my Hope my Hope is in thee m Hope thou in God and this charge to hope in God is grounded upon confidence of better times to come times of praising God for I shall yet praise him this small word Adhuc yet 't is the strong voyce of confidence after a long combat 1. Vox anhelantis the voyce of David breathing and panting under the conflict of troubles and disquietments what though I am thus now for the present I shall yet praise him 2. Vox triumphantis the voyce of David getting the victory over all his troubles and triumphing with this voyce of Joy uttered with confidence I shall yet praise him And this confidence is strengthned by his Experience that God is the Health of his countenance Omnimodam Salutum faciei meae he is all of the Salvations of my Countenance the Countenance is as the glasse of the heart in it yee may see the naked Face of the heart God first speakes saving health to the inward Man of the heart which he causeth to shine forth in the cheerefulnesse of the outward man of the countenance Lastly this experience is well backed by the interest David had in God my God anima mea quid perstrepis in me Trem. significantly if God be my God why makest thou such a troublesome noyse within me oh my soule why art thou grumbling and complaining of this or that As once Seneca told the Roman Courtier that mourned for his sonnes death Non fas tibi salvo Caesare de Fortuna queri in illo omnia Much more Salvo Salvatore nos salvante as long as God is our Saviour we must not be cast down with any thing in illo omnia Friends Sonnes Husbands Wifes health wealth all things in my God my God saith David Deus meus omnia saith that confident one n As bold as a Lion God my God and all things mine If God be with me what can be against me so farre as to disquiet me whatsoever is against me it will be with me for my good if God be but my God which is the 2d thing in the Building of Spirituall Comfort the laying of a sure Foundation and that is no other then God to be our God alone Psal. 73. 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee This is an expression of our Faith whom have we in heaven but thee to rely upon in all our necessities this is an expression of our affection whom have we in heaven but thee to love the Giver of all things to be beloved whom but thee to feare the Disposer of all things to be feared whom but thee to desire the Satisfier of all lawfull desires the Foundation must be but One whom but thee and none on earth besides thee Yet with a difference other Foundations are laid deep in the Earth this must be laid high in Heaven Whom in heaven but thee and none on Earth besides thee as the Foundation of Comfort but we may desire other things besides God as the meanes of comfort as Gods Ordinances and blessings spirituall and temporall the fat Calfe must be killed for the Prodigall a temporall blessing too must be had but take that too as from God for whatsoever is desiderable in any creature they are but drops of sweetnesse let fall from the Fountaine of Comfort God Whom have I in heaven but thee for my sole Refuge and Trust or whom have I in heaven but thee for my chiefe Joy and whole hearts-delight yet the soule that is thus wedded to God may love what God loves and what God commands her love for him and in him but not as him in so doing She would play the Harlot Adultera Christo as St Cyprian speaks but the soule as a most loyall wife must cast no part of her conjugall affection upon any but God above him without him besides him I love nothing but all things in him and for him 't is St Augustines Confession Cum quo solo de quo solo in quo solo anima intellectualis verè beata est With God alone and from God alone and in God alone the understanding soule is truly happy whom to love freely is a due debt whom to embrace is chastity whom to marry is virginity whom to serve is liberty whom to imitate is Perfection whom to desire on Earth is contentment whom to enjoy in heaven is everlasting Happinesse Now Lord let me live out of the world with thee in Heaven but let me not live in the world without thee on Earth For whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee The Devoute soule that layes so good a Foundation as this may goe on and prosper with the Building of Comfort even to raise the Body of the worke to that height of Comfort that David doth Psal. 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soule My perplexed thoughts that are wreathed one within another with the many sorrowes of my heart so the Sept {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Though there be a great multitude of vexing griefes in my heart yet the plaister is large enough for the sore thy comforts proportionable to my Sorrowes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} according to the multitude of my Sorrowes thou dost proportion out thy comforts be my Sorrowes what they will for quantity or quality thy comforts can extricate and rid me of them all be they neere so intricate and enwrapped as branches of trees returning back are blended and entangled so the Hebrew in the Text for our thoughts in Hebrew come from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Redundare to rebound and returne back and wrap themselves one within another nothing can set our thoughts free but thy comforts oh