goe vpon certainties There is great difference betwixt doubt suspition and judgement There are indicia or signes that are sufficient for doubting which are not sufficient for suspecting and for suspecting which are not sufficient for iudging and all of them recouer more or lesse force from the qualitie of the persons whom they concerne for there are many indicia or tokens which are sufficient to condemne vicious and lewd persons which are not sufficient against persons of honester note and of good report Then they sought to take him but no man laid hands on him The end of their conference was to apprehend him but not a man of them that durst aduenture to do it for when as they sought to stone him their stones were frozen to their fingers ends so now they had the crampe in their armes their hands were benummed and their strength failed them discouering therein the greatnesse of his power At his wisedome they remained astonished and at his power they were forced to yeeld And these are the two attributes of a powerfull and absolute Prince Power without Wisedome is an vnruly beast that runs on to his owne destruction and Wisedome without Power is too weake for atchieuement nor is there that rash action which a powerfull foole will not put himselfe into Dionysius the Tyrant was woont to say That then he did enioy the sweetnesse of his Empire when he did execute his desires in an instant Power is a headstrong horse and Wisedome serues as a bridle to curbe and restraine it's furie The Wiseman alluded hereunto when he said That God had giuen him wisedome like the sand that lies on the sea shore which repells the waues though neuer so great and bounds them in Plutarch saith That to a bare absolute power not bounded in with this sand malice and mischiefe was neuer wanting The Emperour Iustinian in the entrance to his Institutions saith That in the Maiestie royall the beautie of armes is not onely necessarie but the force also of learning He attributs Force to Learning because that bridles the strongest thing that is which is Armes Our Sauiour Christ then beeing the true patterne of so great and glorious a Prince as none greater Power and Wisedome could not chuse but concurre meet equally in him To whom with the Father and the Holy-Ghost be ascribed all Power Honour and Glorie c. THE XXVIII SERMON VPON THE WEDNESDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 9.1 Praeteriens Iesus vidit Caecum And as Iesus passed by he saw a man that was blind c. OVr Sauiour Christ going out of the Temple seeking to shun those stones which they pretended to throw at him he cast his eye vpon a poore blind man that was borne blind for it is the priuiledge of pouertie and humane miserie to haue the eye of diuine pittie to looke downe vpon it and to fauour the same so that he healed him at once both in bodie and in soule the Historie whereof is no lesse large than it is pleasing Christ had said For iudgement I am come into this world that they which see not may see and that they which see might be made blind Now here he began to fulfull this prophecie by reuealing to the Pharisees Antequam Abraham fieret ego sum He left them so blind that they tooke vp stones to stone him to death in that verie instant meeting with this blind man hee made his eyes so cleere and so perfect that those did not know him who held conuersation with him And thus did the case now stand betwixt the Gentile and the Iew the one was stark blind and the other did see perfectly the Iew enioyed none the Gentile much light The people that walked in darkenesse haue seene a great light and they vpon whome the light shined dwell in the land of the shaddow of death And in another place We waited for light but behold obscuritie for brightnesse but we walke in darknesse we grope for the wall like the blind and we grope as if we had no eyes we stumble at noone day as in the night we are in desolate places as dead men The Spouse speaking of her Beloued saith En ipse stat post parietem nostrum Behind the wall of our humane nature and our Pharisees groping and stumbling in the darke brake their heads against the wall That place likewise of the 29 Chapter may be hereunto accommodated Behold I will proceed to doe a meruailous worke among this People euen a meruailous worke and a wonder by giuing sight to one that was borne blind For the wisedome of wise men shall perish and the vnderstanding of their prudent men shall be hid The Scribes and Pharisees had the light of the Scripture and did looke for the Messias For Syons sake will I not hold my peace and for Ierusalems sake I will not rest vntill the righteousnesse thereof goe forth as brightnesse and the saluation thereof as a lampe that burneth But they were vnthankeful for this light that curse of Iob lighting vpon them Let them looke for light but haue none neither let them see the dawning of the day They were so blind that this blind man taught them the light and told them who was the Messias whom they so long expected As Iesus passing by c. This businesse seemeth to be a thing done as it were by chance but there is not any thing that God doth commit more to memory than the relieuing of our miseries The Bush wherein God appeared vnto Moses which did burne and yet was not burned did represent the stubble which his people did gather to bake their bricke and those firie tribulations which did burne but not consume them And if any man shall aske me How this Bush could be on fire and not be burnt I answer That God had such present vse of the fire that it seemed to ouerslip the bush The Prophet Abacucke went to carrie food to the sheepheards that were in the field but the angel taking him vp by the haire of the head carried him away into Chaldea landed him in the Lyons Den in Babylon for Daniels hunger required that hast that the reapers in the field were forgotten which was an extraordinarie care and especiall prouidence of God But why doth the Euangelist say Praeteriens passing by as it were by chance And Ezechiel vnder the similitude of an Infant deliuering vnto vs That as soone as she was borne she was cast out into the open field to the loathing of her person in that day she was borne When I passed by thee I saw thee polluted in thyne owne bloud Hereunto I answer That God doth dissemble his care because thou being not able to pay the principall nor any desire to satisfie this his great care and loue towards thee he would draw thee if it were possible to the acknowledgement of that debt which is due vnto him for it is a common
