Hope and Manifold Consolation of the Faithful. The Third Sermon
I suALL not do amiss, I think, my reverend? brethren, if to the treatise which I have already made of earthly riches, and of the use and abuse of the same, I do here also add a discourse of the divers calamities, wherewith man, so long as he liveth in this frail flesh, is continually vexed and daily afflicted. For since that many men do either lose their temporal goods, or else can by no means get them, which are the causes why they be oppressed with penury and neediness; it cannot be but profitable and very necessary too for every good man to know out of the word of God the very reason
[1 Vol. τ. p. 188.) [2 quomodo potueris, ita esto misericors, Lat. and Vulgate. This]
[sentence, however, is omitted in the authorised Version, though re-]
[tained in the service of the Offertory in the Book of Common Prayer,]
[and given in Coverdale’s Bible, 1535.) [3 fratres honorandi, Lat.)]
and ground of his consolation in his miseries; lest, being swallowed up of too great sorrow, and entangled in utter despera~ tion, he give himself over to be Satan’s bond-slave. Now this treatise serveth for the whole life of man. For I mean not to speak of any one calamity alone, as of poverty, or penury, but generally of all the miseries that happen to man. Verily, since man is born to grief and misery, as birds to flying and fishes to swimming; his life can never possibly be either sweet quiet, unless he know the manner and reason of his calamity. And if so be he know the reason thereof, religiously taken and derived out of the word of God; then his life cannot choose but be sweet and quiet, howsoever otherwise it seem to be most bitter and intolerable. The mind of man, verily, is sorely afflicted and grievously tormented with lamentable miseries; but the same, on the other side, is sweetly eased and mightily upholden by the true knowledge of those miseries, and holy consolations, derived and taken out of the word of God.
First of all, it is requisite to lay before our eyes and reckon up the several kinds and especial sorts of mortal men’s calamities, The evils verily are innumerable, which daily fall upon our necks; but those which do most usually happen are the plague or pestilence, sundry and infinite diseases, death itself, and the fear of death, whose terror to some is far more grievous than death can be. To these be added the death and destruction of most notable men, or such of whom we make most account; robberies, oppressions, endless ill chances, poverty, beggary, lack of friends, infamy, banishment, persecution, imprisonment, enforced torments, and exquisite punishments of sundry sorts and terrible to think on, unseasonable and tempestuous weather, barrenness, dearth, frost, hail, deluges, earthquakes, the sinking of cities, the spoiling of fields, the burning of houses, the ruin of buildings, hatred, factions, privy grudges, treasons, rebellions, wars, slaughters, captivity, cruelty of enemies, and tyranny; also the lack of children; or troubles, cares, and hellish lives by the matching of unmeet mates in wedlock, by children naugh- [6 Job v. 7: homo nascitur ad laborem, et avis ad volatumVulgate. “Man is borne unto mysery, like as the byrde for to fle.”— Coverdale’s Bible, 1535.)
[5 miseriee, Lat. without any epithet. ]
[Bullinger, 11] 8
tily disposed, maliciously bent, disobedient and unthankful to father and mother; and lastly, care and continual grief in sundry sorts for sundry things, which never cease to vex our minds. For no man can in never so long a bead-row! reckon up all the evils whereunto miserable mankind is woefully endangered, and every moment tormented. New miseries rise up every day, of which our elders did never hear; and they are appointed to be felt and suffered of us, who with our new and never heard of sins do daily deserve new and never seen punishments, when as otherwise the miseries, which our forefathers felt, had been enough and sufficient to have plagued us all. ὁ But now with these evils, as well the good and godly with worshippers of God, as the wicked contemners of his name, are troubled and put in ure: yea, the saints are through all? their life time afflicted and vexed, when as contrarily the wicked abound with all kinds of joy and delightful pleasures: whereupon it cometh, that great temptations and complaints arise in the minds of the godly. The wicked do gather by their happy state and pleasant life, that God doth like their religion, and accept their manner of dealing, whereby they are confirmed and grounded in their errors. And on the other side the godly, by reason of the miseries which they have long suffered, do revolt from godliness, and turn to the ungodly, because they think that the state of the wicked is far better than theirs, Now it is good to know, and severally to learn, all this out of the scriptures. That the godly are and have been afflicted, as well as the wicked, since the beginning of the world, it is manifest to be seen in the example of Abel and Cain: for, as the one was pitifully slain of the other for his sincere worshipping of God, so was the other for the murder made a vagabond, not daring for fear to abide in any place to take his rest in. Jacob, surnamed Israel, is read to have been vexed with many calamities. The same is reported also of the Egyptians, while they persecuted the Israelites. Saul was vexed, and David afflicted. The Lord our Saviour, with his disciples, bare the cross of grief and trouble: again, on the other side, the Jews, who cruelly persecuted Christ and his disciples, were horribly destroyed,
[1 catalogo, Lat.] [ omnem prope, Lat.; almost all.]]
and that worthily too, for their villainous injury. Unspeakable are the evils which the church of Christ did suffer in those ten most bloody persecutions before the reign of Constantine the great: but Orosius, the notable, diligent, and faithful historiographer, maketh mention, that due and deserved punishments were out of hand laid upon the necks of those persecuting tyrants; of whom I will speak somewhat in place convenient. And by the testimonies both of God and man, and also by experience, we see it proved, that as well the godly as ungodly are touched with miseries. Yea truly, the best and holiest men for the most part are troubled and afflicted, “pe when the wicked and worser sort are free from calamities, leading their lives in ease and pleasures. And while the good do suffer persecution and injuries, the wicked rejoice thereat. For the Lord in the gospel saith to his disciples: “Verily,. verily, I say unto you, ye shall weep and lament, the world shall be glad; but ye shall be sorrowful.”
But now, what kind of temptations those be, which arise in the hearts of the godly through their tribulations; and what those men, which are not altogether godless nor the enemies of God, do gather of the felicity wherein the wicked are, the scripture in many places teacheth us, and especially in that wonderful discourse of Job and his friends. The prophet Abacuch complaineth, and saith: “Ὁ Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou not hear? how long shall I cry out to thee for the violence that I suffer, and thou not help? why am I compelled to see iniquity, spoiling, and unrighteousness against me? why dost thou regard them that despise thee, and holdest [3 The persecutions of the Christians by the Romans have, for many ages, been accounted ten in number. But the ancient history of the Church does not support precisely this number.—Some Christians of the fifth century were led into a belief by certain passages of was fated to undergo fen calamities of the heavier kind; to which scripture, especially by one in the Apocalypse, that the Christian body
[14 opinion they then accommodated history, though against her will, not,]
[however, all in the same way.—Mosheim Eccles. Hist. cent 1. Book 1.]
[ῇ part i. chap. 5. 4. ed. Soames, and note in loc. ]]
[13 [4 See p. 109, &c. Orosius frequently notices these punishments in]
[the 7th book of his Histor. adv. paganos; and the title of the 27th]
[i chapter of the same book is, “Collatio populi Israelitici et Christiani,]
[ὶ Zgyptiaci item et Romani, quomodo illi pro Deo in adflictionibus, hi]
[a Deo in plagis, similia fere passi sunt.”]]
[i 5—2]
thy tongue while the wicked treadeth down the man that is more righteous than himself? The wicked doth circumvent the righteous; and therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.” In Malachi the hypocrites do ery: “It is but vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his commandments, and that we have walked humbly before the face of the Lord!? Now therefore we call the proud and arrogant blessed and happy: for the workers of wickedness live happily and are set up; and they tempt God, go on in their wickedness, and are delivered” The holy prophet Asaph containeth all this most fully and significantly in the Psalm, where he saith: “My feet were almost gone, my treadings had well nigh slipped: for I was grieved at the wicked, when I did see the ungodly in such prosperity. For they are in no peril of death?; they are, I say, troubled with no diseases, whereby they are drawn, as it were, to death, but are lusty and strong. They come into no misfortune like other men; but are free from the evils wherewith other folk are plagued: and this is the cause that they are so holden with pride, and wrapped in violence as in a garment. Their eyes swell with fatness, and they do even what they lust, They stretch forth their mouth unto heaven, and their tongue goeth through the world: yea, and they dare to say, Tush, how should God perceive 1057 Lo, these are the ungodly, these prosper in the world, and these have riches in possession. Then, said I, have I cleansed my heart in vain, and washed mine hands in innocency: and I bear punishment every day. And while I thought thus to myself, I had almost departed from the generation of God’s children.” of Now since this is so, it followeth consequently to beat out the causes of these calamities: for in so doing we shall
[[ coram Deo exercituum, Lat.; God of hosts.] [3 qui Deum tentant, Lat.; “for they tempte God, and yet escape.”]
