Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/386

382 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. me to run mad, as I am told he has done to many who have denied the print of the five wounds. Ph. Why, then, the saints are worse in heaven than they were upon earth. I have heard that St. Francis was of so meek a disposition that, when boys out of roguery would be throwing cheese, milk, dirt, and stones into his homely cowl as it hung down at his back, he was not at all moved at it, but walked on his way cheerful and pleasant; and what, is he now become so angry and revengeful? And at another time, when one of his companions called him thief, sacrilegious murderer, incestuous sot, and all the rogues he could think on, he thanked him, confessing himself guilty. But one of the company wondering at such an acknowledgment, I had done worse than all this, says he, unless God's grace had refrained me. How, then, comes St. Francis now to be so vindictive 1 Th. It is so ; the saints, now they are in heaven, will take no affront. Was ever any man gentler than Cornelius, milder than Antony, or more patient than John the Baptist, while they lived xipon earth 1 But now they are in heaven what dreadful diseases do they send among us, if we do not worship them as we should do? Ph. I am of opinion that they rather cure our diseases than cause them. But, however, assure your- self that what you say to me you say to a man that is neither profane nor a blab.

Th. Well, come on then^ depending upon your secrecy, I will tell you something relating to this matter. Good St. Francis, I entreat thee and the society that I may have your leave to relate what I have heard. St. Paul, you know, was endowed with a hidden wisdom which he did not communicate openly, but in private to such as were perfect. So have the seraphics also certain mysteries which they do not make common, but only communicate them in private to certain blessed widows, and other choice and godly people, that are well-wishers to the seraphic society. Ph. I am impatient to hear this triple holy revela- tion. Th. In the first place, the Lord foretold the seraphic patriarch that the more the seraphic society increased, the more abundantly He would make provision for them. Ph. So then, at first dash, here are those people's mouths stopped who complain that those people grow more numerous every day that are a burden to the public. Th. And secondly^ he discovered this, that annually, upon St. Francis's day, all the souls not only of the brotherhood who wear the holy habit, but also of those who wish well to that order and are benefactors to the brotherhood, should be discharged from the fire of purgatory. Ph. Why did Christ talk so familiarly with him ? Th. Why not 1 Yes, He did, as familiarly as one friend or companion would with another. God the Father conversed with Moses, and Moses communicated the law so delivered to him to the people; Christ published the evangelical law, and St. Francis delivered two copies of His law that had been written by the hand of an angel to the seraphic fraternity.

Ph. I want to hear the third revelation. Th. The worthy patriarch was in fear lest the evil one should corrupt by night the good seed which had been sown, and the wheat should be rooted up with the tares. The Lord likewise freed him from this scruple, pro- mising him that he would take it into his care that none of the half- shod, rope-girded tribe should ever miscarry, even till the day of judg- ment. Ph. Oh, the kindness of God ! If it were not so the Church