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
full thy Body hayle often thinke of walking through the valley of the shadow of death Happy is that man whom when sicknesse arresteth and death approacheth to can say and say it truly This is no more then what I have looked and provided for all my dayes And so much be spoken of the second particular pass we now to the third 3. Eminency of the person whom this extreame disease befell in the relative He. If you would know who this He was be pleased to cast your eyes on the 25. verse of the Chapter where you finde his name to be Epaphroditus one that was not onely a good Man but a Man of God not onely a Servant but a Minister of Christ and one so eminent as that Saint Paul dignifies him with the titles of his Brother and Companion and fellow-Souldier and yet of him it is here said that he was nigh unto death Saints as well as sinners Ministers as well as the People are liable to desperate diseases In respect of temporall evills they have no more priviledge than others And no wonder since 1. That which is the cause both of sicknesse and death remaineth in them to wit sinne Indeed the power of sinne is weakened therefore they cannot be hurt of the second death but the being of it remaineth and that necessitateth the first they are so freed from the guilt of it that they shall not taste the torments of hell but yet they may drinke deepe of the miseries of this life sinne will not leave the best man till it hath brought him to his grave well may it bring him to his sick bed 2. In respect of their bodily constitution they are earthly houses that will moulder away till at last they fall earthen vessels subject to flawes and cracks till at length they breake The Saints are the Sonnes of God by grace but still the Sonnes of Adam by nature the Ministers are Angels in respect of their office but still they are Men in regard of their persons and being of the same mould and subject to the same dangers with others 3. More specially the very calling and employment of Ministers is such as exhausteth their spirits weakeneth their bodyes and accelerateth both diseases and death our Apostle saith of Epaphrodit that for the work of Christ he was nigh to death v. 30. the worke he there meaneth is most probably conceived to be the travelling of this good man to Rome with supplyes for his wants to relieve a Christian especially a Messenger of Christ is the work of Christ but it is no lesse true of the worke of Christ which is pâ—culiarly the Ministers since the pains they take in preaching oft times Christ brings them nigh to death It was said of Archimedes studiis quibus obtinuit famam amisit vitam the studies which got him credit lost his life and it may be said of many Ministers the fastings watchings labours preachings by which they profit the peoples soules hurt their bodyes Thus like the candle they waste themselves that they might enlighthen yea like the salt they dissolve themselves that they may season others 4. Finally God hath choice and singular ends at which he aimeth when he bringeth his owne Servants or Ministers into such desperate sicknesses and that both in regard of sinne and grace 1. In regard of their sinnes that they may be either purged or prevented by which means their sicknesse becomes their Physicke and the Malady it selfe a spirituall remedy It may be they have fallen into some grosse sinne and therefore they fall into some grievous sicknesse So was it with those unworthy Communicants concerning whom Saint Paul saith for which cause many of them were weake many sick and some slept It may be God seeth them prone to commit some hainous fault which he restraineth them from by some dolorous sicknesse as S. Paul had a prick in his flesh that he might not be puffed up in his minde so God sometimes wounds his Servants bodyes as knowing that otherwise they would have wounded their consciences 2. In respect of their graces that the truth of them may be tried the acts of them renewed and the strength of them encreased God hath many wayes to try men among which sicknesse especially if dangerous is a sorâ—tryall and therefore when the Devill by Gods leave had tryed Job in the losse of his Cattell Servants and Children he obtaineth licence to inflict sores upon his body making this his last as accounting it his fiercest onset Indeed then is the triall of a mans faith when God seemeth as if he would slay him of his hope when all things are desperate of his love when God frowneth upon nay beateth him of his patience when the paine is sharp of his courage when the sorrowes of death compasse him of his perseverance when he holds fast his integrity to the death To close up this let it be a lesson of comfort of charity and of diligence 1. Of comfort when any sicknesse seizeth on thee remember whose lot it hath been as well as thine and be not discouraged When Christ would encourage his Disciples against sufferings he useth this argument for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Mat. 5.11 it is that meditation which may revive us when we are in pain and misery so it fared with others of Gods faithfull ones before me That argument of Eliah indeed was somewhat passionate 1 King â—9 4 It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better than my Fathers but it is a pious reasoning for every Christian to say I am content Lord if thou take away my health exercise me with diseases I am not better than Job David Hezekiah Epaphroditus