PHYSIC FOR BODY AND SOULE. SHOWING THAT THE MALADIES OF THE one, proceed from the sins of the other: with a remedy against both, prescribed by our heavenly Physician JESUS CHRIST. DELIVERED IN A SERMON AT BUCKDEN IN HUNTINGTONSH, before the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Lincoln then being, by E. Heron Bachelor of Divinity, and sometime fellow of Trin. College in Cambridge. Vtteipsum serves, non expergisceris?— LONDON, Printed by john Legatt for Francis Constable, and are to be sold at his Shop in Paul's Churchyard at the Sign of the White Lyon. 1621. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND Right Reverend Father in God, JOHN Lord Bishop of Lincoln, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, one of his Majesty's most Sacred Council the increase of temporal, and compliment of glory eternal. Right Honourable, IN the general concourse of those who run to do your Lordship honour, I, (who have tasted as freely of your former favours as the most of them) could no longer contain, but with Ahimaaz must run also, though without a full erraund; persuading myself that the swift wings of sincere affection would carry me beyond the foremost Cushi. Pleaseth it therefore your Honour to accept this first argument of my vowed duty, uttered sometime at one of your places of residency, graced by the audience of one of your predecessors, but now pressed for your Lordship's service. It can add nothing to the magnitude of your honour, no more than a drop to the Ocean, but by your Lordship's acceptance it may increase the honouring multitude by One. The Lord of Lords who hath begun this great work in you, perfect the same to the glory of himself, the advancement of his Church and disrespected Churchmen. Ever at your Honour's service in the Lord, E. Heron. PHYSIC FOR Body and Soul. joh. 5. part of the 14. verse. Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto thee. HE that promised to make his Apostles Fishers of men, Matth. 4.19. Used A twofold net wherewith to catch and draw men unto him says S. Chrysostome. a Chrysost. in 22, Luc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the net of wonders, and of words. By the first He caught those many who believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which He did. joh. 2.23. (b) By the second He enclosed his very enemies, those Officers who were sent to apprehend and bring him before the High Priests and Pharisees. They were so entangled in the net of his heavenly doctrine, that they had no power to lay violent hands upon him, but returned with this answer, never man spoke as that man did. a joh. 7 46. Our blessed Saviour useth both these nets in the recovering of a certain poor, lame, and diseased man, the subject of this Text. First He heals him with the the bare word of his mouth, Surge & tolle grabatum, verse 8. Him who by ordinary means could not be healed in 38. years before, verse 5. Secondly He leaves him not here, but that He might be wholly taken as well in soul as body He casts upon him the net of his words and doctrine. Behold thou that wert thus many years scourged for thy sins, art now through mercy restored to thy perfect health, take heed least falling into the same sins again thou pull down God's judgements after a more fearful manner: where our blessed Saviour puts him in mind of his long desired recovery, shows him the cause of his misery, and gives him an item, to prevent a worse calamity. Behold thou art made whole, etc. Out of which words, without vexing them either with curiosity or multiplicity of division, arise naturally these 3. parts 1. Commemoratio beneficij. Behold thou art made whole 2. Commonitio, officij. Sin no more 3. Comminatio supplicij. Lest a worse thing come unto thee. The commemoration of the benefit contains the Manner and Matter: Behold, The manner: Thou art made whole: The matter. To begin with the first. This demonstrative Ecce, Is not a note of approbation in the Receiver of the benefit, as if through his long patience He had merited this favour at Christ's hand, being set out unto us as a grievous sinner: jam. 1.5. Nor a sign of exprobration in the Giver, For God giveth freely and upbraideth no man with his gifts: Nor a vain repetition of ostentation in our Saviour, for them it would have run in the first person, Theophrast. in charact. superbi. Ecce sanum te feci, as it is noted in the character of the proud man. But it is a note of Remembrance & consideration uttered to this end, that the benefit of God so plentifully bestowed upon him should not now be written in the dust to be blown away with the slight blast of forgetfulness, but remain fixed, and settled in his heart written as the Prophet speaks with a pen of iron, and the point of a Diamond to continue for ever: And with good reason, for the very Heathen could tax the whole kind for want of this virtue, comparing man in this regard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Epigra. Anthol. to a bottomless vessel that transmits' what ever is put into the same. A sin begotten in our first parents and propagated in their posterity. Take a taste of it in the Israelites, Gods most obliged people, who had such sensible feelings of his favour as they might be justly termed by the Philosopher's word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 burdened with his benefits: Aristotle Ethic. Seneca de benef. yet with them it fared, as with those of whom Senec. Apud quos non diutius in animo donata quam in usu. Witness that God rebuked the red sea, and it was dried, led them in the deep as in the wilderness, causing the waters to cover their oppressors, etc. Then believed they his words & laud praises to his name, Psal. 106.12. But incontinently they forgot his works and would not await his counsel. vers. 