Grace to his Glory Should God require any greater matter of us as Naaman's servants tell him when we lie on the bed of sickness when we are incompass'd with distresses would not we have done it and when for our deliverance all that he looks for at our hands is praise only he must be of an extraordinary disingenuous impiety that should refuse to testifie his thanks in so cheap a Sacrifice This civility we deny not to men 't is a Physician 's reputation when his patient recovers and we usually besides his Salary allow him our good word Let not us grudge God the honour of a poor acknowledgement Again praising and celebrating God and hoping for his truth his mercy say the LXX his Salvation the Chaldee Paraphrast are here made Synonyma's to mean the same thing If so then a generous trust in God's mercy is the right celebration of it To trust in God is to praise him I have been afflicted God has deliver'd me I praise him for it how by trusting that he will still deliver me I have been exercised with grievous sickness God has visited me with his loving kindeness I come to return him due praise for his goodness how by entertaining and professing a just confidence in God that he will never fail me never leave me destitute And this as 't is a comfortable so 't is a rational and a natural duty We ordinarily do it to men when we have had tryals of their fidelity in matters of any moment we stick not to trust them farther and by so doing recommend their honest just dealing to the world Shall we not much more do so to God whose mercy and faithfulness we have so often experimented when no one could help us out but He He that distrusts God scandalizes his goodness and calls his truth in question David is not asham'd to make one of the first and earliest acts of God's common providence towards him when he was an infant an argument of his trusting God his whole life after Thou art he that tookest me out of my Mothers Bowels What then my praise shall be alwayes of thee A little after upon the strength of this confidence he prayes Cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth Further in that the Grave cannot praise God nor they that go down into the pit hope for his truth it appears that Death is a silent and a hopeless state The Grave indeed opens a wide mouth but 't is to swallow the man not to praise God with And how can Divine Praises be celebrated by death which puts all the Organs and Instruments of Speech out of tune when as the Preacher phrases it all the daughters of musick are brought low and then for those that go down into the pit they together with their lives quit their hopes and are lodg'd now in a remediless condition No hope to be met with at the bottom of that pit because the pit it self is bottomless for so the Septuagint have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those that are in hell they that are in Gehenna says the Arabick and by the Targum the pit is interpreted the lake of perdition Hope is a vertue peculiar to life and when the man dies hope fetches its last gasp and dyes with him After death there 's no recovery Faith and repentance can now no longer exercise any vital acts If thou dye in thy sins thou will lie and rot in thy sins and rise again in thy sins No imbalming can preserve thy soul or take from thee the stench of thy sins in that pit of corruption Death concludes thee to an unalterable condition Here thou mayest manage thy resolutions and shape thy course to please thy self and if thou wilt to please thy God if thou wilt let his grace pilot thy vessel but when thou art once put into harbour the ship then is laid up and there 's no mending the miscarriages of thy past voyage Be sure then to live godly if thou wouldst dye comfortably and then thy grave will prove a bed of spices and thy dust be preserv'd as the Phoenixâ—ashes in hopes of a joyful resurrection To draw to a conclusion a 4th Note may be this that Life it self is a blessing to be spent in the giver's praise From these words The living the living he shall praise thee The word is twice repeated to shew we should do it with chearfulness with a life and with constancy through our whole life If we had a hundred lives they would be all well spent in God's service It will be the business and imploy of our eternity to praise him and we must aforehand acquaint our selves with it and so practice this lesson here that we may be found worthy to wait upon the Lamb and sing Hallelujahs in heaven But then if we would praise God to the life we must live to his praise by doing things praise-worthy Further consider what this life of ours is 't is but a breath We must begin this task then out of hand presently There 's nothing of our life ours but the present the Nunc instans this very instant of time For all that 's past of our lives was indeed ours once but now is not nor can we recal what 's gone for improvement or amendment and what is to come is