hath done for thee Psal 42.8 My prayer shall be to the God of my life He honours God with this Title The God of his life Psal 59.10 The God of my mercy Psal 18.1 2. I will love thee O Lord my strength The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer Believe it poor Christian that the God of all the world is pleased and praised by thy calling him thy God and therefore praise God as his glory shines and appears in all other things and as it appears to thee As thus the God of all the world and my God the Father of Jesus Christ and my Father the God of life and health to his people and the God of my life and of my health 3. Labour to the utmost of thy power to fill all places with the Name of God and Jesus Christ Psal 66.2 Make his praise glorious This is a right praising God when we endeavour to make his Name glorious in the hearts of all that are about us our lives should be such that in every thing that we do there may be reason to cause others to love bless praise and rejoyce in God Mat. 5.16 Our works should be such that they should set all that see them on work to glorifie our Father which is in heaven and we should live so that it may be an honour to God to be called the God of such a people Now is it any honour to God to be called the God of Drunkards or the God of Swearers or the God of Whoremongers No no but as Master Latimer said they may say Our father which art in hell But the God of Believers the God of all that love him and fear him and seek him it is his honour to be called the God of such a people and as it is said Heb. 11.16 He is not ashamed to be called their God 4. Let every thing that hath been the subject of mercy be the instrument of praise David calls upon all that is within him to praise Gods holy Name Who healeth all his diseases Psal 103 1 3. And we are commanded to yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God Rom. 6.13 Sirs every member of a Christian is a member of Christ and the Life of Christ spreads all over and fills his whole body and this life should branch out in all the parts and members of our bodies Christ hath bought and paid for all the Law bindes all every member can be an instrument of sin every member must at last be cloathed with glory therefore we should glorifie God with our bodies and souls which are Gods 1 Cor. 6.20 Consider What may I do for God with my tongue hands feet countenance c. Perhaps not long since thy whole body was overspread with a disease and there was no soundness in thy flesh because of Gods anger neither was there any rest in thy bones because of thy sins Never a bone or joynt was free from pain Now then seeing God hath healed all thou shouldest say with David Psal 35.10 All my bones may say Lord who is like to thee Lastly Let the consideration of the greatness of thy mercy cause thee to praise God Consider this in four particulars 1. Thou art restored to life God hath as it were clearly given thee a life We have this passage in Jer. 45.5 and elsewhere in Scripture Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey the meaning seems to be thus that when a mans life is in great danger though he suffer divers losses yet if his life be saved he triumphs in the preservation of his life as if he had got a great prey or spoil from an enemy Now to apply this to the present case perhaps thou hast suffered divers losses and crosses in thy sickness and now thou art restored thou mayst see many things sad in the Church and in thy family but thy life is given instead of a prey to thee and in this thou hast cause to rejoyce Look at thy life and consider what a mercie that is and thou wilt see great reason to praise God in the midst of thy greatest afflictions Oh then let thy life be laid out to the will and glory of God say with David after his recovery from a great danger Psal 116.9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living do nothing but what thou canst with comfort do before the Lord as seeing the all-seeing God looking on 2. Thou art restored to thy health consider how lately the multitude of thy bones were tortured with strong pains thy stomach was gone and thy life did abhor bread and thy soul dainty meat Job 33.19 20. Thou wouldst have given much for a nights sleep when wearisome nights were appointed to thee Job 7.3 yet now God hath given thee health he hath caused thy bones to rejoyce and filled thy heart with food and gladness and thou liest down and thy sleep is sweet unto thee 3. Thou art restored to thy friends and relations to thy husband wife children parents brothers and sisters and to thy dear and bosom-friends the day would have been sad to these mourners going about the streets following thee to thy long home But now God hath restored comfort to thee and to thy mourners Isa 5.18 therefore let the sight of all thy friends fill thee with a fresh sense of the goodness and mercie of God Say as Jacob said of his Brother Esau in another case Gen. 33.10 I have seen thy face as though I had seen the face of God See the gracious face and presence of God shining upon thee in the face of all thy friends look on thy yoke-fellow and look upon God look on thy parents and look upon God look on thy children c. and look upon God and so as the sight of every friend fills thee with new and fresh thoughts of thy mercie let it also renew in thee a fresh and thankful remembrance of the God of thy mercie Lastly thou art restored to thy blessed and soul-saving opportunities Sirs if we consider how precious time is we must needs acknowledge this to be a precious mercie now that you may see time precious and so for this reason may esteem your recovery a precious mercie look on thy time as the season allowed thee to glorifie God and to work out the Salvation of thy soul you know in other cases we prize our time according to the worth of those things which time gives us an opportunity to gain as the husbandman accounts Harvest-time precious because it is his season to reap the precious fruits of the earth as St. James calls them Jam. 5.7 The Merchant accounts the time precious when the wind blows him to his prize The souldier accounts the time precious when he marches for his life And is not that time much more precious which God hath given thee to save thy soul If God and Christ and Heaven and Grace and the Soul be precious
and gallants of the proud presumptuous scornful unbelieving envious sâ—cure covetous world are now flaming in and consider that thou deservest to lye in the midst of them and therefore now the greatest care of thy soul should be how to be saved from those unquenchable flames Then look into heaven into thy Fathers house and behold there the high and lofty one dwelling in that high and holy place and the Lord Jesus sitting at his right hand in glory and an innumerable company of Angels looking him in the face and there see a great multitude of blessed and glorified Saints Illic Apostolorum gloriosus chorus illic Prophetarum exultantium numerus illic Martyrum innumerabilis populus There is the glorious quire of Apostles there is a company of triumphant Prophets and there is an innumerable multitude of blessed Martyrs saith Cyprian There thou mayst see those who were upon earth the poor reviled despised afflicted persecuted imprisoned banisht hang'd burnt Children of the most high God whom the world could not bear but are now happily possest of their everlasting Kingdom where they are filled and satisfied with the likeness and presence of God and are singing and rejoycing with unspeakable joy to behold his glory And then consider Yonder is the place wherein I am now to seek to enter And thus let thy sickness fill thee with the deep and serious thoughts of death judgement and the world to come Duty 3. Be sure of a well-grounded Scripture-peace setled betwixt God and thy soul It 's a good saying That the day of death is a day of truth See therefore that thou hast a peace which will prove true and sound when it comes to the great tryal of death and judgement The unbeliever is not then to be tryed at the bar of his own secure and seared conscience nor by a Jury of carnal atheistical neighbours The Believer hath then a present appeal from the â—ash and false judgement of his enemies and also from the dismal sentences of his own doubting heart and the Cause of both is presently to go to a hearing before the judgement-seat of Christ Now see that thy peace be setled on such a sure foundation that thou mayst be found in safety and glory when thou art called to appear before the Judge of quick and dead There are two main things which may assure thy heart of peace and reconciliation with God 1. If Christs righteousness be thy own so that as sure as thou art a sinner in thy self thou art righteous in and by the righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ See therefore that all causes agree to make this righteousness thy own 1. Set the Lord before thy eyes and be able to say I know and am surely convinced that God is a good God a living kinde and merciful God and that he is good to poor sinners by the salvation of whom he hath chosen to make his goodness glorious to all eternity I know that there are forgivenesses with him that he hath a heart to pardon iniquity transgression and sin that he is inclin'd and ready to pardon according to his infinite goodness and loving kindness and this goodness is the cause of all that great Salvation revealed in the Gospel and I come to him and my soul doth cleave to him and love him and all my expectation is from him as he is a God of such infinite and incomprehensible goodness 2. I know that out of this infinite goodness he hath sent Jesus Christ to me that to me a childe is born and to me a son is given Isai 9.6 I know surely that he came out from the Father and I do believe that he hath sent him John 17.8 I know that the Son of God is come and hath given me an understanding that I might know him that is true and I am in him that is true This is the true God and eternal life 3. God hath herein commended his love to my soul in that Christ dyed for me and I know this true God the Lord Jesus Christ did in his infinite love to me as my Surety dye for me and thereby satisfied Gods justice for my sins which he bore in his body upon the tree 1 Pet. 4.24 And that he loved me and gave himself for me an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savour 4. I know