throughout the face of the whole earth Iob in his 41. Chap. maketh a dreadfull description of the Deuill in the metaphor of a Whale or as some would haue it of a Sea Dragon a Fish of that exceeding greatnesse that when he discouers himselfe in the waters he seemeth to be some little Island or some pretie big Hill Corpus eius scuta fusilia his bodie is couered ouer with such strong scales as if they were barres of Brasse and ribbes of Steele and so close lockt ioynted together that the subtillest aire cannot get in between the knitting of the ioynts Stornutatio eius splendor ignis The breath of his nostrills is like vnto lightning his eyes as flashes of fire from his mouth come forth flames as out of a Furnace from his nose issueth a thicke smoake his breath kindleth coles and sets them on fire there are no weapons either offensiue or defensiue that can withstand his force Reputaâ—it quasi palus ferrum as quasi lignum putridum Yron to him is as strawes and swords of steele as rotten sticks A man of arms may threaten him with a Mace of Iron a Gunner shoot his Bullets at him an Archer his Arrowes a Slinger his Stones the Pikeman his Lance all which hee so little cares for that hee makes but a jeast of it In a word when he comes to make an end of this large description which he makes of the Deuill he concludes that chapter with this Epiphonema Non est potestâ—s quae comparetur ei The power of the world is not able to compare with him Saint Gregorie vpon the fourth Chapter of Iob noteth That the Scripture giues the Deuil three kind of names or attributes Behemoth or Elephant Leuiathan which some will haue to bee the Whale and Auis Rapinae a Bird of Rapine that liues onely vpon prey Nunquid illudes ei quasi aui In which three names hee did comprehend the power of all the Beasts of the field of all the Fishes of the sea and of all the Birds of the aire The power of these three sorts of creatures extends it selfe to these three elements the Water the Earth and the Aire and they beeing all deposited in the Deuill whose habitation is the Fire hee comes to haue dominion ouer all the elements In other places of the Scripture hee is called a Dragon a Leopard a Beare a Lyon but these comparisons come short of the other And therefore some Doctours expounding this word Behemoth say That it signifies Multitudinem Bestiarum a multitude of Beasts because it includeth in it the force and poyson of all other sorts of Beasts whatsoeuer Saint Paul calls him a Prince of power the Ruler and Gouernor of this world For as the state and power of a Prince is farre beyond that of his Subiects and Vassals so is the Deuil in al other things Aduersus Principes Potestates Mundi rectores Against the Princes and Powers and Gouernors of the earth The Greeke word is Cosmocratoras a word of that fulnesse that diuers Fathers haue diuersly interpreted it Tertullian The possessions of the world Hilarie and Saint Hierome The Mightie of the world The Lords of the world Esay calls him a Barre or a Bolâ— because the strength of a Prison consists in good Barres and Bolts and strong Lockes Visitauit Dominus super serpentem vectem The Lord will visit that creeping Barre Theodocion translates it Robustum The strong Barre Simmachus Vectem concludentem siue claudentem The enclosing Barre or the Barre that shutteth vp For he doth shut vp many in his prison and keepes them in miserable seruitude Saint Iohn in his Apocalyps bewaileth the Earth and the Sea because the Deuill comes forth enraged fiercely against them shewing great sorrow that God had giuen them such small meanes to be reuenged of him beeing a Beast so powerfull so cruell so tyrannous and so bent against them that man was turned coward and become fearefull But since our Sauior Christ ouercame him hath bound him fast in fetters and chaines of yron he bids vs be of good courage and that we should stand no more in feare of him Feare not saith our Sauiour I haue ouercome the World Many of Gods People when they entred first into the sea shewed themselues fearefull cowardly but after that the powerfull hand of God had ouerwhelmed the Egyptians had thrown them vp dead on the other side of the sea the weakest women among them and those men that were most faint hearted with songs of joy and with Timbrels did set forth the glorie of this victorie and did make a mocke of the power of Pharaoh They praised the hand of the Vanquisher who opened the mouthes of the dumbe and made the tongues of Infants eloquent So likewise did the world liue cow'd before by the power of Satan but after that the powerfull hand of Christ our Sauiour left in the Wildernesse the print of that wound which he had giuen him on the head the meanest and most cowardly Christian may now make a jest both of him and Hell One of the Sages of Greece said That better was an Armie of Sheepe that had a Lyon to their captaine than an Armie of Lyons that had a Sheepe to their Commander And therefore albeit wee are but weake and sillie Sheepe yet haue we a Lyon to our Captaine who hath ouercome our enemies The Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda hath ouercome When Ioshuaâ— ouercame thâ—se fiue Kings of the Ammorites neere vnto Gibeon he would haue the Princes of the People to put their feet vpon their neckes that seeming vnto him to be a powerfull meanes to put them in heart and to serue to encourage the rest of his soldiers not to feare them for that God should bring downe their enemies and put them vnder their feet This valiant Captaine did also subdue Zeba and Salmana and commanded his sonne that hee should vnsheath his sword and runne them through which he did of purpose to make him gather courage vnto him and to cast off all feare Nor can there greater worth be desired in a Captaine than to know how to free his souldiers from feare When Dauid had smote off Goliah his head those of Israel were as bold as Lyons and the Philistines were as fearefull as Hares In the time â—f Salomon the Scripture saith That Israell did liue in that peace and so deuoyd of feare as no men more Euerie one vnder his owne Vine and vnder his owne Figge tree not that all of them had their Vines and Figge-trees but because they might sleepe quietly and securely as the Poets feigne of Tytirus and Melibaeus vnder the shade of the broad spredding Beech singing this Song of joy Deus nobis haec otia fecit All which was a figure of the peace and â—ecuritie which the Church was to enioy by the conquest of this our Captaine for by warre wee come to the enioying of peace and
themselues downe before him and licke the earth And this is one of the greatest happinesses that can befall Gods enemie And she fell a weeping Pliny saith That one of the Offices which Nature bestowed on the eyes was That they might serue as a Limbeck or Stillatorie to the heart from whence it might distill it's sadnesse and sorrow and easing it selfe of so heauy a load it might thereby inioy some comfort Saint Gregory expounding that place of the Lamentations Mine eye casteth out water because the comforter that should refresh my soule is farre from me saith That as the Gardiner doth deriue the water from the Estanque or poole where it is kept and conueyes it to the borders in the garden or the plants in the orchard so a true Penitent ought to direct the teares of his eyes to euery one of those sinnes which he hath committed And because Mary Magdalens teares were many the Euangelist saith That she did Rigare lachrymis Showre downe teares Saint Bernard saith That teares worke two effects The one To water the heart The other To wash it And therefore he that doth not gutter downe teares hath commonly a hard and a foule heart Hard because teares are they that soften and mollifie the heart as Water doth the earth And as in a ground that is destitute of water howbeit Fruit may grow therein yet doth it neuer come to it's perfect ripenesse It withered as soone as it came vp because it wanted moysture In like sort the Soule which is not made tender with teares although it may bud forth some flowers and leaues of good intentions yet it neuer comes to beare fruit Foule because there is not that Collyrium or medicine which can so clense and cleere the eyes of the Soule as Teares though the eyes of the bodie should waxe blind with weeping She began to fall a weeping We know the beginning of these teares but not the end for that fountaine of teares which had it's Well-head and spring at the feet of our Sauiour Christ did neuer grow emptie or drie in the eyes of Marie Magdalen Saint Basil askes the question How it comes to passe that teares sometimes should come vpon vs without desiring them and at other times though we desire them neuer so much we are not able to shed a teare And his reason is That we haue them now then God being willing to giue vs a taste of them for the Soule that once tasteth of the sweetnesse of teares will not leaue them for a world for as those vapors that are exhaled from those salt and bitter waters of the sea being conuerted into clouds are afterwards resolued into a sweet and sauorie water so those sighes and sobbs arising from a sad and sorrowfull Soule for hauing offended the Maiestie of God beeing conuerted into Clouds of feare resolue themselues at last into most sweet most sauorie teares Otherwhiles God denies them vnto vs though we seeke after them neuer so much in punishment of our forepassed negligence for it is no reason that hee should on the sudden inioy so great a good who by long exercise hath not deserued them Saint Augustine after that he was conuerted saith That his eyes were two Fountaines and that he was verie well pleased they should bee so Fluebant lachrymae bene mihi erat cum illis Dauid after that he had sayd That euery night he washed his couch with teares that is Per singulas noctes Night after night according to Saint Chrysostome he addeth Amplius laua me he calleth for more and more teares still for weeping must haue a beginning but neuer haue an ending In Heauen God onely dries vp our teares once and no more God shall wipe away euerie teare from their eyes But Marie Magdalens teares many a time and oft did hee wipe for enioying through her teares so great a good shee then tooke most pleasure when she wept most Iacob had put on a purpose neuer to leaue off weeping as long as he liued Surely I will goe downe vnto the Graue to my sonne mourning I shall neuer haue drie eyes till I see my sonne Ioseph If he did desire to shed such eternall teares of sorow it is not much that Mary Magdalen should desire to shed eternall teares of joy She fell a weeping Chrysologus cites to this purpose that verse of Dauid Praise yee the Lord yee Waters that be aboue the Heauens Some vnderstand by these waters that are aboue the Heauens the Angells some the Crystalline Heauen others the waters of the Clouds which are aboue the aire which the Scripture calleth Heauen But I saith Chrysologus considering these teares that were poured forth vpon our Sauiours feet cannot but confesse That these are those Waters that be aboue the Heauens The Historie of the Kings maketh mention of the gifts which the Queene of Sheba brought to King Salomon and that none in all the world had at any time brought such rich Presents nor so pretious in their qualitie nor so many in their quantitie The like may be sayd of Marie Magdalens teares neuer was there that woman in the world that shed so many and such rich and pretious teares as she nor that presentedthe like from her eyes to the true Salomon Zachary sets forth Dauid for an example of the penitent Et erit qui offenderit ex eis in illa die sicut Dauid In the new Law it is said That sinners shall rise vp with that zeale and earnest feruour from their sinues as did Dauid But the Prophet had not then the example of Mary Magdalen if he had hee would haue preferd her before him in that deluge of teares God treating of clensing the world of it's sins he rayned down more more water but that was not a sufficient or effectuall remedy on Sodom he rayned down more more fire but that likewise would doe no good Sithence that neither water of it selfe nor fire of it selfe wil do the deed let a Lee be made of fire and water together for there is not that spot or staine which that will not take out This Lee is the teares which come from the vapours of the braine and the fire of the heart Saint Augustine weighing how mute Mary Magdalen stood sayes vnto her Quid quaeris Quid dicis Maria What wouldst thou haue What doest thou seeke after What nothing but weepe Why doest thou not speake She had found too much sorrow to find a tongue They grieue but little that can expresse their griefe No maruell then if she were dumbe-strucken that was so heart-strucken The sweet songs of the Syrens haue been turned into sorrowfull sighes the pleasing and delight fullest voyce being altered by the heat of the blood hath admitted of a change and beene turned into sad howlings and dolefull notes And as at the death of some great Captaine the drums beat harsh and dead and render a dolefull sound
his hat cloake jerken and breeches but he wrapping them close about him with the helpe of his hands and teeth he kept himselfe vnstripped by the Wind who could doe no good vpon him so he giues off Then comes me forth the Sunne who came so hot vpon him that the man within a verie litttle while was faine to fling off all and to strippe himselfe naked The verie selfe same heat and courage did the Sunne of Righteousnesse vse in that last eclipse of his life when from the Crosse he did so heat inflame the hearts of them that were present that they did teare and rent their cloathes Et Velum Templum scissum est And as the barrennest ground is made fruitfull by the Husbandmans industrie so goodnesse ouercommeth euill Fortis vt mors dilectio i. Loue is strong as Death The stoutest the valiantest and the desperatest man aliue cannot resist Death no more can he Loue. Omnis natura bestiarum domita est à natura The nature of beasts is tamed by Nature Against that harme which the Philistines receiued by Mice the Princes made Mice of Gold let thy enemie bee as troublesome to thee as they mold him into Gold and hee wil neuer hurt thee more S. Chrysostome considereth the truth of this in Saul who bearing a deuelish hatred against Dauid yet by Dauids twice pardoning him his life made him as tractable as wax and he captiuated by this his kindnesse brake out into this acknowledgement Iustior me est He is iuster than I for I returned thee il for good and thou me good for ill S. Chrysostome concludes this Historie with a strange endeering That Dauids drawing teares out of Sauls hard heart did cause him more to wonder than did Moses and Aaron when he strucke the Rocke and the waters gushed forth We want not examples of this Doctrine euen in those things that are inuisible The toughest Impostumes are made tender by Vnctions Plinie saith That the roughest sea is made calme with oyle In the Prouince of Namurca they burne stone in stead of wood and that fire will bee quenched with Oyle Against the Impostume of hatred the raging sea of an angrie brest and the flames of a furious enemie there is no better remedie than Mildnesse Sermo mollis frangit iram A soft answer mitigates wrath Orate pro persequentibus vos Pray for them that persecute you This Prayer may be grounded vpon two reasons The one That the hurt is so great to him that doth the wrong that he that is wronged ought to take pittie and compassion of him and beeing it is Damnum animae The hurt of the soule which the offended cannot repaire of himselfe hee must pray vnto God for him That he would be pleased to repaire it Philon treating of the death of Abel saith that Cain killed himself non alterum not another and that Abel was not dead but aliue because he kild but the bodie which was none of his and left him his soule which was his And of Caine That his bodie remained aliue which was none of his and his soule slaine which was his and therefore Clamat sanguis Abel The bloud of Abel cries c. The other That there are some such desperate enemies that are made rather worse than better by benefits being like therein vnto Paper which the more you supple it with Oyle the stiffer it growes or like vnto sand which the more it is wet the harder it waxeth or like vnto an anuile which is not stirred with the stroke of the hammer or like vnto Iudas who comming from the washing of our Sauiors feet went forth afterwards with a greater desire for to sel and betray him whereas being in this desperate case hee should rather haue had recourse vnto God Prayer therefore is proposed vnto vs as the greatest charme and powerfullest exorcisme against the obstinacie rebellion of an enemie For vpon such occasions as these Prayer is woont to worke miracles Saint Stephen prayd for those that stoned him to death which wrought so powerfull an effect that Saint Austen saith That the Church is beholding in some sort to this his Prayer for the conuersion of Saint Paul And Saint Luke That the Heauens were opened hereupon vnto him he saw Christ standing in glorie at the right hand of his Father And it is worth the noting That the ordinarie Language of the Scripture is That our Sauiour Christ is said to sit at the right hand of God the Father but now here in this place the word Stantem Standing is vsed as if Christ had stood vp of purpose to see so rare and strange an accident and claue the Heauens in sunder offering him all the good they did containe or that he did seeme to offer him his Seate as it were as to a child of God vt sitis filij patris vestri That yee may be the children of your Father And this grace and fauor which God shewes vnto those that pray for their enemies was peraduenture a motiue to our Sauiour Christ to make that pittifull moane vpon the Crosse bewayling the Iewes cruell pâ—oceeding against him and praying that his death might not be layd to their charge Pater ignosce illis Father forgiue them Hee might haue hoped that these his charitable prayers would haue opened the Gates of Heauen for the Sonne of Glorie to enter in But in stead thereof the Sunne was darkened and a blacke mantle as it were in mourning spred ouer all the earth whilest he himselfe vttered these words of discomfort My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The doores of Heauen are shut against me my God hath forsaken me But the mysterie is That Heauen was shut against him that it might be opened vnto you and euen then was it opened to the Theefe and to many that returned from Mount Caluarie percutientes pectora sua i. Smiting their brests as also to that Centurion that said Verè filius Dei erat iste This was truly the Sonne of God There may be rendred another reason of this our Sauiours praying vpon the Crosse Which is this That for to obtaine fauors from Gods hand there is no meanes comparable to that of praying for our enemies In me loquebantur qui sedebant in Porta in me psallebant qui bibebant vinum ego autem orationem meam ad te Domine tempus beneplaciti Deus Dauid speaking there as a figure of Christ saith That his enemies sate like judges in the Gates of the Citie entertaining themselues with stories of his life and that they went from Tauerne to Tauern and from one house to another singing Songs in dirision of him descanting and playing vpon him but I turning towards God prayed heartily for them as knowing there was not any time fitter than that for the obtaining of my request Tempus beneplaciti An acceptable time c. The like he saith in the 180 Psalm Pro eo vt me
friend but he that doth not onely loue his friend but his enemie also hee shall be sure of a double reward Introduxit me Rex in cellam vinariam ordinauit in me charitatem i. The King brought me into the Banquetting house and his banner ouer me was Loue. Origen notes That that which the Soule desires of her Husband is not to loue or to hate for this being a naturall perfection it is not possible it should faile the will is neither idle nor in vaine for it must of force wish either well or ill All the kindnesse that shee desires of her husband is his ordering of his loue for in disorder intollerable errours arise Of all the Predicaments God is the highest and hee ought to bee the principall marke of our well ordered affection Dilexi quoniam audiuit Deus vocem orationis meae i. I loued because the Lord heard the voyce of my prayer Loued Whom hast thou loued A prudent wil which placeth it's felicitie in the obseruance of the Law wee must not aske of it Whom it loueth This is a question to be asked of a Reprobate or Cast-away In a word He that man ought chiefly to loue is God and next man for the loue of God be he friend or be he foe And because when it doth not reach extend it self to our enemie it cannot be said to be perfect loue it is said Estote perfecti sicut Pater vester Be ye perfect as your Father The reason is Because in the rest of the actions of vertue humane respects may come athwart vs one may fast because abstinence importeth his health another giue Almes because he affecteth vaine-glorie a third not seeke to be reuenged for feare of those inconueniences that follow after it a fourth be chast for the auoyding of shame c. But to loue a mans enemie that must onely proceed from our loue to God it must needs be done only for Gods sake and God onely can requite it Secondly he reduceth this perfection to the loue of our enemie because it is a sure pledge for Heauen When Elias and Baals Priests were both of them to offer Sacrifice in triall of the true God it was conditioned That that God that should send downe fire from Heauen vpon the Alter should bee held to bee the true God Baals Priests ball'd vpon him but all would not doe but Elias when he had set vp his Alter with the wood vpon it the beasts about it and had poured water thereupon to the filling vp of the Trench he had no sooner pour'd forrh his Prayer but such great store of fire descended from Heauen that it burnt the flesh the wood the stones and likewise wasted and consumed the water That it should burne the beasts the wood and the stones it was no such wonder but that it should take hold on it's contrarie which is water it was a manifest signe that it was the fire of Heauen That your loue should cleaue to your owne flesh bloud it is not much that it should take hold of the wood and stone that likewise is no great wonder but that it should worke on it's contrarie on one that desires to make an end of thee to consume thee this is loue indeed this is charitie this is the fire of Heauen Thirdly The loue to our enemie doth more discouer the perfection of our loue because it is without any hope of temporall reward Elisaeus filled the widdows emptie cruses with Oyle and thou must replenish with thy loue and good workes those emptie brests that haue nothing in them to deserue it For where there is some deseruingnesse and reason of merit the Gentile the Publican doe the like Fourthly It argueth more perfection for that the loue of our enemie is that glosse which sets before our eyes our owne faults and offences When Shimei reproched Dauid to his face and gaue him such opprobrious language that his Captaines and Commanders that were then about him were impatient of it and would haue killed him Dauid withstood it and would not suffer them to take away his life and the reason was because it put him in mind of his own sinnes and he that lookes well vpon his owne takes no great notice of another mans And this made him to say Peccatum meum contra me est semper My sinne warres more against me than mine enemie Againe though thy enemie doe persecute thee without a cause it is not without cause that thou doost thus suffer for as Tertullian hath it Nullus iniustè patitur No man suffers wrongfully So that thou must not looke so much vpon him that iniures thee as vpon thine owne sinnes for the which God permits them to iniure thee It is Ieremies Who euer said Let it bee done though the Lord command it not Let vs search our owne wayes Take but thy life into examination and thou wilt find that thy sinnes deserue a thousand times more Dauid would by no means consent that his People should reuenge those disgracefull words which Shimei spake vnto him and What was the reason Onely for that he was Gods Instrument S. Austen vpon the 31 Psalme pondering those words of Iob Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken noteth That he did not say Dominus dedit Diabolus abstulit The Lord gaue and the Deuill tooke away For those whips and scourges which God sendeth though they be inflicted vpon vs by the hands of the Deuill yet are we to account them to come from God Out of the whole drift of this Chapter I will inferre one cleere and manifest consequence which is this If to hate our enemie be so much condemned both of Heauen and Earth those excesses and exorbitances which fall out vpon this occasion be it in respect of the time and place or of the person or the act it self or our deepe disaffection they are all of them here condemned Two kind of faults God doth extreamely hate and abhorre The one Of those who haue no measure or moderation in their reuenge saying with the Idumaeans Exinanite exinanite vsque ad fundamentum in ea Raze raze them to the verie foundation They would not haue one stone left vpon another in Hierusalem wishing that they might say Etiam periere ruinae The verie ruines are also perished Wherby it seemeth that mans cruelty would stand in competition with Gods clemencie And that as God is not willing that any man should set a taxe and size vpon his mercie so these men will haue no man to put a rate vpon their reuenge Saint Peter asked our Sauiour Christ How many times hee should forgiue his brother Will seuen serue saith he Our Sauiour answered I say not seuen times but seuentie times seuen times Whence Tertullian hath noted That hee had an eye therein to mans excesse in reuenge Lamech slew Caine and the yong man that waited vpon him and the women going about
