Practical Discourses on Sickness and Recovery, Sermons · Sermon 4

Practical Discourses on Sickness and Recovery · Sermons · Sermon 4

p. 167The Fourth 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.

I Now proceed to enquire after what manner we must remember our Deliverance from Sickness and Death. And this we may do three ways.

1. Remember them with an Admiration of God, that he should be so good to you. Admiration is the first of all the Passions next to Pleasure and Pain. When an Object is perceiv'd that hath nothing new in it, we consider it indifferently, and without any commotion of the Soul: p. 168but the Mercies that we have from above are new to us every Morning, and to be admired for their being so, Lam. 3. 23. When we are intent upon the Creature, we may be guilty of an excess of Admiration, which by immoderate fixing of the animal Spirits in the Brain, may hinder their usual Influx into other parts of the Body, and be very hurtful to the Health (Natural History of the Passions, p. 90.) But when God is our Object, and Things Divine raise this Motion in our Souls, there is no danger of Excess. There are two things that may cause us to admire the Goodness of God, that he will bestow any of his Mercies upon us.

(1.) The vast and immense Distance that is between him and us; his unspeakably glorious Majesty and Greatness, and our own poor mean being, that is in it self very low, and does appear much more so, when compared with him. When we consider the large extent of his Dominions, the splendor of his Court, the numerousness of his Attendants, the glory of his Heaven, the brightness of his Sun, the beauty of his Earth, p. 169and the largeness of the whole Creation; and then from the sight of these behold our little selves, have we not cause to say. Lord, what is Man, that thou art mindful of him? or the Son of Man, that thou visitest him? Psal. 8. 4. Is it not a wonderful thing that so great a God will take care of us when he needs not our Services, nor all the Duties we are able to perform? If we were to set in Darkness for ever, he would shine with a Light as bright and clear as he he now does. It is a mighty Condescension in him to pity our Distress, to help our Weakness, to cure our Wounds, to solace our Hearts, to pacify our Souls, and refresh our Bodies; and when we are dying, to revive us, and to bring us from the Grave: So that we may say with David, 2 Sam. 7. 18. Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my House, that thou hast brought me hitherto? Ver. 19. Is this the manner of Man, O Lord God? How freely dos he do us good when we could lay no Obligation at all upon him?

(2.) Another thing that causes us to admire him for the Mercies that p. 170he bestows upon us, is, Not only that we are inconsiderable Creatures, but guilty too, and have deserved the contrary at his Hands. We are not only, as Jacob says, less than the least of all his Mercies, but we are worthy of his greatest and most severe Punishments. We not only deserve to be plagued all the day long, and to be chastned every morning, Psal. 73. 14. but we deserve to be the Objects of his Fury for evermore. We murmur and think it hard to be laid upon a Sick-bed; but alas, we have all deserved to be laid on a Bed of Flames. We groan, and with impatient Complaints express our Sorrows, when he for holy and gracious Ends casts us into a fiery Furnace. Whereas, were not the Lord infinitely merciful to us, our milder Sufferings might have been our Hell. Every medicinal and gentle Stroak of our Heavenly Father might have been the Lash of Devils that would have shewed us no Mercy. Alas, where had you and I been long ago, had God dealt with us according to our Sins? I should not have been speaking to you, nor you hearing me in this Place with hope: p. 171We should have been all silent in the Grave, or all in Torments in a worse Place. 'Tis our Self-love and our heinous Pride that makes us to be so impatient in our Sickness, and so unthankful when we are recovered: We think we are injured when we are afflicted; and that we have but what we merit when we are delivered. But what Miseries and Desolations have our Sins deserved, our Original Corruption and all that impure Offspring that has descended from it? How many thousand times do we sin every day? How much Evil do we commit that we ought to forbear? and how much Good that we ought to perform, do we let alone? Who is there among us that hath those serious and abiding and lively Thoughts of God that he ought to have? Who is there that in his Trade and worldly Business maintains his Commerce with Heaven, and with spiritual and pious Ejaculations? Who is it that by constant Exercises of Religion makes his Family as a Little Church when he is at home? and that by an unintermitting Diligence and Watchfulness p. 172antidotes himself against the Contagions of bad Examples and vain Company, and the Temptations of an evil World, when he is abroad? Who is it that walks so circumspectly, as to be unblameable, and without Offence? Who is it that is so couragious in his Reproofs, so zealous of good Works, so tender of his own Salvation, and of the Salvation of others, as he ought to be? Our neglect of many thousand Duties, calls for long and severe Punishments at the Hands of God. And it is a Subject of great Wonder that he will be gracious even to any of the Sons of Men. And what reason has every one that is delivered from Sickness, and Pain, and Death, to bless his holy Name, and to say, What am I, O Lord God, that thou shouldst visit, and uphold, and refresh so great, so inexcusable, so wilful a Sinner as I have been? What am I, a poor Worm of the Earth, that thou shouldst so mercifully regard me? What am I that I should live by thy Goodness, when I have so often deserved to die by thy Justice? What am I, that when I had spent so much p. 173of my Time to little purpose, thou shouldst give me still more time? that he should again put me into his Vineyard, when I had loiter'd in it for so long a space, and when I had misimproved many thousand Talents, and knew not what to answer for them, he should pass by and remit my former Debts, and put into my Hands a new Stock? What am I, that his Dew should remain upon my Branches, when he might have said of me, as of the barren Fig-tree, Cut it down, why cumbreth it the ground any longer? O what Grace is this! that a God whom I had so frequently and so heinously provoked, should spare me to recover Strength? That when I had mock'd him with so many cold and lazy Prayers, he should give me opportunity to pray again? when I had so often misimproved his Sabbaths and his Gospel, and the Offers of his Son, that he should continue to me the Blessings of his holy Day, the Invitations of his Word, and the Calls of Christ? that so I may repent of my careless Hearing, my Lukewarmness and my Unbelief? In the humble sense of our p. 174own Unworthiness, let us contemplate and admire that God that brings us from the Grave. Many People will say, If we were humbled, and if we did repent, God would soon help us. This is very true: but if God should never be merciful to us till we are prepar'd for Mercy, his Mercy and his Help, I am afraid, would come very late. For as we may say, It is of the Lord's Mercies that we are not consumed, because his Compassions fail not; so 'tis of the Lord's Mercy that we are delivered; and he is gracious because he will be so.

