Exposition of the Dominical Epistles and Gospels, Section 10
The Epistle. ROM. 12.1.
I beseech you brethren by the mercifulnesse of God, that you make your bodies a quicke sacrifice, &c.
IT is well obserued by lIn 6. ad Rom.Chrysostome, that all the sacred Epistles of this Apostle stand vponupon two legs especially;
to wit;
Explications: or doctrines of holy faith.
Applications: or exhortations to godly life.
The former Chapters are spent in dogmaticall conclusions appertaining to beliefe. The mAmbros. Theophylact. Melancthon. in loc.residue containe morall instructions of honest conuersation and louelove: wherein our Apostle teacheth, how wee should behaue our selues to God and man; and that by nGorran. in loc.precept and paterne. By precept, in the 12, 13, 14, 15. Chapters: by paterne, in the 16. Chapter.
This scripture shewes how we must demeane our selues to oAquin. in loc.God, in
Body: vers. 1. Make your bodies a quicke sacrifice, &c.
Soule: vers. 2. Fashion not your selues like vntounto this world, but be yee changed by the renewing of your mind.
I beseech you brethren] Two things induce men especially to suffer the words of exhortation: opportunity, and importunity: The worth of the matter, and zealous affection of the speaker. Saint Paul makes his louing affection manifest in these sweet termes; I beseech you brethren by the mercifulnesse of God. He might hauehave commanded, as he told pPhilemon. 8.9.Philemon; but for loues sake, he doth rather intreat.
God the Father appeared in a q1. King. 19.12.still and soft voice: God the Sonne was not a tiger, but a rIoh. 1.29.lambe: God the holy Ghost came downe, not in the forme of a vulture; but in the shape of a sLuk. 3.22.doue: signifying hereby, that Preachers ought to vse gentle meanes in winning men vntounto God; herein resembling the good mother which hath tBernard.vbera and verbera, a teat so well as a rod: a dug to restore such as feele their sinne with the spirit of meeknesse: Gal. 6.1. but a rod to whip the carelesse and senslesse, lest they grow too wanton. And therefore Saint Paul, who doth heere beseech the Romans out of his louelove; doth adiure them also by the mercifulnesse of God: that is, as uAquin. in loc.some construe it, I beseech you by mine Apostolical authority, committed vntounto me by Gods especialll mercy, 1. Cor. 7.25. as himselfe expounds himselfe in the third verse of this Chapter: I say through the grace that is giuen to me: where the Greeke verbe xErasmus annot. in loc.foreign, may be translated, I command: or, By the mercifulnesse of God shewed vntounto you: for as God is more bountifull, so you must bee more dutifull. We may not sinne, that grace may abound: but on the contrary, because the grace of God, that bringeth saluation vntounto all men, hath appeared, it teacheth vsus to denie vngodlinesse and worldly lusts, and that wee should liue soberly and righteously and godly in this present world.
The mercies of God to me, the mercies of God to you, be many and manifest. I beseech you therefore by the riches of his abundant mercy, make your bodies a quicke sacrifice, &c.
Thus you see the zealous earnestnesse of the speaker: I come now to the worthinesse of the matter; concerning the Romans, and in them our selues, as much as the saluation of our soules. I beseech you therefore marke what the Spirit writeth, and first obserue Pauls order: yMartyr in loc.After iustification hee speakes of sanctification: herein intimating that good workes, as zLib. de fide & operiòus.Augustine said; Non praecedunt iustificandum, sed sequuntur iustificatum: Not goe before, but after iustification. aChurch homily of good workes.As the wheele turneth round, not to the end that it may be made round, but because it is first made round, therefore it turneth round: so men are sanctified because first iustified; not iustified because first sanctified. As Aulus Fuluius when he tooke his sonne in the conspiracie with Catiline, said: Ego te non Catilinae genui sed patriae. So God hath not begotten vsus in Christ, that wee should follow that archtraitor Satan; but serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the daies of our life: making our selues a quicke sacrifice, &c.
There are two kinds of sacrifices:
Expiatory, for sinne; which we cannot offer. See epist. Dom. 3. Quadragesimae.
