They looked vnto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed Now let vs see the kirnell of that comfort in the verse following This poore man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles Behold a progresse of seeking and of deliverance first hee sought God secondly he looked vnto God thirdly the poore man cryed So first God mett mans seeking with deliverance from the feare of trouble secondly while man looked vnto him hee made him to bee inlightened so that hee knew both who did afflict and wherefore hee did afflict him But last of all while God saw this sinner humbled like a poore man and heard him crye then hee saved him from his troubles This poore man cryed saith the Psalmist and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles See how the Lord at the first saved him not from all his troubles but by degrees till hee cryed vnto him like a poore man crying for an almes The harder health is more come by the more it is set by a disease easily cured is easily incurred The sooner a sinner bee helped if hee returne againe to his sinnes hee shall find God the slower to come to his helpe againe God will let him seeke and looke and cry yea and crye againe to teach him better manners This wee see in the booke of Iudges to have beene Gods doing with Israel The Israelites beeing oppressed by the Philistimes and Ammonites in their miserie they sought vnto God they looked vnto him yea and they cryed but what answere got they at the first God sent them vnto their false gods at the first and yet vpon their repentance hee hee pittied them The wordes are so weightie that they are worthie to be heard these be they euen as they were writen by Gods pen-man when the Israelites sawe that they were so sore afflicted by their enemies it is said They cryed vnto the Lord saying wee haue sinned against thee both because we haue forsaken our God and also serued Balaam let vs now heare what answere God made vnto them Hee said vnto them Did I not deliuer you from the Egyptians and from the Ammorits and from the Children of Ammon and from the Philistimes The Zidonians also and the Amalelikites and the Maonites did oppresse you and yee cryed vnto mee and I deliuered you out of their hands yet ye haâ—e forsaken mee and serued other Gods Behold their relaps what saith the Lord to that I will deliuer you no more Goe and crye vnto the Gods which ye haue chosen let them deliuer you in the time of your tribulation heare what a hard answere Now what did the Jsraelites They said to God We haue sinned doe thou vnto vs whatsoeuer seemeth good vnto thee deliuer vs onely we praye thee this day as if they should haue said Lord but for this one time Thus after they had cryed they amended their life by putting away the strange Gods from among them and serued the Lord what did God then It is said that his soule was grieued for the miserie of Israel So at last they got help but after many prayers and after the amendement of their life O the great mercy of our God! O the preseruer of man Let vs make vse of this by applying it to our present purpose which is concerning these that are so sicke that they seeme to bee neere the doores of death While God delayeth to bring them from their sicknesse notwithstanding of all their prayers and of all our prayers private or publicke let vs not grudge neither let the sicke murmure God while hee delayeth their health hee as it were sayeth to them as hee said to Israel I will deliver you no more yet if the poore patient persist to murne before him God will not faile to give him full contentment at last God afflicteth not willingly the children of men no not his soule often is grieved for the miserie of Israel How can hee but deliver repenting sinners seeing their miserie grieveth his verie soule It is not wonder that God repented himselfe to have made man because that hee is the chiefe matter of his griefe As for the Devils they grieve GOD by their sinnes but he is not grieved for their torments God gladly shall cause scourge them with scorpions But as for his owne children heere hee is grieved and grieved againe first for their sinnes but most for their sufferings hee is grieved for their sinnes as a father for his childrens faults and againe he is grieved to strike them Last of all hee is most grieved after that hee hath striken them These bee wonderfull wordes his soule was grieued for the miserie of Israel God that forgave David his sinne could as gladly have spared him in his iudgments but the wicked were looking on wondred how God did spare and therefore â—or his honour and for his names sake he could not let David go vnpunished So soone as David had said I have sinned against the Lord Nathan answered that the Lord had put away his sinne but as for afflictions and troubles hee could not put them awaye because by that deede hee had giuen great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme Jf all the wicked were blind God would often spare to afflict his Children An obiection Heere some may obiect and saye that this our Text is not ever true Js it not cleare that God delivereth not all