The Christian Armory, Book 1 · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Of diuers publicke euils, and common crosses which concerne the body, and namely, of sickenesse, and death.
Question.
WHat is sicknesse?
A. It is the disproportion of the foure Elements, or an ill disposition in the body against the naturall constitution of it, which by the effect of any action, breedeth offence to it, and maketh the vse of the body worse.
Q. Who is the sender or imposer of it?
A. God onelyonly: for it is his scourge, rod, and discipline.
Q. Why doth God send and inflict it?
A. For the triall, chasticement, and amendment of his children, and to kéepe their soules from sinne.
Q. What is the attractiue, deseruing, or procuring cause of sicknes?
A. Sinne, as well Originall as actuall:Lam. 3. v. 39. for why doth man suffer but for sinne? And hereupon our blessed Sauiour,Luk. 5.20. before he cured the man that was sicke of the palsie,v. 24. & 25. did forgiue him his sinnes, and then restored him to his perfect health, to teach vsus, that sinne was the cause of it.
Q. What spirituall and speciall comforts doth Gods word afford vsus against sickenesse, diseases, paines?
A. First, sicknes and paine is one of Gods rods to disple and correct vsus, with: it is healthfull for the soule: it disswadeth vsus from lusts; it is a mistresse of chastity and modesty.
Secondly,2. Cor 12. Gods power is and wil be perfected by our infirmity.
Psal. 41.3. Lam. 3.23.Thirdly, God doth make our bed in our sicknesse, and eueryevery night and morning doth visit vsus by his spirit.
Fourthly, it putteth vsus in minds of our mortality, driueth away drowsines and forgetfulnes, and pointeth out our iourney to heauen.
Fifthly, it is but a temporary and gentle chastisement, leni…ed, tempered, and disposed by our heauenly father, for our good.
Apoc. 14.13Sixthly, death wil ease vsus of diseases, sickenesses & infirmities, and at the vniuersall resurrection, we shall be glorified euen in our bodies; therefore let vsus be content (for so short a space of time) to vndergoe them.
Acts 14.22Seuenthly, it is the narrow way and strait gate that leadeth to life.
Heb. 12.1.Eightly, all the Saints of God hauehave traced this way before vsus.
Ninthly, this yoake is but easie, and the burthen exceeding light, for the sting thereof is taken away by Iesus Christ,Esa. 5.3. Mat. 1….28.29. and yet he beares the burthen with vsus, and indeede wholly takes it vponupon himselfe.
Lastly, the infirmities and afflictions of this present world, are not worthy of the glory that is to be reuealed and communicated vntounto vsus; for what comparison, betweene finite and temporary infirmities, and infinite and eternal glory?
Q. What vse are we to make hereof?
A. First,Rom. 12.1… let vsus enter into the house of mourning, and marke the chasticements of the Lord vponupon others, labouring to stirre vp our bowels towards them, and to weepe with them that wéepe.
Secondly, we must confesse our sins, the causes thereof, and be sorry for them, and (earnestly and constantly) desire and entreat God to pardon them: for as when the sore or wound is cured, the plaster wil fal off, so whē sin is pardoned the affliction wil cease, or (at least) work to and for our saluation in the end.
Thirdly, we must offer and present our soules to the heauenly Physition Christ Iesus to be cured, and then the body will the sooner be healed.
Fourthly, if our bodily disease, be desperate, or remedilesse, the more we are to ioy and reioice, because wee shall not only hauehave the strength of the holy Ghost to leade vsus through,Phil. 4.13. but also bee the sooner deliuered out of the dungeon of our sinnefull bodies.
Phil. 1.23.Fiftly, let vsus all (with Paul) desire to be dissolued, and to be with Christ. Let vsus pray for the comming of our Sauiour that we may be cloathed with our house which is from heauen:2. Cor. 5.2. for these desires and praiers are spirituall wing… to carry our minds and thoughts into heauen, where is our Lord, our countrey, our ioy, our inheritance, and our treasure.
Lastly, if wee recouer our sickenesse, we must bee more circumspect for the time to come,Ioh. 5.14. and beware lest a worse thing befall vsus.
Obiection.
Q. But my sicknesse is most sharpe, greeuous, and violent, that I thinke that God hath wholly forsaken me.
A. Iob, Dauid, Lazarus, and others hauehave béen in this taking and perplexity, and yet not forsaken, but inwardly sustained, and (at length) deliuered. For whom God loueth most,Heb. 12.6. hee correcteth most.
Secondly, these violent sicknesses are healthfull and wholesome vntounto thée, for they are like strong and vehement purgations, to rid and purge thée of thy ill bloud, and corrupt humors of sinne.
