God than to be glorifyed with him this Saint Paul declares to his hope yea his earnest expectation that Christ might be magnifyed in his body whether by life or death No wonder then if considering how much Epaphroditus his life might conduce to Gods glory he reckoned it as a mercy Besides 2. He increased his owne reward the longer a good man especially a goood Minister liveth the more sinners he converteth and they that turne many to righteousnesse saith Daniel shall shine as the starres for ever and ever nay every soule that a faithfull Minister winnes to God is as a new gemme added to that Crown which shall one day be put upon his head Thus then the case stands Epaphroditus indeed by dying had received his reward but by living he did the more service by dying he had obtained glory from God but by living he brought glory to God and our blessed Saviour saith It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive by dying he had enjoyed his recompence sooner by living he made it greater that would have accelerated but this augmented it so that even in respect of his owne future happinesse he was no loser but a gainer by the prolonging of his life and therefore most justly doth Saint Paul say God had mercy on him Briefly and yet clearely to state the whole matter Life and death may be considered and compared foure wayes 1. In their formall nature and so death is a privation life a position of good and therefore death evil and life good 2. In their Causes death is a fruit of sin life an effect of love our wickednesse deserved the one Gods goodnesse conferreth the other in which respect death is threatned as a punishment life promised as a reward 3. In their naturall and proper effects death bereaveth as well godly as wicked men of the society of friends possession of their estates yea all the comforts which this world affords whereas by life we have the fruition of them continued to us so that in this regard also life is farre better than death even to a good man 4. Lastly in their accidentall consequents when a wicked man dyeth there followeth torment but whilest he liveth there is hope of his repentance yea many times it so falls out some come into the Vineyard at the eleaventh houre and to such life is a choice mercy indeed when a godly man dyeth he is carried into Abrahams bosome placed in a state of blisse but by living longer he honoureth God edifieth the Church worketh out his salvation he gaineth both the more time to prepare himselfe for get assurance of yea make an addition to his future glory and therefore in this likewise and so in all comparisons life hath the preheminence and the continuance of it is justly called by the Apostle a mercy To close up this life continued health restored are mercies oh let not us by abusing them to sinne turne them into judgement who can believe it and yet we may often see it men change blessings into curses by their iniquities and as Parisiensis excellently expresseth it Ipsa beneficia sibi faciunt poenalia instrumenta contra seipsos divinae justitiae They make benefits to become punishments and the fruits of Gods mercy instruments of his justice The truth is it was not so much life as the right use Saint Paul conceived Epaphroditus would make of his life which moved him to call it a mercy Multis periculo pestilens sanitas fuit qui tutius aegrotassent Indeed these things are good or evill to us according as we imploy them It had been a greater mercy to many impenitent sinners that they had continued sick or dyed then that they were recovered Let us therefore lay out our life our health according to our severall places in Gods service so shall it prove glory to God benefit to others and a mercy to us Oh my soule thou hast received as it were a new life improve it in new obedience health is restored to thy body imploy it in the service ef thy God why should thy honey be turned into gall thy shield into a sword thy delicates into poyson Oh let thy life be expended by thee as it was intended by God so shalt thou have cause to take up the Apostles language God had mercy on me And thus much shall suffice for the second particular I hasten to the 3. Opportunity of the time which is the last branch implyed in the exâ—eptive But And a comfortable But it is indeed the sicknesse like a floud was carrying him away God puts in a But and stops its current Epaphroditus was falling into the pit But God reacheth forth an hand to uphold him God doth not so preserve him that the sicknesse should not come nay when it is come he doth not hinder it from increasing but when it is come to the height then he rebuketh the disease and saith hitherto thâ—u shalt come and no further All hopes of his recovery in mans eyes are perished and lo he is raised by the hand of God Means either are not afforded or however unable to help God becommeth his Physitian and commandeth the cure It lets us see thus much that When all hopes are livelesse and helps seem fruitlesse then is the season of Gods deliverance That childs condition is very sad whom the father and mother forsake but then the Psalmist finds God ready to take him up And the causall particle in the Originall is very considerable not onely when but because he was as a forsaken babe God vouchsafeth to protect and provide for him our extremity being not onely the opportunity when but a motive why God will deliver It was a dolefull complaint which the poore Creeple made to Christ {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I have not a man to put me into the poole but even that narration is an efficacious prayer The absence of mans help being the season of Christs presence and succour Saint Paul speaking of our blessed Saviours Incarnation saith it was when the fulnesse of time came if you will know when that full time was the Evangelist answereth it was in the dayes of Herod the King and if with Chrysologus you looke into those dayes you shall find them dayes of extreame misery to the Jewisâ— Nation their Temple profaned Liberty suppressed Worship abolished and the whole State full of confusion In those dayes was the fulnesse because indeed the fitnesse of time come for him who was the Redeemer to appeare and the horne of salvation to be raised up In which respect the Messiah is called by Moses a fit man or according to the Originall a man of opportunity Thy way oh God is in the sea and thy paths in the great waters saith the Psalmist By which expressions no doubt he chiefly intends as appeares by what followeth to note the imperceptible secrecie attending upon many of Gods dispensations so
