now is the time come for Christ by his powerfull voice to raise him from the sleep of death and bed of the grave Loe here more than a Jury of textuall witnesses to which many more might be added besides this in the Text all asserting this truth and thereby assuring our faith of Gods deliverance in the worst extremity To all which give me leave to adde one more even my owne late experience of Gods marvailous kindenesse vouchsafed to me It is not many weekes agoe since it pleased the wise God to visit me with a sore and violent Feaver that Feaver so exhausted my spirits and enervated my body that I might well take up Davids expression There was but a step betweene me and death Much about that time when the dayes of the yeare are at the longest the dayes of my life seemed to be at the shortest Thus was the first part of this Text verified I was sick nigh to death indeed so nigh that I was as a dead man in the opinion of the learned yea actually dead and buried in the report of the vulgar and truly I had ere this beene not onely foure dayes with Lazarus but more than four weeks putrifying in the grave had not divine goodnesse prevented But God had mercy on me and so the other part of my Text is likewise fulfilled when the sicknesse had almost weighed me downe into the pit God was pleased to put a graine of mercy and turne the scale so that I am here beloved this day before God Angels and men as a bird escaped out of a strong snare as a prey plucked out of the jawes of a devouring Lion as a brand snatched out of the fire of a burning feaver What therefore remaineth but that as in the beginning so now in the close of this discourse I take up a gratulation Bless the Lord oh my soul and let all that is within me praise his holy name when I forget to mention this deliverance let my right hand forget its cunning when I cease as opportunity offereth it selfe to publish this mercy let my tongue cleave to the roofe of my mouth nor yet would I be â—â—one in this work of praise do you all you here present joyne with me I doubt not but many the most nay all of you in some kinde at some time or other have had experience of eminent deliverances oh call them now to mind let your gratefull remembrance come up as a memoriall before the Lord I doubt not but many of you yea very many did put up prayers fervent prayers at the throne of grace for this mercy which I now celebrate my recovery Indeed brethren I look upon my health as S. Paul on his preservation as a gift bestowed on me by the meanes to wit for the sakes and prayers of many and surely as prayers have been made so fit it is thanksgiving should be returned by many on my behalfe it were a shame to be zealous in begging and cold in blessing to cry aloud give us our dayly bread and onely whisper hallowed be thy name Blessed therefore be the Lord God of his unworthy servant who alone doth wondrous things yea blessed be his glorious name for ever and let all that have beene petitioners for me say with me at least in their hearts Amen Amen And now my Dearly beloved Parishioners and freinds in the Lord what is my desire but that you may have cause in allusion to the following words of this verse to say God had mercy noâ— on him onely but us also that my preservation may be for your edification as well for my consolation that you who have already found benefit by my weak Ministery may be more strengthned and those who have heretofore been unprofitable may now be bettered Which that it may be so it shall be my endeavour let it be your prayer for me that I may doe this worke of Christ more diligently and faithfully than ever it shall be my prayer for you let it be your endeavour to heare the Word of Christ more attentively and obediently for the time to come So shall you have cause to blesse God for me and I to blesse God for you Yea at that last and great day you shall have joy in me if my preaching become a means of your conversion and salvation and I shall have joy in you whose conversion and salvation shall prove an increase of my reward and an addition to my glorie Which God grant c. FINIS Psal. 31.15 Rom. 15.5 2 Tim. 4 1. Heb. 6.7 Jam. 1.22 1 Joh. 3.18 Act. 20.32 Rom. 15.30 Rom. 18.16 17. Gen. 1. Vagiluque locum lugubâ—i complâ—t ut aequum'â—â— cui tantum in vitâ— râ—fiat traâ—sire malorum Lucr. Aug in Ps. 111 Gen. 30.11 Mark 5.9 Horat. od. 3. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Pythag. Apo. in Iambl {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Greg. Naz. Orat. 16. 