God The comforts of thy Providence as a Faithfull Creator and Preserver The comforts of thy providing and protecting care as a loving Father and Redeemer providing all good grace mercy and favour protecting from all evill sinne Satan death the grave and hell our loving Father will not suffer us to want any thing that is good our deere Redeemer will not suffer any thing that is evill to come neere us but for our good These thy comforts delight my soule saith David These or nothing can truly and really delight the soule earthly things may delight the body that is made of earth but the spirituall soule must have spirituall things to delight it worldly things delight not the soule within a man the worldly man may draw a curtain betwixt the world and his heart and seeme the only merry man in the world when there is many a bitter pull in the heart vides laetitiam in ore St Ambrose yee may heare shouting from his tongue but aske what cheere within like a poore Taverne
great Estimate according to the very waight of the Sanctuary My knowledge of it is now doubled tà m carendo quà m fruendo for eleven yeares and halfe I enjoyed a rare Religious Piece of Gods making and now God hath made up this his Iewell fit for His own Cabinet 't is most fit that I should want it And to my wants this is added that I want words to tell others what I want I want my Fellow-Helper my Bosome-Comforter my second Heart which did command my first Heart in a Religious way 1. Her Faith was founded upon the Rocke Christ Iesus witnesse Her every Dayes taske which was to say by Heart and in Her Heart the eight chapter to the Romans which chapter alone in it selfe is a compleat Confectionarie of spirituall Comfort beginning with No condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus and ending with No Separation from the Love of God in Christ Iesus 2. Her Hope and Trust was fixed upon Her God witnesse that answer She gave me the last Day that She lived out in this World Now what is my Hope my Hope is in thee ô Lord d There was in her an admirable mixture of Godly sorrow for sinne and holy Ioy for that Sorrow which Ioy I perceived to be back'd by her Hope to get the upperhand though S. Ierome summes up the devout soules private carriage with God in these words Dolet de dolore gaudet Surely 't was her Practise to sorrow after a godly manner and to rejoyce for that Sorrow 3. Her love to man let all that knew her speak it Her love to God I judge it sincere by the most cleare Expressions of it She loved his house so dearely that the large distance of her Habitation from Church nigh a mile was no Remora to keep her at home the last Lords Day She lived She was twice at Church She prayed Constantly eight severall times every Day I knew it to be most true who was nearest to her when she drew neare to her Father in secret She had by heart a distinct Prayer for every Evening and Morning in the seven dayes of the weeke besides other Prayers for other times What a loving Mistris She was to her servants they would quickly speak if they could for crying How transcendent her love was to me her Husband my tongue would faile because my heart is readie to faint for want of such love and faint it might had not Gods Spirit brought to my remembrance how earnestly on her Death-bed She desired me not to grieve so immoderately for her for we should meete in Heaven and 't is my Hope that as we were Caro una on Earth we shall be sydus unum in Heaven e of that one Holy Companie of Starres attending the Sun of Righteousnesse And here I cannot but fixe my Contemplation on those rayes of divine Beautie which shined in her soule for She mightilie delighted to set before her Solomons Copie of a good wife Prov. 31. They that knew her may easily compare her life written according to that exact Copie Sure I am her Sisters child whom She educated can rise up and call her blessed Her Husband also praiseth her Prov. 31. vers. 28. How why thus in Solomons style Favour is deceitfull and Beauty is vaine but a Woman that feareth the Lord She shall be praised Vers 30. the Pronowne {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Emphatically argues a Negation of any other Woman worthy to be praised but She that feareth the Lord She shall be praised the garland of praise only to be set on her head This is her Remuneration therfore Solomons last vers shall be mine Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her owne workes praise her in the Gates that is in publique This This is the Woman the Woman to whom I Subscribe William Gilbert perdidit Invenit nullus super teram Recepit Deus in coelum TO THE SEEKER OF COMFORT NOT READER ONLY MOST sorry I am for the Occasion f that induced me to Preach and now moved me to Print but the Providence of God being the First Mover may not onely command bounds to my Sorrow Hither and no further but also give me a licence as to Preach so to Print it both for the Commemoration of the Dead and Consolation of the Living What though I lye open to some Exceptions I had rather doe it in this partlcular then not doe all the Right I can to the Dead and wish all true Comfort to the Living who shall read this Art of Building Comfort not to censure one another but to Comfort one another according to this Apostolicall Exhortation which is my Text 1 Thes. 4. 