in him deuotion wherewith to confesse praise follow him Vpon which wee may inferre that they were already good men and in the fauour of God and so this is prooued to be that effect of sicknesse which wee are now declaringe Namely that it disposes such as are good to receiue new giftes from God and to better them and perfect them by their growing in vertue and by making thē increase in merits both of grace and glory The blessed Euagrius Bishop of Antioch and disciple of Saint Macharius relates that going one day in company of other seruants of God to visit that most holy man Iohn a Moncke of Aegypt and a great Prophet and much reuerenced by the Emperour Theodosius as being one of the greatest Saints of that time one of those cōsorts of his fell sicke of a violent burning feauer and besought the Saint to cure him But the Saint made him answere in these words Thou desirest to driue that from thee which it imports thee for the good of thy soule to keepe For know that as bodies are washed and clensed with salt-peter and other thinges of that nature and doe so become more beautifull and more pleasing to the eye so are soules more clensed by corporall sicknesse made more beautifull and acceptable to the eyes of God Thus said this Saint And this is the effect which is produced by sicknesse in good men Namely that the soule growes thereby in purity and grace and in all those vertues whereby they are to please and serue God And let vs now cast our eyes vpō some other examples which may declare to vs how sicknesse makes men become instruments of the glory of God that so his power and goodnes may shine more in them When Christ our Lord was curing the mā who was borne blind his disciples asked him 10.9 what sinne it was which had caused blindnes in that man whether it were of him or of his parents Christ our Lord made them this answere That it was neither for his nor his parēts sinne but to the end that the workes of God might be manifested in him His meaning was that neither the actuall sinne of him nor of his parents was the cause of his being borne blinde nor was that blindnes imposed on him in punishment of any sinne which either his parents or himselfe had committed but he was borne blinde by the good will of God to the end that by giuing him sight the world might growe to see those workes which were proper to the diuinity namely the working of Miracles by his proper vertue which might testify and declare that he who wrought them was true God By these wordes did Christ our Lord discouer his vnspeakeable goodnes and liberality and most sweet prouidence which sometimes permittes small inconueniences to arriue to the body thereby to bestow great benedictions vpon the soule and to honour his seruants after an extraordinary manner making thē admirable instruments of his glory as he proceeded with this blinde man whō he made blinde to the end that deliuering him by this miracle it might grow publike that himselfe was the true God and Sauiour of the world and that as such he might be beleeued and obeyed and glorified both by that blinde mā who receiued the benefit and by all those others also who would profit by the notice thereof And so by imparting a great blessing to the soule of that blinde man by the light of faith grace which he gaue he declared the glory of his diuinity Let vs produce another example of the same nature When Lazarus was fallen sicke his sisters sent a messenger to our Lord 10.11 who said looke heer O Lord for he whom thou louest is sicke Now in that Lazarus was sicke being so good a man and so much beloued by Christ our Lord wee are taught that sicknesse is a great gift which God not onely bestowes vpon sinners for their cōuersion but also vpon iust and holy men for the bettering of their soules and for their encrease in grace and merit and therefore when God sends sicknesse it should be receiued with a right good will Saint Augustine saith he who loues God loues that which God loues and therefore it is that he loues corporall sicknesse which is the worke and gift of God O how full it is of all reason that a man who is the seruant of God should receiue that sicknesse which God sends him with a great good will and a cheerfull heart If a man being sicke God should giue him health he would receiue it very readily and with much ioy and thanksgiuing and yet certainly ought he to receiue that sicknesse wherewith God visits him with greater affection and thankesgiuing as being a most profitable gift of God This is deliuered by Saint Augustine And although it be true that for the point of not sinning through impatience it suffices to endure and beare the infirmity without desiring to be quit of it by vnlawfull meanes as wee declared before yet to gaine and merit much more therby and to obtaine greater giftes and graces from God a man as Saint Augustine faith must receiue it with much contentment and with a very affectuous manner of thankesgiuing And it is fit that wee proceed after this manner in regard that sicknesse is of much greater profit to many seruants of God then health would be and it is a great gift of God towards all giues them meanes of much spirituall good and for this reason doth God giue it to whom he loues as he did to Lazarus whom he loued much Our Lord