A FAIR WARNING.  
DECLARING THE COMFORTABLE USE BOTH OF SICKNESS AND HEALTH.  
Delivered in several Sermons at Saint mary's in Dover, by john Reading minister and Preacher of God's word●…  Psalm 66. 16. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. 
LONDON, Printed by Bernard Alsop, for john hodget's. 1621.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY LVCIE COUNTESS OF Bedford, increase of true blessedness.  
Right Honourable,  
THese▪ Meditations are the issue of my former sickness and recovery, wherein I learned that holy man's quid retribuam 
Psal. 116.  domino, yet as borne to privacy they lay scattered till bone came to his bone, and the finewes laid on, his spirit moved me to prophesy upon them, which comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able 
2. Cor. 1. 4.  to comfort them, which are in any affliction, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God: with which 
2. Sam. 10.  Embassy I have sent them into the world; yet there are many whose mouths are sheaths to Hanuns razors, wherewith they shave and cut off, to disfigure the most holy intents. Be pleased therefore (most noble Lady) to grant them the patronage, which like a sanctuary secureth from the pursuit of tongues, that which is ca●…led you●…s. What they carry in them every part attendeth to give an account, as you shall view them: therefore I will not open my sacks by the way; but as they are, commend them to your honour's acceptance, and you to the mercies of God in Christ jesus, in whom I rest  
Your honours most humbly devoted in all duty, ●…o. Reading.   

A FAIR WARNING.  Behold thou art healed, sin no more le●…t a worse thing come unto thee. john. 5. 14. 
CHrist jesus is the true Physician, the Scriptures a field, the precepts are medicinable 
Origen, super leuit.  plants; as we pass over, 
Omnium medicinarum thesaurus divinae scripturae Chryso●…t ho: 36. in joh. 5.  and tread on many unconsidered simples, which by others gathered, we begin to think useful, so we read, we hear: the Scripture is a full store house of the soul's physic; as medicine to the healthy, such is God's word to the worldly man, neglected and set aside, if not loathed: but the wise provide against the time, and cause the elder to serve the younger; health, sickness; providing for, if not preventing.  
This branch I have in hand is a Catholicon, and more (if some general name might be had) in respect it hath to the distempers, both of soul and body, sin no more, 
Si quis in anima languor, non tam exterioris frondis aut corticis, quam succi interioris hausta virtute sanatur. Origquo sup.  thy body shall be sound, ●…inne no more thy soul shall be healed. An Aphorism as much unknown to learned Hypocrates, as his to the most unlearned Empiric. So that how ever we esteem it, it concerneth all: here the whole may have instruction, the sick comfort: let us take it to heart, that we may hear this eccesanatus es.  
Christ, who took all occasions to save, came up to the feast, it seemeth of * Passover: where then the greatest 
Irenaeus.  concourse of people used to be, there was in jerusalem a 
Epipha●…ius.  pool called Bethesda, having five porche●…, in which lay many sick and infirm persons, expecting the moving of the water: for an Angel at a certain season went into the pool and troubled the water, after which whosoever first stepped in, was made whole. Among all that lay there of the ●…icke multitude, blind, halt, withered, Christ picketh out the only man whose case was desperate, his disease habitual thirty eight years, and he so poor, (which to the sick is a second sickness) that he could get no man to put him into the water, but before he could creep●… in, he was prevented of health by another's healing, Christ ever near his, when they seem furthest from help, cometh to him wilt thou be healed? to show his disease mixed a disaffection of body and soul, where desire to be cured is part of the cure: he meekly replied, Sir I have 
Pars sanitatis velle sa●…ari Sen.  no man: not daring to ask it seemeth he hopeth to obtain help, because jesus questioned with him. It is neither the blueness nor depth of sins wounds, or effects can hinder his mercy: they commend it more. It was the Saboth therefore those external men among the jews quarrel. jesus withdraweth himself to let them consider 
Non inforum non in porticus concessit non voluptati, non otio indulsit, sed in templo versa. tur. Chryst. hom. 37.  the author by the work done: the jews inquire, the man healed cannot yet resolve them of his 〈◊〉. But after cometh into the temple (a fit place, for thanksgivers) Christ like a careful Physician not only cureth, but prescribeth, Behold thou are healed, sin no more. As if he had said, thou knowest not w●…o hath cured 〈◊〉. Behold thy Physician, thou knowest not why, consider it, thou wilt forget: behold and remember, thou hast sinned and been smitten, I have freed thee of both: thou hast sinned, I have forgiven thee; but take this for a Fair Warning; I have but gently corrrect thee, but if thou wilt not hereby be warned, I will lay on an heavier hand. Sin no more. 