men from the gates of death though they cry vnto him The answere It is certaine that it is not aye done For if men by crying to God were ever brought backe from the doores of death death should bee a rare thing among men If life could bee had for crying to GOD the World should be deafned with din for all that a man hath he will giue it for his life Jt is but one of a thousand that can say with S. Paul I desire to be dissolued what then shall we say to our Texte wherein is said that when the sicke man cryeth then God deliuereth Surely this is not euer done but if it be once done to a man in his life they be fewe here of anye age but once in their lifetime God hath brought them from the doores of death If God once hath done this to thee by thy owne experience subscribe to the trueth of my Texte Neither doth my Text say that this is done to all left that anye should beguile himselfe saying I may sinne seeing as yet I haue neuer bene so sicke as to be at the ports of death before J die I must first be neere these portes and be broght backe againe to health and so shall liue a space and afterward die No not God hath not astricted himselfe by promise to anye that he shall get but an houres sicknesse before he die If
beaten before the men of Ai hee put dust vpon his head crying Oh Lord what shall I say seeing Israel hath turned their backe before their enemies now what could bee the cause of that flight Israel hath sinned and haue also transgressed saide the Lord therefore they could not stand before their enemies There must ever bee a wherefore of sinne before the therefore of affliction Can the rush grow vp without myre can the flagge grow without water no more can affliction grow without sinne Sin to affliction is like myre to the rush and like water to the flagge it maketh a division betweene our God our Soule God cannot shine vpon the Counsell of the wicked So soone as men beginne to sinne the clowds of his glowmes beginne to gather then thou markest mee and thou wilt not acquite mee from mine iniquitie if I be wicked woe vnto mee As a man soweth so shall hee reape Even as I haue seene said Eliphaz they that plow iniquitie and sowe wickednesse reape the same Who ever hee bee that takes pleasure in sinne shall possesse moneths of Vanitie wearisome nights are appointed for him The vse of all this is that wee studie to sinceritie of life if wee would bee free of afflictions The wicked while they are afflicted are bound with afflictions like a murtherer cast in the stockes but godly Ioseph in the stockes is a free man The sakelesse Soule is ever in libettie their is no such buckler for holding off afflictions as innocencie of life If because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities bee away the words following are afflicted should bee as scraped out Let a man keepe himselfe from sinne vnspotted of this World and hardlie shall affliction come neere him Doe what Balaam could doe hee could not curse Israel though hee was waged for the same The reason thereof is declared by himselfe God hath not beheld iniquitie in Iacob neither hath hee seene perversnesse in Israel the Lord God is with him and the shout of a King is among them So long as God beholdeth not iniquitie into a man a house or a nation the Lord God is there and they shout as Kings that is they triumph over all their enemies If afflictions come for to trye their forces they likewise shout as Kings triumphing over Death it selfe and the grave whome they boast with doubled interrogations O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victorie What wonder that fooles bee afflicted for their follie seeing other innocent creatures smart for the same Doth not Scripture record that senselesse creatures sicken for our sinnes Thus wee see the walls of an house became leper of a freting leprosie a wonderfull thing to think how hard stones of the house wall where the sinner dwelt could become sick Because of the transgressions and iniquities of fooles in an house the dead stones in the wall were afflicted Yea which is more for the sins of man the whole creation groneth travelleth in paine together as if it were a Woman in her shewers their sicknesse is vanitie caused by our iniquitie * Seeing then other creatures that cannot sinne are afflicted because of mans sins what wonder if fooles because of their transgressions yea and also because of their iniquitie hee afflâ—cted Observe heere howe the worde because is doubled First because of their transgressions and againe because of their iniquities Is not this all one what neede was it then that hee should have thus doubled the worde Because and againe because I answere that this forme of speach is as were the dreames of Pharaoh of the kine and of the corne of one thing hee had two dreames The dreame of Pharaoh is one said Ioseph But wherefore was it doubled Joseph â—aith that it was to shew Pharaoh what hee was about to doe that is for to assure him that the matter should surely come to passe God of one thing doubled Pharaohs dreames for that the dreame was doubled vnto Pharaoh twise it is because the thing