not that which I will but that which thou Marc. 14. And to S. Peter Christ saith Thinketh thou that I cannot aske my Father and he will giue me presently more then twelue legions of Angels againe Christ might as God haue protected his flesh that it should not suffer and therefore he saith Ioan. 10. No man taketh my lyfe from me but I yield it vp of myselfe The which Esay prophecyed when he said cap. 53. He wat offered because himselfe would To cōclude the blessed foule of Christ could haue trasmitted and powred into its body the guift of impassibility and incorruption but it pleased the Father it pleased the Word it pleased the Holy Ghost to suffer for the execution of the common Decree that mans force should for a tyme preuaile against Christ For this was that houre of which our Lord spake to those who came to take him This is your houre and the power of darknes Luc. 22. In this manner therefore God did leaue his Sonne when he suffered that the humane flesh of his Sonne should suffer most bitter griefes without consolation Furthermore Christ crying with a great voice did manifest this dereliction that all men thereby should acknowledge the greatnes of the pryce of the Redemption of man kind for till that very houre he suffered all things with such incredible patience and indifferency of mynd as if he had wanted all sense and feeling for fynding himselfe agrieued and wronged by the Iewes he did not charge Pilate who prononced sentence against him nor the souldiers who nayled him to the Crosse He did not lament he did not bewayle or shew any signe of dolour Therefore when he was approching neere to his death to the end that mankind should vnderstand and particularly that we his seruants should not be vngratefull for so great a fauour and that we should magnify the pryce and worth of our Redemption he was willing that the dolours of his Passion should publikely and openly be knowne Wherefore those words My God why hast thou forsaken me are not words of accusation or indignation or complaint but as I haue said they are words declaring with most iust reason and in a most fit tyme the greatnes of Christ his Passion Of the first fruyte of the fourth Word CHAP. II. VVE haue briefly expounded those things which belong to the fourth Word according to the History Now we will gather some fruits from the tree of the Crosse First that consideration doth present it selfe vnto vs to wit that Christ would drinke vp the whole Chalice of his Passion euen to the last drop He was to remaine vpon the Crosse three houres from the sixt houre to the ninth He remained full three whole houres and aboue for before the sixt houre he was nayled to the Crosse and after the ninth houre he gaue vp the Ghost This point may be made euident by this Reason the Eclyps of the Sunne began in the sixt houre as three Euangelists do teach Matthew Marke and Luke And Marke in expresse wordes sayth when it was the sixt houre there was made darknes vntil the ninth houre The first tree VVord◠of our Lord were spoken vpon the Crosse before the beginning of the darknes the other foure were vttered after darknes and therefore after the ninth houre Furthermore S. Marke explicateth this point more cleerly when he saith And it was the third houre and they crucifyed him c. And then after he subioyneth And when it was the sixt houre there was made darknes cap. 14. Now where he saith our Lord was crucifyed in the third houre he signifyeth that the third houre was not then complete when our Lord was crucifyed and consequently that the sixt houre was not as then begun For S. Marke numbreth three principall houres which are accustomed to containe three ordinary houres And according to this acceptance and construction the Houshoulder called the workmen to his vineyard at the first the third the sixt the ninth and eleauenth houre Matth. 20. And we doe number the Canonicall houres to wit the first the third the sixt the ninth and the Vespers which is the eleauenth houre Therefore in S. Marke our Lord is said to be crucifyed at the third houre because as then the sixt houre was not come From hence then it followeth that our Lord would drinke the chalice of his Passion in a most full and copious manner thereby to teach vs to loue better the cup of Pennance labour and not to loue and affect the cup of secular consolations and delights We by the law of the flesh and the world do desire and vvish for little Pennance and great Indulgence small labour and much consolation short Prayer and long chatting or discourse But certainly vve knovv not vvhat vve desire since the Apostle admonisheth vs euery one shall receaue his reward according to his labour 1. Cor. 3. And He shal not be crowned except he striue lawfully 2. Tim. 2. Euerlasting felicity is doubtlesly worth euerlasting labour but because if euerlasting labour had beene absolutly necessary thereto we should neuer haue attained to euerlasting felicity therefore our mercyfull Lord was content that onely in this life which flyeth away like a shadow we should labour according to our strength in good workes and in obsequy and obedience towards him And therefore those men are without hart or courage without vnderstanding without iudgment and are rather infants and children who consume and wast this short tyme in idlenes and which is farre more detestable