The Sacrifice of Christ
St. Paul rejoices that his sufferings help to complete what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ. This seems to mean two things. First, that the Christian’s sufferings (in this case the Apostle’s) are a share in Christ’s sufferings, because the Christian and Christ are somehow connected. To be in Christ is of course to share Christ’s sufferings, and there are always more of them in the future for each of us. Secondly it means that there is a quota of sufferings which the whole Church, the corporate Christ, has to exhaust before God’s plan of salvation is complete; and the Apostle rejoices to take his share—or more than his share—of these. Thus “the afflictions of Christ” are both Christ’s historical sufferings, mystically shared and entered into in each Christian’s sufferings, and the corporate Christ’s, the Christian Church’s afflictions. The two are in that sense one. There is plenty of evidence that the Christians took over the Jewish apocalyptic idea of the Messianic woes; and there was a certain quota of these to be completed before the end could come. So the afflictions of the (corporate) Christ, the Messianic community, were a necessary prelude to the consummation, and their endurance was cause for rejoicing. But also there is this more mystical conception of sharing Christ’s Cross.
Charles Francis Digby Moule (1908–)—Cambridge lecturer and professor of divinity, Moule is an Anglican clergyman, biblical scholar, and prolific author.
Devotions
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod is washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of your friend’s or of your own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for you. Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbors. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man has enough of it. No man has affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another’s danger I take my own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.
John Donne (1572–1631)—One of the metaphysical poets, John Donne was raised a Roman Catholic and converted to Anglicanism. He was ordained in 1615 and eventually became the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.
The Imitation of Christ
Whatever I can desire or imagine for my own comfort I look for not here but hereafter. For if I alone should have all the world’s comforts and could enjoy all its delights, it is certain that they could not long endure. Therefore, my soul, you cannot enjoy full consolation or perfect delight except in God, the Consoler of the poor and the Helper of the humble. Wait a little, my soul, wait for the divine promise and you will have an abundance of all good things in heaven. If you desire these present things too much, you will lose those which are everlasting and heavenly. Use temporal things but desire eternal things. You cannot be satisfied with any temporal goods because you were not created to enjoy them.
Even if you possessed all created things you could not be happy and blessed; for in God, Who created all these things, your whole blessedness and happiness consists—not indeed such happiness as is seen and praised by lovers of the world, but such as that for which the good and faithful servants of Christ wait, and of which the spiritual and pure of heart, whose conversation is in heaven, sometime have a foretaste.
Vain and brief is all human consolation. But that which is received inwardly from the Truth is blessed and true. The devout man carries his Consoler, Jesus, everywhere with him, and he says to Him: “Be with me, Lord Jesus, in every place and at all times. Let this be my consolation, to be willing to forego all human comforting. And if Your consolation be wanting to me, let Your will and just trial of me be my greatest comfort. For You will not always be angry, nor will You threaten forever.”
When consolation is taken away, do not at once despair but wait humbly and patiently for the heavenly visit, since God can restore to you more abundant solace.
This is neither new nor strange to one who knows God’s ways, for such change of fortune often visited the great saints and prophets of old. Thus there was one who, when grace was with him, declared: “In my prosperity I said: ‘I shall never be moved.’ ” But when grace was taken away, he adds what he experienced in himself: “You hid Your face, and I was troubled.” Meanwhile he does not despair; rather he prays more earnestly to the Lord, saying: “To You, O Lord, will I cry; and I will make supplication to my God.” At length, he receives the fruit of his prayer, and testifying that he was heard, says, “The Lord has heard, and has had mercy on me: the Lord became my helper.” And how was he helped? “You have turned,” he says, “my mourning into joy, and have surrounded me with gladness.”
Thomas à Kempis (ca. 1380–1471)—Born at Kempin (thus the surname à Kempis) near Cologne, Germany, Thomas Hämmerlien entered the Augustinian monastery at Mount Saint Agnes, where he worked as a copyist and spiritual director. He was a mystic, and his Imitation of Christ is thought by many to be second only to the Bible in its spiritual influence on readers. It was highly valued by C. S. Lewis.
Life of Herbert by Izaak Walton
A Letter of Mr. George Herbert to his Mother, in her Sickness
But perhaps, being above the common people, our credit and estimation calls on us to live in a more splendid fashion: but, O God! how easily is that answered, when we consider that the blessings in the holy Scripture are never given to the rich, but to the poor. I never find “Blessed be the rich,” or “Blessed be the noble”; but “Blessed be the meek,” and, “Blessed be the poor,” and, “Blessed be the mourners, for they shall be comforted.” —And yet, O God! most carry themselves so, as if they not only desired, but even feared to be blessed. —And for afflictions of the body, dear Madam, remember the holy Martyrs of God, how they have been burned by thousands, and have endured such other tortures, as the very mention of them might beget amazement: but their fiery trials have had an end; and yours—which, praised be God, are less, are not like to continue long. I beseech you, let such thoughts as these moderate your present fear and sorrow; and know that if any of yours should prove a Goliath-like trouble, yet you may say with David, “That God, who has delivered me out of the paws of the lion and bear, will also deliver me out of the hands of this uncircumcised Philistine.” —Lastly, for those afflictions of the soul; consider that God intends that to be as a Sacred Temple for himself to dwell in, and will not allow any room there for such an inmate as grief; or allow that any sadness shall be his competitor. And, above all, if any care of future things molest you, remember those admirable words of the Psalmist: “Cast your care on the Lord, and he shall nourish you.” To which join that of St. Peter, “Casting all your care on the Lord, for he cares for you.” What an admirable thing is this, that God puts his shoulder to our burden, and entertains our care for us, that we may the more quietly intend his service. To conclude, let me commend only one place more to you: Phillip. iv. 4. St. Paul says there, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice.” He doubles it to take away the scruple of those that might say, What, shall we rejoice in afflictions? Yes. I say again, rejoice; so that it is not left to us to rejoice, or not rejoice; but, whatsoever befalls us, we must always, at all times, rejoice in the Lord, who takes care for us. And it follows in the next verse: “Let your moderation appear to all men: The Lord is at hand: Be careful for nothing.” What can be said more comfortably? Trouble not yourselves; God is at hand, to deliver us from all, or in all. —Dear Madam, pardon my boldness, and accept the good meaning of
Your most obedient son,
George Herbert
George Herbert (1593–1633)—Anglican rector of the parish church of Bremerton, near Salisbury, Herbert was one of the seventeenth-century metaphysical poets.
Izaak Walton (1593–1683)—This English author wrote about the lives of John Donne, Richard Hooker, and George Herbert—authors included in this volume—but Walton is best known for The Compleat Angler, a book on fishing and moral reflection.
Emblems
What sullen star ruled my untimely birth,
That would not lend my days one hour of mirth?
How oft have these bare knees been bent to gain
The slender alms of one poor smile in vain!
How often, tired with the fastidious light,
Have my faint lips implored the shades of night!
How often have my nightly torments pray’d
For ling’ring twilight, glutted with the shade!
Day worse than night, night worse than day appears;
In fears I spend my nights, my day in tears:
I moan unpitied, groan without relief,
There is no end or measure of my grief.
The smiling flow’r salutes the day; it grows
Untouch’d with care; it neither spins nor sows:
Oh that my tedious life were like this flow’r,
Or freed from grief, or finish’d with an hour.
Francis Quarles (1592–1644)—Educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, Quarles was a Royalist, poet, pamphleteer, and literary critic. He wrote in the metaphysical poetic tradition and is best known for his collection of poems entitled Emblems.
Revelations of Divine Love
The highest point that may be seen in the Passion is to think and know who He is that suffered. And in this He brought in part to mind the height and nobleness of the glorious Godhead, and therewith the preciousness and the tenderness of the blessed Body, which are together united; and also the degree to which mankind is loath to suffer pain. For as much as He was most tender and pure, so He was most strong and mighty to suffer.
And for every man’s sin that shall be saved He suffered: and every man’s sorrow and desolation He saw, and sorrowed for kindness and love. For as long as He was capable of feeling, He suffered for us and sorrowed for us; and now He is risen, yet still He suffers with us.
And I, beholding all this by His grace, saw that His love for our souls was so strong that willingly He chose suffering with great desire, and mildly He suffered it with well-pleasing. And the soul that beholds it, when it is touched by grace, shall see that the pains of Christ’s Passion pass all pains: all pains, that is to say, which shall be turned into everlasting, surpassing joys by the virtue of Christ’s Passion.
Julian of Norwich (1342–?)—An English Benedictine nun, Julian of Norwich was very ill on May 8–9, 1373, and was visited with sixteen visions of God’s love. She became a recluse and spent twenty years meditating on these visions, after which she wrote the Revelations.
