Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/411

THE EPICUREAN. 407 is it that the mind of a pious man should always be cheerful in a mor- tal body, when the same man, if he should be plunged down to the lowest part of hell, would suffer nothing as to his felicity] Wheresoever is a good conscience, there is God ; wheresoever God is, there is para- dise ; where heaven is, there is happiness ; where happiness is, there is true joy and sincere alacrity. Sp. But for all that, they would live a more pleasant life if they were freed from some incommodities, and enjoyed some pleasures which they either set light by or cannot attain to. He. What incommodities are those you speak of ? Do you mean those things that are concomitants of humanity, as hunger, thirst, dis- tempers, weariness, old age, death, thunder, earthquakes, inundations, and wars 1 Sp. These among the rest. He. But now we are talking of immortal ones. And yet also in these calamities the condition of the godly is much more tolerable than that of those who hunt after bodily pleasures right or wrong. Sp. How so ?

He. Because their minds are inured to temperance and bearance, and therefore undergo those things which are inevitable more moder- ately than other persons. And lastly, in that they understand that all those things are sent by God, either for the purgation of their faults or the exercise of their virtue ; and therefore they take them not only patiently, but also willingly, as obedient children from the hand of a kind father, and are thankful either for His favourable correction or for the great advantage got by them. Sp. But there are a great many persons who bring bodily afflictions upon themselves. He. But more make use of physical medicines, either to preserve the health of the body or to recover it ; but to bring troubles upon themselves, viz., want, sickness, persecution, or reproach, unless Christian charity oblige to it, is not piety, but folly. But as often as they are inflicted for the sake of Christ or righteousness, who is he that dares to call them miserable, when the Lord himself calls them blessed, and bids them rejoice on account of them ? Sp. But for all that, they carry some- thing of torment in them.

He. They do so, but it is such a one that the fear of hell on the one side and the hope of heaven on the other easily overcomes. But, prithee, tell me if you did firmly believe that you should never feel any sickness or bodily pain all your life long, if you would but once suffer your skin to be pricked with a pin, would you not willingly and gladly suffer that little pain 1 Sp. If I were but sure I should never feel the toothache all my life, I would suffer my skin to be pricked deeper, and both my ears to be bored through with an awl. He. But whatsoever affliction happens in this life is more light and short, in comparison to eternal torments, than the momentary prick of a needle to the life of man, the longest that ever any man lived ; for there is no comparison between that which is finite and that which is infinite. Sp. You say very well. He. Now, suppose if you could be persuaded that you should live without trouble all your life long, if you did but dividfe the flame with your hand (which Pythagoras forbade to be done), would you not readily do it ? Sp. Yes, I would do it an hundred times, if he that promised me would be as good as his word.

He. God cannot be worse than His word ; but that sense of the flame is of longer continuance, if compared to the life of man, than all his life is compared to the happiness of heaven, though the life of