Prophet dy out of Ierusalem so especially is it decreed of this Prophet who for his eminency and excellency is called The Prophet which is the Messias that he shall dy in Ierusalem And as for the rest of the Prophets it hath ordinarily been true and so also it will bee that they haue been put to death and are to dy in Ierusalem because in that Citty the wickednes of thē who gouerne the people doth abound Now Herod who was called Antipas was a very wicked Kinge and very scandalous He was an adulterer and an in cestuous person for he tooke his owne brothers wife from him He was a murtherer a sacrilegious man for he had taken away the life of the great Saint Iohn Baptist and as it should seem he also went about to murder Christ our Lord secretly least the people being instructed by his holy doctrine might growe to abhorre Herods wicked life He was also a most vaine giddy creature for to reward the dance of a girle he promised the one halfe of his kingdome if need had been and he paid the life of Saint Iohn for it He was moreouer a false and dissembling person for he pretended that he murdered Saint Iohn for the complying with his oath whereas indeed that was not the cause but for the contenting of a wicked woman and for the setling and securing of his owne wicked life Now Christ our Lord resoluing to discouer the authority of the Kinge of heauen and earth and of the Lord of al creatures which himselfe had in his hand for the reproofe and punishment of all the powerfull men of this world and to shew how free he was from all humane feare and to giue an example to the Prelates of his Church of that holy liberty which in such case they were to vse towards the Kinges of the earth and to discouer also how vile and contemptible sinnefull men are in the sight of God how rich and noble and great Lords soeuer they might chance to be and particularly meaning to declare to them who bad him take heed of Herod that he knew well enough all the fetches and designes of that crafty man that he had no need to be tould therof by any other I say to declare and discouer all these thinges he spake this word Tell that foxe c. Which was to say vnder a metaphor Tell that crafty and dissembling man who by the wickednes of his life giues a pestilent odour of ill example that whatsoeuer ēdeauour he may vse he can take no part of my life frō mee till my selfe shall voluntarily part with it as I will do when the time ordained by my eternall Father shall arriue Being therefore most conuenient for these ends which wee haue touched that Christ our Lord should speake with this authority of a Lord he did yet obserue great modesty and Benignity therin For he might well haue said Tell that wicked man that adulterer that murderer and sacrilegious person yea or tell it to that diuell for all this had fitted him he deserued it well but Christ our Lord would not vse any of these termes but fell vpon a more moderate word as this was Tell that crafty and dissembling man that he hath no power to stop the course of my life And so shewing the authority and holy liberty which the Prelates of the Church are to vse towardes the great men of this world and discouering also his owne diuine wisedome he did joyntly teach vs that moderatiō wherewith we are to exeroise that authority and liberty Other examples which may breed the like difficulty in the mindes of ignorant men are the reprehensions which Christ out Lord gaue to the Scribes and Pharisees of the people of Israell in very seuere wordes which did greatly confound and grieuously wound them for he would say sometimes as Matt. 12. You generation of vipers you can not speake well being so wicked This wicked adulterous generatiō asketh signes At other times he would say as Matt. 23. Woe be to you Scribes and Pharisees you hipoctites Wo be to you who are blinde and guides of the blinde And Ioh. 8. You are of the diuell and him you haue for your Father and you cooperate to his wicked ends Now let vs see the mystery of these words of Christ our Lord how they were not contrary to that Charity and Benignity which he taught vs but full of conformity to the same And let vs also see who they be who may vse such wordes and to what kinde of persons for what ends they may be vsed The Scribes and Pharises who were the Doctours and should haue been the true Religious mē of Israell were at that time not onely wicked but wicked they were in all extreamity and their sinnes were very publicke very contrary to all Religion And with being so wicked they yet would needes sell themselues for good and holy and they accompanied their wicked life with ill precepts which were most pernicious to the people For by their wicked life and peruerse directions and with their pretences and deceits they corrupted the manners of ignorant people and they were blind obstinate And besides these sinnes which were ordinary in them they harboured that