ground our selues surely confiding in that infinit goodnes and mercy of God that he would send vs nothing neither permit the like calamities and aduersides vnles they were tending to a greater good God takes this way for to lead many to heauen who otherwise would go astray and vttedy be lost How many are there who by means of these afflictions conuert theÌ„selues with their whole hearts to God and dying with true repentance for their sinnes are saued who otherwise had been damned perpetually and so that which appeares a scourge and punishmeÌ„t is a singular benefit and inestimable mercy In the second booke of the Machabees the Author after he had recounted that horrible and cruell persecution of impious King Antiochus the abundance of blood he shed which both old men and children Matrons and young Virgins vaines contributed the pillage and profaning of the Temple with the abominations committed there by his commandement concludeth in these words Obsecro autem eos qui hÅc librum lecturi sunt 2. Mach. 22. ne abhorrescant propter aduersos casus fed reputent ea quae acciderunt non ad interitum fed ad correptionem esse generis nostri but I beseech those who are to read this booke that they abhorre not for the aduersities but that they account those things which haue happened not to be for the destruction but for the chastising of our stocke by the permission and disposure of Almighty God S. Gregory saith vnto this purpose excellent well Greg. li. 2. mor. c. 32. the horseleech draweth out and sucketh the bloud of the sicke and that which it pretends it to glut it selfe with it and if it could to draw the vaines of the sicke person dry but the intention of the Phisitian is to haue them sucke out all the corrupted blood and to restore the sicke vnto his health againe the like intention hath Almighty God in sending vs aduersities and tribulations and as he should do indiscreetly who would not suffer his corrupted blood to be drawne out of him for hauing more regard vnto that which the Horsleech pretends then to the inteÌ„tion of the Phisitian so in what so euer aduersity whether it come vnto vs by the procurement of men or els by means of any other creature we are not so much to haue regard to it as vnto God our soueraigne Phisitian seing they all serue him in the nature of Horsleeches to draw out our corrupted blood from vs and to restore vs vnto perfect health And consequently we are to belieue and know that he sends them all vnto vs for our greater vtility and good and although he had no other end in them but only as childreÌ„ to correct vs in this life that there might remaine no punishment in the other for vs to vndergoe it were no small fauour which he should do vs in it It is reported of S. Katherine of Sienna In vita S. Cathaâ— Senen p. 2. c. 4. that as shee once was much troubled because an other had giuen false testimony against her in a matter which concerned her honour our Sauiour Christ appeared vnto her houlding in his right hand a golden crowne adorned with pretious stones and in hisleft a crowne of thornes and said my beloued daughter know that thou must be crowned with either of these crownes at seuerall times therfore choose for the present that which you like the best either in this life to be crowned with this thorny crowne and haue this other pretious one reserued vntill the other life for you which neuer shall haue end or now to haue this riche and gorgious crowne and haue the wreath of thornes kept for you till you dy Vnto whom the holy Virgin answered deere Lord I haue long time since forsaken mine owne will to embrace yours and therfore now it becomes not me to choose but neuertheles if you would haue me to resolue I am minded as long as I shall remaine in life to conforme my selfe vnto your sacred passion and will embrace all tribulations for your deere loue and my consolation and hauing said this shee tooke the crowne of thornes with her owne hands out of his and with all her might crusheâ— it vpon her head so forcibly that the thornes pearced her in euery part therof in such manner as for a long time after the violent paine of her head witnessed the force with which they were driuen in THE XXIII CHAPTER Of a certaine means which will helpe vs much to receaue and support with great resignation all those aduersities which our Lord shall send vs as well in particular as in generall which is the knowledge and feeling of our sinnes IT is a common doctrine of the holy Fathers that God for the most part doth send vs afflictions and chastisements in generall for the sinnes which we haue committed it is the frequent language of the holy scripture Dan. â— 28 sequentib Induxistiomnia haec propter peecata nostra peccauimus enim inique egimus praecepta tua non audiuimus omnia ergo quae induxisti super nos vniuersa quae fecisti nobis in vero iudicio fecisti thou hast brought in all these things for our sinnes for we haue sinned and done vniustly and thy precepts we haue not heard all things therfore that thou hast brought in vpon vs and all things that thou hast done to vs thou hast done with true Iudgment And so we see that God punished his people and deliuered them ouer vnto