it in this manner in the interiour part of his hart O most happy Crosse how long is it since I haue loued desired thee it is now three and thirty yeares since I liue enamoured of thee and I all enkindled with the flames of this desire and loue to see myselfe conioyned to thee O thou most pretious wood wherupon the iust price for sinne shall be payed and the diuine iustice shall remaine fully satisfied and my Father shall be perfectly glorified and man shall be saued freed from sinne and death and eternall damnation shal make his entry into the Kingdome of heauen O with how good a will I suffer my selfe to be nayled to thee and will so continue vpon thee till I leaue to liue And because the affection and desire which Christ our Lord had to suffer was the cause of that vnspeakable Patience wherewith he endured all the sorrowes and torments of the Crosse let vs cōsider the testimonies of the Ghospel wherin he declared the frāke will desire which he had to suffer and wherwith he offered himselfe to his Passion and death He discouered this his pleasure in that he manifested and declared many times and in particular manner to his disciples how he was to suffer in Ierusalem and the torments kinde of death which he was to suffer Once he said thus to them Matt. 16. It is fit that I goe to Ierusalem and that I suffer many torments at the hands of the Scribes and Pharisees and chief Priests and that I be put to death by them And Saint Peter perswading him not to endure it he reproued him in sharpe manner for seeking to hinder his Passion It is cleer that since he knew so long before what he was to suffer he might haue auoided it and fled from it if he would and since he did not so it is plaine he had an affection and desire to suffer it Another time going vp to Ierusalem some few dayes before that Easter when he suffered he said thus to them Matt. 20. Behould we are going vp to Ierusalem and the son of man is to be deliuered vp to the Princes of the Priests to the Scribes who will condemne him to death and will deliuer him ouer to the Gentiles to the end that he may be scorned scourged and crucified by them As if he had said Behould how without being carryed or compelled we goe in a most voluntary manner to Ierusalem where those thinges which concerne my Passion and death are to be accomplished to the end that you may vnderstād how willingly I offer my selfe to that Passion and death whereby I am to saue the world He also discouered the great affection and desire which he had to suffer by his going to that garden which was so notorious a place and where he knew his enemies would seeke and finde him out as also in that being there and knowing that his enemies came to apprehend him he went not thence to some other place where they might not finde him but he went by that very way where they were cominge towards him he went to meet them and animated his disciples to goe with him saying Matt. 26. Rise vp and let vs goe for he who will betray mee is neer at hand So saith Saint Ierome when he declares these words Our Lord wēt to encounter his persecutors without any feare at all of his Passion and he voluntarily deliuered himself to them that they might depriue him of his life and he said to his disciples Rise vp and let vs goe as if he had said let not our enemies finde vs heer like fearfull men but let vs goe with good courage to receiue them and let them see the confidence and cheerfullnes wherewith we offer our selues to death Being gone forth to meet his enemies and already standing before them and they hauing many lights wherby they looked vpō him he being well knowen to them and especially to Iudas yet was it not in their power to know him then because he gaue them not that power not concurred with that faculty of their minde wherby they were to haue knowen him till such time as he discouered himselfe to them by saying It is I declaring thereby how truly it was in his owne hād not to be takē or so much as touched by thē vnles he would himselfe So saith Saint Chrysostome Our Lord stāding in the middest of his enemies did blinde their eyes this he did to make them know that not onely they could not haue apprehended him but not so much as haue seen him if himselfe had not giuen thē power to doe it He also declared thus much by making them returne and fall backward to the ground like dead men and that with one onely word discouering cleerly thereby how easy a thing it had bene for him to defend himselfe from them to take away both their strength and life if he had bene pleased He had formerly bene in feare in the garden to declare the weakenes of mans nature and by the immense loue which he bore to man he ouercame all that naturall feare and he being ouercome by that very loue and by the extreame desire which he had to suffer for the saluation of mankinde wēt forth to receiue his enemies as if they had bene his most beloued friēds And first hauing made it plaine that they could not once haue touched him nor so much as haue knowen him if he had not bene so pleased he then gaue thē leaue and power to doe what they would to him And this he declared by saying This is your houre and the power of darcknes This is that hower wherein liberty is giuen you to the end that you and the Princes of darcknes by your meanes may execute both his power his cruell wil vpon my person This affection wherewith Christ our Lord offered himselfe to the torments of death and this inuincible Patience wherewith he endured them had bene prophecied by Esai 53. chap. in these words He offered himselfe to death because he would The same Prophet had said The eternall Father had layd all our sinnes vpon Christ our Lord to the end that he might satisfy for them all and all those sinnes might be destroyed consumed by the vertue of his Passion And instantly he declares the manner how he layd them vpon him which was not by forcing or constraining him to suffer but by infusing an immense charity into him and by inspiring mouing his heart thereby to the end that voluntarily and freely with extreame readines and gladnes he might offer himselfe to death And declaring the Patience wherewith he suffered that death he saith As a sheepe he opened not his mouth So great was the Patience the desire and loue wherewith he endured the torments which he tooke vpō him for the discharge of our sinnes that he opned not his mouth either to defend himself or complaine of others Like a quiet sheepe