Thirdly, nullum violentum est perpetuum, if they be violent, they will not long continue; for God is faithfull, and will not suffer thée to be tempted aboue measure,1. Cor 10.13. but will giuegive an issue with the temptation, that thou maiest be able to beare it; he will either end thy sicknes, or take thée out of this wretched world. For God is a louing and a merciful father,Heb. 12.10 not erring in affection and in the manner of correction (as earthly fathers often do) for he doth chastice thée for thy profit, that thou mightest be partaker of his holinesse.
Fourthly, the issue and euent cannot be but good, for hereby sinne is mortified, grace is encreased, and thou fitted for heauen.
Fifthly, the smart and paine of sicknesse is not (in it selfe and simply) euill, because it is not sinne, and it rather toucheth the outward man, then any way corrupteth the mind and conscience.
Lastly, heathen men, (especially their Philosophers) that had no other teacher and direction then the dimme and darke light of degenerate nature, hauehave patiently endured exquisite torments; and shall not we Christians that hauehave the lanterne and lampe of Gods word,Psal. 119.104. and his blessed spirit for our helper and comforter, be much more couragious and … solute.
Q. What duties must we performe in such an extremity?
A. First, it standeth vsus in hand, early and earnestly to cry vntounto God for the pardon (especially) of all our knowne and grosse sinnes, and then God who loueth the righteous,Iam. 5.16. and who knoweth our hearts, cannot but (in due time) spéed our feruent praiers and requests.
Secondly, we must put on the whole armour of God, and especially the helmet of hope,Eph. 6.16. 1. Iohn 5.3. and the shield of faith that ouercommeth the world, and that quencheth all the fiery darts of Satan, and then our paine shall increase our gaine, and the smart of it shall neuer hurt vsus.
Lastly, we must neuer trust in our selues,Eph. 6.16. nor séeke so vntounto the Physition, that we forget the Lord, but we must make God our (chiefe) Physitian, for he healeth all our infirmities:Ps. 103.3. and we must patiently endure Gods hand, and desire his helpe, and then as our afflictions doe or may abound, so he will cause our consolations to abound much more. 2. Cor. 1.
A second Obiection.
Q. But what if our sicknesse and disease be of long durance, or of many yeeres continuance, how then shall wee stay and comfort our selues?
A. First, our sinnes, whereof wee must seriously repent, hauehave (perhaps) long time preuailed against vsus, and therefore the medicine must a long time be applied to it.
Secondly, our sinnes hauehave deserued euerlasting paine,Dan. 9.6. and therefore we must patiently endure this which is temporary and tollerable.
Thirdly,Psal. 73. the blessed saints and seruants of God in all generations hauehave had experience of this temptation, and hauehave béen our companions and copartners herein. For example sake, Iob in the old Testament was very long (no doubt) sicke, pained, and vlcerous: Aza long diseased in his séete: and in the new Testament, a poore woman was twelue yéeres long, troubled with a bloudy issue. A daughter of Abraham, Luke 18.(i. a godly and religious woman) bowed by Satan eightéen yéeres;Iohn 5.5. and a créeple (whereof we reade in Iohns Gospell) was lame, thirty eight yéeres.
Fourthly, the longer that our afflictions are, the more easie they will be; for God (in his compassion) will either mitigate our paine, or adde vntounto our strength.
Fifthly, if our outward man decay, yet shall the inward (or regenerate man) be renewed daily, so that corruptio vnius, is (by Gods mercy) generatio alterius.
Sixthly, the temporary (though long and tedious) afflictions of this world,Rom. 8.18. are nothing to the eternity and vnmeasurablenesse of glory in the world to come.
Seuenthly, God will heare and helpe vsus,Hos. 5.15. after that we hauehave béen long humbled, and diligently sought him.
Lastly, the longer that the deliuerance is delaied,Psal. 5.15. the greater will the comfort be when it commeth Prou 13.12.
The third Obiection.
Q. But what if either the violence, or the long continuance of our sicknes bereaue vsus of naturall sleep, whereby our life and strength is prolonged and maintained; how shall we in this case comfort our selues?
A. By these rules and directions following First, sléepe is a resemblance of death, and the image of it, for they differ only in time, sléep being but a short death, and death a long sleepe, and therefore the lesse that we sléepe, the longer doe wee liue.
Secondly, we may, & must conceiue good hope of procuring naturall sléepe, and rest; for if sicknes take it away, health may restore it; and if feare depriue vsus of it, hearts ease and quietnes of mind will make vsus againe partakers of it.
Thirdly, we are by our wakefulnesse, and want of sléepe freed from the terrour of dreames, and from many illusions, doubts, feares, wherewith men in their sléepe are assaulted.
Lastly, God will hauehave vsus to estéeme more highly of the blessing of sleep when we obtaine and enioy it; and to shew our selues more thankefull for it.
