Deuout contemplations expressed in two and fortie sermons vpon all ye quadragesimall Gospells written in Spanish by Fr. Ch. de Fonseca Englished by. I. M. of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford

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.* 1.1 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 Hea∣uen; 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 Chryso∣stome saith, That he seeing in this vision of his, the prosperitie that God was wil∣ling 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 ho∣nour,* 1.2 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 prosperi∣tie 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. Da∣uid 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 Pro∣phet 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 ma•• bien,* 1.3 I desire no other good but this. What sayth Saint Paul, Sed & no••, &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 groa∣ned 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,* 1.4 hauing seene that in Heauen which I haue seen; Quoniā raptus fui•••• Paradisum: I see the good which the world wanteth; and the ill which the Pro∣digall endured; he did groane and sigh in the Pigge-stie, when he called to mind his fathers goodly houses. Saint Hierome treating of the raptures of his Spirit, saith, That he found himselfe many times among Quires of Angells; hee saith, That he liued a whole weeke without any sence of bodily necessitie: nor was it much, he enioying the conuersation of Angells, and the fellowship of God, Diuinae visionis intuitu: but when I came againe to my selfe, I did bewaile the good that I had lost. But that Peter may not groane with Saint Paul, nor weepe with Saint Hierome; knowing how the world went here beneath, said, Let vs not leaue that place which we may haue cause to weepe for, when we are once gone from it: For, what good is there vpon earth, be it neuer so good, which hath not

some ill with it's good? Obtaine (if thou canst) of God, that hee will but once giue thee leaue to tast of the goods of Heauen, and thou wilt soone forget what∣soeuer is on earth. The reason why these fraile & transitorie goods are so much desired, and sought after with so great thirst and couetousnesse, is, because those eternall goods which call continually vnto vs, stand in so farre a distance from our hearts and our thoughts: for if thou shouldst but taste one drop of the water of that coelestiall Fountain, or but one crumme of that diuine Table, thou wouldst say with a full and resolute purpose, No mas mundo, Let the world goe, I will no more of it. The Hound when he neither sees nor sents his Game, goes slow and soft, diuerting himselfe here and there, as if hee had no life in him; but he no sooner spies the Hare, but he flies with the wind. Robbed of the con∣tent of Heauen, I said, All, whatsoeuer is in the earth is a Lye.* 1.5 Peter was rob'd of himselfe, and therefore he desired to stay still there. The first that tasted Wine, though he were so graue a man as Noah, it made him commit a great ex∣cesse, insomuch that it gaue occasion to his owne sonne to mocke him. And how should not the first that tasted of the glorie which our Sauiour Christ had mani∣fested in Tabor, (though so graue a one as Peter) be so drunken therewith, that he should vtter so great an excesse? But whatsoeuer was taken from himselfe, hee did adde it all (whatsoeuer it were, more or lesse) to the glorie of Christ.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Gen. 2••.
• * 1.2

  Psal. 49.
• * 1.3

  Rom. 8.
• * 1.4

  2. Cor. 12.
• * 1.5

  Psal. 106.