in the Temple With how vnspeable loue both to God and man did our Lord IESVS dispossesse himselfe for a while of the greatest ioy and comfort that he could receaue in this world which was the sweet society of his sacred mother wherein although through the eminency of grace which had beene communicated to her happy soule in the very first instant of her Immaculate Conception he could neuer haue found the least distraction from the immediate and most perfect seruice of Almighty God yet because the parents of his disciples and seruants would not all be such but would often be diuerting and diswading vs from corresponding with his inspirations and our obligations he was pleased not only to giue vs an example at large but euen to impart the very expresse words themselues wherby we might ouercome their intreaties And rather then we should not be instructed to forsake all flesh and bloud when once there should be question of Gods seruice and rather then we should not be armed well agaynst those temptatioÌ„s which might grow to vs from our Parents he was content to exemplify the case in his owne sacred person with a seeming diminution to his B. Mother For this it was that when the all-immaculate virgin spake to him in these tender words Sonne why hast thou so done to vs Lâ—â— 2. behold thy Father and I sorrowing did seeke thee Our B. Sauiour answered thus not in the way of reprehension as certayne course-harted people will needs conceaue but (e) In what sense our Lord Iesus spake to his B. mother out of compassion to them and out of instruction to vs Why is it that you sought me did you not knowe that I must be about those things which are my Father And to show that his meaning was but to benefit vs by that expression of himselfe and not to cast the least aspersion of imperfection vpon his most holy mother and S. Ioseph he caused his holy spirit to record it instantly after in holy Scripture that he departed from the Temple with them and came to Nazareth was subiect to them And heere let him that can consider and admire the vnspeakeable dignity and excellency of our B. Lady to whom the God of heauen earth would become a subiect And let him much more adore God for the infinite humility and Charity of our Lord IESVS (e) The incomparable loue of Lord in being so subiect to our B. Lady and S. Ioseph who vouchsafed by this stronge example of his to procure the quenching of our pride and the kindling of our loue by making himselfe a subiect to flesh and bloud for our sake he who was the superiour and soueraigne Lord of all the creatures both in heauen earth He shewed well what he was whilst yet he sate in the Temple amongst the Doctours Of whome he heard what they could say and he asked them to see what they would answere And many other things he also did at the same tyme though holy Scripture by wrapping them vp in silence doe rather leaue matter for our soules then for our senses to worke vpon For he did both pray his eternall Father for their conuersion to his diuine Maiesty and for the manifestation of his glory not only in their hartes vvho vvere present then but in as many as by their meanes should aftervvard come to knovv vvhat had passed there The sacred Text affirmes How all that heard him were aslonished at his wisedome and answeres and that seeing him they wondred And vve may vvell assure our selues that theyr admiring his diuine presence theyr being astonished at his vvisedome vvas to that holy soule of our Lord Iesus an occasion of much mortisication which nothing but ardent Charity could haue made him so willingly imbrace For he was then but twelue yeares old and he had bene bred in a poore and plaine appearance and he dwelt in the very depth of profound hamility And humility when indeed it is profound doth make a soule much more abhorre admiration and prayse then any hart which is vayne can appreh end and hate to be despised The vvhile if all they were so amazed by hearing him vvho vvere the Doctours of the law and vvho vvere likely to despise all the world in comparison of themselues and if the very sight of him made them wonder vvhose eyes vvere euen almost put out by the dust of Enuy and Hypocrysy vvhich the mind of pride had raysed into them which our Lord IESVS by the dropps of his diuine grace vvas procuring them to lay in a farre higher manner must (f) We are particularly bound to admire the wisedome and grace of our Lord Iesus we vvho are Christian and vvhome our Lord instructs not only at some certaine tymes as he did that people in the Temple but to vvhose harts he is euer preaching in a most particular manner happy are they who apply the eares therof to his sacred mouth adore the Maiesty of his wisedome and power and admire the dignity and beauty of his humanity and be inflamed and euen consumed with the sense of his eternall prouidence and ardent loue But yet withall we must consider that howsoeuer it be said and that most truely Thâ—it he proceeded in wisedome and age and grace with God and men this is only to be vnderstood of that kind of wisedome which might grow through experimentall knowledge by way of the senses which he had like vs though yet with this difference as (*) Cap. â—â— hath bene shewed that euen therin he was free from all possibility of errour which we are not For his wisedome otherwise was so great as not to be capable of any