Gratulatory, of thanks and praise, which wee can and must offer: and,
hereof there are bAquin. in loc.three kinds according to the three sorts of goods; of the
World.
hereof there are bAquin. in loc.three kinds according to the three sorts of goods; of the Mind.
hereof there are bAquin. in loc.three kinds according to the three sorts of goods; of the Body.
1. We must offer our goods of the world: Heb. 13.16. To doe good and distribute forget not; for with such sacrifices is God pleased. cProu. 19.17.He that hath mercy vponupon the poore, lendeth vntounto the Lord.
2. Wee must offer to the Lord the goods of our mind, by deuotion and contrition: Psal. 51.17. The sacrifice of God, is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart O God shalt thou not despise. When by diuine meditation and deuote praier, we beat downe the proud conceits of our rebellious hearts, we kill, and offer vp as it were our sonne Isaac; that which is most neere, most deere to vsus.
3. We must offer to the Lord the goods of our body;
which are done,
Patiendo, by dying for the Lord.
Faciendo, by doing that which is acceptable to the Lord.
Martyrdome is such a pleasing sacrifice, that as Ambrose said of his sister; Appellabo martyrem & praedicabo satis: I will call her Martyr, and then I shall bee sure to commend her enough. See Epist. on Saint Steuens day.
S. Paul here meanes a sacrifice by doing; dRom. 6.13.GiueGive your members as weapons of righteousnesse to God. For as Christ offered vp himselfe for vsus; so wee made conformable, should offer vp our selues vntounto him. eMartyr in loc.Interpreters obserue a great Emphasis in the word hostia, deriued, as Ouid noteth, ab hostibus.
Victima quae dextra cecidit victrice, vocatur;
Hostibus à domitis hostia nomen habet.
And therefore seeing Christ hath deliuered vsus from the hands of all our enemies, it is our dutie to sacrifice perpetually to him, our selues and our soules, and so liue to him who died for vsus.
Lest we should erre in our offering, Saint Paul shewes all the fGorran. in loc.causes:
Efficient: our selues.
Materiall: our bodies.
Formall: quicke and holie.
Finall: acceptable to God.
Or (as gAquin. & Martyr.other obserue) S. Paul sets downe foure properties of a sacrifice:
1. Sound and quicke.
2. Sanctified and holie.
3. Pleasing.
4. Reasonable.
First, our sacrifice must be sound and quick; not blind, not lame, not seeble, Malach. 1.8. Wee must not offer to the diuell our youthfull yeares, and lay our old bones vponupon Gods altar: his sacrifice must bee the fattest, and the fairest; he must hauehave both head and hinderparts: hereby signifying that we must remember our Creator in the daies of our nonage, so well as in the daies of our dotage: for if wee deferre our offering till the last houre, when sicknes the bailiffe of death hath arrested vsus, and paine sicknes attendant dulled our senses; it cannot be called a quicke, but a sicke; not a liuing, but a dead offering. That our sacrifice therefore may bee quicke, let vsus, I beseech you, begin quickly to dedicate our selues vntounto God.
Or quicke] That is, hMartyr in l…c.willing: for those things are said to be quicke which moue of themselues; and those dead which doe not moue, but by some outward violence: we may not then be stockes and blockes in Gods holie seruice, doing no good but vponupon constraint of law, and penaltie of statute: such oblations are not acceptable, because they bee not quicke. The Lord loueth a cheerefull giuer and thanksgiuer. Nothing is done well, but that only which is done with our will, freely, readily, liuely.
Or quicke] That is, quickned through faith: for as the soule is the life of the body, so faith is ye life of the soule; without which he yt liueth is dead: iAbacue. 2.4.for the iust doth liue by faith. H…e situs es… Vacia. (said Seneca, when he pass…d by the ground of that voluptuous Epicure) Vacia lieth here dead and buried: and k1. Tim. 5.6.so Pa…l of a widow liuing in pleasure; She is dead euen while she doth liue. That our sacrifice therefore may bee liuing it must proceede from a faith that is liuely.
