4. Quid operantur what they do they delight the soul In the nature of them being Comforts there is tranquility in the number of them being many comforts there is sufficiency in the owner of them being Thy comforts there is omnipotency in the effect of them delighting the soul there is security There is no fear in them for they come for peace they are Comforts There is no weaknesse in them for they come in troopes they are many comforts There is no disorder in them for the God of wisdome is their Captain and leads their forces they are Thy comforts There is no trouble in them for they evangelize joy They delight the soul 1. The Rebells are thoughts Man is an abridgment of the world and is not exceeded by it but in quantity his pieces be not pauciora sed minora If all the veins of our bodies were extended to rivers our sinews to mines our muscles to mountaines our bones to quarries of stone our eyes to the bignesse of the Sunne and Moon and all other parts to the proportion of such things as correspond to them in the world man might stride over the sea as the Hebrews fained of Adam the aire would bee too little for him to move in and the whole firmament but enough for this Starre yea indeed this little world would be the great one and that great world appear but the little one There is nothing in the world for which we may not find some answerable part in man but there is something in man for which we can find no answerable part in the world I need not say Part for the whole world is not able to give any representation Man hath a soul made after the Image of God of this the world can yeild no resemblance The world produceth innumerable creatures man yet in more abundance Our creatures are our thoughts creatures that are borne Gyants that can reach from east to west from earth to heaven These can survey the whole earth bestride the ocean comprehend the vast air and span the very firmament How capable how active is the soul of man It is even comprehensive of universality and hath virtutem ad infinita nature hath set no limits to the thoughts of the soul It can passe by her nimble wings from earth to heaven in a moment it can be all things comprehend all things know that which is and conceive of that which never was never shall be The heart is but a little house and hath but three chambers yet there is room enough for a world of guests God the Creator of all made this soul in a Cottage of clay and this soul is a kind of Creator too for though it dwell in a close prison it can produce creatures Thoughts and any one of these creatures can move with the Heavens move faster then the Heavens over take the Sun and overgoe the Sun contemplate that which the Sun never saw even the dreadfull abysse of hell and a glimpse of the glory of Heaven So various and innumerable are the thoughts of man that hee had need of an astrolobe to marke in what height and elevation they are and so either to advance them or stoope them as they deserve There be three sorts of actions proceeding from the soul some internal and immaâ—eriall as the pure acts of our wits and wills some external and materiall as the meer acts of our sense others mixt between both and bordering upon both the former which Saint Augustine sayes the Greeks call {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Latines Perturbationes As the heart inspireth one and the same strength and life into all the parts of the body for the better discharge of their diverse functions though all the parts do not receive it in the same degree The stomack by the vertue it receiveth is made able to digest the liver to concoct the nutriment into blood the spleen like a spunge by sucking up the melancholy spirits to purge the vital parts So the soul breeds all these creatures gives life to all these thoughts yet according to their severall acts and offices they have several names If they be sensitive we call them passions if sensuall lusts if fantasticall Imaginations if reasonable arguments if reflective conscience as they are evill the suggestions of Satan as good the motions of the holy Ghost As the world produceth vipers and serpents and venemous creatures wormes and caterpillars that would devour their parent so the soul breeds noxious and mutinous thoughts that are like an earthquake in her bowels and whiles they maintain civil broiles and factions one against another she feels the smart of all Some thoughts be the darts of Satan and these Non nocent sinon placent we cannot keep theeves from looking in at our widowes we need not give them entertainment with open doors As the Hermite said he could not hinder the birds from flying over his head but he could keep them from building their nests in his haire Wash thy heart from iniquity that thou maist bee saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee They may be passengers they must not be sojourners God hath made a Statute against such inmates it is an unblest hospitality