proper and fit to ingender these sicknesses as these sickenesses are to bring desolution It is our owne worke to make death better then a better life or continuall sicknesse that our meate giues no more sent nor sauour then an offering doth to an Idoll He that sinneth before his maker let him fall into the hands of the Physitian 6 Spirituall sicknesse for sinne is yet farre more perilous and mortall nay well were it for some thus sicke if it were mortall If the disease would decease the soule might reuiue and liue It varies as some diseases doe in the body according to the constitution of the sicke thereafter as the soule is that hath it whether regenerate or reprobate The malignancie is great in both but with far lesse danger in the former 1 In the Elect this spirituall sicknes is an afflicted conscience when God wil suffer vs to take a deepe sense of our sinnes and bring vs to the life of grace through the valley â—f death as it were by hell gates vnto heauen There is no anguish to that in the conscience a wounded spirite who can beare They that haue been valiant in bearing wrongs in forbearing delights haue yet had womannish and cowherd spirits in sustaining the terrors of a tumultuous conscience If our strength were as an army and our landes not limitted saue with East and west if our meat were manâ—a and our garments as the Ephod of Aaron yet the afflicted conscience would refuse to be cheared with all these comforts When God shall raise vp our sinnes like dust and smoake in the eyes of our soules and the arrowes of his displeasure drinke vp our bloud and his terrors seeme to fight against vs when he buffets vs from his presence and eyther hides his countenance from vs or beholds vs with an angry looke loe then if any sicknes be like this sicknes any calamity like the fainting soule Many offences touch the body which extende not to the soule but if the soule be grieued the sympathizing flesh suffers deepely with it The bloud is dried vp the marrow wasted the flesh pined as if the powers and pores of the body opened themselues like so many windowes to discouer the passions of the distressed Prisoner within It was not the sense of outward sufferings for meere men haue borne the agonies of death vndaunted but the wrastling of Gods wrath with his spirite that drew from Christ that complaint able to make heauen and earth stand agast My soule is heauy vnto the death There is comfort euen in death when the clocke of our life runs vpon her last minutes but is there any disease during the torments of a racked conscience This wearisome guest doth God often lodge with his owne children suffring the eye of faith to be shut and the eyes of flesh and bloud open that sorrow is their bread and teares their drinke and the still perplexed mind knows not where to refuse it selfe Alwayes reseruing and and preseruing his Children but neuer dâ—ing grace of his Spirite in their hearts a substance of blâ—ssing 〈◊〉 the oke though it hath cast the leaues though the barrennes of the boughes drines of the barke giue it for dead and withered Faith being in a swoune may draw the breath inwardly not perceiued but destroy it not for there is a blâ—ssing in it Neyther is this sicknesse and trouble of conscience properly good in it selfe nor any grace of God but vsed by God as an instrument of good to his as when by the spirite of bondage he brings vs to adoption So the Needle that drawes the thread through the cloth is some meanes to ioyne it together This is the godly soules sicknesse for sin full of sharpe and bitter ingredients but neuer destitute of a glorious euent and victorious triumph I may say of it as Physitians speake of agues which make a man sicke for a while that hee may bee the sounder a long time after This sickenesse is physicke to procure better health 2 Spirituall sickenesse for sinne in the reprobate hath other effects To restraine their number they principall appeare in two diseases or disasters rather Impenitency and Despaire 1. Impenitencie the symptome of an obdurate and remorselesse heart Who being past feeling haue giuen themselues ouer vnto lasciuiousnes to worke all vncleannesse with gredinesse Saint Paul cals it a reprobate minde a death rather then a sickenesse He that labours hereof is rather deceased then diseased This is a heart so hard and impenetrable that all the holy dewes of instructions cannot soften it all the blowes of Gods striking rod put no sense into it It is inuulnerable to any stroke saue that which makes a fatall and finall end with it Thou hast stricken them but they haue not grieued c. It is iust with God but fearefull on whom soeuer this iuâ—gement lights to plague sin with sinne that peccatum sit paena peccantis For there is euermore some precedent impietie in those vngratious persons procuring God to deale thus with them For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeue a lie That they all might be damned that beleeued not the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse First Pharaoh hardens his owne heart c. God all this while holds his peace giues him the hearing and looking on In the end he saith I will harden Pharaohs heart and then puts yron to yron adamant to adamant and there is perfected a relentlesse repentlesse obduracy This is that retaliation of sinne which God returnes into their bosomes that foster it that since they loued cursing it shall be vnto them So Dauid in the Psalme Though indeed it was not in him Precantis votum but Prophetantis vaticinium he did not desire it should be so but he knew it would be so Adde iniquitieto their iniquitie Neither doth God this by infusion of wickednesse but by substraction of his spirit He is causa deficiens not efficiens as the reuoking of the sunne from vs causeth darkenesse the priuation of grace the position of all vngodlines It is in him not peccatum sed iudicium not sinne but iudgement When he leaues vs to our selues it is no wonder if we fall into horrid and prodigious sinnes Peccatum est malum in se effectum prioris mali causa subsequentis est supplicium causa supplicij Sinne is euill in it selfe the effect of former euill the cause of future It is both punishment it selfe and the cause of punishment In all the store house of Gods plagues there is not a greater vengance With other punishments the body smarteth the soule groneth vnder this Hence sinnes multiply without limits that the plagues may be without end Euery affliction is sore that offends vs but that is direfull which withall offends God Such do at once act and suffer it is both an actiue and a passiue sinne The punishment