that it is the will of God concerning me that I should take this righteousness of Jesus Christ to be mine for he hath commanded me to take his â—ody as broken for me and his Bloud â—s shed for the remission of my sins And this is his commandment that I â—ould believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ 5. I know that God by his Spirit hath convinced me that I am lost without Christ and that he hath made me to see his righteousness so precious and meritorious and necessary for my Salvation that I do by the power of his Spirit willingly obediently lovingly and joyfully receive and take this righteousness of Christ for my own and rest onely upon it for the pardon of my sins and for my Salvation as it is freely offered and given by God to me in the Gospel Lastly I know that God hereupon imputes this righteousness to me and accounts it my righteousness and that I am bound to account it my own so as to own it live upon it and to glory in it and by this righteousness God justfies me being he is just and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus Rom. 3.26 And thus being justified by faith in Christs righteousness I have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 And hereby I have a right through the free grace of God to go from my sick-bed into the everlasting Kingdom of peace And when I am called to the Judgement-seat of Christ being found in his righteousness I shall be found of him in peace without spot and blameless 2. That thou mayst be assured of a Scripture-peace and reconciliation with God labour to finde thy self truely joyned and united to Jesus Christ thy whole body and soul joyned to all of Christ so as with him to make one self one mystical Christ that thou mayst be able to say As poor and weak as I lye here groaning on this bed of languishing yet this aking head pale face weak hands feeble limbs withered body is all a member of Christs body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 For by the grace of God I can say that whereas I am in my self a dead plant and as separated from Christ can doing nothing yet by faith my heart is truely rooted in Christ and I do receive him to rule me as my Lord according to his will and to teach and every way to save me and my minde is set upon him and my heart and affections do cleave and are fastned to him and there comes true spirit and life from him which spreads and works in
he commanded and it stood fast And this truth that Jesus Christ could by speaking a word command and create the cure he proves by an argument taken from the less to the greater ver 9. For I am a man under Authority having Souldiers under me c. You may easily see the strength of this argument in this plain Paraphrase I am but a man and thou art the true God I am under Authority but all the power in Heaven and in Earth is thine I have Souldiers and servants under me and thou hast all things under thee Now saith he if I bid my Souldier go and march to such a place he goes and if I command another to come from quartering in such a place he comes and if I say to my servant Do such a business he doth it Thus all sicknesses and diseases are under thy command if thou sayst to a Fever Go and turn the moisture of such a one into the drought in Summer it goes and to the Consumption Go and rot the Lungs and eat up the flesh of such a one it goes and to the Palsie Go and torment such a one it goes and if thou commandest back a disease and sayest Come away and spare the life of such a one it presently comes And again if thou biddest any disease Do this make such a Father Childless such a Wife a Widdow such Children Fatherless it presently doth it And thus he wisely and strongly pleads that all diseases are at the Will of Jesus Christ so that a word from him makes them go and come and do what he will Obs 4. Christs carriage after the Centurions speech ver 10. When Jesus heard it he marvelled That must needs be a marvellous Faith which makes Jesus Christ himself to marvel 2. He highly commends the Centurions Faith I have not found so great Faith no not in Israel There are three things which speak the greatness of his Faith 1. It was the Faith of a Gentile and this Christ seems to intend by comparing it with and preferring it before the Faith of his Israel saying I have not found so great Faith no not in Israel 2. Because he did believe a great truth this is a great truth worthy of thy strongest faith to be exercised in that Jesus Christ is that God who commands and rules all the diseases and sicknesses of men 3. Because of the great power and life which appeared in the grace it self now the might and strength of his faith is seen both because by it he saw the substance of the truth with so much evidence and clearness and certainty as he did he did as plainly see that Christ had the command of diseases as that he himself had the command of his Souldiers and servants Beloved the stronger faith is the more plain and piercing insight it hath into its object and the great power of his faith appeared in believing this truth at such a time when the infinite power and Eternal Godhead of Christ was so little known and believed in the world And lastly by the strong pleadings of his heart grounded upon this truth whereby he draws virtue and power from Christ to heal his dying servant So that you see great reason why our Saviour commends the greatness of the Centurions faith 3. Our Saviour from hence takes occasion to teach the Doctrine of the Conversion of the Jews and Rejection of the Gentiles ver 11 12. and Christ makes this seasonable digression into this Doctrine because at this time a poor Gentile excels ever a Jew of his age in believing the power of Jesus Christ Lastly Christ commands the sick servants cure he speaks such a word as the Centurion did pray that he would and believe that he could speak ver 13. And Jesus said unto the Centurion Go thy way and as thou hast believed so be it done unto thee and his servant was healed in the self-same hour And thus Christ is honoured for his Miracle the Centurion is honoured for his Faith and the poor dying servant hath the comfort of both I shall now pass by all other Observations that may be made out of this Text and only insist upon this one Doctrine which I have chosen to be the subject of this discourse viz. Doct. THat all sicknesses and diseases are at the will and under the command and government of Jesus Christ so that he bids them go and come and do what he will to the children of men This Doctrine is grounded upon the Centurions pleading with Christ that all diseases were under his command and government as the Centurions souldiers were under him and also upon this that Christ testifies the truth of this in commending the Centurion for the greatness of his faith in believing this truth and improving it as he did To prevent the misunderstanding of this Doctrine I shall premise these three Cautions 1. That I do not hereby deny the power and influence that inferiour causes may have in bringing diseases upon us for I know that many sicknesses come from God through the hands of Angels and Devils and that other men and also our selves and that unwholesome dyet the seasons of the years and divers other things may be the instruments and means of diseases unto us but yet God is the first and chiefest cause of all diseases for it is not in the power of any creature to suspend or with-hold that Divine Power and influence which causeth our health but this is continued or denyed unto us according to the will and pleasure of God and no creature can cause our trouble without God for without him a creature can neither be nor work but falls to nothing and so cannot do good or evil 2. I do not exclude the Art of Physitians nor deny the virtue that is in any medicines for the healing of diseases knowing that the same God who had ordained food for our health hath also ordained physick for us in our sickness but still the first and chief of all is Jesus Christ 3. I do not exclude the power of God the Father or of God the holy Ghost but because I finde that by diseases God doth execute great judgements in the world and that he is pleased to make great use of these in his government both of his Church and of his enemies and that the Father hath committed all judgement to the Son Joh. 5.22 and because this command and government is ascribed to Christ in the Text therefore I shall frequently mention the name and authority of Jesus Christ God Redeemer in this case Now in the handling of the Doctrine I shall follow this familiar method 1. I shall explain the terms 2. I shall shew for what ends Jesus Christ doth thus cause and command diseases Lastly I shall make Use and Application For the first In the explication I shall tell you what I mean by sicknesses and then explain the exercise of Christs government and command of diseases in those acts of it