increase as nether was his grace wherof in the instant of his Conception that diuine soule of his had receiued all absolute fulnes But he may be truely said to haue increased dayly with God and men in Grace that is in Fauour because euery day more more his soule was beautified by new acts in the sight of God and daylie he made more and more discouery of himselfe to men according to the rates of their Capacity and they would not haue bene men but beasts and blockes if they had not bene taken by such an obiect We are taught withall by his growing thus in grace before God and men to performe our actions in such sort as that we must nether procure to please God alone by not caring for the edification of men nor yet men alone through Hipocrisy or want of purity in the intention but they both must goe together hand in hand as daily our Lord when he grew afterward to mans estate did effectually teach vs more and more Of the excessiue loue which our Lord Iesus shewed to vs in that he would vouchsafe to be Baptized CHAP. 21. VVHAT thought of man or Angell can reach to that humility which Christ our Lord being longe since growne to be a man and now vpon the poynt of
Augustine which since it is so highly and clearly true I would to God it were written and worne about the neckes Aug. Cōfes lib. 1. cap. 22. and in the harts of all the world Iussisti Domine sic est vt poena sua sibi sit omnis inordinatus animus Thou hast ordeyned it O Lord and so it is That the very inordinate affection it selfe of euery one should be an affliction to him that hath it so the merit of euery action which is purely vndertaken and faithfully performed for the loue of God especially if it haue any thing in it of the heroicall will be sure to affect the mind with a particular kind of remuneratiō yea so particular as that the soule shall know it is for that The second (c) The 2. Temptaon was riches power att 4. c. 4. Temptation wherwith this inueterate lyer did tempt our Lord was by offering all riches and power which he shewed him from the Top of a high mountaine and he promised to giue him the whole world if he would adore him A lyer I say he is and so he was from the begin ning But yet amongst all his lyes he neuer told a greater then this That it should be in his power to giue the whole world away he who is not the owner of one leafe which growes therin nor is able to moue the least indiuisible graine of dust vpon the earth nor any moate in the ayre without the particular leaue of our Lord God All power is of God all pleasure is of him and in him And whatsoeuer is in creatures is but a poore participation of the infinite which in him is found And that which the deuill can doe is only to tempt vs to steale it from the true owner Wheruuto when he hath induced vs and that we once returne into our selues that which he leaueth behind in our soules is nothing but a miserable remorse of mind and an experimentall knowledge of extreame calamity and penury insteed of plenty and of infamy insteed of glory and of consuming paine insteed of any pure and perfect ioy Confes lib. 4. cap. 12. And most iustly as Saint Augustine sayth doth that which in it selfe is sweete grow bitter to thee if thou commit such an act of iniustice as vpon the reason of that sweetues to forsake and ossend our Lord who made it sweet And thou commest as he diuinely expresseth in another place To turne and tosse thy minde Confes l. 2. cap. 2. vp and downe superba deiectione inquieta lassitudine with a proud kind of basenes a resiles kind of wearines This is that bargaine to which the deuill if we hearken to him can bring a soule but to giue it one haires bread of happines is neither in his power nor in his will For his enuy and his hate to vs is such as that the smal counterfaite pleasure which we find in the act of any sinne is no small vexation griefe to him And if it were in his hand to make vs sinne without taking any corporall delight at all and to tosse vs from torments in this life to torments in the next he would find malice inough for that purpose and we should be sure neuer to tast any one drop of ioy by his consent But where was it that our Lord found patience and (d) The incomprehensible meeknes of our Lord Iesus meeknes inough to keepe him from rebuking that impure spirit from creating a new hell of torments into which he might haue bene precipitated for desiring to be adored by one whome he suspected ought to haue known to be the sonne of God where did he find it or where could he find it but in his owne pretious hart which is a profound Sea of loue to all such as will be capable therof and of pitty and patience euen to such as hunt after nothing but his dishonour 1. Pet. 2. For whē afterward our Lord was reuiled he answered not and when he was cursed he prayed for them who cast theyr curses vpon him And when now he was tempted he did not so much as turne against the deuill himselfe but stood only fast in his owne defence against that Prince of the Rebellious Angells who was still following his old maxime of beleeuing that he was fit to be adored will neuer be taught to chaunge it euen by the experience of those paines of hell which he hath tasted already for so many ages and is to doe for all eternities So spirituall so stiffe and so tough a sinne is that of Pride which as it will nouer be forsakē by those deuils so also