vita sunt The words which I speake are spirit and life The other The elegancie and sweetnesse of his deliuerie Diffusa est gratia in labijs tuis such heauenly dew did drop from his lips and diffuse it selfe in that aboundant and plentifull manner Which graces of his poured forth thus gracefully the Spouse toucheth vpon in the Canticles His lips are like Lillies dropping downe pure myrrhe In the Lillies is painted forth our Sauiours beautie in the Myrrhe the profit we reap from him which is very great Myrrhe being a principall preseruatiue against corruption Mirabuntur omnes They all meruailed c. S. Chrysostome and Saint Cyril are of the mind That this admiration was amongst those that were the most incredulous of all that companie It is an ordinarie thing in your hearers when they heare a famous Preacher to admire him acknowledging his Doctrine to bee so deepe that it exceedeth mans capacitie for Wisedome is so superexcellent and so diuine a thing that in whomsoeuer it is found it causeth great admiration Things high and eminent shall not be so much as mentioned in comparison of her so saith Iob. And Salomon It is to be preferred before all riches Euerie man doth prise and esteeme it saue the Foole he that is most wise doth most honour the Wise but hee that is a Foole makes little reckoning of those that are wise Fooles hate knowledge Homer stiles wise Apollo a god multarum manuum of many hands because he hath a hand in euerie thing a hand for to lighten the blind vnderstanding a hand for to guide the soule in the way of vertue a hand for to gouerne the Common-wealth and to appease the tumults and rebellions rising therein a hand to conserue the same in peace In a word as Apollo who is the Sunne by expatiating and spreading abroad his beames through diuers parts both of sea land giues a beeing and a life to all things to mettalls in the veines of the earth to pearles in the shels of the sea to trees plants birds beasts men c. so a wiseman is Vita generalis reipublicae The generall life and liuelihood of a Commonwealth Themistius calls him Deum a God Horace Rex Regum a King of Kings c. And if any man shall say with Saint Paul Scientia inflat That Knowledge and Wisedome puffeth vp and affoords matter vnto man of pride and arrogancie Clemens Alexandrinus answers thereunto That the word Inflat doth likewise inforce that it doth breath and inspire into vs noble and generous thoughts Filijs suis vitam inspirat saith Ecclesiasticus The Greeke Text renders it Exaltat Euebit Wisedome exalteth her children it giues them a new kind of Beeing new hearts new resolutions to vndergoe glorious enterprises In a word Qui illam diligit diligit vitam He that loues her loues his lâ—fe So that if it be an occasion of arrogancie it is not so in it selfe but by accident when it lights on an insolent brest which conuerts good into euill Your Kings and Princes haue in all ages honoured wise men with great titles preferments and not only your wise prudent Princes but those of meaner parts and abilities and euen your worser sort of Kings Dionisius the Tyrant sent to Plato that he might come to see him one of his fairest Gallies with store of daintie prouision and well accompanied and at the Hauen where he was to land had prouided a Coach with foure horses to be readie to receiue him that he might come in the greater pompe to his Pallace and all this honour he was willing to doe him for that he was a wise man And if such men as he should cause such admiration in the world What admiration must he raise in mens minds in whom all the treasures of Gods wisedome were deposited Whence we may consider that if a few drops of that soueraigne fountaine did strike the People into such admiration when in Heauen we shall see the fulnesse of that riuer or rather immensitie of that great sea What admiration must it needs mooue Yet notwithstanding Saint Augustine saith Mirabantur omnes sed non omnes conuertebantur They were wonder-strucken but not spirit-strucken many did admire but few were conuerted The like successe for the most part haue the Sermons of your famous Preachers Ezechiel reporteth That it fell out so with himselfe That morning saith he that he was to preach the citisens would call to one another saying Let vs goe and heare the Prophet let vs see what new thing will now come from him they enter in thronging sit them downe beare themselues verie grauely and hearken diligently to my words but are farre off from putting them in execution being onely vnto them like a smooth verse or a musicall Song with a sweet and pleasing eire nor was there any of that harsh eare who wil not one while commend the voice another while the tone this man the dittie that it 's ayre but goe not a step further setting vp their rest there Musicke passes along by the doore at mid-night it wakens thee thou â—isest out of thy bed thou gettest to the window thou hearest it thou