LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

PART II.

1 THESS. IV. 18.

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

WE have spoken of the Persons, one another; and of the Duty, comfort. We pass now to our last part, the Manner or Method how the Duty must be performed; with these words. Hence we may gather 1. That we must observe a rule and me∣thod in this Duty. Every box will not yield us Physick; we cannot find this balm in every place, nor draw 〈◊〉〈◊〉 water of comfort out of every well. 2. That this is methodus de coelo, that this method is taught, not in the school of nature, but of Christ. No words will produce comfort but the words of Wisdome it self. To take it more generally and by way of deduction, We shall find it in the Word of God; and more particular∣ly, in these words concerning the coming of Christ and the Resurrection of the dead: So we shall draw the waters of Comfort out of the wells of salvation. With these we shall exercise your Christian Devotion at this time.

First, in every action we must look to the manner, and observe a right method in our proceeding. For he that is out of the way, though he walk and walk on all the daies of his life, shall never come to his jour∣neys end. He that begins amiss is yet to begin; and the further he goes, the further he is f••om the end. As S. James speaks of Prayer, Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss; so we seek Comfort, and find not, because we seek amiss. Lord, in what errours and perplexities do we entangle our selves! what mazes and labyrinths do we toyl in! what dangerous praecipices do we venture on! how do we mistake poyson for physick, hell for heaven, a prison for paradise! how many evils do we run and bruise our selves upon to fly the face of one, and yet carry it along with us! Quàm operosè perimus? What pains do we take to ease, that is, to trou∣ble and vex and undo our selves? When we are in restraint, we seek li∣berty, and more enslave our selves; When we are in pain, we seek ease and our torment is increast; When we are sick, we take physick, and dye. Our eyes run to and fro through the earth; we seek comfort in e∣very place and under every leaf, and under every leaf we find a serpent. Our Phansy is our Physician, and other mens phansies are our physicians.

We ask our selves counsel, and they are fools that give it: We ask other men counsel, and they are deceitful, flattering, miserable comforters. We would be at ease, and seek out many inventions, and pass by that which is so easie to be found. For want of method and a right progress in our waies our life is nothing else but a continuation of errour: Nec tam mor∣bis quàm remediis laboramus, nor do our diseases trouble us so much as our remedies. And as they will say, Lo here is Christ, and, Lo there is Christ, so they will say, Lo here is comfort, and there is comfort: But as those are false Christs, so are these false and deceitful comforts; as those Christs are Antichrists, so these comforts are curses, greater then those we fly from. In poverty we seek for wealth; and that makes us poorer then we were. In prison we seek for enlargement; and enlargement fet∣tereth us more, binds us hand and foot with the cares of this world. In the dust vve look up unto the highest place; and we no sooner fill it but we are filled with care. These are not fit remedies; Wealth is no cure for poverty, nor Enlargement for restraint, nor Honour for discon∣tent. This is not the true method: but we vvalk as in a vain shadow, as in a dream▪ We dream that vve eat, and vvhen vve awake vve are hungry: vve dream of abundance, and still vve vvant: vve dream of honour, and are lower then he that is on the dunghill: vve dream of liberty, and are slaves; of pleasure and comfort, and are miserable. Thus it is in temporal evils, in those evils vvhich are not so until vve make them so. And thus it is, and much more, in those evils which are truly so, and vvhich make us evil. When it thundreth, vve hide our selves: When God comes towards us in the cool, in the wind of the day, vve run into the thicket: When our Conscience holds up the whip; vve fly from it; vvhen it is angry, vve flatter it. We comfort our selves against Gods jea∣lousie, till it burn like fire; against the checks and bitings of Consci∣ence, till it be a vvorm that vvill g••aw us everlastingly. When the tempest is loudest, vve lull our selves asleep. We are as willing to for∣get sin as to commit it. And the Devil is not more subtle in his tentations then in suggesting those foeda peccandi solatia, as S. Hierom calls them, those foul and dangerous refreshments of a perishing soul. Either he casts our sins behind us; or, if they be before us, vve look upon them as Lot did upon Zoar; Are they not little ones; and our soul shall live. Thus vve comfort our selves, that either it is a first sin, or that it is a small sin, or that, others have committed a greater sin. We pollute our selves in e∣very high way, and under every green tree; and every thing we see casts a shadow to comfort us. We comfort our selves by our selves, and by others; by our own vveakness, and by others vveakness: And vve com∣fort our selves by Sin it self. We find comfort not onely in heaven above, but in the earth below, and in the depth of hell it self. We comfort our selves by the mercy of God, by the vanity of the creature, by the subtil∣ty of Satan. And thus vve find out antidotum adversus Caesarem, an anti∣dote against vengeance and the vvrath of God: but this Antidote is poy∣son, these remedies are vexations, these comforts are as Devils to torment us more. Tranquillitas ista tempestas est, saith S. Hierome, This calm is more dangerous then a tempest: This haven vve flie to shipwracks and overwhelms a soul vvhich, if vve took a right method, and applyed that medicine vvhich the true Physician hath prescribed, might, though through a storm, have seen that light by which it might escape and flie away and be at rest. For the best comfort is that vvhich is vvrought out of the sense of sin, as that joy is most ravishing vvhich vve gain out of sorrow; cùm consoletur dolor, when, as S. Augustine speaketh, Grief it self is made a comforter. Aegra anima Deo prōxima, saith Nazianzene, The s••ck soul,

