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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	aaron_n	abraham_n	call_v	77	3	4.0911	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45640	The divine physician, prescribing rules for the prevention, and cure of most diseases, as well of the body, as the soul demonstrating by natural reason, and also divine and humane testimony, that, as vicious and irregular actions and affections prove often occasions of most bodily diseases, and shortness of life, so the contrary do conduce to the preservation of health, and prolongation of life : in two parts / by J.H ...	Harris, John, 1667?-1719.	1676 (1676)	Wing H848; ESTC R20051	75,699	228

of a Consumption taken from his own mouth who for the last four years lay bed-rid and so weak that he could not turn himself therein without help By which Distemper his Body was so parched and dried that he was almost like a Sceleton but upon this Cure he recovered his former health and strength whereby he was enabled to follow his Trade being a Shoomaker and living at Stamford in Lincolnshire whereof he gave a large account to which I must refer you for further satisfaction with much affection and sensibleness of the Lord's mercy and goodness to him upon April 7th 1659. Now the Story as it is at large being much noised abroad divers Ministers met together at Stamford to consider and consult about it and for many reasons were induced to believe that the cure was wrought by the Ministry of a good Angel Clark's Mirror vol. 1. p. 18. More such Instances as these might be inferred and exhibited to the Reader but I suppose those already mention'd are a full demonstration of God's omnipotent power that he can work without means and also of his distinguishing mercy that he sometimes doth so for the benefit welfare and encouragement of the Godly who are made either Administrators or Receivers of this gift of bodily health And this may more fully appear if we consider that Edward the Confessor as Dr. Peter Heylin's Cosmog noteth was a man of that holiness in his life that he received power from above to cure many Diseases besides the Kings Evil and that Samuel Wallas was cured chiefly by observing the supposed Angel's injunction in these words But above all whatsoever thou doest fear God and serve him as it is recorded in the afore-mention'd Story to which I referred The consideration of which Instances doth assure us that God's Children have in a super-natural manner been sometimes agents and sometimes Patients in bodily Cures and by consequence may be so still And as touching longaevity the time would fail me to tell of Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph Moses Aaron Phineas grandchild of Aaron Joshua Job Elizeus the Prophet Isaiah the Prophet Tobias the elder and Tobias the younger old Simeon Anna the Prophetess St. John the Evangelist Simeon the Son of Cleoph as called the Brother of our Lord and Bishop of Hierusalem Polycarpus Disciple unto the Apostles and Bishop of Smyrna Dionisius Areopagita contemporary unto the Apostle St. Paul Aquila and Priscilla first St. Paul the Apostle's Hosts afterward his Fellow-helpers and some others whom I could name who by ancient Record appear all severally excepting Simeon that was the Prophet Luke 2. and St. John the Evangelist to have survived an hundred years and this not so much through strength of nature as the extraordinary grace of God thus rewarding their Moral and Christian vertues Now to conclude this Chapter though we are not to depend wholly upon Spiritual means and super-natural assistances for bodily health and length of dayes yet we must principally and chiefly respect them being as hinges upon which Almighty God doth frequently turn the course of Nature For in him as the Apostle citeth it out of Aratus the Poet we live and move and have our being Acts 17. 28. And Job testifieth as much when he saith I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men Job 7. 20. Job knew as well as Paul that the wages of sin was death and having sinned how should he avoid that death but by addressing himself to God who is the preserver of Men without him there is no Balm in Gilead sufficient Jer. 8. 2. no Physician there that is able to recover the health of the People Which is true as well in a natural as in a metaphorical sense Hezekiah's lump of Figs may be a soveraign Plaister but the prolonging of his life came from God the waters of Bethesda were in themselves likewise very soveraign but it was after they were moved by the Angel from Heaven We may yea we must use all honest and good means to preserve this our Tabernacle of clay from ruin and dilapidation I say we must thankfully embrace the good means which nature or art can minister unto us for the preservation or recovery of health The skill and experience of the judicious Physician may be made use of And though it were Job's complaint that there were many Physicians of no value Job 13. 4. And though such as these be mention'd with ignominy in the Gospel that instead of taking away the poor Womans superfluous blood they had sucked away her necessary maintenance She had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse Mark 5. 26. I say though such unskilful Empiricks be mention'd with infamy as deserving reverence or reward from none but a Sexton who finds most of his employment from such Physicians desperate unskilfulness yet those of skill and experience and of conscience are worthy of a double honour of reward maintenance Luke the able and beloved Physician deserves a remembrance in St. Paul's Catalogue Col. 4. 14. And such a Physicians skill may be made use of with good success But yet in the use of secondary means this proviso must go along we must ascribe the main honour to God For it is from him that health springeth forth speedily as is hinted to us by the Prophet Isa. 58. 8. Let them therefore who want health together with an honest use of the means address themselves with Hezekiah unto God who is the Fountain of health and he will hear their prayers see their tears and grant them either that which they desire or that which he knoweth in his alwise Providence to be better for them And for us that do enjoy the blessing of health let us return our humble thanks unto God The living the living they shall praise thee as we do this day the father to the children shall make known thy truth Isa. 38. 19. And we cannot praise him better then in the words of our Church To thee O God who hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death we offer unto thy Fatherly goodness our selves our souls and bodies which thou hast delivered to be a living Sacrifice unto thee to thee which doest restore the voice of joy and health into our dwellings we offer the Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving lauding and magnifying thy glorious Name for such thy preservation providence over us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Vid. the two last Forms of Thanksgiving CHAP. III. Shewing that vertuous and regular actions and affections do naturally conduce to the health of Body and length of Life A Life led in Religion as the Lord Verulam in his History of Life and Death noteth seemeth to conduce to long Life There are in this kind of life these things leisure admiration contemplation of Heavenly things joyes not sensual noble hopes wholesom fears sweet sorrows lastly continual renovations by observances penances expiations all which saith he