hauing receiued this message from the two fisters said to them who brought it This sicknesse is not to death but for the glory of God and to the end that the sonne of God may be glorified by occasiō therof His meaning was that that infirmity was not to end in death because though the man were to dy yet he was not to continue dead but shortly to returne to this present life and so it was not ordained for his death but for the glory of God And the particular glory of God to which it was ordained was that the son of God might be glorified by occasiō of that sicknesse death which followed thereupon he giuing life to the dead man perfect health to him who at that time was sicke so he was knowē by meanes of that worke with faith and obediēce to be the true God and Sauiour of the world By these examples did Christ our Lord discouer to vs how the sicknesse of his seruants might turne to his glory which happens sometimes by his freeing them from their infirmities and from the dangers paines therof of by such particular and extraordinary meanes of his diuine prouidence as greatly serue to manifest the loue and care which he hath of them and inuite all such as knowe thereof to praise and loue confide in his goodnes more and more At other times
comforted in this kinde of tribulation and be encouraged to beare it with Patience resoluing to take it at the hand of God and resigning themselues to his diuine will to the end that he may doe and dispose of them as shall be most pleasing to himself And let them remaine firmly perswaded in their very hearts that so long as they conserue a hatred against sinne and a firme resolution to comply with the commaundments of God and that chiefly for the loue of him and through an effectuall desire and will to please God in those thinges which he hath ordained although they be much afflicted withall and loue without any comfort or sensible feeling of deuotion yet in truth they are the friends of God they are in the state of grace they walke on towards saluation eternall life they are pleasing to God by their good workes and he will neuer abādon or forsake them For thus hath he promised to such as with loue perseuer in his seruice saying to euery one of thē as he said Iosue 1. and Heb. 13. I will not forsake thee nor take my hand off from thy defence THE XII CHAPTER Of the necessity and fruite of Patience and how it is a signe of the elect and predestinated of God BY many waies did Christ our Lord declare the great fruites and merits of Patience in his holy Ghospell First by hauing ordained that tribulations and aduersities should be the way to heauē which cannot be well borne and without disaduātage to the soule but by the vertue of Patience This ordination of his did he discouer to vs in that himself being come into this world to saue it and to restore man to the grace glory of the eternall Father which man had lost by sinne he was pleased that his most holy life should be assaulted and exercised from the first instant of his birth to the last when he expired vpon the crosse by many persecutions aduersities of many kindes And this is that which was signified by Simeō Luc. 2. when taking the infant Iesus into his armes he said to the Virgin This infant shall be set vp for a signe which shall be contradicted Christ our Lord was the signe of mans reconciliation to God and of the pardon of sinne and of eternal life for Christ our Lord wrought all this And as a cause is a signe of the effect so Christ our Lord was the signe of all the good which came to man and of that mercy and loue which God shewed him but yet withall he was a signe contradicted by the diuell and by the world A signe he was against which al the louers of the world and all maligne spirits did by their meanes dart forth the arrowes of persecutiōs of iniuries of torments and contradictions both in word deed This is that way which Christ our Lord chose for himselfe in this world and since all the elect and predestinated of God are to be like Christ our Lord as Saint Paul Ro. 8. declareth saying They whom God elected and approued from al eternity he ordained that they should be like his sonne who is the perfect image of the eternall Father it followeth that they all must walke in the way of tribulations and aduersities as Christ our Lord did to the end that being partakers of his Passion they may also partake the honour of the sonnes of God the glory of being kings in heauen This is explicated by Saint Gregory in these words He asketh what is the reason why God afflicts and abases them in this life imposing contempt and paine vpon them whom he hath elected from all eternity to become so very high and glorious in the Kingdome of heauen And he answeres his owne question thus Because God sees that he is to recompence and reward men with such immense and eternall benedictions in heauen for this very cause doth he afflict them cōcerning these inferiour things of the earth depriuing them of things of small value and inflicting paines vpon them which last not long Since therefore it is so certainly true that a man can not beare the aduersities of this life to the profit of his soule and with the fruite of vertue and the merit of eternall glory but by fortifying his heart through the the vertue of