Despicit at cocsum sic tainen Issa videt. Upon the ground this Weeper casts her eyes So cunningly that Heaven she there espies: No word she spoke, yet granted was her suit, Her tears were Vocal, though her tongue was mute. THE HOLY SINNER, A Tractate meditated on some Passages of the Story of the Penitent woman in the Pharisees house. — Quid melius desidiosus agam? by W. H. Printed for Andrew Crook in Paul's Church yard 1639. W Marshal sculp. A proem to the Reader. AS no beauty, so no book hath all voices: even in the worst some eyes see features that please; in the best, some others see lines that they like not: Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli. Mart. Some out of affection may plat a laurel for that head, on which others, in their opinion, would bestow the thistle. This little tractate hath already passed through private hands, and found (but what allay is friendship unto censure?) a candid interpretation. And diverse copies were presented to me, to usher forth my book But I am not ambition to hang the ivy garland at my door: I have purposely reserved them for a close, lest I should seem, like an Italian host, to meet my guest upon the way, and to promise beforehand a fair and ample entertainment. Let it please you rather to see and allow your cheer; and then according to your own palate, you may disgust, or relish the cookery. W. H. Sancta Peccatrix. SECT. I. SAint Luke is styled by Saint Paul, the man whose praise is in the Gospel, 2. Cor. 8.18. And the gospel of Saint Luke dictated by Saint Paul (as some of the Greek Fathers are of opinion) is called in one place Saint Paul's own gospel; Rom. 2.16. there being such an harmony of expressions between the one and the other. This elegant penman, Compend. Theol. pag. 66. plenus Evangelii commentator, (as Alstedius termeth him) this beloved Physician, Coloss. 4.14. imò & medicus & Theologus (as Eusebius said of Theodotus bishop of Laodicea) was not (as some think) Christ's immediate disciple, Euseb. lib. 7. cap. 31. but only sectator & condiscipulus Apostolorum, a follower and disciple of the Apostles. And this he himself in the proem of his evangelical history testifieth of himself; Luke 1.2. Prout tradiderunt nobis; As they have delivered unto us, which from the beginning saw themselves: intimating, that he wrote his Gospel, according as he received relation from others; but the tract of the Acts of the Apostles according to that which he had seen himself. Which two treatises, howsoever dedicated to one man, to * Which name if we take for a common appellative, we must understand that the Gospel is only written to them who are lovers of God. Bois. Theophilus, are notwithstanding parted into two volumes, ut distinctio perspicuitatem afferret, brevitas taedium eximeret, varietas voluptate afficeret, saith Lorinus, Praefat. in Act. In the seventh chapter of his Gospel is the story on which I have now pitched my meditations, breviter & apertè, briefly, yet fully with each weighty circumstance described. No doubt but many an accurate quill on the wing of contemplation hath already taken an high flight, meditating on this very subject: My only plea shall be, Ambros. Qui non potest volare ut aquila, volet ut passer. The Scripture is every where full of variety, like a garment of several colours; in veste unitas, in colore varietas. From the same woof of holy Writ may diverse workmen, according to their several fancies, draw out most curious threads of observation; and that brain is very unhappy that meets not with some traverse of discourse more than it hath borrowed from another's pen. Yet will I not, with Rehoboam, contemn the judgement of the wise; nor deny to take a good lesson out of any school. I never read but of a foolish cock, that refused a pearl, though found on a dunghill. Barlaeus. Mens assueta operi, per mille volumina solers Ambulat, atque suos aliquid seponit in usus. The laborious bee is the emblem of a working brain: which creature, ever set before us for a copy of industry, is not still droning upon one flower, but throws her little airy body upon a second, so to a third, till her thighs be laden with a pretty spoil. Natur. hist. lib. 11 cap. 5. Propè ex umbra minimi animalis incomparabile quiddam, saith Pliny; It is no less than a wonder, that almost of the shadow rather than substance of a very small living creature, nature hath made an incomparable thing. I had rather imitate this Hyblean bird, than altogether challenge to myself Arachne's motto, Mihi soli debeo; I had rather knit up in this little posy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, some rare and choice flowers, which I have here and there sucked and culled from the gardens of several authors; then boast with that little Arabian, that I have eviscerated myself, and spun a web out of mine own bowels. What can Archimedes do without his sphere? what can an artisan perform without his instruments? To aim at knowledge without books, is with the Danaides, to draw water into a sieve. Titus 4.13. Saint Paul himself, although so inspired, found as much want of his books, as his cloak in winter. Having therefore imposed this task upon myself, I will first of all visit my little library, and accost it with the poet's salutation; Musarum thalamus, divinae Zevecotius. Pallados aula, Deliciae domini, Bibliotheca, tui! Into which having entered, and setting myself down with the best contentment that I know, I may, without all offence of Necromancy, call up some of the ancient worthies of learning; where being alone I am least alone, and can with ease attein to that height of happiness, which Saint Hierome so much commends in one of his devout women, Hier. de laudibus Asellae, epist. 15. quae unius cellulae clausa angustiis, latitudine coeli fruebatur, though cloistered within the compass of a narrow cell, can by divine contemplation expatiate through the whole latitude of heaven. To wave all other prefaces, I fall directly to the matter in hand; and, according to my poor abilities, intent to write something of this woman that was a sinner. SECT. II. WHo this woman was, is much controverted by interpreters; and it is sooner questioned, then answered. I know such problematical disquisitions, quae plus habent subtilitatis quàm utilitatis (as Erasmus on this very Quaere) are superfluous: and of them we may pass the censure which the philosopher did of the Athenian shops, How many things are here which we need not? Whether the thrice anointing of our Saviour was performed by three several women; Orig. tract. 35. in Matth. as Origen (which Roffensis the beauclerk of his time confuteth in three books:) or whether the same Marie which anointed him here as a sinner, was she which afterwards anointed him as a Saint; as Aquinas on the twelfth of John: or, if we yield it to be Marry, whether Marie Magdalene; or, if Marie Magdalene, who this Magdalene was: Again, whether there were three Marie Magdalen's, as Theophylact, Stapulensis, and others avouch; or whether two, Amb. lib. 10. in Luc. 24. Alb. in Luc. cap. 7. as Ambrose; or whether only one, as Albertus: or whether this Magdalene was sister to Lazarus and Martha, which three divided the inheritance of their father betwixt them: (all the possessions in Jerusalem falling to Lazarus, Bethanie to Martha, Magdalum castrum to Marie, from whence she was called Marie Magdalene) All these as impertinent circuitions I omit; for in the silence of the holy Ghost I will not be curious. Whosoever she was, she still carries the name of what sometimes she was, Peccatrix mulier, A woman that was a sinner. Have you not seen some artificial pictures drawn by the pencil of a skilful optic, in the same part of the frame or table, according to diverse sights and aspects, represent diverse things? Such an admirable piece with a double resemblance hath Saint Luke (an excellent limner, as the ancients writ) here delineated in the most lively colours. Look on the one side, you shall see a lascivious wanton setting herself to sale in the most tempting fashion; step on the other side, you may behold an admirable convert attended by a retinue of graces: view it which way you will, here is an Ecce like a curtain hung before some exact and rare workmanship, which