Ps 41. therefore will I remēber thee the land of Iordan Hermō the little hill Hee who behoulds himselfe and there discouers soe many abhominations is troubled at himselfe and he hath reason And not finding one houre exactly well spent in his whole life but seeing his sinnes to be many great his good deedes to be so few weake what should he doe but be troubled when he findes himselfe soe vnable to make a good accounte before soe strict a Iudge Only he must remēber Christ our lord cōsidering what he wrought in the land of Iordan vpon that little hill and bewayling his sinnes and receiuing the holy Sacraments hee must liue in obedience to the commaundemēts of God and of his Church and soe as a sonne he may hope for the inheritance of heauen He must alsoe call to minde that which was wrought by our lord in those hills of Hermon which are many in the little hill alsoe Which whether it be that of Horeb where God gaue the lawe or whether it be some other hill doth not soe much import vs who are Christians whose vnderstanding Iesus Christ hath opened towards the conceiuing of the scriptures and he vnderstands them who vnderstands Christ our Lord in them who is shutt vp therein as a graine of corne may be in an eare or as wine is in the grape And therefore the end of our law is Christ our Lord for all the lawe rests in him Cor. 10 The hills of Hermon both they which are within the land of promise and without it as also the little hill doe all signify but one hill which may iustly be said to be a little one and to be of Herman And this is Mount Caluary where our redemption was wrought by the shedding of the blood of the sonne of God Now to the end that wee may knowe how well this name may be applyed to Mount Caluary it is to be vnderstood that Hermon signifies malediction And how can Mount Caluary be better expressed then by the name of malediction since it was the place to which they carryed malefactours to be executed whome the scripture calls accursed because they were to be soe punished And because Christ our Lord saw that we were to be accursed and adiudged to euerlasting malediction hee was pleased through the immensenes of his Charitie to take our maledictions vpon himselfe I meane the punishment of our sinnes that soe his benediction might descend on vs. S. Paule expresses thus much after this manner Gal. 3. Christ was made malediction that so his benediction might be communicated to the Gentiles He was blessed and we were cursed But now the case is altered and we chaunge persons with one another He tooke the place of the accursed in being tormented vpon the Crosse which was dew to vs and wee are admitted to the freindship of God and to be his sonnes and the inheritours of the kingdome of heauen with a thowsand other benedictions which came from our Blessed lord Iesus Christ in whome they remaine for euer O wonderfull exchaunge that life should dye to the end that death may liue Benediction is accursed that soe malediction may be blessed The sound man is wounded that soe the wounded man may be cured The sonne is treated as a slaue that soe the slaue may be adopted for a sonne They most cruelly handle him who deserues all pitty and all the fauour and Regalo falls vpon that person who deserued hell In fine what shall we say They apprehend the innocent and they release the guilty The iust man payes for sinnes Innocency is cōdemned and the wicked man is iustified What did Christ our lord choose for himselfe Our afflictions and our miseries to be his recreations delights What shall wee say to such a charity as this but that we are to praise and blesse this lord day and night who hath wrought our redemption and saluation by a way which put him to soe much cost This is indeede that hill of Hermon that little hill and this soe truly as that he was esteemed by the relation of the Prophett Esay Esay 53. for the meanest amongst men And for this reason our Lord himselfe saith Ps 21 I am a worme and noe man but the dishonour of men and the abasement of the people O thou honour of men and angels and how canst thou be the dishonour of men Thou who art the aduancement of thy people and who art the glory both of heauen and earth what could make thee grow to be the abasement of thy people but onely thine owne great Charitie For thou to honour vs didst endure soe great dishonour that as wee are wont to say of some very base vnworthy man that he dishonours his whole stocke soe did they alsoe say of thee that thou dishonouredst the whole race of mankinde Bee thou Blessed without end For all the honour which all the race of mankinde possesses comes from thee and through thee Thou gauest it by the coniunction of thy selfe to them making thy selfe man and dying for men and exalting them to an equallity with Angells and euen with Seraphins if themselues will and ordeyning that the sonnes of sinnefull Adam they may become the sonnes of God and the heyres of thy Father and coheyres with thee as being thy bretheren and yet thou O Lord art called the dishonour and abasement of the people Thou didst abase thy selfe O Lord to exalt vs thou didst abase thy selfe belowe all men that thou mightest rayse vs about the Angells What shall wee render to thee O Lord for soe great fauours but onely that we must tenderly and profoundly knowe that if wee haue any thing if wee be fitt for any thing and if we be any way acceptable to almighty God it is wholly by thee And wee must yeild thee all thankes and praise for that thou being what thou art wouldest yet vouchsafe to offer thy selfe to sufferance of soe great afflictions for such wretched things as wee are Thou diminishedst thy