might verie wel will them to make them readie to goe to sea And happely they might stay waiting for him till it were towards the euening and seeing he did not come yet according as he had commanded them embarked themselues Of this his forcing them to goe aboord the Doctors giue diuers reasons The first is taken out of Saint Iohn Our Sauiour knew that the People had a purpose to make him King which danger hee seeking to auoyd hee withdrew himselfe aside to pray beeing all alone notifying to his Disciples That they should in the meane while prouide to goe to sea The second That our Sauior thereby might take occasion to work this wonderfull miracle for if the Disciples had not embarked themselues neither had our Sauiour walked vpon the sea nor Peter aduentured himselfe vpon the waues nor his Disciples endured such a terrible storme nor had there been such cleere notice taken of his soueraignepower The third is Saint Chrysostomes who saith That when they were to go to sea our Sauiour would that they should carrie along with them the remainder of such broken pieces of bread and of the fishes that were left to the end that they might thinke vpon the forepassed miracle Wherein they were so dull sighted that Saint Marke saith Non enim intellexerunt de panibus They vnderstood nothing about the Loaues And therefore those whom Fullnesse and Prosperitie had thus blinded God through troubles and afflictions cleereth their eye-sight The fourth is Theophilacts insinuating this for an especiall reason That our Sauiour Christ seeing his Disciples in conuersation with some deuout women which were present at the Feast hee willed them presently to embarke conceiuing that they would bee farre more safe in the sea amidst the waues than in the companie of women though neuer so deuout neuer so holy And the ground of this truth may be gathered from the Disciples vnwillingnesse to put forth to sea but our Sauiour like a good Horseman that claps his spurres close to the sides of his Ginnet when he refuses to make his carreere Coegit illos He compelled them The fifth For that the Shippe is a Type and figure of gouernment of honour and of dignitie And God will haue his friends to bee forced to ascend to those high places And therefore it is said Coegit illos vt ascenderent He compelled them to ascend The last is Saint Hieromes who alledgeth That the content beeing so great which the Disciples tooke in the presence of their Master it was a cleere case that it would verie much grieue them to depart from him and to bee forced to forgoe his companie For he that hath once a truetast of God will hardly bee withdrawne from him A Dogge be he beaten neuer so much he will not leaue his Masters house and all for the loue that he beareth him and the pleasure and delight that hee taketh in his presence And this was it that made Iob when hee was most beaten with his afflictions to vtter with a great deale of patience this humble language Etiam si occiderit in illum sperabo i. Though hee kill mee yet will I trust in him What shall they then doe that haue sate at the same boord with their God and eate of his meate Shall not they the fuller they are fed be still the more hungrie yes doubtlesse For as Ecclesiasticus sayth Qui edunt me adhuc esurient i. They which eat me shall yet hunger Et erat nauÃs in medio Maris And the Ship was in the midst of the Sea It seemeth somewhat strange that our Sauiour Christ inforcing his Disciples to enter into the Sea and they hauing punctually obey'd his command that hee should punish them with such a dangerous and fearefull tempest That Gods justice shoul ouertake Ionas in the ship that the Mariners should bee as it were the Sergeants the Whale the prison the Sea the executioner it was not much for that hee sought to flie from Gods obeydience and showed himselfe vnwilling to performe the seruice that was inioyned him But that the Disciples who left the Land entred into the Sea and consecrated their desires to their Sauiours Will that these men should see themselues in danger of drowning and ready to perish is more than much And this difficultie is indeered the more because it is sayd That no ill shall happen vnto him who shall keepe his commandements Qui custodit praeceptum non experietur quidquam mali But ô Lord if thou afflictest with torments those that loue and obey thee What wilt thou doe vnto those that are renegates and blasphemers c This doubt requireth those reasons which our Sauiour had for the miraculous allaying of this tempest The first is Saint Chrysostomes The Disciples sayth hee might haue dwelt vpon that former miracle of the loaues of bread and the fishes and on that fulnesse and saturitie wherewith such a multitude of guests were satisfied and contented carrying great store thereof away with them in their bosomes and their pockets They might likewise haue argued from thence the Omnipotency and Diuinitie of our Sauiour Christ Et non intellexerunt de panibus But they remained blind God therefore doth so order the businesse That those eyes whome Good could not open Ill should And that the daunger of the tempest should aduise those whome feasting and fulnesse of bread could not persuade The second Let no man looke in Gods house to eate of his bread for nothing God perhaps will bid thee sit downe and eat and say vnto thee In die bonorum fruere bonis i. In the day of wrath be of good comfort But withall thou must looke to pay thy shot For God will presently make triall in the furnace of tribulation whether his bread bee well bestowed or no. There is no Saint in Heauen which hath not beene put to this proofe And Ecclesiasticall persons of all other haue a preciser obligation lying vpon them who are the honour of Gods house who eat more especially at his Table who gather vp the remainders of the feast inioying the fruits of the earth in great aboundance and in more plentifull measure than other men And it is no great maruaile that they that possesse much should be possessed with much feare The third It is the ordinarie language of the Saints of God to call this world a Sea and this our life a sailing therein This Origen prooueth and Hylarius and Clemens Alexandrinus and the proportions are many Saint Austen citeth two the one That as the water of the Sea is generally bitter and it is a wonder if euer it become fresh and sweete So our life is so full of gall and worme-wood that there is scarce to bee found in it any the least smack of content or sweetnesse Suting well with that other saying of this sacred Doctor That the greatest ioy which we inioy in this life is not ioy but a kind of lightning and easing of
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
hath appointed and preordained through which you may receiue that blessing which God before all ages was determined to giue vnto you So that Prayer is that rope or cord by which we draw vp water from that deepe Well of Gods euer flowing bountie Lastly another doubt is put whether shee were willing to beg this liuing Water or no at Christs hands For the sinner will euerie foote bee crauing of the goods for the bodie but for those of the soule he often stands vpon a Forsitan being carelesse whether he haue them or no. It is our dayly petition that God would giue vs the dayly bread of this life but take not so much care for that of the other The sons of Reuben of Gâ—d in passing ouer Iordan saw certain fields that were verie fertile and fruitfull and those pastures seeming good vnto them for their flockes besought Moses and the Princes of the people that they might haue the possession of them loosing the desire of their promised Land In like manner the sinner will be well content to take for his inheritance and possession the forbidden fields of the humane delights of this world and forgoe the desire of those that are heauenly and diuine If thou knewest the gift of God When the rich denies the poore a cup of cold water a morsell of bread an old shirt or the like a man may say vnto him Si scires donum Dei If thou didst but know what thou deniest and to whom thou deniest Now thou doost not know so much neither doost thou thinke so much but the time will come when God shall say vnto thee Thou sawest mee hungry and gauest me not to eat To such as were wearie thou hast not giuen water to drinke hast withdrawn bread from the hungrie A Cauallero comes into the Church kneeling vpon one knee like a fowler when he makes a shoot at a fowle casting his eye on euery side of the Church rowling them this way and that way O! if thou didst but know whome thou adorest or if thou couldst but see the reuerence wherwith the Angels stand in Gods presence The Merchant he wil swear and forsweare for his commoditie The Souldier hee will turne Turke vpon point either of profit or of honor The Gamester vpon euery bad cast or euery little hard carding will curse and blaspheme O! if thou didst but know whose name thou takest in vaine in that foule mouth of thine or that thou wouldst but consider whom thou blasphemest c. Lord thou hast not wherewith to draw and the Well is deepe There is not any Historie that can more indeere the great reckoning that God makes of a soule than to see how our Sauiour Christ doth here suffer and indure the ignorances of this vile foolish woman Doe but weigh consider the Maiesty which God doth inioy in Heauen not as he is in himselfe for Mans imagination is but a thimble-ful in comparison of the incomprehensiblenesse thereof but as the Scripture paints him foorth vnto vs. Daniell reckons vp his pages by thousands his seruants by hundreds of thousands the Heauen of Heauens sayth Salomon are straight and narrow Pallaces for his dwelling Excelsior Coelo est The wheeles of his Caroch are the wings of the Cherubins After that Iob had spent many Chapters in expressing his power and relating his famous Acts hee addeth Omnia haec ex parte dicta sint viarum eius We heare little and wee know lesse But if God should thunder out his greatnesse who were able to abide it Quis poterit sustinere But that this God onely Good onely Holy onely Mightie onely Mercifull and onely Infinite should entertaine talke so long with a poore silly woman beeing so lewd a creature and of so euill a life showes what a wonderfull great loue he beareth to a distressed soule Thou hast not wherewith to draw and the well is deepe Let vs suppose that the waters in sacred Scripture as befâ—re hath beene sayd did signifie troubles And let vs likewise heere deliuer vnto you that they also signifie pastimes and delights And not onely humane but diuine so farre as to become the Symbolum and signe of happinesse That they signifie humane happinesse we may ground it vpon this reason that they are inconstant fugitiue transitory and slide away as water Omnes morimur quasi aqua dilabimur sayd the woman of Tekoah to King Dauid Wee must needs dye and we are as water spilt on the ground And this Truth may be verified as well in mens persons as their goods They haue forsaken me the fountaine of liuing waters to digge them pits euen broken pits that can hold no water Qui bibit c. sayth Iob Which drinketh iniquitie like water Quasi aquam super aquam refectionis educauit me c. saith the Psalmist He maketh me to rest in green pastures and leadeth me by the still waters They are likewise the symbole or signe of happinesse First Because Water is the Mother of fulnesse and aboundance For that land that is without Water voyceth out famine and hunger Sicut terra sine aqua tibi Secondly Because nothing else can satisfie quench our thirst when we are taken with the Calenture of Gold of Iewels and Pretious-stones and then will the soule crye out for Water Thirdly Because nothing in comparison of Water can sute so wel with a thirstie appetite This truth beeing supposed the Samaritan woman vttered one most certaine and approued Experience And one most grosse and foule Ignorance The Experience is this That the Water of humane content must be drawne out of so deepe a Well and with that strength of the arme that not any thing can cost vs more deere in this life Dalila placed her content in knowing where Sampsons strength lay and the Scripture sayth that she did sweat and toyle and take no rest till she could come to the bottome of this Well Ad mortem vsque lassata est It was death vnto her til she had obtained her desire Saint Ambrose compareth humane pleasures and delights to the Serpent who all his life time goes trailing his bellie vpon the earth and eateth and licketh vp the dust therof Boaetius compares them to the hony in your Bee-hyues which although it bee sweete yet it leaues a painefull sting sticking in vs. Seneca doth celebrate that saying of Virgil who cals them Mala mentis gaudia The water that came vp to Tantalus his chinne and glided away by him signifieth as much And to take such a deale of paines in the pursute of these transitorie pleasures and delights as it betraies our Ignorance so it makes vs to thinke that the sweet tast of this liuing water is tyde to the rope and bucket Whosoeuer drinketh of this water shall thirst againe But whosoeuer drinketh of the water that I shall giue him shall neuer be more athirst Our Sauiour here sets downe the aduantages which the liuing
the Chronicles deliuereth the same vnto vs and of Adam the Schoolemen do affirme That he could hardly haue giuen all things their proper names as Saint Chrysostome hath obserued it if God had not infused that knowledge into him to call them after that fitting and conuenient manner And this knowledge was communicated to Christ euen from the verie instant of his conception by meanes whereof hee saw all things in their proper species besides that blessed knowledge whereby he saw them in God as in a glasse Of this infused knowledge Saint Iohn saith God gaue not the spirit by measure vnto him but it was without limitation for hee that is sonne and heire to his father is not to be stinted as those that are seruants And therefore it is said The Spirit of the Lord shall rest vpon him the spirit of wisedome and vnderstanding the spirit of councell and might the spirit of knowledge c. This infused knowledge was setled in others by fits not in all times all places nor so generally in all things as in our Sauiour Christ from whom it sprouted as water from a Fountaine That fountaine of the Rocke strucke by the Rod of Moses it had beene a foule sinne in the Israelites to haue searched into the veins of Nature whence these waters gushed out and not to thinke on Gods grace from whence this fauour flowed And no lesse absurde was it in the Iewes to seeke in the Schooles and Vniuersities after those veines of liuing water of that diuine learning of our Sauiour Christ which was that true rocke and not to direct their eyes towards God who is the true giuer of knowledge Lastly It was a foule fault in them to thinke that God is tied to humane meanes knowing quod Deus scientiarum Dominus est That God is the Lord of sciences and that it was the Holy-Ghost that taught and instruucted those the Prophets taking one from following the heards of Kyne Oxen and another from keeping of Sheepe Non sum Phopheta saith Amos of himselfe I am not a Prophet nor the sonne of a Prophet but a Heardsman of Tekoah And of Dauid it is said That he tooke him from the Sheepefold following the Ewes with young He indewed Daniel being a child with wisedome and Ioseph with vnderstanding to declare King Pharaohs dreame Nor was it needfull for him to draw these men out of the Schooles of Athens nor to take them from forth the Vniuersities of Greece c. As soone as euer our Lord God had discouered to the glorious Apostle Saint Paul the beames of his light he presently departed to Arabia and to Damascus to preach the Gospell hee might haue gone first to Hierusalem to take acquaintance of those other Apostles of more antient standing and to conferre with them what he should preach but this did not seeme vnto him a conuenient meanes to credit his Doctrine Nec veni Hierosolimam ad Antecessores meos to the end that the Gentiles might not presume that this his Doctrine was of the earth and not of Heauen as afterwards he told the Galathians The Gospell which was preached by me is not afterman neither did I receiue it of man neither was I taught it but by the reuelation of Iesus Christ. And the Ephesians What I receiued from the Lord I deliuered vnto you But because the Iews did surpasse all the world in passion and malice they did attribute all to the Deuill whom the Gentiles had made their god My Doctrine is not myne c. The Commentators make three expositions vpon this place My Doctrine is not myne but I haue receiued it from my father The Doctrine of the Father and of the Sonne as he is God is one and the same as is their essence nor is there any other difference more than that he hath receiued it from the Father but as he is man it is in it selfe diuers as is their nature because it is an accident and an infused habit though the truth thereof in both is one and the same Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine expound this saying of our Sauior as he is man and that this Doctrine of his was not his but of his father that sent him abroad to preach and publish it to the World And the same Saint Augustine in some other places deliuereth it of Christ as he was God but affirmeth in the end That it may be interpreted either way Saint Cyril Saint Chrysostome declare this of Christ as he is God but which way soeuer you take either sence doth signifie That Christ is the Sonne of God The second Exposition is My Doctrine is not myne that is It is not onely myne but his that sent me And this sence and meaning is founded vpon many places of Scripture wherein this Negatiue Non is the same with Non solum Not onely As for example It is not yee that speake but the spirit of the father which speaketh in you i. Not you alone but the spirit of the Father Againe Doe not thinke that I alone will accuse you to the Father there is another also that accuseth you euen Moses in whom yee trust because yee beleeue not that which he wrote of mee that is Hee doth not only beleeue in me Thirdly He that beleeueth in me doth not beleeue in me but in him that sent me In the fourth place Whosoeuer shall receiue me receiueth not me but him that sent me That is Not onely me Lastly I laboured more aboundantly than them all yet not I but the grace of Godwhich was with me The third It is not myne nor did I inuent it nor is it the Doctrine of men but of God Many Philosophers haue out of an ouerweening conceit gon a wandring and inuented new sects and strange Doctrines that they might haue the honour to be accounted authours of nouelties answerable to that which God said of certaine false Prophets They speake a vision of their owne heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord Woe vnto the foolish Prophets that follow their own spirit and haue seene nothing And it is Antichrist that shall be called Pater errorum The father of errors Our Sauiour Christ teacheth vs here two things The one That God is the Fountaine of Wisedome and that as the Earth cannot yeeld it's fruit without water from Heauen so the heart of man cannot affoord any fruit without the Doctrine of God Concrescat vt plunia doctrina mea flâ—at vt ros eloquium meum The Husband in the Canticles was willing to insinuate as much when he compared the brests of his Spouse to two little Kids Duo vbera tua sicut duo hinnuli Caprae Thy two brests are like two young Kids that are twins which feed among the Lillies pouring forth in due season their milke vnto vs in a plentifull manner Some Commentators vnderstand by these two brests the two Testaments which like two brests spring aboundantly communicating
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
Ioseph it is sayd Descenditque cum illo in foueam in vinculis non derelinquit eum i. He wont downe with him into the pit and left him not in his bonds God accompanied him in his yrons and his giues Dominus diluuium inhabitare facit Saint Ierome translates it Dominus diluuium inhabitans When God sent the Flood hee put himselfe also in the midst of the waters Redemisti tibi ex Aegipto gentem Deum eius i. Thou hast redeemed a nation to thy selfe euen out of Aegipt and withall their God Vpon which place Vatablus hath noted That God did redeeme himselfe beeing captiuated as well as his people And hee could not like of his owne libertie as long as hee saw that they were kept in slauerie In Aegiptum descendit populus meuâ— Asur â—ine causa calumniatus est eum nunc quid mihi est hic My people is gone downe into Aegipt Assur hath afflicted them without a cause and now what doe I here My people captiue and I at libertie Quid mihi est hic My people troden vnder feet and I inioy the smoke of incence and sacrifice Quid mihi est hic i. What doe I here Erat enim ventus contrarius For the Wind was aganst them All the misfortunes of nauigation the Euangelist reduceth to the Winde And following the Metaphore That this World is a Sea and our life a sayling therein all that doth hinder the prosperitie and happinesse thereof is Wind. Whilest the vse of reason stood faire and cleere with man he put the prow of his desires into the Hauen of Saluation for all doe naturally desire an estate that is full of happinesse and free from euill and that which makes their voyage vnhappie vnfortunate is Wind. Saint Iohn saith That all things in this world are either pleasures couetousnesse or honours And if we shall summe vp all the pleasures riches and honors that haue beene enioyed in the world euen to this verie houre we shall find that they are all but Wind. Salomon made an Annatomie of all humane felicitie and in conclusion shewes it is all but vanitie Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas Zacharie saw a figure of foure Empires the famousest that euer were in the world the Assirians Persians Medes and Graecians and asking of the Angell Qui sunt isti Domine mi He told him isti sunt quatuor Venti Those are the foure Winds The most prosperous Scepters and the most dreadfull Crownes are no better than ayre And it were well if they were no worse and did not crosse that good fortune which we desire in the nauigation of this our life Hoc opus hic labor Circa quartam vigiliam noctis About the fourth watch What so late Gods helpe come it when it wil come comes neuer too late Veniens veniet non tardabit And God would that this truth should remaine so notorious and manifest to the world that hee doth not onely call it a Vision ex plana visum which carrieth it's euidence along with it but he commandeth the Prophet to write it downe with strange circumstances The first is verie cleere and hath not the least shaddow of darkenesse in it The second circumstance that this saying should bee grauen Vpon Boxe for so the Septuagint read it which kind of wood according vnto Esay conserueth what is written therein to the worlds end The third That it should bee written in capitall letters which may be read afarre off The fourth The assurance certaintie thereof implied in the repetition Veniens veniet non tardabit Comming he will come and will not tarrie Saint Bernard argueth hereupon Quomodo non tardabit si moram fecerit How can he but linger if he vse delay I answer Gods helpe may happely come too late in regard of our desire but can neuer come too late in regard of our necessitie And this his slownesse in succouring vs may seeme painfull if wee shall measure it according to the impatiencie of our desire but profitable vnto vs if wee will but thinke vpon the reward which is layd vp for those that suffer hoping Saint Paul in the chaine which he recommendeth to the Romans whose links are Tribulation Patience Triall Hope Charitie which Saint Austen doth so much celebrate in his booke De Doct. Christiana saith Gloriamur in tribulationibus scientes quoniam tribulatio patientiam operatur patientia probationem probatio vero spem We reioyce in tribulation knowing that tribulation bringeth forth patience patience experience and experience hope Wee draw glorie out of our tribulations for he that is in tribulation doth not onely suffer but in suffering worketh which working causeth in vs an eternall weight of glorie From Patience ariseth another linke which is Probation or Triall whither it bee for that the Patient doth prooue how much he is able to suffer being fauoured by Heauen and holpen from aboue or whither it be that he should bee prooued as was Iob to see whither he would sticke surely to his tackling For Patience is a more assured testimonie of our triall than Fasting Prayer Almes or the like for these are often subiect vnto falsehood Againe from this Triall ariseth Hope for hee that is wonderfull patient cannot but haue a wonderfull good Hope This was it that made God say to Abraham Nunc cognoui quod timeas Deum Now I know that thou fearest God And S. Paul saith of himselfe That he did hope beyond hope that is that he did euen then still hope when all reason of hope did faile him Besides God is woont to permit that our tribulation should be great to the end that our Patience might be made great our Triall great and our Hope great and then doth he come in and helpe vs when hee hath made sufficient proofe of our faith to the trial wherof God puts vs a thousand manner of ways The People of Israel passed through the bed of Iordan those waters sliding gently along towards the dead sea and those other drouen backe so that they passed through it as through the drie land And yet this might perhaps seeme vnto God but a slender triall of their Faith First Because a great number ioyning in companie together they take more courage vnto them in the vndergoing of any danger for common calamities are euermore the lesse felt Secondly In regard of the Arkes being there whereof those waters might seeme to be affraid and so flie backe for feare Iordanis conuersus est retrorsum Thirdly For that there were so many innocent little children amongst them whom God they might suppose would not suffer to bee drowned considering they had not yet offended him as not knowing good from euill And therefore he commanded that twelue of them vpon whom the lots should fall should goe backe take out twelue great stones out of the bed of Iordan to make a Pyramis or Alter to remaine as a memoriall of
preach in the habit of a religious Frier verie deuoutly appearing as an Angell of Light persuading the People to repentance and communicating great comfort vnto them but in the end all his Sermons haue ended in melancholly passions For the Deuills Reuelations runne a contrarie course to Gods for these although they somewhat trouble vs at the beginning yet they end euermore in peace and comfort but those of the Deuill though they begin in joy yet they end in sorrow Si filius Dei es dic vt lapides isti panes fiant If thou be the Sonne of God command that these stones be made bread The first passage of this temptation was the Deuills seeming-pittie and compassion of the great hunger that our Sauiour suffered I was present at thy Baptisme and at that applause which Heauen did then giue thee but now I see how weake and wanne thou art growne through thy too much fasting which makes mee to doubt that thou art not the Sonne of God The Deuill is a great prouoker to Gluttonie he doth solicite the pampering of the flesh hee proposeth the gripings of the stomacke and the aking of the head through too much fasting but all at the soules cost Inimico non credas in aternum i. Beleeue not thy enemie at all Which phrase of speech is principally to be vnderstood of the Deuill for hee neuer offers thee his seruice but to thy hurt Saint Gregorie makes this note That the Deuill taking from Iob his children his houses his heards of cattell and his flockes of Sheepe and in a word all the good things that hee had yet hee left him his wife but onely that she might doe the Deuill seruice Calidè cuncta diripuit calidius adjutricem reserâ—auit It was his cunning to take away all but it was a greater pâ—â—ce of cunning to leaue him his Helpe The Deuill did not doe this out of forgetfulnesse nor carelesnesse nor out of any desire that hee had to leaue Iob any comfort at all for he did not wish him so much good but that hee hoped shee would be a meanes to mooue him to impatiencie and to driue him to despaire True it is that all his fauours tend to make the way easie but at your cost to bring vs to Hell Hee offered our Sauiour bread of stones but on condition that he himselfe must take the paines to mold it Attende tibi à pestifero fabricâ—â— enim malum Beware of a wicked man for c. Si filius es Dei dic c. If thou be the Sonne of God If thou art the Sonne of God command as a God Thy Dicere is Facere Dic vt sedeant c. Some graue Doctors are of opinion that this was the sinne of Moses when hee drew water from out the Rocke and not his want of Faith as some other would enforce For Infide â—enitate sanctum fecit illum but his attributing of this miracle to himselfe which was only Gods doing Aâ—dite rebelles Nunquid pâ—terimus de petra educere vâ—bis aquam Heare yee rebellious Can we drâ—w water for you out of the Rocke Can Aaron and I c. This incredulous people said Nunquid poterit Dâ—us parare mensam in deserto i. Can God prepare a Table in the Desert But Moses speaketh in his owne and his brothers name Nunquid poterimus Can we c. Command that these stones Thy Father calls thee Sonne and yet reduceth thee to that miserie that to keepe thy selfe from staruing hee driues thee to that necessitie that thou must of force he compelled to make these stones bread This difference is there betwixt the Sinner and the Righteous That the Deuill persuades the Sinner that hee may make bread of stones â—nd Iudas that hee may make money of Christ But the Righteous will rather die for hunger beeing well assured that God euen in this his hunger is able to sustaine him Command that these stones The Deuill tempts him with stones with such things wherein are scarce to be found any signe of danger For hee alwaies holdeth the victorie to bee so much the more glorious by how much the lesser is the occasion whereby he winnes it Lot flies out of Sodome in the companie of his daughters and hauing escaped that fearefull fire the Deuil tempts the father by his daughters whose raging lust neither the fearefull example of their mother whom their eyes had so lately seene turned into a Piller of Salt nor the Lawes of Reason nor of Nature could once bridle or restraine But you will say they were women and what will not a woman doe to satisfie her longing but that Lot should consent to so vnlawfull an act beeing a man nay and so just a man as the Scripture commends him to be it seemeth somewhat strange Alas good old man his daughters had made him drunke and being so wearie and heauie hearted as hee was to see the lamentable destruction of Sodome it was not much that he should drinke being importuned thereunto they that could not find any water when hee called for it could make a shift to fetch him wine In all that fortie yeares peregrination of the children of Israell we do not read that euer God gaue them wine Twice did he giue them water out of the rocke and twelue Fountaines in Helim hee gaue them likewise Manna and Quailes but not a drop of wine that they saw till they came to the Land of Promise And surely this was thus ordered by the Councell of Heauen for if hauing but water they mutined so often what would they haue done had they had wine When Abraham did thrust the bondwoman out of doores he furnished her with bread and water and Procopius saith That he would not giue her any wine for Agar signifies SuenÌ„a-fiestas A Feast-dreamer And this holy Father would not by giuing her wine encrease the occasion seeing shee dreamed thereon when shee dranke but water But to returne to our purpose Lots daughters tempted their father there beeing in the caue wherin he was no other either possible or imaginable occasion To him that is desperatly minded though ye put away from him and remooue out of his reach all manneâ— of halters and cords for feare hee should hang himselfe therewith yet if he be set vpon it he wil make shift with a garter a hat-band a girdle or some one thing or other to worke his owne destruction If thou be the Sonne of God It was a bold dis-respect of Satans and a presumptuous part in him that hee should make any the least doubt that Christ was the Sonne of God but farre greater impudencie that hee should dare in tempting him to tel him All the world shal be thine if thou wilt but fall down worship me King Ahabs Captaine came to the foot of the Mountaine where Elias then remained and said vnto him Come downe thou Seruant of God for the King hath sent me for thee If I am said
they made so slight account of our Sauiours words and workes that they require new miracles at his hands but this their cauelling with him shal occasion their condemnation To conclude The principal things that Niniuie shal charge them with are two The first The speedinesse of their repentance and the hast that they made to turne vnto God For as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it in three dayes Ionas effected that in Niniuie which our Sauiour could not bring to passe in thirty yeres and vpward Saint Ambrose That they who deferre their repentance till the houre of their death ought not to bee denied the Sacraments if they desire them but I dare not be so bold saith the said Father to warrant them their saluation Rahab had scarce put the Spies out of her window but that she presently hung out that coloured string the token that was giuen her for the safeguard of her life Philon takes into consideration that exceeding great hast which the Aegyptians made to rid their Countrie of the children of Israell they held it no wisedome to deferre their departure one minute of an houre longer if they could so soone haue freed themselues from them considering in what great danger they were of loosing their liues Much lesse discretion is it to defer the repentance of our sinnes from day to day considering how dayly we are in perill of perishing in Hell The second The greatnesse sharpenesse and rigour of their Repentance not onely in the men but in the women children and cattell They thought with themselues That fortie dayes of sorow were too little and too few for so many yeares of sinning and therefore they did striue all that they could that the extremitie of their punishment might make amends for that long time wherin they had offended Lanabo per singulas noctes lectum meum i. I will euerie night wash my Couch with my tears Chrys. saith CulpaÌ„ fuisse vnius noctis lachrimas multorum That it was but one nights sinne but many nights teares Amplius laua me O Lord wash me yet a little more that I may be cleane Now was he clensed but ill assured of this his cleannesse c. For the washing out of the staines and spots of our sinnes one laâ—â—r one rinsing one bucking is not sufficient no though we haue neuer so much sope and ashes to scoure them cleane and bear out our hearts vpon the blocke of our sencelesse soules it must ô Lord be the water of that immense and mightie sea of thy Mercie that and nothing but that can doe it And therefore Haue mercie vpon me ô God according to thy great mercie THE NINTH SERMON VPON THE THVRSEDAY AFTER THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT MAT. 5. MARC 7. Secessit Iesus in partes Tyri Sydonis Iesus withdrew himselfe into the coasts of Tyre and Sydon THis Historie hath beene handled by mee heretofore The summe whereof is That our Sauiour Christ withdrawing himselfe to the parts of Tyrus and Sydon hee did a worke of mercie that was full of strange circumstances A woman came forth to meet him descended of that accursed Chaâ— desiring his helpe for a daughter of hers that was possessed with a Deuill And howbeit our Sauiour had taken the paines to come fiue and twentie leagues for to heale that soule as one that well knew the price and worth thereof yet he gaue her so many shrewd disgraces and put-by's that would haue dismayed the stoutest spirit aliue and haue cooled the courage of him that had beene most confident of his strength But this woman did not flag a whit for all this nor would bee so beaten off but one while making vse of the intercession of the Apostles another while confessing herselfe to be no better than a Dogge and begging like a Dogge not the bread it selfe which was for the children but the crummes that fell from the 〈◊〉 which neuer yet was denied vnto Dogges she perseuered in her petition laying such a strong and forcible batterie to the pittie and mercie of Christ that it being in it selfe inuincible yet it yeelded to a womans importunitie Incouraging vs thereby and putting vs in good hope that nothing shall be denied vnto vs if we shall earnestly call vpon God perseuer in the pursuit of our humble petitions And there is good cause of comfort for vs Quoniam confirmata est super nos misericordia eius His mercie is confirmed vnto vs as well as his grace whose effect is infallible and most certaine And as a continuall feauer that is once confirmed and setled vpon vs is an assured messenger of death so the mercie of God being once confirmed vnto vs it is not possible that it should euer faile vs. Egressus Iesus secessit Some doe apply this word to the Sonne of Gods comming foorth into the World Some to the strength and vertue which our humane nature recouered by this his comming Which is all one with that of Saint Austen if God had not beene Man Man had not beene free The Scripture calleth Christ our Sauiour The desire hope of the Gentiles And to him that shall doubt How the Gentiles not hauing knowledge of the Son of God nor of his comming could bee called their hope and their desire First of all I answere That amongst the Gentiles God had some friends as the Sybils and many which beleeued in him In the land of Hus he had Iob. And if it shall be obiected That so small a number of the Gentiles were not sufficient to giue a name and beeing of this their hope and desire I must answere secondly That all creatures did naturally desire and long for him as the dry ground doth gape for water or as the captiue doth desire his libertie Sicut terra sine aqua tibi Thirdly Saint Austen answeres That the desired ought first to bee knowne But it is the fashion of the Prophets to take FuturuÌ„ pro praeterito The future for the preterperfect Tence And here it is to bee noted That with Tyrus and Sydon that happened vnto him in particular which succeeded vnto him in the world in generall He was long before offended with this Country as it appeareth in Ioel Quid mihi vobis Tyrus Sydon What haue I to doe with you ô Tyre and Sydon In Ezechiel Tu ergo fili hominis assume lamentum super Tyrum Now therefore ô sonne of Man take vp a lamentation for Tyre In Esay Onus Tyri vlulate naues maris The burden of Tyre â—owle ye ships of the Sea How then did God make peace with the World by his Sonne Gratificauit nos in dilecto filio suo And hee offered the like kindnesse vnto Tyrus and Sydon Memor ero Rahab Babilonis Ecce alienigeni Tyrus hic fuerunt illic c. I will thinke vpon Rahab and Babilon the Morians and them of Tyre c. Secessit in partes Tyri Sydonis Hee went into the
should come from the Stocke of Dauid Now whither it were that this Cananitish woman by giuing him this attribute thought with her selfe That he had some obligation to fauour the Gentiles for the first Troupes that Dauid had were of fugitiue Slaues and Forreiners which came to his ayd Et factus est eorum Princeps or whither the power that she saw he had in casting out Deuils wrought thus vpon her or whither the much honour that hee had alwaies shewne to women or all of these together were motiues of her pretension I cannot tell you but sure I am that shee did beleeue That our Sauiour Christ came into the world for to saue sinners and for the generall good of all Mankind for the Iew and for the Gentile and that the Deuills were subiect vnto him differing therein from the Pharisees who made him Belzebubs Factor and that there was no disease so incurable which this heauenly Physition was not able to cure and that he had past his word to the greatest Sinners That if they should call vpon God for mercie and beleeue in his sonne Christ Iesus whom he had sent into the world he would free them from forth the depth of their miseries Non respondit ei verbum He answered not a word Origen and almost all the rest of the Saints judge this silence of our Sruiour to bee verie strange in regard of the strangenesse of the circumstances First of all Because that Fountaine saith Origen which was alwaies woont to inuite and call vs to drinke doth now denie water to the Thirstie the Physition that came to cure the Sicke refuse to helpe his Patient that Wisedome which cried out in the Market place with a loud voyce Venite ad me that it should now remaine dumbe Who may not stand amased at it O Lord thou doost not onely accept of Prayer but doost like of the bare desire to doe it not onely of the lips but of our willingnesse to mooue them Et voluntate labiorum illius non fraudasti eum saith Dauid And Wisedome Optaui datus est mihi sensus When I prayed vnderstanding was giuen me and when I called the Spirit of Wisedome came vnto me Secondly That those prayers cries which come not from the heart should notbe heard it is not much Aufer à me tumultum carminum tuorum saith Amos Take thou away from me the multitude of thy Songs for I will not heare the melodie of thy Viols And all because they were not from the heart And in another place Populus hic labijs me honorat corde autem longe est They honour me saith Esay with their lips but their heart is farre from me But this Cananitish woman did by her voice expresse her hearts griefe and most true it is That parents many times louing their children better than themselues are more sencible of their sorows than of their owne Thirdly it being so pious a businesse as the freeing of her daughter from the torment of the Deuill and being sent besides of God into the world Vt dissoluat opera Diaboli the Apostles as well pittying the daughters miserie as the mothers sorow besought our Sauiour in her behalfe saying Dimitte illam Fourthly There must be some great matter in it some extraordinarie reason why Christ should bee now more dumbe than at other times But of that wee haue spoken elsewhere Clamaui per diem non exaudies nocte non c. they are the words of the sonne of God to his eternall Father What ô Lord sayth hee shall I call vpon thee night and day and wilt thou not heare mee Thy silence can bee no scandall vnto mee because I know the secrets of thy heart and thy loue towards mee Marry vnto others it may giue great offence In the former Chapter of this Storie wee haue giuen some reasons of this silence Of those which haue since offered themselues let the first bee that of S. Chrisostome If our Sauiour Christ sayth he should haue made present answer to the Canaanitish woman her patience her perseuerance her prudence her courage and her faith would not haue beene so much seene nor manifested to the World So that our Sauiour was not dumbe out of any scorne or contempt towards her but because in the crysoll of these his put-byes and disdaines hee might discouer the treasure of her Vertues And for this cause did Christ heape so many disgraces vpon her one on the necke of another one while not seeming to take any notice of her griefs another while stiling the Iews children and her selfe a dog Wherewith this poore woman was so far from being offended or taking any exception at it that humbly casting her self downe at his feet shee did worship and adore him allowing all that he sayd to be true that these disgraces were worthily throwne vpon her confessing her selfe to bee no better than a dog yet notwithstanding shee comes vpon him againe with an Etiam Domine Yet the crums ô Lord c. That with kind words and faire promises and other gratious fauours God should incourage his souldiers put strength and boldnesse into them and winne their loue and affection it is not much but that with disdaines and disgraces they should receiue augmentation and increase like Anteus who the oftner he was by Hercules throwne to the ground the abler and stronger hee grew it is more than much Hee that is in Loue hath his affection rather inflamed than abated by disdaines And this Canaanitish woman was falne so farre in loue with our Sauiour that his neglecting of her could not quench the heat of her affection In a word because to fight against the disfauours of God is one of the greatest proofes that a Soule can make of her prowesse that this womans valour might bee the more seene Non respondit ei verbum Hee answered not a word c. The second is of Saint Gregorie Many times saith he God doth defer this or that fauor which we beg at his hands and for no other cause but that he would haue vs to perseuer in Prayer God is so well pleased that wee should pray and sue vnto him that with him hee is Magis importunus qui importunat minus Most troublesome that is least troublesome Saint Austen sayth that out of the pleasure and delight that hee taketh therein God will haue vs to intreat him euen for those things which are alreadie decreed vpon in his diuine Councell And as his prouidence giues vs the fruits of the Earth by the meanes of trauell and tillage so he giues vs many good things many rich blessings by the means of prayer Abrahams posteritie rested verie secure in regard of the promise which God had made vnto them And yet for all this would hee haue Isaacs prayers to bee the meanes that Rebecca of barren should become fruitfull There was great certaintie that God would send raine after that great
