Aristotle and c â—â— 11. nat hist ca. 18. Plinie both obserue by stinging others exentorate and therewith shed forth their owne bowels Animasque in vulnere ponunt and loose their liues by ther stinging And it is as true in reuenge she sailes with her owne wings and dasheth on that rocke whereon she makes shipwracke of faith and a good conscience The reuenger like the bee he hath a reaction or repassioÌ„ rather and receineth the wrong that he hath done Col. 3. 25. and while he seeks vengeance on man finds vengeance of God Eccles 28. 1. While he shooteth his sting of reuenge he doth euiscerate himselfe of those bowels of mercie kindnesse humilitie meeknesse long-suffering and forbearance Colos 3. 12. Animamque in vulnere ponit and looseth his soule in the wound of his foe Alium laedit extrinsecus se vastat intrinsecus saith d Ser. 16 de ver Dâ—â— Austine like the bees outward stinging he onely kils the bodie of his foe but like her inward bowelling kils the soule of himself and casteth both bodie and soule into hell fire And therefore would e Homil 〈◊〉 popâ— Antiocis Chrysostome haue vs be warned by the Bee and by her example be weaned from reuenge Doest thou not see the Bee saith that Father how she dies by her stinging By that liuing creature doth God teach vs that we wound not our brethren for we do it through our owne sides and perchance like the Bee we hurt them but little but we our selues shall be no more no more then that creature Heare this also thou bloody stabber who beyond the law of retaliation exactest not onely a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye Deut. 19. but like Ioab repayest a stabbe for a lie a wound for a word with Lamech for a small hurt wilt slay a man and not onely mete to them as they measured to thee but an Epha of wrongs for an Hin of iniuries and as f Orat 9. de ira mimie Basil out of the g Luke 6 38. Gospell speaketh from thy seperfluitie of maliciousnesse giue mensuram superfluentem a measure running ouer into their bosome I wish thou wouldst learne of Christ our Sauiour who as a lambe before his both shearer and slayer was so dumbe that he opened not his mouth to reuile when he was reuiled nor so much as threatned when he felt the stab of their speare 1. Pet. 2. But if thou wilt not learne clemencie of the Lambe of God yet learne it for shame of crueltie it selfe of the Lion of the field who as Aelian noteth ' is so iust in his crueltie that he keepes an equall meane and measure of reuenging his enemie for though he see a man shoote at him and deadly pursue him yet as h Li. 9. de hist animal cap. 44. Aristotle and i Lib. 8. nat hist ca. 16. Plinie both obserue if the archer do not wound him he neither wounds him if he catch him in his pawes but shakes him onely without hurt and throwing him downe when he hath thus affrayed him lets him go free And if thou wilt not be more cruell then crueltie it selfe and from thy Brittish clemencie degenerate into more then brutish crueltie at least be as gentle as the roring Lion who seemes here to exhort thee with that voice of the lambe Math. 11. 29. Take my yoke on thee and learne of me that am lowly and meeke to my foe For there is none saith k Lib. 5. din. Inst calâ—â— Lactantius who had not rather die then be transformed into any shape and feature of a beast though he might retaine the mind of a man and how much more is it wretched to haue the mind of a beast in the forme of a man sith the soule so much excelleth the body But alas Aspernantur corpora beluarum quibus sunt ipsi saeuiores they disdainfully abhorre the bodily shape of wilde beastes who are themselues more sauage and cruell then they and so much please themselues in that they are men of whom they carrie nothing but the outware lineamennts and figure Wherefore to conclude this point which thou regardest not a point if nothing that is said can end thy contention and reuenge yet as the wise man aduiseth thee Remember thine end and thou wilt let enmitie passe Eccles 28. 6. For like as when the bees fall out and fight among themselues Dimicatio iniectu pulueris tota discutitur the throwing of a litle dust vpon them saith l Li. 11. nat hist ca. 17. Plinie endeth all their deadly strife so cogitatio mortalitatis the thought of death saith m Lib. 3. de Ira â—ap 42. Seneca the remembrance of this generall mortalitie by plague and pestilence say I which thus long hath toled for her last gasp might now me thinks ring out at last the death of all malice might bury all wrongs in the graue of obliuion neuer to rise againe And indeed Se de hoc mundo quotidiè migraturum credere as n Abbas Ioseph de amicit collas 13. cap. 6. one speaketh to thinke this day of his strife may be the last of his life is a common peremptory and killer of all iarres omnium comprimet motus and will still the most turbulent sticklers And howsoeuer the remembrance of dust and death cannot bridle the mightie buls of Basan who set vp their horne on high and speake with a stâ—ffe-necke but like those buls in o De solart Animal Plutarch Ad pugnam sepuluere conspergunt vt magis irritati ferociant sprinkle this dust of mortalitie on their faces to whet their courage to the combat And as the Lion beateth himselfe with his taile to set an edge on his wrath so they remember their end to hasten their swift reuenge like that p Iudg. 16. 30. Lion of might who conquered the roring Lion Let me loose my life with the Philistines yet iam par acerrimum media mors dirimet saith Seneca euen now wil death steppe betweene these two hot spurres and part the fray And though no remembrance of death could extinguish the memorie of iniuries betweene them yet iniectu pulueris cast but a little dust of the graue vpon their heads then are they as quisht as a Bee and now their hatred and their enuie is perished saith Salomon Eccles 9. 6. But let vs beloued Christian who haue better learned Christ let vs leaue off wrath and let go displeasure before they leaue and let go vs at our death Let vs die to our malice least it die to vs and leaue as our bodies with the mete-wand in the graue so our soules with the rod of Gods wrath in the lowest pâ—t Let vs bury it in our life that at our death we may go to our graue in peace and in peace with all men Let our loue awake that sleepeth and stand vp from the dead that is interred And seeing a friend must 〈◊〉
out his bitter words against their family Ver. 9. 10. Let his children be fatherlesse and his wife a widow let his children be vagabonds and beg their bread let them seeke it also out of desolate places He curseth their externall goods and riches vers 11. 12. 1â— Let the extortioner consume all that he hath and let the stranger spoile his labour Let there be no man to pitie him nor to haue compassion on his fatherlesse children Let his posteritie be destroied and in the next generation let his name be cleane put out Yea he curseth their soule vnto death and prayeth for their damnation Vers 14. 15. Let the wickednesse of his fathers be had in remembrance with the Lord and let not the sinne of his mother be done away Let them alway be before the Lord that he may roote out the memorial of them from off the earth Behold here indeed as many imprecations of Dauid against his enemies as euer Callimachus the virulent Poet spent execrations on his mortal foe Apollonius and as bitter cursings as Ouid euer spent on his enuious foe whom in imitation of him he titled Ibis yea as that banner ended his imprecatory inuectiue with this summary execration Haec tibi quae precibus iustis mea deuouet ira Eueniant aut his non leuiora malis so concluded here Dauid his with not vnlike imprecation vers 20. Let it thus happen from the Lord vnto mine enemies and to those that speake against my soule Which practise of Dauid though it may seeme at first to giue allowance and warrant to words of bitternesse in cursing our blasphemers yet if with a single eye we more nearely looke into it we shall find that this imprecation was non optantis voto sed spiritu praeuidentis as Saint r Lib. 1. de serm Dom. in moâ—t ca. 4â— Austine resolues it not so much from a desire and wish of their ruine as from the spirit of foreseeing what would befall them As our Sauiour when vpbraiding the vnthankfull cities in the 11. of Mathew he anathematized the inhabitants of Corazin Bethsaida and Capernaum Non maleuolentia optabat sed diuinitate cernebat did not as men from malice wish it but as God foresee it For Dauid as a graue Å¿ Cal 〈…〉 in Psa 69. 23 writer noteth was not herein caried with a turbulent passion of choler to powre out his bile as most men wronged by their enemies intemperatly giue their tongue the raines but the spirit of God did dictate these imprecations to his Prophet in wisedome to discerne these reprobates from curable beleeuers and in vprightnesse to respect Gods glory rather then his owne priuate reuenge in confusion of his enemies and in moderation to execrate his and Gods enemies without turbulent passions of hatred malice and maleuolence which three if like him we could obserue Probè â—um imitaremur we might lawfully do as he did But seeing our vnderstanding is not so mollified that we haue that 1. Corinth 12 gift of discerning spirits but the Lord onely knoweth who are his and who are reprobates nor our wils so rectified but that vnder zeale for Gods glory we reueÌ„ge our own wrongs nor our affectioÌ„s so sober from disturbance that we are angry and sin not v M 〈…〉 in Psal 10â— Non est hoc cuiuis vsurpandum Christiano in exemplum trahendum this practise of Dauid is no pretence for our cursings nor his example to be vsurped of any Christian as x Balaâ— of Rome doth in hiring his Baalams of Saint Francis order daily to pronounce this spalme in execration against those whom they hate and to curse Israel whom the Lord would haue to be blessed If any for farther satisfaction require a larger discourse of these imprecations I referre him to Martin Bucers disputation of prayer in his explanations on the fift Psalme and to Mollerus his Lecture on the seuenth verse of the 54. Psalme where this at large is discoursed I conclude this point with Musculus in the place before cited It is a common prescript to all which Christ the King of heauen hath commaunded Math. 5. Blesse them that curse you and pray for them that persecute you His Embassadors the Apostle of the Gentiles from his maisters mouth hath enioyned it Rom. 12. 14. Blesse them that persecute you blesse I say and curse not The Apostle of the Iewes hath from his Lord giuen this charge 1. Pet. 3. 