and not that soul only which is sick, but which grones and complains in its sickness; God is best acquainted with. He will descend and vi∣sit that soul, and make it glad with the joy of his countenance: It is good and safest to observe a method in this, as we do exactly also in all things else. The Tradesman hath his way to gather wealth; and he calls it his craft or myste∣ry. And he will not fail in the least minim or punctilio; for if he do, he may prove a bankrupt. The Souldier hath his art and discipline, his military rules: For there is a method observed even in killing of men. And to mis∣take or fail in any one of them is to commit an errour that can never be recalled or remedied; not to fight according to rule is to lose the victory. Ars, non virtus indocta, praestat victoriam; It is art and method, not rude and boisterous valour, which wins the day, and crowns the conquerour. The Philosopher hath his method. Yea Philosophy it self is nothing else but method, and an orderly carrying the mind of man from one thing to another, from one conclusion to another. As there is a time, so there is a way, for every thing under the Sun. There is a cer∣tain means for every purpose, a certain order in coming to every end we set up; and so there is in this, in comforting our selves, or others; which if we observe not, the more waters we draw, the more foul and bitter they will be; the more physick we take, the sicker we are; the more we comfort our selves, the more we stand in need of comfort; and thus to keep off our Hell makes it burn more ragingly then before. And how have we failed in the true method of Comfort! how have we drawn this water out of every puddle and sink. We go not to Jacobs well, to the true foun∣tain of comfort; or, if we do, we have nothing to draw with. Our ves∣sels are broken, not a sherd left that will hold this water; no Understand∣ing, and less Will, they being taken up with fallacious hopes and comforts of this world. Can we draw this water out of the wells of Salvation! We had rather draw bloud out of the hearts of our oppressors, and wash our feet in their bloud, and so be at rest, a comfort it would be to see every Nebuchadnezzar, every Tyrant, turned into a beast, and driven into the field; to see them that trouble us cut off, and made as dung for the earth, to see the Sacrilegious person struck dead. Let thine enemies perish, O Lord, let thine enemies perish; that is our prayer, and it was our Comfort to see it; and till we see it we will not be comforted. Thus we erre, and such immethodical Chistians we are. For Gods Providence is not to wait upon our wills and affections, but our wills and affections must bow and submit to it, and wait upon it as the eye of the servant looks upon the hand of his master, not to guide it; but to obey and kiss it as well when he withdraws it from us as when he stretcheth it out to help us. The hope of enemies destruction might have been a comfort under the Law, because then it was a promise that one should chase a thousand; they shall come out one way; and flee seven waies. Then they could say, Lo, thine enemies shall perish, thine enemies shall perish, even in this world. But there is no such promise under the Gospel, and therefore no such comfort to be lookt for. This affords us no other strength and supply then that of Grace, nor arms us against any enemies but those of our soul. It makes us valiant, not against our enemies according to the flesh, but against Impatience, and Distrust, and Murmuring, which fight against our peace. By this we are exalted and even triumph over those enemies which tread us under their feet. This is all our strength, all our artillery; and this is enough: For though God help us not, but leave us under the harrow, and to the will of our ene∣mies; yet he is still a God of consolation. He is thy Physician; why then shouldest thou be turned after thy own way and method, who art never better pleased then with that which will hurt thee?

