A treatise on comforting afflicted consciences - The Digital Puritan

'AFFLICTED CONSCIENCES. 139his glory shall not descend after him' (Psalm xlix, 16, 17).There is another which, assaulted with insinuations andcalumnies, is much troubled, thinks his life uncomfortable,findini:^ no help in man. He is also taught by the same prophet,that in such perplexities we must not resort to the armof flesh. Hear what lie saith : They slandered, and I prayed.*The mouth of the wicked, and the mouth of the deceitfulare opened against me : they have spoken against me witha lying tongue. They compased me about also with wordsof hatred ; and fought against me without a cause. For mylove they are my adversaries ;but I give myself unto prayer(Psalm cix, 2, 3, 4). Another is slighted and contemned bysome base contemptible underlings and forsaken of hisfriends ; and that is it which most troubles his mind andgoes nearest to his heart. But he also, if he will comehither, doth hear that blessed man saying, ' iMy lovers andmy friends stand aloof from my sore ;and ray kinsmen standafar off. They also that seek after my life lay snares forme : and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things,and imagine deceits all the day long. But I. as a deafman, heard not ; and I was as a dumb man that openethnot his mouth. Thus I was as a man that heareth not, andin whose mouth are no reproofs. For in thee, O Lord, do Ihope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God' (Psalm xxxviii,11, 12, 13, 14, 15)." He concludes thus —:" Thou hast seen, how that any misery pressing our mortality,a convenient antidote may be taken out of scripture,and all the gnawing cares of this life maybe cured ; neitherneed we to be grieved for any thing which befals us : therefore,I beseech you, that henceforvvard you would comehither, and listen diligently to the reading of divine writ.And not only when you come hither, but also take the Bibleinto your hands at home, and receive with great affectionthe profit to be found in it : for from thence springs muchgain. First, that the tongue may be reformed by it : thesoul also takes wings, soars aloft, and is gloriously enlightenedwith the beams of the sun of righteousness, andfor a time is freed from the enticements of impure thoughts,enjoying much calmness and contentment. Furthermore,that which corporal food doth for increasing bodily strength,the same doth reading perform to the soul."" All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable,and writ by the Spirit of God for this purpose,"saith the great Basil*, "that in it, as a common mart ofsoul-medicines, every one of us may choose a medicine properand fit for his spiritual malady."* Basil on Psalin i.