Practical Discourses on Sickness and Recovery, Sermons · Sermon 3
The Third SERMON.
PSAL. 30. ver. 3, 4.
O Lord, thou hast brought up my Soul from the Grave: thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the Pit.
Sing unto the Lord, O ye Saints of his, and give Thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness.
IF Deliverance from the Grave be so Infer. 2.great a Mercy, and for which we ought to be very thankful: what cause have they to be thankful that are delivered from a Death in Sin? As the Soul is much better than the Body, so the Mercies that are bestowed upon it are much more valuable: and without this spiritual Resurrection, temporal Deliverance and Salvation would not be so great a Mercy. A Soul under the Dominion and reigning Power of Sin, is in a far more deplorable Condition than a Body that is consuming in the Grave: the one suffers under a sort of innocent Misery which it cannot help, the other suffers under a wilful Obstinacy and Impotence contracted by its own fault. How sad a prospect is it to see Men far from God, in whom alone there is Life; & a Separation from whom is far more terrible than the separation of the Body and the Soul, which yet is painful and sad enough. They that are under the Power of this Spiritual Death, taste not the Goodness of God, they hear not his loudest Calls, they tremble not at his most dreadful Threats, they are not drawn with his Love, nor start at his approaching Wrath. They are very sick indeed, but they feel not their Sickness; their Ignorance has deprived their Souls of all knowledg of their own Miseries: they are in a state of Death and Insensibility; and their Case is the more sad, because they are like to fall under the Power of eternal Death: and tho their temporal Life is prolonged for a Season, yet we may say of them, as of Malefactors under the Sentence of the Law for their Crimes, they are dead Men, though there be a Reprieve, or a delay of Execution for a little space. And if any of you (as I hope there are many here) are delivered from a state so dangerous and so miserable, what Thanks and Praise should you give to God, who hath quickned you, when you were dead in Trespasses and Sins? Eph. 2. 1. especially considering that you had no Inclinations, no foregoing Dispositions to this spiritua Life. You contributed nothing to your own Regeneration, no more than a Carcass in the Grave can raise it self and live again; no more than dry Bones can move of their own accord, or clothe themselves with Skin and Flesh. When he passed by, and saw you in your Blood, Ezek. 16. 6. then he said vntounto you, Live. The Hour is come, in which they that are in the Grave, shall hear the Voice of the Son of God; and they that hear, shall live, Joh. 5. 25. How many of your Friends, your Neighbours, and your Fellow-Citizens are there, in whom there are no Signs of Life at all? that notwithstanding all their Civility and fair Carriage, their Attendance upon the Word, and the performance of several outward Duties, have only a likeness to the Living, but no real Life. And why should God be so good to you, and not to the rest of Men? You were once the Children of Wrath, and Enemies as well as they. Were there any peculiar Excellencies in you more than in others to recommend you to his Favour? No, he has been merciful to you, because he will be merciful: and you may say as 'tis in Eph. 2. 4, 5. God who is rich in Mercy, for his great Love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in Sins, hath quickned us together with Christ. 'Tis a very great Mercy for those that have been sick to be restored to Health; but you are delivered from a worse Death, and have obtained a better Resurrection, in as much as the second Death, to which they were obnoxious, is infinitely more painful and dreadful than the first. What a Mercy do you enjoy to be brought from a state of Wrath and Condemnation, into a state of Peace and Favour? from the Guilt of your Sins, which made you dead in Law, you are freed in your Justification: and from the Power of Sin, which would have kept you in continual Slavery, you are delivered by the sanctifying Influences and Operations of the blessed Spirit; you have cause to be thankful for your selves, and for your Relations too, if God has given the same Mercies unto them: you may invite your Neighbours and your Friends to a Participation of your Comforts, and say as the Father of the Prodigal, Come and rejoice with me, for this my Son was lost, and is now found, was dead, and is now alive. To raise your Thankfulness, consider what a condition you would have been in, had not God blessed you with a part in the first Resurrection. You whose Eyes are now fix'd on Heaven and Glory, had been still slumbering as unconverted Sinners are, on the very brink of Hell; you had then been without all relish of that word which first produced, and which does every day maintain your Life, and which is sweeter to you than Honey, or the Honey-Comb, Psal. 19. 10. You had now been without all Esteem and Value of that dearest Redeemer, who purchased for you this Happiness at a very dear price; and that you might live, was himself content to die: you had then been without that reviving hope of seeing him for ever, that smooths your way, and guides your Steps, and upholds your Spirits, thô you meet with many a sharp and bitter Cross. You would now perhaps have been prophaning his Sabbaths, vilifying his Ordinances, tearing his Name to pieces with execrable Oaths; you might not have known what is the Sweetness of a sincere and hearty Prayer, what is the Blessedness of a Soul whose Sins are pardoned, and how honourable is the Priviledg of having the great God for a Father, and Christ for a Mediator: You are delivered from spiritual Diseases, which are worse than all bodily Distempers; for Pride and Envy, Impatience and Discontent, and Ambition and Revenge, are worse than even the worst of Pains, than the Stone, the Cholick, the Strangury, or the like. These cause a momentany Trouble; but the evil Habits, the corrupt Inclinations, and the disorderly Motions that bear sway in that poor Soul that is dead in Sin, tend to an everlasting Misery. Continually adore and magnify the Power of your Saviour, that made your Hearts at length to yield to his own terms, though they gave him a very great Opposition: Bless the Skill and Wisdom of your gracious Physician, that cures all the Diseases of your old Nature, that is not in any part of it sound and healthful. It is easy to kill and ruin and destroy, that we can all do too well; but who can recover and save but he alone? And if he was to be admired when on Earth, He heal'd the Sick, and made the Blind to see, the Lame to walk, and the Dead to live: He is much more now to be adored, and his Power is not less miraculous when it displays its vertue in Regeneration; and when he makes all the boisterous unruly passions of Nature to be still and quiet, than in commanding the Seas and the Winds. These things should be the matter of your Praise and Wonder, as they will be the cause of Praise and Wonder to his Saints for ever: and if David is thankful here, when he says, O Lord, thou hast brought my Soul from the Grave; what matter of greater Thankfulness is it, when a Christian can say, O Lord, thou hast brought up my Soul from Hell, from the Power of Satan, from the House of Bondage, and from the Neighbourhood of the second Death.
