The Christians in Complete Armor, Religious treatise · Introduction 5 · Chapter 5
CHAP. V. The words opened, and what is meant by the evill day.
That ye may be able to withſtand in the evil day, and having done, &c.
WE come to the argument with which the Apoſtle urgeth the exhortation, and that is double.
The firſt hath reſpect to the houre of battel, that ye may be able to withſtand in the evil day.
The ſecond to the happy iſſue of the war, which will crown the Chriſtian thus arm'd, and that is certain victory, and having done all ſtand.
Firſt of the firſt, That ye may be able to withſtand in the evil day; But what is this evil day? Some take this evil day to comprehend the whole life of a Chriſtian here below in this vale of tears; and then the argument runs thus: Take to your ſelves the whole Armour of God, that you may be able to perſevere to the end of your life, which you will finde, as it were, one continued day of trouble and trial, Thus Jacob drawes a black line over his whole life, Few and evil have the days of my life been, Gen. 47. What day ſhines ſo faire that over caſts not before night, yea, in which the Chriſtian meets not with ſome ſhower or other, enough to deſerve the name of an evil day? Every day hath its portion, yea, proportion; Sufficient is the evil of the day. We need not borrow and take up ſorrows upon uſe of the morrow, to make up our preſent load; as we read of daily bread, ſo of a daily croſſe, Luke 9.23. which we are bid to take, not to make, (we need not make croſſes for our ſelves, as we are prone to do) God in his Providence will provide one for us; and we are bid to take it up, but we hear nothing of laying it down, till croſſe and we lie down together; our troubles and our lives are coetaneous, live and die together; here when joy comes ſorrow is at its heel, ſtaffe and rod go together. Job himſelf, (whoſe proſperity the devil ſo grudg'd, and ſet forth in all his bravery and pomp, Job 1.10. as if his Sun had no ſhadow,) heare what account this good man gives of this his moſt flouriſhing time, chap. 3. 26. I was not in ſafety, neither had I reſt, neither was I quiet. There were ſome troubles that broke his reſt, when his bed was (to thinking) as ſort as heart could wiſh, even now this good man toſſes and tumbles from one ſide to the other, and is not quiet. If one ſhould have come to Job and bleſſed him with his happy condition, and ſaid Surely, Job, thou couldeſt be content with what thou haſt for thy portion, if thou mighteſt have all this ſetled on thee and thy heires after thee, he would have ſaid, as once Luther, that God ſhould not put him off with theſe. Such is the Saints ſtate in this bottome, that their very life here, and all the pompous entertainments of it, they are their croſſe, becauſe they detain them from their crown. We need nothing to make our life an evil day more then our abſence from our chief good; which cannot be recompenced by the world, nor enjoyed with it. Only this goodneſſe there is in this evil, that it is ſhort, our life is but an evil day, it will not laſt long; and ſure it was mercy that God hath abridged ſo much of the terme of mans life in theſe laſt dayes, wherein ſo much of Chriſt and Heaven are diſcovered, that it would have put the Saints patience hard to it, to have known ſo much of the upper worlds glory, and then be kept ſo long from it, as the Fathers in the firſt age were. O comfort one another (Chriſtians) with this; though your life be evil with troubles, yet 'tis ſhort; a few ſteps, and you are out of the raine. There is great difference between a Saint in regard of the evils he meets with, and the wicked; as two travellers riding contrary wayes, (both taken in the rain and wet) but one rides from the raine, and ſo is ſoon out of the ſhowre; but the other rides into the rainy corner, the further he goes, the worſe he is. The Saint he meets with troubles as well as the wicked, but he is ſoon out of the ſhowre; when death comes he has faire weather: but the wicked the further he goes the worſe; what he meets with here, is but a few drops, the great ſtorme is the laſt. The pouring out of Gods wrath ſhall be in hell, where all the deeps of horrour are opened, both from above of Gods righteous fury, and from beneath of their own accuſing and tormenting conſciences.
Secondly, others take the phraſe in a more reſtrained ſenſe, to denote thoſe particular ſeaſons of our life, wherein more eſpecially we meet with afflictions and ſufferings. Beza reads it tempore adverſo, in the time of our adverſity. Though our whole life be evil, if compared with Heavens bliſſeful ſtate, our cleareſt day, night to that glorious morning; yet one part of our life compared with another may be called good, and the other evil, we have our viciſſitudes here. The Providences of God to his Saints here, while on this low bottome of earth are mixt and particoloured,Ezek. 18. as was ſignified by the ſpeckled horſes in Zechariahs viſion; Red and white, peace and war, joy and ſorrow checker our days. Earth is a middle place betwixt heaven and hell, and ſo is our ſtate here; it partakes of both: we go up hill and down till we get to our journeys end, yea, we finde the deepeſt ſlough neareſt our fathers houſe. Death, I mean, into which all the other troubles of out life fall, as ſtreames into ſome great river, and with which they all end, and are ſwallowed up. This being the comprehenſive evil, I conceive to be meant here, being made remarkable by a double article foreign, that day, that evil day, not excluding thoſe other dayes of tribulation which intervene. Theſe are but ſo many petty deaths, every one ſnatching away a piece of our lives with them, or like Pages ſent before to uſher in this King of terrours that comes behinde.
The phraſe being opened; let us conſider the ſtrength of this firſt argument, with which the Apoſtle reinforceth his exhortation, of taking to our ſelves the whole Armour of God, and that conſiſts in three weighty circumſtances.
Firſt, the nature and quality of this day of affliction, it is an evil day.
Secondly, the unavoidableneſſe of this evil day of affliction, implied in the forme of ſpeech, that you may withstand in the evil day. He ſhuts out all hope of eſcaping, as if he had ſaid you have no way but to withſtand, pleaſe not your ſelves with thoughts of ſhunning battel; the evil day muſt come, be you arm'd or notarm'd.
Thirdly, the neceſſity of this armour, to withſtand. As we cannot run from it, ſo not bear up before it, and oppoſe the force which will be made againſt us, except clad with Armour. Theſe would afford ſeveral points, but for brevity we ſhall lay them together in one Concluſion.