Particularly This will best appeare if wee single out some speciall disease and conferre the perplexity it can offer to the body with the sickenesse of the soule Take for instance the plague of the Leprosie It was a fearefull and vnsupportable sicknesse euery way miserable as you may finde it described Leuit. 13. c. ver 45.46 His cloathes shall bee rent and his head bare and hee shall put a couering vpon his vpper lippe and shall cry Vncleane vncleane Hee shall dwell alone without the Campe shall his habitation be The Leprosie infected their very garments and houses sticking contagion in the very wooll and wals But our Leprosie of sinne hath with a more vast extention infected the Elements Ayre Earth beasts plants c. sticking scarres on the brow of nature and making the whole Creature groane vnder the burthen of corruption 2 The Leaprosie was violent in spreading running eftsoones ouer all the body as in Gehizi and making it all as one vlcer yet could it not penetrate and enter the soule the minde might be cleane in this generall defiling of the carcase Behold the Laeprosie of sinne hath not content it seâ—fe to insult pollute and tyrannize ouer the body but it defiles the Soule also and turnes that purer parte of Man into a Lazar. Our righteousnesse is become filthy ragges our heart is poisoned our Consciences defiled 3 The Leaprosie was an accidentall disease casuall to some whiles other escaped it It was Gods Pursuiuant to single out and arrest some for their sinnes his mercy spaâ—ing the rest But the Leaprosie of sinne is haereáitarius morbus an hereditary sicknesse Wee deriue it from our great Sire Adam with more infallible conueyance then euer sonne inherited his fathers lands It is originall to vs borne with vs borne before vs. So that natalis would bee fatalis the birth day would bee the death day if the bloud of that immaculate Lambe should not clense vs. 4 The Leaprosie was a dangerous disease yet curable by naturall meanes but ours is by so much the worse as it admits not man as Physitian nor nature it seâ—fe as Physicke sufficient to cure it The medicine is supernaturall the Bloud and Water of that man who is God Faith must lay hold on mercy Mercy alone can heale vs. 5 The Leaprosie is a sore disease so entring and eating that it is euen incorporate to the flesh yet still cum carne exuitur it is put off with the flesh Death is a Phisitian able to cure it Mors vna interâ—â—t leprosum Lepram Death the best Empericke kilâ— at once the Leaper and his Leprosie But the Leprosie of sinne cleanes so fast not onely to the flesh but to the Soule that if spirituall death to sinne doe not slay it Corporall death shall neither mende it nor end it It shall not flie the Soule when the soule doth flie the body but as it accompanies the one to the iudgement feare of God so it shall meet the other in hell if they both cannot be rid of it through Christ on earth 6 The Leaprosie makes man loathsome to man that seorsim habitaturus sit hee must dwell alone So was the Law Hee is vncleane hee shall dwell alone without the Campe shall his habitation bee Yea though hee were a King he must content himselfe with an vnvisited and remoued lodging yet what is it to be secluded from mans and not to bee destitute of the Lords company God forsakes not the cleane heart though man abhorres the leaprous flesh God alone is a thousand companions God alone is a world of friends He neuer knew what it was to be familiar with heauen that complains the lacke of friends whiles God is with him Were thy Chamber a prison thy prison a Dungeon yet what Walles can keepe out that infinite Spirite Euen there the good soule findes the Sunne of heauen to enlighten his darkenesse in comparison of whom all the starres in the skie are the snuffe of a dimme candle Euery cloude darkens our Sunne nothing can ecclipse that But the Leprosie of sin separates a soule from Gods fellowship from the company of Angels We lie if we say wee haue fellowship with him and walke in darkenesse Your sinnes haue separated betwixt mee and you saith the Lord of hostes They vnhouse our hearts of Gods spirite and expell him from the temple of our soules who will no longer stay there when the Dagon of sinne is aduanced adored It is customable with men to eschew the society of their poore maimed afflicted diseased Brethren and to shew some disdainâ— by their auersenes but to keepe company with drunkardes adulterers swearers vsurers c. of whom alone wee haue a charge de non tangendo they recke not Eâ—te not with them Turne away from them saith the Apostle from those so diseased in Soule not in body But now d melior est conditio vitij quam morbi the estate of sinne is better then of sickenesse But God looks vnto and is with Lazarus liuing and takes him into his bosome dying though he was full of sores and lets healthy wealthy flourishing Diues go by vnnamed vnaccepted 7. The Leaprosie kept men but from the fading citie terrestriall Ierusalem This Leaprosie