1 S. PET. v. 9.
"Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."
WHEN people are sick and in bad
pain, we know how apt they are to imagine, Surely never anyone was so
afflicted as I am. How often do we hear them say, they are sure no person
living can have a notion of what they suffer: no tongue, they are certain,
can tell, no thought imagine it. Yet all the while, physicians and nurses,
and those about them, who are experienced in sickness, can tell them a good
deal about their own feelings. When they see their patients cast down with
the notion of there being something new and strange in their trial,
something worse than others have to bear, they would tell them, " You are
not the first that have had these feelings, neither do we expect you to be
the last. It is no new nor very strange case. Such and such persons have
been ill in the same way, and have recovered: they all complained, more or
less, in the same way as you do: they all know how to pity you, and so do
those who have waited on them, and have been much with them in their
sickness."
Like to this comfort which sick
men receive, in the distressing thought, that no one was ever ill as they
are, is the comfort which the holy Apostle here offers to the souls
of sinful men in temptation and distress. "Be sober, be vigilant,
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same
afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."
As if he had said, "I am not ignorant how you feel, when temptations and
trials come upon you. I know it comes over your mind continually, Surely
no one ever was tempted exactly as I am; surely my trials, and burthens are
more intolerable than men commonly endure." When the persecution of the
heathen comes on, then, S. Peter seems to say, then each one of you will be
inclined to think his own share in it worse than that of all others. With
that imagination, the devil would slacken your resistance, would make you
less hearty and earnest in standing firm against all that he can do. He
goeth about the fold, like a roaring lion prowling about, seeking whom he
may devour, which of the lambs he may find straying. But be not you moved
by him; set your faces steadily against him, knowing that the same trouble,
or quite as bad, has to be endured by your brethren, scattered, as you are,
among the heathen. Other Christians in other places will be persecuted as
well as you. They will be comforted in thinking of you, as you may be in
thinking of them. You are not alone in the world. Christ's Body every
where, in its distressed members, feels for you and with you. They all fear
and grieve in your fear and grief: all rejoice with you when the Almighty
grants you relief. Therefore be of good courage: that which is the portion
of all God's saints and servants ought not to seem hard to you. It is what
He gives to those whom He loves best: you should account it a token of His
love, and so make it welcome, hard as it may be for flesh and blood to
bear. Thus S. Peter encourages his suffering brethren, when a time of
trouble was coming on; much as S. Paul had before encouraged the
Corinthians. "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common
to man:" nothing that is beyond human strength, assisted by the grace of
the Holy Ghost, to bear. "For God is faithful, Who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, make
also a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." God, as the
saying is, suits the shoulder to the burden. If He lays any part of His
Son's Cross upon you, you know that He has united you to that Son, has made
you a member of Him, that by His strength you might endure what you never
could endure by yourself.
This is the answer to those who
think the commandments of the Gospel too strict, too pure to be obeyed.
They hear it said, thou shalt not trust in riches, thou shalt take the
lowest room, thou shalt not look on a woman to lust after her, and other
such sayings they hear; and they turn a deaf ear to them, making up their
minds that such commands cannot be obeyed; as if all that Christ meant by
them was to humble us, and make us run for shelter to His pardoning grace.
But, surely, this is very unbelieving; since God has promised His Holy
Spirit to help us against these very temptations. God offers us a way to
escape: is it not then our own fault if we are caught?
And to encourage us still more,
He shews us, as here in the text, the example of our brethren that are in
the world. He seems to say, "Look at My promise: look at the plain words of
the Bible, 'Your Father which is in heaven, will give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him.' And if that be not enough, look at the lives of My
saints: look and see how good and penitent persons, from time to time, have
really been helped to keep these commands, which you think too hard, and to
resist these temptations, which you think too strong. Think of your
brethren that are in the world, how they have the same afflictions to
endure, and are not overcome. The same helps which are offered to them, are
offered to you. The same hand which upholds them, is stretched out to you.
