taught that the diuells could do no hurt to the swine vnles our Lord had giuen them leaue as neither the diuell nor any other creature can doe vs any hurt at all vnlesse God giue thē power to that purpose and vnlesse he worke by meanes of the diuel or that other creature which doth vs hurt whatsoeuer it be For though God be not the cause of any fault or sinne yet is he the cause of the punishment which is brought on by reason of the sinne or fault is receiued by meanes thereof So saith Saint Athanasius Since the diuels haue not so much as power ouer swine which are but the goods of men it is cleer that they haue no power ouer men who are made according to the image of God and so wee haue no cause to feare the diuells but onely God And the same did he declare concerning the hurt which might growe to vs from any other creature that it also proceeds from the hand of God saying Matt. 10. Two sparrowes are of so little value that they are sold for a toy and yet God hath so particular care and prouidence ouer euery one of them that not one can fall dead to the ground or be taken in a snare without his disposition will And thē how much more will he take care of men and not consent that any creature should so much as touch them either in soule or body or so much as in their goods without his leaue In this māner did Christ our Lord declare that all ills of punishment proceed to vs from the hād of God He also shewed how he ordaines them all to the good of soules that is to the end that sinners may be cōuerted and iust persons saued because he desires not the death of a sinner but that he may be conuerted and liue particularly he procures this when he takes their goods from them as Saint Augustine notes saying thus When God visits his seruants with the want of thinges necessary for this life and makes them suffer hunger or thirst as he proceeded with the Apostles he failes not thereby of the promise which he made them that nothing should be wanting to them For these temporall goods are helpes and kinds of Physicke to the soule and God is the Physitian who best knowes when to minister them and when to remoue them and so when they are wanting to vs as they are many times wee must knowe that God Almighty is the cause thereof for the exercise of our vertue and for the good of our soules And speaking in particular of that which Christ our Lord did with the Gerasins in depriuing them of their goods when he gaue the diuells leaue to drowne their swine Saint Ierome saith Christ our Lord gaue thē not that liberty by way of granting their desire or to performe their will but to the end that the losse of their goods might be profitable to the owners for their soules be an occasion of their saluation And the spirituall profit which came to them hereupon as Saint Chrisostome obserues was that they might knowe the power which diuells had to doe men hurt if God did not hinder them and so they might be thankefull to him for defending them by his diuine prouidēce as also to the end that they might feare and fly from sinne by meanes whereof men grewe subiect to the power of diuells to be vexed by them in this life with temporall paines and in the next with eternall torments These are the motiues reasons which a faithfull Christian must consider to the end that he may beare the losse of temporall goods with Patience namely the exāple of Christ our Lord that it comes from the hand of God and for the good of his soule And thus the losse of temporal goods will be of greater profit to him then the encrease thereof would haue bene For that little temporall losse will be the occasion of a great spirituall gaine The Saints of God haue confessed experimented this truth Whilest the blessed Laurentius Iustinianus he who afterward was Patriarch of Venice was one day out of his Monastery the house fell on fier and that parte thereof was burnt where he kept the prouisions of food which he had laid vp for the whole yeare When the Saint came home from abroad the Religious men tould him what had past and they were afflicted by occasion of so great a losse But the Saint cōsidering how it came ordained by the prouidence of God who so deerly loues vs and who in all thinges procures the good of soules and especially of such as serue him receiued this losse with much contentment though not for the losse it selfe but because the will and ordination of Almighty God was accomplished thereby And so with a cheerfull contenance he said to his Religious What hurt is there my children in this which hath happened to vs It is no ill but good it is no losse but gaine since by meanes thereof wee shall better execute our good desires in practising pouerty and Patience It is a great benefit to the seruant of God and of much merit and value when he may distribute his goods to the poore and imploy them vpon the workes of mercy but if he chāce to loose his goods if they be stolne from him if gotten away by iniustice or lost by any other accident and if he accept of that losse with much Patience and with much contentment for the loue of God and to conforme himself with his diuine will who so ordained he ordinarily doth aduantage his soule more and it doth merit more and please God more by this course then by the other For this Act of the vertue of Patience resignation is more pure free frō selfe loue thereby a man doth more deny and mortify his owne will doth more exercise Faith and hope in God as also the loue of his and the estimation of his holy will And so wee see that our Lord hath takē away these goods by some sinister accident from many Saints which they would haue giuen away in almes to affoard them meanes of greater merit thereby and for the exercise of that rare Patience wherwith they accepted and loued their aduersity and had gust therein as proceeding from the will of God Saint Iohn the Patriarch of Alexandria a man of rare mercy towards miserable men and euen a very miracle of mercy sent from Alexandria to the Adriaticke sea thirteene ships full loaden with marchandise and thinges of value which he had raised out of the Reuenues of his Church that so they might be sold in diuers parts remote and the whole price be giuen by him to poore people in the way of almes as his custom was Now it pleased Almighty God that vpon the rising of a great tempest at Sea al the goods were cast away and the shippes returned empty to Alexādria And God did thus ordaine because he more esteemed the
