CHrist Iesus is the true Physitian, the Scriptures a field, the precepts are me­dicinableOrigen, super leuit. plants; as wee passe ouer,Omnium me­dicinarum thesaurus di­uinae scripturae Chryso [...]t ho: 36. in Ioh. 5. and tread on many vnconsidered sim­ples, which by others gathered, wee begin to thinke vsefull, so we reade, we heare: the Scripture is a full store house of the soules phisicke; as medicine to the healthy, such is Gods word to the worldly man, neglected and set aside, if not loathed: but the wise prouide against the time, and cause the elder to serue the yonger; health, sicke­nesse; prouiding for, if not preuenting.

This branch I haue in hand is a Catholicon, and more (if some generall name might be had) in respect it hath to the distempers, both of soule and body, sinne no more, Si quis in ani­ma languor, non tam ex­terioris fron­dis aut corti­cis, quam suc­ci interioris hausta virtute sanatur. Orig­quo sup. thy body shall be sound, [...]inne no more thy soule shall bee healed. An Aphorisme as much vnknowne to learned Hip­pocrates, as his to the most vnlearned Empericke. So that how euer we esteeme it, it concerneth all: here the whole may haue instruction, the sicke comfort: let vs take it to heart, that we may heare this eccesanatus es.

Christ, who tooke all occasions to saue, came vp to the feast, it seemeth of * Passouer: where then the greatestIrenaeus. concourse of people vsed to be, there was in Ierusalem aEpipha [...]ius. [Page 2] poole called Bethesda, hauing fiue porche [...], in which lay many sicke and infirme persons, expecting the mouing of the water: for an Angell at a certaine season went into the poole and troubled the water, after which whosoeuer first stepped in, was made whole. Among all that lay there of the [...]icke multitude, blind, halt, withered, Christ pick­eth out the only man whose case was desperate, his disease habituall thirty eight yeares, and hee so poore, (which to the sicke is a second sicknesse) that he could get no man to put him into the water, but before he could creep [...] in, he was preuented of health by anothers healing, Christ euer neere his, when they seeme furthest from helpe, com­meth to him wilt thou be healed? to shew his disease mixed a disaffection of body and soule, where desire to be cured is part of the cure: he meekely replyed, Sir I haue Pars sanitatis velle sa [...]ari Sen. no man: not daring to aske it seemeth hee hopeth to ob­taine helpe, because Iesus questioned with him. It is nei­ther the blewnesse nor depth of sinnes wounds, or effects can hinder his mercy: they commend it more. It was the Saboth therefore those externall men among the Iewes quarrell. Iesus withdraweth himselfe to let them consi­derNon inforum non in porti­cus concessit non voluptati, non otio in­dulsit, sed in templo versa. tur. Chryst. hom. 37. the author by the worke done: the Iewes enquire, the man healed cannot yet resolue them of his [...]. But after cometh into the temple (a fit place, for thanksgiuers) Christ like a carefull Physitian not onely cureth, but prescribeth, Behold thou are healed, sinne no more. As if hee had sayde, thou knowest not w [...]o hath cured [...]. Be­hold thy Physitian, thou knowest not why, consider it, thou wilt forget: behold and remember, thou hast sinned and beene smitten, I haue freed thee of both: thou hast sinned, I haue forgiuen thee; but take this for a Faire War­ning; I haue but gently corrrect thee, but if thou wilt not hereby be warned, I will lay on an heauier hand. Sinne no more. Admonet & minatnr. Cht. hom 36. 16.

The parts are two.

• 1. An admonition, Behold thou art healed sin no more.
• [Page 3]2. An in [...]ermination, lest a worse thing come vnto thee.

In the admonition there is a particle of excitation and rouzing to a [...]tention. Behold, and the obiect is double.

First, what God hath done, thou art healed. Secondly, what he must doe, Sinne no more.

Behold: Dost tho [...] consider what is done vnto thee? where God setteth this Index and finger, it vsually poin­teth out some serious matter, and awakeneth our best at­tention, apt to passe by things of greatest moment with­outQuod sanatus erat, as prop­ter quod. due consideration. And contented with this note; I would passe on, but that it standeth a [...] the doore of my text importuning my stay.

This Ecce is not so much to sh [...]w that he was healed, as why he was healed: which because some know not, some render not, some remember not, some apprehend not: obserue [...]re scopes of this Ecce: 1. Ecce inst [...]u­ctionis, non se­cus se habet haec vita quā [...] & som­nium. Chrys To. 5. serm de van. & breuit. vitae, videntes non videmus, audien [...]s non audiemus, inanes & va­ [...]ae re [...]um species, teneri videntur & non tenen [...]ur.

• 1 The first is an Ecce of instruction to the ignorant.
• 2 The sec [...]nd of reprehension to the vnthankefull.
• 3 The third of remembrance to the vnmindfull.
• 4 The fourth of consolation, to the afflict [...]d.

The first s [...]eweth vs the great ignorance of man, not knowing the good or euil he hath mans life is like a scene a dreame. Phantasie playe [...] the Circe framing vs imagina­ry beings and estates. Seeing we see not, hearing we he [...]re [...]t idle and inconsta [...]t apparitions, and dreams of things which come and goe, approach and vanish, offer them­selues to our embraces, yet like a vapour flie the most care­full possessour.

[...] seeme to [...] what [...]ey haue not, So [...]e take Amb. l. 7. Ep. 44. thi [...]e [...], thou [...]ast much goo [...]s [...] strange word of a world­ling) but they are like a [...] hungry [...]an dreaming, and beholdIer. 29 8. he eateth, and when he wal [...]eth [...] soule is [...]mptie: or like aAuaro tam deest quod ha­bet quā quod non habet. ad P [...]ul in [...]p. thirsty man dreaming, and loe he is drinking, and when he awaketh, behold he is faint and his soule longeth: some seeme to want that they [...], the co [...]etous [...]qually [...] what they haue or haue not, the Horselsach two daughters in theirProu. 30. 15. [Page 4] hearts, loue of the world, and vnsatiate desire of hauing, so eagerly cry giue, giue, so g [...]pe they for more, that they tast not what they haue receiued.

Some are not what they seeme: the prosperous wicked almost deceiue the afflicted righteous▪ & enforce a strangePsal. 7 [...]. 13. 14 dreame, Certainely I haue cleansed mine heart in vaine, and washed mine hands in innocencie, for dayly I haue beene puni­shed, yet as a dreame when one awaketh; so shall God soone make the image of these happy seeming men most de­spised.

Some seeme not what they are, the Saints but dreame of sorrow, seeming to bee vnhappy men which they can­notMat. 5. 4. be▪ they see the euils shewed, but in a manner, as Iob was terr [...]fied with dreames▪ [...] was troubled with these heauy ephi [...]lts which seemed to oppresse him yet confesseth when I awake I [...] satisfied with thine image. Psal. 17. 9. 15. Psa. 55. 4▪ 5. 6. Againe, he dreamed of perils, then his heart trembled with­in him, and the terrours of death fell vpon him. Then heeSibi visus est per quietem inte [...]dum su­pra nubes vo­litare. Sueton. wishes, O that I had wings like a [...], then would I [...] away and be at rest. The ambitious, meane time like C [...]sar a little before his death, dream of resting in the clouds, so dreams make fooles haue wings, whilst they are falling▪

Some seeme well who are sicke, Agags dreame, surely 1. Sam. 15. 32. the bitternesse of death is past. La [...]dicia was blinde and poore Reuelat. and naked, yet shee say de shee wanted nothing. It wasIoh. 9. 41. the Iewes disease: but now yee say wee see, theresore your [...] remaineth: others perceiue not the good they haue, not so much as the blinde man, one thing I know, that I Ioh. 9. 23. was blinde and now I see: this is the summe of all: some vnderstand not the euill, others not the good they haue, both neede this [...] to instruct them, for how can a­any, either be sollicitous to auoyde the euill or thanke­full for the blessings which hee hath, but knoweth not.

The vse warneth vs not to [...] ouer the benefits weVse. haue without due valluing them: for want of this, what [Page 5] euer wee haue, our estate is irkesome to vs. Hence that foolish affectation of others miseries, whilst wee not contenred to bee happie, because wee see not how happy we were, if we were [...]; make a good [...] euill to vs, for want of wisedome to manage it: in our owne lots wee onely recount the inconueniences wee suffer, we lease out our benefits vnconsidered. In others we propose the good they seeme to haue, which we pre­ferre before our owne, because we see what they seeme,Optat Ephip­pia bos piger. we feele not what they suffer. The husbandman would be a tradefman, the tradesman student; the begger would be rich, the rich noble, the noble a king, neither well knowing, that euery estate is blessed to a good man, but God hath fitted vs with such as hee knoweth best for vs. This ecce, is to tel vs, that the enuy which attendeth great­nesse, and with an hundred eyes watcheth honour, figh­ting with it, as the serpent with Hercules in the cradle and infancie, commendeth the quiet of a meane estate, and that it is safe sayling in the hauen: that it is no secure be­ing on those pinacles of the Court or Temple, where we can neither rest without feare: nor come downe with­out falling. If we will giue ambition feete to stand vpon the good wee had, this ecce will giue place to a second of reprehension. Ecce in the second place telleth vs that man is vnthankfull for the mercies receiued: to the vngodly,Ecce repre▪ hensionis. God sayd, What hast thou to doe to declare my statutes. An vncleane heart is [...] altar for Gods prayses: but to thePsal. 50. 14. righteous, offer vnto God thanks-giuing. God onely accep­tethChrysost. in Psalm. 50. what he giueth; that is, mercedem virtutis, mercedem virtutem, a reward of vertue, blessings, vertue a reward, thankefulnesse.

Some know not that they are to learne, the first ecce was theirs: others learne not that they are to know, the thanks they owe to God, but sacrifising to their owne net, leaue theHeb. 1. 16. maine poynt vndone, for which God did all for them, that is, thou shalt glorifie me. Psal. 50. 15.

[Page 6]This behold-therefore discouereth our defect in be­holding, we haue need of as many [...] as we haue dayes or houres, euery minute wee receiue, few looke backe to the giuer: the tracts of Gods benefits to [...]ards vs are asOmnia te ad­uersum spe­ctantia. the feete of the beasts to the Lions den, all looke towards vs b [...]t non [...] backe [...]; we receiue of him what we haue and are, he clothed vs, we feede at his vniuersall ordinary, but like shifting theeuish customers wee must bee followed with an ecce, you haue not payed.

Moses acknowledged there were no people vnderDeut. 47. 32. 33. the heauens, more blessed then Israel. Dauid sayd he hadIer. 2. 6. not dealt so with [...]: yet they sayd not where is the Deut. 9 13. Lord that brought vs [...] of the la [...]d of Egypt? but were anIsai. 1. 2. obslinate, a [...] people; no wonder if the hea­uensPsal. 19. 1, Et olim iam dictum est, & assiduè etiam nunc dicitur cognouit bos. Basil. proem. de i [...]dicio dei. are called to witnesse, (they declare the glory of God) and the earth, for all creatures in their kinde are thanke­full; giue the beasts they will know thee, the oxe, the tu [...]tle, the storke, all shall iudge man: giue the very earth it will bee abundantly thankefull; giue man, you must giue him an ecce, heauen, earth, all creatures hold their courses▪ man onely is exorbitant.

Christ did many wonders for the Iewes: see the vse they made of it, and by their error, we shall discouer our way; some vnthankfully neglect him, some malitiouslyDeut 32. 6. persecute him. O foolish people and [...], do ye so reward the Psa [...]m. 78. 25. Lord? againe, I fed them with Ma [...]na, with water also out of the stonie rocke. I say abridgeth all, [...] could haeue beene Isai. 5. done more that I haue not done? See their requitall, They gaue mee gall to eate, when I was thirstie they gaue mee vineger to Psal. 78: [...]: drinke: their vineger was sharpe to his sence, their vnthank­ [...]ulnesse was more distastfull to his soule; vnthankfulnesse was condemned and punished with death among the heathens: what wonder then if it be euer hat [...]full to God and men; no vnkindnesse so bitter as where our well meaning loues bids vs looke for loue againe.

All this commendeth to our vse Dauids [...] quie, [Page 7] praise the Lord O my soule. How often falleth that sweetePsal. 103. Chorus and bearing to his heauenly song; O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse, and declare the wonders that hee doth for the children of men. All good men are thankefull. Dauid had tasted of his mercy, andPsal. 116. pre [...]ently sayth, Quidretribuam? What shall [...] render? The heart of a good man is like the image in a glasse, with eyes euer fixed on the eye which beholdeth them, [...] Gods eye falleth on his miseries, his looketh vp to Gods mercies. There are many reasons for it. First, God giueth freely, andGratiarum de cursus cessat vbi recursus non fuerit it. Bern. in cap. Fe [...]an. serm. 1. onely expecteth ou [...] thankes, not that they can benefite him, but that he might giue more. Secondly, the course of grace stoppes where is no recourse of gratitude. Third­ly, that perisheth which is done for vnthankefull men, by which meanes, they are not onely, not bettered by the good they receiue, but made worse by all they haue. Fourthly, the Saints remember they are the sonnes of God, and his deere children: and the greater bands of loue, the more [...] ingratitude. It was not mine ene­my saith the Psalmist, for then I could haue borne it: but that a familiar friend had done him dishonour, is the very strength and summe enforcing the iustnesse of his com­plaint, [...] And thou my sonne, sayd Caesar, Brutus poynard ofSueton. all the conspirators was dipped in the Serpents gall: forNon quia in­iuriam patitur irasc itur sed quia tu secisti Chrysost. the adopted sonnes of God to sinne is to grieue the holy spirit of God. It was not so much the Rom [...]n lance, not so much the spitefull [...] which cryed crucifige, which pier­sed Iesus sides, as that cursed abstract sinne, with it weeHeb. 6. crucifie againe the Lord of life, at this he cryeth, and thou one Nimis durus est qui dilectio nem si nolit impendere no­lit rependere. of the twelue. He hath a stony heart who neither can loue fir [...]t nor requite the louing: to render good for euill is an action diuine; to [...] good for good humane, to repay euill for euill, brutish; but to recompen [...]e euill for good is diuellish.

