future chances and miseries which are incident to his state that he may say with Anaxagoras I knew this I foresaw that whatsoever happens is no newes to me Perhaps you will say I have lost my money which had I not done who knows whether I should not have lost my self I never posessed money but with a conceit I should lose it and would to God with it I had lost my avarice But I am poor poverty I know is no fault it behoves me therefore to take heed there be none in the poore man himself But I have lost my eie-sight a great part of innocency consists in blindnesse But I am deprived of my friend I will seek another and there where I am sure to find one the firmest and the choicest friends are in heaven there I may choose both whom and as many as I will my self But envy will oppresse me and who I pray is free from this annoiance if an unfortunate man be not whom few are wont to envy but I have lost the favour of my country I knew it alwaies to be unconstant apt to wast and vanish in a moment sooner then snow against the sun But I am cast down by sicknesse this is no wonder no prodigie for a man to besicke who must resolve to die once Armed with these and such like cogitations of future chances we are restrained from furious phrensies in adversity Carneades a Phylosopher of great wisdome and judgement was of opinion that all griefe and discontent in hard and difficult affaires proceed from this that the tempest rusheth upon us unexpected and unprovided for it So as an improvident cooke iâ— troubled at nothing more then when an unexpected company of strangers suddenly comes upon him having neither fire meat fruit hearbs nor such like necessaries in a readinesse then shall you see him run about the kitchin stamp stare and scrarch his head quarrell with all he meets stirre and scatter the fire all about throw the pots skellets and platters up and downe thunder out oathes and execrations against the guests and amidst these mad furies make ready their supper to whom he wisheth plague famine and destruction in this cholerick ruffle But much lesse would this Cooke have been shaken with this sudden tempest had he but fore-seen and provided for it before hand we may and it is in our power to mitigate such like storms by foreseeing them especially by referring them and all things else to the will and providence of God Felicitas the mother of seven children a woman highly commended by Saint Augustine being a prisoner and sharply travelling in child-bed could not with-hold her selfe from sâ—riking and crying out One of the Jaylours men hearing her cry out in that manner bitterly scoffing said O woman if thou beest not able silently to beare these pains what wilt thou do when thou shalt be burned cut mangled and torn in pieces Know what thou sufferest now is but in jest then we shall fall to plain earnest Her answer to this was most prudent and Christian like Rest satisfied my friend now I suffer onely for my selfe but then Christ will suffer in me And as she said so it came to passe for when she was afterward throwne to the wild beasts she neither shrik't nor cry'd nor so much as fetcht a sigh A man would rather have thought she had been taken out to dance with so cheerfull a countenance did she welcome death And all because thou my Lord wast her patience Just after this manner must we fight if we look to get the victory So soon as any tempest of adversitie begins to rise forthwith let us fly with all our heart to God and wholly submit our selves to his divine will yea even drench and ingulfe ourselves therein be sorry with all our hearts that we have sinned and offended him humbly beg his divine assistance and firmly purpose never to depart from him in adversity trusting in him and committing all things else to his providence This augments our patience this is that which makes us bold and fearlesse Vitruvius recounts that Aristippus when he was by the violence of the sea cast upon the Isle of Rhodes in a torn and weather-beaten ship found after he had a while curiously looked about certain Mathematicall figures drawn with a compasse upon the shore whereupon turning to his companions Be of good comfort my friends quoth he there is yet some hope for we may see here have been men Whensoever we turn our selves to God in prayer we read in him the characters of his immense power and our owne beatitude written and engraved there Let us therefore hope well and be consident even after shipwrack let neither losse of money fame nor any thing else grieve us having heaven it selfe promised us What a poore thing is it to grieve at the losse of a few farthings being to receive a kingdome why feare we to dye being to be transferred to immortality After all tempests and shipwrackes our good God will bring us to a safe and sure haven if my deare Christian brother thou doe but offer thy selfe how poore and miserable soever to his divine goodnesse The Acaronites being infested with mice made images of those creatures in gold and