2 Sâ—m 19.35 Tria haec in â—mni mâ—rbo gâ—avia sunt mâ—tus mortis dolor corporis intermissio voluptatis Sen. Ep. 77. Psal. 6.2 3. Mat. 9 17. Psal. 38.8 Quando haec tam graâ—â—ia faâ—iet vicino jam exitu etiam à mediâ—câ—ium actione exclusus faâ—iscâ—â—te jam corpore ubi exâ—rcebit districtionis officium censor animus Salv. ad Ecâ—l Cathol. â— 1. Iam. 5. Langhorn's â—un Seâ—m. of M. s Mary Swaine Quia deus non irridetur ipse se decepit qui mortem multis temporibus vixit ad quaerendam vitam semivivus assurgit tuâ—c officioâ—us appâ—rct quando dominica saervituti omnia corporis anima subtâ—â—huntur officia Faust Epist. prma Mat. 19.8 Gum omnes homineâ— velint poevitentiam in sine vitae suae accipere vâ—x paueoâ— videmus â—am secundum quod desiderant adipisci Elig de caex dom hom sext Nihil est quod de calamitatibus nostris Deo imputare possumus nos calamitatum nostrarum auctores sumus Salvide Gub. l. 8 à Deo punimur sed ipsi facimus ut puniamur id ibid. Jerem. 4.18 Gr. Naz Epist 70. Mortâ—m omni aetati communâ—m â—ssâ— sentio Cic. de Senâ—ct tunâ—â—repidaâ—â—â— cum prâ—pè a vobis credimus â—sse morteâ— Ã quo propè non 〈◊〉 parata omnibus loâ—is 〈◊〉 Sen Epâ—st 30. Tres sunt nunâ—ii â—â—rtis câ—suâ— infirmitâ—s se â—â—ctus casus nuntiat mortem lateâ—tem infirmitâ—s apâ—â—â—â—tem senoctus pâ—aescutâ—m Hugo de S. vict. de claust An. Nihil habet quâ—d spereâ— quem senectus ducit ad mortem Sen. Ep. 30 Quemadniodum sâ—nectus adolescentiam sâ—quitur ita mors senectutem iâ— ibid pedâ—teâ—â—â—m morior dixit Alexis â—enâ—x lente incedens Châ—ron me momordit dixit Daemonax senâ—x pro cane innuens sâ—nectutem morti vicinam Erasm. Apoth. l 6. 8. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Crat. Antiph Juvenibus incerâ—us hujus vitae terminus instaâ— senibus vero cunctis maturior ex hac luce â—xitus breviter concordat Cypr.
Mercy in her Beauty OR THE HEIGHT OF A DELIVERANCE FROM THE DEPTH OF DANGER Set forth in the first SERMON Preached upon that Occasion By NATH HARDY Master of Arts and Preacher to the Parish of S. Dionis Back-Church PSAL. 118.17 18 19. I shall not die but live and declare the Works of the Lord The Lord hath chastened me very sore but he hath not given me over to death Open unto me the gates of righteousnesse I will goe into them and I will praise the Lord Basil. Mag. Hom. 9. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Aug. in Psal. 41. Quia magis crebra sunt mala dulcior â—rit misericordia tua Etenim scriptum est quodam loco speciosa misericordia Domini in tempore tribulationis sicut nubes pluviae in tempore siccitatis LONDON Printed by J. G. for Nath Web and Will Grantham at the Black Beare in St. Paul's Church-yard neere the little North-Doore 1653. Sermons Preached and Printed by Mr Nathanaell Hardy M.A. and Preacher to the Parish of St Dyonis Back-Church JVstice Triumphing or The Spoilers spoiled A Sermon preached on the 5th of November in the Cathedrall Church of St Pauls The Arraignment of licentious Liberty and oppressing Tyranny in a Sermon at a Fast before the Lords in Parliament In the Abbey-Church at Westminster Faiths Victory over Nature A Sermon preached at the Funerals of Mr John Rushout Junior The safest Convoy or The strongest Helper A Valedictory Sermon before the Right Honourable Sr Thomas Bendish Barronet his Majesties Ambassadour to the grand Seigniour at Constantinople A Divine Prospective representing the Just mans peacefull End A Sermon at the Funerall of the Right Worshipfull Sr John Gayr Knight Love and Fear the inseparable Twins of a blest Matrimony A Sermon occasioned by the Nuptials between Mr William Christmas and Mrs Elizabeth Adams Divinity in Mortality or The Gospels excellency and the Preachers frailty A Sermon at the Funerals of Mr Richard Goddard Minister of the Parish of St Gregories by Pauls Printed and are to be sold by Nathanaell Webb and William Grantham at the black Bear in St Pauls Church-yard near the little North-door 1653. To the Right Worshipfull Worshipfull and Wel-beloved The Inhabitants of the Parish of S. Dionis Back-Church Health and Wealth not only in this life but chiefly in that which is to come Worthy Friends IT is a full Decade of yeers since I first was called by Divine Providence to begin the work of my Ministry among you and it is not yet half so many months since in humane probability both my Ministry and life seemed to be at an end But the wise and gracious God in whose hands all our times are hath mercifully lengthned my dayes blessed be his name for the greater good of my own and I hope of your souls These Sermons which upon this comfortable occasion I lately preached were by some of you desired to be made more publique which I have fulfilled so much the more willingly that I might testifie before the world first my infinite obligation to Almighty God for so remarkeable a deliverance and withall my manyfold engagements to a great part of you for your affectionate love and multiplyed courtesies And now my Dearely Beloved and longed for in the Lord give me leave having this opportunity to acquaint you with my serious thoughts and earnest desires and I trust through Gods grace that the transcript of them before your eyes will helpe to make a deeper impression of them upon your hearts And first I thanke my God through