Richard Greenham and the Trials of a Christian
6
Richard Greenham and the
Trials of a Christian
I. Introduction
Greenham was the first of the great English Puritan pastors; he pioneered the paths in pastoral dealing which the later, and in some ways greater, Puritans followed. His twenty years of selfless labour at Dry Drayton, a little village a few miles from Cambridge, to which he went in 1570, inspired many young men to give their lives in similar ministries throughout England. Henry Holland, his friend and admirer, spent four years collecting tracts, letters, and written notes in order to give to the world a lasting memorial of his apostolic labours and ripe Christian wisdom—the large volume of Greenham’s collected works.
Greenham’s conception of the Christian life, as this volume reveals it, is briefly as follows. He sees the Christian as a pilgrim, making his way through manifold difficulties along the road that leads to the heavenly city. His path lies through the vale of tears which is this mortal life. Great dangers beset him, and the way becomes harder rather than easier as he goes on. The main part of the duty of a true pastor is accordingly to show the Christian his difficulties and perils in their true—that is their scriptural—light, and him the way through and out of them.
For the purposes of this paper, we classify the trials and difficulties with which Greenham deals thus: (i) distressing states of mind and heart; (ii) temptations from the world, the flesh and the devil; (iii) afflictions, i.e. the assaults which are made upon our body, goods, or position in this life.
II. Distressing States of Mind and Heart
All Christians, says Greenham, periodically find themselves in such states; their inception is not marked and often we can trace no direct cause of them; but all know what it is to find themselves in them. We briefly review some of them.
(1) Wandering thoughts. Greenham was once asked “why a man after sundry and laborious reading . . . being desirous by meditation to apply the things read unto himself, was so much interrupted, and violently, unwillingly and suddenly drawn into other conceits.” He replied, “It was either want of preparing and sanctifying our hearts by prayer before we set on so holy an exercise and therefore the Lord correcteth the pride of our wits and presumption of our hearts in being bold to work upon holy matters in our own strength; or else that we, resting upon a general purpose of thinking some good thing . . . did not fasten our mind constantly and continually upon some particular object, but ranging up and down . . . did not wholly and seriously set on the thing propounded to ourselves”—in fact, either lack of humility or lack of concentration.
(2) Bouts of dread. Sometimes for no apparent reason unaccountable terror invades the soul, “when we are alone, or . . . in the night, being sent of God to humble us; the physician will say it is a melancholic passion, but I say it is the power of God’s presence preparing us to prayer, or some such like service of God; which, when we feel, if we fall down before the Lord in prayer, we may find an unspeakable joy following it. . . .” Even if the physician is partly right, Greenham is not wholly wrong when he insists that a spiritual lesson must be learned from the onset of this state of mind; it must not be entertained or dwelt on, but prayed over and used as a lesson in humility.
(3) Sinful desires and delusions. These sometimes invade Christian souls; “sinking down so deeply in them that though they weep, pray and meditate . . . though they feel them with irksomeness and loathsomeness, as we feel sickness in our bodies—yet those motions will continually be in them without diminishing . . . We are not to martyr ourselves with disquietness of mind, because we are so pestered and thronged with wicked motions and assaults . . . For the godly shall not be so freed from sin, but that they shall be assaulted with evil motions, suspicions, delusions, vain fantasies and imaginations; the body of sin shall never be from us so long as we live. For the scum thereof is almost continually boiling and walloping in us, foaming out such filthy froth and stinking savour into our minds, that it is not only detestable to the mind regenerate . . . but it would make abashed the very natural man to look into so loathsome a sty of sin, and sinkhole of iniquity.” Despite this, we need not despair: “if we feel this in ourselves, that we would fain love the Lord and be better, and being wearied and tired with our sins; long gladly to enjoy the peace of righteousness, and desire to please God in a simple obedience of faith—then let us comfort ourselves. . . .” We must confess the sin and seek repentance, but we may know as we do so that we are children of God.
