or it proveth but a sickly repentance Oh then my Brethren be wise in time doe not lay the greatest load on the feeblest horse put not the weakest servant to the hardest labour put not off the maine businesse of thy soules health to the dolefull time of thy bodies sicknesse You have heard what sicknesse doth or rather undoeth it would not be amisse to enquire whence it came and how it was brought into the world Indeed as Christ saith in another case it was not so from the beginning Man in innocency was created with a body of so equall and lasting a temperature that had he not sinned it had neither been taken downe by death nor put out of frame by sicknesse Sinne it is which is fons Mali morbi mortis hath brought in evill instead of good death of life and sicknesse of health The Physitian being asked the cause of Diseases answereth and most truly mali humores evill humors in the body But the Divine resolveth it more fully mali mores ill manners in the life Phylosophy teacheth and Experience confirmeth it that passiones animae sequuntur temperamentum corporis the mindes passions much follow the bodyes temper Divinity preacheth no lesse truly that the disorder of the body followeth upon the distemper of the minde Mans soule was first sick of sinne and so the body becommeth infected with sicknesse for sinne It was the first sinne of Adam which brought forth and it is our owne actuall sinnes that nourish this degenerate Brat wherewith mankinde is so miserably infested A Meditation which if well pondered would learne us to beare sicknesse whensoever it commeth upon us without murmuring and yet with mourning 1. Why shouldst thou repine at God when any disease seizeth one thee True he is the efficient but thou art the meritorious cause he inflicteth but it is sinne that deserveth he punisheth but it is not till thou hast provoked him blame not his justice but thank thy owne wickednesse the Moth that frets the garment is bred of it the Tree giveth life to that Worme which killeth it Thy sicknesse oh man is of thy selfe and thy owne wayes and doings are they which procure these things to thee 2. When sicknesse smiteth thy body let repentance smite thy thigh when the disease rageth in thy members let thy soule be angry at thy sinne and as thou complainest of the effect so labor to be sensible of the cause {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith the Divine excellently sicknes is an wholsome Discipline it is so when it teacheth us to know our folly Happy disease which openeth our eyes at once to see and weep for our sinnes Oh my soule it is sinne hath caused thy body to feele sicknesse let sicknesse cause thee to feele the weight of sinne it is wickednesse hath brought this weaknesse let this weaknesse bring thee to a sight and sense of thy wickednesse why shouldst thou hold that sword in thy hand which hath so sorely wounded it or hug that serpent in thy bosome which hath so painfully stung thee rather since the fruit is so bitter pluck up the root and let not sin reigne any longer in thy mortal body seeing it hath made thy body so mortall And so much for the quality of the danger I pass on to the Extremity of the measure nigh unto death It is that which in some sense is true of every man alive this world is a region of Ghosts dying men yea young men in the prime of their dayes strong men in the full vigour of their age are nigh to death because death may then be neer to them The Philosopher being ask'd what he thought of life turn'd him round and vanished out of sight thereby intimating how easily and speedily life may be taken away and some of them have no lesse truly than aptly represented the distance between life and death by oculus apertus and clausus an eye open and shut which is done in a moment But though this in some respect be verified of all men yet it is more especially true of two sorts of persons to wit old men and sick men since old age is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a naturall disease and a disease is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an accidentall old age both must needs tend and hasten to death As for old men they are so nigh to death that the Proverbe saith they have one foot in the grave young men may dye soon but they cannot live long the dimnesse of light in their eyes and vapours that sometimes are drawne up into their braines argue the Sun of their life to be setting the hoary frost or rather white snow upon their heads proclaimes that the winter of their deaths is approaching The more strange it is to see them doting on who are going out of the world and as if they could set up under ground their mindes are most earthly whilest their bodies are ready to drop into the earth the more sad it is to think how both unwilling and unfit they are to die who yet are so unlikely to live and as if with the Eagle they could renew their youth they flatter themselves in hope of life when yet they are as it were within sight of death how short are such men of that heathen Seneca who said of himselfe ante senectutem curavi bene vivere in senect ute bene mori my care in youth was to live but in old age to die well then no doubt perceiving his death to be at hand As old men be they never so