it is very hard to avoid the curiosity of a woman who seeking his presence was thereby certain to find the full point of her felicity A very small beam of illumination reflecting upon her carried her out of her Countrey and a little spark of light brought her to find out the clear streams of truth We must not be tired with seeking God and when we have found him his presence should not diminish but increase our desire to keep him still We are to make entrance into our happinesse by taking fast hold of the first means offered for our salvation and we must not refuse or lose a good fortune which knocks at our door 2. Great is the power of a woman when she applies her self to virtue behold at one instant how one of that sex assails God and the devil prevailing with the one by submission and conquering the other by command And he which gave the wide Sea arms to contain all the world findes his own chains of a prayer which himself did inspirâ—â— She draws unto her by a pious violence the God of all strength such was the fervency of her prayer such was the wisdome of heâ— answers and such the faith of her words As he passed away without speaking she hath the boldnesse to call him to her whiles he iâ— silent she prayes when he excuseth himself she adores him when he refuseth her suit she draws him to her To be short she iâ— stronger then the Patriarch Iacob for wheâ—â— he did wrestle with the Angel he returned lame from the conflict but this woman after she had been so powerfull with God returns strait to her house there to see her victories and possesse her conquests 3. Mark with what weapons she overcame the greatest of all conquerours Chatity drew her from home to seek health for her daughter because like a good mother she loved her not with a luxurious love but in her affliction feeling all her dolours by their passionate reflection upon her heart Her faith was planted upon so firm a rock that amongst all the appearances of dispair her hope remained constant Humility did effect that the name of Dog was given her for a title of glory she making profit of injuries and converting into honour the greatest contempt of her person Her words were low and humble but her faith was wondrous high since in a moment she chased away the devil saved her daughter and changed the word Dog into the name of a Sheep of Christs flock as Sedulius writes Perseverance was the last of her virtues in the Combat but it was the first which gained her Crown If you will imitate her in these four virtues Love Faith Humility and Perseverance they are the principal materialls of which the body of your perfection must be compounded Aspiration O Jesus Christ Son of David I remember well that thy forefather did by his harp chase away a devil from Saul And wilt not thou who art the Father of all blessed harmonies drive away from me so many little spirits of Affections Appetites and Passions which trouble and discompose my heart This poor soul which is the breath of thy mouth and daughter of thine infinite bounties is like the Sun under a cloud possessed with many wicked spirits but it hath none worse then that of self-love Look upon me O Lord with thine eyes of mercy and send me nor away with silence since thou art the Word Rather call me Dog so that I may be suffered to gather up the crums which fall from thy table Whatsoever proceeds from thy mouth is sacred and must be taken by me as a relick If thou say I shall obtain my desire I say I will have no other then what thou inspirest and I can be contented with nothing but what shall be thy blessed will and pleasure The Gospell upon Friday the first week in Lent St. Iohn 15. Of the Probatick Pond AFter these things there was a festival day of the Iews and Iesus went up to Ierusalem and there is at Ierusalem upon Probatica a Pond which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida having five porches In these lay a great multitude of sick persons of blind lame withered expecting the stirring of the water And an Angel of our Lord descended at a certain time into the pond and the water was stirred And he that had gonâ— down first into the pond after the stirring of the water was made whose of whatsoever infirmity he was holden And there was a certain man there that had been eight and thirty years in his infirmity Him when Iesus had seen lying and knew that he had now a long time he saith to him Wilt thou be made whole The sick man answered him Lord I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pond for whiles I come another goeth down before me Iesus saith to him Arise take up thy bed and walk And forthwith he was made whole and he took up his bed and walked And it was the Sabbath that day The Iews therefore said to him that was healed it is the Sabbath thou mayest not take up thy bed He answered them he that made me whole he said to me take up thy bed and walk They asked him therefore What is that man that said to thee take up thy bed and walk But he that was made whole knew not who it was For Iesus shrunk aside from the multitude standing in the place Afterward Iesus findeth him in the temple and said to him Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest some worse thing chance to thee That man went his way and told the Iews that it was Iesus that made him whole Moralities 1. ALl the world is but one great Hospitall wherein so many persons languish expecting the moving of the water the time of their good fortune The Angels of earth vvhich govern our fortunes goe not so fast as our desires But Iesus vvho is the great Angell of councell is alwaies ready to cure our maladies to support our weaknesse and make perfect our virtues We need only to follow his motions and inspirations to meet with everlasting rest It is a lamentable thing that some can patiently expect the barren favours of men twenty or thirty years together and yet will not continue three dayes in prayer to seek the inestimamable graces of God 2. The first step we must make toward our salvation is to desire it That man is worthy to be eternally sick who fears nothing else but the losse of his bodily health Men generally do all what they can possibly to cure their corporal infirmities they abide a thousand vexations which are but too certain to recover a health which is most uncertain And as for the passions of the mind some love the Feavers of their own love their worldly ambition above their own life They suck the head of a venemous aspick are killed by the tongue of a viper They will not part with that
which kills them and if you take from them the worm which makes them itch or the executioner who doth indeed torment them they believe you take away the chiefest of their felicity Happy is that soul which holds nothing so dear in this world but will forsake it willingly to find God and will spare nothing to gain Paradise 3. There is nothing more common nor so rare as man The world is full of vitious and unprofitable men But to find one very compleat in all good things is to find a direct Phenix There are more businesses without men then men without businesses For how many charitable employments might many lazy and idle persons find out So many poor mens affairs continue at a stand so many miserable creatures languish so many desolate persons long to find some man who with little trouble to himself would take some small care of their affairs and make up a little piece of their fortunes Jesus is the man of God desired of all ages to him we must apply our selves since he is both life and truth By him we may come to all happiness by him we may live in the fountains streams of life in him we may contemplate the chiefest of all truths Aspirations WHat patience have I in committing sins and how impatient am I in my sufferings for them I am ever most readie to execute vice unwilling to abide the punishment O good God there are many years in which I have retained an inclination to this disorder to that sin My soul is bound as it were with Iron chains in this unhappy bed wil there be no Angel to move the water for me But art not thou the Lord and Prince of Angels Then I most humbly beseech thee O blessed Saviour do thou command and by thy only word my affairs wil go well and receive a happy dispatch my body will become sound my soul innocent my heart at rest and my life an eternal Glory The Gospell upon Saturday the first week in Lent and the Sunday following out of St. Matthew 17. Of the Transfiguration of our Lord. ANd after six dayes Iesus taketh unto him Peter and Iames and Iohn his brother and bringeth them into a high mountain apart and he was transfigured before them And his face did shine as the Sun and his garments became white as Snow And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him And Peter answering said to Iesus Lord it is good for us to be here if thou wilt let us make here three tabernacles one for Thee one for Moses and one for Elias And as he was yet speaking behold a bright cloud overshadowed them And loe a voice out of the Cloud saying This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him And the Disciples hearing it fell upon their face and were sore afraid And Iesus came and touched them and he said to them Arise and fear not And they lifting up their eyes saw no body but onely Iesus And as they descended from the mount Iesus commanded them saying Tell the vision to no body till the Son of man be risen from the dead Moralities 1. THe words of the Prophet Osee are accomplished the nets and toils planted upon mount Tabor not to catch birds but hearts The mountain which before was a den for Tigers and Panthers according to the Story is now beautified by our Saviour and becomes a place full of sweetness and ravishments Jesus appears transfigured in the high robes of his glory The cloud made him a pavilion of gold the Sun made his face shine like it self The heavenly Father doth acknowledge his Son as the true Prince of glory Moses and Elias both appear in brightness the one bearing the Tables of the Law and the other carried in a burning Chariot as Origen saith which made the Apostles know him For the Hebrews had certain figures of the most famous men of their Nation in books They both as Saint Luke saith were seen in glory and Majesty which fell upon them by reflection of the beames which came from the body of Jesus who is the true fountain of brightness The Apostles lose theÌ„selves in the deliciousness of this great spectacle and by â—eeing more then they ever did desired to lose their eyes O that the world is most contemptible to him that knows how to value God as he ought So many fine powders so many pendents and favours of Glasse so many Towers and Columns of durt plastered over with gold are followed by a million of Idolaters To conclude so many worldly â—ewels are like the empty imaginations of a sick spirit not enlightened by the beams of truth Let us rely upon the word saith Saint Augustine which remains for ever while men passe like the water of a fountain which hides it self in the Spring shews it self in the stream and loseth it self at last in the Sea But God is alwayes himself there needs no Tabernacle made by the hands of man to remain with him for in Paradise he is both the God and the Temple 2. Tabor is yet but a small patern we must get all the piece we must go to the Palace of Angels and brightnesse where the Tabernacles are not made by the hands of men There we shall see the face of the living God clearly and at full There the beauties shall have no vails to hide them from us Our being shall have no end Our knowledges will not be subject to errour nor our loves and affections to displeasure O what a joy will it be to enjoy all and desire nothing to be a Magistrate without a successour to be a King with out an enemy to be rich without covetousnesse to negotiate without money and to be everliving without fear of death 3. But who can get up to this mountain except he of whom the Prophet speaks who hath innocent hands and a clean heart who hath not received his soul of God in vain to bury it in worldly pelf To follow Jesus we must transform our selves into him by hearing and following his doctrin since God the Father proposeth him for the teacher of mankind and commands us to hearken unto him We must follow his examples since those are the originalls of all virtues The best trade we can practise in this world is that of transfiguration and we may do it by reducing our form to the form of our Lord and walking upon earth like men in heaveÌ„ Then will the Sun make us have shining faces when purity shall accompany all our actions and intentions Our clothes shall be as white as snow when we shall once become innocent in our conversations we shal then be ravished like the Apostles and after we have been at mount Tabor we shall be blind to the rest of the world and see nothing but Jesus It is moreover to be noted that our Saviouâ— did at that time entertain himself with discourse of his great future