Jesus Christ for your stedfastnesse in the faith and your mutuall amity whereby you become exemplary to many parishes in this wavering and contentious age Oh that not onely you but all the people of this Land were alike minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus Next let me in the bowels of our common Saviour beseech you and if this will not prevaile charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall Judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdome that as you drinke in the heavenly raine which commeth oft upon you so you endeavour to bring forth herbes meet for the great husbandman who dresseth you I beare you record and that without flattery you are attentive hearers oh that you may be all forward doers of the word There are some amongst you whose love towards me hath been not onely in tongue and in word but in deed and that in a more than ordinary measure But yet let me freely tell you There is nothing if I know my owne heart would so rejoyce me as to see the fruit of my weake labours in the holinesse of your lives Beleeve it this is the greatest Kindnesse a people can show to their Minister since whereas by a liberall contribution they adde to his comfortable subsistence upon earth by a religious conversation they increase his eternall reward in heaven And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them which are sanctified humbly intreating you to strive together with me in your prayers to God both for me and your selves that I may so preach and live you may so heare and doe as that we may behold each other and all of us our Redeemer with joy in the last day So prayeth Your faithfull servant for Christs sake in the Gospel NATH HARDY Phil. 2.27 the former part For indeed he was sick nigh unto death but God had mercy on him IF you please to peruse the five last Psalms of David you shall finde them beginning and ending with an Hallelujah Praise ye the Lord being the Alpha and Omega the Prora and the Puppis the first and the last words of each Not much unlike is Saint Pauls practise in the Epistle to the Romans who almost in the very entrance placeth an {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I thanke my God through Jesus Chrict and closeth with a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} To God onely wise bee glorie through Jesus Christ In imitation of these patternes I shall place Thanksgiving both in the Front and Reere of my Discourse Indeed what fitter Prooemium to a gratulatorie Sermon than a Benedictus Blessed therefore be God who kept his unworthie Servant from falling into the Grave a Land of Silence and Forgetfulnesse and hath now vouchsafed him the libertie of entring into his House the place of Prayers and Prâ—yses Blessed be God who hath brought my feet from lying in a sick bed to stand in this holy Mount Finally blessed be God who hath given me a joyfull occasion of handling and just cause of applying this Scripture to my selfe by changing the third Person unto the first For indeed I was sick nigh to death but God had mercy on me This Text naturally spreadeth forth it selfe into two maine
or it proveth but a sickly repentance Oh then my Brethren be wise in time doe not lay the greatest load on the feeblest horse put not the weakest servant to the hardest labour put not off the maine businesse of thy soules health to the dolefull time of thy bodies sicknesse You have heard what sicknesse doth or rather undoeth it would not be amisse to enquire whence it came and how it was brought into the world Indeed as Christ saith in another case it was not so from the beginning Man in innocency was created with a body of so equall and lasting a temperature that had he not sinned it had neither been taken downe by death nor put out of frame by sicknesse Sinne it is which is fons Mali morbi mortis hath brought in evill instead of good death of life and sicknesse of health The Physitian being asked the cause of Diseases answereth and most truly mali humores evill humors in the body But the Divine resolveth it more fully mali mores ill manners in the life Phylosophy teacheth and Experience confirmeth it that passiones animae sequuntur temperamentum corporis the mindes passions much follow the bodyes temper Divinity preacheth no lesse truly that the disorder of the body followeth upon the distemper of the minde Mans soule was first sick of sinne and so the body becommeth infected with sicknesse for sinne It was the first sinne of Adam which brought forth and it is our owne actuall sinnes that nourish this degenerate Brat wherewith mankinde is so miserably infested A Meditation which if well pondered would learne us to beare sicknesse whensoever it commeth upon us without murmuring and yet with mourning 1. Why shouldst thou repine at God when any disease seizeth one thee True he is the efficient but thou art the meritorious cause he