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
Mercy in her Beauty OR THE HEIGHT OF A DELIVERANCE FROM THE DEPTH OF DANGER Set forth in the first SERMON Preached upon that Occasion By NATH HARDY Master of Arts and Preacher to the Parish of S. Dionis Back-Church PSAL. 118.17 18 19. I shall not die but live and declare the Works of the Lord The Lord hath chastened me very sore but he hath not given me over to death Open unto me the gates of righteousnesse I will goe into them and I will praise the Lord Basil. Mag. Hom. 9. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Aug. in Psal. 41. Quia magis crebra sunt mala dulcior â—rit misericordia tua Etenim scriptum est quodam loco speciosa misericordia Domini in tempore tribulationis sicut nubes pluviae in tempore siccitatis LONDON Printed by J. G. for Nath Web and Will Grantham at the Black Beare in St. Paul's Church-yard neere the little North-Doore 1653. Sermons Preached and Printed by Mr Nathanaell Hardy M.A. and Preacher to the Parish of St Dyonis Back-Church JVstice Triumphing or The Spoilers spoiled A Sermon preached on the 5th of November in the Cathedrall Church of St Pauls The Arraignment of licentious Liberty and oppressing Tyranny in a Sermon at a Fast before the Lords in Parliament In the Abbey-Church at Westminster Faiths Victory over Nature A Sermon preached at the Funerals of Mr John Rushout Junior The safest Convoy or The strongest Helper A Valedictory Sermon before the Right Honourable Sr Thomas Bendish Barronet his Majesties Ambassadour to the grand Seigniour at Constantinople A Divine Prospective representing the Just mans peacefull End A Sermon at the Funerall of the Right Worshipfull Sr John Gayr Knight Love and Fear the inseparable Twins of a blest Matrimony A Sermon occasioned by the Nuptials between Mr William Christmas and Mrs Elizabeth Adams Divinity in Mortality or The Gospels excellency and the Preachers frailty A Sermon at the Funerals of Mr Richard Goddard Minister of the Parish of St Gregories by Pauls Printed and are to be sold by Nathanaell Webb and William Grantham at the black Bear in St Pauls Church-yard near the little North-door 1653. To the Right Worshipfull Worshipfull and Wel-beloved The Inhabitants of the Parish of S. Dionis Back-Church Health and Wealth not only in this life but chiefly in that which is to come Worthy Friends IT is a full Decade of yeers since I first was called by Divine Providence to begin the work of my Ministry among you and it is not yet half so many months since in humane probability both my Ministry and life seemed to be at an end But the wise and gracious God in whose hands all our times are hath mercifully lengthned my dayes blessed be his name for the greater good of my own and I hope of your souls These Sermons which upon this comfortable occasion I lately preached were by some of you desired to be made more publique which I have fulfilled so much the more willingly that I might testifie before the world first my infinite obligation to Almighty God for so remarkeable a deliverance and withall my manyfold engagements to a great part of you for your affectionate love and multiplyed courtesies And now my Dearely Beloved and longed for in the Lord give me leave having this opportunity to acquaint you with my serious thoughts and earnest desires and I trust through Gods grace that the transcript of them before your eyes will helpe to make a deeper impression of them upon your hearts And first I thanke my God through Jesus Christ for your stedfastnesse in the faith and your mutuall amity whereby you become exemplary to many parishes in this wavering and contentious age Oh that not onely you but all the people of this Land were alike minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus Next let me in the bowels of our common Saviour beseech you and if this will not prevaile charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall Judge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdome that as you drinke in the heavenly raine which commeth oft upon you so you endeavour to bring forth herbes meet for the great husbandman who dresseth you I beare you record and that without flattery you are attentive hearers oh that you may be all forward doers of the word There are some amongst you whose love towards me hath been not onely in tongue and in word but in deed and that in a more than ordinary measure But yet let me freely tell you There is nothing if I know my owne heart would so rejoyce me as to see the fruit of my weake labours in the holinesse of your lives Beleeve it this is the greatest Kindnesse a people can show to their Minister since whereas by a liberall contribution they adde to his comfortable subsistence upon earth by a religious conversation they increase his eternall reward in heaven And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them which are sanctified humbly intreating you to strive together with me in your prayers to God both for me and your selves that I may so preach and live you may so heare and doe as that we may behold each other and all of us our Redeemer with joy in the last day So prayeth Your faithfull servant for Christs sake in the Gospel NATH HARDY Phil. 2.27 the former part For