takest delight in it but when it is gone out of thy hearing thou returnest backe againe to bed layest thee downe and fall'st againe asleepe as if thou hadst heard no such thing at all Leuani oculos meos saith Zachary I turned me and lifted vp mine eyes and looked and behold a flying booke Then said he vnto me This is the curse that goeth forth ouer the whole earth Saâ—nt Gregorie saith That this booke is the sacred Scripture wherein as Lyra notes it are written the curses and chastisements against the â—infull men of this world A flying booke When there doth appeare in the ayre any new strange sight the Vulgar he wonders at it the wise man he is afraid of it because it is a vsuall prognostication of miseries and disasters As those fearefull fightings that were seene in the ayre in the time of the Maccabees your Comets your Crucifixes of fire and your showers of blood The like effect doth Gods word worke Some stand wondring at it and some grow sad vpon it The Seuentie translates it Vidi falcem volantem I sawe a flying sickle Which as Pierius noteth signifieth the time of Haruest Mitte jam falces quâ—â—iam maturae sunt messes Thrust in your sickles for the haruest is ripe In token that when the word of God and the malediction in holy Scripture comes to be little or nothing at all regarded and when the earth in stead of corne brings forth nothing but thistles and thornes it is high time to cut it downe Saint Iames compares the word of the Lord to a looking-glasse And Saint Bernard calls it the Looking-glasse of Truth which nor flatters nor deceiueth any man But hee that shall looke therein shall finde himselfe to be the same he seemes Saint Aâ—gustine
his hat cloake jerken and breeches but he wrapping them close about him with the helpe of his hands and teeth he kept himselfe vnstripped by the Wind who could doe no good vpon him so he giues off Then comes me forth the Sunne who came so hot vpon him that the man within a verie litttle while was faine to fling off all and to strippe himselfe naked The verie selfe same heat and courage did the Sunne of Righteousnesse vse in that last eclipse of his life when from the Crosse he did so heat inflame the hearts of them that were present that they did teare and rent their cloathes Et Velum Templum scissum est And as the barrennest ground is made fruitfull by the Husbandmans industrie so goodnesse ouercommeth euill Fortis vt mors dilectio i. Loue is strong as Death The stoutest the valiantest and the desperatest man aliue cannot resist Death no more can he Loue. Omnis natura bestiarum domita est à natura The nature of beasts is tamed by Nature Against that harme which the Philistines receiued by Mice the Princes made Mice of Gold let thy enemie bee as troublesome to thee as they mold him into Gold and hee wil neuer hurt thee more S. Chrysostome considereth the truth of this in Saul who bearing a deuelish hatred against Dauid yet by Dauids twice pardoning him his life made him as tractable as wax and he captiuated by this his kindnesse brake out into this acknowledgement Iustior me est He is iuster than I for I returned thee il for good and thou me good for ill S. Chrysostome concludes this Historie with a strange endeering That Dauids drawing teares out of Sauls hard heart did cause him more to wonder than did Moses and Aaron when he strucke the Rocke and the waters gushed forth We want not examples of this Doctrine euen in those things that are inuisible The toughest Impostumes are made tender by Vnctions Plinie saith That the roughest sea is made calme with oyle In the Prouince of Namurca they burne stone in stead of wood and that fire will bee quenched with Oyle Against the Impostume of hatred the raging sea of an angrie brest and the flames of a furious enemie there is no better remedie than Mildnesse Sermo mollis frangit iram A soft answer mitigates wrath Orate pro persequentibus vos Pray for them that persecute you This Prayer may be grounded vpon two reasons The one That the hurt is so great to him that doth the wrong that he that is wronged ought to take pittie and compassion of him and beeing it is Damnum animae The hurt of the soule which the offended cannot repaire of himselfe hee must pray vnto God for him That he would be pleased to repaire it Philon treating of the death of Abel saith that Cain killed himself non alterum not another and that Abel was not dead but aliue because he kild but the bodie which was none of his and left him his soule which was his And of Caine That his bodie remained aliue which was none of his and his soule slaine which was his and therefore Clamat sanguis Abel The bloud of Abel cries c. The other That there are some such desperate enemies that are made rather worse than better by benefits being like therein vnto Paper which the more you supple it with Oyle the stiffer it growes or like vnto sand which the more it is wet the harder it waxeth or like vnto an anuile which is not stirred with the stroke of the hammer or like vnto Iudas who comming from the washing of our Sauiors feet went forth afterwards with a greater desire for to sel and betray him whereas being in this desperate case hee should rather haue had recourse vnto God Prayer therefore is proposed vnto vs as the greatest charme and powerfullest exorcisme against the obstinacie rebellion of an enemie For vpon such occasions as these Prayer is woont to worke miracles Saint Stephen prayd for those that stoned him to death which wrought so powerfull an effect that Saint Austen saith That the Church is beholding in some sort to this his Prayer for the conuersion of Saint Paul And Saint Luke That the Heauens were opened hereupon vnto him he saw Christ standing in glorie at the