CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Of the Christian Life (part 1 of 2)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Of the Christian Life
In undertaking to form the life of the Christian, I enter upon a broad and varied subject—one that could fill a large volume if I wished to treat it fully.
We see how extensive are the exhortations of the ancient teachers even when they treat only one particular virtue. This does not arise from excessive verbosity, for whatever virtue one undertakes to praise and commend, the abundance of the subject makes it seem that it has not been adequately treated unless many words have been employed.
My intention, however, is not to extend the doctrine of life which I wish to present so far as to explain every virtue individually and offer lengthy exhortations concerning each one. Such instruction may be obtained from the writings of others, especially from the homilies—that is, the popular sermons—of the ancient teachers.
It will be sufficient for me to present a certain order by which the Christian may be conducted and directed toward the proper goal of ordering his life well. I shall be content, I say, to set forth briefly a general rule to which he may refer all his actions.
Perhaps we shall have an opportunity at another time to compose exhortations like those found in the sermons of the ancient teachers. But the work now before us requires that we present a simple doctrine with the greatest possible brevity.
Just as the philosophers establish certain principles of virtue and uprightness from which they derive particular duties and all virtuous actions, so Scripture has its own method in this matter—a method far better and more certain than that of the philosophers.
There is only this difference: because the philosophers were filled with ambition, they sought the greatest possible clarity in order to display the order and arrangement of their teaching and thereby exhibit their subtlety. The Holy Spirit, by contrast, because he teaches without affectation or display, has not always observed a fixed order and method so strictly. Nevertheless, since he sometimes employs such an order, he thereby indicates that we ought not to disregard it.
The order of Scripture of which we speak consists of two parts. The first is to impress upon our hearts a love of righteousness, toward which we are not naturally inclined. The second is to provide us with a fixed rule that prevents us from wandering here and there or going astray in ordering our lives.
Concerning the first point, Scripture possesses many excellent reasons for inclining our hearts to love what is good. We have already noted several of them in various places and shall touch upon some of them again here.
What better foundation could Scripture lay than by reminding us that we must be sanctified because our God is holy?
You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
It adds this reason: although we were scattered like wandering sheep and dispersed throughout the labyrinth of this world, God has gathered us together to unite us to himself.
Whenever we hear of our union with God, we must remember that holiness is the bond of that union. This does not mean that through the merit of our holiness we enter into fellowship with God, for we must first cleave to him before we can become holy, so that he may pour his holiness upon us. Rather, since it belongs to his glory to have no fellowship with wickedness or uncleanness, we must resemble him because we belong to him.
Scripture therefore teaches that this is the purpose of our calling, toward which we must continually look if we desire to answer God’s call. For what purpose would it serve to have been delivered from the filth and pollution in which we were submerged if we intend to wallow in it throughout our whole lives?
Furthermore, Scripture reminds us that if we wish to belong to the people of God, we must dwell in Jerusalem, his holy city. Since he has consecrated and dedicated it to his honor, it must not be contaminated and polluted by unclean and profane inhabitants.
Hence arise such declarations as these:
He who walks blamelessly and practices righteousness shall dwell in the tabernacle of the Lord.
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly shall dwell on high.
To move us still more powerfully, Scripture teaches that just as God has reconciled us to himself in Christ, so he has set Christ before us as the example and pattern to which we must be conformed.
Let those who suppose that only the philosophers have properly and adequately treated moral doctrine show me teaching in their books as excellent as what I have just described. When they desire to exhort us to virtue with all their power, they bring forward nothing more than that we should live according to nature.
Scripture leads us to a far better source of exhortation. It not only commands us to direct our whole life toward God, its Author, but, after reminding us that we have degenerated from the true purpose of our creation, it adds that Christ, who reconciles us to God his Father, has been given to us as an example of innocence whose image must be displayed in our lives.
What could be said with greater force or effectiveness? Indeed, what more could be required?
If God adopts us as his children on the condition that the image of Christ should appear in our lives, then if we do not devote ourselves to righteousness and holiness, we not only forsake our Creator through shameful disloyalty but also renounce him as our Savior.
Scripture then draws reasons for exhorting us from all God’s benefits and from every part of our salvation.
Since God has given himself to us as our Father, we stand convicted of shameful ingratitude if we do not conduct ourselves as his children.
Since Christ has purified us by the washing of his blood and communicated this cleansing to us through Baptism, it is not fitting that we should defile ourselves again with fresh uncleanness.
Since he has joined and grafted us into his body, we must take diligent care not to contaminate ourselves in any way, seeing that we are his members.
Since Christ, our Head, has ascended into heaven, we must lay aside every earthly affection and aspire with our whole heart to the heavenly life.
Since the Holy Spirit has consecrated us to be temples of God, we must strive to have God’s glory exalted in us and guard against admitting any pollution.
