left this Balsamum for the annointing and curing of it Which was a great Excesse Dauid called him a Worme a Scoffe a Taunt and the Reproch of the People for that whilest he liued in the world he tooke vpon him all the affronts and contempts that man could cast vpon him And because there is not any loue comparable to that of our Sauiour Christ nor all the loues in the world put together can make vp such a perfect loue as also for that there was not any affront like vnto his nor all the affronts of the world could equall the affronts that were offered vnto him that on the one side hee should loue so much on the other suffer so much this was a great Excesse Nazianzen seeing vs swallowed vp in this sea of miseries vseth a kind of Alchimie by ioyning his greatnesse with our littlenesse his powerfulnesse with our weakenesse his fairenesse with our foulenesse his beautie with our deformitie his riches with our pouertie the gold of his Diuinitie with the durt of our Flesh And as the greater drawes the lesser after it so our basenesse did ascend to an heigth of honour And this was a great Excesse but farre greater to esteeme this Excesse as a Glorie whence the Saints of God haue learned to stile Tribulation and the Crosse Glorie Secondly This Excesse may be termed Glorie because it was the most glorious action that God euer did For what could be greater than to see Death subdued Life restored the Empire of sinne ouerthrowne the Prince thereof dispossessed of his Throne Iustice satisfied the World redeemed and Darknes made Light Thirdly It may be said to be Glorie because that by this his death a thousand Glories are to follow thereupon Propter qoud Deus exaltauit illum c. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euerie knee bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth And this was the reward of his obedience and of his death And the reason thereof was that the World seeing it selfe captiuated by so singular a benefit men should make little reckoning either of their goods or their liues for this his exceeding loue towards them but desire in all that they can to shew themselues thankefull And therefore Esay cries out O that thou wouldest breake the Heauens and come downe and that the Mountaines might melt at thy presence c. What a great change and alteration wouldest thou see in the world thou wouldst see Mountaines that is hearts that are puffed vp with pride humbled and laid leuell with the ground Thou wouldst see Waters that is brests that are cold and frozen boyle with the fire of Zeale and wholly employ themselues in thy seruice And in his sixtieth Chapter treating of the profits and benefits which we shall receiue by Christs comming he saith For brasse will I bring gold and for yron will I bring siluer and for wood brasse and for stones yron I will also make thy gouernment peace and thine exactours righteousnesse Violence shall no more be heard of in thy Land neither desolation nor destruction within thy Borders but thou shalt call Saluation thy Walls and praise thy Gates The Lord shal bee thine euerlasting Light and thy God thy Glorie Bonum est nos hic esse c. It is better being here than in Ierusalem let vs therefore make here three Tabernacles c. Saint Gregorie calls Honour Tempestatem intellectus i. The vnderstandings Storme or Tempest in regard of the danger it driues man into and the easinesse wherewith in that course he runnes on to his destruction Si dederit mihi Dominus panem ad vescendum c. It was Iacobs speech vnto God after that he had done that great fauour of shewing a Ladder vpon earth whose top reached vp to Heauen you know the Storie but the vow that hee vowed vnto God was this If God will be with me and will keepe me in this journey that I goe and will giue me bread to eat and cloathes to put on then shall the Lord be my God and I shall neuer forget this his kindnesse towards me More loue a man would haue thought he might haue shewn towards God if he had promised to serue though he had giuen him neither bread to eat nor cloathes to put on But Saint Chrysostome saith That he seeing in this vision of his the prosperitie that God was willing to throw vpon him did acknowledge the thankefull remembrance of this his promised hoped for happines For Prosperitie is euermore the comparison of Obliuion Saint Bernard expounding that place of Dauid Man being in honour hath no vnderstanding saith That the prosperitie wherein God placed man robbed him of his vnderstanding and made him like vnto the Beasts that perish And here now doth Saint Peter loose his memorie Nor is this a thing so much to be wondred at for if there be such riches here vpon earth that they robbe a man of his vnderstanding and alienate him from himselfe if the sonne that is borne of a mother who hath suffered great paines in the bringing of him forth Iam non meminit praessurae hath forgotten his mothers throwes and thinkes not on the wombe that bore him if the great loue of this world and the prosperitie thereof can make vs so farre to forget our selues it is no strange thing that we should be farre more transported and carried away with heauenly things Dauid following the pursuit of his pleasures amidst all the delights of this life he cries out Onely thy glorie can fill me that only can satisfie me Remigius vnfolds this verse of the glorie of the Transfiguration and it may be that this Kingly Prophet did see it by the light of Prophecie And if so fortunate a King as he was did forget all those other goods that he enioyed and saith That hee desires no other good nor no other fulnesse What meruaile is it that a poore Fisherman should bee forgetfull of good or ill And as hee that is full fed likes nothing but what is the cause of this his fulnesse reckoning all other meats soure though they be neuer so sweet so he that shall once come to tast of that good will say No maâ— bien I desire no other good but this What sayth Saint Paul Sed noâ— c. But we also which haue the first fruits of the Spirit euen wee doe sigh in our selues waiting for the adoption euen the redemption of our bodie c. Though Paul enioyed the first fruits of the Spirit and extraordinarie regalos and fauours yet hee groaned and trauelled in paine for Heauen What saith Saint Chrysostome Is thy soule become a Heauen and doost thou yet groane for Heauen Do not thou meruaile that I groan hauing seene that in Heauen which I haue seen QuoniaÌ„ raptus fuiâ—â— Paradisum I see the good which the
Citie such a new and strange kind of Doctrine there was a great deale of reason that he should confirme the same by miracles For put case that this had not beene his owne natiue Country yet was it a generall debt which he had paid to other Cities Thirdly because in expounding that place of Esay The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me because he hath annointed me that I should preach the Gospell to the poore he said That that prophecie was fulfilled in himself being that annointed Messias there spoken of Which being so it was fit that hee should prooue it by those signes and miracles which were prophecied of the Messias Fourthly This difficultie is indeered by that which the Euangelist S. Marke reporteth of our Sauiour Christ to wit That hee could doe no great workes in Nazareth As if his vertue and power had beene hindered and debarred of doing them insomuch that it made our Sauiour Christ to meruaile much at it Fiftly If the sinnes of Nazareth did thus bind his hands more were those of Capernaum which he compared to Sodome For if the miracles had beene done in Tyrus and Sydon which haue beene done in you they had a great while a goe repented sitting in Sackcloth and Ashes Therefare it shall be easier for Tyrus and Sydon at the Iudgement than for you Greater were those of Bethsaida and Chorazin Vae tibi Bethsayda vae tibi Chorazin c. And greater were those of Ierusalem whereof Ezechiel said Samaria dimidium peccatorum tuorum non peccauit vicisti eas sceleribus tuis Sixtly He had done other greater honours to Nazareth there he was incarnated in the wombe of the Virgin Marie which of all other miracles was the greatest He tooke his name from Nazareth as it appeareth by that his title vpon the Crosse by that which the Deuills roared forth and by that which our Sauiour himselfe said to Saint Paul I am Iesus of Nazareth Ego sum Iesus Nazarenus c. And therefore hauing giuen the more it was not much hee should giue the lesse Seuenthly Miracles were that milke which the Iews were bred vp with and had beene antiently accustomed vnto Iudea signa petunt c. The Iewes demand a signe Esay importuned King Achab That he would aske signes from Heauen Earth or Hell Pete tibi signum à Domino c. Moses and Gideon desired signes and therefore his children should haue beene bettered thereby and more especially those of his owne Countrie After that Ioseph had furnished Aegypt with corne he set open Granaries to the neighbouring Prouinces Lastly It was prophecied of the Messias That hee should bee no accepter of persons He was Lord of al to al in al reason he should shew himselfe equall and indifferent so that it seemeth to carrie a great shew of sorrow and resentment with it which those of Nazareth obiected vnto him We haue heard what thou hast done in Capernaum doe it here likewise in thine owne Countrie But for the better vnderstanding of that which our Sauior Christ did answer to this complaint and accusation of theirs First of all we must suppose That our Sauiour Christ shewed himselfe with his most blessed Mother in foure occasions For albeit it bee a holy thing for the children to honour their parents yet this honour is to be done them when Gods cause interposeth not it selfe who is the vniuersall Father of vs all But when there shall be an incounter of our liking and loue towards two seueral fathers he that created me and he that begot mee wee are to haue recourse vnto our heauenly Father in regard of whom all the other fathers in the world are but Stepfathers In this sence Saint Gregorie doth expound that place of Saint Luke He that forsaketh not father and mother to follow me is not worthie of me Which is to be vnderstood in such things which appertaine to our spiritual saluation as it is noted by the said Doctor and Clemens Alexandrinus Secondly Saint Austen noteth That in our Sauiour Christ two kind of works may be considered The one Of a pure Man The other Of a Redeemer and heauenly Master In the first he was subiect to his mother and his father Ioseph so saith S. Luke Et erat subditus illis In the second he was to haue recourse vnto his heauenly Father And therefore he said Nesciabitis quod in his quae patris mei sunt oportet me esse He was at the Wedding by his mothers appointment but when hee came to the working of the miracle he said Quid mihi tibi Mulier Woman what haue I to doe with thee And when they aduised him whilest he was preaching That his mother and his Kinsefolkes were waiting there for him hee answered Quae est Mâ—ter mea c. Thirdly We haue two Countries Earth the one Heauen the other In that our Bodies were borne In this our Soules Now when the desires of the Earth incounter with those of Heauen our recourse must be to Heauen following therein the aduice of Dauid Audi Filiâ— vide obliuiscere populum tuum domus patris tui Heare ô Daughter and see forget thy owne people and the house of thy father Our Sauiours naturall Countrie was Heauen but here on earth Nazareth Now this Countrie did not desire miracles for to increase their beleefe but for other respects which wee will declare hereafter And therefore Christ would not worke any miracles amongst them And assuming those reasons which Christ might alledge for himselfe The first is prooued by that Prouerbe which our Sauiour cited No Prophet is accepted in his owne Countrie Or as Saint Mathew and Saint Marke haue it There is no Prophet that is honoured in his owne Countrie nay rather doth not suffer dishonour And this is made good both by diuine and humane learning and there are more instances thereof than there are sands in the sea Moses being but a child his parents put him into the riuer leauing him to his venture to sinke or swim Exposito autem illo which the Syriacke reads Cumque fuisset expositus à populo suo When he came to be a man one of his own Nation put him in danger of his life Pharaoh sending after him to haue him apprehended Afterward being Captaine and Commander of the People they did often mutinie and not onely did murmure in secret against him but with open throat did publiquely blaspheme Aaron and Marie that were so neere allyed vnto him vsed him like a Turke or a Moore because he had married an Aethyopian woman Dathan and Abiram vpbraided him to his face asking him Whither hee meant tyrannously to vsurpe the Gouernment Ioseph was so honoured by the Aegyptians that they accounted him as a second King Vno tantum regni solio te praecedam His brethren put him downe into a pit and sould him for a Slaue Dauid was beloued and honored of the people and
beleeue the immortalitie of the soule they hold a sudden death a kind of happinesse but a Christian who confesseth that there is a iudgement after death desireth a more lingring and leisurely kind of dying for to preuent future danger both of soule and bodie In Leuiticuâ— God commanded That they should not offer any câ—eature vnto him which did not chew the cud or which had not a clouen hoofe And he therefore ioyned these two things together for to swallow the meat downe whole is verie dangerous for the health and the foot not cloâ—en verie apt to slip and slide and in a mysticall kind of sence is as much as if he should haue said That he that shall swallow down so fearefull dangerous a thing as Death without chewing meditating thereon shall doubtlesse slide if not take a fall as low as Hell The onely sonne of his mother In the order of conueniencie it seemeth fitter that the old mother should haue died than the young sonne But as there is nothing more certaine than death so is there nothing more vncertaine than the time of our death the young Bird as soone falls into the snare as the old one and your greater Fish as soone taken with the hooke as your lesser Frie. If the Wicked turne not God will whet his sword bend his Bow and prepare for him the instruments of death and ordaine his Arrowes against them For old men that stand vpon the graues brinke death hath a Sythe to cut them downe for young men that stand farther off he hath his Bow and his Arrowes Saint Augustine saith That God taketh away the Good before their time that they may not receiue hurt from the Bad and the Bad because they should not doe hurt to the Good The onely sonne of his mother Not that he was her onely sonne but her best beloued sonne Salomon stiles himselfe Vnigenitum matris suae His mothers onely begotten sonne not that he was the onely sonne of Bershabe as it appeareth in the first of Chronicles but because he was so deerely beloued of his mother as if he had beene her only sonne he was his mothers darling her best beloued the light of her eyes and her hearts comfort she cherished him made much of him would not let him want any thing yet all this care and prouidence of hers could not shield him from death There is a man in the Citie that is of a strong and able bodie and abounding in all worldly happinesse There is another saith Iob that is weake hungerstarued and his wealth wasted and consumed both these death sets vpon and layes them in the graue He exemplifies in the King and the Gyant for the rest he makes no more reckoning of them than of so manie little Birds whom the least fillip striketh dead but he sets vpon a King like a Lyon a poore man hath many meanes to hasten his death but Kings seldome die of hunger of penurie of heats or of colds c. And a Gyant seemes to be a perdurable and immortall Tower of flesh but in the end both Kings and Gyants fall by the hand of Death And since that Death did dare to set vpon the Sonne of God and his blessed mother let neither High nor Low Rich nor Poore hope to find any fauour at Deaths hands Ioshuah did stop the Sunne in his course Moses the waters of the red Sea Ioseph did prophecie of things to come and many of Gods Saints wrought great Myracles but there is no myracle to be wrought against Death Ieremie tells vs of certain Serpents that cannot be charmed charm the charmer neuer so wisely of this nature is Death Ecclesiasticus introduceth a dead man who speaketh thus by way of aduice to the Liuing Memento judicij mei sic enim erit tuum Heri mihi hodie tibi That man was neuer yet borne nor shall be hereafter that shal not see death or escape this heauie iudgement Salomon commanded the child to be diuided in the middle about whom the two mothers did contend and that sentence which he did not then execute shall bee executed vpon all liuing flesh for all men beeing in regard of the bodie sonnes of the Earth and in regard of the soule the children of Heauen euerie one receiues this sentence from the Iudge at his death Let the earth returne to the earth from whence it came and the Spirit to God who gaue it life She was a Widow woman The word Erat She was carrieth with it a kind of emphasis she was a sorrowfull and forelorne Widow A Widow ought to bee a rule and patterne of perfection to all other women shee should bee the glasse wherein they should see their faults and what is amisse in them In a word shee was a woman irreprehensible and without blame Nor according to Saint Paul hath the Virgin or the Wife that tie and obligation vpon them as shee hath The one because her small experience in the deceits and vanities of the world may excuse her in many things the other the charge and care that necessarily attends Wedlocke When Absalon entred into the wiues and Concubines of his father the King gaue command they should bee shut vp like so many Recluses because they had opened the doore vnto him as if the King had beene dead And Widowes are to liue so seperated and seuered from the world as if they liued not in it Isiodore expoundeth the Spanish word Viuda which signifies a Widow to be quaâ—i vidua diuided from her husband as the Vine from the Elme which was it's prop and stay which being taken away the Vine lieth leuell with the ground and without any comfort The Hebrew deriueth the name of Widow from a certain word which signifieth both bound dumbe now to be bound and dumbe are the conditions and properties of him that is dead who is neither able to mooue nor speake So that the vulgar Translation calls a Widow Sterilem barren and vnfruitfull as it is in Iob and in Esay Another letter stiles her Eradicatam pluckt vp by the Roots as a tree that is quite rooted vp that it may neuer grow nor waxe greene againe The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Frankincense They must not smell of Amber nor of Ciuet but of Frankinsense which they offer vp in Incense for a widdow ought to lead the remnant of her dayes so neere vnto her husbands Tombe that her garments should sauour of that incensorie perfume Of such Widowes as these God hath that especiall care that none shall doe them any wrong for the teares that drop downe from their cheekes ascend as high as Heauen And as the vapours that are exhaled from the earth come downe againe in lightning and thunder and terrible tempests so prooue the Widowes teares to those that shall vniustly cause them to weep and draw those watred drops from their eyes Heliodorus pretended to rob the Temple of Ierusalem
man Irenaeus saith That God setteth vp some because they are worthy to beare rule others because they are vnworthy But where there is a good Gouernour that Common-wealth he fauoureth Phocas was a most cruell Emperour of Constantinople whereupon a holy Monke in a corner of his Cell thus complaineth vnto God Cur fecisti eum Imperatorem Why didst thou make him Emperour Who had no sooner made his mone but he heard a voyce from heauen saying Non inueni peiorem I could not finde a worse In Thebes there was a great Hypocrite which was euen ready to die out of the great desire he had to be a Bishop who had scarce obtained that dignitie but that he fell a spoyling the Common-wealth but an Angell told him That hee was not made Bishop because he deserued to be a Bishop but because that Common-wealth deserued not a better Bishop According to that of Iob Hee causeth the Hypocrite to reigne for the sinnes of the land Being all one with that which Ieremy said of his people Dabo eos inferuorem vniuersis regnis terrae propter Manassem filium Ezechiae Anastasius reades it Per Manassem For as a good King is a great cause why God with a gracious eye doth looke vpon his people so a bad king is the meanes that he vseth for the punishing of them Saint Gregorie the Archbishopricke of Milan being void wrot to the Clergie that they would obliege God by prayer and by fasting to giue them a good Pastor For as God is pleased with his people so he giues them Prelats accordingly The Queen of Sheba considering the wisedome of Salomon said That nothing did more manifest Gods loue towards his people of Israel and the desire of their perpetuitie than in hauing giuen them so wise a Gouernour And Iosephus reporteth That he being but twelue yeares of age when he first began to gouerne the people listening to that sentence which he gaue at his first sitting in iudgement touching the two women that contested about their child Let the infant be cut in twaine Many laughed at it deeming it to be a childish sentence but afterwards wisely weighing the discreet course that hee had taken in iustifying the truth without any further proofes or testimonies they then cryed out De coelo elapsus This King is sent vs downe from heauen And albeit the heauens planets and starres are to mans seeming farre off yet in regard of those influences which they cause in inferiour bodies they are neere at hand And albeit they are incorruptible yet doe they affoord great fauours to corruptible things If heauen behold vs with a propitious eye and the planets with prosperous aspects the earth doth enioy much fruitfulnesse and abundance But contrariwise our soules are not subiect to those materiall heauens but to those heauens of our Prelats and Gouernours Behold I create a new heauen and a new earth This may bee vnderstood of the Ecclesiasticall Estate and the Secular of Superiours and Inferiours When these heauens affoord a prosperous light the earth is beautifull pleasant plentifull and fertile And so on the contrary Ieremie saith I beheld the earth and loe it was emptie I beheld the heauens and could see no light in them What light then could there bee in Ierusalem when as Annas and Cayphas were the high Priests The high Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death Saint Augustine saith That this deuise and drift of theirs was deriued from the diuell and from hell There are some thoughts that are ingendred and bred in our flesh as the rust in the yron the rottennes in the wood the moth in the cloth and the worme and mytes in butter and in cheese Our flesh is a durtie puddle which sends forth such foule and thicke vapors from it that if you doe not make great hast to expell and driue them thence they will quickly cloud and darken the light of the vnderstanding It is sicke of the kitchin the gutter whitherall the dust and sluttishnesse of the sences gathers and meetes together to make such a stinke and stoppage that the water of Gods grace can hardly get through and cleanse the same it is a most grieuous and heauie burthen not onely because it is so painefull and intollerable but also because it is ineuitable All the plagues of Aegypt were remooued by Moses his prayer saue onely the flyes And these are those our thoughts and cogitations being inexcusable as importunate and troublesome which are ingendred in this our body of flesh Euery one beares about him his particular affection and the Idol which his heart adoreth This man his pleasures that man his profit one his honour another his grace and fauour with his king some their great and strong Alliance others their daintie and delicious fare And euerie one of these is like vnto the beast that is tyed to his racke and manger whereon his thoughts doe continually feede This is that same Trahit sua quemque voluptas Euery man is wedded to some one kinde of pleasure or other The Schoolemen set downe two sorts of thoughts The one which flesh and blood produceth The other which are sowne in vs. Cogitatio innata And Cogitatio ab alio lata That which is bred in vs. And that which is otherwise brought vnto vs. Some hearbes grow vp in the earth ofthemselues others are sown So some thoughts haue their breeding in mans brest others are sowne there and it must of force follow that they are sowne eyther by the diuell or by God Of those of the diuell Saint Paul saith Let no temptation take hold on you but that which is humane That the verie thought of some extraordinarie beautie should trouble and disquiet thee the thought of thy Princes fauour of Signiorie or any other temporall good this is a humane temptation but the killing of Lazarus and the selling and betraying of our Sauiour Christ is a diuellish temptation And therefore Saint Iohn saith That the diuell had put it into Iudas his heart that it was hee that had sowne this bad seed there and thrust this thought into him But whether or no this thought be of the flesh or of the diuell sure I am that it is the generall doctrine of the Saints That we should not nourish any euil thought nor let it like a bottome of yarne waxe warme in our hand Esay complaineth of his people That they conceiued mischiefe and brought foorth iniquitie that they hatched cockatrice egges and woue the spiders web that he that eateth of their egges dyeth and all that which is trod vpon breaketh out into a serpent As out of an Aspick 's egge saith Aristotle being kept warme and cherished is hatcht the Basiliske so from our thoughts taking warmth from the heat of consent is bred the Basiliske of sin This is for the sheepe to breed vp the wolfe or to giue sucke to that toad which shall venome thy brest and work thy death The Greeke Text
Leo vt insidiator viarum vsque ad Crucem reus sit Christi repente Confessor This is a wonderfull change that a high-way robber condemned here to the Crosse should in the turning of a hand come to confesse Christ. In this one action did all the attributes of God shine and shew themselues in a most glorious manner and especially his wisedome in making these extreames to meet and ioyne together so on the sodaine and as it were in an instant Ecclesiastes saith That there is a time to bee borne and a time to dye a time to plant and a time to plucke vp that which is planted a time to slay and a time to heale a time to breake downe and a time to build a time to weepe and a time to laugh All these extreames did his wisedome knit and linke together In this action meete those two extreames of being borne and of dying for as much as wee see this theefe dye to the world and to bee borne anew to Christ. And the death of the righteous the Church stiles it a birth Those of planting and plucking vp that which is planted because grace is here planted in the soule of the theefe and sinne pluckt vp Those of slaying and healing for that our Sauiour Christ receiues these mortall wounds in his owne bodie and healeth those of the theefe Those of building and breaking downe that is built In regard that the body of sinne is destroyed and the building of grace is set vp in him Those of weeping and laughing in that the theefe doth now bewaile his sinnes and laughes for ioy to heare the gladsome newes of heauen In a word the more incurable that the diseases are which a Physitian cureth the more saith Saint Augustine is his skill and cunning to be commended Gods omnipotencie was likewise seene herein Saint Chrysostome saith That it was so great a Miracle that the Sunne should be darkened that the earth should tremble and shake that the stones should dash their heads one against another or that the vayle of the Temple should bee rent in twaine as was the inlightning of a blind vnderstanding the mollifying of a hard and stonie heart and the remoouing from the soule the vayle of it's ignorance And the truth of this may very well bee prooued by Moses his rod to whose Empire though the earth the sea the elements light darkenesse and all creatures whatsoeuer were obedient yet could it not mooue hard-hearted Pharaohs brest He likewise discouered his omnipotencie in making the Theefe an instrument to reuenge himselfe of the Diuell of the Pharisees of Pilat and of the people Of the diuell who as Saint Ambrose saith had blasoned it abroad to the world and triumphed greatly therin That our Sauiour Christ hauing but twelue Apostles he had woon one of them from him persuading him that it were the better life of the two to be a theefe than an Apostle but for a Iudas a poore base theefe which stole but blankes and farthings from the pouertie of that sacred Colledge Christ won a theefe from him which had spent his whole life in the diuels seruice and had committed many famous robberies and notorious thefts Theeues are the diuells weapons but our Sauiour Christ being the stronger of the two tooke from him the greatest theefe in the world leauing him with his owne sword confounded and ashamed I haue compared thee ô my Loue to the troupes of horses in Pharaohs charriots Salomon had great store of horses of the Aegyptian race for to furnish his charriots and to feare his enemies as the French vse to wage warre against Spaine with Spanish Gennets He then saith that as Salomon made war against the Aegyptians with the horses of Aegypt so the Church confoundeth the diuell with his owne Armes which are theeues and robbers Confounding and making ashamed Pilat the high Priests the Pharisees and the people with the tongue of a theefe There is not any thing in the world more infamous than a theefe Of all basenesse it was the greatest that our Sauiour should die as a theefe It was much that hee should become man Exinaniuit semetipsum more that hee should take vpon him the forme of a seruant Formam serui accipiens and more then that That he should be no more esteemed of than a worme of the earth and more yet then this That he should take vpon him in his Circumcision the image of a sinner but most of all that hee should die as a notable theefe betwixt two theeues In the garden he said Ye come forth to apprehend me as if I had beene a Theefe There he was taken like a theefe here condemned to death as a theefe that no man might take pittie of him There is no man that dies by the hand of Iustice but is pittied of the people saue only the theefe not one that takes compassion of him He that seeth a theefe hung vp in the high-way vseth as he passeth by to say Benedictum lignum per quod fit Iustitia Blessed be that gallowes on which such good Iustice is done The Church receiueth the Iewes the Moore and the Gentile but will not entertaine a theefe In Leuiticus God did forbid the Weasil and the Mouse and the frog also the Rat and the Lyzard and the Cameleon and the Crocodile and the Mole as vncleane and vnfit to be eaten and if you will but reade in the naturall Histories the conditions and properties of these creatures you shall see that they are all theeues It made many men maruell That the Crocodile being so great a creature the diuine Historian should reckon him vp amongst these other contemptible small creatures And Rodolphus Flauiacensis renders the reason of it to be this That they haue all of them theeuish qualities The Crocodile more particularly swims in the sea runnes on the land one while by day another while by night she layes a verie little egge which afterward growes to be a great beast and goes still increasing as long as shee liueth and is not onely the stampe and figure of a Sea-pyrat but of a Land-robber which night and day seekes all occasions to rob and steale Like vnto that theefe which in some poore country village begins first to fall a pilfring of some sixe royalls and from this so small a beginning raiseth his stock to fiftie thousand Ducats and comes at last to be a Regidor a Cauallero and a Titulado And by this so vile and errant a theefe as is here now treated of our Sauiour Christ did confound all Ierusalem He might haue made vse of the tongue of a Prophet or an Euangelist but as Sampson shewed his valour in conquering a thousand armed men with the iawe-bone of an Asse which had not approued it selfe to be so great had he made vse of Golias his sword or Hercules club or of Theseus his mace so our Sauiour Christ c. Gods mercie in this case did also shew it selfe exceedingly Saint
they may want force to ouerturne her but she will neuer want sides to make resistance For the Churches sake because it makes for her good and for her greater encrease This is expressed in that Parable Nisi granum frumenti Except a grain of Corne c. And in that other Ego sum vitis vera vos palmites I am the true Vine yee are the Branches The happinesse of Corne consisteth in this in that it is sowen and in that it dies That of the Vine in that it is pruned and hath it's boughes and branches cut off Many wilde Trees of vnsauorie Fruits by the art of graffing are reduced to a pleasant relish Of Saffron Pliny saith That the more it is trodden on the better it springeth The graine of Mustard the more it is bruised and broken the greater strength it discouereth And the Church the more it is persecuted the more it prospereth And as Mariners are woont to say that at sea the worst storme is a calme so wee may say of the Church that it 's greatest persecution is to haue no persecution at all Esay sets it downe for a threatning That God will leaue off to prune and dresse his Vine any more Dimittam eam non putabitur nec fodietur For when a Vine is pruned for one branch it putteth forth ten And the Church by one Martyr being cut off giues a plentifull encrease of two hundred conuerted Christians Pope Leo Saint Basil and Saint Chrysostome prosecute this Doctrine more at large in the vnfolding of the aforesaid Parables Lastly for their sakes that looke thereupon and behold at full the persecutions of the Church For as to the righteous the prosperitie of the sinner is a stumbling blocke of offence Hic labor est ante me So to the sinner the persecution of the just causeth great scandall Both these are vndoubted truths both hard to bee vnderstood but harder farre to bee persuaded But God afflicteth with persecutions the thing which he most loueth which is his Church and prospereth those her enemies which hate her to the end that men might thereby learne and vnderstand that neither those euils which the Church suffereth are true euils nor those blessings which the other inioy true blessings And this is prooued out of Saint Augustine in his Booke De Ciuit. Dei and out of Seneca in that his Booke Quare bonis viris So that the wicked though that hee inioy a great deale of prosperitie wee are not to esteeme it as a blessing nor for that the righteous suffer much aduersity are we to account it a curse vnto them But ought rather to apprehend that persecution is for their good in regard that our Sauiour Christ giues it vs as a reward for our great seruice Et omnis qui reliquerit patrem matrem c. centuplum accipiet cum persecutionibus i. And euerie one that shall haue left father or mother c. Shall receiue a hundreth fold with Persecutions Saint Marke and Saint Cyprian both affirme that persecution putteth vs in a kind of possession of that glorie which wee hope for hereafter at least it giues vs an assurance thereof And this is made good by this comparison The Good the Scripture stileth by the name of Wheat and the Wicked are tearmed Chaffe Now it is the Fanne of persecution that doth seuer the Wheat from the Chaffe Vidit eos laborantes in remigando Hee saw them toyled in rowing There are two things which steale away Gods eyes and filch them if I may vse that phrase from forth his head The one is an humble and prompt obedience The other the trouble and torment which we suffer for his sake Touching the first notable is that place of Abraham whose obedience did so draw Gods eyes vnto him that that place where he was resolued to performe the Sacrifice remained with this name Dominus videbit The Lord will see Touching the second There is not any hunger nor humane miserie whereon Gods mercie hath not his eye fixed nay I may boldly say fast nailed thereunto To Moses God spake out of a Bush O thou great God of heauen and earth a bush is no fitting chaire for thy glorie or thy Maiestie Who made thee thus to alter thy Throne Vidi afflictionem Populi mei in Aegypto I haue seene the affliction of my People in Aegypt Another Translation hath it Videndo vidi In seâ—ing I haue seene and the repetition goes on in this descant Qui tangit vos tangit pupillam oculi mei He toucheth the apple of Gods eye that toucheth the Iust. And in another place Et clamorem eius audiui And I haue heard his crie For our miserie toucheth not onely Gods eye but his eare also Tertullian reporteth in his Apologetico That the Gentiles did murmure against the Christians that they would not recommend the safetie and welfare of their kings to those their Gods Iupiter and Mercurie But Nazianzen answereth thereunto That they did not allow of this their councell to recommend their safetie vnto Gods whose hands feet were of Iead but vnto that God who swiftly flies to heale them of their infirmities and carries health in his wings Et sanitas in pennis eius Vidit eos laborantes in remigando He saw them labouring at the Oare In another Tempest no lesse fearefull than the former Saint Lukeâ—aith â—aith That our Sauiour Christ fell asleepe leaning his head on one of the boords of the Ship in stead of a pillow And here Saint Mathew saith That hee beheld how his Disciples wrestled with the waues seeking to ouercome their rage and their furie The one Tempest God permitted the other he sendeth Of Pharaoh it is said by the Prophet Ego excitaui eum I raised him vp to be the instrument for the afflicting of my People that I might afterwards grind him to pouder And by Esayas he saith That with his whistle he called the Flies from beyond the Seas In all sorts of Tempests therefore the Iust may thinke themselues safe because God is continually at hand to helpe them According to that of Dauid Cum ipso sum in tribulatione I am with thee in tribulation And of Esay When thou passest through the waters I will bee with thee and when thou walkest in the fire thou shalt not bee burnt And of Ezechiell Ero sicut Tunica prope corpus ipsorum i. I will bee as a coat about their bodie Saint Gregorie sayth That God appeared vnto Iob De turbine i. Out of the whirlewind For hauing permitted a whirle-winde of troubles to come vpon him it would not haue suted so well that hee should haue spoke vnto him from that throne of Glorie whence he spake vnto him when hee was in his perfect health and prosperitie The three children beeing in the Firie Furnace the Sonne of God appeared amidst those flames and the tyrant saw one Similem filio Dei i. Like the sonne of God Of
out of it's stubbornenesse say vnto God I will not But admit it should say I will the miracle is no lesse but rather a manifest token of Gods diuine power and omnipotencie It is likewise to be noted That all the entrances which our Sauiour Christ made were with a great deale of noyse and clamour In that first which he made in the world Haggie prophecied That he should turne the Heauen and the Earth topsi-turuie And God did performe it vsing as his Instrument therein the Emperour Octauianus Augustus In that which hee made into Aegypt he did trouble all that Kingdome by throwing their Idolls downe to the ground as it was prophecied by Esayas Commouebuntur simulachra Aegypti So doth Procopius declare it Eusebius Athanasius and Saint Austen But say That in these his entrances there was a generall motion yet was there not a generall obedience But here Commota est vniuersa Ciuitas The Greeke saith Velut terrae motu concussa fuit As if it had suffered an vniuersal earthquake there was neither old man nor woman nor child c. This is a great encarecimiento or endeering of the matter First Because our Sauiour preaching about the Cities and Townes of that Kingdome the Euangelists deliuer vnto vs That all the Inhabitants that were in those parts left their houses and their villages emptie and forsaken and only for to follow him S. Marke he saith Et conueniebant ad eum vndique vt iam non posset manifeste introire in Ciuitatem sed in Desertis locis esset And Saint Luke That they troad one another vnder foot and crusht the breath out of their bodies and only to presse to heare him Ita vt se mutuò suffocarent But it is to be supposed that many likewise staid at home but in this his entrance into Hierusalem God would haue this lot to light vpon all and therefore it is said Vniuersa Ciuitas The whole Citie Seâ—ondly In regard of the infinite number of Inhabitants that were in that Citie which as Plinie reporteth was in those dayes the famousest in all the East And in a manner all those that haue writ thereof make mention of foure millions of persons Iosephus relateth That the President of Syria beeing desirous to render an account vnto Nero of the greatnesse of that Commonwealth did desire of the high Priests that they would giue him a true note of the number of those Lambs which they sacrificed one Sabboth which were afterwards eaten by seuerall companies and Housholds some consisting of ten some of 15 and some 20 soules and they found that they did sacrifice at euerie one of those their solemne Sabboths two hundred fiftie six thousand and fiue hundred Lambes which according to the rate of fifteene persons in a companie amount to foure millions and fiue hundred thousand But withall it is to be noted that neither the Sicke nor the children were present thereat But here Vniuersa Ciuitas The whole Citie came some out of passion and some out of affection Thirdly For that our Sauior Christ was alreadie condemned to death by the Chapter house of the Clergie who had called a Conuocation to send out Serjeants and Souldiers for the apprehending of him and had published Proclamations of rewards to those that should bring him bound vnto them that then and at such a time the whole Citie should receiue him with Songs and acclamations of King Messias and God being a proscribed man and doomed to death Haec mutatio dextrae excelsi This was an alteration which could not proceed but from the most High Commota est vniuersa Ciuitas The whole Citie was mooued Ierusalem had beene long settled in it's vices Visitabo super viros defixos in sordibus suis Moab requieuit in faecibus suis I will search Ierusalem with candles and punish the men that are settled on their lees c. And as the wise Phisitions stirre and trouble the humours cause loathings and gripings in the stomacke so our Sauiour Christ in the breast of euerie one causeth a squeamishnesse of the stomacke by moouing and stirring those foule dregges of sinne wherewith they were corrupted Et commota est vniuersa Ciuitas Many old diseases are woont to be cured with some sudden passion as of sorrow or feare or by some great and violent vomit for euerie one of these accidents make a pause in the humours and detaine the spirits An Ague hath been seen to be put out of his course and quite taken away by the sudden drawing of a sword vpon the Patient and a Palsey driuen away with the sight of a mans enemie And Horace telleth vs That a couetous Miser was recouered of a great Lethargie by the Physitions feigning that his heires were carrying away his bagges of money and the Chests wherein his Treasure lay In like manner in the infirmities of the Soule one turbation one disquieting one breaking vp of those Chests wherein our sinnes are massed vp may bee the recouerie of our perdition This made Dauid to say of his Soule Sana contritiones eius quia commota est O Lord my Soule is troubled within me when I consider the foulenesse of my sinnes it is sad and melancholy for the verie griefe thereof it is much disquieted And therefore ô Lord Sana contritiones eius affoord me thy helping hand for it is now high time to cure me of my sore Quis est hic Who is this This was a question of the enuious and appassionated Pharisees Howbeit it seemeth to Origen That it should proceed from some good honest people c. Howsoeuer it was a question whereunto no man could fully answer put Theologie the sacred Scripture the Doctors the Saints the Councells the Arts the Sciences and all the Hierarchies of Angells put them all I say together and put this question vnto them and after that they haue said all they can say all will be too little to satisfie this demand of Quis est hic Who is this One of Iobs friends treating of the Maiestie and greatnesse of God and how incomprehensible a thing it was saith Forsitan vestigia Dei comprehendes Et vsque ad perfectum omnipotentem reperies Canst thou by searching find out Gods footsteps Canst thou find out the Almightie vnto perfection By the tracke of his footsteps he vnderstandeth these inferior things that are guided and gouerned by his prouidence And by perfection which is the head of all the highnesse of his Wisedome In a word In all God is altogether inuestigable in regard of his heigth the Heauens come short of him Excelsior Coelo est see then if thou canst reach vnto him Which consideration made Saint Austen to say That God is not onely present in earth which is his footstoole and in Heauen which is his Throne but in those which are to be immagined elsewhere How then canst thou reach vnto him beeing more deepe than Hell longer than the Earth and broader than the
being so iustly incensed against them but must needs breake out into these termes with them A wicked generation c. God complained by his Prophets That the sinnes of his people had quite altered his naturall condition Let Samaria perish saith Osee because she hath prouoked her God And anon after he saith the same of Ephraim Gods heart being so mild so gentle so louing and so full of compassion the sinnes of Samaria and of Ephraim had prouoked it to bitternes Ieremie in his Lamentations complaineth Repleuit me amaritudinibus inebriauit me absynthio He hath filled me with bitternesse he hath made me drunken with Wormwood Ezechiel stiles the people Domus exasperans A House which doth exasperate Gods nature being so noble so free so pittifull Of Iudas Saint Luke saith Suspensus crepuit medius He burst asunder in the midst and all his bowells gushed out And this was not without some great mysterie That his vitall spirit should not goe out at his throat being streightned with the halter nor through his mouth for that therewith though treacherously he had kist his Sauiour but out of the verie heart and bowells of him for there it was that his hatred lay And though in other outward things there may be feigning and dissembling the heart cannot loue and hate at once And therefore beeing so many monstrous mis-shapes in the rest of the parts of mans bodie as two heads two hands two feet and the like yet did Nature neuer consent that there should be two hearts onely it is vsed as an embleme to expresse a traitor who loues with the one and hates with the other Woe to them that are of a double heart saith Salomon Simeon and Leui had double hearts when they dealt so deceitfully with the Prince of Sichem And because we might not think that their father had a hand in it and that they did it by his aduice at the houre of his death he called them Instruments of crueltie Ezechiel calls them Foxes who deuoure the grapes of the Vine and hide themselues vnder the leaues thereof Quafi Vulpes in Deserto Prophetae tui Chrysologus That they wage warre against Vertue with Vertue against Fasting with Fasting against Prayer with Prayer against Mercie with Mercie and against Miracles by crauing other Miracles And if it were abhominable before God that a man should put on womans apparell and a woman mans as it is in Deutronomie much worse will it seem in his sight that the euill man should put on the disguise of him that is good that Vice should put on Vertue 's cloathes In Ecclesiasticus God threatneth the Hypocrites That he wil pull off their maskes and disguises in the midst of all the People Attende ne reuelet Deus absconsa tua in medio Synagogae elidat te Our Sauiour had a faire occasion offered vnto him for to discredit and disgrace them and therefore plucking their maskes from off their faces he said A wicked and adulterous Generation seeketh a signe c. We would sâ—e a signe from thee The second reason is The insenciblenesse of this people that amongst so many such strange miracles they should as if all the rest were worth nothing require other newer and greater miracles Potest ne quisquam saith Saint Chrysostome adeo stolidus inueniri Can any man bee found so foolish Nor is that particle Tunc which is referred to a summe of miracles which summe can hardly be reduced to a summe of the least consideration in this place Tunc Then when they should haue kneeled downe before him to haue kissed his feet and acknowledged how much they were bound vnto him Tunc Then when they should haue seemed to be astonished and wonder-strucken at his miracles Tunc Then when they were to haue beene conuinced and like Paul to haue fallen into a trance Then do they obstinatly perseuer in their malice This holy doctor saith that Ionas was a type figure of this so profound a sleep The tempest driues the sea before it seeming for feare to runne away from the furie of those fierce and terrible winds and yet Ionas sleepeth The waues couer the Clouds and discouer the bottomlesse Gulfes striking a terrour both in the Mariners and the passengers and yet Ionas sleepeth the sayles and tackling are all to-be rent and torne the helme broken and lost and none left to gouerne the Ship and yet Ionas sleepeth the maine-mast is split in sunder a planke is sprung the Pylots and the Mariners multiplie their prayers to their false Gods which are painted in the prow of their ship Viridesque Deos quibus aequora curae and yet Ionas sleepeth nay hee routs and snoarts in securitie and is not sencible of the great danger he is in The like effect did Christs comming worke with his people There was a generall hurrie both in Heauen and Earth such an Inquietudo and turbation as was prophecied by the Prophet Haggie Behold yet again I will mooue the Heauen and the Earth And this people hauing with teares with sighes desired that they might be so happie as to see their Sauiour is now fast asleep The Dead liue the Deafe heare the Blind see the Lame goe the stones of the Temple are torne in sunder the Graues open the Sun is eclipsed and the Moone darkened and this great Ship of the World is tossed to and fro with the furie of the winds and yet this people sleepeth and would to God they were but asleepe for he that sleepeth euerie little noyse will awaken him but these men hauing the eyes of their bodie open are as blind as any Beetle in those of their soule They are in condition like vnto those Deuills of whom Iob speaketh Cor eius indurabitur quasi lapis extinguetur quasi malleatoris incus He compares their heart to a stone and thinking this too short a comparison for that the hardest stone is cut and hewne with the Cheesill and Hammer he compares it to a Smiths Anuile which the more it is beaten vpon the harder it growes And Saint Gregorie hath obserued That on the Anuile all other mettalls are made soft are wrought to bee plyable and are reduced to diuers formes and shapes but the Anuile it selfe continues still harder and harder In the said chapter Iob saith That the bodie of Leuiathan was ioyned and knit together and that the mettall of his scales was like strong Shields surely fastned together Alluding as it should seeme to that which Ieremie speaketh of his Children Dabis eis scutum cordis c. Thou shalt giue them ô Lord a heart like a shield of Brasse which shall rebound backe vpon thine own bosome those shafts that thou shalt shoot against them for those fauours and those blessings which thou bestowest vpon them make their hearts the harder and they are so blinded through their sinnes that their hearts are become as hard as a Target of yron to the
end serue miracles from Heauen if thou hast not eyes to behold those that are done on earth It were better for thee to craue eyes of God than miracles Agar beeing readie to die for thirst in the Desert shee had water iust before her but she was so blinded with passion and her stomacke did so swell against her mistresse that shee did not see it And God opened her eyes Saint Chrysostome compareth the Pharisees to a sandie ground which though it sucke in neuer so much water yet it still remaines hard and drie And albeit God had showred downe such store of miracles vpon them yet all was as nothing because they were not disposed to take notice of them nor to make that good vse of them as they ought to haue done Hee that goes on his way musing on this or t'other thing though many passe along by him yet in this his melancholly humour his thoughts being otherwise taken vp he neither mindes nor sees any thing Philon compares them to Statua's because they see things as though they saw them not Two qualities or especiall properties had those miracles of our Sauiour Christ by which euerie man might haue knowne them The first That they all tended to the profit and benefit of man Tunc apperientur oculi caecorum Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened said Esay Caeci vident Claudi ambulant Leprosi mundantur The Blind see the Lame walke and the Lepers are clensed saith Saint Mathew Virtus de illo exibat sanabat omnes Vertue went out of him and healed all saith Saint Luke And in our Creed we confesse Propter nos propter nostram salutem descendit de Coelis For vs and for our saluation hee descended from Heauen So that those miracles which hee was to shew heere vpon earth is a condition and qualitie so notorious of those which were prophecied and foretold of the Messias that to haue them to come from Heauen was a thing vnknowne to the learned Doctors of those times Thou sendest thy seruant on an errand and saist vnto him In such a walke thou shalt meet with a man clad in greene wearing a hat with a feather in it of such and such colours c. Now if he should so farre mistake himselfe as to goe to one that were cloathed all in blacke and deliuer thy message vnto him wouldst thou not hold him to be a foole Saint Austen in his Exposition vpon those words of the seuentieseuenth Psalme Immissiones per Angelos malos saith That commonly those signes which direct themselues to ill are of the Deuill as those which hee did in destroying Iobs Substance Ignis de Coelo cecidit as also those which shall bee wrought by Antechrist But God alwaies directs his miracles to our good But here by the way it is to be noted That with the Ill Ill can doe much and Good little Theodoret in those his Questions vpon Genesis saith That when Pharaoh perceiued that God began his Plagues with such poore things as Flies he lost a great part of that feare which he had before but that if he had begun where he left which was the death of al the first born his heart would haue treÌ„bled in his breast The Philistines tooke Armes against the Israelites thinking with themselues That God had spent the greatest part of his power in Aegypt In a word with the Ill ill is most powerfull And for all the miracles of our Sauiour Christ were directed vnto good Saint Ambrose saith Luuriabantur iâ— Christo Nothing would please their palate but daintie morcells like little children who are cockered vp vnder their mothers wing or like Gluttons who when their bellies are full and cloyed with ordinarie dishes seeke after nicer and choicer fare to prouoke their appetite The Scribes and Pharisees in like manner hauing taken a surfet of those miracles which our Sauior wrought vpoâ— earth would needs out of daintinesse desire miracles from Heauen which if they would haue beene bettered by them he would not haue stucke with them to haue let them had them either from Heauen or Hell but hee knew it was to no purpose And therefore God one while as the Authour of Nature another while as the Authour of Grace doth euermore abhorre all excesse except in cases of necessitie And he that created all things In pondere numero mensura In weighâ— number and measure cannot but abhorre all superfluous and vnprofitable things And this may serue for an instruction to vs to part with the superfluities of our House Quod superest date pauperibus Giue the remainder of that which is left to the poore King Achazâ—id â—id ill for that he would not aske a signe and the Pharisees did worse in demanding one from Heauen the one offended in the lesse the other in the more the one was too backeward the other too forward For God hauing descended downe from Heauen in his owne person they could not than this desire a greater miracle But they were the sonnes of those fathers who enioying the bread of Angells were quickely wearie of it and long'd for Quailes insomuch that God was forced to take away their liues from them because he knew not how to satisfie their longings The second qualitie and propertie of our Sauiours miracles was That he did them with Empire and command ioyning this his Empire with his doctrine they did cleerely prooue that he was God as it is noted by Thomas Saint Chrysostome brings in here a comparison which makes much to the purpose that wee haue in hand Thou entrest saith he into a Pallace thou knowest not the Prince or Lord thereof thou espiest one before whom all the rest stand bare and rising vp from their seats obey whatsoeuer hee commandeth Now when thou seest this thou canst not be so simple but thou must needs know that this is their king and chiefe commander In the Iewes it was not much that they should doubt whither our Sauior Christ were Lord of heauen earth or no but when they saw that the Winds did obey him the Waues the Dead the Liuing Heauen and Earth and that he did command all creatures with that supreame power and Empire they might then verie well haue fallen into this reckoning as to say This is the Lord of all The Centurions though they had no learning yet did they light vpon this truth Verè Filius Dei erat iste This was truly the Sonne of God The one of them led thereunto when he saw in what a strange manner the whole world was troubled The other when in good manners with a Domine Noli vexari Lord Trouble not thy selfe he seemed loath to giue our Sauiour that trouble saying vnto him I am but a poore Captaine an ordinarie Commander and yet when I lay my commandment vpon my seruants they obey me much more reason then is it that sickenesse should be subiect to thy Empire c. And
