it came to passe that they called it his Countrie and his Citie Secondly Because he there first began to preach the Gospel fulfilling therein saith Saint Mathew that Prophecie of Esay The darkenesse shall not be according to the affliction that it had when at the first he touched lightly the land of Zebulon and the land of Nepthalie nor afterwards when he was more grieuous by the way of the sea beyond Iordan in Galilee of the Gentiles The people that walked in darkenesse haue seen a great light they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death vpon them hath the light shined Thirdly For those many miracles which he wrought therein as that of him that was sicke of the Palsey and let downe from the house top that of the dumbe man that was possessed with a Deuill that of the Centurions Seruant that of the woman who touching the hemme of his garment was cured of her bloudie Fluxe which shee had beene sicke of so many yeares before Heere did he raise vp the daughter of the Archisynagoguian and heere did hee giue sight vnto the Blinde besides many other vnmentioned by the Euangelists Fourthly After his Resurrection hee threw a thousand fauours vpon that Countrie A few paces from that Citie he appeared to Peter Thomas and Nathaniel who had fisht all night and caught nothing willing them to cast the Net out vpon the right side of the Ship And as Brocardus reporteth it vpon a stone of that riuer he left the print of the soles of his feet three seuerall times With these his fauours he had stirred vp such enuies and jealousies in those of his own Countrie that they said vnto him Physition heale thy selfe But our Sauior Christ directed all these to the Nazarites good to the end that these their jealousies might master their incredulitie and rebellion and put spurres to their desires A father hath two sonnes one much made of the other neglected and disgraced this kind vsage makes the better beloued of the two obstinate churlish and vnquiet And because that jealousies and enuie may breake this his hardnesse of nature and mollifie this his stubborne condition he calls this slouenly tatter'd and despised child of his and sayes vnto him Thou art my sonne and my beloued This faire kind of course did God first take with the Iewes For his loue to them did he plague Aegypt diuide the sea drowne Pharaoh rob the Aegyptians of their Iewells suffered not their garments to grow old nor their shooes on their feet to weare out fed them with bread from Heauen gaue them water out of the rocke a Piller seruing them by night for a Torch by day for a Tent In conclusion these his ouer great fauours and courtesies toward them made them so hard hearted and so vnthankfull that they prouoked God by a Calfe giuing thereunto the glorie of their deliuerance out of Aegypt This their adoring of a Beast was a strange kind of beastlinesse God hereupon called this ragged child vnto him and threw his loue vpon the Gentiles who liued before in disfauour and disgrace and said vnto the Gentile Thou art my sonne You see him now cast off that was yesterday a Fauourite and carries that thom in his bosome which doth continually pricke him And therefore it is sayd I will giue them a Spirit that shall sting them a worme that shall still lie gnawing at the verie heart of them Yesterday God had his house his habitation among the Iewes his name was called vpon by them but now you see them cast off trodden vnder foot trampled on hated abhorred infamous without honour without a Citie without a Temple without Prophets The calling of the Gentiles the miracles that are wrought amongst them the many fauours that are affoorded them are so many nayls driuen through their soules with tears guttring downe their cheekes they now crie out with Ieremie Our Inheritance is turned vnto strangers Saint Ambrose saith That God did doe this of purpose that through an emulation of zeale the Iewes might bee conuerted vnto Christ. Which is all one with that of Saint Paul Through their fall saluation commeth vnto the Gentiles to prouoke them to follow them In a word To be thrust out of fauour and to haue another come in grace in his roome cannot but be a great torment and affliction to the partie disgraced Quanta audiuimus What great things haue wee heard The reasons which they may alledge for themselues are these First of all Amongst those good seeds which God hath sowne in our brest one is The loue of our Countrie Many haue preferred it before the loue of friends kindred parents nay before themselues their estates and liues Thomas saith That next vnto God we ought not to beare so much loue to anything as to our Countrie he prooues it to be an heroicall vertue to enioy that name for the which we respect God to wit Pittie And they that denie this loue vnto their Countrie we hold them to be men deuoyd of pittie barbarous and cruell Saint Augustine in his Bookes De Ciuitate Dei Thomas and Valerius Maximus quote many examples of men most famous in their loue to their Country As of one Codrus whose enemies hauing receiued answer from the Oracle That if Codrus should be slaine in the battell they should lose the victorie entred in disguise of purpose to be killed Of Curtius who for Romes safetie desperatly leaped into that deepe pit Of Sylla's Host in Praeneste who taking that city by force of Armes and making Proclamation That all the Citisens should be put to the sword saue his host said I wil not receiue my life from him that is the destroyer of my Countrie Of one Thrasibulus whom the Athenians went forth to receiue with so many Crownes as they were Citisens Numberlesse are those examples which wee find in prophane stories And in those that are sacred we meet with that one of Dauid and that other of Iudith who aduentured their liues for their Countrie In a word Nature as Saint Hierome saith planted this loue with that deepe rooting in our brests that Lucian said That the smoke of our owne Chimnies was farre better than the fire of other mens And Plutarch affirmeth That euerie man commends the ayre of his owne Country Hierocles stiles this loue a new God and our first and greatest father Silius Italicus introduceth a father notifying to his sonne That not any fouler sinne did descend vnto Hell than a mans opposing himselfe against his owne Countrie This loue being so due a debt and so deseruing our pittie it causeth no small admiration that Christ our Sauior should grow so cold toward his owne Countrie and multiplie such a companie of miracles vpon other the Cities of Iudea and Israell and performe so few in Nazareth where he was bred Secondly This difficultie is increased by the Nazarites iust request alledging That since he had preached in his owne
might verie wel will them to make them readie to goe to sea And happely they might stay waiting for him till it were towards the euening and seeing he did not come yet according as he had commanded them embarked themselues Of this his forcing them to goe aboord the Doctors giue diuers reasons The first is taken out of Saint Iohn Our Sauiour knew that the People had a purpose to make him King which danger hee seeking to auoyd hee withdrew himselfe aside to pray beeing all alone notifying to his Disciples That they should in the meane while prouide to goe to sea The second That our Sauior thereby might take occasion to work this wonderfull miracle for if the Disciples had not embarked themselues neither had our Sauiour walked vpon the sea nor Peter aduentured himselfe vpon the waues nor his Disciples endured such a terrible storme nor had there been such cleere notice taken of his soueraignepower The third is Saint Chrysostomes who saith That when they were to go to sea our Sauiour would that they should carrie along with them the remainder of such broken pieces of bread and of the fishes that were left to the end that they might thinke vpon the forepassed miracle Wherein they were so dull sighted that Saint Marke saith Non enim intellexerunt de panibus They vnderstood nothing about the Loaues And therefore those whom Fullnesse and Prosperitie had thus blinded God through troubles and afflictions cleereth their eye-sight The fourth is Theophilacts insinuating this for an