2. When we are delivered from Sickness, and from the Grave, we must remember that Deliverance so as to excite our selves to more Fervour and Affection. Before all our Duties we should stir up our selves; and that is to be done by an intense and serious application of our Minds to that particular thing which we go about, by considering aright the Nature and Consequence of a wellperformed Duty. Thus when we are going to pray, we should say, Remember, O my Soul, to what a p. 175glorious God thou dost approach; and with what humble Self-abhorrence thou shouldst look unto his Majestick Throne: Remember thy own Vileness, thy Sins, thy Miseries and thy Wants, and what need thou hast of a Mediator, to make thy poor and thy mean Oblation to be an acceptable Sacrifice; what need thou hast of wrestling and striving, that thou mayst obtain a Blessing. Thus when we give Thanks, we may say, Remember, O my Soul, the excellent Perfections of God, and the Benefits which thou hast received, their Seasonableness, their Worth, and all the wonderful Particulars they are attended with. This excitation of our selves is not acquirable by a few cold and transient Thoughts; 'tis not one Sally of Religious Meditations now and then, but a continuance of these Acts, arguing and pleading the Case with our own Souls, till the Fire of our Love and Thankfulness begin to burn. We should think of the Mercies of God till our Hearts, under the sense of his Goodness, begin to melt and warm; till all that is within p. 176us move and stir with holy Elevations towards him. Then will the Holy Spirit cherish our Endeavours: And when we are, with all the Skill we can, tuning our Harps, he will come in to our Assistance, and make the Musick more harmonious, and our Praise more sweet, and by his vital Influences banish all that Coldness that does usually damp and clog our Hearts in the Duties of Religion. There is a great advantage in Soliloquies, and a Man may in this Work talk to himself without the reproach of folly. This is a means to quiet and appease a rising Storm, Psal. 42. 5. and this is the way to make us look upon it with Delight and Thankfulness when 'tis past and gone. We know that those Sermons which do but explain Truths to us, and present them only in their native Excellency and Reasonableness, do not equally affect us, as those do that are pressed with a fervent and lively Application: Nor do those Mercies which we only remember, make so much impression as those which we often call to mind, and as often urge upon our Hearts. When we come before God, we must p. 177make his Altar smoak with burning Frankincense: we must cover it with our chearful Praises, and a flaming Love. Our knowledg of his Persections is obscure and weak, but our Sense causes us very distinctly to feel his Benefits; and therefore all our Affections should ascend towards him. When his Sun shines full upon us, our Hearts should open at his Coming, smell with a sweeter Savour upon the being visited with his comfortable Beams. As upon our being brought from the Grave, and restor'd to Health, there is a new Strength in our Bodies; so there must be a new Vigour in our Souls: and as we discover a very great Earnestness in our Petitions when we want a Mercy, so there ought to be as much Fervor in Acknowledgment and return of Thanks when we have received it.

3. After we are delivered from the Grave, we ought to remember such a Mercy with very great Sincerity, i. e. there ought to be a Correspondence between our outward Expressions and the more undiscernable p. 178Motions of our Hearts. There must be in our Understandings an high Esteem of him who is the Author of all our Good, a most deliberate and free choice of him as our Happiness; and this Esteem and this Choice is the genuine Product of a real Admiration. There is nothing indeed more common than for People on the smallest occasions to say, I thank God for this or that; but the manner in which they speak it, plainly discovers that the sense which they have of the Divine Goodness is but light and superficial. Their Air, their Countenance, their Gestures, and their whole Carriage shews that they are not fully thankful: They many times, by the formality of their Expressions, take that Name in vain, which they ought to magnify and bless. But when we bless God, there must be a very deep Reverence and sense of him upon our Hearts; and we must sacrifice our dearest Lusts at his Command as well as the Calves of our Lips. We must not remember in the general that God has been merciful to us, but frequently p. 179let our Thoughts dwell upon those particular Mercies which we have received. For as he is seldom truly penitent that makes a Confession of Sin only in the gross, and descends not to the particular Transgressions which have stained his Life: so neither is he sincerely thankful that contents himself with a cold Acknowledgment of God's Mercies, without a distinct Enumeration of those which were bestowed upon him by a more than ordinary Power and Goodness, and which upon that account should make a more particular and lively Impression upon his own Soul.