right hand of his Father And it is worth the noting That the ordinarie Language of the Scripture is That our Sauiour Christ is said to sit at the right hand of God the Father but now here in this place the word Stantem Standing is vsed as if Christ had stood vp of purpose to see so rare and strange an accident and claue the Heauens in sunder offering him all the good they did containe or that he did seeme to offer him his Seate as it were as to a child of God vt sitis filij patris vestri That yee may be the children of your Father And this grace and fauor which God shewes vnto those that pray for their enemies was peraduenture a motiue to our Sauiour Christ to make that pittifull moane vpon the Crosse bewayling the Iewes cruell pâ—oceeding against him and praying that his death might not be layd to their charge Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them Hee might haue hoped that these his charitable prayers would haue opened the Gates of Heauen for the Sonne of Glorie to enter in But in stead thereof the Sunne was darkened and a blacke mantle as it were in mourning spred ouer all the earth whilest he himselfe vttered these words of discomfort My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The doores of Heauen are shut against me my God hath forsaken me But the mysterie is That Heauen was shut against him that it might be opened vnto you and euen then was it opened to the Theefe and to many that returned from Mount Caluarie percutientes pectora sua i. Smiting their brests as also to that Centurion that said Verè filius Dei erat iste This was truly the Sonne of God There may be rendred another reason of this our Sauiours praying vpon the Crosse Which is this That for to obtaine fauors from Gods hand there is no meanes comparable to that of praying for our enemies In me loquebantur qui sedebant in Porta in me psallebant qui bibebant vinum ego autem orationem meam ad te Domine tempus beneplaciti Deus Dauid speaking there as a figure of Christ saith That his enemies sate like judges in the Gates of the Citie entertaining themselues with stories of his life and that they went from Tauerne to Tauern and from one house to another singing Songs in dirision of him descanting and playing vpon him but I turning towards God prayed heartily for them as knowing there was not any time fitter than that for the obtaining of my request Tempus beneplaciti An acceptable time c. The like he saith in the 180 Psalm Pro eo vt me
Prayer of the Iust should preuaile with God which begges and entreats of his diuine Majestie That he will beare with vs this yeare and the next and so from time to time as is prooued by that Parable of the Figge tree which the Lord of the Soyle caused to be hewne downe because it bare no fruit it is not much But that the prayer of a Canaanitish woman should make God to yeeld vnto her is more than much The name of woman in it's true and naturall element notifieth a thousand imperfections O pessima Mulier saith Euripides signifying thereby That there is no mischiefe which she is not a Midwife vnto the verie name of a Canaanitish woman doth blab out sin in hir hatred towards God and a measure full of miserie Now if a subiect so weake and so imperfect grew by Prayer to be so powerfull What will not Prayer be able to do Salomon askes the question Mulierem fortem quis inueniet Who shall meet with a valiant woman that is full of mettall and courage I answer That naturally such a one is Rara auis in terris a verie Phoenix a white Crow and a blacke Swan but by the force of Prayer you shall thrice meet with such a one in Tyrus and Sydon God sayes no and yet in the end the Canaanitish womans Yea goes further than our Sauiours Nay making God as it were to lay downe the Bucklers and to yeeld vnto her And to him that shall say That this was a spirituall wrestling neuer giuing ouer our Sauiour but still pressing and importuning him more and more and that a woman will be sometimes so earnest and so violent that shee may as well wearie out God as she doth Man to make him yeeld ere she haue done with him To this a Doctor of our times verie well answers by proposing another question to wit Whither Iacobs wrestling with God were with the force of his arms or with the armes of Prayer Origen tells vs That it was a spirituall strugling of teares and prayers and Iacob hauing got the better God said vnto him Thou shalt no more be called Iacob but Israel because thou hast had power with God The like may be said by our Sauior to this Canaanitish woman Ecce mulier Cananea Behold a woman c. Ecce in holy Scripture commonly signifieth some great matter of admiration And this case of the Canaanitish woman is admirable for two rare circumstances contained in it The one For that strange change and alteration in her in regard that of a Canaanite in Occupatione she became a Canaanite in Oratione that is a Negotiator in Heauen for Cananea according to Saint Hierome is the same with Negotiatrix Of a good huswife that girdeth her loyns with strength and strengthneth her armes Salomon saith Cingulum tradidit Cananeo the Vulger hath it Negotiatori To the Merchant or one that negotiates businesses and Heauen is stored with such kind of People Negociamini dum venio Occupie till I come And so great was the hast which this Canaanite made for the encreasing of her Talent and in mannaging of her businesse that the Church sets her before vs for an example and for an excellent and happie Negotiant with God himselfe As Abraham was put for a patterne of Faith Isaac of Obedience Ioseph of Chastitie Iob of Patience Marie Magdalen of Repentance so this Canaanitish woman is proposed vnto vs as an example of well negotiating with God shewing vs the