that gives them lodging he is no friend to the King that harbours these Seminaries Other thoughts are the motions of Gods spirit and these must not only be guests but familiar friends salutation is not here enough but glad entertainment welcome and indulgence Let no man like himself the better for some good thoughts the praise and benefit of these motions is not in the receit but in the retention Easie occasions will fright away good thoughts from a carnall heart like children which if a bird do but flie in their way cast their eye from their book But Davids thoughts here were anxious commotive thoughts otherwise they stood not in such need of comforts It is likely that they were either Timoris fearfull thoughts or Doloris sorrowfull thoughts Thoughts of fear for what might bee or thoughts of sorrow for what already was The thoughts of fear are troublesome enough as the ill affections of the spleen do mingle themselves with every infirmity of the body no lesse doth fear insinuate it self into every passion of the mind David might find this complication in his thoughts I will please Saul with my harpe but then fear replies he will strike me through with his Javelin He will give me his own daughter in marriage but fear says again How if this prove a fatall dowry if this match be my snare I will refuge my self with Achish at Gath yet what trust is there in Infidels I will lie hidden in Keilah or Hachilah but fear suggests How if the Ziphites discover me What shall I do whither shall I go where shall I rest These were thoughts that stood in great need of comfort The thoughts of sorrow are yet more distractive and such were this royall
all sorrowes and God shall fill them with his sweet comforts Then shalt we sing with chearfull voices Blessed be the Lord that hath not turned away our praier from him nor his mercie from us Amen FINIS MAN'S COMFORT PSALM 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul HEaven is a place of infinite glory and joy yet is there little joy or glory in the way thither The passage rather lies through much tribulation so trouble some a gallery leads to so happy a bed-chamber There is not a soul in the cluster of mankind exempted from sorrow much lesse shall those grapes escape pressing which God hath reserved for his own cup All that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution Not all that live but all that live godly nor all that live godly in respect of outward form but th it live godly in Christ Paul his Atturney pleads their afflictions with an Oportet and lest some should look for a dispensation he backs it with an Omnis The Saints that have overcome the hill be singing above we that are climbing up must be groaning all the way The Anthems in-the up per Quire the Church Triumphant are all Hymns of joy the militant part must bee content with sad tunes in this valley of tears Not that the blessednesse of Immortality is no more perfect but that it needs a foil of perplexity to set it off Not that the joy of heaven is no more sweet but that it needs the sowreness of the world to give it a tast Not that the peace and plenty of Canaan required the wants and molestations of this wildernesse to commend it But so it pleaseth the Almighty King who of his own free grace doth give the preferment to interpose the conditions that the sorrow and ingloriousnesse of this world should be the throughfare to the glories and joyes of his Kingdome For if it pleased him to consecrate the Prince and Captaine of our salvation through sufferings what priveledg can the common souldiers and subjects expect Deus Filium habuit unum sine peccato nullum sine flagellâ— Wee that hold our inheritance in Capite have no other title to it then Christ had before us by suffering When we consider David and his troubles we say Ecce dolores viri behold the sorrowes of a man But when we consider the Sonne of David and his passion we say Ecce vir dolorum Behold the man of sorrowes Indeed if the one ballance were full of sorrows and the other quite empty of comforts there were an unequall poise They that do not finde some joy in their sorrows some comfort in their dejections in this world are in a fearfull danger of missing both in the next But as it is said in case of bodily sicknesse If the patient and the disease joyne then in vaine is the Physician if the disease and the Physician conspire then wo be to the patient but if the patient and the Physician accord then vanisheth the disease So we may observe in spirituall distempers if the soul and sorrow desperately combine then the Spirit departs the Physician is grieved if God and sorrow joyne in anger in anguish the former justly the other sharply then wo to the soul for that cannot be comforted but if the soul by faith and God by grace unite themselves then away flies sorrow for that is expelled Here Davids soul joynes it self with the spirit of consolation and sorrow loseth the day the end is comfort In the