but he conserued them in being and life and he gaue them holy inspirations and all the actiōs which he performed and all the wordes which he vttered were ordayned to make them doe penance that they might not be lost and damned but become saued soules in heauen At that time did he endure the society and the sinnes of that miserable Iudas with vnspeakable Patience Our Lord perceiued well the malice and ingratitude of his hart the thefts which he committed vpon the almes which was deliuered to his care that trechery wherwith he knew he would sell him ouer to his enemies and yet did he not cast him out of his company nor did he depriue him of the dignity and authority of his Apostolate wherof he had made himselfe so vnworthy nor spake he any word of affront to him nor shewed him any offended or vntoward countenance but he affoarded him al those common benefits and fauours which be imparted to the rest of his Apostles By these examples of Patience which our Lord gaue vs in the time of his life and course of his preaching he taught and perswaded vs to haue Patience whereby wee are to suffer all the crosses and contradictions of this life and all the persecutiōs oppressions and iniuries of mē not giuing place nor so much as entry into our harts to ill will or hatred against any man nor for complaints or murmuring either against God or mā nor yet to any inordinate grief but suffering them with a moderate firme cōstant minde which swarues not from the rectitude and rule of vertue and is desirous that in all thinges the will of God may be fulfilled So saith Saint Cyprian most excellently describing the example of the Patience of Christ our Lord by these wordes What glory is so great as that a man may become like God in the exercise of Patience enduring the inconueniences of this life and the iniuries of men as God doth long endure the offences which sinners commit against him Which Patience Iesus-Christ our Lord did teach vs as he was man not onely by word but by deed also For he said he came into the world to worke the will of his father And amongst those other admirable vertues whereby he discouered to vs the power of his diuinity one was the Patience whereby he imitated his eternall Father and so all those thinges which he did from the time when he was borne with mortall flesh into this world did carry the seale and stampe of Patience vpon them For he tooke on him as hath been said the waight of all the sinnes of men that he might pay by suffering for them He was tempted by the enemy and yet he did him noe hurt for it but was onely content to ouercome him He endured the horrible wickednes of Iudas with a Patience so large as lasted till the end of his life He endured the Iewes who were incredulous vngratefull proud rebellious and contrary both to his doctrine and to his example And he indured them in such sorte as to heape benefits vpon them and to treate them with meekenes and to receiue such of them to his fauour and friendship as would be conuerted to him What greater Patience and what greater clemency can be conceiued then by meanes of shedding his blood to purchase and to impart a life of grace and glory to them who through hatred and by most wicked meanes tooke a course to spill that very blood And since wee are the members and disciples of Christ our Lord who is the way of saluation and life it selfe it will become vs to follow his example These ar the wordes of Saint Cyprian THE III. CHAPTER How Christ our Lord endured the company of the wicked and of the example of Patience which he gaue vs thereby ONe of the thinges which good men finde most difficulty to endure in this life is the society and conuersation of wicked men whilest they continue in their wickednes For in regard that they abhorre sinne so much and haue such feeling of the offences which are committed against God and of the losse and damnation of soules for them to see those offences before their eyes and to obserue their neighbours to lie vnder the wrath of God condemned and lost according to the state of present iustice yet not feeling their own misery by reason of the great blindenes and obstinacy wherein they are and to see withall that they can prouide no remedy for this so great mischiefe nor giue any impediment to these offences against God and to this losse of soules they receiue I say herby intollerable paine and carry their hearts euen trāspersed from side to side with the sword of sorrow and haue extreame desires to depart out of the society conuersation of such sinners and to be still remayning farr from thē And in regard this misery happens sometimes to good men because sometimes the wicked are such persons as whose company they cannot leaue because they are either sonnes or parents or brothers or husband or wife or their gouernours or seruaunts of the same Lord or subiects of the same Prelate their paine grief doth extreamly increase vpō this occasion Now how vehemēt this torment is for good men to endure and how great desire they haue for as much