selfe in that little hill that thou mightest exalt vs to that great hill Thou dyedst on Mount Caluary to the end that wee might liue in the mountaine of heauen And by the malediction which fell vpon thee there thou diddest purchasse and thou wilt impart to vs that happy benediction of thine Come you blessed of my father possesse the kingdome which is prepared for you They cursed thee O Lord and thou blessedst vs. Thy death giues vs life and thy affliction ease Since thou wert content to be iudged it is reason that thou alsoe be our Iudge Lett vs therefore reioyce since hee who loues vs soe much is to be our Iudge and wee will goe confidently to iudgment since the Iudge is of our owne flesh and bloud If wee know not what wee may doe for the pleasing of Almighty God lett vs looke vp to Christ our Lord and he will teach vs meekenes from that Crosse Who being
their owne vpō which they neuer looke but from farre of soe how great soeuer they be in themselues they seeme little to them From hence it proceedes that in their conuersation they are soe intractable and soe rigourous for iust after the rate of their hauing noe consideration of their one infirmities they haue noe compassion of others I neuer yet saw man who was curious in the cōsideration of himselfe who would not alsoe easily passe ouer the fault of another and whatsoeuer that man be who is seuere against another when he falls giues strong euidence whereby it is proued that he considers not his owne defects Soe that if wee desire to fly from this soe daungerous kinde of blindenes we must be sure to view reuiew what kinde of things our selues are that soe when we finde how miserable we be we may cry out for remedy to our lord Iesus Because indeede hee is Iesus that is to say a Sauiour but yet of noe other then such as know and bewaile their owne miseries and who receiue indeede if they can and in desire if they cannot the holy Sacraments of the Church that soe they may be cured and saued And although for the making vs know our selues God and his Saints haue declared many and many things to vs yet he whoe shall attentiuely behould that which he may obserue to passe within his owne hart will finde soe many things for which he must despise him selfe that with horrour he will cry out from the bottome of that Abisse and say there is noe end of my miseries Who is he that hath not erred in those things wherein he thought him selfe most sure who hath not desired searched after things as cōcerning that they were good for him which yet afterward he found to be full of preiudice Who will presume to know any thing since he hath beene deceiued innumerable tymes what thing is more blinde then a man who knowes not soe much as what he is to aske of God as S. Paule tells vs and this comes to passe Rom. 2. because we know not soe much as what is good for our selues as it happened euen to the same S. Paule Who begging of God that he would free him from a particular temptation Rom. 2. Cor. 12. conceiued that he had asked a right but it was giuen him to be vnderstood that indeede he knew not what he asked nor soe much as what was good for him And now who will put cōfidence in his ability to know euen soe much as what he should Iudge desire concerning himselfe since he whome the holy ghost inhabited did aske that which was not good for him to obtaine Certainely our ignorance must needes be very great fince we erre soe oftē in those things wherein it imports vs soe much not to erre But now though sometymes our lord should teach vs to know what is good yet who doth not see how very great our weakenes is and how we fall flat vpon our faces in those things wherein it concerned vs to stand vp right To whome hath it not occurred many tymes to propound the doeing of some good thing and yet to finde himselfe ouerthrowne and ouercome by that wherein he tooke himselfe to be most inuincible To day wee lament our sinnes with teares in our eyes and we purpose to refraine them afterward and yet euen whilst the same teares are still wett vpon our cheekes some new occasion of sinne is offered and weeping because we fell we committ that very thing for which we may haue cause to weepe againe receiuing the body of our lord Iesus-Christ with much cause of being confounded for the irreuerence which we haue committed For the tyme hauing beene but short since we harboured his pretious body in our bosomes it happens sometymes that by some sinne we driue his grace out of our soules What care is soe weake and light which chaunges soe often vpon the warning of all windes as wee Sometymes merry and sometymes sadd now deuout and then distracted now full of desire tending to heauen and then following the world and euen dropping downe to hell Now hee abhorres a thing and instantly he loues that which he abhorred He casts vp that which he had eaten because he found it charge his stomack and presently he eates it vp againe as if he had not cast it before What thing can there be with such variety of coulours in it as a man who is made after this sort what Image can they painte with soe many faces and soe many tongues as this kinde of man How truely said Iob Man neuer remaines in one and the same state Iob. 14. Iob. 7. And the reason heereof is because he is ashes or dust and his life a winde Now what a sott should hee bee who would seeke for any repose or rest betweene dust and winde I doe not thinke that there could be a more hedious thing then if we were able to discerne to how many seuerall dispositions one man is subiect in one onely day His whole life is a very masse of mutability and frailty And that which the scripture saith agrees well