and your distressed causes vpon his backe and rest contented that he careth for all his owne And thus much for the fourth circumstance to bee considered in healing the man which was the meanes or partie by whom he was healed THE SECOND SERMON OF THE DVTIE OF OVR DELIVERANCE The second Sermon THe second branch of the exhortation vz. what was the cause of his sicknesse drawne out of these words sinne no more It appeareth here that sinne was the cause of his sicknesse and sinne is the cause of our troubles griefes losses hurts dangers or damages whatsoeuer yea of sicknesse be it of body or of minde That this may better appeare let vs search out the originall of sicknes sorrow and griefe and we shall finde that before sinne entred there was neither sicknesse sorrow nor griefe but as soone as euer sinne entred the other were inflicted as a iust reward for sinne When where and how sinne entred you may finde plainly in Genes 3. When. It entred euen then when our first parents were created in their happie estate of innocencie like to the image of their Creator perfectly righteous in the soule and all the parts thereof throughly sound in the body and the constitution thereof yea both in body and soule free from any griefe vexation or sorrowe Sinne entred in Paradise Where our parents being placed there The meanes The meanes whereby he entred was by the subtill perswasion of the Serpent the diuels instrument and by our parents voluntarie hearkening and yeelding thereunto to disobey and breake the commandement of their Creator which so soone as euer they had done the curse of God for the same fell vpon our parents for sin If we will set downe what it is it is nothing else but the transgression of the law of God 1. Ioh. 3.4 Presently after the transgression of the law of God entred the reward or punishmēt of this their transgression which was mortalitie in stead of immortalitie Mans miserable case after his fall weaknes in stead of strength sicknes in stead of health toyle and trauell in stead of continual rest and peace sorrow and sadnes in stead of ioy and comfort the earth to yeeld nothing but brambles briers and bushes though it bee tilled in stead of plentie of good fruite to trauaile vp and downe as pilgrimes vpon the face of the earth in stead of perpetual possession of Paradise and though they thus prolong their toyling daies for a time yet at lēgth enforced to yeeld to natures course and to dye in stead of liuing for euer the life of the Angels All this is apparant in the third of Genesis You haue heard now the first man that euer sinned euen Adam the first man that as a merit for his sinne euer was sicke or troubled euen Adam You haue heard what happy case he was in before he sinned and what wofull estate hee was in after his fall a creature full of sorrow toyle trouble feare griefe vexation digging and deluing planting and sowing and yet but to reape little increase and though hee was before a most pleasant plant of the Lord seated in a most fertile soyle yet now through sin is he euen become a filthie puddle and standing poole of all iniquitie a seruant to Satan and a poore prisoner to the diuell Hence let all Gods children learne to affect holinesse of life The vse and lothe the life of the wicked yea euen all the motions obiects and occasions of wickednesse so farre as the very garment stained with sinne shal be vnto them odious and lothsome You haue heard now the roote to bee infected and the bole poysoned and withall you haue heard the cause of this infection The roote and bole are our first parents they sinned and presently vpon their sinne came shame for a fault and all kinde of troubles and diseases as their due desart Let vs now examine a little whether this poyson hath not infected all the branches I meane Adams posteritie which posteritie we our selues are Herein let vs consider that Adam and Euah were not priuate persons Caluin in Psal 51. ver 7. but such as had in them the state of the whole world what good Adā had he had it for his whole posteritie All men in Adam haue sinned what euill soeuer hee brought vpon him through sinne it was to bee propagated vpon his whole posteritie Therefore it is that Dauid crieth and saith Psal 51.6 Contra Pelag. qui dicunt peccatum non esse haereditarium sed sola imitatione ex Adamo profectum Genes 6.5 Behold in sinne my mother conceiued me Wee bring sinne with vs from our mothers wombe and therefore sicknesse and sorrow the stipend of sinne And the Lord saith that the imaginations of mans heart are euill continually Hereupon it plainly followeth that euen al of vs may impute our sicknes our sorrow weaknes and wants troubles and torments dangers and finally death it selfe to our sinnes as the originall and first cause of them That sicknesse and death did take hold vpon all Adams race euen euery one of vs for sinne Paul maketh very plaine thus By one man sinne entred into the world and death by sin Rom. 5.12 and so death went