giue them present death it giues them a heart to desire it Elias found himselfe so out of heart when he sate him downe vnder the Iuniper tree in the Wildernesse flying from the furie of Iesabel who sought after his life that he desired in this his melancholly mood that hee might die What despaire then may not that sorrow driue a wretched poore soule into whose griefe is as long as great and as great as it is long Seneca tells vs Melius est semel scindi quam semper premi Better is a short than a lingering death Iob passed ouer many a sorrowfull day and many a mournfull night Dies vacuos noctes laboriosas Companilesse and comfortlesse and his wife thinking it the lesser ill to die out of hand than to liue in such perpetuall torment said vnto him pittying his grieuous paine Benedic Deo morere Play the Renegado once curse God to his face that thou maist oblige him thereby to take away thy life But say that Iobs affliction was great it was not of 38 yeares standing as this poore mans was Eight and thirtie yeares Here we are to consider That this sicke man was at least fiftie yeares old and we may make this coniecture That hee lay in a little carre with his bed vnder him together with such ragges and clouts as were for his necessarie vse Whence it followeth that God had laid this long sickenesse of thirtie eight yeares vpon him for his sinnes as Saint Chrysostome Irenaeus and many other Saints inferre vpon that command which God laid vpon him Noli amplius peccare See thou sinne no more It seemeth that hee had committed these sinnes when he was but twelue yeares old for many times Praeuenit malicia peccatum it so falls out that our wickednes outstrips our age and that wee runne into great sinnes before wee come to great yeares young Youthes beeing herein like vnto Cakes that are baked vpon coles which are burnt before they come to their baking According to that of Osee Factus es Ephraim subcineritius panis qui non reuersatur i. Ephraim is as a Cake on the hearth not turned And this ought to be a warning-piece to those that are old and antient sinners and haue not yet beene questioned for their lewd liues nor neuer felt the lash of Gods wrath They that keepe Lyons vse to whip their young whelpes that they may make the greater Lyons to feare and liue in awe of them Fewer are the faults but more the stripes which the Poore feele a bad signe for the Rich that doe runne ryot Aristotle saith That punishments were inuented for the deterring of men from euill Saint Chrysostome That the marke which God set vpon Cain was not so much for his particular defence as for a forewarning to others and therefore God granted him so long a life that his example might adde terrour to posteritie Some punishments are quickely past ouer and therefore doe not so much good and others are verie profitable by reason of their length continuance Iob saith That God had as it were nailed his shafts on his sides they stucke so close to his ribs Esay and Malachie take their comparison from the Siluer-smith who sits long at his worke Et sedebit constans c. Now God by these his long afflictions punisheth him whom he loueth to the end that the sinner may take warning thereby and learne to feare the Lord Non videbit interitum cuâ— viderit Sapientes morientes i. He shall not see destruction when he shall see that Wisemen die Eight and thirtie yeares According to the common course which God taketh of punishing sinne in this life this of thirtie eight yeares seemeth somewhat too rigorous a correction Vpon this doubt diuers reasons are rendered and one more principall than the rest is That this prolongation was not because God wished him ill or loued him the lesse but because there is not any Medicine that preserues a man more from the plague of vice and of sinne than a long sickenesse Prisons and Fetters saith Vlpianus were not so much inuented for the punishing of disorders as the restraining of them being as a great logge of wood to an vntamed and vnruly Hey far a strap to the fleet Hound or a bridle to a Horse Iob calleth the Gout a paire of Stockes Posuisti in trunco pedem meum Thou puttest my feet in the Stockes and lookest narrowly to all my paths and makest the print thereof in the heeles of my feet And he stiles his dunghill his prison Nunquid Caete ego sum aut Mare quia circumdedisti me in isto carcere Am I a Sea or a Whale-fish that thou keepest me in ward Our Sauiour Christ healing a woman that bowed her bodie so downward to the earth that shee could not looke vp to heauen said Hanc filiaÌ„ Abrahae quam c. Ought not this daughter of Abraham whom Sathan hath bound eighteene yeares be loosed from this bond Salomon compares a Physition to a Iaylor for when God commits a delinquent to his couch causing him there to remaine prisoner hauing fettered as it were his feet to his sheets the Physition lookes vnto him and hath a care that hee stirre not from thence till God releaseth him of his sickenesse Thus did hee deale with this poore man who lay thirtie eight yeres as it were by the heeles vnable to wagge either hanâ— or foot so strangely was he benumm'd in all his limmes Some man will say 〈◊〉 haue a shrewd burning Feuer but this is a more common than proper phrase oâ— speech And the Euangelist corrects it thus Socrus autem Petri tenebatur magâ—â— febribus She had not the Feuer but the Feuer had her Infrenabo te ne interâ—â— With the bridle of Sickenesse he will hold thee backe that thou maist not headlong râ—n down the Rocke that leads to vtter destruction both of bodie soule Homer feignes That the Goddesse Pallas for the loue which she bare to Achilles kept him backe when he would haue encountred with Agamemnon King of the Greekes Dauid gaue thankes to Abigal because he beeing resolued to destroy Nabal and all his house she had withheld him from it Quâ—a prohibuisti me c. So may we likewise giue thankes vnto sickenesse because it detaines vs turns vs aside from the forbidden paths of humane pleasures so that these thirtie eight yeares are so farre from the rigour of Iustice that it is rather an act of mercie and pittie But if we consider these thirtie eight yeares in reason of Iustice it will not seeme rigorous to any He is not to be accounâ—ed an austere seuere Iudge who doth keepe a Delinquent long in prison if when he is in prison hee returne to a relapse in his delicts What hope can a Iudge haue that such a one should proue good being set at liberty or of a theef that shal fal a stealing while he is in prisoÌ„ Now this man
from him Nor is there any man so rich or so happy that is not forced to be one of Gods beggars And that Kingly Prophet Dauid saith the like of the beasts of the field in diuers places The eyes of all waite vpon thee ô Lord and thou giuest them their meat in due season Thou openest thy hand and fillest all things liuing with plentiousnesse Hee giueth fodder vnto the Cattell and feedeth the young Rauens that call vpon him By Cattell hee vnderstandeth whatsoeuer beasts of the field And by the Rauen whatsoeuer fowle of the ayre And hee did purposely and more particularly put here the Rauen either because those old ones doe not acknowledge their young for that they are white when they are hatcht the damme and her mate beeing of a contrarie colour Or because it is such a rauening bird that according to Ariâ—â—otle and Pliâ—ie the old ones doe banish their young ones as soone as they are able to flie and shift for themselues into some other region further off that they may not rob them of their food and sustenance In a word great and small high and low haue their maintenance from God Who is it but God that feedeth the yong Rauens when they call vpon him Of the trees and plants that holy King Daâ—id sayth Saturabuntur ligna campi Ceâ—ri Libani c. Of the Angells Planets Starres a Phylosopher saith Greges Astrorum semper pasciâ— And as the Sheepheard numbreth his sheepe and puts a marke vpon euerie one of them so our Lord God doth number the multitude of the Starres and caâ—â—eth them by their names The glorious Saint Chrysostome tells vs in a metaphoricall language That in those immense spatious walkes in Heauen there are other more beautifull fields other Fountaines other Floures other Groues and that God doth sustaine and maintaine them all All liue vnder his protection Since then that all things liue so secure vnder his diuine prouidence Why should man distrust especially seeing that he hath an eye and a care to his wants and necessities Who is like vnto the Lord our God who dwelleth in the highest clouds and yet doth behold from aboue whatsoeuer is in heauen or in earth The sight is not qualified by seeing great things but by perceiuing the least atomes or motes that are in the Sunne In an Epistle which the glorious Apostle Saint Paul wrote to the Romans he calleth God the God of Hope for he looking downe vpon vs doth inrich vs with such assured hopes that we may hold them more firme and sure vnto vs than any present possession of those lands or goods which we enioy The second reason is That if any thing can grieue Gods heart it is our miserie and necessitie and therefore he makes such hast to helpe vs as if it were his owne case My sister my Spouse thou hast wounded my heart with one of thyne eyes and with one haire of thy necke The haires are the symbole of thoughts and cares for as the head is full of haire so is it full of care The â—ye of the Huntsman doth more harme than the Arrow which hee shoots for he that doth not throughly eye his game seldome kills and therefore the Spouses Beloued sayes vnto her Euerie one of thy cares especially when I see thee looke vpon me are so many darts sticking in my heart Abbot Guaricus discoursing of the Prodigall saith That when his father saw him so ill accoutred compassion did more strongly possesse him than the passion of sorrow for his sins did his sonne When Abraham was swallowed vp as it were with sorrow as hee vnsheathed his sword to sacrifice his son Isaac Dominus videbit saith the Text id est prouidebit which was the good old mans answer when his sonne askt him Vbi est victima pater mi My father where is the Lambe for the burnt Offering The Septuagint read Apparebit the Tigurine Videbitur For God seeing vs suffer for his sake is of it selfe a present helpe in our time of need Many of the Saints do ponder the griefe which God did discouer for that dearth which Israel indured and the care that he tooke in allaying the sharpenesse and tartnesse of Elias his austere and sowre disposition who when he had caused the windows of heauen to be shut vp for three yeares yet he appointed him a Rauen to bee his Steward to bring him in prouision that hee might not suffer in that common calaâ—â—â—tie yet giuing him this checke by the way It is not fit that thou alone shouldeâ—t eat and 〈◊〉 the rest of my people starue but since I haue past my word this Rauen shal take care of thee Saint Chrysostome saith That this was a seuere reprehension of the Prophet Elias That a Bird that hath no pittie of her owne brood should take pittie of thee that a bird that by nature is cruell and liues vpon rapines and spoyle of others should be a Minister of mercie vnto thee and thou that shouldest haue been a mediator betwixt God and his people shouldst be a prouoker of him to vengeance he cries out against him Absurdum est ô Elias Thou hast committed a great absurditie ô Elias Saint Augustine further addeth That the Rauen which heretofore shewed himselfe vnthankefull in not returning again to Noahs Arke is now so farre altred from that he was that he brings thee bread and flesh affoording thee thy dayly food it had not been much for thee to haue expected an alteration likewise in the Children of Israell Procopius tells vs That the Rauen is an vncleane creature by the Law and beeing that I who was the Law-giuer did dispense that thou shouldest take thy food from him Why mightst not thou as well haue asked a dispensation of me for this so long an interdiction And he entertained them kindly The griefe which our Sauiour had conceiued for the death of Iohn Baptist did not cause him to withdraw his sweet and comfortable countenance from others For the mourning for the Iust is not a hooding of the face to conceale our selues and our sorrow from the world The Saints of God lament the losse which the Earth sustaines by the taking away of the righteous from amongst vs but not their death For hee beholdeth not his death with the eyes of death but quickely passes it ouer It is the foole that thinkes all is ended with them in death But it is nothing so Whence shall wee buy bread that these may eat He here tooke counsell what were best to be done in this case It beeing as Plato sayth amongst all other things the most Sacred and the most Diuine And Ecclesiasticus telleth vs that counsel makes things stable durable secure As a frame of wood ioyned together in a building cannot bee loosed with shaking so the heart that is established by aduised counsel shal feare at no time Whence shall wee buy bread Here our Sauiour consults with Philip how
is it that thou hast recourse to euill meanes for to free thee from hunger But this is a strange kind of ignorance in thee First because the diuell hath not the power to do thee good in this kind Pharaohs inchanters did adde plagues to plagues flyes to flyes frogs to frogs serpents to serpents bloud vnto blood but take them away they could not All the diuells in hell cannot slacke that hunger which God sendeth Secondly because God hath reserued this care to himselfe Thou preparest them corne for so thou appointest it The Hebrewes hath it Because it is thy preparation and thou prouidest it for vs. Thou ô Lord doest furnish vs with foode because it appertaineth to the office of thy prouidence Neuerthelesse hee left not himselfe without witnesse in that he did good and gaue vs raine from heauen and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with foode and gladnesse So that the Euangelist Saint Luke saith That albeit the Creator of heauen and earth did not suffer himselfe to be seene by humane eyes yet he left testimonies behind him whereby they might know him as by his preseruation of the world his cheering of mans heart with food and gladnesse and for this cause hee commands That wee should beg our dayly bread of him And as he onely can giue vs the Spiritual and Sacramental bread so he onely can giue vs that materiall bread that must sustain our bodies as that other doth our soules There is a little boy here which hath fiue barley loaues and two fishes But what are they among so many Whether this were a boy belonging to the Apostolicall Colledge as it seemeth to Euthimius or some boy of one of the Towns thereabouts as Chrysostome and Theodoret would inferre I will not stand to dispute it but it seemeth somewhat strange vnto me That there was not any one man in all this Apostolical Colledge which did not seek to rid their hands of this people or despaire of their being able to giue them entertainment Some said Dimitte eos Send them away dismisse them what should they doe here Saint Philip he comes in with Ducentorum denariorum Two hundred penniworth of bread will not serue the turne Saint Andrew Quid inter tantos What 's a pound of butter amongst a kennell of hounds What 's this amongst so many Onely our Sauiour Christ vseth them with a great deale of courtesie and ciuilitie he onely fauours them and is willing to bid them welcome Saint Ambrose saith That if they had bin fiftie thousand as they were but fiue thousand they should all of them haue gone away satisfied and well contented Iob saith If I restrained the Poore of their desire c. The multitude of the Poore did neuer cause feare in me as being wel assured that God hath enough in store for them Now if man beare so braue a mind because he is made after the image of God What a noble mind must there be in God In a couetous mans house there is too much penurie for the poore but too much excesse for vanitie When Nabal denied bread to Dauid and his souldiers the Scripture saith That hee had prouided a feast for a King And the rich Glutton in the Gospell hauing his table plentifully furnished denied the crummes to poore Lazarus that fell from his Table There are three things which my soule hateth whereof one of them is A rich man a lier Saint Augustine by this rich man a lier vnderstandeth the vnmercifull man who though he abound in wealth still answers the Poore No ay I haue not for you but the mercifull minded man still saith Para todos ay I haue for you all but the couetous man No ay para nadie I haue for none of you Here is a boy that hath fiue lâ—aues It was great charitie in God to giue away the prouision of his owne Colledge Seneca treating of the liberalitie which one man ought to vse towards another saith Dabo egenti sed vt ipse non egeam succurram perituro sed vt ipse non peream I will be mindfull of the Poore but not forgetfull of my selfe I will relieue him that is readie to perish but will looke to it that I may not perish my selfe For What rich man did euer make himselfe poore to make a poore man rich Onely our Sauiour Christ did so When he was rich hee made himselfe poore that by his pouertie we might be made rich To giue of our superfluities to the Poore is a vertue to part with part of that which doth not superabound as the Widdow of Sarepta did is more than a vertue but to giue all away that is necessarie and needfull for a mans owne life onely our Sauiour Christ did this By whose example many Saints afterwards became excellent Almoners who were contented to suffer nakednesse and hunger themselues that they might fill the bellie of the Hungrie and cloath the backe of the Naked And amongst the rest of these Worthies in their time whose memorie shall neuer be forgotten verie memorable was that of Paulina Bishop of Nola who to free another from slauerie became a slaue himselfe Make the People sit downe Saint Austen saith That the circumstances made this miracle the more remarkable First it is the fashion of the World to haue the meat set on the boord before the guests sit downe At that Feast which the King made at his sonnes wedding Behold I haue prepared my dinner myne Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are readie c. King Assuerus made a great banquet for the Princes of his Kingdome in the Court of the Garden and the Kings Pallace but the Vigiles were farre longer than the Feast But Gods Feasts haue no need of preuention or solemne preparation God created the earth rich in hearbes and plants before it inioyed the benefit of either Sun or Water as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it and therefore Christ had no need of Sunne or Water to furnish and set forth a full table for man He tooke all his Disciples opinions and they all agreeing that there was not bread sufficient for them nor mony wherewithall to buy it when they held it to be a desperate case then did our Sauiour say vnto them Cause the People therefore to sit downe Where the word Therefore is to be considered Saint Chrysostome saith That he went about to prooue by this Therefore that which he afterwards said to the glorious Apostle Saint Paul He calleth those things that are not as though they were In like manner that which is not heareth and obeyeth God as though it were The second circumstance is That from so poore a prouision there should be so rich an ouerplus In the feasts of this world there is much remaining because there is much prouided which doth commonly extend it selfe more to vanitie and ostentation than necessitie And that of much much should be left it is not much But of a little to make
God is good for heauen but not for earth Because he doth interdict their pleasures and delights This vniust censure of theirs is repeated by many of the Prophets in the name of the cast-aways of this world As Malachy for one It is in vaine to serue God and what profit is there in keeping his commandements This is the scoffing and flouting of fooles at those who serue God Saturati sumus panibus saith Ier. benè nobis erat malum non vidimus The Hebrew hath it Eramus boni id est foelices The Prophet doth reprehend his people That through their Idolatries they were come to those miseries of their captiuitie and that if they did not labour to amend he would lash them with sharper whips And this stubborne people replyeth Nay rather since we haue forsaken God the world goes well with vs for we eate and drinke we are merry sound and lusty and happier than before But since we left of sacrificing to the Moone our life hath beene a continuall misery and a perpetuall pouerty Peccaui quid mihi accidit trifte Secondly God was willing to doe this for his owne honours sake and for the good of those whom the world had deliuered vp into his hands hungrie surbated and sicke All these he heales all these he fils and all these hee comforts to the end that it may remain as a registred and notorious truth That God is a good God both in heauen and on earth When God did descend from the Mount to giue the Law Exodus saith The children of Israel saw God and did eate and drinke so that their seeing of God did not put them beside their eating and their drinking And our Sauiour Christ said That which enters in at the mouth defiles not a man And by Esay My seruants shall eate and drinke and be merry and ye shall perish Abbot Gilbertus saith That the Prodigall forsaking his fathers house entred into a stricter kind of order where he had fasting enough whereas in his fathers house the very hindes and meanest of his seruants had their bellies full of meate The world is a Cosiner and a Cheater it promiseth mountaines of gold but performeth molehills of nifles Her prouision is on the one part very bad and on the other very poore and miserable She will giue you bread but it shal be the bread of lying moulded vp with stones and sand Suauis est homini paniâ— mâ—ndacij saith Salomon This bread hath a goodly outside and carryes a very faire show with it but when thou commest to the chewing of it it will breake thy teeth Postea implâ—bitur os eius calculo Like vnto that which they gaue vnto Ieremias when he was in prison Cibauit me cinere It is a counterfeit confection to proffer you that wine that shall prooue to be your poyson Fel draconum vinum eorum venenum aspidum insanabile What stomacke can digest such bad bread and such bad wine This seeming fairenesse this sophisticated beauty may very well reuiâ—â— the remembrance of Eues Apple and that face of the Serpent which according vnto Beda had the appearance of a verie faire and beautifull Damsell And Ecclesiastâ—cus alluding hereunto sayth Flie from sinne as from the face of a Serpent Wherein poyson comes couered with a golden coat Besides her prouision is so poore that if she should giue all to one she would leaue him stil as hungry as if she had giuen him nothing at all So that he remains hungry to whom shee giues little he also to whom she giues much She gaue the Prodigal very little he remained hungry She gaue Salomon very much it seemed vnto him that all was but ayre that he had eaten Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas S. Ambrose citeth to this purpose the fable of Midas who was all his life time hungring after gold and besought the gods that whatsoeuer hee toucht might be turned into gold and they granting his petition hee perished through hunger For his meate and his drinke turning it selfe into gold his hunger increased ypon him till it had wrought his death Saint Iohn saith in his Apocalips That hee saw a blacke horse Et qui sedebat super eum habebat stateram in manu sua By the blacke horse Beda vnderstands sinne by him that sate thereupon the Deuill The ballance which he held in his hand was not that of Iustice but of scaricitie and miserie for to weigh the bread which hee giues in allowance to his seruants which he deliuers out vnto them by ounces and by drams And anon after he says that he saw another vpon a pale horse and his name was Death Who had power to aflict with hunger the foure quarters of the world These were the horsemen on the one side but there was heard from the other side a loud voice which sayd A measure of Wheat for a pennie and three measures of Barley for a penny But yee that take part with the blacke horse must not touch neither on the wine nor the oyle there mentioned it is not for your mowing signifying thereby that when the vassall of the Deuill of the World and of the Flesh perisheth of hunger the Iust shal haue their food good cheape They eat and were satisfied There is no mention made in this feast of drinke because meat doth increase thirst and drinke doth quench it And of Gods good blessings wee remaine alwayes more and more thirstie Dionisius the Carthusian sayth That he gaue vnto the loaues and the fishes the vertue and power of quenching their thirst Take vp that which is left that the fragments may not be lost Our Sauiour here shâ—wed great care for the sauing and gathering vp of that which was left First for to discouer the vertue of Almes deedes as Saint Cyrill obserueth it Saint â—â—sten sayth That the field of the poore is the fertilest For he that sowes in that receiues a hundred for one Nor there is not any Merchant that hath so quicke a returne of gaine and so plentifull as that husbandman that sowes his seed in such a peecâ— of ground And he that gets least is hee that ventures least But some one will say How can I want or bee in need if I keepe my fruits safe vnder locke and key c. I answere that because thou keepest them so close thou maist want them but if thou shouldst scatter theÌ„ abroad thou shouldst haue Gods plentie He that sowes not reapes not Date dabitur vobis Giue and it shall be giuen vnto you and if your store shall not increase Come and blame mee Haue I peraduenture beene to my People like a Wildernesse without fruit The like conceit doth S. Chrysostome touch vpon expounding Communicating to the necessities of the Saints Saint Gregorie treats the verie selfe same Doctrine vpon that place of Iob If I despised him that passed by because hee was not cloathed And Saint Ambrose in a Sermon
other the conuerted were but few but in the Resurrection they were without number as it appeareth out of the Acts. Our Sauior Christs answer was somewhat of the darkest to their clouded vnderstanding And albeit they drew from thence a different sense and contrarie meaning yet might it serue as a signe vnto them that hee was able to doe that which he did And they that would deny that he could destroy the Temple and build it vp againe in three dayes which was but a materiall Temple would more stifly denie that he could dye and rise againe the third day by his owne vertue and power Saint Matthew accuseth these men to be false witnesses Hic dixit which was the Iewes accusation Possum destruere Templum Dei. First because they did wrest the sence and true meaning of our Sauiour Secondly because they did alter and change the words Thirdly because their proceeding against him was malicious Whence I may reade this lesson to your Lawyers your Registers and your Scriueners That one Tilde or Tittle may condemne them of falshood When our Sauiour Christ said of Saint Iohn Si cum volo manere donec veniam quid hoc ad te If I will that he tarry till I come when Peter was so inquisitiue of him what should become of the Disciple whom he loued and leaned in his bosome what is it to thee Doe thou follow mee Then went this word streight amongst the brethren That this Disciple should not dye But the Euangelist did correct this their mistake For Iesus said not to him He shall not dye But if I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Iob said Ye shall not find iniquitie in my tongue But Zophar one of his friends laid it to his charge Dixisti enim Purus est sermo mâ—â—â— mundus sum in conspectu tuo For thou hast said My doctrine is pure and I am cleane in thine eyes And albeit it may seeme that he charged him herewith vpon his owne confession yet Saint Gregory giues it for a calumnie and slander because Zophar had altered and changed his words God make vs so pure both in Doctrine and life that when this Temple of our bodies shall be destroyed it may by the mercie of our Sauior Iesus Christ be raised againe THE XXVII SERMON VPON THE TVESDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 7.14 Iam die festo mediante c. Now when the Feast was halfe done Iesus went vp into the Temple and taught c. SEuen continued dayes one after another the Feast of the Tabernacles was celebrated in the chiefe citie Ierusalem which was one of the three principall Passeouers of the Iewes solemnising the same in remembrance of that benefit which God did to that People in leading them fortie yeares through the Desart not hauing any house wherein to dwell and yet not wanting tents or booths wherein to lodge themselues To this Feast came all of all sorts from all parts of the land of Promise building themselues Cabbins in the fields Iosephus saith That they vsed Tents from whence they went to the Temple and performed their Offerings for their families according to their abilitie Christ came on the Tuesday to this Solemnitie of this opinion is Saint Augustine though some others are of the mind that he came thither at the verie beginning of the Feast though he did not make himselfe knowne till he saw a more conuenient time He preached to the People and so deepe was his Doctrine that the Iewes wondring thereat said one to another Quomodo hic literas scit cum non ded scerit How knoweth this man the Scriptures seeing that he neuer learned And howbeit this their voyce of admiration was secret and whispered in the eare from one to another yet Christ made answer thereunto in publique shewing therein the pledges and tokens of his Diuinitie saying openly vnto them My Doctrine is not myne but his that sent me He that shall truly endeauour to doe his will shall know it is his but hee that preacheth his owne proper doctrine seeks after his owne honour and commendation but he that preacheth Gods Doctrine can neither lie nor offend therein The Iewes did lay a double slander vpon him The one Seducit turbas He seduceth the People The other Sabbathum non custodit He keepes not the Sabboth But this his answer giues a blur to them both Moses saith hee gaue you a Law and yet none of you keepeth the Law Why go yee then about to kill me For euer since that hee cured him that lay so long at the Fish-poole they sought after his life In a word this muttering and whispering of theirs tended onely to the apprehending of him but not any one of them durâ—â—â—y hands vpon him because his houre was not yet come and many of the People beeing woon by his miracles and his doctrine beleeued in him Iesus went vp into the Temple and taught c. One of the greatest benefits which the world receiued by our Sauiours comming was That hee reading in Heauens Chaire to so wise and discreet a companie who by onely reading in the booke of his Essence were instructed in all kind of truth did not for all this disdaine to become a Schoolemaster to little children here vpon earth accommodating the profoundnesse of his deep learning to our rude and weake capacity accomplishing that of Saint Iohn Erunt omnes docibiles Dei They shall be all taught of God And this may be verified of those Angells and blessed Saints that are in Heauen and of those faithfull ones that are vpon earth for the verie selfe same truths he taught them in the Temple of his glorie which he did these other in his Church only differenced in this That they see them and we beleeue them Many Doctors haue sate and read in their Chaire here vpon earth but because they dranke not of the water of his Doctrine in this Schoole but in the duâ—tie puddles of lies and falshoods they were as Iob saith The farmers of lies and the followers of peruerse opinions And as there are Artisans for Idols which carue them guild them and adore them so are there Artisans of lies and false opinions which frame them set them forth with painted eloquence and adore them as if they should guide them to the end of their happinesse He taught The Euangelist doth not here set downe the Theame of his Sermon but in the Chapter of Wisedome Salomon saith Shee teacheth sobernesse and prudence righteousnes strength which are the most profitable things that men can haue in this life Two things the Scripture doth euery foot repeat of this celestiall Doctor The one The profitablenesse of his Doctrine Ego Dominus doceâ—s vtilia so saith Esay I am the Lord thy God which teach thee to profit and lead thee by the way that thou shouldst goe And Saint Iohn saith Verba quae loquor spiritus
loueth truth saith Saint Iohn commeth to the light Our Sauiour Christ did not so much endeauour to haue vs to vnderstand as to beleeue This is the worke of God that yee beleeue on him whom he hath sent In Heauen our happinesse consists in seeing but on earth in beleeuing Tast and see how gratious the Lord is Earthly food is first seene after the sight followes the taste The woman saw that the fruit was pleasant to the eye whereupon she tooke of the Fruit and did eat Here the sight did precede the taste but in Heauen we first taste and afterwards see there the taste precedes the sight and in my opinion Saint Chrysostome and Saint Cyril doe not differ much from this sence being that they make bonam voluntatem dispositionem intellectus the goodnesse of the Will to bee the disposition to the vnderstanding but a depraued Will is like vnto an infirm eye which through it's indisposition doth not see the light The places of Scripture which confirme this Doctrine are without number Ecclesiasticus saith More truths will one holy soule sometimes declare than many vnholy Doctours and Phylosophers which wander out of the way and weare out their eye-brows in search thereof Intellectus onus omnibus facientibus eum Vnderstanding is a burthen to all that dâ—e it Gregorie Nazianzen hath noted That the Prophet did not say Praedicantibus eum To them that preach it but Facientibus To them that doe it I vnderstood thy commandement and therefore hated the way of Iniquitie The second part is a cause of the first because I did abhorre all the wayes of wickednesse I attained to so much knowledge of thy Law I am wiser than the Aged because I haue sought thy Commandements Salomon saith My sonne seeke after wisedome obserue righteousnesse and the Lord will shew it vnto thee Iob. Behold the feare of the Lord is wisedome and to turne backe from euill is vnderstanding Osee. Sow to your selues in righteousnesse c. according to the translation of the Seuentie Saint Iohn saith If yee shall abide in my Word yee shall know my will Esay To whome shall God teach his wisedome To whom shall his Doctrine be reuealed Shall it happily bee to those that are weaned from his milke To those that haue Aloes on their nipples or to those that when the Prophet shall command them something on his part shal answer Manda remanda expecta re-expecta What doth the Preacher meane to grind vs in this manner and to repeat so often vnto vs Haec mandat Dominus c. All these places prooue that conclusion of the first chapter of Wisedome In maleuolam animâ—m non introiuit sapientia Saint Augustine saith That the two sisters Leah and Rachael represented this order First fruitfull Leah was married representing the fruit of good workes next beautifull Rachael representing the fairenesse of wisedome and knowledge In the right erudition of man the labour of operating those things that are right are preferred before the will of vnderstanding those that are true And Saint Bernard persuading a friend of his to this truth speaketh thus vnto him Experto crede citiùs illum sequendo quà m legendo consequipossis aliquia magis inuenies in syluis quam in libris Beleeue me who am experienced herein that thou shalt sooner come vnto him by following than by reading him and shalt meet with something more amidst the Woods than thy bookes The shadie trees and the solitarie Rockes will throughly instruct thee in that which many learned tutors are not able to teach thee Then sayd some of them of Hierusalem Is not this hee whom they goe about to kill And behold he speaketh openly c. This place expresseth the Empire the securitie and libertie of Gods word And this is specified in that commission which God gaue vnto Ieremie when hee nominated him to bee his Preacher Behold I haue set thee ouer the nations and ouer the kingdomes to pluck vp and to root out and to dâ—stroy and throw downe to build and to plant This generall power was graunted vnto him with a non obstante no man could put him by it Notable to this purpose is that Historie of Moses with Pharaoh On the one side wee are to consider the great interest wherewith he went vnto the King about the libertie of the Hebrew people being so much inslaued inthralled and so sorely taxed beyond all right and reason On the other side so many scourges so many plagues so much feare and so much death and yet notwithstanding hee durst not cause him to be apprehended nor to be put to death nor had not the power to touch vpon that thought And questionlesse the reason thereof was that he acknowledged a superior power proceeding from Gods Word which Moses did euer and anon repeat vnto him Haec dicit Dominus Thus sayth the Lord I haue compared thee ô my Loue to the troupes of horses in the Chariots of Pharaoh Rupertus saith That all Gods Cauallerie against the power of Pharaoh was onely Moses Rod this made that great King turne coward this strucke a terrour into him made his heart to tremble within him and maugre his greatnesse to acknowledge God The Beloued sayes then to his loue As that Rod was Gods Armie wherewith like a Potters Vessell he brake that King and all his Host in pieces so thy Armie ô my Church shall be my Word which shall be as it were another Moses Rod against those that shall withstand it Virgam vigilantem ego video I see a waking Rod saith Ieremie And God answers thereunto Benè vidisti quia ego vigilabo super verbum meum Thou hast well seene for I will watch ouer my Word Saint Paul puts it to the question What will yee Shall I come vnto you with a rod or in loue and in the spirit of meekenesse And no lesse worthie the obseruation is that History of Amos There was a false Prophet called Amaziah an Idoll Priest whom Ierâ—boam had placed in Bethell who could by no meanes indure Amos whether it were because he swayed much among the people or for that by his Sermons as Saint Hierome hath noted it he had withdrawne the People from those sacrifices wherein Amaziah was interessed he laboured with him both by cruell threatnings and gentle persuasions that he would get him gone into the Land of Iudah Get thee into the land of Iudah and there eat thy bread and prophecie there But when he was most threatned then did he preach most against Ieroboam not sticking to say Ieroboam shall die by the sword his wife shall be a Harlot in the Citie and thy sonnes and thy daughters shall fall by the sword and thy hand shall bee deuided by line and thou shalt die in a polluted land c. For the Word of God the more it is threatned the freer it is and like the Cammomile Dum premitur surgit vberior The more you
fruit in it's due time was cursed by our Sauiour what shall become of the sinner that at no time brings foorth any fruit Saint Bernard much condemneth those men which seekes after occasions for to passe away the time as to game chat read idle poems and tell tales and lyes to weare away the time least otherwise it should seeme tedious vnto them The time which God giues thee for Repentance to craue pardon for thy sinnes to sue for grace and for to purchase glorie thou letst it runne on without any fruit farre better it were for thee to redeeme this thy ill spent time for hee that redeemeth his time by Repentance redeemeth all sortes of time whatsoeuer Euen the time that is past For albeit ad praeteritum non est potentia the time that is past can not be recalled yet it is not to be vnderstood touching the time of Repentance according to that saying of Saint Paul Redimentes â—empus c. Redeeming the time c. The present with good workes the past with repentance the future with perseuerance and a full purpose of amendment of life In a word Repentance doth not loose one houre no not one minute of time The good Theefe in the very last houre did repaire all the lost yeares of his life Goe to the poole of Siloam c. First this blindman did herein shew a great deale of humilitie in that he was not scrupulous what they should say of him that should see him passe through the citie with his eyes full of durt For points of honour are oftentimes scandalls to the Soule and make the infirmitie of the disease incurable Naaman the Syrian stood vpon point of honour that Elisha should come vnto him and lay his hands vpon his leaprosie As also that hee should bid him to wash himself in Iordan wherat he was very wroth refused to come at him saying in anger to Elisha's messenger If we shall compare water with water Are not Abana and Pharphar riuers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israell May I not wash in them and be cleane Which said hee turned and went away in a rage Saint Chrysostome saith That the Pharisees did not beleeue in Christ. What said they with themselues shall we bee so respectlesse of our honour as to subiect our selues with the vulgar to so base a man as hee Saul made lesse reckoning of loosing God than the worlds honour Honora me coram populo So as Samuel would but honour him before the people come what would of the rest he did not greatly care Secondly He shewed a great deale of Obedience and Faith The waters of Siloam were not able of themselues to giue sight to this blind man but I beleeue said the blind man that they will worke this good effect vpon me Hee might haue willed me to doe that which might haue carryed with it a greater reason of hope But the sheepe saith Chrysologus must goe to his feeding and his folding whether it shall please the sheepheard to lead him forth The scholler must learne that which his master teacheth him The sicke patient must bee ruled by his Physitian He hath libertie saith Saint Chrysostome to speake vnto his Physitian that he will doe his best to cure him but not to prescribe him the Physicke that he shall minister vnto him The like course wee are to take with the heauenly Physitian of our soules For it were a strange kind of vnmannerlinesse in vs besides our diffidence to relye vpon an earthly Physitian that can only cure our bodies and not put our trust in God who can cure both body and soule The Chirurgian comes to thee with Cauteries and layes corrosiues to thy sores thou patiently indurest it and not once openest thy mouth and shalt thou not as well beare c. Thirdly he exprest a great deale of thankfulnesse Saint Bernard applies this vertue to those words of Ecclesiastes The riuers come out of the Sea and returne much bettered backe againe to the Sea as giuing thankes for the water which they receiued for the acknowledging of one kindnes is the drawing on of another And if those riuers should haue rested themselues contented with the waters they had receiued and not haue paid the Sea his due Tribute that bounty would not haue beene bestowed vpon them In like manner those good things which wee enioy flow from God that immense Sea of goodnesse and they are againe to be returned vnto God through our thankfulnesse and when that ebbeth in vs the other neuer floweth from him Cessat gratiarum decursus vbi non est recursus The raine from heauen ariseth from the vapours of the earth And when there are no vapours there is no raine Saint Augustine desired of God That he would bee pleased to reueale the secrets of Scripture vnto him promising in requitall of so great a fauour a perpetuall acknowledgement thereof Confiteor tibi quicquid invenero in libris tuis Ecclesiasticus commending the noble Acts of Dauid as his wrestling with beares tearing the iawes of Lyons killing of Gyants and ouercomming the Philistims he concludeth That all these things succeeded luckily with him because he was thankefull to the Lord and directed his heart vnto him and established the worship of God Fourthly before our Sauiour Christ had giuen this blind man the eyes of his soule he proceeded fairely maintained Christs honour against the Pharises that opposed it And this as I may so tearme it his honourable carriage prepared the way for him to attaine to the heigth of vertue The Romans had two Temples adioyning each to other as S. Augustin reports it the one of Honour the other of Vertue But no man could come vnto that of Vertue vnlesse he first passed through that of honour And Valerius Maximus relates vnto vs That M. Marcellus a Roman Senator being desirous to build one sole Temple to Honour and Vertue the Priests would not permit him to doe it Alleaging That it was not fit for if by chance any miracle should happen in that Temple they were not able to auow to which of the two it ought to be attributed Ioseph fled from the inticements of his wanton and lasciuious Mistresse for that it was an offence both to God and his owne honour Quomodo possum hoc malum facere My Lord hath trusted me with all his whole house if I should be false vnto him I should hazard my happines in heauen and my honour on earth In a word the Actes of Honour are sometimes so heroicall that they seeme to be miracles of Vertue He went his wayes therefore and washed and came seeing First He returned such a strange altred man from that hee was before from the Poole of Siloam that his neerest neighbours and oldest acquaintance did not know him some said It is the same man others It is not but doth somewhat resemble him But he that shall turne ouer a new leafe and truly change the
nor is not held by the world to bee a fit seruant to attend a Prince Though indeed if it be duly considered he ought for that to be the more esteemed by him First because to serue a Lord against a mans King is Crimen lesae maiestatis Treason against a humane Maiestie so to serue a king against God is treason in the highest degree against a Diuine maiestie Secondly because your instruments although they be inanimate and without a soule yet God is wont to punish them with a seuere and heauy hand As he did the Serpent Vpon thy belly shalt thou goe and dust shalt thou eate all the dayes of thy life And if vpon the Serpent which sinned not God doth lay so heauy a hand what shall become of that instrument that is a partner and sharâ—r in the sin Our Sauiour Christ cursed the figge-tree and Athanasius saith That at that very time that he curst it it came into his mind that it had couered those with it's leaues that had so highly offended him in Paradise A heauy iudgment for those that will serue to be cloakes and bawdes to those sinnes which are committed against God and his holy Lawes Thirdly God doth permit that for honest seruants and knauish seruants there should be masters accordingly masters that should vse them well and masters that should vse them ill And though for a while till their turnes be serued they vse them well inriching them and raising them to honour yet afterwards they come to vse them so ill that they eate them out of all that they haue giuen them calling in that which they but lent them and ingaging theâ— for more than they are worth and at last a fire comes downe from heauen and consumes all the wealth that they haue thus vngodly gotten as it did vpon those Captaines whâ—ch were imployed by their bad King against good Eliah The Cuttle-fishe is a stampe or Embleme of your Princes that haue a great traine of seruants attending their persons as this fish hath of finnes but deuoures them as this fish doth his tayle and finnes when he is hungry Yet am I a little while with you He calls little that little which was now left him of his life For he was to suffer about the feasts following which was now neere at hand The longest life the Scripture stiles little and the greatest troubles that we passe therein likewise little Antiochus his Ministers persuading one of those valiant Machabees That he would free his body from those cruell torments which he was to endure if that he would obey the king answered My brethren that haue suffered a little paine are now vnder the diuine Couenant of euerlasting life Eleazar rendred the like reason to those his friends which importuned him That albeit he would not eat Swines flesh yet he should make shew that he did it Whereunto he replyed That such dissimulation did not befit his age and authority Least the younger soule through mine hypocrisie for a little time of a transitorie life might be deceiued by me I should receiue malediction and reproch to my gray haires Saint Peter hath it Modicum passus c. And there are two reasons of this shortnes of life The one That life in it selfe is short Ecce mensurabiles posuisti dies meos Behold thou hast measured out my dayes The Greeke word which answers to mensurabiles signifieth a measure of foure fingers The other because it flyes away swifter than the wind My dayes haue beene more swift than a Poste and haue seene no good thing They are passed with the most swift shâ—ps and as the Eagle that flyeth to the prey Vaâ—ablus hath it As a Ship that goes as swift as thought or as the Marriners and Passengers could wish it Pagninus Like a Pyrats man of Warre which because it goes light laden seemes rather to flye than sayle Or Like an Eagle that flyeth to the prey The Eagle when she is sharpe set and pursueth her prey cuts the ayre with her wings swifter than the wind so that that which our Sauiours sayes is this Tell the high Priests that sent ye vnto me that I haue but a little while to liue and that when my houre shall come I my selfe will put my selfe into their hands and if that they are so willing to haue me dye tell them that I desire it much more Ye shall seeke me and shall not find me I came to seeke you ye shut the doore vpon me ye therefore shall seeke me but ye shall not find me Euthymius expoundeth that prophecye of Dauid of the Iewes Conuertentur ad vesperam famem patientur vt canes cireuibunt ciuitatem It shall be so late ere they bee conuerted that the world shall be at an end and in the interim they shall suffer hunger like dogges which among all other beasts suffereth the most hunger Hambre canina a dogs hunger is spoken by way of Prouerb in the Spanish tongue They shall runne rounding the world after their Messias but he hauing retyred himselfe to heauen neuer to be seene by them any more here on earth this miserable people shall hardly be able to find him Nicholaâ—â— de Lyra saith That that they sought him in that siege which Titus and Vespasian laid to Ierusalem when they saw themselues swallowed vp in so many miserable misfortunes yet could they not find him for albeit Gods boweâ—ls are neuer shut vp for the pardoning of sinne yet are they shut vp for the punishment thereof and euen then did they looke to find him when his sword was alreadie drawne So that that Language of Amos For three transgressions and for foure c. The number of three expresseth many sinnes but the number of foure more than manie And therefore when the Sinner shall come to this number God will not pardon him Quatenus ad poenam As touching the punishment of sinne though he forgiue him the guilt thereof Saint Chrysostome saith That in the siege of Hierusalem many were conuerted to our Sauiour Christ repenting themselues of that which they had alledged against him to Pilat If wee let goe this man the Romanâ— will come and take our Kingdome and our Nation from vs c. Saint Augustine saith That this prophecie You shall seeke mee and shall not finde me was fulfilled in that Sermon which S. Peter made whereof S. Luke makes mention in the Acts where many of them did repent and were conuerted to Christ to the number of three thousand persons but that others did despaire of pardon considering the greatnesse of their offence But letting passe the people of the Iewes this sentence doth aduise all sorts of persons That they doe not let slip the time of their good whether it bee in regard of the person or of the time which is offered vnto them for afterwards they shall seeke and shall not find In regard of the persons Good was neuer truly knowne
meanes being in both alike the ends should be so diuers and different That the one should acknowledge Gods power and repenting his wickednesse sorrowed with teares and said I Nebuchadnezzar praise and glorifie the King of Heauen But the other persisting in his obstinacie said I know not the Lord Who is the Lord c. In this account may come in those two seruants of Pharaoh which were fellow-prisoners with Ioseph whereof the one was saued and the other hanged We may likewise put into the reckoning those two of whom Saint Matthew saith that grinding in one mill The one shall be receiued and the other refused And those two who standing by Aaron when he was offering incense the one was strucken dead and the other remained aliue And as in the Tribunall of iudgement God shall put the sheepe on the right hand and the goates on the left and shall separate the good fishes from the bad and chaffe from the corne and the tares from the wheat so in the Tribunall of the Crosse Leo the Pope saith he condemned the blasphemous theefe and saued the good theefe The second morall reason was to teach vs in those two theeues the easiest and the safest way to heauen To wit That a soule should liue betweene hope and feare Feare is the bridle which holds in Hope Hope is the anchor which secureth Feare Feare makes thee a coward considering what thou art the smal worth that is in thee But Hope makes thee confident considering what God is and his infinite clemencie Vpon these two vertues God imployeth all his fauours Gods eyes are vpon those that feare him and those that trust in his mercie For he hath his eyes nayled vnto those which feare him and place their hopes on his goodnesse Iacob prophesied of Isachar That he should be a strong Asse cowching downe betweene two burthens It is a common saying That those are not to be trusted that liue between two Kingdomes because borderers for the most part are a bold and vnruly people But here it is quite otherwise The best people for heauen are those that liue between the Feare of hell and the Hope of heauen Saint Augustine declares the extraordinarie happinesse of this vertue of Feare Beatipauperes Spiritu Blessed are the poore in Spirit For they that haue much to loose liue still in feare A stout Roman being threatned by Caesar told him Mihi senectus metum ademit Old age hath made mee fearelesse Hee had but a few yeares to liue which made him esteeeme the lesse of the losse of his life But the righteous considereth with himselfe that he hath eternall yeares to loose I had those yeares still in my mind wâ—e therefore vnto them that haue followed the wayes of Cain and are cast away by the deceit of Baalams wages There are some which build too much vpon their owne confidence like vnto Balaam who hauing been both disobedient and couetous would yet notwithstanding dye the death of the righteous Without Hope what good can man inioy The diuell vsed all the tricks and deuices that his wit was able to inuent to put Iob out of hope For which end he made vse of two meanes The one he took from the earth by procuring that those his friends on whom he most trusted and hoped for greatest comfort from them should cast him downe and driue him into despaire by their bitter words and sharpe censures The other from heauen by getting fire to descend from thence speaking in these two thus vnto him What shouldst thou now doe but despaire and die seeing thou hast nothing to hope for either from heauen aboue or earth beneath He hath not onely robbed mee of my leaues and my boughs tearing downe my branches but hath rent vp my hopes by the rootes And yet for all this saith patient Iob Though he kill me yet will I trust in him Saint Ambrose saith That God doth most of all resent the sinne of desperation Not because of all other sinnes it is the greatest but because it is most preiudiciall to man for it shuts vp the passage to blessednesse and barres the doore of heauen against vs God being more sensible of the hurt we doe our selues than of the wrong wee doe him And therefore Iudas his despaire did much more trouble him than did his selling of him for in selling him he did but shew what little reckoning he made of his Humanitie but in his despairing the base opinion that he had of his Diuinitie Vae illis as before qui in viam Cain abierunt Woe vnto them that haue followed the wayes of Cain Now the worst of those wayes that Cain tooke was his despaire Maior est iniquitas mea quam vt veniam merear as if he should haue said God either cannot or will not pardon so grieuous and hainous a sinne as this is Yet we see that God did permit that he might lay some good ground for our Feare that one of the theeues should be damned and that it is neither our dying side by side with Christ nor his bedashing vs with his diuine blood neither the prayer which he made to his Father with teares in his eyes nor the hauing of the image of a Crucifixe or of the Virgin Mary hanging at our beds head but the wearing of Christ in our hearts by Faith could do this theefe any good or keep him from leaping at once from the Crosse vnto hell and yet he would that the other should be saued not onely as he was a theefe and to finde pardon of that particular offence as to lay a foundation for the Hope of forgiuenesse for all other sinnes whatsoeuer committed by vs in this world and to the end that his absolution as Saint Augustine saith and his indulgence might serue as a comfort to all Christians For as in Adam we lost Paradise so in the theefe we got it againe Certaine desperate fellowes vttered by Ezechiel Our bones are dryed vp and our hope is perished But God in answer sayes vnto them I will open your Sepulchres and put life into those your drie bones doe ye not therefore despaire And for the better ingrafting of this truth in his peoples hearts he raised vp a whole field that was full of these bones c. Arnoldus the Abbot saith Non habet metas diuina clementia Sit qui inuocet erit qui exaudict Sit qui poeniteat non deâ—rit qui indulgeat Gods mercie knowes no bounds nor limits Let man call and God will heare let man repent and God will forgiue We indeed receiue things worthy of that we haue done but this man hath done nothing amisse This whole Historie doth depend vpon these foure points The first point are those motiues which moued this Theefe to be conuerted The second The great good hap that he had The third The diligence that he vsed on his part that God might pardon and fauour him The fourth and last The fauour