Admonet & minatnr. Cht. hom 36. 16.   
The parts are two.  

1. An admonition, Behold thou art healed sin no more.  
2. An in●…ermination, lest a worse thing come unto thee.   
In the admonition there is a particle of excitation and rousing to a●…tention. Behold, and the object is double.  
First, what God hath done, thou art healed. Secondly, what he must do, Sin no more.  
Behold: Dost tho●… consider what is done unto thee? where God setteth this Index and finger, it usually pointeth out some serious matter, and awakeneth our best attention, apt to pass by things of greatest moment without 
Quod sanatus erat, as propter quod.  due consideration. And contented with this note; I would pass on, but that it standeth a●… the door of my text importuning my stay.  
This Ecce is not so much to sh●…w that he was healed, as why he was healed: which because some know not, some render not, some remember not, some apprehend not: obserue●…re scopes of this Ecce: 
1. Ecce inst●…uctionis, non secus se habet haec vita quam 〈◊〉 & somnium. Chrys To. 5. serm de van. & brevit. vitae, videntes non videmus, audien●…s non audiemus, inanes & va●…ae re●…um species, teneri videntur & non tenen●…ur.   

1 The first is an Ecce of instruction to the ignorant.  
2 The sec●…nd of reprehension to the unthankful.  
3 The third of remembrance to the unmindful.  
4 The fourth of consolation, to the afflict●…d.   
The first s●…eweth us the great ignorance of man, not knowing the good or evil he hath man's life is like a scene a dream. Phantasie playe●… the Circe framing us imaginary beings and estates. Seeing we see not, hearing we he●…re ●…t idle and inconsta●…t apparitions, and dreams of things which come and go, approach and vanish, offer themselves to our embraces, yet like a vapour fly the most careful possessor.  
〈◊〉 seem to 〈◊〉 what ●…ey have not, So●…e take 
Amb. l. 7. Ep. 44.  thi●…e 〈◊〉, thou ●…ast much goo●…s 〈◊〉 strange word of a worldling) but they are like a●… hungry ●…an dreaming, and behold 
jer. 29 8.  he eateth, and when he wal●…eth 〈◊〉 soul is ●…mptie: or like a 
Auaro tam deest quod habet quam quod non habet. ad P●…ul in ●…p.  thirsty man dreaming, and lo he is drinking, and when he awaketh, behold he is faint and his soul longeth: some seem to want that they 〈◊〉, the co●…etous ●…qually 〈◊〉 what they have or have not, the Horselsach two daughters in their 
Prou. 30. 15.  hearts, love of the world, and unsatiate desire of having, so eagerly cry give, give, so g●…pe they for more, that they taste not what they have received.  
Some are not what they seem: the prosperous wicked almost deceive the afflicted righteous▪ & enforce a strange 
Psal. 7●…. 13. 14  dream, Certainly I have cleansed mine heart in vain, and washed mine hands in innocence, for daily I have been punished, yet as a dream when one awaketh; so shall God soon make the image of these happy seeming men most despised.  
Some seem not what they are, the Saints but dream of sorrow, seeming to be unhappy men which they cannot 
Mat. 5. 4.  be▪ they see the evils showed, but in a manner, as job was terr●…fied with dreams▪ 〈◊〉 was troubled with these heavy ephi●…lts which seemed to oppress him yet confesseth when I awake I 〈◊〉 satisfied with thine image. 
Psal. 17. 9 15. Psa. 55. 4▪ 5. 6.  Again, he dreamt of perils, than his heart trembled within him, and the terrors of death fell upon him. Then he 
Sibi visus est per quietem inte●…dum supra nubes volitare. Sueton.  wishes, O that I had wings like a 〈◊〉, then would I 〈◊〉 away and be at rest. The ambitious, mean time like C●…sar a little before his death, dream of resting in the clouds, so dreams make fools have wings, whilst they are falling▪  
Some seem well who are sick, Agags dream, surely 
1. Sam. 15. 32.  the bitterness of death is past. La●…dicia was blind and poor 
Revelat.  and naked, yet she say the she wanted nothing. It was 
joh. 9 41.  the jews disease: but now ye say we see, theresore your 〈◊〉 remaineth: others perceive not the good they have, not so much as the blind man, one thing I know, that I 
joh. 9 23.  was blind and now I see: this is the sum of all: some understand not the evil, others not the good they have, both need this 〈◊〉 to instruct them, for how can any, either be solicitous to avoid the evil or thankful for the blessings which he hath, but knoweth not.  
