paine and torment Mors depascet eos Death shall gnaw vpon them and dying to life they shall liue to death Venit adorauit eum dicens Domine adiuua me Came and worshipped him saying Lord helpe me As there are some kind of fires which recouer more force by throwing water vpon them so the heart of this woman did recouer more courage by this our Sauiors disgrace in not vouchsafing her an answer thinking thereby to quench the heat of her zeale And falling downe prostrate before him and adoring him as God said vnto him Lord am I thy Sheepe or not thy Sheepe camest thou for me or not for me I dare not be so bold to dispute that with thee yet giue mee leaue considering the wretchednesse of my case to call vnto thee for helpe and to beat at the doores of thine eares with a Domine adjuva me with a Helpe me good Lord. Here are those hot impatient violent and firie dispositions condemned for whom those two louely Twinnes Hope and Patience were neuer borne with whom euerie little delaying of their desires and deferring of their hopes driues them to the depth of desperation and is as a thousand deaths vnto them They are like vnto your hired Horses who come so hungrie to their Inne that they will not stay the plucking off of their bridle though thereby they should the better come at their meat Osee compares them to a young Heyfer that hath been vsed to tread out corne who is no sooner taken from the cart or the Plough before her yoke is taken off would faine runne to the threshing floore Ephraim vitula est doctaÌ„ diligere trituram So affected to her feeding that she hath not the patience to put a meane betweene her treading and her eating Non est bonum sumere panem Filiorum mittere Canibus It is not good to take the Childrens Bread and giue it to Doggs This was so cruell a blow that any bodie else would hardly haue indured it But God alwayes proportions his fauours and disfauours according to the measure of our capacitie To thee hee giues riches because he distrusts thy weakenesse to another pouertie because hee knowes his strength Fidelis Deus qui non patietur vos tentare vltra id quod potestis God is so good a God that hee will not suffer yee to bee tempted aboue your power And this reason alone ought to make men rest contented with that state and condition of life whereinto God hath put them Christ you see carries himselfe scornefully to this woman yet poore soule shee patiently suffers and indures all Whether or no for that it is an ordinarie thing with God to be then most kind when he seemes to bee most curst How did he deale with Abraham touching his sonne Isaac Hee makes him draw his sword set an edge vpon it and lift vp his arme to strike but when hee was readie to giue the blow hee holds his hand and bestowes a blessing vpon him for this his great faith and obedience Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum It is not good to take the childrens bread What shall I giue the childrens bread vnto dogges It is not fitting My Miracles and my Doctrine were meant to the children for so was Israel called Filius meus primogenitus Israel It was prouided principally promised vnto them vpon a pact or couenant which God had made with Abraham In a well ordered house the dogs are not allowed to eat the childrens bread worser scraps will serue their turne it is enough that they haue that which is necessarie to nourish their bodie Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine The eyes of all things wait vpon thee ô Lord and thou giuest them their meate in due season such as is fitting for them But the choyce bread of his Law and of his presence this is reserued for his owne house and familie those that are his children and his owne people Of whom Saint Paul sayth Credita sunt illis eloquia Dei And Dauid Non fecit taliter omni nationi Hee hath not dealt so with any nation besides Your Turkes the Moores and the Negros in a scorne and contempt of them wee call them dogges And wee inherit this name from the Moores who when they were Lords of Spaine bestowed that nick-name on vs. The Scripture giues this name of base minded men Nunquid caput canis ego sum Am I a dogges head It was Abuers saying to Ishbosheth As if hee should haue sayd shall I be so base as to pocket such a wrong Againe Shall I take off this dogges head that curseth my King It was Abishays speech of Shimei as making no more reckoning of him than of a dogge Againe Is thy seruant a dogge that I should be so deuoyd of all pittie and humanitie It was Hazaells answere to Elisha when hee told him of the euill that he should doe vnto the children of Israell And Saint Paul aduiseth the Philippians to beware of dogges alluding to Heretickes And the Iewes gaue this attribute of dogge to the Gentiles Etiam Domine nam callite Yes Lord for euen the Whelpes Here this Canaanitish woman taking her Cu caught him at his word She had him now and as Saint Chrisostome noteth held herselfe now as good as alreadie dispatcht and that her sute was at an end Inferring hereupon ô Lord I account my selfe a most happy woman that I may be admitted into thy house though it be but in the nature of a dog First because that dogs beeing faithfull and louing affectionate thereby their Masters vnto them And none shall be more louing and loyall vnto you than I who shall still wait vpon you be neuer from your heeles and follow you vnto death And secondly for that to dogs were neuer yet denyed the crums that fell from their Masters table I would not poore vnworthy creature as Theophilact makes her speake desire any of those thy greater miracles which thou keepest for thine own children the least that thou hast will content me be it but as a crum in comparison of the whole loafe O how humbly and discreetly did this Canaanitish woman goe to worke How meane and yet how great a courtesie did shee beg of our Sauiour For in Gods house the least crumme of his bread is sufficient to make vs happy for euer and neuer more to suffer hunger as the least drop of his bloud is able to cleanse thousands of soules from their sinnes Elegi abiectus esse in dâ—mo Dei mei I had rather bee a doore-keeper in the house of my God c. Another letter hath it Ad limen Dei mei At the threashold of my God I had rather bee a begger and craue an Almes at the grouncell or lowest greese in Gods house than to triumph and liue in pompe in the pallaces of Princes Moses would rather haue his scrip with a morsell of bread and
besides the vntunable and harsh musicke of the Deuills roaring and yellowing like so many mad Bulls that with the dinne and hideousnesse of the noyse Heauen and Earth might haue seemed to come together and the whole frame and machine of the Orbes to haue crackt and fallen in sunder The smell the taste the touch the will the vnderstanding and the memorie both irrascible and concupiscible shall not be employed vpon any thing as Saint Augustine hath noted it from whence they shall not receiue most grieuous paine and torment But of all other torments that of their desperation will be the greatest because there will be no wading through this Lake that burnes with fire and brimstone nor no end at all to these their endlesse miseries That ten thousand nay a hundred thousand yeares continuance in hell shall not suffice to satisfie for their sinnes that the fountaine of mercie should be shut vp for euer not affoording them so much as one drop of cold water to coole the tongue that God will not admit for the offences of three dayes the satisfaction of seuentie times seuen thousands of yeares This is that Magnum Chaos inter vos nos This is that great Chaos that huge Gulfe which is set betweene you and vs it is Chaos impertransibile that impassable Gulfe wherein to fall it is easie but to get out impossible Many of the Saints vpon this consideration deepely weighing these things with themselues haue made great exclamations as S. Chrysostome Petrus Crysologus and others If we beleeue say they that this imprisonment is perdurable tâ—is fire is eternall and that these torments are endlesse How comes it to passe that we eat liue and sleepe as we do O the madnesse of those men who seeke fit and handsome dwellings for three dayes and omit to thinke of those eternall habitations which continue world without end O the sottishnesse of those which couet such short and transitorie contentments O the blindnesse of those who for a moment of pleasure wil aduenture an eternitie of pain Is it much that these holy Saints should exclaime Is it much that they should weepe teares of bloud who beleeue that this rich man doth frie in perpetuall flames because he was pittiles voyd of mercy seeing on the one side so many Lazaruses naked ful of sores driuen if not beaten away from our dores whose beds are the hard benches and open porches of the Rich whose meat are the scraps and offalls and oftentimes onely the bare crummes of the rich mans boord whose drinke are the waters of those Riuers and Fountaines where the Beasts doe drinke whose wardrobe are rags whose cattle vermine whose store miserie whose tables are their knees and whose cups are their hands And on the other side so many Gluttons who feeding like beasts vomit forth that they eat at their tables where they sit Mensae repletae sunt vomitu beeing as emptie of pittie as they are full of wine Optimo vino delibuti non compatiebantur super contritionem Ioseph who dying like Oxen in a stall fat and ful fed it is no meruaile if as Esay sayth they make Hells sides to stretch and cracke againe Propter hoc dilatauit infernus Os suum I would faine aske some one of those which heare me this day My friend tel me I pray thee thinkest thou or hast thou any hope that thou art the only man in this world that shall liue here for euer Doost thou beleeue that Death shall one day come to the threshold of thy doore and call for thee and that thou must hereafter giue a strict account of thy workes words and thoughts before the tribunall seat of God If thou doost tell me then againe Whither thou hadst rather desire the felicitie of Lazarus in that other life or the eternall torments of this rich man Art thou persuaded that thou canst weare out two thousand yeares in a bed of fire But if the verie thought thereof cause feare and horror in thee and makes euerie bone and ioynt in thy bodie to shake and tremble Why doost thou not seeke to flie from so great a danger Flie saith Saint Austen yet now euen to day whilest thou hast time Pater Abraham rogo vt mittas Lazarum aut vnum ex mortuis Father Abraham I pray thee send Lazarus or one from the Dead c. Origen saith That this rich man did desire That either Lazarus or some one from the Dead might bee sent to preach this point thinking with himselfe That Abraham might happely send him vnto himselfe as to one that by this time verie wel knew his owne errour and that so by this meanes he might haue some pause or breathing time from these his torments Whither this was so or no it may by some be doubted but this is a cleere case That the maine motiue that mooued him thereunto was the desire that he had that his brethren and kinsfolke might be drawne vnto repentance and thereby come to be saued and escape those intollerable torments which he indured Saint Chrysostome saith That Abraham did not yeeld to the rich mans petition because hee was not absolute Lord of that place But that our Sauiour Christ supplied that defect and carried himselfe like a most mercifull and kind louing Lord to the end that that stiffe necked Nation might not alledge in their excuse That hee had not sent them a Preacher from that other life to aduise them what passed there But our Sauiour for whom this businesse was reserued did not raise vp Lazarus the Poore but Lazarus the Rich who vpon occasion preacht great notable things vnto them concerning the life to come And he likewise raised vp the sonne of the widow of Naim that hee might also doe the like But those that will not beleeue the Prophets it is our Sauiours owne saying will lesse beleeue the Dead Quia crucior in hac flamma Because I am tormented in this flame Gods chastisements are like Lightning which kill one but fright many and the vengeance which God taketh of one sinner is an occasion giuen to the Iust to wash their hands in his bloud According to that of Dauid Cum viderit vindictam manus suas lauabit in sanguine peccatoris And Saint Gregorie expoundeth it thus That the Iust doth wash his hands in the bloud of a Sinner when by another mans punishment he learnes to amend his owne life There is nothing doth more terrifie a Theefes heart than the gallowes and rope wherewith his fellow was hanged Funes peccatorum circumplexi sunt me Legem tuam non sum oblitus when I saw another strangled those cords which choked him sate likewise close to my necke but giuing thee thankes ô Lord that thou hadst kept mee from comming to so bad an end I did resolue with my selfe that I would not forget thy Law And therefore God would haue vs to lay vp in an euerlasting remembrance as it were his seuerest and sharpest
curs nor foâ—sting hounds he that wrestles and he that runnes a race will not stand in competition with him that is notoriously inferiour vnto them because they shal get no glorie by such a victorie That Emperor was much condemned that warred with Flies and tooke great pleasure in the killing of them Being then that I am a shaddow a flower of the field a reed or rather a thing of nothing What honour canst thou reape by my ruine c. Puluis es in Puluerem reuerteris Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne The end euer holds a correspondencie with it's beginning Nudus egressus sum nudus reuertar illuc so saith Iob. The riuers come from the sea and thither againe they returne so doth the Sunne from the East and thither it retyres again That Image of gold siluer brasse iron that had it's feet of earth must in the end turn to dust Baruc asks Vbi sunt Principes gentium His answere is Ad inferos descenderunt the earth hath swallowed them vp all S. Basil commenting vpon this place makes the like question and giues the same answer Nonne omnia puluis Nonne fabula Nonne in paucis ossibus memoria eorum conseruatur The greatest and famousest of vs all haue been and are but dust and there is no memorial left of them but a few rotten and stinking bones Vpon this point see Nazianzen Orat. de Humana natura Epictetus in Sententijs in Euchiridion cap. 22. c. Dust thou art c. From this Principle I will inferre three or foure conclusions of great fruit and consequence The first If thou art ashes Quid superbis terra cinis i. Whereof art thou proud ô thou dust and ashes Of thy beginning No Of thy end No Of what then If thou shouldest see thy selfe seated betweene the hornes of the Moone De fundamento cogità humilitatis Thinke on the basenesse of thy beginning and thou shalt then see that pride was not borne for man nor anger and pettishnesse appointed for womans condition pride cannot sute with durt nor curstnesse with womans softnesse Ab occultis meis munda me Domine ab alienis parce seruo tuo i. Lord clense me from my secret sinnes and spare thy seruant for those that are strange By alienis S. Hierome vnderstands those of pride for it is a stranger as it were another kind of thing differing much from mans base and vile condition and the Hebrew letter saith A superbijs parce seruo tuo Whereupon Saint Chrysostome noteth That there is not any sinne more alien to mans condition than pride or that carries with it lesse excuse Those fooles that Genesis painteth forth going about to build a Tower that should ouertoppe the Clouds did in their verie first word Venite faciamus lateres i. Come let vs make vs Brickes bewray their foolishnesse What go about vpon earth to reare a foundation that should emulate Heauen God said vnto Ezechiel Take thou a tyle portray vpon it the Citie of Hierusalem the walls the ditches the Towers the Temple and a great armie of men Strange yet true we see it is that the strength of cities the power of Armies is contained in a poore brittle tile-stone Esay threatned those of Moab with whips scourges because they insulted and proudly triumphed vpon the walls and towers of his Citie Loquimini plagas ijs qui lataÌ„tur super munâ—s cocti lateris i. Speake punishment to those that reioyce in walls that are made of brick What can earthen walls raise vp such pride in men Samuel beeing to annoint Saul God gaue him for a signe that he would haue him Prince ouer his People That he should find two men as soone as he was gone from him neere vnto Rachels Sepulchre God might haue giuen him some other signe but he chose rather to giue him this to quell the pride and haughtinesse of this his new honor as if he should admonish and put thee in mind That the ashes of so faire a creature as Rachel should read a lecture vnto thee what thou must be And this is the reason why the Church though she might vse other metaphors to expresse the misery and shortnesse of mans life as is often mentioned in Scripture as by a leafe a flower a shaddow yet it makes more particular choyce of Dust Ashes besides those be metaphoricall and these litterall for nothing more properly appertaineth vnto man than Dust and therefore the Scripture termeth death a mans returning againe to the earth from whence he came Conuertetur in terram suam proiectus est in terram suam The flower the leafe haue some good in them though of short continuance as colour odor beauty vertue and shade and albeit not good in themselues yet they are the image representation of good but Dust Ashes speake no other good Amongst the elements the Earth is the least noble and the most weake the fire the water and the ayre haue spirit and actitude but the Earth is as it were a prisoner laden with weightinesse as with gyues A certaine Poet stiles the Earth Bruta not onely for that it hath an vnpleasant countenance as Desarts Quick-sands Dens and Caues but also for that it is the Inne of Serpents Tygres Panthers and the like So that it is neither good to the tast nor the smell nor the feeling nor the hearing nor the seeing thou beeing therefore Earth Quid superbis terra cinis i. Why art thou proud ô Dust and Ashes The second conclusion is If thou art Ashes Quid vtilitatem saginando corpore Why such a deale of care in pampering thy bodie which the wormes are to deuour tomorrow Looke vpon that flesh which thy fathermade so much of that now rotten stinking carkasse and this consideration will moderate thy desire of being ouer daintie and curious in cherishing thine owne Isaac on the night of his nuptialls placed his wifes bed in the chamber where his mother died Tobias spent all the night with his Spouse in prayer being mindfull of the harme which the Deuill had done to her former husbands as being aduised from Heauen that he should temper with the remembrance of death the delights pleasures of this short life of ours The Cammomile the worse you treat it and the more you tread on it the better it thriues other Plants require pruning and tending to make them fruitfull but this herbe hath a quite contrarie condition that with ill vsage it growes the better It is the pamper'd flesh that brings forth thistles and thorns but the flesh that is trodden downe and humbled that yeelds store of fruit The third If thou art Dust and must tomorrow become Dust Why such a deale of coueting of honours and riches Why such great and stately houses so richly furnished Our forefathers liued eight hundred yeares and vpwards and those seeming but few they past