as may concerne themselues to depart out of their company Christ our Lord himself did ōce declare in waightie wordes Matt. 17. Marc 9. When he descēded from the Moūt Thabor he came to those troopes of people which were expecting him and he found his disciples much afflicted and confounded in that men had brought one to them who was both a possessed a lunaticke person whom they were not able to cure And by occasion thereof the Scribes and Pharisees who were present reproached them as wanting vertue from heauen to send deuills out and they affirmed that their Master did it in the power of Belzebub Saint Marke signifies thus much by saying that Christ our Lord foūd the Scribes in debate and argument with his disciples And then our Lord said to them O you incredulous and rebellious generation how long shall I remaine conuerse amongst you how long shall I expect you and endure your obstinacy malice By these wordes did Christ our Lord declare the trouble which the wickednes and conuersation with vitious persons who would not be conuerted and hindered the conuersion of others did put him to and that he felt that paine more then death it selfe So saith Saint Chrisostome Our Lord signified by this that he euen desired death and that his Passion was not to be troublesom or grieuous to him but that the thing whereof he was most sensible and which afflicted him most was to conuerse with rebellious sinners who made resistance to the truth and vpon whom he sawe that the fruite both of his life and death would be lost Now as this was an immense torment to Christ our Lord so is it very
which bleyes not when his throate is cut so went he in sufferance and silence as he was carryed to death and as an innocent and still lambe which is silēt quiet whilest they sheere him so our most blessed Lord did in quiet silence and repose endure that fierce outrage wherewith his enemies tormented him and that most cruell fury wherewith they put him to death By these and other testimonies did Christ our Lord declare the immense loue and most ardent desire which he had to suffer the torments and death which he endured for man yea yet to endure greater torments to suffer more deathes if his enemies had power to giue him more wheereupon wee may inferre the vnspeakeable Patience and ioy wherewith he suffered them Wee must ponder and continually meditate with a very profound and deep consideration vpon these examples of Patience which shine in the life and Passion of Christ our Lord and thereby we must be animated to suffer endure with true Patience all those euills of punishment which may happē to vs in this life how great or tedious soeuer they may be For therefore saith Saint Efrem the afflictions and tribulations of this life seem grieuous and intolerable to vs because wee consider not the Passion and death of Christ our Lord. Let vs therefore allwaies carry before our eyes imprint in our hearts this death and Passion of his and all those examples which he gaue vs therin of Patience and let vs imitate him by suffering all the contradictions and penalties of this life with a good will And since it becomes a soldier to follow his captaine with much labour and with offering himselfe to troubles and wounds and dangers of death though he be but a mortall man who cannot giue him strength wherewith to fight nor can raise him from death if he should by in the combat nor can giue him who conquers any other reward then some tēporall thing of small value how much more is it reasonable that wee follow and imitate Christ our Lord Sauiour by suffering with Patience Since he giues strength to them who follow him wherewith to suffer and cōforts wherewith to do it cheerfully and deliuers them who imitate him from eternall death and and bestowes the most excellent reward vpō them of eternall life For as the Apostle saith it is a word most faithfull true worthy of all estimation that if wee dy with Christ our Lord that is to say if wee dy to our sinnes and ill desires abhorring and mortifying them as Christ our Lord died to his corporall life we shall lead a most glorious and blessed life together with him And if we suffer the sad and painfull things of this world and euen death it selfe with Patience for the loue of Christ our Lord and in imitation of him wee shall reigne with him for euer in his celestiall Kingdome THE VI. CHAPTER Of the Patience wherewith wee ought to suffer the losse of temporall goods and of the example which Christ our Lord gaue vs herein THough any one of the paines torments which were suffered by Christ our Lord may serue for a sufficient motiue to animate vs to endure all the afflictions and tribulations of this life with Patience yet that kind of paine endured by him which carries most resēblāce to the Crosse which most vsually is to be suffered by vs doth vse to comfort induce vs best to suffer it and for this reason wee will treat of some particular Crosses for which we may finde particular examples of Patience in the Passion of Christ our Lord. One of the ills of punishment which happens ordinarily to men is the losse of their estate temporall goods which befalles them sometimes because they are robbed sometimes they loose them by meanes of fier and shipwrackes sometimes by vniust suites in lawe sometimes they are coosened of them sometimes they are put to preiudice by the intemperate seasons of the yeare By what way or meanes soeuer we growe to loose our temporall goods wee must eudure it with Patience accepting it at the hand of God and conforming our selues to his holy will The particular example which must comfort vs in this afflictiō and giue vs heart to beare it with Patience is to see that Christ our Lord was vniustly stript of all his