by words sometimes by way of Sermōs sometimes of Parables sometymes at meales sometimes in the working of miracles That he spake at large Ioan. 14. at that supper which was the last he made on earth and in the Garden Luc. 22. when he boyled himselfe in a bath of bloudy sweate vpon that Crosse when he left his most pretious life in the midst of cruell torments and most bitter scornes which brake his hart though indeed he dyed of pure loue to vs but yet withall that those words of his were lost that they had not beene kept vpon record or if they had been kept that now they could be found no more What labour I say would we not endure what charge would we not vndergoe what danger would we not incurre with ioy so that by meanes therof one word of his might be recouered and knowne And in that case how should we be still sounding it out with our tongues and on grauing it vpon our harts and entertayning our selues day night in the cogitatiō contēplation therof But (d) They haue little knowledge of God who grow not in loue and reuerēce to him the more they treat with him now it may be feared that plenty it selfe hath made vs poore and familiarity hath bred contempt and that our queasy stomacks are ouercome and gone through the only smell of such a sumptuous feast as we are inuited to whilst such a world of those very words which Christ our Lord did vse in holy Scripture are set before not only our mind but euen our very eyes and eares by our holy mother the Church If it be so let vs pray that heerafter such a great ingratitude may be farre from vs and let vs beginne to cast our harts at the feete of our Lord for so incomparable a fauour The Canon of this holy Scripture is therfore that which doth containe as hath been said the chiefest part of that diuine Doctrine which our Lord IESVS came to teach on earth I say the chiefest part for it is not al. But our Lord IESVS taught many things both by himselfe and by his Apostles which we are all obliged to beleeue and yet they are not expressed in holy Scripture And so he told his Apostles and Disciples That (c) The proofe of Traditiō Ioan. 16. he had many things to say to them but that then they were not capable therof And the Text it selfe doth also affirme that he conuersed with them betwene his Resurrection and Ascension discoursing by the space of Fourty dayes Luc. 1. of the kingdome of God which is his Church And it cannot be but that then he told thē of many of those very things wherof he had knowne them to be incapable till that tyme and yet the holy Scripture giues very little account therof The Baptisme of infants was not particularly taught in holy Scripture the Sacraments indeed were instituted by our B. Lord and S. Paul said 1. Cor. 11. he would giue particular orders in that of the blessed Sacrament when he should arriue with the Corinthians but what those orders might be we can know no otherwise then by the tradition of the holy Church The Sabaoth was translated from the Saturday to the Sunday Many Ceremonies of the old Law were abrogated and some of them permitted as namely (f) S. Paul did circumcise Timothy Act. 15. Circumcision with many others and some euen commaunded for a tyme as the abstayning from the eating of bloud or strangled meates and the like But how long or short that tyme was to be we haue no newes out of holy Scripture Nay this Canon of the very Scripture it selfe wherin we are so happy as hath bene said and whervpon the Aduersaries of the Church for the disguysing of their disobedience and pride will needs pretend to relye as vpon the entiere rule of Faith the sole Iudge of controuersies in religion is no way declared to vs by any one text of holy Scripture But it is only authorized in respect of vs by the voyce sentence of the holy Church Many many other instāces might be also giuē by the cleare light wherof it would appeare that the whole Doctrine of our Lord is not conteyned in holy Scripture Nor (g) In what sense the holy Scripture may improperly be said to contayne the whole Doctrine of Christ our Lord. can it be truly said to be all cōtayned there in any sense vnlesse it be because the holy Scripture doth plainely shew the markes of the true visible Church of Christ our Lord and doth teach that the decrees therof Matt. 18. are to be obeyed in all things without appeale Which Church because it possesseth and dispenseth that whole Dopositum of true Doctrine concerning the seruice of God which S. Paul did so recommend to S. Timothy the holy Scrpture 1. Tim. 6. may in some sense be sayd to containe the whole doctrine of Saluation because it sends vs to the Church which doth indeed particularly containe and teach it all But neuerthelesse it is certaine and we still confesse it agayne and agayne to the vnspeakeable ioy of our harts that the holy Scripture it selfe holds the greatest part of the Doctrine of Christ our Lord. And therfore as I was saying much of that which I deliuered before concerning the excellency of his Doctrine both may and ought to be most fitly applyed to holy Scripture And because there occurreth somewhat concerning the particular eminency of this holy booke which