remedy thereof ANother meanes which wee must vse for the conseruing of Patience in aduersity is to consider the many sinnes which wee haue committed in this life and how iustly we deserue the aduersity which we suffer for the same and indeed all these which may possibly come vpon vs in this world and to moue our selues to compunction for the same and euen to a desire that wee may be punished for them by Almighty God with mercy in this life Christ our Lord himselfe admonished vs of this meanes in the holy Ghospel There fell a Tower neer the Poole of Siloe by the Citty of Ierusalem which killed eighteene persons Luc. 13. and againe after this some of the Galileans being in oblation of the Sacrifice of certaine beasts Pilate sent out a squadrō of soldiers who killed them and so mingled their blood with the blood of the beasts which they had sacrificed Now when they related this accident to Christ our Lord he said thus to them Doe not conceiue that those Galileans were the greatest sinners of all the Galileans in regard that this aduersity of suddene death came thus vpō them for it is not so but I say to you that if you doe not penance you all shall perish And so also doe not thinke that those eighteene men vpon whom the tower of Siloe fell were the wickedst men who d'welt in Ierusalem for it is not so but I declare to you that if you doe not penance you all shall perish By these diuine speeches Christ our Lord taught vs two thinges The one that those sad accidēts and deaths which men call disastrous doe many time come in the way of punishment for sinne but yet that God doth not alwaies punish sinners in this life with such calamities as these but he doth often either reserue thē for their punishment in the other world or els expect that they should voluntarily doe penance and so inflict some punishment vpon themselues in this life And secondly he lets vs knowe that when such afflictions and tribulations happen to others we must be sure to enter into our owne soules and to consider the sinnes which wee haue committed and how iustly wee merit all kinde of punishment for them we must conceiue in our hearts a great repentance and grief for hauing committed them in penance and satisfaction for the same we must punish and mortify our bodies with penall workes and be willing to accept whatsoeuer troubles or tribulations it may please God to send vs. A most certaine truth it is that God sends aduersity to his true and faithfull seruants who yet haue sinned in this life to the end that suffering them with Patience they may discharge and satisfy for those sinnes which they haue committed As that holy Virgin Sara confessed saying Iob. 3. Blessed be thou ô God of our fathers for that when thou art offended with vs and doest send vs troubles and afflictions it is then that thou shewest great mercy towards vs For in the time of tribulation wherby thou punishest thou pardonest the sinnes of them who inuoke thy name with a true heart Thus doth God proceed with mā by meanes of tribulation Some who are in sinne he induces by this meanes to do penance wherby they grow to be free from the offences into which they had fallen and such as are in the state of grace he occasions to exercise Patience whereby he deliuers them from those penalties which they had incurred for their former sinnes And so great care hath God to shew this mercy to this elect that he permits other men either through ignorance or malice to afflict and trouble them and by occasion and vnder the title of faults which they haue not cōmitted in the sight of God Iust as the brethren of Ioseph Exod. 1. who finding themselues to be afflicted and punished in Aegypt for the supposed offence of being spies which they had not committed came to know that indeed God sent them that punishment for the sinne which they had cōmitted in selling their brother And so they confessed it saying This punishment is iustly inflicted on vs for wee haue sinned against our brother and this trouble is come vpon vs for that sinne Saint Esrem relateth of himselfe that being a boy and going into the fields to play he hunted a calfe of another mans so hard and threw so many stones at it as that he killed it at length And walking about a moneth after through that field againe he fell out to take him rest amongst some shepheards who were looking to their flockes a parte of which flocke was wanting that night for it had bene scattered by some rauenous beasts The Lords of the flocke thought they had been theeues who did that hurt that Efrem was some Camerade of theirs They accuse him and take him for a theefe And whilest he was in prison and much afflicted an Angell appeared to him in his sleepe demaunding the cause of his being there He answered that he had been taken without any fault of his Then the Angell said I know well that thou art free from any fault in this but remember that thou madest a fault