they are to turne to our owne hurt Moses desired that he might see his face but God told him Faciem meam videre non poteris Hee will not giue what thou wilt demand one while because it may cost thee thy life another while because God shall no sooner turne his back but like the children of Israell thou wilt presently fall adoring the golden Calfe Saint Paul did desire freedom from his fetters those torments which hee indured But he was told Thou knowest not what thou askest for Virtus in infirmitate perficitur In a word God doth denie vs many things in his Mercie which he will grant vnto vs in his Anger as the imperfect Author noteth it In corde terrae tribus diebus tribus noctibus In the Heart of the Earth three days and three nights Beda and Euthimius vnderstand by the Heart of the earth the Sepulchre or Graue of our Sauiour Christ. And many of our Commentators make this exposition though others misinterpreting it inferre from thence that our Sauiour Christ did not descend to the lower-most partes of the earth contrarie to that of Saint Paul denying that Article of our Faith Descendit ad inferos Now in that he ascended what is it sayth the same Apostle but that hee had also descended first into the lowest parts of the Earth yet those two interpretations may bee verie well accorded forasmuch as that the Bodie remained in the graue and the Soule descended Vsque ad inferos And for the better proofe hereof it is to bee noted that it is not spoken of any other that dyed saue onely of our Sauiour that hee was in the Heart of the Earth Besides it is an vsuall phrase amongst the Hebrewes to call the Heart
paine and torment Mors depascet eos Death shall gnaw vpon them and dying to life they shall liue to death Venit adorauit eum dicens Domine adiuua me Came and worshipped him saying Lord helpe me As there are some kind of fires which recouer more force by throwing water vpon them so the heart of this woman did recouer more courage by this our Sauiors disgrace in not vouchsafing her an answer thinking thereby to quench the heat of her zeale And falling downe prostrate before him and adoring him as God said vnto him Lord am I thy Sheepe or not thy Sheepe camest thou for me or not for me I dare not be so bold to dispute that with thee yet giue mee leaue considering the wretchednesse of my case to call vnto thee for helpe and to beat at the doores of thine eares with a Domine adjuva me with a Helpe me good Lord. Here are those hot impatient violent and firie dispositions condemned for whom those two louely Twinnes Hope and Patience were neuer borne with whom euerie little delaying of their desires and deferring of their hopes driues them to the depth of desperation and is as a thousand deaths vnto them They are like vnto your hired Horses who come so hungrie to their Inne that they will not stay the plucking off of their bridle though thereby they should the better come at their meat Osee compares them to a young Heyfer that hath been vsed to tread out corne who is no sooner taken from the cart or the Plough before her yoke is taken off would faine runne to the threshing floore Ephraim vitula est doctaÌ„ diligere trituram So affected to her feeding that she hath not the patience to put a meane betweene her treading and her eating Non est bonum sumere panem Filiorum mittere Canibus It is not good to take the Childrens Bread and giue it to Doggs This was so cruell a blow that any bodie else would hardly haue indured it But God alwayes proportions his fauours and disfauours according to the measure of our capacitie To thee hee giues riches because he distrusts thy weakenesse to another pouertie because hee knowes his strength Fidelis Deus qui non patietur vos tentare vltra id quod potestis God is so good a God that hee will not suffer yee to bee tempted aboue your power And this reason alone ought to make men rest contented with that state and condition of life whereinto God hath put them Christ you see carries himselfe scornefully to this woman yet poore soule shee patiently suffers and indures all Whether or no for that it is an ordinarie thing with God to be then most kind when he seemes to bee most curst How did he deale with Abraham touching his sonne Isaac Hee makes him draw his sword set an edge vpon it and lift vp his arme to strike but when hee was readie to giue the blow hee holds his hand and bestowes a blessing vpon him for this his great faith and obedience Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum It is not good to take the childrens bread What shall I giue the childrens bread vnto dogges It is not fitting My Miracles and my Doctrine were meant to the children for so was Israel called Filius meus primogenitus Israel It was prouided principally promised vnto them vpon a pact or couenant which God had made with Abraham In a well ordered house the dogs are not allowed to eat the childrens bread worser scraps will serue their turne it is enough that they haue that which is necessarie to nourish their bodie Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine The eyes of all things wait vpon thee ô Lord and thou giuest them their meate in due season such as is fitting for them But the choyce bread of his Law and of his presence this is reserued for his owne house and familie those that are his children and his owne people Of whom Saint Paul sayth Credita sunt illis eloquia Dei And Dauid Non fecit taliter omni nationi Hee hath not dealt so with any nation besides Your Turkes the Moores and the Negros in a scorne and contempt of them wee call them dogges And wee inherit this name from the Moores who when they were Lords of Spaine bestowed that nick-name on vs. The Scripture giues this name of base minded men Nunquid caput canis ego sum Am I a dogges head It was Abuers saying to Ishbosheth As if hee should haue sayd shall I be so base as to pocket such a wrong Againe Shall I take off this dogges head that curseth my King It was Abishays speech of Shimei as making no more reckoning of him than of a dogge Againe Is thy seruant a dogge that I should be so deuoyd of all pittie and humanitie It was Hazaells answere to Elisha when hee told him of the euill that he should doe vnto the children of Israell And Saint Paul aduiseth the Philippians to beware of dogges alluding to Heretickes And the Iewes gaue this attribute of dogge to the Gentiles Etiam Domine nam callite Yes Lord for euen the Whelpes Here this Canaanitish woman taking her Cu caught him at his word She had him now and as Saint Chrisostome noteth held herselfe now as good as alreadie dispatcht and that her sute was at an end Inferring hereupon ô Lord I account my selfe a most happy woman that I may be admitted into thy house though it be but in the nature of a dog First because that dogs beeing faithfull and louing affectionate thereby their Masters vnto them And none shall be more louing and loyall vnto you than I who shall still wait vpon you be neuer from your heeles and follow you vnto death And secondly for that to dogs were neuer yet denyed the crums that fell from their Masters table I would not poore vnworthy creature as Theophilact makes her speake desire any of those thy greater miracles which thou keepest for thine own children the least that thou hast will content me be it but as a crum in comparison of the whole loafe O how humbly and discreetly did this Canaanitish woman goe to worke How meane and yet how great a courtesie did shee beg of our Sauiour For in Gods house the least crumme of his bread is sufficient to make vs happy for euer and neuer more to suffer hunger as the least drop of his bloud is able to cleanse thousands of soules from their sinnes Elegi abiectus esse in dâ—mo Dei mei I had rather bee a doore-keeper in the house of my God c. Another letter hath it Ad limen Dei mei At the threashold of my God I had rather bee a begger and craue an Almes at the grouncell or lowest greese in Gods house than to triumph and liue in pompe in the pallaces of Princes Moses would rather haue his scrip with a morsell of bread and
our life were but a Hell Saint Bernard saith That the end which our Sauiour had in transfiguring himselfe was that we might settle our thoughts and our hopes on that glorie whereunto he inuiteth vs for that mans happinesse wholly consisteth in enioying the presence of God Saint Basil expounding that place of Saint Mathew Estote perfecti c. Be yee perfect euen as your Father is perfect saith That the plainest way to enioy God is to thinke so continually on him that our Soules should be translated as it were into himselfe wee playing therein the Painters who for to take a picture perfectly neuer haue their eye from off the originall Saint Cyprian saith That there is not any thing that doth so much glad the eyes of God as our thinking on the reward which is set before vs. Many Saints turmoyled with a thousand miseries did euermore liue merily by being onely cheered vp with these good thoughts and hopes Salomon tells vs A reward is as a stone pleasant in the eyes of them that haue it Nor is there any pretious stone that so gladdeth his possessour as hope cheereth the Righteous Gregorie Nissen calleth Affliction the Floure of Glorie Fructuum qui sperantur flos As he that is to eat of the fruit takes pleasure in the floure for that neighbouring hope which is neere at hand so the Righteous through hope reioyce in Affliction Our Sauiour therefore being desirous that we should liue in hope vnfolded part of that Glorie which he retained in his Soule that placing our eyes and hearts thereupon all troubles whatsoeuer though neuer so great might seeme little in regard of our hoped-for reward Hence it followeth how ill they proceed and what a desperate and indirect course they take to whom God hauing deputed the Earth for their hopes and Heauen for their blisse peruert this his order by making the Earth their Heauen It is an ordinarie phrase of speech in Scripture to call our life a Warrefare now souldiers that are wise and valiant reuerse their pleasures till the battell is ended and the victorie obtained De torrente in via bibit propterea exaltauit caput He dranke of the torrent by the way therefore hath hee lift vp his head Saint Chrysostome expoundeth this verse of our Sauiour Qui non acquieuit in diebus carnis sua Who rested not in the dayes of his flesh vntill he had ouercome Death and Hel. Saint Ambrose declaring that place of the Apostle Non est nobis colluctatio c. Wee fight saith he with the Princes of Darkenesse for coelestiall goods for they loosing them by our occasion they are vnwilling that wee should enioy them And because Reward is that which giues the Souldier both heart and hands the last Sonday we proposed the Warre this the Reward The Deuill offered our Sauiour the glorie of the World but our Sauiour offers vs the glorie of God the hopes of this are better than the enioying of that Saint Bernard saith That the time of this life is the vigil of that feast which we hope for in glory whence he inferreth these two things The one That it were folly in vs to make the Vigile the Feast Which is all one with that of S. Austen Summa peruersitas est vti fruendis frui vtendis It is no good chop considering the vnequalnesse of the tearmes God gaue vs the Earth that we might vse it Heauen that we might inioy it And it is a beastly kind of ignorance to make the Earth Heauen The other That the Feast beeing so great the fast of the Vigile ought not to seeme so long vnto vs. Saint Paul making a counter position ofthat which may be suffered heere and that which may be hoped for there after that hee had sayd that the one was light and momentary the other weightie perdurable he added Supra modum in sublimitate It is a highnes aboue all highnesse the altitude thereof alone cannot be taken Nor can the tongue of man indeare it so much but it must fall short therof This made Saint Gregorie to say Qua lingua c. What tongue or what vnderstanding is able to vtter the great and wonderfull ioyes of that coelestiall Citie Saint Gregorie opening that place of Ieremie Patres nostri c. Our fathers eatâ— sowre grapes and our teeth were set on edge He stâ—les the pleasures of this life to be sowre grapes and fruits that are not yet come to their true ripenesse which are good for nothing else but to set our teeth on edge Philon calls them Fâ—riâ— Coeli For pleasures are not for the earth hee that inioyes them steales them from Heauen And as hee that steales inioyes what he hath so got with a great deale of feare and iealousie so may wee be sayd to inioy these humane feasts and pastimes That sacrifice of Abrahams was held the most acceptable that euer any man in the old Testament offered vnto God For in sacrificing his son Isaac hee did sacrifice all the ioy and content of this his life For Isaac by interpretation signifies laughter Risum fecit mihi Dominus The like may bee considered in his casting Agar out of his house which signifies a stranger Resoluing with himselfe beeing but as a stranger in this world not to ioy in the contents of this life Ieremie whose ordinarie occupation was weeping sayd Diem hominis non desideraui That is the day of prosperitie and of pleasure haue I not desired And Saint Bernard hath this note vpon it That hee might haue sayd That he did neither desire it nor inioy it Dauid grew wearie of his passe-times and pleasures Renuit consolari anima mea If any thing can affoord mee comfort it is the meditation of euerlasting ioy Base is that minde that liues merrie and contented with the inioying of the goods of this life Base are the thoughts of that Prince who keeping himselfe close in a Sheapheards cottage shall deeme himselfe happie in that poore estate not so much as once thinking on that crown which he ought to hope for Saint Austen declaring that place of Saint Iames Fratres sufferentiam Iob audistis finem Domini vidistis Yee haue heard Brethren of Iob's suffering and yee haue seene the end of the Lord. God sets before vs as patternes of patience the life of Iob and the death of Christ where it is to be obserued that he doth not set before vs the end of Iob because God giuing him a larger increase of wealth of children and other contents in this life his end was not by him to bee desired But that of our Sauiour was most painefull vnto him And therefore it is sayd Learne of Iob to suffer in this life and of our Sauiour in his death Leauing our hopes to relye vpon that other life Et transfiguratus est And hee was transfigured It was likewise fit that our Sauiour should be transfigured for the confirmation of our Faith For if these
Hierosolimitanus saith That not onely his face did shine but all his whole bodie Saint Austen Quod caro illuminata per vestimenta radiabat For it was not fit as Lyra hath it that his garment should shine and not his hands His face shined like the Sunne Who would haue thought that behind so poore a vaile there should bee found such great treasure But it passeth so likewise in this world that he that seemeth most poore is oftentimes most rich and he that seemeth most rich is most poore The greatnesse of Rome Saint Iohn painteth forth in the forme of a woman clothed in Purple bedecked with pretious stones and in her hand a sprig of Gold but that which did not appeare to the eyes was all abhomination filthinesse and beastlinesse The Altars of Aegypt were euery one of them a Treasure-house of Pearles pretious Stones Gold Iewells and Silkes but in euerie one of these their Altars they had a Toad or a Serpent The Mezquita or Turkish Temple that honoureth the bones or Reliques of Mahomet is stored with that infinite riches that you would take him to be some great God whereas indeed he is but vn çancarron de vn puerco but the withered leg of a Hog a base borne fellow and of no worth in the world The Idols of the Gentiles though neuer so much gilded ouer with Gold are no better than stockes and stones One said in the Apocalyps I am rich and stand in need of nothing But it was answered him from Heauen Thou art poore and much to be pittied These are ordinarily the stampes of your powerfull persons and great Princes of this world that seeming to be as bright as the Sunne in their bodies are as blacke as a cole in their soules But those that are the Saints of God carrying a besmeered countenance and a patcht garment beare in their soules the Sunne Sicut Tabernacula Cedar sicut pellis Salomonis Rich within though poore without Et ecce aparuerunt Moses Elias And behold Moses and Elias appeared On Moses his part there is a strong reason Amongst the Assei it was a receiued opinion which those now follow whom wee call Atheists That the Soules did die together with the bodies And it seemeth that Cicero did fauour the same when he said in his Amicitia Sicut in morte nihil est boni sic certè nihil est mali As there is no good so there is no hurt in death That couetous rich man in the Gospell was surely of this opinion in his life time but being put out of this his errour in that other life he presently desired Abraham to send one in all hast from the dead to preach vnto his kindred that they might forsake this their errour but hee receiued this short answer Habent Moysen Prophetas They haue Moses and the Prophets Where there is Scripture there is no need of miracles And Saint Peter saith That Prophecie hath more assurance in it than the euidence of miracles This is a truth hard to be vnderstood First Because a miracle as Saint Hierome saith is as it were the Apostolicall Seale and the Apostles did confirme their Faith by miracles and those miracles that were prophecied of our Sauiour Christ heretofore did declare him to be the Sonne of God Saint Augustine treating at large vpon this place saith That Prophecies and Miracles haue one and the selfe same certitude because they proceed from one and the selfe same God but that Prophecie is the stronger and more forcible of the two for a Miracle may bee found fault withall as the Pharisees did with that Miracle of him that was possessed with a Deuil telling our Sauiour In Belzebub the Prince of Deuills thou doost cast out Deuills And that same Pythonisse made the Deuill to appeare in the forme of Samuel But Abraham tells Diues They haue Moses and the Prophets And no man can taxe the Scripture or challenge it of any fault Saint Chrysostome askes the question Why he did not fetch some of the Damned out of Hell First of all he answereth thereunto That we haue many pictures of Hel in this life but of Heauen very few For although that the World be as it were the Entresuelo or middle roome of these two extreames Heauen and Hell yet more are the fumes vapours that ascend vp from beneath than those gustos contents which descend from aboue There were a sort of Heretickes that denied there was a Hell it seeming vnto them that the life of a Sinner was a Hell of it selfe and that it stood not with Gods mercie that there should be two Hels alledging that of Nahum Godiudgeth not one and the same thing twice Secondly God to many of his friends discouered the torments of Hell and many of his enemies haue beene visibly snatcht away thither And those Aetna's of fire which are in the world though happely engendred by particular causes are as it were symboles representing vnto vs that eternall fire Thirdly It is an vsuall fashion with God to discouer the reward and to conceale the chastisement for that man would bee ashamed that others should see him punished God did shut the port of Noahs Arke without and hung the key at his owne girdle because hee should not haue any desire to see that lamentable deluge and generall destruction of mankind He charged Lots wife that shee should not so much as looke towards Sodome that she might not behold those flames which did voice out Gods vengeance At the end of the world at that dreadfull day of judgement when God shall shew himselfe most angrie the Sun and the Moone shall be darkened because God will haue his chastisements inflicted in the darke Fourthly Hope doth worke more generous effects in our brests than Feare It cannot be denied but that Feare hath verie powerfull effects Herod for feare of loosing his Kingdome made that butcherly slaughter of so many innocent Babes not sparing his owne children For feare of loosing his Citie the King of Moab was his owne sonnes hangman quitting him of his life vpon the wall For feare of dying by the cruell hands of hunger many mothers haue eaten the birth of their owne bowells For feare least they should be made captiues and led in triumph by their enemies many valiant men haue made an end of themselues And for that Feare doth not onely extend it selfe to an absent good as well as Hope but likewise to a present and for that to loose the present good which a man possesseth causeth a greater sorrow than to loose the good which we doe but hope for it seemeth that Feare is more powerfull than Hope Yet notwithstanding all this Antiquitie hath giuen the Palme to Hope and the reasons on that side are verie cleere The first If Feare come to effect great things it is by the helpe and fauor of Hope for there cannot be any feare without hope of escaping the ill or the danger that
is feared Him whom the feare of some great hurt apprehendeth maketh choice to kill himselfe that he may escape that harme The second Thomas and Aristotle both affirme That Delight is the authour of noble deeds and difficult enterprises Whence the Phylosopher inferreth That that thing cannot long continue which wee doe not take delight in Delight then being the child of Hope and Sorrow the sonne of Feare Feare is lesse noble than Hope The third Loue and Hope carrie vs along as Prisoners in their triumph yet as free vsing vs like noble persons And as they lead vs along so are we willing to goe with them But Feare carrieth vs away Captiues haling vs by the haire of the head tugging and pulling vs as a Sergeant doth a poore Rogue who goes with an ill will along with him making all the resistance that he can And for that Heauen consists wholly of noble persons and that the condition of God is so noble and the reward which he proposeth so honourable we should do him great wrong to suffer our selues to be drawne by force to so superexcellent a good howbeit with those that haue hung backe our Sauiour Christ hath vsed the threatnings and feares of Death of Iudgement and of Hell And his Prophets Preachers are therin to follow his example Those that are his children he still desireth to lead them in the triumph of Hope And for this cause Zacharie cals them the prisoners of Hope Turne yee to the strong Hold ye prisoners of Hope Saint Ambrose saith That hee made choice of Elias and Moses to shew That in Gods House the Poore is as much respected as the Rich. Moses in his yonger yeares was a Prince of Aegypt afterwards the chiefe Commander and Leader of Gods People Elias was alwayes poore and halfe hunger-starued cloathed with Goats haire yet both these did enioy the glorie of Tabor The like judgement may be made of Elizeus and Dauid of Lazarus and of Abraham and of diuers others Saint Luke addeth Visi sunt in Maiestate They were seene in State For great was the Maiestie wherewith Elias and Moses appeared And Tertullian saith That they appeared glorious In claritatis praerogatiâ—a So that those new Disciples Peter Iames and Iohn might by seeing these his antient followers so happie bee thereby the better encouraged and hope to enioy the like happinesse Origen and Epiphanius are of the same opinion Saint Hierome against Iouinianus and Tertullian in his booke De Iejunio say That Elias and Moses did fast fortie dayes as well as our Sauiour Christ in the Wildernesse and that therefore they seemed as glorious as himselfe Whence they inferre That hee that will bee transfigured with Christ must fast with Christ. Loquebantur de excessu They spake of his departure Touching that death which our Sauiour Christ was to suffer in Hierusalem there could not bee any conuersation more conformable to that estate and condition of his For beeing that our Sauiour was to merit the glorie of the body by his death he could not so much reioyce in any thing as in the brauenesse of that noble and renowned Action and the worthinesse thereof In Gods house good seruices are much more esteemed than recompence or reward And more reckoning is made of deseruing honour than inioying it When those his Disciples desired such and such seates of honour our Sauiour sayd vnto them Potestis bibere calicem c. In my Kingdome more honourable is the Cuppe that I drinke of than the chaire that ye would sit in In our Sauiours Ascension when hee came to Heauen-gates the Angells beganne to wonder at his bloudie garments Quis est iste qui venit de Edom tinctis vestibus de Bosra In a place so free from sorrow and torment such a deale of bloud and woundes But that which made their admiration the more was that hee should make this his Gala the only gallant clothes that he could put on Formosus in stola sua And for that this his bloud had beene the meanes of his taking possession of this glorie both for himselfe and for vs he could not cloth himselfe richer nor doe himselfe more honour than to weare this bloudy roabe that had beene dyed in the winepresse of his Passion Saint Austen sayth That the Prouidence of God had so disposed it that the markes of the Martyres torments should not bee blotted out in Heauen For albeit that happy estate doth repaire all manner of maimes take away all deformities and cleare all the spots and blemishes of our body and though they shall appeare much more glorious than the Sun yet notwithstanding those stigmata and markes of their martyrdome shall adde an accidentall glorie vnto them as those colours that are gained in warre beautifies his Coat who weares them in his scutchion The Greekes read Loquebantur de gloria quam completurus erat They spake of the glorie which hee was to fulfill Our Sauiour Christ being vpon the Crosse the Sunne was darkened Tenebrae factae sunt super vniuersam terram in token that when Iesus Christ was crucified for our sinnes there was no need of seeing the Sunne any more nor any more Heauen or glorie to be desired In mount Tabor Christ did not discouer all his glorie to the eyes of Faith and therefore it was necessarie that the Heauens should be opened that a cloud should come downe and a voice be heard from his Father saying Hic est filius meus dilectus This is my beloued sonne Saint Chrysostome expounding that place of Saint Iohn sayth Vidimus gloriam eius quasi vnigeniti à patre Signifying That this is to bee vnderstood of that glorie which our Sauiour Christ discouered on the Crosse that there hee shewed whose sonne he was c. Saint Paul seemeth somewhat to allude thereunto when hee sayd God forbid sayth hee that I should be so foolish as to glorie in any thing saue the glorie of the Crosse. And the Spouse His Crosse and his Ensignes are to me as a bundle of Myrrh I will beare it betweene my brests as my delight and my treasure Three manner of wayes may it bee taken that this Excesse of our Sauiour Christ is Glorie The first That his passion and death and the rest of those Excesses which he did for our saluation for all these may bee termed Excesses Christ did take them to be a glorie vnto him Adam sinning hee seemed to make little account of God and his creatures which in him was a great Excesse But God did remedie this Excesse with other infinite Excesses Saint Bernard obserueth That our Sauiour Christ would not enioy the Balme which the three Maries brought to annoint him after he was dead but did reserue it for his liuing bodie For in Christ wee are to consider two bodies the one Naturall the other Mystical which is the Church And as hee left the first nayled and fastned to the Crosse for the second so he
proclaime them as we say at the Crosse. Leaue this care to God for he will bring them to light in their due time when they shal make for thy honour and his glorie Elias was verie carefull that no man should know of his departure nay he sought to hide it from Elisha saying vnto him in Gilgall Sede hic c. Tarrie here I pray thee for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel But Elisha said As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee And hee was scarce come to Bethell but the childeren of the Prophets that were at Bethell came out to Elisha and said vnto him Knowest thou that the Lord will take thy master from thine head this day Noui silete Yea I know it said he hold yee your peace Elias afterwards departed for Ierico intreating Elisha that hee would tarrie behind promising him that he would presently returne vnto him but he could not persuade Elisha vnto it They were scarce come to Ierico but the sonnes of the Prophets acquainted him with the like newes to whom he answered as before Noui silete In the end going for Iordan Elisha still followed him and fifty of the sonnes of the Prophets so that the more Elias sought to conceale this businesse the more God made it knowne by reuealing it as Tostatus hath obserued to the sons of the Prophets And Elias desiring that they should not see this his Chariot of fire and his Triumph one only God made many witnesses of his glorie Neminem viderunt nisi solum Iesum Onely in Christ Iesus are our hopes secured Men will accompany you whilest the glorie of your prosperitie lasteth but that beeing ended you shall find no man that will sticke vnto you Woe vnto him that is alone for if he fall hee shall haue none to helpe him vp And this is truly verified of those who trust on the world or haue any confidence in man Weigh and consider with thy selfe what a number of friends Ierusalem had in it's prosperitie how readie to seru◠her and to court her loue but when Ierusalem began to fall and when she had most need of her friends Ieremie complaineth Shee had not so much as one friend to be her comforter The God of all comfort vphold vs with his euerlasting loue that we may not perish in this wrold nor in the world to come THE TWELFTH SERMON VPON THE MVNDAY AFTER THE SECOND SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 8.21 Ego vado quaeretis me I goe my way and yee shall seeke me THe Scribes and Pharisees were offended at the fauour which in affront of their authoritie our Sauiour had shewne to the Adulteresse saying Let him that is among you without sinne cast the first stone at her They had made some threatning offers as men that thought themselues much wronged by him to take away his life but because his houre was not yet come no man laid hands on him Whereupon our Sauiour said vnto them Ego vado Why seeke yee thus after my life I goe my way I am he whom willingly and of myne owne accord offer my selfe vnto death your armes were not strong enough to hold me if it were in my desire to make resistance but when I am dead yee shall seeke mee For the Iewes vsed continually to cal for their Messias and did earnestly long after him expecting then his comming when as hee was alreadie come and for that this hope of theirs was hopelesse he saies vnto them Yee shall die in your sinnes your death shall differ much from mine for I shall goe one way and you another Whither I goe yee cannot come Your inferiour Ministers did presume That our Sauiour out of a desperate humour would needs liue among the Gentiles as hee that goes to Morocco to turne Moore the Pharisees they thought that he would goe destroy himselfe What meaneth this man to say Whither I goe yee cannot come Will he kill himselfe Vnto which vnmannerly speech our Sauiour replied Yee are from beneath I am from aboue yee are of this world I am not of this world I haue told yee alreadie That except ye beleeue that I am he yee shall die in your sinnes not onely in that of incredulitie but in all those other which ye shall commit for without faith in him who I am there is no remission of sinnes c. I goe my way and yee shall seeke me This phrase of speech our Sauior Christ did often vse to shew That hee died meerely out of his owne proper will and pleasure O Lord said Abraham I shall be verie willing to die without leauing any children behind me seeing that thou wilt haue it so Eusebius Emisenus to this purpose expoundeth those words which our Sauior vttered on the Crosse to his father In manus tuas Domine commendo Spiritum meum Into thy hands ô Lord I commend my Spirit Now Commendare is all one with Ponere I put not ô Lord my soule into the hands of death nor into those of my enemies for neither their whips nor their thorns nor their nayl◠nor their speare were able to take my life from me if I had not bin willing to surrender it vp into thy hands Seneca saith That a benefit consists not so much in the thing that is giuen as the good will wherewith it is giuen And therfore when the gift is small the greatnesse of it must be measured according to the goodnesse of the will The death of our Sauiour Christ was the greatest benefit that euer the world enioyed but the willingnesse wherewith he laid downe his life for vs was farre greater Maiorem Charitatem c. Greater loue hath no man than this that a man layes downe his life for his friend But heare now the wofullest the heauiest and most lamentable case that can possibly fall within the compasse of thy imagination to wit That the death of his Sonne which God promised to the world as a Sea of mercies as a Heauen of hopes as a ransome of our slauerie and as a reparation of all our miseries he should now giue it as a threatning to this wretched and vnfortunate Nation and how taking his leaue of his Disciples in that Sermon of his last Supper with tender teares trickling down his eyes and with a great many other kind demonstrations of his loue hee should make such large promises vnto them after his death one of the chiefest whereof was Let not your heart be troubled for although I go from you yet shall I still remain with you Lo I am with you till the end of the world yet he should say now to the Pharisees Ego vado quaeretis me I depart away from you neuer to see you more O what a cruell blow was this O what a sad departure is this how comfortlesse and how hard to be endured If from him that is dangerously sicke the Physition shall goe his way who is able to cure