Since our souls and bodies are destined for the immortality of God’s kingdom and the incorruptible crown of his glory, we must strive to preserve both pure and undefiled until the day of the Lord.
These are sound and suitable foundations for ordering our lives well, and nothing comparable to them will be found among all the philosophers. For when they seek to show man his duty, they never rise higher than an explanation of his natural dignity.
I must now address those who possess nothing of Christ except the name, yet nevertheless desire to be regarded as Christians. But how dare they glory in his sacred name, since no one has fellowship with him except the person who has rightly known him through the word of the gospel?
Saint Paul denies that anyone has received a true knowledge of Christ unless he has learned to put off the old man, who is corrupted by disorderly desires, and to be clothed with Christ.
You have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off the old man, which is corrupted according to deceitful desires, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which is created according to God in righteousness and true holiness.
It is therefore evident that such people falsely claim to know Christ and greatly dishonor him by doing so, however eloquently they may speak of him. For the gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue but of life. It must not merely be grasped by the understanding and memory, as other branches of learning are, but must entirely possess the soul and establish its seat and dwelling place in the depths of the heart. Otherwise, it has not been rightly received.
Let them therefore either cease dishonoring God by boasting that they are what they are not, or show themselves to be disciples of Christ.
We have rightly assigned the first place in religion to doctrine because it is the beginning of our salvation. But if that doctrine is to become useful and fruitful to us, it must penetrate deeply into the heart and display its power in our lives—indeed, it must transform us into its own nature.
If the philosophers have good reason to be angry with those who profess their art, which they call the mistress of life, yet reduce it to sophistical chatter, how much greater reason do we have to detest those babblers who are content to carry the gospel upon their lips while despising it throughout their lives?
Its power ought to penetrate the deepest recesses of the heart and become rooted in the soul a hundred thousand times more firmly than all philosophical exhortations, which possess little force by comparison.
I do not require that the conduct of a Christian should be nothing but the gospel in complete purity and perfection, although this is certainly to be desired and pursued. Yet I do not demand Christian perfection with such strictness and severity that I refuse to recognize anyone as a Christian unless he has already attained it.
If I did, every person in the world would be excluded from the Church, since not one can be found who is not still far from such perfection, even though some have made considerable progress, while the greater part have advanced only a little. Yet they must not therefore be rejected.
What, then, is required? We must keep continually before our eyes the goal toward which all our actions are to be directed: that we should strive after the perfection God commands. We must labor and aspire to reach it.
For we are not permitted to bargain with God, receiving one part of what he commands in his word while leaving another aside according to our own preference. Above all, he always commends integrity to us. By this word he means a pure simplicity of heart, free and cleansed from all pretense and opposed to a divided heart.
Yet while we remain in this earthly prison, none of us is so strong and well prepared that he runs this race with the proper swiftness. Indeed, the greater part are so weak and feeble that they stagger and limp and can make little progress.
Let each of us therefore advance according to his limited ability, and let us not cease pursuing the path upon which we have begun. No one will walk so poorly that he cannot advance a little each day and gain some ground.
Let us therefore never cease striving to make continual progress in the way of the Lord, nor lose courage because our progress is small. Although our advancement does not answer to our desire, our labor is not lost when today surpasses yesterday.
Let us only keep our goal before us with pure and upright simplicity and strive to reach our destination. Let us not flatter ourselves with vain excuses or indulge our faults, but labor without ceasing to become better day by day until we attain that supreme goodness which we must seek and pursue throughout our lives.
We shall fully possess it only when, stripped of the weakness of our flesh, we are made complete participants in it—that is, when God receives us into his fellowship.
Let us now come to the second point. Although the law of God possesses an excellent method and a well-ordered arrangement for directing our lives, it nevertheless seemed good to our gracious heavenly Master to form his people by a still more exact doctrine according to the rule he had given them in his law.
The beginning of this instruction is that the duty of believers is to present their bodies to God as a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice, and that in this consists the rightful worship we are to render him.
Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God.
From this follows the exhortation that believers should not conform themselves to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewal of their minds, so that they may seek and know the will of God.
It is already a matter of great importance to understand that we are consecrated and dedicated to God, so that henceforth we should think, speak, meditate upon, and do nothing except for his glory. For what has been consecrated may not lawfully be applied to a profane use.
If we are not our own but belong to the Lord, it is therefore evident what we must do to avoid error and toward what end all the actions of our lives must be directed.
We are not our own; therefore, neither our reason nor our will should rule in our deliberations and actions.
We are not our own; therefore, let us not set before ourselves the goal of seeking what is advantageous to us according to the flesh.
We are not our own; therefore, let us forget ourselves and everything belonging to us as far as possible.
Again, we belong to the Lord; therefore, let us live and die to him.
Whether we live, we live to the Lord; and whether we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
We belong to the Lord; therefore, let his will and wisdom govern all our actions.
