]

If we have learned, in the foregoing images, beneath us and above
us, to bear our evils with patience, surely in this last, lifted
above and out of ourselves, caught up unto Christ, and made
superior to all evils, we ought not only to bear with them, but
to love them, desire them, and seek them out. Whoever is yet far
from this state of mind, for him the Passion of Christ has little
value; as it is with those who use the sign and arms of
Christ[33] to ward off evils and death, that so they may neither
suffer pain nor endure death, which is altogether contrary to the
cross and death of Christ. Hence, in this image, whatever evils
we may have to bear must be swallowed up and consumed, so that
they shall not only cause us no pain, but even delight us; if
indeed this image find its way into our heart, and fix itself in
the inmost affections of our mind.

PART II

The second part also consists of seven images, answering to the
first; the first representing the internal blessing, the second
the future blessing, the third the past blessing, the fourth the
infernal blessing, the fifth the blessing on the left hand, the
sixth the blessing on the right hand, and the seventh the
supernal blessing.

CHAPTER I

THE FIRST IMAGE

THE BLESSING WITHIN US

Who can recount only those blessings which every one hath in his
own person? How great are, first, the gifts and endowments of the
body; such as beauty, strength, health, and the lively play of
the senses! To these there comes, in the case of the male, a
greater nobility of sex, that fits him for the doing of many
things both in public and in private life, and for many splendid
achievements, to which woman is a stranger. And if, by the grace
of God, you enjoy these excellent gifts for ten, twenty, or
thirty years, and in all this time endure suffering for a few
days now and then, what great matter is that? There is a proverb
among knaves, _Es ist umb ein bose stund zuthun_, and, _Ein gutt
stund ist eyner posen werdt_.[34] What shall be said of us, who
have seen so many good hours, yet are not willing to endure evil
for a single hour! We see, therefore, how many blessings God
showers upon us, and how few evils barely touch us. This is true
at least of the most of us.

But not content with these blessings, our gracious God adds to
them riches and an abundance of all things; if not in the case of
all, certainly in the case of many, and of those especially who
are too fra