corporall The Soule is at all parts more precious then the Body It is that principall most diuine and excellent halfe of man Dum viuisicat anima dum vult animus dum scit mens dum recolit memoria dum iudicat ratio dum spirat spiritus dum sentit sensus It is called for quickning a soule for knowing mind for remembring memory for iudging reason for breathing spirit for feeling sense when the soule is sicke all these are sicke with it The soule is compared to heauen the body to earth The heauen is glorious with Sun Moon Starres so the soule with vnderstanding memory reason faith hope c. The body like the earth whereof it was made is squallid with lusts The earth hath no heate nor nourishment but from heauen nor the body comfort but from the soule How then oh how terrible is the soules sicknes or death How indulgently should wee tender the health thereof Wee keepe our chicken from the kite our lambe from the Wolfe our fawne from the hound our doues from the vermine and shall wee yeeld our darling to the Lyons our soule to those murdering spirits which endeuour to deuoure them The Soule may bee well when the body is full of griefes but ill goes it with the body when the soule is sicke Nay euen corporall diseases are ofen a means to procure spirituall soundnesse Therefore one cals it optabile malum cum mali remedium sit maioris a happy euill which is the remedy of a greater euill Wee may say of many healthfull bodies tutius aegrotassent they might with lesse danger haue beene sicke Nusquam peius quam in sano corpore ager animus habitat A sicke minde dwels not rightly in a sound body But to find a healthfull and sound soule in a weake sickly body is no wonder Since the Soule before smothered with the cloudes of health is now suffered to see that through the breaches of her prison which former ignorance suspected not Corporall sickenes is a perpetuall Monitor to the conscience euery pang a reproofe and euery stitch reades a lesson of mortality ready euer to checke for euill or to inuite to good which duty weighed a man hath lesse reason to be ouer feareful of sicknesse then ouer glad of health The Spirituall detriment that may ensue on health is more dangerous then the bodily paine that pursues sicknes If a man feare not death what power hath sicknes to make him miserable Tolerabilis est morbipraesentia si contempseris id quod extreâ—um minatur Sicknesse hath little terrour in it if thou shall contemne that which it threatneth Death If it teach thee by the sight of the first death instant to preuent the fury of the second behold it makes thee blessed Such good vse may the wise Soule make of the bodies enemie I haue read it said that singulus morbus paruula mors euery disease is a little death Therefore God sends vs many little deathes to instruct our preparation for the great death The oftner a man dies the better hee may know to die well I yeelde if in sicknes we contract and narrow vp the powers of our soule and direct them as our finger to the griefe of our bodies only forgetting either that God strikes vs or that we haue first stricken God eyther flying to ill meanes or affying to good meanes more then to God our sicknesse may be deadly to body and soule too Asa was sicke but of his feete his feet stood far from his hart yet because he relyed more on his Physitians then on his Maker he died Or if there shall bee no lesse confusion and hurly butly in the faculties of the Soule then there is distemperature in the partes of the body when Reason which should be the Queene and dwell in the highest and choisest roome is deposed from her gouernement When the Senses which are the Court-guardes and the Princesses attendants that giue all admission into the Presence are corrupted when the supreme faculties which are the Peeres are reuolted and the Affections which are the Commons peruerted and all this insurrection and disturbance dethroning the Queene corrupting the Guard drawing from fealty the Peeres and the Commons from alleageance wrought by those violent passions which are refractory and headstrong Rebels hauing once gotten head Alas how far is this miserable distemper and perturbation of these spirituall parts aboue the distresse or distraction of the corporall members neither is the future perill hereof onely more full of prodigious desolation but euen the present sense is also more tetricall piercing and amazing with horror We shall finde the perplexity of this spirituall sicknesse how far exceeding the corporall if wee either compare them generally or particularly instance in any speciall disease 1 Generally The excellency of health is measured according to the Life which holds it and the dignity of Life is considered by the cause that giues it 1. The Life of the Plant is basest because it consists but in the iuyce which is administred by the earth to the root thereof and thence deriued and spred to the parts 2. The Life of the brute creature excels because it is sensitiue and hath power of feeling 3. The Life of man is better then both because it is reasonable conceiuing iudging of things by vnderstanding 4. The Life of a spirituall man is better then all the former and it hath two degrees 1. The life of inchoate regeneration and it consists in grace 2. the perfect life of imputed righteousnes conferred and confirmed by Iesus Christ 5. The Life of Glory exceedes all whereof there are also two degrees 1. the fruition of glory in soule 2. the ful possession in the vnion of the body to it These two last sorts of Life transcend the former in two maine respects 1. Because the other may die must die these haue a patent of eternity sealed them 2. Because the other haue transient causes These haue the Grace and Glory of God Now as by all consent the Life of reasonable man is better then the vegetable of plants or sensitiue of beasts so the health of man must needes be more precious and as that vertue excels in goodnesse so doth the defect exceede in miserablenesse Respect man distinctiuly as hee is a Body onely and then to bee sicke and die are common to him with plants and beastes and what suffering is there in the one more then in the other saue that as the Beast is more sensible of paine then the tree so man is more apprehensiue then the beast the bodies of all returne to the earth But man hath a soule wherein his reason is placed which fainting or sickening through sinne or the punishment for sinne there is offered a passion and griefe whereof the other are not capable Death to the rest is not so terrible as this sickenesse The goodlier the building is the more lamentable the ruine 2
shaken off till death shall at once deliuer that to death vs to life For though with the mind I delight in the law of God yet I see another law in my members rebelling against the law of my minde and bringing me vnto captiuity to the law of sinne His companie is wearisom his sollicitings tedious to the virgine-daughter of Sion Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the bodie of this death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. So then with the minde we serue the Law of God but with the flesh the law of sinne He will perpetually vrge his sute and not after many reiections be said nay Thy soule cannot be rid of him so long as thou holdest him in any hope of successe And so long he will hope as thou giuest him a cold and timerous deniall Sutours are drawne on with an easie repulse take that as halfe granted that is but faintly opposed In whom this wooer preuailes least he wearles him with importunity till a peremptory answere hath put him out of hart The wauering and weakely-resisting spirit cannot sleepe in the Chamber of quiet whiles innumerable lusts which are the sollicitors and spokesmen of the flesh beate at the dore with their earely knockes pressing more impudently for audience then instruments of villany to Machianell or wronged Clients to an Aduocate Remisse answeres prouoke his fiercer attempts He is shamelesse when he meetes not with a bold heart He thinkes that though Pugnabit primò fortassis improbe dicet Pugnando vinci se tamen illa volet Though at the first the Soule refuse to yeelde Shee meanes on further strife to loose the field Onely resolution can make him giue backe giue ouer His insinuations are many 1. by promises Pollicitis diues He is