that famous Preacher of the order of Saint Francis who was then a boy taught at the same Schoole in Houdan Salomon discoursing of the disposition of children saith Foolishnesse is gathered together in the heart of children and the rod of discipline will drive it away Christ the wisest Schoolmaster of all who perfectly understands our dispositions to reclaim us from all childish wantonnesse spares not the rod for he scourgeth every childe that he receiveth yea as the wise man saith he maketh scourges daily and familiar unto him But this is the benefit which children have by being scourged for foolishnesse gathered together in their heart is driven away by the rod of discipline And so they learn Prudence and Modesty or Humility as we shall now declare Sect. I. AND first adversitie and chastisement teacheth us Prudence The Prophet Ezechiel saw a wonderfull beast which had foure severall faces a Mans an Oxes a Lyons and an Eagles And when this appeared to him the second time he saw in stead of the Oxe the Angelicall face of a Cherubim What was the meaning of this What relation hath an Oxe to an Angel or Cherubim Thou will say perhaps it was not the same creature that appeared but some other Not so but the very same witnesse Ezechiel himselfe It was saith he the very same beast which I had seen neer to the river Chobar By what meanes therefore was the face of an Oxe turned into the face of an Angel In the Hebrew tongue Cherubim is as much to say as Master or a multitude of knowledge and science Behold the very meaning We have now laid open the whole mystery An Oxe with the Ancients was the symbole of labour which this creature of his own nature is most apt to endure for he is put to Waines Ploughes and Carts he is fit to till the ground to draw yea even to thresh and tread out the corn insomuch that he is the expresse embleme of a laborious man And to such an Oxe as this the Spirit of God assigneth the face of a Cherubim whereby he decipheteth a master and a man of long experience The reason is given by the wise man The man that is expert in many things will have his thought upon many matters and he that hath learned many things will manifestly discover understanding Here doubtlesse the wise man commendeth experience which is gotten by many afflictions he of himselfe is the best interpreter He who is not tempted saith he what knowes he By this it manifestly appeares that affliction is the mother not onely of eternall joy but likewise of Christian Prudence Affliction putteth a taper into the hands of Wisedome The wise man confirming this by his owne example saith I have seen many things by erring c. Sometimes I have hazarded even to death for the cause of these to wit in seeking after wisedome Behold how the Cherubins face abolisheth the Oxes how experience drawn from miseries is attended by Prudence By that which a man suffereth he begins to know both himselfe and others yea and God himselfe whilest he considereth the vanity of transitory things the variety of humane dispositions the inconstancie and mutability of fortune the innumerable frauds and deceits and the infinite miseries and calamities of this life And by this meanes he learns by little and little to eschew evill and make choyce of good Whosoever he be that is not like wooll combed with an iron combe what knowes he else but to spend his time idly and follow delights Even at this day that saying of Seneca is most true we are best of Sâ—â— epist 95. all instructed by miseries Felicity corrupts us Iob propounding a most serious question asketh where is wisdome found and where is the place of intelligence And he maketh this answer to himselfe Man knoweth not the price thereof neither is it found in the land of those that lead their lives sweetly Assuredly that active wisdome which pointeth out directly how much transitory how much eternall things are to be esteemed is not to bee found in houses which are blessed with wealth and abundance where the custome is to live in daily feasting and banqueting heere riches and abundance carelesnesse folly and madnesse goddesses nearely allyed are alwaies familiar and near at hand For what I beseech you may be imagined more foolish then to rejoyce at the gaine of vile and transitory things and to lose eternall S. Gregory affirming the same saith they are to be accounted so much the more stupid and foolish as things are of greater value which they lose of lesse which they enjoy That which the Roman wise man said of vertue the same also may be affirmed of this prudence or wisdome whereof we speake It is a certaine thing high royall invincible infatigable it is without saciety without repentance immortall You shall find her in the Church at the tribunall in the court and sometimes standing before the wals of the city all besmeared with dust and died in her owne bloud with her hands all blistred hard and brawny with labour The Hebrew wise man warmed with a better spirit saith the rod and correction giveth wisdome Sect. II. TOBY with the gall of a fish was recovered of his blindnesse The gally bitternesse of calamity is the noblest and surest medicine to recover that dimme and decayed sight which sees not how miserable all this our life is how short and full of errours how replenished with griefes alwaies the next door to death and ready to fall in a moment which sees not with what labour and sollicitude an eternall and better life must bee sought after to heale I say and take away this dimnesse of the eies there is no medicine of more force none more wholesome then affliction For a man that is sick or in misery descendeth at last into himselfe and makes these objections Behold the deceits of the world this is all the reward it gives thee this is all the see thou must look for this is that thou so earnestly soughtest after content thy selfe now with what thou hast gotten it was a potion of thine owne making drinke as thou hast brewed And seest thou not perceivest thou not at length what a stench what a bitternesse this foule pleasure leaves behinde it Seest thou not how soon it had cloyed wearied thee ouâ— how after the first flash it decaied and died and how often times when pleasure is at the highest it is suddainly extinguished wilt thou even now at last be warned by experience Thou hâ—st hitherto thought thy selfe an Achilles or some invincible champion such an one as might bid defiance even to the face of adversity thou provest thy selfe so indeed thou fallest before thou art scarcely touched Art thou that magnanimous that patient that stout and constant undertaker who with Peter sworest to goe to prison and to death and art thou thus with a poore puffe of winde overthrowne Hath the enemy even blasted thee with a