Behold, he hath shewn thee a more excellent way, a way to find comfort, not by the removal of the thorn, but by keeping it in thy flesh; not by taking away the cup of bitterness, but by sweetning it; by helping thee when thou hast no help, and delivering thee when he doth not deliver thee. He hath broke open the Treasury of comfort; he hath opened the fountains above: he will comfort thee with his Truth; his word is Truth. This is his way, This is his method; and it will be our greatest wis∣dome to observe it: Wherefore comfort you one another with these words.

In General, with the Word of God. For the Scripture is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a common shop of comfort; and here thou maist buy it without money, or mo∣ney worth. Here thou maist buy it; and, if not here, thou wilt never find it. That comfort which thou gainest out of other shops, out of that shop of vanity, the World, or that shop shadows, thy own Phansie, or that shop of lyes, the mouth of the Parasite, is but vain, but vanishing, but false wares; Bestia pharmacopolae, that Julian the Pelagian upbraids St. Augustine with, like that beast the Apothecary promised his patient of wonderful virtue, which before the morning came had eaten up her self. All these comforts dye in themselves, and out of them, when they perish, nothing is begot but wo and bitter lamentation. A man in trouble which stands in need of this physick is as a bowed wall and tottering fence, and nothing can comfort him but that which can settle him. When we have wearied our selves in vain, wrackt our imaginations, busied our thoughts, studied re∣medies, we still remain in our shaking and trembling condition. Call in all the glories of the world, invent instruments of musick like David, bring the merry harp and the lute: these may refresh us for a while; but the evil spi∣rit will come again upon us, as it did upon Saul. These are but weak props to uphold and settle a tottering fence. Let us call in the arm of flesh, make use of our own strength; That may ruine us. But Wisdom is better then Strength,* 1.1 call in that: This is but sensual, and earthly, and will soon moulder away. All our turning of devices will be but as the potters clay, which will break and crumble between our fingers We shall kindle a fire, and be compassed about with the sparks,* 1.2 and walk in the light of our own fire; and then what shall we have, We shall lye down, saith the Prophet, in sor∣row; Upon these we walk as on the Ice, magis tremimus quàm imus, and do rather tremble then go. Now we lift up our selves upon them, and anon we fall and are bruised upon them: they glide away from us, and they can neither settle us, nor we fix and be settled upon them. That on which we must settle as in our place of rest, must be it self immoveable. And no such thing is to be found in the world, in this shop of change, where every thing is in a continual flux, whose very being is hastning to its end, toties mutata, quoties mota, changed almost in every motion; the same, and not the same; fitting to day, and contrary to morrow; comfort to day, and bitterness to morrow; now an Oracle, and anon a lye, a displeasing killing lye; now the joy, and anon the anguish of the heart; now make∣ing it leap, and next morning turning it into a stone? Why should we seek for the living amongst the dead? Why should we cheapen certainty in this shop of change? Why should we seek for Constancy in a decaying world? Why should we seek for ease in that which is, and, whilest I say so, is no more? Why should we seek for true and substantial Comfort in a re∣gion of shadows? This is to disquiet our selves in vain, to make us Gods of clay to go before us, which will moulder and fall to no∣thing in our hands, to loose all comfort in the seeking it. Quaerite quod quaeritis, sed non ubi quaeritis, as Augustine: Seek that you seek for, Consolation, but not where you seek it, in the world, in

the inventions of men, which are more mental then themselves. But we may hear of it in Ephrata: or we may find it in the fields of the wood in the City of woods, where the Ark was and the Testimony; we may find it in the Word of God, which is as mount Sion, and will stand fast for e∣vermore.

