A02178:5155
The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…
The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham, minister and preacher of the Word of God collected into one volume: revised, corrected, and published, for the further building of all such as love the truth, and desire to know the power of godliness. By H.H.The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham, minister and preacher of the Word of God collected into one volume: reuised, corrected, and published, for the further building of all such as loue the truth, and desire to know the power of godlinesse. By H.H.
London: printed by Thomas Snodham and Thomas Creede for William Welby, 1612London: printed by Thomas Snodham and Thomas Creede for VVilliam VVelby, 1612
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Yet so it is, that when the tempest is overblown, and the gracious countenance of the Lord again beginneth to shine upon them, the faith which was as it were hid for the time, taketh life, and steweth forth it self, and plainly proveth, that as the trees when they bud in the spring time and bring forth1 their fruit, were not dead in the winter as they seemed to be: so the faith of Gods children, springing afresh after the stormy winter of temptation, declaring manifestly that it was not dead when it seemed so to be, but was only respited for the time, that afterward it might bring forth more fruit: and whereas the afflicted soul desireth nothing more2 than to believe, though it feel not a present operation of comfort by faith; even that desire argueth a secret sense that cannot easily be discerned, together with assurance of better estate in time to come, according to that of our Saviour Christ: Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. And that of the blessed Virgin, He filleth the hungry with good things, but the rich he hath sent empty away. Also that bewailing and deploring3 of unbelief which is found in the afflicted, is not only a st•p unto their former comfort, but a certain proof and demonstration of the return thereof. For the Lord working by his spirit in the hearts of his children's groanings that cannot be expressed, thereby assureth them that in his good time he will hear them & grant their requests. And so much the more we may be persuaded hereof, because the love of God towards us, as it began not of us (as S. John saith) so it dependeth not upon us, but upon the truth & constancy of4 him, with whom there is no change nor shadow of change. Again, the temptation it self,5 from which our affliction doth arise, though it have of itself a most bitter and sharp taste, even unto the wounding of our souls near unto death: yet hath it also in it an argument of comfort, the Lord himself out of darkness raising up light unto his children. For even by this, that Satan so busily and so fiercely assaileth us, it doth appear, that as once he lost his possession in us, & was cast out by one more mighty than himself, which is Christ: