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
and hell afraid of them but a sickness and death comes and they are driven away in their wickedness Prov. 14.32 whose end Job describes cap. 24.29 Drought and heat consume the snow-waters so doth the grave those that have sinned So also we see godly people who are the blessing of their Age of whom the world is not worthy Hebr. 11.38 the world deserves not the prayers and counsels and examples of such men yet these perish though few lay it to heart Isa 57.1 for in this case there is one event to all Eccles 9.2 for as they lie at the graves mouth we cannot see the difference betwixt a skull that sleeps in Jesus and a skull that is condemned to hell and therefore it 's true of these gracious ones as was said of the good Patriarch Gen. 47.29 Israel must die or as we read of David Acts 13.36 After he had served his own generation by the will of God he fell asleep All these things are from Jesus Christ who sends sicknesses and death at his pleasure and many such things are with him Lastly It informs us of the great mercy of God that we enjoy our health and lives so long when he hath so many diseases in his hands to deprive us of both Hence he is called the Preserver of men Job 7.20 It is the Lord who is our life and the length of our daies who preserves us and keeps us alive Consider the many deaths and dangers we are preserved from that thereby we may see and acknowledge the greatness of this mercy Our Bodies and Souls were no sooner united in the Womb but thousands of deaths were ready to part us again we were liable to all the dangers that our Mothers were in in whose lives our lives were bound up besides multitudes of evils might have kill'd us there and a miscarrying Womb might have loosed us into Eternity And if we look through the whole course of our Age what year or week or day can we name wherein some have not died Oh infinite mercy that keeps us alive in a world of devouring devils and bloody men what multitudes of diseases might have bred in our own bodies what sudden deaths by Falls Fire Water Thunderbolts c. There is never a beam in our houses or beast in our fields or bit of meat on our tables or stones in the streets but methinks it 's like a Pistol charg'd and cockt if God say the word to strike us dead in the place where ever we sit ride walk lie down there is from thence a fall into Eternity We may well wonder when we read of the three Childrens preservation in the Fiery Furnace Dan. 3. and of Daniels safety in the Lyons Den Dan. 6. and yet I tell you our daily and hourly deliverances are as great only they are not so rare for to name no more Devils can as easily kill us as the Fire or Lyons could them and we have no more power to resist or escape these Murderers then they had the merciless Flames or greedy Lyons but as God miraculously preserved them so doth he wonderfully preserve us even in a croud of deaths and dangers Vse 2. Of Reprehension Secondly This Doctrine reproves those who in time of sickness do either for themselves or friends seek to Witches or Wizards for cure Christ makes them sick and they will go to the Devil to make them well but if Christ command all diseases to go and come at his will it must needs be a damnable sin to forsake Christ and the Ordinances appointed by him for our health and to seek help from the Devil This was King Sauls sin though in another case who consulted the Witch of Endor when he was invaded by the Philistins 1 Sam. 28.7 Then did Ahaziah in his sickness send to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron 2 Kings 1.2 And this is the horrid wickedness of many ignorant Atheistical wretches who when they have lost their goods or are visited with sickness seek to Conjurers and Wizards such as they call wise men or wise women to help and relieve them This sin is often condemned in Scripture Lev. 19.31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits Observe do not regard them but look upon them as the basest people in the Country neither seek after Wizards See Isa 8.19 Lev. 26.6 Observe the evil and danger of this sin in these four particulars First This is a sin which brings a man under the heavy wrath and curse of God Lev. 20.6 The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them I will even set my face against that soul and will cut him off from among his people Observe for this sin God will set his face against thee all his power and wrath is set and bent against thee O how canst thou hold up thy face when the face of God is set against thee and whereas thou thinkest thou art planted in thy Country and planted in the Church of God and planted in thy Family God will cut thee off from among thy people Thus poor wretch thy disease is perhaps abated and thou rejoycest in thy ease and health but remember thou hast got the Devils blessing and Gods curse Secondly This is that filthy sin of whoredom See again Lev. 20.6 The soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits to go a whoring after them Do not you account this a beastly sin for people to go up and down a whoring Well though thou thinkest thou keepest thy self honest and wilt say I thank God no body can touch me in my honesty yet although all thy Neighbours judge thee to be honest the Lord judgeth thee to be a filthy Whore and Whoremonger for though perhaps thou hast not defiled thy body with a Whore yet thou hast defiled thy soul with the Devil Lev. 19.31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits to be defiled by them and thou mayst be assured that the Devil will not heal thy body except it be to kill thy soul and thou dost hereby joyn that person to the Devil which should be united to Christ thou dost yield thy self to the power and will of the Devil Hence those are the most ignorant sottish prophane or covetous people that seek to Witches Beloved we should do nothing but what we may comfortably go from the doing of it into the presence of God in any duty or to enjoy his presence into Eternity Now as a wife can have no delight to go from a whoremonger into the presence or society of her husband so how canst thou comfortably go from a Wizard to Prayer to a Sacrament or to a Sermon or from a Wizard into Eternity Thirdly This sin is the most abominable sin of Idolatry Lev. 11.31 Regard not â—hem that have familiar spirits I am the Lord your God Implying that they that seek to such do deny God to be the Lord and do disown him from
his pleasure exercise that power which causeth our health and can work with Angels Physitians Medicines Food or any other things which he shall please to use as the instruments and means of health to us and therefore he tells his people Exod. 15.26 I am the God that healeth thee And this is acknowledged by the Leper and practised by Christ Mat. 8.2 3. Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean saith the Leper Christ answers I will be thou clean Beloved God hath deliverances from sickness as well as from all other afflictions at command Psal 44.4 Thou art my King O Lord command deliverances for Jacob So saith David when the Water-spouts of affliction came pouring upon him The Lord will command his loving kindness in the day-time This power of God appears by that of David Psal 68.20 To God the Lord belong the issues from death all the issues and means to escape death belong to God when a man falls into a dangerous sickness he falls into the hands of death he sticks as it were in the very jaws of death as it is said of Hezekiah Isa 38.1 He was sick unto death Now in this case there is no visible issue or escape out of the snares of death the man himself strives friends strive Physitians strive but there appears no discharge in that war Eccl. 8.8 But now God comes in the greatness of his Power and he makes an issue from death and by these things men live Isa 38.16 For God saith to the Fever to the Small Pocks to the Consumption c. Come away let the Minister live with his People let the Father live with his Children let the Children live with their Father let the Wife live with her Husband and thus he commands them away and they are presently gone as it is said of the waters Psal 104.7 At his rebuke they fled and at his voice they hasted away So much for the second particular Thirdly Whatsoever Christ commands diseases to do they do it they are herein like the Centurions servant when his Master bids do this and he doth it the meaning of this is that Jesus Christ by all