not long agoe in killing the calfe of that poore man and so thou wilt see that now thou art iustly taken made prisoner in the part of God and that his iudgments are very iust He also tould him of others who were there imprisoned for offences which indeed they had not committed but they had committed other sinnes in regard whereof God sent them that punishment which they had iustly deserued The Angell vanished Efrem speaking after with those prisoners found that to be true which the Angell had told him and they were executed for offences which they had not committed and satisfied thus for others which had been committed by them These are the iust iudgments of God whereby he gouernes the world and addresses his elect to the end of eternall happines for which he chose them And from hence wee must learne to thinke holily of God in all those tribulations and aduersities which he may send vs in this life confessing and acknowledging that he proceedes most iustly with vs because for our sinnes wee deserue those punishmēts which he sends vs yea and others which are incomparably greater And we must know confesse moreouer that herein he shewes vs an vnspeakable kinde of mercy for as much as by the light and short punishments of this life he not onely deliuers vs from those fierce paines of Purgatory but also from the eternall torments of Hell Thus did that holy Tobias proceed in the tribulations which God sent him for he receiued thē willingly for his sinnes and acknowledged that the punishment was very iust that he deserued both that a farre greater And he acknowledged that God shewed him a soueraigne kind of mercy for as much as he punished him that so he might deliuer him both from the faults and from the
great Humility and Patience which the Saint would exercise in this wracke thē the Mercy which he would haue exercised if the goods had not bene lost And so without all faile the profit which the Saint drew from thēce was admirably great he receiuing it with a good will and giuing God harty thankes for the same and humbling himselfe much by the knowledge of his sinnes in regard whereof he confessed that God had sent him that losse to clense him more perfectly from those sinnes Saint Chrisostome teaches vs this truth and confirmes it by the example of holy Iob saying thus Nor onely the doing of good but the suffering of ill obtaines a high reward in the sight of God and Iob seemes to haue profited more in vertue by the afflictions which he endured then by the good deeds which he performed For really it was not so illustrious so high an act in him whē with the wooll of his sheepe he clad the naked set his house open to the destitute that they might take parte of the goods he had as when hearing that the fier had consumed his stocke and that his house was fallen and his fortune ouerthrowen he accepted of that losse at the hands of God and thanked him for it And a greater victory did he obtaine of the enemy and he confounded him more in giuing thankes to God vpō the losse of his goods then in bestowing thē vpō poore people For certeinly it is an act of greater vertue to endure the losse of goods with a generous gratefull minde to God then to bestow almes vpō the poore Nor is it a thing to be admired for a man to giue God hearty thankes when he is in good estate when things succeed prosperously with him but vpon the arriuall of mischances and in the losse of temporall goods to giue harty thāks to God and to esteeme such contradictions for benefits is a very admirable thing and giues a very excellent testimony of great vertue This is the discourse of Saint Chrisostome Let vs therefore serue our selues of these examples and testimonies of Christ our Lord and of his Saints to make vs suffer all losse of temporall goods with Patience Let vs so much esteeme of of the spiritual health of our soules that whatsoeuer may be profitable to vs for them wee may value as a great mercy and gift of God And since the losse of tēporall goods giues vs matter and occasion for the exercise of Charity towards God by louing it because he loues it and for the exercise of Patience by enduring it and accepting it willingly because God sends it and because therby we discerne the loue which God carries towards vs and the care he hath of our saluation since he giues vs helpes and ministers vs occasions whereby wee may serue him the better and so profit more let vs esteeme of euery temporall losse for a very great benefit and mercy of God and as for such let vs thanke and praise him saying with holy Iob. chap. 1. It is God who gaue mee this temporall blessing and it is he who hath taken it away as himselfe was pleased so hath he proceeded with mee Most iust and holy was his will both in giuing it and in taking it and his holy will the blessed for euer THE VII CHAPTER Of the Patience Wherewith wee are to endure corporall infirmities and of the example which Christ our Lord hath giuen vs herein ANother euill of punishmēt and very vsuall and common in the life of man is corporall infirmities and feauers and seueral other paines torments and wounds which he suffers by reason whereof he is in great need of Patience we must fetch it also in this kinde from the example of Christ our Lord. And though our most blessed Lord had no naturall infirmities at all nor was it fit that he should haue any because these are wont to proceed from some defect of cōplexion or natural faculty of the body or from some disorder in life yet all the paines and torments of his most sacred Passion may serue for a most efficacious motiue to make vs support all kinde of those infirmities with Patience which may happen to vs in this life and particularly the paine torment of thirst which he suffered vpō the Crosse the being so forsaken abandoned as then he was For that which mē are much troubled with in their sicknesse in their sicknesse is the paine and torment which sicknesse put them to and the want of that assistance seruice which is necessary for the cure or ease at least of the infirmity al this was found extreāly in that thirst which Christ our Lord endured vpon the Crosse The thirst which Christ our Lord suffered was most vehemēt First by reason of the incomparable labours vexations which he had suffered all that day and the night before and secondly because by the hurts and wounds which they had giuen him he had shed either all or in a manner all the blood out of his veines and by the waie as he went and by the vexation and labour to which he was put he had sweat away all the humour of his sacred body which then was growen all consumed and dry And to this it must be added that from the supper of the night before and in all that day following he had not drūke so much as one drop of water Now if any one of these thinges be wont to cause great thirst as wee see in men who are wounded and haue shed much blood and in them who haue laboured and sweat much and in them also who haue not drunke of a long time before what kinde of thirst shall that haue bene which was endured by Christ our Lord Infallibly it was most extreame the torment which it caused was grieuous beyond any thing which we are able to expresse And now declaring the paine and torment which he felt thereby he said thus I thirst and the remedy and comfort which he obtained for the ease thereof was that one of the soldiers tooke a spunge and wetting it in wine which was spoyled and growen vineger and mingled with gall he tyed it to a long cane and so applied it to his sacred mouth and our Lord tooke thereof not to drinke it downe because it was not fit that he should drinke of so deadly a thing but he tooke it to haue a taste thereof he tooke as much as might serue to afflict torment his taste so to suffer the more for vs. So doth the deuout Lanspergius declare saying Our Lord vnderstanding well how bitter that drinke was which they gaue him did yet take therof through his great loue to vs not so swallow it downe but onely to afflict his tongue and taste with bitternes that so he might take torment in that parte of him from which sinne grew in vs. For Eue committed her sinne by tasting of the forbidden fruite and by
grieuous to be endured by vertuous men But that which they are to doe for suffering it with that Patience which is fit and for gathering from thence that fruite of merits which God desires is this To distinguish on the one side by the vse of reason between that which is the fault of others and the losse of soules and the offence of God and that on the other side which is their owne affliction and paine and then to be afflicted for those sinnes for asmuch as they imply the offence of God and withal to be sory for the losse which soules receiue thereby and to make instant prayer to God for them and as for the paine and torment which results thereby vpon them selues to accept it at the hands of almighty God and willingly to be content to suffer it during all that time which God shal thinke fit not to take them out of that company and conuersation of the wicked By this meanes that company of the wicked will be a diuine Purgatory to them which may clēse their soules both from sinnes and the punishments due thereunto and a way of exercising chatity and humility and patience which ar of so great worth and merit and so very acceptable in the sight of God And to animate them to suffer this punishment with this Patience they are to consider those exāples of Christ our Lord wherof wee haue spoken which are the immense and continuall tormēt which he felt in behoulding all the sinnes of mankinde and that which he felt in being carryed by the diuell to Ierusalem and to the Mount that which he receiued by his conuersation with the Iewes who continued rebellious in their infidelity and that particularly which he receiued by keeping