were seuered from their bodies how could they crie Saint Gregorie resolues it thus That their desires did crie out aloud Moses did not vnfold his lips nor once open his mouth and yet God said vnto him Why doost thou 〈◊〉 vnto me onely because his desires did set out a throat So Abels bloud was said to crie out against Cain So that with God a few words will suffice Besides your better sort of women ought to be verie sparing of their words Auaritia in verbis saith Plautâ—s in fâ—eminis semper laudabilis Of a lewd and naughtie woman Salomon reporteth That she inuiting a young man irretiuit â—um sermonibus prouoked him with her words Ecclesiasticus saith That wisedome and silence in a woman is the gift of God Nature may giue beautie bloud prosperitie and other good gifts but wisedome and silence God giues Sicut vitâ—a cocciâ—â—â— labia tuâ— Thy lips are like a thred of scarlet and thy talke iâ— comely Those your womens haires which are dis-sheâ—â—led and blowne abroad with the wind they did vse to brâ—id bind them vp with a red ribbond And therefore the Bridegroome compareth his spouses lips to a thred of Scarlet or some red coloured fillet to bind them vp the better to show that she should not be too lauish of her tongue but of few words and those too vpon fit occasion The second consideration in this their discretion was That they called him Lord Domine c. Your greatest Kings and most powerfull Princes vpon earth haue no dominion or empire ouer the soule neither are they able to adde or take away one dramme of the spirit But thou ô Lord Thou art the vniuersall Lord both of Heauen and Earth and we are thy handmaides and seruants and therefore thou canst not denie vs thy fauour Saint Ambrose expounding those wordes of Dauid Seruus tuus sum ego I am thy seruant saith That they who haue many Lords and Masters here vpon earth cannot cleaue vnto God Seruâ—â— tâ—us sum ego serui dominati sunt nostri Those creatures which God hath giuen vs to be our slaues flesh the dainties the delicacies the delights pleasant pastimes of this world shall haue dominion ouer them The third Quem amas He whom thou louest Amatus or beloued is a more honourable name than that of Angell Apostle Martyr Confessor or Virgine Lucifer was an Angell Iudas an Apostle The Heretick will not sticke to say that hee dyes for Christs cause and that he is a Martyr and a Confessor your Vestalles stiled themselues Virgines yet all these names haue beene lyable to sinne to misfortune and Hell But the name of Beloued is not compatiblâ— in that kind And Christ hath got the start of Man in his loue For hee loued vs first And where he once loues he neuer leaues off Besides Two things I would haue you to note which are vsuall with the Saints and children of God The one to set before their eyes the fauours they haue receiued to alledge them to shew themselues thankefull for them and to praise and commend them The other Not to shew themselues forgetful of their seruices towards God Knowing that it is Gods condition and qualitie when he bestoweth one fauour to ingage himselfe for a greater Ezechias alledged vnto God his holinesse and goodnesse of life O Lord remember now how I haue walked before theein truth and with a perfect heart and haue done that which is good â—n thy sight Saint Gregorie presseth hereupon Were it not better to alledge thy miserie than to represent those many good things which thou hast done all which thou hast receiued from his hand But with God to alledge them and to shew our selues thankefull for former receiued fauors is a powerfull meanes for the receiuing of far greater benefits and blessings from him After that Dauid had made a large muster of his tribulations He sayth Conuersus viuificasti me de abissis terrae iterum reduxisti me Thou hast quickned mee and hast brought mee againe from out the deepes of the Earth Where I would haue you to ponder the word iterum For God neuer does one single fauour Secondly the righteous are forgetfull of their owne seruices for that they hold them so meane and so vile that they iudge them vnworthy Gods sight And when in that generall iudgement God shall say I was naked and yee couered me c. The Saints shall answere Lord when did we see thee naked c. And it is noted by Theodoret that these are not words of courtesie or out of mannerlines but of meere forgetfulnesse For it is their fashion so to despise their owne seruices and deseruings that they doe wholy forget them The fourth consideration of their discretion was That so especiall is the fauor which God showes vnto his friends and the griefe which he conceiueth of any that shall befall them that they held it a greater point of Wisedome to alledge that hee was his friend than their brother Saint Bernard sayth That albeit the defect of my seruices doe dishearten mee yet Gods great mercies and his many fauours doe incourage mee For it is not Gods fashion to forsake his friends And therfore saith Saint Austen Non enim amas deseris The Princes of the Earth are now and then well content their friends should suffer because in them Power and Loue is not equall But those in whom these attributes goe hand in hand ought not to suffer their friends to miscarrie They would seeme here to put this vpon Christ and to make this cause his owne O Lord That wee should loose our brother it is no great losse because in thee wee haue a brother But thou ô Lord amongst so many thy professed enemies hast lost a great friend It is the condition of Gods Saints to greeue for the death of the Iust because God receiues a losse in them and to resent their own proper iniuries not for that these iniuries are done to themselues but for that they are iniuries done vnto God Tabescere me fecit zelus meus quia obliti sunt verba tua inimici mei Vpon which place Genebrard giues this exposition That mine owne iniuries doe not so much offend mee for that they are mine but because they are offences done vnto thee And Dauid in his thirtith Psalme treateth of some crosses and affliction that God by sickenesse had layd vpon him after he had built his pallaces Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled I was loath to dye not for mine owne sake for it were happinesse to me if I should dye to day or to morrow but not for thee What profit is there in my bloud when I go downe to the pit What seruice can Dauid do thee when he is layd in his sepulchre But ô Lord in his life in his honor in his crowne and in his kingdome he may do thee good seruice This ô Lord concernes thee and
must runne to thy account The like bold insinuation did Moses vse when he said O Lord pardon this people lest the Aegyptians should say Thou hadst plotted this of purpose to lead them out into the Desert and there to make an end of them hauing no bodie to helpe them Tibi soli peccaui malum coram te feci vt iustificeris in sermonibus tuis vincas cum iudicaris Saint Augustine giues it this interpretation Tibi soli peccaui viz. Tibi solum sum relictus O Lord this wound was only made for thee that thou alone mightst heale it all other Physitions haue quite giuen me ouer there is not any one vpon earth that knowes how to cure mee and therefore I lay the same open onely to thee Vt iustificeris Thou hast ordained a Law That at what time soeuer a Sinner shall repent him of his sinne and turne vnto thee thou wilt blot out his offences O Lord I am sorrie I haue offended thee I confesse my fault and acknowledge my sinne before thee and therefore it must be put to thy account to pardon me otherwise it wil be said of thee That thou doost not comply with thy promise Secondly These two sisters did pretend to strengthen this our Sauiours loue to their brother For it doth not stand with the rules of friendship that a man should loue and not releeue the necessities of him he loueth One telling Theophrastus That two such were very great friends that the one was very rich and the other very poore He returned him this answere It cannot bee beeing they be friends This very argument did these sisters vrge our Sauiour Christ withall Lazarus beeing thy friend and thou being life it selfe why hast thou suffered Death to lay hold vpon him Againe There is no force that is able to resist Death but Loue Loue is as strong as Death Death hath been so audacious as to enter within our doores let Loue reuenge vs of this his presumption The Athenians placed Loues Statua betwixt Mercurie and Hercules the one the god of Eloquence the other of Fortitude To shew that Loue doth not consist so much in wordes as in workes Thou hast vouchsafed ô Lord to honour our brother with the name of friend now manifest the same by thy strong arme and thy powerfull hand The fifth was their hauing recourse vnto him that had caused this wound and was onely able to cure it First for that God is highly offended that we should haue recourse to any but himselfe Secondly Because no Phisition nor earthly phisick can minister health without the will and pleasure of our heauenly Phisition He woundeth and he maketh whole The former is notified vnto vs in Ahâ—ziah who finding himselfe sore sicke of a fall through the Lattice window of his vpper chamber sent fearing he should die of that bruise to consult with Baalzebub the god of Ekron Which Messengers Elias meeting withall said vnto them What is there no God in Israel that yee goe to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Eckron deliuer therfore this message from God vnto your king Thou shalt not come down from the bed on which thou art gone vp but shalt die the death Hosea doth likewise complaine That his People had recourse in their doubts vnto Idolls My People aske councell at their stockes Lyrae renders it In simulachro ligni This my People is so foolish that they goe to aske councell of a piece of wood The seuentie Interpreters turne it thus In virgis suis Whereupon Rupertus hath obserued That this was a kind of superstition which cloue vnto them from the Chaldeans from whom they had receiued this infection for it was a fashion amongst them when they would know what should befall them to throw vp a couple of stickes as high as they could fling them or two arrows tied together and marking the one for good lucke and the other for bad they mumbled I know not what words and that which in the falling fell vppermost did prognosticate the successe Ezechiel reporteth That the King of Babylon comming with a great armie doubting with himselfe whither he should goe against Rahab or Ierusalem comming where there were two wayes to take vsed this superstition of the two Arrowes Quaerens diuinationem The King of Babell stood at the parting of the way at the head of the two wayes consulting by diuination and made his Arrowes bright c. and the lot lighted against Ierusalem This difference there is betwixt him that is a Saint of God and him that is not that he in his griefes hath recourse first vnto God and next to humane remedies wheras the other hath first recourse vnto Physitions when they notifie to the former the danger wherein he is he falls to a confession of his sins a heartie repentance and to the receiuing of the blessed Sacrament The Antients did picture Health in the forme of a handsome faire Damosell sitting in a Royall Throne for without health there is no pleasure in royall Thrones in Scepters nor in Crownes for the better conseruation whereof we are to vse temperance in our dyet The Serpent is the Symbole of Prudence without which it is impossible to preserue our health The foolish and vndiscreet man that makes no reckoning of the falling of your Sereno's or euening dewes oftentimes blasting those that are in them as in Spaine and the like hot Countries of your Sunnes heats and your Snowes colds your foule and pockie Whores loose oftentimes their healths if not their liues But aboue all we must haue recourse vnto God for God is all in all and without God little importeth temperance prudence Physitions or Physicke The sixt consideration of their discretion was That they did propose their miserie but not prescribe the remedie for it is sufficient that we propound our necessitie vnto God Saint Augustine saith Amanti sat est nunciasse It is enough for him that loues to intimate his mind And Saint Bernard Sic melius tanquam non orantes oramus tanquam diffidentes confidimus c. A modest kind of demanding and a diffident seeming confidence doth oftentimes further a suit and promote the thing we pretend Ezechias being threatned by Zenacharib did before God vnfold his menacing letter O Lord sayd hee thou maist read in these lines the pride and arrogancie of this blaspheming King Saint Peter when his soule melted into teares did not tell God what he pretended by them Which caused Saint Bernard to say Lachrimas Petri video precem non audio I see Peters teares but heare not his prayer The blessed Virgin sayd no more than this Vinum non habent They haue no wine And therefore Commit thy way vnto the Lord and trust in him and he shall bring it to passe c. The Sisters good will was well knowne to our Sauiour but they did not publish the same for the Iust neuer ties himselfe to his owne will Not my
him that loueth vs. Saint Austen saith That it is a hard heart that repayes not loue with loue agreeing with that of Marcilius Ficinus That Loue is Tanti pretij a thing so vnualuable that nothing can recompence it but Loue. First From this ground we may gather the foulnesse of our dis-dis-loue towards God Ipse prior dilexit saith Saint Iohn He loued vs first if he had not vouchsafed to loue vs mans brest had neuer had a stocke whereon to graft his loue towards him Hauing therefore lou'd vs first and out of his loue done vs such great and speciall fauours it were extraordinarie basenesse and impietie in vs not to loue him againe hee beeing so willing to accept of our loue Many there are which stand vpon it as a point of honour not to bestow their loue vpon euerie one that seekes their loue but onely vpon those that haue giuen them some pledges of their loue Now if thou doost esteeme thy loue at that rate that thou wilt not conferre it vpon him to whom thou doost not owe it yet oughtest thou haue the honesty to repay thy loue to him to whom thou doost owe it especially being Nature abhorreth that they that loue should not be beloued Moreouer many times thou louest those that neuer loued thee nay euen those that haue hated thee Is it much then that thou shouldst loue him that hath loued thee neuer will leaue off to loue thee and cannot but loue though thou shouldst grow cold S. Bernard saith That we are wonderfully beholding vnto Christ for the treasures of his loue because thereby he gaue vs matter to worke vpon to repay this incomparable good of Loue with Loue. No other of Gods fauours towards vs can we make repayment of in the same coyne onely his loue is left vnto vs to be repaid with loue 2 The second reason is no lesse powerfull He hath built vs a Synagogue For where some seruice hath preceded it is as it were a pledge with God of fauours to bee receiued Howbeit in matter of giuing we can gaine nothing by the hand For Quis prior dedid illi Saint Chrysostome treating of the miracle which Saint Peter and Saint Iohn did at the doore of the Temple called Beautifull vpon that poore Cripple which begged an almes for Gods sake pondereth how boldly and securely they entered to aske a fauour in Gods House who had first exercised their charity vpon the Poore strengthning and preuenting those prayers of the poore with those that they were to make themselues vnto God To this end is it still in vse that the poore lyes at the doore of the Temple as the same Doctor obserueth that the Faithfull entring to aske Mercie of God for to secure their petition that they should first shew Mercy Subuenite oppresso sayth Esay Before thou enterest into my House bestowe thine almes vpon some poore begger or other For my stampe is ingrauen vpon him hee is mine owne picture and therefore see you releeue him And then Venite arguite me i. Come and reason with mee If I shall not then helpe thee challenge me for it Saint Luke recounting the resurrection of Dorcas otherwise called Tabitha sayth That the poore and the widowes came vnto Peter showing him those cloathes and shirts which shee had giuen them Circumdederunt eum viduae flentes ostendentes tunicas i. Widowes compassed him about and showed him their coats c. One sayd shee gaue mee this coate another this smocke and God hauing receiued so many seruices towards the poore from the hands of this holy Woman it is fit that she should find this fauour and that you should not sticke much vpon it to restore her her life and the Text sayth That hee presently raised her vp aliue No lesse to this purpose serues that raising againe to life of the Widows son which nourished the Prophet Elias Behold ô Lord thou hast afflicted a poore Widow that lodged mee and sustained mee for thy sake and therfore thou art bound to repay her this seruice It is one of the abuses of these times that in the day of prosperity thou neuer thinkest vpon the poore bee he thy neighbour or a stranger or if thou dooest it is but to quarrell with him to murmure against him thou neuer giuest him any thing but sharpe words but if thy house shall bee visited with any misfortune of fire or otherwise or with sickenesse thou lookest that hee should come vpon his knees to thee and offer thee his seruice These reasons did the Elders of Capernaum alledge to our Sauiour might haue alledged greater than these as his Faith and his Deuotion But it is noted by Saint Chrysostome That they shewed themselues fooles in alledging the dignitie and worth of this Souldier and forgetting the pitty and humanity of the Lord of Hosts Martha and Mary were much more discreet in pressing him with his Loue. For all other things whatsoeuer that we can alledge on our part are to weake to bind him vnto vs. Ego veniam curabo eum i. I will come and cure him 1. They could not haue desired a sweeter or a speedier answere If a Captaine that hath beene maimed in the warres come to one of our Princes heere of this World to demand his pay or some recompence for his seruice hee shall dye a hundred deaths before they will giue him so much as one poore six-pence But the Prince of Heauen wee haue scarce represented our necessities vnto him but hee presently answereth Ego veniam curabo eum i. I will come and cure him And euen then when hee sayd I will goe and heale him euen then was his health restored vnto him so hand in hand goes Gods Power with his Will Meliora sunt vbera tua vino i. Thy breasts are better than wine sayd the Spouse to her Beloued Wherein wee are to weigh the facilitie and the easinesse wherewith the brest affoords it milke and the paines and difficultie wherewith the grapes yeeld foorth their wine For wee must first gather them then tread them then squiese them in the Presse then poure them from one vessell into another c. And therefore is it sayd Thy milke is of more worth than all the wine in the World not onely for it's pleasantnesse and sweetnesse but for it's readinesse at hand Esay pointing at this readinesse in God sayth Ad vocem clamoris statim respondebit tibi i. Hee will answere out of hand the voice of thy crie Assure thy selfe hee is so pittifull that he will not suffer thee to weepe and mourne But thou shalt scarce haue called vnto him when straight thou shalt haue an answere Whereas to the Princes of this World thou shalt put vp a thousand memorials and shalt haue so many more references order vpon order and yet no order taken for thee But the Prince of Heauen Statim respondebit tibi i. Hee will answere
c. What thing more naturall than to giue our heart vnto God for those generall benefits of Creator Redeemer and Conseruer and for many other particulars which cannot bee summed vp And yet the Deuill doth blot them out of our hearts and sowes in stead thereof so many ingratitudes as Heauen stands astonished therat Though therfore it be a naturall thing to loue our friend Nam Ethnici hoc faciunt i. For euen the Heathens doe this Yet the Deuill soweth a kind of hatred in our hearts so abhorrible to nature that feigned friendship comes to bee doubled malice And the world is so farre gone in this case that it is now held as strange as happy that one friend should truely loue another Hence is it that the Scripture makes so many inuectiues against false friends Ecclesiasticus saith There is a friend for his owne occasion will not abide in the day of thy trouble Salomon saith Vir iniquus tentat amicum suum i. A violent man enticeth his neighbour In that chapter of false and true friendship so many things are there spoken touching false friends as very well prooue that commandement was not superfluous Diliges amicum tuum And that which Chrysostome sayes doth much fauour this doctrine for that one of the reasons why God commanded man to loue his enemie was to affoord matter of loue to the Will for friends are so rare and so few that it would remaine idle and vaine if wee should not loue our enemies Odio habebis inimicum tuum Thou shalt hate thy enemie Irenaeus Saint Basil Saint Ambrose Saint Chrysostome Epiphanius and Hilary hold That this Law was permissiue like the libell of Diuorce Ad duritiam cordis vestri i. For the hardnesse of your heart So that a lesse euill is permitted for the auoyding of a greater And therefore Saint Austen sayth That God neuer permitted that wee should hate our enemie but his sin As thou doost hate the shadow of a figge-tree or the wall-nut and yet regardest an image that is made of the wood thereof or as thou takest the ring of a fire-pan by that part which is cold and fliest from that which is hot and will burne thy hands In like sort thou must loue thy enemie as hee is the image of God and hate him as hee is a sinner And in another place the same Doctor sayth That God put it in the singular number Odio habebis inimicum tuum i. Thou shalt hate thy enemy signifying thereby that wee should hate the Deuill but not our brother And that wee erre in this our hate for it is no wisedome in vs to hate our enemy who doth vs so much good but the Deuill who doth vs so much harme First then I say That this Law is not of God for God is Loue as Saint Iohn sayth and Loue cannot make a Law of dis-Loue Secondly it is not pleasing vnto God for the Scripture being so full of those good things that hee did for his enemies only to stirre vp mans heart to diuine Loue hee would not command vs to hate them Saint Paul sayth That the bloud of Christ speakes better things than that of Abell For this cryeth for vengeance that for pardon and forgiuenesse The bloud of a dead man is wont to discouer the murderer his wounds bleeding afresh one while it naturally calleth for reuenge another it boyles and breakes forth into flames at the very presence of the murderer another while the vitall spirits which the murderer left in the wounds returne to their naturall place and with great force gush foorth afresh But bee it as it may bee I am sure the bloud of Christ speaketh better things than that of Abell for this discouereth the murderer and that in the presence of those that crucified him prayed vnto God to forgiue them as not knowing what they did Thirdly that it was contrary to Gods intention In Exodus hee commanded that he that should meet with an Oxe of his enemies that was like to perish or an Asse that was haltered intangled he should helpe both the one the other Now hee that wills vs to be thus friendly to a beast what would he wee should doe to the owner thereof Nunquid Deo est cura de bobus Hath God care of Oxen In Deut. God commanded that they should not hate the Idumean nor the Aegiptian who according to Clemens Alexandrinus were their notorious enemies In the Prou. it is said When thy enemy falleth reioyce not at his ouerthrow For God may exchange fortunes and his teares may come to thy eyes and thy ioy to his heart And Eccl. tels vs Hee that seeketh vengeance shall find vengeance And those that haue beene possessed with the Spirit of God haue much indeared this Theame as Dauid Iob Tobias and diuers others Fourthly it is against the law of Nature I aske thee if thine enemie should bee appointed to bee thy iudge thou hauing offended the Law wouldest thou not hold it an vnreasonable thing and wilt thou then bee iudge of thine owne wrongs God is onely a competent judge In causis proprijs i. In his owne matters The rest is force and violence The Gibeonites held themselues wronged by Saul complained grieuously thereof vnto Dauid Dauid demanded of them Quid faciam vobis i. What shall I doe vnto you They replyed Non est nobis super argento auro quaestio i. Our question is not about Siluer and Gold What is it then sayd hee that you would haue Virum qui attriuit nos oppressit inique ita deleredebemus vt neque vnus quidem residuus â—it de stirpe eius in cunctis finibus Israel i. The man that consumed vs him would wee so destroy that not one should bee left of his stocke in all the borders of Israell That there might not so much as a cat or a dogge bee left aliue of the house of Saul But where reuenge is so full of rage and runs madde as it were it is good to take the sword out of their hand and that no man may haue authoritie to reuenge his owne wrongs be the cause neuer so iust and holy Elias slew foure hundred Prophets it was Gods cause but God did not giue him leaue to kill Iesabel who had done himselfe such wrong Saint Peter sentenced Ananias and Saphira but not Herod who imprisoned him and condemned him to death Dauid did not take vengeance of Shimei for feare he should haue exceeded therein as also for that it was causa propria his owne cause The Law of Nature tells vs Quod tibi nonuis alteri ne feceris Doe not that to another which thou wouldst not haue done to thy selfe Tobias notified the same to his sonne Quod ab alio oderis fieri tibi vide ne tu aliquando facias And Ecclesiasticus Learne from thy selfe what is fit for thy neighbour Our Sauiour Christ hath set vs
for foure I will not turne Those three were Idolatrie Fornication and Matrimonie in degrees forbidden offences belonging vnto God The fourth were the wrongs and iniuries done vnto our neighbour and he saith That he will pardon the one but not the other And therefore our Sauiour Christ being desirous to cut off all sedition and discord betwixt his beloued children he saith Ego autem dico vobis diligite inimicos vestros c. But I say vnto you Loue your Enemies But I say vnto you Many light occasions end great enmities First Time which weares them out and makes them to be quite forgotten Secondly New aliances by marrying the one with the other Thirdly The great hurt that comes thereby Two enemies at last perceiue that thereby they diminish both their estates and honours and in the end fal into this consideration That if they bite one another they shall be deuoured one of another and as it is in the Prouerbe El vencido y el vencidor perdido The conquered iâ— crusht and the conquerour vndone In those differences betwixt Esau and Iacob their mother said Cur vtroque orbabâ—r filio in vna die Why should I be depriued of both my sonnes in one day Fourthly the profit that followes thereupon Plutarch hath a whole Tract De vtilitate ab inimicis capienda and there is not any man from the beginning of the world to this day that hath receiued any hurt from his enemie but from himselfe as Saint Chrysostome prooueth at large Fifthly Vmpires to whom for their honesties and authorities such businesses are often referred And if these humane respects shall sway with thee Why not God much more whose authoritie whose power whose loue whose benefits haue bound thee fast vnto him in so many linkes and chaines of dutie And if God be not powerfull with thee How darest thou presume to aske him dayly forgiuenesse of thy sinnes when thou wilt not pardon thy enemie Say thou wert without sinne but alas they are more than the haires of thy head say thou wert exempted from punishment or from Gods fauour but in the one thou art miserable and without the other thou canst not breath And therefore seeing of necessitie thou must hourely flie vnto him for succour and for his fauour How canst thou looke him in the face how speake thy selfe vnto him or any one for thee Quis exorauit pro delictis eius Who entreateth for his offences Thou wilt not haue God for thy second how canst thou then hope to haue a second with God For that seruant which owed his king ten thousand Talents many of his seruants in meere pittie interceded for him at the first but after the debt was forgiuen him and that hee was readie to teare out his fellowes throat for a Piece of three pence or the like trifling summe those verie men that entreated for him complained of his cruel dealing Quis exorauit pro delictis eius Who entreated for his offences Besides giue me leaue to aske thee this question For all the il that thou wishest to thine enemie thou neuer praiest vnto God that hee should wish him ill But I say vnto you This word Vobis Vnto you carries also an emphasis with it opposit to that emphasis of Ego Thou that art nothing against him that is euerie thing thou that vanishest like a shaddow against him that is was and shall be thou that art weake against him that is all power and Maiestie thou that art ignorant against him that is infinitely wise Diligite inimicos vestros Loue your enemies This is the greatest temptation and the strongest incounter that our flesh is put vnto Saint Augustine making a repetition of all the Commandements none is harder to bee kept than that of louing our Enemy and brideling in the appetite of reuenge against him that shall persecute defame vs and staine our good name Quis enim cum inuenerit inimicum dimittet eum in via bona Who when he findes his Enemie will let him goe away in safetie So sayd Saul What a matter will it be then to loue him to cherish him and to do him curtesies Redime me a calumnijs hominum vt custodiam mendata tua i. Keep me from the slanders of men that I may keepe thy Commandements Whereby it seemeth that Dauid hauing set before him all the commandements of God the slanders of his enemies did so cowe his resolution that hee sayd O Lord if thou doost not redeeme mee from this rod I shal hardly be able to serue thee as I would Iob being in all his afflictions a rock of constancie and patience when slanders were throwne vpon him hee was driuen quite beside his byas Quae est fortitudâ— mea vt sustineam Nunquid bonum tibi videtur si calumnieris opprimas me concilium impiorum adiuves What is my strength that I should hope c. Ananias was a holy man and knowne so to be throughout all Iudea yet when Christ our Sauiour willed him to receiue Saul into his house he made a stop and blessing himselfe said Lord doost not thou know that he is a Deuill and an enemie to all that call vpon thy name Hast thou forgot the ill he hath done in Hierusalem Ieremie saith That the sword of the enemie striketh a terrour in vs Gladius inimici pauor in circuitu Wisedome That the voice of an enemie is vnpleasing and harsh Inconueniens inimicorum vox The eyes are light and quicke in their looking but when they come to looke vpon their enemie euerie lidde weighes an hundred weight And if in Nature we see such great emnitie amongst things of a contrarie disposition as well with as without life as in cold and heate moist and drie heauie and light white and blacke the Sheep and the Wolfe the Hare and the Greyhound the Cocke and the Elephant and the like why should we make it so strange that our flesh and bloud should not rise at an enemy that hateth vs. Saint Basil discouering the reason of this difficultie saith That there are in our Soule two Potentiae or Faculties The one Concupissibilis and that desireth all that is good The other Irascibilis and that seeketh to shunne all that is ill This he compareth to a Sheepheards Curre that barketh at those hee abhorreth thinking thereby to fray them away The said Doctor saith further That it seemeth somewhat hard that God hauing created man Creaturam irascibilem A Creature subiect to anger he should enioyne him not to be angrie nay which is more to loue him that shall offend him But as the Sheepeheard must keepe in his Dog that he set not vpon all that he abhorreth so Reason must bridle this irascible part in man that it breake not out against his enemie But so violent are the motions of the flesh that the very Saints of God if his hand had not forcibly held them backe had run in this their
