Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Devotion 3
6. Metuit. The Phisician is afraid.
6. MEDITATION.
… Obserue the Phisician, with the same …iligence, as hee the dis…ase; I see hee feares, …nd I feare with him: I ouertake him, I ouem him in his feare, an… go the faster, because… makes his pace slow… feare the more, beca… he disguises his fear, … I see it with the mo… sharpnesse, because … would not hauehave me … it. He knowes that … feare shall not disord… the practise, and exerci… of his Art, but he kno… that my fear may diso…der the e…fect, and wo…king of his practise. … the ill affections of … spleene, complicate, an… …ingle themselus with …ery infirmitie of the …dy, so doth feare insi…at it …elf in eueryevery acti… or passion of the mind; …nd as wind in the body …ill counterfet any dis…ase, and seem the Stone, & …eem the Gout, so feare will counterfet any dis…ase of the Mind; It shall …eeme louelove, a louelove of hauing, and it is but a fear, a iealous, and suspitious …eare of loosing; It shall …eem valor in despising, and vnderualuing danger, and it is but feare, in an ouer-valuing of …nion, and estimation, and feare of loosing that man that is not afraid… a Lion, is afraid of a … not afraid of starui… & yet is afraid of so… ioynt of meat at the tab… presented to feed hi… not afraid of the so… of Drummes, and Tru…pets, and Shot, and tho… which they seeke … drowne, the last cries o… men, and is afraid … some particular harm…nious instrument … so muc… afraid, as that with an… of these the enemy might …riue this mā, otherwise …aliant enough, out of …e field. I know not, what fear is, nor I know …ot what it is that I fear …ow; I feare not the hastening of my death, and yet I do fear the increase …f the disease; I should …elie Nature, if I should deny that I feard this, & …f I should say that I fea…ed death, I should belye God; My weaknesse is …rom Nature, who hath …ut her Measure, my …trength is from God, who possesses, & distri…butes infinitely. As the eueryevery cold ayre, is no… dampe, eueryevery shiuering not a stupefaction, so eue…ry feare, is not a feare…nes, eueryevery declination… not a running away, …uery debating is not resoluing, eueryevery wis… that it were not thus, … not a murmuring, no… deiection though it b… thus; but as my Phisici… fear puts not him fro… his practise, neither do… mine put me, from r…ceiuing from God, an… Man, and my selfe, spiritu…ll, and ciuill, and morall …ssistances, and conso…ations.
6. EXPOSTVLATION.
MY God, my God, I find in thy Booke, that …eare is a stifling spirit, a spirit of suffocation; That …shbosheth could not speak, 2 Sam: 3.11not reply in his own defence …o Abner, because hee was …fraid. It was thy seruāt …obs case too,9.34. who before hee could say any …hing to thee, saies of thee, Let him take his rod awa… frō me, Iob 9.34.and let not his fear… terrifie mee, then would speake with him, and … feare him; but it is not … with mee. Shall a feare … thee, take away my d…uotiō to thee? Dost tho… command me to spea… to thee, and commaun… me to feare thee, and d… these destroy one ano…ther? There is no per…plexity in thee, my God; … inextricablenes in the… my light, & my clearn… my Sun, and my Moon… that directest me as … in the night of aduersity and fear, as in my day of prosperity & confidēce. I must thē speak to thee, at all times, but when must I feare thee? At all times to. Whē didst thou rebuke any petitioner, with the name of Importunate?Luc: 18.1. Thou hast propo…d to vsus a parable of a Iudge that did Iustice at last, because the client was Importunate, and troubled him; But thou hast told vsus plainely, that thy vse in that parable, was not, that thou wast troubled with our importunities, but (as thou saye… there) That wee should a…wayes pray. Luc. 11.5.And to th… same purpose thou pro…posest another, that Is… presse my friend, when he… is in bed, at midnight, … lend mee bread, though h… will not rise because I a… his friend, yet because… mine importunitie, he wil… God will do this, when…soeuer thon askest, an… neuer call it importunit…e Pray in thy bed at mid…night, and God wil n… say, I will heare thee t… mo…row vponupon thy knees, at thy bed side; pray vponupon thy knees there, then, & God will not say, I will heare thee on Sunday, at Church; God is no dilatory God, no