Q. What course are wee to take that we may procure rest and sleepe?
A. Wée must first of all, and most earnestly pray vntounto God that giueth his beloued sleepe in peace,Psal. 4 8. Act. 12. v. 6 Hest. 6.1. and that gaue S. Peter (that was bound with two chains, and betweene two souldiers) sleepe, to bestow this gift vponupon vsus, which is many times denied to great Monarches.
Secondly, we must striue to disburden & vnlade our selues of cares & thoughts, and to shake off sicknes (what in vsus lieth) and then sléepe will come vponupon vsus vnlooked for.
Thirdly, in our non rest, wee must read the holy Scriptures, and good books (especially of Diuinity,Psal. 1. v. 2) and hauehave them about vsus, with whom we may talke and confer, and we shall find much ease and refreshment. Psal. 77. v. 11.3.4. ad 12.
Lastly, we must in the day time (especially if our sicknes will suffer vsus) diligently, honestly, and conscionably walke in our lawfull callings,Eccles. 5. v. 1 and wee shall hauehave experience of Gods gratious blessing euen this way.
The 4. Obiection.
Q. I am (as it were) a close prisoner in my earthly house, and I am not able to goe to Gods house that I may behold the beauty of it, Psal. 27.4.and visite his temple, how then shall J comfort my selfe?
A. First, though thy body be bound, yet thy soule is at liberty,Psal. 41. Esa. 38. Act. 9 33. Luc. 5.18.19. and kept vnpolluted of sinne and errour.
Secondly, Dauid, Ezechias, Aeneas, & many others hauehave (against their will,) by sicknes béene kept from Gods house.
Thirdly, God (in this case) accepteth the will for the déede, and requireth the heart, and the affection onelyonly.
Lastly, in this estate thou must reade the scriptures, and godly treatises, and muse and meditate vponupon that thou hast heard, read, learned.
The fift Obiection.
Q. Alas, we want friends, kinsfolks, and good neighbours, to relieue, direct and comfort vsus; what instructions can you yeeld vsus?
A. First, our case is not singular, and without example: for Iob, Dauid, &c. yea and our blessed Sauiour in this case were neglected,Math. 27.42 43. misiudged, forsaken.
Secondly, we must learne to beare our friends death, and therefore much more their absence; for this absence will not appall them, whom death doth notdismay.
Thirdly, it may be that we in our health made small account of, and were offended at them, and therefore now wee are iustly depriued of them. For as in all things, so in friendship, too much aboundance doth dull the appetite, whereas want doth sharpen it, and hunger is the best sauce.
Fourthly, though they bee absent in place (when that their eyes, eares, hands and féet performe not their office,) yet they may be with vsus in their mind, and affection: and thus Paul was present with the Colossians,Col. 2. v. 5. and with the Corinthians, 1. Cor. 5.4.
Lastly, let vsus not be discouraged, nor faint harted,Ios. 1.9. Heb. 13.5. but trust in the liuing God, and bee content with those thinges that we hauehave, for hee will neuer faile nor forsake vsus.
Q. What duties are wee to performe in this distresse?
A. First, we must not trust in men, who are lighter then vanity it selfe,Psal. 62.7. they are like a brokē staffe that wil faile them that leane on it,Iob. 13.15. and like a réede that will breake in a mans hand: but wee must trust in the liuing God, (thogh he should kill vsus,) and liue by faith, and then wee shall hauehave the recompence of reward.Heb. 2.4.
Secondly, when God raiseth vp friends and kind neighbours vntounto vsus, let vsus be more thankefull vntounto God for them, and hauehave them in more request and estimation.
Q. What if the violence and continuance of sicknes, want of friends, and good neighbours, & lacke of sleepe concurre, or (at least) we faint vnderunder some one, or more of them, how then shal we practise patience?
A. By obseruing and practising those instructions and conclusions following. First, that many of Gods Saints, as Iob, Psal. ….Dauid, &c. hauehave encountred with all these temptations, and yet hauehave by faith and patience ouercome them; and though these men may seeme vntounto vsus Phoenices and rare birds; yet we must the rather take notice of them, and endeauour to imitate them.
Secondly, if our minds bee armed with faith in God, our bodies shall be the better enabled to beare them all, yea, and to ouercome all temptations.
Thirdly, God is a present helpe in trouble:Psal. 46. v. 1. where mans helpe endeth, there his beginneth, and his power is perfited in mans infirmitie.
Fourthly,Psal. 22.1. Luk. 22.41.43.44. Christ our Sauiour, God blessed for euermore, endured for our saluation, and that most patiently, exquisite torments of soule and body, yea, the pangs and paines of hell, (though his soule was neuer in the place appointed for the damned,) in comparison whereof ours are but light and easie, nay swéete and pleasant, and therefore we may the better endure them.