13. Therefore lest we should deglutire beneficia Dei swallow down the benefits of God without ruminating on them by due meditation: or lest we might impute them to our own deserts, sacrificing to our own nets and kissing our own hands as the Prophet hath it for catching and procuring the same, our blessed Saviour stirs up this restored man, and in him all that enjoy the like benefit to taste and consider how good the Lord hath been unto us. Behold. The matter follows. Thou art made whole. The benefit of health may challenge all possible thankes at any man's hand— corpus redimas, Ovid. etc. skin for skin and all that a man hath will He give for his life, was the last and the best argument the Devil could use to infringe jobs faith and confidence: job. 2.5. Stretch out now thine hand upon him and see if He will not blaspheme thee to thy face. But health is the life of life, Senee. Since non vivere sed valere vita est, life without health is but a lingering death: and therefore the Prophet makes it a great part of his happy man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sound of wind and limb, Thales ap. Diog Laect. for— Si capiti bene, etc. If it be well with us in the whole structure of our body can princely riches add more, yea they cannot yield so much happiness of themselves, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. etc. Neither can the glorious Diadem of a King assuage one whit the ache of his head, nor the precious signet command the least disease from the finger. Yet howsoever the benefit of health be great in itself, it was here greater if we review the former condition of him one whom it was conferred. Whereas Seneca makes but three things grievous in every disease which are either Dolour Corporis. Affliction of body. Intermissio voluptatis. Intermission of all joy and pleasure. Timor mortis. Fear of death. Beside these this diseased patient was overcome. 1. Of poverty, as great a disease as the former, Menander. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, no burden more burdensome than poverty, insomuch as Hecuba being brought to that extremity calls her misfortunes; Euryp. in Hecubae. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. such as surpassed the sufferance of nature: being numbered among the curses of the Law, Deut. 28.22. yea accounted so great a curse with the Heathen that Plutarch reports many to avoid the same, have been content to throw themselves headlong from high rocks into the sea preventing that misery of life by a sudden and certain death. Now of this disease laboured this poor cripple who wanted means to procure a man to put him into the pool when the water was troubled. 2. He was accompanied no doubt with poverties necessary attendant Contempt, juvenal. — Nil habet infaelix paupestas, etc. The poor man is despised of his neighbour, says the wisest of men. The jews according to their received opinion, Ethniorum opinio miseros esse. Diis invisos henisius in Theocrit. accounting him Gods enemy because of his great misery, as they did those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their own sacrifice (for refusing to offer for the the health of Caesar, Theophylact in 13. Luc. as Theophylact notes it.) They cared not to reach unto him their helping hand of pity. 3. The long continuance in his infirmity, made it the more incurable in itself, and the more insufferable to the patiented being of no less than thirty eight year's regiment, whereby it had gathered together such a multitude of ill-affected humours, as they not only surprised the whole body, out were able to oppose the strongest art of the most expert Physician, since Sero madicina, etc. Inveterate Diseases which have placed their garrisons in our mortal tabernacles cannot be displaced by ordinary means. 4. Such a grievous disease of the body could not but cause as grievous diseases in the mind by reason of that Sympathy or compassion between these two yoake-fellowes: the first whereof is a longing expectation of the body's ease and her quiet from the troubled water, Tertul. de bapt●… 〈◊〉 Seal. 〈◊〉 dorp. for Quatannis id factum, and it cured all manner diseases whatsoever, vers. 4. Now Carnifices a●…mi mora & expectatio. Expectation is as the hangman of the mind torturing the same between the two gives of hope and despair, He well hoped that after the many nights of sorrow, the mourning of joy now approached wherein he should be restored to his perfect strength, but his expectation was wholly frustrated, his hope was with so many deceive quite tired that it became hopeless, which brought one his soul the last of all her diseases, a final despair of enjoying that miraculous benefit of healing, for he concludes with our Saviour, that he was always prevented by others who stepped in before him, as it is in the seaventh verse of this chap. Recollect we then the greatness of this benefit bestowed on him. Besides that his body is no more afflicted, his joy & pleasure no longer intermitted, and the fear of death overpassed, his poverty is hereby relieved, his contempt salved, the long continuance in his disease ended, his racking expectation fully satisfied, and his final despair finally prevented. Behold thou art made whole. Wherein the bounty of our blessed Saviour is yet further extended to him, who in this our example shows sufficiently that he is the only true Physician of man's soul, in that he makes this man's bodily cure but a preparative to the cure of his sick soul, Ang. in lec. Fecit quod videri poterat, ut savatetur quod videri non poeerat. He makes a cure upon that which was obvious to the eye of man, the body that so he might make way for the invisible cure of the mind, Dat vivendi morem, dat innocentiae legem postquam contulit sanitatem. Cyprian. and therefore in