silence reseruing their Amen or So be it for the comming of our Sauiour Christ from whom all our good was to come And Theodoret giues vs this note withall That those that silenced their Amen were those that were to be fathers vnto Christ according to the flesh Fourthly in regard that this fauour is made the greater by it's quick dispatch Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Theophylact and Tigurino read Amen dico tibi hodie Making there the point But this ought not to be receiued as Cassianus prooueth it but that this Hodie must goe hand in hand roundly along with Mecumeris And Iustin Martyr saith Iuxta fluenta plenissima gratiam simul accepit gloriam Grace and glorie with a full tyde came flowing in both at once vpon him S. Ambrose saith That our Sauiour Christ made this exceeding great haste Ne dilatione gratia minueretur Lest the fauour he intended to do him should be lessened by delay This fauour farre exceeding all the rest in the world besides As that of Alexander towards Perillus demanding a dourie of him for his daughter and that of the Gardiner who had the Kingdome of Sidonia giuen him or than that which Herod offered to his daughter Herodias or Assuerus to Queene Hester Si petieris dimidiam partem Regni mei c. If thou shalt aske the one halfe of my Kingdome c. And because Bis dat qui citò dat He doth a double curtesie that doth it quickly Least delay might lessen the Doners bountie Hee therefore saith Hodie mecum eris This very day shalt thou be with me c. S. Ambrose saith Quod magis veâ—ox erat premium quam petitio That the reward was quicker than the request Seneca sayes That hee that giues must not giue slowly for the willing mind wherewith it is done being therein the most to be esteemed it looseth much of it's estimation by it's slow proceeding Leo the Pope saith That it was a great fauour from Christ to put this so humble and so discreet a petition into the Theeues heart but a farre greater fauour to giue him such a good and quicke dispatch Ioseph foretelling Pharaohs seruant of his libertie being then his fellow-prisoner said vnto him Memento mei Haue me in remembrance with thee when thou art in good case But for all the others faire promises he continued two yeares after in prison But the Theefe had no sooner said Memento mei but his Sauiour saw him dispatcht O happy theefe thou didst negotiate well and with a good Iudge that could dispatch thy businesse so quickly and so well Lastly in regard of it's bountie and freenesse the reward outvying the request hauing more fauour done him than he desired Vberior saith S. Ambrose est gratia quam precatio God hath vsed and still doth the like liberalitie towards many Abraham desired a sonne to inherit his estate and a sonne was giuen him from whom God was to descend Iacob beg'd Beniamin and god gaue him both Beniamin and Ioseph Tobias desired that he might see his son in safetie God returneth him home vnto him sound rich and wel marryed Iudith craued Bethulia's libertie God gaue her that and Holofernes head into the bargaine and victory against Nebuchadnezzar Anna prayed for a sonne God gaue her one that was a Saint a Prophet Gods fauourite Salomon desired wisedome to gouerne his kingdome the better he had that and much more besides infinite store of wealth bestowed vpon him Ezechias sued vnto God for life and whereas he would haue bin contented with two years holding of it God granted him a lease of fifteen yeares to come The seruant that owed 10000 Talents desired to be but forborn for a time and the whole debt was forgiuen him But God neuer dealt so franke and freely with any man as with this theefe for he but only intreating him to be mindful of him he gaue him heauen Qui merita supplicum excedis vota sings the Church Theophylact saith That your Kings Princes and great Captains when they obtaine any notable victorie they reserue the principal captiues for their Triumph So Saul spared King Agag and the best things so the Emperors of Rome Zenobia and others Titus and Vespasian most of the young men of Iudaea But that our Sauiour Christ should enter in triumph into heauen with a theefe it seemeth a thing of small glory to the Triumpher and little honor for heauen But Abbot Guericus answers hereunto That it was a new and most noble kind of victorie Nouum pulcherrimum genus victoriae The kings of the earth get victories ouer their enemies by treading them vnder by kicking and spurning of them by contemning and tormenting them as appeareth by Histories both humane and diuine This is a tyrannous kind of reuenge and reuengefull cruelty But that of the King of heauen is a noble reuenge and a sweet victorie The enemies of a king of this world will kisse the earth for feare but those of the King of heauen for loue And therfore it is said Inimici eius terram lingent Againe S. August saith That Christ did inrich and illustrate heauen with the person of this theefe so far was he from doing him any the least dishonor For it is a great honour to heauen to haue such a Lord and Master as shall make of great Theeues great Saints S. Chrysost. hath the same and further addeth That by seeing one raigne in heauen who wanted earth to liue on euery man may liue in hope to inioy the like happinesse For it is not likely that he will be miserable to any that was so liberall to a theefe The Doctors do doubt whether this Theefe were a Martyr or no For he that is a Martyr it is not the greatnesse of the paine but the goodnesse of the cause that makes him a Martyr Achan was stoned to death and Saint Stephen was stoned to death But Achan was no Martyr because he dyed deseruedly for his sins The like reason you will say may be rendred of the theefe But S. Ierome Eusebius Nissenus and S. Cyprian stile him Martyr not because he suffered for Christ though he suffered not without Christ but because suffering with Christ so great was the sorrow which he conceiued for his sinnes that Christ taking this his torment to his account as if he had suffered for his loue made of the Crosse a Martyrdome S. August saith That on the Crosse he acknowledged Christ as if he had beene crucified for Christ. Eusebius Nissenus That albeit he began with the punishment of a Delinquent yet he ended with the glory of a Martyr And S. Cyprian That Christ did conuert the blood which he shed vpon the Crosse into the water of baptisme and that presently he placed him in Paradise Iustin Martyr and Irenaeus vnderstand here by Paradise some other place of ioy but rather earthly than heauenly Irenaeus prooues it by
curs nor foâ—sting hounds he that wrestles and he that runnes a race will not stand in competition with him that is notoriously inferiour vnto them because they shal get no glorie by such a victorie That Emperor was much condemned that warred with Flies and tooke great pleasure in the killing of them Being then that I am a shaddow a flower of the field a reed or rather a thing of nothing What honour canst thou reape by my ruine c. Puluis es in Puluerem reuerteris Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne The end euer holds a correspondencie with it's beginning Nudus egressus sum nudus reuertar illuc so saith Iob. The riuers come from the sea and thither againe they returne so doth the Sunne from the East and thither it retyres again That Image of gold siluer brasse iron that had it's feet of earth must in the end turn to dust Baruc asks Vbi sunt Principes gentium His answere is Ad inferos descenderunt the earth hath swallowed them vp all S. Basil commenting vpon this place makes the like question and giues the same answer Nonne omnia puluis Nonne fabula Nonne in paucis ossibus memoria eorum conseruatur The greatest and famousest of vs all haue been and are but dust and there is no memorial left of them but a few rotten and stinking bones Vpon this point see Nazianzen Orat. de Humana natura Epictetus in Sententijs in Euchiridion cap. 22. c. Dust thou art c. From this Principle I will inferre three or foure conclusions of great fruit and consequence The first If thou art ashes Quid superbis terra cinis i. Whereof art thou proud ô thou dust and ashes Of thy beginning No Of thy end No Of what then If thou shouldest see thy selfe seated betweene the hornes of the Moone De fundamento cogità humilitatis Thinke on the basenesse of thy beginning and thou shalt then see that pride was not borne for man nor anger and pettishnesse appointed for womans condition pride cannot sute with durt nor curstnesse with womans softnesse Ab occultis meis munda me Domine ab alienis parce seruo tuo i. Lord clense me from my secret sinnes and spare thy seruant for those that are strange By alienis S. Hierome vnderstands those of pride for it is a stranger as it were another kind of thing differing much from mans base and vile condition and the Hebrew letter saith A superbijs parce seruo tuo Whereupon Saint Chrysostome noteth That there is not any sinne more alien to mans condition than pride or that carries with it lesse excuse Those fooles that Genesis painteth forth going about to build a Tower that should ouertoppe the Clouds did in their verie first word Venite faciamus lateres i. Come let vs make vs Brickes bewray their foolishnesse What go about vpon earth to reare a foundation that should emulate Heauen God said vnto Ezechiel Take thou a tyle portray vpon it the Citie of Hierusalem the walls the ditches the Towers the Temple and a great armie of men Strange yet true we see it is that the strength of cities the power of Armies is contained in a poore brittle tile-stone Esay threatned those of Moab with whips scourges because they insulted and proudly triumphed vpon the walls and towers of his Citie Loquimini plagas ijs qui lataÌ„tur super munâ—s cocti lateris i. Speake punishment to those that reioyce in walls that are made of brick What can earthen walls raise vp such pride in men Samuel beeing to annoint Saul God gaue him for a signe that he would haue him Prince ouer his People That he should find two men as soone as he was gone from him neere vnto Rachels Sepulchre God might haue giuen him some other signe but he chose rather to giue him this to quell the pride and haughtinesse of this his new honor as if he should admonish and put thee in mind That the ashes of so faire a creature as Rachel should read a lecture vnto thee what thou must be And this is the reason why the Church though she might vse other metaphors to expresse the misery and shortnesse of mans life as is often mentioned in Scripture as by a leafe a flower a shaddow yet it makes more particular choyce of Dust Ashes besides those be metaphoricall and these litterall for nothing more properly appertaineth vnto man than Dust and therefore the Scripture termeth death a mans returning againe to the earth from whence he came Conuertetur in terram suam proiectus est in terram suam The flower the leafe haue some good in them though of short continuance as colour odor beauty vertue and shade and albeit not good in themselues yet they are the image representation of good but Dust Ashes speake no other good Amongst the elements the Earth is the least noble and the most weake the fire the water and the ayre haue spirit and actitude but the Earth is as it were a prisoner laden with weightinesse as with gyues A certaine Poet stiles the Earth Bruta not onely for that it hath an vnpleasant countenance as Desarts Quick-sands Dens and Caues but also for that it is the Inne of Serpents Tygres Panthers and the like So that it is neither good to the tast nor the smell nor the feeling nor the hearing nor the seeing thou beeing therefore Earth Quid superbis terra cinis i. Why art thou proud ô Dust and Ashes The second conclusion is If thou art Ashes Quid vtilitatem saginando corpore Why such a deale of care in pampering thy bodie which the wormes are to deuour tomorrow Looke vpon that flesh which thy fathermade so much of that now rotten stinking carkasse and this consideration will moderate thy desire of being ouer daintie and curious in cherishing thine owne Isaac on the night of his nuptialls placed his wifes bed in the chamber where his mother died Tobias spent all the night with his Spouse in prayer being mindfull of the harme which the Deuill had done to her former husbands as being aduised from Heauen that he should temper with the remembrance of death the delights pleasures of this short life of ours The Cammomile the worse you treat it and the more you tread on it the better it thriues other Plants require pruning and tending to make them fruitfull but this herbe hath a quite contrarie condition that with ill vsage it growes the better It is the pamper'd flesh that brings forth thistles and thorns but the flesh that is trodden downe and humbled that yeelds store of fruit The third If thou art Dust and must tomorrow become Dust Why such a deale of coueting of honours and riches Why such great and stately houses so richly furnished Our forefathers liued eight hundred yeares and vpwards and those seeming but few they past
of my son some cruell beasts hath deuoured him Excellent words befitting a Garment like to our Sauiors Robes it is the Robe of a Saint but there is no more but the Robe the rest that Beast Hypocrisie hath deuoured Ieremie treating of the Gouernors of his people saith That they labored to seeme Saints but their wings were full of the bloud of the Poore In alis suis inuentus est sanguis Pauperum i. The bloud of the Poore was found in his wings Now he vnderstandeth by those wings the spreading of those venerable vales or cowls which the Pharisees vsed Againe hee alludes vnto those wings of the Eagle a Bird of a beautifull wing but when you come neere thereunto you shall see it bespotted with the bloud of those birds which she hath preyed vpon In an Hypocrite you shall behold a venerable bonnet a Saint-like looke a frequenting of Prayer and Sermons with a great deale of seeming deuotion but their bowels are mercilesse festred within them and besmeered with bloud Nolumus spoliari sed superuestiri We wil not be stripped but ouercloathed Saint Paul there treateth of that vnwillingnes wherwith the soule is stript of the bodie But as to put on a new shirt or doublet you must take off the old one so to apparel our selues for Heauen we must put off these our earthly robes We naturally desire to cast vpon our cloathes to our backe a cloake of glorie this is the desire of the Hypocrite vpon those outward raiments of ambition of couetousnesse of wantonnesse which he will not strip himselfe of he would haue the cloake of his loue to God of hearing Sermons of frequenting the Communion of contemplation of Prayer Mortification This is to sell a boxe of Ratsbane with a little anis-seed strow'd on the the top of it In a word As the Deuil doth transfigure himselfe into an Angell of light being but darkenesse it selfe so the Hypocrite being vice it selfe would transforme himselfe into vertue and holinesse But God hath sworne that hee will plucke their maskes and visards from off their faces and leaue them as naked as the Crow of other birds feathers and that this disguise shall be laid open and that the beames of his Sun of Iustice shal melt away this painting as waxe melteth before the fire and that euerie one shall appeare at last in his owne likenesse The second and that which is most hurtfull Is to make publique holinesse the stalking horse to effect the better their secret villanies This Imposture is proper vnto Hereticks immitating therein the Pharisees professing great zeale and outward sanctimonie in their words and behauiour that they may the better bring to passe their euill purposes These men saith Chrysologus make warre against the Church Mucrone Virtutis With the sword of Vertue beeing like vnto Pirates who set vp the Flagges of their enemies that they may the more safely set vpon them and come aboord them vnsuspected The third is To take away from good workes the good intention of them They giue almes but not with intent to relieue the Poore they heare diuine Seruice but not to complie with the Church they fast but not to mortifie their flesh c. Nolite fieri sicut hypocritae tristes Sad like Hypocrites c. The Author of the imperfect Worke hath this note vpon this word Fieri That it forbids thee not to be sad but to make thy selfe so Thomas vpon the word Nolite that we should not seeme sad The widdow that entreated for Absalons life sought to shed feigned teares and to looke with a sad and heauie countenance so do your Hypocrites they are like your Stage-players but as the Scepter and the Crowne is not the Actors that represents King Dauid so that meagrenesse and leanenesse appertains not to the Hypocrite that represents the poenitent Genua mea infirmata sunt à jeiunio His legges grew weake with fasting not with feigning to fast but the Hypocrite desires to be fat though he would make a shew of fasting Exterminant enim facies suas They wryth their faces Saint Hierome translates it Demoliuntur Saint Chrysostome Corrumpunt and as a woman vseth to martirise soke her face for to seeme faire so the Hypocrite to seeme poenitent doth lay great burthens on his backe onely for vaine glorie Saint Bernard calleth these the Churches Porters by reason of the great burdens that they beare Vae qui trahitis iniquitatem in funiculis vanitatis quasi vinculum plaustri peccatum There are those that draw the Chariot of Iniquitie with the cords of Vanitie The weight of sinne lies heauie the vanitie of Hypocrites seeke to make it light and easie Richardot compares them to Prince Emors vassals who did all of them circumcise themselues to please a vaine young man who were so exceeding sorely pained that a whole citie could not defend it self against a brace of brothers Thomas figures forth the Deuill vnto vs by Senacherib who layes vpon vs three burthens The first The grieuous yoke which he layeth vpon his seruants neckes The second The Rod wherewith he scourgeth them The third That Scepter and command wherewith he encreaseth his tributes and intollerable taxes All these our Sauiour Christ ouerthrew by his comming â—eauing him more tormented than euer heretofore for to him there is no torment comparable to that aswhen a man is freed from his torment And therefore when Christ commanded him to goe out of a man whom he tormented he told him Quid mihi tibi Iesu Nazarene Venisti ante tempus torquere nos i. What hast thou to doe with vs Iesus of Nazareth art thou come to torment vs before our time The thrusting of the Deuil out tormented not the man but him it is Gods prouidence ouer vs to seeke to draw vs to serue him truly without dissimulation but Hypocrites Exterminant facies suas vt appareant hominibus jeiunantes i. They put their faces out of fashion that they may appeare vnto men to fast it is a kind of Inchantment which worketh vpon them to gaine the good opinion of men Saul made light esteem of it that Samuel should honour him before the People ballancing this against Gods reprobation of him Honour is a good thing which though God be desirous to haue wholly to himselfe yet is it not to bee condemned in man but it hath it's restraint and its bridle the danger is in making the bridle the spurre and so to jerke out beyond our bounds To vse it moderately and modestly and to Gods glorie it is good and much good may it doe thee but that thou shouldest liue vpon the depeÌ„dency of man become the captiue of common opinion only to esteem of popular applause c. this is vtterly vnlawfull meerely Pharasaicall Saint Austen sheweth That Hypocrites fish with a golden hooke where ordinarily the profit doth not quit the cost Verily I say vnto you they haue receiued
to prayer and so fearing God that an Angel was sent vnto him to illuminate his vnderstanding Of another S. Mathew makes mention who when the lights of Heauen were darkned yet his sight was so cleere that hee saw Christ our Sauiour was the Sonne of God Vere filius Dei erat iste Besides this Centurion we now speake of whose Faith our Sauiour did admire Saint Austen celebrates another Captaine which in the midst of Armes tooke wonderfull care to know the things of God But that we may not weary our selues with counting the good ones one by one heauen it selfe hauing great Squadrons of souldiers this may suffice to honor this kind of Calling not onely for it's Faith but for it's loue and charitie Many did petition our Sauiour for their sicke brethren children and friends but for a Seruant this Centurion onely maketh suit Puer meus jacet in domo Paraliticus My child or my seruant lyeth at home sicke of the Palsey The common saying is Quot seruos tot hostes So many seruants so many enemies Iob complaineth That his seruants would haue eaten him piecemeale Who shall giue vs of his flesh that we may be filled If they then that serue so good a Master be his enemies who shal be his friend Seneca seemeth to make the word Seruant to signifie Indifferencie and that it is in the Maisters choice to make him either his friend or foe In this matter there are some rules of prudence nobilitie and Christianitie The first on the Masters part who are to treat their seruant with much loue and kindnesse like a brother saith Ecclesiasticus and in another place indeering it more Sit tibi quasi anima tua Let him be vnto thee as thy soule or as the Greeke hath it Sicut tu As thy selfe Horace calls a mans friend The one halfe of his soule Sicut viscera mea suscipe Receiue him as my owne bowells saith Saint Paul recommending his seruant Onesimus to Philemon No man is a seruant by nature and being that God might haue made thee of a master a seruant how oughtest thou to respect thy seruant being a master This noblenesse of nature shewed it selfe apparently in this our Centurion Puer meus jacet My child lieth sicke hee cals his seruant Child a word of loue and of kindnesse and signifies in the originall a Sonne And Saint Luke doth expresse it with a great deale of tendernesse Erat illi pretiosus Hee was deere vnto him Condemning those masters which vse their seruants as they doe their shooes who when they waxe old and are worne out cast them out vpon the dunghill Saint Paul calles these Sine affectione Men without compassion who no sooner shall their seruant fal sick but they presently bid away with him to the Hospitall if at the day of iudgment God will lay to our charge That wee did not visit the sick in other mens houses What will become of vs in that day when wee be charged with casting them out of our owne The second That all seruants are not so equall and alike that they should deserue either like loue or vsage Ecclesiasticus saith That as fodder and the whip belong to the Asse so doth meat and correction vnto a sloathful seruant But euermore inclining more to lenitie than crueltie The third That a Master bee not sharpe and bitter for there are manie like vnto Spiders which turne all into poyson good and bad seruice foolish and discreete words are all alike vnto them With some masters saith Macrobius snorting and spitting are accounted discourtesies inciuilitie Saint Austen sayes That it is a pride vnworthie mans heart to looke to be serued with more respect by thy seruant than thou doost serue thy God If euerie one of thy fooleries and misdemeanors God should punish them with the rod of his wrath what would become of thee Seneca writing to Licinius tells him That it is a great deale of wisedome and discretion in a Master to vse his seruants well And Clemens Alexandrinus That a Master must not vse his seruants like beasts that he that doth not now and then conuerse with them and communicate his mind vnto them doth not deserue to be a master The fourth That hee bee franke and liberall and a cheerefull rewarder of his seruants labours For if the light of Nature teacheth vs That wee should bee good vnto our Beasts a greater Obligation lyes vpon vs towards our Seruants Plutarch taxeth Cato Censorinus amongst his many other vertues of this one inhumane action That hee sould away his Slaues when they were old and vnable to doe him seruice as Gentlemen turne those Horses that were for their owne Saddle to a Mill to grind when they grow old and stiffe and are not able to trauell as they were woont to doe In a word a Master must consider That albeit the seruants bee the foot yet the feet are as needfull to goe as the eyes to see And the aduantage that the master hath of the seruant is not of Nature but fortune not by his birth for both haue Adam for their father on earth and God in Heauen Both of them say Pater noster qui es in Coelis scientes quoniam illorum vester Dominus est in Coelis i. Our Father which art in heauen knowing that both their and your Lord is in Heauen Not in his bodie for the Pope is made of no better dust than the poore Sexton nor the King than the Hangman Not in regard of the Soule for the price of their redemption were both alike Not of the vnderstanding for many slaues haue that better than they as Aesop Epictetus and Diogenes Not of vertue for many seruants therein exceed their masters But let vs descend now from the Masters to the Seruants dutie and what rules belong to them The first rule is Faithfulnesse and Loue. Salomon saith He that keepeth the Fig-tree shall eat the fruit therof so he that waiteth vpon his master shal come to honour Instancing rather in the Fig-tree than any other for it's sweetnesse and great store of fruit in token that he that shall sow good seruices shall reap good profit The second That he do not serue principally for his own proper interest for he that serueth for profit only and meerly to make gain of his master deserueth neither cherishment nor fauour A master stands in stead of God now we must not principally serue God for the good which he doth vnto vs but as he is our God The Scripture reporteth of Ioseph That his Master hauing trusted him with the gouernment of his house all his wealth he did not deceiue him of a farthing There are some seruants like your Iuy which suckes out the sap withereth the Tree whereunto it leanes it selfe remaining fresh and greene They are those Spunges which soake vp their Masters wealth making their Masters poore and themselues rich The third That a Seruant
be solicitous carefull and painefull for the sluggard Nature abhorreth and condemneth Vidisti hominem velocem stabit coram Rege i. Seest thou a man diligent in his businesse hee shall stand before Kings Diligence is pretious in all men but most in a Seruant Who can indure a lazie Seruant or a dull Beast The Ball was antiently the Symbole of a Seruant according to Cartaneus The ball one while goes flying in the ayre ouer our heads another runnes as low as our feete but neuer lies still but is continually tossed too and fro And Aristotle sayes That a Seruant is Instrumentum viuum A liuing Instrument and as an Instrument hath not his owne will but is directed by the hand of the Artificer so a Seruant is not to bee at his owne will to doe what himselfe listeth but as he is commanded and employed by his Master If Masters and Seruants would keepe these rules it would bee a happinesse for the Master to haue such a Seruant and for the Seruant to haue such a Master It hath antiently beene doubted Why amongst men so equall by nature God hath permitted so great inequalitie as there is betweene him that serueth and him that commandeth And the reason of this doubt is the more indeered for that seruitude is a thing so distastful held so great an ill that many haue preferred death before it Theodoret answereth thereunto That Seruitude was the curse of Sinne and that the first Seruant in the world was Cham on whom his father threwt his seuere malediction That he should be a Seruant to his bretheren Because he discouered the nakednesse of his father S. Austen saith in his Books De Ciuit. Dei That this penaltie began from the malediction of Eue and that those words Thou shalt be vnder the power of thy Husband implyed subiection and seruitude Saint Ambrose in an Epistle which he writes to Simpliciarius saith That Seruing is sometimes taken for a blessing and hee prooues it out of that which Isaac did to his elder sonne Esau He blessed him that he might serue his brother hauing out of a particular prouidence and loue made Esau seruant to his brother to the end that his harshnesse might bee gouerned by his discretion So that wee see that although the fortune of a Seruant speaking generally is verie bad first because libertie is a great good secondly because to serue a Tyrant is a great euil yet he that hath the good hap to serue a good Master is verie happie for such a Master serues in stead of a Father a Councellor a Tutor And this was this seruants happinesse to haue so good a Master as this Centurion heere spoken of who saith Puer meus jacet c. In domo Paraliticus At home sicke of the Palsie It is a consideration as profitable as often repeated That troubles and afflictions brings vs home to Gods House They are like those officers that follow a fugitiue sonne or seruant who bring him backe againe to his father or his master Many meanes God vseth for to bring vs home vnto him but by no meanes more than by affliction Hunger draue the Prodigall home to his Father Ioaâ—s burning of his corne made him come to Absalon the vntamed Heyfer is brought by the Goade to the Yoke There is no Collirium that so opens the eyes of the soule as miserie and trouble The gall of the Fish recouered Tobias of his eye-sight the darknesse of the Whales bellie brought Ionas forth to the light the stroke of an Arrow made Alexander know he was mortall Wormes made great Antiochus confesse he was no God and the threatning of Elias wrought repentance in Achab In a word Vexatio dat intellectum Castigasti me Domine eruditus sum Affliction causeth vnderstanding thou didst correct me ô Lord I was instructed O! how correction opens those eyes which prosperitie kept shut O! how often doth the paining of the bodie worke the sauing of the soule O! how often doe misfortunes like the rounds in Iacobs ladder serue to bring our soules vp to Heauen God dealing with these afflicted soules as the Gardner doth with the Buckets of his Well who humbles them by emptying them that hee may afterwards bring them vp full And so is that place of Iob to bee vnderstood Hee woundeth and hee healeth i. hee healeth by wounding like your cauteries which cure by hurting It is Gods owne voyce I will smite and I will make whole according to that of Ose Percutiet curabit he strikes the bodie with sicknesse and with that wound he healeth the soule But here by the way it is to be noted That there is a great difference betwixt one sinner and another for he that is hardned in sinne is made rather worse than better by correction And this is that which Esay bewaileth where hee crieth out Woe to the sinnefull Nation a People laden with Iniquitie Why should yee be stricken any more yee will reuolt more and more All the fruit that such kind of wilfull sinners reape from their punishment is to adde sinne vnto sinne like that Slaue who being whipt for swearing falls into blaspheming I haue smitten saith Ieremie your childeren in vaine they receiued no correction And in another place he compares them to reprobate siluer which being put into the Crisol of affliction to be refined and purified remaines fouler than before Others there are that are tender hearted and are as sensible of other mens miseries as if themselues were in the same case and iust so was it with this discreet Centurion Dignus est vt illi praestes i. He is worthie for whom thou shouldst doe this The Elders of the Iewes in Capernaum which were sent by the Centurion vnto Christ to beseech him to come and heale his seruant acknowledged a power in our Sauior of working miracles by that often experience they had made thereof but they did not acknowledge his Diuinitie And therefore they here notifie vnto Christ the great merit and deseruingnesse of this Centurion which if it had beene meerely for Gods sake they might the better haue pleaded it They alledge two reasons to induce him thereunto The first Diligit gentem nostram He loueth our Nation which hee hath many wayes manifested by those his good deeds and actions towards vs and this his loue and kindnesse bindes vs to solicite his cause which good will of his ought likewise to incline you to fauour this his suit The second Synagogam aedificauit nobis He hath built vs a Synagogue whereby hee hath not onely shewed his good affection to the Iewes but his religiousnesse also vnto God Dignus est ergo vt illi praestes Hee therefore deserues this fauour at thy hands Their reasons are both powerfull as well with man as with God for Loue obligeth much Saint Ambrose saith That Nature did ingraue nothing so deepely in our hearts as to loue
his hat cloake jerken and breeches but he wrapping them close about him with the helpe of his hands and teeth he kept himselfe vnstripped by the Wind who could doe no good vpon him so he giues off Then comes me forth the Sunne who came so hot vpon him that the man within a verie litttle while was faine to fling off all and to strippe himselfe naked The verie selfe same heat and courage did the Sunne of Righteousnesse vse in that last eclipse of his life when from the Crosse he did so heat inflame the hearts of them that were present that they did teare and rent their cloathes Et Velum Templum scissum est And as the barrennest ground is made fruitfull by the Husbandmans industrie so goodnesse ouercommeth euill Fortis vt mors dilectio i. Loue is strong as Death The stoutest the valiantest and the desperatest man aliue cannot resist Death no more can he Loue. Omnis natura bestiarum domita est à natura The nature of beasts is tamed by Nature Against that harme which the Philistines receiued by Mice the Princes made Mice of Gold let thy enemie bee as troublesome to thee as they mold him into Gold and hee wil neuer hurt thee more S. Chrysostome considereth the truth of this in Saul who bearing a deuelish hatred against Dauid yet by Dauids twice pardoning him his life made him as tractable as wax and he captiuated by this his kindnesse brake out into this acknowledgement Iustior me est He is iuster than I for I returned thee il for good and thou me good for ill S. Chrysostome concludes this Historie with a strange endeering That Dauids drawing teares out of Sauls hard heart did cause him more to wonder than did Moses and Aaron when he strucke the Rocke and the waters gushed forth We want not examples of this Doctrine euen in those things that are inuisible The toughest Impostumes are made tender by Vnctions Plinie saith That the roughest sea is made calme with oyle In the Prouince of Namurca they burne stone in stead of wood and that fire will bee quenched with Oyle Against the Impostume of hatred the raging sea of an angrie brest and the flames of a furious enemie there is no better remedie than Mildnesse Sermo mollis frangit iram A soft answer mitigates wrath Orate pro persequentibus vos Pray for them that persecute you This Prayer may be grounded vpon two reasons The one That the hurt is so great to him that doth the wrong that he that is wronged ought to take pittie and compassion of him and beeing it is Damnum animae The hurt of the soule which the offended cannot repaire of himselfe hee must pray vnto God for him That he would be pleased to repaire it Philon treating of the death of Abel saith that Cain killed himself non alterum not another and that Abel was not dead but aliue because he kild but the bodie which was none of his and left him his soule which was his And of Caine That his bodie remained aliue which was none of his and his soule slaine which was his and therefore Clamat sanguis Abel The bloud of Abel cries c. The other That there are some such desperate enemies that are made rather worse than better by benefits being like therein vnto Paper which the more you supple it with Oyle the stiffer it growes or like vnto sand which the more it is wet the harder it waxeth or like vnto an anuile which is not stirred with the stroke of the hammer or like vnto Iudas who comming from the washing of our Sauiors feet went forth afterwards with a greater desire for to sel and betray him whereas being in this desperate case hee should rather haue had recourse vnto God Prayer therefore is proposed vnto vs as the greatest charme and powerfullest exorcisme against the obstinacie rebellion of an enemie For vpon such occasions as these Prayer is woont to worke miracles Saint Stephen prayd for those that stoned him to death which wrought so powerfull an effect that Saint Austen saith That the Church is beholding in some sort to this his Prayer for the conuersion of Saint Paul And Saint Luke That the Heauens were opened hereupon vnto him he saw Christ standing in glorie at the right hand of his Father And it is worth the noting That the ordinarie Language of the Scripture is That our Sauiour Christ is said to sit at the right hand of God the Father but now here in this place the word Stantem Standing is vsed as if Christ had stood vp of purpose to see so rare and strange an accident and claue the Heauens in sunder offering him all the good they did containe or that he did seeme to offer him his Seate as it were as to a child of God vt sitis filij patris vestri That yee may be the children of your Father And this grace and fauor which God shewes vnto those that pray for their enemies was peraduenture a motiue to our Sauiour Christ to make that pittifull moane vpon the Crosse bewayling the Iewes cruell pâ—oceeding against him and praying that his death might not be layd to their charge Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them Hee might haue hoped that these his charitable prayers would haue opened the Gates of Heauen for the Sonne of Glorie to enter in But in stead thereof the Sunne was darkened and a blacke mantle as it were in mourning spred ouer all the earth whilest he himselfe vttered these words of discomfort My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The doores of Heauen are shut against me my God hath forsaken me But the mysterie is That Heauen was shut against him that it might be opened vnto you and euen then was it opened to the Theefe and to many that returned from Mount Caluarie percutientes pectora sua i. Smiting their brests as also to that Centurion that said Verè filius Dei erat iste This was truly the Sonne of God There may be rendred another reason of this our Sauiours praying vpon the Crosse Which is this That for to obtaine fauors from Gods hand there is no meanes comparable to that of praying for our enemies In me loquebantur qui sedebant in Porta in me psallebant qui bibebant vinum ego autem orationem meam ad te Domine tempus beneplaciti Deus Dauid speaking there as a figure of Christ saith That his enemies sate like judges in the Gates of the Citie entertaining themselues with stories of his life and that they went from Tauerne to Tauern and from one house to another singing Songs in dirision of him descanting and playing vpon him but I turning towards God prayed heartily for them as knowing there was not any time fitter than that for the obtaining of my request Tempus beneplaciti An acceptable time c. The like he saith in the 180 Psalm Pro eo vt me
should lay downe his life or leaue his goods forsaking all to follow him but to him that should loose his honour or his reputation hee neuer made the like promise For to obey and serue him is all the honour that man ought to stand vpon Hoc est omnis c. Gods seruice the greatest soueraignety S. Ambrose saith That God would be borne of a married Virgine out of a care that he had to the Virgines credit yet therfore is it not meet that a man should procure his owne honour by doing dishonour to another Cum maledixerint vobis homines dixerint omne malum aduersum vos mentientes propter me When men shall curse you and speake all euill against you The World will say Thou art a base fellow if thou put vp a wrong and doe not reuenge it to the full But the World lies for a man cannot doe himselfe a greater honour than to pardon an iniurie The World will say Thou hast no worth in thee and that thou doost degenerate from thy noble Ancestors But therein the world likewise lies for there is nothing more noble than to forgiue and forget a wrong Others wil say I forgiue my enemie with all my heart but I will neuer speake to him I answer This is a metaphisicall case that thou wilt giue him thy heart and denie him thy tongue Me-thinkes that Fountaine that is faire within should not be foule without Shall God giue thee a heart to wish well and wilt not thou find a tongue to speake wel And words too without a heart are not worth God-a-mercie Si salutaueritis fratres vestros tantùm If yee shal onely salute your brethren it is neither any great thing nor yet thankes-worthie but to say thou wilt giue him thy heart and not so much as a word thou doost giue him neither the one nor the other Others say Let him come and speake to me first for as I am the more wronged so I take my selfe to be the better man and therefore I wil not offer my selfe vnto him but let him come to me if hee will else I will neuer bee friends with him I answer That by thy yeelding first vnto him thou wilt winne by the elder hand and get thy selfe the more credit Abraham thou knowest gaue Lot leaue to chuse first and being his Kinseman and his inferiour both in yeares and otherwise did not reckon of his right nor his reputation that hee might not make a rent breach of loue and amitie betweene them Ne quaeso sit jurgium inter me te Let there be no strife betwixt thee and me c. Others say Mee-thinkes it is a hard case that God should wish mee to loue and doe well vnto him that loues not me and would reioyce in any il that should happen vnto me I answer That I am not bound to desire of God that he would fulfill the desires of my enemie for if he direct them to my hurt and to my ruine I am not bound to aske of God any ill to my selfe When a Bell is drawne vp to the top of some Tower or a Stone to some high Steeple it is the naturall and common course of those that see it carried vp to desire no mischance may befall it But if any should be so maliciously foolish as to say in his heart O that I might now see it fall the Stone might verie well replie Let not thy desires prosper The like may he say who goes mounting vp to some heigth of goodnesse to his enuious enemie Let not thy ill wishes thriue against me Last of all To him that shall thinke that this is too hard a Precept I answer That there is this difference betweene those that are the Saints of God those that are not that these striue to get Heauen at too cheape a rate and stand a hucking to see if they can get thither with a little cost But those that are Gods children seeke all occasions for to buy it at any price be it neuer so high nay though it should cost them their life Quotidiam morior propter vestram gloriam I die daily for your glorie saith Saint Paul Whereupon Saint Chrisostome giues this note That the Apostle was euen sorie that he had no more but one life to lay downe for his God and for the welfare of his brethren in the Lord And that therefore he had scarce escaped one danger but that he was desirous to enter into another THE FOVRTH SERMON ON THE SATVRDAY AFTER ASHWEDNESDAY MARC 6. MAT. 14. Cum sero esset factum erat Nauis in medio Maris When it grew late the Shippe was in the middest of the Sea THe Euangelist recounteth heere vnto vs a fearefull Tempest which the Disciples endured one night in the middest of the sea the winds being stiffe and terrible the waues furiously raging the clouds thicke and darke the ship small shrewdly beaten and hardly able to withstand the swelling of this proud sea this storme continuing in it's strength and vigour till the fourth watch in the morning And though these were many and verie forcible reasons to make them to be affraid yet vnto these was added a new cause of feare to wit That our Sauiour appearing vnto them walking vpon the waters they thought it was a Phantasma some Spirit in a seeming assumed shape whither Angell or Deuill they could not deuise with themselues And the common receiued opinion is That theâ—e Visions had their seuerall apparitions as it appeareth in Saint Luke and the Acts of the Apostles They pittifully cried out for feare of beeing drowned in the Deepe not considering that he who had filled their bellies in the wildernesse could trample the waues vnder his feet and preserue their bodies from sinking Our Sauiour made shew at the first of walking a farre off from them as he did afterwards with those that he went along with to Emaus but in the end he spake vnto them and made himselfe knowne vnto them Then Peter thereupon rushed presently into the Sea and beginning to sinke he stretched out his hand vnto him and reprehended him for hauing so little Faith At last they entred into the ship and they were no sooner come in but the winds went away the sea grew calme and the tempest ceased The Mariners and the rest that were aboord this Barke acknowledged our Sauiour to be the Sonne of God They disembarked in Genezareth the fame of whose comming was soon spred abroad they brought forth their sicke vnto him and our Sauiour Christ restored them to their health Cùm serò esset factum When it grew late c. Saint Iohn saith That the Feast being ended our Sauior went vp to the Mount to pray Ascendit solus orare He went vp alone Saint Marke and Saint Mathew That he forced his Disciples to go on shippe-boord Nor doth this admit any contradiction for before that he withdrew himselfe to pray he
Ioseph it is sayd Descenditque cum illo in foueam in vinculis non derelinquit eum i. He wont downe with him into the pit and left him not in his bonds God accompanied him in his yrons and his giues Dominus diluuium inhabitare facit Saint Ierome translates it Dominus diluuium inhabitans When God sent the Flood hee put himselfe also in the midst of the waters Redemisti tibi ex Aegipto gentem Deum eius i. Thou hast redeemed a nation to thy selfe euen out of Aegipt and withall their God Vpon which place Vatablus hath noted That God did redeeme himselfe beeing captiuated as well as his people And hee could not like of his owne libertie as long as hee saw that they were kept in slauerie In Aegiptum descendit populus meuâ— Asur â—ine causa calumniatus est eum nunc quid mihi est hic My people is gone downe into Aegipt Assur hath afflicted them without a cause and now what doe I here My people captiue and I at libertie Quid mihi est hic My people troden vnder feet and I inioy the smoke of incence and sacrifice Quid mihi est hic i. What doe I here Erat enim ventus contrarius For the Wind was aganst them All the misfortunes of nauigation the Euangelist reduceth to the Winde And following the Metaphore That this World is a Sea and our life a sayling therein all that doth hinder the prosperitie and happinesse thereof is Wind. Whilest the vse of reason stood faire and cleere with man he put the prow of his desires into the Hauen of Saluation for all doe naturally desire an estate that is full of happinesse and free from euill and that which makes their voyage vnhappie vnfortunate is Wind. Saint Iohn saith That all things in this world are either pleasures couetousnesse or honours And if we shall summe vp all the pleasures riches and honors that haue beene enioyed in the world euen to this verie houre we shall find that they are all but Wind. Salomon made an Annatomie of all humane felicitie and in conclusion shewes it is all but vanitie Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas Zacharie saw a figure of foure Empires the famousest that euer were in the world the Assirians Persians Medes and Graecians and asking of the Angell Qui sunt isti Domine mi He told him isti sunt quatuor Venti Those are the foure Winds The most prosperous Scepters and the most dreadfull Crownes are no better than ayre And it were well if they were no worse and did not crosse that good fortune which we desire in the nauigation of this our life Hoc opus hic labor Circa quartam vigiliam noctis About the fourth watch What so late Gods helpe come it when it wil come comes neuer too late Veniens veniet non tardabit And God would that this truth should remaine so notorious and manifest to the world that hee doth not onely call it a Vision ex plana visum which carrieth it's euidence along with it but he commandeth the Prophet to write it downe with strange circumstances The first is verie cleere and hath not the least shaddow of darkenesse in it The second circumstance that this saying should bee grauen Vpon Boxe for so the Septuagint read it which kind of wood according vnto Esay conserueth what is written therein to the worlds end The third That it should bee written in capitall letters which may be read afarre off The fourth The assurance certaintie thereof implied in the repetition Veniens veniet non tardabit Comming he will come and will not tarrie Saint Bernard argueth hereupon Quomodo non tardabit si moram fecerit How can he but linger if he vse delay I answer Gods helpe may happely come too late in regard of our desire but can neuer come too late in regard of our necessitie And this his slownesse in succouring vs may seeme painfull if wee shall measure it according to the impatiencie of our desire but profitable vnto vs if wee will but thinke vpon the reward which is layd vp for those that suffer hoping Saint Paul in the chaine which he recommendeth to the Romans whose links are Tribulation Patience Triall Hope Charitie which Saint Austen doth so much celebrate in his booke De Doct. Christiana saith Gloriamur in tribulationibus scientes quoniam tribulatio patientiam operatur patientia probationem probatio vero spem We reioyce in tribulation knowing that tribulation bringeth forth patience patience experience and experience hope Wee draw glorie out of our tribulations for he that is in tribulation doth not onely suffer but in suffering worketh which working causeth in vs an eternall weight of glorie From Patience ariseth another linke which is Probation or Triall whither it bee for that the Patient doth prooue how much he is able to suffer being fauoured by Heauen and holpen from aboue or whither it be that he should bee prooued as was Iob to see whither he would sticke surely to his tackling For Patience is a more assured testimonie of our triall than Fasting Prayer Almes or the like for these are often subiect vnto falsehood Againe from this Triall ariseth Hope for hee that is wonderfull patient cannot but haue a wonderfull good Hope This was it that made God say to Abraham Nunc cognoui quod timeas Deum Now I know that thou fearest God And S. Paul saith of himselfe That he did hope beyond hope that is that he did euen then still hope when all reason of hope did faile him Besides God is woont to permit that our tribulation should be great to the end that our Patience might be made great our Triall great and our Hope great and then doth he come in and helpe vs when hee hath made sufficient proofe of our faith to the trial wherof God puts vs a thousand manner of ways The People of Israel passed through the bed of Iordan those waters sliding gently along towards the dead sea and those other drouen backe so that they passed through it as through the drie land And yet this might perhaps seeme vnto God but a slender triall of their Faith First Because a great number ioyning in companie together they take more courage vnto them in the vndergoing of any danger for common calamities are euermore the lesse felt Secondly In regard of the Arkes being there whereof those waters might seeme to be affraid and so flie backe for feare Iordanis conuersus est retrorsum Thirdly For that there were so many innocent little children amongst them whom God they might suppose would not suffer to bee drowned considering they had not yet offended him as not knowing good from euill And therefore he commanded that twelue of them vpon whom the lots should fall should goe backe take out twelue great stones out of the bed of Iordan to make a Pyramis or Alter to remaine as a memoriall of
that miracle whereunto they all of them readily offered themselues with a great deale of alacritie and this was a great triall of their Faith But it would haue beene greater if God had commanded them to set their backes and shoulders against the waues keeping them there and deferring his succour till the thread of their hope were broken in twaine and they readie to perish This deferring is vsually the vigill of Gods greater mercies Saint Gregorie declareth to this purpose that place of Esay Ad punctum in modico dereliquisse in miserationibus magnis congregaui te He deferred his helpe to the last push but the greater the delay was the greater was his mercie As wee see Gods deferring of his Iustice is oftentimes the occasion of the seuerer punishment Saint Chrysostome saith That Christs so long deferring to alay this storme was to teach vs that we are not at the first flaw of a Tempest to call for present faire weather but rather to crie out with Dauid Non me derelinquas vsquequaque Let not thy not relieuing of mee bee eternall Forsake me not ô Lord for euer but let thy succour come when it shall seeme best vnto thee not my but thy will be done God likewise refuseth sometimes to affoord his help out of the pleasure that hee taketh to see the Righteous row against the streame and to tugge and wrestle with all the might they can against the troubles and afflictions of this world Seneca touching though as a Heathen vpon this straine saith That there is not in all the earth a spectacle more worthie Gods beholding than to see a stout man wrestling against aduerse fortune Saint Chrysostome dwelles much vpon the great care which God tooke in notifying to the Deuill that hee should not touch Iob in his life Veruntamen animam illius serua But yet preserue his life Not that Iob should haue receiued any hurt by the losse of his life but because God would not loose the pleasure of seeing this stout combat fought out betwixt him and his enemie Si de medio tuleris Theatrum non plaudet amplius And as your Heathen Emperours tooke great delight in seeing a Christian enter the Listes with a wild Beast so the King of Heauen takes much pleasure in seeing one of his Saints maintaine fight against those fierce Beasts of Hell Et putauerunt Phantasma esse And they tooke him for an apparition Here is one feare vpon another therefore it was not much they should crie out The wind and the waues had sorely affrighted them and that which was to bee the remedie of their danger made them to apphrehend a new danger fearing now more their succour than their hurt being herein like vnto many who feare their good but not their euil the Glutton doth not feare drunkennesse and that fulnesse which lessens his health and puts his life in danger but feares those syrrops and purgations which he is to take for his recouerie The bad Christian feareth not the fault he hath committed which is the greatest euill but feareth to doe pennance for the same which is for his greatest good The Atheist feareth not death nor the graue but saith We haue made a couenant with Death and Hell yet he feareth pouerty hunger and the enemie that threatens him but not God who can swallow him vp quicke in the flames of Hell fire He feares an earthly Iudge that may put him to torment but not that Iudge of Heauen that can condemne to endlesse paines which are neuer to haue end THE FIFTH SERMON VPON THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT TOVCHING OVR SAVIOVRS TEMPTATION MAT. 4. LVC. 4. MARC 1. Ductus est Iesus ab Spiritu in Desertum And Iesus was led by the Spirit into the Wildernesse THis famous Combat betwixt two of the stoutest and valiantest Captaines that euer tryde their valour in a single Duel wil very well deserue the looking on and require our diligent attention taking vp as well our eyes as our eares This battell then that is here described by the Euangelist is the notablest and the strangest that euer was in former or euer shall bee seene in future Ages The Combattants are two great Princes whose power all the world acknowledgeth and whose wisedome admits no comparison the one the Prince of Light the other the Prince of Darkenesse The field wherein they fought was a Wildernesse where they had nothing to sustaine themselues withall but stones Their Weapons Wit and Words the faculties of the Vnderstanding and the vse of the Tongue The Deuills end was to repaire a double losse or two-fold ouerthrow at our Sauiour Christs hands The one That he could neuer catch him in any the least fault nor find him tripping in any one action that euer he did And this was it that did mad him to the heart and mightily incense his rage that amongst all mankind there neuer yet beeing any though neuer so famous neuer so iust that had escaped his clutches without receiuing some foyle or other as Adam Noah Abraham Dauid the like good and holy men that now a man in the eye of the World of no better than a meane and ordinarie ranke for such a one was our Sauiour held to bee should escape his fingers and should shew himselfe to bee the onely Phoenix of the world The other that he did not yet perfectly know by that euidence of his humane nature by those great suspitions which he might haue of his diuine essence by calling to mind those menaces that were threatned against him in Paradice I will put enmitie betwixt the woman and thee betwixt thy seed and her seed hee shall bruise thy head c. And he began to thinke with himselfe What wil become of me if this be the Bug-beare foretold by the Prophets Questionlesse if this be the man I shall hardly escape a broken pate Our Sauiours end was not any desire of his owne proper worth and merit nor any vaine-glorie to shew his valour for it could bee no great glorie to boast of nor no such wonderfull conquest that the Sonne and Heire apparent of Heauen should subdue the Deuil But his end was thereby to sanctifie our temptations as he had done all the rest of our miseries by taking them vpon himself because they should recouer a new beeing and a new honour And that those temptations which heretofore did serue as steepe Rockes to throw vs downe into Hell should serue as Ladders to bring vs to Heauen Theodores saith That as Physitions make Treacle out of Serpents so our Sauiour Christ drew an Antidote and wholsome Medicine from the Deuil and his deceits and subtleties so that now Temptation hath lost his name and strength and of Gally-slaues we are made Freemen by Iesus Christ. Secondly Our Sauiour Christ did pretend by this fight to rid the world of that great feare wherin it liued Wherby we may suppose the feareful power of the Deuill