vnpurged by repentance restraines men from that Ierusalem which is aboue a city built vpon Iaspers and Saphyres and pretious stones flowing in stead of milke and hony with blisse and glory For into f it shall enter nothing that defileth nor whatsoeuer worketh abhomination or lies Now as the pleasures and treasures of this City are more so much worse is the cause hindring our entrance You may iudge by this taste how farre spirituall sickenesse is more bitter then corporall Euerie circumstance before hath reflected on this but nunquam satis dicitur quod nunquam satis addiscitur it is neuer taught enough that is not enough learned 4 I should now lastly inquire who are the sicke wherein as the Philosopher said of men Non vhi sunt sed vhi non sunt faoilè demonstratur I can easily shew you where they are not not where they are It is a small matter to finde out the sicke the difficulty is to finde any sound I know g there are a few names in our Sardis that haue not desiled their garments but they are so few that it is harde to find them Runne to and fro through the streetes and seeke in the broad places of our Cities if you can finde a man if there bee any that executes iudgement and seeketh the truth The whole World is very old and sicke giuen ouer as man in his dotage to couetousnesse Huius aedest aet as extremae ferre a mundi Alget amor dandi praeceps amor ardet habendi Needs must the world be sicke and old When lust growes hote and charity cold Wonder you at this â—nder is the daughter of ignorance ignorance of nature God hath
none indeed for he that hath God for his obeyed Master hath for his obeying Seruant the world yet is it but a vagrant and runnagate seruant It hath a madding mind and a gadding foote And though by the greatnesse of the stature and proportion it may promise able seruice yet it will bee gone when thou hast most neede of it Neither will it slippe away empty but robbe thee of thy best Iewels carry away thy peace content ioy happinesse soule with it Behold the Cosmopolite Luke 12. planting transplanting rebuilding sâ—udying for roome to lay vp his fruites Non in visceribus pauperum not in the bowels of the poore but in his enlarged Barnes if euer their capacity could answere his enlarged hart He buildes neither Church nor Hospitall eyther in cultum Christi or culturam Christiani to the seruice of Christ or comfort of any Christian but Barnes He minds onely Horreum suum Hordeum suum His barne and his Barley Behold at last he promiseth his Soule peace ease mirth security but when his Chickens were scarse hatch'd whereon he long â—ate thought to sit long brooding he heares a fatall voyce confiscating his goods and himselfe too Thou foole this night shall thy soule bee required of thee then whose shall those things bee which thou hast prouided No maruell then if the Soule be famished when she is onely fed with such fugitiue meat which vanisheth like Tantalus Apples or Ixions cloud in the Poet and like Medicines rather then food or like poysons rather then medicines wash away the good they finde and leaue the bad made yet worse by their accession behind them 2 They be not satisfactory and therefore conferre no true content to the mind no more then the dreamed bread of the Sluggard who walkes with an empty stomacke Thou shalt eate but not bee satisfied All things are full of labour man cannot vtter it the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare filled with hearing There is nothing but emptinesse vanity vacuity in them Simuloriuntur moriuntur they at once are borne and die as Plutarch said of the Lightning as Ionas found in his gourde Like the Mermaide Virgo formosa supernè Desinit in turpem piscem malesuada voluptas Face flattering Pleasure that so much deludes Like that Sea-monster with sad ruth concludes The motion of the minde following these wandring Planets of earthly delights is euer errant euer vncessant Ahab is sicke of his neighbors field though he haue a whole Kingdome to walke in And Alexander finding himselfe Lord of the whole world is discontent as if hee wanted elbow roome The poore man is not more perplex'd because he hath neither barne nor graine then the couetous wretch because hee hath not barne enough for his graine What Cosmopolite euer grasped so much wealth in his gripulous fist as to sing to himselfe a Sufficit He that loueth siluer shall not be satisfied with siluer nor hee that loueth abundance with encrease His cares fill vp as fast as his coffers He hath much in his keeping yet doth neither inioy it nor ioy in it It breedes a disease in the soule like that in the body which they call Caninum appetitum an immoderate desire of meate whereafter the body lookes thinne wan sickly as if it were starued The colde feculent viscous vicious humours of couetousnesse desire an vnreasonable quantity of worldly goods yet leaue the soule more weake warish sickly then if shee neither had nor had will to doe any thing This is the infallible effect of these