to him Eccl. 27. The foole is as chaungeable as the Moone But now what remedy shall wee finde heereof Certainely we can haue none better then to know our selues for Lunaticks And as in former tymes they carryed a Lunatick person to our Lord Iesus Christ that he might cure him soe lett vs goe for cure to the same lord Iesus The scripture saith that the euill spiritt tormented that man and that sometymes he cast him into the fire and sometymes into the water and the very same happens to vs. Sometymes wee fall into the fire of couetousnes of wrath of enuy at other tymes into the water of carnality of tepidity and of malice And if wee consider vpon how large accompts wee stand obliged to almighty God for the tyme past and how little amendment there is in the tyme present we will be sure to say and we may doe it with much truth The sorrowes of death haue enuironed mee the dangers of hell haue hemmed me in O danger of hell which is soe mightily to be feared And who is not hee that will not watch with a hundred thowsand eyes that he may not be put to welter in that profound Lake where hee shall eternally bewaile the temporall delight which he hath vnlawfully enioyed who will not take care of his way least otherwise he be found wādering from all happines where are the eyes of that man who sees not this where are his eares whoe heares not this where is his pallate who tastes not this It is a cleare testimony of death not to performe the actions of life Our sinnes are innumerable our frailties are great our enemies are stout crafty and many and they hate vs home That whereof wee are in question is either the gayning or loosing of God for all eternity How comes it then to
passe that in the middest of soe many dangers we can esteeme our selues secure and vnder the weight of soe many woundes we doe not feele the paine thereof why seeke we not for some remedy before the night steale vpon vs and before the gates of all succour be shutt vp against vs when those foolish virgins shall cry out Matth 25. 1. Cor. 11. and it shall be answeared thus I know you not Let vs therefore know our selues and we shall be knowne by almighty God Lett vs iudge and condemne our selues and soe we shall be absolued by almighty God Lett vs place our eyes vpon our owne faultes and soe there will be mercy enough for vs to spare Lett vs consider our owne miseries and we shall learne to haue pitty vpon those of others Eccl. 31. For as the scripture saith By that which is in thy selfe thou shalt come to know that which is in thy neighbour If I see my selfe fall sometymes by frailty I shall thinke that it may happen soe to my neighbour and as I shall be gladd to haue my fault pittied soe will I haue pittie vpon other men When my betters doe me a disfauour which I feele much I must thinke that my inferiours will be troubled after the same manner if I disfauour them If I be sadd I desire comfort and my neighbours case is the same I am troubled at an ill word which was spoken to mee and I say That I am made of flesh and not of iron this serues me for a proofe that my neighbour is alsoe made of flesh feeles the like affliction vpon the like occasion The ill coÌ„ditions of some men giue me trouble and I wish that they would mend them that soe they may not occasion mee to sinne and my neighbours desire the same of mee Wee are all made of the same mettall there is noe better rule by which I may liue with my neighbour then to marke attentiuely that which passes within my selfe since hee and I are one He who practises this point of mercy with his neighbour may safely passe on to the knowledge of Christ our Lord to be releiued by him Mat. 5. For the mercifull shall obtaine mercie But otherwise he will heare that which the scripture saith He whoe shutts his eare against the voyce of the poore Pro. 21. that man shall cry out and not bee heard All man kinde is poore nor is there any one of that race whoe is not subiect to some necessitie Lett vs consider well if we be deafe to the miseries of others for soe will God be to ours Mat. 7. Let noe man thinke that Christ our Lord will measure to vs with any other measure men as we measure to others Lett noe man thinke that he shall obtaine pardon if he afford not pardon The vntoward man shall meete with vntowardnes the troublesome man with troubles the offensiue man with iniuries and the charitable man with mercy For to sowe thornes with a man's neighbour to thinke of gathering sigges at the hands of God is wholly impossible Now because we consider not this there are very few whoe finde themselues enterteyned by almighty God with sweetenes and there are many who complaine that God forgetts to releiue their miseries and they maruaile how hee can send them such store of troubles both within and without especially since his very name is Mercifull and the shewer of mercies and since he inuites men to seeke for succour at his hands They beg they seeke and they finde noe remedy and from thence comes their complaint But if they were not deafe to that law which God published in his ghospell saying with the selfe same measure wherewith you measure to others Mat. 7. it shall be measured to you againe they would plainely see that themselues are they whoe are wanting to their neighbours and consequently are wanting to God in their persons and therefore it is that God may seeme to bee wanting to them Let them complaine in themselues in that they haue noe charity with their neighbours For God is full of Charitie for his parte but it is not reason nor will hee exercise it towards such as are wanting in it to their neighbours And if at any tyme he impart temporall