The use warneth us not to 〈◊〉 over the benefits we 
Use.  have without due valluing them: for want of this, what ever we have, our estate is irksome to us. Hence that foolish affectation of others miseries, whilst we not contented to be happy, because we see not how happy we were, if we were 〈◊〉; make a good 〈◊〉 evil to us, for want of wisdom to manage it: in our own lots we only recount the inconveniences we suffer, we lease out our benefits unconsidered. In others we propose the good they seem to have, which we prefer before our own, because we see what they seem, 
Optat Ephippia bos piger.  we feel not what they suffer. The husbandman would be a tradefman, the tradesman student; the beggar would be rich, the rich noble, the noble a king, neither well knowing, that every estate is blessed to a good man, but God hath fitted us with such as he knoweth best for us. This ecce, is to tell us, that the envy which attendeth greatness, and with an hundred eyes watcheth honour, fight with it, as the serpent with Hercules in the cradle and infancy, commendeth the quiet of a mean estate, and that it is safe sailing in the haven: that it is no secure being on those pinnacles of the Court or Temple, where we can neither rest without fear: nor come down without falling. If we will give ambition feet to stand upon the good we had, this ecce will give place to a second of reprehension. Ecce in the second place telleth us that man is unthankful for the mercies received: to the ungodly, 
Ecce repre▪ hensionis.  God said, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes. An unclean heart is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 altar for God's praises: but to the 
Psal. 50. 14.  righteous, offer unto God thanksgiving. God only accepteth 
Chrysost. in Psalm. 50.  what he giveth; that is, mercedem virtutis, mercedem virtutem, a reward of virtue, blessings, virtue a reward, thankfulness.  
Some know not that they are to learn, the first ecce was theirs: others learn not that they are to know, the thanks they owe to God, but sacrificing to their own net, leave the 
Heb. 1. 16.  main point undone, for which God did all for them, that is, thou shalt glorify me. 
Psal. 50. 15.   
This behold-therefore discovereth our defect in beholding, we have need of as many 〈◊〉 as we have days or hours, every minute we receive, few look back to the giver: the tracts of God's benefits to●…ards us are as 
Omnia te adversum spectantia.  the feet of the beasts to the Lion's den, all look towards us b●…t non●… back 〈◊〉; we receive of him what we have and are, he clothed us, we feed at his universal ordinary, but like shifting thievish customers we must be followed with an ecce, you have not paid.  
Moses acknowledged there were no people under 
Deut. 47. 32. 33.  the heavens, more blessed than Israel. David said he had 
jer. 2. 6.  not dealt so with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: yet they said not where is the 
Deut. 9 13.  Lord that brought us 〈◊〉 of the la●…d of Egypt? but were an 
Isai. 1. 2.  obslinate, a 〈◊〉 people; no wonder if the heavens 
Psal. 19 1, Et olim iam dictum est, & assiduè etiam nunc dicitur cognovit bos. Basil. proem. de i●…dicio dei.  are called to witness, (they declare the glory of God) and the earth, for all creatures in their kind are thankful; give the beasts they will know thee, the ox, the tu●…tle, the stork, all shall judge man: give the very earth it will be abundantly thankful; give man, you must give him an ecce, heaven, earth, all creatures hold their courses▪ man only is exorbitant.  
Christ did many wonders for the jews: see the use they made of it, and by their error, we shall discover our way; some unthankfully neglect him, some maliciously 
Deut 32. 6.  persecute him. O foolish people and 〈◊〉, do ye so reward the 
Psa●…m. 78. 25.  Lord? again, I fed them with Ma●…na, with water also out of the stony rock. I say abridgeth all, 〈◊〉 could haeve been 
Isai. 5.  done more that I have not done? See their requital, They gave me gall to eat, when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to 
Psal. 78: 〈◊〉:  drink: their vinegar was sharp to his sense, their vnthank●…ulnesse was more distasteful to his soul; unthankfulness was condemned and punished with death among the heathens: what wonder then if it be ever hat●…full to God and men; no unkindness so bitter as where our well meaning loves bids us look for love again.  