supreme wickednes of hindering the saluation which Christ our Lord came to worke in the soules of men calumniating his most holy life and attributing to Belzebub those most euident and expresse miracles which he wrought by diuine power and persecuting him to whom they should haue carryed all veneration and exhibited al obedience as to the true Messias and yet desiring and procuring by all the waies they could to put him to death who came to giue thē life These men being such as I haue said it was necessary that Christ our Lord who was sent by his Father to giue testimony to the truth and to take scandalls out of the world and to giue remedy to soules vsing the authority which he had of Sauiour of the world King of heauen should reprehend vice and that concerning publicke sinnes he should reprehend them publickely and that concerning grieuous very hurtfull sinnes he should reprehend them grieuously according to the quality and perniciousnes of the same that so they who were faulty might well feele the great hurt they did and all the rest of the people might be disabused and not haue cause to follow either the ill exāple or ill precepts of their wicked Teachers and gouernours And now that Christ our Lord might execute this so important office for the saluation of soules which was ordeined to the ends of true Charity such reprehensions of his were necessary as might declare the grieuousnes of the hipocrisy and other sinnes of those Teachers and the hurt they did to the people and the damnation which they prouided for themselues by committing such sinnes and he tould them who was the principall Author thereof namely the diuell whom they obeyed and the
taken our Humanity And therfore as Dauid saith giue praise to God because he is benigne and good and sing praises to his name because he is sweet Christ our Lord did also discouer to vs his Benignity after a most soueraigne māner in the Mistery of his most holy Natiuity For what loue can be imagined more dear what communication of ones felfe more a morous what dew of heauen more abundant and more sweet then to see that hidden God that God of vengeance that God of those Celestiall Hostes that Iudge of the quicke and dead that Omnipotent in his workes and that Terrible in his iudgments to see him I say become a tender and delicate little Infant hanging close vpon the brests of a Virgin all burning in loue all expiring the sweetnes and dearnes of the same loue towards vs And that he comes to vs not as anciently he came to the children of Israell in Mount Horeb with thunder and lightning and with the terrible sound of the trumpet and with huge flames of materiall fier and with prohibition that no man should approach to the foot of the moūtaine vpon paine of death but that he should come to be borne an Infant and appeare on earth with a most clear and sweet light from heauen to discouer him and with most delightful songes and exultation of Angells who being full of ioy sing Glory to God and peace to men And that instātly then he should recreate and honour those poore shepheards with an Embassage performed by Angells and should inuite them to come visit him and to receiue the comfort of his presence and to be enriched with the gifts of grace through his goodnes And that by his loue and humility and meeknes and sweetnes he should encourage all men to approach towards him and to come to him by faith and obedience and so to take their part of all the riches and benedictions of heauē for being the sonne of the eternall Father be came full of grace and truth He also discouered his Benignity to vs in the vocation of the Magi that first flower of the Gētiles whom he meant to call in after times He calls them instantly as soon as he was borne and he sent no Prophet for them nor any Angell for they had no knowledge of Prophets they were not wont to see Angells and so they might haue rather been estranged by such vnusuall inuitations but condescending to their condition and custome he sent them a starre which by the nouelty thereof might moue thē to a kinde of admiration and to a search of what it might meane and by the secret vertue thereof might be teaching them withall that if signified the birth of the new Kinge and he admonished and inuited them to seeke him by following that starre he gaue them courage not to feare the tyrant Herod and he gaue thē faith and deuotion to know that the Infāt whom they saw new borne was the eternall God that so they might dedicate themselues to do him eternall seruice as to the Kinge and Lord of heauen and earth whom they saw in so great pouerty and contempt for as much as concerned the world All this is the supreme Benignity and most sweet dear loue of God towards man and it inuites vs to seeke him and if wee haue offended him to confide that lamenting our sinnes we shall obtaine pardon of him and that he will receiue vs to his grace and loue