our owne forces than to the promises of Christ How many have been beggered by their covetousnesse whilst never any was undone by charity to the poor God contends with us in liberality and wil not give over but on the better hand King 3.7 King 4.4 The poore widow gained more by Elias than his slender refreshment came to and Eliseus hostesse was more obliged to him than he to her The second Paragraph THere are many but those not of the number of the predestinate who give rarely any almes but malignantly To give malignantly is to bestow that onely on the poore which we have our selves in loathing which we know no thow otherwise to be rid of it is so wholly unfit for any use such if they have any meat tainted with long keeping if the bread bee mouldy or the drinke be sowre if they have any thing in fine so loathsome so stinking as they could not find in their hearts to bestow it on a dog can then thinke of giving it to the poore a great benevolence no doubt Alas deare Christians how often with soothing perswasions doe we deceive our selves This is not as the Prophet Baruch exprobrated to some to offer oyle but onely the Olive stones And what was the reason that God rejected Cain and his offerings but onely because having ability to offer better fruits of the earth he offered him the worst Our good wills of givâ—ng more suffices when we have not much to give but if we have large ability we are inexcusable if we give sparingly When thou canst not help the poor with thy deeds at least afford them comfort in thy words and pitty them in thy heart whom thou canst not succour in thy actions neither those Israelites nor their offerings were despised who presented onely flower goats haiâ—e and bristles because it was all they were able to bestow whereas as St. Chrysostme notes should they have presented nothing else who had ability to offer more they had incurred by it a heavy malediction Others there are forwards enough in giving Almes but whilst they are no lesse prone to their filthy pleasures than to Almes they defile the oyle of mercy with the sordidnesse of their licentious lives The Anazarboei a people of Cilicia were wont to attâ—biute their fertility of Olives to their virgins chastities for which cause they suffered none to manure and plant them but onely them For Christians let them assure themselves that there is such an antipathy betwixt this Olive of mercy and Venus lascivious Myrtle that in one common incloâ—ure they can never be contained and that Almes which goes accompanied with dishonest life cannot be pleasing to Almighty God neither will he regard the liberality of our hands which is proceeding from a libidinous mind Others againe there are wholly not wallowing like those in the mire of carnall pleasures but yet in that they affect prayse and a kinde of ostentation in their Almes they effect nothing with all their bootlesse paynes but onely profuse this oyle of liberality And why deare Christian wilt thou let thy left hand be privy to what thy right hand doth as iâ— such as those were not justly by that myrror of patience Iob 15. holy Iob compared to the Olive casting of iâ—s flowers which tree Greg. lib. 12. mor. 26. according to St. Gregory though it never bee so well tâ—ken with blossoms yet if it be nipt with any bleake ayre becomes wholly destitute of fruit Even so although thou beest never so charitable to the poore if thou dost it because others see thee or to be seene by others the breath of their commendations blasts all the fruit thereof As for the Almes which the Predestinete bestow no living eye is conscious of it except that from which nothing can be hid neither doe they expect any praise for it but onely his from whom they hope likewise for their reward And St. Chrysostome teacheth though Almes have golden wings yet they are not of the nature of the Peacocks to Court admiration here whilst the reward which attends it is in heaven but thither it soaâ—es up upon its glittering wings and takes its stand before our Saviour Christ whom it acknowledges in the person of the poore yea their Almes-deeds is so farre from the desire of divulging of it selfe as if it were possible it would be latent to those who dispose of it so little doth a good man care how few be of counsaile to what he doth so long as he is sure that he is not ignorant of it who onely can and will reward him for it For which reason St. Cyprian calls a mind thus propense unto the poore a most sure caution of our security whereby wee have engaged God our debtor and endeared our selves into the favour of our soveraigne Iudge The third Paragraph AT the day of Iudgement we shall be most rigorously examined on this particular when those who shall be convicted to have beene sterne hard hearted and unmercifull to the poore shall be condemned by a legall and most terrible sentence Ite maledicti in ignem aeternum Goe ye accursed into everlasting â—re On the contrary those whom the divine predestination had from all eternity designed for the Society of Angels may