Secondly, Another way by which we may improve our Recovery, is, II.in constantly praying to this God that has delivered us from the Grave. He has pull'd our Feet out of the Snare; but if he leave us, we shall soon be as much entangled and as much in Danger as we ever were; for it is not in Man that walks, to direct his own Steps. His Wisdom is as necessary to guide our Feet in the right way, as his Power was to draw us out of p. 180the Pit. We need (as one says) not only to be cured, but to be preserved: We need not only a Cordial to recover us, but an Antidote to preserve us against an after-Poison. Whilst we were hedg'd up with Thorns, as Hos. 2. 6, 7. we are not so liable to wander as we shall be now. The most of us that God has recovered from the Grave, have some little Pains or Indispositions left, that now and then attack us, like the scattered Souldiers of a defeated Army, which though they are not so strong as entirely to ruin us, yet give us a considerable Molestation. Some Mercies God bestows that we may not altogether faint; and some Evils he continues, that we may not be too secure and careless. He gives us something to incourage us; and all that we would have he denies, that we may still wait upon him: We must join our Praises and our Prayers together. Psal. 116. 13. I will take the Cup of Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord. We must praise him for the Deliverances that we have had, and pray to him to secure us from the Dangers that may without p. 181his Care come upon us. We must praise him, that so we may give him the Glory of his Goodness in helping us in our low Estate; and pray for his Blessings that can only make our Life comfortable and easy to us. In the greatest of our Triumphs there is need of Humility, as in the greatest of our earthly Joys there will be some mixtures of Sorrow; nor will our Day be so clear as to have no Cloud. In the highest of our Praises there will be need of Prayer; and this Duty is the very Pulse and vital Motion of the Soul when it is renewed; and by our Fervour, or deadness in the Performance of it, we may very much discern the Advances or Decays, the Strength or the Weakness of the spiritual Life. We that have been near to Death, should with a more exact care maintain our Communion with God: for we have more sensibly felt the need of him than others have: What would have become of us, had not he appeared for our Relief, when all the Help of Man was vain? And shall we not delight to draw nigh to so good a God, to whom is an p. 182easy Access through the Mediation of Christ? who heard us out of the Depths, and will still hear us if we call upon him. It may be in our Affliction we sought him early, and the violence of our Distress made us restless and importunate; let our many Wants, that none but he can supply, make us still to be so. We have a very convincing Experience of the benefit and the use of Prayer; how by the Prayers of others our Chains have been struck off, and how it hath opened the Doors of our Prison. Let a Duty which has brought us such a Crowd of reviving Mercies, be for ever a welcome and acceptable Duty to us. 'Tis an Act of Homage that we owe him as our Soveraign Lord, as Praise is that which we owe him as our gracious Benefactor. Besides, God alone can teach us to profit by the Cross; and make the Rod to blossom and to yield us Fruit when the Smart is gone. Unless he uphold us, we shall soon be diseased again. Every Day of our mortal Life is pregnant with new Changes and Alterations, with new Dangers and Vicissitudes: and p. 183innumerable are the Miseries which may yet overwhelm us, if he be not our Sun and our Shield. Let us humbly beg of him that as he has been our Deliverer, so he would please to be our Guide. This is a Posture and an Action suitable to us as we are Creatures, who cannot be, nor live, nor move without him. And such an Address to his Throne will be graciously received, because it is an Evidence of our Gratitude, and testifies that we are sensible of the Blessings of his Providence. And what Mercies we obtain by this method, will be throughout Mercies; and the Goods that are bestowed upon our humble Petitions, we shall possess by a more lasting Title, and with more Satisfaction than they do that never pray. And if we should omit this Duty, God may withdraw his Protection, and then our Sins will quickly betray us to new Distresses and Calamities.

Thirdly, Another Improvement III.that we ought to make of the being delivered from the Grave, is, To yield Obedience to that God that p. 184has delivered us. And he gives us seasonable Mercies in the time of our sorest Distress, to this very purpose, That his Name may be magnified, Psal. 50. 15. The Showers of his Mercy should render our Lives more fruitful; and the Beams of his Favour are to make us shine with Holiness. We must (to use the words of Mr. Claude on another occasion) give our Hearts entirely to him, making a good use of our Afflictions. We must call upon him with Humility, serve him with Zeal, love him with Fervour, and have a horror for all that which may offend him. He is gracious both to our Bodies and our Souls, and we must employ both in his Service, and consecrate and devote that Life to his Honour, which he hath so wonderfully preserved. His Benefits by their usefulness, and by their seasonable approach, must kindle the Flames of Love in our Hearts; and that Love will produce the most sincere and constant Obedience. For that which is the sole effect of a slavish Fear, as it will be forc'd, so it will continue but a little while. p. 185We are his own by a double Title, by that of Creation, and by his innumerable Preservations. We are his by the common Care of his Providence that maintains our Life; and more his, by the manifestations of his extraordinary Power and Kindness when he brings us from the Grave. What can we poor Creatures give to so good a God for all his Mercies? we are below the possibility of a Recompence. But however, we must give him our most earnest Desires, our most painful diligent Endeavours, our frequent Meditations, our highest Praises, our very Souls, and all that is within us, seeing he is pleased to require nothing else. His, must be all the Motion, all the Being, all the Strengh that we have: and to divert any part of these from his Use, is both Ingratitude and Sacriledg. We must not be like the greatest part of Seamen, that are very devout whilst the Storm lasts, but when 'tis over they return to the same Sins. At his Command we must part with our dearest Sins, with our earthly p. 186and our sensual Inclinations, with our Pride and our Follies, and deny our selves. And there is more true Thankfulness express'd in one Act of Self-denial, than in twenty Thanks, giving-Days without it. Leaving of Sin is not only the way to Thankfulness, but the proof of it: So many Sins as the Love of God constrains us to leave, so many Songs are, as it were, presented to God. For every slain Lust is a gratulatory Sacrifice. And Men will rather than do this, run to all the toilsom Pomps of a ceremonious Gratitude, and outward Ostentations: for 'tis much easier to perform a thousand external Duties, than to kill one Sin. A Man will more easily part with all his Goods and Substance, than he will cut off a right Hand, or pull out a right Eye. What can a miserable Beggar add unto a Prince that gives him an Alms? What can we by our mean Acknowledgments return to the Mighty God? But they are such things as he requires, and which we are bound to give. 'Tis usually, after some very great and p. 187remarkable Deliverance, the next Enquiry of a Soul that is under the Power of Religion, What shall I render to the Lord for all his Benefits? What shall I do that may bear some proportion with so great a Mercy? What Thing, what Service is there, that I may set about, to testify my Thanks to my gracious Benefactor? O, can I ever do too much for that God that has done so much for me? I have born Chastisement, I will not offend any more: That which I see not, teach thou me: If I have done Iniquity, I will do no more, Job 34. 31, 32. And we must expostulate with our selves, as he in Ezra 9. 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil Deeds, and for our great Trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our Iniquities deserve, and hast given us such Deliverance as this, should we again break thy Commandments? It is a very great Blot that is left upon the Memory of so good a Man as Hezekiah, though in that far unlike himself, that 2 Chron. 32. 25. he rendred not again p. 188according to the Benefit done unto him: for his Heart was lifted up. Let us often set before our selves that most earnest Exhortation of our Apostle, Rom. 12. 1.

