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
Father here the Father is content to bee called after the name of his children The God of Abraham the God of Isaacke c. So Darius proclaimes in his decree The God of Daniel Esa. 44 One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himselfe by the name of Iacob and another shall subscribe with his hand vnto the Lord and surname himselfe by the name of Israel Thus sayth the King of Israel c. And Esa. 45. For Iacob my seruants sake and Israel mine Elect I haue euen called thee by thy name I haue surnamed thee though thou hast not known me Here might be inferred the inutterable compassion of God to Israel It is my people that is thus sicke But I haue not scanted this obseruation before That which I would now direct my speech and your attention to is the strangenesse of this complaint agrota t Israel Others to haue been sicke not so rare It had beene no wonder in Aegypt Ammon Edom Babilon Israel hath the best meanes for health therfore the more inexcusable her sicknes They should haue beene so maner'd as they were manur'd and brought forth grapes according to their dressing Sidon shall iudge Chorazin Niniuch Ierusalem In Sidon where was no Prophet was lesse wickednesse in Niniueh where lesse prophesying greater repentance This conuiction was demonstrated in many particulars The prayse of the Centurion is the shame of Israel The mercy of the Samaritan the Priests and Leuits condemnation The very dogges licking Lazarus fores confute the stony bowels of Diues The returning of the strange Leper with a song of thanksgiuing in his mouth was an exprobration to all the nine when Christ had the tythe of a person he least expected God reproacheth this daughter of Sion Ezek. 16 that Samaria and Sodoâ—â—e were of her Sisterhood yea as if their abominations were a very little thing thou wast corrupted more then they in all thy wayes Nay thou hast iustified thy sisters in that their abominations came short of thine by the one half The people of thy holines as the Prophet Esay cals them are become by the same Prophets testimony a sinfull nation a people laden with iniquity They that were not called by thy name are not so rebellious Eâ— sunt deteriores quo meliores Deus reddere conatus est It is grieuous that Gods goodnes should make men worse and the more kinde God hath beene to them the more vnkind they should be to themselues the more vnthankefull to him Christ for the Iewes turned their water into wine the Iewes for Christ turned their wine into vineger offered it him to drinke They that were the richest of Gods own making became the most bankroute sin religion They changed CathedraÌ„ magistery wherin God placed their Doctors in sodem pestilentiae into the scorners chayre contemning his benefits they had a Vineyard at an easie rate yet payed no fruites of obedience It is hard to say whether God was more gracious to them or they more greeuous to him This boldly neuer was more piery required with lesse piety God sowed mercy and reaped a crop of iniquity God can brooke this in none but as hee forsooke his Temple in Sion when it became a denne of theeues so he will take out his ornaments where with he graced the temple of the soule when we set vp the Dagon of this world in it and withdraw his riches as from a diuorced Spouse running after other louers Whiles Adam serued God God serued him he prouides for him a 〈◊〉 a companion and sustentation We read of nothing that God did sixe dayes together and his works were not small nor few but work for Adam as if hee had beene hired to labour for him Is it not strange that such a childe should rebell to such a father Let none thinke his fault was small in eating an apple or that his punishment waighed heauier then his trespasse His sinne was so much the greater because against a God and so good vnto him The more gloriously the Sunne and Summer haue apparrelled a tree the more wee admire the blazing when God hath planted a soule in his owne holy ground watered it with those sacred purifying dewes of his graces shone on it with the radiant beames of his soule reuiuing mercies spent much opera olei both of care and cost vpon it and hath his expectation required abused with a meere flourish of seaues with eyther anequam ornequic quam fructus none or euill fruites there goes out a curse Neuer fruit grow on thee more When God hath put his grace into our vnworthy vessels how abusiue is it to empty our selues of that precious liquor and swell our spirites with the poyson of hell How iust is it with him to take away what hee gaue Luke 8. and to put a consumption into our vitall parts Hence without wonder our iudgement rusts like a neuer drawne sword our knowledge looseth the rellish like the Iewes putrified Manna Our faith dissolues as a cloud our zeale trembles as if held with a palsie our loue freezeth the harder as water that once was warme Our repentance turns to yce our hope to snow which the heat of affliction melts to water not to be gathered vp the image of death is vpon all our religion Was this strange in Israel and is it nothing in England Looke vpon the inhabitants of the earth somwhat remote from vs to whose face the Sunne of the Gospell hath not yet sent his rayes people blinded with ignorance blended with lusts What were our desires or deserts former mater or latter merite congruity before conuersion or condignity after more then they might shew that God should put vs into the Horizon of his Grace whiles they sit in darkenesse and shade of death Want they nature or the strength of flesh are they not temperd of the same morter are not their heads vpward toward heauen haue they not reasonable soules able for comprehension apt for impression if God would set his Seale on them as well as we Are they not as likely for flesh and bloude prouident to forecast ingenuous to inuent actiue to execute if not more then we Why haue wee that starre of the gospell to light vs to Christ Iesus standing ouer our Country whiles they neither see it nor seeke it It is clearely meerly Gods mercy Now why are our liues worse our knowledge is better Why deuoure wee their venome refusing our owne healthfull foode whiles they would feed on our crums and haue it not Woe vnto vs if we scant God of our fruites that hath not scanted vs of his blessings Bring presents to the King of glory yee childrn of his holinesse and worship before him Indanger not your selues to the greater misery by abusing his great mercy Hee hath loued vs much and long in our election when we could not loue him in our redemption
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