For again, as our Saviour tells Nicodemus,* 1.3 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, is of the same nature, fading and mortal; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, is heavenly and divine: So whatsoever is of God, all those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, those emanations and defluxions from him, savour of him, of his Wisdom, of his Goodness, of his Immortality. His Word is an Incorruptible word, which liveth and abideth for ever.* 1.4 It is from an immortal God, and leads to immortality. His Hope is a lively Hope; quickning us to Eternity; his Joy, such as no man can take away;* 1.5 his Peace a lasting Peace, lasting as long as the Moon endureth;* 1.6 his Promi∣ses, and so his Comforts, Yea, and Amen.* 1.7 All other comforts are of the earth, earthy, of a fading and perishing condition. As our Thoughts, they perish with us, nay they perish before us; as shadows, falling with those bodies that cast them; as Bubbles raised out of our flesh, blown up and lost; as very Nothings as our selves. But the Comforts of God have their rise from eternity, and so have a solid constant being, subject nei∣ther to wind nor tempest▪ to the injuries neither of Times nor Men, but in the pit and in the gulph of sorrows they boy us up, and lift us above them, that we can walk upon the surging waves, and not sink for fear. As they spring from immortality, so they grow up and are e∣ver green; they begin in time, and never end, but are carried on along in the infinite and immense gyre and circle of Eternity. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

And herein is the excellency of those Comforts which we gather in this Paradise, the Word of God, above those we rake up in the wilderness, the vain and vast inventions of the world. First, they are more general; As the light they shine from one end of the world to the other, upon the whole Microcosm, the whole little world of Man; upon the whole mass of Evil; and body of sin. Nothing, no evil is hid or removed from the light and influence of them. They reach David in his flight, and they reach him in his bed of tears. They refresh the Lazar at the Gate, and they refresh the Sinner at the mouth of Hell. They raise us from the dunghill; and when sin hath taken hold of us they lift up our head: Some faint and shallow comforts even the Heathen found out, and that but for some miseries; but here is an amulet against all. These comforts do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ruine round the whole army of miseries, and defeat them all. A wounded spirit who can bear? And a wounded spirit what Philosopher could ever cure? What Gilead, what balm had they to heal it? Being without this Word, they were without God in the world. They hung as it were upon a cross, tormented as it were between these two, Fear of punishment, and a miserable Ignorance how to avoid it, between some light, and utter darkness. The medicine which must cure a woun∣ded spirit is to be found not in schola Platonis, in Plato's School, but in portica Solomonis, in the Porch of Solomon, in the Temple, in the Word of God, where he is manifested in whom all the treasuries of Comfort and Peace are hid, the Mediatour, Christ Jesus,* 1.8 who died to reconcile us to God. Secondly, comforts drawn from Scripture are solid and true, being built upon a surer foundation, upon the unchangeable and everlast∣ing will of God, who as he hath made us fit for such impressions, obno∣xious and liable to all those evils which either he sends or permits to fall upon us, so he hath also fitted and proportioned a salve for every sore, a