hee neuer so hard a Workeman but towards high noone doth rest himselfe a little but the Deuill Dolos tota die meditabatur It is said in the Reuelation That certaine Locusts came out of a bottomlesse Pit and that they had a King ouer them which is the Angell of the bottomlesse Pit whose name in the Hebrew Tongue is Abaddon in the Greeke Apollyon and in the Latine Exterminans Here is like to like such souldiers such a Captaine Your Locusts neuer do good but hurt and this is the Deuills office and therfore is he termed Exterminans Dauid calls him by the name of Dragon who with his verie breath doth taint the aire and kills therewith the Birds that flie to and fro therein Exterminauit eum aper de silua The Boare of the Mountaine destroyeth the Lords Vineyard he ouerthroweth Monasteries through sloath and idlenesse soliciting Religious men to be negligent in comming to Church carelesse in preaching and loose in their life In the marriage bed he soweth tares treacheries and lightnesse With wordly men he persuadeth That he is no bodie that is not rich and therefore bee it by hooke or by crooke by right or by wrong he would haue thee get to be wealthie In a word he is generally set vpon mischiefe and therefore hath hee the name of Tempter But it is to be noted that he doth then most hurt when hee is most prouoked Petrus Chrysologus saith Est quidem Diabolus per se nequam fit tamen nequior prouocatus Like vnto your Dogge who barkes out of custome but if you throw stones at him he will barke the more or like vnto the Bull in the Place who beeing houted at and galled growes thereby more mad and more fierce or like vnto the Boare when he is wounded with the Speare or the Beare who enraged sets more furiously vpon the Hunter that pursues him and throwes his Darts at him There was a voyce alreadie thundred out against him from Heauen in the riuer of Iordan Our Sauiours fasting was as stones throwne against a barking Curre his being in the Desert was no fit place for him to worke his will considering those good meditations wherein our Sauiour was then occupied And therefore seeing himselfe thus crost he would labour to make his aduantage and trie what he could doe by the helpe of these other stones as he had then a purpose to employ them Touching the second to wit His craft and his subtletie notable is that place of Saint Paul We are not to wrestle with flesh and bloud but with the snare of the Deill The Apostle doth not say against his force and his power though that bee great but against his craft his subtletie against his trickes deuices against his plots and stratagems Tertullian renders it Machinationes Saint Hierome Adinuentiones and the Reuelation Altitudines Sathanae The depth and profunditie of his policies and deepe reaches Saint Chrysostome expounding that phrase of Principes tenebrarum The Princes of darkenesse saith That they are not Noctis tenebrae sed maliciae the darkenesse of malice being greater than that of the night Spiritualia nequitiae cui nomina mille mille nocendi artes i. Spirituall wickednesses which haue a thousand names and a thousand wayes to hurt as the Poet hath it A certaine Monke asked the Deuill How he was called He told him Mille modis artifex vocor I am called a cunning Workeman And therefore the Scripture stiles him Serpent and a winding Snake that rolls vp himselfe as it were in a circle Visitabit Dominus super Serpentem tortuosum saith Esay Eductus est coluber tortuosus saith Iob There is no Labyrinth so intricate and so full of doublings turnings as is he It is much doubt which of the two is most requisit in a Captaine Virtus an Dolus Courage or Craft In the Deuill if his power be incomparable his subtletie is much more Some of the antient Saints haue put it to question Why the Deuill did appeare vnto our Mother Eue in the forme of a Serpent Saint Chrysostom saith That God did giue him the libertie to make free choice of any one of the beasts of the Field which soeuer he had most mind vnto and that he made choice of the Serpent as of the wisest and subtillest as the sacred Text deliuereth vnto vs. Saint Augustine That it was not in his election to chuse any other to the end that the deceit and subtletie of the Serpent might stirre vp a kind of jealousie and warinesse in our Mother For craft and cunning haue euer done more hurt than open force The Wolfe is then most to bee feared when he puts himselfe into Sheepes cloathing or a Lyon in a Foxes skin which is the condition of your Heretickes Dauid speaking of those which follow the Deuils partie saith Partes Vulpium erunt The Spouse calles them little Foxes Vulpes paruulas qui demoliuntur Vineas Alluding in them to the Deuills Vpon this craft and subtletie of the Deuill Saint Gregorie and S. Ciril ground this conceit That the Deuill is not like your foolish Physitions who with one receit cure diuers diseases but against euerie vertue good inclination and motions of the Spirit he hath such sundrie temptations and so fit for euery mans humour that if the tempted will but cast his eyes towards them it is a thousand to one that he is not taken with them God askt of Iob Answer me By what way the heat is parted vpon earth Gregorie vnfoldeth this question By those coles which the Deuill scatâ—ereth abroad amongst the People of this world as those of couetousnesse reuenge and wantonnesse Euerie one carries a cole in his bosome that burnes and consumes him In via hac qua ambâ—labam absconderunt laqueum mihi When I thought my selfe safest walked securely and followed my pleasures and delights without suspition of danger then was the net laid for me c. But for all the Deuills cunning shifts and for all his sleights and subtleties he can neuer so wholly disguise himselfe but that he will alwaies leaue one clouen foot vncouered whereby which is no small comfort vnto vs we may come to know him Iob speaking of the Deuill in that metaphore of the Leuiathan amongst many other properties aboue specified he mentioneth this one Lucebit post cum semita He leaues behind him a white path in the sea like vnto that froth which a great Ship causeth when she hath a stiffe gale of wind in the poop of her Whereby he signifieth vnto vs That the Deuill which way soeuer he goes leaues some signe behind him At the feet of Saint Michael they paint the Deuill with the faire bodie of an Angell but with the foule taile of a Dragon For albeit at the first sight he transfigure himselfe into an Angell of Light yet in the end he will discouer himselfe to bee the Prince of Darkenesse The Deuill hath beene seene to
preach in the habit of a religious Frier verie deuoutly appearing as an Angell of Light persuading the People to repentance and communicating great comfort vnto them but in the end all his Sermons haue ended in melancholly passions For the Deuills Reuelations runne a contrarie course to Gods for these although they somewhat trouble vs at the beginning yet they end euermore in peace and comfort but those of the Deuill though they begin in joy yet they end in sorrow Si filius Dei es dic vt lapides isti panes fiant If thou be the Sonne of God command that these stones be made bread The first passage of this temptation was the Deuills seeming-pittie and compassion of the great hunger that our Sauiour suffered I was present at thy Baptisme and at that applause which Heauen did then giue thee but now I see how weake and wanne thou art growne through thy too much fasting which makes mee to doubt that thou art not the Sonne of God The Deuill is a great prouoker to Gluttonie he doth solicite the pampering of the flesh hee proposeth the gripings of the stomacke and the aking of the head through too much fasting but all at the soules cost Inimico non credas in aternum i. Beleeue not thy enemie at all Which phrase of speech is principally to be vnderstood of the Deuill for hee neuer offers thee his seruice but to thy hurt Saint Gregorie makes this note That the Deuill taking from Iob his children his houses his heards of cattell and his flockes of Sheepe and in a word all the good things that hee had yet hee left him his wife but onely that she might doe the Deuill seruice Calidè cuncta diripuit calidius adjutricem reserâ—auit It was his cunning to take away all but it was a greater pâ—â—ce of cunning to leaue him his Helpe The Deuill did not doe this out of forgetfulnesse nor carelesnesse nor out of any desire that hee had to leaue Iob any comfort at all for he did not wish him so much good but that hee hoped shee would be a meanes to mooue him to impatiencie and to driue him to despaire True it is that all his fauours tend to make the way easie but at your cost to bring vs to Hell Hee offered our Sauiour bread of stones but on condition that he himselfe must take the paines to mold it Attende tibi à pestifero fabricâ—â— enim malum Beware of a wicked man for c. Si filius es Dei dic c. If thou be the Sonne of God If thou art the Sonne of God command as a God Thy Dicere is Facere Dic vt sedeant c. Some graue Doctors are of opinion that this was the sinne of Moses when hee drew water from out the Rocke and not his want of Faith as some other would enforce For Infide â—enitate sanctum fecit illum but his attributing of this miracle to himselfe which was only Gods doing Aâ—dite rebelles Nunquid pâ—terimus de petra educere vâ—bis aquam Heare yee rebellious Can we drâ—w water for you out of the Rocke Can Aaron and I c. This incredulous people said Nunquid poterit Dâ—us parare mensam in deserto i. Can God prepare a Table in the Desert But Moses speaketh in his owne and his brothers name Nunquid poterimus Can we c. Command that these stones Thy Father calls thee Sonne and yet reduceth thee to that miserie that to keepe thy selfe from staruing hee driues thee to that necessitie that thou must of force he compelled to make these stones bread This difference is there betwixt the Sinner and the Righteous That the Deuill persuades the Sinner that hee may make bread of stones â—nd Iudas that hee may make money of Christ But the Righteous will rather die for hunger beeing well assured that God euen in this his hunger is able to sustaine him Command that these stones The Deuill tempts him with stones with such things wherein are scarce to be found any signe of danger For hee alwaies holdeth the victorie to bee so much the more glorious by how much the lesser is the occasion whereby he winnes it Lot flies out of Sodome in the companie of his daughters and hauing escaped that fearefull fire the Deuil tempts the father by his daughters whose raging lust neither the fearefull example of their mother whom their eyes had so lately seene turned into a Piller of Salt nor the Lawes of Reason nor of Nature could once bridle or restraine But you will say they were women and what will not a woman doe to satisfie her longing but that Lot should consent to so vnlawfull an act beeing a man nay and so just a man as the Scripture commends him to be it seemeth somewhat strange Alas good old man his daughters had made him drunke and being so wearie and heauie hearted as hee was to see the lamentable destruction of Sodome it was not much that he should drinke being importuned thereunto they that could not find any water when hee called for it could make a shift to fetch him wine In all that fortie yeares peregrination of the children of Israell we do not read that euer God gaue them wine Twice did he giue them water out of the rocke and twelue Fountaines in Helim hee gaue them likewise Manna and Quailes but not a drop of wine that they saw till they came to the Land of Promise And surely this was thus ordered by the Councell of Heauen for if hauing but water they mutined so often what would they haue done had they had wine When Abraham did thrust the bondwoman out of doores he furnished her with bread and water and Procopius saith That he would not giue her any wine for Agar signifies SuenÌ„a-fiestas A Feast-dreamer And this holy Father would not by giuing her wine encrease the occasion seeing shee dreamed thereon when shee dranke but water But to returne to our purpose Lots daughters tempted their father there beeing in the caue wherin he was no other either possible or imaginable occasion To him that is desperatly minded though ye put away from him and remooue out of his reach all manneâ— of halters and cords for feare hee should hang himselfe therewith yet if he be set vpon it he wil make shift with a garter a hat-band a girdle or some one thing or other to worke his owne destruction If thou be the Sonne of God It was a bold dis-respect of Satans and a presumptuous part in him that hee should make any the least doubt that Christ was the Sonne of God but farre greater impudencie that hee should dare in tempting him to tel him All the world shal be thine if thou wilt but fall down worship me King Ahabs Captaine came to the foot of the Mountaine where Elias then remained and said vnto him Come downe thou Seruant of God for the King hath sent me for thee If I am said
Saint Chrysostome In Gloria Saint Luke In Maiestate sua in Patris sanctorum Angelorum Where it is noted by Saint Ambrose That his Maiestie was greater than that of his father Quia Patri inferior videri non poterat For in what place soeuer the Father should be it could not bee presumed that hee should be lesse than his Son but of his Son it might perhaps haue bin presumed otherwise into which errour Arrius did afterwards fall In Maiestate sua c. Our words here want weight and our weake apprehension matter and forme worthie so great a Maiestie In a Prince a Lord and in a Iudge is necessarily required a kind of presence and authoritie beyond other ordinarie men Esay reporteth of his People That seeing a man of a goodly presence and well clad they said vnto him Thou hast rayment be our Prince Nor is this onely necessarie but that his greatnesse and his Maiestie bee euerie way answerable to the largenesse of his Commission and Iurisdiction And therefore our Sauiour Christ being then to shew himselfe a King of Kings and a Lord of Lords and an vniuersall Iudge ouer all persons and ouer all causes since the first beginning of the world to the end thereof his Maiestie must needs be incomparable First In respect of his person whose splendor and brightnesse shall eclipse and darken all the lights of the World At this his comming his glorie at the first I mean of his soule was reserued and hid so that therein they might not see the fearefulnesse of their punishment but in his comming to Iudgement the light of his bodie shall be so shining and so extreamely bright that the Sunne in comparison of it shall seeme as a candle Saint Ambrose calleth the Sunne the Grace of Nature the Ioy of the World the Prince of the Planets the bright Lanterne of the World the Fountaine of Life the Image of God whom for it's beautie so many Nations adored as a God But in that day the Sunne and the Moon it 's Vicegerent whom they call the Queene of Heauen shall be like vnto those lights of the Sheepheards which are hardly to be discerned afarre off Saint Iohn made in his Apocalyps a description of this Maiestie and beautie hee saw the Heauen opened and that a Horseman came forth riding on a white Horse from his eyes flamed forth two Torches of fire from his mouth issued a two edged Sword in his hand he had a Rod of Yron on his head many Crowns and on his thigh a Letter which beeing read spake thus The King of Kings and Lord of Lords Great Armies of Horsemen did attend him all on white Horses This is a figure and Type of our Sauiour Christs comming to Iudgement The white horse is his most holy and vnspotted Humanitie Those flaming Torches of his eyes betoken That all things both great and small shal be laid open to his sight there shall not be any sinne so secret nor any fault so buried vnder ground which shall not appeare at that generall Triall that beeing then to be verified of euery Sinner which God said to Dauid touching his murder and adulterie Thou hast done it secretly but I will doe it in the sight of the Sunne The two edged Sword signifies the finenesse and sharpenesse of the Iudges proceeding and that he is able to cut in sunder the marrow and bones of a Sinner and like a Razor meet with the least haire of euill that shall shew it selfe His Rod of Yron shewes the firmenesse and constancie of his Iudgment which shall not like those white Wands which the Iudges bare before be wrested this way and that way at pleasure Those many Diadems on his head intimate those Crownes that he shall clap on the heads of the Righteous and those that haue done well That glorious Letter of Rex Regum because he shal there shew himselfe to be King of Kings Lord of Lords many Kings of the earth shall haue their knees smitten like Balthazar 's and their hearts throb within them when they stand before his presence expecting their fearefull doome Lastly hee shall come accompanied with many Horsemen on white Horses to shew vnto vs that hee shall bee waited on by all the Court of Heauen Salomon saith Tria sunt quae bene gradiuntur quartum quod foelicitèr incedit Three creatures haue a goodly kind of gate the Sheepe the Lyon and the Cocke but a King whom none can resist carries more state with him than them all Saint Gregorie typifieth this prouerbe to our Sauiour Christ who did gallantly beare himselfe in foure of his most famous mysteries First In that of his Redemption represented in the sheep which is made readie for the Sacrifice Secondly In his Resurrection figured in the Lyon Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda Whereunto Saint Paul doth attribute our justification Resurrexit propter justificationem nostram Thirdly In his preaching of the Gospell fitly expressed in the Cocke who with his crowing and clapping of his wings awakeneth those that are asleepe in sinne But his comming to judgement which is deciphered vnto vs in his beeing a King doth farre exceed all the rest For many were not bettered by his Death nor his Resurrection nor his Doctrine though these were most pretious Treasures proffered to Mankind because that Age wherein Christ came was an Age of contradiction but in this his comming to judgement that prophecie of Zacharie shall be fulfilled And there shall bee one Lord ouer all the earth and his name shall be one Till then this King shall goe by little and little ouercomming and subduing his enemies but when he shall come in his glorie then shall wee see a most stately triumph and a quiet and peaceable possession and that Stone which Daniel saw loosed and vnfastned from the Mountaine shall then cease to pound and beat into pouder all the Empires and Seigniories of the earth Thou shalâ— breake them like a Potters Vessell In a word in this world while wee liue heere God is not absolutely obâ—yed nor serued by vs as he should bee no not of the Iust themselues and those that are the Elect children of God So doth Saint Austen declare that place of the Canticles Exui me tunica mea quomodo induâ— illa Laui pedes meos quomodo inquinabo illos I haue put off my coat How shall I put it on I haue washed my feet How shall I defile them How is this to be borne withall how is this to be suffered saith this sacred Doctor that the Spouse should vse this libertie with her best Beloued Whereunto he answereth That the Iust do not denie vnto God his entrance into the house of their Soules but the Spouse doth there discouer the resistance which the Soule makes in the behalfe of the Sences at that time when as God calls her vnto him But in the day of Iudgement the Soule shall be no more mis-led by the Sences but
Sea God tharefore beeing on the one side so embowelled in and beneath the Earth and on the other so wholely out of the same as Saint Hilarie prooueth it Intus extra super omnia internus in omnia How can hee fully know all that is in Heauen in Hell in the bowells of the Earth or in the bottome of the Sea Many perhaps cannot giue a full answer to this but the Pharisees had they not beene blinded with enuie might haue contented themselues with that of Moses For he hath written of me or of Ezechiel who did prophecie of him That he was the King and Sheepheard of Israell or of Iohn Baptist who pointed him out vnto them as it were with the finger or of his Workes and Miracles For they beare witnesse of me of the Father who proclaimed him in Iordan to be his Sonne of the Deuils of Hell who with open voyce acknowledged him to be the Sonne of God of the little children who cried out Hosanna to the Sonne of Dauid blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord. Quis est hic Who is this Diuers and sundrie times Christ had entred into Hierusalem and they had neuer askt this question before but now the triumph and the Maiestie of this King awakens the tongues of these enuious People who now begin to aske Quis est hic It hath beene an antient question doubted of of old Which is the better life that of a publique or a priuate person Seneca in an Epistle of his seemeth to fauour the former Miserable saith he is that mans fortune who hath no enemie to enuie him And Persius saith That it is a great glorie to haue men point with the finger and to say There goes the Kings Fauourite But Iob hee seemeth to like better of the latter O that I had giuen vp the ghost and no eye had seene me would I had beene as though I had not beene and that I had beene carried from the wombe to the graue Wishing himselfe to haue beene of that short continuance in the world that no man might haue knowne whither he had died or liued And Horace Neque vixit malè qui natus moriensque fefellit His life let none bemone who liu'd and di'd vnknowne Both liues haue so much to be said on either side that the question remaines yet vnresolued But admit that a publike life be the more desired yet it is not the safest for alwayes the more honour the more danger Who is this Your great Persons and those that prosper in the world carrie wheresoeuer they goe such a noyse with them that they giue occasion to the People to aske Quis est hic Iohn Baptist when hee thundered out in the Desert clad in Camells haire That the Kingdome of God was at hand iudging him to be some coelestiall Monster they sent out to enquire of him with a Tu quis es Who art thou The Angells seeing our Sauiour Christ ascend vnto Heauen with such a deale of Maiestie and glorie as was neuer seene before began to aske Quis es iste qui venit de Edom Who is he that commeth from Edom And Esay speaking of a great Tyrants comming downe to Hell saith Hell was troubled at thy comming In a word it is true in nature That the loftie Cedars and the highest and tallest Pine Trees make the greatest noyse when they are shaken with the wind and the greatest Riuers the greatest roaring And therefore it is no meruaile they should aske Who is this When a Merchant shall go apparelled and attended like a Knight or some great Lord and his wife and daughters like a great Ladie and her children Who will not aske Quis est hic I knew his Grandfather c. And for that the Pharisees were enuious they did speake reprochfully of our Sauiour euerie foot vpbraiding him That he was a Carpenter and the sonne of a Carpenter and seeing him now enter Ierusalem like a King they demanded in scorne Quis est hic Hic est Iesus Propheta à Nazareth Galileae This is Iesus By name a Sauiour and by office a Prophet Alluding to that promise made in Deutronomie I will raise vp a Prophet of thine owne Nation Beeing a plaine Prophesie of our Sauiour Christ as appeareth in the third of the Acts His Countrie Nazareth where he was bred they not knowing that he was borne in Bethlem Now these wise men of this World asking with this scorne Who is this and the foolish ones answering with that discretion This is Iesus c. agrees well with those thankes which our Sauiour gaue vnto his father Because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and hast reuealed them to Babes It is Gods fashion to ouercome a Pharaoh with Flies and by a sillie woman to confound the Learned who said In Belzebub the Prince of Deuills he casts out Deuills by a blind man the Iudges of Hierusalem by a low Zacheus a tall Gyant The order of Grace is different from that of Nature God as a naturall Author Media per summa gubernat Gouernes the meane things by the highest saith Dionysius First he communicateth his vertue his power to the supream causes and by them to the meaner and the lowest The Sunne shines first vpon the Mountaines and then shewes it selfe in the Vallies c. But Grace oftentimes doth first illuminate the lowest Bottoms and shines oftner in them than on the Mountaines it called the Sheepeheards before it called the Kings it appeared vnto the Ignorant before the Wise and shewed it selfe to Balaams Asse before his Master tooke notice of it And therefore Ecclesiasticus saith That the Soule of a Iust man attaineth to more truth than those Watch-Towers that are reared on the highest Walls vnderstanding thereby your greatest Clerkes A just and vpright man will now and then affoord you better councell than many wise men howbeit in matters of difficultie and deepe points of knowledge and of Faith we must alwayes haue recourse to the Wise. Caepit eijcere omnes ementes vendentes He began to cast out all the Buyers and the Sellers Zacharie prophecying of this entrance saith Ecce Rex tuus veniet tibi mansuetus Behold thy King shall come vnto thee meeke How can these two suit together Mansuetus and Triumphator gentle and yet a Conqueror Teares in his eyes and yet so angrie that hee neuer shewed himself more I haue giuen some reasons hereof in another place those that now offer themselues are these The first That Mercie and Iustice are the two Poles of Gods gouernment By those teares in his eyes and by those words of lamentation from his mouth and by moouing the hearts of that hard hearted Citie our Sauiour gaue notable proofes of his mercie But finding this insufficient to make himselfe knowne amongst them his Iustice then did display it's power by whipping those Merchants and in them the Priests who had a share in their
make it a Den of Theeues working all impietie and wickednesse in these sacred Assemblies The last reason of our Sauiours being so angrie was To see the couetousnesse that was in his Ministers Nothing mooues Gods patience more than the couetousnesse of Priests especially when they shal make a benefit to their purse from the bloud of the Alter Notable is that place of Balaam when he went to curse the People of Israell the Asse which carried him thither was willing to shew him his errour God opening his mouth and making his tongue to speake And Saint Austen strucken into amasement at the rarenesse thereof confesseth Thaâ— he knows not what greater wonder than this could possibly be immagined thaâ— that the Prophet should not bee affrighted hearing an Asse to open his mouth and reprooue him And he renders two reasons for it The one That Sorceries and Witcheries were so common in those dayes for there was not any nation that had not it's Magicians and Sorcerers as Trismegistus in Aegypt Zâ—râ—astes in Persia Orpheus in Greece besides many Sybels in diuers other countries The other That he was blinded with that good round summe of money which he was to receiue out of hand Habentes pretium diuinationis in manibus king Balack's Messengers had so greased his fists with good gold that hee minded not that so great a miracle as the talking of his Beast And this is a thing worthy the noting That Saint Hierome and Saint Austen doe not onely make him a Prophet but a holy Prophet and that his couetousnesse had thus misseled him And as Saint Peter saith Through couetousnesse shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you whose iudgement lingreth not and whose damnation slumbreth not which haue forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the sonne of Bozor who loued the wayes of vnrighteousnes but was rebuked for his iniquitie the dumbe Asse forbidding him his madnesse by speaking vnto him in a mans voyce He began to cast out all the Buyers That one man should bee able to doe more than a whole Squadron seemeth somwhat strange but that none of those whom he whipt should dare to giue him so much as a word is much more strange The first reason saith Saint Hierome which is also repeated by Thomas was That the Maiestie of the Deitie shined in his face Whither or no that in our Sauiour Christ that Maiestie were ordinarie or whither hee had then put it on for that it is a common custome with God in those disrespects done to his temple to discouer his greatnesse the more And so when he punished Heltodorus who would haue rob'd the Treasurie of the Temple wherein were deposited those moneys which belonged vnto Widdowes and Orphans the Text saith Spiritus omnipotentis Dei magnam fecit suae ostentionis euidentiam The Lord of Spirits and the Prince of all power caused a great apparition so that all that presumed to come in with him were astonished at the power of God and fainted and were sore affraid A Lyon when hee waxeth angrie sparkeleth fire forth of his eyes and with his roaring makes all the beasts of the Forrest affraid to flie from his anger The Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda was angrie his eys flamed forth fire O culi eius tanquam flamma ignis saith the Apocalyps And Saint Hierome That the beames of his wrath brake forth that he roared out with a loud voyce What make these Theeues heere in my House c. Who is able to withstand him Who can resist his rage Seneca in the Tragedie of Hercules represents him there in that mad and furious manner that making towards his sonne the verie sight of him strucke him dead Whereunto suteth that which the Prophet Abacuc saith of God Aspexit dissoluit Gentes He beheld and cloue asunder the Nations This force and power of Gods eye forced Iob to say Potestas terror apud Deum est Dominion and feare are with him The second is That great cowardise which the face of Vertue casts on that of Vice the Armies of Enemies the sight of Deuills are not more fearefull to behold There shall not in that finall day of Iudgement be any torment equall to that which the Damned shall feele when they shall see the face of our Sauiour Christ whom they scorned scoffed and reuiled Iosephs brethren were astonished when they heard hiâ— say Ego sum Ioseph I am your brother Ioseph whome yee persecuted and sould into Aegypt c. To those eyes which haue alwayes liued in darkenesse the light is most painefull vnto them And of the damned in Hell Iob saith Si subito aparuerit aurora arbitrantur vmbram mortis The morning is to them euen as the shadow of death For this cause some Doctors for their greater punishment will haue the Damned that are in Hells Dungeon lie with their faces vpward looking towards Heauen And Seneca in the Tragedie of Hercules saith That when he dragg'd Cerberus out of that darke place as soone as he saw the light he drew himselfe backe with that force that hee had almost throwne that Conquerour to the ground And in that rape of Proserpina by Pluto it is feigned That when his Coach Horses came to see the light they striued with all their might and maine to returne backe againe to Hell In like manner those glittering beames of light which brake forth from the eyes of our Sauiour Christ did dazle those of these Money-changers and made them to rest as men amased Iosephus reporteth That there were three Sects amongst the Iewes the Essei the Iebusei and the Saducei and besides these they had certaine Scribes which were their Sages or the wisest men amongst them The Greeks called them Philosophers the Chaldaeans Magi the Latines Doctors And of these there were some in euerie Tribe and in euerie Sect in euerie State as it passeth now amongst vs. Epiphanius saith That they had two Offices The one To expound the Law and to preach it to the People who came euerie Sabboth to their Synagogues as appeareth in the Acts. And as Iosephus and Philon hath it They were called Lectores Readers because they read vnto them and Scribes because they expounded the Scriptures And Esdras termes them Scribes and Readers And Saint Luke relateth That Paul Barnabas comming to Antiochia and entring into the Synagogue a Scribe read the Law and Saint Paul preached vnto the People The second Office was To be Iudges He shall be deliuered to the Princes and to the Scribes and they shall condemne him to death so saith Saint Mathew And those that presented the Adulteresse to our Sauiour Christ were the antientest of all the rest of the Sects for it appeareth in Leuiticus That they began with that Law that commanded them not to drinke wine nor any thing that might distemper them That yee may haue knowledge to discerne betwixt that which
but if the haruest be fruitfull whole loaues lie in euerie corner of the house Before that God had inriched the earth with his presence all those former yeres were barren Grace and Health were giuen vs by drammes but that yeare came at last which crowned all the rest that blessed yere of his Maiesties diuine bountie Benedices coronae anni benignitatis tuae then was Grace to the soule and health to the bodie giuen vs by Arrob's and by Quintalls Quia virtus de illo exibat sanabat omnes Whilest the night lasteth though it be cleere and the Moone shine bright yet the light is short but when the day is come and the beames of the Sunne appeare they beautifie the whole world with their light All that time was night Nox praecessit c. Secondly The shadow still comes short of the substance The Fish-poole was a figure of Baptisme it cured one to day and another tomorrow but Baptisme healed one two nay three thousand sometimes in one day c. Qui prior descendebat He that first went downe God would hereby teach vs what a thing Diligence was for the obtaining of the gifts of Grace for albeit God doth of his owne goodnesse and free gift conferre his Graces vpon vs without any merits or deseruings of our own for else were it not Grace yet doth he not bestow his blessings on those who are not willing to embrace them which will not seeke after them and striue for to winne the Garland as those doe that runne in a race and as he that makes most speed gaines the Crown so in the Fish-poole he that made most hast got his health He that first went downe Vidisti hominem velocem stauit coram Reges Kings neuer reward lazie seruants The like course God taketh his greatest fauors he throws vpon those his seruants who set not their feet on the ground for those that serue him in Heauen he will haue them to be Spirits and Flames of â—ire Qui faciâ— Angelos suos Spiritus Ministros suos Flammam ignis but those that serue him here vpon earth he calls them Clouds Qui sunt isti qui sicut nubes volant He that first went downe c. This seemeth an vnequall Law for that the disposition of the Sicke was not equall for how could he that was benumm'd and lame of his feet preuent the diligence of that man that had the vse of his leggs and he that was consumed wasted with weaknesse him that was sick of a slighter disease And those thirtie eight yeares of this poore sicke man argue the great oddes that others had of him Nor doe I know how this inequality may bee salued vnlesse that the diligence of other folkes towards those that are thus grieuously afflicted put to their helping hand and seeke to ballance them by their diligence with those that haue lesse impediment and therefore wanting those good meanes this poore man told our Sauiour Hominem non habeo I haue not a man Some men will say That God is the giuer of temporall blessings of health wealth honour and what not and that he doth no wrong in giuing or taking them away as he shall thinke fit Suting with that which he said to the Labourer in the Vineyard Amice non facio tibi iniuriam An non licet mihi facere quod volo Friend I offer thee no wrong May I not doe with myne owne what I will So that hee might you see giue this man a disposition to regaine his health and hee might likewise not giue it him Saint Paul saith Vnus accipit brauium One receiued the prize In those your Races which were vsed amongst your Graecians and your Romans many hoped to beare away the Garland but this hope did belie all of them saue one But in that Race which we runne for Heauen Omnes qui rectè currunt comprehendunt All that runne well doe gaine it is Saint Augustines And Saint Chrysostome declaring that place of Esay Omnes sitientes venite ad Aquas All yeâ— that thirst come vnto the Waters sayes That hee animates all the world to come and drinke their fill neuer fearing that that Fountaine of Grace can euer bee drawne drie Et erat homo triginta octo annos habens in infirmitate The man had beene diseased thirtie eight yeares Hee declares the long continuance of his disease to make the greatnesse of the miracle to appeare the more as he said of Lazarus when he had now beene foure dayes dead Iam faetet Hee doth alreadie stinke and of the woman that had an Issue of bloud twelue yeares long which had spent all her substance vpon Physitions and could not be healed of any and that other which had a Spirit of infirmitie eighteene yeares and was bowed together and could not lift vp her selfe in any wise Whom some interpret to be the Deuill by those words of our Sauiour This daughter of Abraham whom Sathan hath bound Eight and thirtie yeares of sickenesse would require eight and thirtie yeares of meditation And first of all let vs consider what a sad and miserable life this poore man led Animus gaudens floridam vitam facit spiritus tristis exsiccat ossa A merrie life makes a cheerefull countenance but that which is sad and mournfull withereth the flesh and not onely consumes the outward beautie but also rotteth the bones Another Letter hath it Animus gaudens benefacit medicina A ioyfull heart causeth good health but a sorrowfull mind drieth the bones A joccond mind disposeth the body as physicke nor is there any physicke for man comparable to that of Ioy. According to that which the Wise man saith in another place Nihil aliud sub Coelo quam laetari benefacere To make a cheerefull countenance there is nothing vnder Heauen like to a ioyefull heart but by the sorrow of the heart the mind is heauie In moerore animi deijcitur spiritus another Letter giues it Frangitur a man is broken thereby and grownd in pieces as corne vnder a millstone Ecclesiasticus renders the reason of it painting forth the condition of a heauy and sorrowfull soule Sicut in percursura tritici permanebit stercus c. As when one sifteth the filthinesse remaineth in the sieue so the filth of a man remaineth in his thought For as the woman that winnoweth the corne leaues nothing in the sieue but the chaffe which is as it were farinae stercus The dung of the meale so if you will but sift the thought of a sorrowfull man which is as it were the sieue and throughly winnow his good and euill dispositions the good ones quickly runne from him and the bad remaine behind But what ioy can a man take that lieth bed-ridden eight and thirtie yeares A great griefe though but short will kill the strongest man aliue Multos enim occidit tristitia Sorrow hath killed many and though it doth not
in me This word Miramini is here taken in the worser sence so Saint Chrysostome noteth it For doing this so good a deed you take me to be a transgressour of the Law but I shall prooue vnto you that your accusation is vniust Moyses dedit vobis Circumcisionem non quia ex Moyses sed ex patribus c. Moses gaue you Circumcision not because it is of Moses but of the Fathers and yee on the Sabboth day circumcise a man Moses gaue it yee but he was not the primarie and principall authour thereof for before the Law of Moses was was Circumcision The Israelites had it ex patribus of their forefathers but because it ceased in the Desert hee did afterwards restore it to it 's former vse and vertue The precept of the Sabboth was proper to the Law of Moses he was the first that did institute it till then it was not so strictly obserued Now you your selues doe circumcise on the Sabboth day obseruing the precept of your antient Fathers and yet for all this yee breake not the Law of Moses If then a Ceremonie bee lawfull which is directed to the health of the Soule Why shall not that be lawfull amongst you which cureth both soule and bodie Yee are angrie with me and seeke to kill me because I haue made a man euerie whit whole vpon the Sabboth day Quia totum hominem feci c. Qui me sanum fecit He that made me whole said vnto me Take vp thy bed and walke The Iewes being mightily incensed against our Sauiour for that which he had done it beeing the Sabboth day and a great feast with them asked the poore man in an hot and angrie fashion Who it was that bid him take vp his bed and walke hee told them Qui me sanum fecit That it was Iesus that had made him whole A disease of thirtie eight yeares old which neither Nature Art nor my good fortune could rid away from me did yeeld and render vp it selfe in an instant to the empire of him that healed me That his long lost strength and health after so long an absence returned presently backe againe at the sound of his voice and comforting those his rotten bones causing his canker'd and withered flesh to wax young againe had banished all aches and whatsoeuer other diseases from his bodie shall not I then obey him whom Sickenesse and Health doe thus obey It seemeth this poore man had plaid the theefe and stole this reason from Dauid Nonnè Deo subiecta erit anima mea quoniam ab ipso salutare meum It is reason good that I should subiect my selfe to God because from his hand comes my saluation Qui me sanum fecit He that hath done me such a happinesse and such a blessing as none others can doe the like but God why should I not obey him as God Eccè sanus factus es Behold thou art made whole c. This man Christ afterwards met withall in the Temple and said vnto him Ecce sanus factus es Behold thou art made whole This word Ecce includes in it a thousand things The first is The greatnesse of this his fauour towards him for there are some things so transcendent and beyond the reach of our reason that they who enioy them do scarce beleeue them they are so astonished and amased at them When the Angell freed Peter out of Herods prison and had led him along by the hand till he had brought him out of the Citie the Text saith Existimabat se visum videre He thought it had beene some dreame or had seene some vision or strange apparition and it was a great while after ere he was come to himselfe so wonder-strucken was he with this his strange deliuerance Secondly This particle Ecce expresseth the greatnesse of this poore mans obligation as if it should bid him looke and behold how much hee was beholding vnto God who had freed him from so desperate a disease Cum enim augentur dona rationes etiam crescunt donorum the saying is Saint Gregories The greater kindnesses the greater obligations This therefore being so great a one thou canst not chuse but thinke vpon this benefit and continually beare it in mind Homo cum in honore esset non intellexit Man when he was in honour vnderstood it not the Hebrew hath it Non pernoctauit hee did not consider well on the matter he did not throughly weigh it by meditating night and day on so great a good Thirdly This same Ecce serues him as a warning-piece to put him in mind that he is sound but not secure for if thou doost not looke well vnto thy selfe and stand strongly vpon thy guard thou maist fall from that health wherein now thou standest and be worse than thou wert before Ne deterius tibi contingat Least a worse thing happen vnto thee What can bee worse than thirtie eight yeares of sickenesse Yes Hell is worse S. Gregorie saith That God is wooâ—t to commense the chastisement of heinous and long continued sinnes in this liâ—â— and continueth them in that other so that they are as it were an entrance into Hell as it hapned to Herod who slew those innocent Babes to Antiochus and others These seeme to lie as yet but in soke and in a preparation as I may so terme it to those perpetuall torments To others Hell comes de golpe it snatches them away on a sudden ere euer they be aware of it Ducunt in bonis dies suos in puncto ad inferos descendunt They lead a merrie life they passe away their days in pleasure and in an instant they goe downe into Hell And to these men it is so much the more grieuous and painefull by how much the lesse they haue been acquainted with the miseries of a wretched life Least a worse thing c. Nor are the euills of this life euill nor the good things good Saint Chrysostome saith That God giues vs the good things of this life to the end that in them we may see a shaddow as it were of Heauen The euill That we may by them see the tracke of the cruell rigour of those hellish torments Saint Paul treating of those euills that befall the Righteous saith Quasi morientes quasi tristes quasi c. As dying as chastned as sorrowing as poore as hauing nothing He there reckoneth vp a bead-roll of many seeming ills but not euills in deed for their dying was to them liuing their sorrowing reioycing their pouertie riches and their hauing nothing a possessing of all things c. Quasi flagellum It is said of our Sauiour Christ That he made a kind of whip as it were of those little cords wherewith the Sellers in the Temple bound vp their fardles For in respect of Hell-whips the whips of this life are not whips but quasi flagella as it were whips The Scripture christneth humane troubles with the name of Waters Emitte manum
he had placed Watch-towers on this mountaine Suting with that of the Prophet Osee O yee Priests heare this Iudgement is towards yee because yee haue beene a snare vpon Mizpah and a net spred vpon Tabor The Priests and Princes catching the poore people in their snares as the Fowlers doe the birds in these two high Mountaines In a word This Mountaine is famous for verie many things but for none more than that it was honoured by our Sauiour with his presence and inriched with his glorie And for this cause Saint Bernard calls it Montem Spei The Mountaine of our hopes For he that leads a godly life here vpon earth may well hope to receiue a glorified life in Heauen Et transfiguratus est ante eos And he was transfigured before them Let vs here expound foure truths which are acknowledged by the whole bodie of Diuinitie The one That our Sauiour Christ liung amongst vs was not onely seene of vs himselfe seeing and knowing all things but was happinesse it selfe The other That he was so from the verie instant of his conception The third That being happie in Soule he must likewise be so in his body The fourth That the glorie of his Soule remained after that he had left his bodie Touching the proofe of the first Truth notable is that place of Saint Iohn No man hath seene God at any time that onely begotten Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him The Glosse hath it Who is neerest to his father not onely in respect of his loue towards him but by the bond of nature and for the vnion or one-nesse that is betweene them whereby the Father and the Son are one God reuealed him and shewed him vnto vs whereas before hee was vnder the shadowes of the Law so that the quickenesse of the sight of our mind was not able to perceiue him for whosoeuer seeth him seeth the Father also The Euangelist pretendeth here to prooue that onely our Sauiour Christ is the author of Grace and of Truth and that neither Moses nor any of the Patriarks could see God as he was himselfe which is Truth it selfe by essence but as he is the Sonne and therefore he onely can be the author thereof Men may see God in his creatures and know many of his perfections And in this sence Iob said All men see him and behold him afarre off Saint Gregorie and Saint Paul implie as much For the inuisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the world considered in his workes Men may likewise see him in some image or figure sometimes of a man sometimes of an Angell sometimes of Fire representing himselfe in those formes sometimes by the eyes of the Soule and sometimes those of the Bodie So Esay saw him I saw the Lord sitting vpon an high Throne And Iacob I saw the Lord face to face Thirdly God may be seene by Faith as the Faithfull now see him Now we see through a glasse darkely Fourthly in his humanitie Afterward he was seene vpon earth saith Buruch and dwelt among men Fiftly in himselfe and in his essence not in his creatures not in his image not in his humanitie but in himselfe Sicuti est As hee is This sight is so farre aboue all the rest that it makes men happie as also the Angels Moreouer Saint Iohn saith That with a cleere sight at least comprehensible no man euer yet saw God but by the Sonne And being that God is our happines when he is cleerely seene it followeth that our Sauiour Christ is happie The selfe same argument our Sauiour vsed to Nicodemus No man ascended to Heauen but he which descended from Heauen the Sonne of Man who is in Heauen Ye will not giue credit to these earthly things how will yee credit those then that are heauenly And condemning this their incredulitie he saith No man ascended vp into Heauen There is not any man that can make true report of the things that are there because no man hath ascended thither to see them only I who liued in Heauen and descended downe from Heauen am able to tell ye the things that are in Heauen Our being in Heauen then being all one with the seeing of God and the seeing of God beeing our happinesse it followeth that our Sauiour Christ is happie The second Truth That he was so from that verie time that hee first tooke our nature vpon him Saint Augustine collects it out of the sixtie fift Psalm Blessed is the Man whom thou chusest and receiuest vnto thee he shall dwell in thy Court and shall be satisfied with the pleasure of thy house c. The same Eusebius Caesariensis inferreth vpon the twentie second Psalme Thou art hee that tooke me out of my mothers wombe or as the Chaldee letter hath it Leuaui me in robore tuo I got vp to bee ioyned equall with God Which testimonies of Scripture are confirmed by all your Scholasticall Doctors The third Truth That our Sauior Christ must needs be happie both in soule and in bodie Iohannes Damascenus prooues it out of that strict vnion of the Diuinitie which Death it selfe cannot vndoe Saint Augustine affirmes That the glorie of the soule is naturally conueyed to the bodie as the light of a candle to a paine of glasse The fourth Truth That our Sauior Christ was transfigured by giuing licence to the glorie of his soule that it should transferre it selfe to the bodie not that glorie which he was able to giue it but that which his Disciples eyes were able to endure as it is noted by Saint Chrysostome treating on this point Et transfiguratus est And he was transfigured We haue elsewhere set downe the causes of our Sauiours transfiguration but none so often repeated by the Saints and Doctors as his discouering thereby the hidden treasures of his glorie as the reward that calls vnto vs and stayes for vs haling as it were our thoughts and hopes after it Such is the condition of man that commonly he makes interest and priuat gain the North-starre of his labours and endeauours this he thinkes on dreames of and adores But as to the Worldling the worlds wealth is his North-starre so the North-starre of the Sonne of God is the glorie of God Now our Sauiour Christ discouereth vnto vs a streake or a line as it were of that happinesse which though it doth not fully expresse vnto vs what God is yet it remooueth from vs all those difficulties which might diuert vs from his seruice And therfore Saint Ambrose saith Ne quis frangatur c. He allureth our mind with this so soueraign a good that the troubles of this life may not disquiet it nor driue it to despaire So furious are the tempests of this Sea so raging the waues and tossings too and fro of this life that if God did not temper the distasts thereof with the hope of another life
our humane eyes did see in Christ our Sauiour onely the course cassocke of our basenesse and the scorne and contempt of his owne person as Esay paints it forth Who will beleeue the gold of his Diuinitie Saint Augustine in his bookes De Ciuitate Deipunc saith That all the transformations of those gods which the Gentiles did celebrate in Birds Bulls Stones Trees Fountaines Fires and graines of Gold were directed to this end that the World should beleeue that vnder the forme of mortall men this our own proper matter lay hid some power supernaturall Who would beleeue that Christ was God if he had not giuen some glimpse of his Riches Who would haue relied vpon his protection Without some particular reuelation who would haue dreamt of his omnipotencie In a subiect so weake who would surmise it Imagine an Angell in the shape and figure of an Ant none will beleeue that this was an Angell vnlesse hee should at some time or other discouer some part of his brightnesse It was also fitting that Christ should discouer vnto vs some of those his hidden treasures to the end that those that were his might be persuaded that they might safely sleepe vnder the shadow of his wings Moses beeing employed in that businesse of Aegypt O Lord saith he whom shall I say hath sent me Ego sum quâ— sum I am that I am And anon after Ego sum Deus Abraham Deus Isaac Deus Iacob I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob Tel Pharaoh that I am that I am He that cannot not be That I am he that haue prospered protected Abraham Isaac Iacob Which was not only a making of himselfe known what he was but were likewise pledges to his people that they should lay their confidence libertie liues their persons vpon him I am that I am by my essence I am he that alwayes was and euer shall be it is I that haue power ouer euerie thing and beg nothing of any man The Princes of the earth because they are to day tomorrow and are no more they cannot giue vs any assurance of our hopes and because they haue no pledges of their own but what they borrow from others their fauours cannot be secured vnto vs For as Saint Augustine saith Remota jactantia quid sunt homines nisi homines When Princes will shew themselues in their pompe and state they borrow here and they borrow there they are no bodie vnlesse they bee accompanied with the great Lords of the Kingdome vnlesse they be attended on by a Gard of Halberdiers vnlesse they be rich and gloriously apparelled and brauely mounted In a word these are externall transfigurations and of such things as are more others than our owne but that of our Sauiour Christ was of his owne proper goods without beeing beholding to any Et resplenduit facies eius sicut Sol. And his face did shine like the Sunne In the beginning of the world God did handsell his Word with the Light for before darkenesse had ouerspread the face of this confused Chaos Tenebrae erant super faciem c. And as hee that diueth into the bottome of the sea for Pearle as he goes spurtling the oyle out of his mouth goes as it were thereby ingendering light so God by venting this word out of his mouth fiat Lux created the Light discouering thereby the essence and nature of things Some haue not stickt to say that the Light gaue the red colour to the Rubie the Greene to the Emerald and the Skie colour to the Iacinth c. And though this be not so yet so it is that without this Light these colours could not haue beene distinguished nor could we haue enioyed that humane beautie and beautifull splendor which now we doe In the Spheare of the Spirit God made another Light which was Christ our Sauiour Ego sum Lux mundi this Light doth as farre exceed the former as the Spirit doth the Body Dauid makes mention of these two Lights in that Psalme of his Coeli enarrant c. The Heauens declare thy c. Of that of the Sunne he saith Tanquam Sponsus procedens de thalamo suo This is the Bridegroome of Nature and comes forth of his Chamber cloathed all in Gold Bur that Spirituall Light is more fayre and more beautifull by farre Lex Domini immaculata id est immaculatior c. The Law of the Lord is pure that is purer c. The beames of the Sunne neuer yet had the power to pierce so far as to inlighten the Soule but those of the Sun of Righteousnesse doth both inlighten it conuert it He that tooke the day from the night and the light from darkenesse made light to breake forth from out the darkenesse of our hearts to the end that Gods fauourable countenance shining vpon vs through his Sonne we may come to the fuller knowledge of him For this Light did on t only eclipse and darken that of the Sun as that of many Torches doth a poore sorrie Candle nor onely inrich the aire with the beames of his brightnesse nor onely made a Heauen of this Mountaine by gilding the stemmes the barke the boughes and leaues of the trees as also the stones thereof with it's glorious rayes but it did likewise illumine the soules of the Disciples who from that verie instant by the euidence of such diuine demonstrations remained conuinced and euer after acknowledged him to be both God Man For albeit God cannot be seene by the eyes of the Flesh yet such signes and tokens may be seen of God that we may verie wel say that God himself is seen Physiognomie is a Science which by the signes and markes of the face doth prognosticate the inclination and propension of the Soule One that was skilled in that Art looking steadily on the face of Socrates told his Schollers That hee had the markes of a man that was ill giuen Whereunto he answered That hee said true in regard of the Starres but withall that Sapiens dominabitur Astris Looke vpon Christ our Sauiour and you shall see first of all that he hath a great inclination to our good and that hee made especiall manifestation thereof in Mount Tabor for as the angrie looke of a King is the Messenger of Death so the cheerefulnesse of his countenance declareth clemencie and life The roaring of a Lyon makes the Beasts of the Forrest affraid and the indignation of a King maketh his Vassalls to quake and tremble but his fauour is like the dew vpon the grasse Saint Ambrose saith That our Sauiour Christs appearing here like Sunne and Snow were true pledges of the great desire that he hath of our good for there is not any thing that doth make the earth so fruitfull as the Sun with his heat and the Snow with it's moysture Saint Hierome in that Epistle of his to Palmachius against the errors of Iohannes
of his life and the accursednes of his death being no way able to take hold vpon him Those verie things saith he that blind thee ought to conuince thee and to affectionate thee vnto him for none but God could doe thus much for thee And it is a lamentable case that those good things that hee did for thee that thou mightest beleeue in him and loue him should be motiues vnto thee for to offend him God hauing commanded that Ierusalem should bee re-edified after their first freedome from Babylon there were some graue men grounded in Iudaisme who misinterpreting as Saint Hierome hath noted it the prophecie of Ezechiel said Haec est lebes nos autem carnes This Citie is the caldron and we be the Flesh For God to command vs to rebuild this Citie is as if he should will vs to make a Caldron wherein to boyle our selues Of his loue they made a loathing and interpreted his fauour to be an iniurie God took this their vnthankefulnesse so ill that he quitted them the second time both of their countrie and their libertie It is you that haue made Ierusalem a Caldron of the prophets I will bring you out of the middest thereof and deliuer you into the hands of strangers yee shall fall by the sword and this Citie as yee falsly suppose shall not be your Caldron neither shall yee be the flesh in the midst thereof The same reason is repeated by the Prophet Ose I gaue yee wine wheat oyle gold and siluer but yee spent it in the seruice of the Idoll Baal therefore will I take from yee my wine my wheat c. Filius hominis tradetur The Sonne of man shall be deliuered The death of our Sauiour Christ may be considered two manner of wayes Either as a Historie Or as it is Gospell As a Historie it is so sad and so lamentable as that it cannot but cause great pittie and compassion The relation which Pilate made to the Emperor of Rome is sufficient of it selfe to melt stones into teares which was as followeth In this Kingdome there was a wonderfull strange man his behauiour beautie beyond all other in the world his discretion and wisedome coelestiall his grauitie and sobernesse of carriage beyond all comparison his words mystical the grace wherewith he deliuered them strooke his enemies with astonishment neuer any man saw him laugh weepe they haue his workes sauoured of more than man he neuer did any man harme but much good hath he done to many he healed by hundreds such as had been sicke of incurable diseases he did cast out Deuills he raised the Dead and his miracles beeing numberlesse they were done all for others good he did not worke any miracle wherein was to be seene the least vanitie or boasting in the world The Iewes out of enuie layd hold on him and with a kind of hypocrisie and outward humilitie rather seeming than being Saints trampled him vnder foot and marred his cause I whipt him for to appease their furie and the people being about to mutine I condemned him to the death of the Crosse. A little before he breathed his last hee desired of God that he would forgiue those his enemies which had nailed him to the Crosse. At his death there were many prodigious signes both in heauen and earth the Sunne was darkened and the graues were opened and the Dead arose After he was dead a foolish Iew thrust a Speare into his side shewing the hatred in his death which the Iewes bare vnto him in his life What Tragedie can bee more mournefull or what imaginarie disaster can appeare more lamentable As it is Gospel you shall see in this his death innumerabie truths First of all let not the asperousnesse and hardnesse to the way of happinesse discourage any man for hauing such a good guide as our Sauior Iesus Christ it shall though 〈◊〉 be neuer so hard to hit be made plaine and easie vnto vs Howbeit it bee elsewhere said The way to heauen is streight and inaccessable because there are few that tread in that tracke Yet now the case is altered and Saint Paul cals thus vnto vs Accedamus ad eum qui imitiauit nobis viam It will cost vs some sweat and some labour yet not so much as may dishearten vs and it shall be a wholesome sweat and a safe and sure labour Iacob saw God holding the Ladder which reached to Heauen whereunto hee set his helping hand the better to secure it to the end that euerie man as Philon hath noted it might without feare climbe vp to the top of it S. Hierome goes a little further and says That hee did not thereby onely promise safetie but helpe for God did stretch out his hand from aboue and did reach it forth vnto those that were willing to get vp According to that of Dauid Emitte manum tuam de alto i. Send out thy hand from aboue Lysias when he had gathered about fourescore thousand Foot with all the Horsemen he had he came against the Iewes thinking to make Ierusalem an habitation of the Gentiles and because of his great number of Footmen his thousands of Horsemen and his fourescore Elephants the Captains and Souldiers of Gods people were quite out of heart making prayers with weeping and teares before the Lord That hee would send a good Angell to deliuer Israell And as they were besides Ierusalem there appeared before them vpon horsebacke a man in white cloathing shaking his harnesse of gold Then they praised the mercifull God all together and tooke heart insomuch that they were readie not onely to fight with men but with the most cruell beasts and to breake downe walls of yron Marching then forward in battell array hauing an helper from heauen running vpon their enemies like Lyons they slew eleuen thousand footmen and sixteene hundred Horsemen and put all the other to flight Another Horseman was he that Saint Iohn saw vpon a white Horse bearing this for his Motto Vincens vt vinceret Which takes from vs all feares of atchieuing the victorie for Heauen Secondly it assureth vs That he that offereth vs so much can denie vs nothing he could not well giue vs more nor would hee giue vs lesse than that which he hath alreadie so liberally bestowed vpon vs. Yet this gift may receiue increase as Saint Bernard hath noted it according to the manner of it For in all things whatsoeuer are to be considered the thing What and the thing How or Why the Accident and the Substance and sometimes Gods Attributes doe shine more in the Accident than in the Substance Whence I inferre That he that gaue so much with so much loue and sees that it is all cast away and that his loue is so ill requited it is not much if he be much offended with vs. Ergo in vacuum laborani c. In vaine then haue I laboured and to no purpose haue I spent my strength Whom will it not grieue