9. Render not rebuke for rebuke but contrariwise blesse By which iniunction of both al both Iewes and Gentiles must blesse for cursing and pray for their reuilers and what else should they pray for them saith y Lib. 4. d 〈…〉 cap. 44. Gregory but z 2. Tim. 2. 25. that of Saint Paul that God may giue them repentance to know the truth and come to amendment of life out of the snare of the diuell of whom they are taken at his pleasure to do his will And let both the offender confesse and the offended forgiue and testifie his reconcilement by words of friendship and loue to his enemy though he continue yet in his vnrighteousnesse of reuiling So much be spoken of this first namely verbal reconcilement Be reconliled in word But here beloued brethren we must not stay In atrio reconciliationis in the vtter court of reconcilement where men like the a Luke 1. 10. common people stay without and like the b Actâ— 5. 12. vulgar Iewes are with one accord in this Salomons porch and portall of peace but all being priests by our Christian profession to offer vp spirituall sacrifices 1. Pet. 2. 5. we must enter sancta the holy places of peace and amity by this beautiful gate of the temple of our body and offer to our brethren not onely the calues of our lips but the sacrifice of our hands to manifest our reall reconcilement For we haue a c 2. Sam. 3. 27 Ioab that will speake peaceably to Abner and yet vpon aduantage smite him for the bloud of his brother Asahel that will giue d 2. Sa. â—0 9. 10. Amasa words softer then oile Art thou in health my brother and yet with his precious balmes breake his head yea stâ—b him deadly and shed out his bowels on the ground For thus lip louing Ioab spake friendly to his neighbours e 1. Kings 2. 5. Abner and Amasa two captaines of the hoast of Israel but hauing warre in his heart with the sist of wickednesse he smote while he smiled he killed while he kissed and as Dauid there told his sonne Salomon shed the blood of battell in the time of peace And therefore if our loue and vnity will speake truly we must passe from this atrium to the sancta from word to workes from the tongue of friendship to the deeds of agreement and secondly be reconciled in deeds to our brethren Our Sauiour as before I shewed by symmetry and proportion Second reconcilement reall in my text inioyneth
it is subiect to the law of God Prou. 16. 32. Stronger is he that is slow to anger then a mightie man and he that ruleth his owne mind then he that winneth a strong citie For whereas the spurre of anger makes our feete which should be slow to wrath swift to shed blood and like that messenger of Satan is a pricke in our flesh to buffet vs with its wicked fist and others with the fist of wickednesse we had need thrise with Saint Paul to beseek the Lord it might depart from vs. Wherein yet it is no lesse dolefull then dayly to behold how with toiles and trifles as z Lib. 2. de Ira. ca. 25. Seneca noteth our bile is moued to anger and our choler inflamed with heate and desire of reuenge As our seruant is not quick inough or our potion and drinke made too hote or the bed is ruffled and out of order or the table is negligently spred and serued yea the coughing of one or sneezing of another or the ouerturning of a cup or our seruants letting fall of a key driueth some into rage and furie Yea as the a Bull is angrie at a red colour the Aspe at a shadow the Beare and Lion prouoked with a tablecloth so often testie and writhen natures are with the very colour of iniurie and shadow of wrong incensed so farre that eftsoones iniurias vocent modica beneficia Small gifts and little good turnes they couâ—t iniuries Nay sometime as b 〈◊〉 cap. â— he noteth are we angrie that we are not angrie and prouoked to auenge without cause of reuenge like litle children who if they fall will haue the ground beaten and oft know not at whom to be angry but only they are angrie without cause and without iniurie yet not without some shew of wrong and desire of punishment and therefore are often deluded imitatione plagarum simulatis deprecantium lachrymis with semblance and counterfeit strokes and with fained tears of those that aske them forgiuenesse Et falsa vltione falsus dolor tollitur and their false griefe is satisfied with fained reuenge Some againe go by the eares for a woman and idem velle saith c Lâ—b â— cap â—â— Seneca their vnitie of affection which should be the knot of loue and bond of peace Phil. 2. 2. becometh the cause of their hatred and stirrer of contention Iter angustum ripas transeuntium excitat Others on horsebacke striue for the way and these are out of the way I mean Christs which is the kings high way of humilitie and may learne it of Saint Paul Ro. 12. To giue place and way to wrath and be not high minded but make themselues equall to them of the lower sort For because an high mind goeth before the fall Prou. 16. 18. therefore Saul being mounted on his steed was throwne down to the ground Act. 9. and being thus humbled from his horse was exalted on high and that humilitie was the stirrupe whereby he got vp into the seate of heauenly honour I wish these obuious quarrellers and goates which in their high mind arrogate the right hand when their place is the left would learne of those two goates in d Lib. 〈◊〉 cap. 50. Plinie which as Mutianus from his eye there reports meeting on a streight and narrow bridge that the one could not passe by the other nor turne aside to returne backe againe non vim sed viam sibi fecerunt neither made his way by ouerturning the other but the one lay downe that the other might go ouer him as it fared with those wayfaring pilgrimes Thou hast brought vs into so strait a place that men ride ouer our heads Psal 66. Some againe on foote in their pride contend for the wall these are as wise as a wall and their too much turning to the right hand before men will make them be set on the left by God himselfe These might learne of Abraham to yeeld their owne right to their inferiours for peace Let there be I pray thee no strife betweene thee and me neither betweene thy men and mine for we are brethren Is not the whole land is not the whole streete before thee depart I pray thee in quiet from me If thou wilt take the left hand then I will go to the right or if thou wilt needes go to the right hand then I will take the left For in thus giuing and not receiuing honor we are commaunded to go one before another Rom. 12. 10. We must not then like Ionah be angrie for a shadow and for these toyles and trifles be moued to vengeance but stay the first motions of wrath one and not the least whereof is opinio iniuriae opinion of wrong and conceit of offered iniurie saith e Lib. 2 de ira cap. 22. Seneca in these triuiall occurrences It was that Philosophers position to Serenus which he made the title of his booke That iniurie cannot befall a wise man and thereof f Cap. 3. giueth his reason because that is inuulnerable not that is smitten with a blow but which feeleth no hurt nor harme by the stroke as he in the paraemiast spake of a worse blow They haue strucken me but I was not hurt they haue beaten me but I felt it not Prou. 23. And yet is it a world to see how men in an house like those g Gen. 25. brethren in the wombe of Rebecca striue and struggle for preheminence whether should come out first and to receiue this honour of precedencie go one before another starting before others after a shadow which flies vs the faster we follow it and is caught indeed and catched by humilitie and falling downe vpon it Mat. 23. 12. It is a wonder to see how our right-hand walkers and cutting swaggerers stand on a wall vnto bloud and oft for the right hand therof make it a partition wall of strife betweene them and their brethren and so reare vp a partition wall of their sinnes to separate betweene them and their God Esa 59. 2. Like those two cockes in h Lib. 2. var. hist cap. 28. Aelian whose eager but causlesse fight when Themistocles beheld he cryed thus out in admiration These fight neither for their countrie nor for their houshold gods nor for their ancestors renowne nor for their libertie nor for their children nor yet for their owne true glorie but onely â—e alter ab altero superetur aut alter alteri cedat lest either should yeeld to the other and seeme to be ouercome And indeed as the maister of the pit oft sets two cockes together to fight vnto the death of them both and then after mutuall conquest suppeth perchance with the fighters bodies Euen so saith i Pastoral part 3. 〈◊〉 10. Gregorie the maister of these two hot-spurres like a craftie aduersarie of both their souls setteth them by the eares for toyes that after mutuall conflict he may conquer them both and so suppe with their soules at
most horridely the eyes flash like lightning and sparkle fire the temples frowne with wrinkles and gloome with cloudie browes the nostrils snuffing with disdaine the teeth gnashing like a dogge inter se acietati and whetting one another like the grunning of a Bore or grinning of a Dogge the cheekes swelling like a bladder puft with the wind the countenance truculent and fierce now pale as death the bloud retiring presently red as a Turkie it returning the veines swelling with heate of the bloud the breathing thicke panting with sighes the lippes trembling with threats the tongue faltring with abrupt and imperfect speech From which palsey of anger they fall into the Epilepsia and falling sicknesse of reuenge vt cadant ipsi vel potius in alios incidant that they fall downe themselues dead or rather fall deadly vpon others Which deformed face of anger when g Dial de ira cohib Plutarch obserued in other men lest he should seeme terrible and vncouth to his friends wife children and family he bids his boy hold him a glasse in his anger that beholding his deformity as women do their spots hee might correct his countenance thereby We reade it fabled in that h Ibid. author of the Goddesse Minerua that playing on a pipe which blew vp her cheekes and being checked by a Satyre saying That visage beseemes thee not lay away thy pipe obeyed him not then but beholding her mâ—sshapen face in the riuer as in a glasse threw it away in greater anger I procul hinc dixit non est mihi tibia tanti Vt vidit vulâ—us Pallas in amne suos saith the i Ouid. l. 3. de art Poet. And many angry men which haue not beleeued it by report by beholding their face in a glasse haue bene pacified and appeased Qâ—ibusdam iratis profuit aspexisse speculum It hath mended some angry men to look