is there none to which the misery of man in this life is more obnoxious The deuill knowing this at the least as well as we did reserue the Temptation of (e) The 3. temptatiō was to Estimation and Honour Honour for the last place he drew it as the most daungerous and deadly wounding arrovv out of his quiuer vvhervvith he hoped to fasten vpon the soule of Christ our Lord. He tooke him therfore out of the desert and carryed him to the pinnacle of the Temple and placing him vpō the top therof he would faine haue induced him to cast himself dovvn through an insinuation of sanctity vvhich might be in him For sayth he If thou be the sonne of God thou mayst safely doe it for it is written that he hath giuen his Angells charge ouer thee and that in their hands they shall beare thee vp Matt. 4. least perhaps thou knocke thy foote against a stoue The deuill is no foole or babe but he knovves it is most true that if any thing be able to shake a vertuous soule it is a Temptation of Pride an ambitiō of Honour for the sanctity which is imparted to it by our Lord God because through any yeilding to this Temptation both that sanctity is lost God vvith it With hovv pestilent successe hath he put this tricke vpon vvhole multitudes of mē at seuerall tymes vvho at those tymes vvere faythfull seruants Saints of God But this blast of vanity did so vndermine their soules as that they fell dovvne and rotted and did but serue to make a fire vvherat the deuill might vvarme himselfe But heer he mist his marke and although be brought the ground of his Temptation of Christ our Lord out of holy Scripture levvdly applyed the only true sense vvherof the spirit of Christ our Lord did knovv after his Ascension the holy Ghost hath still imparted it to the holy Catholique Church vvhere the spirit of God doth yet only rest and vvherby it is able to interprete truely that holy Scripture yet our Lord vvas easily able to giue him such an ansvvere out of the same Scripture as made him depart vvith shame inough It is shewed how we are to carry our selues in the vse of holy Scripture and we are instructed concerning Lent we are
transfigured before them That his face did shine like the sunne That his garments were as white as snow That Moyses and Elyas appeared also and were speaking with him That their discourse was of that excesse of loue which he would shew in the passion through which he was to passe in Hierusalem That S Peter was so rapt with ioy as to say That it was good being there and to beg of our Lord that there they might haue still remayned but that before he had ended his speach a bright cloud came downe which ouershadowed them and this voyce was thundred out from thence This is my beloued sonne in whome I am well pleased heare him Vpon the noyse of this voyce the Disciples fell prostrate vpō their faces as being much a frayd but our Lord Iesus drew neere and touched them said withall rise vp and doe not feare and when they looked vp they saw none but only Iesus And as they were going downe the hill he cōmaunded them not to speake of that vision till he should be risen from the dead This glorious miracle did shine in the exteriour of our Lord so vehemētly as to send the beames therof to his Disciples but it vvas the flame of loue which burning so hot in his diuine hart did breake out much more vpon them that so their soules and ours by theirs might be set on fyre He had then lately been telling them of his passion which was to come That he was to endure many and grieuous things That he was to be condemned by the high Priests That he was to suffer death and then to rise He had further said that for their good they must be imitatours of him and that howsoeuer the way of the Crosse might fall out to be hard and stony yet there was no remedy but they must runne it through And now least their mindes might haue bene oppressed with inordinate griefe or else assaulted afterward with vnbeliefe or at least discouraged by the difficulties of this life which he knew was to proue so painfull to them for the seruice of God his (c) A particular reason why our Lord would be transfgured before some of his Apostles hart of loue could no longer hould from expressing it selfe towards thē in some such kind as might not only strengthen them against all feare of future harme but might solace them also in aboundant māner both with the present sense of excessiue ioy and an infallible expectation of much more to follow afterward And when he had conueyed the notice of his passion like a bitter dose of pills into their mindes he did like a carefull Phisitian put a spoonfull of Conserue after it into their mouthes least otherwise they might chance to haue cast their Phisicke As generally in holy Scripture so particularly in this mistery of the Transfiguration and of the ioy which was commuicated to the Disciples by meanes therof the expressiōs euen of things which are very great are yet very positiue and playne as I shall also shew elsewhere And Saynt Peter only said Bonum est nos hic esse It is good for vs to be heere But (d) This seemes to haue been but a smal expressiō of ioy but inded it was very great and why though this may seeme to be but a leane and hungry kind of signification of his ioy for his hauing beene made participant of that high vision yet indeed it vvas such a one as could not well be more endeared To