Or liuing] That is, a lMelanct. in l….continuall sacrifice. The sacrifices of the Iewes hauehave now their end▪ but the sacrifices of Christians are without end. We must … mEphes. 5.20.giuegive thanks, and nEphes. 6.18.al…aies pray. The fire on our altar must neuer goe out, our sacrifice neuer die.
In the Law beasts appointed for sacrifice were first slaine, and then offered; and that for two causes especially: first, (as oIn loc.Ambrose notes) to put the sacrificer in mind what hee deserued by sinne: namely, death: and secondly, because those bloodie sacrifices were types of Christs death on the crosse, which is the propitiation for our sinnes. In like manner eueryevery Christian sacrifice must bee dead to the world, that he may liue to God; pColoss. 3.5.mortifying his earthly members, and qGalat. 5.24.crucifying his carnall affections, that he may become a rGalat. 6.15.new creature in Christ.
As death depriues a man of naturall life, so mortification destroyes the bodie of sinne, which is the sensuall life: Moriatur ergo ne moriatur, mutetur homo ne d…mnetur: (quoth sSerm. 141. de temp.Augustine) We must die for a time in this life, lest wee die for euer in the next life. Wee must rise againe with Christ, saith tColoss. ….1.Paul. Now a man must be dead before hee can rise againe: first uRom. 6.5.grafted with Christ to the similitude of his death, and after to the similitude of his resurrection. Hee that liued ill, and now demeanes himselfe well, is risen againe from the death of sinne, to the life of grace; mortified, and yet a liuing sacrifice; the xLuther. post. maior in loc.more mortified, the more liuing. Rom. 8.13. If ye mortifie the deedes of the bodie by the spirit, ye shall liue.
This killing of our beastly desires is verie fit, whether we consider our selues, yFatius de mortificat. cap. 4.as Men.
This killing of our beastly desires is verie fit, whether we consider our selues, yFatius de mortificat. cap. 4.as Ciuill men.
This killing of our beastly desires is verie fit, whether we consider our selues, yFatius de mortificat. cap. 4.as Christian men.
This killing of our beastly desires is verie fit, whether we consider our selues, yFatius de mortificat. cap. 4.as Eminent men.
As men; that we may leade our life not according to sense, but according to reason: otherwise wee should be rather sensuall beasts, then reasonable men.
As ciuill men; that we may not liue according to lust, but according to law; though not according to conscience, yet according to custome, that wee breake not the statutes and disturbe not the common-wealth wherein we liue. The Philosophers in old time comprehended all points of mortification in these two words, sustine & abstine.
As Christian men; zLuke 9.23.for he that will be Christs disciple, must deny himselfe: abnegare suos, sua, se. aMatth. 11.12.The kingdome of heauen suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force: that is, by mortification and daily fighting against the lusts of the flesh; as bConsule Maldonat. in Mat. 11.12. & Fatium, vbi supra.Basil, Chrysostome, Augustine, Hierome, Gregori…, Theophylact, Euthymius expound it.
Last of all, yet most of all, mortification is necessarie for eminent persons, either in the Ministerie or Magistracie. For great ones ought especially to be good. Their sacrifice must be most quicke, that they may be paternes vntounto other; as it were walking statutes, and talking lawes to the people.
Holy] The second thing required in our sacrifice: so we reade, Leuit. 22. that vnhallowed and vncleane persons ought not to touch the things of the Lord. cLeuit. 20 26.Ye shall be holy for I the Lord am holy; d1. Thess. 4.3.this is the will of God, euen our sanctification.
The word foreign is deriued, as eIn Cra…ylo.Plato notes, of the priuatiue particle foreign and foreign, signifying that holie things are not infected with the corruptions and filth of the world; when our throte is an open sepulchre: when our mouth is full of cursing and bitternes; when our feete are swift to shed blood; when our bodies are sinkes of sinne, wee cannot be an holie sacrifice: for the law is plaine, fLeu. 22.20.23.Yee shall not offer any thing that hath a blemish, not a beast that is scabbed, not a bullocke nor a sheepe that hath a member lacking: The drunkard then, that is foreign, without his head, (as Clemens Alexandrinus termed him) and the coward who wants an heart, and the rotten adulterer whose bodie is neither holie nor whole, is no sacrifice for the Lord.