themselues in a glasse as k Sene. l. 2. de ira ca. 38. Sextius obserued whose strange and sudden alteration of countenance hath so affrighted them that they knew not them selues as said the said l Ouidabid Poet Vos quoque si media speculum spectetis in ira Cognoscet faciem vix satis vlla suam And how little of their inward deformitie in mind saith Seneca did that image reflect and the glasse represent Qualemintra putas esse animum cuius extra imago tam foeda est what a one within doest thou thinke is the mind whose outward face is so deformed How much more within the breast lies there a more terrible countenance a more cruell aspect a more vgly spirit and a more deformed face For if the whited tombe and painted sepulcher be so ilfauoured without how filthy may we thinke is the iniquitie and dead bones of rancor and rottennes within If the mind it selfe could be shewed and shine thorough any matter transparent Intuentes nos consunderet it would confound vs with shame when we beheld it and as she seeing her mis-shape and monstrous metamorphosis in a wel started with affright Sese exteritafugit it would for feare runne away from her selfe Whose foulnesse and disfigure if through bones and flesh with other impediments it seeme so great and monstrous Quid si nudus ostenderetur what if she were bare of these fig-leaues that her nakednesse might appeare Surely she would be ashamed with Eue and like the deformed woman loath while she lookes on her selfe in a glasse Thus wrathfull anger leaueth man quite dead in sinne while he liueth a sinner thus maketh it the liuely image of God that anatomie of sinne Rom. 3. taking the feare of God from before his eyes filling his mouth full of cursing and bitternesse vsing his tongue to deceiue putting Aspes poison vnder his lips making his feete swift to shed blood and when he is thus dead in trespasses and sins she puts his filthinesse and dead bones in a whited toombe and painted sepulcher Thus all his members as the Psalmist speakes are out of ioynt and from head to the foote nothing but wounds and swelling and sores full of corruption thus are all his members weapons of vnrighteousnesse to serue sinne and reuenge in the lust thereof as if man with his members were nothing but corpus peccati that dead body of sinne Rom. 6. 6. sit for the graue and pit of destruction For as the corporall sicknes is most dangerous and declining to the first death of the body which maketh the sickmans face most vnlike it selfe as m Dial. de â—racch b. Plutarch out of Hippocrates hath obserued so the spiteful angrie man sith he changeth his linely colour of countenance into the palenesse of death doth argue to others and might to himselfe that his soule is very heauie and sicke vnto the second death of whom I cannot say The maide is not dead but sleepeth but like the volupâ—uous widdow 1. Tim. 5. 6. diuorced from her God by the death of grace she is dead in the spirit while she liueth in the bodie and her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her bodie but a sepulcher wherein as our Sauiour speaketh the dead doth burie her dead Mat. 23. 27. Wherefore if this swelling one against another condemned by Saint n 1. Corint â— â— Paul be so deformed in the conception of malice and trauell of mischiefe how vgly may we thinke is reuenge the monster it selfe at the birth when they bring forth vngodlinesse in the field Neuerthelesse if beholding thus thy naturall face in a glasse thou blushest not at thy selfe but going thy way forgettest immediatly what manner of one thou art yet if thou wouldest view thy soules face in the glasse of Gods word and looke into the perfect law of libertie Iames 1. 25. thou shouldst find therein like that in the law Exod. 38. as a glasse to shew thee her spots so a lauer of liuing water to wash away her filth And certainely if as o Orat. 1. de reconcil Monach. Gregorie Nazianzen often read Ieremies Lamentations to coole his heate of pride in the sunne-shine of prosperitie thou woldest in thy heate of anger and fire of wrath but reade the lamentable end of those reuengers Ammon Moab Seir Idumea and the Philistims Ezek. 25. it would allay thy heate if not set on fire of hell and abate yea turne thy sharpest edge of reuenge if not desperate to run headlong on the pikes of Gods displeasure We reade of Saint p Li. 8. cons c. 12 Austine that being prone in his youth as he q Lib. 2. cap. 2. confesseth and ready to coole his lust with the act of vncleannesse preuented by grace he was warned by a voice from heauen saying Take vp and reade take vp the Bible and reade wheÌ„ being directed by the finger of God to that sentence of Saint Paul Not in chambering and wantonnesse Rom. 13. 13. he so beheld in this glasse the foule face of his soule that it was
a lauer also of pure water to wash it of this vncleannesse And if when thou art readie to satisfie thy lust in the heate of reuenge thou wouldest but looke her face in the next sentence of S. Paul Neither in strife and enuying if thou wert not past grace it would make strife against thy strife enuie thy enuious mind hate thine owne hatred and maligne thine owne malice Or if thou requirest a comment on that text that r Tract 5. in epi. Ioann Father doth aduise thee to reade the first Epistle of Saint Iohn wherein charitie and loue is most commaunded and in no Epistle as he speaketh more commended For though the whole Scripture be an Å¿ Greg l. 4. ep 84 Epistle from God to man to loue the one aboue all and the other as himselfe Tract 8. in caÌ„d Math. 22. yet nulla hac Epistola ardentior est ad commendandam charitatem no Epistle is there more earnest and hotter for loue as he speaketh then this of the beloued Disciple who leaned so on the breast of Christ Iesus that he seemed to sucke the â—eates of his loue In which perfect law of libertie yet must thou not looke as that foole in Saint Iames beheld his naturall face in the glasse to forget when thou art gone what manner of one thou wast but as the framers of the Iewish Cabala adde this Selah to their reader at the end of euery sentence Reputa apud te consider what thou readest so must thou therein at euery period and precept of loue remember that Selah of our Sauiour Let him that readeth consider it Mathew 24. 15. But if thou be of that gracelesse spirit that with * Sozowâ—â—â— c. 17 Iulian the Apostate thou answerest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue read vnderstood and disallow it I must answer thee as Appollinarius did him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast read it indeed but not vnderstood it for if thou hadst thou wouldst not haue disallowed to obey it yet if thou dashest this glasse against the wall for shewing thee thy spots and blemishes of the mind if through pride of the flesh and worldly reputatioÌ„ thou refuse this humilitie of the spirit and as v Numb 2â— 27 Balaam the blind Seer beat the Asse for seeing the Angell staying him from going to curse which himself did not see so thy worldly wisedom checketh this x 1. Corinâ— 1. 1â— foolishnes of preaching for shewing thee this Angell which might stay thee from reuenge yet must thou thus be y 1. Corinâ— 3. 1â— a foole that thou maist be wise seeing this foolishnesse of God condemnes those wages of vnrighteousnesse in worldly wisedome as the Asse speaking with mans voice forbad the foolishnesse of the Prophet 2. Pet. 2. 16. Vincamur quò vincamus let vs here be conquered saith a z Nazian oraâ— 3. de paâ—e Father that we may ouercome seeing hîc vinci quam vincere est praestantius in this cause to loose is to winne the victorie as a Homil. â—5 iâ— Math. 1â— Chrysostome auerreth Go not forth to fight and thou hast wonne the field striue not and thou art crowned make thine aduersary admire thine inuincible patience that he may report himself without fight to be ouercome of thy long-sufferance and longanimitie And this is indeede the life of loue and soule of Christan charitie To loue of whom it is hated to honour of whom it is contemned to blesse of whoÌ„ it is cursed and to do good vnto him of whom it is persecuted wronged saith b Lib. de 〈◊〉 1. ca. 16. Austin if he be not the putatine father of that book For these are the true proprieties of loue saith Saint Paul it is patient it is courteous it seeketh not her owne it enuieth not and it is not prouoked to anger 1. Cor. 13. And if it be patient saith â—â—b 5. super Luc. 6. Ambrose debet patientiam verberanti it must turne the other cheeke to him that smiteth Mat. 5. If it be curteous it must not render rebuke for rebuke 1. Pet. 3. 9. If it seeke not her owne it must not forbid to take the coate also Luk. 6. If it enuy not it must not hate her enemie Leuit. 19. If it be not prouoked to anger it must not be angrie without a cause Mat. 5. 22. and if it endure all things it should not resist iniurie Vers 39. Which saying if it seeme so hard to flesh bloud that she cannot heare it the Apostle sweeteneth her bitter potion with fiue comforts and counterpoisons 1. Pe. 2. For first this is thank-worthy and acceptable to God if a man endure griefe and wrong suffering wrongfully And if this hope of reward cannot induce vs let vs secondly consider that it is exacted as a dutie for hereunto are ye called to be d Rom. 8. 29. like the image of his Sonne and comformable to your head For what disproportion should this be that in the heads passion the members shold haue no coÌ„passion What analogie that the head should be crowned with thornes Mat. 27. and the members be crowned with rose-buds Wisedom 2. 8. What reason the head e Ioh 11. 33. 35. should haue that dolefull sympathie to f Rom. 12. 15. weep with them that weepe and the members that Stoicall apathie to feele no griefe and sorrow or rather that antipathie mentioned of some by g Homil. 53. ad pop Anâ—â—och Chrysostome To reioyce with him that wept and wept not with his eyes alone but with all his members tears of bloud and droppes of sweat as h Serm. 61. in Cant. Bernard speaketh And if his most pathetical crosses cannot crucifie vs with Christ which are Christians yet seeing thirdly he suffered for vs what reason but like Paul we suffer for Christ who hath left vs an ensample to follow his steppes to mount Caluarie And this so much more willingly should we i â— Pet. 3. 13. suffer with Christ because when he did no sinne neither was there found any guile in his mouth with the good k Luk 23 41. theefe we may truly confesse that we are indeed righteously here on the crosse of wrong-suffering and receiue things worthie of that we haue done but this man hath done nothing amisse And if thou doest hope for reuenge thou must commit with Dauid thy cause vnto God the Iudge of right as Christ committed it to him that iudgeth righteously who seeing he is the auenger the auenger of Israell Psal 94. 1. he will in due time shew himselfe clearely though the wicked the wicked do long triumph though they speake disdainefully and make such proud boasting though they smite downe his people and trouble his heritage though they murther the widow and put the fatherlesse to death and say Tush the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Iaakob regard it though they gather them together against the soule of the righteous condemne the