cloathes in his most sacred Passiō by those most base soldiers who crucified him He liued poore in this world and because he loued and extreamely delighted in pouerty he possessed no temporall goods at all Those things which he receiued by way of almes to sustaine his Apostles to deuide amongst the poore he had already bestowed There remained no more to him but his cloathes and of those they stript him and left him naked that nakednes was accōpanyed with great cold and great shame which he suffered by remayning in that sorte till he dyed From others who are executed mē take not their cloathes till they be dead but from our most blessed Lord they tooke his whilest yet he was aliue and he was pleased to ēdure this being dispoiled of his cloathes and this paine and shame in remaining naked that he might suffer for vs and withall might giue vs an example of Patience Let vs therefore animate our selues by this example of Christ our Lord to suffer any want or losse of temporall goods and let vs say thus in our owne hearts Since Christ the Kinge of glory and the vniuersall Lord of the whole world would needes for loue of me and for my saluation endure pouerty and the want of temporall goods was content that they should strip him of all his cloathes and expose him naked to the ayre and put him to the shame of appearing so to the whole people most iust it is that I for loue of him and for the saluatiō of mine owne soule should endure this want of meanes and this losse or wrong whereby I am depriued of the temporall goods which once I had And let vs consider for the better exercise of our Patience that whatsoeuer preiudice or temporall losse wee haue doth come to vs from the hand of God and for the good of our soules This did Christ our Lord discouer to vs by another example and testimony of the holy Ghospell Matt. 8. Luc. 5. Mar. 8. He went into the country of the Gerasens where he found two men tormented with diuells He cast the diuells out and so cured the men by the power of his word The diuells besought him that since he had cast thē out of those men he would giue them leaue to enter into a great heard of swine which was feeding in those fields hard by and which belonged to the inhabitāts of that Citty Our Lord gaue them leaue to doe it and instantly they possessed those swine which might arriue to the number of two thousand they carried them with extreame fury into the sea where they were drowned Hereby wee are
rushed in vpō him with extreame cruelty and most grieuously tormented him with buffers blowes and spitting on him and they went continuing and augmenting those torments throughout that whole night with many inuentions all full of cruelty hellish fury And some holy men to whom God hath reuealed many secrets of his life death haue said that in that night our most blessed Lord was stroken foure hūdred times with hard buffets and cruell blowes vpon his face and necke and all the rest of the parts of his most blessed body This passed in the house of the High Priest and now let vs see what torments he suffered in the house of Pilate The first was to be bound to a pillar and there to be most cruelly scourged What extreame paine must it be for him to be tyed so forcibly to a pillar that the cordes and ropes would be ētering so deep into his delicate flesh as to make the blood euen breake forth What torment nay what flood of torments would it be for him to be scourged after that manner For the whippes wherewith they did it were most cruell consisting of sharpe rods and biting cords which as many affirme had hookes and spurres of iron at the ends thereof The executioners were strong fierce many who yet changed by turnes and all were full of mortall hate and spite against our Lord. His sacred flesh was most tender and most delicate and all framed of the blood of that most pure Virgin The imaginatiue parte of Christ our Lord did perceiue euerye one of those scourges which they gaue him after a most distinct and perfect manner In other men the feeling of a deeper paine or grief doth astonish the imagination so they haue no feeling of other lesser paines and therefore it happens that some mā may haue his very skull parted and his body thrust through and yet not feele the paine by hauing his imaginatiō so much imployed and discomposed by his inward Passion and rage But in Christ our Lord it was not so for he had his imagination and the apprehension of his soule so perfectly bent vpon euery particular paine which he felt as if he had onely felt that single paine the sence and apprehension of one paine did not hinder his feeling of any other And this proceeded from the great perfection which he had in all the powers and sences both of his sacred body and soule Those scourges being so cruell and those executioners being so able and strong and his sence of the paine so perfect there was besides so great multitude of strokes and blowes which he receiued that some holy men affirme that those which were inflicted vpon him at the pillar did passe the number of fiue thousand And not onely did they scourge his backe but after they had drest that in such a fashion that there was nothing to be seen but wounds and blood they vntyed him first and then tyed him againe with his backe turned towards the pillar and scourged him the secōd time with the same cruelty vpon the belly brest face all the other parts which were discouered in such sorte as that the whole most holy body of Christ our Lord was flead and plowed ouer into such furrowes as discouered the very bones And he who had bene the most beautifull of all those men whom God euer made remained so disfigured and deformed that it was euen a horrour to behould him So saith Saint Augustine The force of