well so sick men by they never so young are nigh to death what Anacharsis said of Sea-men that he knew not whether to reckon them among the living or the dead is no lesse true of sick men who indeed are not dead because they breath and yet not living because not lusty every man carrieth death in his bosome but the sick man at his backe or rather in his armes before his face In summe there is a three-fold propinquity of death possible probable certaine it is possible the healthiest strongest and youngest may dye quickly it is certaine old men though they out-live far younger cannot live long and it is probable that the sick mans death is at hand But yet this in the proper sense is not true of all sicknesses that distinction of sinne cannot hold in Divinity according to the Popish acception that some are veniall others mortall since S. Paul saith indefinitely and meaneth it universally that death is the wages of sin but Analogically it is true in Physick of diseases some are onely painfull others mortall the Gout in the Toe a pain in the Teeth a prick in the Finger these though they cause pain yet are not in their owne nature deadly nor is the patient accounted the neereâ— death for them Besides of mortall diseases there is a difference some are a long time untwisting others in a short
God than to be glorifyed with him this Saint Paul declares to his hope yea his earnest expectation that Christ might be magnifyed in his body whether by life or death No wonder then if considering how much Epaphroditus his life might conduce to Gods glory he reckoned it as a mercy Besides 2. He increased his owne reward the longer a good man especially a goood Minister liveth the more sinners he converteth and they that turne many to righteousnesse saith Daniel shall shine as the starres for ever and ever nay every soule that a faithfull Minister winnes to God is as a new gemme added to that Crown which shall one day be put upon his head Thus then the case stands Epaphroditus indeed by dying had received his reward but by living he did the more service by dying he had obtained glory from God but by living he brought glory to God and our blessed Saviour saith It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive by dying he had enjoyed his recompence sooner by living he made it greater that would have accelerated but this augmented it so that even in respect of his owne future happinesse he was no loser but a gainer by the prolonging of his life and therefore most justly doth Saint Paul say God had mercy on him Briefly and yet clearely to state the whole matter Life and death may be considered and compared foure wayes 1. In their formall nature and so death is a privation life a position of good and therefore death evil and life good 2. In their Causes death is a fruit of sin life an effect of love our wickednesse deserved the one Gods goodnesse conferreth the other in which respect death is threatned as a punishment life promised as a reward 3. In their naturall and proper effects death bereaveth as well godly as wicked men of the society of friends possession of their estates yea all the comforts which this world affords whereas by life we have the fruition of them continued to us so that in this regard also life is farre better than death even to a good man 4. Lastly in their accidentall consequents when a wicked man dyeth there followeth torment but whilest he liveth there is hope of his repentance yea many times it so falls out some come into the Vineyard at the eleaventh houre and to such life is a choice mercy indeed when a godly man dyeth he is carried into Abrahams bosome placed in a state of blisse but by living longer he honoureth God edifieth the Church worketh out his salvation he gaineth both the more time to prepare himselfe for get assurance of yea make an addition to his future glory and therefore in this likewise and so in all comparisons life hath the preheminence and the continuance of it is justly called by the Apostle a mercy To close up this life continued health restored are mercies oh let not us by abusing them to sinne turne them into judgement who can believe it and yet we may often see it men change blessings into curses by their iniquities and as Parisiensis excellently expresseth it Ipsa beneficia sibi faciunt poenalia instrumenta contra seipsos divinae justitiae They make benefits to become punishments and the fruits of Gods mercy instruments of his justice The truth is it was not so much life as the right use Saint Paul conceived Epaphroditus would make of his life which moved him to call it a mercy Multis periculo pestilens sanitas fuit qui tutius aegrotassent Indeed these things are good or evill to us according as we imploy them It had been a greater mercy to many impenitent sinners that they had continued sick or dyed then that they were recovered Let us therefore lay out our life our health according to our severall places in Gods service so shall it prove glory to God benefit to others and a mercy to us Oh my soule thou hast received as it were a new life improve it in new obedience health is restored to thy body imploy it in the service ef thy God why should thy honey be turned into gall thy shield into a sword thy delicates