the next place he shows him the cause of his misery which was sin, for his humiliation, and admonishes him to sin no more for prevention of a worse evil, and that is the second part under our consideration. Viz. 2. part, The commonition, Sin no more. He had sinned or else he had never been afflicted, for Paena non praecedit culpa. Punishment never goes before, but dog's sin at the heels: wherein he had sinned is only known to him that knows only the diverse windings of man's heart. To think with some in Saint Chrysostome that his sin was the manifesting of Christ his Physician to the jews, as a transgressor of the Sabbath, besides that the lettar is opposite to that conceit, it incurs the solecism of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, For this sin (if there had been any such) must needs be committed after, it could not be before his healing: Et fi accusandi gratia dixssit, Chrysostome in locum. says Chrysostome having relation to the 15. verse, Timuisset utique peiora, cum minantis potestatem esset expertus. We rather join with the Apostle, In multis impingimus omnes, jam. 32. All of us offend in many things; These many things then at the object of this admonition: Look therefore how diverse sin is, but sin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Peccare est tanquam linias transire, Cic. Parad. like the continued quantity admits infinite sections and divisions, even so extensive is this admonition applied to us, prohibiting all manner of sin incident to the nature of man. I will confine the infiniteness thereof to these terms. Either Quodcunque Quantulumcunque Qualecunque For the first, whether it be a sin against the first or second table, Obseruatio legis est copulativa; Holiness and righteousness are joined together in the Benedict, holiness towards God, and righteousness towards our neighbour, according to the commandment in Saint john, 1. joh. 4. Vlt. that he which loveth God should love his brother also: so that an Indulgence cannot salve up the breach of any part of the moral law which is perpetual, nor a dispensation from any mortal man give liberty to the least sin which is against the same. And the reason is for that the dispensation against the law must be granted by as great authority as the law was first made, but the moral law grounded on the law of nature, was founded by the author, & creator of nature God himself, and therefore by him only may it be dispensed withal, which the schoolmen acknowledge in that theological axiom, Altified. Praescripta legis naturalis non sunt dispensabilia: But the moral law of God what is it but the law of nature written in tables of stone. 2. Quantulumcunque, Not only those monstrous sins of the old world, or those crying sins of Sodom, Gomorrha, Niniveh, which were so bold and impudent as to advance themselves before the face of Almighty God, Nescio non possumus leue aliquod precatum dicere quod in Dei contemplum admittitur. Hieronym. Ep. 14. August. Ep. 108. but even small sins as we esteem them, for the small egg of the Cockatrice will in time prove a devouring serpent, and if the little thiefs get once in at the windows, they will soon set open the doors for the great ones to enter and despoil us, Quid interest (says S. Augustine) utrum vuo grandi fluctu navis obruatur, etc. what skils it whether the shipsuffer wrack from one huge billow that overwhelmes her, or by some few small leaks which in time sink her, seeing the wages of this little as that great sin in its own nature is eternal death. Rom. 6.23 2. Qualecunque, of what nature, quality, or condition soever the sin be. As first, whether they be sins of age or sins of youth, Detur aliquid aetati was but a heathen man's divinity, Christ shed his warmest blood for them, and requires that they above all others should not spare their best years in his quarrel, and therefore Saint john writes to the young man especially because they are strong and able to bear the burden of the day, 1. joh. 1. yea Contra assiduum Antiochum generose pugnet emnis aetas, As it is rendered out of Nazian. For such is God's husbandry as no season proves unseasonable for sowing the seeds of piety, sow thy seeds in the morning and in the evening let not thy hand rest. 2. Whether sins issuing from the temperature of man's body. If the choleric were privileged from the praedominancie of that humour to cast forth his sudden flashes of wrath and revenge, Gen. 4.23. Lamec might justify the kill a man in his wound and a young man in his hurt. If the sanguine might beguile the time in dalliance, in chambering and wantonness: S. Ambrose had spent his oil vainly in David's Apology. Dictum de Vacia ignavo ciuc. Vacia hic situs est. Sen. Ep. Prou. 10. If the phlegmatic might bury himself quick in the grave of idleness, He need not put it of, By a Lion in the way, a Lion in the street. If the melancholic might harbour dark and dismal thoughts and bring forth desperate effects, discontented Achitophel might make a long letter of himself without prejudice to the letter of Gods Law. But nature must be subdued by grace, It being the first step into Christianity to deny ourselves, and yield all subjection to the will of God. 3. Whether they be sins of conformity, Rom. 12.2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. As to pride it with the Spaniard, to drink drunk with the Dutch, to be light of promise with the Carthaginian, to play the liar with the Cretensian, or the lying Aequivocator with the jesuited Roman; Punica fides. Proverb. For the time was when Regulus would rather return to Carthage upon his faith given though to the most exquisite torments then to have slipped away by a mental elusion. We are taught in God's School though Israel play the harlot, yet judah should not sin; Thus we read of the