the hands of heir enemies when they had offended him deliuered them againe when the did pennance and repented them of their sinnes returning vnto him againe and for this cause Achior Captaine and Prince of the sonnes of Amon Iudith â— 5 hauing declared to Holofernes what a particular care God had of the children of Israel how he sheltred them vnder the wings of his protection as also how he chastized them when they departed from his obedience counsailed him before he enterprized any thing against them to informe himselfe whither for the present they had offended God seing then he might assure himselfe of the victory els he had better leaue of his enterprize for he could not preuaile against them nor come of with lesse then shame and confusion seing that God did fight for his people whom no man was so mighty to withstand And the holy Doctors do particularly gather this same from those words of our Sauiour in the EuaÌ„gell vnto him who had laine eight thirty yeares by the Probaticke Poole to be cured of his infirmity Ioan. 5.14 Ecce sanus factus es iam noli peccare ne deterius tibi aliquid contingat Behould said our Sauiour after he had cured him thou art made whole herafter sinne no more least some worse thing happen vnto thee and in conformity to this it will be a good means and much helping vs in all calamities and afflictions aswell generall as particular vnto
of the bolt of death when sicknesse oppresseth him when his fits redouble is in great dread and feare seing he hath a cauterized conscience which makes him stand in dread that euery thing is messenger of death and comes to carry him downe to the eternall fire of hell But he who is not pricked with these stings of conscience receaueth comfort from it as knowing his liberty to be intended by it and that he is to depart vnto eternall rest and to a pleasure that neuer shall haue an end Let vs do then as becomes good Religious and we shall not only find no difficulty in conforming our selues vnto the will of God concerning the hower of death but also reioyce in it and beseech God with the Prophet to deliuer vs from this prison Psal 141.8 Educ de custodia animam meam lead my soule out of this prison S. Gregory on these words of holy Iob Et bestias terrae non formidabis Greg. li. 6. moral c. 6. iust is namque initium retribution is est ipsa plerumque in obitu securitas mentis saith that to haue this cheerfulnes this rest Iob. 5.21 this security of conscience in the hower of death is a beginning of the recompence of the Iust and that they begin as then to tast a drop of that delicious peace which shall afterwards like a mighty riuer ouerflow their soules and therby already relish their happines wheras on the contrary the wicked in that article begin to haue an essay of their hell and torment through those pangs and remorses which they feele as then So as it is a happy signe to desire death and to reioyce in it Climac c. 6. S. Iohn Climachus and S. Ambrose esteeme him worthy of great praise who euery day expects to dy and him to be no lesse then blessed and a Saint who euery hower wisheth for death and so we see that those holy Patriarchs of the old Testament had the same desire accompting themselues no other then Pilgrimes and strangers on the earth and to haue here no setled biding place Ad hÄ™br 11.14 Confitientes quia peregrini hospites sunt super terram as S. Paul hath hath admirably well obserued Qui hac dicunt significant se patriam inquirere and therby they gaue sufficiently to vnderstand how much they desired to be free from this banishment and this was the reason why the Royall Prophet sighed Heu mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus Psal 119.5 Woe is me that my soiourning is prolonged and if those antients Fathers expressed themselues to be all of this desire in such a time when the gates of heauen were shut and when they could not haue present accesse vnto it how much more are we to wish for it now heauen is opened and the soule pure from sinne goes directly to enioy Almighty God THE XX. CHAPTER Of some reasons and motiues which may iuduce vs holily to desire a lawfull death VNto the end that we may better and with more perfection conforme our selues vnto the will of God as well in life as death we will set downe some motiues and reasons which may induce vs to desire to dy as our better choyce the first reason which we may haue to wish for death is to decline the labours which are incident to this life seing that the wiseman saith Eccl. 30 17. Melior est mors quà m vita amara death is better then a bitter life We see worldly people for this cause often to desire to dy and beseech it of God and they may do it and not sinne in it seing that in fine the calamities of this life are so numerous and great that to auoid them it is lawfull to desire to dy One of the reasons which the Saints giue why God sends so many afflictions to man is because there should not be to straight an affiance betwixt the world and him that he might not so passionatly affect this life but that we should bestow our whole heart and loue vpon the other sighing after it Vbi non erit luctus Apoc. 21 4. neque dolor erit vlira when there