that I shall never digest him O that I were but rid of this fellow O that I might once liquour my shoes with thâ—s knaves bloud whatsoever it cost me I can never be at quiet as long as this villain is in my sight O most impious speeches fetcht from hell and thither to be sent again Thus foolishly we abscribe to our adversaries the disquiet of our minds A soul errour against which that golden Oratour discourseth Suppose saith he we had a body of Adamant albeit we were shot at on all sides with innumerable shafts we should never be wounded seeing wounds proceed not from the hand that shooteth but from the passibility of the body upon which they are inflicted So in like case injuries and contumelies take their being not from the insolency of those lewd fellows that offer them but from the weaknesse and imbecillity of those that suffer them If we had the true Art of Philosophy we should never be sensible of any injury or take it in ill part For example Doth a man offer thee an injury If thou resent it not it never grieves thee neither hast thou sustained any injury but rather strucken him then received a stroke Why therefore do we accuse our enemies and those that maligne us as if they were the cause of all our miseries The fault is of our side whensoever we are hurt we hurt ourselves Most true is that saying of the Church No adversity shall ever hurt us if no iniquity have dominion over us But what marvell if there be in our minde so little quietnesse seeing there is in it so little temper of our tongue or patience In suffering we are in every respect untractable we can neither digest that with silence which is displeasing nor with patience what is contrary to our disposition and yet we lay all the fault upon our adversary we should be more holy say we were it not for him O ridiculous men Were it not our own fault the wickednesse of our adversaries would be so far from making us worse that it would render us much better and honester men Thy perdition O Israel is from thy self not from thine enemies impute thine impatience to thy self and noâ— to them And who is there that can molest or hurt us if we be followers of good This is a remarkable speech of Saint Chrysostome No man is hurt but by himself It was in the power of Decius Aurelianus Nero Domician Dioclesiâ—n to kill and slaughter those couragious Champions St. Vincent Sebastian George Mauritius Tibuâ—â—ius but not to hurt them which surely they had done could they have taken from them their celestiall crowns Well might Valerianus torture St. Laurence upon a gridiron but not bereave him of Christ or the kingdom of heaven Well might the Arian fury persecute Athanasius both by sea and land but not hurt or endammage him whose vertue iâ— amplified and illustrated It was a learned saying of Origen Orig hom 25 in lib. Num. All things are so ordained that nothing in the fight of God although it be evill is idle or in vain There is no evill wrought by God but when it is contrived by others albeit he might hinder it he doth not but concurs with those that invented it to make some necessary use thereof Thus God is no Authour of sin but of all punishment whatsoever neither is it his will to harm or prejudice but for our greater good to correct and reform us Sect. IX COnsider here I beseech you what Aman did to Mardocheus Aman insolent through the favour of his Prince stately and magnificent touching in his own conceit the very stars with his head All the servants of the King bended their knees and adored Aman for so the Emperour had given them in charge He like a cock upon his own dunghill swayed all and would be adored of Mardocheus as he was by others Vail bonnet Jew quoth he bend thy knees kisse thy hand adore Aman. It went hard with Mardocheus to have this exacted of him which according to the Religion he professed he could not with a good conscience perform Whether it were that Aman had the pictures and figures of the gods upon his garments as some men think or that this adoration were to be exhibited to him as to a god it is not certainly known sure it is this adoration seemed not due to a man Mardocheus therefore sincerely appealing to God said Lord Lord King omnipotent for in thy dominion are all things and there is none that can resist thy will if thou determine to save Israel Thou madest heaven and earth and whatsoever is contained within the compasse of heaven Thou art Lord of all nor is there any that can resist thy Majestie Thou understandest all things and knowest I have not out of pride or contumely oâ— any desire of glory refused to adore proud Aman for gladly would I be ready for the salvation of Israel to kisse even the steps of his feet but I feared lest I should transferre the honour of my God to a man By this example we are instructed to comply even with the most wicked in all manner of courtesy benevolence and observance to exhibit unto them unfainedly all obedience and reverence and by this meanes not only to honour them all that we may but likewise to be ready to fall down before them and kisse their feet we must reforme such like odious speeches and cogitations this is my enemy a man full of spleen and rancour a detractour an envious person I cannot choose but hate him he is not worthy to be seene or somuch as thought off haveing nothing in him but wickednesse and mischiefe I will have nothing to do with hâ—m I know him well enough and he me loft and faire whosoever thou art be not so passionate the master in the Schoole of Patience hath subjected thee to this man and committed thee to his charge what just cause I pray have you heere to complaine If you be wise you will rather say I am ready with all my heart to kisse the very ground where he treads And this the more readily for that God can with much facility cause an alteration and appoint Mardocheus usher over Aman so that he may say with good authority recite Aman recite Consider these wondrous changes Aman a neere favorite of the kings abounding in wealth boasting his populous family his multitude of children the prosperity of fortune the kings especiall favours and the esteem even of a God upon earth This Aman I say is by the king suddenly adjudged to be hanged on a gibbet while Mardocheus a little before condemned to the same death was in all haste cloathed in princely garments set upon a horse sutable to that state crowned and led through the principall street Aman going before him in the condition of a servant and proclaming this is the honour given to every man whom the king is pleased to dignifie O my God! what a suddaine
God know and if there be knowledge in the hâ—ghest This is that infamous rock whereat so many have suffered shipwrack by despaire O you mortals God is neither ignorant nor unjust Most wisely and most justly are these revolutions in the world the first be made the last and the last first the innocent punished and the guilty pardoned We live heer as if we kept perpetually the Saturnalia the wicked dominier and flourish good men are made subject groan and lament masters serve and servants play the mâ—sters But how little a while will this continue Fâ—r otherwise will it be in the eternall world This is but a preludâ—um to that better life let us not wonder to see all things turned upside down in this game vertue oppressed with continuall labours and vice enjoying all ease and delicacies There is nothing upon earth done without cause Some I will here set downe Sect. II. THe first reason is that we may be conformable with Christ For whom he hath foreknowne and predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son God hath sent his Son unto us but what image I pray you hath he given us of himselfe No other then that which represented him a man contemptible miserable and nailed to the Crosse Behold O man what image thou must imitate to whom thou must conform thy selfe The whole life of Christ was nothing but a meer crosse and wouldest thou frame a quiet life to thy selfe flowing with delights and replenished with pleasures Christ before he was born had a stable pointed out for his nativity scarcely was he born but his death was sought after being born he was laid not in a cradle of Ivory or Silver but upon straw in a homely manger His infancie and youth he passed in labour and want witnesse himselfe I am poore saith he and brought up in labours from my youth When he began to preach he had many contumclies affronts and injuries offered him some took up stones to throw at him others led him to the top of a hill to cast him downe headlong Finally to conclude and crown as it were all his injuries at last he died on a Crosse and was buried in another mans tomb And as Christ began to suffer before he was born so ceased he not to suffer when he was dead for after his death and buriall he was called Seductor ille that seducer Very truly said Christ of himself Against me all thy wrath hath passed and over me thou hast brought all thy waves This is the Image of his Son which God proposeth to be imitated This is the court-colour and to be diversly afflicted is to wear our Princes livery It is a most true saying That all the life of Christ Tho. de Kempis l. 2. c. 12. n 7. was a continuall crucifying and martyrdome and lookest thou for joy and tranquillity It is the custome of some Academies to cloath those that live aâ—d study together in garments all alike so is it the pleasure of God that all his scholars in the school of Patience be clad in the same colour all sutable to his Son with contempt irâ—isions calumnies calamities and affâ—onts he hath predestinated them to be conformable to the Image of his Son The second cause is calamity and affliction awake men out of sloath We are most of us unwilling to take pains and very prone to sloath and idlenesse Hence comes it that unlesse we be rowsed we wax sluggish and slâ—epy not without danger of our salvation Garments lying still unworn are eaten with moaths a field for want of tilling is overgrown with thorns a standing water is filled with Toads and Frogs and a man never exercised with calamities becomes effeminaâ—e by pleasure and corrupted with vice For whilst men sleep the enemy comes and sowes darnell Whâ—lst Sâ—â—son sâ—â—pt in the bosome of Dâ—â—ila he lâ—st both his haire and strength the Philistines waked him indeed but to his cost being deprived of his haire and strength to defend hâ—m Scipio Nasâ—â—a that soul of valour and wisedome would have Carthage spared for no other reason then to keep the Romans awake God himselfe placed in the middest of Israel the Hetheans Gergezeans Amorrheans Châ—naneans Pâ—erezeans Heveans Jâ—â—â—zeans most potâ—st enemâ—es lest Israel shoulâ— sleep in vice and iniquâ—ty and to mâ—â—ster them occasion of perpetuall warre anâ— victory David before he was proclaimed King shrowded himself in the dens of wild beasts hardly secured from the secret practises of his enemies he made a scruple even to touch Saul his mortall enemy but when he had purchased his peace and flowed in pleasures and idlenesse he feared not by letters to proâ—ure the death of his most faithfull servant Urias The Church of God never more flourished then when she was most afflicted amidst swords and crosses she beheld the combats and victories of her Martyrs After the same manner goes it with every particular man no sooner is he at truce with adversity but he becomes sluggish and vicious assuredly unlesse we be often stirred up and visited and even galled with adversiâ—y wee languish and lose our selves with idlenesse We are perpetually inebriated and sluggish unlesse something happen to put us in minde of humane misery But observe heer what the master doth sometimes in the School He sees two of his scholars sleeping in their severall places and forthwith calls alowd to one of their fellows saying Pinch that Boy and awake him mean while lets the other sleep as if he saw him not And why commands he not both to be wakened The reason is because the one is docible capable of learning and shortly after shal be commanded to repeat his lesson being of a sharp wit ready tongue and therfore wel beloved of his master The other Endymion is the dunce drone of the school never better or more at quiet then when hee sleeps Such an one as this the master passeth over with neglect and had rather have him sleep then prâ—â—e and disturb the rest So Almighty God provokes incites and exercises his most forward and aptest scholars scourgeth every child whom he receives into his favour Sect. III. THE third reason is to increase their faith He that learns ought to believe We beleeve there is a heaven prepared for the blessed and a hell for the damned but I beseech you what lively faith or assurance have we of either No eye could ever penetrate to hell nor do any return from heaven to declare how matters go there This cogitation afflicteth many for some thinking not rightly with themselves have said There was never any known to return from hell Neverthelesse we must beleeve that there are both these places except we conclude that God is unjust for if he who hath covenanted to punish the wicked and reward the good payes neither in this world certainly in the world to come he will not fail both to punish the one and liberally to reward the other But most evident
refute not what is said but only answer that he was ignorant of your other faults or else he would never have published those alone These are the speeches of a wise man but an undiscreete no sooner heares himselfe defamed but he presently cries out I will use these lying knaves in their kinde doe they presume to divulge this of me I will make every veine of their heart repent those villanous words I le brand them with that mark of infamy which they deserve Ah deare Christian Certainely thou never learnedst this in the School of Patience It is reported that Aldegund a Virgin descended from royall parents and from her tender yeares addicted to all manner of vertues hearing that she was much to the offence of some of her friends slandered by certaine idle prating companions beganne somewhat to be perplexed in minde But straightwares an Angel was sent to comfort her whospake thus unto her Art thou troubled at the envious pratling of those that beare thee ill will why regardest thou the vaine and foolish speeches of men why reflectest thou upon earth or earthly things thy spouse and judge is in heaven art thou ready to shed thy blood for Christ learne first to disgest slanderous and contumelious words patience overcomes all Ever after Saint Aldegund armed her selfe with so much patience that of her owne accord she begged of her spouse she might be roughly intreated My good Jesus said she I am now well acquainted with thy manner of proceeding I know thou writ chastise every childe thou receivest scourge then severely thy unworthy handmaid purge and chastise me with injuries griefes and diseases it will be most pleasing to me to suffer that thereby I may avoid everlasting punishment her spouse condescended unto her prayers For shortly after a gangrene seazed upon her brest which after wards spread it selfe all over her body And this was sufficient matter to exercise her patience all the dares of her life after Let us therefore learne to beare these scourges of the tongue with Spartan yea with Christian courage Scarcely will he beare blowes for Christs sake who hath not as yet learned to disgest so much as words Let every one say to himselfe Our Lord is my helper I will not feare what Aug loco 〈…〉 vide qâ—aeso que dicturi 〈◊〉 in sine paâ—t 2. de 〈…〉 â—lâ—gellâ— man can doe unto me Saint Augustine confirming this Doctrine saith If thou beest exempted from suffering stripes thou art not admitted into the number of children Sect. V. A Sacke BY a Sacke is deciphered a heape of mischieves out of which neverthelesse either time or death delivers the prisoner The Sacke amongst the Japonians Vide Nicolai Tiâ—gauâ—ii triumphus apud Iaponas mihi p. 138. 