river Alphaeus that it conuaies itself through the Sea breaking forth to his beloved Arethusa, Lucian dialog. and yet participates no whit with the seas brackish humour; Thus Lot was found chaste in the midst of Sodom, job truly religious in the idolatrous land of Us, and many Saints in Caesar Nero's household. Lastly, whether they be sins proceeding from a good intention, even that makes not simply a good action; for Bonum est de integra causa says Aquinas: both beginning, means, and end must be right, or else the whole action will prove wrong, because the least leaven of evil sours the whole lump of goodness; Take it in Uzzah's staying the Ark ready to fall, it was well meant as He thought and intended to a good end: yet forasmuch as He did it neither authoritative, being no Priest, 2. Sam. 6. nor ex mandato speciali, by any special command or secret insinuation of God's Spirit moving him thereto, but his own appetive will, God slew him in the same place. Here then, Fines & que sunt ad finem debent esse eiusdem generis. In ordine ad bonum spirituale for the Pope's power in temporals over the Lords Anointed to uphold the Ark of God's service will prove but ordo inordinatus, being neither primative in himself, nor derivative from the true fountain of all power. The first is wisdom's peculiar, Per me Reges regnant, Prou. 8.15. and it is the Lord that putteth down the mighty from their seat: and therefore Super aspidem & basitiscum was as violently rend from Christ by Pope Alexander, as injuriously put upon the sacred neck of the Emperor by the foot of more than Luciferian pride. For the second Christ himself had it not qua homo, Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo, Delegatus nihil facit authoritate propaeia Penormitan. my kingdom is not of this world, how then can the Pope Vicar that which was never committed or transmitted unto him: It remains, that this indirect intention proves a direct usurpation. And here likewise falls their opinion who are so far from upholding as they bend all their intentions to the pulling down of the Ark of God's service in regard of decent orders, comely rites, beautiful ceremonies, etc. Let us begin with the fountain from whence these unhallowed intentions have their origination, we shall find that to be an Erroneous conscience spurred on by unadvised zeal, I call it erroneous quia conscientia nunquam obligat in virtute propria, Aquinas. sed in virtute praecepti divini, it binds not by virtue of its own direction, but in the virtue & strength of God's commandment, but God's commandment is, that all things be done decently and in order, and that every soul be subject to the higher powers in things not opposite to the high est power, Rom. 13.5. The very Geneva note in 5. Act. 36. Is, that in matters which concern religion we must not attempt any thing under colour of zeal beside our vocation. not so much for fear as for conscience sake, For in such things plus obligat praeceptum principis & praelati quam propria conscientia, (says Hales) Our conscience in such cases must be captivated to lawful authority. And therefore the stream of such intentions must begin at this true fountain, and not issue out of the broken pits of every mechanical fancy and invention. Secondly, for the mean furthering this intention, That's no less (say they) than the Scripture, but the Scripture is the Canon by which all our actions should be squared: Arist. Rhet. lib. 1. Yet as the Philosopher said of a law political though it be in itself most perfect & straight, the judge by his wresting interpretation might make it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perverse and crooked: so may we say of God's law, especially if unlettered folk have the interpretation thereof in their hand, to the which is required the greatest art and science. If any say the text is plain, the letter apparent, S. Nazian. answers that Studium litterae est pallium iniquitatis, the sticking too much to the letter in general is the cloak of much impiety, Sic. Chiliastae ex Apoc. 20.2 Did not Arrius fall into his heresy by holding himself to the letter, Pater maior me. joh. 4. Did not the Donatists go about to prove theirs to be the only true Church by the letter of the text. Cant. 1.6. Tell me where thou feedest and where thou liest at noon, Vti cubas in meridie, Alphonsus de Castro in verbo Ecclesia. They would prove from hence Ecclesiam ad solam meridionalem plagam quam ipsi incolebant redactam, that the True Church was only to be found in those Southern parts which they inhabited, but it fared with them as it did with those of whom Solomon, Prou. 30. vlt. They that wring their nose fetch out blood, which S. Gregory interprets, That they who wring, wrist, or misinterpret Scripture (a thing incident to unlearned people as appears in the 2. Pet. 3.16.) they bring forth aut haeresim aut phrenesim, either an heresy or a frenzy. And therefore the H. Ghost gives an item to such daring Prophets. The time shall come that they shall be ashamed of their visions, Zach. 13.5 & shall say I am no Prophet, I am an husbandman, man taught me to be an heard man from my youth up. So that this medium cannot be a rule to them who have not true and universal knowledge to use the same. Thirdly, for the End terminating, what is their scope but Innovation A monster in a well established Church breeding more evils then ever did the lake Lerna. Vincent conrra haeres. In matters of doctrine noue non nova, we may handle the point after a new manner so that we infer no new and exorbitant matter; but in matter of Church order nec noue nec nova, neither novelty of manner nor of matter ought to be enforced, August. since ipsa mutatio consuetudinis, etc. the change of an ancient custom in the Church, if it should somewhat help by