into poyson Oh let thy life be expended by thee as it was intended by God so shalt thou have cause to take up the Apostles language God had mercy on me And thus much shall suffice for the second particular I hasten to the 3. Opportunity of the time which is the last branch implyed in the exâ—eptive But And a comfortable But it is indeed the sicknesse like a floud was carrying him away God puts in a But and stops its current Epaphroditus was falling into the pit But God reacheth forth an hand to uphold him God doth not so preserve him that the sicknesse should not come nay when it is come he doth not hinder it from increasing but when it is come to the height then he rebuketh the disease and saith hitherto thâ—u shalt come and no further All hopes of his recovery in mans eyes are perished and lo he is raised by the hand of God Means either are not afforded or however unable to help God becommeth his Physitian and commandeth the cure It lets us see thus much that When all hopes are livelesse and helps seem fruitlesse then is the season of Gods deliverance That childs condition is very sad whom the father and mother forsake but then the Psalmist finds God ready to take him up And the causall particle in the Originall is very considerable not onely when but because he was as a forsaken babe God vouchsafeth to protect and provide for him our extremity being not onely the opportunity when but a motive why God will deliver It was a dolefull complaint which the poore Creeple made to Christ {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I have not a man to put me into the poole but even that narration is an efficacious prayer The absence of mans help being the season of Christs presence and succour Saint Paul speaking of our blessed Saviours Incarnation saith it was when the fulnesse of time came if you will know when that full time was the Evangelist answereth it was in the dayes of Herod the King and if with Chrysologus you looke into those dayes you shall find them dayes of extreame misery to the Jewisâ— Nation their Temple profaned Liberty suppressed Worship abolished and the whole State full of confusion In those dayes was the fulnesse because indeed the fitnesse of time come for him who was the Redeemer to appeare and the horne of salvation to be raised up In which respect the Messiah is called by Moses a fit man or according to the Originall a man of opportunity Thy way oh God is in the sea and thy paths in the great waters saith the Psalmist By which expressions no doubt he chiefly intends as appeares by what followeth to note the imperceptible secrecie attending upon many of Gods dispensations so
time cut asunder the thread of life thus the Dropsie is a great while in drowning the Palsie in shaking downe and the Consumption in drying up the body whilest the Feaver in a few dayes burneth and an Apoplexie or Aposteme in a few houres suffocate it And yet once more in violent diseases there is a difference we do not say of every man whom a Feaver smiteth that he is presently nigh to death whilest the body is vigorous the Physick prosperous we account the patient hopefull but those in whom the virulency of the disease so farre prevaileth as that both the strength of Nature skill of Art seem unable to grapple with it are only and justly looked upon as nigh to death Such no doubt was Epaphroditus his case for though some conceive this danger might arise from stripes and scourges which Nero should command to be inflicted on him at Rome yet it is more rationally and generally concluded that some violent sicknesse by reason of a long Journy had seized upon him and though it is likely this good man was not negligent according as ability and opportunity was afforded to use meanes yet the disease did so increase that as to life his condition was desperate and therefore S. Paul saith of him he was nigh unto death To this low and weake estate is God pleased many times to bring men among others chiefly for a double end and that he may minde them of their dissolution and quicken them in their devotion Of all things we are very prone to forget our latter end and therefore God by sicknesse puts us in minde of it we are apt to put death farre from us and therefore by some grievous disease God bringeth us nigh to death a presumption we shall not dye yet maketh us not think of dying at all and whilest marrow is in our bones colour in our faces appetite in our stomachs strength in our joynts health in our bodyes we easily perswade our selves we shall not dye yet no mervaile if to fixe our eyes upon the Grave God chasten us with paine upon our Bed so that our life abhorreth bread our flesh consumeth away and our soule draweth neare to the grave It was the confession of Alexander when let bloud with an arrow All men call me Jupiters Sonne but this wound proclaimes me a mortall man and yet more divine was that of Antigonus who acknowledged his disease to be sent as a Monitor lest otherwise he might have growne insolent through the forgetfulnesse of mortality Sicknesses especially when desperate are warning peices to tell us the murdering peice of death is ready to destroy every ach tolls the Bell but these as it were dig the grave and cry dust to dust and good reason