have a man who as if he would perswade God not to take away his delights will petition him in this manner O my Lord afflict me at thy pleasure so thou grant me this or take not away that which I so infinitely love God hears not these prayers he takes away that which is most dear and gives not that which is most desired and so even transfixeth the heart of man yet this is a favour and one of Gods rewards After this sort did the Angell comfort Tobias saying Because thou wert acceptable to God it was needfull that temptation should prove thee As if he had said Wheresoever yertue is there must be affliction the reward of vertue Every one that is most dear to God is chastised Sect. IV. But now and then God chastiseth where he neither intendeth to correct sin reform errours nor exercise vertue but onely to manifest his power which our Saviour plainly declared in that blind man in the Gospell This man saith he hath not sinned nor his parents but onely that the workes of God may be manifested in him Some will say with what equity can this be done may I lawfully strip another to cloath my selfe I answer that there are two kinds of law or justice the one strict severe and extream and as Divines call it Condignum the other mitigated or qualified as when any thing is decreed with lenity and mercie Wherefore admit all men were innocent Hieremies Daniels Baptists yet might God out of the rigour of his justice punish them in regard of the innate originall sin which being the â—rime source of all misery had formerly defiled them By one man sin entred this world and by sin death and not that alone but accompanied with many calamities Wherefore presupposing originall sin God may justly and yet punctually observing the Law punish de condigno even the most innocent with what afflictions soever so they be not eternall Hence it is that many infants are punished by death and diseases How much more justly may we then be punished who to originall adde many actuall sins Moreover if any one complaine that God takes from him that which ordinarily he useth to bestow on others as food health riches and the like God may justly answer I ow thee nothing what I have hitherto given take as from the hand of my free bounty and goodnes all my gifts are gratis Now I withdraw them that thou maist know they came from me and that freely without any obligation of my part Hitherto I have dealt liberally with thee if it be my pleasure not to continue it what law hast thou against me may not I do what pleases me Friend I do thee no injury take that which is thine and get thee gone Saint Augustine expressing this equity of God saith He afflicts us sometimes and Aug. to 8. in Psa 62. mihi pag. 260. withdrawes from us that which is necessary that we may know our Father is a Lord that can as well correct us as cherish us Who is he therfore that can thinke he hath the least wrong offered him It is the Princes pleasure to give this man a horse to that a chain of gold to one a Captains place to another nothing But suppose notwithstanding all this that things necessary to sustain life be due unto us were it an injury for God by vertue onely of supreme honour and title of majesty to abridge us of them what cause have we to complain we are subjects and consequently bound to observance These onely you may call free and exempt who are not in the labours of men nor with men shall be scourged We well know that life is dearer then either health riches or honour All which a man hath he will give for his life Yet did the Martyrs in testifying their love to Christ cheerfully yield up their lives and shall we for no lesse cause refuse to undergo things of lesse difficulty Moreouer what wrong were it to any to have his old and thred-bare cloak taken away and a newer and better bestowed upon him none at all Who unlesse hee were mad would withstand it No lesse foolish would he be reputed who should so highly esteem his old haâ— worth about three-half-pence as to refuse fifty crownes for it God taketh from us health riches honour to bestow upon us so much the more grace and glory what injury call you this For this cause S. James exhorts us Esteem it my brethren all the joy that may be to fall into sundry temptations To change transitory things for eternall is not thâ—s the best mart that may be Ignatius Bishop of Antioch was so ardently in love with suffering that he couragioâ—sly said Let there come upon me fire hanging quartering beasts breaking my bones whatsoever else may be inflicted upon my body yea the very torments of hell only that I may enjoy Christ No greater gain can there be then to lose after this manner Sect. V. St. John Climacus relates a strange Climacus grad 4. ante med mihi pag. 57. thing which with his own eyes and eares he had observed in his Monastery where the Steward was of a very modest and milde disposition This man the superiour of the Monastery after some invective speeches as if he had been unworthy to consort with the rest commanded to be expelled the Church but Climacus finding some means of private speech with the Abbot greatly commended his innocencie who had been so much reprehended to whom the Abbot wisely replied I know it very well Father that our Steward is an upright and religious man and that he hath hitherto committed no fault which ought so sharply to be reproved but as you know it were a cruell and barbarous part to snatch bread out of the hand or mouth of an infant so you may think a governour of a religious house doth not well discharge his duty to himselfe or others if he seek noâ— carefully to advance those under his charge to as high a reward in heaven as is possible whether it be by reproofes or contumelies by scoffes affronts accusations or any other means whatsoever Vertue by adversity increaseth by being wounded flourisheth by injuries is erected by suffering refined and without an adversary fades and withereth away The superiour therefore in religion that neglecteth to exercise his subjects in this sort depriveth some of the reward of suffering others of the example of patience and to conclude putteth the innocent in danger of pride by not exercising their patience and modesty for the fertilest grounds breed weeds and darnell if they be not cultivated and moistned with seasonable dewes of rain If then the governour of a Monastery doth well orderly in exercising even his innocent subjects with contumelies what wrong doth God the governor of the worlds most ample monastery bounded as it were with the walls of the heavens and vast Ocean what wrong I say doth this omnipotent Father in exercising his children with hunger