sicknesses fulfils his own will and the reason is because it is the power of Christ that works in all diseases Now Christ works by his power according to his will Eph. 1.11 He worketh all things according to the counsel of his will Beloved where-ever a disease comes it hath always some work to do 1. Sometimes Christ commands it to fill a man with grievous pain and torment so the Centurions servant here was grievously tormented and we read Job 33.19 He is chastened with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain This did so torture David that he roared for the very disquietness of his heart Psal 38.8 And Jobs pain was so great that he saith Job 16.12 God hath taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces And Sirs although now we sit and walk and eat and sleep at our ease yet our bodies may be breeding those diseases which may shortly cause torturing pain and anguish to come upon us as Travel upon a Woman with child Sometimes God bids a disease to waste and wither a man in the prime and flower of his age and he doth it Many that are now inclosed in their own fat Psal 17.10 and cover their faces with fatness and make collops of fat on their flanks Job 15.27 yet when sickness comes they are strangely altered then their flesh is consumed that it cannot be seen and their bones that were not seen stick out Job 33.21 Then such a man may cry out with David I may tell all my bones Oh what a sad case is this man in he looks on his silver and gold and they shine upon him and upon his precious jewels and they sparkle and twinkle upon him and upon his pleasant pastures and green meadows and fruitful fields and they smile upon him but he looks upon himself and his own body and there he sees a ghastly spectacle Oh now if the face of a reconciled God in Christ do not shine what a fearful condition doth the poor man lie in Again sometimes God commands a disease to take away a mans appetite and stomack to his meat and it doth it so that his life abhors bread and his soul dainty meat Job 33.20 So Psalm 107.18 and this is the sad case of many a man who hath with Dives fared sumptuously every day Luke 16.19 But now poor wretch he hath money enough to buy meat but all the world cannot purchase him a stomack Sometimes men are just finishing their design of hurting Gods people and Christ commands a disease to stop them Thus Jeroboams hand was stretched out against the Prophet and God withered it presently and the good Prophet was delivered See 1 Kings 13. But to conclude sometimes God bids a disease tumble such a soul into hell and it doth it and the poor friends are winding up the Christless body when the Devils are worrying the damned soul Sometimes he commands a sickness to loose a Saint out of the earth into heaven and it doth it and here lies the ghastly jewel the redeemed body but thither flies the blessed and glorified soul I now come to shew you divers of the main Ends of Christs exercising this government of diseases in commanding them to go and come and do what he will I shall mention these seventeen Ends. First To convince us of the great evil of sin which is the meritorious cause of diseases I conceive that the understanding of a man cannot comprehend the evil of sin that is he cannot know it quantum est cognoscibile so far as it may be known or so far as nothing of the evil of it is unknown I think none can know it so but God because a man cannot know all the holiness and goodness of God which sin is against nor all the wrath of God which sin deserves yet a man may by the power and light of Gods Spirit be so far convinced of the evil of sin as to judge it the greatest evil in the world and therefore to loath it and abhor it most and to desire more to be saved from it then from any evil And this is one great use of all afflictions thus to convince us of the evil of sin Jer. 2.19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God And this God intends by visiting us with sicknesses Job 33.27 He looketh upon men meaning in their sickness for this was the case mentioned in the foregoing verses and if any say I have sinned and it profited me not c. Beloved God stands looking and hearkening at your sick beds to see and hear if upon deep conviction and by sincere confession any of you say I have sinned this God looks for in his Visitations upon us We
find this to be the effect of Davids sickness Psal 38.3 4. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thy anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin For mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Beloved people would not be so fond of their sins if they saw the diseases and dangers which they bring upon them as a man would not be greedy of the daintiest meat if he knew it were mixt with Rats-bane nor be proud of the finest cloaths if he knew they were infected with the Pestilence So if people saw the Plague Pocks Dropsie Fever and the Consumption in their pride and oaths and lyes and drunkenness and covetousness it would make them afraid of sin as well as of sickness and therefore look not upon sin as it appears in your honours profits and pleasures as it appears at an Ale-house May-pole or Maurice-dance or Cock-pit or Bear-bait or Stage-play for there thou canst not see sin for its pleasures but look upon thy self on a bed of languishing and there see thy sins standing in order before thee and then tell me what fruit thou hast in these things Look upon thy self as hanging over the lake of brimstone and then call thy drunken Companions about thee and bid them pour out their flagons and quaff off their cups and see whether all these can make thee merry when the flames of hell begin to catch and kindle in thy guilty soul call in thy lyes and injustice to bring thee thy treasures of wickedness and lay them under thy pillow and see whether they can bring thee ease when Death and Hell and the day of Judgment stand present before thee And my Brethren it is observeable that when we sin in our sickness we should see far more evil in it then as it is the meritorious cause of that disease as we should look further into a sickness then as it causeth present aches and pains in the body we should see that Death and Eternity which comes after so we should see more evil and danger in sin then as it brings such a disease for the evil of it is not spent in that therefore we should look upon it as provoking God to punish us with diseases and with death and hell which diseases are loosing us into The second End to convince us of the vanity of the creature now we are truly convinced of the vanity of the creature when we judge it to be empty of that good which must free a sinful man from misery and fill him with true happiness It must needs be a vanity when a man may be miserable with it and happy without it Now Christ appoints diseases as means to convince us of this vanity of the creature for as one saith wittily the world is the Devils Chess-board wherein a man can neither move forward nor backward but the Devil attaches him with some creature or other and indeed we are so full of the spirit of the world as it 's called 1 Cor. 2.12 which doth so fill our hearts with the world that God and Christ and Heaven and Salvation are nothing to us and therefore this sin is called a denying God that is above Job 31.24 25 28. and Agur tells us that when a man is full of the world he is apt to deny God and to say Who is the Lord Prov. 30.9 Oh what poor scornful thoughts a covetous proud secure worldling hath of God and Christ and Saints and Ordinances and Salvation Now this is one great use of sicknesses to convince a man of the vanity of the world and this is a most convincing argument for I dare challenge all the worldlings which the world it self can own to name me that earthly creature and tell me what I shall call it which can heal the wounds of a guilty conscience or can take out the sting of death or of which a man can truly say Here is a treasure which a lump of phlegm cannot take from me If thou canst not say this of the creature I grant thou mayst use it for thy good but be ruled by a friend never choose it for thy portion But more particularly we may hereby be convinced of the vanity of these five things First Of the vanity of our selves Sickness moved David to beg wisdom of God to know how frail he was Psal 39.4 and this made Job compare himself to a leaf and to the dry stubble and to a flower and shadow Job 13.25 and Cap. 14.2 and we read that this is the use of sickness to hide pride from man Job 33.17 that is to take it quite away to be seen no more and if we did look on every thing which we are usually proud of as it will prove on a sick bed or death-bed it would be an effectual means to abase us and to hide pride from us Beloved it is a most precious thing for a man to be fill'd with the knowledge and sense of his own emptiness and vanity The Kingdom of heaven is unchangeably entail'd upon all such Mat. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven Hereby a man is sweetly qualified for every duty Faith never acts with more integrity and strength then when it acts from the belief of a mans own emptiness for when self is most denied Christ is most acknowledged and believed then doth a man most heartily and strongly receive and rest upon Christ to justifie and to save him when he sees what a guilty condemned lost wretch he is in himself and when he sees what a weak helpless creature he is then doth he most trust to the infinite power of Jesus Christ and this also doth exceedingly endear his heart in love to God when he sees that God is so good and so full of grace and love and mercy as to chuse and call and pardon and save such a vile and loathsome creature as he then repentance is most inward and spiritual when a man with Job abhors himself and repents in dust and ashes Job 42.6 and this fills the heart with prayer for prayer begs of God what a man wants in himself therefore when a man sees himself poor and empty of all good and knows that he cannot be supplied from himself then doth he pray to be fill'd with the fulness of God Now I say sickness is a special means to convince a man of his emptiness and vanity for hereby a man is left bare and empty of all those creature-comforts which seemed to fill him before and now he sees that nothing will fill him but grace and glory and that there is nothing in him to make up this fulness Secondly To convince us of the vanity of great men Oh what is a Prince or a Noble-man or Gentleman when the Pox or the Fever or the Consumption will insult over him and scorn him and make nothing of him and there is nothing in him
is alter ego another self but we must obediently give up our friends to the will of God I shall tell you what this is thus quietly to resign our friends to God It is that whereby we solemnly worship God acknowledging and praising his Name and subjecting our hearts to his will as he is a God of this dispensation As for example God smites a Husband with a disease now saith God by this Providence to the Wife What if I make thee a Widdow and thy Children Fatherless Why Lord saith the Wife thou art herein a wise holy and good God and I will still own and trust and love and rejoyce in thee Thus the heart must worship and praise God as he appears in this sad Providence and so the heart agrees with the Will of God as it is signified by this dispensation Now if there appear any rising of discontent we must quiet all such tumults with the Will of God as Eli did 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good in his sight We have an excellent pattern of this in Job Cap. 1.20 21. when amongst other sad Providences he heard of the sudden death of his sons he fell down and worshipt God whom he saw in the Providence saying The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Thus he worshippeth and praiseth God as it appeared in taking away his Children And thus when any friends are diseased labour to get thy heart into this frame this will make the mercy more sweet if they live and the affliction less bitter if they die I know your thoughts will now be full of the goodness of your friends Oh such a wise faithful loving Husband such a careful meek loving Wife c. Well look upon them at the very best and as such offer them up to God offer to God the best of thy flock the best of thy friends the better they are the better is thy patience and obedience in parting with them and withall all remember that if God will have thy friends to Eternity there is no ransome to be taken for them but they must be gone Thou mayst cry after them as Elisha did by Elijah 2 Kings 2.12 My Father my Father but Elijah never stops to answer him So thou mayst cry My Husband my Husband my Wife my Wife my Childe my Childe but to Eternity they will go and never stay to answer thee for God taketh away and who can hinder him or who can say unto him What dost thou We cannot hinder him and we must not question him but resigne all to him End 12. Christ visits his people with sickness to fill their hearts with prayer Solomon tells us Prov. 15.8 The prayer of the upright is his delight For a Believer being in Christ and found in his Righteousness at the Throne of Grace there ariseth such a sweet smell and savour to God which makes the Believer and his prayers pleasant and delightful to him and therefore God often sends sickness to stir up a spirit of prayer in the hearts of his people Hence we read of that sick man Job 33.26 He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy So when Hezekiah was sick he turned his face to the wall as he lay in bed and wept and prayed unto the Lord Isa 38.2 14. So David as appears by Psal 30 and 38 and 39. when his body was full of sickness his heart was full of prayer See further Psal 107.17 18 19. That was a savoury speech of a Reverend Divine in his sickness to his friends Sinite me Psittaci instar cum Domino meo balbutire Suffer me to stammer like a Parret with my Lord by prayer The hearts of Gods people are called as Mr. Brightman observes on Rev. 5.8 Vials full of Odâ—urs that is hearts full of sweet and savoury prayers Oh when the bodies of the godly are as a sink full of filthy humors their hearts are as Vials full of the precious odours of prayer This is the blessed priviledge of a Believer that in the most sad and deplorate condition in the world he hath always access with boldness into the presence of God Ephes 2.18 Through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father Hebr. 10.19 Having boldness to enter into the Holiest viz. into heaven by the Blood of Christ Thou mayst by faith and prayer step out of thy sick bed into heaven Job saith in his affliction Chap. 31.37 As a Prince would I go near unto him Sirs the Spirit of Prayer is a Royal Spirit whereby a Believer goes with a Princely boldness and confidence unto God Now indeed sickness is a most special season for prayer because of our present need of those things which we are bound to pray for not only in regard of our need of ease and health and life though the want of these is a reason of prayer Isa 38.14 I am oppressed with pain and trouble undertake for me Hence David prays Psalm 39.13 O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be seen no more But now our present need of soul-saving mercies should set awork our hearts in prayer now a man is perhaps just in his fall into Eternity and is like to finde within a few hours whether Heaven or Hell be his portion This man hath need to pray earnestly for sound repentance and saving faith and pardon of sin and everlasting salvation End 13. To fill the hearts of the godly with sympathy to one another as a distemper in a toe or finger afflicts all the rest of the members so when one member of Christ is visited all the members about him are called to sympathize and condole with him 1 Cor. 12.26 If one member suffer all the members suffer with it Hence we finde that when a Christian is diseased there is a spirit of prayer poured out in his behalf from all the Christians about him When Melancthon was sick it 's reported that Lutheri Crucigeri precibus non tam convaluit quà m revixit By the prayers of Luther and Cruciger he was not only restored from sickness to health but as it were from death to life Melch. Adam in vita Melancth So when Myconius was sick Luther affectionately prays Peto ut loco tuo me faciat Dominus aegrotum I pray that the Lord would make me sick in thy stead Melch. Adam in vita Mycon David had this charity for his enemies in their sickness Psal 35.13 But as for me when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into my own bosom I behaved my self as though he had been my friend or brother I bowed down heavily as one that mourned for his Mother Shall David thus fast and pray for his sick enemies and shall not we for our sick friends Job professeth what his carriage should have been
