II. The original by time is somewhat defaced in some places, SECT. which I have been fain to supply by some words, which are put in Roman. Johannes Checus, D. Guilielmo Butts, M. D. Anno 1545. Dr. Butts. MSS. Non dubito quin hanc perturbationem valetudinis tuæ, Cheke to Vir ornatissime, imitatione Christi æquissimo animo feras. Nam qui fide intelligunt illum omnia administrare, iis ni- J. Foxii hil potest malum videri, quod ab illo proficiscitur. Et qui Deum sapientissimum ac optimum judicant, sciunt consilio cuncta ab illo gubernari, et bonis ab illo ad salutem mitti. Et quanquam ægritudines aut alii cruciatus pios vexent, non ita autem iis casu aliquo objiciuntur, sed divinitus mittuntur hominibus a Patre eorum cælesti. Nam prudentissmè Propheta dixit, non est malum in civitate, et ego non feci. Et alio loco scribitur, Dominum mortificare et vivificare, deducere ad inferos et reducere. Ut negari non potest, Deum hiis ærumnis ac vitæ miseriis, ad gloriam suam, uti, et pro voluntate sua hominibus has quasi medicinas ad salutem et conservationem hominum adhibere. Cum enim judicamur a Domino, castigamur, ne cum mundo condemnemur. Quod si hæc, morborum, ærumnarum, variaque crucis genera depellunt supplicia æterna, viam ad salutem muniunt, condemnationem tollunt, exercitia pietatis excitant, et fide Domini nostri Jesu Christi nituntur, et totos se illius misericordiæ tradiderunt afflicti, hilari ac lubentissimo animo sustinenda nobis ac perferenda sunt. Neque tam reputanda quæ noster sensus ferat, quam lætandum, cum causam cur a Deo missa sint perpendamus. Certus, inquit Paulus, sermo est, siquidem compatimur, et conregnabimus. Relinquendus ergo hic doloris sensus, vel abjiciendus potius a pio viro, quia minimus dolor maximam habet adjunctam gloriæ ac gaudii remunerationem. Sed tu ista omnia per te melius ac planius intelligis, qui fide Jesu Christi per gratiam Dei inniteris, qui mortem Christi, remissionem peccatorum, et reconciliationem tuam esse putas, qui omnium redemptorem Christum, qui fidelium præcipue credis; adeo ut cum II. CHAP. Thoma Didymo ingenue clames, Deus meus, et Dominus meus. Quare te in hac tristi ægritudine, quam tu, ut Anno 1545. spero, tranquillissimo ac serenissimo animo fers, non detinebo longior. Hoc unum a Deo patre Domini nostri Jesu Christi assidue precor, ut quem ego in loco patris in terris habui, sanum atque incolumem aliquando ab hac ægritudine propter gloriam nominis sui liberet. Atque utinam certe, quemadmodum præsens, tecum animo ac voluntate sum, sic liceret mihi corpore tecum adesse, quo mihi, percipere solatium conspectus tui, sed aliter tum voluntate tua tum negotiis meis impedito, fas esset, si non morbum tuum tollere ad te veniendo, saltem dolorem meum minuere, quem ex invita absentia mea capio. Dominus Jesus, cujus est omnis potestas, pro beneplacito suo uxorem, liberos, familiamque tuam conservet, ac ab hac ægritudine eruat. Harfordiæ xiii. Octobris. "I doubt not but in imitation of Christ you bear with a "most equal mind this loss of your health. For to them, "who by faith understand that he disposeth all things, "nothing can seem evil which proceeds from him. And 66 they who think God to be very wise and good, know "that he governs all by counsel, and that he sends all "things to good men for their salvation. And howsoever "sicknesses, or other afflictions, do disturb those that are "godly, they are not so thrust upon them by some chance, "but sent to them from above by their heavenly Father. "For the Prophet spake very wisely, [or rather God by "the Prophet,] There is no evil in the city, and I have "not done it. And in another place it is written, that the "Lord killeth and restoreth to life, that he bringeth down "to the grave, and bringeth back again. So that it can II. "not be denied, that God maketh use of these troubles SECT. "and miseries of life to his glory, and according to his 66 pleasure prescribes men these medicines, as one may Anno 1545. "call them, for their health and preservation. For when "we are judged of the Lord, we are chastised, that we may not be condemned with the world. But if these "divers sorts of diseases, troubles, and crosses, drive "away eternal punishments, make a way to salvation, "free from condemnation, stir up the exercises of piety, “and if the afflicted depend upon the faith of our Lord "Jesus Christ, and have submitted themselves wholly to "his mercy, we should with a cheerful and most willing "mind suffer and undergo them. For we are not so much "to regard what things we feel by our senses, as to re66 joice when we well weigh the cause why they are sent by God. It is a faithful saying, saith Paul, if we suffer "with him, we shall reign with him. A godly man there"fore should lay aside, or rather cast off this apprehension "of pain. Because a very little share of grief hath a very 66 great recompense of glory and joy annexed to it. "But you, Sir, of yourself understand better and more 66 plainly all these things, who rest firmly on the faith of "Jesus Christ by the grace of God; who reckon the "death of Christ, the remission of sins, and reconciliation "to be yours; who believe Christ to be the Redeemer of "all men, but to be the Redeemer especially of those that "believe; so that you may freely cry out with Thomas "Didymus, My God, and my Lord. Wherefore I will not "detain you longer in this doleful sickness, which you, I "hope, bear with a very calm and composed spirit. This 66 one thing I daily beg of God the Father of our Lord "Jesus Christ, that him whom I had here on earth in the "stead of a father, he would restore to health, and for "the glory of his name at length deliver from this sick"ness. And I wish surely, that as I am present with you "in mind and will, so I might be in body; whereby I “ might partake of the comfort of seeing you, being other"wise hindered as well by your will, as mine own busi CHAP. II. 66 ness, if not to take away your disease by coming to you, "at least to lessen my sorrow which I have from my Anno 1545. "forced absence. The Lord Jesus, who hath all power, according to his good pleasure, preserve your wife, chil"dren, and family, and restore you from this sickness. "At Hartford the xiii of Octob. tron's death and epitaph. 66 "Your Son in heart, "JOHN CHEKE." This pious letter was the more seasonable, since this gentleman must now have been very ill, this disease proving mortal, and within little less than a month after ending his life; as appears by his monument in Fulham church, against the wall in the chancel, which I will here set down, and the rather, he having been Cheke's chief patron and dear friend, and that the memory of so worthy a man might be preserved : Cheke's pa- Epitaphium D. Guil. Buttii Eq. Aurati, et Medici Regis And what if I should think that this was the issue of SECT. III. His private studies. NOW also some of the spare hours Cheke could re III. tion's con deem to himself, he employed in reading of Chrysostom in SECT. Greek. With whom he was so conversant, that one of his friends, speaking to him of that author, called him, Anno 1547. Tuus Chrysostomus, i. e. your own Chrysostom. And Sets forth Chrysoto make his studies useful to others as well as to himself, stom's orahe translated the six orations of that eloquent and pious cerning Father, De Fato, that is, Of Providence, out of Greek Fate. into Latin, and published them about the year 1547, (as he had translated some before,) where Cheke lively expressed his own style, language, and affection. Insomuch that his contemporary at the University, and his good friend told him in a letter, " b That his book conveyed with it an ear"nest desire to enjoy his voice, his conversation, his wit: “all which that writing as a certain picture of his mind "did admirably represent. So that the voice in this dis"putation seemed not to be so much Chrysostom's, as "Cheke's own. So plentiful was this whole volume of "most noble sentences concerning God, so handsome the placing them, words so well suited to the matter, such "elegant translations, so familiar and delightful narra❝tions, so great a contexture of arguments, such agree"ment of the whole oration with the cause. Which were "all properly Cheke's own virtues, partly natural, and "partly obtained by study and knowledge." And as Haddon had a poetical vein, so on a sudden in some heat of fancy, when he had read this translation of Cheke's, he wrote this tetrastich upon it: 66 Divus Joannes Chrysostomus aurea Græca, Fundere quod posset, nomen suscepit ab auro. And besides the royal youth, Cheke seems to have the Takes care care of his sister, the Lady Elizabeth's studies, at least b Maximum iste liber mihi desiderium attulit tuæ vocis, tuæ consuetudinis, tui ingenii, quæ sane omnia hoc scriptum tanquam effigies quædam animi tui, repræsentavit, &c. G. Haddonus Joan. Checo. of the Lady Elizabeth's studies. |