Dauid Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee and am not I grieued with those that rise vp against thee yea I hate them right sore as though they were mine enemies Psalm 139. 21. I saw the transgressors and was grieued because they kept not thy law Psal 119. 158. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes I hate the workes of vnfaithfulnesse there shall no such dwell with me Psal 101. And thus may we be angrie against sinners no not so much the man as his manners as hereafter shall be shewed Thirdly how it must be spent not in fume like the foaming sea that cannot rest till it cast vp mire and dirt for this anger is furor breuis a short madnesse as he q Hâ—rat speaketh and onely they differ said wise r Plut. Apâ—th Cato in continuance of time For whereas there be two kinds of madnesse one of the head which makes men run out of their wit and another of the heart which puts them out of their right mind these angry men hauing neither the wit to gouerne nor the mind to be gouerned in this passion are the maddest of all other seeing as Å¿ Lib. 1. de ira cap. 1. Seneca noteth in them they haue the same signes and tokens that mad men haue and this mist of anger so darkeneth their eye of reason that it cannot discerne things that differ but as obiects though little in themselues thorough a thicke cloud seeme bigger then they are indeed so whatsoeuer moate the eye of anger thorow cloudie browes beholdeth in a brother seemeth no lesse then a beame For as t Lib. 11. nat â—â— cap. 37. Pliny noteth Oculos in comitiali morbo apertos nihil cernere animo caligante that the eyes in the falling sicknes though open see nothing when the mind is darkened and dim-sighted so in comitiali morbo irae as one u Plut deirâ— cohib tearmes it in the falling sicknesse of anger wherein they fall on others men haue like those Iewes eyes and see not the right as eares and heare not the truth but their minds being blinded that they see not Satan euer boweth downe their backe for a load of sinne and anger the daughter of iniurie as Sabellicus speaketh becomes in them the mother of reuenge And as anger in her madnesse is blind to augment all faults and make a moate a beame and a mole-hill a mountaine so is she 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as x 2. Pet. 2. 9. the Apostle speaketh and cannot see farre off but diminishing the person of men maketh a Cedar of Lebanon but a bramble of the bush and like the purblind man in the y Maâ—â— 8. Gospell seeth men but like trees which with the z Ioâ— 1â— â— good husbandman when she should but loppe with the pruning-knife of correction she heweth downe with the axe of her owne iudgement and reuenge And therefore because he will neuer obserue the meane nor keepe a right measure in punishing who in his anger comes for to punish as a Lib. 1. Oâ—â—â—â— Tully said most truly the Romains wisely tyed a bundell of rods to those axes that were caryed before the Consuls vt ijs soluendis inijceretur aliqua mora irae antequam ad puniendum accederent that in loosing of them some delay of time may allay their anger before they came to punish as neither Socrates nor Plato nor Architas whom I mentioned in the beginning durst punish euen their seruants in their anger lest vnder correcting their manners they should reuenge them on the men and turne iudgement into worm-wood as b Cap. 5 7. Amos speaketh and c Apo. 6 12. iustice into gall Wherefore seeing optimum est temperare iram non tollere as Seneca d Lib. 1. de ira cap. 7. noteth to temper anger and not take it away be angry but sinne not saith Paul Ephes 4. 26. Be angry at his manners but sinne not by anger against the man Or if ye chaunce to exceede this golden meane Irascimini are ye angrie as some Bez annot matâ—r in hunâ— lxum interogatiuely vnderstand it sinne not that is so moderate your affection that it be appeased before it burst foorth as our English note on that place expounds it If turbulent motions arise in the mind through the corruption of nature yet let not reason consent and obey them in the lusts thereof that although in our flesh we serue the lawe of sinne yet in our spirit we serue the lawe of regenerate part as f In Psal 4. 4. Austine most excellently expounds it His meaning is this serpent like Goliah must be smote dead in the fore-front and crushed in the head lest if he get in the head as he did into Eue he bring in the whole body wheÌ„ sin is finished from this taile of the serpent leaue g 1. Cor. 15. 55 that sting of death in our soules We must crush this Cockatrice in his egge we must take this little foxe before he do hurt lest growing vp to be great like Sampsons foxe he set all on fire and like Herod the foxe fall to be bloudthirstie and rauenous We must purge out this little leauen lest it soure the whole lumpe we must giue this water of bitternesse no passage no not a little lest like that in Ezechiel it grow from the ankles to the knees and from the knees to the thighes and proue a riuer that cannot be passed without drowning we must dash this youngling of Babell against the stones lest after growth it cry down with him downe with him euen to the ground for this little fire will kindle a great matter this least graine and mustard-seed of anger will grow vp to a great tree of hatred vnder whose branches of enuie and malice the foules of the heauen and princes of the aire will build their nests And therefore this roote of bitternes must not be let grow vp lest many therewith be defiled this little cloud of anger if it be not dissolued by his heate will couer all the skie hide the sunne of righteousnesse and cause much raine and no little storme this cord of vanitie will pull on a cart-rope of iniquitie and therefore for the manner how ye may be angry be angrie but sinne not in your anger For whose season and oportunitie of time when it must be drawne as there is a time to hate as a time to loue and a time of peace as a time of warre Eccles 3. 8. so must anger not rashly out of time nor vnaduisedly out of season be mispent Mat. 5. 22 Sauls flatterers mistooke their time They are mine enemies vniustly saith Dauid and hate me without a cause Psal 39. 19. They gather themselues not for mine offence not for my sinne but without my fault O Lord Psal 59. 3. They hate me without a cause and would destroy me guiltlesse Psalm 69. 4. Thus h Gen â— Caine was wroth with Abel
we were before because we haue left vs no enemies to stand in awe of and feare So true was that saying of a Ibid. Antisthenes That a man rather needes deadly foes to deterre him from notorious faults then honest friends to admonish him to vertue So truly replyed b Plut. libel de multâ— amic Chilo one of the seuen Wise men of Greece to one boasting that he had not a foe Then saith he thou hast not a friend And therfore as Plutarch wrote a booke titled De capienda ex inimiâ—is vtilitate Of the good that comes by our enemies and proued the title good so made c T 〈…〉 Chrysostome a whole sermon intitled Diligamus etiam nos persequentes Let vs loue euen our greatest enemies Seeing as his brethrens great enmitie and dishonour brought Ioseph greatest amitie and honour or as Telephus receiued cure from the rust of that speare wherewith Achilles wounded him or as he that meant to smite Iason to death opened but his dangerous impostume to his health so an enemies tongue which is as sharpe as a speare or a sword doth but cure while it cutteth and heale while it lanceth and letteth vs bloud in the swelling veine of some vanitie that we may confesse like him vna eadémque manus vulnus opcmque tulit The same hand that killeth maketh aliue that bringeth downe raiseth vp that maketh poore maketh rich that bringeth low exalteth and professe with Zachary in another sense Luk. 1. 71. that we receiue as the originall reades it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 health from our enemies and good from the hands of all them that hate vs. Which hearty loue of our foes and dismission of displeasure seeing it consisteth in the remission of their faults and the giuing ouer of anger in the forgiuing of their wrongs our Sauior from the parable of the mercilesse debter straitly chargeth each one to forgiue from our hearts their trespasses seuenty times seuen times vnto our brethren and that vnder this condition If mine heauenly Father shall forgiue you your sinnes Mat. 18. 35. Wherein Hearty loue and reconcilâ—ment consisteth in forgiuing whether we respect the condonation not forbeare but forgiue or the remitters not some but each one or the maner not from the teeth but our hearts or the matter not thoughts or words alone but all their trespasses or the times when not vnto seuen times alone but vnto seuenty times seuen times or lastly the partie to be pardoned who is our brother this key of knowledge should so vnlocke our sealed-vp affection and set open our hearts that as the Corinths had in d 2. Cor. ◠〈◊〉 Pauls our brethren should haue a large roome in our hearts And first touching this act of 1. CondonatioÌ„ Forgiue heartie loue in remitting we must if our brother offend vs forgiue him commaundeth Christ our Sauiour Luk. 17. 3. 4. If he offend vs I say for if man trespasse against man it may be pardoned or iudged saith old Ely but if a man trespasse against the Lord who will pleade for him 1. Sam. 2. 25. k Ioh. who can forgiue sinnes but God alone Neuerthelesse if he offend thee dimittendâ— habes potestatem imò necessitatem Thou maist yea must as l Lib. 3. in Mat. 18. 15. Ierome speaketh forgiue For marke who said forgiue and to whom he said it saith Saint m Serm. 3 1. dâ— verb. Apost Austine truth to his scholers the chiefe pastour to his sheepe the king to his souldiers the Lord to his seruants Christ to his Apostles God to man Height to wormes creeping below on the earth who hath voluntarily bound himselfe with an obligation to forgiue vs if we keepe the condition to forgiue our brethren Mat. 6. 