There are two things that should render our Obedience after the Receipt of very great Mercies, such as is this of being brought from the Grave, more sincere and uniform: for if we do it not;

(1.) It will greatly aggravate our after-Sins, and make them more sinful; as it was with Solomon after the Lord had appeared to him twice, 1 Kings 11. 9. Not to use that Life and Strength for God, which he hath given us, is to fight against him with his own Weapons, to affront him with his own Royal Bounties. There is no Contempt of which he will be so sensible, and at which he will be more displeased, than when we despise the Riches of his Goodness which should lead us to Repentance, Rom. 2. 4. To sin against a patient and a loving God is inexcusable; against a God that has helped us in our Troubles, p. 189that by the wonderfulness of his Mercy has been vastly better to us than our feeble Hopes and our unbelieving Fears. How often have we said, that we should one day fall by this or that Distress, and he has held us up from our Birth to this very time? How often has his Justice seiz'd us for our Sins, and call'd upon him to cut us off, and his Mercy has interposed and saved our Lives? How often hath the Idleness and Unfruitfulness of our former Health, and the base Impatiencies and Murmurings of our later Sickness provoked him to destroy us, but he has not done it? he has spared no Pains, he hath tried us both by Affliction and Prosperity, by his gentle and his louder Voice, by Judgments and by Mercies, to do us Good. How often have our Iniquities made him to draw his glittering Sword, and yet his Compassions have sheath'd it again, when we have been in all appearance very near to the killing Blow? How many others has his Displeasure struck dead, whilst he suffers us that were p. 190as great Sinners as they were, to live? He has waited upon us from Sabbath to Sabbath, from Year to Year. He hath stayed many long Years to see if we would repent. He has beseech'd and entreated us to forsake our Sin, crying to every one of us, Wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be? We have wanted nothing, God has maintained us all our days, and shall we sin against Goodness and Love it self, such great, such undeserved Love? Shall we affront his mildest and most tender Attribute? Shall we trample on his Forbearance, and on his very Bowels? God forbid. When he has tried so many several Dispensations with us, when he has tried us both by gentle Usage and severe Stroaks, by his Frowns and by his Smiles, shall we be no better? The Day is coming when our sore Calamities will force us to cry, Mercy, Mercy, Lord. Let us now prize that, whereof we shall then stand so much in need. If we abuse his Mercy, what Plea can we hope to make? It will sink and overwhelm us, and no Reflections p. 191will be so terrible as those that cause us to remember how we did forsake, and sin against a good and a patient God: this will wound and cut us to the Heart; and we shall be continually upbraided with that stinging Question, Deuter. 32. 6. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish People and unwise? and give him cause to say of us as in Isaiah 5. 3, 4.

