life we did go still cancelling our passed faults without adding to them new It were a good desire but you do not only not discharge the old but continue still heaping vp new debts as long as you remaine in life wherby the account which you are to make growes euery day more heauy on your soule and so your obiection hath no force at all S. Bernard sayes excellent well Bernar. c. 2. med Cur ergo tantopore vitam istam desideramus in qua quanto amplius viuimus tanto plus peccamus quanto est vita longior tanto culpa numerosior Why do we desire this life so much in which the longer we liue the more we sinne the longer our life is the more numerous are our faults And S. Hierom writeth Hier. ep ad He. liod what is the difference do you thinke saith he betwixt him who dies yong and old no more but only this that the more aged of them doth beare the burthen of more sinnes out of the world with him then he who dyeth yong and hath more to answer and giue accompt to God Bern. de interiori domo c. 25. And so S. Bernard in this point doth take a better resolution and hath a saying of himselfe which in him was humility in vs would be but truth Vâ—uere erubesco quia parum proficio mori timeo quia non sum paratus malo tamen mori mis ricordiâ— Deime committere commendare quià benignus misericors est quà m de malà mea conuersatione alicui sâ—andalum facere I am ashamed to liue saith he because I make so litle profit I feare to dy because I am not prepared not with standing I had rather dy and commit and commend my selfe vnto the mercy of God seing he is gratious and mercifull then be the cause of scandalizing others through my euil conuersation and this is an excellent resolution M. Auila Master Auila said that whosoeuer should find himselfe but reasonably prepared ought more to wish for death then longer life by reason of the great danger in which we liue which wholly ceaseth when we come to dy Quid est mors nisi sepultura vitiorum Ambro. de bono mortis c. 4. virtutum suscitatio What is death saith S. Ambrose but a sepulcher of â—ices and a resurrection of vertues All these reasons and motiues to wish for death are passing good but that which is the most eminent in perfection of all is that which S. Paul the Apostle had to see himselfe with Christ whom he loued so teÌ„derly Ad Philip 1.23 Desiderium habens dissolui esse cum Christo ô blessed Saint what defire is this of yours why do you wish so much to be loosed from the boÌ„ds of flesh blood perhaps to auoid labour no assuredly but on the contrary Ad RoÌ„ 5.3 Gloriamur in tribulationibus your glory consists therin wherfore then to decline sinne neither is this the cause Certus sum enim quia neque mors Ad RoÌ„ 8.38 39. neque vita poterit nos separare à charitate Dei he was confirmed already in grace and knew he could not loose it and therfore in that perticular he had no cause to feare In fine what is it that makes you so much desire to dy that I may see my selfe with Iesus Christ and this purely out of loue to him Quia amore langueo CaÌ„t. 2.5 he languished with loue he sighed after his beloued and all delay seemed long vntill he might enioy his wished presence S. Bonauenture of three degrees which he makes of the loue of God placeth this the last and highest Bonau tra 6. relig c. 11.11 13. The first is to loue God aboue all other things and so to loue the things of the world as not to commit any mortall sinne for them or transgresse any of the Commandements of God this is that which our Sauiour said to that young man of the Ghospell Si vis ad vitam ingredi Math. 19 17. serua mandaâ— if you desire to enter into eternall life keepe the Commandements and this is necessary for all The second degree of loue and Charity is not only to content our selues with keeping the Commandements of God but to adde vnto them the counsells which is proper vnto Religious men who procure to do not only that which is good but also that which is better and of more perfection conformable to this passage of S. Pâ—â—l vt probetis quae sit voluntas Dei bona Ad RoÌ„ c. 2. beneplacens perfecta that you may proue what is the good and acceptable perfect wil of God The third degree of Charity saith S. Sonauenture is tanâ—o affectu ad Deum aestuare quod sine ipso quasi viuere non possis to burne with such an ardent affection and loue to God as in a nanner not to be able to liue without him And hence it is that a soule desireth so â—uch to be free and loosed from the prison of its body to be with Iesus Christ wishing its banishmeÌ„t at an end the wal of its body which seperats it from the fight of God to be disâ—olued and crumbled into dust Such as these saith he had nâ—ed of patience for to liue life being so distast full to them and death the obiect of their inflamed desire We read in the life of our B. F. S. Ignatius Lib. 5. c. 1 vitÄ™ S. P. Ignatiâ— that he desired most ardently to be deliuered from the Iaile and prison of his body and that his soule had so great a longing to see Almighty God as he neuer thought of death but his eyes were ouerflowne with teares out of pure gladnes and delicious ioy But it was moreouer obserued that he was not thus inflamed with the desire of that soueraigne good for his owne sake that he might go to rest and the ioy of that all beatifying vision but much more that he might behould that most blessed glory of the most sacred humanity of our Lord whom he did loue so desire and tenderly Like as men here on earth do vsually reioyce to see some friend whom they deerly esteem loue most cordially aduanced to some eminent dignity so did our B. Father desire to see himselfe with Iesus Christ purely for loue of him without once thinking on his owne interest and felicity which is the highest and the most perfect act of Charity which we can exercise In this manner the memory of death will not only not be bitter to vs but it will bring vs great content and delight do but ouerpasse it with your thought consider how within few dayes you shall be in heauen enioying that which neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor which could euer sinke into the thought of man and so all shall be conuerted into ioy and gladnes Who would not reioyce when the terme of banishment were out
may haue end or which others can bereaue vs of against our wills which vnles we do we shall neueâ— be at rest nor quietnes for when those things are loued saith S. Augustin which we may loose Aug. tra 24. super Ioan. whether we will or no we must necessarily remaine miserably troubled afflicted for them it is naturall vnto vs not to depart with that without griefe which we loued whilst we enioyed and the greater our loue was vnto it whilst we poâ—est it the greater is our griefe when we are bereaued of it and in confirmation of this in an other place he saith Qui vult gandere de se tristis erit If you place your contentment in such an office or such an imploiment or are too much affected to any place or the like it lies in your superiours power at pleasure to depriue you of this content and so you will neuer liue a contented life if you take delight in exteriour things or in the satisfying of your owne desire all things of this kind are subiect vnto chaunge and although they should remaine in the same state they are yet you your selfe would be altered and be displeased with that to morrow which but to day you passionatly affected Of this the Children of Israell afford vs an exaÌ„ple who when they fed vpon Manna were cloyed with it and demaunded other meat when they saw themselues at liberty began presently to loue and desire their former bondage their wishes euen in sighes did carry them backe to Egypt againe they longed for their fare of onions and garlicke to which they had been accustomed and their supplication to reâ—urne did euen proceed to importunity you will neuer find content if you place it in any of these exteriour things qui autem de Deo vult gaudere semper gaudebit quia Deus sempiternus est but he who will reioyce in God and in the performance of his holy will shall haue perpetuall cause for to reioyce since God is eternall and aboue all chaunge and mutation vis habere gaudium sempiternum saith this Saint adhaere illi qui sempiternus est would you haue a ioy and contentment which should alwaies last adheare vnto God and set your hart on him who neuer hath an end The holy Ghost doth put this difference betwixt a foolish man and one who is wise and holy Eccles 27.12 stultus sicut Luna mutatur homo sanctus in sapientia manet sicut Sol. The ignorant chaunges like the Moone which to day is in increase to morrow in the wain to day you shall see him iocant and merry to morrow sad and melaÌ„choly now in one humour presently in an other and this because he hath fastned his hart and placed his contentment in the things of the world which are still fading and euer mutable wherefore like as they say he daunceth after the musicke which they make and his chaunges are according to their inconstancy In a word he is lunaticke and like the sea dependent on the alteration of the moone but a iust and holy man remaines alwaies in one state and being like the Sunne hath no increase nor wain The true seruant of Almighty God in all his proceedings is cheerfull and content he hath placed all his felicity in God and in the accomplishment of his holy will which can neuer faile him nor any creature euer bereaue him of it It is reported of that holy Abbot called Deicola Abbas Deicol that his countenaÌ„ce was alwaies composed to smile and being demaunded the reason he answered Christum à me tollere nemo potest happen what may come whatsoeuer will there is no man can depriue me of