changed their Lordes and formes of gouerment and not only the feilds haue bene bedevved but euen great Riuers haue beene dyed vvith bloud The (e) The great weakenesse of man euen besides his Wic kednes vveakenesse of man euen abstracting from expresse and malicious vvickednes is a lamentable thing to looke vpon Hovv often do vve erre in that vvherin vve procure least to faile vvho hath not desired and euen purchased many things vvhich he thought had beene a meanes to make him happy from vvhich yet he hath gathered nothing but the bitter fruit of misery No (f) The miserable incōstācy of man Cane is so vveake no vvinde is so inconstant and vvauering from the imoueable North as man is frō the Center of his rest by the variety of contrary dispositions which raigne in him Making him to be now merry and then melancholy now deuout then distracted Nay he sometymes who is valiant temperate wise happy within an hower after will be fearefull luxurious indiscreet and miserable and euen himselfe shall scarce know how that growes nor why So that not only euery Country and Citty family is vpon all warnings subiect to mutation towards the worse but there is no particular man who euen in his owne bosome hath not the woefull sense of such disorder confusion and restlesse variety of discourse that vnlesse our Lord God had vouchsafed and resolued vpon some remedy neither would our possessession haue beene free from desolation nor our bodies from destruction nor our soules from damnation S. Augustine exclaimeth thus by occasion of his owne particular and what then might he haue done vpon the general Tibi (g) How iustly my we all imitate that incōparable Saint in saying this Confes lib. 6. cap. 16. S. Leo ser 2. de Natiuit Dom. laus Tibi gloria fons misericordiarum ego fiebam miserior tu propinquior To thee be prayse to the be glory O thou fountaine of mercy I grew further of from thee by misery thou camest nearer me by mercy For when the world was at the worst and wickedest then did our Lord the God of heauen and earth whose very nature is goodnesse it selfe whose will is power and whose worke is mercy resolue vpon the remedy therof His (h) Nor should we content our selues in doing small seruices to such a Lord of loue as this pitty was not satisfied with contynuing the whole world to our assistance and seruice although by sinne we had forfeited the same It was not satisfied with mainteyning to vs the vse of our faculties and senses wherby we had yet procured to employ our selues wholly to his dishonor It was not satisfied with rayning downe sweet showers of other blessings blowing ouer many bitter stormes of vengeance which his iustice would faine haue powred vpon vs. In fine it was not satissied with such expressions as are wont to be made by the deerest partes of flesh and bloud nor would lesse serue his turne then to giue vs his owne only Sonne for our totall redresse And yet not only for the sauing vs from hell which is but the paine due to sinne but for the guilt also it selfe of sinne which is in comparably worse For so God loued the world that he gaue his only begotten Sonne to the end that (i) By Faith working with charity but Faith without workes is dead as sayth S. Iames. Prou. 22. whosoeuer should beleeue in him Ioan. 3. might not perish but haue euerlasting life And so that was verified which was said by the mouth of his holy Spirit Diues pauper obuiauerunt sibi Dominus autem operator vtriusque The rich man and the poore haue met one another and our Lord is the worker of both For who so rich as God he being the abundance and the very inexhaustednesse itselfe of all plenty and what is so poore a thing as man and such a man as was euen vpon the very brimme of dropping downe into the bottome of hell if our mercifull Lord had not put himselfe betwene him and home The Originall Roote and Motiue of the infinite Loue of Christ our Lord to the Saluation of man is discouered CHAP. 9. THE Loue which our Lord Iesus was pleased to shew mankind is found to be very different from that which the men of this world are wont to beare to one another For either we loue them who are rich that they may reward vs or who are vsefull that they may help vs or who are beautifull that they may delight vs and the best kind of loue which we are wont to beare is when we giue it by way of gratitude for some benefits or fauours which vve haue receiued But (a) The differēce of the loue which our Lord beares to vs in respect of that which we beare to one another man in relation to Christ our Lord was so poore and so deformed a thing and so vvholly disobliging him to loue as that there vvas nothing in man which might so much as speake of challenging any at his hands It may also seeme a greater vvonder hovv he could induce himselfe to loue vs since as there vvas no merit on our side so there vvas no passion or blinde capriciousnesse on his vvhich yet is the thing that cooples creatures together many tymes in the chaynes of loue vvithout all desert For (b) The former doubt is solued by considering the first motiue of the loue of our Lord to vs. the soluing of this doubt at the very roote therof we must resort to the motiue of the loue of Christ our Lord. Amor de Dios. Which was not as Doctour Auila doth excellently shew any perfection in vs but only that which was in himselfe and which by his contemplation of his eternall Fathers wil was put in motion towards mankind It depended vpon that solemne decree which with infinite mercy was made by the most blessed Trinity of imploying him vpon the Redemption and Saluation of the world When therfore he became Incarnate in the pure wombe of his all-immaculate mother in the very instant of the Creation of that most holy soule which was infused into his pretious body it was indued vvith all those incomparable blessings and graces vvherof vve haue already spoken and all vpon no other originall ground but onely because our Lord God vvas pleased to amplify extend his bountiful hand ouer that sovvle and so to exalt his ovvne goodnes both tovvards it and vs. Nor euen vvas that soule then in case to haue performed any one act vvhich might be meritorious in the sight of God out of vvhose pure and primitiue grace and mercy those vnspeakeable benefits vvere bestowed But vvhen in that happy instant vvherin it vvas created it did first open the eyes (c) What vnspeakeable affections would be raysed in that soule by that sight of her already deified vnderstanding and did see her selfe freely made that excellēt thing vvhich God is only able
all the rest which hath bene said as himselfe doth incomparably surpasse whatsoeuer other thing which it is euen in his power to giue I will also in this place sorbeare to hearken to that other diuine consort of Musicke which he made in that least Sermon of his next before his sacred Passion which S. Iohn relates in his holy Ghospell For that of the B. Sacrament is considered in a discourse therof a part and that of the infinite loue of our Lord in his last Sermon is toucht in the beginning of that of the Passion And we haue heere I hope bene shewed inough to make the loue of our B. Lord appeare Not only in regard of what he conceaued in his owne pretious hart towards man but moreouer for the abundant blessings which he hath imparted to the world exteriourly For we see to what greatnes and happines the meanest of vs is sublymed through the high account into which we are taken by Almighty God Only we must be sure that his infinite goodnes do not giue vs occasion and colour for contynuance in our wickednes For as much as in God all is infinite a like (i) All is a like Infinite in God and therfore euen the very infinitenesse of his Mercy doth shew vs how Infinite his Iustice also is and euen by the excesse of his mercy when men are sory for their sinnes we may inferre the intollerable rigour of his Iustice against such as are impenitēt The holy Scripture is also ful of most particular proofe how deepely our Lord doth detest al sinne and willfull sinners This hath bene pointed at before vpon another occasion in the discourse of the infinite power of God and in the end of the Passion it will also be resumed agayne For the present therfore I conclude concerning the most excellent Doctrine of Christ our Lord deliuered especially in holy Scripture and I passe on to the consideration of his Miracles Of the excessine Loue which our Lord Iesus shewed to man by the Mirac'es which he wrought on earth CHAP. 41. THE excessiue loue of our Lord Iesus was farre from being content to expresse it selfe towards man by any one single way alone but it was solliciting him in euery minute of his most holy life to try as many as might be found for our good He therfore considering with diuine wisedome that men were composed of flesh and spirit and consequētly (a) Men being cōposed of flesh and spirit are to be wrought vpō both by spirituall and sensible meanes that they must be wrought vpō aswell by sensible as by spirituall meanes knowing also that through the miserable disorder of their mindes they were then more capable would be more obliged by ease health of body then by graces powred into the soule he was therfore pleased to accompany the purity and perfection of his Doctrine with the power and Maiesty of his miracles And as by creation of the world he led men vp by meanes of visible things towards a knowledge and beliefe of the inuisible so in the case of our reparation and redemptiō he would also vse the corporall cure of men from sicknes as a disposition wherby theyr soules might be recouered from sinne Heerby our Lord doth euidently discouer to be a true perfect louer of mankind For as the property of loue is not (b) The measure of our loue of God is to exceed all measure to be tyed vp within the compasse of any ordinary law and the measure which that power vseth is to exceed all measure so did our Lord out of the nobility of his loue to man refuse to walke within so small a circle as the lawes of nature did lead him to These lawes of nature were made by almighty God at the creation of the world it is not al the power of heauen or earth vnder him which can inuert that order Psal 148. Praeceptum posuit non praeteribit He gaue the precept and it shall not passe away And it was good cheape for him who made al things of nothing to commaund that nothing should faile of that inuiolable course wherin all things were appointed to proceed According to the law of nature no returne is made from priuation to the habit as from a fixed blindnes to sight and much lesse from death to life But the law of the loue of our Lord IESVS did ouertop that other law made those things grow true and samiliar which otherwise were not only hard but impossible Moyst bodies were appointed by the law of nature to giue place and such as are heauy and solid to sinke downe below thē But yet when there was question of giuing comfort to his poore Apostles Matt. 14. the loue of Christ our Lord made him lay those lawes aside and he went walking towards them vpon the sea which was glad to performe the Office of a pauement to his pretious feete Penerration of bodies is a thing wherof nature cannot endure to heare but yet for the vnspeakeable loue which he bare to (c) The honour which was done by Christ our Lord to the purity of his B. Virgin mother the honour and excellency of his all-immaculate mother that ornament and glorious gemme of heauen earth he was not affrayd to giue that principle of Philosophy the lye And he passed out of those bowells of supreme Purity into those armes of matchlesse Piety without the least offence to her most entire Virginity But yet in this there is the lesse wonder because he wrought the like in fauour of his Apostles whom he loued by innumerable degrees lesse then his most excellent mother Isa 7. For in their case also his loue was transcendent in the selfe same kind vnto his lawes For hauing first passed through the sepulcher he went afterward through Ioan. 20. Ibid. through those doores which were shut betwene them him that so he might as it were perfume them all at once with his sweet breath of Peace But why doe I name those persons who were so highly priuiledged as if our Lord had only bene in loue with them and not indeed as yet indeed he was enamoured of all mankind so farre as to make his miracles distill down vpon them like so many drops of dew for their reliefe or comfort in all occasions And although these miracles of Christ our Lord could not haue bene wrought but by the omnipotent power of almighty God yet may that power be accounted to haue been but as a kind of instrumēt wherby he wrought them and that indeed they flowed from his loue as from their prime cause and roote He wrought no miracles for the ostentation of his power and therfore we see how often he precisely comaunded both men and deuills Marc. 3. 5. 7. Luc. 5. Luc. 4. Matth. 20. Matt. 21. Marc. 11. that they should not publish what he had done He wrought none for any commodity of
