The Christian Armory, Book 1 · Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Of the Crosse or Tribulation.
Question.
WHat is the Crosse?
Psal. 75.10. Math. 20.23. Luk. 9.23.Ans. It is that cup or measure of affliction that God doth ordaine and appoint out vntounto eueryevery one of his children that liueth in this world.
Q. Is then no child of God exempted and freed from the Crosse?
A. No certainely, for eueryevery Christian hath the procuring cause of the crosse. 1. Sinne in himselfe, whch cannot but much affect & afflict eueryevery child of God, who is troubled at nothing so much as at the offence of God.
Secondly,Aug. ser. 45. Vita nostra est bellum, non triumphus, our life is a warfare, and not a triumph. Et (cuiuslibet) Christiani vi…, qui secundum Euangelium vixerit, Max in ser. de Martyr.crux est atque Martyrium: that is, the life of a Christian, who liueth according to the Gospell, is a Crosse and Martyrdome.
Q. What shal we iudge of them that hauehave experience of no Crosses, neither inward nor outward?
A. They are Bastards,Heb. 12.8. Apoc. 13.19. and no Sons of God, for God chastiseth eueryevery Son whom hee loueth.
Secondly, God doth not in mercy spare, and exempt them, but distrust them; neither doth he fauour them but refuse them, and cassiere them as vnprofitable, and vnseruiceable.
Q. What vse are we to make of this point?
A. Wée must neuer vainely dreame of the continuance of outward prosperity and happines; for this is one of the peculiarities and prerogatiues of the Church triumphant in heauen: but we must in our ease and prosperity, looke for trouble, trial, and aduersity, and prepare our selues against it, that when it commeth, wée may more holily and happily vndergoe, and ouercome it.
Q. Then the Crosse is good and profitable for Gods children, is it not?
A. Yes, for God in his louelove, merciemercy and wisedome doth temper,Gen. 45. v. 4. & 5. order, and dispose it to their temporall and eternall profite,2. Cor. 1.9. peace and comfort. Hos. 5.15. Ier. 31.18. Heb. 12.11 Psal. 50 5. Ioh. 15.2. For it is the Schoole of experience, the Field of Patience, the wrestling place of glory, the life and reuiuing of Gods graces, and (in a word) the exercise of a Conquerour.
Q. For what speciall ends doth God exercise his children with the Crosse?
A. First, if they hauehave fallen, or committed some grosse sinne, (as did Dauid & others) God doth correct and chastice them for their amendment,1 Cor. 11.31. and for the killing of pride, worldlinesse, licentiousnes, and other sins sometime preuailing against them. For hereby the Lord remoueth the mist of errour from their eyes, that they may see their former follies and what is acceptable in Gods sight: he hereby, as by a fire purifieth their hearts from the drosse of corruption, and by this wind fanneth them from the chaffe of vanity.
Secondly,Psal. 119.67. he snibbing and displing them for sins committed, doth preuent sinne to come, and maketh them better to looke to themselues for the time to come,Ioh. 5.14. lest a worse thing happen vntounto them;Hos. 5.15. yea, and more to depend vponupon him for grace, and supportance. And herein God may be compared to a skilful physitian: for as the Physitian sometime letteth a man bloud, not that hee should be sicke, but to preserue him from sicknes: so God doth now and then depriue and rid vsus of those delights, profites, and pleasures, which would otherwise bée the matter, tinder and nourishment of sinne in vsus.
Thirdly, God doth hereby (as it were) bring them vponupon the stage and theater, and make knowne to themselues and others, that they may be lights and guids of godlines to the dark and blind world, that they may be mirrours of admiration," and patternes of constancy and patience to the people:Comparisons. For as the Mariners skill is tried and made manifest in a tempest: the captaines valour & wisedome in the battaile: and the Physitians experience and cunning in the curing of a desperate disease; so are the graces and vertues of the godly, and the swéete sent and perfume thereof made knowne in aduersity. Afflictions to them are like vntounto the spring-showers, which cause the buds and blossoms of Gods graces to appeare and shew forth themselues.
Hos. 5.15. Psal 30.8.Fourthly, God by afflictions doth exercise, cherish, reuiue, & encrease his graces in them. For Crosses are (by Gods gracious disposition) so many whetstones to sharpen the dul and blunt edge of their affections, so many bellowses to enkindle and encrease in them the gifts and graces of God; and they are so many A…arams of his iudgements to awaken them out of the sléepe of security, and to prepare them against the spirituall battell.Ioh 9.3. Math. 8. v. 26. 2. Cor. 4.10.
Fiftly, God by afflictions & crosses doth seasonably make known the glory of his power, truth, & goodnes in their temporary and eternall helpe and deliuerance.
Lastly, God doth bring all their troubles to a finall, and to a most blessed issue and conclusion: for hee doth bring them through the red sea of affliction,Act. 14.23. & through the wildernesse of this worlds temptations, vntounto the heauenly Canaan, where they hauehave happy and euerlasting rest.
Q. But seeing that the most wicked and reprobate doe suffer the same euils and troubles that Gods children doe in eueryevery particular (griefe for sin, and persecution for Christ his sake, onelyonly excepted) why should not the ends, effects and euents be the same in them as in the godlie and elect?
A. First, because the persons of the elect are accepted with God, they are the gold that is not consumed,Exo. 3. v. 2. but made more pure and bright by afflictions fire; but the very persons of the reprobate are refused, being ordained to hatred, and they are as drosse that is wholly consumed by the sire of affliction.