those cruell scourges being renewed so many times did breake the skin and discouered the very flesh of the most blessed body of Christ our Lord. That torment of his scourging was followed by that other torment of the crowne of thornes For those Pagan soldiers to please the chiefe of the Iewes and as Saint Chrisostome saith for the interest of that money which was giuen them to the end that they might be the more cruel towards him tooke our Lord into their power who was already wounded and as it were euen all opened by those scourges and then they placed him all tremblinge with cold in the Court of Pilates house and in that publike Theatre in the sight of all that people they stript him againe of his owne cloathes and they put an old purple vest vpon him for scorne and vpon his head a crowne of thornes This act of theirs besides that it was of extreame affront as we haue already shewed was also most painful to him for the thornes whereof the crowne was wouen were extreame heard and sharpe and they enuironed his whole head and temples and they passed and penetrated them euen to the veines nerues and bones made his sacred blood streame downe ouer his face his necke and his haire The sacred head of Christ our Lord had in all that day the night before receiued innumerable blowes woundes sometimes with cudgells other times with irons sometimes with swordes other times with gauntlets and often with the fists and by this meanes it was so battered that whatsoeuer touched it caused excesse of paine being then such already and then instantly placing a crowne of thornes vpō it so cruel as this whereof wee haue spoken what excessiue paine or rather tormēt would it be sure to cause And to this it may be added that the paine and torment which the crowne of thornes caused had no intermission like those others which either were soone ended or much diminished but it still continued and lasted euen till his very death For he euer had it on and the thornes serued to nayle it to his head and if at any time they tooke it off either to cloath or strip him they instantly put it on againe And not only did these sorrowes last till his death but they encreased much For euery time when they stroke his head either with the cane or any other instrument of paine and euery time when the crowne did by chaunce stirre of it selfe that paine renewed and encreased Another principall torment which followed vpon this was to lay the Crosse vpon his backe that so he might carry it to the place where he was to be crucified This torment was extreamly grieuous for that the Crosse was very heauy and contayned as holy men obserue fifteene feet in lēgth Our Lord was all worne and wounded euen to his bowells his strength was vtterly consumed and his shoulders vpon which the waight was laid were flead And now if the onely touching of such a parte with the hand doth put a mā to great grief and paine what paine and grief would it cause to our Lord to lay so heauy a waight vpon a body so wearyed and so wounded And for as much as the Crosse was longe and would be dragging vpō the ground by meeting with stones in the way and stirring by that meanes vpon his shoulders his paine and grief would be encreased In this sorte went our Lord with great sorrow and paine all that long way from Pilates
taught that the diuells could do no hurt to the swine vnles our Lord had giuen them leaue as neither the diuell nor any other creature can doe vs any hurt at all vnlesse God giue thē power to that purpose and vnlesse he worke by meanes of the diuel or that other creature which doth vs hurt whatsoeuer it be For though God be not the cause of any fault or sinne yet is he the cause of the punishment which is brought on by reason of the sinne or fault is receiued by meanes thereof So saith Saint Athanasius Since the diuels haue not so much as power ouer swine which are but the goods of men it is cleer that they haue no power ouer men who are made according to the image of God and so wee haue no cause to feare the diuells but onely God And the same did he declare concerning the hurt which might growe to vs from any other creature that it also proceeds from the hand of God saying Matt. 10. Two sparrowes are of so little value that they are sold for a toy and yet God hath so particular care and prouidence ouer euery one of them that not one can fall dead to the ground or be taken in a snare without his disposition will And thē how much more will he take care of men and not consent that any creature should so much as touch them either in soule or body or so much as in their goods without his leaue In this māner did Christ our Lord declare that all ills of punishment proceed to vs from the hād of God He also shewed how he ordaines them all to the good of soules that is to the end that sinners may be cōuerted and iust persons saued because he desires not the death of a sinner but that he may be conuerted and liue particularly he procures this when he takes their goods from them as Saint Augustine notes saying thus When God visits his seruants with the want of thinges necessary for this life and makes them suffer hunger or thirst as he proceeded with the Apostles he failes not thereby of the promise which he made them that nothing should be wanting to them For these temporall goods are helpes and kinds of Physicke to the soule and God is the Physitian who best knowes when to minister them and when to remoue them and so when they are wanting to vs as they are many times wee must knowe that God Almighty is the cause thereof for the exercise of our vertue and for the good of our soules And speaking in particular of that which Christ our Lord did with the Gerasins in depriuing them of their goods when he gaue