(2.) Our not yielding Obedience to God after he has brought us from the Grave, may bring upon us more heavy Punishments than what we have yet felt. The Miseries that some of us have undergone, have been such as the very remembrance of them is amazing, and their Terror inexpressible. But how terrible soever they have been, yet God has more Arrows in his Quiver, more Thunder in his Clouds, more Judgments under his Command. Let us therefore take that Advice of our Lord, John 5. 14. Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. There are those here that would not p. 192for the enjoyment of all the Greatness of the World, undergo that Anguish and Tribulation for one Week which distress'd them for many Weeks and Months together. O, let us sin no more, lest the Clouds return after the Rain; lest after one Storm is ceas'd, another begin to blow. Let us improve our present Calm to the Glory of our Helper, lest another Earthquake come. The best Security from future Miseries, is to profit by the former: We cannot take a better Medicine to sortify us against Evils to come, than by remembring and improving such as are already past. We are escaped with our Lives; O let us not for the Lord's Sake look back with Affection upon our old Sins, lest we that are now Monuments of Mercy, be made Monuments of Justice. Let us sin no more, lest the Bones be broken again that are but newly set; and lest the Wounds that seem to he healed, bleed afresh; and lest that Almighty and loving Physician that has once helped us, depart and help us no more. p. 193Let us sin no more, for after such a deep distress, and such a miraculous deliverance how hateful will our Sins be? and if we knew not what to do in our former trouble, what shall we do in the next and more terrible Visitation? Woe unto us if we should provoke him to let us fall into longer and more violent, and more irrecoverable troubles. What a dreadful place is that, Josh. 24. 20. If ye forsake the Lord, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you after that he hath done you good. We that are now alive may set up our Ebenezer, and say, Hitherto the Lord hath helped us, in his wrath he hath remembred mercy. Oh let us not force him to do as Gideon with the Men of Succoth, Judg. 8. 7. To tear us with thorns and bryars of the wilderness. In other storms we have been like the Passengers that were in the Ship with Paul, Act. 27. 44. Tho we have suffered Shipwreck yet in one way or other our Lives have been saved and with much difficulty we have escaped to Land. Oh let us beware, lest in the next storm that comes he p. 194suffer us to be cast away: the Furnace into which we have been thrown has been very hot. Let us desire God to purge us from our dross lest he cause one to be made for us that is seven times hotter. Surely some of us have felt enough of the bitterness of Sin: Oh let us not force him that does not willingly grieve the Children of Men, to mingle for us another bitter Cup; have the stroaks that made us to groan in the perplexity of our Souls been so very small that we should force him by our disobedience to send many more, and to turn his Rods into Scorpions? Lev. 26. 23, 24. If ye will not be reformed by these things, but will walk contrary to me, then will I also walk contrary to you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. Jer. 7 8, 9, 10. Will you come and stand before me and say you are delivered to do all these abominations? I even tremble at the mentioning of these things; and God grant that neither you nor I may ever know any thing of them by our own experience. If we will not for the love of him, yet for the love p. 195of our selves our own, Souls and Bodies, Let us sin no more.

Fourthly, Another way whereby IV.we ought to improve the Mercy of Gods having brought us from the Grave, is by trusting in him for the time to come. We have greatly dishonoured him in our former straits by our own unbelief: Let us in all future occasions give glory to him by our Faith: Let us remember in the most violent and pressing troubles, the years of the right hand of the Most High: Let us after the wonderful experience of the great things that he has done for us, such as our Forefathers could hardly tell us of; but which we have seen in our days with respect both to the Nation and our selves; let us never question his Goodness, nor dispute his Power, saying, Can God provide for us, can he deliver us? Let us never murmur nor repine or despair again. Having tasted how good the Lord is, and being fortified with the sweet experiences of his Lovingkindness, let us meet every new strait and danger with a greater Courage, and never admit the least doubt of Gods p. 196Ability, or of his Willingness tohelp us. He that has delivered us from the paw of the Lion and of the Bear, from the Pains of Hell and from the Agonies of Death, can still save us, tho in outward appearance we be like to perish. His Faithfulness and Truth, his gracious Nature and his promise will yield us in all our troubles a most comfortable and strong Support. 2 Cor. 1. 9. We had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. When our Sense and Reason can discern nothing but Miseries and Desolation, let our Faith lead us to that Rock that is higher than us, to that God whose Wisdom is never at a loss, and whose Hand can with ease and speed accomplish that which our Flesh and our Blood will tell us is impossible to be done. Do not affront your great Deliverer by thinking that he who has wrought such great Miracles for us by his own Power, will not compleat what he has so magnificently p. 197begun and so far advanced, or that he will not perfect that which concerns us, or that he will forget the Work of his own Hands. We place a trust in those persons of whom we have had a tryal in matters of difficulty; and much more do we owe to God, whose Mercy and Faithfulness we have experienced when none was able to give us the least relief, but he alone: He is a sure and a tryed Friend, we our selves have found him to be so. Let us not be jealous of his future Care, nor grieve him with unreasonable suspicions of his Love; and this is a more needful caution, because our base and corrupt Hearts upon every sudden and approaching danger are apt to resume new distrusts and doubts, and we then feel the stirring of our old unbelief; and when the Waves begin to rise we question the Care of our Master, and give him cause to upbraid us as he did his Disciples, Why are ye afraid O ye of little Faith? But this will be most inexcusable in us whom God hath brought to the very grave and back again: The remembrance and experience of so great a p. 198Mercy should for ever preserve us from the least distrust of our Benefactor. Psal. 56. 13. Thou hast delivered my Soul from Death, wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before thee in the Land of the Living? Psal. 23. 6. Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life. Psal. 63. 7. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy Wings will I rejoice. Psal. 71. 20.