world wanteth and the ill which the Prodigall endured he did groane and sigh in the Pigge-stie when he called to mind his fathers goodly houses Saint Hierome treating of the raptures of his Spirit saith That he found himselfe many times among Quires of Angells hee saith That he liued a whole weeke without any sence of bodily necessitie nor was it much he enioying the conuersation of Angells and the fellowship of God Diuinae visionis intuitu but when I came againe to my selfe I did bewaile the good that I had lost But that Peter may not groane with Saint Paul nor weepe with Saint Hierome knowing how the world went here beneath said Let vs not leaue that place which we may haue cause to weepe for when we are once gone from it For what good is there vpon earth be it neuer so good which hath not some ill with it's good Obtaine if thou canst of God that hee will but once giue thee leaue to tast of the goods of Heauen and thou wilt soone forget whatsoeuer is on earth The reason why these fraile transitorie goods are so much desired and sought after with so great thirst and couetousnesse is because those eternall goods which call continually vnto vs stand in so farre a distance from our hearts and our thoughts for if thou shouldst but taste one drop of the water of that coelestiall Fountain or but one crumme of that diuine Table thou wouldst say with a full and resolute purpose No mas mundo Let the world goe I will no more of it The Hound when he neither sees nor sents his Game goes slow and soft diuerting himselfe here and there as if hee had no life in him but he no sooner spies the Hare but he flies with the wind Robbed of the content of Heauen I said All whatsoeuer is in the earth is a Lye Peter was rob'd of himselfe and therefore he desired to stay still there The first that tasted Wine though he were so graue a man as Noah it made him commit a great excesse insomuch that it gaue occasion to his owne sonne to mocke him And how should not the first that tasted of the glorie which our Sauiour Christ had manifested in Tabor though so graue a one as Peter be so drunken therewith that he should vtter so great an excesse But whatsoeuer was taken from himselfe hee did adde it all whatsoeuer it were more or lesse to the glorie of Christ. Non enim sciebat quid diceret For he knew not what he said Erras Petre saith Saint Hierome Peter thou art in a mightie errour First In iudging that for a happinesse that was so short and transitorie there being no felicitie but in things that are permanent Immagine all possible happinesse measure it with the duration of Ages and with that time which in the end must end and when it is ended thou wilt hold it an vnhappinesse and infelicitie Peter thou desirest to inioy glorie here in this world which is to end toomorrow And for that the glorie which thou desirest is not to last so long as the world nay scarce an houre in this world thou art in a mightie errour Peter Saint Luke saith That to the hungry bellie the remembrance of his forepassed fulnesse shal be a torment vnto him and to the sorrowful his former laughters and contentments shal but the more augment his griefe c. Secondly Peter did erre in preferring a particular before a publicke good especially beeing a Prelat and Pastor of the Church The hand and the foot renouncing their proper right offer themselues to incounter with any danger for to defend the head and saue the life Amongst the Elements the Water the Earth and the Ayre forsake their Center for to assist common necessitie A good Citisen must bee wanting to his owne house and person for to further the common good Saint Austen sayth That Prelates must make profession of a double obligation One of Sheapheards for their sheepe another of Christians for themselues For the first they must haue recourse to the necessitie of their subiects with a great deale of care and vigilancie For the second they are to exercise themselues in all kind of vertue and holinesse But many of them practise the contrary They are Christians for others willing them to exercise themselues in vertue and holynesse and Pastors for themselues caring too much for their owne pleasures and profit The King of Sodome sayd vnto Abraham Giue mee the persons take the goods to thy selfe Hee regarded more the freedome and libertie of his subiects than the ransoming of his treasures And howbeit hee was a bad man yet hee shewed himselfe a good sheapheard Dauid cried out vnto God Lord keepe my soule and deliuer Israel out of all his troubles Hee ioyned his owne and the common cauâ—e together that God might be the better pleased therewith and the sooner graunt his request Thirdly Peter erred in his too too cold commendation of this Glorie for the which a greater praise had beene insufficient Thou desirest a Painter to show thee a picture He takes out one thou desirest a better hee takes out another that contents thee not At last he shewes thee the best that he hath Thou coldly commendst it and sayst it is a pretie good peece so so He growes wearie of thee and takes it away from thee God made in the world diuers pictures euery one of them beeing good apart and all of them put together exceeding good Thou sayst ô Lord these doe not satisfie my desire I would see the best peece that euer past through thy hands He carryes thee vp to mount Tabor hee there showes thee his master-peece his Glorie Peter giues it onely this cold commendation Master it is good Peter thou errest sayth the Euangelist For hee knew not what hee sayd Fourthly Peter did erre in debasing so much that glorie which had no need at all of any Tabernacles or houses to defend them from the Sunne c. For as he did not thinke then vpon eating so he might haue had as little mind of sleeping Saint Ambrose defines Happinesse to bee Omnia bona in omni bono Hee need not desire a Sunne to giue him light because he inioyeth another Sunne that neuer setteth and another Moone which neuer is in it's wane or increase Thou shalt haue no more Sunne to shine by day saith Esay neither shall the lightnesse of the Moone shine vnto thee Thy Sunne shall neuer goe downe neither shall thy Moone be hid For the Lord shall bee thine euerlasting light and the dayes of thy sorrow shall be ended But here our felicitie is in the wane and our happinesse suffers an eclipse Neither is our light cleare saith Saint Bernard nor our refâ—ction full nor our mansion safe Cloudes obscure it's light hunger marres it's fulnesse and alterations it 's firmenesse and security Gregorie Nissen sayth That Necessitie brought in Rule and Dominion For that there
all this Chapter is nothing else but a seuere reprehension of the Scribes and Pharisees And for that it is an ordinarie thing with the common people to set his doctrine at naught who leads a naughty life Cuius enim vita despicitur necesse est vt predicatio contemnatur Whose life is despised his preaching must of necessitie be contemned our Sauiour Christ in defence of the Catholicke Doctrine said Super c. Vpon the Chaire of Moses c. It was the errour of some That a mortall and deadly sinne depriueth the Pope of his Popedome but this was condemned by the Constantine Florentine and Tridentine Councels for neither doth the Doctrine thereby receiue any harm nor the See loose it's Iurisdiction and authoritie Which is no more than is deliuered by Saint Augustine in expounding that place of the fortie fourth Psalme In stead of thy Fathers thou shalt haue Children Beda and Anacletus the Pope both say That to our Faith is not onely hypothecated and ingaged the authoritie of Priest and Bishop but that of our Sauiour Christ that of the Apostles and that of the seuentie two Disciples But suppose that all these Ministers should haue sinned yet the authoritie of our Sauiour Christ remains safe and sure What matters it whither the Minister be bad where the Lord is so good How much more then in the Church ought wee not as Tertullian saith to qualifie Faith by the persons but the persons by Faith This Doctrine Iudas made good by doing miracles by preaching the Gospell and by condemning him that did not receiue it as if he had reiected Christ himselfe Cayphas doth likewise proue this point who as he was High-Priest did determine that Decree which had already beene ordained in Heauen The like president we haue in the Prophet Balaam who though he went of purpose to curse Gods people yet was forced whither he would or no to blesse them And the Scribes Pharisees being asked Where our Sauiour should be borne answered In Bethlem of Iudaea Those Bishops whom Saint Iohn reprehendeth and threatneth in the Reuelation yet for all this doth he not remooue from them the name of Angells Dignitas enim Officij non amitiâ—tur per indignitatem personae The office ought not to be thought the worse of for the vnworthinesse of him that supplies that place Per me Reges regnant They representing Gods person as their Ministers doe their persons There is nothing so surely grounded in holy Scripture as the perpetuitie of the Church And this is one reason amongst many other why the Church is called Heauen And as no strange impressions approch Heauen and as those waters of the Flood which did rise so many cubits aboue the tops of the highest Mountaines could neuer come to touch Heauen so neither the persecutions of strangers nor the sinnes of his Ministers shall euer ouerthrow the firme foundation of the Church or the truth thereof Si dereliquerint filij eius legem meam If the children of the Church shall forsake my Law my hand shall be heauie vpon them and I shall bring many miseries vpon them Miserecordiam autem meam non dispergam But my mercie and my truth shall still remaine safe and sound that shall I establish for euer The Lord hath made a faithfull Oath vnto Dauid and he shal not shrinke from it From whence I inferre two things The one That Moses his Chaire lost nothing of it's respect through the Scribes and Pharisees vices as Saint Cyprian hath obserued nor likewise Saint Peters Chaire by the lesse laudable life of those Bishops which succeeded him which is the maine drift and principall intent of this Gospell For as Saint Augustine hath noted it our Sauiour did not seeme to looke so much towards the Sunne setting as toward the Sun rising to wit towards the Cathedra or Chaire of the Iewes as towards the Pontificium of the Christians wherein there was to be Bishops whose liues although they should not alwayes happen to be holy nor their workes and actions so good as they ought to be yet their Doctrine and their Preaching should still bee warrantable Some seeing some Bishops lesse holy than they should be haue multiplied Inuectiues Satyres and impudent and vnseemely Pasquills vpon them not considering that works that want their weight goodnesse doe not condemne the Doctrine of Faith nor weigh downe the ballance against the Chaire of the Church And that our Sauiour himselfe did preuent this inconuenience by saying Super Cathedram Moysi Vpon the Chaire of Moses Of such great force and vertue is the Doctrine of this Chaire that it did not much stand vpon setling the same vpon base and meane subiects for the same was placed in the mouthes of rude and ignorant Fishermen to the end that none should attribute the victorie to their owne naturall gifts though neuer so good So sometimes he puts this Chaire into the hands of sinnefull men because thereby men may see that the vertue is in the Sword which is the Word of God and not in the arme that is but flesh Quaecunque dixerint vobis facite Whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you doe Saint Peter treating of the respect and obedience which we owe to our Superiours saith Seruants be subiect to your Masters with all feare not onely to the good and courteous but also to the froward If then to such crosse carnall masters we doe owe so much respect and obedience What shall we beare to those that are our Spirituall Lords Saint Paul saith Let euerie Soule be subiect to the higher Powers For whosoeuer resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God for there is no power but of God And therefore to contradict our Superiour is to contradict God himselfe And it was high time for the Apostle to broach this opinion for the world sent forth Nero's Claudia's and Caligula's and other Tyrants which did deserue the name of fierce and cruell Beasts But the wickednesse and perdition of Princes must not make those to lose their respect towards them which are borne to obey which point Saint Cyprian presseth home to the purpose Whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you doe Some man may doubt How is it possible for him that liues ill to doe otherwise than teach ill nay rather it may seeme a kind of miracle that his life being bad his preaching should be good especially hauing our Sauiours warrant for the same How can yee being euill speake good things And this difficultie is increased by that which our Sauiour sayd before Take heed of the leauen of the Pharisees Vnderstanding by the Leauen the doctrine which they taught Wee find in the Gospell That they raised vp many false witnesses against the Law Saint Mathew reporteth That they taught It was lawfull to sweare by the Temple but not by the Gold of the Temple and by the Alter but not by the Offering c. I answer That the name of Cathedra or
gouerne a Commonwealth which is Ars artium The Art of Arts thou shalt thinke a Cobler fit enough to doe it There are many reasons why a Prince should make Noblemen and Gentlemen Presidents and Prelates But to weigh downe this there is another great counter-poise For being bred vp daintily from their cradle some of them make gardens of this Vineyard others houses of pleasure Naboth made choyce rather to dye than to part with his Vineyard to the King because he would not see it turned to a garden for to that end onely did he desire it Shall my inheritance sayd he with the fruit whereof my house is maintained bee turned into a garden for a tyrant to sport himselfe therein God would take it very heauily to see the Vineyard which hee bought with his bloud to bee by some gentleman-like Prelate turned into a greene Court especially hauing layd such a greeuous curse on those Husbandmen that shall not looke well vnto it as Regiones vestras alieni deuorant c. Hee let it out to Husbandmen Locare is a word of Espousall or Marriage and it sutes well with that Loue and Zeale which a Prelat ought to haue to the Vine his Spouse To this marriage the interest of Wealth the respect of Honour nor the pleasures of this Life must not mooue him but the good only of the Vine and the desire he hath to take paines therein till like salt in water himselfe shall wast away and consume He that enters vpon Gods patrimony must enter thereupon with a far different end to that which he doth who enters vpon that of the King for this commonly makes his owne priuate benefit the marke whereat he aymes But the Prelat must make another mans profit the pinne which hee must hit The Minister of a King takes a lesser charge first vpon him that it may serue as a step to greater preferment But a Prelat must not marry himselfe to the Church vpon hope to meet with a better benefice the next day after Sposponâ— enim vos vni viro Virginem castam exhibere Christo. Many Prelats seeme vnto me to be like vnto those seuen husbands which were espoused to one woman who in that other life was wife to none of them all So putting the case the other way let me aske you as those other did our Sauiour when seuen Churches shall bee married to one Prelat which of those shall be sayd to bee his wife in that other Life He planted a Vineyard and let it out to Husbandmen Saint Bernard sayth Viâ—â— sapienti sua vita vinea est sua Conscientia To a wise man his own life and conscience is a Vineyard So that not onely the Church is called a Vine but euerie mans particular Soule may also be immagined to be a stocke of this Vine And that for three principall conueniences First In regard of the great haâ—arads which the Vine runneth as frosts haile wormes want of water carelesnesse of him that keepes the Vineyard theeues dogges boares foxes and enemies such as Hâ—lofernes commanded to take away the waters from those of Bethulia But farre greater perils than these doth maâ—s Soule passe through as those frosts that nip it through default of Charitie those haile-stones of our sinnes which beat it downe to the Earth that it can hardly rise againe those Deuils which like the children of Esau and gouernours of the people of Moab cry Exinanite exinanite persequimini comprehendite eam And the carelesnesse that is had in pruning it Saint Bernard saith That the naturall Vine will aske but once pruning but the metaphoricall Vine a thousand prunings because euerie foot new buds and new sprigs of vices begin to sprout vp in it being subiect as Saint Paul saith periculis in mari periculis in terra to perills by sea and perills by land c. Secondly There is not any Plant whose Fruit doth more liuely represent the essence of our nature The Flower of the Vine represents vnto vs our childhood the beautie thereof it 's peaceablenesse it 's prettinesse it 's wittinesse it 's pleasingnesse it 's innocencie The sharpenesse and sourenesse thereof beeing greene our youths hardnesse harshnesse tartnesse and vnseasonablenesse The Grape it selfe growne to perfection the sweet sauourie discreet and ripe yeares of our life whereof that wine is made which glads the heart of man and washes away care In the Raysons which by the heat of the Sunne proouing both sauorie and wholesome serue for physicke is our old age represented vnto vs which ought to be the Antidote of youth It is that discourse which doth aduice vs that we ought not to despaire of our tart and distastefull youthfulnesse for the greene and soure Grape comes not onely to be a ripe one but turnes also to be a Rayson and your young wild Lads come not onely to be stayd and well gouernd men but proue likewise graue wise antient old Senators in the commonwealth Themistocles was such a young lewd fellow that his father did disinherite him and his mother for verie griefe hung her selfe yet it was his fortune afterwards to come to be a most valiant Captaine and to prooue a most prudent Gouernour The like hapned to Alcibiades and to Apolemon so saith Valerius Maximus and to Iulius Caesar as Fulgosius reporteth it vnto vs. Aristotle according vnto Aelian in his younger yeares played away all his Patrimonie he followed the warres he found that that course did not fit well with him hee turnes Apothecarie frequents the Schooles and prooues in the end the Prince of Phylosophers Thirdly All sorts of Trees be they barren or fruitfull they haue their naturall heigth and bredth either more or lesse according to their seuerall kindes your Pines and your Cedars are the tallest of all others your Wallnuts round like a Cup and more spredding at the top In a word euerie one hath his conuenient stature and proportion But the Vine hath no determinate either heigth or bredth if you let it alone it will traile vpon the ground so the fruit thereof rot vpon the earth if you let it leane vnto a pole it will runne vp to the top thereof if to an Elme it will creepe vp to the highest boughes if to a wall it will runne and shoot it selfe along till it hath claspt it in it's armes and quite ouerspred it And this is the verie Image and true stampe of man for all liuing beasts and other creatures whatsoeuer hauing their termes and bounds of augmentation which they may not passe and exceed Man through his free wil fauoured and assisted by Grace doth enioy so great an excellencie that hee can by the helpe thereof leaue behind him the highest Mountaines reaching by participation to Gods owne Beeing and abiding And though he cannot shoot vp thus high of himselfe beeing no better than a sillie Worme of the earth yet being raised vp by Grace he may climbe vp to this happinesse
number Saint Augustine saith Regio longinqua obliuio Dei est This far Countrie is the forgetting of God and he that in this kind is farre from him is in no kind at all Fame had presently blowne it ouer all the Countrie that a young Gallant was newly come to towne liberall rich and generous Presently as it is the custome of those that are in great Cities as if some wonder had beene to be seene they come as thicke vnto him as Bees come to honey The third day after his comming thither hee walkes the streetes attended on by a companie of braue Poets Musitions Iesters Gamesters and Vnthrifts they carrie him to a Dicing house anon after to a Whore house for these two are neuer far asunder where hee enters into conuersation with women whom the Holy-Ghost stiles Multiuolas for the multitude of their longings or for their many and diuers minds in desiring many things wishing one while this another that Who beeing as Saint Bernard saith more insatiable than Hell are euermore a crying like the daughters of the Horse-leech Affer affer Bring bring He was willing on the one side to shew himselfe franke and free but on the other the thirst of these Horse-leeches was greater than his Purse was able to satisfie At last his money was all spent and gone and impawning his apparell piece after piece hee was in the end left bare and naked Eratfames valida in Terra ipse caepit egere Now when he had spent all there arose a great Dearth throughout that Laâ—d and hee began to be in necessitie It so fell out that it was a hard yeare whereupon he began to suffer hunger pouertie and extreame want There was no such necessity that this should haue prooued so hard a yeare vnto him for a prouident man would haue prouided for a deere yeare well for want of that he sees himselfe now in want Whilest Sampson had his strength about him hee was courted by Dalida and shee made much loue vnto him but when shee found that his force failed him she began to vexe him and to mocke at him and when shee had her purpose she cared not a pin for him Whilest Dauid was quiet in his Kingdome Shimei durst neuer reuile him but he no sooner saw him flie from Ierusalem halfe naked and with one shooe off as they say and another on but that this his rancor brake forth which durst neuer shew it selfe before And making post hast he hies him out of the Citie after him and there before all the people venting the gall of his long conceiued malice hee falls a rayling most bitterly against him I am poore and wretched Marke I pray what followes My Louers and my Neighbours did stand looking vpon my trouble and my Kinsemen stood afarre off Many stood looking on him but none would come in to helpe him Those friends which before made great reckoning of Iob when they saw him sitting on the Dunghil they began to scorne and despise him Those Princes that were confederate with Ierusalem forsooke her in her affliction and left her all alone Philon reporteth That the Samaritans whilest the Iewes were in prosperitie stucke verie close vnto them and esteemed of them as of their friends and Kinsemen Art thou greater than our Father Iacob said the Samaritane woman calling Iacob Father as long as the Iewes power and prosperitie lasted but no sooner downe the wind but they wind their neckes out of the coller acknowledging neither friendship nor kindred Of those Fishes which they call Vigiliales your Naturalists doe report That when the Starres are cleere and shine bright they come and skip and play aboue water seeming therein to applaud their beautie and to sooth and flatter them but when they are dimme and darke they likewise hide their heads and get them gone Of your Batts or Reare-mice as some cal them Fables report That when the Birds came to demaund tribute of them shewing them their brests they sayd they were Beasts And when the Beasts came to them craued the like shewing their wings they pleaded they were Birds In a word Quicke-siluer which is such a profest friend vnto Gold flies from it in the Crysole All flie from the Crysole of pouertie they will not indure to come to the melting pot that is too hot a triall for them Martial said of Homer That if he brought nothing along with him but the Muses hee should haue Tom Drummes entertainement and be shut out of doores Your Whore if you haue no money in your purse wil bid you be gone No penie sayth the Prouerbe no Pater-noster The Prodigall now sees himselfe naked and hungrie and what shift to make he knowes not for after a fulnesse comes a Famine and after brauerie beggerie especially when men will wilfully cast themselues into it when they need not For he God be thanked was well had he had the grace to know when he was wel And therefore saith Malachie If ye will not heare nor consider it in your heart to giue glorie to my name I will corrupt your Seede and cast dung vpon your faces I will make yee also to be despised and vile before all the people Adhaesit vni Ciuium He went and â—laue to a Citisen of that Countrie c. He was now driuen to seeke out a Master and forced to serue out of pure hunger It was his hap to light vpon a cruell Snudge a hard hearted Tyrant who sent him to a Farme house that he had in the Countrie to keepe Swine where hee faine would but could not fill his bellie with that feeding which was flung out to the Pigges This was a verie miserable change But God many times deales thus with his vntoward Children that they may see the difference that is betwixt Master and Master House and House Fare and Fare God did deliuer Rehoboam King of Ierusalem from the hands of Shiâ—hacke King of Aegypt but suffered him to bee his Tributarie that he might make triall of the difference that was from subiection to subiection God said to his People I will that ye go downe into Aegypt that ye may see what it is to serue me what Pharaoh Petrus Chrys. tels thee That in thy Fathers house thou inioiest a sweet kind of life a free seruitude a ioyful feare a rich pouertie a safe possession a quiet conscience and a holy fulnesse As for labour and paines taking if there bee any that is put to thy Fathers account But this thy felicitie goes further than so Salomon throughout all the third Chapter of his Prouerbs goes promising blessings to a wise and obedient Sonne threatning many euills to come vpon that child that shall be crosse and vntoward to his Parents As a long and prosperous life hath fauor both with God and Men health fulnesse Barnes filled with aboundance Presses that shal burst with new Wine summing there vp all possible and imaginable felicitie But otherwise goes it