199. is a horrible torment not unknowne to Christians they that are condemned to this are tyed in a sacke up to the necke where they stand day and night without any food expos'd to the stormes and tempests of the raine and windes Thus being oppres'd with hunger thirst cold heat and want of sleepe this miserable wretch findes in one torment as many vexations as an helpelesse state can inflict The sacke is a frequent punishment in the Shoole of Patience for sometimes the calamities are so many which oppresse a man and lye so heavy upon him that he seemes bound hand and foot in a sacke or set in a barrell like Regulus M. Attilius Regulus that most rare example of patience and fidelity that glory of the first Punicke Warre according to his pledged faith presented himselfe to his enemies who cutting off his eye lids put him into a wodden chest strucke through on all sides with very sharpe nailes which transfixed his wearied body so that on what side soever he sought to rest he leaned on a wound his eyes deprived of their lids were condemned to perpetuall watching and his whole body to sharpe and lingring torments till by these meanes they cruelly murdered this most valiant man A horrible kâ—nde of torture and which indeed may be called an epitome of hell And each of us now and then seems to himselfe a Regulus for we are son etimes in such dâ—stresse and misery that we conceive our selves inclosed in his restlesse â—ub goaâ—ed on all sides with sharpe nailes and which is worse seeme to be destitute of all comfort round about environ'd with a sea of calamities griefes and sorrowes They write of Zoerardus an anchoret that he combated against sleepe in this manner He fixed many nailes within a hollow tree especially where he was wont to leane his backe or sides Moreover he fastned over his head a large iron ring and great stones round about it so that which way soever he nodded his weary head he found a sharpe remembrance to awaken him a straite and narrow house I confesse but an excellent symbole of manifold misery Thus are we sometimes environed with miseries that which way soever we bend our eyes or minde nothing occurres but that which torments us When Micheas had prophesied contrary to the humour of king Achab he thus wickedly commanded Cast that man in prison and feede him with the bread of tribulation and the water of distresse Micheas was well acquainted with the sacke for hee was not onely condemned of falshood but haled to prison derided and afflicted with hunger This is to bee shut up in a sacke That most holy king David wearing this sacke as it had been his daily garment I have said quoth he to my selfe my soule is troubled and albeit I endevour with cheerefull thoughts to reduce her to her wonted alacrity yet she returnes againe to her selfe and falleth into her formerg iefes depth calleth on depth showers rush upon me out of all quarters one overtakes another and all light on me calamity drawes on calamity All thy high things and thy waves have passed over me All the world bands against me I am never at rest warre begets warre every where danger and enemies vexations losses and ruines every where great occasion of misery Behold this kingly Prophet even shut up in a sacke The holiest men of all are sometimes put into this sacke for they are not onely sensible of the evils themselves but they observe the dangers they consider the damages of the soule they are not ignorant of the deceipts of the gostly enemy what a matter it is to fill from Gods grace and to have him their enemy when therefore they are destitute of divine comforts they feare least peradventure they are excluded also from his favours By this meanes they are in a sacke and perplexed with manifold griefes For that cause likewise king Dâ—vid confesseth thus with teares O God thou hast repelled us and destroyed us Thou hast shewed hard matters to thy people thou hast given us the wine of compunction to drinke O my Lord thou givest us to drinke out of thy cellar bitter wormewood wine an exceeding bitter potion Much like these are the words
greatest dainties For he desired to fill his belly with the huâ—ks wherewith hoggs were fedde which none would bestow upon him And though he call'd to mind how farre hunger was exiled from his fathers house and what plenty there was of bread yet he never exclamed who will helpe me to a cramm'd pullet fat capon or fine manchet But who will give me a mouldy crust of the coursest bread Where I beseech you and of whom did he learne so great temperance certainly of hunger and that in the Schoole of Patience Very well said Eusebius Hunger brings him backe againe whom saturity had expell'd And no marvell for hunger brings the hauke to her masters fist We thinke hunger a great evill but much greater is intemperance To aâ—â—id therefore the one God oftentimes sends us the other he chastiseth us with hunger to restraine us from intemperance Thus calamities serve us for remedies Sect. V. A most elegant saying it was of Seneca Senec. l. de Tranquil c. 9. that with light inconveniences grievous mischiefes are cured when the minde giving small care to wholesome precepts cannot by an easier meanes be healed Who is he that will not look about him when he is awakened by poverty ignominy and havock made of all he hath One evill drives out another If thou wouldest not have a sicke man meddle with unwholesome meat the best way is either not to set it before him or else so to pepper and salt it that he shall have no pleasure to taste it God carefully goes about to cure us and by peppering and salting our affaires with miseries makes those things unsavoury which he knowes are ready to bring us to destruction Saint Augustine reputing this a singular benefit saith He that is restrained from iniquity is overcome most to his owne advantage And this he had experienced in himselfe I have not escaped said he thy scourges for what mortall man hath ever been free from them Thou wert alwayes present mercifully correcting and sprinkling with most bitter distastes all my unlawfull delights that I might seek those pleasures which are void of all distaste This God doth that we may not relish our miseries to our owne destruction This causeth me O you wanton worldlings to see and not to envie your delights for without all question they are inwardly soundly salted and peppered Let him taste that hath a minde to be burned God like an expert Cooke seasoneth with such unsavoury sawce those meats that are unwholsome or too