Fifthly, Preserve those serious Thoughts now which you then had V.when you were near unto the Grave. What a cold damp did the sight of death bring upon all our former joys? What a low and contemptible thing did this so much adored World seem to be when we were just about to leave it? How little charming then were all its gayest Smiles, and how little terrible all its frowning Threats? There did not appear then to be any thing that was enticing in a great Name and Reputation, in pompous Honours or in vast Treasures: We saw then that all our fellow Creatures, and all that we our selves are apt to doat upon, was very vanity. All the Contentments p. 199and Satisfactions of our Appetites and all the Pleasures that we had ever taken in eating or drinking, in our Travels or in our Recreations, did all pass away like a Vision in the night. Then we saw indeed the great worth of Faith and Patience, and Self-denial, and a Conquest of this World. Then we could heartily wish that instead of all the vain Books we read, we had more delighted in the Book of God: That instead of all our unprofitable knowledge, we had known Christ and him crucified: That instead of all our Contrivances for this Body and the present state, we had spent all our strength and our whole vigor to get Heaven and Eternal Life. Then we were apt to say, Oh that we had heard his Word with more attention whilst we had our day, and whilst the joyful voice was sounding in our ears! Oh that we had prayed in our Closets with more fervour whilst God called us to seek his Face! Oh that we had bewailed our Sins with a more sincere and hearty Sorrow when we were called to the Duties of Repentance and Humiliation! p. 200Let us do all those things now, which we then wisht we had done. Let it for ever dash all our confident and foolish Projects for this World, remembring how by a sudden stroak all our Purposes were broke asunder. Let us not trust too much in mortal Men, for we can remember the time when as to us all the help of Man was vain. Let us now prize all those divine Truths, embrace those Promises, and fear those threats which we then saw to be very true. What did we then think of time, when our glass was even running out, and our day covered with the shadows of the night? There was nothing in all the World that did appear to be of so great a value, let us now prize it at the rate we then did. What Company was it which we then most admired? Whom did we esteem the most excellent and happy People? Were they those that trample on the Laws of God, that prophane his Sabbaoths, that scorn his Word, that defie his Threats and dare venture to go to an Eternal Hell? or those that are afraid to sin, that season their Entertainments with Spiritual p. 201Discourse, that are sober in their Lives, fervent in their Prayers, conscientious in all their Dealings, and that are going to Sion with their faces thither? Surely these were the Men that we call'd Blessed, and these are the Persons to whom we should now joyn our selves, and have the most delightful Conversation, and the greatest Familiarity.

Sixthly, Perform all those things VI.now, which in your Distress you you resolved to do, if God would but bring you from the Grave. Psal. 116, 13, 14. I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord; I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. When a Man seems to be just entring into Eternity, then 'tis a common thing to say, If God would but give me another Trial, if he will but save my Life, and give me another year and another day of Grace, I will amend my ways, and serve him more, and be better than ever I was? When we have not enjoyed those opportunities that we now do, have we not said within our selves, If God will trust us again with his Gospel, and the priviledges of his open Sanctuary, we p. 202will acknowledge his Goodness, and be more fruitful? It concerns us to see that the Resolutions that were form'd in our Hearts in the day of our distress, do not expire with our departing Trouble. In Sickness and the Neighbourhood of Death Sin does appear to be quite another thing than we took it to be in the time of our careless Health; its Aspect then is very formidable, and its Wounds very deep. In whatsoever disguise it may come to us hereafter, let us in the fear of God, and by his Grace couragiously resist it, for it is the worst of Enemies; and when it wraps it self in false and alluring colours, let us remember what an hideous and frightful Look it had when Sickness took the mask away: Let it still appear as an odious and abominable thing to us. When we were near to Death, what Seriousness, what Zeal, what Holiness did we then vow to God? Was not this our Language, If I may have but a few more Talents bestowed upon me, I will emprove them better than I did before? I will hear his Word with more Reverence, and read it p. 203with more Care? I will with more frequency and impartiality it search and try my own Soul? Now the time is come that you wish'd for! Let it appear that your serious resolutions were not the fruits of Fear, but of Love. Let not our sense of God and of Eternity decline as our Troubles wear away. God will not be mockt: He will observe and punish our hypocritical Intentions, if all that we promise him in our Distresses prove but as Chaff before the Wind, and as the Dew of Morning which is exhaled and scattered with the Rising Sun. God has losed our Bonds, but it is that we may be tied faster to himself: Let us shine with as great a brightness as we hoped to do, and said we would, if God would but recruit our dying Lamp, and pour in fresh Oyl again. Oh let us now improve our Time as we then intended to improve it! and let us, among our other expences, remember that we are then most prodigal when we waste this Treasure; and that we give our Friends and Companions too much, when we give them a great deal of our Time, which they p. 204are not able to return us back again: Let us neither suffer it to lie upon our hands as an useless Commodity, nor put it off to every coming Chapman, to every Friend or Diversion, who can give us nothing for it, that is equally valuable. Let us work hard, for we have known such a night wherein we were not able to work; and such an one may come the second time. Can we so soon forget what Thoughts and Apprehensions we then had? Can we so soon forget those dismal Hours when our Hearts beat with Fear, and we thought every Minute would be the last? What shall we do for that God, who is the God of our Lives; who has taught us what we are to do by a very sharp and terrible Visitation? Let us have a warm sense of his Love preserved upon our Heart, and an high esteem of that Saviour, by the purchase of whose Blood we have obtained our Recovery from Death, and all our other Mercies. Tho we are by the Providence of God placed at a further distance from the Grave, yet we ought to retain the same serious Thoughts that we then had; p. 205for we have still the same Wants and Necessities to be supplied; that Religion which was then our Object, is still as excellent and amiable; our Constitutions are still frail and perishable: Why do we not then stir up and excite our selves to put in Execution what we then resolved to do? In our Sickness we think that if we were delivered, we would be more than ordinary Persons. But I know not how it is, that the various Objects and Business, the Diversions and Conversations of this World, hinder us, that we have not the same Thoughts when we dwell in it, as we usually have when we are about to leave it: But it ought not to be so.

