The Christian Warfare Part 2, Book 1 · Chapter 16
CHAP. XVI.
That bodily health is but of small worth and excellencie.
ANd thus much cōcerning bodily strength. The§. Sect. 1. H…al… it selfe is a great blessing, but m…ch abused through our corruption. Eccles. 30. 15. 16. like also may bee said of health, which in it own nature is the good blessing of God, and a notable helpe to those that vse it well, for the better performance of all good duties: in which respect the Son of Syrach saith, That health and strength are aboue gold, & a whole body aboue infinit treasure, there is no riches aboue a sound body, & no ioy aboue the ioy of the heart. Yea in truth there is scarce any earthly blessing to bee compared with it, seeing it much lessens all our sorrowes and afflictions, and sweetneth all other comforts and worldly benefits, which being seuered from it, become tedious & loathsome. Howbe it this blessing of God through our corruption is continually subiect to great abuse, as when we esteeme it aboue Gods spirituall graces, and the health of our soules, and do set our hearts so vponupon it, as that we will not sticke to vse wicked and vnlawfull meanes, to preserue it whilest we hauehave it, or recouer it when we want it; or finally, when thereby we are not furthered in the seruice of God, and in all good and Christian duties. For howsoeuer whilest we hauehave it, we are with all thankfulnesse to esteeme it, as being a great blessing of God; and when we want it, to desire it moderately, and to vse all good meanes for the recouery of it: yet when it commeth in comparison of Gods sanctifying§. Sect 2. That health is but a comm… gift, which is imparted also to the wicked. Sanita. …m corporis neputes magn…m b num esse, quod habet & malus. A… gust. S…rm. 12. tom. 10. col. 57. gifts, or the spirituall health of the soule, which is accompanied with eternall life, it is to be contemned and despised, as being light, vaine, and of no value.
To which purpose let vsus consider, that howsoeuer health be good, yet it is but a common good, which the Lord imparteth to the wicked, as well as to the godly: and therefore (as one saith) we are not to esteeme bodily health a great good, which euen wicked men also enioy: and oftentimes in a far greater measure then Gods dearest seruants: for as the Psalmist obserued, The wicked are lustie and strong, they are not in trouble Psal. 73. 4. 5. 7.as other men, neither are plagued with other men, their eyes stand out with fatnes, and they hauehave more then heart can wish. Yea it is communicated vntounto the bruit beasts, many of which enioy it longer, and in a much more perfect and excellent manner then man doth. To which purpose one saith, Why do August. Serm. in festo paschae. de Alleluia. tom. 10. c. 1533. Psalm. 36. 6.ye wonder because these men inioy health, when as ye heare the Psalmist saying, O Lord thou makest whole, or conseruest men and beasts? that men might not waxe proud because they hauehave temporall health, the beasts are ioyned with them: why therefore doest thou reioyce O man because of health, seeing this benefit is common to thee with thine asse. &c, and therefore rest not in this, but rather seeke to obtaine the speciall benefits which are promised to the sonnes of men: for to what purpose serue reason and the excellent wit of man, if he attaine vntounto nothing better then that which is common to him with the beasts?
Againe, how worthlesse and void of excellencie this bodily§. Sect. 3. That bodily health is momentanie and vncertaine. health is, it may appeare, first, in that it is momentanie and vncertaine; for euen when it is at the height, eueryevery trifeling accident doth ouerthrow it; too much heat, or too much cold, want of nourishment or a little excesse, ouermuch labour or too much ease, besides a thousand secret and inward causes, ouerturne health and make way for sicknesse and diseases. In which respect one saith, that this which wee vsually Gregor. Moral. lib. 8. cap. 20.call health of the bodie, is in truth sicknesse; seeing ease it selfe is sufficient to bring it into a consumption, and labor also doth cause it to faile: being spent with fasting, it is refreshed with meat, that it may continue, and being tired and wasted with ouermuch eating, it is relieued with abstinence, that it may grow stronger: the bodie is washed with water, that it may not be ouer drie, and then wiped with clothes, that it may not be too much moistned and softned; it is refreshed with labour, that it may not grow sluggish with case; and cherished with rest, that it may not sinke vnderunder the burthen of labour; it is wearied with watching, and repaired with sleepe, and being oppressed with too much sleepe, this sluggishnesse is shaken off with watchfulnesse, lest it should be spent and wearied more with rest then with it labour. It is couered with clothes, that it may not feele the iniuries of the weather, and fainting with ouermuch heate, it is refreshed with the fanning of the coole aire. And hauing found troubles and griefes in that wherein it thought to hauehave auoided them, being sore wounded (as I may say) it languisheth, and waxeth weaker with the very medicine, that should hauehave cured it. Though therefore feauers be absent, and griefes of bodie cease, euen our very health is no better then a sicknes, vntounto which necessitie of cure is neuer wanting: for looke how many helpes and comforts we seeke out for the vse of life, euen so many medicines doe we find to free vsus from diseases; and oftentimes the salue it selfe turneth to a wound; because vsing an excellent remedie a little too long, we are much impaired by that, which wee prouided for our cure. To the same purpose another saith, that August. in Psal. 37. enatrat. tom. 8.that which is called the health of this life, to them that vnderstand it aright, and do compare it with that which we shal inioy in our eternall rest, it is not esteemed worthie the name of health. For if we doe not eate, hunger vexeth vsus, and what is this hunger, but a naturall disease? because nature it selfe by Gods iust vengeance is made vntounto vsus a punishment; and that which to the first man was punishment, is vntounto vsus turned into nature, &c.