(4) Doubts. When moods of doubt come upon the soul, “think with thyself that it is the mercy of God by them to cause thee better to discern of those temptations in others . . . how they make their first entry into a man’s heart, how they gather strength, how they agree with our corrupt nature, in what degrees they come to some growth, how the Spirit of God doth resist them, what be the means best to prevail against them. And thus if thou make profit by them, thou shalt so wonderfully search and descry . . . temptations in others, by an holy experience which God hath taught thee in self, that . . . thou shalt lay forth men’s secret corruptions, as if thou wert in their bosoms; thou shalt be able also by the seed of sorrow in thyself to beget an unspeakable joy in others, who in time may be tempted as thou now art.” It is in the school of spiritual doubts and conflicts that pastors are trained.
(5) Deadness of spirit. Feelings normally accompany faith, but not always. Spiritual insensibility is akin to bodily sickness: “as by some extreme sickness, life may be in one, yet it cannot be felt of the sick body, so in some great temptation, the Holy Ghost may be in us, and yet we not feel nor find his presence.” In this state, the Christian must not “tarry to play till he find feeling but offer himself up into the hand of Jesus Christ”; and must take care not to be drawn into carnal joys (“taking his mind off it”) lest he exile the working of God’s Spirit. To one who complained that he was “comfortless for want of feeling,” Greenham replied, “Oh brother, we hold Christ by faith, and not by feeling.” Feeling “is but an effect and fruit of faith”; and faith may flourish most when feelings are least. “Although a man do not feel his faith sometimes under the cross, as indeed it falleth out often in the best children of God, yet when it shall please the Lord to send feeling, and deliverance, that man shall see that his faith was great . . . stronger, when he had not the feeling of God’s favour, than it had been at some times, when he had great feelings.”
(6) Loss of assurance. This point follows on from the last. Greenham speaks to it in his “Letter Consolatory for an Afflicted Mind.” “There is sometime as it were an eclipse of our faith . . . but let us assure ourselves, that as the sun and moon do not perish in their eclipses, nor loose their light for ever so in this eclipse which happeneth to our faith, and sense of God’s goodness the same . . . shall in good time be restored . . . unto our further and more assured comfort. This have you seen in many of the dear children of God . . . You have felt it in yourself that there has been an interchangeable course of sorrow and comfort, of faith and fear, and that the one hath continually secceeded the other, that the same hand that humbled you, did raise you up again. . . .”
(7) Hardness of heart. In his “Letter against Hardness of Heart” Greenham differentiated between two sorts of hardness: that which is unrecognised for what it is (either a deliberate resistance to the Spirit and means of grace, or a careless continuance in sin without remorse), and that which is recognised (which leads some to desire a cure, and others despairingly and hopelessly to refuse all means of help). Greenham describes detailed remedies for cases of hardness of the second type, showing himself a master of spiritual therapeutics.
III. Temptations
(a) The Christian in temptation: general remarks. God never allows a Christian to be tempted in a way or to a degree which he cannot resist. 1 Corinthians 10:13 is one of Greenham’s favourite texts. As we proceed in the Christian life, temptations increase. Sometimes we find ourselves “weaker in less assaults, having afore been stronger in greater temptations”; this may be partly because God was particularly good to us when first we came to Him, and partly because since conversion we have to some extent relapsed into carnal self-confidence, and, thinking ourselves strong, have become weak. Temptation reveals one’s real character—“every man is that indeed that he is in temptation.” The very facts of temptation, and resistance to temptation, are distinctive marks of regenerate men, and from our experience of them we may derive assurance. “By this, that Satan so busily and fiercely assaileth us, it doth appear that as once he lost his possession, and was cast out . . . by Christ, so now he findeth no peaceable entrance . . . and therefore there yet remaineth . . . the secret seed of faith still sustained and nourished by the Spirit of God in us, when we would think it were utterly extinguished . . . Neither is there any more sure testimony, either of our present deliverance begun, or of our full and perfect victory in time to come, than this, that by the word of God we do (though but weakly) resist the temptations of the enemy, and continue in the battle against him, mourning indeed and travailing under the burden of affliction, but yet standing upright before the enemy so that he cannot . . . overthrow and destroy us.”
(b) Satan’s part in temptation. “Satan hath so absolute power, but a power by permission to try us: against which we must arm ourselves by faith, which will assure us that either the Lord mitigate our temptation . . . or else, if he enlarge the trial he will increase our strength . . . We must also pray that the Lord give not out that measure of leave to the devil which we give out to sin
. . . but that he would rather make Satan a surgeon to show us our sins than a sergeant to confound us for them.” Satan tries “to persuade many that the weakness of their body, and feebleness of their brain proceedeth of their temptations, when indeed it cometh of their own unstayed minds, wandering too much after the motions of the devil, in that they not resting on the word, nor depending on Christ, nor contenting themselves to be tried; nor comforting themselves by meditation, attend too much and confer too often with the devil’s illusions and temptations and they complain of the effects and not of the causes of the temptations being more grieved for their present sufferings, than for their sins past. The root of this worldly shame is pride. . . .”
(c) The relation of temptation to our own sinful state. “When a great temptation hangeth long upon us, it were good to seek for some special sin in us, because we shall find that for some privy pride or unthankfulness, or such like, a temptation remaineth long with us. There is a train of corruption in us, and God often punisheth one sin with another, which, if we espy not, but look only to the grosser sins, we shall hardly be brought to humble our souls . . . or to profit by the admonition of others.” Temptation thus often serves the useful purpose of bringing sin into the open so that we see it clearly in all its foulness and can deal with it: “outward temptations do not hurt till our inward corruption doth yield: but rather they are as Surgeons to draw out our festered corruptions.”
(d) Particular temptations. We mention three of the many with which Greenham deals. (i) This is how he comforted a man who thought he had sinned against the Holy Ghost. “Satan’s temptations follow our affections. If we lightly account of sin he blears our eyes with God’s mercies; if we begin to make a conscience of sin, he loadeth us with the judgments of God, being as ready now to aggravate this sin more than it is in itself . . . as before he would extenuate it to make it seem less than it was . . . You have sinned a great sin before the Lord in that you make a mock of the word which you know, yet if you turn to the Lord in fear and serve Him, your sin is remissible, howsoever Satan chargeth your conscience.” (ii) Riches may be a temptation. “If we have wealth and riches, the Lord trieth us if we will be more thankful.” Riches, though morally neutral in themselves, become a snare to those who have them. “Riches dim our eyes as a cloud, that we cannot see far with them . . . Poverty hath slain a thousand, but riches have slain ten thousand. They are very uncertain, they promise that which they cannot perform, neither can they afford a contented mind.” (iii) Godliness itself becomes an occasion of temptation: “the more godly a man is, and the more graces and blessings of God are upon him, the more need he hath to pray, because Satan is busiest against him, and because he is readiest to be puffed up with a conceited holiness.”
In all temptation, our first recourse must be to prayer. “Say ‘Lord, thou makest me to possess the sins of my youth . . . howbeit, O Lord, grant I may by wisdom herein, make this temptation an holy instruction . . . oh turn this to thy glory and my salvation’ . . . or if this do not prevail, give yourself with all humbleness to read the word of God, especially his promises, and be still attending on the means, waiting when the Lord shall enlarge your heart. Or if this do not help, go to some faithful brother, confess yourself to him . . . and be not ashamed to give God the glory by shaming yourself, and opening your corruption to him, that so he may pray for you . . . (James 5). Thus having prayed by yourself, and with another, and used the means of reading for your recovery . . . go to your calling, knowing that your prayers and the word of God, being as seed, must have some time between the sowing of thorn and the reaping of the increase and fruit of them. Above all, reason not with your temptation, dispute not with the devil, as though you could prevail of yourself. And as I would not that you should dispute with your temptation, so I would not you should despise it and make no account of it”—for the one course is spiritually as dangerous as the other.
IV. Afflictions
(a) General positive principles. The Christian is called to suffer, and his course will normally be hard. This principle does not of course hold good for all Christians at all times, but is a reliable rough guide to the experiences of a lifetime. “Although the godly shall escape hell in the world to come, yet they shall be punished in this world.” However, this prospect must not daunt saints, for “it is a most certain thing in God’s children, that the more their afflictions grow the more their faith groweth.” Christians must grasp the fact that all things come to them from God, and for their good. Whatsoever is upon you is from the Lord, and whatsoever is from the Lord, to you it is in mercy, and whatsoever comes in mercy ought not to be grievous to you. What loss is it, when the losing of earthly things is the gaining of spiritual things? . . . All shall be for your good, if you make your use of all.” Afflictions are sent for our profit, and we must learn to profit by them.