riches to the Poore thou shalt not worke that good thereby as thou shalt by sauing a soule for there is no price comparable with that of the Soule Fructus justi lignum vitae By liuing well himselfe and by gaining his brothers Soule Saint Augustine saith That euerie Christian should desire that all should be saued and he that contemneth correction doth in part denie this desire And the Apostle Saint Iames That he that shall conuert his brother and remooue him from his errour shall saue his soule from death In which words are comprised as well his owne as anothers soule Thomas saith Correction is eleemosina spiritualis a spirituall kind of almes and of so much more price than any other alms by how much the soule is of more price than the bodie by how much the goods of Grace are to be preferred before those of fortune and of Nature He that succours the Poore when hee giues most hee can but lay downe his corporall life for him but hee that raiseth vp him that is fallen bestowes a spirituall life on him and performes the office of an Apostle So that to correct and â—o be corrected brings with it so much interest and so much gaine that euery man may account it for a great happinesse The incorrigible man is so threatned in the sacred Scripture that the verie feare thereof is able to quell his spirits and to make him turne Coward A man that hardneth his necke when he is rebuked shall suddenly be destroyed so saith Salomon The Hebrew phrase is Vir correctionum he that liueth so ill that a man had need to carrie alwayes in his hand a rod of correction for him and instead of amending his faults dayly addes sinne vnto sinne whereby hee is ouertaken with sudden death which in a Sinner is of all other euils the greatest Other lesser threatnings are set downe by Salomon Pouertie and shame shall be to him that forsaketh discipline and now here he saith Sudden destruction shall come vpon him So long may hee perseuer in the hardnesse of his heart that Gods justice may ouertake him and shorten his dayes by sudden death The truth of this is apparent in Pharaoh to whom so many faire warnings and admonitions serued but to make the heape of his sinnes the higher till at last with those heapes of waters hee was ouerwhelmed suddenly in the sea It is written in the Booke of Wisedome That those cruell and many stripes which were bestowed vpon the Aegyptians could not draw so much as one teare from their eyes nor procure the libertie of Gods People of hard-hearted Pharaoh But when they saw the death of their firstborn then they howled wept and Pharaoh himselfe was mooued and made pittious mone and gaue present order for their departure But here I pray you obserue with mee a fearefull kind of obstinacie for they had scarce dryed their teares scarce had they couered the graues of their Dead when lo those that had intreated for their departure as fearing they should all die the death Omnes moriâ—mur for so saith the Text falling into a rash and vnaduised consideration followed after them as if they had beene a companie of Fugitiues forgetting the former torments which they had indured And a wise man rendring the reason of this so foolish a resolution saith This their hardnesse of heart carried them 〈◊〉 it were perforce to this so disastroâ—â— an end to the end that those whom the plagues which God had sent among them as so many admonitions so many warnings had not made an end of sudden death might destroy and supplie the defect of that punishment O that Sinners would bee so wise as to enter into discourse with themselues The Adulterer whom God hath freed from a thousand notorious dangers of his life and credit though his brethren haue not checkt him yet hath his owne conscience corrected him with greater seueritie and far more sharpely as also the sudden death of other his fellow Adulterers A sudden stab takes him out of the world Vt quae deerant tormentis suppleret punitio That punishment may supplie what is wanting to his torments Another in some bad fashion hazards his honour God miraculously preserues him more than once or twice that he may take warning thereby and reclaime him selfe he mixes a thousand bitter galls with his sweet delights hee affrights him with sudden assaults this doth no good on him hee strikes him with a Lethargie that depriues him of his sences thus through his owne wilfulnes hardheartednes he is haled violently as it were by the haire of the head to this so miserable an end Vt quae deâ—rant tormentis suppleret punitiâ— In fauour of the reward which the Corrected shall receiue Salomon proposeth many graue sentences to that purpose The eare that hearkneth to the correction of life shall lodge among the wise not onely in earth but in-heauen for Quicquiescit arguenti gloriabitur Amongst other pledges that a Soule may assure it selfe that God wisheth it well is the sending of a Legat vnto him to aduise him of his faults Si corripuerit me iustus in miserecordia hoc ipsum sentiam it is Saint Bernards I will receiue him as sent from God Labia â—ua distillantia myrrham primam Myrrh is bitter as before hath beene said but preserueth from corruption so are the words of my Beloued they are bitter but are directed to the sauing of my life and to preserue me from death Saint Augustine drawes a comparison from him that is franticke and one that is sicke of a Lethargie the one fals into follie the other into a profound sleepe he that bindes the one and wakes the other is troublesome to them both but beeing both recouered they both giue him thankes Thou hast gained thy brother This is the end and as Aristotle saith Finis est fundamentum omnium actionum nostrarum The end is the foundation of all our actions and the gaining of a lost brother is the end and scope of these our diligences Where I would haue you to note That hee that doth a wrong doth euer receiue more hurt than he that hath the wrong Qui alterum ladit plus sibi nocet Hee that hurts another doth most hurt to himselfe for the hurt that the wronged receiueth is outwardly and in bodie but the hurt of him that wrongeth is inwardly and in soule And therefore Saint Paul saith Yee that sinne against your brother sin against Christ he that despiseth these things despiseth not man but God And our Sauiour Christ He that shall call his brother Foole is worthie of Hell fire So that the wronged cannot receiue the third part of the harme of the partie wronging Plato is of opinion That hee that doth an iniurie to another doth the greatest to himselfe and cannot if he would studie to doe himselfe a worse mischiefe Dauid was much wronged by Absolon for what greater offence could a
this there are many prophecies The other The stoutnesse and courage wherewith he was to reuenge the wrongs and iniuries done to the poore Saluos faciet filios pauperum humiliabit calumniatorem He shall saue the children of the poore and shall humble the slanderer Saint Austen Iustin Martyr and many others vnderstand this to be spoken litterally of Christ. For Calumniatorem the Greeke reades Sycophantam And so doe they call your Promooters and Informers Whether it were because in Athens they had a Law that none should bring figges to that Citie to sell Or whether it was forbidden in Greece that any should enter to gather figs in another mans orchard Whence he that informed thereof came to bee called a Sycophant Or vpon that wittie conceit of Aesops who when a certaine seruant had eaten some figges and layd the fault vpon one of his fellowes gaue order that both of them should drinke luke-warme water and the eater of them hauing vomited vp the figges they called him Sycophant Our Sauior then shal saue the poore and humble the slanderer Hee shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lippes shall he slay the wicked Iraeneus expoundeth this place to be spoken of Gods protecting and defending of the poore He is their tower of defence in the day of trouble their hope in distresse and their shield of comfort in their tribulation And that God doth reuenge with greater seueritie the wrongs that are done to his friends than those that are offered to himself is a fauor so vsually with him and so generally known that I need not to insist therupon One while because hee thinkes himselfe much beholding vnto them that they wil resigne vp their owne right and leaue the cause of their wrongs to him and that they will put their hope and their trust in him Sub vmbra alarum tuarum sperabo donec transeat iniquitas i. Calamitas Defend mee ô Lord whilest this storme passeth ouer my head Another while that he may shew more loue to his friends than to himselfe In the old Law hee gaue great proofes of this Truth and in the new hee gaue farre greater testimonies thereof Esay drawes a comparison from the Lyon who hauing his prey betweene his clawes a companie of Sheapeheards come crying after him making a great noyse and clamor but he makes no great reckoning of it And is all one with that saying of our Sauior Non rapiet quisquam de manu mea No man shall snatch them out of my hand Abimelech tooke Abrahams wife from him and God at midnight appearing vnto him in the midst of his mirth and lust he spake vnto him in a fearefull voice Eâ— morieris Thou art but a dead king The like befell Pharaoh Procopias saith That God did declare as much when he appeared in the firie bush They did whippe his people with the rods of briars and did burne them vp by inforcing them to find straw for to heat the ouens wherein they were to bake their brickes and God sayth It is I that am whipped it is I that am burned in the fire Moses treating of this protection of God takes his comparison from the Eagle whose care and vigilancie in breeding vp of his young ones is exceeding great but in the end shews himselfe verie cruell to that young of his whose eyes hee exposeth to the beames of the Sunne All this loue and care ran along with the written Law But in that of Grace giuing vs greater pledges of his loue he drawes his comparison from the Hen whose loue and care exceedes all other indeerings whatsoeuer Shee scorneth and contemneth her owne life for the safegard of her chicken she fasts that they may feed she is content to bee leane that they may be fat and now and then dyes that they may liue Saint Austen hath obserued that because the Deuill spake vnto Christ That hee would make those stones bread for to releeue his owne hunger he refused to doe it But if it had bin to releeue thine or mine he would haue done it As he turned the water into wine at the wedding not for himselfe but for others And at that meale in the mountaine where he multiplied the loaues and the fishes whereof himselfe did not eat a bit Why do ye also transgresse the Commandement of God He wounds them with their own weapon retorts the force of this their argument vpon themselues and sends them away ashamed He driues them to a demur and puts them to ponder vpon this Vos custodias Of the Law These sunnes that were to lighten this commonwealth these North-starres by which the people were to saile through the sea of this world Concupiscentia spadonis euagâ—nauit iâ—uencam Eunuchs were appointed for the guarding and keeping of women as the vse is now in Constantinople But that a gelded man through lust should defile a maid beeing bound to preserue her honour That he that should cloth the naked should strip them bare That hee that should keepe the Lawes of the Commonwealth should bee the first that should breake them is as strange as shamefull Phiâ—â—â—â— thrust Zambri and a daughter of the Prince of Midian through with his speare and pinning them to the ground did an acceptable sacrifice to God Zaâ—bri was of the Tribe of Simeon who in the companie of his brother Leâ—ie had taken that cruell reuenge of the Prince of Sichem for the rauishing of Dinah that they left not a man liuing nor a house standing Now his grandfather hauing vsed so great rigour in punishing of such a dishonestie he of all other should not haue committed this sinne For this reason the Angell vsed the like rigor with Moses whither it were because he had not circumcised his children or whither it were because he tooke his wife along with him in that his journy or whither it were that he had manifested the cowardise feare that he had of Pharaoh the Angell made semblance that hee would kill him for hee that is a Lawgiuer a Captaine and a Gouernor is bound to much more And why doe you also c. Here is a Why for a Why they haue as good as they bring And here two considerations offer themselues vnto vs The one That he that shall doe a wrong shall bee paid in his owne coyne that verie day that a man shall doe an iniurie by taking away the good name of his brother he puts a taxe vpon his own reputation seales the same makes it his owne Act and is bound to make repayment thereof And this is a Quare vos Why doe yee also c. This is to throw stones against Heauen or to â—pit against the wind Dauid cut off Goliah his head with his owne sword after that he had reuiled Gods people Iacob with Esau's owne cloathes stole away the blessing from him by putting on his hands and his necke the skinne of
water hath of the dead The cheifest wherof is That he that shall drink of the water of this Wel shal soone after be athirst again For Aunque haze troguas no assienta pazes Though he make a truce for a time yet doth he not conclude a finall peace Saint Austen vnderstands this difference touching the thirst of the body but diuerse other Doctors of the the thirst of the soule But the Plainest and the surest is that it imbraceth both and to cleere this opinion Let vs first of all suppose that laying aside the thirst of the body all do generally suffer the same in the soule And he that from the clouds should behold this vale of the world shall perceiue it to be like a desart full of filthy standing pooles of stinking water and that all men goe thirsting after the same And Saint Austen saith Ipsum desiderium sitis est animâ— For as a man cannot liue without the desire of the soule so can he not liue without thirst Inquietum est cor nostrum donec â—eniamus ad te This our saturity and fulnesse is reserued till wee come vnto God who is our Center Satiabor cum apparauerit gloria tua I shall bee satisfied when thy glorie shall appeare In the interim we must of force liue tormented with hunger and thirst Secondly We are to suppose that this liuing Water whether it bee the Holy Ghost be it Grace or the Word of God or Baptisme doth not in this life quench either that thirst of the bodie or that of the soule Touching that of the bodie we know that many Saints of God rauished with some deepe contemplation haue forgotten al hunger and thirst without any torment or trouble euen to the abhorring of meate Nor is it much that the holy Ghost should worke this effect in man seeing that the vehement passions of sorrow and of ioy though in a different manner do dayly cause the like For this our not eating nor drinking occasioned by passion doth debilitate our forces and weakens our strength but beeing assisted by the helpe of the holy Spirit it doth not onely conserue but renew our strength and put as it were new mettle into vs as was to be seene in Elias who with that water and bread which the Angell gaue him went vp to Mount Horeb there fasted 40 days And diuers weake men haue holpen by Grace indured such hunger thirst as hath made the world to stand amased at it But the holy-Ghost doth not alwais worke these effects saue only when it seemeth good vnto him nor at all times nor towards all persons no not to the verie Saints themselues for those that haue beene the greatest Fasters haue come in the end to suffer hunger and thirst And if we shall treat of the thirst of the soule it is a plaine case that this liuing water doth not quench it but that the holy-Ghost doth to the Righteous adde more thirst after the goods of heauen and those coelestiall ioyes According to that of Ecclesiasticus Qui edunt me adhuc esurient so that till wee come to see God no man shall see himselfe voyd of thirst Thirdly The thirsting and hungring after these earthly goods and humane blessings many seeke to quench the same by filling themselues full and not denying to their eyes as Salomon saith any thing whatsoeuer their heart desireth vnderneath the Sunne But their thirst growes still more and more and their hunger increaseth like him that hath eaten salt meats or drunke brackish sea water All that is in the world saith Saint Iohn is either the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes or the pride of life Imagine three Riuers to thy selfe one of delights a second of riches and a third of pride and vanitie this is all the good that the world affoordeth and hee that shall drinke of the water of any of these three Riuers shall still be more and more thirstie And for this cause it is called Aqua concupiscentiae the water of concupiscence a lusting with desire and as hee that shall drinke and swallow downe these his desires cannot chuse but grow more and more thirstie so hee that shall drinke of this water shall desire to drinke more And as Salomon saith hee shall follow the birds which flie in the aire The truth whereof is well prooued by that rich man in the Gospell who hauing food sufficient for many yeares yet did toyle and labour as if he had been in great want to fill his barnes and his Granaries as full as hee could cram them making more and more store as if he should neuer haue prouision enough hee thought all the roomes that he had were too little I will pull downe my Barnes and make them bigger And if any man shall aske me If this rich man shall not be able as long as hee liues though the yeares of his life were neuer so many to eat out that which hee hath stored vp why he should take such a deale of carke and care for his diet and his drinke I answer That for the feeding of his bodie much lesse might haue sufficed him a little thing would haue serued the turne but it seemeth in the Storie that hee sought to satisfie his soule and that hee inuited his soule to feast it selfe and to make merrie whose thirst is insatiable Saint Gregory saith That man not finding in the pleasures and pastimes of this life any humane delights answerable to those which his heart desireth seeketh after change and varietie of sports Vt quia qualitate rerum non potest saltem varietate satietur That if the qualitie could not yet the varietie of them might some way giue content In a word as well doth the Couetous as the Prodigall die of hunger Salomon after that he had entred into such a full riuer of delâ—ghts and enioyed such a plentiful haruest of all kind of worldly pleasures hauing the World at will comes forth with two Horse-leeches of that insatiable appetite that they still followed him and neuer left crying Affer affer And who could not finde in his heart to curse that Creditor almost to the pit of Hell who shall still baule vpon a man be as discontented being paid as if he were vnpaid Others there are which seeke to satisfie this thirst with the goods of Heauen taking onely from the earth as much as is sufficient for them like vnto Gideons souldiers who passing along by the riuer side tooke vp water in the palmes of their hands God approouing in the warfare of this life that wee should inioy the goods of this life by snatches and not to lie at racke and manger Enioying this world as they enioyed it not Whereas those that lay down vpon their brest and like dogs lay lapping vp the water were reprooued by him Now by this time the aduantage appeareth cleere vnto vs which liuing water hath ouer that which is dead he that shal drink of this
