diseased ver 6. Lord my servant lies at home sick of the Palsie grievously tormented Luke saith Cap. 7.2 He was sick ready to die The person thus visited was a servant in Matthew the Centurion is said to call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be translated my child for the word is ambiguous signifying either a child or a servant but in Luke he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a servant yet it is said a servant who was dear to him and it seems by considering both together that he was a good faithful and obedient servant and therefore as dear to his Master as his child I shall take occasion from hence to call upon servants to do the Will of God in their Relation Servants labour in all faithfulness and diligence to honour your Masters keep up their Authority in your Souls and let your whole carriage savour of a heart that willingly chearfully and humbly yields up it self in obedient subjection thereunto 1 Pet. 2.18 Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear 1 Tim. 6.1 Let servants count their own Masters worthy of all honour 1. Consider the Family where thou livest is Jesus Christs he is the Great Master of every Family and he hath given Authority to the Master of the Family where thou dwellest to be his Vicegerent therein and to bear his Image and Authority and to rule in his stead therefore as thou art a Christian and so to honour Christ by believing in him and by rejoycing in him and by doing his Will so the honour thou owest to Jesus Christ as thou art a servant is to honour and serve and obey thy Master in him The Apostle requires the obedience of servants to their Masters for this very reason Col. 3.23 24. And whatsoever ye do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men For ye serve the Lord Christ Servants believe that you are threshing for Christ and plowing for Christ and spinning for Christ this will make you do your service heartily when you consider that you are therein serving the Lord Christ and this will make you afraid of disobeying and despising your Masters when you consider that you do thereby as much as in you lies depose the Authority of Jesus Christ from ruling and governing in the Family 2. Consider that you do hereby adorn the Gospel of Christ This is the Apostles argument Tit. 2.10 That they may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things What Doctrine this is appears by the following words the Doctrine of the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation Oh how should this prevail with you to consider that when in conscience to God you are faithful diligent quiet and obedient servants you are a precious Ornament to the Gospel of Jesus Christ The Gospel is honoured not only by Ministers when they preach the Gospel and by Martyrs when they die for the Gospel but also by poor servants when they live in their service as those who are ruled by the Gospel therefore believe the Glory of Jesus Christ as it is revealed and appears in the Gospel and then own and honour the Face and Image and Authority of the same Christ as it shines in thy Master whom he hath placed to bear his Authority over thee 3. Consider that faithful servants are exceeding precious to Jesus Christ Thou thinkest it a sad case that thou must spend all thy daies to toil and drudge like a poor servant but consider the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.21 Art thou called being a servant care not for it never let that trouble thee that thou art a servant And the Apostle gives this reason for thy comfort vers 22. For he that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lords free-man When many a gallant Lord and Lady is a servant to sin and a slave to the Devil and stands bound to suffer the wrath of God for ever thou that art but a poor godly servant and art bound to men yet thou art set free from Sin and Satan and Hell and hast a sure right to all the priviledges of Believers though thou art in this mean relation of a servant amongst men yet thou standest in all the glorious relations to Jesus Christ a poor servant and a King and Priest to God a poor servant and a Wife and Brother of Jesus Christ a poor servant and a glorious Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven I tell thee though thou art but a poor servant yet godliness will put such a grace upon thee as to make thee a glory to Christ a crown and joy to thy Minister a delight to Gods people a terrour to the greatest wicked man about thee and a very torment to the Devil of Hell Lastly consider that this is thy particular way wherein thou art called to please and honour God and to work out thy own salvation Psal 37.23 The steps of a good man be he never so poor are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way It was an high and holy saying of one That a poor Milkmaid walking in obedience to God in her calling doth bring more glory to God then heaven and earth There is no duty which thou art bound unto as a man or as a Christian which hinders thee in thy duty to God and man as thou art a servant for Gods commandments do not cross and interrupt one another and we cannot sin against Gods Will whilst we are doing his Will and true Grace will make thee a gracious servant as well as a gracious Christian the same faith and love which causes thee to believe in and to cleave unto Jesus Christ will cause thee to see and to love and to obey his will and authority in thy Master So that when thou art most faithful and diligent and obedient in thy service thou wilt finde most freedom and sweetness in Prayer in Sermons in singing Psalms and in feeding upon the Lords supper The Apostle requires all servants to be filled with this principle in their walking obediently to their Masters Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of inheritance Col. 3.24 teaching all servants to walk in their Callings so as those that know that this is their way to heaven Ah poor servants rejoyce in your work for heaven is your wages and let me tell you that you are never like to see a fairer way to heaven then you have now you are servants you will finde if ever you come to be husbands and wives and parents and rulers of families that it is harder to rule then to obey Now there are amongst many other excuses these three things which servants pretend to excuse their irreverence and disobedience to their Masters which I shall briefly answer and then proceed First the servant will plead that his Master is a poor man if he were as rich and great a man as some other Masters are then I would honour him but he is poor and I am come of as good
