Practical Discourses on Sickness and Recovery, Sermons · Sermon 5

Practical Discourses on Sickness and Recovery · Sermons · Sermon 5

p. 220The Fifth 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 into the Pit.

Sing unto the Lord, O ye Saints of his, and give thanks at the Remembrance of his Holiness.

ANOTHER Way whereby you IX.are to improve your Recovery from Sickness, is, to take heed that you do not overmuch value your Bodies: Look upon them as still obnoxious to great Pains, and let that abate your too great Indulgence to them. This I know is not a very pleasant direction, because as there is nothing for which our sensible Nature has a greater abhorrence than Pain, so there is nothing of which we are p. 221more unwilling to think; and when by any ways 'tis brought to our remembrance we endeavour to turn it off, by turning to some other Discourse, or avoiding those places, where by the Groans or Tears of the Sick we shall be forced to remember it whether we will or not. Few People care to talk of Sickness, till they are sick; or of dying till they come to dye: They make much shorter Visits to the diseased than to those in health; not only because they are afraid of troubling their Friends by their Discourse, which is likely enough; but principally because this is more unpleasant than their other Visits. It is very advisable therefore that we render those Evils which we cannot avoid, familiar to us by frequent Meditations; and this will diminish their formidableness and violence; tho indeed when a Man has thought never so long, pain will be pain still; a thing that whenever it comes will cause indelightful sensations in our Spirits. The Body by its near alliance will communicate to the Soul a perception of all the Meseries it suffers; and when the one p. 222half of a Man is ill, the other half cannot fare very well. It was the peculiar Vanity of the Stoicks, as some observe, That they would be philosophizing after the rate of Angels, and discourse without considering that their Bodies are one half of their Natures, and that their Souls are not disengaged from Matter, and by consequence have sensual Appetites too gross to be satisfied by bare Thoughts and Reflections; and sensitive Pains too sharp to be allayed with Words and Subtilties. When we consider what Evils our Sickness brought upon these poor frail Bodies of ours, surely we should never too much doat upon them, when all the Care we can use will not preserve them from the Grave. He that is proud of his Body, is as foolish, as if he should doat upon a Flower, which an unseen Storm may deprive of all its Glory; or which, if it be let alone, and meet with no accident, will of its self wither and deay. Or as if he should admire a Stream of Water and the Bubbles that are upon it, which in the very moment of our Admiration, slide away and stay not p. 223for our Praise or our Love. Or as if he should fall in Love with some of those brighter Clouds which roul above our Heads, and which, for all their taking Brightness, will quickly disappear. It would abate that tenderness and delicacy, wherewith we treat our Bodies, if we did but leisurely consider what strange Miseries may afflict them before the period of this mortal Life. It is a sad Reflection (as one says) to consider, that when Life is so short and so fading, so much of so little should be worn away in Misery and Torment. Some indeed by a particular Dispensation, and a most favourable Providence, are allowed to pass into the other World without much pain in this; but this is not the common Lot. You know that the poor Man at the Pool of Bethesda, had an Infirmity thirty eight years, Jahn 5. 5. You are told in Luke 13. 16. of a Woman that was a Daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen years; and when so malicious and cruel a Spirit had the management of her Bonds, no doubt but he made them very strong. It was without doubt a painful p. 224Distemper, as appears vers. 11. she was bound down and could in no wise lift up her self. If you enquire of those that usually attend the Dying; or if you look upon the Weekly Bills, you'l find there by what painful Diseases Men go to the Grave: By the Stone or the Gout, raging Fevers or Cholick, or which is of all others most formidable, and which more generally die of every Week than of any other Distemper, i. e. Convulsions: Or if they die not by these, yet by others, that by their length are as grievous and as uneasie. Your bodily Pains may be protracted to a very long duration; for it is a most false Maxim, that if your Pain be long, it will not be sharp, and that if it be sharp, it will not be long. It is a saying to which dayly Experience gives a Confutation: For how many are there that are groaning under Pains both very long, and very sharp? Fevers burn us, Agues shatter us, Dropsies drown us, Phrensies unman us, the Gout tortures us, Convulsions rack us, Epilepsies fell us, Collicks tear us, and there is no considerable Disease which is not p. 225very troublesom in it self, however Religion may sanctify and sweeten it. Boyle, occas. Refl. Sect. 2. Med. 3. What a vain thing is our Body, and how vain are the Projects of Men for the preservation of it? How many are their Cares and Designs about it? It is for this, that Commerce and Navigation is maintained to bring home Foreign Drugs for Physick, and Sawces of other Countries to raise our Appetites; Pearls and Jewels for Ornament and Splendor. The greatest part of Men are imployed meerly for the service of the Body: Physicians by profession are obliged to study what may repair its defects, and contribute to our ease and health; the Husbandman labours all the year that the Ground may yield us Corn and Bread and Fruit: Some build us Houses, others beautify and furnish them: Butchers are employed to kill the Creatures for us, and Cooks to dress them; and yet these Bodies are lyable all the while to pains, which none of all these can remove: To sicknesses, of which no Perfumes, no costly Raiment, no pleasant p. 226Relishes can make us to lose the bitter Sense; and the Thoughts of them ought to lessen greatly all that inordinate Concern, which we have for what is only mortal; for its being so, makes it to be very vain. We must use our selves to hardship, and relinquish our too great tenderness and delicacy. For he is the wisest Man, who knowing he is once to suffer, as we all are, does learn betimes to do it: Let us therefore keep our Bodies pure and clean and chast.

First, Let us use a great Moderation in all those Accommodations, that 1.relate only to them: Such as Houses, Gardens, Estates or the like, that they be not too expensive or take up too much of our time, or of our delight. That they be not designed as the Trophies of our Pride, or the means of Vain-glory, or to get a Name. We that have Souls to save, have something else to do than to follow needless Superfluities. When we were sick, we knew that we were too much unwilling to leave the World. Let us not paint it with more alluring colours, lest p. 227we be still more in love with it, and more loath to leave it. For shall we more easily part with things sumptuous and splendid, than with things that are meaner and less suited to a fleshly Mind and Life? We are Pilgrims and shall we be so industrious to plant and build, and sow in a strange Country, when we confess we are distant from our home? What Man would set himself to adorn his Inn, from which he may dislodge the next morning, and it may be, never see it any more?