about the City that is they go about like the Devils beagles hunting Gods people Well saith David vers 14. seeing they love the sport so well At evening let them return and make a noise like a dog and go round about the City that is let thy judgements so afflict them that they may like hungry and angry Curs go crying and yelling about the City so that here the murmuring of a man in trouble is compared to the yelling of a dog so this sin is compared to the roaring of Bears Isa 59.11 We roar all like bears and Zanchy observes that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated murmurers Phil. â— 14 signifies a noise like the grunting of a swine nay this sin makes a man like the very Devil who is a most restless and discontented spirit and therefore is said Matth. 12.43 To walk about seeking rest and finding none And it is true of many on their sick-beds which we read Hos 7.14 They have not cryed unto me when they have howled viz. like beasts upon their beds Now what a fearful case is this that when in thy sickness thou shouldst have been full of the thoughts and language and savour of a Christian so as to be praying unto and praising and pleasing God and saving and edifying others and quieting and solacing thy own soul that thou shouldst by murmuring and discontent be yelling like a Dog roaring like a Bear howling like a Beast grunting like a Swine and be like a restless and desperate Devil Secondly discontent unfits the soul for every duty you cannot indure to see your children go grumbling to meat and grumbling to School and grumbling to bed and grumbling to ask you blessing so it greatly provokes God to see people go murmuring to prayer and murmuring to Sermons and murmuring to Sacraments Beloved lay this up as a rule and let it always reign in your hearts viz. That a man can never go holily and comfortably to any duty except his heart be reconciled to these three things To God to all men and to all Gods Providences Therefore when a man is quarrelling with God and men and murmuring at all Gods dealings always either complaining that his mercies are too little or his afflictions too great how miserably unfit is such a man to look God in the face in any duty Thirdly murmurers are always miserable according to our Proverb An angry person never wants woe as if a man that hath his body full of sores come in a crowd where he is always jogged and thrust this must needs hurt and vex his sores Beloved a discontented spirit is a sore spirit and the least touch of affliction doth vex it and therefore for such a man to live always in a croud of miseries wherewith he is continually hurt and vext this must needs be a miserable man It is observable that God himself is set to cross such a man Lev. 26.27 28. If ye walk contrary to me I will walk contrary to you As thus God would have you to believe love fear and please him Now you walk contrary to God you deny hate despise and provoke him Well you would have God to bless preserve pardon and save you Oh but God wiâ—l walk contrary to you he will curse destroy and damn you Now they cannot but be in an unquiet condition who have God himself always crossing and thwarting them See Psal 18.26 With the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward If you will be cross with God he will be cross with you and therefore observe when you are discontented something falls out from Wife Children Servants or Neighbours to exasperate and fret you more so that I say this sin makes a man spend his days in bitterness and sorrow Lastly murmurers shall be judged at the last day as ungodly men Jude v. 14 15 16. where we see that when the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints one great work of that day will be to execute judgement on ungodly murmurers and complainers therefore as you fear the portion of murmurers then do not live the life of murmurers now Thirdly this Doctrine reproves those who are so stupid and senceless in their sickness as not to own the hand of Christ in their visitation for seeing all diseases come from him we are to receive them as the good messengers of Christ saying with Naomi Ruth 1.13 The hand of the Lord is gone out against me This stupidity of spirit is that sin whereby men slight and despise the judgments of God so as neither to be affected in the sense of their sins nor of Gods displeasure for them We have a clear instance of this sin Jerem. 10.19 I said truly This is my grief and I must bear it In the beginning of the verse the people sadly bewail their present afflictions Woe is me for my hurt my wound is grievous now it aggravates their present misery to be upbraided with their former stupidity I said viz. in my trouble heretofore truly this is my grief and I must bear it off as well as I can implying that they formerly thought that they could easily bear off the strokes of God We often hear the like confident language from many stupid sinners on their sick beds saying Indeed I am not well I am something out of order but I will strive with it and hope to shake it off shortly and so go on with my building or trading or purchasing c. Thus usually men flatter themselves in their sickness talking as if they were but beginning to live when perhaps they are ready to die these strive to put far from them the evil day Amos 6.3 Like those who boasted that they had made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell Isa 28.15 as if they had made some bargain with Death and Hell and had them in Bond and Covenant not to hurt them this sensless spirit possest those Hos 7.9 Isa 42.25 This sin is forbidden Prov. 3.11 My son despise not the chastening of the Lord. Beloved it is a fearful thing to despise any affliction perhaps yet it is but little but it comes from a great God and upon a great Errand therefore remember Psalm 2.11 If his wrath be kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Consider further the evil and danger of this sin in two particulars First It doth greatly provoke and call forth the wrath of God Isa 26.11 When thy hand is lifted up they will not see they will take no notice of thy displeasure but they shall see Oh then is the judgment of God fearful on the ungodly when Gods wrath puts them past security when the seared conscience is turned into a gnawing conscience I tell thee sinner if sickness will not awaken thee hell will You know if a Father whip his Childe to humble and melt him it cuts the very heart of his Father to see his Childe laugh in his face So when God visits a
sinner with sickness or other afflictions if he scorn his Rod it must needs be an unspeakable provocation for as it savours much of the spirit and grace of a Childe of God to be suitably affected to the various manifestations of God so that it is his most inward pleasure to have God pleased this puts gladness into his heart Psal 4.6 7. and if God in displeasure hide his face he is troubled Psal 30.7 so on the contrary it is a sign of a base spirit when as it is said of Miriams disease God spits in his face then to be so shameless and impudent as if he could out-face the frowns of his Majesty Secondly This speaks a mans condition to be incurable Isa 1.5 Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more as if they were grown so desperate that corrections made them worse Beloved this stupidity doth frustrate the end and use of Gods Visitation for they cannot hear the rod if they do not feel the rod because the rod speaks by its strokes therefore they lose its teachings when they do not feel it smart the condition then of such wretches must needs be hopeless when they make Gods last remedy useless as when a man is sick first you seek to restore him by keeping him warm and by wholesome diet if this fail you send to the Physitian but if the Physick do not stir the body if he will not vomit nor purge nor bleed then you look for nothing but death So when mercies will not melt nor Sermons change a sinner and after all God sends sickness or other judgments and yet these do not work what remains but a fearful looking for of eternal judgment And now to conclude this we may see the dreadful condition of senseless and secure sinners on their death-beds they say they have made their peace with God when it is but a peace with sin and an agreement with hell and that they hope for salvation when perhaps the Pulse hath not many strokes to beat before they are sure of damnation yet they will go confidently with the foolish Virgins as it were to the door of heaven till Christ tell them there to their faces he knows them not and thus they die being wholly at ease and quiet and carnal friends think they have made a comfortable end when for my part I do not doubt to say it is as comfortable to see men die drunk as die secure Fourthly This doctrine reproves those who in their diseases trust to Physitians for health Diseases you see are not at the command of Physitians but of Christ This was Asa his sin 2 Chron. 