offered them to God and found thereby a remedy of that mischiefe The Israelites likewise stung by Serpents were cured by the brasen Serpent so it goes with us the very same weapon that inflicts the wound heales it calamity whilst it oppresseth us erects us to God-ward supposing the fault be not in our selves if we prepare our soule to temptation For God is clement and mercifull and will remit our sinnes in the day of tribulation he is the protectour of all that seeke for him in truth CHAP. VI. That all afflictions are to be suffered with conformity and resignation to the will of God THey say an Egge swimmes in brine but sinkes in sweet fresh water David King of Jerusalem amongst so many publike and privat calamities amidst the funerals and slaughters of his frâ—ends involved in so many miseries and desolations swamme alwaies as it were in most salt and brinish waters with a brave and heroiâ—ke spirit A man according to the heart of God who conformed and fashioned himselfe most exactly to his divine will and providence in all things But contrarywise his sonne Salomon was like an Egge drowned in the sweet and fresh pooles of pleasures and delights It was not for that Salomon knew not the will of God but because he conformed not himselfe unto it In our third part we have set downe five meanes by which all kindes of adversities are to be endured 1. patientently 2. cheerefully 3. constantly 4. with thankes-giving 5. with premeditation the 6. and last but the most profitable and necessary is this which followes to wit with conformation of our will to Gods And allbeit I have already treated of this conformity to the will of God in my five bookes intituled Helitropium yet
I will here in as briefe a manner as I can confirme it seeing it is so necessary for the instruction of patience but will not make any repetition of that which hath beene said before No will either of men or Angels could ever be termed good or well directed unlesse it were correspondent and conformed to the will of God And the more fully and sincerely it is resigned the more perfect and better it is And consequently the lesse absolute and resigned the will is the more unstable and unperfect The will of God alone is the square and rule of all wills both in heaven and earth There is no will praise-worthy which is not conformed to the will of God That most blessed King David often commendeth those that are of an upright heart Shew saith he thy mercy to them that know thee and thy justice to those that are upright of heart This Saint Augustine a most learned interpreter explicateth in this manner They sayth he are upright of heart who in this life follow the will of God It is the will of God thou shouldest sometimes be sicke sometimes well If when thou art in health the will of God be sweet and pleasing unto thee and if sicke harsh and distastefull thou art not upright of heart why because thou wilt not square and direct thy will to the will of God but rather seekest to pervert and wrest the will of God to thine His will is straight thine crooked Thou must rectifie thy will according to his not wrest his to thine and thus doing thou shalt have an upright heart Doe al things succeed according to thy hearts desire Blesse God who comforts thee Sufferest thou in this world Blesse God who corrects and tries thee And by this means thou shalt be upright of heart saying I will blesse God in all times for he only is thought to have an upright heart who wills alwaies that which God wills This one document in this respect goes beyond all other precepts this is the summe and principall effect of all admonitions the abstract and epitome of holy Scripture the compendium of all vertues the chiefest solace in whatsoever griefes the highest pitch of divine love the only thing that intitles the disciples of the crosse to Paradise and advanceth men to the seats of Angels This one lesson namely for man to conforme his will to Gods will is all in all and before all to be learned of all men For whosoever hath learned this alone in the Schoole of Patience may in a manner give up schoole and of a scholar become a master and teacher of others This certainly King David might by good right chalenge to himself before all others being a man so well acquainted with the will of God of which divine knowledge he gave many most remarkable proofes but then chiefly when flying from his son Absolon he willed the Priests to return with the arke and said If I shall find favour in the eies of my Lord he will bring me backe and shew it me againe and his tabernacle but if he shall say to me thou pleasest me not I am ready prepared let him do what seemeth good to himself Behold here King David who even in a flight so full of danger and difficulty put to his utmost plunges when his whole kingdome seemed to lie at stake was undaunted and so much himself that attending resolutely to the will of God alone yea and to the least signe thereof he willed only that which God willed Is it the