that such proceedings are abominable before God there can be no better devotion in the world then to have a true and right seeling of God to live in honesty not sophisticated but such as is produced out of the pure lights of nature The conscience of hypocrites is a spiders web whereof no garment can ever be made Hypocrisie is a very subtil fault and a secret poison which kills other virtues with their own swords 2. Iesus is our great Master who hath abridged six hundred and thirteen Precepts of the old Testament within the law of love Do but love saith Saint Augustine and do what you vvill but then your love must go to the right fountain which is the heart of God It is in him you must cherish and honour your nearest friends and for him also you are bound to love even your greatest enemies Be not afraid to shew him your heart stark naked that he may pierce it vvith his arrows for the wounds of such an archer are much more precious then rubies You shall gain all by loving him and death it self vvhich comes from this love is the gate of life If you love him truly you vvilll have the three conditions of love which are to serve him to imitate him and to suffer for him You must serve him vvith all fidelitie in your prayers and all your actions you must imitate him vvhat possibly you can in all the passages of his life And you must hold it for a glory to participate vvith a valiant patience all the fruits of his Cross Aspirations O Great God vvho judgest all hearts and doest penetrate the most secret retiremēts of our consciences drive away from me all counterfeit Pharisaical devotions which are nothing but shews cannot subsist but by false apparencies O my God my Iesus make me keep the Law of thy love and nothing else It is a yoke vvhich brings vvith it more honor then burden It is a yoke which hath wings but no heavinesse Make me serve thee O my Master since thou beholdest the services of all the Angels under thy feet Make me imitate thee O my Redeemer since thou art the originall of all perfections make me suffer for thee O King of the afflicted and that I may not know what it is to suffer by knowing what it is to love The Gospel on Thursday the third week in Lent S. Luke 4. Jesus cured the Fever of Simons Mother in Lavv. ANd Iesus rising up out of the Synagogue entred into Simons house and Simons wives mother was holden with a great Fever and they besought him for her And standing over her he commanded the Fever and it lest her And incontinent rising she ministred to them And when the Sun was down all that had diseased of sundrie maladies brought them to him But he imposing hands upon every one cured them And Devils went out from many crying and saying that thou art the Son of God And rebuking them he suffered them not to speak that they knew he was Christ And when it was day going forth he went into a Desart place and the multitudes sought him and came even unto him and they held him that he should not depart from them To whom he said That to other Cities also must I Evangelize the Kingdome of God because therefore I was sent And he was preaching in the Synagogues of Galilee Moralities 1. A Soul within a sick body is a Princesse that dwels in a ruinous house Health is the best of all temporall goods without which all honors are as the beams of an eclipsed Sun Riches are unpleasing and all pleasures are languishing All joy of the heart subsists naturally in the health of the body But yet it is true that the most healthfull persons are not alwaies the most holy What profit is there in that health which serves for a provocation to sinne for an inticement to worldly pleasure and a gate to death The best souls are never better nor stronger then when their bodies are sick their diseases are too hard for their mortall bodies but their courage is invincible It is a great knovvledge to understand our own infirmities Prosperity keeps us from the view of them but adversity shews them to us We should hardly know what death is if so many diseases did not teach us every day that we are mortall Semiramis the proudest of all Queens had made a law whereby she was to be adored in stead of all the gods but being humbled by a great sicknesse she acknowledged her self to be but a woman 2. All the Apostles pray for this holy woman which was sick but she herself asked nothing nor did complain of any thing She leaves all to God who is only Master of life and death She knew that he which gives his benefits with such bounty hath the wisdome to chuse those which are most fit for us How do we know whether we desiring to be delivered from a sicknesse do not aske of God to take away a gift which is very necessary to our salvation That malady or affliction which makes us distaste worldly pleasures gives us a disposition to taste the joyes of heaven 3. How many sicke persons in the heate of a Feaver promise much and when they are well again perform nothing That body which carried all the marks of death in the face is no sooner grown strong by health which rejoyceth the heart fils the vains with bloud but it becomes a slave to sin The gifts of God being abused serve for nothing but to make it wicked and so the soul is killed by recovery of the flesh But this pious woman is no sooner on foot but she serves the Author of life and employes all those limbs which Jesus cured of the Feaver to prepare some provisions to refresh him He that will not use the treasures of heaven with acknowledge ment deserves never to keep them When a man is recovered from a great sicknesse as his body is renewed by health so on the other side he should renew his spirit by virtue The body saith Saint Maximus is the bed of the soul where it sleeps too easily in continuall health and forgets it self in many things But a good round sicknesse doth not onely move but turn over this bed which maketh the soul awake to think on her salvation and make a total conversion Aspirations O Word Incarnate all Feavers and Devils flie before the beams of thy redoubted face Must nothing but the hea◠of my passions alwayes resist thy powers and bounties To what maladies and indispositions am I subject I have more diseases in my soul then limbs in my body My weaknesse bends under thy scourges and yet my sinnes continue still unmoveable Stay O benigne Lord stay thy-self near me Cast upon my dull and heavy eyes one beam from those thine eyes which make all storms clear and all disasters happy Command that my weaknesse leave me and that I may arise to perform my
God as they doe who seek for health by remedies which are a thousand times worse then the disease But they addressed themselves to the living God the God of life and death to drive away death And to recover life they were content only to shew the woūd to the faithfull friendship of the Physician Without prescribing any remedies for that is better left to his providence then committed to our passion 3. He deferres his cure to raise from death The delay of Gods favours is not alwaies a refusall but sometimes a double liberality the vows of good men are paid with usury It was expedient that Lazarus should die that he might triumph over death in the triumph of Iesus Christ It is here that we should alwayes raise high our thoughts by considering our glory in the state of resurrection he would have us believe it not onely as it is a lesson of Nature imprinted above the skies upon the plants or elements of the world and as a doctrine which many ancient Philosophers had by the light of nature but also as a belief which is fast joyned to the faith we have in the Divine providence which keeps our bodies in trust under its seal within the bosome of the earth so that no prescription of time can make laws to restrain his power having passed his word and raised up Lazarus who was but as one grain of seed in respect of all posterity 4. Iesus wept over Lazarus thereby to weep over us all Our evils were lamentable could never sufficiently be deplored without opening a fountain of tears within heaven and within the eyes of the Son of God This is justly the river which comes from that place of all pleasure to water Paradise How could those heavenly tears come from any other then the place of all delight since they issued from a brain and from eyes which were united to the divinity And how should they not water Paradise since for so many ages they have flowed over the Church for producing the fruits of justice The balme of Egypt could not grow without water of that well Which was comonly called the fountain of Jesus because the blessed Virgin had there washed the clothes of her dear Sonne And we have no Odour of virtue nor good conversation which is not directly barren except it be endued with the merit of our Saviours tears Aspirations O Eyes of my Saviour from whence the sun receives his clearest light fair eyes which onely deserve eternall joyes and delights Why should you this day be moistened with tears Thou didst give me O onely love of my heart the bloud of thy soul before thou shedst that of thy body There are so many things to make me weep and I feel them so little that if thy tears do not weep for me I shall alwayes be miserable Water then O my sweet Master the barrennesse of my soul from that fountain of blessing which I have opened within thine eyes and heart I have opened it by my sins and let it I beseech thee blesse me by thine infinite mercies The Gospel upon Saturday the fourth week in Lent S. Iohn 8. Upon our Saviours words I am the light of the world AGain therefore Iesus spake to them saying I am the light of the world he that followeth me walketh not in darknesse but shall have the light of life The Pharisees therefore said to him Thou givest testimony of thy self thy testimony is not true Iesus answered and said to them although I do give testimony of my self my testimony is true because I know whence I came and whether I go but you know not whence I came or whether I go You judge according to the flesh I do not judge any man And if I doe judge my judgement is true because I am not alone but I and he that sent me the Father And in your Law it is written that the testimony of two men is true I am he that give testimony of my self and he that sent me the Father giveth testimony of me They said therefore to him Where is thy Father Iesus answered Neither me do you know nor my Father if you did know me perhaps you might know my Father also These words Iesus spake in the Treasury teaching in the Temple and no man apprehended him because his hour was not yet come Moralities 1. THere is in the blessed Trinity a communicating light to which nothing is communicated another light which is communicative and communicated and a third light which is communicated but not communicating The first is the heavenly Father who gives but takes nothing The second is that of the Son who takes from his Father and gives to the Holy Ghost all that can be given The third is the Holy Ghost which receives equally from the Father the Son and doth produce nothing in the Trinity But Jesus illuminating from all eternity this state for ever to be adored did vouchsafe to descend into the Countrey of our darknesse to scatter it by his brightnesse It is he that hath thrown down the Crocodiles and Bars from profane Altars who hath broken so many Idols who hath overthrown so many Temples of the adulterers and murdering gods to plant the honours of his heavenly Father He hath invested the world during so many ages with the shining of his face He doth not cease to give light nor to kindle in our hearts many inspirations which are like so many stars to conduct us to the fountain of all our happinesse You are very blind if you doe not see this and much more miserable if you despise it 2. It is most dangerous to do as the Jews did to speak every day to the light and yet love their own darknesse Screech-owls find holes and nights to keep themselves from day which they cannot abide But he that flies from the face of God where can he find darknesse enough to hide himself When he shall be within the gulf of sin his own conscience will light up a thousand torches to see his punishments It is the worst of all mischiefs to pay for the contempt of the fountain of light by suffering eternall darknesse 3. Let us behold the conversation of Jesus Christ as a sea mark stickt all over with lights his life gives testimony of his Sanctity his miracles publish his power his law declares his infinite wisdome his Sanctity gives us an example to imitate his power gives the strength of Authority to make him the more readily obeyed and from his wisdome faith is given us to regulate and govern our belief Aspirations O My Lord Jesus the spirit of all beauties and the most visible of all lights what do the eyes of my soul if they be not always busied in the contemplation of thy brightnesse When I find thou art departed from me methinks I am buried within my self and that my soul is nothing else but a Sepulchre of terrours phantomes and deaths But when thou returnest by thy visits