16.12 in his disease he sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians His sin was not in seeking to the Physitians but in not seeking to the Lord. I know it is a great sin upon pretence of Gods power to be disobedient to his will in despising Physick which God hath ordained to be his means to restore us to health this sin is a tempting God wherein we will try what God can do and yet neglect what he commands but we must use the Physitian yet so as to live by faith and not by Physick and therefore the rule is to honour and use them as Gods Instruments but not to put them in Gods place Fifthly It reproves those who usurp Authority and use their own power to hurt or disease the bodies of men I mean not those who have authority from God and man to execute bodily punishments as Magistrates Parents Masters c. nor would I abrogate the Law of self-preservation in the case of a violent and unavoidable assault but my aim is to convince those of their sin who delight in quarrelling and fighting who are said to enter into contention Prov. 18.6 who neglect their callings to go to Cock-pits Bear-baits c. on purpose to quarrel and fight and such who upon every little provocation will be at daggers drawing no more with them but a word and a blow a lye and a stab and such mankeen beasts who delight to feed on the wounds and blood of men accounting it a piece of gallantry and bravery to beat hurt wound and maim others Now if all diseases are at the command of Christ so that he bids them go c. then thou shouldst not usurp Christs Authority to hurt or disease others Now that you may for ever abhor and be afraid of this sin lay to heart these five Considerations First This is a damnable sin without speedy repentance it will bring thee to hell I say unto thee as Paul said to Ananias Acts 23.3 God shall smite thee thou whited wall for smiting thy brother Oh look upon those strong arms and limbs burning with thy body and soul in hell Oh consider what a poor credit it is to go valiantly to hell for this will be thy case for if he that gives his brother but a foul word be in danger of hell-fire Mat. 5.22 how much greater danger art thou in who woundest and hurtest that body which God hath bound thee upon pain of damnation in the sixth Commandment to preserve Secondly Consider what spirit worketh in thee when thou art fighting and quarrelling with others I say to thee as Job in another case to his friend Job 26.4 Whose spirit came from thee Is this the holy loving humble patient meek and peaceable spirit which is so precious and savoury to God and men Is this the way to please and honour the God of thy life and limbs and strength who stands by and looks thee in the face and sees thee like a fool in thy rage The Apostle clearly determines that these fightings are fruits of your lusts James 4.1 And is this thy valour and gallantry to fight so stoutly to fulfil a base lust Thirdly Consider how thou dost hereby abuse thy own body Is thy body a member of Christ and thy hands and arms parts of Jesus Christ and wilt thou make a member of Christ a murderer Fourthly Consider the person whom thou smitest Is he not one towards whom thou shouldst put on bowels of compassion and whose salvation thou art bound to seek and dost thou think to bring him to heaven by Club-law Is he not fearfully and wonderfully made by God in whose book all his members are written and wilt thou by thy inhumane and merciless blows mar such a choice piece of Gods workmanship Is not or may not his body be the Temple of the Holy Ghost and an instrument to serve God and his generation and wilt thou by maiming and wounding him make him less serviceable Nay further he is made after the Image of the Invisible God and I tell thee in striking him thou dost as it were strike God in the face Lastly Consider the many sad and fearful consequences of this sin it breeds malice and revenge and causeth further quarrels and contentions among persons and families it begets many chargeable suits at Law
to the expence of thy precious time and Estate besides men are hereby so flesht with cruelty and given to fight that oftentimes the end of such is either to be killed or hang'd Now for the defence of this cursed sin men usually pretend these and such-like Objections which I shall briefly answer and so proceed to other Uses Object 1. Must I then be branded for a base Coward in suffering every one to abuse me Answ He is a base Coward that is so poor spirited as to serve a base lust and to be a slave to a conquered Devil but he hath a Divine Spirit that will do the will of God and rule his own spirit and conquer himself therefore shew thy courage by setting all thy might against thy sins Tertullian useth this ingenious art to divert the Christians from beholding the spectacles of cruelty in the Heathenish Games by directing them to behold how grace doth conflict with and conquer over sin Behold saith he wantonness destroyed by chastity falshood slain by faith cruelty beaten by mercy malapertness overcome by modesty tales sunt apud nos agones in quibus ipsi coronamur and such are the conflicts with us in which we are crowned De spectaculis cap. 29. So I say if thou lovest fighting fight with thy sins so shalt thou be crowned for a Champion when a company of strong and stout fellows shall be damned for Cowards besides thou mayst have opportunity to shew thy self no Coward when thou art called to suffer reproach poverty banishment imprisonment or death for the sake of Christ by thy chearful and obedient suffering of which thou wilt be more then a Conquerour over sin the world death devils when a company of proud Swaggerers who venture their limbs and lives in quarrelling and fighting for the Devil will basely turn Papists or Infidels before they will venture any thing for Jesus Christ Object 2. But I shall do them good by beating them and make them rule their tongues and carry themselves more civilly hereafter Answ Thou mayst do them good by thy graces but never expect to do them good by thy sins The Scripture directs thee to a better way to do thy enemy good Mat. 5.44 Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you Rom. 12.21 Overcome evil with good And Solomon tells us that a soft tongue and not a hard cudgel breaketh the bone Object 3. How then must I live I can never be in quiet I am abused by such that would provoke any man alive to strike them Answ I confess the world is full of many daring contentious spirits whose mouths call for strokes Prov. 18.6 and who as Austin speaks carry the Devil in their tongues But this will not excuse thee if thou canst not rule their tongues rule thy own hands Remember David how was that Royal person rated by Shimei 2 Sam. 16.7 Come out come out thou bloody man and thou man of Belial But see how David takes it vers 10 12. Let him curse because the Lord hath said unto him Curse David It may be the Lord will look upon my affliction and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day I would therefore seriously advise thee when thou art thus provoked to see heaven and hell looking thee in the face and hear the Scripture crying in thy conscience Render good for evil and go to heaven but Render evil for evil and go to hell This may work thy heart into Davids frame which appeared in his carriage towards Saul 1 Sam. 24.13 Wickedness proceeds from the wicked but my hand shall not be upon him So when thou art provoked by the insolent behaviour of unreasonable men say Wickedness proceeds from the wicked I can expect no better from such but I will leave my cause with God for I am resolved that my hand shall not be upon him Sixthly This Doctrine reproves those who threaten to do hurt and mischief unto others This was Jezabels sin who threatned to slay Elijah as he had caused Baals Prophets to be slain 1 Kings 19.2 So let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time Thus Saul is said to breath out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord Acts 9.1 and so those bloody Jews bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul And so many threaten others that they will be even with them that they will do them a mishief or that they will be the death of them Now thou seest that power to hurt or disease or any other way to trouble a man belongs to Jesus Christ and what ground hast thou to expect that Christ will exercise his power to fulfil thy lusts besides this is a fearful curse of God upon many that they are so far left to themselves as to will and intend and threaten mischief and thereby bring guilt upon their own souls and yet are never able to finish their sin so as to do the hurt they intend to others and this is a very torment to many a malicious wretch that he lives travelling with iniquity and yet is never able to bring it forth Furthermore how darest thou threaten to do a man hurt when thou art bound to pray to God to do him good yea and to preserve him from that very evil which thou threatnest against him Again it often appears that God intends the very same mischief to thee which thou intendest to others Psal 35.8 Let his net that he hath hid catch himself into that very destruction let him fall But to conclude this consider that when many a man is threatning and devising mischief to others a disease from Christ doth suddenly take him and turn him to hell before he can bring it to pass Seventhly It reproves the great wickedness of such who curse others by wishing diseases or other judgments upon them We often hear such horrible speeches as these A plague on him a pox on him c. as if they and not Christ had power to command diseases to go and they will go or as if the power of Jesus Christ must be the servant and instrument of a proud froward and malicious heart This sin is forbidden to be used towards our worst enemies Rom. 12.14 Bless them that persecute you bless and curse not and it is made the signe of a graceless man to have his mouth full of cursing Rom. 3.14 for his heart is full of pride malice and anger and these fill his mouth with cursing Consider if thou curse others God will curse thee Psal 109.17 18 19. As he loved cursing so let it come unto him Consider further some will curse their friends their husbands wives or children and sometimes God hath punished such cursed speeches in bringing
ordinance do meet the heart agrees and is suitable to the ordinance and so is fit and worthy to receive it but on the other hand here is a dead unbelieving sinner that hath no principle or faculty to discern Jesus Christ or to receive him as hereby offered therefore he comes unworthily he is not fit for his heart and the ordinance do not agree but he is like a blinde man before the most glorious shew Again here is spiritual food meat indeed and drink indeed to feed and satisfie a soul with grace and pardon and salvation Well and here is a poor soul hungring and thirsting after this very food Now such a man is fit and comes like a hungry man to a good and wholesome feast but here is another dead sinner that sees and feels his want of nothing and so is no more fit and meet for such an ordinance then a man that lyes dead in a Coffin is to eat the bread and wine which is dealt at his funeral nay further you may see the unworthiness of a wicked man in that his heart is against the Lords Supper as a man is very unfit for a feast when he loaths and his stomack doth rise against every dish on the table and against all the company So my Brethren a man is very unfit for the Lords Supper when his heart hates and riseth against Christ and against holiness against all godly Christians Sirs here is set before us that which condemns all sins and which requires the greatest strictness and holiness so that to be sure the man that hates Christ in a Minister or in a Christian cannot but hate him in the Lords Supper Well you see who are unworthy and who by this sin bring diseases and other judgements of God upon themselves in this life and also damnation on their bodies and souls in the life to come I might here also tell you that the godly themselves for want of the present exercise of grace suitable to this Ordinance may bring diseases and death upon themselves for as Christ with all his benefits is herein actually set forth so grace should actually come forth to meet him to take receive and enjoy him as when a feast is ready drest and disht up those that are fit guests must not onely have life and stomachs c. but they must also actually eat and drink The application is easie I shall therefore conclude this reproof in seriously warning all to take heed of unworthy receiving the Lords Supper would any man eat that which he knows would breed the Pestilence or the Fever or the Dropsie Why Christ tells you if you come unworthily you eat and drink judgement to your selves And certainly though the food be precious and wholesome and it is your duty to receive it worthily yet by unworthy receiving you do that which may bring the Plague Pox Fever c. upon you and without sound repentance will bring damnation upon your bodies and souls for ever The third sin to be here reproved is niggardliness this is a sin whereby men restrain from themselves the lawful use of the creature they have not hearts to take and use the creatures to those ends which God hath made them good for but basely defraud their own backs and bellies by grudging themselves the meat drink clothes recreations physick which nature requires and God allows The word speaks expresly against this sin Eccles 6.12 such men play the thieves in robbing God of the honour and themselves of the use of these mercies and they love their â— states better then themselves and by prâ—serving their riches they disease and destroâ— their own bodies 4. Drunkenness to which may be addâ— the sin of gluttony The former bring themselves to untimely sicknesses anâ— death by taking too little of Gods creâ—tures and these by taking too much consider the evil and danger of thiâ— sin of drunkenness in these five particulars 1. Drunkenness doth unman the drunkard and turns him into a very beast Hencâ— saith the Prophet Hos 4.11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart This is given as one reason of the peoples wickedness mentioned in this Chapter because they were so besotted with drunkenness and whoredom which sins took away all knowledge and wisdom from them Augustine saith Ebrietas est blandus daemon quam qui habet seipsum non habet Drunkenness is a flattering Devil which he that hath hath not himself Drunkenness is voluntaria insania wilful madness as Seneca speaks A Drunkard though at other times he may be learned yet now he can neither understand discourse see go ride nor do any business as becomes a reasonable man look on a drunkard and consider yonder goes one with the immortal soul and precious body of a man yonder staring eyes stammering tongue staggering limbs would if they were filled with the Spirit be precious instruments to honour God and become blessings to man but what a beastly creature is he made by this filthy sin 2. A drunkard is unfit for any employment he is good for nothing Who will venture his business with a drunken Servant or his life with a drunken Physician or his soul with a drunken Minister how many thousand of mens lives have been lost by drunken souldiers Whatever a mans estate be he may be cheated of all when he is drunk 3. A drunkard is unfit for all societies and that for divers reasons I shall mention but this one viz. a man cannot commit a secret to a drunkard who will chuse such a friend to whom a man can speak nothing but what he will have proclaimed in every Alehouse or Tavern in the Country Now what ever a man says to a drunkard no body knows but that the next time he is drunk he will tell all 4. Drunkenness betrays a man to all sin for a man at the best is full of the principles of Sin Now drunkenness is apt to set all a work and leaves a man incapable of many restraints which might be used to a sober person who knows what a man full of sin may do in his drunken mood when he hath neither grace nor reason nor counsel of others nor fear nor shame to restrain him and therefore what horrid sins are committed in drunkenness swearing cursing whoring fighting yea and murdering also Clitus was a dear and faithful friend to Alexander yet Alexander murders him when he was drunk though he was ready to kill himself for it when he was sober Augustine reports that a son of one in Hippo who was too much cockered by his Father came home drunk in which sin he would have ravished one of his Sisters slew his Father and wounded to death two of his other Sisters Lastly drunkenness shuts a man out of heaven and by untimely sicknesses and death hastens him to hell The Apostle assures us 1 Cor. 6.10 that no drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God Oh what a fearful sin is this it hurries a