Brother Veniet dies luctus patris mei i. My Father will dye ere long and then I will be reuenged of him That ye may bee the children That ye may show of what House you came and what a noble Father you had Qui omneÌ„ potentiam suam parcendo maxime miserando manifestat Deus iudex fortis patiens i. Who manifesteth his omnipotencie most of all by sparing and shewing Pitie Heare what Hugo de santo Victore tels you Nobile vindâ—ctae genus ignoscere victis i. T' is a noble reuenge to forgiue the vanquished In the genealogy of Christ onely Dauid is called King and onely for his generous mind in pardoning the wrongs that his Enemies did him When he gaue Saul his life Nunc scio verè sayd hee quod regnaturus sis i. Now know I truly that thou shalt reigne For such a greatnesse of minde could not bee repayed with lesse than a Crowne Scitote quoniam mirificauit Dominus sanctum suum i. Know that the Lord hath magnified his holy one The Hebrew letter hath it Elegit sibi dominus misericordem i. The Lord hath chosen to himselfe the mercifull man No man will offer to take my Crowne from mee because God hath giuen it mee for shewing mercie to mine Enemies Dauid composed his 56. Psal. vpon that Accident which hapned vnto Saul at the mouth of the caue And the title thereunto is Ne disperdas insignia Dauid or aureolam Dauid Doe not blot out the Armes of Dauid nor take his Crowne from off his head His souldiers importuned him to take away his life from him telling him that God had deliuered him into his hands By which noble action of his sayth Saint Chrysostome hee got himselfe more glorie than when he ouercame the Philistine For there hee got himselfe but the glorie of a valiant and venturous souldier but here â—f a most holy iust and mercifull man there hee read onely a lecture of Fortitude here of meekenesse which of all other is the chiefest vertue there the dames of Hierusalem did solemnise his victorie here the Angells of Heauen there God shewed him a great fauour in deliuering him from the sword of his Enemy here hee did God as acceptable a piece of seruice for that it was the rarer of the two And this was it that made God say of him Inueni virum secundum cor meum i. I haue found a man according to my owne heart That great Prince Moses was so hot and chollericke that in his anger hee killed an Aegiptian that misused an Hebrew Clemens Alexandrinus sayth That hee dispatcht him at one blow The day following another Aegiptian standing in feare of him sayd vnto him Nunc occidere me vis i. Wilt thou now kill me But beeing afterwards trained vp in the schoole of God neuer any man indured so many wrongs of his friends his enemies and his brethren as hee did Who hath thus changed thee Potentissimus faciem illius commutauit i. The most mâ—ghtie had altered his face And beeing thus moulded God sayd vnto him Ego te constituam Deum Pharaonis i. I will make thee as a God to Pharaoh Against such hardnesse power and tyranny it is fit thou shouldest bee a God and that to represent my person thou doost put on my condition The Deuill coniectured by many signes and tokens that Christ at his birth was God As by Angels Sheapheards Kings Prophesies But tothis his pouertie his suffering cold his shedding of teares the thatch of the house the cobwebs in the roome where he lay the hay in the cratch left him more perplexed than before Afterwards he was more amased when he saw him fast fortie dayes whereupon hee set himselfe to tempt him saying Si filius Dei es i. If thou bee the sonne of God c. Then hee had greater staggerings when hee saw his so many so strange and fearefull miracles euen to the forcing of the Deuill himselfe to acknowledge him to be the sonne of God And this did confound him more than all that went before But when hee saw hee pardoned so many iniuries that were dayly done vnto him hee then began to shake and tremble as if hee had beene toucht with quicksiluer Hee beheld Iudas his selling of him his kisse of false peace his calling of him friend and vnder that name betraying him hee saw the night of his imprisonment in Cayphas his house and the iniuries that they did him persuading himselfe that no other but God could pocket vp such wrongs The World cals the reuengfull man valiant but the bloudy minded man the Scripture stiles weake effeminate and womanish When Ioab killed those noble pâ—ire of brothers Abner and Amasa hauing dyed his belt and shooes with the bloud of Abner Dauid sayd Non defiiciet de domo Ioab fluxum seminis sustinens tenens fusum cadeâ—s gladio i. Let there not faile from the House of Ioab one that hath an issue or is a Leaper or that leaneth on a staffe or falleth by the sword God did punish this weakenesse and cowardly act of Ioab with the weakenesse and cowardise of all his posteritie Lastly Being the Sonne of God thou mayst be sure hee will be mindfull of thee take care of thee and loue thee Esay brings in the Church complaining That God had forgotten her Dominus oblitus est mei The Lord hath forgotten mee But he answereth Nunquid obliuisci potest mulier infantis operis sui i. Can a woman forget the children of her wombe But say she should Ego saith he non obliuiscar tui ecce in manibus meis descripsi te i. I will not yet forget thee behold I haue engrauen thee in my Palmes God cannot forget his children if they will but acknowledge him to be their father and they can in nothing be more like vnto him than in being mercifull as he is mercifull Estote ergo perfecti sicut Pater vester perfectus est Be yee therefore perfect euen as your Father is perfect He reduceth this perfection to the loue of our enemie for to a mans friend the verie Heathens do this Saint Austen and Saint Chrysostome say it is Omnis virtutis Corona vertex The heigth and glorie of all vertue Where he denieth not the reward to him that shal loue his friend for Gods sake but to him that shal loue like a Gentile or a Publican not for Gods loue but either out of a naturall propension in himselfe or for his owne pleasure or commoditie and profit and he that doth not loue his enemie shewes plainly that he loueth not his friend for his loue to God but for his loue to himselfe for if he should loue him for Gods loue hee would no lesse loue his enemie being that he is as wel the Image of God as his friend So that he that loues his friend and not his enemie ought not to expect a reward for louing of his
friend but he that doth not onely loue his friend but his enemie also hee shall be sure of a double reward Introduxit me Rex in cellam vinariam ordinauit in me charitatem i. The King brought me into the Banquetting house and his banner ouer me was Loue. Origen notes That that which the Soule desires of her Husband is not to loue or to hate for this being a naturall perfection it is not possible it should faile the will is neither idle nor in vaine for it must of force wish either well or ill All the kindnesse that shee desires of her husband is his ordering of his loue for in disorder intollerable errours arise Of all the Predicaments God is the highest and hee ought to bee the principall marke of our well ordered affection Dilexi quoniam audiuit Deus vocem orationis meae i. I loued because the Lord heard the voyce of my prayer Loued Whom hast thou loued A prudent wil which placeth it's felicitie in the obseruance of the Law wee must not aske of it Whom it loueth This is a question to be asked of a Reprobate or Cast-away In a word He that man ought chiefly to loue is God and next man for the loue of God be he friend or be he foe And because when it doth not reach extend it self to our enemie it cannot be said to be perfect loue it is said Estote perfecti sicut Pater vester Be ye perfect as your Father The reason is Because in the rest of the actions of vertue humane respects may come athwart vs one may fast because abstinence importeth his health another giue Almes because he affecteth vaine-glorie a third not seeke to be reuenged for feare of those inconueniences that follow after it a fourth be chast for the auoyding of shame c. But to loue a mans enemie that must onely proceed from our loue to God it must needs be done only for Gods sake and God onely can requite it Secondly he reduceth this perfection to the loue of our enemie because it is a sure pledge for Heauen When Elias and Baals Priests were both of them to offer Sacrifice in triall of the true God it was conditioned That that God that should send downe fire from Heauen vpon the Alter should bee held to bee the true God Baals Priests ball'd vpon him but all would not doe but Elias when he had set vp his Alter with the wood vpon it the beasts about it and had poured water thereupon to the filling vp of the Trench he had no sooner pour'd forrh his Prayer but such great store of fire descended from Heauen that it burnt the flesh the wood the stones and likewise wasted and consumed the water That it should burne the beasts the wood and the stones it was no such wonder but that it should take hold on it's contrarie which is water it was a manifest signe that it was the fire of Heauen That your loue should cleaue to your owne flesh bloud it is not much that it should take hold of the wood and stone that likewise is no great wonder but that it should worke on it's contrarie on one that desires to make an end of thee to consume thee this is loue indeed this is charitie this is the fire of Heauen Thirdly The loue to our enemie doth more discouer the perfection of our loue because it is without any hope of temporall reward Elisaeus filled the widdows emptie cruses with Oyle and thou must replenish with thy loue and good workes those emptie brests that haue nothing in them to deserue it For where there is some deseruingnesse and reason of merit the Gentile the Publican doe the like Fourthly It argueth more perfection for that the loue of our enemie is that glosse which sets before our eyes our owne faults and offences When Shimei reproched Dauid to his face and gaue him such opprobrious language that his Captaines and Commanders that were then about him were impatient of it and would haue killed him Dauid withstood it and would not suffer them to take away his life and the reason was because it put him in mind of his own sinnes and he that lookes well vpon his owne takes no great notice of another mans And this made him to say Peccatum meum contra me est semper My sinne warres more against me than mine enemie Againe though thy enemie doe persecute thee without a cause it is not without cause that thou doost thus suffer for as Tertullian hath it Nullus iniustè patitur No man suffers wrongfully So that thou must not looke so much vpon him that iniures thee as vpon thine owne sinnes for the which God permits them to iniure thee It is Ieremies Who euer said Let it bee done though the Lord command it not Let vs search our owne wayes Take but thy life into examination and thou wilt find that thy sinnes deserue a thousand times more Dauid would by no means consent that his People should reuenge those disgracefull words which Shimei spake vnto him and What was the reason Onely for that he was Gods Instrument S. Austen vpon the 31 Psalme pondering those words of Iob Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken noteth That he did not say Dominus dedit Diabolus abstulit The Lord gaue and the Deuill tooke away For those whips and scourges which God sendeth though they be inflicted vpon vs by the hands of the Deuill yet are we to account them to come from God Out of the whole drift of this Chapter I will inferre one cleere and manifest consequence which is this If to hate our enemie be so much condemned both of Heauen and Earth those excesses and exorbitances which fall out vpon this occasion be it in respect of the time and place or of the person or the act it self or our deepe disaffection they are all of them here condemned Two kind of faults God doth extreamely hate and abhorre The one Of those who haue no measure or moderation in their reuenge saying with the Idumaeans Exinanite exinanite vsque ad fundamentum in ea Raze raze them to the verie foundation They would not haue one stone left vpon another in Hierusalem wishing that they might say Etiam periere ruinae The verie ruines are also perished Wherby it seemeth that mans cruelty would stand in competition with Gods clemencie And that as God is not willing that any man should set a taxe and size vpon his mercie so these men will haue no man to put a rate vpon their reuenge Saint Peter asked our Sauiour Christ How many times hee should forgiue his brother Will seuen serue saith he Our Sauiour answered I say not seuen times but seuentie times seuen times Whence Tertullian hath noted That hee had an eye therein to mans excesse in reuenge Lamech slew Caine and the yong man that waited vpon him and the women going about
left this Balsamum for the annointing and curing of it Which was a great Excesse Dauid called him a Worme a Scoffe a Taunt and the Reproch of the People for that whilest he liued in the world he tooke vpon him all the affronts and contempts that man could cast vpon him And because there is not any loue comparable to that of our Sauiour Christ nor all the loues in the world put together can make vp such a perfect loue as also for that there was not any affront like vnto his nor all the affronts of the world could equall the affronts that were offered vnto him that on the one side hee should loue so much on the other suffer so much this was a great Excesse Nazianzen seeing vs swallowed vp in this sea of miseries vseth a kind of Alchimie by ioyning his greatnesse with our littlenesse his powerfulnesse with our weakenesse his fairenesse with our foulenesse his beautie with our deformitie his riches with our pouertie the gold of his Diuinitie with the durt of our Flesh And as the greater drawes the lesser after it so our basenesse did ascend to an heigth of honour And this was a great Excesse but farre greater to esteeme this Excesse as a Glorie whence the Saints of God haue learned to stile Tribulation and the Crosse Glorie Secondly This Excesse may be termed Glorie because it was the most glorious action that God euer did For what could be greater than to see Death subdued Life restored the Empire of sinne ouerthrowne the Prince thereof dispossessed of his Throne Iustice satisfied the World redeemed and Darknes made Light Thirdly It may be said to be Glorie because that by this his death a thousand Glories are to follow thereupon Propter qoud Deus exaltauit illum c. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euerie knee bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth And this was the reward of his obedience and of his death And the reason thereof was that the World seeing it selfe captiuated by so singular a benefit men should make little reckoning either of their goods or their liues for this his exceeding loue towards them but desire in all that they can to shew themselues thankefull And therefore Esay cries out O that thou wouldest breake the Heauens and come downe and that the Mountaines might melt at thy presence c. What a great change and alteration wouldest thou see in the world thou wouldst see Mountaines that is hearts that are puffed vp with pride humbled and laid leuell with the ground Thou wouldst see Waters that is brests that are cold and frozen boyle with the fire of Zeale and wholly employ themselues in thy seruice And in his sixtieth Chapter treating of the profits and benefits which we shall receiue by Christs comming he saith For brasse will I bring gold and for yron will I bring siluer and for wood brasse and for stones yron I will also make thy gouernment peace and thine exactours righteousnesse Violence shall no more be heard of in thy Land neither desolation nor destruction within thy Borders but thou shalt call Saluation thy Walls and praise thy Gates The Lord shal bee thine euerlasting Light and thy God thy Glorie Bonum est nos hic esse c. It is better being here than in Ierusalem let vs therefore make here three Tabernacles c. Saint Gregorie calls Honour Tempestatem intellectus i. The vnderstandings Storme or Tempest in regard of the danger it driues man into and the easinesse wherewith in that course he runnes on to his destruction Si dederit mihi Dominus panem ad vescendum c. It was Iacobs speech vnto God after that he had done that great fauour of shewing a Ladder vpon earth whose top reached vp to Heauen you know the Storie but the vow that hee vowed vnto God was this If God will be with me and will keepe me in this journey that I goe and will giue me bread to eat and cloathes to put on then shall the Lord be my God and I shall neuer forget this his kindnesse towards me More loue a man would haue thought he might haue shewn towards God if he had promised to serue though he had giuen him neither bread to eat nor cloathes to put on But Saint Chrysostome saith That he seeing in this vision of his the prosperitie that God was willing to throw vpon him did acknowledge the thankefull remembrance of this his promised hoped for happines For Prosperitie is euermore the comparison of Obliuion Saint Bernard expounding that place of Dauid Man being in honour hath no vnderstanding saith That the prosperitie wherein God placed man robbed him of his vnderstanding and made him like vnto the Beasts that perish And here now doth Saint Peter loose his memorie Nor is this a thing so much to be wondred at for if there be such riches here vpon earth that they robbe a man of his vnderstanding and alienate him from himselfe if the sonne that is borne of a mother who hath suffered great paines in the bringing of him forth Iam non meminit praessurae hath forgotten his mothers throwes and thinkes not on the wombe that bore him if the great loue of this world and the prosperitie thereof can make vs so farre to forget our selues it is no strange thing that we should be farre more transported and carried away with heauenly things Dauid following the pursuit of his pleasures amidst all the delights of this life he cries out Onely thy glorie can fill me that only can satisfie me Remigius vnfolds this verse of the glorie of the Transfiguration and it may be that this Kingly Prophet did see it by the light of Prophecie And if so fortunate a King as he was did forget all those other goods that he enioyed and saith That hee desires no other good nor no other fulnesse What meruaile is it that a poore Fisherman should bee forgetfull of good or ill And as hee that is full fed likes nothing but what is the cause of this his fulnesse reckoning all other meats soure though they be neuer so sweet so he that shall once come to tast of that good will say No maâ— bien I desire no other good but this What sayth Saint Paul Sed noâ— c. But we also which haue the first fruits of the Spirit euen wee doe sigh in our selues waiting for the adoption euen the redemption of our bodie c. Though Paul enioyed the first fruits of the Spirit and extraordinarie regalos and fauours yet hee groaned and trauelled in paine for Heauen What saith Saint Chrysostome Is thy soule become a Heauen and doost thou yet groane for Heauen Do not thou meruaile that I groan hauing seene that in Heauen which I haue seen QuoniaÌ„ raptus fuiâ—â— Paradisum I see the good which the
thy hired Seruants Gilbertus the Abbot saith That these were verie humble and submissiue thoughts as he was a Sonne but somewhat too affronting for so free and liberal a Father say his deseruings were neuer so poore neuer so meane such weake hopes and such a base opinion could not but bee a great iniurie to so good and gratious a Father Gregorie Nazianzen saith of him Others cannot receiue more willingly than he giues cheerefully To the Couetous and to the Needy there is not any content comparable to that of receiuing yet greater is the contentment which God taketh in giuing He reuealed to Abraham his purposed punishment vpon Sodome and onely because he should beg and intreat for their pardon and this Patriarke was sooner wearie in suing than God in granting And if God did demand his Sonne of him it was not with an intent to haue him sacrifice him for hee diuerted that Sacrifice but to take occasion thereby to giue him a type of the offering vp of his owne Sonne giuing a shadow of desert to that which came not within the compasse of desert What says the Abbot Guaricus He that gaue his sonne for the redeeming of Prodigalls What can he denie vnto them God is so liberall saith Tertullian that hee loseth thereby much of his credit with vs for the World gaines a great opinion when with a great deale of leisure and a great deale of difficultie it slowly proceeds in doing good but God he loseth this respect through his too much facilitie and frankenesse in his doing of his courtesies The Gentiles saith this learned Doctor judging of Faith by outward appearances could not be persuaded that such facile and mean things in outward shew could inwardly cause such supernaturall effects and such diuine Graces as in that blessed Sacrament of Baptisme When he was yet a great way off c. The Prodigall desired that his Father would intertaine him into his seruice as an hired seruant and hee had no sooner sight of him but he ran with open armes to receiue him and was so ouerioyed to see him and made him that cheere that the Prodigall knew not how now to vnfold his former conceiued words Saint Iohn in forme of a Citie saw that coelestiall Ierusalem and saith That it had twelue gates and in each of them an Angell which did typifie two things vnto vs The one That the gates were open The other That the Angells shewed the content they tooke in expecting our comming to Heauen When thou doost not like of a guest thou wilt get thee from the doore but if thou loue him thou wilt hast thither to receiue him But this his father did more for he no sooner spied his sonne afarre off but he hasted out of his house to imbrace him presently puts him into a new suit of cloaths that others might not see how totterd and torne he was returned home But God went a step further than all this for hee repaires to him to the Pigges-stie to put good thoughts into his head Loue vseth to make extraordinarie haste in relieuing the wants of those persons whom wee loue And forasmuch as God loueth more than all the Fathers besides in the world hee made greater hast than any other Father could Inclinauit Câ—elos descendit Hee bowed the Heauens and came downe That he might not detaine himselfe in descending he made the heauens to stoope Salomon saith of Wisedome That none shall preuent her diligence and care Though he rise neuer so early to seeke her a man shall alwayes find her sitting at his doore Assidentem enim illam foribus tuis inuenies So it is with God he is still readie at hand to helpe vs wee no sooner seeke him but he is found Lord for thy mercie sake preuent vs still with thy louing kindnesse and by bringing vs to a true acknowledgement of our sins lead vs the way to life euerlasting THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON VPON THE THIRD SVNDAY IN LENT LVC. II. Erat Iesus eijciens Daemonium And Iesus was casting out a Deuill c. IN this Gospell is contained that famous Miracle of one that was possessed with a Deuill beeing deafe blind and dumbe As also the applause of the People the calumnie and slander of those Pharisees who did attribute it to the power of Belzebub Our Sauiours defending himselfe with strong forcible reasons The good old woman who blessed the wombe that bore our Sauiour and the Paps that gaue him sucke Whose name was Marcella With whom the fruit of this Miracle endeth Erat Iesus eijciens Daemonium To vnweaue the Deuills Webs and vndoe his Nets is a worke so sole and proper to Gods omnipotencie that if the Deuills malice had not intangled the World therewith Gods goodnesse had not come to vnknit it And this I hold to be sound Diuinitie First Because it is the opinion of the most antient and grauest Doctors Secondly For those places of Scripture it hath in it's fauour As that of Esay Is it a small thing that thou shouldest be my Seruant to raise vp the Tribes of Iacob and to restore the desolations of Israel But Saint Iohn doth expresse this more plainly Christ came into the world to this end that he might destroy the workes of the Deuil Now Dissoluere is properly to vndo a deceit that is wrought Dissolue colligationes impietatis Cancell those Obligations Bonds Schedules Acknowledgments which thou hast vniustly drawne thy Creditours to set their hands thereunto Omnem Cautionem falsâ—m saith Symmachus disrumpe The Septuagint read it Omnem Scripturam iniquam Saint Hierome Chirographa And to the end that the drift of this Language may be the better vnderstood it is to be noted That a man when he sinnes sells himselfe to the Deuill making this sale good vnder his owne hand writing The Deuill hee buyes and the Man he sells and the Damned confesse as much in Hell Wee haue driuen a bargaine with Death and haue made a couenant with Hell And if the Deuill had proceeded herein fairely honestly and according to Law and Iustice this knot would hardly haue beene vnknit but for that he is a Father of falsehood of deceit and of cosinage there are three great annullities to be found in this his Contract First An enormious excessiue losse buying that Soule for little or nothing which cost an infintte price Gratis venundati estis Secondly A notorious cosinage in that he promised that which hee was not able to performe Sicut Dij Thirdly Mans being vnder yeares it beeing a ruled Case That any such sale without the consent of the Guardian is of no validitie in Law And that too must be for the benefit of the Ward Fourthly That he that inhabits another mans house if he vse the same amisse the Law takes order that he bee turned out of it Now the Deuill inhabiting this house of man makes a dunghill thereof and besides payes no rent for it to the Bodie
haue beene at a stand immagining with themselues That being there is so great a difference betweene the Old Law and the New betweene God and God a God of Vengeance and a God of Mercie betweene a Lyon and a Lambe that Christs friends should haue had a priuiledge and that scarce a house of theirs should haue knowne what sickenesse danger or death had meant In the Floud Noahs house was preserued in the flames of Sodome that of Lot and in that generall massacre of the First-borne of Aegypt the houses of the Hebrewes were vntoucht And God sending the man cloathed with Linnen which had the writers Inkehorne by his side to take notice of the people of Hierusalem hee commanded them to set a marke vpon the forehead of his friends that hee might ouerskip them and not touch them in the day of destruction But here now a friends house is not priuiledged no not the house of Peter What should be the reason of it There are many but the main reason is this With God tribulation was euermore a greater token of his loue fauor than prosperity what said Iob when he sate scraping his sores vpon the Dunghill In my prosperitie I onely heard thee but now in my affliction I see thee S. Chrysostome saith That Cain in killing Abel thought that Heauen would doe him those fauours which it did his brother but he was deceiued for God did better loue a dead Abel than a liuing Cain Non extraxisti sed incendisti Philon saith That the fire in the bush was so far from consuming or burning it that it left it fresher and greener than it was before But for all this our miseries in the Old Law were neuer seene to be so honourable as afterwards when God had clapt the thornes which were the fruit of our sinnes vpon his owne head then did they recouer so high a Being and grew to that worth that the heauier God layes his hand vpon vs the more is his loue toward vs. The marke of our happinesse is the Sonne of God not glorified but scourged spit vpon crowned with thorns torne with whips and nailed to the Crosse and therefore to bee conformed to the Image of his Sonne is fitting for vs. In the Apocalyps his feet are put into a hot firie Ouen This was a ritratto or picture of his many troubles and though this Ouen or firie Furnace speake them much yet sure they were farre greater and beyond the tongues expression The Angells did scatter the coles of Gods wrath abroad in the World sometimes lighting in one place and sometimes in another but whose coles could bee hotter than his whose feet like vnto fine Brasse lay burning as in a Furnace She was taken with a great Feuer The Euangelist heere amendeth our vsuall manner of speech for with vs it is commonly said Tengo grandes calenturas I haue a great Feuer whenas indeed the Feuer hath thee God often afflicts the soule in the sence that the soule thereby may be made sencible God like the Bridegroome to the Spouse speakes a thousand sweet words to the Soule hee courts her wooes her with an Aperi mihi soror mea c. Open to me my sister c. but this makes her the more to shut the doore against him The Soule when it is in prosperitie growes proud it is deafe and will not heare she must bee wrought vpon inter angustias she must feele the rod before she will haue any feeling Ionas in the Whales bellie the Prodigall in the pig-stie the Sicke in his Feuer thinks and calls vpon God we listen vnto the Deuill when wee are in the middest of our Feasts our Banquets our Maskings our sports and pastimes but onely hearken vnto God inter angustias when we are afflicted and in miserie God being willâ—ng to cure those that were stung with the Serpents made a Serpent of brasse and caused it to be set vp that by looking theron they might be healed Gregorie Nissen askes the question Whither it had not beene a shorter cut and a more speedie and effectuall remedie to haue made an end of all these Serpents at once But he answers thereunto If he should haue freed them from those Serpents Which of them would haue lifted vp his eyes to Heauen And therefore let those Serpents continue still and those wounds of the bodie seeing they cure those of the Soule According to that of Salomon The blewnesse of the wound serueth to purge the euill Saint Gregorie the Pope saith That the wound of the Soule is taken away by making another wound of repentance and true sorrow Euthymius citeth to this purpose that verse of Dauid Qui dat niuem sicut lanam Snow to the earth is as wooll because it keepes it warme and giues heat therevnto for to bring forth floures and fruits wherwith to glad the Spring and beautifie the Sommer AnÌ„o de nieues anÌ„o de bienes saith the Spanish Prouerbe A yere of snow a yeare of ioy The snow of sickenesse and of affliction in stead of cooling the Soule it giues it heat and fruitfulnesse that it may bring forth floures and fruits of good life She was taken with a great Feauer The Phisitions call a Calenture or burning Feuer Calorem extraordinarium An extraordinarie heat or calidam intemperiem a hot distemperature which being kindled in the heart and taking fire disperseth it selfe through all the parts of the bodie catcheth hold of them offends them and discomposeth that harmonie of the humors wherein our health consisteth Saint Isidore deriues it from Feruor or that hast and speed wherewith it runneth and disperseth it selfe through our bodies Valerius Maximus sayth That in antient time they did offer sacrifice thereunto as to a Goddesse because of all other sicknesses a Feuer is that which commonly comes to make an end of our liues For as heat well tempered giues life so beeing distempered it brings death But if we shall goe philosophising from the infirmities of the bodie by way of analogie or proportioning them to the soule Loue to the soule is as Heat to the bodie And when it doth not exceede the Laws of God which is the life of our soule it inioyes perfect health but when it growes once to an excesse it falls into a Calenture or burning Feuer And this excesse succeedeth two maner of wayes Either by louing that more which ought to be loued lesse Or by not louing that enough which ought to be loued most The Spouse sayd of her Bridgroome Ordinauit in me charitatem He showed his Loue vnto mee He made exceeding much of mee He brought me into the wine celler and Loue was his banner ouer me He stayd me with flaggons and comforted me with apples when I was sicke of Loue His left hand was vnder my head and his right hand did embrace mee Extraordinarie was this Loue of the Bridegroome to his Spouse preferring her before all other things whatsoeuer God