Patience it followes that Patience is that thing which carries men on with security and certeinty through the right way to heauen which is that of tribulations and that consequently the same Patience is the marke of such as are elected and predestinated by Almighty God For all men both good and bad haue aduersities tribulations in this l◅ though some more then others and therefore the onely hauing them is no signe of predestination but the suffering thē with Patience that indeed is the signe which distinguishes them who are elected and predestinated frō such others as are not so This did holy Iudith lib. Iud. c. ◠confesse saying that all they who haue bene pleasing to God haue passed faithfully through many tribulations He saith not that they only had tribulations but that they perseuered faithful therein to God and obedient to his diuine will which signifies that they exercised true Patience in their tribulations This very ordination did our Lord discouer also in that being able to cast all those damned spirits into the bottomles abisse of hell and to keepe them shut vp there till the end of the world without giuing then power to goe once out from thence yet he doth not so but allowes them liberty to goe forth to remaine in the aire amongst men though yet withall for as much as concernes themselues they carry the very paine of hell about them Of this wee haue a testimony in the Ghospell For Christ our Lord being in the company of the Gerasens Luc. 8. and hauing cast a legion of diuels out of a certaine man they besought him not to cast them into hell which he graunted so he gaue them liberty to possesse a heard of swine which they drowned And that liberty which our Lord gaue to those diuels to remaine here amōgst mē he allowes to innumerable others he doth it to the ēd that they may assault mē with seuerall temptations that so they may exercise Patience and humility by suffering their attempts and by ouercoming the persecution of the diuells So saith Saint Chrysostome The diuells desired of Christ our Lord that he would not cast them downe into that bottome that is out of the world into that darkenes and Abisse of Hell as the diuells had deserued and our Lord forbore to cast thē downe and suffered them to remaine in this world to the end that vertuous men might not loose those crownes of glory which they were to gaine by resisting those diuells and by fighting with them and ouercoming their temptations Since therefore for the suffering of the persecutions vexations of diuells resisting their temptations and continuing in combate against
from sinne An admirable mercy of God i◠this and a most singular testimony of his loue and of the most ardent desire which he hath of our saluation For man being forgetfull of himselfe and carelesse of his saluation and in stead of vertue louing vice not walking on towards heauen but towards hell Almighty God is pleased to visit him with sicknesse and tribulation against his will whereby he makes him enter into himselfe and to abhorre the sinne which he loued before and to forsake the way of hell wherin he was going and to pursue the way of heauen which he had left and to fly from many sinnes into which formerly he had fallen This is that mercy of God which Saint Isidorus ponders saying Almighty God seeing that many men will not reforme themselues vpon the motion and at the instance of their owne will sends them aduersities that being troubled afflicted they may be amended and so growe to loue those things which formerly they loued not And finding that some are so inclined and prompt to sinne he scourges them with infirmities of the body to the end that they may giue it ouer and he leaues them sicke because it is better for them to be broken by sicknesse and paine and so to obtaine the eternall saluation of their soules then to liue full of health and full of sinne and so to walke on towards hell This is the saying of Saint Isidorus And because sicknesse doth not produce so excellent and diuine effects in all Christians to take away their former sinnes and to hinder such as are future but onely in some who when they are sicke doe enter seriously into their owne hearts and haue contrition for their sinnes and change their liues it is therefore necessary for all men vpon obseruing that they are sicke to opē the eyes of their soule to examine their consciences well and to consider seriously of all those thinges which may giue impediment to their saluation and confessing their sinnes with sorrow giue a faithfull account of all to their ghostly Father instantly put all things in order with great diligence which concerne the amendment and reformation of their liues least otherwise that sicknesse which God did send a man with loue and mercy and to the end he might be clensed from sinne and so be saued doe not growe to serue but as a preface and beginning of those endles torments which are to be suffeby him in the next life as it will be to all them who will not profit by the sicknesses which God sends So saith the same Saint The scourge of aduersity and tribulation doth then clense the soule from sinne when the man changes his manner of life for vnles he change his life his sinnes remaine where they were So that vpon the whole matter euery scourge aduersity which God sends a man in this life is either to be as a spirituall Purgatory for his sinnes committed and of the penalty to which he is subiect for the same or els it will serue for a beginning of that other paine which he is to suffer afterward For certainly the paines and torments which are eternally to be suffred by some in the life to come are begun to be suffered some of them euen in this life The truth which this holy Doctor hath drawē out of holy scripture carries great force with it and the Holy Ghost therein doth teach vs and confirme by the example of many sinners that God did scourge them with great infirmities and because they profited not thereby they passed on from temporall paine and death to eternall And this ought to moue vs much to receiue any sicknesse as a most pretious gift of God and to giue him great thankes for it and to profit by it making a change of our life to the better to the end that being cleer both of guilt and paine we may make a short and certaine entry into eternall life And so that may be fulfilled in vs which Ecclesiasticus chap. 3 saith A great infirmity of the body makes a mās minde sober that is it cleers it from sinne and doth moderate and iustify it in all thinges THE VIII CHAPTER Of other great benefits which are drawen from corporall infirmities when they are borne with Patience BEsides this so excellent effect of clensing and freeing the soule from sinne infirmity of the body vses to produce diuers others which are very high of incomparable benefit Which dispose the soule to the end that it may receiue giftes from God that it may better and perfect it selfe more in vertue and increase in merit and that it may praise and glorify almighty God more and that a man may so become a particular instrumēt of the glory of God which shines in him either by his freeing him from that sicknesse with particular prouidence and loue or by giuing him admirable vertue and strength wherby to endure it with so great Patience that it may be seen how it is God who helpes him to endure so much and with so good a will in contemplation of eternall life Those blinde men to whom Christ our Lord gaue their sight at his entry and issue out of the Citty of lericho Luc. 18 Mat. 20. had neither seen his miracles nor heard his doctrine but had onely met with the fame of the wonderfull thinges which he did and of the mercy which he vsed towards all and thereby they grew to beleeue in him with so great faith and deuotion that before all those troopes which followed him they did with great cries confesse him to be the true Messias and the Sauiour of the world saying Iesus thou sonne of Dauid haue mercy on vs. And after when they receiued their sight they followed our Lord praising and glorifying God Many of the children of Israell and of the wise and prudent men of the people had heard the doctrine of Christ our Lord and seen his miracles with their owne eyes yet they had not embraced his faith nor had they bene moued by his works to glorify Almighty God whilest yet these blinde men by the onely fame of the workes of Christ our Lord which had come to their eares receiued his faith and glorified and confessed our Lord. And the cause thereof was in regard that the blindenes and pouerty of these men made them more capable and better disposed to consent to those diuine inspirations wherewith Christ our Lord toucht their hearts and called them to receiue the light of faith which Christ our Lord offered thē as also to the end that the fier of diuine loue might more easily inflame their soules with true deuotion and moue them to glorify the diuine Maiesty The Ghospell expresses not that Christ our Lord did pardon their sinnes or that he bad them sinne no more as he had done to other sicke persons but that he gaue them light both in body and soule to the end that they might see and beleeue
Saint Peter comfort vs saying 1. Pet. 4. Do you greatly reioyce since you cōmunicate with Christ our Lord in his afflictions and paines by suffering in imitation of him to the end that when after this life the glory of Christ our Lord shall be manifested in heauen you may also be made partakers thereof and may exult in that supreme and euerlasting ioy becoming like him in glory as you haue bene in paine THE XI CHAPTER Of the Patience wherewith discomforts and spirituall desolations are to be endured and of the example which Christ our Lord gaue hereof THese ordinary euills of paine of the remedy whereof wee haue already spoken such as are losse of goods and sicknesses are common both to the good and bad but there is another euill of paine which vsually doth onely happen to such as are good and for the enduring whereof they stand in great necessity to learne Patience frō the example of Christ our Lord. This euill are those discomforts and drynesses and spirituall afflictions which God is wont sometimes to impose vpō the soules of such as do most cordially serue him to the end that by the exercise of Patience and humility they may grow vp in vertue and serue him better Whē a seruant of God who loues him much doth treate and conuerse with him by meanes of Prayer and Meditation and contemplation and gusteth much in that familiar communication commerce with God he findes by experience the vnspeakeable dear sweetnes of his loue he enioyes a most liuely feeling of his presence his goodnes and his mercy he possesses a most euident and ioyfull hope and very intire promptitude of deuotion Now it happens sometimes that this man remaining in this spirituall paradise and passing there a great parte of his pilgrimage in this life God doth so ordaine concerning him not onely sometimes but very often and long together that enabling him still to mainteine and hould the substantiall parte of his loue which consists in louing that which he loues aboue all thinges and in taking contentment therein and in yeelding obediēce to his commaundments and in carying a hatred against all sinnes and in vsing diligence to auoid them in being watchfull and attentiue in the performing of all good workes enabling a man I say to doe all this God yet depriues him of the experimentall knowledge gust which he had of him and of his goodnes and of the sweet feeling of his presence and of the facility and ease which he was wōt to finde in treating and communicating with him and the readines of his deuotion and the ioy which he was wont to take in his hope And though that soule remaine still in grace and friendship with God and with a firme determination euer to serue him and neuer to offend him yet is it dry withall and sad and discomfortable and full of feares and assaulted by dismaies doubts And though it be true that this soule hath lost nothing in point of vertue or of the merit which it had or of the loue wherewith it loued God and was beloued by him yet in finding it selfe so altered it feares least it should be hated and abandoned by Almighty God This is the greatest tribulation and affliction to which good men are subiect in this life that which they apprehend most and Christ our Lord discouered both the inconuenience and the remedy in the holy Ghospell The Apostles were full of comfort in the society of Christ our Lord Matt. 14. Maro 6. enioying the suauity regalo of the sight of his presence of the hearing his doctrine and of the fauour priuilege of his Miracles And our Lord hauing once wrought that Miracle of the fiue loaues of bread whereby he had so particularly giuen them comfort and done them honour he seperated them from himselfe comanding them to imbarke them selues without him and that so they should transport them selues to the other side of that sea The Apostles found this to be a very vntoward and vnpleasing businesse and notwithstanding that they obeyed yet they did it with great repugnāce the thing being much against their minde This was noted by the Euangelist saying He compelled and constrained his disciples that they should enter vpō the ship without him which is as much as to say he made them enter perforce and much against their will And the reasons of this repugnance in thē was first because they would faine not haue wanted that sweet presēce of Christ our Lord which they did so deatly loue For so saith Saint Chrisostome Our Lord constrained his disciples in regard it was a thing so very hard for them to depart from him Which grewe without doubt frō that great ardour of affection which they carried towards him Another reason therof might be the feare they had least wanting his presence and fauour some trouble or danger might happen to them at sea And thus also saith Saint Hierome The disciples had reason to depart vnwillingly with much repugnance from our Lord for feare least in his absence they might sustaine some hurt or incurre some hazard by sea The disciples being departed from our Lord and being embarked and already vnder saile there rose a stiffe and contrary winde which made them a high Sea and brought a great storme vpon them The disciples rowed hard but could not aduance their backe a whit and so passed the rest of that day and all the night following in great labour and hazard till at length toward the morning our Lord did visit and comfort them make the tempest cease By this difficulty the disciples knew their owne weaknes the great need which they had of our Lord and so they desired his presence much the more And when he had visited them freed them from that danger they grew more in faith hope and loue of him and so casting themselues all prostrate at his feet they cried thus out with a more feruorous faith and with more intire deuotion Thou art certainly the sonne of God By the departure which Christ our Lord caused his disciples to make from him against their wil he taught vs how sometimes he would parte his faithfull great friends who serue him and loue him and haue much gust in his presence from that dear company of his Not for as much as concernes the friendship which he beares them nor for as much as concernes the state of grace wherein they liue but onely concerning the sweet comunication which they had with him and the ioy and comfort which they felt by his presence And this he doth very much against their will but howsoeuer he doth it yet for their good to the end that they may growe to vnderstand their weakenes better and what poore thinges they would be without God may become more humble and distrustful of themselues and exercise themselues more in Patience and haue a greater desire and make a greater estimation of the gifts of