in grieuously offending and prouoking Gods wrath and indignation against them For if Christ ought to suffer and so to enter into his glory how then can we enter into the glory of another only by disporting and spending the tyme in pampering and solacing of our flesh If the Ghospell vvere very intricate and obscure and could not be vnderstood vvithout great paines and fatigation of mynd perhaps we might shadow our negligence by some Excuse but the Ghospell is cleerly expounded as it were explained frō the example of his lyfe who first gaue promulgated the gospell so as to the very blynd it cannot lye hidden or concealed Neither haue vve it explicated only by Christ himselfe but there are so many cleare Commētaries of it which do lay open the sense as there are Apostles Martyrs Confessours Virgins and finally Saints vvhose prayses and triumphes vve celebrate almost euery day since all these vvith an vnanimous cōsent cry out that not by pleasure good fellovvship and humane delights but by matribulations we must enter into the Kingdome of Heauen Act. 14. Of the second fruite of the fourth Word CHAP. III. ANother fruit may be gathered frō the consideration of the silence of Christ in those three houres which was from the sixt houre to the ninth O my soule vvhat did thy Lord in those three houres Horrour darknes did inuolue the vniuersall World And thy Lord did not repose himselfe vpon a sof bed but
that very instant wherein he had receaued the iniurie and vvhen his hands and feete did yet distill dovvne abundance of Bloud and when his whole Body was tormeÌ„ted with most bitter paines said vnto his Father Father forgiue them This is the true and only Maister whom all men ought to heare vvho vvill not be drawne into any Errour Of this our Maister God the Father thus pronounced from Heauen Ipsum audite Heare him In him are all the Treasures of Wisdome and knowledge of God Certainly if thou vvouldest take counsell of Salomon thou mightest securely inough anker thy selfe vpon his aduice or iudgment Eâ— ecce plus quam Salomon hic And behould more then Salomon heere Math. 12. But yet I heare some refractory man or other still impugning this doctrine and saying If we should render good for euill benefits for iniuries louing words for Contumelies the Wicked by this meanes would grovv insolent and the Transgressours more bold the iust should be oppressed Vertue betrampled vpon and contemned But the matter standeth not so For often as the wiseman speaketh Prou. 15. A soft answere breaketh anger and very often the Persecutour doth so admire the patience of the Iust man by hâ—m wronged as that thereby of an Enemy he becomes his friend Neither are there wanting here vpon earth Politike magistrates Kings and Princes vvhose office and charge is to chastize according to the seuerity of the Lavves the procacity and insolency of the Wicked that so the Iust and Vertuous may lead a quiet and peaceable life And if Humane Iustice should sometimes conniue or winke at such euill deportment yet the Prouidence of God is euer vigilant which vvill not leaue any Iniustice vnpunished nor any good vnrewarded and vvhich by a vvounderfull course procureth that the Wicked whiles they thinke to oppresse the Iust do therein exalt them and make them more resplendent and glorious For thus S. Leo speaketh Serm. de S. Laurentio O persecutour thou hast byn cruell against the Martyr thou hast beene cruell I say but thou hast increased his Palme whilest thou increasest his paines for what hath not thy wit inuented for the greater glory of the Victour when both the Triumphs and the very Instruments of his Punishments do proclaime his Honour The which sentence may be iustifyed of all Martyrs as also of the ancient Saints For nothing hath made Ioseph the Patriarch more celebrious famous then his Persecution comming from his owne Brethren for whiles through enuy they sould him to the Madianits they were thereby become the Cause that he was made Prince of all Egypt of his Brethren But passing ouer these points with a gentill touch Let vs briefly gather togeather the many and great detriments which men suffer who that in the eye of man they may decline but the shadovv of disgrace do endeauour with all stifnesse and resolution of mind to reuenge the Iniuries receaued from their Enemies First they discouer and betray their owne folly whiles they seeke to cure a lesser Euill by a greater For it is a Principle acknowledged by all and taught by the Apostle Rom. 3. That Euill is not to be done that Good from thence may rise Euen as greater Euills are not to be perpetrated for the preuention of lesser Who receaueth an iniury falleth into Malum Poenae Who reuengeth an Iniury falleth into malum Culpae But malum Culpa is incomparably for greater then malum Poenae seing this later maketh a man miserable but not wicked the other maketh one both miserable and wicked This malum poena depriueth a man of a temporall Good but malum Culpa depriueth him both of temporall and Eternall Good Therefore that man who to be freed of the Euill of PunishmeÌ„t falleth into the Euill of Offence may well resemble him who to make his shoo being ouer short fitting to his foote is content to cut of part of his foote which is euident madnesse But there is not any man to be found so grosly exceeding the limits euen of naturall