But I shall now proceed to something more proper and adaequate unto the present purpose and that is to lay down a Plat-form of the succeeding Argument In the next Chapter I shall demonstrate in general and particular that vertuous and regular actions and affections are in a super-natural sense conducing to the preservation of health and prolongation of life and in the third Chapter shall shew you that such actions and affections do in a Natural sense conduce to the same end of health and long life and in the fourth Chapter prove that the same means through the blessed influence of Divine Providence do become occasions of the same Natural effects and in the last Chapter shall answer some Objections briefly and then conclude the whole CHAP. II. Shewing in general and particular that vertuous regular actions affections are in a super-natural sense conducing to the preservation of health and prolongation of life IF we search the Scriptures we shall find a great Cloud of witnesses and testimonies ushering in this truth viz. that a life led in Religion vertue and the fear of God doth conduce much to the health of Body and also length of dayes As for instance it is written Ye shall serve the Lord your God and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee Exod. 23. 25. Also long life is promised as a blessing unto them that keep the Commandments in these ensuing words That he turn not aside from the Commandment to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong his dayes in his Kingdom Deut. 17. 20. Also in these That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy dayes Cap. 30. vers 20. Again health is promised upon like conditions Be not wise in thine own eyes saith Solomon fear the Lord and depart from evil It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones Pro. 3. 7 8. Thus Jesus Christ the grand Exemplar of innocency and integrity was without sin and therefore without sickness More particularly these blessings are held forth as temporal rewards of sundry Moral Civil and Religious acts and duties and this may appear both by Divine and Humane Authority First then in respect of obedience to Parents we find long life promised as a motive to it in the fifth Commandment Honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Exod. 20. 12. Which the Apostle calleth the First Commandment with promise Eph. 6. 1 2. viz. the first affirmative Commandment or the first in the second Table or the first of all the Ten with promise in particular to them that keep it Which promise sheweth that a more plentiful blessing in this kind followeth from our obedience to this than to the other Commandments And yet I confess obedience in general meets with the same blessing as the Psalmist doth denote unto us What man is he that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile Depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it Psal. 34. 12 c. However there lieth a special Emphasis upon the particular observance of the aforesaid Commandment by an express and particular promise of long life But doth this promise alwayes hold Yes surely it holdeth generally and for the most part in comparison of the wicked who do not live out half their dayes Psal. 55. 23. and if it fail it is but rarely and then in exchange for the better that as the Prophet saith The righteous may be taken away from the evil to come Isay 57. 1. I say but rarely it fails for to say otherwise were to make the promise of no effect and the tenor of the Commandment very ambiguous But do not the disobedient live long also truly they have no promise for it and commonly they are cut off by an untimely death or if some of them be reprived until old age they are but comparatively few being reserved only as so many examples of God's mercy and forbearance as the rest being many are soon cut off as examples of his justice Long life then is most commonly the reward of obedience and piety to Parents And it must needs be so when Divine Providence which is more then a Wall of brass to encircle and secure us taketh such especial care in the protection and preservation of such as are endued with that eminent vertue as appeareth by what Aristotle telleth us viz. how that from the Hill Aetna there ran down a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabout yet in the midst of those fearful flames God's especial care of the Godly and obedient shined most brightly For the River of fire parted it self and made a kind of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged Parents and pluck them out of the jaws of death Ipse dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de mundo cap. 6. If Providence then wrought so much in a miraculous way for the preservation of the lives of Heathens to reward their duty shewed towards their Parents surely Christians the Children of God whose obedience to Parents springeth originally from their obedience to their Heavenly Father may with much more confidence depend upon the same Providence for the like preservation and so by consequence the prolongation of their lives as a reward of the same duty Now though I have insisted upon the afore-mentioned Commandment in a literal sense yet by the rules of extension requisite for the interpretation thereof we are to understand there not only our Natural Parents but as Spiritual Fathers 1 Cor. 4. 15. as Ministers and political Fathers Gen. 45. 8. as Magistrates and oeconomical Fathers 2 Kings 2. 12. 5. 13. as Masters and matrimonial Fathers as Husbands Eph. 5. 22. to all which a respective obedience may I suppose claim a share or portion in the promise of long life In the Second place devout and zealous Prayer in a super-natural way procureth bodily health and so by consequence length of dayes to enjoy the same Sick Abimelech was sent to Abraham a Prophet to be healed by prayer Now therefore saith God restore the man his wife for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee c. Gen. 20. 7. So Abraham prayed unto God and God healed Abimelech v. 17. So then Abimelech was healed by God as the supream and efficient cause by prayer as the instrumental Hence it is the Son of Sirach adviseth us My son in thy sickness be not negligent but pray unto the Lord and he will make thee whole Eccles. 38. 9. And also soon after sheweth us that the good success of Physicians depends upon something beyond the Sphaere of Natural means and that is prayer unto the Physician of Physicians the