Seventhly, After you are brought VII.up from the Grave, let the new Life, which God has given you, shine with all those good things of which your former Life was destitute. We that have recovered from Sickness that was almost unto death, have received two Lives from God, two states of Tryal. We first received our Lives at the hand of God as others do when they enter into this World; we have now received them a second p. 206time, when they were even gone from us, God has saved them from destruction and restored them as so many new Talents to us. After we have been long near to the Grave, the World looks as a new World to us, all things in it seem to have a new appearance. Let us among so many new things which the Providence of God bestows upon us, quit our old Sins, those Sins into which we most frequently fell before our Sickness came, and those more indiscernable ones, which our Consciences presented to our view in the time of our Distress and Tribulation; and indeed our own doleful Experience, one would think, might powerfully perswade us to have no more to do with those guests, which after we had entertained them, left us nothing but Miseries and Vexation; they are such sort of Companions as we may very well spare; they have now sure lost all that amiableness which our Ignorance and Folly made us believe they once had; they have cheated us with vain Promises: Let us be no more cheated and imposed upon; let us not embrace the Vipers that p. 207have stung us, nor run into the fires that have scorch'd us, nor drink that Poyson again, which a little while ago had like to have cost us our Lives. We did then live many days and years in ease, but how few of all those did we really spend for the Glory of God and our own Salvation? Let us not do so for the time to come; let us live to nobler and higher purposes than we did before: Where we did but creep before, let us now run with all our force and speed; where we did but wish before, let us now strive and wrastle. Let us not be guilty of a cold Prayer, or a misimproved Sabbaoth any more; nor make by a sinful silence and omission, the sins of others to become our own sins; but labour to obtain that Wisdom, Prudence and Courage whereby we may boldly reprove Sin wheresoever we see it, whether it be in those that are high or low. Let our Conversations be as an Ointment which cannot be hid, but spreads it pleasant scent round about. Let our Actions preach Righteousness, that the Seriousness that is so eminent in us may cause others to be p. 208serious by the sight of our good Example, that there may be abundance who may have reason to bless God for us. Let our Closets no more be Witnesses against us for the shortness and haste and luke-warmness of our Prayers to God. Let not these publick Places of our Worship be Witnesses that we have been here careless and irreverent and vain, and have gone away from them no better than when we came hither. Let all the Company we are in be no more a Witness against us, that we have there forgot our Creator; and whilst we have been unmindful of him, have discoursed with too much eagerness and delight of trivial and unnecessary things. Let our Tables no more be Witnesses against us for our Intemperance and Gluttony; nor our Bibles have reason to complain that they have been slighted, whilst we have with delight read other vain and unprofitable Books. Let us beware of abusing our Liberty in lawful things, and of running too near the borders of a Precipice. Let us beware of that Company and those occasions that once tempted p. 209us to sin. Let us remember where we fell, and walk with a more even step and a more watchful Eye. Let all People that knew us before, see that our Sickness and Affliction has been a Mercy and Advantage to us, to teach us those things which we could not learn by more gentle and easie Methods: Let the great troubles we have met withal be a warning to us, that we run not again into any of those Sins for which we have paid so very dear. Our Deliverance is indeed a Resurrection to us: Let it be so like the Last, that we may rise from our Graves pure and free from all that Ordure, Filth and Pollution that was upon us. As it is a life from the dead, let us not have our Consciences any more fill'd with dead Works: Let us be in some measure, like the Angels of God, as we shall be in the great and final Resurrection; and tho our eating and drinking, and the many petty cares which we are to take for our Food and Raiment and many other things that concern our present poor Life, hinder us from being very like them; yet nevertheless this should p. 210not discourage us from endeavouring to be as conformable to them as we can even now, and then to long for that day, when we shall have a more exact similitude. Some indeed when they recover, fall to all their old Intemperance and Excesses again; the first Visit they make is to their old Good-fellows, as they call them, and they are welcomed into the jolly Company with full Bowls and with loud Huzzaes; but let us go to such as will entertain us with Praises to God for our deliverance, and not drink our healths, but seriously pray for them.