especiall reason That our Sauiour Christ seeing his Disciples in conuersation with some deuout women which were present at the Feast hee willed them presently to embarke conceiuing that they would bee farre more safe in the sea amidst the waues than in the companie of women though neuer so deuout neuer so holy And the ground of this truth may be gathered from the Disciples vnwillingnesse to put forth to sea but our Sauiour like a good Horseman that claps his spurres close to the sides of his Ginnet when he refuses to make his carreere Coegit illos He compelled them The fifth For that the Shippe is a Type and figure of gouernment of honour and of dignitie And God will haue his friends to bee forced to ascend to those high places And therefore it is said Coegit illos vt ascenderent He compelled them to ascend The last is Saint Hieromes who alledgeth That the content beeing so great which the Disciples tooke in the presence of their Master it was a cleere case that it would verie much grieue them to depart from him and to bee forced to forgoe his companie For he that hath once a truetast of God will hardly bee withdrawne from him A Dogge be he beaten neuer so much he will not leaue his Masters house and all for the loue that he beareth him and the pleasure and delight that hee taketh in his presence And this was it that made Iob when hee was most beaten with his afflictions to vtter with a great deale of patience this humble language Etiam si occiderit in illum sperabo i. Though hee kill mee yet will I trust in him What shall they then doe that haue sate at the same boord with their God and eate of his meate Shall not they the fuller they are fed be still the more hungrie yes doubtlesse For as Ecclesiasticus sayth Qui edunt me adhuc esurient i. They which eat me shall yet hunger Et erat nauÃs in medio Maris And the Ship was in the midst of the Sea It seemeth somewhat strange that our Sauiour Christ inforcing his Disciples to enter into the Sea and they hauing punctually obey'd his command that hee should punish them with such a dangerous and fearefull tempest That Gods justice shoul ouertake Ionas in the ship that the Mariners should bee as it were the Sergeants the Whale the prison the Sea the executioner it was not much for that hee sought to flie from Gods obeydience and showed himselfe vnwilling to performe the seruice that was inioyned him But that the Disciples who left the Land entred into the Sea and consecrated their desires to their Sauiours Will that these men should see themselues in danger of drowning and ready to perish is more than much And this difficultie is indeered the more because it is sayd That no ill shall happen vnto him who shall keepe his commandements Qui custodit praeceptum non experietur quidquam mali But ô Lord if thou afflictest with torments those that loue and obey thee What wilt thou doe vnto those that are renegates and blasphemers c This doubt requireth those reasons which our Sauiour had for the miraculous allaying of this tempest The first is Saint Chrysostomes The Disciples sayth hee might haue dwelt vpon that former miracle of the loaues of bread and the fishes and on that fulnesse and saturitie wherewith such a multitude of guests were satisfied and contented carrying great store thereof away with them in their bosomes and their pockets They might likewise haue argued from thence the Omnipotency and Diuinitie of our Sauiour Christ Et non intellexerunt de panibus But they remained blind God therefore doth so order the businesse That those eyes whome Good could not open Ill should And that the daunger of the tempest should aduise those whome feasting and fulnesse of bread could not persuade The second Let no man looke in Gods house to eate of his bread for nothing God perhaps will bid thee sit downe and eat and say vnto thee In die bonorum fruere bonis i. In the day of wrath be of good comfort But withall thou must looke to pay thy shot For God will presently make triall in the furnace of tribulation whether his bread bee well bestowed or no. There is no Saint in Heauen which hath not beene put to this proofe And Ecclesiasticall persons of all other haue a preciser obligation lying vpon them who are the honour of Gods house who eat more especially at his Table who gather vp the remainders of the feast inioying the fruits of the earth in great aboundance and in more plentifull measure than other men And it is no great maruaile that they that possesse much should be possessed with much feare The third It is the ordinarie language of the Saints of God to call this world a Sea and this our life a sailing therein This Origen prooueth and Hylarius and Clemens Alexandrinus and the proportions are many Saint Austen citeth two the one That as the water of the Sea is generally bitter and it is a wonder if euer it become fresh and sweete So our life is so full of gall and worme-wood that there is scarce to bee found in it any the least smack of content or sweetnesse Suting well with that other saying of this sacred Doctor That the greatest ioy which we inioy in this life is not ioy but a kind of lightning and easing of
themselues into their holes in the deepe and doost thou sleep Arise for shame and call vpon thy God since others call vpon theirs Whither it were that they did presume that Ionas was some Saint which they might gather from his modestie and his Prophet-like attyre or whither they had heard of the great wonders done by his God for many were the things that were spoken of him among the Gentiles which were meruailous in their eyes I leaue it to the construction of the Discreet Mittamuâ— sortes Let vs cast lots They whispered amongst themselues That sure there was some notable villaine some wicked person among the passengers for whose sake the gods had shewed themselues so angrie against this their ship and those that went in her for one euil man that is vpheld and maintained in his lewd courses and is fauoured and protected by those with whom hee liues and conuerses is able to destroy a Citie and to corrupt a whole Commonaltie if he bee not corrected and punished in time According to that of Ezechiel Corrueâ—â— fulcientes Aegyptum They also that maintaine Aegypt shall fall and the pride of her power shall come downe Euerie one then said to his companion Let vs cast Lots Et sciamus quare hoc malum sit nobis That we may know for whose cause this euill is vpon vs or as the Hebrew hath it In cuius nam hoc malum nobis Let vs know who is in the fault why we doe all thus suffer They therefore cast lots not once alone but againe and againe for the Lot falling still vpon one it was an especial effect of Gods prouidence and a great token that hee would discouer him thaâ— was faultie It therefore falling still vpon Ionas the Mariners and the rest that were in the ship laid hands on him and as Saint Hierome hath noted it made him this short but discreet interrogation What is thy occupation and whence commest thoâ— Which is thy Countrie and of what People art thou Touching his Office his voyage and his Countrie the Prophet of his owne accord without beeing 〈◊〉 to the torment confessed all vnto them he told them he was an Hebrew and that he sought to flie from the God of Israel who had made the Sea and the 〈◊〉 Land and that this was the cause of this their furious tempest and fierce storme Then said they vnto him What shall we doe vnto thee that the sea may be calme vnto vs for the sea wrought and was troublous Mittite me in mare Take me and cast me into the sea so shal the sea be calme vnto you for I know that for my sake this great tempest is vpon you This was no desperation in Ionas nor any desire to hasten his owne death but that he might not persâ—â—â— any longer in offending his God whereof he was now sorie and earnestly repeâ—â—ted him of the errour he had committed If I liue thought he with himselfeâ— shall fall tomorrow into the like follie againe And therefore let no man preâ—sume that it shall be better with him tomorrow than it was yesterday or the other day before and though a man may purpose amendment to himselfe 〈◊〉 desire it yet is it no wisedome to presume thereupon Hence it ariseth that 〈◊〉 multiplication of yeares