blessings to such a one as is vncharitable towards others what good will those blessings doe that wicked man if withall he loose himselfe But God will not giue him any such thing as may make him indeede the better by it but vpon condition that he carry himselfe as he ought towards his neighbours Let vs therefore know our selues and lett vs be towards others as we desire they should be towards vs and soe let vs passe on towards the knowledge of God and from the Sancta to the Sancta Sanctorum And lett vs lift vp our eyes to our Lord whoe was placed vpon the Crosse for our saluation and in him wee shall discerne both more greater blessings then wee discouered miseries in our selues And if by thinking what we are we grow sadd through the consideration of our greiuous sinnes past and through the daungers which are at hand we shall be refreshed by looking vp to him when wee consider both how truly and how superaboundantly he payd that which we owe purchased that streÌ„gth for vs whereby we might subdue our enemyes It is he who secures vs but vpon coÌ„dition that wee relye on him And what O Lord shall hee feare who followes thee At what shall he tremble who loues thee Who shall be able to sett vpon that man whoe takes thee for his defence How shall the deuill be able to carry him away who is incorporated in thee Or how shall the eternall father forbeare to loue that creature whome hee perceiues to be in his soÌ„ne as the bâ—aunch is in the vine Or how shall the sonne faile to loue that man whome he perceiues to loue him Or how shall the Holy ghost forsake that creature whoe is the teÌ„ple which himself inhabits we possesse greater benefits in Christ our lord then wee are full of miseries in our selues and we haue more cause of hope when wee behould him then of distrust when we cast our eyes vpon our selues Nor is there any coÌ„fort or resting place for such a one as is discoÌ„forted in himselfe but to looke vp to this Iesus vpoÌ„ the Crosse whome God ordayned for the remedy of all such as should be wounded with the bitting of spiritual serpeÌ„ts For as anciently God commaunded that they should erect a Serpent of brasse that all such a should behould it might be cured of the wound of those corporall serpeÌ„ts so he who shall behould Christ our lord with faith lone shall liue and he on the other side who behoulds him not shall not faile to dye He who findes himself all afflicted wounded shal be refreshed if he looke vp hither as Dauid did wheÌ„ he said My soule was troubled within mee
be ouer carefull for paines must be taken but sollicitude is forbidden and for the taking of it away our lord willes vs to confide in our heauenly Father He who hath this confidence perceiues well that the busines dependes vpon God and that his diuine wisedome knowes how to addresse him and therefore a Christian man is to be perswaded that it giues noe aduantage euen to the very busines it selfe if we fall into any vnquiet kinde of anguish or euen to superfluity of thinking of it which is thus forbidden by holy scripture Ne affligas temetipsum in consilio tuo Doe not afflict thy selfe in thine owne counsell but say thus to your selfe It is God who must doe it and not I. Perhaps our lord will not haue it remedied by this meanes And if he will yet his will alsoe is that it be done with peace and with my spirituall gaine and without my losse And soe procure that your heart may euer goe in celebration of that Christian Sabaoth whereof S. Paul speaketh and then we may say to our lord Descend â—hou into my heart for it is all free for thee and it hath nothing which may distract me from hearing thee and from speaking to thee You haue reason to desire the helpe of prayers to this purpose for it is not soe easily obtained I beseech our lord who called you to his owne seruice continue you in his grace and carry you afterwardes with himselfe to eternall rest A Letter of the Authour to a Virgin who liued in Recollection Of the valew of a soule and the care wherwith it is to be kept from falling And that if it fall it must haue hope and soe rise againe I Know not with what wordes I may be able to expresse the fault which accuses mee and the punishment which I feare I looke back vpon the much time which hath passed without writing to you whilst yet you were recommended to me that soe by meanes of my care you might proceede and proffit in the seruice of our heauenly king since he was pleased to receaue you for his through that word which I preached vnto you And I in the meane time like an ill seruant of Christ our Lord haue beene negligent in negotiating this businesse which he held to be soe truly his as that it filled him full of care and soe full as to make him giue his life for the dispatch thereof And not onely haue I sinned against him but against you alsoe To him I haue beene an ill seruant and to you I haue beene an ill Father since I haue not preserued the stock nor sustained you with the food of his word his who made mee his steward to the end that in the true time â— 4 I might wisely and faithfully dispence it â—12 to euery one according to that which he should neede I am much grieued for my negligence as it becomes a guilty person and I apprehend the punishment of my fault Not that I feare soe much least our Lord should punish or scourge or afflict me for it with vexations and torments as that he may permitt your soule to receiue some disaduantage thereby For when a man hath noe knowledge of what belongs to children nor cares how he may bring them vpp it is but reason both that he see them dye and that they may alsoe continue dead in his sight that soe the greife thereof may