for his friends which proved such miserable Comforters to him Job 16.4 5. If your souls were in my souls stead I would strengthen you with my mouth and the movings of my lips should asswage your grief Oh Sirs how sweet and savoury is it to a sick Christian to receive spiritual Cordials from the wholesome tongue of a cordial friend Now this will be a reason and ground of our sympathy if we look on Believers in their sickness in their union and relation to Jesus Christ for saith Christ Mat. 25.36 I was sick viz. in my sick members and ye visited me Consider this diseased Christian is a member of that Body whose Head sits at the right hand of the Majesty of the most High And as poor as this sicK Saint lies here yet he is virtually raised up with Christ and sits together with him in heavenly places As miserable as he appears now yet the next time we see him we shall see him appearing with Christ in glory Come with these considerations when you visit one another and you will account it a mercy and great priviledge if you or any thing of yours be so blest as to be the instrument of ease or health or comfort to such a precious one and you will finde all well improved when Christ shall say unto you Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you for I was sick and ye visited me End 14. Christ visits his people with sickness to glorifie his power and mercy in strengthening and comforting them in their sickness That of the Apostle is true of bodily as well as of spiritual weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 My strength is made perfect in weakness Now is a time for God to shew his strength in the weakness of his people Psal 41.3 The Lord will strengthen him on a bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness Methinks that man should lie easily who hath the God that made all the world to make all his bed in his sickness The meaning is God will be the cause of rest and ease and peace to him in this condition Hence Myconius in a fit of sickness writes to Luther Se non lethaliter sed vitaliter aegrotare that he is not sick unto death but sick unto life having so much spiritual life and comfort in his sickness And one of Mr. Dods Converts told him in her sickness That she was full of comfort and could as hardly forbear singing now as she could crying when she was in Child-bearing That of the Psalmist agrees to this Psalm 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever It 's observable that God hath this title in Scripture The God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1.3 because whatever comfort we have from any creature it comes from God through the creature it 's the goodness of God in the creature which makes it a comfort it 's the goodness of God which makes a Wife a comfort a Childe a comfort c. And then he is the God of all comfort because he comforts us against all troubles there is comfort from God through the creatures but this is but some comfort Money comforts a man against his debts and meat comforts him against his hunger but there are other cases as of sickness and spiritual wounds and temptations c wherein these yield no comfort But whatever the trouble be to a Believer there is comfort in God against it we have often God the Holy Ghost called in Scripture The Comforter now it 's a special skill to observe which way God in a most especial manner glorifies his several Titles This Title The Comforter is glorified by Gods exercising his infinite power to comfort the hearts of his distressed people Now sickness is an affliction wherein a man can have nothing to comfort him but God and Jesus Christ this is clear for true comfort is the strengthening of the heart against the present trouble now that which comforts us must be as truly ours as the trouble is ours we must say Our God and our joy as well as Our sickness or else we cannot have comfort And again it must be as near as our trouble for it 's no comfort to an hungry man to know he hath meat if he cannot come at it Now faith sees God and Christ as near to the soul to comfort it as sickness is to the body to trouble it And then lastly that which comforts us must be good enough to take away the evil that troubles us now a mans great trouble on his sick-bed is for fear of losing his poor soul and in this case to shew him riches and honours and pleasures will not comfort him for they can do nothing in the removing his trouble but if God say I am thy salvation now the man is comforted and sings at the very door of death Solomon tells us Prov. 14.32 The righteous hath hope in his death Now his hope is not for some place of preferment or some rich purchase or the like for death brings no such things but he hopes for preferment in the great City that hath foundations Heb. 11.10 where he is for ever to dwell in his house not made with hands 2 Cor. 5.1 and these sickness and death bring him into That Scripture is sweet Heb. 6.19 20. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vail whither our forerunner is for us entred even Jesus The place within the vail is heaven where the anchor of hope enters and sticks So that though a poor believer lie gasping and groaning on his sick bed or in other afflictions yet this is his comfort he is still anchor'd and fastned to heaven End 15. Christ visits his people with sickness to fit them for greater sufferings As the Martyr Bilney put his finger in the fire to fit him to burn in the flames Christ by sickness makes a man fit to die and then he is fit for any sufferings for he that can obediently sacrifice his life to God can for the same reason offer up his health liberty and estate to God and this made Paul ready to suffer all persecutions because he was ready to die Acts 20.22 23 24. He knew that every where bonds and afflictions did way-lie him but saith he v. 24. None of these things move me I will not stir a step out of my way of obedience for all the bonds and afflictions that the hands of devils and men can make What is his reason because I count not my life dear unto my self so that I may finish my course with joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospel of the grace of God Precious Paul so that he could die in joy and die in duty he did not think his life too dear or too good to be spent for Jesus
Argument to press his following exhortation And now behold I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching the kindom of God shall see my face no more Oh people honour your Ministers children be instructed by your Parents whilst you have them for shortly you must see their faces no more Christians exhort one another daily whilst it is called to day For yet a little while and you shall see one anothers faces no more We finde that Saint Paul having exhorted Timothy to those great and necessary duties mentioned 2 Tim. 4.1 2 5. he presseth all with this melting motive vers 6. For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand as if he had said My dear son Timothy I am not like to counsel and instruct thee long therefore hearken to the counsel of thy dying father Paul Preach the word be instant in season out of season c. Sirs look upon your Ministers as dying Ministers and your Friends as dying Friends and labour to draw from these wells of life whilst they live for you little know what a loss you will have of them when they dye Fifthly believe and improve those precious Promises which God hath made for the preservation of your health and lives and in the use of means live by faith and prayer upon those gracious promises See Prov. 3.1 2 7 8. My son forget not my law but let thy heart keep my commandments For length of days and long life and peace shall they add unto thee vers 7 8. Fear the Lord and depart from evil It shall â—e health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones See also Prov. 4.20 21 22. Job 33.25 His flesh shall be fresher then a childes he shall return to the days of his youth Hence we often see that when a mans body is withered by sickness and baked like a potsherd he is restored by the blessing of God to such a good constitution and temper that his body becomes fresh like the flesh of a childe This is elegantly expressed by David Psal 103.5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Some say that the Eagles at every ten years end cast off their old Feathers and are quickly cloathed again with new as if they began to be young again and so live till they be an hundred years old Some also write of this property in the Eagles that when by reason of old age they have the upper part of their Bills bending down so far below the lower that they are scarce able to feed and so languish with hunger that then they break their beaks upon a rock whereby being able to feed they grow to their former strength to which the translation in the singing Psalms seems to allude Like as the Eagle casts her bill Whereby her age renew'th Whether these and many other such relations of the wonderful properties of the Eagles be true is uncertain yet it 's generally received that they are Birds long-lived and for many years continue so healthful that they seem to grow young again And thus God often blesseth men with health and strength and long life that their strength is renewed like the Eagles and although that which we read of Moses was extraordinary that when he was an hundred and twenty years old his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated yet we often see many live to a great age with their health and strength and parts through Gods mercie continued youthful and fresh to them Now Sirs lay up these promises in your hearts and improve them by faith and prayer so they may be the better to you then the wholesomest dyet or best physick in the world Lastly use the means of health and life so as that the God of life may bless you in the use of them for this purpose make conscience of these four things First Of your food It is God that gives a blessing to this Exod. 23.25 He shall bless thy bread and thy water and I will take away sickness from the midst of thee Therefore pulse and water with Gods blessing made those conscientious Saints look and like better then others that were fed with royal dainties Dan. 1.15 Take then your food as it were out of the hands of God who openeth his hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal 145.16 and eat and drink as those that see a presence of God at your table Deut. 12.7 Ye shall eat before the Lord your God eat as those that therein seek to please and honour God Rom. 14.6 He that eateth eateth to the Lord and giveth God thanks I know these Scriptures intend particular occasions of eating yet they hold out upon the same reason our duty to eat and drink so as to do the will of God and to bring glory to him according to that 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God as God turns all to a Christians good so it 's the admirable property of grace to turn all to Gods glory A gracious heart can feed upon the goodness of God in and bring glory to God out of every morsel of meat that comes into his mouth Tertullian gives a very savoury relation of the Feasts of the primitive Christians Before saith he they sit down to taste their meat they first taste of prayer to God they eat so much as hunger requires and drink no more then is profitable for chaste and sober persons they are so filled as thereby fitted to worship God in the night they discourse at meat as those that know that God hears them and as they began so they conclude the meal with prayer and so they depart not as if they fed onely upon meat but also upon discipline and instruction I refer the learned Reader to his own words Apolog cap. 39. here is a most gracious example worthy of the imitation of all Christians Secondly make Conscience of your apparel let it be such as becomes a holy chaste humble member of Christ and not a proud vain wanton limb of the Devil let your garments be both wholesome and comely neither so immodest as to dishonour the Gospel of Christ nor sordid as to disgrace the Body of a Christian Thirdly make Conscience of lawful and seasonable recreations These are healthful for our bodies and when used in the fear and according to the Will of God do very much fit us for the most inward communion with him What Solomon saith of one kinde of labour is true of others that it is a weakness and weariness to the flesh Eccles 12.12 For as it weakens a bow to keep it always bent and mars the strings of an instrument to keep them always stretcht so it weakens the body to keep it too long bent to one imployment therefore it is Gods will that it should be remitted to its harmless inoffensive and honest