multitude of my thoughts within mee thy comforts delight my soul Here is a twofold Army one marching against another Seditio and Sedatio an insurrection and a debellation a tumult and the appeasing of it a band of thoughts assaulting and an Host of comforts repelling resisting protecting There is a multitude of those thoughts and no lesse is the number of these comforts Those troublous thoughts have got into the citadel of the heart Apud me within me and these consolatory forces have entred as farr even into the soul They delight my soul Those thoughts fight under the colours of flesh and blood but these comforts under the Banner of God They are My thoughts but Thy comforts the cogitations of man the consolations of Jesus Christ 1. Look upon the adversary power In the multitude of my thoughts within me 1. O that they were some externall grievances a forraign warr no domestick intestine civill broiles not turbulent thoughts 2. Or if they be thoughts rebellious heart-breaking cogitations yet that there were but some few of them that they might be sooner suppressed not so numerous not a multitude of thoughts 3. Or if they must bee thoughts and a multitude yet that they had chosen some other place to rise in not my Heart the Fort or Court or Bedchamber of my spirit that they had not presumed unto so bold approaches as to mutine Apud me within my heart nearer and closer to mee then mine owne bowels But now to bee Thoughts of so tumultuous a nature Multitudes of so mighty a number Within me of so fearfull a danger without vent composition or quiet here is a ful anxiety 2. View the defensive forces and in the midst of this conspiracy make room for preservation Thy comforts delight my soul 1. They are comforts against litigions and unquiet thoughts a work of peace Comforts 2. They are not scant niggardly but against amultitude of thoughts many Comforts and every one able to quell a whole rout of distractions 3. They are thy comforts not proceeding men or Angels but immediately from the Spirit of consolation against My sorrows Thy comforts 4. They do not onely pitch then tents about me or like a subsidiary guard environ me but they take up their residence in the heart of my heart In my soul These refresh more then the other can offend against the thoughts in my heart thy comforts delight my soul Thus if we be not entred into Aceldama a field of blood yet we are got into Meribah a field of strife or the mountains of â—ether a field of division not unlike that of Rebecca's womb where Jacob strove with Esau for the victory We have seen both the Armies now let us martiall them into their proper ranks setting both the squadrons in their due stations and postures and then observe the successe or event of the battell And because the malignant Host is first entred into the ground of my text consider with me 1. The rebells or mutiners Thoughts 2. The number of them no less then a multitude many thoughts 3. The Captain whose colours they bear a disquieted mind My thoughts 4. The field where the battel is fought in the heart Apud me within me In the other Army we find 1. Quanta how puissant they are Comforts 2. Quota how many they are indefinitely set down Abundant comfort 3. Cujus whose they are The Lords he is their generall Thy comforts
might he have bidden him not to see what he saw as not to fear seeing so dreadfull a spectacle But the taske is easie if the next words find beleefe They that be with us are more then they that be with them If the eyes of our faith be as open as those of our sense to see Angels as well as Syrians to perceive comforts as well as sorrowes we cannot be appalled with the most unequall number of enemies Many O Lord are thy wonderfull works which thou hast done for us they cannot be reckoned O God what is man that then art so mindfull of him Yea O man what is God that thou art so unmindfull of him All the workes of God are excellent and ought to bee had in remembrance alas that wee should ever forget any of these workes that are of mercy and comfort which hee hath done for our souls For he alone hath done them that is the next point 3. Cujus whose they are Thy comforts Troubles may be of our own begetting but true comforts come onely from that infinite fountain the God of consolation for so he hath stiled himself The eagle at her highest flight will not lose the sight of her young ones if she perceive any danger approaching down she comes amain to their defence Christ is indeed ascended up on high yet he hath a favourable eye to his servants below no Saul can breath out threataings against them without a Quid me perfequeris Nec timeas hostem fortem qui Ducem habes fortiorem Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered There is none that fighteth for us but only thou O God Cujusquam est rem publicam movere Dei solius quietare Our owne hearts can distract themselves there is nothing to settle them but what the God of peace puts in Who can