bee a torment to him may keepe those eyes open which his carelesnes had shutt My good sister for I will presume to say that you are mine because you are the Spouse of my Lord O how happy were he who might know how it is with you that soe he might either be delighted in your good or receiue the torment of sorrow for your ill how happy were he who might know if those feruent teares of yours still continue which washed your soule in the high presence of your Spouse and which watered it with deuotion that soe it might giue fruit to the Lord thereof And if your long watches last wherein you were wont to treate in secrecy and solitude with him whom your soule loues Reflecting vpon those sorrowes which he endured for loue of you and you desiring to endure somewhat like that for the loue of him I beseech him of his mercy that you may not haue lost that holy silence of yours which was discourse with God your rich pouerty which gaue you more full satisfaction then all the wealth of this world That coÌ„tempt of your selfe which gaue you price valew in the sight of our Lord and that holy change of your life which cast them into wonder who saw you praised God in you Let it not please him that mine eares may euer heare that the seruant of Christ is other then shee vsed to bee Let it neuer come to passe that shee should liue with any other nor regard any other nor thinke of any other then onely Christ our Lord to whome shee offered her selfe Make noe exchange whereby you may bee soe deceiued as that hauing tasted of that heauenly guift hauing fed vpon the cruÌ„mes of the table of God you should now afterward come to tast the bitternes of Egypt those meate which are deuoured by meÌ„ cast of from him Who when heere they shall haue satisfied themselues with the foode of swine shall burne heereafter in the coÌ„pany of deuills Seruant of Iesus Christ how is it with you indeed tel me how it is with you I beseech Iesus you bee wel in his sight S. Paule said that euen his very life consisted in the good of his children and euen I though not with that great fire but with the little which God giues mee doe yet adueÌ„ture to say that my life consistes in that you be well in the sight of God I can take noe pleasure in this body if the soule of my daughter be dead nor shall delight haue any place in me til I may know that your Spouse whome I lodged in you doth still inhabite your hart If it be any otherwise it is I who haue made the fault I will performe the peÌ„nance but yet see that you bee not angry with him Doe not my good Sister afflict me more then already I am afflicted through mine owne fault by the loue which I carry to your soule and if you bee offended with my negligeÌ„ce be appeased by this coÌ„session which is full of shame and greife And beleiue that through the fauour of our Lord you shall wel finde that I wil mend And vpon this motiue you must forget that I haue beene an ill Father to you since vpon the same God forgets that we haue been ill sonnes ill seruaÌ„ts to him And if yet you will require further satisfactioÌ„ be your owne caruer and require of me what you will Onely retourne to the way of God if you should haue left it or els make mee know that you continue in it that so I
haue confidence in God I Haue receiued many of your letters since I saw you last And in some of them you tould mee that your soule was troubled and in others that our lord had begunne to giue you comfort Yea and I thinke you sayd in some one of them that the peace and comfort which formerly you had receiued was entirely retourned I answeared none of those letters eyther because my sinnes hindered mee from the grace of giuing you comfort or els because I knew you had sufficient confidence in mee without receiuing my answeares But now at last I receiue a letter from you whereby you tell mee that you are as much afflicted as euer if it be not rather more and you desire mee to write I am in paine through your paine and this hath moued mee to entreate that for the loue of Christ Iesus crucified you suffer not your selfe to be blinded by that darknes which superfluity of sadnes is wont to drawe ouer our soules but remember how faithfull that lord is to whom you haue offered yourselfe And that it is an vsual thing with his infinit wisdome to saue the soules of his seruants by meanes which they cannot reach to vnderstand hiding his loue from them sometimes and shewing them a countenance of some rigour and all this not because he is cruell but out of pure and perfect mercye Because he knowes that our infirmityes are better cured when wee are layd vnder the scourge of tribulation then when we are carryed vp in the hands of prosperity and comfort You tell me that desolation wherein you are seemes very bitter to you and that you cannot beare the rigour of that angry face of our lord which you say he shewes to you and that absence alsoe from him wherein you liue But I tell you my good sister that though tribulation may be of as much daunger to you as you declare yet the state of comfort is still subiect to as much Nay prosperity is much more to be feared then aduersity For in the former the soule runnes hazard to depart from God but in the latter though it suffer payne yet that very payne it selfe incites one to drawe nearer to him And if you say that the great weight of discomfort doth sometimes put the soule in daunger of sinning through impatience you say nothing but truth But yet you must knowe withall that much oftener and by assaults of greater daunger the soule is brought into daunger by the sweetnes of gust Remember the Apostle saint Paule who through the grace of him who was