will of God I should return It is my will also Would he not have me return I will not go backe Let my Lord do what seemes good in his own sight I am prepared Sect. II. O Christians if we could but once sufficiently apprehend this if we would but deepely imprint it in our minds the whole matter were absolutely effected calamity perhaps might touch us but from thence forward should never hurt us nor affliction oppresse us nor mortall man be able to annoy us we should stand invincible impregnable fortified only with the will of God our goods perhaps our money our health our fame might go to wracke But we should stand Cities and Kingdoms might fall to ruine But we should stand Atlas and all the world with him might fall to destruction But we should stand The heavens themselves might be dissolved But we should stand immoveable as long as this conformity of our will with Gods should stand in us This most evidently appeared in Christ at mount Olivet the day before his passion For after he had wholly resigned his will to his Fathers he forthwith made towards his enemies as an innocent lambe goes towards the butcher to be slaughtered before he made this prayer he was all appaled pusillanimous and troubled at the approach of so horrible a death but after when he had absolutely conformed his will to the will of his Father Arise quoth he come let us go and throw our selves into the armes of our enemy and receive his kisses This prompt resignation and conformity with the will of God makes a man undertake all he is thereby so strong and mighty he performs all so stout and couragious he vanquishes all enemies so invincible and inexpugnable he gets the upper hand and overcomes whatsoever hee encounters And therefore the more devoted and ready a man is to accomplish the will of God the more powerfull and able he is to do or suffer whatsoever he undertakes There is no calamity no griefe can draw other words from him then these As it hath pleased our Lord so is it come to passe so let it come to passe for from him is my patience which Saint Augustine excellently well expresseth saying what patience could ever hold out so many scandalls were it not for hope of that which as yet we see not but expect with patience My pains and griefes now approach my rest and quietnesse are likewise at hand my tribulation now assailes me and the time will come ere long I shall be clearly purged from it would you have gold bright and pure before it comes out of the gold-smiths forge content your self you shall shortly see it shine in a jewel or golden carcanet let it a Gods name passe the forge that when it is purified it may come to light In the forge there is fuell gold and fire which the gold-smith blows the coles burn in the forge the gold is purged the one is turned to ashes the other tried and refined This world is a forge or furnace wicked men are fuell just men the gold tribulation the fire and God the Gold-smith Wherefore as the Gold-smith pleaseth to dispose of me I am content my part is to suffer and his to purifie let the fuell burn till it even melt and seem to consume me when it is burnt to ashes I shall be purged and refined and why because my soul shall be subjected unto God Behold an intire and perfect concordance of the
suffer evill men to live but thou wouldest not have it so Almighty God is patient and beareth with sinners thou wouldest not tolerate them But as I said before thou willest one thing and God another Convert thy heart and direct it unto God because our Lord doth compassionate those that are infirme Hee sees in his mysticall body his Church some infirme persons who at the first apply themselves wholy to their owne will but finding the will of God to be otherwise they convert themselves and their heart to entertaine his will and to follow it Seeke not therefore to wrest and draw the wil of God to thine but contrariwise correct thine according to the will of God The will of God is a square and rule not to be altered As long as there is a straight and direct rule thou must have recourse to â—e thereby to correct thy crookednesse But what would men have It is not enough for them to have their owne will crooked they would also make the will of God crooked according to their owne heart that God might doe their will whereas they should do Gods will Thus farre Saint Augustine What shall I say O you mortalls doe you not yet conceive this doctrine of conforming your will to the will of God which the ancient fathers which the holy Scriptures so often inculcate Doe we yet run so confidently of our owne heads or stand so peremprorily upon our owne opinions that we dare repine at that which God wills or will that which God will not What we suffer God will have us suffer there is nothing more certaine then this and this he willeth for our good as a singular favour These favours saiest thou I am nothing ambitious of O thou whom I can scarcely call man but rather a beast ignorant and uncapable of what belongs to heaven