content for loue of vs to be spit vpon to be buffeted stript stareke naked scourged crucified blasphemed for the loue for the good of man I find it not so strange that a Iew who called Christ our Lord Impostour and Traytour should deny this Doctrine of the blessed Sacrament because he beleeues him to be a Traytour and a Lyer who said That the bread was his body I find it not so strāge that a Pagan or a Morisco should deny it for he also denies to beleeue that God did make himselfe man and dye But that a Christian who saith that Christ is God and who acknowledgeth those words of Hoc est corpus meum to haue bene spoken by his owne sacred mouth and that so immediatly before he dyed and besides in the nature of a last will and Testament which no ordinary wise man would haue penned in doubtfull and ambiguous termes that a Christian I say should cut himselfe out such a motly kind of faith at this and argue against Gods power by saying that his body must needs be subiect to all the qualities of other naturall bodyes whether he will or no and against his infinite mercy by not beleeuing that he would submit himselfe though he sayd he did to such indignities as they conceaue him to be subiect to by this kind of communication of himselfe this I say is strāge and I say agayne that it deserues to be eternally deplored with teares of bloud For in (g) The denyall of this doctrine doth shoot at the disgrace of Gods omnipotency or infinite wisedome or infinite loue in fine all the arguments which they bring against the probability of this diuine truth are but so many arrowes shot vp by them against his omnipotency And all those reasons wherby they would taxe it of any absurdity or inconuenience are but so many teeth which offer to carpe and teare away some part of his infinite wisedom And all those charges wherby they would lay aspersion vpon it of indignity are but so many protestations that they are not capable of the supereminent science wherof the blessed Apostle speakes Ephes 3. cōcerning the infinite goodnes and loue of Christ our Lord to man Of the Obligation which we haue to God for so great a benefit and who are most bound to be deuoted to it and why and how happy they must needs be who frequent it with deuotion CHAP. 51. LET the same loue of IESVS Christ our Lord intercede with the Eternall Father that they may not for euer be depriued of this food of life Without which it is no meruaile if they be dayly more and more disposing themselues to dye that fearfull double death both of body and soule And for our parts we who are Catholikes let (a) The great obligation which Catholiques haue to God for the blessing of our faith vs adore that excellent Maiesty for this high mistery and especially for that light of faith and grace wherby he hath enabled vs to beleeue it to loue him for it Nay let vs do it so much the more as there are too many in the world who dishonour and blaspheme him euen for this very excesse of his goodnes Which though he designed to all mankind yet to vs alone he hath giuen efficacious helpes wherby to gather the true fruite therof And so let (b) We must procure God amends for the faults of others vs double our deuotiō to this bread of Angells as that we may make Christ our Lord a kind of amends as I may say in respect of the much loue which he hath wholy lost vpon the vnbeleeuers blasphemers of this mystery so that we must pay not only our owne but others debts Especially it will concerne such of vs to be entirely deuouted to it as haue much dishonoured or prophaned this diuine Sacrament either by any notable want of preparation before the receauing it or of recollection afterward and much more if when they came to this Table they examined and looked vpon their conscience through the false spectacles of selfe loue and passion and not through the cleere pure christall glasse of the law of God For thus they taught themselues to beleeue grosse lyes insteed of truth and to walk in the darke through the most intricate and obscure waies of sinne and thereby they haue come to pollute themselues and prophane the holy thinges of God and to commit as many sacriledges as they receaued Sacraments and they would infallibly and most iustly haue dropt downe into hell if our Lord had not been infinitely mercifull towards them Such persons as these and there are too many such in the world when they communicated or celebrated in such a state of mind in mortall sinne as this did deserue to be strucken with suddē death at the Altar where they stood or before which they kneeled and there to haue made their entrance into the eternall torments of hell fire It (c) Our Lord might haue inflicted great punishmēts for this great fault and yet still haue been full of mercy had bene mercy and infinite mercy in God if giuing them grace to repent their sinnes afterward he had but strucken them at the present with some signe from heauen in the face of the world according to some such examples of his Iustice as were seen sometymes by the testimony of S. Cyprian and others in the primitiue Church Or els if he had depriued them of the vse of reason and made them mad and franticke for a while Or els if towards the sauing of their soules he had permitted them for a tyme to be possessed with Legions of deuills in their body and to be subiect to their rage by tearing their flesh with their owne hands and throwing themselues into fire and water and foaming and vttering dreadfull cryes and wandring by night in darke woods or els amongst the sepulchers of dead men as we find in the holy Ghospel that possessed persons did vse to doe This more then this seuerity might our Lord haue vsed against the prophaners of this mystery yet haue shewed excessiue mercy if withall he had giuen them grace to repent at last But these sinnes are frequent though the exemplar punishment be not so For our Lord expecteth vs to penance that so he may not be forced to take reuenge and this he doth in the bowells of his owne charity and the inuinciblenes of his patience for which let all the Angells prayse him But for this very reason of his infinite goodnes euen abstracting from the double trebble dangers which either delaies of our conuersion or relapses from grace doe vse to bring it will be tyme for vs all to turne the leafe that the good may be better and the bad may procure to be growing good For (d) Euen the excellency of the food makes the not digesting it the more daungerous but as for this food by grace we may digest it
grauest and greatest of them who would needs goe with him to testify the excesse of their malice though it be not the vse of men of rancke to cheapen themselues by accompanying criminall persons in the publique streets would not fayle to hold most hypocritical discourses As protesting in their zeale to the lavv of God hovv much it grieued them that the Pagan Iudge to vvhome they vvere going should be forced to knovv that amongst the men of their Religion vvhich the prisoner vvas there should be a creature so impious so blasphemous as most vvickedly they accused him to be Our Lord IESVS in the meane tyme vvas not to seeke for patience in the bearing of vvhatsoeuer affront they could put vpon him nor vvould he vvho had endured the greater refuse the lesse Novv a (b) The sinne of the Iewes was greater against our Lord then that of the Gentiles lesse offence it vvas in them for him to be presented before a Pagan and prophane person vvho had no knowledge at all of the true God or of his law then before a congregation of men who had the custody of his auncient Testament for whose saluation and perfection they being his owne chosen people he was particularly come into the would And so the more fauoured they had bene the more faulty they were in persecuting Christ our Lord that euen for no other cause but only for the very zeale which he had of their good They might haue considered how earnestly they had cōcurred to the sinne of Iudas and therfore they should haue feared his punishment which was the falling into a greater sinne For when he saw that they were then going actually to procure the death of Christ our Lord and when he began to looke in vpon himselfe and vpon what he had done then discerning cleerly the deformity of his sinne which the deuill had before procured to hide he hunge (c) The lamentable of death of Iudas Matt. 27. himselfe by the necke his body brake in the middle and his bowells fell about his feete and instantly his soule sirnke downe into the lowest place of hell How would that accident strike the hart of Christ our Lord with sorrovv For as our Lord is incomparably more sory for our sinns then for his own paines so vvas this a greater thē that fin For to finish in despaire of Gods omnipotent mercy is the most grieuous sinne vvhich man is able to commit It strooke I say our Lords hart vvith griefe yet those vvretches vvere not touched by it tovvards remorse But notwithstanding that Iudas restored to them the price wherby he had bene wrought to act that treason and did declare himselfe to haue sinned in betraying that innocent bloud they neither relented in themselues nor tooke compassion of him but seornefully made answere that it was not a thing which belonged to them and that all was to run vpon his account A memorable example of how truly and miserably they are deceaued who serue the world the flesh or the deuill For (d) Consider seriously of this truth whatsoeuer may be promised before hand yet in fine when the turne is serued no care is taken of their comfort but they may with Iudas goe hange themselues And so they doe many tymes and more I beleeue in our only country of England then in all the rest of Europe put togeather Matt. 29. But the thirty peeces which Iudas restored to the Priests were not cast into the Treasury but imployed vpō the Purchase of a place to a pious vse And S. Augustine noteth how it was by a most particular prouidence of God Serm. 128. de coena Dom apud Ariam that the price of the bloud of Christ our Lord should not serue for the expence of liuing sinners but for the buriall of deceased Pilgrimes that so with the price of his bloud he might both redeeme the liuing and be a retraite for the dead The hate of those malicious Priests Elders to Christ our Lord and consequently his loue to them and vs since for their particular and our generall good he was content to endure so much at their hands appears yet more plainely by other circumstances For the tyme when they persecuted our Lord was the day of the greatest solemnity and deuotiō of the whole yeare It was the feast of the Paschal when all the Iewish world was come to Ierusalem Luc. 22. to assist at those sacrifices and ceremonies of the the law in the Temple And as the affronts were so much greater then if they had bene done at a more priuate tyme the malice of the high Priests so much the more eager since they could not be perswaded to put it of to a lesse busy day so was the loue of our Lord excessiue euen heerin who was contented with the publicity of his shame at that tyme because by meanes therof the notice of his Passion togeather with the miracles succeding it would the more speedily be spred and more readily beleeued shortly after throughout the world The circumstance of Pilates person doth plainely also shew the particular rancour of their hart since they hated Christ our Lord so much as that it made them earnest glad to shew themselues subiect to that Romane Iustice They detested the subiection which they were in to Rome They loued not Cesar whome they tooke to be a Tyrant and Vsurper ouer them they loued not Pilate whome they knew to be a most corrupt and wicked Iudge they loued not the exercise of his Iudicature which serued but to refresh the memory of their owne misfortune in their hauing lost the vse of that power But their predominat malice to Christ our Lord made them content to gnaw and swallow all such bones as those When Pilate was come sorth they began to make their charge against the prisoner accusing him in bitter termes of most odious crimes but still as the manner of such persons is only in generall termes Which yet out of the (e) The base conceit which the lewes had of Christ our Lord. base cōceit they had of Christ our Lord and the pride which they tooke in themselues they thought would haue sufficiently induced Pilate to proceed against him And so indeed they did as good as say when afterward being pressed to produce their proofe they insinuated that it was more then needed For if the man had not bene wicked they would not Ioan. 18. said they haue brought him thither And withall they did not so much as vouchsafe to giue our Lord any particular name but they only sayd Inuenimus hunc c. We haue sound this fellow disturbing the peace of our people Luc. 23. and forbidding that Tribute should be paid to Cesar and declaring himselfe to be a King Yet Pilate being moued by the sight of the person of Christ our Lord did beyond his custome forbeare to make such hast as at the instant to