likewise beeing the greatest in Nature and Essence ought to bee the greatest in our Loue and Affection Next vnder God enter those goods of Heauen of Earth And Good being the marke whereat our Loue shoots our greatest Loue should direct it selfe to the greatest good And this is to obserue an order and good temper in our Loue. Now touching the disorder of our Loue our Sauiour sayd Hee that loues Father or Mother more than mee is not worthie of mee Againe In not louing God to whom wee owe so much loue this excesse in the contrarie may turne to immodestie and impudencie And make vs breake out with those Cast-awayes in Iob into these desperate termes Get thee farre from vâ— we will haue no knowledge of thy wayes Besides In imploying our loue so wholely vpon the Creatures we may chance to choake that loue which we owe to the Creator Saint Austen expounding that place of Iohn Loue not the World neither the things that are in the world saith That our heart is like vnto a vessell which if it be filled full with the World it cannot receiue God beeing like to that peece of ground where the Tares did choake the Wheate So that of force wee must emptie the vessell and weede well the ground of our hearts that the loue of God may fructifie in vs. This inordinate loue doth set the heart like a Calenture on fire From the heart come all our euill thoughts and goe festring through the faculties of the soule And â—inne when it is finished bringeth foorth death saith Saint Iames. She was taken with a great Feuer As there are diuers kinds of Feuers so haue they a correspondencie with the diuers infirmities of the soule your young men are soone rid of their Feuers especially if their fits bee not violent but an old woman that is taken with a great Feuer wil hardly recouer her health A prisoner will easily shake off slight and slender shakles but those that are double chained and double bolted he will hardly free himselfe from them One single stick is easily broken but more beeing bound together verie hardly A threefold cord is hardly broken The like reason may be giuen of old sinnes vpon which custome hath drawne a necessitie Saint Austen treating of the State of his owne sinnes sayth That he was fast fettered with three strong chaines The one of his owne Will The other of an ill Custome that he had gotten The third of a kind of necessitie which did keepe him as it were by force in this so hard and cruell slauerie Tenebat me dura seruitus They besought him for her The motiues of this intercession were First For that this good old woman was of so sweet a disposition and so louing a nature Which was much in so old a woman and no small matter considering shee was a Mother in Law It may be Mothers in lawe in those dayes were more louing and better beloued than they are now And one great argument thereof is That our Sauiour Christ should put the loue of the Mother in law and Daughter in law in one and the same degree with that of the Children Parents as it appeareth in that place of S. Mathew I came to set a man at variance against his Father the Daughter against her Mother and the Daughter in law against her Mother in law Where you see he links them together all in one chaine And so it ought to be For if the Husband and the Wife by Matrimony remaine one flesh the Daughter in law ought likwise to be so with the Mother in law though not in the selfe same degree wholly and altogether The second motiue was the intreatie of the Apostles who as Saint Marke maketh mention interceded for her And such pittifull hearts and tender bowels as theirs were beeing sought vnto by so good an Hostesse who desired so much as she did to serue them could not chuse but take pittie of her and speake a good word for her Besides the miserable paine she was in might haue moued the hardest heart to compassion much more theirs whose eyes had seene in what an ill taking she was in And kind hearts are soone sencible of those sorrowes which the eyes shall impart vnto them They bâ—sought him for her In the intercession of Holy men God attends two things The one That we persuade our selues that they are preuailent with God and that they can effect much with his diuine Maiestie The other That he is well pleased that we should make vse of them for the honour that hee receiues thereby the good that we reape by it A King is well pleased that men should haue recourse to his Fauorit the more to honor him It was a great honour to Christ saith Gregory Nazianzen that he was the Mediator betwixt God and Man Saint Cyril giues the same attribute to the Apostles and Deutronomie to Moses Medius fui inter Deum vos I stood betweene the Lord and you But here is the difference That the Saints haue need that others should intercede for them but our Sauiour hath no such need sed accedit per teipsum ad interpellandum pro nobis Al other Mediators are through our Sauior Christ that prayer which hath not this mediation Saint Augustine saith That in stead of remoouing sinne it reneweth sinne And Saint Ambrose That Christ ought to be the Mouth by which we are to speake the Eyes by which wee are to looke and the Hands by which wee are to offer In a word The Saints of God are verie powerful with God through Christ our Lord. And therefore it is said Whatsoeuer yee shall aske the Father in my name shall be granted vnto you Some make a doubt Whither this be to be vnderstood of the Saints that are liuing or those that are dead That it is meant of the liuing there are many proofes thereof in Scripture To Iobs friends God said Goe to my seruant Iob and my seruant Iob shall pray for you for I will accept him c. Abimilecke hauing taken away Sarah and God threatning him with death and the King pleading ignorance in his excuse God said vnto him Giue Abraham his wife againe and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt liue Moses by his intercession procured the pardon of sixe hundred thousand persons The People said vnto Samuel Doe not thou cease to pray for vs. Saint Stephen prayed for those that stoned him to death And by his prayer saith Saint Augustine Paul was reduced to the Church In the Ship the same Apostle by prayer preserued the liues of two hundred seuenty six persons Saint Basil cites that place of Dauid The eyes of the Lord are vpon the Righteous his eares are open vnto their crie Those two sonnes which Ioseph had in Aegypt Ephraim and Manasses the one signifying forgetfulnesse the other Prosperitie Iacob adopted them for his owne Sicut
the fire did serue there in stead of water Suting with that of Saint Paul Licet is qui foris est noster homo corrumpatur for by how much the more the bodie is dried vp and withered away by so much the more doth the soule grow greene and flourish and by how much the more the outward man waxeth weake by so much the more the inward man waxeth strong For the glorie of God c. Before your great battells are fought they first begin with skirmishes in your Tilts and Tournaments they begin with proffers and flourishes betweene Loue and Death after eithers brauado's the warre is now ended Loue skirmisheth with Death and hath gotten himselfe such great glorie in this conflict that with a generall shouting all crie out aloud That Loue will win the field There are many who not truly looking into the cause of their punishment crie out with Iob O that my griefe were well weighed and my miseries were layd together in the ballance for it would be now heauier than the sand of the sea And in another place He hath multiplied my wounds without a cause And Dauid complaineth I did not enter into the cause of those many stripes which God had laid vpon me But to al this it may be answered That the cause thereof is the glorie of God The stench vapours it selfe from forth the earth it inuirons the circumuicining aire the Wormes are knawing on Lazarus carkasse all this loathsomenesse this stench and these Wormes turne to the glorie of God That Mary which annoynted the Lord with oyntment c. The titles whereby the Spirit of God makes these Sisters and their brother knowne are those their seruices expressed to our Sauiour Christ. Mary who annoynted his feet Martha who feasted him and Lazarus his beloued friend For the greatest noblenesse that a soule can inioy is To serue and loue God Feare God and keepe his Commandements c. This is the onely true valour in man Philon expounding that place vpon Genesis These are the generations of Noah c. He saith That God willed Moses to make a Pedegree or Genealogie of Noah but hee did not make it by fetching it from his famous ancestors as your Noblemen and Gentlemen doe now a dayes but from his Vertues Those forefathers and great grandfathers which made Noah so renowned were his obedience his constancie his fortitude and his pietie This is the true nobilitie of Gods Saints The diuine Histories that blazons foorth Iob describes him thus Hee was an vpright and iust man one that feared God and eschued euill c. But why did hee not make mention of his Fathers and his Kindred and Alliance Because Gods Saints boast not their parentage but their vertue Saint Chrysostome prooueth at large that a man ought not to be commended for any thing but his vertue And hee rendereth three very good reasons for it The first is That all other our goods end with our liues but vertue indureth for euer The rest are bona aliena they are not ours but of others But vertue is bonum proprium It is our owne proper good And Saint Chrisostome treating of Nabuchadnezzars Statua much condemneth the meanes that was vsed for the increasing of his honour and authoritie For he dishonoured himselfe by hauing that to be honoured shewing thereby that he relied more vpon a Statue of mouldring mettalls than his owne bodie and soule representing those therein that are honoured more in the world for those outward goods of the body than those inward goods of the soule confessing as it were that because they haue not any thing in them that deserueth honour they erect them Statues to bee adored The second None of all these exteriour goods doth satisfie the soule but Vertue fills the Vessell of mans heart Saint Ambrose interpreting that verse of Dauid Accedite ad Deum illuminamini id est illuminabimini addeth therevnto Accedite satiamini accedite liberamini accedite dimittemini Come vnto God and yee shall be illightned for he is the Light come vnto him and yee shall be satisfied for he is the Bread of life come vnto him yee that are thirstie for he is the Fountaine of liuing waters come vnto him and be freed for he is freedome it selfe come vnto him yee that desire pardon for he is the Remission of sinnes The third These humane goods are so base and so vile that none can truly commend them Art thou bold A Lyon is more bold than thou Art thou strong A Beare is farre stronger Art thou beautiful a Peacocke goes beyond thee Art thou braue and gallant A Horse in his rich Caparisons is a more glorious sight Liuest thou in great Pallaces a Iackedaw nay a Spider liues in greater and farre more sumptuous Art thou a curious Workeman The Bee is a better Art thou nimble of bodie The Hart is more Hast thou a good eye The Eagle hath a quicker Hast thou a quicke sent euerie Dog will out-nose thee Art thou a good husband The Ant is a better It is a shame therefore that thou shouldst boast thy selfe of those things wherein the bruit beasts do surpasse thee In a word it did stead Lazarus more to be our Sauiour Christs friend than nobly borne or antiently descended Which annointed his feet with oyntment Here are two truths touching the goodnesse of Gods condition pointed forth vnto vs The first That during all the time of Marie Magdalens perdition and profanenesse there is not the least print or shew in Gods booke concerning any such matter nor any memorie thereof remaining vpon Record Marrie the World calls her Maria la Peccadora Marie the Sinner and represents nothing else vnto vs but her sinnes but God doth not so nay he doth not so much as thinke vpon them or once offer to call them to mind Projecisti post tergum tuum It was the saying of good King Ezechias omnia peccata mea Thou hast cast all my sinnes behind thy backe It is a Spanish phrase Echar al trançado of that which is no more to be seene Saint Augustine expounding that place of Ieremie Ecce ego obducam ei cicatricem saith That the Chyrurgeon cureth the wound but doth not take away the skarre but there is some marke thereof still remaining but God not onely cures the wound but therewithall quite quits the signe as if there had neuer beene any such thing at all Saint Chrysostome addeth hereunto Cum sanitate reliquit pulchritudinem Nor shall it bee an excesse of speech to affirme That Marie Magdalens repentance made her appeare more faire and beautifull than Saint Agnes the Martyr S. Agatha or S. Cicile The second is That God neuer blotteth out of his remembrance those seruices that he receiueth from vs nor will suffer his friends to bee forgotten And therefore our Sauiour saith touching this sinfull woman Verily I say vnto you wheresoeuer this Gospell shall be preached throughout the whole
this torment and miserie vpon his sacred person In finem dilexit eos Vnto the end hee loued them The neerer his death grew the greater grew his loue That comparison of the riuer is not much amisse which takes it's head or beginning from a small fountaine and by little and little goes increasing till in the end it seemes to be a Sea We cannot say that there was any thing little or small in our Sauiour Christ but in some sort taking from his infancie it may comparitiuely bee thus vnderstood His loue was little at the first it began to purle forth in those his teares in the cratch it went on drawing more water in his Circumcision in his exile into Aegypt in his fastings prayers penitences sermons myracles and when hee came to wash his Disciples feet and to giue vnto them his body and blood then was it full sea with him The Iewes did put this question How can this man giue vs his flesh to be eaten Saint Augustine tells vs I will tell you how In the beginning was Loue that Loue was with God God was that Loue and this may serue as an answer to all questions that may be demanded in this kind And as in all other things from his childhood he went to our seeming growing vp still more and more so did his loue likewise goe dayly increasing euen to the houre of his death shewing that he loued vs vnto the end When a mountaine takes fire at first the fire is but small but by degrees growes greater and greater till it comes at last like another Aetna to be a mountaine of fire Ieremy saith That he saw a seething pot The pot by little and little comes to take heat till at last it falls a boyling but the fire vnder it may be so great that it may bubble and runne ouer throwing out all that is within it In our Sauiour Christs breast the fire of his loue did alwayes seeth and boyle apace but in the end this fire grew to so great a flame that it threw out that his flesh and made that his blood to ouerflow which was knit to his soule and Diuinitie That man which Ezechiel saw in the first chapter of his Prophesie one with his feet standing vpon a Saphyre who was all fire but from the head to the girdle the fire was secret and hidden but from the girdle downward euen to the very feet all was on a bright flame His feet stood vpon a Saphyre which is the colour of heauen to shew vnto vs the blessednesse which he did inioy from the very instant of his conception as also to signifie vnto vs that all the life of our Sauiour Christ was a flaming fire of Loue. But in those his younger yeares it was for a while as it were smothered and repressed but afterwards brake forth into those flames that when his houre was come and that he was to dye Those whom he loued he loued vnto the end Some haue sayled ouer the whole Mediterranean haue toucht vpon the coasts thereof and entred vp into it's riuers Others haue past the Streight and arriued at the Cape de buena Esperance of good Hope There was a man that rounded all the world as if he had stood in competition with the Sunne but for all this his Nauagation was not at an end Euery day more countries are discouered but in the sea of Loue there is not that place which the Ship of the Crosse hath not sayled into Omnis consumptionis vidit finem in finem dilexit eos He saw the end of all consumption and loued them vnto the end Aristotle sets downe in his Ethicks three kinds of friendships Honestum Vtile Iucundum That is grounded on Honestie Profit and Pleasure That which is grounded vpon profit will cease when that ceaseth Thou hast a friend that furnisheth thee with moneyes no longer furnish thee no longer a friend So sayes Seneca in an epistle of his to Lucilius That which is founded vpon pleasure and delight liues or dyes as those delights liue or dye in vs. But that which makes Honestie it's ayme that endureth for euer My friend saith Seneca I ought to loue him so well as to follow him in his banishment to releeue him in his necessities and if need were to dye for him Saint Augustine saith that Seneca liued in the time of the Apostles and that it is very probable that he had some communication with Saint Paul and that the Apostle related vnto him what our Sauiour Christ did for his That he accompanied them in their banishment inricht them with the riches of heauen and in the end layd downe his life for them This is that In finem dilexit eos He loued them to the end A great loue can neuer indure a long absence Theodoret saith That Saint Peter hauing heard from Christs owne mouth a Ter me negabis Thou shalt denie mee thrice He would faine haue fled many Leagues from that occasion but that his loue was so great that he held it a lesse ill to denie him by following him than to confesse him by flying from him He tooke so much pleasure in his presence that he chose rather to hazard the losse of his soule than of his beloued sight Holding it a lesse vnhappinesse to denie than not to be in the eye of him whom he loued so dearely Saint Bernard treating of that petition which Moses made vnto God Either blot me out of the booke of life or spare this people giues vs this note out of that place That so great was the loue which the Prophet bare to that people that albeit God did offer him to be chiefe Gouernour ouer a farre better and greater people yet could he not endure to be diuorced from them nor to absent himselfe from their companie and therefore made choise rather of this so sad and grieuous a resolution Aut dele me de libro vitae c. ô Lord either pardon them or condemne me My loue towards them can better abide death and hel than their absence Plut. saith That Loue is like Iuie which if it cleaue but to a stone or an old wall will rather dye than forsake it Christ said vnto his Disciples Vnlesse I goe hence the comforter will not come vnto you All their felicitie consisting in the comming of the Holy Ghost But I goe to prouide a place for you Nobody but I can open the gates of heauen vnto you Our Sauiour said Lift vp your gates ô ye Princes c. Where S. Chrysostome obserueth That it had beene sufficient had he but onely said Open the gates But he did not say Open but take the gates away heaue them off the hookes For heauen that is neuer shut against any hath no need of gates His Disciples might haue said vnto him Lord since we shall receiue so great a good by thy departure Fuge assimulare Caprae hinnuloque ceruorum Yet so great was their loue vnto
Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Sithence then that I haue confessed and acknowledged thee to bee the Sonne of God shall I permit to see my Sauiour humble himselfe at my feet Clemens Romanus a Disciple of Saint Peter reporteth in his Apostolicall Constitutions That as often as Saint Peter did call this action of his to mind so often did he shed teares to see Christ at his feet whence wee are to weigh and consider the great modestie of Saint Peter who was not so much astonished to see Iesus Christ at the feet of Iudas as to see him at his own feet All the complements which Peter vsed with our Sauiour Christ are worthy commendation full of discretion reuerence and loue Onely his default was That hee would striue and contest with our Sauiour Christ for want of true knowledge of those ends whereunto Christs actions were directed So that if mannerlinesse may bee a fault in any man it was now in Peter for refusing to haue his feet washt the mysterie whereof had he but knowne he would not haue made so nice a matter of it Saint Cyrill treating of the ends of this act of our Sauiors saith That he desired by all means possible to ingraft Loue in Mans brest to giue vs to vnderstand That without great humilitie there can be no great Loue. Guarricus saith That our Sauior Christ did loue man so wel yea in such a maner of fashion that he resolued with himself to iumpe agree with him to shape himself according to his humour and to doe any thing whatsoeuer though neuer so meane so as it might make for his good And when he saw that Man was so proud that he would not submit himselfe to serue him he sayd Well seeing Man will not be brought to serue mee I will submit my selfe to serue him stoupe to so low and so base a seruice as to wash his feet This made him dye betweene two Theeues He was wel content at his death to want al other comforts the world could affoord him only he could not be drawne from mans side that would haue gone to the very heart of him Thou art faire my beloued and comely S. Bernard sayth That this repetition doth point out a two-fold beautie vnto vs. The one of his Diuinitie wherewith he doth beautifie deifie the Angels and the Saints The other of his Loue which made him debase himselfe so much as to wash his Disciples feet The first is of greater admiration The second of much more consolation Ibi pietas magis emicuit vbi charitas magis refulsit There Pietie did glitter most where Charitie shined most Some man may aske me the question Why the rest did not seeke to excuse themselues I answer That this courtesie being complemented and pleaded by Peter and consented vnto by Peter the rest had nothing more to doe or say therein If I shall not wash thee c. Laurentius Iustinianus saith That the good old man was somewhat daunted with this threatning and now yeelded and submitted himselfe in such sort that whereas before he had being intreated denyed to haue his feet washt being thus threatned by our Sauiour he now offers to haue both his feet and his head washt O Lord wash the whole man in vs with thy blood that we may appeare cleere in thy sight c. THE XLII SERMON Of our Sauiour Christs death IOH. 19. Baiulans sibi Crucem c. Bearing his Crosse c. WHat with the spittle stripes blowes buffets mockes scornes scourges thornes his beard and haires clotted with blood our Sauiour Christ was so much altered from that man which the Spouse paints him foorth to be Candidus rubicundus electus ex millibus My wellbeloued is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand that Ieremie could say He is a man yet who can know him And Esay He had neither shape nor comelinesse Or as another letter hath it He had not the forme of a man And he himselfe did not thinke himselfe to be a man saying I am a worme and no man And it seeming vnto Pilat to be the lesser reuenge of the two to see him dead than to bee thus wounded and torne by them and that there could be no emnitie no malice so raging and so cruell which with so sad a spectacle and so woful a sight would not loose somewhat of i'ts fiercenesse and violence leaning himselfe against the window and looking wistly vpon him he breathed forth these two words Ecce homo Behold here a Man sayth S. Austen fitter for the graue than a throne yee did heretofore enuie him for the great applause which the world gaue vnto his Miracles but now his Miserie may blot that out of your brests First I would haue yeto consider what manner of thing Man was when hee was moulded by the hands of God in the Creation how rich how wise and how perfect a creature he was In his Incarnation in what a prosperous estate did he liue how mightily enuied by Hell In the Resurrection how glorious and how immortall And how God againe by the hands of Man is mocked scourged spit vpon and contemned Secondly if a Pilat taking pittie of our Sauiour Christ could say vnto the people Ecce homo Behold the Man for to mooue them vnto pâ—ttie it is not much that a Preacher of the Gospell whose dutie it is to preach Christ crucified should say vnto Christian people Ecce homo Behold the Man No man will trust the pittie and compassion of an enemy Saul remained much amazed and confounded when Dauid stole from his beds-head his speare and his pitcher and when in the caue he had cut off the lappet of his garment and with tear did propound and promise to himselfe to loue him and fauour him all his life long yet Dauid would not beleeue him because no man that is wâ—se will trust an enemie Ionas who was a figure of our Sauiour Christ beeing ouerwhelmed in the Sea the waues thereof did assuage their rage waxed calme But our Sauior Christ being ouerwhelmed in the Sea oft hese his torments hee couldnot allay the furie of those billowes which grew stil rougher and rougher in the turbulent breasts of his people for there was but little good to be expected from so professed an enemie yet hee that is a Christian hath our Sauiour Christ to bee his Friend his Lord his Father and his God And representing himselfe vnto vs in this pitifull and lamentable manner what heart is there so hard which will not bee mooued to commiserate so wretched a case Saint Paul had made vnto those of Galilee a discription of our Sauiour Christ vpon the Crosse and it seeming vnto him that they were not mooued thereat but that their hearts were hardned he cry'd out aloud vnto them O yee foolish and senselesse Galathians who hath bewiched you Is it possible that Christ crucified should not
to prayer and so fearing God that an Angel was sent vnto him to illuminate his vnderstanding Of another S. Mathew makes mention who when the lights of Heauen were darkned yet his sight was so cleere that hee saw Christ our Sauiour was the Sonne of God Vere filius Dei erat iste Besides this Centurion we now speake of whose Faith our Sauiour did admire Saint Austen celebrates another Captaine which in the midst of Armes tooke wonderfull care to know the things of God But that we may not weary our selues with counting the good ones one by one heauen it selfe hauing great Squadrons of souldiers this may suffice to honor this kind of Calling not onely for it's Faith but for it's loue and charitie Many did petition our Sauiour for their sicke brethren children and friends but for a Seruant this Centurion onely maketh suit Puer meus jacet in domo Paraliticus My child or my seruant lyeth at home sicke of the Palsey The common saying is Quot seruos tot hostes So many seruants so many enemies Iob complaineth That his seruants would haue eaten him piecemeale Who shall giue vs of his flesh that we may be filled If they then that serue so good a Master be his enemies who shal be his friend Seneca seemeth to make the word Seruant to signifie Indifferencie and that it is in the Maisters choice to make him either his friend or foe In this matter there are some rules of prudence nobilitie and Christianitie The first on the Masters part who are to treat their seruant with much loue and kindnesse like a brother saith Ecclesiasticus and in another place indeering it more Sit tibi quasi anima tua Let him be vnto thee as thy soule or as the Greeke hath it Sicut tu As thy selfe Horace calls a mans friend The one halfe of his soule Sicut viscera mea suscipe Receiue him as my owne bowells saith Saint Paul recommending his seruant Onesimus to Philemon No man is a seruant by nature and being that God might haue made thee of a master a seruant how oughtest thou to respect thy seruant being a master This noblenesse of nature shewed it selfe apparently in this our Centurion Puer meus jacet My child lieth sicke hee cals his seruant Child a word of loue and of kindnesse and signifies in the originall a Sonne And Saint Luke doth expresse it with a great deale of tendernesse Erat illi pretiosus Hee was deere vnto him Condemning those masters which vse their seruants as they doe their shooes who when they waxe old and are worne out cast them out vpon the dunghill Saint Paul calles these Sine affectione Men without compassion who no sooner shall their seruant fal sick but they presently bid away with him to the Hospitall if at the day of iudgment God will lay to our charge That wee did not visit the sick in other mens houses What will become of vs in that day when wee be charged with casting them out of our owne The second That all seruants are not so equall and alike that they should deserue either like loue or vsage Ecclesiasticus saith That as fodder and the whip belong to the Asse so doth meat and correction vnto a sloathful seruant But euermore inclining more to lenitie than crueltie The third That a Master bee not sharpe and bitter for there are manie like vnto Spiders which turne all into poyson good and bad seruice foolish and discreete words are all alike vnto them With some masters saith Macrobius snorting and spitting are accounted discourtesies inciuilitie Saint Austen sayes That it is a pride vnworthie mans heart to looke to be serued with more respect by thy seruant than thou doost serue thy God If euerie one of thy fooleries and misdemeanors God should punish them with the rod of his wrath what would become of thee Seneca writing to Licinius tells him That it is a great deale of wisedome and discretion in a Master to vse his seruants well And Clemens Alexandrinus That a Master must not vse his seruants like beasts that he that doth not now and then conuerse with them and communicate his mind vnto them doth not deserue to be a master The fourth That hee bee franke and liberall and a cheerefull rewarder of his seruants labours For if the light of Nature teacheth vs That wee should bee good vnto our Beasts a greater Obligation lyes vpon vs towards our Seruants Plutarch taxeth Cato Censorinus amongst his many other vertues of this one inhumane action That hee sould away his Slaues when they were old and vnable to doe him seruice as Gentlemen turne those Horses that were for their owne Saddle to a Mill to grind when they grow old and stiffe and are not able to trauell as they were woont to doe In a word a Master must consider That albeit the seruants bee the foot yet the feet are as needfull to goe as the eyes to see And the aduantage that the master hath of the seruant is not of Nature but fortune not by his birth for both haue Adam for their father on earth and God in Heauen Both of them say Pater noster qui es in Coelis scientes quoniam illorum vester Dominus est in Coelis i. Our Father which art in heauen knowing that both their and your Lord is in Heauen Not in his bodie for the Pope is made of no better dust than the poore Sexton nor the King than the Hangman Not in regard of the Soule for the price of their redemption were both alike Not of the vnderstanding for many slaues haue that better than they as Aesop Epictetus and Diogenes Not of vertue for many seruants therein exceed their masters But let vs descend now from the Masters to the Seruants dutie and what rules belong to them The first rule is Faithfulnesse and Loue. Salomon saith He that keepeth the Fig-tree shall eat the fruit therof so he that waiteth vpon his master shal come to honour Instancing rather in the Fig-tree than any other for it's sweetnesse and great store of fruit in token that he that shall sow good seruices shall reap good profit The second That he do not serue principally for his own proper interest for he that serueth for profit only and meerly to make gain of his master deserueth neither cherishment nor fauour A master stands in stead of God now we must not principally serue God for the good which he doth vnto vs but as he is our God The Scripture reporteth of Ioseph That his Master hauing trusted him with the gouernment of his house all his wealth he did not deceiue him of a farthing There are some seruants like your Iuy which suckes out the sap withereth the Tree whereunto it leanes it selfe remaining fresh and greene They are those Spunges which soake vp their Masters wealth making their Masters poore and themselues rich The third That a Seruant