Christ This holy man had found out perfect and true contentment since he sought it in him who could not be wanting to him nor taken away from him by any one whom if we will be happy we must imitate Ps 12.1 Basilius Exultate iusti in Domino reioyce ye iust in the Lord. S. Basil writing vpon these words obserues that the Prophet says not that you should reioyce in the abundance of your temporall goods neither in any ability learning or talent which you haue not in your health or ablenes of body not in the praise and the esteeme of men but that al your delight should be in God in the fulfilling of his blessed will for this is it alone which is sufficient to satiat and content vs all other things hauing no perfect nor true contentment in them S. Bernard in one of his sermons vpon these words of S. Peter Bernar. Mat. 19.27 ecce nos reliquimus omnia c. goes declaring of it rarely well saying anima rationalis caeteris omnibus occuparipotest repleri non potest all other things besides God may possesse the hart and soule of man but satiat them they cannot they may prouoke and set their appetits on edge but cannot satisfy nor take them downe Auarus non implebitur pecunia Like as the auaricious says the wisman hath a great thirst of gold but all which he possesseth can neuer allay nor quench it so fares it with the things of this world which can neuer satiat our soules and appetits And S. Bernard giues vs the reason do you know saith he why all the things and riches of the world can neuer satisfy you Ber. tra de dilig Deo c. 5. in fine Quta non sunt naturales cibi animae since they are not the naturall food of our soules no more then aire and wind the sustenance of our bodies and as we should laugh and hold him for a foole who being ready to die for hunger would by yawning to receaue the ayre and Cameleon-like thinke to nourish himselfe with it so says this Saint is it no lesse a folly to thinke of the reasonable soule of man which is a spirit can be satiat with these temporall and sensuall things Instari potest satiari non potest it may be puffed vp like that other with ayre but it is impossible it should be satiat with it since it is a food which hath no proportion to it giue to each on its requisit sustenance corporall food to the body and spirituall to the soule Panis namque animae iustitia est soli beati qui esuriunt illam Bern su illa verba Ecce nos reliquimus omnia quoniam illi saturabuntur the bread and naturall nourishment of the soule is Iustice and vertue and they are only happy who hunger and thirst after this Iustice because they shall be satisfied S. Augustin in his Soliloquies declaring this reason more amply Aug. c. cap 30. soliloq speaking of the reasonable soule saith Facta est capax maiestatis tuae vt à te solo nullo alio possit impleri you haue made our soules ô Lord capable of your diuine Maiesty in such manner as nothing can satisfy or fill them but your selfe When the chace or goldworke of
againe he would leaue the sicke in their infirmities and not suffer them to be cured although they euen wasted their whole substance in procuring helpe at the Phisitians hands so in like manner God sometimes restores vs to our health againe without helpe of Phisicke by only willing it at other times he sends it vs by the meanes of Phisitians and sometimes notwithstanding the consult of Doctors and applying of many soueraine remedies God will not recouer you to teach vs to confide our whole trust on him and to lodge no hope in any humaine helpe As King Ezechias did not attribute his cure vnto that lumpâ— of figs which Esay applyed to his impostume 4. Reg. 20.7 but only to Almighty God so must not we acknowledge the recouery of our health to any medecine or Phisitians but to God who cures all our infirmities Sâ—p 16.12 Etenim neque herba neque malagma sanauit â—os sed tuus Domine sermo qui sanauit omnia for neither hearbs nor plasters haue healed them but thy word ô Lord the generall cure of all neither when we are not cured are we to lay the fault on the Phisitians but acknowledge God in it whose will is to leaue vs in our sicknesse and afford vs no redresse so likewise when the Phisition is ignorant of your disease or is mistaken in his iudgment of it which is an ordinary thing euen with those who are best skil'd and practised and in the behalfe of honourable persons you are to accept of this mistake of theirs as also any negligence or fault of the Infirmarian as a thing expresly so ordeined by God and therfore by no meanes ought to say your feauer is returned vnto you againe through an others fault or want of taking heed but you must receaue all as sent vnto you from the hand of God and say it hath pleased God that my feauer should increase and that such an accident should happen to me for it is most certaine that how euer in regard of