coueted vanities vel sequendo labimur vel assequendo laedimur the soule eyther fals in the seeking or failes in the finding She is not the better nay shee is the worse for her longing after them Luxuriant animi rebus plerunq secundis The mind may riot and grow ranke for a while with these puffings vp but how soone doth a tabe and consumption take it down when the ioy answers not to the expectation of the heart The world may set such a man in high estimation The rich hath many friends but the poore is separated from his neighbours Aspicis vt veniant ad candidatecta Columbae Accipiet nullas sor dida turris aues But all this while others are more satisfied with the sight then hee with the possession of his owne Still his soule is hungry and he knowes not how to appease it I perswade not all abiuration of the world as if it could not bee vsed but it must be abused As the Philosopher of olde that threw his money into the sea purposing to drowne that least that should drowne him Or as the new found and fond Votaries that professe a voluntarie want as if all coyne were diseased and had for the circumscription à noli me tangere So the Empiricke to cure the feuer destroyes the patient so the wise man to burn the mise set on fire his barne Is there no remedy but a man must make his medicine his sicknesse I speake of things as they are not as they should bee Hee that feeds too hungerly on the world fals with much ease to neglect Christ. As hee that was once following him no sooner heard of his fathers death but presently left him thinking perhaps that hee should get more by his fathers Executorship then by his Sauiours Discipleshippe and therefore would leaue to minister in Christs seruice that he might administer on his Fathers goods Hence fall many soules into this spirituall sicknesse when they forsake the solide and substantiall nutriment of Iesus Christ to gape for the fugitiue and empty ayre of worldly riches which if they do carry to their deathes yet they must then leaue all exuendo expnendo donec nihil vel intus vel foris maÌ„serit by putting off by spuing vp whatsoeuer their couetousnes hath deuoured Nature shal turn theÌ„ out naked empty Thus the righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soule but the belly of the wicked shal want They are not satisfactory In a word that we may a little perpend the effects as wee haue perceiued the causes al spirituall sicknes is either in faith or conuersation 1. In Faith This is a generall dangerous sicknesse Generall AEgrotat sides iam proxima morti Faith is so sicke that it is ready to die These are those last and Apostate times wherein faith is become so litle that the scarsity giues expectation of the generall doome We sweare away our faith at euery trifle and then no maruell beeing so prodigall of such oathes if our stocke of faith be sworne and worne out Dangerous wee affie the world which wee haue vowed to defie and loosing that confidence we should liue by for the Iust liues by faith How can it bee but the Soule must become Sicke Whiles the shield of faith is lost wee lie naked to the fiery darts of Sathan and many wounds will let out the life
bloud The Sun in the heauen passeth through the 12. Signes of the Zodiacke Christ is our Sun the 12. Articles of our Creed the 12. Signes Faith is our Zodiacke do you wonder why in this day of the Gospell the Sunne beames of grace liu'd in so few hearts They haue lost their Zodiacke Their faith is forme and the cloudes of infidelity haue ecclipsed those Signes They beliue not beyond the extension of sense they haue a sensuall a senseles faith It is the forest shipwracke which the vast sea of this world and the Pyrates of sinne can put men to the sinking of their faith It was Pauls happy triumph that he had kept the faith though he bore about in his body the market of our Lord Iesus Needes must the soule bee sicke whose faith is not sound 2 The other degree of our spirituall sicknesse is in conuersation Our liues are diseased the ill beating of those pulses shew wee are not well The fruites manifest the tree Vbicaro est regnant peccatum est praegnans Sinnes are rife where the flesh raignes plentifull effects will arise from such a working cause In vaine and not without the more hazard doe we plead our soundnesse when the infallible symptomes of our disobedience euince the contrary Saul stands vpon his obseruation of Gods charge What then saith Samuel meaneth the bleating of the sheepe in mine eares and the lowing of the oxen which I heare Whence flow those streames of impiety mercilesse oppressions Church-deuouring sacriledges bestiall luxuries cunning circumuentions detracting slaunders heauen-threatning blasphemies malicious fires of rage hatred monstrous treacheries behauiours compounded of scorne and pride close Atheisme open profanenesse guilded hypocrisie Whence if these vitious corruptions if not from our vlcerous conuersations Shame wee not to call sicknesse health and to maintaine