14. Neither is it negligently to be passed ouer n Lib 2. cap. 18. dâ— serm Dom. in 〈◊〉 saith that Father that of all those petitions which he taught vs to pray withall this onely of forgiuing he chiefly commends vnto vs which because it is of greatest weight and importance as Pharao his dreame was doubled it is ingeminated twise together vnto vs Mat. 6. 15. For in no other petition we so pray as to bargaine and indent with God but in this alone Forgiue vs as we forgiue others In which couenant if we lye and forgiue not our brother totius orationis nullus erit fructus all the other petitions are made in vaine and fruitlesse is the rest of the Lords prayer seeing our sins are not forgiuen vnlesse we forgiue In this o August hom 40. de frat charit alone we make an indenture with God and subscribe the condition with this prouiso As we giue for them that trespasse against vs. Which p Idem Euchir ad L 〈…〉 cap. 73. if we performe without all doubt verba sponsionis huius implentur we keepe the condition of this obligation which is such If ye forgiue men their trespasses As if he had said q Ibid. serm 31. dâ— verb. Apost Thou man hast a debter euen thy brother who hath offended thee and I haue another debter euen thy selfe who hast grieuously offended me that which thou doest to thine will I do to mine for so thou in thy prayer desirest me If thou forgiuest I do forgiue if thou retainest I retaine against thee or rather thou against thy selfe r Idem serm â—â—2 de Temp. Forgiue therefore ne dum fratri negaâ— misericordiam tibi claudas patris indulgentiam lest whilst thou denyest mercie and shuttest vp thy hart froÌ„ thy brother thou shut the gate of mercy with thy father For there shall be iudgement and that mercilesse too to him that sheweth no mercie Iam. 2. 13. And indeed deare Christian Å¿ with what face canst thou say the Lords prayer with what conscience canst thou aske the maker of heauen and earth forgiuenesse of then thousand talents when thou doest and hast not nor wilt forgiue thy fellow seruant an hundred pence thou I say a worme crawling twixt heauen and earth t Take heede lest thou heare of that iust Iudge Phisition heale thy selfe thou perswadest me to mercie which thou thy selfe wilt not impart to thy brother thou intreatest me to haue patience when thou wilt not heare thy brother intreating for his debt thou intreatest me to blot out all my hand writing against thee and yet thou suest thy brothers bill of offence 〈◊〉 debitor est in carcere tu in Oratorio thy debter is in prison and thou in the Church to aske forgiuenesse thy prayer shall there be heard I will forgiue thee as thou forgiuest him that trespasseth against thee O foolish man tibi contradicis in oratione thou prayest against thy selfe saith u Serm 2 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—râ—m Austine Lord forgiue me my trespasses as I euen as I forgiue them that trespasse against me but Lord thou knowest I forgiue not them that trespasse against me therefore O Lord forgiue not me Non
Athenians after my death for these wrongs Neither let them draw curtaines ouer their bed-rid enmitie because Dauid forgaue Shimei his cursing 2. Sam. 19. and yet at his death left it Salomon in his will to kill him for his curses 1. King 2. For though Dauid at his comming to the crowne as our gracious king at his ingresse of this kingdome in his princely mercie not willing to begin his raigne with bloud pardoned railing Shimei as u In 2. Sam. 19. Martyr obserueth yet onely promised he him he should not die then nor for that onely fault nor at all by his hands as the learned x Lyra Hugo lun in 2. Sam. 19. interpret And whereas the iniurie to Dauid was double as one y Hugo Card. ibid. noteth priuate to him as a man and publike to him as a king the former according to the law Thou shalt not auenge nor be mindfull of wrong against the children of thy people Leuit. 19. he then wholly and freely forgaue whereas the other in the loue of iustice he willed Salomon to requite saith z Quast 18 19 in 1. Râ—g 2 Abulensis yet so that albeit he seeme to mention Shimei reuiling as a cause motiue of reuenge yet chargeth he not Salomon to kill him for that alone but when he takes him tripping in another offence he shall then pay him home for both For thou art a wise man saith he to his sonne and knowest what thou oughtest to do vnto him 1. Ki. 2. Wherefore let none by this example forgiuing the fault to his foe thinke by his sonne he may prosecute the offence A parable saith Salomon in the mouth of a foole is like a thorne in the hand of a drunkard wherewith he pricketh himselfe Prou. 26. 9. And this is to wrest the Scripture or to vse Saint a 2. Pet. 3. 18. Peters word to make it * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looke a squint to their owne destruction And indeed it is lamentable to behold how wilfull children execute the last will of their malicious parents to reuenge and like those hostile beasts in b Lib. de mirab mun ls Albertus which being at deadly enmity in time of their life partes eorum pili their parts and haire are enemies after their death Or as ' Plutarch reports of Eagles and Dragons Crowes and Owles the Libbard and Linnet whose c Lib. dâ— inuid olâ—â— enmitie while they liued makes their bloud after death at such strife that it can neuer agree or be ioyned together in one vessell But let vs learne beloued of the liuing God at our death to leaue peace to our children the best legacie of our will and remit all though greatest offences and thereof both the guilt and punishment before we die to forgiue each one from our hearts all trespasses Vnto seuenty times seuen times For it may be thou replyest 5. Time when Alwaies saith d Lâ—b â—e constit viâ— vâ—â—t c. 9. Austine he hath offered me so many wrongs and offended so often that I am wearie with bearing and forbearing reuenge And indeed we which are debters of loue to many say like him who is debter to no man in the first of Amos For three offences of Edom and for foure I will not turne to it because he did pursue his brother with the sword and did cast off all pittie and his anger spoiled him euermore and his wrath watched him alway and remembred not the brotherly couenant for three offences and for foure I will not turne to it This is the manner of mankind and therefore euen Peter himselfe asked his Lord to set downe some definite number of forgiuing Mat. 18. 21. Maister how oft shall my brother trespasse against me I shall forgiue him Vnto seuen times The worlds custome is to forgiue but once or twice or three times at the most and therefore Peter thought himselfe very liberall saith e Homil. 6â— in Mat. 18. Chrysostome if he went so farre beyond worldlings as seuen times to forgiue What vnto seuen times Lord Indeed the number of seuen is wont in Scripture to import an vniuersalitie of all saith venerable f Ser. Post 1 Do quadrag tom 7. Bede as all time is limited by seuen daies and all vice by seuen euill spirits Mat. 12. 45. as with Chrysostome Ansclmus doth obserue Neuerthelesse because the number of sixe seemes to be a number of worke and labour and seuen a number of rest therefore Peter vnderstanding this saith g Tract â— in Mat. 18. Origen thought in sixt times as in sixe dayes he might finish his worke of forgiuenesse and rest the seuenth time from all his labour Wherefore Christ his Lord and maister scoreth vp a greater number of remission I say not to thee vnto seuen times but vnto seuenty times seuen times alluding saith Hilarie to that number of Caine and Lamechs punishment Gen. 4. 24. If Caine shall be auenged seuen times truly Lamech seuenty times seuen times that as their auengement and requitalll was by this imported infinite so his forgiuenesse hereby should not be lesse finite For this is a number finite put for an infinite saith Chrysostome as if he had said Wilt thou know how often Peter doest thou tell me of seuen times man I tell thee vnto seuentie times seuen times in h Chrysost ibid. which number yet is no bound nor limitation but seuen times i that is semper alwaies or seuen dayes in a weeke yea seuen times in a day saith our Sauior Luk. 17. 4. or toties quoties as with k Dionys Carthus in hunc lâ—cum others l Ser. 15. de verb Dâ—m in Mat. Austine doth expound it and by this is meant a toties quoties of forgiuenesse as that number seuen is vsed Prou. 24. 16. This infinite number our Sauiour there setteth downe to condemne the mercilesse debter Mat. 18. who it seemes standing vpon the number would not forgiue his fellow because he had runne so long on his score that the debt was now growne to an hundred pence Howbeit let vs be followers of God as deare children who forgiueth not onely talents and great sinnes but euen tenne thousand that is all sinnes committed saith m Ibid. Austine against the ten commaundements Let vs I say be mercifull as our heauenly Father is mercifull who when he had often deliuered the Iewes from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the Ammonites and from the Philistines and from the Zidonians and from the Amalekites and from the Moabites pardoned them often vpon the promise of amendement Iudg. 10. 11. though when after breach of their couenant they cryed againe for further pardon he answered I haue done it so often and still ye offend wherefore I will deliuer you no more vers 13. yet for all this when they cryed We pray thee onely deliuer vs this day and saue vs this once he heard their complaint and pittying them