those who are to tend you and looke vnto your health a fault may be coÌ„mitted yet notwithstanding vnto God it is a premeditated thing vnto whom nothing is by chaÌ„ce or casuall Do you imagine it an accidentall thing that the Swallous flying ouer Tobies head should dunge into his eyes and depriue him of his sight assuredly it was not but done with deepe resolution and by the particular will of Almighty God to giue vs therby an exaÌ„ple of patience in him equall to that of holy Iob and so the sacred Scripture testifies hanc autem teÌ„tationem ideo permisit Dominus eueâ—ire illi Tob. 2.12 vt poster is daretur exemplum patientae â—ius sicut Sancti Iob and the Angell said vnto him afterwards Quia acceptus eras Deo necesse fâ—â—â— vt teÌ„tatio probaret te Iob. 12.13 God hath permitted this tentation for your proofe and tryall We read in the liues of the Fathers how Abbot Stephen being sicke Abbas Stephanus refert etiaÌ„ Dorot doctri 7. his coÌ„panion would needes make him a cake and thinking to bake it with good oyle he mistoke made it with lintsead oyle which is exceeding better and so gaue it him to eate Stephen hauing tasted of it eate a litle and put away the rest without saying any thing An other time he baked him an other in the same fashion and hauing brought it him when he saw he would not eate he tooke a peece of it himselfe to prouoke him vnto an appetite and tasting of it said pray Father eate the cake is very good but finding the bitternes of it and his mistake with great affliction of mind he cryed out and said I am a butcher and murtherer of men wherupon the good Father answered sonne doe not trouble nor disquiet your selfe if God had not been pleased that you should mistake the one oyle for the other it had neuer happened We likewise read of diuers other Saints who suffred with great patience and equality of mind the cures which others prescribed them for their sicknesses although they knew them wholly contrary to the nature of their disease and in this manner are we to beare the faults and negligences aswell of the Phisitian as Infirmarian and neither complaine of the one nor lay the blame vpon the other It is a circuÌ„stance in which a mans vertue is discouered and seene the best and therfore a whole house is edified by seing a sicke Religious man take all that comes with an equall countenance and with the same cheerfulnes as coÌ„ming all from the blessed hand of God and suffering himselfe to be ruled by his Superiors and the Infirmarian as if the remembrance and care of his owne selfe concearned him nothing S. Basil saith you haue trusted your Superior with your soule why therfore do you not trust your body to him you haue put your eternall wellfare into his hands why do you not aswell commit vnto him your temporall health seing our rule doth exempt vs at that time froÌ„ the solicitude of our body and coÌ„maunds it also why do we not make vse great account of a priuilege so much to our aduantage and behofe On the contrary the sicke Religious man who is too scrupulous of his health who is to exact and precise in euery thing which is administered to him and in the manner of taking it and the time and who if all things be not done as he would haue them can lightly complaine of it and murmure at it too disedifies very much all who conuerse with him Cassian says excellent well that the infirmity of the body Cassian li. de institut renuÌ„t c 7. is no waies hindering the purity of the mind but much conferring to it if men but make their vse of it as they ought but take heed saith he that the infirmity of the body doth not passe vnto the soule if any one so behaue himselfe as to make vse of the occasion of his sicknesse to do what he thinks best and is not tractable nor obedient this mans corporall sicknesse hath extended it selfe vnto his soule and the Superior will haue more to doe to prouide remedies for this spirituall disease then for his corporall A man for being sicke is not to cease and neglect to appeare and to be Religious neither to imagine that he is not obliged as then by any rule and that he is to make it his only care to looke vnto the recouery and cherishing of himselfe without once minding his spirituall progresse or looking after it Reg. 50. SuÌ„marij He who is sicke saith our B. Father in the Constitutions is to indeauour no lesse in time of his sicknesse to edify others by shewing his humility and patience then whilst he was in health S. Chrisostome on these words of the Prophet Chrisoâ—â— Psa 5.13 Domine vt sâ—uto boâ—e volunt at is tuae coronastinos â— Lord you haue crowned vs as with a sheeld