approach unto the Iudge and confidently say deale liberally now with us as we have deâ—lt with others bestow thy selfe upon us since for thee wee have bestowed our Almes upon the poore we have had compassion of others wherefore now have compassion on us againe we have performed that which thou didst require it rests that thou performe that which thou hast promised When the Iudge farre from offence to be so confidently challenged of his promises will ingeniously confesse the obligation and they shall behold in his wide and open side this inscription ingraven in his very wounds in Characters of pretious stones Venite benedicti possidete regnum Come yee blessed possesse your Kingdome enjoy your hearts desires I remember my promises and commend your deserts which worthily preferre you to so great a recompence come and receive your reward interminable in date invaluable in worth all the good offices you did to my poore were done unto my selfe your charity provided me of meat and drinke your garments cloathed me when I was a stranger your Roofes received and lodged me neither could the strong bars of prisons debar your pitties from visiting of mee there nay I even owe my life unto your compassion Venite benedicti for those crusts of bread you bestowed in Almes upon the poore come and feast with me for all eternity for harbouring strangers in your houseâ— I have provided a habitation with the Angels for you for cloathing the shivering members of the naked I here invest you with the royall purple of immortality venite Benedicti O what commutation what recompence is here a stole of glory the riches of heaven interminable felicity and delights for rags odd farthings a few crums of bread
on the condition that from thence thou reflect a disdainfull eye on none but on thy selfe and t is is true greatnesse true magnanimity to entertaine in high places humble thoughts and as fast as thou art exalted to debase thy selfe and which is more proper to the Predestinate to touch heaven with their merits whilst in their owne conceit they yet lye groveling on the ground Divinae gratiae familiaris esse solet humilitas Hom. 4. supra missus est c. Betwixt divine grace and humilitie sayes St. Bernard there is a strait league of friendship What a sublime humility is that which honour cannot remove nor glory make arrogant For a despicable person to abase himselfe is not much but humilitas honorata humility in honour is a rare vertuâ— indeed Doe you heare this O yâ—e Kings yee Princes and Potentates of the earth Do you heare this â—ou who are no lesse learned than arrogant you whose possessions make you despise all other men Raâ—a virtus est humilitas honorata humility in honour is a vertue deserving all admiration It is the proper effect of true humility to make those condemne themselves by their owne verdicts for most unworthines who in the judgment of heaven are esteemed for grea est sanctity So Abraham a man most acceptable to Almighty God accounted himselfe no other than dust and ashes St. Peter the Rock upon whom Christ built his Church openly and ingenuously professed himselfe a sinfull man St. Paul that â—â—ssâ—ll of election and Prince of 〈◊〉 reputed himselfe but as an abortive issue and unworthy the tiâ—le of an Apostle This hold for certaine the base of all true height and dignity is no other than humility and a contemptible opinion of our selves The first Paragraph PRide is the ruine of all vertues and the steep precipice of Angels and of men Good God what a change what a commuâ—ation was then between heaven and earth when the most glorious amongst Angels was cast headlong downe from heaven to earth whilst the miserablest poâ—rest soule on earth was elevated by the hands of Angels unto heaven Lucifer through his pride did fall from thence whither poore ulcerous Lazarus was exalted for his humility who it is credible did not so often number his vertues as his sores no doubt out of genuine selfe contempt of his seemed more patient unto all than unto himselfe It is a very true and significant saying of a certaine Saint â—arum valet qui se aliquid valere censet nil penitus valet qui se multum valere autumat He is worth but littlâ— who in his owne account seems to â—e wâ—rth any thing and he nothing at all who conceits himselfe much worth With whom St. Bernard doth well accord where he saith Omnia illâ— dâ—sunt qui nihil sibi deessepuâ—at That he wants all who imagines himselfe to want nothing And we may add that they scarcely seeme to be borne for heaven who whilst they are selfe-conceited of their owne actions become as sharp censurers of others lives as they are foolish admirers of their owne and whilst with an affected blindness they bleare their owne judgements of themselves can never judge aright of other men Out upon this vanity Can we think that heaven will ever give admittance unto such pride as this no it is onely for the predestinate who censure nones lives so rigorously as their owne who oftner â—â—t in judgement on their owne manners than on other