shall be no plaints nor any griefe no more S. Augustin saith that our Lord hath pleased out of his infinit goodnes mercy Aug. ser 37. de saÌ„ctis qui est 1. in festo oÌ„niuÌ„ SS that this life should be but short quickly at an eÌ„d since it is so troublesom that the other which we hope for should be eternall to the end that the paine should endure but a while and the ioy and contentment for euer more S. Ambrose saith tantis malis haec vita repleta est Ambr. ser super c. 7. Iob. 10.2 vt comparatione eius mors remedium putetur esse non paena this life is replenished with so many euills as in regard therof death is accompted a remedy and not a paine as seruing to bring to end so many miseries and calamities It is true notwithstanding that worldly people do often sinne herein through their impatience with which they do receiue aducersities and in their manner of demaunding of God to dy with plaints and discontents but should they require it peaceably and with due submission saying O Lord if you shall please to take one out of these miseries that time which I haue liued sufficeth me I haue no desire for to prolonge my dayes they should commit no sinne in doing it Secondly one may desire to dy and this with more perfection that he might not see the troubles and persecutions of the Church and the continuall offences which are committed against Almighty God as we see the Prophet Elias to haue done who behoulding the persecution of Achab Iezabel how they distroyed the Altars and murthered all the Prophets of the true God and for the same cause were in pursuite of him enkindled with a zeale of the honour of God and considering himselfe not able any waies to remedy it he retired himselfe into the desert and sitting downe vnder a tree Petiuit animae suae vt moreretur ait 3. Reg. 19.4 sufficit mihi Domine tolle animam meam neque enim melior sum quà m patres mei he desired for his soule to dy and said it sufficeth me ô Lord take my soule for I am not better then my Fathers were I haue liued long enough ô Lord take me out of this life that I may not see so many euills and offences as are committed against thee And that valiant Captaine of the people of God Iudas Machabeus said Melius est nos mori in belâ—o 1. Mach. 3.39 quà m videre mala gentis nostrae Sanctorum it is better for vs to dy in warre then to see the euills of our people the Saincts and he vsed this motiue to exhort and encourage them to fight We read in the life of S Augustin August that the Vandals passing out of Spaine
being once conioyned with the will of God It is far better without comparison to liue in afflictions discomforts aridities and tentations if he shall please to haue it so then in all the delights comforts and contemplations which can possibly be if you but take from them the will of God But some one shall say if I knew that the will of God were such and that he were more pleased and delighted with it I should soone conforme my selfe and remaine well contented although it were to passe my whole life ouer so for I see sufficiently my obligatioÌ„ to desire nothing so much as the good pleasure of God and that my life is ordained vnto no other end but it seemes to me that God would be farre better pleased could I make my prayers better and had more attention and internall recollection and came with better preparation and moreouer that which not a little troubleth me is that it is by reason of my fault and negligence that I cannot entertaine my selfe in prayer if I knew for certaine that I had performed my duty and that it hapned vnto me through no fault of mine it would not grieue nor trouble me halfe so much This complaint is well set downe and there can be nothing added more vnto it seing therin is comprised and inuolued all the obiections of those who make the like complaints And so if we can but well cleere this difficulty much of our worke is done since it is the ground of an ordinary and vniuersâ—ll griefe there being no person how holy and perfect so euer he be who hath not his share somtimes in this aridity and spirituall desolation We read of S. Francis and S. Katharine of Siena thâ—se great darlings and fauorites of God that they haue not been exempted from it and S. Anthony the Abbot although otherwise he was arriued to so transcendent a degree of contemplation that whole nights seemed to passe away with him as a blast of wind and when the morning came he would complaine the sunne did rise to early this man notwithstanding I say was sometimes so haunted with the importunity of wicked thoughts as he would cry out with a loud voice to God my God I would faine be good and my thoughts will not permit me Ber. ser 54. super cantica and S. bernard hath the same complaint Exaruit cor meum coagulatum est sieut lac factum sicut terra sine aqua nec compungi ad lachrymas queo tanta est duritia cordis non sapit psalmus non legere libet non or are delectat meditationes solitas non inuenio Vbiâ—lla inebriatio Spiritus vbi mentis serenitas pax gaudium in Spiritu Sancto O Lord my heart is dried vp and coagulated like milke it is become like earth without water cannot be compunct to teares the hardnes of my heart is so great I