Secondly, God did neuer in his euerlasting counsell, purpose and intend to refine and reforme by afflictions the vessels of wrath (for who then could resist his decree?) neither doe the reprobates at any time, by pure meanes, and in an holy manner, endeauour the same.
Thirdly, the reprobate being void of the spirit of grace and sanctification, doe neuer in right manner acknowledge Gods hand that striketh them; but with the impenitent theef that reuiled Christ,Ier. 5.3. they fret and fume, they murmur and repine against God and his iudgements.
Lastly, the reprobates are made worse by afflictions; and their corruptiōs hereby more breake out. For as the winde doth not suppresse but encrease the flaming fire, and as the oyle (though a liquid matter) doth not coole the furnace, but the more heate it: so affliction and aduersity doth not amend the vnbeléeuers, but (through their owne fault and corruption) make them the worse. Contrarily Gods children by reason of grace preuailing in them, doe in their troubles comfortably call vponupon God, they patientlie subiect themselues to his correction:Heb. 4.16. finally, they finde helpe in time of néede and praise God for it.
Q. What motiues hauehave we vntounto patience?
Luk. 21.19A. First, we are commanded to possesse our soules by our patience.
Secondly, wee hauehave the example of Gods Saints in all generations for our imitation; and therefore as God armed thē with patience, so we must not doubt but he wil vsus, if we begge it at his hand….
Thirdly, heereby we frustrate the expectation of our enemies, and are more then conquerours ouer them;Rom. 8.37 for in the spirit of zeale and strength, we challenge and defie them.
Fourthly, wee must remember that our sinnes hauehave deserued farre greater crosses and corrections (for eueryevery sinne, séeing it is committed against an infinite Maiestie, doth in it owne nature deserue death) and therefore wee must the more patiently endure smaller crosses.
Fifthly, we by impatiency highly offend our God, and cause him to handle vsus more roughly, then he would otherwise doe.
Lastly, if wee constantly waite Gods leasure, and entreate his helpe, hee will either encrease our strength or decrease our crosse,Psal. 37. he wil either amend vsus by it, or else end it.
Q. What heauenly nepenthes or doctrine hauehave you against the Crosse?
A. First, it procéedeth from the speciall prouidence and heauenly disposition of God,Isa. 45.7. for he createth euill (namely,Lam. 3 37. of punishment) who is he then that saith, and it commeth not to passe,Apoc. 3.19 and the Lord commandeth it not?
Secondly, the crosse is the ensigne and ornament of Gods children,Act. 14.22. their cup, their part and portion, and the rode way to heauen.
Thirdly, the crosse doth dead and destroy sinne in vsus, and mortifieth euill affections.Similitudes. It is like lightning and thunder to purge the corrupted aire of our hearts and minds. It is a file to scoure away rust from our soules, a purgation to expell ill humors, and like the gold smiths fire, to consume the drosse of vanity in vsus.
Fourthly, it doth exercise and cause to grow and encrease the fruits of the spirit and the precious graces of faith, hope, louelove,A similitude. repentance, patience: for as snow and frost by containing the inward heat in the earth and increasing it, causeth the séede cast into it to spring more prosperously: so the gifts and graces of Gods children the more that by the crosse they séeme to be smothered and suppressed, the more they breake foorth and are encreased.
Fifthly, God will heereby trie the faith of his children towards his maiesty, their louelove towards their afflicted brethren, and their patience towards themselues.
Sixthly, God is with his in trouble, in fire and water,Isa. 43.2. hee comforteth and strengthneth them, he perfecteth his power in their infirmities,Psal 30.11.12. and at length turneth their sighes into singing, their mourning into mirth, and their trouble into triumph.
Lastly,Rom. 8.17. the afflictions of this present life are not worthy of the glory that is to be reuealed.
Q. What duties are we to performe vnderunder the Crosse?
A. They either respect God, or our afflicted brethren.
Q. What duties must wee performe towards God?
A. First, we must submit our selues patiently vntounto his discipline and correction,Heb. 10.36.37. otherwise if we striue and struggle against God, we offend him, and so encrease our paine and trouble, no otherwise then he that strugleth with a burden on his shoulders, doth the more afflict and disease himselfe.
Secondly,Psal 37.7.8.9. we must repose our whole confidence in him, and waite his leasure vntill he hauehave mercy on vsus.
Psa. 115.1.Lastly, when God hath deliuered vsus, we must returne vntounto him all the glory and praise of it: for this is the tribute that we owe vntounto him, and the impo… that he requireth at our hands.
Q. What duties must we performe to our afflicted brethren?
A. First, we must neither iudge wi… ked and vngodly men to be blessed and happy, because they liue (for the present) in pompe, pleasure, and prosperity, nor falsely and foolishly censure & condemne the nation and generation of Gods children (that sincerely serue him, and are deare vntounto him) by reason of their presēt aduersities, maladies and miseries: for ordinarily) the wicked, in whō God hath no portion▪ receiue all their pleasure and comfort in this life, & the godly here feele all their paine and suffer all their miseries, that the wicked in the world to come may inherit vengeance, and the godly eternall ioy and happinesse.
Secondly, farre be it from vsus to disdaine, despight or despise Gods children in tribulation,1. Cor. 2.26. much lesse let vsus aggraua… their afflictions, but let it be our practise to cōdole with them, to pity, pray for and refresh & reléeue them. Heb. 13.3. Am. 6.6