Secondly, Let us use a great Moderation 2.in our Apparel. When you dress your selves, remember that you dress a Body that will shortly be a Carcass without Beauty, Life and Motion. Consider how soon all the Sprightliness of your Eyes, all the Pleasure of your Looks will be gone; the Cold of Death will quickly freeze that Blood which now circulates with so brisk a motion in your Veins; and Sickness in a few days may so change you, even you, that are most curious about your Body, that you will not desire even to look upon your self: When pain p. 228and trouble has sunk your Eyes, and hollowed your Cheeks, and turned your once delightful red into a decaying pale; how seldom then will you visit that Glass, to which you now go so often, and at which you stay so very long? What will your softest Raiment and your finest Cloaths avail a decaying Body, which God hath clothed with the Garment of Heaviness? Let the Consideration of this be a powerful Motive to excite you, not to go to the highest Excesses of a luxurious Age; but after the Fashion of the grave, the modest and the religious part of People; that allow to themselves some large portions of their Time to adorn their Souls with those Graces that make them shine with real worth, and do not spend it all to set the Body off. What is this Body but a Lump of animated Clay, a poor ruinous Habitation that has a thousand decays ready to come upon it, and whilst we are contriving how to repair it for many years, it may be, we have not then a Month to live? And what is it when the Soul that gave it all its p. 229pleasant sensations, all its comlyness and lustre, is fled away? If we look but upon a Friend an hour after he is dead, how is his Countenance changed? There is nothing then to be seen in him that did attract our Eyes before: You then no more see any Smiles in that Face, where you have before seen the signs of Chearfulness and Joy. Where is his former Comeliness and Beauty, his ancient Grace or his lovely Features? You can then take no delight in being with him, you have then no mind to look upon that very person that it may be a while ago, was the Delight of your Heart, and the Comfort of your Life. Will all the Finery in the World procure for us a sweeter slumber in the Dust? Why should we set our selves with so much application to regard our Bodies? Is it to much purpose to paint a little Dust and Ashes? Those light impressions that we make upon it, the next Wind blows away. Think but how vain and short your Life is, and this will greatly suppress your inclination to Vanity: Look upon your p. 230Watches, and consider how they give you notice of the haste of Time; and to this purpose your Clocks may be of excellent use, if (as one says) you design them not only as Civil Servants, but as Militant Sentinels to advertise you every hour, that your Enemy is advanced a step nearer to you; for as every toling Bell may be said to be the Clock of Death, so every Clock may not unfitly be called the Passing Bell of Time.

Thirdly, Our Sickness should also teach us to be moderate in all those Pleasures that relate only to the Body. Such we may use indeed as are necessary to divert our Minds, when we are wearied with Study or the Duties of our Calling. Such as are page missingeast expensive and take up the least me, such as are no way scandalous, and such as are both lawful and page missingonvenient; but we must especialpage missingy avoid all those things that minister to Temptation, to Sensuality, to Covetousness, to rash Angers, and whatsoever else it is that indisposes us for Prayer, for Self-Examination and all the other serious Acts of p. 231Religion, for which we must be in a constant readiness: We must enrich our Souls with nobler and higher Joys; in communion with God, in meditating on his Works and Attributes, the Wonders of his Grace in Christ, the mighty Preparations that he has made for our Happyness and Glory, and these will be a good improvement of our Sickness and Recovery: Nor will they be followed with such gloomy sorrows that eclipse all that which the World calls a brisk and a merry Life. After this manner should our Sickness teach us to regard our Bodies, not to be over-fond of them, not to glory in our Strength, in our Health, in our Riches, or any thing that is but of a short Continuance: For wherein are all these things, or wherein is Man himself, whose Breath is in his Nostrils, to be accounted of? Jer. 9. 23, 24.

Secondly, Do not provoke God to II.cut off your Life. Your Life is an excellent Gift, which those of us that have recovered, have but newly received; let us not by any means abuse it, lest it be taken from p. 232us again, which God will do if we make no suitable returns to the Kindness of him our Benefactor, Eccl. 7. 17. Be not over-much wicked, neither be thou foolish; why shouldst thou dy before the time? i. e. If we continue in a course of sin, the Divine Vengeance will overtake us and make us to feel the sharp Effects of his just Severity and of our own Transgression. To this end, we must, First, Beware of all gluttonous Excesses in what we eat and drink: For though by going beyond the bounds of what is lawful, we discern no great hurt for the present; yet we shall lay the foundation of manyfold Diseases which may break out afterwards, and vitiate our Blood, and waste our Spirits; and when the pleasure of our Appetites is past, we shall have a remaining Bitterness, and Wounds and Sorrow. Many wise and observing Men believe that of those that outlive their Childhood, there is scarce one of twenty, yea or of an hundred, that dyeth, but Gluttony is the principal Cause, tho not the most immediate: There is nothing that p. 233makes a Disease more insupportable than the thought of having brought it upon our selves by our own Carelesness and Security: How many by this Method are withered in the Flower of their Age, when they thought their Evening and Decay at a mighty distance? What Havock and Murder, and Desolation is made in the World by the force of the Sword and the violence of unjust Wars? and yet more perish by their own Intemperance; and all Diseases even those that are Epidemical, Natural or Casual, are by this and other Vices that attend it, rendred far more sharp, lasting, malignant and incurable, by that stock of corrupted Matter that they lodge in the Body to feed those Diseases, and that Impotency that these Vices bring upon Nature to resist them. Hale's Letter to his Son, p. 17. Tho it be very true, That let a Man be never so Religious he must both be sick and dye; yet the prevailing sense of a Deity will sweeten these Evils when they come, and also keep them longer off: As tis said of Wisdom, Length of Days are in her right p. 234Hand, Prov. 3. 16. And 'tis said by the Fear of the Lord, Prov. 3. 11. By me thy days shall be multipled, and the years of thy Life shall be increased. And Chap. 10. 27. The Fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortned. But if our Belly be our God, our end will be destruction even in this World, Phil. 3. 19. When Men are gratifying their Appetites in all that they desire, they are undermining their own Prosperity, and giving fire to that Train which will certainly blow them up; and at the rate they live, they may well say, Come let us eat and drink, for to morrow we dye: For indeed their Excess to day may cause their Death to morrow. How many are now in their Graves, over whom it may be truly writ, This Man killed himself with drinking? And how odious must the Memory of such an one be that so made himself away? But let us remember, Life is so great a Blessing, that it is not for the sake of a few merry Companions, or to gratify their humor, to be parted with: There are a sort of People that through the Power of p. 235their Ignorance are very apt to quarrel with the Providence of God for making their Lives so short, and yet they will make them shorter than otherwise they might be: and truly such sort of men have the least reason, because their chief happiness lies in this World, and not in that which is to come; and their action is as foolish, as if one would make haste to pull down the House he lives in, and yet when he has done it, knows not where to get another.