froward God; Praier is neuer vnseasonable, God is neuer asleep nor absent. But, O my God, can I doe this, and feare thee; come to thee, and speak to thee, in all places, at all houres, and feare thee? Dare I aske this question? There is more boldnesse in the question, then in the comming: I may doe it… though I feare thee; … cannot doe it, except feare thee. So well has… thou prouided, that w… should alwayes fea… thee, as that thou ha… prouided, that we shol… fear no person but the… nothing but thee; n… men? No. Whom?Psa. 27.1. Th… Lord is my helpe, and m… saluation, whome shall feare? Great enemies: no… great enemies; for no …nemies are great to them that feare thee… Num: 14.9.Feare not the people of th… l…d, for they are Bread to you; They shall not on…y not eat vsus, not eat our bread, but they shall bee our Bread; Why should, we feare them? But for all this Metaphoricall Bread, victory ouer enemies, that thought to deuoure vsus, may we not feare, that we may lack bread literally? And feare famine, though we feare not enemies? Young Lyons do lacke, Ps: 35.70.and suffer Hunger, but they that seeke the Lord, shall not want any good thing. Neuer? Though it be… well with them at on… time, may they not fea… that it may be worse… Wherfore should I feare … the dayes of euill, 46.5saies th… seruant Dauid? Thoug… his own sins had mad… them euill, he feared th… not… No? not if this euil… determin in death? No… though in a death… no… though in a death infli…ct…d by violence by ma…lice, by our own des… feare not the sentence … death, Ecclus 41 3.if thou feare God Thou art, O my God, so far from admitting vsus, that feare thee, to feare others, as that thou makest others to feare vsus; As Herod feared Iohn, Mar. 6.20.because hee was a holy, and a iust man, & obserued him How fully then O my abundant God, how gently, O my sweet, my easie God doest thou vnentangle m…e, in any scruple arising out of the consideration of this thy feare? Is not this that which thou intendest, when thou sayst,Psa: 25.14. The secret of the Lord is with them, that feare him; The secret, th… mistery of the right v… of feare. Dost thou no… meane this, when tho… sayest,Pro: 2.5. Wee shall vnde…stand the feare of the Lord… HaueHave it, and hauehave benef… by it; hauehave it, and stan… vnderunder it; be directed b… it, and not bee deiecte… with it. And dost tho… not propose that Chur… for our example, whe… thou sayest,Act. 9.31. The Churc… of Iudea, walked in t… feare of God; they ha… it, but did not sit dow… lazily, nor fall down… weakly, nor sinke vnderunder it. There is a feare which weakens men in the seruice of God: Adam was afrayde, Gen. 3.10.because hee was naked. They who hauehave put off thee, are a prey to all. They may feare, for thou wilt laugh, Pro: 1.26:when their feare comes vponupon them, as thou hast tolde them,10.24. more then once; And thou wilt make them feare, Ps: 14.5.where no cause of feare is, as thou hast told them more then once too. 53 6.There is a feare that is a punishment o… former wickednesses, & induces more: Thoug… some said of thy Sonne, Christ Iesus, Io: 7.13.that hee wa… a good Man, yet no M… spake openly, for feare … the Iewes: 19.38.Ioseph was h… Disciple; but secretly, fo… for feare of the Iewes: Th… Disciples kept som… meetings,29.19. but with dores shut, for feare of the Iewes. O my God, thou giuest vsus feare for ballast to cary vsus stedily in all weathers. But thou wouldst ballast vsus, wit… such sand, as should hauehave gold in it, with that feare which is thy feare; for tke feare of the Lord is his treasure. Esai: 33.6.Hee that hath that, lacks nothing that Man can hauehave, nothing that God does giuegive. Timorous men thou rebukest;Mat. 8.26. Why are yee fearfull, O yee of little faith? Such thou dismissest from thy Seruice, with scorne, though of them there went from Gideons Army,Iud: 7.3. 22000. and remained but 10. Such thou sendest farther then so; thithe… from whence they n…uer returne, The fearefu… and the vnbeleeuing, Apo: 21.8.i… that burning lake, which … the second death. There … a feare, & there is a hope which are equall abo…minations to thee; fo… they were confounded, Iob. 6.20.b…cause they hoped, saies th… seruant Iob: because they had mis-placed, mis-ce… tred their hopes; they hoped, and not in thee, an… such shall feare, and no… feare thee. Bu… in th… feare, my God, and my feare, my God, and my hope, is hope, and louelove, & confidence, and peace, and eueryevery limbe, and ingredient of Happinesse enwrapped; for Ioy includes all; and feare, and ioy consist together; nay, constitute one another; The women d…parted from the sepulchre, Mat. 28.8.the women who were made supernumerary Apostles, Apostles to the Apostles; Mothers of the Church, and of the Fathers, Grandfathers of the Church, the Apostles themselues, t…e women, Angels of the Resurrec…on, went from the sep…chre, with feare and i… they ran, sayes the … and they ran vponupon tho… two legs, feare, & ioy; … both was the right leg… they ioy in thee O Lor… that feare thee, and fear… thee only, who feele th… ioy in thee. Nay, thy fear… and thy louelove, are in…eperable; still we are called vponupon, in infinite places, to feare God; yet th… Commandement, which … the roote of all, is, Tho… shalt louelove the Lord thy God … Hee doeth neither, that doth not both; hee omits neither, Ps: 111.10.that does one. Therfore when thy seruant Dauid had said,Pro. 1.7. that the feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome, And his Sonne had repeated it againe, Hee that collects both, calls this feare, Ecclus. 1.20.27.the root of wisdome; And that it may embrace all, hee ca…ls it wisedome it selfe. A wise man therefore is neuer without it, neuer without the exercise of it: Therefore thou sent…st Moses to thy people That they might learne… feare thee all the dayes … their liues: Deu: 4.10,not in he…uy, and calamitous, bu… in good, and cheerf… dayes too: for, No… who had assurance … his deliuerance, yet m…ued with feare, Heb: 11.7.prepar… an Arke, for the sauing… his house. Ecclus: 18.27.A wise man … feare in eueryevery thing. An… th…refore though I pr…tend, to no other degre… of wisedome, I am a…bundantly rich in thi… that I lye heere posse… with that feare, which …s thy feare, both that …his sicknesse is thy immediate correction, and …ot meerely a naturall …ccident, and therefore …earefull, because it is a …earefull thing to fall into …hy hands, and th…t this …eare preserues me from all inordinate feare, arising out of the infirmi…ie of Nature, because …hy hand being vponupon me, thou wilt neuer let me fall out of thy hand.
6. PRAYER.
O Most mightie God … mercifull God, … God of all true sorrow, … true ioy to, of all feare, … of al hope to, as thou ha… giuen me a Repentan… not to be repented of, … giuegive me, O Lord, a fea… of which I may not b… afraid. GiueGive me tende… and supple, and confo…mable affections, that … I ioy with them that i… and mourne with them that mourne, so I ma… feare with them that feare. And since thou hast vouchsafed to discouer to me, in his feare whom thou hast admit…ed to be my assistance, …n this sickenesse, that …here is danger therein, …et me not, O Lord, go a…out to ouercome the sense of that fear, so far, as to pretermit the fitting, and preparing of my selfe, for the worst …hat may bee feard, the passage out of this life. Many of thy blessed Martyrs, hauehave passed out of this life, without a… showe of feare; But th… most blessed Sonne him…selfe did not so. T… Martys were known… be but men, and therfo… it pleased thee, to fill t… with thy Spirit, and th… power, in that they d… more then Men; Thy S… was declard by thee, … by himselfe to be G… and it was requisite, th… he should declare him…selfe to be Man also, i… the weaknesses of ma… Let mee not therefo… O my God, bee ashame… of these feares, but let me feele them to determine, where his feare …id, in a present submit…ing of all to thy will. And when thou shalt …aue inflamd, & thawd my former coldnesses, …nd indeuotions, with …hese heats, and quench…d my former heates, with these sweats, and …nundations, and rectified my former pre…umptions, and negligences with these fears, …ee pleased, O Lord, as one, made so by thee, to thinke me fit for th… And whether it be th… pleasure, to dispose … this body, this garme… so, a… to put it to a fa…ther wearing in th… world, or to lay it vp i… the common wardrope, th… graue, for the next, glo…rifie thy selfe in th… choyce now, & glorif… it then, with that glory which thy Son, our S…uiour Christ Iesus hat… purchased for them whome thou make… partakers of his Resu…rection. Amen.