Centurion spake the curious attire throwne by with neglect alas now what is honour but a meere property a Pageant which health like the day sets out and the night of sickenesse takes in againe Sicknesse hides pride from a man saith Elihu What inferiour benefit shall we then match with health that it may glory of the priority or equality in comparison This is precious and desirable whether to body or soule To the Sâ—ule simply to the body but secundum quid in respect if it may not preiudice the health of the soule For though corporall health be so good that all other worldly good things are but troublesome without it yet it is often seene that the worse part drawes away the better and a vigorous strong able body without any difficulty makes a wanton and diseased soule 1 Bodily health is generally desired farre more then endeuoured it being an action of that naturall propensenesse ingraffed in all men to their owne good Parents are prouident to the bodies of their children euen those who set to slight a thought on their soules shewing herein plainely that they brought forth their bodies not their soules Large and lauish is our indulgence at all partes to this fraile Tabernacle yea so profuse and not withholding that whiles we seeke more health we loose that wee had Quaerendo perdimus we seeke it in full dishes and behold there we lose it For prohibent grandes patinae Would we know how to preserue health I am no Physitian nor will I wade further in this argument then diuinity reason leades me Let vs obserue moderation labour in our calling abstinence 1 Moderation as the Philosopher said that hee neuer corrected himselfe with repentance for his silence but often for his speech so our forbearing of iunkets should not grieue vs but our immoderate deuouring them Haec est sana salubris forma vitae vt corpori tantum indulgeas quantum bonae valetudini satis est This is a wholesome form of liuing that the body be so far pleased as the health be not displeased It is certain that surfet kils more then famine It was one of Hippocrates Aphorisines Allimmoderations are enemies to health It was one of Platoes monsters of nature that he found in Sicilia a man eating twice a day A thing of so little admiration with vs that it is wonderfull in him that doth not Perhaps a breakefast goes before and a banket followes after both these Neyther is the variety lesse then the quantity Wee plead Nature bids vs eate and drinke It is granted Yea a solemne Festiuall inuites vs to more liberall feeding It is not much denied if rare if seasonable for thy appetite if reasonable for the measure But many content not themselues onely to steale the halter except there be a horse at end of it as the shriuen thiefe said in his confession to the Priest only to feede and drinke to pleasure but to sleâ—pe â—o surfet to ebriety disabling themselues to any sober exercise Turpe est stomachum non nosse modumâ— It is vile and worse then bestiall when the stomache 〈…〉 measure Seneca's rule is good Dandum ventri quod debes non quod potes Allow thy belly what thou shouldst not what thou mayest I shame not to conuince this errour euen from the example of Heathens that if Religion cannot rule vs as Christians yet nature may correct vs as men Whiles others saith Socrates viuunt vt edant ego edam vt viuam Liue to eate I will eate to liue It is perhaps easie to finde some that abstaine but how few for conscience of Gods precept The sicke the poore the couetous the full all moderate but to vvhat purpose The sicke man for his healthes sake the poore man for his purse sake the couetous for miserablenes the full for the loathing of his stomach But let vs that are Christians moderate our selues in conscience of Gods commandement because Gluttonie is a Worke of darkenes and the night is now past So shall we at once prouide well for our bodies and better for our soules 2 Labour in our callings is no small furtherance of our healthes The bread of him that laboureth as Salomon sayes of his sleepe is sweet and rellishable whether he eate little or much Therfore drinke waters out of thine owne cisterne liue of thine owne labours the bread thou hast earned shal neuer be grauel in thy throte He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread whereas others shall eyther eate and not haue enough or haue enough and not eate Hence surfets light so frequently on the rich and the gentle bloud growes so quickly fowle because they thinke themselues bound to no labours so long as they may liue on their lands It was the Fathers charge to his eldest son Sonne goe and worke to day in my Vineyard The priuiledge of primogeniture must not exempt him from labour Hee sends him to the Vineyard to dresse it before he hath it hee will keepe it the better when hee hath it Industry in our vocation is not onely a meanes in nature but euen by the ordinance and blessing of God to the conseruation of health 3 Abstinence I meane more than moderation that which we call Fasting Ieâ—unium ieiunantis a free and voluntary fast when the body refraineth such refections as nature taketh pleasure in and that onely for healths sake As the tree by a gentle shaking knits faster at the roote this moderate weakning begets strength So that at once it may be a helpe to deuotion for repentance comes not before God with a full belly and meat between the teeth and a preseruatiue to health physicke to defend from the need of physicke a voluntarie medicine to preuent a necessary trouble Thus of the Body 2. The Soules sanitie is not lesse precious though more neglected It was made in the image of the most high God which Image consisted in lumine mentis reclitudine cordis affectuum moderatione as some in the brightnesse of the minde rightnesse of the heart and iust gouernance of the affections Or as others It was libertas arbitrij intellectus sapientiae potentia obedientiae freedom of will wisedome of vnderstanding kingdome or power of obedience for heere to serue was to raigne Heerein consisted the health The priuation of these perfect habites is not lesse than the sicknesse of it This health thus lost cannot be recouered but by him that was sicke to the death for vs neither is it hindred when he will bestow it For grace is not refused of the hard heart because it takes away the hardnesse of that heart it lights on Christ madefies it with his water and mollifies it with his bloud both which issued out of his side at one wound and followed the murdering speare of a Souldiour to saue them which fight vnder his Standard Thus from mans sicknesse ariseth his better