they may want force to ouerturne her but she will neuer want sides to make resistance For the Churches sake because it makes for her good and for her greater encrease This is expressed in that Parable Nisi granum frumenti Except a grain of Corne c. And in that other Ego sum vitis vera vos palmites I am the true Vine yee are the Branches The happinesse of Corne consisteth in this in that it is sowen and in that it dies That of the Vine in that it is pruned and hath it's boughes and branches cut off Many wilde Trees of vnsauorie Fruits by the art of graffing are reduced to a pleasant relish Of Saffron Pliny saith That the more it is trodden on the better it springeth The graine of Mustard the more it is bruised and broken the greater strength it discouereth And the Church the more it is persecuted the more it prospereth And as Mariners are woont to say that at sea the worst storme is a calme so wee may say of the Church that it 's greatest persecution is to haue no persecution at all Esay sets it downe for a threatning That God will leaue off to prune and dresse his Vine any more Dimittam eam non putabitur nec fodietur For when a Vine is pruned for one branch it putteth forth ten And the Church by one Martyr being cut off giues a plentifull encrease of two hundred conuerted Christians Pope Leo Saint Basil and Saint Chrysostome prosecute this Doctrine more at large in the vnfolding of the aforesaid Parables Lastly for their sakes that looke thereupon and behold at full the persecutions of the Church For as to the righteous the prosperitie of the sinner is a stumbling blocke of offence Hic labor est ante me So to the sinner the persecution of the just causeth great scandall Both these are vndoubted truths both hard to bee vnderstood but harder farre to bee persuaded But God afflicteth with persecutions the thing which he most loueth which is his Church and prospereth those her enemies which hate her to the end that men might thereby learne and vnderstand that neither those euils which the Church suffereth are true euils nor those blessings which the other inioy true blessings And this is prooued out of Saint Augustine in his Booke De Ciuit. Dei and out of Seneca in that his Booke Quare bonis viris So that the wicked though that hee inioy a great deale of prosperitie wee are not to esteeme it as a blessing nor for that the righteous suffer much aduersity are we to account it a curse vnto them But ought rather to apprehend that persecution is for their good in regard that our Sauiour Christ giues it vs as a reward for our great seruice Et omnis qui reliquerit patrem matrem c. centuplum accipiet cum persecutionibus i. And euerie one that shall haue left father or mother c. Shall receiue a hundreth fold with Persecutions Saint Marke and Saint Cyprian both affirme that persecution putteth vs in a kind of possession of that glorie which wee hope for hereafter at least it giues vs an assurance thereof And this is made good by this comparison The Good the Scripture stileth by the name of Wheat and the Wicked are tearmed Chaffe Now it is the Fanne of persecution that doth seuer the Wheat from the Chaffe Vidit eos laborantes in remigando Hee saw them toyled in rowing There are two things which steale away Gods eyes and filch them if I may vse that phrase from forth his head The one is an humble and prompt obedience The other the trouble and torment which we suffer for his sake Touching the first notable is that place of Abraham whose obedience did so draw Gods eyes vnto him that that place where he was resolued to performe the Sacrifice remained with this name Dominus videbit The Lord will see Touching the second There is not any hunger nor humane miserie whereon Gods mercie hath not his eye fixed nay I may boldly say fast nailed thereunto To Moses God spake out of a Bush O thou great God of heauen and earth a bush is no fitting chaire for thy glorie or thy Maiestie Who made thee thus to alter thy Throne Vidi afflictionem Populi mei in Aegypto I haue seene the affliction of my People in Aegypt Another Translation hath it Videndo vidi In seâ—ing I haue seene and the repetition goes on in this descant Qui tangit vos tangit pupillam oculi mei He toucheth the apple of Gods eye that toucheth the Iust. And in another place Et clamorem eius audiui And I haue heard his crie For our miserie toucheth not onely Gods eye but his eare also Tertullian reporteth in his Apologetico That the Gentiles did murmure against the Christians that they would not recommend the safetie and welfare of their kings to those their Gods Iupiter and Mercurie But Nazianzen answereth thereunto That they did not allow of this their councell to recommend their safetie vnto Gods whose hands feet were of Iead but vnto that God who swiftly flies to heale them of their infirmities and carries health in his wings Et sanitas in pennis eius Vidit eos laborantes in remigando He saw them labouring at the Oare In another Tempest no lesse fearefull than the former Saint Lukeâ—aith â—aith That our Sauiour Christ fell asleepe leaning his head on one of the boords of the Ship in stead of a pillow And here Saint Mathew saith That hee beheld how his Disciples wrestled with the waues seeking to ouercome their rage and their furie The one Tempest God permitted the other he sendeth Of Pharaoh it is said by the Prophet Ego excitaui eum I raised him vp to be the instrument for the afflicting of my People that I might afterwards grind him to pouder And by Esayas he saith That with his whistle he called the Flies from beyond the Seas In all sorts of Tempests therefore the Iust may thinke themselues safe because God is continually at hand to helpe them According to that of Dauid Cum ipso sum in tribulatione I am with thee in tribulation And of Esay When thou passest through the waters I will bee with thee and when thou walkest in the fire thou shalt not bee burnt And of Ezechiell Ero sicut Tunica prope corpus ipsorum i. I will bee as a coat about their bodie Saint Gregorie sayth That God appeared vnto Iob De turbine i. Out of the whirlewind For hauing permitted a whirle-winde of troubles to come vpon him it would not haue suted so well that hee should haue spoke vnto him from that throne of Glorie whence he spake vnto him when hee was in his perfect health and prosperitie The three children beeing in the Firie Furnace the Sonne of God appeared amidst those flames and the tyrant saw one Similem filio Dei i. Like the sonne of God Of
Iustificata est Sapientia à fiâ—ijs suis Wisedome is iustiâ—ied by her children Our Sauiour Christ renders it Condemnata Condemned The ignorance of the childeren condemneth the wisedome of the father There are some people in the world so querulous and complaining that they will not sticke to taxe God for hauing giuen them such an inclination such an estate such a wife such parents and say in their thoughts o if God had giuen me another nature other noblenesse of birth other more prosperous fortune How sure should I haue made my saluation O if God would haue beene but pleased to haue shewed me some one miracle or other This is but a requiring of new signes and a condemning of those which they haue receiued from the wisedome of God Now the wisedome of God supposeth Faith and Faith Beleefe Oportet discentem credere He that learneth must beleeue So that a heauenly wisedome supposeth a Faith from heauen This is that light wherewith in the beginning of the world God did dispell the darkenesse of the Deepe this is that North-Starre which discouereth vnto those that saile in the sea of this world the Hauen of their happinesse this is that Pillar which to the children of Light appeared light to those of Darknesse darke it is that light which must shew you that cleere Sunne the Son of God which is light it selfe in comparison of whose glorious light the light of miracles is but like the glimpse of a candle Volumus à te signum videre Wee would haue a signe from thee This word à te From thee doth manifest their intention which was To reuiue the blasphemie which they had vented before In Belzebub Principe Daemoniorum eijcit Daemonia In Bulzebub the Prince of Deuils he casts out Deuils Wee desire to see a miracle done by thine owne proper power performed without the helpe of another whereof we haue beene jealous in those thy miracles shewne vpon the Blinde the Deafe and the Dumbe We presume that of thy selfe thou canst do little but by the Prince of Deuils much This was a diminishing of our Sauiors power which is the nature of Enuie flying like the Eele from the cleere water and seeking after that which is troubled and muddie It was the fault of their forefathers to lessen Gods power Quoniam percussit petram fluxerunt aquae nunquid poterit Deus parare mensam in Deserto Is it not all one for him to take water out of the Rocke and to giue vs bread In this his power shall be seene We are like Martha's Chickens we desire meat they giue vs water But ô ye fooles doe not yee know that the stone beeing strucken sendeth forth fire and not water And he that can giue you water out of a stone is able to affoord you bread out of the Aire But Enuie will draw Branne from the finest Floure In a word They were fully resolued not to beleeue in Christ and yet they went seeking occasions to excuse their hardnesse of heart They sought signes from heauen which as Saint Hierome hath well obserued were more subiect to calumnie and easier to be cauelled at and yet on the other side they did seeke to diminish his power and therefore they say We would haue from thee c. Of all that hath beene formerly said I shall inferre this conclusion and refer it to your Christian consideration which is That you would seeke after God with simplicitie and singlenesse of heart In simplicitate cordis quaerite illum saith Wisedome and then shalt thou alwaies find him propitious and fauourable vnto thee Et facies vestrae non confundentur but a false heart shall euermore remaine confounded and ashamed Bersheba comming to craue a fauour of her sonne Salomon she sought to preuent him with a Non confundas faciem meam Put me not to the blush In the Scribes and Pharisees God speakes vnto those sinnefull Christians who immitate them in their workes and as the thunders and lightnings of a great Tempest smiting and wounding the tops of Mountaines of Pallaces and of the tallest Cedars Chrysologus saith That they abate and correct the courages of the most desperate and prophanest persons so when our Sauior Christ did thunder out these his threatnings against the Pharisees he sought thereby to reclaime his owne Flocke to bring them within the Fold and to saue those Sheepe which are readie to run astray that they may not be vtterly lost Generatio mala adultera â—ignum quaerit A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a signe Christ neuer shewed himselfe more fierce and angrie than now neuer behaued himselfe more stoutly or shewed more courage than at this present Presenting thereby vnto vs that vpon iust occasions the mildenesse of a Prince and the meekenesse of a Prelate may lawfully let the bed of his Patience like that of the Riuer rise and swell euen to the ouerflowing of the bankes He that knowes not sometimes how to reprehend and that sharpely too shall not onely neglect his owne dutie but shall wrong others in suffering them to run on in their wickednesse without reproofe That father knowes ill how to gouerne who when his children shall commit any grosse faults shall like old Ely shew himselfe too milde and out of a foolish pirtie scarce controll them for it That Preacher knowes not what belongs to his calling who when sinne growes once to an heigth and men waxe shamelesse in committing euill that doth not raise his hands and voice as high as Heauen and lay Gods fearfull judgements before them That Prince who suffers his subiects to bee ouerbold and sawcie with him giues them a tacite kind of libertie to loose all respect and feare towards him Quiescite ab homine cuim Spiritus in naribus est Cease you from the man whose breath is in his nosthrils for wherin is hee to be esteemed This is as it were the Epiphonema of all that Chapter of Esay Where hauing Prophecied many greatnesses of the Messias hee aduiseth the Iewes That they deceiue not themselues with the frailtie of his person for though hee shall come in the forme of a seruant yet he shall bee the true God And therefore hee concludes that Chapter with this saying Quiescite ergo ab homine cuius Spiritus in naribus est Consider therefore deerely beloued that I admonish you and require you that when these prophesies shall bee fulfilled and goe on in their accomplishment you take heed how you bee offended with that man whose life consisteth in the breath of his nosthrills it beeing in that respect with our Sauiour as with all other liuing creatures howbeit in regard of his Diuinitie He is high and mightie In this sence wee may also adde that the nosthrills are the symbole of anger And in the Spanish tongue it is a vsuall phrase to say Subirse el humo a las narizes That the smoake went out at his nosthrils And therefore it is sayd
calls it Eusebim Herodotus Ninus for that it was bult by Ninus husband to Simiramis stiled by another name Assur It was a Citie not only the greatest in all the Kingdome of the Assyrians but in the whole world Moses giues it the name of great Citie De terra inquit illa exiuit Assur aedificauit Niniuem haec est Ciuitas magna It's greatnesse appeareth no lesse by that relation which the Prophet maketh of it Itinere trium dierum for the circuit of this Citie was a three dayes journey and that there were in it onely of babes and sucklings aboue a hundred and twenty thousand soules The Histories make mention That the walls thereof were a hundred foot broad and were fenced with a hundred and twentie strong Towers Sardanapalus was the last thirtie eigth King of that Monarchie it hauing continued a thousand three hundred and seuentie seuen yeares Ionas according to some Hebrewes was the sonne of the woman of Sarepta whom the Prophet Elias raised vp to life his fathers name was Amithay of the Tribe of Asser. But more probable is that of Saint Hierome and Saint Austen That he was of the Tribe of Zabulon his Countrie Geth or Pher the court of one of those Kings whom Ioshuah subdued and slew God commanded him to goe and preach at Niniuie for out of his especiall prouidence he had alwayes a care to prouide a Light not onely for the Iews but also for the Gentiles And therefore Athanasius saith That the Law of Moses was a generall Schoole for all the world and that the Prophets wrought their Reuelations for all the Nations vnder the cope of Heauen and that to this end they went themselues abroad in person and likewise sent their Bookes into diuers Kingdomes and Monarchies as it appeareth by Esay Ieremie Ezechiel Daniel Amos Sidrac Misac and Abednego out of whose Prophecies those Phylosophers that were Gentiles stole many sentences namely those complainers on Gods prouidence are condemned who crie out in hell The Sun of vnderstanding rose not vnto vs. Theophilact saith That God being the Master of the Gentiles after that he had by the light of the Gospel inlightned the world by his Sonne and his Apostles and Disciples he prooued thereby that he was one and the selfe same God both of the Old and the New Testament Quia ascendit malitia eius coram me For the malice thereof is come vp before me That which thou art to preach vnto them is That their sinnes haue mightily mooued my patience This is the office of a Prophet To Esay God said Declare vnto my People their iniquities To Ieremie Behold I haue put my words into thy mouth that thou maist plucke vp destroy c. To Ezechiel They whom I send thee to are stiffe necked and hard hearted In a word God did notifie this Obligation to all the Prophets whereby all they are condemned who place their end altogether in curiosities This is to go about to seeke out for those that are thirstie pretious waters wines cooled with snow and put into copper flaggons Cold water for a thirstie Soule as Salomon saith This is to quench a fire that consumes a whole Citie with bottles of Rosewater it is a going about to open the doore of our breasts with a Key of Gold when one of Yron according to that of Saint Austen is more necessarie It is as if a Souldier should goe forth to warre with his head curiously combed and curled with his Ierken perfumed and other effoeminate gallantries Like vnto these is that Prophet or Preacher who with glorious words flaunting phrases idle curiosities and smooth-filed eloquences shall goe to fight the Lords quarell against the worlds sinfull Monsters That those of Niniuie were great and mightie sinners it is prooued out of this word Malitia which doth embrace all kind of sinnes and much more inforced by that word Ascendit for in the Scripture it is still taken for a great excesse De cadaueribus ascendit faetor The stinke shall come vp out of their bodies Esay saith it Superbia tua saith the booke of Kings ascendit in aures meas Come vp into my eares And here he mentioneth all kind of wickednesse and abhomination and this word Coram me Before me confirmeth as much For when a sinne doth encrease to that heigth that it ouertops the heauens and that it comes to the sight of God it is then so intollerable that it is not to be endured Surrexit Iomas vt fugeret Ionas rose vp that he might flie away Rabbi Rinchi an Hebrew Doctor saith That Fugere doth here inferre an acceleration or making of hast intimating that Ionas made hast in going to the Hauen at Tharsis to take his journie towards Niniuie as also that the Prophet to whom God speaketh is so great with child as it were and so full of that which God commaunds him that if hee should withhold the reuelation which God hath put into him hee would burst with keeping it in That may be said of him which Iob speaketh of himselfe My bellie is like the wine which worketh and hath no vent and like the new bottles that burst Therefore will I speake that I may take breath c. Ose complaineth and did sorrow exceedingly that he had held his peace Woe is me that hauing seene the King and Lord of Hosts I should hold my peace because I was a man of polluted lips Ionas rose vp that he might flie More plaine is that opinion of Saint Hierome Nazianzen Theodoret Theophilact and Methodius the Martyr That Ionas was not so hastie as here before we haue made him but that he pretended nothing lesse but sought by all meanes possible how he might auoyd this journey and closely conueis his bodie as it were from this command of God by shaping his course another way Whither it were of dislike that God should passe ouer his fauors to the Gentiles and that his owne Countrie should remaine disgraced and ruined and albeit he happely knew this was to come to passe hereafter yet hee would not willingly haue seene it so to succeed in his time or whither it were in point of honour in his owne person thinking if not foreknowing that God being so mercifull that he would pardon the Niniuites vpon their first teares he should then suffer in his reputation and should be taken for a braine-sicke foole and that he had exceeded his Commission and so be mocked and laughed at for his labour So that in the end he was fully resolued not to vndergoe the Embassage that was enioyned him and therefore embarking himselfe hee thought hee might then goe whither he wolud through the world This is Saint Hieromes opinion which the Chaldees Paraphrase doe likewise fauour Surrexit vt fugeret ad Mare antequam prophetaret in nomine Domini He rose vp that he might flie vnto the sea before he should prophecie in the name of the Lord.