the Partridge Ier. 17. 11. nourish the yong they brought not forth vnnaturall birds to their brood and cruel to their yong like the Ostrich in the wildernesse Lam. 4. which leaueth his brood in the earth and forgetteth that the foot might scatter them or that the wild beast might breake them he sheweth himself cruell to his yong ones as if they were not his and is without feare as if he trauelled in vaine Iob 39. These play Micipsa his pranke p Salust de bell Iugurth who hauing sons yet adopted Iugurtha to them and so set his children by the eares and for their supernaturall kindnesse to alients and vnnaturall to their owne they may perchance receiue q Fuâ—gos l. 7. c. 9. Velius Blessus his reward who hauing diuers sonnes yet adopted on his death bed one Regulus standing by because he was diligent about him in his sicknesse and often lapping him bad him beware of taking cold But this new heire forsooth hauing gotten the will made and witnessed Medicos hortabatur vt citò Blessum conficerent ne diutius aegritudinis molestia laboraret he loued this new-found father so well that he wished him in heauen and feed the Phisitions to kill him quickly and put Blessus out of his paine that the inheritance that night might be his What shall I say to these cruell Ostriches but admire with the Almightie the possibilitie of their memorable obliuion Is it possible r Esai 49. 15. Can a woman forget her child and not haue compassion on the sonne of her wombe What shall I say to these vnnaturalists but from the God of nature pronounce that in not prouiding for their owne and namely for them of their houshold but especially for them of their owne bodies they denie the faith yea nature it self which hath taught a father to pitie his owne childreÌ„ Psal 103. and are worse then infidels 1. Tim. 5. 8. If Diogenes therefore to returne whence I digressed for his schollers fault gaue the master a blow on the cheeke and a checke in the eare Cur igitur sic instituis why teachest thou him not better maners then surely such fathers deserue a blow from his hands of iron who ouer-willing to the eldest or too wilfull to the yongest or vnwilling to all or mis-willing to any by these their sower grapes so set their childrens teeth on edge that they bite and deuoure one another Let them on their death-bed like departing Iaakob Gen. 49. call together all their sonnes into one and to Reuben to Beniamin to Dan and to Gad deuide their iust portions for auoidance of diuision Or let them follow that wise father in the parable who diuided his substance to his sonnes to preuent future contention Let them of Dan who giue nothing but iudgement learne that he would not without will die intestate but deuided his substance Let Reubenites who are all for the eldest learne that he gaue him not all but deuided his goods and so that he gaue his eldest but the inheritance Let Beniamites who are wholly for the yongest learne that he gaue him but the portion of goods that fel vnto him And lastly let them of the tribe of Gad who almost giue all or most to aliants learne that he deuided all to his sonnes for saith our Sauiour So he deuided vnto them his substance Luke 15. 12. Let them at then death bequeath concord to their children the best legacie in their wil semblable to Å¿ Plus de garris Scylurus the Scythian who at his death bid his sons bring him a sheafe of arrowes which he then gaue each one to break in peeces but wheÌ„ no one could do it himselfe pulling them out easily brake them one by one in their sight shewing them by this parable that which Salomon in his Prouerbes that a brother vnited to a brother is like an impregnable citie and their counsels like the barre of a pallace which cannot be broken or that I noted in the Preacher Two are better then one for either may helpe his fellow but woe vnto him that is alone for he falleth and hath not a second to helpe him vp And if one ouercome him two shall stand against him and a threefold cord like that bundle of arrowes is not easily broken Let them with t Xenop lib. 8. de Cyr. Pad Cyrus giue in their wils this legacie of vnitie to their sonnes and say with him Ye which are borne of the same seed of your father and nourished by the same milke of your mother brought vp in the same house beloued of the same parents and call on the same father and mother how should not ye aboue all men be most knit in friendship with this knot of nature breake not therefore these naturall bonds of loue wherewith the immortall God hath linked you as brethren Thus when in peace themselues go to their fathers they may leaue peace with their sonnes that as in their last will they giue them their goods so in their last and most effectuall affection they may bequeath them this goodnesse the best donatiue of their will as it was not least legacie in Christs testament and say at their departure as the Sauiour when he left the world Peace I leaue with you my peace I giue vnto you for else how can they enioy peace in heauen when they know their parts haue no peace on earth How can their soules sit in mirth at the supper of the Lambe when they know these parts of their bodie like wolues bite and deuoure another Which vnitie in life time rather should they labour to effect seeing the holy Ghost in giuing naturall brethren no peculiar charge in Scripture that I know of louing one another hath sent them to the schoole of nature to learne them this lesson in the members of their bodie For making no question of their loue which is the law of nature he forbeareth to bid brethreÌ„ loue only bids other meÌ„ loue as brethreÌ„ 1. Pet. 3. For as v Câ—teâ—r â—â— as pro Rosâ— Aâ—er Solon the lawgiuer of Greece being asked why he made no law in Athens nor ordained any punishmeÌ„t against paricides answered wisely because he thought none could be so vnnatural as to kil his father froÌ„ whoÌ„ he had being so neither our sole wise God of heauen made any peculiar law nor appropriated many particular punishments to fratricides in scripture because he might wel thinke none would be so monstrous in nature as to hate his owne flesh and slay his brother who is ferè alter almost himself And therefore whereas he gaue charge to all the houshold and all sorts of the family to shew mutuall loue and dutie Ephes 6. as children to parents and fathers to children seruants to masters and masters to their seruants he speaketh not a word of children among themselues as if he had bene ashamed to bid brethren be reconciled and loue one another And passing ouer it in silence
he seemes to vse his Apostles x Areâ— in 1. The. 4. 9. preterition 1. Thess 4. 9. But touching brotherly loue ye need not that I write vnto you for ye are taught of God by nature to loue one another and making no doubt of doing that and that thing verily ye do to all the brethren he onely intreateth them to abound therein But we beseech you that ye increase it more and more But alas naturall brethren haue more now then called that 2. vse reproofe into question whereof the father and God of nature made no question whose precept of this loue as it is rare so fratruâ—â— quoque gratia rara est their practise also is as rare as an heathen in his dayes could obserue For now y Lâ—beâ— de frat amor Plutarch his experience may be our schoole-master to bring vs to many who become brothers with strangers and strange with their brethren sinfull friends with aliants in gluttonie and drunkennesse and yet vnfriendly to their brethren in eating and drinking tolerate their sinnes with pleasure and delight and yet bitter to theirs count their slips intolerable yea whereas they passe away houses and lands to their harlots yet striue with their brethren for the floore of an house an angle of ground and foote of a field nay whereas they nourish and loue their angrie dogges their fierce horses their spotted beasts their toyish Apes and their cruell Lions they brooke not anger nor tolerate fiercenesse nor beare with blemishes nor pardon childishnes nor suffer haughtinesse in their brethren which though greatest they tolerate in bruite beasts and for which things alone they dearely loue them A brother indeed offended is harder to winne then a strong câ—tie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their contentions saith z Prouer. 18. 19. Salomon like the barre of a castle which cannot be decided Ruthfull examples as of Iaakob and Esau Isaac and Ismael Eteocles and Polynices Chaerephon and Chaerocrates as I noted before and dayly is notorious in domesticall experience manifest this truth to be too true The reason and cause of which irreparable breach is giuen from the a Arist l. 7. Polit Oracle of reason Because not onely not to be holpen but greatly hurt by them of whom we thinke helpe due by nature not so much dissolueth as breaketh the knot of natural affectioÌ„ For the nearer as elswhere b Lib. 8. Ethi c. 9 he noteth is the cause of coniunctioÌ„ and bond of vnitie the greater must needs be the wrong which doth dissipate it and greater the disiunction of them therefore deuided In least matters to be deceiued by a fellow and companion is most abominable saith c Orat. pro Rosc Amer. Tully because that which he thought he adioyned for an help against others helping others against him doth cut him to the quicke and breake the heart-strings of affection Caesars wound that his sonne Brutus gaue him went nearer to his heart then all the stabs of his foes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what thou also my sonne Brutus made him crie like Dauid Psal 55. If mine enemie had done me this dishonor I could haue borne it but it was euen thou my companion my guide and mine owne familiar friend And to imply his greater wrong he doth explicate their nearer vnitie We tooke sweete counsell together and walked in the house of God as friends and this cause of disiunction of vnitie from so neare coniunction of amitie he cannot let passe without imprecation to his trechery Let death come hastily vpon them and let them go downe quick into hell for wickednesse is in their dwellings and among them For as things which are ioyned saith d Lâ—b â— de frat amor Plutarch though the glue be melted may be recombined when a bodily substance rent in sunder can hardly be reioyned so loue of men after falling out may be reintegrated when brethren of one bodie seuered one from the other can with difficultie be reconciled Neuerthelesse brotherly loue as out of e De 〈◊〉 Nazianzene I noted like the graffe or cience of a tree though it be broken off from the stocke may be ingrafted againe but seeing the coales of this hatred are fiery coales and a vehement flame which no water can put out nor floods can drowne take heed of heating this Asbestos which being once incensed no water no not of teares can quench And seeing this amitie is the chiefe and head of all knit by so many sinewes and arteries of nature beware of breaking its neck bone which can so hardly be knit againe And let all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take heed how they f Iudg â—â— follow the way of Caine g 1. Iohn â— 12. who was of that wicked one and slue his brother least that woe which ouertooke him ouerturne them hauing warre in his heart he gaue good words with his mouth and spake h Ferus in Gen. â— 8. friendly to his brother Gen. 4. 