S. Barnard vpoÌ„ Qui habitat saith O what guards double guards O what watches double watches meÌ„ should put to their poor heart that is Liberality against the world which doth compasse vs with riches Chastity against the flesh which doth enuiron vs with pleasures Charity against the diuel who doth vex vs with malice If we had as great a care in guarding our harts as the diuel hath in fighting with it he shold neuer bring vs into such great disquietnes nor could neuer put vs in such danger and perill If thou wilt hear me tel thee the order of thy perditioÌ„ thou shalt perceiue clearly that it riseth for want of putting a guard ouer thy hart insomuch that at the same instant in which we withdraw the guard froÌ„ our hart presently our coÌ„scieÌ„ce runneth to perdition TheÌ„ the order of our disorder is that the sight breedeth thought thought breedeth delight delight breedeth coÌ„sent coÌ„sent breedeth work the work breedeth custome custome breedeth obstinatioÌ„ obstinatioÌ„ breedeth desperatioÌ„ desperatioÌ„ damnatioÌ„ Would it not be iust to keep a hart manacled fettered which bringeth forth such children nephews who holdeth you O my soul loaden with scrupulosities who holdeth you O my body tormeÌ„ted with trauails but only the towers of wind which my heart breedeth a thousand daÌ„gers into which he casteth himself It is very coÌ„uenieÌ„t saith Anselmus that we keepe our heart in work because that which we shal do may be good keep our tongue very well because that which we shal speak may be iust keep wel our thought because that which we shall think may be clean and pure because our hearts shal be such as our works are Audi popule stulte audiqui non babes cor said God by the Prophet Ieremy in the 5. chap as if he would say Heare my foolish cursed people heare mee people without heart which art come to such perdition that thou wantest reason and hast no heart God could not haue iested at the people of Israel nor giuen theÌ„ a greater scoffe than call them fooles without a heart For seeing that the life of the body is the heart as it is and the life of the heart the soule and God the life of the soule that the life of God is God himselfe what other thing is it to be without a heart than to be naught and vvithout a soule Origen vpon â—eremy saith That God speaketh not of the heart of flesh which is in the breast for this heart no Iew vvanted but God speaketh of holy spiritual hearts with the which vvee serue our Lord and saue our soules in this sence if any one want a heart hee wanteth also reason And if this be true as true it is that the heart is nothing else but reason vvhat loseth he who loseth his heart and vvhat hath hee vvho hath not his heart And therefore there are not any put into the house of innocents or into Bedlem because they wanted a heart to liue with but because they want reason to gouerne themselues with for this cause is not he a verier foole who liueth not according to reason thaÌ„ he who hath his heart molested and troubled Plato saith in his Timaeo If a man doth lose his eies or feet or hands or his wealth we may say of such a one that if he lose he loseth somewhat but hee who loseth his heart reason loseth all for in the wombe of our mother the first thing which is engendred is the heart and the last thing which dieth is the same heart Because wee haue great need of patience in the trauails which we do endure and constancy in the good works which we do take in haÌ„d God doth vs a principall fauour in making vs a stout heart it is also a great punishmeÌ„t of him to make vs of a faint hart Anselmus in his meditations saith O good Iesus O the glory of my soule stop I pray thee stop my ears that I heare not make my eies blind that I see not cut off my hands that I steale not with coÌ„dition that thou wouldst leaue me a wil to serue thee and a heart to loue thee How is it possible that I shold loue thee serue thee with al my hart if thou O sweet Iesus doest let my heart lose it self seeing thou art the God in whom I beleeue the Lord whome I serue and life with which I liue and the heart vvhich I most loue vvhat other thing is it for me to be vvithout a heart than to bee depriued of thee O my good Iesus Vae duplici corde labijs scelestis c said the wise man as if he would say Woe bee vnto that man which hath two hearts to think ill with two tongues to murmure much with and two hands to steale more with and goeth two waies to lose himselfe No man hath two hearts but hee who is malicious no man hath two tongues but hee who cannot rule his tongue no man hath two handes but the couetous man no man goeth two waies but the ambitious man who for to haue more and preuaile more leaueth no way not gone nor any estate not shot at or shakeÌ„ It is sure a new thing not heard of before that the wise maÌ„ dare say that some maÌ„ hath two tongues to murmure much with some two hearts to think much with in this case we dare well say that it is as monstrous a thing to haue two harts as to want one Remigius vpoÌ„ these words saith In things which do hinder the one the other to vndo them is to win theÌ„ to seperate theÌ„ is to flie from theÌ„ to cut theÌ„ asunder is to sow theÌ„ to diminish theÌ„ is to encrease them and to wast them is to better theÌ„ the example of all this may bee giuen in trees which haue many boughes and in a vine which hath many branches whose superfluitie if we doe cut off wee make them grow and the pruning of the vine maketh it fructifie The Prophet Ieremy accuseth Israel because he hath no heart at all and Salomon reprehendeth the malicious man because hee hath two hearts what meane shall we keep then to complie with the one and satisfie the other Hugo de arra anima answereth and saith Seeing our loue ought to be but one and he on whom we ought to bestow our loue should bee but one in like manner the heart with whom we should engage our loue should bee but one because that cannot be called true loue which is scattered into many hearts If we should be permitted by the law of Christ to haue many loues wee should also bee suffered to haue many hearts but seeing it is not permitted to haue more than one loue why would we haue more than one heart He in an Order of religion is said to haue many hearts who remaineth with his body in the monastery and with his will mind wandereth in the
Nathan the Prophet vnto Dauid the great Prophet Esaias vnto Manasses his holy Prophet Ieremy vnto King Ozias the Prophet Daniel vnto Balthasar and the Satiricall Prophet Helias vnto king Achab. The sonne of God sent a greater imbasie and greater Embassadours vnto the theefe than God the father did vnto the Kings seeing that vnto the theefe which was crucified on the crosse with him he sent no other embassador than himselfe so by this meanes the embasie and the Embassador were all one thing Was it not think you the selfesame thing seeing that it was Christ which sent the message the selfesame Christ which carried it Origen in an Homilie sayth thus The greatest message that euer came from heauen into the world was that of the incarnation and the next vnto it was that which Christ did vnto the good theefe insomuch that by the comming of the sonne of God the gate of glory was opened and in the promise made vnto the good theefe the possession of it was taken The embasie which Iohn Baptist brought vs was that the kingdome of heaueÌ„ was at hand but the good theef saith not that he is neer vnto heauen but that he is within heauen S. Iohns was a great embasie when he said Behold the lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world but that of the theeues was better wheÌ„ he said Behold him here who hath already redeemed the world The embasie that Samuel brought vnto Dauid was good wheÌ„ as of a shepheard he annointed him king but the embasie which Christ did vnto the good theef was farre better because that there passed almost fourty years betwixt the time that the kingdome was promised vnto Dauid and the time that it was deliuered vnto him but the theef had his kingdome promised him at two of the clock in the afternoone and was giuen him presently toward night The reward for bringing thee news of such a great embasie as that of Christs was that is the promise of glory he would let no man haue but he would win it himself insomuch he who promised glory gaue glory was the glory it self O good Iesus redeemer of my soule dost thou well see that in promising glory Paradise that thou doest promise nothing but thy self what meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this Dost thou trust malefactors coÌ„meÌ„d thy self vntorouers offer thyself vnto sinners coÌ„mit thy self vnto theeues If thou thinkest thy selfe ouercharged with this theefe giue him the Prouince of Achaia giue him part of Assyria giue him the kingdome of Palestine giue him the monarchy of Asia for in giuing him as thou doest giue him thy selfe if thou were not God as thou art it would seeme that thou shouldest preiudice many Is there any other Paradise but to enioy thee is there any other glory than to see thy face is there any greater contentment than to be in thy company is there any goodnesse but that which commeth from thy hands This day thou shalt bee with me in Paradise where thou shalt see me face to face enioy my essence dwell with my person haue the fruition of my glory thy death shall die and thy life shall rise againe This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise where thou shalt be alwaies mine and I will be thine where thou shalt serue mee and where I will loue thee without end where thou shalt leaue sinning and I neuer cease to doe thee good This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise where thou shalt see ioy without sorrow health withour griefe life vvithout death light vvithout darkenesse company vvithout suspition plenty vvithout want and glory without end This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise where youth doth neuer waxe old old age doth neuer appeare beauty neuer fadeth health neuer decaieth ioy neuer waxeth lesse griefe is neuer felt no vvailing euer heard nosorrow euerseene and death feareth nor This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise where thou shalt go from the goulfe to the â—â—auen from the battaile to the triumph from the streame to the spring from darkenesse vnto light from vvaâ—â— to vvealth from a dreame vnto the truth from faith to hope from cold loue to perfect and seruent Charitie This day thou shalt bee vvith mee in Paradise vvhere thou shalt not know how to vveepe but laugh not complain but bee â—oifull nor aske but gâ—â—e not blaspheme but blesse not sigh but sing not hate but loue not mislike but praise not die but liue This day thou shalt bee â—â—th mee in Paradise vvhere thy handes shall touch that which they desiced thy eies see that thâ—â— they looked for thy eares heare that which they loued and thy heart possesse that which hee groned for This day thou shalt bee vvith mee in Parachse vvhere thou shalt nor feare the deceits of the Diuell the cockering of the flesh the vanitie of the world the ambushes of thy enemies the suddaine passions vvhich fall out euery day the necessity of euery hour nor yet the anxiety and griefe of mind This day thou shalt bee vvith mee in Paradise vvhere there is no night which is darke nor day which decreaseth no rough Winter nor troublesome Summer no cold to freeze thee no heat to distemper thee no famine to weaken thee no thirst to make thee drie no death to make thee afraid nor life which shall haue any end O my soule O my heart wilt thou not tell mee vvhat thou doest thinke vpon or what thou doest contemplate on seeing thou hearest not this which is spoken doest thou not marke vvho speaketh it nor vnto vvhom hee speaketh it nor doest thou regard vvhere it is spoken Hee vvho speaketh is the sonne of God hee vvith vvhom hee speaketh is a theefe that which he sayth is that he promiseth Paradise the place vvhere hee speaketh is the Mount of Caluary the houre vvhen hee speaketh is at the point of death and those before whome hee speaketh is the vvhole Synagogue Is it possible that an imbasie accompanied vvith these many circumstances should not bee new and heard For in Scripture there is nothing necessary that is not full 〈◊〉 mystery Certainly this was a very new thing seeing that Christ neuer had this word Paradise in his mouth not from the time of his incarnation vntill the last houre that hee departed out of this world and then hauing no other there but the theefe which bare him company at that time he promised him Paradise O my soule if thou wilt haue part in Paradise behold vvhat a one the sonne of God is vvho giueth it and behold vvhat hee doth vnto the theefe vnto vvhom hee gaue it and as thou diddest see vvhat they doe so doe thou force thy selfe to doe the like O my soule O my heart doest thou not see that our Lord who giueth Paradise is vpon the crosse and that the theefe vnto whom heauen 〈◊〉 giuen is also vpon the crosse therefore that the crucified doth nor giue
didst thou goe to the battaile not calling mee with thee and why diddest thou die not taking mee with thee My heart can receiue no comfort nor my eies cease from weeping when I remember how much I was bound vnto thee and call to mind the great loue that passed betwixt vs because that the loue which passed betwixt thee and me was of like quality as the loue which a mother hath when she hath but one child onely It is now to bee noted that for this last word wee haue brought all this story whereby wee may well gather and inferre that the loue which a mother beareth vnto her onely sonne exceedeth all other humane loue For if Dauid could haue found any greater loue vnto a greater hee would haue compared his King Dauid was a very holy man and his sonne Absalon a very bold young youth but in the end when newes came vnto him that Ioab had thrust him through and that he was hanged vpon an oake the poore old man made such pitifull complaint and did shew such griefe for it that euery man did perceiue plainly that he wished himselfe rather dead thaÌ„ his sonne lose his life The which he openly said when he cried aloud My sonne Absalon my sonne Absalon where truly he would willingly haue gone to his graue if his sonne might haue liued God had no better experience to proue the loue which the Patriarch Abraham bare him but to command him to kill his onely sonne which hee had in his house and when the old man had lifted vp his sword to slay the young youth the Angell tooke him by the arme and commanded him to be quiet for now our Lord was satisfied to see that he loued him better than his own son When news was brought to holy Iob how the wise men had robbed him of fiue hundred yoke of oxen and that a flash of lightning from heauen had burnt him seuen thousand sheepe and that the Chaldeans had taken from him three thousand Camels and had put to the sword all the shepheards of his flocke the good man was not grieued at all with it nor vttered any sorrowfull word forir But when the fourth post came to bring him news how they had slaine his sixe sonnes and three daughters in his eldest sonnes house the man of God could not dissemble his great griefe and did shew it more by deed than by word by rending his garments in sunder and cutting his haire from his head and wallowing oftentimes vpon the ground Wee doe not read that the great Patriarch Iacob did weepe in all peregrinations or complaine in all his tribulations vntill hee heard that the wolues in the desart had eateÌ„ his welbeloued sonne Ioseph the which euill news did strike him so near the heart that hee said before his other children that hee would die and goe into hell because hee might haue space and time inough to bewaile his sonne Sunamites the Inne keeper of Samaria and hosâ—esse vnto Heliseus did so much grieue at the death of her sonne which God had giuen her by the praier of Heliseus that shee went weeping like a foole about the fieldes in such manner that neither her husband could bring her in nor the Prophet comfort her The great Priest Heli was so greeued vvheÌ„ it was told him that the Philistims had ouercome the Iewes and taken the Arke and killed his two sonnes Obni and Phinees that he fell from his seat and immediately yeelded vp the ghost The wife of old Tobias and mother vnto young Tobias did weepe beyond all measure and went almost beside her selfe only at the long tarrying which her sonne made in Rages a citie of the Medes vvhether his father had sent him to take vp certaine money and this her griefe was so excessiue that she neuer ceassed to pray vnto God for to keepe him nor she neuer left off weeping vntill she saw him with her eies I haue thought it expedient to rehearse all these examples the better to proue and extoll the loue which fathers and mothers beare vnto their children and how it is not to bee compared with any other loue and how bitterly the Parents weepe not onely for the death of their children but also for their absence Horace saith That to the losse of a child and that of the onely child there can bee no losse comparable vnto it because that causeth griefe at the heart which is loued from the heart Anselmus sayth to this purpose that this fatherly loue is not found onely in men which are reasonable but also in brute beasts for we see the Henne fight with the Kite the Storke with the Goshauke the Mare with the Wolfe the Lionesse with the Ounce the Eliphant with the Rinoceront the Gander with the dog and the Pie with the Cuckow the which fight is not only because they be enemies but because they steale away their young ones S. Ambrose in his Exameron saith That the loue of the father is so great and so excessiue that oftentimes we see brute beasts follow men which haue taken away their yong ones wherein they let vs vnderstand that they had rather be taken themselues than see their little ones taken captiues If a brâ—te beast shew this griefe for his little oues what shall a reasonable man doe When Demosthenes wept bitterly the death of one of his sons another replied vnto him and said that he was a Philosopher it seemeth well said hee that thou hast neuer been a father nor what the loue of a sonne is because that to haue a sonne is the greatest of all loues to lose him the greatest griefe of all griefes To come at the last vnto our porpose what woman did euer loue her sonne as the mother of God did loue hers Ipsum solum tenet mater sua pater eius tenerè diligit eum said the Patriarke Iudas vnto the Patriarch Ioseph his brother as if hee would say O most renowmed Prince Ioseph I and my brothers and my brothers and I doe humbly beseech thee vpon our knees and request thee with many tears that thou wouldest forgiue our yonger brother Beniamin the taking away of the golden flask which was found in his bag because his dolefull mother hath no other son and his old father loueth him with most tender loue These words may better be spoken of the virgin and of her sonne than of Beniamin and his mother Rachel who had more than one sonne although shee knew it not seeing that Ioseph Beniamins brother was aliue the most richest mightiest of all Egypt The eternall father had no other sonne but this alone and the immaculate virgin had no other but Christ only for the father neuer engendred other naturall son but this and the mother neuer brought forth other sonne but this We may very well say of the father that hee did loue his son tenderly seeing hee gaue him all his nature all his wisedome all his power all his
will and also all his might and authority What being had the father which the sonne had not what knew the father which the sonne knew not what could the father doe that the sonne could not doe what had the father that the sonne also had not What is it to say that hee loued him tenderly but that the father loued him with most entire loue insomuch that he denied him nothing which he had nor hid nothing from him of that hee did know Let vs leaue off the loue of the Father and let vs speake somewhat of the loue of the mother who loued her precious sonne with a tender heart and wept for him with tender bowels O most sacred Virgine how shouldest thou not loue thy blessed sonne very tenderly seeing that vvhen thou diddest bring him into the world thou vvast young and tender When the Virgine that bringeth foorth a child is tender the child vvhich shee bringeth forth is tender the time also young and tender why should not the loue with which shee loueth it bee also tender If Iacob who had twelue children loued one of them with tender and sweet loue is it to bee thought that the mother of God hauing but one onely sonne would not loue it with most tender and sweet loue and so much the rather because Iacobs loue was deuided into the loue of many sonnes but our blessed Ladies loue was wholly drawne to the loue of one only S. Barnard vpon Missus est saith That there is no loue vpon earth which may not bee waighed and measured excepted only the loue which the sonne of God bare vnto his mother and the mother vnto her sonne the vvhich vvas such that all the Angels could not measure it nor yet all the saints weigh it Anselmus saith That those which are fathers and those which are called mothers cannot loue their children as much as the Virgine did loue hers nor yet they are not bound vnto so great loue because they are bound to loue their neighbours as themselues their brothers as themselues and their God more than themselues Loue which is deuided into so many parts cannot possibly bee equall with that loue which the Virgine bare her sonne Loue that is pure and not fained cannot bee spread abroad but gathered in one not in many but in one not deuided but entire not stroken but heaped vp not for a time but for euer not finding excuses or faults but suffering not suspitious but confident and trusting And he who obserueth not these lawes hath no cause to say that hee loueth These causes ought neither to want in him who loueth nor in him which is beloued for if they doe wee should not call them louers but acquaintance for vnder the law of loue there is neither a defect admitted nor a complaint suffered There is no defect admitted because loue maketh all whole there is no complaint suffered because loue maketh all gentle and mild there is no iniury done because loue dissembleth all there is no sloth in loue because heis watchfull he is not a niggard because he can denie nothing O glorious Queene O the light of my felicity who did euer better keepe these high bonds of loue like vnto thee The blessed mother of God Tenerè diligebat filium suum For being as he was flesh of her flesh bones of her bones bloud of her bloud bowels of her bowels how should she loue him but like vnto her owne entrals Tenerè diligebat filium suum She loued her sonne tenderly seeing she loued him as her sonne she loued him with the zeale due to a bride groome serued him as her husband vsed him as her brother reuerenced him like a father worshipped him as a God Shee loued him tenderly seeing she went to Bethelem and with the teat in his mouth she carried him into Egypt and being a child of twelue years she brought him into the Temple and neuer forsooke him al the time that he went a preaching and that which is most of all to be noted she wept for all his trauails and vexations and with her fingers ends supplied all his necessities And how did shee supply them but by watching in the night and weauing in the day She loued him tenderly seeing shee adored him in his presence she contemplated on him in his absence she succoured him in his necessities shee followed him in his iournies and comforted him in his aduersities What would the child that the mother would not likewise and what did the mother aske that the sonne did not giue her They liued in one house they did eat at one table and that which shee gained with her fingers was common betwixt them and that which was giuen to him for preaching they spent together What should I say more they praied for all sinnes together and they wept for all sinnes together CHAP. II. How that if the loue which the mother bare vnto her sonne was great so likewise the loue which the sonne bare his mother was no lesse and to proue this there is expounded asaying of the Canticles INtroduxit me rex in cellam vinariam ordinauit in me charitatem said the espoused of her espouse and bridegroome talking of rich iewels which hee gaue her and it is as if she would say The light of my eies and ioy of my heart toke me by the hand and led me into the wineseller and told me the order of true loue S. Barnard saith O welbeloued bride why doest thou tel it abroad that thy bridgroom carried thee to drinke into the wineseller taught thee how to bee farther in loue seeing thou shouldest be angry to haue it spoken of and to doe it thou shouldest be ashamed Other brides are wont to goe to the meddowes to gather flowers to gardens to cut fruits to shops to buy gownes to the common places of recreation to visite their friends and doest thou go to the winesellers among the cups Doest thou not know that the noble and fine dame is noted of Incontinency if she smell of nothing but of wine So strange a matter wine ought to be vnto thee O thou bride of the Lord for to thinke of it would be imputed vnto thee for a curiosity to aske for it an euill example to smell of it a fault to drinke it a scandall and to bee dronke a sacriledge Plato sayth That in the glorious times and golden age of the world kinsmen kissed their kinswomen for no other reason but for to know whether they had drunk any wine for if they had they either were put to death for it or banished into some island If Plutarch doe not deceiue vs it was an inuiolable law in Rome that if any Matron of Rome had any necessity to drinke wine either because shee was weake or because shee was sicke the Senate onely should giue license vnto her and she notwithstanding drinke it out of Rome Macrobius saith That two Senators chiding in Rome the one told the other that his wife
doth tell vs in this authoritie when he sayth Quid vltra debut facere vincae meae and S. Paul when he said Tradit semetipsum pro me where the one speaketh of the great care which our Lord hath in gouerning and maintaining vs and the other of the bitter paine hee tooke in redeeming vs. Our Lord sayth very well what should I haue done more vnto my vineyard seeing that he tooke humane flesh for vs washed away our offences endued vs with his grace incorporated vs in his church and made vs capable of glory What should he hauedone more considering that he hath left vs his body to receiue his merites to help our selues with his Saints to imit-te his Gospel to keepe and his Sacraments for a medicine Quid vltra debus facere considering how he made our bodies of nothing created our soules to his owne likenesse giuen vs Angels to guard vs and bestowed all the earth vpon vs What should he do more seeing that hee hath commanded the sunne to giue vs light the earth to sustaine vs the fire to heat vs the water to wash vs the aire to recreate vs What should he doe more for vs seeing thâ—t ouer and aboue all other beasts hee hath giuen vs iudgement to discerne good from bad memory to rememberthings pâ—st and a will to loue that which is holy and good If these benefites doe seeme great vnto thee yet I tell thee further that he hath done more than this for thee which thou hast forgotten of which our Lord wil call for an account at the great day of his generall accounts What are these new sauours or when doth hee vnto vs any other good turnes but when hee turneth some dangerous hurt from vs Griefe of mind anxietie of heart feares of life suddaine passions touching our credite and fame with such like as are woont to assault vs euery minure of an houre although we thinke not on them so that if our Lord should not keepe vs with his mighty hand wee should liue with paine and die with perill What are those mischiefes which doe most of all weary vs and which are neuer from vs but dreadfull death vnspeakable griefe bitter teares extreame sorrow and vntollerable feare These fine dolours doe bait and ouerthrow all mortal men because they are so common among great men and so vniuersal among the meaner sort that vntill this day we haue known none exempted from them and wee haue heard of none who haue died and not tried them If euery man will examine his owne person he shall find it to bee true that he knoweth all these mischiefes and euils not by any science which hee hath heard but by experience within himselfe seeing that we see nothing else euery houre but euery man to weepe and bewaile his infinite paines and griefes And because we may not seeme that we doe speake at pleasure we will speake of euery word a little to bring thee to remembrance how euery one of these griefes is experimented in thy selfe As concerning the first which is death what mortall man was euer borne in this life whom death in the end hath not made an end of and put into his graue With this condition we come into the world and liue in the world that in the end wee must leaue the world and that by reason of a common law which he hath giuen vs. The second griefe are teares and what mortall man did euer liue in this world with such great ioy but hath wept at some time or other and that heartily Horace sayth That weeping is so naturall a thing vnto all mortall men that we be borne weeping liue weeping and die weeping Demosthenes sayth That a man hath need of a maister to learne all offices and duties vnlesse it be weeping because there is nothing wherof a man hath such abundance and plenty as of cares in his mind complaints in his tongue and teares in his eies The third paine is sorrow for what mortall man did euer attaine vnto such sure and quiet state of life that hee should neuer need to fetch at any time a deepe sigh O that it is well seene in the life of holy Iacob that to mourne sigh and weepe are offices and duties so annexed vnto the miserable life of man that we shall first see our selues dead than free from them The griefes which trouble our mindes are so many and the anxieties which charge our bowels are so huge and strong that lamenting and vvailing is taken for a remedy and sighing for a comfort and weeping for an ease because it happeneth often to afflicted minds that the more teares they shed the more ease their hearts receiue The fourth paine which is griefe what man hath euer beene so strong and healthy who hath not beene throwne downe with some sicknesse or beaten vvith some great affliction O that the Apostle said very well that vvee haue a treasure in fickle vessels seeing that vvee are so weake in strength and feeble of health that wee doe nothing but keepe our selues from the sunne least hee burne vs and from cold least it goe through vs and from the aire least it distemper vs from the vvater least it stop vs and from meat least vvee disgest it not Auerroes sayth That because these inferiour bodies are subiect vnto the superiour influences of the heauens they passe great perill and are endangered by the starres and planets for the elements often changing in themselues the bodies which are made of them doe also the like Of all the riches of this life there is none equall or to bee compared vnto health because that all other paines and griefes either time doth cure or discretion doth moderate The fist paine vvhich is feare vvhat mortall man had his heart euer so at rest that no feare hath euer come vpon him or in vvhome no suddaine passion hath raigned Menander sayth That of necessitie there must raigne in mens hearts mirth or sorrow loue or hatred paine or ease and hope or feare but of all these sorrow and hatred paine and feare are those which doe most of all raigne in our bowels because we see mirth and loue pleasure and hope either late or neuer come to our dore Cicero in his Commonwealth sayth put case that wee loue many things yet without comparison wee feare more thinges and that which is worst of all is that our loue doth change euery day but our feare doth neuer depart from vs. Plautus sayth How merry so euer our countenance bee and how full soeuer of laughter thy mouth bee and howsoeuer the tongue talketh yet neuerthelesse the sorrowfull heart is loaded with feare for hee feareth least his credite and honour shall bee taken from him or least they steale away his vvealth or least his life be neere an end or least that vvhich hee loueth should be long absent Xenophon saith What pleasure or contentment can raigne in any mortall mans heart seeing that wee suffer so many griefes
