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
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
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
that we can no more discerne the reason of them than we can any impression of a ships passage in the Sea but yet withall it is not an improbable allusion to understand Sea and great waters representing doleful and perillous distresses Gods usual course being to manifest himself not in the shallow river of a slight trouble but the deep sea of some desperate calamity The Disciples enter into a ship but Christ come not the sable mantle of the night covers them and Christ cometh not the winde bloweth the storme rageth the waves arise and yet Christ appeareth not but when they have rowed 25. or 30. furlongs being farre from land and in the depth of danger then they see Jesus walking on the Sea and drawing nigh to the ship to succour them To this purpose is S. Cyrills observation upon this storie Christ doth not presently at the beginning of the storme appeare to his Disciples but when they had rowed far from land Christ is not alwayes at hand upon the first onset but when through prevailing fear almost over-whelming danger our spirits begin to fail then he breaks forth as it were in the midst of the waves calming the storm expelling our feare and preventing our ruine It is very observable in that hundred and seventh Psalme when the Prophet celebrateth Gods goodnesse to severall sorts of men in their dangers that their deliverance was not vouchsafed till their danger appeared remediless of travellers it is said they wandered so long in the wildernes till by reason of hunger and thirst their soule fainted in them and then not till then upon their crying the Lord delivered them The Captives are said to sit in darknesse and the shadow of death by reason of their bâ—nds yea to fall downe and none to help them and then this want of help obtaineth help at their earnest cry God saveth them out of their distresse when sick men are brought so low that their soule abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw nigh to the gates of death then God sendeth his Word and healeth them finally the Seamans soule is melted because of trouble they reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man yea are at their wits end not knowing what course to take ere God begins to make the storme a calme and so bringeth them out of their distresse Thus God as he can so usually he doth help at a pinch when Jacob wants bread at home Joseph is heard of abroad when the Prodigall wants abroad he is minded of going home and when we looke with David on the right hand and there is no man yea on the left hand nay round about us and all refuge faileth us Restat iter coelo we may looke up to God and God is ready to looke downe from heaven and help us And now if you shall inquire why God is pleased to cull out such a time of succour when in extreame perill of curing when sick nigh to death I answer it is both in reference to himselfe and us In regard of himself 1. Partly that it may appeare to be his worke Those effects in the production of which God is as it were causa socia a copartner making use of probable meanes too often the instrument is more looked upon than God but those effects wherein he is causa solitaria the sole agent effecting them as it were by his owne hand enforce men to acknowledge it is his doing Quando humana omnem spem negant tune divina dispensatio clare fulget In the day-time when other starres appeare not we know the light which shines is onely from the Sun so when secundary meanes succeed not to whom but God can the patient ascribe his recovery and for this reason ne opus coelestis dextrae assignaretur virtuti humanae that the creature may not rob him of his glory he chuseth that time to deliver when the creature can afford no succour 2. Chiefly that in such works he may appear to be a God in as much as his Almighty power and mercy hereby become illustrious it is the prayer of David shew thy mevailous loving kindenesse the Septuagint and vulgar agreeing in this with the Hebrew render it make thy mercyes wonderfull and surely when our misery is most dolefull Gods mercy is most wonderfull and therefore saith Saint Gregory we most admire Gods benignity when we call to minde our calamity indeed God bringeth us nigh to death that we may know our selves how fraile and mortall we are that he may know us or rather make knowne to us and others our graces and when we are nigh to death he hath mercy that we may know him not onely speculatively but experimentally how great and mighty how good and gracious he is The truth is Omnipotenti medico nullum vulnus insanabile No wound is incurable to this omnipotent Physitian and that he may appeare to be so he often deferreth the cure till humane skill and helpe faileth In such deliverances the characters of Gods almighty goodnesse are plainly written so that the blind Egyptians can read them and therefore seeing the Israelites escape an imminent danger they acknowledge the Lord fighteth for them In respect of us that the deliverance may be the more acceptable to us as well as honourable to him To every thing saith Solomon there is a season and indeed it is the season that putteth a beauty upon every thing in this regard that of the Prophet quam speciosi how beautifull are the feeet of him that bringeth good tidings is rendered by Tetullian quam tempestivi how opportune that which is seasonable being ever beautifull indeed in every opportune mercy there is a double beauty the one in the thing conferred the other in the time of conferring it It is the prayer of the Church to God Gird thy sword upon thy thigh with thy glorie and thy majesty which latter words the vulgar latine reads cum specie tua pulchritudine tua that is to say with thy beauty and thy beauty and this is then most fully verified when God girds his sword to defend his Church in her lowest misery and offend his enemies in their highest insolency It is a sweet and choice expression of the Prophet The Lord will wait that he may be gracious which though it be chiefly intended of his forbearing judgement yet it is no lesse true of his withholding mercy God therefore oft times delaying that he may appeare the more gracious in bestowing deliverance so true is that of the Father Deus cum differt non negat sed commendat dona God in suspending intends not to deny but onely to commend his mercy Abrahams childe was more welcome at seaventy than if he had been given at thirty and the same Isaac had not beene so precious had he not been as miraculously restored as given In fine the language of a depopulating warre is the best rhetorick to extoll the