For now when he hath already discouered his great Benignity to vs by his sacred Humanity with more reason doth he say that to vs which anciētly he said by the Prophet Ioel be you conuerted to your Lord God for he is Benigne and mercifull and as he is Benigne he taketh gust in dealing gratiously and most liberally with you and in pardoning your offences past and as he is merciful he wil deliuer you from your miseries and from the greatest of them of all which are your sinnes THE II. CHAPTER Of the Benignity which Christ our Lord vsed towards sinners and other very weake and imperfect men supporting and instructing them AFter our Lord had begun to manifest himselfe in Israell and to conuerse with men he discouered and exercised his Benignity many seuerall waies One of them was that such persons as were ignorant tude and very imperfect who came to demaund succour of him he receiued with much sweetnes and condescended to their great weakenes and tolerated their rudenes and after a mild and gentle manner dispossessed them of their ignorance Nicodemus the Pharisee Io. 3. came to Christ to be taught by him and though our Lord saw his great weaknes in that he had not the heart to publish himselfe for the disciple of Christ our Lord nor to confesse his faith for the feare he had to be persecuted by other Pharisees and was ashamed that they should know of him that being an Ancient and Master in the lawe he should goe to Christ to learne the Mysteries of the same Lawe for which reason he went by night that in very secret manner And though our Lord did well discerne his great ignorance and rudenes and that he had no vnderstanding or apprehension of spirituall thinges or diuine Mysteries but that whatsoeuer he said and taught the other did measure and iudge of it by the rule of corporall and sensibles thinges without raising his heart from earth to the consideration of things inuisible diuine notwithstāding all this our benigue Lord did not reproue these so notorious defects with seuerity nor did he exaggerate his ignorance nor reproach him for his rudenes nor condemne him for his inordinate feare nor did he driue him away for his weakenes nor shewed he any wearisomnes or disgust in respect of his crosse answeres but he entertained himselfe at large with him alone and held long discourse with him whereby he did after a sweet manner giue him to vnderstand his ignorance rudenes and he discouered to him the Mysteries which were necessary for his saluation namely the spirituall regeneratiō which is made by Baptisme and the Mystery of the Incarnation which he declared to him by saying that he was in heauen whereby he signified that he was God and in all places at once And by saying also that he was descēded frō heauē he signified that he was true mā He declared also the Mystery of his Passiō by saying that he was to be raised vp to the Crosse as the Brasen Serpēt was lifted vp vpon a pole to the end that as al they who beheld the serpent were cured of their torporall diseases so might all they be healed of their sinnes who would behould and beleeue in him with a liuely faith It was a great Benignity to dissemble or passe by so many defects of a timorous imperfect man and to discourse with him after so louing and sweet a manner to discouer so great Mysteries to a person so rude and weake
am an Apostle of the Gentiles and during the whole time that I shall be so I will honour this ministery taking paines and suffering for them to bring them to the faith who are not yet come to it and to confirme and perfect them with vertues and the gifts of God who haue already receiued it And by this meanes I will procure the conuersion of the Iewes who are of my kinred according to the flesh to the end that they behoulding the most abūdant fruite which is produced in the Gentiles and the most pretious gifts which God cōmunicated to them by meanes of their faith may be moued to a holy emulation and imitation of them and so some of them may be saued THE XXI CHAPTER How wee are to praise the vertue of our neighbours to defend them so from some vniust slaunder ANother very iust reason for which wee must praise our neighbours and commend their vertues and good workes is to defend them from some slaunder or false testimony or some detraction or affront wherewith their reputation is vniustly spotted their good name and the opinion of their vertue obscured Let vs deliuer an example which Christ our Lord left vs of this truth Christ our Lord being in Bethania at supper in the house of Simon the leaper Ioh. 12. Matth. 