Some man wil doubt and say How could so grosse an ignorance sinke into the Prophets brest as to think to flie ouâ— of Gods reach Confessing with Dauid that large extent of his power Whither shall I goe from thy Spirit and whither shall I flie from thy face if I climbe vp into Heauen thou art there if I goe into Hell thou art likewise there I answer That hee had no such kind of conceit in the world nor any so foule a thought once entered into his immagination But that which he presumed vpon was That in the land of the Gentiles God would not reueale himselfe nor communicate the Spirit of Prophecie to his Prophets and therefore hee was minded to alter his former condition of life and turne Merchant For Tharsis was so famous a Port in regard of the great concourse of Trading that was there that those your great huge merchants ships made onely for burden were called in the Scripture by an Antonomasia or pronomination The Ships of Tharshish whereof Ieremie maketh mention Ezechiel the third third booke of the Kings and the second of Chronicles The Spirit of Prophecie it seemed had not then captiuated his wil The Lord God hath opened myne eare and I was not rebellious neither turned I backe But might he then if he would So doth this Ego non contradico seem to inferre Saint Paul saith to those of Corinth That the Spirit of Prophecie is subiect to the Prophets And as Amasias said to the Prophet Amos Get thee to the Land of Iuda ô thou Seer goe flie thou thither and there eat thy bread and prophecie there but prophecie no more at Betheb for it is the Kings Chappell and it is the Kings Court Ionas therefore seeing that a Prophet was not accepted of in his owne Countrie would needs turne Merchant He got him into a Ship of the Phoenicians to flie into Tharshish from the presence of the Lord Et dedit illis naulum And he paid the fare thereof and went downe into it For the Deuill is not contented that a sinner should doe him seruice onely but that he should giue him money also into the bargaine which is a strange kind of tyrannie The Shippe had scarce beene a while vnder saile when as a fearefull Tempest arose which put those that were in the Shippe into extreame perill of their life And albeit your Pilots your Mariners and Shippe-boyes that are beaten and accustomed to these kind of chances vsually loose all feare both of windes and waues nay also of God himselfe yet now such was the tempestuousnesse of the weather the raging of the Sea that they called vpon those their gods which were painted in their Ship Timuerunt nautae The Mariners feare encreased iudging this Storme the strangest as euer they saw accounting it as a miracle First of all Because there was no preceding signe of it for those that are experienced Seafaring men are not onely skilled in knowing those signes of a storme that are neere at hand but those that are afarre off as by the irruptions of the aire which breaking forth from the concauities and hollow vaults of the Deepe trouble the waters the colluctation and wrestling of the winds the croking of Rauens the bellowing of Beasts the playing of Porpeecies which doe whisper in their eares the storme that is to come vpon them But this Tempest here came so violently vpon them on the sudden that there was no foregoing signe to foreshew it Secondly Because as Rabbi Salomon hath noted it an Hebrew Doctor from whom Theodoret and Theophilact had it there were many ships that had gone out of Tharshish which they might kenne not farre from them that had verie faire and cleere weather and sailed away smoothly hauing as they say a Ladies passage so calme was the Sea and so gentle and temperate their gale of wind Whereupon they did discreetly argue amongst themselues that there was some great and notorious sinner in their Ship against whom the windes and the waues by Gods especiall appointment made such cruell warre He that goes to sea goes in danger Qui nauigant mare c. Euripides was of opinion That they could not be truly said to bee either dead or aliue not dead because they liue not aliue because there was only a poore planke betwixt their death and their life And the Sinner haleth his halter after him and if God did not defend him the Sea would not endure him The Slaue that flies from his Master all the seruants of the house make hue and crie after him they follow him crying Stop him stop him and if that will not serue the turne his Master sends Horsemen after him who pursue him and apprehend him All the whole house of Heauen make hue and crie after Ionas Angells Saints Friends holy inspirations make pursuit after him as they vse to doe after other rebellious sinners But that will not serue the turn whereupon he sends these his Horsmen after him the winds the waues the ship-boyes and mariners they take him and cast him into the dungeon of the Whales bellie Miserunt vasa They cast forth their Vessels c. This word Vasa is taken for the wares the weapons the Masts the sailes and other instruments belonging to a Ship Vasa Domus Vasa Bellica Vasa Nauis and the like In that Tempest which Saint Luke mentioneth in the Acts of the Apostles wherein Saint Paul suffered so many dayes he saith That the verie cords and tacklings in the ship were cast ouer boord Armamenta Nauis proiecerunt So now whither it were to lighten the Ship or to appease the anger of their Gods whom they thought were to be appeased with gifts or that they were subiect to these passions of choller and couetousnesse c. And as now the Faithfull haue recourse in their shipwracks to prayers and promises so was it now with these Infidels and not to this alone but to the offering vp of Iewells of great price and value Ionas was got him down into the bottome of the Ship whither he had withdrawne himselfe thither out of his sorrow or to auoid the noyse of their shreeks and out-cries or for feare of the thunder lightning or not to behold the furie and rage of the waues and the winds I cannot tel you but because feare and heauinesse commonly causeth sleepe Ionas was fallen now so sound asleepe that neither his owne proper perill nor the lamentable clamours of others could â—wake him Quid tu sopore deprimeris Surge inuoca Deum tuum What meanest thou ô Sleeper awake and call vpon thy God They that came down â—o the Pumpe lighted vpon Ionas and awaking him said vnto him by way of admiration Is it possible that a man should sleepe in the middest of such a terrible Tempest The cries and lamentations of all seeke to appease the furie of the winds and doost thou sleepe The Sea-Gods are affraid and the Fishes retyre
them that this Tempest was miraculous Gods prouidence had before hand prouided a Whale readie to receiue Ionas and when as he thought he should haue beene swallowed vp in the Deepe and that the waters should enter into his soule crying out in his meditations Pelagus â—peruit me vestes terrâ— concluserunt me The â—â—ouds compassed mee about all thy surges and all thy waues passed ouer me c. Then did the Whale open his mouth then when in his affliction he cried vnto the Lord I am cast away out of thy sight the waters compassed me about vnto the soule the depth closed mee round about and the weeds were wrapped about my head then euen then did the Whale open his mouth and swallowing him vp whole into his bellie defended him from the jawes of death Ionas being herein like vnto a delinquent whom the Gaoler takes into his custodie to secure his person Iob saith That God hath girt in the sea on the one side with mountaines and valleys Circumdedit illud terminis suis and on the other side with sand Posuit arenam terminum Maris And as Ionas was shut vp in the Whales bellie as in a prison so was the Whale inclosed in that prison of the Sea Nunquid Mare ego sum aut Caete Am I a Sea or a Whale fish that thou keepest mee in ward Now if God had both before and behind on this side and that side pitcht so many nets for Ionas hee could verâ—e hardly escape him his flying could not saue him but in this Whales maw contrarie to all the lawes of Nature God maintaines and preserues his life If the stomacke of a Whale will digest an anchor of Yron as Tertullian tells vs it must then of force consume Ionas and if instead of aire he drawes in water he must necessarily be choaked But he that deliuered Daniel from the hungrie mouths of Lyons and those three children from the flames of the firie Furnace it is not much that hee should conserue Ionas in the deepest and darkest dungeon that euer liuing man was clapt vp in The wonder was that though himself were prisoner yet he had left vnto him so free an vnderstanding that hee was able to make so elegant an oration to God out of so foule a Pulpit The Prophet did dwell vpon this great miracle which God had vsed towards him and did recouer so much strength and confidence that he stucke not to say Rursus videbo templum sanctum tuum Yet will I looke againe toward thy holy temple I liue in good hope not onely to see my selfe freed out of this loathsome Gaole but to humble my selfe on my knee in thy holy Temple giuing thee thankes for the great mercie and fauour which thou hast shewed towards me For the present I will make this sluttish corner my Oratorie assuring my selfe that from thence my prayers shall be acceptable vnto thee who like some great Prince or Monarch of the world is respected in any place whatsoeuer of thy jurisdiction so that there is no doubt that any thy poorest vassall whatsoeuer may bee heard by thee The Children of Babylon were heard from the Furnace Daniel from the Lyons Den Iob from the Dunghill Dauid from amiddest the Thornes and Bushes And so I make no question but I shall be from the bowells of this Beast In omni loco dominationis eius benedic anima mea Domino O my soule blesse the Lord in euerie place of his power These three dayes Ionas spent in prayer at the end whereof God commanded the Whale to cast out Ionas vpon the Coast of Niniuy And the Whale obaying his Empire crost the Seas many Leagues and there threw the Prophet forth vpon drie Land though full of froathie slime and vnctuous stuffe free from the horror of that deepe and darkesome dungeon From hence did the Gentiles faigne those their fabulous tales of Hercules beeing swallowed vp by another Whale of Arion playing on his harpe riding on the backe of a Dolphine For as it is noted by Clemens Alexandrinus and Saint Basil the Heathen Philosophers did steale these truths from vs founding thereupon their falshoods And giuing credit to their lyes they did not beleeue our truths Many of the Niniuites comming downe to the shoare-side were strucken with admiration to see such a monstrous strange prodigious man and the fame thereof flying to the Citie before they were affrighted with the sad news that hee brought they stood astonished at the strangenesse of the case which questionlesse was a great cause that they did afterwards harken vnto him and giue creditto what he said In the end taking this for his Theame Adhuc quadraginta dies Niniue sâ—â—uertetur â—et forty dayes and Niniuie shall bee ouerthrowne Not threatning onely the ruine of the Citie but also of the Towers Walls Pallaces Citizens Children Women and Old men euen to the very beasts of the field so great was the feare that entred into all their breasts that without any further Miracles laying their beleefe vpon the Prophet they presently gaue beginning to that their great repentance which was the strangest that euer was yet heard of The King layd aside his purple roabes and his rich and costly clothes the throan of his Greatnesse Maiestie and couered himselfe with sacke-cloth and â—ate in ashes causing his clothes of State to bee pulled downe his walls of his pallace to be left naked of their hangings of cloth of Gold and other peeces of Arras beeing no lesse curious than glorious For Sardanapalus was one of the loosest and most licentious men that hee had not his like in all the World The like did all the great Officers of his Pallace the Princes and Wealthyest men of his Citie as also all the faire and beautifull Ladies And there was a Proclamation presently made through all Niniuie by the Councell of the King and his Nobles with expresse charge That neither man nor beast bullocke nor sheep should tast any thing neither feed nor drinke water but that man and beast should put on sack-cloth and cry mightily vnto God To the end that the bellowing of their bulls the bleating of their sheepe goats the howling of their dogs the teares of their children the sighes lamentations of their mothers might mooue Heauen to take pitie of them And aboue all they did cry out most grieuously for their sinnes For albeit they are offences towards God yet are they miseries vnto man and as quatenus peccata so farre foorth as they are sinnes they prouoke and stirre vp Gods Iustice against vs So quatenus they are miseriae as they are miseries vnto vs they incline and mooue our good God to take mercie compassion of vs. The same reason which wrought God to destroy the World the same likewise mooued him neuer to destroy it more Cogitatio hominis prona est ad malum Mans thoughts are proâ—e vnto euill One while hee considers it as an offence vnto
stiles the life of man a Warfare a Wrestling a Race a Combat a Reward a Crowne things that are not atchieued without labour trouble seruice sweats and some deseruing in our selues Vbi non sunt Boues praesepe vacuum est Where there are no Oxen the Cratch is emptie where no paines no profit Herculei auri celebrant labores saith Boëtius The Chronicles of Hercules were his Labours And Plautus Pars est fortuna laborum Come out of those Borders We are not onely to leaue sinne but also to remoue from vs all occasion of sinning God said vnto Abraham Eijce ancillam Agar 〈◊〉 his Slaue oâ— Bondwoman she was that Leuen which had sowred the sweet â—â—ace of his house God might as well haue commanded him to correct and punish her for her insolent behauiour but because he would haue the occasion of any farther falling out taken away he layes this command vpon him Eijce ancillam filium eius Ismael ô Lord might Abraham haue said is but a child and in regard of his tender age disciplinable and corrigible he can as yet do but little harme But this would not serue his turne there was no remedie but hee must be sent packing too that all occasion may be taken away of his mothers returning backe to see him Salua te in Monte ne stes c. Get thee out of the Citie and escape into the Mountaine lest thou be destroyed It was the Angells aduice vnto Lot lest so circumuicinant and neere neighbouring occasion might prooue dangerous vnto him Quantum distat Ortus ab Occidente longe fecit à nobis iniquitates nostras Looke how wide the East is from the West so farre hath he set our sinnes from vs. In the Captiuitie of Babylon the Children of Israell hid in a verie deepe pit the holy Fire as a man would hide Treasure hoping hereafter they might come againe to the fetching of it out but when this their Captiuitie was ended when they came to seeke for it they found in stead thereof a coagulated and crudded kind of water as when it is frozen but when the beames of the Sunne began to touch vpon it it turned againe to fire So they that couer the fire of their affection with the ashes of absence with a hope to returne to reuiue that heat howbeit it be more cold and more frozen than water yet with the Sunne of their presence and the heat of occasion those coles of loue begin to kindle anew and to breake forth into their woonted flames Saint Augustine reports of Alipius That hauing resolued with himselfe neuer to looke vpon your Fencers Prizes vpon a time through the earnest importunitie of his friends hee was drawne along to the Theatre where those bloudie sports were performed protesting that he would keepe his eyes all the while shut and not so much as once open them yet it so fell out that vpon a sudden great shout of the People he looked abroad to see what the matter was Whereupon hee became another man and altered his former purpose so that his hatred to this sport was turned into a loue and liking of it Ecclesiasticus saith That as a cleere Fountaine is to the thirstie and as the shade to him that is scortched with heat such is occasion to a man that is accustomed to ill In filia non auertente se firma custodiam Giue her for lost if thou quit not the occasion Clamabat Miserere mei She cried Haue mercie vpon me Vocall Prayer is sometimes profitable and sometimes necessarie profitable because it stirreth vp our inward deuotion And is as Saint Augustine hath obserued that blast which bloweth and kindleth the fire that is within vs. Those that are more perfect than others spend much time in meditation and contemplation of the Spirit but those that are lesse perfect because their inward heat quickly failes them they must haue recourse to the breath of vocall Prayer and call out aloud with this Canaanitish woman for the Heart and the Lips are an acceptable Sacrifice vnto God Ex voluntate mea confitebor ei Saint Paul calls it The fruit of the Lips Osee A Sacrifice Vituli Labiorum The calfes of our Lips Miserere mei Fili Dauid Haue mercie vpon me thou Sonne of Dauid Saint Augustine saith That whatsoeuer may be lawfully desired may be lawfully required of God And beeing there be three sorts of things some so good that it is impossible the vse of them should be bad as Grace Vertue Glorie and the necessarie sustenance of the bodie which we dayly beg of God others so ill that they can neuer be good as Sinne and Wickednesse and others indifferent which of themselues are neither good nor euill as Riches and other the like temporall Goods The first wee may alwaies and at all times begge of God without any condition or limitation the second neuer the third must euermore haue this reseruation If it bee ô Lord for thy seruice or thy honour and glorie c. Now this Canaanitish woman crauing mercie for her selfe and her daughter it beeing so holy and pious a petition she might absolutely preferre the same to our Sauiour Haue mercie vpon me thou Sonne of Dauid Saint Basil pondereth the elegancie of this prayer so wholly stript from any proper presumption in it selfe and so cloathed throughout from top to toe with the mercie of God There is not any greater pouertie saith Saint Bernard than that of our owne merits nor any falser riches than that of our own presumption And he preuailes most with God who presumes least of himself for the mercies of God are not occasioned from our deseruings but from his own infinite goodnesse as Leo the Pope sets it down vnto you more at large Gods mercie is so infinite and so immense that there is no comparison betwixt our merits and it so short is our rightuousnesse of his goodnesse Saint Chrysostome sayes That mercie must bee like a free Port that opens vnto the sea and affoords franke passage vpon all occasions or whither soeuer we are bound without paying so much for importation or so much for exportation c. O Sonne of Dauid Although our Sauiour were of the Seed of Abraham as well as of the House of Dauid yet with this People more preuailed this appellatiue of Dauid for that the promise which God had made to this King was fresher in remembrance more especiall and more honourable as Saint Chrysostome and Euthimius vpon this verie place haue noted it vnto vs So that both the nobler and the learneder sort among them besides the People in generall did not onely hold it as an Article of their Faith but for a great glorie vnto them that their Messias was to descend from the loynes of Dauid Scriptum est Quia de semine Dauid venit Christus And our Sauiour asking of the Pharisees Whose sonne their Messias should bee they did all agree in this That hee