8. See his hypocrisie to oportune place for his murderous intent he perswades him to walke into the field see his policie not into Paradise a place of puritie that abounded with fruite but into the field And where indeed should his brother be slaine but in the barren field saith i Lâ—b 2 de Caâ—â— Abel cap â— Ambrose where there wanted fruite Oportunitie of place fitting his purpose he rose vp and slue his brother Behold his crueltie O audacious abominable and wretched mind and whatsoeuer can be said is too little saith a k Châ—ysost 〈◊〉 19. 1. Gen. 4. Father How did not thine hand tremble at this deed how could it hold thy sword and strike a blow at thine owne bowels Thou art thy fathers eldest sonne the beginning of his weaknesse and heire of his sinnes the patriarke of murderers thou hast not a second man to quarrell with on earth beside thy father and thou wilt slay thy brother that thou maist not be a brother and kill the fourth part of all mankind with a blow But see how the Iudge of all the world arraigneth this murderer at the barre of his iustice Where is thy brother And at his conuention see his churlish answer I cannot tell am I my brothers keeper as if he had bid God go seeke him if he would any thing with him And see in what admiration of the fact he examineth the offender What hast thou done oh what hast thou done The voice though not of thy murdered brother yet of thy brothers blood yea of his bloods of his possible posteritie whom thou hast slaine in the loynes of their father Abel not onely speaketh but crieth vnto me for vengeance How long Lord holy and true doest thou not auenge our blood on him that dwelleth on the earth Yea it crieth from the earth which followeth thy murder for her sonne for her inhabitant and for her keeper and see his triple iudgement according to her three-fold accusation
Iudgement in his soule Thou art cursed from the earth iudgement in his goods The earth which opened her mouth to receiue his blood from thine hand mistrusting no harme from brothers which were but two on the earth l Ambr. lib. 2. de Caâ—â— Abel c. 10. Nam quomodo poterat suspectare parrâ—â—dium quae adhuc not viderat homicidium for how could it suspect brotherly murder which had not yet seene man-slaughter the earth is cursed for thy sake not as it was to thy father Adam to giue m Gen. 3. 17. no fruite without his sweate and labour but when thou shalt till the ground it shall not yeeld thee henceforth her strength And thirdly iudgement in his bodie a vagabond and a runnagate shalt thou be in the earth And after sentence see how this condemned caitife is caried from the barre with despaire of mercy My sinne is greater then can be pardoned with horror of iudgement My punishment is greater then can be borne and with terror of conscience Behold thou hast cast me this day from the earth and from thy face shall I be hid and whosoeuer findeth me shall slay me But of whom saith that n Ambr. lib 2. de Caâ—â— Abel cap 9. Father was he afraid to be slaine that had none with him on earth but his parents He might feare iustly the incursions of natural brute beasts who more beastly had broken the course of nature he might feare rightly the teeth of wild beasts who brutishly had fleshed them with mans blood yea the blood of his brother He could not presume of the subiection of fowles who had taught them that a man might be killed He might now also feare the hands of his parents who had taught them that parricide might be committed and that they would learne to practise a murder who had taught him the precept in their original sinne This is Cains punishment in his person and yet see the taint of his blood in al his postetitie whom Noes flood washt away saith o Lib. 15 de â—iâ— Dâ— cap. 20. Austin from the face of the earth when it could not wash away their scarlet sinne of blood double died both in Caine the threed and in his of-spring the cloth and garment of vengeance whom the holy Ghost deigneth not to name in reciting the catalogue of Adams posteritie Gen. 5. for the face of the Lord is against them that did euill to cut off saith Dauid their remembrance from the earth For he would not take them in his mouth nor make mention of their names within his lippes as if that curse of the Lord had fallen on his progenie Psal 109. Let his posteritie be destroyed and in the next generation let his name be cleane put out O that all Caines which thirst the bloud of their Abel that all Ismaels which persecute their Isaac that all Esaus which pursue their Iaacob to the death would beware to follow the way of Caine that they might not perish in the gaine-saying of Core Are they Graecians or Barbarians wise or vnwise let those reade Plutarch a naturall man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of brotherly loue and these their owne bodie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of lime-loue how those brethren and twins of the bodie eyes eares hands and feet loue one another and for shame of their soules be reconciled to them who are flesh of their flesh and bone of their bones And surely if we yet looke further to the rocke whence we 2. Brother naturall in blood which is each man are hewne and to the hole of the pit whence we were digged if we consider Adam our father and Eue that bare vs we shall find that we haue all this p Iunius Polan in Mal. 2. 10 one father Mal. 2. 10. and all this one mother who is mater omnium viuentium Gen. 3. 20. aut iustiùs morientium as one q Ferus in Gen. 3. 20. cals her the mother of all men liuing or rather dead while they liue in her trespasses and sinnes and all men therefore brethren Gen. 9. 5. and this brotherly kinred of men made by him who made all mankind of one bloud Act. 17. 26. For as r Ser. 1. de â—eâ—uâ— Leo truly said of neighbour that euery man whether friend or foe bond or free is our neighbour so fratrem vt proximum vel omne hominum genus accipere debemus saith Å¿ Lib 2. in Zâ—c cap. 7. Ierome and Saint t Lib 2. locut de Exod. Austine Euery man is our brother by nature as our neighbor in the vse of naturall things Through which coniunction of mankind the very heathen u Cic lib. 1. Ossâ— could see in the twilight of nature that certaine duties of amitie and fellowship are naturally due from all men euery one to other and therefore x AEsch â—rat cont â—â—sâ—ph Arist lib. â—â—hetor ad Theâ—â—ect vsed the name neighbour as our Sauiour doth here brother generally for all men And indeed seeing as y Homil 51. ad Pop. Antioch 1. The greater world preacheth concord and vnity to man Chrysostome well noteth the God of all hath giuen all but one house the world to be domesticos naturae the houshold of nature that father of lights hath light all but one candle the Sunne to be filios lucis iust and vniust children of that light seeing he that spreadeth it out like a curtaine hath couered all but with one canapie and roofe of heauen to be one family of loue And seeing the feeder of euery liuing thing hath spread all but one table the earth at which boord we are all companions of one bread and drinke all of one cup the ayre doubtlesse this communitie of naturall things should breed such a common vnitie in nature as should make men in this one house to be of one mind and sons of one light to walke in loue as children of the light and the familie vnder one roofe to walke in this house of God as familiar friends and companions at one table to eate their meate together with singlenesse of heart as it vnited those Saints because they had all things common Act. 2. 44. Which communion of all things naturall if it cannot knit men in one with these bonds of nature yet beholding the common vnion of all things amongst themselues the musicke of this harmonie should breed concord and peace in man the son of peace For whether we lift vp our eyes to heauen aboue behold it is there the heauens declare the glorie of God in their peace and the firmament sheweth his handi-worke or whether we cast our eyes on the earth below behold also it is there both preaching peace to his people and to his Saints that they turne not againe Wherefore as z Prou. 6. Salomon sent the sluggard to the pismire as his schoole-maister to bring him to labour a Esâ— 1. Esau the vngratefull to the oxe and asse to learne
of diuision God defend that Bethmarraboth the house of bitternesse wiped out should become Behoram the house of anger and wrath God defend that Hierusalem the vision of peace which in Dauids gouernment was like a citie at vnitie in it selfe Psal 122. should in Lysias the chiefe captaines time be like Ierusalem all on an vprore Act. 21. God forbid that the head should reioyce to see the members bite and deuoure one another or nourish drones in the hiue which work not at al but are busie-bodies For howsoeuer skilful Bee-keepers and cunning hiue-heards iudge that swarme to be best fruitfull in making honie apud quod strepitus susurrus frequens tumultusque plurimum est which buzzeth most and makes the greatest stirre and tumult as l Loco citaâ— Aristotle noteth yet that regent cui Deus ciuilis examinis curam imposuit who hath gouernment of the ciuill hiue saith m Reip. gâ—rend praecept Plutarch must iudge them to make then most honie when they are most peaceable and quiet and thinke that when they are busie-bodies they worke not at all For where strife and enuying is there are all manner of euill workes Iam. 3. 16. Let me end this point with the n Rom. 16. 17. Apostles exhortation Now I beseech you brethren marke them diligently which cause diuision and offences contrarie to the doctrine which ye haue receiued and auoid them for they that are such serue not the Lord Iesus but their owne bellies and with faire speech and flattering deceiue the hearts of the simple o Phil. 2. 1. 2 3. 4. And if there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of loue if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels of compassion and mercie fulfill my ioy my ioy yea your heauenly Fathers ioy the Church your mothers ioy on earth mens ioy the Angels ioy and the diuels griefe and sorrow that ye be like minded hauing the same loue being of one accord and of one iudgement that nothing be done through contention or vainglorie but that in meeknesse of mind euery man esteeme other better then himselfe Looke not euery man on his owne things but euery man also on the things of other and the God that maketh p Psal 68. men to be of one mind in an house giue you that ye be like minded q 2. Cor. 13. 