take no pleasure in singing I haue no will to read I receaue no delight in prayer neither do I find my wonted meditations where is that inebriation of soule where that serenity of mind peace and ioy in the holy Ghost and therfore this doctrine is necessary for all and I do hope by Gods assistance likewise to satisfy euery one Let vs begin then from hence I graunt you that your faults are cause of your distraction and aridity in prayer and that you cannot settle yourself vnto it therfore it is expedieÌ„t that you know so much and say it is for your passed sinnes and present negligences and defects for which God Almighty doth punish you with the subtraction of all feruours all feeling in prayer leauing you without all recollection attention and rest because you are not worthy or rather wholly vnworthy of it Notwithstanding it followes not from hence that you should complaine of it but on the contrary you ought entirely therin to conforme your selfe vnto the will of God Shall I demonstrate this vnto you most cleerly Luc. 19.22 de ore tuo te iudico I will condemne you by the words of your owne mouth do you not acknowledge and also confesse your selfe that because of your sinnes past and present negligences and defects you deserue to be greeuously chastized by God I do assuredly I haue often merited hell and therfore no punishment can be to great for me but all whatsoeuer besides will be Gods mercy and my felicity if it be compared with what I haue deserued and I should esteeme it for a singular benefit if God would send me some punishment in this life because I should receaue it as a pledge and assurance that he hath pardoned my sinnes and reserues me not to be punished in the other life since heere he chastiseth me This is enough there is required no more I am satisfied and prouided that they be not words only spoken in the ayre let vs come vnto the issue and effect behould the punishment which God for the present sends you for your sinnes are these desolations these distractions and aridities this spirituall dereliction therfore are the beauens become like yron vnto you and the earth like brasse therfore hath God retired and shut vp himselfe from you so as you can find nothing to entertaine your selfe in prayer God will for the present chastise you with this and so remit and expiat your sinne do you not thinke that your passed sinnes and present imperfections tepidities and negligences do well deserue this punishment yes vndoubtedly and I professe that weighed with my sinnes they are but light and that they are full of Iustice and mercy of Iustice because I hauing so often shut the gate of my heart against almighty God and giuen no care vnto him when he knockt without with his holy inspirations but haue sent them coÌ„teÌ„ptibly away wherfore I do iustly merit that he should stop his eares and affoard me no answere now wheÌ„ I call vpoÌ„ him that he should not open his gate of fauour to me but shut me out this is a most iust punishment but beareth no proportioÌ„ to my offences and the frore is ful of mercy because I merit infinitly more Conforme your selfe then with the will of God in this your punishment receaue it with gratfull thanks seing he is so mercifull in chastising you doth not punish you according to your deserts Do you not say that you haue merited hell How are you so audacious then to require of God his fauours and consolatioÌ„s in prayer and to haue accesse and familiarity with him by their addresse enioying that peace and tranquillity of mind which he is not accustomed to bestow on any but his children whom he dearly loueth and tendreth or how dare you complaine when you find the contrary do you not perceaue how great this presuÌ„ption is how intollerable this pride hold your selfe content that God vouchsafeth to keepe you in his house suffereth you in his presence and acknowledge and esteeme it for a high
and hinder me from passing to an eternall one after which time the Abbot forbare to weape and prayed no more for him and so the Religious being assembled all together the B. Saint prouided of all the requisit Sacraments after he had tenderly embraced them all went sweetly to our Lord. S. Ambrose saith how the Inhabitants of Thrace Amb. de fide resur do vse to lament when Children are borne into the world and make great feast and ioy when as they dy and they deplore their births and solemnize their funeralls for this reason saith S. Ambrose and it is an excellent one because their case deserueth to be pittyed lamented who come into this miserable world so full of woe and camality and on the contrary they haue good reason to reioyce for them when they were freed from this banishment and deliuered from so many miseries and afflictions Now if they who were Heathens and were iguorant of that glory which we hope for could do thus much with how much more reason ought we to be glad to dy we I say who haue the light of faith and knowledge of those felicities which they go to enioy who dy in our Lord therfore the wiseman said with farre more reason that the day of death is better then the day of our Natiuity Ecel 7.1 Melior est dies mortis die Natiuitatis S. Hierom saith that our