(b) The connection between afflictions and sins. Afflictions may be sent to make us appreciate fully the greatness of God’s mercy when He bestows good gifts, without them we should be in danger of under-valuing this mercy. From this point of view, affliction need not have any direct connection with our sins. “Job served God in truth and yet was punished, and so Lazarus; but this was not so much for their own sin as for the trial of their faith, and that after them the church might receive great comfort by their examples. For as it hurts not the gold to be put into the fire, both because it is thereby tried, and also made more pure—so it is not evil for the children of God to have their faith tried; if it be a strong faith it will bear the fire; if it be weak it will shine yet brighter.” Yet affliction is sometimes sent as a warning. “The Lord often . . . by outward crosses draweth us from the state of security and untowardness to good works . . . Neither can we truly repent, until by some cross we know this world to be a place of sorrow, and not of mirth and delight . . . We must be as birds on a bough, to remove at God’s pleasure, and that without resistance when the Lord shall visit us. And because we are too much given to think that we have the things in our own right, which we hold of the free goodness of God, we are taught in affliction how heinous unthankfulness it were to bind the Lord continually to entertain us in this life at so full charge and cost. . . .” One cardinal sin at least needs affliction as its cure—fleshly security, and the slothfulness in good works to which it leads. Affliction serves to terminate this condition by humbling us. “It is the wisdom of God joined with mercy for the preserving of his children in humility and thankfulness (if they forget to spy out and be humbled for their inward corruptions), either to let them fall into some sin, to punish their pride . . . or else (which is his more merciful chastisement) to break them with some cross, until their hearts be bruised.” Affliction, acting as it does to call attention to our sins, may thus reinforce the message of the law, and prepare us for faith. Affliction is either of the body or of the mind, of these the Lord sometime to humble us doth send the one, sometime the other, sometimes both, and all to humble us . . . when as he seeth by reason of the corruption of our nature, that the preaching of the law is not sufficient to humble us, and strike that terror into our hearts which might make us duly prepared to receive . . . the sweet and comfortable promises made us in Christ . . . Now if affliction be such a notable thing, and the Lord worketh even eternal life thereby often times to those whom he hath elected and called to be his, how lovingly ought they to embrace it to whom the Lord doth so fatherly offer it? How patiently and cheerfully ought they to bear it, inasmuch as they thereby may assure themselves that Cod hath severed them from the world, and from those on whom he meaneth to show no mercy in the day of his wrath? And as for those whom the Lord as yet hath laid no scourge upon them, let them not long for it, but let them lay the law of God and the threatnings thereof unto their hearts to humble them thereby. It is better to be humbled thereby than by affliction, and yet better by affliction than not at all. . . .”