looke I beseech thee how many even of the Noblity every where ambitiously seeke after labours so that they may thereby gaine riches and honours And they hold it a singular favour to obtaine that they seeke after And doest thou who art to passe through short and easie labours to the great festivall of overlasting delights in heaven stand pushing and resisting with thy refractory hornes like a wilde Bull or Stagge at bay Give â—are to a wonderfull story most certainely avowed and approved by infallible testimony which Leontius Neopolioâ— Bishop of Cyprus relateth in this manner A certain Citizen whom Leontius calleth Philochristus gave a good large summe of gold to John Patriarch of Alexandria as an almes to the poore and affirmed it was all the gold he had and therefore besought this holy father that he would be pleased to recommend to God in his prayers a son of his who was absent and upon condition he might returne safe he should thinke thiâ— gold very well bestowed But to testifie how serious his petition was he oftentimes with bended knee submissively made obeisance to the Patriarch thinking thereby he should sooner obtaine his suite This childe of his whom he so earnestly commended was his only sonne not above fifteene yeeres of age whose returne he expected in a ship from Africke The Patriarch accepted the gold and withall his suite wondring at a minde so noble and generous that could dispise and set so light so great a summe of mony Wherefore he wished him all good fortune and aâ— Leontius saith prayed much for him whilest he himselfe was present and so dismissed him Afterward he ceased not to offer up his prayers for him who had so earnestly begged them for going forthwith into the Church and laying the gold under the altar he celebrated Divine service according to his promise praied to God with all the fervour he could that he would vouchsafe to restore unto him his son and ship in saftey some thirty daies after he had thus praied this liberall citizens son died and the ship fraught with merchandise was cast away three daies after the sorrowfull news was brought that his son was dead the ship with all the merchandise lost and some few men escaped with the empty boate that belonged to the ship Consider here the extream and excessive griefe of this poor distressed father he had parted with his gold lost his son and the ship which he expected behold the reward of his piety and good disposition griefe without measure and not capable of any comfort How well might then the Kingly Prophets saying be applied to this most wofull and afflicted parent If our Lord had not succoured him his soul had even dwelt in hell The losse of such a ship one would have thought had been sufficient to have daunted his manlike spirit besides the untimely death of his son two wounds alas so deadly that the least of them might have brought him to utter desolation When this relation was made to John the Patriarch the good Prelates grief was little lesse then his whom the heavy disaster did most concerne whereupon knowing not well what to do nor whither to turn him he most earnestly besought God Almighty to yield this sorrowfull father some comfort he thought not fit to send for him overwhelmed with griefe but sent one that was discreet to say thus unto him as in his name Good Sir be not dejected do not in any wise tax God for want of mercy take courage elevate your eies to heaven and behold there everlasting joyes and delights our momentary and light tribulation works in us an eternall weight of glory whatsoever is done on earth is by the most just judgement of God nor is there any disaster or chastisment so great that redounds not to our good if we overcome it by suffering patiently God our most provident Father not only foresaw but also determined from all eternity what was most expedient for us We like silly infants not knowing what is good or bad often desire and seek after those things which are most hurtfull for us Be therefore confident in God in whose hand are thy ship and son This doubtlesse was a pious and well grounded consolation yet scarcely could these words penetrate a heart so deadly wounded wherefore all humane comfort failing the helpe of God was ready to assist For the next night John the Patriarch seemed to appeare to this afflicted citizen in his sleep and to utter these words What troubles thee my brother and why dost thou pine away thus with griefe didst thou not desire me to petition God for thy sons safe return Behold he is safe for all eternity know this for certain if he had lived and returned safe to thee he had been everlastingly damned as for thy ship know thus much hadst thou not obtained mercy by so liberall an alms she with all the passengers in her had been sunk and thy brother like wise been buried in the sea who for thy comfort yet survives Arise then and render thanks to God for that thy son is saved and thy brother restord to theo alive Philochristus