CHRIST's POWER OVER Bodily DISEASES Preached in several Sermons on Mat. 8.5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. And published for the Instruction especially of the more Ignorant people in the great Dutie of Preparation for Sickness and Death By Edward Lawrence M.A. Minister of the Gospel at Baschurch in the County of Salop. Isaiah 38.12 He will cut me off with pining sickness from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me Exod. 23.25 I will take sickness away from the midst of thee Valent mihi stillae temporum August The Second Edition LONDON Printed by J.C. for Francis Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleetstreet 1672. To the Worshipful and my very much honoured Robert Corbet of Stanwardine in the Wood in the County of Salop Esq and to his Religious Consort M rs Elizabeth Corbet together with the rest of the Congregation in the Parish of Baschurch over which the Holy Ghost hath made me Overseer My very much honoured in the Lord THE reason of this inscription is not because you are preferred by God by your birth family estate and other outward priviledges to be the chief of the Inhabitants of my Parish for although I acknowledge the Wisdom and Will of God as the cause of this order and distinction among men and therefore do heartily give you the honour which belongs to you upon this account yet I must confess that this is not the cause of this publick acknowledgment But the reason is that whereas many great persons are a great curse to their Countrey which they fill with their own sins and Gods Judgments God hath made you the blessing of your Age in endeavouring to fill your place with the Name and Kingdom and Will of Jesus Christ and that in the great changes of our daies you have not as many served the times and your sins but served the Lord and your Generation And also because of your great honour and love to the godly able and Orthodox Ministers of Christ and to his holy humble sober and peaceable people which have been loathsome to others as the sink of the world but savoury to you as the salt of the earth for which although you have joyfully suffered reproach from some yet you have had the honour like that gracious couple Andronicus and Junia to be of note among the Apostles And particularly that you were of the first that called me to exercise my Ministry in this place wherein I have by your constant favour and countenance received much comfort and encouragemet The sense of all which together with my great joy in you by my hopes of your being of the blessed number of those who are really joyned to Jesus Christ and cloathed with his righteousness and who bring forth fruit in him which alone can make of you a sweet savour to God and for that reason precious and acceptable to his Saints hath caused me to signifie my sincere honour and love and thankfulness to you by this Dedication Now although I hope I write this in the singleness of my heart as believing that God will cut off all flattering lips and that a lying tongue is but for a moment yet I confess it fills me with serious thoughts to consider that this when I am dead will be yet speaking And that hereby I speak to you as it were in the hearing of the world and that some whom we are bound in Christian wisdom and charity to judge as upright Saints yet the heart-searching God may justly judge as Hypocrites and that many who have made a greater profession of godliness then any of us have proved fearful Apostates when they have been tryed by Errors Persecutions or Preferments I shall therefore looking upon my self and you as just in our very fall into Eternity and as presently going to Judgment and with the greatest belief and thoughts that I can get of Heaven and Hell upon my heart seriously beseech you according to the intent of this ensuing Treatise to examine your selves whether if you were to die in the reading of this you have a true Scripture-right to go to heaven that so you may find the Witness of God by the word in your own consciences agreeing with this publick testimony of your poor Minister for it is but a poor thing for a man of so little credit and less worth to confess you before men but this will be an honour indeed to have Jesus Christ to confess you before his Father in Heaven on the great day of the manifestation of the Sons of God And continue to live as discerning the great difference betwixt a godly and ungodly man that you may still be known by this character to be persons in whose eyes a vile person though never so great in the world is contemned but to honour them though never so poor that fear the Lord. This difference must needs be great when I dare be bold to say that it is beyond the tongues of men and Angels fully to express the excellency and glory of the one and the vileness and misery of the other And certainly the further insight you have in the Scriptures in God and Christ Men and Devils Sin and Grace Heaven and Hell the more clearly you will know this difference Do but look on the Godly and Wicked as they appear in sickness and death and in the Day of Judgment these put an eternal period to all other distinctions there will be then no such difference as Prince and Subject Landlord and Tenant Rich and Poor but onely Godly and Ungodly see the difference now as it will appear when Come ye blessed and Go ye cursed and the right hand and left hand of Christ hath distinguished and parted the world Be resolved to cleave to Christ his truth and people through all the sufferings and stumbling-blocks which you meet with in your way to heaven sufferings will be harder to you then to many others the greater your names and estates are the greater must your graces be to enable you to part with them you have a greater self to deny and a greater cross to take up great riches and great preferments make many great Persecutors and great Apostates but few great Martyrs you must buy the truth whatever it cost you and the more you give for it the more you will gain by it if you sell all for Christ you shall never complain of a dear purchase Look with the dearest affections upon your Posterity and believe that you will never have such an opportunity to make them happy and to entail the blessings of God upon them as when you are called to suffer for the sake of Christ you may be called to make a great exchange either to part with your lives and estates and to keep Christ and heaven or to part with Christ heaven and your souls to keep the world if ever such a day come look to the poor soul above all keeping keep your poor souls remembring that of our Saviour
is alter ego another self but we must obediently give up our friends to the will of God I shall tell you what this is thus quietly to resign our friends to God It is that whereby we solemnly worship God acknowledging and praising his Name and subjecting our hearts to his will as he is a God of this dispensation As for example God smites a Husband with a disease now saith God by this Providence to the Wife What if I make thee a Widdow and thy Children Fatherless Why Lord saith the Wife thou art herein a wise holy and good God and I will still own and trust and love and rejoyce in thee Thus the heart must worship and praise God as he appears in this sad Providence and so the heart agrees with the Will of God as it is signified by this dispensation Now if there appear any rising of discontent we must quiet all such tumults with the Will of God as Eli did 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good in his sight We have an excellent pattern of this in Job Cap. 1.20 21. when amongst other sad Providences he heard of the sudden death of his sons he fell down and worshipt God whom he saw in the Providence saying The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Thus he worshippeth and praiseth God as it appeared in taking away his Children And thus when any friends are diseased labour to get thy heart into this frame this will make the mercy more sweet if they live and the affliction less bitter if they die I know your thoughts will now be full of the goodness of your friends Oh such a wise faithful loving Husband such a careful meek loving Wife c. Well look upon them at the very best and as such offer them up to God offer to God the best of thy flock the best of thy friends the better they are the better is thy patience and obedience in parting with them and withall all remember that if God will have thy friends to Eternity there is no ransome to be taken for them but they must be gone Thou mayst cry after them as Elisha did by Elijah 2 Kings 2.12 My Father my Father but Elijah never stops to answer him So thou mayst cry My Husband my Husband my Wife my Wife my Childe my Childe but to Eternity they will go and never stay to answer thee for God taketh away and who can hinder him or who can say unto him What dost thou We cannot hinder him and we must not question him but resigne all to him End 12. Christ visits his people with sickness to fill their hearts with prayer Solomon tells us Prov. 15.8 The prayer of the upright is his delight For a Believer being in Christ and found in his Righteousness at the Throne of Grace there ariseth such a sweet smell and savour to God which makes the Believer and his prayers pleasant and delightful to him and therefore God often sends sickness to stir up a spirit of prayer in the hearts of his people Hence we read of that sick man Job 33.26 He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy So when Hezekiah was sick he turned his face to the wall as he lay in bed and wept and prayed unto the Lord Isa 38.2 14. So David as appears