knowledge not deceiuing it selfe in that which it prophecieth imposeth no such necessitie that it should succeed nor is it to be said to be the cause thereof Say not thou it is through the Lord that I fell away for thou oughtest not to doe the things that hee hateth Say not thou He hath caused me to erre for he hath no need of the sinfull man so that he there prooueth that God is not the author of our sins nor are our ignorances to be attributed vnto him The Greeke instead of Abest there reads Defeci as inferring That God is not the cause that I haue failed in that which I ought to haue done for God abhorring sinne I ought not to commit it Saint Augustine reads Ne dicas propter Deum recessi c. Say not I went backe because of the Lord hee supplanted mee for God hath no need of wicked men Suting with that of Saint Iames Let no man when hee is tempted say hee is tempted of God c. And yet it is said by Ezechiel Ego decepi Prophetam I haue deceiued the Prophet And by Saint Paul Tradidit Deus illos in reprobum sensum God hath deliuered them vp to a reprobate sence It is not to be said That God doth it but permits it As a captaine who absenting himselfe from his Armie depriuing them of his fauour permitteth them to bee ouercome Saint Augustine telleth vs That when the Scripture saith That man is deceiued by God or his heart hardned God is the cause of the poena but not of the culpa of the punishment but not of the sinne Insipientia enim hominis violat vias eius i. The follie of a man is that which peruerts his wayes In one place the Scripture saith Deus Mortem non fecit God made not Death In another That Death and Life come from God implying That God is not the Authour of Death but that hee permits it in him that deserues it That Iudge that condemnes a theefe vnto death this death is not to be imputed to the judge but to the thefts of the Theefe God desires not any mans fall or his death for as God is happy without the just so is he also without the wicked The book of Wisedome treating That God did not make death nor delighteth in the destruction of the liuing renders two reasons thereof The one That he hauing created all things that they might haue their beeing he takes no pleasure that they should not be For what Artificer takes pleasure to see the workes of his hands perish The other Sanabiles fecit Nationes orbis Terrarum The Greeke reads Salâ—tares fecit Generationes orbis Terrarum All things that God created hee created with health and soundnesse and in a good and perfect state Et non est in illis medicamentum exterminij The Greeke word which answers to Medicamentum may be taken in a good or an euill sence either for Physicke or for Poyson And here it is taken in the worser sence and implyeth thus much That God did not create the Poyson of perdition for the generations of Mankind inferred in this word Exterminij nor did God create perdition in the rest of the creatures The Interlinearie here vnderstands Sinne which banisheth and excludeth man from God wherby he is vndone and reduced to nothing From which finall destruction God deliuer vs c. THE THIRTEENTH SERMON VPON THE TVESDAY AFTER THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 23. Super Cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribae The Scribes sate vpon Moses Chaire THe chaire of Moses was descredited by the euil life of the Scribes and Pharisees who occupied the same Our Sauiour Christ here treateth of giuing such and so great authoritie to his Doctrine that though it should be deliuered by the coldest mouth in the world yet should not that hinder it's bringing forth of fruit And to this purpose he proposes three opinions which are no lesse certaine than important The one That a Doctor though vnholy in his owne person may sit beare rule in Cathedra sanctitatis in Moses chaire and seat of holinesse The other That the vicious life of the Teacher doth not derogate from the dignitie and authoritie of his Doctrine nor rob the Hearer of his profit The third That though a mans Doctrine be neuer so diuine yet if his life be not good it is the Teacher and not the Hearer that takes hurt thereby Super Cathedram Moysi sederunt Principes c. Euthimius saith That this Cathedra or Chaire was the Pulpit where the Scribes and Pharisees did preach the Law as it is related by Esdras in his second Booke and eigth Chapter Saint Hierome and Bede vnderstand thereby the doctrine of Moses for that it was vsuall with him that did teach to sit in a Chaire And albeit it appeareth both in Saint Luke and the Acts of the Apostles That they did preach vnto the people standing on their feet yet in your Schools your Doctors doe alwaies read sitting It is called Moses his Chaire not onely because the Law did discend from the Mount but because as some Hebrewes haue it he was the first legall Priest and exercised that office before his brother Aaron Abenezra stiles him Sacerdos Sacerdotum a Priest of Priests for that he consecrated his brother Aaron and receiued the offerings of the twelue Princes in the Tabernacle Dauid likewise giues him the same name Moses and Aaron among his Priests Philon saith That he was a King a Lawgiuer a Prophet a Priest Gregorie Nazianzen Saint Augustine and Saint Hierome jumpe together in that point From Moses God had preserued the Catholicke doctrine in the Prophets and other his Saints til Simeons time in whose days the Synagogue had it's end The Scribes and Pharisees were a kind of people that had the command of that Kingdome The Scribes did flourish in knowledge so is it reported by Epiphanius Their obligation was two fold The one To propose the Law vnto the people and to expound the hard places of Scripture and for this reason they were called Lectores Readers The other To be Iudges and Deciders of causes as it appeareth by the Chronicles betwixt Citisen and Citisen The Pharisees did flourish in Religion and were called Pharisees of Phares which signifies a separation for that they liued apart from the ordinarie and common course of life did seuer themselues from other people in a more especiall kind of obseruance Saint Hierome doth set downe the first rising of these manner of men in whom the appearances of sanctitie and outward demonstrations of holinesse of life were verie great and shew-glorious aboue the rest and whose penitences as Iosephus and Epiphanius report them were verie sharpe and verie publique but farre greater was their hypocrisie their ambition their auarice and vaine-glorie And therefore our Sauiour Christ doth here deale so curstly with them and vseth them with that sourenesse and bitternesse of words that
fley off the skinne from them and breake their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the Caldron They shall cry vnto me saith the Lord in the time of their trouble but I will not heare them I will euen hide my face from them at that time because they haue done wickedly in their workes O that men should be so vnnaturall as to â—lay the skinne from the flesh and then presently to teare the flesh from the bone God puts a poore man into pouertie but he doth not â—lay him nor kill him but the rich man does thus tormenting him anew whom God hath alreadie punished enough Because they haue smitten those whome I haue smitten and haue added new wounds to those that I haue alreadie inflicted vpon them The third circumstance is taken out of Iob where he treateth of another rich man like vnto this of whom we now speake of Non remansit de cibo eius propterea nihil permanebit de bonis eius There shall none of his meat be left and there shall bee no memoriall of his goods When he shall be filled with his aboundance he shal be in paine and the hand of all the Wicked shall assaile him he shall bee about to fill his bellie but God shall send vpon him his fierce wrath shall cause to raine vpon him euen vpon his meat He shall flie from the Yron Weapons and the Bow of Steele shall strike him through the Arrow is drawne out and commeth forth of the bodie and shineth out of his gall so feare commeth vpon him All darkenesse shall bee hid in his secret places the fire that is not blowne shall deuoure him and that which remaineth in his Tabernacle shall be destroyed The Heauen shall declare his wickednesse and the Earth shall rise vp against him the increase of his house shall goe away it shall flow away in the day of his wrath This is his portion from God the heritage that he shall haue of God For he that was so vnmercifull that he would not affoord the crummes that fell from his Table to the Poore shal be so far from enioying the least good though it be but a drop of water that God will rather cause him to vomit vp those good things which he hath eaten in this life He hath deuoured substance and he shall vomit it for God shall draw it out of his bellie Hee shall vomit it forth with a great deale of paine if he shall call for drinke the Deuills shall say vnto him Spew vp that which thou hast drunke if for meat Vomit vp that which thou hast eaten He shall sucke the gall of Aspes and the Vipers tongue shall slay him He shall not see the riuers nor the Flouds and Streames of Honey and Butter Hee shall restore the labour and deuoure no more euen according to his substance shall be his exchange and he shall enioy iâ— no more For he hath vndone many hee hath forsaken the Poore and hath spoyled houses which hee builded not surely he shall find no quietnes in his bodie neither shal he reserue of that which he desired Factum est autem vt moreretur mendicus But it came to passe that the Begger died First Lazarus dies for God euermore makes more hast to drie vp the teares of the Iust than the plaints of the Sinner Ad vesperum demorabitur fletâ—â— c. Their teares shall continue to the euening c. Amongst many reasons which the Saints doe render Why Gods Iustice comes commonly with a leaden foot that of Saint Gregorie is an excellent one which is That so great is the wretchednesse which waits vpon a Reprobate that it is not much that God should permit him to enioy some few yeares more of his miserable and vnhappie happinesse A pittifull Iudge is woont sometime to deferre the Delinquents sentence of death but when carelesse of his doome he sees him game eat and sleepe he sayes Let him alone and let him make himselfe as merrie as he can for this world will not last long with him for his destruction is at hand and the stroke of death hangs ouer his head and when it comes it will come suddenly vpon him Many great sinners liue to be verie old men before they die and the reason of it is for that God who is a God of patience suffers them to liue here the longer for that after their death a bitter portion remaineth for them Et portaretur ab Angelis And he was carried of Angells Euerie torment is so much the more cruell by how much the more it suffereth in the extreames that are opposite thereunto Iob pondering that of Hell saith That those that are there tormented passe from snow to fire Ab aquis niuium ad nimium colorem The like succeedeth in content which is so much the greater by how much we goe from a greater sorrow to a greater joy Such then was the condition of Lazarus passing from the pawes of Dogs to the hands of Angells from the Portch of a Tyrant to the bosome of Abraham from the greatest miserie to the greatest happinesse that they who were euen the most blessed did then enioy The Dogs in Scripture is the symbole or hierogliphick of a most filthie vile and base thing Abner sayd vnto Ishbosheth Am I a Dog that thou thus despisest mee The Poet giues him this beastly Epithite Obsaenoque Cane And Saint Mathew by way of scorne Non licet sanctum dare Canibus But the Angells are the noblest of all other creatures and the purest for God molded them with his owne hands So that Lazarus went from the vilest and the basest to the cleanest and the noblest hands Saint Chrysostome reports of the Roman Triumphants That some entred Rome in Chariots drawne with pyde Horses others with Elephants others with Lyons and others with Swannes but the Chariot of Apollo was drawne by swift and nimble footed Gynnets There was a Tyrant that had his Chariot drawne with those Kings that hee had conquered But Lazarus his Chariot did far exceed all these for this was drawn by the hands of Angells Sabellicus saith That when Tullyes banishment was reuersed they bore him throughout all Italy vpon their shoulders Totius Italiae humeris eâ—ectus est Dauid saith That Gods Chariot is drawne with Cherubines Ascendit super Cherubim volauit God then lending Lazarus this his Chariot it is no meruaile if in a trice hee flew vp into the bosome of Abraham Sâ—lomon when he was proclaimed King rode on his Fathers Mule Mordechâ—i for his more honour was mounted on Assuerus his owne Horse but Lazarus to surpasse these went in triumph to heauen in Gods owne Chariot This must needs breed a great confusion and amasement in this rich man that the Angells should carrie him being dead into heauen on whom he would not vouchsafe to looke nor bestow a morcell of bread being aliue And he was carried of Angels
thy hired Seruants Gilbertus the Abbot saith That these were verie humble and submissiue thoughts as he was a Sonne but somewhat too affronting for so free and liberal a Father say his deseruings were neuer so poore neuer so meane such weake hopes and such a base opinion could not but bee a great iniurie to so good and gratious a Father Gregorie Nazianzen saith of him Others cannot receiue more willingly than he giues cheerefully To the Couetous and to the Needy there is not any content comparable to that of receiuing yet greater is the contentment which God taketh in giuing He reuealed to Abraham his purposed punishment vpon Sodome and onely because he should beg and intreat for their pardon and this Patriarke was sooner wearie in suing than God in granting And if God did demand his Sonne of him it was not with an intent to haue him sacrifice him for hee diuerted that Sacrifice but to take occasion thereby to giue him a type of the offering vp of his owne Sonne giuing a shadow of desert to that which came not within the compasse of desert What says the Abbot Guaricus He that gaue his sonne for the redeeming of Prodigalls What can he denie vnto them God is so liberall saith Tertullian that hee loseth thereby much of his credit with vs for the World gaines a great opinion when with a great deale of leisure and a great deale of difficultie it slowly proceeds in doing good but God he loseth this respect through his too much facilitie and frankenesse in his doing of his courtesies The Gentiles saith this learned Doctor judging of Faith by outward appearances could not be persuaded that such facile and mean things in outward shew could inwardly cause such supernaturall effects and such diuine Graces as in that blessed Sacrament of Baptisme When he was yet a great way off c. The Prodigall desired that his Father would intertaine him into his seruice as an hired seruant and hee had no sooner sight of him but he ran with open armes to receiue him and was so ouerioyed to see him and made him that cheere that the Prodigall knew not how now to vnfold his former conceiued words Saint Iohn in forme of a Citie saw that coelestiall Ierusalem and saith That it had twelue gates and in each of them an Angell which did typifie two things vnto vs The one That the gates were open The other That the Angells shewed the content they tooke in expecting our comming to Heauen When thou doost not like of a guest thou wilt get thee from the doore but if thou loue him thou wilt hast thither to receiue him But this his father did more for he no sooner spied his sonne afarre off but he hasted out of his house to imbrace him presently puts him into a new suit of cloaths that others might not see how totterd and torne he was returned home But God went a step further than all this for hee repaires to him to the Pigges-stie to put good thoughts into his head Loue vseth to make extraordinarie haste in relieuing the wants of those persons whom wee loue And forasmuch as God loueth more than all the Fathers besides in the world hee made greater hast than any other Father could Inclinauit Câ—elos descendit Hee bowed the Heauens and came downe That he might not detaine himselfe in descending he made the heauens to stoope Salomon saith of Wisedome That none shall preuent her diligence and care Though he rise neuer so early to seeke her a man shall alwayes find her sitting at his doore Assidentem enim illam foribus tuis inuenies So it is with God he is still readie at hand to helpe vs wee no sooner seeke him but he is found Lord for thy mercie sake preuent vs still with thy louing kindnesse and by bringing vs to a true acknowledgement of our sins lead vs the way to life euerlasting THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON VPON THE THIRD SVNDAY IN LENT LVC. II. Erat Iesus eijciens Daemonium And Iesus was casting out a Deuill c. IN this Gospell is contained that famous Miracle of one that was possessed with a Deuill beeing deafe blind and dumbe As also the applause of the People the calumnie and slander of those Pharisees who did attribute it to the power of Belzebub Our Sauiours defending himselfe with strong forcible reasons The good old woman who blessed the wombe that bore our Sauiour and the Paps that gaue him sucke Whose name was Marcella With whom the fruit of this Miracle endeth Erat Iesus eijciens Daemonium To vnweaue the Deuills Webs and vndoe his Nets is a worke so sole and proper to Gods omnipotencie that if the Deuills malice had not intangled the World therewith Gods goodnesse had not come to vnknit it And this I hold to be sound Diuinitie First Because it is the opinion of the most antient and grauest Doctors Secondly For those places of Scripture it hath in it's fauour As that of Esay Is it a small thing that thou shouldest be my Seruant to raise vp the Tribes of Iacob and to restore the desolations of Israel But Saint Iohn doth expresse this more plainly Christ came into the world to this end that he might destroy the workes of the Deuil Now Dissoluere is properly to vndo a deceit that is wrought Dissolue colligationes impietatis Cancell those Obligations Bonds Schedules Acknowledgments which thou hast vniustly drawne thy Creditours to set their hands thereunto Omnem Cautionem falsâ—m saith Symmachus disrumpe The Septuagint read it Omnem Scripturam iniquam Saint Hierome Chirographa And to the end that the drift of this Language may be the better vnderstood it is to be noted That a man when he sinnes sells himselfe to the Deuill making this sale good vnder his owne hand writing The Deuill hee buyes and the Man he sells and the Damned confesse as much in Hell Wee haue driuen a bargaine with Death and haue made a couenant with Hell And if the Deuill had proceeded herein fairely honestly and according to Law and Iustice this knot would hardly haue beene vnknit but for that he is a Father of falsehood of deceit and of cosinage there are three great annullities to be found in this his Contract First An enormious excessiue losse buying that Soule for little or nothing which cost an infintte price Gratis venundati estis Secondly A notorious cosinage in that he promised that which hee was not able to performe Sicut Dij Thirdly Mans being vnder yeares it beeing a ruled Case That any such sale without the consent of the Guardian is of no validitie in Law And that too must be for the benefit of the Ward Fourthly That he that inhabits another mans house if he vse the same amisse the Law takes order that he bee turned out of it Now the Deuill inhabiting this house of man makes a dunghill thereof and besides payes no rent for it to the Bodie
reason for it If the master of the family were called by the name of Belzeebu◠what name will they giue to those of his house Gregorie Nazianzen treating of certaine Heretickes who made the diuine persons disequall sayth In bona◠partem hoc accipe Sancta Trinitas nec tu stultorum linguas prorsus effugisti O blessed Trinitie receiue my words with that good intention which I deliuer them thou hast not escaped cleere from the tongues of fooles It ought therefore to bee a great comfort vnto thee that those fooles should mutter against thee that spake ill of God The Athenians sentenced one Iupido a base fellow to bee put to death in Phocions company who was a famous man and Iupido weeping as he went along to execution Phocion sayd vnto him Why doost thou weepe Thinkst thou it a small happinesse that thou must dye in my company The like words doth Nazianzen vse to those that are iniured by the tongues of fooles Thinkest thou it a small happines that thou shouldst suffer therein with God Saint Chrysostome sayth That an euill tongue is worse than a dogge for hee onely teares a mans cloaths and his flesh but an ill tongue mens honours liues and soules Saint Bernard sayth That it is worse than that piercing of our Sauiours side with the speare For that speare did but wound the dead bodie of our Sauiour Christ but this sting of the tongue our Sauiour beeing aliue the one therein beeing lesse cruell than the other Dauid sayth That an ill tongue differs but little from Hell From the depth of Hels wombe and from a foule tongue good Lord deliuer vs. Where you see he makes it a peece of his Letanie Many doe murmure by intimating a secret This is onely committed to thy brest whence it neuer ought to goe out They doe not consider who commit a secret to a man that therein they inioyne him not to keepe it It is a great foolerie to thinke that another will keepe that secret which thou thy selfe couldst not conceale And as great a folly is it that thou shouldst hold him vnfaithful who reuealeth thy secret and take thy selfe to be loyall when as thou wast vnfaithfull to thy selfe Thou doost not keepe that secret which God and his Law commands thee and thou holdst him disloyall that breakes but the Lawes of the World Thou defamest thy neighbour by reuealing his defects to thy friend and yet wouldst faine make show that thou art very tender of his honour But Iesus knew their thoughts and sayd Euery Kingdome deuided against it selfe shal be desolate Mathew recounting another Miracle of a dumbe Deuill the Scribes the Pharisees sayd In principe daemoniorū c. Our Sauior at that time did dissemble their blasphemie hoping as S. Chrysostome sayth that the splendor of that Miracle should by little and little ouercome them But perceiuing in this Miracle that they perseuered in their malice and that his silence gaue occasion vnto them to increase their suspition hee made a short and cutted Sermon vnto them For there are occasions wherein a man ought to bee silent and wherein he ought to speake And so those two places in the Prouerbs which seeme quite contrarie are well reconciled Answere not a foole according to his foolishnesse least thou also be like him And againe Answere a foole according to his foolishnesse least he be wise in his owne conceit To reply sometimes to the fooleries of a foole is to be a foole And not to reply vnto him is to giue him occasion to take himselfe to be wiser than he is These two places Saint Cyprian quoteth in that his Tract which he made against Demerianus Who grew so shamelesse and so impudent in commending Paganisme and condemning Christianitie that after a long silence he brake out and sayd Vltra tacere non oportet I may no longer hold my peace The like course did our Sauiour here take with the Scribes and Pharisees And for the better conuincing of them he made answer to their inward thoughts which is a propertie onely belonging to God Not because they did not blaspheme him with their mouths for the word Dixerunt proues that sufficiently but because they did either blaspheme him between their teeth as Saint Chrysostom will haue it or because some did vtter this blasphemie with their mouth and other some with their heart Euery Kingdome diuided in it selfe Although the Deuils are at a continuall discord amongst themselues yet against Man they euermore ioyne their forces together according to that of Esay Et discurrent daemonia Onocentaurus Bilosus clamauit alter ad alterum Make a squadron of Deuills and of your Birds of rapine and you shall find that they will combine themselues together for our hurt Aristotle hath obserued that your tamer sorts of fowles as Pigeons Geese Cranes and Thrushes goe together in flockes and keepe companie and friendship one with another But your Birds of Rapine as your Eagles Kytes Vultures and the like go still alone by themselues So the Deuils neuer keepe companie amongst themselues but against Man they lincke and combine themselues Iob compares them to strong shields that are sure scaled being set so close one to another that no winde can come betweene them nor any the least ayre pierce through them One is ioyned to another They sticke so together that they cannot be sundred This is a stampe of that strict vnion which is betwixt the Deuill and his Members For the reprobate according to Saint Gregorie set themselues against Man Saint Luke sayth of the Faithfull of the Primitiue Church They were all of one mind and of one heart For though euery one in particular was the Sonne of his Father and the sonne of his Mother yet Charitie made them all sonnes of one Soule and one Heart And as the children of God linke themselues together in loue so the Deuils and the wicked ones ioyne together in malice And here by the way we may in the Church take one case into our consideration which is a great dishonour to Christianitie and a great glorie vnto Hell to wit That the Deuills beeing such enemies amongst themselues should yet confederate themselues for our hurt And that Christians tied by so many great and glorious titles to bee louing friends each to other should euerie foot disagree not onely in point of their owne priuat profit but in causes appertaining to God That King with King and Prince with Prince should wage war about the partition of their Kingdomes it is not much But that Prelate with Prelate Diuine with Diuine and Preacher with Preacher should bee at difference this is somewhat strange Vnde bella lites in vobis Saith Saint Iames Form whence are warres and contentions amongst you is it not onely from your owne lusts that fight in your members But Sathan that sower of discord doth also sollicite and incite thereunto euen the holiest and best sort of people
