A treatise on comforting afflicted consciences - The Digital Puritan

AFFLICTED CONSCIENCES. 371even " out of a horrible pit be set upon a rock. " far abovethe reach of all hellish hurt or sting of horror. " In a littlewrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but witheverlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee, saith theLord thy Redeemer" (Isa. liv, 8).CHAP. XIX.Tlie Fifth Malady of an Afflicted Conscience. The First way of curingit,wliicii isSpeculc-itive, and the first part of that way, which is byConsideration.5. There is another terrible fiery dart, dipped full deep inthe very rankest poison of the infernal pit, which though itbe not much talked of abroad, nor taken notice of by theworld, yet is secretly suggested and m.anaged with extremestmalice and cruelty in the silent bosoms of God'sblessed ones. The most holy hearts are many times mosthaunted with ihis foulest fiend. Strangers to the ways ofGod be not much troubled in this kind, nor ordinarily vexedwith such horrors. Satan, as I said before, makes as muchof his in this world as he can possibly, knowing that hehath time enough, even eternity to torment them in theworld to come ; and therefore he is not wont to wield thisterrifying weapon against them, save only at some deadlift, or upon some special advantage, as under some extraordinarymisery, or in excess of melancholy, to drivethem thereby to distraction or despair. Or it may be, Godmay suffer him to afilict thus hideously some grievous sinnerwhom he is about to bring in ; to prepare him thereby(though the devil himself meaneth not so) for the pangs ofthe new birth, deeper humiliations, and more vehementdesires to get under the wings of Christ from that hellishkite. Or he may sometimes mingle these horrible stingswith the terrors of spiritual travail, upon purpose to hinderconversion by a diversion into bye-ways, or frighteningback again to folly and former courses. But sure 1 am, theordinary object and special aim of Satan's malice in thispoint are only those who have happily escaped out of hisclutches already, and are fully and for ever freed from hisdamning fury and all deadly hurt. And I know not whetherthere be any of these which doth not less or more, at onetime or other, sufl^er under this horror. And yet everyoneof them thinks himself singular in this suffering; and thatit is not usual for God's children to have such prodigiously