of your tribulation Had that accusation of Rabshakeh been true his argumentation was solid when he sent that message to Hezekiah But if thou say to me we trust in the Lord our God is it not hee whose high Places and whose Altars Hezekiah hath taken away And surely the conscience of a wicked man if not seared cannot but check him in the like expressions Wilt thou say I trust in God for health or recovery Is it not he whose Name thou hast blasphemed Patience thou hast abused and Worship thou hast neglected Be wise therefore oh ye sinners and instructed ye wicked of the earth make him your friend who must be your refuge offer the sacrifice of righteousnesse and then not till then put your trust in the Lord Your life your health is in his hands looke that your doings be right and then your persons shall bee precious in his eyes 2. Art thou sick learne whom to invocate and on whom to depend for health upon no other than God Far be it from any of us in sicknesse with Saul in danger to run to the Pythomise and seek help of the Devill Satans best cures are deadly wounds it is far better to continue sick then by such meanes to get health Since whilst thy mortall body is for a time restored thy immortall soule is desperately endangered Nor yet let us with the Papists seeke to any Saints as Mediatours with God for our recovery Whilest They have their severall Saints for severall Diseases Sebastian for the Plague Anthony for the Gangreen Patronilla for Agues and Benedict for the Stone Let us have recourse to the one God in all Diseases Whilst they thinke it too great saucinesse to be their owne spokes-men to God and therefore go to saint somebody to preferre their Petitions for them let us hold it the best manners to go our selves of our owne errands to God not doubting but that he who bids us come will bid us welcome Finally let us not â—read in Asa's foot-steps who sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians nor yet let us tread Antipodes to him in seeking to the Lord and not to the Physitians whilest he affoards them but as Gideon commanded his Souldiers to cry the sword of the Lord and of Gideon so let us ever say the blessing of the Lord and the skill of the Physitian Indeed where opportunity is vouchsafed those two must not be severed God will not usually help without meanes and therefore they must be used the meanes cannot possibly help withâ—ut God and therefore in the use of them his blessing must be implored They are equally bad to neglect and to rest on second causes to expect succour either from them originally or without them instrumentally to rely on God without meanes or trust to meanes without God Surely what the King said to the woman If the Lord doe not help thee whence shall I help thee that all creatures say to us in any distresse If the Lord help not whenc shall we except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it except the Lord keep the City the watchman watcheth but in vain saith the Psalmist Indeed he doth not say quia because the Lord buildes the house but uisi as excluding â—umane diligence but except the Lord build thereby including divine providence nor doth he onely say nisi dâ—minus consenserit adjuverit but nisi aedificaverit custodicrit unlesse the Lord consent a word which onely implyeth his will or unlesse the Lord help which extendeth to any kinde of assistance the meanest thing that concurreth to any work being causa adjuvans an auxiliary cause but unlesse the Lord build and keep which imply the concurrence of his power as well as will and that as the principall agent in the building and keeping the same assertion is no lesse true in this presâ—nt case except the Lord heale the patient the Physitian admnistreth but in vaine Heal thy self is only true of that Physitian to whom it was spoken no other Physitian can of himself either heale himselfe or others Tangit te Rex Sanat te Deus was no lesse truly than humbly spoken when the Royall touch was given The King toucheth thee God cureth thee It is so here the Physitian prescribes the medicine but God by that commands health Oh therefore that Physitians in administring patients in receiving would onely depend upon and sue for divine Benediction when the one writes a recipe with his pen let him pray with his heart when the other receiveth the potion into his stomach let him lift up his eyes to God who saith of himselfe I am the Lord that healeth thee 3. Art thou recovered know whom to praise and to whom to ascribe the cure could the ingredients of thy medicine speak each would say of health as the depths and the Seas of wisdome It is not in me It is I am sure the voice of all pious Physitians non nobis not to us oh man not to us but to God be the praise of thy recovery And therefore whilst the Atheist looketh no further than nature and art let the Christian look higher at God and his blessing and as he must not forget that respect which is due to the Physitian as the Instrument so let the chiefest honour be given to God as being the principall efficient The truth is for the most part such is our foolishnesse that whilest we fix our eyes upon the blessings we receive we turne our backs upon the God that bestoweth them and we are more ready to father them upon any other than him who is the true donor of them Oh let not onely gratitude but justice teach us to give God his due when we gather the fruit let us cast downe our eyes on the root from which they sprout when we feed upon the acornes let us lift them up to the tree from whence they fall and being refreshed by the flowing streame let us reflect upon the springing fountaine Oh my God it is in thee that I live let me live to thee from thee I have received health to thee I returne praise I have the comfort take thou the glory of thy great mercy And so I passe forward to the 2. Excellency of the Benefit how expressed in those words Had mercy on him In mercy there are two things considerable affectus and effectus the passion and the action the inward pitty and the owtward bounty that is in the heart this in the hand that the bowels of mercy this the works of mercy that called by the Greekes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and both these though not in the same sense are attributed to God and here to be understood 1. In mercy there is a laying of anothers misery to heart The Greâ—ke word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is derived from the
