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A57063 A sermon preached before the Queen at White-Hall, August 21, 1692 by Nathanael Resbury ... Resbury, Nathanael, 1643-1711. 1692 (1692) Wing R1133; ESTC R35361 10,306 32

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Dr. RESBURY's SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL August 21. 1692. A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL August 21. 1692. By NATHANAEL RESBURY D. D. Rector of S. Paul Shadwell and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties Published by Her Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-yard 1692. Job xxxiij 22 23 24. His soul draweth near unto the grave and his life to the destroyers If there be a messenger with him an interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto Man his uprightness Then is he gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down unto the pit I have found a ransom THese words have something in them that seems dark and mysterious as a great many passages in this Book of Job particularly have It is one entire and lofty Poem and not onely so but one of the ancientest pieces of Writing that was ever deliver'd to the World and so must needs have things in it very difficult being either Proverbial expressions peculiar to the Age or Countries amongst whom they were then in use or else References to the Histories of those Times which being now wholly out of reach render the passages that concern them so much the more abstruse and unintelligible However if we consider the drift of this Chapter where my Text is it may make for clearing up these words and the design of that Subject of discourse I intend from them Elihu one of Job's Visitants is remembring him of the various methods God is pleas'd to take in teaching and disciplining Mankind with all his gracious Ends and Designs in these ways of instruction viz. to bring Men to the knowledge both of God himself and of their own state He shows further all those mixtures of goodness the softnings and mitigations the allays or refreshments that God is pleas'd to minister even under the sharpest afflictions which he thinks fit sometimes to bring upon Men. The ways of instruction represented in this Chapter are 1. By Visions or Night-dreams When the Mind was retir'd from the business and noise of the day and was more receptive of divine impressions A way which it pleas'd God to take something more frequently as a Ministry of knowledge when Men had no other supply of Revelation no written Oracles of God for a rule and standard of their belief and actions Ver. 14 15 16. God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not In a Dream in a Vision of the night then he openeth the Ears of men and sealeth their instruction But then as God was wont to instruct Mankind by Visions or Dreams so he had another way and that more usual that which as it might be circumstanc'd might prove much more instructive more effectual for his correction and amendment every way And this was by afflictions and calamities of life Especially Diseases and Sicknesses which were not intended meerly to afflict Mankind or make their lives uneasie or uncomfortable but to give them a sight of themselves to remember them of their guilt to teach them their duty how they may learn to carry themselves before God with all submission to his Will dependance upon his Providence and repentance for the irregularities of Life by which they have provok'd God Ver. 19. and so on He is chasten'd also with pains upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain so that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat His soul draweth near unto the grave and his life to the destroyers And this way of instruction as Job himself was at present under so Elihu in describing it seems to accommodate his Expressions to the circumstances of Job's Sickness to the allays and mitigations he might observe in them and to the hopes he might have of a good issue and deliverance out of them The circumstances of his disease he describes by the pains in his bones the weakness of his stomach the consumption of his flesh and that degree of wasting that he seems as we express it as if he were just drawing on His soul draweth near unto the grave The allays and mitigations he might observe were these That he had those about him that might instruct him in the Will of God that might bring him to a sense of himself that might interpose with God in his behalf and prevail for the removal of this present affliction If there be a messenger with him an interpreter one among a thousand to show unto man his uprightness Then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down unto the pit I have found a ransom Lastly The encouraging hopes he might have of a rescue from death tho' his disease look't very dangerously ver 25 26. His flesh shall be fresher than a Child's he shall return to the days of his youth he shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy In the words thus explain'd by what went before and what follow after there may arise these three Things observable 1. The great incidency of humane Nature to sickness and bodily diseases His soul draweth near to the grave c. 2. That sickness and bodily diseases to which humane Nature is so incident have a great deal of instruction in them and it pleaseth God frequently to inflict them for this very end that Men might be taught the knowledge of themselves and their duty toward Him This I gather from the tendency of the Argument that Elihu is upon viz. showing the various methods by which it pleaseth God to teach Men the knowledge of his Will sometimes by Visions and Dreams in the night at other times by sickness and other calamities 3. Lastly It is further observable how great a blessing of Providence it is and what an allay to the affliction to enjoy one of the Messengers of God about a Sick-bed Some excellent Person that may read Lectures upon Divine Providence that may govern us in our behaviour toward God when under his correction and chastisement and that may pray in our behalves for the removal of that Calamity in his own good time If there be a messenger with him an interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness c. Of these in their Order I. I observe to you the great incidency of humane Nature to sickness and bodily diseases The best of Men are not exempt from them We have two great instances in Job and David who both fell not onely under the power of common distempers and weaknesses of body but diseases as soul and noisom as sore and painfull as strange and exemplary as have ever yet befallen the worst of Men. And as the best of Men are not exempt so neither are the youngest nor those of the strongest constitution We may be gay and flourishing in all the Vigours of youth and health to day and to morrow groaning under the pains and languishings of a sick-bed