The Latines hauehave deduced the word sanctum of sancire, gVlpian. de verborum significat.quasi sancitum: hereby teaching vsus that our sacrifice must be constant and continuall. That by-word, A yong Saint, an old Diuell, is a wrie word; for wee must be good in our youth, better in our manhood, best of all in our old age: wee must grow from grace to grace, till wee bee of full growth in Christ; dedicating all that is within vsus, all that is without vsus, all that is about vsus vntounto the seruice of God.
Seruius expounding the words of hAeneid. 12.Virgil; Qui foedera numine sancit, affrmes that sanctum is sanguine consecratum: and so must our sacrifice be consecrated and dipped in Christs blood, in whom only God is well pleased: and therefore, as it followeth in the text, if holie, then acceptable.
Now that it may bee well accepted of God, iMela…ct…on. in loc.two
things are required especially:
1. That it bee grounded vponupon his word.
2. That it be performed in faith.
k1. Sam. 15.22.Obedience is better then sacrifice: no sacrifice then is pleasing to God, except it bee done according to his will: inuocation of Saints, adoration of the consecrated host, administration of the Sacraments vnderunder one kinde, diuine seruice in an vnknowne tongue, praying to the dead, mumbling of Masses, iumbling of beades, worshipping of Images, and other like trash; which are the very Diana of the Romis… religion, hauehave no foundation in holie Scripture; not built vponupon the rocke Christ, but vponupon the sands of humane braines, and therefore not acceptable, but abominable to the Lord. A new religion is no religion: lHilarius in Psal. 1.To deuise phantasies of God, is as bad as to say there is no God.
Againe, courses of life not warranted by Gods owne booke, such as are rather mPerkins Treatise of Callings.auocations from God and goodnesse, then vocations, as ordinarie cheating, brotheldrie, coniuring, and all other vnlawfull occupations or professions are not a sweete fauour to God, but altogether stinking in his nostrels: If we will hauehave our sacrifice acceptable they must be first holy. So diuine nIn Eutyphrone.Plato, Whatsoeuer is good and holie, that is accepted of God.
Secondly, sacrifice must be performed in faith, otherwise though it be warrāted by Gods own word, it is not acceptable: prayer, receiuing of ye Sacraments, hearing of the Scriptures, &c. are holy sacrifices, and yet not pleasing God, if done without faith. As our Apostle, Rom. 14.23. Whatsoeuer is not of faith, is sinne; that is, whatsoeuer is against our oAquin. & Gloss. in loc.conscience: so when the Recusant comes to Church against his conscience, to satisfie the law of man, not to certifie his louelove to God, it is not an acceptable sacrifice. If a man be a Lawyer, a Physitian, a Merchant, a Souldier, against his conscience, though his calling be neuer so good, yet his oblation is bad.
Or as pMelanct. & Caluin. in loc.other expound that text more fitly; Whatsoeuer is not done in a good assurance, that God for Christs sake will accept of it and vsus, it is sinne. Christians are q1. Pet. 2.5.Priests offering spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ. rChurch hom. of good works, part. 1.All good works without faith in him, are like the course of an horse that runneth out of the way, which taketh great labour but to no purpose. For vnbeleeuing Gentiles and misbeleeuing heretikes, albeit they be neuer so wittie, neuer so vertuous, are no sweete fauour to the Lord.
