For our proficiency consisteth not in many sweetnesses and comforts, but rather in suffering great afflictions and tribulations.
12. If any thing had been better and more profitable to the salvation of man than suffering, Christ surely would have shewn it by word and example.
But he plainly exhorteth all that follow him, to the bearing of the cross, and saith, If any will come after me, let him renounce himself, and take up the cross, and follow me.
So that when we have read and searched all, let this be the last conclusion, that by many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.
An Extract of the
CHRISTIAN PATTERN:
Or, a treatise on the imitation of Christ. Written in Latin by Thomas a Kempis.