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
project to have himself honoured and Mordecai hanged vers 4 6. But in onâ— night God turned the scales by a Divinâ— touch upon the Kings heart and so Mordecai is brought to the honour and Hamaâ— to the gallows Oh what became of thiâ— great Courtiers thoughts when instead oâ— the honour which he expected he had thâ— halter which he deserved And thus wâ— finde that God hath gracious thoughts oâ— love and mercy to his people and the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever and the thoughts of his heart to all generations But men have thoughts of setting up themselves and throwing down the Church of God but they fade in their ways and their thoughts perish Lastly See your enemies in the hands of Christ What are they all when they may be sick or dead or damned before they can do thee any hurt Isa 51.12 I even I am he that comforteth thee Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and of the son of man which shall be made as grass We may learn here that a Christians fear of man proceeds from his ignorance of three things 1. Of God therefore saith God I even I am he that comforteth thee Sirs if there be more power and goodness and wisdom in him that comforts us then there is strength and subtilty and malice in them that trouble us what need we be afraid do but believe who comforts thee and thou needst not fear or care who troubles thee for God can take away the troubles of man but man cannot take away the comforts of God 2. Of themselves Therefore saith God Who art thou What thou who art my childe and hast me thy father to comfort thee and yet wilt thou be afraid of a man Oh what a poor-spirited creature art thou to be afraid of a man 3. Of the vanity of man Therefore saith God He is a man and can do no more then a man and he is a man that shall dye and wither as the grass Christians God and Sickness and Death and Hell are nearer your enemies then they are to you and I tell you do but believe Gods threatnings against them and you will see no reason to fear their threatnings against you Secondly live in a holy awe and fear of Jesus Christ Psal 33.8 Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him A man that is a tenant at will can tell you he is afraid of offending his Landlord for saith he I live under him I am at his mercie he can keep me in and turn me out of my living when he will Beloved if we knew the power of Christ as well as we do the power of a Landlord and were as much afraid of hell as we are of loosing our livings the same reason would prevail with us to be afraid of offending him for we live at his mercie and life and death is at his Will let me therefore warn you as God did the Israelites speaking to them of Jesus Christ Exod. 23.21 Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for if you continue in your sins he will not pardon your transgressions for my Name is in him Upon this ground we are required to fear him Psal 2.9 10 11. He will break his enemies with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potters vessel Therefore it is made the wisdom of Kings and Judges of the earth to serve the Lord with fear It is very observable that as Gods Attributes give being and life to a Christians graces so a Christians Graces bring glory to Gods Attributes as for example the Power and Truth of God causeth Faith and the Goodness of God causeth Love and the Greatness of God causeth Fear in the hearts of the godly So God hath a peculiar name of praise and glory from the graces of his people because of their faith and hope in him he is called the trust and confidence and hope of his people and because of their delight in him he is called the song and joy of his people and because of their awe and dread of him he is called the fear of his people the fear of Isaac Gen. 31.42 See Isa 8.13 Sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread We have a special instance of this in Job cap. 31. in which Chapter Job by many solemn protestations and serious imprecations asserts his innocencie in several duties as in chastity equity to his servants charity to the poor c. Now he clears himself that the reason of his integrity in these things was not because he was afraid of ever a man alive Hence saith he vers 34. Did I fear a great multitude or did the contempt of families terrifie me No no he had a great awe upon his heart vers 23. For destruction from God was terror to me and by reason of his greatness I could not endure How contrary to this is the secure temper of many who rage in malice against God and godliness and fill the land that bears thâ—â— with lyes oaths drunkenness whoredoms injustice Sabbath-breaking contempt of Ordinances c. yet they make no more of God and his Judgements then the very stones or dirt under their feet But oh what work will diseases and death make among these secure and senseless Atheists shortly methinks I hear the wrath of God roaring against them and the Lyon hath roared who will not fear Amos 3.8 Be perswaded then to stand in awe of God for which purpose lay up that Scripture Eccles 8.12 13. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God that fear before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God 3. Labour to make your peace with God you see what he can do against you he can disease or kill or damn you when he will therefore it 's your great wisdom and safety to have this God on your side and to be at peace with him The Scripture perswades to this duty with this argument Isa 27.4 5. Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battel I would go through them I would burâ— them together meaning if my enemies who are but as briars and thorns before me who am a consuming fire will fight it out against me I will burn them up quickly I will have them in hell presently but saith he vers 5. If they will by sincere faith and prayer take hold on my strength and make peace with me they shall make peace with me Now to prevail with you herein consider what this peace with God is it 's that blessed State whereby God in Christ is for the good and happiness and eternal salvation of Believers and whereby they are
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