Secondly, We must avoid all anxious Fears, all inward fretting and 2.discontent, all foolish Anger, Envy, and the like passions; for these are great enemies to Life: As also all uncommunicated sadness and lasting griefs; for any of those troublesome Accidents will unavoidably molest our present state: And no less prejudicial are all uncertain hopes, all immoderate cares, and over-eager Studies; for the mind by too vehement an intention, will communicate its trouble to the Body, and this will pine and languish by its sympathy and nearness to that; and the Body cannot conceal the displeasure that p. 236arises to it from the more inward and spiritual troubles of the Soul. There will be a Cloud of Sorrow in the Forehead, when there is an abiding sadness in the heart: whereas the Right Government of our Affections will spread a chearfulness both over the Body and the Mind. 'Tis said of Moses, Deut. 34. 7. That he was an hundred and twenty years old when he dyed; his Eyes were not dim, nor his natural Force abated; and to this the constant meekness and quietness of his Spirit contributed very much.

It was Mr. Burroughs his Opinion, that Mr. Dod was the meekest Man upon the Earth in his time, and speaking of him as then alive, he says, He is about fourscore and ten years old, and lately preached twice every Lords-day; and the constant health of his Body was such, that he was able to continue heavenly discourse till midnight from day to day, and to Preach all the day long, his Spirit not failing at all. And thus by keeping the constant frame of his Spirit, he was hardly known to be in any Distemper of Spirit. See Burroughs Serm. on Matth. xi. l. 2. p. 358.

p. 237Thirdly, That we may not provoke God to cut us off, our Lives must be 3.laid out for his Glory. If we live to our selves, he may well throw us aside as a broken Vessel wherein he has no pleasure. Which of us would suffer a barren and unfruitful Tree to Cumber the Ground for many years? And do we think that his Patience will always let us alone, and not, after it has been the witness of our Idleness, turn to Fury, and cut us down? If we do nothing for him and his Glory, how can we expect that his Creatures should give us nourishment and strength, that his Earth should bear us, and his Sun shine upon us? How can we ask our daily Bread from our most gracious Master, if we lay not out the refreshment we receive from it in his own Service? Which of you would keep a Servant in your Family, and give him all necessary Accommodations, and yet be content to see none of your Work done? Would you not with Anger turn him off? And do we deserve better usage at the hands of God? Would we have him to spread our Table, and to fill our Cup, p. 238that we may sin against him? What Prince is there that would give money from his Treasures to carry on a War against his own Crown, or to support a Rebel? If we oppose our Creator, or forget him, 'tis no wonder if he throw us out of the c…re of his Providence, 'tis no wonder if his Justice deprive us of a Life which we so vainly spend: And indeed when we consider how little we do for that God who has done so much for us, every one of us may lay his hand upon his breast and say, Lord be merciful to me a sinner, for I deserve to dye. Whatever care and temperance we use in our Dyet, our Exercises, or our Recreations, yet if we be unprofitable Servants, he may be provoked to give us our last Summons, and say, Give an account of thy Stewardship, for thou shalt be no longer Steward. With what face can we pray to God to keep us from sudden Death, and to prolong our Lives, when the Language of our former Actions will declare this to be the sense of our prayers, Lord give me a longer Life, and I will sin against thee more? And is that a frame that becomes p. 239a Creature and a Sinner, to his great Creator and final Judge? It may cause God to say, It repent's me that I have made such a man whole, and that I have brought him from the Grave.

Thirdly, Live much in a little time 'Tis no great matter if we arrive safe III.to Heaven, tho we do not live so many years in the Body as others may attain to; tho we lose the sight of the Sun, Moon and Stars, yet the first sight of the Face of God, will make amends for that, and all our other losses. Let us therefore rouze up our selves, let us cast off all our former sloath, let us contend and strive with all our force, with all the powers of our Souls, that we may enter in at the strait gate, and lay hold on Eternal Lise. It is for Heaven and Salvation; and methinks the very name of such a place and state should set our Souls on fire, it should enflame our desires, and quicken our diligence, and raise our hopes. Let us run with as hasty a pace as ever we can, let us not stay to listen to the charms or pleasures of the World. Let no Frowns discourage p. 240us, no Difficulties startle us, no Dangers keep us back; 'tis for a Crown of Glory. Let us keep that in our Eye; and let us consider, who are the Spectators of our Race. God looks on to help us here, and to reward us at the last. Angels applaud us, the Saints on Earth pray for us, and the World will admire us, though our Diligence will condemn their Sloth. How busie and how unwearied is the Devil for our Ruin? and shall we shrink at any Labor, when we have the advantage of that evil Spirit? What he does is with Envy against us and with rage against God. But we have hope; and tho we toil to the very Evening and Conclusion of our Day, we have a Master that will reward us very well: How solicitous and how careful are Men for the Affairs of this present Life; and shall not we be as much solicitous for those of the Life to come? How will they rise early and sit up late for a good Bargain, or a little Profit; and shall not we do as much to save our Souls for ever? Oh let us suffer no day to go over our Heads, wherein we are not more p. 241watchful and circumspect in our Actions, more fervent in our Prayers, more concern'd for the Welfare of our Neighbour and our own, than we were the day before. Let us now do as much in a Week as we did before in a Month, and as much in a Day as we have done in a Week before. Let us indeavour to have more Light in our Understandings, more Love in our Wills, and a greater and more universal Warmth in our Affections. Let us that have been sick, consider what an interruption that Sickness has made in our Life? When our sorrowful Months were upon the account of those Sorrows, to us Months of Vanity, wherein we were not able to pursue the true ends and business of Life; Let us fill up the vacant space with an after Diligence: And seeing our great Work in the World has had so long a stand; Let us now fall upon it with a fresh Vigor; and we may by running faster, and by the Grace of God, overtake some of our Fellow Christians that are at present, a great way before us, and who are many Paces before p. 242us on the way to Glory: We have, it may be, formerly done some small service for Christ, but now we must do more than we ever did: When we have obtained so many Blessings at his Hands, it would be inexcusable, if we had not a Mouth to acknowledge his Goodness, and an Heart to love him; a Mouth to speak for him and for his Glory upon all occasions, and an Heart to admire and depend upon his Promise: We have done too little for him that has done so much for us. Let the consideration of this humble us for our former Sins, and direct us what to do for the time to come; that our Speech, our Conversation may be more profitable than it has been, 1 Cor. 15. 58. Eccl. 9. 10.