We belong to the Lord; therefore, let every part of our lives be directed toward him as its only end.
How greatly has that man advanced who, knowing that he is not his own, has removed the lordship and government of himself from his own reason and surrendered it to God! For as the most destructive plague that can bring men to ruin is their desire to please themselves, so the only haven of salvation is neither to be wise in ourselves nor to desire anything from ourselves, but to follow the Lord alone.
Let this, therefore, be our first step: to withdraw from ourselves so that we may devote the whole strength of our understanding to the service of God.
By “service,” I do not mean merely obedience to his word, but that the human understanding, emptied of its own wisdom, turns entirely toward the Spirit of God and submits itself to his direction.
This transformation, which Saint Paul calls the renewal of the mind, was unknown to all the philosophers, although it is the first entrance into life. They teach that reason alone should rule and govern man. They believe that reason alone must be heard and followed, and therefore entrust to it the whole government of life.
Christian philosophy, by contrast, requires reason to yield and withdraw so that it may give place to the Holy Spirit and be subdued under his guidance. Thus a man no longer lives from himself but possesses and permits Christ to live and reign within him.
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
From this follows the other part we have stated: that we should not seek the things that please us, but those that please God and serve to exalt his glory.
This too is a great virtue: having almost forgotten ourselves—or at least having ceased to be preoccupied with ourselves—we faithfully devote our attention to following God and his commandments.
When Scripture forbids us to have particular regard for ourselves, it not only removes from our hearts greed, the desire to rule, the ambition to attain high honors or advantageous alliances, but also seeks to uproot every form of self-seeking, the appetite for human glory, and other hidden plagues.
The Christian must be so disposed that throughout his whole life he remembers that he has to do with God. Since he knows that he must render an account to God for all his works, he directs his whole intention toward him and keeps it fixed upon him. For whoever looks to God in all his works easily turns his mind away from every vain thought.
This is the self-denial which Christ so carefully requires of all his disciples as their first lesson. Once it possesses the human heart, it first drives out pride, arrogance, and ostentation; then greed, intemperance, excess, sensual indulgence, and all the other vices produced by self-love.
Where self-denial does not reign, a man either abandons himself shamelessly to every kind of wickedness or, if some appearance of virtue exists, it is corrupted by an evil desire for glory.
Show me a man who freely practices kindness toward others without having renounced himself according to the Lord’s command. Those who have lacked this disposition have, at the very least, sought praise while pursuing virtue.
Even the philosophers who have contended most earnestly that virtue should be desired for its own sake have been so swollen with pride and arrogance that it is evident they desired virtue for no other reason than to have grounds for exalting themselves.
So far are the ambitious, who seek worldly glory, and those who are bursting with inward conceit from being able to please God that he declares the former have already received their reward in this world, while the latter are further from the kingdom of God than tax collectors and prostitutes.
They have received their reward.
The tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom of God before you.
Nevertheless, we have not yet clearly explained how many hindrances prevent man from devoting himself to doing good unless he first renounces himself.
It was truly said in ancient times that a whole world of vices lies hidden within the human soul. We shall find no other remedy than to renounce ourselves and, without regard for what pleases us, direct and devote our understanding to seeking what God requires of us—and to seek these things solely because they are pleasing to him.
We must observe that this self-denial concerns partly our relationship with other people and partly—indeed, chiefly—our relationship with God.
When Scripture commands us to conduct ourselves toward others by preferring them to ourselves in honor and faithfully seeking their welfare, it gives commands which our hearts are incapable of obeying unless they have first been emptied of their natural disposition.
For we are all so blinded and carried away by self-love that there is no one who does not imagine that he has good reason to exalt himself above everyone else and to despise the whole world in comparison with himself.
If God has given us some gift worthy of esteem, our hearts immediately exalt themselves under its pretext. We not only become puffed up but nearly burst with pride.
We carefully conceal from others the faults with which we are filled and persuade ourselves that they are small and insignificant. Sometimes we even take them for virtues. As for our gifts, we esteem them in ourselves to the point of admiring them.
If the same gifts appear in others—even in greater measure—we obscure or depreciate them as much as possible so that we will not be compelled to yield to them. Conversely, whatever faults exist in our neighbors, we are not content to scrutinize them severely but maliciously magnify them.
From this arises the insolence by which each of us, as though exempt from the common condition of humanity, desires preeminence above everyone else and, without excepting anyone, despises all others as his inferiors.
The poor indeed yield to the rich, commoners to the nobility, servants to their masters, and the ignorant to the learned. Yet there is no one who does not harbor some notion in his heart that he deserves to be exalted above all others.
Thus each person, by flattering himself, nourishes a kingdom within his own heart. Attributing to himself whatever pleases him, he sits in judgment upon the minds and conduct of others. If a dispute arises, the poison then breaks forth and reveals itself.