vnto thee All these bals of wilde fire were no more than thy hardnesse of heart had neede of But those sinnes of this Samaritan and those of this Adulteresse were sinnes of weakenesse and these must be discreetly dealt withall by the soules Phisitions There are some that we must preach nothing vnto but thunder death hell and damnation Others grace and mercie and win them to amendment of life by affectionating them to the delights of Heauen Considering thy selfe least thou be also tempted For if thou bee sharpe tart and bitter against weake consciences God may chance to suffer thee to fall into the like frailties Iudge charitably of thy neighbour and censure him by thy selfe and seeke rather to comfort than cast downe a soule c. Lord giue me of this water How powerfull a thing is priuate interest This woman found excuses not to giue but none not to aske The Antients did paint forth Interest in Mercurie the god of Wisedome with a bunch of keyes in his hand for the couetous man opens another mans brest for to receiue thence and shuts his owne that he may not giue and for both these things he is verie prudent and wise The Pharisees had many reasons and places of Scripture for to persuade themselues that Iohn Baptist was not their Messias to wit for that hee was of the Tribe of Leui that he wrought no miracles that hee liued in the wildernesse and remooued from the conuersation of men contrarie to that prophecie of Baruc Cum hominibus conuersatus est He dwelt among men The only thing that did speake for him was That he was a holy man and a Saint of God and as Saint Chrysostome hath noted it this one reason they pretended should preuaile against al the rest because it was in fauour of their owne particular interest And it is a strange case that the holynesse of Saint Iohn should bee sufficient to make them to conceiue that he was the Messias but not sufficient to make them doe that which he commanded them Voca virum tuum Call thy husband Theophilact gathers this note from hence That Christs willing her to call her husband was to aduise vs that a wife is not to craue or receiue any thing no not so much as a pot of water without the leaue of her husband and by order from him being so made one flesh and so one spirit by marriage that they are not to be seperated Malachie treating of a married wife saith Nonne residuum spiriâ—â—â— eius est Is she not the remainder of his breath Whither the allusion bee made to the formation of Adam as Saint Chrysostome hath obserued for that with the same respiration wherewith God had created the soule in Adam hee likewise created that of Eue or whither it haue relation to the husband for that the selfe same spirit which giues life vnto him is to giue the same likewise to his wife Saint Augustine in a mysticall kind of meaning vnderstands by the man the vnderstanding but the plainer truer meaning is That our Sauior in willing her to call her husband would therby giue her occasion to confesse her fault not to dismerit the mercie that was offered vnto her for to draw from a womans brest such immodest and dishonest weakenesses will require a great deale of dexteritie and cunning The seruant that ought ten thousand talents presently confessed the debt and the King forgaue it him Inconfessione debiti solutionem inuenit His confession was his solution so saith Saint Chrysostome But he was a man and his fault lesse foule but for an old woman to lie at rack and manger with her Louer in these her elder yeres will aske much labour and no lesse skill to bring her to confession Obstetricante manu eius eductus est coluber tortuosus To take the subtill winding Snake out of mans bosome we had need of Gods helping hand that 's the Midwife that must doe it For to sinne saith Saint Chrysostome the Deuill putteth great confidence into the brest of a sinner but to confesse the same he infuseth far greater shame so that dishonestie doth not onely disjoyne vs from God but remooues vs like the Prodigall sonne a great wayes off from him in regionem longinquam into a farre Countrie God hath giuen vs so noble and so gentleman-like a nature saith Saint Hierome that Sinne doth make vs melancholly and sad but Vertue cheerefull merrie And from hence saith Saint Augustine arise those remorcements of conscience those inward stings of the soule which like the flies of Aegypt disquiet a Sinner Our Sauiour Christ therefore did here make mention of her husband Como mentado la soga en casa del a horcado as if one should talk of a halter in the house of one that hath bin hang'd to the end that her sinne might trouble her conscience worke some remorce in her and make her to confesse the foulenesse thereof to the intent that by this meanes she might come to tast of the liuing water Thou hast had fiue husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband S. Chrysostom saith That not any one of these was her husband some modern authors follow this his opinion And this may be grounded vpon that which Saint Hierome hath in an Epistle of his to Rusticus Post sex viros inuenit Dominum After six husbands she found the Lord. Irenaeus saith That all saue the first were Adulterers But these seuerall sences suit not with this Text. Athanasius saith That they had a Law in Samaria that they might not marrie aboue fiue times and that the incontinencie of this woman was so great that hauing buried fiue husbands she tooke a friend into her house to whom Saint Hierome adding those fiue which had beene her husbands truly and indeed said Post sex viros After six husbands And though these were not Adulterers yet is it sufficient proofe that Sensualitie is a brackish kind of water which causeth more thirst and for that Woman is an impatient creature and much subiect to long after this that other thing Ecclesiasticus stiles her Multiâ—â—la If she be thirstie and one cannot satisfie the same she will solicite sixe nay sixtie to allay this her thirst And therefore Saint Hieroâ—e equalls viduall continencie with virginitie in regard of those her forepassed pleasures for like the Phoenix she reuiues againe by kindling the fire with the wings of her owne proper thoughts and therefore in that respect preferres chast widdowhood before Virginitie For in euerie kind of vice one sin calls vpon another but it is most seene in these two to wit sensualitie and heresie And this peraduenture is the reason why the Scripture commonly calleth Idolatrie Fornication Saint Ambrose treating of 〈…〉 in lawes burning fits of her Feauer saith Forâ—asse in typâ— mulierâ— illiu◠〈…〉 languebat varijs criminum febribus Peraduenture in the figure of that 〈…〉 flesh languisheth vnder the Feaâ—ers of diuers
custome amongst men not to make requitall of that care and loue which hath bin shewn vnto them A Goldsmith makes a cup for you you pay him for the weight of his plate according to it's ounces and for the fashion according to it's workemanship but you doe not pay him for his loue vnto you for Loue is so noble a thing that it cannot be repayd but with Loue. And if mans loue cannot be repayd much lesse Gods but if it dasheth thee out of countenance to see what a deale of loue God expresses towards thee that he makes thee the mark wherat he aimes al his care yet at least shew thy selfe so thankful as to satisfie him for thy workemanship as thou wouldest the Goldsmith for the fashioning of a peece of plate whither he had by chance or purposely made it for thee God demanded of Iob Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth As if he should haue said Because thou camest not then into the world thou maist haply thinke that I made this so faire a fabrick either by chance or for my own pleasure Ludens in orbe terrarum and not purposely for thee but I would haue thee to know that I made this so princely a pallace for thee furnishing it with all things fitting for thee and that if I had not foreknowne that thou shouldst enioy the same I would not haue made it But if thou shalt not repay mee for my care and my loue that I made thee for the end of this so great a worke yet thankefully accept of the worke iâ— selfe because thou art hee that receiuest benefit thereby Our Sauior as he passed thus along was verie angrie and much offended but he had no sooner met with this blind man but his anger was alayed and grew more calme and milde In Caiphas Court a sea of iniuries affronts came tumbling in vpon him and euen then in this great inundation that brake thus violently in vpon him he no sooner turned his eye aside vpon Peter and beheld those two Fountaines of teares that flowed from his eyes but that he presently seemed wonderfull well contented The booke of Canticles introduceth the Beloued speaking to his Spouse I haue mixed my myrrh with my spice ô friends drink of my wine yea drinke aboundantly ô Beloued for the end of his bitter draughts prooued to be a most pleasant wine for our palats In any other brest than that of our Sauiour the stones of the Pharisees would haue made a great noyse but malice is a verie shallow water but goodnesse a verie deepe Sea A stone in a shallow Well wil make a great noyse will dash the water about thyne eares but in a deepe Well you shall scarce heare the sound thereof But this comparison is somewhat of the shortest for it is one thing to suffer and another in suffering to take compassion But the goodnesse of our Sauiour Christ did patiendo compati non solum erat patiens sed compatiens Saint Bernard saith That he did not only suffer ill but did requite ill with good Retribuebant mala pro bonis odium pro dilectione mea They returned euil for good and hatred for my loue But to return good for euill is the highest round of Vertues ladder Salomon saith That wisdome is fairer to behold and more beautifull than the Sunne Speciocior est Sole For the Sunne is eclipsed by the darkenesse of night but the wisedome of the Father neither malice nor iniurie nor any other affront can cloud or darken it but serueth oftentimes as an occasion to beame forth greater fauours vpon vs. Saint Bernard compares our Sauiour Christ to the Bee which alwayes labours and takes pains for other folkes profit a swarme of Bees lights in thy garden leaues thee honie-combes and waxe all this not costing thee so much as one crum of bread But this comparison likewise comes a little too short for the Bee being offended stings thee But our Sauiour Christ inriching our house with worldly goods and heauenly blessings doth not hurt vs though we prouoke him neuer so much to anger he brings vs in Honie but leaues no sting behind him Better and more proper is that comparison of the Vine whereunto our Sauiour compares himselfe Ego sum vitis vâ—ra I am the true Vine which if you cut and prune it yeelds you a hundred for one As Iesus passed by he saw c. Here pittie ouercame passion and clapt a bridle on the hastinesse of his anger for pittie neuer blots out those businesses that require hast Dauid marched in great hast with his souldiers after certaine theeuish Amalekites that had burnt and spoyled Zicklag in which hot pursuit hee found an Aegyptian in the field who was readie to giue vp the Ghost for he had eaten no bread nor dranke any water in three dayes and three nights Whereupon Dauid made a stand relieued him and restored him againe to life for the which he well repayd this his kindnesse for he brought him to the place where these theeues were eating drinking and dancing for ioy of the spoyle they had taken from whom Dauid recouered all that the Amalekites had taken away Some spitefull man will not sticke to say We are now as pittifull not considering in the meane while with himselfe that he would neuer forgoe a Play to go heare a Sermon neuer omit other his worldly businesse to goe visit an hospitall or to giue an almes to the Poore Iob complaineth That when he sate scraping his sores vpon the dunghill his brethren past along by him not so much as once vouchsafing to looke vpon him but hasted speedily by him like the downfall of a water from a rocke which swiftly glideth downe to the bottome of some low valley Praeterierunt me sicut torrens in conuallibus The seuentie Interpreters render it Non respexerunt They did no whit respect him nor so much as offer to looke after him Imagine saith Thomas that foure goe hand in hand together all one way and that one of them fals into a pit whilest the rest passe on and let him alone In like maner might Iob say that his brethren dealt so with him being that neither nature neerenesse of bloud old acquaintance nor long bred friendship could moue their hearts to pittie or their eyes to teares Iesus saw a man that was blind from his birth And his Disciples asked him saying Master Who did sinne This man or his parents that he was borne blind c. This is an old feâ—tered wound that we tooke in the fall of our first parents to be too curious in other mens faults and too forgetfull of our owne Saint Chrysostome saith That there is scarce one to be found euen amongst those that are most perfect which are not infected with this vice If a man walke abroad in a morning into the fieldes his neighbors inheritance is more in his eye than his owne and
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
fruit in it's due time was cursed by our Sauiour what shall become of the sinner that at no time brings foorth any fruit Saint Bernard much condemneth those men which seekes after occasions for to passe away the time as to game chat read idle poems and tell tales and lyes to weare away the time least otherwise it should seeme tedious vnto them The time which God giues thee for Repentance to craue pardon for thy sinnes to sue for grace and for to purchase glorie thou letst it runne on without any fruit farre better it were for thee to redeeme this thy ill spent time for hee that redeemeth his time by Repentance redeemeth all sortes of time whatsoeuer Euen the time that is past For albeit ad praeteritum non est potentia the time that is past can not be recalled yet it is not to be vnderstood touching the time of Repentance according to that saying of Saint Paul Redimentes â—empus c. Redeeming the time c. The present with good workes the past with repentance the future with perseuerance and a full purpose of amendment of life In a word Repentance doth not loose one houre no not one minute of time The good Theefe in the very last houre did repaire all the lost yeares of his life Goe to the poole of Siloam c. First this blindman did herein shew a great deale of humilitie in that he was not scrupulous what they should say of him that should see him passe through the citie with his eyes full of durt For points of honour are oftentimes scandalls to the Soule and make the infirmitie of the disease incurable Naaman the Syrian stood vpon point of honour that Elisha should come vnto him and lay his hands vpon his leaprosie As also that hee should bid him to wash himself in Iordan wherat he was very wroth refused to come at him saying in anger to Elisha's messenger If we shall compare water with water Are not Abana and Pharphar riuers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israell May I not wash in them and be cleane Which said hee turned and went away in a rage Saint Chrysostome saith That the Pharisees did not beleeue in Christ. What said they with themselues shall we bee so respectlesse of our honour as to subiect our selues with the vulgar to so base a man as hee Saul made lesse reckoning of loosing God than the worlds honour Honora me coram populo So as Samuel would but honour him before the people come what would of the rest he did not greatly care Secondly He shewed a great deale of Obedience and Faith The waters of Siloam were not able of themselues to giue sight to this blind man but I beleeue said the blind man that they will worke this good effect vpon me Hee might haue willed me to doe that which might haue carryed with it a greater reason of hope But the sheepe saith Chrysologus must goe to his feeding and his folding whether it shall please the sheepheard to lead him forth The scholler must learne that which his master teacheth him The sicke patient must bee ruled by his Physitian He hath libertie saith Saint Chrysostome to speake vnto his Physitian that he will doe his best to cure him but not to prescribe him the Physicke that he shall minister vnto him The like course wee are to take with the heauenly Physitian of our soules For it were a strange kind of vnmannerlinesse in vs besides our diffidence to relye vpon an earthly Physitian that can only cure our bodies and not put our trust in God who can cure both body and soule The Chirurgian comes to thee with Cauteries and layes corrosiues to thy sores thou patiently indurest it and not once openest thy mouth and shalt thou not as well beare c. Thirdly he exprest a great deale of thankfulnesse Saint Bernard applies this vertue to those words of Ecclesiastes The riuers come out of the Sea and returne much bettered backe againe to the Sea as giuing thankes for the water which they receiued for the acknowledging of one kindnes is the drawing on of another And if those riuers should haue rested themselues contented with the waters they had receiued and not haue paid the Sea his due Tribute that bounty would not haue beene bestowed vpon them In like manner those good things which wee enioy flow from God that immense Sea of goodnesse and they are againe to be returned vnto God through our thankfulnesse and when that ebbeth in vs the other neuer floweth from him Cessat gratiarum decursus vbi non est recursus The raine from heauen ariseth from the vapours of the earth And when there are no vapours there is no raine Saint Augustine desired of God That he would bee pleased to reueale the secrets of Scripture vnto him promising in requitall of so great a fauour a perpetuall acknowledgement thereof Confiteor tibi quicquid invenero in libris tuis Ecclesiasticus commending the noble Acts of Dauid as his wrestling with beares tearing the iawes of Lyons killing of Gyants and ouercomming the Philistims he concludeth That all these things succeeded luckily with him because he was thankefull to the Lord and directed his heart vnto him and established the worship of God Fourthly before our Sauiour Christ had giuen this blind man the eyes of his soule he proceeded fairely maintained Christs honour against the Pharises that opposed it And this as I may so tearme it his honourable carriage prepared the way for him to attaine to the heigth of vertue The Romans had two Temples adioyning each to other as S. Augustin reports it the one of Honour the other of Vertue But no man could come vnto that of Vertue vnlesse he first passed through that of honour And Valerius Maximus relates vnto vs That M. Marcellus a Roman Senator being desirous to build one sole Temple to Honour and Vertue the Priests would not permit him to doe it Alleaging That it was not fit for if by chance any miracle should happen in that Temple they were not able to auow to which of the two it ought to be attributed Ioseph fled from the inticements of his wanton and lasciuious Mistresse for that it was an offence both to God and his owne honour Quomodo possum hoc malum facere My Lord hath trusted me with all his whole house if I should be false vnto him I should hazard my happines in heauen and my honour on earth In a word the Actes of Honour are sometimes so heroicall that they seeme to be miracles of Vertue He went his wayes therefore and washed and came seeing First He returned such a strange altred man from that hee was before from the Poole of Siloam that his neerest neighbours and oldest acquaintance did not know him some said It is the same man others It is not but doth somewhat resemble him But he that shall turne ouer a new leafe and truly change the
beleeue the immortalitie of the soule they hold a sudden death a kind of happinesse but a Christian who confesseth that there is a iudgement after death desireth a more lingring and leisurely kind of dying for to preuent future danger both of soule and bodie In Leuiticuâ— God commanded That they should not offer any câ—eature vnto him which did not chew the cud or which had not a clouen hoofe And he therefore ioyned these two things together for to swallow the meat downe whole is verie dangerous for the health and the foot not cloâ—en verie apt to slip and slide and in a mysticall kind of sence is as much as if he should haue said That he that shall swallow down so fearefull dangerous a thing as Death without chewing meditating thereon shall doubtlesse slide if not take a fall as low as Hell The onely sonne of his mother In the order of conueniencie it seemeth fitter that the old mother should haue died than the young sonne But as there is nothing more certaine than death so is there nothing more vncertaine than the time of our death the young Bird as soone falls into the snare as the old one and your greater Fish as soone taken with the hooke as your lesser Frie. If the Wicked turne not God will whet his sword bend his Bow and prepare for him the instruments of death and ordaine his Arrowes against them For old men that stand vpon the graues brinke death hath a Sythe to cut them downe for young men that stand farther off he hath his Bow and his Arrowes Saint Augustine saith That God taketh away the Good before their time that they may not receiue hurt from the Bad and the Bad because they should not doe hurt to the Good The onely sonne of his mother Not that he was her onely sonne but her best beloued sonne Salomon stiles himselfe Vnigenitum matris suae His mothers onely begotten sonne not that he was the onely sonne of Bershabe as it appeareth in the first of Chronicles but because he was so deerely beloued of his mother as if he had beene her only sonne he was his mothers darling her best beloued the light of her eyes and her hearts comfort she cherished him made much of him would not let him want any thing yet all this care and prouidence of hers could not shield him from death There is a man in the Citie that is of a strong and able bodie and abounding in all worldly happinesse There is another saith Iob that is weake hungerstarued and his wealth wasted and consumed both these death sets vpon and layes them in the graue He exemplifies in the King and the Gyant for the rest he makes no more reckoning of them than of so manie little Birds whom the least fillip striketh dead but he sets vpon a King like a Lyon a poore man hath many meanes to hasten his death but Kings seldome die of hunger of penurie of heats or of colds c. And a Gyant seemes to be a perdurable and immortall Tower of flesh but in the end both Kings and Gyants fall by the hand of Death And since that Death did dare to set vpon the Sonne of God and his blessed mother let neither High nor Low Rich nor Poore hope to find any fauour at Deaths hands Ioshuah did stop the Sunne in his course Moses the waters of the red Sea Ioseph did prophecie of things to come and many of Gods Saints wrought great Myracles but there is no myracle to be wrought against Death Ieremie tells vs of certain Serpents that cannot be charmed charm the charmer neuer so wisely of this nature is Death Ecclesiasticus introduceth a dead man who speaketh thus by way of aduice to the Liuing Memento judicij mei sic enim erit tuum Heri mihi hodie tibi That man was neuer yet borne nor shall be hereafter that shal not see death or escape this heauie iudgement Salomon commanded the child to be diuided in the middle about whom the two mothers did contend and that sentence which he did not then execute shall bee executed vpon all liuing flesh for all men beeing in regard of the bodie sonnes of the Earth and in regard of the soule the children of Heauen euerie one receiues this sentence from the Iudge at his death Let the earth returne to the earth from whence it came and the Spirit to God who gaue it life She was a Widow woman The word Erat She was carrieth with it a kind of emphasis she was a sorrowfull and forelorne Widow A Widow ought to bee a rule and patterne of perfection to all other women shee should bee the glasse wherein they should see their faults and what is amisse in them In a word shee was a woman irreprehensible and without blame Nor according to Saint Paul hath the Virgin or the Wife that tie and obligation vpon them as shee hath The one because her small experience in the deceits and vanities of the world may excuse her in many things the other the charge and care that necessarily attends Wedlocke When Absalon entred into the wiues and Concubines of his father the King gaue command they should bee shut vp like so many Recluses because they had opened the doore vnto him as if the King had beene dead And Widowes are to liue so seperated and seuered from the world as if they liued not in it Isiodore expoundeth the Spanish word Viuda which signifies a Widow to be quaâ—i vidua diuided from her husband as the Vine from the Elme which was it's prop and stay which being taken away the Vine lieth leuell with the ground and without any comfort The Hebrew deriueth the name of Widow from a certain word which signifieth both bound dumbe now to be bound and dumbe are the conditions and properties of him that is dead who is neither able to mooue nor speake So that the vulgar Translation calls a Widow Sterilem barren and vnfruitfull as it is in Iob and in Esay Another letter stiles her Eradicatam pluckt vp by the Roots as a tree that is quite rooted vp that it may neuer grow nor waxe greene againe The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Frankincense They must not smell of Amber nor of Ciuet but of Frankinsense which they offer vp in Incense for a widdow ought to lead the remnant of her dayes so neere vnto her husbands Tombe that her garments should sauour of that incensorie perfume Of such Widowes as these God hath that especiall care that none shall doe them any wrong for the teares that drop downe from their cheekes ascend as high as Heauen And as the vapours that are exhaled from the earth come downe againe in lightning and thunder and terrible tempests so prooue the Widowes teares to those that shall vniustly cause them to weep and draw those watred drops from their eyes Heliodorus pretended to rob the Temple of Ierusalem
