profane, ignorant, malignant, and scandalous persons, that they cannot find no profit nor no comfort by their ministry, be admitted as a thing that has worth or weight in it, 1 Kings xxii. 8-29. Without doubt, if this would carry the day against a godly ministry, we should hear a cry from all parts of the nation where such men are, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16, Oh! what shall we do with such preachers as these be? We can find no comfort, nor no profit by their ministry. We shall have none of these, but we will have such as will preach pleasing things, Lam. ii. 14. We will have common-prayer-book men, and such that will administer sacraments to us, as in former good days, wherein there was no such difference put between men and men, but all that would bring their twopences might come and be as welcome to the parson, if not more, as any Puritan or Roundhead of them all, Isa. xxx. 8-11. [6.] I query whether your not finding of comfort and profit by the word did not spring from Satan's blinding your eyes, and from his catching away the good seed out of your hearts. ' If our gospel be hid,' saith the apostle, ' it is hid to them that are lost ; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them/ 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. Is it any wonder that profane, igno- rant, scandalous persons can find no comfort by the word, whenas the devil hath shut their eyes with his black hand ?l when he hath put a covering upon their eyes that they can't see any beauty, excellency, ► or glory in it? Gospel droppings have richly fallen among many, and yet, like Gideon's fleece, they are dry, because Satan hath blinded them, and catched away the good seed that was sown upon them : ' When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catches away2 that which was sowa in his heart' (or rather upon his heart) ; 'this is he which received seed by the wayside,' Mat. xiii. 19. [7.] I query whether your want of profit and comfort by the word did not spring from your want of interest in gospel consolations. Oh ! it is not the hearing of gospel consolations that comforts, but the knowledge of a man's interest in them that cheers up the heart.3 Ah ! where is that word to be found in all the book of God that does evidence comfort, — which is children's bread, — to be of right belonging to profane, ignorant, malignant, and scandalous persons, as you can't but know yourselves to be, if conscience be in the least measure awakened. God hath all along in the Scripture made a separation between sin and comfort ; and how then, can you expect comfort, who hold on in sinful ways, though love and wrath, life and death, heaven and hell, be often set before you ? God is not prodigal of gospel consolations. They are the best and strongest wines in God's cellar, and reserved only for his best and dearest friends : Isa. xl. 1, 2, ' Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God : speak ye com-
1 Satan is like the picture of the goddess that was so contrived that she frowned on men as they went into tin: temple, and smiled us they came out.
- u£>ra'(,ii a u£Tu%a>, — L'ti/>i<>, lie took it or snatched it by force or violence.
8 It is interest in a pardon, a crown, an inheritance that comforts, and not the talking of them. So here. The very heathen could not have comfort nor quiet when they were under the rage of sinful lusts ; therefore, when they knew not how to bridle them, they offered violence to nature, pulling out their own eyes, because they could not look upon a woman without lusting after her.
APPENDIX TO MEMOIR. xlv
fortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accom- plished, that her iniquity is pardoned/ &c. * The Hebrew word that is here rendered comfort signifies first to repent, and then to comfort.1 * / And certainly the sweetest joy is from the sourest tears. Tears are the <fy /***"' breeders of spiritual joy. When Hannah had wept, she went away, and £***■ was no more sad. The bee gathers the best honey off the bitterest herbs. Christ made the best wine of water. The purest, the strongest, and most excellent joy is made of the waters of repentance. * Ah ! lay your hands upon your hearts, and tell me whether you can look God in the face and say, Lord ! we are thine ; first, by purchase ; secondly, we are -v-a**^ thine by choice ; thirdly, we are thine by conquest ; fourthly, we are 4-u- /tCc thine by covenant ; fifthly, we are thine by marriage."" Ah! if you are £rz*6 U. not the Lord's in these respects, what minister on earth hath commission to comfort you ? Their commission is to read other lectures to profane, ignorant, scandalous persons, &c, than those of comfort and joy, as you may see in these scriptures, if you will but take the pains to read them : Ps. vii. 11, ix. 17, xi. 5, 6, xxxvii. 10-20, compared with Ps. lxxv. 8, cxlv. 20 ; Job xxi. 30 ? Prov. xi. 5, 21, 31, compared ; Prov. xii. 2, xiv. 9, xv. 29, xxi. 18, 27 ; Eccles. viii. 13 ; Isa. xi. 4, xiii. 11 ; Jer. xxv. 31 ; Ezek. iii. 18, 19 ; Nah. i. 3 ; Mai. iv. 3 ; Deut. xxviii. 15, et seq.; Lev. xxvi. 14, et seq. Ah ! did you but wisely consider the ex- cellency of gospel-comforts above all other comforts in the world, you would not wonder at ministers giving them forth so sparingly to pro- y fane, ignorant, malignant, and scandalous persons f for, first, gospel yttf/^e/. comforts are unutterable comforts, 1 Peter i. 8, Philip, iv.4.*" Secondly, /j^v*^*^ they are real, John xiv. 27 ; all others are but seeming comforts, but painted comforts. Thirdly, they are holy comforts, Isa. lxiv. 5, Ps. cxxxviii. 5 ; they flow from a Holy Spirit, and nothing can come from the Holy Spirit but that which is holy. Fourthly, they are the greatest and strongest comforts, Eph. vi. 17. Few heads and hearts are able to bear them, as few heads are able to bear strong wines. Fifthly, they reach to the inward man, to the soul, 2 Thes. ii. 17, the noble part of man. ' My soul rejoiceth in God my Saviour/ Our other comforts only reach the face ; they sink not so deep as the heart. Sixthly, they are the most soul-filling and soul-satisfying comforts, Ps. xvi. 11, Cant. ii. 3. Other comforts cannot reach the soul ; and therefore they cannot fill nor satisfy the soul. Seventhly, they comfort in saddest distresses, in the darkest night, and in the most stormy day, Ps. xciv. 19, Hab. iii. 17, 18. Eighthly, they are everlasting, 2 Thes. ii. 16. The joy of the wicked is but as a glass, bright and brittle, and evermore in danger of breaking ; but the joy of the saints is lasting.2 JEterna erit exultatio, quae bono Icetatur ceterno, their joy lasts for ever, whose object remains for ever. [8.] I query whether you, and men of your stamp, remaining under the power of your lusts, will ever say that you can