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A15711
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The Christians iewell. Or, The treasure of a good conscience. By William Worship, Doctor of Diuinitie
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Worship, William.
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1617
(1617)
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STC 25985; ESTC S114443
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54,901
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264
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is the Booke of all comfort which if wee perceiue not the fault is in our pallate according to that of S. Augustine Mel amarum Febrienti Not hony In Psal 19. it selfe but is bitter to the Aguish I confesse the Bookes of Heathen Writers doe promise comfort in calamitie but alas they performe it not but are like a Brooke Iob 6. 17. that swels in winter when there is no neede of it and is drie in Summer when the Passenger fainteth and panteth for heate For being ignorant both of Sinne the wound and of Christ the Remedie the succour they afford must needs bee wearish No if wee will haue good Gold wee must go to Ophyr if good Balme to Gâ—lead if good Wine to Christ at the wedding of Cana and if good tidings to the Booke of God For to make a voyage when the minde is deadded to Gentile Authors for refection especially to their merrie Poets is little better than 1. Kin. 10. 22. trauelling to Tharshish for Apes and Peacocks I appeale to all the Seruants of God and chiefely to the old experienced Souldiers of Iesus Christ if euer they were eas'd of the Sting and tumour of Conscience by any writing vnder heauen but the Bible or by some Booke that hath borrowed all the sweetnesse it hath thencefrom And more let them say if at any time they hasted to this Fountaine of liuing waters taking with them their Pitcher that is true Faith and came not backe with wonderfull refreshment There is a rare and profitable History recorded by S. Augustine of Himselfe in Lib. 8. c. 12. his Confessions His words are these Recalling to minde and aggrauating my miserie there arose a great storme which brought foorth a pealing showre of teares Wherevpon I went aside from my friend Alipius that I might more freely giue my selfe to weeping And laying me downe vnder a certaine Figge-tree mine eyes gusht out with riuers of waters and thus I bemoned my selfe to God O Lord how long how long wilt thou bee angry with me For euer I beseech thee remember not my former wickednes For I perceiu'd that still I was hopled in it and therefore I tooke vp this miserable complaint Quam diu Quam diu Cras Cras Quare non modo Quare non hac hora finis turpitudinis meae How long how long shall I put off my Repentance with To Morrow To Morrow Why turne I not Now this present houre from the filthinesse of my life At which words deliuered with bitter mourning mee thought I heard a voice thus singing from the next house Tolle Lege Tolle Lege Take vp and Read Take vp and Read Then changing my countenance and pondering the matter carefully and aduisedly I returned to Alipius where I had left my Booke of the Epistles of S. Paul I snatcht it vp and opened it and read to my selfe this place which first presented it selfe to mine eyes Not Rom. 13. 13. 14. in Gluttonie and Drunkennesse neither in chambering and wantonnesse nor in strife and enuying But put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ and take no thought for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it Nec vltra volui Legere nec opus erat Nor would I reade any further nor needed I for so soone as I came to the end of this clause my minde was secured al doubts dislodged If here it bee demanded what parts of Scripture are fittest to bee read for the stay of Conscience I answere that for the Old Testament the Prophet Isaiah in the iudgement of Saint Ambrose who counselled Aug. Confes l. 9. c. 5. S. Augustine propounding the same question to bee conuersant in him aboue others no doubt because he wrote so cleerely of the Messiah to come as if hee had beene already incarnate But Athanasius and Prolog in lib. Psal Ad Rust Mon. Basil Augustine Ierome and Chrysostom and almost al the New Writers stand so deeply affected to the Book of Psalmes that they hold it the Store-house of all good learning the Diuine Mâ—stris both of Faith and Vertue and the perfect Anatomie of the Soule And therefore their aduice is that as Alexander the Great was woont to put the works of Homer in the most precious Casket of King Darius which glittered all-ouer with gold and gemmes so that euery Christian especially those that are burdened in Conscience would locke vp the Booke of Psalmes in the Cabinet of their hearts as a most incomparable Treasure Now for the New Testament which is more glorious than the Old as S. Paul proueth I am of Zanchies De Natur. Dei c. 3. opinion that those Doctrines are most excellent which our Sauiour Christ deliuered with his owne mouth as his Sermon vpon Mat. 5. Luke 4. Iohn 17. the Mount at Nazaret at Capernaum and those heauenly Prayers which hee made a little before and at his Death Where it must be cautiously remembred that though in the Sermons of our Sauiour there be found some sentences of terrour and deiection yet as Luther Vpon the Galatians noteth they properly belong not to his office of Mediator-ship and were only bent against the viperous generation of the Pharises and others of that straine CHAP. XLVI Of the Ninth Comfort in trouble of Conscience which is Singing of Psalmes THere are sundry Reasons 1. why the Lord would haue the chiefe points of Religion included in Numbers by the sweet Singer of Israel One is that they might be transmitted pure and without deprauation to posteritie for they runne so eeuenly and so harmonically vpon feete that if there want but a word or syllable the errour is deprehended Secondly it is done for the 2. helpe of memorie for Concinnitie of Numbers is sooner learn'd and longer retain'd then Prose Thirdly as Athanasius 3. obserues it putteth vs in minde of the harmonie of our actions Fourthly it serueth for the 4. comfort of the Godly who are often more cheared by Psalmoaie than by Prayer In this last respect S. Augustine thus describeth a Prolog in lib. Psal Psalme Psalmus Tranquillitas animarum est Signifer Pacis A Psalme is the Tranquillitie of Soules and the Standerd-bearer of Peace With the which agreeth that of S. Ambrose Psalmus Praefat. in Psal est vox Ecclesiae clamor Iucunditatis A Psalme is the voice of the Church and the Noyse of Reioycing And truely it is verified in the experience of the Saints that deuout Singing of Psalmes causeth teares of ioy to stand in the eyes if yet wee may call them teares and not rather the Dew of Heauen with Saint De Scala Claustrali Bernard To this purpose saith S. Austine Psalmus etiam Prolog in lib. Psal ex corde Lapideo Lachrymas mouet A Psalme fâ—tcheth teares from a flintie heart Nay he sticketh not to affirme that the Singing of Psalmes and Hymnes vnto the Lord with a grace in our hearts doth inuite the Angels