our rent, our payment heavy enough, if we pay every day, and wash our feet every night, for the uncleannesses of that one day. To shut up this part then; this washing of the feet, is the spirit of discerning, and censuring particular actions: but it is pedes meos, a discerning, and censuring of my actions, not only, or not principally the actions of other men; Quam speciosi pedes evangelizantium, How beautiful are the feet of them, that preach peace 23, says St. Paul, out of the mouth of two witnesses, two prophets, that had said so before. If we will preach peace, that is, relieve the consciences of others, by presenting them their sins, we must have speciosos pedes, clean ways, and a clean life of our own; so it is with us, and our profession; but Gens sancta, regale sacerdotium, as the apostle joins them, If you be a holy people, you are also a royal priesthood"; if you be all God's saints, you are all God's priests; and if you be his priests, it is your office to preach too; as we by words, you by your holy works; as we by contemplation, you by conversation; as we by our doctrine, so you by your lives, are appointed by God to preach to one another and therefore every particular man must wash his own feet, look that he have speciosos pedes, that his example may preach to others, for this is truly regale sacerdotium, a regal priesthood, not to work upon others by words, but by actions. If we love one another, as Christ loved us, we must wash one another's feet, as he commanded his apostles; there is a priestly duty lies upon every man, brotherly to reprehend a brother, whom he sees trampling in foul ways, wallowing in foul sins; but I may preach to others and be myself a reprobate", (as St. Paul speaks with terror to men of our coat) in his own person, I may bring others to heaven, and be shut out myself; and thou mayest preach that a man should not steal, and steal, that a man should not commit adultery, and commit it; and in these cases, non speciosi pedes, here are no clean, no fair feet, and therefore no edifying. Nay if, in either kind, we, or you, abhor idols, and yet commit sacrilege, that is, reprehend a sin in another, which we are free from ourselves, but yet are guilty : 23 Rom. x. 15; Isaiah Lii. 7; Nah. i. 15. 24 1 Pet. ii. 9. 26 Rom. ii. 21, 22. ourselves, of another sin as great, here's no clean feet, no profitable preaching; and therefore the only way to do God service, is, to wash and to censure the feet, (that is, particular actions) but principally, our own feet, that which we do ourselves. There remains yet a second part: and perchance but a little time for it; and I shall proportion, and fit myself to it. It is, that as this soul had a resurrection, she hath an ascension; as she had vocem gratulantis, a thanksgiving, that she hath washed her feet, so she hath vocem indignantis, a religious scorn, and indignation, to fall into those foul ways again. For this holy indignation, is one link in the apostle's chain of repentance, where, upon godly sorrow, depends care, and upon that, cleansing of ourselves, and upon that indignation, and so fear, and so desire, and so zeal, and so punishments of ourselves 27: every link worthy of a longer consideration; but here we consider only this indignation; when that soul that is washed, and thereby sees, to what a fair conformity with her Saviour she is come, is come also to a scorn, to a disdain to compare any beauty in this world, to that face, which angels desire to look upon; any nearness to great persons in this world, to the following of the Lamb wheresoever he goes; any riches of this world, to that riches wherewith the poverty of Christ Jesus hath made us rich; any length of life in this world, to that union which we shall have to the Ancient of Days; where even the everliving God, shall not overlive us, but carry out our days to the unmeasured measure of his own, to eternity. This indignation this soul expresses here, in this question, Quomodo, How shall I defile them? First then, this voice of indignation hath this force; Quomodo, How shall I defile them, is, how is it possible that I should defile them? I have washed my feet, repented my sins, and taken the seal of my reconciliation, the sacrament, and that hath this effect, ut sensum minuat in minimis, et tollat consensum in magnis peccatis, that grace, that God gives in the sacrament, makes us less sensible of small temptations, (they move us not) and it makes us resist, and not yield to the greatest temptations; since I am in this state, Quomodo inquinabo? How shall I defile them? The difference will be, of whom thou askest this question: if thou ask the se Bernard. 27 2 Cor. vii, 11. world, the world will tell thee, well enough. Quomodo, How; it will tell thee, that it is a melancholy thing, to sit thinking upon thy sins; that it is an unsociable thing, to seek him, who cannot be seen, an invisible God; that it is poor company, to pass thy time with a priest. Thou mayest defile thyself again by forgetting thy sins, and so doing them over again: and thou mayest defile thyself again, by remembering thy sins, and so sin over thy sins again, in a sinful delight of thy passed sins, and a desire that thou couldst commit them again. There are answers enough to this Quomodo, How, shall I defile them, if thou ask the world: but ask thy Saviour, and he shall tell thee, That whosoever hath this water, shall never thirst more, but that water shall be in him an everlasting spring"; that is, he shall find means to keep himself in that cleanness, to which he is come; and neither things present, nor things to come shall separate him from the love of God. Thus the