paine that is to say any spirituall Crosse which the holy wise hand of God shall think fit to send vs and to do it for his sake who dyed vpoÌ„ that materiall Crosse And now we haue seene by all this holy History of our Lord IESVS that whether he be aliue or dead he is all ours and in despight of sinne he will make vs also wholy his if we will but now and then consider how he sold and abandoned himselfe for our benefit Psalm â—â— It was sayd by his seruant in his person Sicut aqua effusus sum I am powred out and spilt like water which euery base creature treads vpon Now water besides is a most obedient kind of thing It easily takes what impression you will it applyes it selfe to whatsoeuer place you will put it to Looke backe therfore and see if our Lord haue not bene powred out like water What place or posture or what kind of punishment did he refuse which they would put him in Or what thing was that which they would not make him subiect to which eyther the head could inueÌ„t or the hart inflict or the hand could act He seemed not in that part to haue bene so much a man as a very thing a passiue substance a liuelesse instrument a pile of grasse in the presence of a great winde vpon which they had all power to worke their will for he had giuen his away He turned head at nothing but accepted of all the scorne and paine which they could load him with In the (d) How our Lord was subiect to all kinds of oppressioÌ„ Garden we haue seene how for waÌ„t of others he was his own executioner tooke such sad thoughts into his hart as himselfe was not ashamed to expresse In his appreheÌ„sion or taking he was subiect to the fury of a popular tumult though it were coÌ„tenanced afterward by the lying face tongue of Iustice in the house of Annas and Cayphas to make that seeme laudable which indeed was damnable He was subiect in that house to the hypocrisy and enuy of the Priests of his owne Law togeather with the indignity which the Sycophant did him by that blow vpon his diuine face In the imprisonment of that night he was wholy subiect to the courtesy of those keepers of his who had only a care not to kill him before day that then they might after a manifold kind of manner In the examinations of Pilate he would submit himselfe to the Tribunall of a Pagan and in that of Herod to the scorne of the secular power of his owne Religion And both there afterward in Pylates Court to all the torments and shame which could be deuised by those disolute souldiers In his way to Mount Caluary he would be silent to that world of clamour and when he was arriued to the top of the hill those bloudy executioners were not so insolent cruell in commaÌ„ding as he was mild ready to obey If (e) How entirely our blessed Lord would needs submit himselfe to al kind of insoleÌ„cies they had a minde to binde him he meekely offered them his armes for that purpose If they had a mind to box beate him to plucke him by the venerable hayre or beard if to spit vpon his diuine face he neuer so much as turned it either from their rage or scorne but they strocke spit vpon him at their pleasure If they had a minde to strip him starke naked they did it he replyed not against it though I nothing doubt but that it was the greatest torment which he endured and they stripped him not only once but fower seuerall tymes and the last tyme of the fower did continue till that happy syndon his winding sheete receiued shut him vp from their eyes If they had a mind to scourge him he let them doe it in most bloudy manner which transformed that vnspeakeable beauty into a kind of leprousy at an instant If they would resolue that his imperiall head should be also wounded that after a manner both of torment reproach beyond example he did not so much as aske by what commission they did it but he submitted that diuine head to a crowne of long piercing thornes If not content with that they were yet desirous to renew his paines to giue him at once many wounds in that most sensible part of his body and that as often as they should list he lent them a Reed wherwith they might doe it by striking him vpon the head at theirfancy If yet they should resolue to pierce his body through through in the most liuely parts therof with cruell nayles he extended his hands feete to admit what soeuer they could deuise to doe If they had an humour to scoffe and to blaspheme him he had eares wherwith to heare them and yet he had a hart wherwith to pray for them whilst they were cursing him So truly and so entirely did he powre himselfe out as any water might be spilt which costeth nothing He powred forth his sighes and prayers in the presence of God and his teares in the view both of God and man He powred forth his bloud both through the anguish of his minde through the torments of his body He powred forth his honour in being so prophanely blasphemed and so opprobriously spit vpon and in being so shamefully and so often buffeted and stript of all his cloathes in the sight of all those worlds of people and lastly he powred forth his precious life which he resigned into the hands of his eternall Father A Conclusion of this discourse of the Passion of Christ our Lord and the vse which we are bound to make thereof For the greater that the loue and mercy is which he expressed therein the more excessiue will his rigour be for our contempt therof CHAP. 78. BVT howsoeuer this water of the fountaine of life were spilt with strange liberality for our good yet there fel not one drop for which we shall not be called to a most strict account if we be so wretched as not to saue it from being lost For we (a) The mystery of the Passion death of Christ our Lord doth looke very many wayes at once are to vnderstand that it was not any one onely part which was represented by Christ our Lord vpoÌ„ the Crosse but they were very many it coÌ„cernes vs much to marke theÌ„ all Not only doth the infinite mercy of God shine brightly in this mistery wherin we see that his own increated Sonne was content to dy for the saluation of man but his infinite Iustice also doth no lesse appeare since it would not be satisfied with lesse then the death of such a Sonne Not only may we heere discerne the pitty which he beareth towards sinners but he giueth vs also as cleere a prospect vpon his vnspeakeable detestation of sinne since for the abolishing therof he was then to imploy no lesse
Virgin But this which I haue already said will suffice to shew how the one was a type and figure of the other and that the holy Fathers of the Church declare that howsoeuer they are both our Mothers in seuerall respects yet that the East and West are not so farre off from one another as this latter holy humble Eue doth in sanctity excell the former And now to the point of her being the Mother of vs all see further how * De sanct Virgin c. 6. Ambr. apud Bonau in spec Virg. c. 8◠Cyrillus Alex. hom con tra Nestorium S. Augustine saith she is the spirituall Mother of the members of the Church for as much as she cooperated to the end that the faithfull might be borne in the same Church S. Ambrose also saith If Christ be the brother of all beleeuers how can she choose but be the mother of Christ And so doth S. Bonauenture deliuer the blessed Virgin to be not only the particular Mother of Christ our Lord but the vniuersall mother of all the faithfull And S. Cyrill giues a massy reason heerof when speaking as to the blessed Virgin he professeth himselfe in these words By thee all those creatures who are retayned in the errour of Idolatry are conuerted to the knowledge of truth But the (b) An excellent cōsideration of S. Bernard vpō the sweet prouidēce of our Lord God concerning the B. Vir. cited by Pa. Arias Bern. ser sup missus est holy S. Bernard shall conclude this point when he saith to this effect Christ our Sauiour did suffice for the reparation of mankind because all our sufficiency doth come to vs by him and all that also wherof we haue need for our saluation Yet was it most conuenient for our good and comfort that he should be associated in this reparation of ours by such a companion as might be a mother and such a mother as that she being the mother of God might be also ours This holy Saint in the same place doth giue many reasons heerof full of conueniency and consolation which heere I shall not need to represent In his booke de imitat B. Virg. But it appeares clearly inough that as Father Arias notes for the multiplication of mankind in the course of nature God framed our first Father Adam And notwithstanding that he might haue giuen sufficiency of power to him alone for the multiplication of mankind if he had bene so pleased yet he would not doe it but he resolued to giue him a companion and helper which was our Grandmother Eue according to the sweet disposition of his diuine prouidence In the selfe same name Arias l. de imitat B. Virg. when the world was lost by sinne our Lord God hauing resolued to beget and multiply iust men who might be heires to the kingdome of heauen he gaue his only begotten Sonne to be Incarnate who by his life and death might beget and breed vs to saluation And although it be most true that this Father of ours is all sufficient by himselfe alone to performe this worke of our Regeneration because he is of infinite vertue and who according to the rigour of Iustice doth merit grace and glory for his children and doth obtaine pretious fauours and satisfy for all kind of sinne yet neuerthelesse God was pleased according to the designe of his owne excellent wisedome to giue to Christ our Lord the most sacred and most holy of all meere creatures his All-immaculate Virgin Mother Mary to be a companion to himselfe in the spirituall generation of the world as the mother therof who might assist and serue him in so great a worke Not by way of praying for vs or of iustifying vs or of giuing vs grace or glory as of her owne guift for al that is proper to the redeemer and Sauiour of the world but to the end that she might concurre to the reducing of sinners by the way of sweetnes and loue interceding and praying for them and offering vp for their good all those excellent operations seruices which she performed in this life to her blessed Sonne our Lord and so obtayning celestiall fauours for them and facilitating their way to heauen by discouering the infinite mercy and suauity of Almighty God to the eyes of their mind And if (c) A cleer consequence 1. Cor. 4. S. Paul might say in the word of truth I haue begotten you to the Ghospell how much more might this