Vnthankefulnesse is the very center to which all these blacke lines of sinne are drawne; euery sinne is an ingrati­tude [Page 8] against God, by so much more detestable, by how much greater Gods goodnesse. Whence it is not hard to gather, that of all Gods creatures, the Deuill is most vn­thankfull, and wicked men next. Behold therefore what thou doest, and thou shalt see what cause thou hast to be thankfull, it becommeth well the iust to be thankefull; He is very vniust who is not thankefull.

The third Ecce is a Remembrancer. Most men are [...]: Ecce recor­dationis. large in vowes and intents, but of vnfaithfull memories: you shall haue many with Iacobs vowes, in Iacobs estate, beginning his Pilgrimage, then they dreame of a Ladder to Heauen, thinke of the wayes of God, but with their two Droues find no leysure for Bethel, the House of God: if they haue this Ecce of remembrance, it is but as that frau­dulent Votarie sacrificed his almond shels in stead of halfe his vowed gaines, as much time as they esteeme cast away.

Wonderfull were the mercies of God vpon the House of Israel, then sang Moses and Miriam, but they suddenly forgat his [...]: the sweet Singer of Israel hath abrid­ged the storie, He was so mercifull, he forgaue their misdeeds, Psal. 78. 12. many a time turned he his wrath away, many a time did they prouoke him, they thought not of his Hand, and the day wherein he deliuered them. So yong Samuel sleeping in the Taber­nacle, answered Gods calls for the present, but presently fell asleepe againe: therefore God often awakeneth, often remembreth. It is true with man there are a burdensome kind of Benefactor [...], which do not so much speak of their benefits because they haue done them, as do thē that theyPlin. sec. l. [...]. ep. Pomp. Saturn. might speak of them: these but purchase hate with a price.

The Antients painted friendship extending both hands, one giuing, the other receiuing, she euer looking toward the receiuing hand. It is for giuers to forget, & receiuers to remember; but our infirmitie requireth Gods frequent vpbraidings: therfore saith Ambrose on these words, I par­don, De Poenitent. l. 2. c. 6. and remember not iniquitie; but doe thou remember, I re­count not what I haue forgiuen, but remember, that thou [Page 9] mayest amend. Boast not thy selfe as if thou wert innocent, lest thou proue more guilty, the more thou [...] thy selfe. God appointed first fruit▪ offrings of this Ecce of Re­membrance to be performed with this recognition, I ac­knowledge Deu, 16. 1, 2, 3. this day vnto the Lord, that I am come into the coun­trey which the Lord sware vnto our Fathers for to giue vs; a Syrian was my father, who being [...] to perish for hunger, went downe into Aegypt, and [...] there with a small com­panie, & grew there into a Nation: and now loe I haue brought the first fruits of the land which thou hast giuen me. How of­ten doth God looke on mens aduersitie, and labour, ease their shoulders from the burdens? how often doth he ex­change their despised care, carefull penury, for fauours, ho­nours, riches, fruitfull possessions; but where are our first­fruit-offerings? How many doth he restore to health? I say not, Where are the other nine? but where is the one man of ten, of an hundred, which remembreth himselfe to come back to God? Betwixt these two limits of weale and woe, the distance is like the passage to Elizium, there is a Let [...]e by the way, whose sleepy waters once tasted, we soone for­get, not only a Syrian was my father, but euen our first fruits, our acknowledgement of Gods mercy. Messala forgot his own name, say the Historians; saith not our experience the like? we haue our Messala's, who in the Land of Promise soone forget their name, deriued from their hungry Syrian father. I must say more, we are all Messala's, & in the vio­lence of sins lethargie forget the excellent Name? nay, na­ture of man: all creatures were made for man, & whereas they haue only foure muscles to turne their eyes round a­bout, prone to the earth, man hath a fift, to pull his towards Heauen; yet man more forgetfull then all, must often be put in mind of Gods benefits.

The righteous God hath so done his maruellous works, that they ought to be had in remembrance: God deliue­reth, and only saith as Ioseph, Remember me when it shall be Gen. 40. 14, 23 well with thee, yet Ioseph i [...] forgotten; the danger is, we will [Page 10] not then doe well when we are well. God chargeth the Israelites that they should not then forsake him, whenExod. 10. 17. they came to the fruitfull p [...]ssessions. Hee that is in any great danger cryeth with Pharaoh, Take away from mee this death onely. He that is in a stresse at sea will call on God and rouze vp o [...]hers like Ionahs Marriners. He that is vn­der the Crosse s [...]ith, as the thiefe on the Crosse, Lord re­member me? He that is si [...]ke, perhaps hath learned of Da­uid, all the d [...] and all the night to call vpon God. He that is poore and selleth his pittie, mouing plaints for bread sen­deth out the name of God before euery petition: there is no danger of his memory now; but take him, take all these laden with Gods bountie, when of all times a man would thinke they cannot now forget God, hauing their hands full of his benefits, and then Ioseph is forgotten; then they finde no time to thinke of God: so some men like the Siphius naturally soft, are hardned with oyle. Others like dishonest debtors, the more they owe, the more they shun the presence of their creditor As our eyes too neere [...]he obiect cannot see it, there must bee a proportionable [...]istance, so when Gods blessings are euen vpon vs, then we are in danger not to see them. God therefore often ta­ [...]eth them from vs a while, that we may learne to w [...]igh by want, who could not by possessing them. The Lynx Hi [...]ron. Plin. de lupis grega rijs l. 8. c. 22. hath excellent eyes, but so bad a memory, that but loo­king backe he forgetteth what he pursued: such are we in [...]ffliction q [...]icke sighted, but if we looke backe on pro­speri [...]ie we forget all: [...]ew dayes we keepe in memory de­liuerances from mise [...]ies some yeares old. No wonder if [...]od often beat vs treuant like non proficients, long lear­ [...]ing soone forgetting: dull and fraile memori [...]s must bee [...]olpen with frequent repetitions: therefore he humbled [...]srael he telleth the cause, remember the Lord thy God, if Deut [...]. [...]hou forget, [...] day you shall surely perish: if euer [...]orgetfulnesse deserue the rod, it is when we remember [...]ot the Lord, he neuer forgetteth vs, in the corne, in the [Page 11] fruites of the earth whilst we sleepe, or thinke not of him, he neuer forgetteth vs▪ our fields [...]elvs we must remember him, our houses, garmēts, children, health, peace, all crea­tures, cry remēber your Creator; amidst so many remem­brancers, it were many shames to forget God.

Some excuse themselues by the fraylty of their me­mory, yet forget not their losses, their paines: you shall haue some man lament the losse of one tooth twentie times, who neuer had it in his heart to thanke God for ma­ny other left, for his hands, legs, or eyes: is the losse of one limme so great, are not the vse and integritie of many worth thankes? Some fault their age, yet forget not their treasure: our delights are our memories darling, can a mo­ther forget her child?

Others challenge Nature of partiality, yet without a tu­tor remember iniuries. Memory the soules Notary regi­streth wronges in Marble, fauours in Ice, which the least warmth of prosperity dissolueth. Long we remember e­uils, benefit [...] not long: our minds are Lymbecks, angerAntisthen. [...] Laert. l. 6. the fire, all goodnesse is soone distilled, we onely retaining the vselesse dregs, in which, his art of forgetting were worth all our time: it is a sure marke of an vnsanctified memory, to be forgetfull of all but that we should forget: such is the vnthankefull mans mind; as hee sayde of his gout, would I worke? I haue no hands: would I walke?Dole [...]dum est & manus & pedes habeo. I haue no feete: must I smart? paine findeth me hands and feete. For God, he hath no memory at home; for sinne, for the world his wits are euer about him. But is thy memo­ry indeed broken and vnfaithfull? vse it like a bankerout, giue no day but enforce present payment: deferre not a day to be thankefull, lest after many faire warnings, a worse euill arrest thee a carelesse debtor. If this ecce hath remembred you; another attendeth to comfort you, which2. [...]m. 18. 27 commeth as Dauid sayd of Abimaaz with good tidings.

This ecce is de [...]iued from the foregoing three, we could4. Ecce con­solationis. not be disconsolate, if we knew, acknowledged, and re­membred [Page 12] what God doth, and hath done for vs.

All the afflictions of the children of God are but hea­ling stripes: I smite and heale (sayth God) hee woundeth with infirmitie, but healeth with [...]aith: a sicknesse to health,D [...]t [...]. 39. as Christ sayd of Lazarus, this sickenesse is not vnto death: Percussit [...] ­mitate sanauit fide. Ambr. ad Belic. it hath more smart then danger: when Iason Pheraeus friends had giuen him ouer, he found helpe at his ene­mies hands, whose stroke opening the impostume, one­ly killed the disease: our sickenesse is but Ias [...]ns wound,Plus aculei quam periculi. ib. Medicinam inuenit ex hoste. the▪ faithfull stripes of a louing God. Therefore are the righteous often called Gods children, babes, little babes: God dealeth with vs like wayward children: we are fro­ward, if we taste affliction, if then God giueth such medi­cine, he often giueth an ecce of comfort. As if he sayd, bee st [...]ll my child it will make thee well againe. Behold thou ar [...] healed.

When the Lyonesse fighteth for her whelpes, shee isVse. obserued to cast her eyes towards the earth, lest she shouldPlin. l. 8 c. 16. feare the danger of hunters speares: when we are to en­counterNe venabula expauescat. with afflictions, losses, sicknesse, for our dearest soules, we must not looke on the misery so much, not on Sathans fiery iauclins (they may perhaps affright vs) as fixe our eyes on heauen, on the mercy of God. Dauid found comfort in it, I will lift vp mine eyes to the hits, euen to GodPsal. 121. which made heauen and earth: when betwixt the two ar­mies he was to enter the dangerous lists, his eye was not so much on the ouergrowne champion of Gath, as on the Lord who deliuered him from the pawes of the Lyon and the Beare. We easily faint like cowards at the sight of blood when our memory apprehendeth a present feare, an ab­sent succor, a terror seene, a refuge out of view, a present sicknesse, a san [...]tus es to come. Therefore in euery tryall consider not so much what thou sufferest for the present, as what thereby thou shalt enioy for the time to come.

The Thracians for euery good and prosperous day, layd vp a white stone, for an aduerse, a black; so one day iudged [Page 13] of another, the last of all. It is true of mortall men, none are absolutely happy; yet he is abundantly happy who cannot finally be vnhappy: perhaps the worldly man iudgeth as the Thracians did calculate, by externals, happy are the people which are in such a case, where there is no com­plaining in the streetes. Dauid otherwise iudged, happy are the people (though there bee complaining) which haue the Lord for their God: hee knew that though the last day made absolutely happy, yet that happinesse is begun from the day wee receiue the one white stone with a new name, our redemption written: from thence weeReu. 2. 17. must learne to comfort our selues with this, behold wee are healed, what euer wee suffer, it shall worke for ourRom. 8. happinesse.

The Arimaspi were sayd to haue but one eye, and all their businesse to fight for gold. Carnall mens hearts haue but one eye, one thought, and that for riches. There­fore they are comfortlesse in their trials, because they want an eye for heauen, at least this ecce to shake off the scales, and open that they haue, as Dauiel opened his window toward Ierusalem the Citie of God, who saw the comfort through those clouds of feare [...] Saint Stephen saw theAct 7. 56▪ same, when nothing but ineuitable execution presen­tedVidete quam oculata sit fi­des quam lyn­ [...]eos habet o­culos. Bern. in Epiph. it selfe to his eyes, then hee witnesseth to the eye lesse faithlesse spectators, Behold I see the heauens open: see how full of eyes is faith, had we Saint Stephens faith, his sight, could we see heauen open to the afflicted, wee should haue his vnmoueable affiance: wee are comfort­lesse in our tryals, as Elishas seruant was at first, for want of seeing our comforts.

Antiphon was iudged to haue weake eyes, because hee saw no farre-distant obiects, yet could discerne his own image by the most slender reflection of the ayre: that we [...] are so curious sighted to the very appearances of miseries in our selues, not seeing the solid comfort in God, she w [...]s we are tender eyed, therfore we often say what Magdalen [Page 14] once, they haue taken away my Lord. In our sorrowes weIohn 20. know not our Iesus talking with vs: the reason is, because the sense of present euill, hath many doores to giue it en­trance into the soule; the eye, the eare, the taste, all the bo­dy is sensible of paine, like Hannibals house full of doores: but vnseene comforts enter through faith the only doore, leading to the doore of life Christ Iesus. So hath mans soule a smal window aboue to receiue light from heauen, but the doore, the passage for earth is of three heights; the more neede haue we to cleare this little win­dow towards heauen, that we may see the comfort which followeth in the next place.

WE haue hitherto seene the excitation, the stirring vp our attention, in foure points; first discouering to the igno­rant the good they haue; the second, reprehending the vnthankefull; the third, remembring the forgetfull; the fourth, comforting the afflicted.

Next, we are to consider what God hath done in re­storing his health. Chrysostome noteth the humilitie of Christ, not saying▪ I haue healed thee, but thou art healed. If man doe well consider the workes done, they will lead him to their author, Thou art healed. There is an health of Soule t [...]t he cured, who became like the Pellican in the Psal. 102. 6. Wildernesse, smiting his brest, and recouering vs, By his 1. Pet. 2. 24. stripes we are healed. There is an health of Body, I doubtTho. Aquin. part. 3. q. 44. a. 3. 3. not but he had here a respect to both, as in a like Cure, Matth. 9. 2. where he vseth them as conuertible termes, Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee, or Arise and walke.

Most men haue health as Soules, by which though they liue, moue, and vnderstand, yet not many vnderstand what, whence, or for what end they haue it. Which three points, as God, time, and your patience shall giue me leaue, I will consider.

[Page 16]Health so much differeth from health, that what it is, IQuid sanitas in esse. cannot without distinction describe. Health in it esse and proper being, was that vncorrupt disposition of bo­die in mans innocencie, when the foure first qualities in Man, as a Citie [...] vnitie in it selfe, by their brotherly [...], fortified him against all assaults of Paines, Aches, Sicknesse, Wearinesse, Decrepednesse, Old Age. Then was no ambition among them: but though they were by their beings contrarie, yet vnited into one be­ing of a right temper, they stroue not, but so [...] each other, that the euenly-diuided power kept peace betwixt them all, till the ambitious mind taught them to [...]: then Heat and Cold, Moist and Drie, eagerly as it were fighting for soueraignetie, by restlesse ciuill warres ouerthrew Mans body, the little modell of a State, neuer ending their intestine quarrell, till the great Vsur­per Death entring through the breach of sinne, surpri­zed all.