discours't at large vnto him on this subiect saying amongst many other things Behold my sonne when any thing chaunces among the heathens otherwise then they desire they become straight waies troubled but it becomes vs who know that God directs and gouernes all to be in continuall quiet and repose and vnderstaÌ„d sonne that this is so hapned for your greater good for if the disputation had been to morrow there had passed many things aboue your vnderstanding which now in the meane time I will so informe as you shall receaue both much content and profit when the day of disputation comes I will conclude with a domesticall example Lib. 2. c. 16 vitae P N. Ig. in vita P. Francisci Xauerij which is recorded in the life of our B. Father in which appear's most apparently this diuine prouidence wherof we speake and it is concerning the departure of S. Xauerius towards the east Indies The meanes by which he came to be designed for that expedition are most worthy of consideration Our B. F. S. Ignatius designed for that mission F. Simon Rodriguez F. Nicholas Bobadilla F. Simon as that time was much crazed with a Quartane Ague yet notwithstanding without delay he embark't himselfe for Portugall F. Bobadilla was aduertised by letter that he should leaue Calabria and repare presently to Rome he came but so weakned with the Iourney and those extreeme wants which he had suffered vpon the way and withall so ill disposed in one of his leggs that it was necessary he should remaine sometime vnder cure after his arriuall to Rome and Don Petro Mascaregna's hast calling away for Portugall S. Ignatius of necessity was to take a new resolution the Embassadour still vrging for an other Father and substitute by happy aduenture S. Xauerius in Bobadilla's place It might seem that by reason F. Bobadilla was named for that Iourney and not S. Xauerius and that he was only because of the Embassadours necessity of departure substituted into the others place that his designement for that expeditioÌ„ was by meer hazard thought vpon but there was no chauÌ„ce in it but only the particular prouidence of God which had determined to make him the glorious Apostle of those Easterne parts moreouer when they were arriued in Portugaell the Portugezi considering the great profit which they did entred vpon a resolution to detaine them both there neither could they be so wholly drawne from it as not to keepe the one whilst the other should be suffered to goe on his voyage to the Indies Looke here how things seeme to goe by chaunce neuertheles vnto God there is nothing casuall in the end the expedition to the Indies fell vnto S. Xauerius lot because the will of God had so disposed of it as a thing the most conferring to his glory and the saluation of so many soules Let men proiect and designe things as they please and take that way to effect them as they fancy best but God will make vse of those meanes which they inuent to put his owne ends in execution and order all as shall be most expedient and to his greater glory Besides these examples and others the like which the holy scripture affords vs and which we daily see and experience aswell in our selues as others it is requisit that we proceed by the way of prayer and consideration to confirme and imprint in our hearts this happy coÌ„fidence Neither are we to impose an end vnto this exercise vntill we sensibly perceaue in our hearts this familiar and filiall confidence in God And be assured that the greater this your confidence shall be wherby you cast your selfe as it were into the armes of God the more and greater shal your security be and on the contrary you shall neuer arriue vnto true peace and quietnes of mind vntill you haue attained this filiall coÌ„fidence seeing that without it there is no thing so slighâ— and little which hath not force to dismay and trouble you Let vs therfore resolue to cast and commit our selues with all speed into the hands of God and to place our assuraÌ„ce in him following that counsell of the Apostle S. Peter Omnem solicitudinem vestram proijcientes in eum 1. Petâ—i 5.7 Psal 54.23 quoniam ipsi eura est de vobis casting all your solicitude in him because he hath care of you and the Prophet says Iacta super Dommum curam tuam ipse te enutriet cast all the care of your selfe vpon God and he will nourish you O blesled Lord you haue tendred me so much as to deliuer ouer your selfe for my sake without any reseruation into the hands of those cruell tormenters for to do with thee whatsoeuer their strangly ingenious malice could inueÌ„t Iesum vero tradidâ— voluntaâ—â— eorum Luâ—â— 23. â—â— what wonder is it then if I do put and resigne my selfe intirely into those not cruell but deare charitable hand of thine for to do with me whatfoeuer thou shalt please when I am most certaine that thou wilt do nothing but what may be best and most conuenient for me Let vs become iointpartners in that contract which our Blessed Sauiour made with S. Catherine of Siena Our Lord at sundry times indeared this Saint vnto him with most sweet priuacy