Of the love of our only Lord and Saviour, Iesus Christ: Both that which he beareth to vs; and that also which we are obliged to beare to him. Declared by the principall mysteries of the life, and death of our Lord; as they are deluiered [sic] to vs in Holy Scripture. With a preface, or introduction to the discourse.

Of the blow which was giuen vpon the face of our B. Lord in the high Priests howse; of the fall of S. Peter. How our Lord was taxed first of Blasphe∣my; and of the excessiue Loue of our Lord, in dll these particulars.

CHAP. 60.

SHALL I need to say, that it shewed an infinite kind of loue in our Lord, that he vvould vouchsafe to be presented before An∣nas, and then before Cayphas, at their seuerall hovvses,* 1.1 and before all that race of persidious Ievves, vvho thē, very thē, cōspired his death? That he, being the fountaine of vvisedom & knovvledge, and the King of glory, vvould for our sakes, be arraigned, and be contented to passe vnder the censure of those slaues of the deuill, vvho vvas his slaue. And he, in their prosecuting of that suite against him, to main∣taine

that inuincible patience, and profund silence, notvvithstanding all their clamours; and so seldome to haue opened that blessed mouth of his? He referred himselfe that first tyme, when he vvas examined about his Do∣ctrine, to the iudgment of themselues,* 1.2 vvho had heard him teaching in the Temple. And vvhen, for saying but so, (in the vvay of an∣vvere to the high Priest) a barbarous vvretch,* 1.3 vvho vvas attending in that Court, & knevv that he should please his betters by it, stroocke that face, vvith his polluted hand, vvhich the Angells doe so reuere, and reioyce to see, he did not damne him, nor strike him dead,* 1.4 vvhich yet most easily & most iustly he might haue done; nor so much as sharpely rebuke, or reprehend him for it, though it vvere so levvd an affront, as is neuer vvont to be put vpon any slaue, in the vievv of Iustice. But he asked him only, vvith great meeknes, why he strooke him, if he had spoken well; and if he had spoken ill,* 1.5 why did he not informe the Court against him? By vvhich kind of plea, our Lord, though he vvere the Creatour of all things, did not as∣sume to himselfe, the least aduantage aboue the vvickedest, and basest thing aliue. That so by suffering, he might shevv hovv much he loued vs. For the more he suffered, the more rich the Church vvas to be of merits, & so the more copious our Redemption.

Whilst these things vvere acting,* 1.6 in the house of Cayphas, S. Peter, who at the ap∣prehension of Christ our Lord, vvas fled a∣vvay,

vvith the other Apostles (for(a) 1.7 our Lord IESVS vvas content to be vvholly aban∣doned, euen by his dearest friends, that it might serue for our comfort, vvhen vve are forsaken by ours) could find no resting place for his thoughts, till together vvith S. Iohn, he came after our Lord, to the hovvse of Cayphas. But (vvhether it vvere, that his countenance complayned of some perplexity; or that the manner of his speach, or habit, made it be thought, that he vvas a Disciple of Christ our Lord) he vvas questioned by diuers, and he denied his Maister to them all, and said vvith oathes and protestations,* 1.8 that he did not so much as know the man.

A great offence in it self, & a iust punishmēt of a former fault, which he had made in presu∣ming vpon his ovvne strength. For that vn∣speakeable loue vvhich he bare to our blessed Lord (vvhich vvas not only, as of a friend to a friēd, or as of a Disciple to his Doctour, but of any indulgēt father, who might halfe doate v∣pon a Sonne) did seeme novv to him, to be so cōnatural to his very soule, as that he thought, he could not loose it, but vvith his life. Wheras in very deed, it vvas the meere guift of God. and for such he ought to haue acknovvledged it; and so, distrusting himselfe, he should haue confided in our Lord. It vvas therfore plea∣sing to our deere Redeemer, to permit that de∣nyall, out of infinite loue both to S. Peter, and to vs; though it could not but goe, the vvhile, very deeply to his ovvne tender hart; that S.

Peter who was not only one of his friends, but of his fauourities, should forsweare, that he did not so much as know him.