blessed Lady say it in a most eminent manner who did beare and bring forth our Lord IESVS and did both therby and otherwise so admirably and immediatly cooperate towards the saluation of the whole world Not only do many particular Fathers ascribe the title of Mother to our blessed Lady but the holy Catholike Church doth ioyntly glory in calling her by that sweet name and esteemes her selfe happy that she may haue recourse to her as such Nor giues she only way to all her faithfull children to acknowledge this maternity of hers in priuate manner but in that publike Office In the Office of the Church wherin she celebrates the prayse and memory of her Spouse at all the howers both of euery day and night as one who well vnderstands by that spirit of sanctity and truth in which she is guided that no honour doth more delightfully redound to our Lord IESVS then that which magnifyeth the happy creature who gaue him a body of her owne all-immaculate flesh and bloud The externall Excellencies and attractiuenesse of our Blessed Lady The reasons of congruity which prooue her innocency and purity and the innumerable motiues which oblige the world to admire loue her CHAP. 81. TO the end that we may be inuited and incouraged to gratitude towards Almighty God for giuing his glorions mother to be also ours and that we may both conceaue of her dignity comply with our own duty as is fit I wil procure to shew both what kind of excellent creature she is in her selfe of how admirable vse and aduantage to vs. Touching the (a) The glorious and holy extraction of our B. Lady Nobility of her descent it wil suffice to heere what S. Bernard saith There is somewhat of the celestiall Ber. ser super Signum magnum Apoc. 12. which shineth in the progeny of Mary That euidently she is descended of Kings that she is of the seed of Abraham that she is sponge from the stocke of Dauid And if this be little let it be further added that by a speciall priuiledge of sanctity she was knowne to haue bene granted to the world from heauen That long before she was pointed at from aboue to our forefathers That she was prefigured by misticall miracles and fore tould by propheticall Oracles For as much as may further concerne the sanctity of her extraction we must know that it came frō the tribe of Leui as wel as from that of Iuda For howsoeuer seuerall tribes were not generally
for euer after Confes l. 3. cap. 6. Vae vae quibus gradibus descendi in infernū saith the incōparable S. Augustine woe is me woe is me by what steps was I dropping downe to hell and the Saint shewed shortly after that euen then our B. Lord was taking him with the hand of mercy of out that Abysse of danger and destruction We may see in some durty (d) Note this comparison poole of myre some little vgly stick which is rotting it selfe away into worse then nothing and we would wonder at the great goodnes of some Soueraigne Monarch if he should vouchsafe to stoop and to foule his fingars for the taking it vp and much more if he would make a bath of his own bloud Royall wherin it might steep if therby he could make it fit againe to be a plant and to bring forth fruite in his Princely garden to the pleasure of himselfe and all his Court No rotten stick in any durty stincking poole doth come home to the expression of that filth and ruine which tryumpheth in euery soule which is lyable to the guilt of mortall sinne And yet this King of heauen and earth did abase himselfe from his throne of Maiesty to this Center of misery and by the hand of his grace taketh vp innumerable soules which are rotting in sinne and he bathes them in his owne pretious bloud at the instant that they are sorry for their offences and he plants them first into his militant Church and then he transplants them into the tryumphant and they grow to florish like so many beautifull trees in that Paradise of God for all eternity But first in this life when once men accept of his inspirations he (e) How infinitely our Lord inricheth his friēds and seruants giues thē new graces meanes to acquire inestimable eternall treasures in euery moment of their liues since in euery moment therof they may do or say or thinke of somewhat to his greatest glory Euery one of which acts being rooted in his grace which was purchased by his merits and being accompanied by his promise which flowed only from the fountayne of his loue hath a district degree of glory belonging to it in the next life Euery one of which degrees of glory through the inestimable and incomprehensible excellency therof although it should last but one only minute were millions of tymes to be preferred as was touched once already before all the Honours Treasures and Pleasures which were and are to be possessed and inioyed by all creatures from the creation of Adam to the second cōming of Christ our Lord. And what then shall we say of such a degree of glory as is to be eternall And what then of such innumerable degrees of the same eternall glory as do answere to all the moments of our life Not only doth our Lord giue vs meanes to serue and please his superexcellent Maiesty in all the moments of our mortall life by our continuall turning vp the white as I may say of our soules eye to him but he is euer ministring to vs (f) An incomparable mercy if it be wel cōsidered particular meanes and occasions wherby and wherin we may exercise most heroycall vertues of Humility Patience and Mercy of Pouerty Chastity and Obedience Faith Hope and Charity all the rest Besides it hath pleased our Lord to plant a perfection in euery occasion and actiō of his life Now by meanes heerof how miserable soeuer we haue bin in former tymes we may at that instant supposing that our state be chosen well doe that very thing in the most excellent manner which of all others in the whole world is most acceptable and pleasing to our Lord God Againe for (g) See how sollicitous our Lord is of our good those soules which are in state of grace our Lord doth keep as it were two seuerall bookes of account The one is of tyme which hath an end the other is of Eternity which hath none Now whatsoeuer defects or Veniall sinnes be committed which being Veniall are compatible with the state of Grace how wilfull and vnworthy soeuer they be our Lord who is so rich in goodnes and so liberall of grace doth cast them into the accompt of time that so there may once be an end of the punishment therof Which is at last discharged either by the pennance of a penitentiall life or els afterward by the paines of Purgatory both which kindes of satisfaction are rooted in the pretious merits of Christ our Lord. But as for the good deeds words thoughts which haue proceeded from such a man though accompanied with imperfections and frailtyes our Lord doth lodge thē all in the booke of Eternity that so there may be no end of their reward Now woe and woe agayne be to that wretched soule which vpon this occasion and motiue shall presume to serue our Lord with lesse fidelity loue and not rather incomparably with more Of the seuerall kinds of Loue which our soules may exercise to our Lord Iesus And the whole Treatise is concluded with shewing how much we loue our Lord by louing our neighbours for his sake CHAP. 96. VVE must therfore serue and loue this blessed Lord of ours with all the loue of all our soules not depriuing him of his due by distracting it towards any of his creatures Confes l. 4. cap. 12. but only for him and in him For most vniustly as the incomparable S. Augustine saith do we loue those things to his dishonor from whome those things do all proceed and by whome if they were not preserued in euery moment of tyme they would instantly perish I say we must loue our Lord with a kind of delight or complacence reioycing in the Consideration of his diuine excellēcies and attributes and taking gust in the contēplation of his beauty and in the strength and wisedome of his holy will which in despight of diuells and wicked men shall be accomplished and fulfilled from the greatest of his workes to the falling of any lease towards the ground and the mouing of any moate in the ayre Et quid necuerunt tibi saith S. Augustine Confes l. ◠cap. 2. of wicked men aut in quo imperium tuum dehonestauerunt à caelis vsque in nouissima iustum integrum For how could they euer hurt thee or wherin haue they bin able to dishonour or disparage thy dominion or gouernement which is so entyere iust from the very highest to the very lowest of thy creatures We must (a) The loue of beneuolence and friēdship toward◠God loue him with a loue which may be called of Friendship or Beneuolence most cordially desiring incessantly procuring the exaltation of his holy name and the exaltation of his eternall glory in all harts soules We must loue him with a loue of exquisite and entiere Obedience both in perfectly doing al that which he is pleased to inioyn and cheerfully suffering all
the ceremonies which were sanctified by his miracles not a motion of his hand with relation to the cure of any man wherin some mistery was not wrapped vp or els some ceremony sanctified and recommended to the vse of the holy Church And so we see how in the administration of Baptisme those very ceremonies are imbraced by vs which Christ our Lord did vse to sicke persons of seuerall kindes all whose spirituall diseases doe meet in the person of an infant till he be baptized For he is spiritually deafe and therefore doth the Priest put his fingars into the childs eares and cryeth Ephata He is spiritually dumbe and therfore his tongue is touched with spittle And he is yet in the power of the deuill and a child of wrath and therfore is he exorcized as we see to haue bene done vpon possessed persons by our B. Lord. Oftentymes he cured both the bodies of sicknes and the soules of sinnes though the Patients desired but to be corporally cured And when he did not cure their soules it was only because they were not nor would not be well disposed to receiue that blessing But otherwise what he wrought vpō their bodies was ordayned by that diuine goodnes to the helpe of their foules if they hearkned to his inspirations they did instantly recouer both in the outward and inward man Many also of the miracles of Christour Lord (c) Many miracles were ordayned by our Lord to facilitate the beliefe of Christian Religion Ioan. 11. Matt. 14. Matt. 15. Marc. 8. did sweetly prepare a way for the beliefe of other nobler miracles which did also concerne the highest misteries of the Catholike faith As namely the raysing vp of Lazarus disposed men to beleeue the resurrection of the dead at the last day And those two miracles of the walking of our Lord vpon the sea and the stupendious multiplying of the loaues of bread in the desert doe both together open a faire and ready passage towards a beliefe of the Catholicke Doctrine concerning the reall presence of our blessed Lord in the most venerable Sacrament of the Altar For his walking on the sea shewed that his body was no way subiect to the ordinary conditions of a naturall body whensoeuer he should be pleased to exempt it from them although of it selfe it were a perfect naturall body And his multiplying of the loaues did deliuer in plaine language to the world the soueraigne power which he had and hath to multiply what and how much he would Which two points being accorded there remaines no difficulty in belieuing our doctrine of the reall presence of our Lord in the blessed Sacrament So (d) The cōclusion of this discourse of the miracles of Christ our Lord. that to cōclude the loue of our Lord IESVS in the working of his miracles was extraordinarily great Both because the things themselues were so greatly great and because they were wrought with such a perfect and pure intention of Gods greatest glory and our greatest good They tended not only as we haue seen to the cure of bodyes but also of soules And not only of soules to be conuerted at that tyme but through all ages also afterward by the discouery of our spirituall infirmities and by the institution of most holy ceremonies and by facilitating a beliefe of the highest misteries Making one miracle to be a step and introduction for another as I haue shewed in the particular of the blessed Sacrament And (e) Consider all these circumstāces with attention if for euery one of them alone a loyall and gratefull hart would find it selfe obliged to loue him withall the power it hath what effect ought such an aboundant cause as they all together doe make vp to worke in vs and how ought they to induce vs to honour and adore such an incessāt goodnes For if it would goe for a great fauour that a Principall man should once vouchsafe to visite a sicke beggar or leprous slaue the more principall the one of them were and the more base the other so much the greater fanour it would be And if to that visit he should be pleased to add the tendernes of some compassionate speach and almes and euen of corporall seruice about that creature and not only once but often and not only to one but to all the world how iustly would such a charity exact all admiration at our hands Let vs therfore loue and eternally adore our blessed Lord who being the God of heauen and earth vouchsafed to looke vpon such miserable creatures as we are with such eyes of pitty And (f) How those auncient miracles oblige vs to the loue of our Lord. although those former cures were not wrought for the recouery of our indiuiduall bodyes yet there is no single circumstance belonging to any one of them which giueth not a copious supply of instruction and comfort to our soules and especially that last and greatest miracle of all miracles of the institution of the most blessed Sacrament of the Altar So that to omit all other moderne miracles which yet are innumerable Christ our Lord doth still vvorke miracle vpon miracle in this blessed Sacrament For this is consecrated in thousands of places daily and hourely and it is imparted as easily and liberally to the worst and wickedest of vs all if euen now at last we haue a resolution to mend as it was to his own most blessed mother and his Apostles And this is not only a lasting miracle of instruction and direction and consolation both of body and soule as those others were but it is a miracle of high communication and perfect vnion Wherby the omnipotent Maiesty of God Matt. 26. Marc. 14. Luc. 22. Ioan. 13. is content after a sort to make sinfull man become one thing with himselfe That diuine goodnes vouchsafing to leaue it to his Church by way of Legacy in the night precedent to his passion as euen now I am endeauouring to shew Of the infinite Loue which our Lord Iesus shewed to vs in the institution of the blessed Sacrament and the holy Sacrifice of the Masse CHAP. 45. OVR Lord God of his goodnes giue vs grace that in vs it may be verified which hath bene vttered by his owne sacred mouth Habenti dabitur Matt. 13. To him who hath shall be giuen And that since he hath indued vs with Faith in the beliefe of the misteries of his pretious life and death we may still haue Faith more and more wherwith to giue a firme feeling inflamed kind of assent to all the testimonies of his infinite loue which haue bene made to vs his miserable creatures For (a) What loades of mercy our Lord doth lay vpon our soules verily in this kind he layes such loade vpon vs and doth as it were so presse vs euen to death with his deare mercies that if the eyes of our mindes were not eleuated by his supernaturall grace and fixed therby vpon an
if we will we are to know that the more nutritiue the food is in it selfe the more imminent wil our dāger be if we will needs be still so weake as to want that heat of loue wherwith it is to be digested by our soules And it may happen to vs heere as is vseth to doe in the case of common food that insteed of health we shall find our selues more desperatly sicke of surfetting by our approach to this bread of heauen But so on the other side if we prepare and purge our selues by penance if we arme strengthen our selues by prayer and practise of solid vertue this tree of life will fructify in our soules after a strange proportion and the more the oftner we shall feed thereon Nor shall we need to feare that by frequenting this mystery either the benefit which it will impart to vs or the veneration which we shall be enabled to carry towards it cā any way decrease but the contrary The (e) Why the frequenting this bread of Angells doth breed increase of reuerence and loue of God pleasures of the world glut a man for the tyme and he is ready to starue for hungar afterward And so the couersation of many is valued highly till it come to be inioyed but by custome and familiarity there growes contempt It is not it cannot be so in this case of ours For the honor and profit delight which is both found and felt by treating in this inward manner with the infinite spring and fountaine of all Good doth easily put vs out of feare that euer there can be any want of reuerēce but only with such as come not to it as they ought In all things but especially in this blessed Sacrament he is of infinite greatnesse and goodnes to such as will resort to him with h̄ble loue or rather who will but giue him leaue to resort to them and who lay no impediment in his way but that he may inioy them all as he desires For as much more willingly doth Christ our Lord repose in such a soule then euen in the Emperiall heauen it selfe as the preparing of that soule although it be yet but the seate of his grace did cost him more then the building of heauen though it be the seate of his glory For heauen did but cost him a word which was but one simple act of his will but the soule of man did cost him many a bitter sigh and many a salt teare and so many drops of his pretious bloud as that he had no more left to giue The next discourse is to giue vs a larger prospect vpon the obiect of his infinite sufferance as this is striuing to make vs feele and ponder the care he takes to keep vs from suffering any misery at all either of sinne or paine For in this diuine Sacrament of Sacraments to (f) The many offices which our Lord performes to soules in this B. Sacrament the poore oppressed Orphane he shewes himselfe a most deere and louing Father To the sicke and wounded patient an expert careful Phisitian To the negligent and wandring sheepe a pittifull and watchfull Pastour To the ignorant and vnlearned scholler a wise and most diligent Maister To the penitent and afflicted soule which splits with griefe for hauing offended such a Goodnes and melts with loue through the desire to enioy such a beauty he is a pardoner a protectour a perseruer a cherisher an illuminator an inflamer a companion a friend a spouse an all in all O fire (g) The conclusiō of this discourse in the way of prayer diuine O sacred food O heauenly feast So heauenly as thou dost incorporate thy selfe in vs vs in thee dost after a sort euen Deify our nature in this mortall life of ours by making it in a manner one thing with thyne Let thine eye looke backe vpon thine owne auncient mercies And since thou hast taken such strange pitty vpon thy Creatures by thy vouchsafing hitherto to dwell in such durty houses take pitty now at last vpon thy self And make henceforth these our harts such holy Temples as may become thee O thou King of glory to inhabit and therin for euer to be adored Let all the faculties of our soules and all the senses of our body hange like so many incensories before thy Altar and breath out eternal prayse of thy holy name and euen spend themselues wholy in thy seruice in contemplation of this infinite benefit Thou hast lodged a treasure as rich as thou thy selfe art rich in these fraile vessells of our soules Giue vs therfore grace to carry thē about with such a care to keep them safe from breaking as that the Iewell may be for euer ours Humble vs deere Lord by what other way thou wilt but let not our former sinnes be punished by our contemning or vnderualuing these soueraigne mercies Luc. 12. And since vpon thy bringing the fire of they holy Spirit into the world thou didst expect that it should be all inflamed do not permit that we should yet remaine so voyd of heate when thy vnspeakeable goodnes doth so often bring into our bosomes yea and into our very breasts that fornace of this very fire which is thy self this death of sinne this spring of vertue this bread of life this cure of passions this strength of weakenes this treasure of grace this banquet of ioy this roote of glory this conduit and conue yance of all good things Of the infinite Loue which our Lord Iesus discoueuereth to mākind in his sacred Passion with a reflection vpon the dignity of his diuine person and the vse which heer we are to make thereof CHAP. 52. OVR Lord IESVS was figured in the old Testament Isa 1. Gen. 49. with great propriety by the flower of the roote of Iesse and by the Lion of the Tribe of Iuda A flower he was both through the sauour of his benesits and through the odour of his diuine conuersation as the precedent discourses will haue shewed and a Lion he was also by the nobility of his strength and Passion as will now appeare Fortitude is both actiue and passiue yea and the Passiue is farre the greater and farre the harder of the two The (a) The whole life of our Lord may in some sort be called a Passion course of his whole life was like a field so thicke so wed with crosses and cares that it may all be accounted to haue bene a kind of continued Passion but yet because the last day and night of the same life did so abound therwith it is this alone which is eminently knowne and called by that sad name In this state he was to be when the Prophet Esay foresaw and spake of him to this effect He hath no grace or beauty Isa 53. we haue seene him and there was nothing in him to be seene we desired that he might be contemned as the most abased thinge amongst men A man of
griefe of our Lord Iesus novv vve vvill but consider hovv infinitely the nature of God doth abhorre any one single sinne And hovv straitly our Lord IESVS had obliged himselfe out of loue to satisfy Gods Iustice for them all And hovv certainely he savv that the farre greater part of men vvould take no benefit at all by that bitter Passion But that some would not beleeue it some others vvould not apply it yea and that some would euen blaspheme it as thinking it impossible that God himselfe should be so good to them If vve consider that men vvho seriously desire to serue God vvith perfection are profoundly afflicted euē for the least discorrespondence to the motion of his holy Spirit and much more for any small defect into vvhich by their fault they may haue fallen And vvhen there hath beene question of greater sinnes there be men and vvomen vvho haue dyed as hath been sayd euen of pure repentance sorrovv for them And yet hovv fevv sinnes had they to be sory for in comparison of the sinnes of the vvhole vvorld And hovv little could they be sorry euē for their ovvne in cōparison of the griefe vvhich did seize the hart of our blessed Lord for those very sinnes Which (d) We shall greeue for onr sinnes after the rate of our know ledge and loue of God vvas so much greater then theirs as his knovvledge loue of God them his vnderstanding detestation of all sinne vvas greater If vve cōsider the seuerall kinds of sinne vvhich as hath been touched before vvere distinctly represented to the minde of Christ our B. Lord All the sinnes of Idolatry heresy offending after an infinite māner his most religious piety All the sinnes of pride his profound humility All the sinnes of vvrath his inuincible patience All the sinnes of cruelty and enuy those bovvels of his charity and mercy All the sinnes of gluttony and prodigality his his perfect pouerty and sobriety All the sinnes of abhominable bestiall and not so much as to be named sensuality his impenetrable supercelestiall purity If concerning Idolatry vve consider that it is either exteriour or interiour Exteriour vvhen Sacrifice is offred to a materiall externall Idoll interiour vvhen Christians or any other do lodge a creature in theyr harts which though they know not to be God yet they esteeme and obey and doe more honour to it then to God And if vve consider hovv for these seuerall kindes of sinnes he felt and vvas to feele a seuerall kind of Crosse an outvvard crosse to vvhich they vvould crucify