and others of thy faithfull Servants and Ministers who am I that I should think much to pledge those holy men of God though in a bitter Cup 2. Of Charity and that both to thy selfe and others 1. Condemne not thy selfe as if God hated thee because he corrects thee or as if he were more angry with thee than others because he chastiseth thee more severely then them Indeed it is good in a time of sicknesse to reflect upon thy selfe examine thy wayes and if conscience accuse of some great misdemeanour to humble thy selfe and acknowledge thy disease the just reward of thy offence but otherwise do not conclude thy owne guilt or Gods hatred meerely from the premisses of sicknesse though virulent 2. Censure not others as if they were therefore the worst of sinners because in their bodyes the greatest sufferers This is indeed that hard measure which Gods people and Ministers often meet with When the Barbarians saw a Viper upon Paul's hand they presently condemned him as a murtherer and David complaineth of his enemies that when he was sick they spake mischievous things against him nay Job's friends though good men were deceived with this fallacy and accuse Job of
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
God than to be glorifyed with him this Saint Paul declares to his hope yea his earnest expectation that Christ might be magnifyed in his body whether by life or death No wonder then if considering how much Epaphroditus his life might conduce to Gods glory he reckoned it as a mercy Besides 2. He increased his owne reward the longer a good man especially a goood Minister liveth the more sinners he converteth and they that turne many to righteousnesse saith Daniel shall shine as the starres for ever and ever nay every soule that a faithfull Minister winnes to God is as a new gemme added to that Crown which shall one day be put upon his head Thus then the case stands Epaphroditus indeed by dying had received his reward but by living he did the more service by dying he had obtained glory from God but by living he brought glory to God and our blessed Saviour saith It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive by dying he had enjoyed his recompence sooner by living he made it greater that would have accelerated but this augmented it so that even in respect of his owne future happinesse he was no loser but a gainer by the prolonging of his life and therefore most justly doth Saint Paul say God had mercy on him Briefly and yet clearely to state the whole matter Life and death may be considered and compared foure wayes 1. In their formall nature and so death is a privation life a position of good and therefore death evil and life good 2. In their Causes death is a fruit of sin life an effect of love our wickednesse deserved the one Gods goodnesse conferreth the other in which respect death is threatned as a punishment life promised as a reward 3. In their naturall and proper effects death bereaveth as well godly as wicked men of the society of friends possession of their estates yea all the comforts which this world affords whereas by life we have the fruition of them continued to us so that in this regard also life is farre better than death even to a good man 4. Lastly in their accidentall consequents when a wicked man dyeth there followeth torment but whilest he liveth there is hope of his repentance yea many times it so falls out some come into the Vineyard at the eleaventh houre and to such life is a choice mercy indeed when a godly man dyeth he is carried into Abrahams bosome placed in a state of blisse but by living longer he honoureth God edifieth the Church worketh out his salvation he gaineth both the more time to prepare himselfe for get assurance of yea make an addition to his future glory and therefore in this likewise and so in all comparisons life hath the preheminence and the continuance of it is justly called by the Apostle a mercy To close up this life continued health restored are mercies oh let not us by abusing them to sinne turne them into judgement who can believe it and yet we may often see it men change blessings into curses by their iniquities and as Parisiensis excellently expresseth it Ipsa beneficia sibi faciunt poenalia instrumenta contra seipsos divinae justitiae They make benefits to become punishments and the fruits of Gods mercy instruments of his justice The truth is it was not so much life as the right use Saint Paul conceived Epaphroditus would make of his life which moved him to call it a mercy Multis periculo pestilens sanitas fuit qui tutius aegrotassent Indeed these things are good or evill to us according as we imploy them It had been a greater mercy to many impenitent sinners that they had continued sick or dyed then that they were recovered Let us therefore lay out our life our health according to our severall places in Gods service so shall it prove glory to God benefit to others and a mercy to us Oh my soule thou hast received as it were a new life improve it in new obedience health is restored to thy body imploy it in the service ef thy God why should thy honey be turned into gall thy shield into a sword thy delicates into poyson Oh let thy life be expended by thee as it was intended by God so shalt thou have cause to take up the Apostles language God had mercy on me And thus much shall suffice for the second particular I hasten to the 3. Opportunity of the time which is the last branch implyed in the exâ—eptive But And a comfortable