made guilty of all Admit thou be chaste and charitable to the poor yet if thou be given to wrath and envy thou puttest all out of tune and becomest guilty of all Contrariwise if thou art milde and enviest no man yet if unchaste thou marrest the musick and art guilty of all Wherefore sing unto our Lord upon the Harp upon the Harp well tuned on all the strings Such as thy life is such shall be thy prayer The other Point is In voice of Psalme He would have the naturall voâ—ce joyned with musicall instruments but if there be but one note sung out of tune the whole song runs on discords He that sets himself to prayer let him understand what he sayes True prayer ought to be attentive and serious The third On Sackbuts This instrument is not made nor fashioned without many blows and much hammering which signifies mortification It is more difficult for a man to overcome himself then the most powerfull enemy in the world The victory can never be glorious where the combat is not laborious He that severely subdueth himself both makes and playes upon the Sackbut The fourth point And voice of Cornet A small and narrow instrument but sweet and artificiall if it be winded by a skilfull Corneteer Here we are admonished to fast and give aâ—ms Therefore prayer is good together with fasting and alms That prayer is good which is accompanied with mortification Often times we praise God with musicall harmony but all in vain and without either instruments or organs we pray but chastise not our carnall concupiseences Many cozen themselves with this deceit who because they pray much and often deem themselves men of much prayer Is it so indeed my friends are you such excellent fingers I grant a voice alone is delightfull but where are your Sackbuts where your instruments where your Cornets Prayer doth well but where is your mortification These must be joyned otherwise your harmony is all in vain Sing unto our Lord but upon the Harp Christ taught us not onely to offer up our prayers but to hate our lives also at mount Olivet he commanded his Disciples not onely to pray but likewise to watch and not without some conflict to countermand their sleep Prayer and mortification are taught in the School of Patience Tell me I beseech you how many Sea-men have you seen pray after the tempest ceased the skie clear and danger of shipwrack past How many Souldiers have you seen heavily knock their brests while the eneâ—y was far from them and they sat jesting and sporting by the fire side Most men in prosperity esteem of God as we care for the heat of a stove at midsummer for a candle at mid-day for a Souldier in time of peace for a Musician when we have no mind to dance for an Architect when we are not at leisure to build or as we care for a well furnished table when our belly is full for a Lawyer when we have no suits or a Physition when we are in good health Very truly said the Italian Poet Rarae fumant foelicibus arâ—e Seldom smoak the rich mens altars Whilst we flourish and are fortunateâ— the altars are left desolate we are remisse in prayer and slack in sacrifices but when we are once frost bitten with Winter a fire is very acceptable when we are benighted a candle is most welcome when war threateneth presently we presse souldiers when we fall sick we send for the Physition when a tempest begins to rage we hold up our hands to heaven and fall to our prayers Thus by punishments we must be driven to do our duties Sect. II. THis caused the royall Prophet to say Fill their faces O Lord with ignominy and they will seek after thy Name Doubtlesse they will never seek thee before thou fill them with ignominy Confirming this he said Their infirmities were multiplied and after that they made haste When they were in tribulation they cryed to our Lord. Why cryed you not before We were not pinched with any calamity miseries therefore are the best means to make you cry out like organ pipes which are mute and speak not till the bellows be blown So the Israelites would never seck him till he slew so many of them then they returned and came unto him early in the morning Wicked Manasses would never have learned to pray had he not been cast into prison What shall I say of most holy men Moses pressed with many injuries Jacob indangered through the secret spite of his brother Sampson deluded by the Philistines To by having lost both wealth and eyes Sara after she had been grievously slandered The three Hebrew children amidst the flames Daniel in the Lions den Peter upon the sea Paul and Silas in the dungeon and a thousand others were induced and taught to pray by adversity So did Jonas in the Whales belly learn the force of obedience The Apostles seeing themselves in a ship ready to be sunk implored Divine aid The Deer when the hounds are at his heels runs speedily to the covert A large shadie tree stands the traveller most in stead when either the Sun scorcheth or a sudden shower overtaketh him So it is with us as long as our affairs succeed according to our hearts desire we use