inriching her noble soule with many high graces and fauours among the rest one and a most particular one was that one day appearing vnto her he said filia cogita tu de me ego cogitabo continenter de te my daughter do thou thinke of me and I will haue perpetuall thought of thee O blessed accord ô happy exchaunge ô rich gaine of our soules This bargaine God is ready to make with euery on of vs do but lay aside the thought of your selfe and the solicitude of things and the more you shall forget your selfe to thinke and confide in God the greater charge and care shall God Almighty haue of you Who is there who would not with all his soule accept a condition so delicious and auailable as the Spouse in the Canticles glories to haue made with her beloued CaÌ„t. 7.10 Ego dilecto meo 〈◊〉 ad me conuersio eius I to my beloued and his regard is to me THE XII CHAPTER How great profit and perfection it is to apply prayer vnto this exercise of the conformity with the will of God and how we are so long to descend vnto particulars vntil we arriue vnto the third degree of the said conformity IOhn Rusbrock a very learned spirituall man Rusbroc in â—â—ne operum suorum writs of a certaine Virgin who in rendring an accouÌ„t of her prayer vnto her Ghostly Father a great seruant of Almighty God and a man of high contemplation with earnest desire to be instructed by him told him that her exercise in her prayer was on the life and passion of our Sauiour Christ and the profit which she reaped from thence was the knowledge of her selfe and of her
attained vnto this purity and simplicity but are yet of proud and hauty minds but a childish thing or an idle action and they would demaund of him how he could indure to be so imployed by obedience and euen I my selfe saith this Saint did question him and desire to know what motions he felt within his heart whilst he was performing this and the blessed man answered him I am as content and glad when I haue executed this as if I had done the most high and important thing as they could haue commaunded me and S. Hierom sayes that this answere did so liuely touch him that from that time forwards he began to lead the life of a Religious Monke This is to be a Religious man indeed and to lead an answerable life vnto their state not to regard what the exterior action is but to make the will of God our pleasure delight which we performe in doing of that acte and such as they are those who profit and go sensibly forwards in vertue and perfection so as euen to make it their liues sustenaÌ„ce to do the will of God wherewith they are nourished as with the very fatnes of the corne Et â—dipe frumenti satiat te But some one perhaps will say for my part I see well enough that it is a thing of great perfection to doe the will of God in euery thing and that in euery office in which they do imploy me I may performe his holy will but neuerthelesse I would willingly be applied set to more important things and be executing the will of God in such functions as those and this is to be wanting euen in the first principall seing that really it is nothing els then to desire that God should do your will and not to indeauour to accomplish â—is I am not to prescribe any law to God neither to seeke to bring him to consent vnto that which seemes best to me and is most to my desire but I ought to follow that which God Almighty shall ordaine and thinke the best and accommodate my selfe to that which he desires concerning me S. Augustin saith excellent well Optimus minister tuus est qui non magis intuetur hoc à te audire quod ipse voluerit sed potius hoc velle quod à te audurit he is thy best seruant ô Lord who doth not looke to haue thee commaund him that which he desires but who rather desires that which thou shalt commaund and the holy Abbot Nylus said Non ores vt fiant quae fieri velis sed potius or a sicut orare didicâ—sti vt fâ—at voluntas Dei in me do not pray that that should be done which thou desirest but rather desire as our B. Lord hath instructed thee to pray that the will of God be alwaâ—es performed in thee Which point is worthy to be considered as one very profitable and vniuersally seruing for all chaunces and contrary accidents which may happen to vs. We ought noâ— to determine and choose in what and how we will indure and suffer but God alone it belongs not vnto vs to make choyce of those tentations with which we are to be proued or to say Oh if it were any other tentation then this I would not care but this is such an one as I can no waies indure If that paine which we haue were that which we did desire it would be no paine vnto vs If you desire indeed to be pleasing vnto Almighty God beg of him to conduct you by that way which he best knowes and pleaseth and not by that which you yourselfe desire and when our Lord doth send you that