Cras Cras. Salomon saith of a bad paymaster Tempore redditionis postulauit tempus i. Hee requireth time when it is time to pay Pharaoh hauing giuen his word to let Gods people go to day he did still put it offtill to-morrow S. Austen before he was conuerted to those inspirations that daily called vpon him his answer stil was to-morrow til at last tyred out with so many delays he cried out How long shall I say to-morrow God complaineth of his People by Esay That they did deferre from day to day to come vnto him The Church teacheth that we should not procrastinate our Repentance the Lord saith vnto vs Nunc conuertimini ad me i. Now turne you vnto me Wilt thou know which is the best season It is to day for although this day may be verified of all the dayes of the yeare and of all the yeares of a mans life none is comparable to that of to-day as well in respect of God as thy selfe Saint Chrysostome saith That the Lent is the Spring of the Church wherein are to be found three fitting similitudes The first As Kings vse in the Spring to raise an Armie against their enemies and to make graue and seuere exhortations vnto them to incourage them to victorie so the Church at this time strikes vp her Drummes spreds her colours and exhorteth her faithfull souldiers to take Arms against the Deuill the World and the Flesh. The second As in the Spring those Trees that in the Winter haue been as it were dead putting on greene apparell giue testimonie of that life which was hid and concealed so a Christian which hath been dead all the yeare long striuing now to cloath himselfe anew with the leafes flowers and fruits of good workes discouers that life which lay wrapt vp in the roots of Faith The third which is Saint Austens As the Sunne doth alwayes communicate his heat and influences but they are more temperate and fruitfull in the Spring so the Sonne of Righteousnesse though hee euermore communicateth those fauours vnto vs which are necessarie for our saluation yet at his holy time appointed by the Church for the preparing of our soules against the day of Easter they may be thought more prosperous and more aboundant c. Lent is likewise called the August and Haruest of a Christian. Hee that in August prouides himselfe of Corne comes not to suffer hunger but hee that ouerpasseth the Haruest it is no meruaile if he starue for want of bread Transit messâ—s saith Ieremie finita est aestas nos saluati non sumus i. The Haruest passeth the Sommer is at an end and we are not saued Necessitie likewise driueth vs thereunto Hee that is fallen striues to rise againe the sicke to be whole the blind to see he that hath lost his way to returne into it againe though it be through bushes and briars hee that suffereth shipwracke to escape if he can vpon a planke last of all he that loseth a thing of value will endeauour to find it out againe though it cost him a great deale of paine and trouble yet all these losses are farre lesse than those of a sinner Hee is fallen into the mire of sinne and findes no helpe in the earth to lift him vp he is sicke but no physicke of Hypocrates nor Galen can recouer him he is blind but yet cannot get his sight he hath suffered shipwrack and can take hold of nothing in this sea of the world to saue him he hath lost a jewell of that inestimable value whose losse is a losse of losses the sum of all miserie Now if to day at this time we may repaire these our grieuous losses it is our fault if wee grow carelesse and drowsie therein c. Cum jeiunatis nolite fieri c. When yee fast bee not c. Here the Commentators make a stand The Gospell indeering the poornesse of spirit and other vertues of Fasting speakes no word thereof though it presuppose it and prescribeth rules how it ought to be done And the answere is The greatnesse of the priuiledge of Fasting whose noblenesse is so antient that Christ supposeth the same though hee speaketh not thereof There are some Gentlemen in our State of that antiquitie that without shewing their Titles or their Priuiledges no man will offer to question them Others there are howbeit noble either through emulation or that they are not so antient are driuen to prooue their Gentilitie Against some vertues some Emulators haue not stucke to speake but against Fasting no man euer opened his mouth Mahomet himselfe neuer denied the noblenesse of Fasting but rather so much recommended it that our fastings should be ashamed to stand in competition with theirs And therefore it is said Cum jeiunatis When yee fast c. And anon after Tu autem cum jeiunas But thou when thou fastest There are such forcible and precise arguments vpon this point that it were a superfluous labor to aduise whither it be to be done or no when as it is aduised how it ought to be done Heare S. Paul Siue comedatis siue bibatis siue quid aliud facitis omnia in gloriam Dei facite i. Whither yee eat or drinke or whatsoeuer yee doe let all be done to the glorie of God He doth not aduise you vnto it for that were a kind of force and constraint but tells you how it ought to be done As that it were a superfluous thing to aduise a man that is sore sicke to obserue a dyet or one whose house is on fire to cast water thereon or him that payeth money to take an Acquittance or him that enters the Church to kneele when he comes in so it were a needelesse thing to command a man to fast who from the beginning of the world tooke a furfet of eating Niniuie was saued by fasting Ioel proposeth the like meanes when he crieth vnto the people Conuertimini ad me in ieiunio Turne vnto me in fasting When the Law of Grace was first published through the world Fasting was proclaimed Venit Iohannes non manducans nec bibens i. Iohn came neither eating nor drinking He is said not to come eating for that he did eat but little as wee say of him that is sicke That he eats nothing when he takes no more sustenance than will hold life and soule together And the first step of our Sauiours penance for our sinnes was fasting in token that our first hurt came by eating The first Law that God gaue man after that he had created him was That he should not eat of the Tree of knowledge of good and euill wherein tended the one that man in this so great a happinesse should not forget that he had a Lord and Master the other had an eye to the repairing of that his future fault and that man might vnderstand that he should in fasting find a remedie for that hurt which came vnto him by eating
Centurions faith in regard that he was a souldier an vnletter'd man as also in respect of those few miracles which he had seene in comparison of the Iewes Amen dieo vobis quod multi ab Oriente venient Verily I say vnto you many shall come from the East Here he foretelleth the conuersion of the Gentiles and the reprobation of the Iewes many times forespecified by the Prophets by fitting metaphors as going out of drie Deserts into Pooles Riuers of water from amidst bushes and thornes into green fields pleasing meadows When the waters of Iordan were driuen back twelue stones were taken out of the bed of that Riuer for a memoriall of that so famous a miracle and twelue other put there in their plae so that the wet stones became drie and the drie wet which was a type and a figure that many sonnes should be cast downe into the dungeon prepared for slaues and many Slaues should enioy the libertie and freedome of children and sonnes According to that of Deuteronomie The Stranger shall come to be Lord and the Lord become his seruant Aduena erit sublimior The Stranger shall be the nobler Sicut credidisti fiat tibi sanatus est puer ex illa hora. Be it vnto thee as thou hast beleeued To him that hath but so much Faith as a graine of mustard-seed our Sauiour hath promised so much power that he shall be able to remooue mountains Si habueritis tantam fidem sicut granum synapis c. instancing in mountains for that to change remoue them from place to place is amongst the number of those things that are held to be impossible Qui confidunt in Domino sicut Mons Sion non commouebitur Hee that trusteth in the Lord shall be like Mount Syon which cannot be remooued When one man will to another represent an impossibilitie he will say Thou wilt as soone be able to remooue yonder Mountaine Now then if to so small a Faith such great things are promised to that the Centurions Faith which was so great it was not much that our Sauiour Christ should grant him so small a courtesie as the recouerie of his sicke Seruant THE THIRD SERMON ON THE FRYDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY MAT. 5. Audistis quia dictum est Antiquis Yee haue heard how it was said to them of Old OVr Sauiour Christ treating of the reforming of the Law spoyled and defaced by the false Glosses and lying Comments of the Pharisees for so those words seeme to infer Non veni soluere Legem sed adimplere i. I came not to dissolue the Law but to fulfill it And as Saint Chrysostome noteth it promising greater and more excellent rewards in the Law of Grace than the Written Law it was fit that those Laws should be so much the more perfect to the end that the meanes might be answerable to the end and the greater the worke the greater the reward In this vast Commonwealth of the world all is disorder the Palme is not giuen to the actiuest nor the Victorie to the valiantest nor Honour to the wisest Vidi seruos in equis I haue seene slaues on horsebacke c. but in Gods Kingdome he beares away the Garland that fighteth best But to come a little neerer to the point After that he had reformed sixe important points of the Law as it is treated elswhere more at large he comes to the Loue of our Enemies which is such a seeming monster to man and carries such a firie looke with it that it hath much affrighted the world Dictum est Antiquis It was said to them of Old The Law was euer to the Delinquent as painefull as strict and as they that find themselues curbed by some penaltie seeke by all means either to breake it or â—o comment therupon as may make best for their purpose a course too common with Hereticks So againe is this course of theirs crossed by those names which the Scripture giues vnto the Law Ecclesiasticus cals it Alligaturam salutis The Ribond or bend of Saluation wherewith the bloud is stanched and the orifice closed and shut vp But he that is thus let bloud the more foolish he is is euer the more impatient complaining That it wrings him too hard desires to slacken if not vndo it Salomon in his Prou. stiles it thus A chain for thy neck But the impatient man when the coller fits closer to his neck than he would haue it thrusts in his fingers betweene to stretch it wider and make it more easie the Felon to get himselfe freâ— fals to the filing off his Irons and the Slaue the ring of Iron that he bears about his neck Moses cals it Testimonium a Testimonie Deut. saith That the Booke of the Law was appointed to be put in one of the corners of the Arke of the Testament That it might remaine there as a Courtâ—rol or euidence against thee as a Lieger-booke of Laws and Statutes whereby to pronounce Sentence against thee And as Moses for the loue that he bare vnto the People brake those tables as he came downe the Mountaine wherein was the written Law by the vertue and tenure wherof there should not a man of them haue bin left aliue that had committed Idolatrie So the antient Doctors streightned by the rigour and strictnesse of the Law did goe stretching and enlarging it at their pleasure And there fore it is said They haue scattered the Law or as another Translation hath it They haue enlarged it The Law was of fire In his right hand is a firie Law and being burnt with the flames thereof they went about to quench it with the water of their Glosses The wine of the Law was strong and therefore they would mixe it with the water of their Comments and their Lies Thy Wine is mingled with water Saint Paul speaketh a little plainer and sayes Adulterantes Verbum Dei Adulterating the Word of God the Greeke word is Cauponantes Giuing it a dash a kind of Vintners who by watring the Wine of Gods Word take away it 's strength and life And if Vzza but for touching the Arke wherein the Law was were suddenly death-strucken What may they then expect who deface destroy the Law it self Christ in defence of his Doctrine said I spake openly to the World for the which he was buffetted smitten on the face by a base rascal our Sauior signifying thereby That he puts into one the selfe same ballance the buffetting of his face and the abusing of his Doctrine Where by the way I would haue you consider That the worst of this fault consists not in the defacing onely of the Law but in making the Glosse the Text and of meere naughtinesse a Law God complaines by Ieremie That they did offer their sonnes and daughters to Moloch in imitation of Abrahams Sacrifice the circumstance of committing of so great a crueltie in his House in his
friend but he that doth not onely loue his friend but his enemie also hee shall be sure of a double reward Introduxit me Rex in cellam vinariam ordinauit in me charitatem i. The King brought me into the Banquetting house and his banner ouer me was Loue. Origen notes That that which the Soule desires of her Husband is not to loue or to hate for this being a naturall perfection it is not possible it should faile the will is neither idle nor in vaine for it must of force wish either well or ill All the kindnesse that shee desires of her husband is his ordering of his loue for in disorder intollerable errours arise Of all the Predicaments God is the highest and hee ought to bee the principall marke of our well ordered affection Dilexi quoniam audiuit Deus vocem orationis meae i. I loued because the Lord heard the voyce of my prayer Loued Whom hast thou loued A prudent wil which placeth it's felicitie in the obseruance of the Law wee must not aske of it Whom it loueth This is a question to be asked of a Reprobate or Cast-away In a word He that man ought chiefly to loue is God and next man for the loue of God be he friend or be he foe And because when it doth not reach extend it self to our enemie it cannot be said to be perfect loue it is said Estote perfecti sicut Pater vester Be ye perfect as your Father The reason is Because in the rest of the actions of vertue humane respects may come athwart vs one may fast because abstinence importeth his health another giue Almes because he affecteth vaine-glorie a third not seeke to be reuenged for feare of those inconueniences that follow after it a fourth be chast for the auoyding of shame c. But to loue a mans enemie that must onely proceed from our loue to God it must needs be done only for Gods sake and God onely can requite it Secondly he reduceth this perfection to the loue of our enemie because it is a sure pledge for Heauen When Elias and Baals Priests were both of them to offer Sacrifice in triall of the true God it was conditioned That that God that should send downe fire from Heauen vpon the Alter should bee held to bee the true God Baals Priests ball'd vpon him but all would not doe but Elias when he had set vp his Alter with the wood vpon it the beasts about it and had poured water thereupon to the filling vp of the Trench he had no sooner pour'd forrh his Prayer but such great store of fire descended from Heauen that it burnt the flesh the wood the stones and likewise wasted and consumed the water That it should burne the beasts the wood and the stones it was no such wonder but that it should take hold on it's contrarie which is water it was a manifest signe that it was the fire of Heauen That your loue should cleaue to your owne flesh bloud it is not much that it should take hold of the wood and stone that likewise is no great wonder but that it should worke on it's contrarie on one that desires to make an end of thee to consume thee this is loue indeed this is charitie this is the fire of Heauen Thirdly The loue to our enemie doth more discouer the perfection of our loue because it is without any hope of temporall reward Elisaeus filled the widdows emptie cruses with Oyle and thou must replenish with thy loue and good workes those emptie brests that haue nothing in them to deserue it For where there is some deseruingnesse and reason of merit the Gentile the Publican doe the like Fourthly It argueth more perfection for that the loue of our enemie is that glosse which sets before our eyes our owne faults and offences When Shimei reproched Dauid to his face and gaue him such opprobrious language that his Captaines and Commanders that were then about him were impatient of it and would haue killed him Dauid withstood it and would not suffer them to take away his life and the reason was because it put him in mind of his own sinnes and he that lookes well vpon his owne takes no great notice of another mans And this made him to say Peccatum meum contra me est semper My sinne warres more against me than mine enemie Againe though thy enemie doe persecute thee without a cause it is not without cause that thou doost thus suffer for as Tertullian hath it Nullus iniustè patitur No man suffers wrongfully So that thou must not looke so much vpon him that iniures thee as vpon thine owne sinnes for the which God permits them to iniure thee It is Ieremies Who euer said Let it bee done though the Lord command it not Let vs search our owne wayes Take but thy life into examination and thou wilt find that thy sinnes deserue a thousand times more Dauid would by no means consent that his People should reuenge those disgracefull words which Shimei spake vnto him and What was the reason Onely for that he was Gods Instrument S. Austen vpon the 31 Psalme pondering those words of Iob Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken noteth That he did not say Dominus dedit Diabolus abstulit The Lord gaue and the Deuill tooke away For those whips and scourges which God sendeth though they be inflicted vpon vs by the hands of the Deuill yet are we to account them to come from God Out of the whole drift of this Chapter I will inferre one cleere and manifest consequence which is this If to hate our enemie be so much condemned both of Heauen and Earth those excesses and exorbitances which fall out vpon this occasion be it in respect of the time and place or of the person or the act it self or our deepe disaffection they are all of them here condemned Two kind of faults God doth extreamely hate and abhorre The one Of those who haue no measure or moderation in their reuenge saying with the Idumaeans Exinanite exinanite vsque ad fundamentum in ea Raze raze them to the verie foundation They would not haue one stone left vpon another in Hierusalem wishing that they might say Etiam periere ruinae The verie ruines are also perished Wherby it seemeth that mans cruelty would stand in competition with Gods clemencie And that as God is not willing that any man should set a taxe and size vpon his mercie so these men will haue no man to put a rate vpon their reuenge Saint Peter asked our Sauiour Christ How many times hee should forgiue his brother Will seuen serue saith he Our Sauiour answered I say not seuen times but seuentie times seuen times Whence Tertullian hath noted That hee had an eye therein to mans excesse in reuenge Lamech slew Caine and the yong man that waited vpon him and the women going about
sorrow The other which is likewise noted by Saint Basil and Clemens Alexandrinus That as in the Sea the greater Fishes deuour the lesser Fry by a kind of tyrannicall violence so the powerfull men of this world oppresse the poorer sort and swallow them vp According to that of Habacuc Facies homines sicut pisces maris i. Thou makest men as the fishes of the Sea Gregorie Nazianzen putteth two other proportions The one That as he who saileth in the Sea leads a life very neere vnto death hauing but a poore plancke betwixt him and it Exiguo enim ligno credunt homines animas suas i. For men trust a small piece of wood with their liues So hee that walkes in the dangerous wayes of this world may say with Dauid Vno tantum gradu ego mors diuidimur i. Ther 's but one degree betwixt me and death The other that those who take pleasure in going to Sea come to make the waues thereof their winding sheete So those that are wedded to the world receiue their death at the worlds hands The deceits of the world are like those of the Sea And for this cause perhaps the Scripture giues the Sâ—a the name of Heart Transferentur montes in cor maris i. The mountaines shall bee translated into the Heart of the Sea And sometimes of Hands Mare magnum spatiosum manibus i. The Sea hath wide and spacious Hands Sometimes of Eyes and Feet Mare vidit fugit i. the sea saw it and fled Sometimes of Tongue Desolabit Dominus linguam maris i. the Lord shall destroy the tongue of the sea And last of all Iob paints it foorth like a most fierce beast shut vp in an yron grate or strong prison Num quid mare ego sum quia circumdedisti me in isto carcere i. Am I a sea that thou shouldest keepe mee continually in hold From hence followeth another proportion or conueniencie which is a verie cleare one For as the way of the Sea is full of dangers of Pyrats of Shelfes and of Rockes and as it is not possible that mans wisdome and experience can preuaile against them euen so is it with the world The way by Land is of lesse difficultie Euery man knowes how to make his necessary prouision as a horse a man a cloake-bagge and a good purse And suppose some of these should faile vs wee may furnish our selues afresh at the first good place wee come at And if wee passe ouer mountaines where there is suspition of theeues we may perceiue the perill and preuent it but for those that goe by Sea the like prouision and preuention cannot be made especially if fortune doe not fauour vs. Est via qui videter homini recta nouissima autem eius ducunt ad mortem i. There is a way which seemeth right to a man but the end of it leadeth to death A ship shall goe sayling with the winde in the Poope of it with a great deale of content and delight and on the suddaine it shall bee split in pieces and no memoriall remayne thereof The like successe befalleth men in this world euery steppe that they tread And therefore Saint Austen sayth That it is as great a miracle for a man to walke vpon the waues of the World without sinking as it was for Saint Peter to walke vpon the waues of the Sea Many other conueniencies there are which I omit to mention this World beeing in conclusion a Sea our life a sayling therein and euery particular man a ship Sicut naues poma portantes c. and therefore subiect to stormes Et nauis erat in medio maris And the Ship was in the midst of the Sea This Shippe was a figure of the Church which God permitteth to be persecuted For his owne sake For the Churches and For those that looke thereupon For his owne sake For should it haue no enemies to persecute it hotly to assaile her Gods omnipotencie would not shew it 's glorious splendor to the world The force of fire is seene when the water cannot quench it of light when darkenesse cannot obscure it of sweete odours when the filthiest sents cannot ouercome their fragrancie of power when the whole strength of the world nay the Deuill and Hell it selfe cannot preuaile against it And this succeedeth vnto God in the persecution of his Church for the enemies thereof haue been maimed and put to flight Gods Arme remaining still strong sound Pharaoh came brauely on with his Chariots and Horsemen boasting as hee went Persequor comprehendam illos euaginabo gladium meum interficiet eos manus mea I will pursue them and ouertake them I will vnsheath my Sword and my hand shall slay them But God beckned vpon the waues and they swallowed vp aliue both him and all his Host. And the Text saith That the Hebrewes saw the powerfull hand of God charging vpon them hauing planted there in that sea the ensigne of his power Tertullian saith of Iob That God made him a triumphant Chariot of the spoyles of Hell and that he dragged thereat along in the durt his enemies ensignes to the greater dishonour of the Deuill The like doth God doe in the Church with Iewes Moores and Heretickes himselfe remaining still firme against all their furious violences like a rock in the midst of the sea Some rocks are to be seene euen where the Seas are deepest which it seemeth God placed there of purpose in scorne and contempt of that ouerswelling pride and furious raging of the sea For though they haue beene lashed and beaten by them from the beginning of the world to this present day they could neuer mooue much lesse remooue them because they haue sure rooting in the bottome of the Sea And this is a Type of the Church which God hath placed in the middest of this Sea of the World for to make a mocke of as many as are her enemies But some one will say How can the Church be called a Rocke beeing figured here by this little Ship which the waues thus tosse vp and down in the aire I answer That Ezechiel in his twentie seuenth Chapter speaketh of Tyrus in the metaphor of an Isle My beautie is perfect and my abode is in the midst of the Sea And presently changing that metaphor he termes it a Galley which is all one as if he should haue said That with Gods helpe a Galley may be an Isle and without God an Isle may be a Galley So likewise the Church albeit it be a Ship in the middest of the tempestuous waues of the Sea yet by the assistance of his holy Spirit it may bee a perdurable Rocke And as Saint Austen hath noted it the Executioners haue often wanted strength and inuentions to torment but there neuer wanted courage in the Martyrs for to suffer by the diuine power and fauour of God Howsoeuer therefore the waues shall beate against this Barke