Reasonable] We reade in the sLeuit. 2.13.Law, that eueryevery sacrifice was seasoned with salt: now s…lt mystically notes discretion; as Coloss. 4.6. Let your speech be gracious alwaies and powdred with salt: that is, with wisedome and sobrietie. When Paul then exhorteth vsus to giuegive our bodies a reasonable sacrifice, tAquin. in loc.his meaning is, that al things must be done in order, comely, discreetly. The prouerbe is good, An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of learning: for as zeale without knowledge is blinde, quo vehementius irruit eo grauius corruit: so knowledge without discretion is lame, like a sword in a mad mans hand able to doe much, apt to doe nothing: uBernard. serm. 49. in Cantic.Tolle hanc, & virtus vitium erit. Hee that will fast, must fast with discretion, xGorran. in loc.he must so mortifie that he do not kill his own flesh. He that giueth almes to the poore must doe it with discretion; omni petenti, non omnia petenti, quoth yLib. 1. de. serm. Dom. in Mont.Augustine; to eueryevery one that doth aske, but not eueryevery thing that he doth aske: so likewise pray with discretion, obseruing place and time; zMatth. 6.5.place, left thou be reputed an hypocrite; time, lest accounted an heretike, like the aAugustin. haer…s. 57.Psallianists and Euchitai.
bL…ther. Melancthon. Erasmus, &c. in loc.Other expound the word reasonable as opposite to the Iewes oblations. As if Paul should speake thus: In the Law dead beasts; but in the Gospell reasonable liuing men are to be sacrificed vntounto God. EueryEvery Christian is a sacrificer, eueryevery layman a priest; but the pastor is a priest of priests, one that sacrificeth his people by teaching and exhorting them to giuegive vp their bodies, a quicke and holie sacrifice to the Lord. cRom. 15.16.I am (saith Paul) the minister of Iesus Christ toward the Gentiles, ministring the Gospell of God▪ that the offering vp of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the holy Ghost.
Hitherto concerning the first generall branch of Saint Pauls exhortation. Now as Musitians doe not only teach their schollers what they shall sing, but also what they shall not sing, that they may follow that which is good, and eschue that which is euill: so Paul doth not onelyonly shew what we must doe, but also what we must not doe: Fashion not your selues like vntounto this world.
World vsed in the worse sense signifieth either the wicked men of the world; or else the vaine things of the world: the wicked men, as Ioh. 12.31. the diuell is termed the prince of the world, that is, of the wicked in the world, who make themselues his vassals, by yeelding to his temptations, according to that of dRom. 6.16.Paul: He is our master to whom we submit our selues as seruants. It is not Satans power that hee doth thus dominere in the Church: for he was eApocal. 20.2.bound and fApocal. 12.9.cast out of the Church; but it is the weaknes and wickednes of men, who loose him and open the gate when he was shut out; admitting him as a lord of misrule, ruling and ouerruling those who are children of disobedience: Ephes. 2.2.
Secondly, the word World taken in a bad and more strict sense, signifies the pomps and vanities of the world. As 1. Epist Ioh. 2.15. LoueLove not the world, neither the things of the world: that is, as himselfe construeth himselfe, the lust of the flesh, and pride of life.
According to both acceptions it may be well expounded in this text; as if S. Paul should say, Brethren I beseech you by the tender mercies of God, that yee fashion not your selues, either according to the wicked men, or according to the vaine things of this world.
For ye first: 2. things occasion fashiō in the world:
Multitude: for as Cyprian said; Incipit esse licitū, quod solet esset publicum. Custome is not onelyonly another nurture, but as it were another nature. And, as the Lawyers speake: Quod est consuetum praesumitur esse iustum: That which is done by many, is thought at length lawfull in any.
Greatnes: for as gLib. 2.Paterculus writes; Imperio maximus exemplo maior: He that is highest, hath alway most followers. Augustus, a learned Prince, filled the Empire with schollers: Tiberius, with dissemblers: Canstantine, with Christians: Iulian, with Atheists.
So that Paul vnderstanding how prone men are to follow fashions, aduiseth vsus here, not to conforme our selues according to the world.
In complements of courtesies and common ciuilities, it is not amisse to follow either the most or the best.
In matter of Church orders and Ceremonies, it is hAugust. epist. 118. cap. 5.insolent singularitie, not to fashion our selues according to that which is inioined by the best, and vsed by the most; yea euen in the maine points of holy religion: If the great be good, and the most, best, we may follow both.