by Psal 30 and 38 and 39. when his body was full of sickness his heart was full of prayer See further Psal 107.17 18 19. That was a savoury speech of a Reverend Divine in his sickness to his friends Sinite me Psittaci instar cum Domino meo balbutire Suffer me to stammer like a Parret with my Lord by prayer The hearts of Gods people are called as Mr. Brightman observes on Rev. 5.8 Vials full of Odâ—urs that is hearts full of sweet and savoury prayers Oh when the bodies of the godly are as a sink full of filthy humors their hearts are as Vials full of the precious odours of prayer This is the blessed priviledge of a Believer that in the most sad and deplorate condition in the world he hath always access with boldness into the presence of God Ephes 2.18 Through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father Hebr. 10.19 Having boldness to enter into the Holiest viz. into heaven by the Blood of Christ Thou mayst by faith and prayer step out of thy sick bed into heaven Job saith in his affliction Chap. 31.37 As a Prince would I go near unto him Sirs the Spirit of Prayer is a Royal Spirit whereby a Believer goes with a Princely boldness and confidence unto God Now indeed sickness is a most special season for prayer because of our present need of those things which we are bound to pray for not only in regard of our need of ease and health and life though the want of these is a reason of prayer Isa 38.14 I am oppressed with pain and trouble undertake for me Hence David prays Psalm 39.13 O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be seen no more But now our present need of soul-saving mercies should set awork our hearts in prayer now a man is perhaps just in his fall into Eternity and is like to finde within a few hours whether Heaven or Hell be his portion This man hath need to pray earnestly for sound repentance and saving faith and pardon of sin and everlasting salvation End 13. To fill the hearts of the godly with sympathy to one another as a distemper in a toe or finger afflicts all the rest of the members so when one member of Christ is visited all the members about him are called to sympathize and condole with him 1 Cor. 12.26 If one member suffer all the members suffer with it Hence we finde that when a Christian is diseased there is a spirit of prayer poured out in his behalf from all the Christians about him When Melancthon was sick it 's reported that Lutheri Crucigeri precibus non tam convaluit quà m revixit By the prayers of Luther and Cruciger he was not only restored from sickness to health but as it were from death to life Melch. Adam in vita Melancth So when Myconius was sick Luther affectionately prays Peto ut loco tuo me faciat Dominus aegrotum I pray that the Lord would make me sick in thy stead Melch. Adam in vita Mycon David had this charity for his enemies in their sickness Psal 35.13 But as for me when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into my own bosom I behaved my self as though he had been my friend or brother I bowed down heavily as one that mourned for his Mother Shall David thus fast and pray for his sick enemies and shall not we for our sick friends Job professeth what his carriage should have been
Christ So saith he 1 Cor. 15.32 I protest by your rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I die daily He was so acquainted with death that he made it his daily practice to put himself into a frame and posture to die and so many a Christian hath got such acquaintance with death by sickness that he lives in a continual frame and readiness to die besides his sickness makes him less fearful of men for he knows when they have killed the body they have no more that they can do they have done their worst which is no more then an ordinary disease can do and therefore as the Philosopher told the Tyrant when he threatned to kill him that a Fly could do that so Believers need not fear what men can do because they can do no more then a Fever Dropsie Consumption or any other disease can do and thus he is prepared by sickness for other afflictions End 16. To prepare them for great mercy Beloved sometimes mercies are more dangerous for Gods people then afflictions they are often worse in plenty then in poverty in credit then in disgrace more secure in health and ease then in pains and sickness This happens when our mercies are too big for our graces as when we have great credit and little humility or else when our outward mercies do most feed our inward corruptions as when riches do meet with a heart much inclined to covetousness and health and ease are given to a Christian who is apt to be idle and secure now therefore God melts his people in the Furnace of Affliction to prepare them to be vessels of mercy Hence we read Hebr. 12.11 That no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby As whilst a Childe is under the discipline of the Rod he receives the fruit of his dulness and idleness in the smarting of the Rod but afterwards he receives the fruit of his learning and education in honours and preferments So whilst Gods children are corrected with sickness and other afflictions they receive the bitter fruit of their sins of their pride frowardness security and creature-confidence c. and this is not for the present joyous but grievous but afterwards they reap the fruit of righteousness and holiness of faith fear love prayer c. and this is sweet and peaceable fruit we have a pertinent proof of this Psal 126.5 6. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him As the Husbandman in a year of famine when corn is dear and seed scarce he sows he ventures it in the ground but he sows in tears he goes out with his seed weeping Ah thinks he this corn would have made so much bread for my poor wife and children or would have given so much money towards paying my rent Thus with a sad heart he sows his seed but when harvest comes and brings forth a plentiful crop then he reaps in joy and brings home his sheaves with singing shouting and rejoycing Thus it is with Gods childe in affliction as suppose in sickness his grief is great and his pains grievous yet he sows though it be in sorrow he believes in tears and hopes in tears and prays in tears well after comes the harvest of health and he reaps the fruit of faith hope and prayer and he goes about rejoycing and praising God and carrying his sheaves of mercy and comfort about with him Our Saviour speaks fully to this case Joh. 16.20 21. Ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy A woman when she is in travel hath sorrow because her hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of the childe she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world As a woman with childe when the hour of her travel is come is full of sorrow with the throws and pains of her travel but when she is delivered she forgets her sorrow and with a joyful heart falls a kissing and imbracing her childe So my Brethren when the hour of sickness or other affliction comes upon us we are full of sorrow with the pains and travels of our affliction but when we are delivered and see what mercy our affliction hath brought forth the joy and comfort of our graces and experiences and deliverances doth swallow up the sorrow of our affliction We have a special instance of the glorious chain of Gods wonderful Providence towards Joseph to confirm the truth in hand his afflictions lasted about thirteen years for he was seventeen years old when he visited his Brethren Gen. 37.2 and thirty years old when he was preferred in Pharaohs Court Gen. 41.46 Now in all this time his afflictions were sad he was parted from his tender father he was bought and sold after this unjustly defamed and imprisoned he was put like a Rogue in irons Psal 105.18 his afflictions were so great that the afflictions of Gods people were long after and ever will be to the end of the world called the afflictions of Joseph Amos 6.6 yet he was after all this raised up in great mercie and was made a blessed instrument to save the Church and Israel of God from perishing with famine We have another instance in Job I shall say no more of him but onely apply to his afflictions what the Apostle saith of his patience Ye have heard of the afflictions of Job and have seen the end of the Lord for as we read Job 42.12 The Lord blessed the latter end of Job David upon this ground incouraged himself in his afflictions because he believed a good issue out of them Psal 71.20 21. Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth Thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side Consider further that sickness when sanctified exceedingly fits a man both for Spiritual and Temporal mercies for then a man comes out of sickness as one who is raised from the grave and so he is filled with the thoughts of death and eternity and this is a frame of heart which gives a kindly relish to all spiritual mercies this makes him taste God and Christ to be exceeding gracious in the likeness and enjoyment of whom he sees himself blessed and satisfied through all eternity And this also fits him for Temporal mercies for it teacheth him to use friends lands food and all his temporal injoyments for eternity he hereby learns to turn his treasures in earth into treasures in heaven This makes him at the will of God to leave father and mother and lands and life knowing that he shall receive the comfort of all in another world so he cheerfully gives to Christ in his members