ouer all men for as much as all men haue sinned Vers 18. And by the offence of one man the fault came ouer all vnto condemnation Vers 19. And by one mans disobedience many were made sinners Now let vs come to proue by example out of the word how in Adam his posteritie for sinne God hath inflicted sometime sicknesse sometime sores sometime troubles of bodie sometime griefe of minde Vpon his owne children as louing corrections to make them more diligent schollers in Christs schoole Vpon the wicked either to draw them to repentance if they belong vnto Gods kingdome or if they hardned their harts as Pharaoh then to make them euen beginnings of the flashings of hell fire And first let vs see out of the word how for sinne the Lord hath afflicted his owne Church with sicknesse trouble danger c. In Genes 6. appeareth that because the sonnes of God contrary to his commaundement ioyned in mariage with the daughters of men I meane the wicked seede and for other great sinnes amongst them committed when after a long time of repentance giuen them by the Lord they would not amend the Lord destroyed them and the whole world Noe and his familie excepted with water When Dauid had grieuously offended the Lord with Berthshebah the wife 2. Sam. 11.4.17 murther vpō Vriah the husband and after all this by labouring to cloake his sinne the Lord therefore inflicted vpon him these troubles 1. His owne sonne Ammon to defile his sister Tamar 2. Sam. 13.14 Vers 29.30 31 32. 2. Sam. 16.22 and commit incest with her 2. One of his sonnes to kill another 3. And in the end as a iust recompence for his adulterie the Lord suffered
ease him one minute of an houre neither was there any man could tarrie neere about him nor yet would any of his friends come neere him so great was the stinch that came from him For which cause he was carried from the Iacobines to an hospitall there to bee kept But the stinch and infection there so increased that no man there durst come neere him neither was he himselfe able to abide the horrible stinch that issued from his owne bodie full of vlcers and sores and swarming with vermine and so rotten that the flesh fell from the bone by peece meale Whilest he was in these tormēts and anguish he cried out often in great rage Oh who will kill me Act. Mon. pag. 945. who will rid and deliuer me out of these intolerable paines which I know I suffer for the euils and oppressions that I haue done to the poore men In these horrible torments and fearefull despayre this blasphemer and cruell homicide ended his vnhappie daies and cursed life as a spectacle to all persecutors receiuing a iust reward of his crueltie by the iust iudgement of God Being dead none would come neere to burie him but a Frier of his owne order with a hooke caught bold of his stinking carkasse and drew him into a hole of the earth The like fearfull iudgement was vpon the Lord of Reuest being chiefe president of the parliament of Aix putting many a good christian to death afterward was himselfe striken with such an horrible sicknesse that for the furie thereof his wise or any that were about him Pag. eadem durst not come neere him and so dyed in this furie and rage The like fearefull sudden death had Barthol Cassaneus who succeeded the other both in place and persecution I can not but set downe likewise a note of another bloodie persecutor of the poore Merindolians Iohn Miniers Lorde of Opede whose iudgement from the Lord for shedding so much innocent blood was a strange kinde of bleeding in his nether parts Like for like like to a bloodie issue or flux and not being able to voyde any vrine Pag. 953. till by little and little his guts at length within him rotted and his intrals began to be eaten vp of wormes In which extremitie The wicked in their extremities howle and cry most desperatly raging and casting out blasphemous words and feeling a fire burne within him from the nauill vpward with extreame stinch of his lower parts at length finished his wretched life The like may be said of one of the accusers of Narcissus the good old Bishop of Ierusalem who wished if his vntrue accusation were not true that he might shortly fall into some great and grieuous sicknes which wish most fearfully afterward was executed vpon him Euseb lib. 6. cap. 9. and that shortly after being striken with a sore sicknesse from top to toe and so dyed And to conclude this point the like may be said concerning the sudden death of one Nightingale parson of Crondall in Kent who was made by the Cardinals authoritie chiefe Penitentiary of that Deanry He comming into the pulpit vpon a Shroue Sunday read publikely the Popes bull of pardon that was sent into England most blasphemously vttering these words That he fully beleeued that by the vertue of that Bull he was as cleane from sinne Intolerable blasphemie as that night he was borne immediatly vpon the same fell suddenly dovvne out of the pulpit and neuer stirred more hand or foote These are sufficient