cold as Cucumbers Mushromes Melons and red Beets that we may be well contented to forbeare them And in stead of this dangerous wanton fare sends us oftentimes royall dishes from his owne table It might have seemed a great favour when David King of Jerusalem as the second book of Kings recounteth sent dishes from his owne table to his servant Urias The Kings meate followed him Nebuchodonosor in like sort appointed the foure Hebrew children a certain provision for every day of his meats and of the wine whereof â—e dranke himself And what is Christs royall fare what his principall wine Mary poverty and want of all things To be born to live to die in extream necessity My meat saith our Saviour is to do the will of him that sent me to performe his businesse What businesse is this to be daily crucified For Christ our Lord the very first moment that he tooke up his habitation in the wombe of the blessed virgin knew he was to be crucified so that all the time of his life he was crucified through the daily memory of his death And hence came it that going about to make triall as it were of his two brothers sonnes to Zebedeus he said unto them Can you drinke the chalice whereof I am to drinke that chalice I mean which my Father hath given unto me that chalice which of all other is most bitter Hee that saith hee cannot let him learn to drinke it in the Schoole of Patience Let us accustome our selves therefore to lay aside superfluities let ordinary meat satisfie our hunger and drinke our thirst Let us learne to be masters of our selves and not to imitate new fangled cookery in our diet or fashion in our apparrell Let us use our selves to sup without choyce companions or dainty dishes to weare apparrell rather warm and fit then fine and costly and to content our selves with mean habitations Let us learne every day to be more continent then other to restraine sensuality to moderate our appetites pacifie our anger with patience to embrace poverty live frugally and foresee our neer approching eternity All this is to be learned in the Schoole of Patience but by them onely that are willing and industrious In the mean time let us make good use of this maxime Not to be dejected with adversitie nor too confident in prosperity It is the part of a wise man to beware of doing evill and of a valiant to beare with moderation what is past recalling though not amending CHAP. III. Affliction teacheth Prayer and Mortification HIeronymus Cardanus Cardan l. 13. de Subtil pag. 284. a learned man asketh this question Why Roses are armed and beset with thornes And after a large Philosophical discourse at last concludes that the Rose would not be so sweet were it not so thorny For proofe hereof he brings the wilde Rose which for the most part hath but five leaves and nothing neare so many thornes as those in gardens and therefore though it be somewhat sweet yet it is far inferiour to the other Prayer is a faire and most selected Rose but yet if it be not accompanied with thorns of mortification the sent it breathes will be nothing so odoriferous All wise men in the Schoole of Christ with one voyce agree that prayer without mortification is of little or no worth that the one cannot stand without the other nor that these two can by any means be separated Hereupon when a certain religious person was commended â—ibald in viâ—a S. Ignatii l. 5. c. â—1 ante finem in the presence of Saint Ignatius to be a man of much prayer he changing the word answered He is a man of much mortification He meant according to the opinion of many others that kinde of mortification which consists more in the subduing of the will and judgement then in macerating and afflicting the body And this will I declare in the chapter ensuing to wit that prayer and mortification are excellently well taught in the Schoole of Patience Sect. I. KIng David exhorting us to divine praises saith Sing to our Lord on the Harp on the Harp and voyce of Psalme on Sackbuts and voyce of Cornet An excellent exhortation to prayer containing foure principall points A Harp which hath many strings must of necessity have them all carefully tuned and if there be but one out of tune the whole musick is spoiled Just so it is with us Whosoever keeps the whole Law and offends but in one is
waters have entred even to my soule As Almighty God qualifies and proportions the raine for the benefit of the world that neither the want nor abundance thereof should be hurtfull but in such cases when he sends them as a punishment for mens offences so he moderates and mitigates all our labours and griefes in that for want of exercise we may not wax sloathful of sluggish nor yet be so utterly destitute of consolation therein that we faint or fall in the combat And this was the request of the Kingly Prophet Leave me not destitute on every side He desireth not to be exempted from all manner of desolation vexation or afflictionâ— this his onely suit is he may not be utterly forsaken abandoned on every side although his sinnes had deserved it But if God powre down a violent and sudden showre which seemeth to wash away and destroy the fatnesse of the earth it must be taken as a punishment Notwithstanding this may be no way prejudiciall but redound to our good seeing it pleaseth God by this meanes to humble us Quae nocent docent There are certaine trees that have their fruits growing so fast and close unto them that they will not easily let them go unlesse you pull them off with a violent and strong hand Of this sort are Nuts Almonds and Acorns If you shake these trees gently as you do Pears or Plumbs they will part with nothing not so much as a lease you must fall upon them therefore with staves cudgels and stones that they may afforod you by blowes what they refused to give by intreaties We are like these trees our fruits are the pious actions which we undertake God seekes God requires these fruits not sharply or by violence but sweetly and lovingly for these fruits he askes a thousand times My sonne quoth he honour thy Lord and thou shalt be of great power and might feare no other strange Lord beside him My son forget not my Law Give eare my son and receive my words that the yeares of thy life may be multiplied Keep my commandments and thou shalt live Give my son thy heart to me and let thine eyes keep my wayes But for so much as this good God by these prayers for the most part prevails but little and that there scarcely falls any fruit from this tree he is even forced with stones and clubs to strike and fling at it that so at least it may render him the fruits he expected A â—aâ—s conscience without all question often admonisheth the preachers put him in mind and others do their parts to advise him yet such is the contumacie of this tree that all these means will not suffice to make him yeeld his wished fruâ—t Take it not ill therefore O tree if thou beest more hardly handled Thus God dealt with the Hebrewes he delivered them into the hands of the Gentiles and they who hated them had dominion over them And their enemies oppressed them with tribulation and they were humbled under their hands that they might be taught by their own harms What reason then hath this tree to thinke much if it be pelted with cudgels and stones It might have gone free from blowes if it had freely given what was most justly demanded Naaman the Leper was highly offended because Elizeus the Prophet gave him so slender an answer In so much that slighting and contemning the river Jordan he