Sermons Very Fruitfull, Godly, and Learned
Sermons
very fruitfull, godly,
and learned, preached and
sette foorth by Maister Roger
Edgeworth, doctoure of divini
tie, Canon of the Cathedrall
churches of Sarisburie, Welles
and Bristow, residentiary in the
Cathedrall churche of Welles,
and Chauncellour of the same
churche: With a repertorie
or table, directinge to ma
ny notable matters ex
pressed in the same
sermons.
Excusum Londini in aedibus Roberti
Caly, Tipographi. Mense Septemb.
Anno. 1557.
PUBLISHED BY Roberti Caly
1557
1.
As Josephus antiquitatum. lib. xviii. ca. xiiii. writeth. And Pilate after he had ruled in Jewrye ten yeares, was dryven home to Rome by Vittellius general governour of Siria, to answer to such injuries and tirannye as he had done in the countrey: As Josephus writeth Antiquitatum. lib. eodem. cap. vii. And at Rome (because he was an unjust Judge against Christ) he was vexed and put to so much trouble, sorowe, and mischiefe: that desperatlye he beat hym selfe to death with his owne handes, as Eusebius wryteth in the ecclesiasticall storye, the second boke and .vii. chapter. And the citie of Jerusalem, and the people of the Jewes for their iniquitie against Christ, were by the Emperour Vespasian and Titus hys sonne subdued and destroyed, even in the time of theyr P [...]sch [...]l feast, at which time they had done their malice [...]gainst Christe, because the tyme of vengeaunce might answer & agree to the time of the muse of the same. At the paschal time they s [...]ed the most innocent blood of Christ, & even then the vengeance for his bloud fel upon them & upon their children and issue, according to their own desire, saying: Sanguis eius super nos. & super filios nostros.
Let the vengeaunce for his bloud (sayd they) lyeupon us and upon our children. And so it did, for even at the same time of the yere .xlii. yeres after the Emperoure Vespasian, and his sonne Titus, after they had destroyed the chiefe Townes and strongest fortalicies and holdes of the Realme, came to besiege that citie, and in the whole tyme of that battaile toke prisoners lxxxxvii thousand. And at the same siege were slaine, and that dyed by famine and moreyne, commyng chiefely of the stinche of the dead corpses liyng unburied to the number of a xi.C. thousand, as Josephus writeth in the seventh boke of the Jewes battayle, and xvii. Chapter. Therfore it foloweth in the psalme rehersed. Qui habitat in coelis, irridebit eos. Almightye God that dwelleth in heaven wyll laugh them to scorne, as he did in dede when he rose from death to life againe, notwithstandyng y [...]they thought him sure inough being once dead, & not withstandyng al the kepers that were set to kepe his body from stealyng. Et duns subsannabit eos. Our Lorde will wring the nose at them, which wordes importeth a greater indignation & anger then derision dothe, and was put in execution at thys moste horrible, strage, and destruction of that citie, and at the takyng away of the saide prisoners, whiche they feared, when they said, that if they let Christ scape their handes, the Romayns would come and take their citie, and carye away the people. Here you may see what it is to take counsaile against god.
1.1.
For though of hospitalitie come great rewarde temporall, and increase, yet that is not the thing that we muste loke for, nor intende to have, least when we have that we lose all the other. Of the reward for hospitalitie, there be in scriptures many gaye examples whiche seming temporall, yet signifieth the spirituall impinguation and feading, and profite of the soule. I read .iii. Reg. xvii of the blessed prophet Helye, that on a time as he came towarde a towne called Sarepta sidoniorum, within the territory of Sidon, he found a woman gatheringe a few stickes to make her a fire, he desiered her to geve him a little water to drinke, and a morsel of bread. She answered and said she had no bread. I have no more (said she) but a handfull of meale in a steen, and a litle oyle in a gearre, & I gather nowe (saide she) duo ligna, two stickes, as a man woulde saie, a fewe stickes to bake it, and make breade for my sonne and me, and when we have eaten that, we have no more, we will dye. No (saide Helye) be not afraied. Thus saith the God of Israel. Thy steen of meal shal not faile or lack nor thy gearre of oyle shall be any thing lesse, tyll the time when GOD shall sende rayne upon the earth. For in dede this fortuned in the time of the long famine that was in yt countrey for lack of rayne, by the space of three yeres & an halfe (accordynge to the prayer and peticion of the same Prophete Helye, for the correction and punishement of Achab the kyng, and Jesabel his quene, [Page] and of their false prophetes, and of their people. And as the Prophete promised, so it proved in dede. By this example, you se howe the pore hospitalitie of the saide good woman exhibited and bestowed on Helye, was recompensed with plentie sufficiente, where all the countrey els was in greate penurye and neade. And here you shall note that this meale in the Steen that was so longe reserved and continued by the word of the Lorde God of Israell, was a figure, and signified the most reverende and blessed Sacrament of the Aultare. The wydowe that was so longe susteined with this meal, signified Christes holy church, the whole congregation of faythful men and womenne, whiche by that that Christe her spouse and husband was slayne and buried, and then rose again, and departed from her into heaven, and hath left her viduate and without hys visible presence, althoughe he hath left her hys blessed bodye and bloude in this blessed Sacrament, whiche this wydowe all faiethfull folkes muste bake and digest with the sayde two trees, signifiynge the remembraunce of his paynefull passion that he suffered on the crosse (for a crosse is made commonlye of two trees,) acccordynge to Sainte Paules saiynge.