remedy for every evil, and hath made our selves the elaboratories and assemblies to extract and distill them. He hath made us both the patients and physicians, and hath directed us to this Garden of Eden, this fruitful seed-plot, the Scripture, even to this Tree of Life, whose leaves are to heal the Nations. The Philosophers Comforts were like their Virtues, faint and void of life, but paper-comforts, begotten either by meditation, or by a continual habit of sufferings; by abandoning all natural affections; by comparing a less evil with a greater; They had lost something, but retained something still; by comparing of Times, the present with the future, It is now evil, it will be better, and so leaping over their misery, and carryed beyond it on the wings of Hope, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in a word, by Example, by the End, by fatal Necessity, by Continency and Chance, which are but idols, and so Nothing in this World. These were their To∣picks, a thin and bare shelter for a man to repose himself in when the Storms of misery beat upon him. But the Word of God, which is his Will and Mind evermore attended with his Omnipoteny, chafeth them all away, as the Sun doth a mist; pulls out the sting of Death and the sense of every evil; makes Afflictions the messengers and angels of God, sent and commanded and directed by him, swayed and governed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by his hand of Providence,* 1.9 which first tempers them to our strength, and then maketh them as the weapons of righteousness to destroy Sin, and such evils as prevent a greater evil; for we are therefore chastned that we may not be condemned,* 1.10 and lastly makes them in this span of time, this moment, work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. These are the Divine Topicks, or rather Demonstrations. The Goodness, the Wis∣dom, the Providence of God are Premisses aeternae veritatis, eternally and unchangeably true. And out of them, if we depend upon them, we can draw no other Conclusion but Comfort. Other comforts are but phan∣tasmes and apparitions; these are Angels. Others are but as lightning; dammicant, exstinguuntur, they are exstinguisht in the very flash: These are those Everlasting Burnings which never go out. Others are as deceitful as the Serpent which suggests them like the forbidden fruit; We take them that we may not dye, and we dye by taking them; But these are as God him∣self; True, as he is true; and lasting, as he is lasting. Other waters soone are turned into bloud; but this reteins both its colour and nature, and springs up into everlasting life.

And thus you see what a store-house of Comfort, what a paradise the Scrip∣ture is. But yet we must be very careful how we gather Comforts from thence, and how we apply them: And we must fit and prepare our selves to receive them. The Wisdom of God is the best guide; but it will not sustein him who delights to walk in slippery places. The Providence of God reacheth unto all; but it will not protect him who loveth danger. His Mercy is over all his works; but it will not cover a stubborn unrepen∣tant sinner. As Jehu said to Jorams Horsman; What hast thou to do with peace. So what comfort can the foolish man find in the Wisdom, the care∣less in the Providence, or he that is cruel to himself in the Mercy of God? yet God remains still the same, the wise, the provident, the merciful God, the Holy One of Israel. When we need Comfort, here it is to be found; but it will not fit every one that needs it. It is the property of men in any perplexity to seek for ease and comfort: &, si non inveniant, facient, if they find none, they will frame some to themselves▪ and cull out that part of Scripture which will not fit them, as men in distress will lay hold on that which will not help them. There be very few Rachels in the world, that will not be comforted: the most either seek out false Comforts, or apply true ones falsly, and so make that their poyson which well and