18. Wherefore Comfort one another with these words which if thou dost I am Thine in Christ the Fountaine of Comfort William Gilbert A GENERALL REPRESENTATION OF THE Method of this Manuell a or rather Cordiall of Comfort containing the Ingredients of Five Sermons 1. THe Accommodation of the Text to the Times calling for comfort p. 1. 3. 2. 4. 5 2. The Division following the Metaphore of Building in the eight Parts of it p. 6. 1. The Specificall Difference of this from other Buildings p. 7. 8. 2. The Necessity of this Building in a Christian Common-wealth p. 9. 10. 11. 12. 3. Perswasives inducing to goe about this Building and to studie this Art of Divine Comfort p. 13. 14. 4. Disswasives from the Neglect of going forward with it p. 15. 5. The Materialls of this Building These words in the Text 1. In a particular Relation to S. Pauls former Doctrine p. 16. 17 18. 19. 2. In a generall Relation to Gods Word p. 20. 21. 22. 23. 6. The Habituall Ability to make good use of this Art of Comforting p. 24. 25. 7. The Actuall Abilitie to make good use of it in the Platforme of Comfort set up according to the exact Rule of Gods Word p. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 8. The Strength and Duration of this Building where yee shall see p. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 1. The Contignation and Knitting of the Building of Comfort by five Attributes of God Wisdome p. 36. Power p. 37. Iustice p. 38. Mercy ibid. Truth p. 39. 2. The Butteresses of the Building set up by three Duties of man 1. Submission to Gods Will p. 40. 2. Right Reason sanctified p. 41. 3. Prayer for strength and Continuance of Comfort p. 42. c. 1 Thes. 4. 18. Wherefore Comfort one another with these words MAY it please your Attention to begin with the accommodation of the Text to the Times which like a woman in Labour cry out for Comfort sickly Times most uncomfortable Times God knowes a rare thing even an house without one or other sicke in it if not dead out of it Is it not Time then to exhort you to comfort one another The Naturalists write of a pretious Stone a called b Ceraunias that is found
his tombe Haec habeo quae edi this I have that I have eaten it seemes all the rest was lost to the brutish swine as Tully censured him a little more sparingly that it was an Epitaph fit for an Oxe or a bruit Beast my Belly is my God my Stomach is my Altar my Church is my Kitchin my Priest is my Cooke this the voyce of these brutish men who finde the Possession of no Comfort from any thing but from that which was driven into the Paunch and so into the draught But Christians that study the right Art of true Comfort have another language our spirituall Comfort is left us when our life is about to leave us Spirituall Comfort is raised from the Creator by the Mediation of the Creature or from the Creature by the working of the Creator in the Apprehension of the Regenerate Man Thus the Holy Ghost is the first Mover of spirituall Comfort as the Promises of Gods Word are the grounds of this Comfort and our Beleeving hearts are the seats of Comfort so the Holy Ghost is the Head-worker of Comfort and the Act of Comfort wrought is to strengthen our Hearts therefore k {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to be established and strengthned and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to be comforted are put one for the other St Paul being the Interpreter but long before him the Prophet l intimates the like for in the Hebrew and Greeke Sept speake comfortably to Ierusalem is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Hebrew and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Greek both imply in this phrase speake to the heart or speake comfortably that Comfort is the Hearts Peculiar and the Searcher of the Heart the Holy Ghost is therefore called the Comforter m by an Excellency {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} where the Spirit of God is made knowne to us by a name in the New Testament not heard of in the old the Comforter within a man the naturall man may have outward Comforts a Land flowing with Milke and Honey and a Table with a fruitfull Vine and Olive Branches about but the Regenerate Man hath a soule flowing with Milke and Honey of Comfort because the Comforter makes him fruitfull as the Greeke Father n gives the Etymon of it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} called the Comforter from comforting and succouring and helping our Infirmities hence issues the act of spirituall comfort in my Text differenced from carnall Comfort 2. Spirituall Comfort in this life is to be differenced from Eternall Joy in the life to come The Herald of Schoole-Divinity ranks Comfort under the head of Joy indeed all Comfort is a Joy to the Heart but all Joy is not Comfort for there is Joy in Heaven but no Comfort there for properly need of Comfort forespeakes miserie and distresse according to that of the Golden-mouthed Father {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} there is often mention made of the Comforter in Scripture because of the calamities and afflictions imminent to the Disciples but the blessed Estate of Heaven cannot admit any such Misery and Distresse we shall joy in one another in Heaven but not Comfort one another there no such Comfort in Heaven