The Christian Combat, Book 1
THE FIRST Booke of Afflictions, that are common to all men.
CHAP. I. Man by nature is subiect to a great number of afflictions, and more sensible of paine then of pleasure.
MAN by Nature is a dolourous creature, more sensible of paine then of pleasure. For hardly doe wee feele the health of the whole body, but a sore finger, or the tooth-ach makes vsus impatient. One sole affliction amidst many a good successe, troubleth all our ioy, and changeth all our sweetnesse into bitternesse. Prosperity is like a long traile of Cannon which stops by the way for want of a peg. Therefore as the tongue beares it selfe towards the payning tooth: so wee speake oftner of a small affliction which befals vsus, then of many of Gods blessings. Yea the pleasures doe incontinently distaste vsus, and the greatest delight hath some graines of sorrow, and a tune of sighing; as the tickling of the armepits.
Notwithstanding, if all be well considered, we shall finde that the euils of this life doe farre surpasse the goods, both in number and greatnesse. Then are wee not to maruell, if mans life that is more sensible of euils then of good, and that hath more euils then goods, yea and which changeth his good into euill by the indisposition of his minde, is full of bitternesse. For Gods blessings falling in the lappe of a man destituted of Gods Spirit, doe rot, because his heart is alwayes corrupted; and prosperity ill guided, is more hurtfull then affliction. In a word, man hath a soule that kils his body, like vntounto a sword that cuts his scabberd, and that torments himselfe, and cuts to himselfe many a troublesome businesse.
VntoUnto all these euils the Word of God propoundeth some remedies, and giues wholesome counsels; which if wee follow, wee shall not onelyonly not make worse the euils that befall vsus, but wee shall lighten them, yea wee shall make them profitable and wholesome.
Now seeing there are two sorts of Afflictions, whereof some doe happen indifferently to all men, as sicknesse, losse of parents, losse of goods; but the others are proper vntounto the children of God; wee will beginne with the first sort of them.
CHAP. II. Counsels and consolations against those euils that befall indifferently all men; And first, against corporall maladies and infirmities.
IN euils common to all men, the man fearing God, behaues not himselfe after the common fashion, but gouernes himselfe otherwise then other men; for worldly men impute the euils to chance, and complaine of mischiefe, or murmure against God; or if the force of their anguish doe draw from them some words of repentance, or some prayers suggested by necessity, so soone as the euill is past, they returne to their naturall disposition; like to hogges that neuer looke towards heauen, but when they are cast to ground and ouerturned; which if they be let goe, returne presently their snowts towards the earth.
The same Afflictions happening to the faithfull, doe produce other effects. For example, If he be ficke, he will take this Affliction not as common by chance, or onelyonly by naturall causes, but as sent from the hand of his heauenly Father; & acknowledging that it is God that strikes, hee will turne himselfe towards him that hath strucken him, and will say with Dauid, aPsal. 39.9I was dumbe, I opened not my mouth, because thou diddest. For as the patient that is let bloud, if hee stirre his arme, hinders that the bloud-letting doe him any good: so wee hinder that the afflictions bee wholesome vntounto vsus, by mouing our selues with impatience. Rather the Christian will examine his conscience to know and acknowledge the causes, wherefore God afflicts him, to the end he may glorifie God by his humiliation: He will acknowledge that hauing abused his health, hee deserues to be sicke; and thereupon hee will in his bed passe ouer his life past, and examine his actions, and will remember the graces of God which he hath abused. He will discharge his teares in the bosome of his Father, and will grieue, not for the euill he feeles, but for the euill hee hath done; and will lament his sinnes with teares of repentance. So soone as he feeles himselfe strucken and compelled to be bedrid, in putting off his clothes, he will dispose himselfe as if he did cast off his body, and well put himselfe to bed, as ready to be put in his graue, saying in himselfe, Should this well be the houre of my deliuerance?
