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| To Silvanus the Primate.
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XV. To Silvanus the
Primate.1637
| 1637 cf. note on p. 261. Nothing is known of this Silvanus. |
I know that in my words of
consolation I am somewhat late, but it is not without reason that I
have delayed to send them, for I have thought it worth while to let the
violence of your grief take its course. The cleverest physicians will
never apply their remedies when a fever is at its height, but wait for
a favourable opportunity for using the appliances of their skill. So
after reckoning how sharp your anguish must be, I have let these few
days go by, for if I myself was so distressed and filled with such
sorrow by the news, what must not have been the sufferings of a husband
and yoke-fellow, made, as the Scripture says, one flesh,1638
at the violent sundering of the union
cemented both by time and love? Such pangs are only natural; but let
reason devise consolation by reminding you that humanity is frail and
sorrow universal, and also of the hope of the resurrection and the will
of Him who orders our lives wisely. We must needs accept the decrees of
inestimable wisdom, and own them to be for our good; for they who
reflect thus piously shall reap piety’s rewards, and so delivered
from immoderate lamentations shall pass their lives in peace. On the
other hand they whom sorrow makes its slaves will gain nothing by their
wailing, but will at once live weary lives and grieve the Guardian of
us all. Receive then, my most honoured friend, a fatherly exhortation
“The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. He hath done
whatsoever pleased Him. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”1639
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