A09998:398
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.
WE have left the spouse in the banqueting hall in the most wished estate she could desire, & now to hear her speak, it seemeth the clean contrary, seeing she speaketh as if she were quite out of heart, having lost all strength, & being brought as a man would say unto an utter extremity. We must therefore note that our infirmity and weakness is such and so great, that cannot in truth suffer either joy or sorrow, if the one, or the other surpass our capacity. In such sort that as a man may die by having his heart overstraitned and locked up with anguish and sorrow: so may the like also happen unto him, if his hart be overmuch opened and enlarged with a sudden and over great joy. The like we see to come to pass in many places of the holy and sacred history, that holy personages become for a time no better then dead men, if the Lord appear unto them in any unaccustomable majesty As the Apostle witnesseth & saith, that when it pleased God to make him to see things that cannot be told, he knew not whether it were ⟨p. 229⟩himself, his spirit remaining within the body, or were otherwise ravished out of himself, 1. Cor. 12.2. Act. 22.17. And that the like happened also unto the prophets being filled with the spirit of God, appeareth by that we read, 1. Sam. 19.24. The spouse therefore in this place, being present at this banquet, saith that the apprehension & conceit of so great a favour, & as well the sweetness of the fruit of this Apple-tree, as also the savour of that drink she drank in this banquet, maketh her to sound, as being at the first not capable thereof. Not that therefore she had lost all appetite (for contrariwise she calleth for that wine and for those Apples) but as if she desired that she might have them in such sort, as that thereby she might be brought unto herself again, whereas she was not able to bear them in over great abundance. Cause therefore, saith she, my spirit to come again unto me, by giving me of that wine, and making me as it were a bed of those Apples: by the odour whereof my spirits may be recreated as men are wont to do unto them who begin to faint at heart, to whom they give not any great quantity to eat or drink, but a drop or two of wine, or some other sweet thing to smell unto, to cause their spirits to come unto them.