a new married spouse to bed but the fire of thy diuine loue which shined in her What made those stones seeme vnto S. Steuen hony comoes but that holy loue which burned in his soule Iguis erat calefaciebat se O vvhat a difference there is betwixt the fire which Christ brought downe from heauen and the fire which Cayphas hath in his pallace For S. Peter warming himselfe at it of a Christian became a Pagan S. Paule warming himself at Christs fire of a Pagan became a Christian God send me of Christs fire seeing it doth make me know him and God keep Cayphas fire from me seeing it doth make me denie him For if S. Peter had not warmed himselfe at Cayphas fire the wench would not haue importuned him nor he denied Christ not haue lost the confession of the catholicke faith The Euangelist sayth that Petrus calefaciebat se that is That Peter did warm himselfe at the fire but he sayth not that the fire was able to take his cold from him and therefore the fire which the world hath for her worldlings is such that they are but few vvhich warme themselues at it but many which waxe cold by it S. Peter being from the fire said vnto Christ Tecum paraui iam in mortem me and by the fire he said Non noui heminem in so much that being at supper with Christ he did burne and being at Cayphas fire he was a cold The sonne of God then seeing that there was not below in the world heat which could recreate nor fire which could burne nor light vvhich could comfort nor flame which could giue light nor any thing which might content he brought from heauen with him the fire of his holy loue with the which wee should all be enflamed all lightened and all contented The son of God would neuer haue said I came to put fire on earth if hee had seene that there had been the true fire of his loue vpon the earth but seeing that the fire of the world doth burn and not heat hurt and giue no light wast and not burne grieue and not cheere burn and not purifie smoke and not shine he remembred to bring a fire which should heat all the world Woe be vnto him which will not warme himselfe at this fire and woe be to him who will not receiue light at the flames of his loue because that the only perfection of our saluation dooth consist in offering our selues to God and in louing him with all our heart It is much to be noted that Christ brought at one time fire to burn a sword to cut mēs throats seeing he saith Ignem veni mittere in terram and also Non veni pacem mittere sed gladium to let vs vnderstand that hee brought fire with him with the which his elect should serue him with loue a sword of the which the imperfect should haue feare Hee burneth with liuely flames who serueth God with loue and his throat is cut who serueth God with feare and not vvith loue Whereupon it is that in the arke of Noe there were many little roomes and in the house of God many dwelling places so also in the Catholicke church there are diuers maners of seruing of God he doth serue God much better who serueth him with loue than he who followeth him for feare but in fine so as we doe not offend our Lord be it with loue or be it with feare let vs alwaies serue him He is happy who suffereth his throat to be cut with the knife of feare but he is very happy who goeth to warme himselfe at the fire of his loue for the feare may be so great that he may erre in that which he taketh in hand but he who loueth him much cannot erre in that which he doth According vnto Ouid he cannot erre who loueth a good thing nor there can bee no errour where there is perfect loue Cyrillus sayth If the Synagogue did highly esteeme of the sword with the which Dauid did cut the Giant Golias throat wee which bee Christians ought much more to esteeme of the fire of loue with the which Christ did redeeme vs because it was his loue onely which gaue vs the hope of his glory and ouer our death the victory Leo sayth in a Sermon If they aske the sonne of God what he brought from heauen hee will say loue if they aske him what Art he knoweth he will say loue if they aske him what he is he will say diuine loue if they aske him what hee would haue vs to doe for him hee will say nothing but loue him Basil sayth O what great difference there is betwixt the seruing of God and seruing of the world for the world would haue vs serue him with our person flatter him with our tong giue him of our wealth and also venter for him our soules but the sonne of God is farre from asking any of these things of vs for he seeketh no more of vs but that wee answere the loue which he dooth beare vs and be gratefull for the benefites which he doth bestow vpon vs. Si obtuleris primitias frugum tuarum domino de spicis adhuc virentibus torrebis eas igui God spake these vvorder vnto Moises and then commanded Moyses to proclaime them before all the people as if he vvould say When the Summer shall come and the haruest draw neere if the eares of the first fruits vvhich they offer vnto God should be greene and not drie see thou drie them first in the fire before that thou offer them in the temple Isidorus sayth The giuer of the law to commaund that they should offer the first fruits of all their harnestes and to command them that they should not offer them vp greene but drie and to command that they should not bee dried in the sunne but at the fire and that they should be throughly dried but not burned the Scripture would neuer haue set downe this so particularly vnlesse there had been some my stery contained vnder it Origen vpon Exod. saith That because in holy writ there is no blot to scrapeout nor no letter to be added we must so interpret that which God speaketh that which the law ordaineth that without wresting of the letter vvee may apply it vnto our learning What other thing is it to offer vnto God the first fruits of our corn but to present before him al our desires who dare begin any heroical work vvho doth not first cōsult vvith God cōmend it vnto him vnles they had first craued the fauour of the God Iupiter the Gentiles durst not so much as vvrite a letter darest thou which art a Christian not asking for Gods grace enterprise any thing he stealeth his first fruits frō God vvho taketh any thing in hand not recōmend himselfe vnto God he paieth his first fruits vnto our Lord vvho vvithout his holy grace beginneth nothing for it is hee only vvho vvill
deepe wounds S. Barnard vpon the Canticles saith Note well that Christ doth not say thou hast brokē my head but thou hast pierced my heart to let vs thereby vnderstand that all the offences which we commit against him and also all the seruices which wee doe for him doe reach vntill his heart as hee doth loue vs with the heart Anselmus to this purpose sayth Our Lord doth iest with no man nor will not bee iested at by any man and therevpon he loueth vs with all his heart if we be in state of grace and hateth vs with his heart if we bee in his disgrace By reason whereof there is no offence which we doe commit against his Maiesty vvhich goeth not to his heart nor there is no seruice which we do to him but he doth keepe it in his heart Origen sayth The cause why the bridegroome doth complaine vpon the bride and not the bride against the bridegroome is because the soule hath no cause to complaine vpon God and God hath scarse no cause to bee pleased with the soule The bridegroome complaineth that the bride woundeth him in the heart because that one heart cannot be hurt but of another heart because that that cannot be called a fault but that which doth determinatly proceed from the will Then thy heart doth pierce and wound Christs heart when reason doth teach thee that thou shouldest not sinne and yet notwithstanding thy will dooth determine to sinne whereof God dooth not so much hold himselfe iniuried of that which thou doest as of the heart and will with the which thou doest it Thou doest so many times wound Christ as thou doest consent vnto sinne and therefore hee sayth that thou hast wounded his heart because his iniuries and offences proceeded from thy heart It is much to bee noted that hee sayth not thou hast killed my heart but thou hast wounded my heart for seeing that we see some die only because his heart is moued stirred it should be greater reason that they should die hauing their heart wounded If a griefe of the heart be hardly cured how shall that heart bee healed which is wounded If it be so that all the wounds in the heart are mortall and not to bee cured why doth Christ say that his louer had wounded his heart not confesse that he had killed him By this is knowne the difference betwixt offending God and offending man for a man dieth with euery wound because he will neuer forgiue and pardon but holy Iesus doth not complaine that they kill him but onely that they wound him Giuing vs therby to vnderstand that at the same instant when a soule doth repent her of her offences he doth hold himselfe satisfied for that fault What should become of vs if Christ should say that wee doe kill him as hee sayth that we doe wound him What other thing were it to take Christs life away but to sinne without hope of mercy God speaking with the Angell sayth Interfecisti cor meum and speaking with man sayth onely Vulnerasti cor meum because the sinne of the Angell had no remission but the sinne of man obtaineth euery day pardon O good Iesus O creator of my soule how much are wee bound vnto thee in saying that we doe wound thee and not that wee doe kill thee because that by this high speech thou doest let vs vnderstand that the wounds which we giue thee in the heart and the offences which wee commit against thee are as easily cured as they are easily amended Let no man despaire let no man be discomforted in thinking that he shall not bee pardoned and that there is no remedy for his offences seeing that the son of God doth confesse that wee haue not wholly slaine him but only wounded him of which wounds hee then beginneth to be cured when wee begin to amend O infinite goodnesse O great charity of thine O my good Iesus tell mee I pray thee what diddest thou see in my sinfull soule that thou shouldest trust the weapons in her hands which shee may wound thee with and also the medicines with the which shee may cure thee what are the weapons with the which she doth wound thee but the faults which shee dooth commit against thee And what is the medicine with the which shee dooth cure thee but only the amendment of her owne life Christ saith further that the weapō with the which the bride did wound him was one of her eies which she had in her head and with one of her haires which hanged at her throat so that her eies serued her for arrowes and her hair for bindings Origen vpon this place sayth O how tender the heart is which is wounded with the only sight of an eie and what small force and strength he hath who is bound with a hair The heart which is touched of our Lord although he be stronger then Sampson and lighter then Asael yet in louing of God and tasting of Gods holy loue it is easily taken and suffereth himselfe to be bound without resistance We haue two eies in our head to see with and wee haue two eies in our soules to loue with whereof the one is the eie of loue and the other is the eie of feare and when our Lord sayth that wee looke vpon him with one eie hee sayth that sometimes wee serue him with feare and sometimes with loue Men of high perfection doe looke vpon him with the eie of loue and men of lesser perfection with the eie of feare and the difference is that with the sight of the one there is no alteration at all and with the sight of the other she is presently delighted What can there be in the world more sweeter to the tast or wherin our soule may receiue greater recreation thā to fix all our intention to behold and look vpon God and serue him with all our heart When do we look vpon him with one eie only but whē for loue we serue him and not for fear What can Christ speake more tenderly vnto our soule or what more sweeter words can his holy mouth vtter vnto the soule than to say that she had wounded him with one eie and tied him fast with one haire O infinite loue of thine my Creator and Redeemer tell me I pray thee if thou be so easily satisfied with a soule that doth but once behold thee what wilt thou doe by her which doth behold thee euery day and serue thee all her life time S. Barnard sayth He doth bind God with one haire who thinketh on God and nothing else and hee doth wound him with the sight of one eie who loueth him and no other so that it lieth in our owne hands to serue Christ and attaine vnto his blisse and felicitie Trino vni laus FINIS
sinne and wickednesse in hell so also there is nothing but naughty and wicked men Wee are much more bound vnto our Christ than Samaria vnto their king Iehu because that that king did only rid Samaria of naughty men but the sonne of God made cleane purged all the earth from sinne Who are the children of Achab whose heads king Iehu cut off and who are the priests of Baal which the also slew but Idolatry which hee tooke away from the Gentiles and the Mosaicall law which hee tooke from the Iewes What is the charriot which the son of God went vp into to accomplish such high and strange things but onely the crosse vpon the which our holy Lord attained such and so many great victories It is to be noted that the king Iehu did not aske Ionadab whether their apparell were alike or neat of one fashion but if they loued one another alike to let vs vnderstand that without comparison our Lord doeth much more regard the loue which wee beare him than the seruices which wee doe him Saint Basil vpon the Prophet which saith Bonorum meorum non eges Thou wantest not of my goods saith I see wel my God I see well that how much the more need I haue of thee the lesse thou hast of me and if thou hast need of mee it is not in respect of the goods of fortune but the loue of my mind Note also that the king of Israel and no other tooke Ionadab by the hand to lift him vp into the charriot whereby we are to vnderstand that onely the sonne of God no other Saint of heauen is able to giue vs grace to loue him giue vs strength to follow him Who is able to follow thee or hath power to imitate thee O redeemer of the vvorld if thou doe not first stretch out thy hand vnto him who is able to lift himselfe vp vnto the charriot where thou doest triumph or vnto the crosse whither thou goest to die if thou doe not take vs by the arme to lift vs vp and if thou doe not hold vs by the hand least wee fall How had it beene possible for Mary Magdalen to haue forsaken her prophane life or Matthew his renting of custome or Paul his persecution or the thiefe his assailing of men by the high vvay if the sonne of God had not taken them by the hand and lifted them vp vnto the crosse with him When in the holy scripture by the feet are vnderstood good purposes and desires and by the hands good works what meaneth he by giuing Ionadab his handes and not his feet for to mount into the chariot but that our good Lord doth rather take hold of the good works which wee doe then of the good purposes which wee haue Gregory in his Register saith If thou wilt get vp vpon the chariot of the crosse with thy captaine Ionadab thou must not get vp with thy tongue which are good words nor with thy feet which are good wishes and purposes but with thy hand which are good deeds because S. Iohn dooth not say Veebaâ—ecoruÌ„ Their words nor Desideria coruÌ„ Their desires but Opera corum sequuntur illes Their works follow theÌ„ It is also to be noted that the king of Israell would not suffer the captaine Ionudab to goe vp into the chariot to him vntill hee had certified and assured him that hee was his true friend in so much that they vnited their hearts before they ioined their hands After the â—â—itation of these two friends we must haue amity and loue with Christ if we wil haue him to helpe vs vp into the chariot and the amity and friendship which wee ought to haue with him is to loue him as hee loueth vs for Christ our Lord will first bee loued of vs then serued by vs. S. Basil saith That if any maÌ„ did labor in the church of God and take pains and forgetteth to loue wee may well say of such a one that he shall not only not bee accepted but that God will thinke him also importunate and troublesome because God will not be serued by men of greatstrength such as are forcible but of such as are free of heart And further the king of Israel was not content to ask Ionadabs heart but that hee should giue it him vpright sincere and entire which Christ also demandeth of vs because the son of God will neuer take him for his friend who hath his heart crooked sinister and not vpright And who hath his heart vpright and sincere but the seruant of our Lord and hee which hath no other thing in this world nor seeketh after any thing but onely Iesus Christ Who is hee who hath his heart crooked and awry but hee who is without life who hath care neither of Christ neither of himselfe but goeth euery houre more and more sinking and as it were drowned in the world Dauid knew this very wel when he said Cor mundum crea in me deus spiritum rectum innoua in visceribus meis as if he would say O great God of Israel O great Lord of the house of Iacob I beseech thee that thou wouldest create a new heart in mee and fauor me with the gift of a new spirit which may be both right and true for the heart which I brought from the womb of my mother is such a one as I dare not offer it vnto thee nor he dareth not appear in thy presence because it is vnclean with sinne and loaden with thoughts and care O good Iesus O my soules hope what better praier can I make vnto thee or what iuster petition can I make vnto thee then that thou wouldest create a new heart in mee That is that you wouldest giue mee a cleane heart with the which I may praise thee and a new spirit with the which I may loue thee Giue me O good Lord giue me a new spirit because mine is old vnpleasant vnto thee giue me a cleane and a chast heart because mine is foule and stinking before thy face for if thou do not no praier of mine can bee acceptable vnto thee nor no worke that I doe can bee meritorious vnto thee Cassiodorus noteth That king Dauid was not content that hee was noble in bloud a Prophet by office a king in degree and in surname and calling of a roiall tribe but he asketh of God aboue all things that hee would giue him a cleane heart and poure the holy ghost into him to let vs vnderstand that it doth little auaile vs to bee gratefull vnto the world if withall wee bee hatefull vnto God Then wee are hatefull vnto God and out of his sauour vvhen our hearts bee vncleane and loaden with many spirits and then wee haue many spirits when vvee please others better then wee please God Which the Prophet liketh not but praieth vnto God that it would please him to giue him a cleane heart to beleeue in him and an vpright to serue him Why
and vs as if he would say If thou bee the Christ which the Iewes hope for deliuer thy selfe from death and quite vs from paine Cyprian vpon the passion of our Lord sayth O that that is a wicked word and a detestable praier which thou O naughty theefe doest vtter with thy mouth when thou doest persuade the son of God to come downe from the crosse for if he do suffer die it is for nothing that toucheth him but for that which toucheth thee and is most expedient for me Why dost thou aske him that hee would saue thee and also himselfe seeing that he suffereth of his owne accord dieth for thy naughtinesse The beginning of this naughty theeues perdition was when he said if thou be the sonne of God and not thou art the son of God in which words it seemed that hee doubted whether hee were the sonne of God or not and so hee doubted in his faith and made a scruple whether he were the redeemer of the world or not and so hee fell into infidelitie which is the highest wickednesse of all other Cyrillus vpon S. Iohn saith That the good theefe said not If thou be Christ neither did S. Peter say I beleeue if thou bee Christ but the one said faithfully Lord remember me and the other likewise said I beleeue because thou art the sonne of God insomuch that no man can be lightened or pardoned which maketh any doubt at all in the faith of Christ The Apostle saith in his canonicall Epistle if any man want wisedome let him aske it of God not doubting in faith as if he would say If any man haue need of any great matter let him take heed that he do not aske it with a faith that is luke warme for if our Lord do not grant vs that which we aske him it is rather because wee know not how to ask him than because hee hath not a desire to giue it Damascen sayth If he who asketh be not a Pagan and that which he asketh bee not vniust and hee who asketh be holy and the place where he asketh be also sacred and he for whoÌ„ he asketh be needy why should he doubt to obtaine it considering that of himselfe hee is so mercifull O good Iesus O my soules pleasure giue me thy grace that I may say vvith the blind man in Ieremie O sonne of Dauid haue mercy vpon mee and keepe mee from saying vvith the naughty theefe if thou be Christ saue thy self and me too seeing that like a true Christian I confesse thy mighty power and call for thy great mercy Christostome saith The naughty theese thought that as Pilate had condemned him for a robber by the high way so he had executed iustice vpon Christ for stirring the people to sedition and that Christ did no lesse esteeme of his life than hee did abhorre death vvherein certainly he vvas much deceiued for he did not so earnestly desire to liue as Christ did desire to die The Iews persuaded Christ that hee should come downe from the crosse and this naughty theefe did also persuade him that hee vvould slie from the crosse that vvhich the sonne of God did not loue to hear of nor would not do for if he had forsaken the crosse all the vvorld should haue beene crucified S. Barnard sayth I doe not desire thee my good Iesus that thou come down froÌ„ the crosse nor that thou slie from the crosse but that thou vvouldest put me there with thee because it would be more reasonable that they should giue sentence vpon me for thee than that they should giue sentence vpon thee for me It may bee gathered of all that which wee haue spoken what great courage we haue need of to begin any good worke and a far greater to finish it for our enemies are ready alwaies about to deceiue vs the flesh to mooue vs men to hinder vs and the world to trouble vs. CHAP. VIII Of the great charity which the good theefe had towards the naughty theefe in correcting him of euill doing and in aduising him of the good which he lost COmmendat deus omnem charitatem suam in nobis saith the Apostle writing vnto the Romanes in the fift chap. as if he would say The God and Lord which I preach vnto you O Romanes dooth commend nothing more vnto you than charity in louing your neighbours with all your heart the which loue you must shew them not so much because they loue you as because they serue God Holy Paule did preach and teach vs many things whereof some were to make vs afeard some to giue vs counsell some to teach vs some to comfort vs as this matter which we now handle the which being wel looked into and read with attention we shal find that hee giueth vs as much as hee hath and loueth vs as much as he ought For the better vnderstaÌ„ding of this speech we must suppose that the loue of God charity and grace go alwaies coupled together in so much that no man can haue heauenly loue without heauenly charity no man can haue heauenly charity but he must haue heaueÌ„ly grace he who hath heauenly grace cannot faile but goe to glory Damascen sayth That Loue and Charitie and Grace are only one gift and the greatest which came from heaueÌ„ is called Grace because it is giuen without any price and it is called Charity because it is high and it is called Loue because it doth ioine and vnite vs with God in so much that when he recommendeth his Charity vnto vs he trusteth his Loue with vs. WheÌ„ our Lord doth commend vs his Loue as a thing left to keepe with vs if we marke it well what else is it but a token whereby we should marke with what Loue he loueth vs and with what Charity he entreateth vs O happy pledge O luckie trust when our Lord credited vs with his eternall Loue his infinite Grace and vnspeakable Charity the which vertues he gaue vs because we should not liue ingratefully with them and that in our death we should buy heauen with theÌ„ When our Lord doth giue vs charge to keepe his Charity what else is that but to doe vs the fauour to giue it vs If he would not haue giuen it vs hee knew well where to keepe it without giâ—ing it vs to pledge but hee saith that hee dooth commend it vnto vs to keepe and not giue it vs because wee should bee very carefull in keeping it and fearefull to lose it because we cannot be saued without it Bede vpon the Apostle sayth One friend can giue to another his iewels of siluer and gold but he cannot giue him the loue which hee hath in his heart for although he can shew it yet hee cannot passe it vnto him but the sonne of God did not onely shew vs his loue but did also giue it vs. He did shew vs his great loue when hee tooke mans flesh vpon him and he doth giue vs his sweet
giue ouer sinning more or lesse why haue wee friends and companions but because they should keepe vs vp with one hand from falling and lift vs vp with the other if they see vs downe S. Barnard in an Epistle saith Let no man leaue off the correcting of his neighbour and friend because he thinketh that by so doing he doth displease him for after he hath considered of the matter hee shall perceiue that hee hath done a good worke because that oftentimes the counsell which they giue vs is more worth thā the money which they lend vs. CHAP. IX Why the good theefe did not chide with the naughty theefe because hee did not loue Christ as hee did chide with him because hee did not feare God there are many notable things brought touching the feare of our Lord. ECclesia quidem magis quotidiè aedificabatur ambulans in timore domini consolatione spiritus sancti saith S. Luke in the ninth chap. of the Acts of the Apostles as if he would say After that S. Steuen was stoned to death and the Apostle Saint Paul was conuerted by so much the more the church of God encreased in building by how much the more shee was founded vpon the feare of our Lord and the church did receiue no comfort but such as the holy ghost did send her Bede vpon this place sayth That the scripture doth aduise vs with a high stile how much it doth import vs that we feare our Lord and keepe his commandements because the primitiue church neuer began to encrease and flourish vntill that Commonwealths began to feare the Lord and seeke for the consolation of the holy Ghost S. Augustine vpon the words of our Lord sayth That in the triumphant church loue without feare worketh but in the militant church loue and feare goe together and a signe of this is that the greater loue I beare my friend the greater feare I haue to displease him Cyrillus vpon S. Iohn saith Although the son of God said Ignem veni mittere in terram which was as much as to say that he builded his church vpon loue yet he tooke not his feare from her because that seeing that there is both mercy and iustice in God wee are bound aswell to feare his rightfull iustice as we are to loue his mercy When God gaue Moises the old law hee gaue it him with great thunders and terrible lightnings and with al mixed it with many threats ordained it with many punishmēts because the Iews should determine with themselues to keepe it and not in any wise to breake it King Pharaoh commanded all the midwiues of the kingdome of Egypt to slay al the male children of the Iews at the time of their birth and because they would not doe it for fear of the Lord the Lord gaue them great riches in their houses The scripture commendeth very much a steward vvhich the king Achab had vvhose name vvas Abdias the vvhich seeing the cursed Queene Iezabel cut the throats of the Prophets of Israel did hide some number of thē vntill all the butchery vvas past the vvhich the good Abdias did not so much for the loue vvhich hee bore vnto the Prophets as for the feare vvhich he bore vnto God When king Iosaphat constituted iudges in all the cities of Iudea he gaue them no other instruction but that they should feare God and be very mindfull of the good of their Commonwealth because that by this means they should bee well liked both of God and of all the people The scripture reporteth of holy Tobias that he began at the same time to weane his son and fear the God of Israel and that hee contracted friendship vvith none nor none vvith him vnlesse he knew that he feared God S. Ierom vpon the Prophets sayth Al holy men and of great perfection doe not only loue the Lord and feare him as their Lord God but doe also refuse to conuerse vvith those vvhich vvill not fear our Lord and for that cause Abraham went from the Caldeans holy Lot fled from the Sodomites We must entise flatter the vertuous man vvith loue fear the wicked peruerse mā with threats because that of tentimes the wicked man doth rather amend his life for seare of hell than for the desire vvhich he hath to go to heauen Irenaeus in an Homily saith That if as God made Paradise he would not haue made also an hel few there vvould haue been vvhich vvould haue serued our Lord very many vvhich vvould haue offended him Because that if an euil mā might enioy the world he would little care if heauen vvere taken from him A vaine vvordly man engraued in a medall of gold the wordes of the Psalme Caelum caeli domino terram autem dedit filijs hominum The heauen of heauen vnto our Lord he gaue the earth vnto the sons of men and hee wrote for a posie take thou Lord heauen for thee vpon condition that thou vvouldst leaue the earth vnto mee O cursed tongue and wicked speech what an vngodly mouth was that which durst vtter such horrible blasphemy for by the rigor of iustice he may iustly be caried into hel who renounceth to go to heauē and is wel pleased to hue in the word Anselmus saith O what a great fauour God doth vnto that mā whō God doth not exclude frō his loue doth not leaue him without fear for the mā which hath both loue and feare in him although he want other perfections neither ought to fear least he should be damned nor distrust at all to be saued We haue spoken all this in the cōmendation of the good theef of his piety charity who did not rebuke the other theefe his cōpamon for that hee was prowd or enuious but only because he did not feare God saying Neque tu times deum Neither doest thou fear God Giuing vs to vnderstand by this that he went down right into hell for no other cause but because he made smal reckoning of Christ And it is much tobe noted why the good theef did not rebuke the other for that that he did not loue Christ as he did reprehend him for that he did not fear Christ Hilarius answereth this doubt and sayth That because loue doth belong vnto those vvhich are perfect and feare vnto such as are not so perfect the good theefe did not persuade the other that hee should loue but that he should feare because the duty and office of louing is of such high quality that although many goe about it yet few attaine vnto it Glorious Saint Peter did persuade himselfe that hee had loued Christ as hee ought to haue loued him and therevpon to take away his vaine-glory Christ asked him three times whether hee loued human which deinand Chirst gaue vs to vnderstand that the merit of loued oth not consist in louing with all our heart but if good Iesus do accept it that thē it is perfect The wil which wee