inflicteth but it is sinne that deserveth he punisheth but it is not till thou hast provoked him blame not his justice but thank thy owne wickednesse the Moth that frets the garment is bred of it the Tree giveth life to that Worme which killeth it Thy sicknesse oh man is of thy selfe and thy owne wayes and doings are they which procure these things to thee 2. When sicknesse smiteth thy body let repentance smite thy thigh when the disease rageth in thy members let thy soule be angry at thy sinne and as thou complainest of the effect so labor to be sensible of the cause {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith the Divine excellently sicknes is an wholsome Discipline it is so when it teacheth us to know our folly Happy disease which openeth our eyes at once to see and weep for our sinnes Oh my soule it is sinne hath caused thy body to feele sicknesse let sicknesse cause thee to feele the weight of sinne it is wickednesse hath brought this weaknesse let this weaknesse bring thee to a sight and sense of thy wickednesse why shouldst thou hold that sword in thy hand which hath so sorely wounded it or hug that serpent in thy bosome which hath so painfully stung thee rather since the fruit is so bitter pluck up the root and let not sin reigne any longer in thy mortal body seeing it hath made thy body so mortall And so much for the quality of the danger I pass on to the Extremity of the measure nigh unto death It is that which in some sense is true of every man alive this world is a region of Ghosts dying men yea young men in the prime of their dayes strong men in the full vigour of their age are nigh to death because death may then be neer to them The Philosopher being ask'd what he thought of life turn'd him round and vanished out of sight thereby intimating how easily and speedily life may be taken away and some of them have no lesse truly than aptly represented the distance between life and death by oculus apertus and clausus an eye open and shut which is done in a moment But though this in some respect be verified of all men yet it is more especially true of two sorts of persons to wit old men and sick men since old age is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a naturall disease and a disease is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an accidentall old age both must needs tend and hasten to death As for old men they are so nigh to death that the Proverbe saith they have one foot in the grave young men may dye soon but they cannot live long the dimnesse of light in their eyes and vapours that sometimes are drawne up into their braines argue the Sun of their life to be setting the hoary frost or rather white snow upon their heads proclaimes that the winter of their deaths is approaching The more strange it is to see them doting on who are going out of the world and as if they could set up under ground their mindes are most earthly whilest their bodies are ready to drop into the earth the more sad it is to think how both unwilling and unfit they are to die who yet are so unlikely to live and as if with the Eagle they could renew their youth they flatter themselves in hope of life when yet they are as it were within sight of death how short are such men of that heathen Seneca who said of himselfe ante senectutem curavi bene vivere in senect ute bene mori my care in youth was to live but in old age to die well then no doubt perceiving his death to be at hand As old men be they never so well so sick men by they never so young are nigh to death what Anacharsis said of Sea-men that he knew not whether to reckon them among the living or the dead is no lesse true of sick men who indeed are not dead because they breath and yet not living because not lusty every man carrieth death in his bosome but the sick man at his backe or rather in his armes before his face In summe there is a three-fold propinquity of death possible probable certaine it is possible the healthiest strongest and youngest may dye quickly it is certaine old men though they out-live far younger cannot live long and it is probable that the sick mans death is at hand But yet this in the proper sense is not true of all sicknesses that distinction of sinne cannot hold in Divinity according to the Popish acception that some are veniall others mortall since S. Paul saith indefinitely and meaneth it universally that death is the wages of sin but Analogically it is true in Physick of diseases some are onely painfull others mortall the Gout in the Toe a pain in the Teeth a prick in the Finger these though they cause pain yet are not in their owne nature deadly nor is the patient accounted the neereâ— death for them Besides of mortall diseases there is a difference some are a long time untwisting others in a short