be solicitous carefull and painefull for the sluggard Nature abhorreth and condemneth Vidisti hominem velocem stabit coram Rege i. Seest thou a man diligent in his businesse hee shall stand before Kings Diligence is pretious in all men but most in a Seruant Who can indure a lazie Seruant or a dull Beast The Ball was antiently the Symbole of a Seruant according to Cartaneus The ball one while goes flying in the ayre ouer our heads another runnes as low as our feete but neuer lies still but is continually tossed too and fro And Aristotle sayes That a Seruant is Instrumentum viuum A liuing Instrument and as an Instrument hath not his owne will but is directed by the hand of the Artificer so a Seruant is not to bee at his owne will to doe what himselfe listeth but as he is commanded and employed by his Master If Masters and Seruants would keepe these rules it would bee a happinesse for the Master to haue such a Seruant and for the Seruant to haue such a Master It hath antiently beene doubted Why amongst men so equall by nature God hath permitted so great inequalitie as there is betweene him that serueth and him that commandeth And the reason of this doubt is the more indeered for that seruitude is a thing so distastful held so great an ill that many haue preferred death before it Theodoret answereth thereunto That Seruitude was the curse of Sinne and that the first Seruant in the world was Cham on whom his father threwt his seuere malediction That he should be a Seruant to his bretheren Because he discouered the nakednesse of his father S. Austen saith in his Books De Ciuit. Dei That this penaltie began from the malediction of Eue and that those words Thou shalt be vnder the power of thy Husband implyed subiection and seruitude Saint Ambrose in an Epistle which he writes to Simpliciarius saith That Seruing is sometimes taken for a blessing and hee prooues it out of that which Isaac did to his elder sonne Esau He blessed him that he might serue his brother hauing out of a particular prouidence and loue made Esau seruant to his brother to the end that his harshnesse might bee gouerned by his discretion So that wee see that although the fortune of a Seruant speaking generally is verie bad first because libertie is a great good secondly because to serue a Tyrant is a great euil yet he that hath the good hap to serue a good Master is verie happie for such a Master serues in stead of a Father a Councellor a Tutor And this was this seruants happinesse to haue so good a Master as this Centurion heere spoken of who saith Puer meus jacet c. In domo Paraliticus At home sicke of the Palsie It is a consideration as profitable as often repeated That troubles and afflictions brings vs home to Gods House They are like those officers that follow a fugitiue sonne or seruant who bring him backe againe to his father or his master Many meanes God vseth for to bring vs home vnto him but by no meanes more than by affliction Hunger draue the Prodigall home to his Father Ioaâ—s burning of his corne made him come to Absalon the vntamed Heyfer is brought by the Goade to the Yoke There is no Collirium that so opens the eyes of the soule as miserie and trouble The gall of the Fish recouered Tobias of his eye-sight the darknesse of the Whales bellie brought Ionas forth to the light the stroke of an Arrow made Alexander know he was mortall Wormes made great Antiochus confesse he was no God and the threatning of Elias wrought repentance in Achab In a word Vexatio dat intellectum Castigasti me Domine eruditus sum Affliction causeth vnderstanding thou didst correct me ô Lord I was instructed O! how correction opens those eyes which prosperitie kept shut O! how often doth the paining of the bodie worke the sauing of the soule O! how often doe misfortunes like the rounds in Iacobs ladder serue to bring our soules vp to Heauen God dealing with these afflicted soules as the Gardner doth with the Buckets of his Well who humbles them by emptying them that hee may afterwards bring them vp full And so is that place of Iob to bee vnderstood Hee woundeth and hee healeth i. hee healeth by wounding like your cauteries which cure by hurting It is Gods owne voyce I will smite and I will make whole according to that of Ose Percutiet curabit he strikes the bodie with sicknesse and with that wound he healeth the soule But here by the way it is to be noted That there is a great difference betwixt one sinner and another for he that is hardned in sinne is made rather worse than better by correction And this is that which Esay bewaileth where hee crieth out Woe to the sinnefull Nation a People laden with Iniquitie Why should yee be stricken any more yee will reuolt more and more All the fruit that such kind of wilfull sinners reape from their punishment is to adde sinne vnto sinne like that Slaue who being whipt for swearing falls into blaspheming I haue smitten saith Ieremie your childeren in vaine they receiued no correction And in another place he compares them to reprobate siluer which being put into the Crisol of affliction to be refined and purified remaines fouler than before Others there are that are tender hearted and are as sensible of other mens miseries as if themselues were in the same case and iust so was it with this discreet Centurion Dignus est vt illi praestes i. He is worthie for whom thou shouldst doe this The Elders of the Iewes in Capernaum which were sent by the Centurion vnto Christ to beseech him to come and heale his seruant acknowledged a power in our Sauior of working miracles by that often experience they had made thereof but they did not acknowledge his Diuinitie And therefore they here notifie vnto Christ the great merit and deseruingnesse of this Centurion which if it had beene meerely for Gods sake they might the better haue pleaded it They alledge two reasons to induce him thereunto The first Diligit gentem nostram He loueth our Nation which hee hath many wayes manifested by those his good deeds and actions towards vs and this his loue and kindnesse bindes vs to solicite his cause which good will of his ought likewise to incline you to fauour this his suit The second Synagogam aedificauit nobis He hath built vs a Synagogue whereby hee hath not onely shewed his good affection to the Iewes but his religiousnesse also vnto God Dignus est ergo vt illi praestes Hee therefore deserues this fauour at thy hands Their reasons are both powerfull as well with man as with God for Loue obligeth much Saint Ambrose saith That Nature did ingraue nothing so deepely in our hearts as to loue
Temple made the case more foule for this was to make God the cloake of their abhominations and to baptize their Idolatrie with the name of his seruice When Pilat was to pronounce Sentence of death against our Sauiour he said I find nothing in him that deserueth it c. But then the Iewes cried out We haue a Law and according to that Law hee ought to dy though ther could be no law to take away the life of one that was innocent Exceeding great was their wickednes in taking away of his life but much more in making this their wickednesse a Law It was a great sinne in Saul to preserue out of couetousnesse the Heards and Flocks of Amalec but a greater fault to make of his couetousnes Obedience Sacrifice The Hereticke foundeth his Heresie vpon the Scripture the Lawyer his vniust sentence vpon the Law And as a greene glasse the beames of the Sunne passing through it makes all to seem greene so the Flesh turneth to it 's own color the Laws of God preacheth as a Law from God That we should hate our enemie Whence Irenaus inferreth That such Doctors as these are worse than the Deuill for when the Deuill tempted our Sauiour Christ he did not alledge a false Text but a true though ill interpreted but these Doctors doe quote lies Prophetae tui prophetabant mendacium populus applaudebat manibus Thy Prophets preached lies and the people applauded them for it It was said to them of old Antiquitie hath beene held the Fountaine of all good things but more partcularly of Wisedome And therefore God commanded his People to take this for their guide and Master viz. Thou shalt not passe the antient bounds inquire of the dayes of old Remember the times that were long agone And the most antient were euer held as the treasuries of euidences and the Rolles of Records The famousest men of the world haue sought out the antientest for their Instructors for In antiquis est sapientia multo tempore prudentia And for this cause could Salomon say Doe not yee aske why the former times were better for this is a foolish question First because in respect of wisdome that is not said in our times which was not said before Nothing can be said which hath not beene said alreadie The Comicke could say There is no new thing vnder the Sunne and Salomon Nor is any man able to say This is but now come forth Secondly In regard of all other good things for it is manifest that the former times were the better for there is no wise man that doth not bewaile the present Deuteronomie complaineth That the times were ill and peruerse and the People foolish and ill giuen Saint Iohn That wickednesse was grown to it's heigth In maligno est omne c. In a word there is not any Ecclesiasticall Historian nor Ciuile which doth not lament the wickednesse of his Times Plautus commending Wit compares it to Wine which the older it is the better it is Many Authors are not now reckoned of which shall grow famous two hundred yeres hence many Painters get not that commendation they deserue only because they are modern Michael Angelo hid an Image in certaine antient buildings for he knew if it were presently discouered they would haue praised it for an excellent old piece of times past till they had seene his name which he had set thereunto This Doctrine is verie plaine making the comparison from the time of euerie one of those Lawes Naturall Written and that of Grace wherein they were best in their beginnings But if the comparison be generall for all times whatsoeuer howbeit in the order naturall the former were the better because all things grow old and waxe worse and worse as is to be seene in Plants Beasts Men yet in the order supernaturall those times are the better which Saint Paul calleth the latter For although God did many great fauours in those former Ages yet all of them put together did not come neere to the Incarnation and death of Christ and those his blessed Sacraments And therefore Esay said Ne memineritis priorum antiqua ne intuamini i. Doe not so much admire those things that were done in former times for they are all as it were clouded and obscured by these that we now presently enioy And this is prooued now at this day by the perfection of the Law for antiquitie did admit the Law of a mans righting of himselfe when he was wronged of louing his friend and hating his enemie but this is now controlled and reformed Diliges amicum tuum Thou shalt loue thy friend This is a part of that commandement That wee should loue our neighbor and may seeme to be taken out of the nineteenth of Leuiticus where it is said Thou shalt loue thy friend Whence Lyra presumeth they drew that contrarie argument of hating their enemie This former part seemeth to be superfluous First because Nature left not any thing so deepely ingrauen in mans heart as to loue him that loueth vs And therefore a needlesse commandement to impose those things vpon vs whereunto we haue a natural appetite What need we will a man to loue himselfe or a father to affect his children And it being a naturall inclination in vs to loue those that loue vs why should this bee giuen vs in charge Diliges amicum tuum Secondly euery man naturally loues himselfe Nemo vnquam carnem suam odio habuit And therefore God doth not command that I should loue my selfe And my friend is my second selfe or as Saint Austen hath it Dimidium animae meae i. The halfe of my Soule And therefor it was no necessary commaund Diliges amicum tuum Thirdly those things that are most pretious and most rare which haue most reasons for amabilitie as Profit Honour Delight and Honesty it is not needfull that we should bee willed to loue them And as Laertius relates it from Socrates The World hath not any thing more pretious and more louely than a Friend Besides our Sauiour sayth Where our Treasure is there is our Heart And our Friend beeing so rich and pretious a Treasure hee must of force steale away our Heart from vs and therefore superfluous is that speech Diliges amicum tuum Fourthly the essence of friendship consisteth in reciprocal loue as it is determined by Thomas and Damascene And therefore loue is painted with two keys in token that it did open and shut to two hearts And therfore superfluous Diliges amicum tuum Heereunto I answere That mans heart beeing left to it's owne naturall inclination it will doubtlesse render loue for loue But since that the Deuill did roote out that good Seed and sowed Tares therein wee see that in the most naturall and strictest obligations sometimes there growes dis-loue As in brother against brother father against sonne sonne against father and in the wife against her husband
downe the same rule by Saint Mathew and by Saint Luke Innumerable Phylosophers haue repeated the like Lesson Laertius reporteth of Aristotle That giuing an almes to one that had done him many iniuries told him Nature not thy naughtinesse makes me to pittie thee There was amongst the Romans a Marcus Marcellus that pleaded in the Senate for his Accusers A Tiberius Gracchus a mortall enemie of the Scipio's who during that their emnitie defended them in the publique Theatre A Marcus Bibulus who hauing two of his sonnes slaine by the Gabiani and Cleopatra sending the murtherers vnto him returned them backe again without doing them any harm In Athens a Plato whom his scholler Xenocrates accusing of diuers scandalous things said It is not possible That him whom I loue should not loue mee againe A Phocion who dying vniustly by poyson and beeing asked when hee had the cup iâ— his hand What seruice he would command them to his son answered That hee should neuer thinke more of this cup but studie to forget it Many the like are related by Plutarch Seneca Saint Basil and Saint Chrysostome Lastly This being no Law of God neither as he is the Author of Grace nor as the Author of Nature it must needs bee of the Deuill as Origen inferreth For he seeing that God had engrauen in mans heart the law of loue standing out of his pride in competition with God he engraued dis-loue and left it so imprinted in the hearts of many that albeit for these many Ages God hath hammered both Angells and Saints vpon this Anuile he could neuer bring them to softnesse The occasion that might mooue those antient Doctors to this Law was either for that God had commanded Saul that he should destroy Amalec or the vengeance that he tooke of Pharaoh and his People or that of Leuiticus Pursue your enemies and they shall fall before you as if to enter into a iust warre by order from God might allow a man to doe the like to his brother out of his owne will and pleasure Or for that it is commanded in Leuiticus Thou shalt loue thy friend as thy selfe Or as Nicholaus de Lyra hath notedit That they draw this consequence from Aristotle Si amicis bene faciendum est consequens est vt inimicis sit malefaciendum If we must doe good to our friends then consequently we must doe ill to our enemies Thou shalt hate thy enemie Whence it is to be noted That that Law which gaue them licence to hate their enemie does not giue them leaue to kill him though the Deuill many times likes better of a mortall hatred and a desire of reuenge than the death of a man For Hatred is that Loadstone which drawes other sinnes along with it but the killing of a man doth vsually bring repentance with it for the many disasters that attend it Iudas till he had driuen his bargaine for the betraying of his Master had deliuered vp his heart to the Deuill but that was no sooner performed but hee repented himselfe of what he had done Saint Chrysostome calls hatred Homicidium voluntarium Some seeme to sinne meerely out of nature for custome is another nature and these that thus sinne sinne without a will or desire of sinning but he that hates must of force sinne with all his heart Ego autem dico vobÃs Diligite inimicos vestros But I say vnto you Loue your enemies Petrus Chrysologus treating of the profoundnesse of the Scripture saith That though a volume should be written vpon euerie word it were not able to containe all the mysteries belonging thereunto What shall wee say then to this word Ego whose extent and birth is so great that none can qualifie it but God None knows the Father but the Son nor the Sonne but the Father he alone can tel what it is The son for to repaire the affront and infamie of his death said to his Father Clarifica me Pater Father glorifie me And Saint Ambrose hath noted it That the originall word there saith Opinion Credit rather than Glorie as if he should haue said I haue gotten thee ô Father among men an opinion of being the true God requite me therfore in gracing me to be thy Sonne for onely thou canst doe me this honour The mouthes of men and Angells shall talke of his praise but are notable to expresse the greatnesse of this attribute Ego The immensiue greatnesse of the sea is to bee seene in this that so many Riuers and Fountaines issuing out of it they doe not onely not emptie it and draw it drie but doe not so much as lessen it or diminish it one jot Ego euer since the beginning of the world hath been the Theame of the Angels Prophets Euangelists the Saints but could neuer come to the depth of it Damasus did shut vp in seuen verses fortie foure names belonging to this word Ego From hence we will first of all draw the authoritie of the Law-giuer If the authoritie of Kings and Emperours be so great that their subiects at their command aduenture vpon many foolish and desperate actions How much greater is that of God Fulgosus in his Booke de Rebus memorabilibus reporteth That a Prince of Syria indeering to Henrie Count of Campania who was come thither vpon an Embassage the obedience of his souldiers calling to one who was Sentinel to a Tower that he should speedily come vnto him presently leapt downe from off the battlements If a Scipio's Si ego iussero If I shall command you could preuaile so much with his men What shall Gods Ego doe who melteth the Mountaines like waxe The Mountaines did melt away like waxe before the face of the Lord taketh away the breath of Princes and commandeth the sea and the winds and they obey Quis est hic quia venti mare obediunt ei Who is ihis that the winds and the sea obey him who with an Ego sum draweth honie out of stones and oyle out of the hard rocke But I say vnto you I that am the Master of the world who came to reforme the Law and to vnfold the darke places of Scripture I that am Via Veritatis Vitae The way of Truth and Life I that desire more your good than your selues For I know how much it importeth you to loue your enemies and that he that blotteth this loue out of your hearts robbeth you of a wonderful rich treasure I am the Lord that teacheth profitable things and gouerns thee in the way it is I I say that say vnto you Loue your enemies Abraham did forget the bowells of a Father Quia Maiestatem praecipientis considerauit Because he considered the Maiestie of him that commanded Christ our Sauiour doth counterpone his authoritie to that of the Law-giuers of this Law Dictum est antiquis Is was said to them of Old You haue beleeued lying Law-giuers who prescribe it vnto you
as a Law Thou shalt hate thy enemie But giue you credit vnto me for I am a true Law giuer It is a hard case that truth should be in lesse esteeme than lying Heauen than Earth the true God than false Gods But though they lie neuer so much at thee to hate thyne enemie I shall neuer leaue beating it into your brests That you loue your enemie Laban when he pursued Iacob came verie eagerly vpon him at the first with a Valet manus mea reddere malum pro malo I am able to returne euill for euil but his courage was quickely cooled with a Caue ne quidquam durius loquaris contra Iacob â—eware thou speake not hardly against Iacob For the God of Iacobs father had charged him to the contrarie Where it is to be noted out of the Text That Laban did not say My God but The God of his father Whence I make this conclusion That if he that doth not take me for his God for Laban was you know an Idolater shall obey my command and not be his owne caruer in his reuenge What ought a Christian to do S Chrysostom seemeth to be much grieued that in matter of iniuries and reuenging of wrongs the World the Flesh and the Deuill should doe more with vs than God to whom onely vengeance belongeth What will not the Purse doe with some with other-some the intreatie of a great Person Dauids souldiers fingers itcht would faine haue set vpon Saul when they had him cub'd vp in the caue but Confregit illos sermonibus He detained them and wan them with good words to let him alone which they did not so much for Gods sake as for Dauids But I say vnto you Many presume so much on themselues that they wil not sticke to suffer martyrdome if occasion should be offered and haue sometime euen sought after it But that poore little valour which they experiment in themselues in matter of suffering and pardoning of iniuries may bewray this their errour vnto them For as Saint Gregorie saith He that shall faint in suffering an iniurie Quid faceret in dolore poenarum What will he doe in the midst of torment can he suffer the straining of the Racke or the rage of fire that cannot indure a hard word or brooke a slight iniurie Symon Metaphrastes reporteth of Sapricius That he would not pardon Nicephorus his enemie no though hee had oftentimes askt him forgiuenesse on his knees He was not long after apprehended in Antiochia for a Christian hee was condemned and carried forth to be martyred and in the way Nicephorus returnes againe to entreat his pardon but could not obtaine it Being brought to the place of martyrdome hee fainted and flew backe causing therewith so great a sorrow in Nicephorus that hee cried out aloud I am a Christian and will die in his place But I say vnto you S. Ambr. expounding that place of S. Paul Datus est mihi c. A Goad was giuen me in the flesh vnderstandeth by this pricke the persecutions of his enemies Carnis meae that is of mine owne Kindred and Countrie And Caietane addeth That this pricke was so necessarie for the Apostles saluation that without it he had beene damned When Saul vnderstood that Dauid had giuen him his life said I know now assuredly that thou shalt raigne ouer Israel And verie well doth that man deserue a Crowne not only here on earth but in heauen who spareth his enemies life But I say vnto you Antiently Lex Talionis was in vse with the Iewes and the Gentiles Oculum pro oculo dentem pro dente An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth And this to many seemed a naturall and iust Law as you may read in Aristotle Aulus Gellius Alexander and others Iulius reporteth That the first of the House of the Cornelij that was burned after his death was Scilla fearing the punishment of this same Lex Talionis for that hee had before pul'd his enemie Marius out of his graue But our Sauiour Christ crossing this Law saith This was the Law of Old An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth but I say vnto you That he that shall strike you on the one cheeke to him shall you turne the other Saint Austen expounding this place obserueth these two things the one That we are to answer an iniurie with two suffrings or a double kind of sufferance and that is to turne the other cheeke The other That to him that shall strike vs on the one cheeke we are to shew him a good countenance not giuing him halfe a face or ill face and this is to turne the other cheeke And Nazianzen addeth That if a man had ten cheekes he should turne them all vnto him But I say vnto you Nothing doth more greeue a Father than to see discord amongst his children Inimicitiae fratrum parentibus graâ—issimae Dauid when news was brought him That Absalon had killed all the Kings sonnes he grieued exceedingly Now if earthly fathers who are but fathers in Law haue so great a feeling thereof What shall God then Ego autem I who feele your hurtes I who loue euerie one of you as if you were all but one I who preferre your wrongs before mine owne and will sooner reuenge them if you loue me I say vnto you Dâ—ligite inimicos vestros Loue your enemies And that this senciblenesse may be the better perceiued two differences are to be noted The one That earthly fathers doe ordinarily loue their children disequally one better than another I know not why nor wherefore but God loueth all alike and maketh as much of one as another Philon asketh the question Why the precepts of the Decalogue speake to euerie one in particular as if they spake only to him alone Thou shalt not sweare Thou shalt not steale c. his answer is That euerie particular person by himselfe is as deere vnto God as all mankind put together And he prooueth it by this That he faith vnto euerie one I am thy God being the God of all The second That earthly fathers loue themselues better than their children but God loues his children better than himself his punishmeÌ„ts are likewise lesse seuere as we may see in Adam and in Caine. Againe in the Law of Matrimonie to marrie with an vnbeleeuing wife doth not dissolue that bond if shee consent not thereunto Non dimittat illam Let him not put her away it is S. Pauls but if she afterwards become an Adulteresse he might be diuorced from her and shee be condemned to be stoned to death Item in that precept Thou shalt not sweare a lawfull oath is not prohibited for composing of differences betwixt neighbour and neighbour and if in matter of profit one man shall exact vpon another and will not forgiue a mite let him assure himselfe that God will loose nothing of his right For three transgressions I will turne saith Amos
fury headlong into Hell Paulo minus sayth Dauid vpon the same occasion habitasset in inferno anima mea A little more saith Dauid and my soule had dwelt in hell Againe The loue to our enemie must encrease by the hate to our selues and those iniuries that thou receiuest from his hand must be vnto thee motiues to loue him and from that wound that he giues thee growes thy cure As Saint Ambrose saith of that of our Sauiour Christ Vulnus inflictum erat fluebat vnguentum A wound was giuen and the oyntment issued out And this you will thinke a hard lesson That a man must learne to haâ—e himselfe The difficultie is plaine but as heauie weights become light when they are counterpoysed by greater so that heauinesse which Nature suffereth in louing her enemie is made light and easie by the counterpoyse of Grace First we are to confesse That this performance is not to bee measured by any naturall force or power of ours for it were great pride to presume That man could naturally deserue so great a reward as is prepared for vs our righteousnes being no better than a stained cloath God not crowning the merits of our Nature but those his gifts of Grace that he conferreth vpon vs. Saint Austen saith That God wrote the Law with his owne hand in token that our power of fulfilling it dependeth in the fauour of his hand The shaft that flies so nimbly through the ayre it is not it's owne lightnesse that causeth it's swiftnesse but the arme that drawes and deliuers it If thou shalt alledge That God hath not his fauour so readie at hand thou doost wrong God who is alwaies so readie at hand that thou canst blame no bodiebut thy selfe Secondly It is so easie and so sweete by those fauours that God affoordeth that a man may verie well say Iugum meum suaue est onus meum leue My yoke is pleasing and my burthen light Si dicebam motus est pes meus saith Dauid misericordia tua adiuuabat When I said my foot is moued thy mercie helped me He had scarce said Lord fauour me but his mercie presently followed him Nunquid adhaeret tibi sedes iniquitatis qui fingis laborem in praecepto Art thou a tyrannicall Prince that by making hard Lawes thou shouldest picke quarrells with thy Subiects and so oppresse and vndoe them No Thou art pittyfull franke and liberall for what thou commandest thou accompaniest with a thousand sweete blessings On the other side againe wee doubt how the old Law beeing so heauie a burthen and our Sauiour Christ adding thereunto a new load vpon the necke of that load it may be said Iugum meum suaue est I answer That there are two kinds of easing of a burden either by lessening the weight or by adding greater strength For a poore weake beast foure Arroba's a certaine measure in Spaine of some sixe gaâ—lons will bee too great a load but for a stronger twelue Arroba's will bee but a light weight And that to the poore beast the burthen may seeme the lighter the better way is to make him fat to put him in heart than wholly to quit him of his lading To him that had beene eight and thirtie yeres benummed our Sauiour sayd Tolle grauatum tuum Take vp thy bed a sickenesse of so long continuance could not but be a great burden vnto him that lay heauily vpon him but God giuing him strength to endure it it seemed light God euermore measures our burthens by his Spirit Diligite benefacite orate Loue do good pray Here are three Beneficia set against three Damna To wit Of our Thoughts our Words and our Workes And in the first place Loue is put Some will not perhappes like so well of it That he must submit himselfe so farre as to do good vnto his enemie and to pray for him But it ought not to seeme ouer burthensome to any for it stands not with reason that Grace should bee lesse powerfull than Sinne in those whose thoughts words and workes tend to what is good Saint Basil compares those that receiue a wrong to the eccho which returns you word for word in the verie same Language and tone as you your selfe shall speake vnto it But heerein lies the difference that in theeccho though the voyce may goe encreasing yet the wrong doth not But in those that thinke themselues wronged that still growes more or lesse as occasion is offered vpon replie of wordes Your Bookes of Duell haue their eccho the lye must be returned with a boxe on the eare a boxe on the eare will require a bastonadoing a bastonadoing the vnsheathing of the Sword and the Sword death God likewise hath his eccho for a cursing hee returnes a courtesie Maledicimur bâ—â—efacimus i. Wee are cursed and yet doe good for hate loue for an ill a good turne God doth not desire of thee That thou shouldest doe more for his sake than thou doost for the Deuills Which mee thinkes is a verie fayre and mannerly kinde of proceeding and such as thou canst not except against If thou canst finde in thy heart to goe see a Comedie meethinkes thou shouldest not refuse to goe heare a Sermon If thou canst giue Liueries to thy Pages it were not much for thee to cloath him that is naked If thou giuest twentie Crownes when thou hast good lucke at play to the standers by it is no great matter for thee God hauing blest thee with wealth to bestow foure vpon an Hospitall If thou canst be content to spend two or three houres in idle and light conuersation it is a small matter for thee to conuerse by Prayer halfe an houre with God it is a thing of nothing Petrus Chrysologus pursueth this Conceit a little further to whom I shall referre you Benefacite his qui oderunt vos orate pro persequentibus vos Doe good to them that hate you Pray for them that hurt you The offended that seekes meanes for his satisfaction shewes hee hath a mind to he made friends and God being willing to be friends with thee hath inuented the meanes of Fasting Prayer Almes but more particularly recommends here vnto thee a Benefacite and an Orate a Good turne and a Prayer Nature teacheth thee to repell violence with violence power by power and the sword by the sword with a Vim vi repellere licet But Grace teacheth vs another Lesson Benefacite his saith she qui oderunt vos orate c. Doe good to them that hate you and pray c. Ill is hardly ouercome with il hatred with malice or bad with worse dealing but with goodnesse and with loue with a Vince in bono malum Ouercome euill with good Plutarch reporteth That the Wind and the Sunne did lay a wager which of the two should first strip a man of his cloaths for this challenge the field was appointed the Wind stoutly bestirres himselfe and furiously sets vpon