to suffer it or vvhat eies can weepe and bewaile it sufficiently Venient tibi has vna die sterilitas viduitas said God by the Prophet Esay chapter sixteene as if hee would say When thou shalt least thinke vpon it there shall happen two great mishaps vnto thee O Synagogue that is thou shalt bee made a widdow and also barren vvithout a sonne The space of three thousand yeares in which God vvas married vnto the Synagogue hee raised Patriarkes and Prophets continually in her but vvhen the son of God vvas put to death shee vvas put from him like a naughty vvoman and the Church admitted in her place in so much that from good Friday forward vvhen he died on the crosse shee neuer after vvas great vvith any gifts or graces nor neuer brought foorth any holy man Our blessed Lord vvas his mothers bridegroome and deere sonne also and hee vvas so certainely her bridegroome that Ioseph vvas not more hers vvhen hee vvas betrothed vnto her and therevpon it is that vvhen Ioseph died shee vvas not fully a vviddow but vvhen the sonne of God died shee was fully a vviddow Why dooth the Prophet call her a vviddow but by reason of her sonne vvhich shee lost and vvhy doth hee call her barren but by reason that shee had no comfort and consolation O that the Prophet doth rightly call thee barren seeing that in one day and in one houre thou diddest lose thy husband and vvast bereaued of thy sonne But yet thou maiest comfort thy selfe vvith one thing O glorious Virgine that is that thou needest not vveare a mourning vveed though thou bee a vviddow because thee very stones haue broken in sunder and the heauens haue mourned for pure compassion Magna velut mare est contritio tua quis medebitur tibi Sayth Ieremy in his Lamentations as if hee would say thy griefe dooth so much exceed all other griefes as the sea doth exceed all other vvaters because all men can take pitie on thee but no man remedy thee Ieremy doth highly set forth the dolours vvhich the sorrowfull mother suffered on the Mount of Caluary by comparing her vnto the sea vvater because that as there is no drop of water in the sea which is not salt euen so there was no part of the Virgines heart which did not feele griefe and paine Hee calleth the Virgines dolour Contrition that is a kind of brusing or breaking hee calleth it great and hee calleth it a sea which is bitter in so much that as there is nothing which can bee compared to the sea in greatnesse euen so there is no griefe which can bee compared vnto the griefe which the Virgine suffered There are some griefes and sorrowes the which if they bee bitter yet they are not great and if they bee great yet they are not bitter but the Virgines dolour vvas the greatest in the world for it was so bitter that there could bee none so bitter and so great that none could bee greater What could bee more bitter seeing it went to her heart what longer seeing it continued all her life time O that thy contrition was great like vnto the sea for as there is in the sea both calme and tempest so was there in thy heart at one time ioy and sorrow ioy in seeing thy sonne redeeme the world and sorrow in seeing thy sonne die vvithout iustice What sorrow doest thou thinke should that heart feele in the which at one time there did striue sensuality and reason loue and feare liking and dissiking willing and nilling What sea can bee compared in depth or what water in bitternesse vnto the heart in the which is forged at one time a will to redeeme all the world and a will that her sonne should not suffer For as the sea is deepe and large so the Virgines griefe was deepe because it reacheth vnto the heart and great because it vvas of a great matter and bitter because it was the greatest griefe in the world Barnard sayth That as in the sea one waue followeth another and when they are come to the banke they breake against it euen so in the Virgines mind one sorrow ouertaketh another and one grief ouerreacheth another the which both together breake against the Virgines bowels And shee suffered all these anxieties and sorrowes alone because there was none who might take part of them with her nor any man able to giue her remedy for them Quis medibitur tibi as if Ieremy would say O sorrowfull mother and comfortlesse Lady what Phisition is able to cure thy wounds hauing them as thou hast them so farre within thy heart Who shall cure thee O thou of all other the most comfortlesse because the griefes of the heart are such that although they are easie to bee reckoned yet they are hard to bee cured Who shall heale thee O blessed Ladie seeing thy carefull loue is of such qualitie and the wounds of thy sorrow so great that no man can guesse at the curing of them but hee alone who was the cause of them Who shall ease thee of all others the most desolate seeing that the Phisitian which cured the dolours of the heart is now crucified among theeues and malefactors Who shall cure thee O blessed Virgine or who shall make whole thy sorrowfull heart but hee onely in whome thou hast put it seeing wee know that although Gallen and Hypocrates can purge the humors and let the vaines bloud yet they cannot cure the griefes of the mind Who shall ease thy sighes but only he for whome we sigh for Who shall heale thee O my good Ladie seeing that hee is dead on the altar of the crosse for whome thou doest weepe and hee hath yeelded vp the ghost for whome thou doest sigh Who shall heale thee O my sinfull soule if thou hast lost Christ and fallen from grace Thou must now know that thou hast no recompence for so great a losse Ioine therefore O my soule with our Lady and weep with her shee for her sonne and thou for thy losse because that after his resurrection he may comfort her and helpe thee would haue bestowed them all in seeking looking vpon in hearing and in louing and seruing her sonne O who could haue seene thee in that lamentable houre on foot and not sitting hard by the crosse and not farre off looking vpon him with thy sorrowfull eies kissing his feet with thy mouth and receiuing the drops of bloud vpon thy head The scripture doth not say only that shee did stand hard by the crosse but addeth further iuxta crucem Iesu by the crosse of Christ to distinguish the crosse of Christ from the crosse of theeues for it had been no matter whether a man had been on foot or sitting by those crosses Who should come to the crosse of Christ crucified but he who is also crucified And hee who will come to the crosse must liue like vnto them that are on the crosse vpon which they know nothing but how to
bee brought to passe but by his sonnes meanes and he knew also very well that so old a strife would cost his sonne very deerely and notwithstanding all this he gaue his full consent that hee should bee condemned to die And that which most of all did shew his goodnesse and our wickednesse is that the diuels against whome he did plead striue did not giue sentence against Christ but man for whom hee did plead and whose cause he did defend Theophilus dooth seeme to say that it importeth more to say that the father did suffer his sonne to bee crucified than to say that hee doth suffer sinne which appeareth by the Apostle when hee sayth Quòd pro nobu omnibus tradidit illum and hee sayth not Quòd permisit but hee sayth that hee did deliuer and giue his sonne to bee crucified If the father did giue him to be crucified who was able to defend him If we doe giue credite vnto the Prophet Esayas the sonne dooth charge no man with his death and passion sauing only his Father seeing that hee sayth in the Fathers name Propter peccata populi mei percussieum as if hee would say Let no search bee made for the death of my sonne because I was he who stroke him and wounded him and crucified him and buried him because the sinnes of my people could not be clensed but with the bloud of my sonne Dauid was of the same opinion in the 88 Psalm saying thou hast shortened the daies of his life hast thrown his seat vpon the ground Who was able to cut off his daies or cast downe his seat but only he who gaue him life and honored him with a seat All this was figured not onely in Abraham who had drawne his sword to kill his sonne but also in king Moab who for the liberty of the people did kill his own sonne from the top of a wall Origen vpon the Apostle sayth Although it seeme to be a thing against humanity for the father to be a butcher of his owne sonne and make an anatomy of him yet it was no cruelty for the father to make his sonne to die for the redemption of the world but rather a great point of charity because it was decreed from the beginning that as our hurt came by disobedience so our bulwarke and defence should bee by obedience Theophilus sayth God left his sonne in the hands of death with an intention that because that if shee did set vpon him without cause hee should loose the right which he had vpon others and so it befell vnto him for because hee ventered vpon him who was iust hee lost his action against him who was a sinner S. Augustine vpon S. Matthew saith There were at Christs death first Christs father and then the sonne the Lieutenant Pilate Iudas the Disciple and all the people of the Iews and as they were all of diuers conditions so they were of diuers intentions Pilate gaue sentence on him for feare Iudas sold him for couetousnesse the Iews slew him by malice the Father deliuered him for charity and the sonne offered himself to die with pittie and he sayth further Doe not say O you Iewes doe not say If hee be the sonne of God let him come downe from the crosse for you would haue crucified him long before that time if his Father had not denied you him afterward whē he would and how hee vvould hee deliuered him vnto you What did Pilate in the death of Christ but sinne what did Iudas in the passion of his Maister but sinne what did the Iewes in crucifieng Christ but sinne The passion of Christ our redeemer the Father permitted the sonne suffered the holy ghost approued in so much that wee bee not bound for our redemption vnto those who put him to death for to reuenge their iniuries but vnto those who suffered it to redresse our faults O how much we owe vnto God the Father for his clemency seeing that because hee would not punish my offence in my selfe he punished his own sonne for it not according vnto his innocency but vnto my great offence the which his holy sonne did lay vpon his owne shoulders to the intent to disburden me of it Anselmus in his Meditations saith Say O my soule say with the Prophet I am he who sinned I am hee who haue offended thee I am hee who hath sinned for the Lambe thy sonne what hath he done Let thy fury bee turned against me O Father who haue committed the fault and not against thy sonne who is without spot and let not the cruell speare of yron pierce his heart who can doe nothing but loue and let him enter into my heart who can do nothing but sinne O fatherly affection and fauour neuer heard of before what is there in me to giue thee or what is there in all the world to serue thee with seeing that for to seeke out him vvho vvas lost to redeeme him vvho vvas sold to vnlose him vvho vvas bound and deliuer him out of captiuity who was taken prisoner thou diddest make thy owne sonne captiue O infinite goodnesse and vnspeakable clemency what pittie did constraine thee or vvhat charity did ouercome thee that to giue light vnto the blind to heale the lame put him in the right way who went astray to make cleane the vncleane to lift him vp who was fallen and pardon him who had offended thou wouldst not pardon thy owne sonne What priesthood can bee compared vnto thy Priesthood or what sacrifice is like vnto thy sacrifice seeing that in old time they did offer nothing vnto the Priest but some liue beast for the sins of the people and thou diddest not offer but thy own proper sonne The sonne then hath great occasion to complain of his Father saying Why hast thou put me contrary vnto thy self seeing that he commanded that sonne which hee loued best to die for those which most of all did hate him He followeth this matter in a morall sence FActus sum mihimet ipsi grauis sayth Iob as we haue already said Although saith hee I complaine of many yet I complaine of none more than of my selfe and although many things doe wage battaile against me yet I am the greatest enemy vnto my selfe Origen vpon this place sayth It is a thing neuer heard of and a very strange complaint for although a man bee neuer so culpable yet he desireth to excuse himselfe and accuse others Irenaeus in a Sermon sayth We fall euery day and stumble and sinne yet notwithstanding all these faults no man dooth confesse himselfe to bee naught nor acknowledge his brother to bee good Petrarch sayth That men complaine of the sea that it is dangerous of the aire that it is corrupt of his friend that he is a dissembler of the time that it is troublesome and yet I see no man sayth he who complaineth of himselfe therfore wee are like vnto young gamesters which neuer blame their owne play
but when they loose do curse the dice. This speech of Iob doth containe much matter and therefore it is conuenient that wee tell you how many sorts of warre there is seeing he saith that he maketh war against himselfe There is therefore one kind of vvarre which is called a roiall warre another called ciuill warre another more than ciuill vvarre another personall and another cordiall or of the heart Of all which warres I will tell you what we haue read and what we thinke It is called a royall war because it is made by one king against another or by one kingdome against another as the warre betwixt Darius and Alexander Troianus and Decebalus Rome and Carthage the which two prowd cities although they had no kings yet they were heads of kingdomes There is another kind of warre called ciuill warre which is betwixt neighbour and neighbour or when a cittie deuideth it selfe and fighteth the one against the other as in Carthage betwixt the Hannones and Hasdrubales and in Rome betwixt Scilla and Marius and afterward betwixt Caesar and Pompey all which ended their liues before they ended their quarrell There is another warre called more than ciuill warre as betwixt the sonne and the father brother and brother vncle and cousin as betwixt Dauid and his sonne Absalon who purposed to take away the kingdome from his father although hee atchieued not his enterprise but in the end was hanged vpon an oke It was more than a ciuill warre that was betwixt the Aiaces the Greekes Bries the Licaonians Athenones the Troians Fabritioes the Romanes This is the most dangerous kind of warre that is because those hatreds which are conceiued betwixt kinsmen by so much the more are more deadly by how much they are neerer tied in kindred There is another kind of war which is called personall or a combat vvhen two valiant men doe fight a combate for the auerring of some vveighty and important affaire vvhere for to saue their honour they loose sometime their life and honour both This kind of combate the valiant Dauid fought against the Giant Golias the one armed and the other vvithout armes yet in the end Dauid did ouercome Golias and killed him with his sling and cut off his head vvith his owne sword There is another kind of vvarre more stranger than those vvee haue spoken of vvhich is called the vvarre of the heart or entrals which is begun in the heart fought in the heart and also ended in the heart In this sorrowfull vvarre sighes are the darts they cast tears the weapons they fight with the bowels the field vvhere the battaile is fought and those vvho fight are the hearts and he who can weepe best is accounted the best souldiour Factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis because there there fighteth one against the other and both against him loue and feare slouth and courage talking and silence anger and patience O what great reason Iob had to say Factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis seeing that not in the corners but in the very middest of our hearts theft and almes deeds doe fight and striue the one against the other And reason and sensuality care and sluggishnesse strife and quietnesse anger and patience couetousnesse and liberality pardon and reuenge O vnhappy battaile and dangerous combate vvhere I am made Mihimet ipsi grauis seeing vvee fight heere not in company but alone not openly but secretly not vvith swords but vvith thoughts and there is nothing seene but all is felt And that vvhich is vvorst of all is that to ouercome vvee must sometimes suffer our selues to bee ouercome Where but in this more than ciuill vvarre in vvhat fight but in this in vvhat strife but in this did all the holy and vertuous men end their liues Who then will say that it is not very true that Factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis seeing that we are so much the better accepted of God by how much wee are contrary vnto our selues The Apostle complained of this vvarre when hee said O infaelix homo quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius his meaning was O vnfortunate and sorrowfull man as I am vvhen vvill the day come vvherein I may see my selfe free and as it vvere exempted from my selfe to the end that I may doe that which I would doe and not as now to desire that which I ought not Saint Augustine speaketh of this ciuill warre in his Confessions when he said Factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis seeing that I am bound and fettered not with yrons and chains but with my owne sensuality but I gaue my vvill voluntarily vnto the Diuell and of my vvill he maketh now that which I will not Anselmus in his Meditations sayth I am made grieuous and painfull vnto my selfe because there is no man so contrary vnto mee and so against mee as I am to my selfe and I am like a foole besides my selfe in so much that liuing within my selfe yet I goe wandring abroad out of my selfe Isidorus in his book De summo bono sayth I am made grieuous vnto my selfe and for that cause my iudgement is so darkened my memory so weakened my thoughts so changed that I know not what I vvould haue although it be giuen me nor I know not whereof I should complaine although I bee demanded Doest thou not thinke that my iudgement is sore troubled that I am an alien from myselfe seeing that I doe oftentimes by desiring to know that of my selfe that I know of others enquire of my selfe for my selfe Barnard sayth in a Sermon Am not I good Iesus grieuous and painful vnto my selfe seeing that if hunger doe make mee faint and weake eating doth also loath mee if cold doe weary me the heat doth also molest me if solitarinesse doe make mee sad company doth also importune me in so much that I am pleased and contented vvith nothing and am alwaies discontented with my selfe How can I bee pleased with my owne doings seeing that if I do behaue my selfe once like a wise man I doe behaue my selfe an hundred times like an vndiscreet man S. Ambrose in an Epistle to Theodosius sayth Because I am grieuous and painefull vnto my selfe I doe withdraw my selfe from the company of men because they should not change and disguise mee I flie from the diuell because hee should not entrap me I forsake the world because hee should not damne mee I renounce wealth and riches because they should not corrupt mee I refuse all honour and dignities because they should not make mee prowd But alas alas notwithstanding all this and although I suffer very much yet my bodie is neuer at rest my mind is very vnquiet by reason vvhereof I grow vvorser and vvorser euery day in vertues and plunge my selfe more and more into the world Whosoeuer hee vvere vvho made these verses hee made them most grauely In warre that I am vnder taking Against my selfe my sorce doth spend meâ— Since with my selfe warre
better bee verified in Christ than in any other seeing that from the first instant that he tooke humane flesh vpon him he saw the deuine essence and knew as much as hee dooth now in glorie vvhich is not so in other men seeing they are long a bringing vp and vvaxe old very timely The sonne of God vvas also an Hebrue of the tribe of Iuda a vvhich vvas the most honourable stocke of all the tribes and hee vvas of Nazareth vvhich vvas a holy land and he vvas also the most honourable of all his kindred Thirdly the sonne of God vvas best beloued of his father because of him and of no other he said in his baptisme Hic est filius meus dilectus as if hee vvould say This is only my lawful child in him only am I vvel pleased this only is my heire him onely I doe tender and loue in him I delight and take great contentment Fourthly the son of God vvas a very thicke mud vvall a close hedge vvhich put himselfe betwixt God and the people vvhen he suffered himselfe to bee crucified vpon the crosse vpon the vvhich as strong battelments they discharged all the sinnes vvhich vvere in the vvorld and all the wrath vvhich God had O glorious hedge O happie vvall O strong vvounds such vvast thou O redeemer of my soule seeing thou diddest permit and consent to put thy selfe a mediator betwixt God man to the end they should vnlode and put vpon thee all the sins of the vvorld and all the vengeance vvhich God vvas to take for them S. Gregory vpon Ezechiell sayth The sonne of God only vvas the man he sought for this vvas the vvall he required this vvas the mediator he asked for this is the pacifier of the old quarrell and of Gods vvrath this is the reformer of new grace and this is the ouerthrower of the old sinne S. Ierome vpon this place sayth The man vvhich God sought by Ezechiel who else was hee but the son of the liuing God and our redeemer Who like vnto an vnexpugnable wall did put himselfe boldly betwixt God and vs saying Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them By which words he did not like that our sinnes should come into the sight of God neither suffered he Gods wrath and vengeance to descend vpon vs. Origen vpon S. Marke sayth That whē the two chiefe captaines of the synagogue Moses and Aaron perceiued that the Lord began to poure his wrath and anger vpon the people they went immediatly vnto the tabernacle the one to pray and the other to doe sacrifice to be a mean betwixt God and them because that otherwise God would haue poured out his anger vpon them the Synagogue haue receiued great hurt and detriment That which happened vnto those two holy men in the desart happened vnto Christ on the mount of Caluarie who seeing the elements to be troubled and the dead to rise againe to reuenge his death and punish that nation he made himselfe a mediator and a stikeler betwixt God and them and praied Paterignosce illis as if hee would say Pardon them my father pardon them for if thou wilt not pardon them it will bee a greater griefe vnto me to see them lost then my passion which causeth mee to die What would become of the Iewes then if Christ had not said vnto his father father forgiue them and what should betide vs now if he should not say Pater parce illis Spare them father S. Barnard saith in a sermon That this word of Ignosce illis Forgiue them is of such a deepe consideration that it should neuer be out of a sinners mouth nor blotted out of his memory because that the sonne of God did shew his mercy more vnto vs in two things thē in al the rest that is in the pardon which he got vs of his father and in the bloud which he shed for vs on the crosse Anselmus reasoning with Christ sayth What doest thou crie for what doest thou aske what doest thou intreat for what wilt thou what seekest thou what saiest thou to thy father O good Iesus what saiest thou I intreat O my father that thou wouldest forgiue them because they know not what they do and that thou wouldest load my flesh with thy anger and I intreat that there remaine nothing vnteconciled vnto thee because that my redemption would seem vnperfect and insufficient if there should remaine in any a fault to bee redeemed and in thy selfe any anger to punish vs. O what an enflamed charity what a wonderfull example what incredible patience what entire loue thou diddest shew vs O sweet Iesus in this speech of Father forgiue them the which thou diddest vtter not for an ease to thy griefe but in fauour of thy persecutors O what infinite goodnesse what vnspeakable clemencie what strange charitie doth shine this day in thee O my Iesus and sauiour seeing thou doest loose those which bind thee pleadest for those which diffame thee entreatest for those which accuse thee excusest those which blame thee and pardonest also those which will kill thee What meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this doest thou pray for them at the very instant which they blaspheme thee mocke thee and laugh thee to scorne They haue pierced thee with a speare and yet doest thou giue them an acquittance and a release of the blow What mortall man can praise himselfe or bost to haue done that which thou hast done that is to craue pardon for murderers before they haue confessed their fault and seeke to release them before they haue repented They will not returne into the citie before thou hast yeelded vp the ghost and wilt not thou die before thou hast first pardoned them Who euer saw or heard any thing like vnto this to wit that pardon should proceed first out of his blessed bowels before the blood should end to issue out of his tender vaines Doest thou not remember to aske a sepulchre for thy body and doest thou remember to aske forgiuenesse and mercie for those which crucified thee O sweet Iesus O my soules glorie who but thou could haue the breath going out of his body and Ignosce illis Pardon them in his mouth To defend thy selfe couldest not thou open thy mouth and to excuse thy enemies couldst not thou keepe it shut S. Chrisostome sayth The sonne of God onely was he who on the altar of the crosse inspeaking these words Father forgiue them coupled ioined and handfasted together pittie and cruelty the offence and mercie anger and patience hatred and loue killing and pardoning With as great reason sayth Hilarius we can now say Vbi sunt irae tuae antiquae as the Prophet Dauid said Vbi sunt misericordiae tuae antiquae seeing we bee certaine that from the houre that the son of God died vpō the crosse we may cal him Pater misericordiarū as the Synagogue called him Deus vltionū The God of reuenge No man ought to distrust Christs
loue when he doth impart his grace amongst vs insomuch that with the first loue hee deliuered vs from being slaues and with the second loue he receiued vs to be his sonnes In figure of all this the altar of the Synagogue was all hollow but the altar of the church is massie and sound by reason of the feruent loue which God beareth vs and great charitie and mercy which hee doth vs. It is much to bee noted that God doth not commend vnto vs Faith Hope Patience and Chastitie but only Charitie in which words hee giueth vs to vnderstand that if we doe set much by that which our Lord giueth vs we ought to esteeme much more of the loue with the which hee doth giue it vs. Isidorus sayth That all the courtesies which our Lord doth promise vs and all the persuasions vvhich hee vseth vnto vs are to no other end but because vve should bee thankfull vnto him and because vve should be mercifull vnto our neighbours What vvanteth hee vvhich vvanteth not Charity and what hath he who hath no Charity The mercifull and pitifull man hath God alwaies at his hand that he fall not from his faith that hee lose not his hope that he defile not his chastity nor despise humility for in the high tribunall seat of God no man need to feare that they will deale cruelly with him if hee hath had any charity in this world Wherein doest thou thinke saith S. Ierome that all Christian charity doth consist and al the health of thy soule but only in seruing of Christ with all our heart and in labouring to profit and benefit our neighbour What greater good can I doe vnto my brother than put him in the right way if hee be out and correct him if hee bee naught Bede sayth vpon this matter That true and chast loue may bee deuided betwixt God and our neighbour so as our neighbor be not prowd and naught for if he be so we are to wish his saluation and flie his conuersation Wee haue spoken all this to declare the great charity which this good theefe had and also vsed towards the naughty theefe seeing that vpon the crosse hee taught him that which was conuenient for him reprehended him in that which he spake Neque tu times deum qui in eadem damnatione es said the good theefe vnto the bad as if he would say O my friend and companion I wonder much at thee that hauing beene of such a naughty life and conuersation and being vpon the very point to die I say I maruel that thou darest to crucifie this holy Prophet more with thy tongue than the hang men doe with their nailes because the nailes doe open his vains but thy euill tongue doth rend his entralls The good theefe vsed but few wordes but they contained many mysteries and therefore it is needfull that they be read with attention and written with grauity It is to bee noted that although our Lord God be present in all things with his power yet hee is much more in mans heart and tongue by grace because those are the two parts with the which we doe most of all please or offend God with S. Aug. saith That the eies doe loth oft to see the ears to hear the hands are loth to work the feet to go yea the body to sinne but the heart is neuer weary of thinking nor the tongue with speaking Cor mundum crea in me deus pone custodiam ori meo said the Prophet Dauid as if he would say I beseech thee O good Lord that thou wouldest renue this heart within me put a watch vnto this mytongue because that al the other parts of my body can but trouble offend me but the heart tongue can trouble me damne me S. Ambrose saith That it is a certein token that we are in Gods fauor when he doth giue vs grace to keep our hearts clean our tongues brideled because the foundation of all Christian goodnes is to beleeue our Lord God with all our hearts praise him with our tongue Ego dabo eis cer nouuÌ„ said God vnto Israel I will open thy mouth said God vnto Ezechiel as if he would say I will lighten thy heart O Israel to the end that thou maist beleeue in me and I will open thy mouth O Ezechiel to the end that thou maist preach my name for thou hast obtained no small gift if thou come to know me learn wel to set forth my name To come theÌ„ vnto our purpose the grace of a new heart which God gaue vnto Israel and the gift of praising his name which he gaue Ezechiel Christ also gaue vnto the good theef which was neer vnto him seeing he touched his heart with the which he beleeued in him opened his mouth with the which he preached his name Vbertinus saith That this good theefe was an excellent preacher in the church of God who in a sort seemed to goe before the Apostles in faithfully beleeuing and preaching Christs might and power What greater maruell wouldst thou haue the bloud of Christ worke saith Rabanus thaÌ„ to make preachers of theeues robbers the pulpit in the which hee preached was the crosse the preacher was the theâ—f the holy one of whoÌ„ he preached was Christ the church where he preached was Caluary the audience before whom he preached were the Iews the Theame vpoÌ„ which he preached was Neque tu deum times Neither doest thou fear God and that which there hee preached was the setting forth of Christ and the reprehending of that which his fellow spake The office of a preacher is saith Saint Gregory Secreta reserarae vitia extirpare virtutes inserere The duty of a preacher is to open the secrets of the scripture extirpate vice out of the Commonwealth and teach how our soules are to be saued What greater secret can there bee than to confesse and preach a man crucified to bee God Who reprehended vices like vnto this theefe seeing that hee confessed himselfe to be a sinner and accused the other theefe to bee a blasphemer who did teach the way to heauen better thaÌ„ this theef seeing hee was almost the first that went thither The good theefe deuided his sermon into foure parts the first was when hee rebuked the other theefe when hee said Neque tu deum times the second when hee accused himselfe to bee naught saying Nos quidem iustè patimur The third when he excused Christ saying Hic autem quid mali fecit The fourth when hee craued pardon for his sinnes Domine memento mei Lord remember mee Seeing then that the preacher is but a new preacher the pulpit new and the thing that he preacheth new it is reason that wee should heare that which hee preacheth with attention and do that which he counselleth with great deuotion Auferetur zelus meus ate quiescam ne irascar amplius said God by Ezechiel chap.