and hell afraid of them but a sickness and death comes and they are driven away in their wickedness Prov. 14.32 whose end Job describes cap. 24.29 Drought and heat consume the snow-waters so doth the grave those that have sinned So also we see godly people who are the blessing of their Age of whom the world is not worthy Hebr. 11.38 the world deserves not the prayers and counsels and examples of such men yet these perish though few lay it to heart Isa 57.1 for in this case there is one event to all Eccles 9.2 for as they lie at the graves mouth we cannot see the difference betwixt a skull that sleeps in Jesus and a skull that is condemned to hell and therefore it 's true of these gracious ones as was said of the good Patriarch Gen. 47.29 Israel must die or as we read of David Acts 13.36 After he had served his own generation by the will of God he fell asleep All these things are from Jesus Christ who sends sicknesses and death at his pleasure and many such things are with him Lastly It informs us of the great mercy of God that we enjoy our health and lives so long when he hath so many diseases in his hands to deprive us of both Hence he is called the Preserver of men Job 7.20 It is the Lord who is our life and the length of our daies who preserves us and keeps us alive Consider the many deaths and dangers we are preserved from that thereby we may see and acknowledge the greatness of this mercy Our Bodies and Souls were no sooner united in the Womb but thousands of deaths were ready to part us again we were liable to all the dangers that our Mothers were in in whose lives our lives were bound up besides multitudes of evils might have kill'd us there and a miscarrying Womb might have loosed us into Eternity And if we look through the whole course of our Age what year or week or day can we name wherein some have not died Oh infinite mercy that keeps us alive in a world of devouring devils and bloody men what multitudes of diseases might have bred in our own bodies what sudden deaths by Falls Fire Water Thunderbolts c. There is never a beam in our houses or beast in our fields or bit of meat on our tables or stones in the streets but methinks it 's like a Pistol charg'd and cockt if God say the word to strike us dead in the place where ever we sit ride walk lie down there is from thence a fall into Eternity We may well wonder when we read of the three Childrens preservation in the Fiery Furnace Dan. 3. and of Daniels safety in the Lyons Den Dan. 6. and yet I tell you our daily and hourly deliverances are as great only they are not so rare for to name no more Devils can as easily kill us as the Fire or Lyons could them and we have no more power to resist or escape these Murderers then they had the merciless Flames or greedy Lyons but as God miraculously preserved them so doth he wonderfully preserve us even in a croud of deaths and dangers Vse 2. Of Reprehension Secondly This Doctrine reproves those who in time of sickness do either for themselves or friends seek to Witches or Wizards for cure Christ makes them sick and they will go to the Devil to make them well but if Christ command all diseases to go and come at his will it must needs be a damnable sin to forsake Christ and the Ordinances appointed by him for our health and to seek help from the Devil This was King Sauls sin though in another case who consulted the Witch of Endor when he was invaded by the Philistins 1 Sam. 28.7 Then did Ahaziah in his sickness send to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron 2 Kings 1.2 And this is the horrid wickedness of many ignorant Atheistical wretches who when they have lost their goods or are visited with sickness seek to Conjurers and Wizards such as they call wise men or wise women to help and relieve them This sin is often condemned in Scripture Lev. 19.31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits Observe do not regard them but look upon them as the basest people in the Country neither seek after Wizards See Isa 8.19 Lev. 26.6 Observe the evil and danger of this sin in these four particulars First This is a sin which brings a man under the heavy wrath and curse of God Lev. 20.6 The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them I will even set my face against that soul and will cut him off from among his people Observe for this sin God will set his face against thee all his power and wrath is set and bent against thee O how canst thou hold up thy face when the face of God is set against thee and whereas thou thinkest thou art planted in thy Country and planted in the Church of God and planted in thy Family God will cut thee off from among thy people Thus poor wretch thy disease is perhaps abated and thou rejoycest in thy ease and health but remember thou hast got the Devils blessing and Gods curse Secondly This is that filthy sin of whoredom See again Lev. 20.6 The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits to go a whoring after them Do not you account this a beastly sin for people to go up and down a whoring Well though thou thinkest thou keepest thy self honest and wilt say I thank God no body can touch me in my honesty yet although all thy Neighbours judge thee to be honest the Lord judgeth thee to be a filthy Whore and Whoremonger for though perhaps thou hast not defiled thy body with a Whore yet thou hast defiled thy soul with the Devil Lev. 19.31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits to be defiled by them and thou mayst be assured that the Devil will not heal thy body except it be to kill thy soul and thou dost hereby joyn that person to the Devil which should be united to Christ thou dost yield thy self to the power and will of the Devil Hence those are the most ignorant sottish prophane or covetous people that seek to Witches Beloved we should do nothing but what we may comfortably go from the doing of it into the presence of God in any duty or to enjoy his presence into Eternity Now as a wife can have no delight to go from a whoremonger into the presence or society of her husband so how canst thou comfortably go from a Wizard to Prayer to a Sacrament or to a Sermon or from a Wizard into Eternity Thirdly This sin is the most abominable sin of Idolatry Lev. 11.31 Regard not â—hem that have familiar spirits I am the Lord your God Implying that they that seek to such do deny God to be the Lord and do disown him from
to the expence of thy precious time and Estate besides men are hereby so flesht with cruelty and given to fight that oftentimes the end of such is either to be killed or hang'd Now for the defence of this cursed sin men usually pretend these and such-like Objections which I shall briefly answer and so proceed to other Uses Object 1. Must I then be branded for a base Coward in suffering every one to abuse me Answ He is a base Coward that is so poor spirited as to serve a base lust and to be a slave to a conquered Devil but he hath a Divine Spirit that will do the will of God and rule his own spirit and conquer himself therefore shew thy courage by setting all thy might against thy sins Tertullian useth this ingenious art to divert the Christians from beholding the spectacles of cruelty in the Heathenish Games by directing them to behold how grace doth conflict with and conquer over sin Behold saith he wantonness destroyed by chastity falshood slain by faith cruelty beaten by mercy malapertness overcome by modesty tales sunt apud nos agones in quibus ipsi coronamur and such are the conflicts with us in which we are crowned De spectaculis cap. 29. So I say if thou lovest fighting fight with thy sins so shalt thou be crowned for a Champion when a company of strong and stout fellows shall be damned for Cowards besides thou mayst have opportunity to shew thy self no Coward when thou art called to suffer reproach poverty banishment imprisonment or death for the sake of Christ by thy chearful and obedient suffering of which thou wilt be more then a Conquerour over sin the world death devils when a company of proud Swaggerers who venture their limbs and lives in quarrelling and fighting for the Devil will basely turn Papists or Infidels before they will venture any thing for Jesus Christ Object 2. But I shall do them good by beating them and make them rule their tongues and carry themselves more civilly hereafter Answ Thou mayst do them good by thy graces but never expect to do them good by thy sins The Scripture directs thee to a better way to do thy enemy good Mat. 5.44 Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you Rom. 12.21 Overcome evil with good And Solomon tells us that a soft tongue and not a hard cudgel breaketh the bone Object 3. How then must I live I can never be in quiet I am abused by such that would provoke any man alive to strike them Answ I confess the world is full of many daring contentious spirits whose mouths call for strokes Prov. 18.6 and who as Austin speaks carry the Devil in their tongues But this will not excuse thee if thou canst not rule their tongues rule thy own hands Remember David how was that Royal person rated by Shimei 2 Sam. 16.7 Come out come out thou bloody man and thou man of Belial But see how David takes it vers 10 12. Let him curse because the Lord hath said unto him Curse David It may be the Lord will look upon my affliction and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day I would therefore seriously advise thee when thou art thus provoked to see heaven and hell looking thee in the face and hear the Scripture crying in thy conscience Render good for evil and go to heaven but Render evil for evil and go to hell This may work thy heart into Davids frame which appeared in his carriage towards Saul 1 Sam. 24.13 Wickedness proceeds from the wicked but my hand shall not be upon him So when thou art provoked by the insolent behaviour of unreasonable men say Wickedness proceeds from the wicked I can expect no better from such but I will leave my cause with God for I am resolved that my hand shall not be upon him Sixthly This Doctrine reproves those who threaten to do hurt and mischief unto others This was Jezabels sin who threatned to slay Elijah as he had caused Baals Prophets to be slain 1 Kings 19.2 So let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time Thus Saul is said to breath out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord Acts 9.1 and so those bloody Jews bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul And so many threaten others that they will be even with them that they will do them a mishief or that they will be the death of them Now thou seest that power to hurt or disease or any other way to trouble a man belongs to Jesus Christ and what ground hast thou to expect that Christ will exercise his power to fulfil thy lusts besides this is a fearful curse of God upon many that they are so far left to themselves as to will and intend and threaten mischief and thereby bring guilt upon their own souls and yet are never able to finish their sin so as to do the hurt they intend to others and this is a very torment to many a malicious wretch that he lives travelling with iniquity and yet is never able to bring it forth Furthermore how darest thou threaten to do a man hurt when thou art bound to pray to God to do him good yea and to preserve him from that very evil which thou threatnest against him Again it often appears that God intends the very same mischief to thee which thou intendest to others Psal 35.8 Let his net that he hath hid catch himself into that very destruction let him fall But to conclude this consider that when many a man is threatning and devising mischief to others a disease from Christ doth suddenly take him and turn him to hell before he can bring it to pass Seventhly It reproves the great wickedness of such who curse others by wishing diseases or other judgments upon them We often hear such horrible speeches as these A plague on him a pox on him c. as if they and not Christ had power to command diseases to go and they will go or as if the power of Jesus Christ must be the servant and instrument of a proud froward and malicious heart This sin is forbidden to be used towards our worst enemies Rom. 12.14 Bless them that persecute you bless and curse not and it is made the signe of a graceless man to have his mouth full of cursing Rom. 3.14 for his heart is full of pride malice and anger and these fill his mouth with cursing Consider if thou curse others God will curse thee Psal 109.17 18 19. As he loved cursing so let it come unto him Consider further some will curse their friends their husbands wives or children and sometimes God hath punished such cursed speeches in bringing