it in this manner in the interiour part of his hart O most happy Crosse how long is it since I haue loued desired thee it is now three and thirty yeares since I liue enamoured of thee and I all enkindled with the flames of this desire and loue to see myselfe conioyned to thee O thou most pretious wood wherupon the iust price for sinne shall be payed and the diuine iustice shall remaine fully satisfied and my Father shall be perfectly glorified and man shall be saued freed from sinne and death and eternall damnation shal make his entry into the Kingdome of heauen O with how good a will I suffer my selfe to be nayled to thee and will so continue vpon thee till I leaue to liue And because the affection and desire which Christ our Lord had to suffer was the cause of that vnspeakable Patience wherewith he endured all the sorrowes and torments of the Crosse let vs cōsider the testimonies of the Ghospel wherin he declared the frāke will desire which he had to suffer and wherwith he offered himselfe to his Passion and death He discouered this his pleasure in that he manifested and declared many times and in particular manner to his disciples how he was to suffer in Ierusalem and the torments kinde of death which he was to suffer Once he said thus to them Matt. 16. It is fit that I goe to Ierusalem and that I suffer many torments at the hands of the Scribes and Pharisees and chief Priests and that I be put to death by them And Saint Peter perswading him not to endure it he reproued him in sharpe manner for seeking to hinder his Passion It is cleer that since he knew so long before what he was to suffer he might haue auoided it and fled from it if he would and since he did not so it is plaine he had an affection and desire to suffer it Another time going vp to Ierusalem some few dayes before that Easter when he suffered he said thus to them Matt. 20. Behould we are going vp to Ierusalem and the son of man is to be deliuered vp to the Princes of the Priests to the Scribes who will condemne him to death and will deliuer him ouer to the Gentiles to the end that he may be scorned scourged and crucified by them As if he had said Behould how without being carryed or compelled we goe in a most voluntary manner to Ierusalem where those thinges which concerne my Passion and death are to be accomplished to the end that you may vnderstād how willingly I offer my selfe to that Passion and death whereby I am to saue the world He also discouered the great affection and desire which he had to suffer by his going to that garden which was so notorious a place and where he knew his enemies would seeke and finde him out as also in that being there and knowing that his enemies came to apprehend him he went not thence to some other place where they might not finde him but he went by that very way where they were cominge towards him he went to meet them and animated his disciples to goe with him saying Matt. 26. Rise vp and let vs goe for he who will betray mee is neer at hand So saith Saint Ierome when he declares these words Our Lord wēt to encounter his persecutors without any feare at all of his Passion and he voluntarily deliuered himself to them that they might depriue him of his life and he said to his disciples Rise vp and let vs goe as if he had said let not our enemies finde vs heer like fearfull men but let vs goe with good courage to receiue them and let them see the confidence and cheerfullnes wherewith we offer our selues to death Being gone forth to meet his enemies and already standing before them and they hauing many lights wherby they looked vpō him he being well knowen to them and especially to Iudas yet was it not in their power to know him then because he gaue them not that power not concurred with that faculty of their minde wherby they were to haue knowen him till such time as he discouered himselfe to them by saying It is I declaring thereby how truly it was in his owne hād not to be takē or so much as touched by thē vnles he would himselfe So saith Saint Chrysostome Our Lord stāding in the middest of his enemies did blinde their eyes this he did to make them know that not onely they could not haue apprehended him but not so much as haue seen him if himselfe had not giuen thē power to doe it He also declared thus much by making them returne and fall backward to the ground like dead men and that with one onely word discouering cleerly thereby how easy a thing it had bene for him to defend himselfe from them to take away both their strength and life if he had bene pleased He had formerly bene in feare in the garden to declare the weakenes of mans nature and by the immense loue which he bore to man he ouercame all that naturall feare and he being ouercome by that very loue and by the extreame desire which he had to suffer for the saluation of mankinde wēt forth to receiue his enemies as if they had bene his most beloued friēds And first hauing made it plaine that they could not once haue touched him nor so much as haue knowen him if he had not bene so pleased he then gaue thē leaue and power to doe what they would to him And this he declared by saying This is your houre and the power of darcknes This is that hower wherein liberty is giuen you to the end that you and the Princes of darcknes by your meanes may execute both his power his cruell wil vpon my person This affection wherewith Christ our Lord offered himselfe to the torments of death and this inuincible Patience wherewith he endured them had bene prophecied by Esai 53. chap. in these words He offered himselfe to death because he would The same Prophet had said The eternall Father had layd all our sinnes vpon Christ our Lord to the end that he might satisfy for them all and all those sinnes might be destroyed consumed by the vertue of his Passion And instantly he declares the manner how he layd them vpon him which was not by forcing or constraining him to suffer but by infusing an immense charity into him and by inspiring mouing his heart thereby to the end that voluntarily and freely with extreame readines and gladnes he might offer himselfe to death And declaring the Patience wherewith he suffered that death he saith As a sheepe he opened not his mouth So great was the Patience the desire and loue wherewith he endured the torments which he tooke vpō him for the discharge of our sinnes that he opned not his mouth either to defend himself or complaine of others Like a quiet sheepe