11.4 I drew them with the cords of a man with the bands of love there are secret cords and bands in all our mercies to draw and to bind our hearts to God and when we finde our selves nourisht with meat and refresht with sleep we should finde a secret vertue in these mercies to joyn our hearts to God but God useth this means with many one but the soul yet abides in his sins then God sendeth another servant he sends a faithful Minister to call him to himself and a faithful friend to perswade him to come but yet the poor sinner will not come Well saith God I will yet try another messenger Go Fever Go Ague c. Now these are often so blessed that all the former dispensations work afresh Now he remembers his mercies and Sermons and counsels and they all work so effectually that the poor sinner is savingly converted unto God End 6. To convince people of the necessity and excellencie of godly Ministers Beloved Gods Ministers are the strength of King and Kingdom the very Militia of the Land The charets of Israels and the horsemen thereof 2 Kin. 2.12 The Apostle shews how we should esteem godly Ministers 1 Cor. 4.1 Let a man so account of us as the Ministers of Christ If we esteem Ministers aright we should prize them as Ministers prize them for that which makes them differ and wherein they are separated from other men as if you would truely prize the Lords day and call it a delight and honourable as the Scripture requires you must esteem it as sanctified and separated from other days and thereby you shall see it a more holy and blessed day so if you would prize the Lords Supper you must esteem the bread and wine as separated from other bread and wine and as consecrated and sanctified to such a use so if you would honour an Embassadour from a great King you do not so much look upon his personal worth but he is honoured and received as he is sent from the King and stands in his stead So my Brethren if we would prize a Minister aright look upon him as separated to the Gospel as cloathed with authority to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments as one through whose hands God hath in wisdom chosen to transmit the treasures of the Gospel to you and as one who stands in the stead of Jesus Christ who is ready to revenge all the affronts that are offered unto him Now my Brethren there are no sorts of men so much abhorred by the world as godly Ministers these whom our Saviour calls the salt of the earth Matth. 5.13 as if the world of men would be but as a piece of stinking carrion if it were not for godly Ministers and godly people And the Apostle tells us they are unto God a sweet savour in Christ 2 Cor. 2.15 yet they are hated as if they were the loathsomest excrements in the world This Paul elegantly expresseth 1 Cor. 4.13 We are made as the filth of the world and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day Ministers are loathed as if they were a curse and plague to the world and as if they were the nastiest jakes or sink on the earth for thus the words in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imply But now when God throws a sinner on a bed of sickness then a â—aithful Minister is for worth and excellency one of a thousand Job 33.23 for the more a man sees his need of those soul-saving mercies which Christ sends by his Ministers the more he will prize Ministers themselves If a man sees what hell is he will prize Ministers that labour to save him thence If a man believes what heaven is he will account Ministers precious who are to be the greatest means under God to bring him thither If the soul be wounded for sin then how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tydings of good things Rom. 10.15 So look on thy self as gasping under sickness at the door of Eternity and then see whether thou darest boast that thou hadst rather hear a Piper then hear a Preacher or rather set up a May-pole then set up a Minister these will prove but poor frolicks when thou seest nothing but death and hell and the day of judgement before thee thou wilt be glad then to send for these Elders the Ministers of the Church to pray over thee and as fast as thou canst spit in their faces now thou wouldst be glad then to lick the very dust of their feet for the least sound comfort that ever dropt from their sanctified lips End 7. Christ by sicknesses doth further and promote the Salvation of his own people as the following particulars do more fully evince and the reason of this is because Jesus Christ doth every thing to his people as their Saviour and therefore there is a saving Power and Vertue works from Christ in and through all his dispensations towards them as whether a father feed or whip his childe he doth it with the heart of a father for the good of his childe so if Christ afflict his childe he doth it with the heart of a Saviour to save his childe and therefore all Gods people may say of their sickness as Paul in another case Phil. 1.19 I know that this shall turn to my salvation We have full proof of this 1 Cor. 11.32 When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord meaning by those sicknesses and weaknesses mentioned in vers 30 â— that we should not be condemned with the world nor go to hell with the world Hence Tertullian speaking of Gods fatherly love in correcting his people hath this pathetical passage O servum illum beatum cujus emendationi Dominus instat cui dignatur irasci de patientiâ cap. 11. O blessed is that servant for whose correction or amendment the Lord is so earnest with whom he vouchsafes to be so lovingly angry Beloved it is observable that God doth not distinguish his people from the wicked by making them Lords and Ladies or by filling them with the treasures of the earth these are not the effects of distinguishing grace for a wicked man may have his belly full of these things Whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasures And therefore Job tells us of those that provoke God that into their hands God brings abundantly of worldly things Job 12.6 he brings a whole Empire of the world into the hands of a Nero or a Turk But God distinguisheth his people from the world by making them holy and happy and therefore though the common mercie of God which brings riches and honours and health c. doth not so much abound to the godly yet the distinguishing grace of God which brings salvation Tit. 2.11 never fails and therefore when they have many things which hinder their estates and liberty and health yet nothing shall