it is that many heer want the reward of their vertue and in stead thereof are oppressed with penury afflicted with diseases and invironed with whole troops of miseries Neither have the wicked their paiment in this life for they saile with a prosperous and favourable gale of wind whereas they deserve to be tossed with the most tempestuous waves that may be Well then may the hope of the vertuous daily increase and the bad have most just cause to fear that he whom they so much hate shall be their judge at last Certainly there are none how good or bad soever but shall have their hire Seeing therefore none are so wâ—cked but that sometimes even forgetting their wickednesse they do or say well for which how little soever it be they shall receive a temporall reward notwithstanding they shall have their eternall punishment at length though deferred for a time The highest is a patient debtor Wherefore by this means our faith may be strengthened and by these temporall punishments and rewards gather an assured beliefe of eternall The third reason is to illuminate the understanding The master in the School ought principally to labour that children by little and little may learn to grow wise cast off their childishnesse and come to know their own ignorance This is that which God himselfe endeavoureth in the School of Patience That vexation may give understanding In very deed we never sufficiently apprehend how miserable and frâ—il we are till our own miseries teach us Moreover we are too much besotted with selfe-love and easily thereby perswaded that we are unable to endure many things And yet the testimony of experience it selfe setteth before our eyes and teacheth us whether we will or no how much we can if our will be not wanting endure for Christs sake Many sick persons suffer that which when they were well they thought they could never have endured yea and by suffering this learn how poor slender our patience is in time of health It is an easie matter to be patient when we have nothing to trouble us King David blaming himselfe said In my prosperity I said I will not be moved for ever Thou hast turned away thy face from me and I was troubled Peter if he had not fallen so miserably would never have beleeved himselfe to be so weak and pufillanimous In the place of the last Supper he boasting said Although I were to dye with thee yet would I not deny thee though all should be scandalized yet would not I. But shortly after he saw his own weaknesse For this cause the wise man adviseth My son in thy life time try thy soule and if it be wicked give it no power What knowledge hath he of himselfe that is not tempted To know himselfe he must try himselfe No man knowes what thou art able to do no not thy selfe unlesse some difficulty give thee oceasion thereof How far the alarm will awake a mans courage is then known when the alarm is given The sent of pepper is not smelt till it bee pounded It is never known how well the Lute or Harp are tuned till they be touched How patient the blessed mother of our Lord was appeared in the stable at Bethlehem by her flighâ— into Egypt and under the crosse at Jerusalem These most holy anchorites Stephen and Benjamin shewed their patience by suffering most grievous diseases Stephen by stretching forth his putrified limbs to the Chyrurgian to be cut off while he the patient not to lose time wove palm branches with his hands and with so undaunted a courage and countenance suffered himselfe to be cut as if it had not been his arm but anothers body And when others even with looking on were sensible of his pain he said unto them O my children what soever God doth is to a good end Let us combat let us suffer whilst we are as Champions within the lists It is better to suffer a short pain then to be involved in everlasting torments Benjamin who Pallad cap. 30 de Steph. for the space of fourscore years lived a most perfect life and was reported to heale diseases was notwithstanding himselfe miserably afflicted with the dropsie Of this man Dioscorus the Bishop spake when visiting him with Evagrius and Palladius in his Idem Pallad c 18. Heraclid in sâ—o paradiso c 2. in finâ— company he said Come I beseech you let us behold another Job who not onely conceals his pains and griefes with patience but also rendereth thanks for that he is visited with sicknesse To whom Benjamin himselfe replied Pray O my brethren that my inward man may not be sicke of a dropsie My body benefited me little when it was in health nor hurts me now it is sick Sect. IV. THe fifth cause is for that affliction is the greatest signe of profit and a speciall incitement thereunto Schoolmasters require most pains and industry at their hands who are most hopefull The wise Roman excellently discoursed Sen de Provid c. 4. of this Those therfore saith he whom God liketh and loveth he animateâ—h correcteth exerciseth but those whom he seemeth to cherish and spare he reserveth untouâ—hed for future miseries You are deceived if you thinke any mâ—n exempted there are none so happy but shall have their share in afflictions whosoever he be that seems dismissed is but deferred Why doth God afflict the best men with corporall infirmities and other adversities Why are the hardiest men in the camp put upon the greatest danger The Captain sends his most selected men to lye by night in ambush for the enemy to discover the passage or make way through the watch Not one of them sent forth saith the Captain hath dealt ill with me but rather he hath disposed well The same let every one say who is commanded to suffer that which abject spirits would faint and shrink at It hath pleased God to do us this favour to manifest what man is able to suffer God therfore taketh the same course with good men which masters do with scholars they expect that those who are most hopefull should labour most Did the Lacedemonians think you hate their children whose abilities they made by stripes a publick triall of their parents themselves animated them to endure the blowes couragiously and even when they were mangled and half dead multiplied wounds upon wounds What wonder is it that God handles generous spirâ—ts so roughly Vertue is never taught by soft and gentle means Are we scourged and tormented by calamities we must not think it cruelty but a combat which the oftner we undergo the sooner we shall become valiant Whom our Lord loveth he chastiseth To this purpose Saint Augustine saith excellently well Good Aug. in Psa 93. men live in labour and travell because they are scourged as children Evill men rejoyce and exult because they are condemned as strangers Fear not therefore to be scourged but rather fear to be disinherited Pharaoh King of Egypt made a