He(b) 1.9 loued S. Peter, in suffering him thus to fall, for therby he taught him, how to stand more firmely afterward, which is neuer to be done by any soule, but vpon the ground of humility. He loued him also most deerly, in making him rise againe so soone, both by the shew of his corporall presence, to the o∣thers eyes of flesh and bloud, and by the sweet pure light of his grace, which was imparted to the eyes of his soule. And that light had so much heat also with it, as to draw vp the va∣pours which powred themselues down after∣ward, at full speed, through his cloudy eyes.

Our Lord be euer blessed, for his owne infinite goodnes, who, in the bitterest of those sorrowes, shewed such mercy, and had such memory, both of him, and vs. For thus the world is filled with Sea-markes, which instruct vs how to saile through the Tempest of this life, towards the safe port of heauen. That when we passe by a Iudas, we may take heed of auarice, and enuy, because it ends in desperation. And when we passe by a S. Peter, we may forbeare to fall vpon selfe conceipt, which will put vs vpon many sinnes, and which afterward will cost, and can be only cured by penance. It was also an act of exces∣siue charity in Christ our Lord, to let him feed vpon the experience of his owne frailty; that so, hauing a resolution to make him the

supreme Pastour of his Church, and to giue him the keyes of pardoning,* 1.10 and reteyning sinnes, he might easily pitty others, since he had fallen into so deepe a pit himselfe; and all others al∣so, might be kept very farre, from presuming to confide in their owne vertue, since euen S. Peter was not able to secure himselfe from growing worse.

But as for those(c) 1.11 wicked people, who in the hatred they haue to the Catholike Church, would impute to the head therof, that in this denyall of his, he had lost his faith; they are not so much as to be heard. For the holy Scripture insinuates no such things, but the very contrary; since Christ our Lord him∣selfe declared how, he had prayed already to his e∣ternall Father, that S. Peters faith might neuer faile; and moreouer, the voyce of reason, and the streame of all the holy* 1.12 Fathers, doth con∣demne that errour. And we see how soone he returned to bitter penance for his fault. And it was farre from the loue of our Lord, to suf∣fer, that this most excellent Apostle, should fall out-right into infidelity, who had neuer offended him before, but venially, and only out of too free a hart. Nor euen now, but by the meere mistaking of the confines of Grace and nature, which were not so well set out, till afterward, by the comming of the holy Ghost.

And of this we are certaine, that be∣fore, he had loued our Lord most vnspeaka∣bly tenderly; and at a clap he had left all the

world(1) 1.13 for him; and had cast himselfe into the very(2) 1.14 Sea, to approach him; and at the apprehension of our Lord, he had drawne his(3) 1.15 poore, single sword in his defence, a∣gainst so many hundreds of Armed men; and he had wōded one of the hoa••est of them; & it was nothing but euen(4) 1.16 the very passion of loue to our Lord that seized his hart, which could carry him, so instantly, into so apparāt danger, as it must be for him to put himselfe in the high Priests howse, when he was but then newly come, from wounding his seruāt Malchus. And though this sinne of denying our Lord IESVS, were a very great one; yet all the deuills of hell, cannot make it more, then of meere frailty; and his pennance for it, began almost at the very instant, when it was com∣mitted, and that continued till the last mo∣ment of his life. At which tyme, he gaue, in∣steed of teares, his bloud vpon a Crosse, as our Lord had done for him; but with his head tur∣ned downeward through humility. And the holy Scripture sheweth,* 1.17 how our Lord appea∣red to him alone, after his Resurrection; & we heare not that he once rebuked him, for that former sinne. And before his Ascension, vve are very sure since the holy Ghost it selfe hath said so) that, our Lord making S. Peter decla∣re the loue which he bare him, at three seue∣rall tymes, before the Apostles; he gaue him the charge both of them, and all the rest, who would be either lambes or sheepe of his flocke.* 1.18

Now since our Lord himselfe (vvho

vvas offended, and vvho best can tell, hovv deepely) did so svveetly and so magnificently forgiue, and forget S. Peters sinne, it is but a signe of a cankered and malicious minde, to be exagerating the same vpon al occasions. And let them, vvho are so insolent in taxing this Prince of the Apostles for his sinne of frailty in denying Christ our Lord vvho is the head;* 1.19 at that tyme vvhen truth could be dis∣cerned, but as by the light of a candle; Let them, I say, take heed, that dayly themselues be not committing farre greater sinnes, against the same truth, vvhilst they are not only de∣nying, but blaspheming and afflicting it in the body of Christ our Lord, which is his Church; vvhich truth,* 1.20 they yet may see, as by the light of the Sunne. For in she sunne, God hath placed his Tabernacle, vvhich S. Augustine vnderstandeth of his Church.