the day of his Ascension did place our Soveraigne good Onely Serpents and covetous men desire to sleep among treasures as Saint Clement saith But the greatest riches of the world is poverty free from Covetousnesse Aspirations I Seek thee O invincible God within the Abysse of thy brightnesse and I see thee through the vail of thy creatures Wilt thou alwaies be hidden from me Shall I never see thy face which with a glimpse of thy splendour canst make Paradise I work in secret but I know thou art able to reward me in the light A man can lose nothing by serving thee and yet nothing is valuable to thy service for the paine it selfe is a sufficient recompense Thou art the food of my fastings and the cure of my infirmities What have I to do with Moles to dig the earth like them and there to hide treasures Is it not time to close the earth When thou doest open heaven and to carry my heart where thou art since all my riches is in thee Doth not he deserve to be everlastingly poor who cannot be content with a God so rich as thou art The Gospel upon the first Thursday in Lent S. Matthew 18. of the Centurions words O Lord I am not worthy ANd when he was entered into Caphearnaum there came unto him a Centurion beseeching him and saying Lord my boy lieth at home sick of the palsie and is sore tormented And Iesus saith to him I will come and cure him And the Centurion making answer said Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof but onely say the word and my boy shall be healed For I also am a man subject to Authority having under me souldiers and I say to this go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and be doth it And Iesus hearing this marvelled and said to them that followed him Amen I say to you I have not found so grea faith in Israel And I say to you that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heaven but the children of the kingdoms shall becast out into the exteriour darknesse there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And Iesus said to the Centurion go and as thou hast believed be it done unto thee And the boy was healed in the same houre Moralities 1. OUr whole Salvation consists in two principals The one is in our being sensible of God the other in our moving toward him the first proceeds from faith the other comes of charity other virtues O what a happy thing it is to follow the example of this good Centurion by having such elevated thoughts of the Divinity and to know nothing of God but what he is To behold our heavenly father within this great family of the world who effects all things by his single word Creates by his power governs by his councell orders by his goodness this great universality of all things The most insensible creatures have ears to hear him Feavers and tempests are part of that running camp which marcheth under his Standard They advance and retire themselves under the shadow of his command he onely hath power to give measures to the heavens bounds to the sea to joyn the east and west together in an instant and to be in all places where his pleasure is understood 2. O how goodly a thing it is to go unto him like this great Captain To go said I Nay rather to flie as he doth by the two wings of charity and humility His charity made him have a tender care of his poor servant to esteem his health more dear then great men do the rarest pieces in their Cabinets He doth not trust his servants but take the charge upon himselfe making himself by the power of love a servant to him who by birth was made subject to his command What can be said of so many Masters and Mistresses now adayes who live alwayes slaves to their passions having no care at all of the Salvation health or necessities of their servants as if they were nothing else but the scumme of the world They make great use of their labours and service which is just but neglect their bodies and kill their soules by the infection of their wicked examples Mark the humility of this souldier who doth not thinke his house worthy to be enlightened by one sole Glimpse of our blessed Saviours presence By the words of Saint Augustine we may say he made himself worthy by believing and declaring himself so unworthy yea worthy that our Saviour should enter not only into his house but into his very soul And upon the matter he could not have spoken with such faith and humility if he had not first enclosed in his heart him whom he durst not receive into his house 3 The Gentiles come near unto God and the Iews go from him to teach us that ordinarily the most obliged persons are most ungratefull and disesteem their benefactpurs for no other reason but because they receive benefits daily from them If you speak courteously to them they answer churlishly and in the same proportion wherein you are good you make them wicked therefore we must be carefull that we be not so toward God Many are distasted with devotion as the Israelites were with Manna All which is good doth displease them because it is ordinary And you shall finde some who like naughty grounds cast up thorns where roses are planted But we have great reason to sâ—ar that nothing but Hell fire is capable to punish those who despise the Graces of God and esteem that which comes from him as a thing of no value Aspirations O Almighty Lord who ' doest govern all things in the family of this world and dost binde all insensible creatures by the bare sound of thy voice in a chaine of everlasting obedience Must I onely be still rebellious against thy will Feavers and Palsies have their ears for thee and yet my unruly spirit is not obedient Alas alas this family of my heart is ill governed It hath violent passions my thoughts are wandering my reason is ill obeyed Shall it never be like the house of this good Centurion where every thing went by measure because he measured himself by thy commandments O Lord I wil come resolutely by a profound humility an inward feeling of my self since I am so contemptible before thine eyes I will come with Charity towards these of my houshold and toward all that shall need me O God of my heart I beseech thee let nothing from henceforth move in me but onely to advance my coming toward thee who art the beginning of all motions and the onely repose of all things which move The Gospel for the first Friday in Lent S. Mat. 5. Wherein we are directed to pray for our Enemies YOu have heard that it was said thou shaâ—e love thy neighbour
his wickednesse for he is just like a fish that playes with the baite when the hook sticks fast in his throat We must waite and â—ttend for help from heaven patiently withâ—ut being tired even till the fourth which is is the last watch of the night All which proceeds from the hand of God comes ever in fit time and that man is a great gainer by his patient attendance who thereby gets nothing but perseverance 3. They know Jesus very ill that take him for a Phantome or an illusion and cry out for fear of his presence which should make them most rejoyce So do those souls which are little acquainted with God who live in blindenesse and make much of their own darknesse Let us learn to discerne God from the illusions of the world The tempest ceaseth when he doth approach and the quietnesse of our heart is a sure marke of his presence which fils the soul with splendour and makes it a delicious Garden He makes all good wheresoever he comes and the steps which his feet leave are the bounties of his heart To touch the Hem of his Garment cures all that are sick to teach us that the forms which cover the blessed Sacrament are the fringes of his holy humanity which cures our sins Aspirations O Lord my soul is in night and darknesse and I feel that thou art far from me What Billows of disquiet arise within my heart what idle thoughts which have been too much considered Alas most redoubted Lord and Father of mercy canst thou behold from firm land this poor vessel which labours so extreamly being deprived of thy most amiable presence I row strongly but can advance nothing except thou come into my soul Come O my adored Master walk upon this tempestuous Sea of my heart ascend into this poor Vessell say unto me take courage It is I. Be not conceited that I will take thee for an illusion for I know thee too well by thy powers and bounties to be so mistaken The least thought of my heart will quiet it self to adore thy steps Thou shalt raigne within me thou shalt disperse my cares thou shalt recover my decayed senses thou shalt lighten my understanding thou shalt inflame my will thou shalt cure all my infirmities And to conclude thou only shalt work in me and I will be wholly thine The Gospel upon the first Sunday in Lent S. Matthew the 4. Of our Saviours being tempted in the Desart THen Iesus was led of the spirit into the Desart to be tempted of the Devill and when he had fasted fourty dayes and fourty nights afterward he was hungry And the tempter aproached and said to him If thou be the Sonne of God command that these stones be made bread Who answered and said it is written not in bread alone doth man live but in every word that procedeth from the mouth of God Then the Devil took him up into the holy City and set him upon the pinacle of the Temple and said to him If thou be the son of God cast thy self down for it is written that he will give his Angels charge of thee and in their hands shall they hold thee up lest perhaps thou knock thy foot against a stone Iesus said to him again It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Again the Devil took him up into a very high mountain and he shewed him all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them and said to him all these will I give thee if falling down thou wilt adore me Then Iesus saith to him avant Satan for it is written the Lord thy God shalt thou a dore and him only shalt thou serve When the Divil left him and behold Angels came and ministred to him Moralities 1. IEsus suffered himself to be tempted saith Saint Augustine to the end he might serve for a Mediatour for an example for a remedy to work our victory over all temptations We must fight on his side Our life is a continuall warfare and our dayes are ChampioÌ„s which enters into the lists There is no greater temptation then to have none at all Sleeping water doth nourish poyson Motion is the worlds soul fighting against temptations is the soul of virtues and gloâ—y doth spring and bud out of tribulations Virtue hinders not temptation but surmount it Jesus fasted saith the ordinary Glosse that he might be tempted is tempted because he did fast He fasted fourty dayes and then was hungry he did eat with his Disciples the space of fourty dayes after his resurrection without any more necessity of meat then the Sun hath of the earths vapours to make us thereby know that it onely appertained to him to teach that great secret how to manage vvant and abundance by vvich S. Paul vvas glorified 2. The first victory over a temptation is tâ— knovv that vvhich tempts us Some temptations are gay smiling at their beginning as those of love and pleasure vvhich end in terrible bitter stormes Others are troublesome and irksome Others doubt full and intricate Others rapide and sudden vvhich cease upon their prey like an Eagle Others are close and catching These are the snares of Satan vvho fomes like a Bore to arsike a Lion and hisseth like a Serpent We should alvvayes have an eye ready to mark from whence the temptation comes whither it tends what is the root of it what the course what the progresse and what power it may have over our spirit 3. Solitude of heart fasting prayer the word of God are weapons of an excellent temper which the word incarnate teacheth us to use in this conflict These things are to be used with discretion by the counsell of a good directour to whom a man must declare all his most secret thoughts and bear a breast of Christall toward him with a firm purpose to let him see all the inward motions of his heart It is also good to note here that our Lord would expresly be tempted in that Desart which is between Jerusalem and Jericho where the Samaritan mentioned in the parable did poure wine and oyl into the sores of the poor wounded man to teach us that by his combat he came to cure the wounds of Adam and all his race in the very place where they were received 4. Sin is killed by flying the occasions of it Absence resistance coldnesse silence labour diversion have overcome many assaults of the enemy Somtimes a Spiders web is strong enough to preserve chastity at other times the thick walls of Semiramis are not sufficient God governs all and a good will to concur with him is a strong assurance in all perils and it will keep us untoucht amidst the flames of lust 5. Since it imports us so much to fight valiantly let us bring the hearts of Lions Where is our Christianity if we do not give testimony of it to God both by our sidelity and courage How many Martyrs have been rosted and broild because
they would not speak one ill word What honour can you expect by yielding at the first entrance to a temptation Looke not upon the violence of it but contemplate the Crown which you should gain by conquering it think at your entrance how you will come off and know for certain that he who truly considers the consequence of a wicked action will never begin it 6. Lent is the Spring time for sanctified resolutions it mortifies the body that the spirit may triumph it is a time of grace which tends to salvation and mercy It imports extreamly to commend all to God at the beginning to sanctifie this fasting which is a part of our devotion we must abstaine from flesh be conteÌ„t with one meal at seasonable hours without making over large collations except age infirmity or weaknesse labour or necessity of other functions shall dispence with our diet for those who are unable to fast suffer more by their disability then others do by fasting It is good to follow the counsell of Athanasius who adviseth to eat late and little and at a table where there is but one sort of meat We must also fast by abstinence from vice For to weaken our body and yet nourish our naughty passions is to fast as the Devils do who eat nothing and yet devour the world by the rage of their malice Sobriety is a stream which waters all virtues Our soul and body are as the scales of a ballance if you pull down the one you raise up the other and if you tame your flesh it makes the Spirit raign govern Aspirations O Most mercifull Lord Father and Protectour of all my life how great are the temptations and snares vvhereunto I am subject vvhen I eat drink sleep vvhen I do business vvhen I am both in conversation solitude Whither shall this poor soul goe which thou hast thrown into a body so frail in a world so corrupt and amongst the assaults of so many pernitious enemies Open O Lord thine eyes for my guidance and compassionate my infirmities without thee I can do nothing and in thee I can do all that I ought Give me O Lord a piercing eye to see my danger and the wings of an Eagle to flie from it or the heart of a Lion to fight valiantly that I may never be wanting in my dutie and fidelity to thee I owe all that I am or have to thy gracions favour and I will