hath not particularly bene touched before I will heere the rather reflect vpon it because we may easily see thereby the dignity of our Lords loue therin How carefull we must be not to berash in the vse of holy Scripture and of the great obscurity therof CHAP. 37. FIRST therfore for our comfort and to the end that no place at all might be left for doubt he was pleased that it should be written by the spirit of God wherby (a) The infallible truth of holy Scripture it growes to be as true as truth it selfe And in this we are of so firme beliefe as that there is not one little in it for the defence wherof from the least aspersion of the least iniury or errour we are not willing to lay down a million of liues This is an homage which we neither owe nor pay to any other booke But to this it is most due both for the irrefragable truth which it carrieth and for the loue wherwith our Lord resolued that in cases which did so much concerne vs he would haue vs know his mind Yet heerin his meaning was that still for our relying vpon the true sense thereof we should be ruled by our betters For els how (b) Howsoeuer holy Scripture is infallibly true in it selfe we shall grow into errour by it vnlesse it be interpreted by the Church infallible soeuer the holy Scripture were in it selfe we might make it through
our Lord and in a word in re-acquiring for so much as can be done in this life that state of innocency and that perfect subordination of sense to reason and of reason to God which by Adam was lost in Paradise And if still it shall appeare to vs that euen supposing but ordinary grace this enterprise doe carry difficulty in the bosome of it yet consider at least that no great thing can be done without some difficulty Consider how (h) The infinite paynes vvhich is taken by vvorldly men for trash the souldier labours for a little pay The Courtier for a miserable suite the scholler for a smacke of vayne knowledge The Merchant for increase of gaine The husbandman for the hope of a good haruest The Sheepheard for the thriuing of his flocke Cōsider the torments which sicke and wounded men indure for the recouery of a little corporall health and the sensuall person for the obteyning of his bestiall pleasure And be thou sure to beleeue this most certaine truth that the perfect seruice of God deserues in no sort to be accounted painefull in respect of that deadly affliction and torment which the tyranny of our inordinate affections worldly pretences doth dayly and hourely put vs to And know this withall that still the strōger those passions grow the more vn worthy seruitude doe they also grow euery moment to hold thee in besides the mortall wounds which they oftē inflict vpon the soule wherin if it dye it is damned withall Wheras a true (i) The happines of a true seruant of God Disciple of this Doctrine of Christ out Lord hath the happines to study vnder the care and in the eye of an omnipotent Doctour He walkes perpetually secure because he is euer in conformity to the holy and wise wil of God He is dayly gayning vpon himselfe He is fed now and then with particular cōforts of Gods holy spirit in comparison wherof all the lying pleasures of flesh and bloud are no better then a smoky chimney to a tēder sight He findes himselfe generally to grow stated in a kind of quiet ioy and an immoueable peace of mind though this indeed admits of great variety of degrees more or lesse according to his indeauour and concourse with the diuine grace And although (k) The very desire of perfection is ◠good step towards it a man should neuer arriue to the very top of perfection yet that proportion wherof he cānot misse if he faithfully endeauour to procure it will be a liberall reward of greater paines then he can take For besides the contentment of being still in strife towards God he will find it seated in his very soule as a most certaine truth That the very meere desire of perfection if it be a sound one indeed giues such a sauoury kind of comfort as puts all the base contentment of this world to silence By this endeauour he shall also be defended not only from mortall but euen from willfull veniall sinnes And he is already possessed of as great security as can be had in this mortall life of ours that he is ordeyned for heauen in reward of that reuerence and obedience which heere he hath performed in learning and practising the diuine Doctrine of Christ our Lord which he came to teach vs with so infinite loue But yet further we ought to be his euerlasting slaues in that he was pleased that so principall a part of this very doctrine should not only be deliuered but should remaine recorded and written in holy Scripture for our instruction and comfort as partly we haue seen already and will yet appeare more particularly in the Chapter following Of the vnspeakeable Loue of our Lord Iesus in ordeyning that the greatest part of his diuine Doctrine should remaine in wryting and of the great benefit which growes to vs by the holy Scripture CHAP. 36. HOw clearly is our mercifull God as good as his word in fulfilling the promise which he was pleased to make to vs by the mouth of the Prophet Esay Isa 