Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A01750
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Architectonice consolationis: or, The art of building comfort occasioned by the death of that religious gentlewoman, Iane Gilbert; to be studied: and with all a platforme of comfort to be raised up by her husband William Gilbert Doctor in Divinity.
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Gilbert, William, 1597?-1640.
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1640
(1640)
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STC 11882; ESTC S103154
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35,866
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70
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the hearer to tingle he did then subject himself unto God with that excellent in comparable Speech of Submission It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good 1. Sam. 3. Though the matter concerned him and his so nigh yet the good man thought that he had nothing more to doe then to set to the seale of his approbation of Gods Will which was a willing Submission to it It is the Lord it becommeth not man to reason with him why he doth thus and thus there is no good to be got by such contention all the Comfort lyes in this out of the abundance of the heart the mouth must speak after this admirable manner It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good Nay a greater then Eli the first High Priest that ever was Aaron who was appointed by God to be a mouth to Moses he could speak so well yet when God burnt his sonnes for offering strange fire he had not a word to say but as the Text saith Aaron held his Peace by holding his peace in this case Aaron did glorifie God more then if he had spoken with the tongues of men and Angels Aaron silencing his sorrow by subjecting his will to Gods Will did shew forth his inward Comfort Once more for 't is a greater then Aaron our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedech was never without Comfort because never without Submission to his heavenly Father when he was alone and none to comfort him indeed he prayed bearing our infirmities Let this cup passe from me but with a pull back of restraint Not my Will but thy Will be done Ipse erat voluntas Potestas Patris tamen ad Demonstrationem sufferentiae debitae voluntati se Patris tradidit Tertull last words on the third Petition Christ was both the Will and the Power of his Father yet to demonstrate to us that Submission is alwayes due to Gods Will He subjects himself in all things Not my Will but thy Will be done This is a strong supporter of true comfort to lay our hands upon our mouthes and not to open them except with Iobs thankfull Eccho Blessed be the Name of the Lord O happy Comfort and well upheld to blesse God in all things by freely submitting our wills to His Will let the Lord doe what he will and let us be sure to blesse His Name for it that is the first Butteresse of Comfort 2. Butteresse and a very strong one too is Right Reason rectified sanctified Reason What is discontentednesse and uncomfortablenesse but the confusion distemper and disorder of our affections and actions but when they are well ordered according to the commands of rectified Reason then riseth comfort and contentednesse of minde when our Passions and Actions are subject to the straight Rule of Reason then is the soule at comfort a man of Right Reason is a man rich in Comfort a happy Dives he may say Soule soule take thy rest for thou hast comfort much riches of comfort laid up for as long as thy Reason is rectified and is guided by the Word of God and the whole course of thy affections ordered by that rectified Reason When a man smothers himself under sorrow and discontent let him see what reason he hath for it out of Gods Word when a man rejoyceth and comforteth himself with anything let him see what good reason he can finde for it beleeve me this is a strong bridle and curbe to stop the course of all discontentednesse and uncomfortablenesse in our Christian journey and withall a very strong keen-metled Spur to put us forward in the free course of true Comfort even this is the ready way to try all things that we doe by sound Right Reason Now that the two former Butteresses may stand fast and the whole Building continue durable we must not faile to put up the third Butteresse that is to put up Prayer for strength of Comfort If any of you lack wisedome Iames 1. 5. let him aske God and he will give it him Thomas expounds that Text to this purpose now in hand Si quis vestrum indiget Sapientiâ id est sapida Scientia ad condiendam amaritudinem tribulationum vel ad degustandum patientiae fructum If any of you want the salt of wisdome to season affliction or to make the fruit of Patience savoury and comfortable let him pray to God for it who is very liberall of comfort to him that askes it the good theef on the Crosse did but aske Christ to remember him in his Kingdome and he gave him Paradise that very day To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise dum memoria poscitur regnum concedit saith the Father Prayer is a faithfull messenger and Ambassador to dispatch all our businesse with God aske and have comfort seek and finde it by prayer knock and a doore of comfort shall be opened Prayer is a strange kinde of key that opens if you doe but knock with it Matth. 7. 7. O then knock strongly that thou mayst have strength of comfort Why but Prayer is only of things possible because Prayer is an Act of Hope and Hope is still fixed upon a possibility of enjoying the object now if there must be hope of embracing what we pray for and a likely possibility of what we hope for what I pray encouragement doe they give us to put up our Prayers for strength of Comfort who make a question whether it be possible for a man in this life to have absolute firme strength of comfort against all evill True it is here is a question started by the Casuists let us persue it a little for it is about the strength of this Building Whether a true beleever may have firme and strong consolation against all evill The Affirmative is thus established that though there may sometime be a mixture of griefe or feare with comfort yet that comfort is a repression mitigation and lenition of that grief or feare and will in time get the victory 1. Because God the Father who workes victoriously is the God of all comfort f comforting us in all our tribulation and in any trouble Vers 4. of that Chapter 2. Because Christ is the Fountaine of all comfort to us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ Vers 5. of that Chapter 3. The holy Spirit is the comforter to this end that the knowledge of the truth might make us Conquerors that our hearts might not be troubled nor afraid t 4. The whole Scripture was written for our comfort that we through comfort of the Scriptures might have hope strong comfort and strong hope v 5. Because of the immutability of Gods Counsell confirmed by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have a strong consolation x {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a mighty potent firme and solide Consolation The