Long Life is in it self a Blessing, Infer. 3.and for which we may very lawfully pray. I say 'tis in it self a Blessing, for it may be clog'd with those Miseries that may make it to be as a Curse: As if a Man were to live long only to row in Galleys, or to dig in Mines, or to pine in a Dungeon, or to live in Pain and Torment, or to languish on a sick Bed for many Years together, without help or ease. As we do not say a Ship that has been in a Storm for many days has failed long, but the Ship has been long tost: So life attended with innumerable Vexations and heavy Crosses, were not so truely to be called Life, as one continued Act of Dying. To live to see nothing but Desolations, to hear nothing but ill Tidings, and to feel nothing but Pain; these and many other things would make a long Life to be an Affliction; and such as these made Jeremy to say, Why died I not from the Womb? To have Life and to have no Comfort with it, to have such Diseases, it may be, as will not allow us to take any Delight in what we eat and drink, in the Society of our Friends and good People, or good Books; when we have no other Language but Complaints, no other work but to sigh and to groan, and it may be Pains which we cannot bear: Life with these Companions looks but as a poor and sorry thing: but Life as it includes a Recovery from Sickness, a Recovery from Distempers that hindred us either from the doing or the receiving good, so indeed it is a Blessing, and may be prayed for, thô when we do so we must request it: 1st, With great Submission to the soveraign Disposer of Life and Death, to do with us so as may serve most his Interest and Kingdom in the World. 2dly, We must in the desires of long Life, propose to our selves great and honourable ends: Some desire to live long that they may with more Freedom indulge and gratify their Appetites: Some that they may get great Estates, make some stately Buildings and Houses that they design to call by their own Names, and hoping thereby to perpetuate their Memory. These are the Desires of Men in whose Hearts the World bears too great a Sway, and who are little acquainted with the Nature of Religion; for this will teach us to make the Glory of God, the Edification and Profit of our Neighbour, and the Welfare of our own Souls, the only end in our Desires of long Life, and then we must inform our selves in the right Notion of long Life. We commonly think that 70 or 80 is the duration of a long Life; but it is not to be measured by the number of Years, so much as by our Proficiency in Heavenly Wisdom: He has lived long and well too, that has attain'd to the end of Living, that has got that Knowledg and those Graces which enable him to live to the Glory of God here, and to enjoy him for ever; and a Sinner that is an hundred Years old, will be accurst, Isai. 65. 20. if he arrive not to this; he has been indeed a great while, but has not truly lived at all. And though the best are but Loiterers, and have not that esteem of time which its real Preciousness does require at their Hands; Yet he that hath an hundred Years time, and loseth it all, lives not so long as he that hath but twenty and bestows it well: It is too soon to go to Hell at an hundred Years old, and not too soon to go to Heaven at twenty. Baxter's Saints Rest, p. 613. Barely to live, is a thing no way considerable; for Birds and Flies, and Gnats and other Animals, live as well as we, nay, and many of them have a more delicate Pleasure in Life, as wanting the Bitterness of our Griefs, and the Fears of a sad Futurity; but we then desire long Life aright, when we beg it for this reason, that we may live to God: 'tis what is very desirable in this respect, though we ought not to promise it to our selves, for we must always work with Zeal and Fervor, as not knowing but we may have only a little time wherein to work. I believe there is scarcely one among us all, but hopes to live long, and to attain to the Years of some of our old Progenitors, and does not question but he shall do so. When we see very aged People, even in our dangerous Youth, we hope that we shall live till our greener Heads be cover'd with the Winter, and the Snow of Age. 'Tis indeed a thing greatly to be desired, where one is planted in the Vineyard of God, not to be removed thence, till the time of Harvest, and not to have our Fruit blasted with rude and unseasonable Weather, but that we may come to the Grave in a full Age, Like as a Shock of Corn cometh in his season, Job 5. 26. It was indeed a Blessing more insisted on, and more largely promised in the Old Testament than 'tis in the New; for that Oeconomy was chiefly managed with respect to temporal Advantages and Prosperity. They had in many Promises the Discovery of another happy Life, though not so clear and distinct as that which the Gospel gives to us, yet they had the Belief of it, and their Belief was without doubt confirmed by the Translation of Enoch, and the Rapture of Elias: for they might easily think that God would not remove two Men, so very good, and so very useful, unless it were to place them in a better State than that was which they had on Earth. Long Life is a great Blessing, but not such an one as God is always pleased to give to the best of Men: Good Josiah, the Glory of all the Kings in those Days, did not live so long as many other worse than he: All Israel was forced to lament his early Death, whom to have seen alive would have been their greatest Joy. Our good King Edward the 6th, that was in his tenderest Youth so great a Scholar, so good a Christian, and so excellent a King, so hearty an Enemy to the Pope, and so sincere and true Friend to the Reformation, and so great a Promoter of it; he died (alas) very young. The Divine Providence is mysterious in its Conduct, and far above our Thoughts. For what Good might two such great and holy Men have done, the one in Israel, and the other in England? They did much Good in the few years while they lived, and might have done abundance more had they lived very long: these excellent Kings were soon taken away, whilst many Tyrants have waxed grey amidst the Hatred and the Curses of the People. When we think of two such excellent Men as Mr. Joseph Allein, and Mr. John Janeway, and how soon they died, that were less in Degree, but as great in Grace as the former two, we must needs be silent, and adore the Providence that we do not understand: we must needs conclude that there is something much better to be enjoyed in the next World, than long Life in this; otherwise, such holy Men, so full of Self-denial, so very laborious for the Glory of God and the Good of Souls, should have lived very long: They were taken away by Sickness from that Work in which their Souls delighted, and which in their Hands thrived very much: The Tears and Prayers of their Hearers and their Friends that would have had them to flourish with perpetual Youth, and that were very sorrowful to see Men that filled them with such great hopes taken away, could not stay them here any longer: nor would God have them to stay longer from their happiness. It is indeed a Mercy to those that are good & fit for Heaven, to have an early Deliverance from such an evil World as this, where there is so much Sorrow, and Disorder, and Temptations, and Sins; to be taken away from the Evil to come, and from many sad Objects that such as live longer may be troubled to see; to be fully assured that God is their God, and Heaven their Home. Jesus Christ did leave the World, (as one says) and ascend to Glory about the 33d or 34th year of his Age; to teach us in the prime of our Years to despise this World, when we are best able to enjoy it, and to reserve our full Vigour for Heaven and for his Love. Yet though this be a way to promote a Man's own Happiness, yet it must be received as a Mercy from God, when any one lives not only to promote his own Salvation, but the Good of others also.