left this Balsamum for the annointing and curing of it Which was a great Excesse Dauid called him a Worme a Scoffe a Taunt and the Reproch of the People for that whilest he liued in the world he tooke vpon him all the affronts and contempts that man could cast vpon him And because there is not any loue comparable to that of our Sauiour Christ nor all the loues in the world put together can make vp such a perfect loue as also for that there was not any affront like vnto his nor all the affronts of the world could equall the affronts that were offered vnto him that on the one side hee should loue so much on the other suffer so much this was a great Excesse Nazianzen seeing vs swallowed vp in this sea of miseries vseth a kind of Alchimie by ioyning his greatnesse with our littlenesse his powerfulnesse with our weakenesse his fairenesse with our foulenesse his beautie with our deformitie his riches with our pouertie the gold of his Diuinitie with the durt of our Flesh And as the greater drawes the lesser after it so our basenesse did ascend to an heigth of honour And this was a great Excesse but farre greater to esteeme this Excesse as a Glorie whence the Saints of God haue learned to stile Tribulation and the Crosse Glorie Secondly This Excesse may be termed Glorie because it was the most glorious action that God euer did For what could be greater than to see Death subdued Life restored the Empire of sinne ouerthrowne the Prince thereof dispossessed of his Throne Iustice satisfied the World redeemed and Darknes made Light Thirdly It may be said to be Glorie because that by this his death a thousand Glories are to follow thereupon Propter qoud Deus exaltauit illum c. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euerie knee bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth And this was the reward of his obedience and of his death And the reason thereof was that the World seeing it selfe captiuated by so singular a benefit men should make little reckoning either of their goods or their liues for this his exceeding loue towards them but desire in all that they can to shew themselues thankefull And therefore Esay cries out O that thou wouldest breake the Heauens and come downe and that the Mountaines might melt at thy presence c. What a great change and alteration wouldest thou see in the world thou wouldst see Mountaines that is hearts that are puffed vp with pride humbled and laid leuell with the ground Thou wouldst see Waters that is brests that are cold and frozen boyle with the fire of Zeale and wholly employ themselues in thy seruice And in his sixtieth Chapter treating of the profits and benefits which we shall receiue by Christs comming he saith For brasse will I bring gold and for yron will I bring siluer and for wood brasse and for stones yron I will also make thy gouernment peace and thine exactours righteousnesse Violence shall no more be heard of in thy Land neither desolation nor destruction within thy Borders but thou shalt call Saluation thy Walls and praise thy Gates The Lord shal bee thine euerlasting Light and thy God thy Glorie Bonum est nos hic esse c. It is better being here than in Ierusalem let vs therefore make here three Tabernacles c. Saint Gregorie calls Honour Tempestatem intellectus i. The vnderstandings Storme or Tempest in regard of the danger it driues man into and the easinesse wherewith in that course he runnes on to his destruction Si dederit mihi Dominus panem ad vescendum c. It was Iacobs speech vnto God after that he had done that great fauour of shewing a Ladder vpon earth whose top reached vp to Heauen you know the Storie but the vow that hee vowed vnto God was this If God will be with me and will keepe me in this journey that I goe and will giue me bread to eat and cloathes to put on then shall the Lord be my God and I shall neuer forget this his kindnesse towards me More loue a man would haue thought he might haue shewn towards God if he had promised to serue though he had giuen him neither bread to eat nor cloathes to put on But Saint Chrysostome saith That he seeing in this vision of his the prosperitie that God was willing to throw vpon him did acknowledge the thankefull remembrance of this his promised hoped for happines For Prosperitie is euermore the comparison of Obliuion Saint Bernard expounding that place of Dauid Man being in honour hath no vnderstanding saith That the prosperitie wherein God placed man robbed him of his vnderstanding and made him like vnto the Beasts that perish And here now doth Saint Peter loose his memorie Nor is this a thing so much to be wondred at for if there be such riches here vpon earth that they robbe a man of his vnderstanding and alienate him from himselfe if the sonne that is borne of a mother who hath suffered great paines in the bringing of him forth Iam non meminit praessurae hath forgotten his mothers throwes and thinkes not on the wombe that bore him if the great loue of this world and the prosperitie thereof can make vs so farre to forget our selues it is no strange thing that we should be farre more transported and carried away with heauenly things Dauid following the pursuit of his pleasures amidst all the delights of this life he cries out Onely thy glorie can fill me that only can satisfie me Remigius vnfolds this verse of the glorie of the Transfiguration and it may be that this Kingly Prophet did see it by the light of Prophecie And if so fortunate a King as he was did forget all those other goods that he enioyed and saith That hee desires no other good nor no other fulnesse What meruaile is it that a poore Fisherman should bee forgetfull of good or ill And as hee that is full fed likes nothing but what is the cause of this his fulnesse reckoning all other meats soure though they be neuer so sweet so he that shall once come to tast of that good will say No maâ— bien I desire no other good but this What sayth Saint Paul Sed noâ— c. But we also which haue the first fruits of the Spirit euen wee doe sigh in our selues waiting for the adoption euen the redemption of our bodie c. Though Paul enioyed the first fruits of the Spirit and extraordinarie regalos and fauours yet hee groaned and trauelled in paine for Heauen What saith Saint Chrysostome Is thy soule become a Heauen and doost thou yet groane for Heauen Do not thou meruaile that I groan hauing seene that in Heauen which I haue seen QuoniaÌ„ raptus fuiâ—â— Paradisum I see the good which the
the weakest arme is able to mooue it but beeing brought to the shore hath need of greater strength so sin whilest it floateth on the waters of this life seemeth light vnto vs but being brought to the brinke of death it is verie weightie and it will require a great deale of leisure consideration and grace to land it well and handsomely and to rid our hands of it Of this good sudden death depriueth vs And although it is apparent in Scripture That God doth sometimes permit the Iust to die a sudden death as Origen Saint Gregorie and Athanasius Bishop of Nice affirmeth as in Iobs children on whom the house fell when they were making merrie and in those who died with the fall of the Tower of Siloah who according to our Sauiours testimonie were no such notorious sinners yet commonly this is sent by God as a punishment for their sinnes Mors peccarorum pessima i. esse debet An euill death was made for an euil man And Theodoret expounding what Dauid meant by this word Pessima saith That in the proprietie of the Greeke tongue it is a kind of death like vnto that of Zenacheribs Souldiers who died suddenly And Iob treating of him that tyranniseth ouer the world saith Auferetur Spiritâ—â— oris sui Cajetan renders it Recedet in Spiritu oris sui He shal die before he be sicke without any paine in the middest of his mirth when he is sound and lustie Their life being a continuall pleasure at their death they scarce feele any paine because it is in puncto in an instant Sophonias requireth of them That they will thinke on that day before it come wherein God will scatter them like the dust Esay threatning his People because they had put their trust in the succors of Aegypt saith This iniquitie shall be vnto you as a breach that salleth or a swelling in an high wall whose breaking commeth suddenly in a moment and the breaking thereof shall be like the breaking of a Potters pot and in the breaking thereof there shall not bee found a sheard to take fire out of the hearth or to take water out of the pit And the word Requisita mentioned by the Prophet intimateth a strong wall that is vndermined rusheth downe on the sudden How much their securitie is the more so much the more is their danger because it takes the soldiers vnawares But if this so strong a wal should chance to fall vpon a Pitcheâ— of earth it is a cleere case that it would dash it into so many fitters seuerall little pieces that there would not a sheard therof be left for to take vp so much as an handfull of water or to fetch a little fire from our next Neighbours house This effect doth sudden death worke it is a desperat destruction to a sinner And therefore Christ though without sin seeks to shun it that he might teach thee that art a Sinner to auoyd it Secondly our Sauior sought to shun this violent death because his death was reserued for the Crosse as well because it was a kind of long and lingering death as also for diuers other conueniencies which wee haue deliuered elsewhere Passing through the midst of them he went his way Our Sauiour Christ might haue strooke them with blindnesse if he would as the Angell did those of Sodome or haue throwne them downe headlong from the Cliffe but because they complained That he wrought no miracles among them as he had in other places he was willing now at his departure from them to shew them one of his greatest miracles by taking their strength from them hindring the force of their armes and leauing them much astonished and dismayed Though now and then God doth deferre his punishments for that the sinnes of the Wicked are not yet come to their full growth yet we see that he spared not his Angels nor those whom he afterwards drowned in the Floud nor those of Sodome nor of others lesse sinnefull than they nor his owne children of Israell of all that huge number being more in number than the sands of the sea not suffering aboue two to enter into the land of Promise how is it possible that hee should endure the petulancie of this peremptorie people these grumbling Nazarites who in such a rude and vnciuill fashion in such an imperious and commanding voice should presume to say vnto him taking the matter in such deepe dudgeon Fac hic in Patria tua But as when the Romane Cohorts came to take our Sauiour Christ they fell backward on the ground at his Ego sum I am hee which was a fearefull Miracle for no cannon vpon earth nor any thunderbolt from Heauen could haue wrought so powerfull an effect so now passing through the midst of them with a graue and setled pace leauing them troubled angrie amased hee prooued thereby vnto them That he was the Lord and giuer both of life and death c. THE TWENTIETH SERMON VPON THE TVESDAY AFTER THE THIRD SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 18. Si peccauerit in te frater tuus If thy brother shall trespasse against thee c. OVr Sauior Christ instructing him that had offended his brother what he ought to doe giues him this admonition Go vnto thy brother and reconcile thy selfe vnto him and if thou hast offended him aske him forgiuenesse Notifying to the partie offended that he should pardon him that offended if he did intreat it at his hands but if he shall not craue pardon he instructeth Peter in him all the Faithfull What the offended and wronged person ought to doe If thy brother trespasse against thee goe and tell him his fault betweene thee and him c. and if he heare thee thou hast woon a brother but if he will not vouchsafe to heare thee proceed to a second admonition before two or three witnesses and if he will not heare them tell it vnto the Church and if he shall shew himselfe so obstinate that he will not obey the Church let him be vnto thee as a heathen man and a Publican So that our Sauiour Christs desire is That the partie wronged should pardon the partie wronging and reprooue him for it for if it bee ill not to pardon it is as ill not to reprooue For to intreat of a matter so darke and intricate that the Vnderstanidng were to take it's birth from the ordinarie execution of the Law there were not any thing lesse to be vnderstood for there is not any Law lesse practised nor any Decree in Court lesse obserued I desire that God would doe mee that fauour that he did Salomon God giue me a tongue to speake according to my mind the pen of a readie Writer cleerenesse of the case which I am to deliuer true distinction grace knowledge or as Bonauenture stiles it resolutionem in declarando and to iudge worthily of the things that are giuen me For so many are the difficulties the questions and the
arguments as well against the substance of this Law as against the manner of complying with it that there will be necessarily required great fauour and assistance from Heauen for to make any setled and ful resolution amongst so many sundrie and diuers distractions But in conclusion it is the best and the safest councell to adhere to that which is the surest and not to make any reckoning of that course which is now a dayes held in the World not of that which is in vse but that which ought to bee vsed not so much the practise of the Law as of Religion For if the abuses of the world and traditions of men were to tontiâ—ue in force by pleading of custome by that means made iustifiable they would giue the checkmate stand in competitioÌ„ with the laws of God S. Paul saith writing to the Colossians Let your speech be gratious alwayes and poudred with salt that yee may know how to answer euerie man And S. Ambrose expounding this place saith That the Apostle begs grace of God that he might know how to speake with discretion when time place and occasion shall oblige him thereunto As also when vpon the same termes to hold his peace And this is that which I now desire of God If thy brother shall trespasse against thee Here sinne is put downe in the condition of this obligation For it is a kind of monstrousnesse which wee neuer or seldome ought to see Wee stiling that a monster which comes foorth into the world against the Lawes of Nature And in this sence sinne may be sayd to bee a monster because it is against the Lawes of God Ecclesiasticus sayth That God did not wil any man to sinne nor did allow him any time wherein to sinne but alotted him a life and place wherein to serue him and a time to returne vnto him and to repent as oft as hee should offend his diuine Maiestie but to sinne he neuer gaue him the least leaue in the world Dedit ei locum poenitentia He gaue him a place for repentance sayth the Apostle Saint Paul so likewise sayth Iob. And therefore God hauing made the Heauen the Earth and al that therein is he did not then presently make Hell For if Man had not sinned there had bin no neede of it For where no faults are committed a prison is needlesse The Prophet Esay was verie earnest with God that hee would come downe vpon Earth Oh that thou wouldst breake the Heauens and come downe and that the Mâ—â—â—taines might melt at thy presence c. Hee alludeth to that Historie of Mount Sinay where God descended to giue the Law vnto his people with thundering lightening and fire wherewith he strucke such a feare and terrour into them that the people had great reuerence to the Law And therefore this holy Prophet sayth What would they doe if thou shouldest once againe come amongst them A facie tua montes fluerent The proudest of them all would let fall their plumes and humble themselues at thy feete which are here represented in the word Montes or mountaines And those soules which are now frozen and as cold as yce figured in the word Aquae or waters would gather heat and be set on fire With this desire did the sonne of God descend from the bosome of his father but he bringing that humilitie with him that was able to make the highest mountaines to stoope and to bring downe the proudest heart and fire for to burne and dry vp many waters yet mens brests waxed colder and colder and their soules were more and more swolne with pride The Glorious Apostle Saint Paul writing to the Romans That God made his Sonne our propitiation Whome God hath set foorth to bee a reconciliation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenes of the sinnes that are passed c. He did exercise vpon his sonne the seuerest Iustice that euer was or shall be seene againe for the remission of precedent sinnes To the end that Man considering how deere our former wickednesse and forepassed sinnes cost our Sauiour Man should be so affraid of offending that hee should neuer returne to sinne any more Some may happily aske me the question Why the death and passion of our Sauiour beeing so powerfull and effectuall a remedie against all kind of vices whatsoeuer yet sinne still reigneth so much in the World as neuer more Wherunto I answere That vpon the Crosse our Sauiour Christ gaue sentence against all whatsoeuer both present past and those that were to come And depriued the Prince of the World of that Seigniorie which he possessed so that all of them were to suffer death and to haue an end But they did appeale from this sentence of death to the Tribunall of our passions And for that they are such interressed such blind Iudges they haue set these our Vices againe at libertie giuing them licence to worke vs as much if not more harme than they did before So that Gods sending of his sonne into the World and his suffering death for our sinnes did not generally banish all vice but did serue rather to some for their greater condemnation If thy brother shall trespasse In te against thee Saint Augustine expoundeth this In te to be contra te and in this sence it ought to be taken for it is the expresse letter of the former Texts as also of those that follow and generally agreed vpon by all the Doctors The Interlinearie hath it Si te contumelia affecerit Saint Peter anon after askes our Sauiour How oft shall my brother sinne against mee and I shall forgiue him Whereupon Theophilact taking hold of this word Contra me notes That if his brother should sinne against God hee could hardly forgiue him Saint Luke deliuers the same much more plainly and cleerely If thy brother haue trespassed against thee rebuke him if hee repent forgiue him If hee offend thee seuen times a day and seuen times a day shall turne vnto thee forgiue him Hugo Cardinalis hath obserued That if the word In te be the ablatiue case then it is the same with Coram te but if it be the accusatiue then it is all one with Contra te and the Greeke doth admit of no Ablatiues In Leuiticus God had said long before Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but reprooue him And vpon a second admonition Take vnto thee two witnesses and tell it to the Church Manle doe concur and runne along with this sence no difficultie in the world interposing it selfe The second sence which Saint Augustine also treateth of in the same place is If he shall trespasse against thee that is before thee This opinion Thomas followeth and the greater and better part of the Schoolemen howbeit there are great arguments and strong reasons to the contrarie and many graue Authours to whom this sence doth not seeme so plaine as to ground thereupon any diuine