likewise hath a double reference; to the mercy, and to the power of Christ: to his power, that thus drew this sinner; to his mercy, that received her. In this noble history are diverse weighty circumstances, like so many wedges of gold in a rich mineral. I shall dig for some. And one ingot I light on at the very head of the mine; Ecce mulier, etc. Behold is a word of emphasis and energy: and (as one pithily saith) if this star stands o'er the house, a Jesus is within. Here, like Janus, it looketh both backward and forward: and so will I treat of this woman; first, as a sinner; secondly, as a penitent. On these two staves, put into their several rings, shall the ark of my discourse be carried. If it shall seem distasteful unto any, that I insist, perhaps too long, on the particular sin for which this woman was publicly noted; let me put him in mind of an answer which the Comical poet gave; who, when one accused him that he brought a lewd debauched ruffian on the stage, and so gave bad example to young men; True (quoth he) I brought such a man on, but I hanged him before he went off; and so I gave them a good example. Here is a better lesson to be learned. All women may accept this woman as a pattern to imitate; that even they that can teach the finest stitches, may themselves take new works out of this sampler. For how sinful soever she may appear at first, let us suspend our censure of her till the last act: then shall we find, how she became à lebete phiala, of a caldron seething and boiling in lust, a crystal vial of pure chastity; how she that at first was running apace into the dead sea, did speedily turn her course into the streams of paradise. But I must take my rise at this woman's fall; and make it my first task to consider her as she was a Sinner. SECT. III. A Sinner? Who is not? Had she not been a sinner, it had been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, beyond all admiration. He that knoweth himself to be a man, knoweth himself to be a sinner; for in the loins of our first parents we all sinned, and are deprived, [or, Rom. 3.23. come short] of the glory of God: So that it is a sin, to suppose a separation of sin from man's nature. Original sin. In our conceptions, through that original pollution we were all warmed in unclean blood; and still we do ponere Adam super Adam, as the Fathers say. This hereditary poison, virus paternum (as Paulinus calleth it) is inbred in every man; and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the sullage of his clay cleaves fast unto us. Adam sinning, all his seed are become sinful, and all his offspring, tanquam serie continuatâ, as in a continued line, do like corrupted branches of a rotten tree bring forth still corrupted fruits. The greatest and most perfect light in the world is the sun in the firmament; yet hath he his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, his parallax, his variation: And what son of Adam was ever found, through the zodiac of whose life an ecliptic line could not be drawn? Ambr. Da mihi aliquem sine prolapsione delicti, saith a Father. Such an one is like the mountain of gold, or the philosopher's stone, or the second intentions in logic, which have no real absolute existence, and indeed are nothing save in the theory and operation of the understanding. In scholastical speculations you may hear the noise of such a one, but you may look for him under the same roof with Quintilians' Orator, Xenophons' Cyrus; and you shall no sooner find him then the echo in the poet;— quem non invenis usquam, esse putas nusquam. Such Vtopicall perfection (as one hath it in a pretty expression) is but a dream of the idle Donatists of Amsterdam. In multis— (it is the voice of an Apostle) In many things we offend all. James 3.2 Certum est Jebusaeos habitare cum filiis Judae in Jerusalem, saith that allegorical Father. Nothing more certain than the deep remainders of corruption even in Gods peculiar Israel. Even their best works (and they too, like Solomon's sculpture, 1. Kings 7.19. a lily upon a pillar, a lily upon a pillar, rare and few) will but weigh light in the scales of the sanctuary. As the courtesan Lais said, that Philosophers did sometimes knock at her gates as well as others: so the best-natured men are often taken with humane frailties. Let the best do their best, they are but like the ark of the covenant, a cubit and an half high, imperfectly perfect. It is with the most righteous man, as it was with David; 1. Kings 15.5. who did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, save only in the matter of Vriah: in some matter or other they step aside from God's commandments. In remiss degrees all contraries may be lodged together under one roof: Saint Paul swears that he dies daily, yet he lives; 1. Cor. 15.31. so the best man sins hourly, even while he obeys. Who cannot easily play the orator in so copious a theme? who cannot easily declaim at large against sin, against which it is a sin not to declaim? But absoluta sententia expositore non indiget: and 'tis a truth as clear, as if it were Solis radio scriptum (in the proverb of Tertullian) written with a sunne-beam on the wall of a glass, that which Solomon precisely affirmeth in the dedication of his Temple; God hath concluded all under sin. 1. Kings 8.46. Yet we must note, that the word Sinner is oftentimes taken in Scripture antonomasticè, in a more special sense. In the Old Testament, The Amalekites those sinners, 1. Sam. 15.18. In the New Testament the Gentiles are also called sinners, as likewise publicans and harlots; not so much because they had sin in them, as that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, transcendent sinners, out of measure sinful. The seeds of all sins are in all men; the seeds, not the practice: there is not in all the same eruption, there is in all the same corruption: Some be not kites, others hawks, and the rest eagles from one and the same eyrie. He that bears man about him, he that's apparelled with flesh and blood, cannot but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, though he do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Though wickedness cannot be kept from me because of the tentation, yet may I be kept from it because of the repulse. And here must I take up a distinction; Aliud est concupiscere, aliud post concupiscentias ire, It is one thing to dart and glance a wanton desire; another thing, to court and plead it. Though the motions of the flesh be alike in the carnal and spiritual man, yet the humouring of those motions is not. Again, aliud est peccare, aliud peccatum facere, as the Fathers distinguish: It is one thing for a man to sin; another thing, to give himself over to the commission of sin: And the distinction is no idle one; for it is not only grounded upon S. John's phrase, John 3.9. but also upon S. James his gradation; James 1.14, 15. Men are enticed by their lust; then lust conceiveth, and bringeth forth sin; and sin being perfected, bringeth forth death. And this perfection of sin is properly the doing of sin. And this doing of sin, this perfection of sin, this continuance in any notorious sin, is not only a grave to bury the soul, but a great stone rolled to the mouth thereof, to keep it down. That which Erasmus saith of Paris, that after a man hath acquainted himself with the odious sent of it, hospitibus magìs ac magìs adlubescit, Of custom in sin. it grows into his liking more and more; is too true of sin, which by long entertainment becomes customary, and not easy of dismission. We know that ●n Vrinator, an expert swimmer, being under water feeleth not the weight of a full-fraughted ship of a thousand tons riding perpendicularly over his head: So while miserable men swim in the custom of any pleasing sin, they are insensible of the burden of it. That which our Canonists say in another kind, is too true here, Custom can give a jurisdiction; neither is there any stronger law than it. The continuance of any known sin gives a strong habituation, as Gerson phraseth it, and works an utter senselessness in brawny hearts: for frequency of sinning doth flesh us in immodesty; assiduity, in impudence: and that sin is almost incurable which is steeled by custom. In this