the diuells leaue to drowne their swine Saint Ierome saith Christ our Lord gaue thē not that liberty by way of granting their desire or to performe their will but to the end that the losse of their goods might be profitable to the owners for their soules be an occasion of their saluation And the spirituall profit which came to them hereupon as Saint Chrisostome obserues was that they might knowe the power which diuells had to doe men hurt if God did not hinder them and so they might be thankefull to him for defending them by his diuine prouidēce as also to the end that they might feare and fly from sinne by meanes whereof men grewe subiect to the power of diuells to be vexed by them in this life with temporall paines and in the next with eternall torments These are the motiues reasons which a faithfull Christian must consider to the end that he may beare the losse of temporall goods with Patience namely the exāple of Christ our Lord that it comes from the hand of God and for the good of his soule And thus the losse of temporal goods will be of greater profit to him then the encrease thereof would haue bene For that little temporall losse will be the occasion of a great spirituall gaine The Saints of God haue confessed experimented this truth Whilest the blessed Laurentius Iustinianus he who afterward was Patriarch of Venice was one day out of his Monastery the house fell on fier and that parte thereof was burnt where he kept the prouisions of food which he had laid vp for the whole yeare When the Saint came home from abroad the Religious men tould him what had past and they were afflicted by occasion of so great a losse But the Saint cōsidering how it came ordained by the prouidence of God who so deerly loues vs and who in all thinges procures the good of soules and especially of such as serue him receiued this losse with much contentment though not for the losse it selfe but because the will and ordination of Almighty God was accomplished thereby And so with a cheerfull contenance he said to his Religious What hurt is there my children in this which hath happened to vs It is no ill but good it is no losse but gaine since by meanes thereof wee shall better execute our good desires in practising pouerty and Patience It is a great benefit to the seruant of God and of much merit and value when he may distribute his goods to the poore and imploy them vpon the workes of mercy but if he chāce to loose his goods if they be stolne from him if gotten away by iniustice or lost by any other accident and if he accept of that losse with much Patience and with much contentment for the loue of God and to conforme himself with his diuine will who so ordained he ordinarily doth aduantage his soule more and it doth merit more and please God more by this course then by the other For this Act of the vertue of Patience resignation is more pure free frō selfe loue thereby a man doth more deny and mortify his owne will doth more exercise Faith and hope in God as also the loue of his and the estimation of his holy will And so wee see that our Lord hath takē away these goods by some sinister accident from many Saints which they would haue giuen away in almes to affoard them meanes of greater merit thereby and for the exercise of that rare Patience wherwith they accepted and loued their aduersity and had gust therein as proceeding from the will of God Saint Iohn the Patriarch of Alexandria a man of rare mercy towards miserable men and euen a very miracle of mercy sent from Alexandria to the Adriaticke sea thirteene ships full loaden with marchandise and thinges of value which he had raised out of the Reuenues of his Church that so they might be sold in diuers parts remote and the whole price be giuen by him to poore people in the way of almes as his custom was Now it pleased Almighty God that vpon the rising of a great tempest at Sea al the goods were cast away and the shippes returned empty to Alexādria And God did thus ordaine because he more esteemed the
in him deuotion wherewith to confesse praise follow him Vpon which wee may inferre that they were already good men and in the fauour of God and so this is prooued to be that effect of sicknesse which wee are now declaringe Namely that it disposes such as are good to receiue new giftes from God and to better them and perfect them by their growing in vertue and by making thē increase in merits both of grace and glory The blessed Euagrius Bishop of Antioch and disciple of Saint Macharius relates that going one day in company of other seruants of God to visit that most holy man Iohn a Moncke of Aegypt and a great Prophet and much reuerenced by the Emperour Theodosius as being one of the greatest Saints of that time one of those cōsorts of his fell sicke of a violent burning feauer and besought the Saint to cure him But the Saint made him answere in these words Thou desirest to driue that from thee which it imports thee for the good of thy soule to keepe For know that as bodies are washed and clensed with salt-peter and other thinges of that nature and doe so become more beautifull and more pleasing to the eye so are soules more clensed by corporall sicknesse made more beautifull and acceptable to the eyes of God Thus said this Saint And this is the effect which is produced by sicknesse in good men Namely that the soule growes thereby in purity and grace and in all those vertues whereby they are to please and serue God And let vs now cast our eyes vpō some other examples which may declare to vs how sicknesse makes men become instruments of the glory of God that so his power and goodnes may shine more in them When Christ our Lord was curing the mā who was borne blind his disciples asked him 10.9 what sinne