Iudas in his company and in the Colledge of his Apostles For to this end it was that he chose that miserable creature for an Apostle as well knowing how wicked he was to be and for this after he was peruerted did he continue him in his owne company and he tolerated him to the end that by this example they might seriouslie endeauour to endure those wicked and peruerse people with Patience whom they might chaūce to haue in their neighbourhood their house their family and their society So doth Saint Augustine aduise vs saying Christ our Lord had one amongst his Apostles who was wicked and he serued himselfe well of that wickednes First by complying with that eternall ordination of God concerning his Passion and secondly to giue an example to the world of the Patience wherwith they were to endure wicked men Let vs therefore animate our felues by these exāples of Christ our God and Sauiour to suffer with a good will and a constant minde whatsoeuer troubles contradictions and crosses may grow to vs by our neighbours our domesticks and our familiar freinds Let vs consider and ponder well what Christ our Lord endured at the hands of sinners for the loue of vs and how he hath endured our very selues dissembling our sinnes when we deserued hell for committing thē bestowing benefits on vs when wee committed offences against him imparting mercies to vs when wee did him wronges cryinge out and drawing vs to him and conuerting vs by his grace when we had departed from him and were fled out of his house and were making warre against his Law This Patience of Christ our Lord wherwith as God he endures all sinners hath endured our selues and as man endured those wicked people with whom he cōuerst in this world must induce and strengthen vs much in the way of sufferance Great saith Saint Ambrose is the Patience of God in not instātlie punishing sinners but in suffering them for sometime till they may be conuerted And in another place If our Lord our God and Sauiour Iesus Christ who with one single word could haue cast his enemies into the most profound pit of hell did yet endure them with Patience why should not miserable men who are full of sinnes endure thē also with Patience whē in this life they receiue paine and trouble from other men by whose meanes they are corrected and punished by Almighty God for their sinnes This is the discourse of Saint Ambrose Let vs therefore giue this glory to God that for his loue wee may endure all euills of punishment Let vs yeeld this honour a d giue this gust to Christ our Sauiour in that to imitate him wee may haue occasion to suffer all the iniuries and contradictions of men Let vs bestow this benefit vpon our owne soules in wiping away our sinnes by exercising this vertue of Patience and let vs fill it full of comforts and merits For as Ecclesiasticus chap. 1. saith the Patient man suffers onely during a time which is limited and afterward for his hauing suffered Almighty God giues him true ioy which springes frō that grace which at the present he receiues and from that hope of glory wherewith he is to be indowed afterward THE IV. CHAPTER Of the euils of paine which Christ our Lord suffered in his Passion and of the example of Patience which he gaue vs by suffering them with so great good will THe chief examples of Patience which Christ our Lord gaue vs were of his most sacred Passion by reason of the many and various kindes of sorrowes and tormentes which he suffered therein with vnspeakeable Patience and wee will declare these torments and the Patience wherwith he suffered them for the edification of our soules and particularly that wee may learne to suffer all the miseries of this life with Patience When they apprehended our Lord he giuing them leaue to put the malice and fury of their wrathed harts in execution the torments were many and very grieuous which they gaue him with their hands and feet by cudgells and irons and other instruments which they had and vsed throughout that whole way till they came to the house of Annas For if after they had imployed vpon his person so many and most cruell kindes of torment through all that night and so much of the next day till they nailed him fast to the crosse they yet were not satisfied at all but after they had crucified him they did yet cōtinue to persecute him with their viperous tongues and after they had fetched all the blood out of his vaines together with his life they would needes open his side and fetch the blood forth from his very heart what is to be thought that they would doe in that furious onset when first they began to exercise their cruelty vpon him and to streame out their deadly poison against him which had lyen for so long time horded vp in their malitious heartes In the house of Caiphas the High Priest whē Christ our Lord had confessed who he was and when all the Iudges had condemned him as a blasphemous persō and worthy death the soldiers Ministers of iustice together with the seruāts of the Priests in whose power he was