much good vnto your nation because there is nothing worse bestowed than that which is done vnto an vngratefull people Anselmus sayth That it cannot bee vnderstood nor compassed with mans wit that all the wisest of the law should bee at the Mount of Caluary to accuse Christ and one only theefe to defend him When â—as that Prophecy accomplished Perdam sapientiam sapientum prudentiam prudentium I will lose the wisedome of the wise But when on the altar of the crosse all the synagogue did accuse thee and one onely theefe excuse thee doest thou find no sufficienter surely and witnesse to preach thy patience to extoll thy mercy to praise thy liberality and to defend thy innocency than a theefe ready to be hanged That which thou doest thou doest very well O my good Iesus because no man can giue abetter testimony of thy charitie and clemency thaÌ„ rich Zachaeus whome thou diddest visite and the Publicane Matthew whom thou diddest receiue and the infamous Samaritane whom thou diddest conuert and the adulterous woman whom thou diddest defend and the good theefe whom thou did dest pardon Considering that thou diddest come into the world for sinners diddest eat with sinners conuerse with sinners and diddest die for sinners who can be a better surety or witnesse for thee than sinners The good theefe did not only excuse Christ and intreat for him but did also accuse himselfe saying Nos quidem instè patimur as if hee would say Thou and I I and thou my companion if we suffer any thing wee suffer it worthily because they haue giuen vs our torment according to our offence There are very few which make a more glorious confession than this because it is so much against our nature to suffer a reproch that we will rather suffer torment than confesse our fault Our first father being asked by God why he had transgressed his commandement did cast the blame vpon the womâ—â— who had deceiued him and she being asked why she did deceiue him made answere that the serpent was importunate with her and did persuade her and so in stead of confessing they began to excuse themselues S. Augustine vpon the Apostles words sayth Woe be vnto me woe bee vnto me for I doe inherite sinne from my father an excuse from my mother lying from the diuel folly of the world to make much of my selfe of the flesh and pride of my selfe insomuch that I am not content to be mâ—ght but I would also bee counted good Seneca writing vnto his friend sayth thus Our nowes from hence are these the wals of Rome are ruined the Temples not visited the Priests fled the treasure robbed old men are dead young men are wicked and mad vices are lords of all O my good friend Eucilius if these seeme great faults there are other greater than these in Rome and they are that no man dooth confesse himselfe culpable of any of these things but the Dictator laieth the blame vpon the Consull the Consull vpon the Censor the Censor vpon the Praeâ—â—r the Praetor vpon the Aedile and the Aedile vpon the Quaestor insomuch that because no man doth confesse his fault wee neuer hope to haue an ameÌ„d meÌ„t of it O my soule saith Anselmus O my heart why doest thou confesse vs but because thou shouldest amend vs. Woe be vnto me woe be vntome there is no sin that Peommit for the which I haue not an excuse that is the deuill deceiued me my friend entreated me I was weak and feeble the world drew mee on I tooke not heed insomuch that I am more faulty in my excuse than in committing the offence Iustus prior est accusator sut said the wise man in his Prouerbes The greatest token that a man is iust and honest is that hee knoweth not how to accuse another of any thing that he seeth nor excuse himselfe of any thing that he doth WheÌ„ the Angel rebuked the children of Israel in Galgalos they did presently break down their Idols cloth themselues with fackclothes by reason whereof when the Lord saw that they began to confesse their fault and not excuse it hee did not only pardon them but did also comfort them WheÌ„ king Dauid tooke away Bersabe vnto his house and sent her husband vnto the wars wheÌ„ the Prophet Nathan sent from God did reprehend him for it hee did there presently confesse his fault and was there presently absolued for it When Achab the murderer was rebuked by the Prophet Helias for stoning Naboth to death because hee denied him his Vineyard hee wept immediately and fasted repented him of that which he had done and therfore he was absolued of his fault before the Prophet went out of the threshold of his dore Who euer hath confessed with his heart which hath not ben pardoned at Gods hands Why doest thou thinke that the theefe obtained pardon so quickly at Gods hands but because hee excused Christ instructed his fellow and accused himself This was a glorious confession and a fault worthy of pardon seeing that on the Mount of Caluary and not in the Temple vpon the tree not in place of confession publickly not secretly aloud and not in muttering wise hee confessed the sonne of God to be our redeemer and himselfe a sinner O holy theef saith Chrisostome Why doest thou not ask that they would vnlose the cords which thou art bound with or pull out the nailes which thou art nailed with or looke vnto thy house family because thou art now going out of this world or that they would bury thy sorrowfull body Truly that seemeth to bee an exceeding great loue which thou didst beare vnto Christ seeing thou diddest forget thy selfe and remember him excuse his innocency proclaime thine own offences It would not hurt vs at all to confesse that which thou diddest confesse saying Nos quidem iustè patimur Wee doe iustly suffer For if our faults were put in a ballance on one side and our punishment on the other without comparison our Lord doth dissemble much more than hee doth punish For if our Lord would punish all our offences according to their desert we could liue but a small time CHAP. X. How the son of God was more gratefull vnto the good theefe which bare him company on the crosse than Pharoahs cupbearer was to Ioseph who accompanied him in prison MEmen to mei cum bene tibi fuerit vt suggeras Pharaoni vt educas me de isto carcere quia huc innocens missus sum These are the words of holy Ioseph speaking vnto Phareahs chiefe cupbearer as if he would say For a reward of interpreting thy dream for letting thee vnderstand that thou shouldest vpon the morrow returne again to the pallace and vse thy old office of the cupbearer I beseech thee that thou wouldest bee mindfull of me and entreat the king that hee would let mee out of this dungeon where I haue beene two yeares without cause or desert at all There
the bowels of his mercy The holy Prophet dooth in this open a high mystery vnto vs whereby hee giueth vs to vnderstand how entirely our Lord dooth loue vs seeing that hee doth visite vs vvith the bowels of his mercy There bee many vvhich haue this word Mercy in their mouth but not in their hands and those bee such as are faire in speech but cruell in deedes and such vse sweet speech to take men and flattery to kill them Others there bee which haue mercy in their handes and nor in their tongues the which are rough in words but mild and gentle in deeds and those offer blowes but strike not they feare but kill not Only our sweet Iesus hath mercy pity in his mouth seeing hee dooth so much commend it vnto vs and in his deedes seeing hee dooth vse it so much and also in his bowels because hee dooth loue vs so much S. Barnard sayth vnto this purpose Our Lord would not place mercy in the eies least they should make him blind hee would not place it in the eares for feare they should make him deaffe hee would not place it in the handes for feare it should bee lost hee would not put it to keepe in the body for feare least it should grow old neither yet in the tongue for feare hee should be dumbe But our good Iesus put it to keepe in his heart to bestow it vpon those whom hee loueth and keepeth it within his bowels because that all that which is loued with the heart is kept within the heart O good Iesus O the life of my soule I beseech thee by the bowels of thy mercy that thou wouldest take pity on my sinfull soule and seeing I haue no other Lord in my bowels but thy selfe on whom wouldest thou better bestow the mercy which thou hast within thine than vpon mee Thou diddest speake with the bowels of thy mercy vnto the good theefe when thou wast not content onely to say Amen Truly I say but thou diddest adde tibi to thee letting vs vnderstand that thou diddest speake vnto him alone and promise Paradise vnto him alone and vnto no other Vbertinus sayth That if when Christ said Amen dico hee had not added tibi his mother who brought forth his humanity and the other theefe which had lost his liberty might haue thought that hee had spoken vnto them I say if hee had not turned himselfe vnto the good theefe and said tibi What meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this doest thou speake vnto the theefe and forget thy mother Doest thou not speake vnto thy mother who bare thee nine months in her bowels and doest thou speake vnto the theefe who had knowne thee but three houres Doest thou promise presently Paradise vnto the theefe which spake but three words and doest thou make no reckoning of thy mother who bought thee with her teares Doest thou bestow thy precious bloud first vpon a theefe which knew not how to do any thing else but shed bloud by the high waies before thou doest bestow it vpon thy mother Would it not bee reason to pay thy mother now with the bloud that runneth from thy side for the milke which thou diddest sucke of her breast What more heroicall and diuine exchange could there bee made in the world betwixt the sonne and the mother the mother and the sonne than bloud for milke and milke for bloud If thou doest looke O good Iesus that shee should speake vnto thee as the theefe did doest thou not see that for wearines she cannot helpe thee for griefe she cannot looke vpon thee for feare shee cannot comfort thee and for being astonied shee cannot speake vnto thee I beseech thee Per viscera misericordia that thou wouldest say Amen dico vobis as thou doest say Amen dico tibi For by that means thou shouldest comfort thy mother satisfie the theefe vanquishe Hell helpe the world and withall I should haue hope to be pardoned If thou doest die for all and not for one why doest thou not say Verely I say vnto you as thou doest say Truly I say vnto thee O sweet Iesus and loue of my soule seeing that vpon my knees and my face bathed in teares I say vnto thee Tibi soli peccaui I haue sinned vnto thee alone doe not I deserue to heare from thy mouth these words Amen dico tibi Truly I say vnto thee Anselmus sayth That it was too timely to giue Paradise vnto his mother and the other theefe had not deserued it and the great Centurion was not yet become a Christian and the Iewes were hardened in their hearts and therefore it was not without cause that he said vnto the theef Amen dico tibi and not Amen dico vobis It was a great word which God spake vnto the first man that is dominamini piscibus maris volatilibus cali but that which hee spake vnto the good theefe was farre greater because it is far better to be companions vnto the Angels in heauen than kings ouer beasts vpon earth It was a great word that God spake vnto Noe that is I found thee iust in my sight but this which hee spake vnto the theefe was far greater because it is better to be iust receiue the reward of being iust thā to be simply iust That was a fauourable speech which hee vsed vnto king Dauid I haue found a man according vnto my heart but this which he spake vnto the good theefe was farre more fauourable because that Dauid was but neere vnto his heart but the theefe was in his heart And it did appear easily that Dauid was but neer Gods heart seeing hee did sinne afterward and it doth well appeare that hee had the theefe within his heart seeing hee suffered him to sinne nor steale no more That was a fauorable speech which God vsed vnto Abraham that is Num celare potero qua gesturus sum Abraham But that which was vsed towards the theefe was more fauourable because the greatest secret that God reuealed vnto Abraham was that the son of God should come into the world but hee did not onely reueale but also shew this vnto the good theef Christ did trust the good theef better thā he did trust Abraham because he was the first sinner who saw the redemption of the world with his eies he was hee vpon whome the bloud of Christ was first bestowed The precious bloud of the sonne of God was then otherwise shed towards the theefe who was vpon the crosse than towards his mother who was by the crosse because it dropped downe vpon the garment of his sorrowfull mother but it went to the soule of the theefe to saue him therevpon the holy theef went immediately to Paradise but his sorrowful mother staied weeping on the Mount of Caluary O holy bloud O heauenly blame why doest thou take such pity on the theefe doest deferre to giue thy mother the kingdome of heauen which thou doest giue presently vnto
the theefe Doest thou defer it to her who brought forth Christ take pity on him who bare him coÌ„pany on the crosse seeing thou doest augmeÌ„t tears in her diminish offences in him It was a word of great fauor which hee did vse vnto Mary Magdalen that Remissa tibi peccata multa Many sins are forgiuen thee but yet that was greater which he did vse to the good theefe because hee vsed greater liberty with him thaÌ„ with hir for if he loued her pardoned her he loued the theef like a friend pardoned him like a Christian rewarded him lika a iust man Barnard saith vnto this purpose That it is a signe of great loue to pardon but a greater sign to giue pardon because that pardon is sometime giueÌ„ by force but a gift neuer coÌ„meth but of free wil. OrigeÌ„ vpoÌ„ Mathew crieth out O deepe mystery O diuine sacrameÌ„t who euer heard or saw the like vnto this that is betwixt the sunne rising the sunne setting the theef was condemned by Pilat shamed by the criers iusticied by the hangmen confessed by his owne mouth by Christ pardoned and also brought vnto Paradise What meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this Who is able to reach vnto the reason why Abel vvith his innocency Nee with his iustice Abraham with his faith Dauid with his charity Moyses with his meekenesse Iâ—b vvith his patience Tobias with his franknesse Lazarus with his pouerty should so long desire to see Christ and the theefe presently enioy him S. Ambrose sayth That Christ receiued in a new kind of martyrdome all the torments vvhich were giuen the theefe as a naughty man from the houre and moment that he defended Christ and confessed with Christ insomuch that if he began to suffer like a theefe and a rouer hee ended and died like a glorious martyr This happy theefe was a very glorious martyr seeing he suffered neere Christ and with Christ where Christ suffered and in the same manner that Christ suffered and which is most of all hee was the first martyr after Christs passion and the first Saint which the sonne of God did canonize after his death S. Stouen was the first martyr after Christs ascention but from Christs death vntill he ascended into heauen there was no other Mattyr in the vvorld but the theefe whose conuersion Christ caused whose teares hee accepted whose martyrdome hee approued whose passion hee canonized and whose soule hee glorified S. Augustine sayth O good Iesus O my soules delight considering that thou doest saue him who accuseth his owne faults and him who excuseth thy innocency the maintainer of thy credit the confessor of thy essence the companion of thy person wilt thou not saue also this sinfull soule of mine For so great a battaile as thou hast won this day for so great a victory as thou hast obtained and also for so much bloud as hath issued from thee it is a small prize to carry away with thee but one theef only because that by so much the greater the triumph is by how many more prisoners the triumpher is followed with all And if it will not please thee to take mee thither with thee tarry thou here with me O good Iesus for I desire no other glory of thee in this miserable world but that thou wouldest let mee haue alwaies a good conscience Origen sayth in an Homily that it is much to be noted and a thing to be wondered at that Christ did not say vnto the theefe Amen dico vobis although there were many more there but hee said Amen dico tibi to let vs vnderstand that by forgiuing him alone hee shewed his mercy and by not pardoning others hee shewed his great iustice There were store of sinners about the crosse as well as hee which peraduenture would haue beene pardoned as well as he but amongst them all the theefe onely deserued to heare his pardon but by this hee maketh vs know that there is no man which hath cause to dispaire of pardon seeing hee forgaue him and yet that we presume not too much of pardon seeing he forgaue him alone Let the conclusion of all this be that wee remember before wee sinne that our Lord did not pardon the multitude that was there present and after wee haue sinned let vs remember that hee pardoned the theefe which suffered with him and in so doing we shall feare his iustice and remember his mercy the which I humbly beseech him that it would please him to vse here with grace afterward with glory Amen Amen The end of the second word which Christ our redeemer spake vpon the Crosse ⧠Here beginneth the third word which the sonne of God spake vpon the Crosse vnto his blessed mother Mulier ecce filius tuus Woman behold here thy sonne CHAP. I. That the loue which the mother of God had did exceed the loue of all other men and also the loue of Angels SIcut water 〈…〉 it a agâ— te diligebaâ—â— these are the words of holy Dauid 2. Reg. chapâ—â—â— 1. when 〈…〉 brought him that king Saul his enemy and Prince Ionathas his great friend were slaine in a battaile which they had with the Philistims The Iewes gaue this battaile to the 〈…〉 the wild mountaines of Gâ—â—boe and when the sorrowfull newes came to king Dauid that king Saul had lost the battaile hee began aloud to crie and shed many grieuous teares and said as followeth in dolefull wise O famous and renowmed Israel why doest thou not weepe for the losse of so many excellent men which this day they haue slaine thee and noble Princes which this day are perished within thee How is it possible that the strongest of Israel haue fallen downe so ignominiously and the most famous of Iuda haue ended their life by sword O how well king Saul Ionathas should haue loued one the other when they were aliue seeing that they left not the one the other in death although the cruell sword was able to take away their liues from them yet certainly it was not able to take away their hearts from them with the which they loued one the other What sword durst wound their hearts or what launce durst touch their flesh considering that Saul and Ionathas were in running more light than eagles and in sight more strong than lions Ionathas arrow was neuer shot but he hit Sauls sword drawn but he stroke Weepe then O ye daughters of Israel weep vpon the death of your king Saul who clothed you in scarlet in your passeouer and gaue you iewels of gold in your weddings O ye mountains O ye mountains of Gilboe I curse froÌ„ henceforth anathematize you for euer to the end that it neuer raign water vpoÌ„ you by day nor any dew fal vpoÌ„ you by night seeing that you consented that the enemies of Israel should there kill Saul and slay my good friend Ionathas in the same place O my faithfull and old friend Ionathas why
was an Adulteresse the other replied and told him that his was a drunkard and being debated in the Senate which of the two was most iniuried it was agreed on by them al that it was a greater infamy for a woman to be a drunkard than an adulteresse If this bee so as true it is why did this chosen dame dainty bride not onely drinke wine but goe also to the seller for it Why doth she goe to fet it if she for it why doth she drink of it if she drink of it yet why is she drunke with it What doe I say that she is drunke with it seeing she doth inuite all men to drink of it The spouse which saith openly Bibite amici inebriamini charissimi what els doth she say but drinke my friends you my dearest of all be drunke Thou my sweet loue saiest that in tauerns sellers where the wisest are wont to lose their wit and sence the greatest loue is showne How dost thou say Quòd ordinauit in me charitatem seeing a tauâ—rn is the place where patience is lost anger kindled lying hath the vpper hand gluttony filleth it selfe vertue weakened Maruaile not my brother maruell not to hear me say that he brought mee into the winesellers for into the seller whither my deare bridegroome brought mee there enter none but such as are predestinated and none but the chosen drinke of those wines Barnard saith That the diuine seller whither this bridgroom brought his bride is the sacred holy scripture in which the vessels are also the holy scriptures the wine within those vessels was the son of God promised in the old law that wine began to bee sold wheÌ„ good Iesus began to preach Why did the maister of the feast keep that wine to drink of in the end of the mariage but only to let vs vnderstaÌ„d that the cups mysteries of holy scripture were to bee opened in the end of the old law WheÌ„ Christ said vnto his Apostles Other meÌ„ haue takeÌ„ pains you are entred into their labors in these words hee would say that the Fathers of the old Testament haue planted pruned the vines gathered the grapes but yet the Apostles only drank of the wine seeing they did reach vnto the secret mysteries of holy scripture Our Lord did put all the twelue Princes of the church in this seller when in the parler he made them drunk with the grace of the holy ghost by reason of which drunkennesse there was no secret which they did not reach vnto nor mystery which they did not vnderstand O precious wine O happy drunkennes considering that at that very hour wheÌ„ the Princes of the church entred into that seller of fearful meÌ„ they became stout of simple men learned of dul men very wise being without deuotion became very ferueÌ„t of dumbe meÌ„ very eloquent of fishers preachers In that holy seller pride lifteth not vp it selfe they call for no enuy no gluttony coÌ„meth neere theÌ„ they know no wantonnesse of the flesh there entereth in no sloth nor they know not what malice is In the seller of God the gate is humility patience the gouernes charity coÌ„mandeth abstinence ruleth diligence watcheth and deuotion triumpheth Who would not drink of such wine as this is who would not enter into so blessed a buttery Origen vpoÌ„ the Canticles saith That the seller of wine vnto the which the bridegroom brought his bride is no other thing thaÌ„ this holy catholick church where the cups are the sacrameÌ„ts the wine which is kept in theÌ„ are the seuen gifts of the holy ghost by whose means the church can neuer erre without theÌ„ no maÌ„ can euer be saued What shold become of the child new born who hath neither faith nor hope if he were not put presently into that glorious shop What are the cups which we drink in but onely his great benefits fauors through his meere mercy free liberality bestowed vpoÌ„ vs When we be baptized we drinke of his cup wheÌ„ we are strengthened by his diuine power against the inward enemy we drink of his cup wheÌ„ wee receiue grace to repent vs of our sins we drink of his cup wheÌ„ we passe out of this life in his loue and sorowfulnesse for our sins we drink also of his cup. Behold then how this wine is kept how the last cup endeth with our life and our life with the last cup. This grape out of the which this precious wine came out of was first formed in Nazareth borne in Bethelem brought vp in Palestine the vintage made on the Mount of Caluary pressed vpon the crosse where all the bloud which ran from the sonne of God was turned into wine for to drinke of in his catholicke church It is a common Prouerbe vsed by one friend vnto another that he will giue him all that he asketh yea also his bloud which offer wee see made but fulfilled of none Why doest thou offer thy friend that thou wilt shed thy bloud for him if hee require it at thy hands and afterwards if he aske thee any thing thou turnest thy face from him The sonne of God is none of these certainly who saying and doing gaue vs his body to eat and his bloud to drinke with the which we were redeemed and by the which all the elect are saued O good Iesus with what wine doest thou make the soule of thy best beloued drunke but with the wine of thy precious bloud Vidi mulierem ebriam c I saw a woman drunke with the bloud of the saints sayth S. Iohn in his Apocalips chap. 17 as if he would say Being in banishment in the Isle of Pathmos among other visions which I saw there I saw a woman which was drunk but not with the wine which was made of grapes but with bloud which issued out of vains We see men drunke with wine euery day for with this kind of drunkennesse the good Patriarch Noe was drunke the couetous Nabal Cornelius and the prowd captain Holofernes We see men drunke with anger also euery day and with this kind of drunkennesse king Iehu was drunke when hee slew in one day seuenty of king Achabs children and when the captaine Ioab slew the captaine Abner Wee see many drunke with enuy euery day as Iosephs brethren when they sold him for enuy the wicked Pharasies which put Christ to death for enuy We see many drunke with loue as Hemor was with Diaâ— Iacobs daughter Iacob with Rachel Labans daughter and good king Dauid with his neighbour Bersabe and young Amon with Tamar his sister See then how some are drunke with wine some with vaine loue some with anger some with enuy some vvith the wine of wicked Ambition the vvhich are so farre out of their vvits and sences that for to better their honour a little they care little to lose their credite and also to damne their soules