compass of my discourse the needle pointeth right at this woman: for the Evangelist saith not, Behold a woman that had sinned; but, a woman that was a sinner. It is not a transient but a permanent condition that gives the denomination. Her long continuance in her trade had branded her with this title, Peccatrix mulier, A woman that was a sinner. SECT. FOUR THis woman (as it is generally received) was noted for a luxurious and ●ncontinent life; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habet emphasim quasi admirationis de excellentia scu enormitate, Chemnitius. so that Sinon's words might here take place, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Quae & qualis est haec mulier? She was, as they conjecture, of a noble stock: and in those ●oose days, wherein Herod erected his theaters and his amphitheatres, a gap was set open to much impiety and wantonness; Virorum exemplo mulieres & copiosae & honest is familiis natae impudicè vivebant, non ut quaestum corpori facerent, sed insaniâ libidinis, saith my * Cardinal Conzen. in locum. Author. However wantoness may flatter themselves with the devil's dispensation, a detur aliquid aetati; however they take that for true doctrine, which the unwise Tutor sometimes spoke in the Comedy; Non est, crede mihi, adolescenti, It is no such fault in a young man to follow harlots; yet shall their souls need no other conveyance to hell then this: For it is such a sin as commonly drives two to the devil at once; Lust. a sin which yielded unto, becomes a pleasant madness. Aug. de civet. Dei, lib. 21. cap. I read in S. Augustine, of a certain well in Epirus, that when firebrands are put into it, it will quench them; and yet when they are quenched, it will presently set them on fire again: Such a bewitching water is a lascivious woman; when she quencheth the lust of the body for a season, she sets it on fire afterwards a great deal more. Fonseca. Wittily therefore have some emblemed forth this vice by the phoenix, which doth revive and renew herself by the fire which she kindleth by the motion of her wings. Thou mournest perhaps, and bewailest, and repentest thee of the dishonest sin thou hast committed, and desirest to give it over that it may die in thee: but with the wings of thy thoughts thou blowest those coals afresh, and makest them flame more than before. Thus in the midst of thy tears thou becomest like the self-enamoured boy in the poet, Narcissus. Ipse sibi mediis qui fuit ignis aquis. For the wicked in circuitu ambulant, still walk the round: first they act a sin, because the thought hath pleased them; then they think that sin over again, because the act hath pleased them: Thus by a damned arithmetic do they multiply one sin into a thousand. Among such a deal of variety of sins (for sin is like a continued quantity that admits of infinite sections) there is no one more plausible, more pleasing to nature, than wantonness. How many set their souls burning in the flames thereof, as Nero set Rome on fire, and behold them with affectation? How many a silly wretch, like the foolish lark while it playeth with the feather, and stoopeth to the glass, is caught in the fowler's net? For an harlot (to give a short but true character of her) is the devil's pitfall, The character of an harlot. a trap to catch our souls. Her eyes, like freebooters, live upon the spoil of stragglers: she baits her desires with a million of prostituted countenances: her displayed breasts, and lose dangling locks wantonly erring over her shoulders, her artificial complexion (the counterfeit of the great seal of nature) her curled and crisped hairs (the circles and sophistries of that old cunning serpent) her high washeses, calamistrations, cerussations, & nescio quot pudenda mysteria, are so many lures to bring the adulterer to the fist. thoughts will check and never stoup to such enticements: Where fire falls upon wet wood, it soon goeth out. When Potiphars wife, one of the greatest Ladies in Egypt, The admirable chastity of Joseph. did inordinately affect, impudently solicit and importune, and in a manner force the modesty of her good servant Joseph, how much rather did he leave his cloak then his virtue? Nor did he rescue himself from adultery and danger by violence to her person, nor fail in other duties requisite; but with hazard of his name, life, and liberty, he made an innocent escape, cum meliore pallio castitatis, Aug. to preserve his better garment of chastity. The Arabians proverb is elegant, Obstrue quinque fenestras, ut luceat domus, Shut the five windows, that the house may be lightsome; cleanse the limbeck of the senses, lest thence some pollution drop into the soul: If at once we would overcome both the tentation and the tempter, we must resolve with Alipius, to shut our eyes when we come amongst vanities: for the eye is the first part that is overcome in any battle; upon the first assault it yields up our strongest fort. The vanity of the eye. The eye beside is the vainest of all the senses; it takes extreme delight to be cozened; one of the pleasures of the eye is the deceit of it: How easily is that sense tempted, which delighteth to be deceived. The ancient Philosophers before Aristotle, that held the sight to be by sending out of beams, imagined the eye to be of a fiery nature: wherein they were the rather confirmed, for that they found, if the eye take a blow, fire seems to sparkle out of it. But certainly (it is the elegant observation of a learned Prelate) how waterish soever better experience hath found the substance of the eye, Episcop. Exon. it is spiritually fiery; fiery both actively, and passively: passively, so as that it is inflamed by every wanton beam; actively, so as that it sets the whole heart on fire with the inordinate flames of concupiscence. Gen. 34.2. Thus Shechem saw Dinah, and defiled her: Viderunt oculi, rapuerunt pectora flammae. Thus Amnon fell sick for Tamars' sake, 2. Sam. 13.2. — videt hanc, visamque cupit. Thus when David walked upon the roof of the king's palace, 2. Sam. 11.2. and espied from thence a beautiful woman washing herself, Mulier longè, libido propé. his petulant eye recoiled upon his heart, and smote him with sinful desire. Yet it is not the eye of itself, (for what is that but the beauty of the face, the bright star of that orb it moves in?) but the viciousness of the eye, that I so condemn; quando cum oculis fabulamur, as the Fathers speak. I might easily here enlarge myself: But to avoid that which was a noted fault in Marcellus the rhetorician, Sueton. that lighting on a figure, he would pursue it so fare, till he forgot the matter in hand; I fall back again to treat more particularly of this woman, most sinful for her life, most hateful for her lust, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a woman given over to incontinency (as the word used by the Evangelist implies) commune scandalum, a general plague, a common scandal: For by her bad example she made the city so infamous, that she might more fitly be called peccatum Hierosolymae, quam peccatrix, saith Petrus Chrysologus, because of that evil report that went of her; the whole city did suffer therein. Which brings me to another circumstance of the story, the Vbi, the place where she set up her trade; which adds much to the heinousness of her sin: Behold a woman in the city which was a Sinner. SECT. V Sin is sin wheresoever committed, whether before a multitude of beholders, or in a desert, — pecces quocunque sub axe, Sub Jove semper eris— Yet the more public the fact is, the greater is the scandal; and this woman's offence was the more notorious, in that she was a City-sinner. 