[Coverdale’s Bible, 1535.] [8 neque enim sunt illis nexus ad mortem, Lat.; (eo quod non tra-~]
[hantur ad mortem quasi captivi.—Calvin, Comment. in loc.); for there]
[are no bands in their death.— Auth. Vers.] [ dum eis videlicet pro voto omnia succedunt, Lat.; omitted,—]
[while, that is, all things go according to their desire.) [5 quomodo cognosceret omnia Deus? estne cognitio apud Altissi-]
[mum? Lat.; How should God know all things? is there knowledge in]
[the most High?]: [6 ut diligentissime excutiamus, Lat.]]
be the better able to judge rightly of the miseries both of the godly and wicked sort of people. The causes of calamities are many, and of many sorts: but the general and especial cause is known to be sin. For by disobedience sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so, consequently, diseases, and all evils in the world. They are very light-headed and vain fellows, that refer these causes to I cannot tell what, blind constellations, and movings of planets. For” we by our evil lusts and corrupt affections do heap up day by day one evil on another’s neck. And at our elbows standeth the devil, who roundeth us in the ears, and eggeth us forwards; and, as helps to spur us on, there are a crew of naughty packs?, that never cease to train us in. And daily there do rise up divers instruments of tribulation, wherewith the most wise and just God doth suffer us men to be exercised and tormented.
But the same causes of affliction are not always found to be in the holy worshippers of God, as are in the wicked despisers of his name. - The saints are often afflicted, that by their trouble the glory of God may be known to the world. For when the disciples of Christ did see the blind man in the gospel, which was blind from his mother’s womb, they said to the Lord: Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” Likewise, when the Lord heard say that Lazarus was sick, “This disease (saith he) is not to death, but to the glory of God, that by it the Son of God may be glorified.” And yet, if we touch this matter to the quick, there can none in the world be found without sin; so that, if the Lord will mark our iniquities, he shall always find somewhat to be punished in us: as it is at large declared in the book of Job.
Furthermore, the Lord doth suffer his spouse, the church, i which he loveth full dearly, to be troubled and afflicted to ἶ this end and purpose; that he may openly declare, that the ΐ elect are defended, preserved, and delivered by the power and 4 aid of God, and not by the policy or help of man. For Paul
[7 ceterum, Lat.; but.] [8 to round, Johnson; to roun, Toone: to whisper or speak in]
[secrecy. ]]
[9 pack, a loose or lewd person.—Johnson’s Dict.)]
saith: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be God’s, and not of us: while we are troubled on every side, but not made sorrowful; we are in poverty, but not in extreme poverty; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken therein; we are cast down, but we perish not; we always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might also be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” Also the same apostle saith: “Virtue is made perfect in infirmity 2.”
Again, as the afflictions of the holy martyrs and faithful of saints of Christ are testimonies of the doctrine of faith, as our iy, Saviour in the gospel saith, “They shall deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they shall scourge you; yea, ye shall be brought before kings and rulers for my sake, that this might be for a witness to them and the people:” even so, in like manner, are the saints, overladen with miseries, made examples for us to learn by how to overcome and despise? the world, and to aspire to heavenly things.
Finally, the Lord doth try those that be his by laying the cross upon their necks, and purgeth them like gold in the fire: he cutteth from us many occasions of evil, that he may bring us to the bearing of greater and more plentiful fruit. The wisdom of the Lord doth therein follow the manner of goldsmiths, who put their gold into the fire to purge, and not to mar it: and he imitateth also good husbandmen, who, when their corn is somewhat too rank, do mow it down; and prune their trees, not to destroy, but to make them bear more abundant fruit. And this flesh of ours, verily, in peace and quietness is luskish4, lazy, drowsy, and slow to good and honest exercises; it is content, and seeketh no further than earthly things; it is wholly given to pleasures; it doth utterly forget God and godly things: now therefore it is not expedient only, but also very necessary, to have this dull and sluggish lump stirred up and exercised with troubles, afflictions, and sharp persecutions. The saints herein are like
[1 2 Cor. iv. 7—11. Bullingerhas adopted the translation of Erasmus.] [2 2 Cor. xii. 9. This is the Vulgate, and not Erasmus’, version. ] [3 calcare, Lat.; to tread under foot.] [5 luskish, somewhat inclinable to laziness or indolence.—Johnson. ]]
to iron, which by use is somewhat worn and diminished, but by lying still unoccupied is eaten more with rust and canker. Most truly therefore said St Peter: Dearly beloved, think it not strange, that ye are tried with fire, which thing is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice rather, in that ye are partakers of the afflictions of Christ; that, when his glory is revealed, ye may be merry and glad” For Paul to Timothy saith: Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel; for which I am afflicted, as an evil doer, even unto bonds: and yet I suffer all things for the elect’s sakes, that they might also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we be patient? we shall reign with him: if we deny him, he shall also deny us?” For in his epistle to the Romans he saith: “Those which he knew before he did also predestinate, that they should be like-fashioned unto the shape of his Son, that he might be the first-begotten among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them also he called; and whom he called, them also he justified; and whom he justified, them also shall he glorify?.” Again, in the same epistle he saith: “We rejoice also in tribulations; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; patience proof; proof hope: and hope maketh not ashamed’, &c.” This do the private examples of the saints, and public examples of the whole church, very plainly declare. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had never known that God’s helping hand had been so faithful and always present with them; they had never been grounded in so sure hope, nor shewed such especial fruit of their excellent patience; if they had not been exercised with many perils, and, as it were, oppressed with infinite ἡ calamities. Whereupon it cometh, that David cried: It is good for me, Lord, that thou hast troubled me.” The church of Israel was oppressed in Egypt; but to the end that it
[61 Pet. iv. 12, 13; Erasmus’ translation. ] [6 So Tyndale’s and Cranmer’s translations.] [7 Erasmus’ translation chiefly. ] [8 So Tyndale’s and Cranmer’s translations. ] [9 glorificabit, Lat.; the Versions have glorificavit.] [10 Erasmus’ translation. ]]
might with the more glory be delivered, and pass into the land of promise. The Jewish church was afflicted by them of Babylon and the Assyrians, so that their temple was overthrown, and the saints carried captive with the worst of the people. But the godly sort in their very captivity do feel the wonderful help of God, and by that means are made the better! by their afflictions; so that the name of the Lord was known among the Assyrians, the Chaldees, the Medes and Persians, to his great glory and renown, as it is at large declared in the histories of Daniel, Hester, and Esdras3. pun- Here also is to be noted, that certain punishments are… as appointed of the Lord as plagues for certain sins; so that sins. most, commonly a man is plagued by the very same things wherein he sinned against the Lord. David offended God with murder and adultery; and therefore is he punished with the shame of his own house, with whoredom, incest, and detestable murder of his own children; and lastly, driven out and banished his kingdom. It was pride and arrogance, wherein Nabuchodonosor sinned; and therefore, being distract of his wits and turned into a beastly madness, he led his life for a certain time with beasts of the field. But as Nabuchodonosor was, when God thought good, restored to his kingdom; so David did in time convenient feel the mercy of the Lord in settling him in his seat again. For this saying of the Lord is firmly ratified for ever, not only to David, but to every one that believeth, which is in these words set down in the scriptures: If his children forsake my law, and keep not my commandments, I will visit their sins with rods, and their iniquities with scourges: yet will I not utterly take my goodness from him; I will not break my covenant, neither will I change the thing that is once gone out of my mouth.” Therefore it is to our profit that the Lord afflicteth us; as he himself testifieth in the revelation of Christ? uttered by John the apostle and evangelist, saying: “Them which I love I rebuke
[1 puriores fiunt, Lat.] [2 quam latissime, Lat.; to the widest extent.] [3 Ezra and Nehemiah. See Sixth Art. of Religion; “First Book]
[ἃ of Esdras, Second Book of Esdras.” So also Vulgate.] [ destinato tempore, Lat.) [5 in theologia sua, Lat. See Vol. τ. p. 170. n. 6.] [6 edita, Lat.; put forth, published. ]]
and chasten.” And Salomon, long before that, did say: “My son, refuse not the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when thou art corrected of him. For whom the Lord loveth, him he chasteneth; and yet delighteth in him, as a father in his son?.”
Now, touching the persecutions and terrible plagues laid upon the neck of the whole church of God, or several martyrs of the same; as they were, for the most part, breathed out of worldly tyrants against the saints for their open confession and testimonies of their faith, and truth of the gospel, so most commonly the causes of those broils were the sins and offences of the saints, which the justice of God did visit in his holy ones, no doubt to the good and salvation of the faithful. For of that bloody persecution under the emperors Diocletian and Maximinian, which caused many thousands, yea, many millions, of martyrs to come to their endings, we read this following in the history of Eusebius of Cesaria, who learned it, not by hear-say, but was himself an eye-witness of the same: “When as by too much liberty and wantonness the manners of the church were utterly marred, and the discipline thereof corrupted; while among ourselves we envy one another, and diminish one another’s estimation; while among ourselves we snatch at and accuse ourselves, moving deadly war among ourselves; while dissimulation sitteth in the face, deceit lurketh in the heart, and falsehood is uttered in words, so that one evil is heaped still on another’s neck; the Lord beginneth by little and little, and with the bridle to check the mouth of his tripping church, and, reserving the congregations untouched, he beginneth first to suffer them to feel persecution which served as soldiers in the camps of the Gentiles. But when as by that means the people could not be made to remember themselves, insomuch that they ceased not to persist in their wickedness, and that the very guides of the people and chief of the church, unmindful of God’s commandment, were set on fire among themselves with strife, envy, hatred, and pride, so that they might think they rather exercised tyranny than the office of ministers, because they had forgotten christian sincerity and pureness of living; then at length the houses of prayer and churches of the living God ο ΤΊ Prov. iii. 11, 12; et tanquam pater in filio delectatur, Lat.; “and yet delyteth in him even as a father in his owne sonne.”—Coverdale’s translation, 1535.)
were thrown to the ground, and the holy scriptures set on fire in the broad and open streets.” Thus much, word for word, out of the eighth book of his ecclesiastical history.