Since sinne was borne, a thousand life-killing Mala­diesQuid sanitas in existere. fore runne, as if they were sworne Harbingers to Death. So that Health in it existence and present being, is assaulted with many Infirmities, Distempers, Surfets, vntimély Accidents, a thousand Gates are set open to Death: And him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael, 1. King. 19. 17. shall Iehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Iehu, shall Elisha slay. If a man liue free of all these▪ Old Age commeth in the Maine Battaile, with Legions of Diseases; an vnresistable all-subdu­ing power.

I wonder what. Democritus it was, and in what mer­rie moode; how he [...] his cares asleepe, how he for­got his first language, or vnderstood not his last adue to the world, when he described a Man to be a Creature aptHomo est ani­mal risibile. to laugh; Man borne with teares, liuing with sorrow, dying with griefe. Nature (said one) which armeth all the Creatures, cast out Man naked in the day of his [Page 17] Natiuitie, to teares and crying. Thus happily borne, he [...] na­tus iacet mani­bus pedibusque devinctis flens animal caeteris [...], à [...] vitam auspicatur. lyeth bound hand and foot a weeping little Master of all the Creatures, beginning his life with punishment. And now Diseases swarme,Paenae mili­tant in me. Ly­ra vices & exer­citus contra me Iun. & [...]. velut copiae a­liae aliis succe­dentes. Changes and [...] are a­gainst vs, and as much varietie of Medicines, and those ouercome with nouelties in Diseases, making it a part of sicknesse to perish by skill, it being easier dying of thePli. l. 7. Proem. Disease, then too much remedie. [...] and frayle is mans health; Few and euill are the dayes of my Pilgri­mage, said good Iacob: halfe our life is like death; as death representeth sleepe, so sleepe death. The vnripe dayes of froward Infancie are hardly to be reputed a life; where­in though we liue, we thinke not of liuing: neyther of Old Age, the second Childhood, the Age of Sorrow and Care, wherein we haue so little pleasure, as oft we learneEst etiam morbus ali­quis per sapien­tiam mori. Plin. of Ionah to inuite that vn welcome guest Death, that cold­handed last and furest Physician for all Diseases, whom others in vaine striue to rob of some houres possession. Adde to these the sickly houres our stronger yeeres haue told; how many spent in sinne (for I can neyther call that health, when eyther the pensiue mind maketh the bo­dy sicke, or the pampered body the mind:) and if the vn­healthie are to be [...] (as one said of Sea-men) be­twixtNe immortalē in nobis mor­bum [...] ­ret. Basil. the liuing and the dead, we shall find, that he who hath reckoned many yeeres, hath liued but few, and those euill. That our dayes are euill, we cause; that being euill, they are few; Gods mercy prouideth.

At the best, externall health is but a delaying the ma­ladie for a little time: the Period is set, our liues Glasses euer runne: in our best strength wee decay. Heze­kiah may haue fifteene yeeres pieced vnto his life, yet hee must dye: The Heauens may stand still, yet the dayIosh. 10. 13. must end: Lazarus may liue some posthume dayes, yet must come to the Graue againe: The giuer of Natures Lawes onely can dispense with them; but we run towards our ends, no Age, no Estate, no Place can [...] vs.

[Page 18] Hormisda discouered Constantius vaine confidence in the pompe of the then triumphant Rome, when asked of the Emperour, what he thought of the pompe of that glori­ousId [...] tantum placuisse, quod didicisset, ibi quoque homi­nes mori. Citie, he replyed, it onely liked me, that I haue lear­ned, that men doe also dye at Rome. Artemidorus men of Taproban, liuing long, and neuer sicke, are truly the Ci­tizens of the heauenly Ierusalem, where no inhabitant shall Isa. 33. 24. say, I am sicke. But in this life there is no absolute health:Reuel. 22. 3. we are borne drawing death from our first originall, andAug. de Ciu. Dei, [...]. 13. c: 13. bearing natures corruption, and contention or victorie in [...] our members. The same point of time giueth an exordi­um to our liuing and dying: our life is but a lampe ligh­ted at our birth, which may haue some violent blast to putTheophrast. a­pud La [...]rt. l. 5. it out, or wind to spend it; but though neyther vntimely death extinguish, nor heart-eating sorrow consume, yet there is but a proportioned oyle of life, which will soone burne out.

Shall we then be impatient, and wish we had not been?Vse. This life is a time of triall, be contented a while with thyHaec est isto­rum flenda, sed non reprehen­denda c [...]ditio. Bed. in Ioh. Deut. 12. 9. discontents, he that now soweth in teares, shall reape in ioy. Shall we build great hopes on these sands? Eternitie is a surer rock: set not vp your rest here, for as Moses told Israel, Ye are not yet come to your rest, the short epitome of life forbiddeth to begin long hopes. There is nothing firme, not in health it selfe, (health the riches of the poore and the blessing of the rich) vaine hopes of worldly men,Vanae spes ho­minum in hoc seculo, quae ea quae non sunt tanquam quae sunt, sequenda arbitrentur. pursuing that which is not, as if it were. It is one thing of that which I haue wondred at, to see aweake sickly man, a drunkard, and the lame and vnhealthy, couetous and vniust, euen with dying hands laying hold on other mens goods. There is no comfortable possession with­out health, nor stabilitie in health: health so weakelyAmb. l 7. ep. 44 fortressed from a world of infir [...]es, that euen in the houre in which we call it ours, and say, Soule take th [...]e ease, wee are fooles, if wee know not they may take [...]way our soules. Thou canst not hold a vapour in thine hand, [Page 19] and life is but a vapour appearing for a little time, and sud­denlyIam. 4. 14. Habes iterum aegrotare & mori. vanishing. Suppose thou has [...] ouercome a dange­rous disease, thou must be sicke againe, [...]nd dye: there is no escape from the pale Sergeant; Death is that onely Creditor, which ha [...] no Bankrupt Debtor. Agree with thine Matth. 5. 25. aduersarie quickly.

Shall wee blame the giuer of Life for our liues short­nesse? The very Heathen esteemed that a great blessing. I will adde the reason: God is herein mercifull, not one­ly cutting off iudgement, by shortning the time of our transgression, but by our times shortning, and healths vn­ [...], deterring vs from sinne. He that dareth euill in the way to the Iudge, in an health so [...], a life so short, what would he not dare, if he were sure his iudge­ment were farre off? You haue seene what our health is. See from whence.

God is the giuer of health, he saith it: I am the Lord A quo sanitas. that [...]ealeth thee. Againe, he healeth all thine infirmities; Exod. 15. 26. Psal. 103. 3. of Soule, remitting all sinnes to one; of Body, hee is a preseruer as well as a Creator: and though second [...] ­ses haue their place, yet till he say, I will he [...] cleansed, Matth. 8. be thou sound, no meanes can be effectuall. [...] is theAmbr. true Physician, whose Cures are not of [...] Art, butMal. 4. 3. certaine Power: Health is vnder his wings, and [...] Cures free. Good Physicians are Gods Vice- [...] towardsIul. dixit de art. medic. [...] le. [...] med. the Body, their skill is sacred; and [...], who disclaymed to be the Lawyer, [...], who made me a [...]? honoured the Physician, in many [...], [...] him­selfe a Physician: therefore they are worthy of honour and reward. [...] may teach the vnthankfull so much: but they (should there be any such) who betray [...] [...] ­ents health to a [...], and [...] [...] Plin. [...] fatis, [...] a poore remainder of a [...] life to the graue, that they may take the [...] ofMortis [...]. death; they are but the [...] car­ [...], to [...] vpon them: the [...] to a [...] [Page 20] Profession: they haue not learned of Christ the compas­sion he had on all that came vnto him. The poore Hae­morrhois had experience perhaps of both: when shee had spent all on Physicians, she but touched the hemme of Christs garment, and was healed. He proued himselfeMatth. 11. 3. the Messiah by this argument to Iohns Disciples; theSi vulnus cu­rare desideras medicus est, si graveris ini­ [...], iustitia est, si mortem times vita est- De Virg: l. 3. lame are made found, the blind see, the lepers are clean­sed, the deafe heare. I conclude with Ambrose words, We [...] all things in Christ: if we are sicke, he is a Physi­cian; if sinfull, he is righteousnesse; if we feare death, he is life.

Wee must vsd this Lesson thu [...]; in all our sicknesse to haue recourse to God through Christ Iesus: he hath not left off the care hee had of his; if in his state of humilitie he was so powerfull, feare not, now all power is commit­ted to him: hee keepeth the very bones and dust of the Saints [...]: is [...] God of the dead, and not of the liuing?

There are three [...]orts of people which haue neede to learne [...] Lesson.

• 1. [...] so impatient, that if God answer not when they would, they will with S [...]l to Endor, with A­ [...] to [...], to the Diuell, to healing Witches
  2. King. 1. 2.
  for helpe. It is true, Sathan is a cunning Mountebanke, and Wizzards and good Witches keepe his shops, who to kill a superstitious Soule, are suffered to cure the Body. These may be admired like the Peloponnesian Physici­an
  Trans [...]t: no­men in carni­ficem. Plin.
  at Rome, for his first Cures, but experience will name them [...], cruell Butchers. I may say as he of the
  M. Cato. de Medic. Athen.
  Athenians, they haue sworne to kill all their patients with Physicke.
• 2. Others Asa like neglect God, and trust to the Phy­sician: though such men vse lawfull meanes, yet they erre as the former, but with this difference; they made the De­uill their God; these, other Creatures.
• 3. Others neglect the good means which God hath gi­uen, [Page 21] and so tempt God in the foolish hazard of their life. They say their dayes are numbred; so were Sauls & Iudas dayes, yet they were guilty of murder: and if not to saue, be to kill, what are they lesse who obstinately refuse proba­ble meanes of recouerie? Some say, because they are not certaine: they must know there are many reasons why the same meanes obtaine not alwayes the like good effect.

First, if none should faile, too many would ascribe their health to the creature.

Secondly, God reserueth some Cures, in which he will more immediatly discouer his owne hand: there were ma­ny Widowes in Israel in the dayes of Elisha, but onely vnto one was the Prophet sent; many lepers in Assyria, but Naa­man only healed; many here sicke, and of diuers diseases,Chrysost. to. 3. hom. 35. but this one cured by Christ; God seeth good to shew his presence in few.

Thirdly, to some he giueth not health presently; to o­thers,Quod longin­quitatis cura­tione memori­am eius altius in animis no­stris impres­sam velit, Ba­sil. [...]reg. fus. disp. c. 55. not at all: either by the difficultie of the cure to leaue a deeper impression of his mercy; or to exercise them who are not yet of patience proued and approued: they will haue an hundred medicines, and none endured an houre; they will be of Naamans peeuish temper, to prescribe God and the Physician; they will be well, how, and when they list, or else they cry, Are not Abanah and Pharpar, Riuers of Damascus, better then all the waters of Israel? they will repine and murmure against God himselfe.

For these and the like causes, God giueth not the like effect to all; yet that exempteth none from the lawfull vse of his Ordinance: he heareth not all, yet all must pray; the Word profiteth not all, yet all must heare; God is displeased, if the meanes he hath prescribed be neglected: albeit by the powerfull effects of his hidden iudgements he teach vs to distinguish betwixt the first cause and the second; that to be trusted to, this to be vsed. God gaue health to Hezekiah, yet the Prophet applyeth the plaster. [Page 22] What is lordan to a leprous [...]? What, Siloam? What, a troubled Bethesda to euery disease? The Angell stirred, but God healed, his Ministerie, Gods power. ItCurando per modum impe­rii Aquin. part. 3. q. 44. a. 3. is to be obserued, that Christ in his healing did not only vse his Diuine power, but opposed something belong­ing to his Humanitie: to teach vs, that wee must ney­ther neglect the meanes, nor forget God, the giuer of Health. Which leadeth me to my last consideration of Health.

The true vse of Health is with euery facultie of Body3. vsus, salutis. and Soule to honour God: Prayse the Lord, O my Soule, and all that is within me prayse his holy Name. So Dauid: Psal. 103. 1. The Lord was [...] to [...] me, therefore wee will sing my Song all the dayes of our life in the House of God. So said Hezekish; by this meanes wee shall lay vp a good proui­sion (the treasure of a good conscience) against the time of Sicknesse, as Ioseph stored vp in plentie against a Fa­mine.

There are two Nations of finnes, eternall foes to the people of God, like Moab and Ammon, begotten ofGen. 19. 35. 36. those two base Daughters of Health in their Fathers for­getfulnesse, Drunkennesse and Lust: of eyther of them may be said that of Ambrose concerning her dauncing,Quanta in vno facinore sunt crimina, l. 3. de virgin. How many faults were in that one Wickednesse? Many thinke their health giuen them, to make them able to powre in much strong d [...]inke▪ and themselues borne toTanquam ad perdendum vnia geniti etiam premio invitatur ae­brietas. deuoure Wine, and eate vp the fruits of the Earth. When Nilus [...], it maketh▪ Egypt fertile: Gluttonie and Drunkennesse is our Nilus, which (saith Basil) like a dispersed Riuer ouerflowing her Bankes, pubescere fa­cit peccata, doth ripen sinne. Wee might haue in­stanceNos numerus sumus & fru­ges consumere nati. in Noe, Lot, Esau, Israel, but that this Age, rob­bing the Dutch of their intemperance, as all other Na­tions of their once-esteemed proper vices, aboundethSerm. de abdi: rerum. with example. Wee lacke, in eue [...]ie corner of the Land, an Academic of Cynicks, to be angry with theLaert. l. 6. [Page 23] betrayers of their strength, destroying their owne health in sacrificing to others. It was but a fable of Circes, which this monstrous age maketh true. Intemperance is our Circes which transformeth men into variable sortes of beasts: which like the [...], do fight and kill with their cups, the bloody enemy not destroying so many as the drunken friend. One sayd drunkennesse is the death of the memory [...]he spake enough, the drunkard forgetteth his friend, his state, his health, his reason, himselfe, his soule, and God not his. How should he then remem­berProu. 23. 29. 32. the end, woe and sorrow. It goeth downe pleasantly but in the end it will bite like a Serpent, and hurt like a Cockatrice whose deathfull eye if thou foresee not will kill thee.