Iustificata est Sapientia à fiâ—ijs suis Wisedome is iustiâ—ied by her children Our Sauiour Christ renders it Condemnata Condemned The ignorance of the childeren condemneth the wisedome of the father There are some people in the world so querulous and complaining that they will not sticke to taxe God for hauing giuen them such an inclination such an estate such a wife such parents and say in their thoughts o if God had giuen me another nature other noblenesse of birth other more prosperous fortune How sure should I haue made my saluation O if God would haue beene but pleased to haue shewed me some one miracle or other This is but a requiring of new signes and a condemning of those which they haue receiued from the wisedome of God Now the wisedome of God supposeth Faith and Faith Beleefe Oportet discentem credere He that learneth must beleeue So that a heauenly wisedome supposeth a Faith from heauen This is that light wherewith in the beginning of the world God did dispell the darkenesse of the Deepe this is that North-Starre which discouereth vnto those that saile in the sea of this world the Hauen of their happinesse this is that Pillar which to the children of Light appeared light to those of Darknesse darke it is that light which must shew you that cleere Sunne the Son of God which is light it selfe in comparison of whose glorious light the light of miracles is but like the glimpse of a candle Volumus à te signum videre Wee would haue a signe from thee This word à te From thee doth manifest their intention which was To reuiue the blasphemie which they had vented before In Belzebub Principe Daemoniorum eijcit Daemonia In Bulzebub the Prince of Deuils he casts out Deuils Wee desire to see a miracle done by thine owne proper power performed without the helpe of another whereof we haue beene jealous in those thy miracles shewne vpon the Blinde the Deafe and the Dumbe We presume that of thy selfe thou canst do little but by the Prince of Deuils much This was a diminishing of our Sauiors power which is the nature of Enuie flying like the Eele from the cleere water and seeking after that which is troubled and muddie It was the fault of their forefathers to lessen Gods power Quoniam percussit petram fluxerunt aquae nunquid poterit Deus parare mensam in Deserto Is it not all one for him to take water out of the Rocke and to giue vs bread In this his power shall be seene We are like Martha's Chickens we desire meat they giue vs water But ô ye fooles doe not yee know that the stone beeing strucken sendeth forth fire and not water And he that can giue you water out of a stone is able to affoord you bread out of the Aire But Enuie will draw Branne from the finest Floure In a word They were fully resolued not to beleeue in Christ and yet they went seeking occasions to excuse their hardnesse of heart They sought signes from heauen which as Saint Hierome hath well obserued were more subiect to calumnie and easier to be cauelled at and yet on the other side they did seeke to diminish his power and therefore they say We would haue from thee c. Of all that hath beene formerly said I shall inferre this conclusion and refer it to your Christian consideration which is That you would seeke after God with simplicitie and singlenesse of heart In simplicitate cordis quaerite illum saith Wisedome and then shalt thou alwaies find him propitious and fauourable vnto thee Et facies vestrae non confundentur but a false heart shall euermore remaine confounded and ashamed Bersheba comming to craue a fauour of her sonne Salomon she sought to preuent him with a Non confundas faciem meam Put me not to the blush In the Scribes and Pharisees God speakes vnto those sinnefull Christians who immitate them in their workes and as the thunders and lightnings of a great Tempest smiting and wounding the tops of Mountaines of Pallaces and of the tallest Cedars Chrysologus saith That they abate and correct the courages of the most desperate and prophanest persons so when our Sauior Christ did thunder out these his threatnings against the Pharisees he sought thereby to reclaime his owne Flocke to bring them within the Fold and to saue those Sheepe which are readie to run astray that they may not be vtterly lost Generatio mala adultera â—ignum quaerit A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a signe Christ neuer shewed himselfe more fierce and angrie than now neuer behaued himselfe more stoutly or shewed more courage than at this present Presenting thereby vnto vs that vpon iust occasions the mildenesse of a Prince and the meekenesse of a Prelate may lawfully let the bed of his Patience like that of the Riuer rise and swell euen to the ouerflowing of the bankes He that knowes not sometimes how to reprehend and that sharpely too shall not onely neglect his owne dutie but shall wrong others in suffering them to run on in their wickednesse without reproofe That father knowes ill how to gouerne who when his children shall commit any grosse faults shall like old Ely shew himselfe too milde and out of a foolish pirtie scarce controll them for it That Preacher knowes not what belongs to his calling who when sinne growes once to an heigth and men waxe shamelesse in committing euill that doth not raise his hands and voice as high as Heauen and lay Gods fearfull judgements before them That Prince who suffers his subiects to bee ouerbold and sawcie with him giues them a tacite kind of libertie to loose all respect and feare towards him Quiescite ab homine cuim Spiritus in naribus est Cease you from the man whose breath is in his nosthrils for wherin is hee to be esteemed This is as it were the Epiphonema of all that Chapter of Esay Where hauing Prophecied many greatnesses of the Messias hee aduiseth the Iewes That they deceiue not themselues with the frailtie of his person for though hee shall come in the forme of a seruant yet he shall bee the true God And therefore hee concludes that Chapter with this saying Quiescite ergo ab homine cuius Spiritus in naribus est Consider therefore deerely beloued that I admonish you and require you that when these prophesies shall bee fulfilled and goe on in their accomplishment you take heed how you bee offended with that man whose life consisteth in the breath of his nosthrills it beeing in that respect with our Sauiour as with all other liuing creatures howbeit in regard of his Diuinitie He is high and mightie In this sence wee may also adde that the nosthrills are the symbole of anger And in the Spanish tongue it is a vsuall phrase to say Subirse el humo a las narizes That the smoake went out at his nosthrils And therefore it is sayd
stiles the life of man a Warfare a Wrestling a Race a Combat a Reward a Crowne things that are not atchieued without labour trouble seruice sweats and some deseruing in our selues Vbi non sunt Boues praesepe vacuum est Where there are no Oxen the Cratch is emptie where no paines no profit Herculei auri celebrant labores saith Boëtius The Chronicles of Hercules were his Labours And Plautus Pars est fortuna laborum Come out of those Borders We are not onely to leaue sinne but also to remoue from vs all occasion of sinning God said vnto Abraham Eijce ancillam Agar 〈◊〉 his Slaue oâ— Bondwoman she was that Leuen which had sowred the sweet â—â—ace of his house God might as well haue commanded him to correct and punish her for her insolent behauiour but because he would haue the occasion of any farther falling out taken away he layes this command vpon him Eijce ancillam filium eius Ismael ô Lord might Abraham haue said is but a child and in regard of his tender age disciplinable and corrigible he can as yet do but little harme But this would not serue his turne there was no remedie but hee must be sent packing too that all occasion may be taken away of his mothers returning backe to see him Salua te in Monte ne stes c. Get thee out of the Citie and escape into the Mountaine lest thou be destroyed It was the Angells aduice vnto Lot lest so circumuicinant and neere neighbouring occasion might prooue dangerous vnto him Quantum distat Ortus ab Occidente longe fecit à nobis iniquitates nostras Looke how wide the East is from the West so farre hath he set our sinnes from vs. In the Captiuitie of Babylon the Children of Israell hid in a verie deepe pit the holy Fire as a man would hide Treasure hoping hereafter they might come againe to the fetching of it out but when this their Captiuitie was ended when they came to seeke for it they found in stead thereof a coagulated and crudded kind of water as when it is frozen but when the beames of the Sunne began to touch vpon it it turned againe to fire So they that couer the fire of their affection with the ashes of absence with a hope to returne to reuiue that heat howbeit it be more cold and more frozen than water yet with the Sunne of their presence and the heat of occasion those coles of loue begin to kindle anew and to breake forth into their woonted flames Saint Augustine reports of Alipius That hauing resolued with himselfe neuer to looke vpon your Fencers Prizes vpon a time through the earnest importunitie of his friends hee was drawne along to the Theatre where those bloudie sports were performed protesting that he would keepe his eyes all the while shut and not so much as once open them yet it so fell out that vpon a sudden great shout of the People he looked abroad to see what the matter was Whereupon hee became another man and altered his former purpose so that his hatred to this sport was turned into a loue and liking of it Ecclesiasticus saith That as a cleere Fountaine is to the thirstie and as the shade to him that is scortched with heat such is occasion to a man that is accustomed to ill In filia non auertente se firma custodiam Giue her for lost if thou quit not the occasion Clamabat Miserere mei She cried Haue mercie vpon me Vocall Prayer is sometimes profitable and sometimes necessarie profitable because it stirreth vp our inward deuotion And is as Saint Augustine hath obserued that blast which bloweth and kindleth the fire that is within vs. Those that are more perfect than others spend much time in meditation and contemplation of the Spirit but those that are lesse perfect because their inward heat quickly failes them they must haue recourse to the breath of vocall Prayer and call out aloud with this Canaanitish woman for the Heart and the Lips are an acceptable Sacrifice vnto God Ex voluntate mea confitebor ei Saint Paul calls it The fruit of the Lips Osee A Sacrifice Vituli Labiorum The calfes of our Lips Miserere mei Fili Dauid Haue mercie vpon me thou Sonne of Dauid Saint Augustine saith That whatsoeuer may be lawfully desired may be lawfully required of God And beeing there be three sorts of things some so good that it is impossible the vse of them should be bad as Grace Vertue Glorie and the necessarie sustenance of the bodie which we dayly beg of God others so ill that they can neuer be good as Sinne and Wickednesse and others indifferent which of themselues are neither good nor euill as Riches and other the like temporall Goods The first wee may alwaies and at all times begge of God without any condition or limitation the second neuer the third must euermore haue this reseruation If it bee ô Lord for thy seruice or thy honour and glorie c. Now this Canaanitish woman crauing mercie for her selfe and her daughter it beeing so holy and pious a petition she might absolutely preferre the same to our Sauiour Haue mercie vpon me thou Sonne of Dauid Saint Basil pondereth the elegancie of this prayer so wholly stript from any proper presumption in it selfe and so cloathed throughout from top to toe with the mercie of God There is not any greater pouertie saith Saint Bernard than that of our owne merits nor any falser riches than that of our own presumption And he preuailes most with God who presumes least of himself for the mercies of God are not occasioned from our deseruings but from his own infinite goodnesse as Leo the Pope sets it down vnto you more at large Gods mercie is so infinite and so immense that there is no comparison betwixt our merits and it so short is our rightuousnesse of his goodnesse Saint Chrysostome sayes That mercie must bee like a free Port that opens vnto the sea and affoords franke passage vpon all occasions or whither soeuer we are bound without paying so much for importation or so much for exportation c. O Sonne of Dauid Although our Sauiour were of the Seed of Abraham as well as of the House of Dauid yet with this People more preuailed this appellatiue of Dauid for that the promise which God had made to this King was fresher in remembrance more especiall and more honourable as Saint Chrysostome and Euthimius vpon this verie place haue noted it vnto vs So that both the nobler and the learneder sort among them besides the People in generall did not onely hold it as an Article of their Faith but for a great glorie vnto them that their Messias was to descend from the loynes of Dauid Scriptum est Quia de semine Dauid venit Christus And our Sauiour asking of the Pharisees Whose sonne their Messias should bee they did all agree in this That hee
sixe for their dowrie and being so due a debt as it was hee went so long deferring the payment thereof that if God had not taken his part he might haue returned home for ought I know with the staffe that he brought with him Mutasti mercedem meam decem vicibuâ— Thou hast deceiued me and changed my wages ten times There is no honestie in such kind of dealing there are too many of these now a dayes but God amend them And so I commend you to God THE TENTH SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FIRST SVNDAY IN LENT IOANNIS 5.1 Erat dies Festus Iudaeorum erat Hierusalem probatica piscina There was a Feast of the Iewes and there is at Ierusalem by the place of the Sheepe a Poole AMongst those many other Fish-pooles which belonged to Ierusalem besides those which Salomon had made for his own particular vse and pleasure Extruxi mihi Piscinas aquarum I made Cisternes of water c. this of all the rest was the most famous Iosephus calls it Stagnum Salomonis because it was built by this King neere vnto the Temple for the seruice of sacred things it was a Poole that was walled round about whereunto your heards and flockes of cattell could not come and some say That this was the place where the Priests hid the holy Fire which Nehemias afterwards found to bee conuerted into a thicke water It was walled round about and had fiue seuerall open porches full of diseased people some of one infirmitie and some of another This Hospitall ioyned to the backe of the Temple to shew that the poore haue no other prop in this life to vphold them saue Gods backe this must bee their strength hereunto must they leane it is our Sauiours shoulders that must not onely beare vs vp but our infirmities by taking them vpon himselfe In Saint Chrysostomes time the Hospitals were set apart from the Temples for feare of receiuing infection from those contagious diseases For the poore did lie like so many Dogges at the doores of Gods house A Theefe that he may the better enter that house where there are many doggs holds it his best course to stop their mouths with somthing or other We are all Theeues and that we may enter peaceably into Gods House there is no better meanes than to giue something to the poore which like so many Dogges lie at the gate Twice in the Old Testament hath God commanded That no man should petition him with emptie hands Non apparebis in conspectu meo vacuus And Saint Chrysostome expounding this place saith He enters emptie handed who comming to craue something of God doth not first bestow an Almes vpon the poore according to that rule of our Sauior Christ What yee shall doe to one of these little ones c. Citing likewise for confirmation of this Doctrine that place of Ecclesiasticus Ante Orationem prepara animam tuam Before thou prayest prepare thy self c. When thou hast enough remember the time of hunger and when thou art rich thinke vpon pouertie and need To shew pittie to the poore he termes it Animae preparationem A preparing of the soule And it is not much that God should take pleasure therein seeing men are so well pleased therewith I will appease him with gifts saith Iacob when he went forth to meet his brother Esau. And Ester comming before Assuerus to beg a boone at his hand it is said That one of her maids of Honour bare vp her arme and the other her traine This is a Type of Prayer accompanied with Fasting and Almes-deeds which two are able to negotiate any thing with God and where there is such an Ester there is not any Assuerus though neuer so great who will not bow the Scepter of his mercie towards her Ecclesiasticus saith Giue an almes to the poore and it shall entreat for thee and preuaile There is in Ierusalem by the place of the Sheepe a Poole God did honour his Temple with this Poole where there was a perpetuall prouision for health and it was a prouidence full of conueniencie that God should conferre his fauours where his name is praysed and that Man should receiue them there where hee praiseth him Te decet Hymnus Deus in Syon tibi reddetur votum in Hierusalem In Syon ô Lord they sing Hymnes vnto thee in Ierusalem they make their vowes Open in these places the hands of thy bountie Et replebimur in bonis domus tuae And we shall bee filled with the good things of thy house Amongst other fauours which God promised to his house this was one In loco isto dabopacem â—n that place I will grant thee peace The name of Peace intimateth all manner of good things whatsoeuer here art thou to beg and here to receiue the granting of thy petitions And for this cause God calls his house the house of Prayer which is ordained to begge those things of God which we stand in need of and to praise him for what he giues and we receiue The Court is the Worlds Epitome an abreuiation or short abridgement of this greater Vniuerse for that it hath in it whatsoeuer is dispersed throughout the face of the earth And this Poole is a figure of the Court First of all in this Poole there are a great many of sicke diseased persons those of verie foule and filthie diseases blind wasted in their bodies benumm'd withered lame and maimed Iacere To lie in Scripture is spoken of those that are dead as it appeareth in Exodus in the Booke of Tobias and so of those that lie at the point of death as likewise of Lazarus when he lay at Diues his gate So saith Saint Iohn in this place Multitudo languentium iacebaâ— i. There lay a great multitude of sicke men In the Court there are a great many that lie sicke of diuers and sundrie diseases of the Soule an Apoplexy seiseth vpon all the sences of the bodie one pretension or other possesseth the sences of the bodie and the faculties of the Soule and vpon all whatsoeuer belongs vnto man as his honour his wealth his conscience and truth c. This man came to the Poole benumm'd and at the end of thirtie eight yeares was more benumm'd than at first and if our Sauiour Christ had not helped him it is probable he would haue perished Many come to the Court to recouer themselues of an infirmitie that followes them called Pouertie and after many yeares trauell and paines taking they prooue poorer than before and oft die of that disease whereas if they had bin contented with their former meane estate they might perhaps not haue died so soone And although they get the Office they pretend yet doe they neuer come to be rich because their profits doe not equall their charges Seneca saith That if these men would haue taken councell of those who haue tryed this poole some few yeares they would alter their mind If