26. Mary Magdalen came with an Alablaster box full of very odoriferous and pretious ointment she anointed the feet of our Lord with it filled the whole house with the sweet odour Now Iudas began to murmur at this worke and to speake ill of the holy woman in that she had wasted the ointmēt which was of so great value that it might haue beē sould for three hundred peeces of money and been giuen to the poore And the rest of the disciples seeing the indignation and murmuringe of Iudas and not vnderstanding the root of malice from whence it grew like good simple men conceiued that he had reason for what he said and were induced by his example to murmur too and to reproue that good worke which Mary with so great deuotion had done Now our Lord saw well how the disciples murmured against this holy woman without all reason esteeming that to be vitious which was an act of vertue and speaking ill of that which was well done For being a custome of the coūtry as it was to anoint the feet of their guests with pretious ointmēts if they were eminent men it was no euill but a good worke to doe that which was in vse for some good and honest end For an indifferent actiō such an one as this was is made good by addressing it to a vertuous end But then to this is to be added the pure intention and great deuotion wherewith Mary did this worke for she did it as being moued by piety and religion to exhibite honour and veneration to our Lord whom she knew to be worthy of all possible reuerence and respect Our Lord therefore on the one side seeing the goodnes of the worke considering moreouer the mystery which himself mēt to signify thereby who had moued her to it and on the other obseruing the rash iudgment murmuring of the disciples and especially of Iudas who was the spring of all that ill he began to defend the woman and to praise the good worke which she had wrought and to discharge the slaunder whereby they thought to doe her wrong saying after this manner Why are you troublesome to this woman Why are you enraged against her Why thinke and speake you ill of her worke leaue her free frō your reproach and giue her leaue to keep this ointment for my buriall His meaning was to say the bodies of dead men are according to our custome to be anointed before they be interred and this woman would be glad to anoint my body when I shall be dead then will not be able because that office will be first performed by others before I be buried and after that buriall she shal be preuented by my resurrection But suffer her to doe that now which she would doe them and that she may signify by this vnction that I am to dy and that my body will be soon laid in the graue and she in the meane time doth but performe that office of piety which is performed to other dead bodies Our Lord said further she hath wrought a good worke towards mee and it was conuenient that shee should doe it although by doing it the price of this ointment were thereby not giuen to the poore For the poore you shall haue allwaies with you and so shall you euer haue oportunity and occasion to doe good to them but as for mee you shall not allwaies haue me with you in this visible forme for I am quickly to leaue this world and to goe to my Father And I tell you for certaine that in whatsoeuer part of the world the good newes of this Ghospell shall be preached the worke of this woman shall be recounted and celebrated in her memory and for her glory in all the parts of the world And by these words did Christ our Lord defend the Magdalena and praise her good worke From this example we are first to fetch this fruite to make great estimation of good workes how little how light and how easy so euer they may be How easy a thing is it for a rich woman to buy a pound of pretious ointmēt for three hūdred peeces of siluer and to anoint the feet of a holy man therwith especially of such a Saint as Christ our Lord was For in that he who was anointed was so great a Lord the worke became more sweet and easy to be performed Well then so light and easy a worke as this for hauing been performed by a person who was in the state of grace and with a pure intention to serue and please Almighty God was esteemed so highly as wee see by Christ our Lord and praised with such Maiesty of wordes and rewarded with such a high reward both in heauen and earth Such value and dignity and excellency haue those good workes which are done for the loue of God If the Magdalena had spent not three hundred peeces of siluer but three hundred thousand in the seruice of the world as in braueries and vaine dressings in curious and delitious bankets and in making some feast triumph to giue delight and gust as louers of the world are wont to doe all that expence had been lost and she had not pleased Almighty God therby nor had merited any thing is his sight and there had been no honorable memory therof continued amongst men And not reaping any profit by them shee would haue incurred many faultes as ordinarily there are in these thinges which would haue condemned her either to the tēporary paines of Purgatory or els to the eternall torments of hell But now for hauing spent a little money vpon the seruice of Christ our Lord and for vndergoing