But Saint Pauls meaning is, that wee may not follow wicked men in their wickednesse, nor worldly men in their worldlinesse, nor good men but in that they are good: as hee saith elsewhere, i1. Cor. 11.1.Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ: for as in imitation oratorie, there are two sorts of examples; one necessarie to be followed alwaies in all things; as Demosthenes among the Grecians, and Tully among the Latines; another to be followed in some things, and at some times, as Poets and Historiographers: Euen so there are two sorts of examples in Christian imitation: the one necessarie, which is Christ the way, the truth, and the life: kBernard. ser. 2. in ascens. Dom.Via in exemplo, veritas in promisso, vita in praemio: The truth in his learning, the way for his liuing; as the lBasil. de spirit. sanct. cap. 8. Leo s…rm. 2. de resarrect. Cyril. in loc.Fathers vsually glosse that place. The other are to be followed in some things, and at some times: as Paul, Peter, Augustine, Chrysostome, Nazianzen, and other blessed Saints of God, whose liues and lines are so farre foorth to be followed, as they swarue not from our chiefe copie Christ. In sin we may not follow the good; much lesse the wicked of the world, be they neuer so many, neuer so mightie: we may not be drunken, because it is the fashion among the most; nor liue lasciuiously, because commonly great ones are wantons. In this point the scriptures are plaine and peremptory. mMatth. 7.13.The gate is wide, and way broad, that leadeth to destruction, and many goe in thereat: Ergo, we must not follow the most. nIohn 7.48.Doe any of the Rulers beleeue in Christ: Ergo, we must not fashion our selues according to the greatest.
In the old world many were drowned, only oGen. 7.Noah and his familie saued: in Sodome many wicked beasts destroied, onelyonly pGen. 19.Lot and his house deliuered: there were two malefactors hanged, one, Christ crucified; two extremes, one vertue; many thornes, one lilie. Cantic. 2.2. Like a lilie among the thornes, so is my louelove among the daughters.
It is said, Apoc. 20.12. that at the last day, the bookes shall be opened, and another booke which is the booke of life. Where some note, that the booke wherein Gods elect are registred, is but one; but the bookes of the reprobate are many. The number of fooles is infinite; but Gods people, which are truly w…se, a qLuke 12.32.little flocke. Christendome is the least part of the world: they that prosesse Christ aright, are the least part of Christendome; and of this little part, many be called, but few chosen; rTit. 1.16.professing they know God in their words, but denying him in their works: arrant heretikes, as one wittily, not disputing against religion; but liuing contrary to religion, marching vnderunder Christs colours, and yet fashioning themselues according to the world.
Here some will obiect. If I fashion not my selfe like the world, I shall be plaied vponupon, and made a very sIob 17.6.Tabret. I shall become the by word and song of the people.
First, according to the rules of reason, he is base that dependeth on vulgar breath.
tScalig…r.Qui pendet ab errore & opinione vulgi,
Pendet magis at que arbore quipendet ab alta.
Augustine, who reckoned out of Varro, uDe ciuit lib. 19. cap. 1.288. diuers opinions concerning the chiefe good; xEpist. 56.affirmes notwithstanding, that no man euer was so mad, as to place his happinesse in common fame, because that is but wind, and of winde it is said in the yIohn 3.8.scripture; that no man knoweth whence it commeth, and whither it goeth. As the childes louelove, so the peoples commendation is gotten, and forgotten in an houre. zErasmus epist. praefix tom. 4. oper. Hieron.Socrates in Plato suspected euermore that to be bad, which the vulgar extolled for good. And Plinie gaue this rule in the schoole; That hee declamed worst, who was applauded most.
Secondly, it is an axiome in the aIames 4.4.Bible, that amity with the world, is enmitie with God. bGalat. 1.10.Hee that is a parasite to men, is not the seruant of Christ. It is an vnhappy thing to cōuerse with vngodly wretches in the tents cPsal. 120.4.of Kedar; dIob 30.29.to be brother vntounto the Dragons, and companions to the Ostriches. Yet Noah must not follow the fashions of the old world: Lot must not follow the fashions of Sodome: Iob must not follow the fashions of Vz: we must not follow the fashiōs of our corrupt age; but, as ePhilip. 2.15.Paul exhorteth, in the midst of a crooked and naughty generation, wee must be pure and blamelesse, shining euen as lights in the world, striuing euermore to walk in the narrow path, and enter in at the strait gate.