the sinnes of 〈◊〉 Youth and it shall lie downe with him in the dust And presently rendring the reason thereof he further saith That Custome made wickednesse seeme sweet 〈◊〉 his mouth and that he hid it vnder his tongue like a Pastilla de boca that hee fauoured it and would not forsake it but kept it close in his mouth So that hâ—â— that hath once enured himselfe to tast much ill it is not much that he should nâ—â— desire his health Balaams Asse complained of his masters ill vsage and accoâ—ding to Saint Augustine it was a seuere reprehension for the Prophet but Balaâ—â— was not any whit amased to heare his beast speake because his thoughts were carried away with couetousnesse this is Saint Augustines opinion but Lyra he saith That it was through his accustomation to Witcheries and Sorceries Monstrosis assuefactus ad vocem Asinae non expauit For Custome makes things that are monstrous familiar vnto vs. Euerie where we indeere Iobs sufferings because they came vpon him on such a sudden an and vnequall fashion I was in wealth saith the Text but he brought me to naught he hath taken mee by the cheeke and beaten mee hee cutteth my reynes and poureth my gall on the ground he hath broken me with one breaking vpon another and runneth vpon me like a Gyant myne eye is dimme for griefe and my strength like a shadow my dayes are past myne enterprises broken and the thoughts of my heart haue changed the night for the day and the light hath approched for darkenesse the graue must be my house I must make my bed in the darke I must say to Corruption Thou art my father and to the Worme Thou art my mother and my sister c. These afflictions were as harsh to Iob beeing not vsed and beaten to them as Vice through Custome is pleasing to the Wicked Voluptabar saith Austen in caeno Babilonis tanquaÌ„ in cinamonijs vnguentis pretiosis Babylons durt was as Amber and the stench of her streets as pretious Oyntments vnto me And after that he had in his Meditations endeered the euills of this present life he bewailes the wretched condition of those that are bewitched with the loue of this life who thereby following their pleasures come to loose a thousand liues Homer in his Odysses paints forth the deceits of Circes and that Vlysses escaped them by beeing aduised thereof by Mercurie The hearbe Moly whose root is blacke and the Floure white the symbole of the knowledge of our selues and those Syrens of whom Esay maketh mention vnder the names of Zim Ohim of Ostriches and Satyres that shall dance there both which are figures of the delights of this world whereunto many are so wedded that the Prophet could terme them Men setled on their Lees. Wilt thou be made whole He first askes him being as yet vnspoken vnto whither he were willing to be healed or no O what a noble proceeding was this in our Sauiour that hee would first aske our good will All other humane goods God giues and takes away as hee sees fit without asking our consent but hee is willing to aske here of this sicke man his good wil for that there is nothing so much ours as that Fili praebe mihi cor tuum My sonne giue me thy heart alwaies considering this with himselfe that for our condemnation our owne wil is Causa positiua the positiue cause thereof Perditio tua ex te Israel but for our justification it is causa sine qua non we cannot be saued without it And to this purpose tend those remarkable words of Saint Augustine Qui creauit te sine te non saluabit te sine te He that made thee without thee will not saue thee without thee So that our will though it be not the principall cause of our good yet is it the chiefest cause of our ill Two Moores that are Slaues the one desires his libertie the other his captiuitie the will of the latter is the positiue cause of his hurt and the will of the former doth him no good vnlesse his Redeemer ransome him Hominem non habeo I haue not a man This as Caietan hath noted was a faire and mannerly answer For so natural â—s the desire of life that it is a wonder to see any man wax weary thereof though â—e find himselfe neuer so vnhealthie We read of those our antient fathers that â—ome of them liued nine hundred yeares but wee read not of any of them that â—hought them too many or too much Pharaoh asking Iacob how old hee was he told him That the whole time of his pilgrimage was an hundred and thirtie yeares that few and euill had the dayes of his life beene and that hee had not attained to the yeares of the life of his fathers in the dayes of their pilgrimages Elias fled from death when hee saw how neere Iezabels hand was to take his life from him howsoeuer vnder the Iuniper tree hee seemed much to desire it Vpon Paradise God had put a strange gard not onely a blade of a sword shaken to keepe the way of the Tree of Life but many Cherubins also that were like so many flames of fire What ô Lord doost thou meane by this so powerful a gard for so cowardly and feareful a creature as man O sir in Paradise there is a Tree that beares the fruit of Life and out of the desire that man hath to liue he will presse vpon the swords point and rush through fire and water to get in And though a lesse gard might happely serue turn in regard of man yet wil it not suffice to keepe the Deuill out and if he should chance to rob this tree of her fruit he would carrie the whole world after him out of the great loue and affection that they haue vnto Life Saint Augustine greatly endeering this loue saith That it were a great happinesse for man if he bore but that loue to life eternall as he doth to this that is temporall and that he would but labour as much to obtaine that as he seeketh to conserue this But this poore wretched man indeeres it much more who at the end of thirtie eight yeares hauing led a life that was worse than death should yet desire to liue longer I haue not a man This is the reason why God sets his eye vpon thee begins to looke towards thee for the onely meanes to make God to fauor vs is when he sees the World hath forgot vs. The cause why so many suitors thriue no better is because they seeke more after the fauour of men than of God Where Nature casts vs off there Grace takes vs vp when the World abandoneth vs then God embraceth vs. The Rauens young ones are forsaken by her and God feedeth them In the Indies there are no Physitions yet are there wholsome Hearbes wherewith they cure their diseases In like manner where the World affoordeth few
left this Balsamum for the annointing and curing of it Which was a great Excesse Dauid called him a Worme a Scoffe a Taunt and the Reproch of the People for that whilest he liued in the world he tooke vpon him all the affronts and contempts that man could cast vpon him And because there is not any loue comparable to that of our Sauiour Christ nor all the loues in the world put together can make vp such a perfect loue as also for that there was not any affront like vnto his nor all the affronts of the world could equall the affronts that were offered vnto him that on the one side hee should loue so much on the other suffer so much this was a great Excesse Nazianzen seeing vs swallowed vp in this sea of miseries vseth a kind of Alchimie by ioyning his greatnesse with our littlenesse his powerfulnesse with our weakenesse his fairenesse with our foulenesse his beautie with our deformitie his riches with our pouertie the gold of his Diuinitie with the durt of our Flesh And as the greater drawes the lesser after it so our basenesse did ascend to an heigth of honour And this was a great Excesse but farre greater to esteeme this Excesse as a Glorie whence the Saints of God haue learned to stile Tribulation and the Crosse Glorie Secondly This Excesse may be termed Glorie because it was the most glorious action that God euer did For what could be greater than to see Death subdued Life restored the Empire of sinne ouerthrowne the Prince thereof dispossessed of his Throne Iustice satisfied the World redeemed and Darknes made Light Thirdly It may be said to be Glorie because that by this his death a thousand Glories are to follow thereupon Propter qoud Deus exaltauit illum c. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and giuen him a name aboue euerie name that at the name of Iesus should euerie knee bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth And this was the reward of his obedience and of his death And the reason thereof was that the World seeing it selfe captiuated by so singular a benefit men should make little reckoning either of their goods or their liues for this his exceeding loue towards them but desire in all that they can to shew themselues thankefull And therefore Esay cries out O that thou wouldest breake the Heauens and come downe and that the Mountaines might melt at thy presence c. What a great change and alteration wouldest thou see in the world thou wouldst see Mountaines that is hearts that are puffed vp with pride humbled and laid leuell with the ground Thou wouldst see Waters that is brests that are cold and frozen boyle with the fire of Zeale and wholly employ themselues in thy seruice And in his sixtieth Chapter treating of the profits and benefits which we shall receiue by Christs comming he saith For brasse will I bring gold and for yron will I bring siluer and for wood brasse and for stones yron I will also make thy gouernment peace and thine exactours righteousnesse Violence shall no more be heard of in thy Land neither desolation nor destruction within thy Borders but thou shalt call Saluation thy Walls and praise thy Gates The Lord shal bee thine euerlasting Light and thy God thy Glorie Bonum est nos hic esse c. It is better being here than in Ierusalem let vs therefore make here three Tabernacles c. Saint Gregorie calls Honour Tempestatem intellectus i. The vnderstandings Storme or Tempest in regard of the danger it driues man into and the easinesse wherewith in that course he runnes on to his destruction Si dederit mihi Dominus panem ad vescendum c. It was Iacobs speech vnto God after that he had done that great fauour of shewing a Ladder vpon earth whose top reached vp to Heauen you know the Storie but the vow that hee vowed vnto God was this If God will be with me and will keepe me in this journey that I goe and will giue me bread to eat and cloathes to put on then shall the Lord be my God and I shall neuer forget this his kindnesse towards me More loue a man would haue thought he might haue shewn towards God if he had promised to serue though he had giuen him neither bread to eat nor cloathes to put on But Saint Chrysostome saith That he seeing in this vision of his the prosperitie that God was willing to throw vpon him did acknowledge the thankefull remembrance of this his promised hoped for happines For Prosperitie is euermore the comparison of Obliuion Saint Bernard expounding that place of Dauid Man being in honour hath no vnderstanding saith That the prosperitie wherein God placed man robbed him of his vnderstanding and made him like vnto the Beasts that perish And here now doth Saint Peter loose his memorie Nor is this a thing so much to be wondred at for if there be such riches here vpon earth that they robbe a man of his vnderstanding and alienate him from himselfe if the sonne that is borne of a mother who hath suffered great paines in the bringing of him forth Iam non meminit praessurae hath forgotten his mothers throwes and thinkes not on the wombe that bore him if the great loue of this world and the prosperitie thereof can make vs so farre to forget our selues it is no strange thing that we should be farre more transported and carried away with heauenly things Dauid following the pursuit of his pleasures amidst all the delights of this life he cries out Onely thy glorie can fill me that only can satisfie me Remigius vnfolds this verse of the glorie of the Transfiguration and it may be that this Kingly Prophet did see it by the light of Prophecie And if so fortunate a King as he was did forget all those other goods that he enioyed and saith That hee desires no other good nor no other fulnesse What meruaile is it that a poore Fisherman should bee forgetfull of good or ill And as hee that is full fed likes nothing but what is the cause of this his fulnesse reckoning all other meats soure though they be neuer so sweet so he that shall once come to tast of that good will say No maâ— bien I desire no other good but this What sayth Saint Paul Sed noâ— c. But we also which haue the first fruits of the Spirit euen wee doe sigh in our selues waiting for the adoption euen the redemption of our bodie c. Though Paul enioyed the first fruits of the Spirit and extraordinarie regalos and fauours yet hee groaned and trauelled in paine for Heauen What saith Saint Chrysostome Is thy soule become a Heauen and doost thou yet groane for Heauen Do not thou meruaile that I groan hauing seene that in Heauen which I haue seen QuoniaÌ„ raptus fuiâ—â— Paradisum I see the good which the
the weakest arme is able to mooue it but beeing brought to the shore hath need of greater strength so sin whilest it floateth on the waters of this life seemeth light vnto vs but being brought to the brinke of death it is verie weightie and it will require a great deale of leisure consideration and grace to land it well and handsomely and to rid our hands of it Of this good sudden death depriueth vs And although it is apparent in Scripture That God doth sometimes permit the Iust to die a sudden death as Origen Saint Gregorie and Athanasius Bishop of Nice affirmeth as in Iobs children on whom the house fell when they were making merrie and in those who died with the fall of the Tower of Siloah who according to our Sauiours testimonie were no such notorious sinners yet commonly this is sent by God as a punishment for their sinnes Mors peccarorum pessima i. esse debet An euill death was made for an euil man And Theodoret expounding what Dauid meant by this word Pessima saith That in the proprietie of the Greeke tongue it is a kind of death like vnto that of Zenacheribs Souldiers who died suddenly And Iob treating of him that tyranniseth ouer the world saith Auferetur Spiritâ—â— oris sui Cajetan renders it Recedet in Spiritu oris sui He shal die before he be sicke without any paine in the middest of his mirth when he is sound and lustie Their life being a continuall pleasure at their death they scarce feele any paine because it is in puncto in an instant Sophonias requireth of them That they will thinke on that day before it come wherein God will scatter them like the dust Esay threatning his People because they had put their trust in the succors of Aegypt saith This iniquitie shall be vnto you as a breach that salleth or a swelling in an high wall whose breaking commeth suddenly in a moment and the breaking thereof shall be like the breaking of a Potters pot and in the breaking thereof there shall not bee found a sheard to take fire out of the hearth or to take water out of the pit And the word Requisita mentioned by the Prophet intimateth a strong wall that is vndermined rusheth downe on the sudden How much their securitie is the more so much the more is their danger because it takes the soldiers vnawares But if this so strong a wal should chance to fall vpon a Pitcheâ— of earth it is a cleere case that it would dash it into so many fitters seuerall little pieces that there would not a sheard therof be left for to take vp so much as an handfull of water or to fetch a little fire from our next Neighbours house This effect doth sudden death worke it is a desperat destruction to a sinner And therefore Christ though without sin seeks to shun it that he might teach thee that art a Sinner to auoyd it Secondly our Sauior sought to shun this violent death because his death was reserued for the Crosse as well because it was a kind of long and lingering death as also for diuers other conueniencies which wee haue deliuered elsewhere Passing through the midst of them he went his way Our Sauiour Christ might haue strooke them with blindnesse if he would as the Angell did those of Sodome or haue throwne them downe headlong from the Cliffe but because they complained That he wrought no miracles among them as he had in other places he was willing now at his departure from them to shew them one of his greatest miracles by taking their strength from them hindring the force of their armes and leauing them much astonished and dismayed Though now and then God doth deferre his punishments for that the sinnes of the Wicked are not yet come to their full growth yet we see that he spared not his Angels nor those whom he afterwards drowned in the Floud nor those of Sodome nor of others lesse sinnefull than they nor his owne children of Israell of all that huge number being more in number than the sands of the sea not suffering aboue two to enter into the land of Promise how is it possible that hee should endure the petulancie of this peremptorie people these grumbling Nazarites who in such a rude and vnciuill fashion in such an imperious and commanding voice should presume to say vnto him taking the matter in such deepe dudgeon Fac hic in Patria tua But as when the Romane Cohorts came to take our Sauiour Christ they fell backward on the ground at his Ego sum I am hee which was a fearefull Miracle for no cannon vpon earth nor any thunderbolt from Heauen could haue wrought so powerfull an effect so now passing through the midst of them with a graue and setled pace leauing them troubled angrie amased hee prooued thereby vnto them That he was the Lord and giuer both of life and death c. THE TWENTIETH SERMON VPON THE TVESDAY AFTER THE THIRD SONDAY IN LENT MAT. 18. Si peccauerit in te frater tuus If thy brother shall trespasse against thee c. OVr Sauior Christ instructing him that had offended his brother what he ought to doe giues him this admonition Go vnto thy brother and reconcile thy selfe vnto him and if thou hast offended him aske him forgiuenesse Notifying to the partie offended that he should pardon him that offended if he did intreat it at his hands but if he shall not craue pardon he instructeth Peter in him all the Faithfull What the offended and wronged person ought to doe If thy brother trespasse against thee goe and tell him his fault betweene thee and him c. and if he heare thee thou hast woon a brother but if he will not vouchsafe to heare thee proceed to a second admonition before two or three witnesses and if he will not heare them tell it vnto the Church and if he shall shew himselfe so obstinate that he will not obey the Church let him be vnto thee as a heathen man and a Publican So that our Sauiour Christs desire is That the partie wronged should pardon the partie wronging and reprooue him for it for if it bee ill not to pardon it is as ill not to reprooue For to intreat of a matter so darke and intricate that the Vnderstanidng were to take it's birth from the ordinarie execution of the Law there were not any thing lesse to be vnderstood for there is not any Law lesse practised nor any Decree in Court lesse obserued I desire that God would doe mee that fauour that he did Salomon God giue me a tongue to speake according to my mind the pen of a readie Writer cleerenesse of the case which I am to deliuer true distinction grace knowledge or as Bonauenture stiles it resolutionem in declarando and to iudge worthily of the things that are giuen me For so many are the difficulties the questions and the
arguments as well against the substance of this Law as against the manner of complying with it that there will be necessarily required great fauour and assistance from Heauen for to make any setled and ful resolution amongst so many sundrie and diuers distractions But in conclusion it is the best and the safest councell to adhere to that which is the surest and not to make any reckoning of that course which is now a dayes held in the World not of that which is in vse but that which ought to bee vsed not so much the practise of the Law as of Religion For if the abuses of the world and traditions of men were to tontiâ—ue in force by pleading of custome by that means made iustifiable they would giue the checkmate stand in competitioÌ„ with the laws of God S. Paul saith writing to the Colossians Let your speech be gratious alwayes and poudred with salt that yee may know how to answer euerie man And S. Ambrose expounding this place saith That the Apostle begs grace of God that he might know how to speake with discretion when time place and occasion shall oblige him thereunto As also when vpon the same termes to hold his peace And this is that which I now desire of God If thy brother shall trespasse against thee Here sinne is put downe in the condition of this obligation For it is a kind of monstrousnesse which wee neuer or seldome ought to see Wee stiling that a monster which comes foorth into the world against the Lawes of Nature And in this sence sinne may be sayd to bee a monster because it is against the Lawes of God Ecclesiasticus sayth That God did not wil any man to sinne nor did allow him any time wherein to sinne but alotted him a life and place wherein to serue him and a time to returne vnto him and to repent as oft as hee should offend his diuine Maiestie but to sinne he neuer gaue him the least leaue in the world Dedit ei locum poenitentia He gaue him a place for repentance sayth the Apostle Saint Paul so likewise sayth Iob. And therefore God hauing made the Heauen the Earth and al that therein is he did not then presently make Hell For if Man had not sinned there had bin no neede of it For where no faults are committed a prison is needlesse The Prophet Esay was verie earnest with God that hee would come downe vpon Earth Oh that thou wouldst breake the Heauens and come downe and that the Mâ—â—â—taines might melt at thy presence c. Hee alludeth to that Historie of Mount Sinay where God descended to giue the Law vnto his people with thundering lightening and fire wherewith he strucke such a feare and terrour into them that the people had great reuerence to the Law And therefore this holy Prophet sayth What would they doe if thou shouldest once againe come amongst them A facie tua montes fluerent The proudest of them all would let fall their plumes and humble themselues at thy feete which are here represented in the word Montes or mountaines And those soules which are now frozen and as cold as yce figured in the word Aquae or waters would gather heat and be set on fire With this desire did the sonne of God descend from the bosome of his father but he bringing that humilitie with him that was able to make the highest mountaines to stoope and to bring downe the proudest heart and fire for to burne and dry vp many waters yet mens brests waxed colder and colder and their soules were more and more swolne with pride The Glorious Apostle Saint Paul writing to the Romans That God made his Sonne our propitiation Whome God hath set foorth to bee a reconciliation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenes of the sinnes that are passed c. He did exercise vpon his sonne the seuerest Iustice that euer was or shall be seene againe for the remission of precedent sinnes To the end that Man considering how deere our former wickednesse and forepassed sinnes cost our Sauiour Man should be so affraid of offending that hee should neuer returne to sinne any more Some may happily aske me the question Why the death and passion of our Sauiour beeing so powerfull and effectuall a remedie against all kind of vices whatsoeuer yet sinne still reigneth so much in the World as neuer more Wherunto I answere That vpon the Crosse our Sauiour Christ gaue sentence against all whatsoeuer both present past and those that were to come And depriued the Prince of the World of that Seigniorie which he possessed so that all of them were to suffer death and to haue an end But they did appeale from this sentence of death to the Tribunall of our passions And for that they are such interressed such blind Iudges they haue set these our Vices againe at libertie giuing them licence to worke vs as much if not more harme than they did before So that Gods sending of his sonne into the World and his suffering death for our sinnes did not generally banish all vice but did serue rather to some for their greater condemnation If thy brother shall trespasse In te against thee Saint Augustine expoundeth this In te to be contra te and in this sence it ought to be taken for it is the expresse letter of the former Texts as also of those that follow and generally agreed vpon by all the Doctors The Interlinearie hath it Si te contumelia affecerit Saint Peter anon after askes our Sauiour How oft shall my brother sinne against mee and I shall forgiue him Whereupon Theophilact taking hold of this word Contra me notes That if his brother should sinne against God hee could hardly forgiue him Saint Luke deliuers the same much more plainly and cleerely If thy brother haue trespassed against thee rebuke him if hee repent forgiue him If hee offend thee seuen times a day and seuen times a day shall turne vnto thee forgiue him Hugo Cardinalis hath obserued That if the word In te be the ablatiue case then it is the same with Coram te but if it be the accusatiue then it is all one with Contra te and the Greeke doth admit of no Ablatiues In Leuiticus God had said long before Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but reprooue him And vpon a second admonition Take vnto thee two witnesses and tell it to the Church Manle doe concur and runne along with this sence no difficultie in the world interposing it selfe The second sence which Saint Augustine also treateth of in the same place is If he shall trespasse against thee that is before thee This opinion Thomas followeth and the greater and better part of the Schoolemen howbeit there are great arguments and strong reasons to the contrarie and many graue Authours to whom this sence doth not seeme so plaine as to ground thereupon any diuine