diseases poverty and other injuries An excellent discourse And surely vertue without an adversary withereth away Even the grave and wise opinion of Quintus Metellus delivered in the Senate sheweth this Metellus after the taking of Carthage said in open Senate that he knew not whether the victory had broght more good or evil to the people of Rome for as it had profited by restoring peace so it would be no small prejudice by removing Hanniball For by his passage into Italy the vertue Valer. li. 1. c. 2. post initium and valour of the people of Rome was awakened and being freed of so sharp an adversary it was to be feared they would fall asleep again he thought it therefore as great a mischief to have the edge of their ancient valour rebated as if their houses were burnt their fields wasted and treasure exhausted This then may be the Oracle of Oracles That Vertue without an adversary decayes and pines away without a crosse Patience falls asleep All hail therefore thou most pretious crosse that rub'st off the rust of vices that settest before us the mirrour wherein we may learn to know our selves that bringest us upon the stage to act the part of patience thou that crownest us not with navall obsidionall civicke murall or castrensall but with heavenly crownes thou that dost furnish us with all manner of vertue and never leavest us till thou bringest us unto God Transfix me therefore O my deare Lord burn me cut me pull me in pieces in this world so thou spare me for all eternity And when heerafter we shall be presented with this bitter cup and asked whether we be able to drink it grant we may couragiously answer we can through thy divine help and assistance not our own for the servant is not greater then his Lord and Master While Joab that warlike Captain takes up his lodging under a tent covered with skins Urias is ashamed to lye at his own house in a bed of Down It would be a thing infinitely odious to see delicate members decked with roses and bracelets perfumed with civet balsamum under a head imbrewed with bloud and pierced with thornes We ought therefore to be most assured that Almighty God for a thousand reasons may exercise and even hardly handle his scholars in this schoole with all manner of cares griefes and afflictions These are like the strokes which instruct fashion shâ—pe and square us for immortall beatitude This is our way to life everlasting Wherefore as saith S. Augustine Aug. to 10. de verb. Dom. Ser. 23. c. 3. let not stripes dismay us that the joy of resurrection may comfort us CHAP. III. Why some Scholars are more afflicted in this School then others IT is an old complaint of Scholars in Schools and of inhabitants in Cities that some are châ—stised and preseâ—â— more then others some favourably others roughâ—y used the Crowes pardoned and Doves punished This seemeth not to go well since Citizens should live indifferently after one sort yet for the most part the contumacious disobedient and rebellious are more friendly intreated and bounteously rewarded then good and vertuous persons Many and those very holy men have complained heerof Why saith Jeremy the Prophet doth the way of the impious prosper Why is it well with all that transgresse and do wickedly Job making the like complaint saith Why then do the impious live Why are they advanced and strengthened with riches And the Prophet Habacuc much after the same manner Why saith he lookest not thou upon them that do unjust things and holdest thy peace when the impious devoureth him that is more just then himselfe Into the same complaints likewise fell the most holy King David saying My feet were almost moved my steps almost slipped because I have had zeal upon the wicked seeing the peace of sinners And I said Then have I justified my heart without cause In vain do we esteem of vertue if wickednesse be more powerfull and vice honoured with ampler rewards then vertue Whosoever thou art look round about the world and thou shalt see them dye here and there upon whose life and health the safety of very many depended and those suffered to live and prosper for whom it had been better they had never been born thou shalt see strong and healthfull men â—ob and spoil and harmlesse creatures miserably afflicted with diseases Many wicked men advanced to prime dignities and the honester sort grievously oppressed with poverty who can ever sufficiently wonder at this Nay who is there that would not be moved with with indignation to see vice flourish every where and vertue commended but not advanced Even Saint Augustine Aug. lib. 10. de Civ cap. 2. himselfe saith We know not by what judgement of God this good man is poore or that evill man rich Sect. I. IT seemeth very difficult for humane reason to apprehend why wicked men prosper so much in their way and why on the other side innocent Abel is slain before others in the family of Adam obedient Joseph in the house of Jacob thrown into a pit sold to strangers and cast in prison Zealous Elias oppressed with hunger and driven into banishment devout Daniel condemned to the Lions patient Job scourged by the Divel righteous S. John Baptist at Herods command dragged to prison S. Peter so servent in the love of his master hurried to execution and crucified under Nero. Peruse holy Scriptures from the first of Genesis to the last of the Apocalypse and thou shalt scarcely finde any thing more frequent then the calamities of just men Look back O you mortals upon all precedent ages read sacred and prophane histories and you shall finde all filled with good mens tears At Athens Socrates the wise Phocion the good Aristides the just Mithridrates the victorious suffer undeservedly Aristides banishment the other death At Rome Marcus Cato that exemplary wise man tâ—at lively mirrour of vertue is pulled haled thrust spit upon turned out of his Pretorship carried to prison and there like Socrates put to death Rutilius and Camillus are compelled to live in banishment Pompey and Cicero put to death by their own servants The ends of good Seâ— l. de tranquil c. â—5 pâ—st â—nit men are oftentimes very miserable Will any man then be vertuous since vertue is so ill rewarded Saint John Baptist groans in chains whilst Herod licentiously revells and dances Poore Lazarus dies for hunger whilst his executioner the rich glutton cloathed in purple for many dayes together sumptuously feasteth Many are the troubles of just men What doth God all this while Is he or doth he seeme to be asleep He that numbreth all the hairs of our head takes account even of the Sparrows and least birds of the aire keeps a reckoning of every lease upon the trees without whose consent not so much as one of them falls to the ground can he I say behold so many injuries and tolerâ—te them with patience How doth