Iudignatio mea in manu tua God had put this chastisement into the hands of a tyrant as his instrument who had not the wit to carrie himselfe accordingly therefore he punished him according to his desarts He rebuked the Feuer and it left her Saint Augustine deliuereth some mens opinions who affirme That things without life as Sickenesse Pestilence Famine were occasioned by euill Angells one while for our good another while for our hurt but alwayes for the seruice of God and to shew themselues obedient to his Empire And this is the true sence and meaning of Imperauit febri He rebuked the Feuer and of Vocauit famem He called a Famine Not that a Feuer or Famine haue any eares to heare or vnderstand any thing but because the Angell to whom the power is committed doth heare and obey his will In this Article there are two manifest truths The one That the Angells as well good as bad are many times ministers of our punishments by famine pestilence barrennesse tempests sicknesse death And this truth is made good by innumerable stories in Scripture as in that of Iob whose Corne the Deuill destroyed threw downe his Houses carried away his Cattell and killed his Children That of Sarah who had seuen husbands slaine by Asmodeus the Deuill Those plagues of Aegypt whereof saith Dauid the Deuills were the Instruments He cast vpon them the fiercenesse of his anger indignation and wrath and vexation by the sending out of euill Angells where God makes them his Hangmen or Executioners And in another place Fire and haile snow and vapours stormie winds which execute his Word c. Of good Angels there are likewise many stories as that of those that came to Sodom and that of the Angell that slew the souldiers of Zenacherib The other That to haue things without life to be obedient to the Empire of our Sauiour Christ there is no such necessitie that they should bee mooued and gouerned by Angels either good or bad as Saint Hierome and Saint Augustine haue both obserued For albeit towards vs and in themselues they are insencible yet towards God they are not so He calls the things that are not as if they were Nor is it any thing strange that the Heauens or the Earth should haue eares or that those things should answer and obey at Gods call whose end is Gods glorie the waters at Gods command gather themselues into heapes and when he sayes but the word they againe withdraw themselues he prescribes bounds to the Sea Hitherto shalt thou come and no further at his Word againe the Sea is made drie land he layes his command vpon the fire to giue light but not burn curbing this his actiue qualitie as it did in the â—irie Furnace when the childeren came forth vntoucht At this Word the waters gushed out of the hard Rocke the Winds are at his command death and life sicknesse and health and al things else whatsoeuer doe truly and punctually obey his will and so in this place he had no sooner said the word But her Feuer left her And rising vp she presently ministred vnto them In regard that shee was an old woman she might verie well haue excused her selfe from doing this seruice but her health was so perfect her recouerie so sound and her strength so increased that without further tarriance She presently ministred vnto them Your earthly Physicke is long a working and the Cures prooue imperfect but Gods physick workes continâ—ò presently for All Gods workes are perfect But it is not so in nature Pierius makes the Vulture the emblem of nature Auolatus tarditate being a kind of Tortoise in his flying First of all it is intimated here vnto vs What hast a Sinner ought to make to get vp S. Peter being in prison the Angell said vnto him Surge velociter Arise quickely and without any more adoe not staying vpon his gyues chaines the gates or the guards he presently riseth vp and gets him gone with all the speed he could Noah puts the Crow out of the Arke Dimisit Corvum qui egrediebatur non reuertebatur The Hebrew Text hath it Exiuit exeundo redeundo He began to make wing but seeing such a vastnesse of waters fearing to faile in his flight he returned backe againe but being entred carrying about him the sent of those dead carcasses which had perished by the Floud he went to and fro so long till at last he went his way and was neuer seene any more Many there are that will put one foot forward and pull two backeward make you beleeue that they meane to goe on well in vertue and goodnesse but beeing discouraged with the difficultie of getting vp that hill and hauing a monthes mind to follow the sent of their former stinking howsoeuer to them sweet seeming sinnes at last they are vtterly lost and neuer more heard of so apt is sinfull man to leaue the best and take the worst Secondly By this her seruice this good deuout old woman made known her bodily health and by the ioy and comfort shee tooke therein shee manifested her soules health At the verie first voyce of Ezechiel the boughes began to mooue but as yet they had not life in them Ossa arida audite Verbum Domini they were afterwards knit and ioyned together and set in verie good order but they had need of another kind of voice than Ezechiels to giue them spirit life Saint Augustine expounding that place of Saint Iohn Verba mea Spiritus vita sunt saith That this Spirit and life is in himselfe and not in thee For that Poenitent which doth not giue some signe or token of life hath not yet obtained life and that He that in his seruice and attendance doth not make shew that he is free of his former Sickenesse his health may iustly be suspected Saint Paul giues vs this Lesson He that steales let him steale no more but c. Hee must not onely content himselfe with not stealing or with working for his liuing and that it is enough for him to haue laboured hard but of that which hee hath got by the sweat of his browes hee must giue part thereof to the Poore if not for the satisfaction of his former thefts yet to shew himselfe a good Christian by obseruing the rules of charitie Zacheus did performe both these the one in making a fourefold restitution to those whom he had defrauded by forged cauillation the other by giuing to the Poore the one halfe of his goods Let all bitternesse and anger and wrath crying and euill speaking saith the Apostle bee put away from you with all maliciousnesse First of all there must not abide in your brests the least smacke of bitternesse anger wrath euill speaking nor any other maliciousnesse But because it is not enough to shun euill vnlesse wee doe also he thing that is good he addeth in the second place that which
great â—ase his bodie rested it selfe buâ— not his soule Philon saith That a mans sitting doth not argue case but to sit and to leane the hand on the cheeke as it seemeth our Sauiour vpon the Well-lid is the posture of a pensatiue man and one that is full of care Moses flying from Pharaohs Court the Scripture sayth That finding himselfe wearie he sate him down by a Well and that loosing the sailes to his thoughts his mind was on Aegypt casting with himselfe what they talked of him in the Princes pallace and beeing doubtfull what fortune should be fall him got him to Midian Iosephâ— Bretheren sayth the same Doctor sate them down in Aegypt vnloaded themselues of their sackes and wallets as men that were willing to rest themselues but what with the sorrow that they tooke for their father whome they left behinde them in the land of Canaan and what would betide them with Ioseph they found but little ease Esay painting foorth God in his Throane circled about with Seraphins sayth That euery one of them had six wings With twaine he couered his face and with twaine hee couered his feete and with twaine he did flye Saint Bernard askes the question how they may be sayd to flye and not to flye And his answere is That this was a Miracle of Loue that made them assist for Gods glorie and yet flye abroad for mans good It is a Type of our Sauiour Christ who resting his bodie on the couer of the Well set the cogitations of his soule vpon it's wings considering with himselfe how farre those sheepe were gone astray which he came to bring backe againe vnto the fold and what a deale of labour and paines he was to take being scattered so farre asunder as they were There came a woman of Samaria to draw water Our Sauiour Christ beeing wearie and this woman beeing likewise wearie let no man in this life be he righteous or be he a sinner looke for any ease or rest in this life If Gods elect children come brused and broken to Heauen passing through fire and water broyled roasted sawne dragged on the ground whipt and quartered Sancti per 〈◊〉 vicerunt regna c. And if the places of Scripture which indeere the torment of the just are many many likewise are the indeerements of the torments which sinners suffer So that both of them plie the oare in the Galley of this life Si impius fuero va mihi si iustus non leuabo caput c. But the just hath a double aduantage The one That their paines are sauorie vnto them because they suffer them for Gods sake Saint Gregorie sayth That in the midst of his greatest miseries the iust doth inioy a kind of secret glorie And that Iob vpon the dunghill did inioy this comfort thinking vpon the peece of pot-shard which God had put into his hands weighing considering with himselfe that as the fire doth harden the clay and makes it a purer and better kind of Earth than before so he himselfe should be much bettered by this fierie triall of his and bee purified the more by these sores and boyles that brake out vpon his bodie But the sinner doth not inioy this happinesse euen his verie pleasures are painfull vnto him and his solace turnes into sorrow The other aduantage is the end of the Iust. Saint Bernard treating of the two Theeues sayth That they came both wearie and their bones broken to that other life They had the same prison the same shackles bonds torments crosse But Quam â—imiles cruces quam dissimiles exitus habuerunt How equall their crosses how vnequall their ends Sâ—eâ— came to draw water This woman it should seeme was borne vnder some vnhappie Starre That hauing buried fiue husbands she should be so poorely left amongst them that she must be forced to fetch water her selfe at the Well be driuen to draw it vp But there are two great miseries that accompanie your women that are wanton and lasciuious The one is That they commonly come to a great deale of neede and want scarce hauing bread to put in their moâ—ths Why â—unnest thou about so much to change thy wayes Thou shalt not pâ—osper thereby The Prophet speaketh here of his people in the metaphor of an Harbor who pilling this and that other mâ—n and causing the richest wealthest Citiâ—ens in Ierusalem to wast and consume their means vpon them come themselues in the end to dye in an Hospitall She gathered it out of the hyre of a Harlot and they shall returne to the wages of an Harlot He followes the same metaphor still proouing that the wages and riches of Harlots seldome thriue and as they are wickedly gotten so are they vilely and quickely spent The price of a Whoore is scarce worth a loafe of bread So that though such a one should chance to gaine a Million yet as Salomon sayes were it a Kings patrimonie it would be all wasted and consumed For such a one shall be brought to that low estate that she shall bee readie to starue for lacke of food And albeit speaking in the generall our neuer offending of our God bee a good meanes for the purchasing of prosperitie to our selues yet to grow into wealth by this base course is but Vigilia inferni Hels Wake-day a little pleasure for a long torment For that which generally happeneth to all and in particular to women is the extremest of pouertie The other is That your Hâ—rlot is 〈◊〉 to bestow money to maintaine her Louers and to find her friends So Ezechiel complained of his people They giue gifts to all other Whoores but thou giuest gifts to all thy Louers and rewardest them that they may come vnto thee on euerie side for thy fornication There are some Whoores that sinne out of Couetousnesse I will goe after my Louers that giue me my bread and my water my wooll and my flaxe mine oyle and my drinke And because they doe not acknowledg whence this good commeth For she did not know that I gaue her corne and wine c. they come to suffer great hunger For God takes away those blessings from them for the which they giue thankes vnto their Louers Therefore will I returne and take away my corne in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will recouer my wooll and my flax lent and discouer her lewdnesse in the sight of her Louers and no man shall deliuer her out of my hand I will cause all her mirth to cease her feast dayes and all her solemne feasts I will destroy her vines and her figge-trees whereof she hath said These are my rewards that my Louers haue giuen me Others sinne out of lasciuiousnesse and wantonnesse and these come to be so vile and so base that they woo men both with their person and their substance giuing money to boot And the more that time flyes from them and
that their goods forsake them the more they pursue their pleasures and indeauor to inioy them Let it be in thy Letanie That God would deliuer thee from this euill That the more thy Vices fly from the the faster thou shouldst follow after them For when thy youth inuiteth thee therunto and that thou inioyest these humane pleasures and delights euen then it is bad but when Time goes away from thee Age comes vpon thee and that it is high time that thy Vices should leaue thee or thou them that thou shouldst then follow after them that is farre worse and the very vtmost of Ill. 〈◊〉 My dayes saith Iob haue beene more swift than a Post they haue fled and haue seene no good thing They are passed as with the most swift ships and as the Eagle that flyeth to her prey Woman giue me drinke When our Sauiour craued water of her waterdropped from him and hee sweat hard for it And Saint Chrysostome sayth That Christ was willing that the Samaritane should confesse this Almes vpon him in token that the first step to our justification should be mercie and pittie Petrus Chryâ—logus saith That our Sauiour Christ did craue this humane mercie of her that towards her he might exercise his diuine pittie If you withhold the water a while in the Fountaine and keepe it backe from it's course it gusneth foorth in greater aboundance so is it with the milke in the brest and so likewise is it with Almesdeeds which still returne a double requitall Saint Ambrose expounding that place of Saint Paul Pietas ad omnia vtilis saith That the man that is pittifull though he suffer weaknesse in respect of the flesh Vapulabit sed non peribit He shall be beaten but shall not perish For there is nothing in a greater disposition to make God to pardon a sinner than is Pittie Giue me drinke God gaue way to his thirst that he might make way the better to that hunger and thirst which he hath after the soule of a Sinner which is so great that he onely is able to indeere the same it is meat and drinke vnto him and so sauorie to his tast that none is able to expresse the true relish thereof saâ—e onely he that knowes it But here he made choice to manifest this his desire rather by his thirst than by his hunger First By taking occasion from the water which this Woman drew out of the Well Secondly Because it is the more vehement passion of the two and doth commonly more afflict and torment vs yet in the end he did not drinke drowning that his thirst in that other thirst which he had after this poore soule The enamoured Spouse did not eat though shee were hungrie because her Beloued was sicke and had no stomacke to his meat Our Sauiour seeing this Samaritane had no great mind to drinke of this liuing water doth not drinke himselfe though he were athirst and much desired to quench it with this dead water Sampson hauing a Fountaine neere at hand would not drinke though he were thirstie til he had got the victorie ouer his enemies Saint Augustine saith of S. Laurence That he did not feele the fire of the Tyrant so strongly was hee affected with that diuiner fire So our Sauiour was not sencible of his owne thirst nor of his wearisomenesse nor of the Sunnes heat out of the desire that hee had to obtaine his pretended victorie Saint Ambrose expounding that place of Dauid Cucurri in siti saith That it may be read Cucurrerunt in siti and hee prooueth it out of the Greeke word as also that which followeth Ore suo benedicebant corde suo benedicebant The letter treateth of the Scribes and Pharisees so that our Sauior Christ had thirst and they had thirst he thirsted for their life they thirsted for his death And this was one of the reasons why our Sauiour Christ did sweat bloud in the garden for that the Priests the Scribes and the Pharisees had decreed his death in that their sacrilegious Councell for albeit they had alreadie treated before of his banishing of him from amongst them another while of throwing him downe from the side of a steepe hill and attempted many other disgraces and violences vpon his person yet were they not come til now nor was it euer to be supposed that they would haue beene so cruel as to desire the shedding of his diuine bloud to pursue him with that eagrenes as they did vnto death And because no other desire could satisfie that their bloud-thirstie desire than the desires of our Sauiours bloud to leape out of those his sacred veines for their and our good therefore Factus est sudor sanguinis c. To this end tended that Fac citius of Iudas he had alreadie driuen the bargaine and the price for which he sould him agreed vpon and his feet did now itch to be gone that he might receiue his money in token that Christ had a greater desire to be sould than he had to sell him and therefore hee said vnto him Quod facis fac citius That thou doest do quickly The like end he had in the institution of his blessed Sacrament the deliuerie was promised but before Iudas deliuered him vp he deliuered vp himselfe Praestabilis super malitia saith Ioel not onely because Gods mercie ouercomes Mans malice but because it preuents it How comes it that thou being a Iew requirest drinke of me When this Samaritane woman did petition our Sauiour Christ saying Sir giue me of that water he might haue made her this answer How is it that thou beeâ—â—g a Samaritane askest drink of me But she was a woman and weake and therefore she spake as she did but our Sauiour would not touch vpon that string For to take too much libertie to our selues in our owne proper cases and to vse hypocrisies and finesse in those of other men is the condition of naughtie and ill natured people Saint Chrysostome sayth That when any scruple did arise our Sauiour tooke vpon him to excuse it Christum cauere oportebat It concerned Christ to looke about him Howsoeuer it did this Samaritan woman Absalon beeing vp in rebellion against his father when Hushai the Archite Dauids friend was come vnto hâ—m and sayd vnto Absalon God saue the King God saue the King Then Absalon said vnto Hushai Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend He made no scruple to take his fathers Kingdome from him and his life but could find fault with Hushai for forsaking his friend Dauid So blind are men in seeing their own faults so apt to condemne others of that crime whereof themselues are most guiltie Yet notwithstanding this woman was not quite disheartned herewith shee was not cleane dasht out of countenance shee had her boughs rent and torne like vnto Daniels tree yet at the root shee had some greenenesse and sappe remaining Saint Iohn sayd to the Bishop of Philadelphia I know thy