mens and are so farre moâ—e severe unto them elves than to all besides as they easily pardon others never themselves when they have dâ—ne amisse Miserable as we areâ—â—ho being but dust and shadow s dayly gliding away after those who are vâ—nished before can yet glory in our own Progenitor shâ—w ong ranged statutes of our Ancestours as if he were a man who can number more men of his linage past Homo vanitati simil s factus est die ejus sicut umbra praetereunt Man is become like unto vanity and his dayes doe vanish away like a shadow Wheresoever we reflect our eyes we finde cause sufficient to dissolve them into teares If we fixe them on heaven whilst we behold our Country aloof we cannot but consider our selves in banishment if on earth it is but the upbraiding remembrance of our grave and however we betrample it for the present with our feet it makes full account to have the disposure of our heads at last finally if on our selves O what a fair and ruddy fruit but alas all worme-eaten within where ordour stench corruption death it selfe have taken their lodgings up If we con iâ—er our owne hearts what a foule abysse and depth it is all beset with knotted beds of Snakes and Add rs woe woe 's us we even swarme with vices and yet cannot contâ—mne our â—elves we bee oppr ssed with a world of follies miserie and sinnes and yeâ— aff ct the reputâ—tion of wise happy learned and holy men The predestinate the while convert all this unto their greater profit out of the considerations of their daily actions and themselves doe draw forth motives of their own contempt These can easily with St. Paul be induced to slight and contemne all other things who have first learned to slight and contemne themselves This bâ—ing so whosoever desires to be truely happy indeed must procure to take diligently out this lesson of his owne contempt from whence he is to proceed excepting God to contemne all other things The Predestinate can best relish that excellent saying of Saint Chrysostome Hom. 3. in Mat. Minimum de se sensisse tam mâ—gram est quam es maximas fecisse It is as great matter for a man to account but little of himself as to have exployted mighty things As also that of our Saviour Christ he who aspires to be greatest among you shal be the least in the Kingdome of heaven if ever they arrive to so much happines They are not ignorant how the way of humility is craggy and painefull at the first but afterwards it becomes more easie and delightsome They know there rests â—f their journey but this one steep ascent and so gratefull unto all who direct them on their way they climb it up with all alacrity They love to be contemned they affectionately imbrace the occasions they reioyce to see themselves despised and more insult over themselves in the meane time than any enemy These when they are injured are so far from revenging their quarrell by the sword as they utter not a word in their owne defence Hâ—re none stretches forth an arme or brandisheth a sword to vindicate a wrong as knowing the more profit redounds unto them the more they are contemned The predestinate only know as â—en deeply read in the schoole of Christ our Saviour that they are never the worse for mâ—ns deriding nor lesse for tâ—eir contemning them Tantus est unusquisque 1. Kinâ—s 16. quantus est in occulis Dei A
in fire thou shalt not burne neither shall the flames scorch thee for so God uses to drench us both in water and fire but suffers us neither to be buâ—nt nor swallowed up he makes triall of us both in freezing cold and glowing heat but for those whom he hath predestinated to everlasting life he neither permits the fire to consume them nor waters drowne them for God is faithful saith the Apostle who wil not suffer you to bee tempted above that which you are able but will make your profit of temptation that you may be able to sustaine Blosius doth treat excellent well of this signe of predestination where he affirmes that there is no more infallible signe of divine election than when a man undergoes affliction or what else adversity not onely without repugnance but with patience and due submission since nothing saith he is more profitable for him than to suffer And this is the inestimable jewell of that ring with which God espouses to himselfe a pious soule whose prerogative is so great as St. Chrysostome doth solemnly affirme Nihil esse melius quam male pati propter Deum That nothing is better than to suffer evill for Almighty God For then the elect may wel be said to drinke of the torrent in the way Psal 109. for which their heads shall be exalted afterwards even to heaven Now they are pressed downe and trodden under foot that afterwards like palmes they they may rise the higher for it It is 〈◊〉 verity which God would have us throughly penetrate that the good which wee aspire to is infinite and of difficile accesse a d therefore not to be attaâ—â—ed to buâ— by much pâ—ine and labâ—ur in confâ—rmity to which tâ—at holy Anchoâ—iâ—e said excellent well Marcus that God well knowing our