hope for my salvation not by any proportion of my own virtues which are weak and slender but by thy boundlesse liberalities which onely do crown all our good works The Gospel upon Munday the first week in Lent out of S. Matthew 25. Of the Judgement day ANd when the Sonne of man shall come in his Majesty and all the Angels with him then shall he sit upon the seat of his Majesty And all nations shall be gathered together before him and he shall separate them one from another as the Pastour separateth the sheep from the goats And shall set the sheep at his right hand but the goats at his left Then shall the King say to them that shall be at his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father possesse you the kingdom prepared for yoâ— from the foundation of the world For I was hungred and you gave me to eat I was athirst and you gave me to drink I was a stranger and you took me in naked and you covered me sick and you visited me I was in prison and you came to me Then shall the just answer him saying Lord when did we see theâ— an hungred and fed thee a thirst and gave thee drink and when did wee see thee a stranger and took thee in or naked and covered thee or when did we see thee sick or in prison and came to thee And the King answering shall say to them Amen I say to you as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren you did it to me Then shall he say â—o them also that shall be at his left hand Get you away from me you cursed into fire everlasting which was prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungred and you gave me not to eate I was a thirst and you gave me not to drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and you covered me not sick and in prison and you did not visit me Then they also shall answer him saying Lord when did we see thee an hungred or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to thee Then he shall answer them saying Amen I say to you as long as you did it not to one of these lesser neither did you it to me And these shall go into punishment everlasting but the just into life everlasting Moralities 1. BEhold here a Gospel of great terrour where our spirit like the Dove of Noah is placed upon the great deluge of Gods wrath and knows not where to find footing Every thing is most dreadfull But what can be more terrible then the certainty of Gods judgement joyned with the great uncertainty of the hour of our death It is an unchangeable decree that we must all be presented before the high Tribunall of the living God to render a just account of all which our soul hath done while it was joyned with our body as we are taught by S. Paul We must make an account of our time spent of our thoughts words actions of that we have done and that we have omitted of life death and of the bloud of Jesus Christ and thereupon receive a judgement of everlasting life or death All men know that this must certainely be done but no man knows the hour or moment when it shall be So many clocks strike about us every day yet none can let us know the hour of our death 2. O how great is the solitude of a soul in her separation from so many great inticements of the world wherein many men live and in an instant to see nothing but the good or ill we have done one either side us what an astonishment will it be for a man suddenly to see all the actions of his life as upon a piece of Tapistree spred before his eyes where his sins will appear like so many thorns so many serpents so many venemous beasts Where will then be that cozening vail of reputation and reason of state which as yet cover so many wicked actions The soul shall in that day of God be shewed naked to all the world and her own eyes will most vex her by witnessing so plainly what she hath done 3. O what a parting water is Gods judgemet which in a moment shall separate the mettals so different O what a division will then be made of some men which now live upon the earth Some shall be made clear bright like the starres of heaven and others like Coles burning in hell O what
a dreadfull change will it be to a damned soul at her separation from this life to live onely in the company of devils in that piercing sence of torments eternal punishment It is a very troublesome thing to be tied with silken strings in a bed of Roses for the space of eight dayes together What may we then think of a damned soul which must dwell in a bed of flames so long as there shall be a God 4. Make use of the time given you to work your salvation live such a life as may end with a happy death so obtain that favourable judgement which shall say Come O thou soul blessed of God my Father possess the kingdome which is prepared for thee from the beginning of the world There is no better means to avoid the rigour of Gods judgements then to fear them continually Imâ—tate the tree mentioned in an Emblem which being designed to make a ship and finding it self wind shaken as it grew upon the land said what will become of me in the sea If we be already moved in this world by the bare consideration of the punishment due to sin think what it will be in that vast sea dreadful Abysse of Gods judgements Aspirations O King of dreadfull Majesty who doest justly dam and undeservedly save souls save me O fountain of mercy Remember thy self sweet Jesus that I was the cause of that great journey which thou tookest from God to man and do not destroy me in that dreadfull day which must decide the Question of my life or death for all eternity Take care of my last end since thou art the cause of my beginning the onely cause of all that I am O Father of bounties wouldest thou stop a mouth which desires so earnestly to praise and confess thee everlastingly Alas O eternal Sweetness wouldst thou dam a soul which hath cost thee so much sweat and bloud giving it for ever to those cruel and accursed pâ—wers of darknesse Rather O Lord pierce my heart with such a fear of thy judgements that I may alwayes dread and never feel them If I forget awake my memory if I flie from thee recall me again If I deferre my amendment stay for me If I return do not despise my soul but open those armes of mercy which thou didst spread upon the Crosse with such rigorous justice against thy self for satisfaction of my sins The Gospel upon Tuesday the first vveek in Lent out of S. Matth. 21. Jesus drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple ANd when he was entered Ierusalem the whole city was moved saying Who is this And the people said this is Iesus the Prophet of Nazareth in Galilee And Iesus entered into the Temple of God and cast out all that sold and bought in the Temple and the Tables of the bankers and the chairs of them that sold pidgeons he overthrew and he saith to them it is written my house shall be called the house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves And there came to him the blind and the lame in the temple and he healed them And the chief Priests and Scribes seeing the marvellous things that he did and the children crying in the Temple and saying Hosanna to the sonne of David they had indignation and said to him hearest thou what these say And Iesus said to them very well have you never read that out of the mouthes of infants and sucklings thou hast perfected praise and leaving them he went forth out of the city into Bethania and remained there Moralities 1. JEsus entering into Jerusalem vvent strait to the Temple as a good Son goes to his Fathers house as a high Priest to the Sanctuary as a sacrifice to the altar He doth very lively interest himself in the goods of His heavenly Father and chaseth out every prophane thing out of that sacred place to give thereby glory to the living God and to put all things in order It is a vvicked stain to Religion vvhen Ecclesiasticall persons are vicious and vvhen Churches are prophaned Saint Chrysostome sai h that priests are the heart of the Church but vvhen they are vvicked they turn all into sin A decaying tree hath alvvayes some ill quality about the root so vvhen any people are vvithout discipline the pastours are vvithout virtue The vvant of reverence in Churches begets the contempt of God they cannot have Jesus in their hearts vvhen they give him affronts even in his ovvn Temple 2. His House saith he is a house of prayer but your heart should be the sanctuary and your lips the door So long as you are vvithout the exercise of prayer you shall be like a Bee vvithout a sting vvhich can make neither honey nor wax Prayer is the chiefest and most effectuall means of that Angelicall conversation to which God calls us by the merits of his passion and by the effects of his triumphant resurrection It is the sacred businesse which man hath with God and to speak with Saint Gregory Nazianzen it is the art to make our souls divine Before all things you must put into an order the number the time the place the manner of your prayers and be sure that you pay unto God this tribute with respect ferver and perseverance But if you desire to make a very good prayer learn betimes to make a prayer of all your life Incense hath no smell without fire and prayer is of no force without charity A man must converse innocently purely with men that desires to Treat worthily with God 3. Keep your person and your house clean from ill managing all holy things and from those irreverences which are sometimes committed in Churches It is a happy thing for a man to be ignorant of the trade of buying and selling benefices and to have no entercourse with the tribunals of iniquity Many other sinnes are written in sand and blown away with a small breath of Gods mercy But the faults of so great impiety are carved upon a corner of the altar with a graver of steel or with a diamond point as the Prophet saith He deserves to be made eternally culpable who dries up the fountain which should wast himself or poisons the stream which he himself must drink or contaminates the sacraments which are given him to purifie his soul Aspirations SPirit of God which by reason of thy eminent height canst pray to no body and yet by thy divine wisdome makest all the world pray to thee Give me the gift of prayer since it is the mother of wisdome the seal of virginity the sanctuary for our evils and fountain of al our goods Grant that I my adore thee in Spirit with reverence stedfastnesse and perseverance and if it be thy divine pleasure that I pray unto thee as I ought inspire unto me by thy vittue such prayers as thou wilt hear by thy bounty The Gospel upon Wednesday the first week of Lent S. Matth. 12. The Pharisees
I do this day renounce all the abuses of my soul I will grow and prosper under thy blessings I will flourish under thy aspect and fructifie under thy protection Command onely thy graces and sweet dews of heaven which are as paps of thy favours to rain upon me and water this rotten trunk of my heart Speak to that eye of love that beautifull eye of Iesus that it wil shine upon me but once with that ray which doth make souls happy for ever The Gospel upon Saturday the second week in Lent S. Luke 15. Of the prodigall Child ANd he said a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father Father give me the portion of substance that belongeth to me and he divided â— unto them the substance And not many dayes after the younger son gathering all his things together went from home into a far Countrey and there he wasted his substance living riotously And after he had spent all there fâ—ll a sore famine in that Countrey and he began to be in need and â—he went and cleaved to one of the Citizens of that Countrey and he sent him into his Farm to feed swine And he would fain have filled his belly of the husks that the swine did eat and no body gave unto him And returning to himself he said How many of my fathers hirelings have abundance of bread and I here perish for famine I will arise and will go to my father and say to him father I have sinned against heaven and before thee I am not now worthy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hirelings And rising up he came to his father and when he was yet far off his father saw him and was moved with mercy and running to him fell upon his neck and kissed him And his son said to him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee I am not now worthy to be called thy son And the father said to his servants Quickly bring forth the first stole and do it on him and put a ring upon his hand and shooes upon his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and make merry because this my son was dead is revived was lost is found And they began to make merry But his elder son was in the field and when he came and drew nigh to the house he heard musick dancing he called one of the servants and asked what these things should be And he said to him Thy brother is come and thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received him safe But he had indigination would not go in His father therefore going forth began to desire him But he answering said to his father Behold so many years do I serve thee I never transgressed thy commandment and thou didst never give me a kid to make merry with my friends But after that thy sonne this that hath devoured his substance with whores is come thou hast killed for him the fatted calf But he said to him Sonne thou art alwayes with me and all my things are thine But it behoved us to make merâ—y and be glad because this thy brother was dead and is revived was lost and is found Moralities 1. THis parable is a true table expressing the excursions of a prodigall soul and her return to the mercy of God by the way of repentance Note that the first step which she trode toward her own destruction as Cain did was her departing from