Sauiour when he would depart out of this world vnto his heauenly Father Hier. ep ad Ther. said to his disciples who were sorrowfull for it Ioan. 11.35 Si diligeritis me gauderetis vtique quia vado ad patrem you know not what you do for if you loued me you would certainly reioyce because I am going to my Father and on the contrary when he was about to raise Lazarus from death againe he wept he wept not saith S. Hierom because he was dead seing he was presently to be reuiued againe but he wept because he was to returne againe vnto this disasterous life he wept because one whom he so dearely loued was to haue his part againe of the woes of this miserable banishment THE XXII CHAPTER Of the conformity which we are to haue with the will of God in all afflictions and calamities in generall which he sends vnto vs. WE are not only to conforme our selues with the will of God in those afflictions and particular accidents which do happeÌ„ vnto vs but also in those generall calamities and desolations which are occasioned by famine warre sicknes death plagues and other the like which God sends vnto his Church To compreheÌ„d this the better we must suppose that although on the one side we resent the miseries and afflictions and sorrow for our neighbours misfortunes and harmes as it is reasonable we should neuertheles on the other side considering them as they are the will of God and so ordained by his iust iudgments to be the seeds of that good and profit which he knoweth resulting to his greater glory in these I say we may coÌ„forme our selues vnto his holy will in like manner as we see a Iudge coÌ„demne a malefactor vnto death who although on the one side he is not without feeling and sorrow that the man must dy out of that naturall compassion which he beareth him or perhaps because he is acquainted with him neuertheles he omits not to pronounce sentence of death against him and comaunds that it be executed because it is so necessary and conuenient for the good and welfare of the Commonwealth and although it be true that God doth not oblige vs to conforme our selues in all these things vnto his will in such manner as positiuely to desire and loue them neither requireth any more of vs then to suffer them with patience without contradicting or resisting his diuine Iustice S. Bona. sent d. 48. q. 2. alij or murmuring against the decrees therof notwithstanding the diuines and holy Saints do say that it should be a worke of farre more merit perfection and a resignation more entire and compleate for a man not only to accept and endure these things patiently but also to loue and desire them for as much as they are effects of the good pleasure and will of God so ordeined by his diuine Iustice and conferring vnto his greater glory Imitating therin the blessed Saints in heauen who conforme themselues in all accidents vnto the will of God as S. Thomas and S. Anselmus declare by this comparison S. Tho. 2.2 q. 19. ar 10. ad 1. Ansel 1. similitu c. â—3 learning vs that in heauen our will and the will of God shall in as perfect manner agree as the two eyes of a body one of which cannot looke on any thing but the other likewise fixeth its fight vpon it whence it is that although the eyes which see the thing be two notwithstanding the thing which is seene doth seem no more then one Euen so the Saints in heauen accommodat theÌ„selues vnto the will of God in euery thing as seing cleerly in all things the decrees of his Iustice and the end of his greaterglory to which they are all directed so also would it be a great perfection in vs to imitate in this particular the B. Saints in heauen by desiring that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heauen To will that which God Almighty wills for the same end and reason for which he wills it cannot choose but be precisely good Possidonius reports of S. Augusâ— Augustin in his life that he during the siege of the Citty of Bonna where he made his residence being besieged seing so great desolation slaughter which the Vandals made comforted himselfe with this sentence of the wiseman Non erit magnus magnum putans quod cadunt ligna lapides moriuntur mortales he shall neuer be great who accounts it a great wonder to see wood and stones fall and mortalls dy Now we with greater reason may comfort our selues in considering all these things proceeding from the hand of God and how euer the cause why he sends these miseries and calamities be vnknowne vnto vs yet it is not possible but they should be iust The IudgmeÌ„ts of God are profound and a bottomles abisle as the Prophet saith Psal 3.57 iudicia tua abyssus multa neither are we with our shallow and scanty vnderstandings to vndertake to sound or diue into them which would be great presumption in vs quis enim cognouit sâ—nsum Domini Ad RoÌ„ 11.34 Isa 40.30 aut quis consiliarius eius fuit who hath known the meaning of God or who hath been his counsailer It belongs only to vs to receaue them with humility and to belieue that nothing either can or doth proceed from a knowledge so infinit which is not wisely and holily designed and so designed as to haue for its end our greater good and profit On this foundation we are to