haue said that it had beene better to be in the top of that high mountaine with Christ our Lord then to haue bene in the midst of all the treasures and pleasures of the world below had bene to allow a kind of goodnes to these other things though infeririour to that which there he felt For to say that one thing is better then another doth leaue a power in that other thing to be good But by only saying that this was good it rather seemes to follow that whatsoeuer vvas lower and lesse then this would not be good S. Peter was heere in a kind of midle Region of the ayre betewne ordinary grace below glory aboue And as he could not say that his then present condition was any more then good in regard that nothing of this life was so good or indeed that it was absolutely good at all so neither could he say that it was any more then good in regard of the ioyes which are felt in heauen And therfore he said not that it was a soueraigne or an infinite good which is only enioyed in that next life by the sight of God Exod. 33. That sight is that Omne bonum which was promised by our Lord God that he would shew his seruant Moyses in heauen This other is that bonum which now was shewed to his Apostles heere on earth But though it were but bonum in comparison of that infinite good yet if this such as it vvas had bene set by the vvhole vvorld of worldly pleasures they would all haue streight appeared to be but durt and trash and this would haue shined like a second heauen of glory in comparison of them We must therfore be farre from thinking meanely of it but rather we are to call our wits about vs and to argue thus If some (e) What wonders the holy ghost doth worke in the soule of man influence or visitation of the holy Ghost whilst it doth but slip into the soule of man be able to comfort him when he was laid though neuer so low in the bed of distresse and desolation If some extraordinary communication of Gods Spirit can eleuate the soule not only aboue all other creatures but euen aboue it selfe so as not only to disgust it and that for euer from all humane hopes or feares but to make it halfe forget that there is any other thing but God If some true Reuelation or diuine imaginary vision such as our Lord doth sometymes cōmunicate to his friends fauorites in this life when and why it pleaseth him as we find recorded in their liues doth sometymes so inebriate and fixe and transforme thē into him as they may rather be said to swym and bath at ease in a sea of comfort then to trauell and trudge by land in a desert full of difficulties distresse what effect shall we thinke this vision of visions did worke in the mind of the B. Apostles Who saw not what they saw by imagination only but they had before the eyes both of their body and minde the humanity of Christ our Lord all in glory with Moyses and Elias doing him homage in the name of both those worlds which liued eyther vnder the law of nature or the written law The incomparable ioy which the Apostles tooke through the loue which our Lord Iesus shewed them in his Transfiguration and how himselfe was content to want the glory of it both before and after for the loue of them CHAP. 30. THE sunne
prerogatiues prayses of this most gratious most glorious Queene of heauen the ornament both of this and the other world wherby she is delineated in the old Testament may be well content to vanish in the sight of those others which are most perfectly declared in the new The wonderfull excellencies of our B. Lady which are declared in the new Testament be heere set forth CHAP. 86. LET therfore that be first remēbred which was touched before vpon other occasiōs that the holy Scripture is wont to expresse it self in few words that they vse to be deliuered in a very positiue māner least otherwise the earnestnes of asseueration might derogate from the authority of that infallible spirit of truth wherby they are written Let it be also considered that little is said in the whole Euangelicall history of Christ our Lord himselfe in the way and vnder the Tytle of expresse prayse For he was to giue himselfe for a perfect patterne of profōd humnility which permits not a man either to prayse himselfe or to like that it be done by his next fellowes His resolution was that his workes should speake of him and so they did and this was also the case of our Blessed Lady who as she was next him in grace so was she also next him in humility But yet neuerthelesse as it was necessary that Christ our Lord should be declared to the world for the Sauiour of it and for the Sonne of God and of the Blessed Virgin wherby the incomparable excellency of his person was to be discerned and the admirable perfection of his actions discouered so by a necessary consequence of that relation which runs betwene a Sonne and his mother the dignity of her person who was the mother of God must also needs be incidētly not only incidently but expresly also shewed and the matchlesse sanctity of all her actions and operations therby inferred For notwitstanding all the reseruation which I haue said to be vsed in holy Scripture let vs see if it haue bin able to containe it selfe from magnifying our Blessed Lady euen in other termes then by only saying that she was the Mother of God Which word alone had yet bene sufficient to aduance her as farre aboue al the world of creatures both in heauen and