But it is indeed the sicknesse like a floud was carrying him away God puts in a But and stops its current Epaphroditus was falling into the pit But God reacheth forth an hand to uphold him God doth not so preserve him that the sicknesse should not come nay when it is come he doth not hinder it from increasing but when it is come to the height then he rebuketh the disease and saith hitherto thâ—u shalt come and no further All hopes of his recovery in mans eyes are perished and lo he is raised by the hand of God Means either are not afforded or however unable to help God becommeth his Physitian and commandeth the cure It lets us see thus much that When all hopes are livelesse and helps seem fruitlesse then is the season of Gods deliverance That childs condition is very sad whom the father and mother forsake but then the Psalmist finds God ready to take him up And the causall particle in the Originall is very considerable not onely when but because he was as a forsaken babe God vouchsafeth to protect and provide for him our extremity being not onely the opportunity when but a motive why God will deliver It was a dolefull complaint which the poore Creeple made to Christ {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I have not a man to put me into the poole but even that narration is an efficacious prayer The absence of mans help being the season of Christs presence and succour Saint Paul speaking of our blessed Saviours Incarnation saith it was when the fulnesse of time came if you will know when that full time was the Evangelist answereth it was in the dayes of Herod the King and if with Chrysologus you looke into those dayes you shall find them dayes of extreame misery to the Jewisâ— Nation their Temple profaned Liberty suppressed Worship abolished and the whole State full of confusion In those dayes was the fulnesse because indeed the fitnesse of time come for him who was the Redeemer to appeare and the horne of salvation to be raised up In which respect the Messiah is called by Moses a fit man or according to the Originall a man of opportunity Thy way oh God is in the sea and thy paths in the great waters saith the Psalmist By which expressions no doubt he chiefly intends as appeares by what followeth to note the imperceptible secrecie attending upon many of Gods dispensations so
time cut asunder the thread of life thus the Dropsie is a great while in drowning the Palsie in shaking downe and the Consumption in drying up the body whilest the Feaver in a few dayes burneth and an Apoplexie or Aposteme in a few houres suffocate it And yet once more in violent diseases there is a difference we do not say of every man whom a Feaver smiteth that he is presently nigh to death whilest the body is vigorous the Physick prosperous we account the patient hopefull but those in whom the virulency of the disease so farre prevaileth as that both the strength of Nature skill of Art seem unable to grapple with it are only and justly looked upon as nigh to death Such no doubt was Epaphroditus his case for though some conceive this danger might arise from stripes and scourges which Nero should command to be inflicted on him at Rome yet it is more rationally and generally concluded that some violent sicknesse by reason of a long Journy had seized upon him and though it is likely this good man was not negligent according as ability and opportunity was afforded to use meanes yet the disease did so increase that as to life his condition was desperate and therefore S. Paul saith of him he was nigh unto death To this low and weake estate is God pleased many times to bring men among others chiefly for a double end and that he may minde them of their dissolution and quicken them in their devotion Of all things we are very prone to forget our latter end and therefore God by sicknesse puts us in minde of it we are apt to put death farre from us and therefore by some grievous disease God bringeth us nigh to death a presumption we shall not dye yet maketh us not think of dying at all and whilest marrow is in our bones colour in our faces appetite in our stomachs strength in our joynts health in our bodyes we easily perswade our selves we shall not dye yet no mervaile if to fixe our eyes upon the Grave God chasten us with paine upon our Bed so that our life abhorreth bread our flesh consumeth away and our soule draweth neare to the grave It was the confession of Alexander when let bloud with an arrow All men call me Jupiters Sonne but this wound proclaimes me a mortall man and yet more divine was that of Antigonus who acknowledged his disease to be sent as a Monitor lest otherwise he might have growne insolent through the forgetfulnesse of mortality Sicknesses especially when desperate are warning peices to tell us the murdering peice of death is ready to destroy every ach tolls the Bell but these as it were dig the grave and cry dust to dust and good reason it is that when we cast the thought of death behinde our backs death it selfe should by these diseases looke us in the face and as it were pluck us by the throat 2. In health we are no lesse apt to forget God than our selves but sicknesse mindeth us of him in prosperity perhaps we mumble over a Pater Noster but adversity teacheth us to cry Abba Father Lord saith the Prophet in trouble have they visited thee they who before were strangers now would bee familiar with God and give him a visit they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them it may