The vvicked Priests, suborned false vvitnesses against our Lord; but he vvould not so much as reproach them for it; & much lesse conuince them of levvd practice; nor e∣nen open his mouth vvhen it might any vvay haue bene, in his ovvne discharge. Only vvhē Cayphas coniured him in the name(d) 1.21 of God. to say whether he were the Sonne of God or no; both because he had the place of high Priest at that tyme, and yet further, for the high reuerence vvhich he carryed to the holy name of God, his ansvvere vvas expresse and cleere, though short and meeke, That he was the sonne of God. And heerpon they declared him to be vvorthy

of death as a blasphemer.

O false painted face of the world, how vayne and deceiptfull are thy iudgments! and how many are there now a dayes, who if they should see a Cayphas sit with great solemnity, authority, and attendance, vpon the cause of Christ our Lord, who were cōtemptibly stā∣ding at a barre; and should heere a Cayphas af∣firme, that he were an ennemy to the word of thé Lord, or the State, would infallibly ioyne with him against our Lord; & be drawne by those vayne appearances, to beleeue for the tyme, that they said true. But whatsoeuer the thought of the people was of Christ our Lord, his enamoured hart, did so deadly thirst after their good and ours, vpon any termes; as that he, being God, did not abhorro to be accoun∣ted a blasphemer of God; so that by the ap∣plicatiō of that pretious merit to vs, we might, of slaues, become the Sonnes of his eternall Fa∣ther. And(e) 1.22 howsoeuer it was an vnspeakea∣ble detestation of that thing, which raigned in his most reuerent soule; yet was his loue to the name, and imputation therof, in effect, as vn∣speakeable, since the more deeply he had cause to be auerted from it, the more aboundantly he deserued by it, for vs. But the Priest cried our, Blasphemy, what need haue we now of any wit∣nesses? Those hypocryticall eyes were cast vp to heauen, the garments were rent, and our Lord, without his answering any one word, was esteemed and decreed, by them all, to be worthy of death. We haue read of Saints who

haue bene armed with patience against all o∣ther affronts; but when they haue bene called Heretiques, they could not chuse but breake their pace, and declare that they detested that imputation. But heere the Saint of Saints could be content to be called Blasphemer, & yet to make no demonstration, that he tooke the least offence therat.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Matt. 26. Luc. 22. Ioan. 18.
• * 1.2

  Ioan. 18.
• * 1.3

  Ibid.
• * 1.4

  1. Pet. 1.
• * 1.5

  Ibid.
• * 1.6

  Psalm. 120.
• (a) 1.7

  Our Lord was euer in care to giue vs comfort.
• * 1.8

  Marc. 14.
• (b) 1.9

  How our Lord did loue S. Peter euen in suffering him, thus to full. Ibid.
• * 1.10

  Matt. 16.
• (c) 1.11

  A de∣fence of S. Peter from the reproach which se∣ctaries would lay vpnn him. Luc. 22.
• * 1.12

  Aug. de correp. & gra. c. 8. Chrys∣hom. 81. in Matth. Theophi∣lact. in c. 22. Lucae•• & alij passim.
• (1) 1.13

  Matt. (9.
• (2) 1.14

  Matt. 14
• (3) 1.15

  Ioan. 18.
• (4) 1.16

  Mare 14.
• * 1.17

  Luc. 24.
• * 1.18

  Ioan. 15.
• * 1.19

  Note.
• * 1.20

  Isalm. 19.
• (d) 1.21

  The high se∣uerence which our Lord did carry to the name of God. Matt, 26.
• (e) 1.22

  The loue of our Lord Iesus to vs, made him easily ouercom•• all diffi∣culties. Ibid.