a poore sicke person full of soares should speak to him in most amiable manner and should touch his soares and clense them and cure them and comfort him with such a regalo as this would bee And so much more eminent as that Lord were who should desceÌ„d to this office so much more base as the sicke person were and so much the more horrible as his disease were and so much the more often and so many more as the sicke persons were to whom he should vse this charity so much the greater and so much the more admirable would this sweetnes of condition and Benignity fall out to be Well then all this was done by Christ our Lord who being the Kinge both of heauen and earth and the Lord of infinite Maiesty did touch with his owne blessed hands those poore base persons who were sicke of horrible diseases and who came to him with desire of remedy and he cured them and left them full of comfort and this he did many times and to innumerable persons S. Luke and Saint Marke relate how our Lord beginning to preach in Galilea after his fast in the desert came to the Citty of Caphernaum and being gone forth to preach in a Sinagogue and the euening being already come on all they who had sicke persons in their power brought them before him And those sicke people being many Marke 1. Luke 4. and their diseases of many kindes for they came from seuerall parts of that Prouince to hunt after their health by his meanes he touched euery one of them with his owne sacred hands and gaue them perfect health the whole Citty the while standing al amazed at that wonder to see how he touched them one by one and how instantly withall they were cured Hauing once preached a sermoÌ„ in the Mount he descended towards the plaine Matth. 8. Mark 1. and there came many troupes of people to him Amongst the rest there approached a maÌ„ all loaden with leaprousy and in the presence of al that multitude of people he placed himselfe vpon his knees before our Lord but a litle separated from him and besought him to cure him of that leaprousy saying O Lord if thou wilt thou canst make mee whole Now our Lord could haue cured him with the least word yet not coÌ„teÌ„ting himself with that but to the that he might shew the more Benignity he extended his hand so farre as to reach him and touch his leprous body saying I will be thou cleane and instantly he was cured After the mystery of the TraÌ„sfiguration Matth. 17 Marke 9. there came troupes of people who were expecting him and they brought a lunaticke before him who was extremely tormented by a diuell Our Lord commaunded the diuel to depart who yet at his going out did treate the young man so ill as that he fell to the ground like a dead body And whereas our Lord could easily haue coÌ„maunded him to rise vp or els appoint one of his disciples to raise him he did not so but himselfe went towards the young man and tooke him by the hand and raised him vp and then the young man being touched and assisted by our Lord who sustained him in his handes did rise Whilest he was in Bethsaida Marc. 8. they brought a blind maÌ„ to him that he might cure him which he would not doe in the Citty before that people but abroad in the field And when he might haue commauÌ„ded them who led him to conduct him forth of the Citty he was not pleased to serue himselfe of any other in that office but himselfe would needes take the poore blinde man by the hand and drew him a side into a part of the field out of the company and himselfe lead him and became his guide and to cure him laid his hand vpon his eyes and to discouer his Benignity to vs he vouchsaffed himselfe in person to be the leader of a poore blinde man which is a worke of so much humility and meannes Not onely did he vse this kinde of Benignity with men but also poore sicke woemen The mother in lawe of Saint Peter Matth. 8. Marc. 1. was sicke of a violent feauer He went into her house to visit her he drew neer her he tooke her by the hand and he raised her vp commaunding the feauer to forsake her so might he haue coÌ„maunded her to rise alone but he would not do so but would needs raise her vp himselfe to discouer his Benignity so much the more Our Lord being preaching in a Sinagogue one Saboth day Luke 13. there came before him a sicke miserable creature bowed crookedly downe euen to the ground and tormented by a diuell and our most pitteous Lord called her gently to him made her come neer him and laid his hands vpon her with great Benignity and gaue her perfect health That which our Lord did with these sicke and miserable persons whereof wee haue spoken he did at other times with other innumerable sicke people who were subiect to horrible and loath some diseases for all the world came to him And they who were so weake and wasted that they could not come of theÌ„selues were brought to him by others so they drew neer him and he touched them with his most blessed haÌ„ds to cure them Now that our Lord himselfe