crucifyed did esteeme it for glory to suffer the afflictions of the Crosse Cor. 7. And though he were enuironed by warrs without and feares within yet his soule was safely kept as in a hauen most secure But soe great was the daunger which he rann by the faire and cleare weather of consolations and reuelations that if God had not permitted him to be seized vpon by the tempest both of inward and outward troubles which layd such load vpon his neck as made him stoope that great Saint might haue beene in daunger through the occasion of comfort whom soe many discomforts could not once pluck downe 1. Cor. 12 By this meanes the bitter was the cure of the sweete and the Angel of Satan was the occasion of benefit to him to whom that great communication of Almighty God might haue beene the occasion of falling if through humane frailty he had puffed vp himselfe If now this might haue happened to that vessel of election and if it were necessary for him to suffer that soe he might bee freed from the daungers of comfort how can you meruaile if God haue watered your ioy with teares if your harpe be set to sad tunes and if those sweet communications Iob 18. which you had before with Almighty God be turned into such an vnsauoury departure from him His eyes are able to discerne that which your cannot And hee knowes full well the vanity of that hart of yours which would not perhapps be able to endure the weight of diuine fauours Or els perhapps he may see that you are likely to suffer decay of health by the excesse of the sweetnes of that diuine gust which he gaue you Or else that you esteemed more of your selfe then you did of others who want these comforts Or els in fine it may haue happened for any one of many other faults which may haue taken hould of the imperfection of your hart Iere. 17. which cannot be throughly sifted by any but by that God alone who made it Yea and if you should not be in any necessity of this kind of phisick because though our lord should comfort you still yet perhapps you were not to fall into these inconueniences yet there are many other reasons why our lord may thinke fit to treate his seruants after this manner All which are grounded vpon his loue to vs though in the blind eye of flesh and bloud they may seeme to grow from disfauour You know it is a common saying He who loues thee will make thee cry And the holy scripture saith that a wound giuen by a freind is better then the treacherous kisse of an enemy And beleiue you for certaine that our lord loues you and therefore doth he treate you after this manner For it is written Heb. 12. our lord punnishes whom he loues and he corrects such a one as he receiues for his sonne And as in former times God sent most hideous Martyrdomes to his beloued seruants by the hands of base and bloudy executioners ingaging them in bitter warrs that afterward he might honour them with pretious crownes soe now when those exteriour Martyrdomes are ceased he sēdes others which bee interiour And these how soeuer they are not visible be yet as great or greater then those For then men tormented them and God gaue them comfort and by the strength of this Omnipotent God those torments were ouerwrought and maistered which were inflicted on them by weake men But now he who discomforts is our Lord who hides himselfe and the Deuils like cruell executioners doe by a thousand deuices torment the minde which is farr more sensible then the body And from that torment doth many times redound a torment euen to the very body it selfe And soe the whole man both within and without is layd vpon the discomforts of a Crosse And he sighes and grones and askes succour of our Lord. And our Lord the while makes himselfe deafe and is more hiddē from the soule then if there were seauen wals betweene him and it Yea and it doth alsoe expresly feele that our Lord hath absented himselfe from it and that not onely in the way of not doeing it any fauour Matth. 15. but rather expresly seeming to disfauour it As he proceeded with the Cananean when at the first he did but forbeare to answeare but afterward he compared her to a dog That indeed is an hower
thy body embrodered ouer with soe many stripes as that it was noe casye thing to nunber them Hee whoe beholding thee shall loue himselfe and not thee shall doe thee an extreame wrong Hee whoe seeing thee in such a plight shall flye from that which may make him like to thee and hee whoe hath but little desire to suffer for thee doth not know thee with perfect loue For hee whoe soe knowes thee doth euen dye for loue of thee when he considers that thou dyedst for him and he more desires dishonour for thy sake then hee esteemes honour then all that which the whole world which is both a deceiuer and doth deceiue can giue Away with it away let it all hould his peace in comparison of thy Crosse whatsoeuer it be in this world which florishes most and yet is soe soone withered And let worldly people be euen confounded with shame since thou soe much to thy cost hast fought ouercome by thy Crosse Yea and lett them euen alsoe be ashamed who are held for seruants of thine and yet reioyce not in that which is contrary to the world notwithstanding that thou wert soe reproached and abandoned and contradicted by this blinde world which neither doth nor yet can see that Truth which is Thy selse For my part I am resolued to hould thee fast though all other things be wanting to mee which yet in true account can neither deserue the name of all things nor indeede of any thing but of perfect misery and a meere nothing rather then I will remaine of any other colour then thou art though otherwise the world wherein