all joy all Rest I finde a Reason of it in Aquinas o Gaudium sie habet ad Desiderium ut quies ad motum The soule is restlesse in her Desire but quieted in her Joy now Comfort on Earth brings some Rest for the soule but Joy in Heaven is the only absolute Rest Comfort is Rest to the weary for a time and a way to enable them for further travaile but Joy is Rest for Eternitie even to sit down and rest for ever that is Joy in Heaven to stand and take a draught by the way not to sit by it that is Comfort on Earth true Joy frees from all sorrowes wipes all teares from our Eyes but it may be true Comfort which only upholds us in our sorrow and dryes up our teares as they fall Yet fall they will and sorrow we shall else we need no Comfort for it must be a necessitous estate that stands in need of Comfort thus is Comfort differenced from Eternall Joy that needs nothing Yea and thus 't is in this life as Nature necessitates the spark to flye upward so sinne carries us downeward to the Center Misery This Center is every where below the Moone corrupt Nature is the Circumference no man without some lines drawne from or drawing him to Misery Nulla Dies sine linea Every Day in this life line upon line line upon line misery upon misery misery upon misery 't is well too when it is here a little and there a little But this may suffice to put a Difference 'twixt spirituall Comfort in this life and eternall Joy in the life to come and by this ye easily perceive my passage from the first generall Part to the Second which is the Necessity of this Building in a Christian Common-wealth else S. Paul would not have used so serious an Exhortation as this in my Text Wherefore Comfort one another with these words The Necessity of this Building in a Christian Common-wealth The Necessity is threefold 1. In respect of the command of the Contriver and Overseer of the Building God 2. In respect of the principall Instruments employed in this worke Gods Ministers 3. In respect of the common Worke-men which are Gods People under the Title of One another in the Text if this threefold cord is not strong enough I shall joyne unto it the fourth Necessity which is in respect of the Place where Comfort is ordained by God to be preached Gods Temple This fourefold Cord is that that tyed me to study and preach you to heare and learne this Necessary Art of Building Comfort 1. In respect of the command of the Contriver and Overseer of the Building God the God of all Consolation would have his Servants Embassadors Messengers of Comfort God doubles and trebles this charge upon them to presse the Necessity of the discharge of it Isai. 40. 1. 2. Comfort yee my people comfort yee my people saith my God nay the third time speake comfortably to Ierusalem 2. The Disposition of Ministers is but now and then seldome to be Boanerges filii tomitrui sonnes of thunder every Minister for the most part must be Barnabas filius Consolationis the Sonne of Comfort for though thunder is good to worke on a hard Heart yet as thunder commonly brings raine your sonnes of thunder should doe well alwayes to conclude with a comfortable shower to refresh the Heart though Ministers may not be too curious to speake to the Eare yet they cannot be too carefull to speak to the Heart of the People that is to speak comfortably to the people Spirituall Bees must draw Honey out of what flower soever they light to preach upon These Living
That is the Fountaine of all Comfort Zech. 4. 12. Christ is the Fountaine out of which all Comfort is emptied the two Testaments of God are the two Olive branches as Beda but Christ is the roote and juycy oyle and what though many Expositors a make the two Olive branches Enoch and Elias converting the Jewes to be Christians yet that cannot be but by preaching and emptying out the golden Oyle that makes a cheerefull countenance a joyfull Convert to Christ so that still Christ is the Fountaine of saving soule-suppling Oyle A sealed Fountaine to the world but for Gods Word to reveale it and set it open Indeed Tully and Seneca writ large discourses of Comfort but St Augustine ravished with Tullies style yet one thing discomforted so farre as not to care so much for Tully Quia Nomen Christi non fuit ibi That Treasurie of Comfort the name Jesus of Christ not once to be found in all Tully And surely had Seneca been so well acquainted with S. Paul as some will have him being of Neroes houshold then Seneca might have learnt to have knowne nothing for his Soules comfort but Christ Iesus and him crucified and not have stood so much upon those common Pleas of Comfort against death as he doth Eâ lege nascimur the Law of being borne is to dye Death is inevitable foolish for a man to grieve for that no man can avoyde Exitus communis none scapes it alasse poore Comfort But what Comfort is to be looked for in their writings who knew not how that to die in the Lord is to rest from our labors but God be praised we know it out of Gods Words and happy are we if we beleeve that Death separates not from the Love of God in Christ Jesus b That is Comfort indeed And not to grieve for the Death of friends as without Hope of the Resurrection of the Dead that is the very point S. Paul treats of in my Text The wisest of the Heathen judged it the best thing first not to be borne the next to