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
the Devil may bewitch you into sickness another by as bad a league will as it is termed bless you into health but though these seem to counter-work one another yet the Devils in both agree to devour your souls 3. It is enough to deter thee from ever seeking to such when they are branded with the names of Witches Wizards Conjurers c. When they are so reputed not onely by some malicious slanderers for Christ himself was slandered as one who had commerce with the Devil Matth. 12.24 but also by the voice of the country and by the sober wise charitable and godly Ministers and people who hear of their Clyents and of their practice Lastly this is a sufficient reason for all to abhor the thoughts of seeking to them because they use such means upon the use of which thou hast no Scripture-ground to believe or call upon God for a blessing as when they use inchanting words spells circles herbs salt stones c. which have no natural virtue to work such effects for these are but signes upon the use of which the Devil hath bound himself to his confederates to do what they trust him for For as Peter Martyr well observes the Devil is herein Gods Ape to imitate him and therefore as God hath made a covenant of grace with his people and hath ordained Sacramental signes and seals upon the faithful use of which he is present to believers to perform all that he hath promised in the Covenant So the Devil makes a covenant with Witches and appoints them to use certain signes and tokens upon the use of which he is present to do so far as he can and God permits all that they call upon him and trust to him for And thus you may see the nature evil and danger of this horrid wickedness of seeking in your sicknesses to Witches and Wizards for health that such as are guilty may repent and pray to God that the thoughts of their hearts may be forgiven them and that others who may be tempted to this sin may hear and fear and do no more any such wickedness Secondly This Doctrine reproves those who are full of murmuring and discontent when Christ visits them or their friends with sickness If Christ commands diseases to go there can be no reason to murmur if Christ doth it no body must finde fault yet most people are very apt to this sin in time of sickness for this is the property of a man that what ever is most in his heart when he is troubled it presently riseth and works up into his affections thoughts looks words and actions I shall illustrate this by a clear similitude Take two bottles of wine the one with sugar the other with dregs at the bottom now shake them and the sugar and dregs will rise and work up and the one fills the wine with a sweet and pleasant taste and the other will make it muddy and unpleasant both to taste and look upon so if a godly man and ungodly man be visited with sickness when the godly man is stirred and troubled his graces will presently work and the man will be full of faith love patience and prayer which makes his words and carriage exceeding sweet and savoury but when the wicked man is visited the dregs of sin presently rise and work up and his words and actions are then full of pride anger and discontent which make him sinful and unsavory so that I say a murmuring and discontented spirit usually prevails with men in sickness or other afflictions The Jews are often branded for this sin which was so notorious in them that the Scripture warns all people to take heed of murmuring for their sake 1 Cor. 10.10 Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer Now to arm you against this sin I shall briefly 1. Shew you the Nature and Properties of it 2. The Causes 3. The sad Consequences of it For the first observe the nature of it in this description The sin of murmuring is an unruly disobedient and unquiet frame of spirit whereby the heart riseth against God so as to question and quarrel with him as if he were unholy cruel unjust and unmerciful in his proceedings against us As by the grace of contentation the heart doth quietly and obediently yeild to the Will of God so as to approve and praise all his dealings as holy just and fatherly to him so a discontented spirit doth resist God and judge of all his dispensations as if they were unworthy and injurious to him This sin is further known by these four filthy properties 1. It is a rebellious rising of the heart against God especially as he appears in that Providence which is the present occasion of his murmuring Hence murmurers are called rebels Numb 16.41 for now all the powers of a man are up in a tumult and insurrection against God the affections and thoughts rise up in a quarrel with him Oh what a fearful case is this that when a mans body is so weak that he cannot rise out of bed yet his corruptions are so strong that they rise in an uproar against the Will and Authority and Justice of God! 2. It is an unjust judging of God for whatever the murmurer pretends his quarrel is against God as the cause of his visitation Perhaps in thy sickness thy discontented spirit flies out towards thy husband wife children or servants which are about thee but they may say with Moses to the Israelites Exod. 16.8 What are we did we make thee sick are we the causes of thy aches and pains thy murmurings are not against us but against the Lord Nay sometimes the spirit riseth so high that it expresly complains of God as if the parties grieved would set themselves above him and call him to their bar and be the judges of God and his dispensations so did the Israelites Numb 14.3 Wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land Oh horrid pride and insolencie they challenge God as if he had wronged and deceived them in bringing them from Egypt Such men practice what Jobs wife tempted him unto in his sickness Job 2.9 Curse God and dye they have cursed and blasphemous thoughts of God and his Providence it appears that men do thus judge God Psal 51.4 That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thoâ— judgest implying that God is judged and condemned by wicked men and therefore he is said to justifie and clear himself Oh thou proud worm thou conceited clay judge thy self and not God for he giveth not account of any of his matters and to be sure he will overcome when he is judged 3. A murmuring spirit makes his mercieâ— little and his afflictions great This cursed property is seen in the Israelites for although their deliverance from Egypt was such a Providence as God delights to be owned by Hence he is so often called The God that brought them