which you haue most auersion from and should be most sorry to vndergo then if you conforme your selfe vnto his will you imitate most neere our Sauiour Christ who said vnto his heauenly Father not my will but thine be done and this is to haue an intire conformity with the will of God to make him an absolute oblation of our selues that he may doe with vs whatsoeuer he shall please when and in such manner as he shall please without any exception contradiction selfe iudgment or reseâ—â—ing any thing Blosius recouÌ„ts hâ—w the holy Virgin S. Gertrude did once out of her compassion pray for a certaine person who as shee heard did with great impatience complaine that God had sent her certaine afflictions which were lesse conuenient for the good of her soule vnto whom our Sauiour answered tell that party for whom thou prayest that seing there is none can obteine the Kingdome of heauen without suffering at least some crosses and afflictions that shee had best choose and declare what afflictions shee should thinke most profitable for her and when God should send her those receaue them patiently by which words of our Lord and the manner with which they were deliuered S. Gertrud vnderstood that it was a most daungerous kind of impatience for one to desire proudly and peruersly to make choyce themselues of that which they would suffer saying forsooth that those afflictions which are sent them by God Almighty are lesse fitting for the good of their soules and more then they can sustaine seing euery one is to assure himselfe that whatsoeuer God doth send him or permits to happen to him is most conuenient for him and for such he is to welcome it both with patience and conformity with the will of God And as you are not to make choice of those tentations and afflictions which you are to vndergoe but to receaue all which shall be sent you as proceeding from the holy hand of God vnderstanding them to be the most conuenient for you so likewise are you to be as farre froÌ„ making your owne election of those offices and functions which you are to be employed in but are to receaue all which obedience shall appoint as coÌ„ming from the hand of God and perswade your selfe that it is the only thing which of all others is most expedient for you There is added moreouer vnto this a very spirituall point which teacheth vs to be so resigned vnto the will of God and to liue in such confidence and assurance of his paternall goodnes as not so much as to desire to know in what manner God shall please to dispose of vs Iust as there are some Noblemen in the world who trust their stewards so farre as not to know themselues what their owne reuenues are or what they haue in the house which is a signe of their great confidence in them and so the Patriarch Ioseph affirmeth that his Master did with him ecce Dominus meus omnibus mihi traditis ignorat quid habeat in domo sua behould my Master hauing deliuered ouer all into my hands doth not know himselfe what he hath in his owne house in like manner also that Religious man declares his confidence in God to be great indeed when he desires not so much as to know how God shall be pleased for to dispose of
sufferings and that lothsome Leprosy which God sent him vnto his holy will then in all the Almes and good workes which he did whilst he was in health and full prosperity and so in like manner you shall please God more by following his will whilst you are sicke then in all which you could do if you were well S. Bonauenture says the same Iob 1.21 Bonau de grad virt c. 24. lib. de perfect Relig. c 37. hoc refert ex Diuo Gregor Perfectius est aduersa tolerare patienter quam bonis operibus insudare it is more perfection to suffer aduersity patiently then to performe good works neuer so earnestly God can well be without both you me for any profit which he intends vnto his Church ego dixi Deus meus es tu quoniam bonorum meorum non eges he is pleased for the present to preach vnto you in sicknesse and requires that you should learne patience humility out of it psal 15.2 commit all to God he knowes best what is most expedient for you and you are wholly ignorant of it your selfe if we were to desire health and corporall forces for any cause we ought to desire it the better to imploy our selues in the seruice of God and to be more pleasing to him If then our Lord is pleased more and had rather haue me exercised with sicknesse and in suffering patiently the paine of my disease his will be done it is the best for me and most conuenient Act. 2â— 30. S. Paul the Apostle and Preacher of the Gentils was by the permission of God deteined two yeares in prison in a time when the primitiue Church had so much need of him it is not much then for you if God doe keepe you two moneths or two yeares or all your life if so he pleases inthrald vnto some sicknesse