is established by GOD and God will shortly bring it to passe So for to assure vs heere that sinne is the cause of all our afflictions it is saide that men are afflicted because of their transgressions and againe because of their iniquities The word doubled is lyke two witnesses for to confirme the trueth The first lesson I observe heere is of the great stupiditie of man that very hardlie can rightly take vp the cause of his troubles It must bee told him againe and againe line after line commandement after commandement because after because The first bell ringes to the preaching and yet wee slumber The second ringes yet we are not ready The third must ring also with a doubled sound and yet we come behind Either preface or prayer is past before wee come to our place Wee come to the Lords house as to a place of girth or as to a city of refuge for to saue the the lyfe of our soules yet beholde how sluggish wee are like Lot who would not leaue his house till hee was pressed out by the Angel So heere behold thy senslese nature that can not take vp the cause of thy troubles till it be told againe and againe Because of transgressions will not waken the sleeping sinner till it be doubled into an other word because of iniquities lyke the doubled crowe of the Cock to Peter Let all men learne heere the cause of all their woes Now O man would thou knowe the cause of thy afflictions it is because of thy transgressions Hast thou not hard that Was thou sleeping while I said it Heare me againe it is bâ—cause of thy iniquities If the because of thy transgressions hath not weakned thee let the because of thy iniquities rouse thee vp GOD cryed once Samuel but hee made no answere to GOD hee cryed againe Samuel but yet hee answered not to God The third tyme hee cryed Samuel neither as yet could hee answere vnto God Last of all the Lord doubled his cry Samuel Samuel Then Samuel said Speake Lord forthy servant heareth Many preachings haue many heard and yet haue not learned the cause of their afflictons Many strokes haue many gotten and as yet never could take vp the cause of their stroakes and so they continue into their sinnes like the drunkard in his drinking who though in his drunknesse he hath gotten many a sore fall many a sore stroake yet can not refraine They haue stricken me will he say and I was not sicke they haue beaten me and I felt it not when I shall awake yet will I till it againe Woe to him that is not sensible to his afflictions for to seeke out the cause thereof that it may bee removed If a sinner hath beene stricken and hath not beene sicke if
may cry to God for remission of thy sinnes the cause of thy sicknesse If this cause bee not removed the physitian shall by his drogges waste both thy health and thy wealth My counsell is that thou proceede orderly into thy cure Bee first friends with thy God and he shall direct the Physitian Otherwise the tyme shall come that thou shall say to all wordly meanes as Iob said to his fectlesse friends we are all Physitians of no value Let vs now visite this sicke man into his bed let vs see what aileth him my text saith that his soule abhorreth all maner of meate the Hebrew word Taban signifieth properly abominoâ— that is to abhorre avoide or scunner at a thing that standeth against our heart His sicknesse is so sore that all sortes of meate stand against his stomack â—ewe men in health can eate of all 〈◊〉 of meate Some like not flesh some caâ—e not fish some abhorre one thing and some abhorre another But for a man to abhorre all maner of meate so that he can taste nothing as the sicke man of my text it declareth the greatnesse of the disease This is then the affliction heere sent against man because of his transgressions his soule abhorreth all manner of meate that is GOD taketh the appetite from him The doctrine I obserue heere is this God hath many whips wherewith he can chastise his owne children and scourge the wicked Let all other plagues be removed let vs see what GOD can doe to man in matter of meate First God can giue thee meate enough and yet scourge thee with such a niggard heart which like an hungry steward will not vouchafe vpon the stomacke it s owne due Such a man wee call a wretch or worlds worme that is feared to eare of the earth least the whole earth bee not sufficient for it J compare such a man to a currish dogge lyeing vpon a heape of hay that neither can eate himselfe neither suffer the beast to eate that would eate * Heere is the plague of povertie or rather plague of plentie magnas inter opes inops to bee poore in the middest of wealth Secondly God can scourge a man in his meate when he both giveth him meate and a heart and a hand to take it and a stomacke to digest it but hee beseigeth the heart with hunger by taking the passage of his throate there he will set downe a squinacie crowels or boils for to hinder all sorte of victuall for to be caried to his enemies that are lying into the heart rebellious imaginations that haue lifted vp a banner against the Lord God will take this passage of the throate as Iephre tooke the passages of Jordan for the overthrowe