All this commendeth to our use David's 〈◊〉 quie, praise the Lord O my soul. How often falleth that sweet 
Psal. 103.  Chorus and bearing to his heavenly song; O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men. All good men are thankful. David had tasted of his mercy, and 
Psal. 116.  pre●…ently saith, Quidretribuam? What shall ●… render? The heart of a good man is like the image in a glass, with eyes ever fixed on the eye which beholdeth them, 〈◊〉 God's eye falleth on his miseries, his looketh up to God's mercies. There are many reasons for it. First, God giveth freely, and 
Gratiarum de cursus cessat ubi recursus non fuerit it. Bern. in cap. Fe●…an. serm. 1.  only expecteth ou●… thanks, not that they can benefit him, but that he might give more. Secondly, the course of grace stops where is no recourse of gratitude. Thirdly, that perisheth which is done for unthankful men, by which means, they are not only, not bettered by the good they receive, but made worse by all they have. Fourthly, the Saints remember they are the sons of God, and his dear children: and the greater bands of love, the more 〈◊〉 ingratitude. It was not mine enemy saith the Psalmist, for than I could have borne it: but that a familiar friend had done him dishonour, is the very strength and sum enforcing the justness of his complaint, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  And thou my son, said Caesar, Brutus poniard of 
Sueton.  all the conspirators was dipped in the Serpent's gall: for 
Non quia iniuriam patitur irasc itur sed quia tu secisti Chrysost.  the adopted sons of God to sin is to grieve the holy spirit of God. It was not so much the Rom●…n lance, not so much the spiteful 〈◊〉 which cried crucifige, which piersed jesus sides, as that cursed abstract sin, with it we 
Heb. 6.  crucify again the Lord of life, at this he cryeth, and thou one 
Nimis durus est qui dilectio nem si nolit impendere nolit rependere.  of the twelve. He hath a stony heart who neither can love fir●…t nor requite the loving: to render good for evil is an action divine; to 〈◊〉 good for good humane, to repay evil for evil, brutish; but to recompen●…e evil for good is devilish.  
unthankefulness is the very centre to which all these black lines of sin are drawn; every sin is an ingratitude against God, by so much more detestable, by how much greater Gods goodness. Whence it is not hard to gather, that of all God's creatures, the Devil is most unthankful, and wicked men next. Behold therefore what thou dost, and thou shalt see what cause thou hast to be thankful, it becometh well the just to be thankful; He is very unjust who is not thankful.  
The third Ecce is a Remembrancer. Most men are 
●…: Ecce recordationis.  large in vows and intents, but of unfaithful memories: you shall have many with Jacob's vows, in Jacob's estate, beginning his Pilgrimage, than they dream of a Ladder to Heaven, think of the ways of God, but with their two Droves find no leisure for Bethel, the House of God: if they have this Ecce of remembrance, it is but as that fraudulent Votary sacrificed his almond shells in stead of half his vowed gains, as much time as they esteem cast away.  
Wonderful were the mercies of God upon the House of Israel, then sang Moses and Miriam, but they suddenly forgot his 〈◊〉: the sweet Singer of Israel hath abridged the story, He was so merciful, he forgave their misdeeds, 
Psal. 78. 12.  many a time turned he his wrath away, many a time did they provoke him, they thought not of his Hand, and the day wherein he delivered them. So young Samuel sleeping in the Tabernacle, answered Gods calls for the present, but presently fell asleep again: therefore God often awakeneth, often remembreth. It is true with man there are a burdensome kind of Benefactor●…, which do not so much speak of their benefits because they have done them, as do them that they 
Plin. sec. l. ●…. ep. Pomp. Saturn.  might speak of them: these but purchase hate with a price.  