Iudignatio mea in manu tua God had put this chastisement into the hands of a tyrant as his instrument who had not the wit to carrie himselfe accordingly therefore he punished him according to his desarts He rebuked the Feuer and it left her Saint Augustine deliuereth some mens opinions who affirme That things without life as Sickenesse Pestilence Famine were occasioned by euill Angells one while for our good another while for our hurt but alwayes for the seruice of God and to shew themselues obedient to his Empire And this is the true sence and meaning of Imperauit febri He rebuked the Feuer and of Vocauit famem He called a Famine Not that a Feuer or Famine haue any eares to heare or vnderstand any thing but because the Angell to whom the power is committed doth heare and obey his will In this Article there are two manifest truths The one That the Angells as well good as bad are many times ministers of our punishments by famine pestilence barrennesse tempests sicknesse death And this truth is made good by innumerable stories in Scripture as in that of Iob whose Corne the Deuill destroyed threw downe his Houses carried away his Cattell and killed his Children That of Sarah who had seuen husbands slaine by Asmodeus the Deuill Those plagues of Aegypt whereof saith Dauid the Deuills were the Instruments He cast vpon them the fiercenesse of his anger indignation and wrath and vexation by the sending out of euill Angells where God makes them his Hangmen or Executioners And in another place Fire and haile snow and vapours stormie winds which execute his Word c. Of good Angels there are likewise many stories as that of those that came to Sodom and that of the Angell that slew the souldiers of Zenacherib The other That to haue things without life to be obedient to the Empire of our Sauiour Christ there is no such necessitie that they should bee mooued and gouerned by Angels either good or bad as Saint Hierome and Saint Augustine haue both obserued For albeit towards vs and in themselues they are insencible yet towards God they are not so He calls the things that are not as if they were Nor is it any thing strange that the Heauens or the Earth should haue eares or that those things should answer and obey at Gods call whose end is Gods glorie the waters at Gods command gather themselues into heapes and when he sayes but the word they againe withdraw themselues he prescribes bounds to the Sea Hitherto shalt thou come and no further at his Word againe the Sea is made drie land he layes his command vpon the fire to giue light but not burn curbing this his actiue qualitie as it did in the â—irie Furnace when the childeren came forth vntoucht At this Word the waters gushed out of the hard Rocke the Winds are at his command death and life sicknesse and health and al things else whatsoeuer doe truly and punctually obey his will and so in this place he had no sooner said the word But her Feuer left her And rising vp she presently ministred vnto them In regard that shee was an old woman she might verie well haue excused her selfe from doing this seruice but her health was so perfect her recouerie so sound and her strength so increased that without further tarriance She presently ministred vnto them Your earthly Physicke is long a working and the Cures prooue imperfect but Gods physick workes continâ—ò presently for All Gods workes are perfect But it is not so in nature Pierius makes the Vulture the emblem of nature Auolatus tarditate being a kind of Tortoise in his flying First of all it is intimated here vnto vs What hast a Sinner ought to make to get vp S. Peter being in prison the Angell said vnto him Surge velociter Arise quickely and without any more adoe not staying vpon his gyues chaines the gates or the guards he presently riseth vp and gets him gone with all the speed he could Noah puts the Crow out of the Arke Dimisit Corvum qui egrediebatur non reuertebatur The Hebrew Text hath it Exiuit exeundo redeundo He began to make wing but seeing such a vastnesse of waters fearing to faile in his flight he returned backe againe but being entred carrying about him the sent of those dead carcasses which had perished by the Floud he went to and fro so long till at last he went his way and was neuer seene any more Many there are that will put one foot forward and pull two backeward make you beleeue that they meane to goe on well in vertue and goodnesse but beeing discouraged with the difficultie of getting vp that hill and hauing a monthes mind to follow the sent of their former stinking howsoeuer to them sweet seeming sinnes at last they are vtterly lost and neuer more heard of so apt is sinfull man to leaue the best and take the worst Secondly By this her seruice this good deuout old woman made known her bodily health and by the ioy and comfort shee tooke therein shee manifested her soules health At the verie first voyce of Ezechiel the boughes began to mooue but as yet they had not life in them Ossa arida audite Verbum Domini they were afterwards knit and ioyned together and set in verie good order but they had need of another kind of voice than Ezechiels to giue them spirit life Saint Augustine expounding that place of Saint Iohn Verba mea Spiritus vita sunt saith That this Spirit and life is in himselfe and not in thee For that Poenitent which doth not giue some signe or token of life hath not yet obtained life and that He that in his seruice and attendance doth not make shew that he is free of his former Sickenesse his health may iustly be suspected Saint Paul giues vs this Lesson He that steales let him steale no more but c. Hee must not onely content himselfe with not stealing or with working for his liuing and that it is enough for him to haue laboured hard but of that which hee hath got by the sweat of his browes hee must giue part thereof to the Poore if not for the satisfaction of his former thefts yet to shew himselfe a good Christian by obseruing the rules of charitie Zacheus did performe both these the one in making a fourefold restitution to those whom he had defrauded by forged cauillation the other by giuing to the Poore the one halfe of his goods Let all bitternesse and anger and wrath crying and euill speaking saith the Apostle bee put away from you with all maliciousnesse First of all there must not abide in your brests the least smacke of bitternesse anger wrath euill speaking nor any other maliciousnesse But because it is not enough to shun euill vnlesse wee doe also he thing that is good he addeth in the second place that which
God would not haue that which was the beginning of it's life to be the instrument of it's death And this may be verified of the wearinesse and wounds of our Sauiour Christ neither the torments of the Deuill nor the fire of Sodom nor the water of the Floud which drowned all the world nor hel it selfe ought so much to feare thee as to see thy God thus wearied and wounded for thee Sedebat sic He sate thus Saint Chrysostome Euthymius and Theophilact say Sedebat sic non in cella aut in loco honoratiori sed in terra He sat thus not in a chaire or some more honorable place but on the ground Conforming himselfe according to the time and place he sate him downe as well as he could not being curious of the softnesse easinesse or conueniencie thereof Wherein are condemned two sorts of persons The one They who for one houres paines will haue a thousand dainties to delight themselues withall and for one houres labour a thousand refreshings They indeere this storme and tempest of theirs more than any Galley-slaue that tugs at the oare they extoll their labour so high aboue the skies that there is no earthly reward that can recompence their paines It is such a strange thing for them to put themselues to any trouble and so vaine is their presumption that the sea and the sands are too little to content them And this is commonly the condition of base people that are preferred to honourable place The other They who will not be pleased with accommodating themselues as well as they can or content themselues with that which is sufficient for them but are still seeking after more than is enough And this is too common amongst vs. He sate thus vpon the Well A woman saith Saint Augustine eame to the well and found a Fountaine there which she little thought of And he farther sayth That he sate him downe vpon the Well to the end that we should not seeke to draw water out of this depth but endeauour to draw water out of that Fountaine which is aboue all the waters in the world This Well is the water of life let vs draw from hence that we may drinke of the cup of Saluation One of the attributes of Christ is Oyle or Balsamum poured forth and scattered abroad whose propertie and qualitie is to swimme vpon the water The water drawne from the Well giues a great deale of trouble and little satisfaction it is a brackish water that quenches not the thirst but this soueraigne Fountaine affoordeth vs that sweet and comfortable water which quencheth the flames of the firie lusts and affections of this life and allayeth the thirst of our sinnes Of that water of the mysticall Rocke which in those dayes of old did quench the thirst of sixe hundred thousand persons Thomas and Lyra affirme That it followed the Campe and that God would not that any other water should giue them reliefe but the water of the Rocke which was a figure of our Sauior Christ This Water was Christ. This woman came for water to Iacobs Well but this could not quench neither her nor thy thirst but another Fountaine that sate vpon the lid or couer of this Well His Disciples were gone into the Citie to buy meat Saint Chrysostome hath obserued That our Sauior Christ and his Disciples had but little care of their bellie yet it being now high noone and hauing had so long and painfull a journey they were inforced to goe buy them some victuals Wâ—â— vnto that land whose Princes eat betimes in the morning and Woe vnto them that rise vp early to follow drunkennesse He that hath not broke fast at one of the Clocke in the afternoone what will he say or thinke of him that rises vp to eat by day-breake Seneca saith That Glâ—ttonie hath reached farther than possibly the wit of man could reach Natâ—â—e makes gold and pearles Art money and jewels of all this Gluttony makes a daintie dish to please the palate And in another Epistle he saith That we need not so much wonder at our many sickenesses and infirmities hauing so many Cookes and Kitchen Bookes so many inuentions of sundrie sorâ—â— of dishes and seuerall kinds of seruices euerie one of them beeing it selfe a sâ—â—knesse Philon paints forth a Glutton in the Serpent to whom God said Terram comedes First Because he trailes his brest vpon the earth which is his food Secondly In regard of the poyson which he alwaies beares in his mouâ—h so the Glutton hath alwaies his mind on that which he is to eat and poyson in his mouth because he goes eating of that which shortens his life Thirdly For that God admitting the excuse of Adam and Eue did not allow of the Serpents excuse Maledictus super omnia animantia Cursed art thou aboue all the Creatures c. Which was all one as if he should haue said That others sinnes might receiue excuse but to forsake God for to fill the bellie is inexcusable They went into the Citie to buy meat Saint Chrysostome saith That it is superâ—â—uous prouidence in a Traueller to carrie with him an Alforias or a Walleâ— because he shall neuer want vpon the way that which shall be sufficient to â—â—â—â—sfie his hunger and he farther addeth That it is a needlesse care in the Souldiers of Iesus Christ. The fiercest beast dies not of hunger nor the Corke tree in the Desert though neuer so much pilled at any time sâ—arueth All the trees of the field shall be filled c. And can the Seruant of God then want When I sâ—ntâ—yee forth without a scrip was there any thing wanting vnto you If there be any need at all of prouision saith the said Chrysostome it is for our journy for that other life for besides that it is a long one and a narrow one there is no baiâ—ing place by the way no Inne no Victualling house no Fountaine no Well no Brooke nor Sheepheards Cottage It is a Sea voyage wherein you must carrie all your Matalotage and prouision with you readie killed powdred vp The rich Glutton when he was gone hence because he made not his prouision before hanâ— could not meet with so much as one drop of water It was about the sixt houre Saint Cyril saith That the Euangelist sets downe this word About in token that euen in the least things we should haue a great care of the truth considering how hatefull a thing a lie is And here hee giues a reason of his Sedebat why he sate there The one was His extreame heat and wearinesse The other which was the maine cause His expecting of the woman of Sâ—maria's comming to the Well waiting there for her as an Hunâ—sâ—an for his Game and het want of water makes the way for her to come thither Iesâ—â— sitting there all the while Saint Augustine saith Sedeâ—aâ— iuxta pâ—tâ—um â—ed 〈◊〉 quiâ—sâ—ebat He sate by the Well but tooke no
great â—ase his bodie rested it selfe buâ— not his soule Philon saith That a mans sitting doth not argue case but to sit and to leane the hand on the cheeke as it seemeth our Sauiour vpon the Well-lid is the posture of a pensatiue man and one that is full of care Moses flying from Pharaohs Court the Scripture sayth That finding himselfe wearie he sate him down by a Well and that loosing the sailes to his thoughts his mind was on Aegypt casting with himselfe what they talked of him in the Princes pallace and beeing doubtfull what fortune should be fall him got him to Midian Iosephâ— Bretheren sayth the same Doctor sate them down in Aegypt vnloaded themselues of their sackes and wallets as men that were willing to rest themselues but what with the sorrow that they tooke for their father whome they left behinde them in the land of Canaan and what would betide them with Ioseph they found but little ease Esay painting foorth God in his Throane circled about with Seraphins sayth That euery one of them had six wings With twaine he couered his face and with twaine hee couered his feete and with twaine he did flye Saint Bernard askes the question how they may be sayd to flye and not to flye And his answere is That this was a Miracle of Loue that made them assist for Gods glorie and yet flye abroad for mans good It is a Type of our Sauiour Christ who resting his bodie on the couer of the Well set the cogitations of his soule vpon it's wings considering with himselfe how farre those sheepe were gone astray which he came to bring backe againe vnto the fold and what a deale of labour and paines he was to take being scattered so farre asunder as they were There came a woman of Samaria to draw water Our Sauiour Christ beeing wearie and this woman beeing likewise wearie let no man in this life be he righteous or be he a sinner looke for any ease or rest in this life If Gods elect children come brused and broken to Heauen passing through fire and water broyled roasted sawne dragged on the ground whipt and quartered Sancti per 〈◊〉 vicerunt regna c. And if the places of Scripture which indeere the torment of the just are many many likewise are the indeerements of the torments which sinners suffer So that both of them plie the oare in the Galley of this life Si impius fuero va mihi si iustus non leuabo caput c. But the just hath a double aduantage The one That their paines are sauorie vnto them because they suffer them for Gods sake Saint Gregorie sayth That in the midst of his greatest miseries the iust doth inioy a kind of secret glorie And that Iob vpon the dunghill did inioy this comfort thinking vpon the peece of pot-shard which God had put into his hands weighing considering with himselfe that as the fire doth harden the clay and makes it a purer and better kind of Earth than before so he himselfe should be much bettered by this fierie triall of his and bee purified the more by these sores and boyles that brake out vpon his bodie But the sinner doth not inioy this happinesse euen his verie pleasures are painfull vnto him and his solace turnes into sorrow The other aduantage is the end of the Iust. Saint Bernard treating of the two Theeues sayth That they came both wearie and their bones broken to that other life They had the same prison the same shackles bonds torments crosse But Quam â—imiles cruces quam dissimiles exitus habuerunt How equall their crosses how vnequall their ends Sâ—eâ— came to draw water This woman it should seeme was borne vnder some vnhappie Starre That hauing buried fiue husbands she should be so poorely left amongst them that she must be forced to fetch water her selfe at the Well be driuen to draw it vp But there are two great miseries that accompanie your women that are wanton and lasciuious The one is That they commonly come to a great deale of neede and want scarce hauing bread to put in their moâ—ths Why â—unnest thou about so much to change thy wayes Thou shalt not pâ—osper thereby The Prophet speaketh here of his people in the metaphor of an Harbor who pilling this and that other mâ—n and causing the richest wealthest Citiâ—ens in Ierusalem to wast and consume their means vpon them come themselues in the end to dye in an Hospitall She gathered it out of the hyre of a Harlot and they shall returne to the wages of an Harlot He followes the same metaphor still proouing that the wages and riches of Harlots seldome thriue and as they are wickedly gotten so are they vilely and quickely spent The price of a Whoore is scarce worth a loafe of bread So that though such a one should chance to gaine a Million yet as Salomon sayes were it a Kings patrimonie it would be all wasted and consumed For such a one shall be brought to that low estate that she shall bee readie to starue for lacke of food And albeit speaking in the generall our neuer offending of our God bee a good meanes for the purchasing of prosperitie to our selues yet to grow into wealth by this base course is but Vigilia inferni Hels Wake-day a little pleasure for a long torment For that which generally happeneth to all and in particular to women is the extremest of pouertie The other is That your Hâ—rlot is 〈◊〉 to bestow money to maintaine her Louers and to find her friends So Ezechiel complained of his people They giue gifts to all other Whoores but thou giuest gifts to all thy Louers and rewardest them that they may come vnto thee on euerie side for thy fornication There are some Whoores that sinne out of Couetousnesse I will goe after my Louers that giue me my bread and my water my wooll and my flaxe mine oyle and my drinke And because they doe not acknowledg whence this good commeth For she did not know that I gaue her corne and wine c. they come to suffer great hunger For God takes away those blessings from them for the which they giue thankes vnto their Louers Therefore will I returne and take away my corne in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will recouer my wooll and my flax lent and discouer her lewdnesse in the sight of her Louers and no man shall deliuer her out of my hand I will cause all her mirth to cease her feast dayes and all her solemne feasts I will destroy her vines and her figge-trees whereof she hath said These are my rewards that my Louers haue giuen me Others sinne out of lasciuiousnesse and wantonnesse and these come to be so vile and so base that they woo men both with their person and their substance giuing money to boot And the more that time flyes from them and