'tis true, I confess, Tentations. that no place is a sanctuary from tentations, which come too swiftly and unbidden, like rough winds from every corner of the sky, and in that numberless number, as if each minute were computed by them. We are apt to fall, because we are mutable; but we do not commonly fall except some occasion be given: and how full is the world of a world of such occasions. Our common adversary the devil, — cui nomina mille, Mille nocendi arts,— findeth how prone we are to our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Gal. 6.1. to stumble at something or other that lieth in our way; he knoweth whither our corrupt nature bendeth; he sifteth out what will work our affections and dispositions, and with that he plieth and wooeth our consent to sin; like an expert mariner, he marks the wind, and accordingly hoiseth up, or striketh sail; like a cunning poet, he fits every actor with a part agreeable, and maketh perpetual use of the bent of our nature. Thus hath he a wedge of gold for covetous Achan, a crown for ambitious Absalon, a Dinah for Shechem, etc. And if those two, the concurrence of Time and Place, are his principal engines, which serve to give aim to such faults as our nature is too perfect in without a prompter; then surely in a spacious city are more invitations to sin, then in private cells. The concourse of much people affordeth many brokers of villainy, which live upon the spoil of young hopes. Where many pots are boiling, there must needs be much scum; and where multitude of strangers meet, where variety of delights and pastime daily take the eye, it is more difficult to avoid them. For our nature herein is like unto fire, which, if there be any infection in the room, draws it strait to itself; or like unto jet, which omitting all precious objects, gathers up straw and dust. It was in a city where this woman lived, where by her lewd example she drew on others to offend. Her example was the more hurtful, because ('tis thought) she was of good parentage. Satan's infections shoot many times through some great star the influence of damnation into lesser bodies. Examples. For an Example is like a stone thrown into a pond, that makes circle to beget circle till it spread to the banks; or like a plague-sore, that infects the standers by, and lookers on. I do not find the name of the city set down; yet many are bold to affirm that it was Naim; others, Jerusalem. Simon de Cassia. They that have traveled in the search of the latter, Jerusalem style it the glory of the world, the theatre of mysteries & miracles, the navel of the earth, being seated amidst the nations, like a diadem crowning the heads of the heads of the mountains. Honorificentissima praedicantur de te, o civitas Dei summè honorifica; Very excellent things are spoken of thee, thou city of God: Psal. 87.2. At ignominiosa facta sunt in te, But very heinous crimes have been committed in thee, saith a Father. Whether she lived there or no, I inquire not; where ever it was, she was too well known in her time. What her offence was, hath been already showed: I will not lay my finger again on that blot. Thus fare hath the black line of her life been drawn. Now look we on the other hemispere; now come we to consider her as she hath put off the Harlot, as she is a Penitent, Behold a woman that WAS a Sinner. SECT. VI QVi in aurifodinis laborant, they who dig in the veins of the earth, parvum inveniunt in magno, find a little gold in a great deal of over: But they who search into the mines of holy Writ, magnum inveniunt in parvo, within the compass of a ●ittle ground find a great deal of gold. Adoro plenitudinem Scripturae, with Tertullian: where the least particle truly weighed hath mountains of matter, as the Rabbins phrase it; wherein every tittle, every iota is dogmatically full, and not to be passed over without a registering eye. In these words, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quae erat peccatrix, the verb erat, little in the sentence, but large in the sense, is like that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. James, James 3.4. which though it be small, yet it turneth about the whole ship. We have already taken it in the worse sense: now let us consider it as it argues a change, as it points to the best, which is behind. Scipio (as Livy writeth) never looked so fresh, nor seemed so lovely in the eyes of his soldiers, as after his recovery from a dangerous sickness which he took in the camp: Nor doth the soul ever seem more beautiful, then when she is restored to health after some desperate malady. The Palladium was in highest esteem both with the Trojans and Grecians, not so much for the matter or workmanship, as because it was catched out of the fire when Troy was burnt: And certainly no soul is more precious in the sight of God and his angels, then that which is snatched out of the fire of hell, and jaws of death: For hereby it becometh like the wood, which Seneca pronounceth to be eò pretiosius, Sen. lib. 7. de Benef. cap. 9 quò illud in plures nodos arboris infelicitas torsit. And here justly may I take up an Ecce, and lead this woman in with a note of wonder. To see men perverted from God to the world, from piety to profaneness, is as common as lamentable; every night such stars fall: But to see a convert come home to God, is both happy and wondrous to men and angels. O res novas & inauditas! Behold, the first-fruits of them that come to Christ, are such as were most desperately enthralled to Satan; Magi, Publicani, Meretrices, Latro, Blasphemus. O the depth, or rather no depth of the goodness of Christ's unspeakable mercies, who of the knottiest and crookedst timber can make rafts and ceilings for his own house! Thus can he call a Zaccheus from the toll-booth to be a Disciple, and Matthew to be an Apostle. The penitent thief on the cross. But, O blessed Jesus! how shall I enough magnify, among other demonstrations of thy mercy, thy goodness and power in the conversion of the dying thief! Wander, my soul, in amazement, while I think hereon! The offender came to die; nothing was in his thoughts but his guilt and torment; while he was yet in his blood, thou saidst, This soul shall live. That good Spirit of thine so breathed upon him, that his last hour was his first hour wherein he knew his Saviour to be God. In ipso crucis candelabro sol resplenduit, The sun did shine unto him upon the candlestick of the cross; the light whereof was so powerful, that it awaked this drowsy and sleepy thief, snorting in the security of his sin, leaving him so well instructed, ut corripit, confitetur, praedicat, precatur: corripit socium, Luke 23.40, etc. Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? confitetur peccata, We receive the due reward of our deeds; praedicat innocentiam Christi, But this man hath done nothing amiss; postremò, crescente lumine gratiae precatur; Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. He that before had in his eye nothing but present death, is now lifted up above his cross in a blessed ambition, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Is this the voice of a thief, or a disciple? Dic, o latro, ubi thronus ex sapphiro? ubi cherubin, & exercitus coeli? ubi corona, sceptrum & purpura, ut eum dicas Regem? Say, O thief, Why shouldest thou style him King? where is his throne of sapphire? where are the cherubims, and the whole host of heaven? where is his crown, his sceptre, and his purple? Seest thou any other crown than that of thorns? any other sceptre then strong iron nails, which were driven up to the head through the palms of those blessed hands? any other purple but his blood? any other throne but his cross? What dost thou see that thou shouldst style him King? O faith greater than death, that can look beyond the cross, at a crown; beyond dissolution, at a remembrance of life and glory! As no Disciple could be more faithful, so no Saint could be more happy. For, as Justin Martyr saith, juxta fluenta plenissima gratiam simul accepit & gloriam; grace & glory with a full tide both at once came flowing in upon him. Ambr. Magìs velox erat praemium quàm petitio, & uberior gratia quàm precatio, The reward every way outvied the request. It was a great favour from Christ, saith Leo, to put this so discreet and so humble a petition into this thief's heart; but a greater favour, to give him so good and so quick a dispatch. Quid tu Domine, saith S. Cyprian, amplius Stephano contulisti? O Lord, what could that protomartyr S. Stephen enjoy more? or that beloved Disciple that leaned on thy bosom? and (as cyril of Jerusalem saith) what could the long services of those that endured the heat of the day, obtain more at thy hands? But God giveth them this answer; I do thee no wrong, didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Some labourers