time cut asunder the thread of life thus the Dropsie is a great while in drowning the Palsie in shaking downe and the Consumption in drying up the body whilest the Feaver in a few dayes burneth and an Apoplexie or Aposteme in a few houres suffocate it And yet once more in violent diseases there is a difference we do not say of every man whom a Feaver smiteth that he is presently nigh to death whilest the body is vigorous the Physick prosperous we account the patient hopefull but those in whom the virulency of the disease so farre prevaileth as that both the strength of Nature skill of Art seem unable to grapple with it are only and justly looked upon as nigh to death Such no doubt was Epaphroditus his case for though some conceive this danger might arise from stripes and scourges which Nero should command to be inflicted on him at Rome yet it is more rationally and generally concluded that some violent sicknesse by reason of a long Journy had seized upon him and though it is likely this good man was not negligent according as ability and opportunity was afforded to use meanes yet the disease did so increase that as to life his condition was desperate and therefore S. Paul saith of him he was nigh unto death To this low and weake estate is God pleased many times to bring men among others chiefly for a double end and that he may minde them of their dissolution and quicken them in their devotion Of all things we are very prone to forget our latter end and therefore God by sicknesse puts us in minde of it we are apt to put death farre from us and therefore by some grievous disease God bringeth us nigh to death a presumption we shall not dye yet maketh us not think of dying at all and whilest marrow is in our bones colour in our faces appetite in our stomachs strength in our joynts health in our bodyes we easily perswade our selves we shall not dye yet no mervaile if to fixe our eyes upon the Grave God chasten us with paine upon our Bed so that our life abhorreth bread our flesh consumeth away and our soule draweth neare to the grave It was the confession of Alexander when let bloud with an arrow All men call me Jupiters Sonne but this wound proclaimes me a mortall man and yet more divine was that of Antigonus who acknowledged his disease to be sent as a Monitor lest otherwise he might have growne insolent through the forgetfulnesse of mortality Sicknesses especially when desperate are warning peices to tell us the murdering peice of death is ready to destroy every ach tolls the Bell but these as it were dig the grave and cry dust to dust and good reason it is that when we cast the thought of death behinde our backs death it selfe should by these diseases looke us in the face and as it were pluck us by the throat 2. In health we are no lesse apt to forget God than our selves but sicknesse mindeth us of him in prosperity perhaps we mumble over a Pater Noster but adversity teacheth us to cry Abba Father Lord saith the Prophet in trouble have they visited thee they who before were strangers now would bee familiar with God and give him a visit they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them it may be before they did say a prayer but now they poure out a prayer Though man by the formation of his body be made with an erect countenance yet he seldome looks up to heaven till some disease hath laid him upon his back nor yet many times will a slight sicknesse prevaile God promiseth himselfe concerning his people in their affliction they will seeke me early but for the most part it proveth otherwise ubi desinit medicus ibi incipit Theologus the Divine's work begins not with many till the Physitian 's is done it is late enough not to seeke God till affliction comes and yet we seeke God not early but late in affliction The Woman in the Gospell sick of a bloudy Issue goeth not to Christ till she had spent all and that to no purpose upon Physitians the Prodigall thinketh not of going home to his Father till he is brought so low that he would faine be fed with husks but cannot get them nor doe many lift up their eyes or hands to heaven till they are scarce able to lift up either Indeed necessity is an excellent Mistris especially of Devotion Most men will not pray till they must it is misery which like Jonahs fish puts them upon humble supplication who never thought of God under the gourd of Prosperity In which respect that Latine Proverb was not taken up without just cause Qui nescit orare discat navigare he that knoweth not how to pray let him turne Mariner and no doubt those violent stormes which make the Seas to roare will teach him to pray When those young Persian gallants being beaten and pursued by their enemies came to the River Strymon which was so frozen that their Boats could not launch and yet it began to thaw so that they feared the Ice would not beare them then though the day before they reviled both God and his providence most timorously they fall upon their faces and ardently beg of God that the River might