neither a begger nor a niggard in promising They are the cheapest chaffer a man can part withall 2. By tedious and stintlesse sollicitations as if time could win thee Quid magis est durum saxo quid mollius vnda Dura tamen teneris saxa cauantur aquis The stone is very hard the water soft Yet doth this hollow that by dropping oft As if the strongest sort were not long able to holde out 3. By shadow by reall proffers of friendship Tut a frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen It is a safe and common way by name of friendship to shew false play It was not mine enemy sayth Dauid but my familiar friend that did mee the mischiefe 4. By tendring to the soule pleasing and contentfull obiects as if non vincere possit Flumina si contra quà m rapit vnda naâ—et The flouds would easily master him If he against the streame should swim Therefore he formes his insidious baites to our inclinations diuersifieth his lusts according to the varietie of our humours Hic Procus innumeris moribus aptus crit This Wooer can vary his Protean formes obserue all straines reserue and conceale his owne till hee bee sure that the pill he giues will worke This Sutour is dangerous and preuailes much with the soule a handsome fellow if you plucke off his skin for this saith Saint Iude is spotted all ouer A virgin well natur'd well nurtur'd that sets ought by herselfe will not fasten her loue on a lazar leper or vlcerous Moore Why then Oh why should the soule so heauenly generate thus become degenerate as to wed her affections to the polluted flesh God indeed once married the soule to the body the Celestial to a terrene nature but to the lusts of the body which Paul cals the flesh he neuer gaue his consent This clandestine match was made without the consent of Parents of God our Father of the church our mother therfore most sinnefull most intollerable Cashier then this sawey Sutour who like some riotous yonger brother with some great heire promiseth much both of estate and loue but once married and made Lord of all soone consumes all to our finall vndoing He breakes open the Cabinet of our heart and takes out all the Iewels of our graces and stintes not his lauisning till he hath beggerd vs. This is the third Sutour 4 The last and best and onely worthy to speed is Iesus Christ. What is thy beloued more then another beloued O thou fayrest among women Say forraine Congregations to the Church To whom she answeres My beloued is white and ruddy he hath an exact mixture of the best colours arguments of the purest and healthfullest complexion The chiefest among ten thousand Infinitely fayrer then all the sonnes of men who alone may beare the standerd of comely grace and personall goodlinesse among all His head is as the most fine gold the Deitie which dwelleth in him is most pure and glorious His lockes are curled and blacke as a Rauen his godhead deriuing to his humane nature such wondrous beauty as the blacke curled locks become a fresh and well fauoured countenance His eyes are like doues c. who will let him there reade and regarde his graces His name is as oyntment powred forth therefore doe the Virgins loue him He hath 1 a rich Wardrobe of righteousnesse to apparrell vs 2. a glorious house a City of golde to entertaine vs whose foundation is Iasper and Saphire and such precious stone the least of them richer then ten Escurials 3. His Ioynture is Glory Ioynture I may call it for so we are with him ioin'd heires though not ioyn'd purchasers If the house of this World be so esteem'd wherein God lets his enemies dwell what is the mansion hee hath prouided for himselfe and his Spouse the daughter of Sionâ— 4. His fruition is sweet and blessed ob eminentiam ob permanentiam for perfection for perpetuity a Kingdome and such a one as cannot be shaken which no sinne like a polliticke Papist shal blow vp no sorrow like a turbulent Atheist shal inuade This Sutour is onely beautifull onely bountiful let him possesse your soules which with his bloud he bought out and with his power brought out from Captiuitie for him am I deputed wooer at this time for as though God did beseech you through vs wee pray you in Christes stead bee yee reconciled to God who would faine â— present your soules pure Virgins to Iesus Christ Forbeare the prostitution of them to any rauisher to any sinne For peccare to sinne in the literall word is to commit adulterie quasipellicare id est cum pellice câ—ire Christ layes iust Title to you giue your selues from your selues to him you are not your own vnlesse you be his We haue heard the Daughter of Sion described qua sit let vs now heare cuâ—us sit the daughter of my people saith the Lord. God was pleased with that Title the God of Israel His owne Scriptures frequently giue it him Ierem. 32. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel c. The children are vsually called after the name of then
the world In what wee should affect we are abstinent in what auoide very indulgent 1 The first cause is by forbearing that sacred meat liuing and life giuing bread which came downe from heauen to translate thither those that eate it This is the Sonne of the most high God not disdaining to become the foode of the affamished sonnes of men Out of the strong came sweetnesse the mighty is become meat the Lyon of Iudah yeeldes honey such as neuer came out of any earthly Hiue He is our inuincible Captaine to him we supplicate as distressed Nerua to Traian Telis Phoebe tuis lachrimas vlciscere nostras Oh Sauiour defend and keepe vs yet hee that is Victor a conquerour for vs is also victus foode to vs. But this is Cibus non dentis sedmentis meate for our faith not for our teeth manducaemus intus non foris Wee eate it inwardly not outwardly Christ is verily panis verus non panismerus true not meere naturall bread Thus our Feeder is become our Food our Physitian our Medicine He doth all things for vs guide feede mediate medieate let vs meditate on him and noi disappoint the intention of his mercies by our auersenesse No hope but in him no helpe but by him The Law could not satisfie our hunger not through it own but our insufficiency the Gospel giues not onely present satisfaction but euen impossibility of future famine There is no abiding the law except the Gospell be by not of that thunder without his raine of mercy to quench it Who giues this foode to vs but He that gaue himselfe for vs that shepheard that feedes his Lambes not on his grounds but with his wounds his broken flesh and sluced bloud Hence from this great Parliament of Peace made in that once acted and for euer-virtuall sacrifice deriue we pardon for our sinnes without impeachment to the iustice of so high a Iudge as wee had offended Thus the King of eternall glory to the worlds eye destating himselfe though indeed not by putting off what he had but by putting on what he had not was cast downe for vs that we might rise vp by him Learne of me to be humble wherein he giues vs a precept and a patterne the one requiring our obedience the other our conformity The Pelican rather then her young ones shall famish feedes them with her owne bloud Christ for the better incorporating of his to himselfe feedes them with his owne flesh but spiritually So that we eate not onely panem Domini as the wicked but panem Dominum not only the bread of the Lord but the bread the Lord in a Sacramentall truth They that haue ransacked the riches of nature searched earth sea ayre for beastes fishes birds and bought the rarest at an inestimable price neuer tasted such a iunket The fluid transient passing perishing meates of earth neither preserue vs nor wee them from corruption This banket of His flesh richer then that Belshazzer made to his thousand Princes this cup of his bloud more precious then Cleopatra's draught shal giue vitam sine morte life without death to them that are receiued to receiue it Wee perceiue a little the vertue of this meat Now then as the withdrawing of competent meat and drinke from the body lessoneth that radicall moisture which is the oyle whereon the Lampe of life feedes and makes way for drines whence the kindly heate which like other fire might be a good seruant must needes bee an ill master getting more then due and wonted strength for want of resistance tyrannizeth and not finding whereupon to worke turnes vpon that substantiall viuiditie exciccating consuming it This ouersparing abstinence wastes weakenes sickens the body dangers it to an Ecticke or some worse disease of no lesse hurt then too great repletion So when the Soule eyther through a mad frenzy of wickednesse or dull melancholy darkenes of ignorance or sensuall peruersenesse of affections forbeares forbids herselfe to feed on that sacred and vitall substance Iesus Christ the viuid sappe of grace and vertue which keepes true life and soule together stilled into the heart by the holy Ghost beginnes to drie vp as a morning dewe shrinking at the thirsty beames of the rising Sunne and the fire of sinne gets the predominance Now where that vnruly Element raignes in a mortall body it hazardes the immortall soule to death There is then no maruell if the soule descends into the fall of sicknesse into the valley of death when she shall refuse the sustentation health and very life thereof her Sauiour who is not onely cibus but ipsa salus meate but health it selfe as Paul cals him ipsam vitam qua viuimus quam viuimus the very life whereby we liue which we liue We liue in Christ we liue by Christ nay we liue Christ for our very life is Christ. Now liue not I but Christ liueth in me This is He that once suffred for our sinnes the iust for the uniust that hee might bring vs to God Hee suffered our sinnes the cause most odious the iust for the vniust the persons most vnequall that hee might bring vs to God the end most absolute How well then may wee yeelde and if there might bâ— any pride or glory in vs it shoulde bee in our sufferings to suffer for him The Apostles did so reioycing O Iesu Sâ— adeo dulce est stâ—re proâ—e quam dulce erit gaudere de te Oh Christ if it be so happy to suffer for thee what will it be to reioyce in thee It cost him much oh how much trouble sorrow beating grinding before he became bread for vs. There may bee a scarsity of other bread there is none of this to those that rightly seeke it It is deare in regard of the preciousnesse they that haue it will not part with it not deare in regard of the price we pay nothing for it but faith and loue Though thousands pray at once with the Disciples Lord euermore giue vs this bread Iosephes may Iesus his store-house can neuer be emptied Least the world perish through famine He onely nec accipiendo proficit nec dando deficit growes not râ—ch with receiuing neither growes poore with giuing Reioyce then Beloued in done in Domino The Lord is the giuer the Lord is the gift Let not your soules bee starued wâ—th those inferiour things which are pauca parua praua few in number small in measure bad in nature Whiles there is bread inough in your Fathers house Why should wee sicken â—ur spirits in a voluntary want and fast from that which is able to feast a world of faithfull guestes This is the first degree of our spirituall sicknesse 2 The excessiue occasion to procure ill health to our soules is by feeding too heartily too hastily on the world This is that too much oyle which quencheth our Lampe For as in a body ouercharged with
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
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
Deum fingere quam negare saith Hylary It is no lesse sin to faine a new God then to deny the true God The Priestes call the people Swine and therefore must not haue those precious pearles And so the people Amant ignorare malunt nescire quod iam oderunt had rather continue ignorant as not louing to know those things which they cannot loue because they know not But alas Ignorance is so farre from sanity and sanctity that it is a spilling and killing sicknesse Men are vrged to reade the Scriptures that neuer emptied Treasur-house of knowledge they answere Non sum Monachus vxorem habeo curam domus I am no Priest I haue a wife and a domesticall charge to looke to This is that Pestilence no ordinary sicknes that infects to death many soules to thinke that knowledge belongs onely to Priestes This is a worke of the Diuels inspiration not suffering vs to beholde the treasure least wee grow rich by it Dices non legi non est haec excusario sed crimen Thou sayest I haue not read this is no excuse but a sin The Romists sticke not as once the Valentinian heretikes veritatis ignorantiam cognitionem vocare by a Paradoxe Pseudodoxe to call the ignorance of the truth the true knowledge thereof Like those Wisd. 14. that liuing in a warre of ignorance those so great plagues they called peace But Quiea quae sunt Domini nesciunt a Domino nesciuntur They that will not know the Lord shall not be knowne of the Lord. It is obiected 1. Cor. 8 Knowledge puffeth vp Let Iraeneus expound it Non quod veram scientiam de Deo culparet alioquin seipsum primum accusaret Not that he blamed the true knowledge of God for then he should first haue excused himselfe Beloued Let the word of God dwell in you plenteously Do not giue it a colde intertainement as you would doe to a stranger and so take your leaue of it but esteeme it as your best familiar and domesticall friend making it as our Postill sweetly your chamber fellow study-fellow bedfellow Let it haue the best roome and the best bed the parlour of our conscience the resting place in our heart Neglected things are without the doer lesse respected with in but neere the dore Sed quae pretiosae sunt non vno seruantur ostio the more worthy things are not trusted to the safety of one dore but kept vnder many lockes and keyes Giue terrene things not onely regard preserue them with a more remoued care But this pearle of inestimable value this Iewell purer then the golde of Ophir lay it not vp in the Porters lodge the outward eare but in the Cabinet and most inward closure of thy heart Deut. 11. Therefore shall yee lay vp these my words in your heart in your soule Mary thought that place the fittest receptacle for such Oracles This is that Physicke which can onely cure the sicknesse of Ignorancâ—s Vbi ignorans inâ— nit quod 〈◊〉 contumâ—x quid timeat laborans quo praemiaetur 〈◊〉 quo nutriâ—tur famelicus conuiuium vulneraetus remidium where the ignorant may find what to learn the refractary what to feare the labourer wherewith to bee rewarded the weake nourishment the guest a banker the wounded a remedy to cure him Be not ignorant be not sicke Search the Scriptures reade obserue This is not all Non prodest Cibus qui statim sumptus emittitur the meate nourisheth not which tarrieth not in the stomack It must bee digested by meditation and prayer Meditatio docet quid desit oratio obtinet ne desit Meditation shewes our want praier procureth supply Let it not be said