indeed he was sick nigh unto death but God had mercy on him IF you please to peruse the five last Psalms of David you shall finde them beginning and ending with an Hallelujah Praise ye the Lord being the Alpha and Omega the Prora and the Puppis the first and the last words of each Not much unlike is Saint Pauls practise in the Epistle to the Romans who almost in the very entrance placeth an {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I thanke my God through Jesus Chrict and closeth with a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} To God onely wise bee glorie through Jesus Christ In imitation of these patternes I shall place Thanksgiving both in the Front and Reere of my Discourse Indeed what fitter Prooemium to a gratulatorie Sermon than a Benedictus Blessed therefore be God who kept his unworthie Servant from falling into the Grave a Land of Silence and Forgetfulnesse and hath now vouchsafed him the libertie of entring into his House the place of Prayers and Prâ—yses Blessed be God who hath brought my feet from lying in a sick bed to stand in this holy Mount Finally blessed be God who hath given me a joyfull occasion of handling and just cause of applying this Scripture to my selfe by changing the third Person unto the first For indeed I was sick nigh to death but God had mercy on me This Text naturally spreadeth forth it selfe into two maine
boughs each of which have three branches sprouting from them Here is observable a Distresse and a Deliverance a Danger and an Escape an Affliction and a Liberation the former in those words He was sick nigh to death the latter in these but God had mercy on him In the Distresse we have observable the 1. Quality of the Danger what it was in the word Sick 2. Extremity of the Measure how great it was in those words nigh unto death 3. Eminency of the Person whom it befell in the relative hee In the Deliverance we have considerable the 1. Efficiency of the Author by whom it was conferred in the Word God 2. The excellency of the Benefit how expressed in those words had mercy on him 3. The opportunity of the Time when vouchsafed in the exceptive but These are the severall Branches of this â—acred Tree into which I have climbed by the Ladder of humane industry from which by the hand of Divine assistance I have gathered and by the same hand shall now scatter among you such Fruit as hath refreshed my owne and I hope through Gods blessing will nourish your soules and so I begin with the Distresse He was sick nigh to death and therein the quality of the danger in that word sick The Philosopher observing the property of mans constitution describeth him by risibile to be a reasonable living Creature that hath the onely power of laughing but the Divine considering the misery of mans condition no lesse aptly characterizeth him by flebile an unfortunate wretch that hath the most cause of weeping In this respect it is not unfitly taken notice of how the new-born Babe commeth into the world crying as if by the language of its present tears it would foretell the sadnesse of its future sorrowes Among those many evills with which the life of man is beset this of sicknesse is one One to which all are subject quis non aegrotat in hac vitâ quis tanguorem â—on experitur nasci in hoc corpore mortali incipere aegrotare est Who in this life doth not more or lesse tast of sicknesse yea from the Cradle to the Crutch Birth to Death Wombe to the Tombe we are continually liable to it One of which we may say as Leah of Gad A Troop commeth and to which that Devils name in the Gospel may fitly be applyed Legion The Poet instancing in one kind of disease speaketh of a band of Feavers Nova sebrium Terris incubuit cohors And Galen reckoning up the diseases to which one part of mans body the eye is subject numbreth 112. how great an Army then must this Commander have who begirteth this Castle of the Body in every part and corner and that with severall Souldiers No wonder if the holy tongue as it calleth men {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which signifieth dying men because they are continually under the power of death so it styles them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} sickly men because they are exposed to such variety of sicknesses Finally one which exceedeth all those other miseries of this present life what dissention is in a City discord in a Family surfetting to the Stomach ignorance to the Minde that is sicknesse to the Body disturbing and oppressing it yea it is the worst evill of cold hunger and nakednesse of heat thirst and warmnes that they hasten upon us sicknesse and death That I may the better open this distresse give me leave to delineate it both in the effects that flow from it and the cause from which it floweth There are two grievous attendants which sicknesse commonly bringeth along with her namely paine and weaknesse by paine it taketh away the comfort of all enjoyments even of life it selfe Barzillai being old said to the King Can thy Servant taste what I eat or what I drink Can I heare any more the voice of singing men and singing women wherefore should thy servant be a burden to my Lord the King Not much unlike may it be said of the sick man Can he eat or can he