the utility, it would hurt as much, or more by the novelty, and therefore primo divinae legis authoritate, etc. says Vincent. First the Word of God written must guide, but where that is silent, Tunc ecclesiea Catholicae traditio, Then the institution & tradition of the Church must take place, Hence is it that the holy Ghost bids us not to remove the ancient bounds which our forefathers have set, Pro. 22.28. teaching by this allegory not to bring innovations into the Church contrary to what we have received from godly antiquity, and there's a curse annexed to such Innovators. He that breaks down the hedge, him shall a serpent bite, Eccl. 10.8. the hedge of godly order as well in Church as commonwealth, as Lirinensis expounds it, him shall Satan the subtle serpent bite. This was the case of Donatus, first he breaks down the hedge by innovation, than the serpent bites and stings him on forward to fall into open schism with Caecilianus the godly Bishop of Carthage & his orthodoxal Church, Alphonsus de Laistio. Postea scisma in haeresim commutavit. In the Swinckseldians, the Anabaptists, Brownists, Familists. He turned schism into plain heresy, and then this gangrene spreads itself so fare, as the contagion thereof hath reached even to our times. This may be the cause why S. Paul does earnestly wish, Gal. 5.12. that they were cut off who did disturb the Galatians foreseeing that by the Schisms and dissensions the seamelesse coat of Christ the Emblem of his Church (as S. Cyprian hath it) might by these means be rend and torn asunder. Cyprian de Vast. Ecclesiae. These intentions therefore cannot attain their wished end, but according to the saying of Gamaliel because they have proceeded from man and not from God they have never taken place but received Vzzah's doom Perez-Vzzah to be divided and scattered even from our late Queen's regiment unto this present time and therefore let such Innovators apprehend this admonition: 2. Sam. 6.8. Act. 5.38. Sin no more. But if no more, than our spiritual resurrection from the grave of sin must be speedy and constant, speedy even from the present period of time constant, to the last point of life; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non amplius, No more imploys both. For the first, that it ought to be without delation the bodily, Physician teaches that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Hypocrat. aphoris. 9 lib. 2. the infected parts of the body, the more they are cherished, the more they are endamaged: so fares it with a soul habituated in sin by a frequent custom in sinning, the conscience becomes so seared and the heart so hardened as they will not receive the soft impression of God's spirit, Consuetudo altera natura. it proving as easy to recover a dead man in body as a sick man in soul who is grown into years of sin, and so goes on from darkness to darkness until he come to the utter darkness where he finds no other comfort, but weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. And as it must be speedy, so must it be constant, for Non initia Christianorum sed fines coronantur, Bern. because one may begin in the spirit but end in the flesh, Arist. eth. and therefore as in the Olympic games not the fairest nor the strongest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, &c, but of those which strove, they that continued to the end won and wore the garland: so in the Christian warfare against our ghostly enemies, sin, hell, Satan, if we continue faithful unto the death, God will give us the crown of life. Sin no more. Reu. 2.10. The admonition is both just, and necessary. Just for we are for the most part no sooner confirmed in health and strength but we are ready to summon up our forces, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Nazian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and give up our members as weapons of unrighteousness to sin, as soldiers do yield themselves to their captains to war under their banner: Thus the Israelites when they waxed fat, and in good liking spurned with their heel, Deut. 32. i5 therefore they forsook God that made them and regarded not the strong God of their salvation: To such the saying of Seneca might fitly be applied Tutius aegrotassent when they turn this gift of God into wantonness and abuse their strength to the pouring in of much wine and bearing strong drink. And necessary, i Tim. 5.6, for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the life of sin is the death of the soul, and therefore the widow that gave herself over to lustful pleasures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, her living body was but the sepulchre of her dead soul, Bern. med. But how shall wretched man— Cuius conceptio culpa est. Who even in his conception is warmed in unclean blood through original contagion, Augustine. and stays not there but in a short progress of time does ponere Adam super Adam by his actual transgressions being more lame in his soul, than this lame man was erewhile in his body be capable of Christ's admonition? Can a bad tree bring forth good fruit? Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? I answer. 1. If a man have a fervent desire not to sin, as the prophet David said, Oh that I were so upright that I might keep thy commandments and as the heart brayeth after the water brooks, Psal. 42.1. so panteth my soul after thee oh Lord, Magna pars bonitatis velle fieri bonum, it is a great step unto goodness to desire to be good. Act. 24.16. sc. pro Statu viatorum. 2. If he have a constant endeavour not to sin, as Saint Paul had who endeavoured always to keep a clear conscience both before God and man, and as Zachary & Elizabeth are said to walk in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord without reproof. Luc. 1.6. 