Againe, we may not conforme our selues according to the greatest: Ego & rexmeus, is no good plea, when God shall reckon with vsus at the last and dreadfull day. Some men are so much at other mens seruice, that they neglect altogether Gods seruice. That thou didst follow such a Lord, and humor such a Gentleman; that there were better men in the company, when thou diddest this villanie; that vanity will not goe for a currant excuse: when Almighty God shall come to iudgement, then scepters and sepulchers shall be all one; Princes and pesants shall bee fellowes.
As in Chesse play, so long as the game is in playing, all the men stand in their order, and are respected according to their place: first, the king; then, the queene; then, the bishops; after them, the knights; and last of all, the common souldier: but when once the game is ended, and the table taken away, then all are confusedly tumbled into a bag, and happily the king is lowest, and the pawne vpmost. Euen so it is with vsus in this life; …e world is a huge theater or stage, wherein some play the parts of Kings; other, of Bishops; some, Lords; many, Knights; other, Yeomen: but when our Lord shall come with his Angels to iudge the world, all are alike. For if great men and meane persons are in the same sinne, they shall be bound together, and cast as a fagot into hell fire. And therefore let vsus not fashion our selues according to the wicked, whether Prince or people.
Secondly, we must not fashion our selues according to the vanities of the world, and that for two causes especiallie.
1. Because they be transitory: where note the worlds mortality.
2. Because they be not satisfactory: where note the soules immortality.
For the first, all the things of this world are of such a fashion, as that either they will leaue vsus, or else we must leaue them. They leaue vsus; All riches hauehave their fProu. 23.5.wings, and make their flight like an Eagle. We leaue them; As the gIer. 17.11.Partridge gathereth the young, which she hath not brought forth: so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leaue them in the midst of his daies, and at his end shall bee a foole.
The Partridge, as Ambrose writes in his 48. Epistle, maketh a nest of egges, which she laied not; but so soone as the birds are hatched, the true mother cals them all away from the stepmother. So it is, saith Ieremy, with the couetous man, incubat auro, like a brood goose, or as an hen that sits; incubo (for so the Latines terme him) hee keepes his nest, and sits as it were brooding, but when his chickens are hatched, he heares a voice from heauen; O foole, this night will they fetch away thy soule from thee: and then, whose shall these things be which thou hast prouided? Indeed many men reputed him wise while he liued; but at his end, when by the finger of God, wee see that his goods are otherwise disposed, either excheated to the King, or restored to the true masters; or else by some small error in his will, caried away by those whom he neuer loued: at his end, when eueryevery Partridge shall call his young, then those that are wise, shall account him a very foole: hPsal. 52.8.Lo this is the man that tooke not God for his strength, but trusted in the multitude of his vncertaine riches, and strengthened himselfe in his wickednesse. And therefore louelove not the world, neither the things of the world; for the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, being onelyonly certaine, in being vncertaine.
Secondly, things of this world are not satisfactory, they doe not fill and content the mind of man. iEccles. 1.8.The eye cannot be satisfied with seeing, nor the eare filled with hearing: all things hauehave an emptinesse and extreme vanity, purchasing vntounto the possessors nothing but anguish and vexation of spirit: and the reason hereof, as kLudo…icus viua…dus de veritate contritionis, fol. 87.Vi…aldus obserues, is, because the heart of man is made like a triangle, and the world round as a circle. Now a circle cannot fill a triangle, but there will be some corner empty.
There is nothing can fill the mind of man, but the blessed Trinitie, when God the Father, the most ancient of daies, shall fill our memory; God the Sonne, who is wisdome it selfe, shall fill our vnderstanding; God the holy Ghost, who is contentation and louelove, shall sit in our will; then all the powers of our mind will be at rest, when as they shall inioy him who made them. But the things of this world afford no perfect and absolute contentment; and therefore, ne vos configurate seculo isto, fit not your selues according to the worlds figure, which is a circle; but be ye renewed in your mind, which is a triangle, representing the sacred Trinitie.