Iudignatio mea in manu tua God had put this chastisement into the hands of a tyrant as his instrument who had not the wit to carrie himselfe accordingly therefore he punished him according to his desarts He rebuked the Feuer and it left her Saint Augustine deliuereth some mens opinions who affirme That things without life as Sickenesse Pestilence Famine were occasioned by euill Angells one while for our good another while for our hurt but alwayes for the seruice of God and to shew themselues obedient to his Empire And this is the true sence and meaning of Imperauit febri He rebuked the Feuer and of Vocauit famem He called a Famine Not that a Feuer or Famine haue any eares to heare or vnderstand any thing but because the Angell to whom the power is committed doth heare and obey his will In this Article there are two manifest truths The one That the Angells as well good as bad are many times ministers of our punishments by famine pestilence barrennesse tempests sicknesse death And this truth is made good by innumerable stories in Scripture as in that of Iob whose Corne the Deuill destroyed threw downe his Houses carried away his Cattell and killed his Children That of Sarah who had seuen husbands slaine by Asmodeus the Deuill Those plagues of Aegypt whereof saith Dauid the Deuills were the Instruments He cast vpon them the fiercenesse of his anger indignation and wrath and vexation by the sending out of euill Angells where God makes them his Hangmen or Executioners And in another place Fire and haile snow and vapours stormie winds which execute his Word c. Of good Angels there are likewise many stories as that of those that came to Sodom and that of the Angell that slew the souldiers of Zenacherib The other That to haue things without life to be obedient to the Empire of our Sauiour Christ there is no such necessitie that they should bee mooued and gouerned by Angels either good or bad as Saint Hierome and Saint Augustine haue both obserued For albeit towards vs and in themselues they are insencible yet towards God they are not so He calls the things that are not as if they were Nor is it any thing strange that the Heauens or the Earth should haue eares or that those things should answer and obey at Gods call whose end is Gods glorie the waters at Gods command gather themselues into heapes and when he sayes but the word they againe withdraw themselues he prescribes bounds to the Sea Hitherto shalt thou come and no further at his Word againe the Sea is made drie land he layes his command vpon the fire to giue light but not burn curbing this his actiue qualitie as it did in the â—irie Furnace when the childeren came forth vntoucht At this Word the waters gushed out of the hard Rocke the Winds are at his command death and life sicknesse and health and al things else whatsoeuer doe truly and punctually obey his will and so in this place he had no sooner said the word But her Feuer left her And rising vp she presently ministred vnto them In regard that shee was an old woman she might verie well haue excused her selfe from doing this seruice but her health was so perfect her recouerie so sound and her strength so increased that without further tarriance She presently ministred vnto them Your earthly Physicke is long a working and the Cures prooue imperfect but Gods physick workes continâ—ò presently for All Gods workes are perfect But it is not so in nature Pierius makes the Vulture the emblem of nature Auolatus tarditate being a kind of Tortoise in his flying First of all it is intimated here vnto vs What hast a Sinner ought to make to get vp S. Peter being in prison the Angell said vnto him Surge velociter Arise quickely and without any more adoe not staying vpon his gyues chaines the gates or the guards he presently riseth vp and gets him gone with all the speed he could Noah puts the Crow out of the Arke Dimisit Corvum qui egrediebatur non reuertebatur The Hebrew Text hath it Exiuit exeundo redeundo He began to make wing but seeing such a vastnesse of waters fearing to faile in his flight he returned backe againe but being entred carrying about him the sent of those dead carcasses which had perished by the Floud he went to and fro so long till at last he went his way and was neuer seene any more Many there are that will put one foot forward and pull two backeward make you beleeue that they meane to goe on well in vertue and goodnesse but beeing discouraged with the difficultie of getting vp that hill and hauing a monthes mind to follow the sent of their former stinking howsoeuer to them sweet seeming sinnes at last they are vtterly lost and neuer more heard of so apt is sinfull man to leaue the best and take the worst Secondly By this her seruice this good deuout old woman made known her bodily health and by the ioy and comfort shee tooke therein shee manifested her soules health At the verie first voyce of Ezechiel the boughes began to mooue but as yet they had not life in them Ossa arida audite Verbum Domini they were afterwards knit and ioyned together and set in verie good order but they had need of another kind of voice than Ezechiels to giue them spirit life Saint Augustine expounding that place of Saint Iohn Verba mea Spiritus vita sunt saith That this Spirit and life is in himselfe and not in thee For that Poenitent which doth not giue some signe or token of life hath not yet obtained life and that He that in his seruice and attendance doth not make shew that he is free of his former Sickenesse his health may iustly be suspected Saint Paul giues vs this Lesson He that steales let him steale no more but c. Hee must not onely content himselfe with not stealing or with working for his liuing and that it is enough for him to haue laboured hard but of that which hee hath got by the sweat of his browes hee must giue part thereof to the Poore if not for the satisfaction of his former thefts yet to shew himselfe a good Christian by obseruing the rules of charitie Zacheus did performe both these the one in making a fourefold restitution to those whom he had defrauded by forged cauillation the other by giuing to the Poore the one halfe of his goods Let all bitternesse and anger and wrath crying and euill speaking saith the Apostle bee put away from you with all maliciousnesse First of all there must not abide in your brests the least smacke of bitternesse anger wrath euill speaking nor any other maliciousnesse But because it is not enough to shun euill vnlesse wee doe also he thing that is good he addeth in the second place that which
ballance weigheth so is the World before thee and as a drop of the morning dew that falleth downe vpon the earth S. Ambrose questions God Why ô Lord so much for so little And his answer is That this doth indeere thy ingratitude and his loue This is a thing to stunne a man and to make him stand astonished that the Sea should goe after a drop of water as if therewith it should augment it's immensitie and vastnesse that Totum should seeke after Nihil he that is all in all after a thing of nothing as if thereby he should better his Being that God should seeke after a wench that was a water carrier and being so wearie as he was he should sit him downe vpon Iacobs Well and there entertaine himselfe in talke with her How can she euer be able to requite so great and vndeserued a kindnesse This reason is also the more indeered considering how little it concernes God and how much it imports man What is it to God Nothing What caâ—st thou giue vnto him If thou shouldst vndoe thy selfe in his seruice thou shalt not adde one dramme of glorie vnto him What is it to Man The greatest happinesse that can befall him in that God should tyre out himselfe for him who is not worthie the looking after Much saith Saint Bernard ought man to meditate on this his wearinesse considering how deere man did cost God It were meere idlenesse in man to thinke that God made him for nothing or to sit still be idle In the sweat of thy browes shalt thou eat thy bread This was poena culpae a punishment appointed him for the fault he had coÌ„mitted that euery bit of bread should cost him a drop of sweat and this lighted vpon our Sauiour himselfe as being our Suretie the debt was ours but he standing bound for vs was forced to pay it we failing therein Meus cibus est vt faciam voluntatem patris And here the meat that he was to feed vpon was a hard crust to gnaw vpon The conuersion of this woman he was to tug for it and sweat for it Hee shall see of the trauell of his soule and shall be satisfied His bodie trauelled with wearinesse his soule with thoughts and cares but he shall see that which he desired and bee satisfied Saint Ambrose discoursing of these our Sauiours paines saith That for that he did esteeme so highly of them they are not to be considered as pains but as the price of our Redemption And if the price of thy ransome cost God a great deale of labour and sweat it is not much that the price of finding God should be thy labour and thy sweat Laurentius Iustinianus saith That God had contriued it so that the Ninâ—uites should see Ionas gaping for breath al-to-berayed with the filthie slime and oyle of the Whale to the end that this so sad and sorrowful a spectacle should be of equiualencie to those miracles which he wrought amongst them and should persuade them to Fastings Sackecloath and Ashes c. Philon declaring that place of Deutronomie That hee that had planted a Vineyard and not eaten of the fruit thereof and that he that had built him an house and not dwelt therein and that he that had married a wife and had not enioyed her companie should returne backe from the Warre this learned Doctor saith That the reason of this Proclamation was for that it was not held fit that another should for a song as they say and doing little or nothing for it come to inioy the fruit of another mans labours Will God That thou shalt not enioy another mans house or his Vineyard for nothing and shall hee giue thee Heauen for nothing Zenon inferreth the selfe same consequence from that place of Genesis He will not but thou shalt get thy bread with the sweat of thy browes And doest thou thinke thou shalt purchase Heauen without taking of paines This is a strange and harsh kind of doctrine to our daintier sort of people and nice Worldlings who cannot be without their coaches their warming-pannes their perfumes their muffes their banquets their musicke their Comedies their Gardens of pleasure c. as if this were the way to goe to Heauen But I would haue thee to know saith Greg. Nizen that Heauen may be here fitted and prepared for vs but not enioyed Doe not thou wearie out thy selfe in seeking after that which our Sauiour Christ could not find When I see a man fare daintily and delicately choise and nice in his dyet and his cloathes and as greedie after his profit as his pleasure I would faine know of him being so great a Louer as he is of a merrie and pleasant kind of life being wholly giuen to iollitie How he dares to goe treading and counting these his steps towards Hell Doth he thinke to lead the same life there Iesus then wearied in the iourney sat downe on the Well A Trauailer comes all dust and sweat and exceeding wearie to a fountaine hee washes himselfe makes himselfe cleane drinkes sits downe and so seekes to shake off his wearinesse But our Sauiour comming extreame wearie to this fountaine neiâ—her washes himselfe makes himselfe cleane nor drinkes but onely sate thus as beeing wearied that this woman might take notice of his wearisomenesse and this his troublesome iourney and so Caietane and the Cardinall of Toledo doe expound the word sic that he sate euen thus vpon the Well The ends why God exprest himselfe to be thus wearie are no lesse deepe and profound than the former First Because out of this his wearinesse the sinner might apprehend his loue Theodoret deriueth the name of God from a Greeke word which signifieth To runne And they gaue this name vnto God who tooke the starres to bee Gods Damascene that hee was therefore called God because he succours our miseries and releeues our necessities with that hast and speede that thereby we may perceiue how much he loues vs. Leo the Pope expounding that place of Saint Luke My God my God why hast thou forsaken me sayth That these words which our Sauiour vsed to his father were not words of complaint but a Lecture which he read vnto Man making vpon the Crosse a muster or beade-rolle of all those troubles that he had both in his life and death suffered for him And therefore cryeth out I beseech thee deere Father that thou wilt giue Man eyes to see The end why thou hast forsaken mee For that thy naturall sonne should come to this so miserable and wretched an estate it was neither disaster nor disgrace nor force nor any thing else that could cause it but the great loue which I bore vnto Man seeing his disease was so desperate that it was requisite that I should tast of this so bitter a potion and that if I had been so necessitated and so sick as Man was I could not haue done more for my selfe We haue two principall
God would not haue that which was the beginning of it's life to be the instrument of it's death And this may be verified of the wearinesse and wounds of our Sauiour Christ neither the torments of the Deuill nor the fire of Sodom nor the water of the Floud which drowned all the world nor hel it selfe ought so much to feare thee as to see thy God thus wearied and wounded for thee Sedebat sic He sate thus Saint Chrysostome Euthymius and Theophilact say Sedebat sic non in cella aut in loco honoratiori sed in terra He sat thus not in a chaire or some more honorable place but on the ground Conforming himselfe according to the time and place he sate him downe as well as he could not being curious of the softnesse easinesse or conueniencie thereof Wherein are condemned two sorts of persons The one They who for one houres paines will haue a thousand dainties to delight themselues withall and for one houres labour a thousand refreshings They indeere this storme and tempest of theirs more than any Galley-slaue that tugs at the oare they extoll their labour so high aboue the skies that there is no earthly reward that can recompence their paines It is such a strange thing for them to put themselues to any trouble and so vaine is their presumption that the sea and the sands are too little to content them And this is commonly the condition of base people that are preferred to honourable place The other They who will not be pleased with accommodating themselues as well as they can or content themselues with that which is sufficient for them but are still seeking after more than is enough And this is too common amongst vs. He sate thus vpon the Well A woman saith Saint Augustine eame to the well and found a Fountaine there which she little thought of And he farther sayth That he sate him downe vpon the Well to the end that we should not seeke to draw water out of this depth but endeauour to draw water out of that Fountaine which is aboue all the waters in the world This Well is the water of life let vs draw from hence that we may drinke of the cup of Saluation One of the attributes of Christ is Oyle or Balsamum poured forth and scattered abroad whose propertie and qualitie is to swimme vpon the water The water drawne from the Well giues a great deale of trouble and little satisfaction it is a brackish water that quenches not the thirst but this soueraigne Fountaine affoordeth vs that sweet and comfortable water which quencheth the flames of the firie lusts and affections of this life and allayeth the thirst of our sinnes Of that water of the mysticall Rocke which in those dayes of old did quench the thirst of sixe hundred thousand persons Thomas and Lyra affirme That it followed the Campe and that God would not that any other water should giue them reliefe but the water of the Rocke which was a figure of our Sauior Christ This Water was Christ. This woman came for water to Iacobs Well but this could not quench neither her nor thy thirst but another Fountaine that sate vpon the lid or couer of this Well His Disciples were gone into the Citie to buy meat Saint Chrysostome hath obserued That our Sauior Christ and his Disciples had but little care of their bellie yet it being now high noone and hauing had so long and painfull a journey they were inforced to goe buy them some victuals Wâ—â— vnto that land whose Princes eat betimes in the morning and Woe vnto them that rise vp early to follow drunkennesse He that hath not broke fast at one of the Clocke in the afternoone what will he say or thinke of him that rises vp to eat by day-breake Seneca saith That Glâ—ttonie hath reached farther than possibly the wit of man could reach Natâ—â—e makes gold and pearles Art money and jewels of all this Gluttony makes a daintie dish to please the palate And in another Epistle he saith That we need not so much wonder at our many sickenesses and infirmities hauing so many Cookes and Kitchen Bookes so many inuentions of sundrie sorâ—â— of dishes and seuerall kinds of seruices euerie one of them beeing it selfe a sâ—â—knesse Philon paints forth a Glutton in the Serpent to whom God said Terram comedes First Because he trailes his brest vpon the earth which is his food Secondly In regard of the poyson which he alwaies beares in his mouâ—h so the Glutton hath alwaies his mind on that which he is to eat and poyson in his mouth because he goes eating of that which shortens his life Thirdly For that God admitting the excuse of Adam and Eue did not allow of the Serpents excuse Maledictus super omnia animantia Cursed art thou aboue all the Creatures c. Which was all one as if he should haue said That others sinnes might receiue excuse but to forsake God for to fill the bellie is inexcusable They went into the Citie to buy meat Saint Chrysostome saith That it is superâ—â—uous prouidence in a Traueller to carrie with him an Alforias or a Walleâ— because he shall neuer want vpon the way that which shall be sufficient to â—â—â—â—sfie his hunger and he farther addeth That it is a needlesse care in the Souldiers of Iesus Christ. The fiercest beast dies not of hunger nor the Corke tree in the Desert though neuer so much pilled at any time sâ—arueth All the trees of the field shall be filled c. And can the Seruant of God then want When I sâ—ntâ—yee forth without a scrip was there any thing wanting vnto you If there be any need at all of prouision saith the said Chrysostome it is for our journy for that other life for besides that it is a long one and a narrow one there is no baiâ—ing place by the way no Inne no Victualling house no Fountaine no Well no Brooke nor Sheepheards Cottage It is a Sea voyage wherein you must carrie all your Matalotage and prouision with you readie killed powdred vp The rich Glutton when he was gone hence because he made not his prouision before hanâ— could not meet with so much as one drop of water It was about the sixt houre Saint Cyril saith That the Euangelist sets downe this word About in token that euen in the least things we should haue a great care of the truth considering how hatefull a thing a lie is And here hee giues a reason of his Sedebat why he sate there The one was His extreame heat and wearinesse The other which was the maine cause His expecting of the woman of Sâ—maria's comming to the Well waiting there for her as an Hunâ—sâ—an for his Game and het want of water makes the way for her to come thither Iesâ—â— sitting there all the while Saint Augustine saith Sedeâ—aâ— iuxta pâ—tâ—um â—ed 〈◊〉 quiâ—sâ—ebat He sate by the Well but tooke no
thousand persons besides women and children with seuen loaues a few fishes and they beeing all satisfied there were twelue baskets full remaining This miracle is mentioned by Saint Mathew and Saint Marke In the other That which the Church doth this day solemnise which was the more famous not onely for that the guests were fiue thousand besides women and children the loaues fiue the fishes two and the leauings twelue baskets full but for that all the foure Euangelists wrote thereof and much the more for that it was an occasion as it is obserued by Saint Chrysostome because our Sauiour did preach that excellent Sermon of the Mount for whose Doctrine that miracle was most important After these things our Sauiour went c. Saint Augustine and Saint Hierome are of opinion That the occasion of our Sauiours withdrawing of himselfe was the death of Iohn Baptist the ioy for whose birth beeing so generall it was not much that the sorrow for his death should be great And this sutes well with that Text of Saint Mathew who reports it to be after the death of Saint Iohn This his departure thence shewed his sorrow for his friends death but that kingdome had greatest cause to lament and bewaile Saint Iohn Baptists death and Christs going from them for what is a Kingdome without them The Saints of God are the force and strength of Kingdomes the walles and bulwarkes of Cities the hedges about a Vineyard the foundation to a Building bones to the bodie life to the soule and the chiefe essence and being of a Commonwealth And whilest they had Christ and Saint Iohn among them there was not any Citie in the world so rich as that but the one being dead and the other hauing left them Ieremie might verie well take vp his complaint and bewaile their miserie and solitude Esay treating of the misfortunes that should befall Shebna the High-Priest sayth Auferetur paxillus qui fixus fuerat in loco fideli peribit quod pependerat ex eo The Naile that is fastned in the sure place shall depart and shall be broken and fall and the burthen that was vpon it shall bee cut off Now paxillus is that which in poore mens houses is called the Racke whereon they hang spits or a shelfe whereon they set their vessels which in rich mens houses is called Aparador a Court-cupboord whereon is placed their richest pieces of plate and such as are most glorious to the eye And hereof mention is made in the one and thirtieth Chapter of Exodus and the third of Numbers But your poorer sort of People that are not scarce worth a paire of Rackes strike in certaine pinnes into the wall and as the shelfe falling all falls with it that depends thereupon so when the High-Priest being a good man dies all good perisheth with him in the Commonwealth because the chiefe good of the State dependeth thereupon The Homicâ—de had fiue Cities to flie vnto for shelter but hee could not returne home to his owne Countrie till the death of the High-Priest And Philon rendring the reason of this interdiction saith That the High-Priest is a Pariente or Kinseman of all those that liue in his Commonwealth Qui solum habet ius in viuos in mortuoâ— as euerie Citisen hath his particular Kinsemen to whom he owes an obligation to acknowledge the benefits he receiues from him and to reuenge the wrongs that are done to him In like manner the High-Priest is the common Kinseman of the Liuing to whom hee owes an Obligation to accord their discords to cut off their suits in Law to quit their wrongs and to desire the peace and prosperitie of them all In conclusion he being as it were a common father to all in so great a losse in so sencible and generall a sorrow when a common misfortune should compound particular wrongs when all mens hearts are so heauie their eyes so full of teares their minds so discomforted it is a fit season for a Homicide to returne home to his Countrie And if the death of a High-Priest who happely was no holy man causeth in a Commonwealth so generall a griefe the death of Iohn Baptist and our Sauiours departure from this People What effect of heartie sorrow ought that to worke God threatned his People by Esay The Lord shall giue you the bread of aduersitie and the water of affliction When the King of Israell commanded Micheas to be cast into prison hee said vnto him Suâ—â—enta tecum paâ—e tribulationis aqua angustiae Feed vpon the bâ—â—ad of affliction and the water of affliction In the Hebrew both places beare the same words but Esay afterwards saith That though Gods hand shall be heauie vpon them and that he shall afflict them with many miseries yet he will not take away their Doctors and Teachers from amongst them nor the light of his Doctrine I haue threatned you with the famine of my word I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the Word of the Lord. But God recalls this threatning oftentimes Et non faciet auolare à te vltra Doctorem tuum and will not cause thy Teacher to flie from thee But Iohn Baptist being dead and our Sauiour withdrawne himselfe that Countrie could not rest in a more wretched estate Secondly The death of Iohn Baptist made him leaue the land and put forth to sea making a seperation betweene him and them for when God gets him gone from thy house or thy citie thou art beaten out of doores as they say with a cudgell euen then doth a man go turning backe his head like a Hart that is hunted and pursued by Hounds neuer letting him to be at rest but chasing him with open mouth from place to place God cannot absent himselfe from his Creatures nor can his immensitie giue way to the vtter abandoning of this goodly Fabricke and wonderfull Machina of the World yet so great is the hatred which he beares to sinne that he also commands vs to get vs out of that Citie where Sinne doth raigne signifying thereby vnto vs That if any thing can make him to absent himselfe from vs it is our sinnes God had his house and his residence in Hierusalem so sayes Esay God had his house and his hearth there as if hee had beene one of their fellow Citisens and a Towne dweller amongst them but their abhominations made him to abandon that place Ezechiel saw the glorie of God how it went by degrees out of the Temple staying one while here another while there resting it selfe now against this pillar now that till at last The glorie of God was cleane gone out of the Temple Their abhominations did as it were driue him out by head and shoulders shoov'd him forth by little and little The great abhominations that the House of Israell committeth here causeth me to depart from my Sanctuarie Iosephus in
and which way this may handsomely bee done This is a prudent proposition for a Prince when occasion is offered of some extraordinary expence to treat with his Counsell how and which way these monies are to be raised and ordered Hee that goes about to build him a stately pallace will first aske counsel of his purse how he shall bee able to compasse it A King that breakes his League and is to enter into a War with his neighbour Prince will first consult with his subiects how he shall vndergoe it For to goe out with tenne thousand against an Enemie that brings twentie thousand into the field is not wisedome And he must haue an eye vnto this Vâ—de whence and which way he shall leuie both men and money For if it must bee from the bloud of the poore that bloud which is thus wrung from them is to draw the best bloud out of his owne bodie to the indangering of his life if not of his soule Those Princes seldome or neuer thriue who misseled by euill counsellors say with Rehobaam Whereas my Father did burden you with a greeuous yoke I will yet make your yoke heauier My Father hath chastised you with rods but I will correct you with scourges And my least part shall be bigger than my fathers loynes So vnmerciful and intollerable are the greeuances oppressions which Kings Ministers exercise vpon the poore that the widdow weeps and the orphant sheds teeres the teeres thatd â—ckle from their cheekes howsoeuer Kings may conceiue they fall to the ground I must boldly tell them that they ascend vp as high as Heauen and are there turned into flashes of Lightening and their cries into Thunder against those Ministers that are the cause thereof and those Princes that suffer the same and consent thereunto They must consider vpon what ground they goe For if the cause be honest pious and necessarie as to keepe souldiers from staruing that lye in garrison to bridle the insolencies of the enemies of the Faith to supplie the necessarie prouision of the Kings house and the like it is well and good and God forbid but we should thinkâ— that to be verie well imployed which is so spent and it is fit that euery man that is of abilitie should contribute to the charge But to impouerish some to inrich others to pill the Commonwealth to make fat a fauorite to dispeople townes for to make forrests to put Naboth out of his lawfull possession nay and his life too to make thy selfe a house of pleasure and gardens to feast and banquet in c. I will leaue this to their owne consideration without pressing this point any further least contrarie to Salomons Counsaile by wringing the nose too hard I might happen to draw bloud and so offend the head Whence shall we buy bread From the beginning of the world vntil then it was neuer propounded in any Princes Councell how the Hungrie should be fed or any care taken how the Naked should be cloathed But how to raise money for the Princes expences for the more magnificent maintenance of his Maiestie and for the vpholding of his Estate this is euerie dayes example And if the royal Patrimonie shall be impawned there shall be sitting vpon sitting proiect vpon proiect how to bring him out of debt to fill his Coffers and all of them will put a helping hand to lay more and more burthens on the backes of the Poore but whence the Poore should be fed how your decayed Townes should bee repaired how your ruined Commonwealths restored to their former honour and greatnes let the great ones aduise vpon that if it stand not with the hurt of their greatnesse for I can say little vnto it Saint Bernard hath obserued That our Sauiour Christ said thrice vnto Peter Pasce Oues meas Feed my Sheepe but that hee neuer said vnto him no not so much as once That he should sheere them Signifying thereby That it is the office of a good Prelat to haue an especiall care that his Sheepe be well fed both with spirituall and corporall food and not to studie the raising of his Rents the racking of his Tenants nor his owne priuate profit Whence shall we buy bread Our Sauiour Christ consulted with all his Disciples concerning this businesse And therefore he sayd vnto them Giue yee them to eate And although the Disciples tooke care for the prouision of these things they did not lift their eyes vp any higher then to the distribution of their almes But our Sauiour being willing to tax them for this their little faith he would first make a verification of those few loafes that they had in their keeping Quot panes habetis c. How many loaues haue yee He began first with Philip eyther perhaps because he was not present at what had passed or because hee seemed to take the greatest care how these should haue wherewithall to eate or because he was lesse frugall and prouident than the rest as Saint Chrysostome noteth it or because he was not so quicke witted and of that nimble apprehension as his fellowes as it seemeth to Saint Cyrill In conclusion two necessities incountring together one of the body another of the soule one of bread and another of fayth our Sauiour Christ began first with that of the soule hauing recourse to that his office of a Sauiour who made more reckoning of the more than of the lesse Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them Saint Marke saith in the name of the rest Let vs goe and buy two hundred penny worth of bread Wherunto Philip answered that two hundred penny worth of bread would not bee sufficient for them nay two hundred royalls would not come to a bit a man At which time he had turned his eye aside from our Sauiours omnipotency placing his eyes vpon his purse strings to see how strong they were Whereas the blessed Virgin casting her eyes off from the Master of the feast threw them on her sonnes omnipotencie So short sighted is mans wisedome that in seeing ordinary meanes faile he holds the relieuing of his wants desperate not so much as once thinking what a thing it is to put our trust in God And it is a fearefull thing to thinke that man sinning hopes that God will pardon him and that suffering hunger and nakednes God should not helpe him Thou committest a mortall sinne thou reckonest not much of it hoping that God will be good vnto thee and forgiue thee thy trespasse thou sufferest hunger and nakednesse and yet despairest of comfort fearing more to be starued to death than to be damned to hell Canst thou hope then for so great a fauour as to be saued by his mercy and pitty towards thee and shalt thou despaire in these lesser things of the infinite prouidence of God It is a great shame for thee so to doe and such a fowlenes as none in a Christian can be more Hence