Table Talk
The Scriptures show two manner of sacrifices acceptable to God. The first is called a sacrifice of thanks or praise, and is when we teach and preach God’s Word purely, when we hear and receive it with faith, when we acknowledge it, and do everything that tends to the spreading of it abroad, and thank God from our hearts for the unspeakable benefits which through it are laid before us, and bestowed upon us in Christ, when we praise and glorify him, etc. “Offer unto God thanksgiving.” “He that offers thanks praises me.” “Thank the Lord, for he is gracious, because his mercy endures for ever.” “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”—Psalms.
Secondly, when a sorrowful and troubled heart in all manner of temptations has his refuge in God, calls upon him in a true and upright faith, seeks help of him, and waits patiently upon him. Hereof the Psalms, “In my trouble I called upon the Lord, and he heard me at large.” “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart, and will save such as be of an humble spirit.” “The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, shall you not despise.” And again: “Call upon me in the time of need, so will I deliver you, and you shall praise me.”
Martin Luther (1483–1546)—An Augustinian monk who became the father of the Protestant Reformation, Luther was an indefatigable theologian and pastor and champion of the doctrine of justification by “faith alone.”
Donne’s Sermons
Every man might justly say, “I am the man that has seen affliction,” and come to say, with the Apostle Paul, “Who is weak, and I am not weak too? Who is offended, and I am not affected with it?”
The strongest, the most powerful of men are noted in the Scriptures. They, the strongest, the mightiest, they that thought themselves safest and sorrow-proof, are afflicted. The dearest beloved of God, and those of whose service God may have use in his Church, they are apt to be hindered in their service by these afflictions. Nothing makes a man so great among men, nothing makes a man so necessary to God that he can escape afflictions. These afflictions are his, the Lord’s.
Christ saw his afflictions. Afflictions did not blind him, not stupefy him. Affliction did not make him insensible of affliction (which is a frequent, but a desperate condition). He saw it. And he maintained the dignity of his station. Still he played the man; still he survived to glorify God and to be an example to other men of patience under God’s corrections, and of thankfulness in God’s deliverance.
It is a particular comfort that our afflictions are from the Lord.
In the first treason against ourselves, in Adam’s rebellion, who was not in his loins? And in the second treason, in the treason against Christ Jesus, all our sins were upon his shoulders. In those two treasons we have had no exception, no exemption. That penalty for our first treason in Adam we do bear. And would any wish to be excepted from imitation of Jesus’ passion and fulfilling his sufferings in his body, in bearing cheerfully the afflictions and tribulations of this life?
John Donne (1572–1631)—One of the metaphysical poets, John Donne was raised a Roman Catholic and converted to Anglicanism. He was ordained in 1615 and eventually became the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.
Many say they have no peace nor rest, but so many crosses and trials, afflictions and sorrows, that they know not how they shall ever get through them. Now he who in truth will perceive and take note, perceives clearly, that true peace and rest lie not in outward things; for if it were so, the Evil Spirit also would have peace when things go according to his will which is nowise the case; for the prophet declares, “There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.” And therefore we must consider and see what is that peace which Christ left to His disciples at the last, when He said: “My peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.” We may perceive that in these words Christ did not mean a bodily and outward peace; for His beloved disciples, with all His friends and followers, have ever suffered, from the beginning, great affliction, persecution, nay, often martyrdom, as Christ Himself said: “In this world you shall have tribulation.” But Christ meant that true, inward peace of the heart, which begins here, and endures forever hereafter. Therefore He said: “Not as the world gives,” for the world is false, and deceives in her gifts. She promises much, and performs little. Moreover there lives no man on earth who may always have rest and peace without troubles and crosses, with whom things always go according to his will; there is always something to be suffered here, turn which way you will. And as soon as you are quit of one assault, perhaps two come in its place. Wherefore yield yourself willingly to them, and seek only that true peace of the heart, which none can take away from you, that you may overcome all assaults. Thus then, Christ meant that inward peace which can break through all assaults and crosses of oppression, suffering, misery, humiliation and what more there may be of the like, so that a man may be joyful and patient therein, like the beloved disciples and followers of Christ.
Theologia Germanica—Of unknown authorship, Theologia Germanica was discovered by Martin Luther in 1516. Luther said, “Next to the Bible and St. Augustine, no book has ever come into my hands from which I have learnt more of God and Christ, and man and all things that are.”