of our perfunctory reading as it was of the Delphian Oracle Quoties legitur toties negligitur that wee disregarde what we read Read to learne learne to practise practise to liue and liue to prayse God for euer 3 A third sicknesse which may inwardly afflict a Church is Dissention a sore shaking to the ioyntes an eueruating the strength and a dangerous degree to dissolution The world being but one teacheth that there is but one God that gouernes it one God that there is but one Church one truth The Church is not onely Columna veritatis sed columba vnitatis the pillar of truth 1. Tim. 3.15 but also the Doue of Vnitie Cant. 6. My Doue my vndesiled is alâ—ne Dissentions like secret and close Iudasses haue giuen aduantagious meanes to our common enemies both to scorne and scourgethe Church Clemens Alexandâ—â—â— brings in the Heathen exprobrating our Religion for vntrue vnwarrantable â— Quia omnis Secta Christianismitâ—tulum sibi vendicat tameu aliae aliam execratur condemnat Because euery sect challengeth to it selfe the citie and right of true Christianity yet one curseth and condemneth another Within how much the narrower limits this distraction is pent it so much the more violently bursteth forth and striues to rend the bowels of a Church Like som angry and furious vapour or exhalation restrained that shakes the very earth for vent and passage Such hath been the distractednesse of some times that men haue laboured to be newters and studied more to be indifferently disposed to eyther side then to be religious at all Such a time doth Erasmus mention Quando ingeniosares fuit esse Christianum when it was a point of policy and wit to bee a Christian. I confesse indeed that Vnity is no inseparable and vndoubted marke of the Church for there was an vnity in those murdering voyces Crucifie him Crucifie him The Kings of the earth haue banded themselues together against the Lord. Those fauourers and factors of Antichrist Reu. 17. that make warre against the Lambe are all saide to haue one mind Nay Chrysostomo saith that Expedit ipsis Daemonibus obaudire sibi inuicem in Schismate It is necessary for the very Diuels to hearken one to another and to haue some mutuallity in their very mutiny an vnion in their distraction yet cannot it not bee denied but that dissention in a Church is a sicknesse to it It goes ill with the body when the members agree not Those that dwell in one house should be of one mind It indangers the whole building to ruine when the stones square and 〈◊〉 one with another What detriment this hath been to whole Christendome hee hath no mind that considers not no heart that condoles not wee may say with the Athenians Auximus Philippum nos ipsi Athenienses We haue strengthned King Philip against vs by our owne contentions Christian Nation fighting with Christian hath laid more to the possession of the Turke then his owne sworde Where is the Greeke Church once so famous i Graeciam in Graecia quaerimus saith Aeneas Syluitu We seek for Greece in Greece scarse find the remaining ruines Behold wee haue laide wast our selues who shall pitty vs our owne seditions haue betraied the peace of
waues tottered scaâ—tered them on the waters like chaffe on the face of the earth before the wind and tempest of his indignation All their intentions their contentions their presumption of conquest were disappointed dissolued discomfited These things though they haue not seene let our childrens children to the last generation that shall inhabite this land neuer forget that we and they may praise God who hath made fast the barres of our gates and hath setled peace in our borders 2. Famine is a sore outward sickenesse an affliction sent by the immediate hand of God For it is he that withholdeth the influence of heauen and the kindly heate of the Sunne and the nourishing sappe of the earth I haue giuen you cleannesse of teeth in all your cities and want of bread in all your places saith the Lord. As it is his blessing that our valleies are couered ouer with corne so it is his plague that we haue sowen much and bring in little that the mower filleth not his hand nor he that bindeth sheaues his bosome When he is pleased he will heare the heauens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the corne and wine and oyle and they shall heare vs. England hath felt the smart of this sickenes and she that out of her abundance hath been able to lend others hath also been glad to borrow of her neighbours The satte kinâ— of Bashan rich gormondizers haue not been acquainted indeed with this miserie and therefore haue not sorrowed for the affliction of Ioseph But the poore the poore haue greeued groned vnder this burden whiles cleannesse of teeth and swarthinesse of looke were perceiued in the common face Whiles these arrowes of famine wounded our sides and our staffe of bread whereon our very life leanes was broken we could then cry hic digitus dei here is the finger of God In our plenty saturity satietie of these earthly blessings we acknowledge not manum expansam his whole hand of bountie opened to vs though then we confessed digitum extensum his finger striking vs and bewailed the smart Famine is terrible ynough of it selfe more dire and tetricall in regard of the company she bringes along with her For Saua farmes semper magnorum prima malorum Est comes Raging famine is the prime companion of many fellowmischiefes Ex vno grano oritur aceruus of one graine of this staruing misery ariseth a whole heape of lamentable woes The attendants of famine are murthers robberies rapes killing of children that the same vessels become the wombes and toombs of little ones and innumerable stretchings of conscience to the reuoking of former and prouoking of future iudgements No maruell if hunger disregard the mounds and fences of Gods laws and mans when it breakes through stone walls The Poet somwhat morally describes Famine Quâ—esit am que famem lapidoso vidit in antro c. Behold hunger in her stony denne tearing vp the grasse with her long nayles and sharpe teeth her neglected haires growne rough and tangled her eyes hollow her cheekes pale her skinne rugged and swarthy left onely as a thinne scarse to hide her lanke entrals nothing cleane about her but her teeth her dry bones starting vp her breasts hangiâ—g ouer in the aire her ioynts swolne bigge and huge her sinewes shrunke as vnwilling to hold her limbes together This is that monster that turnes men into Canibals vnnaturally to deuoure one anothers flesh I haue read that at Turwyn in France the famine was so deadly that mans flesh was solde for food This sicknesse is worse then death Happy are we that Gods mercy hath banished this plague from our land Oh let not our iniquities reuoke it 3 The Pestilence wee better know as one that hath but a little while bin kept out of our dores and watcheth when our iniquities shall againe let him in Hee sculkes about and will not be rid away till repentance hath made our coast cleare This is Gods Purseuant that hath rode circuit in our land and to whomesoeuer God hath sent him he neuer returned with a non est muentus but alwaies brought Si non corpus taemen animam sum causa if not the body yet the soule with the cause before his iudgement seate This is he that rides on the pale horse Reu. 6. and catcheth men as with a snare perhaps when they haue most hasted from him How hath this plague left the verie streetes of our Cities emptie when they seemed to haue beene sowed with the