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
then that time must needs be precious which gives thee an opportunity to gain these The Apostle determines this 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation Now God is offering Christ for thy Salvation now the Spirit is striving for thy Salvation now Ministers are praying preaching and travelling for thy Salvation Thus God fills thy time with salvation-work Oh then what a mercy it is to be restored to such precious opportunities when perhaps if thou hadst dyed in thy last sickness thou wast in great danger to be damned and now thou hast time to labour to be saved The second Duty to be performed by those who are restored to health is this Keep up a frequent remembrance of thy visitation and of the Lords dealing with thee therein It seems by the contents of it that David penned Psalm 38. in a time of great sickness and it 's very observable that he gives that Psalm this title A psalm of David to bring to remembrance Implying that one special use of this Psalm was to bring his sickness to remembrance Whence we may learn that it is our duty in our health to be often remembring the hand of God in our sickness when thou art full of mirth and findest thy heart apt to be loose from God in thy recreations then remember the pains of sickness and this will cause a spirit of moderation and sobriety to rule thy heart when thou art going to worship God it may much quicken thee with a new and fresh spirit to consider how near thou wast to eternity in such a sickness and to go to duty as one that is newly risen out of a sick-bed and that thou art still praying hearing receiving Sacraments as it were in the very gates of death So when thou art tempted to any sin remember thy sickness consider Wilt thou bring again upon thy self an Ague Fever Dropsie Consumption c Beloved in abundance of cases it will do your souls much good to be often remembring your visitation Thirdly examine what good thou hast got by thy visitation Beloved many come out of a sickness like Rogues out of a gaol Rogues they went in and worse Rogues they come out So they were Drunkards Whoremongers Persecutors of Gods people when they went into sickness and are far worse and more hardned in their sins when they come out of sickness Let us therefore all examine what good we have got by our sickness as you know after a man hath been in a course of Physick he observes whether he coughs less or burns less c. and whether his stomack be better and strength better and sleep better so if thou hast been in a course of sickness observe whether thy corruptions abate and whether thy heart be better since thy visitation is pride less and peevishness less and covetousness less and canst thou pray better and sanctifie Sabbaths better and hear Sermons better and is thy discourse better and thy life better David upon search found sweet experience of the blessed effect of his affliction Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy statutes So canst thou say Before I was sick I could not endure to be provoked I was very light and loose in company I was very apt to be proud and self-conceited but now I bless God I am more patient and more serious and more humble Fourthly take special care to avoid sin after thy recovery I say to thee as Christ said to another upon the same occasion Joh. 5.14 Thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee Thou thoughtest thy disease was very bad and grievous but consider there are worse things then thy sickness was worse pains and worse miseries Oh then sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee I shall press this duty in these four Particulars First watch especially against those sins which thou wast most inclined unto before thy sickness Some conceive that the impotent man before-mentioned was visited especially for some particular sin which our Saviour did particularly aim at in bidding him sin no more The Apostle tells us of some 2 Pet. 2.22 that return with the dog to his own vomit where he compares those that seemed to loath sin and after return to the same sin to a sick dog which when he hath eased himself by vomiting up that which made him sick goes and licks up again his own loathsome vomit and so we see very many who lick up in time of health those very sins which they seemed to loath and vomit up in time of sickness Beloved sin appears in its actings most strong when the instruments are most strong therewith a man commits it and the weakness of the instruments causeth a weakness in the actings of sin and therefore when the body is weak all those sins which are fulfilled by the body seem weak too but now when the body gathers strength as a man hath strength to eat and strength to work and strength to walk so without the mighty power of the Spirit strength will also return into sin Therefore I say Watch and pray and fight against those sins which thou wast most apt to commit before thy sickness Secondly take heed of surfetting with the profits and pleasures and preferments of the world for as a man after long fasting is apt to surfeit when he returns to his meat so when a man by sickness hath been long with-held from the creature there appears such a fresh kinde of pleasure and delight in the world and the heart is so eager in the desires of it that there is great danger of being glutted with it We should therefore receive all the blessings of the creature as the Israelites did eat the Pass-over Exod. 12.11 where we finde that they were to eat the Pass-over as those that were ready to go out of Egypt towards Canaan with their loyns girt their shoes on their feet their staves in their hands and they were to eat it in haste So my Brethren we should eat drink buy fell work take our recreations as those that are hasting away into eternity and as if we were ready drest to go to heaven Thirdly Beware of security for we are apt herein to be like Pharaoh who when one plague was past thought himself safe enough from that or any other So when one fit of sickness is past we look for no more but dream of a long time of ease and peace and health before us but we should be rather like one that is sick of an Ague who when the fit is over eats drinks and is merry but yet he looks for another fit So Sirs is a sickness over and past why I do not deny but that God who hath given thee a stomach and provided food would have thee to eat and drink and he that hath created matter for thy delight and made thee a risible creature doth allow thee to be merry and
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
to die to the Lord Rom. 14.18 I tell you a man may with courage and resolution burn at a stake and men burn him to death because of his profession of the truth of Christ and yet this is but the height of hypocrisie and he may hereby dye to himself And though men may commend him for a Saint yet God may justly condemn him for an hypocrite but he that willingly yeilds himself to dye in obedience to God dyes in the Lord and to the Lord and graciously offers up his life as a sacrifice of a sweet savour to God in Christ Consider further thou dost hereby graciously finish all passive and active obedience thou now leavest thy Country and Estate and Father and Mother and Wife and Children to fulfill the will of God So also all that thou hast been doing by Prayer Meditation Sacraments Sabbaths c. thou willingly yeildest to have finisht by death thou art heartily willing that the old man of sin be put off by death for ever and that the new man of holiness be put on for ever Consider thou hast often pray'd to be filled with the likeness and presence of God which can never be till death Christ hath prayed that thou mayst be where he is that thou mayst see his glory Joh. 17.24 and this can never be till thou dyest therefore I say be willing to dye call upon the sad mourners about thee saying to them as Jacob to Joseph Gen. 46.30 Let me dye Dear yokefellow let me dye sweet children let me dye my pleasant Jonathans let me dye and turn thy face to God and say with Simeon Luk. 