Letter, Sala Balust no. 59. To a devout friend of his
THE peace of our Lord be ever with you. So great is our weakness, and so crafty and strong are they who wage war against us, that it is no marvel, if some times we be overcome, but it is rather strange if we overcome at any tyme. Or rather in very deed we never overcome, but Christ our lord overcomes in us, who is the strong lion of luda, and who if he should leave us, we were instantly to be swallowed up, as Da●id saith. But he forsakes us not, because he love's us, and especially such as place men hope in him, as the same David saith, Ibidem. Thou art the defender of all such as hope in thee. And if at any time he hide himself from us;12
it is not because he departs; but like a jealous spouse, he stands looking through the cranyes, to see what that soul is doing, when he hath absented his embracements from her. Especially he considers, if the soul have lost her confidence, which his desire is may remain so rooted in our hearts, that no wind of temptation may pluck it up, but may rather strengthen and settle it, believing that how much more we are tempted, so much more we are beloved by him and how much more we are persecuted by our enemies so much more are we cherished by almighty God, whose care and vigilancy is imcomparably more for our defence, than the subtlety of our enemies can be for our prejudice. The cause hereof is, for that he love's us more, than the devil abhors us and he is more powerful than our flesh is frail, and he hath a blessed place of retreat; wherein as in a most secure haven, and as in the bosom of a mother, he gives harbour, to such as being wearied with the tempest of tribulations endured for his sake, have recourse to him.3
Of this David said, Thou shall hid? us in the hidden part of thy face.4
Do you not think. O my beloved brother, that you shall be well hidden and secure, and joyful in the face of God? But you will ask, why it is called a hidden part. Cer●●nely with great reason. For as the face of God is not dark but bright according to his divinity, so yet the face of Christ our Lord, as God and man, is said to be dark and hidden, according to his humanity. But this not when his face shined like the Son, in Mount Tabor, and his garments like the light;5
but when he was disfigured upon Mount Caluary; when his garments and flesh were died red with the blood which proceeded from him, as the price of our redemption.6
If you well consider his face, grown yellow with his long fasting, and red with the buffets and swelling, which their blows had made; & full of tears descending from his eyes, & of blood distilling from his crown of thorns, you will be sure to say, that his face was hidden, he of whom David saith, that he was fair beyond the sons of men, and that grace was diffused through his lips, and that therefore our Lord did bless him for all eternity.78
Certainly, the most beautiful of men, was hidden, and more tormented than man ever was; and so fare disfigured, that Esay saith, He hath no beauty, nor grace; we saw him, and he had no figure of a man. And again, afterwards he saith, That his face was as if it had been hidden, and despised, and that therefore they esteemed him not: He indeed, did suffer our infirmities, and our sorrows, and we took him for some leprous person, who had been stroocken and abased by our Lord.9
Well then my dear brother, in this face, which seems to be so deformed, (but which indeed is rarely beautiful to such as behold it with the eyes of faith and love, considering that it was love which deformed it, to the end that he might beautify our deformity) doth God hide them, who labour that they may not departed from him. And he gives them light wherewith to look him in the face, and to receive such strength, and comfort thence, as to make them feel, that he said true, who said Show us thy face and we shall be safe.
Psal. 79.
This face is beheld by the eternal father, and out of that sight, do result to us, the beams of his bounty and light, for by means thereof do all those blessings come to us which God sends.
And David knowing this, besought God saying. Look, upon the face, of thy Christ. For by looking upon that face, he lays down that wrath to which he had been moved by looking upon our impudent faces, and he will remove the deformity of them, by that other beauty. And to the end that this face of his, might ever stand before his father, Saint Paul saith, that Jesus Christ entered into heaven, to appear before the face of God for us. And now since the eternal Father looks into this glass, that he may come to us, let us also look into it to the end that we may not departed from him.1011
We have not any other remedy against our weakness, but the weakness of Jesus Christ our Lord, of which S. Paul said that he dved with infirmity, but that be lives by the power of God Consider how great things he endured that so our souls might be taught to love that weakness of his, and that we might not give them away to strangers, they having been purchased by their proper Lord, at such a painful and precious rate. And do but weigh, what weak brains we have, in departing from that joy which recreates the angels, to obtain this base delight, which is possessed by beasts. And how inconsiderate that soul is, which exchanges honey, for gall, and the Creator, for a creature.12
Wretched creatures that we are, and whether shall we go, and what shall we seek, out of Christ our lord? Shall we peradventure be able to find out any other Lord like this; any other so dear companion, and so true friend, both in prosperity & adversity? Where is any other so mild in pardoning, so beautiful to behold, so wise to consult, and so good to love? where is there any other, who can find in his hart, to dye for me, with such tears and with such love? and who still remains with a disposition to dye yet again, if I could have need of his second death? O how sincere a truth was that, which Saint Peter delivered when he said, Whether shall we go O Lord, John 23. for thou hast the words of eternal life.
We are well, my dear brother, where Christ our Lord, hath by his mercy placed us. Let us take heed, that we try not what kind of woeful thing it is, to be without him. A very bitter thing it is, and it costs sound, the setting on. Let us look upon the afflictions which he suffered for us, and with them let us comfort ourselves in ours; and by them let us beg his grace, and favour; and he will give it to us, that we may thereby, overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil; and so we shall live in God, since he died to kill our death, and to give us life.
Footnotes
Chapter 41 of 57