3. If when he sins he does it not with a full force but with a reluctation— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Homer. Il. Rom. 7.19. doing evil, but the evil he would not do— Cum trahit invitum nova vis. Then God accepts the will for the deed, then is he pronounced blessed, because his wickedness is forgiven and his sin is covered in which sense Saint Augustine, Tum tota lex impletur, quando quicquid non fit, ignoscitur. So from sin I am led to the punishment of it, to terrify us from meddling with the pleasing baits thereof, which is the third general part. Viz. The commination, 3. Part. Herodot, Lest a worse thing happen unto thee. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Great sins deserve great punishments. The sin of recidivation was thought so great that the Novatians would yield no place for repentance to such delinquents grounding their assertion upon the 6. of the Hebr. and the fourth verse. It is impossible that they which were once enlightened if they fall away should be renewed by repentance, whose eyes (say they) were twice opened, whom did our Saviour raise the second time from death to life, not Lazarus whom he loved, nor the widow's son whom he pitied. Howsoever their position be heretical, that place being meant not of falling simply into sin, but of falling away from God by a general and final apostasy as some of the jews had done, who after they had given up their names to Christ, to fight under his banner revolted to judaisme, renouncing that part which they might have had in Christ the son of David: Yet surely this often relapse into sin is exceeding dangerous, Vulnus iteratum sanaetus tarduis. August. if we argue by way of comparison with those diseases of the body, they do for the most part in short time deprive it of life itself, because by the often assaults of the same diseases nature is tired, and exhausted, his strength wholly spent, and therefore she is forced to yield up her hold as not able to hold out any longer again their violent invasion upon her: Gutta cavat lapidem non vised sepe cadendo. So fares it with the soul through the manifold batteries of the same sins, the life of grace may be quite extinguished, what was the end of that man whose unclean spirit being gone out returned again, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the last of that man was worse than the beginning: Such was the case of julian the Apostate after he had revolted to paganism then the Devil made him his own, Nazian. calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Orat. contra jul. 1. than he plunged him in all those diabolical arts which those instruments of Satan Porphyry & his associates taught him, than he plays the part of a savage beast against the poor Christians, being joined with the devil against God and his Christ, dying with that blasphemous scoff in his mouth Vicisti Galilaee. So we read in the life of Lucian the Atheist after his Apostasy from the Christian profession, he falls blasphemously upon Christ, calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Luciau in Peregrino. flouts and scoffs at all religion, & is angry with himself for being so unadvised as to take that profession upon him which got him nothing but an elongation of his name from Lucius to Lucianus. This sin therefore of backsliding, of returning with the dog to the vomit, and the swine to her wallowing in the mire of sin, by how much it exceeds in greatness by so much it deserves a greater punishment, almighty God as that heathen Plato could note, Plato in Timaeus. it does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 always play the Geomitrician, not dividing by lot or by chance, but proportioning his punishment to the measure of sins. He that is angry with his brother unadvisedly is culpable of judgement, Math. 5.22 He that calls him Raca, (which Theophylact translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) shall be punished by the council, Quiea impuus est in rellig. Th. Morus. but he that calls him fool shall be punished with hell fire. So in the prophet Amos for three transgressions and for four, that's for seven, Amos 2.4. a finite for an infinite, God will show no favour, He will not turn unto judah, but will send out such a fire as shall devour the palaces of jerusalem. Vid. Levit. 16.18.21.24. verses. And in Hosea 5. from the 10. ver. almighty God follows the pursuit of sinning, by a gradation of punishing judah was like them that removed the bounds, that is, subverted all order of true religion, Ephraim walked after the commandment, to wit, of jeroboam which made Israel to sin, therefore will I be to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of judah as rottenness verse 12. the moth frets by degrees insensibly, but rottenness ruins at once suddenly, further Ephraim saw his sickness, and judah his wound, than went Ephraim unto Ashur and sent unto king jareb, forsaking God and making flesh their arm, resting themselves upon the brittle reed of man's strength, therefore will I be to Ephraim as a Lion, and to the house of judah as a Lion's whelp, the Lion is fierce and cruel but the Lion's whelp is more bold (says Pliny) for want of experience, and more ravenous as being but newly blooded in the natural course of devouring. This for temporal punishment. As for eternal, S. Aug. tells us, Si impius peccat in suo aeterno, Impij amhulant in circuitu. Deus puniet in suo aeterno, if wretched man make no end in sinning (walking in a circle of sin as David speaks of the wicked (with his amplius, Psal. 11.9. yet a little more sleep, at least a little slumber in sin, God for justice sake must make no end of punishing with his deterius, worse and worse, making those temporal plagues but as a praeludium to those eternal ones, where the worm of conscience never dyeth and the fire of God's vengeance is unquenchable, Therefore if thou be'st made whole sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto thee. Out of all which praemises let us deduce these brief conclusions. 