Fifthly, we must not iudge of the euill of our paine,Psal. 73.16.17. by our deceitfull senses, but by Gods word, the true touchstone and vnfallible rule of truth.
Sixthly, if we fret, grieue, and grow impatient, we shall doe nothing but encrease our euill, and to the disease of our body, adde the disease of our soules.
Sixthly, we hauehave néed of patience and we in midst of all these euils, must vphold our selues, by our courage and valour, Luke 21.19that after that we hauehave done the wil of God, we might receiue the promise: for yet a very little while,Heb. 10.36, 37. and he that shall come, will come, and will not tary.
Lastly, let vsus in our inward and outward griefes, abstract and withdraw our minds from them, and thinke vponupon some other matter, and obiect, that may more please, content, and affect vsus; and when our weake and dazeled eies cannot behold the Sunnes bright beames, let vsus looke vponupon the gréene coate and colour of the earths hearbs, flowers, fruits, leaues, &c.
Q. May we not fitly number amongst the euils of sicknesse, the paines of women in trauile, and the inconueniences of old age?
A. Yea, for they are distempers of the body, caused by mans sin and transgression, and tending to the hurt of the body.
Q Seeing that by many places of scripture, by oft allusions vntounto the paine of women in trauaile, and by the testimony of heathen Philosophers, Arist. 7. lib. de animal.(as Aristotle) no creature hath so sore paines in trauaile as a woman: what comforts can you profound for the sweetning hereof?
A. First, though a womans throwes and paines are bitter, yet are they but short, and therefore they may be the better borne and endured in hope of spéedy deliuerance.
Secondly, no creature besides, bringeth forth so diuine and excellent a creature as a woman doth,Iohn 16.21 and at the knowledge and experience hereof, she (for ioy) forgetteth her paine.
Thirdly, these paines are to the beléeuing women,Rom 8.1. no part of the curse, but only fatherly corrections, and the straight way to guide them, and transport them to the heauenly Canaan.
Lastly, to interpret that place of Timothy properly as some doe, the beléeuing women shal be saued,1. Tim. 2.15. foreign, that is, by the birth & natiuity of Christ, which was the beginning of the accomplishmēt of the worke of our redemption.
Q. What comforts are proper to old age that is religious?
A. First, old age is honourable, if it be found in the way of vertue:Leu. 19.32. Prou. 16.31 for a good thing is (commonly) commended for the antiquity of it.
Secondly, an old man is (in some sort) the image and representation of Gods eternity;Dan. 7.9. and therefore the more to be reuerenced.
Thirdly, let him not grow old in vices and errors, but in grace and vertues, and then he hath more cause of comfort then of complaint.
Fourthly, an aged man and gray headed, is more like a beautifull swanne, then a crow or rauen;Eccles. 12. v. 1, 2. &c. and though beauty, health, strength, and the vse of bodily pleasures cease, and are out of date, yet grauitie and vertue then most flourish in Gods children, and they are often the oracles of God for counsell, (as Iacob, Iob, Nathan, Chuzai, Roboams antients are examples) and in stead of enioying outward pleasures, they behold the beauty of the Lord,Psal. 27.4. they visit his temple, they are satisfied with the faines of Gods house,Psal. 36.8. and drinke out of the waters of his pleasure, and doe finde maruellous contentment in the desireable meditation of the kingdome of God at hand.
Fifthly, after the generall resurrection old men shall renew their age, as the Eagle doth hers; yea they shall euer be fresh and flourishing, and neuer decay.
Sixthly, an old man hath a singular prerogatiue, in that so few attaine vntounto his yéeres.
Seuenthly, an old man hath had a long time of preparation,Luk. 2.28. and tendeth to his perfection, and lifteth vp his head, (for ioy) because his redemption is so néere at hand, and they hauing (by the eies of faith) séene Gods saluation with holy Simeon, Luk. 2.29.are desirous to depart this life in peace.
Lastly, youth is the glasse of folly, and the bait of vanity, apt to be drawn to any euill; and therfore they may be glad that the rage and intemperate heat of youth is past.
Q. What duties is an old man to performe, and put in practise?
A. First, hee must purge himselfe of lust,Gen. 19. couetousnesse, anger, riot, idlenesse, and the like sinnes, for these vices disgrace old age, and by the dominéering of them in many ancients, youth is maruellously corrupted and infected, that are ready to follow such euill presidents.
Secondly, he must spend all his time in preparation, and learne to die daily, that so he may be ready for the Lord, and enter into his ioy.
Thirdly, as the body daily decaieth and is posting to his long home: so must the soule and inward man be renewed,2. Cor. 4.16. and look towards heauen, and not turne backe to the Sodome of this world;Luk. 23.43 Luk. 16.22 that it immediatly (after that it is loosed out of the body) may be carried by the Angels into the kingdome of heauen.