not ours yet and we know not whether it will be in our power or no and therefore the great duty interest of life is the right husbanding of our present time Upon this moment hangs our eternity and this infinite advantage our short-liv'd service has that he that lives to God's glory here shall hereafter be made partaker of it Thus have I as well as I could gather'd a posie of Observations as they grew in this fragrant piece of Scripture and if some Rue and Wormwood be found amongst the sweeter herbs their wholesomeness will make amends for their bitterness Myrrh and Aloes as they are bitter drugs so they are rich perfumes in either notion great preservatives they are against corruption The Psalmist tells us Psal. XLV that All the Churches garments smell of them 'T is not amiss if we have pounded and mix'd somewhat of them with the Frankincense of this days Thanksgiving Which brings us to the close of all the Exemplification as I do this day And that will yield us a considerable remark to make an end with that signal mercies require solemn thanksgiving So Hezekiah is eager to go up to the house of the Lord and closes this Ode of his with a resolution there to sing his songs all the days of his life And this on purpose to draw in others by his example to partake in the duty Thus David after such a deliverance Psal. XXXIV invites others O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together In the 6th verse as it were pointing to himself This poor man cried and
And tell me now O impatient soul whoever thou art what reason hast thou to take Gods dealings unkindely Tell me canst thou say with any shew of reason that he deals otherwise then justly and kindely by thee in all this who orders all so to thy good that his greatest severities are if thou wilt but rightly understand them the most advantageous mercies Further he does it to wean us from the world and to take off that hank which the flesh has upon us to mortifie carnal lusts and worldly desires and give us a heavenly relish Thus when the Breast is imbittered the Childe will of himself forsake it And lastly to prepare us for our great change These conflicts and encounters we have with all sorts of affliction during our whole life are but Essayes and Specimens of that conquest which we must through Christ make at last of death that as he has overcome the world and swallowed up Death in victory we may be made partakers of his triumphs and having fill'd up his sufferings may in his name set up our banners and our trophies the banners of our confidence and the trophies of our victory And now if we have any ingenuity to acknowledge our sins any zeal to imploy our graces any holy ambition to better and improve our selves any desires towards heaven or savour of spiritual things in a word any thought or design of living holy and dying happy what reason have we with more then patience even with kindeness and friendship to entertain afflictions which are to help us in all this Yet let afflictions be as good as they will in the consequents and effects they are afflictions still and may be so resented Hezekiah no question made very good use of his sickness and found as great benefit by it and yet still after his recovery he complains of it and calls it bitterness We must be patient and yet we may be sensible of our afflictions too We are allow'd the apprehensions of nature even in the exercises of Grace A good man may be patient and yet feel his pains and complain of them too or else indeed 't is not a genuine patience I do not think him truly valiant whom armour or amulet has made invulnerable but him that feels the smart of his wounds and yet fights on Thus our Saviour the Captain of our Salvation in his Agony prayes to have the Cup pass from him sayes bemoaningly of himself that his Soul was sad unto death that as he hung on the Cross poor man at the stretch of every joynt flouted by his Adversaries deserted by his followers forsaken by his Father he cries out My God my God c. and being roasted with the scorching flames of Divine Wrath he calls for drink to allay the raging heat of his thirst For although the Divinity could have deaded all the pains which the humane nature underwent and have raptur'd it into a glorious impassibility yet that was not to be since the main merit of his passive obedience lay in this that he had a quick sense of the wrath of God due to sin into the very heart of him and that notwithstanding the natural sentiments of his humanity which put him upon the desire of being excused he yet with perfect submission went through all the sad stages of his bitter passion Yet now the world is grown to that pass as if Religion were turn'd Stoicism and stupidity were Christian Valour that people generally take it for a kinde of bravery to be insensible of God's Judgements and to walk unconcern'd in the midst of publick or personal calamities but sure those of this temper are no other then such as the Apostle tells us of Rom. 1. 