God is good for heauen but not for earth Because he doth interdict their pleasures and delights This vniust censure of theirs is repeated by many of the Prophets in the name of the cast-aways of this world As Malachy for one It is in vaine to serue God and what profit is there in keeping his commandements This is the scoffing and flouting of fooles at those who serue God Saturati sumus panibus saith Ier. benè nobis erat malum non vidimus The Hebrew hath it Eramus boni id est foelices The Prophet doth reprehend his people That through their Idolatries they were come to those miseries of their captiuitie and that if they did not labour to amend he would lash them with sharper whips And this stubborne people replyeth Nay rather since we haue forsaken God the world goes well with vs for we eate and drinke we are merry sound and lusty and happier than before But since we left of sacrificing to the Moone our life hath beene a continuall misery and a perpetuall pouerty Peccaui quid mihi accidit trifte Secondly God was willing to doe this for his owne honours sake and for the good of those whom the world had deliuered vp into his hands hungrie surbated and sicke All these he heales all these he fils and all these hee comforts to the end that it may remain as a registred and notorious truth That God is a good God both in heauen and on earth When God did descend from the Mount to giue the Law Exodus saith The children of Israel saw God and did eate and drinke so that their seeing of God did not put them beside their eating and their drinking And our Sauiour Christ said That which enters in at the mouth defiles not a man And by Esay My seruants shall eate and drinke and be merry and ye shall perish Abbot Gilbertus saith That the Prodigall forsaking his fathers house entred into a stricter kind of order where he had fasting enough whereas in his fathers house the very hindes and meanest of his seruants had their bellies full of meate The world is a Cosiner and a Cheater it promiseth mountaines of gold but performeth molehills of nifles Her prouision is on the one part very bad and on the other very poore and miserable She will giue you bread but it shal be the bread of lying moulded vp with stones and sand Suauis est homini paniâ— mâ—ndacij saith Salomon This bread hath a goodly outside and carryes a very faire show with it but when thou commest to the chewing of it it will breake thy teeth Postea implâ—bitur os eius calculo Like vnto that which they gaue vnto Ieremias when he was in prison Cibauit me cinere It is a counterfeit confection to proffer you that wine that shall prooue to be your poyson Fel draconum vinum eorum venenum aspidum insanabile What stomacke can digest such bad bread and such bad wine This seeming fairenesse this sophisticated beauty may very well reuiâ—â— the remembrance of Eues Apple and that face of the Serpent which according vnto Beda had the appearance of a verie faire and beautifull Damsell And Ecclesiastâ—cus alluding hereunto sayth Flie from sinne as from the face of a Serpent Wherein poyson comes couered with a golden coat Besides her prouision is so poore that if she should giue all to one she would leaue him stil as hungry as if she had giuen him nothing at all So that he remains hungry to whom shee giues little he also to whom she giues much She gaue the Prodigal very little he remained hungry She gaue Salomon very much it seemed vnto him that all was but ayre that he had eaten Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas S. Ambrose citeth to this purpose the fable of Midas who was all his life time hungring after gold and besought the gods that whatsoeuer hee toucht might be turned into gold and they granting his petition hee perished through hunger For his meate and his drinke turning it selfe into gold his hunger increased ypon him till it had wrought his death Saint Iohn saith in his Apocalips That hee saw a blacke horse Et qui sedebat super eum habebat stateram in manu sua By the blacke horse Beda vnderstands sinne by him that sate thereupon the Deuill The ballance which he held in his hand was not that of Iustice but of scaricitie and miserie for to weigh the bread which hee giues in allowance to his seruants which he deliuers out vnto them by ounces and by drams And anon after he says that he saw another vpon a pale horse and his name was Death Who had power to aflict with hunger the foure quarters of the world These were the horsemen on the one side but there was heard from the other side a loud voice which sayd A measure of Wheat for a pennie and three measures of Barley for a penny But yee that take part with the blacke horse must not touch neither on the wine nor the oyle there mentioned it is not for your mowing signifying thereby that when the vassall of the Deuill of the World and of the Flesh perisheth of hunger the Iust shal haue their food good cheape They eat and were satisfied There is no mention made in this feast of drinke because meat doth increase thirst and drinke doth quench it And of Gods good blessings wee remaine alwayes more and more thirstie Dionisius the Carthusian sayth That he gaue vnto the loaues and the fishes the vertue and power of quenching their thirst Take vp that which is left that the fragments may not be lost Our Sauiour here shâ—wed great care for the sauing and gathering vp of that which was left First for to discouer the vertue of Almes deedes as Saint Cyrill obserueth it Saint â—â—sten sayth That the field of the poore is the fertilest For he that sowes in that receiues a hundred for one Nor there is not any Merchant that hath so quicke a returne of gaine and so plentifull as that husbandman that sowes his seed in such a peecâ— of ground And he that gets least is hee that ventures least But some one will say How can I want or bee in need if I keepe my fruits safe vnder locke and key c. I answere that because thou keepest them so close thou maist want them but if thou shouldst scatter theÌ„ abroad thou shouldst haue Gods plentie He that sowes not reapes not Date dabitur vobis Giue and it shall be giuen vnto you and if your store shall not increase Come and blame mee Haue I peraduenture beene to my People like a Wildernesse without fruit The like conceit doth S. Chrysostome touch vpon expounding Communicating to the necessities of the Saints Saint Gregorie treats the verie selfe same Doctrine vpon that place of Iob If I despised him that passed by because hee was not cloathed And Saint Ambrose in a Sermon
when he comes home at night he presently askes what newes there is stirring And is well pleased with any tidings that are told him especially of other mens misfortunes Plutarch makes this simile That as in Cities there vse to be some vnlucky gates wherat nothing enters or goes out that is good saue dunghils that lye in the streete and persons that are condemned to death so likewise into the eares of the Curious nothing enters that is good It was the saying of a certaine Philosopher that of all kind of winds those were most troublesome which did whirle our clokes from off our shoulders In like manner of all sortes of men the Curious are most to be abhorred which vnwrap the clokes of our shame blow open our disgrace and rip vp the graues of the dead and as Xenocrates said of them They enter not into other mens houses with their feet but their eyes He saw c. This might very well assure them that he lookt vpon him with the eye of Loue. First because it is Gods nature and condition when he doth one fauour to ingage himselfe for many other courtesies And therefore hauing done him the fauour to looke vpon him he was now obliged to giue him his sight Cicero saith That it is the property of a noble brest to him that owes much to desire to make that man more his debtor Est animi ingenui cui multum debeas eidem plurimum velle debere The bestowing of one fauour vpon mee saith Ecclesiasticâ—â— makes me the bolder to beg another And since thou hast stuck vnto me in my life ô Lord doe the like in my death God did reueale vnto Dauid by the Prophet Nathan perpetuitie of his Kingdome and after this so great a fauour he further addeth Therefore is thy seruants heart readie to pray vnto thee Ezechias had receiued extraordinarie kindnesses from Gods hand and these were motiues to make him intercede for farther fauours In a word one courtesie conferred vpon vs incourageth vs to craue a second But that the conferring of one fauor â—hould lay an obligation or make one desirous to doe another on the necke of that this onely holds in God as a peculiar noblenesse belonging vnto him And for to secure vs of all those fauours which wee can expect from his greatnesse the Church saith of our Sauiour Christ that was offered vp for vs Nobis pignus datur A pledge is giuen vs. Now a pledge is alwayes pawned for lesse than it is worth Hauing therefore thus impawned the infinit treasure of his person what will he not bestow vpon vs If he haue giuen thee eyes will hee not giue thee hands And if he haue giuen thee hands will he not giue thee a heart So that Gods doing of one fauour is the assuring of many In the Wildernesse when all Agars bread and water was spent and seeing her sonne ready to dye for thirst she lifted vp her eyes to Heauen calling vpon God Et exaâ—diuit dominus vocem â—â—eri And the Lord heard the voyce of the child His giuing eare vnto her was a signe that he would giue her water suddenly a Well was discouered vnto her c. Here were two fauours done her alreadie First His hearing her Secondly His granting her her request But God did not stop here In gentem magnam faciam cum I will make him a great Nation Secondly Because mans wants and necessities being looked on by the eye of Gods loue and pittie his goodnes neuer leaues him till his remedie be wrought And therfore it is said by the Psalmist I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble so that when I present my griefes tribulations before him if he once but looke vpon them I am sure he wil help me This kind of cunning Martha Mary vsed with him Behold he is sick whom thou louest Ezechias opening Zenacharibs letter in the Temple fraught with such a deale of pride arrogancie exercised the same trick Lord open thyne eyes and see bow downe thyne eare and heare the words of Zenacharib c. And as our sinnes doe crie vnto God for vengeance so our miseries doe crie vnto him for mercie God plagued the Princes of the Philistines with that foule and grieuous disease of the Emmerods but vpon their presenting the Images of them before the Arke he freed them of that euill Thou knowest my shame and my reproch c. And if my prayers doe not sometimes pierce Heauen it is because my persecutions and afflictions haue ascended thither and notified my miserie and when man is ashamed to speake yet that will speake for him Who did sinne this man or his parents Saint Cyril saith That the Disciples hauing whispered amongst themselues touching this mans misfortune they askt our Sauiour Quis peccauit c. Wherein they went wisely to worke in attributing punishment in the generall to sinne for by attributing them many times to naturall causes as to the Sunne aire water and other distemperatures the fruit of Gods chastisements is lost Petrus Crysologus treating of those teares which our Sauiour shed at Lazarus death saith That he did not bewaile his buriall for he knew how happie he was in being out of the world but the occasion He thought vpon Adams apple that had beene the cause of so much hurt and this was it that made him to weepe And this his weeping was as if hee should haue said What a deale of sorrow hath this one act of disobedience in him brought vpon all mankind and consequently vpon me who must beare the burthen of his and their offence O Sinne How deere will it cost both Man and me In a word There is not any one thing so often repeated in Scripture as That Sin is the cause of our miseries De humo non egreditur dolor And in this respect verie iust and lawfull was this their demand touching Quis peccauit Who sinned First Because they did desire to see it verified whether this fauour which they muttered amongst themselues were well employed or no for it is a common custome in Court when the King shall cast a fauourable eye vpon any one and gratiously looke vpon him not onely to examine his life and to question what hee is but to rip vp that of his fathers and predecessours to flea those that are aliue and to disinterre those that are dead And howbeit for prouisions of offices and for the conferring of Court dignities and other publique preferments in the Commonwealth it is fitting for Kings and Princes to take a strict view and examination concerning the honestie and abilitie of those they aduance yet in the relieuing of wants necessities al such diligences are vnnecessarie and vniust For a Prince or any other rich and powerfull person sayth Saint Chrysostome ought to be like a good port or hauen which should receiue into her protection all sort of passengers whatsoeuer but to
beleeue the immortalitie of the soule they hold a sudden death a kind of happinesse but a Christian who confesseth that there is a iudgement after death desireth a more lingring and leisurely kind of dying for to preuent future danger both of soule and bodie In Leuiticuâ— God commanded That they should not offer any câ—eature vnto him which did not chew the cud or which had not a clouen hoofe And he therefore ioyned these two things together for to swallow the meat downe whole is verie dangerous for the health and the foot not cloâ—en verie apt to slip and slide and in a mysticall kind of sence is as much as if he should haue said That he that shall swallow down so fearefull dangerous a thing as Death without chewing meditating thereon shall doubtlesse slide if not take a fall as low as Hell The onely sonne of his mother In the order of conueniencie it seemeth fitter that the old mother should haue died than the young sonne But as there is nothing more certaine than death so is there nothing more vncertaine than the time of our death the young Bird as soone falls into the snare as the old one and your greater Fish as soone taken with the hooke as your lesser Frie. If the Wicked turne not God will whet his sword bend his Bow and prepare for him the instruments of death and ordaine his Arrowes against them For old men that stand vpon the graues brinke death hath a Sythe to cut them downe for young men that stand farther off he hath his Bow and his Arrowes Saint Augustine saith That God taketh away the Good before their time that they may not receiue hurt from the Bad and the Bad because they should not doe hurt to the Good The onely sonne of his mother Not that he was her onely sonne but her best beloued sonne Salomon stiles himselfe Vnigenitum matris suae His mothers onely begotten sonne not that he was the onely sonne of Bershabe as it appeareth in the first of Chronicles but because he was so deerely beloued of his mother as if he had beene her only sonne he was his mothers darling her best beloued the light of her eyes and her hearts comfort she cherished him made much of him would not let him want any thing yet all this care and prouidence of hers could not shield him from death There is a man in the Citie that is of a strong and able bodie and abounding in all worldly happinesse There is another saith Iob that is weake hungerstarued and his wealth wasted and consumed both these death sets vpon and layes them in the graue He exemplifies in the King and the Gyant for the rest he makes no more reckoning of them than of so manie little Birds whom the least fillip striketh dead but he sets vpon a King like a Lyon a poore man hath many meanes to hasten his death but Kings seldome die of hunger of penurie of heats or of colds c. And a Gyant seemes to be a perdurable and immortall Tower of flesh but in the end both Kings and Gyants fall by the hand of Death And since that Death did dare to set vpon the Sonne of God and his blessed mother let neither High nor Low Rich nor Poore hope to find any fauour at Deaths hands Ioshuah did stop the Sunne in his course Moses the waters of the red Sea Ioseph did prophecie of things to come and many of Gods Saints wrought great Myracles but there is no myracle to be wrought against Death Ieremie tells vs of certain Serpents that cannot be charmed charm the charmer neuer so wisely of this nature is Death Ecclesiasticus introduceth a dead man who speaketh thus by way of aduice to the Liuing Memento judicij mei sic enim erit tuum Heri mihi hodie tibi That man was neuer yet borne nor shall be hereafter that shal not see death or escape this heauie iudgement Salomon commanded the child to be diuided in the middle about whom the two mothers did contend and that sentence which he did not then execute shall bee executed vpon all liuing flesh for all men beeing in regard of the bodie sonnes of the Earth and in regard of the soule the children of Heauen euerie one receiues this sentence from the Iudge at his death Let the earth returne to the earth from whence it came and the Spirit to God who gaue it life She was a Widow woman The word Erat She was carrieth with it a kind of emphasis she was a sorrowfull and forelorne Widow A Widow ought to bee a rule and patterne of perfection to all other women shee should bee the glasse wherein they should see their faults and what is amisse in them In a word shee was a woman irreprehensible and without blame Nor according to Saint Paul hath the Virgin or the Wife that tie and obligation vpon them as shee hath The one because her small experience in the deceits and vanities of the world may excuse her in many things the other the charge and care that necessarily attends Wedlocke When Absalon entred into the wiues and Concubines of his father the King gaue command they should bee shut vp like so many Recluses because they had opened the doore vnto him as if the King had beene dead And Widowes are to liue so seperated and seuered from the world as if they liued not in it Isiodore expoundeth the Spanish word Viuda which signifies a Widow to be quaâ—i vidua diuided from her husband as the Vine from the Elme which was it's prop and stay which being taken away the Vine lieth leuell with the ground and without any comfort The Hebrew deriueth the name of Widow from a certain word which signifieth both bound dumbe now to be bound and dumbe are the conditions and properties of him that is dead who is neither able to mooue nor speake So that the vulgar Translation calls a Widow Sterilem barren and vnfruitfull as it is in Iob and in Esay Another letter stiles her Eradicatam pluckt vp by the Roots as a tree that is quite rooted vp that it may neuer grow nor waxe greene againe The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Frankincense They must not smell of Amber nor of Ciuet but of Frankinsense which they offer vp in Incense for a widdow ought to lead the remnant of her dayes so neere vnto her husbands Tombe that her garments should sauour of that incensorie perfume Of such Widowes as these God hath that especiall care that none shall doe them any wrong for the teares that drop downe from their cheekes ascend as high as Heauen And as the vapours that are exhaled from the earth come downe againe in lightning and thunder and terrible tempests so prooue the Widowes teares to those that shall vniustly cause them to weep and draw those watred drops from their eyes Heliodorus pretended to rob the Temple of Ierusalem
partie was nobly borne and that many of good Qâ—alitie came to visit him in his sickenesse and did weepe and bewaile his death did our Sauiour performe this myracle Amongst all those myracles which our Saour Christ wrought Saint Augustine giues to this the first and prime place and indeed it seemes to be an epitome and short summe of all those other myracles that he wrought in the whole course of his life for in the resurrection of one that is dead there is giuen sight to the Blind eares to the Deafe a tongue to the Dumbe feet to the Lame motion to the Paraliticke c. And therefore Saint Iohn with this myracle doth as it were shut vp and giue a close to the proouing of his Diuinitie A certaine man was sicke named Lazarus c. Therefore his Sisters sent vnto him Here we may consider the good aduisement and discretion of this noble paire of Sisters When Marie Magdalen treated of the reparation of her own soule she went her selfe in person passing through a world of inconueniences but for the restoration of her brother to his bodily health she thought it would be sufficient and serue the turne well enough to send her Seruant with a letter to our Sauiour The Worldling for the health of his bodie will round the world but will not stirre a foot for his soules health For to esteeme of things as they are and to giue them their true weight and to put euerie thing in it's proper place is not onely the marke of a prudent but of a predestinated person Aegypt taxed Moses of ingratitude as Phylon hath noted in his life for that hee did forgoe Pharaohs Pallace refused to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter and chose rather to suffer aduersitie with the People of God those poore Israelites than to weare the Crowne of Aegypt and to enioy the pleasures of the Court esteeming as Saint Paul saith the rebuke of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt But first of all he was not vngratefull for concerning those good blessings which he enioyed he was more bound to God for them than to the King Secondly he shewed he was no foole in doing as he did for better is one crumme of bread in the Lords house than all the prosperitie of the world without it Than to enioy to vse Saint Pauls words the pleasures of sinne for a season I had rather be a Doore-keeper saith Dauid in the house of the Lord than to dwell in Tabernacles of sinners Nazianzen reporteth That the Emperour Valens offering Saint Basil his fauour and to be a friend vnto him if he would but bee a friend to Eâ—doxius the Arian he told him That he should highly esteem of the Emperours fauour and friendship but hee was to esteeme more of Gods Saint Augustine saith That Adam did eat of the Apple Ne contristaret delitias c. least he should grieue his Loue not led along with carnall concupiscence but with a friendly affection Suting with that of Saint Paul That Adam was not deceiued but the woman was deceiued but it had beene better for Adam to haue displeasâ—d his wife than to grieue the spirit as Saint Paul speaketh of a sinner In a word fathers mothers chiâ—dren wiues friends and all our kindred and acquaintance are to be had in lesse esteeme than our soules and our God And therefore Marie Magdalen went in person for to seeke out Christ for her God and for her soule but did not so for her brother Behold he whom thou louest is sicke c. The Saints doe much ponder the discretion of this letter The first consideration is It 's briefenesse and shortnesse of stile Imagination caâ—not desire an elegancie more briefe nor a briefenesse more copious Apâ—leiusâ—coffes â—coffes at the long and spatious Orations which the Priests made of their Syrian Goddesse Elias mockt at those of Baals Priests continuing from morning to high noone Clamate voce maiori said he Crie aloud for he is a god that either talketh or pursueth his enemies or is in his journey or it may be that he sleepeth and must be awaked c. Our Sauior Christ aduising vs how we ought to pray saith When yee pray vse no vaine repetitions as the Heathen for they thinke to bee heard for their much babling It is now the fashion of the World to amplifie reasons and to inlarge it's discourses with the ornaments of Eloquence the floures of Rhetoricke choice Phrases and a great deale of artifice and cunning but that of Heauen consists of few words but is full of spirit and deuotion one single Paâ—er noster vttred with feruour is of more force than many vosario's without it When a Vessell sounds it is a signe it is emptie Moses treating with God sayd O my Lord I am not eloquent neither at any time haue beene c. but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue Moses was herin mistaken for I would haue thee to know that a talking tongue and a dumbe heart doe not sute wel together Diuine Bernard askes the question Why God in the Lords Prayer did put this word Qui est in Coelis Which art in Heauen being that he is present euerie where and in all places And his answer is That his desire was that our prayers should proceed with that feruencie and forcible ejaculations as if God could not heare vs vnlesse by our prayers we pierced Heauen As for our harpes we hanged them vp vpon the Willoughes Ruffinus saith That your Willoughes are but barren Trees and without fruit and when Prayer proceeds from a drie heart and a barren and vnfruitfull soule it is like the Harpe there spoken of that hangs vpon the Willoughes by the waters of Babylon In a word your Laconicall kind of Language that which is short full Nazianzen saith That it is The vttering of much matter in a few words and the fewer the words are the greater are the voyces of our desires When the Deuill left Iobs lips onely free from byles and sores he did not doe it out of any pittie towards him but out of a desire that hee had to draw some word of impatience or blasphemie from them but he was both deceiued and ashamed when he saw that he imployed them in these only foure praise-worthie words Sit nomen Domini benedictum Blessed be the name of the Lord. And say the Deuill should haue bereaued him of the vse of his lips and that he should not haue beene able to haue vttered a word yet his desires would haue spoken their mind in a loud voyce Cum inuocarem exaâ—diuit me Deus justiciae mea He calls him Deum justiciae meae The God of my righteousnesse not The God of my Prayer And why so The reason is Because Workes out-speake Words Saint Iohn saith That hee saw vnder the Alter the soules of the Martyrs Crying with a loud voyce How long Lord c. But if these soules
will but thy will â— Lord be done It was our Sauiours saying to his Father when praying in the Garden he besought him Let this Cup passe from me And in another place I descended downe from heauen not to doe myne owne will but the will of my Father that sent me Anselmus saith That a soueraigne will in man and which doth not submit it selfe vnto Gods will is the will of Worldlings and sauouring too much of the earth and this superioritie would if it knew how rob God of his priuiledges as proud Lucifer endeauoured to doe And in another place he tearmes a mans owne proper will Pestem lepram mundi The plague and leaprosie of the world and that God doth punish nothing more vpon earth and that there had neuer beene any Hell had it not beene propter propriam voluntatem for this selfe-will of ours Saint Bernard saith That it conuerteth good into ill and that it loseth the reward of Fasting whereby Heauen might be gained Alledging that of Esay Behold in the day of your fast you will seeke your will Cassianus reporteth of a holy Hermit That a friend of his at the houre of his death asking his aduise How he might be saued Answered That he was neuer wedded to his owne proper will Taulerius reporteth of a certaine Diuine That he did oftentimes desire of God That he would direct him to a Master that might teach him the way of his saluation and that at last he met with a poore man that was all ragged and torne God giue you the good day said he vnto him To whom the other replied I neuer had bad one yet What meanest thou by that quoth he He told him I did euer place my happinesse and content in submitting my wil to Gods wil and because his will diuides it selfe into good and euill contenting my selfe with his good will and pleasure I haue alwayes led a contented life But what said he wouldest thou doe if God should cast thee into Hell He answered My Soule hath two armes the one of Humilitie the other of Charitie with the one I would obey with the other I would take hold on God himselfe and would force him to descend downe with me into Hell and hauing him along with me I should enioy all happinesse and content Leo the Pope saith That the dispossession of our owne proper will Omnes fidâ—les instruxit omnes Confessores incendit omnes Martyres coronauit Instructed all the Faithfull inflamed all the Confessors and crowned all the Martyrs Ecce quem amas infirmatur Behold He whom thou louest is sicke This Ecce implies matter of admiration Behold one that is beloued of God and that is sicke The Angell said vnto Gideon The Lord is with thee thou valiant man But hee answered with a kind of admiration and wondring Ah my Lord If the Lord be with vs why then is all this euill come vpon vs This is a secret hidden from the eyes of the flesh wherein we are to acknowledge these two truths The one That Tribulation conserueth Vertue The other That God giues tribulation to his best friends as a reward of their great and good seruices Touching the former In that earthly Paradise Vertue was conserued in it's perfect rest and quiet because the goods of the bodie did concurre with the goods of the soule But this concord was broken through sinne and then vertue amidst it's ease and pleasure liued in greater danger but in it's tribulation in greater securitie Caietan saith That the certainest and most assured signe that Vertues are such strangers here vpon earth is for that they haue need of so many materialls of persecutions for their preseruation Fire being in it's own sphere is solely by it selfe conserued without any fuell to maintaine it or breath of aire to blow it the like succeedeth with Vertue Touching the second Saint Ambrose saith of Iob That before the stormes of affliction fell vpon him he was a holy man yet for all that had he not the reward of holy Virtutis praemium non habebat God had not rewarded him for this his vertue He had shewed himselfe a valiant souldier in peace but not a Conquerour in warre and that his troubles and afflictions bestowed vpon him the Palme of this his victorie He saith likewise of Ioseph That the temptation of his Mistresse clapt the Crowne of Chastitie vpon his head and the wrong he receiued by imprisonment was the Touch-stone of his valour Your earthly Crownes are made of gold but your heauenly Diadems of the thornes of tribulation Necesse fuit vt tentatio probaret te It was needfull that thou shouldst be tried by temptation But this is a Theame which hath beene beaten vpon heretofore and in many places much insisted vpon and therefore I will passe it ouer This sickenesse is not vnto death but for the glorie of God c. That great dangerous diseases honour the Physition that doth cure them that great and terrible tempests recommend the Pilots skill that can preserue the Ship amidst those cruell flawes and raging seas that great victories innoble the Captaines that obtaine them is a manifest and knowne truth but that those stormes which pricke and paine my feet should serue for flowers in Gods hands that those stones whereat I stumble should serue as Diamonds for his Crowne this is a hidden treasure and a secret mysterie of heauenly Phylosophie but so certain that in case God had not created the world for any other end than to throw tribulations vpon his friends it had beene a famous piece of worke and a most glorious Fabricke for so great is the glorie which a Saint drawes from his sufferings that he makes no reckoning of the paine that he indures And it is fitly tearmed glorie for that all our felicitie consisteth in the seeing of God Tribulation openeth the eyes of the Soule whereby wee come to see him the better Vexatio dat intellectum It is a kind of glorie to suffer affliction Heretofore sayd Iob Auditu auris audiuite nunc autem oculus meus videt te In my prosperitie ô Lord I had some knowledge of thee but now in my miserie sitting on the dunghill I haue seene thee with myne eyes I find a great difference between that which I heard and that which I now see Not that he saw God saith Saint Chrysostome but because his knowledge was by his miserie made more cleere After that man had fallen by sinne God gaue that to him for a punishment which before he had bestowed vpon him for entertainement He had placed him in Paradise to dresse keepe it afterwards he allotted it him as a chastisement In the sweat of thy browes c· and the mysterie is That Gods disfauour is Hell his fauour Heauen but trouble and affliction sent vs by God is like vnto Moses his Bush which the more it flamed the fresher it seemed for as it is obserued by Saint Gregorie