God not by changing of place but of heart It departed from the chiefest light which made it fall into an eclipse of reason and so into profound darknesse She diverted her self from the greatest bounty which made her encline toward all wickednesse being strayed from her soveraign being which made her become just nothing 2. She continued in sinne as in a countrey which was just nothing where she was vexed on all sides with disquiet with cares with fears and discontents All sins tosse their followers as the ball is tossed at Baloon Vanity sends them to pride pride to violence violence to avarice avarice to ambition ambition to pomp and riot pomp to gluttony gluttony to luxury luxury to idlenesse idlenesse to contempt and poverty and that poverty brings them to all worldly misery For all mischiefs follow a wicked soul which departing from God thinks to find a better condition 3. Affliction opens the eyes of man and makes him come to himself that he may the better return to God There is no journey so farre as when a man departs from himself not by place but by manners A sea of Licentiousnesse interposeth it self between his soul and innocence to divorce her from the way of goodnesse But Gods grace is a burning wind which dries it up and having brought man to himself takes him by the hand and leads him even to God 4. O what a happy thing it is to consider the effects of Gods mercy in the entertainment of the good father to his prodigall son The one had lost all which he had of a good sonne but the other had not lost what belonged to a good father The sonne had yet said nothing when fatherly affection pleaded for him in the heart of his father who felt the dolours of a spirituall labour and his entrails were moved to give a second birth to his sonne Though he were old yet he went the pace of a young man Charity gives him wings to flie to the embracements of his lost child He is most joyfull of all that comes with him eveÌ„ of his very poverty This without doubt should give us a marvellous confidence in Gods mercy when we seek it with hearty repentance It is a sea of bounty which washeth away all that is amisse Since he hath changed the name of master into that of father he will rather command by love then raign by a predominant power No man ought to dispair of pardon except he who can be as fully wicked as God is good none is so mercifull as God none is so good a father as he for when you may have lost your part of all his virtues you can never while you live lose the possibility of his mercy He will receive you between his arms without any other reason but your return by repentance 5. The same Parable is also a true glasse shewing the life of those young unthrists who think they are born onely for sport for their bellies and for pleasure They imagine their fathers keep for them the golden mines of Peru and their life being without government their expences are without measure Some of them runne through the world they wander into all places but never enter into consideration of themselves They return from forain parts loden with debts and bring home nothing but some new fantasticall fashions irps cringes and corantoes There are many of them in whom pride and misery continue inseparable after they have
lost their money and their brains Their fathers are causes of their faults by gathering so much wealth for those who know not how to use it Yet if they have the true repentance of the prodigall child he must not deny them pardon But mercy must not be had of those who ask it by strong hand or seek it by a counterfeit sorrow Aspirations IT is an accursed wandring to travel into the countrey of nothing Where pleasure drops down as water from a storm the miserable consequences whereof have leaden feet which never remove from the heart Good God what a countrey is that where the earth is made of quicksilver which steals it self from under our feet when we think to tread upon it What a countrey is that where if a man gathered one bud of roses he must be forced to eat a thousand thorns and be companion with the most nasty filthy beasts in their stinking ordures and be glad to eat of their loathsome draffe for want of other meat Alas I have suffered and such a misery as this is necessary to make me remember the happinesse which I possessed in thy house O mercifull Father behold my prodigall soul which returns to thee and will have no other advocate but thy goodnesse which as yet pleads for me within thy heart I have consumed all which I had but I could not consume thy mercy For that is an Abysse which surpasseth that of my sins and miseries Receive me as a mercenary servant If I may not obtain the name of a sonne Why shouldst not thou receive that which is thine since the wicked spirits have taken that which was not theirs Either shevv me mercie or else shevv me a heart more fatherly then thine and if neither earth nor heaven can find the like to vvhom vvouldst thou have me go but to thy self vvho doest not yet cease to call me The Gospel upon the third Sunday in Lent S. Luke 11. Jesus cast out the Devil vvhich vvas dumb ANd he was casting out a devil and that was dumbe And when he had cast out the devil the dumbe spake and the multitudes marvelled And certain of them said in Belzebub the Prince of Devils he casteth out Devils And other tempting asked him a sign from Heaven But he seeing their cogitations said to them Every Kingdome divided against it self shall be made desolate and house upon house shall fall And if Satan also be divided against himself how shall his Kingdome stand because you say that in Belzebub I do cast out Devils And if I in Belzebub cast out Devils your children in whom do they cast out Therefore they shall be your judges But if I in the singer of God do cast out Devils surely the Kingdome of God is come upon you When the strong armed keepeth his court those things are in peace that he possesseth but if a stronger then he come upon him and overcome him he will take away his whole armour wherein he trusted and will distribute his spoyls He that is not with me is against me And he that gathereth not with me scattereth When the unclean spirit shall depart out of a man he wandreth through places without water seeking rest and not finding he saith I will return into my house whence I departed And when he is come he findeth it swept with a besome and trimmed Then he goeth and taketh seven other spirits worse then himself and entring in they dwell there And the last of that man be made worse then the first And it came to passe when he said these things a certain woman lifting up her voyce out of the multitude said to him Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps that thou didst suck But he said Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Moralities 1. THe Almond tree is the first which begins to flourish and is often first nipt with frost The tongue is the first thing which moves in a mans body and is soonest caught with the snares of Satan That man deserves to be speechlesse all his life who never speaks a word better then silence 2. Jesus the eternall word of God came upon earth to reform the words of man his life vvas a lightning and his vvord a thunder vvhich vvas povverfull in effect but alvvayes measured vvithin his bounds He did fight against ill tongues in his life and conquered them all in his death The gall and vinegar vvhich he took to expiate the sins of this unhappy tongue do shevv hovv great the evil vvas since it did need so sharp a remedy He hath cured by suffering his dolours vvhat it deserved by our committing sins Other vices are determined by one act the tongue goes to all it is a servant to all malitious actions and is generally confederate vvith the heart in all crimes 3. We have just so much Religion as vve have government of our tongues A little thing serves to tame vvild beasts and a small stern will serve to govern a ship Why then cannot a man rule so small a part of his body Is it not sufficient to avoid lying perjuries quarrels injuries slanders and blasphemies such as the Scribes and Pharisees did vomit out in this Gospel against the purity of the Sonne of God We must also repress idle talk and other frivolous and unprofitable discourses There are some persons vvho have their hearts so loose that they cannot keep them vvithin their brests but they vvill quickly svvim upon their lips vvithout thinking vvhat they say and so make a shift to vvound their souls 4. Imitate a holy Father called Sisus vvho prayed God thirty years together every day to deliver him from his tongue as from a capitall enemy You shall never be very chaste of your body except you do very vvell bridle your tongue For loosnesse of the flesh proceeds sometimes from liberty of the tongue Remember your self that your heart should go like a clock vvith all the just and equall motions of his springs and that your tongue is the finger vvhich shevvs hovv all the hours of the day pass When the heart goes of one side the tongue of another it is a sure desolation of your spirits kingdome If Jesus set it once at peace and quiet you must be very carefull to keep it so and be very fearfull of relapses For the multiplying of long continued sinnes brings at last hell it self upon a mans shoulders Aspirations O Word incarnate to whom all just tongues speak and after whom all hearts do thirst and languish chase from us all prating devils and also those which are dumb the first provoke and loose the tong to speak wickedly the other bind it when it should confesse the truth O peace-making Solomon appease the divisions of my heart and unite all my powers to the love of thy service Destroy in me all the marks of Satans Empire and plant there thy Trophees and Standards that my spirit be never like
and consolations I am cheerfully revived and my heart leaps in thy presence as a child rejoiceth at sight of his dear nurse O Light of lights which dost illuminate man coming into this world I will contemplate thee at the Sun-rising above all creatures I will follow thee with mine eyes all the day long and I will not leave thee at Sun setting for there is nothing can be in value near like thee It belongs onely to thee O Sun of my soul to arise at all hours and to give light at midnight as well as at noon-day The Gospel upon Passion-Sunday S. Iohn the 8. Upon these words Who can accuse me of sin WHich of you shall argue me of sin If I say the verity why doe you not believe me He that is of God heareth the words of God therefore you hear not because you are not of God The Iewes therefore answered and said to him Do not we say well that thou ariâ—a Samaritan and hast a Devil Iesus answered I have no Devil but I do honour my Father and you have disshonoured me But I seek not mine own glory There is that seeketh and judgeth Amen Amen I say to you if any man keep my word he shall not see death for ever The Iewes therefore said now we have known that thou hast a Devil Abraham is dead and the Propheâ—s and thou sayest if any man keep my word he shall not tast death for ever Why art thou greater then our Father Abraham who is dead and the Prophets are dead Whom doest thou make thy self Iesus answered if I doe glorâ—fie my self my glory is nothing It is my Father that glorifieth me whom you say that he is your God and you have not known him but I know him And if I shall say that I know him not I shall be like to you a lier but I doe know him and do keep his word Abraham your Father rejoyced that he might see my day and he saw and was glad The Iews therefore said to him Thou hast not yet fifty years and hast thou seen Abraham Iesus said to them Amen Amen I say to you before that Abraham was made I am They took stones therefore to cast at him But Iesus hid himself and went out of the Temple Moralities 1. THe Saviour of the world being resolved to suffer death as the Priest of his own sacrifice and sacrifice of his Priesthood shews that it is an effect of his mercy and not a suffering for any fault He doth advance the standard of the Crosse which was the punishment of guilty persons but he brought with him innocencie which is the mark of Saints he honours it with his dolours and sacrifices it with his bloud to glorifie it in the estimation of all the just He is without spot and capable to take out all stains by his infinite sanctity and yet he suffered as a sinner to blot out all our sins It is in this suffering he would have us all imitate him He doth not require us to make a heaven nor stars nor to enlarge the sea or to make the earth firm but to make our selvs holy as he is holy according to our capacity And this we may gain by his favour which he hath by his own nature No man is worthy to suffer with Jesus who doth not purifie himself by the sufferings of Jesus If we suffer in sinne we carry the crosse of the bad thief We must carry the Crosse of Jesus and consecrate our tribulations by our own virtues 2. It is said that the venemous serpent called a Basilisk which kills both men and beasts by his pestilent breath kills himself when he sees a looking glasse by the very reflection of his own poison The Jews do here the very same They come about this great mirrour of sanctity which carried all the glory of the living God he casts his beames upon them but envy the mother of murder which kills it self onely by the rayes of golden arrows makes them dart out venemous words to dishonour him yet his incomparable virtue kills them without losing any of his own brightnesse to teach us that the beauty of innocency is the best buckler against all slanders Though it seem to be tarnished for a time yet her brightness will thereby become more lively for it is a starre which the blackest vail of night cannot darken 