earth as a single figure being placed before a whole million of Cyphers would expresse a number which would scarce be told I will first in a word point out the priuiledges and prayses of this perpetuall Virgin which are mentioned in holy Scripture in effect as they ere raunged togeather by Canisius lib. 1. c. 2. that deuout and learned seruant of hers And from thence I will proceed to a short consideration of those diuine vertues which were imparted to her togeather with those prerogatiues which were necessarily to be supposed to be in her by those prayses For of her and to her it was said by the Archangell Gabriel and note that he said it not as in his owne person but as in the person of God himselfe whose Ambassador he was All haile O thou full of Grace Luc. 2. Our Lord is with thee Blessed art thou amongst women Thou hast found grace with God Thou shalt beare a Sonne and thou shalt call his name Iesus That Sonne of thine shall be great and he shall be called the Sonne of the most High Our Lord God will giue him the seate of his Father Dauid He shall raigne in the house of Iacob for euer and that kingdome shall haue no end Vpon thee shall the holy Ghost descend and the vertue of the most high shall ouershadow thee And so therfore that which of thee shall be borne holy shall be called by the Sonne of God Vpon her presence also it was and vpon the first sound of her sacred voyce that S. Elizabeth was indued with the spirit of Prophesy and ful-filled with the holy Ghost Luc. 1. that her Sōne did spring in her wombe with ioy as hath bin said which supposeth the vse of reason then imparted to him Vpon her Visitation it was that S. Elizabeth was not able to containe her selfe but cryed out to this effect with an extaticall kind of loud voyce Is it possible that this poore creature should receaue such a fauour as not only to be saluted by the mother of my Lord but that she should preuent me with such a painefull visit How come I to be capable of such high honour Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruite of thy wombe Happy I say art thou who hast belieued for whatsoeuer our Lord hath sayd to thee shall be performed And heerupon the humble and loyall soule of the sacred Virgin when she found that her Cosin had receaued a reuelation of the diuine mystery which had bin wrought in her◠lent her tongue to the holy Ghost Luc. 1. who therby pronounced that holy Canticle of the Magnificat And so farre was she (a) The holy Ghost did force the sacred tongue of our B. Lady to giue her selfe due prayse ouerruled therby as prophetically to foretell her own excellency and not only to say That our Lord had done great things to her but that all generations of men should call her blessed It is but reason O Queene of heauen that those Generations should call thee blessed by whose only meanes vnder God his curse is to be remoued from them And if the good (b) A consequence which cānot be denied Luc. 11. womā in the Ghospell vpon the seeing and hearing of Christ our Lord when he was teaching did proclaime the blessednes of that wombe which had borne such a Sonne and of the breasts which had giuen him sucke and if according to the iudgmēt of antiquity she was inspired therin by the holy Ghost Beda l. 4. c. 4◠in Luc 11. she of whome our Venerable Country man S. Bede affirmes that by the example of her faith and deuotion whilst the Pharisies were tempting blaspheming Christ our Lord she did both confound the slaunders of those principall Iewes who then were present and the persidiousnes of those Heretiques who would spring vp in tyme which was then to come how much more are we to blesse her who haue so much more knowledge of her excellencies then the other had For she did but conceaue her at that time to be mother of some great Prophet or man of God wheras we are taught by the light of faith that she was no lesse then the mother of God himselfe How miserable therfore are they who do their best to giue both the holy Ghost and her the lye whilst they acknowledge her not to be truly blessed for as much as they make her subiect both to originall to actuall sinnes An incomparable dignity it was for thee O sacred Virgin to be made the mother of the euer-liuing God And if we with our misty sight discerne that dignity to haue bene so great what did those pure sweet
incouraged towardes the vse Pennance and so this mystery of the Temptation is concluded CHAP. 26. BVT although our Lotd did vvhat he did vvith diuine vvisedome and that the same course may be taken by the Doctours and Pastours of his Church to ansvvere vvith holy Scripture to the obiections vvhich shall be brought out of Scripture eyther by the deuill or by his seruants yet this course is not so safe for euery ignorant and ordinary man but rather to remit himselfe to the beliefe and practise of the holy Catholike Church or at least to the iudgment of such learned Priests as are next at hand And as for dealing with the deuill himselfe it is no point eyther of wit or grace to chop Logicke with him And vve see that Luther got nothing by him out of the arguments which the Deuill pretended to bring out of holy Scripture Luth. de Missa Angulari Tom. 7. printed at VVitemberge Anno 1558. fol. 228. 