Some will say, What need we to Object.pray for long Life? what need we sollicite God to no purpose, or tire him with our Prayers? for we shall not live a day beyond our time, nor die a moment sooner.
Do you not think your selves concern'd to eat and to drink, and to procure Answ.to your selves other Gratifications of Life notwithstanding this? And why should you not think your selves under an equal Obligation to use those other Means that are necessary to preserve Life, as Prayer to God for his Blessing? seeing Man lives not by Bread alone, Mat. 4. 4. You find that Hezekiah by his Prayers to God obtained fifteen years more after he had received the first Summons of Death. And Paul by the Prayer of the Corinthians was delivered, after he had received the Sentence of Death, 2 Cor. 1. 9, 10, 11. And whatsoever may be in the Decrees of God, yet I am sure he may justly deny us what we will not take the pains to beg; tho the longest Life that we can hope to live will be some hundreds of years shorter than the Lives of Men before the Flood: for their long Lives are rather to be ascribed to some extraordinary Priviledg than to the ordinary Course of Nature. The World was then to be replenished with Inhabitants, which could not be so speedily done but by an extraordinary multiplication of Mankind, neither could that be done but by the long Lives of Men. Again, Arts and Sciences were then to be planted; for the better effecting whereof it was requisite, that the same Men should have the Experience and Observation of many Ages. As also the Food wherewith they were nourished before the Flood, may well be thought to be more medicinal; and haply the Influence of the Heavens was at that time, in that Climate where the Patriarchs lived, more favourable and gracious. Hakewell Apol. p. 38.
If Deliverance from the Grave be a Infer. 4.great Mercy, and greatly to be acknowledged, then it is a very evil thing in haste and passion to wish for Death. There are several People, when any thing falls out that crosses their Inclinations or Designs, will presently say, I wish I were dead, I wish I were in the Grave, and out of such a troublesom World as this. But do you know what it is to die? it is to appear before the eternal God, and to render an Account of all that you have thought, or spoke, or done: it is to be judg'd to Heaven or Hell, and that for ever. I cannot forget here that sad Story that is mentioned by Bellarmine, and quoted from him: He speaks of a Man notoriously worldlyminded, whom he went to visit on his Death-bed; and when he did him duly to provide for another World, answer'd him, Sir, I have much desired to speak with you, but it is not for my self, but in behalf of my Wife and Children: for my self I am going to Hell, neither is there any thing that I would desire in my own behalf. And this he spake, saith he, with such Composedness, as if he had been but going to the next Town or Village. The Ignorance of this miserable Person suffer'd him to be in no Commotion nor Horror at all; but what a doleful Change did he feel in his Thoughts and Apprehensions when he came to that real Hell, and to those Flames of which he spake in so cold a manner? People make very little of dying; and those that are poor, usually die with the least concern; for they imagine that having suffer'd so many Miseries in this World, they shall be very happy in the next. Life is a very dear Enjoyment, and it is a wonder any should desire in haste to be deprived of it, but it is usually then, when they are in very great and almost insupportable Pain, or under the fear of Evils that seem to be greater than what they are able to bear. Thus the Children of Israel being in great straits, wish'd they had died in Egypt, Exod. 16. 3. Thus the meekest of all other Men, press'd by the Calamities that he had in view, says, Numb. 11. 14, 15. I am not able to bear all this People alone, because it is too heavy for me: and if thou deal thus with me, kill me I pray thee out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight, and let me not see my Wretchedness. Thus Elijah, 1 King. 19. 4. and Job, chap. 6. 8, 9. and Jonah, the Sun beat upon his Head, and he fainted, and he wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live, chap. 4. 8. but by a Mercy of God not inferiour to his former Deliverance, he was reserv'd to another Repentance, and to more peaceable Days. Thus even good Men have sinned through the pressure of some very great Affliction and Calamity. In this they followed the Motions of their sensitive Nature, and not those of Grace, the tediousness of their Trouble, and the weight of the Cross that they groaned under, made them with too much eagerness and haste to pray for Death; which is always reckoned to be the last Refuge of the Miserable. But God is not used to grant these fretful and passionate Desires; he will make them to know their own Folly, and the Justice of his Soveraign Authority; he will have them not only to serve him, but to wait till he dismiss them from their Service; and all their Haste shall not make their Sun decline, till he see it is their time to die. And it is indeed a piece of Arrogance unsuitable to the Condition of a Creature, to desire it just at such a particular Season, as if we knew the most convenient time to depart, and were not in this as in all our other Actions, to be regulated by the Will of God, and not by our own. But indeed when a Man that has been very faithful and laborious in his Generation, is by Pain rendred altogether unfit for Service; when the Strength and Vigour which he laid out for God is wasted and decayed by old Age, or a tedious Distemper; when his Candle that has long burnt to enlighten others, burns with a feeble and almost undiscerned Light, he may then desire to die, as a poor weary Man to go to Bed. But the Saints of God do even then desire it with Calmness and Deliberation, if they be not in a raging Disease, for then it is impossible: they have much ado to bring their Hearts to be sincerely and freely willing to depart: Their Fears and Temptations and remaining Inclinations to the Body, and their Friends on Earth render it a Work of Difficulty: There are great Strugglings in that Moment between Nature and Grace, between Faith and Sense, though at last their Grace gets the Victory, and so they long to be with Christ.