his sacred body and another vvhich vvas inward to which he crucified his ovvne hart through griefe and loue In (e) How our Lord was wounded by the considetion of Gods iustice and bate of sinne and our great misery particular our Lord had his eye vpō that inflexible decree of God which dāned so many millions of Angells for one only sinne And how for one sinne he droue Adam out of Paradise Yea and how not only for the fault or guilt of sinne he is so terrible but euē for the penalty due to any one sinne although the fault be put away by pennance that he inflicteth excessiue paine in Purgatory if satisfaction be not made in this life He had besides in his sight the miserable weakenesse of man towards all good workes which weakenesse men cōtract by sinne besides the sinnes thēselues and these are the effects teliques therof And he well knew that they would make it very difficult for men to serue God without a great abōdāce ofgrace which he only could tell how to merit for thē Add to this that he cleerly saw all those vast affronts which in that night and the next day were to be done to himselfe with the hideous torments which he vvas sure they would inflict vpon him He also saw the Martyrdomes of all his Prophets past his Apostles and other Martyrs which were then to come the banishment and confiscation of his seruants persons and goods the contempt and prophanation of his Sacraments There was no place wheron he could tell how to rest the head of his hart The Synagogue was all in effect corrupt and almost dead and buried His Church vnder the name of Christian not then borne One of his Apostles was gone to betray him another would shortly deny him and the rest were vpon the point to runne from him His B. Mother in whom only he might haue taken intiere delight was to suffer martyrdome in her soule which was to be transpierced with a sword of sorrow Whithersoeuer he might cast his thoughs in the search of some little comfort they were bowed as it were and beaten backe againe into his owne sad hart which was become a whole Sea of sorrow How would he grieue for all this vvho grieued till he wept againe Ioan. 11. and till he was troubled and did groane in spirit for the only temporall death of Lazarus All these things I say being vvell considered and duely pondered I (f) It is no wonder if such incōparable causes of griefe did produce so strange effects in the wounded hart of our Lord Iesus cease to meruaile that such a generall muster of hell as this had like euen vvith the only apprehention therof to haue extinguished the pure lampe of his pretious life Or yet that it cost him so much shame vvith the horrour to see such a vvorld of filth cast before him vvhich novv he vvas to take vp and to make his ovvne as vvas able to put him into expresse Agony Or in fine that it drevv out that svveat and euen shovver of bloud as if it had bene to shevv the profound reason vvhich euen all his body had to blush therat Or els according to the deuoute contemplation of holy S. Bernard as if he should haue shed teares ouer all his body since his sacred eyes alone had not inough of the sluce for such a purpose Of the excellency of Prayer declared by occasion of that Prayer of our B. Lord in the Garden CHAP. 57. INFALLIBLY he must needs haue dyed vnder this huge weight of sorrow if particular force had not bene sent him by the good will of God as the sorrow of the same kind though incomparably of an inferiour degree hath depriued many others of their life Nor are we able to discerne visibly by what meanes this strength and succour came imparted to him but only by the visitation of the Angell and the feruour and perseuerance of his Prayer to the eternal Father (a) We ought to carry great deuotion reuerence to the Angells of God Now since our Lord who as God was the King of glory did not yet disdaine as man to accept that seruice and assistance from an Angell much more must we who are in the next degree to Nothing carry great deuotion to those blessed spirits who come to vs with succour in their hands at such times as when
the kingdom of God of the deuill The former being lead by Christ our Lord who marched in the head therof with his meeke and innocent humble little flocke The latter guyded by Iudas with a great multitude of followers who were tumultuous wicked bloudy enuyous and hypocryticall men But (b) Amost iust expostulatioÌ„ agianst the Traytour Iudas tell me O thou miserable creature since the SoÌ„ne of the virgin tooke but twelue Apostles out of the whole world and made choyce of thee for one of them what could moue thee to forget so high a benefit much more what could induce thee to conspire the death of such a benefactour Since he had giuen thee the charge of the little teÌ„porall meanes he had and that by consequence thou must needs be next at hand both at the receiuing of those Almes which were afforded to our Lord IESVS those others also which he would be euer imparting to the poore out of his little store how couldst thou freeze in that yce of thy malice and enuy euen then when thou wert as it were rosting round betweene those two burning fires of charity What colour euen of common sense couldst thou haue to sell that Lord for thirty peeces of siluer Matt. 17. to whome thou hadst seene the very Fishes of the Sea pay Tribute Matt. 17. and how a word of his mouth fed at seuerall tymes so many thousands of men and women in the wildernes Couldst thou being an Apostle sel that Lord for thirty peeces of siluer Matt. 16. when thy selfe hadst seene so lately that the enamoured penitent S. Mary Magdalene who was but newly conuerted from a life of sinne could find in her noble and tender hart to cast away as a man may say three hundred such peeces Marc. 14. as thy thirty were vpon a pretious oyntment wherwith to honor the head of our blessed Lord as it were in the way of a complement Since thou hadst found by dayly experience that he knew the thoughts both of his friends and them who would needs become his foes what phrensey was that which could make thee thinke that thou wert able to ouerreach him by the disguyse of a treacherous kisse wherby thou didst as bad as call him foole into the bargaine And since thou hadst seene that his body was not obnoxious to the obligations of other bodies but that the windes and seas obeyed him and that he could walke vpon the waters and become inuisible when he would what stupidity besides the impiety was that in thee to bid them be carefull to hold him fast and lead him safe wherby thou didst insinuate that he was but a kind of Iugler or Impostour who would worke himselfe out of their fingars by some tricke or other of Legier-de-main Hadst not thou seene the worlds of Miracles which he had wrought He who had restored eyes to the blind could not he haue bidden thyne eyes see no more He who had made Paralitiques stiâ—re and goe could not he haue made all thy bones and sinewes wither in thy skin He who only with a Lazarus veni foras had fetcht that dead man out of his graue Ioan. 11. had not he bene able with the burning breath of his mouth to haue spit thy kisse into thy throate and at the instant to haue depriued thee of life But tell me yet againe O thou Monster and insamy of mankind could those accursed feete of thine lead thee on to such a mischiefe which euen but that very night had bene washt wiped by those hands of mercy Could thy tongue become the forge of so much treachery as to salute him with Hayle Maister when thy errand was nothing els but to betray him could that mouth imploy it selfe in deliuering him vp to death by animating those wretched meÌ„ against him who yet needed no incouragement of thine which for diuers yeares had bene dayly fed both at his table and from his trencher If thy kisses were so cruell what vvere thy vvounds or rather vvhat wound vvas euer so mortall as thy trayterous kisse And although thine ovvne reprobate conscieÌ„ce did not strike thee through vvith horrouâ— vvould not the presece of all thy fellovv-Apostles beate thee blind vvith shame vvho vvere so many vvitnesses against thee of all those benefits which thou hadst receiued that euen then so lately at the hands of such a meeke and mercifull Lord And hadst thou no body to sell him to but those very men of the whole world who did hate him most And was it possible for thy Tygars hart not to relent at least when thou camest to behould that holy person of his And though now he were no more able to worke vpon thee as an obiect of loue yet was it possible that thou shouldest not be wrought vpon by him as he was growne to be an obiect of compassion For thou couldst not but discerne a great change in his diuine countenance towards palenes and weaknes since thou hadst seene him last before through the Agony which he had susteyned and the sweat of bloud which he had powred forth in the Garden At least wert thou able to receaue the sound of that celestiall voyce into thine eares which besides the sacred tune did expresse that sweet and charming ditty Marc. 14. Luc. 12. Amice ad quid venisti osculo silium hominis tradis My friend consider what it is about which thou comesi caust thou find in thy hart to betray the sonne of the Virgin with a kisse And was not euen this of power to make thee at length retract the treason which thou hadst contriued hadst thou more theÌ„ a LegioÌ„ of deuills in thee which at the hearing of his voyce would not leaue thee free for of other meÌ„ we read that he dispossessed theÌ„ of whole Legions all at once by the only word of his sacred mouth At least if there were no remedy but thou wouldst needs coÌ„mit that vast sinne it might haue serued thy turne to haue betraied him by a deputy or if thou must needs do it in sight it might yet haue beene froÌ„ a far of But to do it both in thine owne person that so very neere at haÌ„d as both to speake to him to heare him to embosome thy selfe by a kisse and so betray him was such a high straine of wickednes that we need no lesse then the assurance it selfe of Gods holy Spirit to make vs beleeue that it should be true O (c) The 〈…〉 in 〈◊〉 mortall sinne which art both mortal immortall in that thou puttest the soule to death but a death which yet knows not how to dye What ruyne dost thou bring to the hart of man wherin thou raiguest what perfect miracles dost thou worke there in reuersall of those others which are wrought by Grace For as Grace illuminates as it inflames as it instructs as it enriches as it exalts as it delights as it vnites iust so dost