largely and spend the day idly Happy therefore are the poore who willingly embracing poverty entertaine it as a speciall friend to vertue To this end was that generous speech of Saint Paul uttered The things which were to me a gaine the same I deem'd for Christ a detriment No man is worthy of God but he that knowes how to contemne riches and he is truely rich who agreeth well with poverty To this purpose Diogenes said Poverty is a vertue which is learn'd of it selfe The matter is plaine should not riches be taken from us we should be undone and destroyed by them And who is he that can so warily touch these thornes and not wound his owne conscience poverty alone is not wounded by this thorny brake He abhorres not poverty who aspires to blessed immortality For as truely saith Saint Gregory Whosoever he be that fixeth his desire upon eternity can neither be deterred with poverty nor shaken with adversity Sect. IV. A Garland of Straw THE Garland of Straw signifies all kindes of scoffes derisions and contempts This is a terrible and grievous punishment to scholars at school how light soever it seemes to others Some time it happens in schools that the master commands a boy to stand in a place by himselfe with roddes in his hand This is a more grievous punishment to that boy then to be ten times beaten with roddes In Spaine they put in mockery a paper hat upon those whom they lead to execution After this manner Andronicus an Emperour Vid considerationes gâ—ernitaâ—is consid 5. 53. of the East was crown'd with a wreath of Garlicke set upon the back of a scabbed Camel and led thorow the city in a miserable triumph To be contemned derided and scoffed at a proud man deemeth one of the greatest punishments that may be inflicted This crowne of Straw seemes to some all lead beset with prickes like a bristled Hedge-hogge For we abhorre nothing more then to be disgraced branded with ignominy or forc'd to the blush in presence of others This often times seemes more grievous then death it selfe Hence it is that many guilty persons kill themselves in prison rather then they will be made an object of scorne and contempt to the world At the latter day when every one shal return from death to life that terrible arraignement in the sight and presence of all mankinde that calling to accompt and pointing out by the voice and finger of the judge that sterne eye fixed on the whole world shall more torment the damned then the very flames of hel For this cause shall men say in most desperate manner to the sleepy rockes and mountaines fall you upon us and to the hils cover us Then shall it seem to them a gentler punishment to be buried alâ—ve under the heavy weight of these mountaines then to be arraigned at the tribunall seat of Christ to receive that heavy sentence and be proclaimed by the elect the utter enemies of God Saul King of the Hebrewes a notorious example of a man infinitely wicked when he heard Samuel foretell the dissolution and final catastrophe of his kingdom fortunes the deprivation of Gods grace his owne reprobation and utter ruine of all desired only to preserve his honour But now honour me said he before the elders of my people and before Israel So much he fear'd this losse when all things else were in a desperate case that his people should cease to honour him Behold how Saul was able like the Ostrich to disgest the greatest calamities as hard iron and yet is dejected with a thing which might seeme to be of least account to weare this wreath of straw he esteemes more grievous then death it selfe What was the cause He was proud There is nothing in the School of Patience more fit to suppresse pride then this Garland of Straw This is the most efficacious meanes to pull downe arrogancy he that is crowned with this Garland is forced though much against his will to qualifie his lofty spirit But above all things this is most to be admired we desire to be reputed submissive humble and yet hate nothing more then humility contempt of our selves free us from ignominy and in a manner all things else seeme tolerable with this men are wont to be most dejected they especially that are proud and not fully subjected We vainely perswade and flatter our selves that all things besides this garland of straw are tolerable A very fond perswasion which Cassianus refuâ—eth thus We would saith he have chastity Cass collat 4. c. 1◠〈◊〉 of body without chastizing our flesh acquire purity of heart without labour and watching enjoy carnall case quietnes and yet abound in spirituall vertues possesse the gift of patience yet never would beprovoked by scorns reproches practise the humility of Christ without the losse of worldly honour and serve him with humane praise and estimation In a word we desire to keep our head from the straw garland and to be humble without humility In this case we must not flatter our pride this garland of straw is fittest for that head which most abhorres it to that alone this diadem is most suitable Elegantly learnedly saith Seneca Sen. do Provid c. 4. post initium How can I be assured of thy coÌ„stancie against ignominy infamy and popular hatred if I see thee all thy life soothed and applauded and followed with acertain inexpugnable and headlong troop of flatterers This one word Repete rehearse the same again vexeth more the Reader then any other correction how rigorous soever But this is an apparant signe of secret pride which liketh nothing worse then to be blamed or shamed by blushing whereupon some men singular as well for learning as contempt of themselves when their ruin was to read at dinner or supper purposely pronounced some words amisse that they might be forced to blush at their owne dissembled ignorance When Martin Delrio a man of an ancient house and by the many notable books he wrote famous for his learning had divers years professed divinity at Liege he was by command sent to Tornay where according to the rules of his Order he might retire himself from publick reading and noise of the world and quietly spend some time in holy meditations Heer he laying aside both Philosophy and Divinity underwent yea even ambitiously sought after all the most abject offices amongst religious novices Sometimes with a poore thred bare cloake he attended the Cater to the market and carried to the Colledge the provision he bought thorow the streets in view of all the people taking upon him the office of a poore Porter This man neither feared nor refused the garland of straw nay he thought himselfe honoured by wearing it This above all the rest much astonished the religious of his order to see a man so grave and learned after he had spent so many years in the socity of Jesus been reader a long time in
