Hezekiah was a good man few better and had obtained of the Lord such a notable cure circumstantiated with so many miracles yet he was no sooner come into the world again but the Pompe and Grandieur of it wash't away the sense of this great mercy for being taken with the King of Babylons complement Tales esse perseveremus sani quales nos futuros profitemur infirmi he shews his Embassadors all his treasures and that out of pride and ostentation 2 Kin. 20.12 13. And therefore friends watch narrowly over your own hearts and be earnest in prayer that the Lord would keep them in an humble and holy frame or else you 'l soon finde that as health comes on holiness and humility will go off and your old companions and corruptions will complement your spirits into their former frame III. Commune with your own hearts be very strict and serious in your enquiries why the Lord hath so afflicted you God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. 3.33 It is foraign to the nature of God who is a God of mercies to delight in acts of cruelty towards his creatures or causlessly to chastize his own children A discreet Father doth not take the rod untill his child provokes him by some miscarriage nor doth the Father of spirits by whom actions are weighed correct his covenant ones untill they have offended Psal 89.30 31 32. He will not visit with the rod untill they have transgressed nor with stripes untill iniquity hath been committed The widdow of Sareptha so soon as ever her son was dead presently chargeth her sins with his death and laies his blood at sins door 1 King 17.18 What have I to do with thee thou man of God Art thou come to call my sins into remembrance and to slay my son Holy David toucheth the same string in that mournful ditty of his Psal 38.3 4 5. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thy anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sins for mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me here he speaks of his sins in the gross sum but afterwards descends to particularize that sin which he owned as the introducent cause of his sickness My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness The word signifieth unadvised rashness saies Mr. Trap. And t is probable he meaneth that particular sin in the business of Vriah Thus the Apostle writeth the Corinthians sin in their unworthy receiving the Lords Supper upon the teasters of their sick-beds and the cause of their death upon their grave stones For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 1 Cor. 11.30 Oh then let your spirits make diligent search as Asaph did be much in searching untill you have found out the true cause of your late distempers I shall lend you some help in your serious enquiry by shewing you what sins are mentioned in Scripture as introducent of sickness and which God either threatneth or punisheth with diseases As 1. Covetousness Isa 57.17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart 2. Deceit Mic. 6.10 11 12 13. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked and the scant measure which is abominable shall I count them pure with the wicked ballances and with the bagge of deceitful weights The inhabitants have spokenlyes and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee in making thee desolate because of thy sins 3. Murmuring 1 Cor. 10.10 Neither murmure ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer Num. 14.27 c. Say unto them as truely as I live saith the Lord as ye have spoken in mine ears so will I do unto them your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness and all that were numbred of you according to your whole number from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein Lay this to heart for this sin is as Epidemical as our sickness 4. Neglect of Religious education of children Ezek. 16.20 21. Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured Is this of thy whoredoms a smal matter That thou hast slain my children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them therefore verse 23. Wo wo unto thee saith the Lord God 5. Covenant breaking Levit. 26.25 And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my Covenant and when ye are gathered together within your Cities I will send the pestilence among you 6. Formal profession and hipocrifie Ananias and Saphira his wife so sadly bear witness to this who for their spiritual juggling and deceit were not onely smitten with sickness but with suddain death Act. 5.1 2 3 4 5. 7. Undue receiving of the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 8 Heresies Apoc. 2.22 Behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation 9. Want of due respect unto and fear of the great name of God Deut. 28.58 59. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law that are written in this book That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name THE LORD THY GOD then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful and the plagues of thy seed even great plagues and of long continuance and sore sicknesses and of long continuance Cause these sins as Joshuah did the Tribes of Israel 7.16 to pass before your consciences to finde out the Achan for which the Lord hath so sorely afflicted you and having found out those particular sins be humbled for them repent of them and carefully avoid all future tendencies unto them as Samuel advised Israel 1 Sam. 7.3 Put away the strange gods from among you and Ashteroth So do I you put away from you the love of all sins and especially Ashsteroth that sin which hath been the root of your disease and think you hear the Lord Jesus by his spirit speaking these words unto you Behold ye are made whole sin no more least a worse thing come unto you Joh. 5.14 And improve your late visitation with the present opportunities of grace That ye may be partakers of Gods Holiness Heb. 12.10 Consecrate your lives which ye have received a new from the dead unto the Lord devote your selves wholly to the service of the great God let me bespeak you in the words of the Apostle 1 Pet. 4.2 That ye live no longer the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the
