Neither the accumulated wisdom of all the earth and the skies, nor languages, the Church Fathers, and daily reading of the Holy Scripture, nor immense learning and eloquence make a man a good theologian or pastor if the cross is not added.
The cross is God chosen means for Christ and therefore us. It is through the cross God purifies, cleanses, strengthens, and perfects the light of His true knowledge, of true faith in Christ, of true understanding of the divine promises, proper prayer, hope, humility, and all the virtues which He has first planted in the heart through the Word.
Those are foolishly secure spirits rather than real Christians who live each day happily and joyfully, thinking that when they read the laments of Jeremiah or Ezekiel, the prayer of a Jonah, and other Psalms, they are hearing only empty words and vain dreams of someone in the past; therefore they can neither understand these descriptions of a faith struggling under the heaviest of trials nor can they speak of them to others. Neither do they understand or perceive that these words speak of the daily ongoing struggle of the saint and sinner that takes place in the heart and life of a believer.
Accordingly we should equip ourselves for the cross, for as we look upon what was done to Christ, his body, his dignity, his divinity by church and state, so we see in every degree, what the sinful nature, the world, and Satan will do to the saint of God. Yes, the cross is just as necessary for those who wish to serve the Church as air and food are for the maintenance of the body.
How can any person be able to continue to understand the Gospel or continue to teach it to others if he himself has not and does not constantly experience the power of the Gospel in the midst of the on-goring sorrows and trials of our pilgrimage here on earth?
As written David Chytraeus (1531 - 1600) and edited by Rev. Mark W. Love.
A PRAYER
Give perfection to beginners, O Father,
Give intelligence to the little ones,
Give aid to those who are running their course.
Give sorrow to the negligent,
Give fervor of spirit to the lukewarm.
Give to the faithful a good consummation.
for the sake of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
St. Irenaeus
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