vestures of the Priests are their good workes Sacerdotes tui induantur iustitiam Let thy Priests be cloathed with Righteousnesse And these are to sound aloud being not holy onely in their tongue but also in their actions There must be a bell and there must be a clapper preaching and doing must goe together one will not doe well without the other Our Sauiour Christ aduiseth vs That we should hide our works and not make them knowne Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth Least the wind of vaine-glory chance to blow away the fruit thereof But in a Prince and a Prelat God would haue their workes to be more publike that they should not onely be holy but also seeme so for the good example of the people God placed Ioseph in the gouernment of Egypt because his life was so notoriously good that his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand It is a thing worthy the consideration That a Slaue in the house of an Infidell should professe so much vertue so much truth so much faithfulnesse so much courtesie and so much modestie that he should make him ruler of his house and put all that he had in his hand Oh how well beseeming are these and the like good things for the gouernment of a kingdome In regard of his death and that likewise for many good and great reasons First it was fitting That the testimonie of our Sauiours innocencie should precede to the end that it might appeare to the world that the Diuell by this his death was robbed and spoiled of his Empire through his righteousnes Saint Augustine deliuereth three things vpon this point The one That God did iustly deliuer man ouer to the Empire of the diuell for that he suffered himselfe to be ouercome by his subtletie and cunning The other That so great is the signiorie and dominion that the diuell hath ouer him that he neither can with all the strength that he hath ouercome his temptations nor auoid death which he incurred through sinne Not that the diuell had any more right or power ouer him than a hangman hath for the tormenting of a delinquent who receiues his command from the Iudge The third and last which is likewise of Leo and Saint Gregory the Pope That God might very well free man from the slauery and bondage of the diuell by his vertue and power without doing the diuell any wrong Euen as a Iudge who hath deliuered ouer an offender to the hangman to torment him may change his mind and set him free yet notwithstanding was willing to treat this busines by way of Iustice as if the diuell had proper right thereunto First for that it had beene but small glorie to Gods greatnes that the Creator should â—onâ—est with his creature and an infinite power with a limited Secondly That he might not make his iustice suspected For he that hath the least Iustice on his side doth now and then flye to his force and power The diuell was to be ouercome saith Saint Augustine by iustice and not by might Miro aequitatis iure certatum est said Leo the Pope Whence the Princes of the earth may learne this lesson That sithence the Prince of heauen proceeded so fairely and so iustly with so base and bad a creature hauing no tye or obligation thereunto let not any Prince of the earth presume to say Sic volo sic iubeo sit pro ratione voluntas But rather hearken to that of Iob If I refused to be iudged with my seruant c. Besides it is to be noted That the diuell did exceede his Commission and that God hauing giuen him power for to torment sinners he fell a tormenting of our Sauiour Christ who was most innocent he pursued him to the death till he had placed him vpon the Crosse. The cause was propounded in the Tribunall of the most blessed Trinitie the diuell was condemned and depriued of that power which was giuen him And so is that place of Saint Paul to be vnderstood De peccato damnauit peccatum And that of Saint Iohn Now is the iudgement of this world now shall the Prince of it be cast out That hapned to the diuell which befâ—ll Adam God gaue him free leaue and full liberty to inioy all the trees in Paradise saue one onely and no more and he onely pitcht his palat vpon that and tasted but of that one and no more God gaue the diuell leaue to tempt all onely interdicting him That he should not touch vpon our Sauiour Christ and yet he pusht most at him And to the end that this fault and punishment of the diuell should remaine notorious to the world it was fit that the testimony of his innocencie should goe before and that he should say Quis ex vobis c. Which of you c. Guaricus saith That the death Crosse of our Sauiour Christ was more the diuells death and crosse than his For our Sauiour Christ rose again the third day but the diuell neuer since was able to lift vp his head And as two going forth vpon a challenge into the field are vsually both run through and slaine so our Sauiour Christ and the diuel were both nayled to the Crosse Christ to his greater glory the diuell to his vtter destruction If I say the truth why doe ye not beleeue me The truth is the Blanke and Marke of our vnderstanding and being that man ought naturally to loue it it is a metaphisicall case that he should come to abhorre it In satisfaction of which difficulty we haue already rendered three reasons Whereunto we may here adde that other which our Sauiour Christ gaue vnto the Pharisees by Saint Iohn Yee seeke to kill me because my word hath no place in you There are some stomackes so ouerladen with euill humours That they no sooner receiue good meate but they vomit it vp againe and by a depraued disposition turne that which is sweet into sowernes In like sort there are some soules so full of hatred enuy couetousnesse and vncleanenesse that they rise at Gods truths and are ready to spue them vp though they be sweeter then the hony or hony-combe To him that is sicke of a Quartane the brawne of a Capon is vnsauourie but a pickled pilchard a strong onyon and a piece of powdered beefe haue an excellent rellish with him To a brest surcharged with the things of this world of force the doctrine of heauen must be vnsauoury Eyes that are couered with clouds as with a curtaine hate the light and cannot endure the splendour of the Sun Bonitatem disciplinam sciâ—ntiam docemini Saint Ierome renders it bonum gustum And from hence ariseth one of the greatest abuses in all the world to wit That we are readier to beleeue an enemie that lyes vnto vs than a friend that tells vs the truth In
all Arts either Liâ—â—rall or Mechaniâ—all we giue 〈◊〉 â—redit to them that are therein most eminent As to the best Diuine the best Physitian the best Lawyer and to him that is our best friend because we are fully persuaded that he will not deale doubly with vs but deliuer vs the very truth and represent things as they are In the saluation of the soule we will not beleeue our Sauiour who is the best Artist and our best friend but the diuell the world and the flesh which are our three mortall enemies The first being the father of lyes the first cause and first inuenter of them that is to say Ex proprijs loquitur out of his owne Mynt he coynes them the other two haue inherited and professed lying time out of mind fiue thousand yeares agoe and vpward If it be not as I tell you tell me I pray when did the world treat truth Salomon stiles it Diuitem mendacem A rich lyar As for the flesh when did that euer leaue off to lye it was one of Sampsons fooleries That he knowing the intention of his false hearted Dalila and that her purpose was to deliuer him vp into the hands of the Philistims and hauing thrice caught her with the theft as we say in her hand yet for all this faire warning would not take better heede but melting with two drops two poore teares that trickled downe her cheekes stickt not to reueale vnto her the secret of his strength and where it lay And Dalila complaining Thou hast thrice beguiled me and told me lyes yet this good honest man neuer titted her in the teeth with her lightnes and her treason It is a strange kind of blindnes That thy flesh should commit so many treasons and poppe thee in the mouth with so many lies and yet thou shouldest still beleeue her But the Moores beleeue Mahomet who lyes vnto them The Gentiles those Idols that deceiue them and onely Christ comes to be the descreydo a man of no credit among vs and to whom we will not giue beleefe S. Bernard talking in his name with a Christian askes him the question Why doest thou more affect my enemie and thine than me I did create thee I did redeeme thee with my blood I did beare thee vp in the palmes of my hands Sure it is because thy soule is full of euill humours A foole receiues not the words of Wisedome vnlesse thou tell him that which is in his owne heart It is Salomons As is an house that is destroyed so is wisedome vnto a foole There is nothing more pleasing and peaceable than a well built house and nothing more vnpleasing and vnpeaceable than an old ruinous house that is ready to fall And so is wisedome to a foole If I say the truth c. One of the most lamentable miseries of this age is That truth doth not carry that credit and estimation as a lye doth As the true sores of a poore wretched creature doth not mooue mans heart to that pittie as your false ones doe so truth doe not generally goe so farre as doth a lye For a lye is no sooner sowne but it presently growes vp and spreads it selfe amaine ô good God how easily is it beleeued how willingly entertained Our Sauiour Christ being risen the High Priests and other the Prelates of those times persuaded the souldiers that were set to gard the graue that they should giue it out that his Disciples had stolne him away But how my Masters replyde the souldiers can we doe this without danger to our selues or be able to answer the matter For if the President should call vs to account and examine vs about it eyther we must answer that we were asleepe and testigos dormidos you know no hazen â—e Sleeping witnesses will not be admitted for proofe nor stand good in Law Or that his Disciples did set vpon vs and tooke him thence by force which likewise will hardly be beleeued and will not sound halfe handsomely First that silly fishermen should set vpon souldiers Secondly the stone not being taken away we cannot well auouch that they stole him away yet notwithstanding the Clergie were instant vpon them and told them doe you but say as we bid you and it is enough for If it come to the Presidents eare we will worke with him well enough Whereupon hauing withall well greased their fists they published the theft And the glorious Euangelist Saint Matthew tells vs This saying is noysed amongst the Iewes vnto this day The like passeth in point of Heresie What hath ruined so many Kingdomes destroyed so many Churches and tormented so many Saints but the lyes of your Arch-Heretikes who will not pardon God himselfe In a word God was to come into the world for to giue testimony of the truth Whereas for the receiuing of a lye one wicked mans asseueration is sufficient Osee saith That there is no truth in the earth no mercy no knowledge of God but that all is lies thefts murders and adulteries Mendacium furtum homicidium inundauerunt Where the word inundauerunt is worthy your weighing A riuer while it runnes betweene two bankes and keepes it sâ—lfe within it's bounds the wayes are free and open to all But when it leapes out of his bed and ouerflowes the fields and the high wayes you know not in the world how to finde sure footing nor where you or your horse may safely tread There were euermore lyes in the world but now they haue broken their bounds in that strange manner and leapt so farre from forth their bed that no man well knowes which way to take What a world of Euidences did Dauid shew vnto Saul of his loue vnto him What notable seruices did he doe him in that hiâ— single combat against Goliah In getting so many victories against the Philistims In playing vnto him vpon the harpe when the diuell tormented him Afterward Saul pursuing him in the mountaines hunting after his death as if he had beene a beare or wild bore once Dauid tooke away his speare and the pot of water that stood at his beds head another time he cut off the lappet of his garment This Saul saw with his eyes and confessed it with his mouth saying Iustior me es Thou art more righteous than I. And yet in the end he gaue more credit to those lyes which your Court whisperers buzz'd into his eares than to those truths which himselfe felâ— with his hands He that is of God heareth Gods words ye therefore heare them not because ye are not of God Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory expound this place of your Prâ—cogniti and those thaâ— are predestinâ—ted And S. Iohn doth diuide al the whole world into two sorts of persons Qui ex deo est non peccat qui peccat ex diabolo est The children of God and the children of the diuell The one heares Gods Word the other heares it not And though this be not a
There is not any thing so hid and buried that though it lie couered for a time is not in the end discouered Of Fire and of Loue Vlisses saâ—d Quis enim celauerit ignem Who can hide them but the same may be better verified of the Truth Well may falshood and passion assisted by tyranny and power hide and bury it selfe but in the end There is nothing so secret but shall be reuealed For time is a great discouerer of truths Plutarch reporteth in his Apothegmes That at the sacrifices of Saturne whom they adored for the god of Time the Priests had their heads couered till the Sacrifice was fully ended a ceremonie which was not suffered by any other of the gods And the mystery thereof was That Time doth couer things now and then for a while but discouers them at last And therefore Pindarus said That the latter dayes were the faithfullest witnesses Time sometime sleepeth but it awakes againe But in case it fall asleep and neuer wake any more Est qui quaerat iudicet God is still ready at hand who searching out the truth will iudge his owne cause Obliuion hath two bosomes wherein she burieth those things which she most desireth to blot out of the remembrance of the world The one the bottom of the Sea The other the bowels of the Earth Into the Sea many Tyrants haue throwne the bodies and ashes of the Saints to the end that being deuoured by fishes or drowned in the deepe they might not be adored on earth as we may reade in the History of Saint Clâ—â—ent and diuers others In the earth men burie the Dead Highway Robbers their spoyls Theeues their thefts they that are either subdued by conquest or banished their country their treasure as Cacus did those cowes he had stolne in his caue But God causeth those things that are the heauiest and the weightiest and cast into the bottome of the Sea to swim like corke aboue water and maketh the earth to vomit forth her most secret and hidden treasures For Nihil occultum c. There is nothing so secret which shall not be reuealed There is one that seeketh it and iudgeth it O Lord Thou remittest this cause to thy father and thy father remits all vnto thee I answer when I tooke the rod to reuenge the wrongs and iniuries of the world I was not to be like vnto sparks that are quickly kindled nor subiect to any the least passion of anger for a Iudge that is so affected cannot be a competent Iudge in his owne cause And therfore Est qui quaerat iudicet My Father is to redresse this wrong he is to looke vnto it Whence I inferre That if our Sauiour Christ in whom there could nâ—t be any kind of passion did remit to his Father the iudging of his cause hardly can a Iudge of flesh sentence his owne cause King Dauid being at the point of death willed his sonne Salomon that he should take away the liues of Ioab and Shimei He thereupon caused Ioab to be slaine but onely confined Shimei The reason that induced him to mittigate Shimei his sentence and not that of Ioâ—b was because the offences which Ioab had committed were not done directly against his father Dauid but against Abner and Amasa whom he had ill killed Whereas Shimeis fault was in affronting the Kings person and because it might happily be thought that he might be carried away with too much passion or affection in this his fathers cause hee deferred his death till hee should fall through his owne default which he afterwards did and then Salomon reckoned with him for the old and the new The woman of Tekoah receiuing her instructions from Ioab entred the Palace and hauing put on mourning apparell as a woman that had now long time mourned for the dead and falling downe on her face to the ground and doing her obeysance she spake thus vnto him I am a poore widow my husband is dead and thine handmaid had two sonnes and they two stroue together in the field and there was none to part them so the one smot the other and slew him And behold the whole family is risen against thine handmaid crying out Deliuer him that smot his brother that we may kill him for the soule of his brother whom he slew that we may destroy the heyre also So shall they quench my sparkle that is left and shall not leaue to mine husband neither name nor posteritie vpon the earth and I my selfe shall remaine a miserable mother not hauing any child left me to be a stay and comfort vnto me in my old dayes Woe is me that I must be depriued of both my sons in one day The King pittying her wretched condition said vnto her I will take order for the freeing of thy sonne And to send her away well satisfied vowed vnto her by that his vsuall asseueration as the Lord liueth there shall not one haire of thy sonne fall to the earth Whereupon she taking her leaue said vnto him Let my Lord the King shew himselfe as free from passion in his owne proper cause as he hath in another mans Wilt thou free my sonne that hath slaine his brother and wilt thou not free Absalon that slew Ammon Rupertus saith That Eâ—es hurt consisted in the misprision of the fruit and the ill iudgement that shee made in the choice of the apple For being too much wedded to her owne appearing good opinion the eyes of the body persuaded those of the soule that in so faire a fruit it was impossible to find death Then tooke they vp stoâ—es to cast at him Tyranny and persecution euermore attended the Saints of God But there was this difference betwixt them and our Sauiour Christ That your Tyrants did seeke to reduce these other to the adoring of their gods one while with promises another while by threatnings now with curtesies and kindnesses and by and by againe with sundry sorâ—s of torments There was scarce any famous Martyr which did not tread in his martyrdome in this path nor any Tyrant which did not take this course with them And perhaps they followed herein the steps of Nebuchadnezzar who as the glorious Doctor Saint Chrysostome hath obserued for those who would not adore his Statue had a hot fierie furnace whose flames ascended forty nine cubits in heigth and for those that did adore it he had all sorts of exquisite musicke and choice instruments warring against vertue with pleasure and with paine But our Sauiour Christ was alwayes ill intreated by the world In the desart the diuell once offered him stones The Pharisees many times When he was borne in Bethlem he had not wherewithall to defend him from the cold but was forced to be laid in the cratch among the beasts Whilest he liued here in the world he had not any to relieue his hunger The day that hee entred in Triumph into Ierusalem he went forth into the field to
some fryed on the Gridyron some sawne some dragged at the â—ailes of horses some with their skinnes pluckt ouer their eares and some tormented with sundrie other torments the Deuill blowing the coles of crueltie in the mouthes and hearts of the Executioners But in the end those cuts and slashes passe no further than the cloake they wound the bodie but not the soule God of his mercie giue vs the grace to endure this our fireie triall when persecution shall set vpon vs that being purified in the Furnace of Tribulation we may be like Gold that is refined and shine with glorie in the sight of God To whom c. THE XXXIIII SERMON VPON THE TUESDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOHN 7. Ambulabat Iesus in Galileam non enim volebat in Iudaeam ambulare quia quaerebant Iudaei interficere AFter these things Iesus walked in Galilee and would not walke in Iudaea for the Iewes sought to kill him After these things that is after those great myracles which he had wrought in Capernaum and after that most deepe and learned Sermon of his bodie and bloud Saint Iohn saith That our Sauiour Christ retyring himselfe from Iudaea went and wrought myracles in the Cities of Galilee because the Iews sought to kill him And because the enuious Murmurer may chance to say That hee withdrew himselfe from Iudaea lest the Scribes and Pharisees should discouer his trickes and find out his false play the Euangelist addeth That there was no such matter to be feared but that waiting for the houre of his death alreadie determined in Heauen he was desirous in the interim to slinke out of the way to free and deliuer his bodie from that malice and danger which he saw it was like to be subiect vnto in Iudaea The Greeke Texts read In Iudaea Galilaea but Saint Augustine Saint Cyril and Saint Chrysostome read it in the Acusatiue In Iudaeam Galileam id est Per Galileam Saint Chrysostome saith Non poterat ambulare in Iudaeam which is all one with Nolebat He could not that is He would not which is an vsuall phrase of speech Iesus walked in Galilee c. It is made a generall doubt amongst all the Commentators Why our Sauiour Christ being able to triumph so easily ouer the power and malice of his enemies should withdraw himselfe from their presence whom he might if he would haue trampled vnder his feet To prooâ—e which point were a needlesse labour there beeing so many Prophecies and so many places of the one and the other Testament which say as much and those loud shrieking cries which the Deuills roared forth affrighted and turning cowards in his presence are sufficient proofes thereof likewise Deaths cowardlinesse confirmes the same Egredietur Diabolus ante faciem eius ibit Mors the ouerthrowing of the Roman Cohorts with one onely word his causing the stones to freeze to their fingers that had so often sought to stone him to death his leauing them lying on the ground in a swoune that came to apprehend him are testimonies without exception Why then at euery step doth Christ retyre himselfe and seeke to get from them Saint Augustine makes this difficulty seeme greater in his bookes de Ciuit. Dei For reprehending Cato Vticensis who that he might not fall into Caesars hands killed himselfe he saith That for a man to flye from tribulation and danger is a kind of Cowardize And Saint Paul saith I know that bonds and afflictions abide for me at Ierusalem but I passe not at all neither is my life deare vnto me c. Esay going about to relate in his 52 chapter that which our Sauiour was to suffer doth first set downe by way of interrogation Who will beleeue that which Gods arme is to suffer He calls his diuine power his Arme because God shewed his power in nothing more than in his passioÌ„ Tertullian in his book de Patientia saith That God did not expresse his power so much in parcendo as in patiendo in pardoning as in suffering That saying of the Church is worthy the weighing Qui omnipotentiam tuam parcendo maxime miserando manifestus Who shewest thy omnipotency in nothing more than in pittying and pardoning offenders But what hath the strength of suffering to doe with the weaknesse of flying Petrus Chrisologus in a Sermon of his De fuga Domini taxeth the Euangelists for relating our Sauiour Christs flying For a souldier saith he should publish his constancie his valour the strength of his arme and aduance the noble Acts and conquests of his Captaine but not his weakenesses and his feares Behold againe the difficultie in regard of that our Sauiours great anguish both in body and soule before he was to dye None in the world did euer more desire to dye than he did as hath already been proooued vnto you If then sweet Iesus thou doest so much desire death and that the Iewes hunt after thee for no other end Why doest thou flye Before that I resolue this doubt we are to confesse and acknowledge with all possible humilitie that mans vnderstanding comes farre short of Gods thoughts Esay saith see how much distance there is betweene heauen and earth so much is there betweene the imaginations of God and man And therefore the Spouse said That they were high and black high like the Palme tree and blacke as the Rauens quill Who saith Ecclesiasticus can count the sands of the sea the drops of the deaw or the dayes of the world Now if humane wisedome cannot attaine vnto those things which she hath as it were betweene her hands she will lesse be able to search into the secret counsells of God And therefore the Wise man doth aduise thee Seeke not into those things that are too high for thee This way being thus made let vs now proceed to the reasons of the Saints The first is of Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome Our Sauiour Christ was God according to his Diuine nature and man according to his humane nature and the confession of the one being as necessary as the other he had in all his actions a great respect vnto them both All his words and deeds still tended to this that he might be beleeued to be both God and man Saint Augustine saith That his withdrawing himselfe aside as a man did not withdraw from his power as hee was God and his throwing downe of his enemie flat on the ground as he was God did not take from him his weaknesse as he was man If Christ should not haue showen in the flesh the condition of flesh in vaine had he taken flesh vpon him and if he should alwayes haue done the workes and actions of a God and giuen perpetuall pledges of his Diuine nature to what vse would haue serued his cloathing himselfe with humane flesh If Christ should haue beene a continuall Miracle what roome would there haue been left for faith or what reward could that haue receiued The second is
Diuell of the world or the flesh must flye vnto that fountaine which is God My soule thirsteth after God who is the fountaine of life The fourth That though he were able to haue trod downe all his enemies vnder his feet yet he flyeth from themâ— For a man will not alwayes shew all that he knowes nor doe all that he can Your foolish Princes make ostentation of their power but wise Princes of their Iustice. The one make their power their reason the other make their reason their power Sit pro ratione voluntas Pilat pressed our Sauiour Christ with his power Knowest thou not that I haue power to set thee free but because he was a Tyrant he forgot his iustice But our Sauiour Christ he forgot his power and reades vnto vs a Lecture of Prudence Teaching vs that we must reserue our power and our wisedome for some good occasion The fifth and last That albeit our Sauiour Christ felt the anguish and agonies of death yet were they nothing like vnto those his enemies felt for to worke his death For his death was not to be at their appointment nor how and when they would haue it The Pharisees sought to make him away secretly in a corner but he would dye in the face and sight of all the world For the greater his shame was the greater was our redemption The Pharisees would not haue it on a festiuall day Our Sauiour Christ that it should be vpon a festiuall day for it was to be the greatest feast that was euer made for man The Pharisees would haue had him rid out of the way presently Christ that it should not be till his houre was come and that he had finished all things that his Father had giuen him in charge And for this cause when they sought after him hee fled from them and when they did not seeke after him he came himselfe into the Shambles Elias fled from Iezabel that he might not dye by her hand and yet afterwards sitting vnder the Iuniper tree he desired death The Iuniper tree was a Type and figure of the Crosse for which was reserued not onely a willingnes but also a sit season to die His brethren therefore said vnto him Depart hence and goe into Iudâ—a These great and wondrous workes of thine said his brethren are not fit for these Galileans being that they are but a rude ignoraÌ„t people Get thee to Iudea for there are the High Priests and the Doctors of the Law for whom the examination and iudgement of these wonders is reserued Euthymius saith That our Sauiours brethren went hypocritically to worke and that making honour the bayt they would with that haue drawne him along to Iudaea Saint Chrysostome That they did herein taxe Christ of a kind of Dastardlinesse and fearefulnesse as if they should haue said Lord thou doest on the one side pretend honour an don the other side thou art afraid that thy Miracles should be examined and come to the touch and this makes thee flye from Iudaea So that it seemeth to this sacred Doctour That Christs kinsmen were doubtfull of the truth of his workes Whence it followeth That those whom the Euangelist here calleth Christs brethren were not of the Twelue because he sayth of them His brethren beleeued not in him But others We know and beleeue that thou art the Sonne of God But that place of Saint Matthew doth prooue it more plainely where when Christ preached one came vnto him and told him Thy mother and thy brethren stay without to speake with thee But hee stretching out his hand to his Disciples said These are my mother and my brethren In the first chapter of the Acts naming the Apostles and amongst them Iacobus Alphei Simon and Iudas he presently sayes These did perseuere in prayer with the women with the mother of our Lord and with his brethren Now his brethren were not of the number of the Apostles And of this opinion is Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome Saint Augustine saith That the end of this their counsell was Ambition and that it seeming vnto them that they should haue some share thereby in Christs glory said vnto him Transi hinc And to him that shall obiect that of S. Iohn His brethren beleeued not in him I answer thereunto That they did not beleeue that he was the promised Messias But withall That they did not doubt of the truth of his workes but did onely desire to see them qualified and approued by the Scribes and Pharisees who were well skild in all the prophesies My time is not yet come Two things make this opinion of Saint Augustines very probable The one That it is very common and vsuall with men to seeke to get honor and profit from the prosperitie and glory of a kinseman And albeit it is very likely that they did know that in Iudaea they would seeke to take away his life from him yet the thirst of their ambition was so great that they affected honour though it were to bee effected at the cost of their kinsmans life as the sonnes of Zebedee did their seates And he might as well haue sayd vnto them Ye know not what ye aske for it is not Gods fashion to conferre fauours for respect of country or kindred The Princes of the earth oftentimes take this course making a coward a Captaine and putting a Hare into a Lyons place But God doth not hold him worthy of reward or of the least praise who is not priuiledged as well for it by his owne proper vertue as by blood and alliance The Iewes accounted it a great honour vnto them that they were the sonnes of Abraham but because there was no shew of worth in themselues our Sauiour takes them vp very short telling them Ye are of your father the diuell And therefore there is no honour due vnto you And it is Aristotles saying in his Ethnickes Ab hu quae à natura insunt nec laudamur nec vituperamur Many Pagan Princes did follow this tracke Plutarch reporteth of King Antigonus That a young Souldier preferring a suit vnto him he returned him this answer I euermore bestow my fauours on those that deserue the same in themselues and not in others Pirrhus King of the Epyrots his sonnes vrging him to tell them which of them should be his heire and succeed him in his Kingdome answered He whose sword hath the sharpest edge The other Is our Sauiours Christ own answer My time is not yet come Which according to Saint Augustine was as if he should haue said ye would haue glory and take no paines for it And therefore he saith vnto them Your time is alwayes readie but with me my Crosse must goe before my glory I must mount by humilitie Now from these two considerations I will draw this one profitable pâ—int That when a fauour is throwne vpon a man vpon any other Title or Claime saue his owne proper vertue and