3. Abraham did rejoyce at this day of God two thousand years before it was manifested to the world All the Patriarks did long after it and did anticipate their felicities by the purity of their thoughts This blessed day hath been reserved for us yet many of us despise it We so much love the day of man that by the force of too much love to it we forget the love of God We should and must contemn those perishing dayes of worldly honours and pleasures which are covered with eternal night that we may partake the eternity of that beautifull day which shall never have evening Aspirations O God of purity in whose presence the Angels ravished with admiration do cover their faces with their wings and have no sweeter extasies then the admiration of thy beauty The stars are not pure enough before thy redoubted Majesty The Sun beholds thee as the trâ—e Authour of his light Thou onely canst purifie all humane kind by a sanctity which spreads it self over all ages Alas I am confounded to see my sinfull soul so often dyed black with so many stains and beastly ordures before those most pure beams of thy glory Wash O wash again out all which displeaseth thee Regenerate in my heart a Spirit that shall be wordly thy self How shall I follow thee to mâ—unt Calvary if I be pursued with so many ill habits which I have often detested before thine eyes How can I goe in company with the first and greatest of all Saints drawing after me so many sins The encrease of my offences would multiply thy crosses I will therefore do my best to drown all my imperfections within thy bloud I will procure light to my nights by that bright and beautifull day which Abraham saw from that glorious day which took beginning from thy Crosse I will no more care for the day of man that I may the better apply my self to the day of God The Gospell upon Munday the fifth week in Lent St. Iohn 7. Jesus said to the Pharisees You shall seek and not find me and he that is thirsty let him come to me ANd the Princes and Pharisees sent Ministers to apprehend him Iesus therefore said to them Yet a little time am I with you and I goe to him that sent me you seek me and shall not find and where I am you cannot come The Iews therefore said among themselves whether will this man goe that we shall not find him will he goe into the dispersion of the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles what is this saying that he hath said You shall seek me and shall
not find and where I am you cannot come And in the last the great day of the festivity Iesus stood and cried saying If any man thirst let him come to me and drink He that believeth in me as the Scripture saith out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water And this he said of the Spirit that they should receive which believed in him Moralities 1. TAke for your comfort this excellent word of our Saviour he that is thirsty and desires in this world to thirst after God let him come unto me and he shall quench his thirst at the chiefest fountain S. Augustine saith we are all here as David was in the desart of Idumea our life is a perpetual alteration which will never be settled while we live If we be weary we desire rest and if we rest over long our bed becomes troublesome though it should be all ofâ—oses Then again we thirst to be in action and business which also in a short time tires us and puts us into another â—lteration and that carries us again to a desire to do nothing All our life goeth like Penelopies web what one hour effects the next destroyes We do sufficiently perceive that we are not well in this world It is a large bed but very troublesome wherein every man stirs and tumbles himself up and down but no man can here attain to his perfect happinesse 2. This shews us plainly that we are made for God and that we should thirst after divine things if we desire true contentment There is no default in him because all that can be desired is there yet there is no superfluity because there can be nothing beyond him There only we abound without necessity we are assured without fear glorious without change And it is there only where we find all our sa isfactions perfectly accomplished For to speak truth contentment coÌ„sisteth in four principal things which are to have a contenting object to have a heart capable to appreheÌ„d it to feel a strong inclination to it to enter into an absolute full possession ofâ— Now God hath provided for all this by his infinite bounty He will not have us affect any other object of pleasure but his own He is God therefore can have nothing but God for his satisfaction intends graciously that we shall have the same He will have us thirst after him and quench our thirst within himself to this our soul is singularly disposed for as God is a Spirit so is our soul only spi itual We have so strong an inclination to love God that even our vices themselves without thinking what they do love somewhat of God For if pride affect greatness their can be nothing so great as the Monarch of it If luxury love pleasure God containeth all pure delights in his bosome and this which I say may be verified of all sins whatsoever If the presence of a right object and the enjoyning be wanting we have nothing so present as God St. Paul saith we are all within him within him vve live and within him we have the fountain of all our motions we see him through all his creatures untill he take off the vail and so let us see him and taste of his Glory 3 A true and perfect way to make us thirst after God is to forsake the burning thirst which we have after bodily and worldly goods Our soul and flesh go in the several scales of a ballance the rising of one pulls down the other It is a having two wives for us to think we can place all our delights in God and withall enjoy all worldly contentments A man must have a conscience free from earthly matters to receive the infusion of grace we must pass by Cavalry before we can come to Tabor and first taste gall with Iesus before we can taste that honey-comb which he took after his resurrection Aspirations O God true God of my salvation My heart which feeleth it self moved with an affectionate zeal thinks alwaies upon thee and in thinking finds an earnest thirst after thy beauties which heats my veins My soul is all consumed and I find that my flesh it self insensibly followeth the violence of my spirit I am here as within the desarts of Affâ—ica in a barren world the drought whereof makes it a direct habitation for dragons O my God I am tormented with this flame and yet I cherish it more then my self Will there be no good Lazarus found to dip the end of his finger within the fountain of the highest heaven a little to alay the burning of my thirst Do not tell me O my dear Spouse that there is a great Chaos between thee and me Thou hast already passed it in coming to me by thy bounty and wilt not thou lift me up then by thy mercy The Gospel upon Tuesday the fifth week in Lent S. Iohn 7. Jesus went not into Iewry because the Iews had a purpose to take away his life AFter these things Iesus walked into Galilee for he would not walk into Iewry because the Iews sought to kill him And the festival day of the Iews Scenopegia was at hand And his bretheren said to him Passe from hence and go into Iewry that thy Disciples also may see thy works which thou dost For no man doth any thing in secret and seeketh himself to be in publick if thou do these things manifest thy self to the world for neither did his bretheren believe in him Iesus therefore saith to them My time is not yet come but your time is alwaies ready The world cannot hate you but me it hateth because I give testimony of it that the works thereof are evil Go you up to this festivall day I go not up to this festivall day because my time is not yet accomplished When he had said these things himself taâ—ied in Galilee But after his bretheren were gone up then he also went up to the festivall day not openly but as it were in secret The Iews therefore sought him in the festivall day and said Where is he And there was much murmuring in the multitude of him For certain said that he is good And others said No but he seduceth the multitudes yet no man spake openly of him for fear of the Iews Moralities 1. IEsus hides himself in this Gospel as the Sun within a cloud to shew himself at his own time to teach us that all the secrets of our life consisteth in well concealing and well discovering our selves He did conceal the life which he took from nature when he might have been born a perfect man as well as Adam and yet did he hide himself in the hay of a base Stable He concealeth his life of Grace dissembling under silence so many great and divine virtues as if he had lockt up the stars underlock and key as holy Iob saith He keeps secret his life of Glory retaining for thirty three years the light of his soul which should without intermission
so liberally 3. Iesus will not be known singly by his words but by his works Our words must agree with our good actions as the needle of a clock agrees with the springs When we have heard or read some good doctrine that Sermon or reading must passe into our manners It is surely a strange thing that many imploy that leisure to know much and yet will not spend some considerable time to make themselves good Christians We must be Philosophers more by imitating the example of God then by any curious enquiry of his greatnesse Our Christianity teacheth us that we should be more knowing skilfull in the practise of our life then of our tongue and that we are rather made to perform great actions then to speak them We must have a speciall care that our hands do not give our mouth the lie What can we gain in the judgement of God by being like those tres which haue a fair outside garnished with leaves yet good for nothing but to give a shadow and to make a little noise when the wind blows God requires of us fruit since he is the father of all fertility nothing is barren in the land of the living Aspirations O My God I know thee because thou was first pleased to know me Thou hast known me by thy goodnesse and I will do my best to know thee that I may obtain all happinesse O that I might know that my name is written in the book of life and also know the life which I may possesse within the heart of Iesus in which so many lives do live O how should I then find my spirit ravished in those beautifull Ideas of glory Fix thine eyes on me O Lord and thou shalt thereby bring me to the fountain of all happinesse The Father hath given me to thee I am the conquest of thy precious bloud Suffer not a soul to be taken away from the which hath cost thee so many sweats sufferings I am thine by so many titles that I will be no more mine own but only to have the right of renouncing that which I am and to establish what shall be thine in this little kingdome of my heart The Gospel upon Thursday the fifth week in Lent S. Iohn 7. Upon S. Mary Magdalens washing our Saviours feet in the Phariseâ— house ANd one of the Pharisees desired him to eat with him And he being entred into the house of the Pharisee he sate down to meat And behold a woman that was in the Citie a sinner as she knew that he set down in the Pharisees house she brought an Alabaster box of ointment and standing behinde beside his feet she began to water his feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with oyntment And the Pharisee that had bid him seeing it spake within himself saying This man if he were a Prophet would know certes who and what manner of woman she is which toucheth him that she is a sinner And Iesus answering said to him Simon I have somewhat to say unto thee But he said Master say A certain creditour had two debtors own did ow five hundred pence and the other fifty they having not wherewith to pay he forgave both whether therefore doth love him more Simon answering said I suppose that he to whom he forgave more But he said to him Thou hast judged rightly And turning to the woman he said unto Simon Doest thou see this woman I entred into thy house water to my feet thou didst not give but she with tears hath watered my feet and with her hairs hath wiped them Kisse thou gavest me not but she since I came in hath not ceased to kisse my feet With oyl thou didst not annoint my head but she with ointment hath anointed my feet For the which I say to thee many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much But to whom lesse is forgiven he loveth lesse And he said to her Thy sins are forgiven thee And they that sate together at the table began to say within themselves Who is this that also forgiveth sins And he said to the woman Thy faith hath made thee safe Go in peace Moralities 1. SAint Mary Magdalen is under the feet of Jesus Christ as is that work of Saphires mentioned in Exodus under the feet of God It is a work wrought by the right hand of the Highest the wonder of women the most happy of all lovers who made profit of sin which destroys all who sanctified that love which so little knew the way to any sanctity This is the fountain mentioned in the Book of Hester in the vision of Mardocheus A fountain which became a River and after changes it self into the Sun which gives beams and showers at one instant She is a fountain at the Pharisees table she is a â—iver in her solitary grove she is a Sun both in Paradise in that great exaltation wherein the Catholick Church now beholds her Being now in glory she doth not yet forbear to open fountains of tears by imitation of her within the souls of repentant sinners of whom incessantly she procures the conversion Happy is that heart which is pierced with the imitation of her virtues thereby to gain some part of her crowns 2. Every thing is admirable in her conversion A sinner wounded with love cures her self by love She changes the fire of Babylon into that of Ierusalem She plucks out of her wound the venomous dart of worldly love to make large room for the arrows of Iesus which pierce her heart and at an instant make a harmony of heavenly passions within the bottome of her soul She holds the wound dearer then life and goes streight to her conquerour ro desire death or increase of love 3. She appears most ingenious in her affections to provide no water wherewith to wash her Masters feet since she could draw it so fitly out of her own eyes This was the water which Iesus did thirst after when he asked of the Samaritan woman some to drink But the poor woman was so astonished that she forsook her pitcher forgot that which Iesus asked Now the holy Magdalen brings her eyes to the Pharisees table as two vessels full of christal water which was of that puâ—e stream which comes from the holy Lamb. Heaven is wont to vvater the earth but here the earth waters Heaven A soul w ich was before black and burnt up with the fi e of concupiscence provides a fountain for the King of highest Heaven She draws tears from her sins to make them become the joyes of Paradise 4. She sanctifies all that which vvas esteemed most prophane Her hairs which were the nets vvherein so many captive souls did sigh under the yoke of wanton love are now as the ensignes and standards of wicked Cupid trampled under the feet of her Conquerour Those kisses which carried the poison of a luxurious pâ—ssioÌ„