to proue vnto you this point how the Lord for sinne inflicteth vpon the wicked sicknesses diseases and troubles of the body And how he dealeth most fearefully in tormenting their consciences I referre you ouer to Cain who supposed euery man would kill him that met him Both body soule plagued in the wicked by the Lord for their sins To Saul who wished himselfe slaine To Achitophel and Iudas who hanged themselues and the too many experienced testimonies in our owne times both of men and women that hauing been plunged to desperation at the view of their horrible iniquities haue been the instruments of their owne death themselues A Catalog of them all Let vs now as in a little Catalogue set down all these seuerall sinnes aforenamed so seuerely punished by the Lorde in seuerall wicked men that so the diligent reader may more easily beare them away to make him euer hereafter learne by other mens harmes to beware and my propounded proposition bee by so many clowdes of witnesses ratified and confirmed so to continue herafter without controlement Murther and shedding of innocent blood Murther punished in the offender and his posteritie with the state of a runnagate as in Cain with running issues lamenes blood for blood pouertie as in Ioab and his posteritie Hardues of heart and contempt of Gods word punished with losse of goods Hardnes of heart as corne and cattell yea losse of children as in Pharaoh Stretching the hand to make our authority hurt Gods messengers Abusing of authoritie to persecution punished with withering and drying vp the hand as in Ieroboam and punished with the blindnes in the king of Syria his seruants Couetousnesse oppression and killing Couetousnes oppression and killing to come by their purpose vnlawfully and Idolatrie ioyned there withal punished in the offenders and their posteritie neuer to haue the honor of a comely buriall but dying in the citie to bee eaten vp of dogs or dying in the field to be deuoured with the foules of the ayre as in Ahab Iezebell and their posteritie Pride and exalting of our selues against God punished Pride and exalting against God by making the offender like a brute beast as in Nabuchadnezaar And with a fearfull sudden death as in Herod Despaire of Gods helpe in extremities Despayring of Gods helpe in our sicknesse and seeking the helpe of false gods punished with neuer recouerie of health but dying of it as in Ahaziah Extreme couetousnes A couetous heart that cannot bee content to forgoe any profit if they may haue it whether it stand with a good conscience or no and often ioyned with lying punished by the Lord with leprosie for euer as in Gehezi Elisha his seruant 1. King 16. Idolatrie in our selues and drawing others vnto it To commit Idolatry our selues and by our perswasion or power to draw others to doe the like punished in Batasha and his posteritie Vnnaturall murthering of our kindred ioyned with grosse Idolatrie Vnnaturall murther 2. Chron. 21.13.14.15.16 most fearefully plagued with the disease of the bowels incurable and in the end the guts to fall out as in Iehoram Desperation Desperation of Gods mercies punished with killing and hanging themselues as in Saul and Iudas Corruption in iudgement and condemning the innocent without a cause plagued with fearful and sudden death as hath been shewed by the example of the Cardinals iudges of the good Archbishop of
full of faintnes when the fat buls of Basan and the deuouring lions shall be sent emptie away yea they shall clap their handes and lift vp their heads for ioy of that In terror and feare wherof the wicked shall gnash with their teeth grin like a dog and for auoyding of it though all in vaine they shall wish the rockes to open the hils to couer and the mountaines to be as a shelter vnto them from the glorious presence of him that sitteth vpon the throne Thus death against the godly hath no sting hell against the Christian hath no victorie Reade Heb. 12 11. Psal 30.8.9 34.18.19 119.71 affliction is not our confusion as husbandmen vse to bring dead trees and burne them in the fire but our affliction is for our firmer further consolation and edification like as a good husbandman purgeth his vine that it may bring forth more fruite Psal 30.5 Heauinesse with the godly may endure for a night but assuredly peace ioy commeth in the morning Seeing then that thus happily it goeth with vs all in our greatest afflictions if we belong vnto Christ I will conclude as Saint Paul concludeth his treatise of our immortall state in the life to come that seeing death once had dominion ouer vs but is now destroyed afflictions hurted vs but now they profit vs sicknesse affraied vs but now comforteth vs euen thankes and all thankes be giuen for euer to God the father 1. Cor. 15.57 who hath giue vs this happie victorie through our Lord Iesus Christ Now for the wicked their sicknesse sores As for the wicked it is not so with them griefes and vexations are still vnto them as stipends of