A treatise on comforting afflicted consciences - The Digital Puritan

;106 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMFORTINGand highest God, it proves to be counterfeit ; when at thelast they shall cry " Lord, Lord," like the foolish virgins,and those JNJat. vii, instead of imaginary comfort they shallbe crushed with horrible and everlasting confusion. Hearthe prophet :" Say unto them which daub it with untemperedmortar, that it shall fall : there shall be an overflowingshower, and ye, O great hail-stones, shall fall, and astormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen,shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherevvithye have daubed it 1 Therefore thus saith the LordCrod, I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury jand there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger,and great hail-stones in my fury to consume it. So willI break down the wall that ye have daubed with unteraperedmortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that thefoundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall,and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shallknow that 1 am the Lord. Thus will I accomplish mywrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed itwith untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wallis no more, neither they that daubed it ; to wit, the prophetsof Israel, which prophesy concerning Jerusalem,and which see visions of peace for her, and there is nopeace, saith the Lord God" (Ezek. xiii, 11— 16). Such as"with lies make the heart of the righteous sad, whom Godhath not made sad ; and strengthen the hands of the wicked,that he should not return from his wicked way, by promisinghim life" (ver. 22) ; these fellows hold, and would persuademere civil men, that their estate is sound enough toGod-ward, whatsoever the purer and preciser brethrenprate to the contrary ; and yet the Holy Ghost tells us,that " without holiness no man shall see the Lord" (Heb.xii, 14 :—That formal professors are very forward men;whereas Jesus Christ professeth that he will " spew thelukewarm out of his mouth :" —Nay, and if there be talkeven of a good fellow, especially of some more commendablenatural parts and plausible cariage ; if he be so butmoderately, if 1 may so speak, and not every day drunkWell, well, will they say, we have all our faults, and thatis his. But as concerning the faithful servant of God, theyare wont to entertain the same thought of him which Ahabdid of Elijah, that " he was a troubler of Israel ;" whichone of the captains had of the prophet sent to anoint Jehu,that he was a mad fellow ; which the false prophets had ofMicaiah, that he was a fellow of a singular and odd humourby himself, and guided by a private spirit of his own ;which Tertullus had of Paul, that he was a pestilent fellow;,