doth but multiplie our greater condemnation Remigabant viri c. The men rowed to bring the Ship to land They sough◠〈◊〉 saue the life of Ionas with the danger of their owne liues and despising 〈◊〉 owne proper perill they tooke care of another mans good which is the 〈◊〉 most that a godly man can doe The seuentie Interpreters indeere it 〈◊〉 thing more saying Viâ—â— faciebaâ—t They did as it were offer violence to the 〈◊〉 and so rowing and praying remigando â—rando they said O Lord if this man be so odious in thine eyes thou maist strike him dead with a sudden plague or with a blast of thy breath and if thou art not willing that hee should not now die doe not punish vs for him saue not him to kill vs. Ne pereamus in anima viri istius Let not vs perish for this mans life But the more they stroue in rowing and in praying the waues began to swell the more and the winds grew stiffer and stiffer Mare intumescebat super eos The sea wrought exceeding high and was troublous against them Thereupon they made a deuout prayer vnto God entreating him that he would not impute vnto them the death of that Prophet O Lord sayd they thou hast made our armes the instruments of thy Iustice and whereas it is thy pleasure that wee should throw him into the Sea thou mightest if thou wouldst haue giuen him some other kind of death This iudgement which we execute vpon him we haue done it out of his owne confession by the casting of Lots but if perchance we haue herein erred by taking away the life of the Innocent permit not his bloud to be vpon our heads since thou mayst so easily if thou wilt manifest his innocencie Well might our Sauiour Christ condemne the Pharisees by these poore Mariners and Ship-boyes since they did demurre so much and cast so many doubts with themselues concerning the offence of a Fugitiue that had alreadie confest himselfe faultie Whereas these Scribes and Pharisees did rashly and inconsiderately sentence him to death whom the Heauen and the Earth had pronounced and published to be innocent crying out with a full mouth Sanguis eius super nos Tulerunt Ionam So they tooke vp Ionas c. Saint Hierome doth much weigh the courtesie and respect wherewith they tooke vp Ionas Quasi cum obsequio honore portantes Bearing him as it were with a great deale of obsequiousnesse and honour vpon their shoulders because he had made so humble a confession by acknowlegement of his fault and for that that he had thus voluntarily offered himselfe vp vnto death They did reuerence him as a Saint and lifting vp that weight in their armes which the sea could not beare they had scarce throwne him ouer-boord but the sea ceased from her raging resting satisfied with this Sacrifice and giuing it as a sure signe and token vnto them that it did not pretend this it's furie to any but Ionas The Mariners after they had cast him into the Sea sought as an antient Doctor saith to take him vp againe and to saue his life but then the waues began to rise and rage afresh insomuch that they were forced to let him alone it being a wonder to see Seafaring men who are generally pittilesse to take such pittie and compassion of him Stetit Mare The sea grew calme on the sudden and the weather grew â—aire and cleere as the tempest came suddenly vpon them without any preuening dispositions so did this calme and faire weather at sea come vpon them in an instant before euer they were aware of it which was a notable proofe and argument vnto
DEVOVT CONTEMPLATIONS Expressed In two and Fortie Sermons Vpon all the Quadragesimall Gospells Written in Spanish by Fr. Ch. de Fonseca Englished by I. M. of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford LONDON Printed by Adam Islip Anno Domini 1629. HVMILITIE REPENTANCâ— Matt. 4.1 Matt. 26.69 Luke 7.11 Iohn 11.1 Matt. 28.6 Matt. 17.1 Marke 6.47 Iohn 4.5 Matt. 27.38 TO THE TWO NOBLE KNIGHTS SIR IOHN STRANGVVAYES AND SIR LEVVIS DIVE AND THEIR VERTVOVS LADIES THE LADY GRACE STRANGWAYES AND LADY HOWARD DIVE IN Acknowledgement of his own true Loue and Respect DON DIEGO PVEDE-SER Dedicateth these his INDEAVOVRS To the Reader COurteous Reader to seeke thy approbation of this Booke by any faire plausible inductions were to distrust if not impaire the worth of it 'T is folly to light a Candle to the Sunne as likewise to praise that which in it selfe is all praise worthy True Vertue needs no Orator to set her foorth her owne natiue beautie is so moouing that outward trappings can afoord her small aduantage If the diuine conceits and meditations of Antiquitie can worke vpon thy Affections I make no doubt but here 's enough to win thee The whole Booke is nothing but a bunch of flowers collected from out those pleasant Gardens which were long since planted by the art and industrie of those reuerend Fathers whom God raised vp for Guardians to his Church during hir nonage and minoritie If the sent of these shall please thee the Translator will hereafter furnish thee with the Labors of the same Author vpon all the Parables Some peraduenture may dislike it because it was first composed by a Spaniard as if Eliah should haue refused his meat because it was brought him by a Rauen or that in a curious Fountaine where there are some spouts formed like the heads of Serpents others like those of Doues the water that issued out of either were notall one The antient Gaules had no sooner tasted the delicious wines of Italy but a desire tooke them to goe and conquer the Countrey the like had beene wrought vpon the Israelites when some of those whom Moses by the appointment of God himselfe had sent to view the fruitfulnesse of the land of Canaan brought them of the Grapes Figs and Pomegranats which the soyle affoorded if others had not marr'd this reall demonstration with a vaine suspition of the sons of Anak But what shall not the corne be reaped because there 's cockle in the field Shal not the rose be pluckt because it grows on a Brier And yet let me tell thee to hearten thy aduenture against all needlesse imaginarie fears The captiue here hath her head shorn and may well be admitted for a true Israelite Thou shalt not cry out Mors in olla Death is in the pot that little leafe of Coloquintida which was in it is taken out and the children of the Prophets may tast of the broth without danger Others it may be wil condemne it as defectiue because such proofes passages as are alledged out of the fathers are not quoted in the margent indeed they should not haue bin wanting but that in the Spanish copy they were found vpon good perusall whether through the negligence of the Printer or some other default to be so mistakeÌ„ that to haue set them down would haue occasioned trouble rather than content but if euer the Booke come to a second impression all things shal be added for the satisfying of thy desires to the full Meane while accept of this and let it be thy Christian ioy That the lisping Ephramite is heard here to speake as plaine as the smooth-tongu'd Canaanite and that there is not so great a distance betwixt Hierusalem and Samaria as some imagine And so I leaue thee to the blessing of the Highest Farewell A Table of the seuerall Texts 1WHen ye fast c. Mat. 6.16 The Proëme to which Sermon is Memento Homo quia â—inis es Remember Man c. pag. 1 2 When Iesus was entered into Capernaum c. Mat. 8.5 pag. 23 3 Ye haue heard how it was sayd to them of old c. Mat. 5.27 39 4 When it grew late the ship c. Marke 6.47 61 5 Then was Iesus led aside of the Spirit c. Mat. 4.1 70 6 When the Sunne of Man shall come c. Mat. 25.31 93 7 When Iesus entred into Hierusalem c. Mat. 21.10 104 8 The Scribes and Pharisees came vnto him saying c. Mat. 12 38. 