readie way for a quicke dispatch The other That a woman that was a Gentile should come out of Tyrus and Sydon to be a Schoole to the Faithfull as if a Moore should come from his Moorisme to be a Christian which is a rare thing and seldome seene that such a one should haue issued out of Ierusalem that was well grounded in the Scripture and Religion it was not much but from Tyrus and Sydon it was not a thing to be expected To be of the houshold of Faith among the Gentiles a Catholick among Hereticks a Christian among Moores a Saint amongst the Wicked was eueâ— yet accounted strange and wonderfull Saint Gregorie obserues this of Iob liuing in the Land of Hus among the Barbarians Socius fuit Draconum Frater Struâ—hionum He was a companion of Dragons and a brother to Ostriches that is he liued amongst the Vngodly And Saint Peter saith of Lot That he being righteous and dwelling among the Sodomites in seeing the vncleanly conuersation of the Wicked and hearing of their abhominable sinnes vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their vnlawful deeds which is a great crosse and affliction to the Godly Saint Iohn saith of the Bishop of Pergamus Scio vbi habitas vbi seâ—es est Sathanae tenes nomen meum All thy actions are not praise-worthie but this is greatly to be commended in thee that amongst Deuills where Sathan hath his Throne thou keepest the faith and confessest my name Saint Paul of the Philippians That In medio nationis prauae The Spouse of his Beloued That Sicut Lilium inter spinas without receiuing any harme In a word to enioy perfect health in the middest of a great plague is a great matter but much greater is it that out of a Pest-house one should come forth to giue helpe vnto others that from amidst Heretickes a Master should be brought to teach Catholickes and that out of Tyrus and Sydon should step forth a Canaanitish woman to instruct the Church And this is that which this word Ecce aimes at A finibus illis egressa Come from out those Borders First Christ and then she and though Christ had the longer and harder journey of it and she the shorter and easier yet you see shee was willing to put the best foot forward and to take some paines her selfe in the businesse she did not as many doe now adayes sit still and doe nothing laying the whole burthen of the justification vpon our Sauiour Christ. Supra dorsum meum saith he complaining by the Prophet fabricauerunt peccatores prolongauerunt iniquitatem suaâ— They threw all the whole burthen of their sinnes vpon my shoulders taking no care themselues to worke out their saluation Beloued this is not the way it is not enough that yee haue your calling and vocation from God but you must make sure this your vocation vnto you by good workes Satagite per bona opera certam facere vocationem vestram It is not enough that Christ hath redeemed you but you must seeke on your part to secure your redemption In this sence said Paul Adimpleo quae desunt passionum Christi in carne mea Not that any thing can be wanting to the passion of Christ on his part but on thine Faine wouldst thou goe to Heauen but thou art loath to take any paines to get thither thou wouldst be carried vp in a soft and easie chaire but art loath to stretch thy legs And for this cause the Scripture
Commonwealth that to see any good come from them may be held as great a miracle as that we haue now in hand Ephraim is an Heifar vsed to delight in threshing Now to thresh is taken oftentimes in Scripture to rule with tyrannie and oppression Arise ô thou daughter of Syon and fall a threshing For in this mountaine shall the hand of the Lord rest and Moab shall be threshed vnder him euen as straw is threshed in Madmenah The proportion of the comparison holds in this That as your heifers do tread the corne vnderneath their feet till it be troad all out of the eare so your Princes trample vpon their Subiects till they haue drawne from them the greater part of their goods and if here and there an eare escape him and goe away whole hee may crie Godamercie good lucke Princeps postulat Iudex in reddendo est The Prince hee will haue some strange taxe or new imposition layd vpon the Subiect your reuerend Iudges they will inuent a way to do it and say There is good law for it and euer after it shall be a President or a ruled Case And whence doth this arise Marry from this That the one is a thorne in the Subiects sides and the other are brambles And for this cause in that Fable of the Trees none did desire to be King saue the Bramble And this is the reason why Princes are soothed vp by their Flatterers and Cushion-sowing Courtiers vnder Kings elbows but these Earewigs howsoeuer their Prince may affect them I am sure they are neither esteemed nor applauded by the People And if these Flatterers grow fat and full the Commons haue poore commons and are poore and hungerstarued But because this King of Heauen did good vnto his People hee was praised and commended by them So saith Saint Mathew The Multitudes wondred and seeing the Dumbe to speake the Blind to see the Lame to walke they magnified the God of Israell The other The force of our Sauiour Christs words Ecclesiasticus saith That the words of a wise man are like so many nayles that strike the soule through and wedge it fast If a wise mans words haue that force what efficacie shall Gods words carrie with them A certaine woman lifting vp her voice c. Esay called our Sauiour Christ The hidden God Verè tu es Deus absconditus Hidden in the Heauens And for this cause some do deriue the name of Coelum à Coelando Iob he saith Nubes latibulum eius He was likewise hidden in his mothers womb QueÌ„ coeli capere non poterant tuo gremio contulisti Who would thinke that this