The Ancients painted friendship extending both hands, one giving, the other receiving, she ever looking toward the receiving hand. It is for givers to forget, & receivers to remember; but our infirmity requireth Gods frequent upbraid: therefore saith Ambrose on these words, I pardon, 
De Penitent. l. 2. c. 6.  and remember not iniquity; but do thou remember, I recount not what I have forgiven, but remember, that thou mayest amend. Boast not thyself as if thou wert innocent, lest thou prove more guilty, the more thou 〈◊〉 thyself. God appointed first fruit▪ offerings of this Ecce of Remembrance to be performed with this recognition, I acknowledge 
Deu, 16. 1, 2, 3.  this day unto the Lord, that I am come into the country which the Lord swore unto our Fathers for to give us; a Syrian was my father, who being 〈◊〉 to perish for hunger, went down into Egypt, and 〈◊〉 there with a small company, & grew there into a Nation: and now lo I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou hast given me. How often doth God look on men's adversity, and labour, ease their shoulders from the burdens? how often doth he exchange their despised care, careful penury, for favours, honours, riches, fruitful possessions; but where are our firstfruit-offerings? How many doth he restore to health? I say not, Where are the other nine? but where is the one man of ten, of an hundred, which remembreth himself to come back to God? Betwixt these two limits of weal and woe, the distance is like the passage to Elysium, there is a Let●…e by the way, whose sleepy waters once tasted, we soon forget, not only a Syrian was my father, but even our first fruits, our acknowledgement of God's mercy. Messala forgot his own name, say the Historians; saith not our experience the like? we have our Messala's, who in the Land of Promise soon forget their name, derived from their hungry Syrian father. I must say more, we are all Messala's, & in the violence of sins lethargy forget the excellent Name? nay, nature of man: all creatures were made for man, & whereas they have only four muscles to turn their eyes round about, prone to the earth, man hath a fifth, to pull his towards Heaven; yet man more forgetful than all, must often be put in mind of God's benefits.  
The righteous God hath so done his marvelous works, that they ought to be had in remembrance: God delivereth, and only saith as joseph, Remember me when it shall be 
Gen. 40. 14, 23  well with thee, yet joseph i●… forgotten; the danger is, we will not then do well when we are well. God chargeth the Israelites that they should not then forsake him, when 
Exod. 10. 17.  they came to the fruitful p●…ssessions. He that is in any great danger cryeth with Pharaoh, Take away from me this death only. He that is in a stress at sea will call on God and rouse up o●…hers like jonahs' Mariners. He that is under the Cross s●…ith, as the thief on the Cross, Lord remember me? He that is si●…ke, perhaps hath learned of David, all the d●… and all the night to call upon God. He that is poor and selleth his pity, moving plaints for bread sendeth out the name of God before every petition: there is no danger of his memory now; but take him, take all these laden with God's bounty, when of all times a man would think they cannot now forget God, having their hands full of his benefits, and then joseph is forgotten; then they find no time to think of God: so some men like the Siphius naturally soft, are hardened with oil. Others like dishonest debtors, the more they owe, the more they shun the presence of their creditor As our eyes too near ●…he object cannot see it, there must be a proportionable ●…istance, so when God's blessings are even upon us, than we are in danger not to see them. God therefore often ta●…eth them from us a while, that we may learn to w●…igh by want, who could not by possessing them. The Lynx 
Hi●…ron. Plin. de lupis grega rijs l. 8. c. 22.  hath excellent eyes, but so bad a memory, that but looking back he forgetteth what he pursued: such are we in ●…ffliction q●…icke sighted, but if we look back on prosperi●…ie we forget all: ●…ew days we keep in memory deliverances from mise●…ies some years old. No wonder if ●…od often beat us truant like non proficients, long lear●…ing soon forgetting: dull and frail memori●…s must be ●…olpen with frequent repetitions: therefore he humbled ●…srael he telleth the cause, remember the Lord thy God, if 
Deut 〈◊〉.  ●…hou forget, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 day you shall surely perish: if ever ●…orgetfulnesse deserve the rod, it is when we remember ●…ot the Lord, he never forgetteth us, in the corn, in the fruits of the earth whilst we sleep, or think not of him, he never forgetteth us▪ our fields ●…elvs we must remember him, our houses, garments, children, health, peace, all creatures, cry remember your Creator; amidst so many remembrancers, it were many shames to forget God.  
Some excuse themselves by the frailty of their memory, yet forget not their losses, their pains: you shall have some man lament the loss of one tooth twenty times, who never had it in his heart to thank God for many other left, for his hands, legs, or eyes: is the loss of one limb so great, are not the use and integrity of many worth thanks? Some fault their age, yet forget not their treasure: our delights are our memory's darling, can a mother forget her child?  