reconcile a man fallen out with himself yea fallen from himself None but the God of comfort who when the earth was void without form darknesse on the face of the deep day and night land water undistinguished could reduce all this mishapen chaos of the world to form and order when father mother brethren kinred friends neghbours and a mans own heart forsakes him then God takes him up The structure of Jericho was not more pleasant then the waters were unwholsome and thereby the soile corrupt Elisha cures them with a cruse-full of salt Our hearts are ful of thoughts but they be noxious yet if God throw into those fountains a handfull of saving grace we shall bee whole Our sorrowes too often would break our hearts but O God for thy comforts it is thou onely that canst make these weake vessels hold such scalding liquours and not burst There is combustion of these thoughts within us til God part the fray and pacifie the tumult as when scholers are loud in brawls the very sight of their master husheth them When my heart like the sea in a storm is troubled the winds raging the waves roring Thy comforts like Christs command turns all into a calme I thought on thee in the night season and received comfort In the night the region of fear in darknesse the opportunity of despaire in solitarinesse the full advantage of sorrow upon an unsleeping bed the field of troublous thoughts yet I did but think on thee and before I came to meditate to pray to send up my soul unto thee in that first thought I received comfort O how short do all worldly things come of this sufficiency If the heart bee wounded with sorrow in vain is all the Chirurgery of nature Gold is no restorative riches no cordial yea they may be a corrosive wee say to wine thy spirits are dull to laughter thou art mad musick grates the ear and physick loathes the palate company is tedious and solitude dangerous alas what hope can there be till the God of comfort comes Sauls evil spirit will not leave him til he be dispossessed by Davids harpe wee finde as much ease when wee rest our hearts upon temporall things as hee that laid him downe to rest upon the cold earth with a pitcher under his head and finding the pillow too hard he rose and stopped it with feathers thinking that then it would be wondrous easie So be all temporary things to the soul even when they are filled with the choicest mirth nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit not only vanity in their entertainment but vexation in their farewell Yet O Lord Thy comforts 4. Delight the soul which is the last circumstance the effect of all All Gods warre is for peace Pacem habet voluntas bellum necessitas Wee should never have felt such a conflict if God had not intended us such a conquest Sin disquiets the heart yet through his grace this disquiet breeds repentance repentance procureth forgiveness forgivenesse restoreth peace and peace delights the soul The sharpenesse of the trouble advanceth the sweetnesse of the joy as Christs sufferings abound so his comforts superabound Every penitent tear that falls from the eye springs up a flower of comfort Look how full the vessells were of water so full doth our Saviour render them of wine In hell are all sorrowes without any comforts in heaven are all comforts without any sorrowes on earth good and bad sweet and sowre miseries and mercies sorrowes and comforts are blended together If here were nothing but sorrows earth would be thought hell if nothing but comforts it would bee thought heaven But that we may know it to be as indeed it is neither heaven nor hell but between both and the way to either we have a vicissitude of troubles and delights That as of old they painted King Solomon because learned men were divided in their opinions of him some casting him to hell others advancing him to heaven therefore a third moderate sort painted him halfe in heaven and halfe in hell so the Christian in regard of his sorrowes seems halfe confounded and in respect of his comforts halfe saved But as indeed Solomon after all his errors found mercy so the Christian after all his sorrowes shall find comfort His beginning may seem troublesome his proceeding not delightsome but his later end is peace Marke the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace His heart was troubled his soul shall be delighted As the grievances of the soul bee most dangerous in respect of their nature so they are also abundant in their number Therefore let our care be to seek out that great Elixar that most soveraign and universall Antidote and Cordiall One soul complaines I have obloquies reproaches calamniations cast upon me which render me contemptible to good societies Morality would thus argue with the heart Bee these imputations thus charged upon me true or false If true let the integrity of thy future conversation so convince thy associates that they shall both suspect those reports and rest assured of thy constant goodnesse But the