Wee haue read of no drunkards we haue seene no drunkards nor yet heard of any drunkards which haue made themselues such onely vvith pure bloud for although barbarous men loue to shed bloud yet they loue not to drinke it The catholicke church hath no â—ewell comparable vnto this nor no greater riches in her holy shop than the bloud of the Saint of all Saints and with the which shee healeth vs vvhen vvee are sicke shee vpholdeth vs vvhen vvee fall maketh vs cleane when wee finne and iustifieth vs vvhen vvee die The Apostles vvere drunke vvith this kind of drunkennesse when they said Wee must rather obey God than man and S. Peter was drunke in this sort when hee said Let vs make three Tabernacles in this place and S. Paul when hee said I am not ready onely to be bound but also to die and S. Laurence when he said it is broiled inough turne it now and eat of it The more pure wine S. Steuen had drunke of the more impatiently hee would haue felt the stones vvhich hee vvas stoned vvith and S. Laurence the coales and S. Bartholomew his sword but after they had entred into this holy seller and drunke of this holy bloud he suffered the stones as if they had been roses and the coals as if they had been lillies And therefore the bride had great reason to commend and not to bee angry with her loue for bringing her into this diuine seller where shee slept without being awaked and vvatched and yet sate not vp all night and entred into it without infamy and liued with change and did eat without paying for the shot O good Iesus O the glory of my soule wilt thou not let me goe into this holy tauerne to drinke there if I lust one drop Giue me leaue O good Iesus giue me leaue because I may know thy grace and tast of thy precious bloud for of all other drinkes in the world the more I drinke of them the greater thirst I feele of all the drops of bloud which thou hast shed most freely wilt thou not giue mee one to assuage the thirst of this sinfull soule It is also to bee noted that the bride doth not only boast that her bridegroome did bring her to the tauerne to drinke but did also teach her there the order which she shold keep in louing in so much that of a plain maid he taught her to be a curious louer This that the bride said Ordinauit in me charitatem is worthy of great heed seeing that by that the Scripture will let vs vnderstand that there is no loue firme and stable if there be not an order in the maner of louing If there be saith Ouid an order in fishing in fouling fighting shall there not be also in louing And he saith further that all which fish loue not nor all which hunt loue not nor al which fight loue not but al which loue fish hunt and fight because he fisheth well who fisheth for others good wil he hunteth well who hunteth after others bowels fighteth wel who fighteth for anothers hart S. Barnard saith Take heed O my soule take heed that that do not happeÌ„ vnto thee that happeneth in vain worldly loue where often those which loue chide those disagree which loue wel not so much for any treasoÌ„ which the one hath done to the other as for want of order in louing He who is not wise in his loue is not my friend but my enemy hee doth not loue me but diffame me Origen vpon these words saith That wheÌ„ there is no order in loue al endeth in disorder for loue endeth in hatred well-willing in detesting seruing in offending praising into diffaming speaking into not hearing care into forgetfulnes diligeÌ„ce into slouth ofteÌ„ visiting into long absence and sighing into coÌ„plaining S. August saith O how well the bride saith he hath set charity in me in good order because that by how much the more ferueÌ„t the zeale is the spirit vehemeÌ„t and the loue sodain by so much the more it is coÌ„uenient that he who loueth be wise because that the zeale may be printed in him the spirit moderated in him charity set in order Anselmus saith also O how well my good Iesus hath set charity in good order in me when he giueth me his holy grace to loue our Lord only for himself in himself by himself giueth me also grace to loue my neighbor only for God and in God and because he is the house of God Cyprian vpon the Creed sayth He cannot bee said with truth that Ordinauit in me charitatem vvho loueth God not because hee is good but because he should giue him Paradise and hee who forsaketh sinne not because it is naught but for feare of hell and if he loue his neighbour it is not because hee is a Christian but because hee is his friend in so much that such a one would neither loue God nor his neighbor but in hope to get some profite by it This kind of loue the Deuill had in the beginning vvho when he should haue loued God in God and for God loued himselfe in himselfe and for himselfe insomuch that when he went about to climbe aboue himselfe he fell lower than himselfe Then God doth ordaine all things in charitie sayth Remigius when he setteth mee in the right way and doth lighten me and when my loue beginneth in him continueth in him and endeth in him because that cannot be called true loue which is not grounded in God for God and by God Irenaeus in an Homily saith I will say theÌ„ with the bride that he hath ordained charity in me when hee hath set such order to my eies that they see no vaine thing and when hee stoppeth my ears that they heare no prophane things bridle my tongue that he speak no superfluous things shut vp my heart that hee desire no forbidden thing S. Gregory vpon Iob sayth That seeing there is nothing bad but that which our Lord hath forbiddeÌ„ we dare say boldly that no maÌ„ ought to desire that which is not lawfull for him to get S. Ierome to Priscilla saith O vvith vvhat great truth he may say with the bride Ordinauit in me charitatem vvho holdeth himselfe for a sinner and others for iust and hee who acknowledgeth a fault in himselfe and preacheth innocency in others for otherwise it should bee no Christian charity neither is it permitted in the law of God to loue goodnesse in my neighbour and retaine naughtinesse in my selfe To come at the last vnto our purpose vvho in this life hath or shall enter so farre into the shop and storehouse of our Lord as the mother of our Lord and that without spot No man went so farre into the selleâ— of our Lord nor no man drunke off so many wines as she did because shee left no cup vntasted of neither was there any grace of the holy ghost vvhich shee was not
a blow but in the Virgins heart a thrust Simeon doth threaten none that the sword of grief shal pierce but only the mother of Christ to let vs vnderstand that as she was the creature vnto whom Christ imparted most of his comfort so it was she vnto whom he gaue most of his dolors insomuch that as she did most deserue so she did most suffer O great Simeon why doest thou threaten the mother onely with the sonnes sword seeing that not only the martyrs did feele his death and passion but it seemeth also that the Angels themselues did lament and weepe for it For what martyr is there in heauen O sweet Iesus which did not feele thy death and die for thy holy law It is therefore said that the holy Virgine did by a speciall grace and priuiledge feele more grieuously the death of her sonne than any other creature of the world because it is a propertie of our Lord to impart most bitter feeling of his passiō vnto those soules whom hee doth most tenderly loue When Simeon said that shee should feele her sonnes passion more than any other it vvas to say that Christ would leaue his passion and torment in keeping with her aboue others to the end that they might bee knowne afterward vnto the world in so much that it was vnto thee blessed Virgin vnto whom the sonne of God bestowed his greatest loue on earth and vnto whome hee imparted most of his sorrowes Vnto whom then should wee run for a true sufferer of his sorrows but vnto thee O mother of God now full of ioy and consolation though then full of sorrowes and passion O that thy soule is glorious and thy heart most happie blessed Lady seeing thou was not martyred with the Emperour Neroes sword as the Apostle Saint Paule was but vvith the selfesame that thy sonne was in so much that as in the incarnation loue coupled you together so in his passion dolour seperated you one from the other Flebat Anna mater Tobiae irremediabilibus lachrymis Tobie chapter 10 as if hee would say The honourable Matrone Anna old Tobias wife and young Tobias mother vvept the absence of her welbeloued sonne vvith remedilesse teares saying Woe bee vnto mee vvoe bee vnto mee my sonne and my heart vvhat vvill become of mee without thee or is it possible for mee to take any rest in thy absence Whither art thou gone from mee vvhere hast thou absented thy selfe the light of my cies and staffe of my old age comfort of my life and hope of my house How is it possible that thy father could obtaine of himselfe or of mee to send thee to recouer a little money so farre from vs What greater disaster could fall vnto vs than to lose our sonne for the recouering of a little coine I vvould to God that that money ha◠neuer beene due vnto my house for for the ease of my heart there is no treasure like as to haue thee vvith mee O my deere sonne O my sonne O my heart how vnfortunately did I consent that thou shouldest depart out of my sight considering that it vvas most certaine that hauing thee vvith mee I vvanted nothing What shall my sorrowfull eies doe now seeing they cannot see thee but fill themselues vvith vveeping for thee Such sorrowfull vvords and grieuous complaints could not be vttered but of a tender heart nor could not be spoken but of a child deerly beloued Mimus the Philosopher saith That because the tongue is a crier and a publisher of that vvhich is in the heart it is most certaine that if there bee loue in the hart that he crieth Loue and if there be nothing but sorrow griefe in the heart he publisheth also nothing but sorrow For the better vnderstanding of this dolorous figure it is to bee noted that as Isaac vvas the figure of Christ in that vvhich hee vvas to suffer so Tobias mother vvas the figure of that that the immaculate Virgine was to weepe insomuch that the virgins glorious martyrdome was prophecied by Simeon and figured in holy Anna. The mystery did well answer vnto the Sacramēt seeing the blessed virgin was a mother Anna a mother the one wept the other wept the one had but one only son the other had but one onely son the Virgines son went a far iourney Annas son went a far iourney Tobias mother vvept remedilesse tears the mother of Gods tears were also without remedy Yong Tobias took his iourney at his fathers cōmandement the son of God was incarnate by his fathers commandement if Tobias went to gather vp money which his father had lent Christ also came to recouer soules which his father had lost What shall I say more but that Christ and Tobias and Tobias and Christ vvere sent by their owne fathers and lamented by their owne mothers O that the Virgine had better reason to vveepe for her sonne vvith remedilesse teares than Tobias mother had because her sighes and reares found remedy and comfort but the mother of God found no remedy nor comfort O sorrowfull vvoman and comfortlesse mother for what comfort could thy teares find seeing thou diddest see him end his life in one day vpon the crosse whome thou wast thirty yeares a bringing vp O comforelesse mother and mother of discomfort thou art shee which should weepe with remedilesse teares and not the mother of young Tobias because her sonne came home well married but thy precious sonne remained dead vpon the crosse O honourable Anne and blessed old woman it is an Angell which led him an Angell which accompanied him an Angell which married him and an Angell which guarded him and an Angell which brought him backe againe Therefore leaue thy teares for her who is the mother of him which is crucified considering that a traitor sold her sonne a sinner denied him a tyrant condemned him and a wicked people put him to death Our Lady wept with remedilesse tears seeing that she not Tobias his mother did lose the staffe which did support her the glasse which she looked in the light with which shee saw the rest wherein she tooke ioy her only hope and that which shee most of all loued Seneca to this purpose sayth That the griefe is not so great when thinges are lost by little and by little as when they are lost all at once and therefore it is a great matter for a man to bee accustomed to endure and hardened in suffering Who doth doubt at all but that the suddaine losses which fall vnto vs are more grieuous than those vvhich come not all together if they had apprehended the sonne of God in one day accused him on another giuen sentence on him the other and executed him on the other although the griefe could not but haue beene great yet it had been tollerable but to see that in foure and twenty houres they apprehended him accused him gaue sentence on him and put him to death vvhat heart is able
suffer heare blasphemies consent to haue themselues nailed see themselues crucified suffer themselues to bee pierced with a spear yea and not resist to die Who be they which sit by the theeues crosses but other theeues By the crosses of theeues doe sit impatient men chiding couetous men a deceiuing gluttons a eating libidenous men a playing the adulterers malicious men a lying and slothfull men a taking their ease It was a crosse by which Christs poore familie stood and they were crosses by which souldiors of the deuill stood to let vs vnderstand that they suffer more crosses and paines vvhich goe to hell than those which go to heauen S. Augustine saith That if thou wilt see who they are which doe saue thēselues and what multitude they bee which condemne themselues thou maiest see it by that that by the crosse of Christ there stood but a few persons and by the crosses of the theeues there were a thousand people and more in so much that it is in thy choise either to goe vveeping a foot to heauen or goe sitting and laughing to hell Anselmus vpon the mystery of the crosse saith On the Mount of Caluary there were very many which looked on the crosse of Christ a farre off but very few which stood neere vnto it and the reason is because that by the crosse of Christ it is not permitted that any should sinne and by the crosses of the theeues it is lawfull for euery man to steale and sinne O my soule and O my heart why doest thou not melt and yeeld vp the ghost seeing the drops of bloud which descend vpon our Lady and the sighes of our Lady which ascend vnto our Lord Doest thou not marke O my soule doest thou not marke how the sorrowfull mother is bathed with the bloud which runneth from her sonne and how the earth is watered with the teares which fall from her eies Barnard sayth What offences can there bee so great in the world which the bloud of the sonne cannot remedy and the teares of the mother cannot wash away Behold O my heart saith Bonauenture and thou shalt see the sonne vpon the crosse and the mother at the foot of the crosse shee is on foot and he lifted vp she holdeth her peace and he speaketh no word and that which is most of all they looke vpon one the other with their eies and vnderstand one another vvith their hearts O my fingers and you my pennes giue ouer vvriting I pray you because I may meditate the better how the mother saw her sonne shed drops of bloud and the sonne saw the mother shed teares from her heart What hearts should they haue which had such eies Who can write this and not sigh and who can read it and not be heauy for it that is how the mothers heart was full of griefe for that which shee saw and the sons heartful of loue for that which he suffered And by that meanes there was a cruell debate betwixt the sorrow of the mother and the loue of the sonne Note well sayth Vbertinus that he who was vpon the crosse and those vvhich were neere the crosse they were all standing and none sitting which is to giue vs vnderstanding of the sweet tast of the crosse and of the high mysteries contained in him whereof hee did impart none vnto those which leaned or sate at their ease but vnto those which stood on their feet Non coques haedum in lacte matris Deutronomy chap. 24. as if he would say Let no man bee so bold as to seeth the flesh of the kid in the milke of his damme but let them eat the goats milke by it selfe and eat the kid by himselfe and the law did permit the damme to be milked and the kid to be killed If there vvere no other mystery in this what did God care whether the kid were sod in his mothers milke or not Origen saith If it be wel noted the law doth forbid the kid to bee sod in the milke of the goat but the law did not forbid to seeth the goat in the bloud of the kid In which mystery he did let vs vnderstand that the holy mother the church was to be sod saued in the bloud of Christ and not Christ in the bloud of the church On that dismall and vnluckie day vpon the high Mount of Caluary the goat and the kid met together which vvere Christ and his mother in which place against all reason and law they did at one time seeth the son in the mothers milke and the mother in the sonnes bloud From whence issued out the bloud but out of the vaines of the sonne and frō whence came the milke but from the mothers eies O goodnesse neuer hard of before O vnspeakable sorrow who did euer see or heare of a mother who shed so many tears as were inough to bath her sonne in them or of a sonne from whom came so much bloud as was inough to seeth his mother in It appeareth well that they vsed themselues like mother and child and that they loued like bride and bridegroome seeing shee gaue him distilled teares and hee gaue her strained bloud Barnard in an Homily saith O of all women most blessed O mother of my dolours vvhat sonne had euer such a mother as he had or what mother had euer such a sonne as thou hast seeing thou diddest conceiue him being a Virgine broughtest him forth with ioy broughtest him vp with milke followedst him with sweats and buriedst him with teares What could she doe more for him than follow him with infinit trauell and paines and bury him with remedilesse teares And what could hee doe more for her than chuse her for his mother and redeeme her vvith his bloud Anselmus vpon the Conception saith That from the beginning of the vvorld vntill this day there was neuer milke better paied for than that which Christ sucked of his mother for if shee gaue him milke out of hir precious breasts hee gaue her bloud out of his holy members Who euer heard before or saw bloud paied for milke or milke for bloud Who can estimate or set a price on the bloud which streamed from the sonne or of the tears which ran from the mother O good Iesus O redeemer of my soule had it not beene better for thee and lesser griefe for thy mother to haue sod thee in the milke of her breasts rather than in the tears of her eies What canst thou aske more of her or what hath shee more to giue thee seeing she gaue thee milke when thou wast borne griefes and sweating all thy life time and teares when thou diddest die It had been lesser hurt for her and lesser grief vnto thee to haue giuen thee rather milke than teares because the milke commeth running from the vaines and the teares come strained from the heart For who weepeth but weepeth frō the heart Seneca saith That a man may talke and do his businesse being at quiet but only a
grieued and troubled heart weeepeth because there are none more certainer witnesses of the sorrows which wee suffer than the teares which wee weepe with our cies CHAP. VIII Why Christ tooke his mother with him to see him die seeing that she was not to helpe him to redeeme vs. QVi inuenerit auiculam eubantem cum pullis suis tollat filios dimittat matrem Deutronomy 22. God spake these wordes vnto the Iewes which vvere hunters as if he would say If any man goe to the fields a hunting and by chance meet with a Sparrowes nest he may take the young ones so as he let the old one goe in so much that he should neither take her nor much lesse kil her What other thing is it to goe a hunting for Sparrowes nests but to seeke out diuine bookes Origen sayth Who or what is the nest but the booke what the Sparrow but the letter which the young ones but the sences and who the hunter but the Christian which occupieth himselfe in holy Scripture When God commaundeth the hunter to leane the mother and take the young ones he doth plainly aduise vs that wee should leaue the letter in the nest of the holy Scripture and take the meaning Hee doth leaue the Sparrow in the nest which careth not for that which the letter soundeth but for that which the holy Gospell saith Because there bee some such obscure phrases in scripture that they are not onely not to be taken as they sound but also that not to be done which the very letter commandeth When Christ sayth If thy eie doe scandalize thee it was not his meaning that wee should pull out our corporall eies which we see with but the spirituall with the which we damne our selues for Christs sweet law doth command no man to teare his own members but to pul out sinnes by the root When wee loue a child well wee say that wee loue him like our owne eies and thereupon Christ saith if any of thy eies doe scandale thee pull him out Saint Augustine saith That all the Synagogues perdition consisteth because that in the nest of the Scripture they take the mother and leaue the young ones that is they take the letter as it soundeth and take not the sence which is hidden vnder it making more account of the drie barke then of the tender marrow When the Apostle saith that the letter killeth and that it is the spirit which doth giue life what else doth he say but that we should take heed of taking the old Sparrow and that wee should take the young ones which vvas the sence When the sonne of God saith Search the scriptures he meaneth not that we should read the bookes only but that vvee should seeke out the true sence thereof If wicked Arrius had searched out the meaning of those words My father is greater than I am of those other words That they may be one as I and my Father are one there should neuer so many good men haue been persecuted nor so many scandales haue risen in the church by it Seeing that all liuing beasts are created for mans vses and seruice if our Lord had meaned no other matter in the sparrowes nests then the letter speaketh of hee would neuer haue bidden vs eat of the one and not touch the other It had beene a greater losse to the Commonwealth to kill fiue or sixe young ones than one old one but because the giuer of the law did intend rather the mystery which was signified in the sparrowes than the prohibition which hee made when he commanded the young ones to be taken the old one to bee let louse Conformably then vnto that which our Lord commandeth let the curious Reader leaue the letter and take the true sence otherwise it were better for him not to read the Scripture than vnderstand it as the Synagogue doth To come then vnto our purpose what is the nest but the holy crosse of Christ Who the sparrow but our blessed Lady And who the young one but her precious sonne Ezechiel saw a nest put vpon a high tree in which nest euery bird laid an egge and in the nest of the crosse of Christ all the Saints lay their egges that is then good desires of which the sonne of God like a good Henne of euery one gathereth his good worke According vnto the old law the young sparrowes might bee taken and killed and so they did by Christ and wherefore then was his poore mother so grieuously tormented there who was figured in the sparrow seeing she was exempted by law O wicked Ierusalem and cursed Synagogue seeing that in the nest of the crosse thou diddest find the old bird and the yong why art thou not content to kil the young one but doest also torment the mother O holy tree O precious nest O blessed sonne O comfortlesse mother what heart could destroy that holy nest in the which all the holy Trinitie was inclosed In the high nest of the crosse the father was he who commanded the sonne to suffer the holyghost which assisted the flesh which died the foule which gaue life and the bloud which redeemed vs. All this nest was ouerthrowne by the Synagogue vvhen his bloud lay vpon the ground his carkasse on the crosse his flesh in the sepulchre his soule in ioy and his diuinity vnited to all What shal we say of his sorrowfull mother of whose heart there was one peece on the ground with his bloud another on the crosse vvith his skin another in the sepulchre with his body and another in hell whither Christ went with his soule another on the Mount of Caluary vvith those of her family vvhich wept What else shal I say O my soule but that into how many parts her son was scattered the sorrowful mothers heart into so many was deuided Vbertinus saith That the doleful mothers hart was scattered deuided deuided again because that louing her son as shee did better than her selfe shee kept the least part of her heart vnto her selfe Why doe I say that shee kept some part of her heart vnto her selfe seeing that all her heart liued and died with her sonne If the heart doe run to desire that which the cies behold and if whither the heart goeth there goeth also the very bowels to continue where was all the Virgines heart but in her sonne whom she best beloued Because the dolefull mother had no other sonne but him all her loue was fixed in him and because the Iewes found the Sparrow and her young one in the nest of the Crosse they crucified the flesh of Christ and tormented the mothers heart Saint Barnard sayth That if the Virgines breasts had been opened in that sorrowfull houre lamentable day it is religiously to bee thought they might haue found her heart of flesh but not the force and vigour of a heart because her vitall spirits had mortified it and her true loue buried it vvith her sonne O
mighty Redeemer and supreme Creator vvho is able to tell the secret or reach vnto this that is to say why thou diddest take the mother vvith thee thither to see thee die in that great and high day of thy passion and leaue all thy other disciples behind thee because they might not see thee suffer In so great a conflict and so narrow a straight as this was vpon the Mount of Caluary why wouldest thou haue rather womē with thee to weep thā mē to defend thee Who but thou O good Iesus saith S. Barnard who but thou did euer goe into the field to fight against his enemies without weapons accompanied with tears The mother wept the sonne wept the kinsman wept the disciple wept the aunt wept all the family wept so that Moyses did drowne his enemies in waters and the sonne of God his with teares Anselmus sayth That hee that could haue beene at the death of Christ vpon good Friday should haue seene the Iewes make an outcry the Pharisies blaspheme the hangmen lay on the heauens vvaxe darke and all the faithfull weepe in somuch that there was nothing in the synagogue but blasphemies and nothing in the church but teares Non immolabitur vna die ouis cum filio fuo said God in Leuiticus chap. 22. As if he would say Let those take heed which will offer to the Tabernacle that they doe not kill the lambe and the ewe the same day Origen sayth That because our Lord is mercifull hee would haue his disciples bee so likewise and therefore he did forbid them any thing that might tend vnto cruelty or induce them vnto it What can be more cruell than to take the lambe and the owe at one time Who is the ewe which hath brought forth the lambe but only the mother of Christ and who the lambe but her precious sonne God did warn the synagogue often that they vvould take heed vnto the Lambe and ewe and especially that if they would touch the sonne that they vvould pardon the mother God had no greater wealth nor any equal neither in heauen nor in earth vnto that lambe and sheep of whom he himselfe had a care and in whose seruice and guard all the powers of heauē were by him emploied This commandement was broken on the Mount of Caluary where they at one time killed the innocent lambe and spared not the sorrowfull mother What cruelty and inhumanitie like vnto this was euer seen or heard of haung but one sheep in the Synagogue the church hauing but one lamb to kill the lambe in the presence of his mother and torment the ewe in the sight of the Lambe What equall torment could there bee to the mother than to kill her son before hir face or what greater martyrdome could the son suffer than to sacrifice his mother in his sight O how glorious and happy should I be if my soule would turn to be such an ewe and my heart such a lambe because I might bee sacrificed on the Mount of Caluary with the true Lambe O sweet Iesus saith Vbertinus O mercifull Lord seeing that all lawes doe speake in fauour of thy precious mother why wouldest thou breake them seeing thou art the iudge of them all Is not the law made in the fauour of thy mother which commandeth that the lambe should not bee sod in the milke of his damme Is not that law made in the fauor of thy mother which cōmandeth to take the yong Sparrows and let the old one go The law which cōmandeth not to kill the Lambe and the ewe at one time is it not made in fauour of thy mother Thou then that art the giuer of the law doe not breake the law which thou doest if thou sacrifice thy selfe which art the lambe and thy mother which is the ewe There is bloud inough in the bloud of the lamb there needeth not the bloud of the mother for if it be necessary for the son to die to redeeme vs the mothers life is also necessary to cōfort vs. Bonauenture Anselmus Vbertinus cannot wonder inough what should bee the reason why the sonne would take his mother with him to the foot of the crosse seeing that shee could not helpe him in his death nor hee had no need of her to redeeme vs. It is not to bee thought that hee brought her thither without cause neither that shee did goe thither vvithout some mystery because that all things done betwixt the sonne and his mother should bee esteemed as a mystery of mysteries like vnto Salomons Canticles which are songs of songs The reason why our good Iesus would take his mother with him was as Anselmus sayth Because hee would leaue her his onely inheritrize as being the next of kindred O my singers O my heart how is it possible for you to bee able to write or my tongue able to speake of the wealth which the sonne leaueth or of the inheritance which the mother doth inherite But what could hee leaue vnto his mother who was borne in Bethelem among beasts died on the Mount of Caluary betwixt theeues What can his sorrowfull mother inherite of him who shrowdeth himselfe in a borrowed shrowd and burieth himselfe in another mans sepulchre What could hee bequeath by Testament who hauing two coats gaue one to the hangmen which crucified him and the other to the knights vvhich kept him What could hee leaue vvho neuer had a foorme to set downe on nor a boulster to lay his head on The inheritance then which she did there inherite from her sonne was the bloud which there hee shed and the dolours which hee there suffered for all men so that with the bloud which came downe from the crosse hee watered her body and with the dolours which hee suffered hee martyred her soule Saint Barnard De passione domini saith That in so great and high a work as this was and in so narrow a strait as this which Christ was in it was very necessary that the Virgine should bee there and giue her sonne part of all that was in her not onely to haue compassion on him but also to suffer with him S. Augustine vpon the passion of our Lord sayth That because the great prophecy of Simeon was not as yet accomplished it was done by the permisson and counsell of the holy ghost that the mother should be with the sonne on the Mount of Caluary where at one time the sword of grief bereaued the son of his life and pierced the mothers soule As it was not reason saith Anselmus that the mother of God should want the crowne and reward of martyrdome so was it not reason that she should be put into tyrants hāds therfore it was giuen her as a meane that because shee had serued her sonne with excessiue loue her own sonne should martyre her with his inspeakable griefs Who euer saw or heard that as it were at one sound and after one measure the hangmen should martyrize the son
at the very instant that thy enemies appreheÌ„ded thee in the gardeÌ„ thou didst request nothing else at their hands but that they would take thee and set thy family at liberty In his last supper and in his last Sermon when he said Pater Father keepe them which beleeue in mee and such as will beleeue in me hee did well shew the loue which he bare vnto his family seeing hee praied vnto his Father for those which were already borne and for those which should be born afterwards for these which were absent and for those which were present as well for the dead as for those which were aliue O happy is that soule vvhich doth dwell in the family of the sonne of God seeing that hee loueth him before that hee is borne and vvhen hee is borne giueth him iustice and after his death glory The figure sayth further that all those of the kingdome of Palestine did greatly enuy the Patriarke Isaac and all his house not because hee had done them any hurt or vvrong but because hee vvas mightier than all they Sâ—neca in his booke of Anger sayth That there is no enuie more dangerous than that vvhich proceedeth of another mans prosperitie for as long as the good lucke of the one doth last the others enuy and malice is neuer at an end All the intent and purpose of an enuious man is to turne him backe vvhich goeth before beat downe him which is on high throw him downe which â—s more fortunate than himselfe discredite him vvho is in greater honour and empouerish him vvho is richer than himselfe Hâ—race sayth That the property of an enuious man is that as anothers prosperity dooth encrease so his enuy doth also grow whereof it followeth that because hee cannot abide him hee hateth him with his heart diffameth him vvith his tongue iniurieth him vvith his hands and stirreth vp also others against him Good Isaac did neuer hurt the Palestines his neighbours hee did neuer forray their mountaines nor eat vp their pastures nor violate their vviues nor speake euill against them nor breed any discord amongst them but did succour them as if they had bâ—en his brothers and entreat them as if they had been his children Yet notwithstanding all this being besotted and dronke with enuy and obstinate in malice they commanded good Isaac to goe out of the land forsake his vvealth and breake vp his houshold And further the people of Palestine not content vvith all this agreed by the consent of the people and by a clattering of a counsell to stop vp his vvels vvhich his seruants vsed and his flockes dranke of They could not haue shewed their malice nor bewraied their enuie more in any thing than in demming vp Isaacs vvels of vvater because that vvithout the element of vvater neither men can liue nor beast sustaine himselfe To come then vnto our purpose vvhat mortall man hath there euer been is or shall bee who hath been so much enuied as the sonne of the liuing God was What was the cause of such vntollerable enuie in the Israelites but his excellency in knowledge his skilfulnesse in learning his vprightnesse in iustice and the purity of his life The Iewes raged and were ready to hurt themselues to see Christ vtter such great mysteries of Scripture as hee did preach so many sermons vnto the people doe such strange miracles in the city preach publickly against vice and draw vnto his companie those which were alwaies accounted honest The Iews malice against Christ was greater than the Palestines against Isaac because they did nothing but command Isaac to go out of the land but the Iewes did not commaund Iesus but they themselues with their owne hands drew him out and not satisfied with that they agreed afterward to crucifie him They did shut vp the water where Isaac did drinke but they did open Iesus hands and side and therefore comparing hurt with hurt and losse vvith losse it was a greater losse to take Christs life from him than to take Isaacs vvater from him Is it not thinke you a greater hurt to open a mans vaines of bloud vvith the vvhich hee liueth than to shut vp a mans wels vvhereof hee drinketh If men shut vp my wels I open others if I haue no vvater I drinke vvine if they expell me out of this country I goe vnto another but if they draw my bloud from me vvho vvill giue me more bloud and if they breake my vains vvho vvill lend me others and if they take my life from mee vvho vvill helpe me vnto another Christ then vvas vvorser handled through enuy than Isaac for if Isaac did liue in honour he vvent away vvith honour and if he came aliue into the land he vvent away aliue but vvhat shall we say of holy and blessed Iesus vvhose family they did scatter abroad through enuy vvhose mother they seperated away from him vvhose bloud they shed vvhose doctrine they contaminated and vvhose fame they obscured and al through enuy and malice Chrisostome sayth As all the riches of man doth consist in his soule his credite his life and goods so the Pharisaicall enuy and malice did leaue Christ none of all these for they tooke his soule from him they discredited him in his fame they depriued him of his life and left him no goods at all How farre thinkest thou did all his goods reach but onely vnto a torne cassocke and a bare coat And yet most cursed enuy came and tooke the garments away from him and gaue the one vnto the hangmen which did put him to death and the other coat vnto the souldiers vvhich kept him What pouerty then in all the vvorld can bee equall vnto this vvhich Christ our Lord suffered hanging vpon the crosse seeing they haue drawne his soule from him shed his bloud bereaued him of his life and diuided his garments Although the enuy and malice vvhich the Palestines bare to Isaac vvere great yet they did neuer lay hands vpon him but they did lay hands vpon the sonne of God vvhen they did apprehend him they did lay their feet vpon him vvhen they did kicke him they did lay their tongue vpon him vvhen they did blaspheme him and they did lay their hearts vpon him vvhen they did hate him The Author continueth this matter and expoundeth another figure to this purpose TVlit mulier velamen expandit super â—s putei quasi siccans ptisanas sic latuit rex 2. Reg. chap. 17. For the better vnderstanding of these vvordes you must know that there vvere sent from Dauids campe two young men into Ierusalem to know vvhat determination and counsell Absalon and Achitophel had taken against Dauid to the intent that Chusi vvho vvas Dauids true friend and Absalons fained friend and yet dwelling vvith him might let Dauid vnderstand what Absalon purposed to do And as Chusi did send to these two yong men vvho vvere Achimaas and Ionathas Absalons determination a certaine young man had spied them neere
sides to the end that thy enemies should see thy louing bowels and heart When thou doest say Ego in flagella paratus sum what other meaning hast thou sauing onely that the speare should pierce thy sides and the lashes cut and open thy shoulders to the intent that they might see thy blessed heart and how that the loue which thou doest die withall is farre greater than the torments vvhich thou doest suffer The Author followeth this matter and maketh an end of the authorities which he alleaged before ETdolor meus in coÌ„spectu meo semper saith Christ in the same Psalme as if hee would say Among all the dolours which I suffer there is one of them of so euill a condition that it neuer departeth out of my sight Although the complaint which Christ formeth in this place doe containe but few words yet it is full of many graue sentences for he complaineth not of many griefes but of one hee sayth not that it is another mans griefe but his owne hee sayth not that it is in an others mans sight but in his owne and hee hath it not by fits but cootinually If the Prophets doe not rise againe to tell vs and if the Angels doe not declare it vnto vs how can wee be able to gueste what griefe it is which lasted so long and the complaint which hath no end If the sonne of God had been diseased of a dropsie or gout or palsie we could haue said that as his infirmity was such had ben his griefe but seeing that wee doe not read that hee was euer sick who can guesle what his griefe should be It cannot easily bee comectured what this griefe was seeing hee calleth it but dolor one griefe wee know not whether it was the griefe of his agony or of the pillar or of the piercing of the speare or the yeelding vp of his ghost because euery one of these griefes doe breed a feare in vs when vvee thinke of theÌ„ how much more to suffer them When Christ saith that my griefe is alwaies in my sight it is a thing to make vs both wonder feare for seeing that Christs griefes were so many in number and so cruell in torment what should he meane to complaine vpon one seeing that they were without number and count Wee cannot deny but that Christ suffered many bitter torments but there is one more principall than all the rest the which is such a one and so grieuous a one that vntill this present day it runneth bloud in thy presence and cannot bee taken away whilest this life doth last What griefe can be compared vnto this grief seeing it hath his beginning in this world and doth not end in the other This long griefe is the great vngratefulnesse which is in vs for our redemption the smal câ—re which we had that hee â—as put vpon the crosle for vs in so much that the griefe whereof he complaineth vnto his father was caused neither by the thornes nor nailes which pierced him but by vngratefull and vnthankfull men who did not acknowledge him S. Barnard speaking of our dury to God sayth If thou wilt know what God hath made thee looke vvhat he hath done for thee for in thy miserable nature the vvorkes of his infinite benignity doe appeare How much the baser thy God made himselfe in humility so much the greater he made thee in goodnesse and how much the more viler hee made himselfe for mee so much the more familiar and like hee made me vnto him Take heed then man that thou be not prowd seeing that thou art made of dirt and see that thou bee not vnthankfull and vngratefull vnto God seeing that thou art so neer coupled vnto him because an vngratefull man was neuer pleasant nor acceptable vnto God It is the part of a peruerse mind to seeke occasions and shifts to excuse himselfe not to be gratefull for the benefites which he hath receiued the which kind of treason and naughtinesse is proper only vnto shamelesse men and to such as haue dead hearts and as it were without a soule Who is he who cannot be thankfull for a benefite receiued but he who neuer knew to doe good vnto others All this is S. Barnards speech Cassiodorus sayth in an Epistle That it is a hard matter to suffer and not easie to dissemble that a wise discreet man should gather no fruit of his trauaile but that hee should rather receiue hurt from whence hee hoped for remedy in so much that he suffereth hurt without an offence giuen punishment without a fault griefe without cause paine without sin persecution without an enemy Naughty mens manners would bee much worse than they are if there were none to chastise vice and reward vertue Lactantius sayth That which Imaruell at in men is that if they bee sicke they commend themselues presently vnto God if they haue warres they run to God if they want water they aske it of God if they bee molested with a plague they turne to God if they goe by sea they offer themselues vnto God but that which cannot bee spoken without griefe is that after God hath deliuered them out of those dangers no man thinketh more of God Do not thinke it sayth Seneca to bee a small misfortune vnto thee if by chance thou hast lighted vpon an vngratefull friend because that as a benefite or good turne is woont to make of a foe a friend so the same benefite is wont to make an enemy of him who was thy friend For it is the property of an vngratefull man that the more that he is bounden vnto any man for any benefite receiued of him the more he hateth him of whom he hath receiued it and the worst of all is that they would see him dead of whom they receiued it and not be thankfull at all for it Thou doest complaine O my friend Lucilius that thou hast fallen vpon more than an vngratefull man and that of an old friend hee is become thy new enemy and if thou wouldest enter into the coÌ„sideration of this losse thou shouldest abstaine from euer doing any good turn vnto any which I doe not counsell thee to doe nor yet that thou counsell any man to doe it because it is better that men accuse the other of vngratefulnesse than thy selfe of couetousnesse and that the benefite bee lost in the other rather than rot in thee There is no vice more common among men than for one man to be vngratefull vnto another which doth proceed oftentimes hereof that men know not how to make choice of their friends or for that they doe not bestow their benefites well and therefore oftentimes we haue greater reason to complaine vpon our selues for not knowing how to giue rather than of others because they bee vngratefull for the good turnes which they haue receiued of vs. Cicero in his third booke of laws sayth Clarissimi viri Athenis pulsi carere ingrata ciuitate maluerunt quà m manere in
I am making O from my selfe then God desend me When such graue and wise men doe complaine on themselues wee haue small reason to trust to our selues because a wise man should distrust none more than himselfe I will iustly say Factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis for if I bee in the kings displeasure I forsake his countrey if I am pursued by iustice I flie from it if I be troubled with a naughty neighbour I remoue into another street but hauing my owne proper wil to my enemy how should I possibly flie from my selfe Who will not say I am made grieuous vnto my selfe seeing that within my owne heart I harbour loue and hatred contentment and discontment my will and my nill my liking disliking my ioies and my griefes and also my delight and my sorrow For my owne part I say and confesse that I am grieuous vnto my selfe considering that I vvillingly would that I had no such vvill for pride doth puffe mee vp enuy dooth consume mee gluttony doth wast mee anger causeth mee hatred incontinency dooth disquiet mee in so much that if I doe abstaine from sinne it is not because I haue not a vvill vnto it but because I am vveary and can sinne no more O how true it is Quòd factus sum mihimet ipsi grauis for if I bee sicke it is because I haue eaten too much if I bee poore it is because I tooke my pleasure too much if I bee imprisoned it is because I haue stolne if I bee sad it is for that I loued if I bee ashamed it is for somewhat that I haue coÌ„mitted if I be disconteÌ„ted it is through my own choise and if I haue committed an errour in my owne choise whom should I blame but my selfe If the truth bee well examined there is no man who ought to be more grieued with any man than with himselfe for as of one part we doe nothing else but complaine of the troubles and trauels which we suffer so on the other part we our selues doe continually seeke them If it be true that I am grieuous vnto my selfe with whome shall I haue a good peace if I my selfe doe make warre against my selfe Who shall deale with me that I bee not grieuous and troublesome seeing that I my selfe cannot bee content vvith my selfe By what meanes can I possibly set my neighbours at one if my sensuality and reason doe bandy one against the other Who vntill this day hath euer had more cruell enemies against him than I haue now of my owne thoughts and desires considering that they draw me to that which is good afeared and amazed and vnto that which is vvicked vvith great confidence and boldnesse I doe conclude then and say that considering the time which I lose and the small profite which I make the care I haue in sinning and careleslenes I haue in amending the great goodnesse I receiue at God his hands and how little I serue him the euill which I doe and the good which I hinder I am greatly ashamed to liue very sore afraid to die The end of the fourth word which Christ our redeemer spake vpon the Crosse Here beginneth the fift of the seuen words which the sonne of God spake vpon the Crosse to wit Sitio that is I am a thirst CHAP. I. Why the sonne of God did bid all those which were a thirst come vnto him and yet said vpon the crosse that he himselfe was a thirst SCiens Iesus quia omnia consummata sunt vt consummaretur Scriptura dicit Sitio These are one of the seuen words which Christ spake vpon the crosse which S. Iohn rehearseth in the 19 chapter as if he would say The sonne of God knowing that all that touched the redemption of all the world was now finished hauing an intention that all the scripture should be accomplished he spake the fift word saying Sitio that is I am a thirst Christ did well know that it was written in the Psalme In siti mea potauerunt me aceto seeing that to fulfill the Scripture he suffered that great thirst to the end that all the mysteries should bee accomplished vvhich were prophecied of his death The Prophets had prophecied many things in Christs name which hee should doe when hee came into the world among the which they had prophecied that he should suffer very great thirst and therefore to say that he had thirst to fulfill the Scripture was to say that hee did suffer that torment to vngage his vvord Christ did deale like a friend with all the Prophets and holy men of old time considering that to the cost of his life and great trauell of his holy person he did accomplish and fulfill all that which they had laid downe in Scripture to the great credite of the Prophets and great glory of holy writ and with the great trauell of his owne person Christ said preaching that there was no tittle no point nor sentence of holy Scripture vvhich should not be fulfilled according vnto the letter The first mystery of the incarnation Ecce virgo conciptes was fulfilled litterally seeing himselfe vvas a virgine and borne of a virgine and also the last mystery of his passion was accomplished litterally Dederunt in escam meam fel in siti mea potauerunt me aceto Seeing that they gaue him vpon the crosâ—e gaule and vineger to drinke What did Christ meane when he said that to fulfill the Scripture hee had such great thirst but that hee might now freely depart and goe out of this vvorld seeing that all the redemption was ended and the Scripture accomplished The simple Reader ought not to imagine that the sonne of God would not haue come into the world nor redeemed the world nor endured this torment and thirst if it had not been written in the Prophets for hee must learne that the Scriptures are tied vnto Christ and not Christ vnto the Scriptures because that they should not haue been written if hee should not haue been borne and crucified and yet he should haue been borne and crucified although the scripture had not spoken it Venerable Beed sayth Seeing that all Christs actions are great and those of his death and passion most great it is much to be noted and to bewondered at why it was the pleasure of the sonne of God that his thirst should be his last work and that he would depart out of this life with great thirst S. Augustine sayth The last griefe and paine which Christ suffered was his thirst the last complaint which hee made vvas of his thirst and the last request vvhich hee made vvas for a cup of vvater and the last torment vvhich he endured vvas of the gaule vineger and mire vvhich hee dranke because that immediately after that hee had tasted of that cup he gaue vp his ghost vnto his Father Seeing therfore that this thirst is the last torment the last request the last complaint and the last vvorke that Christ did in
and let vs cocker our selues all we can yet we shal depart with as great thirst out of this world as if we had not liued but one moment in it In this sorrowful life there is nothing but is thirsty the flesh doth thirst after daintie cherishing the soule doth thirst after longer life the heart dooth thirst for more strength the Deuill to deceiue vs and Christ doth thirst after our saluation Which of all these doe not liue in hunger and thirst What doth our flesh but complaine in euery part that we keepe it naked that we keepe it hungry weary discontented and dead with thirst What sinfull soule did euer depart out of this vvretched life so beset vvith griefe or loaden vvith yeares vvhich vvould nor haue giuen all that hee had beene worth to haue liued one yeare longer What humane heart is there on earth which watcheth not to get more and breaketh not his sleep to be worth more Why dooth the Deuill vvatch but to keepe his own and beguile the good Why are there so many sorts of vices in the vvorld and so many entisements but to quench the thirst vvhich it hath to make vs all vaine vvordly and light Why did the sonne of God come into the world preach the Gospell liue in paine and die vpon the crosse but onely for the great thirst which he had to saue the world Loe then we haue prooued how the flesh the heart the soule the world the diuell and Christ are all hungry and desire thee O my soule and that which cannot bee spoken without teares is that onely Christ doth thirst after thy saluation and all the other after thy perdition O my soule if thou haddest as great a thirst to amend thy selfe as Christ hath to saue thee or if thou haddest as great a thirst to amend thy selfe as these thy enemies haue to deceiue thee I doe promise thee that thou wouldest not liue as thou doest so carelessy nor yet behaue thy selfe so riotously The good doe inherite the thirst of our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ and the wicked doe inherite the thirst of the diuell And what is the thirst which the good doe inherite but to be peacemakers humble chast sober and very charitable And what is the thirst which the wicked doe inherite of the deuill but to bee more mighty and rich and more vicious O what great difference there is betwixt these two thirsts for the thirst of the good and vertuous goeth to bee quenched at the fountaine of life which is glory the thirst of the wicked goeth to bee quenched at the dead waters of paine and punishment in so much that such as our thirst is in this world such shall bee the water which wee shall drinke of in the other O how wel the Prophet said My soule did thirst after the liuing God because that all the water which our Lord doth giue vs to drinke is of the liuely fountaine which is cleare vnto the eie and fresh to recreat sauerous to prouide of and wholesome to tast of delicare in disgesting and most precious to keepe The water which the world giueth his followers to drinke of is deep to teach vnto troubled to see vnto vnsauery to drinke puddle in tast and stinking to keepe Let vs conclude then that the seruant of God is alwaies thirsty and desirous of God who as hee who is very thirsty doth seeke drinke with all diligence so he who is desirous of God doth seeke all the waies and meanes he can to serue and obey him CHAP. II. How the Crowes gaue the Prophet Helias meat and how the Iewes gaue Christ neither meat nor drinke REcede hine vade contra Orientem absconde te in torrentem Carith ibi de torrente viues nam coruis praecepi vt pascant te God spake these words vnto Hâ—lias Reg. 3. chap. 17 as if he would say It is my will and pleasure O Helias that thou liue no more in this land but that thou shouldest goe out of it and thou shalt goe towards the East and hide thy selfe in the brook Carith where thou shalt haue no need to fear hunger because I wil coÌ„mand the crows to bring thee meat and bread euery day and there thou hast water inough for thy drinking When our Lord did command Helias to goe out of Samaria there was a great famine ouer all the land and he was also persecuted by the wicked queen Iezabel and yet hauing an intention to succour his Prophet he appointed him a place far off where he should hide himselfe and prouided him all kind of victuals for him to eat Helias being gone to the brooke Carith there hee lay hidden a long time feeding only vpon that which the crows gaue him and drinking of the water which ran in the stream And after a few months were past and the Queens persecution was ceafed and the famine amended Helias returned to the people and the crowes were seene no more Before we doe come vnto these mysteries it is here to bee noted what great care our Lord hath ouer his seruants and how he is neuer carelesse of his friends because his naturall condition is neuer to bee vnmindfull of those which doe not forget to serue him Cum ipso sum eripiam eum glorificabo eum saith the Psalmist in the name of our Lord and his meaning is I my self and no other will bee alwaies with him in his troubles and I will bring him safe out of them and he shall escape out of them with honor and glory If wee doe well vnderstand Christ hee promiseth three thinges vnto such as suffer persecution and tribulation for his seruice The first is that hee will bee at their side in all troubles and vexations the second that they shall neuer lose their life nor endanger their conscience for any trouble be it neuer so strong the third that hee will deliuer them out of that trouble with great fame and glory If such great profite be gotten by persecution why doth any man follow the pleasures and delights of the world What tribulation is there in this world so hard and dangerous which is not ouercomed with the helpe of Christ O how happy is that soule which is tempted for the seruice of God and is persecuted for the loue of him seeing he hath giuen his word and his credit that he will not suffer any to fall in his temptation nor forsake any man in his tribulation Note gentle Reader that Christ doth not say I am with them In gaudio exultatione in mirth and ioy but In tribulatione in tribulation for as in this life he knew nothing but how to shed tears suffer temptations endure trauaile so he hath compassion of none but of such as weep and are persecuted and tempted in so much that as the diuell is the captaine and ring-leader of all which liue in pompe and iolitie so Christ is the head of all that are afflicted and in tribulation Saint