Others challenge Nature of partiality, yet without a tutor remember injuries. Memory the soul's Notary registereth wrongs in Marble, favours in Ice, which the least warmth of prosperity dissolveth. Long we remember evils, benefit●… not long: our minds are limbecks, anger 
Antisthen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laert. l. 6.  the fire, all goodness is soon distilled, we only retaining the useless dregs, in which, his art of forgetting were worth all our time: it is a sure mark of an unsanctified memory, to be forgetful of all but that we should forget: such is the unthankful man's mind; as he said of his gout, would I work? I have no hands: would I walk? 
Dole●…dum est & manus & pedes habeo.  I have no feet: must I smart? pain findeth me hands and feet. For God, he hath no memory at home; for sin, for the world his wits are ever about him. But is thy memory indeed broken and unfaithful? use it like a bankrupt, give no day but enforce present payment: defer not a day to be thankful, lest after many fair warnings, a worse evil arrest thee a careless debtor. If this ecce hath remembered you; another attendeth to comfort you, which 
2. ●…m. 18. 27  cometh as David said of Abimaaz with good tidings.  
This ecce is de●…iued from the foregoing three, we could 
4. Ecce consolationis.  not be disconsolate, if we knew, acknowledged, and remembered what God doth, and hath done for us.  
All the afflictions of the children of God are but healing stripes: I smite and heal (saith God) he woundeth with infirmity, but healeth with ●…aith: a sickness to health, 
D●…t 〈◊〉. 39  as Christ said of Lazarus, this sickness is not unto death: 
Percussit ●…mitate sanavit fide. Ambr. ad Belic.  it hath more smart than danger: when jason Pheraeus friends had given him over, he found help at his enemy's hands, whose stroke opening the imposthume, only killed the disease: our sickness is but Ias●…ns wound, 
Plus aculei quam periculi. ib. Medicinam invenit ex host.  the▪ faithful stripes of a loving God. Therefore are the righteous often called God's children, babes, little babes: God dealeth with us like wayward children: we are froward, if we taste affliction, if then God giveth such medicine, he often giveth an ecce of comfort. As if he said, be st●…ll my child it will make thee well again. Behold thou ar●… healed.  
When the Lioness fighteth for her whelps, she is 
Use.  observed to cast her eyes towards the earth, lest she should 
Plin. l. 8 c. 16.  fear the danger of hunter's spears: when we are to encounter 
Ne venabula expavescat.  with afflictions, losses, sickness, for our dearest souls, we must not look on the misery so much, not on Satan's fiery iauclins (they may perhaps affright us) as fix our eyes on heaven, on the mercy of God. David found comfort in it, I will lift up mine eyes to the hits, even to God 
Psal. 121.  which made heaven and earth: when betwixt the two armies he was to enter the dangerous lists, his eye was not so much on the overgrown champion of Gath, as on the Lord who delivered him from the paws of the Lion and the Bear. We easily faint like cowards at the sight of blood when our memory apprehendeth a present fear, an absent succour, a terror seen, a refuge out of view, a present sickness, a san●…tus es to come. Therefore in every trial consider not so much what thou sufferest for the present, as what thereby thou shalt enjoy for the time to come.  
The Thracians for every good and prosperous day, laid up a white stone, for an adverse, a black; so one day judged of another, the last of all. It is true of mortal men, none are absolutely happy; yet he is abundantly happy who cannot finally be unhappy: perhaps the worldly man judgeth as the Thracians did calculate, by externals, happy are the people which are in such a case, where there is no complaining in the streets. David otherwise judged, happy are the people (though there be complaining) which have the Lord for their God: he knew that though the last day made absolutely happy, yet that happiness is begun from the day we receive the one white stone with a new name, our redemption written: from thence we 
Reu. 2. 17.  must learn to comfort ourselves with this, behold we are healed, what ever we suffer, it shall work for our 
Rom. 8.  happiness.  
The Arimaspi were said to have but one eye, and all their business to fight for gold. Carnal men's hearts have but one eye, one thought, and that for riches. Therefore they are comfortless in their trials, because they want an eye for heaven, at least this ecce to shake off the scales, and open that they have, as Daviel opened his window toward jerusalem the City of God, who saw the comfort through those clouds of fear ●… Saint Stephen saw the 
Act 7. 56▪  same, when nothing but inevitable execution presented 
Videte quam oculata sit fides quam lyn●…eos habet oculos. Bern. in Epiph.  itself to his eyes, than he witnesseth to the eye less faithless spectators, Behold I see the heaven's open: see how full of eyes is faith, had we Saint Stephen's faith, his sight, could we see heaven open to the afflicted, we should have his unmoveable affiance: we are comfortless in our trials, as Elishas' servant was at first, for want of seeing our comforts.  