11 Be of one mind liue in peace ciuilly with your brethren and the God of peace and loue shall be with you But be it that naturall brethren of one Adam and Eue breake 3 To thy spirituall brother the linkes of consanguinitie and ciuill brethren of one head and common weale dissolue the bands of brotherhood in ciuill societie yet seeing saith r Lib. de discip Christ cap. 1. Austine as Christians we haue all one father which is God one mother the Church whereby we are brethren in the spirit let vs keepe the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace For seeing almightie God our Å¿ Mat. 23. 9. heauenly father hath t 1. Pet. 1. 2 3. begot vs by the immortall seed of his word in the u Esa 46. 3. wombe of his x Cant. 4. 9. 10. Hos 2 19 spouse the Church which is the y Gal. 4. 26. Esa 54. 1. 13. mother of vs all all ye Christians are brethren saith Christ our elder z Rom. 8. 29. brother Mat. 23. 8. Which spirituall fraternitie so the a 1. Pet. â— 9. Apostle cals it as it is more holy then carnall brotherhood for sanctior est copula cordium quà m corporum saith b Tom. 1. lib. de mod beâ— viâ— ser 5. de châ—râ—â— Bernard so should it be nearer linked in loue seeing coniunctiores sunt qui animis quà m qui corporibus coniunguntur nearer are they of kinne which are allyed in the spirit then they who are but of linage in the flesh as c Lib. 6 diuin instit cap. 10. Lactantius obserueth Whereupon as for that the son of the Virgine Mary counted his mother more blessed for carying him in her heart by grace then in her wombe by nature Luk. 11. 28. so for this our elder brother Christ preferred his spiritual brethren to his mother and brethren in the flesh Mat. 12. 49. Which mysticall bodie of the Church sith Christ hath knit together by ioynts and bands proceeding from him Col. 2. 19. as the head doth our naturall bodie by arteries and sinewes deriued froÌ„ it therfore sheweth the Apostle to vs seuen of these bands and nerues of loue Ephes 4. 4. First we are one bodie whose members must needs be knit together secondly we haue all one spirit whereby we are vnited together thirdly one hope of our vocation for which as hopefull coheires we should reioyce together fourthly one Lord whom as fellow-seruants peaceably we serue together fiftly one faith which we maintaine together sixtly one baptisme in which we promised against his foes to fight together and seuenthly one God and Father of all who will haue his children to be and reioyceth to see them in vnitie together Which bonds of peace common to vs all shold linke vs in loue as those primitiue Christians were one heart and one soule when they had all things common Act. 2. 4. For seeing amitie and loue springeth from likenesse and equalitie as d Lib. 8. Ethic. cap. 8. Aristotle e Lib de amicit Tully and f Lib. de multit amicorum Plutarch teach this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this though earthly onenesse and identitie wrought euen with heathen men so much that old Hegio in the g Terent. Adel. act 3. sâ—en 5. Comedie from this could resolue neuer to breake friendship Cognatus mihi erat vnâ à pueris paruoli Sumus educati vnâ semper militiae domi Fuimus paupertatem vnâ pertulimus grauem Animam relinquam potiùs quà m deseram We were borne together we were brought vp together at home and abroad we alwaies were together we suffered want both together nothing but death shall diuorce vs. h Val. Max. li. 1. cap. de â—iraâ— Philostratus and Hippoclides because they were borne in one day had one schoolemaister and lesson of Philosophie and one decrepit age they had one mind and one affection and one purse their loue continued to the last houre of their death and dyed both together What knit Tully and Scipio so together that they were of one heart and one soule in two bodies but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and likenesse as himselfe i Lib. de amicit confesseth whereby they both liued in one house fed at one table learned one knowledge fought in one warre trauelled in one peregrination and conuersed in one rustication and countrie life Such vnitie of minds this onenesse of manners bred in these men that he professeth himselfe he neuer offended him in any thing to his knowledge and confesseth of his friend that he neuer heard any thing from his
â—4 hating as not louing talents as pence ten thousand as an hundred the beame as the mote and the worke of thy bodie as the thought of thy mind Euery sinne he forgiueth vnto men Math. 12. 31. saue onely that sinne of sinnes against the holy Ghost verse 32. which is impossible to be forgiuen because these cannot possibly repent Hebr. 6. 6. And if God thus forgiue thee all the debt oughtest not thou to haue like pittie on thy fellow seruant euen as the Lord hath on thee O remember the mercilesse debter Math. 18. whom when his Lord had forgiuen ten thousand talents of sinnes he would not forgiue his fellow an hundred pence of offences See how his master weigheth him in the ballance to aggrauate i Io Ferus come in Mat. 18 lib. 3 〈…〉 etan idem euery circumstance of his vnthanfulnesse first vnthankfull when his Lords remission was yet in his eare and that seruant departed k Chrys nâ—m 62 in Mat. 18. to his debter 2. he vseth so hardly not a stranger but found out one of his fellowes 3. not for any great summe for he ought him but an hundred pence 4. he exacteth the debt not with words alone but layd hands on him and tooke him by the throate 5. though his Lord forbare him in patience yet he wold not spare his fellow an houre Pay me that thou owest 6. though his Lord heard his intreatie he would not be intreated of his fellow who fell downe at his feete and besought him and he would not 7. he wold not be moued with that very prayer of his fellow wherewith he wrung pittie from his master Appease thine anger toward me and I will pay thee all 8. so soone as his fellow craued respite he cast him into prison till he should pay the debt But what doth he scape thus the hand of his Lord No no then his maister called him and vpbraideth his monstrous ingratitude O euil seruant I forgaue thee all the debt because thou prayedst me Oughtest not thou also to haue had pittie on thy fellow euen as I had of thee And see his eternal punishment So his master was wroth we reade not he was so for his owne debt saith Chrysostome nor gaue him this terme of euill seruant and deliuered him to the â—ayler till he should pay all that was due to him Not that he exacted the debt of those talents which before he had forgiuen him as our aduersaries hence collecting after iustification and forgiuenes their final fal peruert this scripture to their owne destruction No parables as noteth l Sapâ—as dixi non ad verbum exponenâ—â—esse parabolas ne mulia sequatur absurda homil 48. in Mat. 13. non oportet cuÌ„â—tacuriosè in parabolis scrutars nec nimi â— in singulis verbu cura perangi sâ—d quum quid per parabolam intendie didicerimus ande vâ—â—litate colleeÌ„da nihil est vlterius anxio conatu iâ—â—â—stigaÌ„duÌ„ Chrys hom 65. in Mat. 20. Chrysostome must not be racked beyond their intent and meaning And the Papists by pressing them too hard straine out of these teates blood in stead of sincere milke as when they get this parable by the end they ring it so deepe that they turne the clapper as one m Greenb â—a 48 traâ—t minister speaketh but the Lord casts this euill seruant into hell for the debt of n Hug laâ—s in hâ—rc locum ingratitude and vnmercifulnesse to his fellow which was as great by equall proportion as the benefite of forgiuenesse which he had before receiued seeing to whom much is forgiuen he should loue as much Luke 7. and to whom much is giuen of him shall be no lesse required And our Sauiour in the end of all giueth vs the kernell of this nut and the spirit of his letter So likewise saith he shall mine heauenly Father do vnto you except ye forgiue from your hearts each one to his brother their trespasses whatsoeuer This parable is the glasse wherein al may behold their face what maner of ones they are But as Stella spake of that of the vniust Iudge Luk. 18. so may I wish of this parable of the mercilesse seruant Math. 18. Serui parabolam vtinam nos non faceremus historiam would God this parable of the seruant we made not an historie Vtinaem nunc esset parabola non pro historia posset recenseri would God it were now but a parable and might not be related for a storie But I feare from the proposition I may assume with Saint o 1. Cor 6. 11. Paul Such are some of you and particularize with p 2. Sam. 12. Nathan to many one in particular Thou art the man who hope remâ—ssion of talents from their Lord and will not forgiue pence to their brethren Or if when their Sunne is going downe they forgiue all before men at the houre of their death yet remittunt culpam non poenam as one speaketh they say I forgiue all in this will and testament q Lauat in Ezec. 35. 5. Odia inimicitias quasi per manus liberis suis tradunt They bequeath their hatred and malice by tradition to the handes of their sonnes and make them haeredes paterni odij as noteth r Lib. de irae cap. 34. Seneca heires of their fathers hatred paralel with the children of Esau Obadiah 1. which remembring the old quarrell of their Grandfire Esau with Iacob for the blessing as heires of his malice caryed a perpetuall hatred against the children of Israell Ezechiel 35. vers 5. Amos 1. vers 11. and cryed in the day of Hierusalem downe with it downe with it euen to the ground Psalm 137. Thus were they mindfull of their fore-father his enmitie quasi haereditate quadam retinuissent odium aduersus Israelem saith Lauater as if with his substance he had bequeathed his perpetual malice in his wil and left the rest of his hatred for his babes These men may be ashamed saith Å¿ Lib 15 Epist 95. Seneca not onely warring and iarring in their life but euen committing it to their children quasi haereditaria successiâ—ne as it were by haereditarie succession sith we see not the most sauage beasts deale so cruelly one with another I wish these Esaus at their death which haue learned that popish remission of the guilt and not the punishment of great offences would learne if not of bruite beasts whom they scorne yet of the Almightie himselfe who remitteth not onely the guilt in him whom he made sinne for vs 2. Cor. 5. 21. but also the punishment through him on whom he laid the chastisement of our peace and the iniquitie of vs all Esa 53. at least for shame let them learne of t Plut. Apoth AElian var. hist Phocion the Athenian who being asked at his vniust execution by a friend whether he would any thing to his sonne at home Nothing quoth he but that he neuer stomacke the