rightly applyed would have been an antidote. Judas would not make use of rich and pretious balm of Mercy; yet how many misapply it, and so break their necks, and forfeit their souls, and fall into the same place into which he did? Many will not say what St. James says they ought to say, If the Lord will, we will do this or that; and yet will do what the Lord hateth upon this presumption that he wills it? How many walk safely under the Canopy of Gods Providence? and how many doth their Presumption tumble down when they think they are under it! How many will not be wise, nor provident, how many are ungracious, upon no other motive then this, that Gods Wisdom and Providence and Grace is sufficient for them! We are too bold with Scripture, and with the precepts and comforts it conteins. When we are unwilling to do what we should, or in trouble for what we have done, we are like men pent up, and yet eager after liberty, who strive to make a way to escape, though they beat out their Brains at the door of the Prison. The Covetous man comforts himself by the laborious Ant in the Proverbs; the Ambitious, by that good Ointment in Ecclesiastes. The Hypocrite hath his Text too, let your light so shine, though his doth but blaze. The Contentious man is glad to see Saul and Barnabas at odds. The bloudy Gallant sleeps with David in his tent. The Schismatick is bold upon his Christian Li∣berty. The Lethargick Christian walks along in the strength of Gods Mercy: And he that hath no part in the first resurrection challenges as great an interest as Abraham and Isaac in the second. Few there be, saith our Saviour, yet all believe they shall be saved. The gate is streight, yet all enter, the Miser with his baggs, the Ambitious with his train, the Reven∣ger with his sword, the Wanton with his lusts, the Hypocrite with his masque, Balaam with his wages, Corah with his complices, the Covetous in his sweat, the Schismatick in fire, the Tyrant in bloud. All have sinned; and all are saved. All fall, and all rowse themselves up with some mis∣applyed text of Scripture. And if this were true, if it were as they thought, we might conclude with Pliny, Major caelitum populus quàm terrae, that Heaven was better peopled then the Earth. But it is ill walking through a painted Paradise into torment, ill pleasing our selves with those thoughts which will perish, and leave us to destruction. It is ill building up a Heaven in our phansy, and loosing of that which hath a foundation, whose builder and maker is God; to be happy in a flying thought, and then to dwell with Misery for ever. O that so many should be saved in this world, and yet so many perish in the next! These are solatia deceptoria, as the Father calls them, truly, though barbarously, deceitful rather lies then comforts; the Devils 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by which he doth stupefie us, and take from us all pain and sense of evil; comforts that betray us; tormenting easments; Davids musick to remove the fit that will return again. And in carking after these we are as foolish as the shipwrackt person in Hierocles, who instead of a planck of the ship laid hold on the anchor, which sunk him with a swinge and violence into the bottom of the sea. The Scripture, it is most true, is full fraught with the waters of Comfort; but we must be very wary how we draw them. Sometimes we draw them out of curi∣osity, to pry into the closet of Gods secrets: Sometimes out of pleasure and delight; for not only the story, but the precepts therein conteined must needs please our reason, being so fitted and proportioned to it: But they are never more deadly then when we make that a Cordial which we should use as a Purge, the Comforts of the Gospel are milk and honey to the humble soul, but deadly poyson to him that runs on in his Sin. Experience will teach us that a foul corrupt stomach turns that which should nourish the body into a disease. And as it is in our bodies, if they be distempered, good diet

is so offensive to them, and our appetite is only to trash and phantastical diet; so if the crasis and constitution of our soul be vitiated and over∣thrown, the comforts of the Gospel will be but like the sop which Christ gave Judas, occasions of diseases and death. To think of these as Com∣forts is but to deceive our selves: for though we seem to relish and main∣tein some shew of life, yet these false and misapplied comforts are but as physical and confectionary diet: With it we cannot continue long, and there is but a span between us and Death.

Thus then you see the Comforts drawn out of Scripture be best, but not unless they be well used and fitly applied. We have some reason to be afraid of our Comforts as well as to desire them; for they may come too soon, when we are not fit for them; or we may take draw those to us that are not fit for us. We may take them, as the Stoick speaks, ex adverso si∣tu, on the wrong side, by a wrong handle, and so sink under them as un∣der a burden. As it was said of the Fountain of all Comfort, Christ himself; We may fall upon them, and be broken; and they may fall upon us, and grind us to powder. And so we shall walk delicately to our death, and dye in our Physicians arms, with our Cordials about us. We conclude; From all evil and mischief, from the crafts and assaults of the Devil, and from all false and misapplied comforts, good Lord, deliver us.

