A09998:289
Master Bezaes sermons upon the three chapters of the canticle of canticlesMaster Bezaes sermons vpon the three chapters of the canticle of canticles
Master Bezaes sermons upon the three chapters of the canticle of canticles wherein are handled the chiefest points of religion controversed and debated between us and the adversary at this day, especially touching the true Jesus Christ and the true Church, and the certain & infallible marks both of the one and of the other. Translated out of French into English by John Harmar ...Master Bezaes sermons vpon the three chapters of the canticle of canticles wherein are handled the chiefest points of religion controversed and debated betweene vs and the aduersarie at this day, especially touching the true Iesus Christ and the true Church, and the certaine & infallible marks both of the one and of the other. Translated out of French into English by Iohn Harmar ...
Oxford: printed by Joseph Barnes, 1587Oxford: printed by Ioseph Barnes, 1587
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
6 God grant them who have the charge hereof his grace, to think better on it & to provide for it, that this spouse may be restored unto her perfect beauty, whereof the Bridegroom in this place speaketh, saying, that he compareth her unto the mounture of horses of one of the coaches of Pharaoh. Which similitude & comparison may seem very strange & yet notwithstanding is very significant & proper, if we consider the sense whereunto ⟨p. 163⟩it is to be referred, without wresting or drawing it any further. So is it said by a similitude (to show that the true Church keepeth herself to her head, in what place soever he be) that where a dead body is, there do the eagles gather themselves together. And yet this would be thought a thing very absurd, if a man therefore consequently would liken the children of God unto foul ravening birds, & Jesus Christ, who is the holy of holies, unto a carrion. Semblably if a man would make Jesus Christ like unto a thief, under this colour, that it is said, that he shall come as a thief, 1. Thess. 5.2. or unto a Judge fearing neither God nor men, Luk. 18.2. So likewise in this place the spirit meaneth not to compare his church unto an horse or a mare. But because one of the principal beauties of a woman is this tall and straight feature of body, with a comely countenance, as it is also specified, Psal. 144.12. where the daughters are compared to high & straight pillars of great Palaces: the holy ghost meaning to represent unto us by these corporal things, the excellency of the church of the Lord when she keepeth herself to her true Pastors, hath chosen this similitude, in opposing it unto the former desolation, in the which the spouse went as it were hanging down her head. For as touching the mentioning of Pharaoh in this place, there is no further reason or allegory to be sought thereof, but this, that among all the horses of those times they of Egypt were accounted the bravest and the best, as in many places of the Scripture it is witnessed unto us, and especially in the history of Solomon, 1. King. 10.28. as at this day men account of the horses of Spain and of Turkey.