seed of man how astonied the liuing frighted the dying disioyned the mutuall societie and succour of friend to friend and that in a time when comfort would haue been most seasonably welcome trembling hands pulling dead bodies into the graues with hookes or rolling them into pits Turne backe your eyes that now liue in the Appeniue height of peace and health and thinke you see the lamentable state of your Country as few years past discouered it Imagine you behold the hand-wringing widdowes beating their bosomes ouer their departing husbands the distracted mothers falling into swounes whiles they kisse the insensible colde lippes of their breathlesse Infants poore desolate Orphanes that now mourne the vntimely losse of their parentes as being made by yeares more sensible of their want then when deathes pestilentiall hand tooke them away the loude grones and strugling pangs of soules departing seruants crying out for Masters Wiues for Husbands parents for children children for mothers griefe in euery house striking vp alarums belles heauily tolling in one place ringing out in another Numbers of people that not many howres before had their seuerall Chambers delicatelie highted now confusedly thrust together into one close roome a little noysome hole not twelue foote square They haue marble bosomes that will not be shaken with these terrors and haue sucked Tygresses in the wildernesse that cannot compassionate these calamities How did they grieue a Church to feele them when they affect afflict and make vs Sicke to heare them I know you haue long looked for an end I neuer delighted in prolixity of speech What remaines but the more terrible wee conceiue these sicknesses of a Church the more wee blesse GOD for the present health of ours Let not our sinnes call backe these plagues let vs not prouoke our GOD least earth ayre heauen renew their strokes vpon vs. Warres and famines from the earth plagues from the ayre iudgementes from the Cloudes they are all restrayned at our repentance let loose at at our rebellions Oh serue wee the Lord our God with feare and obedidience that hee may delight to doe vs good and wee to prayse his name That wee our selues and our Children after vs and the generations yet vnborne may see the Peace of Ierusalem all their dayes That the golden Belles of Aaron may bee freely rung and the Trophees of Victory ouer all Antichristian enemies may still bee seene amongst vs. Euen till
immoderate quantitie of meates or drinkes when the moisture swels like a tide aboue the verges and extinguisheth the digestiue heate that their kindely embraces are turned to conflictes and the superfluities want their former dissolution and egestion the necessary euent is distemperature and sicknes So the affâ—ctions of the soule ouerloaden with the deuoured burden of worldly things suffer the benigne and liuing fire of grace to be quenched Hence the fainting spirits of vertue swoune and fall sicke and after some weake resistance as a cole of fire in a great showre yeelde the victorie to the floudes of sinne and are drowned Neyther are the affections onely which they call the neither part of the soule as if this dropsie were onely in the feet thus diseased but the sicknessâ— taketh the head of the soule the vnderstanding and the heart of it the conscience that faith which is religious reason is empaired and the instrument the tongue the Organ of Gods prayse is hindered As wee see it in these corporall effects by drunken men the feete are too light and the head too heauy the legges cannot stand the tongue cannot speake so both vnderstanding and affections are stifled in this deluge inward faith and outward profession falling sicke to the death For how can it be otherwise that the soule of so high and celestiall a creation should thriue with the grosse and homely diet of vanity Man is saith the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods kinsman And Paul taking such a sense from the Poet makes of a conceit of nature a sanctified truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For we are also his offspring And Peter sayth that though not really but in regard of renouation Wee are partakers of the diuine nature Why then contemne we not with a holy disdaine the rude crude and vnwholesome morsels of the world sensuall pleasures Iâ— we considered aright the natures eyther 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the things nourishing or things nourished we would striue aut non admittere aut cito emittere eyther not to let in or soone to throw out such vnsauory repast For the nourishment of the body if it be alienum it is veneâ—um if strange and contrary to nature it is as poyson to him that eates it Quae nutriuntur familiaribus naturalibus rebus nutriuntur contrarijs corrumpuntur for creatures that liue by nourishment with naturall and familiar things are nourished corrupted with their contraries Otherwise the food makes worke for the Physitian and his elder brother death Spirituall and celestiall delicates the dyet of grace and sanctification nourish and cherish the soules health and put the good bloud of holinâ—sse into her veines giue her a fresh and cheerefull look roses and lillies the pride of nature in their colours make not so beautifull a mixtur But the world-affected and sinne infected delights pale her cheekes drinke vp her bloud and sappe of vertue dimme her intellectuall eyes lame her feete the affections crase her health crush her strength and which is most wonderfuâ—l for morte carent animae euen kill her immortality Now they are not simply the thinges of this world that thus sicken the Soule but our extrauagant desires and corrupt vsage For all these were made for mans delight and comfort in the second place yeelde them immediately for the makers glory and wee offend not to serue our necessities in them it is their abuse which brings this sicknesse It is with nutritiue thinges to the soule in some sort as with all meates to the body They are of three kindes Contraria naturalia neutralia contrary naturall indifferent Contraires hurt naturall and kindly helpe neutrall or indifferent eyther hurt or helpe as they are receiued 1. Food meerely contrarie to the soule is Sinne this kils 2. naturall and proper to it is grace this saues 3. indifferent or of a middle nature are the inferiour things of this world house lands riches c. these eyther hinder or further our soules health as they are vsed or abused They may be consolations they may be desolations ladders of ascent or staires of descent as our regenerate or degenerate minds shall embrace them Now the reason why earthly things doe neyther strengthen our spirits nor lengthen our ioyes is doubâ— 1. They be transitory 2. They be not satisfactory 1 They be transient Meates of a washy and fluid nature that slippe through the stomacke and tarry not for concoction doe no more feede a mans health then almost if he liued on ayre They that haue no other sustentation to their soules but such light sleight and empty foode except they liue by miracle cannot be like Dauid ore rubicundo nor like Daniel of a fresh hew and chearefull complexion I meane the constitution of their soule cannot thriue The Soule fed only with the fraile circumstuous humid cloudy vanities of this world is so far from remaining sound and retaining health that she pines languisheth dwindleth away as a tree whose life-feeding sap is dried vp So perishable are all the things of this