resolved to return again into Syria But his servants appeased their master in this manner Father said they had the Prophet imposed upon you some difficult matter surely you ought willingly to have done it how much more seeing he hath now onely said unto you wash and you shall be cleansed Induced by these reasons he washed in Jordan as he was willed and so was cured of his leprosie O that we would thus be perswaded the same is said to us that we may obtain not corporall but spirituall health and salvation of our soules And albeit God had commanded you some thing of more difficulty you ought certainly to have done it For of so great importance is eternall beatitude that were we commanded to endure even the very torments of hell for a time we should not demurre long upon the matter but without delay readily endure even those paines that our soule might be happy for all eternity Nay admit the blisse and beatitude of heaven might not exceed an hundred yeares we should rather endure any thing for many yeares in this world then neglect the enjoying of that On the other side say hell fire after an hundred yeares were utterly to be extinguished neverthelesse it behoved us rather to suffer all punishments here that can be imagined then to expect those future torments How much more ought all afflictions whatsoever to be now cheerfully suffered seeing they passe away in a short time in a moment whereas the reward or punishment continues to eternity Here Saint Chrysostome opportunely a wakeing us out of our slouth urgeth in this manner What saiest thou O man Thou art called to a kingdome a kingdome of the Sonne of God and like a sluggard doest thou yawne shrugge and scratch thy head What if thou were every day to suffer a thousand deaths were not all these willingly to be endured There is nothing thou wouldest not undergoe to be made a Prince and wilt thou not do the like to be consorted in a kingdome with the only Sonne of God even leape into the fire or run upon a thousand swords And yet all this were no great matter to be suffered Sect. II. IN former times God commanded an edict to be published to this effect Let a man that is cleane gather the ashes of a calfe and powre them out before the tents in the purest place that they may serve for the custody of the multitude of the children of Israell and for water of aspersion because the calfe is burnt for sinne It was the pleasure of God that ashes to make lie off should not bee gathered indifferently by any man but by him only who was clean and that they should not be negligently cast into a by corner but into some pure and cleane place why was so much honour done to these ashes Mary that they might serve to bee sprinkled with water on them that were unclean Heare O Christians and carefully attend and see in what estimation this lie of affliction was sharpe indeed but most fit to purge and clense away the filth of sinne None amongst mortall men are free from sinne and corruption That most holy Job said If I shall be washed as it were with the water of snow and my hands shall shine as being most pure and cleane notwithstanding thou wilt dip me in filthes and my steps will make me abominable If Job were likewise to be washed what shall we say of others But as fire is to metalls the file to iron sope to a cloth so is affliction to sinners that purgeth and washeth away all filth
tendeth not directly towards God it is no other then a foul sin covered under a fair pretext And therefore Christ for the most part gives us with a bountifull hand those things which are most profitable for us inviting all freely to the School of Patience but not so to the glory of this world If any one saith he will come after me let him deny himself and take up his crosse and follow me not to a pleasant garden but to the horrid and noisome mount Calvary Sect. IV. WHen the Saviour of the world would manifest a little glimpse of his glory upon mount Thabor he admiâ—ted onely three of his Apostles to be spectatours And why did he not invite many hundreds that were inhabitants of Hierusalem Or at least why did he not take with him all his Apostles The counsells of God are far different from those of men To behold Christ crucified hanging all bloudy on the Crosse came an infinite multitude of people but to see him glorified on mount Thabor three of his dearest Disciples were only admitted Doubtlesse this was to teach us that they are innumerable who profit themselves by crosses and afflictions but few or none by earthly glory and prosperity And therefore St. Bonaventure said he had rather ascend with Christ to the mount Golgotha then to mount Thabor Thus assuredly Quae nocent docent In times past at Rome the yeer of our Lord 167. Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus commanded all the souldiers in publike triumph to be crowned with laurell which all obeyed except one Christian who would not wear his wreath on his head but on his arm and being asked why he alone differed from the â—â—shion of the rest answered It was not fit that a Christian should be crowned in this life Tertullian in defence of this so generous an answer wrote a book intituled The Souldiers Crown whereby he declares with great eloquence how prudent an act this was of that souldier The truth is a Christian should not be crowned but with thorns for so was our head Christ Jesus Alas How unsutable â—re tender and delicate members with a thornie wounded and bloudy head Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo considering advisedly these words of Saint James the Apostle Behold we beatifie them that have suffered You have heard the sufferance of Job and seen the end of our Lord. Lest men saith he should patiently suffer temporall afflictions to the end they may receive that which we read was restored to Job Who besides his sores and ulcers cured had doubly restored him what he had lost To shew therefore that after the suffering of temporall afflictions we should not hope for like reward he doth not say You have heard the sufferance and end of Job but You have heard the sufferance of Job and seen the end of our Lord. As if he had said Sustain temporall afflictions as Job did but for this expect not temporall benefits which were given him with increase but rather hope for eternall such as our Lord received We therefore for our sufferings must aime at a reward to be given us where there is no more to be suffered Many are exalted to be cast downe by a greater falls Contrariwise God suffers divers persons to fall the lower that he may thereby advance them higher The more torment here the more reward there Oftentimes in holy Scripture a wel-minded man is compared to a Palm-tree Heare the speech of the heavenly Gardiner himselfe who saith I will ascend up to the top of the Palm-tree and gather the fruit thereof What need is there my God to ascend are not thy armes otherwise long enough to gather the fruit It is as easie for thee to gather fruit on the top of the tree as upon the lower boughes But observe I beseech you the wisedome of the divine counsell A Gardiner standing upon his feet gathers the lower fruit by pulling the boughes gently unto him but when he meanes to pull the higher fruit he climbs up and treads upon the tree â—nd so sometimes breakes a bough before he gather the fruit A man as we said before is compared to a tree his fruits are holy and pious actions high ripe and perfect workes of vertue as singular humility remarkable patience transcendent