dye as soone as we are borne any Christian may be wiser to judge it the best thing first to be borne againe in Christ Jesus the next to dye in the Lord as soone as it pleaseth God we must not leave off worke till he that sets us a worke calls us off Seneca used to comfort his friends at Funeralls thus praemittimus non amittimus We send our friends before us we loose them not yet they were at a sore losse they knew not to what place they sent their dead friends before them But beloved to gather Grapes of thornes comfort from them who had not the true comfort if they so esteemed of death who knew of no life after death no abiding out of the body what is fit that we Christians should prize death at who ought to make reckoning of no life but after death no abiding but out of the body no dwelling but in heaven We have heere no abiding Citie but we looke for one that is to come c The Greek is we seek out we look out earnestly for one to come and that we may not loose all our looking our Saviour directs us where to look for it d In my Fathers house are many Mansions 't is my Fathers house 't is your Fathers house as ye are in me that is the Comfort and to fill up the comfort they are Mansions there places of aboad there but Innes here or rather Tents or Booths moveable Everlasting habitants there Luk. 16. 9. but nothing will last here yea here we thrust one another out of house and home there are severall Mansions enough for us all to live by one another Wherefore comfort one another with these words 3. And briefly à Doctrinae certitudine Only Gods Word hath full power and authority to comfort mans heart from the certainty of the Doctrine which the Word of God hath from God himselfe 1. Virtute the strength and vertue of Gods Word accompanied with Gods Spirit can never faile to worke comfort 2. Veritate the whole Truth of solid Comfort that is communicable to mankinde is sincerely and truly published in Gods Word in that onely and yet in that perfectly 3. Complemento in fulfilling and in the accomplishment of all the comforts prescribed in Gods Word for they are all most certaine and true as in the substance so in the event of them Heaven and Earth shall passe away but my words shall not passe away e there shall be a revolution and a passing away too of all things in this world but this very Word of God that all things shall passe away this Word shall not passe away no nor any one Word of comfort in Christ Jesus shall ever passe away Wherefore comfort one another with these words But what good doth the bare knowledge of the Materialls without Habituall and Actuall Abilitie to use them 1. The Habituall Abilitie to make good use of this Art of comforting that is the sixt generall Part. Now the spring head of comfort infusing into this habituall ability either we must goe out of the world for that or that must come from another world for us but we cannot stir one foote of the soule the least affection or so much as one winged thought to goe to that that must come to us to raise our flight with the wings of that Dove whose wings are silver and her feathers like gold I meane the Holy Ghost The Eternall Breath of the Father and the Sonne must breath into us the breath of Life a Life of comfort the Love of the Father and the Sonne descending upon the Sonne in the likenesse of a Dove without gall must purge out of us all gall of malice and bitternesse that we may comfort one another in all meeknesse of spirit the invisible spirit descending visibly upon the sonnes of men in the liknesse of fiery tongues must enable us to give light and warmth of comfort to one another If it be urged that Faith is the only strong Conveyance and true Receiver of spirituall Comfort 'T is quickly satisfied that even Faith also is the gift of the Spirit The Comforter gives us Faith to take Comfort from him else we can take none at all so that in the conclusion 't is the Comforter that workes all in all in us For as it was said of the Masse and Chaos f Tohu vavohu an emptie vast solitary solitude 'T was without forme and voyde darknesse that is a Privation of Light was upon the Face of the Earth before the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters The soule of a naturall man is like the earth lumpish sad without forme and voyde of comfort darknesse of discontent is upon the face of the man inward and outward a vacuity a vast solitary Privation of comfort untill the Spirit of God move
Greek Epithet is so expressive 6. Consolation never goes single without confortation a strengthning power of the Grace of God accompanies it this is a reparation of our Christian forces and a congruous fortification against all evill y There remained no strength in Daniel untill one touched him and said O man greatly beloved feare not be strong yea be strong and when he had spoken unto me I was strengthned saith Daniel Gods comforting of us is a strengthning comfort Beloved this is a strong durable Building of Comfort for no Earth-quake no heart quake can shake the foundation of it no Canon shot with all the powder and power of hell can batter down the walls of it no Tempest of affliction can beat down the Roofe of it no theeves though they be subtile evill spirits can rifle the roomes of it no cruell Land-lord to thrust us out of doores but a loving kinde