human comfort consists in external, visible help, which a man may see, hold, and feel; divine comfort only in words and promises, where there is neither seeing, hearing, nor feeling.
 Martin Luther, Table Talk (1566). copy citation

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Author Martin Luther
Source Table Talk
Topic comfort feelings
Date 1566
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by William Hazlitt
Weblink http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Luther%20Table%20Talk.pdf

Context

“Let us not flutter too high, but remain by the manger and the swaddling clothes of Christ, “in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” There a man cannot fail of God, but finds him most certainly. Human comfort and divine comfort are of different natures: human comfort consists in external, visible help, which a man may see, hold, and feel; divine comfort only in words and promises, where there is neither seeing, hearing, nor feeling. CXVI. When we see no way or means, by advice or aid, through which we may be helped in our miseries, we at once conclude, according to our human reason: now our condition is desperate; but when we believe trustingly in God, our deliverance begins.” source