A treatise on comforting afflicted consciences - The Digital Puritan

234 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMFORTINGa. pattern of rare and extraordinary patience this way inMatt. XV, 23. There that woman of Canaan, having receivedmany grievous repulses and cutting discouragements—;the solicited was silent — the disciples grumble — she wasnot of the fold — she was a dog ;— yet for all this, by herconstancy in crying after Christ, her petition at last wasnot only granted, but herself also crowned with a singularand admirable eulogy from the Lord's own mouth: " Owoman ! great is thy faith : be it unto thee even as thouwilt." What an honour and comfort was this, to be thuscommended by Jesus Christ! — and that with an admiration," O woman! "(7.) Hath thy faith lost its feeling? Dost thou for thepresent feel nothing but " anger, wrath, and great indignation1 " Is God's face and favour, wherein is life, turnedaway from thee, and quite hid from thy sight! Nay, " hathhe broken thee asunder, taken thee by the neck, and shakenthee 10 pieces, and set thee up for his mark 1" Yet for allthis, let thy truly humbled soul be so far from loosing orleaving its holdfast and sure repose upon the person, passion,and promises of Jesus Christ, that in such a case itcleave and cling faster to that blessed rock, and far moreimmovably. For therein especially is the strength and gloryof faith improved and made illustrious. It is one of themost noble and heroical acts of faith to believe withoutfeeling. " He who believeth most and feeleth least, is hewho glorifieth God most, [t is nothing to swim in a warmbath : but to endure the surges and tumbling billows of thesea — that is the man." To believe when God doth fairlyand sensibly shine upon the soul with the love and light ofhis countenance, is no great matter ; but to rest invinciblyupon his mercy through Christ, when he grinds thee topowder, that is the faith. Thou hast before thee for thispurpose a matchless precedent. Thus cries holy Job, vexednot only with an unparalleled variety and extremity of outwardaifiictions, but also with the venom of the Almighty'sarrows, drinking up his spirit— " Though he slay me, yetwill I trust in him" (Chap, xiii, 15). So Abraham, Rom.iv, 18.(8.) Hast thou given thy name stoutly to religion, anddost thou stand on God's side with resolution 1 And artthou therefore villanously traduced with slanderous, odiousnicknames of puritan, precisian, hypocrite, humourist, dissembler,&c. 1 Consider then for thy comfort, that gracelesswretches, when he was upon earth, called thy blessedLord and Saviour devil (Matt, x, 25; John vii, 20), whichpasseth all, lam persuaded, that any drunken Belial ever