1 1DPI3 IDTO, nahhamu, nuhkamu, from DI12 nahham, which signifies first to repent (1 Sa.ni. xv. 35), and then to comfort, because true comfort belongs only to the penitent. Divine comfort is a delicate thing, and it is not given to him that admits any other, saith Bernard. Nulla verior miseria quam falsa l&titia : There is no truer misery than false joy. — Bernard. Nil nisi sanctum a sancto Spiritu prodire potest, Neh. viii. 10. There have been those that have died under the strength and power of their joy.
2 Valde protestatus sum, me nolle sic satiari ab eo, 1 said flatly that God should not put me off with these low things. — Luther.
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find any comfort at all in any man's ministry, that is not a common- prayer-book man, or one that will give you and yours the sacraments, and lash at the power of godliness, and at the State in preaching and praying, &c. Doubtless under such a man's ministry, were he never BO ignorant, scandalous, or profane, you would plead that you found much comfort to your souls, and that he was a man indeed for your money, &c. Well ! if you have found no comfort under my ministry, yet my comfort is, that my reward is with the Lord, and my work with my God. My comfort is, that there are many hundreds in this city that have, and that do find comfort by the blessing and breathings of God upon my weak endeavours.1
Further, In their petition they say that ' I am not so qualified to their understandings as to remain any longer with them/
To this I say, First, It is my joy and crown, that I am not so quali- fied as to please and content ignorant, profane, malignant, scandalous persons in their formality and impiety ; remembering that he is the best preacher, non qui aures tetigerit, sed qui cor pupugerit, not that tickles the ear, but that breaks the heart. It is a comfort to me that I am no nearer that woe, Luke vi. 2b', ' Woe be to you when all men speak well of you.' When one told Aristides that he had every man's good word, saith he, What evil have I done, that I should have every man's good word ? Male de me loquuntur, sed mail, saith Seneca. It is sometimes more a shame than an honour to have the good word of profane, ignorant, scandalous persons. Latimer, in his last sermon be- fore king Edward, saith, ' That he was glad when any objected indis- cretion against him in his sermons ; for by that he knew the matter was good, else they would soon have condemned that.' It was a not- able saying of Salvian, Mirum essetsi huminibus loquentia de Deo verba non placeant,2 quibus ipse forsitan Deus non placet : it were very strange, saith he, if I should please a world of men, when God himself doth not give every man content. Luther, writing to his friend, hath this passage, ' My greatest fear is the praises of men, but my joy is in their reproaches and evil speeches.' It is certain that the praises of men, to many, are the basilisks that kill, the poison that destroys their immortal souls.
2. I say, if the understandings of ignorant, malignant, profane, and scandalous persons, should be the rule or standard by which the abili- ties or qualifications of such ministers, that are ministers, ' not of the letter, but of the spirit/ as the apostle speaks, 2 Cor. iii. 6, should be measured and tried ; doubtless he that is no witch may easily conclude that there are no ministers in England qualified to their understand- ings, but such as are malignant, ignorant, profane, and scandalous as themselves ; and such, without doubt, would be the only qualified men, to their understandings; as might be confirmed by a cloud of witnesses, Jer. v. 30, 31.
3. Though I am not qualified, as to their understandings, yet, through grace, I am qualified as to the understandings of those that are eminent both for piety and parts, and who have made trial of what is in me,
1 I have read of one who cried out with a loud voice to Flavius Vespnsianus, Vulpem pilum mutate, non mores, that the wolf might change his hair, hut not his qualities. You know how to apply it, Isa. xlix. 4, 5. '2 Qu. ' verba placeant' t — Ed.
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and what the Lord hath done for me.1 And though I am not so quali- fied as to gratify your lusts, yet it is joy and honour enough to me that the Lord hath so qualified me with gifts and graces as to make me in- strumental to bring in souls to Christ, and to build up souls in Christ. In the day of account it will be made manifest that they have been the best, the wisest, and ablest preachers, who have brought most souls to Christ, and provoked most souls to walk with Christ, and cleave to Christ, and lift up Christ in this world, Pro v. xi. 30. Through grace, I can say, with blessed Cooper, ' My witness is in heaven, that I have no such joy and pleasure as in doing the work of Christ, and in being serviceable to the honour of Christ, the interest of Christ, and the people of Christ.'2
4. If this plea of profane, ignorant, malignant, and scandalous per- sons should be admitted as authentic, doubtless all the godly, tender, conscientious ministers in the nation, that can't do as they would have them, would quickly be ejected. All the profane, ignorant, malignant, scandalous persons in the nation would soon cry out, as one man, Our ministers are not so qualified, to our understandings, as to remain any longer with us, ergo3 —
5. It is to be remembered that, when the petitioners were several times pressed by the Committee to shew wherein I was not qualified for the Avork of the ministry, they all seemed to be dumb, and at very great loss, as not knowing what to answer;4 but at last their malig- nant champion, after much pumping, gave this answer to the commit- tee, That I was not so qualified, to their understandings, as to remain any longer among them, because I would not give them the sacraments, nor bury their dead ; which put some rather upon smiling than upon answering. But at last a worthy member of that Committee made this answer, ' That they had both heard me and seen me in print, and so were best able to make a judgment of my abilities and fitness for the work of the ministry/ &c.5 For a close of this branch of the petition, I shall only say this, being compelled thereunto by some, that I do be- lieve that I have spent more money at the University, and in helps to learning, than several of these petitioners are worth, though, haply, I have not been so good a proficient as those that have spent less. I am a lover of the tongues, and do, by daily experience, find that knowledge in the original tongues is no small help for the understanding of Scrip- ture, &c. Yet am I not kin to them that advance and lift up acquired gifts above the sweet sanctifying gifts and graces of the Spirit of Christ in the souls of his saints, as many have and do to this day. But cer-
1 Chrysostom studied not aures titillare, but corda pungere, to tickle the ears of his hearers, but to prick and ravish their hearts.