world Wilt thou set thine eyes vpon that which is not for riches certainely make themselues wings they flie away like an Eagle toward heauen Not like a tame birde that returns nor like a Hawke that will shew where shee is by her bels but like an Eagle whose wings thou canst neither clip nor pinion Aut deserunt aut deseruntur eyther they forsake or are forsaken All their certainety is their vncertainety and they are onely stable in this that they cannot bee stable Riches are not for euer and doth the Crowne endure to euery generation Hence they are called Riches of the world which is a barre in the Armes of Riches to demonstrate their slippery hold for the world it selfe being transitory they must needs sauour of the soile Our iudgements must of necessity be conuinced to confesse this though our affections will not yeelde it wherefore tend all those Writings for couenants if these earthly thinges were not vncertaine What are those labours and appendances but bands and ties to keepe close to vs madde and starting Riches We pleade it is for the mortality of men but wee meane the mortality of riches If then these earthly things will boast of any thing let them boast as Paul did their fraileties They are eyther iâ— Iourneying not got without labour or ventur'd on the Sea yea together with goods bodies and soules too to make such ill Merchants full aduenturers In perill of robbers publike and notorious theeues In perill of false brethren secret tame theeues Lawyers Vsurers flatterers Fire in the City Free-booters in the Wildernesse Pyrates on the Sâ—â— for wearinesse painefulnesse watchings c. who doubts the miserable partnership twixt them and riches Could the world be thought thy Seruant which is indeed thy Master Oh Worldlings as Christs Maxime inferreth No man can serue two masters
none indeed for he that hath God for his obeyed Master hath for his obeying Seruant the world yet is it but a vagrant and runnagate seruant It hath a madding mind and a gadding foote And though by the greatnesse of the stature and proportion it may promise able seruice yet it will bee gone when thou hast most neede of it Neither will it slippe away empty but robbe thee of thy best Iewels carry away thy peace content ioy happinesse soule with it Behold the Cosmopolite Luke 12. planting transplanting rebuilding sâ—udying for roome to lay vp his fruites Non in visceribus pauperum not in the bowels of the poore but in his enlarged Barnes if euer their capacity could answere his enlarged hart He buildes neither Church nor Hospitall eyther in cultum Christi or culturam Christiani to the seruice of Christ or comfort of any Christian but Barnes He minds onely Horreum suum Hordeum suum His barne and his Barley Behold at last he promiseth his Soule peace ease mirth security but when his Chickens were scarse hatch'd whereon he long â—ate thought to sit long brooding he heares a fatall voyce confiscating his goods and himselfe too Thou foole this night shall thy soule bee required of thee then whose shall those things bee which thou hast prouided No maruell then if the Soule be famished when she is onely fed with such fugitiue meat which vanisheth like Tantalus Apples or Ixions cloud in the Poet and like Medicines rather then food or like poysons rather then medicines wash away the good they finde and leaue the bad made yet worse by their accession behind them 2 They be not satisfactory and therefore conferre no true content to the mind no more then the dreamed bread of the Sluggard who walkes with an empty stomacke Thou shalt eate but not bee satisfied All things are full of labour man cannot vtter it the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare filled with hearing There is nothing but emptinesse vanity vacuity in them Simuloriuntur moriuntur they at once are borne and die as Plutarch said of the Lightning as Ionas found in his gourde Like the Mermaide Virgo formosa supernè Desinit in turpem piscem malesuada voluptas Face flattering Pleasure that so much deludes Like that Sea-monster with sad ruth concludes The motion of the minde following these wandring Planets of earthly delights is euer errant euer vncessant Ahab is sicke of his neighbors field though he haue a whole Kingdome to walke in And Alexander finding himselfe Lord of the whole world is discontent as if hee wanted elbow roome The poore man is not more perplex'd because he hath neither barne nor graine then the couetous wretch because hee hath not barne enough for his graine What Cosmopolite euer grasped so much wealth in his gripulous fist as to sing to himselfe a Sufficit He that loueth siluer shall not be satisfied with siluer nor hee that loueth abundance with encrease His cares fill vp as fast as his coffers He hath much in his keeping yet doth neither inioy it nor ioy in it It breedes a disease in the soule like that in the body which they call Caninum appetitum an immoderate desire of meate whereafter the body lookes thinne wan sickly as if it were starued The colde feculent viscous vicious humours of couetousnesse desire an vnreasonable quantity of worldly goods yet leaue the soule more weake warish sickly then if shee neither had nor had will to doe any thing This is the infallible effect of these coueted vanities vel sequendo labimur vel assequendo laedimur the soule eyther fals in the seeking or failes in the finding She is not the better nay shee is the worse for her longing after them Luxuriant animi rebus plerunq secundis The mind may riot and grow ranke for a while with these puffings vp but how soone doth a tabe and consumption take it down when the ioy answers not to the expectation of the heart The world may set such a man in high estimation The rich hath many friends but the poore is separated from his neighbours Aspicis vt veniant ad candidatecta Columbae Accipiet nullas sor dida turris aues But all this while others are more satisfied with the sight then hee with the possession of his owne Still his soule is hungry and he knowes not how to appease it I perswade not all abiuration of the world as if it could not bee vsed but it must be abused As the Philosopher of olde that threw his money into the sea purposing to drowne that least that should drowne him Or as the new found and fond Votaries that professe a voluntarie want as if all coyne were diseased and had for the circumscription à noli me tangere So the Empiricke to cure the feuer destroyes the patient so the wise man to burn the mise set on fire his barne Is there no remedy but a man must make his medicine his sicknesse I speake of things as they are not as they should bee Hee that feeds too hungerly on the world fals with much ease to neglect Christ. As hee that was once following him no sooner heard of his fathers death but presently left him thinking perhaps that hee should get more by his fathers Executorship then by his Sauiours Discipleshippe and therefore would leaue to minister in Christs seruice that he might administer on his Fathers goods Hence fall many soules into this spirituall sicknesse when they forsake the solide and substantiall nutriment of Iesus Christ to gape for the fugitiue and empty ayre of worldly riches which if they do carry to their deathes yet they must then leaue all exuendo expnendo donec nihil vel intus vel foris maÌ„serit by putting off by spuing vp whatsoeuer their couetousnes hath deuoured Nature shal turn theÌ„ out naked empty Thus the righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soule but the belly of the wicked shal want They are not satisfactory In a word that we may a little perpend the effects as wee haue perceiued the causes al spirituall sicknes is either in faith or conuersation 1. In Faith This is a generall dangerous sicknesse Generall AEgrotat sides iam proxima morti Faith is so sicke that it is ready to die These are those last and Apostate times wherein faith is become so litle that the scarsity giues expectation of the generall doome We sweare away our faith at euery trifle and then no maruell beeing so prodigall of such oathes if our stocke of faith be sworne and worne out Dangerous wee affie the world which wee haue vowed to defie and loosing that confidence we should liue by for the Iust liues by faith How can it bee but the Soule must become Sicke Whiles the shield of faith is lost wee lie naked to the fiery darts of Sathan and many wounds will let out the life