Fourthly, Let us live so that our Examples may do good whilst we live, and when we are dead: For every Man that has the Spirit of Christianity, i. e. a generous and a publick Spirit, will not only be concerned for himself; but for others, and not only for the present, but for the future Generation: And as p. 243in this luxurious and most wicked Age of ours, there is like to be transmitted to Posterity a great number of very bad Examples; so it should be the Care and Endeavour of every good Man to prevent their mischievous influence, by doing what in him lies to mend the World. We live indeed in a time wherein the most part of People can talk very well, but never was there any time in which there was less Practice. It is a most easie thing to discourse well, but none, but a true Believer, can live as he ought to do according to the Gospel, which requires an universal and a shining Holiness. Our Actions and Examples will have a more powerful efficacy than our Words; and whilst the one does but touch the Ear, the other will penetrate into the very Souls of those that observe us; and render themselves Masters of their Approbation, even almost whether they will or not. We are obliged to have a great regard to the Salvation of our Neighbours, and there is no course more likely to succeed than this: They will easily follow p. 244us when we take them by the hand, and advise them to go in no other way, but in that where we go our selves: When we are fervent in our Prayers, it will shame their Coldness; when we are serious in our attending on the Word, the sight of our seriousness will make them more attentive, and our Heat of Affection may kindle some Sparks of Love to God in their colder Hearts; and the necessity of a good Example seems to be greater in Cities than in other places; for as one observes, Du-bose Serm. p. 495. It is certain that great Towns are ordinarily great Theaters of Vices; as the Multitude is more numerous, so wicked Examples are more frequent. Sin hardens it self by the number, and authorizes it self by the quantity of Accomplices: And as the Fire burns more by a great heap of wood or coals put together, so the Ardour of Sin warms and inflames it self by a great Throng of Persons that communicate to one another their criminal Affections: Besides, in vast and populous Cities, they have more Liberty to sin, because it is p. 245less observed and taken notice of; as a Serpent conceals it self among a multitude of Bushes: Whereas in little Villages the least faults are soon minded; many times in greater places very great Enormities are not discern'd; and it concerns us also whom God has raised from the Grave, to be more exact in our Course; for People will look with a more curious Eye upon us that are recovered, to see what we do, when they will not, it may be, look so much to the hand that heal'd us: As the People c…me more to see Lazarus that was risen, than Jesus that reviv'd him from the Grave; much people of the Jews came, not for Jesus sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also whom he had raised from the dead, Joh. 12. 9. Wicked men are punish'd in Hell for all the Evil they have done … the World, and for all that they have been the cause of; it is a new addition to their torments, to think how many are going to the same miserable place, whose damnation will lye at their door: As 'tis commonly said, that Dives requested of Abraham, that some messenger might be sent to warn his Brethren, p. 246lest they came to the same place; not from any Love to their Souls, for there is no such Charity in Hell; but from a fear, that if they came to the same torment, his own misery would be the greater, for having been in a great measure the cause of theirs by his bad Example. And on the contrary, 'tis a great pleasure to those in Heaven to think, that they have been any way instrumental to the Glory of their great Lord; and that the Seeds that by good Instructions and holy Example they threw upon the World, flourish into Fruit when they are dead. Thus they blossom in the dust, and their Actions, as 'tis fabulously reported of some of the Bodies of the Popish Saints, send forth a sweet perfume after Death, to all the places round about. The Saints of God do good indeed to the World when they are gone, not by Intercession as Mediators for us, but by the good Works which they performed here below; and tho their Works follow them to increase their reward, yet the remembrance of them stays behind. It is hardly to be imagined how far the power of a p. 247good Example does diffuse its self, when the person that gave it, is removed from the World: It does encourage others to Religion, and to a perseverance in it, seeing it has no new difficulties, but only those which others have conquered, who are now at rest with God. Therefore are we commanded to be followers of them who through Faith and Patience have inherited the Promises, Heb. 6. 6. We are to follow their Faith, considering the end of their Conversation, Heb. 13. 7. Those of us that have been so happy as to have had a Religious Education, tho we are depriv'd of our Parents, yet we full well remember their serious pathetical Exhortations, how they did earnestly intreat us to fear God and keep his Commandments: We can remember how they set some portion of their time apart every day for Reading the Word, and secret Prayer, and the other Duties of Religion; and when we are gone, if we have been truly sincere, others cannot but remember our Example. Your Children and Servants will greatly mind what you do that are the Master of the Family, p. 248and you either very much promote or hinder their Salvation, for which you must be answerable to God in the approaching day of Judgment. Is it not a Credit to your Reputation, when your Servant and Apprentice shall thus remember your Example, and say, Oh how Conscientious was my Master in his Buying and Selling! how afraid was he of imposing upon others, or of cheating them with many good words, whilst he had deceitful intentions in his heart? How afraid was he lest the business of his Trade should Justle out Religion, or the Shop be an hindrance to the Duties of his Closet, or of Family Prayer? How careful was he to set aside some of his Gains for the Charitable Relieving of the Poor? As to you that are Parents, your Children will certainly mind more what you do than what you say. If you Sanctifie the Sabbath, and are serious in your Service to God, you may have good hope that they will be so; but if you are immoderate in your Recreations, your Eating, Drinking, or your Apparel, 'tis very likely they will be so; and what p. 249flames will it add to your misery, to think that you were the Cause of their Everlasting destruction? And how will you bear it, to hear their Cries and bitter Expressions; when they shall Curse you for not having given to them good Instructions and seasonable Warnings, and an holy Example, by which they might have been enabled to fly from the Wrath to come? You may now do much more good by practising one Command, than by causing to learn all the Ten: And though you be so poor that you have no Riches or Estate to leave them, yet you may leave your Prayers and your good Example to the next Generation. We commonly say of a rich covetous Miser, That he will never do any good whilst he lives; and we may say of him and all others, that are not true Christians, That they will never do any good when they are dead; for when they dye, they are like Nero, they leave abundance of poison behind them; they infected the Air with their Oaths and Blasphemies, when they lived; and when they are gone the Contagion spreads, and their p. 250ill President meeting with corrupt Nature, which inclines all Men to what is bad, does convey its Venome to several others that they left behind. What an Impression many times does an unbecoming Word leave upon the Hearer for many years after? Much more does the Remembrance of an ill Example. Thus their evil Works prove Factors for the Devil, and inlarge his Kingdom, when they are rotting in the Grave: Whereas if you be zealous for God, the remaining Flames of your Zeal may awaken some luke-warm and slothful Christian to do what you have done: For he may thus argue, If that holy Man prayed so hard and strove so much, what cause have I to pray and strive, for I have a Soul to save as well as he? And as the Gate was strait to him, so will it be to me; and as 'tis impossible to handle Perfumes without bearing away part of the scent; so it should be to converse with you, without savouring of your Goodness: You should so live, that others may reap the benefit of your holy Life, when p. 251you are gone: As the Earth does not lose the Vertue of its Beams, when the Sun is set; that Heat and Warmth and Vegetation, which it has given to Herbs and Plants does remain, and its Influence is felt, when it is no longer to be seen; thus you will be as Herbs and Flowers, which when they are gathered are medicinal, and yield juices healthful and necessary to the Body; or as the Corn which when it is cut down, is serviceable for Food and Nourishment: Thus every Man may so contrive it, that he may be serviceable to the World, when he does not live in it any more: Thus the Apostles spread a most diffusive Light by their Holiness and Doctrin, which all the Malice of Hell and all the Rage of Tyrants has not been able to extinguish; but though they shone with an extraordinary Brightness, yet every Believer is a Child of Light, every Believer is a Star of great use and benefit, tho one Star differeth from another Star in Glory; tho he be never so obscure, yet he may be beneficial; as a Pearl or a Diamond, tho it be set in Lead, does p. 252not cease to be of great Value: Thus your Name will be as sweet Ointment delightful and dear to others: Whereas if we be wicked, we shall have the same Fate with Jehoram, who died without being desired, 2 Chron. 21. 20. Thus I say, our Examples will do more good than many bare Instructions: As Souldiers will be more animated and forward, when they see one Example of couragious Fighting before their Eyes, than by a thousand Rules that teach them the Policies and Designs of War. Thus I have shewed you what Improvement those that are recovered and brought from the Grave ought to make of it; and what mischief will ensue, if they do it not; and indeed it is a Mercy to the World, that the Lives of ill Men are so short; (for as one hath lately observed) the World is very bad as it is, so bad that good Men scarce know how to spend fifty or sixty years in it; but how bad would it probably be, were the Life of Man extended to six, seven or eight hundred years? If so near a prospect of the other World as forty or fifty p. 253years cannot restrain Men from the greatest Villanies, what would they do if they could as reasonably suppose Death to be at three or four hundred years off? If Men make such Improvements in Wickedness in twenty or thirty years, what would they do in hundreds, and then what a blessed place would this World be?