vpon their coyne an Oxe a creature that in his feeding goes still backeward which is the hieroglyphicke or embleme of a couetous man who the more he eats the more backeward he goes Set not thy eyes nor thy thoughts vpon riches for when thou least thinkest of it they shall betake them to their wings like an Eagle and shall flie vp to heauen Riches that are ill gotten flie vp to Gods tribunall seat and there like so many fiscalls or busie Attornies accuse thee for an vniust possessor of them and crie out as loud against thee as the bloud of Abel against his brother Cain The fourth thing that wee may draw from this patterne is That a Prince ought more sharpely to correct those abuses and vices which are growne old through custome especially those of your great and powerfull Ministers who commit them without controlement by publike authoritie God deliuer vs from those Ministers who sell that for their priuate profit which they are bound to doe gratis out of their Office and from that Priest which makes sale of the administration of the Sacraments from that Confessor that will be soundly payd for his Absolution From that Iudge that will be bribed before hee will doe iustice and from that Secretary that makes sutors come off roundly for their quicker dispatch These be things that send many of them quicke to hell The Pharisees should haue kept their Temple cleane from all couetousnesse haue banished your Merchants bankes and haue fauoured and graced those their Sacrifices in stead whereof they sold those beasts that were to be offered made money of them and put the same forth to vse and profit as others did Sacerdotes eius contempserunt legeÌ„ meam à sabbatis mois ouerterunt oculos suos coinquinabar in medio eorum The Priests of my Temple haue broken my Law and haue defiled my holy things They haue put no difference betweene the holy and prophane neyther dâ—scerned betweene the vncleane and the cleane and haue hid their eyes from my Sabboths and I am prophaned amongst them Where I would haue you by the way to waigh that same word coinquinabar For the Ministers of a State being theeues they make their Lord Master likewise a theef thou hast made my house a den of theeues by being thy selfe a companion of theeues According to that of Esay Socij furum And therefore Christ lasheth them with whips a sitting punishment for theeues Saint Ierome saith That he is a theefe and makes the Church a den of theeues Qui lucrum de religione reportat Who out of the duty of his Ecclesiasticall dignity makes priuat gaine and profit to himselfe Saint Gregory is of the same minde And as Theodosius the Emperour said Quid poterit esse securum si sanctitas as incorrupta corrumpatur What can be secure if incorrupted Sanctity shall be corrupted Which is all one with that of Iob That a Gouernour should rob widowes and deuoure their houses being bound to defend and protect them that he should strip that poore man naked whom he ought to cloath this is a great crueltie There is a curse that lyes vpon them that shall lead away the Asse of the fatherlesse and take the widowes Oxe to pledge that shall rise early for a prey cause the naked to lodge without garment and without couering in the cold and to plucke the fatherlesse from the breast c. It is so due a debt which Princes owe to fauour succour and defend the right of the poore of the fatherlesse and of the widow that Cassiodorus in his thirty nine epistle saith That it is as needlesse and superfluous a businesse to aske it at his hands as to sue to that which is heauy to descend downeward or to that which is light to ascend vpward But Saluianus lamenting the miseries of his times complaineth That your great and powerfull Ministers in stead of complying with their obligaâ—ion and in stead of fauouring and defending their poore Vassalls sell them Iustice at a deare rate Verifying that lamentation of Ieremy Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus ligna nostra praetio comparauimus Selling vnto them the water of their wells and a sticke of fire from their hearthes And would to God they would but sell their water and their wood as others vse to doe at common and ordinary rates for then there would something remaine to the buyer but there is a new kind of tyranny now adayes he that sells wraps and wrings all he can vnto him but returnes nothing takes all but giues not a dodkin to the poore whereas he that buyes giues all that hee hath and receiueth nothing And therefore in that Countrey or Kingdome where the Great ones are all so generally bad it is no great wonder that Religion Iustice and whatsoeuer else belonging to gouernment should be sold and set forth to sale Ieroboam made of the lowest of the people Priests of the high places Who would giue most money might consecrate himselfe and bee of the Priests of the high places which thing as the Text sayth turned vnto sinne to the house of Ieroboam euen to root it out and destroy it from the face of the Earth Simon Magus sought to buy the grace of the holy Ghost What his gracelesse pretension came to I neede not tell you you knowing already how deare it cost him The Emperour Iustinian sayd That the selling of Iustice in a Commonwealth was the vtter vndoing of it for why should not that Iudge or Officer robbe and steale who payd so great a summe of money for his Commission What would a Theefe an Adulterer or a Murderer care if hee knew he might redeeme his offence with money He that buyes must of force sell So sayd Alexander Seuâ—rus And therefore he would neuer consent as Lampridius reporteth it that any office at least of Iurisdiction should bee sold in the Empire The Priests therefore of the Temple selling the sayd oblations it is not much that our Sauiour should whip them and that hee should call them Theeues The last thing that a gouernor may draw from this patterne is perseuerance There are many which are as the Glosse hath vpon the decretals Primo ferâ—ens postea deficiunt Hot at first and afterwards grow cold When they are a little warme in their place they flagge and fall off punishing one and freeing another and both vniustly They wincke at theeues and robbers on the high way they cancell Deedes falsifie Records conceale Writings alter Euidences foist in false indictments set delinquents at libertie facilitate causes and a thousand the like disorders to the great detriment and disauthoritie of Iustice. And therefore they make the Crane the Hieroglyph of a good Iudge which neuer changes his plumes but is all of one and the same colour both in his youth and in his age Out of this Historie I shall inferre three or foure conclusions The first if the
the fire did serue there in stead of water Suting with that of Saint Paul Licet is qui foris est noster homo corrumpatur for by how much the more the bodie is dried vp and withered away by so much the more doth the soule grow greene and flourish and by how much the more the outward man waxeth weake by so much the more the inward man waxeth strong For the glorie of God c. Before your great battells are fought they first begin with skirmishes in your Tilts and Tournaments they begin with proffers and flourishes betweene Loue and Death after eithers brauado's the warre is now ended Loue skirmisheth with Death and hath gotten himselfe such great glorie in this conflict that with a generall shouting all crie out aloud That Loue will win the field There are many who not truly looking into the cause of their punishment crie out with Iob O that my griefe were well weighed and my miseries were layd together in the ballance for it would be now heauier than the sand of the sea And in another place He hath multiplied my wounds without a cause And Dauid complaineth I did not enter into the cause of those many stripes which God had laid vpon me But to al this it may be answered That the cause thereof is the glorie of God The stench vapours it selfe from forth the earth it inuirons the circumuicining aire the Wormes are knawing on Lazarus carkasse all this loathsomenesse this stench and these Wormes turne to the glorie of God That Mary which annoynted the Lord with oyntment c. The titles whereby the Spirit of God makes these Sisters and their brother knowne are those their seruices expressed to our Sauiour Christ. Mary who annoynted his feet Martha who feasted him and Lazarus his beloued friend For the greatest noblenesse that a soule can inioy is To serue and loue God Feare God and keepe his Commandements c. This is the onely true valour in man Philon expounding that place vpon Genesis These are the generations of Noah c. He saith That God willed Moses to make a Pedegree or Genealogie of Noah but hee did not make it by fetching it from his famous ancestors as your Noblemen and Gentlemen doe now a dayes but from his Vertues Those forefathers and great grandfathers which made Noah so renowned were his obedience his constancie his fortitude and his pietie This is the true nobilitie of Gods Saints The diuine Histories that blazons foorth Iob describes him thus Hee was an vpright and iust man one that feared God and eschued euill c. But why did hee not make mention of his Fathers and his Kindred and Alliance Because Gods Saints boast not their parentage but their vertue Saint Chrysostome prooueth at large that a man ought not to be commended for any thing but his vertue And hee rendereth three very good reasons for it The first is That all other our goods end with our liues but vertue indureth for euer The rest are bona aliena they are not ours but of others But vertue is bonum proprium It is our owne proper good And Saint Chrisostome treating of Nabuchadnezzars Statua much condemneth the meanes that was vsed for the increasing of his honour and authoritie For he dishonoured himselfe by hauing that to be honoured shewing thereby that he relied more vpon a Statue of mouldring mettalls than his owne bodie and soule representing those therein that are honoured more in the world for those outward goods of the body than those inward goods of the soule confessing as it were that because they haue not any thing in them that deserueth honour they erect them Statues to bee adored The second None of all these exteriour goods doth satisfie the soule but Vertue fills the Vessell of mans heart Saint Ambrose interpreting that verse of Dauid Accedite ad Deum illuminamini id est illuminabimini addeth therevnto Accedite satiamini accedite liberamini accedite dimittemini Come vnto God and yee shall be illightned for he is the Light come vnto him and yee shall be satisfied for he is the Bread of life come vnto him yee that are thirstie for he is the Fountaine of liuing waters come vnto him and be freed for he is freedome it selfe come vnto him yee that desire pardon for he is the Remission of sinnes The third These humane goods are so base and so vile that none can truly commend them Art thou bold A Lyon is more bold than thou Art thou strong A Beare is farre stronger Art thou beautiful a Peacocke goes beyond thee Art thou braue and gallant A Horse in his rich Caparisons is a more glorious sight Liuest thou in great Pallaces a Iackedaw nay a Spider liues in greater and farre more sumptuous Art thou a curious Workeman The Bee is a better Art thou nimble of bodie The Hart is more Hast thou a good eye The Eagle hath a quicker Hast thou a quicke sent euerie Dog will out-nose thee Art thou a good husband The Ant is a better It is a shame therefore that thou shouldst boast thy selfe of those things wherein the bruit beasts do surpasse thee In a word it did stead Lazarus more to be our Sauiour Christs friend than nobly borne or antiently descended Which annointed his feet with oyntment Here are two truths touching the goodnesse of Gods condition pointed forth vnto vs The first That during all the time of Marie Magdalens perdition and profanenesse there is not the least print or shew in Gods booke concerning any such matter nor any memorie thereof remaining vpon Record Marrie the World calls her Maria la Peccadora Marie the Sinner and represents nothing else vnto vs but her sinnes but God doth not so nay he doth not so much as thinke vpon them or once offer to call them to mind Projecisti post tergum tuum It was the saying of good King Ezechias omnia peccata mea Thou hast cast all my sinnes behind thy backe It is a Spanish phrase Echar al trançado of that which is no more to be seene Saint Augustine expounding that place of Ieremie Ecce ego obducam ei cicatricem saith That the Chyrurgeon cureth the wound but doth not take away the skarre but there is some marke thereof still remaining but God not onely cures the wound but therewithall quite quits the signe as if there had neuer beene any such thing at all Saint Chrysostome addeth hereunto Cum sanitate reliquit pulchritudinem Nor shall it bee an excesse of speech to affirme That Marie Magdalens repentance made her appeare more faire and beautifull than Saint Agnes the Martyr S. Agatha or S. Cicile The second is That God neuer blotteth out of his remembrance those seruices that he receiueth from vs nor will suffer his friends to bee forgotten And therefore our Sauiour saith touching this sinfull woman Verily I say vnto you wheresoeuer this Gospell shall be preached throughout the whole
of Chrysologus which is this That there is not that man be he neuer so powerfull neuer so valiant but doth sometimes shew the weaknes of a man in hiding and withdrawing himselfe But here he saith Artis est non timoris Sacramenti est non Pauoris It was not out of any feare or cowardize that our Sauiour fled It is a kind of daringnesse boldnesse of spirit and great courage to draw our enemie but into the field or to toll him along into the market-place and there to vanquish him in publike and obtaine an open victorie Epiphanius saith That Christ vsed this boldnesse in the garden as well in his sweating of blood as in those his prayers that he made vnto his Father so full of agonie and anguish to the end that by shewing himselfe thus weake death might the more boldly set vpon him Ioshua vsed the like slight with those of the City of Ay We flying they will follow vs then ye shall rise vp from lying in wait and destroy the City Agesilaus one of the Lacedemonian Captaines tooke the same course when he besieged the Phocenses Alcybiades with the Vizancini And the world neuer had any famous Captaine which did not doe the like vpon occasion Iulius Frontinus in his booke of Stratagemes quotes you a world of examples Be ye wise as Serpents said our Sauiour the Serpent aduantageth himselfe more by his craft and subtletie than by his strength and force the experience whereof was to our griefe to be seene in Paradise And therefore it is obserued by Gods Saints That he was more subtill than all the rest of the beasts of the field therein aduising vs That with the diuell the world and the flesh it is now and then the wiser and safer course of the two to retyre our selues and to flye from him than either to wait for him or to resist him Philip king of Macedon turned his backe and fled before the Athenians leauing his Shield behind him wherein these letters were ingrauen Bona fortuna And some souldiers vpbraiding him with this his flight he told them He that flyes may returne againe to the battell but not he that dyes There was a Captaine belonging to the Emperour Charles the fifth who made so famous and honourable a retreat out of France that it was called La bella retyrada The faire retreat Christ said vnto his Disciples If they persecute you in one citie flye vnto another Remâ—gius saith That this was a precept Thomas That it was onely a licence and permission For when a Christian man flyeth without wrong to the faith hee professeth and without detracting from the good opinion and credit of Christian Religion it is wholesome counsell And this did the Patriarches of old follow Iacob fled from Esau Moses from Pharaoh Elias from Iezabel and those Prophets which hid themselues in the house of Abdias and many Saints in the Primitiue Church flâ—d from the cruelty of the Tyrants of those times Tertullian saith That vpon no occasion it is fit for a Christian to flye But Saint Ierome auoucheth That this opinion is contrary to the doctrine both of Christ and of his Church Athanasius defending his flight made a booke concerning this subiect wherein hee prooueth That any man may flye in time 〈◊〉 persecution so that he doe not indanger his conscience but when it comes vpon those tearmes we must rather hazard the body than perill the soule and with Sampson rather incounter with a Lyon than to come to the vineyards at Timnath Aristotle saith That Fortitude is placed in the midst between Daring and Dreading Daring without Dreading is Timeritie and Dreading without Daring is Pusillaniâ—itie Saint Ambrose ponders this in his Exameron That that very Elephant which valiantly breakes through a whole Armie is mightily afraid of a mouse The great Machabean who with his valiant Acts did innoble fame and who for not to spot his honour did at last most gloriously loose his life did sometimes giue ground and make a retreat from his enemies Saint Paul escaped being let downe in a basket by the wals of Damascus And Saint Augustine saith That it had beene a tempting of God and so a sinne in him if he had not done it Yet afterwards being prisoner in Macedonia and that all the rest of the prisoners saued themselues by flight he would not then flye though hee were thereunto intreated by the Gaoler Dauid was of that true mettall and courage that he fought with Lyons and Beares making no more reckoning of them than of so many lambes and without once breaking of his Speare he slew 800 Philistims besides that stout Gyant which outbraued Israel and strooke a terrour into them And yet did it not seeme cowardize in him to flye from Saul nor from his sonne Absalon Vpon this occasion he made that his 18 Psalme wherein he giues thankes vnto God not onely for giuing him armes of brasse for to fight and euen to breake a bowe of Steele asunder but that he had giuen him likewise the feet of a Hart to flye Wherein hee alluded according to Thomas to that Historie which he recounteth in the second of the Kings when he fled from Saul through briars and bushes rocks and mountaines In a word the world stiles rashnesse daringnesse and feare cowardlinesse but God bewaileth this with a Woe be vnto ye that call good euill and euill good The third reason is That Christ withdrew himselfe out of Iudea to giue way to his enemies rage and anger For a cholericke man is so furious that if hee haue a present occasion offered him that there is not any poulder will sooner take fire than he and therfore it is Christian wisedome to flye from him The Scripture compares him to a beare Like a Beare robbed of her Whelps of whom your Naturalists report That for very rage shee will eate and deuoure her owne pawes And Iob Tygris perijt eo quod non habuit praedam And another letter hath it Vrsus perijt eo quod non est consequutus praedam Saul being inraged that hee had not ouercome his enemies slew himselfe Such a one is like a swelling riuer that ouerflowes it's bankes It is a hot fierie furnace whence issueth out a thicke smoake and after the smoake a flame Ecclesiasticus saith As the vapour and smoake of the chimney goeth before the fire so euill words rebukes and threatnings goe before blood-shedding The smoake is not that which burnes though it blinds and causeth the eyes to water but who will abide the flame thereof Who will tarry the comming of a Beare that hunteth after her prey Who the falling of a swift Torrent The soundest counsell is to flye And in the dangers of the soule this doctrine importeth vs much more As the Hart that is wounded with an arrow that is poysoned flyes to the riuers of water so the heart that is touched with the venome of the
