A treatise on comforting afflicted consciences - The Digital Puritan

Oh236 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMFORTINGand all thy goods? Doth thy wife afflict thy afflictions?If this be not thy case and rueful condition, thou comestyet short of Job, a most just man, and one of God's dearestjewels.CHAP. II.Two Principles of Comfort more.4. The " exceeding greatness and preciousness of the promises."In every one of which it is incredible to considerwhat abundant matter of unspeakable and glorious joy lieswrapt up ! ! how sweet are they to a thirsty soul m thetiine of anguish and trouble ! They are like a cloud ofrain that cometh in the time of a drought. They are veryglimpses of heaven shed into the heart, many times as darkas hell. They are even rocks of eternity, upon which everybruised reed may sweetly repose with impregnable safety.A truly humbled spirit, relishing spiritual things, would notexchange any one of them for all the riches and sweetnessof both the Indies. Tell me, dear heart, thou that in thyuuregenerate time, though now happily changed, lay soakingin sins of cruelty and blood ; whether that mercifulpromise, " Come now, and let us reason together, saith theLord ; Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be aswhite as snow ; though they be red like crimson they shallbe as wool" (Isa. i, 18) ; be not far dearer unto thee " thanthousands of gold and silver?" Or thou, who formerlypollutedst thyself villanously with such secret execrablelusts, which now thou canst not remember without horror,tell me, if it were utterable by the tongue of man, with whatdearest sweetness and blessed peace thy broken heart wasbound up and revived, when thou didst cast thine eye consideratelyand believingly upon that precious place, " I willsprinkle water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; and fromall your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanseyou" (Ezek. xxxvi, 25)."There was beyond the seas, as my Author reports*,a Christian matron of excellent parts and piety, wholanguishing long under the horrible pressure of most furiousand fiery temptations, wofully at length yielded to despair,and attempted the destruction of herself. After often andcurious seeking occasion for the fulfilment of her design, atlast, having first put off her apparel, she threw herself headlongfrom a high promontory into the sea. But having re-* Alexipharm. adversus desperationem ; Authore M. Nlcolao Lauentio,p. 63 et seq.