113 9 Iesus withdrew himselfe into the Coasts of c. Mat. 15.21 142 10 There was a Feast of the Iewes c. Ioh. 5.1 160 11 Iesus tooke vnto him Peter and Iames and Iohn c. Math. 17.1 180 12 I goe my way and ye shall seeke me Iohn 8.21 199 13 The Scribes sate vpon Moses Chaire Mat. 23.2 209 14 Behold we goe vp to Hierusalem c. Mat. 20.18 218 15 There was a certaine rich man who was clothed c. Luk. 16.19 233 16 A certaine man planted a Vine-yard c. Mat. 21.33 248 17 A certaine man had two Sonnes c. Luk. 15.11 272 18 And Iesus was casting out a Deuill c. Luk. 11.14 283 19 Phyâ—itian heale thy selfe c. Luk. 4.23 314 20 If thy Brother shall trespasse against thee c. Mat. 18.15 333 21 Then came vnto him from Hierusalem c. Mat. 15.1 351 22 When he was come into Symons house c. Luk. 4.38 373 23 And Iesus came into a citie of Samaria c. Iohn 4.5 386 24 He went into the Mount of Oliues c. Iohn 8.1 412 25 After these things Iesus went his way c. Iohn 6.1 425 26 He found sitting in the Temple sellers of sheepe c. Iohn 2.14 447 27 Now when the Feast was halfe done c. Iohn 7.14 461 28 And as Iesus passed by he saw a man c. Iohn 9.1 474 29 And Iesus went into a Citie called Nain c. Luk. 7.11 487 30 Now a certaine man was sicke named Lazarus c. Iohn 11.1 499 31 I am the Light of the World c. Iohn 8.12 516 32 Which of you will reprooue me of sinne c. Ioh. 8.46 524 33 The chiefe Priests sent their Officers to c. Ioh. 7.32 539 34 And Iâ—sus walked into Galile for he c. Ioh. 7.1 549 35 The Feast of the Dedication was celebrated c. Ioh. 10.22 557 36 A certaine Pharisee requested Iesus c. Luk. 7.36 569 37 Then gathered the High Priests and Pharisees a Councell c. Iohn 11.47 584 38 The high Priests consulted that they might kill c. Iohn 12.10 597 39 Peter sate without in the Hall c. Mat. 26.69 607 40 There were crucified with him two theeues c. Mat. 27.38 615 41 When Iesus knew that his houre was come c. Iohn 13.1 636 42 And Iesus bearing his crosse went foorth c. Ioh. 19.17 638 SERMONS VPON ALL THE QVADRAGESSIMAL GOSPELLS THE FIRST SERMON ON ASHWEDNESDAY Memento
Some man wil doubt and say How could so grosse an ignorance sinke into the Prophets brest as to think to flie ouâ— of Gods reach Confessing with Dauid that large extent of his power Whither shall I goe from thy Spirit and whither shall I flie from thy face if I climbe vp into Heauen thou art there if I goe into Hell thou art likewise there I answer That hee had no such kind of conceit in the world nor any so foule a thought once entered into his immagination But that which he presumed vpon was That in the land of the Gentiles God would not reueale himselfe nor communicate the Spirit of Prophecie to his Prophets and therefore hee was minded to alter his former condition of life and turne Merchant For Tharsis was so famous a Port in regard of the great concourse of Trading that was there that those your great huge merchants ships made onely for burden were called in the Scripture by an Antonomasia or pronomination The Ships of Tharshish whereof Ieremie maketh mention Ezechiel the third third booke of the Kings and the second of Chronicles The Spirit of Prophecie it seemed had not then captiuated his wil The Lord God hath opened myne eare and I was not rebellious neither turned I backe But might he then if he would So doth this Ego non contradico seem to inferre Saint Paul saith to those of Corinth That the Spirit of Prophecie is subiect to the Prophets And as Amasias said to the Prophet Amos Get thee to the Land of Iuda ô thou Seer goe flie thou thither and there eat thy bread and prophecie there but prophecie no more at Betheb for it is the Kings Chappell and it is the Kings Court Ionas therefore seeing that a Prophet was not accepted of in his owne Countrie would needs turne Merchant He got him into a Ship of the Phoenicians to flie into Tharshish from the presence of the Lord Et dedit illis naulum And he paid the fare thereof and went downe into it For the Deuill is not contented that a sinner should doe him seruice onely but that he should giue him money also into the bargaine which is a strange kind of tyrannie The Shippe had scarce beene a while vnder saile when as a fearefull Tempest arose which put those that were in the Shippe into extreame perill of their life And albeit your Pilots your Mariners and Shippe-boyes that are beaten and accustomed to these kind of chances vsually loose all feare both of windes and waues nay also of God himselfe yet now such was the tempestuousnesse of the weather the raging of the Sea that they called vpon those their gods which were painted in their Ship Timuerunt nautae The Mariners feare encreased iudging this Storme the strangest as euer they saw accounting it as a miracle First of all Because there was no preceding signe of it for those that are experienced Seafaring men are not onely skilled in knowing those signes of a storme that are neere at hand but those that are afarre off as by the irruptions of the aire which breaking forth from the concauities and hollow vaults of the Deepe trouble the waters the colluctation and wrestling of the winds the croking of Rauens the bellowing of Beasts the playing of Porpeecies which doe whisper in their eares the storme that is to come vpon them But this Tempest here came so violently vpon them on the sudden that there was no foregoing signe to foreshew it Secondly Because as Rabbi Salomon hath noted it an Hebrew Doctor from whom Theodoret and Theophilact had it there were many ships that had gone out of Tharshish which they might kenne not farre from them that had verie faire and cleere weather and sailed away smoothly hauing as they say a Ladies passage so calme was the Sea and so gentle and temperate their gale of wind Whereupon they did discreetly argue amongst themselues that there was some great and notorious sinner in their Ship against whom the windes and the waues by Gods especiall appointment made such cruell warre He that goes to sea goes in danger Qui nauigant mare c. Euripides was of opinion That they could not be truly said to bee either dead or aliue not dead because they liue not aliue because there was only a poore planke betwixt their death and their life And the Sinner haleth his halter after him and if God did not defend him the Sea would not endure him The Slaue that flies from his Master all the seruants of the house make hue and crie after him they follow him crying Stop him stop him and if that will not serue the turne his Master sends Horsemen after him who pursue him and apprehend him All the whole house of Heauen make hue and crie after Ionas Angells Saints Friends holy inspirations make pursuit after him as they vse to doe after other rebellious sinners But that will not serue the turn whereupon he sends these his Horsmen after him the winds the waues the ship-boyes and mariners they take him and cast him into the dungeon of the Whales bellie Miserunt vasa They cast forth their Vessels c. This word Vasa is taken for the wares the weapons the Masts the sailes and other instruments belonging to a Ship Vasa Domus Vasa Bellica Vasa Nauis and the like In that Tempest which Saint Luke mentioneth in the Acts of the Apostles wherein Saint Paul suffered so many dayes he saith That the verie cords and tacklings in the ship were cast ouer boord Armamenta Nauis proiecerunt So now whither it were to lighten the Ship or to appease the anger of their Gods whom they thought were to be appeased with gifts or that they were subiect to these passions of choller and couetousnesse c. And as now the Faithfull haue recourse in their shipwracks to prayers and promises so was it now with these Infidels and not to this alone but to the offering vp of Iewells of great price and value Ionas was got him down into the bottome of the Ship whither he had withdrawne himselfe thither out of his sorrow or to auoid the noyse of their shreeks and out-cries or for feare of the thunder lightning or not to behold the furie and rage of the waues and the winds I cannot tel you but because feare and heauinesse commonly causeth sleepe Ionas was fallen now so sound asleepe that neither his owne proper perill nor the lamentable clamours of others could â—wake him Quid tu sopore deprimeris Surge inuoca Deum tuum What meanest thou ô Sleeper awake and call vpon thy God They that came down â—o the Pumpe lighted vpon Ionas and awaking him said vnto him by way of admiration Is it possible that a man should sleepe in the middest of such a terrible Tempest The cries and lamentations of all seeke to appease the furie of the winds and doost thou sleepe The Sea-Gods are affraid and the Fishes retyre
Prayer of the Iust should preuaile with God which begges and entreats of his diuine Majestie That he will beare with vs this yeare and the next and so from time to time as is prooued by that Parable of the Figge tree which the Lord of the Soyle caused to be hewne downe because it bare no fruit it is not much But that the prayer of a Canaanitish woman should make God to yeeld vnto her is more than much The name of woman in it's true and naturall element notifieth a thousand imperfections O pessima Mulier saith Euripides signifying thereby That there is no mischiefe which she is not a Midwife vnto the verie name of a Canaanitish woman doth blab out sin in hir hatred towards God and a measure full of miserie Now if a subiect so weake and so imperfect grew by Prayer to be so powerfull What will not Prayer be able to do Salomon askes the question Mulierem fortem quis inueniet Who shall meet with a valiant woman that is full of mettall and courage I answer That naturally such a one is Rara auis in terris a verie Phoenix a white Crow and a blacke Swan but by the force of Prayer you shall thrice meet with such a one in Tyrus and Sydon God sayes no and yet in the end the Canaanitish womans Yea goes further than our Sauiours Nay making God as it were to lay downe the Bucklers and to yeeld vnto her And to him that shall say That this was a spirituall wrestling neuer giuing ouer our Sauiour but still pressing and importuning him more and more and that a woman will be sometimes so earnest and so violent that shee may as well wearie out God as she doth Man to make him yeeld ere she haue done with him To this a Doctor of our times verie well answers by proposing another question to wit Whither Iacobs wrestling with God were with the force of his arms or with the armes of Prayer Origen tells vs That it was a spirituall strugling of teares and prayers and Iacob hauing got the better God said vnto him Thou shalt no more be called Iacob but Israel because thou hast had power with God The like may be said by our Sauior to this Canaanitish woman Ecce mulier Cananea Behold a woman c. Ecce in holy Scripture commonly signifieth some great matter of admiration And this case of the Canaanitish woman is admirable for two rare circumstances contained in it The one For that strange change and alteration in her in regard that of a Canaanite in Occupatione she became a Canaanite in Oratione that is a Negotiator in Heauen for Cananea according to Saint Hierome is the same with Negotiatrix Of a good huswife that girdeth her loyns with strength and strengthneth her armes Salomon saith Cingulum tradidit Cananeo the Vulger hath it Negotiatori To the Merchant or one that negotiates businesses and Heauen is stored with such kind of People Negociamini dum venio Occupie till I come And so great was the hast which this Canaanite made for the encreasing of her Talent and in mannaging of her businesse that the Church sets her before vs for an example and for an excellent and happie Negotiant with God himselfe As Abraham was put for a patterne of Faith Isaac of Obedience Ioseph of Chastitie Iob of Patience Marie Magdalen of Repentance so this Canaanitish woman is proposed vnto vs as an example of well negotiating with God shewing vs the readie way for a quicke dispatch The other That a woman that was a Gentile should come out of Tyrus and Sydon to be a Schoole to the Faithfull as if a Moore should come from his Moorisme to be a Christian which is a rare thing and seldome seene that such a one should haue issued out of Ierusalem that was well grounded in the Scripture and Religion it was not much but from Tyrus and Sydon it was not a thing to be expected To be of the houshold of Faith among the Gentiles a Catholick among Hereticks a Christian among Moores a Saint amongst the Wicked was eueâ— yet accounted strange and wonderfull Saint Gregorie obserues this of Iob liuing in the Land of Hus among the Barbarians Socius fuit Draconum Frater Struâ—hionum He was a companion of Dragons and a brother to Ostriches that is he liued amongst the Vngodly And Saint Peter saith of Lot That he being righteous and dwelling among the Sodomites in seeing the vncleanly conuersation of the Wicked and hearing of their abhominable sinnes vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their vnlawful deeds which is a great crosse and affliction to the Godly Saint Iohn saith of the Bishop of Pergamus Scio vbi habitas vbi seâ—es est Sathanae tenes nomen meum All thy actions are not praise-worthie but this is greatly to be commended in thee that amongst Deuills where Sathan hath his Throne thou keepest the faith and confessest my name Saint Paul of the Philippians That In medio nationis prauae The Spouse of his Beloued That Sicut Lilium inter spinas without receiuing any harme In a word to enioy perfect health in the middest of a great plague is a great matter but much greater is it that out of a Pest-house one should come forth to giue helpe vnto others that from amidst Heretickes a Master should be brought to teach Catholickes and that out of Tyrus and Sydon should step forth a Canaanitish woman to instruct the Church And this is that which this word Ecce aimes at A finibus illis egressa Come from out those Borders First Christ and then she and though Christ had the longer and harder journey of it and she the shorter and easier yet you see shee was willing to put the best foot forward and to take some paines her selfe in the businesse she did not as many doe now adayes sit still and doe nothing laying the whole burthen of the justification vpon our Sauiour Christ. Supra dorsum meum saith he complaining by the Prophet fabricauerunt peccatores prolongauerunt iniquitatem suaâ— They threw all the whole burthen of their sinnes vpon my shoulders taking no care themselues to worke out their saluation Beloued this is not the way it is not enough that yee haue your calling and vocation from God but you must make sure this your vocation vnto you by good workes Satagite per bona opera certam facere vocationem vestram It is not enough that Christ hath redeemed you but you must seeke on your part to secure your redemption In this sence said Paul Adimpleo quae desunt passionum Christi in carne mea Not that any thing can be wanting to the passion of Christ on his part but on thine Faine wouldst thou goe to Heauen but thou art loath to take any paines to get thither thou wouldst be carried vp in a soft and easie chaire but art loath to stretch thy legs And for this cause the Scripture
ashamed it is Salomons And Ecclesiasticus saith Laugh not with thy son leâ—t thou be sorie with him and lest thou gnash thy teeth in the end Giue him no libertie in his youth and winke not at his follie Bow downe his necke while he is young beat him on the sides whilest he is a child lest he wax stubborne and be disobedient vnto thee and so bring sorow to thine heart c. Men ought to be verie circumspect in giuing too much licence and libertie to young Gentlemen whilest they are in the heat and furie of their youth and that their wanton bloud boyleth in their veines It is no wisdome in parents to giue away their wealth from themselues and to stand afterwards to their childrens courtesie Giue not away thy substance to another lest it repent thee no not to thine owne children For better it is that thy children should pray vnto thee than that thou shouldest looke vp to the hands of thy children To this doubt satisfaction hath formerly beene giuen by vs in a Discourse of ours vpon this same Parable but that which now offers it selfe a fresh vnto vs is That albeit the Father saw that his libertie his monys his absence would be his Sonnes vndoing yet hee likewise saw his amendment his repentance and what a future warning this would be vnto him And so hee chose rather to see him recouered after he was lost than violently to detaine him and to force him to keepe home against his will which would bring forth no better fruits than lowring and grumbling Saint Augustine saith That it seemed a lesser euill to God to redresse some euills than not to permit any euill at all Melius judicauit de malis benefacere quam mala nulla esse permittere God would not haue thee to sinne neither can he be the Author of thy sinnes but if men should not commit sinnes Gods Attributes would lose much of their splendor Saint Paul speaking of himselfe saith That God had forgiuen him though he had beene a persecuter and blasphemer of his holy Name c. And why did hee doe this Vt ostenderet omnem patientiam gratiam My sinnes saith he were the occasion that God pardoned me and his pardoning of mee was the cause of the Worlds taking notice of his long suffering and his great goodnesse This may serue for a verie good instruction to those that are great Princes and Gouernours of Commonwealths and may teach them how to punish and how to beare with their subiects and it belongeth no lesse to the name of a good Gouernour to tollerate with prudence than to punish with courage And Salomon giues thee this caueat Noli esse multum justus Et not thou iust ouermuch Congregatis omnibus When he had gathered all together What a strange course was this that this young man ranne First of all hee leuelled all accounts with his father shutting the doore after him to all hope of receiuing so much as one farthing more than his portion If he had left some stocke behind him that might haue holpe him at a pinch if he should chance to miscarrie in this his journey for he was not sure that he should still hold Fortune fast by the wing he had done well and wisely but he made a cleane riddance of all as well mooueables as immooueables Et congregatis omnibus c. Secondly What a foolish part was it in him to leaue so good a Father and so sweet and pleasant a Countrie being both such naturall tyes of loue to Mans brest The loue of a Father is so much indeered in Scripture that great curses and maledictions are thundred out against vnlouing and vnkind childeren And the loue of a mans Countrie is such a thing saith Saint Augustine that God made choice to trie of what mettal Abraham was made by such a new strange kind of torment as to turne him out of his Countrie Egredere de Terra tua de Cognatione tua Goe from thy Land and from thy Kindred Saint Chrysostome saith That euen those Monkes which left the world for their loue to God and to doe him seruice did notwithstanding shew themselues verie sencible of their absence from their natiue soyle and their fathers house But those sorrowes and lamentations which the Children of Israell made when they were on their way to Babylon indeere it beyond measure If I forget thee ô Ierusalem let my right hand forget her cunning If I doe not remember thee let my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth yea if I prefer not Ierusalem in my mirth c. But much more fearefull is the resolution of this young man in the thing that is signified thereby To wit That a Sinner shall so exactly summe vp all his reckonings with God that he shall not haue any hope at all left him neither in his life nor his death of one onely dramme of mercie There are some Sinners that giue their wealth to the World but not all some giue God their lips but not their hearts some their memorie but not their will some their will but not their vnderstanding some are dishonest and yet Almesgiuers some couetous and yet deuout like those Assyrians which liued in Samaria who acknowledged God his Law yet worshipped Idolls But to giue all away as the Prodigall did is a desperate course Besides It is a miserable case that this Prodigall should not bee sencible of leauing so good a Father as God of renouncing so rich an Inheritance as Heauen and of being banished for euer from so sweet and pleasant an habitation But he is so blind that he loueth darkenesse and abhorres the light which is a case so lamentable that it made Ieremie to crie out Obstupescite Coeli Be amazed 〈◊〉 Heauens Profectus est in Regionem longinquam He tooke his journey into a farre Countrie No man can flie from God per distantiam loci be the place neuer so farre off no distance can bring vs out of his reach If I ascend vp vnto Heauen thou art there if descend into Hell thou art there also And certainly if there were any one place free from his presence all the Prodigals of the world would make that their Rendezuous and liue there Ionas flying from God left the earth and entred into the sea where there were so many Serjeants waiting to arrest him who tooke hold of him and threw him into prison that darke dungeon of the Whales bellie So that there is not any thing saith Anselmus in the Concaue of Heauen which can escape the eye of Heauen no though a man should flie from East to West and from the South vnto the North. So this Prodigall flying from his Fathers house fell vpon a poore Farme flying from Fulnesse lighted vpon Hunger and these were Gods executioners appointed to punish his follie Into a farre Countrie He came to the Citie of Obliuion whose Inhabitants are without
workes for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name But a little strength yet this little strength this little vertue may make the tree to waxe greene againe Those trees that haue no shew of verdure no signe of greenenes are commonly condemned to the fire Thou sufferest thy selfe to bee subdued by the world the flesh and the Deuill thou forgettest if not forsakest thy God thou runnest on in thy sinnes and makest no reckoning of them yet there are some pawnes and pledges of Heauens loue whereon thou mayest ground thy hopes and betake thy selfe one day as seriously to Gods seruice as thou hast earnestly followed thyne owne foolish pleasures Ezechiell charging his people in the metaphore of a little pretie young maiden child whom God had protected from her cradle reckoneth vp one after another the many courtesies and kindnesses that he did her the rich apparell and iewels that hee bestowed vpon her and all to this end that when she should forsake his house and run away from him she might carry with her some memorials of his loue for Gods fauors neuer are forgotten and are neuer vnwelcome come they neuer so late Take compassion ô Lord vpon me when I cry vnto thee For thou art my father and the guide of my youth And God will then reply vnto thee Bee thou still of this mind and see thou forget not to consider with thy selfe that I am thy father and thy first loue to whom thou didst make the first tender of thy good will and affection and let this be a Motiue vnto thee to make thee to leaue thy vile courses and to repent thy selfe of the wrongs thou hast done mee and to bewaile thy many slidings from me that I may run with open armes to receiue thee and hugge thee in the bosome of my loue It was an especiall prouidence of God that the Babilonians burning and destroying all the jewels spoiles of the children of Israell they suffred them to carry along with them to Babilon their instruments of Musicke which was to put them in hope that they should one day returne againe to Ierusalem their beloued Countrey For in a strange land they could not play vpon their Harps nor sing the Songs of Syon Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini c. Saint Chrysostome sayth That this woman gaue wonderfull great tokens of her Predestination First in those scruples that she made Secondly in the desire and willingnesse that shee had to be saued Scio quia Messias veâ—it But Hell is full of good desires Gilbertus the Abbot sayth That it is an ordinarie thing with sinners to say O how I do desire to liue a godly and a holy life and yet complying with all those other desires of the bodie they neuer complie with those of the soule Saint Ambrose treating of the good desires which the Prodigall had when he kept hoggs to forgoe that base kind of life Surgam ibo ad patrem meum saith It little importeth to say I wil goe vnlesse I put the same in execution Otherwise these weake purposes of ours are rather deceits wherewith the Deuill goes entertaining deluding vs. And as it is a follie to put any hope or confidence in weake influences which neuer take effect so those our idle and dangerous determinations which possesse and hinder the will and still crie Cras Cras are but the cords that draw vs along vnto death Consider with thy selfe the great good which the desire of Heauen worketh on the Iust and that little good which it worketh on thee and thou shalt then plainly perceiue that it doth thee more hurt than good Againe Though this Samaritane discouered