Many display some appearance of gentleness and modesty so long as everything proceeds according to their liking. But how few preserve gentleness and modesty when they are provoked and irritated?
Indeed, it cannot be otherwise unless the deadly plague of loving and exalting oneself is torn from the depths of the heart, as Scripture itself tears it out.
If we listen to its teaching, we must remember that all the graces God has bestowed upon us are not our own possessions but free gifts of his generosity. Therefore, whoever becomes proud because of them displays his ingratitude.
On the other hand, by continually recognizing our faults, we must be brought to humility. Thus nothing will remain in us capable of making us proud; instead, we shall find abundant reason to humble and abase ourselves.
Furthermore, we are commanded to hold all the gifts of God that we see in our neighbors in such honor and reverence that, because of those gifts, we also honor the persons in whom they reside. For it would be shameful indeed to deprive a person of the honor God has bestowed upon him.
We are further commanded not to fix our eyes upon the faults of others, but to cover them—not by flattering them and thereby encouraging their faults, but so that we do not insult someone who has committed an offense, since we owe him love and honor.
From this it will follow that, whoever we may have to deal with, we shall conduct ourselves not only modestly and moderately, but also with gentleness and friendship. Conversely, no one will ever attain true meekness by any other way than by having his heart disposed to humble himself and honor others.
As for fulfilling our duty by seeking our neighbor’s welfare, how difficult it is! Unless we set aside consideration of ourselves and strip ourselves of every carnal affection, we shall accomplish nothing in this respect.
For who can fulfill the duties Saint Paul requires of love unless he has renounced himself so that he may devote himself entirely to his neighbors?
Love is patient and kind. It is neither envious nor boastful; it is not proud or insolent. It does not seek its own.
If there were only this single requirement—that we must not seek our own advantage—we would still have to exert great force against our nature. For it draws us so strongly toward self-love that it does not easily permit us to neglect what benefits us in order to seek the welfare of others, much less to surrender our rights and yield them to our neighbors.
To bring us to this disposition, Scripture teaches that every gift we have received from the Lord has been entrusted to us on the condition that we employ it for the common good of the Church. Therefore, the lawful use of God’s gifts consists in sharing them lovingly and generously with our neighbors.
No better or more certain rule for such sharing could be found than this: everything good we possess has been entrusted to us by God on the condition that it be administered for the benefit of others.
Scripture proceeds still further by comparing the gifts possessed by each of us to the particular functions of the members of the human body. No member possesses its ability for itself or applies it merely to its own private use. Instead, it employs that ability for the benefit of the other members and receives no advantage from it except that which proceeds from the benefit shared throughout the whole body.
In the same manner, a believer must devote all his powers to his brethren, making no private provision for himself except while keeping his intention continually directed toward the common welfare of the Church.
Let us therefore observe this rule in doing good and exercising kindness: whatever the Lord has given us by which we may assist our neighbor, we are merely its stewards, and we must one day give an account of how faithfully we have discharged our trust.
Furthermore, there is no good or proper stewardship except that which is governed by the rule of love. From this it will follow that we shall not merely unite concern for our neighbor’s welfare with concern for our own, but shall subordinate our own advantage to that of others.
Indeed, to show us the proper manner of administering what he gives us, the Lord long ago commended this principle to the people of Israel. Whenever he bestowed even the smallest benefit upon them, he commanded that the firstfruits of the new harvest be offered to him. By this the people testified that they were not permitted to enjoy any fruit from possessions that had not first been consecrated to him.
If God’s gifts are finally sanctified to us only after we have consecrated them to him with our own hands, it is evident that any use which is not directed toward such consecration is a damnable abuse.
On the other hand, it would be foolish to attempt to enrich God by giving him something from the possessions entrusted to us. Since our beneficence cannot reach God himself, as the Prophet says, we must exercise it toward his servants who are in the world.
My goodness does not extend to you, but to the saints who are upon the earth.
Furthermore, lest we grow weary in doing good—as would otherwise continually happen—we must remember what the Apostle adds: love is patient and is not easily provoked.
Love is patient and kind... it is not easily provoked.
The Lord commands us, without exception, to do good to everyone, although most people are unworthy if judged according to their own merits. But Scripture anticipates this objection by reminding us that we must not consider what men deserve in themselves. Rather, we must contemplate the image of God in everyone, to which we owe all honor and love.
We must recognize this image especially in those who belong to the household of faith, since it has been renewed and restored in them by the Spirit of Christ.
As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who belong to the household of faith.
Therefore, whoever the person may be who comes before us needing our assistance, we shall have no reason to refuse to help him.
If we say that he is a stranger, the Lord has impressed upon him a mark which ought to make him familiar to us.
If we allege that he is contemptible and worthless, the Lord replies that he has honored him by causing his own image to shine in him.
If we say that we owe him nothing, the Lord tells us that he has placed that person in his own stead so that, in doing good to him, we may acknowledge the benefits God has bestowed upon us.