ordinance do meet the heart agrees and is suitable to the ordinance and so is fit and worthy to receive it but on the other hand here is a dead unbelieving sinner that hath no principle or faculty to discern Jesus Christ or to receive him as hereby offered therefore he comes unworthily he is not fit for his heart and the ordinance do not agree but he is like a blinde man before the most glorious shew Again here is spiritual food meat indeed and drink indeed to feed and satisfie a soul with grace and pardon and salvation Well and here is a poor soul hungring and thirsting after this very food Now such a man is fit and comes like a hungry man to a good and wholesome feast but here is another dead sinner that sees and feels his want of nothing and so is no more fit and meet for such an ordinance then a man that lyes dead in a Coffin is to eat the bread and wine which is dealt at his funeral nay further you may see the unworthiness of a wicked man in that his heart is against the Lords Supper as a man is very unfit for a feast when he loaths and his stomack doth rise against every dish on the table and against all the company So my Brethren a man is very unfit for the Lords Supper when his heart hates and riseth against Christ and against holiness against all godly Christians Sirs here is set before us that which condemns all sins and which requires the greatest strictness and holiness so that to be sure the man that hates Christ in a Minister or in a Christian cannot but hate him in the Lords Supper Well you see who are unworthy and who by this sin bring diseases and other judgements of God upon themselves in this life and also damnation on their bodies and souls in the life to come I might here also tell you that the godly themselves for want of the present exercise of grace suitable to this Ordinance may bring diseases and death upon themselves for as Christ with all his benefits is herein actually set forth so grace should actually come forth to meet him to take receive and enjoy him as when a feast is ready drest and disht up those that are fit guests must not onely have life and stomachs c. but they must also actually eat and drink The application is easie I shall therefore conclude this reproof in seriously warning all to take heed of unworthy receiving the Lords Supper would any man eat that which he knows would breed the Pestilence or the Fever or the Dropsie Why Christ tells you if you come unworthily you eat and drink judgement to your selves And certainly though the food be precious and wholesome and it is your duty to receive it worthily yet by unworthy receiving you do that which may bring the Plague Pox Fever c. upon you and without sound repentance will bring damnation upon your bodies and souls for ever The third sin to be here reproved is niggardliness this is a sin whereby men restrain from themselves the lawful use of the creature they have not hearts to take and use the creatures to those ends which God hath made them good for but basely defraud their own backs and bellies by grudging themselves the meat drink clothes recreations physick which nature requires and God allows The word speaks expresly against this sin Eccles 6.12 such men play the thieves in robbing God of the honour and themselves of the use of these mercies and they love their â— states better then themselves and by prâ—serving their riches they disease and destroâ— their own bodies 4. Drunkenness to which may be addâ— the sin of gluttony The former bring themselves to untimely sicknesses anâ— death by taking too little of Gods creâ—tures and these by taking too much consider the evil and danger of thiâ— sin of drunkenness in these five particulars 1. Drunkenness doth unman the drunkard and turns him into a very beast Hencâ— saith the Prophet Hos 4.11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart This is given as one reason of the peoples wickedness mentioned in this Chapter because they were so besotted with drunkenness and whoredom which sins took away all knowledge and wisdom from them Augustine saith Ebrietas est blandus daemon quam qui habet seipsum non habet Drunkenness is a flattering Devil which he that hath hath not himself Drunkenness is voluntaria insania wilful madness as Seneca speaks A Drunkard though at other times he may be learned yet now he can neither understand discourse see go ride nor do any business as becomes a reasonable man look on a drunkard and consider yonder goes one with the immortal soul and precious body of a man yonder staring eyes stammering tongue staggering limbs would if they were filled with the Spirit be precious instruments to honour God and become blessings to man but what a beastly creature is he made by this filthy sin 2. A drunkard is unfit for any employment he is good for nothing Who will venture his business with a drunken Servant or his life with a drunken Physician or his soul with a drunken Minister how many thousand of mens lives have been lost by drunken souldiers Whatever a mans estate be he may be cheated of all when he is drunk 3. A drunkard is unfit for all societies and that for divers reasons I shall mention but this one viz. a man cannot commit a secret to a drunkard who will chuse such a friend to whom a man can speak nothing but what he will have proclaimed in every Alehouse or Tavern in the Country Now what ever a man says to a drunkard no body knows but that the next time he is drunk he will tell all 4. Drunkenness betrays a man to all sin for a man at the best is full of the principles of Sin Now drunkenness is apt to set all a work and leaves a man incapable of many restraints which might be used to a sober person who knows what a man full of sin may do in his drunken mood when he hath neither grace nor reason nor counsel of others nor fear nor shame to restrain him and therefore what horrid sins are committed in drunkenness swearing cursing whoring fighting yea and murdering also Clitus was a dear and faithful friend to Alexander yet Alexander murders him when he was drunk though he was ready to kill himself for it when he was sober Augustine reports that a son of one in Hippo who was too much cockered by his Father came home drunk in which sin he would have ravished one of his Sisters slew his Father and wounded to death two of his other Sisters Lastly drunkenness shuts a man out of heaven and by untimely sicknesses and death hastens him to hell The Apostle assures us 1 Cor. 6.10 that no drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God Oh what a fearful sin is this it hurries a
risen with a burning heat but it withereth the grass and the flower thereof falleth and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways Oh tell thy friends lands silver and gold that thou art going into Eternity and art presently to stand before the Judge of Quick and Dead and see what help they can afford thee Thou wilt certainly finde Solomons words true Prov. 11.4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath Beloved If we would know whether a man be happy or miserable we must not look upon him as he appears in his honours and riches c. but follow him to his death and the day of judgment see how he speeds there and how he comes off then for then the man comes to his proof and we shall see that all the riches of the world yield no profit in those great daies but then the highest carnal Monarch shall be no more respected by the Judge of all the world then the ugliest Devil of Hell when a poor godly servant or day-labourer shall be crowned with incorruptible glory before his face Oh therefore you rich men look among all your jewels and treasures whether you have a God and Christ and grace for your poor souls these only are the provision which will maintain you against the terrors of death and the dread of judgment 6. Exhortation to poor men to prepare for sickness and death We think them poor who have nothing to live on in this world but they are poor who have nothing to live on in the other world Poor people you cannot come at the silver and gold and riches of this world when you will but you have as much freedom to the riches of the other world as the mightiest Prince upon earth Thou mayst call God Father and ask what thou wilt and live upon the everlasting Kingdom of heaven as thy own and therefore you that are poor and godly let your riches of the other world comfort you against the poverty of this Look on thy cold Cottage and then look on thy house not made wiâ—h hands Look on thy poor leathern cloaths and then look how thou shalt be cloaâ—hed when thou appearest with Christ in glory Look on thy brown bread and course fare and then remember the entertainment which Angels and Saints have in heaven Oh poor people though you know not how to be maintained whilst you live yet get saving grace and you will be rich enough to go to heaven when you die The last Exhortation shall be to such who in some respects seem nearer death then other persons I shall instance only in three sorts of