a great deale of ignorance in her discourse with our Sauiour yet Christ offering her the water of Life shee said Sir thou hast nothing to draw with and the Well is deepe And this was not much to meruaile at in so meane and sillie a soule as shee was Nicodemus was a Doctor of Law and yet betraid his great ignorance Art thou a Master in Israell knowest not these things It was sufficient that he shewed his care in matter of Faith Our Fathers did worship in this Mountaine It was sufficient that he discouered his affection to those things that concerned his soule Sir giue me of that water that I may not thirst nor come hither to draw Our Sauiour hauing vsed this Woman thus kindly and continued so long in conuersation with her his Disciples at last comming vnto him thinking it now time to hie her home leauing her Water-pots behind her she made all the hast that shee could to the Citie magnifying the person of our Sauiour Christ and abhorring her former lewd life shee turned ouer a new leafe and made publique profession to all that she met with for what end they were borne Your Diamond will shine euen in a Dunghill and your Mariners Needle in the darkest nights wil euer looke towards the North. Doe not alledge Peter vnto mee saying Lord whither shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life nor his confessing of Christ to be the Sonne of the liuing God but when he was charged with the deniall of his Sauiour with maledictions and execrations then did he shew what he was Lux in teâ—ebris lâ—cet â—enebrae eum non compreheÌ„derunt Those thatare predestinated are Hâ—espeâ—es del Vitiâ— Vices Guests and oftentimes entertainers of sinne But as the Children of Israell being Captiues in Babylon did vpon euerie light occasion discouer the loue which they bare to Ierusalem Si non proposuero Ierusalem in principio lâ—titiâ— meae c. so this woman did presently discouer the embers that lay hid in her brest If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith vnto thee c. Heere begins this womans Catechisme Christ dealing with her as Schoolemasters do with little childeren when they teach them first to read or as Riders with yong Colts before they begin to breake them vsing them verie gently and smoothing and stroking them with the hand Saint Augustine vnderstandeth by this gift the water of Life and by the water of Life the holy-Ghost And he alledgeth in fauour of this sence that place of Saint Iohn If any man thirsteth let him come vnto me and drinke He that beleeueth in me as the Scripture saith out of his bellie shall flow Riuers of liuing Water And the Euangelist addeâ—h That our Sauiour vttered this sentence Concerning the Spirit which Beleeuers should receiue S. Cyril vnderstandeth thereby the Grace of the holy-Ghost Theodoret the Word of God S. Ambrose Baptisme The proportion consisteth in three things The first That as liuing Water doth enioy an inseperable vnion with the fountain from whence it flowâ—th whence it followeth that it can neuer be dried vp nor haue any euill sauour like those dead waters of your Cisternes and your standing Pooles which are dried vp
thousand persons besides women and children with seuen loaues a few fishes and they beeing all satisfied there were twelue baskets full remaining This miracle is mentioned by Saint Mathew and Saint Marke In the other That which the Church doth this day solemnise which was the more famous not onely for that the guests were fiue thousand besides women and children the loaues fiue the fishes two and the leauings twelue baskets full but for that all the foure Euangelists wrote thereof and much the more for that it was an occasion as it is obserued by Saint Chrysostome because our Sauiour did preach that excellent Sermon of the Mount for whose Doctrine that miracle was most important After these things our Sauiour went c. Saint Augustine and Saint Hierome are of opinion That the occasion of our Sauiours withdrawing of himselfe was the death of Iohn Baptist the ioy for whose birth beeing so generall it was not much that the sorrow for his death should be great And this sutes well with that Text of Saint Mathew who reports it to be after the death of Saint Iohn This his departure thence shewed his sorrow for his friends death but that kingdome had greatest cause to lament and bewaile Saint Iohn Baptists death and Christs going from them for what is a Kingdome without them The Saints of God are the force and strength of Kingdomes the walles and bulwarkes of Cities the hedges about a Vineyard the foundation to a Building bones to the bodie life to the soule and the chiefe essence and being of a Commonwealth And whilest they had Christ and Saint Iohn among them there was not any Citie in the world so rich as that but the one being dead and the other hauing left them Ieremie might verie well take vp his complaint and bewaile their miserie and solitude Esay treating of the misfortunes that should befall Shebna the High-Priest sayth Auferetur paxillus qui fixus fuerat in loco fideli peribit quod pependerat ex eo The Naile that is fastned in the sure place shall depart and shall be broken and fall and the burthen that was vpon it shall bee cut off Now paxillus is that which in poore mens houses is called the Racke whereon they hang spits or a shelfe whereon they set their vessels which in rich mens houses is called Aparador a Court-cupboord whereon is placed their richest pieces of plate and such as are most glorious to the eye And hereof mention is made in the one and thirtieth Chapter of Exodus and the third of Numbers But your poorer sort of People that are not scarce worth a paire of Rackes strike in certaine pinnes into the wall and as the shelfe falling all falls with it that depends thereupon so when the High-Priest being a good man dies all good perisheth with him in the Commonwealth because the chiefe good of the State dependeth thereupon The Homicâ—de had fiue Cities to flie vnto for shelter but hee could not returne home to his owne Countrie till the death of the High-Priest And Philon rendring the reason of this interdiction saith That the High-Priest is a Pariente or Kinseman of all those that liue in his Commonwealth Qui solum habet ius in viuos in mortuoâ— as euerie Citisen hath his particular Kinsemen to whom he owes an obligation to acknowledge the benefits he receiues from him and to reuenge the wrongs that are done to him In like manner the High-Priest is the common Kinseman of the Liuing to whom hee owes an Obligation to accord their discords to cut off their suits in Law to quit their wrongs and to desire the peace and prosperitie of them all In conclusion he being as it were a common father to all in so great a losse in so sencible and generall a sorrow when a common misfortune should compound particular wrongs when all mens hearts are so heauie their eyes so full of teares their minds so discomforted it is a fit season for a Homicide to returne home to his Countrie And if the death of a High-Priest who happely was no holy man causeth in a Commonwealth so generall a griefe the death of Iohn Baptist and our Sauiours departure from this People What effect of heartie sorrow ought that to worke God threatned his People by Esay The Lord shall giue you the bread of aduersitie and the water of affliction When the King of Israell commanded Micheas to be cast into prison hee said vnto him Suâ—â—enta tecum paâ—e tribulationis aqua angustiae Feed vpon the bâ—â—ad of affliction and the water of affliction In the Hebrew both places beare the same words but Esay afterwards saith That though Gods hand shall be heauie vpon them and that he shall afflict them with many miseries yet he will not take away their Doctors and Teachers from amongst them nor the light of his Doctrine I haue threatned you with the famine of my word I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the Word of the Lord. But God recalls this threatning oftentimes Et non faciet auolare à te vltra Doctorem tuum and will not cause thy Teacher to flie from thee But Iohn Baptist being dead and our Sauiour withdrawne himselfe that Countrie could not rest in a more wretched estate Secondly The death of Iohn Baptist made