and to take away the portions that were deposited for the maintenance of Widowes who wept most bitterly this generall lamentation made way to Gods Tribunall hee sent downe one on a goodly faire horse armed at all points who ouerthrew Heliodorus vpon the pauement and presently two young men fell vpon him and whipt him with scourges till they left him as it were for dead For this cause did God comfort this Widow at the gates of the Citie where the Iudges had their Tribunalls notifying vnto them that they should take Widowes into their tutelage protection and the rather for that a supremer Iudge the Iudge both of Heauen and Earth was willing to take so much the more care of them by how the more was their solitude and priuate course of life Saint Hierome writing to Furia and Eustochius vttereth excellent things of those that are true Widows indeed and of those that are Widowes but in jeast and sport Of the former Iudith and Anna Samuels mother were notable examples And amongst the Gentiles Artemisia Queene of Caria who not desirous to buâ—ie her husband in Vrnes of siluer or gold buried him in her owne bowells by drinking downe his ashes in contemplation whereof there is a verie medicinable herbe called after her name Artemisia which all Widowes in stead of other hearbes or flowers ought to haue lying by them vpon their Estrado's their beds and their chamber windowes Of those other fabulous widowes Alcione may serue as an example who tooke on so extreamely for the death of her husband that the gods were faine to comfort her and when they had giuen her comfort she was metamorphised at last into a Bird bearing the same name of which Saint Ambrose sayth That it liues about riuers of waters the feathers thereof being greene and the beake red in token that those Widowes that so quickely receiue comfort their life is commonly greene and youthfull and their words red and full of amorous passions lanching themselues forth like Ships into a sea of vices and voluptuous pleasures turning their vails to sailes which faile with euerie wind Christ taking pittie of her c. It is not here said That he pittied the son but the mother for they that die are not so much to be pittied as they that liue for if he that dies goe to Hell we wrong Gods justice if we take any commiseration of them and if they goe to Heauen their happinesse doth not require it hauing more reason to enuie than pittie them Lots wife was turned into a piller of salt because she sorrowed for the burning of Sodome and in Heauen as there can be no miserie so is it impossible that there should be any commiseration so that pittie is onely to bee reduced to those that liue The Scripture calleth death Rest and Sleepe Saint Paul saith I would not haue you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleepe that yee sorrow not euen as others which haue no hope And Ecclesiasticus giueth vs this aduice Weepe moderately ouer the dead seeing he is at rest The Scripture calls life a Warfare a pilgrimage a Husbandmans taske or day labour a nauigation c. Mans life is a warfare vpon earth and his dayes like the dayes of an hireling c. The souldier desireth to see the end of his Warre and the Traueller his trauell ended to returne againe into his owne Countrie an hireling looketh for a reward of his worke a Mariner for a good voyage and man for death Gaudent vehementer cum inuenerint mortem Great was mans misfortune that he was to enter into a sea so full of miseries But as Nazianzen saith death againe was great gaine vnto him Taking pittie of her c. Greater was Christs sorrow and compassion for this disaster than that of this Widow woman for that harme which hapneth vnto vs toucheth vs in comparison but lightly but toucheth God euen in the verie apples of his eyes and this did Christs mercie and pittie manifest in the hast that he made in other his myracles He had many suitors to intreat him to raise vp Lazarus as Martha and Marie so likewise to restore the Centurions seruant to his former health he was solicited by the Priests and the Elders Here onely his mercie mooued him thereunto and therefore it is said Misericordia motâ—s In the firie Bush that flamed and was not consumed with the fire God did represent those firie scourges wherewith they scourged his People and the fire of those Furnaces wherein they baked their bricke and therefore he said vnto Moses Vade Goe thy wayes which is all one as if he should haue said vnto him It is I that am thus scortched and scourged and therefore Vade hast thee to Pharaoh But some will obiect If God be so hastie to helpe his People why did he suffer them to be imbroiled 40 yeres before they could cast out the Ammorits the Iebusites especially it beeing the Land which hee had promised vnto them Whereunto himselfe giues this resolution Their sinnes were not yet growne vp to their heigth So that his leading them all this while through the Wildernesse was a lesse miserie than their remaining in Aegypt and therefore he dismisseth Moses with a Vade giuing him full power and Commission to free his People willing him to hasten away that they might be eased of their torment as if himselfe had felt the smart thereof more than they Hee could not indure that his friends should suffer affliction and because he had said Cum ipso sum in tribulatione he would not be taxed of the breach of his word So that when God is with thee in thy tribulation he will giue an issue to thine afflictions because hee suffers in them as well as thy selfe and if he doe not come in to helpe thee it is because thy sinnes haue made him vnsencible thereof But doe thou mouere à peccato and thou shalt find him as it is here in my Text miseriâ—ordia motus He said vnto her Weepe not It caused much admiration seemed somwhat strange to those that were there present that our Sauiour seeing the teares and anguish of this sorrowfull and wretched widow should vpon so sad an occasion say vnto her Noli flere Weepe not We know that there are diuers and sundrie sorts of teares Some are occasioned by the excessiue sorrow and griefe of our owne sinnes of this nature were those teares of Marie Magdalen of Dauid and of Peter Others are drawne from vs vpon a fellow-feeling and sorrowfulnesse for other mens faults of this kind were those of Saint Paul Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote vnto you with many teares so much was he grieued with the newes he receiued from them of that incestuous person and the punishment of Excommunication inflicted vpon him And to the Philippians I haue told you often and now tell you euen weeping that they are the enemies of the
Crosse of Christ. And those teares likewise which those men shed who did bewaile the miseries of Ierusalem whose foreheads God commanded to be marked with the letter Tau Others are shed by vs meerely out of compassion for other folks misfortunes and such as these were the teares of our Sauiour Christ He beheld the Citie and wept ouer it So likewise at Lazarus death Iesus wept Did not I weepe for him that was in trouble Was not my soule grieued for the Poore And Ieremie did neuer make an end of weeping for the miseries of his people Others the deuout meditation of Christs bitter torments extort from vs According as it was prophecied by Zach. They shall looke on me whom they haue pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his onely sonne and shall be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first borne Others gutter downe from vs out of a vehement and earnest desire wee haue to our celestiall Countrie and to the enioying of that our heauenly habitation Of this qualitie were those of Dauid Woe is mee that the time of my pilgrimage is prolonged And in another place My teares were my bread euen day and night And all these seuerall sorts of teares spring from the Fountaine of Grace and are comprehended vnder the stile of blessednesse Beati qui lugent Blessed are they that weepe c. There is another sort of teares which flow from naturall pittie and conceiued griefe for the death of our parents children kinsfolkes and friends as also for losse of wealth honour health and the like and when the Scripture mentions them it doth not reprehend them The Shunamite bewailed her dead sonne Marie Magdalen the losse of her brother Lazarus and humane Histories recommend these teares of pitty vnto vs Alexander wept when he met with a troup of poore miserable Greekes that were all totterd and torne and they who vpon such sad and miserable spectacles are not tender eyed and hearted are cruel creatures Viscera â—orum cruaelia saith Salomon and Saint Paul stiles them Siâ—â— affectione Voyd of naturall affection Now these teares may offend two manner of wayes First In their excesse for God will not haue vs to bewaile that thing much which in it selfe is little Saint Augustine hath obserued That after Iacob began to mourne for the losse of Ioseph and the bereauing him of Beniamin which mourning of his continued almost the space of twentie yeares God withdrew those Regalos and fauours from him which hee was wont to conferre vpon him before the Angells ascended and descended the ladder before the Angell gaue him strength to wrestle all night long c. before he inioyed prosperitie wiues children and victorie against Esau but afterwards the more teares the more sorrow fell vpon him for God neuer grants to the teares of the earth the comforts of Heauen And although he permit a mannerly and moderate kind of naturall pittie according to that of Ecclesiasticus Super mortuum modicum plâ—ra And in another place Quasi dira passus incipe plorare My sonne let teares fall downe ouer the Dead and begin to lament as if thou hadst suffered great harme thy selfe Such few drops he fauoureth and cherisheth but if they be excessiue or ouermuch he condemneth them as vnlawfull and as a wrong done vnto God For the losing of God or the losse of his loue thou mayst well weepe World without end because it is an incomparable losse but for the outward losses of this World Incipe plorare Begin thou to weepe but quickly make an end The second offence is That a man hauing cause enough to bewaile his owne sinnes the losse of his Soule and of God doth notwithstanding lament these earthly transitorie losses neglecting the former This disorder Christ sought to rectifie and amend in those tender-hearted women of Ierusalem who wept so bitterly to see how ill hee was vsed by the Iews and how heauie the burthen of his Crosse lay vpon him Daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for mee but weepe for your selues c. He went and touched the coffin The first place is taken vp here by his mercie which is the wel-head of al those blessings which we receiue from his bountiful hand His Prouidence doth conserue vs his wisedom protect vs gouern vs his Goodnesse sustaines vs his Liberalitie inricheth vs his Grace healeth vs And all this floweâ—h from the fountaine of his Mercie The antients stiled Iupiter Optimus maximus Because as Cicero notes it the attribute of Beneficence is more gratefull and acceptable in God than his Greatnesse and Power In the second place came in his words of comfort Noli fâ—ere weepe not In the third his hands Tetigit loculum Heere hee exerciseth his hands his tongue and his heart If we cannot imitate the hands of our Sauiour Christ in doing good yet at least imitate his heart and his tongue For Pittie and words cost nothing and are wanting to few They made a stand that bare him Here he shewed himselfe Lord both of the liuing and the dead And therefore Saint Luke vseth this word Dominâ—â— Hanâ— cum vidisset Dominus When the Lord had seene her These that bare him thus to his graue are first of all a stampe or token of the goods of this life which carrie vs step by step from our honors riches delights and pastimes to the house of eternall lamentation and mourning Secondly they are a stamp or token of il lewd companie which say to an vnexperienced ignorant yongman Come along with vs and let vs lay wait for blood They are like those highway robbers which persuade men to rob kill saying We wil make our selues rich c. Or like those carnall men which crie vnto vs Come let vs take our pleasure Of this People the Prophet Esay complained saying This is a People robbed spoyled they are all of them snared in holes they are hid in prison houses they are for a prey none deliuereth for a spoyle none saith Restore The Deuill and his Ministers lead your wilfull young men away captiue clap them into Hels Dungeon and there is none that deliuereth them or to say so much as Alas poore man whither wilt thou run on to thy destruction Young man I say vnto thee Arise He called him by the name of his age or youth because that had brought him to his graue for it is sinne that sises out our lifâ— and cuts it short Youth is a kind of broken Ship which leaks draws in water at a thousand places so that of force it must quickely sinke Elâ—hu sayd That if a young man will be obedient and be ruled he shall enioy his dayes in peace but if he will be head-strong vngouerned Morietur in tempestate anima â—ius vita inter effoeminatos The Seuentie render it In adolescentia for a Tempest at sea and Youth that is tossed too
vs it is a kind of imperfection because these affections or passions fall a balling without any reason in the world and no iust occasion being giuen But in our Sauior Christ these passions were not without cause as Saint Augustine hath noted it Saint Gregorie and Saint Hierome neither can they presse him further than hee is pleased to command them If here our anger take hold vpon vs it is like a fierce mastiffe which being set on by his Master takes hold on the Bul and will not let him go though he be rated off againe and againe In conclusion two things doth here recommend themselues vnto vs. The one That our Sauiour Christ was angrie The other That he was mooued to much compassion His anger was occasioned through the Iewes incredulitie as it is noted by Cardinall Tolet and Caietane whose hardnesse and vnbeleefe was such that hee was forced to take Lazarus his life from him to disconsolate those two kind Sisters to draw teares from their eyes and sobs from their brest and afterwards to returne himagaine vnto the world and onely that some might be drawne to beleâ—ue Saint Cyril saith That this his anger was against Death and the Deuill as if he had threatned their ouerthrow and vowed their destruction as it is prophecied by Osee O mors ero mors tua O death I will be thy death c. Vbi posuistis eum Where haue yee laid him c. O Lord Why shouldst thou aske this question I answer That he did it for two reasons The one The countenance of a Sinner is so strangely changed and is so strangely altered from what he was before he fell sicke of sinne that it is a phrase of Scripture to say God doth not know him Thou lendest thy friend thy Horse or thy Cloake the one is returned to thee so lame and so leane the other so ill vsed and so vtterly spoyled that not knowing thyne owne thou sayest This is not that which I lent Of an vntowardly and vngratious sonne the father will vsually say He is none of my sonne so said God to the foolish Virgins and to those that had wrought myracles in his name Nescio vos I know yee not Your Robbers on the Highway disfigure the faces of those whom they rob and murder to the end they may not be knowne And there is nothing that makes the Soule fouler than Sin Denigrata est facies eorum super carbones and it beeing so faire beautifull before it is no great meruaile that God should not know it So that now our Sauiour seemes not to know the place there being so great a difference betweene the one place and the other that of the life of Grace and that of the death of Sinne that he here askes Vbi posuistis eum Where haue yee layd him Saint Chrysostome alledgeth That hee vsed the like question when hee called vnto Adam saying Adam Adam vbi es Adam where are thou I find thee in a different place from that wherein I put thee I placed thee in prosperity and content and I find thee now in wretchednesse and in miserie Who caused this so great an alteration in thee Saint Cyprian saith That this question was made more to the Sinne than to the Sisters and that Lazarus representing Mankind he said speaking of our sinnes Vbi posuistis eum Where haue yee layd him I placed him in Paradice and yee haue put him in the graue The like is reported by Petrus Crysologus and he calleth the Graue the Caue wherein the Deuill hides his thefts and because the beginning of all this harme proceeded from woman he asketh the Sisters Vbi posuistis eum Where haue yee layd him For there are many women God hauing placed man in honour happinesse and health which bring man to his graue The other A Sinner through sinne is remooued so farre from God in Regionem longinqâ—am that God askes where he is For if it were possible for man to hide himselfe from the all-seeing eye of God doubtlesse he would hide himselfe in the land of Darkenesse that is of Sinne. And therefore it is said The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous and the way of the Wicked shall perish And Iesus wept Of this sheding of teares wee haue rendred many reasons elsewhere Those which now offer themselues are these The first is of Saint Ambrose and Saint Chrysostome who say That Christ was mooued to weepe by seeing Marie and Martha weepe Christ seeing the Widow of Naim weepe said vnto her Noli flere Weepe not and in the house of the chiefe Ruler of the Synagogue he sought to diuert their teares and yet heere these of Marie seeme to extort by force the falling of these teares from his tender eyes Marie had accustomed her selfe to talke with our Sauior in this â—ind of Language it being a Cypher which onely our Sauiour vnderstood and because she talked to him in teares he answers her in teares The exhalations of Maries heart ascend vp to the heauen of Christs eyes and these humane teares draw downe diuine teares obtaining that by grace which was impossible for nature to compasse The second is of Saint Hilarie and Epiphanius who affirme That he thinking on the obstinacie of the Iewes and their finall perdition brake forth thus into teares For no man can comprehend what an offence to God is saue God himselfe and therefore none ô Lord can so truly bewaile sinne as thy selfe And it seeming to our Sauiour Christ that two eyes were too little to lament their miserie he added fiue wounds which serued as so many weeping eyes not shedding water but bloud Saint Bernard saith That in the Garden our Sauior did sweat bloud that he might weepe with all his whole bodie treating therin touching the remedie of the mysticall bodie of the Church Eusebius Emisâ—nus saith That he did groane and weepe in token that wee ought grieuously to lament and bewaile our sinnes And to this purpose saith Ieremie Call for the mourning women that they may come let them make hast and let them take vp a lamentation for vs that our eyes may cast out teares and our eye lids gush out of water And why I pray you so much weeping and lamentation Quia ascendit mors per fenestras as it followeth anon after Because death is come vp into our windowes and is entred into our Pallaces to destroy the children without and the young men in the streets The Soule is gone forth and Death hath entred in weepe therefore c. The death of the bodie is a type of that of the soule And therefore Saint Gregorie saith If I shall walke in the midst of the shadow of death He saith That the departing of the bodie from the soule is but a shadow but the departing of the soule from God is a truth and as a shadow is a refreshing in Sommer so is death to the Righteous The Wicked sticke not to say
There is no comfort in the end of man But Gods Saints say Thou hast couered vs with the shadow of death When the fire of Hell did threaten vs Death did shelter vs with it's shade Cada vno habla de la Feria como le va en ella Euerie one speaketh of the Market as hee makes his pennie-worths The Iust hath no cause to weepe because hee that enioyeth God enioyeth all the happinesse that can be spoken or imagined but the Sinner may crie out Ego plorans oculus meus deducens aquas quia longè factuâ— est à me consolator It being the soule of my soule and now seuered so far from me thou hast cause to bewaile a bodie without a soule It is a lamentable thing saith Saint Augustine that we should bewaile other losses and not that of our soule Quid tam malè de nobis meruit anima nostra How hath our soule so ill deserued of vs He there considers the great care we haue of a new suit of cloathes that neither the dust the moath nor the least wrinckle should hurt it but are verie curious in folding of it vp He that buyes hath an especiall eye to two things The one to looke verie well to that he buyes be it pearles apparell or horses and will first make proofe and diligent enquirie of their goodnesse c. The other To cast about with himselfe how he shall be able to pay and to driue the price as well as he can Doe thou likewise endeauour to vse the like diligences concerning thy soule consider first what kind of stuffe it is and what it is worth and then beat the price and see for what thou canst buy it Which course if thou shalt but take thou wilt looke to it the better and esteeme it the more and not set so slight by it as many doe Take yee away the stone He stinketh alreadie for he hath beene dead foure dayes Lazarus being now foure dayes dead lying stinking in his graue and with a tombe-stone vpon him doth represent a Sinner that through long custome is growne old in his sinnes That which might well haue beene cured hauing gotten strength by time is become incurable not that it is impossible to be healed but because it is a strange kind of cure and healed with a great deale of difficultie And therefore the Wiseman saith That a Young man enured to ill Age will not make him giue it ouer Chrysostome calls Custome Febrim furiosam a hot burning Feuer whose raging flame taking hold on our appetites there is no water that can quench it Phylon calls it Regem animae The King of our soule agreeing with that language of Saint Paul Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies Plato reprehending a certaine Scholler of his of some â—ight faults which he confessing but making light of them his Master told him Custome is no such light thing as you make it It is Saint Hieromes obseruation That Ieremie said O Lord I know not how to speake because I am but a child And Esay Woe vnto me that I haue held my peace for I am a man of polluted lips The one God cured by onely touching his mouth with his finger the other he was faine to cauterise with a hot burning cole Now the infirmitie being all one why should the remedies bee so disequall I answere That the sinne of Ieremie was but a child as it were verie young and tender and therefore any the least remedie would serue his turne but Esay was an old grown Courtier c. Saint Augustine dwells much vpon this word Quatriduanus his foure dayes lying in the graue The Euangelists make mention of three dead persons which our Sauiour raised vp to life not that he had not raised vp more but because these doe represent the deaths of our soules The daughter of the chiefe Ruler of the Synagogue which went not out of her house represent those our secret sinnes which passe in our withdrawne roomes and the closest by-corners about the house The young man of Naim those publique sinnes which proclaime themselues in the Market place and comming out of doores offer themselues to euerie mans view your widows sonnes being generally lewd and ill giuen Lazarus those that stinke and grow vnsauorie through their too long custome of sinning hauing lien long in this graue of death Saint Augustine saith That the name of three in Scripture betokeneth many sinnes but that of foure more than many And this phrase of speech is vsed by Amos For three transgressions of Moah and for foure I will not turne to it signifying thereby many more than many O terque quaterque beati implies a world of happinesse to the like sence sounds this word Quatriduanus Foure dayes since Whence it is to be noted That sins when they begin like the waters to swell so high they leaue their bed and run ouer the bankes causing a miserable inundation Gods anger growing wearie in the expectation of our amendment draws his sword at last to cut vs off The sinnes of Sodome cried out so loud that the clamor thereof came to Gods eare so shril was the noyse that it brake through those other inferiour heauens and ascended vp to the Throne of Thrones where he sate in his Imperiall Maiestie God was wondrous angrie at it yet had hee this patience with himselfe that before he would execute his wrath vpon them he said Vadam videbo I will goe downe and see whither they haue done altogether according to that crie which is come vnto me c. What greater euidence ô Lord of thy loue than these thy delayes God did beare with them yet a little while longer and hee did looke and stand waiting to see whether Sodome would amend the foulenesse of her sinne so that when hee came downe to see how things passed had he found them sorrowfull for what they had done amisse and repenting themselues of their former euill life hee would haue sheathed his sword and withdrawne his displeasure The same conceit passeth in that Parable of the Tares the Tares grew vp amongst the Wheat and the seruants asking their Master Wilt thou that we goe and plucke vp the tares He said vnto them No let them grow vp both together And why so ô Lord It may be they wil die and wither away of themselues if not the haruest will come ere long and they shall be cut downe bound vp and cast into the ouen So that Gods patience you see is great but when we perseuer in ill Gods anger comes like an inundation vpon vs. But I will conclude this point with Saint Austens owne conclusion Sub tali resuscitatore de nullo iacente desperandum est Let no man despaire of rising be he neuer so much cast downe hauing such a one to raise him vp from Death to Life as our Sauiour Christ Iesus who is all Loue and Mercie and Goodnesse and the