merit it is rather an affront than an honor They giue thee an office or some dignitie because thou hast presented them with some foolish bable or other or hast carryed a shooe-clout in thy pocket to wipe such a Noble mans shooe it is an infamous Title both in the giuer and the receiuer They doe thee some fauour for kindreds sake and because thou art of their blood it is a Title of little honour to him that receiues it and of lesse Christianitie in him that giues it They preferre thee to be the Princes seruant what good does that doe thee It is so base a Title That no Noble Spirit will desire it Thou gettest thy pretension by offering thy loue and seruice to this or that Court Lady it is a dangerous pretension Thou art raised by such a Lord because thou hast serued him in his vnlawfull pleasures this is a damnable Title God conferres his fauours vpon no other Title than a mans owne proper vertue Vpon Noah But why Because thou wast vpright before me in thy generation And in the day of iudgement who are they that shall be rewarded and why shall they be rewarded Come ye blessed of my Father receiue a Kingdome For I was hungry c. Vpon this Title is grounded the reward of a good death Blessed are they that dye in the Lord for their workes follow them Not because he was an Apostle a Prophet a Doctor a Confessor a Prince a Prelat can he pretend a reward but because he was a good Christian and did all the duties belonging thereunto Their works follow them as a handmaid doth her Mistres or a Page his Master If thou wilt haue honour striue to win it Your Antients set two vessells before Iupiter The one of exceeding sweet liquor the other exceeding sower and no man could come to taste of the hony vnlesse he did first trie the gall The Romans had two Temples adioyning each to other one of Honour the other of Vertue but there was no comming to that of Honour but by that of Vertue My time is not yet come but yours is alwayes ready I expect eternall and perdurable glory but yee short and momentary in regard of mine Christ must suffer and so enter into glory But this time is not yet come for you Your time is alwayes ready That season sutes best with you that is seasoned with honours and pleasures This is the North-starre of the world All sayle by it S. Augustine in his bookes de Ciuit. Dei prooueth with great elegancie That the Romans had not any God which they so much adored as that of Honour and for the Author of this truth he alledgeth Salust Ista ergo landis auiditas cupido gloriae omnia illa miranda fecit laudabilia scilicet atque gloriosa secundum existimationem hoâ—â—num This greedines of humane glory triumphed ouer all the rest of the things in Rome and not onely in Rome but in Greece And in most of your other Nations there was not a Captaine or Philosopher which did not eclipse all the other vertues that he inioyed with the shadow of this desire of Honour This did Seneca Plutarch Aristotle and Plato pretend And Socrates himselfe who did so much blazâ—n his pouertie and seem'd to take a pride in it came to be an Idolater of Honor and Fame This pill they swallowed downe and conceiuing a kind of immortality to be lapt therein cram'd their conceits therewith making the discommodity of life dangers sweats troubles c. seeme sauoury vnto them Which is a kind of birdlime which clingeth so close to our hearts that Gods greatest Saints do complaine and bewaile the great difficulty in being loosed and freed therefro Saint August did intreat of God with teares and sighes that he would free him from this plague Domine sine secatione tentamur tu nosti de hac re ad te gemitum cordis mei flumina oculorum meorum And if a Saint so humbly minded as none more doth thus weepe sigh and groane what shall become of him that is as arrogant as hee is ignorant And in another place this Sacred Doctor saith The purer thou art from this vncleannesse the liker shalt thou be vnto God And in an Epistle of his hee saith That by how much the Moone is more full and faire in our eyes it participateth so much the lesse of the same which is all one with that of Ecclesiast The light thereof diminisheth vnto the end and groweth wondrously in her changing These words seeme to carry a contrarietie but it is not so for the Moone doth decrease to our seeming towards the end of it's waning and yet euen at that very time it increaseth wonderfully receiuing from the Sun by the contrary part a far greater light It seemed then to these kins folke of Iesus Christ our Redeemer That the Feast of Ierusalem was a fit time for to gaine much honour and therefore said vnto him Depart hence and manifest thy selfe to the world Whereunto hee answered ye desire to see me in great honour and estimation with the world expecting out of my reputation and credit to reape vnto your selues a temporall reward but I doe rather desire to see my selfe dis-esteemed of the world because thereupon dependeth your spirituall promotion Saint Bernard discoursing how the blessed Virgin Mary and the glorious Saint Ioseph went to seeke Iesus when he was lost when he was 12 yeare old amongst his kindred and acquaintance saith That many miscarry by their kinsfolks means And I my selfe haue known many Prelats of very good parts and extraordinarie gifts of whom I haue beene afraid that their kinsfolke haue beene the cause of their condemnation and casting downe into hell For it is a wofull case That for 200 Ducats pension which a Prelat bestowes on a Student hee should oblige him to run ouer all the Diuine Seruice and not to leaue out so much as any one prayer and that he should confer on a kinseman thirty thousand Ducats pension without obliging him to pray a Pater-noster or say an Aue-Mary Two bloody mischiefes come vnto vs by our brethren and kindred The one in point of precedencie Enuie working most vpon those that are brethren especially if one get the start of the other or chance to be preferred before him As the History of Iosephs brethren proueth it vnto vs who for those his dreames of his future prosperity put him down into a pit and sold him away So stood the case in Abimilecks busines who for Superiorities sake and that hee might raigne slew at once 70 of his brethren Holy king Dauid could not escape this mischiefe His brethren could haue eaten him as we say with salt to see that he should pop forth and enter into the field with that mettall and courage against that great Gyant Goliah himselfe being the least amongst his brethren And was it not so I pray with Abel and Cain For a brother
apprehend Dauid Michal saued his life by letting him out a window Why did they not follow in pursuit of him being so much offended as they were at this tricke which Michâ—l had put vpon them Some Hebrewes make answer hereunto That God had damd vp the window or cast a myst before their eyess that they could not perceiue the manner of his escape Ecclesiasticus saith The congregation of the wicked is like tow wrapped together Their end is a flame of fire to destroy them An Armie of Reprobates can no more stand against the godly than bundles of Towe or Flaxe before a flaming fire How long c. The Iewes comming round about our Sauiour they said vnto him Quousque c. How long doest thou make vs doubt As Loue transformeth a man so doth Hate Vulnerasti cor meum soror mea said the Bridegroome to his Spouse Another letter hath it Excordasti Which alludeth vnto that which the Spouse answered Ego Dormio cor meum vigilat But how can the Spouse sleepe and her heart wake yes her husband had stolne away her heart and that waked with him when she was asleepe Now Hate no lesse transformeth than Loue. Saul did not liue in himselfe but in Dauid Haman not in himselfe but in Mardochee the Pharisees not in themselues but in Christ. And therfore they say Thou causest our soules to doubt Thou hast robd vs of our soules we are not our selues but as bodies without a soule And in token that the cause of this their suspension was Enuie they confesse these their so many distractions vexations and torments of the mind All other kind of sinnes bring paine and torment with them but it is after they haue tasted of their sinnes but Enuie torments before hand The Pharisees had scarce seen Christs Miracles and the applause which his doctrine had in the world when they began to suffer and to be grieued And this is the reason why this Vice is harder to be cured than any other Good doth ordinarily quench ill as water quencheth fire But Enuie because it makes another mans good his ill that which to other vices is death is to Enuy life It is the fire of brimstone which the more water you throw on it the more it burneth They came about mee like so many Bees who are exasperated and grow angry with those that doe them no harme but good They waxed hot like fire among thornes which no water can quench Animam nostram tollis Where I would haue thee to weigh the word Tollis Thou takest away our soule thou makest vs to doubt c. Thou art in fault that we liue in this paine and passion It is the common course of your greatest sinners to lay the blame of their sinne vpon God O Lord Why hast thou made vs to erre from thy wayes saith Esay and hardned our heart from thy feare It is a sin inherited from Adam who laid the fault of eating the apple vpon God The woman which thou gauest me to be with me c. She that thou gauest me to be my companion to be my cherisher and my comforter Who would haue thought that she would haue intreated any thing at my hands that should not haue beene very lawfull and honest The sicke man is wont to lay the fault on the Clymat wherein hee liueth and on those meates wherewith hee is nourished Seneca tells a tale of a certaine Shee-slaue who one morning when she awaked finding her selfe blind laid the fault that she could not see vpon the house desiring that she might be remooued to another The cause of your Eclypses is the earth which interposes it selfe betweene the Sunne and the Moone Whereas hee that shall impute the fault to the Sun shall but betray his ignorance Of the Eclipses of these Iewes the cause thereof was their passions their couetousnesse and their enuie If our Sauiour Christ preached vnto them they desired Miracles if he wrought Miracles they desired Doctrine from his workes they appealed to his words and from his words to his workes and laying the fault on the Sun they said Animam nostram tollis Thou makest vs to doubt If thou be the Christ tell vs plainly In three words they vttered three notorious lies The first Dic nobis palam Tell vs plainly for all that thou hast hitherto sayd vnto vs is as nothing The second Dic nobis palam and we will beleeue thee The third Dic nobis palam for that is the reason why wee haue not hitherto beleeued thee Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome haue both obserued that in these their lies there was a great deale of craft subtletie which was this That the Iewes did still presume that our Sauiour Christ would boast himselfe to bee King of the Iewes and that he was temporally to sit in Dauids Throne they went about to draw this from him that they might haue some ground of accusation against him and therefore they thus cried out vnto him Dic nobis palam Tel vs plainly for in all the rest that they desired of him our Sauiour Christ had giuen them full satisfaction For if Palam be to publish a thing openly and not to doe it in hugger-mugger or in some by-corner or other I haue alwayes preached publiquely in your Synagogues and in the middest of your Market-places And I sayd nothing in secret If Palam shall carrie with it a kind of boldnesse and libertie yee may call to mind my whipping of you out of the Temple the seueritie of my reprehensions and that I called yee the children of the Deuill that I might publish your euill thoughts to the world c. If Palam shall signifie Cleerely or Manifestly what more cleere or manifest truth could ye heare than that which I haue preached vnto you Wil you that I shal tel you in a word who I am I and the father am one Of the materiall Sunne a man may complaine That an earnest eying of it and a steadie fixed looking thereupon may make vs blind but on the Sunne of Righteousnesse no man can lay this fault for hee himselfe giues that light whereby our eyes are inabled to see The commandement of the Lord is pure and giueth light vnto the eyes And therefore Saint Paul calls the old Law Night and the Law of Grace Day In that Law the Sunne had not shewed it selfe all was clouds and darkenesse and albeit they did inioy some light it was but a glimpse or as the light of a candle through some little chinke but when the Sonne of God appeared in the flesh that darkenesse of the night was driuen away and the day appeared c. I told yee and yee beleeue not the workes that I doe in my fathers name they beare witnesse of me Our Sauiour Christ had prooued himselfe to be both God and Man by such conuenient meanes that it had beene follie if not meere madnesse to haue desired better
and let his desire fall What Moses art thou now turned coward What had it been to thee to haue lost thy life for to behold God face to face We find afterwards that desiring pardon for his People he said vnto God O Lord pardon this People though thou blot my name out of the booke of Life Wouldest thou not forgoe thy life to see Gods face and wilt thou part with this and that other life for thy people That was a particular good this a common and a Gouernor ought mainly and especially to haue an eye vnto that Those Cowes which carried the Arke to Bethshemish neuer turned their heads at the lowing of their Calfes because being guided led along with the loue zeale of the common good they forgat their particular longings and desires He that gouernes must fix his eâ—e vpon this White without turning it aside through the importunitie of wife childrâ—n or kinsfolke c. The Romans will come This was but to giue a colour to the violence of their enuie and malice All the world is a Maske or disguise Dionysius the Tyrant entring into a Temple of Idols tooke away from the chiefest amongst them a cloake of gold and being demanded Why hee did it his answere was This cloake is too heauie for the Sommer and too cold for Winter Taking likewise a golden beard from Aesculapius he said That his father Apollo hauing no beard there was no reason his sonne should weare any all which was but a maske for his couetousnesse Simâ—lata sanctitas duplex iniquitas Hence come our contrarie nick-naming of things tearming good euill and euill good sweet sowre and sowre sweet The tyrannie and crueltie wherewith Pharaoh afflicted Gods people he stiled it wisedome Come let vs deale wisely Iehu called that passion and spleene which he bare against Ahab Zeale Behold my zeale for the Lord. Those perills of life whereinto Saul put Dauid he proclaimed to be Gods quarell Goe and fight the Lords battells And here the Pharisees call this their conspiracie a Councell and their priuat profit Zeale c. Yee perceiue nothing at all neither doe yee consider c. This was Caiphas speech as for Ioseph of Arimathea of whom Saint Luke saith That he did not consent to the councell and â—eed of them And for Nicodemus and Gamaliel it is verie probable that they had no finger in the businesse but as it is in the prouerbe The head draweth the rest of the bodie after it as the Primum mobile doth the rest of the Heauens and therefore he sayd Yee know nothing for that when in a Commonwealth a Citisen differs in his opinion from a companie of impudent and wicked persons and liues therein with God and a good conscience presently they say Que sabe poco That he is a man of no vnderstanding and knoweth not what hee speakes The reason that Caiphas renders is this It is expedient for vs that one man die for the people rather than that the whole Nation should perish At that verie instant when the High-Priest was to pronounce this decree the Holy-Ghost and the Deuil mooued him therunto both at once the one directed his heart the other his tongue but in Caiphas his purpose and intention it was the wickedest Decree and the most sacrilegious determination that was euer deliuered in the World God could not bee well pleased with Caiphas for desiring the death of the Innocent nor yet displeased with his death for that it was decreed in the sacred Councel of the blessed Trinitie That one should die for the sinnes of the people But in God and Caiphas the ends were diuerse this out of malice to our Sauiour that out of loue to Mankind Nor is it inconuenient that one and the selfesame proposition should haue a different sence and meaning Destroy this Temple and I will build it vp againe in three dayes The Pharisees vnderstood this of the materiall Temple but our Sauiour Christ of the Temple of his bodie That which thou doost due quickely Our Sauiour Christ spake this of Iudas his treating to sell him but his Disciples vnderstood him as concerning the preparation of the Passeouer And so in this place It is fit that this man should die saith Caiphas that we may not become captiues to Rome and Heauen saith It is fit that hee should die because the whole World should not perish The persecution and death of a Martyr turnes to the Martyrs good but to the Tyrants hurt Surely the Sonne of man goeth his way as it is written of him but woe be to that man by whom the Sonne of man is betrayed it had beene good for that man if he had neuer beene borne Heauen could not inuent a more conuenient meanes than the death of Christ for our good but the world could not light on a worse meanes than the death of our Sauiour Christ for it 's owne ill Caiphas treated of temporall libertie the Holy Ghost of spirituall libertie Caiphas of the safetie of his owne Nation the Holâ—-Ghost of the sauing of the whole world And therefore Saint Iohn addeth Non solum pro Gente or as the Greeke Text hath it Pro ea Gente sed vt filiâ—s Deâ— qui erant disperâ—i congregaret in vnum Not onely for that Nation but that hee might gather the children of God together that were dispersed throughout the world Origen hath obserued That Caiphas prophesied but that he was no Prophet First Because one action of a Prophet doth not make the habit or denomination of a Prophet Secondly because he did not attaine vnto the sence and meaning of the Holy-Ghost the knowledge whereof in point of prophesie is necessarie S. Ambrose saith That Caiphas pretended one thing vttered another therefore that he sin'd in the sentence which he pronounced because hisintent was bad vniust as it was with Balaam who as he was a Prophet could not curse the people of Israell but as they were particular persons they did sinne and erre so that the Holy-Ghost seruing himselfe with the tongue of Caiphas as the instrument the High-Priest did but determine that which the Holy-Ghost had before decreed Whence we may take occasion to weigh and consider the good and the ill of an intention since that one and the selfe same words are so good and so ill Saint Augustine pondereth vpon those words of Saint Paul Qui filio proprio suo non pepercit sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum Who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all to death This word Tradidit is verified both of the Father and of the Sonne Tradidit semetipsum pro me He deliuered vp himselfe for me As also of Iudas Qui autem tradidit cum dedit signum He gaue them a signe that was to betray him And of Pilat Tradidit voluntati eorum He deliuered him vp to their will The deliuering of him vp was all one and the same but
Dragons and Scorpions and therefore of the two it is the lesser euill to liue amongst these known wild beasts than such beastly minded men Your Wolfes that are clad in sheepes cloathing our Sauiour markes out to be the vtmost of euill S. Ambrose treating of the sorrow which the stones shewed at our Sauiours death and that they were so sensible thereof that they did split in sunder saith That our Sauiour found more pitty in those stones than in his peoples brests Whence by the way it is to be noted That when those that gouerne and sit at the helme are generally naught and wicked it is needfull then for vs to flye vnto the wildernesse for it is better to liue with Dragons and Scorpions than with them When there is an earthquake in the Citie all hast out of it and get them into the fields All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken What doe ye stay for then Why do ye stand looking and gazing one on another as if you had nothing to doe when destruction is so neere at hand In a word Daniel is cast into the Lyons Den and the same is sealed with the Kings owne Signet not for any hurt that he had done the Lyons nor for any harme that hee had done his companions and play-fellowes but throwne in thither by the malice of the Princes of the people and the Iudges of the land O Lord deliuer vs from the oppression of powerfull Princes and the vnconscionable dealing of corrupt Iudges That there should be but one bad Gouernour or but one bad Iudge it is ill because such a one is the fountaine whereof all doe drinke Si autem nequam fuerit totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit But that there should be two such bad members in a Common-wealth is a great deale worse Of those two naughty Iudges that wronged Susanna God said Et egressa est iniquitas à Babylone Your briberies your thefts and your adulteries tooke life from them in whom they should haue dyed But when the whole Bench of Iudges shall be bad get thee gone into the desart flye to the wildernes for it is too great a boldnes then not to be as others are He that hath a mangie hand couers it with a cloth binds it vp close and dissembles the matter as much as he can but if he see other men in the same case as himselfe is in he looseth all shame The first day that a man enters into the Pallace or some place of gouernment c. He saith Dominus sit in corde meo God be in my heart but after some sixe weekes he changeth his mind and saith Let vs make profit of our places as others doe Birds that are free and at libertie talke as Nature hath taught them but being put into a Cage prate according to the vse and custome of the Country Your Thrush of Castile and that of Cataluna haue one and the same note in the field but in the Cage one sayes Deu and the other Dios. I feare me I haue troubled your patience too long and therefore I will rather here abruptly end than tyre you our God of his infinite goodnesse c. THE XXXVIII SERMON VPON THE SATURDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOH. 12. Cogitauerunt Principes sacerdotum vt Lazarum interficerent THe High Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death also This Gospell containeth diuerse and sundry mysteries but the first and chiefest is a resolution taken by the Priests to put Lazarus to death As if God could not raise him from a violent death who had raised him from a naturall death They thought with themselues that Lazarus holding his life by miracle it would be an addition of credit and reputation to our Sauiour And as to take away his life they had no other reason but his many Miracles so did they likewise seeke to cut off Lazarus thinking it very vnfit that he should be a witnesse to make good the greatest Miracle that euer our Saiuour wrought and that by his life and words he should notifie Christs Diuinitie to the Iewes and Gentiles that came to visit him The High Priests consulted That the Diuell hath the disposing of the gouernments and dignities of the world is a notorious lye though when he tempteth any he would seeme to make it haue some appearance of truth Hee said vnto our Sauiour Christ All this will I giue thee Representing vnto him a briefe Cosmographie of all the whole world Insinuating That hee was Lord of all and had the bestowing of all The like speech he vsed when being askt of God from whence he came he answered I am come from compassing the earth I haue rounded my Heritage And doubtlesse Hee that shall narrowly looke into those who command and rule the greater part of the world will I feare me beleeue that the diuell did put the same into their hands but the truth is That God is the sole Lord of all S. Iohn stiles him in his Apocalyps King of Kings and Lord of Lords and paints him foorth with many Crownes vpon his head And on his head were many Crownes in token that hee hath the donation of Scepters and Crownes Artaxerxes stiled himselfe the great King and had appertaining to his Empire 127 Prouinces Nebuchadnezzar was a mighty Prince but these and all that euer were or shall be are but Pigmies to God It is God that giues and takes away Kingdomes Per me Reges regnant By me Kings raigne And when he diuided it amongst the sonnes of Adam he did limit them their bounds beyond which they were not to passe When the most high God deuided to the nations their inheritance when he separated the sonnes of Adam he appointed the borders of the people according to the number of the children of Israel The Statue of Nebuchadnezzar which signified the Empires of the earth was but a Statue in a dreame and so vanished like a dreame The Kings and Emperors of the earth some dye others are borne are heere to day and gone to morrow Hodie est rex cras morietur But Gods Empire endureth for euer Pliny saith That the election of Traiane may be a sufficient argument to prooue That God setteth vp Kings not onely among Christians but the Gentiles Suting with that of Homer Ex Ioue Reges This truth being supposed some man may aske me How comes it then to passe that God places in that Citie where his name is called vpon where he hath his house and his Altar these high Priests who after they had decreed the death of Christ did treat of killing Lazarus Which difficultie is the more augmented because for the most part the gouernours of this world are naughtie men as was to be seene in the Roman Empire Thales Milesius the prime wise man of Greece being demanded what hee had obâ—erued in the world to be of most difficultie Answered Tyrannum senem To see a Tyrant come to be an old