And thus much be spoken in General and by way of deduction, and in sensu quem faciunt, in that sense which the words will naturally yeeld: We come now to take them in sensu quo fiunt, in that sense in which the Apostle took them in this particular; and we will but touch upon it by way of conclusion: Comfort you one another with this article of your faith, the co∣ming of the Lord, and the Resurrection of the dead. And to speak truly, this is the ground of all comfort, and without this all the rest were but a phansie: all the promises, all our hopes, our faith it self were vain, and we were yet in our sinnes; under a burden, and none to help us; under mi∣sery, and none to comfort us. Virtue indeed and Piety are amiable in them∣selves, being the beauty of that Image in which we were made. If there were no future estate, yet they would be the fairest garment that a reaso∣nable creature could be seen in, they would be still what they are, but of small use. Malo nullum bonum quam vanum, saith the father; I had rather have no good at all, then that which is in vain. Quid prodest esse, quod esse non prodest; What profit is it that they think should be, which when it is doth not profit us at all? But the coming of Christ will bring us to the Vision of God, which, like Aristotles Sophia in his Ethicks, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 suum in se continet, conteins all contents and comforts, and is to be desired for it self alone! This s the true fountain then of consolation; but it is like the pool of Bethesda, which was not medicinal till an Angel had stirred it. Our phansied and humours may be as so many evil Angels, and defile and take away the virtue from it. We may a little change St. Paul's words, Why should it be thought a thing so desirable with some men,* 1.11 that Christ should come again? For should he come to meet the Adulterer in the twilight, the Murderer with his sword in his Hand, the Sacrilegious person with his axes and hammers? should he come and find thee chipping and commixting his coyn, abusing his Comforts, should he come and find thee drawing him on to countenance those sins which he first came to destroy? Shall he come and find thee more hypocrite then the Pharisees that opposed him, more bloudy then the Jews that crucified him? Shall he come and see thee not casting out Devils, but doing their works, in his name? Can there be any ccmfort now to hear the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God? Can there be comfort in that fire which shall devour before him, or in that Tempest which shall be round about him? Hilary mistook that place of Da∣vid,

My soul breaketh, for the desire it hath to thy judgements alwayes, yet his sense is good, Non desiderat judicium David, sed ut desideret concupiscit; David doth not here desire that the day of judgement should come, but his desire is that his innocency may so qualifie him that he may safely desire it; He doth not so much comfort himself that it will come, as he longs to be prepared that it may come with comfort.

That these words then, that all the comforts of the Gospel, which are up∣held by this of the coming of the Lord, may prove comfortable and physical, we must use them as physick, be very wary in applying them. We talk much of Applying the promises and comforts of the Gospel, and I should not much mislike the phrase, if either men understood what they said, or did not so dangerously abuse it. But how easie is it to bring that to us by our phansie which will never come near us? how easie to apply that which will not fit us? May not a beggar phansie himself into the royal apparel of a King? Phansie makes Saints every day more then the Truth doth, and yet Heaven is never a whit the fuller? Men may think they have a place there, may say they are assured of it, who if they shake not off their presumption, and fall down in all the Humility of repentance, will never come there? The Truth is, If we perform the condition, the promises and comforts will apply themselves, and be made good unto us. If we be righteous, God will not suffer us to perish; if we faint, he will uphold us; if we be trou∣bled, he will comfort us; if we beleeve, comfort is at hand; if we be ri∣sen with Christ here, we shall leave our miseries behind us, and rise with him in glory? Then we may wait upon his descent with joy, and make the showt, and the voice of the Archangel Musick, and the doctrine of his Co∣ming cordial and comfortable to our souls, we may then comfort our selves with these words, which breath nothing but Majesty and Terrour to others.