that Atheisticall Paradox Adoxe Pseudodox which iudgeth euill good and darknes light If thy life be so vnsound suspect thy selfe thou art not well 2 Now not vnfitly after the sicknes in sinne followes the sicknes for sinne which distributes it selfe into a double passion corporall and spirituall 1 All corporall sickenesse is for sinne The sicke man heard it from his heauenly Physitian Goe thy wayes sinne no more least a worse thing come vnto thee So sung Dauid in the Psalme Fooles because of their iniquities are afflicted their soule abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw neer to the gates of death This Elihu grounds against Iob that sinne causeth sicknesse So that his life abhorreth bread and his soule dainty meat His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seene and his bones that were not seene sticke out Weakenes proceedeth from wickednesse if the Soule had not sinned his body should not haue smarted Indeede this blow is easie if wee respect the cause that drew it on vs. For if the Wages of sinne be death Sicknes is a gentle payment Sicknesse is the maladie of the body Death is the malady of sicknesse But such is Gods mercy that hee is content to punish sometimes corporaliter non mortaliter and to put into our hearts a sense of our sinnes by casting vs downe not by casting vs out But whether the affliction be quoad introitum or quoad interitum a more gentle entrance or more piercing to death all is produced by our sinne You will say that many afflictions wherewith God scourgeth his children are the Fatherly corrections of loue yet they are corrections and their intention is to better vs. Now what need the bestowing such paines on vs to make vs good if sinne had not made vs euill Still Sinne is the cause whether it be sickenesse therefore I will make thee sicke in smiting thee because of thy sinnes Or whether more despairefull calamity I will waile and howle I will make a wailing like the Dragons mournings as the owles for her wound is incurable Still the reason is verse 5. For the transgression of Iacob is all this and for the sinnes of the house of Israel Oh that our sicke bodies when the hand of Visitation hath cast them down would conuey this lesson to our soules All is for our wickednesse Our stomackes loath meate because we haue ouerburdened them with Gods abused blessings Wee haue made the Creatures ordained for our comforts an occasion of our falling And now loe wee abhorre to be cheered by those things wherewith we haue earst oppressed our selues That delicates powred vpon a mouth shut vp are as messes of meate set vpon a graue Our sinnes that remaine vnpurged by repentance in our bosomes are not only diseases themselues to our consciences but vigorous and rigorous enough to engender diseases in our carcases Wee are framed and composed of foure Elements Fire Ayre Water Earth and haue the kindly concurrence of those foure originall and principal qualities heate and colde moysture and drinesse to our making vp Their harmony and peacefull content preserue our little world in health but if those brethren of one house fal at variance with themselues their strife will vndoevâ— So easie is it for God to take roddes from our owne bodies wherewith to whip vs. Though those outward Elements fire water and the rest forbeare to lay on vs the strokes of vengeance yet wee haue those primordial humours within vs whose redundance defect or distemperature are meanes able enough to take our breath from vs. How euident is this when Some haue beene burned in the pestilent flames of their hote diseases the violence whereof hath set their bloud on fire wasted their bowels scorched their veines withered away their vitall spirites and left the whole body flagrantem rogum as it were a burning pyle Some haue beene choked vp with the fumes and vapours ascending from their owne crude and corrupted stomackes and poysoned their spirites no lesse then with the contagion of infected ayres How many obstructed lungs sucke in farre better ayre then they breath out Others haue beene drowned with a deluge of waters in their owne bodies a â—â—oud running betwixt their skin and bowels glutting and ouercharging nature so violently that the life hath not been able to hold vp her head and the soule like Noahs Doue returnes vnto God the Arke of her strength as not able to set her foote drie in her former habitation And yet others haue buried themselues aliue in the graue of their owne earthly melancholy which casteth such a thicke fogge and darke obscurity ouer the braine that it not onely chokes vp the spirits of life like the damp in a vault that extinguisheth the lightes but euen offers offensiue violence to the Soule Melancholy men are as it were buried before they be dead and as not staying for a graue in the ground make their owne heauy dull cloudy cloddy earthen cogitations their owne Sepulchres From what sinke arise all these corrupt steames but from the sinnes in our owneselues as