water whither it bee this naturall water or the symbolicall water of humane delights he wil quickely become thirstie againe For neither with the one water is the thirst of the bodie allayed nor with the other of humane pleasures that of the Soule but hee that shall drinke of that liuing water that I shall giue them shall thirst no more reseruing it's satisfaction and fulnesse to that other life This sence the Cardinall of Toledo followes Yet me thinkes there is a plainer explication of this place to wit That he that shall drinke of this dead water be it naturall or symbolicall shall haue thirst both here and there in this and in that other life in this because the more water he drinketh the more hee thirsteth in that other because Hell is a lake where there is no water The couetous rich man could not there get so much as one poore drop of water the thirst there is too raging and too hot to be quenched So that this verie word Iterum Againe doth implie an eternitie in their thirst but hee that shall drinke of the liuing Water shall not suffer an eternall thirst because this his thirst shall bee allayed in Heauen Shall thirst no more In part it may be verified of the fulnesse of this life First Because albeit the holy-Ghost doth augment the thirst of those diuine goods giuing the Righteous a taste thereof as he did in Tabor to the three Disciples when he gaue them a relish of his glorie yet that thirst desire which they had at first to enioy that good was not wearisome and troublesome vnto them but rather that one little droppe that one small crumme seemed so â—auorie to Peter that hee could haue rested well contented therewith for many Ages So that those drops of water which are deriued from the foâ—â—â—ain of that celestiall Paradice howbeit they augment our desire yet they giue vs withall such a pleasing taste that Christ calls those happie that enioy them And Ecclesiasticus saith That they surpasse in sweetnesse the hony and the hony combe The remembrance of me is sweeter than honey and myne Inheritance sweeter than the honey combe They that eat me shall haue the more hunger and they that drink me shall thirst the more And Saint Augustine saith That as in Heauen there is fulnesse without fastidiousnesse so on earth there is a desire a hope but no grieuous torment Whereof we haue proofe from many places of Scripture which inuite vs to drinke of these liuing Waters As in Esay All yee that thirst c. Thou sweatest and labourest and all to no purpose because thou betakest thy selfe to those false brackish waters haue recourse rather to those faithfull Waters which as Ieremie saith make that good which is promised in Ecclesiasticus Draw neere vnto me yee vnlearned and dwell in the house of Learning Wherfore are yee slow and what say you of these things seeing your soules are verie thirstie Your soules perish for verie thirst and only the water of Wisedome is able to quench it And this is the Argument of the eight chapter of Wisedome which is verie excellent to this purpose Secondly Because this liuing Water doth in the Righteous quench the thirst of humane delights and this woman heere had scarce heard the newes of this Water but she leaues her bucket and her rope behind her as if she cared not now any more for earthly water or worldly pleasures Meliorâ— sunt vbera tâ—a vino Another letter hath it Amores tui the wine of the Vine makes me sleepe but the sweetnesse that I taste from thee and thy deere loue my Beloued doe in a manner rauish me and quite alienate me from my selfe and doe assuage in my brest my disordinate appetites One drop of the water of Heauen is able to quench the flames of Hell fire And this made the rich man in Hell to beg the same of Abraham Introduxit me rex in cellam vinariam in domum vini Saint Ambrose reads it Et ordinauit in me charitatem He gaue me to drinke of the wine of this cellar and my loue was reformed Before I loued but now I abhor that which I loued and loue that which I abhorred Wine is vsually a spurre to sensuality but my Beloued did not giue me of this Wine but of that which King Lemuel gaue to those that were comfortlesse and of a sorrowfull heart Noli Regibus dare vinum c. It is not fit for Kings to drinke wine nor for Princes strong drinke lest he drinke and forget the Decree and change the iudgement of all the châ—lderen of affâ—â—ction giue yee strong drink to him that is readie to perish and wine vnto them that haue griefe of heart let him drinke that he may forget his pouertie and remember his miserie no more True it is that in this life our thirst cannot be fully quenched by reason of those manifold sinnes whereinto out of our weakenesse we cannot chuse but fall and that verie often while we beare these bodies of sinne about vs. Domine da mihi hanc aquam Lord Giue me of this water Our Sauiour Christ had so indeered this water that he set an edge vpon this womans desire to enioy it The Serpent spake so much of the forbidden Fruit that Eue contrarie to Gods commaund did eate thereof The Queene of Sheba heard so much good spoken of Salomons wisedome that she vndertook a wonderful great journey that she might both see and heare him Abigal did so highly recommend to Dauid the noblenes of pardoning of an offence that of a fierce Lyon she made him as gentle as a lamb the woman of Tecoa told Dauid so handsome a tale that he pardoned his sonne Absalon Some do seeme to wonder that the sinne of dishonestie beeing so hatefull a thing in Gods sight that permitting other sinnes in his Apostolicall Colledge as Pride Couetousnesse and Treason he did neuer winke at this kind of sinne and hauing antiently so seuerely punished them that hee should now with this woman deale so mildly and so gently The drowning of the World was for wantonnesse such like dishonesties the burning of Sodom for vnnaturall vncleannes The punishing of Dauid by the vntimely death of Bersabes son by visiting himselfe with sicknesse was for his adulterie with Vriaâ—s wife Ezechiell cals Ierusalem a pot and the Princes thereof flesh because that Citie was much giuen to sensualitie And he sayth that he will put fire thereunto vntill all the flesh be consumed and that the pot be melted How is it ô Lord that thou weâ—t then so seuere and art now become so milde I answere That it is wisdome in a Physition to apply different medicines sometimes Lenitiues and sometimes Corasiues The sinnes of Ierusalem were growne hard and brawnie saith Ieremie Why cryest thou for thine affliction Thy sorrow is incurable because thy 〈◊〉 were increased I haue done these things
vpon their coyne an Oxe a creature that in his feeding goes still backeward which is the hieroglyphicke or embleme of a couetous man who the more he eats the more backeward he goes Set not thy eyes nor thy thoughts vpon riches for when thou least thinkest of it they shall betake them to their wings like an Eagle and shall flie vp to heauen Riches that are ill gotten flie vp to Gods tribunall seat and there like so many fiscalls or busie Attornies accuse thee for an vniust possessor of them and crie out as loud against thee as the bloud of Abel against his brother Cain The fourth thing that wee may draw from this patterne is That a Prince ought more sharpely to correct those abuses and vices which are growne old through custome especially those of your great and powerfull Ministers who commit them without controlement by publike authoritie God deliuer vs from those Ministers who sell that for their priuate profit which they are bound to doe gratis out of their Office and from that Priest which makes sale of the administration of the Sacraments from that Confessor that will be soundly payd for his Absolution From that Iudge that will be bribed before hee will doe iustice and from that Secretary that makes sutors come off roundly for their quicker dispatch These be things that send many of them quicke to hell The Pharisees should haue kept their Temple cleane from all couetousnesse haue banished your Merchants bankes and haue fauoured and graced those their Sacrifices in stead whereof they sold those beasts that were to be offered made money of them and put the same forth to vse and profit as others did Sacerdotes eius contempserunt legeÌ„ meam à sabbatis mois ouerterunt oculos suos coinquinabar in medio eorum The Priests of my Temple haue broken my Law and haue defiled my holy things They haue put no difference betweene the holy and prophane neyther dâ—scerned betweene the vncleane and the cleane and haue hid their eyes from my Sabboths and I am prophaned amongst them Where I would haue you by the way to waigh that same word coinquinabar For the Ministers of a State being theeues they make their Lord Master likewise a theef thou hast made my house a den of theeues by being thy selfe a companion of theeues According to that of Esay Socij furum And therefore Christ lasheth them with whips a sitting punishment for theeues Saint Ierome saith That he is a theefe and makes the Church a den of theeues Qui lucrum de religione reportat Who out of the duty of his Ecclesiasticall dignity makes priuat gaine and profit to himselfe Saint Gregory is of the same minde And as Theodosius the Emperour said Quid poterit esse securum si sanctitas as incorrupta corrumpatur What can be secure if incorrupted Sanctity shall be corrupted Which is all one with that of Iob That a Gouernour should rob widowes and deuoure their houses being bound to defend and protect them that he should strip that poore man naked whom he ought to cloath this is a great crueltie There is a curse that lyes vpon them that shall lead away the Asse of the fatherlesse and take the widowes Oxe to pledge that shall rise early for a prey cause the naked to lodge without garment and without couering in the cold and to plucke the fatherlesse from the breast c. It is so due a debt which Princes owe to fauour succour and defend the right of the poore of the fatherlesse and of the widow that Cassiodorus in his thirty nine epistle saith That it is as needlesse and superfluous a businesse to aske it at his hands as to sue to that which is heauy to descend downeward or to that which is light to ascend vpward But Saluianus lamenting the miseries of his times complaineth That your great and powerfull Ministers in stead of complying with their obligaâ—ion and in stead of fauouring and defending their poore Vassalls sell them Iustice at a deare rate Verifying that lamentation of Ieremy Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus ligna nostra praetio comparauimus Selling vnto them the water of their wells and a sticke of fire from their hearthes And would to God they would but sell their water and their wood as others vse to doe at common and ordinary rates for then there would something remaine to the buyer but there is a new kind of tyranny now adayes he that sells wraps and wrings all he can vnto him but returnes nothing takes all but giues not a dodkin to the poore whereas he that buyes giues all that hee hath and receiueth nothing And therefore in that Countrey or Kingdome where the Great ones are all so generally bad it is no great wonder that Religion Iustice and whatsoeuer else belonging to gouernment should be sold and set forth to sale Ieroboam made of the lowest of the people Priests of the high places Who would giue most money might consecrate himselfe and bee of the Priests of the high places which thing as the Text sayth turned vnto sinne to the house of Ieroboam euen to root it out and destroy it from the face of the Earth Simon Magus sought to buy the grace of the holy Ghost What his gracelesse pretension came to I neede not tell you you knowing already how deare it cost him The Emperour Iustinian sayd That the selling of Iustice in a Commonwealth was the vtter vndoing of it for why should not that Iudge or Officer robbe and steale who payd so great a summe of money for his Commission What would a Theefe an Adulterer or a Murderer care if hee knew he might redeeme his offence with money He that buyes must of force sell So sayd Alexander Seuâ—rus And therefore he would neuer consent as Lampridius reporteth it that any office at least of Iurisdiction should bee sold in the Empire The Priests therefore of the Temple selling the sayd oblations it is not much that our Sauiour should whip them and that hee should call them Theeues The last thing that a gouernor may draw from this patterne is perseuerance There are many which are as the Glosse hath vpon the decretals Primo ferâ—ens postea deficiunt Hot at first and afterwards grow cold When they are a little warme in their place they flagge and fall off punishing one and freeing another and both vniustly They wincke at theeues and robbers on the high way they cancell Deedes falsifie Records conceale Writings alter Euidences foist in false indictments set delinquents at libertie facilitate causes and a thousand the like disorders to the great detriment and disauthoritie of Iustice. And therefore they make the Crane the Hieroglyph of a good Iudge which neuer changes his plumes but is all of one and the same colour both in his youth and in his age Out of this Historie I shall inferre three or foure conclusions The first if the
when he comes home at night he presently askes what newes there is stirring And is well pleased with any tidings that are told him especially of other mens misfortunes Plutarch makes this simile That as in Cities there vse to be some vnlucky gates wherat nothing enters or goes out that is good saue dunghils that lye in the streete and persons that are condemned to death so likewise into the eares of the Curious nothing enters that is good It was the saying of a certaine Philosopher that of all kind of winds those were most troublesome which did whirle our clokes from off our shoulders In like manner of all sortes of men the Curious are most to be abhorred which vnwrap the clokes of our shame blow open our disgrace and rip vp the graues of the dead and as Xenocrates said of them They enter not into other mens houses with their feet but their eyes He saw c. This might very well assure them that he lookt vpon him with the eye of Loue. First because it is Gods nature and condition when he doth one fauour to ingage himselfe for many other courtesies And therefore hauing done him the fauour to looke vpon him he was now obliged to giue him his sight Cicero saith That it is the property of a noble brest to him that owes much to desire to make that man more his debtor Est animi ingenui cui multum debeas eidem plurimum velle debere The bestowing of one fauour vpon mee saith Ecclesiasticâ—â— makes me the bolder to beg another And since thou hast stuck vnto me in my life ô Lord doe the like in my death God did reueale vnto Dauid by the Prophet Nathan perpetuitie of his Kingdome and after this so great a fauour he further addeth Therefore is thy seruants heart readie to pray vnto thee Ezechias had receiued extraordinarie kindnesses from Gods hand and these were motiues to make him intercede for farther fauours In a word one courtesie conferred vpon vs incourageth vs to craue a second But that the conferring of one fauor â—hould lay an obligation or make one desirous to doe another on the necke of that this onely holds in God as a peculiar noblenesse belonging vnto him And for to secure vs of all those fauours which wee can expect from his greatnesse the Church saith of our Sauiour Christ that was offered vp for vs Nobis pignus datur A pledge is giuen vs. Now a pledge is alwayes pawned for lesse than it is worth Hauing therefore thus impawned the infinit treasure of his person what will he not bestow vpon vs If he haue giuen thee eyes will hee not giue thee hands And if he haue giuen thee hands will he not giue thee a heart So that Gods doing of one fauour is the assuring of many In the Wildernesse when all Agars bread and water was spent and seeing her sonne ready to dye for thirst she lifted vp her eyes to Heauen calling vpon God Et exaâ—diuit dominus vocem â—â—eri And the Lord heard the voyce of the child His giuing eare vnto her was a signe that he would giue her water suddenly a Well was discouered vnto her c. Here were two fauours done her alreadie First His hearing her Secondly His granting her her request But God did not stop here In gentem magnam faciam cum I will make him a great Nation Secondly Because mans wants and necessities being looked on by the eye of Gods loue and pittie his goodnes neuer leaues him till his remedie be wrought And therfore it is said by the Psalmist I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble so that when I present my griefes tribulations before him if he once but looke vpon them I am sure he wil help me This kind of cunning Martha Mary vsed with him Behold he is sick whom thou louest Ezechias opening Zenacharibs letter in the Temple fraught with such a deale of pride arrogancie exercised the same trick Lord open thyne eyes and see bow downe thyne eare and heare the words of Zenacharib c. And as our sinnes doe crie vnto God for vengeance so our miseries doe crie vnto him for mercie God plagued the Princes of the Philistines with that foule and grieuous disease of the Emmerods but vpon their presenting the Images of them before the Arke he freed them of that euill Thou knowest my shame and my reproch c. And if my prayers doe not sometimes pierce Heauen it is because my persecutions and afflictions haue ascended thither and notified my miserie and when man is ashamed to speake yet that will speake for him Who did sinne this man or his parents Saint Cyril saith That the Disciples hauing whispered amongst themselues touching this mans misfortune they askt our Sauiour Quis peccauit c. Wherein they went wisely to worke in attributing punishment in the generall to sinne for by attributing them many times to naturall causes as to the Sunne aire water and other distemperatures the fruit of Gods chastisements is lost Petrus Crysologus treating of those teares which our Sauiour shed at Lazarus death saith That he did not bewaile his buriall for he knew how happie he was in being out of the world but the occasion He thought vpon Adams apple that had beene the cause of so much hurt and this was it that made him to weepe And this his weeping was as if hee should haue said What a deale of sorrow hath this one act of disobedience in him brought vpon all mankind and consequently vpon me who must beare the burthen of his and their offence O Sinne How deere will it cost both Man and me In a word There is not any one thing so often repeated in Scripture as That Sin is the cause of our miseries De humo non egreditur dolor And in this respect verie iust and lawfull was this their demand touching Quis peccauit Who sinned First Because they did desire to see it verified whether this fauour which they muttered amongst themselues were well employed or no for it is a common custome in Court when the King shall cast a fauourable eye vpon any one and gratiously looke vpon him not onely to examine his life and to question what hee is but to rip vp that of his fathers and predecessours to flea those that are aliue and to disinterre those that are dead And howbeit for prouisions of offices and for the conferring of Court dignities and other publique preferments in the Commonwealth it is fitting for Kings and Princes to take a strict view and examination concerning the honestie and abilitie of those they aduance yet in the relieuing of wants necessities al such diligences are vnnecessarie and vniust For a Prince or any other rich and powerfull person sayth Saint Chrysostome ought to be like a good port or hauen which should receiue into her protection all sort of passengers whatsoeuer but to