And to excite you to be the more careful in the improving of your Sickness: Let me add these three following Considerations.

Cons. 1. How many are dead since you were first ill? How many excellent Ministers whom you must never hear again? How many of your dearest Friends are now in the cold Grave, with whom you cannot now discourse, and whose Faces you shall never see till the Great Day? Many have sunk in a Calm, and several among us have outliv'd a Storm: Many have perished with less pain and less violent diseases than those which some of us have had: This should engage us to make suitable returns to that God who has spared us when he hath taken them away.

p. 254Cons. 2. This Improvement of our Sickness and Recovery will exempt us from the Number of those hateful People, that are not only no better, but a great deal worse when they are brought out of Distress, than they were before; and 'tis generally thought that of a thousand People that make large Promises in their Sickness, there are scarce fifty that keep their Word and perform their Vows, when they are recovered: Those good Purposes which they had were the Product of their Fears, and when those are over, their intended Goodness does also vanish away.

Cons. 3. This good Improvement of your new Life may ingage God to prolong your time to an honourable old Age. For though we can merit nothing at his Hands, yet if we labour hard in his Service, it may be, he will not cause our Sun to go down at Noon, but continue us in his Vineyard, till the Evening of the Day.

I now proceed briefly to consider the fourth Verse.

p. 255Ver. 4.

Sing unto the Lord, O ye Saints of his, and give thanks at the Remembrance of his Holiness.

From these Words I shall insist on this Proposition:

That Person that has received wonderful Obs.Deliverance from Death, ought not only to praise God himself; but to excite and call upon others to praise God with him: And all the Servants of God should be most willing to joyn in the return of thanks for any Mercy that they see bestowed on others. It is not enough that we have an inward and a silent Gratatitude, we must publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all his wondrous Works, Psal. 26. 7. I shall not die, but live and declare the work of the Lord, Psal. 118. 17. And the grateful Leper, Luke 17. 15. when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God. The poor Man was so full of Joy in the sense of the newly received benefit, that he could not forbear telling others what Mercies he had received. p. 256So says the Prophet, Psal. 116. 14. I will pay my vows unto the Lord, now in the presence of all his People. And there are these several things, that should cause our mutual Praise to God upon any great Deliverances.