corporall The Soule is at all parts more precious then the Body It is that principall most diuine and excellent halfe of man Dum viuisicat anima dum vult animus dum scit mens dum recolit memoria dum iudicat ratio dum spirat spiritus dum sentit sensus It is called for quickning a soule for knowing mind for remembring memory for iudging reason for breathing spirit for feeling sense when the soule is sicke all these are sicke with it The soule is compared to heauen the body to earth The heauen is glorious with Sun Moon Starres so the soule with vnderstanding memory reason faith hope c. The body like the earth whereof it was made is squallid with lusts The earth hath no heate nor nourishment but from heauen nor the body comfort but from the soule How then oh how terrible is the soules sicknes or death How indulgently should wee tender the health thereof Wee keepe our chicken from the kite our lambe from the Wolfe our fawne from the hound our doues from the vermine and shall wee yeeld our darling to the Lyons our soule to those murdering spirits which endeuour to deuoure them The Soule may bee well when the body is full of griefes but ill goes it with the body when the soule is sicke Nay euen corporall diseases are ofen a means to procure spirituall soundnesse Therefore one cals it optabile malum cum mali remedium sit maioris a happy euill which is the remedy of a greater euill Wee may say of many healthfull bodies tutius aegrotassent they might with lesse danger haue beene sicke Nusquam peius quam in sano corpore ager animus habitat A sicke minde dwels not rightly in a sound body But to find a healthfull and sound soule in a weake sickly body is no wonder Since the Soule before smothered with the cloudes of health is now suffered to see that through the breaches of her prison which former ignorance suspected not Corporall sickenes is a perpetuall Monitor to the conscience euery pang a reproofe and euery stitch reades a lesson of mortality ready euer to checke for euill or to inuite to good which duty weighed a man hath lesse reason to be ouer feareful of sicknesse then ouer glad of health The Spirituall detriment that may ensue on health is more dangerous then the bodily paine that pursues sicknes If a man feare not death what power hath sicknes to make him miserable Tolerabilis est morbipraesentia si contempseris id quod extreâ—um minatur Sicknesse hath little terrour in it if thou shall contemne that which it threatneth Death If it teach thee by the sight of the first death instant to preuent the fury of the second behold it makes thee blessed Such good vse may the wise Soule make of the bodies enemie I haue read it said that singulus morbus paruula mors euery disease is a little death Therefore God sends vs many little deathes to instruct our preparation for the great death The oftner a man dies the better hee may know to die well I yeelde if in sicknes we contract and narrow vp the powers of our soule and direct them as our finger to the griefe of our bodies only forgetting either that God strikes vs or that we haue first stricken God eyther flying to ill meanes or affying to good meanes more then to God our sicknesse may be deadly to body and soule too Asa was sicke but of his feete his feet stood far from his hart yet because he relyed more on his Physitians then on his Maker he died Or if there shall bee no lesse confusion and hurly butly in the faculties of the Soule then there is distemperature in the partes of the body when Reason which should be the Queene and dwell in the highest and choisest roome is deposed from her gouernement When the Senses which are the Court-guardes and the Princesses attendants that giue all admission into the Presence are corrupted when the supreme faculties which are the Peeres are reuolted and the Affections which are the Commons peruerted and all this insurrection and disturbance dethroning the Queene corrupting the Guard drawing from fealty the Peeres and the Commons from alleageance wrought by those violent passions which are refractory and headstrong Rebels hauing once gotten head Alas how far is this miserable distemper and perturbation of these spirituall parts aboue the distresse or distraction of the corporall members neither is the future perill hereof onely more full of prodigious desolation but euen the present sense is also more tetricall piercing and amazing with horror We shall finde the perplexity of this spirituall sicknesse how far exceeding the corporall if wee either compare them generally or particularly instance in any speciall disease 1 Generally The excellency of health is measured according to the Life which holds it and the dignity of Life is considered by the cause that giues it 1. The Life of the Plant is basest because it consists but in the iuyce which is administred by the earth to the root thereof and thence deriued and spred to the parts 2. The Life of the brute creature excels because it is sensitiue and hath power of feeling 3. The Life of man is better then both because it is reasonable conceiuing iudging of things by vnderstanding 4. The Life of a spirituall man is better then all the former and it hath two degrees 1. The life of inchoate regeneration and it consists in grace 2. the perfect life of imputed righteousnes conferred and confirmed by Iesus Christ 5. The Life of Glory exceedes all whereof there are also two degrees 1. the fruition of glory in soule 2. the ful possession in the vnion of the body to it These two last sorts of Life transcend the former in two maine respects 1. Because the other may die must die these haue a patent of eternity sealed them 2. Because the other haue transient causes These haue the Grace and Glory of God Now as by all consent the Life of reasonable man is better then the vegetable of plants or sensitiue of beasts so the health of man must needes be more precious and as that vertue excels in goodnesse so doth the defect exceede in miserablenesse Respect man distinctiuly as hee is a Body onely and then to bee sicke and die are common to him with plants and beastes and what suffering is there in the one more then in the other saue that as the Beast is more sensible of paine then the tree so man is more apprehensiue then the beast the bodies of all returne to the earth But man hath a soule wherein his reason is placed which fainting or sickening through sinne or the punishment for sinne there is offered a passion and griefe whereof the other are not capable Death to the rest is not so terrible as this sickenesse The goodlier the building is the more lamentable the ruine 2