'Only do you lay hold of it, and keep your hold.' "
On the other hand, the evil
spirit, that roaring lion, who is ever seeking whom he may devour, he will
be busy encouraging in you just the contrary of these good thoughts. If you
are in trouble and, distress, he will try to make you feel as if no other
person was ever in so bad a condition; as if it was really too much for
human patience: for he knows that he will have his own way with you, if he
can once get you to go on in unbelief and repining. If he can, he will
persuade you that all or a great part of your trouble arises from such and
such a person's ill-usage, and so he will make you spiteful and envious; or
a rebel, perhaps, and a hater of those who are set over you. Other persons,
who are not so ill-used, may do well to be forgiving and meek: but your
case, he will whisper, is really too hard, too bad. Irreligious,
ill-disposed people, taught by him, will say to you, as trouble after
trouble comes on, what Job's wife said to Job, "Dost thou still retain
thine integrity? curse God and die." What is the use, they will say, of
such exact goodness? you may as well give it up ; for you see it does not
save you from ill-usage and suffering.
Thus the enemy moves us to
discontent, when we are afflicted or ill-used: but still more does he
encourage us to sin, when we are in strong temptation from our own passions,
or the evil example of others. He will at such times set us on thinking,
that surely our passions are stronger than other men's, and, therefore,
there is more excuse for our giving way to them. And if we see or hear of
others who have overcome the same kind of danger, and kept their innocency,
though ever so strongly tempted, he tries to persuade us that they perhaps
were differently made from what we are; or that perhaps they were not, in
reality and in secret, so good as they appear to be. Be assured, that when
such imaginations come into your mind, the enemy of your souls is not far
off. They are his foul and noisome breath; you cannot take them in without
corrupting and poisoning your souls. He would gladly persuade you, if he
could, that there is not really such a thing as a saint in the world; nay,
that never anyone was such in reality; that all men, at all times, have had
not only their human infirmities, but even their great and serious faults,
in which they have lived and died, notwithstanding the grace of God.
This is how the devil would
beguile us, and a very serious temptation it is: he would have us believe,
either that there never were any saints, any persons really good and holy,
or that if there have been any, they were such by a kind of miracle, and
that their example is nothing to us. To guard us, no doubt, against this
very deceit, the good providence of Almighty God has called all Christian
people from old times to learn and say, I believe in the Communion of
Saints: that is, I believe in the gracious working of God's Holy and
Almighty Spirit, entering into sinful men, uniting them to Jesus Christ as
members of Him, separating them from the evil world, keeping them from all
wilful and serious sin, and making them truly and really holy. I believe
that there have been, are, and will be saints, holy persons, men and women,
lifted, by God's mercy blessing their own hearty and humble endeavours,
above the level of ordinary Christians: and believing this, I am without
excuse, if I mistrust the power of the same Spirit to preserve me from
wilful and habitual sin: I am without excuse, if I knowingly give way to any
temptation, under the plea of its being irresistible.
This is how we ought to reason,
who say every morning and evening, we believe in the Communion of Saints.
And to help us in that holy resolution, S. Peter in the text uses two words,
well fitted to stir up every good and noble feeling of our hearts. One of
these words is "brethren," or brotherhood; the other is, "accomplished," or
"fulfilled." "The same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren,"
or your brotherhood, as many as are yet in the world. To be afflicted,
then, is a mark of Christian brotherhood: it is a token that we belong to
God's family. It is a touch of the Cross, bitter in itself, but sweet as
being Christ's own mark, a portion of Christ's own burthen. To draw back
from it with any sort of cowardice or impatience, is an unbrotherly thing,
and shews want of family affection. Suppose a household of brothers and
sisters, and some great trouble coming upon them, pain, infectious sickness,
anxiety, want, reproach: which of us does not feel that true love would make
them all desire to bear each one his portion of the common burthen? If
anyone were quite exempt, he would almost feel it unfair; might he
choose, he would rather take his share, relieving, if so it might be, his
brethren.
Or take the case of comrades and
fellow-soldiers, what sort of spirit is he thought to have, who draws back
and spares himself when the rest are entering upon labour and danger?