1. From the commemoration of the benefit received, It teaches that Beneficium excitat officium, God's bountifulness ought to stir up our thankfulness. For as in every donation there is a Giver & a Receiver, so there aught to be a thanksgiver, otherwise the knot of the three Graces is unloosed and virtue is dishonoured. What if we compare our condition to the case of this diseased man, we were bruised and wounded by that subtle Serpent, who supplanted the first Adam, and behold we are made whole by the precious balm of the second Adam his righteousness, He was broken for our sins and by his stripes we are healed: Esay 53. What remains but that we should apply this note of remembrance to ourselves, and so be stirred up to offer always to God the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for our happy deliverance, and so much the more, because it is more thanksworthy that Christ hath healed our diseased souls, quam quod sanarit languores corporum moriturorum, Aug. in Locum. then if He had restored our mortal bodies to perfect health. Ingratitude being so odious a vice, as the Heathen Orator, Cicero. said all other vices were comprehended in that one, as Irreligion towards the Gods, disobedience towards our parents, neglect of the welfare of our country, Ethic. 4. which caused the ancient Grecians says Arist. to place the temple of Thanks in the midst of the street 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that being obvious to the eie it might always put men in mind of remuneration: This temple was placed even in the midst of David's heart, who pondering with himself the infinite mercies and benefits He had received at God's hands, breaks forth with A Quid retribuam? What shall I render unto God for all the benefits, & c? and resolves the question with this Accipiam calicem, I will take the cup of salvation and give thanks: And with good reason, for even the senseless creatures may teach man his lesson, Eccles. 1.2. All the rivers go into the Sea (says Ecclesiast.) showing themselves tributaries to that place from whence they have their original: So every good gift temporal; spiritual, eternal, flowing unto man from the Ocean of God's goodness, man is bound by the law of retaliation to return unto him with all possible thankes for the same. 2. From the Commonition, Sin no more: the conclusion is, That sin is the cause of all affliction and diseases of the body. The ancient Heathen dreamt that many maladies were of a divine nature, and from thence had power to subdue the strength and courage of the strongest body, whereupon Pliny notes it that the Romans dedicated a Temple to the Goddess Fever to the end, Plin. Nati-Christ. lib. 2. Such were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dij averun. cantes. that whereas her Deity could do them small good, yet that she would be so good as to do them no hurt. Others ascribed them to constellation of Planets, and to the apparition of Comets— Nocte comaetae. — Sanguinei lugubre rubent, aut Syrius ardour. Ille sitim morbosque fereus mortalibus aegris. Virgil. Blasphemous Porphyry referred the contagion of the city to the profession of Christian religion, because after that had once gotten head Aesculapius the God of health was neglected. Ex Moru. de Rellig. Hesiod. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Greek Poet— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. they walk broad of their own accord uncontrolled, but the Philosopher more truly yet after his natural manner that diseases are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Ex Caelio Rhodig. after the determinate council of nature: because Nature is not a stepmother seeking to destroy her children, Sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by a certain consequence which the Physician teaches to arise from the disproportion of the four primary qualities Hot, Aristotle de morte & vitae. Cold, Moist, Dry, especially heat and moisture, when any of these usurp a tyranny over the rest, the whole fabric of this little world our body is put out of frame by the rebellious humours, striving to overmaster one another. But the sacred word of God conducts us to the head and fountain from whence all our diseases have their issue, and that's from the sin of our soul; 1. Cor. 11. for this cause many are sick and weak amongst us. Sin, a thing so contagious ut vi, & exuperantia sua corpus quoque inficiat; Chrys. in Cor. 11. it flows with such a source as it overflows the whole vessel, who if He had not sinned, he had never been subject to the arrest of any disease whatsoever: Biel in sent. Lombard. For whereas the Schoolmen observe but three ordinary ways open to his destruction, either the violence of man, cruelty of beasts; defect in nature, against the 1. universal justice should so have prevailed with men, that neither offence should have been given, nor defence required. Again, the second the fiercest of beasts should have been in such subjection to man that the little child might have played on the hole of the Basilik without hurt: Esa. 11.8. Bonad. Arnob. lib. 6. calls man's body domicilium morborum. Horat. and against the third he should have had optimum qualitatum temperamentum perfectae sanitatis, Such an equal temperature of these prime qualities as one should never have been praedominate over the other, the humour radical being maintained by the tree of life: But by his disobedience forfeiting this large charter of his immunities to his sovereign Lord, Tunc nova febrìum, Terris incubuit cohors, a whole army of maladies seized