him leaue the land and put forth to sea making a seperation betweene him and them for when God gets him gone from thy house or thy citie thou art beaten out of doores as they say with a cudgell euen then doth a man go turning backe his head like a Hart that is hunted and pursued by Hounds neuer letting him to be at rest but chasing him with open mouth from place to place God cannot absent himselfe from his Creatures nor can his immensitie giue way to the vtter abandoning of this goodly Fabricke and wonderfull Machina of the World yet so great is the hatred which he beares to sinne that he also commands vs to get vs out of that Citie where Sinne doth raigne signifying thereby vnto vs That if any thing can make him to absent himselfe from vs it is our sinnes God had his house and his residence in Hierusalem so sayes Esay God had his house and his hearth there as if hee had beene one of their fellow Citisens and a Towne dweller amongst them but their abhominations made him to abandon that place Ezechiel saw the glorie of God how it went by degrees out of the Temple staying one while here another while there resting it selfe now against this pillar now that till at last The glorie of God was cleane gone out of the Temple Their abhominations did as it were driue him out by head and shoulders shoov'd him forth by little and little The great abhominations that the House of Israell committeth here causeth me to depart from my Sanctuarie Iosephus in
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
downe That the chastisements of death should not be put in execution till tenne dayes full and compleat after publication of sentence But Pilat made a short come-off with our Sauior and gaue him a quicke dispatch This sentence did surpasse all the vniust sentences that euer were pronounced That of Iezabel against Naboth That of the Iudges of Babylon against Susanna For these had some forme of a Legall proceeding But of this Esay saith De medio iudicij sublatus est generationem illius quis enarrabit Another letter hath it Seculum illius It is a bad world when an innocent person shall bee put to the punishment of the Crosse without sufficient witnesses to condemne him or without lawfull hearing in discharging himselfe of such things wherewithall he is charged But as Saint Gregorie saith Si ipse indebitam mortem non suscepisset nunquam nos a debita morte liberasset Had not he vndergone an vndeserued death hee could neuer haue freed vs from a deserued death Christ being thus deliuered vp to the damnable will of those who desired to put him to death and the cruellest death that Tyrannie could inuent they threw a halter about his necke and laid a most heauy Crosse vpon his tender shoulders and being garded along the street by the Roman Cohorts they carry him away to Mount Caluarie Their Feare and Iealousie prompting them to take this course with him First That he might not as heretofore escape their hands Secondly That in case he should escape their hands the Temple should not serue his turne For as Gellius doth affirme in his Noctibus Atticis Those that were condemned to carry their Crosse had not the benefit of taking Sanctuarie Thirdly Because the death of the Crosse was so infamous a death that none but theeues and traytors to the Common wealth could bee condemned to this shamefull kind of death And this as S. Chrysostome hath noted it was confirmed by the authoritie of Rome Fourthly Because they would euen then presently put him to begin his suffering For it was a common ceremonie amongst them that they who were condemned to death should haue a napkin fastned before their eyes least by seeing the Executioner and the instruments of death prepared for them they might chance to fall into a swound or faint in the way But they would that Christ to grieue him the more should haue his punishment set before his eyes Fiftly The diuine prouidence saith Saint Augustine had so ordered it for it was very fit and conuenient that the Crosse which Kings vse to weare on the tops of their Crownes and Scepters and Knights of diuers noble Orders on their breasts That the Prince of heauen should first beare the same vpon his shoulders conuerting thereby the greatest infamie into the greatest glorie that euer was in this world so that that which on the one side was a sad and heauie sepctacle on the other is a great and glorious mysterie The people making a confused noyse the Trumpets send forth a hoarse voice the drums a dead sound the theeues go cheeke by iole close to our Sauiors side the cryers lift vp their voyces and ball out aloud This is the Iustice which the Emperour of Rome and Pontius Pilat in his name with the consent and approbation of the Princes of Ierusalem hath commanded to be done vpon this man as a seditious person a blasphemer an impostor a broacher of new erronious doctrine stilâ—ng himselfe the Messias and Sauiour of the world the King of Israel and the Sonne of God He had to Mount Caluarie according to the testimonie of some graue Authours which haue measured out that space of ground 1021 paces which amount to somewhat more than 3000 feet And it was called Caluarie either from the sculls of those that had beene there put to death as Saint Ierom would haue it or from the scull of Adam who was buryed there of which opinion is the glorious Athanasius Basill Origen Tertullian and Saint Augustine To the end that it might be there more especially verified Sicut in Adam omnes moriâ—ntur ita in Christo omnes viuificabuntur As in Adam all men were dead so in Christ all men shal be quickned and restored to life The Diuine Prouidence had likewise so ordered the businesse that the place where our Sauiour Christ was to die should be in the midst of the world And howbeit some Doctors doe not admit that it is in rigour and strictnesse iust in the middle according to a Geometricall proportion or Mathematicall account yet most doe agree in this that it was in the midst of the land of Palestine as it seemeth to Iosephus in his third booke De bello Iudaico as also to Aristeus Or it may be said to be in the midst of the world Per Priuilegium By way of Priuiledge Because that was the place where God had shewed his greatest miracles And of this mind is venerable Bede yet notwithstanding of great force is that place of Dauid Operatus est salutem in medio terrae He hath wrought saluation in the midst of the earth And that of Ezechiel Ista est Hierusalem in medio gentium posui eam in circuitu eius terras This is Ierusalem I haue set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are roundabout her As also the authoritie of Saint Ierome who expounding this place tearmes it Meditullium terrae vmbilicum The very nauill or middle part of the earth Which opinion is strengthened by S. August discoursing on the 75 Psalme Of the manner of their crucifying of our Sauiour Christ there is this and that doubt made and one more probable than another The common receiued opinion of the Saints is That the Crosse being fixed in Mount Caluarie they hailed him vp first with cords and afterwards nayled him therunto And so seemeth it good to that sacred Doctour Saint Gregorie Saint Bernard Saint Cyprian and the reuelation of Saint Bridget confirmes the same But Saint Ierome Anselme Antoninus and Laurentius Iustinianus say That the Crosse being laid all along on the ground they first nayled him vnto it and afterwards reared it vp And this part is much fauoured for two reasons The one Because it was a more fitting and facile way to be done The other Because in the Holy Land there is an especiall place to bee seene where they nayled our Sauiour Christ which is a little wayes off from the place where the Crosse was set vp But take which opinion you will the plaine truth is That it was one of the cruellest torments which our Sauiour Christ suffered for they hauing first nayled his right hand they did so stretch and straine the sinewes that they were forced with cords to draw out his left hand at full length to make it meet right with that hole which was bored in the Crosse for that purpose And because they might stretch it out so far that the nayle that
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