sinne tokens of Gods wrath and vnlesse they speedily repent euen beginnings as I said before of the flashings of hell fire I denie not but the godly man may haue for the outward operation the same sicknesse sore For the outward operation of the sicknesse they may agree Cal. in Psal 37.19 A difference betweene the afflictions of the godly and vngodly Psal 1.4 griefe and trouble that the wicked and vngodly haue yet inwardly euer this difference shall be found Quòd Deus suis in necessitate manum porrigens impios deferit God in time of his childrens necessities bee they neuer so great still stretcheth out his hand for helping them and vpholding them least they fall but as for the wicked it is not so with them he vtterly reiecteth them forsaketh and giueth thē ouer vnto their owne hearts lust Propter peccatum Flagellantur iusti propter probationem iniusti ad perditionem The godly are afflicted for their greater triall but the wicked are afflicted for their cōfusion because of their great sinnes Esay 9.13.14 For the people saith Esay turneth not vnto him that smiteth them neither doe they seeke the Lord of hosts Therefore will the Lord cut off in one day from Israel head and tayle branch and rush Pijs afflictio est disciplina qua docetur iram Domini effugere voluntati eius obsequi Afflictiō to the godly is for discipline in themselues whereby they are taught to auoide the Lords wrath by reformation of their liues and willingly to yeeld obedience to his commandements Whereupon Paul saith When we are iudged 1. Cor. 11.32 wee re chastened of the Lord because we should not be condemned with the world Impijs verò afflictio est obduratio qua a malo in peius progrediuntur sicut Pharaoh But vnto the wicked In euerie affliction two things to be considered afflictiō is a meane of hardening their hearts whereby they proceede from worse to worse In euery affliction two things are to be considered first Gods iudgement secondly Gods mercie The wicked partaker of the former but neuer of the latter The wicked in their afflictions are partakers of the one which is Gods iudgement but neuer of the other The godly are partakers of both iudgement for their sinnes mercie for Iesus Christ his sake Hereupon saith Nahum Nah. 1.7 Good is our God and comfortable to his owne children in the day of trouble And Dauid Call vpon me in the day of trouble and I will deliuer thee Loe his mercie whereof the wicked are neuer partakers So that herein appeareth againe wherein the godly are commō partakers with the wicked in afflictions and where they differ Psal 85. The last thing that I will note out of this part and so end it is this That in the words sinne no more we may note that the Lord was priuie to al his former sinnes and offences that euer before he had committed and therefore it is as if he should say I haue seene noted and obserued all such sins as euer before this thou hast committed either publikely or priuately inwardly or outwardly by thought word and worke and for the same haue afflicted thee and also in the end deliuered thee take heede therefore thou sinne no more Hence note the Lord hath Eagles eyes to see the corners of our hearts and all our sinnes neuer so closely committed nothing so secret but it shall bee made manifest Mat. 10. Read Psal 138. and that which is committed in corners shal be published on the house top Then euer hereafter let euery man worke as in the day time walke as in Gods presence behaue themselues as hauing the Lorde an eye vvitnesse who if we doe well in his mercie vvill accept of vs but if wee doe euill Gen. 4.7 then know sinne standeth at the doores who will neuer cease crying in the eares of the Lord for vengeance till such time as it bee powred downe vpon the wicked in fearfull manner and executed vpon the vnbeleeuers to their euerlasting destruction And thus much for the second part of the words of exhortation which is that sinne was the cause of his long sicknesse THE THIRD SERMON OF THE DVTIE OF OVR DELIVERANCE The third Sermon NOw followeth the third part vz. what must be the effect of his health recouerie or what must bee the dutie of his deliuerance drawne out of the same wordes that the other part was though not in the same sence Sinne no more This is the subiect of the whole treatise describing the dutie that this man healed must euer bee mindfull of to his louing and mercifull father for his great and large deliuerance and in him may fitly bee gathered the dutie of all Gods children to the Lord for so many liberall and louing mercies as continually he powreth vpon them Particulars shewing the mercies of God How greatly this poore man was bound to render thankes to the almightie for his deliuerance I haue before set down in some particulars as the dangerous disease ouer his whole body the long continuance of it euen most of his life the little good that any likely meanes of outward medicine did for him with some other moe the consideratiō whereof could not but