229. D. Bernser 15. supra Psalm Qui habitat against the Sacrifice of the Masse for heereupon did Luther as himselfe doth plainly confesse impugne and detest that holy Sacrifice Besides it is the diuells custome as it is also of his disciples to falsify the text as S. Bernard notes him to haue done in this very place For it sayth not that the Angells had charge ouer him to beare him vp that he might not knocke his foote against a stone but that they might keepe him in all his wayes Wherupon the Saint doth challeng the deuil in these termes Quid malignè c. What is that O thou maligne spirit which he commaunded his Angells to doe It was that they should keepe him in all his waies Doth he peraduenture say In his precipices What kind of way was that to haue cast himselfe downe from the pinnacle of the Temple This is no way but a ruyne or if it be a way it is no way for Christ our Lord but for thee Thus saith Saint Bernard Now in this manner of cyting Scriptures the deuill is but too faithfully imitated in his infidelity and so hath he bene by the Sectaries of all ages Tom. 2. Hom. 31. in Lucam Wherupon Origen sayth of the Heretiques of his tyme As the deuill alledged the Scriptures so doth Marcion Basilides and Valentinus alledge them And then he giueth this aduise If at any tyme thou heere a man alleadge a testimony out of Scripture be sure thou doe not instaÌ„tly approue in thy minde what thou hearest himsay but first consider who it is that speaks and what his iudgment and beliefe is least else he may counterfeit himselfe to be that Saint which he is not and least being infected with the poyson of (a) Take heed of heresy how saintly soeuer it may looke Heresy he lye hidden like some wolfe in a sheeps cloathing yea least it be the deuill who speaketh to thee of out Scripture Now the same which Origen said of those Heretiques of his tyme is to be said with as much truth of many others in this age of ours And we are nether to beleeue what they say therin nor yet greatly to wonder at their boldnes deceipt in this kind of proceeding since the deuill whose cause they plead did point theÌ„ out to it so long agoe The study therfore of holy Scripture to the end of answering and consuting the aduersaries of God and his Church must chiefly be vsed by them who are called to the office of instructing others and for the present we wil coÌ„sider what else is taught vs heere by Christ our Lord. Our Lord IESVS fasted forty dayes and although there haue been Saynts in the Christian Church who haue miraculously been enabled to produce theyr fast into the same length yet doth it not belong to vs to imitate the same whose forces eyther of body or minde will not reach so far But yet by that excesse of our Lords fast we are obliged to doe what we can therin without great preiudice to our health which we are bound to keep for his seruice It will become vs to doe this so much the more as (b) Our whole life is a Temptation it is certaine that all this life of ours is neither more nor lesse then a contynuall subiection to Temptation And euen in the case of Christ our Lord himselfe it is said of the Deuill when he was confounded by the answere of our B. Sauiour that yet he departed not as one may say for good and all but only for a tyme. And therfore Christians must make account that they are euer to stand vpon their guard agaynst him For if the danger be still at hand it is agaynst all reason that we suffer the preuentious and remedies to be Farre of And since our heauenly Maister hath made vs with so much loue see what they are we haue no more to doe but to consider and worke after his example And though for as much as concerneth fasting we must euer be vsing it at least as farre as we are bound by the ordination of the holy Church yet it seemes that this action of our B. Lord doth oblige vs in a more particular manner to be exact and deuout in the fast of Lent For as much as according to the tradition of the Church and the expresse declaration of the holy (1) Diuus Hier. l. 2. con loui c. 11. D. Max. de leiu Quadras D. Ambr. ser 34. D. Augâ—epist 119. c. 15. Fathers his fast in the wildernes by the space of Fourty dayes did dedicate and sanctify and consecrate and auow the fast of Lent by diuine authority And so also in the (2) Hier. Ep. 54. ad Marcell Leo. ser 6. de Quadragis lgna Epist ad Philip. Fathers there is aboundance of proofe that as the institution of this fast is recomended to vs by the soueraigne example of our B. Lord so the precept therof and the appoiting of the tyme with other circumstances was deriued downe to Christians by no lesse then the Tradition of the Apostles But why should a hart which is truly and nobly Christian need the spurre of a coÌ„mandement to doe a thing which redoundeth so expresly to the honour and ought to be imbraced in imitation of such a mercifull louing Lord It must suffice vs to know that he is gone before vs by the way of penance that howsoeuer his Law did not oblige vs to follow him yet his Loue would A generous soule will not endure to spend the daies and nights in dalliance when such a friend and benefactour such as omnipotent creatour and bountifull redeemer is keeping so strict a watch or rather is passing the very pikes and entring the breach and that not for his owne but for our good For our good it was vvhich Christ our Lord did seeke in all our ignorances vvhich he tooke care to instruct in our miseries vvhich he applyed himselfe to remoue and in our comforts vvhich he