it is briefly but fully answered That though there be many evils in the world yet the world is not evil nor is it evil to abide in the world These miseries are only accidental to life and so hinder not but that preservation from death is a mercy And therefore the Greek Fathers upon this Scripture do hence most rationally confute the Manichees who affirme the world in its owne nature to be bad {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} so St. Chrysostome {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} So Theophilact in particular What sayest thou to this oh hereticall Manichâ—e If the world be wicked and the life which we now live in it how doth the Apostle call this a mercy of God that he lengthened Epaphroditus his dayes The other life is better than this surely then this must be good an immature death is threatned and inflicted as a judgement surely then the continuance of life must be a mercy as those forementioned Fathers excellently argue Life is a mercy and yet health is a greater mercy {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} was written upon the porch of Apollo's Temple health is the Princesse of earthly blessings and Plato tells us that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} was sung by every one to his Harpe at the Schooles and at Festivals Beauty riches health were the three things Pythagoras said should chiefly be implored of the Gods but among them health the chiefe indeed it is that which maketh life it selfe to be a mercy since non est vivere sed valere vita To live is not so much to breath as to be well Mercies then they are especially when conjoyned and being so in their owne nature ought so to be esteemed of by us in which respect we ought to pray and give thanks for them as blessings It is no lesse a fault to undervalue then to over-prize our lives and health this latter I confesse is the more common but the former is no lesse culpable we must not be so much in love with life as to dote upon it because it is short yet we may so farre love as to desire and endeavour that it may yea with the Apostle here account it a mercy when it is prolonged I end this If deliverance from death be a mercy how great a mercy is deliverance from hell If it be a blessing to have the danger of a mortall disease prevented Oh what is it to have the guilt of our deadly sinnes pardoned Finally if the health of the body be a favour how choice a benefit is the soules health Surely by how much hell is worse then death sin then sicknesse yea by how much the soule is better than the body by so much is the one to be preferred before the other Oh my soule thou wast sick desperately sick of sinne so sick that thou wast not only nigh to death but dead in sinnes and trespasses but God had mercie on thee he hath sent his Sonne to heale to revive thee by being himselfe wounded nay slain and his spirit to cure to quicken thee by killing thy sinne and renewing thy nature Thou art indebted to thy God for temporall much more for spirituall Blesse the Lord oh my soule for thy life of nature health of thy body but let all that is within thee praise his holy name for thy life of grace and eternall salvation Qu. 2. But it is further inquired though this recoverie were a mercy in it selfe yet how could it be so to Epaphroditus a godly man Had it been deliverance by death this were a mercy indeed but deliverance from death seemeth rather an injury than a courtesie {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} we may easily refell the Heretick but how shall we answer the Christians who desiring to be dissolved knoweth not how to esteeme the deferring his dissoluttion a mercy Had Epaphroditus been a wicked man it had been a great mercy to spare him that he might make his peace with God by the practice of faith and repentance but to him whose peace was alreadie made what advantage could the prolonging of his life afford Death it selfe to a good man is a deliverance a totall finall deliverance from all sorrow and misery for ever And can that be a deliverance which keepeth off our deliverance per Augusta pervenitur ad augusta This red Sea leads to Canaan through the valley of death we passe to the mount of glory And can that be a mercy which retardeth our felicity Is it a courtesie for a man to be detained from his wages and held to labour to be hindred from rest and called to worke to be withheld from his country and wander in a wildernesse Finally to be kept out of a Palace and confined to a Prison And yet all this is true of a godly man who when nigh to death is called back againe to live longer in this world Answ. To answer this though upon those forementioned considerations it cannot be denyed but that death is a mercy to a Saint yet those hinder not but that in other respects the continuance of life is a mercy even to a godly man As for that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which the Greek Fathers speak of as if Saint Pauls language were more according to custome than truth and that when he calls recovery a mercy he rather speaketh as men doe account than as it is indeed it seemes to me somewhat harsh that to {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the opportunity of gaining more souls to God which this preservation afforded him is a farre more rationall solution Upon this account it was Saint Paul looked upon the prolongation of his owne life as needfull So he expresseth it in the former Chapter And here for the same reason he calleth the restauration of Epaphroditus to health a mercy To this purpose Saint Hieromes note upon the Text is very apposite Misertus est ejus ut majorem docendo colligat fructum God had mercy on him that he being a Minister might by the preaching of the Gospel gather in more soules and doe more good Obj. But you will say this seemes not to be a full Answer Indeed had the Apostle said but God had mercy on you namely the Philippians this would be very suitable the recovery of a faithfull Minister is no doubt a mercy to the People but still it remaineth a doubt how the Apostle could say as here he doth God had mercy on him to wit Epaphroditus Repl. To which I reply That the opportunity of this service was not onely a benefit to the Church but a mercy to him in as much as by this meanes 1. He became a greater instrument of Gods glory It is an high honour which God vouchsafeth to that man whom he makes use of to serve and honour him and to a pious soule nothing is dearer than Gods glory desiring rather to glorify