(c) Particular afflictions. We mention five out of many which Greenham treats. (i) Persecution, the Christian’s common lot, serves to distinguish the children of God: “so long as God’s children and worldlings walk as it were together, it is hard to distinguish (them) . . . but when they are severed by persecution, it will surely be seen who be the children of God, and who be the heirs of the world.” (ii) Scorn and reproach was Greenham’s own lot: “he said, although he was subject to many and grievous reproaches, yet two things did ever comfort him; this one, that his heart was well, did not evil affected to many men; secondly, that going alone, he could humble himself and pray to God that the authors of such reproaches might be pardoned.” He shows with penetrating insight how the regenerate should face reproach. “It is our corruption that we are more grieved when we suffer as well-doers, than when we suffer for evil-doing. For this is the logic of the world: ‘I am grieved that I am thus dealt with because I never deserved it; had I done anything worthy of punishment it would not have grieved me, though I had been punished.’ Thou speakest like a foolish man . . . Whether is it better to suffer, when thy conscience is free and suffereth not, or when with thy outward affliction thou art afflicted also of thine own heart? And is it not a glorious thing to suffer for well doing wherein thy cause of grief is the less . . . ? For if the cause of affliction rather than affliction itself should grieve thee, then affliction without cause of affliction—being for God, his cause—should rather comfort thee.” (iii) Being abandoned by one’s friends should prompt us to self-examination: maybe we have been unkind to our friends, or sought the favour of man more than of God, or perhaps fleshly love or hypocrisy is being corrected, or God may be trying our faith to see whether we love Him for His own sake—for “the Lord oft sequestreth our friends far from us to knit and glue us nearer to himself.” In any case, one must not suppose one’s trouble to be unique and become immersed in self-pity. (iv) Personal loss of other kinds (children, or goods) should prompt us to self-examination in a similar way; our main concern should constantly be to find out and learn the lesson which affliction has been sent to teach us. (v) Continuing poverty while others grow rich ought not to rob the Christian of his contentment and glad acquiescence in his lot. “If the Lord show lesser mercies to us than to others, we have no cause to complain because He is no debtor so we must not envy them that have greater gifts, for if we have any it is more than (our) due or than we have deserved, and this will teach us to be contented with that which we have had. Let us then look on what we have and give God thanks for it, and know that if we should have more, He would give more, yea if we consider that they that have much must make the greater account, and that we are unfit to do so, will thank God that we have no more than we have.”
(d) Two dangers beset the afflicted Christian. The first is self-pity. “Let us now learn to hold all the passions of impatience in bondage, both by comparing our evils with the wonderful mercies of God, and our small suffering with the intolerable conflicts of our forefathers. For there is no greater cause of our despairing under the cross than when Satan persuadeth us that never any were handled so roughly . . . Wherefore, lest our infirmities should over-master us . . . let us call to mind the Saints of God
. . . to the end that by them we may learn that, according as God dealeth forth the gifts of the Spirit, thereafter doth he send greater afflictions, both to make them the more esteemed, and also to cause a more plentiful fruit of their faith.” The second danger is spiritual recklessness. Greenham outlines it in the following words—“when our afflictions do not drive us to God, nor cause us more humbly to hear and seek His work, but rather to stop our ears, and to run from it, and to seek unlawful means, let us then mourn secretly and heartily unto God for the direction of God’s Spirit, for that case is dangerous.”
V. Conclusion
We have tried to let Greenham speak for himself on the trials of the Christian life. But, of course, trials are not the whole of the Christian life; there is abundant joy and comfort for the believer, more than many Christians ever know, and Greenham has much to say on this side of the matter too. His account of the Christian life, like that of all the greatest Puritans, is admirably balanced. However, in this paper we have confined our attention of necessity to one aspect of the picture only. We close with some comments on the teaching we have reviewed.
(i) It is admirably realistic. The state of the church in Greenham’s day was unsettled, and so were the minds of many of its members. One result of the conflict of convictions within Christendom was to throw men’s consciences into turmoil. There was no settled pattern of middle-class life with its comfortable middle-class morality. Men needed rooting and establishing on sure foundations; they needed to learn the truly Christian attitude towards the changing circumstances, the strains and stresses of life. This Greenham set himself to teach, and with great success, as we have seen.
(ii) It is strongly doctrinal. Greenham bases his instruction on a thorough grasp of the doctrines of the universal sinfulness of man, of the efficacy of the cross of Christ for the putting away of the sins of the elect, of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and the certainty of a glorious heavenly inheritance. Whether we label this teaching Calvinistic, Puritan, or simply scriptural, we cannot but admire the deeply experimental grasp of these doctrines which provided Greenham with his starting-point.
(iii) It is sane and profound. Evangelical Christians today will adjudge it helpful at the deepest level. Greenham’s advice is practical, Christ-centred, humbling, and heart-warming. His informal pastoral classes would lose none of their usefulness were he alive to hold them in our time. Such pastoral wisdom as his is one of our greatest needs.
(iv) It glorifies God. There is a singular lack of self-advertisement in Greenham’s writing. He is content to honour the word of God and to glorify the Saviour. It is precisely for this reason that his teaching did good in his own time, and can still do good to God’s children today.