If we say that he is unworthy for us to take even one step on his behalf, the image of God which we are to contemplate in him is altogether worthy of our devoting ourselves and everything we possess to his service.
Even if he were a person who not only deserved nothing from us but had also inflicted many injuries and outrages upon us, this would still be no sufficient reason for us to cease loving him and rendering him kindness and service.
If we say that he has not deserved such treatment from us, God may ask what he himself has deserved from us. For when he commands us to forgive men the offenses they have committed against us, he takes those offenses upon himself.
This is the only way by which we can attain something not merely difficult to human nature but altogether contrary to it: loving those who hate us, returning good for evil, and praying for those who slander us.
Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat and persecute you.
We shall attain this, I say, if we remember that we must not dwell upon the wickedness of men but rather contemplate the image of God in them. By its excellence and dignity, that image can and ought to move us to love them and to blot out all the faults that might turn us away from doing so.
This mortification of self will truly prevail in us when our love is complete. Such love consists not merely in performing all the outward duties that belong to it, but in performing them with a sincere affection of friendship.
A person may render his neighbor everything he owes him with respect to outward duty and yet remain far from fulfilling his duty as he ought.
We see many who desire to appear exceedingly generous, yet give nothing without reproaching the recipient, either by a proud expression or an arrogant word.
In our present age, we have reached such a miserable condition that most people give no alms without adding an insult. Such perversity should not have been tolerated even among pagans.
The Lord requires something very different from Christians: that they give with a joyful and cheerful countenance and make their generosity gracious through kindness and gentleness.
First, they must put themselves in the place of the person who needs assistance. They must have compassion upon his condition as though they themselves felt and bore it, and be moved by the same merciful affection to help him as they would themselves.
A person possessing such a heart will not only refrain from contaminating his kindness toward his brethren with arrogance or reproach; he will neither despise the recipient because of his poverty nor seek to bring him into subjection as though he were personally indebted to him.
In the same way, we do not insult one of our bodily members when the rest of the body labors to relieve it, nor do we imagine that it has incurred a special debt to the other members because it has occasioned them more trouble than it has borne for them.
For the assistance which the members render one another is not regarded as a gratuitous favor but rather as the payment and satisfaction of what is owed by the law of nature.
By this means we shall also gain another benefit: we shall not imagine ourselves released and discharged from all further duty merely because we have fulfilled it in one particular respect, as people commonly suppose.
When a rich man has given something from his possessions, he frequently sets aside and neglects all his other obligations as though they did not concern him. On the contrary, everyone should recognize that he owes his neighbors everything he possesses and everything within his power. He must place no limit upon his obligation to do them good except where his ability fails. So long as that ability extends, it must be governed by love.
Let us now consider the other part of self-denial, which concerns God. We have already spoken of it in various places, and it would be unnecessary to repeat everything that has been said. It will be sufficient to show how it should bring us into submission, patience, and gentleness.
First, in seeking the means of living peacefully and at ease, Scripture continually brings us back to this point: resigning ourselves and everything belonging to us to God, we must submit the affections of our hearts to him so that they may be tamed and subdued.
We possess a furious intemperance and an unbridled desire for reputation and honor, for acquiring power, accumulating wealth, and gathering everything that appears conducive to pomp and magnificence. Conversely, we greatly fear and hate poverty, lowhness, and disgrace, and therefore flee from them with all our strength.
For this reason, we see how troubled in spirit are all those who order their lives according to their own counsel; how many schemes they attempt; and how many ways they torment themselves in order to attain the objects toward which ambition and greed carry them and to avoid poverty and a low condition.
Therefore, if believers wish to avoid becoming entangled in these snares, they must follow this course.
First, they must neither desire, expect, nor imagine any means of prospering except through the blessing of God. They must therefore rest and rely securely upon it.
Although the flesh imagines itself fully capable of attaining its purpose—whether it aspires to honors and riches through its own skill, exerts its own efforts to obtain them, or receives assistance from human favor—it is nevertheless certain that all these things are nothing. Neither our ingenuity nor our labor can ever profit us except insofar as the Lord causes both to prosper.
His blessing alone, on the contrary, will find a way through every obstacle and grant us a favorable outcome in all things.
Moreover, even if we could obtain some honor or wealth without his blessing—as we daily see the wicked attain great riches and high positions—nevertheless, wherever God’s curse rests, not a single drop of happiness can be enjoyed. Therefore, unless his blessing rests upon us, everything we obtain will turn to our misery.
It would be sheer madness to desire anything that can only make us miserable.
Therefore, if we believe that every means of prospering rests in the blessing of God alone, and that without it nothing awaits us but misery and calamity, our duty is not to pursue riches and honors with excessive desire, trusting in our own ability, diligence, human favor, or fortune. Rather, we must always look to God so that, under his guidance, we may be led into whatever condition seems good to him.