immensitie which the Heauens could not containe should bee shut vp in so streight a roome Hee hid himselfe also vnder his humanitie insomuch that the Deuills eyes beeing so sharpe sighted and able to discerne things afarre off could not know him when his Diuinitie was hidden vnder those paines and torments which hee endured Esay saith Quasi absconditus vultus eius It was hidden from the Worlds knowledge Quis cognouit sensum Domini Who knew the meaning of the Lord The greatest Clerkes in Ierusalem said In Beelzebub eijcit Daemonia Through Belzebub hee casts out Deuills And if any man shall presse mee with that place of Saint Paul That hee was manifested and made knowne to the World I answer That he did hide himselfe but the Father did manifest him in the Cratch hee hid himselfe in the manger but his swathing cloathes driueled on by the Oxe and the Asse and the reares that trickled downe his cheekes did discouer him to be Man the Kings sought to conceale him but the Sheepheards did reueale him in the Temple his mother bearing him as a Sinner in her bellie who was to redeeme the World did hide and couer him but Simeon and Anna the Prophetesse did proclaime him to the world his kneeling downe in Iordan before he was baptised did hide his worth but the opening of Heauen and the voyce of the Father did declare him to be his Sonne and the Holy-Ghost descending downe vpon his head in the forme of a Doue did manifest his Maiestie Vpon the Crosse the Nayles the Gall the Vinegar his wounds his stripes his shame and his being forsaken of his Father did hide his glorie but the Centurion the Theefe his Executioners the Sunne Moone Stones and Sepulchres rendring vp their Dead did manifest his power And here the Scribes and Pharisees calling him the Minister of Beelzebub seeke to hide him but Marcella and her companions with a loud voyce make him to be knowne what he was A certaine woman c. In the weakenesse of this woman God did discouer the greatnesse of his power Of Iudith it is said That a woman of the Iewes did confound the pride of Nebucadnezar And here it is said That a Iewish woman gaue the lie to all the power and wisedome of Ierusalem striking the Scribes and Pharisees dumbe confounding their vnderstanding and making them ashamed For Marcellaâ—eeing â—eeing them thus conuinced by the reasons of our Sauiour Christ she lifted vp her voyce aloud in token of victorie and to shew that our Sauiour had the better of them King Balthazar in the middest of all his mirth and jollitie was with a hand that he espied vpon the wall strucken as dead as a doore nayle Pharaoh with a blast of Gods mouth was drowned in the Deepe Flauit Spiritus eius c. These were strange things but much more strange was it That a poore sillie old woman should with two or three words confute the wisedome of Ierusalem and put them to such a nonplus that they had not a word to say Blessed is the wombe that bare thee Shee reckons it heere as a great blessing to the Virgin Marie that she was the mother of such a Son which is an epitome of all her praises and excellencies The Euangelist say no more because all that may be said of her is contained in this one word Mother And because some blasphemous persons had taken this name from her in the generall Ephesine Councell celebrated in the time of Pope Celestine and Theodosius the Emperor whereat were present two hundered Bishops it was concluded That the most blessed Virgin should be called Theotocos that is The mother of God for that our Sauiour was both Gods Sonne and hers hauing his filiation from them both The same was likewise defined in the Calcedonian Councell vnder Leo the twelfth So that the same Holy-Ghost which assisted these Councells had prompted also this womans tongue Saint Bernard saith That this great name Theotocos is the greatest this diuine ladie hath or can haue And because the name of Mother of God may seem to detract somthing from the sole omnipotencie of God from his goodnesse from his wisedome all other his excellent and singular attributes left men might sinne in ouerpraising her giuing too much vnto her in that kind Epiphanius saith It
obserued That God euer shewed himselfe more mercifull in reuenging his owne wrongs than those that were done to the Ministers of his Church The People of Israell worshipped a Calfe and proceeded so farre in wronging the Maiestie of God that they sticked not to say This is that God which with a mightie hand out-stretched arme freed vs from the Captiuitie of Aegypt God punished this their iniquitie with the death of some of the principall offendors Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses and the earth swallowed them vp aliue Sit tibi tanquam Ethnicus Publicanus If he shall not be obedient to the Church but shall despise the sentence of his Superiours Let him be vnto thee as a Heathen man and a Publican In Leuiticus God commanded That they should not offer vnto him any Sacrifice of honey but he required the first fruits thereof hee will at first haue honey that is mild admonitions gentle persuasions and friendly aduice but if these wil not serue the turne he vnsheaths his sword and cuts thee off from the Church pronouncing this sentence against thee Let him be to thee as a Heathen and a Publican Hee doth heere poynt out two sorts of People which Gods people did shun and auoyd The one Him that was a stranger to his Law The other Him that was a publique offendor therein both which he wisheth vs to flie from From the one That they may doe vs no hurt For a little leauen will soure the whole lumpe From the other That being thereby ashamed of their sinnes they may repent and amend Wherein he seemeth to moderate the rigour of the Old Testament for in