one man's body tugging & hailing him to his long home, the Palsy shakes him the cramp pinches him, the megrim possesses the head, the squinancy seizes the throat, the fever hectic apprehends the whole body, Eccl. 12. until the keepers of his house begin to tremble, and the strong men bow themselves, the grinders cease, and they that look out at the windows wax dim, and the golden ewer and pitcher is broken, and then dust returns to dust, and the spirit to God that gave it; The best elixor that we can extract out of this miserable condition, Rom. 5.12. is, that whereas sin is the mother of all sorrow, yea of death itself: we should for Christ's sake set the daughter against the mother, by sorrowing a goodly sorrow unto true repentance, so may we haply prevent that tribulation and anguish that hangs over every soul that sinneth, at leastwise make death become no death unto us, but a happy passage to a more happy life. 3. From the Commination, Lest a worse thing happen unto thee. The conclusion is, That multiplication of sin does necessarily infer multiplication of misery, and that in regard of punishment both Temporal and Eternal. For the first the Heathen said it, Arist. Eth. Qui alium ebrius percusserit, and that whosoever being in his cups did strike his fellow should receive double punishment, because his sin was doubled: Gen. 18.25. shall man be thus just, and shall not the judge of all the world do right? yea surely, the sentence is already gone out of Gods own mouth, Reward her double according to her works, Reu. 18.6. and as much as she hath glorified herself & lived in pleasure, so much give yea to her sorrow and torment. And S. Chrysostome renders a reason on God's behalf why he should thus prosecute revenge upon refractory sinners, Chrysostom in locum. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Aristotle. Si gravem priorum scelerum paenam dederimus, etc. If we have been formerly chastised for our faults and no whit bettered, we prepare for ourselves the severer punishment because we seem either Stupidi senseless stocks more dull than the Ass who will hearken to the admonition of the whip though he be the dullest creature: Or else Contemptores, contemners of the chastisement of the Lord, spurning at God's punishments as obdurate Pharaoh did, who though admonished by many plagues, as so many summons to call him to repentance, yet would not relent and let Israel go, and therefore as he multiplied his sin of obstinacy, so God measured out his punishment with greater severity. Secondly, for eternal, Math. 16.17 2. Cor. 3.10 when Christ the righteous judge shall come in the glory of his father, then shall he give to every man according to his deeds, not only in quali, evil for evil, malum paenae for malum culpae, sed in quanto, the greater evil of punishment for the greater evil of sin. As it was a paradox with the Stoics to hold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that all sins are equal, so is it as great a paradox with us to hold that the hellish punishment admits no difference, or degrees, Vnus ignis (says S. Gregory) omnes concludet, sed non aequaliter omnes comburet, One fire shall encompass the damned crew, but shall not work upon all alike, It shall be easier for Tyre and Sydon then for Corazin and Bethsaida, yet all four shall meet in one place, Hell. The servant that knows not his masters will, etc. shall be beaten with few stripes, but he that knows it and does it not shall suffer many: if those barbarous nations shall one day wring their hands and weep & wail because they have known so little, and practised less: much more shall we Christians for knowing much, to little practice. All which may give advertisement to two sorts of sinners, Desperate ille ut peccet: Sperat iste ut peccit. Aug. in Psal. 144. The first would seem to despair of salvation and makes that an encitement to him to take a full draught of the pleasures of this life, because they continue but for a season. The second rushes upon all manner of sin, presumption of pardon though he drink up iniquity like waters, and devours sin with greediness. S. Augustine concludes, Vtrumque metuendum, Es. 5.8. the case of both of them is most fearful, because as they draw on iniquity with the cords of vanity and sin as with cartropes: so are they drawn says Clemm. Alexan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, like staled oxen to the slaughter, with cords of their own making; treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath: which is all one as if a man should be every day gathering of sticks and fuel to make the fire greater wherewith himself should be burned. Seeing thererefore we are by nature forgetful of God's benefits, Seeing that all kinds of sin are to be avoided by us, whether against the 1. or 2. table, whether small or great, whether sins of youth, age, complexion, conformity, intention, either by a fervent desire, settled reluctation, or constant endeavour, as the only cause of all woe and misery incident to the nature of man. Let us always be mindful of God the giver, to render due thanks for all his blessings, let us so demean ourselves in all godly conversation, that though sin must dwell in our mortal bodies so long as we dwell in this earthly tabernacle, yet that it may not reign in them to the obeying it in the lusts thereof: So may we prevent sins attendants affliction of body, grief, and anguish of soul, yea that last of all punishments eternal death. Which that we may do, Christ jesus our heavenly Physician who hath left unto us this wholesome prescript, of sinning no more, grant unto every one of us: To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost three Persons in Unity and one God in Trinity be all praise, and power ascribed now and for ever. Amen. FINIS.