Antiphon was judged to have weak eyes, because he saw no farre-distant objects, yet could discern his own image by the most slender reflection of the air: that we●… are so curious sighted to the very appearances of miseries in ourselves, not seeing the solid comfort in God, she w●…s we are tender eyed, therefore we often say what Magdalen once, they have taken away my Lord. In our sorrows we 
john 20.  know not our jesus talking with us: the reason is, because the sense of present evil, hath many doors to give it entrance into the soul; the eye, the ear, the taste, all the body is sensible of pain, like Hannibal's house full of doors: but unseen comforts enter through faith the only door, leading to the door of life Christ jesus. So hath man's soul a small window above to receive light from heaven, but the door, the passage for earth is of three heights; the more need have we to clear this little window towards heaven, that we may see the comfort which followeth in the next place.   

THE SECOND SERMON.  Thou art healed. 
WE have hitherto seen the excitation, the stirring up our attention, in four points; first discovering to the ignorant the good they have; the second, reprehending the unthankful; the third, remembering the forgetful; the fourth, comforting the afflicted.  
Next, we are to consider what God hath done in restoring his health. Chrysostome noteth the humility of Christ, not saying▪ I have healed thee, but thou art healed. If man do well consider the works done, they will lead him to their author, Thou art healed. There is an health of Soul t●…t he cured, who became like the Pelican in the 
Psal. 102. 6.  Wilderness, smiting his breast, and recovering us, By his 
1. Pet. 2. 24.  stripes we are healed. There is an health of Body, I doubt 
Tho. Aquin. part. 3. q. 44. a. 3. 3.  not but he had here a respect to both, as in a like Cure, Matth. 9 2. where he useth them as convertible terms, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or Arise and walk.  
Most men have health as Souls, by which though they live, move, and understand, yet not many understand what, whence, or for what end they have it. Which three points, as God, time, and your patience shall give me leave, I will consider.  
Health so much differeth from health, that what it is, I 
Quid sanitas in esse.  cannot without distinction describe. Health in it esse and proper being, was that uncorrupt disposition of body in man's innocence, when the four first qualities in Man, as a City 〈◊〉 unity in itself, by their brotherly 〈◊〉, fortified him against all assaults of Pains, Aches, Sickness, Weariness, Decrepednesse, Old Age. Then was no ambition among them: but though they were by their beings contrary, yet united into one being of a right temper, they strove not, but so 〈◊〉 each other, that the evenly-divided power kept peace betwixt them all, till the ambitious mind taught them to 〈◊〉: then Heat and Cold, Moist and Dry, eagerly as it were fight for sovereignty, by restless civil wars overthrew Man's body, the little model of a State, never ending their intestine quarrel, till the great Usurper Death entering through the breach of sin, surprised all.  
Since sin was borne, a thousand life-killing Maladies 
Quid sanitas in existere.  forerun, as if they were sworn Harbingers to Death. So that Health in it existence and present being, is assaulted with many Infirmities, Distempers, Surfeits, untimély Accidents, a thousand Gates are set open to Death: And him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael, 
1. King. 19 17.  shall jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of jehu, shall Elisha slay. If a man live free of all these▪ Old Age cometh in the Main Battle, with Legions of Diseases; an unresistable all-subduing power.  