First, Our mutual Praises will warm 1.our Hearts better than if they were single. When many Beams of the Sun are united, they give a stronger Light and burn with a greater force; and many small Rivers united run with a swifter Course to pay their common Tribute to the Sea. When many joyn together in the same Prayers, the Cry is more loud, and the Flame of our Desires ascends with a quicker and a more speedy motion; and when many Voices joyn in the same Psalms of Praise, then as in a Consort of Musick our Praise is more harmonious and moer sweet; and then it is that we find our Love and our Joy much moer kindled, than when we are alone. The praising of God for our Mercies in publick, will make others call to mind their own Mercies, and they and we shall both agree to yield p. 257our common Thanks to this Mighty Lord. Let all the people praise thee, O God, yea let all the people praise thee. And greatly to blame are those, who do not openly manifest their Sense of Gods Goodness, but are as silent as to any publick acknowledment of it, as if they were in the very Grave.

Secondly, This mutual giving thanks will greatly incourage others to trust II.and hope in God. The Experience that we have had of his Goodness may be of great use to them; that when they come to be in straits they may wait upon him, and strengthen their Patience by remembring how gracious he has been to us; and that seeing he is ever faithful and unchangeable, he will be so to them; for his Arm is not shortned that it cannot save. The Righteous, Psal. 14. 27. shall compass me about, for thou hast dealt bountifully with me. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me, Psal. 119. 74. Glad to see that God has compassion for the desolate and the miserable: Glad to see that he does not shut up his Bowels in a perpetual Displeasure, nor forget the Work of his own Hands: What p. 258Encouragement have they still to pray, when they see in our Deliverance, that their Prayers are heard; and when they are very low, to consider, That this or that poor man cryed, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles, Psal. 34. 6? They have the same promises to plead, and late Examples before their Eyes of his Goodness and his Readiness to save. It is a very merciful dispensation of God, that he will not have all his Servants under Troubles and Afflictions at the same time: Some will he suffer to be at ease that they by their advice, their prayers, and their seasonable pity and their love, they may minister to the wants of others whom he has bound with the cords of Afflictions: All Churches are not persecuted at the same time, nor all in the same Churches; that so those who are whole may bind up the wounds of others. Thus when the poor Protestants in Germany were under low Circumstances, it pleased God to set Edward the Sixth upon the Throne in England, under whose most excellent Government many Ministers p. 259and People, that were forced to leave their own Country, found a secure shelter and retreat: And when the Massacre was in Ireland, God was pleased to save this Land from so terrible a Judgement: And whilst France is at this day groaning under a most cruel and barbarous Persecution, we, by a wonderful Providence, have Ease and Liberty, and are in a capacity to give relief to our distressed Brethren. He does not fail to give us now and then some instances of his Wrath for our Sin in long and severe Tryals; yet neither does he fail to raise up some wonderful Monuments of his Mercy after such Severities: That the Consideration of the former may teach us to walk with an holy Fear, and the Consideration of the latter may keep us from being overwheml'd in the greatest straits: Our being publickly thankful for our deliverance from great dangers may fortifie the hearts of others against all unreasonable fears and dispondence.

Thirdly, Because they are by the III.Profession of Christianity, to have a Communion with one another in all their p. 260Prosperities and in all their Troubles; to grieve in their Afflictions, and to rejoyce in all their Mercies. They are all of the same Body, and one part cannot be at case, whilst another in is pain; nor can one mourn whilst another does rejoyce; they participate in their mutual Sorrows and their Joys; they cannot see one of their Brethren sitting alone and keeping silence, but they condole with him for his sadness; and when they see him watering his Couch with tears, their Eye does affect their Heart and mingle their tears with his; they cannot laugh whilst another groans, nor be sad when another is exalted and delivered. For as you cannot touch one string of an Instrument, but all the rest sound; so no part of the Body of Jesus Christ, can be well or ill affected, but the rest discover their sense either of its joy or grief. The Saints of God have a similitude of Nature and inclinations of the same kind all the World over; they have a Conformity to their blessed Lord, who has a great tenderness and pity for the whole Body of the Church: The p. 261Wicked that are not of the Family, are no way troubled when Sion is in the dust, nor have they any pleasure when it is rebuilt. A private Spirit does but relish its own joys, and weep for its own griefs; but those that are good Christians are glad to hear that it fares well with the Servants of God, tho such as they never saw; and when others are affflicted, tho in Foreign Countries, yet their Groans, tho at a great distance, do reach their Hearts. Thus it was with our Apostle, Col. 2. 1. For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. Tho he was in dangers himself, yet he was full of fear and solicitude for them; neither the Prison in which he was at Rome, nor the death he had in prospect did abate his Care; in this like, to Christ himself, who in the night that he was betrayed, was providing a Feast of Comfort for his poor Followers.