voice this religious indignation, Quomodo, is, how is it possible, but it is also, Quomodo, How, that is, why should I? The first is, how should I be so base, the other, how should I be so bold? Though I have my pardon, written in the blood of my Saviour, sealed to me in his sacrament, brought home to me in the testimony of the Holy Ghost, pleaded for me, at the tribunal of the Father, yet as princes' pardons have, so God's pardons have too, this clause, Ita quod se bene gerat; He that is pardoned must continue of good behaviour; for whensoever he breaks the peace, he forfeits his pardon; when I return to my repented sins again, I am under the burden of all my former sins, and my very repentance, contracts the nature of a sin: and therefore Quomodo, how should I, that is, why should I defile them? To restore you to your liberty, and to send you away with the meditation which concerns you most, consider, what an astonishment this would be, that when Christ Jesus shall lay open the great volumes of all your sins, to your sight, who had forgotten them, and to their sight, from whom you had disguised them, at the last judgment, when you shall hear all the wantonness of your youth, all the ambitions of your middle years, all the covetous desires of your age, published in that presence, and think then, this is the worst that can be said, or laid to my charge, this is the last 30 Rom. viii. 38, 39. 29 John iv. 14. indictment, and the last evidence, there shall follow your very repentances in the list of your sins, and it shall be told you, and all the world then, here, and here you deluded that God, that forbore to inflict his judgments, upon new vows, new contracts, new promises, between you and him; even your repentances shall bind up that book, and tie your old sins and new relapses into one body. And let this meditation bring you ad vocem gratulantis, to rejoice once again in this lari pedes, that you have now washed your feet, in a present sorrow, and ad vocem indignantis, to a stronger indignation, and faster resolution than heretofore you have had, never to defile them again. Arise and depart, for this is not your rest. ALL that God asks of us, is, that we love him with all our heart: all that he promises us, is, that he will give us rest, round about us; Judah sought the Lord with a whole desire, and he gave her rest, round about her. Now a man might think himself well disposed for rest, when he lies down, I will lay me down, and sleep in peace, says David'; but it is otherwise here; Arise and depart; for here, (that is, in lying, and sleeping) is not your rest, says this prophet. These words have a three-fold acceptation, and admit a three-fold exposition; for, first, they are a commination, the prophet threatens the Jews; secondly, they are a commonition, the prophet instructs all future ages; thirdly, they are a consolation, which hath reference to the consummation of all, to the rising at the general judgment. First, he foretels the Jews of their imminent captivity; howsoever you build upon the pactum salis, the covenant of salt, the everlasting covenant, that God will 1 Psalm iv. 8. be your God, and this land your land, yet since that confidence. sears you up in your sins, Arise and depart, for this is not your rest, your Jerusalem must be changed into Babylon; there is the commination: secondly, he warns us, who are bedded and bedrid in our sins; howsoever you say to yourselves, Soul take thy rest, enjoy the honours, the pleasures, the abundances of this world, Tush the Lord sees it not, the Master will not come, we may lie still safely, and rest in the fruition of this happiness, yet this rest will betray you, this rest will deliver you over to eternal disquiet : and therefore arise and depart, for this is not your rest, and that is the commonition. And in the third acceptation of the words, as they may have relation to the resurrection, they may well admit a little inversion; howsoever you feel a resurrection by grace from the works of death, and darkness in this life, yet in this life, there is no assuredness, that he that is risen, and thinks he stands, shall not fall; here you arise and depart, that is, rise from your sins, and depart from your sinful purposes, but you arise, and depart so too, that you fall, and depart again into your sinful purposes, after you have risen; and therefore depart and arise, for here is not your rest; till you depart altogether out of this world, and rise to judgment, you can have no such rest, as can admit no disquiet, no perturbation; but then you shall; and that is the consolation. First then, as the words concern the Jews; here is first an increpation, a rebuke, that they are fallen from their station, and their dignity, implied in the first word, arise, for then they were fallen; secondly, here is a demonstration in the same word, that though they liked that state into which they were fallen, which was a security, and stubbornness in their sins, yet they should not enjoy even that security, and that stubbornness, that fall of theirs, but they should lose that; though it were but a false contentment, yet they should be roused out of that, arise; first arise, because you are fallen, and then, arise, though you think yourselves at ease, by that fall. And then thirdly, here is a continuation of God's anger, when they are risen; for they are not raised to their former state and dignity, from which they were fallen, they are not raised to be established, but it is arise, and depart; and in all this (which is a fourth consideration) God precludes them from any hope by solicitation, he reveals his purpose, his decree, and conse |