were working hard at the vineyard from the first hour; others, from the third; others began at the ninth when the sun was setting. First came Adam, than Noah, after him Abraham, and the rest of the holy prophets: But this thief came at the sunne-setting: and he that in the morning was posting towards hell, is in the evening with his Lord in paradise: for no sooner had he cried, Lord, remember me, but Christ answereth him immediately, I say unto thee; and promiseth, thou shalt; and seals up his promise, verily; and promiseth more than is asked, paradise; and promiseth presently, being asked indefinitely, This day: Verily I say unto thee, This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. The conversion of S. Paul. In the list of these admirable Converts I cannot omit the blessed Apostle S. Paul. When Saul wasted the church, dispersed the Disciples, destroyed the Christians, following them from the synagogues into the streets, from the streets into their houses, when he breathed out threatenings and slaughter, Acts 9 when he was journeying with a commission towards Damascus; the Lord might without any expostulating have poured down vengeance upon him, he might have summoned some punishment or other to have served the execution of wrath against him: But if ever mercy and judgement met together, there was judicium misericordiae, & misericordia judicii: a voice, and a stroke; the one striking down to earth, the other lifting up to heaven: a light shining from heaven, and a light shining to direct him to heaven; a light shining to him that was in darkness and in the shadow of death, to bring him from the snare of darkness unto the glorious liberty of the sons of God. He that was the Way, met him in the way; He that was the Light, met him with a light; He that was the Word, met him with the voice of a word, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It was a gracious favour of the Lord, to vouchsafe to question with him; but to call him by his name, and to ingeminate that name, Lorinus. hoc indicat affectum commiserationis, it was a sign of his great affection and commiseration. It was a voice indeed, Psal. 29.4, 5. the voice of the Lord mighty in operation; the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice; the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedar-trees; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Libanus. This voice struck him to the earth, struck him from horse, struck him from his presumption, Persecutest thou Me? Maximam emphasin habet illud Me: Yet the voice was not more powerful than merciful: it was suaviter fortis, & fortiter suavis. It was the heaviest fall, and yet the happiest fall that ever any had; it was his fall, and his rising. Thus as dumbness unto Zacharie was not a dumb instructor; it taught him faith against another time: so blindness sent unto Paul, took away his blindness, making him to see more in the ways of life, than all his learning gathered at the feet of Gamaliel could have revealed unto him. Here, I confess, I have hunted a little wide; & unâ fideliâ duos parietes dealbavi. Which the rather I was led unto, because I intended to have writ a treatise on the conversion of S. Paul; as likewise to have spent some oil on the penitentiary thief. But second thoughts have taken place. SECT. VII. TO join issue with my former meditations, I will imitate the most curious gravers, who look sometimes upon green flies to recollect their scattered sight again: I will fix my eyes through the glass of contemplation on the picture of this penitent woman. Repentance, Repentance. say the Fathers out of Numb. 35.11. is a city of refuge to fly unto: which again, out of Acts 27. they call secundam tabulam post naufragium, the happy plank which hath saved many a soul from the gulf of despair, the board that after shipwreck will carry us safe unto land, and bring us to those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the fair havens, as the Apostle speaks in the same chapter, in his voyage towards Rome. Others do compare it to a Phenix-nest, A Phenix-nest. wherein the old Adam is consumed to ashes, and out of those ashes ariseth the new man of God. For conversion is a sacred riddle, a divine aenigma: A divine riddle. wherein when we are born, we are buried; and when we are quickened, we are killed; and when we are mortified, we are raised. Thus Ninive was overthrown, and yet not overthrown; Aug. de civet. Dei, lib. 21. cap 24. Eversa est Ninive quae mala erat, & aedificata bona quae non erat: it was overthrown by sin, but builded again by repentance. He that is a skilful Penitent, doth cunningly play this aftergame: and a sinner after his recovery, for the most part, seeketh God more fervently. For the Saints come out of the bed of their sins, as Hezekiah out of his sick bed, more humble, more holy, more pious, more penitent; as the Eagle that is wearied, comes out of the water into which she dips her wing, with a more surging ascent toward heaven then ever. Dum peteret Regem— Mart. lib. 1 epig. 22. When Mutius Scevola miss of his aim, and in stead of kill Porsenna, slew one of his scribes being as richly apparelled as his prince, he presently offered that hand which gave the stroke, as a willing sacrifice unto the flame: In admiration of whose great spirit, the poet giveth this acclamation, Major deceptae fama est & gloria dextrae: Si non errasset, fecerat illa minus. Without any inversion I may apply it to this woman's conversion; Si non peccasset, fecerat illa minus. Nor let this be taken for a paradox: For what an enemy would upbraid by way of reproach, is the greatest praise that can be, Faults that were. Their very sins do honour some: as the very devils that Mary Magdalene had, are mentioned for her glory, since we do not hear of them but when they are cast out: for repentance is a supersedeas that dischargeth sin, making God to be merciful, angels to be joyful, man to be acceptable. But because I have almost every where fair occasion given to treat of this divine grace of Repentance, which like Miriam leads the dance before the daughters of Israel, I will not stand to gather the fruit in this orchyard as clean as I might: I now only give the shaking of a tree, two or three berries from the upper branches. I now come with speed to this woman's good speed; to her access, and to her success: For, ut cognovit, venit; when she knew where Jesus was, she came. SECT. VIII. NOn cervus fluvios sic avet algidos, Buchan. in psal. 42. Cervus, turba canum quem premit, etc. The noble beast of chase, the subtle cerffage, the wind-footed Hart, hearing the deepmouthed hounds to vent his secret leyr, and listening to the loud and deep yell wherewith the forest rings, lifts up his high-palmed head, rusheth out rousing, driveth the brakes, trusteth his speed, and getteth ground, the kennel cast arere; at length embossed with heat, he beateth the brooks and ponds for sweet refreshing soil. Without stretching the metaphor, the Sic doth here punctually answer the Sicut. This woman now touched with repentance for her former vanities, like the thirsty and panting Hart in the extremity of drought, desiderat ad fontes aquarum, doth eagerly long for the cooling springs. Infixa erat in cord ejus sagitta, saith Salmeron, her soul was deeply wounded with the arrow of her sins,— & haerebat lateri letalis arundo, it stuck so fast, she could not shake it out: therefore with the strucken Deer she cometh to the sovereign dittanie to expel it. Turbata erat piscina conscientiae, saith that same Author sweetly; The pool of her conscience was troubled with that descending angel, and instantly she steps in for a cure: for— ut cognovit, venit; when she knew where Jesus was, without standing upon terms of circumstance, she makes a speedy recourse unto him. And here may we stand a while, as at a pillar or monument in the highway-side, viewing with admiration the zeal of her access. Christ was now at dinner in a Pharisee's house; Where by the way I will take up an observation, Christ many times frequented feasts. That many times he frequented feasts. And I do not find, that he was ever bid to any table and refused it: if a Pharisee, if a Publican invited him, he made not dainty to