be before they did say a prayer but now they poure out a prayer Though man by the formation of his body be made with an erect countenance yet he seldome looks up to heaven till some disease hath laid him upon his back nor yet many times will a slight sicknesse prevaile God promiseth himselfe concerning his people in their affliction they will seeke me early but for the most part it proveth otherwise ubi desinit medicus ibi incipit Theologus the Divine's work begins not with many till the Physitian 's is done it is late enough not to seeke God till affliction comes and yet we seeke God not early but late in affliction The Woman in the Gospell sick of a bloudy Issue goeth not to Christ till she had spent all and that to no purpose upon Physitians the Prodigall thinketh not of going home to his Father till he is brought so low that he would faine be fed with husks but cannot get them nor doe many lift up their eyes or hands to heaven till they are scarce able to lift up either Indeed necessity is an excellent Mistris especially of Devotion Most men will not pray till they must it is misery which like Jonahs fish puts them upon humble supplication who never thought of God under the gourd of Prosperity In which respect that Latine Proverb was not taken up without just cause Qui nescit orare discat navigare he that knoweth not how to pray let him turne Mariner and no doubt those violent stormes which make the Seas to roare will teach him to pray When those young Persian gallants being beaten and pursued by their enemies came to the River Strymon which was so frozen that their Boats could not launch and yet it began to thaw so that they feared the Ice would not beare them then though the day before they reviled both God and his providence most timorously they fall upon their faces and ardently beg of God that the River might beare them over from their enemyes pursuit The smart lasues of Gods rod drive them home and draw them neare to him who before were farre from him The Greekes aptly expresse the declining estate of a Kingdome by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} falling upon the Knee and its ruined estate by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} falling upon the Mouth expressions which though they principally referre to the condition yet withall intimate the disposition of men in an afflicted condition they whose knees in health were like Elephants without joynts could not or rather would not bend in sicknesse fall upon their knees nay when nigh to death fall upon their mouthes in humble adoration and earnest invocation upon God And for these causes that men may both looke forward to their end and upward to their God he is pleased to bring them downeward almost to the Gates of Death and Chambers of the Grave To end this let us all make account of and prepare for straights In health expect sicknesse in sicknesse looke for death or to be brought nigh to it Diseases may come unsent for let them not come unlook'd for if they happen not thou art not the worse and it is labour well lost if they doe thou art the better fitted and it is time well spent Doe not flatter thy selfe in health as if the mountaine of thy body were so strong that it could not be moved Alas one blast from heaven cannot onely move but remove shake but overturne it rather even then when thou art fed with fat pastures cleare waters thy Table spread thy Cup
hypocrisie because of his calamity And thus it is still If a zealous Christian or faithfull Minister be visited with a dolefull sicknesse his Religion must be no better than Dissimulation and his Doctrine Heresie But surely it is either Ignorance or Malice or both that filleth mens mouthes with such censures It is true there never was sicknesse without sinne but the sicknesse is not alwayes proportioned to the sinne these things come alike to all was the wise mans Observation nor doth any sicknesse befall any man which may not befall the best man I know some assert a Saint to be Plague-free grounding it upon the Promise in the Psalme that no plague shall come nigh his dwelling But you must know this is onely a temporall Promise and therefore as indeed all such hath a double condition annexed unto it The one ex parte personae on the Saints part which is to make the Lord even the most high his habitation if then good men in pestilentiall times through a distrustfull feare make the Creatures their refuge no mervaile if the plague infect them and their dwellings The other ex parte rei in regard of the thing it selfe which is onely assured so far as it may make for Gods glory and his Peoples benefit We read in the former part of the tenth verse there shall no evill befall him whereby is intimated that the plague shall not then come nigh to when it is evill for a good man but if at any time God see it good either for the manifestation of his owne glory to wit of his justice in so severely punishing his owne of his power and mercy in delivering from so deadly a disease or for the spirituall advantage of his people in humbling them for some scandalous sinne by so smart a chastisement in exercising the strength of their patience by so sore a tryall not the holiest person is in such cases exempted from the plague nor is it improbably conceived that Job's botches Hezekiah's boyles Davids sores were not much different from if not altogether the same with the plague who yet all of them were choice and eminent Saints Oh then let us take heed how we lay