should raise sicke persons out of their beds or from the ground to which they were fallen did proceed in him from an vn speakeable and most tender loue who not onely was disposed to doe men good but also to coÌ„fort honour and regale such persons as he did good vnto which was a fruite of the supreme sweetnes of his Benignity and loue THE VII CHAPTER How the Saints haue imitated this Benignity of Christ our Lord towards sicke persons THis example of Christ our Lord hath generally been imitated much by holy men who thereby haue been moued animated to serue sicke persons and to cure them and to raise them in their armes and to clense them with their owne hands And this hath been done not onely by meane persons but by principall and great Lord who not being content with giuing almes to poore sicke people and to mainteine them by their bounty haue themselues been glad to serue them and striue to cure them sometimes being sicke of leprosies and other most loathsome corrupt soares and haue with extreme Benignity done all imaginable offices of charity and tendernes yea eueÌ„ so farre as to kisse their leprosies and soares And to the end that God might declare how much this tender and benigne kinde of charity was pleasing to him he did oftentimes concurre by miraculously curing those sicke persons who had been touched by his seruants Let vs relate some examples of this truth Saint Lâ—wis Kinge of France vsed to visit the hospitalls where there was a great number of persons sicke of diseases both grieuous and dangerous and extreamely loathsome withall and yet the King without loathing that
immense a reward in the kingdome of heauen THE VIII CHAPTER Of the Benignity which Christ our Lord did vse to diuers blinde men hearkning to them expecting them and illuminating them and how wee are to imitate him in this Benignity IT doth also belong to this vertue of Benignity to giue that to ones neighbour which he desireth with facility and sweetnes yea and more then that which he desireth and not to reflect vpon the indignity of him who asketh nor vpon the authority greatnes of that Lord who may need the like but to consider what is agreable to charity which whensoeuer it is great it communicateth it selfe to all and doth good to all and taketh order that in many things the high and lowe the great and little men of the world be made equall to one another Christ our Lord left vs many examples of this truth Saint Luke chap. 18. relateth how once coming to the Citty of Iericho a blinde man neer the way was asking almes and when he heard the noise of the people in company of our Lord and vnderstood that it was Iesus of Nazareth who passed by he began to cry out and say Iesus thou sonne of Dauid haue mercy on me And although the people bad him hould his peace yet still he continued in crying out and beseeching our Lord that he would free him from the misery wherin he was Our Lord heard his cry and deteined himselfe in the high way and made all that people which was in his company stay with him and commaunded that they should bring the blind begger to him and he stayed expecting till he came being come he asked him this question What wouldest thou haue mee doe for thee What doest thou desire at my hands The blinde man answered the thing which I desire and beg of thee is that thou wilt giue mee my sight and instantly our Lord without the least delay gaue him that which he desired and said Receiue thy sight And he receiued the sight of his corporall eyes the sight also of his soule for being full of faith and deuotion he followed Christ our Lord both with body and soule and did not cease from glorifying Almighty God This passed at the entry which Christ our Lord made into Iericho for Saint Luke relates that he entred into Iericho after he had wrought this miracle Saint Matthew also chap. 20. shewes that Christ our Lord going forth of the same Citty of Iericho and being accompanied with much people there stood two blinde men close vpon the way demaunding almes when they knew that Iesus passed by they began to cry out and say Iesus the sonne of Dauid take pitty on vs. Christ our Lord did instantly make a stand in the way and caused them to be called to him and being arriued he asked thē thus what do you aske at my hands They answered Lord that thou open these eyes of ours and take this blindenes from vs and at the instant our Lord extended his hand to their eyes and they obtained sight both of body and soule and they followed our Lord being full of gratitude for so great a benefit and of faith and desire to doe him seruice Much is here to be considered in the admirable Benignity which Christ our Lord did vse towards these blind men in that he would hearken to their cries and they being so base persons and our Lord so soueraignely high that he would yet pawse in the way stay for them and make all them also stay who went with him and