For conclusion; Let us seek Comfort in loco suo, in its proper pla••e: let us draw it out of its true fountain: E coelo misericordia; the sea•• of Mercy is Heaven, and from thence are all those comforts derived which refresh a weary soul labouring under the burden of misery and sorrow, even from the Wisdome and Goodness and Providence and Justice of God, who preserves our tears, registers every groan, can tell the number of our sufferings, looks on and behold us stemming the waters of bitterness, and strugling with injuries, and will not forget the work and labour of our love,* 1.12 Let us not seek it in the Earth, that sends forth nothing but noysome va∣pours and corruption, the region of change and uncertainty. The com∣fort that grows there is but Herba solstitialis, springs up, and blossoms, and fades, and all in the twinckling of an eye; Let us not dig for it in the Minerals, seek for it in the Riches and Glory of the world; for they have wings, and all the comfort they bring flies away faster than they. When our Sins shall compass us about, when our Conscience shall pursue us, and Death come towards us, when we bear about with us the sharp rebukes of the one, and fear the terrours of the other, it will yield us but small com∣fort to sit down and think that we are rich. Let us not place it in Hopes, in hopes that our misery will end: for this is rather to delude then com∣fort our selves. Hope sees afar off, not that which is, but that which may be, and most times falls off from the object, whilest it looks on it; as it is in the picture of a Battel, not a stroke strook, nothing gained. What redemption is that which is made in a thought, let us not seek it in the bowels of our Enemies, and wish them out: for what will it profit us to see them spoyled who spoyled us, them destroyed who destroyed us. This is but the comfort of Devils, and will but torment us more, as it doth them. They would bring others to the same condemnation, and are

deeper in themselves. But let us seek for it in the bowels of that Lamb which took away the sins of the world, in the bowels and mercy of a God of consolation. Let us wait upon his Justice, his Wisdom, his Providence with patience, till our appointed time shall come: and if in our span of time it come not, yet this is comfort enough, that our redemption draweth very near, and that comfort will come when there will be no span, no measure of time, when Time shall be no more. Here if we fix our hope, it will be spes viva, a living substantial hope: but if we fix it not here, it will be but a faint repre∣sentation of comfort, that will pass away like a shadow, and be no more. Here then let us build it up, let us lay it upon this foundation, upon the Apostles and Prophets, the word of God, Jesus Christ himself being the Head corner-stone; who shall descend and come again, male judicata rejudicaturus; who shall reverse every false sentence, and condemn the Judge that gave it, and manifest his Justice and Providence in setting all at rights, in the punishment of the triumphant sinner, and the exaltation of the innocent who is trod un∣der feet; in changing the scene and face of things, and shewing Dives in Hell, and Lazarus in Abrahams bosom. Here we may find physick for every disease, and comforts for all maladies. Here the sick may find a bed, the feeble a staff, the hungry bread, the prisoner liberty. Here the discon∣solate may find what the Philosopher professed, but could not teach, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, an art to forget all grief. With these words well understood and well applied we may bathe our selves in our tears, we may feed our selves with hunger, cloth our selves with nakedness, and make our selves rich with nothing: we may descant on our misery, and make each sigh and grone Musical. With these words we may comfort one another; the rich may comfort the poor, that he shall want nothing; and the poor the rich, that he shall have more then he can desire: the blind may comfort the deaf, that he shall hear the trump; and the deaf the blind, that he shall see his Saviour come again in glory. The Church that is now militant may comfort her self that she shall be triumphant. Here we converse with dust and ashes, with the shapes of Men, and malice of Devils, or, if with saints, with saints full of imperfection. Here are Nimrods, and Nero's, and worse then Nero's, men who do but what mischief they can, and the Devil him∣self can do no more: Illic Apostolorum chorus, & martyrum populus; there are the Apostles and martyrs. This is but the valley of tears, there all tears shall be wiped from our eyes, and we shall need no comfort, because we shall feel no sorrow, but serve God day and night, and with the glorious company of the Apostles, and the noble army of Martyrs, with the whole Church, sing praises to the God of consolation for evermore. To which place of everlasting consolation he bring us who purchased our peace with his bloud, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Eccles. 9.16.
• * 1.2

  Isa. 50.11.
• * 1.3

  John 3.6.
• * 1.4

  1 Pet. 1.23.
• * 1.5

  John 16.22.
• * 1.6

  Psal. 72.7.
• * 1.7

  2 Cor. 1.20.
• * 1.8

  Rom. 5.10.
• * 1.9

  1 Cor. 10.13.
• * 1.10

  1 Cor. 11.32.
• * 1.11

  Acts 26.
• * 1.12

  Heb 6.10.