charity the heavenly Gardiner to get these fruits ascends up into the tree treads upon it and breaks the boughs hence it commeth to passe that one man is deprived of part of his wealth another of his honour a third of his friend another of his pleasure Behold how the Gardiner by treading upon us gathers riper fruits whereby invited and stirred up to worke with more fervour we dispatch sooner and every day become more solicitous in divine affaires Thus oftentimes Qua nocent docent Sect. V. SOmetimes God is pleased to blesse us abundantly with store of all things but to no other end then that as they encrease and become more deare unto us we may be more sensibly grieved for the losse thereof S. Bonaventure saith that Paradise even for this cause was planted by God that our first parents being excluded from thence might suffer the more griefe and by that meanes the more bitterly bewaile and detest their sinne which was cause of their banishment It was therefore his pleasure that Adam should sensibly perceive what happinesse he had lost by his sin and consequently seeke to recover the like or greater blisse by repentance that having lost Paradise he might more earnestly aspire to heaven Thus a thousand severall times even at this day God deals with us For example he gives to some parents a son of an excellent disposition comely docible and ingenious who with those of his age ascends by learning to the second or third Fourme On the sudden death crops this rose this youth of so great hopes dies in the very flower of his age Alas what a grief is this to the parents They are ashamed openly to utter what they conceive secretly in their hearts Why did God give us such a son when he meant presently to take him from us againe Had we not affliction enough before was it requisite to adde this sorrow to our former griefes Yes indeed was it so parents and for that cause was your son borne that his untimely death might increase your griefe and consequently the reward of your patience Did not God at the intercession of Elizeus grant a son to his Hostesse and shortly after take him from her again by death Cauterizing seems to make a new wound whereas indeed it cureâ— the old Affliction seems to be a malady when oftentimes it is a cure for the malady And are you yet ignorant that Qua nocent docent But I am a man say you my heart is not made of iron brasse or steele I am not able to endure such griefes Say not so I beseech you the School-master best knowes what every Scholar is able to undergo he commands one to learne but five verses another ten some
that may befall him whatsoever comes to passe he saies I knew and foresaw this before hand all events therefore are to be thought of and our mind prepared and fortified against all that may happen Thinke on exiles torments wars shipwracks diseases Set before your eies the whole state of humane condition let us anticipate and foresee if we desire not to be oppressed on the suddain or daunted at any thing as strange and unusuall not only what doth often but even what for the most part may happen unto us It is the mind that makes a mans life either happy or miserable An evil man converts all into evill even those enterprises which at first were most hopefull an upright and sincere man corrects sinister fortune qualifies sharpe and disastrous accidents by a moderate and skilfull bearing them Choose therefore whether thou wilt take thy observation from others or thy selfe without partiality and thou shalt both find confesse that nothing how deare soever and desired by â—s iâ— any way profitable unlesse we arme our selves as well against the uncertainty of casualties as the circumstances and events that may ensue thereby yea unlesse we often and that without repining or complaint accustome our selves to say in all damages and losses whatsoever Deo aliter visum est It hath pleased God to dispose otherwise To a minde thus composed nothing shall fall out amisse and so surely it may be composed if it consider but before hand how far the various successe of things in this world may extend it selfe If he dispose himselfe to enjoy wife children and his whole patrimony not as if he had a perpetuity thereof but with this resolution not to repute himselfe any whit the more miserable should he be deprived of them Plutarch reports that Ulisses after he had spent twenty yeares in warfare returned to his country and sitting with his wife Penelope while she wept and was drowned in teares he shed none himselfe nor was sensible of any passion so well was his minde established before hand and fortified against her teares but when he saw his dog was dead he could not forbeare weeping It was certainly this sudain and unexpected chance that caused those teares He therefore that would not grieve in adversity let him foresee it Sect. II. BUt we many times are so unconsiderate improvident that we forget where we are or whither we go we woÌ„der think much to lose any thing whereas we shall one day lose all So ill prepared are we that we even tremble at the least alteration This therefore we must endevour that nothing befall us unlooked for and for somuch as all things seem the greater by reason of their novelty by this daily consideration we shall in short time be no strangers to any mischiefe that may happen nor wonder at those chances whereunto we are all indifferently borne we suffer nothing but what all mankind is liable to This may I well avouch seeing whatsoever a man escapes might have befallen him And not only the law which is executed upon all but also that which is made alike for all may be said to be indifferent to all Let us be indued with equanimity and without complaint yeeld all duties to mortality when winter comes we must be cold when summer hot when unseasonable and unwholesome weather impaires health we must be sicke Here we are set upon by one beast there by another yea even by man himselfe the most pernicious of all beasts Here we see one burnt there another drowned The course of these things is not in our power to helpe or alter thus much only we may do make a firme resolution to beare these accidents stoutly and couragiously We must addresse and compose our minds to this necessity of suffering we must follow and obey and suppose all that is done ought necessarily to be Except sin done Your best way is to suffer what you can not mend nor change and without murmuring walke along with God from whose ordinance all things proceed He is an ill souldier who followes his Captain sighing and groaning Let us therefore follow our God cheerefully and couragiously speaking thus unto him O my Father lead me whither thou wilt behold without the least shrinking or delay I present my self vouchsafe deare Lord to draw also my rebellious will unto thee even whether it will or no. Thus let us speak thus let us live let no calamity find us unprepared This caused the wise man to bid us not to be unmindfull of adversity in prosperity nor of prosperity in adversity when thou flowest in riches think of poverty the pinching necessity thereof even amidst thy wealth From morning to evening the time shall be changed and all these things are summoned in the sight of God Art thou a Lord a governour It may come to thy turn to serve Hast thou wealth at will For all this thou maiest come to beg Art thou strong and healthy One only feaver or a far lesse matter may cost thee thy life Hast thou children In one day thou maiest lose them all Hast thou friends