pleading of it But in vain doth the beggars sonne boast himselfe of the bloud royall or the wicked soule of partaking the diuine nature when hee cannot demonstrate his adoption by his sanctification So that as we giue comfort to them that except themselues so terror to them that accept themselues when God doth not make sure to thy soule that thou art once Gods and my life for thine thou shalt euer be his Lastly from this titular phrase obserue that the daughter of Ierusalem is our mother Ierusalem which is aboue is free which is the mother of vs all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The holy Church is our mother if the most holy God be our Father She feedes vs with sincere milke from her two breastes the scriptures of both the Testaments those Oracles which God hath committed to her keeping God doth beget vs of unmortallseed by the word which liueth and abideth for euer but not without the wombe of the Church Non enim nascimur â—edrenascimur Christianâ— wee are not Christians by our first but by our second birth Neither is she the mother of all but vs all whom God hath chosen before all time and called in time to himselfe Qui sic sunt in domâ— Dei vt ipsi sint domâ—s Dei who are so in the House of God that themselues are the house of God He that ouercommeth I will write vpon him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is now Ierusalem that commeth out of heauen from my God So that à quo dominatio ab â—o denominatio our name is giuen vs according to her name that cherisheth and is Mother vnto vs. Hence euery beleeuing soule is a daughter of Ierusalem and a spouse of Christ. Anima credentis est sponsaredimentis The soule of him that beleeues is the spouse of him that saues As a multitude is but a heape of vnites so the Church is a congregation of Saints And as that which belongs to the body belongs to euery member so the priuiledges of our mother Ierusalem are the prerogatiues of all her children not onely the daughter of Sion her selfe but euery daughter of hers euery faithfull soule ' is a pure virgin and so to be presented to Iesus Christ. As Paul to his particular Church of Corinth I am iealous ouer you with a godly iealousie for I haue espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast virgin to Christ. Mans soule is of an excellent nature and like a beautious damsel hath many Sutours 1. First the Deuill who comes like an old dotard neatly tricked and licked vp his wrinckled hide smoothed and sleeked with tentations he comes euer masqu'd and dares not shew his face Take away his vizour and the soule is worse then a witch that can affect him And as when hee temptes wretched Sorceresses to some reall couenant with him hee assumes the forme of familiar and vnfeared creatures left in a horrid and strange shape they should not endure him So in his spirituall circumuentions for the more facile flie and suspectâ—esse insinuation into mortall hearts Hee transformes himselfe into an Angell of light The promises of this Sutour are large and faire hee offers the soule if it will bee his spouse a greater Ioynture Iudas shall haue money Esau pleasures Naball plenty Christ himselfe shall bee ioyntuâ—'d in many kingdoms but euer hee indents that wee must loue him and ioyne with him in marriage Doeg shall haue a place in the court so he will maligne Gods Priests Pilate shall be Iudge so he will ply his vsury hard The Proctor shall bee made an Eccleâ—asticall Iudge if he will promise more conuiuence then conscience and suffer Master bribery to giue the censure Euery Balâ—am shall be promoted that is readier to curse then blesse the people These things to the wicked doth Sathan forme in speculation though not performe in action Hee is an ill wooer that wanteth wordes Heare his voyce and see not his face belieue his promises and consider him not as a lyer as a murderer and he will goe neere to carry thy hart from all But he that hath two infirmities nay enormities that betray him a stinking breath and a halting foot 1 For his breath though it smell of sulphure and the hote steame of sinne and hell yet hee hath art to sweeten it So hee can rellish couetice with thriftâ—nes voluptuousnes with good diet idlenes with good quiet drunkennes because it is very sowre fulsome and odious â—uâ—n to nature and reason shall be season'd sweeten'd with good fellowship Malice is the argument of a noble Spirit and murder the maintenance of reputation Lust is the direction of nature and swearing a gracefull testimony to the truth of our speeches With such luscious confections he labours to conserue his lungs from stinking If it were not for those mists and shadowes sinne would want both fautors and factors 2 But his lame foot cannot bee hidden as they once foolishly fabled among the vulgar that his clouen foote could not bee changed for his disobedience is manifest If hee saith Steale and God saieth Thou shalt not steale Sweare when God saith Sweare not dissemble when hee cries Woe against hypocrites bee an vsurer when God sayeth thou shalt not then dwell in my glory what pretences soeuer glosse his Text his lamenesse cannot bee hidden All his pollicy cannot deuise a boot to keepe him from this halting This is the first worst Sutour 2 The World comes in like a blustering Captaine with more nations on his backe then crownes in his purse or at least vertues in his conscience This wooer is handsomely breasted but ill backed better to meete then to follow for hee is all vanity before all vexation behind by the witnesse of him that tried and knew him Sometimes trouble followes him but surely followes him The desire of money is the roote of all euill which while sons coueted after they haue erred from the faith and pierced themselues through with many sorrowes Hee is like a Bee or an Epigram all his sting is in his tayle Hee is troubled with a thousand diseases and is attended on with more plagues then euer was Galens study He is now growne exceeding olde and hath but a few minutes to liue Hee is decayed both in stature and nature especially hee is troubled with a stooping and a stopping a stooping in his ioynts a stopping in his lungs He neither hath an vpright face nor a light heart 1 For the former hee is euer poring on the earth as if he had no other heauen or were set to digge there for Paradise His eye neuer lookes vp to heauen but to obserue what weather it will be This is his curuitie hee is a warped aged and decrepite Sutour There is no straightnes in him 2 For the other hee cannot be lightsome because hee neuer did giue good conscience one