beare them over from their enemyes pursuit The smart lasues of Gods rod drive them home and draw them neare to him who before were farre from him The Greekes aptly expresse the declining estate of a Kingdome by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} falling upon the Knee and its ruined estate by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} falling upon the Mouth expressions which though they principally referre to the condition yet withall intimate the disposition of men in an afflicted condition they whose knees in health were like Elephants without joynts could not or rather would not bend in sicknesse fall upon their knees nay when nigh to death fall upon their mouthes in humble adoration and earnest invocation upon God And for these causes that men may both looke forward to their end and upward to their God he is pleased to bring them downeward almost to the Gates of Death and Chambers of the Grave To end this let us all make account of and prepare for straights In health expect sicknesse in sicknesse looke for death or to be brought nigh to it Diseases may come unsent for let them not come unlook'd for if they happen not thou art not the worse and it is labour well lost if they doe thou art the better fitted and it is time well spent Doe not flatter thy selfe in health as if the mountaine of thy body were so strong that it could not be moved Alas one blast from heaven cannot onely move but remove shake but overturne it rather even then when thou art fed with fat pastures cleare waters thy Table spread thy Cup
it is briefly but fully answered That though there be many evils in the world yet the world is not evil nor is it evil to abide in the world These miseries are only accidental to life and so hinder not but that preservation from death is a mercy And therefore the Greek Fathers upon this Scripture do hence most rationally confute the Manichees who affirme the world in its owne nature to be bad {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} so St. Chrysostome {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} So Theophilact in particular What sayest thou to this oh hereticall Manichâ—e If the world be wicked and the life which we now live in it how doth the Apostle call this a mercy of God that he lengthened Epaphroditus his dayes The other life is better than this surely then this must be good an immature death is threatned and inflicted as a judgement surely then the continuance of life must be a mercy as those forementioned Fathers excellently argue Life is a mercy and yet health is a greater mercy {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} was written upon the porch of Apollo's Temple health is the Princesse of earthly blessings and Plato tells us that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} was sung by every one to his Harpe at the Schooles and at Festivals Beauty riches health were the three things Pythagoras said should chiefly be implored of the Gods but among them health the chiefe indeed it is that which maketh life it selfe to be a mercy since non est vivere sed valere vita To live is not so much to breath as to be well Mercies then they are especially when conjoyned and being so in their owne nature ought so to be esteemed of by us in which respect we ought to pray and give thanks for them as blessings It is no lesse a fault to undervalue then to over-prize our lives and health this latter I confesse is the more common but the former is no lesse culpable we must not be so much in love with life as to dote upon it because it is short yet we may so farre love as to desire and endeavour that it may yea with the Apostle here account it a mercy when it is prolonged I end this If deliverance from death be a mercy how great a mercy is deliverance from hell If it be a blessing to have the danger of a mortall disease prevented Oh what is it to have the guilt of our deadly sinnes pardoned Finally if the health of the body be a favour how choice a benefit is the soules health Surely by how much hell is worse then death sin then sicknesse yea by how much the soule is better than the body by so much is the one to be preferred before the other Oh my soule thou wast sick desperately sick of sinne so sick that thou wast not only nigh to death but dead in sinnes and trespasses but God had mercie on thee he hath sent his Sonne to heale to revive thee by being himselfe wounded nay slain and his spirit to cure to quicken thee by killing thy sinne and renewing thy nature Thou art indebted to thy God for temporall much more for spirituall Blesse the Lord oh my soule for thy life of nature health of thy body but let all that is within thee praise his holy name for thy life of grace and eternall salvation Qu. 2. But it is further inquired though this recoverie were a mercy in it selfe yet how could it be so to Epaphroditus a godly man Had it been