One howre nay one moment may deprive thee both of them and all things else Prepare then thy minde to these temptations that when death shall take away thy children or friends thou maiest say with that Spartan woman I knew they were mortall whom I had brought forth when thy money shal be wasted I knew it would not alwaies be mine the use thereof was only mine when thine honour vanisheth I was well assured no honour was eternall in this world You shall find some will cast up a world of present businesses and affairs as a bulwarke between them and future considerations These whilest they do little or nothing would have you thinke they worke wonders If you perswade them to retirement and spirituall recollection their answer is I am not at leasure If to heare a sermon I am not at leasure If to confesse their sins I am not at leasures If to set before their eies the dreadfull judgements of God I am not at leasure If to think of hell fire which is everlasting here I have no time for it If to contemplate heavenly joyes now my occasions will not suffer me If to provide for death I was never lesse at leasure in all my life And for my part I thinke they will scarce be at leasure to do it when they die Thus miserable wretches they have no regard at all of future things So that most men in this world put forth to sea and never so muâ—h as dreame of a tempest But when a suddain thunder-bolt falls upon them an unexpected calamity oppresseth them then shall you see them pitifully daunted diffident and distrustfull of all helps and uncapable of any consolation This my deare hearts this mischiefe you should have foreseen before and then you should have been lesse damnified thereby Sect. III. THey say if a wolfe chance to see a man first he strikes him
de Kemp. â—mit Christi l. 3. C. 50. me above all things to seeke alwayes after thy will and good pleasure Sect. IV. NEither ought this conformity of mans will to Gods seeme hard to any one What have we more in our power then to will or nill And what is more familiar or lesse troublesome to a man then to grant or deny Alexander King of Macedon undertooke the study of Geometry having a great desire to know how bigge the circuite of the whole earth was wherof then he possest but the least part The precepts which were given him were subtile and not to be learned without diligent attention a thing not so easie for a military man whose cogitations for the most part were wandring beyond seas This scholar therfore wil'd his master to teach him only some easie observations His masters answer was that these precepts were to every man the same and of like difficulty to all I may in a manner say the same concerning the conformity of mans wil with Gods these are to al men one and the same to Will or Nill ought seem to every one of like facility We are all indifferently both poore and rich of equall ability without any labour or cost of ours to Will or Nill infinite things yea every day we infinitely Will or Nill But to Will or Nill many things is no commendation to us unlesse both the one and the other be conformable to the will of God this is vertue this is praise-worthy indeed Palladius and Ruffinus recount a wonderfull story Paphnutius perswaded himselfe he had so profited in the way of our Lord that out of a sincere and pious curiosity he besought God to declare unto him whether any man in the world were equal to him in piety of life The divine goodnesse condescended to his request and commanded an Angel to signifie unto him that there was a poore Piper in a village not farre off who was altogether his equall in sanctity Paphnutius stood amazed at this message and musing much with himselfe Is it so indeed thought he hast thou endeavoured so many yeares with so little profit that thou art only equalled now with a poore minstrell And forthwith he undertooke with all the industry he might to finde out this man and seriously enquired of him what course of life he led and what vertues he most practised The poore man smiling at so curious a question beganne plainely to confesse the truth In times past said hee I was a theefe and robber on the high way now a Piper For my vertues good man it is in vain to aske of them I have none and therefore can give you no account of their names Paphnutius persisted still to urge wishing him at least to tel whether he had at any time done any good or notable act Alasse sir quoth he it is lost labour to sift into my conscience you shall finde it utterly barren and fruitlesse I have beene a slave to lust and drunkennesse yet this one thing I remember that once we tooke a religious woman to whom my fellowes would have offered violence had not I delivered her and conducted her safe to the next towne Another act of mine likewise comes to my minde seeing you presse me so far and are pleased to hear what perhaps is not fitting for me to utter Some few years since I found a fair comely yong woman wandring in the woods bitterly weeping and asking the cause of her teares Question me not said she who am the most unfortunate woman living but if you can helpe me to any service dispose of me at your pleasure my poore distressed husband bound for a huge unpayable debt of another mans lies in prison almost at the point of death neither have I any hope of his liberty Three sons of late I had which now alas I can no longer call mine the creditours having seazed upon them to serve as slaves in lieu of the debt I my selfe sought after to be used in the same manner have fled hither almost consumed with hunger and misery destitute of all counsell helpe or comfort At this dolefull relation I said the minstrell being ready to commiserate persons so unmercifully handled supposing it to be the blessed will and pleasure of God to give so good an occasion and object of charity brought this poor woman almost famished to my house where when I had refreshed her with meat relying on the great goodnes of God I brought her back to the city from whence she came with a sum of money redeemed and set at liberty both her husband and children Now reverend Sir aske me no more questions I beseech you I have given you already a list of all my vertues I could much sooner have given you one of my vices But I said Paphnutius fetching a deep sigh have understood that thou art nothing inferiour to me who inhabit the desert afflict my body with rigour austerity seeing therefore thou art so much in Gods favour that scarcely any of his servants are in more and seeing a zealous will and desire only to be holy is the prime sourse and welspring of all sanctity have a care I beseech thee of thy selfe do but once seriously will and desire it and it is as good as effected this onely is to be done deny thy selfe take up thy crosse and follow Christ At this the minstrell as if he had clearly heard these words spoken and commanded by God himself throwing away his pipe which he had then in his hand performed it presently and followed Paphnutius Here may I with just cause exclaime Take heed O you scholars who perswade your selves you have profited so much in the Schoole of Patience take heed I say lest these very punies go beyond you It is the custome now and then in Schools to call a petty out of the lowest forme to tell some blockish scholar of the highest wherein he hath grossely erred we may almost see the like in this Theeves and pipers scholars of the lowest classe oftentimes shame those who are high proud and impatient This man bears away the prise that wills all as God wills and nills as he nills This doubtlesse is the most learned the most patient the most singular of all the rest who hath his will most resigned and united to God He carries all cleerly before him who resignes his will wholly to the will of God Do but say I will and the palm of Patience is thine Sect. V. BUt this mischievous word why troubles many in the School of Patience why doth God this why that Why punisheth he innocents and dismisseth guilty persons Why permits he so many and such wicked enormities Why will he have all done according to his will and pleasure This was the question the serpent asked the mother of mankind in Paradise why hath God given you this commandment that you should not eate of all the trees of Paradise That why proceeding from the serpent must