should lay downe his life or leaue his goods forsaking all to follow him but to him that should loose his honour or his reputation hee neuer made the like promise For to obey and serue him is all the honour that man ought to stand vpon Hoc est omnis c. Gods seruice the greatest soueraignety S. Ambrose saith That God would be borne of a married Virgine out of a care that he had to the Virgines credit yet therfore is it not meet that a man should procure his owne honour by doing dishonour to another Cum maledixerint vobis homines dixerint omne malum aduersum vos mentientes propter me When men shall curse you and speake all euill against you The World will say Thou art a base fellow if thou put vp a wrong and doe not reuenge it to the full But the World lies for a man cannot doe himselfe a greater honour than to pardon an iniurie The World will say Thou hast no worth in thee and that thou doost degenerate from thy noble Ancestors But therein the world likewise lies for there is nothing more noble than to forgiue and forget a wrong Others wil say I forgiue my enemie with all my heart but I will neuer speake to him I answer This is a metaphisicall case that thou wilt giue him thy heart and denie him thy tongue Me-thinkes that Fountaine that is faire within should not be foule without Shall God giue thee a heart to wish well and wilt not thou find a tongue to speake wel And words too without a heart are not worth God-a-mercie Si salutaueritis fratres vestros tantùm If yee shal onely salute your brethren it is neither any great thing nor yet thankes-worthie but to say thou wilt giue him thy heart and not so much as a word thou doost giue him neither the one nor the other Others say Let him come and speake to me first for as I am the more wronged so I take my selfe to be the better man and therefore I wil not offer my selfe vnto him but let him come to me if hee will else I will neuer bee friends with him I answer That by thy yeelding first vnto him thou wilt winne by the elder hand and get thy selfe the more credit Abraham thou knowest gaue Lot leaue to chuse first and being his Kinseman and his inferiour both in yeares and otherwise did not reckon of his right nor his reputation that hee might not make a rent breach of loue and amitie betweene them Ne quaeso sit jurgium inter me te Let there be no strife betwixt thee and me c. Others say Mee-thinkes it is a hard case that God should wish mee to loue and doe well vnto him that loues not me and would reioyce in any il that should happen vnto me I answer That I am not bound to desire of God that he would fulfill the desires of my enemie for if he direct them to my hurt and to my ruine I am not bound to aske of God any ill to my selfe When a Bell is drawne vp to the top of some Tower or a Stone to some high Steeple it is the naturall and common course of those that see it carried vp to desire no mischance may befall it But if any should be so maliciously foolish as to say in his heart O that I might now see it fall the Stone might verie well replie Let not thy desires prosper The like may he say who goes mounting vp to some heigth of goodnesse to his enuious enemie Let not thy ill wishes thriue against me Last of all To him that shall thinke that this is too hard a Precept I answer That there is this difference betweene those that are the Saints of God those that are not that these striue to get Heauen at too cheape a rate and stand a hucking to see if they can get thither with a little cost But those that are Gods children seeke all occasions for to buy it at any price be it neuer so high nay though it should cost them their life Quotidiam morior propter vestram gloriam I die daily for your glorie saith Saint Paul Whereupon Saint Chrisostome giues this note That the Apostle was euen sorie that he had no more but one life to lay downe for his God and for the welfare of his brethren in the Lord And that therefore he had scarce escaped one danger but that he was desirous to enter into another THE FOVRTH SERMON ON THE SATVRDAY AFTER ASHWEDNESDAY MARC 6. MAT. 14. Cum sero esset factum erat Nauis in medio Maris When it grew late the Shippe was in the middest of the Sea THe Euangelist recounteth heere vnto vs a fearefull Tempest which the Disciples endured one night in the middest of the sea the winds being stiffe and terrible the waues furiously raging the clouds thicke and darke the ship small shrewdly beaten and hardly able to withstand the swelling of this proud sea this storme continuing in it's strength and vigour till the fourth watch in the morning And though these were many and verie forcible reasons to make them to be affraid yet vnto these was added a new cause of feare to wit That our Sauiour appearing vnto them walking vpon the waters they thought it was a Phantasma some Spirit in a seeming assumed shape whither Angell or Deuill they could not deuise with themselues And the common receiued opinion is That theâ—e Visions had their seuerall apparitions as it appeareth in Saint Luke and the Acts of the Apostles They pittifully cried out for feare of beeing drowned in the Deepe not considering that he who had filled their bellies in the wildernesse could trample the waues vnder his feet and preserue their bodies from sinking Our Sauiour made shew at the first of walking a farre off from them as he did afterwards with those that he went along with to Emaus but in the end he spake vnto them and made himselfe knowne vnto them Then Peter thereupon rushed presently into the Sea and beginning to sinke he stretched out his hand vnto him and reprehended him for hauing so little Faith At last they entred into the ship and they were no sooner come in but the winds went away the sea grew calme and the tempest ceased The Mariners and the rest that were aboord this Barke acknowledged our Sauiour to be the Sonne of God They disembarked in Genezareth the fame of whose comming was soon spred abroad they brought forth their sicke vnto him and our Sauiour Christ restored them to their health Cùm serò esset factum When it grew late c. Saint Iohn saith That the Feast being ended our Sauior went vp to the Mount to pray Ascendit solus orare He went vp alone Saint Marke and Saint Mathew That he forced his Disciples to go on shippe-boord Nor doth this admit any contradiction for before that he withdrew himselfe to pray he
many Bookes that are written thereof especially by a Sea of judgement where your shallow wits are vsually drowned Concerning this Article which is so notorious there is not a Prophet an Euangelist a Sybil nor any of the holy Fathers which do not make confession thereof yea the verie Angells said vnto the Disciples This Iesus who was taken from you shall So come where this particle Sic So doth not so much exprimere modum as similitudinem not the true manner of his comming but after what likenesse he shall come Now doth he sit at the right hand of his Father and shall possesse that Throne till that he shall come to iudge the world and make his enemies his footstoole According to that of Dauid Sit at my right hand Vntill I make thy enemies thy footstoole a sentence which was repeated afterwards by S. Paul to the Hebrews Not that the sitting at the right hand of his father shal euer haue any end for as Saint Chrysostome and Gregorie Nazianzen hath noted it the word Vntill doth not point at any set time but the mutation of the place which our Sauiour Christ is to make for that terme of time that the Iudgement shall last himselfe comming thither in person to set all things in order Vsque in diem restitutionis omnium so saith Saint Luke And by reason of the notoriousnesse thereof the Euangelist doth not say that hee shall come but supposeth as it were his present comming with a Cum venerit c. The Sonne of Man Iudiciarie power or this Potestas judiciaria as the Schoole-men call it is proper to all the Trinitie but is here attributed to the Sonne as Wisedome is likewise attributed vnto him which is the soule of the Iudge So that the Sonne as he is God is the eternall Iudge and the Lord vniuersall to whom the Father hath communicated this dominion by an eternall generation Generando non largiendo saith Saint Ambrose But as he is man the blessed Trinitie gaue him this power in tempore by vniting him to our nature Hee gaue him power to doe judgement And Saint Iohn giues the reason thereof Because he is the Sonne of Man it beeing held fit that Man should be saued by Man Gods mercie gaining thereby glorie and Mans meannesse authoritie And therefore it was thought fit that Man should be iudged by Man Gods justice remaining thereby iustified and Mans Cause secured For What greater securitie can man haue than that hee should bee Mans Iudge who gaue his life for Man shedding his bloud on the Crosse for Mans saluation So doth Saint Austen expound that place alledged by Saint Iohn Dedit ei judicium facere quia filius hominis est On the one side here is matter of hope comfort on the other of feare and trembling Who will not hope for pittie from a man and such a man that is my brother my aduocate my friend who to make me rich had made himselfe poore c. But who can hope for any comfort from that man that was iudged sentenced and condemned vniustly by man vnto death Who can hope for any good from that man whose loue man repaid with dis-loue and whose life with death These Yrons are too hard for the stomacke of man to digest it had need of some Ostriches helpe I will not destroy Ephraim because I am God and not Man God is woont to requite bad with good discourtesies with benefits his loue commonly encreaseth when mans diminisheth but mans brest is somewhat streighter laced In a word This his beeing Man is a matter of feare and by how much the more was Mans obligation by so much the more shall the son of mans vengeance bee For the pretious bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ and his cruell yet blessed wounds are the Sanctuarie of our hopes especially to those that trust in him and lay hold on him by Faith but for the vnthankefull sinner they shall be matter of cowardise and of terrour and to our Sauiour Christ minister occasion of greater punishment and a more rigorous reuenge Esay introduceth the Angels questioning our Sauior at his entrance into Heauen Quare rubrum est vestimentum tuum sicut calcantium in torculari Why are thy garments ô Lord like vnto those that tread the Wine-presse You say wel for I haue troden like the grapes my enemies vnder foot and my garments are sprinkled and stained with their bloud O Lord this bloudie spoyle would well haue beseemed thee on earth But what doost thou make with it here in Heauen Dies vltionis in corde meo The day will come when I shall bee reuenged at full of those ill requited benefits which I bestowed on my People and all that patience which I then sâ—ewed shall be turned into wrath and endlesse anger Saint Chrysostome interpreting that place of Saint Mathew Sanguis eius super nos Let his bloud be vpon vs and our children saith thus The time shall come that the bloud that might haue giuen you life shall occasion your death it shall be vnto you worse than that Fire of Babylon which the King intended for death though in the end it turned to life The bloud of Christ was intended for life but it shall end in death Hosea saith Vâ— eis cum recesserâ— ab eis Another Translation hath it Caro mea ab eis When the Sonne of mans mercie was come to that heigth as mans thought could not set it higher to wit That God in mans fauour should take mans flesh vpon him woe vnto those men who were vnmindfull of so great a blessing for this extraordinarie courtesie of his being so vnthankfully entertained and so ill requited shall be their condemnation for whose saluation it was intended Cornua eius sicut Rinocerotis saith Deutronomie The Vnicorne is the mildest the patientest beast that is and it is long ere he will be prouoked to anger but if he once grow hot and angrie there is no creature more fierce and furious than he is Ex tarditate ferocior as Pierius vseth it by way of adage Saint Austen collecteth hence another conuenience Euerie iudgement saith he requireth two especiall and important things The one That the Iudge feare not the face of the Mightie The other That he hide not his face from him that is brought before him For the first The Scripture hath it euerie where Regard not the countenance of the Mightie For the second Iob pondering the perdition of a certain Prouince saith That the Iudges thereof would not suffer themselues to be seen The earth is giuen into the hands of the Wicked he couereth the faces of the Iudges And therefore God will not be seene by the damned for by their verie seeing him they should be freed from their punishment and therefore in this respect it was fit that Christ should come to iudge the world as Man In Maiestate sua In his Maiestie The Interlinearie hath it In Diuinitate
Coasts of Tyre and Sydon He taxes this his people of their vnthankefulnes towards him For he that doth not only not acknowledge a good turn but requites it with il shuts the gates of Heauen against his owne Soule And therefore Signum non dabiter eiâ— Rupertus hath obserued That the first fault that was committed in the World was Ingratitude For God hauing created Adam in a perfect age and sound in his judgement hauing for his recreation giuen him Paradise and for his authoritie the Seigniorie of the World yet did hee not giue him thankes for these his so great and many fauours towards him whereupon the Deuill beeing a slye and subtill Merchant tooke occasion to tempt him persuading himselfe That hee who had shewed himselfe ingratefull would with a little labour bee easily brought to be disobedient This Doctor doth soundly throughly ponder these words Serpens erat callidior The serpent was more subtill Like a craftie Huntsman hee waited but for a time that Adam by his vnthankefulnes should fall into the toile whence afterwards hee should not so easily get out Saint Ambrose sayth That Noah all that while that hee was building the Arke did not any thing though neuer so little without some especiall order from God but as soone as hee was gone out of the Arke without further expecting aduise from Heauen hee did prepare and make readie his sacrifice For that a Soule should shew it selfe thankefull to it's God it is not necessary that it should stay waighting looking for reuelations but rather hasten to expresse it as soone as it can and to vse all preuention of being put in mind of it And therfore in approbation of Noahs forwardnesse the Text sayth Odoratus est Dominus odorem suauitatis The Lord smelled a sauour of rest And shewed himselfe so well pleased and appeased therwith that he sayd in his heart he would thencefoorth curse the ground no more for mans cause There is another circumstance touching Ingratitude which is very considerable deserues our attention which is this That albeit God is woont sometimes to dissemble other faults and lets them runne on many yeares before he wil punish them yet the sins of vnthankefulnesse he will not suffer them to scape vnpunished no noâ— so much as to graunt them the forbearance of a few houres God sayth in Leuiticus Qui maledixerit Deo suo portabâ—t peccatum suum Whosoeuer shall curse his God or speake ill of him shall beare his sin no farther chastisement beeing there set downe for him But hee that shall blaspheme the name of the Lord Morte morietur shall bee put to death that is the Law The second questionlesse is a lesser sinne than the former And yet God dissembles the former and will by no meanes indure the second And the reason thereof rendred by Thomas is That those names and attributes of God doe shut vp as it were and comprehend in them those benefits which hee so liberally bestowes vpon vs and for that the blasphemer showes himselfe so vngratefull vnto God hee cannot hope for any pardon of his punishment Our Sauiour Christ then seeing that Iudea did draw poyson out of treacle and vnthankefulnesse and hardnesse of heart from the many fauours and mercies that hee had shewed towards them Secessit in partes Tyri Sydonis Went into the Coasts of Tyre and Sydon c. Ecce mulier Chananea Many and great matters are spoken of the force and power of Prayer Greeuous is that saying of God vnto Ieromie Noli orare pro populo isto neque assumes pro eis laudem orationem non obsistas mihi Thou shalt not pray for this people neither lift vp cry or prayer for them neither intreat mee least I should heare thee and so diuert mine anger Seest thou not what they doe c Seeke not therefore to hinder me in executing my vengeance against them None sayth Iob is able to resist the wrath of God But God aduiseth vs how powerfull a thing Prayer is for the appeasing of it by seeking to preuent the Prophet by putting in this caueat Non obsistas mihi Resist mee not Greeuous is that saying of God vnto Moses Desine vt irascatur furor meus Stand not betwixt mee and home that I may destroy this people O Lord who can hold thy hand when thou art willing to strike Who force thee against thy will to be quiet yes The Prayer of such a friend as Moses Orabat autem Moyses ad Dominum Deum suum Beeing one whom God so much respected And as the loue of a friend doth tye the hands of some angry Lord and keep him from striking so Prayers binds Gods hands when hee is angry with vs not suffering him to draw his sword This was no small comfort to Dauid which made him to sing the song of Thankesgiuing Benedictus Deus qui non amouit orationem meam misericordiam suam à me Blessed be God who hath not remooued either my prayer or his owne mercie from mee Saint Austen saith That as long as God shall not take from out our mouthes and our hearts our praying vnto him so long we may be well assured that he will not remoue his mercie from vs for he neuer denieth those that faithfully cal vpon him But a matter of great consideration is that which we haue here in hand Ecce mulier Cananea Behold a Canaanitish woman c. What a woman that is an Idolatresse can shee bee of that power that shee should ouercome God by prayer When a weake arme cuts a man off by the wast at a blow or hewes a bar of yron in sunder this act is not attributed so much to the force of his arme as the goodnesse of his sword so this dayes noble act is not to bee attributed to a Pagan woman who was descended of that accursed Cham but to the power of Prayer To those three diuine persons Prayers are not permitted for as Thomas noteth it Prayer is to be directed to a superiour power And if the Sonne of God did pray it was according to his humanitie hauing recourse as Saint Ambrose saith to those two obligations of Priest and Aduocate And if Saint Paul saith that the holy Ghost doth pray Postulat pro nobis gemitibus in enarrabilibus He maketh request for vs with grones that are vnspeakeable It was that he might teach vs how to pray as Saint Augustine expoundeth it The Deuills and those that are damned are not capable of prayer Albeit the couetous rich man did desire a drop of water of Abraham to coole his tongue the Deuills entreated Christ that he would giue them leaue to enter into the Swine For to pray vnto God is to turne vnto God and with a sorowfull soule and a contrite heart humbly and earnestly to call vpon him crauing pardon for our sinnes Prayer therefore onely belongs vnto men as well the Iust as the Sinner and that the
it is not vnknowne vnto you how scornefull I shewed my selfe vnto her how many disgraces I put vpon her yet all would not doe but she is more importunate vpon me than before so that her Faith did enforce me to yeeld He that is truly in loue auoyds the occasions that may bee offensiue to his Loue Nor can that loue be too much indeered which our Sauiour bare vnto the Iewes which made him so loath to offend them but neuer was there any woman so jealous of her husband as the Iewes were of the Gentiles as also of our Sauiours conuersing with them The sixt That one of the noblest and most heroicall acts of our Faith is That a man should loue his Maker cal to God for mercie and forgiuenesse of his sinnes desire victorie ouer his temptations and sue and beg and that earnestly not a yeare or two but ten yeares together and God all this while not returning him any answer that he should for all this still perseuer in these his constant courses of Prayer is a thing I know not whither more to be commended than admired Clamo non exaudis me sto non respicis me saith Iob I crie vnto thee and thou doâ—st not heare me neither regardest me when I stand vp I crie by Prayer I stand vp by perseuerance Vatablus translates it Sto nihil me curas I stand vp and thâ—â— takest no notice of it Moses did desire of God That he would doe him the fauour to let him see his face that he should talke with God and God speake again to him this would not content him he must see him forsooth else all the rest was as nothing In what case would hee then haue beene had hee neither seene nor heard of him Of Baal the diuine Historian deliuereth There was neither voice to be heard nor one to answer nor any that regarded He was a false god but that our God should be deafe at our cries c. The seuenth That a mother should breed vp her daughter so ill that shee should fall into the Deuills hands Male à Daemonio vexatur the Greeke Daemonizatur it is not much that Christ should not make her any answer for although no man can liue free from the batterie of Hell yet a mother that shall thrust her daughter into it must hold her selfe an vnfortunate woman For it is necessarie that scandalls should come yet Christ did mourn for those through whose meanes they were occasioned The last God doth deferre the fauours thou beggest of him to the end thou maist esteeme the better of them when they come for wee lightly esteeme of those things that cost vs but little labour Elisha could haue healed Naaman the King of Syria's Fauourite either by his word onely or by laying his hands vpon his leprosie or by willing him to wash himselfe but once in Iordan but hee would haue him to wash himselfe therein seuen times because hee should not disesteeme of it Speciosa mesericordia Dei quasi nubes in tempore siccitatis O! how faire a thing is mercie in the time of anguish and trouble It is like a Cloud of raine in the time of a drought For these and other the aforesaid reasons our Sauiour Christ would not giue eare to this humble petition of this poore Canaanitish woman Dimitte cam quia clamat post nos Dispatch her for she crieth after vs. These were good Fauourites worthie to be about the person of Christ their King your Courtyers haue not commonly such tender bowells but these had compassion of other mens miseries and necessities they take part in the petitions of the poore they plead the cause of the afflicted they solicite their suit and entreat hard for them The Propitiatorie stood vpon the Arke of the Law and on either side it had two Cherubimes couering the Mercie seat with their wings and their faces one towards another beholding one another in that manner that their eyes were neuer off each other Saint Augustine will haue it That God doth hereby aduise the Transgressours of his Law that they should appeale from his rigour to his mercie which was the neerest cut a sinner could make and that the best means to come to this his Mercie seat was to looke vpon our neighbor neuer to haue our eyes from off his wants and necessities The Spouse did boast her selfe of those fauours which her Beloued did vnto her Introduxit me Rex in cellam vinariam c. Hee brought me into the Wine sellar and Loue was his banner ouer me his left hand is vnder my head and his right hand doth embrace me c. And her companions that kept her companie made answer Exultabimuâ— latabimur in te memores vberum tuorâ—m Wee haue reioyced and will be glad c. We take much ioy in this thy priuacie and inwardnesse with him because wee know that it will make much for our good Thou alone saith Saint Bernard shalt enter into the Wine sellar but thou alone shalt not be rich and happie therein thou must share these thy blessings with thy neighbours friends and allyes and all must tast of the milke of thy brests for the brests were not made so much for those that haue them as for those harmlesse creatures that must sucke and draw from them This loue and charitie shewed the Apostles when they did solicite this womans dispatch and said to our Sauiour Dimitte illam Send her away Non sum missus nisi ad Oues quae perierunt domus Israel I am not sent but to the lost Sheepe of the House of Israell Principally personally and by especiall precept was our Sauiour sent to the People of Israell which was testified by Saint Paul The Word of God was to be spoken first to you And this was the reason why he called them Children and the Gentiles Dogges But by his Apostles he came to preach and do miracles for the whole world so doth Saint Ambrose Cyril Alexandrinus Saint Hierome and learned Bede declare it Saint Augustine saith That he employed his presence onely vpon the Iewes in regard of Abrahamâ— Faith and for the promise sake which God had made of the Messias so that though hee came to the borders of Tyrus and Sydon it was more for to hide himselfe out of the way than any thing else and that though he wrought this miracle there it was not much materiall beeing wrested from him by importunitie as one who to still a bauling Curre throwes him a morcell of bread to stop his mouth or to speake it in better termes as one from whom by chance a crumme had fallen from forth his fingers Non sum missus nisi ad Oues c. Amongst many other offices which our Sauiour Christ had one was that of a Sheepheard who was to gather together his scattered Sheepe and to bring them all into one Fold Et suscitabo super eos Pastorem meum qui
proclaime them as we say at the Crosse. Leaue this care to God for he will bring them to light in their due time when they shal make for thy honour and his glorie Elias was verie carefull that no man should know of his departure nay he sought to hide it from Elisha saying vnto him in Gilgall Sede hic c. Tarrie here I pray thee for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel But Elisha said As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee And hee was scarce come to Bethell but the childeren of the Prophets that were at Bethell came out to Elisha and said vnto him Knowest thou that the Lord will take thy master from thine head this day Noui silete Yea I know it said he hold yee your peace Elias afterwards departed for Ierico intreating Elisha that hee would tarrie behind promising him that he would presently returne vnto him but he could not persuade Elisha vnto it They were scarce come to Ierico but the sonnes of the Prophets acquainted him with the like newes to whom he answered as before Noui silete In the end going for Iordan Elisha still followed him and fifty of the sonnes of the Prophets so that the more Elias sought to conceale this businesse the more God made it knowne by reuealing it as Tostatus hath obserued to the sons of the Prophets And Elias desiring that they should not see this his Chariot of fire and his Triumph one only God made many witnesses of his glorie Neminem viderunt nisi solum Iesum Onely in Christ Iesus are our hopes secured Men will accompany you whilest the glorie of your prosperitie lasteth but that beeing ended you shall find no man that will sticke vnto you Woe vnto him that is alone for if he fall hee shall haue none to helpe him vp And this is truly verified of those who trust on the world or haue any confidence in man Weigh and consider with thy selfe what a number of friends Ierusalem had in it's prosperitie how readie to seru◠her and to court her loue but when Ierusalem began to fall and when she had most need of her friends Ieremie complaineth Shee had not so much as one friend to be her comforter The God of all comfort vphold vs with his euerlasting loue that we may not perish in this wrold nor in the world to come THE TWELFTH SERMON VPON THE MVNDAY AFTER THE SECOND SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 8.21 Ego vado quaeretis me I goe my way and yee shall seeke me THe Scribes and Pharisees were offended at the fauour which in affront of their authoritie our Sauiour had shewne to the Adulteresse saying Let him that is among you without sinne cast the first stone at her They had made some threatning offers as men that thought themselues much wronged by him to take away his life but because his houre was not yet come no man laid hands on him Whereupon our Sauiour said vnto them Ego vado Why seeke yee thus after my life I goe my way I am he whom willingly and of myne owne accord offer my selfe vnto death your armes were not strong enough to hold me if it were in my desire to make resistance but when I am dead yee shall seeke mee For the Iewes vsed continually to cal for their Messias and did earnestly long after him expecting then his comming when as hee was alreadie come and for that this hope of theirs was hopelesse he saies vnto them Yee shall die in your sinnes your death shall differ much from mine for I shall goe one way and you another Whither I goe yee cannot come Your inferiour Ministers did presume That our Sauiour out of a desperate humour would needs liue among the Gentiles as hee that goes to Morocco to turne Moore the Pharisees they thought that he would goe destroy himselfe What meaneth this man to say Whither I goe yee cannot come Will he kill himselfe Vnto which vnmannerly speech our Sauiour replied Yee are from beneath I am from aboue yee are of this world I am not of this world I haue told yee alreadie That except ye beleeue that I am he yee shall die in your sinnes not onely in that of incredulitie but in all those other which ye shall commit for without faith in him who I am there is no remission of sinnes c. I goe my way and yee shall seeke me This phrase of speech our Sauior Christ did often vse to shew That hee died meerely out of his owne proper will and pleasure O Lord said Abraham I shall be verie willing to die without leauing any children behind me seeing that thou wilt haue it so Eusebius Emisenus to this purpose expoundeth those words which our Sauior vttered on the Crosse to his father In manus tuas Domine commendo Spiritum meum Into thy hands ô Lord I commend my Spirit Now Commendare is all one with Ponere I put not ô Lord my soule into the hands of death nor into those of my enemies for neither their whips nor their thorns nor their nayl◠nor their speare were able to take my life from me if I had not bin willing to surrender it vp into thy hands Seneca saith That a benefit consists not so much in the thing that is giuen as the good will wherewith it is giuen And therfore when the gift is small the greatnesse of it must be measured according to the goodnesse of the will The death of our Sauiour Christ was the greatest benefit that euer the world enioyed but the willingnesse wherewith he laid downe his life for vs was farre greater Maiorem Charitatem c. Greater loue hath no man than this that a man layes downe his life for his friend But heare now the wofullest the heauiest and most lamentable case that can possibly fall within the compasse of thy imagination to wit That the death of his Sonne which God promised to the world as a Sea of mercies as a Heauen of hopes as a ransome of our slauerie and as a reparation of all our miseries he should now giue it as a threatning to this wretched and vnfortunate Nation and how taking his leaue of his Disciples in that Sermon of his last Supper with tender teares trickling down his eyes and with a great many other kind demonstrations of his loue hee should make such large promises vnto them after his death one of the chiefest whereof was Let not your heart be troubled for although I go from you yet shall I still remain with you Lo I am with you till the end of the world yet he should say now to the Pharisees Ego vado quaeretis me I depart away from you neuer to see you more O what a cruell blow was this O what a sad departure is this how comfortlesse and how hard to be endured If from him that is dangerously sicke the Physition shall goe his way who is able to cure