Take a view with the Wise man of all worldly things: in briefe, doth any pleasure satisfie? No: pleasure is like lightning: lPlutarco.Simul oritur & moritur; it is sweet but short; like hawking, much cost and care for a little sport.
The prodigall child wasted both goods and body, yet could not hauehave enough, at the lest not enough mLuke 15.16.hogs meat.
—nHorace. Virgo formosa supernè
Desinit in turpem piscem malesuada voluptas.
Doth learning, that incomparable treasure of the mind, satisfie? No: The more a man knoweth, the more hee knoweth that hee doth not know: so that as oEccles. 1.18.Salomon said; Hee that increaseth knowledge, doth increase sorrow.
Doth honour content a man? No: The poore labourer would be written Yeoman; the Yeoman after a few deare yeeres is a Gentleman; the Gentleman must bee Knight; the Knight, a Lord; the Baron, an Earle; the Count, a Duke; the Duke, a King; the King would Caesar bee; and what then, is the worlds Emperour content? No.
pIuuenal.Vnus Pellaeo iuueni non sufficit orbis,
Aestuat infoelix angusto limine munde.
One world is not enough for Alexander, and therefore he weepes, and is qValerius Max. li. 8. c. 15.discontent: as if hee wanted elbow roome.
In the state Ecclesiasticall, the begging Frier would be Prior; the Prior, an Abbat; the Lord Abbat, a Bishop; the Bishop, an Archbishop; the Metropolitane, a Cardinall; the Cardinall, Pope; the Pope, a God: nay, that is not enough, aboue all that is called God: 2. Thes. 2.4. This made rLib. …. de considerat.Bernard wonder, O ambitio ambientium crux: how dost thou paine, yet pleasure all men!
Doe riches content? No: the more men hauehave, the more men craue: and that which is worst of all, they are the greatest beggers, when they hauehave most of all. sEccles 5.9.He that loueth siluer, shall not bee satisfied with siluer. As the poore man crieth out, Quid faciam quia non habeo? so tTheophylact. in 12. Luc.the couetous wretch as fast complaineth, Quid faciam quia habeo? Luke 12.17.
Those drinks are best that soonest extinguish thirst; and those meates, which in least quantity doe longest resist hunger: but here the more a man doth drinke, the more thirstie; so strange in some is this thirst, that it maketh them dig the pits, and painfully draw the water, and after, wil not suffer them to drinke. This, saith uEccl…s. 6.2.Salomon, is an euill sicknesse, and a great vanity, when a man shall hauehave riches, and treasure, and honour, …nd want power and grace to ioy in them.
Thus you see, the world is like a butterflie with painted wings; vel sequend… lab…mur, vel assequendo laedimur: either we faile in pursuing it, or else whē we hauehave caught it, it is so vaine, that it giueth no contentment. xAug. de doct. Christ. lib. 1. cap. 38.Herein is the true difference betweene earthly things & heauenly things: the one are desired much, but being obtained, they content little: the other are desired little, but once gained, satisfie much: and therefore, Lay not vp treasure vponupon earth, where the moth and canker corrupt, and where theeues dig thorow & steale: for these things are neithe… yBernard.vera, nor vestra; but lay vp treasure for your selues in heauen. If ye will not heare the words of Scripture, behold the works of nature: mans heart is broad aboue, narrow beneath; open at the top, close below: to signifie, that we should inlarge and spread our affections toward heauen and heauenly things, and draw them to as narrow a point as possibly we can, concerning earth and earthly things; and so by the fashion of our heart, we may learne not to follow the fashion of the world.
Be ye changed by the renewing of your mind] We are formed by God, deformed by Satan, transformed by grace:
1. Sacramentally, by baptisme.
2. Morally, by newnesse of life; which our Apostle meanes in this place. That which followes in the text, is expounded Epist. for the next Sunday.