it was which had caused blindnes in that man whether it were of him or of his parents Christ our Lord made them this answere That it was neither for his nor his parēts sinne but to the end that the workes of God might be manifested in him His meaning was that neither the actuall sinne of him nor of his parents was the cause of his being borne blinde nor was that blindnes imposed on him in punishment of any sinne which either his parents or himselfe had committed but he was borne blinde by the good will of God to the end that by giuing him sight the world might growe to see those workes which were proper to the diuinity namely the working of Miracles by his proper vertue which might testify and declare that he who wrought them was true God By these wordes did Christ our Lord discouer his vnspeakeable goodnes and liberality and most sweet prouidence which sometimes permittes small inconueniences to arriue to the body thereby to bestow great benedictions vpon the soule and to honour his seruants after an extraordinary manner making thē admirable instruments of his glory as he proceeded with this blinde man whō he made blinde to the end that deliuering him by this miracle it might grow publike that himselfe was the true God and Sauiour of the world and that as such he might be beleeued and obeyed and glorified both by that blinde mā who receiued the benefit and by all those others also who would profit by the notice thereof And so by imparting a great blessing to the soule of that blinde man by the light of faith grace which he gaue he declared the glory of his diuinity Let vs produce another example of the same nature When Lazarus was fallen sicke his sisters sent a messenger to our Lord 10.11 who said looke heer O Lord for he whom thou louest is sicke Now in that Lazarus was sicke being so good a man and so much beloued by Christ our Lord wee are taught that sicknesse is a great gift which God not onely bestowes vpon sinners for their cōuersion but also vpon iust and holy men for the bettering of their soules and for their encrease in grace and merit and therefore when God sends sicknesse it should be receiued with a right good will Saint Augustine saith he who loues God loues that which God loues and therefore it is that he loues corporall sicknesse which is the worke and gift of God O how full it is of all reason that a man who is the seruant of God should receiue that sicknesse which God sends him with a great good will and a cheerfull heart If a man being sicke God should giue him health he would receiue it very readily and with much ioy and thanksgiuing and yet certainly ought he to receiue that sicknesse wherewith God visits him with greater affection and thankesgiuing as being a most profitable gift of God This is deliuered by Saint Augustine And although it be true that for the point of not sinning through impatience it suffices to endure and beare the infirmity without desiring to be quit of it by vnlawfull meanes as wee declared before yet to gaine and merit much more therby and to obtaine greater giftes and graces from God a man as Saint Augustine faith must receiue it with much contentment and with a very affectuous manner of thankesgiuing And it is fit that wee proceed after this manner in regard that sicknesse is of much greater profit to many seruants of God then health would be and it is a great gift of God towards all giues them meanes of much spirituall good and for this reason doth God giue it to whom he loues as he did to Lazarus whom he loued much Our Lord hauing receiued this message from the two fisters said to them who brought it This sicknesse is not to death but for the glory of God and to the end that the sonne of God may be glorified by occasiō therof His meaning was that that infirmity was not to end in death because though the man were to dy yet he was not to continue dead but shortly to returne to this present life and so it was not ordained for his death but for the glory of God And the particular glory of God to which it was ordained was that the son of God might be glorified by occasiō of that sicknesse death which followed thereupon he giuing life to the dead man perfect health to him who at that time was sicke so he was knowē by meanes of that worke with faith and obediēce to be the true God and Sauiour of the world By these examples did Christ our Lord discouer to vs how the sicknesse of his seruants might turne to his glory which happens sometimes by his freeing them from their infirmities and from the dangers paines therof of by such particular and extraordinary meanes of his diuine prouidence as greatly serue to manifest the loue and care which he hath of them and inuite all such as knowe thereof to praise and loue confide in his goodnes more and more At other times
Luc. 21. of the paine and persecutions and torments and death which them selues were to suffer in their owne persons for preaching that Ghospell which they were to carry throughout the world For thus he said You shall be persecuted and vexed and brought before Iudges who in respect of mee will torment and sake your liues frō you Hauing prepared them with the notice of these miseries which were to grow vpon them he made them knowe that Patience was the remedy which they must procure to the end that by those crosses they might receiue no hurt but rather incōparable benefit And he said thus to them One haire of your heads shal not perish and in Patience you shall possesse your soules Which was as if he had said Although you may haue many enemies and powerfull opposits yet shall you be so assisted defended by Almighty God who takes most particular care of you that you shall not receiue the least hurt thereby and by the Patience