fley off the skinne from them and breake their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the Caldron They shall cry vnto me saith the Lord in the time of their trouble but I will not heare them I will euen hide my face from them at that time because they haue done wickedly in their workes O that men should be so vnnaturall as to â—lay the skinne from the flesh and then presently to teare the flesh from the bone God puts a poore man into pouertie but he doth not â—lay him nor kill him but the rich man does thus tormenting him anew whom God hath alreadie punished enough Because they haue smitten those whome I haue smitten and haue added new wounds to those that I haue alreadie inflicted vpon them The third circumstance is taken out of Iob where he treateth of another rich man like vnto this of whom we now speake of Non remansit de cibo eius propterea nihil permanebit de bonis eius There shall none of his meat be left and there shall bee no memoriall of his goods When he shall be filled with his aboundance he shal be in paine and the hand of all the Wicked shall assaile him he shall bee about to fill his bellie but God shall send vpon him his fierce wrath shall cause to raine vpon him euen vpon his meat He shall flie from the Yron Weapons and the Bow of Steele shall strike him through the Arrow is drawne out and commeth forth of the bodie and shineth out of his gall so feare commeth vpon him All darkenesse shall bee hid in his secret places the fire that is not blowne shall deuoure him and that which remaineth in his Tabernacle shall be destroyed The Heauen shall declare his wickednesse and the Earth shall rise vp against him the increase of his house shall goe away it shall flow away in the day of his wrath This is his portion from God the heritage that he shall haue of God For he that was so vnmercifull that he would not affoord the crummes that fell from his Table to the Poore shal be so far from enioying the least good though it be but a drop of water that God will rather cause him to vomit vp those good things which he hath eaten in this life He hath deuoured substance and he shall vomit it for God shall draw it out of his bellie Hee shall vomit it forth with a great deale of paine if he shall call for drinke the Deuills shall say vnto him Spew vp that which thou hast drunke if for meat Vomit vp that which thou hast eaten He shall sucke the gall of Aspes and the Vipers tongue shall slay him He shall not see the riuers nor the Flouds and Streames of Honey and Butter Hee shall restore the labour and deuoure no more euen according to his substance shall be his exchange and he shall enioy iâ— no more For he hath vndone many hee hath forsaken the Poore and hath spoyled houses which hee builded not surely he shall find no quietnes in his bodie neither shal he reserue of that which he desired Factum est autem vt moreretur mendicus But it came to passe that the Begger died First Lazarus dies for God euermore makes more hast to drie vp the teares of the Iust than the plaints of the Sinner Ad vesperum demorabitur fletâ—â— c. Their teares shall continue to the euening c. Amongst many reasons which the Saints doe render Why Gods Iustice comes commonly with a leaden foot that of Saint Gregorie is an excellent one which is That so great is the wretchednesse which waits vpon a Reprobate that it is not much that God should permit him to enioy some few yeares more of his miserable and vnhappie happinesse A pittifull Iudge is woont sometime to deferre the Delinquents sentence of death but when carelesse of his doome he sees him game eat and sleepe he sayes Let him alone and let him make himselfe as merrie as he can for this world will not last long with him for his destruction is at hand and the stroke of death hangs ouer his head and when it comes it will come suddenly vpon him Many great sinners liue to be verie old men before they die and the reason of it is for that God who is a God of patience suffers them to liue here the longer for that after their death a bitter portion remaineth for them Et portaretur ab Angelis And he was carried of Angells Euerie torment is so much the more cruell by how much the more it suffereth in the extreames that are opposite thereunto Iob pondering that of Hell saith That those that are there tormented passe from snow to fire Ab aquis niuium ad nimium colorem The like succeedeth in content which is so much the greater by how much we goe from a greater sorrow to a greater joy Such then was the condition of Lazarus passing from the pawes of Dogs to the hands of Angells from the Portch of a Tyrant to the bosome of Abraham from the greatest miserie to the greatest happinesse that they who were euen the most blessed did then enioy The Dogs in Scripture is the symbole or hierogliphick of a most filthie vile and base thing Abner sayd vnto Ishbosheth Am I a Dog that thou thus despisest mee The Poet giues him this beastly Epithite Obsaenoque Cane And Saint Mathew by way of scorne Non licet sanctum dare Canibus But the Angells are the noblest of all other creatures and the purest for God molded them with his owne hands So that Lazarus went from the vilest and the basest to the cleanest and the noblest hands Saint Chrysostome reports of the Roman Triumphants That some entred Rome in Chariots drawne with pyde Horses others with Elephants others with Lyons and others with Swannes but the Chariot of Apollo was drawne by swift and nimble footed Gynnets There was a Tyrant that had his Chariot drawne with those Kings that hee had conquered But Lazarus his Chariot did far exceed all these for this was drawn by the hands of Angells Sabellicus saith That when Tullyes banishment was reuersed they bore him throughout all Italy vpon their shoulders Totius Italiae humeris eâ—ectus est Dauid saith That Gods Chariot is drawne with Cherubines Ascendit super Cherubim volauit God then lending Lazarus this his Chariot it is no meruaile if in a trice hee flew vp into the bosome of Abraham Sâ—lomon when he was proclaimed King rode on his Fathers Mule Mordechâ—i for his more honour was mounted on Assuerus his owne Horse but Lazarus to surpasse these went in triumph to heauen in Gods owne Chariot This must needs breed a great confusion and amasement in this rich man that the Angells should carrie him being dead into heauen on whom he would not vouchsafe to looke nor bestow a morcell of bread being aliue And he was carried of Angels
One Angel was enough to ouerthrow a mountaine one onely sufficeth to mooue these coelestiall Orbes but it is Saint Chrysostomes note That Euerie one was glad to put a helping hand to so worthie a burthen â— this As many earnestly thrust themselues forward to beare a foot a leg or an arme of some great Monarch In â—inum Abrahae Into the bosome of Abraham Some vnderstand by this his bosome the neerest place about Abraham As in that of the Euangelist All the Apostles supt with our Sauiour Christ but Saint Iohn onely leaned his head in his bosome And in that other Vnigenituâ— qui est in sinu patris c. The onely begotten who is in the bosome of the Father As also that A dextris At his right hand So likewise Many shall lie downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob And the Church singeth Martinus Abrahae sinu laetus excipitur Mortuâ—s est autem Diues sepultus est But the rich man died and was buried The Greeke makes there a full point and then presently goes on In inferno autem cum esseâ— in tormentis But when he was in hell in torment But of Lazarus it is not said That they buried him whither it were for that he had no buriall at all or for that beeing so poore and miserable a creature Earth made no mention of him as Heauen did not of the rich man But we read of the rich man Sepultus est He was buried Hitherto did reach the jurisdiction of his riches and the peculiar of his prosperitie great Ceremonies watchfull attendance about his Corps many Mourners Doles to the Poore Tombes of Alabaster Vaults paued with Marble Lamentations odoriferous Ointments pretious Embalmings Funerall Orations solemne Banquets In all this I confesse the rich man hath a great aduantage of him that is poore But in this outward pompe lies all the rich mans happinesse and when hee hath entred the doores of darkenesse and is shut vp in his graue like the Hedge-hogge hee leaues his Apples behind him and nothing remaines with him but the prickles of a wounded conscience his howlings his lamentations weeping gnashing of teeth and whatsoeuer other torments Hell can affoord Diuitiarum jactantia quid contulit nobis The ostentation and glory of riches what good doth it bring vnto vs O would to God that I had bin some poore Sheepheard O how too late haue I fallen into an account of myne owne hurt O World would to God I had neuer knowne thee He died and was buried There is no felicitie so great that can diuert the euill of Death let the rich man liue the yeares of Nestor the ages of Methusalem in the end hee must descend into the graue The cleerest Heauen must haue it's Cloud and the brightest day must haue it's night the Sunne though neuer so shining must haue it's setting the Sea though neuer so calme must haue it's storme If the good things of this life were perpetuall they that are in loue with them might pretend some excuse but beeing that worldly pleasure is a Wheele that is alwayes moouing a Riuer that is alwayes running a Mill that is alwayes going and grinding vs to dust How canst thou settle thy selfe sure thereupon The highest places are the least secure the Moon when she is at the full foretells a waine and the Sunne when it is at the heigth admits a declination the house the higher it is built the more subiect it is to falling And the Nest saith Abdias that is neerest to the Starres God doth soonest throw it downe The rich man died He tells not how he liued but how he died for death is the eccho of mans life and he hauing led so cruell and so mercilesse a life what good could he hope for at his death Quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui laboraui in gemitu meo c. The first part Reason prooueth vnto vs The second Weeping howling In my life time I aske God forgiuenesse for my sinnes For the man that is vnmindfull of this in his life God doth not thinke on him at his death Many call vpon God at the houre of their death and it makes a mans haire to stand an end to see a man carelesse in so dangerous a passage only because Death is the eccho of our life Others will cal vpon Iesus but as that crucified Theefe that dyed without deuotion For that heart which is hard in his life is likewise hard in his death Cum esset in tormentis When he was in torment c. Here is an indefinite tearme put for a vniuersall For albeit euery one of the damned doe suffer the full measure and weight of his sinnes and acording to Saint Austen and Saint Gregory suffer most in that particular wherein they most offended And that therefore the rich man did suffer more in his tongue than any other member of his bodie yet notwithstanding there is not any one that is dâ—mned which doth not generally suffer in all his whole bodie and in euery part of his soule For as Heauen is a happinesse that imbraceth all happinesse so Hell is a misery that includeth all miseries There was neuer yet any tyrant in the world in whose prisons and dungeons all torments were inflicted at once But in that of Hell there is not any torment which is not felt at one and the same instant The body that shall generally suffer And for this fire and cold will suffice which are generall torments The soule shall likewise generally suffer sorrow and paine not only because the fire shall burne it which though corporall yet shall it's flames haue an operatiue vertue and working vpon the soule but because all hope being lost of any kind of joy whatsoeuer there shall therein be deposited all the reasons that may be of sorrow and of miserie Likewise there shall be particular torments for the sences of the bodie for the faculties of the soule the eyes shall enioy so much light as shall serue to see fearefull Visions so sayes Cirillus Alexandrinus and on the other side they shall suffer such thicke and palpable darknesse that they shall imagine them to be the ghastly shadowes of death Saint Chrysostome saith That they shall see the huge and infinite numbers of the Damned taking notice of all those that conuersed with them in their life time as fathers grandfathers brothers and friends And if the varietie multitude that are in a deep dungeon if the ratling of their chains the clattring of their shackles their hunger their nakednesse the noyse coyle confusion which they make cause a horrour in as many as both see and heare it what a terrour then will it be to see the miserable torments and to heare the fearefull shriâ—kes and pittifull outcries of those that are damned to the bottomlesse pit of hell The eares will suffer with their howlings their lamentations their blasphemies their cursings their ragings their dispairings
do than to keepe it cleane from Thornes and to gather and enioy the Fruits thereof wherin this Master of a family shewed the great care he had of his house treating therein touching mans good the slight account that man made of this his happinesse and felicitie When God created the World he tooke not vpon him the name of an Husbandman nor did he take any paines in the creating of it for he but sayd the word and it was done Ipse dixit facta sunt But this Vineyard of the Church it cost him the paines of planting it of compassing it in with a hedge of digging a pit for the Winepresse of building a Tower in it besides the life of many of his seruants as also of him Quem acquisiuit sanguine suo This was a new Noah with whom that former old Noah was not to bee compared For that giuing an end to a yong world though grown old in sin destroyed the people but not their wickednesse but this did vtterly ouerthrow the Kingdome of sinne drowning it in the floud of his bloud and gaue the first beginning to the life of Grace Whence followeth the firmenesse and perpetuitie of the Church for being founded vpon so sure a Foundation who can ouerthrow it Supra dorsum meum fabricauerunt peccatores Another letter hath it Arauerunt aratores The Ploughers ploughed furrowes on my backe Alluding to that which was then in vse for signing out the scituation and circuit of some Citie Romulus tooke that course when he founded Rome Vrbem signauit aratro So sayes the Poet. Whom Saint Augustine also citeth But this Citie which hath on the one side Heauen for it's prop and on the other the shoulders of our Sauiour Christ What firmenesse and prosperitie must it enioy And onely because Christ doth cherish water it not only with his own most pretious bloud but with that of so many Martyrs Plutarch reporteth That those of Eliopolis dranke no wine beeing persuaded that wine was the bloud of those Gyants which made warre against Heauen of whose bodies beeing buried in the earth sprang your Vines And therefore when Alexander dranke much wine Antocides would say vnto him I pray Sir consider that yee drinke the bloud of the earth These are all lies yet may very well suit with this our truth for wee are to vnderstand That the Vines of the Faithfull sprang and grew vp from the bloud of that Gyant of whom Dauid said Exultauit vt Gygas adcurrendam viam For that Morall That the sprinkling of the bloud of those two Louers should giue colour ripenes to the Fruit is a meere fable but that the bloud of our Sauiour Christ should so season these wild Vines as to make them to bring forth aboundance of fruit is a knowne truth Whence it is to be noted that whither it be that these Vines do represent the faithful or whither or no because the wine thereof is turned into the bloud of our Sauiour Christ the Deuill beares so great a hatred to the sprigs and branches of the Vine that there is not any thing that your Witches abhorre stand more in feare of As you may read in Petrus Gregorius in his Bookes De Republica Plutarch saith That your Vinestockes being watred with wine drie and wither away But the Vines of the Faithfull being besprinkled with the wine of the bloud of Christ grow vp and fructifie the better Vinum germinans Virgines it ingendreth noble thoughts The Poet inuites Aeneas and calls vnto him in this sweet kind of language Sate sanguine Diuum But more noblenesse doth a Christian enioy in that Sate sanguine Christi Seneca saith That the noblenesse of bloud eleuateth our thoughts And God saith by the mouth of Hose That if the Israelites shall returne vnto him that they shall flourish as the Vine and the sent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon With the firmenesse of the Church sutes that fable of Atlas who vpheld heauen with his shoulders but when Hercules saw he began to groane vnder so great a burthen he came in to helpe him yet for all this was not Heauen safe vnderpropped by his shoulders But the Edifice of the Church bore vp by our Sauiour Christ shall continue for euer Erumpet radix eius vt Libani stabilietur An Interpreter vpon this place of Osee saith It shall stand as firme as the Root of Mount Lebanon which shall take such a deepe rooting that all the Deuils in hel shall not preuaile against it Locauit Agricolis He let it out to husbandmen God is the onely true Lord of this Vineyard the rest are but Farmers and Renters Philon prooueth That all of vs in this life enioy but another bodies wealth and that wee haue the vse thereof but not the proprietie Saint Chrysostome That saith he is myne which no man can take from me in this sence neither is my life nor my wealth nor my health mine owne c. Our life saith Cicero God hath onely lent it vs without appointing any set place of payment which he may demaund of vs at what time it pleaseth him And so in the rest wee dayly find the like experience Your Emperours saith Horace we call Rerum terrenarum Dominos Lords of the earth But this is but mans flatterie for they haue not the true dominion of these earthly things but onely the vse of them And hence was it that our Sauiour Christ did infer Si in alieno infideles fuistis quod vestrum est Quis credet vobis If yee were vnfaithfull in that wealth honour health and beautie which are anothers goods Who will relie vpon the loue of your good will which is your owne Saint Paul teacheth vs this Lesson Qui gaudent tanquam non gaudentes qui flent tanquam non flentes Those that reioyce let them reioyce as though they did not reioyce and those that weepe let them weepe as though they did not weepe For on strange occasions and such as belong to other men we ought not to bee ouertaken with too much either griefe or joy Thou goest to see the Kings or Queenes Almoneda or either of their Iewell-houses doe not thou joy much therein for those riches are none of thine and thou must of force presently forgoe them And therefore Philon saith That the goods of this life are anothers not ours and that wee doe but onely rent them ad voluntatem Domini At the will and pleasure of the Lord. Touching the disasters of this world Epictetus saith Doe not say I haue lost such a thing for it is an improper kind of language but rather say I haue returned it backe againe and from this ignorance growes our melanchollie Seneca tells vs That he that will not be content that God should be sole Lord of all is vniust He that thinkes himselfe wronged when a man askes him that which he hath lent him is a couetous wretch He that esteeming a
ouerladen with Taxes when they are not able to beare them Giue that Kingdome for lost The wicked shall be cut-off from the Earth and the transgressors shall bee rooted out of it Daniel pronounceth as much God changeth times and ages he translateth kingdomes and establisheth them The most high beareth rule ouer the kingdome of men and giueth it to whomsoeuer he will And those that walke in pride hee is able to abase And in the fourth chapter He setteth vp a meane man in their steed The examples of this in Gods people are more in number than the starres of Heauen We see the house of Ieroboam destroyed and vtterly rooted out by the hands of Baasha That of Baasha by Zambri and that of Ahab by Iehu In the land of promise God tooke away one and thirtie Kingdomes from those Kings and bestowed them on his owne people Alios laborauerunt vos in laborem eorum introistis Others tooke the paines and yee reap't the profit But he did deferre the possession of these for some few yeares because the sinnes of the Amorites were not yet come vnto their heigth Salmanazer carried away tenne of the Tribes captiue to the land of the Medes Nebuchadnezzar destroyd the City and Temple of Ierusalem and leading the people away captiue vnto Babilon he left the land wast and desolate as it appeareth in the Lamentations of Ieremie Haereditas nostra versa est ad alienos Our inheritance is turned ouer vnto strangers The Monarchy of the Assirians and Babilonians was transferred to the Medes and Persians that of the Persians to the Grecians and Macedonians and that of the Macedonians to the Romans as was prophecied by Daniel in that prodigious Statua which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dreame The Empire of Constantinople was translated to the Ottoman Family In a word numberlesse are those Kingdomes which haue suffered their alterations and translations Their sinnes beeing the onely cause of this their change Secondly He aduiseth those of the middle sort on whome God hath bestowed wealth houses honours and health wherewithall conueniently to passe this life of theirs That they proue not vngratefull vnto God For he knowes as well how to take away from them as to giue to them all these his good blessings and to bring them by meanes neuer dreamt of to the Hospitall and to shamefull pouertie and dishonour According to that saying vttered by God himselfe They that despise me shall be despised As also by the mouth of Osee. This People doth not acknowledge that I giue them Wine Wheate and Oyle and therefore I shall make them to acknowledge it by taking these things from them leauing them poore hungrie and miserable Thirdly Hee aduiseth the Faithfull to procure to preserue the goods of Grace and the right and hope which they haue in the Kingdome of Heauen lest God should translate the same to a Nation that should bring forth better fruit leauing them in the darkenesse of errours heresies without Priests without Sacraments without Scriptures without God and passing these his good graces ouer to a People that haue not knowne his Law For though God chops and changes Kingdomes yet hee neuer takes away his Riches and his blessings Tene quod habes â—e alius accipiat Coronam tuam Hold fast that thou hast lest another come and take thy Crowne from thee It is Saint Iohns in his Apocalyps God remooued Adam out of Paradice God will raise seed out of stones and make barren places to bring forth fruit Et dabitur Genti facienti fructum And it shall be giuen to a Nation that shall bring forth fruit The Princes of the earth takes away the wealth of one of his Ministers giues it to another puts away a bad seruant takes in a worse remooues a full fed Flie and claps a leane Carrion in his roome Ioshuah tooke ten stones out of Iordan and put other ten in the places of them This is a figure of the Worlds Reformation Offices are euerie day chopt and changed twelue pibble Stones are rowled out of the Court and twelue others are tumbled in in their stead But God is of another kind of temper he makes choice of a people that shall bring forth Fruit Hee takes the Kingdome from Saul giues it vnto Dauid I will giue it to one that is better than thy selfe Hee toke away the Priesthood from Shebna who grew fat therein like a Capon in a Coope and gaue it to Eliakim Who was as it were a father of the Inhabitants of Ierusalem The sons of Ely died and Samuel succeeded in the Priesthood Suscitabo mihi Sacerdotem fidelem I will raise vnto me a faithfull Priest God raise vs vp all to newnesse of life and let not our vnthankfulnesse cause him to thrust vs out of this vineyard which he hath planted for vs but that we may return him some fruits thereof that he may be glorified here by vs on Earth and we receiue from him a Crowne of eternall glory in Heauen THE SEVENTEENTH SERMON VPON THE SATVRDAY AFTER THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT LVC. 15. Homo quidam habuit duos filios A certaine man had two Sonnes c. AMongst the rest of the Parables this Parable is treated of and is diuided into foure parts The first relates the resolution of an idle young fellow desirous to see the world and to haue his fathers leaue to trauell The second His vnaduised actions lewd courses lauish expences and the miseries that befell him thereupon The third The consideration of his own wretched estate his returning home to his fathers house all totter'd and torne weake and hungerstarued The fourth His fathers kind reception of him and the joy that he took in this his lost sonne This followes verie fitly that former Parable of the Vineyard That being full of feare this of hope That of the rigour of justice this of the regalos of mercie That checkes a sinner in his sinnes this spurs him on to repentance And these are those two Poles whereon the whole gouernement of God dependeth A certaine man had two sonnes In these two sons are represented vnto vs the just and the sinnefull man For this life is a Net which holds all sorts of fishes it is an heape of Corne where the Chaffe is mixed with the Wheat it is a flock of Sheep and Goats a bodie consisting of contrarie humors a ground of good seed and of tares All are the sonnes of God by creation but not by adoption Fathers may haue sonnes alike in fauour but not in conditions Adam to his Abel had a Caine Noah to his Shem had a Cham Abraham to his Isaac had an Ismael Isaac to his Iacob had an Esau Dauid to his Salomon had an Absalon and Salomon himselfe had a Rehoboam So haue most men that haue many children and God himselfe hath some crosse froward and peruerse children Adolescentior ex illis The younger of them The
the heart of this people bee made blind and their eares dull Cum ejecisset Daemonium locutus est mutus When the Deuill was gone out the Dumbe spake The Deuill was first to be driuen out before the Dumbe could speake First The dore or the window is to be opened that the light may come in First you must turne the cocke of the Conduit or plucke out the stopple before the water can gush out The penitent man must first cast the Deuill out of his bosome before hee can make any good Confession First the Preacher must cast him out of his heart before hee can preach any sound Doctrine What confession can a Sinner make while the Deuill dwells in his soule What sorrow or feeling can hee haue of his former faults What purpose of amendment for the future What acknowledgement of the heinousnesse of his crimes What shame or what feare of offending Antiently men did confesse themselues only vnto God to whom euery secret of the heart was so open that mans thought and intention was sufficient with the penitent his condemning himselfe by his own mouth Yet notwithstanding Ezechias said I will recount all my yeares in the bitternesse of my soule And Dauid Anni mei sicut araneae meditabuntur With that care and melancholie wherewith the spiders weaue their webs drawing euery thred out of their owne bowells so will I meditate on the yeares of my life drawing out threds of sorrow and repentance for euerie fault that I shall commit from the bottome of my heart If thou canst be content to imploy all thy sences for the good of thy bodie not do the like for thy soule thou doost therein wrong thy soule heauen and God Thou weepest and wailest for the losse of these earthly goods but shedst not a teare for the losse of those rich treasures of heauen Two things are inioyned the penitent The one a full and intire Confession The other a strict examination of their owne conscience And that so strict as may befit so great and waighty a businesse as is the saluation of the Soule and then may the Dumbe speake and the Preacher preach For if the Deuill be still pulling him by the sleeue what good crop can he render vnto God of his Hearers What light can hee giue to his Auditorie who is himselfe possessed by the Prince of Darknes Open thou my lips o Lord I shal set forth thy praise do thou pardon me my sins I shal sincerely preach thy Word The Scribes Pharisees who were teachers but not doers of the Law Ieremy cals them false Scribes What they wrought with their pen they blotted out with their works The like kind of fault that partie committeth who singeth Psalms vnto God in the Quire and yet hath the Deuill in his brest And then how different must this mans thoughts be from his words He can hardly say Confitebor tibi Domine in toto corde meo I will confesse vnto the Lord with my whole heart as long as he hath giuen himselfe ouer vnto Sathan The Dumbe spake This man prostrating himselfe at our Sauiours feet might verie well say Blesse the Lord ô my Soule and all that is in mee praise his holy Name The Lord looseth them that are bound the Lord inlightneth the Blind Praise the Lord ô my Soule I will praise the Lord in my whole life A Sinner that truly repents himselfe and that sees himselfe freed from the Deuill and from Hell is neuer satisfied with giuing thankes vnto God and in praising his holy Name as oft as hee considers the great mercie which God hath shewed towards him Saint Augustine saith That although the creating of Angells and the justifying of Soules doe equally argue Gods great power yet the second is an act of farre greater mercie He casteth out Deuills through Beelzebub the chiefe of the Deuills Origen Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose say That the Deuills haue their studies and their cares apart This is their first Tenent Some say they treat of Auarice some of Luxurie others of Ambition others of Reuenge some perturbe mens minds occasioning great sorrow others excesse of foolish joy and mirth Secondly They hold That in euerie one of these seuerall vices there is a superiour Deuill which hath command ouer many that are inferiour vnto him And he that is the Chiefetaine of one of these Legions is not obedient to any Saint whatsoeuer except him that excells in humilitie whose lowlinesse of mind may be able to incounter with his pride of heart S. Marke relateth That our Sauiour deliuering one ouer that was possessed of a Deuill to his Disciples to the end that they should make him whole howbeit they had boasted That Deuills also were subiect vnto them yet they could not doe it Afterwards asking Iesus the cause of their not curing him hee answered Such kind of Deuills as these are not cast out but with Prayer and fasting This Deuill should seeme to be a Prince of some Legion and none could doe any good vpon him saue such Saints of God as were wonderfull meeke and humble and with Fastings did beat downe the bodie of sinne and by frequent and feruent prayer prostrate their Soules Thirdly Many of these deuils do possesse diuers parts of the body which correspond with that vice which they are subiect to And as the soldier who sealing a wall or a fort stickes his dagger or his Pike in some part of the wall where hee meanes to get vp so the Deuill seekes to pitch his standard there where hee may aduance it with most ease and most to his honour and glorie Alfegor that dishonest Deuill domineeres most in the Loyns as it is noted by Saint Gregorie in his Exposition of that place vpon Iob Virtus eius in lumbis eius His strength lies in his loynes Pluto the Prince of Couetousnesse raignes most in the hands Our Sauiour Christ healed a hand that was withered signifying thereby That it was a couetous hand and yeelded not the fruit of good workes Beelzebub who is the Prince of Pride rules principally in the head This Beelzebub by interpretation is the Prince of Flies whither it were or no that they gaue him this name in regard of those many Flies which his Sacrifices did breed or whither it were because the Acharonitae did presume that he had freed them from certaine filthie and loathsome Flies or for that the Flies are alwayes buzzing about the head and face or because the Deuill and these Flies are much alike in their euil disposition According to that of Salomon Muscu morientes perdunt suauitatem â—â—guenti Dead Flies doe marre the sweetnesse of the Oyntment or for that the Flie is the Emblem of a proud Deuill Ipse est Rex super omnes filios superbiae This Deuill is a proud daring Deuill proud in his Motto Similis ero Altissimo I will bee like to the most High and proud in that his proffer To haue
the King of Kings our Sauiour Christ to doe him homage Hâ—c omnia tibi dabo si cadens adoraueris me All these things will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me Or whither he were so called for that other attribute of his to wit his daringnesse and his audaciousnesse Nihil audacius musca Nothing bolder than a Flie And for this cause saith Homer did the Lacedemonians beare Flies for their Deuice in their Shields which is confirmed by Pierius The Deuill occupieth the North I will set in the sides of the North. From the North commeth all euill Your Flies they doe the like Plinie saith That your Bees are forced to forsake their hiues and to flie out of your Northerne parts for the trouble that the Flies there giue them The Deuill is importunate impudent neuer ceaseth neuer growes wearie with tempting vs And no lesse vexatiue and troublesome are your Flies Saint Gregorie calls these our sensuall imaginations Flies Pierius reporteth That to the importunate man they gaue the name of Flie And there is no such busie bodie as the Deuill Lastly Your Flies doe abound most in the Dog dayes and the greater is the heat of our sensualities the greater store of Deuills it hatcheth Of Marie Magdalen Saint Luke saith That our Sauiour Christ cast out of her seuen Deuills And howbeit there were other great Gods amongst the Gentiles according to Vatablus his report as one Balberid that is Dominus Fideus that presideth in al kind of dealing and contractations in Innes and Victualling houses and was so rich an Idoll by reason of the great Almes and deuotions which your Traders and dealers in the world did offer vnto him that by the helpe thereof Abimelech killing seuentie of his brethren carried away the Kingdome of Israell There was likewise one Belfegor who did command in Chiefe in Gluttonie and was a verie poore Idoll in regard that they who were deuoted vnto him spent all that they could rape and wring in bellie-cheere and gourmandizing Notwithstanding all these Beelzebub whom they likewise called the God of Acharon was more famous than all the rest of that rabble And the Prophets for to diuert the People from the adoration of these Idolls did impose infamous names vpon them as Beelzebub God of the Flies And the People wondred Acknowledging That they had neuer seen so prodigious a miracle in Israel Nunquam apparuit sic in Israel Insomuch that some of them whispered amongst themselues That he was the Sonne of God Nunquid â—ic est Filius Dei others did desire signes from Heauen others said In Beelzebub c. Saint Hierome saith That this was that Deuill which deceiued Eue as also he that tempted our Sauiour Iesus Christ. But here is to be seene a greater miracle than this That Christ giuing sight to this one blind man should leaue so many others more blind than he Which made Esay crie out Obstupescite admiraâ—ini Stay your selues and wonder they are blind and make you blind It were able to strike a man into amasement to see that a poore sillie old woman should see the light of Heauen and the blind likewise that is borne blind and that the Scribes and Pharisees should continue so blind as they doe The heart that is hardned is like vnto the Anuile which the more you beat vpon it the harder it waxeth Or like vnto sand which the more the waters wash it the closer it settles and growes the tougher Of Nabals heart the Scripture saith Mortuum est cor eius factum est quasi lapis That his heart dyed within him and that he was like a stone Saint Bernard giues vs fiue markes by which wee may know the hardnesse of a mans heart The first Neque compunctione scinditur It is not toucht with compunction It hath no feeling of it's hurt and perdition Our Sauiour healing one that was possest with a Deuill Suspiciens Caelum ingemuit Casting his eyes vp to Heauen he wep't and lamented mourning for him that mourned not for himselfe Alexander would haue killed himselfe for hauing killed his friend Clitus Lâ—â—cretia stab'd her selfe when she saw she had lost her honesty But the sinner is not sencible of farre greater losses than these The second Nec pietate mollitur It is not mollified with Gods Pitie and Mercie towards it The clemencie which he showeth towards it ought to reduce it to repentance But it despiseth as Saint Paul saith the riches of his goodnesse and longanimitie And these are riches that are treasured vp to their owners condemnation God treasures vp Mercie for thee and thou treasurest vp Wrath against the day of Vengeance All which shall turne to thine owne hurt The third Nec mouetur precibus It is not mooued with prayers and intreaties Tota die sayth Esay c. I haue spred out mine hand all the day long to a rebellious people The selfe same words are repeated againe by Saint Paul To begge with hands lifted vp is a ceremony which men vse with God God sayth that he vseth the like with men as if he were Man and Man God The fourth Flagellis induratur Like that of Pharaoh The more hee is punished the more his heart is hardned According to that of Iob Cor eius indurabitur quasi lapis stringetur quasi malleatoris incus His heart shall be hardned as a stone or as the anuile that is hammered on by the Smith Whereunto suteth that of Ieremy Indurauerunt facies suas super Petram They haue made their faces harder than a stone The fifth Inhumanum propter res humanas Inhumane to it selfe for humane commodities Who like Narcissus being in loue with their owne beautie will rather dye than forsake so vaine a shadow Of these men it may bee sayd Wee haue made a league with Death and a couenant with Hell The appointed time shall ouertake these men or some disperat sickenesse shall cease vpon them Thou shalt preach to one of these obstinat sinners That he confesse himselfe make his peace with God by acknowledging his sinnes by being hartily sorry for the same and by crauing pardon and forgiuenesse of God But his answere will be What Shall men thinke that I doe it out of feare No I am no such coward c. All these conditions are summed vp in those which our Sauiour vttered of the euill judge Nec Deum timeo nec homines Vereor I feare neither God nor Man Others tempted him seeking a signe from Heauen From this varietie of opinions Saint Austen inferreth the little reckoning that we are to make as well of mens iudgements as their iniuries For mine owne part leauing Saint Austen herein to your good likings Let not mine owne conscience condemne mee before God all the rest I account as nothing What sayth Esay Nolite timere opprobrium hominum Feare not the affronts and calumnies of men And Christ giues you a verie good
made hast to forsake those bodies they possessed Saint Ierome saith That our Sauiour Christ speaketh here of this imprisonment How can any one enter into the strong mans c. Fourthly By our Sauiour Christs death did the Deuill seeke to shake off this his feare and cowardise by mustring vp all the rest of his forces God so permitting it that the Victorie might bee the more glorious and the more famous This is that which our Sauiour Christ sayd vnto the Pharisees as ministers of Hell This is your very houre and the power of darkenesse But after this hee remained in straighter imprisonment than before As you may read in the Apocalips I saw an Angell come downe from Heauen hauing the key of the bottomelesse-pit and a great chaine in his hand And hee tooke the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Deuill and Satan and he bound him a thousand yeares And cast him into the bottomelesse-pit and sealed the doore vpon him that he should deceiue the people no more til the thousand yeares were fulfilled for after that he must be loosed for a little season By these thousand yeares the Saints doe vnderstand that space or terme of time which is to be before the comming of Antechrist and those effects which did succeed after the death of our Sauiour Christ prooue that till then his imprisonment was to be more straight and that the Angell did not onely tye a chaine to his feete but also put a barnacle about his rongue and a ring in his nosthrils that not onely the strongest men should escape his snares but those that were little children and tender infants When the vncleane spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through drie places seeking rest and when he findeth none he sayth c. Euthimius hath obserued That our Sauiour Christs casting out of the Deuills the Euangelists call it a going or comming foorth Exibant ab eo daemonia clamantia per loca in aquosa The Deuils went out crying in watrie places S. Mathew vseth the word Arida Drie places The Greeke word signifies both these Origen by these places vnderstandeth Hell But since those Deuills which entred into the swine of Gennezaret did desire of our Sauiour Christ that he would giue them that mansion it is not to be beleeued that when they goe out of mens bodies they would for their pleasure make choyce of the bottomlesse pit Saint Ierome declares the same in the word Solitudines And your Exorcists doe coniure them to get them to the mountaines and the woods pretending to excuse the hurt which they do remaining among the concourse or presse of people The Angell which accompanied yong Tobias imprisoned the Deuil called Asmodeus who had killed Saras seuen husbands in the desarts of Aegypt And further sayth That the deuill could not there find any rest because he should not there meet with any people to deceiue them Not that the deuill can haue any rest but in doing mischiefe hee feeles the lesse torment Cheering himself like the enuious man with other mens miseries I will returne sayth hee vnto mine house whence I came out Not that he can freely returne thither when he listeth but because he striues and indeuours to doe it And for that his experience teacheth him that he there suffers least paine He taketh to him seuen other spirits worse than himselfe He lights vpon a house whence all Vertue is banished Well fitted for such a guest and seuen more such companions as himselfe There are three sorts of persons possessed with Deuills One sort of them are spiritually possessed by reason of their mortal deadly sinnes For he that commiteth sinne makes himselfe the seruant of sinne and willingly puts himselfe into the power of the deuill Others are corporally possessed as the Energumeni and such as are Lunatick· And Saint Austen reporteth that many young children beeing baptized suffer this torment And Cassianus sayth That many Saints of God haue suffered the like God so permitting it that they might bee refined and purified as gold in the crisole The third consisteth of both those kinds Now which of these three doe you take to be the worst Saint Crysostome and Gregorie Nazianzen doe affirme That the partie that is spiritually possessed is in the worst and most dangerous estate And the reasons are as strong as they are cleare Which indeed are most cleere The first is That the deuill can doe vs little harme vnlesse we fall into sinne For without the helpe of sin the deuill cannot destroy both soule bodie For though the deuill doe put it into the fire it is our owne heart that must forge the worke Saint Paul doth defie all the creatures both of Heauen Earth and Hell And why For I am persuaded saith he that neither Death nor Life nor Angells nor Principalities nor Powers nor things Present nor things to Come nor Heigth nor Depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate vs from the Loue of God which is in Iesus Christ yet he durst not defie sinne For that alone is more powerfull to doe vs hurt than all other creatures put together Saint Chrysostome askes the question Why the deuill persuaded Iosephs brethren to put him first into a pit and then afterwards to sell him And he answeres that it was the enuie and hatred which they bare vnto him for his dreames sake And that other weapons the deuill needed none And in that Parable of the Tares where the deuill sow'd his Tares amongst the Wheat it is said That although he had not sowne them yet the good seed would haue beene lost through the carelesnesse negligence of the husbandmen For negligence in things so necessarie is a greater deuil than that of Hell In this sence Saint Gregorie Nazianzen sayd of Arrius Satius illi esset a daemonio vexari It had bin better for him to haue beene tormented by a Deuill The second is For that the goods of the bodie are not comparable to those of the soule Tange cuncta quae possidet Touch all that he hath Sayd the Deuill to God when he talked with him concerning Iob. In a word touching the goods of the soule the least thereof is of more worth than all the world And the goods not beeing able to bee compared one with another neither can their ill Nay rather to loose these goods of the bodie turnes oftentimes to our greater gaine Perieramus nisi perijssemus We had perished if we had not perished It was the saying of a Philosopher in a storme when the throwing of his goods ouerboord was the sauing of his life But that Soule that shall cast his sinnes ouerboord and drowne them in the bottome of the Sea that they may neuer be able to rise vp in iudgement against him is a happinesse beyond all happinesse and not to bee exchanged for the whole Empire of the World What booteth it a man to gaine all the
Commonwealth that to see any good come from them may be held as great a miracle as that we haue now in hand Ephraim is an Heifar vsed to delight in threshing Now to thresh is taken oftentimes in Scripture to rule with tyrannie and oppression Arise ô thou daughter of Syon and fall a threshing For in this mountaine shall the hand of the Lord rest and Moab shall be threshed vnder him euen as straw is threshed in Madmenah The proportion of the comparison holds in this That as your heifers do tread the corne vnderneath their feet till it be troad all out of the eare so your Princes trample vpon their Subiects till they haue drawne from them the greater part of their goods and if here and there an eare escape him and goe away whole hee may crie Godamercie good lucke Princeps postulat Iudex in reddendo est The Prince hee will haue some strange taxe or new imposition layd vpon the Subiect your reuerend Iudges they will inuent a way to do it and say There is good law for it and euer after it shall be a President or a ruled Case And whence doth this arise Marry from this That the one is a thorne in the Subiects sides and the other are brambles And for this cause in that Fable of the Trees none did desire to be King saue the Bramble And this is the reason why Princes are soothed vp by their Flatterers and Cushion-sowing Courtiers vnder Kings elbows but these Earewigs howsoeuer their Prince may affect them I am sure they are neither esteemed nor applauded by the People And if these Flatterers grow fat and full the Commons haue poore commons and are poore and hungerstarued But because this King of Heauen did good vnto his People hee was praised and commended by them So saith Saint Mathew The Multitudes wondred and seeing the Dumbe to speake the Blind to see the Lame to walke they magnified the God of Israell The other The force of our Sauiour Christs words Ecclesiasticus saith That the words of a wise man are like so many nayles that strike the soule through and wedge it fast If a wise mans words haue that force what efficacie shall Gods words carrie with them A certaine woman lifting vp her voice c. Esay called our Sauiour Christ The hidden God Verè tu es Deus absconditus Hidden in the Heauens And for this cause some do deriue the name of Coelum à Coelando Iob he saith Nubes latibulum eius He was likewise hidden in his mothers womb QueÌ„ coeli capere non poterant tuo gremio contulisti Who would thinke that this immensitie which the Heauens could not containe should bee shut vp in so streight a roome Hee hid himselfe also vnder his humanitie insomuch that the Deuills eyes beeing so sharpe sighted and able to discerne things afarre off could not know him when his Diuinitie was hidden vnder those paines and torments which hee endured Esay saith Quasi absconditus vultus eius It was hidden from the Worlds knowledge Quis cognouit sensum Domini Who knew the meaning of the Lord The greatest Clerkes in Ierusalem said In Beelzebub eijcit Daemonia Through Belzebub hee casts out Deuills And if any man shall presse mee with that place of Saint Paul That hee was manifested and made knowne to the World I answer That he did hide himselfe but the Father did manifest him in the Cratch hee hid himselfe in the manger but his swathing cloathes driueled on by the Oxe and the Asse and the reares that trickled downe his cheekes did discouer him to be Man the Kings sought to conceale him but the Sheepheards did reueale him in the Temple his mother bearing him as a Sinner in her bellie who was to redeeme the World did hide and couer him but Simeon and Anna the Prophetesse did proclaime him to the world his kneeling downe in Iordan before he was baptised did hide his worth but the opening of Heauen and the voyce of the Father did declare him to be his Sonne and the Holy-Ghost descending downe vpon his head in the forme of a Doue did manifest his Maiestie Vpon the Crosse the Nayles the Gall the Vinegar his wounds his stripes his shame and his being forsaken of his Father did hide his glorie but the Centurion the Theefe his Executioners the Sunne Moone Stones and Sepulchres rendring vp their Dead did manifest his power And here the Scribes and Pharisees calling him the Minister of Beelzebub seeke to hide him but Marcella and her companions with a loud voyce make him to be knowne what he was A certaine woman c. In the weakenesse of this woman God did discouer the greatnesse of his power Of Iudith it is said That a woman of the Iewes did confound the pride of Nebucadnezar And here it is said That a Iewish woman gaue the lie to all the power and wisedome of Ierusalem striking the Scribes and Pharisees dumbe confounding their vnderstanding and making them ashamed For Marcellaâ—eeing â—eeing them thus conuinced by the reasons of our Sauiour Christ she lifted vp her voyce aloud in token of victorie and to shew that our Sauiour had the better of them King Balthazar in the middest of all his mirth and jollitie was with a hand that he espied vpon the wall strucken as dead as a doore nayle Pharaoh with a blast of Gods mouth was drowned in the Deepe Flauit Spiritus eius c. These were strange things but much more strange was it That a poore sillie old woman should with two or three words confute the wisedome of Ierusalem and put them to such a nonplus that they had not a word to say Blessed is the wombe that bare thee Shee reckons it heere as a great blessing to the Virgin Marie that she was the mother of such a Son which is an epitome of all her praises and excellencies The Euangelist say no more because all that may be said of her is contained in this one word Mother And because some blasphemous persons had taken this name from her in the generall Ephesine Councell celebrated in the time of Pope Celestine and Theodosius the Emperor whereat were present two hundered Bishops it was concluded That the most blessed Virgin should be called Theotocos that is The mother of God for that our Sauiour was both Gods Sonne and hers hauing his filiation from them both The same was likewise defined in the Calcedonian Councell vnder Leo the twelfth So that the same Holy-Ghost which assisted these Councells had prompted also this womans tongue Saint Bernard saith That this great name Theotocos is the greatest this diuine ladie hath or can haue And because the name of Mother of God may seem to detract somthing from the sole omnipotencie of God from his goodnesse from his wisedome all other his excellent and singular attributes left men might sinne in ouerpraising her giuing too much vnto her in that kind Epiphanius saith It
was fit that Heauen should put a taske and a tye vpon this our tongue least it should lash out too farre And therefore her Sonne when he was vpon the Crosse and tooke his last farewell of his mother he said vnto her Woman behold thy sonne giuing her that name rather than of Mother least some superstitious people might attribute the Diuine nature vnto her and so rob God of his honour And the brests which thou hast suckt She praiseth her wombe and her brests There are two things entertaine a sweet correspondencie a womans conception in her wombe and the manifestation thereof in her brests Iust so doth it succeed with the Soule in it's conception of God and the brest of the iust man who thereupon doth manifest the guest that lodgeth there Betweene the Vine and the Wine there is that good correspondencie that the floures of the Grape participating of it's sweetnesse sends forth a most pleasant odour So likewise when the floures of Christ beginne to bud in the Soule the brest of Man doth streightway thereupon breath forth a most sweet and redolent odour Beatus venter Blessed is the wombe This was Mans first Heauen the first place wherein God bestowed this his greatest happinesse and blessing vpon Man It is a happinesse to Man when his Vnderstanding sees God and when his Will loues him taking pleasure therein as in his chiefest good Now the first eyes that saw God and the first will that loued God and placed his ioy delight therein was that of our Sauior Christ and Maries wombe being the receptacle of this happinesse it came to bee mans first Heauen The first Adam was earthly because formed of earth the second heauenly because formed of Heauen Before this time he had no set habitation For hee dwelt not in any house from the day that he brought the Children of Israel out of Aegypt c. His glorie was represented in Tabernacles Tents poore Pallaces ywisse for God Salomon did better it with his Temple which Fabrick was the worlds wonder but not so worthie God that our eyes could see him well might our will be good But this most blessed Virgin had fitted and prepared so rich a temple for him in her womb that God himself came down to dwel there Some seeme to doubt or rather wonder why God should so long deferre his comming in the flesh He stayd so long that the Holy-Ghost might prepare and dresse vp this Temple of the Virgins Wombe Vt dignum filij tui habitaculum offici mereretur spiritu sancto cooperante praeparasti Thou didst trim vp ô Lord the bodie and soule of this blessed Virgine and didst furnish her with thy cheese Graces that shee might be made a fit and worthy pallace for thy Sonne Blessed is the Wombe This commending of the Sonne was a great honor to the Mother The common currant is That children doe battle much vpon their parents worth And therefore they doe so vsually blazon forth the noble actions of their Ancestors And by how much the more antient they are the more glorious is their coat of Armes True it is that fathers doe sometimes participate of the glorie of their sonnes according to that of Ecclesiasticus Hee that teacheth his sonne greeueth the enemy and before his friends he shall reioyce of him Of meane men they many times come to be famous and renowned throughout the World Homer relates of Hylacius that the valour of his sonnes did giue him amongst the Cretenses the name of God And when the Senate of Rome did crown any of their Citisens their fathers were innobled thereby And Ioseph hauing incurred the hatred and displeasure of his brethren because he dreamt that the Sunne the Moone and the twelue starres did adore him the sacred Text sayth That the father Rem tacitus considerabat did lay it vp in his heart as one that did imagine that from the prosperitie of the sonne there might some honour redound to the father Cornelius Tacitus relateth in his Annals that the Emperour Tiberius beeing importuned by many that amongst other his surnames he would assume some one of his Mothers for his greater honour made answere That the Mother was not to honour the Emperour but the Emperour the Mother But this their glorie is so short that looking backe whence they came they can make it scarce reach so farre as their great Grandfathers But the glorie of our Sauiour Iesus Christ our Redeemer did reach as farre as vnto King Dauid and could draw his Pedegree from the Patriarch Abraham Whome that hee might honour them the more he stiles himselfe in the Gospell to be their sonne Filij Dauid filij Abraham where it is to be noted that after so many ages so many changes and alterations both of the times and the people of Kings Iudges and Captaines in the end there being an interuention of two and fortie generations the glorie of Christ attained to the hundred Grandfather And by calling himselfe the sonne of Dauid and of Abraham hee reuiued their remembrance and made them thereby more famous And if in so large a distance of time it wrought so noble an effect treading so neer vpon the tract of these latter times that there was no wall now betweene the Mother and the Sonne her blessed Wombe and his most happie Birth what a glorie must it be vnto her what a happines vnto vs Emisenus treating in a Sermon of his touching the assumption of our Lady and with what honour shee was receiued into Heauen sayth Those great riuers of glorie which the Sonne had gained both in Heauen and in Earth returned backe againe that day imploying their best speediest course in the honoring of his Mother Saint Ambrose stiles her the forme of God Either because shee was the forme or mold through which God did thus transforme himselfe by taking our humane shape vpon him or else because the graces of God though not in so great a measure were translated or transferred ouer vnto her A mould made of earth is not bettered by the mettall which it receiueth though it be neuer so good gold But by the gold of Christs Diuinitie the Vâ—gines Wombe was much the better and the purer by it And therefore it is sayd Beata quae credidisti Blessed art thou that didst beleeue For all c. the types figures and promises of God remained more compleat and perfect in thee than in any other creature Quin imo beati qui audiunt Verbum Dei custodiunt illud But hee sayd yea rather blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it These words may carrie with them a threefold sence The one That the word Quin imo may be aduersatiua implying a kind of repugnancie or contradiction and that correcting as it were what Marcella sayd he doth mend and better her speech Doost thou saith hee terme my mother blessed Thou art deceiued for shee is not blessed for that