not to importune God with any importunate clamours either we pray not at all or at most after a cold maner but when the whole cry of hounds is at our heels then we mend our pace then we run to see what Sanctuary we can recover when we are heated and overcharged with miseries or washed with showers of tears then we cry out and invocate the Almighty God To this man God may well say Thou wouldst never have had recourse to me had I not as a father called thee to an account under the rod. So plain sincere was King David that he confessed as much saying When I was in tribulation I cryed out unto our Lord. King Pharaoh a man wickedly obstinate was not ashamed to say I know not the Lord neither will I dismisse Israel Without all question he had not as then felt the stripes of our Lord seeing he confessed himselfe ignorant of him but when he had tasted the sharpnesse of his scourges he was taught to speake otherwise and now more then once hee willed his people to pray unto our Lord that the haile and thunder might cease Oh Pharaoh knowest thou our Lord now Doubtlesse thou wert taught this language whether thou wouldest or no in the Schoole of Patience And albeit Pharaoh was a scholar neither docible nor hopefull yet some thing he profited under the rodde He beganne to be of another minde his words savored more of reason when he had tasted of the whip But why admire we Pharaoh The divell him himselfe speaking to Christ as unknowne said If thou beest the Sonne of God command these stones to bee made bread But heare how he changed his note after he had been scourged For
calamity have mounted to heaven Of this the ancient fathers have discoursed excellently with great prudence but above all Saint Augustine who inculcating this often into the eares of his auditours treateth most divinely thereof in many places Sect. VII AND lest any man should repine against this chastizing hand of God Saint Augustine saith That which thou sufferest for which thou lamentest is no punishment but a medicine not for thy condemnation but reformation Refuse not stripes unlesse thou settest light by thine inheritance thinke rather what place thou hast in thy fathers testament then how much his scourges paine thee whom God loveth he chastizeth and every child he receiveth he scourgeth He receives them after chastizement yet thou sayest he repells and rejects them we may see like practise of parents who now and then leave their gracelesse children to take their owne courses those of whom they have some hope they scourge and correct but whom they see altogether past hope and correction they cast off to live at their owne liberty Now what sonne soever the father permits to take his pleasure he purposeth to disinherit but the heire and hope of his house he chastizeth and punisheth Let not therefore such a sonne shew himselfe so vaine and childish as to say my father loves my brother better whom he hath left at his owne liberty I can no sooner trangresse his commandments but I am punished Rather rejoyce in afflictions because for thee he reserves the inheritance our Lord will never reject them whom he hath chosen for himselfe well may he for a time chastise them but he will never damne them eternally Choose which thou wilt a temporall chastisement or everlasting torment temporall felicity or to live and raigne eternally what is that which God threatens Everlasting punishment what doth hee promise Everlasting rest and happinesse The punishment which God inflicts on good men is temporall the scope and liberty hee gives to evill men is temporall if God therefore scourge evevery child he receiveth without doubt he never receiveth him whom hee scourgeth not If thou refuse to be scourged why desirest thou to be received He scourgeth every sonne who spared not so much as his only begotten sonne Be contented therefore to bee under the hand of thy Father and if thou beest a good sonne refuse not a fathers discipline for whom canst thou properly call a son to whom the father gives not discipline Let him not spare to punish thee so hee take not from thee his mercy let him chastise thy way wardnesse so he deprive thee not of thine inheritance If thou well remember thy fathers promises feare rather to be disinherited then punished shall a sinfull sonne scorne the whip seeing Gods only sonne scourged who never did nor could commit a sinne Every one therefore must of necessity bee scourged for his sinnes from whom notwithstanding if he be a Christianâ— the mercy of God is not estranged Assuredly if thou once become so hardned in iniquity that thou shunnest the rod and hand of him who should correct thee if thou scorn the discipline of God and withdraw thy self from his fatherly chastisement if thou wilt not endure his stripes because he punisheth thy sins it is not he that rejecteth thee but thou thy self abandonest thine inheritance for hadst thou willingly suffered thy self to be scourged thou hadst not been disinherited My mercy saith he I will not