of the Ephracaits Thirdly God will giue meate vnto men but will take away the strength and foison of it which is called to breake the staffe of bread According to this he said to his people threatning them for sinne yee shall eate much and shall not bee satisfied When Gods plague after this maner is on meate men are like these leane evill favored kine that Pharaoh sawe in his dreame eate vp the fatre fleshed kine that were fed in a meadow who after they had fed so fatly it could not be knowne that they had eaten them they remained as leane and evill favored as ever they were before See how God can plague his creatures with leanuesse even while they feede in fattest medowes But againe let the Lord bee pleased let him blesse a little portion were it of pulse it shall haue greater force to feede thy body then all the Kinges dainties with Gods displeasure Thus Daniel and his fellowes whose portion was but pulse were fatrer and fatter in flesh then all the children which didcate the portion of the Kings meate Fourthly God can plague man in meate when hee suffereth a man to become foolish either for to tarrowe of his meate because he geteth not such meate as he would haue hee wâ—ll take no meate at all and so depriveth him selfe of Gods comforts this wee see often into little children Others more foolishly will make vowes not to eate till they haue done an evill turne like these Jewes who banded together and bound them selves vnder a curse that they would neither eate nor drinke till they had killed Paul This was Sauls follie he discharged the people all sorte of meate tiâ—l the battell was ended he band them vnder a curse but what came of it The people vexed with hunger did eate flesh with blood Thus Gods command was broken by occasion of such a foolish injunction Fifthly God can scourge man in meate while he cursed the meate which man desire against his will It is said of Israel that they tempted God in their heart by asking meate for their lust yea they spake against God they said can God furnish a table in the wildernesse Thereafter it is said that the Lord heard this and was wroth What did hee into his wrath By his power hee brought in the south wind Hee rained flesh vpon them as dust and feathered fowles lyke as the sand of the sea So that they did eate were filled But how soone came judgement the Psalmist sayeth that while their meates was in their mouths the wrath of God came vpon them and slewe the fattest of them and smote downe the chosen men of Israel Behold the end of all their good cheere Behold how shortly their greening was cooled Sixtly God can scourge man in meate when hee maketh meate to discord with man From this is the proverb That which is one mans meat is an others mans poyson It is a righteous thing with God to putte discord betweene man and his creatures when man hath sinned against his God The least discord between man and food declareth that man is at feade with his God Seventhly God can afflict man in meat by withdrawing all meat from man This is famine a fearefull plague Jeremie calleth it a punishment greater then the punishment of the sinne of Sodome In that famine of Jerusalem the tender hearted weemen for lack of bread did eate their children of a spanne long The little children came to their mothers crying where is bread And after that they swooned and fell downe dead and their mothers did eate them These who in tyme of abundance were Nazarits purer then the snowe and whiter then milk in tyme of famine their visage became blacker than a cole their skinne withered and became lyke a sticke Jn Samariah two weemen made paction for to eate their two children first the one and then the other Eightly God can scourge man in meat while hee letteth him eate till hee surfet Thus when Israel lusted after flesh the Lord gaue them flesh and they did eate vntill it came out at their nostrils But
gold and buy this But if he be drowned into debâ—e and cast into prison then and there he will cry vnto the Lord. So long as the forlorne sonne had a pennie into his purse he thought never of home but when he was forced to feede with the swine he said I will returne to my father againe So long as wee haue peace in our land and Barnes full of corne and purses full of money we ly in securitie lyke these of Lâ—ish But if the foraine enemy come and depriue vs of such comforts then we shall crye vnto the Lord. So long as Iehoshaphat in the battell sawe his partie to be equall he fought as he could But so soone as hee sawe him selfe neere straited by the enemie then hee cryed vnto the Lord. So long as Hagar had water into the bottles she and Ismael dranke together enjoying the creature But so soone as all was spent then she weept and cryed vnto the Lord. So â—long as the Raven can find a fleshy carion hee will quietly feede vpon it But while hee is straited with hunger hee beggeth his meate from God The young Lions saith the Psalmist roare aâ—ter their prey and seeke their meate from God All things men beasts fowles yea Papists in their greatest pinch are forced to quite all other vaine hopes for to cry vnto the