Others giue their healths to harlots: among all the I­deots the wise man considered, this one voyde of vnder­standing▪ Pro. 7. 23. going like the foole to correction, like the Oxe to the slaughter: ambitiously begging, and dearely buying repen [...]ance at the best, or going on till a dart strike through his liuer. The Embassadors replyed wisely to Lysimachus [...]. Demosth. shewing in his armes, the wounds he receiued when he played with a Lyon, Demetrius hath more dangerous markes in his necke which Lamia gaue him; no beast so cruell as an harlot, none other can bite the soule: I finde Eccles. 72. 8. more [...] then death, the woman whose heart is as nets and snares▪ the curses of the damned, and malice of the diuell, are not so hurtf ll, as the flattry and loue of a whore: shee consumeth the estate, rotteth the body, killeth the soule: she bringeth a man to a morsell of bread, shame and disho­nour, she causeth many to fall downe wounded, and the strong Prou. 7. 26. 27 men are all [...] by her, her house is the way to the graue, which goeth downe to the cham [...]ers of death. This is the fire which Iob. 31. 12. deuoureth to destruction: God wi [...]l iudge them, they shall not Heb. 13. 4. inherit heauen, but the lake which burneth with fire and brim­stone. 1. Cor. 6. 9. Reuel 21. 8. Such is the reward of them which abuse their health: some thinke if they follow such pleasures as the world calleth lawfull, they owe God no tribute for their health. [Page 24] Pleasure like Ionahs gourd is of a short & pleasing growth but when God hath prouided the worme to bite the root where is then Iosephs prouision? Some sacrifice all their time to Mammon: but take such a man on his death bed, shall thy wealth now deliuer thee from hell? Where is Ios [...]phs prouision now? the cause why many are so com­fortlesse in their sicknesse, is because they make no good vse of their healths. If thy health did not cor [...]upt thee, thy sicknesse could not dismay thee: but so easily doth the bodyes health make a diseased soule, that some call itAduersitas nulla confrin­git, quem fae. licuas non corrumpit. Aug. not amisse a vitious health: multi tutius aegrotassent, Sicke­nesse had beene more safe for many. How much better had it beene for Dauid to haue beene sicke in bed, then sending his eyes, such vnlawfull embasses to Barthsheba. How much better for them (which now tormented inVitiosam sa­nit atem. Orig. hom. 1. in Psal. 37. hell fire wish it too late) neuer to haue beene free from sickenesse, that at least, their torments might haue beene lesse: Learne by their euill, how to vse the good thou hast; let this part teach theethe next: Sinne no more le [...]t a worse come vnto thee.

PHisitians forbid that dyet which cau­sedCausa morbi inuenta cura­tionem inuen­tam esse pu­tant. [...]ic. the disease; and the cause found, they esteeme the cure found. By this admonition then we learne; that, Sinne Basil. serm. quod Deus non sit author mal: is the cause of sickenesse: death entred into the world through sin, and sicke­nes fore-ran death in the same passage. It was neuer sayd before, C [...]rsed be the earth for thy sake, Gen. 3. 17. in sorr [...]w shalt thou eate thereof. Neuer did any heare I will greatly encrease thy sorrows: sinne like the Grecian strata­gem, though it were let in by a small-seeming breach, yet her bowels were laden with a world of armed mis­chiefes, which set open the soules gates to the destroyer: &2. King. 5. 27. sins infection is stampt as deepe as Gehaza's leprosie, to Ipsi nobis vin­cula nectimus. thee and to thy seed for euer: so that we haue framed our own snares, wee walke in the fire wee haue kindled, for theAmbr. de paen l. [...]. c. 14. wickednesse of Iacob is all this. Michai 1. 5. Therefore Mich. 6. 13 will I make thee sicke in smiting thee, because of thy sinnes. Scot. sup s [...]c. sent. dist. 31. Sinne is that morbida qualitas: the infection of the soule and body. Dauid was sicke for it, there is no sound part [...]. Chron. 21. 12. 19. in my flesh because of my sinne. Much more Iehoram his bowels fell out for his his sinnes. Miserie commeth not forth Iob. 5. 6. of the dust, To sicknesse and all those previous disposi­tions [Page 26] of death, in labour, wearinesse; in old age, faint­nesse; and as many more as are allyed to sickenessePaena non po▪ test esse sine­culpa, [...] innocentia, nō accidissetmors quilibet tran­slatus esset in Paradisum. sinne gaue being: for the punishment could not haue been without the crime. Al miseries are the vndoubted child: ē of sinne; sinne is that Eue, that grandmother of euery ma­lady: sinne is that world envenoming Dragon, not so little as that whose tayle swept ouer a third part of hea­uen. Great was the inf [...]ction of Egypt, on the land, onScot. ib. dist. 19. the waters, on the trees, on the corne, on the field, on their houses, on the earth, on the ayre, on man, on beast, but stillReu. 12. 4. G [...]shen was excepted; but sinne went ouer all. For sin the earth is cursed, it is her sicknesse, euery creature groneth and trauelleth in paine, a generall contagion. The mischiefe stai­ethRom. 8. 22. not here, but flyeth vp to the cloudes, and there some­time lxion-like begetteth monstrous Centaures, fiery e­ruptions,Iosh. 10. 11. ayre infecting meteors, thunders, stormes, tem­pests:Psal. 18. 13. [...]ometime it maketh that dewie region of cloudes like Abimelech: house barren, euery wombe shut vp: thenGen 20. 18. our heauen is as brasse and our earth iron, then the LordDeut. 28. 23. 24. giueth vs dust & ashes for raine. All is litle that can be sayd to this one thing. Christs soule was very heauy euen vntoMat. [...]6. 38. the death for sinne. Hee was wounded for our [...], Isai 53. and broken for our iniquities: all his sorrow was for sinne, not his, but ours. All our debt hath beene payd by obedi­ence of suffrings, not ours but his; yet we suffer because we sinne yet. Christ who for vs ouer came the malice of sinne, prescribeth sinne no more. It was sinne made thee sick, when he sayd, thy sinnes are forgiuen thee, he began the cure whereMat 9. 2. the malady began.

We often put the fault on guiltlesse nature: we thinkeVse. why were we borne to miseries? wee blame our bodies constitu [...]ions: Ahab imputed his fault to the Prophet, but it is thou Ahab, thou sin and thy fathers house, the diuels vgly family, which trouble all Israell. We accuse the di­stempers of the yeares: But man suffereth for his sinne, hast Lament. 3. thou not procured this vnto thy selfe? Diseases are all begot­tenIer. 2. 17. 29. [Page 27] of that mishapen hagge and fearefull Incubus sinne.Ex peccatis morbi gene­rantur▪ Chrys. ho. 37. in Ioh. Shall I then be discouraged in my sickenesse, or iudge o­thers plagued of God in theirs? not so, all are not in firme for sinne, though none without: some against sinne, some for probation and exercise, as Iob whom God pronoun­cedPropter pecca­ta languebat. Bed. iust: Some that the glory of God might appeare. Therefore they asked amisse who had sinned, Iohn 9.Ne extollan­tur in donis Dei. ibid. Neither he nor his parents had sinned, which must be re­ferred to the immediatnesse of his maladies cause. He hadVeniunt & probandae pa­tientiae causa Chrys▪ ib. deserued the euill, but God aymed especially at his own glory in the cure: Seest thou a man afflicted? leaue him to God who best knoweth why hee striketh: his iudge­ment is alwayes iust, though oft [...]n secret. Seest thou aAmbr. l. 9. [...]. 75. wicked man healthy and strong, enuy him not, his mise­ryBed. Saepe oc­culto homini­bus iudicio sed nunquam in­iusto. is to come, but when we are chastened, we are corre­cted; that we might not be condemned with the world. Art thou afflicted? euer thinke thou sufferest lesse then thou hast deserued.1. Cor. 11. 32

To conclude; this one lesson well learned, would be aSi penso ma­lum quotidie quod feci non est tantum quod patior grauius est quod commisi leuius quod tolero. Aug. med. e. 38. good meanes to preuent many errors, many euils of body and soule: you shall haue some man, if his body be neuer so litle dis-affected, send in as much hast for the Physitian as Gehazi ran to the Shunamites sonne, (if thou meete any salute him not) if he sinne, he deferreth, dissembleth, or per­haps it hath a noli me tangere, none may touch it: if he sin it pleaseth him, if he be sicke nothing can comfort him: O peruerse affection of the ignorant man, his body is to him as Dauids beloued childe, bewailed with teares; his soule like the Iewes friends▪ whose death they solemni zed with instruments of musicke: the reason is, they ob­serue not what dangerous: effects sinne worketh to body and soule: therefore they striue with the effects, but touchNeglecto son­te malorum rivulos purga­re conantur. not the cause. Wilt thou be healed? remoue the cause, the effect will cease: sinne is the fountaine of euill, first cleanse that, Sinne no more, for God smiteth for sinne; whichChrys. in Ma [...] 4. hom. 14. bringeth me to a second consideration of sickenesse.

[Page 28]God smi [...]h with sickenesse therby to restraine the fu­ryCur D [...]us im­mittit morbos? of the wicked, and to instruct the righteous: EgyptsExod. 9. 10. plagues, the pestilence in the campe of Israel, the murmu­rers,Num. 16 49. the Philistim; Emerods, Gehazi [...] leprosie, Herods 1. Sam. 5. 9. wormes shew the one, Iob, Dauid, H [...]zekiah, with many2. King. 5. 25. others like this present instance, marked with an [...] sana­tus Act. 1 [...]. 22, 23. Iob. 42. 5, 6. es, Sinne no more, proue the other. My discourse is e­speciallyPsal. 119. 71. addressed to this.Isai 38. 20.

Affliction hath three daughters; like Iobs last three giuenIob. 42. 14. him after his trialls, more beautifull then the former: Ex­ercise, purging sinne; Prob [...]tion, giuing approbation; and Reward crowning our labours.

God gaue a life free from all sicknesse and p [...]ine: when man abused that gift, he afflicted him with many i [...]firmi­ties, by correcting the body, the baser part to amend the more excellent: like a good Physician; if an obstinate dis­ease,Extrinsecus ferro & igni vtitur. Chrys. the Splene, or Dropsie, will not be cured with poti­ons and light medicines, he vseth lancing and cauterizingIoh. [...]. 15. [...] without. So are our sicknesses like Christs Scourges, which he made to driue the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, I meane those cursed Brokers, which sell vs to Sinne, Securitie, and Neglect; in which our luxuriant1. Sam: 26. 11, 13, 14. minds full fed, soone fall asleepe: then comm [...]h God, as Daui [...] to Saul sleeping, and taketh away the speare and pot No [...] vltionis exequtio, sed absolationis operatio. Amb. de poen. l. 1. c. [...]. of mater, our strength▪ and nourishment; but [...]lling to vs a farre off, sheweth plainely he did not take aduantage to kill, but to awaken vs. Doe I desire the death of a sinner? Why will ye die, O house of Is [...]e? Looke how a father pit­tiethCu [...] morbo no [...] cum aegro di [...]icat. Basi [...]. his owne child, so is God mercifull to his: he cor­rect [...]th, but his indi [...]ation is not execution of reueng [...],Qu [...]d Deus no [...] sit auth. malorum. but working of p [...]rdon: Like a good Physician, he fight­eth with the disease, not the diseased. Christ wept for Ie­rusalem, before he took vp the Rodde. Looke how wiseLuk. 19. 41. Ecce [...] & [...]. Iun. &. Trem. parents punish their childrens fa [...]ks, but suffer with their persons, how anger goeth betwixt the child and the fault like the s [...]king [...] and [...] l [...]pe betwixt Abra­hams Gen. 15. 10, 17 [Page 29] diuided Sacrifice: which Gr [...]gorie expresseth thus; Sic culpam [...]u­am in [...]equor, vt te diligam, [...]ic personā diligo vt culpae viti [...] non amplectar. l. 1. ep. 33. Ve­nantio. I repreh [...]d thy faul [...], that I may lo [...]e thy person, s [...] l [...]e thy person, that I may not be guiltie of thy crime: So God sendeth sicknesse, yet as Dauid his battailes against Absolom, with this charge, Deale gently for my sake with the yong man. God correcteth his, but often as the Persians beat their Prin­ces Clothes, not their Princes. Infirmities are Gods2. Sam. [...]8. 5. well-ordered troupes, which strongly charge the disor­derly affections of a rebellious minde: yet to these hee sayth as concerning Iob, Loe he is in your hand, but saue Iob. 2. 6. his life.

Sinne is the water as in a Pericardium compassing our heart, which should be the Altar of God; sicknesse like Eliahs fire sent from Heauen, licketh it vp, consuming that1. King. 18. 38. fomitem peccati, abounding in a full and healthie bodie: Therefore he giueth a lit [...]le rebated sorrow, as PhysiciansPlin. Venenum hoc remedia secum habet, l. 11. c. 35 poyson; which, as one saith of the Cantarides, carry a re­medie with them, and is an externall antidote against eter­nall weeping and gnashing of teeth: so soueraigne a me­dicine, that euen the weake haue desired it; Reserue me In Psal. 37. [...]om. 1. not to vtter darkenesse (said Orige [...]) rather correct me, O Lord.

Mauritius guiltie of the bloud of twelue hundred souldiers (through his couetousnesse vnransomed and put to the sword) hauing beene terrified with many [...]arefull predictions, and gastly apparitions; humbly be [...]ought the Lord, that he might haue his punishment in this life: which hee obtayned, not in a little sicke­nesse; but first seeing the Empresse his Wife and deare Children butchered at Phocas command, he onely said, Righteous art thou, O Lord, and iust is thy iudgeme [...]t: andIu [...]us es do­mine & rectum iuditium tuum with the like constancie himselfe soone after suffered death. Good men doe so much loue God, and hate sinne, that they had rather suffer famine to beate downe their bodies, [...]icknesse to weaken them, heauie afflicti­ons to bruise them, then sinne should reigne ouer them: [Page 28] [...] [Page 29] [...] [Page 30] men willingly drinke a bitter draught to cure them:Vt per amarū poculum ad dule edinem ae­ternae salutis redeant. Greg. Therefore sayd Ambrose, blessed be God who vouchsafed to correct his seruants, that he destroy them not: and con­cerning Gods words of Iob, he sayth resoluedly, Let the Serpent eate my flesh, let him grinde my body, onely let GodQui vult ser­vulos suos ca­stigare [...] per­dat. l. 1. ep. 28. say of me; I deliuer him into thine hands onely, keepe his soule. Such is the power of Christ, at his command the ra­uenous Lyon must keepe his owne prey in safetie betwixtConterat cor­pus dicat & de me trado tibi & tantum mo­do animam eius custodi. ib his teeth, he may vlcerate the flesh, but he must keepe the soule. Let him be alwayes [...]uill, that God may be euer gra­tious, who turneth that malice into our good: who ther­by killeth our sinnes.