If Deliverance from the Grave be Infer. 5.so great a Mercy, then Self-murther is a very great Sin. The Law that forbids us to kill, does extend to this as well as to the Murder of another Man; this is a violating of that Soveraign Power that is in God, and a taking upon us to dispose of our Life, which is not our own but his. 'Tis an usurping upon his Providence, which has determined when, and after what manner we are to die: and though 'tis very likely there are several Accidents of Life, that are worse than Death it self; yet it is that Eternity that comes after Death, that is most formidable, and into which no Man ought to throw himself; and when we are reduced to such a condition, that to live seems to be far worse than to die, yet even then the Unalterableness of our State afterwards should be a most powerful Restraint, especially if we are uncertain where we are then to go. It is against that Patience and Trust, which we ought to repose in God: It is a woful sort of dying, to die in the doing of such a thing as this which he has most severely prohibited, to tear our Souls from our Bodies, with our own hands, in such an ignominious and shameful manner, and because of our Distress, to pass Sentence upon our selves, as not fit to live, and then to be our own Executioners: A Soul at Death should be in the Exercise of Grace, and in a quiet and humble Resignation; but in this case 'tis in Fear and Horror and Discontent; and what the Romans magnifi'd so much for Gallantry, and an Heroick Spirit was the real Effect of Weakness and Cowardise, as it is much more Heroical to sustain and meet a coming Danger, than to retreat and fly from it. It was from a Meanness of Spirit that Cato chose to kill himself, because he could not see the Empire flourish under Cesar, whom he did not love: and however such Acts may be extoll'd by Heathen Historians, they are not so by that Scripture, which is the Rule of our Faith, and the Guide of our Actions, and which furnishes us with no Examples of those that did this, Samson only excepted, whose case had several things in it very singular) but such as were very bad Men, as Saul, and Achitophel, and Judas: and as we would not have our portion with them in the other World, so it is to be wish'd and endeavoured, that our end may not be like to them in this: But so great is the Love of Life, and so strong the fear of Death in the most, so dark the Knowledg of Futurity, and so great our Unwillingness to go from a World with which we are well acquainted, to that which we never saw, that few Men are in danger of Self-murther, till some great Affliction, and overwhelming Pain, and by the means of that, some great Perplexity seize their Spirits: I think few are in danger of it, till their Griefs are unspoakably great, or their Minds in that Anguish that is as the sad Foretaste of Hell; till all their Thoughts are in hurry and Confusion, and as then they are no way capable of being bettered by those Advices that seem proper to restrain them; so it concerns you that are at ease, and are able to pursue the Business and Affairs of Life, and of Religion; to pray earnestly to God that he withdraw not his Protection, and the Guard of his Providence from you, that he do not leave you to thick and gross Darkness, nor to the Power of Satan, who will push you forward to things that are most sinful and unwarrantable: Pray hard, that violent Tentations, and overwhelming raging Pains may never overtake your for how evil soever Self-murther seem to you now, you know not what you may be then prest to do: pray earnestly that you may never be without the sense or hope of the Divine Favour, for if (which God forbid) you once lose that, woe unto you, then you will be like a Ship without Sails or Rudder in a Storm, you may be swallowed up, or driven on the Rocks and broken to pieces. It is Distress and violent Sorrow that exposes Men to the Commission of this Sin: Saul fell not upon his Sword and killed himself, till God had forsaken him, and till he knew not what to do, though it was his own Sin that brought him so low. Cicero tells us indeed of one Cleombrotus, who reading the Discourse of Plato, concerning another more happy Life after this, which could not be attained but by Death, did thereupon kill himself to attain that Happiness; but if that be true, it is a thing that most rarely happens, that any that have either hope of Heaven or Assurance of going thither, are so impatient of being absent from it, as to kill themselves to go thither. And it may be you will be ready to ask me, If they have no hope of being better when they die, why do they long for Death, or attempt to kill themselves? They should rather strive to live, that they may be better prepared for another World: It is a Question that has been ask'd me by some People; and seeing it is perhaps what you seldom have met withal, I will give you an Answer to it, and if it do not appear very rational, yet I am sure it will contain that which has been the real Apprehensions of People under those Temptations. I say then, Men may desire to destroy themselves, though they have no well grounded Expectation of Happiness after Death. 1. Because of that Pain of Body, and that Anguish of Soul which is intolerable to them; they have no natural, nor spiritual Rest, nor Prospect of either, and this fills them with Amazement and Horror, and in that Amazement there is nothing which they will not dare to do. 2. Because they may reckon that they are already as in Hell, and that if they be dead, they can but be in Hell, and so dare even to try the worst: They think the longer they live, they aggravate their Guilt, and heighten their Punishment, and add new Fewel to the Flame, which is already too too hot and scorching; the Burden under which they groan is so heavy, that they do not desire to have more Weight added to it. Or, 3. It may be they may have some little, very little hope, that were they out of the Body, they would be better than now they are; and therefore they'l venture. As to living to be better prepared, they have usually such dismal perplex'd Thoughts, that they cannot think to any purpose at all, nor find themselves by Living, to be any better: You'l say, these are desperate Conclusions, and so they are, but that makes me think that none but in Despair, or in very sad Diseases, for which the World has no Remedy, are under a Temptation to take away their own Life. And if it be a Disease, there is room for the more Charity as to those that die after this manner; for God will not impute the Effects of Phrensy, and a decayed and disordered Reason, to the Malice of the Will, nor judg the Disease to be a Sin, though he may have sent upon them such woful Distress for their former Sins. There is another way of a Man's killing himself, which because 'tis very frequent, is less taken notice off, and that is by Gluttony, and Excess in Drinking: When a Man continually loads himself with vast Quantities of Meats and Drinks, and so suffocates and strangles Life, and brings upon his own Body Diseases and Death; and tho this is not an Evil punish'd by the Judges, yet it ceases not to be an Evil, and a Man may by continued Intemperance and Riot, be as guilty of Selfmurther in the Sight of God, as if he took a Knife and cut his own Throat. Some will say indeed, that such live apace, and if their brutal Actions deserve the Name of Life, 'tis very true, for they go with a swifter course into the Grave than they need to do.