thou blocke vp and freeze and deceaue and impouerish and abase and afflict and dissipate the whole soule of man into many seuerall waies and all at once Thou dost not onely vâ—xe men which implyes a painefull tossing from one thing to another but withall thou dost racke them by strange inuentions within themselues making them liue and dwell in 〈◊〉 as in their proper sphere and cenâ—eâ— Thou dost thou dost it is well knowne 〈◊〉 dost and we all are bound to hate thee fâ—â— it Thou art that monster which did take that (d) The vnhappy Iudas man and by the dust of Passion thou didst first put out his eyes The Passion of couetousnes by occasion that he kept the purse and the Passion of Pride and Enuy because he found that some were fauoured more then he And when thou hadst made him (e) How sinners are not only blind but mad Blind thou didst also make him Mad. He first beleeuing impossible and incompatible things to be most true and acting afterward in conformity of that beliefe some other things as if they had bene iust which were eternally to haue bene abhorred Now as Iudas was once an Apostle and highly in the fauour and grace of God so it is morally impossible that he should fall into such extremes vpon a sudden Nemo repentè sit malus and much lesse pessimus especially from a state of such eminency as that Nor could the deuill be so voyd of wit as to offer at a clap to perswade an Apostle be betray and sell his Maister and such a Maister and for such a tryfle No this is seldome or neuer attempted or if it be it is not wont to take effect Infallibly he began with him as we vse to say at small game and he (e) The sleps wherby a soule may quickly fail from the top to the bottome would first aduise him to neglect some knowne inspiration of God and then to omit the exercising of some vertue and after that to giue way to some little inordinate affection and then voluntarily to coÌ„mit some light veniall sin and so by his ingratitude hauing disobliged the mercy of God from giuing him particular succour and himselfe growing dayly more weake and consequently the deuill more stronge he fell into mortall sinnes and at last he came by these insensible degrees into such an Abisse of impiety as it was for him to sell and betray his heauenly maister He therfore who loues danger Eccles 3. shall be sure to perish in it he who makes himselfe deafe to diuine inspirations and makes no difficulty to resolue vpon committing certaine veniall sinnes will not possibly be able to continue long from such as are mortall A man who shootes in a weake bow at a long marke must ouer-lay or els he will be sure to fall short Now there is not any longer way then from the sinfull hart of man to sanctity of life nor is there any weaker bow then the powers of our minde which are so afflicted by so many spirituall wounds And if any man will resolue and hope by the grace of God neuer to commit any mortall sinne let him ouerlay so much as to be carefull not to commit any veniall so and only so he may perhaps keep his soule from the guilt of any which is mortall But such in Iudas was the worke of sinne and such was the treachery which he committed Yet our Lord IESVS was still holding on his speedy pace in the way of loue For (f) The inuincible patience meeknes of our Lord Iesus in the strength therof it was that he did not so much as turne his mouth aside from receiuing that pill of death froÌ„ that Apothecary of hell But rather he did behold the wretch with a countenance compounded of meekenes to asswage his cruelty and of misery to extinguish his enuy And because that countenance was not of force inough to worke with him he spake to him as hath bene said and he had care euen then to saue his honour and he called him Friend Wishing him first to looke in vpon himselfe and to reflect vpon the thing which he was come to do by saying as I haue shewed Ad quid venisti and when that would not serue he aduised him by saying further Osculo filium hominus tradis to looke vpon his person he being the Sonne of the Virgin and to consider whether it were fit to betray the Sonne of such a mother and that by a kisse And howsoeuer the hardnes of that Tygars hart were foreseene from all eternity by the eye of God yet the same eye did also see that it would be hard through his one fault whether God in effect would or no. And although (g) There was mercy still for Iudas if he would haue repented he deserued to be wholy abandoned for his former wickednes yet euen then and afterward if sufficiency of grace would haue serued the turne it was certainly offred and pressed vpon him by our Lord IESVS but he would none How willingly our blessed Lord would haue saued euen that wretched soule and not only haue giuen him sufficient but efficacious grace may also appeare in the sermon which he made after the last supper where he saith That he had lost Ioan. 17. but onely that child of perdition that the Scriptures concerning him might be fulfilled As if he could not haue endured it without much griefe of hart but onely for the accomplishment of that which his eternall Father was pleased to permit who foresavv hovv vvicked that man vvould be Of our Lords great loue to vs in permitting that fall of Iudas and of that vnspeakeable mercy which he shewed otherwise in the mystery of his apprehension CHAP. 59. BVT novv as God can dravv good out of euill so doth Christ our Lord aboundantly expresse his mercy and charity to mankind by this act of Iustice vpon Iudas in leauing him to himselfe For vvho is he that vvil any longer presume vpon his ovvne strength Our Lord hath set many burning beacons before vs but especialy two that we may know and fly the danger vvhich threatneth vs on all sides Out of the old Testament besides many others vve haue the example of Salomon (a) Salomon a Type of Christ our Lord A penne of the holy Ghost A man to vvhome God had said Aske haue The vvisest and the vvorthiest King of the vvhole vvorld and withall a Prophet And yet this Cedar of Libanus vvhich might seeme to haue bene made of incorruptible vvood vvas so vvrought into at the roote by the vvorme of lust that dovvne it fell and the fall was great For he precipitated his soule to vvorship in the place of the God of himselfe 3. Reg. 11. and of his Fathers as many Idolls as the humours of his coÌ„cubines would lead him to and it is more then we know if euer he rose againe by pennance And heere we haue in the new
pronounce an vniust sentence against him but he tooke him into his house hand to hand And finding vpon the speach which passed betwene them that our Lord had no designe vpon the honours and aduantages of this world nor (f) Our Lord had nopretēce vpon any other kingdom then that of heau◠pretended to the exercise of any other kingdome then that of heauen to which he endeauoured to draw men by teaching them to obey God who is the supreme King therof and the Iudge for his part not caring what became of heauen or heauēly things Ioan. 18. he came quickly forth againe declared that he found the man not guilty How Pilate examined our Blessed Lord and how he sent him to Herod Of the scorne which Herod put vpon him How the returned him to Pilate and how Pilate resolued at last to scourge him CHAP. 63. BVT they persisted in their malicious clamours and protested that the prisoner had bene sowing rumours Luc. 13. making stirres throughout all Iury beginning at Galiley and proceeding as farre as that very place Now Galiley was belonging to the iurisdiction of Herod who had bene the murtherer of S. Iohn Baptist and betwene Pilate and him Ibid. there had bene ill (a) A curtesy of a Courtier quarter till that tyme. But he chauncing to be then at Ierusalem this Pilate put a Court-tricke vpon him for he sent the prisoner to him as if it had bene out of a kind of respect wheras chiefely it was because he would faine be rid of the cause To Christ our Lord nothing came amisse who still with his accustomed humility patience silence obedience and most ardent loue and desire of the saluation of mankind did apply himselfe to renounce any gust of his owne and gaue himselfe all away to theirs And this true Prince of Peace was cōtent to vndergoe all that paine and to endure all that scorne which would be put vpō him both at Herods Court and in the way Ibid. betwene him and Pilate vpon condition that so he might be an occasion of recōciling the emnities of those two though both conspired to his preiudice For he knew that by that curtesy Ibid. which Herod would take so kindly at the hands of Pilate from that tyme forward they would be friends This Herod was a famous infamous person for his sensuality his cruelty and a world of other vices And for as much as he had heard often speach of Christ our Lord and of the reputation which he had both for his wonderfull workes and for his admirable wisedome he had an (b) The curiosity of Herod Ibid. extreme curiosity to satisfy himselfe in those two points In conformity therof he earnestly desired to see some miracle of his working And for as much as concerned the fame of his wisedome he procured by a world of questions which he asked to see whether truth would answere to the voyce which ran of him But our Lord IESVS who was not come into the world to make men sport but to doe them good nor to satisfy the curiosity of their heads but to impart true sanctity to their harts would not vouchsafe to loose one word vpon that wretched King nor cared he through his loue to be suffering for vs to defend himselfe against all those impudent lyes which by the Priests and Elders were thundred out in a perpetuall storme of words against him Yet euen Herod himself could not be so vniust as to allow of the plea which was made in accusation of him for as much as concerned the substance of his cause but yet (c) The falle and foolish iudgemēt of the wife men of this world Ibid. conceauing by occasion of his continuall silence that either he was some silly fellow in himselfe or els perhaps that in comparison of him our Lord thought himselfe to be of farre inferiour speach and wit and therfore would not discredit himselfe by saying any thing he did contemne him with his whole guard of souldiers after a most disdaineful manner and in token therof he returned him to Pilate with a fooles coate vpon his backe This act amongst the rest bred an extraordinary contempt of Christ our Lord in the peoples minde in regard that Herod and his Court were esteemed as a kind of Touch wherby men might be knowne distinctly iustly for what they were But howsoeuer this contempt did our Lord vouchsafe to vndergoe and this coate of scorne was he contēt and glad to weare for our confusion in respect of our former vanity and for our instruction how we are to carry our selues in future occasions Which (d) Agreat lesson of many vertues at once must not be to stand vpon the reputation of our sufficiency wit or knowledge we who are but wormes and flyes when the King of glory the word the increated Wisedome of Almighty God wherby all things were made is content for our sakes to cast himselfe before the eyes of our Faith all contemned and derided as any Idiot or naturall foole might be Nor are we to care though our patience be accounted feare or our humility basenes or our silence simplicity Nor when it concernes the seruice of God and the good of soules are we to shrinke from our duty and good desires though all the world should despise and hate vs for it But when Pilate found that Herod had not thought him worthy of death he was glad of that occasion and pressed it hard vpon the Iewes as knowing indeed that it was not the zeale of Iustice but the rage of enuy which had incensed them against him Sometymes he questioned our Lord IESVS to see if any thing would come from him in the strength wherof he might acquite him But our Lord who desired nothing lesse then what might tend to his owne discharge and nothing more then what might tend to our aduantage was so profoundly and inuincibly silent as did amaze the Iudge Marc. 25. And woe had bene to vs if this silence of our Lord had not bene exercised by him through the merit wherof the eternall Father will looke with mercy vpon those millions of sinnes which be howerly cōmitted through the impertinent indiscrect and vncharitable impure speach of men Sometymes againe the Iudge would be vsing all the art he had to make them desist from their desire of his ruine Marc. 25. Luc. 23. and in particular he thought of two expedients The former of them was to punish him so cruelly out of very pitty as that with the sight therof they might be moued with compassion towards him So that he resolued to haue him scourged and to that end he deliuered him ouer to the discretion of his souldiers who had none The torment of Christ our Lord Audi Piiac 120. in this mistery of his flagellation is excellently pondered by Father Auila He faith therfore to this effect That (e) Note this for it deserueth all attention if a