Shall I then repine at mine infirmities? God sendethCarnē vlcerat sed custodit animam. ib. sickenesse against sinne as Ioab besieged Abel, onely for the traytor Sheba, whose head throwne ouer the wall theVse. warre was end [...]. Sinne is the Sheba which God pursueth,2. Sam. 20. 20. 21. if we deliuer it vp God will soone raise the siege. Feare not affliction if thy [...]nne hurt thee not: Bubbles filled with ayre breake themselues, it is their weakenesse; beateNulla nocebit aduersitas si nulla domine­tur iniquitas. an Adamant with an hammer, it breaketh not: a small af­fliction breaketh the heart of a wicked man, but nothing can destroy the righteous: no affliction shall hurt whereNemo laeditur nisi à seipso. no iniquitie reigneth. So true is that no man is hurt but by himselfe: Or [...]gen thus sayth of the enemy, SinneChrys. To. 5. Peccata vires hostibus pre­bent. [...]. Iudic. hom. 3. giueth him a breach to enter, and power to kill. Sinne is that Delilah, which cutteth off our strength, and deliuereth vs into the power of affliction, it is the soules trayterous Catiline, O happy state, this heape of mis­chiefeO fortunam rempub. si qui­dem hanc sen­tinam huius v [...]bis e [...]cerit. cast out, one onely Catiline drawne out, the Citi [...] seemeth eased and refreshed. What euill or im­pietie can be deuised or thought of, which he con­ceiued not? Against such danger God fore-arm­ethCicer. Orat. 2. in Catilin. vs by sickenesse: Euery father can tell why hee vseth the Rodde: Correct thy so [...]ne, and he will giue thee rest, Prou. 29. 17. Heb. 9. 4. he will amend his faults: before Gods Arke were layd vp Mann [...] and the Rodde, not Manna without the Rodde, [Page 31] mercy without stripes; for his stripe [...] conuey his mercy to vs by amending vs. Such wanton Adoniahs, who from their youth must not haue so much said to them, as, Why haue yee done so? may proue faire, but very seldome good.1. King. 1. 6. Dauid was better instructed with the terrors of God from his youth vp; therefore confesseth, It is good for me that I Psal. 119. 71. haue beene afflicted, that I might learne thy Statutes. You see the first daughter of Affliction.

The next is Approbation. God giueth his childrenPlin. 7. c. 2. such tryalls, as the Psylli in Africa were said to cast theirs [...]. before Serpents, which hurt them not, if they were legi­timate; or as they were reported, to throw their infants vpon the Rhene, which drowned the adulterate bloud, but rendred the vnstained to the carefull mother againe:Iul. ep maxim▪ so God proueth vs, that he may approue vs, to the intent,1. Pet. 1. 23. that wee might know what hee knew before all Worlds,Rom. 8. 35. that wee are borne of an immortall seed, and no afflictionDum tenuitas in corpore pal­lor in vultu, virtus patefa­cta est. Tho. Aquin. in Mat. can separate v [...] from him. Night putteth not out, but more clearely sheweth the starres: a thinne and sickly bodie sheweth the patience of the godly, so are our losses gainefull.

Cast all thy care vpon God: thou art in the hands of aVse. faithfull Creator, who will not deale ouer-roughly with thee. He said of Israel, in all her troubles he was troubled,Isai▪ 63. 9: and that he bare them and carried them continually. Againe, as an Eagle stirreth vp her nest, [...]uttereth ouer her birds, ta­keth Deut. 32. 11; 12, 13. them and beareth them on her wings; so the Lord aloneSentientem quid rapiat in Ganymede, & cui ferat, par­centem vngui­bus etiam per vestem: Plin. l. 34. c. 8. carried them on the high places of the earth, but as Leocras made the Eagle, carrying Ganymede so tenderly, as if hee had knowne what she was carrying, and to whom, onel [...] griping his clothes with her tallons. Sicknesse and paines are the sharpe tallons, in which God taketh vs vp to proue vs, but so gently, that he hurteth not. That maketh the ex­perienced Saint entertaine Gods corrections with alacri­tie,ô si mihi leui daret salutem vulnere. Amb. de virg. l. 3. whilst to the wicked man they are as dreadfull as some inexorable Sergeant to a bankrupt Debtor. Dauid saith [Page 32] God shall suddenly shoot at them, and they shalbe woun­ded, but the good man shall not be afraid for any euill ti­dings, nor for the flying arrow. Though the good & bad indifferently seeme the marke at which death shooteth, sicknesse, yet to the good mans heart the Lord sayth as the Prophet to Ioas [...], Behold the arrow of the Lords deliue­rance; 2. King. 13. 17. paines are to them the arrowes of the Almightie, (Dauid and Iob were very sensible of them) but like Io­nathans 1. Sam. 20: arrowes, shot to warne, not to wound. Blessed is the iust (marke the man) what euer hee suffer, his endPsal. 37. 37. shall be peace: hee is comforted in his bodies infirmitie2. Cor. 4. 16. and decay, by the sense and assurance of his inwardBarba comae (que) canitie posita nigrū rapuêre colorem: pulsa fugit macies, abeunt vallor­que situsque met. l. 7. mans renuing: death to him is but like [...] sword in old Aeson's throat, letting cut the old bloud to re­new his age, an age which in spight of time shall neuer be old.

The good and bad must be sicke, and dye, and both returne out of deaths lightlesse prison, but like Pharoahs Gen. 40. seruants, one to honour the other to execution: euen death approueth the righteous, wherein Christ is our aduantage,Phil. 1. 21. and death so bitter-sweet a gayne, that euen they which feare it, desire it: Let me die the death of the righteous, and Numb. 23. 10. let my last end be like his, said the vnrighteous Prophet. Sicknesse is the suburbs of death, death the gate of Hea­uen (a loathed Gate to so desired a Citie:) Opinion and humane failtie for a time shutteth the Saint from his de­sires, but when the Angell of the Lord shall call vs, as Peter out of prison, these chaynes shall fall off, and thoseAct. 12. 7. 10. Iron Gates which leade to the Citie, open by it owne accord, and giue an easie passage. Then especially shall God ap­prouevs: then we shall know, that all these bodily paines are like the Babylonish fire, in which the ChildrenDan. 3. 22. 27: walke safely, and their Tormentors onely perish; and like the Red Sea, in which the Aegyptian is drowned,Exo. 14. 28, 29 but the Israelite passeth thorow them, to his long desired rest.

[Page 33]Here is Afflictions second daughter; a Naomi, thoughRuth. 1. 20. she would be called Marah: the reward is next, the ioyes which grow among the thornes of sorrow; and they are seuen sweet Babes of an ill▪looking Mother.

The first is, Sicknesse weaneth vs from the loue of the World: Israel loued her bondage too well, though she groaned vnder it; God suffered her to be afflicted, toEcce mundus turbat & ama­tur, quid si tranquillus esset? force her to seeke a better rest. Wee find many inconue­niences in the World, yet wee cleaue to it; what would wee doe, if there were none? How would they loue a faire Rahel, who [...] so much on a bleare-eyed Leah? ex­tremitie of paine is the onely Wormewood which God layeth to the brest, to draw our loues from this infected Nurse, the World, which we onely enioy in health; with­out which, all earthly ioyes are but as Messes of Meat setEcclus. 30. 18. vpon a Graue.

Secondly, it bringeth vs more acquainted with death, and maketh him lesse feared, by how much more familiar: how bitter is the remembrance of death to the alwayes healthie? health and prosperitie make vs desirous to liue. Antigonus souldier healed of a long-felt infirmitie, proued a very Coward; for which being reproued, hee replyed, Thou, O King, hast made me so, who by giuing meTu me minus audacē [...] quod ijs malis me vindicasti quibus à me vita cōtemptui habebatur. health hast taken away the contempt I had of life. Dis­contents haue strange power to make vs loue death (so through a darke and false Medium, the vgly may seeme fairer:) [...] desireth the death from which hee fled; a little heat made Ionah wish to die: short p [...]nes haue so ouercome the wicked, that they haue changed them for death eternall; and so much discouered the Saints infir­mities, that they haue loathed not onely their present be­ing,Ier. 20. 14. Iob 3. 3. but what they haue beene. Death seemeth betterEcclus. 30. 17. then a bitter life, such force haue short paines: but whoSubire semel satius, quam cauere semper▪ Suet vit. Iul. was euer so fearefull, that he had not rather once fall, then euer hang by the hands; once dye, then euer feare death, and liue in paine?

[Page 34]Thirdly, it maketh Gods mercy in health better vn­derstood: if all were day, the light; if all Summer, euen that season would be vnpleasing to vs: the good weeAug. de Ciu. Dei, l. 14. c. 17. haue, is commended by some annexed contrary: the paine of the disease knowne, the pleasure of health is sweeter. Wee neuer rightly account what wee owe to God for health, saue when we begge it in sicknesse.

Fourthly, it bringeth vs to God in amendment of a mis-spent life: wee haue instance in many, of whom I may fay, their extremities amended them, their prosperitieConfessus in fluctibus nega­uit in terra emendauit a­que quem ter­rena deflexe­rant. corrupted them. As Ambrose saith of Peter and Ionah, he confessed Christ on the waues, but denyed him on the land; and Ionah fled Gods presence, seeming safe, but found a Chappell to pray and prayse God in the belly of the Whale. Many being in health, endeuour to flie from God, but in some desperate sicknesse they learne to singAegra anima deo propinqua Greg. Naz. ep. 190: their De profundis; sicknesse mendeth that good man, whom health marred: When I afflict them, they will seeke me early. Ephraim bemoaned himselfe, Thou hast chaste­ned Hos. 5. 15. me, surely after that I was instructed, I repented. GodIer. 31. 18, 19. cureth a dissolute heart as the Prophet did Ierico Waters,2. King. 2. 20, 21. by [...]asting in salt, sharpe, biting remedies.

The fift is Patience: which as one said of Learning, is [...] an Ornament in prosperitie, and a Refuge in aduersitie. It is good for a man (saith the weeping Prophet) to beare the yoke Arist. in his youth: he putteth his mouth to the dust, if there may be Laert. l. 5. hope; he giueth his cheeke to him that smiteth him. It see­methLament. 3. 27. a strange saying: Is it good to be afflicted, that I may learne patience? see the reason: It is a rare thing to see a man externally prosperous, patient; I grant he may haue a disposition to patience, he may discourse like some bookish souldier of the warres, which neuer saw fight: but patience is the child of aduersitie: and considering the manifold calamities to which euery man in this life is sub­iect, no wayes to be auoided, but by patient bearing them, it seemeth to me no paradox, that without outward or [Page 35] in ward aduersitie, it is not easie for a man to be happie. They iudge amisse, who thinke a man can be patient without tryals, or happie without patience: that such a man may seeme happie, wee know; that hee is generally vnhappie, we may learne. Chrysostome sayth well of pros­pe [...]tie,De amore De & [...], To. 5. It hath brought in grieuous Masters and Tyrants to the [...]. To omit the multitude, and speake of this one, [...] animae suae heros ty­rannosque in­vexi [...]. Impatience is a very Tyrant, worse then [...] and his Taske-masters, for it suffereth not a man to [...]nioy any thing he hath: Hath the impatient man riches? hee en­ioyeth them not, who is impatient for that [...] hath no more: hath he friends? eyther he loseth them by his im­patience, or else enioyeth them not with whom he is dis­pleased [...] hath hee a faire and prosperous estate? what is that to him who is not pleased with it? hath hee health? his mindes distemper robbeth him of the vse of it. In a word, the impatient man possesseth nothing (except he possesseth other things which possesseth not himselfe:) Christ sayth, By your patience [...] your soules; withoutLuk. 21. 19. patience you cannot enioy your selues: such is the impa­tient mans case. Marke the man: neyther vnderstanding, will, memorie, neyther hand nor tongue serue him, all areIn homine im­patiente domi­natur ira & furor, & eum possident [...]. in Luc part. 2. slaues to passion; and whilest hee thinketh hee hath all things in hauing his froward humor, indeed Impatience hath him, but hee hath nothing, not so much as himselfe. Now tryalls bring forth patience, and the quiet fruits of righteousnesse; which follow in the next place.Rom. 5. 3.

Sixtly, it worketh to the children of God a peace pas­sing all vnderstanding of a naturall man; that is, a calme­nesse and quietnesse of mind in the experience of Gods mercies. Where the seditious Gra [...]us was s [...]aine atAug. de Ciu. Dei, l. 3. c. 25. Rome, the Temple of Concord was built: so, there God foundeth in our hearts the Temple of Peace, where our peacelesse sinnes are buried with Christ, and our impati­ence in our sufferings.

Seuenthly, the last is the reward, whereof this life tasteth [Page 36] only first fruits, a cluster from Eshcol; the assurance of aNumb. 13. 24. better life in this liues decaying: Our light afflictions for a 2. Cor. 4. 17. moment causing vnto vs a greater weight of eternall glory.

As Samson said of his Lyon of Timnah, Out of the eater Vse. came meate, and out of the strong came sweetnesse: So will IIudg. 14. 14. conclude this point: What stronger then Sicknesse, or more deuouring then Death? or so sweete as Heauen? Behold, Happie is the man whom God correcteth: therefore Iob. 5. 17, 18. despise not thou the chastening of the Almightie, for he ma­keth sore, and bindeth vp, he woundeth, and his hands make Salus cum ge­mitu coniuncta est. Greg. Naz. orat. 17. whole. Hee maketh whole by wounding. It is for chil­dren and fooles to imagine Frosts, Stormes, and Raine, eyther the off-spring of Chance, or vselesse effects of Na­ture: the wiser know, that milder Winters are the vn­doubted Parents of sterilitie and contagion: Stormes, which seeme the Diseases of a distempered Skie, doe purge the Ayre; and the dewie Clouds are Gods Clepsy­dra, his Bottles to water the Earth: so is it in man. And the Saints weeping eyes are Gods Clouds, to make fruit­full a penitent heart. Faint not at thy tryalls, but be zea­lous,Re [...]. 3. 19. and amend. Sinne no more.

