A treatise on comforting afflicted consciences - The Digital Puritan

AFFLICTED CONSCIENCES. 275thus speak unto thy gracious God. O merciful Lord God,thou art Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.Thou sayest, It is done, of things that are yet to come, sofaithful and true are thy decrees and promises. And thouhast promised by thine own word out of thine own mouth,that " unto him that is athirst, thou wilt give of the fountainof the water of life freely" (Rev. xxi, 6). O Lord, I thirst,I faint, i languish, I long for one drop of mercy. " As thehart panteth for the water brooks, so panieth my soul afterthee, O God," and after the yearning bowels of thy wontedcompassions. Had I now in possession the glory, the"wealth, and the pleasures of the whole world ; nay, had I tenthousand lives, joyfully would I lay them all down and partwith them to have this poor trembling soul of mine receivedinto the bleeding arms of my blessed Redeemer. O Lord,and thou only knowest it, my spirit within me is meltedinto tears of blood, ray heart is shivered into pieces. Outof the very place of dragors and shadow of death do I liftup my thoughts, heavy and sad, before thee ; the remembranceof my former vanities and pollutions is sickening tomy soul ; and it is sorely wounded with the grievous representationthereof. The very flames of hell, Lord ! thefury of thy just wrath, the scorchings of mine own conscience,have so wasted and parched mine heart, that mythirst is insatiable. JNly bowels are hot within me ; my desireafter Jesus Christ, pardon, and grace, is greedy as thegrave; "the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath amost vehement flame." And, Lord, in thy blessed bookevery one that thirsteth,thou callest and criest, " Ho !come ye to the waters," &c. (Isa. Iv, 1). " In that greatday of the feast, thou stoodest and criedst with thine ownmouthj saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto meand drink" (John vii, 37). And these are thine ownwords, those " who hunger and thirst after righteousnessshall be filled" (Watt, v, 6). I challenge thee. Lord, inthis my extremest thirst after thine own blessed self, andspiritual life in thee, by that word, and by that promisewhich thou hast made, that thou perform and make it goodunto me that lie grovelling in the dust and trembling at thyfeet. Oh! open now that promised "well of life;" forimust drink, or else I die.Here then, and in a word, is thy comfort : in these hungeringsand thirstings of ihe soul, there is as it were theseed of faith, there is something of faith in them, as excellentdivines both for learning and holiness do affirm. Howsoever,or in Avhat phrase soever it be expressed, sure I am,