sence so sutable to the Text because Christ doth there point out the immediat cause of that their incredulitie and that this was not so much a predestination or reprobation as that their present hardnesse of heart and vnbeleefe yet notwithstanding I must giue you to vnderstand That to heare the word of God is a great Prenda and pledge of our predestination especially being accompanyed with these foure concurring circumstances The first is Audire To â—eare the word· Blessed are they that heare the word of God This is the first step And he that doth not put forward a foot to this is not to be accounted a child of God The husbandman in the Gospell sow'd his seed in foure seuerall parts of the ground and if in any one of them hee forbare to sow it was because he did not take it to be his Many birds are taken and delighted with the light as your partridges and your pigeons But your wolfes beares bores and other wild beasts flye from it all that they can It is Chrysostomes note That when God went about to catch Paul the light went afore the voyce For the voyce will affright the blind but the light will make him in loue therewith Saint Paul preaching to the Iewes said The light of the Gospell was principally ordained for you But seeing ye put it from yee ye iudge your selues vnworthy of euerlasting life And treating of the Gentiles he saith That they did glorifie the Word of God and that they did beleeue it and giue credit thereunto And when the Gentiles heard it they were glad saith the Apostle and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained vnto eternall life beleeued I am the way the truth and the life And he that looseth this way looseth the truth and looseth life euerlasting The second is Aâ—dire cum frequentia To heare the word frequently and very often The earth that is extraordinary dry and scorched with heat the drops of water which it receiueth it turneth into toades And hee that seldome frequents sermons it is to be feared they worke little good vpon him if not turne to his hurt Many will come to heare Sermons but with a preiudicate opinion and are more carefull to picke a quarrell against the Preacher than profit themselues The franticke patient that throwes stones at the Physitian that cures him puts himselfe in great pâ—rill In a word The Word of God is the Soules sustenance and being ministred slowly it is no meruaile if it fall into a Consumption The third is Audire cum attentione To heare diligently and with attention freeing the soule from all worldly cares and incumbrances for as the eyes cannot ioyntly and at once behold both Heauen and Earth so the Soule cannot attentiuely at one and the same time behold the things of the World and of God If any man loue the world the loue of the Father abideth not in him When a great and principall Riuer is diuided into many Riuolets or little streames so much the lesse water will euerie one of them haue The like succeedeth with that heart which is diuided into many cares and desires Foolish and noysome lusts drowne men in perdition and destruction And Salomon saith When thou sittest with a Prince obserue what is before thee and put thy knife vnto thy throat if thou bee a man giuen to thy appetite A Christians sitting at the King of Heauens Table is the hearing of his Doctrine this is that Boord whereunto Wisedome inuiteth vs. Where the Bread of wholesome Doctrine is set before thee which strengthneth the heart of man and the Wine of Grace which cheereth and comforteth the heart At which Table whosoeuer shall come to sit must consider with attention that which is set before him casting out of his mind all other worldly things Those Ministers that were imployed for the apprehending of our Sauiour Christ finding him preaching to the People they hearkened vnto him with that earnest and diligent attention that they had quite forgot to put that in execution which was giuen them in charge by the Pharisees and being demanded by them Why did yee not bring him along with you They returned this answer Neuer any man spake as he spake The glorious Doctor Saint Augustine before that he had vnwinded himselfe out of the errour of the Maniâ—hees hee went of purpose to heare Saint Ambrose but not with intention to giue any credit to his Doctrine but to delight himselfe with the elegancie of his phrase and being rauished with the sweetnesse of his words had his heart taken as well as his eâ—re his attention supplied the fault of his intention this was that putting of the knife to the throat The glorious Apostle Saint Paul goes a little further and calls Gods Word not only Cultrum but Gladium not a Knife but a Sword Take vnto thee the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God What then Marrie he giues thee a caueat in these insuing words Si tamen habes in potestate animaâ—â— tuam That thy soule be not distracted with the troublesome businesses of this world Saint Chrysostome compares the soule of the Iust to a Poole of Water which stands all alone in some low Valley where there is all stilnesse reposednesse freshnesse cleerenesse and the Sunne-beames purest brightnesse Salomon likeneth the Soule of a sinner to a troubled and tempestuous Sea The heart of the Wicked is as a raging sea The fourth is Audire cum conseruatione To heare with a retention and to lay vp the Word of God in our hearts Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it Not they who heare the Word of God and forget it taking it in at one eare and letting it out at another but they which heare it and keepe it It is Saint Gregories obseruation That the Physition doth despaire of that Patients stomacke that cannot keepe it's meat but throwes it vp as soone as it receiueth it Saint Chrysostome aduiseth That he that heareth a Sermon should doe as he doth that comes out of a Bath presently to retyre himselfe get him to his Chamber there keepâ— himselfe warme wrap good store of cloathes about him that the ill humors may the better be exhaled and drawne from him Plutarch telleth vs That many take no pleasure in Flowers or care any further for them than to looke vpon them smell to them and haue them in their hands buâ— the Bee drawes from them both honie and wax and the Apothecarie makes many medicines of them against diuers and sundrie diseases Many heare Sermons onely for their pleasure for the elegancie of the stile delicacie of words grauity of sentences and the gracefulnesse in their deliuerie but this is but to make a nosegay to smell to for a while and cast it anon after into a corner Say we not well that thou art a Samaritane and hast a Deuill One of the greatest miseries than
others beleeuing and louing those things which they see and enioy that hee should loue that which he enioyeth not and beleeue that which hee seeth not but hopeth for it is Miraculum A meere myracle That a man should despâ—se Goâ—d and esteeme no better of the honours and pleasures of this world than of the durt that he treads vnder his feet these being the Idolls that mans heart doth vsually most adore it is Miraculum A meere myracle Zacharie and Ecclesiasticus call Iesus the Priest the sonne of Iosedec and those his friends that were in his companie Viros portentosos Prodigious men By whom some vnderstand Sidrac Misach and Abeanego those three Children which returned with Zorobabel to Palestine But Saint Iohn doth indeere this in his Apocalyps where making a description of the Iust he saith A great signe or wonder appeared in Heauen And that this conceit may extend it selfe a little further there are two things to be supposed The one That God painting forth by Esay the greatnesse of the world compares it to a drop of water Quasi stilla situlae As the drop of a Bucket Who hath measured the waters in his fist and counted Heauen with the spanne and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountaines in a weight and the hills in a ballance All Nations before him are as nothing all the world and it's greatnes is as a drop of water it is a dust and counted by him lesse than nothing But of the Iust we may say Signum magnum apparuit in Coelo It is a great myracle in Heauen The other That beholding from Heauen the bredth of the earth it seemeth but a poore Cottage the least of the Starres is greater than the earth and being beheld from thence it seemeth to be the palme of a mans hand and the Sunne which is a hundred and seuentie times bigger seemeth in comparison about the bignesse of a Buckler And that a man should be iust it is Grande miraculum and that he should thirst after Heauen it is Signum magnum and therefore it is here said If any man thirst c. If any man thirst He inuiteth him that is thirstie to desire it First Because Heauen is to be gained Labore sudore By labour and by sweat and for this cause it is called in Scripture a Crowne a Reward a dayes Wages now for to clamber ouer so many walls We had need be verie thirstie and haue a good desire vnto it Secondly Because such pretious water is not fitting to be giuen vnto him that hath no great mind vnto it If in those lesser things here on earth he that giues makes such reckning of the esteem that the pretender holds of that he sueth for What shall it bee in that good which beeing enioyed the soule is not able to comprehend it for in the matter of giuing and receiuing so necessarie is the gusto and contentment that a man takes therein that he that giues with disgust giues not and he that receiues with disgust receiueth not what is giuen And therefore Seneca in his booke De Beneficijs setteth downe the decorum that is to be held therein Ecclesiasticus saith There is a gift which is not profitable and there is a gift whose retribution is manifold In receiuing this reason carrieth the more force with it for who is he that will giue to him that hath no desire to receiue And with God it is more forcible for he will haue all his gifts to bee our rewards and therefore he calls those our gifts which in all strictnesse are his The Lord respected Abel his gifts The Lambs that were offered were Gods Al the best of the Woods are myne c. yet out of his goodnesse he calls them Abels All that we offer is his Quae de manu tua accepimus reddimus tibi yet he stiles it ours so that the loathing and distaste of receiuing takes away the desire of giuing When the People of Israel began to say Our stomacke is wearie of that light meat presently Gods prouidence iudged them vnworthie of that fauour Whence it is to be noted That this vnwillingnesse doth not onely rise from a little liking which man hath of Heauen but of the great liking that hee hath to these earthly goods And this is a two fold fault The one That we should despise the fountaine of liuing Water The other That we should thirst after the water of loathsome and durtie puddles Who will forgoe cleere and sweet waters for those bloudie pooles of Aegypt Exodus sayth Quicquid habueris de pluuia conuertetur in sanguinem Who will leaue the sweet waters of Siloah which silently glide along for to drinke of that fierie lake wherof Daniel speaketh wherein as he said one sorrow is That they should despise the sweeter Waters another That they should thirst after the muddie Waters of the earth There is no impetuousnesse of the fiercest Bull nor of the furiousest Horse comparable to that of a Sinner which thirsteth after his vaine appetites and idle desires Saint Hierome and Theodoret both say That in this Si quis he neither dismisseth nor inforceth but that hee publisheth the generall desire which he hath to communicate his spirituall Graces He that beleeueth in me saith the Scripture out of his bellie shall flow riuers of Water of Life To the Thirstie that shall drinke of this water of Life that shall not succeed to them as befalleth those that drinke of dead standing Pooles who within a little while after haue greater thirst than they had before for they shall haue within their brests a liuing Fountaine whence great riuers of water shall flow they shall enioy such a fulnesse of all good that they shall haue enough to communicate vnto others Saint Gregorie Saint Chrysostome vnderstand by this Fountaine the Holy-Ghost from whome euerie good thing doth proceed As saith the Scripture Albeit there be many places in the sacred Scripture which prophecie the aboundant plentie of spirituall Waters there is none that can say That this is alledged in particular Origen is of opinion That that of the Prouerbs hath the most apparance Bibe aquam ex cisterna tua fluenta putei tui or as the Hebrew hath it Et fluenta de medio putei tui so that Fluenta is the same as Flumina as it seemeth to the Cardinall of Toledo This spake he of the Spirit which they that beleeued in him should receiue And this blessed Spirit is fitly compared to water in regard of it's effects The first effect of water is To clense Ezechiel I wâ—ll poure vpon you cleane water and yee shall be cleane But all the water in the world cannot wash a Blacke-a-moore white indeed there is no water that can make that which is blacke white but the Holy-Ghost can doe this it can adde a new cleannesse and a new beautie thereunto Thou shalt wash
or a milde word is enough The second is The meekenesse softnesse and euennesse of their nature and condition Beati mites Bâ—essed are the Meeke in spirit your Reprobates are soure vnsauorie and vnquiet In a word they are like Goats you shall scarce meet with a Reprobate but leads a troubled life like a Theefe that lookes euery houre when he shall be hanged or in such a distraction or deiection as Cain liued in Cur concidit facies tua Why is thy countenance falne downe And as it is in Deutronomie The Lord shall giue thee a trembling heart and a sorrowfull mind and thy life shall hang before thee and thou shalt feare both day and night and shalt haue none assurance of thy life in the morning thou shalt say Would God it were euening and at euening thou shalt say Would God it were morning for the feare of thyne heart which thou shalt feare and for the sight of thyne eyes which thou shalt see The heart of the Wicked is fearefull and euerie bush represents a Dog vnto him that bites him In the middest of all his pleasures Hell represents it selfe to the Reprobate his soule is consumed with sorrow quasi pendens ante se He lookes like one that is condemned to be hanged But the Iust doth enioy an inward comfort a heauenly ioy singing cherefully with Dauid that sweet Anthem Inhabitat gloria in terra nostra c. Surely his saluation is neere to them that feare him that Glorie may dwell in our Land The third is the point of profit For in the Sheepe which signifies the Elect there is wooll milke butter cheese and flesh But it is not so in the Goat whereby are noted the Reprobate as hath beene obserued by Saint Hilary and Saint Chrysostome The fourth is The sheepe walkes in wayes that are plaine quiet and secure But the goat goes clambring on the tops of dangerous rocks browzing amongst bushes and thornes and at last waxing weary falls down headlong to hell Ambulauimus vias difficiles lassati sumus via iniquitatis Wee haue walked through craggie paths and haue tyred our selues in the way of iniquitie Many good workes haue I shewed yee for which of these workes doe yee stone mee They tooke vp stones for to stone him and whâ—n they had them in their hands ready to fling at him he forced their attention and made them whether they would or no to hearken vnto him Many good workes haue I shewed you for which of these workes doe ye stone me It is an easier thing for a man to grow vnthankfull and forgetfull of a great number of benefits than one single good turne One or two courtesies men vsually rest thankfull for them and beare them still in memorie But as the Spaniard sayes Los muchos se vienen por muchos à oluidar Many for that they are many are forgotten by many Their muchnesse lessens their remembrance There are foure faire mothers that bring forth very foule children As Truth enimies Familiaritie contempt Hope despaire and Muchnesse of benefits muchnesse of obliuion Incontinently they forgat his workes Dauid doth there treat of the adoration of the golden calfe and his meditation thereupon is That the many fauours that that people had receiued from Gods hands being so fresh as they were in their memories as the flyes which for their sakes he sent to afflict the Aegyptians frogges gnats water turned into blood darknesse the death of their first-borne the Israelites passing safe through the red sea the drowning of Pharaoh and all his charriots and horsemen and the Law giuen them on the Mountaine yet notwithstanding these great and singular fauours these wondrous signes and tokens as the like were neuer done that yet for all this they should like a broken bow so sodainely start aside and fall so quickly into so foule a sinne as none could be more derogatory from Gods honour They sodainely forgot his workes The greater were Gods benefits the more was their obliuion And the reason of it is That laying more vpon a mans shoulders than he is well able to beare it is a thousand to one that his load and he doe not fall both to the ground The lesse the benefits are the more cheerefully a man receiues them And why so Marry I shall tell you why Because then there is some hope that a man may liue to requite them and to discharge that debt for the which in thankfulnesse he stands bound But when they are so great that we are not able to make satisfaction such extraordinarie curtesies are repayd oftentimes with vnkindnes if not with hatred Thou owest thy neighbour a summe of money be it more or lesse nor does it grieue and afflict thee to see this thy Crediter or to looke him in the face but rather takest pleasure and comfort in his companie yet if all that thou art worth shouldst thou sell thy selfe to thy very shirt be not able to discharge that debt thou hadst as liefe see the diuell as him Quintus Curtius reporteth that Alexander grew to hate Antipater and for no other reason in the world but that he had obtained so many victories and reduced so many nations to his obedience that hee did tacitely demand that requitall of him which he was not able to make him and conferring many fauours on those souldiers which had done him but little seruice he neglected Antipater that had done him most The same reason is to bee rendred of Hannibal and Carthage of Lycurgus and Lacedemonia and of Saul and Dauid but there is no example to that of a woman in this kind serue her neuer so faithfully entertaine her neuer so royally court her day and night feede her humorous disposition wa st both thy purse and thy bodie and consume all that thou hast to giue her content yet in the end will she grow to hate thee and that which thou thinkest should be the meanes of winning her will be the cause of losing her she will like a Lymbeck draw whatsoeuer is good from thee first by drops then by drams afterwards by ounces lastly by pounds till she haue suckt thee drie that thou hast wholly spent vndone thy selfe in her seruice In a word that I may grow to an end the Iews in those former times were euermore wonderfully beholding vnto God for those many benefits fauors which he had throwne vpon them but now his grace and mercie like a Riuer rising from forth it 's bed extending it selfe so farre that he came himselfe in person to visit them and in such an especiall manner as none could bee more saying particularly vnto them Non sum missus nisi ad Oues Israel I am not sent but to the Sheepe of Israel Why this was so great a fauour that it ouercommeth mans imagination the weight whereof prest both it and them to the ground But God so support vs with his grace that we may thankefully beare in