WE haue considered in the last place, the cause of Sicknesses, and the rea­sons why God afflicteth with them; as also what effects they worke in them to whome they are sanctifi­ed: It remayneth, that I also shew the end why God deliuereth, and bestoweth health vpon vs.

God deliuereth from Sicknesse, that being thereby warned, we might sinne no more. There are many rea­sons disswading from sinne: let vs consider a few of ma­ny. Let the first be this present Doctrine.

First, God giueth vs health, that we might auoid sinne.

Secondly, there is nothing of it owne nature euill, butGen. 1. 31. sinne: ere sinne was borne, God saw all his Creatures,Contrary to the dream [...] of the Maniches. euen the Angels, which falling, became damned Deuils, the Beasts, the Serpents, and all that he had made, and loe it Aug. de Ciu. Dei, l. 11. c. 22. was very good: nothing created, is euill; sinne is a non en [...], a priuation of the good was made.Malum itaq [...]e propriê tantum est peccatum. Basil. Quod Deus non est author malorū.

Thirdly, onely sinne is against Nature, a very Mon­ster of the Soule, as Monsters are said by the Naturalist to be the error [...] of Nature: our nature, which sinne cor­rupted, is (of it selfe) good; and to good: nothing but [...] [Page 38] euill is contrarie: Sinne therefore primarily beeing the onely [...]uill, is so on [...]ly co [...]trarie, and destructiue to Nature.

Fourthly, Sinne i [...] cont [...]ie to God: nothing of that hee made, is contrarie to him, for all beeings are in him; and God made all, sinne onely excepted: by sinne we oppose Gods soueraign [...]e, not by nature, but by Aug. de Ciu. Dei, l. 12. c. 3. corruption of will; hauing no power to hurt God: our will to hurt maketh vs Gods f [...]s: our nature therefore it is notIoh. 8. 44. 1. Ioh. 3. 8. but our sinne that contrarieth God, euill onely being con­trarie to good.

Fiftly, it maketh vs children of the Deuill, notNon carnis originem du­cendo, sed per imitationem▪ Bed. by Propagation, but Imitation; not by Generati­on, but by doing his workes of Rebellion against God.

Sixtly, Sinne onely hurteth vs: the vice that [...]akethAug: quo sup. l. 12. c. 3. vs oppose God, is onely our owne hurt, no wayes Gods; because it corrupteth our nature, of it selfe good. SinneMark. 9. 18. 22. is like that euill Spirit in the possessed, tearing and ra­ging,Isai 64. 5. and [...]asting vs into the fire. Infinite are the mi­seriesIsai 59. 2. borne of sinne: it maketh God angry with vs,Prou. 3. 33. it separateth vs from him, it draweth the Curse of the Isai 1. 15. Lord vpon our Houses, it shutteth out our prayersDeu. 28. 58, 59 from Gods eares, it subiecteth vs to all Miseries, Sicknesses, Paines, Death: I haue not yet sayd all; Doctores No­uatianorum se MVNDOS ap­pellant. Ambr. de poen. l 1. c. 1. when all Warnings will not serue, a worse thing shall befall the Sinner; which, like Tamerlans [...]able Flagge, commeth in the Rere and last part of my Text.

But is there any perfection in this life? Can anyParvulos om­nes sine pec­cato nasci & electos in hac vita tantum proficere posse vt SINE PEC­CATO exi [...]am. in, this life be without sinne? The Iusticiaries affirme it; the Nouatians sayd they were [...]; the Pe­lagians denyed Originall Corruption, and sayd, the Elect may be without Sinne in this life: a man not sinning, but where shall wee finde the man▪ Come to the Saint [...], thou shalt heare them crying,Bed. exposit, in 1. Ioh. 1. [Page 27] enter not into i [...]dgement with thy seruants O Lord. Againe,Psal. 143. 1. 2. we all haue [...]one astray like sheepe: againe, I see anotherIsai. 53 6. law in my members, Leading me captiue vnto the law of sin. Rom. 7. 23. There is not aiust man vpon the earth that doth good and sin­neth Eccles. 7. 20. not: then who can say I haue made my heart cleane, I am Prou. 20. 9. pure from sinne? Sinne no more. O wretched man that I am Rom. 7. 24. who shall deliuer me from the body of this death? How hea­uyNullus maior est dolor quam is qui peccati mucrone vul­nerat co [...]scien­tiam: grauia mi fili, grauia nimis sunt de­lictorum pon­dera. Ambr. l. 5. ep. 18. are the burthens of sinne? how smartfull the wounds of a guilty conscience? giue me any griefe it is easier: it is for thy sake sinne the Saint often cryeth, I desire to be dis­solued. For the contagion hath i [...]fected euery part, and di­spersed it selfe through my veines: all my thoughts, wo [...]s and workes, relish of thee: if I examine my best actions, I finde them faulty: in my prayers, suggestions, and pro­fane wandrings fall vpon mine heart like the foules onGen. 15. 11▪ Abrahami sacrifice. In my hearing distraction, in my almes vaine glory, or some sinister respect, which like the the worme at Ionah [...] gourd, [...]ateth vp the life of goodnes; as [...] men sayd of the Philistims, Behold we are afrayde 1. Sam. [...]3. 3. here in [...], how much more then if we come to Keilah, a­gainst the [...]rmies of the Philisti [...]s? If sinne assaile vs in our bestactions, how shall we deale with it in other? how fayst thou then, O Lord, finne no more? Lord thou knowestSi peccatum meum esset a­tra mento con­scriptum forsi­tan delerem: nunc autem scriptum est in stilo ferreo. Origen. my thoughts, my heart fayleth me because of my sinnes, and I desire nothing in the world like this, that I might sinne no more. If my sinne were written with Inke, I could perhaps put it out; but now it is written in mine heart like [...], with an Iron: pen. Lord if thou wil [...] thou c [...]nst mak [...] me cleane.

The tables of the law were written and broken; and written againe by the finger of God. God wrote the laws. Ier. in mans heart; sinne brake these Tables, and now we areExod. 32. 19. the writing of the [...]ame. God whoing ing [...]ueth in the fleshy Exod. 34. 1. Tables of the h [...]rt, by the same Spirit of his, whose fingerDeut. 10. 4. writing in the dust (where finners are written) did cancell2. Cor. 3. 3. and put out the hand writing of sinne, and acquitting ofIerem. 17. 1 [...]. [Page 40] others accusations, blessedly dismissed and gaue a qui­ [...]tus est neither doe I condemne thee: goe and si [...]ne no more: Ioh. 8. 8. 11. how did she not sinne being humane? how did shee ful­fillNihil peccare solius est dei. his command if she did sinne? none liue which sinneAmb l. 1. ep. 3. not. Therefore Gods family sayth not, I am whole, I needAmbr. de paen. l. 1. c. 4. no Physitian, but heale me O Lord, and I shall be whole, saue me and I shall be saued. When of old God brake IsraelsIer. 17. 14. yoke she sayd, I will no m [...]re transgresse; she sayd it, but as we say it, onely as Ambrose sayd of Calanus answer to A­lexander, L. 2. ep. 7. [...]raeclara verba, sed verba, excellent words, but words, excellent constancy, but the constancy of a man: for she did sinne more and more.

But sayth he not, Whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not: yet there is no man that doeth good and [...] not. None?1. Ioh. 3. 9. Eccles. 7. 20 no not one: These two come like Esau and Iacob with [...] the face of enmitie till they meete, and are reconciled.Rom. 3. 12. All sinne, would God we had no proofe for it: yet the iust sinne not: which wee vnderstand not as Bede of mortall sinnes or the violation of Charitie, but as the Spirit of God, the best interpreter of himselfe; If I do [...] that which I would not, I consent to the law, that it is good, now then it Rom. 7. 16. 17, is NO MORE I THAT DOE IT, but the sin that dwelleth in me. The regenerate in a right sence sinne not; they [...]inne not, because they doe that they would not, and where they will, they would not will the euill which sinne [...]raweth them to. There is a sinne then which maketh the saint of God groane, an inhabiting,Rom. 8. Rom. 6. 12. not a reigning sinne, an inmate, not a king. The righ­teousPsal. 32. 1. 2. sinne not, that is, God couereth their sinnes,Penitus ea tol­lit vt non sinit quorum memor non erit. Amb. l. 5. ep. 19. and imputeth them not, hee taketh them quite away, which hee will no more remember, as hee sayd of the Edo [...]ites, they shall be as if they had not beene, there shall be no remnant of them: though hee cast not out theseObadia, 16. 18 Iebusites all at once: yet sinnes receiuing their deaths­wound, by little and little bleede to death all our life af­ter, like a desperate enemie fighting in blood, and stri­king [Page 41] with dying hands.

The Separatists seeke a spotlesse congregation, forget­ting our mothers confession, I am blacke O daughters of Cant. 1. 5. Ierusalem, but comely. Blacke, that is dis-coloured with [...]. sinnes, but comely with the beautie he putteth on herAn tist. Laert. l. 6. who calleth her his fayre one. Calisto in the fable fled her fellow Beare [...], forgetting her owne ill shapes. TheyCant. 2. 10, 13. Vrsaque, con­spectos in mon­tibus horruit v [...]sos. flye vs sinners, themselues by so much greater sinners, by how much more forgetting they are [...]nners: they looke for a Church not on earth to be found.

Saul sought A [...]ses and found a kingdome: they seeke a kingdome not to bee found, but shall finde, I will onely say, men like themselues: Gods Church like Iacobs flocke consisteth of spotted sheepe, saints, but full of blemishes.

Be not discouraged, if thou see sinne liueth: thou canstVse. Galat. 5. 17 bee but partly spirit, and the [...]lesh will lust against it:Aug. de ciui. dei. l. 3. c. 26. after the building the Temple of Concord [...] Rome, the slaues warres engarboyled their [...]erritories: afte [...] we haue ere­cted the Temple of peace in a good conscience, and in a good part subiected sinne, yet wee must looke for the slaues warres, the rebellion of inordinate affection, which in this life will neuer leaue vs secure conquerors. Our righteousnesse consisteth (sayth Augustine) ratherAug. quo. sup. l. 19. c. 27. in the free remission of sinnes, then of vertues perfection, witnesse that dayly prayer which Christ taught vs, For­giue vs our trespasses. Here some infirmitie or other creepeth on the best Conqueror, our sinnes subdued by a dangerous conflict, deny vs all securitie, and keepe vs busied in a continuall and carefull command: And thus concl [...]deth, mans iustice is to haue God his Lord, himselfe his subiect, his soule master of his body, and hisPhil. 3. 13. 14. reason ouer sin, either by subduing or resisti [...]g it. Paul sayd, I count not my selfe th [...]t I haue attained to it, but I fol­low. [Page 30] We but follow perfection in this life wee obtaine it in the life to come. At Rome the temple of vest was placed out [...] in hac vitâ se­quimur, asse­quimur in fu­tura▪ of the gates: so it is with vs, we haue here no rest, especially no truce with sinne, no rest from it, that is reserued for heauen: he forgiueth here▪ but purgeth from all when hee brings vs into that life▪ in which the saints neither will nor can sinne any more. Death shall end sinne: death is a true viper, it ki [...]th i [...] wicked parents, though Gods children (by the me [...]s of Christ) like Paul at Melita, shake it offIn qua pecca­ [...] nec v [...]lint vl [...]a nec vale­ant. Bed. e [...]. in Iohn. 1. into the fi [...]: sinne is deaths mother, but the hastie kinde [...] through her mothers bowels. Sin began death, death endeth sinne; death came into the world thorow sinne, sinne goeth out of the world throughAct. 28. 5. death. At death the Lord will tell vs as Moses of the re­uengefull [...]. 14. 13▪ Egyptians. Feare not: [...]ohold the deliuerance of the Lord which he will shew to you this day, the sinnes yee haue seene, ye shall neuer see them againe.

This sinne no more then, seemeth to respect a compa­rison betwixt his life past and to come; and the same is re­quiredCur iustus non sit, qui contra iniustitiam su­am iam per la­chrymas saeuit Bed. in 1. Ioh. 2 [...], post sapio, vt Plat. in Gor. [...]. at our hands, that we sinne no more. That is, first that we repent vs of our sinnes, of which I shall hereafter speake. We cease to be sinners when we doctruely repent that euer we haue beene sinners.

Secondly, (as much as possibly we may) wee must change the habits of our minde. True repentance is not a bare confession, but a change of our former minde andIn Graeco so­no paenitentiae nomen non ex delicti confes­sione, sed ex animi de mu▪ tatione compo situm est. Tert. aduers. Marciō [...]. 2. c. 24. purpose vpon a better consideration: the conuerted yong man answerd, his lewd acquaintance wel, wondring why he knew her not: she saying, (Ego sum) sed ego non sumego: I am not now my former selfe.

Thirdly, we must take heede we fall not backe to our [...] sinnes. Sinne like Aetna's fire hath some intermis­sions▪ but when we thinke it extinguished, it flameth out a fresh: the more we sinne, the more difficult the cure, butAmb [...]e paen. [...]: 2. c. 10. relapses are most dangerous. When the proud Tyrant A­murath, secure of victory thought the battle done, his dan­ger [Page 43] was begun in his liues ending, a Christian soldierInterualla sua habet. cum de­saeuijsse credi­ter redit. supposed slaine, rose vp and stroke him to the heart, When wee are secure and thinke right worthily of our selues, some sinne or other, will as it were, rise from theSi accidat in eodem vulnere iterum & sae­pius vnl [...]eretur quantis potest cruciatibus me­dicari. Origen. dead, and fall vpon vs dangerously.

Fourthly, we must be heartily displeased with our sins: sinne like the poyson of the Aspe affecteth with a drow­sie delight where it hurteth mortally: some among the Triballs (sayd Plinie) if they were angry could kill with their eye: that which he said of them, thou shalt thus findNon nocet cui non placet pec­catum, Greg. l. 7. c. 2. true of sinne: bee angry with it and thou killest the heart of it. Sinne is a wanton fondling, if it be not loued it wil die.