drinke Can musick or any other pleasures then delight him when he is a burthen to himselfe And as by reason of paine it renderth life uncomfortable so by reason of weaknesse unserviceable disenabling the body from the performance of any work Alas how can the Clock go when the Weights are plucked off or the Watch move right when the Wheels are out of order Both these sad effects are fitly expressed by two words the one in the Hebrew the other in the Greek tongue and it is the word which our Apostle here useth The Hebrew word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifieth both doluit and aegrotavit to be sick and to be sorry well are they expressed by one word since they commonly go together both smarting paine in the â—â—dy and dolorous anguish in the Mind being caused by sicknesse in this respect the English word disease is very apposite because it diseaseth and disturbeth the person of this David complained in his sicknesse when he saith My bones are vexed and my soule is also sore vexed The Greek word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} implyeth both aegrotari and imbecillem esse to be sick and to be weak and therefore the Noun of this Verbe is elsewhere rendred infirmity this inconvenience likewise David found by his disease when he said I am feeble and sore broken weaknes being the inseparable concomitant of sicknes Meditations wch I would to God were more deeply imprinted on the mindes of men those especially who put off their repentance and the Working out of their salvation till a sick bed as if when they are in pain they could repent with the more ease or when they are weakest they were strong enough for this work Alas doe you not know how unfit such a time is for any but much more a religious employment This no doubt is one reason why Saint James who in other afflictions adviseth men to pray for themselves in sicknesse counselleth them to call for the Elders of the Church to pray over them because then for the most part they are unable to pray themselves in this respect it was as I have read the saying of a vertuous Gentlewoman upon her sick bed Let none defer their preparation nor their prayers unto the bed of their sicknesse for then the minde is too much troubled with grief of body to be employed as they ought in spiritual exercise Tell me whoever thou art that delayest till this time how knowest thou but such a sickness may seize upon thee as in a moment may take away thy life or if not bereave thee of thy senses or it may be so painfull that it is all thou canst do to wrestle with the paine nay let me tell thee for the most part such procrastinators when that time commeth either repent not at all in their sicknesse
full thy Body hayle often thinke of walking through the valley of the shadow of death Happy is that man whom when sicknesse arresteth and death approacheth to can say and say it truly This is no more then what I have looked and provided for all my dayes And so much be spoken of the second particular pass we now to the third 3. Eminency of the person whom this extreame disease befell in the relative He. If you would know who this He was be pleased to cast your eyes on the 25. verse of the Chapter where you finde his name to be Epaphroditus one that was not onely a good Man but a Man of God not onely a Servant but a Minister of Christ and one so eminent as that Saint Paul dignifies him with the titles of his Brother and Companion and fellow-Souldier and yet of him it is here said that he was nigh unto death Saints as well as sinners Ministers as well as the People are liable to desperate diseases In respect of temporall evills they have no more priviledge than others And no wonder since 1. That which is the cause both of sicknesse and death remaineth in them to wit sinne Indeed the power of sinne is weakened therefore they cannot be hurt of the second death but the being of it remaineth and that necessitateth the first they are so freed from the guilt of it that they shall not taste the torments of hell but yet they may drinke deepe of the miseries of this life sinne will not leave the best man till it hath brought him to his grave well may it bring him to his sick bed 2. In respect of their bodily constitution they are earthly houses that will moulder away till at last they fall earthen vessels subject to flawes and cracks till at length they breake The Saints are the Sonnes of God by grace but still the Sonnes of Adam by nature the Ministers are Angels in respect of their office but still they are Men in regard of their persons and being of the same mould and subject to the same dangers with others 3. More specially the very calling and employment of Ministers is such as exhausteth their spirits weakeneth their bodyes and accelerateth both diseases and death our Apostle saith of Epaphrodit that for the work of Christ he was nigh to death v. 30. the worke he there meaneth is most probably conceived to be the travelling of this good man to Rome with supplyes for his wants to relieve a Christian especially a Messenger of Christ is the work of Christ but it is no lesse true of the worke of Christ which is pâ—culiarly the Ministers since the pains they take in preaching oft times Christ brings them