and whatsoever falleth out makes it sutable to his owne colour He being good by patiently bearing and interpreting all in the best sense turnes it into good As red Wine mingled with a fâ—w dâ—opes of white dyeth all with its owne colour so a good man takes all that happens in good part turnes all into good and by suffering makes all affliction profitable to himselfe For his power transcendes all exteriour things not for that he is insensible but because he overcomes them and albeit at other times quiet and peaceable raiseth himselfe against incursions of insuing difficulties All adverse chances to him are either as eâ—ercises or medicines the one if his minde be sound serves to maintaine and increase hâ—s strength the other to recover him if he be sicke or drowned in delights and pleasures Just as it is in the cure of our bodies when we are lanced or cauterized to recover health or strength There is a kinde of tree called Larix that growes very high the leaves whereof never fall by nature it is as it were immortall for it never corrupts nor perishes it can never be burnt nor altered into coales the fire hath no more power to consume it then stones painted tables made thereof are perpetuall it admits no chinkes nor rifts it rots nor nor ever yields unto age Celius Rhodiginus recounteth that he saw a Tower built of Larix which Julius Cesar albeit he caused fire to be put to it could never burne nor destroy A man remarkeable for patience is fitly compared to this tree he burns sometimes amidst the flames of calamity but looseth not so much as a leafe you shall not heare the least impatient word fall from his lips Such for all the world was Job a man like this wood patient even in the middest of flames In all these things Job sinned not with his lips Behold a bush environed on all sides with fire and yet not burned a Tower of Larix which all the power of hell could not set on fire nor demolish This certainely we are taught in the Schoole of Patience to beare with indifferency those things which are not evils unlesse we our selves be evill and repute them such When Rebecca the wife of Isaac felt two infants strugling in her womb she went to consult with our Lord. This answer was returned Two nations are in thy wombe c. and the elder shall serve the younger From hence Saint Augustine raising a great question asketh how this came to passe for it evidently appeared that the elder never served the younger but contrariwise went about to kill him For Esau had determined thus in his mind The daies will come of the mourning of my father and I will kill Iacob my brother How then did he serve him when hee went about to kill him whereunto Saint Augustine answereth very well He will serve him saith he not by obeying but by persecuting him after the same manner as evill men serve good men As the file serves the iron the hammer the gold the mill the wheat and the oven the bread in baking it Jacob the sonne of Isaac had never proved such a man had he not beene so pâ—rsecuted by his brother He was tenderly brought up in his fathers house was most deare to his mother and swayed all as he listed But when his brother threatned his death he fled into Mâ—sopotamia to his uncle Laban and there liv'd a shepeard above twenty yeares together Heere Jâ—cob found the want of his fathers house for being most hardly intreated he learn'd to endure hunger and thirst heate and cold and to watch all night in the open ayre heere he hardned his body and mind almost like non heer he was enabled to undergoe any labour and want whatsoever The cause of all this was the envie and lewd disposition of his brother And what benefite was this to Jâ—cob Exceeding much beyond all meâ—sure For by this meanes hee saved his owne life shak'd of â—dlenes in which his indulgent mother had bred him was inured to labours and incommodities heap'd upriches and had Rachel and Lia for his wives from whom afâ—erwâ—rdes sprunge the twelue patriarches and Christ hâ—mselfe See how the elder brother served the yonger not by obeying but by persecuting him This is the only way to attaine to fortitude by this meanes men become valiant It is a notable speech of a most couragious man when I am weake then am I strong Sect. III. VErtue hath alwayes an eye upon the end whereunto she bends her course not what she â—s to suffer God provideth for his servants whom he would have then to be most modest and humble when occasion is given them to do any thing stoutly and couragiously for whâ—ch respect they must of necessity undergoe some difficulty How can I if thou abound in riches know what patience thou hast to beare poverty How may I if thou be still applauded and flattered in all thy actions bee assured of what proofe thy constancy is against infamy and ignomiâ—y What testimony have I of thy obedience if thou beest onely commanded to doe what is easie to be performed How can I conclude thou art submisse and humble if thou be never assaulted with calumnies and affronts How can I commend thy patience when I never see the oppressed with calamities which are the trialls and touch stones of vertue With good reason may they be said to be miserable who waxe dull and senslesse with too much felicity who through a sluggish drousinesse are laid to sleepe as it were in a calme and peaceable sea Whatsoever happens to them is unexpected and troublesome Cruelties afflict them most who have not experienced them upon a yong and tender necke the yoake presseth heavily A fresh water souldier is appaled even with the conceit of a wound but he that is hardned in warre holdly beholdeth his owne bloud knowing he hath often surviv'd the like adventures Consider the Germans saith Seneca Sen. l. de provid cap. 4. ubi de prisâ—is Germanis loquitur and the vagrant people that live about the river Ister They are perpetually infested with winter and foule weather their barren soile hardly maintaines them they are no otherwise fenced from raine but by the trees themselves and poore thatch'd houses finally they feed on such wild beasts as they kill or take with their own hands Dost thinke these men are miserable No course of life can be reputed so which by continuall custome is become naturall why do you marvell good men are strucken that they may be the more corroborated There is no well rooted tree but that which the winde often shaketh that it may take deeper roote and be consolidated by tempests Those which grow in warme vallies are tender and shallow rooted So the corne which in seed time is covered with frost and snow prospers best and fire by often blowing is sooner kindled what I pray is gold and silver the worse for hammering Certainly you cannot otherwise have