go; not for the pleasure of the dishes, but for the benefit of so winning a conversation, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, non propter micas, sed ut animas Deo faceret amicas; not to eat, but to gain souls to God: For which end he was sent from the bosom of his Father. And at whose board did he ever sit, and left not the host a gainer? When Zaccheus entertained him, Episcop. Exon. salvation came that day to his house with the Author of it: when the poor bridegroom entertained him, his water-pots were filled with wine: and when this Simon the Pharisee entertained him, his table was honoured with the public remission of a penitent sinner. It was our Saviour's trade to do good; therefore he changed one station of earth for another; therefore he came down from heaven to earth. And now, O blessed Saviour, now thou art lifted up, thou drawest all men unto thee. There are now no lists, no limits of thy gracious visitations; but as the whole earth is equidistant from heaven, so all the nations of the world be equally open to thy bounty. At haec obiter. Into this Pharisee's house doth this woman thrust herself. Pet. Chrysol. Et quid est quod haec mulier ignota, imò malè nota, quid est quod ibi quaerit non vocata? O woman, me thinks I see this austere sectary (though of the better mould of Pharisees) looking overly on thee, darting from his eyes disdain and scorn, espying so noted, so notorious a strumpet, to come to the upper chamber where he kept his feast, especially to come into Christ's presence; who well knew her wicked life, and (as it might be supposed) offended at her action. O woman, great was thy faith! No disadvantage could affright thee from coming unto Jesus; not the frowns, not the censure of a rigid host; not the inconveniency of the place (an unlikely place it might have seemed in a Pharisees house to find a Saviour;) not the unfitness of the time (an unproper time to serve in tears at a banquet.) Certainly the Spirit moved on those waters: Doubtless this woman had often heard from our Saviour's lips (in those heavenly sermons) many gracious invitations of all distressed and sinne-burdened souls; and now at length was entangled in the net of his heavenly doctrine, For our Saviour (saith that Oracle of the Greek Church) hath a twofold net, Chrysoft. in Luc. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: the net of wonders, & of words; by the first he caught those many who believed on his name: John 2.23 by the second he enclosed his very enemies, those officers who were sent to apprehend him, John 7.46 and bring him before the high priests. And still doth our blessed Saviour thus spin out the thread of his love to an unmeasurable length, to try whether we will lay hold on it: he doth angle for us, he sits in heaven, let's down the line of his love, and baits it with his mercy, to prove whether we will swallow it, that he may catch our souls. With such an hook was this woman taken: she had treasured up his sayings in her memory; she had observed that he not only pardoned sinners, but entertained them into his presence; she had noted the passages of his power and mercy; and now deep remorse wrought on her for her misspent life. And surely had not the Spirit of God wrought upon her she came, and wrought her to come, she had neither sought nor found Christ. For those good graces which God finds in us, are like the silver which Joseph found in Benjamins' sack, of his own putting in. If his hand do not move the golden cymbal, it will yield no pleasant sound: For our will herein is like a lowersphere, — quae— non nisi mota movet. In the 20. of S. John's gospel it is observable, that there was first a flavit Spiritus, than a flevit Maria: the Spirit first breathed, and then that blast begat the shower; Marie mourned: Rabboni there called Marie, before Marie was able to cry, Rabboni. And this woman being first moved by the Spirit of God, now comes in and finds that Saviour whom she sought. SECT. IX. SHe comes in, but how? Not , but having got a precious confection of ointment, of Nardus, the chief of all ointments; which was for the making true, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and for the value, costly: that she intendeth to bestow. The ointment was choice, and the choice of her ointment is commendable. Every Evangelist hath a several attribute to honour this ointment: nay, Judas himself giveth the ointment praise enough, though he condemns the act, though he casts in his dead fly, and murmurs out, quid perditio haec? To what purpose is this waste? yet Judas did praise this ointment, nay praise it more than any other; yea, he esteemed it far more worthy than he esteemed his Master: for he sold his Master for thirty poor silverlings; Matth. 26.15. John 15.12. but he valued this ointment at three hundred pence. This delicate odoriferous perfume she brings in as rich a vessel, a box of alabaster: which was a solid, hard, pure, clear marble. But note we here this woman's good decorum: She doth not presently pour out her ointment on the feet of Jesus, but (observing a comely order in her repentance, and this laudable action) first she gives the sacrifice of a broken heart, than she breaks her box of spikenard. In the manner of her repentance are many circumstances, all which like the shafts of the holy candlestick, every one bear sundry knops of flowers. To take up the story as it lieth in order, ever treading in the steps of the Evangelist; in this part of the story I find six things observable: four whereof belong to the bitter of Repentance; two, to the sweetness and comfort thereof. To the bitterness; 1, Shame, She stood behind him; 2, Fear, At his feet; 3, Sorrow, She wept; 4, An abjection or neglect of herself, She wiped Christ's feet with the hairs of her head. To the sweet, two things: 1, Her love, She kissed them; 2, Her bounty, and anointed them with the ointment. Through these heads, all of them being of high and singular importance, my discourse shall pass. It is not here, as in the 68 psalm; where the singers go before, and the minstrels follow after. Here the mourners go first, like the captives in their ancient triumphs; as Shame, and Fear, and Sorrow, and her Neglect of herself: then come the Minstrels and Singers; her grateful Devotion towards our Saviour, our Saviour's Mercy towards her. Shame and Fear. First, Shame and Fear go hand in hand; Shame goeth before as the needle, and Fear followeth after as the thread. Shame is a little Fear, and Fear is a great Shame. Fear is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (as it is well called) of the nature of a bridle to our nature, to hold us in to refrain from evil, if it may be; if not, to check and turn us about, and make us turn from it. Therefore, fear God, Prov. 3.7. and departed from evil, commonly go together, as the cause and the effect; we seldom find them parted. This fear is called, and truly, (for truly so it is) the beginning of our wisdom, when we begin to be truly wise. And Shame, albeit the daughter of sin, becomes sometimes the mother of conversion. Of which we may say, as the Romans did of Pompey the Great, Plut. in vit. Pomp. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that it is a fair and happy daughter brought forth by an ugly and odious mother: Sin indeed, objective worketh Shame, and Shame effectiuè causeth Repentance. Young Ephraim smote his thigh in detestation of his sin, Jer. 31.19. I was ashamed and even confounded. This was his inducement to repentance. For sin maketh the sinner to be to God, like Absalon to David; he may not dare to see the king's face, 2. Sam. 14.24. Philo the most famous philosopher that ever that Jewish nation bred (of whom it is said, Philo was a Jewish Plato, Philo, de profugis. or Plato an Athenian Philo) setteth down three principal causes for which usually one fleeth from another; Hatred, Shame, and Fear. Thus Jacob hating Laban's injustice and idolatry, forsook him; For fear Jacob conveyed himself from Esau; For shame and fear Adam skulked in the grove of paradise: And here both fear and shame set this woman in this deportment. Stetit retrò, She stood behind. A wonderful and strange kind of change! When this woman did cast her sins behind her back, God did set them before his eyes: but when she set them before her eyes, and grew fearful and timorous to look him in the face, and had not the heart to press into his presence, who was to be her souls best physician, God did then cast her sins behind his back. S. Augustine toucheth upon this string, upon those words of David, Psal. 51.9. Averte faciem tuam, Domine, à peccatis meis; O thou sinner (saith the Father) I will give thee a good remedy for this; Tu indè non avertas, Do not thou turn thine eyes from off thy sins, and God will turn away his. When God is moved in pity towards any, whom he is not ignorant to be sinners, he is said to turn away his face; Non advertit, quia non animadvertit, saith S. Augustine: His indisposition to punish it, is meant by hiding his face from it. So likewise his blotting out, is not Gods having no record of our sins; but not to use it as an indictment against us in judgement; according to that rule in law, Idem est & non esse, & non apparere: that whereof no use is made, is properly said to be blotted out. So that the words in that place are not to be understood absolutely, but metonymically: and Ruffinus doth well qualify them with a quasi, Quasi abscondit faciem suam, & quasi delet; God so dealeth with a penitent, as if his face were hid, and as if his book were razed in regard of the sinfulness of his person. But I must turn back to this woman; and in the next place consider her Sorrow: She stood behind him weeping. SECT. X. SUch is God's goodness to man, that he hath placed in the eye both the malady, and the remedy; visum, & fletum; the faculty of seeing, and the sluice of tears: that they who offend by seeing, may be recovered by weeping. Such a sorrow seasoned and sanctified with grace and faith, is not that sorrow in moral philosophy, which is affectus destructivus subjecti, an affection or passion destroying the subject; Godly sorrow. but affectus perfectivus, & salvativus subjecti (as the School speaks) an affection perfecting, or preserving the subject; or rather, to speak in the phrase of the Apostle, a godly sorrow, which causeth repentance unto salvation; a sorrow not to be repent of. Tears be the favourites that have the ear of the King of heaven: Tears. They are our bills of Exchange which he allows, and returneth them with what sums of blessings we desire. They are our quitrents, our homage, our suit-fines; by this service we do hold our estates in his favour. So long as we pay him these rents of devotion, so long is our tenure safe, and our title to his goodness unquestionable. So precious is this liquor distilled from penitent eyes, that while we stay here, God keeps all our tears in a bottle; Psal. 56.8. and because he will be sure not to fail, he notes how many drops there be in his register. This sovereign water will fetch a sinner again to the life of grace, though never so fare gone. These coelestes pluviae, these heavenly showers are the streams of Jordan to cure our leprosy; the Siloam to cure our blindness; the Bethesda to cure all our lameness and defects of obedience. Never was the poison of any sin so cold, but the hand of repentance could thaw it; never was the flame of any sin so hot, but the tears of repentance could cool it. The bleeding heart, Magìs frugiferae lacrymantes vineae. Bern. like the dropping vine, is for the most part most fruitful. I cannot here express my thoughts in a better strain, then by applying that which the poet hath in his epigram De lacrymis Magdalenae. I will therefore take her picture as it is exquisitely drawn by him, and set it in my own frame; I will be bold to borrow some characters from his press, the better to imprint them in my own and my reader's memory. Zevecotius, epig. 2. Magdala, dum tristi vitiorum compede vincta, Solvendam Domini te jacis ante pedes: Quàm dulces fundis lacrymas! quàm nobile flumen Nascitur ex oculi divite fonte tui! Pactolus tali se vellet origine nasci, Velvet & auriferi nobilis unda Tagi. Illi etenim solum volvunt sub fluctibus aurum: At fluit ex oculis plurima gemma tuis. It was a precious ointment wherewith she anointed the feet of Christ: but her tears wherewith she washed them, were more worth than her spikenard. Her tears were her best advocates to plead for mercy at the throne of grace; Interdum lacrymae pondera vocis habent. Never a word she spoke; for she knew it was unto the Word, who knew her speech that was retired into her inner cabinet, the private withdrawing-chamber of her heart. What need her tongue speak, saith one, when her eyes spoke, her hands spoke, her gesture, her countenance, her whole carriage was vocal? Her eyes sufficiently testified her godly sorrow, which dropped down tears as fast as the Arabian trees their medicinable gums. She wept, & in that abundance, as that with those streams of penitence she now began to wash his feet with her tears. She began, as if she durst not go on, but did often retract and pull back her hands. She began to wash the lowest part of his body, his feet, with her tears; though the water of the brook had been humanity enough: and did wipe them, not with the lap of her coat, but with the hairs of her head. Which brings in the next link, her abjection, or neglect of herself. SECT. XI. ANd here behold one strange circumstance in this act of her anointing, never done to any but our Saviour, and never to our Saviour but by this woman; She wiped his feet with the hairs of her head. The greatest humility that might be. As if her shame, her fears, her godly sorrow were not enough, she still seeks farther to make herself yet more vile, and of no price before Christ. She herself is the servant that waiteth on him; from herself do fall the dews of water that wash his feet; & (as one pithily saith) as her eyes were the ewer, so her hairs were the towel to wipe them. But what? was her ointment so precious, & she so poor, that she could not bring a napkin, a cloth, or handkerchief? Certainly she wanted not fine linen to have dried them: but to approve her humble homage, her hearty devotion, and sincere humility, she bestows the chiefest ornament of her head on the meanest office to our Saviour's feet. And here (as every where) behold a wonderful alteration! S. Bernard saith, that she climbed up to heaven by the same rounds, by which she went down to hell. Hugo, lib. De Anima. Superbia in coelo nata est; sed velut immemor quâ viâ indè cecidit, illuc redire non potuit: Pride (as Hugo prettily speaketh) was bred in heaven; Pride. but having forgotten which way it fell, could never afterward find the way thither again. Humility. Whereas humility wrestleth and striveth with God, according to the policy of Jacob, that is, winneth by yielding; and the lower it stoopeth toward the ground, the more advantage it getteth to obtain a blessing. Thus cunningly in abasement of herself, doth this humble penitent like the Syrophenician woman; tanquam canis lambit vestigia Domini. And at the feet of her Saviour she makes a general sacrifice of all those things wherewith she had offended him; Greg. Quot habuit in se oblectamenta, tot de se fecit holocausta. Her eyes, her lips, her hair, her ointment, all the instruments of her death were turned at her conversion into the means of life. The Philistines being plagued 1. Sam. 6. with emerods, offered emerods unto the Ark. The Israelites being stung with serpents, erected a serpent in the wilderness; Numb. 21 Serpens momordit, serpens curavit. They that gave their jewels to the making of a calf, did afterward bestow them upon the Lord's tabernacle. And such was this woman's practice; who having now given a bill of divorce to her former vanities, & disrobed herself of all sumptuous weeds and alluring paludaments, doth, like an expert apothecary that knoweth how to mix and temper his treacles, make a most sovereign antidote of a most deadly poison. She had wont to send forth her alluring beams into the eyes of her lascivious paramours: therefore now she weepeth a deluge of tears, which is little enough to bear the ark of her sorrow. She had made her lips the weapons of lust, and gates of vanity; but now they sanctify themselves with her dear respect unto the Son of God. Her hair, which she had so gently