take from him neither hurt him in my truth For from him the mercy of the deliverer shall not be taken away that the truth of the punisher may not hurt him Therefore my Christian brother both opportunely and importunely it ought to be often inculcated Trouble not thy self for whatsoever miseries or perplexities thou fallest into be not dejected in minde nor discontented or apt to murmure let St. Augustine admonish thee that the scourge is a soveraigne receit and medicine against sin the scourge of God teacheth good men patience Gods punishment is but for a time he condemns not for ever No reason can be given more probable saith St. Augustine why good men for the most part suffer in this world then that it is expedient and commodious for them Wherefore absolutely I conclude Quae nocent docent CHAP. VI. Every crosse and affliction by whomsoever it be imposed comes from God THe blessed Apostle St. Andrew was an extraordinary docible Scholar in the School of Patience Never scholar went to school with so excessive desire of learning as he when he hastened to the crosse to suffer O good crosse said he long desired dearly beloved incessantly sought after and now at last according to my hearts desire happily prepared with joy and contentment I come to thee take me from amongst men and render me to my master that by thee he may receive me who dying upon thee redeemed me Saint Gregory marvels to see Saint Peter and Saint Andrew so prompt and ready to follow Christ so zealous and servent to suffer death for Christ How many afflictions saith he do we suffer With how many threats are we terrified And yet we scorn and neglect to follow him when he cals us from the love of this world we are neither by precepts diverted nor stripes reclaimed O most stupid and indocible scholars Ignorant and unperfect even in the A. B. C. of our School It is an â—xiâ—me of Aristotle He that will learn must of necessity beleeve In the School of Patience this Lesson is in a manner the first A scholar ought to beleeve None learn with delight readily or profitably unlesse they beleeve promptly What must we then beleeve Mary that all afflictions all miseries all whatsoever crosses and persecutions inflicted by this or that man upon you or any one come from God This is that we now purpose to declare to wit that God is the Author of all punishment of all affliction and evill Let no man by the way be scandalized at this speech I affirm God to be the Authour of all evill but of no sin and this we will now more largely treat of because upon this foundation the whole discipline of patience is grounded Sect. I. PEter like a stout Champion of his Lord to defend him at mount Olivet drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high Priests servant But our Lord presently said to him Put up thy sword into the scabbard The Cup which my Father hath given me wilt thou not suffer me to drink it What sayest thou here my Lord Why lâ—yest thou the fault upon thy Father This thy Cup the bitterest by far that ever was drunk did not thy Disciple Judas did not Annas and Caiphas did not Herod and Pilate mingle it These five Apothecaries made a decotion of wormwood aloes and gall the bitterest that ever was tasted this Cup was of their tempering What then might Peter say what is this my Lord that I hear from thine own mouth The Cup which my Father hath given me Mark my
lion or some such like beast hunted in the chace or baited at a stake so my God solaceth himselfe to see me no better then a beast pelted with soft flakes of snow which cannot hurt but somewhat efflict and perplex me It was the will of God and his providence that this should fall upon me let us likewise will that which God wills and rejoyce when he extends his favour towards us although he please to put upon us a sharper triall then ordinary This is true magnanimity indeed and the only way to mitigate adversity by resigning thus our wills to the will of God with a true conformity and perfect resignation without the least contradiction But to this Duke of Gandia I will ad the most renowned Princesse Lady Magdalena Neoburgica that the examples the newer they be may the more effectually move us This Princesse worthy of all praise and happy memory whom I purpose elsewhere to commend more at large was sister to Maximilian that most famous Electour and wife to William Neoburgicus the most honorable Duke of Wolfangium she died in the yeare 1628. upon the five and twenty day of September This most choice and singular Lady I say constantly exercised herselfe in all vertuous actions but above all her principall endeavour was most exactly to joyne her will with Gods will All adverse chances whereof many happened daily she cheerfully accepted from the hand of God as speciall favours she was invincible in suffering couragiously all sinister actions whatsoever for Gods sake In which Art by continuall practise she had at last so inured her minde that in the foure last years of her life wherein she