it's â—ld odour The adulterie of Bershabe and the murther of Vriah hath layne a â—ong time in my brest and though I haue washed and rynsed it with I know not how many â—ees and Sopes yet haue I no hope to make it as cleane as it was before and therefore ô Lord I beseech thee that thou wilt create a new heart in me wherewith I may loue thee for euer But if this cannot be because the soule is immortall perdurable and incorruptible Renew a right spirit within me that there may not remaine any sent or sauour of my former foulnes establish such a spirit in me that I may neuer fal from thy seruice a spirit that may repaire those wrongs I did before and if that were an occasion that many did blaspheme thy Name let this be such a one that it may conuert many vnto thee and that they may truly serue thee The glorious Doctor Saint Ambrose touched vpon this string Dauid saith he did desire of God That he would create him a new heart not that he should create it anew but that he should so renew it that it might seeme to be created anew for to clense it was all one as to create it It is the resolution of a man that is truly penitent to desire to leaue a lewd life and to auoyd all occasions thereof Anselme saith That the first renouation which God effecteth in our soules is in Babtisme This is the foundation of our Christian building so saith the glorious Apostle Saint Paul Afterwards the eyes of our Reason being cleered one layeth his foundation on Gold another on Siluer a third on pretious Stones a fourth on Wood a fift on Hay a sixt on Straw and though Hay and Straw be sometimes taken for Gold the fire will trie the finenesse of it and purifie all The second renouation is by Repentance When thou hast an old beastly tatterd garment thou makest thee a new one thy soule is all to be rent torne exceeding foule and filthie cloath it anew The first regalo or kindnesse which the father shewed to the prodigall child was his new apparelling of him Aâ—ferte stolam primam This is the greatest kindnesse thou canst doe to thy soule and that thou maist not doe as little children vse to doe which are well clad to day and a few dayes after are nothing but ragges and totters doe not yee make your garments of paper which the least blast of aire rents asunder but put on Iesus Christ our Sauiour and Redeemer which is a Rayment that will last for euer And it was Winter Saint Gregorie saith That the Scripture sometimes setteth downe the circumstances of time and place to signifie by them that which is not expressed by word of mouth And that this circumstance of Hyems erat It was Winter though it may be referred to our Sauiour Christs walking from place to place yet doth it declare the frostinesse and ycie coldnesse of the Iews hearts By coldnesse the Scripture vnderstandeth the malice of sinne whence it is to bee noted That the Historie of the Machabees calleth this Solemnitie The Feast of Fire Whereas we are now purposed to keepe the Purification of the Temple vpon the twentie fifth day of the moneth Chasleu wee thought it necessarie to certifie you thereof that yee also might keepe the Feast of the Tabernacles and of the Fire which was giuen vs when Nehemias offered Sacrifice after that he had built the Temple and the Altar c. It appeareth by the sixth Chapter of Leuiticus That God did conserue a perpetuall fire in his presence The Fire shall euermore burne vpon the Altar and neuer goe out At their departure into Babylon they hid their fire in a deepe pit and at their returne they found it turned into a thick water like a gellie Nehemias he takes it forth and setteth it in the Sunne and presently it became fire the drops that remained they did sprinckle or bedew the Altar therewith and they forthwith tooke fire so that it was fitly called the Feast of Fire But that they who solemnise this Feast should bee all Frost and Ice is a thing verie worthie our consideration This is our ruine and perdition That the verie same day that wee treat of renewing our soules which is the feast of the Fire of our Spirit there should bee such a great coldnesse in vs c. Take heed your flight be not in the Winter nor vpon the Sabboth Our Sauior hauing reuealed vnto his Disciples whether it were the euils that should befall Ierusalem or the insuing miseries of this world or those that should threaten the Soule at each particular mans death or all of them iointly together and supposing that none would be able to abide them but that they would be forced to flie from the euill to come hee giues them this auiso Take heed your flight c. Our Sauiour would not haue them to betake themselues to flight neither on the Sabboth day nor in the Winter Not on the Sabboth day because their Law did not giue them leaue to go any more than a thousand paces a matter of a mile But say some one should haue ventured to breake this Law and to haue gone further he could not haue lighted on an Inne-keeper to bid him welcome got no meat no fire to dresse it nor haue met with any companie on the way but haue trauelled all alone in a fearefull kind of solitude Not in the Winter in regard of innumerable inconueniences as raine durt boggs yce frost snow rising of riuers and dayes short and darke Saint Gregorie expoundeth this place of those euills which threaten vs at our death but be it in our death or in our life the world hath not any creature that is more threatned and terrified than a Sinner Who can looke Sinne in the face our best course is to flie from it and to haue recourse to the Sanctuarie of Repentance but we must take heed that we doe not flie on the Sabboth or in Winter In die illa saith Zacharie non erit lux sed frigus gelu In that day there shall bee no cleere light but darke Saint Hierome saith That the Prophet speaketh of the destruction of Ierusalem by Titus and Vespasian and because the miserie and calamitie thereof would fall out to be so terrible and so fearefull that no man durst abide it they treated of their flying from it But that time shall prooue vnto them to be extreame cold and exceeding darke as if he should haue sayd If they should haue fled for Gods seruice the Pillar of fire should haue gone before them and directed them in their way but when they shall flie to his disgrace and dishonour the dayes shall be cold and the wayes darke c. Here are condemned your cold and frozen Confessions your slacke slow restitutions your luke-warme intentions being like vnto those of the Sluggard of whom Salomon
apprehend Dauid Michal saued his life by letting him out a window Why did they not follow in pursuit of him being so much offended as they were at this tricke which Michâ—l had put vpon them Some Hebrewes make answer hereunto That God had damd vp the window or cast a myst before their eyess that they could not perceiue the manner of his escape Ecclesiasticus saith The congregation of the wicked is like tow wrapped together Their end is a flame of fire to destroy them An Armie of Reprobates can no more stand against the godly than bundles of Towe or Flaxe before a flaming fire How long c. The Iewes comming round about our Sauiour they said vnto him Quousque c. How long doest thou make vs doubt As Loue transformeth a man so doth Hate Vulnerasti cor meum soror mea said the Bridegroome to his Spouse Another letter hath it Excordasti Which alludeth vnto that which the Spouse answered Ego Dormio cor meum vigilat But how can the Spouse sleepe and her heart wake yes her husband had stolne away her heart and that waked with him when she was asleepe Now Hate no lesse transformeth than Loue. Saul did not liue in himselfe but in Dauid Haman not in himselfe but in Mardochee the Pharisees not in themselues but in Christ. And therfore they say Thou causest our soules to doubt Thou hast robd vs of our soules we are not our selues but as bodies without a soule And in token that the cause of this their suspension was Enuie they confesse these their so many distractions vexations and torments of the mind All other kind of sinnes bring paine and torment with them but it is after they haue tasted of their sinnes but Enuie torments before hand The Pharisees had scarce seen Christs Miracles and the applause which his doctrine had in the world when they began to suffer and to be grieued And this is the reason why this Vice is harder to be cured than any other Good doth ordinarily quench ill as water quencheth fire But Enuie because it makes another mans good his ill that which to other vices is death is to Enuy life It is the fire of brimstone which the more water you throw on it the more it burneth They came about mee like so many Bees who are exasperated and grow angry with those that doe them no harme but good They waxed hot like fire among thornes which no water can quench Animam nostram tollis Where I would haue thee to weigh the word Tollis Thou takest away our soule thou makest vs to doubt c. Thou art in fault that we liue in this paine and passion It is the common course of your greatest sinners to lay the blame of their sinne vpon God O Lord Why hast thou made vs to erre from thy wayes saith Esay and hardned our heart from thy feare It is a sin inherited from Adam who laid the fault of eating the apple vpon God The woman which thou gauest me to be with me c. She that thou gauest me to be my companion to be my cherisher and my comforter Who would haue thought that she would haue intreated any thing at my hands that should not haue beene very lawfull and honest The sicke man is wont to lay the fault on the Clymat wherein hee liueth and on those meates wherewith hee is nourished Seneca tells a tale of a certaine Shee-slaue who one morning when she awaked finding her selfe blind laid the fault that she could not see vpon the house desiring that she might be remooued to another The cause of your Eclypses is the earth which interposes it selfe betweene the Sunne and the Moone Whereas hee that shall impute the fault to the Sun shall but betray his ignorance Of the Eclipses of these Iewes the cause thereof was their passions their couetousnesse and their enuie If our Sauiour Christ preached vnto them they desired Miracles if he wrought Miracles they desired Doctrine from his workes they appealed to his words and from his words to his workes and laying the fault on the Sun they said Animam nostram tollis Thou makest vs to doubt If thou be the Christ tell vs plainly In three words they vttered three notorious lies The first Dic nobis palam Tell vs plainly for all that thou hast hitherto sayd vnto vs is as nothing The second Dic nobis palam and we will beleeue thee The third Dic nobis palam for that is the reason why wee haue not hitherto beleeued thee Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome haue both obserued that in these their lies there was a great deale of craft subtletie which was this That the Iewes did still presume that our Sauiour Christ would boast himselfe to bee King of the Iewes and that he was temporally to sit in Dauids Throne they went about to draw this from him that they might haue some ground of accusation against him and therefore they thus cried out vnto him Dic nobis palam Tel vs plainly for in all the rest that they desired of him our Sauiour Christ had giuen them full satisfaction For if Palam be to publish a thing openly and not to doe it in hugger-mugger or in some by-corner or other I haue alwayes preached publiquely in your Synagogues and in the middest of your Market-places And I sayd nothing in secret If Palam shall carrie with it a kind of boldnesse and libertie yee may call to mind my whipping of you out of the Temple the seueritie of my reprehensions and that I called yee the children of the Deuill that I might publish your euill thoughts to the world c. If Palam shall signifie Cleerely or Manifestly what more cleere or manifest truth could ye heare than that which I haue preached vnto you Wil you that I shal tel you in a word who I am I and the father am one Of the materiall Sunne a man may complaine That an earnest eying of it and a steadie fixed looking thereupon may make vs blind but on the Sunne of Righteousnesse no man can lay this fault for hee himselfe giues that light whereby our eyes are inabled to see The commandement of the Lord is pure and giueth light vnto the eyes And therefore Saint Paul calls the old Law Night and the Law of Grace Day In that Law the Sunne had not shewed it selfe all was clouds and darkenesse and albeit they did inioy some light it was but a glimpse or as the light of a candle through some little chinke but when the Sonne of God appeared in the flesh that darkenesse of the night was driuen away and the day appeared c. I told yee and yee beleeue not the workes that I doe in my fathers name they beare witnesse of me Our Sauiour Christ had prooued himselfe to be both God and Man by such conuenient meanes that it had beene follie if not meere madnesse to haue desired better
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
and in stead of shrill and cheerefull flourishes the trumpets sound hoarse so now in this our Mary Magdalens death who was the chiefe Captaine and Ring-leader of the vices of that Citie a hollow sound of sighes was heard and a grieuous noyse of confused grones and broken throbs breathing out these wofull words ô my good Lord I haue beene like vnto the Serpent for on the one side I sustained my selfe by the earth without once offering to lift mine eyes from the earth on the other side I did prostrate my selfe laying traps and snares for thy feet soliciting the men of this City to tread thy Lawes vnder their feet Oh Lord since I haue thus playd the Serpent tread thou vpon mee crush me in the head and bruise out all the venome that is in me O sweet Iesus the Serpent vseth to enter in betweene the rocks and rub off her old skinne and leauing it there behind her to renew her selfe againe I much desire to cast off my old skinne and to leaue it in the wounds of these thy feet and on my strong rocke Christ Iesus I wot well ô Lord that so vile and lewd a woman as I am is to be made no more reckoning of than the durt that is trod vnder foot in the streetes Mulier fornicaria quasi stercus in via conculcabitur But many times the dung of the earth doth serue for the rootes of trees and other plants and because thou art that Diuine plant whose branches reach vp as high as heauen permit ô Lord that I though but durt and dung may lye at thy feet The Cananitish woman did shew a great deale of humility when she tearmed her selfe a dogge but Mary Magdalen much more â—earming her selfe dung And she wiped his feet with the haires of her head S. Ambrose asketh the question Why some of his Apostles did not wash our Sauiours feet either before or after that he had washt all theirs He renders two reasons The one for that Mary Magdalen had washt them and hee would not that this lustre which those her tears had giuen them should be lost by washing them with ordinarie and common water And the comparison is good For he that is washed with the water of Angels will refuse to be washed with any other water The other saith Saint Ambrose for that we should wash those his diuine feet with the teares of our eyes That mysticall lauing of the Apostles feet which was directed to the cleansing of their soules could not fit with our Sauiour Christ who was free from the least filth of sinne If any Lauatorie likes him it is that of our teares because in them the heart is softned Besides Those eyes and hayres which were so well imployed did expresse her good desire and thoughts And there is not any Sacrifice so acceptable vnto God as to see the desires and thoughts of our hearts to be offered vp at his feet Chrysologus saith That after God had seene the resolution and courage of Abraham in the sacrificing of his sonne he cared not a rush for all the rest and therefore cryed vnto him Lay not thine hand vpon the child neyther doe any thing vnto him for now I know thou fearest God c. For I take no pleasure in the death of the Innocent nor in the shedding of blood my delight is to see thy will submit it selfe at my feet My sister my spouse thou hast wounded mine heart Thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes and with a hayre of thy necke Following the selfe-same Metaphor to wit That the hayres are the thoughts and the eyes the desires As if her beloued should haue said vnto her One desire one thought my spouse one resolute determination one firme purpose hath quite robd me of my heart And he that shall indeere the delight that he takes in one single hayre will take much more pleasure in that whole skayne of gold Bonauenture sayes That shee did behold our Sauiour by stealth and peeping through the lattice of her hayres did euer and anon snatch a sight of him But after that she had once inioyed the brightnes of his face and the sweetnes of his eyes whence he shot forth such sweet shafts of loue and that did light so right vpon her that her heart was taken therewith It seeming vnto her That the skie was now cleere and the weather very faire and prosperous she did vnruffle the sides of her haires and spred them abroad to the wind finding so good a gale And as he that hath escaped many dangerous fits of death at sea is neuer satisfied with kissing the earth when hee comes ashoare so Mary Magdalen thought shee could neuer haue her fill of kissing the blessed earth of those her Sauiours most holy feet And as the Traueller that hath passed through the deserts of Arabia his mouth being as dry as those sandie grounds or as tinder that is ready to take fire being driuen to drinke of foule and vnsauourie puddles no sooner comes to a cleere fountaine but hee rushes hastily to the water and neuer makes an end of drinking so did it fare with Mary Magdalen c. With her hayres Absalons hayre was Absalons halter Sampsons lockes serued as bands to bind him fast the Philistims by those hayres haling him to prison My hayres haue been no lesse cruell to me than theirs were to them God he is said to haue a head of gold but hayres as blacke as the Rauen. But I being a Rauen in my soule for blacknesse had my hayres of gold c. And annoynted them with oyntment Saint Gregorie saith That Mary Magdalen entertained our Sauiour Christ at this feast with two great regalos or dainties The one That it was she that made him the feast For albeit the Pharisee had inuited him he had not set before him one sauourie morsell For what could sauour well in the house of a proud scorner that is giuen to mocke and scoffe And howbeit for the body the cheere was good enough yet if it had not beene for Mary Magdalen the soule might haue fasted But she did supply that defect by affording matter to our Sauiour to taxe the Pharisee of discourtesie c. Seest thou this woman I entred into thy house and thou gauest me no water to my feete but she hath washed my feet with teares Thou gauest me no kisse But shee since the time that I came in hath not ceased to kisse my feet Mine head with oyle thou didst not annoynt but she hath annoynted my feet with oyntment c. The other That at the feet of our Sauiour she made a generall sacrifice of all those things wherewith she had before offended him as of her eyes mouth hayres hands heart and soule not leauing out so much as that her oyntment which is that which women are loathest to leaue and doe latest and hardliest part withall Saint Bernard saith That Mary Magdalen did climbe vp to heauen
by the same rounds by which she went downe to hell Wee make a rope of our vices and a ladder of our sinnes by which we descend to hell In some their eyes are the instruments of their destruction in others their hayres in others their dainties and delicacies in Mary Magdalen all whatsoeuer she possessed Shee was the net that swept all the vices vnto her and all those good blessings which God had bestowed vpon her she had made them weapons wherewith to offend him And as the souldier that yeelds himselfe holding his weapon by the point offers it to the Conqueror so did Mary Magdalen ô Lord said she with these weapons haue I offended thee but now I here lay them downe at thy feet If this man were a Prophet he would surely haue known who c. God doth so kindly and so louingly entertaine all those that are penitent sinners that it would make a man thinke that he had not knowne them He that hath kild thy brother if thou know him not thou welcommest him to thy house and settest him at thy table behold heere the immensiue Loue of God for that which thou doest out of meere ignorance God doth here doe it out of cleere knowledge If thou shalt bewayle thy sinnes and offences thou shalt finde God after that manner as if either he had not knowne thy faults at all or if hee did know them that hee had quite forgot them In a word here the boord of a sinner is made the chaire of holinesse and of vertue If this man were a Prophet Your Hypocrites which desire no more but the bare name of Prophets and to be onely esteemed for such are commonly seuere and sharpe but those which professe to be so indeed will rather offend through mildnesse and softnesse than roughnesse and austeritie Saint Chrisostome sayth Melius est Deo de misericordia rationem reddere quam de austeritate It better agrees with God to render an account of his mercy than of his seueritie If God bee naturally kind Why should a Prophet be cruell One of the reasons Why the day of iudgement ought to be desired is That wee may see the faces of those who being very well satisfied of their owne sanctitie are out of a loathing of other folkes sinnes ready forsooth to turne vp the stomacke Your Vultures are all femalls according to the opinion of your Naturalists and conceiuing by the Aire they are the stampe and Embleme of your Murmurers which teare and rend the flesh aliue as your Vultures doe dead carcasses and if thou wouldest know whereupon they ground this thou shalt find it is in the ayre If he but knew who and what manner of woman this were which toucheth him The iudgements that are most preiudiciall to a Common-wealth and most contrarie to Gods nature and condition are the discrediting and disgracing of present vertues with the reprochfull remembrance of forepassed vices some doe this out of zeale forsooth but true zeale neuer disheartneth or discourageth those that are weake How can that be zeale which persuades it selfe Que el sapâ— siempre es sapo That once a toad and euer a toad This kind of zeale I should hardly giue credit vnto though it should descend downe from heauen especially when I consider with my selfe Que del sapo puede hazer dios Perdiz That God of a toad can make a Partridge What saith Ieremy Orietur sicut mane Iustitia Consider the thicke duskinesse of darknesse and then againe the glorious brightnesse of the light being on the one side such neere neighbours and trenching one vpon the other on the other so contrary and so farre asunder that there is nothing more differing than light from darknesse nothing in that extreame distance A bird passes in an instant ouer fields mountaines valleys riuers and seas and flyes from extreame to extreame Quis mihi dabit pennas sicut columbae c. Who will giue mee the wings of a Doue What wonder is it then that God should passe from the foulenesse of sinne to the fairenesse of grace The hardest thing in the world is to vnteach a man that which he hath learned and therefore the Philosopher did demand a double Salarie for teaching those schollers that had beene read too before by some other Philosopher But this shewes the force and power of Gods Spirit for that which humane industrie cannot end in many dayes grace will end in an instant Your aqua fortis will eat out any written character and cleanse those blots and blurs of inke which the dashing of the pen or any the like accident hath occasioned but you shall neuer be able to write any letter well againe in the said paper But your eye-water that of teares is far more forcible and strong than your aqua fortis for it doth not onely cleanse the soule of it's former blots and blurs but there may be written therein anew very faire letters and handsome Characters Aristotle saith That your Plants are watered with the water of the earth and with the water of heauen but affirmeth with all That that of heauen worketh the more wonderfull effects So likewise are there teares of the earth and teares of heauen but these worke heauenly effects The Historie of Elias in that contention and opposition which he had with the false Prophets â—alls out very pat for this purpose Hee powred water on the Sacrifice and fild the trenches full therewith fire descended downe from heauen and lickt vp the water till there was not one drop left The comparison is not much amisse of him Who after that he had fed vpon many dishes fals roundly to that which was serued in last because he findes it more sauourie and pleasing to his palat than any of the former As this fire that came downe from heauen consumed the beasts that were sacrificed with them the wood the stones and at last the very water so was it with this Sacrifice which Mary Magdalen offered to our Sauiour Christ He fed vpon all those dainties shee had set before him her boxe of Alablaster filled with costly oyntment her disheuelled hayres her pretty mouth her faire hands her sweet kisses her modest lookes her blushings and her bashfulnesse but most of all on her teares Lambebat hee did licke them vp they were so sweet and sauourie to his taste and left so pleasant a rellish behind them Iesus answered and said vnto him Seest thou this woman Petrus Chrisologus saith That our Sauiour in this his answer shewes vnto vs that he was first of all desirous to cure him who had least feeling of his griefe not thinking that hee was sicke because he felt no paine And that these open and publike teares of Marie Magdalen should discouer the secret hidden sores of the Pharisee making the same serue as a medicine for his maladie and a meanes to open his eyes who as yet had them blinded with selfe-loue Vides hanc