From this it will follow that we shall not strive to draw riches to ourselves or seize honors by right or wrong, by violence, deceit, or any other crooked means. We shall seek only those advantages that do not turn us away from innocence.
For who could expect God’s blessing to assist him while he commits fraud, robbery, and other wicked acts? Since that blessing attends only those who are upright in their thoughts and actions, the person who desires it must thereby be restrained from all iniquity and evil designs.
Furthermore, it will serve as a bridle to restrain us from burning with a disordered desire to become rich or striving ambitiously to exalt ourselves. For what shamelessness would it be to imagine that God should help us obtain what we desire contrary to his word? Far be it from him to advance by the grace of his blessing what he condemns with his own mouth.
Finally, when events do not occur according to our hopes and desires, this consideration will restrain us from breaking forth into impatience and cursing our condition. For we shall recognize that to do so would be to murmur against God, by whose will poverty and riches, contempt and honors, are alike distributed.
In sum, whoever rests in God’s blessing, as has been said, will not pursue by wicked and crooked means any of those things which men crave with furious desire, knowing that such means could profit him nothing.
If prosperity comes to him, he will not attribute it to his diligence, ability, or fortune, but will acknowledge that it comes from God.
On the other hand, if he makes little progress while others rise according to their desires—or even if his condition declines—he will nevertheless bear his poverty more patiently and moderately than an unbeliever would bear moderate wealth that fell short of what he desired.
For the believer possesses a consolation in which he can rest more contentedly than in all the riches and honors of the world, even if they were gathered into a single heap: he regards everything as ordered by God in the manner most conducive to his salvation.
Believers must not preserve such patience and moderation only in this particular matter, but extend it to all the circumstances to which this present life is subject.
Therefore, no one has properly renounced himself unless he has so resigned himself to God that he willingly permits his whole life to be governed according to God’s pleasure.
Whoever possesses such a disposition will never regard himself as miserable, whatever may happen, nor complain of his condition in a manner that indirectly accuses God.
How necessary such a disposition is will become apparent if we consider how many calamities we are subject to. A thousand diseases continually trouble us, one after another. At one time pestilence torments us; at another, war. At another, frost or hail brings barrenness and consequently threatens us with poverty. At another, death deprives us of wives, children, and other relatives. Sometimes our house is consumed by fire.
These things cause men to curse their lives, abhor the day of their birth, detest heaven and the light, speak evil of God, and—as they are eloquent in blasphemy—accuse him of injustice and cruelty.
The believer, on the contrary, must behold even in these things the mercy of God and his fatherly kindness. Though he sees himself bereaved by the death of all his relatives and his household left desolate, he will not cease to bless God. Rather, he will turn his thoughts to this: since the grace of God dwells in his house, it will not permit that house to remain desolate.
Though his crops and vineyards are ravaged and destroyed by frost, hail, or some other tempest, so that he foresees the danger of famine, he will not lose heart or become discontented with God. Rather, he will persevere in firm confidence, saying within himself, “Nevertheless, we remain under the protection of the Lord; we are the sheep of his pasture. Therefore, however severe the barrenness may be, he will always provide what we need to live.”
Though he suffers the affliction of disease, he will not be so overwhelmed by pain that he breaks forth in impatience and complains against God. Rather, by considering the righteousness and goodness of his heavenly Father in chastening him, he will thereby be trained in patience.
In short, whatever may happen, knowing that everything proceeds from the Lord’s hand, he will receive it with a peaceful and grateful heart, lest he resist the command of him to whom he has once committed himself.
Above all, let that foolish and miserable consolation of the pagans be far removed from the Christian heart: that adversities should be attributed to fortune so that they may be borne more patiently. For the philosophers reason that it would be foolish to become angry with fortune, since she is reckless and blind, casting her darts at random and wounding good and evil alike without distinction.
The rule of godliness, on the contrary, is that the hand of God alone directs and governs both prosperity and adversity. It does not act with thoughtless violence, but dispenses both good and evil according to a well-ordered justice.
Yet the believer’s disposition must rise still higher—to the point to which Christ calls all his followers: that each should bear his cross.
For all whom the Lord has adopted and received into the company of his children must prepare themselves for a hard and laborious life, full of toil and innumerable kinds of suffering. It is the good pleasure of the heavenly Father to exercise his servants in this way, that he may put them to the test.
He began this order with Christ, his firstborn Son, and continues it toward all his other children. For although Christ was his beloved Son, in whom he was always well pleased, we nevertheless see that he was not treated softly or delicately in this world. Indeed, it may be said not only that he was continually afflicted, but that his whole life was nothing other than a kind of perpetual cross.
How, then, can we exempt ourselves from the condition to which Christ our Head was obliged to submit, especially since he submitted to it for our sake, that he might give us an example of patience? The Apostle therefore declares that God has appointed this end for all his children: that they should be conformed to his Christ.