Lastly, striue against thy sinnes: if thou yeeld not thou hast ouercome: In Gods esteeme wee cease to bee what wee vnwittingly are: sinne leadeth the Saint like a cap­tiueNonne ita istud est ac si quis captivum victae vrbis po­pulum abducat Captiuus ab­ducitur, sed in­uitus. Amb. de paen. l 1 c. 4. Israelite to Babylon. He goeth but against his desire, he deuiseth how he may returne; to another purpose saith Gregorie, that good soule is gone home, which langui­shed abroade. This is the summe: giue not thy consent to sinne, but if thou haue consented, let it not please thee: if sinne haue pleased thee, bee now heartily di­spleased, that sinne euer pleased thee: in this life GodIlla bona ani­ma ad suam patriam perue­nit, quae in pa­tria laborabat aliena. l. 6. cp. 19 Plut. vit. Brut; looketh not so much for a man not sinning (such is our fraylty, such his mercy) as vnwilling to sinne, repen­ting, resisting sinne, endeauouring not to sinne. As Brutus wrote to the Pergamenians, when they had gi­uen his enemy Dolabella money, if you haue done it wil­lingly, you confesse you haue offended me▪ if against your wills, shew it then by giuing me willingly.

So sayth the Spirit in effect, as yee haue yeelded your Rom. 6▪ 19. members seruants to vncleanenesse; euen so now, yeeld your members seruants to righteousnesse: shew that you sinned vnwillingly, by seruing God more willing­ly. Sinne no more. To which obserue these rules of practise.

• [Page 44]1 Remember alwayes thou art in the presence of God. This [...]eple knew him not that healed him; but
  [...]
  Iesus knew him, and the cause of his disease. The Samari­tan
  Iohn 4. 29.
  Caue tibi ob praesentiam eius. Iun. & Trem. Exod. 23. 21.
  woman acknowledged, he told her all that euer she had done. God told Israel he would send his Angell be­fore them to keepe them in the way, but sayth he, beware of him, and [...] his voyce, & prouoke him not. Set vp the Arke that Dagon may be cast downe. Remember that the eye
  Prou. 5. 21.
  of Iesus is euer vpon thee. if thou lookest he should pro­tect
  Eccles. 12.
  thee; prouoke him not: we forget God when wee
  Math. 12.
  dare sinne: remember euer thy wayes are before the eyes of the Lord.
• 2 Secondly, remember that all thy thoughts, words, and actions shall come into iudgement.
• 3 Thirdly, bury not the checks of thy conscience; the conscience is an excellent counsellour, and will deale faithfully: if all the world would flatter thee, thy consci­ence will neither flatter nor conceale, neither giue rest,
  Isai. 48. 22.
  till sinne, like Ionah be throwne out: the diuell sleepeth in the sinners bosome, but giueth no true rest. Ion [...]hs sleep was the ships vnrest.
• 4 Fourthly, guard the passages of thy soule. Keepe thine heart with all [...]. Iob will teach thee a part, who
  Prou. 4. 23.
  made a couenant with his eyes; the Recabites a part who dranke no wine: Solomon a part, who sayd, Consider dili­gently what is before thee, otherwise thou putst as it were
  Prou. 23. 23.
  thy knife to thy throate, if thou be a man giuen to the appetite, be not desirous of dainty meat, for it is a deceiueable meat. The
  Iud. I 2. 5. 6.
  senses (like the passages of Iordan taken by the Gileadites) watched by the temperate, would cut off many sinnes: we must do by sinnes as with some strong fort, if it can­not be forced we must cut off all forragers, and so stárue
  Sapienter illi­cita superat qui didicerit non vti con­cessis. Greg. l. 7. ep. 39.
  the defendants. Lust and drunkennesse liue at full tables, pleasure is the Nurse of sinne; if there be a famine of tem­perance they are gone to soiourne also here. He wisely o­uercommeth things vnlawfull, who hath learned not to [Page 45] vse the lawfull. Paul will teach thee an excellent part, in auoyding inconuenient talke: our Sauiour hath com­prised
  Eph. 5 4.
  all in this one, Watch that ye enter not into temptation. Wee perish like Isbosheth sleeping whilst wee dreame of
  2. Sam. 4. 5. 6.
  no danger.
• Fifthly, let euery sinne bee the more heartily repen­ted, by how much oftner it assayleth: if sinne will needes dwell with thee, vse the deceiuer, as Israel the Gibeonites,
  Iosh. 9. 3. 23.
  cause it to hew wood and draw water for the house of God; sinne draweth water when it maketh vs weepe bit­terly for that we haue offended: it heweth wood, when it enflameth vs with a zealous anger against our selues, and with an heartie desire and care to serue God the more, the more wee consider wee haue offended him. Sweete waters kill the Purple, sinne is that Purple, and
  Plin. l. 9. 46.
  teares the purest water: not as if repentance were the primarie instrumentall cause of our sinnes remission. Christs blood killeth sinne to Gods iudgement, repen­tance to our conscience, till we repent we shall neuer be assured of our sinnes forgiuenesse. God for the merits
  Fecisti quod boni parentes vt cito ignos­cercs sed OB­SECRATVS nam antequam rogareris, non erat ignoscere sed factum ap­probare. Amb. l. 6. ep. 43.
  of Christ forgiueth, but with this condition, that we re­pent, which he also giueth. That which Ambrose spea­keth to Sisynnius will expresse it: Thou hast done like a good parent, soone forgiuing, but being first entreated; for to giue pardon before it be asked, is not to pardon but to approue the fact: as fathers loues forgiue their children faults, yet their submission is expected, that they may say we forgiue. So God looketh that we repent that hee may haue mercy: repentance is the gate of
  Ianua regni penitentia est.
  heauen: a gate leading to the doore of life, Christ Iesus.
  Ne in ipsa penitentia fiat quod po­stea indigeat paenitentia.

But lest we repent of our repentance, obserue, that re­pentance must be done speedily, truely, throughly, and con­stantly.

First speedily, in the dayes of thy youth: sinne gainethAmb. de paen. l. 2. c. 11. strēgth by age: blessed is he that dasheth her childrē yong [Page 46] as dying A [...]rath of Scanderbeg: this [...]aytour should haue beene suppressed in that newnesse of his estate: giue thy sinne no time. Repent speedily.Amb. 10. l. com in Luc. 22.

Secondly, repent truly. The more thou sinnest, weepeLego quod fle­uit, non lego quod satisf [...]cit. the more, abyssus, abyss [...]m vocat. D [...]pth of sinne a deepe sourse of teares: as Peter wept; of whom I read he wept, I [...]ead not that he satisfied: as the sinner wept, Luke 7.Si eam aequare non possumus scit dominus Iesus & infirmis subuenire. Amb. de paen. l. 2. c. 8: Or if thou canst not equall her, (God knoweth how to supply the weake) yet let thy sorrow be true. Some haue teares at command, yet weepe like Apollo [...] statue without sense: it is not formall penance, (hypocrisie can resemble grace, Vibius may bee like Pompey.) It is not a thousandAug. l. 3. de ciu. dei. c. 11. stripes, not the cloathes, nor backe, but the heart must beIoel. 2. 13. rent. As for the hypocrites which tender God a counter­feitQui foris prae­tendunt intus oppugnant. sorrow, God [...]hall pay them with true.

Thirdly, repent throughly. That is, of euery sinne. We will be content to leaue [...]ome gainelesse sinnes; butAmbr. [...] we spare one Agag of our Amalekite [...] designd to death. In2. King. 11. 2. the slaughter of our sinnes we snatch vp one as Ieh [...]sheba caught vp loash and his Nurse, with that we runne away that it may raigne ouer vs: though we heare it reproued and the danger preached, yet of it our heart cryeth, [...] Agripine of her sonne Nero (when the Astrologers told her at his natiuitie, he should be an Emperour, but should kill his mother) occidat dum regnet; Let him kill mee so he may reigne. Iehu destroyed B [...]al out of Israel, but2. King. 10. 38. [...]9. from the sinne [...] of Ieroboam hee departed not: God com­maundeth concerning sinne, as [...] by his first edict against the Iewes, in all his Prouinces to [...] Ester. 3. 1 [...]. out, to kill, and to destroy them, both y [...]g and old. Quid prodest cuncta [...]unijsse si per vnum lo­cum, pernitio­sus hosti prae­beatur accessus?

What auaileth it to fortifie all the Citadell, if we leaue open-some posterne gate to a vigilant enemy? I conclude as th [...] Orator of his Catiline, if of so great a rabble of Traytours, hee onely be taken away, wee may perhaps a while seeme freed of feare and car [...]: but the dangerGreg l. 7. [...]p. [...]10. will reside, shut vp in the veines and bowels of the [Page 47] state; so sicke men, in their hot fits, at first seeme easedCic. Orat. 1. in Catilin. by a draught of coole water, but afterward more vehe­mently burne. And this sicknesse of the Commonweale, eased a little with his only death, shall grow more despe­rate by his fellowes liues.

Fourthly, Repent constantly: It is not hanging the head for a day, which God accepteth; as our sinnes areIsai 58. 5. continuall, so must our repentance be: Wee smite our sinnes as Iehoash smote the ground with his arrowes,2. King. 13. 19. three times, and so we cease, where we should haue smit­ten till we had consumed them. Sinne is an hardie and puissant foe, and will not so be ouercome. It is not easi [...] (sayd Amurath to his discomforted souldier [...] before Croya) without bloudie hands to put the yoke on the fierce enemies necke. The very cause of our easie falling backe into sinne, is, that wee charge it cowardly, and soone giue ouer the pursuit. In these foure Channels, Repentance, like the Riuer of Paradise, watereth a zea­lous heart; and all make a fift rule of Practise.

A sixt is, Abstaine from all appearance of euill. The Deuill is subtill, and maketh the way to Hell easie. Sinne like Eliahs Cloud on Carmel, is not to be seene at first, when Sathan suggesteth, and after it appeareth but in the bignesse of a mans hand: but if we flye it not, there is a noyse of much Raine: the full Vialls of Gods Wrath. Come not neere her dwelling, it is ill iesting with sinne: as Delilah acted sinne, so sinne playeth the Delilah: [...] maketh loue at first, at l [...]st shee cutteth off our strength, and causeth to be put out the strong mans eyes: so that he that at first was not afraid of appearances of euill, pre­sently groweth impudent, and cannot or will not see the greatest sinnes.

Seuenthly, Take away all occasions of sinne. Moses Vt omnia im­pietatis abole­ret ve [...]igia. stampt the Idoll into powder, to take away occasion of Idolatrie. Not onely Ba [...]li Image, but the Groues, andAmb▪ l. 7. ep. 57. his House, ought to be beaten to the ground: for sinne [Page 48] is an importunate solicitour, like Ben-badads crafty Mes­sengers,1: King. 20. 33. it watcheth diligently to catch any thing of vs: if we acknowledge the least acquaintance, it not need be entreated to take hold of it.

When Pharaoh saw there was no remedie, but the Is­raclit [...]s would leaue his seruice: hee giueth way, onely sayth he, leaue your cattle behinde you. Hee knew that would occasion their returne; but Moses sayd, I will not leaue one hoofe: the diuell desireth wee but leaue some­thing to bring vs backe, though wee leaue him for a time: But wee must resolue with Moses, not to leaue the least.

Origen speaking of the cleansing the Leper, vnder­standethS. Leuit. h [...]. 8. omne quic­quid e mortui operis. by the shauing the haire, the cutting off all that belongeth to the dead workes of sinne. All occasion must be cut off, that the soules leprosie may be cleansed. Theseus shaued off his comely lockes, that his enemiePlut. vit. Thes. ne ansam pre­beret. might catch no hold. If it be as deare as thine Hand, or Eye, Christ sayth cut it off, pull it out, if it occasion thee to offend. There is nothing so deare as Saluation, nothing more dangerous then Oportunitie and Occasi­on. When we haue euen departed from the danger, and are gone, Occasion commeth posting after, like the old lying Prophet of Bethel, and telleth vs, An Angel spake 1. King. 13. [...] 18. vnto him, saying, Bring him backe againe: but if wee goe backe, Gods Iudgements lye readie in our way to de­stroy vs.

Eightly, let not thy affections be gouernours of thy will: It is a weake Master, where Seruants rule the Fa­milie. The affections are like the Mamalukes, which the Turks in Aegypt at first entertained for slaues, to serue them in their Warres; who finding their owne strength, abandoned their Masters, and became Lords of Aegypt. Affections are like the Fire and Water, necessarie and excellen [...] Seruants, but tyrannous Masters: A man gi­uen to passion, and appetite, hath no more rule of him­selfe, [Page 49] then a Drunken or Mad man. Affection is a Les­bian rul [...], it will fit the most crooked designe: Aske Affection, it will tell thee, nothing is sweeter then Re­uenge; it will say, Drunkennesse is a pleasant life, Co­uetousnesse is Parsimonie. Consult not therefore with thy Affections, but rule them by the Word of God.

Ninthly, resolue euerie day to winne something from thy selfe. The very Lyons are tamed, and by little and little forget their sauage minde. Thou may­est say, I am of an intemperate and angrie dispositi­on: It were shame to say, thou art by nature worse then a Beast: They are made gentle, or lesse in in­dustrie then their Keepers; euen they tame their curst Masters, and by seruing them, at last make them tra­ctable Seruants. Some esteeme this impossible, be­cause hauing suddenly assayled to subdue some affec­tion in themselues, they haue fayled. Bee contented,Qui Iocum summum as­cendere nititur gradibus non saltibus eleua­tur. Greg. l. 9. ep, 71. gaine constantly from sinne, though by littles at once: they which climbe high, content themselues with small steppes: it is no easie leape to Heauen; the foote of Goodnesse standeth like Iacobs Ladder, on the ground, of little beginnings, though the toppe reach Heauen.Gen. 28. Vnde irrepsit morbus inde remediū intret auris prima mortis ianua prima aperia [...]ae & vitae. Bern, in Cant.