Infer. 6.Seeing the being brought up from the Grave is a great Mercy, how great a Mercy is Health, when the Restoration of it is so great a Mercy, and so greatly to be acknowledged? Some think it a very needless Labour to speak of this, seeing it is that which all People know; as it would be needless to praise the Sun which gives us Light, or the Air in which we breath. But though these are very common, yet they are nevertheless very great Mercies; like Gold which though it were never so common, yet would continue still to be a very excellent and valuable Metal: There is as much Difference between a Man in Health, and a Man in Sickness, as between a Man at Liberty, and a Man in Chains. Sickness whenever it comes, will give you great Subjects of Sadness and Disquietness; and long before you die, you may see the Days wherein you will have no Pleasure; you cannot then, (especially if it be violent) with any Freedom or Clearness of Thought, express your selves either to God or Man, you will be very ill able to manage the civil Affairs of Life, or with any vigor to perform the Duties of Religion: and the Truth of this you would see, if you went often to the Chambers of those that in long and grievous Pains languish away; if you heard their doleful Groans, saw their pale and decaying Looks, it would give you a new taste of Health; but there is such a nice Delicacy and Tenderness for the most part in those that are well, that they care not for the Visitation of the Sick, nor to be near to Persons when they are dying. It would affect them if they saw more frequently their Faintings, their Convulsions, and their Agonies; but they care not for it; and yet so to be sick, and so to die, may in a very little while be their own Lot. Health is not less a Mercy for being common. What is more common than Sleep, which is but a part of it, and yet in all the World there is not a thing, the having of which is more sweet, or the want of which is more terrible; for as I have observed in a former Discourse, all Business and the Comforts of Life depend upon it, and the Refreshment that it gives to our natural Spirits; for let but a Man be for one Week or two without Sleep, and he'l be fit for no Business; and if Health were not so usual a thing, it would be a Miracle, considering to what Variety of Evil we are every day exposed, by the Frailty and Weakness of our Nature. It would make a Man tremble to read what others have endured, or how many several sorts of very painful Diseases belong to almost every part of humane Bodies, how painful are the Methods that must be used for a Cure, and how these painful Methods may be used, and yet but encrease our Pain, and be to no purpose; And indeed when I consider, (saith Mr. Boile in his Occasional Reflections:) how many outward Accidents are able to destroy the Life, or at least the Health even of those that are careful to preserve them, and how easily the Beams of a warm Sun, or the Breath of a cold Wind, or too much or too little Exercise, a Dish of green Fruit, or an infectious Vapour, or even a sudden Fright, or ill News, are able to produce Sickness, and perhaps Death: and when I think too, how many inevitable Mischiefs our own Appetites or Vices expose us to by Acts of Intemperance, that necessitate the Creatures to offend us, and practises of Sin whereby we necessitate our Creator to punish us; when we well consider this, and consequently how many Mischiefs he must escape that arrives at gray Hairs; the Commonness of the Sight cannot keep me from thinking it worth some Wonder, to see an old Man, especially if he be any thing healthy. It is not to be imagined but by those that feel it, what a damp the Pains and Indispositions of our Bodies, put upon the motions of our Souls; their Faculties are straitned, bound and fettered, that they cannot in their former manner perform their usual Operations: When the Soul either in natural or spiritual Actions essays to do as it used to do, it finds it self under a very great Weakness and Disability; for the Body lies as an heavy Clog and Weight upon it, as you know it is in the Head-ach, the Toothach, or other pains, which though they be of a short Continuance, are very troublesome, and would be more so, were they to continue for many Months together. How speedy an Alteration will the sharp sense of Pain, make in the briskest and most merry Man: For as Doctor Harris describes the sick Man, (Hezekiah's Recovery, p. 172.) He hath Eyes, and scarcely sees; Ears, and hears not; Mouth, and speaks not; Feet, and walks not. Those very Senses which let in Comfort to the Healthful, are an occasion of a new Sadness to him: The sight of his Medicines is ingrateful to his Eye; so is the smell of his Meat, and the taste of his Drink, the least noise offends him, the least Air pierces him. This turns his Comforts into Crosses, his Bed tires him, his Chair troubles him, his Friends disquiet him, their Absence offends him, and so does their Presence, their Silence, and their Discourse, their Mirth and their Sorrow: Being uneasy himself, every thing is uneasy to him; poor Man, something he would have, but he cannot tell what: he is not well, and therefore nothing is well about him. Health is is the Repose of Life; 'tis that alone which gives a relish to all the other Blessings of it: The poorest Clothing, the meanest Fare, the sorriest Cottage that is bless'd with Health, is more bless'd than if it were throng'd with Gold and Silver, but with Sickness and Diseases. For if a Man have never so vast an Estate, never so glorious a Reputation, never such honourable Friends, never so well-surnish'd a Table, never so sine an House, and yet be without Health, all these are dead Comforts, they are as nothing, emptiness and vanity. Health, (as the forementioned Person expresses) 'tis the poor Man's Sauce at his Table, his Cloak in his Journey, his Warming-pan in his Bed, his Boots in the mire; and whatsoever else he is destitute of, he can rejoice in this. What cause have we that are returned to some measure of Health, to return Thanks to God for it? And you that have always been healthful, have cause to prize it, lest you be taught the value of it, as the Men of Succoth were, with the Briars and Thorns of the Wilderness. O what Miseries belong to Men, which you have yet escaped, and for which you have great cause to be very thankful? Do not attribute your longer Health to your Temperance, to your own Prudence, or Forecast, or Recreations, or Exercise, or Skill, but give the Glory of your Preservation to the Providence of God, that alone gives you Ease and Health, whilst others are in Sickness. If you were to survey the Hospitals, and to see but how many poor lame People are there, how many dying by degrees with incurable Diseases; if you were to go to the Chambers of the Sick, and see under what various Miseries they are groaning there, you would see great cause to return and praise God, that has not brought you so very low.