I liue might be all mine For all those things which are not the thing which thou thy selfe art are rather affliction and burden then true happines but in thy being ours and our being thine consists our true ioy and riches for thou alone art all our true good I had forgotten my selfe my deere brethren in that whereof I beganne to speake and to beseech and admonish you in the name of Christ our Lord that you be not troubled nor brought to wonder at a straunge thing and not familiarly knowne by the seruants of God at these persecutions or rather the shadowes thereof which are come vpon vs. For this hath beene nothing but a tryall and examen of that lesson which we haue beene learning continually by the space of fiue or six yeares saying that we must suffer we must suffer for the loue of Christ our lord Behould wee are now at the very gates Let vs not be troubled like children whoe are not willing to repeat their lesson But comfort your selues in our Lord and in the strength of his power who loues you and whoe will defend you And though he be but one yet he can doe more then all the rest for hee is omnipotent You neede not alsoe feare that hee wants knowledge how to doe it for he can be ignorant of nothing And now consider whether it be reason that any man should be moued whoe is tyed to Almightie God with those three soe hard knotts of an infinite power an infinite wisedome and an infinite loue Let not the menaces of them who threaten you breede you any trouble For I for my part giue you to vnderstand that I vallew not all their threates at the weight of one single haire For I am noe where but in the hand of Christ our Lord and I haue great compassion of their blindenes For the ghospell of Christ our Lord which I haue preached in that towne is hidden from their eyes 2. Cor. 4. and S. Paule affirmed that the God of this world which is the deuill did blinde the soules of the Infidells to the end that the glory of the ghospell might not shine vpon them But I desire much and I cordially begg of our Lord that he will haue mercy on them and that he will heape benedictions vpon them in liew of the curses which they cast on mee and glory for the dishonour which they doe mee or to speake more truely for that which they desire to doe mee For as for mee I am fixed in this that there is noe honour for a man vpon this earth but to be dishonoured for Christ our Lord. Doe you alsoe my deere freinds after the same manner and be Disciples of him whoe gaue a kisse of peace to that person and called him freind who had sould him Matth 20. to his enemyes And vpon the Crosse he said Pardon them Father Luc. 23. for they know not what they doe Consider in all your neighbours how they are the creatures of God and that God desires their saluation and then you will take heede of wishing ill to that man to whome God desires soe much good Remember how often you haue heard from my mouth that wee must loue our enemyes and that with great repose of minde and without speaking ill of any Passe ouer this fitt of tyme for our Lord will quickly bring on another And be very well awake that you may not goe backe to reuerse any one lott of that good which you haue begunne for this would be extreamely ill done But settle this truth in your hartes that he whome you haue followed is the lord of heauen and earth and of life and death And that in fine though all the world should say nay his truth must preuaile Labour you to follow that truth and whilest you are doeing soe doe not onely forbeare to feare men but feare not deuills noe nor euen Angells if it were possible for them to be against you Be very carefull to be silent amōgst men but be sure that your hartes speake much in prayer to God from whome all our good is to come And his pleasure is that we should obtaine it and especially by meditating vpon the passion of Iesus Christ our Lord. And if you suffer any thing by the tongues of euill men for in fine you suffer nothing els take it in discharge of your sinnes and as a particular fauour of God whoe will make you cleane by the tongues of those euill men as it might be with some brush or rubber for those tongues will be fowle thereby since they vtter fowle things and your selfe will grow cleane by suffering and you will be sure of happines in the other world But in the meane tyme I will not by any meanes that you esteeme your selues for better then them whome thus you see to goe in errour Because you know not how long your selues may continue in doeing well nor they in doeing ill But worke your saluation in feare and in humility and soe hope that your selues shall gett to heauen as not to iudge with all that your neighbour is not to goe thither And soe value the fauours which God hath done to you as that withall you touch not vpon the imperfections of your neighbours For you know what happened betweene the Pharisee Luc. 18. and the Publicane by which example we