30. Non faciet auohere à te vltra Doctorem tuum erunt oculi tui videntes praeceptorem tuum c. and againe by the Prophet Ioel Filij Sion exultate laetamini in Domino Deo vestro quia dedit vobis Doctorem Iustitiae Our Lord will not make thy Doctour fly away any more and thine eyes shall see thy (a) A most tender expression of the loue of God in the teaching of man Teacher And thine eares shall heare the word of him who admonisheth thee behinde thy backe This is the way walke you in it and decline you neither to the right hand nor to the left Reioyce yee children of Sion and be ioyful in the Lord your God because he hath giuen you a Doctour of Iustice That God did giue vs this Doctour for the instruction of our soules we know by faith and we feele by grace and the Church his Spouse is dayly recomending it to our memory But (b) The holy Scripture doth most liuely represent Christ our Lord as it were to our very eyes that yet he was so to be heere as neuer to remoue euen as it were his visible instructing presence from vs this blessing is chiefly affoarded to vs by the holy Scripture For therby we are dayly and howerly told so many particulars of his sacred person how he lookt how he walkt how he spake how he groād how he wept how he prayed and how he preached so that besides his reall presence in the B. Sacrament for vpon that I shall reflect heereafter we esteeme our selues to haue him still euen personall after a sort amongst vs and to be as it were chayned with our eyes to that diuine countenance of his and vvith our eares to those heauenly vvords and vvith our harts to those immense benefits vvhich vve find him to haue povvred vpon our fore fathers and by them on vs. Our Lord forbid Psalm 32. that vve should be like that horse or mule which hath no vnderstanding but vvhen the Maister hath fed him full and fat doth abuse his care and giue him perhaps a kicke insteed of doing him painefull seruice yea and that for nothing else but because he had bene so liberally fed For euen such shall we be if the riches of Gods mercy towards vs should incline vs rather to a fastidious kind of contempt then to an obsequious reuerence respect If our (c) Consider well of this truth Lord IESVS had not bene so gratious as to inspire his seruants to write his story or to enable his Church to preserue it from the consumption of tyme and the Canker of Heresy and the inundation of Infidelity how willingly would we haue sould our selues into our shirts to haue obtayned so great a fauour at his hands If we should only haue knowne that when our Lord liued on earth he had conuersed with men had expressed himselfe to thē at large
which afterward will cost and can be only cured by penance It was also an act of excessiue charity in Christ our Lord to let him feed vpon the experience of his owne frailty that so hauing a resolution to make him the supreme Pastour of his Church and to giue him the keyes of pardoning Matt. 16. and reteyning sinnes he might easily pitty others since he had fallen into so deepe a pit himselfe and all others also might be kept very farre from presuming to confide in their owne vertue since euen S. Peter was not able to secure himselfe from growing worse But as for those (c) A defence of S. Peter from the reproach which sectaries would lay vpnn him Luc. 22. wicked people who in the hatred they haue to the Catholike Church would impute to the head therof that in this denyall of his he had lost his faith they are not so much as to be heard For the holy Scripture insinuates no such things but the very contrary since Christ our Lord himselfe declared how he had prayed already to his eternall Father that S. Peters faith might neuer faile and moreouer the voyce of reason and the streame of all the holy * Aug. de correp gra c. 8. Chryshom 81. in Matth. Theophilact in c. 22. Lucaeâ— alij passim Fathers doth condemne that errour And we see how soone he returned to bitter penance for his fault And it was farre from the loue of our Lord to suffer that this most excellent Apostle should fall out-right into infidelity who had neuer offended him before but venially and only out of too free a hart Nor euen now but by the meere mistaking of the confines of Grace and nature which were not so well set out till afterward by the comming of the holy Ghost And of this we are certaine that before he had loued our Lord most vnspeakably tenderly and at a clap he had left all the world (1) Matt. 9. for him and had cast himselfe into the very (2) Matt. 14 Sea to approach him and at the apprehension of our Lord he had drawne his (3) Ioan. 18. poore single sword in his defence against so many hundreds of Armed men and he had woÌ„ded one of the hoaâ—est of them it was nothing but euen (4) Mare 14. the very passion of loue to our Lord that seized his hart which could carry him so instantly into so apparaÌ„t danger as it must be for him to put himselfe in the high Priests howse when he was but then newly come from wounding his seruaÌ„t Malchus And though this sinne of denying our Lord IESVS were a very great one yet all the deuills of hell cannot make it more then of meere frailty and his