Deutronomie he commandeth That he that will not heare the High-Priest that man shall die the death and that sonne that shall not be obedient to his father shall be stoned to death But God now shewing himselfe more mild and gentle is contented that we should onely shunne the companie of such as are disobedient being no better than canker'd and rotten Members which may chance to infect and putrifie those other sound parts of the bodie And albeit the excommunicating of those that conuerse with them which course the Church now taketh may seeme somwhat of the seuerest for that it comprehendeth not onely the nocent but the innocent as well the not offending as the offending yet said the Samaritan woman The Iewes doe not vse to keepe companie with Samaritanes And they accused our Sauiour Christ for that hee did eat with Publicans and Sinners and because he did but talke with a Samaritan they called him by way of scorne a Samaritan These latter conditions of denunciating my brother to the Church and of vsing him like an Hereticke or a Moore haue seemed to the World to be somewhat too hard teaching and baptizeth the Denunciator by the name of Delator or priuie Accuser or an Informer or Promoter And euen in those Communities and Commonwealths which haue renounced the Lawes of the world it hath been held a point of honour and of noblenesse not to enter or stand forth by accusing or denunciating in causis alienis For he that shall doe so is accounted but a base minded fellow and one that hath no worth or goodnesse in him and he had need haue an extraordinarie assistance of Gods spirit that shall take this taske vpon him when Zeale and Honour cannot agree vpon the point one swaying this way and another that which distraction is made the more the more great and powerfull the persons be that ought to be thus corrected First I answer That one and the selfe same thing may be said to bee soure and sweet after a diuers respect Saint Mathew saith That the way to Hell is broad and large The Damned they say it is a hard way Ambulanimus vias difficiles c. To correct and to be corrected shall be easie to the Spirit but hard to the Flesh. And put case it be soure yet the ajudas de Costa those good supplies which the Iust shall enioy in this present life and the hope of reward in the future wil make it sweet Secondly I answer That Feare and Cowardise propose sometimes difficulties where there are none and he that is afraid that he shâ—l not draw water from his brothers brest and eyes How shall he hope to draw water out of a rocke or a stone There is a great deale of controuersie and much adoo touching that sin of Moses for which God denied him entrance into the holy Land S. Paul saith That it was incredulitie The opinion of the Hebrewes is That this his sinne was his not speaking to the Rocke God spake vnto these two brothers and said Loquimini ad Petram which Moses strooke once or twice with his Rod c. Now if two words would haue beene sufficient for to draw water out of a rocke Is it much that Man should draw it out of the heart though it were made of stone and conuey it as by a Conduit to the eyes Salomon saith That many do excuse themselues of fulfilling Gods commandements alledging their want of strength and abilitie That it stands not with their health to fast on halfe holydayes nor to eat Fish in Lent or on Frydayes Vires non suppetunt Hereunto I make a twofold answer The one Deus est Inspector cordis It is God that tryeth the heart and reynes he knowes whither thou haue strengâ—h or no thou canst not cozen him with a false Dye thou maist cozen thy Physition with a lye but thou canst not cozen God The other Ipse intelligit God knowes well enough That thou canst not doe any good thing without his helpe for hee must assist thee with his grace in this life and with glorie in the life to come And will reward euerie man according to his workes Leo the Pope saith That hee that thinkes with himselfe that it is a hard thing to be corrected must haue recourse to Gods mercie to intreat his fauour that he will free him from this his euill custome and so to humble him that correction may seeme sweet vnto him Lastly Albeit at first the partie reprooued will shew himselfe harsh soure vnto thee yet vpon better consideration hee will con thee thankes and like better of thy plaine dealing with him than if thou hadst soothed vp his sinnes He that reprooues a man shall afterward find more grace than hee that deceiues him with a flattring tongue To S. Austen the corrections admonitions of his mother were vnsauorie but afterwards he confessed That he was much more beholding to her for hauing reduced him to the right way than for bringing him forth into the world Who is it that maketh me glad saith Saint Paul but he that is made heaâ—ie by me The Scripture is full of rewards and of threatnings both in the fauour and disfauour of the Corrector and the Corrected Of him that correcteth Crysostome saith If thou shouldest giue innumerable