to the heart when he hath taken a great deale of paines and been at a great deale of charge to see them both lost Who euer tooke halfe that paines for vs as did our Sauiour Christ who was euer at that great cost with vs as hee hath beene Multo sudore sudatum est non exiuit de eo rubigo The sonne of man shall be deliuered It is a vsuall phrase in Scripture to call Man the sonne of Man Adam was neither the sonne of Man nor Woman yet is he listed in the number of the children of Men. Tertullian sayth That our Sauiour tooke his appellatiue vpon him to show that hee was now true Man Saint Austen That by this name he was willing to distinguish the humane nature from the diuine and to reuiue the remembrance of that surpassing benefit of his becomming Man Epiphanius and Theodoret That Daniel when he stiled him the sonne of Man by this his so calling of him prooued thereby that he was the person prophecied of in that prophecie Gregory Nazianzen That hee was called the sonne of Man for that hee was descended of Adam And if hee may bee most of all called sonne who doth most of all honour his Father none was more Adams sonne than hee Last of all our Sauiour treating heere of his torments and of his Crosse which were to come vpon him as Man it well suteth with this his present condition to take this name vpon him of the sonne of Man The sonne of Man shall be deliuered When Christ our Sauiour treateth of his torments he vseth the third Person Tradetur tradent He shall be deliuered and they shall deliuer him c. But when the Prophets did prophecie of him they spake in the first Person Foderunt manus meas pedes meos They haue digged my hands and my feet Fui flagellatus tota die I was scourged all the day long Faciem meam non auerti ab increpantibus conspuentibus in me I turned not away my face from those that rebuked me and spat vpon mee His plagatus sum in domâ— eorum qui diligebant me With these was I wounded in the house of my friends So that if you shall but aske Christ who it is that suffereth these things hee will answer That it is the sonne of Man And if yee aske the Prophets they will say That it is the sonne of God And peraduenture this is the mysterie of it That albeit our Sauiour Christ is the party that suffered as the Prophets prophecie of him yet he suffered as a Fiador or Surety But so great was the loue which hee bare to Man who was the Debtor that putting these torments which wee were lyable vnto to his owne account yet the discharge of this debt goes in the name of the Debtor And as the treasure of his merits is for the good of Man so his torments and his sufferings are to bee attributed wholly to Man who was the person that by the ordinary course of Law did owe this debt and was in all reason bound to pay it The sonne of Man shall bee deliuered It is here to bee considered how often our Sauiour makes repetition of this word Tradetur Peraduenture because it was one of his greatest griefes that his friend should betray him The man of Peace in whome I hoped sayth Dauid Thomas sayth That it is one of the noblest actions in the world for a man to loue his friend because to abhorre him is one of the foulest things that man can commit Magnificauit super me supplantationem He gloried in his supplanting me What greater griefe can befall a friend than to bee supplanted by a friend The metaphor is taken from those that run when as the one trips vp the others heeles Saint Ierome reads it Leuauit contra me caltaneum Hee lifted vp the heele against me Our Sauiour Christ flying to death with the wings of Loue Iudas setting his legge of Treason before him to throw him downe his Loue found it selfe thereby offended and beeing thus wronged by a friend his Loue had no need of such spurres to driue him on to his death But say it should it was not fit for a friend to put them on He of all other should not haue led him along therunto falsifying his loue by a feigned kisse kindly saluting him with an Aue Rabbi Haile Master To whom our Sauiour mildely againe replyd Amice ad quid venisti Friend wherefore camest thou What needst thou to haue taken so much paines thou mightest haue saued thy selfe this labour being it was myne own desire to make my selfe a prisoner yet it doth much trouble me that my friend should deale so vnkindly with me Tradetur principibus sacerdotum Hee shall bee deliuered to the chiefe Priests A little before the Apostles were at difference amongst themselues who should bee the greatest in that their hoped for Kingdome there beeing two commings of the Messias foretold by the Prophets 1 The one prosperous full ofMaiestie and Greatnesse 2 The other poore humble and despised Now because the Vnderstanding doth commonly follow the affection of the Will they did verily beleeue that this his comming should bee in state and Maiestie crowning himselfe King in Israell taking all dominion and rule from the Emperour of Rome from Herod Pilat and other inferiour Ministers and the Priesthood from the Pharisees who held it so vnworthily This conceit and hope of theirs is prooued and confirmed by that which the Disciples said on their way to Emaus But we trusted that it had beene hee that should haue deliuered Israell Not vnderstanding as then what was the deliuerance that Iesus Christ had purchased for them but looking after some worldly prosperitie But much more plainely out of that place of the Acts Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdome of Israell In a word They did fully persuade themselues that all the world should be subiect to his Crowne comforting their hopes with that prophecie of King Dauids His Dominion shall bee also from one Sea to the other and from the Floud vnto the worlds end And for that hee might turne the wheele of this their vaine hope another way hee sayth To the chiefe Priests whose seates you thinke to inioy shall I be deliuered vp and beeing presently put ouer to the Roman power I shall by them be whipt mockt buffeâ—ed crucified c. Ipsi vero nihil horum intellexerunt But they vnderstood none of these things This seemed vnto them to bee so foule a fact and so heinous a wickednesse that it could not sinke into their thoughts that to such great Innocencie such great Iniustice Crueltie should be offered But malice was growne now to that height that mans imagination must come short of it Seneca sayth That it is a verie poore excuse to say Who would haue thought it For there is not that wickednesse which is not now in the World And
liued to bee the Yron Age. But I say That this present Age which we now inioy is the happiest that euer our Church had For in those former times those that were the learnedest and the holiest men fled into the Desarts and hid themselues in Caues that they might not bee persecuted with Honours For they had no sooner notice of a holy man albeit he liued coopt vp in a corner but that they forced him thence clapping a Miter on his head and other dignities And there are verie strange Histories of this truth But to all those that liue now in these times I can giue them these glad tydings That they may inioy their quiet and sit peaceably at home in their priuat lodgings resting safe and secure that this trouble shall not come to their doores for now a dayes onely fauour or other by-respects of the flesh haue prouided a remedie for this euill Non est meum dare vobis It lies not in me to giue you Christ would rather seeme to lessen somewhat of his power than to lessen any thing of his loue And therefore he doth not say I will not doe it for that would haue beene too foule and churlish a word in the mouth of so mild a Prince and he should thereby haue done wrong to his own will who desires that all might haue such seats as they did sue to sit in Saint Ambrose vnfoldeth our Sauiours meaning Bonus Dominus maluit dissimulare de jure quam de charitate deponere He had rather they should question his right than his loue The selfe same Doctor saith That he made choice rather of Iudas than any other though to man it might seeme that hee therein wronged his wisedome for the World might from thence take occasion to say That he did not know how to distinguish of men being that he had made choyce of such an Apostle But this was done out of his especiall prouidence saith Saint Ambrose in fauour of his loue For he being in our opinion to runne the hazard of his wisedome or his loue he had rather of the two suffer in his wisedome for no man could otherwise presume of him but that he loued Iudas The History of Ionas proues this point who refused to go to Niniuie it seeming vnto him that both God and himselfe should as Nazianzen saith be discredited in the world But he willed him the second time That he should go to Niniuie and that he should preach vnto them Yet fortie dayes and Niniuie shall be ouerthrowne At last hee was carried thither perforce whither hee would or no And the reason why God carried this businesse thus was That if afterwards hee should not destroy this Citie he might happely hazard the opinion of his power but not of his loue The like is repeated by Saint Chrysostome Ionas did likewise refuse to goe to Niniuie that he might not at last be found a Lyer esteeming more the opinion of his truth than of his loue Hence ariseth in the Prelats and the Princes this word Nolumus Wee will not haue it so which sauours of too much harshnesse and tyrannie Sic volo sic jubeo sit pro ratione voluntas Their will is a Law vnto them But he that shall make more reckoning of the opinion of his willingnesse and of his loue than of his power and his wisedome will say Non possum I cannot it is not in my power to doe it It grieues mee to the verie heart and I blush for shame that I am not able to performe your desire Which is a great comfort for him that is a suitor when hee shall vnderstand that his Petition is not denied out of disaffection but disabilitie When Naboth was to bee sentenced to death the Iudges did proclaime a Fast And Abulensis saith That it was a common custome amongst the Iudges in those dayes whensoeuer they did pronounce the sentence of death against an Offendor to the end to giue the World to vnderstand That that mans death did torment and grieue their Soule For to condemne a man to death with a merrie and cheerefull countenance is more befitting Beasts than Men. When our Sauiour Christ entred Hierusalem in Triumph the ruine of that famous Citie representing it selfe vnto him hee shed teares of sorrow Doth it grieue thee ô Lord that it must be destroyed Destroy it not then I cannot doe so for that will not stand with my Iustice. O Lord doe not weepe then I cannot choose And why good Lord Because it will not stand with my Mercie And that Iudge who euer hee be if hee haue any pittie in the world in him cannot for his heart bloud when hee sentenceth a Malefactor to some grieuous punishment or terrible torment but haue some meltingnesse in his eyes and some sorrow in his heart God so pierce our hearts with pittie and compassion towards our poore afflicted brethren that hauing a fellow-feeling of their miseries wee may finde fauour at his hands who is the Father of Pittie and onely Fountaine of all Mercie THE FIFTEENTH SERMON VPON THE THVRSEDAY AFTER THE SECOND SONDAY IN LENT LVC. 16. Homo quidam erat Diues induebatur Purpura Bysso There was a certaine rich man who was cloathed in Purple and fine Linnen AMongst those Parables which our Sauiour preacht some were full of pittie and loue others of feares and terrors some for noble brests others for base and hard hearts some had set vp for their marke the encouraging of our hopes others the increasing of our feares some seruing for comfort to the Godly and some for example to the Wicked That which wee are to treat of to day hath all these comforts for the Poore which liue in hunger and in want pined and consumed with miserie And threatnings for the Rich who say vnto their riches and their pleasures I am wholly yours There was a certaine rich man c. The first thing that he was charged withall is That he was rich Not because rich men are damned because they are rich but because he is damned who placeth his happinesse in them and makes them the onely aime of his desires And hence it commeth to passe that desired riches vsually prooue more hurtfull than those that are possessed for these sometimes doe not occupie the heart but those that are desired and coueted by vs doe wholly possesse it and lead it which way they list And therefore Dauid aduiseth vs not to set our hearts vpon them Hee that longeth and desireth to bee rich euen to imaginarie riches resigneth vp his heart Saint Paul did not condemne rich men but those that did desire to bee rich The Deuill sets a thousand ginnes and snares about those that haue set their desires vpon riches What greater snare than that pit-fall which was prepared as a punishment for Tantalus who standing vp to the chinne in water could yet neuer come to quench his thirst Non est satiatus venter eius His bellie was
and flourish for euer in that eternall and glorious Paradise of Heauen The Holy-Ghost hath compared the Spouse to a Wall her brests to the branches of the Vine which goe clasping and compassing the same about And in another place the Angells aske Who is this that commeth vp out of the Wildernesse leaning vpon her Welbeloued Yee need not wonder so much at it for it is the Vine which desereth to be ioyned in perpetuall loue with Christ and hauing so good a prop it cannot but reach to the highest part of Heauen In a word Thou maist ô Lord mold man like a peece of waxe if thou wilt thou canst make a Deuill of him as thou didst of Iudas and if thou wilt thou canst make an Angell of him as thou didst of Iohn Baptist Thou canst make a just man mount aboue the Clouds and to sore vp to the highest part of Heauen And on the contrarie thou canst maxe a sinner to sinke downe as low as the deepest dungeon in Hell Peregrè profectus est And he went into a strange Countrie When the Scripture saith That God sleepeth or is afarre off it is according to Saint Basil a reciprocall kinde of Language Nor are we thereby to vnderstand that God either sleepeth or is farre off For he is neuer farre from any of vs but it is thou that art farre off and it is thou that sleepest when thou doost depart from such a Citie or when going to sea thou leauest the land it being thou that leauest the land and not the land thee for that remaines still immooueable Iust so stands the case between God and thee but is befitting his authoritie to behold things as if they were afarre off for in the notifying of his presence the World in one day would be turned quite topsi-turuie This made him say vnto Moses It is not fit that I should lead forth this People and be their Captaine Commander for their impudencies would oblige me to make an end of them at once For such is the wickednesse of this World that it is as vnable as vnfitting to abide his presence And therefore absenting himselfe he saith Peregrè profectus est Hee doth beare with our iniquities he doth patiently expect our amendment hee doth dissemble his displeasure and doth make as if he did not see what we did From whence grow these two inconueniences The one Our boldnesse and presumption It will be long ere my Lord will come And this false presumption makes a naughtie seruant carelesse and negligent Because I held my peace and said nothing and for that I seemed not to see them the wicked haue forgot that there is a God The other The rigour and seueritie of the punishment wherewith God doth recompence this his slackenesse and long tarrying Saint Gregorie compares the wrath of God to a Bow which the more it is bent the stronger it shoots it's Shaft He may vnbend it for a time butthat is but to make the draught the stronger when he takes it againe into his hand Excitatus est tanquam dormiens Dominus tanquam potens crapulatus à Vino percussit inimicos in posteriora Hee compares him here to a sleeping man and one that hath dranke hard who if hee bee valiant and a stout man in deed if his enemies make a May-game of him in his sleepe and offer to abuse him they were as good awake a sleeping Lyon for he no sooner opens his eyes but he presently takes notice of their ill dealing towards him and when he hath once rowsed vp himselfe vents his choller and executes his vengeance He went to trauell Hence grew the mischiefe of these Renters for they thought with themselues That their Lord being gone into a farre Countrie ◠would be long before he would return to require these his Fruits So that al ou◠hurt proceeds from our presuming that we shall liue so long that we may laugh and be merrie as long as our youth lasteth afterwards haue time enough to repent at leisure The Sinner he complaines of the shortnesse of his life Nos nati fere statim desiuimus esse We are no sooner borne but wee are cut downe and gone The righteous man complaines That his pilgrimage heere vpon Earth is too long He◠mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus est But the truth is That thou makest thy life short by being forgetfull of the end for which it was giuen thee God gaue it thee to gaine Heauen and thou mispendest it in worldly businesses so that though life be little the losse is much If thou beest borne to be rich honourable and much made of thou wouldst thinke the yeares of thy life to bee but a few in regard of the great desire that thou hast to enioy those thy earthly blessings But if thou beest borne for Heauen Who will say that he wants time though he liue but a few yeares to prepare himselfe for that journey From the Cradle many young innocent Babes haue beene borne vp to Heauen and yet their yeares are neuer a whit the lesse but the more And some the more yeres they haue the more is their hurt For that day saith S. Gregory thou must reckon amongst those of thy life which thou foundest did make for thy Souleshealth He went to trauell Not to forget his Vine for that was alwayes before his eys but for to shew the great trust confidence that he had in these his Farmers and Renters and to oblige them thereby the more vnto him For that lord that trusts little ties a man the lesse When God had deliuered ouer Paradise vnto Adam and quietly seated him in the peaceable possession of it it is said That he forthwith vanished and went his way Hee that is Master of an estate hath not his eye continually vpon his seruants for that would fauour more of a tyrant than a master That husband that alwayes stayes at home and neuer goes out of his house is extreame wearisome to his wife but if he begin once to mistrust her peraduenture she will not sticke to giue him iust canse so to doe That Prelat which is alwayes gagging and pricking the sides of his subiects is an intollerable burthen And Dauid himselfe complaines thereof saying Imposuisti hominem super Capita nostra Saint Luke and Saint Mathew cite two Parables of Masters that did recommend to their seruants the charge of their house and of their wealth and say That presently thereupon they absented themselues and went into farre and remote Countries El que fia mucho obliga mucho He that trusteth much obligeth much Ioseph held himselfe so much bound vnto his master in that he trusted him with all that he had that he said being tempted by his Mistresse Quomodo possum peccare contra Dominum meum How can I prooue such a villaine to my Master as to wrong him in his Loue who hath loued me so well Saint Paul writes to Timothie
vnto them but they loued Darknesse their Messâ—â— came and they killed him What will the Lord of the Vineyard doe He did direct this question to the repairing of their perdition for as yet they were in the state of saluation And 〈◊〉 they would but haue beene ashamed of that which they had done and repented them of their sinnes hee would haue runne with open armes to haue receiued them into grace Plutarch saith That Loue takes any occasion bee it neuer 〈◊〉 light to doe good vnto him whom he loueth it hath no need of baits snares himselfe beares those baits about him wherewith he is taken for Gods loue neuer takes his leaue of a Sinner Our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ remained dead in Mount Caluarie yet for all that did he not forsake vs but he returnes 〈◊〉 hundred times and more intreating and calling vnto vs Be thou instructed ô Ierusalem lest my Soule depart from thee lest I make thee desolate as a land that 〈◊〉 inhabiteth In that generall inundation he repented him of what he had 〈◊〉 and promised neuer to doe so no more Nequaquam vltra There shall bee no 〈◊〉 waters of a floud to destroy all flesh What will the Lord of the Vineyard doe He askes the question What he 〈◊〉 doe and takes councell with himselfe signifying thereby vnto vs That great chastisements require great consideration The Prophet Esay threatning Edom saith He will measure it out with a Line that he may bring it to naught No man doth measure a Building to destroy it the Rule and the Square were ordained for to build I answer Amongst your Artificers here vpon earth it passeth so as thou sayest but he that was that onely Artizan of Heauen dwelt longer vpon the destroying of Niniuie than hee would haue done in building of it Cogitauit Dominus dissipare murum filiae Syon tetendit funiculum The Lord hath determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Syon he stretched out a Line he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying The Lord had a determination to destroy the citie of Ierusalem but first hee tooke a measure thereof as wee say by line and by leisure Rupertus hath noted it that he was seuentie yeres about taking this measure Lastly he askes the question What shall the Lord of the Vineyard doe because to destroy and to kill is to bee vsed where no other meanes will serue the turne After that they had ill intreated his Seruants stoned some slaine other-some and last of all his heire yet euen after all this doth he seeke to make peace with them In the twentieth of Deutronomie God hath commanded That when thou commest neere vnto a citie to fight against it before thou shalt set vpon the same thou shalt offer it peace Abishai besieging Abel a woman cryed out there within Knowst thou not that they spake in the old time saying They should first aske peace of Abel and hence it is said Qui interogant interogent in Abel Why doost thou not first demand Sheba of vs wee shall deliuer Sheba vp into thy hands Quare pracipitas hereditatem Domini Why wilt thou destroy the Lords Inheritance Chrysostome saith That Gods sending of Ionas to preach Yet forty days and Niniuie shall be destroyed was no other but a profering of peace vnto them What shall the Lord of the Vineyard doe All these and other larger proffers God vseth to make to Christendome in generall and to euery one of the Faithfull in particular He hath planted a Church hee hath watred it with his owne bloud and that of the Apostles and Martyrs he hath ploughed and tilled it and sowne it with the seed of his Doctrine he hath affoorded thee strange fauours as riches discretion beautie the dainties of the Earth of the Ayre and of the Sea and all these hast thou made as weapons to offend him Quid faciet Dominus Vinia It is no meruaile that many Christians are worse now in part than the Pharisees were then for in the brests of the Pharisees there was no faith nor no knowledge of Christ which occasioned their sinnes against Christ but the Christians beleeuing in him and adoring him doe not sticke to offend him The Pharisees would not receiue Christ our Sauior Redeemer because then they must haue laid aside their couetousnesse their ambition their hypocrisie dissimulation but they beeing so proud a People would not admit of so humble a God A poore King and rich Vassals doe not sute well together but to beleeue in him and yet not to regard him this is a foule fault among Christians Samaria being subiect to the Assyrians God sent a fearefull scourge amongst them Lyons which euerie where slew them and tore them in pieces The King desiring to repaire this losse sent Priests among them to instruct them in the Law of that Land and to persuade them to the feare of God and to teach them the manner of the God of the Countrie but the Text saith They feared the Lord but serued their Idols withall They offered their Vnderstanding to God but their Will vnto Idolls The like kind of course a great part of Christendome taketh they acknowledge a God but adore Vice and their Faith they thinke shall serue them for a safe Conduct that God may not destroy them in his wrath Beeing herein like vnto your Marshalls men who onely therefore serue the Marshall that they may liue the looser and sinne with more safetie Two mischiefes seeme to threaten such kind of Christians The one That this their Faith may turne to their greater condemnation The other That they may runne the hazard of loosing it By Balaams aduice the King of Moab sent many faire and beautifull women to Gods People to the end to draw on their loue the more but charging them withall that they should not in any hand yeeld to their longings and their lustings vnlesse they would first worship those Idolls which they themselues adored And it so fell out Affection ouer-ruling Religion that many of the Faithfull by this meanes fell away and did linke themselues in marriage with them making little or no scruple of the condition whereunto they were tyed Wee may verie well giue great thankes to our Vices and vnto God who hath so ordred the businesse for vs that though our Vices bring with them vnlawful pleasures and delights yet they doe not bring Idols with them which if they did I feare me that many would echaran la soga tras el Caldero Hurle the rope after the kettle or as we say by way of Prouerbe Fling the helme after the hatchet Aiunt illi Malos male perdet They say vnto him He shall destroy those wicked ones Him in Scripture we call ill who does ill Si ergo vos cum sitis mali nostis bona dare filijs vestris c. Wee dayly pray vnto God to deliuer vs from euill yet sticke not dayly to
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
water whither it bee this naturall water or the symbolicall water of humane delights he wil quickely become thirstie againe For neither with the one water is the thirst of the bodie allayed nor with the other of humane pleasures that of the Soule but hee that shall drinke of that liuing water that I shall giue them shall thirst no more reseruing it's satisfaction and fulnesse to that other life This sence the Cardinall of Toledo followes Yet me thinkes there is a plainer explication of this place to wit That he that shall drinke of this dead water be it naturall or symbolicall shall haue thirst both here and there in this and in that other life in this because the more water he drinketh the more hee thirsteth in that other because Hell is a lake where there is no water The couetous rich man could not there get so much as one poore drop of water the thirst there is too raging and too hot to be quenched So that this verie word Iterum Againe doth implie an eternitie in their thirst but hee that shall drinke of the liuing Water shall not suffer an eternall thirst because this his thirst shall bee allayed in Heauen Shall thirst no more In part it may be verified of the fulnesse of this life First Because albeit the holy-Ghost doth augment the thirst of those diuine goods giuing the Righteous a taste thereof as he did in Tabor to the three Disciples when he gaue them a relish of his glorie yet that thirst desire which they had at first to enioy that good was not wearisome and troublesome vnto them but rather that one little droppe that one small crumme seemed so â—auorie to Peter that hee could haue rested well contented therewith for many Ages So that those drops of water which are deriued from the foâ—â—â—ain of that celestiall Paradice howbeit they augment our desire yet they giue vs withall such a pleasing taste that Christ calls those happie that enioy them And Ecclesiasticus saith That they surpasse in sweetnesse the hony and the hony combe The remembrance of me is sweeter than honey and myne Inheritance sweeter than the honey combe They that eat me shall haue the more hunger and they that drink me shall thirst the more And Saint Augustine saith That as in Heauen there is fulnesse without fastidiousnesse so on earth there is a desire a hope but no grieuous torment Whereof we haue proofe from many places of Scripture which inuite vs to drinke of these liuing Waters As in Esay All yee that thirst c. Thou sweatest and labourest and all to no purpose because thou betakest thy selfe to those false brackish waters haue recourse rather to those faithfull Waters which as Ieremie saith make that good which is promised in Ecclesiasticus Draw neere vnto me yee vnlearned and dwell in the house of Learning Wherfore are yee slow and what say you of these things seeing your soules are verie thirstie Your soules perish for verie thirst and only the water of Wisedome is able to quench it And this is the Argument of the eight chapter of Wisedome which is verie excellent to this purpose Secondly Because this liuing Water doth in the Righteous quench the thirst of humane delights and this woman heere had scarce heard the newes of this Water but she leaues her bucket and her rope behind her as if she cared not now any more for earthly water or worldly pleasures Meliorâ— sunt vbera tâ—a vino Another letter hath it Amores tui the wine of the Vine makes me sleepe but the sweetnesse that I taste from thee and thy deere loue my Beloued doe in a manner rauish me and quite alienate me from my selfe and doe assuage in my brest my disordinate appetites One drop of the water of Heauen is able to quench the flames of Hell fire And this made the rich man in Hell to beg the same of Abraham Introduxit me rex in cellam vinariam in domum vini Saint Ambrose reads it Et ordinauit in me charitatem He gaue me to drinke of the wine of this cellar and my loue was reformed Before I loued but now I abhor that which I loued and loue that which I abhorred Wine is vsually a spurre to sensuality but my Beloued did not giue me of this Wine but of that which King Lemuel gaue to those that were comfortlesse and of a sorrowfull heart Noli Regibus dare vinum c. It is not fit for Kings to drinke wine nor for Princes strong drinke lest he drinke and forget the Decree and change the iudgement of all the châ—lderen of affâ—â—ction giue yee strong drink to him that is readie to perish and wine vnto them that haue griefe of heart let him drinke that he may forget his pouertie and remember his miserie no more True it is that in this life our thirst cannot be fully quenched by reason of those manifold sinnes whereinto out of our weakenesse we cannot chuse but fall and that verie often while we beare these bodies of sinne about vs. Domine da mihi hanc aquam Lord Giue me of this water Our Sauiour Christ had so indeered this water that he set an edge vpon this womans desire to enioy it The Serpent spake so much of the forbidden Fruit that Eue contrarie to Gods commaund did eate thereof The Queene of Sheba heard so much good spoken of Salomons wisedome that she vndertook a wonderful great journey that she might both see and heare him Abigal did so highly recommend to Dauid the noblenes of pardoning of an offence that of a fierce Lyon she made him as gentle as a lamb the woman of Tecoa told Dauid so handsome a tale that he pardoned his sonne Absalon Some do seeme to wonder that the sinne of dishonestie beeing so hatefull a thing in Gods sight that permitting other sinnes in his Apostolicall Colledge as Pride Couetousnesse and Treason he did neuer winke at this kind of sinne and hauing antiently so seuerely punished them that hee should now with this woman deale so mildly and so gently The drowning of the World was for wantonnesse such like dishonesties the burning of Sodom for vnnaturall vncleannes The punishing of Dauid by the vntimely death of Bersabes son by visiting himselfe with sicknesse was for his adulterie with Vriaâ—s wife Ezechiell cals Ierusalem a pot and the Princes thereof flesh because that Citie was much giuen to sensualitie And he sayth that he will put fire thereunto vntill all the flesh be consumed and that the pot be melted How is it ô Lord that thou weâ—t then so seuere and art now become so milde I answere That it is wisdome in a Physition to apply different medicines sometimes Lenitiues and sometimes Corasiues The sinnes of Ierusalem were growne hard and brawnie saith Ieremie Why cryest thou for thine affliction Thy sorrow is incurable because thy 〈◊〉 were increased I haue done these things