from sinne An admirable mercy of God i◠this and a most singular testimony of his loue and of the most ardent desire which he hath of our saluation For man being forgetfull of himselfe and carelesse of his saluation and in stead of vertue louing vice not walking on towards heauen but towards hell Almighty God is pleased to visit him with sicknesse and tribulation against his will whereby he makes him enter into himselfe and to abhorre the sinne which he loued before and to forsake the way of hell wherin he was going and to pursue the way of heauen which he had left and to fly from many sinnes into which formerly he had fallen This is that mercy of God which Saint Isidorus ponders saying Almighty God seeing that many men will not reforme themselues vpon the motion and at the instance of their owne will sends them aduersities that being troubled afflicted they may be amended and so growe to loue those things which formerly they loued not And finding that some are so inclined and prompt to sinne he scourges them with infirmities of the body to the end that they may giue it ouer and he leaues them sicke because it is better for them to be broken by sicknesse and paine and so to obtaine the eternall saluation of their soules then to liue full of health and full of sinne and so to walke on towards hell This is the saying of Saint Isidorus And because sicknesse doth not produce so excellent and diuine effects in all Christians to take away their former sinnes and to hinder such as are future but onely in some who when they are sicke doe enter seriously into their owne hearts and haue contrition for their sinnes and change their liues it is therefore necessary for all men vpon obseruing that they are sicke to opē the eyes of their soule to examine their consciences well and to consider seriously of all those thinges which may giue impediment to their saluation and confessing their sinnes with sorrow giue a faithfull account of all to their ghostly Father instantly put all things in order with great diligence which concerne the amendment and reformation of their liues least otherwise that sicknesse which God did send a man with loue and mercy and to the end he might be clensed from sinne and so be saued doe not growe to serue but as a preface and beginning of those endles torments which are to be suffeby him in the next life as it will be to all them who will not profit by the sicknesses which God sends So saith the same Saint The scourge of aduersity and tribulation doth then clense the soule from sinne when the man changes his manner of life for vnles he change his life his sinnes remaine where they were So that vpon the whole matter euery scourge aduersity which God sends a man in this life is either to be as a spirituall Purgatory for his sinnes committed and of the penalty to which he is subiect for the same or els it will serue for a beginning of that other paine which he is to suffer afterward For certainly the paines and torments which are eternally to be suffred by some in the life to come are begun to be suffered some of them euen in this life The truth which this holy Doctor hath drawē out of holy scripture carries great force with it and the Holy Ghost therein doth teach vs and confirme by the example of many sinners that God did scourge them with great infirmities and because they profited not thereby they passed on from temporall paine and death to eternall And this ought to moue vs much to receiue any sicknesse as a most pretious gift of God and to giue him great thankes for it and to profit by it making a change of our life to the better to the end that being cleer both of guilt and paine we may make a short and certaine entry into eternall life And so that may be fulfilled in vs which Ecclesiasticus chap. 3 saith A great infirmity of the body makes a mās minde sober that is it cleers it from sinne and doth moderate and iustify it in all thinges THE VIII CHAPTER Of other great benefits which are drawen from corporall infirmities when they are borne with Patience BEsides this so excellent effect of clensing and freeing the soule from sinne infirmity of the body vses to produce diuers others which are very high of incomparable benefit Which dispose the soule to the end that it may receiue giftes from God that it may better and perfect it selfe more in vertue and increase in merit and that it may praise and glorify almighty God more and that a man may so become a particular instrumēt of the glory of God which shines in him either by his freeing him from that sicknesse with particular prouidence and loue or by giuing him admirable vertue and strength wherby to endure it with so great Patience that it may be seen how it is God who helpes him to endure so much and with so good a will in contemplation of eternall