The.xviii. Chapter. Of comforte agaynst bodely payn, and fyrst agaynst captiuytie

ANd therfore now being somwhat in comfort and courage before, wherby we may ye more quietly consider euery thyng which is somewhat more hard and difficile to do, whan the heart is before taken vp and oppressed with ye troublous affeccion of heauy sorowful feare: lette vs examine the wayght and substaunce of these bodily paynes as the sorest part of this persecucion whiche you rehearsed beefore, whiche were (if I remember you righte) thraldome, imprisonment, painful and shameful death. And first let vs as reason is, begynne with the thraldome, for that was, I remember the fyrst.

Vincent. I praye you good vncle say thā somewhat thereof, for me thinketh vncle yt captiuitie is a merueilous heauy thing, namely whā they shal, as they most cōmonly doe, cary vs farre from home, into a straūge vncoth lande.

Anthony. I cannot saye naye, but that some grief it is Cosin in dede: but yet as vnto me not halfe so much as it would be[…] if they could cary me out into any such vnknowē countrey that god would not wete where nor finde the meane to come at me but in good faith Cosin, nowe if my transmigracion into a straunge countrey shoulde bee any greate griefe vnto me, ye fault should be much in my self. For sith I am very sure that whithersoeuer men cōuay me, god is no more verely here, then he shalbe there, if I geat (as I may if I will) the grace to set my whole heart on him[…] and long for nothing but hym, it can than make no great matter to my mynd, whither they cary me hence or leaue me here. And thā if I find my mynd much offended therewith, that I am not stil here in my own countreye, I must considre that the cause of my griefe is myne owne wrong imaginacion, wherby I beguile my self with an vntrue perswasion, wening that this w[…]re myne owne countrey, wheras of trueth it is not so. For as S. Paul saith. Non habemus hic ciuitatem manentem sed futuram inquirimus we haue here no Citie nor dwelling contrey at al. but we seke for one that we shal come to, and in what countrey so[…]uer we walke in thys world, we bee but as pilgrimes and waye faring men: and if I shoulde take any countrey for my own, it must, be that countrey to which I come, and not the countrey from whiche I […]ame, that countrey that shallbee to me than for a whyle fo straunge, shall yet perdye bee no more straunge to me, nor lenger straunge to me neither, thā was mine own natiue countrey whē I came first into it. And therfore if ye point of my beyng farre from hence be very greuous to me, and that I finde it a greate payne, that I am not where I would be: that griefe shall greate parte growe for lacke of sure settyng and setlyng my mynde in god, where it shoulde be: which fault of myne when I mend, I shall soone ease my griefe. Nowe as for al other griefes and paynes that are in captiuitie, […]hraldom and bondage, I cannot denye but many there are and greate, howbeit they seme yet somewhat (what saye I somewhat, I maye saye a greate deale) the more because we tooke oure former liberty for more a great deale than in dede it was. Let vs therefore consydre the matter thus: captiuitie, bondage or thraldome what is it but the violente restrainte of a man, beeing so subdued vnder the dominion, rule and power of an other, that he […]ust dooe what the tother lust to commaunde him, and maye not at hys libertie dooe suche thynges as he lust hymselfe: nowe when we shall be caryed awaye with a Turke, and be fayne to bee occupied aboute suche thynges as he luste to sette vs here shal we lamente the losse of oure libertie, and thynke we beare an heauye burdayne of oure seruile condycion, and so to dooe I graunte well we shall haue many tymes greate occasyon, but yet shoulde we I suppose sette thereby somewhat the lesse, if we woulde remembre well what libertie that was that we lost, and take it for no larger than it was in ded[…]: for we recken as though we myghte before doe what we woulde, but therin deceyue we oure selfe. For what free man is there so free[…] that can be suffered to doe what hym lust? In many thinges GOD hath res[…]rayned vs by hys hygh commaundemente so many, that of those thynges whiche els we woulde dooe, I wene it be more […]hē the half. Howbeit, because (god forg[…]ue vs) we let so litle therfore, but doe what we lust, as thoughe we heard him not, we reckē oure libertie neuer ye lesse […]or y•: But […]han is oure libertie much restrayned by the lawes made by men, for the quiet and politique gouernaunce of the people. And these would I wene let oure libertie but a litle neither, were it not for feare of paynes that maye fal therupon. Loke than whither other men, yt haue aucthoritie ouer vs, commaunde vs neuer no busines which we dare not but doe, and therfore do it ful oft, full sore against our willes. Of which thinges some seruice is some time so paineful and so perilous too, y• no lord can lightly commaunde his bond man worse, nor seldome dooeth commaunde him half so sore. Let euerye free man that rekoneth his libertie to stand in doing what he lust, cōsydre wel the pointes, & I wene he shal thā find his liberty much lesse thā he toke it for before. And yet haue I lefte vntouched ye bondage, y• almost euery man is in, y• bosteth himself for free, ye bondage I meane of sin: which to be a very bondage, I shall haue our sauiour himselfe to beare me good record. For he saith: Qui facit peccatum seruus est peccati. He yt committeth sin is the thral, or the bondman of sin. And then if this be thus (as it must nedes so be sith god saith it is so) who is there thā, yt may make so muche boste of hys libertie, yt he should take it for so sore a thing & so strange to become through chaūce of warre, bōd vnto a mā while he is already, through sinne become willingly thrall and bonde vnto the deuil. Let vs loke wel how many thinges and of what vyle wretched sort the deuil driueth vs to do dayly through the rash braydes of our blinde affeccions, which we be for our fautful lacke of grace, fayne to folow, and are to feble to refraine, and than shal we finde in oure naturall fredome, our bonde seruice suche, that neuer was there any man lord of any so vile a villain, yt euer would for very shame commaunde hym so shamefull seruice. And let vs in the doyng of oure seruice to the man, that we be slaue, vnto, remēber what we wer wonte to doe about the same tyme of the daye while we were at our free lybertye before, & were well likelye if we were at liberty to doe the like againe: & we shall peraduenture perceiue that it were better for vs to doe this busines than that. Nowe shall we haue greate occasion of cō forte, if we considre that our seruitude (though in the coumpte of the worlde it seme to come by chaunce of warre) cōmeth yet in verye dede vnto vs, by the prouident hand of god[…] and that for our great good if we wyll take it well, both in remyssion of sinnes, & also matter of our merite. The greatest griefe, that is in bōdage or captiuitie, is this as I trowe, yt we be forced to doe such labour, as wyth our good wyll we woulde not. But then agaynst that griefe Senecke teacheth vs a good remedye. Semper da operam ne quid inuitus fatias. Endeuour thy selfe euer more yt thou doe nothing against thy wil. But that thing that we see, we shal nedes doe, let vs vse alway to put our good will thereto.

Vincent. That is vncle sone said: but it is harde to doe.

Anthony. Our froward mind maketh euery good thing hard, and that vnto our owne more hurte and harme. But in this case, if we will be good christen mē, we shal haue greate cause gladlye to be content for the greate comforte yt we may take thereby, while we remmbre y• in the pacient & glad doing of our seruice vnto y• mā for goddes sake according to his high cōmaundemēt by the mouth of. S. Paule. Seruiobedite dominis. We shall haue our thanke & our whole reward of god, finally if we remēber the greate hūble mekenes o[…] our sauiour Christ him selfe, yt he being very almightie god Humiliauit seme[…]ip[…]um formam serui accipiens, Humbled him self & toke ye forme of a bond mā or a slaue, rather than hys father should forsake vs, we may thinke our selfe very vnkind caitiues, & very frātique foles to, if rather thā endure this worldly bondage for a while, we would forsake him yt hath by his own death, deliuered vs out of euerlasting bōdage of ye deuil, & will for our shorte bō dage geue vs euerlasting libertie.

Vincent. Well fa[…]e you good vncle, this is very well said, albeit y• bōdage is a cōdiciō yt euery mā of any courage would be glad to eschewe, & very loth to fal in, yet haue you wel made opē, yt it is a thinge neither so straunge nor so sore[…] as it before semed vnto me, & specially farre frō such as anye mā y• any wit hath should for feare therof shrinke fro ye cōfession of his faith: & now therfore I pray you somewhat speake of impriesonmēt.