Discipline and Other Sermons
He has time, and he has will. No human being so mean, no human sorrow too petty, but what he has the time and the will, as well as the power, to have mercy on it, because he is the Son of Man. Therefore he will turn aside even to you, whoever you are, who are weary and heavy laden, and can find no rest for your soul, at the very moment, and in the very manner, which is best for you. When you have suffered long enough, he will establish, strengthen, settle you. He will bind up your wounds, and pour in the oil and the wine of his spirit—the Holy Ghost, the Comforter; and will carry you to his own inn, whereof it is written, He shall hide you secretly in his own presence from the provoking of men; he shall keep you in his tabernacle from the strife of tongues. He will give his servants charge over you to keep you in all your ways; and when he comes again, he will repay them, and fetch you away, to give you rest in that eternal bosom of the Father, from which you, like all human souls, came forth at first, and to which you shall at last return, with all human souls who have in them that spirit of humanity, which is the spirit of God, and of Christ, and of eternal life.
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875)—Anti-Tractarian, Anglican rector at Eversley in Hampshire, novelist, and literary critic, Kingsley was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where C. S. Lewis was later the professor of medieval and renaissance literature. Kingsley is best known for his children’s book The Water Babies, which Lewis liked very much.
Words of Consolation
Let no man be disheartened nor discouraged if he have brought a good conscience and faithful labor to the service of the Lord. Let him not think his wages the worse paid if God do mingle bodily sickness, temporal losses, personal disgraces, with his labors. Let him not think that God should not do thus to them that wear out themselves in his service, for the best part of our wages is adversity, because that gives us a true fast and a right value of our prosperity. The prophet Jeremiah had it; the best of his rank must.
No man is excused of subsequent afflictions by precedent, nor of falling into more by having borne some already. Elijah reckoned too hastily when he told God, “Lord, take away my life.” God had more to lay upon him. A last year’s fever prevents not this, nor a sickness in the fall another in the spring. Men are not such as a grove of trees, that being felled now stand safe from the axe for a dozen years after. But our afflictions are as beggars; they tell others and send more after them. Sickness does but usher in poverty, and poverty contempt, and contempt dejection of spirit. No man may refuse a warrant demanding a loan because he has lent before. And though afflictions be not of God’s revenue (for afflictions borne grudgingly are not real service to God), yet they are of his subsidies, and he has additional glory out of our afflictions. The more afflictions he sends us, the more glory may we return to him.
John Donne (1572–1631)—One of the metaphysical poets, John Donne was raised a Roman Catholic and converted to Anglicanism. He was ordained in 1615 and eventually became the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.
The Pulley
When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by;
“Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can;
Let the world’s riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.”
So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flow’d, then wisdom, honor, pleasure;
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.
“For if I should,” said he,
“Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature:
So both should losers be.
“Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.”
George Herbert (1593–1633)—Anglican rector of the parish church of Bremerton, near Salisbury, Herbert was one of the seventeenth-century metaphysical poets.
The Imitation of Christ
When comfort is withdrawn, do not be cast down, but humbly and patiently await the visitation of God, for He is able and powerful to give you more grace and more spiritual comfort than you first had. Such alteration of grace is no new thing and no strange thing to those who have had experience in the way of God. Such alteration was found many times in the great saints and the holy prophets, and so the prophet David says: “I have said in my abundance, I shall not be moved forever.” That is to say, when David had abundance of spiritual comfort, he said to our Lord that he trusted he would never be deprived of such comfort. But afterwards, when grace withdrew itself, David said: “You have withdrawn your face from me, and I am perturbed.” That is to say: O Lord, You have withdrawn Your spiritual comfort from me, and I am left in great trouble and depression. Yet David did not despair because of this, but prayed heartily to our Lord and said: “To You shall I cry, O Lord, and I shall make petition to my God.” That is, I shall busily cry to You, O Lord, and I shall humbly pray for Your grace and comfort. And soon he had the effect of his prayer, as he himself bears witness, saying: “Our Lord has heard my prayer and has had mercy on me and has now again sent me spiritual help and comfort.” And therefore he said afterwards: “Lord, You have turned my joy into sorrow and You have encompassed me about with heavenly gladness.”
Thomas à Kempis (ca. 1380–1471)—Born at Kempin (thus the surname à Kempis) near Cologne, Germany, Thomas Hämmerlien entered the Augustinian monastery at Mount Saint Agnes, where he worked as a copyist and spiritual director. He was a mystic, and his Imitation of Christ is thought by many to be second only to the Bible in its spiritual influence on readers. It was highly valued by C. S. Lewis.