must be warned There is noe sanctity assured but in the holy feare of God wherein Eccl. 2. I would haue you euen grow old as the holy Scripture saith Soe to giue vs to vnderstand that wee must not onely feare God when first we come to his seruice but euen to the very end This feare is noe sadd or irksome kinde of thing but full of sauour and gust and it takes away all leuity and effusion of hart and it makes a man not venterous to approue his owne actiōs as good though perhapps in themselues they be well done But he leaues the iudgment both of himselfe and of all the world to Almighty God As S. Paule said I iudge not my selfe but he whoe iudges mee is our Lord. This is hee whome you must feare if you will perseuer in doeing well and if you will not haue your building fall but stand safe till it may rise and reach to the most high God But now this must be done by loue which I beseech our lord Iesus Christ to giue you Amen Pray for mee very cordially as already I beleiue you doe For I hope in God that hee will heare you and that he will giue mee to you for your seruice as in former tymes A Letter to a Lady who was growen a widow He comforts her in the death of her husband and animates her to carry her afflictions with patience I Haue deferred to write to you out of a beleefe that my letter would be of little power towards the mitigating of that great sorrow to which they said you were growen subiect And I thought I should take a better course to be vttering my selfe to our Lord who is the Lord of all comfort and to be recommending you to him then to be speaking to you by my letters But yet because they haue beene demaunded with soe great instance which serues to assure mee how much they are desired and because our lord hath power enough to doe what he lists by the meanes euen of dead letters I would not faile to doe as I was commaunded and that to which I was obliged beseeching our lord that by meanes thereof he will be pleased to breede that comfort in your hart which I desire Our Lord hath soe disposed as to haue you try what tast these afflictions haue which are gathered in this vale of teares and they not of the gentler but ruder sort Let his name be blessed his iudgments adored and his will obeyed since that which the creature owes to his Creatour is all reuerence and subiection not onely in those things which are delightfull but in those others alsoe which are most painefull Now to make try all of this obedience God is wont to teach vs in that which lyes next our harts To the end that wee may vnderstand that for soe great a lord we must be content both to doe and suffer great things Abraham carryed excessiue loue to his sonne Isaack Cenisis 22. and God was pleased to try him in that A great loue it was which Iob carryed to his seauen sonnes and yet God tooke them all away in one day And after this manner is he wont to proceede with such as he loues For by this meanes both they are made capable of testifying their loue to him and by the same hee takes occasion to doe them great fauours I know well that flesh and blood haue noe vnderstanding of this language and that they onely imploy themselues vpon feeling the greife and losse which they sustaine without caring for other things But if God be in vs we must restraine our sence and make it obedient to reason and to the will of our Lord. And though it trouble vs much yet must we not let this flesh of ours ouercome but remembring the anguish of our Lord which made him sweate dropps of bloud and say Father not my will Luc. 22. but thy will be done we are to say the same if we meane to be knowne for his disciples since he will know none for his vassalls on earth nor for his companion in heauen but the man who carryes the crosse vpon his backe Matth 10. and whoe will follow him as the sheepe his sheapheard though it should cost him his life Tell mee of what wee can iustly complaine in our afflictions since by them our sinnes grow to be discharged and our selues made to ressemble the sonne of God For what a bould irreuerēce should it be that slaues would not passe by that lawe by which their Lord did passe and that adopted sonnes should not be content to endure that which the naturall sonne endured who was more beloued by God the Father then his first begotten sonne and whoe was more loaden with variety of paines then hee Esay 53. Hee was the man of greife and be who knew by experience what belonged to affliction And if you be able to count the dropps of the sea you may alsoe perhaps count his sorrowes Will it then seeme reason to you that the sonne of God being soe in anguish and all wounded with greife euen to the death wee should passe all our liues without drinking once of vinager and gall Matth. 26. What is become of that shame which wee ought to haue if heere wee should lett him suffer alone and yet pretend to raigne with him in heauen Let all creatures be at last vnbeguiled and know that if the king of heauen did enter into his kingdome by tribulations we also must enter in by the same way There is noe other way but Iesus Christ and hee crucified whoesoeuer seekes any other will not finde it and whosoeuer walkes by any other will loose himselfe and hee will see that though it may be a kind of vnsauoury thing to suffer in this life it is worse to suffer in the next O blindenes of the sonnes of Adam whoe take noe care of the future soe that the present may passe to their contentement Not valewing that which brings in true profitt but that which giues vs gust Not looking towards reason but passion And therefore doe they lament when they ought to thinke themselues happy and they reioyce when they haue more cause to mourne What is all this present prosperity but a smoake which by little and little will be dispersed in such sort as that wee shall see nothing of it And what are all the yeares of our life but a short sleepe out of which when wee awake wee finde our selues but to haue beene abused And vpon any little trouble which arriues we are drawne to forgett our former pleasures yea and it giues vs a kinde of paine to haue enioyed them If then wee finde soe great in constancy in this why doe wee not seeke that other And since wee see every day that this is slipping out of our hands why doe wee not seeke that which lasts indeede and will make our felicity eternall If hitherto wee haue beene in blindenes let vs now