deliverance by death this were a mercy indeed but deliverance from death seemeth rather an injury than a courtesie {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} we may easily refell the Heretick but how shall we answer the Christians who desiring to be dissolved knoweth not how to esteeme the deferring his dissoluttion a mercy Had Epaphroditus been a wicked man it had been a great mercy to spare him that he might make his peace with God by the practice of faith and repentance but to him whose peace was alreadie made what advantage could the prolonging of his life afford Death it selfe to a good man is a deliverance a totall finall deliverance from all sorrow and misery for ever And can that be a deliverance which keepeth off our deliverance per Augusta pervenitur ad augusta This red Sea leads to Canaan through the valley of death we passe to the mount of glory And can that be a mercy which retardeth our felicity Is it a courtesie for a man to be detained from his wages and held to labour to be hindred from rest and called to worke to be withheld from his country and wander in a wildernesse Finally to be kept out of a Palace and confined to a Prison And yet all this is true of a godly man who when nigh to death is called back againe to live longer in this world Answ. To answer this though upon those forementioned considerations it cannot be denyed but that death is a mercy to a Saint yet those hinder not but that in other respects the continuance of life is a mercy even to a godly man As for that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which the Greek Fathers speak of as if Saint Pauls language were more according to custome than truth and that when he calls recovery a mercy he rather speaketh as men doe account than as it is indeed it seemes to me somewhat harsh that to {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the opportunity of gaining more souls to God which this preservation afforded him is a farre more rationall solution Upon this account it was Saint Paul looked upon the prolongation of his owne life as needfull So he expresseth it in the former Chapter And here for the same reason he calleth the restauration of Epaphroditus to health a mercy To this purpose Saint Hieromes note upon the Text is very apposite Misertus est ejus ut majorem docendo colligat fructum God had mercy on him that he being a Minister might by the preaching of the Gospel gather in more soules and doe more good Obj. But you will say this seemes not to be a full Answer Indeed had the Apostle said but God had mercy on you namely the Philippians this would be very suitable the recovery of a faithfull Minister is no doubt a mercy to the People but still it remaineth a doubt how the Apostle could say as here he doth God had mercy on him to wit Epaphroditus Repl. To which I reply That the opportunity of this service was not onely a benefit to the Church but a mercy to him in as much as by this meanes 1. He became a greater instrument of Gods glory It is an high honour which God vouchsafeth to that man whom he makes use of to serve and honour him and to a pious soule nothing is dearer than Gods glory desiring rather to glorify
blessing of peace how welcome is a calme to the Marriner after a blustering storme and health is never so amiable as when it brings letters of commendation from a long and dangerous sicknesse To apply this It is a meditation which should encourage us to trust in God even when things are at the worst and though all other succours faile not to let goe our hold of him As Appelles striving to paint a drop of foam falling from a Horses mouth after long study despairing let his pencill fall and that fall did it Quod assequi non potuit casus expressit effecting by chance what he could not by art and when both nature and art can goe no further divine providence undertaketh nay effecteth the worke and therefore as the Apostle saith of joy I say of hope hope alwayes in the Lord indeed magnae indolis est sperare semper it is an argument of an heroick minde to hope alwayes and of a pious minde to place that hope on God David saith of himselfe I have hoped in thy word the Septuagint read it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and the vulgar Latine accordingly super-speravi which as S. Ambrose interpreteth it is ad sperandum semper crescere spem spei adjungere to add hope to hope that even then when affliction is added to affliction Excellent to this purpose is that counsel of the Greeke Father When externall means are least let thy confidence be greatest for then God displayeth his power most not at the beginning but when things are desperate for this is the season of divine help It is our great fault that in dismall dangers we open the eye of sense and onely pore upon the extremity of the trouble whereas it becometh a Saint even then to open the eye of faith and loâ—ke upon the