his busines and so wholly taken therewith that he cared not for any thing else And this is expressed in the word Ibat He went Which argues a continuation in his going on Some man may make a doubt and say though vnaduisedly Had it not beene better for our Sauiour to haue beene in the mount of Oliues or in the garden of Gethseman or on the hills of Ephrem than to goe thus from house to house from Castle to Castle and from Citie to Citie Whereunto I first of all answer That it is enough that he did not so because it was not the better course Secondly because he was the same that was personally promised to that blessed Land and that there was not a corner in all that Countrie to be left out which should not finde the fauour of his diuine influences Thirdly the exercises of the life actiue and contemplatiue are those two wings whereby the soule sores vp to heauen And because one wing will not serue the turne to reach to so high a pitch we must not onely serue God in our prayers and meditations but also in the releeuing and succouring of our neighbour And therefore our Sauiour Christ spent the nights in prayer Per noctabat in oratione and the dayes in healing bodies and curing of soules Petrus Damianus vpon the life of Elias and Elisha saith That there is no remote solitary mountaine which doth not ground it's retyrednesse vpon some one example or other of the Saints One is a friend to the world and a louer thereof and this man alleages That Elias spent many dayes in the widow of Sareptaes house And that Elisha soiourned with the Shunamite that was a great and principall woman in her country And that both of them did treat with great Princes and Potentates Another is a friend and a louer of delicacies and alleageth That Elisha and Elias did accept of them But these men doe not consider That if these Prophets did forgoe their solitude it was more for the good of others that liued abroad in the world than themselues as also for the raising vp of the dead And if they did receiue good intertainment it was no more than was necessary for the sustenance of their bodies Elisha would none of Naamans gold Nor Elias be feasted by King Ahab and Iezabell his wife It is a thing worthy the consideration That our Sauiour Christ hauing not so much as one pennie of money wherewith to pay Caesar his Tribute willed Saint Peter to open the fish that he had taken with his angling rod. Our Sauiour permitted Peter that he should catch such a multitude of fishes that the nets did breake with the fulnesse of them But now hee would not haue him catch but one onely fish For a Church-man ought to fish for all the fishes that he can possibly take and the more he takes he doth God the more seruice but for those money-fishes that haue pence in their bellies he must take but one onely and that too for to pay Tribute not for himselfe nor to satisfie his owne couetous desires or his idle pleasures Ecce defunctus efferebatur Behold there was a dead man carryed out c. This word Eccè in the Scripture requires the eyes of the body and the eyes of the soule insinuating a great deale of attention But to come here with an Eccè it being so common a thing in the world as nothing more to see the dead dayly carryed forth to their buriall it seemeth a superfluous labour and a needlesse kind of diligence especially being that this our life is no other thing but a continued Procession of the quicke and the dead When Adam saw Abel was slaine and lay dead on the ground being the first man of whom death had taken possession he was so heart-strucken and so amased thereat so fearefull so sorrowfull and so sad that for many yeares after hee was not freed from this feare and horrour nor were the teares dryed vp from his eyes For albeit that God had notified vnto him That he was to dye the death yet did he not as yet know by experience what kind of thing death was But after that death had flesht himselfe in mans blood cutting downe more liues than a Sythe doth grasse in your faire and goodly medowes this his feare and horrour began by degrees to slack and fall off An Eclypse of the sunne doth strangely intertaine the sences attention not onely for to see so faire a Planet lapt vp in mourning weedes but also for that it so seldome hapneth But the Eclypses of mens liues though they be the fairest sunnes vpon earth they so hourely nay so momentarily succeede with vs that we can scarse which way soeuer we looke turne our eyes aside from them And not to speake of those lingring deaths wherein through sicknes we lye languishing a long time besides those occasioned by famine pestilence and warre yet those other sudden and vnexpected deaths which daily succeed may euery houre find our eyes occupied For wee see them euer and anon written on the wall as was that of Balthasar hanging on the oake as that of Absalon dipt in a dish of milke as that of Sisara represented in a dreame as that of Holophernes appearing at a feast as that of Iobs children put in the porridge pot as that of Elishaes Disciples Mors in olla in the bed as that of Adulterers and in the Apoplexie as that of your Gluttons Yet notwithstanding all this and that it is euery dayes example yet such and so great is the solicitude and care which the diuell takes to blot the remembrance of the dead from out the hearts and heads of the liuing That at euery step we see the dead carried forth to their graues and are so farre from ingrauing the thought thereof in our breasts that at euery step we forget it There is not that man aliue which doth not feele and experiment death in himselfe complying with that sentence of God Morte morieris Thou shalt dye the death Man is no sooner borne into the world but deaths processe is out against him which is not long in executing As the weeke wasteth the candle the worme the wood and the moath the cloath so as the discreete woman of Tekoa said to Dauid Wee must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered vp againe The riuers haue recourse to the Sea and are swallowed vp in the deepe anâ— this is the end of them so is it with our liues they bend from their very birth to the bed of death we leape from our swathling cloathes into our winding sheeâ—e This is the end of all flesh Seneca compares this our life to an houre glasse and as the sand runnes out so runnes away the houre so as time runnes on our life runs away and as it was dust so to dust it returnes When two Ships sayle each by other it seemeth to