wholly turned and set for the service and glory of God So that in this case a man may improve his knowledge and faith by all the advantages both from Scriptures and Creatures and get his soul filled with the highest thoughts of the infinite power and wisdom and goodness of God and then boldly say This is my infinitely great and good Father and all his glorious power and wisdom and love is on my side then he may look into the world and see all things working busily about him and then conclude that this is the greatest work upon the wheels to bring happiness and salvation to me and to that body of which I am a member And then on the other hand he may look in himself and see all the powers of his body and soul united in this great designe to please and praise and enjoy God So that by these things you may learn what it is to be at peace with God whereby you may also see what is the enmity betwixt God and a sinner it is that whereby a sinner is against God so as to be fearfully bent to hate and deny and despite him and God is against the sinner so as to blast and curse and damn him so that this is thy case sinner if thou art not at peace with God all manner of diseases and all kindes of deaths and dangers yea and all the curses of the Bible are against thee because the God of all these is against thee I would therefore seriously perswade you to come to agreement with God which that you may do let me tell you that I am this day sent as an Embassador of peace from the Lord of life and death who hath committed to me the word of reconciliation So that I have authority from him to offer most blessed conditions of peace viz. if you will this day sincerely turn from sin to God and truely receive Jesus Christ as he is offered in the Gospel you shall have the great God to be your Father his onely begotten Son the true God to be your Husband and Saviour the infinite and blessed Spirit to be your Comforter you shall have grace and peace to abide with you here and an everlasting Kingdom of glory to possess and enjoy hereafter Sirs are not these blessed and honourable terms Well where lyes the difference Answ In nothing but sin Now what a fearful case is this that after God the Father hath sent his onely begotten Son and after he hath dyed the most shameful painful and accursed death of the Cross and after so many hundred Sermons and offers of peace Wilt thou now break with God for a base lust canst thou indure hereafter to lye among the Devils and damned in everlasting burnings and to see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and hear thy own conscience upbraiding thee to all eternity that thou hast lost heaven and dost lye in hell for loving thy cups oaths whores or the dust of the earth better then Jesus Christ O Sirs repent and believe quickly you have more need to do it then either to eat drink or sleep for ought you know you may be in hell before such another offer be made I am sure there are millions of diseases and deaths waiting at your doors to break up the treaty I shall therefore conclude this in the words of Eliphaz to Job cap. 22.21 22 23. Aquaint now thy self with God and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee Receive I pray thee the law from his mouth and lay up his words in thy heart If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy Tabernacles Fourthly prize and improve godly Ministers and people whilst you have them seeing it appears by this Doctrine that you know not how soon they may be sent for to heaven where I am sure they will be better respected Now the greatest honour that you can shew to godly Ministers is to be doers of the Word which they are Preachers of Ministers are more honoured by the conversion though of the poorest servants then by the highest commendations which the most able and learned Doctors are able to express for this is their greatest glory to be instruments of Gods glory in the salvation of poor souls for thereby the Word of God is glorified 2 Thes 3.1 By the applause of men Ministers may be cryed up for persons of excellent gifts and parts but this is their greatest glory when by the salvation of souls the excellencie of the power appears to be of God and not of men But Beloved the ignorant unbelieving world knows not the worth of godly Ministers or Christians because they see not the excellencie of God and Christ and Holiness and Heaven which are the causes which make them so precious The world knoweth us not because it knew him not 1 Joh. 3.1 But whatever the men of the world think who can prize nothing but honours and riches and pleasures to which they should be dead and crucified I tell you godly Ministers and Christians are the blessings of their age and those are the best Kingdoms and Countries and Towns and Parishes and Families which have most of them and which love them best Solomon tells us Prov. 10.11 The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life I need not tell you what a necessary publick mercy a well of good and wholesome water is to the Town or Family where it springs Now a righteous man is a Well of Life he is a spring of spiritual Aqua vitae Many a poor sinner or sad swounding Christian receives the spiritual life of grace and strength and comfort from the mouth of a godly Minister or Christian Prov. 15.4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life It 's a Metaphor taken from the Tree of Life in Paradise which was Gods Ordinance to preserve man alive had he continued in innocencie Thus a godly man is a tree of life in this evil world he turns a Family into a Paradise where he grows and is prized so that many a man who was dead in sin and many a fainting childe of God is quickned and revived by feeding on the fruit of his wholesome tongue Now my Brethren the serious consideration that these blessings are by sickness and death ready to be taken from us should cause us to esteem and improve their spiritual and savoury company How did Elisha cleave to Elijah when he knew he was presently to be taken from him and therefore we finde that three times Elijah to try Elisha his constancie seemed to shake him off but Elisha every time answers most solemnly As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee 2 Kin. 2.2 3 6. and if you read the story you will finde that it proved well for Elisha that he was so wise and careful to improve that precious opportunity See Acts 20.25 where Paul useth this