And if he be troubled with grieuous paines, to comfort himselfe, he will represent to himselfe those sorrowes infinitly greater, that Christ Iesus hath carried for vsus, and those infinite torments, from which he hath redeemed vsus. He will meditate on the sweetnesse and assurance of the promises of the Gospell, and will comfort himselfe, because his peace is made with God; and will apprehend the excellency of eternall saluation, wherewith the corporall sorrowes of a few dayes are not to be compared, but are as a bitter pill at the beginning of an euerlasting feast. It will be good also to represent to himselfe, so many holy soules, that either from bed, or from the fiers and Martyrdome, are gone to the Kingdome of heauen; which being arriued at the hauen, continually receiue into their number other soules, beaten with the storme, and tossed by the tempest of this world.
And if those that are about the sicke, doe weepe, iudging ill of his malady, he will chide them, and tell them, that their sorrow is iniurious to Christ, as if they did presume that it were a losse to goe to him. He will tell them that which Iesus Christ told his Disciples, bJoh. 14.28.If ye loued me, yee would reioyce, because I goe vntounto my Father.
And if he recouers his health, he will receiue it as a gift which God bestowes on him, to imploy it to his seruice more diligently then heretofore; and will say, God giues me time to prepare my selfe to goe to him; remembring Saint Peters wiues mother, cMar. 1.31.who being healed of her feuer, ministred vntounto our Lord Iesus. He will remember also those words that Christ vttered to the patient, whom he had healed; dIoh. 5.14.Behold, thou art made whole; sinne no more, lest a worse thing come vntounto thee.
And seeing that sicknesse are personall summonings, wherby God warnes vsus to make vsus alwayes ready; eueryevery one fearing God, whom God hath raysed vp from some great sicknesse, and set on foote, will make that this sicknesse be a preparation vntounto the last. Hauing beene at deaths dore, he will hereafter be familiar with it, and will study to liue how he must die, being cloyed with dayes, but yet more with offending God. O when shall we be in that place where we shall be no more toyled with vnsatiable desires! where the louelove of God shall possesse all our desires, and where we shall heare no more Gods Name blasphemed! Who doubts but that many of the faithfull, hauing had in their sicknesse their hearts inflamed with these holy desires, hauehave not beene sorry to see themselues recouered of their health? and hauing had as it were the prize in their hand, to see themselues againe put to the Combate, and againe to liue in the Kingdome of Satan?
Such are the thoughts and words of the man fearing God, afflicted with sicknesse, which are worth a thousand times more then the merry words at banquets. For it is not at banquets, but in sicknesse, that men speake of God, and of the vanity of this life, and of the hope of saluation. Therefore according to Salomons iudgement, It eEccles. 7.2.is better to goe to the house of mourning, then to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men, and the liuing will lay it to his heart. Naaman had neuer sought for the Prophet Elisha, if hee had not be attainted with leprosie. Corporall diseases made sicke persons goe to lesus; who with cure of their bodies, receiued also the cure of their soules.
And if God giuegive to the faithfull a languishing and noisome body, he will acknowledge that God tels him couertly, I will not that this life please thee; for we goe the more willingly out of a house that sinkes, and where it raines rhumes, and where the foundations are shaken by the gowt, and where the windowes are dimmed by the weakenesse of the sight. It is a wholesome thing for the soule to serue the body as an ordinary Informer. It is a beautifull and seemly thing to finish ones life before death; liuing daily, as if one did already touch the end of his race; like to a ship prouided of all necessary furniture, that stayes but for the winde; or a prisoner detained in the hole of a prison, who beholding the light thorow the cranies, expects with great desire the houre of deliuerance.
CHAP. III. Counsels and Comforts against pouerty and the losse of goods.
THe louelove of the goods of this world, is an euill deepely rooted in the heart of man. It is that which makes a man hazzard his life, to gaine a little money, as one that would cast downe headlong his body, to saue his clothes. This is the vice, which makes a man more couetous of gold and siluer, euen then when his age warnes him that he hath no more neede of it; yea which makes him bemoane the money which shall be spent at his funerals. It is this vice that makes a man serue his riches, in stead that they should serue him and make vse of them, and bee possessed by those goods, in lieu that he should possesse them. It is this that hinders almes-deeds, and quencheth Christian charity. For as that Land where are Mines of gold and siluer, is ordinarily barren, and those mines are a haunt of deuils; so he that is tyed to his gold or siluer, becomes barren in good workes, and his heart becomes the habitation of the euill spirit. And if the couetous man doe any good, it is after his death; for he is like to a chest so well shut vp, that none can get any thing out of it, till it be broken vp; and then his money that was prisoner and kept vniustly, is set at liberty.