I come now in the next place to shew what Improvement we are to make of our Sickness, and of our Recovery from it; and so to close this Subject with an Use of Exhortation.
First, That we may in a due manner improve our being brought from I.the Grave, we must always remember so great a Mercy. We ought especially to remember the more signal and eminent Mercies, and Afflictions of our Lives, our great Straits, and our wonderful Deliverances: And we must also remember what Condition we were in before we were delivered. It is commonly said, that nothing makes us better understand the excellence of Liberty, than the consideration of the Miseries of Bondage. The hideousness of Obscurity sets off the beauty of Light; and the sweetness of Health is best represented by considering the bitterness of Sickness. Seeing therefore I would desire to praise God my self for his great Mercy in my Recovery, and also beg of you to praise him in my behalf, I will give you a short Account of the deplorableness of my Condition before I was delivered. I would indeed remember so much of it as may enable me to glorify my great Deliverer: but the whole of it, as it would be most astonishing to you, so it would be very overwhelming to me: The consideration of the greatness of the Danger heightens the Mercy of Deliverance and Salvation from it. It will be somewhat a melancholy Relation that I am going to make, but it shall be very true; for I would not lie for God, nor make the Danger from which he has saved me, greater than it was: It will not be a very delightful Account; but yet as Solomon says, Eccl. 7. 2. It is better to go to the House of Mourning than to the House of Feasting. It is better sometimes to hear sad, than always pleasant Things. And in as much as Grief and Mourning is in it self a very grave and homely thing, that requires not Ornament or artificial setting off, I shall without affecting to be thought eloquent, give You
A plain Relation of some part of my sore Distress.
AFter an ill habit of Body that had for some years attended me, together with some little Illnesses now and then, which were but as drops to the greater Storm that was to come upon me, and which I could not foresee, it pleased God at length in his just and righteous Judgment, to suffer my growing Distemper to arrive to a most formidable height: So that before I desisted from coming to this Place, my Sleep departed quite away; and for several Nights in a week I slept no more than I do at this time: upon which there immediately followed a general Weakness and decay of Spirits, a general Listlessness, and a total Indisposition; and by feeling of this I had a strong Impression in my Mind, that I should very speedily die; as strongly fix'd in my Apprehensions, as if it had been said to me as to Hezekiah, Thou shalt surely die. I thought I was immediately to go to the Tribunal of God; and the Thoughts of immediate appearance before him continued with me for about a year: there was not a Day past wherein I did not think that I should be dead before Night, and at Night I should be dead before the Morning. I thought my self just at the entrance into the Grave: And what a strange prospect that is, and what a mighty Change it causes in a Man's Thought, none know but those that have apprehended themselves so near it; nor do they fully know it, unless they have been near it for many Months together. Those Nights that were Nights of comfortable Rest to the most of you, were tedious, and long, and doleful Nights to me. I could say with Job, chap. 7. 3, 4. I am made to possess Months of Vanity, and wearisom Nights are appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the Night be gone? And I am full of tossings to and fro till the dawning of the Day. And ver. 13, 14. I was all the day and all the night long in Pain and Trouble, and in a Pain very singular and uncommon; so secret, and yet so violent, that as I fully believe it was not known what it was, so I am sure none of the Methods that were used to remove it, though painful enough, were of any value. I have been sorely wearied with Anguish and Trouble. I have often said, though I have had no Rest the Night before, yet perhaps in that which is to come I may; but I have had no Rest at all then, nor the next, nor the next, scarce any discernable Sleep, I am sure none that was refreshing, for above three quarters of a year together: And if at any time I rested a little, that little Rest was all the while disturb'd with terrible and amazing Dreams; and when I awaked, I always found my self in strange and unexpressible Pain, in Anguish and Bitterness, such as nothing in this World is able to represent even as to its lowest degrees. And judg you into what Confusions and Disorders this alone would throw a Man if it were single. My Disease, and my Fears, and sad Apprehensions came upon me as a Whirlwind, like the rushing of many mighty Waters; strange and horrible Pains, and great Fears, so that it was as an universal Storm, from which there was no retreat. I said with Hezekiah, Isa. 38. 12, 13. Mine Age is departed, and is removed from me as a Shepherd's Tent: I have cut off, like a Weaver, my Life: He will cut me off with pining Sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. I reckoned till morning, that as a Lion, so will he break all my Bones; from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. I was continually full of restless Pain and amazing Thoughts. I often said, I am now cut off, I am come to the End of my Journey; I am going to the Grave, there was but a Step, but a Minute, as it were, between me and Death; nay, how often have I been by most terrible Convulsions in the very Jaws of Death. They were to me as a Den of Lions, and are as painful and as terrible as if a Man were actually torn to pieces. And in all these not the least help nor prospect of Relief, and these returning every day for many weeks, or rather one continued Convulsion-fit, and that always with a very quick and cutting Pain; it never came upon me but as a Giant, or an armed Man; and whenever that was, I thought my self in the very Moment of my Separation from the Body: I thought my self very often just going to the Bar of God: I was in Death often, often as in the very Agonies and Pangs of Death, but I could not die: I seemed to have the strength of Brass; it seemed to me as if I had been raised up by Almighty Power only, that I might be capable to suffer Pains very strange and very terrible: I sunk as in the deep Mire, Psal. 69. 