recreations Lastly make Conscience of the duties of your relations so that you may refresh and revive and not disease and destroy one another our health and life doth much depend under God upon our relations You therefore that are parents do not spend your childrens bread in whoredom drunkenness idleness and revenge many parents finde their lusts more chargeable then their children It is very sad that children may cry out We might have had better education better trades better portions better health had not our merciless Parents loved their sins better then their children You that are children make not your parents lives miserable who have been a means of life to you be not such foolish children as to be the heaviness of your parents Prov. 10.1 Husbands Nourish and cherish your own flesh Eph. 5.29 Make not provision for your lusts with that which should make provision for your wives Wives do your Husbands good and not evil all the daies of your lives Prov. 31.12 labour to be their Comfort and Crown and not as rottenness in their bones So much for the Exhortation to all in general 2. Exhortation directed to people as they enjoy their health The duty which I shall exhort unto is to prepare for sickness and death In this Exhortation I shall use this method 1. I shall shew what this work of preparation is 2. I shall press this duty on several sorts of persons 3. Urge it with some Motives Lastly I shall give several Directions to direct us how to be prepared for sickness and death For the first This work of preparation is that whereby every sound believer is by the spirit of Jesus Christ setled in such a blessed state and frame that he is fitted for all that Christ shall do to him by sickness and death In this description observe three things 1. The principal efficient cause which makes this great preparation in us viz. the Spirit of Jesus Christ Hence Christ is called The Author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.12 Where Jesus Christ begins a work of grace and salvation in a soul he never leaves it till he hath finished it and made it up for heaven therefore saith the Apostle Phil. 1.6 Being consident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it or finish it till the day of Jesus Christ that is till the day of death and of judgment so that this is the great work of Jesus Christ in every true believer to fit him and make him ready for sickness and death and the day of judgment 2. Here is the subject of this work or the person prepared viz. every true believer who is a vessel of mercy prepared for glory 3. Here is that wherein the nature of this work of preparation consists viz. in three things 1. He must be setled in the state of grace and salvation that is he must have a Scripture-right to God as he is the God of salvation by Jesus Christ and so a right to heaven and to all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace 2. He must be wrought into a gracious frame whereby he is bent to yield up himself in subjection and obedience to the will of God in sickness and in death Lastly Here is that which he must be prepared for viz. all that God shall do to him by sickness and death If God fill him with pain and misery he hath his graces of faith love patience humility and meekness to enable him to lie quietly and obediently and chearfully under the power and will of his heavenly Father If God call him by sickness into Eternity he is with Saint Paul ready to be offered and is made fit by grace to receive and enjoy the glory of heaven This gracious frame of heart is fully epxress'd Rom. 14.8 Whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we die we die unto the Lord that is we live to this end to please and do the will and to seek the glory of the Lord and we are ready to die to the will and glory of the Lord. So much for the Explication of this work of preparation Secondly I shall press this Exhortation upon these seven sorts of persons 1. I shall exhort little children so far as they are capable to know and practise this duty to prepare for sickness and death Now because this applicaâ—ion may seem strange consider that God himself thinks it not below him to be a Teacher of young children Psalm 148.12 13. Both young men and maidens old men and children let them praise the name of the Lord. And all parents are commanded to teach their children to know and do his will Deut. 6.6 7. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart and thou shalt teach them diligently or whâ—t and sharpen them upon thy children So Prov. 22.6 Train up a childe in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Observe there is a way for young children to go to heaven and it is that wherein they should be found when they are old and all parents are bound to set them in that way and indeed children are sooner capable then most conceive to know something of God and Christ and Heaven and Hell Timothy knew the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from a sucking childe 2 Tim. 3.15 And this appears by the timely fruits of the Spirit that sometimes drop from their pretty sanctified mouths And certainly baptized children being Christs Disciples and admitted into his School the Church have a right to be taught in the way to salvation and Christ is a Prophet to them and his Ministers are Ministers to them as well as to others And really Ministers have often more comfort from catechized Boys and Girls then from many old ignorant Atheists who are worse then children in the understanding of the Scriptures And lastly it makes much for Gods glory to have his Name praised by the mouths of little children Psal 8.2 Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thy enemies that thou mightest still the enemy and avenger Observe God hath ordained that his praise in the mouths of little children shall be a strong and powerful means to stop the mouths of malicious subtil Atheists to still the enemy and avenger So we read Matth. 21.16 Out oâ— the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thoâ— perfected praise The praises that come to God by the blessed Angels and all the Saints in heaven and earth is perfected and made up by the praises of these young Saints Now considering these things and seeing sickness and death fetch away so many young children into Eternity I have chosen to direct one brief Exhortation to the young Boys and Girls among us Oh come therefore you sweet and pretty children and I will teach you the fear of the Lord be you prepared for sickness and death Heark sweet Children