abound in the works of the Lord Oh sure there would not be that selfishness and sloth among Christians if this course was duely practised a draught of t his wine taken next thy heart every morning would make the lips of them that are asleep to speak Cant. 7. vers 9. it would shew its strength and generosity in a wakening and enflaming the spirits of believers so that the most dull and slow of speech would there be made good and cloquent speakers in the cause of God and thus live best to God II. You will live best to your selves to your own spiritual advantage if you live much in the sence of grace received Gain is a great incitive unto action what will you give me was Judas his question and is too much the compass by which many sail Christians are generally prudent and providential in their family provision That advice of the Apostle Rom. 12.17 Provide things honest in the sight of all men is followed by most and may be without blame if the care be moderate and the provision be of things honest that is if Christians follow lawful callings and so play above-board that they be not afraid who see what they do nor ashamed to be accountable to man for every penny which they return when they fear neither sin nor shame though all men were eye witnesses to their way of trading these are things honest indeed and if Christians onely provided these the mouths of many would be stopt yet I will shew you a more excellent way surely those things which tend to the well-being of the soul to the enriching of that and filling your coffers with grace and comfort that 's the way these are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the honest and good things which Christians should trade in and turn every stone to obtain now there is no way will sooner do it and with more safety then that which is mentioned that will bring in the quickest returns as will appear in these particulars if rightly improved 1. You will live best to your selves upon this account Because you will live most off from sin sence of pardoning and redeeming and renewing grace gives a notable check to lust and marveilously banks up corruption Rom. 6.1 2. What shall we say then shall we continue in sin we that are justified by faith so have peace with God through Jesus Christ shall we continue in sin we that have a surer standing in grace through Jesus Christ then Adam had when he had his standing in innocency shall we continue in sin we who when we were enemies were reconciled to God by the death of his Son who shall be saved by his life and having now received the atonement do joy in God yee rejoyce in hope of the glory of God having the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given unto us shall we continue in sin Oh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbid How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein that were unreasonable and to an ingenuous renued nature impossible Oh! when a Saint seriously reads over the counsels of God ministred not with ink and paper but with the blood and spirit of his eternal Son and that in a way of free-grace and rich mercy his heart must needs rise against sin if it be in a right frame when he argues it out thus was I born a child of wrath within a hairs breadth of hell Did sin and death pass upon me and over me from Adam was I under judgement by one person and one sin to condemnation and have I received abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness to reign in life by one Jesus Christ And shall I sin against such a God against such grace Oh far be it did we often remember the dreadful terrors we lay under at our first awakening the doleful pangs of new birth the bitter wormwood wine which we drank in many and large draughts at our first repentance and sorrow for sin the sad fears of hell and wrath which overwhelmed us and then consider the riches of that grace which hath appeared tous in converting quickning quieting comforting and securing our souls against wrath to come we should find them singular yea sovereign antidotes against sin and may herewith put to silence the most audacious and importunate lusts See how the Apostle the weapons of whose warfar were mighty through God to pull down the strong holds of sin grapples with the national and common sin of Corinth 1 Cor. 6.13 14. ad finem and that was fornication and uncleanness a flesh-pleasing sin natures minion a sin for which Corinth was famous all over the world having store of Stews and Brothel-houses and a temple dedicated to Venus full-stockt with notable harlots yet the Apostle useth this way of Argumentation to bring them off I mean the Corinthian Professors from all unclean practices he lays before them First Their former estate how they were immersed in that sin of uncleaness and carried away with the torrent of those lusts some of you were fornicators adulterers effeminate Secondly The dangerous condition of those persons who lye and dye in those sinful practices they shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven Thirdly The precious mercy of God unto them in recovering renewing pardoning and healing grace vers 9. Ye are washed ye are sanctified ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Fourthly Their union with Christ and their engraffment into Christ vers 15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid Fifthly The indwelling of the holy Spirit whereby their bodies are consecrated to be the temples of God Know ye not that your bodie is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you whom ye have of God Sixthly That these bodies of theirs should be raised up by the power of God at the last day vers 14. And now what is the answer of a gracious heart to these arguments It is true I have lived in uncleanness that sin unpardoned excludes from heaven but through free-grace I am redeemed by the Lord Jesus and incorporated into him as a member into the head my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and it shall be raised up at the last day fashioned like unto the glorious body of my dear Saviour And shall I soil my self again in the sink of my former uncleanness Shall I spot my robe again which hath been washed and made white in the blood of the Lambe Shall I prostitute a member of Christ and defile a temple of the holy and eternal Spirit of Grace Oh no! Loetae vonire venus tristis abire solet I will not I dare not Surely such arguings will bring forth such resolutions as to an hatred of sin and love to holiness if we rightly improve