Lord our God who doth all to keepe us within doores within comfort no false Neighbours can take our house over our heads no envying at one anothers dwellings here are severall Roomes of comfort for young and old rich and poore well and sick men and women husbands and wifes King and Subject widowes and orphans comfort enough for all beleevers of all Families Townes Cities Countries Nations and Languages under Heaven Now where can I better lodge my discourse then in this strong durable Building of most divine comfort and so I shall at this very instant if ye will but promise me to doe your best to comfort one another with these words or with any the like words of comfort out of Gods holy Word And we beseech thee O Lord to teach us this art and to make us all such spirituall Builders that we may not be cast down under the Burthen of temporall losses and crosses or of spirituall temptations but that every one upon all occasions may expostulate the matter seriously with his own soule Why art thou cast down ô my soule and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee and thy Comforts for in the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my Soule Therefore ô my soule cast thy Burden upon the Lord and he shall sustaine thee Even so O God of all Comfort now and ever sustaine us with the Comforts of thy sacred Word and of thy Holy Spirit Amen An Electuary in forme of a Prayer called a Manus Christiani a comfortable Confection out of the former Treatise to repell the Infection of all kinde of Affliction O Lord my God and I beleeve there is no other Gods besides I beleeve therefore I call upon thee that as the first Commandement thou givest to me is to have no other gods but thee so my first care may be to settle all my thoughts and affections words and actions upon nothing in Heaven or in Earth besides thee b For whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Thou art my Refuge my Rock of defence my sure stay my whole Hearts delight O Lord accept this Expression of my Faith whom have I in Heaven to relye on but thee in all my Necessities accept this expression of my devotion whom have I in Heaven but thee to call upon in all my troubles accept this expression of my affections whom have I in Heaven to love but thee the Giver of all things to be beloved whom have I in heaven to feare but thee the Disposer of all things to be feared Whom have I in Heaven to rejoyce in but thee the Infuser of all true Joy Whom have I in Heaven to desire but thee the Satisfier of all lawfull desires and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee yea I confesse there is nothing in the World that is worth the desiring but in thee and from thee In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my soule In the great throng of all my perplexed thoughts thy Comforts delight my soule the Comforts of thy Providence over me as a faithfull Creator and Preserver thou didst create me of nothing hast preserved me from nothing even from my Mothers wombe and wilt still preserve me even to my last houre these thy Comforts delight my soule Nay more Comfort of thy speciall care as a gracious Father and Redeemer Care of Provision and Protection of all good from all evill of Mercy Grace and Favour from Sinne Satan Death the Grave and Hell These are thy Comforts O Lord And whensoever these thy Comforts doe not delight my soule give me grace to check and chide my soule sharply for it d Why art thou cast downe ô my soule why art thou disquieted within me thou hast no reason to be cast down or to be disquieted at all as long as thou hast a God to hope in hope thou in God I lay this charge upon thee O my soule and this my charge is grounded upon my confidence of better times to come when I shall yet praise him and this my confidence is strengthned by my experience of what God is unto me the health of my countenance Salvation to my inward man Joy to my heart 〈…〉 my outward man cheerefulnesse 〈…〉 And this my experience is well backed by my interest that I have in God my God in Christ Iesus my Saviout and if my God be with me what can be against me neither health nor sicknesse neither wealth nor want neither principalities nor powers nor death nor life 〈◊〉 nor depth nor things present nor things to come nothing can separate me from the Love of God my God in Christ Therefore will I now and ever cast my Burden upon thee O Lord with assurance that thou wilt sustaine me e the greatest Burden in the world Sinne My sinnes are gone over my head and are too heavy a Burden for me to beare therefore will I cast them upon thee my Lord and my Saviour yea the afflictions and punishments that lye at the doore of my sinnes they are able to presse me down to the lowest pit but in an humble awfull submission to thy will trusting that thou wilt lay no more upon me then I am able to beare I will beare according to my Ability and awaite thy goodnesse either to deliver me from or to sustaine me in all thy Will be done O Lord and give me Patience Amen Glory be to God on high On Earth Comfort FINIS Imprimatur Iohannes Hansley Feb. 4. Anno Dom. 1639. 1. By Reason 2. By Scripture b. 2 Sam 18. 18. b Gen. 35. 19 20. a Psal. 112. 6. b Satis est coram Deo Angelis totóque piorum theatro benedictam esse eorum Memoriam Cal. in locum c Worthy Dr 〈◊〉 Manual 1.