of all the whole land besides but his father in law and his owne sonne sought to take away his life and kingdome from him Esay was spit at by the people and ill intreated by them Ieremie was mockt scoffed at and diâ—esteemed and at last they set him in a paire of Stockes Pashur the High-Priest smote Ieremiah the Prophet and put him in the Stockes which were in the high gate of Beniamin that was by the house of the Lord And as Tertullian reporteth it was lastly stoned to death At the Prophet Elisha the boyes did hoot in the streets crying out Bald-pate bald pate Elias was persecuted by King Ahab and his Queene Michah was continually clapt vp in prison Et alij ludibria verbera experti c. In humane Stories we read that Hannibal was banished from Carthage after he had triumphed ouer so many Romane Emperours Lycurgus was pelted out of Lacedemonia with stones the Oracles hauing as it were celebrated him for a god Solon was thrust out of Athens after he had giuen them such wholsome Lawes Themistocles after hee had innobled his Commonwealth with sundrie honourable seruices was forced to flye to the Persians where King Xerxes receiued him with a great deale of honour Bookes are so full of these examples that it were an endlesse labour to relate them That glorious Doctor Saint Ierome giues it as an aduice That he who desires to bee famous must forsake his owne Countrie He that goes to Flanders or to the Indies after hee comes home is the better respected Clement the Pope reporteth That in the Primitiue Church the people would flock to the Sermon of a stranger The fourth Carthaginian Councell made a Decree that it the Bishops did passe through any Townes that were not within their own Iurisdiction that the Gouernors of those places should inuite them to bestow a Sermon on them In a word The first in whose nose Lazarus stunke was Martha For there is no Prophet that is esteemed in his owne Countrey Some man may chance to aske me vpon what this monstrousnesse in nature is grounded Saint Ambrose Saint Ierome and Saint Chrysostome are all of opinion That Enuie is the leauen of this ill as it was of all other euills in the World Saint Chrysostome askes the question what hurt a Prophet doth that Enuie should thus bite him with her venimous teeth And I answer Because she doth not enuie the bad but the good Caine sayth Saint Iude did therefore kill his brother because his workes were good Thomas sayth That Enuy is a sorrowing or repining at another mans good for that it is presumed that it doth lessen and diminish their own honor For the hurt which a man may do to himself and others our wishes against that man proceeds not so much of Enuy as of Zeale And so is it noted by S. Gregorie A Tyrant goes foorth with the Vare of an Alcalde de corte it greeues me and I am heartily sorry for the harme that hee doth to the Commonwealth and his owne conscience Saint Augustine prooues That it is charitie to desire the hurt of a mans bodie for the good of his soule According to that of Dauid Imple facies eorum ignominia confundentur Fill their faces with shame and they will bee confounded Neither is that sorrow which I receiue for myne enemies good fortune to bee termed so much enuie as enmitie Saint Augustine saith That euerie equal enuies his equall because he hath got the start of him and is crept before him And this is the most vsuall and ordinarie kind of enuie as it is deliuered by Aristotle in his Rhethorickes The Inferiour enuieth the Superior because he is not equal vnto him the Superiour the Inferiour lest he should come to equall him The principall harmes of this vice are three The first It pâ—ts great incredultie into the brest of him that enuies the felâ—citie of the Enuied And this it easily effecteth for whatsoeuer is first soured by the Will is euer ill receiued by the Vnderstanding The second If the prosperitie be verie notorious indeed it torments the verie heart of the Enuious for that it is an eclipsing and obscuring of his reputation and honour The third When the Enuious can no other way doe him hurt he endeauors to take away the life of him that is enuied as Caine did Abels and as Saul would haue done the like by Dauid And for that those of Nazareth did behold our Sauiour Christ when at most to be their equall and seeing that hee dispeopled Townes and peopled dispeopled Deserts they did so much enuie this his glorie that first of all they did not beleeue in him secondly they sought to discredit him and not being able otherwise to hurt him they went about to breake his necke Some one perhaps will aske me What aduantage the Naturall hath of the Stranger for to set such an edge on our enuie I answer That too much familiaritie causeth contempt and this our Sauiours conuersing with them was the cause of their neglecting of him To be Towne-borne children to be bred vp from the cradle to the Schoole and from the Schoole to boyes sports and pastimes is a great enemie to the future coÌ„ceiuing of a worthie opinion of that Prophet Iudge or Gouernour And therefore it is well obserued by Saint Ierome They doe not weigh his present worth but haue an eye to his former infancie They that are neerest Neighbours to a good Corrector or Inquisitor are farthest off from conceiuing a good opinion of him Plutarch saith That the spots in the Moone arise from the vapours of the earth for that the earth is neerer to this than any other of the Planets And as it is in the Prouerbes Laruin vezinzad siempre mancha None soyle and spot our name worse than those that are our neerest neighbours especially being ill conditioned Besides Common things neuer cause admiration according to that of Saint Augustine touching the iustification of our soules For though this bee a greater miracle than the casting of Deuills out of our bodies yet we make no such wonder of it And in another place he saith That the motion of the Heauens the influences of the Planets the course of the Starres the Waters Winds and Tempests are meruailous miracles for albeit that they keep on in their course by the order of nature yet that nature should conserue this order for so many Ages it is a verie great miracle yet wee make no such wonder of it And because our Countrie and al that good which it containeth es pan casero de cada dis is euerie day bred with vs wee make no such wonder of it it is not dainty vnto vs and because it is common we account not of it Againe there is this difference betwixt secular and Ecclesiasticall Princes That in them we loue the succession of bloud much esteem of this line all discent in nature and for
haue beene at a stand immagining with themselues That being there is so great a difference betweene the Old Law and the New betweene God and God a God of Vengeance and a God of Mercie betweene a Lyon and a Lambe that Christs friends should haue had a priuiledge and that scarce a house of theirs should haue knowne what sickenesse danger or death had meant In the Floud Noahs house was preserued in the flames of Sodome that of Lot and in that generall massacre of the First-borne of Aegypt the houses of the Hebrewes were vntoucht And God sending the man cloathed with Linnen which had the writers Inkehorne by his side to take notice of the people of Hierusalem hee commanded them to set a marke vpon the forehead of his friends that hee might ouerskip them and not touch them in the day of destruction But here now a friends house is not priuiledged no not the house of Peter What should be the reason of it There are many but the main reason is this With God tribulation was euermore a greater token of his loue fauor than prosperity what said Iob when he sate scraping his sores vpon the Dunghill In my prosperitie I onely heard thee but now in my affliction I see thee S. Chrysostome saith That Cain in killing Abel thought that Heauen would doe him those fauours which it did his brother but he was deceiued for God did better loue a dead Abel than a liuing Cain Non extraxisti sed incendisti Philon saith That the fire in the bush was so far from consuming or burning it that it left it fresher and greener than it was before But for all this our miseries in the Old Law were neuer seene to be so honourable as afterwards when God had clapt the thornes which were the fruit of our sinnes vpon his owne head then did they recouer so high a Being and grew to that worth that the heauier God layes his hand vpon vs the more is his loue toward vs. The marke of our happinesse is the Sonne of God not glorified but scourged spit vpon crowned with thorns torne with whips and nailed to the Crosse and therefore to bee conformed to the Image of his Sonne is fitting for vs. In the Apocalyps his feet are put into a hot firie Ouen This was a ritratto or picture of his many troubles and though this Ouen or firie Furnace speake them much yet sure they were farre greater and beyond the tongues expression The Angells did scatter the coles of Gods wrath abroad in the World sometimes lighting in one place and sometimes in another but whose coles could bee hotter than his whose feet like vnto fine Brasse lay burning as in a Furnace She was taken with a great Feuer The Euangelist heere amendeth our vsuall manner of speech for with vs it is commonly said Tengo grandes calenturas I haue a great Feuer whenas indeed the Feuer hath thee God often afflicts the soule in the sence that the soule thereby may be made sencible God like the Bridegroome to the Spouse speakes a thousand sweet words to the Soule hee courts her wooes her with an Aperi mihi soror mea c. Open to me my sister c. but this makes her the more to shut the doore against him The Soule when it is in prosperitie growes proud it is deafe and will not heare she must bee wrought vpon inter angustias she must feele the rod before she will haue any feeling Ionas in the Whales bellie the Prodigall in the pig-stie the Sicke in his Feuer thinks and calls vpon God we listen vnto the Deuill when wee are in the middest of our Feasts our Banquets our Maskings our sports and pastimes but onely hearken vnto God inter angustias when we are afflicted and in miserie God being willâ—ng to cure those that were stung with the Serpents made a Serpent of brasse and caused it to be set vp that by looking theron they might be healed Gregorie Nissen askes the question Whither it had not beene a shorter cut and a more speedie and effectuall remedie to haue made an end of all these Serpents at once But he answers thereunto If he should haue freed them from those Serpents Which of them would haue lifted vp his eyes to Heauen And therefore let those Serpents continue still and those wounds of the bodie seeing they cure those of the Soule According to that of Salomon The blewnesse of the wound serueth to purge the euill Saint Gregorie the Pope saith That the wound of the Soule is taken away by making another wound of repentance and true sorrow Euthymius citeth to this purpose that verse of Dauid Qui dat niuem sicut lanam Snow to the earth is as wooll because it keepes it warme and giues heat therevnto for to bring forth floures and fruits wherwith to glad the Spring and beautifie the Sommer AnÌ„o de nieues anÌ„o de bienes saith the Spanish Prouerbe A yere of snow a yeare of ioy The snow of sickenesse and of affliction in stead of cooling the Soule it giues it heat and fruitfulnesse that it may bring forth floures and fruits of good life She was taken with a great Feauer The Phisitions call a Calenture or burning Feuer Calorem extraordinarium An extraordinarie heat or calidam intemperiem a hot distemperature which being kindled in the heart and taking fire disperseth it selfe through all the parts of the bodie catcheth hold of them offends them and discomposeth that harmonie of the humors wherein our health consisteth Saint Isidore deriues it from Feruor or that hast and speed wherewith it runneth and disperseth it selfe through our bodies Valerius Maximus sayth That in antient time they did offer sacrifice thereunto as to a Goddesse because of all other sicknesses a Feuer is that which commonly comes to make an end of our liues For as heat well tempered giues life so beeing distempered it brings death But if we shall goe philosophising from the infirmities of the bodie by way of analogie or proportioning them to the soule Loue to the soule is as Heat to the bodie And when it doth not exceede the Laws of God which is the life of our soule it inioyes perfect health but when it growes once to an excesse it falls into a Calenture or burning Feuer And this excesse succeedeth two maner of wayes Either by louing that more which ought to be loued lesse Or by not louing that enough which ought to be loued most The Spouse sayd of her Bridgroome Ordinauit in me charitatem He showed his Loue vnto mee He made exceeding much of mee He brought me into the wine celler and Loue was his banner ouer me He stayd me with flaggons and comforted me with apples when I was sicke of Loue His left hand was vnder my head and his right hand did embrace mee Extraordinarie was this Loue of the Bridegroome to his Spouse preferring her before all other things whatsoeuer God
ballance weigheth so is the World before thee and as a drop of the morning dew that falleth downe vpon the earth S. Ambrose questions God Why ô Lord so much for so little And his answer is That this doth indeere thy ingratitude and his loue This is a thing to stunne a man and to make him stand astonished that the Sea should goe after a drop of water as if therewith it should augment it's immensitie and vastnesse that Totum should seeke after Nihil he that is all in all after a thing of nothing as if thereby he should better his Being that God should seeke after a wench that was a water carrier and being so wearie as he was he should sit him downe vpon Iacobs Well and there entertaine himselfe in talke with her How can she euer be able to requite so great and vndeserued a kindnesse This reason is also the more indeered considering how little it concernes God and how much it imports man What is it to God Nothing What caâ—st thou giue vnto him If thou shouldst vndoe thy selfe in his seruice thou shalt not adde one dramme of glorie vnto him What is it to Man The greatest happinesse that can befall him in that God should tyre out himselfe for him who is not worthie the looking after Much saith Saint Bernard ought man to meditate on this his wearinesse considering how deere man did cost God It were meere idlenesse in man to thinke that God made him for nothing or to sit still be idle In the sweat of thy browes shalt thou eat thy bread This was poena culpae a punishment appointed him for the fault he had coÌ„mitted that euery bit of bread should cost him a drop of sweat and this lighted vpon our Sauiour himselfe as being our Suretie the debt was ours but he standing bound for vs was forced to pay it we failing therein Meus cibus est vt faciam voluntatem patris And here the meat that he was to feed vpon was a hard crust to gnaw vpon The conuersion of this woman he was to tug for it and sweat for it Hee shall see of the trauell of his soule and shall be satisfied His bodie trauelled with wearinesse his soule with thoughts and cares but he shall see that which he desired and bee satisfied Saint Ambrose discoursing of these our Sauiours paines saith That for that he did esteeme so highly of them they are not to be considered as pains but as the price of our Redemption And if the price of thy ransome cost God a great deale of labour and sweat it is not much that the price of finding God should be thy labour and thy sweat Laurentius Iustinianus saith That God had contriued it so that the Ninâ—uites should see Ionas gaping for breath al-to-berayed with the filthie slime and oyle of the Whale to the end that this so sad and sorrowful a spectacle should be of equiualencie to those miracles which he wrought amongst them and should persuade them to Fastings Sackecloath and Ashes c. Philon declaring that place of Deutronomie That hee that had planted a Vineyard and not eaten of the fruit thereof and that he that had built him an house and not dwelt therein and that he that had married a wife and had not enioyed her companie should returne backe from the Warre this learned Doctor saith That the reason of this Proclamation was for that it was not held fit that another should for a song as they say and doing little or nothing for it come to inioy the fruit of another mans labours Will God That thou shalt not enioy another mans house or his Vineyard for nothing and shall hee giue thee Heauen for nothing Zenon inferreth the selfe same consequence from that place of Genesis He will not but thou shalt get thy bread with the sweat of thy browes And doest thou thinke thou shalt purchase Heauen without taking of paines This is a strange and harsh kind of doctrine to our daintier sort of people and nice Worldlings who cannot be without their coaches their warming-pannes their perfumes their muffes their banquets their musicke their Comedies their Gardens of pleasure c. as if this were the way to goe to Heauen But I would haue thee to know saith Greg. Nizen that Heauen may be here fitted and prepared for vs but not enioyed Doe not thou wearie out thy selfe in seeking after that which our Sauiour Christ could not find When I see a man fare daintily and delicately choise and nice in his dyet and his cloathes and as greedie after his profit as his pleasure I would faine know of him being so great a Louer as he is of a merrie and pleasant kind of life being wholly giuen to iollitie How he dares to goe treading and counting these his steps towards Hell Doth he thinke to lead the same life there Iesus then wearied in the iourney sat downe on the Well A Trauailer comes all dust and sweat and exceeding wearie to a fountaine hee washes himselfe makes himselfe cleane drinkes sits downe and so seekes to shake off his wearinesse But our Sauiour comming extreame wearie to this fountaine neiâ—her washes himselfe makes himselfe cleane nor drinkes but onely sate thus as beeing wearied that this woman might take notice of his wearisomenesse and this his troublesome iourney and so Caietane and the Cardinall of Toledo doe expound the word sic that he sate euen thus vpon the Well The ends why God exprest himselfe to be thus wearie are no lesse deepe and profound than the former First Because out of this his wearinesse the sinner might apprehend his loue Theodoret deriueth the name of God from a Greeke word which signifieth To runne And they gaue this name vnto God who tooke the starres to bee Gods Damascene that hee was therefore called God because he succours our miseries and releeues our necessities with that hast and speede that thereby we may perceiue how much he loues vs. Leo the Pope expounding that place of Saint Luke My God my God why hast thou forsaken me sayth That these words which our Sauiour vsed to his father were not words of complaint but a Lecture which he read vnto Man making vpon the Crosse a muster or beade-rolle of all those troubles that he had both in his life and death suffered for him And therefore cryeth out I beseech thee deere Father that thou wilt giue Man eyes to see The end why thou hast forsaken mee For that thy naturall sonne should come to this so miserable and wretched an estate it was neither disaster nor disgrace nor force nor any thing else that could cause it but the great loue which I bore vnto Man seeing his disease was so desperate that it was requisite that I should tast of this so bitter a potion and that if I had been so necessitated and so sick as Man was I could not haue done more for my selfe We haue two principall
water hath of the dead The cheifest wherof is That he that shall drink of the water of this Wel shal soone after be athirst again For Aunque haze troguas no assienta pazes Though he make a truce for a time yet doth he not conclude a finall peace Saint Austen vnderstands this difference touching the thirst of the body but diuerse other Doctors of the the thirst of the soule But the Plainest and the surest is that it imbraceth both and to cleere this opinion Let vs first of all suppose that laying aside the thirst of the body all do generally suffer the same in the soule And he that from the clouds should behold this vale of the world shall perceiue it to be like a desart full of filthy standing pooles of stinking water and that all men goe thirsting after the same And Saint Austen saith Ipsum desiderium sitis est animâ— For as a man cannot liue without the desire of the soule so can he not liue without thirst Inquietum est cor nostrum donec â—eniamus ad te This our saturity and fulnesse is reserued till wee come vnto God who is our Center Satiabor cum apparauerit gloria tua I shall bee satisfied when thy glorie shall appeare In the interim we must of force liue tormented with hunger and thirst Secondly We are to suppose that this liuing Water whether it bee the Holy Ghost be it Grace or the Word of God or Baptisme doth not in this life quench either that thirst of the bodie or that of the soule Touching that of the bodie we know that many Saints of God rauished with some deepe contemplation haue forgotten al hunger and thirst without any torment or trouble euen to the abhorring of meate Nor is it much that the holy Ghost should worke this effect in man seeing that the vehement passions of sorrow and of ioy though in a different manner do dayly cause the like For this our not eating nor drinking occasioned by passion doth debilitate our forces and weakens our strength but beeing assisted by the helpe of the holy Spirit it doth not onely conserue but renew our strength and put as it were new mettle into vs as was to be seene in Elias who with that water and bread which the Angell gaue him went vp to Mount Horeb there fasted 40 days And diuers weake men haue holpen by Grace indured such hunger thirst as hath made the world to stand amased at it But the holy-Ghost doth not alwais worke these effects saue only when it seemeth good vnto him nor at all times nor towards all persons no not to the verie Saints themselues for those that haue beene the greatest Fasters haue come in the end to suffer hunger and thirst And if we shall treat of the thirst of the soule it is a plaine case that this liuing water doth not quench it but that the holy-Ghost doth to the Righteous adde more thirst after the goods of heauen and those coelestiall ioyes According to that of Ecclesiasticus Qui edunt me adhuc esurient so that till wee come to see God no man shall see himselfe voyd of thirst Thirdly The thirsting and hungring after these earthly goods and humane blessings many seeke to quench the same by filling themselues full and not denying to their eyes as Salomon saith any thing whatsoeuer their heart desireth vnderneath the Sunne But their thirst growes still more and more and their hunger increaseth like him that hath eaten salt meats or drunke brackish sea water All that is in the world saith Saint Iohn is either the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes or the pride of life Imagine three Riuers to thy selfe one of delights a second of riches and a third of pride and vanitie this is all the good that the world affoordeth and hee that shall drinke of the water of any of these three Riuers shall still be more and more thirstie And for this cause it is called Aqua concupiscentiae the water of concupiscence a lusting with desire and as hee that shall drinke and swallow downe these his desires cannot chuse but grow more and more thirstie so hee that shall drinke of this water shall desire to drinke more And as Salomon saith hee shall follow the birds which flie in the aire The truth whereof is well prooued by that rich man in the Gospell who hauing food sufficient for many yeares yet did toyle and labour as if he had been in great want to fill his barnes and his Granaries as full as hee could cram them making more and more store as if he should neuer haue prouision enough hee thought all the roomes that he had were too little I will pull downe my Barnes and make them bigger And if any man shall aske me If this rich man shall not be able as long as hee liues though the yeares of his life were neuer so many to eat out that which hee hath stored vp why he should take such a deale of carke and care for his diet and his drinke I answer That for the feeding of his bodie much lesse might haue sufficed him a little thing would haue serued the turne but it seemeth in the Storie that hee sought to satisfie his soule and that hee inuited his soule to feast it selfe and to make merrie whose thirst is insatiable Saint Gregory saith That man not finding in the pleasures and pastimes of this life any humane delights answerable to those which his heart desireth seeketh after change and varietie of sports Vt quia qualitate rerum non potest saltem varietate satietur That if the qualitie could not yet the varietie of them might some way giue content In a word as well doth the Couetous as the Prodigall die of hunger Salomon after that he had entred into such a full riuer of delâ—ghts and enioyed such a plentiful haruest of all kind of worldly pleasures hauing the World at will comes forth with two Horse-leeches of that insatiable appetite that they still followed him and neuer left crying Affer affer And who could not finde in his heart to curse that Creditor almost to the pit of Hell who shall still baule vpon a man be as discontented being paid as if he were vnpaid Others there are which seeke to satisfie this thirst with the goods of Heauen taking onely from the earth as much as is sufficient for them like vnto Gideons souldiers who passing along by the riuer side tooke vp water in the palmes of their hands God approouing in the warfare of this life that wee should inioy the goods of this life by snatches and not to lie at racke and manger Enioying this world as they enioyed it not Whereas those that lay down vpon their brest and like dogs lay lapping vp the water were reprooued by him Now by this time the aduantage appeareth cleere vnto vs which liuing water hath ouer that which is dead he that shal drink of this
which he makes of Fasting puts this difference betwixt paying that which thou owest and giuing of almes to the Poore to whom thou art not indebted that the one is in profit of him that receiues it the other in profit of him that giues And therefore in Scripture Almes is called Benedictio A Blessing which is that which augments our wealth Secondly Our Sauiour was willing that they should gather vp the fragments to the end that the greatnesse of the miracle should be the more notorious and that they should see of fiue loues twelue baskets full of what remained besides that which they carried away in their bosomes their sleeues and their pockets especially your women and your children And howbeit some of them might keepe them as reliques of this so rare and strange a wonder yet the diligence therein vsed might bee verie wise and deuout Saint Chrysostome giues vs this note That albeit this miracle ought to haue left a firme and assured confidence in euerie one of them yet they were so wholly forgetfull thereof that our Sauiour was driuen afterward to put them in mind thereof and taxe them of this their obliuion There are other morall reasons giuen for it writ by diuers vpon this place which I purposely omit When the men had seene the miracle that Iesus did said This is of a truth the Prophet that should come into the world They considering the greatnesse of the miracle but not so much potentiam as qualitatem nouitatem the power as the quatie and noueltie thereof they cried out This is the Prophet whom the World expecteth Saint Augustine saith That greater is that miracle which God worketh vpon the multiplication of their wheat haruest but because it is so common they make no great wonder of it It is natural vnto vs more to admire new than great things Seneca treating in his Naturall Questions of our extraordinarie comets which do so much amase the world saith That the Heauens the Stars the Planets strike no admiration into vs though it bee a meruailous and strange worke because wee see it is so ordinarie with vs. The Sunne is the fairest Creature that euer God dispatched out of his hands Vas admirabile opus excelsi yet the beautie of it's beames doth not draw on any admiration but it's Eclipses because they are rare and seldome So likewise in the harmonie and concord of the Heauens their influences and their Starres together with their disposition and the beautie of the Orbs Knowest thou the course of Heauen c. The Greekes expound this place of the Clouds Who can declare the nature of the Clouds Who it 's musicke and harmonie Who can make the musicke of the Thunder to cease or stop the course of the Lightning c. And all these though they be such strange wonders do not mooue vs to admire them but vpon any change or alteration wee stand astonished at the noueltie thereof When Iesus therefore perceiued that they would come and take him to make him a King c. Our Sauiour Christ had gained so much good loue and opinion amongst them by this his kindnesse that he had shewed toward them that after the people were dismissed as Euthimius hath obserued it they determined to make him their King not onely offering him the Crowne but seeking perforce to set the same on his head And if the consideration of his miracles had beene the occasion thereof they could not haue taken a more discreet resolution and not onely they but all the world had a great deale of reason to put their helping hand thereunto For first of all he is painted forth to be so wise that all Ierusalem was strucken dumbe at the wisedome of his words Secondly Hee was as faire and beautifull to see to as the Sunne in all his glorie Thirdly He was of that force and power that he did driue out of his temple with whips and scourges the greatest power of the world Fourthly He was so open handed so liberall and so bountifull that with fiue Loaues and two Fishes hee did fill the bellies of fifteene or twentie thousand persons Fiftly He loued man so well that for his sake hee willingly layd downe his life and offered vp his most pretious bodie and bloud vpon the Crosse. So that there beeing so many strong and forcible reasons to draw vs to loue him Who would not willingly make choice of him to be their King But let vs that are Christians acknowledge him to be our King and shew our selues so louing and obedient vnto him that we seruing him in holinesse and truenesse of life and wholly relying vpon his loue and fauour towards vs may come at the last to be heires of that his heauenly Kingdome Which God grant for his mercies sake THE XXVI SERMON VPON THE MONDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 2. MAT. 21. MARC 11. LVC. 10. He found sitting in the Temple sellers of Sheepe Oxen and Doues c. OVr Sauiour went vp to Ierusalem to the Passeouer entring into the temple where the law was read where the Laitie did pray he met with a most base vile market where they sould Sheepe Oxen Kids and Doues Money-changers and Vsurers hauing their bankes Wherewith inraged like a Lyon he sets vpon the owners of them vpon the beasts birds and tables and making him a whip of the cords that bound their fardles or those halters wherewith they tied their beasts there was neuer any Roman Cohort that did that as hee did hee ouerthrew their tables scattered their moneys downe on the ground and falling to whipping and scourging of them he chased them out of his fathers House Saint Hierome and Saint Chrysostome reckon this of all other to be the greatest miracle that euer our Sauiour wrought preferring it before the giuing of sight to the Blind of hands and feeâ— to the Lame of life to the Dead c. And without doubt it is a thing much to be wondred at that one single man and such a one as amongst the Iews especially those of the Temple was held in such base esteeme should venture to trample them vnder his feet and to whip both great and smal and that not any one of them should dare to open his mouth against him Which was such a discoâ—ering of his Omnipotencie and Godhead that wee must imagine it to bee a most foule fault in them either not to acknowledge him to be their Messias or not to lay hold on him and bind him in bonds for a mad man as they afterwards said Sure he is mad He found them in the Temple selling Sheepe and Oxen c. The Messias was prophesied in the dayes of Iudaisme to be mild gentle louely and peaceable Quâ—rite mansuetum saith Zephaniah Ieremie Quasi Agnus mansuetus Esay Reparabitur in misercicordia solium eius And in another place Declâ—nabo quasi fluuium Pacis For his first comming was to bee in all mildenesse
vita sunt The words which I speake are spirit and life The other The elegancie and sweetnesse of his deliuerie Diffusa est gratia in labijs tuis such heauenly dew did drop from his lips and diffuse it selfe in that aboundant and plentifull manner Which graces of his poured forth thus gracefully the Spouse toucheth vpon in the Canticles His lips are like Lillies dropping downe pure myrrhe In the Lillies is painted forth our Sauiours beautie in the Myrrhe the profit we reap from him which is very great Myrrhe being a principall preseruatiue against corruption Mirabuntur omnes They all meruailed c. S. Chrysostome and Saint Cyril are of the mind That this admiration was amongst those that were the most incredulous of all that companie It is an ordinarie thing in your hearers when they heare a famous Preacher to admire him acknowledging his Doctrine to bee so deepe that it exceedeth mans capacitie for Wisedome is so superexcellent and so diuine a thing that in whomsoeuer it is found it causeth great admiration Things high and eminent shall not be so much as mentioned in comparison of her so saith Iob. And Salomon It is to be preferred before all riches Euerie man doth prise and esteeme it saue the Foole he that is most wise doth most honour the Wise but hee that is a Foole makes little reckoning of those that are wise Fooles hate knowledge Homer stiles wise Apollo a god multarum manuum of many hands because he hath a hand in euerie thing a hand for to lighten the blind vnderstanding a hand for to guide the soule in the way of vertue a hand for to gouerne the Common-wealth and to appease the tumults and rebellions rising therein a hand to conserue the same in peace In a word as Apollo who is the Sunne by expatiating and spreading abroad his beames through diuers parts both of sea land giues a beeing and a life to all things to mettalls in the veines of the earth to pearles in the shels of the sea to trees plants birds beasts men c. so a wiseman is Vita generalis reipublicae The generall life and liuelihood of a Commonwealth Themistius calls him Deum a God Horace Rex Regum a King of Kings c. And if any man shall say with Saint Paul Scientia inflat That Knowledge and Wisedome puffeth vp and affoords matter vnto man of pride and arrogancie Clemens Alexandrinus answers thereunto That the word Inflat doth likewise inforce that it doth breath and inspire into vs noble and generous thoughts Filijs suis vitam inspirat saith Ecclesiasticus The Greeke Text renders it Exaltat Euebit Wisedome exalteth her children it giues them a new kind of Beeing new hearts new resolutions to vndergoe glorious enterprises In a word Qui illam diligit diligit vitam He that loues her loues his lâ—fe So that if it be an occasion of arrogancie it is not so in it selfe but by accident when it lights on an insolent brest which conuerts good into euill Your Kings and Princes haue in all ages honoured wise men with great titles preferments and not only your wise prudent Princes but those of meaner parts and abilities and euen your worser sort of Kings Dionisius the Tyrant sent to Plato that he might come to see him one of his fairest Gallies with store of daintie prouision and well accompanied and at the Hauen where he was to land had prouided a Coach with foure horses to be readie to receiue him that he might come in the greater pompe to his Pallace and all this honour he was willing to doe him for that he was a wise man And if such men as he should cause such admiration in the world What admiration must he raise in mens minds in whom all the treasures of Gods wisedome were deposited Whence we may consider that if a few drops of that soueraigne fountaine did strike the People into such admiration when in Heauen we shall see the fulnesse of that riuer or rather immensitie of that great sea What admiration must it needs mooue Yet notwithstanding Saint Augustine saith Mirabantur omnes sed non omnes conuertebantur They were wonder-strucken but not spirit-strucken many did admire but few were conuerted The like successe for the most part haue the Sermons of your famous Preachers Ezechiel reporteth That it fell out so with himselfe That morning saith he that he was to preach the citisens would call to one another saying Let vs goe and heare the Prophet let vs see what new thing will now come from him they enter in thronging sit them downe beare themselues verie grauely and hearken diligently to my words but are farre off from putting them in execution being onely vnto them like a smooth verse or a musicall Song with a sweet and pleasing eire nor was there any of that harsh eare who wil not one while commend the voice another while the tone this man the dittie that it 's ayre but goe not a step further setting vp their rest there Musicke passes along by the doore at mid-night it wakens thee thou â—isest out of thy bed thou gettest to the window thou hearest it thou takest delight in it but when it is gone out of thy hearing thou returnest backe againe to bed layest thee downe and fall'st againe asleepe as if thou hadst heard no such thing at all Leuani oculos meos saith Zachary I turned me and lifted vp mine eyes and looked and behold a flying booke Then said he vnto me This is the curse that goeth forth ouer the whole earth Saâ—nt Gregorie saith That this booke is the sacred Scripture wherein as Lyra notes it are written the curses and chastisements against the â—infull men of this world A flying booke When there doth appeare in the ayre any new strange sight the Vulgar he wonders at it the wise man he is afraid of it because it is a vsuall prognostication of miseries and disasters As those fearefull fightings that were seene in the ayre in the time of the Maccabees your Comets your Crucifixes of fire and your showers of blood The like effect doth Gods word worke Some stand wondring at it and some grow sad vpon it The Seuentie translates it Vidi falcem volantem I sawe a flying sickle Which as Pierius noteth signifieth the time of Haruest Mitte jam falces quâ—â—iam maturae sunt messes Thrust in your sickles for the haruest is ripe In token that when the word of God and the malediction in holy Scripture comes to be little or nothing at all regarded and when the earth in stead of corne brings forth nothing but thistles and thornes it is high time to cut it downe Saint Iames compares the word of the Lord to a looking-glasse And Saint Bernard calls it the Looking-glasse of Truth which nor flatters nor deceiueth any man But hee that shall looke therein shall finde himselfe to be the same he seemes Saint Aâ—gustine
those that haue suffered shipwracke and are without present reliefe and helpe vpon casting away should more especially stretch out her armes and take them in before they sinke Secondly For that they attributed the blindnesse of Celidonius to the sinnes of his parents for albeit God doth punish the sinnes of the fathers in the children euen to the fourth generation yet this punishment is neuer in the soule but in the bodie for the soules are not by race and descent neither hath the soule of the sonne any kindred or alliance with that of the father as the bodie hath onely the sinne of Adam hath somewhat thereof as being the head and root from whom we all come Thirdly They would haue reduced this punishment to his owne proper sins for that he was borne blind for though God doth vse anticipation in doing fauours for some seruices that are to be done yet doth he neuer punish sinnes not yet committed but it is rather the blazon of his justice to punish with a slow hand as it is of his mercie to pardon speedily Fourthly to attribute punishments to faults committed is a good iudgement and an approoued censure for our owne sinnes but not for other mens When our Sauiour Christ said to his Apostles One of you shall betray me euery one lookt first into himselfe demanding of him Rabbi Master Am I the man or no And though he shewed them a faire euidence Hee that dips his hand with mee in the dish c. yet none of them fixt their eyes vpon Iudas nor tooke notice of the signe then giuen them The Pharisee is not so much condemned for his own proper sinnes as for the scorne and pride wherewith he despiseth others I thanke thee ô God that I am not like other men Emisenus saith That there can be no greater misfortune than to make those sinnes myne which another man doth commit for his pleasure or his profit both which I make to be myne by iudging rashly of them Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents but that the workes of God should bee made manifest in him Some man may aske me the question Why God should make choice of these his eyes to make them to be an instrument of manifesting his workes rather than the hands of the benummed the feet of the lame the tongue of the dumbe the raising of the dead or the torment of those that are possessed with Deuills I answer hereunto That all these miracles might serue verie well for Gods glorie And of Lazarus his death our Sauiour said That it was pro gloria Dei for Gods glorie But in the Eyes there is a more especial conueniencie as S. Chrysostome hath noted it than in other the parts of the bodie For as man is the summe and Epilogue of all the naturalities of the World for which reason they call him Microcosmos A little World so the eyes are the summe and Epilogue of man And as Aristotle saith That the Soule is all things 〈◊〉 a certaine kind of manner because all things are come vnder the compasse of iâ—'s apprehension and vnderstanding so the eyes in a manner are all things because they comprehend all things in them the heauens the planets the starres the elements birds fishes beasts plants and stones nor doe they onely see in the eyes corporall creatures and visible substances but likewise the inuisible passions of our soule as loue hate pride humilitie the like so saith Plinie And therefore Saint Augustine stiles the eyes the heralds of the heart Saint Peter tells vs That there are eyes full of adulteries In a word The eyes â—as Salomon saith are the open market place of our bosome And in another place All the wayes of man are in his eyes And Ecclesiasticus Ex visu cognoscitur vir Our Sauiour Christ did restore this man to his sight and made his eyes become cleere to the end that in them might bee cleerely manifested the most famous workes of God Irenaeus Saint Chrysostome and Saint Ambrose say That he made him without eyes that by bestowing them afterwards vpon him he might manifest to the world That God his Redeemer had created him anew Saint Austine harpt vpon the same string treating of Malchus his eare Saint Augustine saith That God making these eyes of so base a matter as câ—ay or durt intermingled with spettle representeth the mysterie of the Incarnation wherein God did raise and lift vp our nature to the admirable vnion of his heauenly condition from whence the Word became flesh which gaue light to this blind man and those that sate in the shadow of death hauing the eyes of their soules darkened with sinne Saint Ambrose affirmeth That Christ taught vs by this myracle that for to recouer our soules sight we must put durt vpon our eyes that is we must thinke vpon our owne basenesse and frailtie For the principium or beginning of Christian perfection is for a man to know himselfe Nor were his workes onely manifested in these his eyes but all his other perfections and attributes as his omnipotencie in restoring his eye-sight or rather making him new eyes molded out of durt his justice in letting the Pharisees liue in their blindnesse and his goodnesse and bountie in giuing light to this blind man Neither hee nor his parents c. Saint Chrysostome askes the question Why God would manifest his workes in this blind man so much to his cost being that he might haue taken for this purpose means of good and not of hurt Saint Ambrose saith That our Sauiour Christ was willing to take our sinnes as a pledge or gage of his glorie that he might make it thereby the surer For those that impose Tributes or settle their Rents are alwayes careful to haue good securitie and of all other assurances the best is that the State thus ingaged or impawned be properly belonging to the debtor And if God should ground his glorie on our goodnesse we cannot giue him any good securitie for it because this is others goods and not our owne but our sinnes are our owne and whatsoeuer is ill in vs properly belongeth to vs and are so perpetuated to our persons that they can neuer faile vs. Christ did redeeme vs from the captiuitie of our crimes but in this his redeeming and ransomming vs from sinne this holy Saint sayth That he had a kind of interest of his owne for although God did not remaine thereby more powerfull more mercifull more iust c. Habuit tamen quod ad cultum suae Maiestatis adiungeret He had something by the bargaine that gaue an addition to the worship of his diuine Maiestie And as it is in another place by giuing vs libertie Sibi etiam aliquid acquisiuit He got somewhat also to himselfe What did he get by it He got in a manner all his glorie by it he got to be reuerenced serued praised acknowledged and adored to bee as well a Sauiour as a God
so that in some sort God may be said to be indebted to the ill that is in vs. Tertullian saith That God then loueth this our flesh when it is fullest of miseries for by giuing remedie thereunto his attributes are knowne and acknowledged in the World and I dare be bold to say it That if it were not for the infirmities of our flesh and the in-bred ill that is in vs those good things would not bee knowne and acknowledged which come from God In the 113 Psalme Dauid makes an enumeration of those meruailes and prodigious wonders which God multiplied in the behalfe of his People at their departure out of Aegypt And after that he had related many of them he endeth with this Goe on as thou haâ—â— begun ô Lord with these Nations For although the profit will be ours the honour will be thine and whereas these Nations doe point out their gods with their fingers it is fit we should also know that wee haue a God amongst vs and not a god of wood as they haue The second reason is Saint Bernards Amongst all his other attributes none in our opinion none considering his naturall condition is to be compared with that of his being misericors a mercifull God He is called Pater misericordiae The Father of mercie which presupposeth our miserie and to multiplie his blessings and his goodnesse vpon vs we hauing no sinne nor euill in vs hee could hardly doe it If hee should haue dealt thus with Adam before his fall and with the Angells in their blessed estate it might haue been an effect of his bountie but not of his mercie which is aboue all his workes But some man perhaps will say O Lord to throw euills vpon vs that thou maist afterwards remooue them from vs is no such great fauour Yes marry is it and that an extraordinarie fauour for we doe not know health but by sickenesse the seising of that soundly vpon vs shewes what a blessing a sound bodie is Speciosa misericordia Dei quasi nubes pluuiae in tempore siccitatus As raine is welcome in a drought so is Gods mercie to the Afflicted and so to this blind man was his sight The third is Saint Chrysostomes God sometimes takes from vs what is good that he may giue vs that which is better whatsoeuer God doth repaire by myracle is better than that which is possessed by nature as it succeeded in the wine at the Wedding Saint Bernard treating of the conuersion of Saint Paul saith That it was a great happinesse that he was strucken blind for by this his blindnesse he was taken vp into the third Heauen there saw such things as man may not vtter and when he came to receiue againe the eys of this his bodie he possessed withall the eye-sight of his soule and so did it likewise fare with this blind man The fourth reason is God inflicting the euill of punishment vpon man God therein doth not doe man iniustice for as Saint Chrysostome saith there is in this life no more than one good and one ill the good consists in seruing God the ill in offending him Let no man therefore complaine of his misfortunes for there cannot be any disaster so great that can hurt thee in the least haire of thy head Capillus de capite vestro non peribit And if a man doe not runne hazard in the losse so much as of one haire there will be much more care had that the better and more materiall parts shall not perish Many in Ierusalem hauing eyes remained blind and this blind man hauing no eyes came thereby to enioy his sight both in bodie and in soule Seneca saith That the want of eyes caused in many the want of sinning was a great occasion of their innocencie of life and inculpabiâ—itie The fifth reason is That it is no iniustice in God to inflict punishment vpon vs for albeit there be no proper precedent sinne neither in our selues nor our Parents yet the original sinne that we are liable vnto may draw and that iustly most grieuous punishments vpon vs as Saint Augustine hath learnedly noted concerning little infants which suffer sickenesse and death So that Gods freeing of man from punishment is mercie his not freeing him no iniustice Thou hast many debtors thou forgiuest one and suest another it is a kindnesse to the one but no iniurie to the other One owes thee a great summe thou art contented to â—ake a little for this thy debtor owes thee a great deale of thankes God tooke away this mans eyes from him he might likewise haue bereaued him of his feet and his hands he is bound to thanke him that he spared him the vse of those Besides this cannot be said to be so much a taking away of that which is due as not a giuing of that vnto him which he might if he would The good things which we enioy are from God and hee may distribute them as it best pleaseth him Againe the arme is to defend the head though it runne the hasard of being lost a Citisen for the safeguard of his Commonwealth a Subiect to saue his Soueraignes life a Christian for the glorie of Christ a Creature for the honour of his Creator and Martyrs for the maintenance of their Religion haue not refused to lay downe their liues it is not much then that this man should be contented with the losse of his eyes that the Workes of God might be made manifest The sixt reason is That because the heart doth commonly follow after the eyes it is better to want eyes than to haue them It is the common opinion not only of the Phylosophers but of Gods Saints That the eyes are principium â—alorum nostrorum The induction to all our ill Lucian calls them Prima amoris viâ— The onely doore that opens vnto loue Plato Principium amoris nostri The entrance to loue Dionysius Adalides or Duces amoris The guides or ringleaders to loue Seneca Animae finestrae The window to the soule Saluianus The casements to mans brest Clemens Alexandrinus That the first encounters and skirmishes sallie from forth the eyes Nazianzen stiles them The prime instruments of our bewitching In a word The eyes were the ruine of Lots wife the eyes The bewitching of the children of Israell Videntes filij Dei filias hominum c. The eyes ouerthrew Eue in Paradice the Iudges that would haue wronged Susanna in Babylon Dauid Sampson and Salomon might all of them verie well say Vt vidi perij My sight vndid me Ieremie complaineth That all the Daughters of his Citie were vtterly vndone by their eyes Depredatus est oculus meus animam meam in cunctis filiabus vrbis Saint Peter That many Cast-awayes haue their eyes full of Adulteries Plutarch reporteth That a certaine Conquerour entring the Citie in triumph casting his eye aside vpon a handsome young woman had his heart taken prisoner by her and sending his lookes
There is no comfort in the end of man But Gods Saints say Thou hast couered vs with the shadow of death When the fire of Hell did threaten vs Death did shelter vs with it's shade Cada vno habla de la Feria como le va en ella Euerie one speaketh of the Market as hee makes his pennie-worths The Iust hath no cause to weepe because hee that enioyeth God enioyeth all the happinesse that can be spoken or imagined but the Sinner may crie out Ego plorans oculus meus deducens aquas quia longè factuâ— est à me consolator It being the soule of my soule and now seuered so far from me thou hast cause to bewaile a bodie without a soule It is a lamentable thing saith Saint Augustine that we should bewaile other losses and not that of our soule Quid tam malè de nobis meruit anima nostra How hath our soule so ill deserued of vs He there considers the great care we haue of a new suit of cloathes that neither the dust the moath nor the least wrinckle should hurt it but are verie curious in folding of it vp He that buyes hath an especiall eye to two things The one to looke verie well to that he buyes be it pearles apparell or horses and will first make proofe and diligent enquirie of their goodnesse c. The other To cast about with himselfe how he shall be able to pay and to driue the price as well as he can Doe thou likewise endeauour to vse the like diligences concerning thy soule consider first what kind of stuffe it is and what it is worth and then beat the price and see for what thou canst buy it Which course if thou shalt but take thou wilt looke to it the better and esteeme it the more and not set so slight by it as many doe Take yee away the stone He stinketh alreadie for he hath beene dead foure dayes Lazarus being now foure dayes dead lying stinking in his graue and with a tombe-stone vpon him doth represent a Sinner that through long custome is growne old in his sinnes That which might well haue beene cured hauing gotten strength by time is become incurable not that it is impossible to be healed but because it is a strange kind of cure and healed with a great deale of difficultie And therefore the Wiseman saith That a Young man enured to ill Age will not make him giue it ouer Chrysostome calls Custome Febrim furiosam a hot burning Feuer whose raging flame taking hold on our appetites there is no water that can quench it Phylon calls it Regem animae The King of our soule agreeing with that language of Saint Paul Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies Plato reprehending a certaine Scholler of his of some â—ight faults which he confessing but making light of them his Master told him Custome is no such light thing as you make it It is Saint Hieromes obseruation That Ieremie said O Lord I know not how to speake because I am but a child And Esay Woe vnto me that I haue held my peace for I am a man of polluted lips The one God cured by onely touching his mouth with his finger the other he was faine to cauterise with a hot burning cole Now the infirmitie being all one why should the remedies bee so disequall I answere That the sinne of Ieremie was but a child as it were verie young and tender and therefore any the least remedie would serue his turne but Esay was an old grown Courtier c. Saint Augustine dwells much vpon this word Quatriduanus his foure dayes lying in the graue The Euangelists make mention of three dead persons which our Sauiour raised vp to life not that he had not raised vp more but because these doe represent the deaths of our soules The daughter of the chiefe Ruler of the Synagogue which went not out of her house represent those our secret sinnes which passe in our withdrawne roomes and the closest by-corners about the house The young man of Naim those publique sinnes which proclaime themselues in the Market place and comming out of doores offer themselues to euerie mans view your widows sonnes being generally lewd and ill giuen Lazarus those that stinke and grow vnsauorie through their too long custome of sinning hauing lien long in this graue of death Saint Augustine saith That the name of three in Scripture betokeneth many sinnes but that of foure more than many And this phrase of speech is vsed by Amos For three transgressions of Moah and for foure I will not turne to it signifying thereby many more than many O terque quaterque beati implies a world of happinesse to the like sence sounds this word Quatriduanus Foure dayes since Whence it is to be noted That sins when they begin like the waters to swell so high they leaue their bed and run ouer the bankes causing a miserable inundation Gods anger growing wearie in the expectation of our amendment draws his sword at last to cut vs off The sinnes of Sodome cried out so loud that the clamor thereof came to Gods eare so shril was the noyse that it brake through those other inferiour heauens and ascended vp to the Throne of Thrones where he sate in his Imperiall Maiestie God was wondrous angrie at it yet had hee this patience with himselfe that before he would execute his wrath vpon them he said Vadam videbo I will goe downe and see whither they haue done altogether according to that crie which is come vnto me c. What greater euidence ô Lord of thy loue than these thy delayes God did beare with them yet a little while longer and hee did looke and stand waiting to see whether Sodome would amend the foulenesse of her sinne so that when hee came downe to see how things passed had he found them sorrowfull for what they had done amisse and repenting themselues of their former euill life hee would haue sheathed his sword and withdrawne his displeasure The same conceit passeth in that Parable of the Tares the Tares grew vp amongst the Wheat and the seruants asking their Master Wilt thou that we goe and plucke vp the tares He said vnto them No let them grow vp both together And why so ô Lord It may be they wil die and wither away of themselues if not the haruest will come ere long and they shall be cut downe bound vp and cast into the ouen So that Gods patience you see is great but when we perseuer in ill Gods anger comes like an inundation vpon vs. But I will conclude this point with Saint Austens owne conclusion Sub tali resuscitatore de nullo iacente desperandum est Let no man despaire of rising be he neuer so much cast downe hauing such a one to raise him vp from Death to Life as our Sauiour Christ Iesus who is all Loue and Mercie and Goodnesse and the