this as the land-mark and boundary of your duty but make the voyce of his praise to be heard let it have an Eccho in the world by communicating and speaking over what and how deliverance came from the Lord unto you 3. He layes down the reason of this call to praise vers 9. because he holdeth our soul in life or puts our souls into life alas when a day of distress was upon us our hearts did even sinke within us life was gone joy was gone hope was gone and heart was gone too in some persons There is a strange recess and retirement of the soul under great and sudden calamities it lyes close like a poor debtor within doors the blood and spirits retire little of activity appears nay some in sudden surprizals have even dyed away into swooning through fear It was thus with Saul though a valiant Prince when he heard what evill was coming upon him 1 Sam. 28. vers 20. He fell streightway all along upon the earth and there was no strength in him And whence was this swouning fit why from fear he was fore afraid and why was he afraid because of the words of the Witches 2 Sam. 28.20 This was old Elies case when tidings were brought unto him that the Army of Israel was routed Hophni and Phinehas slain and the Ark of God taken 1 Sam. 4. vers 17 18. He fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate and his neck brake and he dyed I but here the Prophet saith God holdeth our souls in life or lives Be-chaiim and suffereth not our feet to be moved gives us a sure foot-hold and safe standing in our present peace and well-fare 4. He mentions the distress that were upon them in the nature and in the kind of them vers 10.11 Thou O God hast tryed us as silver is tryed How is that why in the fornace of affliction thou broughtest us into the net Thou layedst affliction upon our loins thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went through fire and through water How fully doth the carriages of former times paraphrase upon these verses How have the sufferings of many Saints ran parallel with these expressions but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place well-watered as the word implies a place of springs and rivers by which he means a prosperous estate in that full plenty and security which he with the Church then enjoyed And therefore vers 13 14. He speaks his sence of these mercies and the resolvedness of his spirit to act in thankfulness suitable to these engagements 5. I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings and will pay thee my vows which I promised with my lips and spake with my mouth when I was in trouble A good resolution of a gallant man Oh! that such a spirit in the power of it was upon us Did not I Did not others Did not Magistrates Did not Ministers protect promise covenant in the day of our distress Have we paid our vows Have we performed our promises The Lord help us to see and to humble our selves much before the Lord for our violations of promises and protestations both to God and man 6. He stands upon the mount of God and by way of proclamation calls in all the people of God that they may hear the stories of Gods mercies unto himself when he had mentioned the great things God had done for his Church he comes down to a particular narrative of what God had done for himself vers 16. Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul Le-myrheshi which word being of a doubtful signification and used for both soul and life in reference to things of a temporal and spiritual concernment we need not confine it to either 1. Ye have the holy summons Come a word of much use both in a good and in a bad sence there is in Scripture mentioned a religious come and a rebellious come the Saints have their come and the wicked have their come there 's too much of the last come in our days and too little of the first if there was more communion this come would be more used 2. The persons to whom the summon is directed exprest 1. By a particular Character they are such as fear God 2. By a note of universality they are all that fear God onely they that fear God and all they that fear God are summoned 3. Ye have the matter of the summons or the end wherefore the summons is sent forth and that is that he might in the audience of them all make a full and true report of what the great God hath done for his soul So that the words hold forth a double duty 1. To consider the mercies of God 2. To communicate the mercies of God You may see from hence That it is a duty by way of special incumbency upon the Lords people to commemmorate themselves and to communicate to others the vouchsafements of grace and mercy which they have had from the Lord as to fix the sense and remembrance of mercies received upon their own hearts so to give their hearts vent like full vessels in frequent mentioning their preservations unto others it is a commendable practice there is much of God in it It hath the seal of the best men it hath much in it that speaks men to be good and that makes good men much the better See the practice of the Lords people Psa 78.3 4. Which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us we will not hide them from their children shewing to the generation to come or as some translation reads it But to the generation to come we will shew the praises of the Lord his power also and the wonderful works that he hath done parallel to this is that Isa 63.7 I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the promises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness to the house of Israel Memorare faciam Azkir I will improve my care and interest that the mercies of the Lord may be kept up in the minds and memories of his people so the Apostle 2 Cor. 1.8 9 10. We would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia that we were pressed out of measure above our strength insomuch that we dispaired even of life But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raised the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us What a hystory of his personal dangers and deliverances doth he make 2 Cor. 11.23 to the end That to commemorate and communicate the mercies of God is our duty appears because it is of divine establishment it is the appointment of God himself he hath not left it Arbitrary nor is