the world In what wee should affect we are abstinent in what auoide very indulgent 1 The first cause is by forbearing that sacred meat liuing and life giuing bread which came downe from heauen to translate thither those that eate it This is the Sonne of the most high God not disdaining to become the foode of the affamished sonnes of men Out of the strong came sweetnesse the mighty is become meat the Lyon of Iudah yeeldes honey such as neuer came out of any earthly Hiue He is our inuincible Captaine to him we supplicate as distressed Nerua to Traian Telis Phoebe tuis lachrimas vlciscere nostras Oh Sauiour defend and keepe vs yet hee that is Victor a conquerour for vs is also victus foode to vs. But this is Cibus non dentis sedmentis meate for our faith not for our teeth manducaemus intus non foris Wee eate it inwardly not outwardly Christ is verily panis verus non panismerus true not meere naturall bread Thus our Feeder is become our Food our Physitian our Medicine He doth all things for vs guide feede mediate medieate let vs meditate on him and noi disappoint the intention of his mercies by our auersenesse No hope but in him no helpe but by him The Law could not satisfie our hunger not through it own but our insufficiency the Gospel giues not onely present satisfaction but euen impossibility of future famine There is no abiding the law except the Gospell be by not of that thunder without his raine of mercy to quench it Who giues this foode to vs but He that gaue himselfe for vs that shepheard that feedes his Lambes not on his grounds but with his wounds his broken flesh and sluced bloud Hence from this great Parliament of Peace made in that once acted and for euer-virtuall sacrifice deriue we pardon for our sinnes without impeachment to the iustice of so high a Iudge as wee had offended Thus the King of eternall glory to the worlds eye destating himselfe though indeed not by putting off what he had but by putting on what he had not was cast downe for vs that we might rise vp by him Learne of me to be humble wherein he giues vs a precept and a patterne the one requiring our obedience the other our conformity The Pelican rather then her young ones shall famish feedes them with her owne bloud Christ for the better incorporating of his to himselfe feedes them with his owne flesh but spiritually So that we eate not onely panem Domini as the wicked but panem Dominum not only the bread of the Lord but the bread the Lord in a Sacramentall truth They that haue ransacked the riches of nature searched earth sea ayre for beastes fishes birds and bought the rarest at an inestimable price neuer tasted such a iunket The fluid transient passing perishing meates of earth neither preserue vs nor wee them from corruption This banket of His flesh richer then that Belshazzer made to his thousand Princes this cup of his bloud more precious then Cleopatra's draught shal giue vitam sine morte life without death to them that are receiued to receiue it Wee perceiue a little the vertue of this meat Now then as the withdrawing of competent meat and drinke from the body lessoneth that radicall moisture which is the oyle whereon the Lampe of life feedes and makes way for drines whence the kindly heate which like other fire might be a good seruant must needes bee an ill master getting more then due and wonted strength for want of resistance tyrannizeth and not finding whereupon to worke turnes vpon that substantiall viuiditie exciccating consuming it This ouersparing abstinence wastes weakenes sickens the body dangers it to an Ecticke or some worse disease of no lesse hurt then too great repletion So when the Soule eyther through a mad frenzy of wickednesse or dull melancholy darkenes of ignorance or sensuall peruersenesse of affections forbeares forbids herselfe to feed on that sacred and vitall substance Iesus Christ the viuid sappe of grace and vertue which keepes true life and soule together stilled into the heart by the holy Ghost beginnes to drie vp as a morning dewe shrinking at the thirsty beames of the rising Sunne and the fire of sinne gets the predominance Now where that vnruly Element raignes in a mortall body it hazardes the immortall soule to death There is then no maruell if the soule descends into the fall of sicknesse into the valley of death when she shall refuse the sustentation health and very life thereof her Sauiour who is not onely cibus but ipsa salus meate but health it selfe as Paul cals him ipsam vitam qua viuimus quam viuimus the very life whereby we liue which we liue We liue in Christ we liue by Christ nay we liue Christ for our very life is Christ. Now liue not I but Christ liueth in me This is He that once suffred for our sinnes the iust for the uniust that hee might bring vs to God Hee suffered our sinnes the cause most odious the iust for the vniust the persons most vnequall that hee might bring vs to God the end most absolute How well then may wee yeelde and if there might bâ— any pride or glory in vs it shoulde bee in our sufferings to suffer for him The Apostles did so reioycing O Iesu Sâ— adeo dulce est stâ—re proâ—e quam dulce erit gaudere de te Oh Christ if it be so happy to suffer for thee what will it be to reioyce in thee It cost him much oh how much trouble sorrow beating grinding before he became bread for vs. There may bee a scarsity of other bread there is none of this to those that rightly seeke it It is deare in regard of the preciousnesse they that haue it will not part with it not deare in regard of the price we pay nothing for it but faith and loue Though thousands pray at once with the Disciples Lord euermore giue vs this bread Iosephes may Iesus his store-house can neuer be emptied Least the world perish through famine He onely nec accipiendo proficit nec dando deficit growes not râ—ch with receiuing neither growes poore with giuing Reioyce then Beloued in done in Domino The Lord is the giuer the Lord is the gift Let not your soules bee starued wâ—th those inferiour things which are pauca parua praua few in number small in measure bad in nature Whiles there is bread inough in your Fathers house Why should wee sicken â—ur spirits in a voluntary want and fast from that which is able to feast a world of faithfull guestes This is the first degree of our spirituall sicknesse 2 The excessiue occasion to procure ill health to our soules is by feeding too heartily too hastily on the world This is that too much oyle which quencheth our Lampe For as in a body ouercharged with
none indeed for he that hath God for his obeyed Master hath for his obeying Seruant the world yet is it but a vagrant and runnagate seruant It hath a madding mind and a gadding foote And though by the greatnesse of the stature and proportion it may promise able seruice yet it will bee gone when thou hast most neede of it Neither will it slippe away empty but robbe thee of thy best Iewels carry away thy peace content ioy happinesse soule with it Behold the Cosmopolite Luke 12. planting transplanting rebuilding sâ—udying for roome to lay vp his fruites Non in visceribus pauperum not in the bowels of the poore but in his enlarged Barnes if euer their capacity could answere his enlarged hart He buildes neither Church nor Hospitall eyther in cultum Christi or culturam Christiani to the seruice of Christ or comfort of any Christian but Barnes He minds onely Horreum suum Hordeum suum His barne and his Barley Behold at last he promiseth his Soule peace ease mirth security but when his Chickens were scarse hatch'd whereon he long â—ate thought to sit long brooding he heares a fatall voyce confiscating his goods and himselfe too Thou foole this night shall thy soule bee required of thee then whose shall those things bee which thou hast prouided No maruell then if the Soule be famished when she is onely fed with such fugitiue meat which vanisheth like Tantalus Apples or Ixions cloud in the Poet and like Medicines rather then food or like poysons rather then medicines wash away the good they finde and leaue the bad made yet worse by their accession behind them 2 They be not satisfactory and therefore conferre no true content to the mind no more then the dreamed bread of the Sluggard who walkes with an empty stomacke Thou shalt eate but not bee satisfied All things are full of labour man cannot vtter it the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare filled with hearing There is nothing but emptinesse vanity vacuity in them Simuloriuntur moriuntur they at once are borne and die as Plutarch said of the Lightning as Ionas found in his gourde Like the Mermaide Virgo formosa supernè Desinit in turpem piscem malesuada voluptas Face flattering Pleasure that so much deludes Like that Sea-monster with sad ruth concludes The motion of the minde following these wandring Planets of earthly delights is euer errant euer vncessant Ahab is sicke of his neighbors field though he haue a whole Kingdome to walke in And Alexander finding himselfe Lord of the whole world is discontent as if hee wanted elbow roome The poore man is not more perplex'd because he hath neither barne nor graine then the couetous wretch because hee hath not barne enough for his graine What Cosmopolite euer grasped so much wealth in his gripulous fist as to sing to himselfe a Sufficit He that loueth siluer shall not be satisfied with siluer nor hee that loueth abundance with encrease His cares fill vp as fast as his coffers He hath much in his keeping yet doth neither inioy it nor ioy in it It breedes a disease in the soule like that in the body which they call Caninum appetitum an immoderate desire of meate whereafter the body lookes thinne wan sickly as if it were starued The colde feculent viscous vicious humours of couetousnesse desire an vnreasonable quantity of worldly goods yet leaue the soule more weake warish sickly then if shee neither had nor had will to doe any thing This is the infallible effect of these coueted vanities vel sequendo labimur vel assequendo laedimur the soule eyther fals in the seeking or failes in the finding She is not the better nay shee is the worse for her longing after them Luxuriant animi rebus plerunq secundis The mind may riot and grow ranke for a while with these puffings vp but how soone doth a tabe and consumption take it down when the ioy answers not to the expectation of the heart The world may set such a man in high estimation The rich hath many friends but the poore is separated from his neighbours Aspicis vt veniant ad candidatecta Columbae Accipiet nullas sor dida turris aues But all this while others are more satisfied with the sight then hee with the possession of his owne Still his soule is hungry and he knowes not how to appease it I perswade not all abiuration of the world as if it could not bee vsed but it must be abused As the Philosopher of olde that threw his money into the sea purposing to drowne that least that should drowne him Or as the new found and fond Votaries that professe a voluntarie want as if all coyne were diseased and had for the circumscription à noli me tangere So the Empiricke to cure the feuer destroyes the patient so the wise man to burn the mise set on fire his barne Is there no remedy but a man must make his medicine his sicknesse I speake of things as they are not as they should bee Hee that feeds too hungerly on the world fals with much ease to neglect Christ. As hee that was once following him no sooner heard of his fathers death but presently left him thinking perhaps that hee should get more by his fathers Executorship then by his Sauiours Discipleshippe and therefore would leaue to minister in Christs seruice that he might administer on his Fathers goods Hence fall many soules into this spirituall sicknesse when they forsake the solide and substantiall nutriment of Iesus Christ to gape for the fugitiue and empty ayre of worldly riches which if they do carry to their deathes yet they must then leaue all exuendo expnendo donec nihil vel intus vel foris maÌ„serit by putting off by spuing vp whatsoeuer their couetousnes hath deuoured Nature shal turn theÌ„ out naked empty Thus the righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soule but the belly of the wicked shal want They are not satisfactory In a word that we may a little perpend the effects as wee haue perceiued the causes al spirituall sicknes is either in faith or conuersation 1. In Faith This is a generall dangerous sicknesse Generall AEgrotat sides iam proxima morti Faith is so sicke that it is ready to die These are those last and Apostate times wherein faith is become so litle that the scarsity giues expectation of the generall doome We sweare away our faith at euery trifle and then no maruell beeing so prodigall of such oathes if our stocke of faith be sworne and worne out Dangerous wee affie the world which wee haue vowed to defie and loosing that confidence we should liue by for the Iust liues by faith How can it bee but the Soule must become Sicke Whiles the shield of faith is lost wee lie naked to the fiery darts of Sathan and many wounds will let out the life
bloud The Sun in the heauen passeth through the 12. Signes of the Zodiacke Christ is our Sun the 12. Articles of our Creed the 12. Signes Faith is our Zodiacke do you wonder why in this day of the Gospell the Sunne beames of grace liu'd in so few hearts They haue lost their Zodiacke Their faith is forme and the cloudes of infidelity haue ecclipsed those Signes They beliue not beyond the extension of sense they haue a sensuall a senseles faith It is the forest shipwracke which the vast sea of this world and the Pyrates of sinne can put men to the sinking of their faith It was Pauls happy triumph that he had kept the faith though he bore about in his body the market of our Lord Iesus Needes must the soule bee sicke whose faith is not sound 2 The other degree of our spirituall sicknesse is in conuersation Our liues are diseased the ill beating of those pulses shew wee are not well The fruites manifest the tree Vbicaro est regnant peccatum est praegnans Sinnes are rife where the flesh raignes plentifull effects will arise from such a working cause In vaine and not without the more hazard doe we plead our soundnesse when the infallible symptomes of our disobedience euince the contrary Saul stands vpon his obseruation of Gods charge What then saith Samuel meaneth the bleating of the sheepe in mine eares and the lowing of the oxen which I heare Whence flow those streames of impiety mercilesse oppressions Church-deuouring sacriledges bestiall luxuries cunning circumuentions detracting slaunders heauen-threatning blasphemies malicious fires of rage hatred monstrous treacheries behauiours compounded of scorne and pride close Atheisme open profanenesse guilded hypocrisie Whence if these vitious corruptions if not from our vlcerous conuersations Shame wee not to call sicknesse health and to maintaine that Atheisticall Paradox Adoxe Pseudodox which iudgeth euill good and darknes light If thy life be so vnsound suspect thy selfe thou art not well 2 Now not vnfitly after the sicknes in sinne followes the sicknes for sinne which distributes it selfe into a double passion corporall and spirituall 1 All corporall sickenesse is for sinne The sicke man heard it from his heauenly Physitian Goe thy wayes sinne no more least a worse thing come vnto thee So sung Dauid in the Psalme Fooles because of their iniquities are afflicted their soule abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw neer to the gates of death This Elihu grounds against Iob that sinne causeth sicknesse So that his life abhorreth bread and his soule dainty meat His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seene and his bones that were not seene sticke out Weakenes proceedeth from wickednesse if the Soule had not sinned his body should not haue smarted Indeede this blow is easie if wee respect the cause that drew it on vs. For if the Wages of sinne be death Sicknes is a gentle payment Sicknesse is the maladie of the body Death is the malady of sicknesse But such is Gods mercy that hee is content to punish sometimes corporaliter non mortaliter and to put into our hearts a sense of our sinnes by casting vs downe not by casting vs out But whether the affliction be quoad introitum or quoad interitum a more gentle entrance or more piercing to death all is produced by our sinne You will say that many afflictions wherewith God scourgeth his children are the Fatherly corrections of loue yet they are corrections and their intention is to better vs. Now what need the bestowing such paines on vs to make vs good if sinne had not made vs euill Still Sinne is the cause whether it be sickenesse therefore I will make thee sicke in smiting thee because of thy sinnes Or whether more despairefull calamity I will waile and howle I will make a wailing like the Dragons mournings as the owles for her wound is incurable Still the reason is verse 5. For the transgression of Iacob is all this and for the sinnes of the house of Israel Oh that our sicke bodies when the hand of Visitation hath cast them down would conuey this lesson to our soules All is for our wickednesse Our stomackes loath meate because we haue ouerburdened them with Gods abused blessings Wee haue made the Creatures ordained for our comforts an occasion of our falling And now loe wee abhorre to be cheered by those things wherewith we haue earst oppressed our selues That delicates powred vpon a mouth shut vp are as messes of meate set vpon a graue Our sinnes that remaine vnpurged by repentance in our bosomes are not only diseases themselues to our consciences but vigorous and rigorous enough to engender diseases in our carcases Wee are framed and composed of foure Elements Fire Ayre Water Earth and haue the kindly concurrence of those foure originall and principal qualities heate and colde moysture and drinesse to our making vp Their harmony and peacefull content preserue our little world in health but if those brethren of one house fal at variance with themselues their strife will vndoevâ— So easie is it for God to take roddes from our owne bodies wherewith to whip vs. Though those outward Elements fire water and the rest forbeare to lay on vs the strokes of vengeance yet wee haue those primordial humours within vs whose redundance defect or distemperature are meanes able enough to take our breath from vs. How euident is this when Some haue beene burned in the pestilent flames of their hote diseases the violence whereof hath set their bloud on fire wasted their bowels scorched their veines withered away their vitall spirites and left the whole body flagrantem rogum as it were a burning pyle Some haue beene choked vp with the fumes and vapours ascending from their owne crude and corrupted stomackes and poysoned their spirites no lesse then with the contagion of infected ayres How many obstructed lungs sucke in farre better ayre then they breath out Others haue beene drowned with a deluge of waters in their owne bodies a â—â—oud running betwixt their skin and bowels glutting and ouercharging nature so violently that the life hath not been able to hold vp her head and the soule like Noahs Doue returnes vnto God the Arke of her strength as not able to set her foote drie in her former habitation And yet others haue buried themselues aliue in the graue of their owne earthly melancholy which casteth such a thicke fogge and darke obscurity ouer the braine that it not onely chokes vp the spirits of life like the damp in a vault that extinguisheth the lightes but euen offers offensiue violence to the Soule Melancholy men are as it were buried before they be dead and as not staying for a graue in the ground make their owne heauy dull cloudy cloddy earthen cogitations their owne Sepulchres From what sinke arise all these corrupt steames but from the sinnes in our owneselues as