They that are possest with this vice, finde pouerty vntolerable: and if they happen to leese their goods, they reiect all comfort. But the man fearing God; who by the contempt of goods hath learned to imitate pouerty in the midst of his plenty, and to possesse the things of the world, as not possessing them; when God takes away his goods, hee doth not onelyonly not murmure, but he findes gaine in this losse, and profit in this triall, and many wholsome instructions.
First, not to finde his condition miserable, he will set before his eyes Christ Iesus, f2. Cor. 8.9who though hee was rich, yet for our sakes he became poore, and had not where to lay his head; sanctifying pouerty in his person, and honouring it by his example; and the example of the Apostle Saint Paul, that excellent instrument of Gods Spirit, who got his liuing with the labour of his hands; and the example of the other Apostles, whom Iesus Christ sent to preach the Gospell without money and without prouision; hauing told them euen at his first preaching, that gMatth. 5.Blessed are the poore, yea the poore whom Saint Iames sayes hIam. 2.5.are rich in Faith.
Now GOD hauing brought to pouerty those whom he loues, will hauehave them take pouerty for a spirituall diet, and an exercise of Christian abstinence; whereby it pleasech God to discharge them of earthly cares; or abate their pride and vanity, or to make them fitter to carry the Crosse after Christ Iesus, or oblige them to worke; or to lift vp their hearts towards other goods, the purchase whereof is certaine, the possession firme, and the price incomprehensible; that they may labour for goods that cannot bee taken away, which follow the faithfull in exile, enter with them in prison, and which none can depriue him of, euen when he is depriued of this body.
The faithfull will also acknowledge, that God by pouerty withdrawes him from lewdnesse, keepes him aloofe from tentations, and reduceth him to sobriety; God handling him, as when he sends the gowt to the feet and hands of that person that charged his fingers with diamonds, and carried his too spruce shooes, to reduce him perforce to plainenesse. Hee will therefore say in himselfe, God knowes what is profitable for mee; hee knowes that if I were rich, I should waxe insolent; hauing much to distribute, I should hauehave a greater account to make him. As he proposeth to the rich the Crowne of Christian charity, so hee layes vp for me a Crowne of patience. iIob 1.21.The Lord gaue, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord.
Surely whosoeuer hath the feare of God, will finde in it an inestimable treasure and riches, which lift vp pouerty farre aboue all plenty; therefore will hee say with Dauid, kPsal. 37.16.A little that a righteous man hath, is better thē the riches of many wicked. The Apostle Saint Paul saying, that, l1. Tim. 6.6.Godlinesse with contentment is great gaine, produceth that solid contentment, and the true riches of the feare of God; and esteemes that he who feares God, althoug… he hauehave but a little money, hath not a bad portion. For he that hath true godlinesse, acknowledging that he is a traueller and stranger on earth, will not care in what attire he passeth his way, so that he arriue to the Kingdome of Heauen; where Lazarus is in the bosome of Abraham; the poore with the rich: because this rich one was of the number of the poore and humble in spirit, and this poore one was rich in God; who is no respecter of persons, and who teacheth vsus, that contentment comes not from plenty, but from his blessing. For mMatth. 4.4.man liues not by bread alone, but by eueryevery word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
He will therefore say secretly to himselfe, I hauehave but a body to nourish and clothe; a little earth sufficeth to nourish a man in his life, and yet lesse to couer him after his death. A little money suffiseth to liue honestly, and yet lesse money to die happily. Of so many sheetes whereof the coffers of the rich are full, one alone will suffise to wrap him in after his death. For naked came wee into the world, and naked shall we goe out, and shall carry nothing of all those our goods, but that which wee hauehave giuen to the poore; nProu. 19.17.For hee that hath pitty vponupon the poore, hee lendeth vntounto the Lord.
Which nature it selfe teacheth vsus. For what care wee whether wee drinke of a great or small brooke, so wee bee satisfied? or whether wee take out of a great or small siluer plate, so we be nourished.
Whosoeuer weighs well these things, will confesse that the misery of poore folkes consists not in that they are poore, but in that they enuy the rich, and cannot frame themselues vntounto pouerty. For wee hauehave that euill, that in matter of vertues, we compare our selues with those whom wee thinke are our inferiours, and thereby become presumptuous; but in matter of riches, wee compare our selues with those that surpasse vsus, and thereby wee become enuious. Wee finde occasion of pride in other mens vices, and occasion of fretfulnesse by other mens riches: in stead that wee should looke at those that are more vertuous then vsus, to imitate them; and at those that are poorer then vsus, to giuegive God thankes. So that in matter of prudence and good vnderstanding, eueryevery one thinkes himselfe well enough portioned, but in matter of money, eueryevery one is discontented, and would willingly controll the portions which God hath made; not considering that riches are glewie and a dangerous snare, and a place where Satan spreads his nets, and thornes that often choke the good seed of Gods World. o1. Tim. 6.9.They that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtfull lusts, which drowne men in destruction and perdition. So that whosoeuer subdueth his iudgement to the rules of Gods Word, in stead of enuying the rich, will giuegive God thankes for his pouerty. For as a Free-man who is simply clothed, will neuer enuy Lackeyes, though couered with imbrodered clothes, and with magnificent Liueries, because that euen that magnificence is a marke of their bondage: Euen so a man fearing God, brought to a pettie condition, will neuer repine at the riches of worldly men, because that by the same riches Satan keepes them in slauery, intangles them in his snares, and trailes them by their couetousnes.
It pleaseth God to deale thus with his children, to stint them, and to keepe them short, while the wicked liue in plenty; doing that, which fathers carefull of the health of their children doe. Euen as in a great house it often happeneth, that the seruants are drunken and make good cheere, while the father of the family diets his sonne, to preuent a sicknesse.
We hauehave another euill; that often we call that pouerty, which many excellent seruants of God would esteeme plenty. Such a one thinkes himselfe poore, that hath more money then all the Apostles together had, whereof the poorest thought himselfe rich; for we measure our riches with the ell of our couetousnesse, which hath no end; whereas wee should measure them with the ell of Nature, which is short, and contents it selfe with little. And againe, euen of that which nature requires, godlinesse pares off sometimes something, when it pleaseth God to reduce his children to passe without many things which are esteemed necessary, to accustome them to passe the easier without superfluous things.
Wherefore let vsus follow the Apostles counsell, saying, pHeb. 13.5Let your conuersation be without couetousnesse, and be content with such things as ye hauehave; for he hath said, I will neuer leaue thee, nor forsake thee. Lest after a couetous toile and full of euill care, it be said vntounto vsus, as it was said to that heaper of goods: qLuk. 12.20.Thou foole, this night thy soule shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided? That man spake of inlarging his barnes, but he should rather hauehave inlarged his charity, and streighted his couetousnesse. For as the right way to appease the thirst of him that hath the ague, is not to let him drinke as much as he will, but to diminish the inward heat by bloudletting; so the meanes to asswage the thirst of a couetous man, is not in giuing him store of wealth, but in diminishing his couetousnesse. Witnesse Zacheus, who before his conuersion, thought himselfe poore, and all his endeuour was to hoord vp. But the very day of his conuersion hee began to thinke himselfe rich, though by his liberality towards the poore, and his fourefould restitution of all that he had got by circumuention, his goods were diminished more then the halfe.
EueryEvery man thus disposed, will rHeb. 10.34.take ioyfully the spoyling of his goods, knowing in himselfe, that he hath in heauen a better and an enduring substance: And sHeb. 11.26.will esteeme the reproch of Christ greater riches, then the treasures in Egypt. Committing his earthly cares vntounto Gods prouidence, hee will say with the Apostle, tRom. 6.32.Hee that spared not his owne Sonne, but deliuered him vp for vsus all, how shall not hee with him also freely giuegive vsus all things? Hee that giues vntounto our soules the bread of life, will he deny the materiall bread to our bodies? Hee that will clothe our soules with that heauenly light wherewith he clothes the Angels, will hee deny to our bodies that clothing which hee hath liberally bestowed on beasts? uMatth. 9.33.Seeke first the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse, and all these things shall be added vntounto you.
CHAP. IV. Counsels and comforts touching the losse of our friends.
IN our domestical woūds God requires not of vsus that wee should be insensible, for godlinesse ouerturnes not Nature. Notwithstanding, if God takes from a man that feares him, any one of his neerest and dearest friends, or frō the husband, his wife, or his children, x1. Thes. 4.13.he will not sorrow as they that hauehave no hope; nor as those which hauehave obstinate teares, and and an ambitious mourning; or as they which would willingly contest against God. Surely hee will not be without naturall compassion, seeing that Iesus Christ himselfe, intending to raise Lazarus, omitted not to weepe ouer him: But hauing satisfied nature and decency, hee will giuegive place to reason, and yet more to the feare of God. Which teacheth vsus, not to resist Gods ordinance, and to conforme our selues to his will, which is iust and vnauoidable; Propounding vntounto vsus the example of Iob, who after the losse of all his children in one day, did not murmure against God, but did glorifie him by his humiliation. And the example of Dauid, who during the sicknesse of his sonne, did weepe bitterly: but after that God had disposed of him, tooke courage and comforted himselfe in God. We shall goe to our friends, but they shall returne no more to vsus; they are not lost, but they are sent before vsus, yea I say, that though we could restore them to life by our teares, yet ought wee not to trouble their rest; and to content our desires, cast them againe into those euils, from the which God hath deliuered them. Is it not a great deale better wee should prepare our selues to follow them, then to consume our selues in lamenting them? Is it not better wee should diuert our heauinesse by feare and an holy care, then to make our wounds the worse, by putting our hands alwayes on them? And thinke rather on the good things to come that are certaine, and of an infinite value, then on the euils past, which are petty in comparison of them, and without remedy?
It will be good also for a man to say in himselfe, God hath taken away a person whom I loued singularly, that I may hereafter transferre my thought to him alone, and that hee alone from henceforth possesse all my louelove. I cleaued too much to the earth by this roote; which God hath cut off, that my desires be not more fastened to the earth, and that there where my treasure is, there my heart and affection be also. God hath honoured vsus with an holy Priesthood: let vsus not make our selues vncleane by the dead, in weeping more for them then for our sinnes; and lamenting more our domesticall afflictions then the breach of Ioseph. Wherefore should we, hauing seene any of our neerest friends die with alacrity, and full assurance of his saluation, lament them with excesse, and notwithstanding, behold with drie eyes, and with an vnmouable spirit the affliction of the Church, and the blood of the faithfull spilt, with blasphemy of the enemies, and the reproch of the doctrine of the Gospell? Such teares are cruell against the Church, and iniurious towards God, whom if we louelove, the outrage done to his glory, ought to touch vsus a great deale more then our owne discommodity.
CHAP. V. Generall Counsels and comforts against all sorts of Afflictions.
TO abridge this matter, and not to particularize any more of all sorts of Afflictions, that we may apply to eueryevery one apart their remedies, I say in generall, that the faithfull, in all his Afflictions, will finde wherewith to profit; for God by Afflictions will humble our pride, stirre vp our drowzines, inflame our prayers, try our faith, exercise our patience, and make vsus to experiment his helpe in our needs; that as the Apostle saith, yRom. 5.Tribulation worketh patience, patience experience, and experience hope, which maketh not ashamed. Wee shall finde by experience, that as the cherishing and flatteries of our friends are not so profitable to vsus, as the reproches and blames of our enemies; so it is a great deale better for vsus to be chastened by the hand of God, then to be flattered by the hand of the deuill.
It was in Affliction, that the conscience of Iosephs brethren was awaked, and that they said one to another; zGen. 42.21.Wee are very guilty concerning our brother, in that wee saw the anguish of his soule, when hee besought vsus, and wee would not heare. Therefore is this distresse come vponupon vsus. It was in the fulnes of his Affliction, that the King Manasses a2. Chron. 33.12.did turne himselfe to God, and that God receiued him into fauour. Dauid makes this confession to God, Before bPsal. 119.67.I was afflicted, I went astray: but now I hauehave kept thy Word. Experience makes vsus know, that the prayers which languish in prosperity, doe waxe hot by aduersity. Thē griefe formes in an instant the tongues, the most slowest, to an holy eloquence, which breathes forth most feruent prayers, drawne out by anguish. We are beholding to Saul and Absalom for the Psalmes of Dauid, and the holy Songs of that royall Harpe, the tune whereof doth as yet to this day pacifie the troubled consciences, and chaseth away the euill spirit.
All these considerations will make the faithfull, not onelyonly not to sinke vnderunder the burthen of Afflictions but also to reape some profit by them; and when he shall hauehave looked them neere in the face, he will finde them to bee weake against the man that hath in his hand the Buckler of faith, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; who not fearing death, yea hoping for death, despiseth the more easily the commodities of this life; for with the eyes of faith he pierceth this hideous masque, and vnderunder the appearance of death, espies a present of eternall life. Hee beholds Christ Iesus the Authour and finisher of our faith marching before vsus, and making plaine the way of death, and by his death abolishing the curse of ours. Of two bands which keepe his soule fastened to his body, whereof the one is naturall, and the other voluntary; he hath already broke the voluntary, and vntied his affection frō this earthly life, before God cut the naturall band by death. Death is no newes to him, because that his life hath bin a continuall mortification. cPsal. 89.His soule longeth, and his heart crieth out for the liuing God. dPsal. 42.Hee saith with Dauid, When shall I come and appeare before God?
In a word, all kinde of Afflictions change their nature, when they befall the man endued with Gods Spirit; for eRom. 8.all things worke together for good to them that louelove God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Therefore the consolations which humane wisdome propoundeth against euils, are weake, in comparison of those that are ministred to vsus by the Word of God: for Philosophy drawes her consolations from necessity, telling vsus, that in vaine wee torment our selues about euils that cannot be remedied. But euen that that they are without remedy, is that which troubleth vsus most, and is the greater part of the euill. Shee teacheth vsus that our euils are bitter enough of their own nature, without making them more bitter by impatience. In vaine doth man open his arme against the current; and it is some comfort to follow nature, and in a generall ruine to inwrap himselfe in the multitude. But great euils are not cured by blowing vponupon them: and words cunningly set forth with arte, may serue to tickle the wound, but not to bring any remedy to it; the vnauoidable necessity of euils serues rather to harden the courage, then to comfort the heart, or to giuegive peace to the conscience. The right comforts are not those which onelyonly frame vsus to patience, but those which settle ioy in the heart, and which teach vsus to reckon Afflictions amongst Gods gifts, and to finde matter of thankesgiuing in our chastisements.
These counsels and comforts may easily bee put in practice by him, in whom Gods feare hath mortified those burning desires, and planted in his heart a hatred of vice. For as a sound man, and that hath the noble parts of the body well composed, will easily indure labour, and will quietly sleepe vponupon straw; euen so the man that hath a conscience sound, and purged of ambition, enuy, hatred, and incontinencie, which are indispositions and maladies of the soule, will finde Afflictions light, and will, vnderunder this burthen, runne on his race with alacritie: But hee whom ambition puffes vp, pleasure corrupts, whom enuy hath dried vp, whom couetousnesse hath bowed towards the earth, will fall vnderunder the burthen, and will feele himselfe ouer-whelmed with Affliction. He who aspiring to high things, is rolled downe from his high hopes, will bite off the bit with choller, and impatiently beare pouerty. But hee who hoped for nothing, nor pretended any thing on earth, as he desired not to gaine much, so will hee not mourne with excesse for that hee hath lost. For though the euils whereunto our nature is subiect, or which God sends vsus, or which men doe vntounto vsus, are great, and in great number; are notwithstanding a great deale more tolerable, then those which a man doth to himselfe by burning hatred and enuie, by vniust quarrels, by rash ambition, by disordered desires, by an enuious fretfulnesse, and by an impatient precipitation; for as those vlcers that came of themselues, are a great deale worser then wounds and hurts, because the euill is inward, and the complexion or constitution of the body helpes: So those euils which a man doth to himselfe by his vices, are more dangerous, and more obstinate against remedies, then those afflictiōs which men inflict on vsus, or which God sends vsus; because they are euils which we entertaine expressely, and which are aided by nature; and which hauing weakened vsus, and softened our courage, make vsus weake to beare afflictions, and vncapable to profit by Gods chastisements. Thinke not that hee can beare those euils which his enemies doe to him, that is an enemy to himselfe; or that a man that loues his riches more then God, can patiently indure that God take from him his riches.