And yet here I make difference betwixt sin and sin. _ For the saints sin, but yet they abstain commonly from heinous crimes; although now and then too they fall into them, as it is evident by the example of David: but yet, for the most part, they fly from theft, murder, whoredom, and other grievous? sins like unto these. And while the saints are afflicted by tyrants, it is not for the neglecting of justice and true religion; but for the contemning of superstition, and stedfast sticking to Christ and his gospel. The Lord therefore doth forgive, and in the blood of Christ wash away, the sins of the holy martyrs, reputing them to suffer death not for the sins which they have committed, but for the zeal and love of true religion. He also punisheth the tyrants for the death of his martyrs; because, in putting them to death, they follow their own tyrannous affection, and not the just judgment of the living God. The Lord’s mind, verily, was by tyrants to chasten his people Israel: but the tyrants (as Esay in his tenth chapter witnesseth) did not take it to be so; but rather, following their own affections, they passed all measure in afflicting them, and never sought after justice and equity: they therefore are punished of the Lord for killing his
[1 Bullinger has followed the Latin translation of Eusebius: Ubi]
[ex multa libertate multaque indulgentia vitiati sunt mores, et disciplina]
[corrupta est, dum alter alteri invidemus, et alter alteri derogamus;]
[dumque nos invicem mordemus et incusamus, et adversum nosmetipsos]
[intestina preelia commovemus; dum simulatio in wvultu, dolus in]
[corde, fallacia profertur in verbis, et malorum per singula cumulus]
[intumescit; aggreditur (Dominus) primo sensim refrenare lapsantes,]
[congregationibusque manentibus, indulget interim eos, qui erant in]
[militia tantum gentilium, persecutione pulsari. Sed cum nullus ex]
[hoc clementize ejus intellectus populis redderetur, et persisterent in]
[malis suis, atque ipsi qui duces populi videbantur et principes, divini]
[mandati immemores effecti, adversum se invicem contentionibus, zelo,]
[livore, superbia, inimicitiis atque odiis inflammarentur, ita ut tyranni-]
[dem potius quam sacerdotium tenere se crederent, christiansee humili-]
[tatis et sinceritatis obliti; tune demum..domus orationis et ecclesize]
[Dei vivi ad solum deducte sunt; divine vero scripture in medio]
[platearum igni cremate sunt.—Euseb. Eccles. Hist. Ruffino Aquil. in-]
[terprete, lib. vir. cap. 1. p. 183, Basil. 1639.) [2 morte expianda, Lat.]]
innocent and guiltless servants. For the thing which the Lord did persecute in his people, (their sins, I mean, and offences,) that do the tyrants neither punish nor persecute: but the thing that pleased God, (the love, I mean, of true religion, and the utter detesting of idolatry,) that they are mad upon, and persecute it with sword and fire and unspeakable torments. To this therefore doth that saying of St(l Peter belong: “See that none of you be punished as ἃ or as a thief or as an evil-doer, or as a busy-body in other men’s matters: but if any man suffer as a christian man, let him not be ashamed, but rather glorify God on this behalf.”
Yet, for all this, I would not that heinous offenders should any whit despair. They have the example of the thief that was crucified with Christ; that let them follow: let them, I say, confess their faults, believe in Christ, commit themselves wholly to his grace and mercy, and lastly, suffer patiently the pain of their punishment; and, in so doing, there is no doubt but they shall be received of Christ into Paradise, and live there for ever, as the thief doth with Christ.
And although the godly be slain among transgressors, yet is he no more defiled by suffering with them than Christ our Lord was, being hanged among thieves. For though the godly and ungodly be wrapped and coupled together in one kind of punishment, yet are they severed by their unlike ending; while the wicked, after this bodily death, is carried to hell, there to burn without intermission; and the godly taken immediately into heaven, to live with Christ his Lord, to whom he committed and commended? himself. Touching this matter, and the causes of the afflictions of the holy men of God, I will not be aggrieved to recite unto you, dearly beloved, a notable place of St Augustine out of his first book De civitate Dea. “Wheresoever (saith he) good men do suffer the same and like punishment that the evil sort do, it is to be marked, that there is not therefore no difference betwixt them, because there no diversity in the thing that they suffer. For as in one and the same fire gold doth shine, and chaff doth smoke; and under one flail the husk is broken, and the corn purged; and as the scummy froth is not mixed with the oil, although one weight of the same press doth crush both out at once: even
[8 obtulit, Lat,; offered.]
so one and the self-same misery, falling upon the good and the bad, doth try, fine, and melt the good; and on the other - side condemn, waste, and consume the evil sort. Whereupon it cometh to pass, that in one and the same affliction the evil do detest and blaspheme the Lord, when contrarily the good do pray unto and praise his name for that he layeth upon them. So much matter maketh it in afflictions to mark not what, but with what mind, every man doth suffer. For stir up dirt and sweet ointments alike, and you shall have the one stink filthily, and the other cast forth a sweet-smelling savour. Therefore in that hurly-burly, and irruption made by the barbarous people, what did the Christians suffer which was not rather to their profit, while they did faithfully consider those troubles? especially because they, humbly considering the sins for which God, being wroth, did fill the world with so many and great calamities, although they be far from committing heinous, grievous, and outrageous offences, do yet nevertheless not repute themselves so clear of all faults, as that they judge not themselves worthy to suffer temporal calamity for the crimes they commit every hour and moment. For over and “besides that every man which liveth peradventure laudably enough, doth in some points yield a little to carnal concupiscence, although not to the outrageousness of horrible sins, to the gulf of heinous offences and abominable iniquities, yet notwithstanding he yieldeth- to some sins, which either he haunteth very seldomly, or else committeth so much the oftener as they are the lesser; over and besides this therefore I say, what man is there which, when he seeth and knoweth very well the men for whose pride, lascivious lives, covetousness, and damnable iniquity, God (as he hath threatened) doth plague the earth, doth so esteem them as they are to be thought of, and live so with them as he ought to live with such kind of people? For oftentimes many things are wickedly dissembled, while wicked doers are not taught, corrected, chidden, and admonished of their evil behaviours, either because we think the pain too much to tell them their faults; or while we are afraid to have the heavy looks of them with whom we live; or else avoid their displeasure, lest peradventure they should hinder or hurt us in temporal matters, when as either our greediness desireth to have somewhat more, or our infirmity feareth to lose the things which it hath already
in hold and possession: so that, although the life of the wicked displease the good, for which cause they fall not into the same damnation, which is after this life prepared for the evil; yet, since they do therefore bear with, and forbear, their damnable sins, because they fear them in lighter and smaller trifles, they are justly scourged with them in this temporal life, albeit they be not punished with them eternally, While they be punished by God with the wicked, they do justly feel the bitterness of this life, for the love of whose sweetness they would not be bitter in telling the wicked of their offences. This therefore seemeth to me to be no small cause why the good are whipped with the evil, when it pleaseth God to punish the naughty manners of men with the affliction of temporal pains. For they are scourged together, not for because they lead an evil life together, but because they love this temporal life together. I do not say alike, but together; when the better sort ought to despise it, that the evil, being rebuked and corrected, might obtain the eternal life; to the getting whereof if they would not be our fellows and partners, they should be carried and lovingly drawn, even while they be our enemies; because, so long as they live, it is always uncertain whether their minds shall be changed to be better or no. Wherefore they have not the like but a far greater cause to admonish men of their faults, to whom the Lord saith by the mouth of the prophet: ‘ He verily shall die in his sin, but his blood will I require at the hand of the watchman.” For to this end are the watchmen, that is, the guides of the people, ordained in the churches, that they should not forbear to rebuke sin and wickedness. And yet, for all this, that man is not altogether excusable of this fault, which, although he be no guide or overseer of the people, doth, notwithstanding, know many things worthy controlment, and yet wink at them in those with whom he liveth and is conversant, because he will give them none offence, for fear lest he lose those things, which in this world he useth as he ought not, or is delighted in so as he should ποὺ”. And so forth. For all this have I hitherto rehearsed out of St Augustine.
[1 Hee cum ita sint, quicunque boni malique pariter afflicti sunt,
[non ideo ipsi distincti non sunt, quia distinctum non est quod utrique]
[perpessi sunt.—Nam sicut sub uno igne aurum rutilat, palea fumat, et]
[sub eadem tribula stipulee comminuuntur, frumenta purgantur; nec]
The last and hindermost cause of the calamities which oppress the holy saints of God is, because the Lord, in afflict-
[ideo cum oleo amurca confunditur, quia eodem preli pondere exprimi-]
[tur: ita una eademque vis irruens bonos probat, purificat, eliquat;]
[malos damnat, vastat, exterminat. Unde in eadem afflictione mali]
[Deum detestantur atque blasphemant, boni autem precantur et lau-]
[dant. Tantum interest, non qualia, sed qualis quisque patiatur. Nam]
[pari motu exagitatum et exhalat horribiliter ccenum, et suaviter fragrat]
[unguentum…Quid igitur in illa rerum vastitate Christiani passi sunt,]
[quod eis non magis fideliter ista considerantibus ad profectum valeret?]
[Primo, quod ipsa peccata, quibus Deus indignatus implevit tantis]
[calamitatibus mundum, humiliter cogitantes, quamvis longe absint a]
[facinorosis, flagitiosis, atque impiis, tamen non usque adeo se a delictis]
[deputant alienos, ut nec temporalia pro eis mala perpeti se judicent]
[indignos. (Bullinger’s text has dignos.) Excepto enim quod unusquis-]
[que, quamlibet laudabiliter vivens, cedit in quibusdam carnali con-]
[cupiscentize, etsi non ad facinorum immanitatem et gurgitem flagitiorum]
[atque impietatis abominationem, ad aliqua tamen peccata vel rara vel]
[tanto crebriora quanto minora:—hoc ergo excepto, quis tandem facile]
[reperitur, qui eosdem ipsos, propter quorum horrendam superbiam,]
[luxuriam, et avaritiam, atque execrabiles iniquitates et impietates Deus,]
[gicut minando preedixit, conterit terras, sic habeat ut habendi sunt;]
[gic cum eis vivat, ut cum talibus vivendum est? Plerumque enim ab]
[eis docendis, admonendis, aliquando etiam objurgandis et corripiendis]
[male dissimulatur; vel cum laboris piget, vel cum os eorum (coram)]
[verecundamur offendere; vel cum eorum inimicitias devitamus, ne]
[impediant et noceant in istis temporalibus rebus, sive quas adipisci]
[adhuc appetit nostra cupiditas, sive quas amittere formidat infirmitas:]
[ita ut quamvis bonis vita malorum displiceat, et ideo cum eis non inci-]
[dant in illam damnationem, quse post hanc vitam talibus preeparatur;]
[tamen quia propterea peccatis eorum damnabilibus parcunt, dum eos in]
[suis licet levibus et venialibus metuunt, jure cum eis temporaliter fla-]
[gellantur, quamyis in sternum minime puniantur. Jure istam vitam,]
[quando divinitus affliguntur cum eis, amaram sentiunt, cujus amando]
[dulcedinem peccantibus eis amari esse noluerunt..Non mihi itaque]
[videtur heec parva esse causa, quare cum malis flagellentur et boni,]
[quando Deo placet perditos mores etiam temporalium peenarum afflic-]
[tione punire. Flagellantur enim simul, non quia simul agunt malam]
[vitam, sed quia simul amant temporalem vitam: non quidem sequaliter,]
[sed tamen simul; quam boni contemnere deberent, utilli correpti atque]
[correct consequerentur @ternam: ad quam consequendam, si nollent]
[esse socii, ferrentur et diligerentur inimici; quia donec vivunt, semper]
[incertum est, utrum voluntatem sint in melius mutaturi. Qua in re]
[non utique parem, sed longe graviorem habent causam, quibus per]
[Prophetam dicitur, Ille quidem in suo peccato morietur, sanguinem]
[autem ejus de manu speculatoris requiram.” Ad hoe enim speculatores,]
ing his friends, doth thereby give a most evident testimony of his just judgment, which shall fall upon his enemies for their contemning of his name and majesty. For St Peter saith: “The time is that judgment! must begin at the house of God: if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of those which believe not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?” And like to this is that notable sentence of the Lord’s, which he spake, when he went to the place of execution, saying: “If they do this in a moist tree, what shall be done in the dry?” If the saints, by whom are meant the fruitful trees bringing forth most precious fruits of good works, are, by the sufferance of God, in this world so miserably tormented and wrongfully vexed; what shall we say, I pray you, of the wicked, which are so far from virtue and good works? They shall, undoubtedly, be plagued with unspeakable pains and punishments.
For touching the causes of those calamities wherewith the wicked are tormented; they can be none other than the heinous crimes which they commit from day to day; and are therefore punished by God’s just judgment, to the end that all men may perceive, that God hateth wicked men and wickedness alike. So we read that Pharao was afflicted. Saul fell upon his own sword, and was slain in the mount Gilboe, with many thousand Israelites, because he had sinned against the Lord, which purposed to destroy him for an example of his judgment, and a terror to them that should follow after. Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod the Great, Herod Agrippa, and Galerius Maximianus, the emperor, were taken horribly with grievous diseases, and died of the same? The hoe est, populorum preepositi, constituti sunt in ecclesiis, ut non par-
[cant objurgando peccata. Nec ideo tamen ab hujuscemodi culpa]
[penitus alienus est, qui, licet praepositus non sit, in eis tamen, quibus]
[vitee hujus necessitate conjungitur, multa monenda vel arguenda novit,]
[et negligit, devitans eorum offensiones propter illa quibus in hae vita]
[ἵ non indebitis utitur, sed plusquam debuit delectatur.—August. Opp.]
[3 de Civit. Dei. Lib. 1. capp. 8, 9. Tom. v. p. 4, col. 4. p. 5, col. 1, 2, 3.]
[5 Par. 1531]]
[4 [ Afflictio inquam et tribulatio, Lat.; omitted by the translator;]
[1 I mean, affliction and tribulation.] [2 Si sancte arbores frugifers, Lat.; if the holy fruitful trees.] [ See Vol. 1. p. 318. For the miserable end of Maximian see]
reason was, because they sinned against God and his servants; on whom he determined to take a vengeance, and to make them proofs of his just judgment; so to be examples for tyrants to perceive what plagues remain for those which seek the blood of the godly and faithful. And although our good God doth ordain all things for the best to his creatures, and sendeth in a manner all calamities and miseries to draw us from wickedness; yet because hypocrites and wicked people despise the counsels and admonitions of Godand neither will acknowledge God when he striketh, nor turn to him when he calleth them, all things do turn to their destruction (even as to them which love the Lord all things work to the best), and therefore do they perish in their calamities: for in this world they feel! the wrath of the almighty God in most horrible punishments; and in the world to come, when once they are parted out of this life, do for ever? bear far greater and bitterer pains than any tongue can tell. ~~ But if it happen that the wicked and ungodly sort do not in this life feel any plague or grievous affliction, then shall they be punished so much the sorer in the world to come. There is no man that knoweth not the evangelical parable of the rich unmerciful glutton, who, when as in this life he lived as he lusted, in passing delights, was notwithstanding in hell tormented with unquenchable thirst, and parched with fire which never ceased burning. The felicity therefore of the wicked in this life is nothing else but extreme misery. For St James the Apostle saith: Ye have lived in pleasure upon earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter;” which, I say, will turn to you, as to well-fed beasts, that are fatted up to be slain to make meat of, For Jeremy goeth a little
[Euseb. Hist. Eccles. Lib. vim. cap. 16, and Lactantius de Mor. Per-]
[secut. cap. 33, and Gibbon, chap. xiv. p. 213. Vol. 11. ed. Lond. 1820.] [1 persentiscere incipiunt, Lat.; they begin to feel.] [2 So 1577, but in 1587, therefore bear. eternum perferunt, Lat. ] [8 eadem, imo longe majora, Lat.; the same, nay far greater.] [4 ignibus infernalibus, Lat.; fire of hell.] [6 James v. 5. Bullinger has adopted Erasmus’ renderings. ] [9 In his Commentary Bullinger prefers the other explanation of]
[this comparison: in deliciis lascive pascitis cuticulam vestram, quoti-]
[diana agitantes convivia, non minus splendida quam alii solent festo die]
[mactata victima. ]]
more plainly to work, and saith: “Ὁ Lord, thou art more righteous than that I should dispute with thee: yet notwithstanding I will talk with thee. How happeneth it that the way of the ungodly doth prosper so well, and that it goeth so well with them which without shame offend in wickedness? Thou hast planted them, they take root, they grow, and bring forth fruit.” And immediately after: But draw thou them out, O Lord, like a sheep? to be slain, and or appoint them against the day of slaughter.” With this also doth that agree, which the prophet Asaph, after he had roundly and largely reckoned up the feli-”~ city of the wicked, addeth, saying: ‘ Thou, verily, hast set them in slippery places; thou shalt cast them down headlong, and utterly destroy them? O with how sudden calamities are they oppressed; they are perished and swallowed up of terrors! Even as a dream that vanisheth so soon as one awaketh; thou, Lord, shalt make their image contemptible in the city.” For David also before him did cry, saying: “Yet a little, and the ungodly shall be nowhere; and when thou lookest in his place, he shall not! appear. I have seen the ungodly in great power, and flourishing! like a green bay-tree: and I went by, and, lo, he was gone; I sought him, but he could not be found.” In like manner also doth Malachi the prophet witness, that there is great difference, in the day of judgment, betwixt the worshipper and despiser of God, and betwixt the just and unjust dealer: “For the day of the Lord shall come, in which the proud, and those that work wickedness, shall be burnt as stubble with fire from heaven, so that there shall remain unto them neither root nor branch.” They that are wise, therefore, will never hereafter be offended at the felicity of the wicked: they will never desire and long to be made partakers of their unhappy prosperity: they will not grudge at all to bear the misery of the cross, which they do daily hear to be laid by God? [7 sicut pecudem 6 grege, Lat.): [ consecra sive destina, Lat.; sanctify or set apart; DWT, Heb. sanctifica, Vulg.] [9 ut prorsus dissiliant, Lat.; that they may burst altogether. ] [10 nuspiam, Lat.; nowhere. ] [11 et virentem ac sese diffundentem, Lat.] [‘2 a clementissimo Deo, Lat ] [BULLINGER, 11.]
upon his saints, to the end they may be tried and fined from the dross of the flesh and this unclean world. Thus far have I sufficiently reasoned of the causes of calamities. = Let us now see, my reverend brethren!, how, and in what order, the godly and sincere worshipper of God doth hehaye himself in all calamities and worldly afflictions. His courage quaileth not, but kicketh rather all desperation aside? because he understandeth, that he must manfully in faith bear all sorts of evils. Therefore doth he arm himself with hope, patience, and prayer. There are, verily, among men some which, so soon as they feel any affliction, do presently cry, as the common voice is, That it had been best if they never had been born, or else destroyed as soon as they were born. A very wicked saying is this, and not worthy to be heard in a christian man’s mouth. But far more wicked are they which stick not to destroy themselves?, rather than by living they would be compelled to suffer any longer some small calamity, or abide the taunts of the open world. And yet on the other side again men must reject the unsavoury a opinion of the Stoics, touching their indolentia, or lack of grief: touching which I will recite unto you, dearly berea. 10Ved, a most excellent discourse of a notable doctor in the church of Christ, set down in these words following: the “We are too unthankful towards our God, unless we do willingly and cheerfully suffer calamities at his hand. And yet such cheerfulness is not required of us, as should take away all sense and feeling of grief and bitterness: otherwise there should be no patience in the saints’ suffering of the cross of Christ, unless they were both pinched by the heart with grief, and vexed in body with outward troubles. If in poverty there were no sharpness, if in diseases no pain, if in infamy no sting, and in death no horror, what fortitude or temperancy were it to make small account of and set little by them? But since every one of them doth naturally nip the minds of us all with a certain bitterness engraffed in them, the valiant stomach of a faithful man doth therein shew itself, if he, being pricked with the feeling of this bitterness, howsoever he is grievously pained therewith, doth notwithstanding
[1 honorandi fratres, Lat.] [2 calcat, Lat.] [3 sibi ipsis violentam et armatam manum inferunt, Lat.]]
by valiant resisting and continual struggling worthily vanquish and quite overcome it. Therein doth patience make proof of itself, if, when a man is sharply pricked, it doth notwithstanding so bridle itself with the fear of God, that it never breaketh forth to immoderate unruliness. Therein doth cheerfulness clearly appear, if a man, once wounded with sorrow and sadness, doth quietly stay himself upon the spiritual consolation of his God and creator. This conflict, which the faithful sustain against the natural feeling of sorrow and grief, while they study to exercise patience and temperance, the apostle Paul hath finely described in words as followeth: We are troubled on every side, but not made sorrowful: we are in poverty, but not in extreme poverty: we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken therein: we are cast down, but we perish not” Thou seest here, that to bear the cross patiently is not to be altogether senseless and utterly bereft of all kind of feeling: as the Stoics of old did foolishly describe the valiant man to be such an one, as, laying aside the nature of man, should be affected alike in adversity and prosperity, in sorrowful matters and joyful things; yea, and such an one as should be moved with nothing whatsoever, And what did they, I pray you, with this exceeding great patience? Forsooth, they painted the image of patience, which neither ever was, nor possibly can be, found among men. Yea, while they went about to have patience over exquisite and too precise, they took away the force thereof out of the life of man. At this day also there are among us Christians certain new upstart Stoics, which think it a fault not only to sigh and weep, but also to be sad and sorrowful for any matter. And these paradoxes, verily, do for the most part proceed from idle fellows, which, exercising themselves rather in contemplation than in working, can do nothing else but daily breed such novelties and paradoxes. But we Christians have nothing to do with this iron-like philosophy, since our Lord and master hath not in words only, but with his own example also, utterly condemned it. For he groaned at and wept over both his own and other men’s calamities, and taught his disciples to do the like.
[4 instar lapidis, Lat.; like a stone.] [5 Calvin’s word is sapientia; but Bullinger reads patientia.] [6 speculando, Lat. ]]
The world (saith he) shall rejoice, but ye shall be sorrowful, ye shall weep.” And lest any man should make that weeping to be their fault, he pronounceth openly, that they are 41 happy which do mourn. And no marvel: for if all tears be misliked of, what should we judge of the Lord himself, out of whose body bloody tears did trill!? If all fear be noted to proceed of unbelief, what shall we think of that horror, wherewith we read that the Lord himself was stricken?? If we mislike all sorrow and sadness, how shall we like of that where the Lord confesseth that his soul is heavy unto the death?
“Thus much did I mind to say, to the intent that I might revoke godly minds from desperation; lest peradventure they do therefore out of hand forsake to seek after patience, because they cannot utterly shake off the natural motions of grief and heaviness: which can not choose but happen to them which of patience do make a kind of senselessness, and of a valiant and constant man a senseless block, or a stone without passions. For the scripture doth praise the saints for their patience, while they are so afflicted with the sharpness of calamities as that thereby their stomachs are not broken, nor their courage is utterly quailed; while they are so stung with the prick of bitterness as that they are filled with spiritual joy; while they are so oppressed with heaviness of mind as that yet they be cheerful in God’s consolation. And yet is that repugnancy still in their hearts, because the natural sense doth fly from and abhor the thing that it feeleth contrary to itself; when as, on the other side, the motions of godliness doth even through these difficulties, by striving, seek a way to the obedience of God. This repugnancy did the Lord express when he said to Peter: ‘ When thou wast younger, thou girdedst thyself, and wentest whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, another shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldest not.’ It is not unlike verily? that Peter, when it was need to glorify God by his death, was
[[ trill: trickle, fall in drops. Johnson.] [2 non leviter consternatum, Lat.) [3 or a stone, &c. not in Lat.] [ exhilarati respirent, Lat.] [5 This translation is wrong. The Latin is, Non est sane verisimile;]
[It is not indeed likely.]]
with much ado against his will drawn unto it: for if it had been so, his martyrdom had deserved little praise or none. But howsoever he did with great cheerfulness of heart obey the ordinance of God; yet because he had not laid aside the affections of his flesh’, his mind was drawn two sundry ways. For while he saw before his eyes the bloody death which he had to suffer, he was undoubtedly struck through with the fear thereof, and would with all his heart have escaped it: and on the other side, when he remembered that he was by God’s commandment called thereunto, overcoming and treading down all fear, he did willingly and cheerfully yield himself unto it. If therefore we mean to be Christ his disciples, our chief and especial study must be, to have our minds endued with so great obedience and love of God as is able to tame and bring under all the ill motions of our minds to the ordinance of his holy will. And so it will come to pass, that, with what kind of cross soever we be vexed, we may, even in the greatest troubles of our minds, constantly retain quiet sufferance and patience. For adversity will have a sharpness to nip us withal; likewise, being afflicted with sickness and diseases, we shall groan and be disquieted and wish for health: being oppressed with poverty, we shall be pricked with the sting of care and heaviness: in like manner, we shall be stricken with the grief of infamy, contempt, and injury done unto us; also at the death of our friends nature will move us to shed tears for their sakes. But this must still be the end of our thoughts, Why, the Lord would have it 509; let us therefore follow his will” Thus much hath hel. Wherefore the faithful, being once over-taken and entangled with calamities, do chiefly remedy their miseries with patience: which (as Lactantius saith) is the quiet bearing, with an indifferent mind, of those evils which are either laid or do fall on our pates’.” For the faithful man by patience, having his eyes throughly fastened upon the word of God, doth in faith
[6 humanitatem non exuerat, Lat.) [7 observantia, Lat.) [8 contrarias, Lat.] [9 Atqui Dominus ita voluit; Well, but so is the will of the Lord!] [10 Calvini Instit. Lib. mx. cap. 8. ὁ 8, 9, 10. ed. Amstel. Tom. 1x.]
[p. 185.] (11 Patientia est malorum, que aut inferuntur, aut accidunt, cum]
[#quanimitate perlatio.—Lactant. Divin. Instit. Lib. v. cap. 22, p. 530.]
[Lugd. Bat. 1660.]]
and hope stick fast to God and cleave to his word; he suffereth all adversities whatsoever bechance him, moderating always the grief of his mind and pains of his body with wonderful! wisdom, so that at no time, being overcome with the greatness of grief or sorrow, he doth revolt from God and his word, to do the things that the Lord hath forbidden. By patience therefore he vanquisheth himself and his affections, he overcometh all calamities, and standeth still stedfast with a quiet mind and well-disposed heart to God-ward. And although the faithful do with patience suffer all things, yet doth he find fault with the things that are wicked, and hardly bear with aught that is against the truth. For our Saviour, Christ Jesus, the only perfect example of patience, did most patiently yield his hands and his whole body to be bound of the wicked; and yet nevertheless he reproveth their iniquity, saying: “Ye are come forth as to a thief with swords and staves, although I was daily with you in the temple: but this is your hour and power of darkness?” of To this now belongeth that excellent description, or lively image3, of patience laid down by Tertullian in words as followeth: “Go to now, let us see the image and habit of patience. Her countenance is calm and quiet; her forehead,smooth, without furrowed wrinkles, which are the signs of sorrow or anger; her brows are never knit, but slack in cheerful wise, with her eyes cast comely down to the ground, not for the sorrow of any calamities, but only for humility’s sake. Upon her mouth she beareth the mark of honour, which silence bringeth to them that use it. Her colour is like to theirs that are nigh no danger, and are guiltless of evil. Her head is often shaken at of the devil, and therewithal she hath a threatening laughter. Moreover, the clothes about her breasts are white, and close to her body, as that which waggeth not with every wind, nor tosseth up with every blast. For she sitteth in the throne of that most meek and quiet spirit, which is not troubled with any tempest, nor overcast with any clouds;
[1 ccelesti, Lat.] [3 Luke xxii. 52, 53. Bullinger has adopted Erasmus’ translation.]
[The Vulgate reads the former sentence interrogatively, as our English]
[authorised version. ] [3 prosopopceia, Lat.] [ Her head is often shaked at the devil, ed. 1577.]]
but is plain, open, and of a goodly clearness, as Helias saw it the third time. For where God is, there also is Patience, his darling, which he nourisheth.”
Moreover, the blessed martyr Cyprian, in his sermon De and bono patientie, reckoneth up the force or works of patience, and saith: “Patience is that which commendeth us to God, and preserveth us. Patience is that which mitigateth anger, which bridleth the tongue, governeth the mind, keepeth peace, ruleth discipline, breaketh the assaults of lust, keepeth under the force of pride, quencheth the fire of hatred, restraineth the power of the rich, relieveth the need of the poor, maintaineth in maidens unspotted virginity, in widows chastity, in married people unseparable charity; which maketh humble in prosperity, constant in adversity, meek in taking injury; which teacheth thee to forgive quickly those that offend thee, and never cease to crave pardon when thou offendest others; which vanquisheth temptations, which suffereth persecutions, and finisheth with martyrdom This is that which groundeth surely the foundations of our faith: this is that which doth augment the increase of our hope: this is that which guideth us, 50 that we may keep the way to Christ, while we do go by the suffering thereof: this is that which maketh us continue the sons of God, while we do imitate the patience of our Father”.” Thus much Cyprian.
[6 Age jam, si et effigiem habitumque ejus (patientie) comprehendamus: vultus illi tranquillus et placidus, frons pura, nulla meeroris aut ire rugositate contracta: remissa seque in leetum modum supercilia, oculis humilitate, non infelicitate, dejectis. Os taciturnitatis honore signatum. Color, qualis securis et innoxiis. Motus frequens capitis in diabolum, et minax risus. Ceterum amictus circum pectora candidus et corpori impressus; ut qui nec inflatur nec inquinatur (Bul-linger’s text is the various reading, inquietatur). Sedet enim in throno non nubilo livet, sed est tenerz serenitatis, apertus, et simplex, quem spiritus ejus mitissimi et mansuetissimi, qui non turbine glomeratur,
[i tertio vidit Helias. Nam ubi Deus, ibidem et alumna ejus, patientia]
[gcilicet.—Tertull. de Patientia. ed. Semler. Tom. 1v. p. 87. Hal.]
[i Mag. 1824.) [6 Bullinger has, persecutiones et martyria.] [7 Patientia est, que nos Deo commendat, et servat. Ipsa est quae]
[i iram temperat; que linguam freenat; que mentem gubernat, pacem]
[custodit, disciplinam regit, libidinis impetum frangit, tumoris violen-]
[tiam comprimit, incendium simultatis extinguit; coercet potentiam]
[ἶ divitum, inopiam pauperum refovet; tuetur in virginibus beatam inte-]
To this, if it please you, you may add, for a conclusion, that short but very evident sentence of the Lord in the gospel, “Through your patience possess your souls;” and these words of the apostle, “Cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promises. For yet a very little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. And the just shall live by faith: and if he withdraw himself, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. We are not of them which withdraw ourselves unto perdition: but we pertain to faith unto the winning of the soul 1.”
But since patience is not born in and together with us, but is bestowed of God from above, we must beseech our heavenly Father that he will vouchsafe to bestow it upon us, according to the doctrine of James the apostle, who saith: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, which giveth to all men indifferently, and casteth no man in the teeth: and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” of Now the sound hope of the faithful upholdeth christian patience. Hope, as it is now-a-days used, is an opinion of things to come, referred commonly as well to good as evil things: but in very deed hope is an assured expectation or looking for of those things which are truly and expressly promised of God, and believed of us by faith. So then there is a certain relation of hope to faith, and a mutual knot betwixt them both. Faith believeth that God said nothing but truth,
[gritatem, in viduis laboriosam castitatem, in conjunctis et maritatis]
[individuam caritatem: facit humiles in prosperis, in adversis fortes,]
[contra injurias et contumelias mites; docet delinquentibus cito ignos-]
[cere; si ipse delinquas, diu et multum rogare; tentationes expugnat,]
[persecutiones tolerat, passiones et martyria consummat. Ipsa est que]
[fidei nostrze fundamenta firmiter munit (Bullinger’s text has, ponit).]
[Ipsa est que incrementa spei sublimiter provehit. Ipsa actum dirigit,]
[ut tenere possimus viam Christi, dum per ejus tolerantiam gradimur.]
[Ipsa efficit ut perseveremus filii Dei, dum patientiam Patris imitamur.]
[—Cypr. Opp. p. 219. Oxon. 1682.] [1 Heb. x. 35—39. Erasmus’ version. So also Tyndale’s and]
[Cranmer’s translations. ] (2 Patientia perficit, Lat.; omitted by the translator: Patience]
[makes perfect; opus perfectum habet. Vulg.]]
IN 11] THE EIGHTH PRECEPT OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 89 and lifteth up our eyes to God; and hope looketh for those things which faith hath believed. But how shouldest thou look for aught, unless thou knowest that the thing that thou lookest for is promised of God, and that thou shalt have it in time convenient? Faith believeth that our sins are forgiven us, and that eternal life is through Christ our Redeemer prepared for us: now hope looketh, and patiently waiteth, to receive in due time the things that God hath promised us, howsoever in the mean time it be tossed with adversities. For hope doth not languish nor vanish away, although it seeth not that which it hopeth: yea, it quaileth not, although that things fall out clean cross and contrary, as if the things, which it doth hope, were nothing so. And therefore Paul said: “We are saved by hope: but hope, that is seen, is no hope. For how can a man hope for that which he seeth? But and if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience abide for it.” Abraham hoped that he should receive the promised land, when as yet he possessed not one foot of ground in it, but saw it inhabited of most puissant nations. Moses hoped that he should deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt, and place them in the land of promise, when as yet he saw not the manner and means how he should do it. David hoped that he should reign over Israel, and yet he felt the peril of Saul and his servants hanging over his head? so that oftener than once he was in danger of his life. The apostles and holy martyrs of Christ did hope that they should have eternal life, and that God would never forsake them; and yet nevertheless they felt the hatred of all sorts of people, they were banished their countries, and lastly were slain by sundry torments. So (I say) hope is the hope and looking for of.. “Ὁ things not present, and things not seen; yea, it is a sure and most assured looking for of things to come: and that, not of things whatsoever, but of those which we believe in faith, and of those which are promised to us by the very true, living, and eternal God. For St Peter saith: “Hope perfectly in the grace which is brought unto you’.” Now they hope
[[ Saulinos potentissimos, Lat.; the partisans of Saul, who were]
[most powerful.] [4 Et expectatio quidem, sed expectatio certa,imo longe certissima,]
[Lat.] (6 vera fide, Lat.] [6 adeoque, Lat.; and so.] [7 1 Pet. i. 13, our Translation, hope “to the end:” in the margin,]
perfectly, which do without doubting commit themselves wholly to the grace of God, and do assuredly look for to inherit life everlasting.
Furthermore, the apostle Paul calleth hope, as it were,
19.1 the safe and sure anchor of the soul. And by how much the promise of God is the surer, by so much is hope the more firm and secure. For hope is not the looking for of anything whatsoever, but of faith; that is, of the thing that faith hath believed, and which we know to be promised to us in the word of God. And therefore doth Paul expound
1.1 faith by hope, where he saith: “Faith is the ground of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith therefore is, as it were, the foundation whereupon hope doth rest; and 50 God himself, and his infallible word, is the object to our
1.1.1 hope. And for that cause Paul calleth God our hope, and so do the prophets also. To this belongeth the ninety-first Psalm, where the faithful crieth: “Thou art my hope, Ὁ Lord; thou hast set thine house very high.” Like to this thou shalt find an innumerable sort of places in the book of the Psalms. But hope cannot be sure, where there is no sound faith and express promise of God. Now, since God’s promises are as well of things temporal as eternal, hope also is as well of things transitory as everlasting.
And as faith is the gift of God’s grace, and not the
power or effect of our own nature; so hope is given us from above, and confirmed in us by the Spirit of God. For in our looking after things, there are both groanings and longings for them. Temptations assail and urge us sorely, as though the thing were utterly denied, which is for a season deferred; or as though God knew not our state and condition, because he seemeth somewhiles, and as it were for ever, to neglect and not set by our earnest expectation: wherefore our hope hath need of much consolation and confirmation of the Spirit of God; which, if it be sound, sustaineth and upholdeth the mind of man? overladen howsoever with very weak infirmities. And when the Lord deferreth his promises,
[perfectly: the original is τελείως. Tyndale’s, Cranmer’s, and the Geneva]
[Versions all render it, “trust perfectly on the grace that is brought]
[unto you.” Bullinger has adopted Erasmus’ translation. ] [1 Psal. xci. 9, Prayer-book Version. ] [2 animum cupidum quidem boni, sed interim tamen, Lat.; the mind]
[of man, eagerly longing after good, howsoever in the mean time, &c.]]
and seemeth somewhat too long either to neglect our cala~ mities, or else to lay more troubles on the backs of us that are otherwise sufficiently afflicted; then cometh hope, which, doing her duty, biddeth us pluck up our hearts, and stay the Lords leisure, who, as he cannot possibly hate them that worship him, so he never faileth nor in the least point deceiveth them; for he himself is the eternal truth and everlasting goodness.
Here now the places of scripture, touching the certainty of hope, are very profitable to teach that the people that hoped in God were never confounded, although he did delay very long to aid them with his helping hand. The Lord promiseth the land of Canaan to the seed of Abraham; but four hundred and thirty years do first come about, before he settleth them in possession of it; yea, before he brought them to it, he led them whole forty years about in the wilderness. He delivereth the Israelites from the captivity of Babylon; but not till seventy years were spent’. What may be thought of this also, that God, having immediately after the beginning promised his only Son, did notwithstanding-not send him till and toward the latter end of the world? The saints must therefore still endure, and always wait the Lord’s good leisure, because truth cannot possibly fail them, and all that hope in it are surely saved. David crieth: “Our fathers hoped in thee; they hoped in thee, and thou didst deliver them. They called upon thee, and were saved: they hoped in thee, and were not confounded.” And again: “The Lord is good; happy is the man that hopeth in him.” And again: “They that hope in the Lord shall be like mount Sion; they shall not be moved, but shall stand fast for ever.” And Paul, in his temptations, crieth out in his Epistle to the Philippians, saying: “I know that my affliction shall turn i to my salvation, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed.”
Thus much have I said hitherto, to teach you how the faithful do behave themselves in sundry calamities: for they
[3 per desertum vastissimum, Lat.] [2 Exempla hujus rei in scripturis innumera sunt, Lat.; omitted by]
[the translator. There are in the scriptures examples to this effect]
[without number. ] [6 hoc potissimum nomine, Lat.; on this consideration above all. ]]
despair not, but confirm their hearts with assured hope, and suffer all evils with a patient mind, quietly waiting for the Lord in their troubles, who is the only hope of all the faithful. Now to the end of this I mean to add a few general consolations, which may the more confirm the hope of the faithful, induce them to patience in suffering calamities, and cheer up their heavy spirits to all manner afflictions.
First of all, let the afflicted weigh with himself from whence affliction cometh. Evil men, the devil, sickness, and the world, are they that afflict us; but not without God, who suffereth them to do it. Satan could not trouble Job, neither in goods or body, but by God’s sufferance. And the prophet David crieth: “Thou art he that took me out of my mother’s womb; thou wast my hope, when I hanged yet upon my mother’s breasts. I was left to thee as soon as I was born: thou art my God; my time is in thy hand.” And the
2. Lord in the gospel saith: “Are not two sparrows sold for one farthing? and one of them lighteth not upon the ground without your Father: yea, even all the hairs of your head are numbered.” Now God, by whose government all things are ruled, is not a God and a Lord only, but also a Father to mortal men, And his will is good and wholesome to usward, besides that, whatsoever he doth, he doth it all in order and justly. But if the will of God be good toward us, the thing cannot choose but be good to us, which happeneth by the sufferance and will of him that loveth us so dearly. And herein do the children of the world differ much from the sons of God. For these (I mean the sons of God)2, in comforting one another in their calamities, do say: Suffer, and grudge not at the thing that thou canst not alter: it is God’s will that it shall be so, and no man can resist it: suffer therefore the power of the Lord, unless thou wouldest rather double the evil that thou canst not escape. But the worldlings, on the other side, being demanded, Do they suffer the hand of the Lord; and, Whether they submit themselves to
[[ Psal. xxii. 9, 10 (Prayer-book version), and xxxi. 15.] [2 The translator has made here a great mistake; for Bullinger now]
[proceeds to describe the conduct and language of the children of this]
[world, not of the sons of God, under afflictions. ] [8 For all this read, These (children of this world). On the other]
[gide, is not in Lat.]]
God or no? do make this answer: “I must whether I will or ποῦ, since I cannot withstand it.” If therefore they could withstand it, by this we may gather that they assuredly would. But the children of God do patiently bear the hand of God, not because they cannot withstand it, nor because they must by compulsion suffer it; but for because they believe that God is a just and merciful Father. For therefore they acknowledge and confess, that God of his just judgment doth persecute the sins of them, that have deserved far more grievous and sharp punishment than he layeth upon them: they do acknowledge also that God doth, as a merciful father, chasten them to the amendment of their lives and safeguard of their souls; and therefore do they, for his chastening of them, yield him hearty thanks; and, forsaking utterly themselves and their opinions, do wholly commit themselves, whether they live or die, into the Lord’s hands. The Apostle, going about to settle this in the hearts of the faithful, saith: “God speaketh to you as to his sons; My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son that he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God tendereth you as his sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Since therefore, when we had fathers of our flesh, they corrected us, and we reverenced them; shall we not much more rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?”
Secondarily, let the faithful believer, which is oppressed with calamities, consider and weigh the causes for which he is afflicted. For either he is troubled and persecuted of worldlings for the desire that he hath to righteousness and true religion: or else he suffereth due punishment for his sins and offences. Let them which suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake rejoice and give God thanks, as the apostles did, for that he thinketh them worthy to suffer for the name of
[4 Bullinger here also gives the German phrase,—Ich musz wohl.] [6 The Latin is more lively: Si ergo possis, audio quid facturus sis.]
[Had you then but the power, your words tell me what you would do.]]
[ο [ justum et patrem benignissimum, Lat.; is just, and a most mer-]
[ciful Father.]]
Christ. For the Lord in the gospel said: Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile and persecute you, and shall say all manner evil saying against youl, for my sake: rejoice ye, and be glad; for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.” But if any man for his sins doth feel the scourge of God, let him acknowledge that God’s just judgment is fallen upon him; let him humble himself under the mighty hand of the Lord; let him confess his sins to God; let him meekly require pardon for them, and patiently suffer the plague which he with his sins hath worthily deserved. Let him follow the examples of Daniel and David. Daniel confesseth his sins unto the Lord, and saith: “We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly; we have not obeyed thy servants the prophets, which spake to us in thy name. O Lord, unto thee doth righteousness belong, and unto us open shame. Thou hast visited and afflicted us, a3 thou didst foretell by Moses thy servant.” And David, when through Absalom’s treason he was compelled to forsake Hierusalem and go in exile, said to the priests which bare the ark after him: “Carry back the ark of God into the city again, If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back again, and will shew me both himself and his tabernacle. But if he thus say, I am not delighted in thee?; then, here am I; let him do with me what seemeth good in his eyes.” And verily, it is much more better and expedient to be punished in this world, and after this life to live for ever, than to live here without afflictions, and in another world to suffer everlasting pains. Paul, verily, doth plainly say: “When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be damned with the world.” And the very end of all chastenings and calamities, wherewith the saints are exercised, tendeth to nothing else, but that, by despising and treading down the world, they may amend their lives, return to the Lord, and so be saved. But touching the end of afflictions, we have spoken of it before.
Furthermore the men, that bear the yoke of afflictions,
[1 mentientes, Lat.; speaking falsely.] Ὶ neque mihi gratus es, Lat. omitted; neither art thou pleasing to]
do lay before themselves the plain and ample promises of God, from which, and from the examples of the saints, they never turn their eyes. There are innumerable examples of them which have felt God’s helping hand ready in all needs to aid and deliver them. Now our good God doth promise to help and deliver, not them only which are afflicted for righteousness’ sake, but them also whom he doth visit for their faults and For David saith: “The Lord doth heal the contrite of heart: The Lord doth loose them that are bound in chains: The Lord giveth sight unto the blind: The Lord setteth up again them that do fall. He is not angry for ever; neither doth he always chide. He dealeth not with us after our sins, nor rewardeth us after our iniquities. And how wide the east is from the west, so far hath he set our sins from us.” To this belongeth the whole thirtieth chapter of Jeremy’s prophecy. And Paul doth bear witness to this, and saith: “As the afflictions of Christ are many in us, so is our comfort great through Christ.”
Neither are we without examples enough to prove this same by, and to lay before our eyes the present delivery of the saints, and the repentance of sinners in extreme calamities. Our ancestors, the patriarchs, Noe and Lot, with their families, were by the mighty hand of God delivered from the deluge, that drowned all creatures under the heavens, and the horrible fire that fell upon Sodom. Jacob and Joseph, being wrapped in sundry tribulations, were by their merciful God wound out and rid from all: even as also the children of Israel were brought forth and delivered from the servile bondage of Pharao in Egypt. The people of Israel did in the wilderness under their guides and judges” sin often and grievously against the Lord, for which they were punished roundly, and sharply scourged; but they were quickly delivered again by the Lord, so oft as they did acknowledge their sins, and turn themselves to him again. There are also notable peculiar examples of God’s deliverance of his people in David, Josaphat, Ezechias, Manasses, and many [ et obligat contritiones eorum, Lat. omitted; and bindeth up their wounds. ]
[ preesentissimum, Lat.; most ready. ] [6 explicantur, Lat.) [6 plane ferrea, Lat. omitted; which was truly iron.]
[7 sub Judicibus et Regibus, Lat.]
[8 peculiaria sed egregia, Lat.]
of other. There are to be seen in the gospel innumerable places, where Christ delivered his professors! from sin, from diseases, from perils, and from the devil. In the Acts of the apostles there are found most excellent patterns of present delivery by the mighty hand of God. The apostles are imprisoned, and fast bound in fetters; but they are loosed and brought forth by the angel of God, and placed in the temple to preach the θ- gospel openly. Peter likewise is delivered out of prison, when Agrippa had determined the next day following to make 6- 88 end of and dispatch him. The apostle Paul, being oppressed with an infinite sort of calamities, did always feel the present hand of God at all times ready to rid him out of misery: and setting this tribulation and delivery of his for ii. An example to all the faithful, he saith to Timothy: Thou
aig
knowest my persecution and afflictions?, which came to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; which persecutions I suffered patiently: but from them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.” Many more examples doth the same apostle reckon up together in the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews. All this, I say, do the saints consider, and in time of temptation and affliction do comfort and strengthen themselves therewith. For so doth Paul teach us, where he saith: “Whatsoever is written, for our learning is it written, that through patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.
Beside this also, the faithful sort call to their minds the Ρ commandments of Christ our Lord, wherewith he, commending patience unto us, hath laid the cross upon us all. For in the gospel he saith: “If any man will go after me, let him forsake himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall save it. For what doth it advantage a man, to win the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give for a ransom of his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then shall he reward every man according to his work.” And again, in another place he saith: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters,
[1 his professors, not in the Latin. ] [2 patientiam afflictionesque, Lat.; my patience and afflictions. ]]
yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, he” cannot be my disciple.” After which words the Lord bringeth in certain parables, by which he teacheth us to make trial of our ability before we receive the profession of the gospel. To the precepts of their master Christ the faithful apostles, Peter and Paul, had an especial eye, exhorting us to the patient bearing of the cross of Christ. For Christ,” saith Peter, “was afflicted for us, leaving to us an example, that we should follow his steps.” And Paul said: “Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.”
Another comfort that the faithful have in their afflictions is this, that the time of affliction is short; that the joy and reward in the world to come is unspeakably far more large and excellent than the tribulation of this life is troublesome, so that there can be no comparison betwixt the joy of the one and grief of the other: and lastly, that our good God doth not lay such burdens on us as we are not able possibly to bear. Touching all which points, I think it convenient here to rehearse proofs out of the scriptures, to prove them true. St Peter calleth the time of affliction short, or momentary. And the prophet Esay, or the Lord rather in Esay’s prophecy, long before Peter’s time, did say: “Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut the doors after thee; hide thyself a little while, until mine indignation be overpast.” Paul also saith: “The fathers of your flesh did for a few days chasten you after their own pleasure; but the Father of Spirits doth (for a short time) correct you to your profit, that ye might be partakers of his holiness. But no chas- 4 tising for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: 4 nevertheless afterward it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby.” Again he saith: “We suffer with Christ, that with him we may be glorified. For I am certainly persuaded that the afflictions of this time are not comparable to the glory that shall be shewed upon us. For the momentany lightness of our affliction doth wonderfully, above all measure, bring forth to us an everlasting [3 Ad praecepta certa, Lat. ] [+ insequeremini, Lat.]
[51 Pet. i. 6. ad breve tempus, Erasmus’ translation, which Bullinger adopts. [8 paululum vel ad momentum, Lat.]
weight of glory; while we look not for the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen: for the things that are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal.” Again, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians the same Apostle saith: “God is faithful, which shall not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but shall with the temptation make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” But if it so happen, that the Lord doth seem to us to extend our tribulation longer than justice would seem to require, then must we by and by remember, that we may not prescribe to God any end of his will, but must permit him freely to afflict us? without all controlment, so much, so long, and by such means, as shall seem to be best to his godly wisdom. He who is himself the eternal wisdom, and loveth us men entirely well, doth know well enough his time and season, when to make an end of our miseries, and rid us from afflictions. There are in the scriptures sundry examples to comfort the men whose afflictions endure for any Jong time. The woman in the gospel was troubled with an issue of blood by the space of twelve years, which had almost driven her to utter desperation of her health’s recovery. Another lay beddred whole eighteen years. By the pool Bethesda! lay the silly creature, who had been diseased eight and thirty years. This space, surely, was very troublesome. But yet at last they were restored to health again by God, who knoweth best at what time and season his help is most expedient and profitable for mankind. Let us therefore wholly submit ourselves to his good, just, and most wise will, to be delivered when and how he shall think best.
But the chiefest comfort and greatest hope in tribulation ~ js, that not any force or misery can possibly separate the faithful and elect servants of God from God himself. For the Lord in the gospel crieth out, and saith: “My sheep hear
[ΓΙ Rom. viii. 17, 18. 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. Erasmus’ translation.] [2 Suge manui subditos, Lat. omitted; who are subject to his hand.} [3 Luke xiii. 11. Decubuit contracta, Lat.]: [4 Ad probaticam piscinam, Lat.; so the Vulgate, est autem Jero-]
[solymis probatica piscina: and the Douay Version; Now there is at]
[Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica. Bethesda is not in Bullinger’s]
[original.]]
[ε [δ silly, weak, poor, Lat. miser.] [6 omnibus, Lat.; all these were.]]
a π.7 THE EIGHTH PRECEPT OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 99 my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to take them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father am? one.” Hereunto belongeth that outer of St Paul, which he useth to the encouragement of us Christians, where he saith: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ’? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake are we killed all day long, and are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nevertheless, we overcome in all these things through him that loved us. For I am sure, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rule, nor power, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesu our Lord.”
The saints, I confess, in their calamities do feel grief and many discommodities; but so yet that even in their discommodities they have far many more commodities: they are therefore diminished one way, but augmented another way, so that the cross of theirs is not their destruction, but an exercise for them and a wholesome medicine. And therefore I think that that same worthy and golden sentence of St Paul can never be too often beaten into our minds, where he saith: “We are troubled on every side, yet are we not without shift; we are in poverty, but not in extreme poverty; we N suffer persecution, but are not forsaken therein; we are cast down, but we perish not.” The faithful therefore do in y this world lose these their earthly riches; but do they thereby 3 lose their faith? Lose they their upright and holy life? Or lose they their riches! of the inner man, which are the true riches in the sight of God? The apostle crieth: Godliness is a great lucre with a mind content with that that it hath. For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain that we may carry nought away: but having food Η and raiment we must therewith be content.” And the Lord, [7 sumus, Lat.; are.] -
[ἢ [8 tripudium ac celeusma, Lat.; triumph and encouragement.] ὁ]
[Ἦ [9 a dilectione Dei, Lat. and Erasmus, from the love of God: but]
[the Vulgate has, a charitate Christi.] [1 bona, Lat.; good things.]]
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