fro with it's vnruly appetites is al one Et vita inter Effoeminatos Another Letter hath it Scortatores The connexion is good for Youth runnes it selfe quickely vpon the Rockes of death through it's sensualities and lewdnesse of life There are two daughters of the Horse-leech which still crie Giue giue And the Wiseman pointing them forth vnto vs saith The one is Infernus The other Os Vuluae The Graue the one and Lust the other And the Wiseman did linke these two together with a great deale of conueniencie and fittingnesse for if Lust bee neuer satisfied the Graue lesse This truth is likewise made good forasmuch as the Scripture stileth Sinne Death If I doe this I must die the death So said Susanna to the Iudges that made vnlawfull and dishonest loue vnto her And Cain seeing himselfe charged with fratricide at that verie instant he gaue himselfe for a dead man Whosoeuer shall meet me will kill me Youth then beeing a house whereinto the raine doth drip so fast and at so many places it is no meruaile that life should cease and soone decay It is prouerbially said Loue is as strong as Death And as Loue doth vsually set vpon Youngmen so doth Death and where Loue striketh Youth Death may spare his Dart. The Antients painted a Youngman starke naked his eyes with a Vaile or Bend before them his right hand bound behind him and his left left at libertie and Time followiâ—â— him close at the heeles and euer and anon pulling a thred out of the Vaile Hee was drawne naked to shew with what little secrecie hee had vsed his delights and pleasures with his right hand bound behind him to expresse that he did not doe any thing aright his left free and at libertie signifying that he did all things aukwardly and vntowardly he was portrayed blind because he doth not see his owne follies but Time goes opening his eyes by little and little day by day brings him to the true knowledge of his errors And he that was dead sate vp and began to speake The Dead presently obeyed the voyce of the Liuing And hee sate vp God cryeth out aloud to those that are dead in their Soules yet doe they not obey his voyce Arise thou that sleepest c. Hee began to giue thankes vnto him that had done him this so great a fauour Thou hast deliuered mee ô Lord from the dooâ—es of death and therefore I will celebrate thy prayses and magnifie thy name in the Gates amiddest the Daughters of Syon It is Saint Chrysostomes note That the word Doores is put here in the plurall number because many are the dangers out of which God deliuereth a sinner That all may speake of thy praise and talke of thy wondrous workes And there came a feare vpon all It may seeme to some That the word Loue would better haue become this place and beene fitter for this present purpose and occasion All a man would thinke should rather haue expressed their loues vnto him sung forth his prayses and offered their seruice vnto him In those former punishments of a World drowned and ouerwhelmed with Water of a Sodome burned and consumed with Fire it was verie fit and meet that it should strike feare and amasement into all But in such a case as this What should cause them to feare Hereunto I answer That nothing doth strike such a feare and terrour into man as the great and wonderfull mercies of God A Roman Souldier told Iulius Caesar It much troubles me nor can I be heart-merrie as oft as I thinke on the many fauours that I haue receiued from thy liberall hand but doe rather hold them as so many wrongs and iniuries done vnto me for they are so beyond all requitall that I must of force proue vngratefull which makes me to feare that thou wilt proceed against me for a heinous offendor in this kind In like manner so many are the mercies of God towards man and so infinite that they may be held as Vigiles of his future seuerer Iustice. Iacob did in a manner vtter the same sentence against himselfe Minor sum cunctis miserationibus tuis The least of thy mercies is greater than all my merits nor can the best seruices that I can doe thee make satisfaction for the least of those fauours which I haue receiued from thy bounteous liberalitie Grant ô Lord that what is wanting in our owne worthinesse may bee made vp in the mercies and merits of our Sauiour Iesus Christ To whom with the Father c. THE XXX SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 11.1 Erat quidam languens Lazarus Now a certaine man was sicke named Lazarus of Bethanie c. PEtrus Crysologus calls this Signum signorum Mirabile mirabilium Virtutem virtutum The signe of signes the wonder of wonders and the Vertue of vertues or the power of powers Saint Augustine Miraculorum maximum The myracle of myracles which of all other did most predicate and blazon forth Christs glorie Saint Hierome preferres it before all the rest that he wrought here vpon earth By this prenda or pledge of his Diuinitie Death remained confounded the Deuills affrighted and the lockes and barres of Hell broken Genebrard That it is the voice of a Crier which goes before a Triumpher who makes Death the triumphant Chariot of his Maiestie and glorie That a valiant Warriour should make a braue and gallant shew on horsebacke hauing his Courser adorned and set forth with curious and costly Caparisons it is not much but to seeme handsome and comely in Deaths palenesse weakenesse and foulenesse beeing so ghastly a thing to looke on God onely can doe this Ante faciem eius saith Abacuc ibit mors Death â—â—all flie before his face Christ doth deliuer vs from a double death the one of the soule the other of the bodie He deliuered them from their distresses Death is swallowed vp in victorie He that drinketh takes the cup in his hand and doth therewith what it pleaseth him so did our Sauiour deale with Death therfore he called it a cup drinking the same vp at one draught wherein he dranke a health to all Beleeuers Saint Bernard vpon this occasion saith of him Mirabilis potator es tu Thou art a strange kind of drinker O Lord before thou tastedst of this cup thou saidst Transeat Let it passe and after thou hadst dranke thereof thou saidst Sitio I thirst The Flesh was afraid but the Spirit got the victorie ouer Death with that ease as a good Drinker doth of a good cup of drinke when he is verie thirstie In a word Not onely because this was a myracle wrought vpon a dead person that had lien foure dayes buried in his graue but because the sacrilegious councell of the Scribes and Pharisees had layd their heads together and plotted the death of our Sauiour Christ as also in regard of those other circumstances That the deceased
it's â—ld odour The adulterie of Bershabe and the murther of Vriah hath layne a â—ong time in my brest and though I haue washed and rynsed it with I know not how many â—ees and Sopes yet haue I no hope to make it as cleane as it was before and therefore ô Lord I beseech thee that thou wilt create a new heart in me wherewith I may loue thee for euer But if this cannot be because the soule is immortall perdurable and incorruptible Renew a right spirit within me that there may not remaine any sent or sauour of my former foulnes establish such a spirit in me that I may neuer fal from thy seruice a spirit that may repaire those wrongs I did before and if that were an occasion that many did blaspheme thy Name let this be such a one that it may conuert many vnto thee and that they may truly serue thee The glorious Doctor Saint Ambrose touched vpon this string Dauid saith he did desire of God That he would create him a new heart not that he should create it anew but that he should so renew it that it might seeme to be created anew for to clense it was all one as to create it It is the resolution of a man that is truly penitent to desire to leaue a lewd life and to auoyd all occasions thereof Anselme saith That the first renouation which God effecteth in our soules is in Babtisme This is the foundation of our Christian building so saith the glorious Apostle Saint Paul Afterwards the eyes of our Reason being cleered one layeth his foundation on Gold another on Siluer a third on pretious Stones a fourth on Wood a fift on Hay a sixt on Straw and though Hay and Straw be sometimes taken for Gold the fire will trie the finenesse of it and purifie all The second renouation is by Repentance When thou hast an old beastly tatterd garment thou makest thee a new one thy soule is all to be rent torne exceeding foule and filthie cloath it anew The first regalo or kindnesse which the father shewed to the prodigall child was his new apparelling of him Aâ—ferte stolam primam This is the greatest kindnesse thou canst doe to thy soule and that thou maist not doe as little children vse to doe which are well clad to day and a few dayes after are nothing but ragges and totters doe not yee make your garments of paper which the least blast of aire rents asunder but put on Iesus Christ our Sauiour and Redeemer which is a Rayment that will last for euer And it was Winter Saint Gregorie saith That the Scripture sometimes setteth downe the circumstances of time and place to signifie by them that which is not expressed by word of mouth And that this circumstance of Hyems erat It was Winter though it may be referred to our Sauiour Christs walking from place to place yet doth it declare the frostinesse and ycie coldnesse of the Iews hearts By coldnesse the Scripture vnderstandeth the malice of sinne whence it is to bee noted That the Historie of the Machabees calleth this Solemnitie The Feast of Fire Whereas we are now purposed to keepe the Purification of the Temple vpon the twentie fifth day of the moneth Chasleu wee thought it necessarie to certifie you thereof that yee also might keepe the Feast of the Tabernacles and of the Fire which was giuen vs when Nehemias offered Sacrifice after that he had built the Temple and the Altar c. It appeareth by the sixth Chapter of Leuiticus That God did conserue a perpetuall fire in his presence The Fire shall euermore burne vpon the Altar and neuer goe out At their departure into Babylon they hid their fire in a deepe pit and at their returne they found it turned into a thick water like a gellie Nehemias he takes it forth and setteth it in the Sunne and presently it became fire the drops that remained they did sprinckle or bedew the Altar therewith and they forthwith tooke fire so that it was fitly called the Feast of Fire But that they who solemnise this Feast should bee all Frost and Ice is a thing verie worthie our consideration This is our ruine and perdition That the verie same day that wee treat of renewing our soules which is the feast of the Fire of our Spirit there should bee such a great coldnesse in vs c. Take heed your flight be not in the Winter nor vpon the Sabboth Our Sauior hauing reuealed vnto his Disciples whether it were the euils that should befall Ierusalem or the insuing miseries of this world or those that should threaten the Soule at each particular mans death or all of them iointly together and supposing that none would be able to abide them but that they would be forced to flie from the euill to come hee giues them this auiso Take heed your flight c. Our Sauiour would not haue them to betake themselues to flight neither on the Sabboth day nor in the Winter Not on the Sabboth day because their Law did not giue them leaue to go any more than a thousand paces a matter of a mile But say some one should haue ventured to breake this Law and to haue gone further he could not haue lighted on an Inne-keeper to bid him welcome got no meat no fire to dresse it nor haue met with any companie on the way but haue trauelled all alone in a fearefull kind of solitude Not in the Winter in regard of innumerable inconueniences as raine durt boggs yce frost snow rising of riuers and dayes short and darke Saint Gregorie expoundeth this place of those euills which threaten vs at our death but be it in our death or in our life the world hath not any creature that is more threatned and terrified than a Sinner Who can looke Sinne in the face our best course is to flie from it and to haue recourse to the Sanctuarie of Repentance but we must take heed that we doe not flie on the Sabboth or in Winter In die illa saith Zacharie non erit lux sed frigus gelu In that day there shall bee no cleere light but darke Saint Hierome saith That the Prophet speaketh of the destruction of Ierusalem by Titus and Vespasian and because the miserie and calamitie thereof would fall out to be so terrible and so fearefull that no man durst abide it they treated of their flying from it But that time shall prooue vnto them to be extreame cold and exceeding darke as if he should haue sayd If they should haue fled for Gods seruice the Pillar of fire should haue gone before them and directed them in their way but when they shall flie to his disgrace and dishonour the dayes shall be cold and the wayes darke c. Here are condemned your cold and frozen Confessions your slacke slow restitutions your luke-warme intentions being like vnto those of the Sluggard of whom Salomon
saith Vult non vult He will and he will not and these are verie hurtfull to the soule for they cause more securitie than saluation These being a generation that are pure in their owne conceits and yet are not washed from their filthinesse Caesarius Arelatensis compareth Penitence to a Storme or Tempest where the winds thunders and lightnings play their parts the wind at sea rents sailes splits Masts crackes Cables teareth vp Anchors and breaketh the Oares in pieces Penitence must rent the sailes wherewith thou sailest in this world with the wind in the poupe it must cracke asunder the strong Cables of thy wilfull affections it must teare vp the Anchors of thy ill fastned hopes and breake those Oares of false and deceitfull Court-fauours which thou falsly supposest shall row thee ashore to some safe Harbour On land the wind turneth vp the tallest Cedars and hugest Okes though they haue taken neuer such deepe rooting There are men in the World that haue taken deeper rooting in worldly riches in their honours and their pleasures than either the tall Cedar or the sturdie Oke and there is nothing that can rent them vp by the roots and make them stoupe but the stiffe wind of Penitence These men must haue the Waters of Grace to quench the flames of their couetous desires and of the fierie lusts of the flesh Euerie night saith Dauid I will wash my bed The fire of Concupiscence which is kindled in this bed must be quenched with the watrie teares of the eys and in stead of that fire take vnto thee the fire of Zeale of Charitie and of Loue that may inflame the Soule kindle the Will and inlighten the Vnderstanding Ignem veni mittere in terram c. Thou must likewise haue the thunder of Gods iudgements in thyne eares to strike a terrour into thee of Gods Maiestie to make thee fearefull to offend and keep thee in a continuall aw of keeping his commandements c. And Iesus walked in the porch of Salomon There is no Falcon that flieth so high giues so many wrenches to the Herne or makes more stoopings with desire to seise on his prey no enamoured Gallant that halfe so much rounds the dores of her he adoreth no Sheepheard so trudgeth through the Mountaines seeking after his lost Sheepe no poore Soule more seekes after the house of some rich and well deuoted Almes-giuer nor doth the Sunne fetch so many turnes through the world as the Sonne of righteousnesse doth to recouer a lost soule Saint Augustine before he had got out of his errour said Circumuolitabat â longe misericordia tua Thy mercy did flye about afarre off Sinne doth separate vs from God and remooues vs farre from him Longè à peccatoribus Salus Saluation is farre from the wicked But his mercy though it stood aloofe off yet his eye did still watch ouer me which is a great argument of Gods loue towards mee And from hence it ariseth That there is great feasts and ioy made in heauen for one soule that is conuerted like vnto those congratulations and fellow-feelings which the Shepheard desireth others should entertaine him withall when hee hath found his lost sheepe Great is the Shepheards ioy when he findes his lost sheepe But this is more especially verified in God it being his Delitiae esse cum filijs hominum Then dost thou walk with great delight and contentment through thy soules Temple when thou doest contemplate the high mysteries thereof Then doest thou walke through thy vnderstanding when thou art zealous in the loue thereof Then doest thou walke through thy will when thou doest call to mind the great blessings from Gods bountifull hand with a desire to be thankefull and seruiceable vnto him Then doest thou walke through thy memorie when thou doest occupie thy selfe in holy thinges Then doest thou walke through thy eyes when thou doest exercise thy selfe in workes of pittie Then doest thou walke through thy hands when thou doest make a bed for the poore and bind vp the wounds of the wounded Then doest thou walke through thy tongue when thou giuest wholesome counsell to thy brother In a word then doth thy soule take her ease rest sitting as it were on a Throne and on a liuing Altar farre better than that which is made of stone for one single sigh offered vp vpon this Altar is able to preuaile more than many on any other Altar Iesus walked That our Sauiour Christ should vse so many diligences for a soule that is predestinated for heauen it is well and good but for such a reprobate people as this that he should take such paines it is but lost labour God called vnto Moses saying Goe and speake vnto Pharaoh that he let my people goe But I know that hee will not let them goe What sayes Clemens Alexandrinus O Lord if thou knowest so much Why doest thou put thy selfe to so vnnecessary a trouble Why doest thou loose so much time Wherunto there is giuen a twofold answer First That he that is of a pittifull nature and kind condition doth not content himselfe with the iustifying of his cause but vseth all possible meanes to remedy what is amisse and to set all things right S. Bernard did labour as it were with might and maine as no Gally-slaue could tugge more at an Oare to reduce a Monke that had violated his Orders and gone astray and when a friend of his told him What meane you to meddle in so thanklesse and hopelesse an Office and a case so desperate where there is no good to bee done This man is flowne out so farre to checke that he will neuer be reclaimed To whom Saint Bernard mildly answered Non recipio consolationem vbi fratris video desolationem I take no consolation where I see my brothers desolation A tender hearted mother takes care of her sonne in a desperate disease vsing all kind of diligences though they prooue vnprofitable Secondly Saint Barnard saith That God doth not oblige Prelats that they cure sinners but that they procure to cure them He doth not reward a Preacher according to the good that he hath done but according to the paines that hee hath taken and he cites that place of Saint Paul I haue laboured more than ye all He doth not say I haue done more good than any of you all for the reward is not giuen according to the measure of the profit but the paines not for the sauing of Soules but for his sweating to saue them And for the better instructing vs in this truth our Sauiour Christ after so many myracles done so many Sermons preached and all to no end doth not for all this forsake this people and giue them ouer but comes here vnto this great Feast to direct them in the right way Et deambulabat c. Then came the Iewes round about him The Woolfes heere come about the Lambe as your Dogs about a poore Beggar as your bigger Vessels about a smal