condescend thereby to the necessity of those blinde men and accōmodate himself to their weaknes For if our Lord had gone walking on they not seeing the way could not haue followed him or at least not fast enough to ouertake him he must haue giuen them much trouble in putting them to it That way of Iericho was also full of impediments and dangerous precipices as Saint Hierome notes and so if they had been put to goe a pace in such a way they had been in danger to receiue much hurt For these reasons did our Lord make a stand as also because he would vouchsaffe to doe them honour making so much accoūt of them as for their respect to stay in that high way and to make so much people stay with him And besides it was a great testimony of his Benignity towardes them to graunt them at the instant of their asking it and that with so much comfort to them so great a benefit as it was to receiue their sight both in body and soule and such deuotion as carryed thē on to glorify Almighty God A great wonder it was that Iosue should cause the Sunne to stand still and make a pawse in the heauen to illuminate the earth till such time as he had obtained victory ouer his enemies and that the Sunne and all the Orbes which moued with it should stand still obeying the voice of Iosue the seruant of God But a much greater wonder it is that our Lord who created both the Sunne and the whole machine of the world should make a stand in the way obeying the voice of a blinde begger that he might illuminate him both in body and soule as the true Sunne of Iustice A great Benignity it is that a Kinge of any earthly kingdome passing on his way through a street should stay and make all the Grādes of his Court stay with him vpon the cry of a begger who asketh almes and that he should expect that begger till he could arriue and should giue audience to his petion and then instātly open a purse with his owne hands and giue the begger whatsoeuer almes he had desired But a farre greater Benignity it is that the King of heauen and earth should deteine himselfe in a high way and stand expecting a poore begger till he could arriue to him and then should aske him what he would desi◅ to the end that his owne mouth might be the measure of that which our Lord would giue him and that instantly he should open the treasures both of his mercy power and bestow all that almes vpon him which he could aske or desire yea and much more then he knew how to aske Now our Lord by shewing this mercy to those blinde men hath shewed also a very great mercy to all faithfull Christians instructing vs and perswading vs by his example to vse Benignity towards our neighbours giuing eare to the cry of the poore and bestowing with liberality what they aske according to the ability wee haue and that when they are not able to come to vs to aske remedy as being hindred either by infirmity or ignorance or any other weakenes wee goe to seeke them out or make thē be sought to the end that wee may helpe them accommodating our selues to their impotēcy and necessity And teaching vs also by this example that wee must expect and stay for our neighbours when there is occasiō to do
suauity by these examples wherby he honoured his neighbours both in speaking to them and speaking of thē but much more he discouered it in this instance which followeth Onesimus an Infidell a slaue fled from Ph◅emon his Master and came to S. Paule being at Rome The Apostle receiued him with much loue and instructed him in the faith and conuerted him by the grace of Christ our Lord and baptised him and returned him to his Master and recommended him by his owne letter wherin he wrote to this effect I beseech thee for my some Onesimus whom I haue engendred for as much as concernes the spirituall life of grace whilest I was in prison at Rome and I embraced him as I would doe mine owne bowells Which signifieth to this sence I receiued him with much tendernes of affectiō as a sonne whom I loue with my whole heart with all the affections thereof If thou houldest mee for thy friend and if thou louest and respectest mee as such an one receiue him euen as thou wouldest doe mee with the same affection of loue and with the same estimation and good vsage wherwith thou wouldest receiue mee And if he owe thee any thing either for hauing runne away or for taking any thing from thee put it vpon my account demaund satisfaction and paiment thereof at my hāds for I offer to pay and satisfy it all for him Grant my suite as I desire it and I will reioyce with thee in our Lord for this good worke of thine Make my heart glad by doing as much as I haue asked which is to say giue mee this comfort and this regalo that thou receiue and treate Onesimus as I haue begged at thy hands Who would not be amazed to read and heare these wordes of Saint Paule That an Apostle of Christ our Lord a Prince and Instructor of the world hauing been personally visited