vsing thy infinite power thou didst make of the dry desart great abundāce of water why thē dost thou make vnto thy son of an abundant sea a dry desart thou didst send meat to the Prophet Daniel when he was cast vnto the Lyons although no man did demand it at thy hards wilt thou not giue thy precious son a little water at such great entreaty Cōsidering that whē the famine was at Samaria thou didst cōmand the Crowes to carry the Prophet Helias food and the riuer Carith to giue him drinke why doest thou not helpe thy owne sonne whom thou hast ingendred of thy owne substance with a little water in this his extream thirst Considering that thou diddest turn the sower waters of Marath to be sweet because those cursed people should drinke of them why wilt thou giue thy precious sonne neither of the sweet nor sowre O what great encreasing of torments to Christ are framed in the figure of Tobias ioined with the prophesie of Ieremy seeing the one did draw the fish to the drie land and the other made a desart of the sea for vpon that drie tree of the crosse Christ was exceeding drie seeing hee could not obtain a little water to drink of and hee was also in a great desart seeing that hee found not so much as one friend to comfort himselfe with The fourth mystery which the figure containeth is that Tobias did open the fish and took out his gaule and his heart both which did him his afterwards great good the one for his owne marriage and the other to cure his fathers blindnesse It is greatly to be noted that in all that fish Tobias found nothing which was not worthy of the keeping commodious and profitable in curing sauerous in eating The best that euer hath been or shall be in the world was the Creator and Redeemer of the world whose words were holy whose doctrine was profitable whose workes were maruellous and whose bowels were most louing What did Tobias vnto that fish that the Iewes did not vnto Christ If the fish was drawne out of the riuer so was Christ from the people if the fish was put vpon drie land so was Christ carried vnto the Mount of Caluary if the fish was stripped so was Christ whipped if the fishes throat was cut Christ was also crucified if the fish was opened so was Christ pierced with a speare if the fish was cast into the fire so was Christ also cast into the sepulchre This which wee haue said is but a little in respect of that which wee will say and that is that the holy catholike Church hath drawne out this blessed fishes gaule with the which hee cureth vs and heart with the which hee loueth vs and liuer with the which he pardoneth vs bowels with which hee dooth cherish vs. O good Iesus O my soules health who hath euer had or who euer shall haue a more louinge heart than thou to loue vs or so sound a liuer to pardon vs or so profitable a gaule to cure vs or such tender bowels to cherish vs What wilt thou denie me now or what wilt thou not now giue mee O my good Iesus seeing that for to shew thy clernency and mercy vpon me thou art hanged vpon a drie tree made a dead fish opened drawne and bowelled for my sake What loue can bee compared vnto thy loue seeing that for that which touched me and not for any thing that belonged to thee thou diddest consent that they should open thy heart and diddest permit them to rend and teare thy bowels What am I able to giue thee O good Iesus what can I giue thee vnlesse it be my heart which is filthy for thine which is cleane my rotten liuer for thy vvhole one my bitter gaule for thy sweet one and my wicked and hurtful bowels for thy most louing ones Which are the greatest relickes which are this day in heauen or earth but the heart liuer and bowels which Christ left vnto his church O how happy should he be who should haue such relickes in his custodie for hauing thy heart in custodie how couldest thou chuse but loue me and hauing thy bowels in keeping how wouldest thou but pardon me How is it possible O my good Iesus how is it possible that there should bee any euill thing in thee vvhen as the church hath thy precious gaule for a relicke Since the beginning of the vvorld there hath neuer been any such thing seene or heard that is that among the relickes vvhich the church dooth account for the best the gaule is one of the most precious because that vvithout that bitter gaule neither the world could haue beene redeemed nor the Prince thereof haue beene ouercome What is the gaule which the church keepeth in her treasure but only the bitter passion which Christ suffered The richest iewell which the Synagogue had was the Manna vvhich came from heauen the greatest treasure which the church hath is the gaule and passion of Christ Betwixt vvhich two vvhat great difference there is it is easily perceiued because that the profite cōmodity of our gaule doth continue vntil this day will continue for euer but the memory of that old Manna is already lost O glorious gaule O happy gaul which thou good Lord diddest leaue vnto thy catholick church for if it did kill thee it did make mee whole if it gaue thee paine it gaue me glory if it was gaule vnto thee it was hony to me if thou diddest end thy life vvith it yet my soule vvas redeemed vvith it Christs passiō vvas bitter gaule vnto Christ and yet Christs death vvas a sweet gaule for the redeeming of all the vvorld for if vnto him there fell trauell pain yet vnto vs there fell rest quietnesse if it fell to his lot to suffer yet it fell to vs to reioice be glad if the soure fell vnto him the sweet fell vnto vs in so much that hee chose the gaule for himselfe and left the hony for vs. Iurauit patribus dare terrans fluentem lacte melle said the Prophet Moises Exod. 13 As if he vvould say You shall well remember O yee children of Israel how you did agree vvith our Lord he vvith you that both of you by oth that you should neuer serue any other Lord but him and that he would giue you a land vvhich should flow milke and hony Notwithstanding this oth the children of Israel were such naughty periures that our Lord determined not to giue them a land which should flow hony but which should bring them forth gaule seeing hee made it batten for to sow in rugged and rough to trauell in vnhealthfull to dwell in vveake in defence drie to drinke in and very poore to maintaine it selfe God did make a farre better agreement vvith his Church than vvith the Synagogue for hee did not send vs a land vvhich should bring forth honey but gaule and therefore hee
sonne of God did so immediately after die vpon the crosse that in ending his draught of gaule and vineger hee began out of hand to yeeld vp his ghost If old Hystoriographers doe not deceiue vs Socrates among the Athenienses Midonius among the Lacedemonians â—rias among the Thebanes Escarrus among the Romanes by drinking of poyson ended their liues not because that their desire vvas to drinke of that poyson but because their enemies through force caused them to doe it God forbid that my penne should vvrite such blasphemy of my good Iesus vnto whome no man offered gaule and vineger no man entreated him vnto it no man forced him to take it but he of his owne will said Sitio I am a thirst and drie for if hee would haue dissembled his thirst and held his tongue they would neuer haue giuen him that detestable drinke Isidorus sayth What man or what Angel is able to reach vnto this secret that is that the sonne of God being then to giue vp his last breath yet should say that hee thirsted after a cup of water Why doest thou say so late Sitio and aske either for wine or water for seeing that thou art euen at the last farewell of thy life it cannot otherwise be but as thou art a drinking thy soule must depart from thee It had been a far lesser trouble and griefe to haue endured thirst halfe a quarter of an houre which Christ had to liue than haue suffered the thornes which boared through his head and all the rest of the torments which he had passed through that day but that his pleasure was to suffer them all and complaine of his thirst only because the thornes were onely a torment but his thirst signified a mystery vnto his Church There is a mystery in Christs being a thirst there is a mystery in that that he manifested it there is a mystery in that they gaue him wine mingled with mire and another in that they mixed it with gaule there is a mystery in that they offered it him in a reed and giuing him it with Isope containeth a mystery and in that he tasted of it and did not drinke it there is also a mystery contained If it be diligently looked into the mystery of the Sacrament where Christ communicated with his disciples excepted and the Sermon with the which he did comfort theÌ„ and the praier which he made when hee did sweat bloud also excepted there is no mystery written with so many circumstances as this of the thirst which Christ suffered whereof he complained And therefore marke with great heed all that the holy Scripture writeth of Christs thirstines because that with how many more circumstances a thing is vttered in Scripture to so many more weightier considerations it dooth inuite vs. CHAP. X. How the Synagogue could giue Christ nothing to drinke but rotten dregs PArum est mihi vt suscites faeces Israel dedi te in lucem gentium vt sis salus mea vsque ad extremuÌ„ terrae Esay 48. These wordes are vttered by the eternall Father speaking with his only sonne when he sent him into the world and they are as if hee would say being my onely begotten sonne taking vpon thee so hard an enterprise as is the redeeming of the world thou shouldst be content to restore the house of Iacob only and the dregs of Israel because the end why I send thee into the world is to giue light vnto al the Gentiles and redeeme all the whole world There are brought in in that communication the Father which speaketh the sonne vnto whom he speaketh the Synagogue of whom he speaketh and the end why hee is sent and also the great importance of the iourney seeing that by the meanes thereof hee will lighten the blindnesse of the Gentiles and streine the dregs of the Iewes And when he sayth Vt sis salus mea our Lord doth highly extoll the loue which hee beareth vs seeing that as wheÌ„ one man doth commend an important affaire vnto another the Father saith here vnto his son that it toucheth his owne safety and life that a full generall redemption be made of all men not excluding any one at all When the father sayth vnto his sonne Dedi te in lucem gentium vt sis salus mea what will he say but that it is most agreeable vnto his clemency that he holdeth it for a point of his honour that all enter in and be comprehended vnder his generall redemption the wine and the dregs the good and the bad the Gentile and the Iew the quicke and the dead The Father who dooth commend vnto his sonne the grounds and dregs dooth hee not more earnestssy commend cleane and holy things In Gods shop the lees which hee casteth abroad are better than all the wine that the diuell keepeth together I meane that one whom our Lord hath humbled and brought low is better than all those which the diuell hath lifted vp And because that our Lords calling of the Iewes lees and dregs of Israel seemeth to be a scandalous iniurious speech it is necessary for vs to declare how these dregs tooke their foundation for it is not possible for vs to expound the holy Scripture as we should vnlesse wee doe first vnderstand the letter For the better vnderstaÌ„ding of this which the Prophet Esay saith that which Boetius saith in his first booke of Comfort maketh much for our purpose that is Quòd infaelicissimum genus infortunij est hominem fuisse faelicem and his meaning is that there is no greater disaster or infelicity in the world thaÌ„ for a man to haue been on the top of felicity and then to be thrown down because such one doth nothing els but sigh after the honor which he hath lost neuer ceaseth bewailing the infamy which he hath gotteÌ„ WheÌ„ holy Iob thought with himselfe called to mind the time when he was rich and of great estimation and very healthfull of body and then saw himselfe vpon a dunghill vviping wormes off his owne body vvhat griefe of mind should oppresse him and vvhat a sea of thoughts vveary him When our Lord degraded and put out of their kingdomes Nabuchodonoser and Antiochus if wee looke vvell vnto it wee shall perceaue that the teares which they wept and the griefes which they complained on were rather to thinke of the honours which they had lost than of the punishment which they presently endured Cleopatra queen of Egypt Brias captaine of the Greeks and stout Hannibal of the Carthaginenses and the Consul Cato among the Romans slew themselues with their owne hands after that aduerse fortune had taken away their honours What will not a shamefast man doe what will hee not suffer what will hee not settle himselfe vnto after hee seeth himselfe disgraced and fallen from his honour Seneca in his booke of Clemency saith If all men were of my opinion there should bee more compassion taken on him who
art vnto the children of vanity and lightnesse who doe shew their essence and yet are nothing shew their power and yet can doe nothing shew their wisedome and yet doe know nothing CHAP. XIII Where he goeth forward with the figure mentioned before ADhue sitit expergifactus sayth Esay in the place before named as if hee would say When the redeemer of the world did awake vpō the crosse hee did awake very drie and thirsty which was so great a thirst that it continueth vntill this day it is most certaine that when a man doth suffer many griefes at one time that he speaketh of that which grieueth him most and pointeth with his hand where his greatest paine lieth The anguishes which Christ suffered in his mind were innumerable and the griefes which hee endured in his body were intollerable and that which is most of all to be meruelled at is that his torments being so many and so sharpe as they were yet he complained of none of them on the crosse but only of the thirst which he endured Saint Barnard sayth O good Iesus O redeemer of my soule hauing so many things to complaine on doest thou onely complaine of thirst Thy shoulders are naked and whipped thy hands broken thy head bleeding thy flesh brused and yet doest thou complaine on nothing but of the thirst which troubleth thee and of want of water Doest thou complain that thou art thirsty and not that thou art bloudy hast thou not greater want of thy bloud than of water Seeing the bloud which runneth from thy head doth bath thy face wet thy tongue why doest thou aske againe for water For a quarter of an houre that thou hast to liue doest thou complaine that thou wantest water O that the thirst which I suffer saith Christ is not to drinke wine or water but to see your amendment and carry you with mee to my glory for seeing that I am now taking my iourney to heauen I haue a great thirst to take my elect with mee The thirst which I haue the drinesse which I endure is not so much to drink any liquor as to redeem you and saue you and reconcile you with my Father and therefore if thou haue no pitty on mee yet at the least take some on thy selfe O that I had rather that thou haddest some pitty on thy selfe than on mee because it is a greater griefe to see thee lost than to see my self suffer S. Augustine sayth Thou diddest adde vnto all thy anguishes this word Sitio shewing thereby such a great thirst and representing outwardly the exceeding loue that thou diddest beare me inwardly and vnspeakable charity which caused thee to make but small account of all that thou diddest suffer in respect of that desire which thou haddest to suffer And he sayth further O my good Iesus I know well that thy thirst is not for thy selfe but for me and this thy anguish is for no other cause but for the saluation of my soule and when thou saiest that thou hast a desire to drinke that is as much to say as to suffer more for mee in so much that the care that thou hast ouer me is so great that by meanes thereof thou doest wholly forget thy selfe What meaneth this O redeemer of my soule what meaneth this Thy ioints being loosed one from another thy eies broken thy mother hauing her farewell and hauing complained on thy Father doest thou say anew I am a thirst What pitty may be compared vnto this or what goodnesse equall vnto this Oredeemer of my soule Wee see by this word Sitio that death was sufficient to take all thy dolors and griefes from thee and yet that it was not inough to cut off the loue which thou haddest to redeeme vs. Who is able to say truly that thy loue did end vpon the crosse considering that for the loue of thy elect thou diddest yet thirst after more griefes and anguishes All this Saint Augustine spake Chrisostome sayth When the eternall word said vpon the crosse I am a thirst I doe not beleeue that hee did so much aske for water to drinke as hee did aske for time of his Father to suffer more griefe and torment For as the candle when it is going out doth cast the greatest light so Christ the more his death drew neere the more his loue and charity doth kindle towards vs. Remigius vpon Saint Matthew sayth Although the diuine prouidence did reduce all the trauailes of his life vnto three yeares and that also hee brought all the torments of the crosse vnto three houres yet it is not to bee beleeued that Christ his infinite charity was contented with this short time and therefore I thinke for my owne part that the thirst which hee shewed vpon the tree vvas not so much to drinke of any water of the riuer as to declare and make manifest his loue vnto the world Fulgentius in a Sermon sayth The sonne of God did thinke that seeing his Father had not giuen him charity by waight so hee should not giue him torment by measure by reason whereof hee cried aloud on the crosse Sitio to let vs vnderstand by this thirst that seeing the gifts which hee receiued had no end that the torments likewise which he receiued should not be limitted CHAP. XIIII Of the crueltie and ingratitude that the Iewes vsed in giuing Christ gaule and vineger and how he satisfied for euery sinne in particular DEderunt in escam meam fel in siti mea potauerunt me aceto sayth Christ by the Prophet as if hee would say Being vpon the altar of the crosse full of torments loaden vvith griefes compassed with enemies I had scarsely spoken the word Sitio but they gaue mee gaule to eat and vineger to drinke There is much matter to bee spoken vpon this that is what drinke they gaue him when they gaue it him where they gaue it him why they gaue it him in what they gaue it him and how quickly they gaue it him The drinke which they gaue him was gaule and vineger the place where was vpon the crosse the time was when hee was yeelding vp the ghost the cause why was to helpe him to die they gaue it him in a reed and a spunge and that presently when he had thirst so that all these circumstances doe aggrauate the fault in them Wee find that the diuell made two banquets in this world the one in the terrestriall paradise vnto our Father where he gaue him the fruit of the tree to eat the other to Christ in the desert where he inuited him to stones of the field the which might haue ben ground sifted and so mingled that they might haue been eaten The Iewes gaue Christ worser meat than the diuell offered him in the desart for they gaue him gaule to eat and vineger to drinke which are bitter and soure horrible in tast and mortal in eating For as the Philosopher sayth The truest loue is the loue of children the smell
the loue of God and of the profit that this loue of God doth in the soule HAurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus saluatoris Esay 12. chapter The Prophet Esay spake these words speaking vnto good Christians of the Catholicke church and of the great good that Christ will doe in her and they are as if hee would say When the Messias promised in the law shall come into the world all such as were drie and thirsty shall receiue great ioy with great abundance of waters to refresh and recreate their persons The Prophet dooth promise foure things in this place that is that they shal not draw water but waters not out of one well or fountaine but fountaines not by force but willingly not out of euery well but of the fountaine of our Sauiour Agar wanted the fountaine how much more fountains the children of Israel found water but soure the Patriarke Iacâ—l found sweet water but he had great strife in getting it They brought king Dauid water but it was of a cesterne insomuch that the Synagogue was so poore that shee could not get a cup of cleane water The catholicke church may hold her selfe very happie and rich seeing that God hath promised her abundance of waters cleare and cleane flowing from the fountaine of her Sauior and Redeemer It is much to bee noted and also to bee meruelled at to see that our Redeemer Iesus Christ said vpon the crosse Sitiâ— and yet saith that hee hath waters and fountains to refresh and quench the thirst of all the world What meaneth this O good Iesus what meaneth this Hast thou not one drop of water for thy selfe to drinke of and yet doest thou inuite all the world to drinke of thy fountaines It doth wel appeare O my good Iesus that thou hast all that good for me and keepest all trauailes vnto thy selfe seeing that of thy sweet water thou doest inuite all men to drinke but the gaule and vineger thou doest giue no man to tast What are the fountaines that thou wouldest haue vs drinke of but thy holy wounds with the which we were redeemed O sacred fountains O holy wounds which are so delectable to behold and so sweet to tast that the Angels are desirous to drinke of them and all creatures are willing to bath themselues in theÌ„ They are fountains which alwaies flow they are waters which alwaies run what do they flow but bloud water whither do they flow but to the Catholick church Holy Iesus did giue vs much more than Esay did promise vs for Esay did promise vs nothing but waters but he gaue vs afterwards waters of his bowels blond of his vains O good Iesus O holy fountaine from whence but from the fountaine of thy bowels did the water flow to wash our spots and from whence but from thy precious vaines did the bloud runne to redeeme our offences It is gathered in scripture that the waters of Rasim were most swift the waters of Iorda troubled the waters of Bethleem were pooles and standing the waters of Marath were bitter the waters of Siloe were soure The waters of thy wounds O my Redeemer are not of these qualities for they are safe to saile in cleane to behold sweet to tast and profitable to keepe What meaneth hee to say that you shall draw waters In gaudio but that as we were redeemed with his great loue and will so we should serue him with great ioy and mirth Hee doth draw waters of the fountaines of Christ with ioy and miâ—th who doth serue him with good will and hee doth draw bloud out of Christs wounds with sorrow and griefe who doth serue him with an evill will whose seruice is neither acceptable to God nor profitable vnto him which doth it for as our Lord doth giue nothing which hee doth giue but with ioy and mirth so he will not that any man serue him but with pure affection and entire good will With what great loue the sonne of God hath redeemed vs and with what a liuely will he wil be serued wee may gather by his owne doctrine and see it in his owne louing words Ignem veni mittere in terram quid vâ—lo nisi vt accendatur Luke 12. This high word no man could say but hee only who was the word of the eternall Father and the meaning is this If thou wilt know why I came downe from heauen vnderstand thou that it was for no other cause but to burne and set all the world on fire and therfore I bring this light with me because it may burne day night and that thou maiest blow it that it goe not out Christ speaketh to the same purpose in another place when hee sayth Non venipacem mittere sed gladium as if hee should say Let no man thinke that I came into the world to giue it peace and quietnesse but to put a gallowes and asword in it the gallowes to doe iustice on the wicked and the sword to martirize the good These words are worthy of the noting and also to be feared of all mortall men for hauing created the world what meaneth he to say that hee came into the world but to put it all to fire and bloud What man is there this day in the world so noble in birth or so rich in wealth but if he proclaime publickely that hee will burne both man and woman but they wil presently lay hands on him bind him hand foot or coÌ„demn him for want of discretioÌ„ What can be more straÌ„ger or what inueÌ„tioÌ„ may be like vnto that for our Lord to tel vs. also warne vs that he hath brought nothing else with him but a firebrand to burne and a sharpe sword to cut our throats Vpon those wordes Non veni mittere pacem sed gladium S. Augustine sayth If wee will well vnderstand that which Christ sayth in this place we should not only not bee scandalized at it but also highly thanke him for it for to say the truth with that fire he doth seare our dead flesh and with that knife he doth let out our corrupt bloud Beda vpon the Apostle sayth What is the sire which Christ brought from heauen into the world but his exceeding great loue The quality of this high fire is to heat and not burne to giue light and not hurt to burne and not consume to putrifie and not wast to warme and not to grieue O good Iesus and light of my soule what sensuality can ouercome mee or what tentation can throw mee downe if at the coales of thy fire I warme my selfe and giue my selfe light with the flame of thy loue What can hee doe what is in him or what regard is there of him in this life who doth not warme himselfe at the fire of thy loue What made S. Andrew goe cheerfully and singing to be crucified but the fire of the loue which burned in him What made S. Agnes goe more ioifully to martyrdome than
truth sooles mocke wisedome the guilty whip innocency the wretched spet vpon glory and the dead kill life S. Barnard in a sermon of the passion sayth What heart is able to endure it or what fingers able to write it to see that the liberty of captiues is sold the glory of Angels scorned and mocked the morning starre of the world spet at the Lord of all scourged whipped and he who is the rewarder of trauels murthered S. Ambrose vpon S. Luke sayth Of Christ only of no other Ieremy sayth Quod saturabitur opprobrijs seeing that he was sold like a malefactor mocked like a foole spet at like a vile person whipped like a theefe and put to death like a traitor S. Hilary in an Homily sayth According vnto the prophesie of Ieremy the sonne of God shall be filled with iniuries seeing that he is sold of the Symoniacles mocked of hypocrites whipped of tyrants spet at by blasphemers and put to death by heretikes Let our conclusion then be that not without a high mystery nor profound sacrament Christ before hee should suffer said these words of Consummabuntur and in the end of his suffering Consummatum est to let vs vnderstaÌ„d that at one time Christs life did end and if we be such as we ought to be our faults CHAP. VI. Here hee entreateth of that high praier which Christ made vpon the table saying Pater sancte non pro mundo rogo sed pro illis vt serues eos a malo In which praier if he obtained constancy and stoutnesse for his Apostles yet he forgot not the weake saying Non rogo vt tollas eos a mundo PAter sancte claritatem quam tu dedisti mihi dedi eis vt sint Consummati in vnum Iâ—h 17. These words are spoken by the mouth of the son of God praying vnto his Father after he had made a sermon before supper the highest and longest that euer hee preached in all his life time as if hee should say O my holy eternall mighty and blessed Father that which I entreat and request of thee in this last houre is that seeing I haue giuen to my Disciples part of the light and science which thou hast giuen mee thou wouldest also giue them grace to bee perfect in that kind of perfection as thou are wont to make perfect the elect By occasion of those words which Christ spake vpon the crosse that is Consummatum est and by reason of that other which he spake praying vnto his Father Consummati sunt it shall bee necessary for vs to declare in this place what that is which the redeemer of the world spake in his praier and what the Scripture sayth of it It is here to be noted who hee is which praieth where hee praieth when he praieth and how he praieth and for whome he praieth what he praieth for oftentimes in Scripture the circumstances how a thing is done makes it either weighty or very weighty Hee who praieth is Christ the place where is the pâ—râ—or the time is at supper how is with lifting vp his eies the things which hee praieth are very high they for whom are his disciples In this high praier Christ spake dainty words most graue sentences very secret mysteries very necessary aduises and very profitable counsels by reason whereof it is conuenient to read them with attention and note them with deuotion Christ then sayth in the beginning of his praier Pater sancte serua eos in nomine tuo qui tui sunt pro eis rogo non pro mundo as if he should say My holy and blessed father that which I ask of thee for these thy children and my disciples is that thou deliuer them from sin keep them in thy seruice seeing that they bee my brothers by nature and thy children by grace and if I aske any thing of thee it is not for those which are of the world but for those which thou doest keepe vnder thy safegard O sweet words for the good and sorrowfull for the bad seeing that by them are diuided and seperated the perfect from the foreseene the elect from the reprobate Gods friends from the children of perdition and also the neighbours of heauen from the louers of the world Howsoeuer Christ our redeemer praied from the hart for those which he loued from the heart yet he set this word Sancte Pater before his praier because it is a very naturall thing that this word Pater maketh a father attentiue to here the child and maketh his eies tender to behold him and his heart gentle to loue him and openeth his entrails that hee can deny him nothing What sweeter words can come to a fathers eares than to heare his sonne call him father As a sonne welbeloued and tendered once Christ calleth his father my father another time iust father another time Lord and father sometimes holy father and sometimes father and nothing else so that such as his praier was such was the name which hee gaue him It is not then here without a mystery that hee calleth him Pater sancte because hee who praied in this praier was most holy hee to whom hee praied was holy that which hee praied were holy things the place where hee praied was a holy place and hee for whom he praied was his holy colledge What doest thou aske O good Iesus what doest thou aske Pardon for my sheepe that God would deliuer them from Wolues pardon for my disciples that God would keepe them from the diuell pardon for my elect that God would seperate them from sinne and pardon for my friendes that God would take them vp into heauen As thou art going thy iourney to the crosse at the point of death in the euening of thy agony and wheÌ„ they come to apprehend thy person among so many thinges which thou doest aske of thy Father doest thou ask nothing for thy selfe O heauenly care O vnspeakable loue O charity neuer heard of before such as thine is O creator of my soule towards all mankind seeing that in such a dismal day in such a narrow strait as thou art in thou hast cause sufficient to craue of thy father for thy selfe sauing only that to remember me thou doest forget thy selfe And Christ sayth that he doth aske for such as are his that is for those which in the depth of his eternity are predestinated and are in the number of the elect to the end that they may bee one thing in the father as the father and the sonne are one thing Let the curious reader marke in this place that this abuerbe Sicut dooth not in this place make an equality betwixt God and man but onely a resemblance and a likenesse for vnlike the which because Arrias would not vnderstaÌ„d became to be an infamous heretike When Christ said Sint vnum in me his meaning was this That which I aske of thee O heaueÌ„ly Father is that as those of my colledge be thy children and