proper and fit to ingender these sicknesses as these sickenesses are to bring desolution It is our owne worke to make death better then a better life or continuall sicknesse that our meate giues no more sent nor sauour then an offering doth to an Idoll He that sinneth before his maker let him fall into the hands of the Physitian 6 Spirituall sicknesse for sinne is yet farre more perilous and mortall nay well were it for some thus sicke if it were mortall If the disease would decease the soule might reuiue and liue It varies as some diseases doe in the body according to the constitution of the sicke thereafter as the soule is that hath it whether regenerate or reprobate The malignancie is great in both but with far lesse danger in the former 1 In the Elect this spirituall sicknes is an afflicted conscience when God wil suffer vs to take a deepe sense of our sinnes and bring vs to the life of grace through the valley â—f death as it were by hell gates vnto heauen There is no anguish to that in the conscience a wounded spirite who can beare They that haue been valiant in bearing wrongs in forbearing delights haue yet had womannish and cowherd spirits in sustaining the terrors of a tumultuous conscience If our strength were as an army and our landes not limitted saue with East and west if our meat were manâ—a and our garments as the Ephod of Aaron yet the afflicted conscience would refuse to be cheared with all these comforts When God shall raise vp our sinnes like dust and smoake in the eyes of our soules and the arrowes of his displeasure drinke vp our bloud and his terrors seeme to fight against vs when he buffets vs from his presence and eyther hides his countenance from vs or beholds vs with an angry looke loe then if any sicknes be like this sicknes any calamity like the fainting soule Many offences touch the body which extende not to the soule but if the soule be grieued the sympathizing flesh suffers deepely with it The bloud is dried vp the marrow wasted the flesh pined as if the powers and pores of the body opened themselues like so many windowes to discouer the passions of the distressed Prisoner within It was not the sense of outward sufferings for meere men haue borne the agonies of death vndaunted but the wrastling of Gods wrath with his spirite that drew from Christ that complaint able to make heauen and earth stand agast My soule is heauy vnto the death There is comfort euen in death when the clocke of our life runs vpon her last minutes but is there any disease during the torments of a racked conscience This wearisome guest doth God often lodge with his owne children suffring the eye of faith to be shut and the eyes of flesh and bloud open that sorrow is their bread and teares their drinke and the still perplexed mind knows not where to refuse it selfe Alwayes reseruing and and preseruing his Children but neuer dâ—ing grace of his Spirite in their hearts a substance of blâ—ssing 〈◊〉 the oke though it hath cast the leaues though the barrennes of the boughes drines of the barke giue it for dead and withered Faith being in a swoune may draw the breath inwardly not perceiued but destroy it not for there is a blâ—ssing in it Neyther is this sicknesse and trouble of conscience properly good in it selfe nor any grace of God but vsed by God as an instrument of good to his as when by the spirite of bondage he brings vs to adoption So the Needle that drawes the thread through the cloth is some meanes to ioyne it together This is the godly soules sicknesse for sin full of sharpe and bitter ingredients but neuer destitute of a glorious euent and victorious triumph I may say of it as Physitians speake of agues which make a man sicke for a while that hee may bee the sounder a long time after This sickenesse is physicke to procure better health 2 Spirituall sickenesse for sinne in the reprobate hath other effects To restraine their number they principall appeare in two diseases or disasters rather Impenitency and Despaire 1. Impenitencie the symptome of an obdurate and remorselesse heart Who being past feeling haue giuen themselues ouer vnto lasciuiousnes to worke all vncleannesse with gredinesse Saint Paul cals it a reprobate minde a death rather then a sickenesse He that labours hereof is rather deceased then diseased This is a heart so hard and impenetrable that all the holy dewes of instructions cannot soften it all the blowes of Gods striking rod put no sense into it It is inuulnerable to any stroke saue that which makes a fatall and finall end with it Thou hast stricken them but they haue not grieued c. It is iust with God but fearefull on whom soeuer this iuâ—gement lights to plague sin with sinne that peccatum sit paena peccantis For there is euermore some precedent impietie in those vngratious persons procuring God to deale thus with them For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeue a lie That they all might be damned that beleeued not the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse First Pharaoh hardens his owne heart c. God all this while holds his peace giues him the hearing and looking on In the end he saith I will harden Pharaohs heart and then puts yron to yron adamant to adamant and there is perfected a relentlesse repentlesse obduracy This is that retaliation of sinne which God returnes into their bosomes that foster it that since they loued cursing it shall be vnto them So Dauid in the Psalme Though indeed it was not in him Precantis votum but Prophetantis vaticinium he did not desire it should be so but he knew it would be so Adde iniquitieto their iniquitie Neither doth God this by infusion of wickednesse but by substraction of his spirit He is causa deficiens not efficiens as the reuoking of the sunne from vs causeth darkenesse the priuation of grace the position of all vngodlines It is in him not peccatum sed iudicium not sinne but iudgement When he leaues vs to our selues it is no wonder if we fall into horrid and prodigious sinnes Peccatum est malum in se effectum prioris mali causa subsequentis est supplicium causa supplicij Sinne is euill in it selfe the effect of former euill the cause of future It is both punishment it selfe and the cause of punishment In all the store house of Gods plagues there is not a greater vengance With other punishments the body smarteth the soule groneth vnder this Hence sinnes multiply without limits that the plagues may be without end Euery affliction is sore that offends vs but that is direfull which withall offends God Such do at once act and suffer it is both an actiue and a passiue sinne The punishment