[...]he last Rule is, Heare the Word, and pray. Among the Ceremonies of cleansing the Leper, Origen obser­ueth, That the right car [...], the thumbe of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot must be touched with the bloud of the Sinne-offering; signifying, that all our actions must be holy, and that we must no more runne backe to the errours of youth: The right eareVt munda sint opera nec vltra lapsus iuventu­tis incurrat. must first be touched, that is the meanes to purifie the rest. Whether it signifie wee must not come to Gods Word Malcus-like, with a left eare, an eare not fit­ted,S. Leuit. 14. but a right ear [...], an eare to a prepared heart:Ioh. 18. 10. Such an eare had Lydia, whose heart the Lord had Act. 16. 14. opened: such had they, who were pricked in their [Page 50] hearts, when they heard Peter: such eares and heartsAct. 2. 37. onely are they; to which he sayth as to the deafe, Mar. 7. 34. [...], Be opened: such haue they to whom hee ad­dresseth his often repeated admonition, Let him that hath Reu. 2. 7▪ 11. 17. 29. & 3. 6. 13. 22. an [...] (a right [...]) heare what the Spirit sayth vnto the Churches; for the words of God are life vnto those that Prou. 4. 22. finde them, and health vnto all their flesh. To this rightLibellum que insidiarum li­bellis caeteris. care wee must haue a right hand: we must not put the Word into a sinister, a left hand, as C [...]sar did the pooreQuos sinistra manu tenebat quasi mox le­cturus. Suet. C: Iul. Caes. mans Petition, discouering the Conspiracie, meaning to peruse it at leysure. Wee must presently lay it to our Consciences, lest wee finde not another houre to repent in. Wee must also haue a right foote, lest [...] offer the sacrifice of Fooles. To such the Word is theEccles. 4. 17. Fire, to burne out the Drosse of Sinne; the HammerIer. 23. 29. Heb. [...]. 12. to breake the Heart of Stone; a liuely Word, sharperQuovis gladio vtrinque inci­dente. Erasm. then any two-edged Sword, cutting off Sinnes Hydra head.

But if the Word haue such power, why then (may our Mother now say) [...] not the health of the daughter of Ier. 8. 22: my people recouered? Is there no [...] at our Gilead? Haue wee no Physician here? The Word is not now locked vp in an vnknowne Tongue: those dumbe A­stomi, mouth-lesse Prophets, haue not now the watch ouer our flockes. These are the periods of Time, in which the Lord hath powred out his Spirit. If euer Age abounded with Blessings of Peace, and Securitie, Preaching, and enormious liuing, for many; then this much more (giue me leaue, the Lord hath spoken, euenAmos 3. 8. of late from Heauen, Who can but prophesie?) the proud still enlargeth his desire as Hell: still the OppressourHabac. 2. 5. doth store vp Violence, borne (as one said of [...] ­sius) to Pride and Crueltie. The false Weights andAmos 3. 10. Measures are still in our Houses: the horrible abuse of Gods blessings, in Surfetting and Drunkennesse, are still amongst vs: still the Sweater rageth, and that apishZeph. 1. 8. [Page 51] affectation of strange Apparrell possesseth the giddie multitude, begging from the hands of Time and Obli­uion the life of the Oppian Law: such a ripenesse of allOppius legem [...] ne super­fluo ornatu mulieres Ro­manae vteren­tur. Pompon. sinnes, assuring vs, the great Haruest of the World is nigh▪ sinnes most abounding, where Gods grace hath most abounded, as if hee had not said, yee are healed, Sinne no more. Yet all come to heare: why are theyLaet. de Leg. not reformed? There are many reasons for it. Some are deafe Adders, which cannot be charmed: that Ser­pent layeth one [...] to the Earth, the other hee stoppeth with his tayle. Preach to the Couetous, one [...] is vpon the Earth, on his Businesse: the other a fore-stalled Opi­nion hath stopped, and the Sonnes of Thunder cannotQui malê au­dit sacrilegium [...] solet. open it. Wandering thoughts are the [...]arings, of which others frame their Idoll, and they haue no place for theAmb. [...]. 7. ep. 56 Arke. To some the Word is a mysterie: the God of this World hath made such a Couenant with them, as Na­hash 1. Sam. 11. 1. the Ammonite offered the Gabesh-Gileadites, put­ting2. Cor. 4. 4. out their right eye; and they haue no vnderstanding for God. Wonder not then, if so many go from Church vnmooued. Put a thousand pieces of Metall together, and none will mooue for the Load-stone, saue onely the Iron, none other haue sympathie with it. Aethiops [...] bal­ [...], Lib. 2. ep. Dornit. 101. sayth Gregorie, of the vnconuerted Persian; hee went in blacke, and blacke he came out againe. It is the miserie, the madnesse of an Age so wicked, to be deafe, lest they should be cured: as Augustus Caesar said of Gal­b [...]'s [...] crooked backe, I can admonish, I cannot mend thee: weHippocr. ego monere te pos­sum corrigere non possnm. can warne; if you will not amend, then go vp and pro [...]per: but if the end of sinne be peace, then say the Lord hath not spoken by vs: goe on, but a worse thing will happen1. King. 22. [...]5. 28. to you. As they shall not be heard who will not heare, so neyther shall hearing profit them which will not pray. Prayer woundeth sin; prayer beat down the Amalekites; prayer is that weapon of Samson, which first layeth the ene­mieIudg. 15. 16. 19 heaps vpon heaps, and after refresheth vs with the wa­ters of comfort.

[Page 52]Hitherto you haue heard the Admonition; the Inter­mination is next.

Now as Is [...]ai said of Dauid, there remaineth yet a little1. Sam. 16. 11, 12. one, I cannot say the rest: it will proue of a louely coun­tenance, and comely. visage, because it will present you the fearefull end of impenitent sinners, lest a worse thing come vnto thee.

This part commeth like C [...]shi to Dauid, and speedily2. Sam. 18. 31. deliuereth the message.

He that is not bettered by light afflictions, but fallethQui suppl [...]cio non fit melior tanquam stu­pidus quidem & contemptor grauiorem sibi poenam prae­parat. Chrys. hom. 37. in Ioh. 5. backe to his former sinnes, shall haue greater iudgement b [...]fall him. God shall wound the [...]irie scalpe of such a one as goeth on sti [...] in his trespasses. But rel [...]pses into sinne are most dangerous: The seuen worse Spirits entring into the heart, swept with a little formall Repentance, make the end of that man worse then the beginning. God healed Niniuie by the ministerie of the Prophet Ionah; but presently [...] became a Mistress [...] of Witch­cra [...]e, Psal. 68. 21. then God vtterly ouerthrew her. When God had corrected Israel, h [...] concluded, I said surely, thou wil [...] Nah. 3. 4. 7. feare me, thou wil [...] [...] instruction; but they [...] [...]rly, and corrupted all their workes: then God determined toZeph 3. 7. 8. powre vpon them his indignation, fierce [...], and the fire of his [...]. If you should runne thorow their Hi­storie, you should find their last plagues greatest: all their Captiuities were light to this last disper [...]ion of aboue a thousand and [...]ue hundred yeeres.

God at first but sheweth the Rodde; and if a faire Warning will not serue, he striketh, and if the correcti­on of a Father will not auayle, he putteth on the person of a seuere Iudge. You may reade it at large, Le [...]iticus 26. If you will not obey me, then will I also doe this vnto Ver. 14. 19. 21. you, I will appoint ouer you Terror, Co [...]sumption, and the bur­ning Ag [...], to consume the eyes, and make the heart heauie. And if ye will not for these things obey me, then will I pu­nish you seuen times more, according to your sinnes: and if [Page 53] ye walke stubbornely against m [...], and will not obey me, then will I bring seuen times m [...]re plagues vpon you: yet if by these ye will not be reformed, then will I mit [...] you yet seuen times for your sinnes. Againe, Yet if you will not for this obey Ver [...]. 27. me, I will also chastise you [...]uen times more, according to your sinnes. Of the same argument you may reade moreDeut. 32. 34. Deut. 28. 15. His Iudgements had such like course withExod. 7. 23. Phar [...]h; when the faire Warnings could not enter into his heart, hee commeth neere to himselfe, and first­borne.

God sendeth Iudgements as he did his Angell to Ba­laam: If wee will not see him in a broad way, hee will yet stand where we passe n [...]r him: at first perhaps he but [...]oucheth our goods, if that mend vs not, he commeth to our bodyes with sickenesse; if that faire warning will notDeut. 32. serue, he hath heauyer iudgements stored vp, a worse thing to befall vs. Immedicable sores must haue desperate cures. This worse thing is reducible to foure kinds.

• 1▪ The same or other plagues more heauily inflicted, as hath beene sayd.
• 2. The second is often publike shame: sinne like Sam­son spoyles the Philistim [...], to pay the Philistims, but with much difference: it robbeth vs of the white robe of Christs ri [...]hteousnesse to pay vs with shame; shame is the onely physicke for a prowd heart.

Augustine sayth boldly of a more priuate shame; that too much liking himselfe was the cause of Ada [...]s fall, de­siring more he became lesse. Therefore I dare say, It is Aug. de ciu. dei. l. 14. c. 13▪ good that the proude should fall into some broad and disgrace­full sin [...]e, thereby to take a dislike of themselues, who fell by too much liking themselues. Peters sorrowfull dislike of himselfe, when he wept, was more healthfull [...] his soule, then his vnsound pleasure hee tooke in him­selfePsal. 83. 16. when hee presumed. Therefore of the enemies hee sayth, Fill their faces with shame that they may seeke thy name O Lord.

[Page 54]Thirdly, a worse euill may be; a giuing ouer to a re­probate minde, as it falleth to the wicked: or deliueringRom. 1. to some sharp tryal for a time; such as God often giueth his dearest children. See it in Iob, Dauid: Consider it you that are well read in the black characters of a troubled cō ­science. The worst of euils is the last; the torments of hel, prepared for those who will take no warning: Tophet, set on fire by the breath of the Lord, Lakes of Fire and Brimstone. The torments of Hell are expressed as theReu. 21. ioyes of Heauen, not as they are, but as wee can for the present vnderstand: onely thus much wee know, the torments of the damned are paines and miseries of euery kind, extensiue, without remission, hope, helpe, or end: Nature and Paine shall hold a continuall conflict, and yet the one neuer ouercome the other. In this liuesAug. de Ciu D [...], l, 19. c. 28. sicknesse eyther the Paine is Victor, and so Death ex­pelleth the sense of it; or Nature conquereth, and dri­ueth out the paine: but there Paine shall afflict, and Na­ture suffer ete [...].

This is the wofull effect of sinne. Christ wept for others sinnes, and Elisha for others danger. If we couldVse 1. but see as farre as Hell, or truly consider the torments of2. King. 8. 12. the damned, we would euen weepe as oft as we see men sinning. It is a most wicked io [...] that some [...]onceiue when they see others sinning: this is to clap hands at the Deuils victories, and to be glad for Gods dishonour and our brother [...] miseries.

Trust not sinne, she pl [...]yeth the Panther, allureth with a sweet breath, but hideth her vgly head: shee shewethVse 2. the adulterer fill of loue, but hideth the rottennesse ofPliu. l. 8. c. 17. the flesh, cas [...]ing off to finall impenitencie, and a worse euill in Hell: shee sheweth Ambition the large obiect of his des [...], but hideth the downefall; telleth the Oppressor of goodly Lordships, but hideth the downefall of Heauen: in all, as from our Sauiour hee would haue hidden a part of his scriptum est, so from the [...] [Page 55] he concealeth a part of this prohatum est, a worse thing will befall thee. Neuer flatter thy selfe then in sinne. ThouMat. 4. hast ouercome one sickenesse, one a [...]ction, if that a­mend thee not, thou but flyest a Lyon to meete a Beare, one euill to meete another.Amos 5. 19.

It is vaine for night watching adulterers to boast of their stollen houres, their iudgement sleepeth not vaine: for the couetous and deceitfull to reioyce of their ill­gotten treasure, they worke like industrious Bees, and fill their cells with the sweete sauour of gaine, and yet shal soone be smothred vp with a Sic vos non vobis: your selues, not for your selues gotten. It is vaine for any to hope the worst shall not come, because it is not yet come. When Iulius Caesar mocked Spurnia the Augure, (who bad him beware of the Ides of March,) saying theQuod sine vlla noxa adessent (respondet) venisse sed non praeterijsse: [...]. Ides were come without any harme; he answered, it is true, they are come, but they are not yet gone. The vi­sion is not alwayes of an Almond [...]od: God often ex­pecteth a maturity of sin as in the A [...]orites: iudgement somtimes followeth sin a loofe off. Many years after theIer. 1. 11: Amalakites pay for the euill they did the children of God.Gen. 15: Ioab & Shimeis hoarie heads suffer the worst part when1. King. 2. their parts are almost done. The Ostrich is said to hide her egs in the sand, & forget thē: which hatcht by heat of the Sun, she knowes to be her own. Long we hide, but our iudgements are hatching by the power of heauen, which our conscience shall againe acknowledge our owne.

Thou hast beene healed; take a fayre Warning, Sinne no more. Sinnes after warning deserue greater punish­ment: Sinne no more, Sinne is like drunkennesse, the mer­ry madnesse of few howres, but the worst part is eter­nall. Wherefore make straite steps vnto your feete, lestPrudenter fa­ciunt qui cala­mitatibus eru­diuntur. Greg. Naz. orat. 17. that which is halting bee turned out of the way. It is a dreadfull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God, who will not iustifie the sinner. Wise and blessed are they which take his warnings, and profit by their cha­stisements, [Page 56] who being tryed in the fornace, learne of Dauid, it is good for me that I haue bee [...] afflicted. Psal. 119. 71. Illic Apostolo­rum gloriosus Chorus, ill [...] Prophetarum &c. Cyprian de mortalitate Reuelat. 22.

Heauen is our country, life a Sea of troubles, affliction the winde which filleth the sayles homeward: The Pa­triarkes, Prophets, Apostles, and holy Martyrs stand on the shore to entertaine vs. They are secured from morta­litie, feare, sinne, curse, sickenesse, death: he will open vn­to vs the gates of the heauenly Paradise who hath bro­kenIpse aperiat nobis I anuas Paradisi, qui co [...]fregit, por­tas inferni. Au. Serm. 122. de temp. the gates of hell, euen our Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus; To him, with thee O Father of mercy, and the holy Spirit, be all honour and glory in heauen and in earth, for euer and euer▪

Amen.