Fourthly, Tis very delightful to God IV.when his Servants after the receipt of Mercies, joyn their praises together. If p. 262we had no experiences of his Goodness to us, yet so excellent are the Perfections of his Nature, that we ought even then to praise him much more when he is so kind to us, who have deserved nothing: He is pleased with with that homage which we give him by our Prayers and our hearing of the Word, and when two or three are gathered together he is there: It will also please him to see our Hearts and our Mouths full of Thanks; for to this very purpose he gives his Blessings to us, and it is grateful to him to see that they are not lost upon us. As it is pleasant to an Husband-man to see a seasonable Harvest, and that his Labour and Pains have not been in vain: When there is a Consort of Musick, there is the greatest Harmony, and when a whole Assembly of sincere Christians joyn their Voices and their Hearts together, with what a delightful sound do they go up before the Throne of God? For (as one observes) the blessing and acceptance that Religion receives from the Divine Majesty, is much greater for the publickness of it; even in this sense p. 263two are better than one, for they have a good reward for their labour: In this sense their complicated services are more forcible, their threefold Cord is not easily broken: Not that God is prevailed upon to any change in himself or his Government by the services of his Creatures, though in a multitude; but he is pleased to found the occasions and opportunities of his most bountiful recompences, in the drawing near of their greater numbers: For as when God was pleased to communicate himself more freely, he did it to a multitude of Creatures; so he delights in receiving back the glory of having thus communicated himself from a multitude also; and as there is more of himself in more of his Creatures, whether of several sorts or of the same; so there is more of his blessing in their approaches to him, Whole Duty of Nations, p. 9. What does the Great God obtain by all his Acts of Bounty to his Creatures, but a Revenue of praise? what other end does he design in all his Mercies? therefore we should be most willing to pay him this p. 264easie Tribute. Oh how pleasant is it to come into the house of God with the voice of joy and praise, and with a multitude that keep holy day, Psal. 42. 4. Private prayer does not honour him so much as publick; this therefore, as the now mentioned person expresses it, it was the Policy of Nineveh's natural Religion to unite their Force in Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, and to take advantage of joyning the mute desires of the Beasts, that have a voice in the Ears of God. Abraham's Servant made the Camels kneel down while he prayed to God: And it was, as he further observes, Davids Art to gather up all the Praises even of the lowest of the Creatures that could so meanly give them; and inspiring them with his own Reason, made them as it were to follow his Harp, and to unite in his own Halleluiahs. Thus he served himself of them, that making by them a greater Present of glory to God, he might receive the greater Blessing from him. We ought to be as eloquent in the numbring of our Mercies as we are in the compution p. 265of our Sorrows; and our Praises ought to be as loud or rather louder than our Groans. And yet alass! how rare a thing is this mutual praise? And it may be as a sign of it, that so many desire Funeral Sermons to be preached for their departed Friends, and few desire any Sermons for their own Recovery from Sickness and Death, or for their Friends upon the like occasions. 'Tis strange that we should be more ready to mourn than to rejoyce; and that our Sorrows should be more passionate and fluent than our joys; that we are more enclined to bewail our Losses than to be glad for our Mercies; especially when one has the advantage of pleasure on its side which the other has not; we always meet and mingle our Tears together when our Friends are to be laid into the Grave, and we should as solemnly meet when any of our Friends have been nigh unto Death, and have escaped it, that for so great a Mercy we may return to God our Common Praise.

p. 266Fifthly, This mutual praising of God V.is a resemblance of Heaven. In doing this we are beginning that blessed Work which we hope to be employed in for ever. We poor Sinners here below are then something like to those Holy Souls that are above. Will it not be a great part of Heaven to admire, and adore, and praise God for all his Deliverances granted to us, to his Church, and our fellow Saints? There will be a common Joy and an Union of Praises for all his Mercies, from the beginning to the conclusion of the World. And then all the Myriads of his Elect being safely gathered into his own Kingdom, shall keep a Thanksgiving-day, and that Day shall be for ever. It is to that pleasant and chearful Country that we at length hope to go. Let us use our selves now to the Language of the Place, and learn betimes to Sing the Songs of Sion. Let us raise our Voices as high as ever we can, in the Praises of our God; and then knowing how unsuitable our highest Elevations are to his Excellent and Glorious Majesty, let us long to joyn with Glorified Spirits in their p. 267louder and sweeter Hymns; and being sensible of our own Weakness, we may call to the blessed Angels, to all Beings that are in Heaven or on the Earth, in the Air or in the Seas, to help us to praise the Lord. As we have the Example of David in sevèral Psalms, and in the 103. 20, 21, 22. Bless the Lord, ye his Angels, that excel in strength, that do his Commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his Hosts, ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord all his Works in all places of his Dominions: bless the Lord, O my Soul.

The Conclusion of the Whole.