the load of heavy censure upon the backs of Gods Ministers and Servants 3. Of diligence that 1. We who are Ministers improve the time of our health in feeding the flocks of Christ since when sicknesse cometh we shall be disenabled from our employments nay perhaps we that have taught others may then have need to learne our selves You who are the People get all the good you can from us whilest we are in a capacity of doing good to you ere long the Candle of our lives may burne dimme by reason of some sicknesse yea be blowne out by death and then we can no longer give light unto you Oh therefore walke in the light while you have it be willing to learne while we are able to teach account our labours precious and let them be profitable to you whilest God maketh us able to bestow them among you which we shall not be when that befalls us which did Epaphroditus in the Text to be sick nigh unto death And so I have given a dispatch to the first generall namely the distresse I now proceed to 2. The deliverance and therein the 1. Efficiency of the Author God Indeed both life and death health and sickness are in Gods hand That of the Poet Vna cademque manus vulnus opemque tulit may in this respect be fitly made use of the same hand of Divine Providence is that which maketh and closeth the wound He killeth and maketh alive he bringeth downe to the grave and bringeth up so singeth Hannah I forme light and create darknesse I make peace and create evil I the Lord doe all these things is Gods owne saying by the Prophet Thy head cannot ake without his leave nor leave aking without his help but though both are from him yet with some difference Of sicknes he is onely the efficient sinne is the meritorious cause Of health he is so the efficient as that his mercy is the impulsive cause for which reason perhaps it is here said God had mercy that which moveth him is his pitty and that which helpeth us is his power True it is God is for the most part pleased to make use of meanes in effecting health but this ariseth from the greatnesse of his goodnesse not any defect in his Almightinesse as Aquinas pithily That he needeth not meanes appeareth in as much as he sometimes worketh without any Such were the Cures Christ wrought upon Peters Wives Mother the Centurions Servant and the Impotent Cripple whom his Word onely restored to health Nay many times the meanes he useth are improbable yea of their owne nature apt to produce a contrary effect What vertue could there be in the waters of Jordan to cleanse Naamans leprosie or in the lump of figgs to heale Hezekiah's sores yea the Spittle and Clay which Christ made use of were more likely to put out a seeing than recover a blinde mans eyes He standeth not in need of meanes but the most probable meanes stand in need of him It is to put honour on the creature that God vouchsafeth to use it as an instrument and when the creature becometh an instrument of any good it is onely as in the hand of God working with and by it For tell me when any are recovered who is it that put the medicinall quality into the drugs which heale them but the God of Nature who giveth that wit and skill to man which findeth out their qualityes and accordingly maketh use of them but the God of Knowledge Finally who is it that commands a blessing upon and giveth successe to the meanes but the God of Power Man liveth not by bread onely nor is the Patient cured by Physick onely or chiefly it is a word proceeding from the mouth of God that maketh the one effectuall for continuation and the other for restauration of health To apply this in a three-fold admonition 1. Art thou wicked As thou desirest health to be preserved or renewed make thy peace with God by repentance it is the ground upon which the Jewish Converts mutually exhort each other to this duty Come let us returne unto the Lord for he hath torne and he will heale us he hath smitten and he will binde us up though it be that indeed which God out of his Philanthropie sometimes vouchsafeth yet it is a fond presumption for any to expect that he should be a Physitian to them who are enemies to him Me thinks an ungodly wretch should imagine that God speaketh to him in the words of the Prophet when thou cryest let thy companions deliver thee or as he saith to the children of Israel when they committed Idolatry Goe and cry unto the Gods which you have chosen the lusts which you have served let them deliver you in the time
Hebrew {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which signifieth Ejulare plangere to bewaile and lament a condolency with our Brothers calamity being a choice ingredient of mercy This is that which the Holy Ghost asserteth of God in Scripture where it is said in all their afflictions he was afflicted And againe My bowels are troubled And againe Like as a Father pittyeth his Children so the Lord pitâ—yeth them that feare him But withall we must know that in these Phrases the most high is pleased to condescend and speaking to men to speak of himselfe as if he were a man There is not then any sorrow or compassion in him who is impassible but by this is represented his good will towards his people whereby he is propense to succour them And because the afflicted person findes oft times much ease and solace in that sympathie which another expresseth towards him that we may know the like solace is to be found in God this compassion is attributed to God and indeed is though not formally yet aequivalently nay eminently verified of