From this we receive a singular consolation: that by enduring all the miseries commonly regarded as adverse and evil, we share in the cross of Christ, so that, just as he passed through an abyss of suffering to enter into heavenly glory, we likewise may arrive there through various tribulations.
For Saint Paul teaches that when we experience within ourselves a participation in Christ’s sufferings, we likewise apprehend the power of his resurrection; and that when we are made partakers of his death, we are thereby prepared to enter into his glorious immortality.
How powerful this is to sweeten every bitterness that may be found in the cross! For the more we are afflicted and endure misery, the more certainly our fellowship with Christ is confirmed. When we share in him, adversities are not only blessed to us, but also serve as aids by which our salvation is greatly advanced.
Moreover, the Lord Jesus had no need to bear the cross and endure tribulations except to testify to and prove his obedience toward God his Father. But for many reasons it is necessary that we should be continually afflicted in this life.
First, because we are naturally too inclined to exalt ourselves and attribute everything to ourselves, unless our weakness is visibly demonstrated to us, we immediately form an excessive estimate of our own strength and do not doubt that it will prove invincible against every difficulty that might arise. From this comes a vain and foolish confidence in the flesh, which afterward incites us to grow proud against God, as though our own ability were sufficient without his grace.
He cannot better subdue this presumption than by showing us through experience how much weakness—and even frailty—there is within us. Therefore, he afflicts us with disgrace, poverty, sickness, the loss of relatives, or other calamities. Left to ourselves, we immediately succumb to these things because we possess no strength to bear them.
Then, having been humbled, we learn to implore his power, which alone enables us to stand firm beneath the weight of such burdens. Even the holiest believers, although they know that their steadfastness rests upon the Lord’s grace and not upon their own strength, still become too secure in their own courage and constancy unless the Lord brings them to a more certain knowledge of themselves by testing them through the cross.
While everything remains peaceful, they flatter themselves with the thought that they possess great courage and constancy. But when shaken by tribulation, they discover that this confidence was hypocrisy.
In this way believers must be made conscious of their infirmities, so that they may grow in humility, cast aside every perverse confidence in the flesh, and entrust themselves entirely to the grace of God. Once they have done so, they experience the presence of his power, in which they find more than sufficient strength.
This is what Saint Paul means when he says that tribulation produces patience, and patience, proven character. For believers experience the truth of the Lord’s promise to assist them in tribulation when they persevere patiently, sustained by his hand—something they could never do by their own strength.
Patience, therefore, proves to the saints that God truly gives the help he has promised whenever it is needed. By this their hope is also strengthened, since it would be the height of ingratitude not to expect for the future that faithfulness of God which they have already experienced to be firm and unchangeable.
We now see how many benefits proceed from the cross in one continuous sequence.
For by overthrowing the false opinion we naturally conceive of our own strength, and by exposing the hypocrisy that seduces and deceives us with its flatteries, the cross casts down that confidence in the flesh which was so destructive to us. Then, having thus humbled us, it teaches us to rest in God, who, being our foundation, does not permit us to fall or lose heart.
From this victory arises hope, because the Lord, by fulfilling what he has promised, confirms his faithfulness for the future. Even if these were the only reasons, it is evident how necessary the discipline of the cross is for us.
For it is no small benefit that the self-love which blinds us should be removed, so that we may rightly know our weakness; that, having rightly perceived it, we may learn to distrust ourselves; that, distrusting ourselves, we may transfer our confidence to God; that, relying upon God with assured confidence of heart, we may persevere victoriously to the end through his help; that, standing firm in his grace, we may know him to be true and faithful in his promises; and that, possessing certain knowledge of those promises, our hope may thereby be strengthened.
The Lord has yet another reason for afflicting his servants: to prove their patience and train them in obedience. Not that they can possess any obedience other than that which he has given them, but he is pleased in this way to display and bear witness to the graces he has placed within his believers, so that they do not remain idle and hidden within them.
Therefore, when he brings forth the patience he has given his servants, he is said to put their patience to the test. Hence the expressions that he tested Abraham and knew his godliness because Abraham did not refuse to sacrifice his son in order to obey him.
Saint Peter therefore says that our faith is tested by tribulation no less than gold is tested in the furnace.
Who will deny that it is fitting for so excellent a gift, which the Lord has bestowed upon his servants, to be put into use so that it may become known and manifest? Otherwise, it would never be valued as it ought to be.
If, then, the Lord has good reason to provide occasion for the virtues he has placed within believers to be exercised, so that they neither remain concealed nor become useless, we see that it is not without cause that he sends afflictions, without which their patience would have no exercise.
I also say that by this means he trains them in patience, since they thereby learn not to live according to their own desires but according to his pleasure. Indeed, if everything happened as they wished, they would never know what it means to follow God.
The pagan philosopher Seneca tells us that it was an ancient proverb, when someone was being exhorted to endure adversity patiently, to say, “We must follow God.” By this they meant that a man truly submits to the Lord’s yoke only when he permits himself to be chastened and willingly offers both hand and back to his rods.
Now, if it is right that we should render ourselves obedient in every way to our heavenly Father, we ought not to refuse his training us in that obedience by every means possible.
Yet we still do not perceive how necessary this is unless we consider how intemperately our flesh casts off the Lord’s yoke as soon as it has been treated with a little indulgence. The same thing happens with unruly horses: after remaining idle and well fed in the stable for some time, they can scarcely afterward be broken, and no longer recognize the master whose control they formerly accepted.
In short, what the Lord complains happened to the people of Israel is commonly seen in all men: when they have grown fat from being fed too richly, they kick against him who nourished them.
God’s generosity certainly ought to draw us to consider and love his goodness. But since our ingratitude is such that we are more often corrupted by his indulgence than encouraged to do good, it is more than necessary that he keep a tight rein upon us and hold us under discipline, lest we break forth into such insolence.
Therefore, lest an excessive abundance of possessions make us proud, lest honors fill us with arrogance, and lest the gifts we possess in body or soul produce insolence within us, the Lord anticipates the danger and provides the remedy. Through the medicine of the cross, he restrains and subdues the folly of our flesh. He does this in various ways, according to what he knows to be expedient and salutary for each person.
For we are not all equally sick, nor do we all suffer from the same disease; therefore, the same treatment is not suitable for everyone. This is why he exercises some under one kind of cross and others under another. Yet although, in providing for the health of all, he administers a gentler medicine to some and a harsher and more rigorous one to others, he leaves no one entirely exempt, because he knows that everyone is diseased.
Moreover, our good Father must not only guard against our infirmity for the future; it is also frequently necessary for him to correct our past faults so that he may preserve us in obedience to himself. Therefore, whenever any affliction comes upon us, we should recall our past life. In doing so, we will undoubtedly find that we have committed some fault worthy of such chastisement.
Nevertheless, the recognition of our sin should not be the chief ground of our exhortation to patience, for Scripture supplies us with a far better consideration when it says that the Lord corrects us by adversity so that we may not be condemned with the world.
Therefore, amid the greatest bitterness of tribulation, we ought to recognize the mercy and kindness of our Father, since even then he does not cease to advance our salvation. For he afflicts us not to destroy or ruin us, but to deliver us from the condemnation of the world.
This thought will lead us to what Scripture teaches elsewhere:
“My son, do not reject the Lord’s correction, nor become weary when he reproves you. For the Lord corrects those whom he loves and treats them as his children.”
When we are told that these corrections are a Father’s rods, is it not our duty to submit as teachable children rather than resist like desperate men hardened in their wickedness? The Lord would permit us to perish if, when we have gone astray, he did not draw us back to himself through correction. As the Apostle says, if he does not keep us under discipline, we are illegitimate children and not true sons.
We are therefore exceedingly perverse if we cannot bear with the Lord when he displays his favor toward us and his concern for our salvation. Scripture marks this difference between unbelievers and believers: the former, like slaves of old who were perverse by nature, only grow worse and harder under the whip; the latter, like well-born children, are led by correction to repentance and amendment of life. Let us now choose which of these we prefer to be. But since this subject has been treated elsewhere, it will be enough to have touched upon it briefly here.
The highest consolation, however, comes when we suffer persecution for righteousness. For then we ought to remember what honor the Lord bestows upon us by giving us the insignia of his service.
By persecution for righteousness I mean not only suffering for the defense of the gospel, but also for upholding every just cause. Whether in defending the truth of God against Satan’s lies, or in protecting the innocent against the wicked and preventing them from suffering wrong and injury, we may incur the hatred and indignation of the world and thereby place our reputation, possessions, or lives in danger. Yet we should not grieve at having devoted ourselves so fully to God, nor regard ourselves as miserable when he declares us blessed by his own mouth.
Poverty, considered in itself, is indeed misery. The same is true of exile, contempt, disgrace, and imprisonment; and death, finally, is the greatest calamity. But when God breathes his favor upon us, there is none of these things that he does not turn to our happiness and blessing. Let us therefore be content with Christ’s testimony rather than the false judgment of our flesh.
Then, following the example of the Apostles, we will rejoice whenever he counts us worthy to suffer dishonor for his name. For if, though innocent and possessing a good conscience, we are deprived of our possessions through the wickedness of the ungodly, we are indeed impoverished before men, but our true riches before God are thereby increased.
If we are driven out and banished from our country, we are received all the more deeply into the Lord’s household. If we are harassed and afflicted, we are all the more firmly established in our Lord by being driven to seek refuge in him. If we suffer reproach and disgrace, we are all the more highly exalted in the kingdom of God. If we die, the way is opened for us into the blessed life.