AND now to finish what I design to say from these Words. Having been delivered from a long and severe Sickness, I would most earnestly beg of you all to help me to praise the Lord for his great Goodness and Mercy to me. Long I was upon the very brink of the Grave, and nothing in this World could ease my Pain, or mitigate my Sorrows. God himself hath wrought p. 268Salvation for me: And 'tis for your sakes as well as mine own, that you may see an instance of his mighty Power and Goodness, who as he hath delivered me, can also deliver you when you come to Straits and Difficulties: I heartily wish that seeing my Sickness has not been unto Death, it may be for the Glory of God. I am as it were risen from the Grave, very near to which I was for many long and doleful Months together; I wish that my Resurrection may have the same effect with that of Lazarus, for by reason of him many of the Jews believed in Jesus, John 12. 11. There are several Persons here, that wept with me when I wept, and that prayed for me when I was in trouble; to these and to others that had a tender Concern for me I now speak. Come, and let us now rejoyce together; Oh come, and let us exalt and praise the Name of God together. Praise is pleasant and comly, Psal. 147. 1. It is pleasant as it is the Exercise of our Souls in the noblest Work which they are capable of here on Earth, and 'tis comely as 'tis an acknowledgment of those p. 269Mercies that we receive from God our Benefactor. Oh how much more pleasant is Deliverance than Danger, and Health than Sickness! How much better is the voice of Gladness than the voice of Sorrow? How much more pleasant is it to spend a day, yea many days, in chearful Praises, than to spend one hour in Sighs and painful Groans? How much better is it to come to the Courts of the Lord, to see him in the Sanctuary, and to joyn with his Servants in the Solemn Parts of his Worship, than to be confined to a sick Bed, and to dwell as in the Dust? My kind Brother and Companion in this Lecture, Mr. Thomas Kentish.when I was overwhelmed with deep Sorrows, did often pray with me, that God would bring me again to this Congregation, that I might here publish the Wonders of his Love: His Prayers and yours are heard, and I desire at this time to declare the Works of the Lord. Come and see what God has done: Come ye poor afflicted People that are even sinking with your many troubles: Come and see how God has help'd and saved me from my violent and p. 270sore Distress. He has pull'd my feet out of the deep mire, and the thick clay: and has help'd me, tho the sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of Hell got hold upon me. Learn to wait for his Mercies, and to put your trust in him. Come ye poor Mourners, whose way is bid, and whom the Wrath of God presses very sore. Come and encourage your selves by looking upon the Goodness and the Mercy of God to me. I also am the Man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his Wrath. I was not long ago compassed with Gall and Travel, and my Chain was heavy; he caused the Arrows of his Quiver to enter into one, and filled me with bitterness, and made me durnken with Wormwood. My Soul was removed far off from peace, and I forgat prosperity, and I said, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. And yet he hath graciously helped me after all this. Therefore let your Souls be in as much Darkness, and your Case be as Low and Miserable as it can be supposed to be ye, yet never despair of help from such a God as this. Come ye poor dejected Christians; Wipe away p. 271your Tears a little, and let it be something reviving to you to behold what after long Afflictions God has done for me, though I was lower than you can think or I express. Come you that are sadned with frequent and continued pains, and encourage your selves from my deliverance; I also had sharp and long pains for many months together; My Complaint was bitter, but my Stroak was heavier than Groaning; yet after all this God himself hath healed me, when all the Endeavours of my Friends were to no purpose. Say not that your wound is incurable, for that Almighty Physitian that has with so much kindness afforded relief to me, can also speedily give a cure to you: Do not mistrust his power nor question his willingness to do it: Though you be never so sinful and unworthy, let not that overwhelm you when you see the riches of his Grace to me, displayed before your Eyes. O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him, Psal. 34. 8. And you may say thus in Prayer, Lord thou hast been very p. 272gracious to such an one after his desolate and low condition; Oh be thou so to me, that being brought out of the depths, I may with him and others bless thy Name! Come, ye Servants of the Most High, and let us praise our God together; let our minds be filled with the most admiring thoughts of him; let our tongues speak of his Goodness; let our hearts burn with the purest flames of Love, and then let us joyn our thoughts, our voices and our hearts to give him with delight a common Song of Praise: Come all you faithful People and help me to praise the Lord, for my single praises are too deficient. Surely our Souls may now soar higher, and take a nimbler flight than they were able to do when they were clog'd and weighed down with Heaviness and Sorrow: Help me to praise him, that, after such a long and terrible sickness, I am not in the silent Grave. The Grave cannot praise thee, Death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the Pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee as I do this day, Isa. 38. 18, 19. I call you p. 273all to witness, that I praise the God of my deliverance; I call you to help me to do it better; seeing you prayed for me in my Affliction, I may claim your praises as a debt that is due to God for the hearing of your Prayers; and I know it is such a debt as you are most willing to pay: As I was helpt by the Prayers of many, so I desire that thanks may be given by many on my behalf, 2 Cor. 1. 11. I desire all those Ministers, those Congregations and Christian Friends that shewed so much Compassion and Kindness, as to pray for me, that they would all praise God for having given to me such a late miraculous deliverance, and for having given to them such a late Experience of the succesfulness and power of Prayer; Let us provoke one another to good Works. When will our hearts glow with Love to God, if not when his Sun shines upon us with such comfortable and reviving Beams? When shall we all be thankful if not now, when he has cast our Lot in an Age of Wonders and of Mercies? What would our Forefathers that lived in a p. 274darker season, and in times of Persecution have given to see such a bright and peaceful day as that is which we are blest with? What would the poor People in Hungary and in the Palatinate, give to have so much peace and quiet, as we now injoy? What would our poor Protestant Brethren in France, that are groaning under a cruel and blody Persecution, give to have the Protection and the Favour of so mild a Government as that is, which we are now living under; and to have the Bread of Life, and their Ministers, and their Gospel in the same manner they once had them? Those poor Churches are not yet delivered, their Beauty and their Glory is departed, and their Sion is mourning in the dust; but they send their Sighs over to us; we have heard their Groans, the Language of which is, Come and help us with your Prayers. Let us pray for them as we would for our selves in the like case; who knows but God will hear our Prayers for them also? And when England, Scotland, France and Ireland, and Piedmont, and all other places that have been in distress shall lift p. 275up their heads with joy, and congratulate one another, for the Salvations and Deliverances which God hath wrought for them, what a glorious time will that be? Happy shall be the day and the year that shall accomplish so great a Work; happy shall the Messenger be that brings us such welcome tidings; happy will be the Ears that hear so delightful a thing as this, and happy the Eyes that see it; and happy will those Countries be that shall flourish with Prosperity and Peace, when these present Commotions and Wars that disturb the World, are past and gone; and happy yet again will be those Instruments, whom God will honour to bring about so excellent a State of things: Then shall it be said as in Isa. 66. 10, 11. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoyce for joy with her all ye that mourn for her: That ye may suck and be satisfied with the Breasts of her Consolations, that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her Glory. May we not hope that so pleasant a day as this hath begun to dawn; may we not p. 276hope, and have we not encouragement to beg of God, that the Light which is broken out in so wonderful a manner may shine more and more to a perfect day? That we may still say with the delivered Israelites, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, amongst the gods, who is like unto thee, glorious in Holyness, fearful in Praises, doing Wonders? Exod. 15. 11. It will greatly heighten the Mercy of our being brought from the Grave, if we should live to see such a sight as this: But however it be, the Mercies we have already receiv'd in our deliverance from Sickness, contain Motives powerful enough to perswade us to love and praise God; and the doing of this may procure us many more Mercies. There are two things which after our Recovery we have cause always to remember.

First, That we must live as those that know though we have escaped the Grave hitherto, yet we must one day take up our dwelling there. Tho we are repriev'd for a while, yet the sentence of death that is past upon all Mankind, will one day be executed p. 277upon us, and we must die as well as others; and if we improve this Consideration, tho death it self be not past, yet the bitterness of it will be so.

Secondly, That we ought most earnestly to pray that (if God please so to order it) we may not have very long nor very sharp pains before we die; and that when he calls us from the World, he would give us an humble and a quiet Resignation to his Will, that we may be found of him in peace, and in a temper suitable to the greatness of our Change; and that before he warn us to appear before him, we may have all that work on Earth finished, which he gave us to do; and so being assured that the Mediator is our Friend, we may every one of us say with Stephen, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit.