Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation: With Modifications To Obsolete Language By Monica StevensMore, Thomas, Saint
Religion
Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation: With Modifications To Obsolete Language By Monica Stevens
More, Thomas, Saint
Consolation
Then goeth the verse further, and saith unto such a faithful man,
"Thine hope shall be under his feathers." That is, for the good
hope thou hast in his help, he will take thee so near him into his
protection that, as the hen, to keep her young chickens from the
kite, nestled them together under her wings, so from the devil's
claws--the ravenous kite of this dark air--will the God of heaven
gather the faithful trusting folk near unto his own sides, and set
them in surety, very well and warm, under the covering of his
heavenly wings. And of this defence and protection, our
Saviour spoke himself unto the Jews, as mention is made in the
twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew, to whom he said in this wise:
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets and stonest unto
death them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered
thee together, as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
and thou wouldst not."
Here are, cousin Vincent, words of no little comfort unto every
Christian man. For by them we may see with what tender affection
God of his great goodness longeth to gather us under the
protection of his wings, and how often like a loving hen he
clucketh home unto him even those chickens of his that wilfully
walk abroad into the kite's danger and will not come at his
clucking, but ever, the more he clucketh for them, the farther
they go from him. And therefore can we not doubt that, if we will
follow him and with faithful hope come running to him, he shall in
all matter of temptation take us near unto him and set us even
under his wing. And then are we safe, if we will tarry there, for
against our will no power can pull us thence, nor hurt our souls
there. "Set me near unto thee," saith the prophet, "and fight
against me whose hand that will." And to show the great safeguard
and surety that we shall have while we sit under his heavenly
feathers, the prophet saith yet a great deal further, _"In
velamento alarum tuarum exaltabo."_ That is, that we shall not
only sit in safeguard when we sit by his sweet side under his holy
wing, but we shall also under the covering of his heavenly wings
with great exultation rejoice.
XI
Now, in the two next verses following, the prophet briefly
comprehendeth four kinds of temptations, and therein all the
tribulation that we shall now speak of, and also some part of that
which we have spoken of before. And therefore I shall peradventure
(unless any further thing fall in our way) with treating of those
two verses, finish and end all our matter.
The prophet saith in the ninetieth psalm, "_Scuto circumdabit te
veritas eius; non timebis a timore nocturno, a sagitta volante in
die, a negotio perambulante in tenebris, ab incurso et demonio
meridiano._ The truth of God shall compass thee about with a
shield, you shall not be afraid of the night's fear, nor of the
arrow flying in the day, nor of business walking about in the
darknesses, nor of the incursion or invasion of the devil in the
midday."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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