Lord. I remember that in the tyme of the French persecution J came by sea to Flanders and as I was sailing from Flanders to Scotland a fearfull tempest arose which made our Mariners reele to and fro and stagger like drunken men In the meane tyme thâ—re was in our ship a Scots papist who lay neere me while the ship gaue a great shake his ordinarie cry was O Lord J observed the man and after the Lord had sent a calme I said to him Sir now yee see the weaknesse of your religion so long as yee are in prosperitie yee cry vnto this Sainct and that Sainct Jn our greatest danger J heard you cry often Lord Lord but not a word yee spake of our Lady J compare a Papist in his pilgrimages to creatures to a sheepe that is hunted of a flie it runneth from bush to bush every bush catcheth a lâ—ck till the silly sheepe bee threed-bare and tirred of all his fleece sinne lyke a cleg-flee maketh the soule to startle like a beast there is no sure refuge but in God Away then with Papistrie and with all that draweth a man from the Lord vnto any other The highest point of tribulation or some great danger of death wakning a man will tell a man that there is none that can helpe but the Lord and that hee onely is to bee called vpon Call vpon mee in the day of trouble said the Lord Whom haue I in heaven but thee said the Psalmist All things are for the Lord and from the Lord and all things in their troubles must come to the Lord as the hunger-bitten Aegiptians came all to Joseph for meate Thus yee see the great good of greevous afflictions They chase the creature till it cry to the Creator I will goe saith the Lord and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seeke my face In their affliction they will seeke mee early This is heeâ—e declared in these words of my text Then they cry vnto the Lord in their trouble The vse let vs rejoyce in tribulation seeing God hath made it a spnrre vnto prayer Man is like waters Putrescunt ni movcantur aquae waters spill and stinke if they stand without any motion so will the soule stinke without affliction Before I was afflicted said David I went astray but now I learne thy statutes Indeede it is true that no affliction for the present seemâ—th to bee joyous but grievous Neverthelesse afterward it yeeldeth the pâ—â—câ—able fâ—uit of righteousnesse to these that are exercised thereby This is a quiet fruit of righteousnesse when the soule is moved to cry vnto God Cryes in prayer vnto God are the quietnesse of righteousnesse I confesse that both the wicked and the godly will crye in their distresse but the wicked cry like dogs beaten with a staffe the godly crye into their hearts like children with Moses to whom God said why cryest thou vnto mee Let vs praye the Lord that hee would rouze vp these sleepie soules of ours that sleepe so oftin sinne like Jonah in the hatches Well is the man to whom God shall send some affliction crying to the sinner as the Ship-master cryed to Jonah what meanest thou O sleeper arise crye and call vpon thy God It is goode that man while hee is forewarned by any affliction strive to bee friends with his God Men may rebell for a space and may turne the grace of God into wantonnesse yea and harden their hearts with Pharaoh against his plagues But at last when all their excellencie is swept away like a spiders web as Eliphaz sayeth they die without wisdome As a man liveth ordinarly so dieth hee He that liveth a foole shall readily die without wisedome a fore-warning affliction doeth goode to the godly man it maketh him to be fore-armed But as for the wicked man though God send sicknesse after sicknesse and delaye his death yet hee is not a whit the better But while hee liveth hee letteth the debt run on like a spender or waster who carelesly puts more and more vpon the score Jt were good for the wicked that hee had never beene borne as Christ said of Iudas or that hee had died in the birth yet seeing life in itselfe is a benefite while it is abused by those that have gotten it by crying vnto the Lord it is righteous with God to punish them in rigour for the abuse of his benefite which should have beene to them a large time well imployed in repentance where-with as with a brush they should have clensed their hearts from the scailles of wickednesse Againe heere some may obiect how is it that the godly man beeing sicke and neere the doores of death shuld cry so earnestly for life Should not a godly man bee glad to goe to GOD his Father to his long home where are pleasures for evermore What see wee heere but the back-parts of Iehovah Are wee not in this world as David was in Kedar and in Meshech or as Israel were captives in Babilon Is not this earth a strange land wherein wee can not sing the praises of our God Are not our Harpes heere hung vpon the willowes Our Musick is dumbe I answere that indeede if the godly well prepared as they should bee when sicknesse commeth vnto them they would not crye for health of body but their chiefe crye should bee Come Lord Iesus come and fetch away my soule that panteth after thee like a chaâ—ed Hart desiring the rivers of waters The chiefe desire