Husband nor enjoy the fruit of thy womb upon earth thou mayst live with Christ and enjoy the fruit of his righteousness in heaven for ever I shall conclude this with that suitable Scripture 1 Tim. 2.5 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childe-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety lest poor women should be swallowed up with the sad thoughts of the sin mentioned in the former verse where it 's said that Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the gransgression for which sin disgrace and punishment is fixt to the Sex these words are added for their comfort to shew that notwithstanding that sin and the punishment thereof yet they shall be saved in childe-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety Poor woman methinks I see thee walking with two souls over eternity and both full of sin Oh therefore hasten to make thy peace with that God whose power alone must take the childe out of the mothers bowels that so thou mayst comfortably depend and call upon him to save both your lives but however to save your poor souls I come now to urge this duty with these seven Motives Mot. 1. It is the will of God that you should be prepared for sickness and death in so doing you do the will of God he commands you to wait and watch and prepare for the day of judgement Matth. 24.42 Mar. 13.33 35. Now it 's a certain rule that all those Scriptures which command us to prepare for the day of judgement do imply our duty to be prepared for sickness and death which are the forerunners of that day and the same preparation which is made for the one will serve for the other Now my Brethren this is a sufficient reason to move you to this duty for it 's the will of God which makes it our duty and binds us to it and must be the reason to us why we do it or we can never be prepared aright Beloved God would have us to be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 to reign with him in heaven and therefore to be always ready against the time that he sends for us thither Mot. 2. It 's a signe of a very wise man to be prepared for sickness and death Prov. 22.3 A prudent man fore-seeth the evil and hideth himself A wise godly man sees sickness and death and the day of judgement before him he knows he must go through all these and therefore he takes care to provide so as to be safe and happy in those great dangers Beloved it 's the greatest wisdom in the world to be wise to salvation It 's better miscarry in a thousand businesses then in the business of Salvation Now he that is wise to salvation prepares against all the dangers that he must be saved from and the greatest danger is at death when a man must go through that door where so many millions fall into hell what a wise man then is he who is prepared so as that door to him is the door of heaven Many that get estates and preferments in the world are much admired for their wisdom and yet when death comes they must be damned for their folly Remember the Parable of the ten Virgins five whereof were wise and five were foolish Now why were those five called wise the reason was because when that great cry was made at midnight Behold the Bridegroom cometh they were prepared and why were the other five foolish because they were unprepared for that great time Beloved when the great God our Saviour shall come out of heaven with his mighty Angels and his glorious Saints and shall shew his blessed face in the clouds and sound a trumpet that will call all the quick and dead before him in the twinkling of an eye certainly they will prove the wisest persons that are so prepared as to stand and triumph and lift up their heads with joy in that great appearance Ah Sirs when Come ye blessed and Go ye cursed hath distinguished and parted the world it will then be known who are wise men and who are fools Mot. 3. Because it 's altogether uncertain when sickness and death will come the Scripture useth this argument Mar. 13.33 Watch and pray for ye know not when your time is Solomon elegantly sets forth the uncertainty of our time Eccles 9.12 For man also knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them As the fishes are sporting in the water and are presently masht in the net and as the birds are hopping in the chaff and are presently caught in the snare so poor man is suddenly and unexpectedly surprised in the snares of death Sometimes a man is fast asleep and sickness awakens him sometimes he is feeding at the table and death comes between the cup and the lip sometimes he is riding a journey and death throws him into eternity and sometimes he is making a purchase and death comes and breaks the bargain sometimes he is marrying a wife and death comes and mars the match Sirs sickness and death are under no rules of civility they care not for disturbing the weightiest business in the world if therefore we cannot say of any thing I will do this or I will have that before I am sick or dead certainly our very next work should be to prepare for sickness and death Mot. 4. Because thou knowest not what kinde of sickness or death may come upon thee We read of a great death 2 Cor. 1.10 Sometimes death comes with great pains and great terrors and great temptations which make it a great death so that the provision of a whole age of grace will not without the mighty support of Gods Spirit keep thee holy and cheerful at such a time It is said Job 18.13 The first-born of death shall devour his strength The first-born is the chiefest and mightiest in it's kinde and therefore the meaning is that death shall come in the most cruel and terrible manner to devour a man Now set before thee those that have dyed in the most fearful pains of body and have been assaulted with the most horrid temptations and consider this may be thy case however prepare against the worst that Sin and Death and Devils and men can do against thee Mot. 5. By thy being prepared for sickness and death thou art also prepared for health and life for there is none so fit to live as he who is fit to dye the same graces which will make thee holy and patient and joyful in sickness will make thee so in health for the same faith love humility meekness and patience which qualifie the soul for passive obedience do also fit the soul for active obedience as the same provision of victuals or money which is made against