health and he now stands surer by his first fall Such is the greatnesse and goodnesse of God such his power and mercy concurring that it workes health out of sicknesse good out of euill There is an infinite Good but not an infinite euill For the Good cannot by any meanes be diuerted into euill but the euill may be converted to good By the conspiracie of Iewes Gentiles Iudas Deuils against Christ is our saluation wrought From the horridst and most vnnaturall treasons God hath aduanced his owne glory aduantaged his childrens security We labour of three diseases birth life death all these are cured by those three answerable in Christ. Our vncleane birth is sanctified by His so pure from the least spot of sinne Our transgressing life is reformed by the vertue enformed by the example of His. That tyrannizing wounding Serpent Death hath the sting pulled out by His death that we may embrace him in our secured armes The Conquerour of vs all is conquered for vs all by Him that foiled the Gyant in his owne denne the Graue Thankes be to God which giueth vs the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. Oh death where is thy sting Oh graue where is thy victory This is our insultation and holy triumph Prouided euer that He be beleeued of vs that hath thus relieued vs. Beleeue and feare not A good conscience is neuer faild of a good confidence of a good consequence Hence ariseth the soules sanity What can indanger in dammage this health no losses to the estate no crosses to the flesh The spiritually-sounde man values all the fortunes of the world lesse then the freedome and health of the mind Hee that wants this armour is wounded by euery blow of affliction Other security is but a shield of waxe against a sword of power They cannot chuse but feare euen where no feare is and testifie their inward guilt and sicknesse by their pale and trembling lookes Timida nequitia dat testimonium condemnations semper praesumit saeua perturbata conscientia Fearefull wickednesse giues testimony of it owne damnation and the troubled conscience imposeth and presumes to itselfe terrible things but the health of faith is health indeed yea this health is life a life Angelical a life Euangelical whether for obedience or peace inspired spirited sealed assured by the word of Truth Which is life to all that find it and health to all their flesh No feare shall inuade him no troubles inuolue him so that he cannot be extricated For the feare of the Lord tendeth to life and he that hath it shall not be visited with euill His innocency may speed in the world as deserts in a lottery be rewarded with a blank But he in whom he affies shall put the marrow of health into his bones distill the sap of grace inio his spirit Low in the world lowly in himselfe in his estimation who sees not that the clambring goates get vpon rockes and promontory places whiles the humble sheepe feed in the bottomes and deiected vallies Onely one day the Sheepe shall bee aduanced aboue the Sunne and starres and set in heauen with Christ when the goates shall be cast downe to the depth of depthes Rich Diues was well enough knowne to the world yet nameles in the sacred Records So we brand our sheepe let the Goates goe vnmarked God sets his seale on his chosen Nouit qu◠sui sunt lets the wicked run without his cognisance Thus different is the state of Gods seruants and the worlds slaues They thinke none sicke but wee wee know none sicke but they If equall crosses befall vs both our estate is soone descried Wee differ as the Cammell and the Camomell the one is stunted the other thriues by his burthen Afflictions that so scatter them and loosen the ioyntes of their vaine hopes doe more knit and consolidate our healthes As soone as they take themselues it is as easie to proue as to reproue their diseases Though I confesse in the dayes of their Iouialty hee hath greate wisdom that can make them sensible of their sicknes Were Solon nay Salomon aliue to declare it they see t not ' they will not feele it If the want of health were perceiued how amiable admirable would the benefit appear Gratior est saint as redita quā retenta vix aliter quā perdendocognoscimus Returning health is more welcome then if it had not beene lost We scarse know what health is but by the want Let others spend their times wits treasures to procure health to their bodies which I embrace when it is offered and would not loose by my owne errors giue mee a sound and cleare conscience and let mee not want this health till I enuy theirs 2. Thus hauing enquired what health is leauing a while the consideration therof as it is in it selfe let vs descend into it as respectiuely casting an oblique eye vnto that which is diuers from it or aduerse to it There is a significant and lightfull demonstration or commentarie which one contrary nature giues to another when they are diametrally opposed The day would not seeme so cleare if the departing Sunne should not leaue night to follow it The foile addes grace to the Iewell It no lesse then glorifies learning that the malitious tong of ignorance barkes at it He knowes the benefite of heate that hath felt the sharpenes of a freezing colde If there were no sicknesse to trouble vs health it selfe would be thought sicknesse The very enmity of these repugnances helpe the beholders iudgement eyther to embrace or reiect them Euen their opposition is an exposition of their natures deformity darknes sicknesse sinne all those priuatiue corruptiue destructiue things which as they had no creation from God so giue no direction to the good yeeld by a sober meditation an vnwilling lustre to those vertues graces and happy habites against which they vaunt their contrariety That if any lewde vaine ill iudging worse affecting mind shall still loue the desolation of sinne rather then the consolation of spirituall health it may appeare to bee not because this obiect is not wretched but because hee is blind and bewitched There is a twofolde Sicknesse incident to man 1. in sinne 2. for sinne The former of these is only spiritual the latter is not onely corporall but sometimes spirituall also and of all the Vials of Gods wrath holden to the mouth of miserable men by the hand of iustice it is the forest when sinne shall bee punished with sinne and the destitution of grace shall permitte a lapse to impenitency 1 The Sicknesse in sinne is double according to the cause which is a defect either of right belieuing or straight liuing a debility of confidence a sterility of good works lacke of faith wracke of charity These effects or rather defects are produced by two errors in our Soules diet the one excessiue the other deficient 1. By Fasting too much from Christ 2. By feeding too much on