virtue to avoid that which is ill There are many from whom good works do escape while they both think and do ill Truth makes use of their tongues when Devils command their hearts It is this which makes us see our Saviours Empire and the extent of his conquests which is not limited by time he being already entred into possesson of eternity and it is not bounded by place because it contains all Immensity Night hath no power to cover it because it is light it self It cannot be shut up in any deceitfull shadow because it scatters and discovers all falshood It cannot be comprehended within our senses because it exceeds their capacity and it is present in all places being omnipotent and eternall in all time Aspirations O Jesus Father of all blessed unions who hast suffered death to unite all the children of God together who are scattered over all the countreys of the world wilt thou have no pity of my heart so many times torn in pieces and strayed among a great multitude of objects which estrange and draw me from the first of all unities My soul melts through all the Gates of my senses by running after so many creatures which do kindle covetousnesse but never serve to refresh or cool the heat of it Draw me O Lord from the great throng of so many exteriour things that I may retire into my own heart and from thence arise to thine where I may find that peace which thou hast cimented fast with thy most precious blood When shall I see the first beams of that liberty which thou grantest to thy Children When shall my thoughts return from wandering in those barren regions where thou art not acknowledged When shall I be reunited and so purified by thy favours that they may celebrate continuall dayes of feast in my soul I am already there in desire and shall be there in presence when by help of thine infinite grace and mercy I can be wholly thine The Gospel upon Saturday the fifth week in Lent S. Iohn 12. The chief Priests thought to kill Lazarus because the miracle upon him made many follow Jesus BVt the chief Priests devised to kill Lazarus also because many for him of the Iewes went away and believed in Iesus And on the morrow a great multitude that was come to a festival day when they had heard that Iesus cometh to Ierusalem they took the boughs of Palms and went forth to meet him and cried Hosanna blessed is he that commeth in the name of our Lord the King of Israel And Iesus found a young Asse and sate upon it as it is written Fear not daughter of Sion behold thy King cometh sitting upon an Asses colt These things his Disciples did not know at the first but when Iesus was glorified then they remembred that these things had been written of him and these things they did to him The multitude therefore gave testimony which was with him when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from the dead For therefore all the multitude came to meet him because they heard that he had done this sign The Pharisees therefore said among themselves Do you see that we prevail nothing Behold the whole world is gone after him And there were certain Gentiles of them that came up to adore in the Festivall day These therefore came to Philip who was of Bethsaida of Galilee and desired him saying Sir we are desirous to see Iesus Philip cometh and telleth Andrew Again Andrew aâ—d â—hilip told Iesus but Iesus answered them saying The hour is come that the Son of man shall be glorified Amen Amen I say to you Vnlesse the grain of wheat falling into the ground die it self remaineth alone but if it die it bringeth much fruit He that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world doth keep it to life everlasting If any man minister to me let him follow me and where I am there also shall my minister be If any man minister to me my Father will honour him Moralities 1. ADmire here the extasies of our sweet Saviour He is ravished by the object of his death and is transported by the Idea of his sufferings The trumpet of heaven souÌ„ded in the voyce which was heard by this great multitude He encourages himself to his combat he looks confidently upon the Crosse as the fountain of his glories and planted his elevation upon the lowest abasements Shall not we love this Crosse which Jesus hath cherished as his Spouse He gave up his soul in the arms of it to conquer our souls We shall never be worthy of him till we bear the Ensigns of his war and the ornaments of his peace Every thing is Paradise to him that knows how to love the Crosse and every thing is hell to those who flie from it and no body flies it but shall find it It is the gate of our mortality whether we must all come though we turn our backs to it 2. What a great secret it is to hate our soul that we may love it to hate it for a time that we may love it for all eternity to punish it in this life to give it thereby a perpetuall rest in that to come to despise it that we may honour it To handle it roughly that it may be perfectly established in all delights And yet this is the way which all just men have passed to arrive at the chiefest point of their rest They have resembled the Flowers de-Luce which weep for a time and out of their own tears produce seeds which renew their beauties The salt sea for them becomes a flourishing field as it did to the people of God when they came forth of the chains of Egypt The cloud which appeared to the Prophet Ezekiel carried with it winds and storms but it was environd with a golden circle to teach us that the storms of affliction which happen to Gods children are encompassed with brightnesse and smiling felicity They must rot as a grain of wheat that they may bud out and flourish in the ear They must abide the diversity of times and endure the Sythe and Flail They must be ground in a mill and passe by water and fire before they can be made bread pleasing to Jesus Christ Our losses are our advantages we lose nothing but to gain by it we humble and abase our selves to be exalted we despoil our selves to be better clothed and we mortifie our selves to be revived O what a grain of wheat is Jesus Christ who hath past all these trialls to make the height of all heavenly glories bud out of his infinite sufferings Aspirations O God I have that passionate desire which these strangers had to see Jesus I doe not ask it of Philip nor shall Philip have cause to ask Andrew My Jesus I ask it of thy self thou art beautifull even in the way of the Crosse Thou dist shew thy self couragious in the Abysse of thy pains thou art
object of my present dolours that thou maist after be the fountain of my everlasting joyes Moralities for Good Friday upon the death of Iesus Christ MOunt Calvary is a marvellous Scaffold where the chiefest Monarch of all the world loseth his life to restore our salvation which was lost and where he makes the Sun to be eclipsed over his head and stones to be cloven under his feet to teach us by insensible creatures the feeling which we should have of his sufferings This is the school where Iesus teacheth that great Lesson which is the way to do well we cannot better learn it then by his examples since he was pleased to make himself passible motal to overcome our passions and to be the Author of our immortality The qualities of a good death may be reduced to three points of which the first is to have a right conformity to the will of God for the manner the hour and circumstances of our death The second is to forsake as well the affections as the presence of all creatures of this base world The third is to unite our selves to God by the practise of great virtues which will serve as steps to glory Now these three conditions are to be seen in the death of the Prince of Glory upon mount Calvry which we will take as the purest Idea's whereby to regulate our passage out of this world 1. COnsider in the first place that every man living hath a naturall inclination to life because it hath some kind of divinity in it We love it when it smileth upon us as if it were our Paradise and if it be troublesom yet we strive to retain it though it be accompanied with very great miseries And if we must needs forsake this miserable body we then desire to leave it by some gentle and easie death This make thus plainly see the generosity of our Saviour who being Master of life and death and having it in his power to chuse that manner of death which would be least hideous being of it self full enough of horrour yet neverthelesse to conform himself to the will of his heavenly Father to confound our delicacies he would needs leave his life by the most dolorous and ignominious which was to be found amongst all the deaths of the whole world The Crosse amongst the Gentiles was a punishment for slaves and the most desperate persons of the whole world The Crosse amongst the Hebrews was accursed It was the ordinary curse which the most uncapable and most malicious mouths did pronounce against their greatest enemies The death of a crucified man was the most continuall languishings and tearing of a soul from the body with most excessive violence and agony And yet the eternall wisdome chose this kind of punishment and drank all the sorrows of a cup so bitter He should have died upon some Trophee and breathed out his last amongst flowers left his soul in a moment and if he must needs have felt death to have had the least sense of it that might be But he would try the rigour of all greatest sufferings he would fall to the very bottom of dishonour and having ever spared from himself all the pleasures of this life to make his death compleat he would spare none of those infinite dolours The devout Simon of Cassia asketh oâ—r Saviour going toward mount Calvary saying O Lord whether go you with the extream weight of this dry and barten piece of wood Whether do you carry it and why Where do you mean to set it Upon mount Cavalry That place is most wild and stony Hovv vvill you plant it Who shall water it Iesus answers I bear upon my shoulders a piece of wood which must conquer him who must make a far greater conquest by the same piece of wood I carry it to mount Calvary to plant it by my death and vvater it with my bloud This wood which I bear must bear me to bear the salvation of all the world and to draw all after me And then O faithfull soul wilt not thou suffer some confusion at thine own delicaâ—ies to be so fearfull of death by an ordinary disease in a Down bed amongst such necessary services such favourable helps coÌ„solations kindnesses of friends so sensible of thy condition We bemoan and complain our selves of heat cold distaste of disquiet of grief Let us allow some of this to Nature yet must it be confest that we lament out selves very much because we have never known how we should lament a Jesus Christ crucified Let us die as it shall please the divine providence If death come when we are old it it a haven If in youth it is a direct benefit antedated If by sicknesse it is the nature of our bodies If by external violence it is yet alwaies the decree of Heaven It is no matter how many deaths there are we are sure there can be but one for us 2. Consider farther the second condition of a good death which consists in the forsaking of all creatures and you shall find it most punctually observed by our Saviour at the time of his death Ferrara a great Diâ—vine who hath written a book of the hidden Word toucheth twelve things abandoned by our Saviour 1. His apparell leaving himself naked 2. The marks of his dignity 3. The Colledge of his Apostles 4. The sweetnesse of all comfort 5. His own proper will 6. The authority of virtuos 7. The power of An Angells 8. The perfect joyes of his soul 9. The proper charity of his body 10. The honours due to him 11. His own skin 12. All his bloud Now do but consider his abandoning the principal of those things how bitter it was First the abandoning of nearest and most faithfull friends is able to afflict any heart Behold him forsaken by all his so well beloved disciples of whom he had made choice amongst all mortal men to be the depositaries of his doctrine of his life of his bloud If Iudas be at the mysterie of his passion it is to betray him If Saint Peter be there assisting it is to deny him If his sorrowfull mother stand at the foot of the cross it is to encrease the grief of her Son and after he had been so ill handled by his cruel executioners to crucifie him again by the hands of Love The couragious Mother to triumph over her self by a magnanimous constancie was present at the execution of her dear Son She fixed her eyes upon all his wounds to engrave them deep in her heart She opened her soul wide to receive that sharp piercing sword with which she was threatned by that venerable old Simeon at her purification And Iesus who saw her so afflicted for his sake felt himself doubly crucified upon the wood of the Cross and the heart of his deat Mother We know it by experience that when we love one tenderly his afflictions disgraces will trouble us more then our own because he living in