it is that when we cast the thought of death behinde our backs death it selfe should by these diseases looke us in the face and as it were pluck us by the throat 2. In health we are no lesse apt to forget God than our selves but sicknesse mindeth us of him in prosperity perhaps we mumble over a Pater Noster but adversity teacheth us to cry Abba Father Lord saith the Prophet in trouble have they visited thee they who before were strangers now would bee familiar with God and give him a visit they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them it may be before they did say a prayer but now they poure out a prayer Though man by the formation of his body be made with an erect countenance yet he seldome looks up to heaven till some disease hath laid him upon his back nor yet many times will a slight sicknesse prevaile God promiseth himselfe concerning his people in their affliction they will seeke me early but for the most part it proveth otherwise ubi desinit medicus ibi incipit Theologus the Divine's work begins not with many till the Physitian 's is done it is late enough not to seeke God till affliction comes and yet we seeke God not early but late in affliction The Woman in the Gospell sick of a bloudy Issue goeth not to Christ till she had spent all and that to no purpose upon Physitians the Prodigall thinketh not of going home to his Father till he is brought so low that he would faine be fed with husks but cannot get them nor doe many lift up their eyes or hands to heaven till they are scarce able to lift up either Indeed necessity is an excellent Mistris especially of Devotion Most men will not pray till they must it is misery which like Jonahs fish puts them upon humble supplication who never thought of God under the gourd of Prosperity In which respect that Latine Proverb was not taken up without just cause Qui nescit orare discat navigare he that knoweth not how to pray let him turne Mariner and no doubt those violent stormes which make the Seas to roare will teach him to pray When those young Persian gallants being beaten and pursued by their enemies came to the River Strymon which was so frozen that their Boats could not launch and yet it began to thaw so that they feared the Ice would not beare them then though the day before they reviled both God and his providence most timorously they fall upon their faces and ardently beg of God that the River might beare them over from their enemyes pursuit The smart lasues of Gods rod drive them home and draw them neare to him who before were farre from him The Greekes aptly expresse the declining estate of a Kingdome by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} falling upon the Knee and its ruined estate by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} falling upon the Mouth expressions which though they principally referre to the condition yet withall intimate the disposition of men in an afflicted condition they whose knees in health were like Elephants without joynts could not or rather would not bend in sicknesse fall upon their knees nay when nigh to death fall upon their mouthes in humble adoration and earnest invocation upon God And for these causes that men may both looke forward to their end and upward to their God he is pleased to bring them downeward almost to the Gates of Death and Chambers of the Grave To end this let us all make account of and prepare for straights In health expect sicknesse in sicknesse looke for death or to be brought nigh to it Diseases may come unsent for let them not come unlook'd for if they happen not thou art not the worse and it is labour well lost if they doe thou art the better fitted and it is time well spent Doe not flatter thy selfe in health as if the mountaine of thy body were so strong that it could not be moved Alas one blast from heaven cannot onely move but remove shake but overturne it rather even then when thou art fed with fat pastures cleare waters thy Table spread thy Cup
hypocrisie because of his calamity And thus it is still If a zealous Christian or faithfull Minister be visited with a dolefull sicknesse his Religion must be no better than Dissimulation and his Doctrine Heresie But surely it is either Ignorance or Malice or both that filleth mens mouthes with such censures It is true there never was sicknesse without sinne but the sicknesse is not alwayes proportioned to the sinne these things come alike to all was the wise mans Observation nor doth any sicknesse befall any man which may not befall the best man I know some assert a Saint to be Plague-free grounding it upon the Promise in the Psalme that no plague shall come nigh his dwelling But you must know this is onely a temporall Promise and therefore as indeed all such hath a double condition annexed unto it The one ex parte personae on the Saints part which is to make the Lord even the most high his habitation if then good men in pestilentiall times through a distrustfull feare make the Creatures their refuge no mervaile if the plague infect them and their dwellings The other ex parte rei in regard of the thing it selfe which is onely assured so far as it may make for Gods glory and his Peoples benefit We read in the former part of the tenth verse there