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

Mitte te deorsum, scriptum est enim Angelis suis, &c.

Cast thy selfe downe, For it is written, He will giue his Angells charge ouer thee. The Deuill hauing now brought our Sauiour to the top of the Pinacle of the Tem∣ple, beeing confident to get the conquest of him, making vse of that place of Scripture: first, wishing him to throw himselfe downe, and to relie vpon Gods preseruing of him; for it is written, Angelis suis Deus, &c. Saint Hierome, Saint Ambrose, Saint Bernard, and Saint Gregorie say, That the Deuill neuer desires to see any man climbe on high, vnlesse it bee for his greater destruction: For as he fell down like a thunder-bolt, so doth he desire to haue all men else to fall as he did, and that their sinnes may throw them headlong downe to Hell. Which is one especiall effect of his pride; according to that of Dauid, Dejecisti eos, dum eleuarentur; (or extollerentur, as Saint Austen readeth it.) Thou didst cast them downe, while they were lifted vp. Est aliquid humilitatis, &c. There is somewhat in humilitie, which in a wonderfull manner lifteth vp the heart; and there is somewhat in pride, which casteth it downe. It is a miracle, that Pride and Humilitie should euer meet. Saint Bernard saith, That at the foot of the Crosse the Deuill did repeat the same les∣son againe, Si Rex Israel est, descendat de Cruce, If thou be King of Israell, come downe from the Crosse; As though he had forgot the shame that Christ had put him to before.

Cast thy selfe. Thou canst do nothing without thy selfe, against thy selfe: thou must put to thy helping hand; Non s••luabit te, sine te, nec perdet te, sine te. Whence it is to bee noted, That hee not onely pretendeth the holiest that is, should cast himselfe headlong from the Tower of Good-workes, but he that is seated on the Pinacle of the Temple, and in the highest dignitie in the Church. It is a lamen∣table case, that the Prelate, the Priest, and the Preacher, should be put to this pe∣rill. Quis medebitur Incantatori, à Serpente percusso? Who shall heale the Inchanter that is wounded by the Serpent?

He hath giuen his Angels charge ouer thee. The main drift of the deuil, is, to flatter and sooth vs vp, that he may facilitate our fall; to sing sweetly vnto vs, to inchant vs like the Syren: Ossa eius sicut fistula aeris. Iob saith, That his bones (by which he vnderstands his strength) are Flutes, not of Reede, like those of Mida's, but of Brasse, which sound more sweetly. With these he vpholds his Empire, and sowes the World with Heresies, Moorismes, and Paganismes; and Hell, with damned Soules. They are Pipes that make strange consonancies with our incli∣nations, and worke more powerfull effects, than those tongues that are tipt with the eloquencies of all the Tullies, Demostheneses, and Quintilians in the world▪ Which is but an argument of the weaknes of their hands, when all their strength lies in their Tongues. Your weakest influences (say your Astrologers) insist vpon the Tongue. Woman (who is the embleme of weakenesse) hath her grea∣test force and strength in her tongue: Your Ruffians, and such as are swaggering fellows, haue more tongue than hands; but they that are truly valiant, haue more hand than tongue, they know not what the tongue meanes. The Roman Souldi∣ers drew a Hand for their Deuice. In the Scripture the Hand signifieth Fortitude, Manus eius adhuc extenta est, so sayes Esay of God. The Deuill therefore beeing all Tongue, it followeth, that he must necessarily be a verie weake creature. Saint Peter calls him a Lyon, not because he deuoureth, but because he roares: So that

all our victorie consists in freeing our selues from his tongue.* 1.1 And it may be Iob alluded hereunto, when he speaketh of the Deuill in the metaphor of a Whale, Wilt thou bind his tongue with a cord? For the Deuill hauing all his strength in his tongue, see how that fish when the harping Irons hath caught hold on him, strug∣gles on the sand, and beats himselfe vpon the beach, but all in vaine, to get loose, and at last swels & bursts with anger; so is it with the Deuill, when we haue tied a knot vpon his tongue.

His Angells. To those whom God loueth, and such as are his children, Saint Cyprian saith, That God hath giuen order to his Angells, to gard and protect them; if a tyle should fal towards them, to strike it aside; if stumble, to take hold on them that they should not fall: How then could a person so holy, so beloued of God, be affraid? God did his People a great fauour in giuing them an Angel to be their Guide. Precedet te Angelus meus, sending an Angell to Daniel to feed him; to Tobias, to accompanie him in his journey; to Samaria, when Zenacharib so streightly besieged it, one Angell slaying so many thousands of braue valiant Souldiers. But greater is that fauour which he promiseth here to the Iust, Ange∣lis suis Deus mandauit de te. The Lyons garded Daniel in Babylon; the Whale, Ionas; the Arke of Bulrushes, Moses: In omnibus vijs tuis, In all thy ways, be it in the aire, in the earth, or in the sea, Gods Angels will so gard thee, that thou shalt not dash thy foot against a stone. Many Emperours and Kings haue scattered Gold on the ground, through which they haue gone; many haue beene drawne in their Chariots by Lyons and Elephants; but farre more pretious are the hands of Angells; and hee that hath them to helpe him, need not to touch theground with his feet.

Scriptum est enim, Angelis suis.* 1.2 The first victorie that the Deuill got in the world, was by interpreting in a sinister sence, those words of God which he had deliuered to our first Parents: and this course doth hee continue here with our Sauiour; and the same doth his followers the Hereticks obserue to this day. Saint Peter calls them, vnlearned, and wauering, and saith of them, That they depraue and peruert the Scripture, to their owne ruine and destruction. Saint Cyril hand∣leth this point verie elegantly, in one of his Epistles: And Origen saith, That as the children of Corah did put strange fire vpon the Alter; so your Hereticks by altering the Scripture, put strange fire to the Alter of Truth. Saint Chrysostome, That they immitate the Deuill, by citing Scripture falsely, as the Deuill did in this temptation, seeking (as it were) by a cleere and manifest truth, to persuade our Sauiour to entertaine a notorious lie, and to admit of a monstrous follie; se∣curing him, that his person should be protected by Angells, from any ensuing harme, if hee would but throw himselfe downe from the Pinacle of the Tem∣ple. I terme it follie; for, as Man, hee had no reason to doe any such rash and in∣considerate action; and, as God, hee had no neede to play the Tumbler, and to flie in the aire.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Iob 40.
• * 1.2

  The Deuill was euer a false interpre∣ter of the Scripture▪