this torment and miserie vpon his sacred person In finem dilexit eos Vnto the end hee loued them The neerer his death grew the greater grew his loue That comparison of the riuer is not much amisse which takes it's head or beginning from a small fountaine and by little and little goes increasing till in the end it seemes to be a Sea We cannot say that there was any thing little or small in our Sauiour Christ but in some sort taking from his infancie it may comparitiuely bee thus vnderstood His loue was little at the first it began to purle forth in those his teares in the cratch it went on drawing more water in his Circumcision in his exile into Aegypt in his fastings prayers penitences sermons myracles and when hee came to wash his Disciples feet and to giue vnto them his body and blood then was it full sea with him The Iewes did put this question How can this man giue vs his flesh to be eaten Saint Augustine tells vs I will tell you how In the beginning was Loue that Loue was with God God was that Loue and this may serue as an answer to all questions that may be demanded in this kind And as in all other things from his childhood he went to our seeming growing vp still more and more so did his loue likewise goe dayly increasing euen to the houre of his death shewing that he loued vs vnto the end When a mountaine takes fire at first the fire is but small but by degrees growes greater and greater till it comes at last like another Aetna to be a mountaine of fire Ieremy saith That he saw a seething pot The pot by little and little comes to take heat till at last it falls a boyling but the fire vnder it may be so great that it may bubble and runne ouer throwing out all that is within it In our Sauiour Christs breast the fire of his loue did alwayes seeth and boyle apace but in the end this fire grew to so great a flame that it threw out that his flesh and made that his blood to ouerflow which was knit to his soule and Diuinitie That man which Ezechiel saw in the first chapter of his Prophesie one with his feet standing vpon a Saphyre who was all fire but from the head to the girdle the fire was secret and hidden but from the girdle downward euen to the very feet all was on a bright flame His feet stood vpon a Saphyre which is the colour of heauen to shew vnto vs the blessednesse which he did inioy from the very instant of his conception as also to signifie vnto vs that all the life of our Sauiour Christ was a flaming fire of Loue. But in those his younger yeares it was for a while as it were smothered and repressed but afterwards brake forth into those flames that when his houre was come and that he was to dye Those whom he loued he loued vnto the end Some haue sayled ouer the whole Mediterranean haue toucht vpon the coasts thereof and entred vp into it's riuers Others haue past the Streight and arriued at the Cape de buena Esperance of good Hope There was a man that rounded all the world as if he had stood in competition with the Sunne but for all this his Nauagation was not at an end Euery day more countries are discouered but in the sea of Loue there is not that place which the Ship of the Crosse hath not sayled into Omnis consumptionis vidit finem in finem dilexit eos He saw the end of all consumption and loued them vnto the end Aristotle sets downe in his Ethicks three kinds of friendships Honestum Vtile Iucundum That is grounded on Honestie Profit and Pleasure That which is grounded vpon profit will cease when that ceaseth Thou hast a friend that furnisheth thee with moneyes no longer furnish thee no longer a friend So sayes Seneca in an epistle of his to Lucilius That which is founded vpon pleasure and delight liues or dyes as those delights liue or dye in vs. But that which makes Honestie it's ayme that endureth for euer My friend saith Seneca I ought to loue him so well as to follow him in his banishment to releeue him in his necessities and if need were to dye for him Saint Augustine saith that Seneca liued in the time of the Apostles and that it is very probable that he had some communication with Saint Paul and that the Apostle related vnto him what our Sauiour Christ did for his That he accompanied them in their banishment inricht them with the riches of heauen and in the end layd downe his life for them This is that In finem dilexit eos He loued them to the end A great loue can neuer indure a long absence Theodoret saith That Saint Peter hauing heard from Christs owne mouth a Ter me negabis Thou shalt denie mee thrice He would faine haue fled many Leagues from that occasion but that his loue was so great that he held it a lesse ill to denie him by following him than to confesse him by flying from him He tooke so much pleasure in his presence that he chose rather to hazard the losse of his soule than of his beloued sight Holding it a lesse vnhappinesse to denie than not to be in the eye of him whom he loued so dearely Saint Bernard treating of that petition which Moses made vnto God Either blot me out of the booke of life or spare this people giues vs this note out of that place That so great was the loue which the Prophet bare to that people that albeit God did offer him to be chiefe Gouernour ouer a farre better and greater people yet could he not endure to be diuorced from them nor to absent himselfe from their companie and therefore made choise rather of this so sad and grieuous a resolution Aut dele me de libro vitae c. ô Lord either pardon them or condemne me My loue towards them can better abide death and hel than their absence Plut. saith That Loue is like Iuie which if it cleaue but to a stone or an old wall will rather dye than forsake it Christ said vnto his Disciples Vnlesse I goe hence the comforter will not come vnto you All their felicitie consisting in the comming of the Holy Ghost But I goe to prouide a place for you Nobody but I can open the gates of heauen vnto you Our Sauiour said Lift vp your gates ô ye Princes c. Where S. Chrysostome obserueth That it had beene sufficient had he but onely said Open the gates But he did not say Open but take the gates away heaue them off the hookes For heauen that is neuer shut against any hath no need of gates His Disciples might haue said vnto him Lord since we shall receiue so great a good by thy departure Fuge assimulare Caprae hinnuloque ceruorum Yet so great was their loue vnto
all tongue 88 A false interpreter of Scripture 89 Hee hath three ginnes wherewith to entrap man sutable to his ages ibid. A great Bragger but a meere Bankrupt 90 Compared to a flye 91 His imprisonment 92 304 His tyrannie ouer those that follow him 134 286 Alwayes foyled by his owne weapons 269 God alone must vntye his knots 283 and desolue his bargaines 284 and ouercome his strength 287 The way to punish him is to prayse God 289 Why God permits him to rage against Man 292 Till hee bee out of vs no good can enter in 293 The Deuills haue their seuerall imployments 294 All at vnitie against man 298 No Theefe nor Tyrant to the Deuill 299 His competition with God 301 How hee is sayd to possesse what hee hath in peace ibid. Why called the strong man 303 and why the prince of the world ibid. The casting out of Deuills not alwayes a signe of the comming of Gods Kingdome 302 Three sorts of persons possessed with Deuills 304 Whether the Deuills knew Christ or no. 384 c. His rest is to doe mischiefe 304 God turnes his trickes to mans aduantage 306 He can do nothing against vs without vs. 585 Discourse What discourses Christians should vse 218 Disobedience Man shall be condemned for it by all the creatures 380 c. Doctrine Christs doctrine both pleasing and profitable 462 Dogge A name which in holy writ implies the lowest basenesse 157 Dumbe Dumbnesse in a Christian the greatest miserie 288 Dumbe ministers the Deuils best agents 289 Dust. The period and the principle of all things 7 E Earth THe basest of all the Elements 7 Eloquence The force of it 547 Enemies Not to be hated for diuerse reasons 43 47 48 but loued by the example of Pagans 44 of Christ. 52 59 Onely Gods instruments to punish our sinnes 57 Excuses of the flesh against this louing of our his Enemies and their confutation 59 Gods child thinkes it no hard precept to loue Enemies 60 Not safe trusting an Enemie 639 Enuie The Nature of it 125 Earthly things more enuied than spirituall 183 A godly kind of enuie 202 Three mischiefes arise from enuie 320 A dangerous Beast 328 Enuie and Loue alike humorous in making contrarieties 342 The boldest of all Vices 353 and the most venemous 356 A fortunate Vice to others vnfortunate to it selfe 539 Neuer greater than among brethren 556 Hard to be cured 564 Eye The office of the eye 578 How Gods Eyes may be drawne vnto vs. 66 A weeping eye causeth a bleeding heart 170 The eye is the store-house of fauour 432 Difference of eyes ibid. The eye of diuine Pitie euer fixed vpon our pouertie 474 478 The eye is the hearts market place 479 The epitome of man ibid. A great misleader of the heart 482 Gods paine in curing it 483 The power of the eye 613 F Faith IT hath two wings Prayer and Almes 22 The Centurions Faith 34 The Woman of Canaan 142 Faith how said to be great 36 The weakenesse of it in the Disciples 61 The power of it liuely 158 Things aboue the reach of reason hard to bee beleeued 178 Without faith in Christ no remission of sins 199 No true knowledge of Christ without Faith 385 Christ respects not our Knowledge but our Faith 400 Fasting The antiquitie of it 11 The efficacie of it 12 79 What to be obserued in Fasting 13 What to be auoided 14 Three sorts of Fasters 20 True Fasting 21 Our Sauiours Fasting differed from that of Moses and Eliah 78 Motiues to Fasting 79 Feare The occasion of many cruelties 191 Nothing in the world but wee ought to feare it 225 Feare tyes a man to his duty 248 The feare of the Lord a strong defence 249 A discreet feare better than a forward boldnesse 387 Feast The feast of Tabernacles why instituted and how solemnised 544 Three feasts of Dedication among the Iewes 557 The feast of Fire 559 Flatterie Hated of God 116 Fly See Persecution No flying from God 134 138 560 578. Flight in Winter 560 We must fly to God 504 Friend Friendship Wherein true friendship consisteth 313 It is not found amongst kindred or brethren 556 Three sorts of friendship 632 A true friend hard to be found 429 430 False friends whereunto compared 509 G Generall THe maine thing in a General is to free his souldiers from feare 71 73 Gentiles Their calling 38 269 Glorie The Glorie to come how excellent 186 Glutton Gluttonie Gluttons compared to Serpents 395 Gluttonie of all Vices the most dangerous 237 It ill beseemes a Ruler 395 God A sure Pay-master 21 His Maiestie not to be described 107 Euer readie to helpe his children 30. c. His Bountie towards his suppliants 30. How wee should behaue our selues towards him 34 His helpe neuer comes too late 68 Why he deferreth it sometimes 69 Particularly the God of the Faithfull 75 His friendship the surest 86 Hee makes the Deuils practises our preseruatiues 87 His children why called Sheepe and Lambes in holy Writ 154 He proportions his fauours and dis-fauors according to our capacitie 156. and as hee pleaseth 166 The least of his fauours not to be valued 157 His respect in comforting the distressed 164 He pittieth when none else will 170 174. He preuents our necessities 172. How he may beseene of men 184 c. Signes whereby to know whether wee seeke him 202 c. When he may be sayd to be absent from vs. 256 He lookes for fruit where heebestowes his fauours 258 266 He requires nothing of vs but what is for our owne good 258. and he requires notmuch 259 Our destruction greeues him more than his owne dishonour 261 Hee labours our conuersion 266 267 He substracts his blessings when we proue vngratefull 270 His Bountie 282 Why called the hidden God 308 By weake meanes he confounds the mightie ibid. More to be honoured than our Parents 318 His workes and wayes must be reuerenced not discussed 322 Sometimes most our friends when hee denies vs what we aske 323 No respecter of Persons 327 Protects his children otherwise in the new Law than he did in the old 360 Why called the water of Life 401 Euer forward in releeuing our necessities 435 His fauours seldome come single 502 He neuer forskes his friends 503 We must fly to him in all extremities 504 c. Why he appeared to Moses in a Bush. 515 His honour must euer bee preferred before our owne 535 His counsels are vnsearchable 550 Not partiall in bestowing his fauours 554 The way to fly from God is to fly vnto him 578 The onely Lord of all 597 c. No striuing against him 606 Not called the God of any man while hee liueth 609 He delayeth not his fauours 628 His reward exceedeth our requests 628 629 His absence terrible 633 He hath two Houses 635. Good Neuer truely liked till vtterly lost 543 If publike to be preferred before the priuat 181 185 594 Gospell Milder than the Law 346 Grace
because wee setting our whole delight vpon them wee make them prooue vaine vnto vs. A clock is accounted a vaine thing when it strikes not true but miscounts it's houres The harmonie of this World is like a clocke if a man imploy it wholly in his pleasures it makes him become vaine But Salomon spake not a word of these things till hee had made triall of them When the Prodigall went out of his Fathers house Paradises of delights were presented vnto him but when he was gone far from him all was hunger nakednesse miserie This punishment inflicted vpon him made him open his eies and see his errour Amnon enamoured of Thâ—mâ—r was readie to dye for her loue it seeming vnto him that his life did consist in the inioying of her nay hee counted it his heauen But hee had no sooner had his pleasure of her but he kicked her out of doores and could not indure the sight of her The possessing of riches is not of it selfe either good or bad onely the good vse of them makes them good the bad bad And therefore beeing desired by vs Saint Paul stileth them temptation and Sathans snare Qui volunt diuites fieri inâ—idunt in tentationem in laqueum Diaboli i. They that will bee rich fall into Temptation and into the snare of the Deuill So that your imaginarie goods worke more vpon vs and with more aduantage than those which wee inioy and possesse And the reason is for that the Deuill doth represent more glorie to the imagination in such an office such a dignitie such riches such beautie and such delights than is true Facinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona inconstantia concupiscentiae transuertit sensum His cunning witch-craft doth peruert the vnderstanding and makes vs take Ill for Good This is that which our Sauiour Christ called Crapulam ebrietatem saeculi A kind of drunkennes wherwith the men of this World are ouertaken Et inconstantiam concupiscentiae And the Greeke text vseth the word Funda For as that goes alwayes round so doth concupiscence euerie moment altering our desires There are some kind of pictures which if you looke one way vpon them seeme faire and beautifull if another way foule and ougly and full of horror Such doth the Deuill set before thee Thou must haue therefore an eye to the one as to the other looke as wel what is to come as what is present before thee least the Deuill chance to deceiue thee Si cadens adoraueris me If thou wilt fall downe and worship me How earnest and how importunate is the Deuill Saint Gregorie saith That there are two kinds of temptation one sudden as that of Lucifer who as soone as he saw the Sun of Grace begin to rise presently opposed himselfe against him sweeping away with him a third part of the Stars as you may read in the Reuelation And as that of Dauid in the case of Bershabe and as that of Peter when he was suddenly set vpon by the Maid in Caiphas house The other taking more leisure as that of Iudas whom the Deuil went by little and little importuning by his suggestions as an enemie that ouercomes by lengthening out the warre or as a Physition cures a disease by prescribing a long and tedious dyet or as a Moath imperceptibly mars the cloath and the Worme destroyes the wood The Hebrewes call the Deuill Belzebub which is as much to say as Deus Muscarum The God of Flies Now the World hath not a more busie or troublesome creature than your Flies and Gnats in Autumne and in the time of Haruest nor Man a more busie enemie than the Deuill in the Autumne and Haruest of our Soules when we should labour most for Heauen and prouide for a deere yeare Your Flie amongst the Aegyptians was a symbole of importuning and therefore it is said by way of aâ—age The wickednesse of the Flie. There are sinnes which like the Cow we chew the cud vpon we ruminate vpon them and our thoughts are neuer off from them Iob did point out vnto vs these two kinds of temptations the one in the stone that being rent from the top of an high hill falls suddenly down carrying away before it all that stands in it's way it beeing impossible to preuent conueniently the danger thereof Lapis transfertur de loco suo The other in the water which beeing so soft as it is yet by little and little hollowes the hardest stone Homineâ— ergo similiter perdes tota die impugnans tribulauit me Onely Importunitie is the shrewdest temptation Sampson yeelded vnto Dalila tyred out with her re-iterated importunings And there are a thousand Sampsons in these dayes which doe not yeeld themselues so much to sinne by the batterie of temptation as by importunate treaties Si cadens adoraueris me If falling downe thou worship me This was a strange kind of impudencie in the Deuill but he no sooner saw his maske taken away and that our Sauiour had discouered him and his trickes but he hid his head for shame Vade retro Sathana Goe behind me Sathan Saint Hierome saith That with this verie word our Sauiour Christ tumbled him headlong downe to the bottomlesse pit of Hell whereinto he entred howling and making such a hideous noyse and lamentable out-crie that hee strooke a great feare into all those infernall Spirits The strong one was bound and trodden in pieces with the foot of the Lord. Beda hath almost the verie same words This imprisonment of his was enlarged afterwards by Christs death according to that of the Apocalyps He bound him for a thousand yeares In a word He was so ashamed and so out of countenance with this answer of our Sauiours that for many days he did not so much as once offer to peepe out of Hel. Where Pride is there will bee Reproch so saith Salomon That place of Deutronomie whence our Sauior tooke this authoritie doth not say Adorabis Thou shalt adore but Timeâ—is Thou shalt feare as if the truest way to worship God were to feare him The Scripture attributes two names vnto Christ the one of Spouse the other of Lord in the one he shewes his loue in the other the feare which is due vnto him in the one the securitie wherewith wee may come vnto him and offer him our Petitions in the other the respect and reuerence which we owe to so great a Maiestie They are things that are so cimented and ioynted together that he affectionatly loues who humbly fears But I feare I haue bn too long and therefore I will here make an end THE SIXTH SERMON VPON THE MVNDAY AFTER THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT MAT. 25. Cum venerit Filius Hominis When the Sonne of Man shall come I Haue treated of this Theame at large in fiue seueral Chapters vpon the Parables But the Sea is neuer emptied by those waters which the Riuers take from it nor those diuine Mysteries lessened by those
many Bookes that are written thereof especially by a Sea of judgement where your shallow wits are vsually drowned Concerning this Article which is so notorious there is not a Prophet an Euangelist a Sybil nor any of the holy Fathers which do not make confession thereof yea the verie Angells said vnto the Disciples This Iesus who was taken from you shall So come where this particle Sic So doth not so much exprimere modum as similitudinem not the true manner of his comming but after what likenesse he shall come Now doth he sit at the right hand of his Father and shall possesse that Throne till that he shall come to iudge the world and make his enemies his footstoole According to that of Dauid Sit at my right hand Vntill I make thy enemies thy footstoole a sentence which was repeated afterwards by S. Paul to the Hebrews Not that the sitting at the right hand of his father shal euer haue any end for as Saint Chrysostome and Gregorie Nazianzen hath noted it the word Vntill doth not point at any set time but the mutation of the place which our Sauiour Christ is to make for that terme of time that the Iudgement shall last himselfe comming thither in person to set all things in order Vsque in diem restitutionis omnium so saith Saint Luke And by reason of the notoriousnesse thereof the Euangelist doth not say that hee shall come but supposeth as it were his present comming with a Cum venerit c. The Sonne of Man Iudiciarie power or this Potestas judiciaria as the Schoole-men call it is proper to all the Trinitie but is here attributed to the Sonne as Wisedome is likewise attributed vnto him which is the soule of the Iudge So that the Sonne as he is God is the eternall Iudge and the Lord vniuersall to whom the Father hath communicated this dominion by an eternall generation Generando non largiendo saith Saint Ambrose But as he is man the blessed Trinitie gaue him this power in tempore by vniting him to our nature Hee gaue him power to doe judgement And Saint Iohn giues the reason thereof Because he is the Sonne of Man it beeing held fit that Man should be saued by Man Gods mercie gaining thereby glorie and Mans meannesse authoritie And therefore it was thought fit that Man should be iudged by Man Gods justice remaining thereby iustified and Mans Cause secured For What greater securitie can man haue than that hee should bee Mans Iudge who gaue his life for Man shedding his bloud on the Crosse for Mans saluation So doth Saint Austen expound that place alledged by Saint Iohn Dedit ei judicium facere quia filius hominis est On the one side here is matter of hope comfort on the other of feare and trembling Who will not hope for pittie from a man and such a man that is my brother my aduocate my friend who to make me rich had made himselfe poore c. But who can hope for any comfort from that man that was iudged sentenced and condemned vniustly by man vnto death Who can hope for any good from that man whose loue man repaid with dis-loue and whose life with death These Yrons are too hard for the stomacke of man to digest it had need of some Ostriches helpe I will not destroy Ephraim because I am God and not Man God is woont to requite bad with good discourtesies with benefits his loue commonly encreaseth when mans diminisheth but mans brest is somewhat streighter laced In a word This his beeing Man is a matter of feare and by how much the more was Mans obligation by so much the more shall the son of mans vengeance bee For the pretious bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ and his cruell yet blessed wounds are the Sanctuarie of our hopes especially to those that trust in him and lay hold on him by Faith but for the vnthankefull sinner they shall be matter of cowardise and of terrour and to our Sauiour Christ minister occasion of greater punishment and a more rigorous reuenge Esay introduceth the Angels questioning our Sauior at his entrance into Heauen Quare rubrum est vestimentum tuum sicut calcantium in torculari Why are thy garments ô Lord like vnto those that tread the Wine-presse You say wel for I haue troden like the grapes my enemies vnder foot and my garments are sprinkled and stained with their bloud O Lord this bloudie spoyle would well haue beseemed thee on earth But what doost thou make with it here in Heauen Dies vltionis in corde meo The day will come when I shall bee reuenged at full of those ill requited benefits which I bestowed on my People and all that patience which I then sâ—ewed shall be turned into wrath and endlesse anger Saint Chrysostome interpreting that place of Saint Mathew Sanguis eius super nos Let his bloud be vpon vs and our children saith thus The time shall come that the bloud that might haue giuen you life shall occasion your death it shall be vnto you worse than that Fire of Babylon which the King intended for death though in the end it turned to life The bloud of Christ was intended for life but it shall end in death Hosea saith Vâ— eis cum recesserâ— ab eis Another Translation hath it Caro mea ab eis When the Sonne of mans mercie was come to that heigth as mans thought could not set it higher to wit That God in mans fauour should take mans flesh vpon him woe vnto those men who were vnmindfull of so great a blessing for this extraordinarie courtesie of his being so vnthankfully entertained and so ill requited shall be their condemnation for whose saluation it was intended Cornua eius sicut Rinocerotis saith Deutronomie The Vnicorne is the mildest the patientest beast that is and it is long ere he will be prouoked to anger but if he once grow hot and angrie there is no creature more fierce and furious than he is Ex tarditate ferocior as Pierius vseth it by way of adage Saint Austen collecteth hence another conuenience Euerie iudgement saith he requireth two especiall and important things The one That the Iudge feare not the face of the Mightie The other That he hide not his face from him that is brought before him For the first The Scripture hath it euerie where Regard not the countenance of the Mightie For the second Iob pondering the perdition of a certain Prouince saith That the Iudges thereof would not suffer themselues to be seen The earth is giuen into the hands of the Wicked he couereth the faces of the Iudges And therefore God will not be seene by the damned for by their verie seeing him they should be freed from their punishment and therefore in this respect it was fit that Christ should come to iudge the world as Man In Maiestate sua In his Maiestie The Interlinearie hath it In Diuinitate