31. Void of natural affection Thus then Hezekiah's being in bitterness teacheth us to be patient and his complaining of it allows us to be sensible And no marvel that he complains for 't was not only bitterness but great bitterness both extensively over all parts all over bitterness and intensively all kindes all degrees of bitterness and so as the Original doubles the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one way in Hebrew to express the superlative◠so S. Hierom renders it Amaritudo mea amarissima my most bitter bitterness superlatively bitter Now why God does thus at any time with any of us to make our conditions bitter and bitter again to put in great bitterness more bitter ingredients still besides those reasons we gave before this inlarging the dose being designed to perfect the cure we have two or three more to offer as first to beat us quite off from carnal and secular confidences that being forc'd to let go our hold of all our worldly comforts we may stick the closer to God in our dependences upon him And that good Hezekiah's temper was a little too apt to be peccant in this the next Chapter shews us where out of ostentation he shews Merodach-Baladan's Messengers that came to congratulate his recovery his treasury and armoury and spicery And then to put the higher value upon the following mercy How sweet would health be after such a bitter sickness how soon are the pains and throws of Childe-birth forgotten for joy when the Man-childe is once born into the world the greatness of the danger serving to aggrandize and heighten the deliverance And lastly to teach us a right estimate of our own graces and of that interest we have in God Great Saints must look for great afflictions A more then ordinary strength requires a more then ordinary tryal Every Childe every Novice in Religion can digest a little bitterness Hezekiah is to be treated as a Man to be put upon a becoming task The Sons of Anak and the Zanzummim are fit for such a champion as Joshua to incounter Wherefore if God who uses not to lay more upon us then we are able to bear has laid his hand heavy upon thee has increased thy pains and inraged thy smart bear up brave soul be of good courage in thy conflicts be strong in the Lord when he calls thee forth to such hard service grudge not to lay out that strength God has given thee to bear thee up and to bear thee out in the greatest endurances Thus Holy Job when the whole world was against him the Chaldeans and Sabeans the Devil and his friends and wife and all and God himself seem'd to be an indifferent looker on bore himself up stoutly against them all and by the power of God's Grace in him withstood the worst of Providences without him The Saints are made glorious by their sufferings and 't is their great afflictions put the lustre upon their victorious Graces when patience has had its perfect work Hezekiah was a man of great piety and must therefore meet with great bitterness And this bitterness in the next place is the greater too because it comes in the place of Peace Cujus ipsum nomen dulce est as the great Orator tells us
tranquillity of minde he had had heretofore his spirit was now troubled and greatly imbittered And a wounded grieved spirit who can bear On the other hand the mercy of the Deliverance wants not its heightning circumstances too as 1. From the efficient cause 't was God deliver'd him But thou hast deliver'd 2. From the motive or impulsive cause 't was out of Love not out of design as men usually do courtesie but out of a free kindeness and that a love of the best sort 't was in love to his soul. And 3. From the danger he was deliver'd out of and that no ordinary one it was a pit and no ordinary pit neither 't was the pit of corruption even the Grave the very state of death But thou hast in love to my soul deliver'd it from the pit of corruption So then however he came by his sickness he is sure 't was God recover'd him out of it and he did it out of Love out of an especial love he bore to the soul of him which was sufficiently manifested by this that his life was precious in Gods sight God delivering it from the pit of corruption Nor is this all You heard 't was a spiritual mercy for 't was in love to his soul and therefore the health of body was to be attended with the welfare of his soul and so for a full Assurance of Divine love to his soul and for a further Improvement of this temporal bodily mercy 't is added for thou hast cast all my sins behinde thy back that as God had imbrac'd his soul in the arms of his love so the Interlinear Version Amplexus es amore animam meam and as it were put her into his bosom so he had cast all his sins behinde his back never to come more into remembrance This is the Crown of Mercies when temporals are thus accumulated with spirituals this a recovery indeed of the whole man when health is improv'd into salvation and strength of body accompanied with pardon of sins This is right saving Health and deserves the returns of a grateful Acknowledgment which now follows in the last place And that is set forth first by shewing the impossibility for the dead to perform this duty which is very elegantly express'd by three Synonymies For the grave cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth which all come to one meaning And then on the contrary shewing not the possibility only but the probability that the living will i. e. such as divine mercy continues in life and especially such as are by that mercy preserv'd from imminent danger of death The living the living he shall praise thee And this probability exemplified in himself made good by his own practice As I do this day Thus having open'd the several scenes of our intended meditation I shall now proceed to draw from them some useful Observations interweaving their applications all along with that brevity and clearness as such copious heads of matter may in such straights of time admit and that rather in a cursory Explanation then in an elaborate discourse First then for the Affliction 't is not only bitter but in the abstract bitterness it self The sense of Taste is the most necessary of all our senses it being that by which all Animals live and take in their food and nourishment and therefore has in it a power to judge what is grateful and convenient to the nature of each kinde what not Now there is no gust the palate so much dis-relishes as the bitter nothing that nature shews a greater abhorrence to or that is less welcome to her whereupon the Psalmist in the person of Christ looks upon it as one of his enemies greatest unkindenesses that they gave him Gall and Vinegar to drink and Christ himself upon the Cross I suppose out of his meer natural aversation as he was man when he had tasted of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He would not drink it Upon this score 't is that by an usual Metaphor every thing that is highly displeasing to any of our affections and senses either to the rational or sensitive appetite is termed bitter every thing I say that is any way afflictive to flesh and blood any thing that ails us in Minde or Body or Estate or good name whether grief or pain or poverty or reproach and the like we may as Hezekiah here calls his sickness give it the name of bitterness nay even though those afflictions come from the hand of God himself our gracious Father by whose providential dispensations every particular event be it good or bad is so carefully managed that not a Sparrow falls to the ground without his order And yet this bitterness too though never so unpleasant may be made profitable if we make a right use of it as we may learn two things from it here 1. not to be impatient 2. not to be insensible When we are under Gods hand in any affliction Fiezekiah's being in bitterness teacheth us one and his complaining of it the other Who Good King Hezekiah in bitterness sick and that unto death this is bitterness indeed that such a Prince who was a National blessing that such a Saint who had walkt before the Lord in truth and in the sincerity of his heart done that which was good in his sight should be cut off in the midst of his dayes at XXXIX for that was his age at this time the fifteen years which were now added making up his whole life LIV. and should by a bitter and untimely death be sent away to the gates of the Grave after the languishment of a pining distemper Hence we observe that Gods dearest ones are not exempted from bitter afflictions And what are we then that we should repine and murmur and think our selves hardly dealt with Are we better then all those Saints who have gone before us who have pledg'd their Master in hearty draughts of his Passion-Cup and have march'd after him in the dolorous way towards heaven This should teach us not only with patience but even with chearfulness to take up our crosses and to deny our selves in our healths in our fortunes in all our enjoyments And to recommend this vertue the more to us let us take along with us some considerations why it pleases God to imbitter many times as he does the condition of his Children and Servants in this world Now God does it upon such reasons as these for the chastisement of sin from which the very best are not free for tryal and exercise of their faith and other Graces which else would lie idle upon their hands for what use of patience in time of health and prosperity and consequently for their amendment and improvement The Furnace is heated over and over that having all their dross burnt up their graces may be burnished and throughly refined as Silver purified seven times in the fire
their toil and gain will come to no account Go they must one time or other and pack up they know not how soon and yet carry nothing along with them of all that they have Beauty strength riches honour profits pleasures will all be lost and spoil'd and prove at last but care and refuse in this pit of corruption this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wardrobe of our old cast cloaths and the store-hole of our worm-eaten Lumber We are all journeying straight onward to the Grave and sooner or later every one in his appointed time must arrive there but happy thrice happy those who when they are laid down to rest in the Grave are deliver'd from Hell that other pit of corruption And this Hezekiah was assur'd of that God had deliver'd his soul from this pit because his sins were forgiven And this is our third stage the Assurance of God's love to him and the Improvement of this bodily mercy for thou hast cast all my sins behinde thy back From whence we may make several Observs as first that God uses to accumulate mercy to deal with us as he commands us to deal with one another to give us good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over into our bosom Here upon Hezekiah's prayer God gives more then is ask'd lengthens his life secures him and his Kingdom from the Assyrians recovers him from his sickness and pardons his sins Thus mercies grow like clusters in the vineyards of Engaddi A great incouragement for prayer which makes such ample returns The best Husbandry we can use to improve our selves by praying often A great comfort this too to any good man upon the bed of sickness that God will both recover and pardon him both restore him to health and accept him to favour Thus our Saviour in those Miracles of Mercy he shew'd upon the bodies of men was wont to regard their souls too and wrought cures both upon the outward and inward man as he did to the Paralytick saying first * Thy sins are forgiven thee then Rise take up thy bed and walk Thus easing him first of the heavy load of his sins and then inabling him to bear the lighter burthen of his couch 2. Pardon of sins is the complement and perfection of mercy His recovery without this would have done him little good and the renewing of his Lease have serv'd only for an opportunity of running farther on the score and so of making his condition much worse then it had been O infinitely happy that man even in this life whose sins are forgiven him all his enjoyments must needs have a pleasant relish whereas to the wicked this Coloquintida the rank Hogo which unpardon'd sin gives them spoils all their comforts and makes their condition be it never so spangled and glorious never so gay and jaunty to the outward shew troublesome and vexatious within like the Emperour's Ermin-Cap richly lin'd with pricking cares and cutting fears of which our good King had now clear'd both his Head and Crown for he had God's promise that neither the Assyrian should assault his Kingdom nor Satan his soul. 3. He whose sins are forgiven needs not fear hell or the grave Hezekiah here is assured that God had deliver'd his soul from the pit of corruption because he had cast all his sins behinde his back The righteous man say the Proverbs i. e. he that is justified by faith and has his sins pardon'd is as bold as a Lion fearless and undaunted for indeed what need such an one fear Let the Devil go about like a roaring Lion he has the Lion of the tribe of Judah to defend him and for death now the sting is pluck'd out he plays with it as a harmless Snake and to take off even the natural apprehensions of it makes it familiar to him by his daily meditation Lastly God's pardons are universal and absolute They are all his sins and all cast behinde God's back never more to be remembred God pardons totally and finally not by halves or half way but wholly and out-right he forgives and forgets We are too too apt to throw our sins behinde our own back and to take no notice of them our great concern is to get them cast behinde God's back O let us prize this pardoning Grace of God's endeavour to obtain it by confessing and forsaking our sins and especially in the time of sickness or any other affliction when God's hand lies upon us to make our humble and earnest supplications then to the blessed Spirit to bring home to our soul this comfort to renew our repentance and to re-inforce our resolutions and having obtain'd forgiveness never by any fresh wilful acts of sin to forfeit the comfort of such an assurance Thus have we seen Hezekiah Afflicted Recover'd Pardon'd we are now in the last place come to his Thanksgiving and Acknowledgement and that as I noted before set down 1. Negatively that if he had miscarried in this his sickness then he could not possibly have perform'd this duty of praise 2. Positively that being now recover'd and in a state of life and health he will make it his business as he sayes in the 20. verse All the dayes of his life to sing his songs in the house of the Lord. For the Grave cannot praise thee c. which words will help us to several useful observations In the first place that The only Return which God expects for his mercies is Praise This is given here as the reason of this his deliverance FOR the Grave cannot praise thee the living shall God the Jehovah being an Infinite Being and consequently in his Essence and Actions independent of any other being can have no Principle or End of his Actions without him As in a Circle the whole round being in it self compleat the beginning and end meet but in an imaginary point and admit not of a real distinction And such a Circle is God which comprehends all things and is it self not comprehended Wherefore he can have no other principle but himself no other end but himself in all that he does or designs He is the Alpha and Omega From him and to him are all things He acts all freely from his own will and wisely to his own glory and in this manner we his creatures are to act if we will act regularly from him and to him He is as the supreme cause which excites and impowers all subordinate agents to act so the Chiefest Good too in which all their actions should terminate And in this subordination all other creatures in their several spheres of activity comply with the rule and method of their Creator man only to his shame stands out who has most reason to be and to act like his God wearing his Image Good and pious men however do endeavour after this which is their perfection to live by the power to the praise of God that is to act by his
mercies to accept the thanksgiving of every particular person in this Congregation for all thy favours and merciful deliverances vouchsafed them through the course of their whole lives and more especially be graciously pleased to accept the thanks of that thy servant who being by thy gracious providence recover'd of a grievous and dangerous sickness this day in thy house presents his offering of praise Grant that both he and all of us may have that his sickness and all our afflictions so sanctified and this his recovery and all our deliverances so improv'd to him and to us that we may ill be fully assur'd that out of love to our souls thou hast deliver'd them from the pit of corruption and that thou hast cast all our sins behind thy back Thus shall our meditation of thee be sweet we will be glad in the Lord and rejoyce in thy salvation who forgivest all our iniquities and healest all our diseases and redeemest our life from destruction Who hidest not thy face from us in the day of trouble but regardest the prayer of the destitute who lookest down from the height of thy sanctuary to hear the groaning of those that are confin'd and to deliver them that are appointed unto death To declare the name of the Lord in his temple and his praise in the great assembly when the people are gather'd together to serve the Lord. Let us give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name Let us bring our offerings and come into his courts Let us sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoycing The Lord hath chasten'd us sore but he hath not given us over unto death We shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. Thou art our God and we will praise thee thou art our God and we will exalt thee Let us give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever The voice of rejoycing and salvasion is in the tabernacles of the righteous The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy O Lord our hope is in thee Let us never be confounded Amen Glory be to thee O God FINIS ERRATA PAge 4. line 4. read understand p. 9 l. 24 r. our carnal p. 17. l. 19. r. a little p. 18. l. 9 r. sore p 21. l. 27. sor disposition r. dispensation p. 25. l. 6. r. of our head l. 11. f. this r. his l. 19. before His meaning put in line 24 25 26 27. witness Sabbath-rest p. 26. l. 21. r. all things p. 29. l. 6. for care r. tare * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uti Graecè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicere cogitare prout è contra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meditari primùm dein eloqui * Prov. 18. 4. * Ps. 69. 21. * S. Matth. 27. 34. V. 3. * See 2. Chron. 29. 1. Obs. Obs. * 2 Chron. 32. 26. 't is call'd The pride of his heart S. John 16. 21. Obs. * Job 1. 9. * So himsèlâ— complains Job 7. 5. My flesh is cloathed with worms and clods of dust my skin is broken and become loathsome Obs. The pious man serves God for God's sake Obs. * Job 3. 25. * Isa. 57. 20 Obs. Obs. Obs. * Psal. 8. 4. * Deut. 25. 4. * 1 Cor. 9. 9. * Deut. 5 14. * Psal. 8. 7. Obs. * 3 John v. 2. Obs. * Ps. 39. 5. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad f 〈…〉 mam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ap J 〈…〉 38. 11. 12 veterament 〈…〉 Ang. old caâ—â— cloats and rotten rags Obs. * S. Luke 6. 38. S. Mark 2. 9. Obs. Obs. * Prov. 28. 1 Obs. Obs. * Rom. 11. 36. * 2 Kings 5. 13. Obs. * Psal. 71. 6. * Ver. 9. Obs. Eccl. 12. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obs. * Ver. 8. Obs.