Secondly, it is most imperfect, our whole life being like§. Sect. 4. That bodily health is imperfect, and full of infirmities. a continuall ague, which, eueryevery second or third day, interchangeth health with sicknesse; neither is there any so strong and healthie, that hath not some griefes and infirmities which often vex him; although the pleasures and businesses of the world giuegive him not leasure to take great notice of them; and the youth and strength of his bodie doth enable him to beare his burden with more ease and cheerefulnesse. Or though it should be granted, that a man were quite free from all these bodily infirmities; yet if he hath many diseases in his soule, hee cannot bee said to hauehave any perfection of health, when as his best part is thus affected: for as it were ridiculous, if a man should glorie in his health, because hee is sound in his outward lims, when in the mean time he hath the megrim in his head, the consumption in his lungs, and incurable diseases about his heart, and other chiefe and vital parts; so is it no lesse absurd to be proud of our bodily health, when as our soules which are the chiefe part of man, and the life of all the rest, are desperately sicke in the diseases of sin. For what is this, but to hauehave a faire skinne, and sicke hart, a beautifull outside, full and faire, and within, a desperate dropsie, or vnrecouerable pleurisie? like vntounto an apple, which is faire to the eie, and rotten at the core. But so long as wee carie about with vsus the old man, and dwel in these houses of clay, we are continually subiect to these diseases of the soule, and will we nill we, we shall often wound our consciences, and make our selues sicke with sinne; the which our bodilie health is so far off from helping and curing, that oftentimes it occasioneth, and most commonly increaseth these spirituall diseases; in regard whereof one saith, a sicke mind dwellethNusquam peius quam in sano corpore, aeger animus habitat. Petrarch. lib. 1. Dial. 4. no where worse then in a sound bodie. And therefore little cause hauehave we to bragge of this bodily health, being in it selfe vaine, fraile and imperfect, and besides alwaies accompanied with the soules sicknesse, which is so dangerous and grieuous, that nothing can cure it but the blood of Christ.
But as this bodily health is not much to be esteemed, in§. Sect. 5. The manifold euils which vsually accompanie bodily health. respect that it bringeth vntounto vsus little good; so much lesse in regard, that through our corruption, it is often the cause of much hurt; for who seeth not, that where there is the most healthfull bodie, there commonly is the sickest soule? who seeth not great difference betweene them, who lie in their sicke beds, and those whose health is neuer impaired with any dangerous sicknesse? Yea, who findeth not great dissimilitude betweene himselfe being sicke, and himselfe inioying perfect health? how deuout he is then, how fearefull to offend God, how watchfull ouer his waies, how readie he is to cal himself to a reckoning, that he may set things straight betweene God and himselfe. And contrariwise, how negligent hee is now, how hard harted and carnally secure, putting away from him the euill day, and together with it the day of repentance; presuming vponupon his health and strength, and thinking that he may hauehave time enough hereafter to repent, and make euen his reckonings with God. Whereby it appeareth, that the health of the bodie, is oftentimes a cause of the soules sicknesse; euen as contrariwise, the bodies sicknesse is often a meanes of the soules recouerie, and seldome shall we find them both in any great measure in the same man; vnlesse the corruptions which vsually attend vponupon health, be purged away with some other bitter potion of affliction. To which purpose one saith, that God foreseeing Quosdam presciens deus peccare posse, in salutem flag…llat cos iufirmitate corporis ne peccent. Bernard. de interior. domo, cap. 46.that some would fall through the abuse of their health into sinne, doth correct them for their profit with weakenesse of bodie, that they may not offend; and maketh it more profitable vntounto them to he broken with griefes to their saluation, then to remain in health to their condemnation. For that health is pernicious which leadeth to disobedience, euen as that sicknesse is wholesome, which by Gods correction, doth break and humble the hardnes of the hart. Finally, nothing more then this bodily health doth naile mens hearts to the earth, or make them more in louelove with the world, and worldly vanities, nothing more causeth men to giuegive themselues ouer to voluptuous pleasures; from which weakenesse and infirmity weaneth them; which being intertained, like vnthankful guests, thrust out of the doores their host that gaue them their best welcome; for as nothing more easilie moueth vsus to admit and imbrace these voluptuous pleasures of the flesh, then bodily health, so nothing more impaires, and banisheth health then they, when they are intertained. And therefore seeing this bodily health through our abuse, doth more often hurt, then helpe vsus in our spirituall estate; and doth much more weaken the soule, then strengthen the body; let vsus not too much dote on it whilest we hauehave it, nor much bewaile our losse, when it is taken from vsus; but seeing it is so subiect to abuse, let vsus keepe a speciall watch ouer our selues whilest we inioy it, that we may so vse it, that God who gaue it, may bee more glorified and better serued, & we who hauehave it, may be helped forward in all good duties, and grow more & more in grace, and in the assurance of our saluation. For otherwise it wil rather be a curse vntounto vsusAdmonendi sunt incolumes vt salutem corporis exerceant ad salutem mentis, &c. Gregor. pastoral. par. 3. cap: 13. then a blessing, which wee were much better profitably to want, then so hurtfully to inioy. And (as one saith) let vsus being in health be admonished, that we so vse this bodily health, as that it may further the spiritual health of our soules, lest peruerting the benefit of our health to the practise of wickednesse, we be made worse by Gods gift; and so receiue more grieuous punishments hereafter, the lesse wee hauehave feared to abuse so bountifull blessings of God vntounto sinne.