him To bring this home in that God is said to have mercy on dying Epaphroditus it implyeth thus much that God beholding and taking notice of was as it were affected with his imminent danger having after a sort a friendly pitty and motherly yearning or rather a fatherly good-will towards him But this is not all that mercy includeth and therefore know 2. In mercy there is an indeavour to relieve him whose misery it condoleth as she suffereth with so she doth for and according to her ability either helpeth him to beare the burden by putting under her shoulder or wholly â—aseth him of it by removing it from his shoulder Hence the definition of mercy is well given to be such a compassion of anothers misery as puts upon a cheerfull imploying our power for the sustaining him under and delivering him â—ut of it This is that which in a proper and genuine sense agreeth to God whose property is to deliver his out of their afflictions and preserve them from destruction and this no doubt is that which our Apostle here especially intends in this expression God had mercy on him that is he did remove his misery and prevent his death by curing him of that sicknesse which had brought him nigh to it Let the same minde be in us that is in God when our brethren are under sicknesse or any other distresse to have mercy on them It was our blessed Saviours reasoning with the Phâ—risees though not altogether to the same purpose Which of you shall have an Asse or an Ox fall into the pit and will not straightway pull him out Surely one man is of more worth then many Asses and shall we not in what we may succour him when fallen into some grievous sicknesse That good Samaritan in the Type is no other than Christ in the Truth who pityed and healed man when dangerously wounded by sinne and as it was the designe of his death to cure mankinde of his spirituall sicknesse so his practise in the course of his life to go about doing good and healing If we call our selves Christians whom should we imitate but Christ by performing all offices of love to the sick which lye within our Spheare and if we have no oâ—le but that of compassion no wine but teares and prayers let them be poured into the wounds and diseases of thy neighbour so shall we bee Disciples of Christ But the Text leads us yet one step higher from Christ as man and as God-man to Christ as God acquainting us with Gods mercy to a sick man and what more befitting man then to imitate God by practising this God-like worke of mercy {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a mercyfull man is great and honourable and that for this reason chiefly because he is like to God in which respect Gregory Nyssen and Nazianzen call such a man a God as having stampt upon him the Character of a Deity Bee yee therefore followers of God as deare Children is Saint Paul's counsell in generall Be you mercifull as your Father also is mercifull so our blessed Saviour adviseth in speciall and yet more particularly as God had mercy on sick Epaphroditus so let us on our sick neighbour by visiting him if we can by our skill or counsell doe him good however by compassionating him and interceding with God in his behalfe And because this duty is that which though so honourable we are averse from give me leave to carry it a little further let you see it is profitable as well as honourable Not only that you may follow God in mercy but that you may upon the like occasion obtain mercy from God shew mercy to otâ—ers It is a sweet promise to feed on in a time of sicknesse The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sicknesse That bed must needs be easie which God maketh nor can he faint whom God strengtheneth but to whom is it made him and none but him who considereth the poore so our Translation bâ—t the Hebrew word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} may as well be rendered sick one that is weakned by a disease he who considereth others in their sicknesse shall be supported by God in his Which of us beloved doth not desire that God may shew that mercy to us in our distresse which he did here to Epaphroditus But how can we except God should grant that to us which we deny to others Blessed are the mercifull saith Christ for they shall obtaine mercy Be then oh man to thy selfe a patterne of mercy and shew with that speed and in that degree mercy to thy sick weak languishing neighbour which thou wouldst have God vouchsafe to thee in the like condition But a little more to unbowell this Clause The mercy here intended as you have already heard was the prolongation of life and restauration of health to Epaphroditus and here a double question falls in to be resolved How this can be called a mercy And If a mercy in it selfe yet how a mercy to him Qu. 1. It is a plausible Objection which is made that life prolonged is no mercy because it is a calamitous continuance in an evil world what is this world but a Coffer of Sorrows Labyrinth of Troubles Schoole of Vanity Market of Fraud Theater of Tragedyes Floud of Teares and Map of Ruines And can it be a favour for a man to continue long in a place of miseries The earth we tread on the aire we breath in are as a Sea wherein windes and stormes are ever blowing and can it be a favour to be still tossed up and downe upon a blustering tempestuous Sea Finally this life is not a life but a calamity yea rather a death then a life because so miserable to live long is to be long tormented and can this be a mercy Answ. To all this