nigh to death It was said of Archimedes studiis quibus obtinuit famam amisit vitam the studies which got him credit lost his life and it may be said of many Ministers the fastings watchings labours preachings by which they profit the peoples soules hurt their bodyes Thus like the candle they waste themselves that they might enlighthen yea like the salt they dissolve themselves that they may season others 4. Finally God hath choice and singular ends at which he aimeth when he bringeth his owne Servants or Ministers into such desperate sicknesses and that both in regard of sinne and grace 1. In regard of their sinnes that they may be either purged or prevented by which means their sicknesse becomes their Physicke and the Malady it selfe a spirituall remedy It may be they have fallen into some grosse sinne and therefore they fall into some grievous sicknesse So was it with those unworthy Communicants concerning whom Saint Paul saith for which cause many of them were weake many sick and some slept It may be God seeth them prone to commit some hainous fault which he restraineth them from by some dolorous sicknesse as S. Paul had a prick in his flesh that he might not be puffed up in his minde so God sometimes wounds his Servants bodyes as knowing that otherwise they would have wounded their consciences 2. In respect of their graces that the truth of them may be tried the acts of them renewed and the strength of them encreased God hath many wayes to try men among which sicknesse especially if dangerous is a sorâ—tryall and therefore when the Devill by Gods leave had tryed Job in the losse of his Cattell Servants and Children he obtaineth licence to inflict sores upon his body making this his last as accounting it his fiercest onset Indeed then is the triall of a mans faith when God seemeth as if he would slay him of his hope when all things are desperate of his love when God frowneth upon nay beateth him of his patience when the paine is sharp of his courage when the sorrowes of death compasse him of his perseverance when he holds fast his integrity to the death To close up this let it be a lesson of comfort of charity and of diligence 1. Of comfort when any sicknesse seizeth on thee remember whose lot it hath been as well as thine and be not discouraged When Christ would encourage his Disciples against sufferings he useth this argument for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Mat. 5.11 it is that meditation which may revive us when we are in pain and misery so it fared with others of Gods faithfull ones before me That argument of Eliah indeed was somewhat passionate 1 King â—9 4 It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better than my Fathers but it is a pious reasoning for every Christian to say I am content Lord if thou take away my health exercise me with diseases I am not better than Job David Hezekiah Epaphroditus and others of thy faithfull Servants and Ministers who am I that I should think much to pledge those holy men of God though in a bitter Cup 2. Of Charity and that both to thy selfe and others 1. Condemne not thy selfe as if God hated thee because he corrects thee or as if he were more angry with thee than others because he chastiseth thee more severely then them Indeed it is good in a time of sicknesse to reflect upon thy selfe examine thy wayes and if conscience accuse of some great misdemeanour to humble thy selfe and acknowledge thy disease the just reward of thy offence but otherwise do not conclude thy owne guilt or Gods hatred meerely from the premisses of sicknesse though virulent 2. Censure not others as if they were therefore the worst of sinners because in their bodyes the greatest sufferers This is indeed that hard measure which Gods people and Ministers often meet with When the Barbarians saw a Viper upon Paul's hand they presently condemned him as a murtherer and David complaineth of his enemies that when he was sick they spake mischievous things against him nay Job's friends though good men were deceived with this fallacy and accuse Job of
of your tribulation Had that accusation of Rabshakeh been true his argumentation was solid when he sent that message to Hezekiah But if thou say to me we trust in the Lord our God is it not hee whose high Places and whose Altars Hezekiah hath taken away And surely the conscience of a wicked man if not seared cannot but check him in the like expressions Wilt thou say I trust in God for health or recovery Is it not he whose Name thou hast blasphemed Patience thou hast abused and Worship thou hast neglected Be wise therefore oh ye sinners and instructed ye wicked of the earth make him your friend who must be your refuge offer the sacrifice of righteousnesse and then not till then put your trust in the Lord Your life your health is in his hands looke that your doings be right and then your persons shall bee precious in his eyes 2. Art thou sick learne whom to invocate and on whom to depend for health upon no other than God Far be it from any of us in sicknesse with Saul in danger to run to the Pythomise and seek help of the Devill Satans best cures are deadly wounds it is far better to continue sick then by such meanes to get health Since whilst thy mortall body is