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Lastly Commend thy soul to God this is an act of a Believer whereby he freely gives up himself to God and Christ as his right and due to glorifie and to enjoy him for ever in heaven Now by giving up thy soul to God thou givest up thy body too for the body will be sure to follow the soul if the soul go to hell the body must go thither too if the soul go to heaven the body must be glorified there too therefore see God as it were standing by thy bed-side saying to thee My son give me thy heart give me thy soul give it me from sin and self give it me from the world and devils give it me for I made it and bought it and I will save it Oh then give it up and commend it to God See the infinite and unchangeable love and mercy of God in Christ to thy soul and believe that with this love he will graciously and lovingly receive thy soul and see what God will do with thy soul in what fulness of holiness and joy and glory he will settle it for ever See that thy soul be such as thou mayst comfortably commend it unto God do not present to him a drunken ignorant proud covetous unbelieving soul but a believing loving holy humble soul See thy soul cloathed with Christs righteousness and aâ— such give it up to God to be blessed and glorified for ever in Heaven saying Father into thy hands I commit my spirit FINIS Pâ—al 52.7 Psa 39.11 â—sa 22.17 Psalm 10.18 Job 40.9 1 Cor. 10.22 Job 40.9 Psal 128.3 Jer. 9.21 Job 21.21 2 Kin. 4.40 Psal 94.12 Jam. 5.14 Psal 17.14 Psal 49.7 Job 9.17 Eph. 2.6 Col. 3.4 Luke 12.4 Jam. 5.11 Phil. 4.17 Heb. 10.31 Gal. 4.29 1 Tim. 4.16 Rev. 6.8 Job 23.14 Deut. 30.20 Psal 41.2 â—ct 8.22 â—eut 13. â—1 Job 33.13 Rom. 3.4 Exod. 16.3 17.3 Prov. 23.5 Isa 57.20 Lam 3.19 22. Numbers 12.14 Job 21.23 Prov. 25.15 Act. 23.12 Cor. 3.9 * Cyprian de mortalitate 1 Cor. 13.12 2 Cor. 5.1 Phil. 3.21 Gal. 3.13 1 Cor. 15.54 1 Cor. 15.43 Heb. 10.37 38. 2 Cor. 5.4 Prov. 27.1 Psa 33.11 2 Cor. 5.19 Jam. 1.22 2 Cor. 4.7 Heb. 3.13 Deut. 34.7 Prov. 12.4 Prov. 1.8 Psal 22.30 Eccl. 12.1 Psal 71.6 2 Tim. 3.15 Matth. 25. Vers 6. Vers 8. Phil. 1.9 10. Job 38.7 2 Tim. 1.18 Luk. 12.20 Psal 88.3 Acts 14.17 Prov. 3.24 Rom. 5.8 Eph. 5.2 Gal. 2.20 1 Joh. 3.23 2 Pet. 3.14 Heb. 11.4 Prov. 23.26
being their God and make the Devil and his Instruments their God Idolatry is that sin whereby men forsake the true God and set up any thing in the place of God and this sin is so much the worse by how much that is more vile and more unlike God and more against him which thou makest an Idol of and therefore this is the worst kind of Idolatry for what is more vile and more unlike God and more against him then an ugly damned Devil yet by seeking to Wizards in thy distress thou dost in effect deny the power and goodness and mercy of God and accountest the Devil more able and more merciful and more willing to do thee good then God himself Lastly This sin is an horrible violation of our Covenant with God which we entred in by Baptism for thereby we are bound to be for God and Christ and the Church and Salvation against the Devil and all his party Now hereby thou goest against God and ownest the Devil to be thy friend to heal thee The Prophet pleads this argument against this sin Isa 8.19 When they shall say unto you Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto Wizards that peep and mutter do not be tempted thereunto should not a people seek unto their God the God in Covenant with them but to the Devils and their Confederates whom they have covenanted against We have the same argument pleaded 2 Kings 2.3 4. where we finde that Elijah meets Ahaziah his messengers as they were going to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron and he tells them in effect You may spare your labour for Ahaziah shall die But mark how he expostulates with them vers 3. Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron So Sirs Is there not a God in England And are there not means of his appointment and are there not Ministers and Christians to pray for you who are in league with him but must you seek to such who are in league with the Devil Beloved do not you look upon your selves as parts and members of Jesus Christ and will you bring a member of Christ to be healed by the Devil What hath the Devil more care of Christs members then Christ himself or hath Christ need of the Devil to help or heal ever a member of his I tell you Christ would not himself and he abhors that ever a member of his should fall down or worship or stoop to the Devil Now to excuse this horrid sin people ordinarily make such Objections as these Object 1. My loving neighbours and friends gave me counsel to send to the wise woman for the health of my childe c. Answ 1. It is a device of Satan when he tempts to sin to make as many as he can partakers of it and therefore in this case he may tempt one to give this devilish counsel and thereby he signifieth he is willing of it and so becomes guilty both of the sin it self and of being a Devil to his neighbour by tempting him to the same sin another is tempted to take the counsel and so both consents unto and also commits the sin another applauds it another is hired to go to the Witch the Witch her self is hardned in her sin and thus the sin goes through many hands and spreads over many persons so that often in this case many in the neighbourhood and the whole family where the person is visited and many more are fearfully brought into the same condemnation 2. Consider what persons they are who advise thee Did ever any godly Minister or Christian give thee such counsel Did ever these loving friends and neighbours as thou callest them seriously tell thee of thy danger by sin and exhort thee to become a new ereature and to set up the worship of God in thy family and to labour for the salvation of thy precious soul I tell thee thou mayest go to hell with the love of such as thou callest loving neighbours but that will not ease thy torments when thou comest there Lastly Let thy Counsellors be who they will the Word of God hath plainly prevented this objection Isa 8.19 When they shall say unto you when they shall give you this damnable counsel Seek unto them that have familiar spirits do not be tempted by them for should not a people seek unto their God 2 Object Many in the like case seek to the wise-man or wise-woman as well as I they come far and near to them for help Answ It is most certain as long as such ignorant unbelieving covetous Atheists as thou art live in the world the Devil shall never want Customers and if thou wilt follow a multitude to sin thou wilt finde when thou comest to hell and standest at the left hand of Christ at the day of Judgment that thou art never like to want such company 3 Object I know not that such to whom I seek for help are in league with the Devil I am sure they speak godly words of God and Christ and they do no hurt and therefore for ought I know they are as godly people as any are in the Country I shall answer this Objection in these four particulars 1. A Wizards using the Name of God and Christ or some Scriptures excuseth not his being in league with the Devil they that know not this are grosly ignorant both of the wisdom and will of God and also of the depths and devices of the Devil for the Devil doth most despite and blaspheme God when he conceals his own name and forgeth the name of God to the most horrid wickedness and therefore let not the cursed wretches deceive you with the name of God and so bring you into communion with and into the condemnation of the Devil but follow the directions of the Word of God which is purposely given to undeceive those that are apt to be a prey to these delusions Isa 8.19 20. To the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them 2. Judge no better of them because thou thinkest them so harmless thou thinkest it's pity but such a Hag were burnt who bewitcheth peoples bodies children cattel c. but thou sayest these do no hurt but much good in telling to stoln goods in healing the sick and curing diseased cattel or the like But beloved this is but a pretence for the Devil for his greatest wiles are to bring you to be tormented with him in hell and therefore he is content you should be healthful and wealthy and merry for as we say the Devil is kinde to his own so that he can tempt you to be sinful Hence it is that he will entice you to seek to him for the healing your bodies because it serves his designe to kill your souls Besides there is a confederacy among the Devils so that one Witch by her league with