2. I saw indeed sometimes the Light of Day, but it was never refreshing nor comfortable to me, for I was often saying with Job, chap. 3. 23, 24. Why is Light given to a Man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? For my Sighing cometh before I eat, and my Roarings are poured out like Water. I was not in Safety, neither had I Rest, neither was I quiet: yet trouble came. For the thing which I greatly feared, is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of, is come unto me. I often said, I shall never see the World till it be in Flames, never see my Friends or Acquaintance, nor they me, till the Heavens be no more, and till the vast Appearance of the great Day: Thus▪ my Feet stumbled on the dark Mountains, and all was hideous Darkness, Woe and Desolation with me. Sometimes by the Greatness of my Trouble, I was even stifled with Grief, that I could not for a great while speak a Word, and when I spoke, it was in a mournful manner; for many Months I could not breath without a mighty Pain, and as soon as with Difficulty I had breath'd, every Breath was turn'd into a Groan, and every Groan was big with a very deep Sorrow. I was weary with my Groaning, Psal. 6. 6. All the Night made I my Bed to swim, and watered my Couch with Tears: Nay the Sadness and the stinging Particularities that I apprehended in my afflicted Case, made me to weep even till I had no more power to weep. Psal. 88. 3. My Soul was full of Troubles, and my Life drew nigh to the Grave, &c. I saw the Grave as beneath me continually opening to swallow me up: I often said in my self, I shall no more see the Congregations or Assemblies of God's-People; I shall never any more enter into his Court, nor sing his Praise; I shall no more speak in his Name, nor experience his loving-kindness in the Land of the Living any more. These were some of my Thoughts, and this was my inexcusable Infirmity and my Unbelief: Those that are in Health will scarcely perhaps credit what I say, they will think I am a melancholy Man, and aggravate my Trouble, and set it out more than needs, or than it was, and that in the whole there was a great deal more of Fancy than of Reality; but I pray God they may never taste one drop of that bitter Cup whereof I was made to drink, for if they should, they'l find it whatever Names they now give it, to be then full of real Miseries. As I have spoke nothing but what I fully believe to be true, so I have spoke the more of it, that it may be of some use to others, that though Trouble and Distresses fall upon them which are very strange and very perplexing, or such as rarely happen, that they would hope even in the Depths, for they may see by me that nothing is too hard for God. There are few that having been so near to Death, revive again; few that have been near it so long together; and fewer that after they have recovered, are willing to speak of what they then saw and felt: but methinks it is not unnecessary to shew to what woful Miseries we are obnoxious in this World, and how many ways God has wherewith to correct and punish the Sins of Men. Most People are unwilling to speak of such things as these, because others are unwilling to hear such doleful Relations; they invent some other Discourse to put it off, but their hearing of it is better than to feel it, and this may help them to avoid manifold Mischiefs before it be too late. You think it may be that I have spoke a great deal, and your Attention may be wearied; but I'lassure 'tis many hundred times below what I felt. Great Griefs, as well as mighty Joys, exceed all our Words, and Bitterness is not to be described: Never was any, I believe, nearer to Death, not to die, never was any compass'd with a greater Danger; never any had less hope of an Escape than I, and yet the Mercy of a God that is Omnipotent, has relieved me. And as 'tis commonly said that Musick sounds best upon the Water; so by setting our Sorrows and our Mercies together, our Praise may be more harmonious. You may in this behold the Severity and the Goodness of God: his Severity in continuing on me so many smart Strokes for so long a space; and his Goodness in giving me help, when no Power on Earth was able to give me the least Relief: His Severity in continuing my Pain for so many long and doleful Months, without any Mitigation; and his Goodness in bringing me back when I was as in the Grave: His Severity, in withholding his Blessing from all those innumerable Means that were used with a design to help me, so as that nothing that was intended for my Cure, could any way promote it, and 'twas his Goodness that he himself became my Physician, and that I did not continue to groan under the same Miseries as many Years as I did Months: Remembring my Asfliction and my Misery, the Worm-wood and the Gall, my Soul hath them still in Remembrance, Lam. 3. 19, 20. The Storm indeed is in a great measure over, blessed be God; but I cannot without trembling call it to mind, nor dare I think very long upon it: I was brought very low, as low as Calamity and Distress could make me, but the Lord has kept me, he has turned again my Captivity; and I am really as in a Dream; though it is a more pleasant one than any I ever had during my long Sickness and Calamity. I can scarce believe that I am at so much ease as I now am, I can scarce believe that I am in this Assembly, of which I confidently thought I had taken my leave for ever. When I look back upon the rough Waves, and the stormy Seas, I am ready to say, Can it be that God has brought me safe to Land? After I had conversed with the Dead, am I now among the Living? am I now with People under Hope? blessed be the Name of the Lord, I am? It is a great Mercy to me, and it is the more so, as it was unexpected and above the Power of Nature, contrary to all my hopes, and above all humane help: Those that have heard my Groans, and seen my Agonies, and heard of my Affliction, cannot but wonder at it. I often said that I could not be delivered without a Miracle, and God himself has wrought it. He has shewed Wonders to the dead, Psal. 88. 