provoke his enemies Come forth you enemies of God neither I nor any of mine wil ever shrink or refuse to fight with you and albeit your side so far exceeds us in number yet we fear you not Draw forth your strongest armies we are confident God fights on our side Just after the same manner doth the couragious Christian provoke his enemies Come hither you afflictions you innumerable troops of calamities hunger thirst poverty diseases griefs injuries calumnies and all kinde of miseries I fear neither your number nor your strength If whole camps stand against us our heart shall not be afraid the faith we have pledged to God we will never break we are ready rather to suffer all that may be inflicted upon us yea death it self and if we had an hundered lives rather would lose them all then violate our oath whereby we have bound our selves to God Every man that is pious and faithfully devoted to God is of this minde Although the whole power of hell should stand against me the heavens fall upon me yea though all the calamities of the world should shew the utmost of their rage and malice against me yet would I by Gods assistance stand constant and unmoveable in my faith I am ready for Gods cause to be cast in prison burned slain or slaughtered For if we be dead with him we shall live also together if we sustain we shall also reigne together if we deny he also will deny us And let us assure our selves O Christians that it is not sufficient for us to be members of Christs-Church to hear Divine Service to fast or pray or give alms but of necessity God should finde us faithfull and worthy as he found Abraham Joseph and Job truly faithfull and worthy of him in the midst of whatsoever adversity For as the history of the Machabees testifieth Joseph in all the time of his adversitie kept the Commandements Albeit we be of silver or gold if we be impatient and brook not the hammer we are but little worth And euen as in a mans body when he is suddenly frighted or his heart fails him all his bloud runs to comfort and succour that distressed part So in all anguishes and afflictions whatsoever all the vertue of a just man recollects it self and animates him after this manner If thou fail now when God goes about to make a triall of thee where is thy faith where thy love Where is thine obedience thy hope thy patience Where thy fortitude thy fidelity Is this the desire thou pretendest of suffering Is thy purpose and resolution of persevering come to this Remember the oath which as a Souldier thou hast sworn remember the faith thou hast pledged to God and shew thy self faithfull to the end He that hath promised without all doâ—bt will perform with thee he will neither deny thy reward nor detain thy crown be thou onely forward to sight and confident of victory CHAP. II. Affliction teacheth Commiseration and Abstinence KING Artaxerxes one of his most intimate friends being dead sent to Democritus at Ionia requesting him if by any Art hee could to restore his friend to life againe or at least wise if by any medicinall means he saw any hope of recovery that he should put it in practice Democritus answered that the Kings demand was important and difficult neverthelesse he would effect it if his Majesty first would and could fulfill a request of his which was to engrave upon his dead friends tomb the names of thirty young men who had lived to the age of twenty yeares without any crosse or calamity Diligent search was made after these names but as yet they cannot and as we have just cause to beleeve never in any age hereafter are likely to be found Is there I beseech you any mortall man who hath lived I will not say twenty yeares but twenty dayes without some adversitie or other All our life is replenished with griefes and calamities God him self out of his infinite providence hath by most equall weight proportioned it out to every one from all eternity There is none that hath not his measure of wormewood some a cup full some a whole gallon others but a pint as it pleaseth God to dispose and to this end ordained it that every one might be sensible of his neighbours afflictions and withall learn moderation and temperance Now by what means affliction teacheth Commiseration and Temperance we declare as followeth Sect. I. IT is a wonderfull comfort to those that are in misery to have companions in their punishments to know that others suffer the like or greater that none escape or are exempted from afflictions Christ instructing his Disciples gave them this note Blessed are ye saith he when they shall revile you and persecute you c. For so they persecuted the Prophets that were before you And that he might give them a clearer testimony If they have saith he persecuted me you also will they persecute By the same meanes Saint Paul comforting the Macedonians saith For you brethren are become followers of the Churches of God that be in Jewry in Christ Jesus for you also have suffered the same things of your owne linage So he pointetâ— out as it were with his finger to the Hebrews that all good men had their trials by mockeries and stripes fetterâ— and prisons going about in sheep-skins in goat-skins needy in distresse afflicted wandering in deserts in mountains and dens and in caves of the earth others he saith were tempted stoned cut in pieces and beheaded And that we may the better be confirmed by the exemplar and generous patience of others Saint James willeth us to think that they who suffered so great torments and miseries were not men either of Iron or Adamant Elias was a man like unto us passible Neither this man nor that nor any one of the rest but were as sensible of pain as we but for that they had profited better in the School of Patience they were more patient then we Nor do the examples only of the afflicted but their words also coÌ„fort us in affliction For in adversitie we learne to commiserate others in the like to comfort them and easily to credit those who are subject to the like adversities And this is one of the principall causes why we are shut up in the School of Patience and lye exposed to so many afflictions that we may learne one to condole with another Assuredly he that hath lived in poore estate findeth no difficulty to compassionate anothers hunger and want he that hath been sick and ill disposed in his health easily pittieth anothers infirmity He that hath found by experience what it is to be contemned oppressed and disgraced commiserates those who suffer like affronts he that is stripped out of all his lands and possessions quickly takes compassion of them that have suffered the like After we have been vexed with many miseries we gain this knowledge with the Tyrian Queen who said Non ignara
The Prophet Daniel foretelling great calamities to the Jewes said They shall fall by the sword by fire and by captivity and by the rapine of the times What I beseech you was the cause of so great mischiefe That they might be forged and chosen and whitened against the time prefixed because as yet there will bee another time This lie therefore of calamity refines and makes us most pure from all filth and uncleannesse and thereby we are chosen and whitened And so indeed taught by our owne harme It is well that God humbles us That most blessed King David saith I am environed round about with griefe whilest the thorne is fastened The briars and thornes of sin had so wounded his soule that hee thought himselfe even like an hedgehogge bristled with pricks and thorns on every side Insomuch that his mind was so afflicted with griefe that neither his royall dignity abundance of riches nor all the comfort or pleasure these could afford him was able to asswage it So grievously David tooke it to the heart That he had offended God so much hâ—r 〈◊〉 he conceived out of the foulnesse and deformity of sin that he rather chose to weare the sharpest sackcloth then the sofrest ermines punished himselfe with sasting mingled his wine and washed his bed with teares and interrupted his prayers with frequent sighes and groanes O that we could behold the foule contagion of sinne with such eies as David did God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe us an exact ballance by which we may waigh and examine the waight of sinne Doubtlesse all temporall miseries and afflictions which are transitory would appeare very light yea and of no waight at all We would deeme all the adversities that happen in this life as light as a feather compared with this huge mountain the sharpest lye this world could afford would be welcome to cure the festered sores and leprosies of our soules It will go well with us if God vouchsafe to humble us Sect. III. AT Hierusalem there was the probatick pool where beasts to be sactificed were washed This pool had five portalls where lay alwayes an infinite number of men full of ulcers and incurable diseases who expected that charitable relief from heaven which at certain times an Angel brought by moving the water whereby he that first descended into the same was healed Behold a goodly type lively figure of this world For what is it else but an hospitall full of innumerable diseased persons for whose cure there caâ—e the Angel of great Covenant and stirred the waters Certainly it is much to be wondered at there being in Hierusalem so many clear chrystalline and sweet flowing waters why Almighty God in this muddy foul and troubled pond polluted with the butchery of so many beasts hair and bloud of so many slaughters would place the benefit of health Had it not been a more illustrious miracle to have cured in the river of Jordan or in sweet rose water then in this foul and noisome pond Ah! Christians how far different are the judgements of God from those of men God was pleased to wash the soul not in the waters of Jericho or Damascus not in water sweetned with nard or roses but in the waters which he himself hath moved and stirred with his bloudy Crosse in the salt sea of miseries the vast ocean of calamities This is our washing place these our bathes thus we are cleansed God in times past to expiate those that were unclean prescribed to the Jews waters mingled either with ashes or bloud no river is so soveraigne for the washing and purifying of the soul of man fountains of bloud spring unto us out of the wounds of Christ crucified our daily sins minister to us a sharp lie to these fountains therefore we have our recourse here we expiate and wash away our filth and corruption here we rise again and recover strength But as yet I will not depart from this probatick pool of Hierusalem When therefore our Saviour entered into one of the portalls whereof we have spoken he found a great number of sick persons but of all these cured but onely one Some will say How sparing was our Lord of his benefits Seeing he might have healed them all with the least word of his mouth Why then I beseech you did he restore but one of them to his health Perhaps he would do according to the use of the pool which never healed but one at a time But we ask this question Why God being infinitely mercifull and potent who pleased to bestow this vertue of healing upon that pond would not cure all those sick and sore persons For as the Sun every day with his cheerfull rayes is beneficiall to innumerable creatures without any hurt or dammage to himself so the Creatour of the Sun should suffer no losse by bestowing health and happinesse upon many sick and miserable men at once My answer is that the Sun with his pleasant beams fails not to illuminate and sweetly comfort all creatures but when the clouds interpose themselves No cloud so thick and gloomy as that of sin by which the Sun of mercy is shadowed over and excluded Hieremie bewailing this evill said Thou hast opposed a cloud against thy self so that thy prayer can have no passage The multitude of our sins often times is the cause that we cannot altogether acquit our selves of all our miseries and afflictions The reason why Christ cured but one at this water in Hierusalem was perhaps because he saw none of the rest worthy of that benefit But admit they were all free from sin and of upright course of life why should then but one be restored to his health We answer again That so it was expedient for them it was good for them thus to be humbled All things are not convenient for all persons Many thousands of men are sick and by that means make towards heaven who if they were in health and lived commodiously would take the ready way to hell A most true saying it is Quae nocent docent It is good for me and thee O Christian yea and for innumerable more that God doth humble us It is well knowne to the schoolemaster himselfe what is most expedient for each of his scholars How oft hath extream calamity been the beginning of salvation how oft hath losse been the occasion of greatest gaine And therefore oftentimes we may say with Themistocles we had perished if we had not been undone We account the silk worms happy for that they have a silken house and a labour so neer to rest But if we better consider the matter we shall finde their house as we call it to be their sepulchre where those miserable worms amidst their own work die and bury themselves so often times our disordinate appetite findes that distastfull and prejudiciall which it supposed to be pleasant and profitable Nay more take this for a certain rule that when the appetite so hotly pursueth any thing which