â—mbecillity â—oth use to bestow no remarkable favour upon any one whom he hath not first apted for the receiving of it by sâ—me or other â—rudâ—nt calamity So Moses had no â—oonâ—r forsaken the Court of Pharaoh by the eâ—press command of God himselfe but presently both poverty ignomiâ—y and contempt with the extreme danger â—f his life by the procurement of the King And lastly his flight and banishmeâ—t did all conspâ—re to work his destruction We mâ—y perceive saith St. Gregory thâ—se whom God elects by their pious actions and bitter sufferings whom likewise it may be gathered how rigorously our just Iudge will punish the reprobate at the latter day when he is so severe now towards those whâ—m hee affecteth most Wherefore those Chistians doe much deceive themselves who imagine to goe whole as it were to heaven without being well bruised before for let them but take a generall view of of all and they will find that the richer men are in vertue the more they are stored with tribulations and that those commonly who most abound in wealth and are the greatest favourites of fortune are those who most excell in wickednesse Such beasts as are designed for the shambles we see are suffered freely to grase in the best pastures whilst others are tired out with toyle and labour even so those who are predestinated to heaven and not suffered at liberty to disport themselves but are alwayes with afflictions Insomuch as the same Blosius truely affirmes from the authority of another holy person Quemcunque Deus potioribus donis exornare sublimiterque transformare decreviâ— eum non blandè mol iter lavare seâ— totum in mare amaritudiâ—is iâ—mergere consuevit That when God once decrees to advance a man to any eminent degree of perfection and endow him with his richâ—st favours he uses not only to dip him lightly in but even to plunge him into a whole sea of bitternesse The secoâ—d Paragraph THE Doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen is to preserve and cherish our selveâ— to hate and abnegate our selves is the Doctrine of Câ—rist Insomuch as all those who have ever attained to celestiall beatitude may appropriate to themselves that saying of Themâ—stocles 1 Cor. 12. Perieramus nisi periissemus we had perished if wee had not perished Many have beene preserved by being lost and without doubt as many had b ene as unhappily lost if God by their happy losse had not prevented it And So Saint Paul when others imagined him utterly to be lost began then first of all to think that he had found himselfe Placet mihi in infirmitatibus c. I am delighted saith hee in my infirmities in contumelies and necessities in my distresses and persecutions for Christ seeing I am thâ—n most potent when I am most infirme and St Bernard as if he were tired with seeking out Almighty God Circumire Domine possum coelum terram mâ—â—re aridam nusquam te inveâ—iam nisi iâ— Crucâ— ibi dorm s ibi pascis ibi cubas in meridie I may circuit heaven and earth saith he O Lord the sea and the dry land and yet find thee no where but on the Crosse there thou sleepest there thou feedest there thou reposest thee at noone-day Wherefore let us follow our Lord like dutifull servants and avoyd eternall torments by the compendious way of our short sufferance here Athanasius being condemned to banishment by Iulian the Apostata and perceiving the Christians of Alexandria to weep bitterly at his departure bade them be of good comfort for said he this is but a little cloud which will bee blowne over presently and truely all that seems most terrible in this mortall life is but as a hovering cloud that will soone be dissipated and câ—anged into eternall serenity The ancients had their Apâ—lles so industriouâ— as he never omitted day wherein hee had not drawne some line so in like manner all Christians who would live exemplarly ought to dâ—sir that no day might passe withou such clouds â—s these wherein they might suffer somewhat for God Almighties sake The h avens appeared to holy Iob not onely cloudy but even as obâ—urate as â—ro and yet as Tertâ—llian sayes he resisted the enemy with a great variety of patiâ—nc as h of calamities assaulted him inâ—omuch as neither all his substance madâ— a prey unto the enemy nor all his children oppressed in one universall ruine nor lastly his bodies intollerable infirmities could any wayes remove him from his patience Oh! what a trophee did God erect of that man to his enemies shame what a glorious standard of him did he advance when at the report of each one of his heavy losses he answered nothing â—lse but God be thanked a saying in which God rejoyced and the devill was confounded utterly a saying for which hee deserved to have all doubly restored to him againe therefore we may conclude that in suffering we doe but as it were by great iournies make towards our heavenly Countriâ— The 3. Parag aph AMong those many wayes which lead to heaven there is none more sure nor direct than the Kings high way the Crosse peâ— multas tribulationes oportet nos intrariin