either out of necessitie curiositie or out of malice All the Court doth attend and wait vpon thee because thou commandest all but thou art neuer more alone than when thou hast most companie for all those that accompanie thee are not all of thy companie they goe not along with thee but with themselues following thee not so much out of affection as affectation more to see thy miracles than to receiue thy instructions The pledges of true friendship indeed are to hazard a mans life for his friend to condole with him in his miseries and to reioyce with him in his happinesse but since wicked presumption as Ecclesiasticus speaketh hath sprung vp to couer the earth with deceit and that priuat interest like the Iacke-Daw hath only learned to prattle the language of loue there is no trust to be had in these pledges There is some friend which is onely a friend in name and hast thou not seene that when heauinesse remaineth vnto death a companion and friend hath bin turned to an enemie There is some companion which in prosperity reioyceth with his friend but in the time of trouble is against him There is some companion again that helpeth his friend for the bellies sake taketh vp the buckler against the enemie There are perhaps some such that dare nay will not sticke to lay downe his life for a good friend indeed And there are some likewise which for their own interest wil hazard both goods and life and all that they haue but if they did thinke they should faile of their ends and that it should not turne to their greater aduantage they would not venture one farthing though it were to saue thy life When Adoniah vsurped the Kingdome and proclaimed himselfe King the Princes of the Bloud tooke part with him Ioab Dauids Generall besides diuers other principall Captaines and Commanders and most of the valiantest men of Warre as also Abiathar the High-Priest In a word the Clergie and the Laitie were both mainly for him and yet hauing all these on his side he was all alone All the strength of the Armie was not with Adoniah many vnderstand this of the Kings Guard but for our purpose it may be better vnderstood of all those who profest themselues to be Adoniahs fâ—iends but were not true in heart vnto him nor did not sticke so close vnto him as they made shew for they did not so much respect Adoniah as their owne ends The Kings sonnes thought he would prooue their best brother the Nobilitie their best King Ioab that hee would pardon his murdering of Amasa and Abner and that hee should hold his place of Generall Abiathar That he would not put him out of the Priesthood though there was I know what prophecied to the contrarie But the proclaiming of Salomon was no sooner heard but they left one by one and went their wayes till they had left him like a single proposition to stand alone by himself hauing no champion to make good his Title Seneca pressing this Argument saith Many Flyes come to the Honie many Wolues to the Sheepefold many Ants to the Wheat yet the flyes are no friends to the honie nor the wolues to the sheepe nor the ants to the corne Nor art thou to esteeme those thy friends that accompanie thee for they are no better than flyes wolues and ants which seeke not thee but themselues And if thou shouldst but heare after they haue profest themselues thy friends fawn'd vpon thee with flattering tearmes and vow'd what a deale of loue and affection they beare vnto thee what they talke of thee behind thy back and what they mutter and whisper of thee in by-corners thou wouldst then see and perceiue that all thy prosperitie is the fable and common by-word of their wrongs and discontents Because they saw his Miracles which he did on them that were diseased All the Miracles of our Sauiour Christ were directed to the repayring of our miseries First for the furthering of our Faith which depending vpon the Will comes by benefits to bee well affectioned thereunto and to incline to Knowledge and Vnderstanding The other To show by sencible signes the end which caused him to come into the world which was to cure our Soules infirmities The third That it might appeare vnto Man that the onely motiue thereunto was his Mercie Now the Iewes did neither fixe their eyes nor their thoughts vpon any one of these but onely vpon their owne proper ends Either because hee should heale them or fill their bellies And therefore albeit some say that the Euangelist did set downe this reason that he might thereby aduise vs that our Sauiour was bound as it were to doe that he did for these people that followed him yet I doe rather beleeue that he set downe this passage to giue vs thereby to vnderstand how vnobliged he stood to doe them this so great a fauour and how kind hee was of his owne accord to those that did so ill deserue any kindnesse at his hands And therefore hee discouereth their mindes layeth open their intentions and manifesteth their priuate interests Because they saw his Miracles c. And therefore Saint Paul saith He did shut vp all in vnbeleefe That is Hee did permit that they should all fall into the net of sinne that hee remaining wholly disingaged his obligation should by his mercie his pittie of them be the more esteemed by how much the more it was vndeserued Quia videbant signa As if he should haue said That they sought rather after meat than after him that was to giue it them and therefore hee said vnto them elsewhere Yee haue followed me because I haue filled your bellies and giuen you fulnesse of bread For there are some people that seeke after God for worldly blessings and neuer thinke vpon him but in time of want and necessitie and then if God doe not relieue them they care not a pin for him Elisha was with Iehâ—ram and reprooued him because he neuer sought after him but in time of hunger and thirst Micah went weeping and crying after those that had stolne away his siluer god but because hee made vse thereof for his owne priuate interest when a greater conueniencie of gaine was offered vnto him hee forgot the former and thought thereof no more It is better for thee sayd they that thou shouldst bee a Priest of a whole Tribe than of one particular House Philon commenting vpon Cains answer vnto God the Seuentie rendering this Translation Si proijcis me à facie tua à facie tua abscondar If thou cast me from off the face of the earth let me be hid from thy face saith That it was all one as if hee should haue said If thou wilt not bestow vpon mee the blessings of the earth keepe those of heauen to thy selfe if I may not enioy the pleasures delights of this world let vertue and goodnesse for me goe a begging I care
so that in some sort God may be said to be indebted to the ill that is in vs. Tertullian saith That God then loueth this our flesh when it is fullest of miseries for by giuing remedie thereunto his attributes are knowne and acknowledged in the World and I dare be bold to say it That if it were not for the infirmities of our flesh and the in-bred ill that is in vs those good things would not bee knowne and acknowledged which come from God In the 113 Psalme Dauid makes an enumeration of those meruailes and prodigious wonders which God multiplied in the behalfe of his People at their departure out of Aegypt And after that he had related many of them he endeth with this Goe on as thou haâ—â— begun ô Lord with these Nations For although the profit will be ours the honour will be thine and whereas these Nations doe point out their gods with their fingers it is fit we should also know that wee haue a God amongst vs and not a god of wood as they haue The second reason is Saint Bernards Amongst all his other attributes none in our opinion none considering his naturall condition is to be compared with that of his being misericors a mercifull God He is called Pater misericordiae The Father of mercie which presupposeth our miserie and to multiplie his blessings and his goodnesse vpon vs we hauing no sinne nor euill in vs hee could hardly doe it If hee should haue dealt thus with Adam before his fall and with the Angells in their blessed estate it might haue been an effect of his bountie but not of his mercie which is aboue all his workes But some man perhaps will say O Lord to throw euills vpon vs that thou maist afterwards remooue them from vs is no such great fauour Yes marry is it and that an extraordinarie fauour for we doe not know health but by sickenesse the seising of that soundly vpon vs shewes what a blessing a sound bodie is Speciosa misericordia Dei quasi nubes pluuiae in tempore siccitatus As raine is welcome in a drought so is Gods mercie to the Afflicted and so to this blind man was his sight The third is Saint Chrysostomes God sometimes takes from vs what is good that he may giue vs that which is better whatsoeuer God doth repaire by myracle is better than that which is possessed by nature as it succeeded in the wine at the Wedding Saint Bernard treating of the conuersion of Saint Paul saith That it was a great happinesse that he was strucken blind for by this his blindnesse he was taken vp into the third Heauen there saw such things as man may not vtter and when he came to receiue againe the eys of this his bodie he possessed withall the eye-sight of his soule and so did it likewise fare with this blind man The fourth reason is God inflicting the euill of punishment vpon man God therein doth not doe man iniustice for as Saint Chrysostome saith there is in this life no more than one good and one ill the good consists in seruing God the ill in offending him Let no man therefore complaine of his misfortunes for there cannot be any disaster so great that can hurt thee in the least haire of thy head Capillus de capite vestro non peribit And if a man doe not runne hazard in the losse so much as of one haire there will be much more care had that the better and more materiall parts shall not perish Many in Ierusalem hauing eyes remained blind and this blind man hauing no eyes came thereby to enioy his sight both in bodie and in soule Seneca saith That the want of eyes caused in many the want of sinning was a great occasion of their innocencie of life and inculpabiâ—itie The fifth reason is That it is no iniustice in God to inflict punishment vpon vs for albeit there be no proper precedent sinne neither in our selues nor our Parents yet the original sinne that we are liable vnto may draw and that iustly most grieuous punishments vpon vs as Saint Augustine hath learnedly noted concerning little infants which suffer sickenesse and death So that Gods freeing of man from punishment is mercie his not freeing him no iniustice Thou hast many debtors thou forgiuest one and suest another it is a kindnesse to the one but no iniurie to the other One owes thee a great summe thou art contented to â—ake a little for this thy debtor owes thee a great deale of thankes God tooke away this mans eyes from him he might likewise haue bereaued him of his feet and his hands he is bound to thanke him that he spared him the vse of those Besides this cannot be said to be so much a taking away of that which is due as not a giuing of that vnto him which he might if he would The good things which we enioy are from God and hee may distribute them as it best pleaseth him Againe the arme is to defend the head though it runne the hasard of being lost a Citisen for the safeguard of his Commonwealth a Subiect to saue his Soueraignes life a Christian for the glorie of Christ a Creature for the honour of his Creator and Martyrs for the maintenance of their Religion haue not refused to lay downe their liues it is not much then that this man should be contented with the losse of his eyes that the Workes of God might be made manifest The sixt reason is That because the heart doth commonly follow after the eyes it is better to want eyes than to haue them It is the common opinion not only of the Phylosophers but of Gods Saints That the eyes are principium â—alorum nostrorum The induction to all our ill Lucian calls them Prima amoris viâ— The onely doore that opens vnto loue Plato Principium amoris nostri The entrance to loue Dionysius Adalides or Duces amoris The guides or ringleaders to loue Seneca Animae finestrae The window to the soule Saluianus The casements to mans brest Clemens Alexandrinus That the first encounters and skirmishes sallie from forth the eyes Nazianzen stiles them The prime instruments of our bewitching In a word The eyes were the ruine of Lots wife the eyes The bewitching of the children of Israell Videntes filij Dei filias hominum c. The eyes ouerthrew Eue in Paradice the Iudges that would haue wronged Susanna in Babylon Dauid Sampson and Salomon might all of them verie well say Vt vidi perij My sight vndid me Ieremie complaineth That all the Daughters of his Citie were vtterly vndone by their eyes Depredatus est oculus meus animam meam in cunctis filiabus vrbis Saint Peter That many Cast-awayes haue their eyes full of Adulteries Plutarch reporteth That a certaine Conquerour entring the Citie in triumph casting his eye aside vpon a handsome young woman had his heart taken prisoner by her and sending his lookes
partie was nobly borne and that many of good Qâ—alitie came to visit him in his sickenesse and did weepe and bewaile his death did our Sauiour performe this myracle Amongst all those myracles which our Saour Christ wrought Saint Augustine giues to this the first and prime place and indeed it seemes to be an epitome and short summe of all those other myracles that he wrought in the whole course of his life for in the resurrection of one that is dead there is giuen sight to the Blind eares to the Deafe a tongue to the Dumbe feet to the Lame motion to the Paraliticke c. And therefore Saint Iohn with this myracle doth as it were shut vp and giue a close to the proouing of his Diuinitie A certaine man was sicke named Lazarus c. Therefore his Sisters sent vnto him Here we may consider the good aduisement and discretion of this noble paire of Sisters When Marie Magdalen treated of the reparation of her own soule she went her selfe in person passing through a world of inconueniences but for the restoration of her brother to his bodily health she thought it would be sufficient and serue the turne well enough to send her Seruant with a letter to our Sauiour The Worldling for the health of his bodie will round the world but will not stirre a foot for his soules health For to esteeme of things as they are and to giue them their true weight and to put euerie thing in it's proper place is not onely the marke of a prudent but of a predestinated person Aegypt taxed Moses of ingratitude as Phylon hath noted in his life for that hee did forgoe Pharaohs Pallace refused to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter and chose rather to suffer aduersitie with the People of God those poore Israelites than to weare the Crowne of Aegypt and to enioy the pleasures of the Court esteeming as Saint Paul saith the rebuke of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Aegypt But first of all he was not vngratefull for concerning those good blessings which he enioyed he was more bound to God for them than to the King Secondly he shewed he was no foole in doing as he did for better is one crumme of bread in the Lords house than all the prosperitie of the world without it Than to enioy to vse Saint Pauls words the pleasures of sinne for a season I had rather be a Doore-keeper saith Dauid in the house of the Lord than to dwell in Tabernacles of sinners Nazianzen reporteth That the Emperour Valens offering Saint Basil his fauour and to be a friend vnto him if he would but bee a friend to Eâ—doxius the Arian he told him That he should highly esteem of the Emperours fauour and friendship but hee was to esteeme more of Gods Saint Augustine saith That Adam did eat of the Apple Ne contristaret delitias c. least he should grieue his Loue not led along with carnall concupiscence but with a friendly affection Suting with that of Saint Paul That Adam was not deceiued but the woman was deceiued but it had beene better for Adam to haue displeasâ—d his wife than to grieue the spirit as Saint Paul speaketh of a sinner In a word fathers mothers chiâ—dren wiues friends and all our kindred and acquaintance are to be had in lesse esteeme than our soules and our God And therefore Marie Magdalen went in person for to seeke out Christ for her God and for her soule but did not so for her brother Behold he whom thou louest is sicke c. The Saints doe much ponder the discretion of this letter The first consideration is It 's briefenesse and shortnesse of stile Imagination caâ—not desire an elegancie more briefe nor a briefenesse more copious Apâ—leiusâ—coffes â—coffes at the long and spatious Orations which the Priests made of their Syrian Goddesse Elias mockt at those of Baals Priests continuing from morning to high noone Clamate voce maiori said he Crie aloud for he is a god that either talketh or pursueth his enemies or is in his journey or it may be that he sleepeth and must be awaked c. Our Sauior Christ aduising vs how we ought to pray saith When yee pray vse no vaine repetitions as the Heathen for they thinke to bee heard for their much babling It is now the fashion of the World to amplifie reasons and to inlarge it's discourses with the ornaments of Eloquence the floures of Rhetoricke choice Phrases and a great deale of artifice and cunning but that of Heauen consists of few words but is full of spirit and deuotion one single Paâ—er noster vttred with feruour is of more force than many vosario's without it When a Vessell sounds it is a signe it is emptie Moses treating with God sayd O my Lord I am not eloquent neither at any time haue beene c. but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue Moses was herin mistaken for I would haue thee to know that a talking tongue and a dumbe heart doe not sute wel together Diuine Bernard askes the question Why God in the Lords Prayer did put this word Qui est in Coelis Which art in Heauen being that he is present euerie where and in all places And his answer is That his desire was that our prayers should proceed with that feruencie and forcible ejaculations as if God could not heare vs vnlesse by our prayers we pierced Heauen As for our harpes we hanged them vp vpon the Willoughes Ruffinus saith That your Willoughes are but barren Trees and without fruit and when Prayer proceeds from a drie heart and a barren and vnfruitfull soule it is like the Harpe there spoken of that hangs vpon the Willoughes by the waters of Babylon In a word your Laconicall kind of Language that which is short full Nazianzen saith That it is The vttering of much matter in a few words and the fewer the words are the greater are the voyces of our desires When the Deuill left Iobs lips onely free from byles and sores he did not doe it out of any pittie towards him but out of a desire that hee had to draw some word of impatience or blasphemie from them but he was both deceiued and ashamed when he saw that he imployed them in these only foure praise-worthie words Sit nomen Domini benedictum Blessed be the name of the Lord. And say the Deuill should haue bereaued him of the vse of his lips and that he should not haue beene able to haue vttered a word yet his desires would haue spoken their mind in a loud voyce Cum inuocarem exaâ—diuit me Deus justiciae mea He calls him Deum justiciae meae The God of my righteousnesse not The God of my Prayer And why so The reason is Because Workes out-speake Words Saint Iohn saith That hee saw vnder the Alter the soules of the Martyrs Crying with a loud voyce How long Lord c. But if these soules
from Loue and Ioy they must likewise of force liue farre from Peace How can a troubled sea enioy a Calme But the wicked are a troubled Sea In a word There is no peace to the vngodly But how comes it now to passe That they are at that peace and vnitie that they ioyne together and gather a Councell against our Sauiour Christ with so vnanimous a consent that there is not a voyce wanting but run all ioyntly for his death First of all I answer thereunto That the wicked vsually enioy a kind of league and alliance and confederat with a ioynt consent for their owne priuat profit and anothers hurt But they neuer inioy any peace So saith Saint Augustine Eos copulat non amor sed malitia It is not loue but malice that thus linkes them together They confederat themselues not that they loue but that they hate that which they ought to loue wanting not so much vnderstanding as will Philon compares them to Reapers who fall a singing but haue no other agreement in their musicke but that they disagree alike He compares them likewise to the colds and heats of a quartane Ague which being a perpetuall distemper yet both iumpe and meete at such an instant and such an houre Viam pacis non cognouerunt saith Dauid They haue not knowne the way of Peace But to shed innocent blood their feet are very swift Iob thus painteth forth the mysticall body of the diuell The Maiestie of his Scales is like strong shields and are sure sealed one is so set to another that no wind can come between them one is so ioyned to another that they sticke together and cannot be sundred The wicked saith Lyra are the flesh of this body and are like shields and as armes made in the manner of scales Se praementibus One pressing vpon another A shield vpon a shield and a scale vpon a scale so close knit and ioyned together that the ayre cannot get in betweene them Considering on the one side their ill neighbourhood and on the other their strict league and amitie Dauid askes the question Why doe the Heathen rage the Kings of the earth band themselues and the Princes assemble together against the Lord and against his Christ Is there any man that knowes the cause of this discording concord of this accursed combination That Esau should rise vp against Iacob Ismael against Isaac Cain against Abel the brethren against Ioseph Iezabel against Naboth the two old Leachers of Babylon against Susanna it is not much to suffer one enimie that persecutes me hauing many friends to protect mee But that the Gentile the Iew the King the Vassall the Clergie and the Laytie should all cry out against our Sauiour Christ this requires a Quare Why they should doe it The reason is because euery one of the Saints in particular and all in generall were persecuted for his sake and Christ for his owne Vnum contra vnum is the worlds Motto God saith Salomon created all things in an opposition Omnia secundum litem fiunt saith Heraclytus And that great Orator and Poet Laureat Petrarke telleth vs Sine lite atque offensione nil genuit natura parens That Nature who is the mother of all things and common parent of this great vniuerse brought forth nothing into the world without strife and contention This is it that makes the holy man to set himselfe against the prophane and the prophane against the holy And so in the rest And because euery one of Gods Saints though they were seasoned with all the other vertues yet were they more particularly pointed at for some one especiall vertue And to this purpose is that vsuall song in the Church Non est inuentus similis illi There is none like vnto him But our Sauiour Christ was that vniuersall glasse where in all the vertues were to be seene in their most perfect and supremest degree For this cause the enuie of Cain wageth war against those fauours God did to Abel the little honestie of Iosephs brethren and his masters wife against his great both honestie and goodnesse the proud and harsh nature of Esau against the meeke and sweet disposition of Iacob But against our Sauiour Christ all the wicked in generall haue combined themselues Come let vs oppose our selues against the iust because he crosseth our actions and liketh not of that we doe They called a Councell There is not any one thing more precious or more necessary than a Councell There is not that man saith Saint Chrysostom be he the wisest man in the world but in fine is a man and hath need of Counsell only it may be said of God Who was euer his Counseller or was able to aduise him What saith Saint Augustine Ego senex Episcopus paratus sum à puero doceri I though an old man and a Bishop doe not scorne to learne of a child Moses did not scorne the Counsell of his father in Law Iethro though a Priest of Midian not so much regarding his calling as his Counsell his person as the proiect The Counsell which Ioseph gaue to Pharaoh imported him more than if hee had inricht him with much treasure For treasure decreaseth through wast but Counsell increaseth through vse Treasure diuided amongst many comes in the end to a little and he oftentimes wants that supplyes others wants But Counsell the more it is imparted the more it profiteth returning backe againe to the fountaine from whence it came The Apostle Saint Paul after that hee had beene rapt vp to the third heauen and hauing beene now some fourteene yeares an Apostle he saith That he went vp to Ierusalem and communicated with them of the Gospell which he had preached among the Gentiles and presently rendreth a reason thereof in the words following Least by any meanes I should runne or had runne in vaine No maruaile then if he that is not such an Eagle as he was nor hath beene rapt vp into heauen with him should be so foolishly wilfull as not to aduise with his Counsell but suffer himselfe to be carryed away with his owne passion and proper â—pinion Counsell therefore ought to be pure and sincere free from malice passion and ignorance Saint Ambrose tells vs by way of demand Who amidst durt and mudde will seeke for a cleere fountaine Who will take water out of a foule poole How then can he giue me Counsell that knowes not how to follow it himselfe Neuer yet was a blind man fit to be a blind mans guide Hee that is a foole walkes in darknesse Throughout the Scripture we doe not finde the Counsell of the wicked to thriue with them The Historie of the Macchabees reports vnto vs certaine wicked persons that resolued to make a league or couenant with the Nations from whence sprung the ruine of all Religion The rash counsell of a company of young heads was the losse of tenne parts of Rehoboams kingdome For such
of his loue why God did not say vnto him I now know that thou louest God The reason is That when a iust man comes to the top and heigth of his loue he may presume of himselfe that he hath then begun to loue And for that feare is the first step to loue he sayd Nunc cognoui quod timeas c. By the whole drift of this discourse that conclusion of Ecclesiasticus remaineth cleere Lift not thy selfe vp in the thought of thy soule like the Bull. Let not thy thoughts and hopes make thee doe the things that are vaine and foolish Hee instances in the bull an vntamed beast which doth not acknowledge heauen Why wilt thou leaue thy leafes and thy fruit and remaine like a dotard in the desart Iob saith If he layd folly on his Angels how much more on them that liue in houses of clay If in the purest steele he found rust and in the finest cloth the Moth c. S. Augustine saith Nullum peccatum facit homo quod non possit facere alter homo si desit rector per quem factus est homo Man doth not commit that sinne which another may not â—oe if that Ruler doe not direct man by whom man is made The second occasion on Peters part was the Pallace of Caiphas Saint Ambrose saith That Peter comming to warme himselfe at the Pallace came to denie the truth For where Truth it selfe was taken prisoner he had need of a great deale of courage that should not incline to a lye Aeneas Syluius reporteth That Fredericke Archduke of Austria would goe a nights disguised through the Tauerns and Victualing houses belonging to the Court only to heare what they sayd of himselfe and his Ministers being demanded why he did expose his person to that perill his answer was Because in Court they neuer tell truth Plutarch recounteth of King Antiochus That hauing lost himselfe a hunting hee lighted vpon a Cottage where were a companie of shepheards and asking them being at supper What the world said of the King and his Ministers The King said they hath the report of a good honest gentleman but that the State was neuer worse gouerned than now for it is serued by the greediest and the gripingest Ministers that were in the world and when he came backe againe to Court he told those that were about him Since I first tooke possession of this my Kingdome I neuer heard the truth of things till yesterday Amongst foure hundred Prophets which Ahab consulted onely hee met with one that would not lye vnto him and the King hated him for telling him the truth Saint Ambrose calls the Pallace Basilica deriuing it from the Basiliske which kills with it's looke Of this creature Aelian saith That he vomiteth forth his poyson vpon a stone And it fits well for Peter whom our Sauiour Christ termed Petram vpon whom the diuell whom the Scripture stiles a Basiliske vomited foorth his poyson Our Sauiour Christ receiued much kindnesse and courtesie in the house of Martha of Zacheus and the Pharisee but in Herods Pallace they made a foole of him In that of Pilat they whipt him and crowned him with thornes and in that of Caiphas he receiued so many affronts that God onely knowes what they were according to that which Dauid said in his name Tu scis impropirum meum confusionem meam The third occasion was That hee would enter into the Pallace by being brought in by the hands of a woman Saint Bernard saith Si infidelitas intrat quid mirum si infideliter agat Maximus Tirronensis saith That Peters sinne was much like vnto that of Adam there being imployed in both of them a man a woman and a diuell Adam had a warning not to eate Peter not to denie Eue was the occasion that Adam did eate and Cayphas maid-seruant that Peter did denie In a word a woman was the instrument of all our deaths and threw downe to the ground those two Columbs and pillars of the world but Peters fall was the fouler for Eue proceeded with inticements and flatteries and Adam suffered himselfe to be ouercome Ne contristaret delitias Lest he should grieue his Loue. But this woman saith Saint Augustine proceeded with threatnings now a woman is very powerfull in matter of allurements inticings dalliance and deceiuing through profession of loue but in matter of feare as Saint Gregorie hath obserued shee is very weake A woman triumphed ouer Sampson Dauid Salomon Sisera and Holophernes by making loue and vsing deceit but here a maid with only a bunch of keyes hanging at her girdle triumphed ouer Peter by feare The fourth occasion was Saint Peters offering to thrust into the Pallace Ioseph could not auoid the occasion because his Mistresse called him vnto her Dauid did cast his eye aside by chance but Peter did seeke occasion And he that loues anger shall perish by it He doth not say He that loues warre or victorie but he that loues danger Many of the children of Israel did cut off the thumbs from their fingers because they would excuse themselues from prophanation by singing the songs of Sion and being importuned thereunto Sing vnto vs one of the songs of Sion They answered How shall we sing one of the Lords songs in a strange land c. Osee saith Non vocabis me vltra Baalim sed vocabis me vir meus Baalim is the same as Vir meus But because there was an Idol that was called Baalim God said Doe not call me Baalim to the end that no man may presume that thou yet bearest Baalim still in thy mind or for to take all occasion from thee of thinking thereof any more On Gods part there are likewise very good reasons The first shall be of Saint Gregorie Saint Peter being to bee a Pastor it was fit that he should fall into so foule a fault least that afterwards he should be scandalized by other mens offences and carry too sharpe and hard a hand towards sinners Saint Augustine touches vpon the same reason in his bookes de Ciuitate Dei persuading the Bishops of Galilea That Clemencie should sway more with them than seueritie loue than power softnesse than sharpnesse for there is no man that liues without sinne And if our Sauiour Christ should haue censured Peter after his first deniall he would not haue reapt from thence so much fruit as now he did The second shall be of Saint August who sayes That it is a wholesomâ— medicine for a proud man to suffer him to fall into some grieuous and manifest sinne to the end that the foulenesse of that fault may abate his pride Saint Peter was so peremptorie and so presumptuous that he did presse this point with such a deale of confidence and boldnesse that he told his Master Though that all men shall be offended by thee yet will I neuer bee offended And Christ then telling him that hee should denie him thrice
he presently reply'd thereupon Though I should dye with thee yet will I not denie thee but you see how this his courage was afterwards cooled Which presumption of his when he saw his great weaknesse he humbly bewailed with many a bitter teare which turned to his exceeding great good And this reason is confirmed by Saint Chrysostome who saith That God permitted Peter to denie his Master that he might thereby learne to relie more vpon God than himselfe Saint Peter gaue lesse credit to Christs words than his owne resolution but the successe thereof did put him out of his errour Leo the Pope saith That God did suffer Peter thus to fall that the holiest might take heed not to trust too much to their owne strength Euthimius further addeth that this negation of his was as it were a Fiador or suretie against anie bosting or glorying in those so many miracles which were afterwards to bee wrought by Peter Saint Paul saith of himselfe That the pricks that he had in his flesh did serue as so many Piguelas or lines to your hawkes iesses that hee might not sore too high being puffed vp with these his many reuelations Ne magnitudo reuelationum extollat me The third shall be of Leo the Pope who saith That God did permit in Peter so great a sin Vt in Ecclesia remedium poenitentiae conderetur For the better founding and establishing in the Church the authoritie and efficacie of repentance The like reason is rendred by Saint Ierome By Peters fall saith he was manifested the vertue of repentance against the poyson of sinne which is all one with that of Saint Paul I was a blasphemer a persecuter c. And God was content to giue way thereunto for the better instruction of those that were to beleeue hereafter He that makes treacle tryes it first vpon his owne child c. God sent Ieremie to the Potters shop that he might see how the broken vessell was to be new molded againe and come out better than before And shall not I be able to do as much with you as the Potter with his clay Where it is to be noted That as the clay oftentimes receiues a better forme and fashion than at first and for more honourable vse So saith Saint Chrysostome and Euthymius Peter was made much the better by this First because it was a very good warning vnto him not to presume any more on himselfe And therefore Christ asking him whether he loued him He durst neither say I nor no. Secondly because God pardoning this his disloyaltie it was but a further inflaming of his loue and setting his heart more on fire in the zeale of his seruice according to that saying of our Sauiour Christ He little loues to whom little is forgiuen In a word it was a fulfilling of Abacucs prophesie If thou didst heretofore tread one step in the way of death thou shalt now tread ten for it in the way of life Then he began to curse himselfe and to sweare c This his negation or deniall was foretold by Dauid I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was none that would know me As also by Ieremie They haue denyed the Lord and said it is not he S. Peter had learned in the schoole of Christ Let your Communication be yea yea and nay nay The maid asked him if he were not one of Christs Disciples He answered I am not But she reply'd vnto him Thou art For thy speech doth bewray thee But he that he might auoid all spies or any further inquirie Began to fall a cursing c. How now Peter Art thou well in thy wits knowest thou what thou doest Thou that sawst thy Sauiour so glorious in Tabor Thou that confessedst him to be the Sonne of the liuing God Thou whom hee called together with thy brother Andrew to be fishers of men Thou to whom he stretcht foorth his hand in the sea to saue thee from drowning doest thou not know him I know him not O Peter lament thy ignorance for thou hast beene more cruell to thy Master than all they that conspired against him and laid their heads together to torment him for as for them some bound his hands others his necke others spat in his face these buffeted him those platted thornes on his head others pulled him by the beard and tugged him by the haire one pierced his side but thou didst runne him through the heart O Peter saith Saint Augustine What is become of your courage now What of your great brags What of this your protestation and strong resolution I will lay downe my life for thee And of that your Why should I not follow thee and die with thee There was no torment that troubled Iob so much as that his friends should forsake him My friends and familiar acquaintance stood afarre off from me Dauid was not so sensible of any of all his persecutions as that of his sonne Absalon And Iulius Caesar tooke it not halfe so tenderly at any of the other Traytors hands as of his sonne Brutus and therfore said vnto him when he stabd him Et tu quoque Brute Ha Brutus art thou in this Conspiracie Gentiles and Iewes Ecclesiasticks and Seculars Patritians and Plebeyans did all conspire against Christ but none of those iniuries that they offered him toucht his heart so neere as Peters Deniall of him That Iudas should sell him betray him and deliuer him vp into his enemies hands that the high Priests Herod and Pilat should desire his death and consent thereunto it was nothing because they hated him and were his professed enemies But that Peter should denie him to whom he had made such glorious promises and hauing so often made offer vnto him of his life that he should play the Renegado and deale thus and thus c. Then the Lord turned backe and looked vpon Peter and Peter went out and wept bitterly Saint Luke like a good Painter drawes me Peter first with a cole but now he giues him his more liuely colours The first variegation and garnishment that he giues this peece was our Sauiour Christs looking back vpon Peter How he looked on him we haue handled elsewhere The effect which this his looking on him wrought was the making of his heart to melt like waxe and the turning of Christs eye the turning of Peters eyes into two fountaines The Astrologers say That he that is borne in the aspect of Mars is sterne and cruell in that of Iupiter mercifull and courteous in that of Mercurie industrous and eloquent The beams of the sun inlighten the ayre dispellclouds fertilize the fields breeds pearles in the shels of the riuers corall in the bottome of the sea gold siluer and other mettalls in the veynes of the earth and like a well ordred clocke gouernes all the world What shall the Son of righteousnesse doe then with the beames of his Eyes Sidonius Apolinaris reports of those of Thracia That for to signifie the
vertue and power of the eyes of our Sauiour Christ they did paint a sunne whence three Raies or bright-shining beames brake forth the one raising vp one that was dead the other did breake a stonie heart and the third did melt a snowie mountaine and the Motto was this Oculi Dei ad nos The beames of Christs eyes raise vp the dead breake rocks and melt snow A facie tua saith Esay montes defluent The fire which they hid in the transmigration of Babylon the children of Israel found at their returne turned into water but exposing it to the beames of the sunne it grew againe to be fire to the great admiration of the beholders which is a figure of Saint Peter who through his coldnes became water but the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse raised a great fire out of this water Pliny reports of certaine stones in Phrygia that being beaten vpon by the beames of the sunne send forth drops of water But the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse did not onely from this Petra or stone Saint Peter draw teares but whole riuers of water According to that of Dauid Which turneth the rocke into water-pooles and the flint into a fountaine of water Saint Ambrose seemeth to stand somewhat vpon it why Peter did not aske forgiuenes of his sins at Gods hands Inuenio saith he quod fleuerit nō inuenio quid dixerit lachrymas lego satisfactionem non lego I find that he wept but do not find what he said I read his teares but read not his satisfaction The reasons of this his silence and that he did not craue pardon of God by word of mouth are these First because he had runne himselfe into discredit by his rash offers and afterwards by his stiffe deniall and therefore thought with himselfe That it was not possible for him to expresse more affection with his mouth than he had vttered heretofore Etiam si oportuerit me mori tecum non te negabo c. And that tongue which had deny'd him to whom it had giuen so good an assurance could neuer as he thought deserue to be beleeued And therefore our Sauiour questioning him afterwards concerning his loue he durst not answer more than this Thou knowest ô Lord whether I loue thee or no. Secondly he askes not pardon by words because the pledges of the heart are so sure that they admit no deceit And for that Lachryma sunt cordis sanguis Tears are the hearts blood S. Ambrose therfore saith Lachrymarū preces vtiliores sunt quā sermonū quia sermo in precando fortè fallit lachryma omnino non fallit The prayers of teares are more profitable than of words for words in praying may now and then deceiue vs but teares neuer S. Chrysostome saith That our sinnes are set downe in the Table-booke of Gods memorie but that teares are the sponge which blotteth them out And indeering the force of teares he saith That in Christs souldier the noblest Act that he can do is to shed his blood in his seruice Maiorem charitatem nemo habet c. For what our blood shed for Christ effecteth that doth our teares for our sinnes Mary Magdalen did not shed her blood but she shed her teares And Saint Peter did not now shed blood but hee shed teares which were so powerfull that after that hee had wept hee was trusted with a part of the gouernment of the Church who before hee had wept had not gouernment of himselfe for teares cure our wounds cheere our soules ease the conscience and please God O lachryma humilis saith Saint Ierome tuum est regnum c. O humble Teare thine is the kingdome thine is the power thou fearest not the Iudges Tribunall thou inioynest silence to thine accusers if thou enter emptie thou doest not goe out emptie thou subduest the inuincible and bindest the omnipotent Hence it is that the diuell beareth such enuie to our Teares When Holofernes had dryed vp the fountaines of Bethulia hee held the Citie his and the Diuell when he shall come to dry vp the teares in our eyes when he hath stopt vp those waters that should flow from the soule of a sinner hee hopes he is his Elian of Tryphon the Tyrant reports of this one vnheard-of crueltie Fearing his Subiects would conspire against him he made a publike Edict that they should not talke one with another and being thus debarr'd of talking one with another they did looke very pittifully one vpon another communicating their minds by their eyes And being forbid by a second Edict that they should not so much as looke one vpon another when they saw they were restrained of that libertie likewise wheresoeuer they met one another they fell a weeping This seemed to the Tyrant the damnablest and most dangerous conspiracie of all the rest and resolued to put them to death The diuell is afraid of our words afraid of our affections but much more afraid of our teares O Lord so mollifie our sinfull hearts that whensoeuer we offend thee our words our affections and our teares may in all deuotion and humilitie present themselues before thee crauing pardon for our sinnes Which we beseech thee to grant vs for thy deare Sonne Christ Iesus sake To whom with the holy Spirit be all prayse honour and glorie c. THE XL. SERMON The Conuersion of the good Theefe MAT. 27. Cum eo crucifixi sunt duo Latrones vnus a dextris alter a sinistris There were crucified with him two theeues one at his right hand an other on his left THere are three most notable Conuersions which the Church doth celebrate That of Saint Paul That of Mary Magdalen That of the good Theefe The one liuing here vpon earth The other now raigning in heauen The third dying vpon the Crosse. Of all the rest this seemeth to be the most prodigious and most strange First because Mary Magdalen saw many of our Sauiour Christs myracles heard many of his Sermons and besides her sisters good example might worke much good vpon her Secondly Saint Paul saw Christ rounded about with glorie more resplendent than the Sunne had heard that powerfull voyce which threw him downe from his horse and put him in the hands of that dust whereof hee was created But the Theefe neither saw Miracle nor Sermon nor example nor glorie nor light nor voyce saue onely Christ rent and torne vpon the Crosse as if hee had beene as notorious a theefe as those that suffered on either side of him Againe How much the quicker is the motion and the extreames more distant repugnant and contrarie by so much the more strange and wonderfull is this change and alteration This theef was a huge way off from either beleeuing or louing our Sauiour Christ and that hee should now on the sodaine and in so short a space passe from a theefe to a Martyr from the gallowes to Paradise must needs be an admirable change Mira mutatio saith S.
Enableth vs to doe what Nature cannot 50 The order of it different from that of Nature 108 Not obtained without diligence 166 H Haire HAire hath bin hurtfull vnto many  Harlot The price of a Harlot no lasting portion 397 Her manners ibid. Hardnesse of heart In the Iewes without paralelle 206 They that liue in it iustly suffered to dye in it 58 117 Markes whereby to know a hard heart 296 A hard heart can neuer be mollified 537 Health Life is no life without it 239 Heart It cannot loue and hate both at once 117 Mans heart Gods temple 557 c. Of the whole man God desires only the heart 369 What is vnderstood by heart 371 It hath many enemies and all within it selfe ibid. The heart of the Earth what 130. Hearers Curious hearers reprooued 124 Heauen The ioyes of it 194 Not purchased without violence 230 391 545 In our passage to it no tyes of Nature to be regarded 311 The glorie of it 627 Hell The paines of it how dreadfull 244 c. All other paines but pastimes to these 453 Honour Despised of Christ. 327 Neuer without it's burden 35 Gods children more ambitious to deserue it than inioy it 192 Earthly honours brooke no partnership 228 The desire of honour not alwayes to bee condemned 327 Honours where no merit is addes but to our shame 554 Desired of all 555 Hope More prevailent with man than feare 190 The nature of both 619 Sathans practise to depriue Iob of his hope 620 Hospitalitie Pleasing to God 375 God the onely keeper of it 443 Humilitie Twofold one of the Vnderstanding another of the Will 33 The onely way to Heauen 217 No Humilitie like our Sauiours 635 Hunger A great temptation 80 Why Christ would hunger 78 Hypocricie Feignes the good it hath not 15 A kind of Stage-play 16 The Hypocrite hath no hope of Heauen 18 The danger of hypocriticall and luke-warme Christians 268 301 Hypocrisie straines at a Gnat and swallowes a Camell 262 368 I Ego I. A Word of great authoritie 45 Iealousie A true symptome of basenesse 338 Iewes A jealous and enuious people 315 Gods many fauours toward them 316 Their subtiltie and incredulitie 565 566 The murderers of all Gods Saints 602 In nature both like the Bore and the Beare 604 Ignorance A maine cause of all our euill 401 591 Images What difference betwixt the maker of them and the worshipper 151 Incredulitie A maine let to Christs miracles 322 Incontinencie Is a Sinne which hath two properties 570 Informers Like the flyes of Aegypt in a common weale  Ingratitude The first fault that euer was committed 143 Neuer vnpunished of God 144 No cut to vnkindnesse 224 God substracts his blessings from the vngratefull 270 It is vsually the requitall of goodnesse 330 The Embleme of it 383 568 To returne euill for good a diuelish sin 635 Inheritance Gods inheritance may run a twofold danger 248 Iniuries Must be patiently digested 47 When and how to beforgiuen 333 c. To suffer them is true noblenesse 533 Intercession Not to be vnderstood but of the liuing 379 Two things required to make it effectuall 378 Ionas Whence descended 132 Reasons mouing him to flye 133 Why he would be cast into the Sea 136 The Marriners charitable affection towards him 137 Iugde No small comfort that Christ shall bee our Iudge 94 Two properties of a Iudge 95 He must not be rash 137 Iudges must incline to mercie 421 A good Iudge compared to a Crane 458 Iudgement Why attributed to Christ. 94 Iudgement how to be guided 471 c. All shall appeare in iudgement 98 The day of Iudgement desired of the Iust. 99 Pilats Iudgement against Christ. 640 The most vniust that euer was 641 Iudas Foolish two wayes in the sale of our Sauiour 634 The vilenesse of his fault ibid. Iustification A greater worke than either the creation of the World or of Angels 294 572 The first step to it is mercie and pitie 397 Set out by diuers apt similitudes 573 582 K Knowledge See Learning Wisedome TO know thy selfe the beginning of perfection 480 L Lambes A Name attributed to the iust and why 154 Law Whereunto vsefull 40 The law of Taliation 46 Lawes if many gainefull to some but losse to the most 363 Learning See Wisedome Not gotten without labour 464 c. God the giuer of it 466 Lent Why called the Spring of the Church 10 Liberalitie Must be waited on by Frugalitie 444 Life This life onely a procession of quicke and dead 489 True life is to meditate on death 1 4 490 c. Short life content with short allowance 8 542 Whether better a publique or a priuat life 107 An euill life the losse of Faith 128 Long life the enlargement of sinne 136 Life seldome wearisome to any 174 The euills of this life are onely seeming euills 179 180 Life without health no life 239 Why desperat sinners are suffered to liue long 241 Nothing permanent in this life 243 This life is onely toyle and labour both to the wicked and the iust 396 Light Twofold 188 The excellencie of that light which is spirituall 189 Christ why called the Light of the World 517 The benefit of this Light ibid. c. Reasons why some hate and shun it 519 What is meant by Light of life 522 Looking-Glasses Why placed about the Lauer in the Temple 526 Lord. A name implying Honour and Power 32 Loue To loue our selues wee need not be commaunded 42 We must loue our enemies 43 The causes why we cannot 49 How our loue must be ordered 56 The perfection of it how to be discouered 57 Neuer without feare 92 How God should be loued 377 Gods loue is alwaies working 388 435 475 c. 477 It cannot be repayd but with loue 475 No loue where no reliefe 503 Gods loue seene by his delayes in punishing 513 Loue and Hate transforme a man alike into their obiects 564 Nothing more tedious to one that loues than the absence of what he loues 633 Loue triumpheth ouer God himselfe 635 Lyar Lying The World the Flesh and the Deuill all lyars 528 The mischiefe of lying 529 M Madnesse TWofold 604 Magistrates Should bee free from what they punish in others 360 457 Like sheepe-heards they should feed their flockes rather than fleece them 437 In choice of State ministers what ought to be regarded 441 Magistrates should be bold in reforming publique abuses 454 c. More heede the conuersion of the offendor than the correction of his offence 455 Two things they should specially looke vnto their conscience and their fame 526 They must be examples 527 Christ in his proceeding against the Deuill a patterne for all magistrates ibid. That Common-wealth is lost in which the magistrates and their ministers are both bad 563 They should euer haue Gods Laws before their eyes 588 Ill Rulers sent by God to punish the people 600 They should account no time their owne but other mens 631 Malice Will
necessary 148 What we are to demand in prayer ibid. Importunitie in prayer pleasing to God 151 We must pray discreetly 157 Not with the tongue onely 370 Sicke patients may pray but not prescribe 45 Heartlesse prayers like soundlesseinstruments 501 Our prayers must not be long but strong ibid. Pride Presumption What kind of sinne 7 Mans presumption 230 The bane of the Soule 257 Neuer vnpunished 609 610 Princes See Magistrates Should regard their people 216 They little respect honest seruices 541 Profit Priuat profit regarded of euerie one 418 Prosperitie Alwayes enuied 182 Finds Freinds Aduersitie none 198 Worldly prosperity can follow no man farther than the graue 243 No sure token of Gods loue 376 The Soules bane ibid. Prouidence Distrust of Gods prouidence the cause of much euill 438 It reacheth alwayes to the preseruation of his children 563 Punishments See Chastisement Gods different from those of earthly Princes 109 He proportions them to our sinnes 102 He vseth them onely for preseruation 168 249 261 486 and yet many times prolongs them ibid. 332 We are punishable euen for our thoughts 169 The lesse wee are punished here the worse our estate 179 God labors to conceale both his Rewards and Punishments 190 207 Princes haue a threefold end in punishing 247 Great punishments not bee inflicted without great consideration 267 Gods punishments of two sorts 268 R Recreations LAwfull if moderate 10 Necessarie 428 Redemption Christ tooke great paines for it was at much cost 391 The greatnesse of it may be seene by the greatnesse of Christs shame 553 Reformation Mens reformations wherein differing from those of God 271 Religion Sinne neuer more odious than when masked with Religion 40 Mans wantonnesse in matters of Religion 122 The dishonor of Christians is to differ in Religion 298 No cost more tedious to man than that which is bestowed vpon Religion 431 Religion must not be guided by policie but contrary 594 Repentance How it is to be framed 9 The Niniuites Repantance 140 It is neuer to be delayed 10 141 624 A patterne of it 177 c. What may cause it 281 Two things required of euery true penitent 293 We must hasten it 382 484 Humilitie Obedience Faith required thereunto 484 The nature of it 486 Gods goodnes towards the truly penitent 508 Of Maries Repentance 574 Reprobation Neuer discouered to any 207 Gods prescience not the cause of it ibid. Reproches Christ more sensible of them than any other iniuries 535 Reproofes Not alwayes in seison 297 Brotherly correction is to haue place euerie where 334 He that would reprooue another must correct himselfe 338 Reproofe when to be vsed 339 c. how ibid. They must be priuat 343 We must not refuse to reprooued 348 To reprooue a sinner is the best seruice we can doe to God 350 The most faulty euer most ready to reprooue 399 424 Sharpe reproofes worke weake effects 590 Resurrection Christs Resurrection the greatest Myracle 128 c. 460 That his Death two Mysteries discouering all Gods Attributes 459 Reuenge Belongs onely to God 43 46 342 In man a symptome of cowardise 538 Riches Their vanitie 21 How they may be sought 22 Not so much respected of God as pouertie 30 They may be possessed but not desired 233 Vsually accompanied with Pride and Cruelty 239 Righteous They are the strength of the land in which they soiourne 426 God allowes them not Bread for nothing 63 Sensible of Gods wrongs 74 Very rare 544 545 Secure in all Stormes because God is with them 67 They long after the day of Iudgement 99 Called Sheepe and Lambes and why 154 They reioyce in afflictions why 185 396.566 Despicable without but â—ich within 188 Mindfull of Gods seruice not of their owne 502 So likewise of his iniuries not their owne 503 Riuers Three in this World 405 S Sacrament See Communion Sacrifice The greatnesse of the Iewish sacrifices 105 Saluation Diuersly sought after by Christians 325 Scribes and Pharisees Their austerity and hypocrisie 112 210 Their office ibid. Scripture Neuer to be searched vnto the depth 45 Scorning A vice particular to the Iewes 116 Securitie A dangerous state 532 Sermons Ought to sauour more of salt than sugar 124 Seruants How to behaue themselues towards their Masters 25 c. Seruice If good a sure motiue to draw on a recompence 29 Little regarded of earthly Princes 541 God must be serued before Man ibid. It is bad seruice to share in other mens sinnes ibid. Sheepe Gods children why so called 154 Sinne. Not feared of Men but only for the suffering 70 All sinnes not punished alike 101 170 Sinne vndermines the Soule by degrees 128 It drawes destruction after it 135 Occasions of sinne must be auoided 147 181 515 611 The foulenesse of sinne 204 372 575 It is the cause of all miserie 205 279 478 589 Desirous to doe more than it is able ibid. God not the author of it 208 Wee must not iudge of a mans sinfulnesse by his sufferings 589 They alwayes goe by sholes 264 The lesser euer punished by the greater ibid. Sin causeth the translation of Kingdomes 270 Sinne seperates Man from God and from himselfe 280 c. 511 Hard to be remoued 285 378 Of all other things most hurtfull to man 305 It driues vs farre from God 331 A monster and why 334 The sinne of Cain greater than that of Adam 603 The leauing of sinne a sure marke of Predestination 400 It is euer attended on by shame 410 Growes loathsome through satietie ibid. Foure principles concerning the secrecie of sin 415 It will discouer it selfe ibid Nothing so terrible to man as the sight of his sinnes 422 'T is onely for sinne that God forsakes vs. 427 Sinne it selfe a scourge to the sinner 453 Old sinnes must be strongly reprooued 456 Sinne the onely securitie that God could haue from man for his glorie 480 Sinne is death it selfe 497 It should be our Slaue 502 It so alters a man that God cannot know him 511 Custome in Sinne whereunto compared 513 Old Sinnes hardly cured ibid. Sinne makes the most valiant man a coward 525 No man free from it ibid. Wee may not dally with it 575 Relapses into it dangerous 577 Let vs eye our Sinnes and God will not ibid. Why God suffers his children many times to fall into Sinne. 611 Sinner To Sinners all things worke together for the worst 131 Their societie must be auoided 181 No Sinner but is sometimes touched 204 Desperate Sinners why suffered to liue long 240 Sinners Slaues to their sinnes 265 Vsually taken in their owne snares ibid. They loue not to be checkt 273 Their miserable estate 279 Whereunto compared 279 Their posture 280 Foure differences betwixt a just man and a sinner 354 Two sorts of sinners 367 We must neuer despaire of their conuersion 399 Alwayes ready to disguise excuse their sins 595 Better to suffer with the Saints than to be dignified with Sinners 500 Dead Lazarus the embleme of a
the Priests of Asia But it is most certain That by Paradise is to be vnderstood the blessed presence of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. And that he went from the Superficies of the earth vp to that heauenly Pallace c. To which God of his great goodnesse bring vs all Amen THE XLI SERMON Of the Lords Supper IOH. 13. Sciens Iesus quia venit hora eius OVr Sauiour Christ knowing that the houre was now come For which were reserued Gods greatest Grandezas or Greatnesses The blessed Virgin called for wine at the wedding but our Sauiour Christ answered My houre is not yet come They carry him vp to the top of a mountaine thinking to throw him downe headlong from thence but he told them My houre is not yet come They goe forth to apprehend him and yet his houre was not come But now Sciens quia venit hora eius When he knew that his houre was come There was not any thing in the world which he called his but this houre and this he calleth his because it was the houre of our good and happinesse The houres of his honor when the Magi bowing to the ground did adore him when he entred in Triumph into Ierusalem drawing all the Citie after him when he shewed himselfe so glorious in Mount Tabor when the temptation in the desart being ended the Angels came to serue him when all the creatures were obedient to his Empire All these houres were as strangers vnto him he did not reckon them as his but that houre wherein he was betrayed tormented and crucified for mankind This houre he saith is my houre Exinaniuit semetipsum formam serui accipiens Thomas saith That all the seruant get's is his Lords as the fruits of the garden and of the trees c. And he made himselfe a seruant that he might make vs Lords Ho euery one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and ye that haue no siluer come buy and eate Come â—say buy wine and milke without siluer and without money Saint Bernard askes the question How a man can buy without a price or sell without money And his answer is That in buying and selling betwixt man and man there must of force some bargaine be driuen some price proposed but with God it is not so for all that which we can buy is from God In the world he that buyes remaines with that which he buyes and hee that sells with the price thereof God sells heauen vnto vs for our fastings our prayers and our teares and heauen and the price thereof remaines at home within our selues and in our owne keeping And this is Hora eius His houre In the Creation God had his owne houres and our houres Houres for himselfe and houres for vs But the world being created and fully finished he gaue vs all the houres appertaining to Time Et requieuit ab vniuerso opere quod patraret He rested from all his worke which he had made Rupertus saith That when the Scripture maketh mention That God walked vp and downe in Paradise it speakes of God after the manner of man who when he hath ended all his businesses sits him downe to eate takes his rest and gets him afterwards out to walke in his garden there to take his pleasures as one that hath now nothing else to do So that when God was al alone he had some houres of his own but after that he had once made himselfe man all those houres were made ours In token that he who beareth on his shoulders the burthen of a Common-wealth ought not to account so much as an houre to be his but that they are al allotted for other men Those that now adayes gouerne the world make many houres their owne They must haue their houre to eate their houre to sleepe their houre to talke their houre to play their houre to walke making their gouernment a matter of recreation casting all care behind their backe and neuer so much as once thinking of their obligation And whereas they should be in continuall occupation vsing their recreations sparingly they change lots as if gouernment were conferred vpon them to sit still and doe nothing at least to follow their pleasures and delights whence great hurt doth accrue to themselues and others To themselues because God will not call them to account for those houres wherein they did not game walke c. but for those wherein they did not dispatch businesses To others because thou art not thine owne man but art to spend thy time for the good of those that God hath committed to thy care to receiue their informations to peruse their petitions and to giue a speedie dispatch to their iust pretensions For what hurt they receiue through thy default it is put to thy account Saint Bernard saith That such Offices and places as these are not for weake men effeminate persons and such as are giuen to sports and pasttimes the weight of this charge is great and therefore had need of a strong backe or the shoulders of an Atlas It being so How comes it then to passe that so many doe desire and hunt so earnestly after these great places My answer is because they looke not vpon the weight and perill thereof but the pompe and estimation that waits vpon them Saint Augustine saith That if worldly honours bee taken for ease there is nothing more sweet nothing more pleasing But with God nothing more miserable more wretched or more damnable Now when Iesus knew that his houre was come that he should depart out of this world vnto the father for as much as he loued his owne that were in the world vnto the end he loued them So farre was Christ from repenting himselfe of his loue towards his that he gaue them all possible pledges of this his loue Great is the loue and affection that a Theefe hath to theeuing insomuch that though he know he shall be hanged the next morning yet he takes pleasure in robbing A fine delicate louer is he who knowing that to morrow he shall loose his life for his loue lasheth out into greater extreames of loue than before Many at their first entrance into loue promise many sweet contentments to themselues who if they had but thought what sower sauce they should haue to this their sweet meat they would neuer haue made loue But our Sauiour Christ saw his death before his eyes and yet that he might perfect his loue when his houre was come he shewed more and more loue still Saint Augustine saith That hee tooke flesh in the Virgins wombe that he might receiue limbs and members from thence to deliuer them vp to the crueltie of the Crosse As a head to haue it crowned with thornes a face to be spit vpon and buffeted a mouth to be distasted with vinegre and gall hands and feet to be bored and nayled a side to bee pierced And though hee knew that this his loue to mankind was to bring all