before by Christ our Lord himselfe and raised by him vp euen to the third heauen and chosen out to iudge all the Nations of the Gentiles yea and the very Angells with them in company of Christ our Lord and being so employed both day and night in preaching the Ghospell and gouernment of the Church as that in his brest he carryed the sollicitude and care of all the particular Churches thereof that such a man I say as this so venerable to the Inhabitants of heauen and so reuerenced here on earth should take so much to heart and negotiate at so great leasure the busines of a fugitiue slaue but newly conuerted to the faith as that he should write a letter frō Rome to Phrygia which was in Asia minor where his Master was dwelling in Colossus and recommend him to be receiued to be pardoned and to be treated well And not being contented to performe this office of charity in ordinary wordes which yet had been sufficient that he should honour Onesimus with termes of so great estimatiō loue and sweetnes and should recommend him to his Master in termes and with reasons of so great exaggeration as a Father would do recommēding his only sonne whom he did extreamely loue to some great friend of his This was the Benignity and curtesy and suauity of speech which the Apostles learned of Christ our Lord and this must all faithfull Christians imitate treating our neighbours with termes of curtesy and good manners and giuing thē the most honourable titles and names we can according to the estate of euery one and according to the custome of that people amongst whom wee liue in speaking honorably of them both in presence and absence In this sorte wee shall preuent many sinnes which we vse to cōmit for want of obseruing the rule of charity We shall free our selues from detraction and murmuring which is a vice through which a man contemnes and affronts his neighbour speaking ill of him and recording his defects and faults whether it be with truth or with falshood But howsoeuer this is a vice much abhorred by Almighty God and very abhominable to them who feare him which made Saint Paule say detracters who are abhorred by Almighty God And the wise man in the Prouerbes saith The murmurer who speaketh ill of his neighbour and maketh a scorne of him is abhominable to men And because when God hath abhomination towards a sinner it is to wish him the euill of eternall paine from hence it is that the murmurer is subiect to eternall malediction and condemnation as Ecclesiasticus chap. 28. signifieth saying The murmurer who secretly speaketh ill of his neighbour and who hath two tongues because in the presence of his neighbour he speaketh well of him and in his absence he infameth him by ill report is accursed both of God and man because he hath giuen trouble to many depriuing priuing them of the peace and quiet of their hearts and filling them with grief and anger and destroying that agreement and good correspondence which they had with their neighbours Wee shall also deliuer our selues by this meanes frō the sinne of contumely and reproach into which they fall who face to face giue ill wordes to their neighbours whereby they vnderualue and affront them and this is the vice of them who want iudgmēt as the wise man affirmeth saying He who speaketh contumelious words to his neighbours is a foole And in another place all fooles are apt to thrust themselues into suites and strifes and such other businesses as tend towards the affronting of others or els to the being affronted by others with iniutious wordes And this is so grieuous a sinne and so worthy of punishment as that Christ our Lord said He who shal cal his neighbour foole with a minde to affront him is worthy of eternall fier Wee shall also thus excuse our selues from cursing others wherby men offer their neighbours to the diuell that they may be damned or els whereby they desire them any other euil Which sinne is so grieuous as that it excludes men from that glory to which they were created as the Apostle signified 1. Cor. 6. when he said They who curse men desiring the accomplishment of that with their heart which they say with their tongue shall not possesse the kingdome of God We shall defēd our selues from these sinnes so pernitious to the soule which are committed by the tongue if we be well conditioned and benigne in our words whereby wee honour our neighbours in their presence speake not ill of them in their absence And together with this wee shall by the good vse of our benigne speech giue great gust to Almighty God and shall deserue much in his sight and wee shall winne the loue of our neighbour making them friendly and kinde to vs to the end that they may willingly receiue any good aduice and counsell from vs which wee shall thinke fit to giue And wee shall conserue the peace and strength of our owne soules yea and of our estates also for the susteining of our liues which many