for a time restored thy immortall soule is desperately endangered Nor yet let us with the Papists seeke to any Saints as Mediatours with God for our recovery Whilest They have their severall Saints for severall Diseases Sebastian for the Plague Anthony for the Gangreen Patronilla for Agues and Benedict for the Stone Let us have recourse to the one God in all Diseases Whilst they thinke it too great saucinesse to be their owne spokes-men to God and therefore go to saint somebody to preferre their Petitions for them let us hold it the best manners to go our selves of our owne errands to God not doubting but that he who bids us come will bid us welcome Finally let us not â—read in Asa's foot-steps who sought not to the Lord but to the Physitians nor yet let us tread Antipodes to him in seeking to the Lord and not to the Physitians whilest he affoards them but as Gideon commanded his Souldiers to cry the sword of the Lord and of Gideon so let us ever say the blessing of the Lord and the skill of the Physitian Indeed where opportunity is vouchsafed those two must not be severed God will not usually help without meanes and therefore they must be used the meanes cannot possibly help withâ—ut God and therefore in the use of them his blessing must be implored They are equally bad to neglect and to rest on second causes to expect succour either from them originally or without them instrumentally to rely on God without meanes or trust to meanes without God Surely what the King said to the woman If the Lord doe not help thee whence shall I help thee that all creatures say to us in any distresse If the Lord help not whenc shall we except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it except the Lord keep the City the watchman watcheth but in vain saith the Psalmist Indeed he doth not say quia because the Lord buildes the house but uisi as excluding â—umane diligence but except the Lord build thereby including divine providence nor doth he onely say nisi dâ—minus consenserit adjuverit but nisi aedificaverit custodicrit unlesse the Lord consent a word which onely implyeth his will or unlesse the Lord help which extendeth to any kinde of assistance the meanest thing that concurreth to any work being causa adjuvans an auxiliary cause but unlesse the Lord build and keep which imply the concurrence of his power as well as will and that as the principall agent in the building and keeping the same assertion is no lesse true in this presâ—nt case except the Lord heale the patient the Physitian admnistreth but in vaine Heal thy self is only true of that Physitian to whom it was spoken no other Physitian can of himself either heale himselfe or others Tangit te Rex Sanat te Deus was no lesse truly than humbly spoken when the Royall touch was given The King toucheth thee God cureth thee It is so here the Physitian prescribes the medicine but God by that commands health Oh therefore that Physitians in administring patients in receiving would onely depend upon and sue for divine Benediction when the one writes a recipe with his pen let him pray with his heart when the other receiveth the potion into his stomach let him lift up his eyes to God who saith of himselfe I am the Lord that healeth thee 3. Art thou recovered know whom to praise and to whom to ascribe the cure could the ingredients of thy medicine speak each would say of health as the depths and the Seas of wisdome It is not in me It is I am sure the voice of all pious Physitians non nobis not to us oh man not to us but to God be the praise of thy recovery And therefore whilst the Atheist looketh no further than nature and art let the Christian look higher at God and his blessing and as he must not forget that respect which is due to the Physitian as the Instrument so let the chiefest honour be given to God as being the principall efficient The truth is for the most part such is our foolishnesse that whilest we fix our eyes upon the blessings we receive we turne our backs upon the God that bestoweth them and we are more ready to father them upon any other than him who is the true donor of them Oh let not onely gratitude but justice teach us to give God his due when we gather the fruit let us cast downe our eyes on the root from which they sprout when we feed upon the acornes let us lift them up to the tree from whence they fall and being refreshed by the flowing streame let us reflect upon the springing fountaine Oh my God it is in thee that I live let me live to thee from thee I have received health to thee I returne praise I have the comfort take thou the glory of thy great mercy And so I passe forward to the 2. Excellency of the Benefit how expressed in those words Had mercy on him In mercy there are two things considerable affectus and effectus the passion and the action the inward pitty and the owtward bounty that is in the heart this in the hand that the bowels of mercy this the works of mercy that called by the Greekes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and both these though not in the same sense are attributed to God and here to be understood 1. In mercy there is a laying of anothers misery to heart The Greâ—ke word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is derived from the