suffer evill men to live but thou wouldest not have it so Almighty God is patient and beareth with sinners thou wouldest not tolerate them But as I said before thou willest one thing and God another Convert thy heart and direct it unto God because our Lord doth compassionate those that are infirme Hee sees in his mysticall body his Church some infirme persons who at the first apply themselves wholy to their owne will but finding the will of God to be otherwise they convert themselves and their heart to entertaine his will and to follow it Seeke not therefore to wrest and draw the wil of God to thine but contrariwise correct thine according to the will of God The will of God is a square and rule not to be altered As long as there is a straight and direct rule thou must have recourse to â—e thereby to correct thy crookednesse But what would men have It is not enough for them to have their owne will crooked they would also make the will of God crooked according to their owne heart that God might doe their will whereas they should do Gods will Thus farre Saint Augustine What shall I say O you mortalls doe you not yet conceive this doctrine of conforming your will to the will of God which the ancient fathers which the holy Scriptures so often inculcate Doe we yet run so confidently of our owne heads or stand so peremprorily upon our owne opinions that we dare repine at that which God wills or will that which God will not What we suffer God will have us suffer there is nothing more certaine then this and this he willeth for our good as a singular favour These favours saiest thou I am nothing ambitious of O thou whom I can scarcely call man but rather a beast ignorant and uncapable of what belongs to heaven looke I beseech thee how many even of the Noblity every where ambitiously seeke after labours so that they may thereby gaine riches and honours And they hold it a singular favour to obtaine that they seeke after And doest thou who art to passe through short and easie labours to the great festivall of overlasting delights in heaven stand pushing and resisting with thy refractory hornes like a wilde Bull or Stagge at bay Give â—are to a wonderfull story most certainely avowed and approved by infallible testimony which Leontius Neopolioâ— Bishop of Cyprus relateth in this manner A certain Citizen whom Leontius calleth Philochristus gave a good large summe of gold to John Patriarch of Alexandria as an almes to the poore and affirmed it was all the gold he had and therefore besought this holy father that he would be pleased to recommend to God in his prayers a son of his who was absent and upon condition he might returne safe he should thinke thiâ— gold very well bestowed But to testifie how serious his petition was he oftentimes with bended knee submissively made obeisance to the Patriarch thinking thereby he should sooner obtaine his suite This childe of his whom he so earnestly commended was his only sonne not above fifteene yeeres of age whose returne he expected in a ship from Africke The Patriarch accepted the gold and withall his suite wondring at a minde so noble and generous that could dispise and set so light so great a summe of mony Wherefore he wished him all good fortune and aâ— Leontius saith prayed much for him whilest he himselfe was present and so dismissed him Afterward he ceased not to offer up his prayers for him who had so earnestly begged them for going forthwith into the Church and laying the gold under the altar he celebrated Divine service according to his promise praied to God with all the fervour he could that he would vouchsafe to restore unto him his son and ship in saftey some thirty daies after he had thus praied this liberall citizens son died and the ship fraught with merchandise was cast away three daies after the sorrowfull news was brought that his son was dead the ship with all the merchandise lost and some few men escaped with the empty boate that belonged to the ship Consider here the extream and excessive griefe of this poor distressed father he had parted with his gold lost his son and the ship which he expected behold the reward of his piety and good disposition griefe without measure and not capable of any comfort How well might then the Kingly Prophets saying be applied to this most wofull and afflicted parent If our Lord had not succoured him his soul had even dwelt in hell The losse of such a ship one would have thought had been sufficient to have daunted his manlike spirit besides the untimely death of his son two wounds alas so deadly that the least of them might have brought him to utter desolation When this relation was made to John the Patriarch the good Prelates grief was little lesse then his whom the heavy disaster did most concerne whereupon knowing not well what to do nor whither to turn him he most earnestly besought God Almighty to yield this sorrowfull father some comfort he thought not fit to send for him overwhelmed with griefe but sent one that was discreet to say thus unto him as in his name Good Sir be not dejected do not in any wise tax God for want of mercy take courage elevate your eies to heaven and behold there everlasting joyes and delights our momentary and light tribulation works in us an eternall weight of glory whatsoever is done on earth is by the most just judgement of God nor is there any disaster or chastisment so great that redounds not to our good if we overcome it by suffering patiently God our most provident Father not only foresaw but also determined from all eternity what was most expedient for us We like silly infants not knowing what is good or bad often desire and seek after those things which are most hurtfull for us Be therefore confident in God in whose hand are thy ship and son This doubtlesse was a pious and well grounded consolation yet scarcely could these words penetrate a heart so deadly wounded wherefore all humane comfort failing the helpe of God was ready to assist For the next night John the Patriarch seemed to appeare to this afflicted citizen in his sleep and to utter these words What troubles thee my brother and why dost thou pine away thus with griefe didst thou not desire me to petition God for thy sons safe return Behold he is safe for all eternity know this for certain if he had lived and returned safe to thee he had been everlastingly damned as for thy ship know thus much hadst thou not obtained mercy by so liberall an alms she with all the passengers in her had been sunk and thy brother like wise been buried in the sea who for thy comfort yet survives Arise then and render thanks to God for that thy son is saved and thy brother restord to theo alive Philochristus