presumption Saint Ambrose professeth Quod non erat humanae infirmitatis sed diuina potestatis That it was not so much out of humane fraâ—ltie as diuine power Such a thing that all the strength and force of humane weakenesse could not performe Leo the Pope Haesiâ—are permissus est vt nemo auderet de sua virtute confidere He suffered him to stagger that no man might dare to relye vpon his owne strength Vsing it as a cooling-card for confident Presumists Saint Augustine expounding that place of the Prouerbs Neque declines ad dextram neque ad sinistram Doe not decline neither to the right hand nor the left doth put the difficultie in declining to the right hand We doe acknowledge two wayes in this our earthly pilgrimage One of life The other of death That it is a dangerous peece of businesse to decline to the way of death it is a cleere case but to the way of life very darke and intricate S. Ierome saith That the iust man should haue a care not to decline to the right hand because he may chance to offend God out of his double diligence as Vzza did in staying the Arke least it might fall to the ground Saint Augustine saith That our best seruice may be vnacceptable if not sinfull through our owne presumption And so did Peter sinne presuming on his owne proper valour and setled resolution which made our Sauiour Christ say vnto him Thou shalt deny me thrice and hee replyed thrice Rather than I will deny thee I will dye a thousand deaths O Lord either thou tellest me thus out of the feare of my weaknesse or to try me what I will doe I haue but one life to loose If need were I would dye with thee c. He promised that which was not in the power of his strength to performe Man promiseth he knowes not what because he knowes not himselfe The Angell knew not what would follow for had he had this knowledge at the first that alone would haue lessened his contempt Adam knew by reuelation That his marriage did represent that of our Sauiour Christ with his Church but he knew not the Media or meanes that led thereunto Saint Peter would neuer haue presumed so much on himselfe had he knowne what would haue followed thereupon So that he promised that which he was not possibly able to performe But if presuming on our Sauiour Christs fauour he had told the wench that stood at the doore I am one of Christs Disciples and I will lay downe my life for the testimonie of his truth and mine owne faith he had secured his life For it was not possible that our Sauiour Christ should be false of his word If ye seeke me suffer these first to goe their way But euermore those men that most presume are most deceiued Pharaoh pursued the children of Israel boasting as he went I will not leaue a man of them aliue I will at once make an end of these Slaues But this presumption of his succeeded so ill with him that he and all his were made food for fishes They suâ—ke like lead to the bottome of the sea And anon after it is said Thy wrath did deuoure theÌ„ as the fire consumeth the straw They perished first like lead because they descended euen to the bottome of the sea and they perished like straw because they afterwards floated aboue water to the end that the children of Israel might behold in their drowned bodies the powerfull hand of God That proud Philistim Goliah vaunted himselfe and cryed out vnto Dauid Come to me and I will giue thy flesh vnto the fowles of the heauen and to the beasts of the field He was an able and a valiant man but his valour was nothing answerable to his arrogancie and presumption so that for all his great brags himselfe was made a prey for the Vultures God would haue his friends to be valiant yet cowards weake yet strong fearefull and yet confident and that the one should grow from the consideration of their owne weaknesse and the other from their affiance in God Moses fled being afraid from the Serpent but being animated by God hee was so bold as to take him by the tayle Tobias out of feare fled from the fish but incouraged by the Angell he set vpon him and was strong enough to teare his iawes in sunder And therefore Saint Paul saith All things are possible vnto me in him that is my strength and my comforter And he might as well haue said Without God I can doe nothing In deo meo saith Dauid transgrediar murum In my God I will leape ouer a wall Whereas without him he is not able to crawle ouer a Threshold The Scribes and Pharisees did presume that they should enioy those former good times and golden ages of their great grandfathers and forefathers but they were not confederat with them in shedding the blood of the Prophets and therefore our Sauiour made them this answer Behold I send vnto you Prophets and wise men and Scribes and of them yee shall kill and crucifie And of them shall yee scourge in the Synagogues and persecute from Citie to Citie that vpon you may come all the righteous blood that was shed vpon earth from the blood of Abel the righteous vnto the blood of Zacharias the sonne of Barachias whom ye slew betweene the Temple and the Altar And yet ye are not ashamed to say That if ye had beene in the dayes of your fathers ye would not haue beene partners with them in the blood of the Prophets Benadab king of Syria bosting much of his power he of Israel answered him Let not him that girdeth his harnesse boast himselfe as he that putteth it off He that fights for the victory let him not glory as hee that hath got the victorie for the successe of warre is doubtfull The like iudgement ought euery one to make of the victorie and the warre that is waged with the soule which whilest it liueth in this mortall body cannot assure it selfe so various and doubtfull are the successes of this warre When Iacob had some difference with his father in Law about the Idols which Rachel had stolne hee told him Except the God of my father Abraham the feare of Isaac had been with me c. The Commentators here question it why Iacob did not as well say the God of Isaac as of Abraham And Paulus Burgensis answers thereunto out of the opinion of the Hebrewes That God was neuer called the God of any man whilest that man was liuing because he doth not then inioy a sure estate And therefore in regard that Abraham was dead and Isaac liuing he said the God of Abraham and the feare of Isaac After that braue resolution which Abraham had to sacrifice his sonne God sayd vnto him Now I know that thou fearest God But here another doubt now offers it selfe That Abraham hauing shewne such a great and extraordinarie token
vertue and power of the eyes of our Sauiour Christ they did paint a sunne whence three Raies or bright-shining beames brake forth the one raising vp one that was dead the other did breake a stonie heart and the third did melt a snowie mountaine and the Motto was this Oculi Dei ad nos The beames of Christs eyes raise vp the dead breake rocks and melt snow A facie tua saith Esay montes defluent The fire which they hid in the transmigration of Babylon the children of Israel found at their returne turned into water but exposing it to the beames of the sunne it grew againe to be fire to the great admiration of the beholders which is a figure of Saint Peter who through his coldnes became water but the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse raised a great fire out of this water Pliny reports of certaine stones in Phrygia that being beaten vpon by the beames of the sunne send forth drops of water But the beames of the Sonne of righteousnesse did not onely from this Petra or stone Saint Peter draw teares but whole riuers of water According to that of Dauid Which turneth the rocke into water-pooles and the flint into a fountaine of water Saint Ambrose seemeth to stand somewhat vpon it why Peter did not aske forgiuenes of his sins at Gods hands Inuenio saith he quod fleuerit nō inuenio quid dixerit lachrymas lego satisfactionem non lego I find that he wept but do not find what he said I read his teares but read not his satisfaction The reasons of this his silence and that he did not craue pardon of God by word of mouth are these First because he had runne himselfe into discredit by his rash offers and afterwards by his stiffe deniall and therefore thought with himselfe That it was not possible for him to expresse more affection with his mouth than he had vttered heretofore Etiam si oportuerit me mori tecum non te negabo c. And that tongue which had deny'd him to whom it had giuen so good an assurance could neuer as he thought deserue to be beleeued And therefore our Sauiour questioning him afterwards concerning his loue he durst not answer more than this Thou knowest ô Lord whether I loue thee or no. Secondly he askes not pardon by words because the pledges of the heart are so sure that they admit no deceit And for that Lachryma sunt cordis sanguis Tears are the hearts blood S. Ambrose therfore saith Lachrymarū preces vtiliores sunt quā sermonū quia sermo in precando fortè fallit lachryma omnino non fallit The prayers of teares are more profitable than of words for words in praying may now and then deceiue vs but teares neuer S. Chrysostome saith That our sinnes are set downe in the Table-booke of Gods memorie but that teares are the sponge which blotteth them out And indeering the force of teares he saith That in Christs souldier the noblest Act that he can do is to shed his blood in his seruice Maiorem charitatem nemo habet c. For what our blood shed for Christ effecteth that doth our teares for our sinnes Mary Magdalen did not shed her blood but she shed her teares And Saint Peter did not now shed blood but hee shed teares which were so powerfull that after that hee had wept hee was trusted with a part of the gouernment of the Church who before hee had wept had not gouernment of himselfe for teares cure our wounds cheere our soules ease the conscience and please God O lachryma humilis saith Saint Ierome tuum est regnum c. O humble Teare thine is the kingdome thine is the power thou fearest not the Iudges Tribunall thou inioynest silence to thine accusers if thou enter emptie thou doest not goe out emptie thou subduest the inuincible and bindest the omnipotent Hence it is that the diuell beareth such enuie to our Teares When Holofernes had dryed vp the fountaines of Bethulia hee held the Citie his and the Diuell when he shall come to dry vp the teares in our eyes when he hath stopt vp those waters that should flow from the soule of a sinner hee hopes he is his Elian of Tryphon the Tyrant reports of this one vnheard-of crueltie Fearing his Subiects would conspire against him he made a publike Edict that they should not talke one with another and being thus debarr'd of talking one with another they did looke very pittifully one vpon another communicating their minds by their eyes And being forbid by a second Edict that they should not so much as looke one vpon another when they saw they were restrained of that libertie likewise wheresoeuer they met one another they fell a weeping This seemed to the Tyrant the damnablest and most dangerous conspiracie of all the rest and resolued to put them to death The diuell is afraid of our words afraid of our affections but much more afraid of our teares O Lord so mollifie our sinfull hearts that whensoeuer we offend thee our words our affections and our teares may in all deuotion and humilitie present themselues before thee crauing pardon for our sinnes Which we beseech thee to grant vs for thy deare Sonne Christ Iesus sake To whom with the holy Spirit be all prayse honour and glorie c. THE XL. SERMON The Conuersion of the good Theefe MAT. 27. Cum eo crucifixi sunt duo Latrones vnus a dextris alter a sinistris There were crucified with him two theeues one at his right hand an other on his left THere are three most notable Conuersions which the Church doth celebrate That of Saint Paul That of Mary Magdalen That of the good Theefe The one liuing here vpon earth The other now raigning in heauen The third dying vpon the Crosse. Of all the rest this seemeth to be the most prodigious and most strange First because Mary Magdalen saw many of our Sauiour Christs myracles heard many of his Sermons and besides her sisters good example might worke much good vpon her Secondly Saint Paul saw Christ rounded about with glorie more resplendent than the Sunne had heard that powerfull voyce which threw him downe from his horse and put him in the hands of that dust whereof hee was created But the Theefe neither saw Miracle nor Sermon nor example nor glorie nor light nor voyce saue onely Christ rent and torne vpon the Crosse as if hee had beene as notorious a theefe as those that suffered on either side of him Againe How much the quicker is the motion and the extreames more distant repugnant and contrarie by so much the more strange and wonderfull is this change and alteration This theef was a huge way off from either beleeuing or louing our Sauiour Christ and that hee should now on the sodaine and in so short a space passe from a theefe to a Martyr from the gallowes to Paradise must needs be an admirable change Mira mutatio saith S.
fastned the right hand might breake the flesh and teare the sinewes they were faine likewise to bind his right arme with cords to the Crosse. And with this so violent a force and extreame reaching of his armes the bones of our Sauiour Christs bodie were so dislocated and disjoynted that you might plainely tell them that prophesie of that Kingly Prophet Dauid being then verified Dinumerauerunt omnia ossa mea They numbred all my bones c. Hilarie saith That our Sauiour Christ gaue here greater signes of his sorrow and griefe than in all the rest of those bitter passages of his passion And Rodulph and Saint Bridget affirme That of all other his torments this was the greatest And it is a thing worthy our consideration That our Sauiour Christ should bee more sensible of this nayling of his hands than of that Crowne of thornes which they platted on his head those cruell stripes wherewith they scourged him and that vinegre and gall which they gaue him to drinke Wherof there are two reasons rendred The one naturall which Thomas toucheth vpon Deliuering vnto vs that so intollerable is the paine and anguish of the sinewes that many that were crucified through the extreamitie of the paine did swound and were depriued of their senses And therefore our Sauiours torment must needes be so much the more by how much his wounds were greater than theirs Foderunt manus meas pedes meos Hugo Cardinalis doth ponder the Metaphor of foderunt Hee doth not say Clauarunt but effoderunt Like one that digges a pit in the earth The other morall because he held vs in his hands And therefore it is said Omnia tradidit Pater in manus suas non rapiet eas quisquam de manu sua The Father hath deliuered all things into his hands and no man shall snatch any thing out of his hand And in token that he was more sensible of our torments than his own the greatest paine he felt was in the nayling of his hands Leo the Pope saith That to those that were crucified they did vse to put a vayle or bend before their eyes when their hands were nayled and that they tooke the like course with our Sauiour Christ but his Loue had so ordered the businesse that he had eyes to see his owne hurts but not ours The Prophet Zacharie askes the question Quae sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum What are those wounds in the midst of thy hands The like question he might as well haue made of the wounds in our Sauiors side and his sacred feet but that Man was abiding in those the wounds of his hands In manibus meis scripsi te I haue written thee in my hands And therefore made more reckoning of them And at the day of iudgement he saith by the mouth of Zacharie Aspicient ad me quem crucifixâ—runt They shall looke vpon mee whom they haue pierced The sinner shall open his eyes whose name being written like a posie in those hands and himselfe worne by them as a ring of remembrance shall see his saluation nayled to those hands which his sinnes had nayled so fast to the Crosse. In a word as in the garden hauing more care of his than himselfe he said in an imperious kind of manner Sinite hos abire Suffer these to depart And on the Crosse he said vnto his Father In manus tuas Domine commendo Spiritum meum Vpon which place Saint Augustine saith That he there called the faithfull his Spirit and his Soule taking no care of his owne spirit or soule for that was vnited to the Diuinitie So that in this regard for that he held vs in his hands he felt more the torment of his hands than of any other part Neuer did humane Nature receiue so great an iniurie as the death of the Crosse. Tostatus expounding that place of Deut. Maledictus a Deo qui pependit in ligno Cursed is he that hangs vpon the tree saith That it was an iniurie done to God himselfe that a creature created after Gods owne image should dye on the Crosse Nefas est saith Cicero vincire ciues Romanos scelus verberare prope parricidium necare Quid dicam in cruce agere It is a hainous act to bind a Citizen of Rome a villanie to scourge him and in a maner paricide to kill him What shall it be then to put him on the Crosse Pliny saith That the Romans did set vp certain Crosses wheron they hung those dogges which did not giue warning by barking when the Gaulus did scale the Capitol which surprisal was preuented by the gaggling of the geese Suidas saith That when any one did die a bad and vnfortunate death they did put a Crosse vpon his graue Scaliger reporteth That vpon a time there was a strange kind of headach in Rome which had spread it selfe ouer all the Citie which was so extreame painefull vnto them that many of them did hang themselues in their owne garters chusing rather to die than to endure the paine thereof and some did hang themselues for feare of that sicknesse before euer it had seised vpon them Whereupon the Senat being desirous to preuent so great a mischiefe published a Proclamation punishing therein these desperate offenders with the infamie of the Crosse that dishonour might cut off that inconuenience which life could not persuade Now so great then was the loue which our Sauiour Christ bare vnto vs that he deposited in the infamie and reproch of the Crosse all that honour which hee had gotten himselfe by his myracles his doctrine and vnblameable life leauing them all hanging on the Crosse as a Trophie of his loue Hercules erected pillars where hee thought the world had ended and extended it's vtmost bounds as a Trophie of his prowesse and valour bearing this letter or inscription Non plus vltra Our Sauiour Christ shewed his Loue vnto vs to the end in that his Trophie of the Crosse with this letter or inscription No Loue can goe beyond this Loue And therefore the Crosse is the North-starre of our comfort and hope For what can hee denie vs or what will not he grant vnto vs who on the Crosse shewed such exceeding great loue vnto vs But some man perhaps will aske me How can so bad a thing be able to afford comfort Saint Basil cleeres it with this answer That the death of our Sauiour Christ did alter the nature and qualitie of things turning ioy into sorrow and sorrow into ioy And therefore it is said Vae vobis qui ridetis Woe be vnto yee that laugh And as we see sometimes that the fire doth not burne that the water doth not drowne and that wild beasts doe not bite because the diuine Omnipotence doth truck and exchange the actiuenesse of those Elements and beasts so Christ tooke away the sorrow paine of the Crosse and placed thereon Ioy Comfort and Hope The daughters of Ierusalem went forth to