O Spectacles of horrour but Abysse of goodnesse and mercy I feel my heart divided by horrour pity hate love execration and adoration But my admiration and being ravished carries me beyond my self Is this then that bloudy sacrifice which hath been expected from all ages This hidden mystery this profound knowledge of the Cross this dolorous Iesus which makes the honourable amends between heaven and earth to the eternal Father for expiation of the sinnes of humane kind Alas poor Lord thou hadst but one life and I see a thousand instruments of death which have taken it away Was there need of opening so many bloudy doors to let out thine innocent soul Could it not part from thy body without making on all sides so many wounds which after they have served for the objects of mens cruelty serve now for those of thy mercy O my Iesus I know not to whom I speak for I do no more know thee in the state thou now art or if I do it is onely by thy miseries because they are so excessive that there was need of a God to suffer what thou hast indured I look upon thy disfigured countenance to find some part of thy resemblance and yet can find none but that of thy love Alas O beautifull head which dost carry all the glory of the highest heaven divide with me this dolorous Crown of Thorns they were my sinnes which sowed them and it is thy pleasure that thine innocencie should mow them Give me O Sacred mouth give me that Gall which I see upon thy lips suffer me to sprinkle all my pleasures with it since after a long continuance it did shut up and conclude all thy dolours Give me O Sacred hands and adored feet the Nails which have pierced you love binds you fast enough to the Cross without them But do thou O Lord hold me fast to thy self by the chains of thine immense charity O Lance cruel Lance why didst thou open that most precious side thou didst think perhaps to find there the Sons life and yet thou foundest nothing but the Mothers heart But without so much as thinking what thou didst in playing the murderer thou hast made a sepulchre wherein I will from henceforth bury my soul When I behold these wounds of my dear Saviour I do acknowledge the strokes of my own hand I will therefore likewise engrave there my repentance I will write my conversion with an eternal Character And if I must live I will never breathe any other life but that onely which shall be produced from the death of my Iesus crucified The Gospel for Easter Day S. Mark the 16. ANd when the Sabbath was past Mary Magdalen and Mary of Iames and Salome bought spices that coming they might anoint Iesus And very early the first of the Sabbaths they come to the Monument the Sun being now risen And they say one to another who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the Monument And looking they saw the stone rolled back For it was very great And entring into the Monument they saw a young man sitting on the right hand covered with a white Robe and they were astonied Who saith to them Be not dismayed you seek Iesus of Nazareth that was crucified he is risen he is not here behold the place where they laid him But go tell his Disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee there shall you see him as he told you Moralities 1. THe Sepulchre of Iesus becomes a fountain of life which carries in power all the glories of the highest heaven Our Saviour riseth from thence as day out of the East and appears as triumphant in the ornaments of his beauties as he had been humbled by the excesse of his mercies The rage of the Iews loseth here its power death his sting Sathan his kingdome the Tomb his corruption and hell his conquest Mortality is destroyed life is illuminated all is drowned in one day of glory which comes from the glorious light of our Redeemer It is now saith Tertullian that he is revested with his Robe of honour and is acknowledged as the eternall Priest for all eternity It is now saith Saint Gregory Nazianzen that he reassembles humane kind which was scattered so many years by the sin of one man and placeth it between the Arms of his Divinity This is the Master-piece of his profound humility and I dare boldly affirm saith S. Ambrose that God had lost the whole world if this Sacred virtue which he made so clearly shine in his beloved Son had not put him into possession of his Conquests We should all languish after this Triumphant state of the Resurrection which wil make an end of all our pains and make our Crowns everlasting 2. Let us love our Iesus as the Maries did that with them we may be honoured with his visits Their love is indesatigable couragious and insatiable They had all the day walkt round about the Iudgement Hall Mount Calvary the Crosse and the Sepulchre They were not wearied with all that And night had no sleep to shut up their eyes They forsake the Image of death which is sleep to find death it self and never looked after any bed except the Sepulchre of their Master They travell amongst darknesse pikes lances the affrights of Arms and of the night nothing makes them affraid If there appear a difficulty to remove the stones love gives them arms They spare nothing for their Master and Saviour They are above Nichodemus and Ioseph they have more equisite perfumes for they are ready to melt and distil their hearts upon the Tomb of their Master O faithfull lovers seek no more for the living amongst the dead That cannot die for love which is the root of life 3. The Angel in form of a young man covered with a white Robe shews us that all is young and white in immortality The Resurrection hath no old age it is an age which can neither grow nor diminish These holy Maries enter alive into the Sepulchre where they thought to find death but they learn news of the chiefest lives Their faith there confirmed their piety satisfied there is promises assured and their love receives consolation Aspirations I Do not this day look toward the East O my Jesus I consider the Sepulchre it is from thence this fair Sun is risen O that thou appearest amiable dear spouse of my soul Thy head which was covered with thorns is now â—rowned wiâ—h a Diadem of Stars and Lâ—ghts and all the glory of the highest Heaven rests upon it Thine eyes which were eclipsed in bloâ—d have enlightned them with fires and delicious brightnesse which melâ— my heart Tâ—y feet and hands so far as I can see are enameld with Rubies which after they have been the objects of mens cruelty are now become eternal marks of thy bounty O Iesus no more my wounded but my glorified Iesus where am I what do I I see I flie I swound I die I revive
my self with thee I do beseech thee my most Sacred Iesus by the most triumphant of thy glories let me no more fall into the image of death not into those appetites of smoak and earth which have so many times buried the light of my soul What have I to do with the illusions of this world I am for Heaven for Glory and for the resurrection which I will now make bud out of my thoughts that I may hereafter possesse them with a full fruition The Gospel upon Munday the Easter week St. Luke the 24. ANd behold two of them went the same day into a Town which was the space of sixty fâ—rlongs from Ierusalem named Emmans And they talked betwixt themselves of all those things that had chanced And it came to pass while they talked and reasoned with themselves Iesus also himself approaching went with them but their eyes were held that they might not know him And he said to them what are these communications that you confer one with another walking and are sad And one whose name was Cleophas answering said to him Art thou only a stranger in Ierusalem and hast not known the things that have been done in it these dayes To whom he said what things And they said concerning Iesus of Nazareth who was a man a Prophet mighty in work and word before God and all the people And how our chief Priests and Princes delivered him into condemnation of death and crucified him But we hoped that it was he that should redeem Israel And now besides all this to day is the third day since these things were done But certain women also of ours made us afraid who before it was light were at the Monument and not finding his body came saying that they saw a vision also of Angells who say that he is alive And certain men of ours went to the Monument and they found it so as the women said but him they found not And he said to them O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all things which the Prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and so enter into his glory And beginning from Moses and all the Prophets he did interpret to them in all the Scriptures the things that were concerning him And they drew nigh to the Town whether they went and he made semblance to go further And they forced him saying tarry with us because it is toward night and the day is now far spent and he went in with them And icâ— came to passe while he sate at the Table with them he took bread and blessed and brake and did reach to them And their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished out of their sight And they said one to the other was not our heart burning in us whilest he spake in the way and opened unto us the Scriptures And rising up the same hour they went back into Ierusalem and they found the Eleven gathered together and those that were with them saying that our Lord is risen ind ed and hath appeared to Simon And they told the things that were done in the way and how they knew him in the breaking of bread Moralities 1. IT is a strange thing that God is alwayes with us and we are so little with him We have our being our moving our life from him he carries us in his arms he keeps us as a Nurse does her dear child yet all this while we scarce know what he is use him so often as a stranger He is in our being yet we keep him far from our heart as a dead man who is quite forgotten And yet Enâ—ch walked with him for that he was taken from the conversation of men and reserved for Paradise To speak truth our soul should alwayes be languishing after her Iesus and count it a kind of Adultery to be separated from him so much as by thought Let us learn a little to talk with him we commonly have that in our tongue which we keep in our heart Let us sweeten the sadness of our pilgrimage by the contemplation of his beauties Let us look upon him as God and man the God of gods the Man of men our great Saviour and Prophet powerfull both in word and work for if his word be thunder his life is a lightning He hath been here doing good to all the world and suffering hurt from all the world doing good without reward and induring evil without impatience We all passe here as Torrents into valleys the onely question is of our passing well whether we look on worldly goods as on waters which passe under a bridge and as upon the furniture of an Inne which is none of ours If we be imbarqued in the Vessel of life let us not amuse our selves to gather Cockles upon the shore but so that we may alwayes have our eyes fixt upon Paradise 2. Two things do hinder those Pilgrims from knowing Jesus as they should The one is their eyes are dazeled and the other is the little account they make of the Crosse which drives them into a mistrust of the Resurrection And this is it which crosseth us all our life and so oft diverts us from the point of our happinesse Our eyes are dazled with false lights of the world they are darkned with so many mists and vapours of our own appetites and passions that we cannot see the goods of heaven in the brightest of their day Worldly chains have a certain effective vigour and pleasure which is only pa nted but they have a most certain sorrow and a most uncertain contentment They have a painfull labour and a timorous rest A possession full of misery and void of all beatitude If we had our eyes well opened to penetrate see what it is we should then say of all the most ravishing objects of the world How sensless was I when I courted you O deceitfull world thou didst appear great to me when I saw thee not as thou art But so soon as I did see thee rightly I did then cease to see thee for thou wast no more to me but just nothing We run in full career after all that pleaseth our sense and the Crosse which is so much preached to us is much more upon our Altars then in our hearts We will not know that the throne of Mount Calvary is the path way to heaven and as this truth wanders from our hearts Jesus departs from our eyes Let us at least pray Jesus to stay with us for it is late in our hearts and the night is far advanced by our want of true light We shall not know Jesus by discourse but by seeding him in the persons of his poor since he gives the continuall nourishment of his body Aspirations O Onely Pilgrim of the world first dweller in the heart of thy heavenly Father what a pilgrimage hast thou made descending from heaven to earth and yet without forsaking heaven Thou hast mark't thy