Particularly This will best appeare if wee single out some speciall disease and conferre the perplexity it can offer to the body with the sickenesse of the soule Take for instance the plague of the Leprosie It was a fearefull and vnsupportable sicknesse euery way miserable as you may finde it described Leuit. 13. c. ver 45.46 His cloathes shall bee rent and his head bare and hee shall put a couering vpon his vpper lippe and shall cry Vncleane vncleane Hee shall dwell alone without the Campe shall his habitation be The Leprosie infected their very garments and houses sticking contagion in the very wooll and wals But our Leprosie of sinne hath with a more vast extention infected the Elements Ayre Earth beasts plants c. sticking scarres on the brow of nature and making the whole Creature groane vnder the burthen of corruption 2 The Leaprosie was violent in spreading running eftsoones ouer all the body as in Gehizi and making it all as one vlcer yet could it not penetrate and enter the soule the minde might be cleane in this generall defiling of the carcase Behold the Laeprosie of sinne hath not content it seâ—fe to insult pollute and tyrannize ouer the body but it defiles the Soule also and turnes that purer parte of Man into a Lazar. Our righteousnesse is become filthy ragges our heart is poisoned our Consciences defiled 3 The Leaprosie was an accidentall disease casuall to some whiles other escaped it It was Gods Pursuiuant to single out and arrest some for their sinnes his mercy spaâ—ing the rest But the Leaprosie of sinne is haereáitarius morbus an hereditary sicknesse Wee deriue it from our great Sire Adam with more infallible conueyance then euer sonne inherited his fathers lands It is originall to vs borne with vs borne before vs. So that natalis would bee fatalis the birth day would bee the death day if the bloud of that immaculate Lambe should not clense vs. 4 The Leaprosie was a dangerous disease yet curable by naturall meanes but ours is by so much the worse as it admits not man as Physitian nor nature it seâ—fe as Physicke sufficient to cure it The medicine is supernaturall the Bloud and Water of that man who is God Faith must lay hold on mercy Mercy alone can heale vs. 5 The Leaprosie is a sore disease so entring and eating that it is euen incorporate to the flesh yet still cum carne exuitur it is put off with the flesh Death is a Phisitian able to cure it Mors vna interâ—â—t leprosum Lepram Death the best Empericke kilâ— at once the Leaper and his Leprosie But the Leprosie of sinne cleanes so fast not onely to the flesh but to the Soule that if spirituall death to sinne doe not slay it Corporall death shall neither mende it nor end it It shall not flie the Soule when the soule doth flie the body but as it accompanies the one to the iudgement feare of God so it shall meet the other in hell if they both cannot be rid of it through Christ on earth 6 The Leaprosie makes man loathsome to man that seorsim habitaturus sit hee must dwell alone So was the Law Hee is vncleane hee shall dwell alone without the Campe shall his habitation bee Yea though hee were a King he must content himselfe with an vnvisited and remoued lodging yet what is it to be secluded from mans and not to bee destitute of the Lords company God forsakes not the cleane heart though man abhorres the leaprous flesh God alone is a thousand companions God alone is a world of friends He neuer knew what it was to be familiar with heauen that complains the lacke of friends whiles God is with him Were thy Chamber a prison thy prison a Dungeon yet what Walles can keepe out that infinite Spirite Euen there the good soule findes the Sunne of heauen to enlighten his darkenesse in comparison of whom all the starres in the skie are the snuffe of a dimme candle Euery cloude darkens our Sunne nothing can ecclipse that But the Leprosie of sin separates a soule from Gods fellowship from the company of Angels We lie if we say wee haue fellowship with him and walke in darkenesse Your sinnes haue separated betwixt mee and you saith the Lord of hostes They vnhouse our hearts of Gods spirite and expell him from the temple of our soules who will no longer stay there when the Dagon of sinne is aduanced adored It is customable with men to eschew the society of their poore maimed afflicted diseased Brethren and to shew some disdainâ— by their auersenes but to keepe company with drunkardes adulterers swearers vsurers c. of whom alone wee haue a charge de non tangendo they recke not Eâ—te not with them Turne away from them saith the Apostle from those so diseased in Soule not in body But now d melior est conditio vitij quam morbi the estate of sinne is better then of sickenesse But God looks vnto and is with Lazarus liuing and takes him into his bosome dying though he was full of sores and lets healthy wealthy flourishing Diues go by vnnamed vnaccepted 7. The Leaprosie kept men but from the fading citie terrestriall Ierusalem This Leaprosie vnpurged by repentance restraines men from that Ierusalem which is aboue a city built vpon Iaspers and Saphyres and pretious stones flowing in stead of milke and hony with blisse and glory For into f it shall enter nothing that defileth nor whatsoeuer worketh abhomination or lies Now as the pleasures and treasures of this City are more so much worse is the cause hindring our entrance You may iudge by this taste how farre spirituall sickenesse is more bitter then corporall Euerie circumstance before hath reflected on this but nunquam satis dicitur quod nunquam satis addiscitur it is neuer taught enough that is not enough learned 4 I should now lastly inquire who are the sicke wherein as the Philosopher said of men Non vhi sunt sed vhi non sunt faoilè demonstratur I can easily shew you where they are not not where they are It is a small matter to finde out the sicke the difficulty is to finde any sound I know g there are a few names in our Sardis that haue not desiled their garments but they are so few that it is harde to find them Runne to and fro through the streetes and seeke in the broad places of our Cities if you can finde a man if there bee any that executes iudgement and seeketh the truth The whole World is very old and sicke giuen ouer as man in his dotage to couetousnesse Huius aedest aet as extremae ferre a mundi Alget amor dandi praeceps amor ardet habendi Needs must the world be sicke and old When lust growes hote and charity cold Wonder you at this â—nder is the daughter of ignorance ignorance of nature God hath