kembed and braided cunningly against the glass, doth now serve in stead of naperie to dry his feet. Her odoriferous perfume, wherewith she was wont to make herself pleasing to her amorous companions, she now bestows on those hallowed feet, which her eyes had watered, her hair had wiped, her mouth had kissed. Which brings me to the two last circumstances of this part of the Story: First, her Love; Secondly, her Bounty & devotion. Which two shall seal up her repentance, and my discourse. SECT. XII. AMong other things observable in the greater and more solemn feasts of the Jews, we are here to take notice of some ceremonies used by them as preparative to the feast; which I find in our English Josephus to be three: 1, salutation; 2, washing the feet; 3, pouring oil on them. First, their Salutations were testified either by words, or some humble gesture of the body: as sometimes by prostrating the whole body; sometimes by kissing the feet, as in this passage of the story; commonly by an ordinary kiss: This S. Paul calleth an holy kiss, 1. Cor. 16.2. S. Peter, a kiss of charity, 1. Pet. 5.14. The kiss of the cheek was a pledge of their welcome to their guests, ut ostenderent ingressum pacificum, saith Stella. The second ceremony was Lotio pedum ante discubitum: Of which we read Gen. 43.24. and 1. Sam. 25.41. The third compliment was their pouring out of oil upon the head: Of which the prophet David giveth an hint, Psal. 23.5. In all which meet ritual observances, Simon (though of the formal sect of the Pharisees) was defective, insomuch that our Saviour giveth him an Item, and challengeth him of his neglected office in his entertainment; Oleo caput meum non unxisti. And well might the Pharisee read his own taxation in the praise which Christ gave of this Jewesse, so well seen in the customs of her country. In her redoubling her kisses of an humble thankfulness on those sacred feet, is implied an inclination wherewith she was affected, a desire wherewith she was ravished, a joy wherewith she was quieted. To repent, is to kiss the feet of Jesus Christ; and it is all one to be sorry for our sins, and to love him. This truth I gather from our Saviour's words, who denominates this whole action from love: He saith not, She wept much, She sorrowed much; but, She loved much, vers. 47. And by all means she sought to express her multam dilectionem propter multam remissionem: For, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing she had was too dear. With her most precious and fragrant ointment she anointed our Saviour's feet: that rich and costly testimony of her love she bestowed freely; for (as we gather from this and the other Evangelists) she did not drop, but pour; not a dram or two, but a whole pound; not reserving any, but breaking box and all, and that three several times one after another. All that went before was the sacrifice of a broken heart: now she breaks her box of spikenard. With that first sacrifice of her heart she adored the Divinity of Christ; this last she tendereth to his Humanity. The first shower of her tears, were tears of sorrow and repentance; the latter shower which overtook the first, were tears of joy and love. Thus like the Spouse in the Canticles, Cant. 4.9. did she wound Christ with one of her eyes, and with the chain (a chain of graces) about her neck. For so pleasing unto him were all the actions of this perfect Penitent, of this grateful Convert, that he not only made her apology against the Pharisee, in preferring her kindness before the entertainment of his house; but against Satan and the powers of hell, in forgiving her many sins, without any enumeration of them. I cannot leave my Reader better than in the contemplation of so gracious a dismission. And thus at length I take my work out of the loom. FINIS. Imprimatur Cantabrigiae. R. Brownrigg, procan. Tho. Bainbrigg. Jo. Cousin. Chey. Row. In Sanctam Peccatricem. INgenious Sir, you had a piercing eye, From hence as fare as Bethany to spy Such a rich gem, as unregarded lay Upon the ground, at noontime of the day, Before a multitude. There was but one That prized this jewel then: 'twas he alone, The Jeweller that made her, knew her worth, And told it thee, when first he sent it forth Into thy heart inspired; and thou hast took This precious gem, and put it in a book, In leaves of gold; so that each eye may gaze At that, which did the God of heaven amaze. I know thoust searched the oriental mines For the choice accents of thy sacred lines, And from the centre of the earth hast flown In holy raptures to th' empyrial throne; And there hast taken from a Cherubs wing The quill thou wrot'st with, who did gladly bring With it this message, That they hoped to see Thy pen make others penitent as She. Guil. Moffet, Cantab. Vicarius Edmonton. I Writ not to thy book, nor once begin To censure that which hath approved been By the best wits; my lines no worth can raise, Nor add to thee, my liking is no praise; Nor court I fame for thee, since thine own pen Extracts thus much, but 'tis from knowing men. I speak my thoughts, I do rejoice to see This subject worthy praise thus writ by thee; And in that I have found for to commend A woman for her goodness, (and God send We may find many more;) I wish them well, That they with her in grace might all excel. Let your bold critic judge, condemn, reprieve, Or what he will; thy Magdalene must live: Christ did foretell it should be so, and we Find it exactly now performed by thee In this thy tractate so acute, polite, Pleasing both understanding and Alluding to the frontispiece. the sight. And what thou giv'st to her, doth but redound To make the glory of thy name resound. Simon Jackman, Oxon. in Art. Mag. To my learned friend W. H. Esquire, on his Sancta Peccatrix. THe fragrant ointment smelled not half so sweet As did the tears wherewith she bathed the feet Of her dear Saviour; yet they both had lost Part of their smell, had not thy pains and cost Renewed their sweetness: for ne'er yet was sinner So deep a loser, and so great a winner; Despairing, helpless, yet so full assured; So strongly poisoned, yet so strangely cured; Abased, dejected, and so humbled low, And yet exalted up to heaven. This thou Hast drawn from sacred beams of holy Writ, Which though no specious gloss can better it, Yet thou even to those glorious lamps so bright Hast added lustre, whence thou borrowedst light: That while this Gospel through the world shall fly, Thou with thy Sainted sinner ne'er shalt die. Reuben Bourn, olim Cantab. To his noble friend, and worthy parishioner, W. H. writing on Mary Magdalene, washing the feet of our Saviour with her tears. IN softly showers the heavens do court the earth, And make her pregnant in a fruitful birth: But now, a sinful woman (to make even) With earthly showers doth wash the King of heaven; Her grateful diligence so well hath sped, For washing of his feet he crowns her head. To the last sand of time shall live her glory, While such an herald doth display her story. Guil. Wimpew, Oxon. in Art. Mag. Cui titulus, Credo resurrectionem Carnis. THy former tractate did the body raise, But this the soul from sin; both worthy praise. Herein an heptarch harlot I do see Turned to a Saint by thy rare Alchemy. Hers was a mite to thine, a Dose too small; Thine's a Seplasium Aromatical. Thom. Draper, Oxon. in Art. Mag. In Sanctam Peccatricem. A Sinner turned a Saint! what change is this? 'Tis none of Ovid's Metamorphosis: No, 'tis a sacred Sinner, who thinks meet By thee to do her penance in a sheet. Now is she bound for heaven, and by thy dress Thou makest her well deserve both praise and press: And now she lives a Saint who was a whore, O never was she thus in print before. She did embalm her Saviour's head; but this, Except her Saviour, all did think amiss. So that pleased God alone, but thy sweet pen Crowned with applause contents both God and men: Whose offering scents as much (I dare presume) Of incense, as her oil of sweet presume. Thus 'tis made good, that Sacrifice divine Of hers should live, and so it doth in thine. Jo. Wimpew, Cantab. Coll. Jes. in Art. Mag. ¶ Amicissimo candidissimóque pectori, GUIL. HODSON, Art. 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ALEXAND. GIL, S. Theol. Doct.