people to whom I shall direct this Exhortation to prepare for sickness and death First Such whose callings and imployments do expose their lives to daily and great dangers as Water-men Colliers Carpenters Masons c. These men by a leak in a Boat or Ship a fall of a little earth a slip of a foot may be turned to heaven or hell every day Yet we often see that many who live in the greatest dangers live in the greatest sins My earnest advice to you is to prepare for death that though you stand in dangerous places yet you may stand upon sure ground for the salvation of your souls Sirs for ought I know you may get heaven with less danger then you get your livings Remember what precious souls you have and that every time you venture your lives you venture your souls too Labour by sound repentance to forsake your sins and to turn to God Do not swear and lye and be drunk and deceive others Do not prophane the Lords daies if you expect that God should preserve you on working daies labour by a sound faith to rest on Christ to save your guilty souls see your nearness unto Eternity be often looking from the places where you are into heaven and hell and see what a little there is betwixt you and them and seriously consider if now you should fall into Eternity in which of those two places would be your portion Get such a saving knowledge of God that you may comfortably commit the keeping of your lives unto him and solemnly worship God in your Closets and Families and live in the fear of God and in peace with him and use your callings to his glory that he may preserve you in your ways or however that if you do die in your callings you may not die in your sins Secondly Such who though they have ordinarily present case and health yet they are subject to dangerous and sudden pains and fearful distempers as Convulsions Falling-Sickness Stone c. you have need in regard of these to be always prepared for sickness and death you would not be without what remedies you can get when your distempers come Oh do not be without God and Christ and Grace if death should come in them Whatever you are doing consider Now my distempers may surprize me therefore if they take you in bed at meat at work let them not take you in your sins in all likelihood these fits will shorten your daies therefore let them hasten your repentance these distempers will fill you with torturing pains or for present deprive you of your reason parts senses c. so that then will be a very unfit time to prepare for death therefore improve your times of health and ease as merciful opportunities that when your diseases or death finde you they may not finde you unprovided Sirs always remember that you carry death in your bodies therefore be sure to carry grace in your souls Lastly Women that are with childe have special reason to be prepared for sickness and death God hath inseparably fixt this punishment upon this Sex that in sorrow they shall bring forth children Gen. 3.16 And our Saviour tells us Joh. 16.21 A woman when she is in travel hath sorrow And experience witnesseth the grievous pangs and pains of all and the sad deaths of very many in this condition so that thou must certainly within a few weeks be grievously diseased and thou mayst probably dye do not then venture into such dangers in a Christless state Poor woman perhaps thou hast bred that life which will be thy own death therefore labour to finde that Christ is as sure formed in thy heart as the babe is formed in thy womb and before that sad and dangerous hour of the birth of thy childe come examine throughly whether the new birth be past in thy soul I would not have thee oppress thy heart with the dismal fore-thoughts and distracting fears of that time for to be sure sufficient to that day will be the evil thereof but I would have thee so prepared that the short pangs of childe-bearing may not end in the everlasting pangs and torments of hell and that thou mayst be a new creature and found in the righteousness of Jesus Christ that if thou shouldst no longer live with thy
remember thou art shortly to be like unto them The very carkasses in the graves are ready to say unto thee as the Prophet brings in the inhabitants of the Tombs crying to the King of Babylon Isai 14.10 All they shall speak and say unto thee Art thou also become weak as we Art thâ—u become like unto us Look upon every thing about thy friends Funeral with a particular application to thy self look on the Bier at the door as if it stood there to receive thee look on the Coffin as if it were made for thee and look on the Winding-sheet as if it were washt and made ready for thee Look on the Sextons Spade as ready to dig a grave for thee Certainly these things would prove excellent means to fit us for sickness and death Direct 9. Keep up a spirit of prayer for surely a man is in a great measure fit to die who is fit to pray This appears by the Preface to the Petitions in the Lords Prayer Our Father which art in heaven whereby we see that a Childe of God by prayer doth as it were part from the world and is with his Father which is in Heaven Hence Heb. 10.19 Prayer is called An entring into the Holiest viz. into Heaven Besides it is easie to demonstrate that the same things which make us fit to pray make us fit to die and that a praying frame is a dying frame for our hearts are most set upon those things when we pray which we must receive when we die Death brings us to the things which we pray for and he that is unwilling to die is unwilling to receive an answer to his own prayers Beloved it often puzzles the thoughts of men to think what will be the issue of things what things will come to at the last Now it seems to me a clear and excellent expedient for our satisfaction herein to study well the Lords Prayer and to believe that all the Petitions therein shall certainly be granted and whatever we see before for certain at the Day of Judgment every Petition therein shall be fulfilled and therefore the more a mans heart is set on those things for which we are thereby taught and bound to pray the more ready and fit he is for Death and Judgment Prayer is one of the first and last things of a Christian so soon as ever the spiritual life is begun it presently breaths in prayer and I am perswaded that the godly do usually die in prayer Last Direct Live as one that knows that there are bounds set to thy life It makes many so unprepared for sickness and death because they look upon their lives as boundless they always think they have some time to live and therefore think of no time to die Now it is clear that God hath set bounds to the life of every man and when he comes to those bounds he is stopt and can go no further Job 14.5 Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Proud men climb to such a height of preferment and as they are rising higher Death stops them and they can go no further The covetous man gets such an estate and as he is reaching after greater wealth Death stops him that he can get no more Oh what a sudden stop did Death cause that rich Fool to make when he was constrained to die the same very night when he thought he was as it were beginning to live The malicious man goes to such a height of persecuting the godly and as he is raging in his malice and madness Death stops him that he can go no farther Oh what a stop did Haman meet with in the very height of his bloody designe against the Church of God! On the other hand the poor Childe of God is zealous in worshipping and serving God and as he is seeking to serve and praise him more Death stops him and his work is done therefore do every thing is knowing that thou mayst meet with thy bounds and be stopt in the very midst of thy work All the daies of my appointed time will I wait till my change come saith Job Cap. 14.14 Job knew that there was a change to come and that Death would make a great alteration with him shortly and that there was a secret time appointed for this change therefore he will every day wait and look for it Think with thy self in a morning I may see a great change before night and think with thy self at night I may see a great alteration before morning Sirs when a man goes from his house friends food and estate to heaven or hell believe it he will finde a great alteration Oh then live as if every day were to be the day of thy change as if every journey and work and duty would bring thee to the end and bounds of thy life So much for Exhortation to be prepared for sickness and death The next Exhortation is to such who have been visited with sickness but are by the mercy and power of Jesus Christ restored to health I shall exhort such to these five duties 1. Bless and praise God who hath restored thee to thy health God tells his people Exod. 15.26 I am the God that healâ—â— thee And certainly there comes power â—nd virtue from Jesus Christ to heal our â—iseases Therefore when Christ had healâ—d the woman diseased with an issue of â—lood twelve years I perceive saith he that â—irtue is gone from me Luke 8.46 And beâ—oved when ever we have been diseased â—nd restored there came virtue from Christ â—â—to the head or lungs or liver or where â—ver the disease lay and caused the cure which we must in all thankfulness acknowledge Thus did David Psal 116.6 8. I was brought low and he helped me For thou hast delivered my soul from death â—y eyes from tears and my feet from falling Now for the performance of this duâ—y of praising God observe these five directions 1. Get a clear knowledge of the glorious and excellent Name of God Psal 76.1 Iâ— Judah is God known his name is great in Israel Gods Name is great only where it is known and it is a most savoury thing to hear people speak of God as those that know whom they speak of Where God is thus savingly known the workings of the heart towards God are answerable to the glory and excellency of his Name Psal 48.10 According to thy Name O God so is thy praise Psal 150.2 Praise the Lord according to his excellent greatness Grace is more or less in a man according to his knowledge and sense of the Name of God and Jesus Christ In that heart where God hath no Name the man hath no Grace but it causeth great faith and great love and great joy in a Believer to see the great power and the great love and the great goodness of God and Jesus Christ 2. Praise God as he is a God of mercy to thee ascribe unto him a name from that which he