Eightly, When God has brought us VIII.from the Grave, let us by all means see that so sore an Affliction, and so great a Deliverance may be sanctified to us: And we may know that they are so when they produce these following effects. First, When they take off our hearts from the World and the Creatures, and drive us more to God. Secondly, When they make us more frequent and fervent in our Prayers. Thirdly, When they produce those holy ends for which they were sent upon us. Fourthly, p. 211When they make us to acknowledge God, and to see his disposal and his hand in all that is come upon us, Ruth 1. 20. The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. Ver. 21. The Lord hath testified against me, and the Allmighty hath afflicted me. Fifthly, When they make us to humble our selves, and to lay our Mouths in the dust, knowing that tho our troubles were very severe, yet they were very just, Ezek. 16. 63. That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God. And Job 42. 5. When they fill our Hearts with Admiration and our Mouths with his Praise. Seventhly, When the Mercies we receive carry our Affections with more flame towards the Benefactor from whence they came: As the warmth of the shining Sun causes a new fragancy and a sweeter smell among all the Flowers of the Garden. Eighthly, When they bring us to more knowledge of God, and to more true calmness and joy in him. These are glorious Effects of a sanctified p. 212affliction and of a sanctified escape from it, and a sign that they came not by a common, but by a special Providence; and by a right of the Covenant of Grace by which all things are ours. I might add in the ninth place, when we taste his Fatherly Goodness and Love in all that we enjoy; if we find these things within us, 'tis a sign we have both heard the Rod and him that did appoint it, Mich. 6. 9. Oh how happy are we if God by taking away our health has given us himself; and if by sending sharp sickness and pain upon us, he has prepared us for a sweeter relish of his Love? Happy are we if our Temporary Sickness tend to an Eternal Health, and our short Sorrows to an Everlasting Joy: Happy yet again are we, if he have not only Commanded us to take up our beds and walk, but also said unto us, that our Sins are forgiven; if we can say with Hezekiah, Isa. 38. 17. Behold, for Peace I had great Bitterness, but thou hast in Love to my Soul delivered it from the Pit of Corruption, for thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back. It must be our great endeavour, that p. 213after we have been tryed we may come forth like Gold; and that we do not as the three Children in another case, come out with our old Garments, and with the same Sins upon us. Let us earnestly beg of God that we may have a compleat Salvation and a total Recovery: That as our Bodies are supplied with new strength, so our Souls may prosper also. For to be diseased in our Souls whilst our Bodies thrive, is as if the House in which one lives, were very well repaired and adorned to all advantage, and the Man that dwells in so fair an Habitation were forced to go in raggs; so fine a dwelling and so ordinary an Inhabitant would not agree well together. Oh let us take care, that whilst God has healed our Diseases, we be not inwardly distempered with the Plague of our own Hearts: That Man is not to be called healthful, that let him look never so well has a Disease in his Vitals, that by slow Degrees preys upon his Life: Neither can that Man be truly said to be recovered, whose Soul is either void of Grace, or that having had it in some measure, languishes p. 214and decays. He is composed of Contradictions, of Life and Death; at the same time he is alive and well as to his Body, but his Soul is dead in Trepasses and Sins: The most excellent and valuable part of himself does remain under the power of Death; and whilst it is so, is an Object more unpleasing to God, than a dissolving Carcass in the Grave would be to us. The Welfare and Recovery of our Souls is what we ought more to seek than the Welfare of our Bodies: Both indeed are Mercies, but the former is much the greater of the two. What is Purple and fine Linnen and soft Raiment that sets off a Man, to the Eyes of others, to that Faith and Love, and Patience, and Hope and those other Graces of the Spirit that beautifie the Soul, and render it amiable in the Eye of God? What is all the Meat and Drink that refresh our Bodies, to that Heavenly Manna, that Celestial Nourishment that an healthful holy Soul feeds upon? The prosperity of our Bodies, their ease and capacity of performing their several Actions, is one of the greatest Ternporal p. 215Mercies; but alas this will signifie nothing at all, if we do not prosper in our Souls. There is a way indeed whereby we may gather Grapes of Thorns and Figs of Thistles, i. e. Refreshment and Comfort from those Afflictions that peirct us to the quick; and that Sorrow which was at first unwelcom to us, may prove an Angel of Light, and strike off our Chains; if we can say with David, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy Statutes, Psal. 119. 71. Ver. 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy Word. His was a very blessed Cross that flourisht into such fruit as this. I think I should not say amiss should I say that God has as it were brought every person here from the Grave, and saved him from going down into the Pit, from a Grave and a Pit which has been often digged for us by the Plots and Designs of our Enemies, and into which we had long ago fallen, had not God mercifully saved and helped us. God has very lately done great things for our Brethren in Ireland, whereof I do believe your Hearts are glad; p. 216for as you mourn'd with them in their Sorrows, so tis fit you participate with them in the Joys that they now have by the quick advances of their increasing Deliverance, and from the dangers that so nearly threatned them. And God has not after the mighty wonders of his Providence left us here in England; when destruction has been coming towards us with hasty paces; when it has from the proud Fleet of our Enemies threatned us at our Coasts, and at our own Doors, this gracious God has kept it off: And if we repent, we shall not perish. You in London have seen your Civil Liberties rescued from the Grave, in which they might have laid very long, had not he raised up our present Protestant King to be that glorious Instrument that should give them a Resurrection. Our Country after a long Sickness and Indisposition, under which a few years ago, we were afraid it would have languisht quite away, has begun to recover; and it is our Wish and Prayer, that by the same Goodness and Power of God that has p. 217turned our Captivity; it may at length flourish with a perfect and compleat Recovery: For indeed it is not so, as long as there are still so many Blasphemies and execrable Oaths to be heard in our Streets; as long as there is so much heedlesness and irreverence in our Assemblies; so much Injustice and Deceit in our Shops; so much Omission of Prayer in our Families; so much Luxury and Riot at our Tables; so much Profanation of this Holy day: But to this we hope the Zeal and the Care of our Magistrates will at length put a stop. But whilst these things continue, tho blessed be God we are much better than we once were, yet still these will be ill Symptoms upon us. What cause of Joy should we have, if the Mercies we have already received were sanctified and improved? Oh what a Joy would it be, if God would save England with a Spiritual Deliverance; if he would save us from those Sins that expose us to his Wrath? And if we would in our particular stations do all we can to promote such a Salvation which would be much more p. 220glorious than what we have yet seen: Then indeed we should have cause to turn our days of Humiliation into days of Praise. If we would forsake our strange Sins we need not fear in the least to be punisht by People of a strange Language and which we understand not. We need not fear all the powers of the World nor all our Enemies, if we did not cherish the worst Enemy of all in our own bosoms, I mean our Sins; and (if which God avert) we should still continue to cherish these, they will rout us without another Enemy. Let us obey and love that God that has so wonderfully preserved and continued our Peace, that so there is no crying out nor complaining in our Streets: That has made all things to be still with us, while the Nations round abound have heard the Voice of Spoilers, and the Noise of bloody Wars. Let us take heed lest we forget our Deliverer, lest we abuse his Goodness, lest we forsake our own Mercies. There are no Judgments so severe which we have not all deserved, and which we may not fear; p. 219but yet there are no Mercies so great, for which we may not hope; if the large Experience that we have of the Goodness of God in our frequent Deliverances, have their due influence upon us; and if he be for us as he will then be, who can be against us? Jer. 3. 22, 23. Return ye backsliding Children, and I will heal your backslidings: Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped from the Hills, and from the multitude of Mountains; truly in the Lord our God is the Salvation of Israel.