shall no evill befall him whereby is intimated that the plague shall not then come nigh to when it is evill for a good man but if at any time God see it good either for the manifestation of his owne glory to wit of his justice in so severely punishing his owne of his power and mercy in delivering from so deadly a disease or for the spirituall advantage of his people in humbling them for some scandalous sinne by so smart a chastisement in exercising the strength of their patience by so sore a tryall not the holiest person is in such cases exempted from the plague nor is it improbably conceived that Job's botches Hezekiah's boyles Davids sores were not much different from if not altogether the same with the plague who yet all of them were choice and eminent Saints Oh then let us take heed how we lay the load of heavy censure upon the backs of Gods Ministers and Servants 3. Of diligence that 1. We who are Ministers improve the time of our health in feeding the flocks of Christ since when sicknesse cometh we shall be disenabled from our employments nay perhaps we that have taught others may then have need to learne our selves You who are the People get all the good you can from us whilest we are in a capacity of doing good to you ere long the Candle of our lives may burne dimme by reason of some sicknesse yea be blowne out by death and then we can no longer give light unto you Oh therefore walke in the light while you have it be willing to learne while we are able to teach account our labours precious and let them be profitable to you whilest God maketh us able to bestow them among you which we shall not be when that befalls us which did Epaphroditus in the Text to be sick nigh unto death And so I have given a dispatch to the first generall namely the distresse I now proceed to 2. The deliverance and therein the 1. Efficiency of the Author God Indeed both life and death health and sickness are in Gods hand That of the Poet Vna cademque manus vulnus opemque tulit may in this respect be fitly made use of the same hand of Divine Providence is that which maketh and closeth the wound He killeth and maketh alive he bringeth downe to the grave and bringeth up so singeth Hannah I forme light and create darknesse I make peace and create evil I the Lord doe all these things is Gods owne saying by the Prophet Thy head cannot ake without his leave nor leave aking without his help but though both are from him yet with some difference Of sicknes he is onely the efficient sinne is the meritorious cause Of health he is so the efficient as that his mercy is the impulsive cause for which reason perhaps it is here said God had mercy that which moveth him is his pitty and that which helpeth us is his power True it is God is for the most part pleased to make use of meanes in effecting health but this ariseth from the greatnesse of his goodnesse not any defect in his Almightinesse as Aquinas pithily That he needeth not meanes appeareth in as much as he sometimes worketh without any Such were the Cures Christ wrought upon Peters Wives Mother the Centurions Servant and the Impotent Cripple whom his Word onely restored to health Nay many times the meanes he useth are improbable yea of their owne nature apt to produce a contrary effect What vertue could there be in the waters of Jordan to cleanse Naamans leprosie or in the lump of figgs to heale Hezekiah's sores yea the Spittle and Clay which Christ made use of were more likely to put out a seeing than recover a blinde mans eyes He standeth not in need of meanes but the most probable meanes stand in need of him It is to put honour on the creature that God vouchsafeth to use it as an instrument and when the creature becometh an instrument of any good it is onely as in the hand of God working with and by it For tell me when any are recovered who is it that put the medicinall quality into the drugs which heale them but the God of Nature who giveth that wit and skill to man which findeth out their qualityes and accordingly maketh use of them but the God of Knowledge Finally who is it that commands a blessing upon and giveth successe to the meanes but the God of Power Man liveth not by bread onely nor is the Patient cured by Physick onely or chiefly it is a word proceeding from the mouth of God that maketh the one effectuall for continuation and the other for restauration of health To apply this in a three-fold admonition 1. Art thou wicked As thou desirest health to be preserved or renewed make thy peace with God by repentance it is the ground upon which the Jewish Converts mutually exhort each other to this duty Come let us returne unto the Lord for he hath torne and he will heale us he hath smitten and he will binde us up though it be that indeed which God out of his Philanthropie sometimes vouchsafeth yet it is a fond presumption for any to expect that he should be a Physitian to them who are enemies to him Me thinks an ungodly wretch should imagine that God speaketh to him in the words of the Prophet when thou cryest let thy companions deliver thee or as he saith to the children of Israel when they committed Idolatry Goe and cry unto the Gods which you have chosen the lusts which you have served let them deliver you in the time