energy of Gods power And to carry it one step further Let even the depth of misery be an incouragement to our confidence in as much as that is a time of deliverance when the night is at the darkest we know day-break is nearest the lownesse of the ebbe argueth the flowing in of the tide to be at hand so may we conclude divine succour approaching from the premisses of a grievous calamity encompassing We read in the vision of the wheel which Ezekiel laid him by the rivers brinke with no other shelter but an arke of bulrushes how likely is this helplesse Babe to be starved with cold or tumble into the river or be devoured with a wild beast But behold whilest the childe is in this imminent danger and the parents in perplexing feare providence so ordereth it that Pharaoh's daughter becometh as a mother to the child and the childes mother is appointed to be his nurse whereby his life is preserved How nigh in all probability was the Israelites destruction when before them a Sea through which there could be no wading on either side mountaines over which there was no climbing behinde them a mighty hoste with whom there is no contesting and yet from whom no meanes left of escaping But loe in this depth of misery God hath mercy on them even to a miracle the sea divideth and at once becometh the Israelites passage and Egyptians grave How small did the distance seeme betweene Jonah and death when the mercifull marriners were enforced for saving their owne lives to cast him into the mercilesse Sea and yet there he sinketh not a divine hand as it were holding him by the chinne when in the Sea swallowed by a greedy Whale and there hee dyeth not God would not deliver him from the tempest he will from the Whale that which was most likely to consume him becometh the means to preserve him within three dayes the Whale delivereth him safe whole and alive upon dry ground Who ever thought to have seene those three worthies alive after they fell downe bound into the midst of a fiery burning furnace But behold a martyrdome effected without dying whilest a fourth like the Sonne of God appeareth at whose command the fire forgetteth to burne or so much as scorch Who did not expect but that Daniel being cast into a denne of ravenous Lions should be devoured before the next morning nay the next houre But see the Lyons mouthes are stopped by an Angel and since they cannot feed Daniel are forced to keep a fast with him Were not Paul and his company in great jeopardy of death when the thick clouds had for many dayes obscured the light of Sun and Starres from them the violent stormes exceedingly tossed the Ship enforced them to cast out the goods yea every moment they expect themselves to be made a prey to the roring waves all hope that they should be saved being taken away but behold that night an Angell of God standeth by Paul and from God assures him of his and their preservation To come yet nearer to the instance of the Text It was no slight sicknesse afflicted David when he said My heart panteth my strength faileth me as for the light of mine eyes it is gone from me the disease it seemeth had seized upon all his spirits his animals in the dimnesse of his eyes his naturall in the failing of his strength his vitall in the panting of his heart and surely then it must needes bring him very nigh to death yea it seemeth David feared it which made him so earnestly pray against it in another Psalm But when death is near God is neare too hearing his prayer and preserving his life It is said of Hezekiah that he was sick unto death the disease was such that he reckoned his bones should be broken and an end made of him yea he received a sentence of death from God by the Prophet Set thine house in order for thou shalt dye and not live But that threat was onely like Abrahams precept not a declaration of what God intended to doe but onely a probation to try what Hezekiah would doe and therefore notwithstanding the disease was deadly God becometh his Physitian prescribeth a plaister of figgs and Hezekiah is healed The Centurions Sonne is visited with a Feaver that Feaver bringeth him to the very point of death when as at the Centurions intreaty Christ with a word commands his recovery That womans condition was desperate when she was at once brought low in estate and body her goods are gone her disease continueth the Physitians have emptied her purse but cannot stay her flux nor is there any likelyhood but that this sickness will at length bring her to her grave But her deplorable state is a fit occasion for Christ to magnifie his mercy whilest by a believing touch of his garment he maketh her perfectly whole Finally Martha sends Christ word â—hat Lazarus is sick Christ delayeth to come onely lets her know this sicknesse should be for Gods glory being sick he dyeth dying is buried and having been some dayes buried he rotteth nay stinketh in the grave and