between the two worlds a world of sin snares persecution poverty sickness and death on the one hand and a world of life and immortality and fulness of inconceivable joy and pleasure on the other hand Thus the Apostle seems to stand 2 Cor. 4.17 18. we stand looking from our afflictions on the things that are not seen So Rom 8.17 18. If we suffer with him we shall be glorified with him Well put these together put the persecution from wicked men and the Crown of Glory together put a moment of pain and misery on a sick bed and an eternity of joy in heaven together and thou must needs conclude with the Apostle vers 18. For I reckon saith he I have cast them both up and I finde that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Lastly look upon time and eternity together Oh what is time when a man looks into eternity it seems but a breath a twinkling of an eye a stroke of a pulse to a man that sees eternity before him Methinks a believer is like a man on a hill by the sea-side he sees a little spot of ground and the great Ocean lying beyond it so he sees a little spot of time and the great Ocean of eternity lying beyond it he sees the end of all things Oh saith he I am gone I am gone look how all the honours and riches and comforts of this life do vanish out of my sight and everlasting fire or everlasting glory will receive me presently Sirs this would make us live in a posture to dye if we did but see what a little while it is before we must sit with Christ in heaven or burn with Devils in hell Direct 4. Labour to fill up your time this is the way to fit you for eternity but you will say What is it to fill up our time Answ Time is filled by applying our time to that work which God hath given us our time for God hath given us time for our callings to labour and do all that we have to do time to worship God and do his will time for recreations meat drink sleep c. and by all these to honour God to be blessings to men and to seek salvation for our selves and by doing these things we fill our time as for example if a man should write down his days work not that I would impose upon the consciences of men So long I was slugging in bed so long I was glutting at meat so long filling my self with drink at such a time belching out oaths and then look upon this on a sick-bed here would be a black day to look upon such a day would make work in eternity So if a man spend a day in idleness as Seneca speaks of some idle persons that are busied between the comb and the looking-glass now if such a one were to write his days work he must leave a blank for such a day which would cause stinging reflections when he comes to know the loss of his precious time But if a godly man should write down Such an hour I spent in secret prayer and meditation such an hour in family-worship such a time in the works of my calling and such time in a sober use of recreations now if this were done in a right manner notwithstanding many invincible infirmities yet here is a day well filled and may cause sweet reflections when he sees his days ending in eternity Now that you may thus improve and fill up your time I shall briefly give you these five Directions 1. Labour to have your hearts filled with grace Beloved a mans time is full of that which his heart is full of the heart fills the tongue and fills the life and so fills the time Solomon tells us Prov. 10.20 The heart of the wicked is little worth when all that is in a mans heart is good for nothing neither good to honour God nor to save himself nor others then his time must needs be good for nothing it must needs be an empty sinful unprofitable time for such a man hath nothing to fill up his time with But on the contrary our Saviour tells us Matth. 12.35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things The graces of Gods Spirit make a good treasure in the heart and all things that come from faith love humility meekness c. are good things and do much good and a mans time is happily filled that is full of prayer of holiness of godly conference c. which are all brought forth out of the good treasure of grace in the heart 2. Do nothing in time but what will pass in your account when your time is at an end Christ will one day say to thee Give an account of thy stewardship for thou mayst be no longer steward Luk. 16.2 Give an account of thy Health Life Parts Estate of Sabbaths Sermons Sacraments and all thy precious opportunities for thou must no longer use or enjoy these Now what a sad reckoning will here be if he hath one nothing with these that will pass in his account as if a great man intrust a servant to be his Steward and commit to him his money rents c. to disburse according to his Masters pleasure Now if when the Steward is called to give up his account he is able to reckon So much laid out for provision for the family so much for the education of the children so much to relieve the poor these things will pass in his account but if he reckons So much wasted in drunkenness so much converted to my own use c. the Master will never accept of this So my Brethren when God calls us to an account of our stewardship if a man can say Lord I spent my estate in the education of my children in feeding and maintaining my family in relieving the poor I spent my parts in making God and Christ known to others I spent my time to please and praise thee to profit others and save my self these things will pass in thy account and thou shalt be sure of thy reward and honour of a faithful servant when the time of my Stewardship is expired but if it appear that a man hath wasted his estate on his lusts and spent his time in his sins his account must needs be sad when he must have hell for his wages whatever ye do consider whether it will pass in your account and look upon every thing now as it will prove when you are to give an acount for it It is a remarkable expression Phil. 4.17 I desire fruit that may abound to your account many things which a believer doth with an upright heart seem but little now but they will rise and abound to his glory when he comes to give an account 3. Do nothing but what thou art willing to have thy self the very Nation wherein thou livest and thy
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