life Those blinde men to whom Christ our Lord gaue their sight at his entry and issue out of the Citty of lericho Luc. 18 Mat. 20. had neither seen his miracles nor heard his doctrine but had onely met with the fame of the wonderfull thinges which he did and of the mercy which he vsed towards all and thereby they grew to beleeue in him with so great faith and deuotion that before all those troopes which followed him they did with great cries confesse him to be the true Messias and the Sauiour of the world saying Iesus thou sonne of Dauid haue mercy on vs. And after when they receiued their sight they followed our Lord praising and glorifying God Many of the children of Israell and of the wise and prudent men of the people had heard the doctrine of Christ our Lord and seen his miracles with their owne eyes yet they had not embraced his faith nor had they bene moued by his works to glorify Almighty God whilest yet these blinde men by the onely fame of the workes of Christ our Lord which had come to their eares receiued his faith and glorified and confessed our Lord. And the cause thereof was in regard that the blindenes and pouerty of these men made them more capable and better disposed to consent to those diuine inspirations wherewith Christ our Lord toucht their hearts and called them to receiue the light of faith which Christ our Lord offered thē as also to the end that the fier of diuine loue might more easily inflame their soules with true deuotion and moue them to glorify the diuine Maiesty The Ghospell expresses not that Christ our Lord did pardon their sinnes or that he bad them sinne no more as he had done to other sicke persons but that he gaue them light both in body and soule to the end that they might see and beleeue
to heare his diuine word He was pleased to feed fiue thousand mē with fiue loaues of bread and before he would allow them this Regalo he made them stay till towards might when his disciples sayd Lord the houre of eating is come and gone let these troupes diuide thēselues amongst these neighbouring villages that so they may haue meanes to eate When already they had exercised their Patience by suffering hunger he vouchsaffed to shew them so great a mercy as it was to refresh them with a plentifull and sweet food whereby their bodies were sustained and he also made faith and confidence encrease in their soules So saith Saint Chrysostome Those troupes of people declared their faith by suffering hunger and expecting till the euening In this sorte doth God impart illustrious fauours to such as cōserue and exercise Patience in their aduersities and troubles to whom he is pleased to vouchsaffe particular fauours mercies he sends crosses and tribulations that so exercising Patiēce therein they may grow more capable and be more worthy of the especiall gifts and graces which he will impart So saith Saint Isidorus Then are the eyes of our Lord behoulding iust persons with greater piety and mercy when they are afflicted and persecuted by the wicked and then doth he prouide greater blessings for them and more eminent rewards of glory when once they are tried by some tribulation which they suffer with Patience Let not therefore any man cōceiue that when he is afflicted he is forgotten by Almighty God nor that he hath lost the vertue and grace he had when he is abased and persecuted by men Let him not permit the diuell to deceiue him who would faine perswade him to this errour but let him be very confident that God hath then a more particular care of him and loues him more and comunicates more gifts more singular fauours to him and that then he growes vp more in vertue augments his merits both of grace and glory Thus saith Saint Chrysostome Let vs not conceiue it to be a signe as if God did forsake or forget or esteem vs little because he sends vs aduersities or troubles but rather let vs hould it for a most certaine tokē that he hath particular care of vs and that then he is to shew vs greater mercies when he afflicts and tries vs. For if we haue committed many and very grieuous sinnes wee may free our selues from them by Patience and thanksgiuing in tribulatiō which grows from a contrite heart And supposing that we should not be liable to those many grieuous sinnes yet by suffering tribulation with a thankefull minde we shall obtaine most abundant grace at the hand of God For so good he is so liberall in doing vs good that when he sends vs any aduersity he giues vs matter to exercise more vertue that he may shew vs more mercy This is deliuered to vs by Saint Chrysostome And this so excellent and admirable effect of Patience which is exercised in tribulations Christ our Lord declared when he said Io. 15. I am the true vine For as much as concernes the nature of man which I haue taken I resemble some very fruitfull and perfect vine which yeelds most excellent fruite My celestiall father is the husband