who are farre from being so necessary in the Church of God as was that glorious Apostle S. Paul Others there are who when they are disabled by sicknesse or long and continuall infirmity to liue according to the community but are inforced to accept of particularities are much troubled and disquieted scarcely esteeming them selues Religious men and thinking euery one disedified with them in seing their extraordinary fare and manner of life and especially if their disease be such as extendeth not to the exterior shew when their sicknesse is only knowne to God themselues and their particularities and exemptions knowne to all to these I answere that it is a good and laudible consideration and you haue iust cause to haue resentment of it but so as not to cease in point of your sicknesse to conforme your selfe vnto the will of God and to make your benefit of a double merit by conforming your selfe on the one side entirely with the will of God in all those indispositions and infirmities which he is pleased to visit you withall and on the other by a great desire as farre as shall be possible vnto you to performe and exercise your selfe in all the functions of your Order in being heartily sorry that you cannot be imployed in that which others do and in this manner besides the merit of induring sicknesse patiently and willingly there is place in this second point of incriting as much as those who are well and lustly and actually imployed in all those exercises S. Augustiâ— in his 62 S. Augu. sermon de tempore treating of the obligation which each one had vnder mortall sinne to fast time of lent coming to speake of those who were infirme and vnable to fast says that it is sufficient for such as those to eate at least with interior griefe and sorrow sighing and lamenting that whilst others fast they are not able to beare theÌ„ company like as a valiant souldier who hauing been wounded in fight hath more affliction and griefe that he cannot go to field to do some acte worthy the seruice of his King then paine and anguish to be vnder the Chirurgions launce Euen so it is with good Religious men when they are sicke who are more troubled grieued that they cannot performe the exercises of the Religion with the rest then at the torment of their owne disease But in fine neither that nor any other thing is to be a hinderance to our conformity with the will of God in our infirmities but we are to receaue them as presents directed vnto vs from his owne hands vnto his greater glory for our greater good and benefit Hieron in vit Patrum S. Hierom recounts how a certaine Monke beseeched holy Abbot Ioannes an Egyptian by nation to cure him of a violent feuer which much tormeÌ„ted him vnto whom the blessed Saint answered rem tâ—b necessariam cupis abijâ—ere vt enâ—m corporâ— nitro vel alâ—â—s huiusmodi line amâ—ntis abluuntur à sordibus it a animae lang oribus alijsque huinsmodi castigationibus purificantur you desire to be rid of a thing which is very needfull for you for euen as we clense the filth of our bodies with sope and lie so by infirmities the like chastisements are our soules made cleane and purified THE XVII CHAPTER How we are not to repose our trust in Phisitians and Medecins but only in Almighty God and are to conforme our selues vnto his will not only in sicknesse but also in all other things which doe accompany it THat which hath been said of sicknesse is likewise to be vnderstood in matter of all other things which during our sicknesse are accidentall to vs S. Basil touching this matter hath left vs an excellent document Basil in reg Fusias disputat 55 saying that we so ought to make vse of Phisicke and Phisitians as in the meane time to place no trust in them as King Asa did whom the holy scripture therfore reprehends 2. p. 16.12 Nec in infirmitate sua quaesiuit Dominum sed magis in mediâ—orum arte confisas est he hath not sought after God so much as in his infirmity but hath rather trusted to the skill of the Phisitians we are not to attribute to them either our recouery or remaining still infirme but ought to fixe our hope only on God who sometimes is pleased to restore vs so our health by Phisicall meanes and sometimes suffers vs to receaue no good by it and therfore saith S. Basil although we haue neither commodity of Phisitian nor his drogs yet are we not to dispaire of recouering our health seeing that our Sauiour Christ as the holy Scripture testifies sometimes cured diseases by his only will as that Leaper who said vnto him Domine si vis potes me mundare Lord if you will you can make me cleane and our Sauiour answered volo mundare I will be cleane at other times he did apply certaine things as when he made clay with his spittle and annointed the eyes of the blind with it commanding him to go wash himselfe in the poole Siloe at other times