happily endevoured to attaine to perfection in this vertue it was oftentimes found in a little note-boke of hers that she conformed her will with Gods more then an hundred times in a day Questionlesse to live according to the will of God is a true life indeed and death to live otherwise whereof Saint Augustine speaks most elegantly Aug. tom iosorm de verb. Apost c. rca med saying That certain Philosophers of the Epicures who lived according to the flesh and certain of the Stoicks who lived according to the soul and spirit contended with Saint Paul the Apostle who lived according to God The Epicure said My chiefest good is to injoy the flesh The Stoick Mine to enjoy my spirit and soul The Apostle said But my chiefest good is to adhere to God The Epicure erres the Stoick is deceived the Christian who adheres to God and the divine will can neither erre nor be deceived For then the soul may be said to live well when it neither liveth according to the flâ—sh nor according to it self but according to the will of God For as the soul is the life of the flesh so is God the life of the soul Sect. VIII WHy then should we not freely imbrace this one onely will of God being most assuredly the best and the holiest Why should we not rather conform our selves to it of our own accord then be drawn to it whether we will or no Why do we not so firmly and absolutely resolve to accommodate our will to his that we may do or suffer whatsoever is his holy will and pleasure Finally that man is the true scholar of patience and truly patient indeed who in all his sufferings repeats this one saying I will onely the will of God God knows what is expedient both publikely and privately for his glory and our salvation But for so much as I am ignorant of this What can I justly fear or hope for what can I more piously rejoyce or grieve for then for thy will my God and the most holy decrees thereof Let whatsoever happen let heaven and earth go together let all be turned upside down let all the world be troubled and confounded nothing happens I am well assured not so much as the least hair from my head the least sand or stone can fall from a mountain without thy providence I have no reason then to complain of any thing or any man in this world Thy will be done my God yea even my will since I have so often transformed it into thine Here let me intreat thee gentle Reader to read or if thou hast already to read over again what I have set down in my Book intituled Heliotropium especially that which I have briefly summoned up in the last Chapter of the fifth Book as likewise that which I deliver in my Aeternitatis prodroâ—o the second Chapter Sect. 28. and in the third Chapter Sect. 47. and 49. where I have carefully set forth this conformity of mans will with Gods Moreover I teach in the fift booke of my Heliotropium the third Chapter by what meanes we should in adversity elevate our mindes to God and with firme and assured confidence establish it in him all which might seem superfluous here to repeate againe But to conclude this matter in a word If you do not either apprehend this doctrine O Christians or which I feare more truely may be said you will not conceive it you doe but vainely trifle out your time in the Schoole of Patience you will alwaies fall short of him you undertake to imitate you doe nothing your profit will be none at all alwaies learning and never arriving to the knowledge of that verity you seeke to learne Conforme then to speake in plaine termes resigne I say your will to Gods will or else you shall be shut forth of this schoole as non-proficients and indocible scholars without any hope for the time But if you once possesse your selves perfectly of this document you shall be for ever happy even amongst the greatest afflictions They are the words of the eternall truth If any one be willing to performe my will let him know and understand my doctrine For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven he is my brother my sister and my mother THE EPILOGVE Or Recapitulation of all that hath beene said WHAT I have said of the conformity of mans will to the will of God especially in adversity S. Augustine most evidently confirms where he discourseth concerning the tolerating of wicked men saying Become milde therefore and patient as thou doest when thou understandest that the reason why evil men flourish is because God will have it so It is his will to spare wicked persons but those whom he purposeth to reform he reduceth to repentance the other are never reform'd nor so much as corrected He knowes well hereafter how to judge them But that man is not milde nor patient who will contradict the goodnesse of of our Lord his patience his power or the justice of the judge Who then are called the upright of heart Mary they who will that which God wills God spareth sinners thou wouldest have him destroy them Thou hast therefore a crooked heart a depraved will seeing thou wouldest one thing and God another It is Gods will to