Luc. 21. of the paine and persecutions and torments and death which them selues were to suffer in their owne persons for preaching that Ghospell which they were to carry throughout the world For thus he said You shall be persecuted and vexed and brought before Iudges who in respect of mee will torment and sake your liues frō you Hauing prepared them with the notice of these miseries which were to grow vpon them he made them knowe that Patience was the remedy which they must procure to the end that by those crosses they might receiue no hurt but rather incōparable benefit And he said thus to them One haire of your heads shal not perish and in Patience you shall possesse your soules Which was as if he had said Although you may haue many enemies and powerfull opposits yet shall you be so assisted defended by Almighty God who takes most particular care of you that you shall not receiue the least hurt thereby and by the Patience which you shall haue in your tribulations wherby in expectation of celestiall benedictions you shall remaine firme and constant in my seruice to the very end you shall conserue and securely possesse the safty and spirituall life of your soules till you carry thē to the glory of heauen This is the first remedy which must be vsed for suffering the miseries of this life with Patience namly that euery mā in his owne heart reuolue and consider with attention what miseries and aduersities may happen to him in this life whether they be sicknes pouerty iniuries offered by men temptations of diuells or else troubles and difficulties in any bodies particular office or state And let him perswade himselfe that if they come vpon him they shal come ordained by Almighty God and for the good of his soule yea and that it is greatly fit for his saluation that they come vpon him For they are meanes where by Almighty God doth addresse and order his predestination And let him accept of them from that instant for that very time when they may chance to come and let him dispose him selfe with courage to receiue them willingly and with thankesgiuing when they shall be sent For a man being thus prouided and prepared will receiue and suffer them with more Patience and aduantage of his soule So saith Saint Chrysostome The aduersity which comes vpō men suddenly and vnexpected is wont to be very grieuous and much felt but that which is considered before it comes and for which wee are ready and prepared is more easily endured when it arriues Another meanes for suffering tribulatiō with Patiēce is seriously to consider and ponder the most happy successe which they haue and the conclusion which they make when they carry themselues well therein to the glory of God their owne greatest good Christ our Lord gaue this remedy to his disciples for when he tould them things which troubled thē he instantly also told them of that comfort and glory which was to follow vpon that paine When he tould them sometimes that the sonne of man was to suffer Matt. 16. and 20. and be crucified in Hierusalem he instantly also added that most glorious end of his Passion and death by saying And the third day he shall rise againe And when he said thus in the garden Mat. 26. you all shall suffer scandall this night vpon my occasion he added immediatly after But when I shall be risen from the dead I will goe to Galile before you As if he should haue said neither will I remaine in death nor shall you perish in that scandall for I will rise from the dead you being free from all danger shall follow mee And Matt. 13. Luc 21. hauing annoūced the extreme persecutiōs tribulations which they were to suffer for preaching the Ghospel he tels them withall of the admirable fruite which was to grow to them thereby namely the very preaching it selfe of the Ghospell ouer the whole earth and that it should be beleeued and receiued by all the nations of the world It would seem that from such impediments of persecution and death of the preachers themselues it might follow that they should not be able to preach the Ghospell nor perswade any body to imbrace it and yet wee see he saith that so great fruit would follow that it should be preached and receiued ouer the whole world and that all nations were to be saued by their faith in it their obedience to it This is that which wee are to consider and ponder in our tribulation namely the admirable fruite and glorious end to which we arriue thereby and in contemplation hereof wee must animate our selues to suffer not only with Patience but euē with ioy So saith the blessed Saint Marke the Ermite When you shall be vexed and shall haue receiued some temporall losse or some affront and dishonour doe not looke onely vpon the present ill but cast also your eye vpon those diuine fauours of grace and glory which hereafter you are to receiue for that ill you will certainly finde that you shall gather abundant fruit from tribulation and that he who persecutes you will proue the Author of great benedictions to you both in this life the next This also is aduised by Ecclesiasticus c. u. saying In the daies of thy prosperity remēber thy misery and in those of thy misery call thy prosperity to minde for an easy thing it is for God to giue euery one his paiment reward according to his workes in the houre of his death His meaning is this as Saint Gregory declares In the time when thou hast either temporall or spiritual prosperity remember the afflictions which may happē to thee either in body or soule that so thy prosperity may not make thee proud but that thou mayest be conserued in humility And so also in the time of thy aduersity whether it be spirituall or temporall remember the blessings of grace and diuine consolations which thou hast enioyed at other times and those also which afterward thou maiest receiue that so thou be not dismaied nor ouercome with sorrow but maiest suffer all kinde of affliction with Patience and courage By this consideration doth S. Paule animate vs to endure all the tribulations and aduersities of this life with contentment and strength of minde saying thus 1. Cor. 4. All the trouble and tribulation of this life how long soeuer it may be accounted to last doth yet passe away euē in a moment and is but light how heauy soeuer it may seem and as a meritorious cause which is grounded and rises from the grace of Christ our Lord it workes in vs an inestimable and most sublime waight of glory beyond all that which can be expressed or euen conceiued and which is not to be temporall but eternall THE XV. CHAPTER Of other meanes whereby wee are to obtaine and conserue the vertue of Patience namely to consider our sinnes and to resort to Almighty God for the