Leo vt insidiator viarum vsque ad Crucem reus sit Christi repente Confessor This is a wonderfull change that a high-way robber condemned here to the Crosse should in the turning of a hand come to confesse Christ. In this one action did all the attributes of God shine and shew themselues in a most glorious manner and especially his wisedome in making these extreames to meet and ioyne together so on the sodaine and as it were in an instant Ecclesiastes saith That there is a time to bee borne and a time to dye a time to plant and a time to plucke vp that which is planted a time to slay and a time to heale a time to breake downe and a time to build a time to weepe and a time to laugh All these extreames did his wisedome knit and linke together In this action meete those two extreames of being borne and of dying for as much as wee see this theefe dye to the world and to bee borne anew to Christ. And the death of the righteous the Church stiles it a birth Those of planting and plucking vp that which is planted because grace is here planted in the soule of the theefe and sinne pluckt vp Those of slaying and healing for that our Sauiour Christ receiues these mortall wounds in his owne bodie and healeth those of the theefe Those of building and breaking downe that is built In regard that the body of sinne is destroyed and the building of grace is set vp in him Those of weeping and laughing in that the theefe doth now bewaile his sinnes and laughes for ioy to heare the gladsome newes of heauen In a word the more incurable that the diseases are which a Physitian cureth the more saith Saint Augustine is his skill and cunning to be commended Gods omnipotencie was likewise seene herein Saint Chrysostome saith That it was so great a Miracle that the Sunne should be darkened that the earth should tremble and shake that the stones should dash their heads one against another or that the vayle of the Temple should bee rent in twaine as was the inlightning of a blind vnderstanding the mollifying of a hard and stonie heart and the remoouing from the soule the vayle of it's ignorance And the truth of this may very well bee prooued by Moses his rod to whose Empire though the earth the sea the elements light darkenesse and all creatures whatsoeuer were obedient yet could it not mooue hard-hearted Pharaohs brest He likewise discouered his omnipotencie in making the Theefe an instrument to reuenge himselfe of the Diuell of the Pharisees of Pilat and of the people Of the diuell who as Saint Ambrose saith had blasoned it abroad to the world and triumphed greatly therin That our Sauiour Christ hauing but twelue Apostles he had woon one of them from him persuading him that it were the better life of the two to be a theefe than an Apostle but for a Iudas a poore base theefe which stole but blankes and farthings from the pouertie of that sacred Colledge Christ won a theefe from him which had spent his whole life in the diuels seruice and had committed many famous robberies and notorious thefts Theeues are the diuells weapons but our Sauiour Christ being the stronger of the two tooke from him the greatest theefe in the world leauing him with his owne sword confounded and ashamed I haue compared thee ô my Loue to the troupes of horses in Pharaohs charriots Salomon had great store of horses of the Aegyptian race for to furnish his charriots and to feare his enemies as the French vse to wage warre against Spaine with Spanish Gennets He then saith that as Salomon made war against the Aegyptians with the horses of Aegypt so the Church confoundeth the diuell with his owne Armes which are theeues and robbers Confounding and making ashamed Pilat the high Priests the Pharisees and the people with the tongue of a theefe There is not any thing in the world more infamous than a theefe Of all basenesse it was the greatest that our Sauiour should die as a theefe It was much that hee should become man Exinaniuit semetipsum more that hee should take vpon him the forme of a seruant Formam serui accipiens and more then that That he should be no more esteemed of than a worme of the earth and more yet then this That he should take vpon him in his Circumcision the image of a sinner but most of all that hee should die as a notable theefe betwixt two theeues In the garden he said Ye come forth to apprehend me as if I had beene a Theefe There he was taken like a theefe here condemned to death as a theefe that no man might take pittie of him There is no man that dies by the hand of Iustice but is pittied of the people saue only the theefe not one that takes compassion of him He that seeth a theefe hung vp in the high-way vseth as he passeth by to say Benedictum lignum per quod fit Iustitia Blessed be that gallowes on which such good Iustice is done The Church receiueth the Iewes the Moore and the Gentile but will not entertaine a theefe In Leuiticus God did forbid the Weasil and the Mouse and the frog also the Rat and the Lyzard and the Cameleon and the Crocodile and the Mole as vncleane and vnfit to be eaten and if you will but reade in the naturall Histories the conditions and properties of these creatures you shall see that they are all theeues It made many men maruell That the Crocodile being so great a creature the diuine Historian should reckon him vp amongst these other contemptible small creatures And Rodolphus Flauiacensis renders the reason of it to be this That they haue all of them theeuish qualities The Crocodile more particularly swims in the sea runnes on the land one while by day another while by night she layes a verie little egge which afterward growes to be a great beast and goes still increasing as long as shee liueth and is not onely the stampe and figure of a Sea-pyrat but of a Land-robber which night and day seekes all occasions to rob and steale Like vnto that theefe which in some poore country village begins first to fall a pilfring of some sixe royalls and from this so small a beginning raiseth his stock to fiftie thousand Ducats and comes at last to be a Regidor a Cauallero and a Titulado And by this so vile and errant a theefe as is here now treated of our Sauiour Christ did confound all Ierusalem He might haue made vse of the tongue of a Prophet or an Euangelist but as Sampson shewed his valour in conquering a thousand armed men with the iawe-bone of an Asse which had not approued it selfe to be so great had he made vse of Golias his sword or Hercules club or of Theseus his mace so our Sauiour Christ c. Gods mercie in this case did also shew it selfe exceedingly Saint
powerfull Prince as it succeeded vnto Iulius Caesar Caesarem vehis fortunam eius It is not much that he should be fauoured Saint Ambrose saith That as long as Peter stucke close to Christs side he did set vpon a whole squadron at once but when he was gone but a little further off from vnder his wing a silly maid did out-face him and made him turne coward And when hee began to sinke in the sea because he was neere Christ Christ stretcht out his hand vnto him to saue him whereas if he had beene but two strides further from him he might haue beene in danger of perishing Saint Cyprian stiles him Collega Christi Christs Colleague His fellow and companion When one goes forth into the field vpon a challenge one girts his sword vnto him another buckles his armour and others accompany him into the field and if he get the victorie all doe share in the glory of the Conquerour In that his combat in the desart the Angels did wait vpon him In that combat of his death an Angell comforted him The Theefe he goes along with him for companie and all doe partake of his glory Thirdly Saint Chrysostome saith That he met with another happinesse to wit That he dyed as Christ did vpon the Crosse God hauing proposed heauen vnto vs in Conquest onely he shall inioy it that can get it by force of Armes But the Crosse doth excuse them this labour For it being heauens key whosoeuer shall come therewith may enter without any violence but others must be forced to knocke and that hard at the gates and it is well if with a great deale of labour he can get in at last Saint Bernard saith That the leagues which are betweene earth and heauen are without number but he that hath a familiar let him bestride but a sticke and with that woodden horse he will trauell in two houres from Madrid to Rome This vertue the Crosse inioyes with much more aduantage doe but fasten your selfe to that and in an instant you shall be conueyed to heauen And expounding that word Dum veneris in regnum tuum this Saint saith Et tum vidit Then euen then did he see him taking his iourney for heauen and said vnto him Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome Fourthly it was his good hap to stand mainely then for Christs honor when in a manner all the world had forsaken him Quando Petrus saith S. Chrysost. negabat in terrae Latro confitebatur in Cruce When Peter denyed him on earth the Theefe acknowledged him on the Crosse. When Iudas saith S. Ambrose sold him as a Slaue then did the Theefe acknowledge him for his Lord. O my good Theefe saith S. Aug. What couldst thou see in a man that was blood-lesse blasphemed abhorred and despised What Scepter what Crowne couldst thou hope for from him whose Scepter was a reede whose Crowne thornes c. Dauid commanded his son Salomon that he should shew kindnesse to the sonnes of Barzillai the Gileadite and cause them to sit downe and eat with him at his owne table because they stucke close vnto him in his tribulation Fiftly That he had the good happe to bee there iust in the nicke when Christ was crowned with a Crowne of glorie and had made this his wedding day and all things were ended according to his owne hearts desire and therefore so noble a bridegroome could not but conferre answerable fauours and so great and generous a King do no lesse than bestow a Crown vpon him Shiâ—ei railed against Dauid when flying from Absalon he went halfe naked and vnshod by the skirt of a mountaine but when the war was ended he prostrated himselfe at the Kings feet and said Let not my Lord impute wickednesse vnto me nor remember the thing that thy seruant did wickedly when my Lord the King departed out of Ierusalem that the King should take it to his heart for thy seruant doth know that I haue done amisse But Abishay the sonne of Zeruiah answered and said Shall not Shimei die for this because he cursed the Lords annoynted Shall foure words of submission saue the life of this blasphemous dog But Dauid said Shall there any man die this day in Israel Dost thou not know that I am this day King ouer Israel Make account that they now crowne me anew and that it is fit that I should shew my selfe franke and generous not conferring fauours according to the merit of him that askes them but according to the liberall disposition of him that doth them This good fortune no man may expect much lesse depend vpon and therfore Eusebius Emisenus saith Periculosum est in vltimum diem promissa securitas And that the example of the Theefe doth not fauour deferred amendment till a mans death And though we are not to streighten Gods franke-heartednes and howbeit it may be presumed that in that houre many theeues are in Gods secret will saued yet did he onely leaue this one publike example vnto vs Onely this one saith S. Bernard that thou mayest not presume and only this one that thou maiest not despaire And weighing those words Verely I say vnto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise he saith That he did bind it with an oath as he vsed to doe in matters of greatest moment and difficultie To thee onely not to any other shall befall the like extraordinarie good hap for thee onely was this Hodiè ordained Here then mayest thou see the rarest accident that euer hapned earth and heauen reconciled whilest riuers of Diuine blood run streaming from our Sauiours side for our saluation But some one will aske me How comes it to passe that this Theefe in so short a space knew the set time and season of this his happy chance when as Ierusalem in so many yeares could not light vpon the like encounter S. Augustine S. Chrysostome and Leo answer hereunto That he had Christ for his Master who reuealed the same vnto him complying with that deliuered by Ieremie De coelo misit ignem eru diuit me Gregorie Nissen saith Repleuit eum eruditione Spiritus Sancti Cromatius In ipso crucis candelabro sol resplenduit The Sun did shine vnto him vpon the candlesticke of the Crosse. Theophilact doth here apply that parable of Saint Mat. No man doth light a candle and set it vnder a bushell In a word this light was so powerfull that it awakened this drowsie and sleepie theefe snorting in the security of sin leauing him so well instructed that S. Augustine saith He remained as a Master in the Church First of all he vsed extraordinarie diligence in taking hold of this treasure leauing all that he might not loose this He gaue God all that was in his free power to giue him He had his hands and his feet nayled vnto the Crosse onely hee had left free vnto him his tongue and his heart imploying in Christs seruice whatsoeuer was in
this torment and miserie vpon his sacred person In finem dilexit eos Vnto the end hee loued them The neerer his death grew the greater grew his loue That comparison of the riuer is not much amisse which takes it's head or beginning from a small fountaine and by little and little goes increasing till in the end it seemes to be a Sea We cannot say that there was any thing little or small in our Sauiour Christ but in some sort taking from his infancie it may comparitiuely bee thus vnderstood His loue was little at the first it began to purle forth in those his teares in the cratch it went on drawing more water in his Circumcision in his exile into Aegypt in his fastings prayers penitences sermons myracles and when hee came to wash his Disciples feet and to giue vnto them his body and blood then was it full sea with him The Iewes did put this question How can this man giue vs his flesh to be eaten Saint Augustine tells vs I will tell you how In the beginning was Loue that Loue was with God God was that Loue and this may serue as an answer to all questions that may be demanded in this kind And as in all other things from his childhood he went to our seeming growing vp still more and more so did his loue likewise goe dayly increasing euen to the houre of his death shewing that he loued vs vnto the end When a mountaine takes fire at first the fire is but small but by degrees growes greater and greater till it comes at last like another Aetna to be a mountaine of fire Ieremy saith That he saw a seething pot The pot by little and little comes to take heat till at last it falls a boyling but the fire vnder it may be so great that it may bubble and runne ouer throwing out all that is within it In our Sauiour Christs breast the fire of his loue did alwayes seeth and boyle apace but in the end this fire grew to so great a flame that it threw out that his flesh and made that his blood to ouerflow which was knit to his soule and Diuinitie That man which Ezechiel saw in the first chapter of his Prophesie one with his feet standing vpon a Saphyre who was all fire but from the head to the girdle the fire was secret and hidden but from the girdle downward euen to the very feet all was on a bright flame His feet stood vpon a Saphyre which is the colour of heauen to shew vnto vs the blessednesse which he did inioy from the very instant of his conception as also to signifie vnto vs that all the life of our Sauiour Christ was a flaming fire of Loue. But in those his younger yeares it was for a while as it were smothered and repressed but afterwards brake forth into those flames that when his houre was come and that he was to dye Those whom he loued he loued vnto the end Some haue sayled ouer the whole Mediterranean haue toucht vpon the coasts thereof and entred vp into it's riuers Others haue past the Streight and arriued at the Cape de buena Esperance of good Hope There was a man that rounded all the world as if he had stood in competition with the Sunne but for all this his Nauagation was not at an end Euery day more countries are discouered but in the sea of Loue there is not that place which the Ship of the Crosse hath not sayled into Omnis consumptionis vidit finem in finem dilexit eos He saw the end of all consumption and loued them vnto the end Aristotle sets downe in his Ethicks three kinds of friendships Honestum Vtile Iucundum That is grounded on Honestie Profit and Pleasure That which is grounded vpon profit will cease when that ceaseth Thou hast a friend that furnisheth thee with moneyes no longer furnish thee no longer a friend So sayes Seneca in an epistle of his to Lucilius That which is founded vpon pleasure and delight liues or dyes as those delights liue or dye in vs. But that which makes Honestie it's ayme that endureth for euer My friend saith Seneca I ought to loue him so well as to follow him in his banishment to releeue him in his necessities and if need were to dye for him Saint Augustine saith that Seneca liued in the time of the Apostles and that it is very probable that he had some communication with Saint Paul and that the Apostle related vnto him what our Sauiour Christ did for his That he accompanied them in their banishment inricht them with the riches of heauen and in the end layd downe his life for them This is that In finem dilexit eos He loued them to the end A great loue can neuer indure a long absence Theodoret saith That Saint Peter hauing heard from Christs owne mouth a Ter me negabis Thou shalt denie mee thrice He would faine haue fled many Leagues from that occasion but that his loue was so great that he held it a lesse ill to denie him by following him than to confesse him by flying from him He tooke so much pleasure in his presence that he chose rather to hazard the losse of his soule than of his beloued sight Holding it a lesse vnhappinesse to denie than not to be in the eye of him whom he loued so dearely Saint Bernard treating of that petition which Moses made vnto God Either blot me out of the booke of life or spare this people giues vs this note out of that place That so great was the loue which the Prophet bare to that people that albeit God did offer him to be chiefe Gouernour ouer a farre better and greater people yet could he not endure to be diuorced from them nor to absent himselfe from their companie and therefore made choise rather of this so sad and grieuous a resolution Aut dele me de libro vitae c. ô Lord either pardon them or condemne me My loue towards them can better abide death and hel than their absence Plut. saith That Loue is like Iuie which if it cleaue but to a stone or an old wall will rather dye than forsake it Christ said vnto his Disciples Vnlesse I goe hence the comforter will not come vnto you All their felicitie consisting in the comming of the Holy Ghost But I goe to prouide a place for you Nobody but I can open the gates of heauen vnto you Our Sauiour said Lift vp your gates ô ye Princes c. Where S. Chrysostome obserueth That it had beene sufficient had he but onely said Open the gates But he did not say Open but take the gates away heaue them off the hookes For heauen that is neuer shut against any hath no need of gates His Disciples might haue said vnto him Lord since we shall receiue so great a good by thy departure Fuge assimulare Caprae hinnuloque ceruorum Yet so great was their loue vnto
downe That the chastisements of death should not be put in execution till tenne dayes full and compleat after publication of sentence But Pilat made a short come-off with our Sauior and gaue him a quicke dispatch This sentence did surpasse all the vniust sentences that euer were pronounced That of Iezabel against Naboth That of the Iudges of Babylon against Susanna For these had some forme of a Legall proceeding But of this Esay saith De medio iudicij sublatus est generationem illius quis enarrabit Another letter hath it Seculum illius It is a bad world when an innocent person shall bee put to the punishment of the Crosse without sufficient witnesses to condemne him or without lawfull hearing in discharging himselfe of such things wherewithall he is charged But as Saint Gregorie saith Si ipse indebitam mortem non suscepisset nunquam nos a debita morte liberasset Had not he vndergone an vndeserued death hee could neuer haue freed vs from a deserued death Christ being thus deliuered vp to the damnable will of those who desired to put him to death and the cruellest death that Tyrannie could inuent they threw a halter about his necke and laid a most heauy Crosse vpon his tender shoulders and being garded along the street by the Roman Cohorts they carry him away to Mount Caluarie Their Feare and Iealousie prompting them to take this course with him First That he might not as heretofore escape their hands Secondly That in case he should escape their hands the Temple should not serue his turne For as Gellius doth affirme in his Noctibus Atticis Those that were condemned to carry their Crosse had not the benefit of taking Sanctuarie Thirdly Because the death of the Crosse was so infamous a death that none but theeues and traytors to the Common wealth could bee condemned to this shamefull kind of death And this as S. Chrysostome hath noted it was confirmed by the authoritie of Rome Fourthly Because they would euen then presently put him to begin his suffering For it was a common ceremonie amongst them that they who were condemned to death should haue a napkin fastned before their eyes least by seeing the Executioner and the instruments of death prepared for them they might chance to fall into a swound or faint in the way But they would that Christ to grieue him the more should haue his punishment set before his eyes Fiftly The diuine prouidence saith Saint Augustine had so ordered it for it was very fit and conuenient that the Crosse which Kings vse to weare on the tops of their Crownes and Scepters and Knights of diuers noble Orders on their breasts That the Prince of heauen should first beare the same vpon his shoulders conuerting thereby the greatest infamie into the greatest glorie that euer was in this world so that that which on the one side was a sad and heauie sepctacle on the other is a great and glorious mysterie The people making a confused noyse the Trumpets send forth a hoarse voice the drums a dead sound the theeues go cheeke by iole close to our Sauiors side the cryers lift vp their voyces and ball out aloud This is the Iustice which the Emperour of Rome and Pontius Pilat in his name with the consent and approbation of the Princes of Ierusalem hath commanded to be done vpon this man as a seditious person a blasphemer an impostor a broacher of new erronious doctrine stilâ—ng himselfe the Messias and Sauiour of the world the King of Israel and the Sonne of God He had to Mount Caluarie according to the testimonie of some graue Authours which haue measured out that space of ground 1021 paces which amount to somewhat more than 3000 feet And it was called Caluarie either from the sculls of those that had beene there put to death as Saint Ierom would haue it or from the scull of Adam who was buryed there of which opinion is the glorious Athanasius Basill Origen Tertullian and Saint Augustine To the end that it might be there more especially verified Sicut in Adam omnes moriâ—ntur ita in Christo omnes viuificabuntur As in Adam all men were dead so in Christ all men shal be quickned and restored to life The Diuine Prouidence had likewise so ordered the businesse that the place where our Sauiour Christ was to die should be in the midst of the world And howbeit some Doctors doe not admit that it is in rigour and strictnesse iust in the middle according to a Geometricall proportion or Mathematicall account yet most doe agree in this that it was in the midst of the land of Palestine as it seemeth to Iosephus in his third booke De bello Iudaico as also to Aristeus Or it may be said to be in the midst of the world Per Priuilegium By way of Priuiledge Because that was the place where God had shewed his greatest miracles And of this mind is venerable Bede yet notwithstanding of great force is that place of Dauid Operatus est salutem in medio terrae He hath wrought saluation in the midst of the earth And that of Ezechiel Ista est Hierusalem in medio gentium posui eam in circuitu eius terras This is Ierusalem I haue set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are roundabout her As also the authoritie of Saint Ierome who expounding this place tearmes it Meditullium terrae vmbilicum The very nauill or middle part of the earth Which opinion is strengthened by S. August discoursing on the 75 Psalme Of the manner of their crucifying of our Sauiour Christ there is this and that doubt made and one more probable than another The common receiued opinion of the Saints is That the Crosse being fixed in Mount Caluarie they hailed him vp first with cords and afterwards nayled him therunto And so seemeth it good to that sacred Doctour Saint Gregorie Saint Bernard Saint Cyprian and the reuelation of Saint Bridget confirmes the same But Saint Ierome Anselme Antoninus and Laurentius Iustinianus say That the Crosse being laid all along on the ground they first nayled him vnto it and afterwards reared it vp And this part is much fauoured for two reasons The one Because it was a more fitting and facile way to be done The other Because in the Holy Land there is an especiall place to bee seene where they nayled our Sauiour Christ which is a little wayes off from the place where the Crosse was set vp But take which opinion you will the plaine truth is That it was one of the cruellest torments which our Sauiour Christ suffered for they hauing first nayled his right hand they did so stretch and straine the sinewes that they were forced with cords to draw out his left hand at full length to make it meet right with that hole which was bored in the Crosse for that purpose And because they might stretch it out so far that the nayle that
fastned the right hand might breake the flesh and teare the sinewes they were faine likewise to bind his right arme with cords to the Crosse. And with this so violent a force and extreame reaching of his armes the bones of our Sauiour Christs bodie were so dislocated and disjoynted that you might plainely tell them that prophesie of that Kingly Prophet Dauid being then verified Dinumerauerunt omnia ossa mea They numbred all my bones c. Hilarie saith That our Sauiour Christ gaue here greater signes of his sorrow and griefe than in all the rest of those bitter passages of his passion And Rodulph and Saint Bridget affirme That of all other his torments this was the greatest And it is a thing worthy our consideration That our Sauiour Christ should bee more sensible of this nayling of his hands than of that Crowne of thornes which they platted on his head those cruell stripes wherewith they scourged him and that vinegre and gall which they gaue him to drinke Wherof there are two reasons rendred The one naturall which Thomas toucheth vpon Deliuering vnto vs that so intollerable is the paine and anguish of the sinewes that many that were crucified through the extreamitie of the paine did swound and were depriued of their senses And therefore our Sauiours torment must needes be so much the more by how much his wounds were greater than theirs Foderunt manus meas pedes meos Hugo Cardinalis doth ponder the Metaphor of foderunt Hee doth not say Clauarunt but effoderunt Like one that digges a pit in the earth The other morall because he held vs in his hands And therefore it is said Omnia tradidit Pater in manus suas non rapiet eas quisquam de manu sua The Father hath deliuered all things into his hands and no man shall snatch any thing out of his hand And in token that he was more sensible of our torments than his own the greatest paine he felt was in the nayling of his hands Leo the Pope saith That to those that were crucified they did vse to put a vayle or bend before their eyes when their hands were nayled and that they tooke the like course with our Sauiour Christ but his Loue had so ordered the businesse that he had eyes to see his owne hurts but not ours The Prophet Zacharie askes the question Quae sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum What are those wounds in the midst of thy hands The like question he might as well haue made of the wounds in our Sauiors side and his sacred feet but that Man was abiding in those the wounds of his hands In manibus meis scripsi te I haue written thee in my hands And therefore made more reckoning of them And at the day of iudgement he saith by the mouth of Zacharie Aspicient ad me quem crucifixâ—runt They shall looke vpon mee whom they haue pierced The sinner shall open his eyes whose name being written like a posie in those hands and himselfe worne by them as a ring of remembrance shall see his saluation nayled to those hands which his sinnes had nayled so fast to the Crosse. In a word as in the garden hauing more care of his than himselfe he said in an imperious kind of manner Sinite hos abire Suffer these to depart And on the Crosse he said vnto his Father In manus tuas Domine commendo Spiritum meum Vpon which place Saint Augustine saith That he there called the faithfull his Spirit and his Soule taking no care of his owne spirit or soule for that was vnited to the Diuinitie So that in this regard for that he held vs in his hands he felt more the torment of his hands than of any other part Neuer did humane Nature receiue so great an iniurie as the death of the Crosse. Tostatus expounding that place of Deut. Maledictus a Deo qui pependit in ligno Cursed is he that hangs vpon the tree saith That it was an iniurie done to God himselfe that a creature created after Gods owne image should dye on the Crosse Nefas est saith Cicero vincire ciues Romanos scelus verberare prope parricidium necare Quid dicam in cruce agere It is a hainous act to bind a Citizen of Rome a villanie to scourge him and in a maner paricide to kill him What shall it be then to put him on the Crosse Pliny saith That the Romans did set vp certain Crosses wheron they hung those dogges which did not giue warning by barking when the Gaulus did scale the Capitol which surprisal was preuented by the gaggling of the geese Suidas saith That when any one did die a bad and vnfortunate death they did put a Crosse vpon his graue Scaliger reporteth That vpon a time there was a strange kind of headach in Rome which had spread it selfe ouer all the Citie which was so extreame painefull vnto them that many of them did hang themselues in their owne garters chusing rather to die than to endure the paine thereof and some did hang themselues for feare of that sicknesse before euer it had seised vpon them Whereupon the Senat being desirous to preuent so great a mischiefe published a Proclamation punishing therein these desperate offenders with the infamie of the Crosse that dishonour might cut off that inconuenience which life could not persuade Now so great then was the loue which our Sauiour Christ bare vnto vs that he deposited in the infamie and reproch of the Crosse all that honour which hee had gotten himselfe by his myracles his doctrine and vnblameable life leauing them all hanging on the Crosse as a Trophie of his loue Hercules erected pillars where hee thought the world had ended and extended it's vtmost bounds as a Trophie of his prowesse and valour bearing this letter or inscription Non plus vltra Our Sauiour Christ shewed his Loue vnto vs to the end in that his Trophie of the Crosse with this letter or inscription No Loue can goe beyond this Loue And therefore the Crosse is the North-starre of our comfort and hope For what can hee denie vs or what will not he grant vnto vs who on the Crosse shewed such exceeding great loue vnto vs But some man perhaps will aske me How can so bad a thing be able to afford comfort Saint Basil cleeres it with this answer That the death of our Sauiour Christ did alter the nature and qualitie of things turning ioy into sorrow and sorrow into ioy And therefore it is said Vae vobis qui ridetis Woe be vnto yee that laugh And as we see sometimes that the fire doth not burne that the water doth not drowne and that wild beasts doe not bite because the diuine Omnipotence doth truck and exchange the actiuenesse of those Elements and beasts so Christ tooke away the sorrow paine of the Crosse and placed thereon Ioy Comfort and Hope The daughters of Ierusalem went forth to