which you shall haue in your tribulations wherby in expectation of celestiall benedictions you shall remaine firme and constant in my seruice to the very end you shall conserue and securely possesse the safty and spirituall life of your soules till you carry thē to the glory of heauen This is the first remedy which must be vsed for suffering the miseries of this life with Patience namly that euery mā in his owne heart reuolue and consider with attention what miseries and aduersities may happen to him in this life whether they be sicknes pouerty iniuries offered by men temptations of diuells or else troubles and difficulties in any bodies particular office or state And let him perswade himselfe that if they come vpon him they shal come ordained by Almighty God and for the good of his soule yea and that it is greatly fit for his saluation that they come vpon him For they are meanes where by Almighty God doth addresse and order his predestination And let him accept of them from that instant for that very time when they may chance to come and let him dispose him selfe with courage to receiue them willingly and with thankesgiuing when they shall be sent For a man being thus prouided and prepared will receiue and suffer them with more Patience and aduantage of his soule So saith Saint Chrysostome The aduersity which comes vpō men suddenly and vnexpected is wont to be very grieuous and much felt but that which is considered before it comes and for which wee are ready and prepared is more easily endured when it arriues Another meanes for suffering tribulatiō with Patiēce is seriously to consider and ponder the most happy successe which they haue and the conclusion which they make when they carry themselues well therein to the glory of God their owne greatest good Christ our Lord gaue this remedy to his disciples for when he tould them things which troubled thē he instantly also told them of that comfort and glory which was to follow vpon that paine When he tould them sometimes that the sonne of man was to suffer Matt. 16. and 20. and be crucified in Hierusalem he instantly also added that most glorious end of his Passion and death by saying And the third day he shall rise againe And when he said thus in the garden Mat. 26. you all shall suffer scandall this night vpon my occasion he added immediatly after But when I shall be risen from the dead I will goe to Galile before you As if he should haue said neither will I remaine in death nor shall you perish in that scandall for I will rise from the dead you being free from all danger shall follow mee And Matt. 13. Luc 21. hauing annoūced the extreme persecutiōs tribulations which they were to suffer for preaching the Ghospel he tels them withall of the admirable fruite which was to grow to them thereby namely the very preaching it selfe of the Ghospell ouer the whole earth and that it should be beleeued and receiued by all the nations of the world It would seem that from such impediments of persecution and death of the preachers themselues it might follow that they should not be able to preach the Ghospell nor perswade any body to imbrace it and yet wee see he saith that so great fruit would follow that it should be preached and receiued ouer the whole world and that all nations were to be saued by their faith in it their obedience to it This is that which wee are to consider and ponder in our tribulation namely the admirable fruite and glorious end to which we arriue thereby and in contemplation hereof wee must animate our selues to suffer not only with Patience but euē with ioy So saith the blessed Saint Marke the Ermite When you shall be vexed and shall haue receiued some temporall losse or some affront and dishonour doe not looke onely vpon the present ill but cast also your eye vpon those diuine fauours of grace and glory which hereafter you are to receiue for that ill you will certainly finde that you shall gather abundant fruit from tribulation and that he who persecutes you will proue the Author of great benedictions to you both in this life the next This also is aduised by Ecclesiasticus c. u. saying In the daies of thy prosperity remēber thy misery and in those of thy misery call thy prosperity to minde for an easy thing it is for God to giue euery one his paiment reward according to his workes in the houre of his death His meaning is this as Saint Gregory declares In the time when thou hast either temporall or spiritual prosperity remember the afflictions which may happē to thee either in body or soule that so thy prosperity may not make thee proud but that thou mayest be conserued in humility And so also in the time of thy aduersity whether it be spirituall or temporall remember the blessings of grace and diuine consolations which thou hast enioyed at other times and those also which afterward thou maiest receiue that so thou be not dismaied nor ouercome with sorrow but maiest suffer all kinde of affliction with Patience and courage By this consideration doth S. Paule animate vs to endure all the tribulations and aduersities of this life with contentment and strength of minde saying thus 1. Cor. 4. All the trouble and tribulation of this life how long soeuer it may be accounted to last doth yet passe away euē in a moment and is but light how heauy soeuer it may seem and as a meritorious cause which is grounded and rises from the grace of Christ our Lord it workes in vs an inestimable and most sublime waight of glory beyond all that which can be expressed or euen conceiued and which is not to be temporall but eternall THE XV. CHAPTER Of other meanes whereby wee are to obtaine and conserue the vertue of Patience namely to consider our sinnes and to resort to Almighty God for the