with a bush but no good wine within as merry as he is about the mouth his soule finds but poore entertainment within the wine of the wicked has lost it nature to cheere the heart of man and like oyle it only makes him have a cheerefull countenance but the wine of the godly comforts the spirits within a man Davids merry soule was given from God thy comforts delight my soule {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Sept. Thy comforts have loved my soule have embraced my soule with love Exhortationes tuaejocundaverunt St August Thy Exhortations make my soule merry and pleasant and cheerefull He only is merry at heart and delighted in his very soule who doth what God exhorts him to doe whose soule takes daily many a Comfortable walk in the severall roomes and conveyances of the Palace of divine Comfort He oft makes it his soules Recreation and delight to view the Divisions and the distinctions that God hath made of Creation Preservation Redemption Provision Protection the rare Contrivances of Election Vocation Justification Sanctification and the stately Mansions of Glorification prepared for us these are the Comforts that will delight our soules our very soules Wherefore comfort one another with these words Now we have seene the maine Body of the Building of divine comfort what remaines but to lay on the roofe Psal. 55. 22. Cast thy Burthen upon the Lord and he shall sustaine thee doe but thou cast thy burthen on him and let him alone to sustaine thee this Roofe will hold out against all weather of affliction stormes and tempests may beate but God is able to beare the Burthen which we cannot beare But what burden may we be bold to cast upon the Lord Any either the greatest burden that is in the world sinne cast thy sinnes upon the Lord Jesus or the lesser burdens crosses troubles and losses In all and under all the Lord shall sustaine thee with things necessary at least with that one thing necessary Patience So long as thou losest not thy Patience so long thou losest not the Lord who shall sustaine thee to sustaine thy losses Be it the burden of the losse of health wealth wife child friend cast thy burden upon the Lord by remembring that they were the blessings of the Lord upon thee and unlesse by Impatience thou lose the Lord too the Lord knowes how to blesse thee againe with all these as he did Iob of whom S. Augustine speakes thus Haec amisit sed illum tenet qui abstulit Iob lost his goods but he took hold of him who took them away The Lord gives and the Lord takes saith that patterne of Patience o the Lord takes and no matter what he takes from us so long as we have him still that takes them who is able to regive them with advantage It was S. Chrysostomes way of comforting his Auditors at Antioch p {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} It is a great part of true Piety and godlinesse to cast thy burthen upon the Lord and he will give thee better things then ever thou lost the like Cordiall the judicious Father hath q quamvis arca exinanita sit auro cor tamen plenum est fide the lesse in the chest there may be the more in the heart The want of a husband mâ—y fill the heart with her best husband Christ Jesus The losse of a wife may make the stronger contract betwixt the soule and her God The losse of a childe may be a Testimony to my heart that God receives me as his childe for he chasteneth every sonne whom he receives Vbi multum crucis multum lucis that man of crosses r was wont to say the more affliction from God may prove the more instruction to the soule The reall Alphabet of Christianity is speld out by suffering Christs Crosse and not by reading of Christs Sufferings Faith comes by hearing and by feeling too by suffering that is the best triall of Faith by suffering losses we learne to beleeve what God can doe for us What wicked Cain said of his sinnes they are greater then can be forgiven no childe of God must think of his losses they are greater then can be given againe sin the cause of all losses is not greater then can be forgiven much lesse any losse the effect greater then can be given againe Cast thy burden Pagn ine reads it Pondus thy heavy crosses and waighty losses but Montanus Donum punctually to the Hebrew roote and every losse or crosse is the gift of God sent to thee from God somtimes greater gifts sometimes lesser now returne these gifts whence they came cast them upon the Lord The Sept. use a word by themselves {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} thy anxious care thy cutting dividing solicitude look to thine owne work cast thy burden upon the Lord that is thine own work look to that and be not solicitous what is Gods work to sustaine thee eke out thy Patience awaite the Lords goodnesse cast it all upon God and he shall sustaine thee This is the fairest roofe the greatest height we can raise up the Building of Comfort to yet I might give you another Platforme of the particular furniture belonging to every severall Roome of Comfort look how many things we had need to be comforted against so many severall Roomes of Comfort but not knowing what entertainment this Art of Building Comfort will finde if yee like to make use of it this is enough by way of direction but if yee like it not this is toomuch therefore I hasten to the last generall Part proposed in our Methode The eight Part is the strength and duration of this Building for if it were but slight weake or not lasting long it were but poore comfort The Building of Comfort not only stands by the benefit of the Foundation that sustaines and supports it but the strength of the Building is much augmented and encreased by the benefit of the contignations that knit and unite the Parts together and also of the butteresses that comprehend and embrace them without The Foundation being surely laid will not suffer the Building of Comfort to sinke the contignation and knitting will not suffer it to cleave the Butteresses will not suffer it to swerve all these together by a joynt force which is the stronger make greatly for the strength and duration of the building of Comfort Yee see the Foundation laid before in it proper place briefly here of the contignations and the Butteresses as they are necessary for the strength and duration of Comfort 1. Gods Wisedome Power Justice Mercy Truth will abundantly doe all the Offices of the Contignation of this Building 2. We must supply the Butteresses from without and they are three speciall ones among the rest 1. Submission to Gods Will 2. Right reason rectified sanctified Reason 3. Prayer for strength and continuance of comfort But before we