man it is he who planted this vine of my humanity and who cultiuates the same he it is who made mee man and who placed in mee the immense fullnes of grace and glory which I haue he who workes all that fruite in mee which either I doe or shall herafter yeeld Euery brāch that is euery man who being vnited to me by faith shall not yet yeeld the fruite of a good life my father will cut off from me either whilest he is to liue by letting him fall into errours whereby he will loose his faith or els when he comes to dy by despoyling him of those supernaturall giftes through which he was once vnited to mee and also of power to doe penance and so to be saued And euery branch that is to say euery true faithfull man who is vnited to mee through faith quickened by charity who shall produce the fruit of good works my father will purge by celestial doctrine and by inspirations and interiour gifts and by aduersities also and tribulations that suffering them with Patience and charity he may yeeld both faire and most abundant fruite of holy actions most pleasing to God and full of profit to soules which shall deserue most pretious gifts of grace be crowned with that most sublime reward of eternall glory THE XIIII CHAPTER Of the meanes whereby the vertue of Patience may be obtained which is that wee be watchfull to consider the fruite thereof and the examples whereby wee haue been taught it by Christ our Lord. NOt only did Christ our Lord instruct vs by his example concerning the necessity which wee haue of Patience and the effects and merits thereof but he also taught vs the meanes wherby wee are to obtaine it and of this wee are going now to speake And because wee treated thereof abundantly in another booke we will heer content our selues to declare briefly some examples whereby Christ our Lord hath instructed vs. The first meanes towardes the receiuing and suffering with Patience all the euills of punishmēt which may happen to vs in this life is that we be prepared and armed with the particular knowledge and consideration thereof It would not faile to be matter of most grieuous affliction paine to the disciples of Christ our Lord euen the greatest which they euer felt in this world that their Master must suffer such a death therfore our most blessed Lord did arme them for it long before announcing his Passion to them many times At the first he tould them of it thus in couert termes Io. 2 dissolus this Temple and I will build it againe in three dayes and Io. 3. As Moyses lifted vp the serpent in the the desere so must the sonne of man be raised up on high After this he spake of it in a more distinct and cleer manner saying once Matt. 16. I must goe to Ierusalem to suffer and dy and another time Matt. 20. Luc. 18. Behould wee ascend to Ierusalem and the sonne of man is to be deliuered ouer to the Gentiles and he is to be scorned and scourged and spit vpon and crucified In this manner did he giue them notice of his Passion a long time before that so they might be prouided and prepared to endure it and that when it should be present to them they might not be scandalized nor troubled nor dismaied thereby but might endure it with Patience So saith Saint Hierome Our Lord spake often of his Passiō to his disciples prouiding them against the temptation to the end that they might not be scandalized when the persecutiō should arriue and should see the ignominy of the Crosse He also aduertised them a long time before Matt. 23.
penalties also which he had incurred thereby so to saue him in the eÌ„d This doth he coÌ„fesse by saying thus Tob. 3. Iust art thou ô Lord and all thy iudgments are very iust for if we haue been deliuered into the hands of our enemies to be made captiues and to be destroyed and killed by theÌ„ and to become the very scorne of all nations it is because we haue sinned against thee in not keeping thy comaundments nor conuersing with a pure hart in thy presence And further confessing the great mercy wherewith God punished them for their sinnes he saith Tob. 13. Our Lord punishes vs for our sinnes and the same Lord shall saue vs for his mercies sake After this manner by the knowledge of our sinnes and of the punishment which we deserue for the same wee are to embrace all those aduersities which God may send vs in this life with much Patience yea and wee must praise and thanke him for them Another and a very efficacious meanes whereby wee must helpe our selues to suffer all tribulation with Patience is instantly to resort to Almighty God in any affliction of ours whether it be great or small beseeching him with our whole hearts that he will giue vs strength to beare it well and to conforme our selues entirely to his most holy will And although it be lawfull to desire of God that he will take the tribulation from vs so that yet wee still resigne our selues to his good pleasure that so he may doe that which shall most import our saluation yet this is not necessary but our better suite is to be that he will helpe vs to endure it and ouercome it When Saint Peter with the leaue of Christ our Lord begaÌ„ to walke vpon the water Matt. 14. and when he found that a stiffe winde was risen he grew troubled and distrustfull and began to sincke and our Lord to deliuer him out of that great danger of drowing did not cause the winde to cease as Saint Iohn Chrysostome obserues but stretched forth his hand and laid hold on him therewith and made him walke vpon the water till he brought him backe to the ship Now this must wee beg of God in our troubles namly that he will take vs by the haÌ„d and that he will vouchsaffe vs his helpe and fauour that so our afflictions may doe vs no hurt but that suffering them with Patience they may yeeld great fruite to our soules and be of much glory to Almighty God This is that which Dauid Psal 117. begged of God in his tribulations and that which he desired and begged he also obtained as himselfe affirmed saying In my tribulation I called vpon my Lord and my God and cryed out to him in the most internall part of my heart and he of his infinite mercy heard my voice from that holy temple of his which is heauen and he accepted my prayer and imparted that fauour which I desired Besides these meanes there is yet another which is very effectuall towards the obtaining of Patience and it is to ponder profoundly well how all the contradictions and punishments which happen to vs in this life be ordained by the prouideÌ„ce of God and are sent vs by his holy hand for our good And besides those other testimonies whereby wee haue proued this truth elswhere Christ our Lord declared it in his holy Ghospell saying thus Matt. 10. Feare not for all the haires of your heads are numbred The meaninge is that God hath so particular care and prouidence ouer you that he hath counted euen all the haires of your heads and knowes the number of them all and there is nothing done euen concerning any of them which he ordaines not for the good of that man who puts his confidence in him Now if Almighty God conserue the memory and care of so light and triuiall thinges as are the haires of our head which serue but for the ornament of men and which although they be cut off doe not put the parties to any paine and this so faâ—…e as that euen one of them must not be cut or lost without his pleasure how much more tender care will he take of the life and saluation of that man who puts his trust in him and of all those principall thinges which belong to him that he may conserue and cherish and ordaine them for the good of his soule and not permit that he be put to the least preiudice without his pleasure and that whatsoeuer happens to him in order to his temporall affaires may proue to the good and remedy of his soule and for the doing all that which is fit for the carrying him on to the end of eternall felicity for which he was created This is the nature of Patience whereof wee haue spoken and these are the most excellent effects and fruiâ—s thereof These are the meanes whereby it is to be obtained and these are the examples whereby wee haue been taught it by Christ our Lord. Let vs therfore procure to obtaine it and moreouer to exercise it towards the whole world complying with that which the Apostle saith thus to Timothy ep 1. c. 6. Embrace and exercise Patience diligeÌ„tly And that also which he saith to the Thessal ep 1. c. 5. be patient and suffer at the hands of all men By this most pretious vertue of Patience wee shall obtaine and conserue all the gifts of God and become superiours to all our enemies For Patience will fortify vs in the confession of our Faith against tirants giuing vs strength to endure all their torments Patience conserues the supernaturall loue of God and of our neighbour for it giues vs courage to resist all those thinges which are contrary to charity Patience conserues and giues perfection to wisedome taking away those impediments of anger and sorrow which obscure the soule Patience builds vp abstinence and temperance inabling a man to suffer hunger and thirst and to bring sensual appetites into subiection Patience defends iustice encreases humility conserues peace and purity of heart and giues perseuerance in all vertue And so it fulfilles that whereof Saint Iames chap. 1. saith that it makes the worke perfect because it giues perfection and completenes to all the vertues O blessed Patience happy are they who possesse thee For thou art the vertue which giuest perseuerance in all good things and which openest the way to heauen where wee may see with perfect charity delight with supreme loue in that infinite beauty of God and possesse for euer those giftes of glory which he hath prouided for them who continue in his seruice according to that which our Lord promised saying He who perseuers to the end shall be saued FINIS