A51839:836
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing…
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostasy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostacy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...
London: printed by J.D. for J. Robinson, 1679
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.
Use 2. Expect not a singular way of Comfort besides the Word: It was Eliphas's Charge upon Job, Chap. 15.11. Are the Consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee? The Charge is, that he undervalued the common Consolation of God, and looked for some secret way peculiar to himself, of getting Comfort, besides humbling of himself, and turning unto God: No, God hath sufficiently provided for the Comfort of his People; and we must not expect singular manifestations of his Love, and special Signs and Tokens, beyond the common ⟨p. 446⟩allowance given to the whole Family. It is a thousand to one but it is some false Consolation, and Dream of Comfort which they affect and cry up, beyond or besides the usual Comforts of his Word.
Vse 2. Expect not a singular way of Comfort besides the Word: It was Eliphas's Charge upon Iob, Chap. 15.11. Are the Consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee? The Charge is, that he undervalued the common Consolation of God, and looked for some secret way peculiar to himself, of getting Comfort, besides humbling of himself, and turning unto God: No, God hath sufficiently provided for the Comfort of his People; and we must not expect singular manifestations of his Love, and special Signs and Tokens, beyond the common ⟨p. 446⟩allowance given to the whole Family. It is a thousand to one but it is some false Consolation, and Dream of Comfort which they affect and cry up, beyond or besides the usual Comforts of his Word.
Use 3. Do not compare lower Discoveries of God, with that great Revelation he hath made of his Mind in the Word, for the Comfort of his People; for this argueth great unthankfulness, and a secret desire to set up Man's Comfort against those which are unquestionably of the Lord. Sure it is, that whatever good is in Nature, is from God; but it is mingled with so many weaknesses, that what is of God can scarce be seen in it. I speak of those that cry up Heathen Philosophy, to •he disparagement of the Word of God: As if it were a better Institution to quiet the Mind, and fortify it against all Troubles, than Christianity: But alas! they neither know the true ground of Misery, which is Sin, nor the true ground of Comfort, which is Christ. And that which mere Man offereth, can neither come with such Authority and Blessing, as what cometh immediately from God. This is a Moon-Light that rotteth things before it ripeneth them. In short, Philosophers were never acquainted with Christ, the foundation of Comfort; nor