pennance for it began almost at the very instant when it was committed and that continued till the last moment of his life At which tyme he gaue insteed of teares his bloud vpon a Crosse as our Lord had done for him but with his head turned downeward through humility And the holy Scripture sheweth Luc. 24. how our Lord appeared to him alone after his Resurrection we heare not that he once rebuked him for that former sinne And before his Ascension vve are very sure since the holy Ghost it selfe hath said so that our Lord making S. Peter declare the loue which he bare him at three seuerall tymes before the Apostles he gaue him the charge both of them and all the rest who would be either lambes or sheepe of his flocke Ioan. 15. Now since our Lord himselfe vvho vvas offended and vvho best can tell hovv deepely did so svveetly and so magnificently forgiue and forget S. Peters sinne it is but a signe of a cankered and malicious minde to be exagerating the same vpon al occasions And let them vvho are so insolent in taxing this Prince of the Apostles for his sinne of frailty in denying Christ our Lord vvho is the head Note at that tyme vvhen truth could be discerned but as by the light of a candle Let them I say take heed that dayly themselues be not committing farre greater sinnes against the same truth vvhilst they are not only denying but blaspheming and afflicting it in the body of Christ our Lord which is his Church vvhich truth Isalm 19. they yet may see as by the light of the Sunne For in she sunne God hath placed his Tabernacle vvhich S. Augustine vnderstandeth of his Church The vvicked Priests suborned false vvitnesses against our Lord but he vvould not so much as reproach them for it much lesse conuince them of levvd practice nor enen open his mouth vvhen it might any vvay haue bene in his ovvne discharge Only vvheÌ„ Cayphas coniured him in the name (d) The high seuerence which our Lord did carry to the name of God Matt 26. of God to say whether he were the Sonne of God or no both because he had the place of high Priest at that tyme and yet further for the high reuerence vvhich he carryed to the holy name of God his ansvvere vvas expresse and cleere though short and meeke That he was the sonne of God And heerpon they declared him to be vvorthy of death as a blasphemer O false painted face of the world how vayne and deceiptfull are thy iudgments and how many are there now a dayes who if they should see a Cayphas sit with great solemnity authority and attendance vpon the cause of Christ our Lord who were coÌ„temptibly staÌ„ding at a barre and should heere a Cayphas affirme that he were an ennemy to the word of thé Lord or the State would infallibly ioyne with him against our Lord be drawne by those vayne appearances to beleeue for the tyme that they said true But whatsoeuer the thought of the people was of Christ our Lord his enamoured hart did so deadly thirst after their good and ours vpon any termes as that he being God did not abhorro to be accounted a blasphemer of God so that by the applicatioÌ„ of that pretious merit to vs we might of slaues become the Sonnes of his eternall Father And (e) The loue of our Lord Iesus to vs made him easily ouercomâ— all difficulties Ibid. howsoeuer it was an vnspeakeable detestation of that thing which raigned in his most reuerent soule yet was his loue to the name and imputation therof in effect as vnspeakeable since the more deeply he had cause to be auerted from it the more aboundantly he deserued by it for vs. But the Priest cried our Blasphemy what need haue we now of any witnesses Those hypocryticall eyes were cast vp to heauen the garments were rent and our Lord without his answering any one word was esteemed and decreed by them all to be worthy of death We haue read of Saints who haue bene armed with patience against all other affronts but when they haue bene called Heretiques they could not chuse but breake their pace and declare
and fructifying Riuer and that of the other Saints as of inferiour streames So as all of theÌ„ deriue whatsoeuer good they haue from Christ our Lord. But as for others multae filiae congregauerÌ„t diuitias tu verò supergressa es vniuersas The Angells and Saints are all of them full of merits and celestiall graces but the Mother of our Lord God outstrips them all The prayses of the Blessed Virgin prosecuted by a testimony of S. Gregory and an entrance is made into the consideration of her diuine Vertuâ—s and first of her admirable Faith and Hope CHAP. 88. LET vs consider (a) Our B. Lady is far superiour to al Saints in Sanctity Greg. in 1. Reg. 1. what the holy S. Gregory saith to this purpose Potest Montis nomine Beatissima semper Virgo Maria Dei genitrix designari c. The euer most B. Virgin Mary the mother of God may be designed by the name of a Mountaine For a Mountain she was by the dignity of her election which exceeded all the altitude of any elected creature Was not Mary saith he a sublime Mountaine who to the end that she might arriue to conceaue the eternall Word did erect or rayse the high top of her merits euen vnto the Throne of the Deity aboue all the Quires of Angells For of the most superexcellent Dignity of this Mountaine Esay by way of Prophesy doth say In the latter dayes there shall be prepared in the top of the Mountaines the Mountaine of the house of our Lord. For this was a Mountaine in the top of the Mountaines because the altitude of Mary did shine aboue all Saints This I say Beda l. 2. Histor c. 2. is alleadged by the holy S. Gregory the great who by S. Bede is most worthily called the Apostle (b) A due prayse of S. Gregory of our Country whose high estimation deuotion to the sacred Virgin it is all reasoÌ„ that we should imbrace imitate Since he was the man vnder God who with most tender care and loue of him and vs coÌ„uerted vs in the person of our Progenitours from Paganisme to the faith of the Sonne of this Virgin And we may well reioyce in hauing such a Father and guide to follow whome we may iustly esteeme to haue bene one of the greatest Saints in the whole Church of God since the Apostles And perhaps it would trouble a man to set such another by him in all respects both for the great nobility of his birth the highest dignity of his calling the clarity of his wit the eminency of his learning his high contemplation in prayer his admirable humility his ardent charity imbracing with his loue such barbarous Nations so farre of and cherishing neere at hand all kind of Pilgrimes and poore people And lastly his most sweet inuincible patience and ioy in the midst of so many great calamities and Crosses as were imposed vpon him by wicked Princes by plagues by famine and by warre lastly by a body al loadeÌ„ with diseases and paines throughout all the course of his life togeather with a soule which was deeply wounded for all the sinnes of the world In so much as the holy Church hath all reason to say as she doth thus (c) Rom. Bren. infesto S. Greg. of him Admirabilia sunt quae dixit fecit scripsit decreuit praesertim infirma semper aegra valetudine It is an admirable thing to consider the things which he said which he did which he wrote and which he decreed especially being euer subiect to a body which was so weake and sickly But to returne and therby to clyme towards this Mountaine of ours wherby this Saint vnderstands our B. Lady it must first be graunted that the vertues are so neere of Kinne to one another as that it must breed no wonder if somewhat which I shall range vnder some one might be also reduced to some other head But this perpetuall Virgin was a very Mappa mundi (d) The B. Virgin is the very Mappe of vertues of the world of them all And as in a Mappe of the world the seuerall kingdomes therof are set out in seuerall colours that they may be discerned with greater ease so is it in the case of her diuine vertues as will be seene in our ponderation therof I will only with reuerence and admiration point out the chiefe that so by them we may contemplate the rest and these shall be her Faith Hope and Charity her Humility Purity and which includeth both Obedience PatieÌ„ce her most intiere Conformity to the will of God In all which vertues and in all the rest we belieue her to haue beene as perfect as S. Ambrose doth insinuate when he saith thus of her Lib. 2. de Virginitate Non tam vestigia pedis c. She seemed to grow in the degrees of vertue more swiftly then euen she could moue her feete For as much as (e) Her inexplicable Faith concerned her Faith she beleeued that supreme mystery of the B. Trinity which lay so hidden in the law of nature and was so little knowne euen in the tyme of the written law She had formerly vnderstood therof in the holy Scriptures but now vpon the words of the Angell she cleerly imbraced with her belefe the person of the Father from whome the Sonne was to be sent the person of the Sonne whome she was to conceaue the person of the holy Ghost who was to worke that high mystery in her Not only did she expresly belieue the mystery of the IncarnatioÌ„ of the Sonne of God which till that tyme had bene but shadowed vnder types and figures but she beleeued that in coÌ„teauing him herselfe should both continue a Virgin and yet be a mother Al this more theÌ„ this she beleeued that before the Ghospel was receaued before her Sonne was borne into the world and much more before he had wrought any miracles without demaÌ„ding any signe or proofe therof Iud. 6. Luc. 8. as Gedeon Zacharias had done And she beleeued theÌ„ with a far-far greater certainty and clarity of Faith then any thing had euer bene beleeued before Her Faith in fine was so great as that she was canonized for it by the holy Ghost in the mouth of S. Elizabeth And S. Augustine was not affraid to say Aug. de S. Virg. principio that although to be chosen for the mother of God was a kind of infinite felicity and fauour yet it (f) Our B. Lady was more happy in her great Faith theÌ„ in being the mother of God S. Tho. 3. p. q. 27. art 4. ad 2. was a greater to haue bin inriched by the hand of God with such a cleere and liuely Faith For by vertue of this Faith she also continued to belieue and to assist at the Passion of her Sonne our Lord when his owne people crucified him and when his Apostles were fled away as hath bene seene