3. For the raising them up is so, from a case very sad and sadder than by any Words can be express'd, has the Lord delivered me; and certainly so terrible a Visitation, so dreadful a Disease, and so heavy a Judgment, and so gracious a Rescue from it, should never be forgotten: To be rescued from Death, from so great a Death, is a very great Mercy: Psal. 71. 19, 20. Psal. 116. 3, 4, 5, 6. It was by the Soveraign Goodness and meer Mercy and Grace of God, that I obtained this Deliverance; all this he did for a most unworthy Sinner, for an impatient and fretful Sinner too; is not this wonderful, Mercy with a witness, a Mercy never to be forgotten as long as I have a Day to live; and I may say to you, Come and bless the Lord with me, come and help me to praise his Holy Name: But on this I shall insist more when I come to that place that we ought not only to praise God our selves, but to exhort others also to give Thanks at the Remembrance of his Holiness. I have cause to do so; for how many has he suffered to sink, when the Waves were not so high against them, as those that rowl'd over me? the Storms and the Winds that blew them down, not so fierce in some respect against them, as they were against me, and yet they are covered in the Grave, whilst I, though sorely weatherbeaten, have outlived the Storm. How many are there dead, since I was ill? many excellent and Holy Men are now silent in the Dust, who were more knowing, more useful, more zealous and better qualified than ever I am like to be; and yet God has spared a poor Shrub, whilst he has torn up some of the Cedars of our Lebanan by the Roots.
Therefore to quicken my self, and in some measure to excite others who have been recovered after long and sore Affliction; O let us all agree to remember such reviving Mercies as God is pleased to vouchsafe us, when he brings us from the Grave: Let not a day pass wherein you do not call to Mind what he has done. When you awake, then remember what a great Mercy your Sleep is, and what you would once have given, even all the World if you had had it, for one Hour of sound Rest: Never bow your Knees in Prayer, but call to mind his Mercy, that has loosed your Bonds, mitigated your Distress, and enabled you to pray. When you enter into such Assemblies as this, on his Holy Day, then remember what sad Sabbaths those were, when you were confined to your sick Beds, and could do nothing, but if you had so much hope, send your sorrowful Requests to beg the Prayers of others; and when instead of singing his Praises as you now do, you could only sigh and groan; when you are with others, speak of his excellent Goodness; and when you are alone, delight to meditate upon it; let nothing, no Tentations, no Diversions or Business, draw you to forget so merciful a God, and so gracious a Benefactor. If you have any remaining Pains left, let these make you thankful that you have no more, and that you are not as you once were. 'Tis much easier to think of our Wounds, when they are in some measure healed, than to bear their Smart when they are upon us; and when you see others seized with Sickness and with manifold Calamities of this vain Life, then bless God that you have a shining Sun whilst they are overtaken with a rainy Day. I speak to those of you that have been sick, having been so my self; with what care and Compassion did this good God remember us? He remembers his tender Mercies and his loving-kindnesses, for they have been ever of old, Psal. 25. 6. If we any way help the meanest of his Servants in their Distress, he forgets not our Work and Labour of Love, which we have shewed to his Name, Heb. 6. 10. He remembers the Service we have done him, so as to reward it; he remembers the Sincerity of our Endeavours and Desires, so as to encourage us, and we should keep in our Minds his Bounties and his Love to us, that we may serve him more, and especially those that come to revive us after a long Misery, and to bring us out of a State that seemed altogether helpless and unrelievable. There is not a Moment of our time wherein he does not load us with his Benefits, and there should scarce a Moment go from us without some Ejaculation or Breathing after him: He has not been as a barren Wilderness to us, and we should give him Thanks, whilst as with the Joy of Harvest we reap the Fruits of his Bonignity. There is not any, the greatest or the least Deliverance that we obtain, but 'tis first produced, and then carried on by his alone care. Let us that are recovered, remember the Gift that he has given us, for there is none more excellent among all natural things than the Gift of Life, and whilst we hug and embrace this dear Enjoyment, let us not forget the Donor of it: Let us remember God who is the Fountain of our Life, and lets us also remember that gracious Mediator, by whose Death this and all other Mercies were purchased for us, and by whose effectual Intercession they are bestowed and made our own. Could they that were cured of Fevers, Palsies, Blindness, Lameness, and other Distempers, by Christ here on Earth, ever forget so skilful and so tender a Phisician? doubtless where-ever they came, they spake of him; whereever they met him, they gave him Thanks: and we should be no less thankful than they, seeing his Goodness, his Power, and his Compassion, has been the same to us that it was to them: for (as one says) he shews his Power in the Greatness, his Wisdom in the Seasonableness, his Truth in the Constancy, his Grace in the Freeness, the Riches of his Mercy in the Fullness of his Blessings and Deliverances: How great is the sum of all his Thoughts and his Benefits to us? they are altogether innumerable, and too many for us to remember: but however, we ought to suffer nothing to make us forget such as are greater and more eminent. There are two great Changes that we ought always to remember, when we are changed from a Death of Sin to a Life of Grace, and when we are brought from the Grave to the Health and comfortable Enjoyment of this natural Life; for in the Beginning and in the Consummation of our Deliverances, there is nothing on which we should with more delight fix our Thoughts, than on the Goodness and the Power of God, who alone is able to save us from our Distresses, and who is most willing to do so when we call upon him.
The End of the Third Sermon.