were able to disperse the Clouds and cleere the Skie that he might haue light he is in as pittifull case if not worse as he that is tormented with a shaâ—pe burning Feuer or with a furious Apoplexie in a long and tedious winter night for he may better passe it ouer with the conueniencie of a good bed and Chamber cleane linnen and a little sleepe comforting himselfe that the day will at last appeare and that he shall see the light And if in a daintie fine Aprill morning it giues a man such great content to see the Trees apparelled in greene the lights and the shadowes which the Sunne beames paint them forth withall the drooping and wither-starued hearbes raising vp their hanging heads holpen by the dew of Heauen the Flowers and the Roses discouering the beautie of their faces the singing of the Birds which with their musicke entertaine the light the bleating of the Kids and Lambekins the Heardsman going forth with his Cattell the Faulkener with his Hawkes and the Huntsman with his Hounds What discomfort on the contrarie must he take that hath lost himselfe in avast Wildernesse in the manner afore mentioned or keepes his bed tired out with a long and tedious sickenesse c. Ego sum Lux Mundi I am the Light of the world c. Out of the desire that man had to enioy more light than God had giuen him bayted with the Deuills promise he bit Eritis said the Deuill sicut Dij scientes bonum malum Yee shall be as gods knowing good and euill By which offence he was clouded with the darkenesse of sinne verifying therein that which was afterwards verified by Esay We looked for light and behold darkenesse In the beginning of the World when all things remained in that darke Chaos euerie thing was so poore and miserable as nothing more by Light God drew light out of darkenesse he therewith did beautifie and inrich his Creatures hee did cheare and cleere the Elements he did banish darkenesse he gaue those goodly and liuely colours to the whole Vniuerse and all of them ioyntly remained so jocond so merrie and so well pleased that in their dumbe kind of Language they gaue great thankes to that Light Man remained in a Chaos no lesse darke through sinne and those that had the best sight did confesse Wee groaped like blind men against a wall at noone day God did prepare great Lights for to rid away this grosse Darkenesse as Patriarkes Prophets Kings and famous Captaines but as in the darkenesse of Aegypt That bright flame of the Starres could not illighten that horrible darke night So likewise in that night of the old Law those though most excellent cleere Lights could not expell that darkenesse God for to repayre his Peoples discomfort did promise to giue them a great Light The People that sate in darkenesse saw a great Light That is The people shall see it so saith one of the Prophets for for the more assurance of the Prophecie they vse to put the preterperfect for the future Orietur vobis Sol Iusticiae saith another Prophet A Sâ—n of Righteousnesse shall rise vnto you The People cried vnto God That he would fulfill his word they did weepe lament sigh and mourne all the Creatures at last remained so perfect so prosperous and so rich and held themselues so happie that cloathing themselues with new ioy they gaue the good day to this Light The Histories are full of those prodigies and wonders which hapned at our Sauiours birth Baruc The Starres shine in their watch and reioyce When he calleth them they say Here we be and so with cheerefulnesse they shew light vnto him that made them And though those three Suns had giuen aduice thereof which Plinie speaketh of and those nine Sunnes whereof Bartolomeo Risana maketh mention besides those Kings Sheepheards Sybils Symeon Anna and the Prophecies yet this Light had not displayed his beames but now cleering the earth with his wonderful Myracles he saith Ego sum lux muÌ„di I am the Light c. Two occasions offered themselues for this Reuelation The one The libertie and life of the Adultresse for the freeing of whome he discouered the secret sinnes of her accusers leauing them not onely amased and ashamed but agrieued and offended and it seemeth that he answers to this their complaint Ego sum Lux mundi Of force the Light must driue away Daâ—knesse and discouer those secrets which are hidden vnder the cloake of the night This is the argument of that Parable No man lighteth a candle and putteth it vnder a bushell but sets it on a candlesticke that it may giue light to all that are in the house My Father did not send this Torch into the world to put it vnder a bushell and therefore you need not to be so angrie or thinke you are wronged One of the fearefullest accidents that euer was or shall be seene was That the Light comming into the world and all other creatures remaining so rap't with sudden joy at this so rich a treasure Man only should shut his eyes against his own good giuing Ieremie iust cause to crie out Stand astonished ô yee Heauens at this That the Thirstie should despise the Fountaines of the waters of Life and that the Blind should mislike the Light Whosoeuer saith Saint Bernard had but seene our Sauiours teares sighs and sufferings and all for our sinnes and to redeeme vs from damnation would haue sworne no newes could bee so welcome as the comming of this Sunne of Righteousnesse to illuminate the world and to lighten those that sate in darkenesse But as your Quaile rages when the Sunne riseth and as Plinie saith of the Athlantes That they curse it with a thousand curses because it parcheth and burnes vp their grasse and as those saith Iob thaâ—â—â—sh for Whales doe curse the day and as hee that is asleepe is offended when the light awakes him and as weake infirme eyes cannot indure the beames of the Sunne so these Pharisees were offended and grew verie hot and angrie that the glorious Light of our Sauiour Christ should discouer their sinnes Some man perhaps may aske whence this hatred growes Saint Iohn resolues it thus As in the naturall World amongst birdes and beasts there are many that cannot indure the light of the day comming in the night out of their caues holes seeke their food in darkenes according to the Prophet They seeke it from God But when the Sun begins to peep forth he shuts them vp in their dennes and makes them affraid to show their heads so in the Morall World there are children of darkenes and of the night which cannot abide the light of the day That their Actions may not be called into question The night is the sinners cloake The Light the Herald that proclaimes all humane Actions such are those of these men that they haue not the face to come abroad or to stand in the light
till such time as it is lost The couetous Rich-man did acknowledge in Hell the Riches that were hid vnder Lazarus his Ragges The Damned confesse amidst their slames the wisedome of the Righteous whom before they held to be Fooles or mad men The Prodigall in the Pig-stie knew the aduantage that his fathers houshold seruants had of him The Hebrewes in their life time offered Moses a thousand Agrauio's and iniuries when hee slew the Aegyptian he was forced through them to flie the Countrie when he was their Captaine and Commander they multiplied mutinies vpon him murmurings disgraces and were so mad at him that they would haue stoned him to death and yet after he was dead if they had knowne where his bodie had bin buried they would haue worshipped and adored him King Ahab called Eliah while he liued here The Troubler of Israell and Queen Iezabel she would haue his life taken from him the People too they complained of his too much rigour and seueriâ—ie and that he had petitioned God That they should haue no raine for so many yeares and that he tooke no pittie of those poore soules that were readie to starue for hunger in the streets but when hee was taken vp into Heauen in a fierie Chariot Elisha then cried out My father my father the Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof That is to say Now Israell shall know that thou wert more their Protectour and Defender than their armed Chariots Or as Saint Ambrose hath it Now Israel shall know that thou wert hee that did gouerne them and that did represse their violent passions and bridle their wilfull and headstrong affections which were more hot and furious than those of Beasts In humane Histories there are infinite examples that auouch the truth hereof but none can alledge for the present nor the world neuer yet did nor shâ—ll produce a man so persecuted so abhorred so trampled vpon and so much desâ—ised and neglected as our Sauiour Christ Eradicemus eum de terra Viuentium Let vs root him out of the land of the Liuing as if he had beene the plague of the Commonwealth But the World did afterwards acknowledge That there was no man that deserued more to bee beloued In regard of the time for the World hath not any one thing of so great price as is Time Fili conserua Tempus My sonne preserue Time so saith Ecclesiasticus Pretious things ought charily to bee kept and conserued whereof none is more pretious than Time Seneca writing to Lucilius sayth Who can too highly esteeme of Time Who can giue it the price that is due vnto it All things else are Aliena They are not ours onely Time is ours it is a Treasure that properly belongeth vnto vs which wee may bestow as wee will our selues Now in the last and great day of the Feast c. This was one of the famousest Feasts that the Iewes had they solemnised the same on the fifteenth of September and it did last seuen dayes Of the Ceremonies and Sacrifices of this Feast Leuiticus Numbers and Iosephus in his Booke of Antiquities maketh mention All these seuen dayes the Hebrewes liued in the field and in Cabbins couered with boughes in remembrance of that time that God led them through the Desert in Tents and Tabernacles and therefore it was called the Feast of Tabernacles That your posteritie may know that I haue made the Children of Israel to dwel in Booths when I brought them out of the land of Aegypt God pretending therein That when the children of Israell should see themselues seated in so populous a citie as Ierusalem strengthned with such strong walls and such proud and stately Towers that they did strike a feare and terrour into Damascus and all the heathen round about them fortified with so many seuerall sorts of Armes illustrated with the Temple which was one of the myracles of the world the memory of their forepassed miserie might melt the vaine-glorie of their present prosperitie For the forgetting of our first rising causeth commonly pride and arrogancie your wiser sort of men when they see themselues raised to the highest round of Fortunes wheele they alwayes set before their eyes their base beginning Amongst those other Vessells of gold and siluer on his Court-Cupboord the Emperour intermixed some of earth in memoriall that he was raised from beeing a Potter to the honour of being an Emperour Amos did neuer forget that he had bin a heardsman though God had exalted him to be a Prophet Armentarius ego sum Dauid neuer denied that he had bin a Sheepheard Sinners when they come to be Saints they are neuer vnmindful of the miserable estate of their sinnes Quorum primus ego sum Whereof I am the chiefest saith Saint Paul For a man to be puffed with the state of a new fortune and to forget his former base and meane estate is a thing proper to base ingratefull and foolish persons and this forgetfulnesse causeth him to fall into discurtesies inciuilitie pride and bad behauiour If any man thirst let him come vnto me Some say That he calleth vnto all that are thirstie as elsewhere he called to all that were wearie and heauie laden with the burthen of their sinnes Others That he calleth vnto those that thirst after Heauen and so putteth it downe conditionally For albeit all doe thirst after happinesse in the generall yet those that attaine to this true happinesse by a liuely Faith are few Things are by so much the more rare by how much they are the more pretious as wee see in Gold Pearles and Pretious Stones in Cloathes of Tissue Lawne Silke Scarlet and delicacie of Dyet Amongst this number wee List Good men which are verie rare and verie pretious Iuvenal termes them The Monsters of the World and he drawes his comparison from a Mule great with Fole Cicero saith That it is a rarer thing for to see a Mule bring forth a Foale is verie frequent but we seldome see a perfect wise man Dauid sayd of himselfe I am become as it were a Monster vnto many A King so prosperous so much fauoured of God and so good a Monster a King so powerfull such a pardoner of his enemies and so liberall towards them and he a Monster a King which watred his couch with teares and did mingle them with the water that hee dranke and did couer his flesh with Sack-cloath and he a Monster Caietan translates it Tanquam Miraculum It is the definition of the Iust That a man the World walking that broad way which leadeth to destruction that he should take pleasure to goe the streight and narrow way it is Miraculum A meere myracle That a man when all men besides shall say Let vs eat and drinke for tomorrow wee shall die that he should say Let vs fast and pray let vs repent vs of our sinnes that we may not die tomorrow it is Miraculum A meere myracle That a man
me and I shall be whiter than snow it shall not onely lose that whitenesse which it had before but shall surpasse the snow in whitenesse In like manner a Sinner may be so washed and so clensed that hee may remaine more pure and more faire than the Innocent Againe water clenseth but as it washeth so it wasteth and weareth out that which it washeth as it is to be seene in your Linnen but the Holy-Ghost reneweth the Soule giuing new force and new strength Thy youth shall be renewed like the Eagles and though our outward man be corrupted our inward man is reuiued yet day by day The second effect is To fertilise and fructifie the earth The holy Spirit worketh this with great aduantage My soule without thee is barren but by thy fauourable influence it bringeth forth the faire fruits of Charitie Ioy Patience Long-suffering Goodnesse Gentlenesse c. All these things worketh one and the same Spirit and therefore it is called Viuificator A Quickning Spirit The third effect is To quench thirst Onely the Holy-Ghost can quench the thirst of the Soule all other humane goods increase our thirst as it is proued in many places And therefore Dauid did desire of God that he would quench this his thirst My Soule thirsteth after God the Fountain of liuing water and wo is me c. He doth sigh and grone for his God and his glorie becauâ—e onely that is able to quench his thirst Neuer man spake as this man The High-Priests and the Pharisees asked the Officers that were sent to apprehend our Sauiour Why they had not brought him with them and the Officers answered Neuer any man spake like this man Wherein two things are to be considered First The force of Gods Word Secondly The little feare great securitie which he inioyeth that preacheth as also he that heareth and obeyeth Many excellent Diuines haue harpt vpon this string and great endeerings haue beene deliuered by Ecclesiasticall and Secular Historians Saul sent to take Dauid the Officers found him playing vpon his Harpe and were so rauished with the sweetnesse of his Musicke that they forgat themselues and what the King had giuen them in charge He sent others more stout and resolute and the like hapned to them The King beeing inraged with anger and waxing wondrous cholericke went himselfe in person to apprehend him vsing high language and throwing out great menaces threatnings against him but he was scarce come thither when he fell a prophecying who according as some will haue it catching hold of a Harp began to play vpon it and to sing like vnto some Serjeant who finding him whom he goes to apprehend dancing at some Wedding in a Countrie Village layeth aside his Mace and falls a dancing with the company The Fables report That Orpheus with his musicke made the torments of Hell to cease leauing those Tormentors in astonishment and amasement And great questionlesse is the suspension which Musicke causeth in our minds Touching Eloquence rare is that endeering of Cicero whose Oratorie a Poet called Flexamina omnium rerum Regina That of Marcus Antonius that famous Roman Orator was so singular in this kind that the Senat sending a Band of souldiers to cut off his head he did earnestly intreat them that they would but giue him the hearing of three or foure words they did so but those his words were so powerful that forsaking their former fierce resolution they sheathed vp their swords and gaue him his life and which was much more they so melted into teares That hanging their heads in their bosome and casting their eyes to the ground they all fell a weeping Plutarch telleth vs how that Palemon a handsome young man of Athens but of a most loose and dishonest life came in one day to heare Xenocrates in that kind of wanton fashion and habit that any Whoâ—e or Curtezan could not tricke and set forth her selfe in a more lasciuious manner on which occasion the Phlosopher taking hold did plead in fauor of Honestie with such strength of words such excellent language and such extraordinarie eloquence that in the presence of the Auditors Palemon stript himselfe out of all his gay cloathes pluckt the Rings out of his eares and off his fingers continuing from that time forward a verie honest man and a good patterne to others No lesse wonderfull was that which befell Phyletus a Disciple of Hermogenes the Inchanter who came to dispute and maintaine argument with Saint Iames the elder relying much vpon his Sophistrie but the Apostle preached with that powerfulnesse that Phyletus returning backe againe to his Master told him Magus abieram Christianus reaco I went forth a Magician but I am returned a Christian. To this purpose the Fables report of Hercules That with chaines of gold which came forth of his mouth he haled after him all the World But neither the truths of humane Histories nor the lies of artificiall Fables can attaine vnto the force and power of Diuine Eloquence Esay foretold vs as much All Nations shall flow vnto him borrowing his Metaphore in this word Flow from some great and principall Riuer which without any violence runs along with that strange force and swiftnesse that nothing can resist it but sweepes all away that stands in it's way Being one and the same comparison with that of Saint Iohn Out of his bellie shall flow Riuers of water of Life From hence and that verie fitly we may draw a second consideration which is this If from euerie one that enioyeth this Spirit there flow forth great riuers of liuing water well may those good men liue without feare and secure from all harmes wrongs affronts and tyrannies Consider with thy selfe in a Riuer the force of the water the impetuousnesse and furie of a swift Torrent the violence of a great streame wherewith a hundred Mills are driuen Who will dare to keepe it backe Who will offer to stand in it's way Who can resist it Of the comming of our Sauiour Christ it was prophecied That hee should banish all feare and cowardise from out the hearts and brests of his friends Dauid compares the iust man to the Moone when she is at the full He shall be established for euer as the Moone and as a faithfull witnesse in the Heauen Alcyat sayth in one of his Emblemes That a Dog then barketh most when the Moone is at the fullest whether it be by some speciall influence that it then worketh in the Dog or whither it be occasioned by the macula's or spots in the Moone representing vnto him the forme and shape of another Dog but though the Dog barke neuer so much yet doth the Moone walke her Station securely through Heauen and though Tyrannie barke neuer so much at the Iust yet shall hee walke in safetie The Spouse in the Canticles complaineth That Tyrants had taken her cloake from her The Church calleth this her Cloake the Martyrs wee see some of them roasted
some fryed on the Gridyron some sawne some dragged at the â—ailes of horses some with their skinnes pluckt ouer their eares and some tormented with sundrie other torments the Deuill blowing the coles of crueltie in the mouthes and hearts of the Executioners But in the end those cuts and slashes passe no further than the cloake they wound the bodie but not the soule God of his mercie giue vs the grace to endure this our fireie triall when persecution shall set vpon vs that being purified in the Furnace of Tribulation we may be like Gold that is refined and shine with glorie in the sight of God To whom c. THE XXXIIII SERMON VPON THE TUESDAY AFTER PASSION SVNDAY IOHN 7. Ambulabat Iesus in Galileam non enim volebat in Iudaeam ambulare quia quaerebant Iudaei interficere AFter these things Iesus walked in Galilee and would not walke in Iudaea for the Iewes sought to kill him After these things that is after those great myracles which he had wrought in Capernaum and after that most deepe and learned Sermon of his bodie and bloud Saint Iohn saith That our Sauiour Christ retyring himselfe from Iudaea went and wrought myracles in the Cities of Galilee because the Iews sought to kill him And because the enuious Murmurer may chance to say That hee withdrew himselfe from Iudaea lest the Scribes and Pharisees should discouer his trickes and find out his false play the Euangelist addeth That there was no such matter to be feared but that waiting for the houre of his death alreadie determined in Heauen he was desirous in the interim to slinke out of the way to free and deliuer his bodie from that malice and danger which he saw it was like to be subiect vnto in Iudaea The Greeke Texts read In Iudaea Galilaea but Saint Augustine Saint Cyril and Saint Chrysostome read it in the Acusatiue In Iudaeam Galileam id est Per Galileam Saint Chrysostome saith Non poterat ambulare in Iudaeam which is all one with Nolebat He could not that is He would not which is an vsuall phrase of speech Iesus walked in Galilee c. It is made a generall doubt amongst all the Commentators Why our Sauiour Christ being able to triumph so easily ouer the power and malice of his enemies should withdraw himselfe from their presence whom he might if he would haue trampled vnder his feet To prooâ—e which point were a needlesse labour there beeing so many Prophecies and so many places of the one and the other Testament which say as much and those loud shrieking cries which the Deuills roared forth affrighted and turning cowards in his presence are sufficient proofes thereof likewise Deaths cowardlinesse confirmes the same Egredietur Diabolus ante faciem eius ibit Mors the ouerthrowing of the Roman Cohorts with one onely word his causing the stones to freeze to their fingers that had so often sought to stone him to death his leauing them lying on the ground in a swoune that came to apprehend him are testimonies without exception Why then at euery step doth Christ retyre himselfe and seeke to get from them Saint Augustine makes this difficulty seeme greater in his bookes de Ciuit. Dei For reprehending Cato Vticensis who that he might not fall into Caesars hands killed himselfe he saith That for a man to flye from tribulation and danger is a kind of Cowardize And Saint Paul saith I know that bonds and afflictions abide for me at Ierusalem but I passe not at all neither is my life deare vnto me c. Esay going about to relate in his 52 chapter that which our Sauiour was to suffer doth first set downe by way of interrogation Who will beleeue that which Gods arme is to suffer He calls his diuine power his Arme because God shewed his power in nothing more than in his passioÌ„ Tertullian in his book de Patientia saith That God did not expresse his power so much in parcendo as in patiendo in pardoning as in suffering That saying of the Church is worthy the weighing Qui omnipotentiam tuam parcendo maxime miserando manifestus Who shewest thy omnipotency in nothing more than in pittying and pardoning offenders But what hath the strength of suffering to doe with the weaknesse of flying Petrus Chrisologus in a Sermon of his De fuga Domini taxeth the Euangelists for relating our Sauiour Christs flying For a souldier saith he should publish his constancie his valour the strength of his arme and aduance the noble Acts and conquests of his Captaine but not his weakenesses and his feares Behold againe the difficultie in regard of that our Sauiours great anguish both in body and soule before he was to dye None in the world did euer more desire to dye than he did as hath already been proooued vnto you If then sweet Iesus thou doest so much desire death and that the Iewes hunt after thee for no other end Why doest thou flye Before that I resolue this doubt we are to confesse and acknowledge with all possible humilitie that mans vnderstanding comes farre short of Gods thoughts Esay saith see how much distance there is betweene heauen and earth so much is there betweene the imaginations of God and man And therefore the Spouse said That they were high and black high like the Palme tree and blacke as the Rauens quill Who saith Ecclesiasticus can count the sands of the sea the drops of the deaw or the dayes of the world Now if humane wisedome cannot attaine vnto those things which she hath as it were betweene her hands she will lesse be able to search into the secret counsells of God And therefore the Wise man doth aduise thee Seeke not into those things that are too high for thee This way being thus made let vs now proceed to the reasons of the Saints The first is of Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome Our Sauiour Christ was God according to his Diuine nature and man according to his humane nature and the confession of the one being as necessary as the other he had in all his actions a great respect vnto them both All his words and deeds still tended to this that he might be beleeued to be both God and man Saint Augustine saith That his withdrawing himselfe aside as a man did not withdraw from his power as hee was God and his throwing downe of his enemie flat on the ground as he was God did not take from him his weaknesse as he was man If Christ should not haue showen in the flesh the condition of flesh in vaine had he taken flesh vpon him and if he should alwayes haue done the workes and actions of a God and giuen perpetuall pledges of his Diuine nature to what vse would haue serued his cloathing himselfe with humane flesh If Christ should haue beene a continuall Miracle what roome would there haue been left for faith or what reward could that haue receiued The second is
he did vpon Sisera what can such a mad foolish woman thinke will become of her when she growes thus bold and presumptuous Oh if thou wouldest but weigh with thy selfe what thou loosest and that which thou mightest gaine as also the hurt that thou doest vnto thy selfe Oh if thou didst but see the miseries whereunto thy sinnes haue brought thee Thou hast beene so haled and pulled by that infernall Wolfe that thou hast scarce an eare left to heare thy Shepheards whistle And yet for all this I come through the bushes and bryars and those steepe and dangerous rocks of thy sins to look thee out and like a sheep that hath been long lost and found againe I desire to bring thee backe againe to the fold vpon my shoulders Oh if thou didst but see the inward loue of my bowels or if thou didst but know the great danger thou art in or if thou couldest but loath this thy lewd and euill life c. With this threatning sermon expressing so many and such terrible hellish horrours Mary Magdalen was mightily mooued her heart melted within her and Gods Iustice did beat so strongly at the doore of her brest that at last she let him in For in a word his words are that fire which warmeth soules that hammer which breakes the hardnesse of our hearts that shaft which pierceth the bones and marrow that sword which diuideth the reynes in sunder and that induction which gaue an accomplishment and final conclusion to the rarest Repentance that euer was seene And when she knew c. God gaue her knowledge First of her sinne Secondly of the danger of her soule Thirdly of the misery of her estate The Law entred in by giuing her this knowledge Wee had not knowne sinne but by the Law And Saint Paul saith Death raigned from Adam to Moses it ended in Moses For the written Law gaue vs some light but that of Grace much more Now besides this generall help God did inlighten Mary Magdalen by discouering the foulenesse of those vices which she loued and the fairenesse of that vertue which she hated Touching their foulenesse notable is that place of Dauid Illuminans mirabiliter à montibus aeternis turbati sunt omnes insipientes corde God doth inlighten the sinner that he may see the face of his sinnes from the which hee will flye the more if he shall but behold those foule fiends of hell This is a remedy wherewith God cureth the greatest infirmities Where by the way it is to bee noted that the rule for the griefes of the body is farre different from those of the soule In those the sicke patient hath a breathing time of ease and by degrees growes better till the danger be past but in these he growes worse and worse The husband is sicke his wife sayes vnto him Por mi vida que no es nada My life for yours it is a thing of nothing his daughter ManÌ„ana se poâ—ra V. M. leuantar To morrow Sir by the grace of God you shall be able to rise and be as well as euer you were the neighbors Regalo deâ—e Ser This is a Ladies fit a gentle visitation The Physitians they withdraw themselues out of the roome and consult in secret that they may not dishearten their patient And that this should be so it importeth much for the body but for the soule that which is fittest for it is to notifie vnto it that it is either at Heauens doore or Hells gate Saint Augustine confesseth that his conuersion was by these steps Tu autem retorquebas me ad meipsum vt viderem quam vlcerosus essem Thou hast notified vnto me ô Lord my danger by making mee to turne mine eyes vpon my selfe that I might see my sores aduising me of that which Ieremy vttereth Thy wound is incurable God likewise did Mary Magdalen a great fauour in discouering vnto her the faire and beautiful face of Vertue kindling in her brest those hot coles of Loue. A sinner in his vices and vaine pleasures is like vnto a horse of whom Iob saith That in hearing the noyse of the trumpet sounding to warre hee enters into the battaile with great courage scorning all kind of feare whatsoeuer Vertue me thinks should not be of worse condition And the iust knowing his own strength and how faire and beautifull he is in Gods sight it is not much that hee should couragiously enter the listes laying aside all feare Secondly she knew the season of this her happinesse That Iesus sat at Table in the house of Simon the Leper and shee would not loose so faire an opportunitie which being once lost is hardly recouered The vocations and inspirations of God are euery dayes example The waters saw thee and were afraid the depths trembled the cloudes powred out water the heauens gaue a sound thy arrowes went abroad the voyce of thy thunder was round about the lightnings lightned the world c. Saint Augustine saith That the Prophet here treateth of the effect of Gods word and compares it to those things which passe and quickly disappeare as the noyse of a rushing of waters or of some greatwhirle-wind or arrowes shot with a strong arme or of thunder and lightning These are things whilest they last which doe much amase mooue and disquiet vs The earth saw it and was mooued at it But these things doe not long continue but quickly passe away And therefore our good consisting in it's good effect it were a great lasinesse and foule slothfulnesse in vs not to take occasion by the foretop What sayes Lucan Semper nocuit differre paratis Sophonias Coruus super liminari Cras cras Saint Ierome hath obserued that the Hebrew letter signifies a knife In token that the deferring of a good occasion is the knife that cuts our soules and the sword that kills them The damned doe eternally bewaile their lost occasion Desideria occidunt pigrum For the sluggard desires and desires and holds one hand vpon another but neuer sets his hand to any thing but Mary Magdalen vt cognouit As soone as shee knew that Iesus was in Simons house c. The Euangelist saith not That she stayed to take her Mantle with her nor that she opened any coffer or tooke any Balsamum out of such or such a boxe but vt cognouit as soone as she knew where he was she bestirred her stumpes and made all the hast she could And when she knew that hee sat at Table in the house of Simon the Leaper it was a watchword vnto her that this was now a fit time for her to come vnto him For hee that would not loath the company of a Leper and pardon those faults which that Table might afford would not be queasie stomackt towards a sinner c. My welbeloued put in his hand by the hole of the doore and mine heart was affectioned towards him My welbeloued his putting in of his hand is my calling of me And
one customer or other will come vnto vs. Good is that comparison of the Physition and the Apothecarie when a Commonwealth stands sound and in health and the one saith to the other Que se haze compadre How goes the world Gossip No nada por nuestros peccados Not verie well I assure you thankes to our sins which haue drawne this punishment vpon vs And the reason of it grows from this that no longer than they are ministring of purges and syrrops they thinke their time lost So is it with a sinner that hungers after sin there are some men which euerie night get them to bed without any more adoo laden with mortall sins by the dozens and yet think themselues to be Saints But being thus heauily laden darest thou presume to lay thee down to sleep take heed lest they presse thee too hard that thou accompaniest thy sleep with death O good ghostly father say these men I know not what this heauinesse of sins meane that you talk of I find no such matter I thanke God I sleepe soundly I am not troubled with dreames but take my rest as quietly as any man in the world Say you so my masters you shal giue me leaue not to beleeue you for albeit by long custome of sinning you do not feele the weight of this tower nor the heigth of this mountain that you beare vpon your backs notwithstanding all this you shall dream as the Prophet saith fearefull dreames and howbeit wee are not to giue credit to euerie idle dreame yet may yee take these for reuelations and aduertisements and intimations from Heauen And if thou wilt see and behold whether the sinnes of thy life weigh heauie or no take out thy heart and lay it on thy shoulders and then thou shalt see whether the weight of thy sinnes bee heauie or no. Hee alludeth to an ordinarie rule in phylosophie That nothing seemeth heauie in it's owne Element When a Worme diues into the bottome of the sea and lieth there he feeleth not the weight of innumerable Quintalls of Waters which he hath vpon his backe but if vpon drie land he hath but a Cuba de agua as much water as a Hoggs bladder will hold it troubles and torments him much And therefore ô thou sinner if thy sinnes weigh not heauie it is because thou hast made thy heart their naturall center so draw it out of the element of Sinne into that of Grace and thou shalt then perceiue that thy shoulders will not bee able to beare them and that the burthen of them will be too intollerable for thee Pondus eius ferre non potui said Iob My sinnes were more than I was able to beare What shall we doe c. Thou workest myracles assure thy selfe there will be many that will say with these High-priests and Pharisees What shall wee doe Thou art a noted man for thy vertue and holynesse of life thou excellest the rest in the Citie wherein thou liuest prouide thy selfe therefore against the combats of Enuie for thou wilt be encountred therewith Scarce hath the souldier entred into the field glittering in his golden Armour and his plume of feathers dancing on his crest when lo a thousand bullets fall as thick as haile about his eares When Dauid had killed Goliah and the Damosells of Ierusalem sang Saul hath slaine his thousand and Dauid his ten thousand Enuie presently followed him at the heeles The low shrub or little tender sapling that hath his dwelling in the vale shrowding himselfe in some humble bottome is not beaten by the winds but if it grow vp like the Palme or the Cedar or be seated on the top of some high hill it is shaken with euerie blast Like the Apple tree among the trees of the Forrest so is my well-beloued among the sons of men An Apple tree in the midst of a Mountaine amongst Oakes Ashes Corke trees Brambles and Briars shall be much enuied and ill entreated What shall we doe for this man c. Before they sayd he was indaemoniated a Sorcerer a bibber of wine and a friend of sinners but now This man doth manie myracles before they were so harsh and so sowre in their reproofes and reprehensions that they brake foorth into wrongs and reproches but now in a more ciuile kind of deportment they say This man doth many myracles It is a great comfort to those Preachers who out of their zeale to God plainely and nakedly reprehend the sinnes and vices of the times for albeit some of their Auditors doe for the present speake euill of them when they shall afterwards call themselues to account they will then speake well of them Some there are that paint Vice cloathed others starke naked but amongst Painters the latter is held the more excellent peece Alexander did laugh at one of Apelles his Apprentises for painting Hellen rich in her cloaths but foule in her face Your fierie cauteries make the pained Patient to blaspheme God raile against his surgeon swearing by no small oaths That a Turk is not halfe so cruell and so hard hearted as he is but when he sees the Cancer stayd by this cauterising and that hee now waxeth well and sound he can then say Gran oficial es fulano Such a one is an excellent Surgeon It is a great comfort for vs that are Preachers when our Hearers soules shal so smart with our sharp reprehensions that they shal exclaime and crie out against vs That wee deale too roughly with them and that we lack a Ladies hand in the searching and dressing of their wounds and sores But when these men shall be freed of this their passion and shall find what good effect our Cauteries haue wrought vpon their cancer'd consciences though now they curse and reuile vs they will then thanke vs and pray to God to blesse vs. For this Man doth many myracles All the words that were vttered in this Councel were meere fopperies and fooleries and it seems verie strange much to be wondred at that the sin of malice being pecado tan pensado so premeditated a sin that they could not pick any other hole in our Sauiors coat or pitch on some other more foule and heynous offence whose circumstances might haue carryed more colour for Christs death They did foulely ouershoote themselues herein saith Osee It would make a man stand amazed as oft as hee but thinkes with himselfe That proceeding in that malicious manner as they did against him they should so much betray their ignorance But questionlesse it ariseth from that of the Philosopher Omnis peccans est ignorans Euen in the sinnes of malice ignorance hath a great stroke for a sinner knowes not well how to leaue or chuse Chrysologus saith That the diuell in tempting our Sauiour went foolishly to worke and that he had forgot the office of a Tempter Many Saints stile malice blind For there is not any sinne that treads surely but still goes hood-winkt
and let his desire fall What Moses art thou now turned coward What had it been to thee to haue lost thy life for to behold God face to face We find afterwards that desiring pardon for his People he said vnto God O Lord pardon this People though thou blot my name out of the booke of Life Wouldest thou not forgoe thy life to see Gods face and wilt thou part with this and that other life for thy people That was a particular good this a common and a Gouernor ought mainly and especially to haue an eye vnto that Those Cowes which carried the Arke to Bethshemish neuer turned their heads at the lowing of their Calfes because being guided led along with the loue zeale of the common good they forgat their particular longings and desires He that gouernes must fix his eâ—e vpon this White without turning it aside through the importunitie of wife childrâ—n or kinsfolke c. The Romans will come This was but to giue a colour to the violence of their enuie and malice All the world is a Maske or disguise Dionysius the Tyrant entring into a Temple of Idols tooke away from the chiefest amongst them a cloake of gold and being demanded Why hee did it his answere was This cloake is too heauie for the Sommer and too cold for Winter Taking likewise a golden beard from Aesculapius he said That his father Apollo hauing no beard there was no reason his sonne should weare any all which was but a maske for his couetousnesse Simâ—lata sanctitas duplex iniquitas Hence come our contrarie nick-naming of things tearming good euill and euill good sweet sowre and sowre sweet The tyrannie and crueltie wherewith Pharaoh afflicted Gods people he stiled it wisedome Come let vs deale wisely Iehu called that passion and spleene which he bare against Ahab Zeale Behold my zeale for the Lord. Those perills of life whereinto Saul put Dauid he proclaimed to be Gods quarell Goe and fight the Lords battells And here the Pharisees call this their conspiracie a Councell and their priuat profit Zeale c. Yee perceiue nothing at all neither doe yee consider c. This was Caiphas speech as for Ioseph of Arimathea of whom Saint Luke saith That he did not consent to the councell and â—eed of them And for Nicodemus and Gamaliel it is verie probable that they had no finger in the businesse but as it is in the prouerbe The head draweth the rest of the bodie after it as the Primum mobile doth the rest of the Heauens and therefore he sayd Yee know nothing for that when in a Commonwealth a Citisen differs in his opinion from a companie of impudent and wicked persons and liues therein with God and a good conscience presently they say Que sabe poco That he is a man of no vnderstanding and knoweth not what hee speakes The reason that Caiphas renders is this It is expedient for vs that one man die for the people rather than that the whole Nation should perish At that verie instant when the High-Priest was to pronounce this decree the Holy-Ghost and the Deuil mooued him therunto both at once the one directed his heart the other his tongue but in Caiphas his purpose and intention it was the wickedest Decree and the most sacrilegious determination that was euer deliuered in the World God could not bee well pleased with Caiphas for desiring the death of the Innocent nor yet displeased with his death for that it was decreed in the sacred Councel of the blessed Trinitie That one should die for the sinnes of the people But in God and Caiphas the ends were diuerse this out of malice to our Sauiour that out of loue to Mankind Nor is it inconuenient that one and the selfesame proposition should haue a different sence and meaning Destroy this Temple and I will build it vp againe in three dayes The Pharisees vnderstood this of the materiall Temple but our Sauiour Christ of the Temple of his bodie That which thou doost due quickely Our Sauiour Christ spake this of Iudas his treating to sell him but his Disciples vnderstood him as concerning the preparation of the Passeouer And so in this place It is fit that this man should die saith Caiphas that we may not become captiues to Rome and Heauen saith It is fit that hee should die because the whole World should not perish The persecution and death of a Martyr turnes to the Martyrs good but to the Tyrants hurt Surely the Sonne of man goeth his way as it is written of him but woe be to that man by whom the Sonne of man is betrayed it had beene good for that man if he had neuer beene borne Heauen could not inuent a more conuenient meanes than the death of Christ for our good but the world could not light on a worse meanes than the death of our Sauiour Christ for it 's owne ill Caiphas treated of temporall libertie the Holy Ghost of spirituall libertie Caiphas of the safetie of his owne Nation the Holâ—-Ghost of the sauing of the whole world And therefore Saint Iohn addeth Non solum pro Gente or as the Greeke Text hath it Pro ea Gente sed vt filiâ—s Deâ— qui erant disperâ—i congregaret in vnum Not onely for that Nation but that hee might gather the children of God together that were dispersed throughout the world Origen hath obserued That Caiphas prophesied but that he was no Prophet First Because one action of a Prophet doth not make the habit or denomination of a Prophet Secondly because he did not attaine vnto the sence and meaning of the Holy-Ghost the knowledge whereof in point of prophesie is necessarie S. Ambrose saith That Caiphas pretended one thing vttered another therefore that he sin'd in the sentence which he pronounced because hisintent was bad vniust as it was with Balaam who as he was a Prophet could not curse the people of Israell but as they were particular persons they did sinne and erre so that the Holy-Ghost seruing himselfe with the tongue of Caiphas as the instrument the High-Priest did but determine that which the Holy-Ghost had before decreed Whence we may take occasion to weigh and consider the good and the ill of an intention since that one and the selfe same words are so good and so ill Saint Augustine pondereth vpon those words of Saint Paul Qui filio proprio suo non pepercit sed pro nobis omnibus tradidit illum Who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all to death This word Tradidit is verified both of the Father and of the Sonne Tradidit semetipsum pro me He deliuered vp himselfe for me As also of Iudas Qui autem tradidit cum dedit signum He gaue them a signe that was to betray him And of Pilat Tradidit voluntati eorum He deliuered him vp to their will The deliuering of him vp was all one and the same but
presumption Saint Ambrose professeth Quod non erat humanae infirmitatis sed diuina potestatis That it was not so much out of humane fraâ—ltie as diuine power Such a thing that all the strength and force of humane weakenesse could not performe Leo the Pope Haesiâ—are permissus est vt nemo auderet de sua virtute confidere He suffered him to stagger that no man might dare to relye vpon his owne strength Vsing it as a cooling-card for confident Presumists Saint Augustine expounding that place of the Prouerbs Neque declines ad dextram neque ad sinistram Doe not decline neither to the right hand nor the left doth put the difficultie in declining to the right hand We doe acknowledge two wayes in this our earthly pilgrimage One of life The other of death That it is a dangerous peece of businesse to decline to the way of death it is a cleere case but to the way of life very darke and intricate S. Ierome saith That the iust man should haue a care not to decline to the right hand because he may chance to offend God out of his double diligence as Vzza did in staying the Arke least it might fall to the ground Saint Augustine saith That our best seruice may be vnacceptable if not sinfull through our owne presumption And so did Peter sinne presuming on his owne proper valour and setled resolution which made our Sauiour Christ say vnto him Thou shalt deny me thrice and hee replyed thrice Rather than I will deny thee I will dye a thousand deaths O Lord either thou tellest me thus out of the feare of my weaknesse or to try me what I will doe I haue but one life to loose If need were I would dye with thee c. He promised that which was not in the power of his strength to performe Man promiseth he knowes not what because he knowes not himselfe The Angell knew not what would follow for had he had this knowledge at the first that alone would haue lessened his contempt Adam knew by reuelation That his marriage did represent that of our Sauiour Christ with his Church but he knew not the Media or meanes that led thereunto Saint Peter would neuer haue presumed so much on himselfe had he knowne what would haue followed thereupon So that he promised that which he was not possibly able to performe But if presuming on our Sauiour Christs fauour he had told the wench that stood at the doore I am one of Christs Disciples and I will lay downe my life for the testimonie of his truth and mine owne faith he had secured his life For it was not possible that our Sauiour Christ should be false of his word If ye seeke me suffer these first to goe their way But euermore those men that most presume are most deceiued Pharaoh pursued the children of Israel boasting as he went I will not leaue a man of them aliue I will at once make an end of these Slaues But this presumption of his succeeded so ill with him that he and all his were made food for fishes They suâ—ke like lead to the bottome of the sea And anon after it is said Thy wrath did deuoure theÌ„ as the fire consumeth the straw They perished first like lead because they descended euen to the bottome of the sea and they perished like straw because they afterwards floated aboue water to the end that the children of Israel might behold in their drowned bodies the powerfull hand of God That proud Philistim Goliah vaunted himselfe and cryed out vnto Dauid Come to me and I will giue thy flesh vnto the fowles of the heauen and to the beasts of the field He was an able and a valiant man but his valour was nothing answerable to his arrogancie and presumption so that for all his great brags himselfe was made a prey for the Vultures God would haue his friends to be valiant yet cowards weake yet strong fearefull and yet confident and that the one should grow from the consideration of their owne weaknesse and the other from their affiance in God Moses fled being afraid from the Serpent but being animated by God hee was so bold as to take him by the tayle Tobias out of feare fled from the fish but incouraged by the Angell he set vpon him and was strong enough to teare his iawes in sunder And therefore Saint Paul saith All things are possible vnto me in him that is my strength and my comforter And he might as well haue said Without God I can doe nothing In deo meo saith Dauid transgrediar murum In my God I will leape ouer a wall Whereas without him he is not able to crawle ouer a Threshold The Scribes and Pharisees did presume that they should enioy those former good times and golden ages of their great grandfathers and forefathers but they were not confederat with them in shedding the blood of the Prophets and therefore our Sauiour made them this answer Behold I send vnto you Prophets and wise men and Scribes and of them yee shall kill and crucifie And of them shall yee scourge in the Synagogues and persecute from Citie to Citie that vpon you may come all the righteous blood that was shed vpon earth from the blood of Abel the righteous vnto the blood of Zacharias the sonne of Barachias whom ye slew betweene the Temple and the Altar And yet ye are not ashamed to say That if ye had beene in the dayes of your fathers ye would not haue beene partners with them in the blood of the Prophets Benadab king of Syria bosting much of his power he of Israel answered him Let not him that girdeth his harnesse boast himselfe as he that putteth it off He that fights for the victory let him not glory as hee that hath got the victorie for the successe of warre is doubtfull The like iudgement ought euery one to make of the victorie and the warre that is waged with the soule which whilest it liueth in this mortall body cannot assure it selfe so various and doubtfull are the successes of this warre When Iacob had some difference with his father in Law about the Idols which Rachel had stolne hee told him Except the God of my father Abraham the feare of Isaac had been with me c. The Commentators here question it why Iacob did not as well say the God of Isaac as of Abraham And Paulus Burgensis answers thereunto out of the opinion of the Hebrewes That God was neuer called the God of any man whilest that man was liuing because he doth not then inioy a sure estate And therefore in regard that Abraham was dead and Isaac liuing he said the God of Abraham and the feare of Isaac After that braue resolution which Abraham had to sacrifice his sonne God sayd vnto him Now I know that thou fearest God But here another doubt now offers it selfe That Abraham hauing shewne such a great and extraordinarie token
vertue and power of the eyes of our Sauiour Christ they did paint a sunne whence three Raies or bright-shining beames brake forth the one raising vp one that was dead the other did breake a stonie heart and the third did melt a snowie mountaine and the Motto was this Oculi Dei ad nos The beames of Christs eyes raise vp the dead breake rocks and melt snow A facie tua saith Esay montes defluent The fire which they hid in the transmigration of Babylon the children of Israel found at their returne turned into water but exposing it to the beames of the sunne it grew againe to be fire to the great admiration of the beholders which is a figure of Saint Peter who through his coldnes became water but the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse raised a great fire out of this water Pliny reports of certaine stones in Phrygia that being beaten vpon by the beames of the sunne send forth drops of water But the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse did not onely from this Petra or stone Saint Peter draw teares but whole riuers of water According to that of Dauid Which turneth the rocke into water-pooles and the flint into a fountaine of water Saint Ambrose seemeth to stand somewhat vpon it why Peter did not aske forgiuenes of his sins at Gods hands Inuenio saith he quod fleuerit nō inuenio quid dixerit lachrymas lego satisfactionem non lego I find that he wept but do not find what he said I read his teares but read not his satisfaction The reasons of this his silence and that he did not craue pardon of God by word of mouth are these First because he had runne himselfe into discredit by his rash offers and afterwards by his stiffe deniall and therefore thought with himselfe That it was not possible for him to expresse more affection with his mouth than he had vttered heretofore Etiam si oportuerit me mori tecum non te negabo c. And that tongue which had deny'd him to whom it had giuen so good an assurance could neuer as he thought deserue to be beleeued And therefore our Sauiour questioning him afterwards concerning his loue he durst not answer more than this Thou knowest ô Lord whether I loue thee or no. Secondly he askes not pardon by words because the pledges of the heart are so sure that they admit no deceit And for that Lachryma sunt cordis sanguis Tears are the hearts blood S. Ambrose therfore saith Lachrymarū preces vtiliores sunt quā sermonū quia sermo in precando fortè fallit lachryma omnino non fallit The prayers of teares are more profitable than of words for words in praying may now and then deceiue vs but teares neuer S. Chrysostome saith That our sinnes are set downe in the Table-booke of Gods memorie but that teares are the sponge which blotteth them out And indeering the force of teares he saith That in Christs souldier the noblest Act that he can do is to shed his blood in his seruice Maiorem charitatem nemo habet c. For what our blood shed for Christ effecteth that doth our teares for our sinnes Mary Magdalen did not shed her blood but she shed her teares And Saint Peter did not now shed blood but hee shed teares which were so powerfull that after that hee had wept hee was trusted with a part of the gouernment of the Church who before hee had wept had not gouernment of himselfe for teares cure our wounds cheere our soules ease the conscience and please God O lachryma humilis saith Saint Ierome tuum est regnum c. O humble Teare thine is the kingdome thine is the power thou fearest not the Iudges Tribunall thou inioynest silence to thine accusers if thou enter emptie thou doest not goe out emptie thou subduest the inuincible and bindest the omnipotent Hence it is that the diuell beareth such enuie to our Teares When Holofernes had dryed vp the fountaines of Bethulia hee held the Citie his and the Diuell when he shall come to dry vp the teares in our eyes when he hath stopt vp those waters that should flow from the soule of a sinner hee hopes he is his Elian of Tryphon the Tyrant reports of this one vnheard-of crueltie Fearing his Subiects would conspire against him he made a publike Edict that they should not talke one with another and being thus debarr'd of talking one with another they did looke very pittifully one vpon another communicating their minds by their eyes And being forbid by a second Edict that they should not so much as looke one vpon another when they saw they were restrained of that libertie likewise wheresoeuer they met one another they fell a weeping This seemed to the Tyrant the damnablest and most dangerous conspiracie of all the rest and resolued to put them to death The diuell is afraid of our words afraid of our affections but much more afraid of our teares O Lord so mollifie our sinfull hearts that whensoeuer we offend thee our words our affections and our teares may in all deuotion and humilitie present themselues before thee crauing pardon for our sinnes Which we beseech thee to grant vs for thy deare Sonne Christ Iesus sake To whom with the holy Spirit be all prayse honour and glorie c. THE XL. SERMON The Conuersion of the good Theefe MAT. 27. Cum eo crucifixi sunt duo Latrones vnus a dextris alter a sinistris There were crucified with him two theeues one at his right hand an other on his left THere are three most notable Conuersions which the Church doth celebrate That of Saint Paul That of Mary Magdalen That of the good Theefe The one liuing here vpon earth The other now raigning in heauen The third dying vpon the Crosse. Of all the rest this seemeth to be the most prodigious and most strange First because Mary Magdalen saw many of our Sauiour Christs myracles heard many of his Sermons and besides her sisters good example might worke much good vpon her Secondly Saint Paul saw Christ rounded about with glorie more resplendent than the Sunne had heard that powerfull voyce which threw him downe from his horse and put him in the hands of that dust whereof hee was created But the Theefe neither saw Miracle nor Sermon nor example nor glorie nor light nor voyce saue onely Christ rent and torne vpon the Crosse as if hee had beene as notorious a theefe as those that suffered on either side of him Againe How much the quicker is the motion and the extreames more distant repugnant and contrarie by so much the more strange and wonderfull is this change and alteration This theef was a huge way off from either beleeuing or louing our Sauiour Christ and that hee should now on the sodaine and in so short a space passe from a theefe to a Martyr from the gallowes to Paradise must needs be an admirable change Mira mutatio saith S.
that he did him and the great reward hee bestowed vpon him Amongst other Motiues the first shall be the Title of the Crosse Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes It was prophesied That his Kingdome should take it's beginning from the Crosse Dominus regnabit à ligno The Iewes did secretly honour the word à ligno The Saints did openly reuerence it Christ had giuen great pledges in his birth that hee was à King by Angels Shepheards and Kings In his life by the obedience of all sorts of creatures Who is this whom the winds and seas obey By the voices of the Diuells themselues by the whips of the Temple and by his last Supper Here bee some standing here which shall not taste of death vntill c. In his passion My kingdome is not of this world and ye shall see the Son of man comming in power But in his death hee gaue farre greater pledges All the creatures gaue testimonie of their Creator The diuels cried out so sayes Eusebius Caesariensis Pan magnus interijt And howbeit on Pilats and the peoples part the Title of the Crosse was placed there in scoffe and scorne of him yet the diuine prouidence made vse of these liuing instruments And as in the creation he walked on the waters so in the reparation of mankind he passed through punishments and paines of our Sauiour Christ making their iests turne to earnest The same consideration being likewise to be had concerning the Crowne the Scepter and the Robe of purple which in derision they put vpon him c. Hilarie and Bonauenture both say That our Sauiour Christs Patience was one great Motiue In heauen the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost beare witnesse In earth the Holy Ghost Water and Blood All these testimonies proue the Diuinitie of Christ. But to let passe those of heauen The Holy Ghost doth prooue that hee was a Diuine person whose voyce was so powerfull when the Spirit tooke his leaue of his body that it forced the Centurion to say Vere filius Dei erat iste Truely this man was the Son of God The Water which was miraculous prooues that he was a Diuine person for it is not possible that water should naturally flowe from a dead body The Blood that prooues it not onely in regard of it's muchnesse but that it was shed with so much patience For though his wounds were many and his torments great yet like a sheepe before the Shearer he neuer once opened his mouth or shew'd the least resistance And Euthymius and Theophylact adde That the prayer which he heard him make to his Father Father forgiue them which was the first that he vttered on the Crosse did worke that amasement in this theefe That he said with himselfe Sure this is no man And thereupon began to haue an assured hope of the forgiuenesse of his sinnes For thought he he that is so desirous to pardon those that had vsed him so cruelly not onely tormenting him in his body but also scoffing and flouting at him to vexe if it were possible his soule will surely farre more willingly pardon me who being heartily sorry for my sinnes desire to become his seruant I haue heard that the Kings of Israel are mercifull but none of them all had so generous and free a heart as our Sauiour Christ. Tertullian saith That hee came into the world for to shew himselfe a God in his suffering making Patience the badge and marke of his Diuinitie And that the power which he shewed in pardoning being so great much greater was that which hee shewed in suffering It was much that he should suffer for man much more in that he suffered for man when as man would not suffer him to be God To admit a Traytour to his boord to bid him welcome to feast him and make much of him that finding himselfe so kindly vsed he may make him surcease from his plotted treasons winning him vnto him by these and the like courtesies well may a man doe this but that God should admit a Iudas to his table that he should eate with God God witting That he would goe from the table to execute his treason to sell God and to deliuer him vp into the hands of his enemies onely God and his patience could suffer so great an iniurie which made Saint Augustine to say A potentia discimus patientiam S. Chrysostome Origen and S. Ierome are or opinion That the alteration of the sunne and the elements wrought the same effect vpon the theefe as it did vpon Dyonisius in Athens when he cryed out Either the world is at an end or this man is God Vincent Ferrariensis saith That the shadow of our Sauiour Christ did inlighten this Theefe And that the shadow of Saint Peter healing bodies it was not much that the shadow of Christ should heale soules Whereunto may be applyed that of Dauid Thou hast shadowed my head in the day of battaile Petrus Damianus saith That the blessed Virgin might bee a meanes of this Theeues Conuersion by intreating her sonne that he would be pleased to open the eyes of his soule Whether she were mooued thereunto because the good theefe did not reuile Christ or whether which Saint Augustine reports though some attribute the same to Anselmus That in her iourney to Aegypt hee being Captaine of the Theeues did the blessed Virgin many good seruices being much taken with the prettinesse of the child and the sober and modest countenance of the mother sure I am that it was a happines so sole in the world consisting of such strange circumstances That no man did or euer shall enioy the like good lucke And as we cannot expect a second death of our Sauiour Christ so such a second happy incounter as this was cannot bee hoped for This Theefe came in that good time when as heauen did shoure downe mercies when there was a plenary Indulgence and Iubilee granted when God did poure forth the balme of his Blood for to ransome man when the doores of heauen and the wounds of Christ were equally open when the fountaine of liuing water did cry out in the middest of the world If any man thirst let him come vnto mee and drinke when our Sauiour had such a longing desire to see the fruit of his labors and sweats when he had put that petition to his Father which began with Ignosce illis Forgiue them And it seeming vnto him That his Father was too slow in granting his request he did thus pittifully complaine vnto him O my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why came I into the world Why was I borne in pouertie liued in labour and dyed in sorrow What Haue I laboured then in vaine Secondly it was his happinesse as Saint Gregory Nissen hath obserued That he inioyed our Sauiour Christs side and his shadow that he was so close vnder his wing He that sayles in a little Barke with a
powerfull Prince as it succeeded vnto Iulius Caesar Caesarem vehis fortunam eius It is not much that he should be fauoured Saint Ambrose saith That as long as Peter stucke close to Christs side he did set vpon a whole squadron at once but when he was gone but a little further off from vnder his wing a silly maid did out-face him and made him turne coward And when hee began to sinke in the sea because he was neere Christ Christ stretcht out his hand vnto him to saue him whereas if he had beene but two strides further from him he might haue beene in danger of perishing Saint Cyprian stiles him Collega Christi Christs Colleague His fellow and companion When one goes forth into the field vpon a challenge one girts his sword vnto him another buckles his armour and others accompany him into the field and if he get the victorie all doe share in the glory of the Conquerour In that his combat in the desart the Angels did wait vpon him In that combat of his death an Angell comforted him The Theefe he goes along with him for companie and all doe partake of his glory Thirdly Saint Chrysostome saith That he met with another happinesse to wit That he dyed as Christ did vpon the Crosse God hauing proposed heauen vnto vs in Conquest onely he shall inioy it that can get it by force of Armes But the Crosse doth excuse them this labour For it being heauens key whosoeuer shall come therewith may enter without any violence but others must be forced to knocke and that hard at the gates and it is well if with a great deale of labour he can get in at last Saint Bernard saith That the leagues which are betweene earth and heauen are without number but he that hath a familiar let him bestride but a sticke and with that woodden horse he will trauell in two houres from Madrid to Rome This vertue the Crosse inioyes with much more aduantage doe but fasten your selfe to that and in an instant you shall be conueyed to heauen And expounding that word Dum veneris in regnum tuum this Saint saith Et tum vidit Then euen then did he see him taking his iourney for heauen and said vnto him Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome Fourthly it was his good hap to stand mainely then for Christs honor when in a manner all the world had forsaken him Quando Petrus saith S. Chrysost. negabat in terrae Latro confitebatur in Cruce When Peter denyed him on earth the Theefe acknowledged him on the Crosse. When Iudas saith S. Ambrose sold him as a Slaue then did the Theefe acknowledge him for his Lord. O my good Theefe saith S. Aug. What couldst thou see in a man that was blood-lesse blasphemed abhorred and despised What Scepter what Crowne couldst thou hope for from him whose Scepter was a reede whose Crowne thornes c. Dauid commanded his son Salomon that he should shew kindnesse to the sonnes of Barzillai the Gileadite and cause them to sit downe and eat with him at his owne table because they stucke close vnto him in his tribulation Fiftly That he had the good happe to bee there iust in the nicke when Christ was crowned with a Crowne of glorie and had made this his wedding day and all things were ended according to his owne hearts desire and therefore so noble a bridegroome could not but conferre answerable fauours and so great and generous a King do no lesse than bestow a Crown vpon him Shiâ—ei railed against Dauid when flying from Absalon he went halfe naked and vnshod by the skirt of a mountaine but when the war was ended he prostrated himselfe at the Kings feet and said Let not my Lord impute wickednesse vnto me nor remember the thing that thy seruant did wickedly when my Lord the King departed out of Ierusalem that the King should take it to his heart for thy seruant doth know that I haue done amisse But Abishay the sonne of Zeruiah answered and said Shall not Shimei die for this because he cursed the Lords annoynted Shall foure words of submission saue the life of this blasphemous dog But Dauid said Shall there any man die this day in Israel Dost thou not know that I am this day King ouer Israel Make account that they now crowne me anew and that it is fit that I should shew my selfe franke and generous not conferring fauours according to the merit of him that askes them but according to the liberall disposition of him that doth them This good fortune no man may expect much lesse depend vpon and therfore Eusebius Emisenus saith Periculosum est in vltimum diem promissa securitas And that the example of the Theefe doth not fauour deferred amendment till a mans death And though we are not to streighten Gods franke-heartednes and howbeit it may be presumed that in that houre many theeues are in Gods secret will saued yet did he onely leaue this one publike example vnto vs Onely this one saith S. Bernard that thou mayest not presume and only this one that thou maiest not despaire And weighing those words Verely I say vnto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise he saith That he did bind it with an oath as he vsed to doe in matters of greatest moment and difficultie To thee onely not to any other shall befall the like extraordinarie good hap for thee onely was this Hodiè ordained Here then mayest thou see the rarest accident that euer hapned earth and heauen reconciled whilest riuers of Diuine blood run streaming from our Sauiours side for our saluation But some one will aske me How comes it to passe that this Theefe in so short a space knew the set time and season of this his happy chance when as Ierusalem in so many yeares could not light vpon the like encounter S. Augustine S. Chrysostome and Leo answer hereunto That he had Christ for his Master who reuealed the same vnto him complying with that deliuered by Ieremie De coelo misit ignem eru diuit me Gregorie Nissen saith Repleuit eum eruditione Spiritus Sancti Cromatius In ipso crucis candelabro sol resplenduit The Sun did shine vnto him vpon the candlesticke of the Crosse. Theophilact doth here apply that parable of Saint Mat. No man doth light a candle and set it vnder a bushell In a word this light was so powerfull that it awakened this drowsie and sleepie theefe snorting in the security of sin leauing him so well instructed that S. Augustine saith He remained as a Master in the Church First of all he vsed extraordinarie diligence in taking hold of this treasure leauing all that he might not loose this He gaue God all that was in his free power to giue him He had his hands and his feet nayled vnto the Crosse onely hee had left free vnto him his tongue and his heart imploying in Christs seruice whatsoeuer was in
his freedome to performe as his tongue in defending him and his heart in louing him Secondly He did not stand waiting for the last plucks of Hope Emisenus saith That it was not his last houre but the first wherein hee knew his Sauiour Christ to be God It is now sixtie yeares since dearely beloued that some of you haue knowne him and yet yee deferre your repentance till the houre of your death Thirdly he confessed his sinnes and how deseruedly he did suffer Wee indeed receiue things worthy of that we haue done For he that will goe about to craue pardon for his sinnes the first step to forgiuenesse is to accuse himselfe of them Dauid entred in this way and the Prodigall when they cryed Peccaui so did the Publican Propitius esto mihi Peccatori And the Wise man teacheth vs to get in this way Dic tu prius iniquitates tuas vt iustificeris Iustus in principio sermonis accusator est sui Saint Bernard addeth Sui non alterius He is his owne accuser not another mans Saint Chrysostome That if the Theefe had not confest the faults of his life he would neuer haue presumed to desire Christ to remember him in his death Saint Augustine That if Adam had not sought to excuse himselfe God would neuer haue thrust him out of Paradise Saint Chrysostome doth much lament it that our Sauiour saying One of you shall betray me and prophesieng the bad end that he should make Iudas should not confesse his fault but should so boldly vtter as he did Is it I Master Hee should haue left out then Nunquid Is it I and said Ego sum I am the man then had hee not lost heauen by a word Saint Gregorie That the Theefe neuer shewed himselfe so subtill and so craftie in the office of theeuing as now for with this his last theft he repaired all the thefts of his forepassed life Alij latrones latrocinio vitam perdunt hic autem latrocinio vitam fâ—rator sempiternam Other theeues by theeuing loose their life but this theefe by theeuing handsomely robs heauen and goes cleane away with an euerlasting life Lord remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome c. As this petition was a very humble one and a modest one so was it a most discreet one First of all all mans happinesse doth consist in Gods hauing vs in his remembrance Those that are predestinated haue their names writ downe in the book of Life of the Reprobat there is no mention made in that book Dauid askes the question What is man that thou art so mindfull of him Saint Augustine saith That the second part of this verse is an answer to the former Quâ—a est homo What Quod memor es eius For man is neither more nor more worth than as farre foorth as hee is in Gods good remembrance Naturall Philosophie doth multiplie the definitions of man but in Christian Philosophie there are onely two The one Deum time mandata eius serâ—a Hoc est omnis homo All mans being doth consist in fearing God and keeping his commandements The other Quod memor es eius His good continuance in Gods memorie and this is implyed in Memento mei Remember me I do not desire that thou shouldst make me a free Denizen of thy Kingdome nor that thou shouldst honour me as thou doest those that haue truly serued thee but only that thou wilt be pleased to remember That though I do not dye here for thee yet I dye with thee And that it grieues me to the very soule that I had not known thee that I might haue suffered the torment of this Crosse in thy seruice and for thy sake and that I might haue laid down my life nay a thousand liues if I had had so many for thy loue O Lord haue therefore mercie vpon me and suffer me to suffer not onely so long as my life but as the world lasts so that at last thou wilt but thinke vpon me Considerabat saith S. Augustine facinora sua pro magno habebat si ei in fine mundi parceretur He did throughly weigh his owne wickednesse and would take it for an exceeding great fauour that when the world should haue an end he might haue his sinnes forgiuen him He had happely heard that which our Sauiour Christ said Videbitis filium hominis venientem in potestate c. Saint Gregorie doth discourse very wittily of the Theologicall and Morall vertues of this Theefe And beginning first with his faith he compares it with that of Abraham of Esay of Moses of the three Disciples of Nicodemus and Nathaniel with that of Saint Paul and that of the Canaanitish woman and hee seemes to preferre it before all theirs For if Abraham beleeued hee spake with God in person hee had many present fauours done him and faire and ample promises of fâ—r greater future blessings If Esay beleeued it was because hee saw him sitting in his throne in great State and Maiestie garded round about with Seraphins which cryed Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole world is full of his glorie If Moses beleeued it was because he beheld him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush seeing the bush burne with fire and yet the bush not consumed If the three Disciples beleeued it was because they saw him transfigured in Mount Tabor in that glorious manner That his face did shine as the Sunne and his clothes were as white as the light whilest a bright cloud shadowing them they might heare a voyce from heauen saying This is that my beloued Son in whom I am well pleased not betweene two theeues but betweene two Prophets If Saint Paul beleeued it was because he had been rapt vp to the third heauen and had seene strange sights c. If Nicodemus and Nathaniel beleeued if the woman of Canaan and many others they were mooued thereunto by the Scriptures and by our Sauiour Christs myracles But this Theefe neither saw him in his offered fauours nor in his Throne of Maiestie nor in the firie bush nor transfigured in the Mount nor knew any thing of the Scriptures nor of his myracles onely he knew that Iudas had sold him that his Disciples had forsaken him and that he was reuiled and hated of the people c. Et tanquam in gloria adorat And yet hee adores him saith Chrysostome as if hee were alreadie in glorie Videt saith S. Augustine in cruce rogat quasi sedentem in coelis Hee sees him hanging vpon the Crosse yet sues vnto him as if he were sitting in â—eauen Huic fidei quid addi possit ignoro What more may be added to this Faith I know not Those were wauering in their faith which saw him raise vp the dead and yet this Theefe firmely beleeues who saw him hang vpon the Crosse. Leo and Eusebius Emissenus indeere this his beleefe He did verily beleeue That our Sauiour
of the sea This is much But if God should haue reuealed vnto thee that thou shouldst see his sonne washing Iudas his feet c. And there appeared a great wonder in heauen a woman cloathed with the Sunne and the Moone was vnder her feet Heauen being to cloth her what could it cloth her better withall than with the Sun and the Moone But a greater wonder is it to see the Son of heauen vnder Iudas his feet O heauens are ye not ashamed to see those hands which created you which did border you about with light as with a rich imbroyderie to be soiled with the foulenesse of such feet For to looke her lost groat the good wife swept her house ouer and ouer turning and sifting this and that other heape of dust leauing no corner vnsearcht till she had found it God hath two houses The Church Triumphant The Church Militant He did turne the first vpside downe when he kneeled on his knees to wash Iudas feet Saint Ierome saith Quantumcunque te humilies humilior Christo non eris Be thou neuer so humble Christ will be more humble then thou canst be For hee will put himselfe vnder thy feet As he did here stoupe to Iudas O Lord for so forlorne a soule which must be lost at last so much paines for so little profit so much lost labour for one that is lost First of all a Fathers care ouer his sicke sonne to whom hee beareth loue is farre different from that which the Physition takes who onely cures him for his owne priuat profit and particular interest Secondly Because Loue can neuer bee subdued where it findes one lost it thinkes all lost At the Wedding there was but one found vnfitted for his garment Yet this inference was made vpon it Many are called but few are chosen Saint Augustine saith That one is a great losse where there is great Loue and with the losse of Iudas Loue was so much agrieued that Saint Ambrose saith That the freeing of the Theefe out of the Deuills hands was done in reuenge of the losse of Iudas The Deuill was much ioyed that he had robbed our Sauiour of such a friend as one of the Twelue but he had beene as good let him alone for he lost a Theefe when he was vpon the Gallowes and thought he was sure then his owne Plus amisisti quam rapuisti Thou lost more than thou gotst thou robst God of a Theefe that had beene thine but a few days and he robbed thee of another theefe which had beene thine for many yeares He began to wash c. Being to bestow vpon them his bodie and bloud hee thought fit first of all to begin with the making cleane of their feet by which the Scripture vnderstands our defects and foulenesse of our affections in token of that disposition and preparation wherewith we are to come to the receiuing of so diuine a Sacrament All the whole life of our Sauiour Christ was a patterne of pouertie and that in the highest degree The portall wherein hee was borne was hung with Cobwebs in stead of Tapistrie the Cratch and a locke of Hay were the sheet and pillow to his cradle al the whole space of his life he had not a place where to leane and rest his head his death was vpon Mount Caluarie a place full of dead mens sculls and bones whose bodies had suffered by the sword of Iustice. But for the institution of this diuine Sacrament he had made choice of a goodly large Hall well furnished and handsomely set forth and for the consecration of the Wine a Cup made as some thinke of a costly Agat which is offered to be seene in the Asseo of Valencia First to signifie vnto vs That gold siluer and pretious stones are on nothing so well bestowed as on the seruice of God Secondly That he that sits downe at this sacred Table must come accompanied with great riches of vertue and great purenesse of conscience To your great and solemne banquets those that are inuited come thither in a sumptuous and gallant kind of manner your Romans did cloath themselues all in white for they held such an inuitation â—o sacred a thing that it was held a great shame and infamie to any that should fully the same with any kind of deceit or treason The Gospell condemned him that came vnto the marriage without his wedding garment Saint Cyprian saith That we ought to please those Diuine eyes euen with our outward habit Saint Hierome tells vs That when he had dreamed in the night any dishonest dream he did tremble quake for feare when he entred into Gods House Abulensis reporteth That the cause of Oza's death was for that hauing laien that night with his wife he presumed to touch the Arke The Libertine Councell doth admonish vs That they who are to communicate ought to abstaine eight dayes from conuersation with women The same aduice is giuen vs by Saint Augustine and Saint Hierome and it is a strange Doctrine to my seeming That he that is to say Masse euerie morning should spend the nights with his she-friend Let euerie man first trie and examine himselfe and then let him so eat of this bread and drinke of this Cup c. so that a man either must examine himselfe or must not If he must let him weigh his worthines and vnworthines if he shall find himselfe vnworthie he must rather excommunicate remoue himselfe from the Altar Saint Augustine saith That one of the mainest reasons why our Sauiour Christ at his last supper possessed with such perturbation the brests of his Disciples telling them That he that dipt his finger with him in the dish should sell the Sonne of Man and betray him was That euery one might be affraid of himselfe and might say not without some suspition and iealousie What Master is it I For there is no man so Holy no man so Pure and free from sinne but it will well beseeme him to come wiâ—h a great deale of respect and reuerence and a due examination of himselfe to this coelestiall Table Iob when he sat downe at the table vsed to fetch a sigh Antequam comedam suspiro Dauid did moysten with his teares the bread which he did eat Did these good men hold themselues vnworthy of that materiall bread What ought we to doe when wee come to the receiuing of this diuine Bread Dionisius de Ecclesiastica Hierarchia Clemens Romanus in his Apostolicall Constitutions Hilary Theodoret Datianus Alexandrinus hold contrary to the opinion of the Saints that Iudas did not then and there communicate with the rest He came then to Simon Peter Saint Austen sayth That Saint Peter first brake the yce saying Washest thou my feet O Lord in thy transfiguration the resplendor of thy Glory did throw mee downe at thy feet and shall I then suffer thee to throw thy selfe downe at my feet Heauen did reueale vnto mee that noble confession which I made
make your hearts to melt within yee This is a meere stupidnesse and insensibilitie Behold the Man If it will not moue vs to behold him thus tormented as a Man let it greeue vs at least to see God suffer so much miserie for Man Vidimus eum sayth Esay quasi percussum à Deo quasi percussum Deum For so Saint Chrysostome renders it Beatus qui intelligit super egenum pauperem Happie is hee who vnder the humanitie of man will find out the humanity of God Lindanus commenting vpon this verse saith That the word Super in the Hebrew with it's points or prickes signifieth God So that in the first sence it may be sayd Beatus qui intelligit Deum egenum pauperem Blessed be those eyes that vnder so many miseries behold Gods greatnesse Zacharias doth paint out Iesus the Priest with loathsome and vnseemely garments and that a stone with seuen eyes stood looking vpon him Can the stones find eyes to see God whipt spit vpon crowned with thornes And shall man bee so blind as not to behold him Saint Luke titles Christ mortem spectaculum Men see many things with admiration but they see not the Angells and many see the Angels but they see not God But our Sauiour Christ torne and tormented on the Crosse Men Angells and God may behold this with admiration if it were possible that God could be subiect to admiration but men are apt to be taken therewith The Angells also did admire the ensignes of the Crosse. And to God the Sonne said My God my God looke vpon me In a word if there be any thing that may cause a generall astonishment and admiration in all creatures whatsoeuer it is our Sauiour Christ crucified The flood was a cause of great amasement beholding the waters the heauens and the dead bodies The burning of Sodom and the swallowing vp of Dathan were things to be admired but to see Christ so cruelly tormented as he was and Pilat in pittie of him leaning himselfe in the window and saying Ecce homo doth drowne all other kinds of astonishment and admiration Et baiulans fibi crucem And taking vp his Crosse. When Pilat did looke that the Iewes would haue rested satisfied and well contented then did they cry out louder than before Away with him away with him crucifie him crucifie him And being ouercome by the confused noyse of that rascall â—abble going from the window vp vnto his Throne which the Euangelist cals Lithostratos a place paued with square stones pronouncing sentence against him hee condemned him to the death of the Crosse. Saint Chrysostome saith Sentenâ—iam non tulit sed tradendo eum permisit illos sua vti tyrannide That he did not pronounce sentence against him but by deliuering him vp into their hands he permitted them to vse their owne Tyrannie Hee deliuered him vnto them to doe what they would with him But the more probabilitie is that he pronounced sentence against him First because Saint Iohn saith He sat downe in the iudgement seat There being no need of his sitting downe had he not beene to pronounce sentence Gâ—llius Vlpianus and Plinie report That with the Roman Iudges it was so inuiolable a custome to sit downe when they pronounced sentence that they accounted that for no sentence which was pronounced standing In token that any sentence either ciuill or criminall ought to proceede from a well setled mind and a stayed iudgment Secondly Saint Luke saith Pilat gaue sentence That it should be as they required Where we are to weigh the word Adiudicauit Gaue sentence Thirdly The Iewes had alledged for themselues It is not lawfull for vs to put any man to death Which is to bee vnderstood as the Cardinall of Toledo prooues it Vnlesse the sentence of the Iudge doe precede and goe before and then they may The Tenor or substance of that which Pilat pronounced your graue Doctors deliuer the same in different words but the summe of it is this We Pontius Pilat by the will of the immortall gods and by the authoritie of Roman Princes being President of this sacred Empire condemne vnto death Iesus of Nazareth for hauing made himselfe King of the Iewes as appeareth by the testimonie of the High Priests of Ierusalem Wherefore we will and command that he be carryed from this place forth of the Citie to the place of Execution commonly called Golgotha and there to be crucified betweene two theeues Dismas and Gismas here conuicted and condemned for their thefts and robberies to the end that this his death may make for the good and safetie of this people and for the peaceablenesse of this Common wealth Dated in Ierusalem in Lithostratos vulgarly cald the Pauement Pasquo parasceuae or Preparation of the Passeouer about the sixt houre No age euer knew a more cowardly Iudge or a more vniust sentence First because hauing said in publike Ego nullam in eo inuenio causam I find no cause of death in him and thereupon washing his hands before the multitude he made protestation That he was innocent of the blood of this iust man God not suffering him to haue a mouth to say the contrarie Secondly because the innocencie of our Sauiour Christ was notorious not onely because all the Prophets had giuen sufficient testimonie thereof Huic omnes prophetae testimonium perhibent but the people Bene omnia fecit Pilats wife Iudas the Diuels and the President himselfe who as Sixtus Senensis reports writing to Tiberius Casar confessed That the High Priests had accused him out of enuie and that by the common voyce and consent of the people he had deliuered him vp to their will against the testimonie of his owne conscience Thirdly Because both the Iudge and the Accusers did proceed against him contrary to all Law and Iustice. First by receiuing those as sufficient witnesses against him which in all right and equitie ought not to be admitted Sciebat quod per inuidiam tradidissent eum And which was more offering themselues to bee witnesses contrary to the Law Vnius Secondly because no Iudge can condemne any vnlesse he himselfe confesse or be conuicted of the fact that is laid against him whereas our Sauiour Christ was not onely innocent of any crime but in right of law likewise because no man could conuince him of sinne for although he was falsely accused yet was he not conuicted And when the Iudge knowes that the accused is innocent he ought strictly to examine the witnesses seeking occasion to free him as Daniel did in the case of Susanna but Pilat was willing to winke at the matter albeit he saw well enough that the testimonies were not conuenient and fitting And therfore Saint Ambrose saith of him That he washed his hands but not his heart He did likewise swallow downe one circumstance of great consequence to wit a new Edict of Tiberius Caesars wherein expresse commandement was giuen as Suetonius sets it
praise of it 41 Apparell How to be limitted 235 The abuse of it 236 B Baptisme THe foundation of Christian building 558 Bethesda the figure of it 165 Beloued A name of good preheminence 502 Bells The vse of them 526 Beelzebub Why resembled to a flye 295 Benefit See Courtesie Well bestowed if much desired 546 Beautie The force of it 571 Blessing Why Isaac would haue conferred the blessing on Esau. 227 God measures out his blessings to vs more by Loue than Wisedome 262 He substracts them from the vngratefull 270 C Centurion HIs behauiour iustified 36 His faith commended 34 Capernaum The glorie of it 23 315 Why Christ would worke no myracles there 318 There began the preaching of the Gospell 315 Change A change to be seene in all things 247 Charitie See Mercy and Vnmercifulnesse Much respected of God 100 praised of Men. 307 Must be practised towards all 337 How it differs from couetousnesse 439 Chaire What is meant by Moses his Chaire 212 Chastisement See Punishment Gods chastisements whereunto resembled 244 To what purpose they serue ibid. More in shew than in substance 452 Children What care Parents should haue of them 226 If vertuous their Parents glorie 310 Christ a Schoole-master euen to these 462 Foure degrees of child-hood and whereunto alluding 602 Christ. See Death His comming to Iudgement 93 With what Maiestie it shall be 96 97 His combat with the deuill 71 How called the hope of the Gentiles 142 Why called the Sonne of Dauid rather than of Abraham 149 His transfiguration and the reasons of it 184 c. The necessitie of it 187 The qualitie 188 Glorious in his Passion three manner of waies 192 His bodie two-fold Naturall and Mysticall 193 His Passion the fountaine of our glorie ibid. He suffered onely because he would 200 His willingnesse to dye 219 Why called the Sonne of Man 223 His blood why shed in the Vine-yard 265 If conceiued in the heart soone discouered 309 His Pedigree the noblest that euer was 310 His workes of two sorts 318 No Monopoly to bee made of his Worth 326 As he was meeke in reprouing so he was stout in reuenging 359 He brings Health and Holinesse wheresoeuer he commeth 374 Compared to the Sunne 388 The onely Well of liuing Water 394 A Controller of curious nicenesse ibid. The prerogatiue of his flesh 379 More mooued at our disasters than he was at his owne 494 Why without peccabilitie 524 c. His innocency exemplified both by his life death 526 Neuer any so abused by the World as he 537 543 Hee must be sought while he may be found 543 His power neuer more seene than in his Passion 549 605 He prooues his Diuinity by no other testimonie than his workes 556 Alwayes ready to forgiue Sinners 583 Why called a Bull. 605 His life was to bring the Iewes to knowledge his death the Gentiles 605 His Humility the character of his Loue. 637 His company a sure protection 622 Euery part of him affoords a Sinner confidence 645 His Dietie when most concealed ibid. His bloud ought to be much regarded 647 The difference betwixt his Triumph those of Men. 16 Christians Led more by Custome than Deuotion 414 Many now worse enemies to Christ than were the Pharisees 267 Many Christians why called sheepe 567 Church Why persecuted 65 Likened to a Rocke ibid. Her greatest persecution is to want persecution ibid. Her firmenesse 250 Gods fauour towards her 345 Why stiled a well ordered Army 440 In her infancie she needed miracles 326 She thriues because watered with the blood of Christ and his Martyrs 251 Clemencie A profitable vertue 534 Communion Two dignities to be considered in it One of the Person that receiueth Christ the other of the Preparation wherewith he doth receiue it 33 636 Confession When to be made 203 The onely way to absolution 281 Without it no true comfort 288 Sathan would keepe vs from it ibid. Contemplation Must not bee seuered from action 488 Nor preferred before it 413 Conscience If guiltie the greatest torture 567 Cooperation Necessarie in things that concern the sauing of our Soules 147 Counsaile Where good Counsell is wanting all runs to ruine 436 State Counsells more to pill the poore than to preserue them 437 No man so wise but may need good Counsell 587 Ill Counsel produceth ill effects ibid. Countrey Euery man must loue his owne Countrey 275 316 Conuersion Three conuersions celeberated by the Church 615 That of the Theefe miraculous 616 Couetousnesse Foolish and vnnecessarie 8 The roote of all euill 234 Nothing worse than a couetous man 263 No Vice more seuerely punished ibid. None so hard to be reformed ibid. The onely God that commands the World 264 Men vsually couet what is especially commended 407 Couetousnesse and Mercy how they differ 439 Neuer satisfied 441 Naught in a Magistrate ibid. Worse in a Minister 448 457 489 Courtesie The receit of a courtesie is the ingaging of our libertie 226 A good turne is a strong fetter 253 Courteous behauiour the greatest gaine 445 Court Courtier The Courts of Princes like the poole of Bethesda 162 The life of a Courtier is wholly vpon hope ibid. Crosse. Heauens key 623 The death of the Crosse an iniurie to nature 644 Crueltie See Vnmercifulnesse Curiositie Dangerous in diuine matters 125 as also in searching into other mens liues 477 Curiositie and Temperance are stil at variance within vs. 521 D Death THe Glorious change whereunto it brings the child of God 242 No greater dishonour than to dye by the hand of a base enemie 74 Naturall to shunne Death and to seeke Life 219 Christs willingnesse to dye ibid. Christs death to be considered two manner of wayes c. 222 c. As a mans life is so is his death 243 Why called a change 247 We ought to pray against suddaine death 331 492 The death of the wicked full of terror 332 The death of the Saints is the weakening of the place in which they dye 426 Little regarded or remembred 489 The remembrance of it affoords two benefits It is incident to all 490 c. The liuing more to be pitied than the dead 494 Death a large draught but Christ swallowed it downe 499 Why termed a Sleepe 509 c. Christs death how different from ours 510. The death of the Soule a true death that of the body onely a shadow 512 Why the Heathen erected Pyramids ouer their dead 514 Christs death the Deuills worst torment 528 549 Why Christ desiring to dye fled to auâ—yd death ibid. c. Christs death did alter the nature of things 645 The Deuil neuer more deluded than by Christs death 646 Preparation against death necessarie 597 Deuill He layes vpon Man three burthens 17. His description 71. His trade is wholly to doe euill 80 Why he appeared to Eue in the forme of a Serpent 81 His subtiltie 82 A great prouoker to Gluttonie and why Ibid. His malice oftentimes outrunnes his Wit 85 He is
neuer be asswaged 530 562 Blind and simple in all her practises 592 c. Euer her owne foe 646 Man The name of man imports three things 3 The qualitie of his thoughts 601 His pride and vanitie 2 Two definitions of him 625 Deferres his promises 159 His attributes obliuion and basenesse 3 His best knowledge is to know himselfe 4 The benefit arising from this knowledge 6 7 His onely supporter God 160 Nothing his owne in this life 251 Nor can he doe any thing of himselfe 252 The Vine of all plants most resembleth him 255 God is able to make of him what he pleaseth 256 Good men are scarce 259 Nothing so foule as man without his God 279 He is the Deuils Cittadell 285 Why Sathan is so malicious against him 291 Of all creatures the most furious if not guided by reason 329 Christs Art in gaining him 637 The Deuill not more cruell 381 425 598 Why God suffers in him so many corporall weakenesses and defects 480 c. 506 Inferiour to the creatures in all humane goods 508 His wayes are two and he needs a guide 520 608 Masters How to vse and esteeme their seruants 25 c. They must visit and helpe them in their sickenesse 31 The benefit of hauing Christ our Master 115 Meditation Like Gun-pouder 5 Meekenesse Preuailes vpon the fiercest persons 51 Memorie The true vse of it 3 Mercy See Charitie Pitie Loue. Gods omnipotency seene most in his mercy 54 The practise of mercie brings with it the greatest glorie 55 It differenceth Gods children from those of the Deuill 100 Workes of mercie most enquired after in the day of Iudgement 105 Mercie and Iustice the two Poles of Gods gouernment 108 Mercie a sure motiue to Mercy 153 Merciful men the fittest to be about Princes ib. God defers not his Mercy but to augment it 159 Not so plentiful vnder the Law as vnder Grace 165 Gods Mercy euer in competition with mans malice 260 He that would find Mercy must seeke it 387 Iudges must incline to Mercy 421 455 c. An argument of goodnesse in whomsoeuer it is found 424 'T is Gods care to worke his children to Mercie 435 Hee delights in no attributes of his owne so much as this 481 'T is the Spring from whence all his other blessings flow 496 Sometimes so great that wee cannot thinke on it but with terrour 498 Merits Vtterly cryed down 148 321 Ministers See Preachers Magistrates Miracles When to be wrought 85 324 Why not in vse now Ibid. Hypocrites fauour them much 120 c. The nature of Christs miracles 122 c. How they differed from those of the Deuill ibid. Why miracles should be desired 123 More frequent in the time of Grace than vnder the Law ibid. Prophesies more auailable 190 Neither necessarie to saluation nor sufficient 326 Christs miracles all wrought for the reparation of our miseries 430 Mirth See Sorrow The best Phisicke 167 Money The instrument of all mischiefe 274 Moores Of all people the most fearefull and why 73 Mortification If true neuer without mirth 19 20 Moses Chaire What it meant 212 N Niniue THe greatnesse of it 132 How the Niniuites shall rise vp in Iudgement against Christians at the latter day 132 O Obliuion HAth two bosomes 535 Offence See Iniurie Offerings No honour to God when hurtfull to others 366 Offices The sale of them the ruine of a Kingdome 457 Oliue Why the Hieroglyphicke of Mercy 413 What was typified by the mount of Oliues 412 Order The want of it any where brings all into confusion 441 P Paradise See Heauen Parents MVst be loued of their children 275 They must haue a care of them 226 Partialitie In all things to be auoyded 440 Most of all in Iudgement 472 Passion See Christ. Death Christ glorious in his Passion three manner of wayes 192 Punctuall in discribing it 220 It should be seriously considered ibid. 222 'T is the fountaine of our glory 193 Passion alters all properties to it selfe 532 Patience Christs Patience more staggered the Deuill than all his Miracles 55 The excellency of it 68 Once wounded outragious 356 Patience and Hope the onely meanes to bring vs to Heauen 156 Acceptable to God and profitable to our selues 169 172 A patient Eare shall reape great profit 349 Patience when most to be applauded 533 A patient man whereunto resembled 534 Patience the badge of Christs Diuinity 622 People Nothing fiercer than their furie 314 Persecution Whether Lawfull to flye in time of persecution 551 Persuasions If false the most dangerous inuasions 202 Peter Two opinions concerning his deniall 607 How it may be sayd he lost his Faith ibid. The occasions of his fall 608 His sinne like that of Adam 610 More iniurious to Christ than all his Enemies 612 Why he asked not pardon for his deniall 614 Pittie Hath alwayes a Prayer for them that need it 378 Euer profitable to them that vse it 476 Pharisees and Scribes Their wicked behauiour towards Christ. 113 Their office 112 What they were 210 Physitians Ought to visit the poore 31 Christ the best 171 177 380 Bad Physitians the Butchers of a Common-weale 177 Place Many haue often fared the better for the place in which they were 388 Pleasures Of this life altogether vanitie 186 197 Whereunto compared 410 Power Neuer to be showne but in extremitie 552 Pouerty The whole life of our Sauiour was a patterne for it 636 The poore more respected of God than the rich 30 They haue vsually the nobler minds 189 Forsaken of all 277 As necessary for the rich as the rich for them 374 Praise All the retribution that man can make to God for all that hee receiueth from him is to praise him 401 Precedents More auaileable than Precepts 214 Predestination A speciall marke of it 155 Preachers Priests Prelats Ought to haue but one Wife one Vine one Liuing 254 Their seuerall names in holy Writ 260 How the World vseth them ibid. Hot fiery spirits vnfit for this office 567 The vnworthinesse of the Person no preiudicâ— to the Function 597 Christs preaching powerfull 100 106 The office of a preacher 133 The efficacie of Ionas his preaching 139 141 The best preachers haue not alwaies the most Auditors 141 Priests are to be both Sheep-heards and Christians 196 Three sorts of preachers 213 Those of looser life to what resembled 214 Their maine aime is the glorie of God 215 The honour of priest-hood 448 A Preacher should neuer boast of his parts 468 He must reprooue boldly 471 Preaching and Practise should neuer bee seuered 527 Like Priest like People 540 Kindred the ouerthrow of many Prelats 555 Ignorant and sluggish Prelats the destruction of Gods Vineyard 253 Prayer Prayer and Almes the wings of Faith 22 We must pray for our enemies 52 Reasons and inducements hereunto 53 The excellency of Prayer 114 efficacy 144 Why God sometimes denies vs what we pray for 130 149 Prayer must be our practise in aduersitie 138 Vocall prayer
sinner 512 He sauours ill to all but God 514 Fierce in his appetites and desires 546 God would haue none despaire 574 Compared vnto swine 278 Slander See Reproach Souldier Onely honourable when religious 25 Sorrow Of two sorts 20 A sharpe Sword 167 If deepe dumbe 580 Soule Why knit and linked to a body of Earth 4 Her faculties 49 To heale the Soule we must wound the bodie 377 Two things cause a feuer in the Soule ibid. The great reckoning which God makes of a Soule 403 Noble when it serues God 507 God onely can satisfie it 508 Man carelesse of nothing more than of this 512 A threefold death of the Soule 513 The soule of the iust wherein differing from that of a sinner 531 Partialitie of iudgement in things spiritual the bane of the soule 532 The labour and loue of Christ in looking after a lost Soule 561 Spirit Gods spirit the best Schoole-master 32 Stoning An infamous kind of death 423 Sunday God did his greatest workes euer on this day 562 Sunne The glorie of it 521 Christ the onely true Sunne 523 Superiours Ought to respect their inferiours 216 Sutâ—rs Not to be repulsed but with much mildnesse 231 A faint suter shewes how to be denied 325 Swine Sinners resembled vnto them and why 278 T Teares OF diuers sorts 495 Faulty two manner of wayes 496 They work two effects 578 More sauorie to Christ than Wine 583 Their efficacie 614 Temptations Our Sauior hath sanctified them vnto vs. 71 The general good which is deriued from them 75 We may not thrust our selues into them 76 They wait vpon perfection 77 84 Christ could not bee tempted either by the World or the Flesh. 78 Hunger a great temptation 80 Ambition is the like 90 Two kinds of temptations 91 Temple Gods temple ought to be reuerenced and why 110 c. 450 562 The publike temple is to be frequented 161 Thankefulnesse See Ingratitude Reqâ—â—red for benefits receiued 382 475 The Doue of all fowle the most thankfull 468 Our thankefulnesse a motiue to Gods bountie 485 Theefe The conuersion of the Theefe in all respects miraculous 617 'T was the blazoning both of Gods mercy and omnipotency 618 as also of his diuine prouidence 619 By wat motiues he was induced to his conuersion 621 His Faith not to be paralleld 626 Nor his Hope ibid. Christs bountie towards him 627 Thirst. A greater torment than hunger 398 Spirituall thirst neuer satisfied 405 Thought The qualitie and varietie of mans thoughts 601 Thresh To thresh in Scripture is to rule with tyranny 307 Time How redeemed 354 Torments Hell torments euerlasting 171 Tongue It must goe with the Heart 60 A good and an euill tongue 290 No scourge to the euill one 296 Trading The best euer with God 146 Traditions How farre forth to be regarded 365 Theire varietie ibid. The Churches perdition 366 Tribulations More profitable for vs than Prosperitie 376 Gods Eye is allwayes vpon the Tribulations of his Children 478 The Preseruatiues of Vertues 506 The best Reward that God can giue his Followers ibid. Triumph Christs Triumph wherin differing from those of Men. 647 Trust. The surest tye 257 Truth Seldome welcombe vnto any 328 528 Can neuer be supprest 535 Hardly heard in Princes Courts 610 Tyrants Euer their owne torturers 299 Their ferae the mother of their fury· 100 V Vaine-glorie EVer to be auoided 379 553 Victorie Temporall victories gotten by fighting spirituall by flying 76 Vice Hard to be remooued 24 Euer afraid of Vertue 111 Neuer wants Agents 541 Vine The Vines of the faithfull spring out of the bloud of Christ. 251 Euery mans soule is a Vine to himselfe and he must dresse it 254 Of all plants it most resembleth man 255 The Spouse compared to the Vine and why ibid. Vineyard The cost which Christ was at with his 250 Gods Vineyard must not be turned into a garden 254 Virgin The Virgin Mary is not to bee too much honoured of any 309 Blessed not for bearing Christ but beleeuing in him 311 Her dignity 312 Vnkindnesse No cut to vnkindnesse 224 613 Vnmercifulnesse Of all sinnes most abhorred both of God and Man 240 The fearefull estate in which such are 240 Vnthankefulnesse See Ingratitude Vsurpation The first originall of Kingdomes 299 W Warre EVer betwixt Man and the Deuill and that by Gods owne appointment and why 75 Water The Embleme of happinesse 404 The waters of Paradise onely tasted rauish the Soule 407 What is meant by the water of Life 546 The Holy Ghost why compared to water ibid Waters aboue the Heauens what 579 Wearinesse Christ was wearie 389 Wealth Brings with it Woe 86 Weepe Why Christ wept 511 c. Whore See Harlot Wicked Haue no peace 586 Wickednesse meere foolishnesse 590 Widow What qualitie of life is required in a Widow 493 Will. Nothing so peruerse as mans will 118 505 It is his owne ouerthrow 119 469 Christ greatest labour was to correct it 120 It concurres not with Grace in our vprising 173 Wine Not allowed the Israelites till they came into the Land of promise and why 83 Wine-Presse What it signifieth in Holy Writ 250 Wisedome See Learning Despised of none but fooles 462 A wise man how profitable and whereunto resembled 463 True Wisedome euer accompanied with Humilitie 468 Gods Word the truest 469 Wisedome and Power not to bee seuered in a Prince 473 No policie preuailent against Gods Wisedome 539 588 Witnesse Three conditions required in euery Witnesse 522 c. Wiues Must do nothing without the consent of their husbands 408 c. Woman The Hieroglyphicke of weakenesse 573 Though deuout yet dangerous to conuerse with 62 411 Wanton women subiect to two great miseries 396 Two baites at which they vsually bite 402 Their Incontinencie 409 Mans disrespect a frequent occasion of their fall 417 Workes If good wishes were good workes the wicked would soone be saued 400 We must worke while we may 483 Workes outspeake words 501 Word Gods word mans best sustenance 87 Effectuall by whomsoeuer it be vttered 209 211 Compared to a looking-glasse 464 The truest Wisedome 469 The maiestie and efficacie of it 470 547 How to be heard 530 The same words out of diuers mouths may be diuersly relished 596 World Worldlings most condemned of the world 18 Nothing in it but disorder 39 Likened to the sea and why 64 Nothing but in shew 91 175 c. A mixture of good and euill 272 Worldly contents not attained without much toyle 404 The Worlds entertainment poore and base 444 Wrath. Gods wrath more violent than lasting 158 201 The longer deferred the fiercer 256 No flying from it 276 Y Youth THe qualities of youth 273 Too much libertie the bane of youth 274 Liable to many miseries and disasters 497 Z Zeale IF true it carries with it both Lightning and Thunder 362 Without action no marke of a Christian. 414 The nature of true zeale 450 Wherein different from Loue. 451 c. Erata For Callite read
Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Sithence then that I haue confessed and acknowledged thee to bee the Sonne of God shall I permit to see my Sauiour humble himselfe at my feet Clemens Romanus a Disciple of Saint Peter reporteth in his Apostolicall Constitutions That as often as Saint Peter did call this action of his to mind so often did he shed teares to see Christ at his feet whence wee are to weigh and consider the great modestie of Saint Peter who was not so much astonished to see Iesus Christ at the feet of Iudas as to see him at his own feet All the complements which Peter vsed with our Sauiour Christ are worthy commendation full of discretion reuerence and loue Onely his default was That hee would striue and contest with our Sauiour Christ for want of true knowledge of those ends whereunto Christs actions were directed So that if mannerlinesse may bee a fault in any man it was now in Peter for refusing to haue his feet washt the mysterie whereof had he but knowne he would not haue made so nice a matter of it Saint Cyrill treating of the ends of this act of our Sauiors saith That he desired by all means possible to ingraft Loue in Mans brest to giue vs to vnderstand That without great humilitie there can be no great Loue. Guarricus saith That our Sauior Christ did loue man so wel yea in such a maner of fashion that he resolued with himself to iumpe agree with him to shape himself according to his humour and to doe any thing whatsoeuer though neuer so meane so as it might make for his good And when he saw that Man was so proud that he would not submit himselfe to serue him he sayd Well seeing Man will not be brought to serue mee I will submit my selfe to serue him stoupe to so low and so base a seruice as to wash his feet This made him dye betweene two Theeues He was wel content at his death to want al other comforts the world could affoord him only he could not be drawne from mans side that would haue gone to the very heart of him Thou art faire my beloued and comely S. Bernard sayth That this repetition doth point out a two-fold beautie vnto vs. The one of his Diuinitie wherewith he doth beautifie deifie the Angels and the Saints The other of his Loue which made him debase himselfe so much as to wash his Disciples feet The first is of greater admiration The second of much more consolation Ibi pietas magis emicuit vbi charitas magis refulsit There Pietie did glitter most where Charitie shined most Some man may aske me the question Why the rest did not seeke to excuse themselues I answer That this courtesie being complemented and pleaded by Peter and consented vnto by Peter the rest had nothing more to doe or say therein If I shall not wash thee c. Laurentius Iustinianus saith That the good old man was somewhat daunted with this threatning and now yeelded and submitted himselfe in such sort that whereas before he had being intreated denyed to haue his feet washt being thus threatned by our Sauiour he now offers to haue both his feet and his head washt O Lord wash the whole man in vs with thy blood that we may appeare cleere in thy sight c. THE XLII SERMON Of our Sauiour Christs death IOH. 19. Baiulans sibi Crucem c. Bearing his Crosse c. WHat with the spittle stripes blowes buffets mockes scornes scourges thornes his beard and haires clotted with blood our Sauiour Christ was so much altered from that man which the Spouse paints him foorth to be Candidus rubicundus electus ex millibus My wellbeloued is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand that Ieremie could say He is a man yet who can know him And Esay He had neither shape nor comelinesse Or as another letter hath it He had not the forme of a man And he himselfe did not thinke himselfe to be a man saying I am a worme and no man And it seeming vnto Pilat to be the lesser reuenge of the two to see him dead than to bee thus wounded and torne by them and that there could be no emnitie no malice so raging and so cruell which with so sad a spectacle and so woful a sight would not loose somewhat of i'ts fiercenesse and violence leaning himselfe against the window and looking wistly vpon him he breathed forth these two words Ecce homo Behold here a Man sayth S. Austen fitter for the graue than a throne yee did heretofore enuie him for the great applause which the world gaue vnto his Miracles but now his Miserie may blot that out of your brests First I would haue yeto consider what manner of thing Man was when hee was moulded by the hands of God in the Creation how rich how wise and how perfect a creature he was In his Incarnation in what a prosperous estate did he liue how mightily enuied by Hell In the Resurrection how glorious and how immortall And how God againe by the hands of Man is mocked scourged spit vpon and contemned Secondly if a Pilat taking pittie of our Sauiour Christ could say vnto the people Ecce homo Behold the Man for to mooue them vnto pâ—ttie it is not much that a Preacher of the Gospell whose dutie it is to preach Christ crucified should say vnto Christian people Ecce homo Behold the Man No man will trust the pittie and compassion of an enemy Saul remained much amazed and confounded when Dauid stole from his beds-head his speare and his pitcher and when in the caue he had cut off the lappet of his garment and with tear did propound and promise to himselfe to loue him and fauour him all his life long yet Dauid would not beleeue him because no man that is wâ—se will trust an enemie Ionas who was a figure of our Sauiour Christ beeing ouerwhelmed in the Sea the waues thereof did assuage their rage waxed calme But our Sauior Christ being ouerwhelmed in the Sea oft hese his torments hee couldnot allay the furie of those billowes which grew stil rougher and rougher in the turbulent breasts of his people for there was but little good to be expected from so professed an enemie yet hee that is a Christian hath our Sauiour Christ to bee his Friend his Lord his Father and his God And representing himselfe vnto vs in this pitifull and lamentable manner what heart is there so hard which will not bee mooued to commiserate so wretched a case Saint Paul had made vnto those of Galilee a discription of our Sauiour Christ vpon the Crosse and it seeming vnto him that they were not mooued thereat but that their hearts were hardned he cry'd out aloud vnto them O yee foolish and senselesse Galathians who hath bewiched you Is it possible that Christ crucified should not