kill a beast but in Christs holy law one death tooke away all deaths one life did buy all liues and one paine tooke away all paines and offences When the Apostle calleth Christ Hostiam viuentem he wanteth not a deepe secret and a profound mystery because that in the old law they called Hostiā the sacrifice which was offered against those which were enemies they offered nothing but dead sacrifices because the beast which they did offer was neither called sacrifice nor Hostia vntill his life had been taken from him The sonne of God gaue the name of Hostia a sacrifice when he died and the name of life when he rose againe and therefore wee may very well call him a liuely sacrifice a holy sacrifice a pure sacrifice and holy bread seeing that hee is the sacrifice and Hostie which giueth life vnto all and is the holiest sacrifice of all other and the purest and the cleanest bread of all others Anima cum obtulerit oblationem sacrificij domino similae erit eius oblatio fundet super eam oleum ponet thus Leuit. 2. God spake these words vnto Moyses because he should tel them the people of Israel as if hee should say If any will offer any sacrifice which shall bee acceptable vnto mee offer mee it of the purest floure mingled with oile and therewithall he shal adde a little frankincense If wee doe curiously looke vnto it of three things onely our Lord requireth an offering of vs that is pure floure good oile and sweet incense the which things are easiy to bee found light to offer and not costly to buy S. Ambrose sayth In this wee may see what a great desire our Lord hath to pardon the sinnes which we commit against him in that he himselfe doth teach vs what sacrifices we should offer vnto him What is vnderstood by that fine sifted floure but that most sacred humanity of the sonne of God This holy floure was so sifted and putrified that all the Angels which shall come to see it and all the men in the world which shall come to clense it shall not find in that sacred humanity one smal grite of originall sinne nor on spot of mortall sinne nor one little dust of any other small sinne Of this most pure floure Christ did knead the sacramentall bread in his last supper which he left vs in the church which doth differ farre from that which mother Eue did leaue her children because that in eating of that we doe sinne and receiuing of this we doe liue What is the incense which God commaunded vs to offer with the floure in his Temple but the diuinity which is ioined with the humanity in Christ Vntill the gate of the Temple the floure was carried by it selfe and the incense by itselfe but being brought to the gate of the Temple the one was incorporated with the other which mystery was most notably accomplished in the comming of Christ because that so farre asunder was mankind which was here vpon earth from the diuinity which was in heauen but the son of God comming into the world immediately God with man and man with God became one What is the oile with the which God commanded the floure and incense to be tempered but that which in the blessed Trinitie wee call the holy-ghost The coniunction bond of loue betwixt the Father and the son and hee who did incorporate the floure with the incense was no other but the holy-ghost for so said the prophesie Vnxit te deus deus tuus eleo letetia and so said the Angell vnto the virgine when he said Spiritus sanctus superueniet in te That which the Prophet called oile the Angell afterward did cal the holy-ghost insomuch that the cake which God demanded of floure oile and incense was nothing else but the humanity of him which was made by the father and by the son and by the holy-ghost A cake so well seasoned a sacrifice so highly well made which of the saints would not offer and which of the Angels would not adore The sacrifice which God did demand in times past was not that which the Synagogue did offer but that which the catholike church doth now offer for they did offer him dow wet in vineger and foustie oile and most sharpe incense but the sacrifice which wee doe now offer him is the humanity and diuinity of Christ vnited and put together by the handes of the holy-ghost It is no reason that the Christian and deuour reader should be ignorant why God commanded but a part of the floure to bee offered but all the incense To put a measure in the floure was to say that the humanity of it selfe was limitted and had an end and to put no measure in the frankincense was to say that in the diuinity there is neither beginning nor end which is most true because the workes which the sonne of God did were limmitted and circumscribed in that that he was man but being kneaded with the oile of the holy-ghost he made them infinite in value and weight To come then to our first purpose the text sayth si oblatio tua fuerit de sartagine simile conspersa oleo absque fermento diuides eam minutatim fundas super cam oleum as if he should say The fritter which thou shalt offer vnto me shall bee made of the floure of the meale without leauen kned with very good oile and then being well pricked thou shalt sprinckle it ouer with new oile If there should bee no mystery hidden vnder this Iudaicall sacrifice wee might haue occasion to thinke that our Lord were a glutton and giuen to variety of meats seeing that in the beginning of this chapter he asked of thē fritters or cake dressed with good oile and now againe a cake made of the floure of wheat and that without leauen small broken and fried in a frying pan in very whote oile Of this high and new sacrifice what is the floure but the humanity which suffered what the oile but the loue with the vvhich hee died and what the frying pan but the crosse where hee died To say that God the Father did aske for a cake made in a frying pan and to say that the crosse of his sonne was the frying pan and that the fine floure of his precious flesh was fried in that fryingpan and that the oile with the which it was fried was the loue with the which he redeemed vs is no vnreuerent speech to vse neither is there any errorin affirming it seeing wee he certain that there is no word writtē in holy Scripture which is not full of high mystery The property of the fryingpan is being put vpon the fire the fire dooth not wast him nor melt him as hee doth many other thinges and beside hee maketh those meats which are cold hard and not to be eaten whote soft and very sauourous What was the death and passion of our redeemer Iesus Christ but a frying
pan put to the fire The sacred humanity of Christ being put in the fryingpan of the crosse notwithstanding all the torments which they gaue him and all the iniuries and reproches which they spake against him they neuer diminished any part of his vertue for although for the space of three daies his soule was seperated from his body yet they deuide not his Diety from his soule nor from his body Isichius vpon Leuiticus sayth Before that the sonne of God was fried in the frying pan of the crosse his flesh was so raw that it could not bee eaten but after that the fire of his passion did season it vs and frie it there is nothing in heauen more sauerous nor nothing on the earth more profitable Cyrillus in another sence saith There were four things in this sacrifice fire the pan oile and flour These four things were found in the passion of Christ that is the fire which the Iewes kindled to the end hee should dieithe frying pan vvas the crosse which they sought out where hee should die and the oile the loue and charity with the vvhich hee died there for to redeeme the world and the floure his most sacred flesh vvhich there was fried O glorious sacrifice O eternall meat that thou art O sonne of the liuing God seeing that fried and whote and seasoned thou diddest giue thy selfe in the frieng pan of the crosse to the end that all men might eat thee and none excused from seruing thee When the sonne of God said Nisi manducaueritis carnem filij hominis his Disciples being scandalized Abierunt retrorsum dixerunt durus est hic sermo But after that that most sacred flesh was seasoned fried in the frying pan of the crosse it was soft sweer to tast of sauerous to eat and profitable to be taken Sume tibi sartaginem ferream ponas eam murum ferreum inter te eiuitatem said God by the Prophet Ezechiel chap. 4 as if hee should say Goe thy way out of the city and thou shalt put a frieng pan of iron betweene thee and the city because thou maiest neither see her nor shee hurt thee Who euer saw or heard the like that the Lord should command the Prophet to fight with a frying pan and defend himselfe behind the same Tell me O Ezechiel what hurt couldest thou do with a frying pan seeing it hath no point or how couldest thou defend thy selfe vnder it considering that it will scarse couer thy head If thou wilt goe to fight take a launce with thee and if thou wilt go to defend thy selfe from thy enemies take thy Target because the frying pan is fitter for the kitchē thā the warre and better to dresse meat with than to fight O glorious crosse O holy frying pan where the flesh of my God was fried where his bloud was shed where his charitie vvas enflamed where our fault was melted and where his life was ended The frying pan of the Synagogue was neither good for warres nor profitable for peace But thou holy crosse and happy frying pan wast hee with the which the diuell was ouercome God pacified the world redeemed and the heauen opened What thing can I put betwixt thee and mee O good Iesus but this precious crosse frying pan where thou diddest end thy life that my sin might not come vnto thee nor thy punishment passe to me Doe thou not think my brother doe thou not think that God commanded the Prophet to put betweene him and the city a frying pan for any good that it would doe him but for that which the frying pan signified for thereby was signified the crosse and the crucified which should be a mediator betweene God and the world O sweet Iesus O my soules delight where but in the frying pan of thy dolors and griefes and where but in the oile of thy charity and loue diddest thou end consume and fry my enormious sinnes Where but in the frying pan of the crosse where thou saiedst Consummatum est giuing vs to vnderstand by that last speech that there thou haddest ended and made a full account of our sinne and thy anger of our perdition and thy passion of our ignorance and thy life CHAP. VIII Wherein is declared a figure when Moyses did annoint the altar seuen times with one finger and how that vnction was a figure of Christ and fully accomplished in his most sacred humanity DIgito suo vnxit Moyses altare septies oleo vnctionis this is written in the 40 chapter of Exodus as if hee should say In the same day that Moyses did institute his brother Aaron bishop and ordained also his children Priests hee did annoint the great altar seuen times and that with one finger and did consecrate it with oile Cyrillus vpon this place sayth That although all the holy Scripture be full of mysteries yet there is greatest attention to bee giuen when it speaketh of the altar or of a Priest because that that mystery cannot be handeled and not talk of the mysteries of Christ If we doe looke into the words of the text we shall find that that which is annointed is the altar that with the which it is ointed is holy oile and the manner how is with one finger only and that seuen times and that which was further ointed were all the ornaments of the altar These were the qualities of the altar neere vnto it were the holy breads before it burned lampes on the side of it they did put the candlestickes on the top of it the offered sacrifices at the foot of it they shed the bloud behind it were the people ouer against it was the vaile vpon it was the Cherubin about it were the curtaines This altar was made of wood which would not rot there could come none to it but the Priests they could not goe vp to it by steps nor staires night and day lampes burned there other fire which should not be put out Although the altar of the Synagogue had many priuiledges and great freedomes yet it had a counterpeise with it which was that vpō it they slew all the beasts which they did offer vnto God therefore it was sometimes so bloudy so loaden with flies that it seemed rather a bord in the butchery to cut flesh on then an altar of the church Who is the true altar the holy altar and the cleane altar but only the sonne of the liuing God Origen sayth In the Temple of the Synagogue the altar was one thing and the Priest another another thing that which they offered but in the altar of the church the altar where they offer and the Priest which doth offer and the sacrifice which is offered and he vnto whom it is offered is one and the same thing Leo in a Sermon of our Lords Supper sayth In this high supper and in this holy altar the sonne of God is the ultar and the meat and he who inuiteth and he who is inuited
he who eateth and is eaten hee who annointeth and is annointed he who offereth and is offered What preheminences had the altar of the old Synagogue which are not greater in the Catholicke church Their altar was of the wood of the Mount Lybanus ours of the most sacred humanity of Christ theirs was of wood which would not corrupt and ours of flesh which cannot sinne theirs was made bloody with other bloud than their owne and ours is washed with his own bloud vpon theirs they did kil beasts vpon ours they forgiue vs our offences to theirs there could none go vp but the Priests of the tēple but vnto ours al the sinners of the world may come vnto in theirs there burned a fire of light which must euery houre be kindled and put together but in ours there burneth the fire of his loue and charity which can neuer be extinguished O holy altar O glorious altar of the crosse in which there is offered not dead beasts but mens sins not to proue thē but to pardon them where our weake seruices are offered not because thou wouldest praise thē O Lord but because thou wouldest accept them and where also the merits of thy holy sonne are offered not for his own sake who was without sin but for ours who can doe nothing but sinne The altar of the Synagogue had no step nor staire because the common sort did beleeue nothing in God but his essence but to the altar of our catholick church which is a congregation of the faithful they go vp by three steps because we beleeue in one essence three persons The text also saith that the altar of the synagogue was annointed with one finger only who shal we say that this finger is but the selfesame holyghost Hilarius de Trinitate saith In al the Trinity there is but one arm that is the Father of whom the Prophet saith Et brachiū meū cōfortauit eum neither is there any more but one hand which is the son of whom also the Prophet saith Filius meuses tuego hodie genui te nor there is in all the Trinity but one finger of whō the scripture saith Digitus dei hic est In the vnctions creations of vs there are many fingers occupied that is my great grandfather begat my grandfather and my grandfather my father my father begat me I begat my son and my sonne begat my nephew but in the generation of Christ there was applied one only finger which was the person of the holy-ghost August in a sermon sayth Seeing that he which doth beget is one and hee who is begotten is one and she who doth bring forth is one and he for whom hee is borne is one which is the world why should there haue been more then one finger which was the Holy-ghost The text sayth further that the altar was not annointed once only but seuen times a row What is meant that Christ was annointed seuen times a row but only that all the seuen gifts of the holy-ghost were bestowed vpon him It is to bee noted that in all the sacrifices which they made of kine sheepe and goats and pigeons the altar was alwaies annointed with bloud sauing when they ordained Aaron a priest at what time they did annoint it with oile alone the which was not done without a mystery The reason thē is this that because al their sacrifices were done to take away the Iews sins the which were to bee taken away with shedding of bloud Quia sine sanguinis effusione non fit remissio sayth the Apostle there was no need of effusion of bloud in the sacrifice which did only represent Christ because in him there was no sinne at all Why should they haue annointed with bloud the altar of the humanity of Christ considering that not onely there was no sin in him but in him all the sins of the world were to be taken away If the curious Reader would deeply vnderstand this high figure let him turn Moyses name into the Father and Aarons name into Christ and the altar into humanity and the name of annointing into gift and bloud into the water of baptism the finger into the holy-ghost and then hee shall truly find how well the truth doth answere vnto the figure and the letter to the spirit The text sayth further in the same chapter Vnxit altare cum omnisuppellectili as if hee should say After that Moyses had made an end of annointing the altar with holy oile hee did also annoint all things that did belong to the altar that is ewars basins candlestickes towels hookes chafindishes Let no man thinke it to bee a iest that God commanded to annoint with holy oile not only the altar but also all things which did appettaine to the altar because that by this is discouered one of the greatest priuiledges that Christ had which no man did euer but hee enioy in the world What should it meane that at the altar of the Synagogue there remained nothing which was not annointed with oile but that there was nothing in the humanity of the word which was not fully replenished with the holy-ghost Why is Christ called Sanctus sanctorū but because his holy vnction was more holy thā that of all the other saints When the church doth wash her creatures in baptism shee doth with water wash and as it were only there annoint soules which were defiled with original sin the which soules are made so clean pure with that vnction that if they should depart presently out of this life they should imediately by Gods fauor go to glory O vnhappy that we be for although they wash annoint our soule in baptism yet there remaineth our memory to be annointed seeing that wee forget God there remaineth our vnderstanding to be annointed seeing we think of other things thā of God there remaineth our will to be annointed seeing that wee put our loue on other things besides God also our hart remaineth to be annointed seeing we giue it to another thā to god What shall we say of our poore body seeing there is no part or mēber of it which is annointed seeing my eies can see nothing but vanity my ears hear nothing but lightnes my toung nothing but lie my mēbers cōmit sin my hands theft what shal I say of such a body is he not rather rottē thē annointed whē the Apostle S. Paul said with weeping tears alas woe be vnto me vnhappy vnfortunate man who wil deliuer me frō the seruitude of this body would he haue spoken such pitiful words if the powers of his body had been annointed with holy oile of loue charity the church like a pittiful mother doth annoint vs with the wholsome water of baptisme when we be born afterward she doth wash and annoint vs vvith loue charity whē she doth giue vs grace to loue god forgiue our neighbors the first vnctiō is to help vs that we do not sin
bloud of the son of God dooth wash and make cleane offences and saue our souls The first bloud with the which God was offended was the bloud of Abel and the first bloud with which God was pleased was the bloud of Christ and that which is most to be wondered at is that the bloud of Abel did benefite but himselfe alone but the bloud of Christ did profite all the world S. Ambrose sayth What bloud can be compared vnto the bloud of Christ for the bloud of Abel did stirre vp and not appease seeing that thereby hee lost his life and his brother his soule The bloud which thou didst shed for mee O sweet Iesus did not stirre vp but appease because it did pacifie the fathers anger tooke away thy owne life and redeemed my soule Anselmus sayth The bloud of Abel is bloud and the bloud of Christ is bloud the one the bloud of a iust man and so likewise the other that was shed by enuy and this shed through enuy But the difference was that the bloud of Abel cried from the earth and the bloud of the sonne of God praied from the crosse Weigh well this speech Clamabat ad me de terra and also that Melius loquentem quam Abel and thereby thou shalt perceiue how the bloud of Abel doth crie for vengeance vpon his brother Cain and the bloud of the sonne of God doth pray for mercy for all the world Consider well of this word Melius loquentem that is that the bloud of Christ should haue been but of small profit if hee should haue died for none but for those of that time The Apostle doth not say that the bloud of Christ did then speake onely but that it doth speake now and will speake vntill the worlds end and therevpon it is that we do represent this bloud euery day and offer it in our praiers for otherwise as there is no day in which wee doe not commit some sinne against him so there should no day passe in which wee should not suffer some punishment Saint Basil sayth His offence is very great which committeth a fault if hee doe not immediately helpe himselfe with the bloud of Christ for if it bee frosen for Pagans and Heretikes yet it is fresh and whot for Christians and sinners It is also to bee marked that the Apostle sayth not Accessistit ad sanguinis effusionem but ad sanguinis aspersionem which speech he vsed not for the wicked Synagogue but for the holy mother church because the Synagogue was in the time of shedding of bloud but the holy church came to the sprinckling gathering of it together O how happy we Christians be and how vnhappy the Iewes were seeing that they came Ad sanguinis effusionem to the shedding of bloud and we Christians Ad sanguinis aspersionem so that they shed the bloud of the son of God did not gather it vp we gather it and did not shed it S. Augustine vpon S. Iohn saith By this speech of Aspersionem sanguinis the Apostle doth let vs vnderstand that the bloud of Abel had no other force thē to be shed vpon the earth but with the bloud of the son of God all the catholicke church was as it were with Isope sprinckeled so that all the bloud of the Synagogue was but shed cast on the ground but the bloud of Christ was shed imparted amongst vs. Cyrillus vpon Leuit. saith The church was at the sprinckling of bloud but the synagogue at the effusiō of bloud seeing that of the bloud of the Synagogue there was no drop gathered of the bloud of the church there was no drop lost S. Barnard saith As for the bloud of Abel let it be lost but as for the bloud of the son of God it is not lawful that any should be lost And he goeth gathering it drop by drop who by little litle doth imitate Christs life he doth gather one drop who doth imitate him in one vertue he doth imitate him in two drops who doth follow him in two hee doth gather many drops who doth bestow himselfe in the getting of many vertues insomuch that as on the crosse he gaue it in recompence of wickednesse so he doth now giue it in exchange of vertues CHAP. IIII. Where Christ complaineth on the Christian mans soule because she was vngratefull for the benefite of her creation and redemption VVlnerasti cor meum seror mea vulnerasti cor meum sponsa mea in vno oculorum tuorum in vno crine colli tui Cant. 4. as if hee should say Thou hast wounded my heart O my sister thou hast pierced my heart O my spouse and the cause of my captiuity was because thou diddest behold mee with one of thy eies and because I did behold one of thy haires Origen vpon these words sayth Such sweet words and such pittifull complaints as these are from whence should they proceed but from a man sorely greeued with heauenly loue greatly enflamed The louing wordes which Christ speaketh vnto the soule and the anxiety and griefe which the soule vttereth vnto Christ who can better declare than the soule which is familiar with Christ Such deepe reasons such pittifull wounds such true complaints and griefes so lamentably vttered as these are which are contained vnder these words how is it possible for my pen to write or my heart to tast of How sweet our Lord is to the soule which seeketh him and how delightfull vnto the soule which calleth vpon him and how pleasant vnto the soule which dooth keepe him is so high a language that none is able to vnderstand but only that soule which dooth deserue to tast of the same First of all it is here to be noted why Christ dooth call a holy soule once sister and another time spouse for if she be a sister she cannot be a spouse and if she be a spouse shee cannot be a sister The mystery of this secret is that she is called spouse because of the faith which shee tooke of Christ and she is called sister because of the flesh which Christ tooke in so much that Christ is our bridegroome in that that hee is our Creator and he is our brother in that that hee is our Redeemer Twise the bridegroome complaineth to haue beene wounded of his bride saying Thou hast wounded my heart my sister thou hast wounded my heart my spouse for in respect of two loues hee hath compassion on her and in respect of two loues he suffered for her that is for hauing made her to his likenesse and semblance and for hauing redeemed her with his bloud For Christ to say twise Thou hast wounded me thou hast wounded me is to say thou hast been vnthankfull for the fauour I did to create thee and thou hast been vngratefull for the benefite which I did thee in redeeming thee insomuch that to bee vnthankfull vnto Christ for these two benefites is to wound Christs heart with two