Certainly every true soldier will understand the feeling of David's faithful
servant, Uriah, who, being invited to refresh himself, when accidentally
away from the army while the war was going on, made answer and said, "The
ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and the servants of my Lord are
encamped in the open fields: shall I then go into mine house to eat and to
drink?',
He was even ashamed to enjoy
himself, while his comrades were in danger and self-denial: and that because
he was a true and loyal soldier. Now we Christians are also soldiers, sworn
and enlisted soldiers of our crucified King. Ought it not sometimes to come
into our minds, that surely we do wrong to be seeking all the ease and
enjoyment we can get, while so many of our brethren are suffering so much,
wanting so many things which we have? It is the very thing, which all
persons feel in the history of the Rich man and Lazarus. Why do we
naturally dislike that rich man? Why, even before his punishment, should we
be most unwilling to resemble him? Is it not because of his selfishness and
hardness of heart? that he could be content to go on in his purple and fine
linen, faring sumptuously every day, while the poor beggar was laid at his
gate full of sores? Something like this, I should think, must come into the
mind of many a thoughtful Christian, when he sits quietly at home or in
Church, and reads or hears of the toils and sharp pains of the martyrs and
holy men, who, at sundry times, have given up all for Christ's sake. High
and glorious as they are above us, we know that by the grace of Baptism we
are their brethren; when we hear therefore of their sufferings, we may well
experience a sort of shame, that, we in a manner should have left them to do
all the hard and painful work.
And here comes in the other
word, by which, as I said, S. Peter in the text would stir us up to a godly
jealousy of the saints. The word I mean is " accomplished." Their
afflictions are accomplished, ours but just beginning. Our times are in
comparison quiet, our course of life is marked out: we are not called to
follow them, outwardly and bodily, bearing the Cross and the Gospel among
unbelievers. We are not called on to be stoned with S. Stephen, nor to be
banished with S. John into a lonely island. Have we then any chance of
those blessed and glorious titles, which such as they were might give to one
another? Can we in any sense be their “companions in tribulation, and in
the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ?” We may be so, at least in some
small degree, if we will strive to meet our simple and lowly trials, and to
work out our humble tasks, in the same pure self-denying spirit, in which
they suffered exile and martyrdom. When, for Christ's sake, you put up with
rude words, with cross and sullen looks, with indifferent and scanty food,
you are in earnest following those saints, although, it be, very far off.
When you go out of your way, when you put yourself to inconvenience, in
mind, body, or estate, to do a kind action to a fellow Christian, you are in
the way to a great blessing: for you are practising, so far, the mind that
was in Christ Jesus, and caused Him to become Incarnate for us. When you
are lying on your sick bed, enduring pain which you cannot help, you may
turn that pain to the best possible account, by remembering what you may
have heard of the grievous pains which saints have borne for Christ's sake:
and you may beseech God for grace to offer up your own pains as a kind of
sacrifice to Him, together with theirs: He will graciously receive both, for
the sake of those meritorious pains which Christ endured on the saving
Cross.
Moreover, the remembrance of the
saints' trials is full of help and comfort, in respect not only of our
afflictions, but of our temptations to sin: I mean, of course, so long as we
are striving against them: as for such as give way to their own wickedness,
and are minded so to go on, the thought of God's saints must be to them full
of pain and shame: but to one who in earnest longs and labours to amend, the
comfort is unspeakable, of knowing that even those best of men had, by
nature, and in the beginning, the same enemies to contend with that we have,
and if they, by God's grace, overcome them, so may we.
To conclude: whereas the
Apostle's word is, that whatever we suffer, the same afflictions are
accomplished in our brethren that are in the world, we understand that
when they are once out of the world, there is an end of their affliction and
care for ever. The saying carries our thoughts on to that happy time when,
if we throw not away our baptismal blessing, God will admit us to perfect
communion with His saints; not by their sympathizing in our sorrows and
dangers, but by our entering in where they are, and joining to the song of
glory which they sing. May we so practise their lowly beginnings, as not to
fail of our part in that glorious ending!