Reason in temporall matters Neuerthelesse many are to be found so blinded seeled vp in iudgment as that they feare not most heinously to offend God that thereby they may auoyd the shaddow as aboue I said of disgrace among men or that they may conserue the smoake of Honour with them These men do fall into the indignation and hate of God and if they do not recall and make a serious introuersion of their owne state in tyme and performe great Pennance they shal be punished with sempiternall shame and disgrace shall lose all eternall Honour and renowne Furthermore such men by their reuengefull proceedings do a most gratefull office to the Deuill and his Angels vvho incite and stirre vp their Enemies to offer to them Wrongs Iniuries to the end that Emnity and want of Charity may rise amoÌ„g them Now how foule and vnworthy a thing is it to seeke rather to gratify the most cruell Enemy of mankind then Christ Iesus I leaue to the iudgment consideration of all pious men But to proceed it often falleth out that he who hath receaued an iniurie and seeketh reuenge doth dangerously wound or kill his Enemy and then by the sentence of the Prince all his goods being confiscated he is either to suffer death or forced to fly his Country to the vtter ruine destruction of himselfe his Children and his whole House and Family Thus doth the Deuill play with and delude such men who couet more to be Vessalls and slaues to false Honour then to become seruants and brethren to Christ our supreme King and Coheryes with him in his most ample and euerlasting Kingdome Wherefore since so great and heauy a losse doth expect and waite for those foolish men who contrary to the Precept of our Lord refuse to be reconciled to their Enemies let all others who haue true Iudgment heare follow Christ the Maister of vs all teaching in his Gospell and confirming this his doctrine in workes euen from the Crosse The second Word which is Amen I say to thee this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Luc. 23. CHAP. IV. AN other Word or rather another Sentence spoken by Christ vpon the Crosse as S. Luke witnesseth was that bountifull and magnificall promise to the Thiefe hanging vpon the Crosse with him This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise The occasion of this speech of Christ was that vvhen two theeues vvere crucified with him the one on his right hand the other on his left the one of them increased the heape of his former sinnes by blaspheming of Christ and vpbrayding him with imbecillity and weaknes saying Yf thou be Christ saue thy selfe and vs. I grant S. Mathew and S. Marke do write that the Theeues crucifyed with Christ did exprobrate to him his weaknes But it is most probable that S. Mathew and S. Marke did take the plurall number for the singular number Which manner of speach
the Passion when as Christ himselfe foretould of them Ioan. 16. The world shall reioyce but you shall be gladde All these did truly contristate and lament but they did not lament together with our Lord in that there was not the same reason of Griefe in Christ and in the others For our Lord sayth I expected some body that would be sory with me and there was none and that would comfort me and I found not any Those persons abouesayd did grieue touching the Passion and corporall death of Christ But Christ did not grieue touching this point but only for a short tyme in the garden to shew himselfe to be true Man Yea he said Luc. 22. With desire I haue desired to eate this Pasche with you before I suffer And in another place Yf you loued me you would reioyce because I goe to the Father Ioan. 4. What cause then of griefe was there in our Lord in which he did not find others grieuing vvith him To wit the losse of soules for which he did suffer And vvhat cause of Consolation in which he had not another to comfort and reioyce with him except the sauing of soules after which he thirsted This one Consolation he did seeke this he desired of this he was euen hungry and thirsty but gaule is giuen to him for meate and Vineger for drinke For the bitternes of gaule doth signify and figure out sinne then the which nothing is more bitter to him that hath the sense of Tast not infected or depraued The acrimony or bitternes of Vinager representeth obstination in sinne Therfore Christ deseruedly did lament because he did see for one Thiefe conuerted not only an other thiefe remayning in his obstinacy but also many others continuing in the like peruersity of mind And euen then among the Apostles themselues suffering scandall he saw S. Peter to haue denied him and Iudas to haue despayred Yf therefore any man vvill comfort and bemoane Christ oppressed vvith hunger thirst vpon the Crosse and from thence greatly grieuing first let him present himselfe as truly penitent and loathing all his former sinnes Next let him conceaue with Christ a great heauinesse and sorrow in his hart that so great a multitude of soules do daily perish since so easely all men may be saued if so they will take the benefit of the price of mans Redemption Doubtlesly the Apostle was one of those who deplored with Christ seing he thus sâ—yth Psalm 9. Veritatem dico in Christo c. I speake the Verity in Christ I lye not that I haue great sadnes and continuall sorrow in my hart for I wished my selfe to be an Anathema from Christ for my Brethren who are my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelits whose is the adoption of sonnes The Apostle could not more amplify enlarge his desire of sauing soules then by this exaggeration of wishing himselfe to be an Anathema from Christ For this sentence according to the iudgment of S. Iohn Chrysostome is ro be interpreted that the Apostle was so vehemently troubled and afflicted touching the damnation of the Iewes as that if it could haue bene he desired to be separated from Christ for Christ his sake meaning herby he did not couet to be separated from the Charity of Christ of which point he had spoken a litle before saying Who shall separatâ— vs from the Charity of Christ but to be separated from the glory of Christ as making choyce rather to be depriued of the Heauenly glory then that Christ should be depriued of that great fruite of his Passion which would appeare in the conuersion of so many thousand of Iewes Therefore the Apostle did truly grieue with Christ did giue comfort to the griefe of Christ But we haue few men in these dayes who are emulous or imitatours of him For there are no few Pastours of soules who more lament if the annuall rents of their Church be diminished or lost then if a great number of soules vnder their charge through their absence or negligence do perish Patientiùs ferimus Christi iacturam quà m nostram sayth S. Bernard VVe suffer with greater patience the losse of Christ then our owne losse We make great search into our daily expences but of the daily losses of the flocke of Christ we rest ignorant Thus this holy Father l. 4. de consid c 9. It is not sufficient for a Prelate if himselfe liue piously and labour priuatly to imitate the Vertues of Christ except withall he do make his owne subiects or rather his owne sonnes vertuous and by the footesteps of Christ bring them to eternall life Therefore if such men do couet to suffer and grieue with Christ to bemoane his dolours let them watch ouer their flock diligently let them not forsake their poore sheepe but let them direct them by Words and go before and leade them the way by good Example But Christ may deseruedly complaine of priuate men that they do not condole with him or with his dolours For if Christ hanging vpon the Crosse did iustly complaine of the perfidy and obstinacy of the Iewes by whom he saw all his great labour griefe to be contemned and so precious a medicine of his bloud to be by them as by fanaticall and mad men reiected and vilifyed what now may he say when he doth see not from the Crosse but euen from Heauen his owne Passion to be valewed at no worth and his sacred Bloud to be betrampled vpon by those men who do belieue in him or at least say they do belieue in him and who offer to him nothing but gaule and Vineger that is who do multiply their sinnes without consideration of the diuine Iudgement or without feare of H ll We read in S. Luke c. 15. that There shal be ioy in Heauen vpon one sinner that doth Pennance But if that Man who by fayth and Baptisme was borne in Christ and by Pennance was recalled from death to life do presently againe dye by sinning is not the ioy then turned into sorrow and griefe and is not the Milke changed into gaule and the Vine into Vinager Certainly A woman when she trauaileth hath sorrow if she bring forth her child with life she remembreth not the payne for ioy that a man is borne into the world Ioan. 16. But if it happen that the child do instantly dye or be borne deade is not the mother afflicted with a double griefe Euen so many do labour and take paines in confessing their sinnes and perhaps put in practise fasting and Almes-deeds not without some difficulty yet because through an erroneous Conscience or through an vnwarrantable Ignorance they do not arriue to perfect Pardon do not these men euen labour in Child-byrth and bring forth an Abortiue and afflict their Pastours with a double griefe These therfore resembâ—e a man that is sicke who hasteneth his owne death by taking of most bitter Physick from whence he hoped for health Or els a Husbandman
or take any occasion of sinning did remaine shut vp with her maids in a secret chamber and wearing a haire-cloath about her body fasting all dayes excepting the feasts of the house of Israel Behould here with what great zeale euen in the old Law which permitted far more liberty then the Ghospell doth a yoÌ„g rich and beautifull Woman did take heed of Carnall sinnes for no other reason then that she greatly feared our Lord. The sacred Scripture doth mention and commend the same thing in Holy Iob. For he made a couenant with his eyes that he would not so much as thinke of a Virgin that is he vvould not look vpon a Virgin to preuent therby that no vnchast thought might creep into his mind And why did Iob so warily and diligently auoid such allurements Because he greatly feared our Lord for thus it there followeth For what part should God from aboue haue in me that is if an vncleane cogitation should in any sort defile my mind I should not be Gods portion nor God should be my Portion There were no end if I should insist in examples of Saints during the tyme of the New Testament This therefore is the Feare wherewith the Saints were endued of which if our selfes were full there were nothing the which we could not most easily obtaine of our Heauenly Father The last fruite of the seauenth Word CHAP. XXIV THere remaineth the last fruite which is gathered from the consideration of the Obedience of Christ manifested in his last words and in death it selfe For wheras the Apostle sayth He humbled himselfe made obedient vnto death euen the death of the Crosse Philip. 2. This was chiefly performed when our Lord pronouncing those Words Father into thy hands I commend my spirit did presently giue vp the Ghost But it will be conuenient to repeaâ—e ponder more deeply what may be said of the ObedieÌ„ce of Christ that so we may gather a most precious fruâ—te from the tree of the holy Crosse Therefore Christ our Maâ—ster and Lord of all Vertues did exhibit such Obedience to God his Father that a greater cannot be conceaued or imagined First the Obedience of Christ tooke its beginning from his Conception and continued without intermission euen to his death Thus the whole life of our Lord Iesus Christ was but one Act or Course of a continuated and vnintterrupted Obedience Truly the soule of Christ euen in the first moment of its Creation had the vse of freewill and withall was replenished with Grace and Wisdome and therefore euen from that first momeÌ„t Christ being as yet inclosed in the wombe of his mother began to exercise Obedience Where we read in the 39. Psalme in which it is said in the Person of Christ In the head of the booke it is written of me that I should do thy will my God I would and thy law in the middest of my Hart. That in the head of the booke signifieth no other thing but in the summe of the diuine Scripture that is throughout the whole Scripture it is chiefly preached of me that I am peculiarly chosen and sent to this end that I should do thy Will I my God will I haue most willingly accepted thereof and thy law thaâ— is thy commandement I haue placed in the middest of my hart that I might euer thinke thereof and might most diligently performe and execute it And hither also those words of our said Lord haue reference My meate is to do tho will of him that sent me to perfect his worke Ioan. 4. For as meate is not taken once or twice through a mans life but is taken daily with pleasure so our Lord himself did continually and with a willing mind practice all Obedience to his Father And hereupon he said I descended from Heauen not to doe my owne will but the will of him that sent me Ioan. 6. And more clearely in another place He that sent me is with me and he hath not left me alone because the things that please him I do alwayes Ioan. 8. And because Obedience is the most excellent Sacrifice of all Sacrifices according to the iudgment of Samuel therefore it followeth that how many works Christ did all the tyme that he liued as Pilgrime vpon the Earth so many Sacrifices did he offer vp and those most gratefull to God This therefore is the first Prerogatâ—ue of the Obedience of Christ to wit in that it endured from his Conception to the end of his life Furthermore the Obedience of Christ was not determinable to any one kind of worke as we commonly see it is among men but it was extended to all those things vvhich it should please God his Father to command him And from hence so great variety is seene in the life of Christ our Lord as that one vvhile he would stay in the desert neither eating nor drinking perhaps not sleeping but liuing with beasts as S. Marke notâ—th c. 1. At another tyme he vvas in the frequency sight of men eating and drinking Then he remained obscure and secret at home and that for no few yeares At an other tyme appearing excellent for wisdome and Eloquence working most great and stupendious Miracles Novv with great authority casting buyers and sellers out of the Temple At an other tyme latent as it were weake declining from the multitude and company of men All which things require and exact a mâ—nd free from all proper free will For neither would our Lord haue said Math. 16. He that will come after me let him deny himselfe that is let him renounce his proper will and proper iudgment Neither except Christ himselfe had performed it before he would haue persuaded his disciples to the perfection of Obedience when he said Luc. 14. If any man commeth to me and hateth not hiâ— Father and mother and wife chilsdren and brethren and sisters yea and his owne life besides he cannot be my Disciple Thus according hereto did Christ himselfe forsake all things which are accustomed to be so ardently beloued yea his owne life the which he was so prepared to lose as if he did hate it This is the true roote and Mother of Obedience vvhich shyned most admirably in Christ our Lord. And who want this shall hardly euer come to the revvard of Obedience For how is it possible that one should promptly obey an other mans Will who is wholy deuoted to his ovvne will and his owne iudgment This is the Cause why the Celestiall Orbes do not resist or withstaÌ„d the Angels mouing them vvhether they be caried towards the East or West because they haue not any peculiar and proper propension either to one part or to the other And the same reason is why the Angels themselfes stand at a becke obedient vnto God as holy Dauid singeth in the 102. Psalme To wit because they haue no proper Will repugnant and refractary to the will of God but being most happely conioyned vvith God they are one