apprehend Dauid Michal saued his life by letting him out a window Why did they not follow in pursuit of him being so much offended as they were at this tricke which Michâ—l had put vpon them Some Hebrewes make answer hereunto That God had damd vp the window or cast a myst before their eyess that they could not perceiue the manner of his escape Ecclesiasticus saith The congregation of the wicked is like tow wrapped together Their end is a flame of fire to destroy them An Armie of Reprobates can no more stand against the godly than bundles of Towe or Flaxe before a flaming fire How long c. The Iewes comming round about our Sauiour they said vnto him Quousque c. How long doest thou make vs doubt As Loue transformeth a man so doth Hate Vulnerasti cor meum soror mea said the Bridegroome to his Spouse Another letter hath it Excordasti Which alludeth vnto that which the Spouse answered Ego Dormio cor meum vigilat But how can the Spouse sleepe and her heart wake yes her husband had stolne away her heart and that waked with him when she was asleepe Now Hate no lesse transformeth than Loue. Saul did not liue in himselfe but in Dauid Haman not in himselfe but in Mardochee the Pharisees not in themselues but in Christ. And therfore they say Thou causest our soules to doubt Thou hast robd vs of our soules we are not our selues but as bodies without a soule And in token that the cause of this their suspension was Enuie they confesse these their so many distractions vexations and torments of the mind All other kind of sinnes bring paine and torment with them but it is after they haue tasted of their sinnes but Enuie torments before hand The Pharisees had scarce seen Christs Miracles and the applause which his doctrine had in the world when they began to suffer and to be grieued And this is the reason why this Vice is harder to be cured than any other Good doth ordinarily quench ill as water quencheth fire But Enuie because it makes another mans good his ill that which to other vices is death is to Enuy life It is the fire of brimstone which the more water you throw on it the more it burneth They came about mee like so many Bees who are exasperated and grow angry with those that doe them no harme but good They waxed hot like fire among thornes which no water can quench Animam nostram tollis Where I would haue thee to weigh the word Tollis Thou takest away our soule thou makest vs to doubt c. Thou art in fault that we liue in this paine and passion It is the common course of your greatest sinners to lay the blame of their sinne vpon God O Lord Why hast thou made vs to erre from thy wayes saith Esay and hardned our heart from thy feare It is a sin inherited from Adam who laid the fault of eating the apple vpon God The woman which thou gauest me to be with me c. She that thou gauest me to be my companion to be my cherisher and my comforter Who would haue thought that she would haue intreated any thing at my hands that should not haue beene very lawfull and honest The sicke man is wont to lay the fault on the Clymat wherein hee liueth and on those meates wherewith hee is nourished Seneca tells a tale of a certaine Shee-slaue who one morning when she awaked finding her selfe blind laid the fault that she could not see vpon the house desiring that she might be remooued to another The cause of your Eclypses is the earth which interposes it selfe betweene the Sunne and the Moone Whereas hee that shall impute the fault to the Sun shall but betray his ignorance Of the Eclipses of these Iewes the cause thereof was their passions their couetousnesse and their enuie If our Sauiour Christ preached vnto them they desired Miracles if he wrought Miracles they desired Doctrine from his workes they appealed to his words and from his words to his workes and laying the fault on the Sun they said Animam nostram tollis Thou makest vs to doubt If thou be the Christ tell vs plainly In three words they vttered three notorious lies The first Dic nobis palam Tell vs plainly for all that thou hast hitherto sayd vnto vs is as nothing The second Dic nobis palam and we will beleeue thee The third Dic nobis palam for that is the reason why wee haue not hitherto beleeued thee Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome haue both obserued that in these their lies there was a great deale of craft subtletie which was this That the Iewes did still presume that our Sauiour Christ would boast himselfe to bee King of the Iewes and that he was temporally to sit in Dauids Throne they went about to draw this from him that they might haue some ground of accusation against him and therefore they thus cried out vnto him Dic nobis palam Tel vs plainly for in all the rest that they desired of him our Sauiour Christ had giuen them full satisfaction For if Palam be to publish a thing openly and not to doe it in hugger-mugger or in some by-corner or other I haue alwayes preached publiquely in your Synagogues and in the middest of your Market-places And I sayd nothing in secret If Palam shall carrie with it a kind of boldnesse and libertie yee may call to mind my whipping of you out of the Temple the seueritie of my reprehensions and that I called yee the children of the Deuill that I might publish your euill thoughts to the world c. If Palam shall signifie Cleerely or Manifestly what more cleere or manifest truth could ye heare than that which I haue preached vnto you Wil you that I shal tel you in a word who I am I and the father am one Of the materiall Sunne a man may complaine That an earnest eying of it and a steadie fixed looking thereupon may make vs blind but on the Sunne of Righteousnesse no man can lay this fault for hee himselfe giues that light whereby our eyes are inabled to see The commandement of the Lord is pure and giueth light vnto the eyes And therefore Saint Paul calls the old Law Night and the Law of Grace Day In that Law the Sunne had not shewed it selfe all was clouds and darkenesse and albeit they did inioy some light it was but a glimpse or as the light of a candle through some little chinke but when the Sonne of God appeared in the flesh that darkenesse of the night was driuen away and the day appeared c. I told yee and yee beleeue not the workes that I doe in my fathers name they beare witnesse of me Our Sauiour Christ had prooued himselfe to be both God and Man by such conuenient meanes that it had beene follie if not meere madnesse to haue desired better
by the same rounds by which she went downe to hell Wee make a rope of our vices and a ladder of our sinnes by which we descend to hell In some their eyes are the instruments of their destruction in others their hayres in others their dainties and delicacies in Mary Magdalen all whatsoeuer she possessed Shee was the net that swept all the vices vnto her and all those good blessings which God had bestowed vpon her she had made them weapons wherewith to offend him And as the souldier that yeelds himselfe holding his weapon by the point offers it to the Conqueror so did Mary Magdalen ô Lord said she with these weapons haue I offended thee but now I here lay them downe at thy feet If this man were a Prophet he would surely haue known who c. God doth so kindly and so louingly entertaine all those that are penitent sinners that it would make a man thinke that he had not knowne them He that hath kild thy brother if thou know him not thou welcommest him to thy house and settest him at thy table behold heere the immensiue Loue of God for that which thou doest out of meere ignorance God doth here doe it out of cleere knowledge If thou shalt bewayle thy sinnes and offences thou shalt finde God after that manner as if either he had not knowne thy faults at all or if hee did know them that hee had quite forgot them In a word here the boord of a sinner is made the chaire of holinesse and of vertue If this man were a Prophet Your Hypocrites which desire no more but the bare name of Prophets and to be onely esteemed for such are commonly seuere and sharpe but those which professe to be so indeed will rather offend through mildnesse and softnesse than roughnesse and austeritie Saint Chrisostome sayth Melius est Deo de misericordia rationem reddere quam de austeritate It better agrees with God to render an account of his mercy than of his seueritie If God bee naturally kind Why should a Prophet be cruell One of the reasons Why the day of iudgement ought to be desired is That wee may see the faces of those who being very well satisfied of their owne sanctitie are out of a loathing of other folkes sinnes ready forsooth to turne vp the stomacke Your Vultures are all femalls according to the opinion of your Naturalists and conceiuing by the Aire they are the stampe and Embleme of your Murmurers which teare and rend the flesh aliue as your Vultures doe dead carcasses and if thou wouldest know whereupon they ground this thou shalt find it is in the ayre If he but knew who and what manner of woman this were which toucheth him The iudgements that are most preiudiciall to a Common-wealth and most contrarie to Gods nature and condition are the discrediting and disgracing of present vertues with the reprochfull remembrance of forepassed vices some doe this out of zeale forsooth but true zeale neuer disheartneth or discourageth those that are weake How can that be zeale which persuades it selfe Que el sapâ— siempre es sapo That once a toad and euer a toad This kind of zeale I should hardly giue credit vnto though it should descend downe from heauen especially when I consider with my selfe Que del sapo puede hazer dios Perdiz That God of a toad can make a Partridge What saith Ieremy Orietur sicut mane Iustitia Consider the thicke duskinesse of darknesse and then againe the glorious brightnesse of the light being on the one side such neere neighbours and trenching one vpon the other on the other so contrary and so farre asunder that there is nothing more differing than light from darknesse nothing in that extreame distance A bird passes in an instant ouer fields mountaines valleys riuers and seas and flyes from extreame to extreame Quis mihi dabit pennas sicut columbae c. Who will giue mee the wings of a Doue What wonder is it then that God should passe from the foulenesse of sinne to the fairenesse of grace The hardest thing in the world is to vnteach a man that which he hath learned and therefore the Philosopher did demand a double Salarie for teaching those schollers that had beene read too before by some other Philosopher But this shewes the force and power of Gods Spirit for that which humane industrie cannot end in many dayes grace will end in an instant Your aqua fortis will eat out any written character and cleanse those blots and blurs of inke which the dashing of the pen or any the like accident hath occasioned but you shall neuer be able to write any letter well againe in the said paper But your eye-water that of teares is far more forcible and strong than your aqua fortis for it doth not onely cleanse the soule of it's former blots and blurs but there may be written therein anew very faire letters and handsome Characters Aristotle saith That your Plants are watered with the water of the earth and with the water of heauen but affirmeth with all That that of heauen worketh the more wonderfull effects So likewise are there teares of the earth and teares of heauen but these worke heauenly effects The Historie of Elias in that contention and opposition which he had with the false Prophets â—alls out very pat for this purpose Hee powred water on the Sacrifice and fild the trenches full therewith fire descended downe from heauen and lickt vp the water till there was not one drop left The comparison is not much amisse of him Who after that he had fed vpon many dishes fals roundly to that which was serued in last because he findes it more sauourie and pleasing to his palat than any of the former As this fire that came downe from heauen consumed the beasts that were sacrificed with them the wood the stones and at last the very water so was it with this Sacrifice which Mary Magdalen offered to our Sauiour Christ He fed vpon all those dainties shee had set before him her boxe of Alablaster filled with costly oyntment her disheuelled hayres her pretty mouth her faire hands her sweet kisses her modest lookes her blushings and her bashfulnesse but most of all on her teares Lambebat hee did licke them vp they were so sweet and sauourie to his taste and left so pleasant a rellish behind them Iesus answered and said vnto him Seest thou this woman Petrus Chrisologus saith That our Sauiour in this his answer shewes vnto vs that he was first of all desirous to cure him who had least feeling of his griefe not thinking that hee was sicke because he felt no paine And that these open and publike teares of Marie Magdalen should discouer the secret hidden sores of the Pharisee making the same serue as a medicine for his maladie and a meanes to open his eyes who as yet had them blinded with selfe-loue Vides hanc
vertue and power of the eyes of our Sauiour Christ they did paint a sunne whence three Raies or bright-shining beames brake forth the one raising vp one that was dead the other did breake a stonie heart and the third did melt a snowie mountaine and the Motto was this Oculi Dei ad nos The beames of Christs eyes raise vp the dead breake rocks and melt snow A facie tua saith Esay montes defluent The fire which they hid in the transmigration of Babylon the children of Israel found at their returne turned into water but exposing it to the beames of the sunne it grew againe to be fire to the great admiration of the beholders which is a figure of Saint Peter who through his coldnes became water but the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse raised a great fire out of this water Pliny reports of certaine stones in Phrygia that being beaten vpon by the beames of the sunne send forth drops of water But the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse did not onely from this Petra or stone Saint Peter draw teares but whole riuers of water According to that of Dauid Which turneth the rocke into water-pooles and the flint into a fountaine of water Saint Ambrose seemeth to stand somewhat vpon it why Peter did not aske forgiuenes of his sins at Gods hands Inuenio saith he quod fleuerit nō inuenio quid dixerit lachrymas lego satisfactionem non lego I find that he wept but do not find what he said I read his teares but read not his satisfaction The reasons of this his silence and that he did not craue pardon of God by word of mouth are these First because he had runne himselfe into discredit by his rash offers and afterwards by his stiffe deniall and therefore thought with himselfe That it was not possible for him to expresse more affection with his mouth than he had vttered heretofore Etiam si oportuerit me mori tecum non te negabo c. And that tongue which had deny'd him to whom it had giuen so good an assurance could neuer as he thought deserue to be beleeued And therefore our Sauiour questioning him afterwards concerning his loue he durst not answer more than this Thou knowest ô Lord whether I loue thee or no. Secondly he askes not pardon by words because the pledges of the heart are so sure that they admit no deceit And for that Lachryma sunt cordis sanguis Tears are the hearts blood S. Ambrose therfore saith Lachrymarū preces vtiliores sunt quā sermonū quia sermo in precando fortè fallit lachryma omnino non fallit The prayers of teares are more profitable than of words for words in praying may now and then deceiue vs but teares neuer S. Chrysostome saith That our sinnes are set downe in the Table-booke of Gods memorie but that teares are the sponge which blotteth them out And indeering the force of teares he saith That in Christs souldier the noblest Act that he can do is to shed his blood in his seruice Maiorem charitatem nemo habet c. For what our blood shed for Christ effecteth that doth our teares for our sinnes Mary Magdalen did not shed her blood but she shed her teares And Saint Peter did not now shed blood but hee shed teares which were so powerfull that after that hee had wept hee was trusted with a part of the gouernment of the Church who before hee had wept had not gouernment of himselfe for teares cure our wounds cheere our soules ease the conscience and please God O lachryma humilis saith Saint Ierome tuum est regnum c. O humble Teare thine is the kingdome thine is the power thou fearest not the Iudges Tribunall thou inioynest silence to thine accusers if thou enter emptie thou doest not goe out emptie thou subduest the inuincible and bindest the omnipotent Hence it is that the diuell beareth such enuie to our Teares When Holofernes had dryed vp the fountaines of Bethulia hee held the Citie his and the Diuell when he shall come to dry vp the teares in our eyes when he hath stopt vp those waters that should flow from the soule of a sinner hee hopes he is his Elian of Tryphon the Tyrant reports of this one vnheard-of crueltie Fearing his Subiects would conspire against him he made a publike Edict that they should not talke one with another and being thus debarr'd of talking one with another they did looke very pittifully one vpon another communicating their minds by their eyes And being forbid by a second Edict that they should not so much as looke one vpon another when they saw they were restrained of that libertie likewise wheresoeuer they met one another they fell a weeping This seemed to the Tyrant the damnablest and most dangerous conspiracie of all the rest and resolued to put them to death The diuell is afraid of our words afraid of our affections but much more afraid of our teares O Lord so mollifie our sinfull hearts that whensoeuer we offend thee our words our affections and our teares may in all deuotion and humilitie present themselues before thee crauing pardon for our sinnes Which we beseech thee to grant vs for thy deare Sonne Christ Iesus sake To whom with the holy Spirit be all prayse honour and glorie c. THE XL. SERMON The Conuersion of the good Theefe MAT. 27. Cum eo crucifixi sunt duo Latrones vnus a dextris alter a sinistris There were crucified with him two theeues one at his right hand an other on his left THere are three most notable Conuersions which the Church doth celebrate That of Saint Paul That of Mary Magdalen That of the good Theefe The one liuing here vpon earth The other now raigning in heauen The third dying vpon the Crosse. Of all the rest this seemeth to be the most prodigious and most strange First because Mary Magdalen saw many of our Sauiour Christs myracles heard many of his Sermons and besides her sisters good example might worke much good vpon her Secondly Saint Paul saw Christ rounded about with glorie more resplendent than the Sunne had heard that powerfull voyce which threw him downe from his horse and put him in the hands of that dust whereof hee was created But the Theefe neither saw Miracle nor Sermon nor example nor glorie nor light nor voyce saue onely Christ rent and torne vpon the Crosse as if hee had beene as notorious a theefe as those that suffered on either side of him Againe How much the quicker is the motion and the extreames more distant repugnant and contrarie by so much the more strange and wonderfull is this change and alteration This theef was a huge way off from either beleeuing or louing our Sauiour Christ and that hee should now on the sodaine and in so short a space passe from a theefe to a Martyr from the gallowes to Paradise must needs be an admirable change Mira mutatio saith S.