2. Pet. â— Gen. 25. All occasions of sinne must be auoyded Gen. 19. Psal. 103. Heb. 13. Ose. 14. What we are to demand in praier how Merits vtterly cryed downe Iohn 7. Mat. 2. Why God many times shewes himselfe deafe and dumbe to our requests Wisd. 7. Amos. 5. Psal. 7. Gen. 22. Gen. 28. 3. Kingsâ—8 â—8 Tob. 3. Importunity in prayer pleasing to God Difference betwixt the maker of the image the worshipper Exod. 32. Psal. 115. Apoc. 5. Esay 11. Dan. â— Cant. 5.6 Iob. 30.20 3. Kings 18. Eccle. 35. Soft persons the fittest about Princes Exod. 2â— Mercie a sure motiue for mercie Cant. 2.4 Ezech. 34. 2. Pet. 2. Kings 24. 1. Cor. 2â— Psal. 49. 1. Cor. 11. Exod. 4. Psal. 145. Psal. 147. 2. Kings 3. 2. Kings 16. 4. Kings 8. Philip. 3. The least of Gods fauours no way to be valued Discretion a maine motiue in our petitions to God Psal. 84. Gen. 17. Gods wâ—ath many times more violent than lasting Psal. 135. Earthly Princes forward to grant but slow to giue Delayes much practised by Man God the onely supporter of weaker Man Eccle. 2. Exod. 23 34 Eccle. 18. Almes the preparation of the soule to Prayer Gen. 32. Publicke temples to be frequented Exod. 12. Tob. 2. The life of a Courtier is wholly vpon hopes Iudges 9. Gen. 12. Gen. 15. Gen. 18. Gods respect in comforting the destressed Heb. 2. Ob. Sol. Gods mercie not so plentifull in the time of the Law as since The Poole a figure of Baptisme Psal. 10.24 Esay 60. God dispenceth his fauours as he pleaseth Luke 8. Luke 13. Prou. 17. Prou. 15. Eccl. 27. Sorrow a sharpe sword 3. Kings 19. Ose. 7. Why God sometimes prolongs our paines here in this life Ob. Sol. Esay 54. Eccle. 23. Ob. Sol. A patient suffering acceptable vnto God profitable to our selues 2. Kings 6. 1. Kings 14. God pittieth when none else will A weeping Eye causeth a bleeding heart Patience the best Physike in all extremities Iob 20. Iob 16. 17. Esay 13. Mans willâ— concurs not with Grace in our vprising from sinne God fauoreth whom the world forsaketh Psal. 34. Dan. 3. Exod. 2. Deut. 13. Eccle. 21. Ob. Sol. A patterne for Repentance Iohn 7. Iohn 7. Things aboue the reach of reason haâ—d to be beleeued The Euils of this life are but seeming euills 2. Cor. 6. This lifes happines a Rose enuiâ—oned with Thornes Esay 66. Iohn 1â— Iohn 7. The publicke to be preferred before the pâ—iuate Num. 11. 1. Kings 30. Prosperity alwaies enuied Gen. 6. Ob. Sol. Ob. Sol. Ob. Earthly things more enuied than Spirituall Sol. The dignity of Mount Tabor Ose 5. Iohn 1. Iob 36. Romans 1. Esay 6. Gen. 29. 1. Cor. 13. Iohn 3. Prou. 17. The pleasures of this life are altogether Vanitie Ier. 17. Esay 53.2 Exod. 3. Exod. 9. A twofold Light the one temperal the other spirituall Prou. 16. Prou. 19. The richest minds are vsually where the poorest meanes God labors to conceale both his rewards and punishments Hope more Preuailent with man than Feare Zach. 9. Esay 63. Christ glorrious in his passion three maÌ„ner of waies Phil. 2. Christâ— passion the fountaine of our Glorie Esay 64. Esay 60. Gen. 2â— Psal. 49. Rom. 8. 2. Cor. 12. Psal. 106. Saint Peâ—ers error in his admiration of Mount Tabor Publicke Good euer to be preferred before the priuate To commend coldly that which is excellent shewes a weake iudgment Esay 60. Blind Clouds were for the Law bright for the Gospel Christ appointed to be our Teacher but when Psal 91. 4. Kings 2. Prosperitie findes alwaies Freinds aduersity none Without Faith in Christ no remission of sinne Iohn 8.7 Iohn 16. Mat. 2. Christs going from vs the greatest Curse Iob 14.13 Gen. 32. Math. 21. Kindnes neglected turnes to hatred Signes wherby to know whether wee seeke God truly Iames 4.5 A godly kind of Enuie Esay 55. Deut. 4.7 Confession of sinne when to be made Eccle. 9. Ier. 13. The foulnes of Sinne. Gen. 43. Obstinacie in sin neuer to be cured Sin desirous to doe more than it is able Esay 51. The hard-heartednesse of the Iewes without a parallell 3. Kings 16 Psal. 49.5 Ob. Sol. Gods prescience not the cause of mans Reprobation Eccl. 15.11.12 Romans 1. Wis. 1. Christs Doctrine effectuall by whomsoeuer it be vttered Luke 4. Acts. 13. Christs doctrine effectuall by whomsoeuer it be vttered Apoc. 3. Math. 16. Luke 21. Ioh. 14.16 17. 1. Tim. 3. 1. Iohn 2. Psal. 132.11 1. Peter 2. Rom. 13. Math. 16. Esay 59.21 Ierem. 23.9 Ierem. 13. Ezech. 13. Deut. 13. Iob 19. Malach. 2. Ezech. 44.23 Three sorts of Ministers 1. Kings 2. Rom. 2. Ose. 5. Men are sooner led by precedents than precepts Esay 56. Ezech. 34.1 Deut. 6. Num. 15.38 Iudith 8.2 Gen. 33.13 Iob. 1. With what discourses we ought to beguile the wearines of our pilgrimage Marke 14.27 Marke 10.32 Ob. Sol. Naturall in all to seeke life shun death 1 It ought not to bee considered but with al seriousnesse Galat. 3. Ezech. 11.3 Heb. 12. 2. Mac. 11. Our Sauiour why called the sonne of man Dan. 7. Psal. 22.16 Psal. 73.74 Zac. 13.6 Psal. 49.1 Luke 24. Act. 1.6 Psal. 7â— 8 Gen. 19.14 Esa. 28.10 3. Reg. 6. Iob 1.5 The receit of a curtesie is the ingagâ—ng of our libertie Gen. 14.23 Amos. 2.6 Ambition alwaies blind in that which it pursueth 2. Sam. 15.4 Esayâ— 5 Ambition knowes neither reason nor religion Heauen not purchased without violence Mans presumption Ionah 3.4 The scope of the Parable Riches may be possessed but not desired Iob 20. Esay 30.6 Gen. 49.25 If the Spanish God helpe the English Gen. 33. Eccles. 37.30 Riches vnequally dispensed Why 2. Cor. 8.14 Tob. 4. Dan. 4.27 Prou. 13.8 Life without health no life Riches vsually accompanied with pride crueltie Iob 20.27 Zach. 1.15 Amos 4.1 Mich. 3.1 Iob. 20. Iob. 20 1â— Why desperat Sinners are often suffered to liue long 3. Kings 8. Math. 7. Nothing permanent in this life As a mans life is so is his death Why the rich mans petition was repelled To what purpose they serue Num. 16. 2. Mac. 15.30 Wis. 19.5 There is a vicissâ—tude and change to be seene in all things Death called a change The drift of the story Dan. 2. Feare the only thing to keepe safe the Vineyard Esay 5.4 Esay 5.7 Ier. 22. Iudith 5.21 God accepteth not a peece-meale obedience Cant. 7.2 The feare of the Lord a strong defence Cant. 3.7 What is vnderstood by the winepresse The cost which Christ was at with his Vineyard The firmnesse of the Church Ose 14.8 All that we inioy in this Life is an others wealth and we haue but the vse of it Gen. 2.16 Psal. 1. Apoc. 22. Why God rented â—ut his Vineyard to the vngrateful Ose. 11.4 Gen. 39.9 Ignorant sluggish Prelats the destruction of Gods Vineyard Psal. 80. The ignoraÌ„ce of the Priest the ruine of the People Gods Vineyard must not be turned
our selues 2. Cor. 2. Philip. â— Ezech. 9. Iohn 11.35 Zach. 1â— 10 Eccl. 22. Eccl. 38. Gods mercie the Spring from whence all his blessings flow Prou 31. Sin is death it selfe The character of a yong man The raising of Lazarus Christs greatest myracle Psal. 107. â—0 1. Cor. 15.54 Death is a large draught but Christ swallowed it downe 3. Reg. 1â— Mat. 6.7 God regards not the length of our praiers but their strength Exod. 4. Psal. 137. Workes out-speake Words Cant. 4. â— 3 Reg. 1â— Beloued a name of great preheminence Gods fauours seldome come single 4. Reg. 20.3 The â—ighteous euer mind full of Gods seruice forgetful of their Mat. 25. Iniuries done to God more greeuous to the righteous than if done to themselues Psal. 39. No loue where no releefe 4. Reg. 1. Osee 4.12 Ezech. 21.21 4. Reg. 19. Psal. 37.5 His will must be ours The peruersenesse of mans will Esay 58.3 The best reward that God can giue his followers Mans miserie the blason of Gods Maiesty Iob. 6.2.3 Iob. 1. Nothing more properly ours than Vertue In all humane goods the cretures haue the start of man The goodnes of Gods condition toward Penitents expressed two manner of wayes First he neuer remembers their sinnes Esay 38.17 Secondly hee neuer forgets our seruices Mat. 26. 2. Reg. 8.16 Gen. 31.13 Malach. 3.16 Death whither temporall or spirituall called a Sleep that fitly Iob. 33. Iud. 3. Gen. 20. Luk. 12. 1. Reg. 2.6 Christs passions differing from ours Sin discoasts a man froÌ„ God Psal. 1.6 Reasons why Christ wept Ier. 9.17.18 Ibid. 21. The death of the soule is a true death that of the bodie but a shadow Men carelesse of nothing more than of their soules Dead Lazarus the embleme of a Sinner Old sins like old sores hardly cured A threefold death of the Soule Amos 11. Gods loue seene by the delayes he vseth in his punishing Genes 1â— Iob. 7. Why the heathen erected Pyramides ouer their deceased Psal. 29. The difference betwixt Lazarus rising out of the graue our Sauiour Occasions to sin must bee auoyded Why God appeared to Moses in a Bush. Gods iudgement euerie way compleat 1. Reg. 16. Christ why called the Light of the world 1. Ioâ—n 1.5 1. Tim. 6.16 The benefit of this Light Gen. 3. Baruc 3.34 The reason why some hate and shunne it Iohn 6. Iob. 29. Iob. 7. In mans life theâ—e are two wayes and he had need of a Guide The glorie of the Sunne Mat. 5. Rom. 8. Luc. 17. Christ testified by many yet not embraced of the Pharisees Three conditions required in euery Testimonie Christ the â—â—ly true Sunne that seeth all things Eccl. 23. Hier. 17. Apoc. 3. Inconueniences which would haue followed the peccabilitie of Christ. Apoc. 7. 2. Reg. 11. Sinne maketh the most valiant man a Coward Iob 25. No man free from sinne Iob 9.30 Iob 38. Two things required in men of eminencie and place conscience and fame Publike persons must looke to their fame as well as to their conscience Looking-glasses why placed about the Lauer of the Temple The vse of Belâ— in the border of the Priests garment Priuat persons must conceale their workes but men of publike ranke must shew themâ—elues examples Gen. 39.3 Our Sauiours innocencie exemplified by his death Christs equal proceeding against the diuell a patterne for all Magistrates Ioh. 11. The Crosse and death of Chriâ—ttormented the diuell more than himselfe Ioh. 8. Truth lesse welcome to the â—ares of men than flatteries and lies The World the Flesh â—nd the Diuell all lyars Prou. 18. Eccl. 21. Mat 28. What mischiefes haue proceeded from lying Gods word how to be heard that the heariâ—g it may testifie our Predestiâ—ation Foure circumstances requiâ—red to the hearing of Gods Word Act. 13. 1. Tim. 6. Prou. 23. The soule of the just that of a sinner wherein differing Men are neuer worse than when they thinke all is well Passion alters all properties to it selfe Better to be mad than passionate Patience when most to be applauded Luc. 22. Marc. 11.1 To suffer iniuries a great noblenesse Iob. 18. A patient man whereunto resembled Iobâ— Clemencie a profitable vertue Exod. 32. Gods honour must euer be preferred before our own Truth can neuer be altogether supprest Mat. 10. ObliuioÌ„ hath two bosomes Iudges ought to be free from passion 2. Râ—g 14. Daniel 3. Why Christ withdrew himselfe from the Pharisees A hard heart can neuer be mollified Prou. 26. Luke 23.16 Reuenge in man a sâ—mptome of Cowardize â—erem 3. No policie preualent against the word and wisdome of God Enuie of all vices the most vnfortunate to it selfe fortunate to others Mat. 23. Luk. 11. Like Priest like People Psal. 106. Num. 25. 1. Pet. â— Prou. 1. â— Iosh. 1. Honest seruice little respected by earthly Princes No policie preualent against the wisedome of God God must be serued by vs before man Gen. 3. It is bad seruice to share in other mens sinnes Our longest life but little 2. Mac. 7.36 2. Mac. 6. Iob 9. Christ must be sought while he may be found Amos 2. Act. 2. Good neuer truly liked till lost Neuer any mâ—â— so hated of the world as Christ. Time a pretious Iewell Leuit 23. Num. 29. Why instituted Leuit. 23.43 Pride incident to Man Good men are verie rare â—sal 71. Eccl. 49. Apoc. 12. Heauen not gotten without paines No appetite so fierce as that of a sinner Ier. â— Exod. 4. Dan. 7. What ment by the water of life Esay 42 43 44. Prou. 5. Ezecâ— 35. Ioel. 2. The Holy Ghost Why compared to water 2. Cor. 4. The power of Gods word The force of Eloquence Gods power neuer more seene than in his Passion Acts 20. Why Christ desiring to die did flâ—e to auoide death Gods Counsells vnsearchable Mat. 6. Iosh 8. Aduantage against an enemy no Cowardize Men flye sometimes to come on the fiercer To flye in time of persecution how farre lawfull 1. Mac. â— 9.9 In some cases it is fortitude to flye 2. Reg. 4. Iob 40. Eccles. 22. Why Christ desiring to die would flye to auoid death Power should neuer bee showne but in extremity The greater Chrisâ—â— shame the greater our redemption 3. Reg. 15. Vaine-glory not to be affected Men couet honor though with the hazard of others God vseth no partialitie in the dispensation of his fauours We must not relye on others Vertue but our owne Honor where no merit is ads to our shame not to our shining Worship should not wait but vpon worth Honour a bait which all men bite at Eccl. 43. Kindred the ouerthrow of many Prelats Enuy neuer greater than amongst brethren Kindred will cleaue to a man in his prosperity but neuer look on him in aduersitie Three Feasts of dedication among the Iewes 3. Reg. 8. Esdr. â— 1 Mach. 1. Mans Heart Gods Temple 2. Cor. 6. Leuit 26. Mans Soule must bee renewed to make it a fit habitation for God Psal. 51. Baptisme the fouâ—datâ—on of Christian
building Circumstances of Time and Place in Holy Writ of great significancie Ierem. 6. 2. Mac. 1.18 The feast of Fire Leuit. 6.13 Zach. 14 6. God wil helpe those that flie for him but not from him PeniteÌ„ce compared to a Storme Prou. 30. Christ omits no meanes euen to reclaim the Reprobatâ— if it might be Exod. 3. 1. Cor. 15. God did his greatest works always on the Sunday God will haue his Temples honoured Lost is that Common-wealth in which Magistrates and their Ministers are both faulty Luk. 23. God will not suffer his children to fall into the hands of the vngodly Eccl. 21.9 Entry of all sin the worst and hardest to be cared Men are euer ready to vnburthen themselues of their miseries Esay 63. Gen. 3. The subteltie of the Iewes in circumuenting our Sauiour Psal. 19. The Iewes wanted nothing to make them beleeue but a willingnes to beleeue 1. Iohn 5.7 Ioâ— â— 39 Act. 10.43 Mat. 11. Why our Sauiour would prooue his Diuinitie by no other testimonie than his works Mat. â—1 A true Christian glorieth in nothing more than in his sufferings for Christ. Hot fierie Spirits vnfit for the Ministery Gen. 4. Deut. 28.65 66 67. No torture to a guilty conscience Psal. 85. The vngratefulnesse of mans nature Foure faire mothers that euer bring forth foule children Psal. 106. The Circumstances of Maries perdition The sin of dishonestâ—e hath two pâ—operties (1.) It sticks of all others the closest to the Soule Gen. 6. 3. Reg. 11. (2.) It bliâ—â—s the VnderstaÌ„ding The force of Beautie â—osea 7. Adultry compared to a heated Ouen Gods glorie greater in our conuersion than creation Psal. 108. To conuert a sinner is a worke of wondrous difficultie in regard of mans peruersnesse Zachar. 14. The iustification of a sinner set out by diuers apt similitudes Esay 44. Eccles. 3.16 Prou. 30. Woman the hieroglyphike of weaknes Prou. 30. Maries conuersion affordeth hope to the most desperate sinners Osee 2. Of Maries repentance The foulenes of sinne We may dally with the sicknes of the bodiâ— not of the soule The fairenes of vertue Psal. 78. Good occasions must be embraced with speed Cant. 5.4 Ier. 3. Relapses into sin are dangerous God will neuer eâ—e our sins if we wil eye them our selues The way to flie from God is to flie vnto him The office of the Eye Teaâ—es worke two effeâ—â—s Teares sometimes denied vs for our punishment Teares for sin must neuer haue an end Teares the delight of a Penitent Psal. 14â— What is meant by waters aboue the heauens 3. Reg. 10. Deepe sorrow wants a tongue Why Christ should not suffer his Apostles to wash his feet when he had washed theirs Gen. 22. Cont. 9.4 The Haire hurtfull vnto many Maries entertainement of our Sauiour expressed in two things The nature of a Prophet should be rather sweet than sharpâ— True zeale neuer disheartneth but encourageth the weake God in a moment can make of a sinner a Saint The efficacie of penitentiall teares 2. Reg. 19. To Christ they are more sauourie than wine The reason of the demand Christ euer ready to forgiue sinners Sathan can do little without vs. Gal. 5. Esay 67. Iob 41. The wicked haue a league no loue The world consisteth of nothing but opposition Exod. 18. Good counsell a pretious Genâ—me Gal. 2. Ill counsell produceth ill effects Eccl. 2. Exod. 1.8 2 Mac. 4. Psal 2. Exod 17. As the iust hunger and thirst after right so doe the wicked after bloud Sap. 3. Ieremie Caâ—t 2. Sharpe reproofes work sweet effects Wickednes is meere folishnesse Gen. 37. Philip. 3. Esay 53. Dan. 9. Gen. 49. Iud. 5. Ier. 44. Priuat interest must giue way to the generall good Exod. 33. 4. Reg. 10. 1. Reg. 18. Luk. 3. Mat. 26. The same words out of diuers mouths may be diuersly relished Rom. 8. Mat. 26. Act. 19. Iob 10. Preparation against death necessarie Iob 30. God the onely Lord of all Apoc. 19. Deut. 32. Ill Rulers sent by God to punâ—sh the people 3. Reg. 10. Four estates of a child and whereunto alluding The Iewes were murderers of all Gods Saints Esay 59. A twofold madnesse Eccl. 30. To take occasion from good to do ill is hellish malice Osee 2. 4. Reg. 18. Christs death his glorification Abacuc 3. Christ why called a Bull. Deut 33. Psal. 32. Act. 5. Two opinions concernâ—ng Peters deniall Mar. 16. Luk. 22. How Peter may be said to haue lost his faith Of Peters Fall The occasions of it Maâ— 23. 3. Reg. 20. Gen. 31. God not called the God of any man while he liueth Iob 4. Truths seldome heard in Princes Courts 3. Reg. 22. S. Peters sinne like that of Adam Man bya sight of his owne weaknesse is taught to pity an others Reasons why Christ suffered Peter to deny him Mâ—t. 26. Peter more iniurious to Christ than all his enemies Psal. 142. 〈◊〉 â— 12 The power of Christs eyes Psal. 114. The efficacie of Teares Eccl. 3. Cant 1. 1. Cor. 10. Mat. 3. Exod. 32. Dan. 1â— Act 4. Psal. 2. Heb. Esay 43. Iob 58. Iob 38.22 Mat. 24. The nature of Hope and Feaâ—e Gen. 49. Iude. Num. 33. Sathans practise to depriue Iob of Hope Gen. 4. Motiues iuducing the theefe to his conuersion Ioâ— 5. Mar. 15. Patience the badge of Christs Diuinitie The Crosse is heauens Key 3. Reg. 2. Repentance must not be delayed Man is nothing but as God remembers him Two definitiâ—ons of man Gen. 15. Isay 6. Exod. 5. Mat. 17. No more was his Hope Psal. 4. The glorie of the heauenly Paradise Mar 9. Esterâ— His reward exceeds our requests Christ neuer counted any thing his but our happines Esay 55. Gen. 2. No loue like to that of our Sauiour towards vs. Three kinds of friendship Iudas banished out of the world all Vertâ—â— Loue and Feare Loue triumphed euen ouer God himselfe Gen. 41.44 No humilitie like our Sauiours God hath two houses The holy Sacrament not to be receiued but with a great deale of preparation No preparation sufficient for the Holy Supper Christs Humilitie the character of his Loue. Our Sauiours art in gaining of wretched Man Affliction alters the verie forme of Man Cant. 5. Hier. 29. Esay 43. Psal. 21. Châ—â—st on the Crosse the only obâ—ect of Admiâ—ation Iob. 1â— Luke 23. Pilat pronounced the sentence of death against Christ. Pilat a cowardly Iudge Cap. Testes q. 3. Leg. Vaius §. de quaest Testium vltro accusandi non est credendum Feare and Iealousie spurred vp the Iewes to crucifie Christ. Mount Caluarie why so called Christ suffered in the midst of the world Psal. 74.12 Ezech 5. Christs nayling the cruellest part of his Passion Two reasons proouing him more sensible of this torment than any other Zachar. 12. Euery part of Christ affords a sinner confidence Christs Deitie more concealed at his death than any time before Malice is euer it 's own foe Coloss. 2. The difference betwixt our Sauiourâ— triumph and those of Men. Exod. 14. Esay 63.
Vae c. Being al metaphors of the Prophets hauing things in his remembrance Which is more cleerely deliuered by Iob Nunquid sapiens replebit arbore stomachuÌ„ suum i. Will a wise man fil his stomach with that heat that shal burne consume him Which is to say will he charge his memorie with matters of paine torment The proportion then holds thus as the stomach is the storehouse of our corporall food and keeping therein our present meat the bodie takes from thence it 's sustenance whereby it maintaines it's beeing and it's life so the memorie is the Magazin of the soule and setteth before our eyes the obligation wherein wee stand the good which we lose and the hurt which wee gaine And representing thereunto the species and shapes of things past they sometimes worke that effect as they would haue done had they beene present themselues whence is ingendred the loue of God which is that good bloud wherewith the soule is nourished And as from the disorder and disagreement of the stomach painfull diseases do arise and diuers infirmities to the body so from the forgetfulnesse of our memorie rise those of the soule For without obliuion saith Saint Basil our saluation cannot be lost nor our soules health indangered And as when the fuell and fire shall faile mans stomach which is the ouen which boyles seasons our life we may giue that of the bodies for lost so when our memorie shal faile vs we may giue the soule for lost Wherefore it is fit that euery man should take this into consideration Memento homo Remember man c. You haue heard before that the first attribute of man is obliuion The second is basenesse and miserie In Ezechiel the King of Tyre said Deus ego sum i. I am a God but he was answered That he was but a man that is base vile and miserable So Dauid Vt sciant gentes quoniam homines sunt Let the Nations know that they are men i. base and vile And Saint Paul Nonne homines estis i. Are yee not men When we see a man swallowed vp sometimes in the miseries of the bodie sometimes of the soule wee say in the conclusion Hee is a man now if in stead of the gold of the Angells there was found rust and that so fine cloath as that was not without it's moaths and that incorrupted wood without it's worme What will become of those that are but dust Qui habitant domos luteas i. Who dwell in houses of clay marrie they must as fearefull of their owne harme repeat this lesson Memento homo terra es c. Remember ô man that thou art earth c. Ecclesiasticus doth aduise thee to rise vp betimes not to be the last but to get thee home without delay for there thou shalt find enough to doe Praecurre in domum tuam age conceptiones tuas Ieremie councells thee to the same sending thee to this house of durt and mud So much good learning is not to be gotten in the schooles for in this house of clay God reads vnto vs but in the schooles men God did not speake vnto Moses till he had drawne his sheepe aside into the Desart putting his hand twice in his bosome the one he tooke out cleane the other leprous We haue two bosomes to take care of in this life the one of our owne things the other of other mens But the meditation of our owne misery being the more necessarie we must euer haue in our mind this Memento c. A man not knowing himselfe cannot know God now for to know himselfe the next way is to goe out of himselfe and to consider the trace and tracke of those Alexanders and Caesars c. Vbi sunt Principes gentium i. Where are the Princes of the Nations c. Gregorie Nazianzen asketh the question Why God hauing created the soule for Heauen did knit it with so streight a knot to a bodie of earth so fraile and so lumpish And his answer is That the Angells being ouerthrown by their pride he was willing to repaire and to helpe this presumption in man a creature in his superior part as it were Angelical but haâ—ing a heauie miserable body which might serue as a button or stay vnto him that if the nimblenesse of his vnderstanding should puffe him vp yet that earth which clogged his body should humble him and keepe him downe Amongst other stratagems of warre to annoy the enemie with dust and driue him thereby to yeeld is not the least Abacuc reports of a King of the Caldeans hathe made a jeast of walls Towers and Bulwarks because he could reare higher of earth He shal deride euery strong Hold and shall heap dust take it Plutarch tells vs of Sertorius That his enemies hauing fortified themselues in a caue that was inexpugnable to the mouth thereof he laid great heapes of earth and the wind fauouring him he raised so great a dust with his Troups of horse that they presently yeelded The Church finding many of their sons so rebellious that neither misfortunes will reforme them nor stripes keepe them in awe vseth this policie of Dust comming vpon them with a Memento homo Remember man c. In that mountainous Countrey of Biscay there are some antient buildings whose ruines declare them to haue beene heretofore great and goodly things here is a piece of a Tower standing here a vast Hall but gone to ruine there thicke great walls but demolished What houses are these they belong to the Mendoza's or the Velasco's And although these Families haue in other places new Palaces rich and sumptuous Halls with guilded roofes windows galleries Courts paued with Iasper Gardens and Fountaines faire and beautifull yet do they make more reckoning of those old houses because they conserue their memorie and shew the antiquitie of their descent The honours of the world the Estates Lordships Offices and dignities are things as it were of yesterday but that antient house which thou must most reckon of is that thy ruinous house of dust and clay which puts theestill â—n mind Quod terra es in terram conuerteris i. That earth thou art and to earth thou shalt returne There is no man so desperate nor of that boldnesse of spirit but doth shew a kind of feare when Death lookes him in the face And therefore death is termed pale because it makes the most valiant to change colour Iob painting forth such a kind of soule-lesse man saith Quiâ— argueâ— coram 〈…〉 eius i. Who shall bee able to controll this man that neither feares the Law nor his King nor his God The best remedie is to carrie him to the Sepultures of the dead Et in câ—ngerie mortuâ—raÌ„ euigilabit i. He shall be brought to the graues and made to awake and iâ— the looking vpon that sad spectacle will not worke him there is little hope of good to be done vpon
him Now the Church seeing that true death kills a man and that that which represents it giueth life like vnto the brazen Serpent which being beholden and lookt vpon gaue life to those which had beene wounded by those true Serpents it cannot be too often inculcated Memento c. Those that entred triumphantly into Rome had a thousand occasions giuen them to incite them to pride arrogancie and vanitie as their great number of Captiues their Troupes of Horse their Chariots drawne with Elephants or Lyons and Ladies looking vpon them from their windowes and the like But the Senat considring the great danger of the Triumpher ordred one to sit by his side to whisper this stil in his eare Hominem memento te i. Remember thy self to be a man The Princes of the earth haue many motiues to make them forget themselues not regarding the complaints of the poore and needie yet Nullus ex regibus aliud habuit natiuitatis initium i. No King had euer any other beginning of birth They are as other men Terrigenae filij hominum i. The off-spring of the earth and the children of men And to them also it is said Terra es Earth thou art c. The third attribute giuen to the name of man is Excellencie and Dignitie Faciamus hominem ad imaginem similitudinem nostram i. Let vs make man after our owne similitude and likenesse Vpon this point see Gregor Nissenum de Opific Hom. cap. 16. Tho. 1. p. q. 97. art 2. ad 4. But man did fall from this heigth of happinesse and being lost through sinne God seeks to restore him by putting him in mind Puluis es Dust thou art c. Lastly I would haue you to note that the word Memento doth implie a continuall remembrance and a deepe meditation that it may stirre vp fire in vs according to that of Dauid In meditatione mea exardescet ignis i. A fire waxed hot in my heart while I was musing Meditation is like gunpouder which in a mans hand is dust and earth but if you put fire thereunto it will ouerthrow Towers walls and whole Cities a light remembrance and a short meditation of what thou art is like that dust which the wind scattereth away but a quicke liuely memorie and inflamed considerations of our own wretched estates will blow vp the towers of our pride cast downe the walls of our rebellious natures and ruine these Cities of clay wherein we dwell As the Phoenix fannowing a fire with her wings is renewed againe by her owne ashes so shalt thou become a new kind of man by remembring what thou art Moses casting ashes into the aire made the Inchanrers and their Inchantments vanish the ashes scattered by Daniel put the King out of doubt made it appeare vnto him that that was no God which he adored Iob came forth from his ashes in better estate than hee was before and as Ioseph came out of prison from his taâ—tâ—â—'d ragges had richer robes put vpon him so you from out these your ashes shall be stript of the old man put on the new Memento homâ— Remember man c. Forgetfulnesse of other things may bee good sometimes but of thy selfe and what thou art neuer this will require a continuall Memento This Memento is the father of two good effects first it mooueth man to repentance by putting him in mind of his frailtie for beeing dust and ashes how dare he contest with his Creator Vae qui contradicit factori suo testa c. Wo to him that gainsaith this the pot against the Potter c. Thou glasse of Venice thou dish of China why contendest thou with him who as hee made thee can in an instant dash thee in pieces Secondly it inclines God to mercie Memento quaso quod sicut lutum feceris me Consider ô Lord that thou madest me of earth as a cheese that is prest thou didst mold vp in me a masse of bones sinewes and flesh if thou shalt lay thy heauie hand vpon me what strength is mine that it should be able to indure it if thou shalt not take pitty of this poore piece of earth this crazie vessel of clay what will become of thy mercie of old and of all thy woonted kindnesse if that steele and stronger mettall of the Angells was broken by thee it is no great matter if earth split and breake in sunder This Memento is so powerfull with God that it workes two great effects with him the one that it inclines him to clemencie the other that it makes him to bridle his power First no father so pitties his children when hee sees them miserable Quomodo miseretur paterfiliorum i. As a father pittieth his children saith Dauid of an infant that falleth into the dirte and is bemoyled and bebloodyed and all because he is weake and ignorant the like pittie doth God take of those that feare him and presently giues a reason of this his pittie Recordatus est quoniam puluis sumus i. He remembreth that wee are but Dust. The like is elsewhere rendred where it is said Non accendit iram suam recordatus est quia carâ— sumus i. He kindleth not his wrath because he calls to mind wee are but flesh God in Deutr. speaking of the iudging of his people fayth he will take pittie of them in regard of their miserie and frailtie Vidit quod infirmata sit manus i. Hee saw the weaknesse of their strength and considered their poore abilities and this did often occasion him to alter the purpose of his vengeance That the wind should struggle with the Oake that resists his rage and that he should teare his limbes from him and rent him himselfe vp by the roots it is not much that he should take that course with him for his proud resistance but with the Reede or the Rush that submits and humbles itselfe obeying his Empire and acknowledging his power his furie falls not vpon them c. Secondly The acknowledgement of our miserie and weakenesse it bridles the omnipotencie of God Iob debating this businesse cries out Et dignum due is super huiusmodi I am a Flower that is withered within the compasse of a few houres I am a shaddow that at euery step changeth it selfe and vanisheth away Et dignuÌ„ ducis super huiusmodi Canst thou think it an honor vnto thee to reuenge thy self vpon so sillie miserable a worme as man Contra felium quod vento rapitur ostendis potentiam tuam stipulam siccam persequeris I am but as the leafe of a Tree one while the East wind of pride tosses me this way anotherwhile the West wind ofdespaire driues me that way one while the South wind of luxury another the North of rage anger Memorare qua mea substantia Remember what my substance is The Lyon preyes not vpon children and women nor the Eagle vpon the lesser birds nor your Irish Greyhounds vpon shepheards