man would exhibite a spectacle wherby the lookers on were to be moued to loue that man would take care to giue it all those aduantages of grace and beauty which were any way to be attractiue of loue If he were to present an obiect wherby the spectators were to be strocken with feare he would not faile to accompany it with such instruments and demonstrations of terrour as might affect and afflict their mindes with feare And so heere since Pilates care and study was how to winne those implacable Harpies from that hungar and thirst after the destruction and death of Christ our Lord no doubt can be made but that he would adorne and dresse him in the most lamentable attyre of torments which he could deuise that so by the sight of that excessiue misery he might conuert their perfect malice into some little mercy This designe of his he was obliged to communicate with the Executioners who were to be his souldlers for els he had not bene true to his owne end And then I will leaue it to the reasonable imagination of any creature if such an insolent race of people as that vseth many tymes to be hauing receaued an expresse direction from their Commaunder for the execution of such a cruelty vpon a prisoner who was so persecuted by all the principall men and Magistrates of his owne profession were not likely to shew cruelty inough vpon that pretious body of our blessed Lord. Of the cruell Scourging of Christ our Lord and how with incomparable patience and charity the endured the same CHAP. 64. THEY strip thim therfore into the same nakednes wherin he was borne wherin he had neuer bene seene but in his infancy nor then but by the sight of the Angells and those farre purer eyes of the All-immaculate virgin mother They stripped him I say who in all the daies of his blessed life had neuer seene so much as any part of himselfe discouered naked but only those hands which were still imployed in shewing mercies There are millions of men and women in the holy Catholike Church who in their high loue of purity do neuer so much as looke euen vpon their owne face in a glasse and much lesse vpon any naked part of their body excepting only in the occasions of meere necessity when they shift their cloathes yea and then they do it very sparingly and with a kind of horrour euen to see themselues But from those necessities Christ our Lord was still exempt who in all his life did neuer shift or change his cloathes And that * Euthym. in cap. 27. Match Maldonat in cundem loium omnes recentiores cōmuniter Garment which was wouen without any seame at all by those pure hands of his sacred Mother did miraculously grow togeather with the body it selfe Now in the loue of mortification and purity all the Saints of the Church must not compare with him wherin he exceeded them all more then heauen doth excell the earth If therfore there be amongst vs so many thousands of sacred virgins who would rather giue vp their liues then they would once expose their naked bodies to open view Let vs beg of our Lord by his owne supreme purity that he will giue vs to vnderstand make vs sensible at the very rootes of our hartes of how (a) The excessiue affliction which it must giue to our B. Lord to be striped naked great a torment it was to him in the way of shame to be stript stark naked before those Pagan souldiers and to let that pretious banquet of his pure humanity be fed vpon deuoured by those petulant prophane eyes of theirs How great a torment was it to thee O Lord in the way of shame and yet withall how meekely didst thou endure it and how much ioy did it giue thee to be sacrificing the merit therof to the eternall Father for the impetratiō of all that Angelical purity which hath florished since that tyme in so many mortall bodies of flesh and bloud They tyed him then to a piller as naked as I haue heere bescribed as if there had beene danger that either like some slaue he would haue run away or els like a child he would be shrinking declining the strokes wherwith they had resolued to load him But he was inwardly bōd so fast Ose 12. with such cords of Adam which were chaines of loue as that in comparison therof those outward cords were but as threds of a spiders webbe which would haue bene farre from holding him to that piller against his will him who makes the foundations of the earth tremble the pillars of the world shake with the least breath of his Nostrills whensoeuer he thinks fit to worke vpon the world by way of terrour They began then to scourge our Lord Ioan. 1◠with excessiue cruelty And as a violent tempestof hayle would destroy a fruit tree which were in flower so did those cruell men not only blast that diuine sweet beauty of our Lord by breathing vpō it with the filthy ayre of their lasciuious and scornefull tongues but they brake through it with those scourges They clasped and circled him in with euery blow as so many snakes would doe some pretious and odoriferous plant which yet were so medicinall withall as to be able to cure a whole world of men of a whole world of diseases It is able to grieue any ciuill noble hart to see in Italy and especially at Rome how the barbarous Goths and Vandals when like an inundation they ouerflowed those florishing fields of the world did leaue the markes of their long nayles behind them in the ruines of so many sumptuous buildings and curious statues But what hath any sumptuous building or any curious statue to doe by way of comparison with that pretious humanity of our Lord. That Temple of the holy Ghost which the fulnes of the diuinity did substantially inhabite Colos 2. and that superexcellent Image that double Image of the eternall Father For an image he was of God euen as he was but man but then againe as God he was an Image begotten not made by the increated vnderstanding of the eternall God And what comparison thē cā there be betwene the barbarousnes of those Goths and Vandalls with these men of bloud who drew this holy house into such decay They did not only (b) How the house of Gods humanity was handled vnfurnish it but they procured to beate downe the walls and they made so many wide windowes in it with their rude hands as by which the soule would infallibly haue flowne out and forsaken it if it had not bene held fast perforce by the tye of loue that so it might liue to endure the rest of torment which was prouided for it A strange kind of ornament it was for that garment of his pretious humanity being hypostatically vnited to the diuinity to be so thicke ouercast and imbrodered with stripes insteed
negotiate vpō the crosse did he as it were shut himselfe vp for the Redēption of mankind making dispatches which he sent by moments to the mercy and Iustice seate of God and speeding of all his memorialls concerning the erection and propagation of his Church the illuminating of Pagans the mollifying of lewes the reducing of Heretikes the instruction of all soules the propitiation of sinnes the satisfaction of all paynes the impetration of all graces and the retribution of thankes for all benefits There did he adore God in highest contemplation there did he prostrate himself with profound humiliation There did one of the extended armes of his soule reach to the Angells in heauen and the other to Lymbus below the earth his hart the while betwene them both was imbracing the whole race of mortall men with desire to make them all one with him in that kingdome of glory vpon the purchase wherof he was then disbursing his hart bloud He had nothing but deadly sorrow by him but he saw that ioy before him which he was eternally to take in the glory of God and good of man Hebr. 2. And therfore Proposito sibi gaudio sustinuit crucem confusione contempta If euer his hart did appeare to be an infinite kind of thing it was in those three howers of torments desolations and silence He was at that tyme withall the world or rather with as many little worlds as there had bene were were to be reasonable creatures in it but there was not any one of thē with him in the way of giuing him the least sensible comfort So that we may conclude that his Father and Sonne and seruant Dauid did most truly litterally prophesy of him when he said Psalm 10◠Vigilaui (c) The sad solitude of Christ our Lord. factus sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto He was kept well awake like a solitary sparrow vpon the roofe of a house which knowes not whither to retyre it selfe being strocken by the voyce of thunder and frighted on euery side by the flashes of lighning and battered euen to the very braines by an impetuous storne of rayne and hayle O thou innocent lambe of God which takest away the sinnes of the world Thou Lambe of God who art also God and becamst a Lābe that so thou mighest not only haue wooll wherof to be fleeced for the couering of vs but bloud also which thou wert glad to shed for the giuing of life to vs. And how deeply are the soules of vs thy seruants wounded to see this multiplication of thy miseries How cordially are we afflicted that we can but be astonished at this solitude and silence and those vast torments of thine Or rather how much are we ashamed that we scarce say true euen when we say that we are sory for them since we are so wicked withall as that we giue them not leaue to worke those effects vpon our soules for which they were suffered vpon thy pretious body How long shall we be the slaues of sinne since thou hast fought so hard for our liberty How long shall we care for the contentments of this life since thou who art more to vs then millions of liues didst for the loue and example of vs wretches contract and tye thy selfe to such an endlesse shame of reproach torment How come we to be so miserable as that we are able so much as to liue when we see that thou who art the King of glory and the God of life art thus going to dye Would not lesse deere Lord haue serued the turne for the accomplishment of our redemptiō but that thou must needs be thus obnoxious to such a vastity of anguish as now we see thee in Lesse would haue serued to satisfy the iustice of God since by reason of the Hypostaticall vnion any one act or sigh of thine would haue ouerbought many millions of worlds from hell But nothing could satisfy that vnquencheable heat of thy hart vnlesse thou hadst endured all this Chaos of confusion torment Because therby not only our saluation but our sanctification also was to be more nobly wrought more sweetly and more honorably for vs more gloriously for God and therfore more gustfully and delightfully for thee in the superiour part of thy soule howsoeuer in the inferiour it cost thee deere Of the vnspeakeable thirst of our Lord which he did indure and declare with incomparable Loue to man CHAP. 74. THERE remayned now a Prophesy to be fulfilled cōcerning the thirst of our Lord vpō the Crosse The torment of extreme h̄gar is sometymes so great as that we read of straite and long sieges of townes where the inhabitants haue bene driuen by the rage therof not only to eate vncleane beasts but euen mothers haue deuoured the very childrē of their owne body yea and euen the flesh of their owne Lymms And yet most certain it is and we take a kind of tast therof by our owne dayly experience that euery one of vs who haue at any tyme found our selues in extremity both of hungar and thirst haue felt the thirst incomparably more troublesome thē the hungar (a) The great torment of great thirst beyond that of hungar Such againe as haue trauelled sundry dayes in some dry and barren deserts as it hapneth to many in the Southern and Eastern parts of the world such as haue felt the malignity of burning feuers doe well vnderstād what I say Nor is there almost any treasure vpon earth which some such man would not be glad to giue for a glasse of water Now thirst is otherwise also caused by excesse of labour by heate by griefe of minde by payne of body and especially by the spending of much bloud And we seldome let bloud whē we are taking Phisicke though it be but in iest but it serues to giue vs increase of thirst How ardent then must the thirst of Christ our Lord needs haue beene in whome alone al the causes of extreme thirst did meet For during all that day and the whole precedent night he had bene perpetually in tormēt And besides his Agony and bloudy sweat in the garden he had bene dragged and buffeted and all inflamed by those cruell scourges thornes And lastly he had byn bored through with nayles vpō which he had now hunge almost three houres with streames of bloud continually flowing from him and his spirits were exhausted by a world of deadly sorrow at his hart to increase his thirst This torment he endured all that while without once so much as saying that he endured it Nether did he expresse himselfe now at last in this kind through the delight he meant to take or paine he meāt to driue away by drinking for already he was euen vpon the very pitch and brimme of death And he who in all that tyme had bene swallowing vp the want of drinke in silence could easily haue extended his patience to those next minutes which were to