[12]
partly, becauſe as the diſeaſe, for the occaſion was particularly remarkable. Multitudes, of all ſorts, came to ſee him; ſome out of curioſity only to ſee and diſcourle; ſome out of a pious deſire, to try all means that might reduce him to comfort again; or at leaſt, to benefit themſelves by a ſpectacle of miſery, and the juſtice of God. Amongſt thefe Paulus, biſhop of Juſtinopolis, and Mathæus Gribauldus, deſerve eſpecially to be named, as the moſt principal labourers for Spira's comfort.
They found him now about fifty years of age, neither affected with the dotage of old age, nor with the unconſtant head-ſtrong paſſion of youth, but in the ſtrength of his experience and judgment; in a burning heat, calling exceſſively for drink, yet his underſtanding active, quick of apprehenſion, witty in diſcourſe, above his ordinary manner, and judiciouſly appoſite.
Spira's friends laboured with him by all fair means to receive nouriſhment; which he obſtinately refuſing, they forcibly infuſed ſome liquid ſuſtenance into his mouth, moſt of which he ſpit out again, exceedingly chaſing; and in this fretting mood of his ſaid,
"As it is true, that all things work for the beſt, to thoſe that love God; ſo to the wicked all are contrary: For, whereas a plentiful offſpring is the bleſſing of God, and his ree ward being a ſtay to the we(illegible text) eſtate of their aged parents; to me they are a curſe of bitterneſs and vexation! they do ſtrive to make me (illegible text) out this miſerable life; I would fain be at an end of it. O that I were gone from hence! that ſomebody would let out this weary ſoul!"
His friends ſaluted him, and aſked him, what he conceived to be the cauſe of his diſeaſe?-
