Whether a Christian Man Ought to Flee the Plague, Part 2
A conforte concernynge ¶ Howe wyfe chyldrē and other frendes ſhalbe conforted the huſbonde beynge dead.
SEynge now that God hath called your huſbonde, father or other good frende out of thys myſery into euer laſtynge ioye, therfore ſhall ye receaue it wyllyngly: for it is hys worke. Repyne not therfor at hys worke, nother wepe agaynſte hys wyll, but committe the cauſe vntounto hym: take it of hys hande as a fatherly prouynge, and ſaye wyth Iob: God hath geuen vsus hym and hath taken hym agayn, the name of the Lord be bleſſed: as it was the Lordes wyll, ſo is it happened.
God almyghty wyll proue you as he dyd Iob how ye wyll behaue youre ſelfe as he taketh out of youre ſyghte the thynge that ye louelove. He wyll admytte well ynoughe that ye be ſorye. For it is ſeldome ſene but a man (be he neuer ſo vyle, or of ſo lytle reputaciō) hath euer a ſondery gyfte wherewt he ſerued and profyted other. And the ſame gyftes were not greatly regarded in a man whyle he lyued: for we regarde lytle communely ſuch thynges as are preſent, but as ſoone as the man is gone, ſo ſoone as the veſſel is ſpylte than begynne we to want the gyftes that where conteyned therin.
Therfore is it no maruayle that we be ſory for ſuch a gyfte of God, yf it be takē out of oure ſyghte.
As longe as we vſe men and the gyftes accordynge as they be ordyned of God for our neceſſite, than do we well, and that can God ſuffre well ynough: But that we myſuſe them and make an ydoll of them, that can not God ſuffre. For whan we put oure truſt and confort in man, or ony other creature, thā do we wronge and myſuſe the ſame and the curſe commeth vponupon vsus wherof it is wryttē Ieremye. xvii. Curſed is the mā that putteth hys truſt in man.
For all mans helpe is to be ſuffred only whan they be preſente & that we hauehave nede of them: but as ſoone as they are gone, than muſt we loke for other helpe, namely: God lettynge go it that paſſeth awaye thynkyng it to be temporal, faydyng at the twynklyng of an eye, and vanyte that is in thys world. We hauehave here no abydynge thyng, but muſt loke aboute for the thynge to come that endureth for euer.
For thys cauſe doth God draw and pulle vsus ſo from the creatures. And ſeynge he is oure true father, brydegrome and huſbonde he can not (for he is ſtronge & gelous) abyde that we ſet oure hope, louelove or truſt vpō ony creatur. Thys is the cauſe then that he doth take vsus from thē, and caryeth vsus vponupon hym, ſelfe. For loke on what creature we hauehave mooſte hope, louelove and affection, that wyl he ſooneſt take out of our ſyght: yf he doth louelove vsus. And whan he hath ſuche gelouſy vponupon vsus than doth he mooſt chefely declare hys louelove towarde vsus.
By thys alſo it commeth that Chriſte Mathe. xviii. forbyddeth vsus to call ony man father vponupon earth, for we hauehave only one father in heauen, namely God, which wyl nor can ſuffre vsus to call or to hauehave ony mā vponupon earth father: & that becauſe we ſhuld depend and hange only vpō hym, lokyng for al good of hym. For he wyll be ye ſame that we maye hardely truſte vntounto: ſeyenge he can not nor wyll fayle vsus, & that becauſe he is no earthly but an heauēly father. For thys cauſe thā is that man bleſſed and happy, that putteth hys truſte, hope and confidence in the Lorde, as the prophete ſayeth.
Fynally yf whan nature fulfylleth hyr courſe, man hath but cōtinuall trauayll and myſery, and after that thys courſe of nature is ended and at reſte, mā is eaſed of ſo great trauayll: we ſeme to hate rather thā to louelove them that be departed, yf we wold wyſh thē to be in thys wretched worlde agayne. Moreouer in makyng ſo muche of oure frendes departed, and ſettynge ſo greate affection vponupon them, wyſhynge Gods worke not to be fulfylled vponupon them, we blame God in hys wyll and workynge: as though he knew not better what were beſt both for them and vsus than we.
Let vsus therfore ſet oure wyll in Gods wyll, and ſuffer hym to worke at hys pleaſur. For he knoweth beſt what is both oure frendes and oure ſoules health.
FINIS.
¶Printed in Southwarke by me Iames Nicolſon. For Ian Gough
Cum Priuilegio.
End of the text · Andreas Osiander, Whether a Christian Man Ought to Flee the Plague (1537)