I wonder what. Democritus it was, and in what merry mood; how he 〈◊〉 his cares asleep, how he forgot his first language, or understood not his last adieu to the world, when he described a Man to be a Creature apt 
Homo est animal risibile.  to laugh; Man borne with tears, living with sorrow, dying with grief. Nature (said one) which armeth all the Creatures, cast out Man naked in the day of his Nativity, to tears and crying. Thus happily borne, he 
〈◊〉 natus iacet manibus pedibusque devinctis flens animal caeteris 〈◊〉, à 〈◊〉 vitam auspicatur.  lieth bound hand and foot a weeping little Master of all the Creatures, beginning his life with punishment. And now Diseases swarm, 
* Paenae militant in me. Lyra vices & exercitus contra me jun. & 〈◊〉. velut copiae aliae aliis succedentes.  Changes and 〈◊〉 are against us, and as much variety of Medicines, and those overcome with novelties in Diseases, making it a part of sickness to perish by skill, it being easier dying of the 
Pli. l. 7. Proem.  Disease, than too much remedy. 〈◊〉 and frail is man's health; Few and evil are the days of my Pilgrimage, said good jacob: half our life is like death; as death representeth sleep, so sleep death. The unripe days of froward Infancy are hardly to be reputed a life; wherein though we live, we think not of living: neither of Old Age, the second Childhood, the Age of Sorrow and Care, wherein we have so little pleasure, as oft we learn 
Est etiam morbus aliquis per sapientiam mori. Plin.  of jonah to invite that un welcome guest Death, that coldhanded last and surest Physician for all Diseases, whom others in vain strive to rob of some hour's possession. Add to these the sickly hours our stronger years have told; how many spent in sin (for I can neither call that health, when either the pensive mind maketh the body sick, or the pampered body the mind:) and if the unhealthy are to be 〈◊〉 (as one said of Seamen) betwixt 
Ne immortalem in nobis morbum ●…ret. Basil.  the living and the dead, we shall find, that he who hath reckoned many years, hath lived but few, and those evil. That our days are evil, we cause; that being evil, they are few; God's mercy provideth.  
At the best, external health is but a delaying the malady for a little time: the Period is set, our life's Glasses ever run: in our best strength we decay. Hezekiah may have fifteen years pieced unto his life, yet he must dye: The Heavens may stand still, yet the day 
josh. 10. 13.  must end: Lazarus may live some posthume days, yet must come to the Grave again: The giver of Nature's Laws only can dispense with them; but we run towards our ends, no Age, no Estate, no Place can 〈◊〉 us.  
Hormisda discovered Constantius vain confidence in the pomp of the then triumphant Rome, when asked of the Emperor, what he thought of the pomp of that glorious 
Id 〈◊〉 tantum placuisse, quod didicisset, ibi quoque homines mori.  City, he replied, it only liked me, that I have learned, that men do also dye at Rome. Artemidorus men of Taproban, living long, and never sick, are truly the Citizens of the heavenly jerusalem, where no inhabitant shall 
Isa. 33. 24.  say, I am sick. But in this life there is no absolute health: 
Reuel. 22. 3.  we are borne drawing death from our first original, and 
Aug. de Ciu. Dei, 〈◊〉. 13. c: 13.  bearing nature's corruption, and contention or victory in 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  our members. The same point of time giveth an exordium to our living and dying: our life is but a lamp lighted at our birth, which may have some violent blast to put 
Theophrast. apud La●…rt. l. 5.  it out, or wind to spend it; but though neither untimely death extinguish, nor heart-eating sorrow consume, yet there is but a proportioned oil of life, which will soon burn out.  
Shall we then be impatient, and wish we had not been? 
Use.  This life is a time of trial, be contented a while with thy 
Haec est istorum flenda, sed non reprehendenda c●…ditio. Bed. in joh. Deut. 12. 9  discontents, he that now soweth in tears, shall reap in joy. Shall we build great hopes on these sands? Eternity is a surer rock: set not up your rest here, for as Moses told Israel, Ye are not yet come to your rest, the short epitome of life forbiddeth to begin long hopes. There is nothing firm, not in health itself, (health the riches of the poor and the blessing of the rich) vain hopes of worldly men, 
Vanae spes hominum in hoc seculo, quae ea quae non sunt tanquam quae sunt, sequenda arbitrentur.  pursuing that which is not, as if it were. It is one thing of that which I have wondered at, to see a weake sickly man, a drunkard, and the lame and unhealthy, covetous and unjust, even with dying hands laying hold on other men's goods. There is no comfortable possession without health, nor stability in health: health so weakly 
Amb. l 7. ep. 44  fortressed from a world of infir●…es, that even in the hour in which we call it ours, and say, Soul take th●…e ease, we are fools, if we know not they may take ●…way our souls. Thou canst not hold a vapour in thine hand, and life is but a vapour appearing for a little time, and suddenly 
jam. 4. 14.  
Habes iterum aegrotare & mori.  vanishing. Suppose thou has●… overcome a dangerous disease, thou must be sick again, ●…nd dye: there is no escape from the pale Sergeant; Death is that only Creditor, which ha●… no Bankrupt Debtor. Agree with thine 
Matth. 5. 25.  adversary quickly.  
Shall we blame the giver of Life for our life's shortness? The very Heathen esteemed that a great blessing. I will add the reason: God is herein merciful, not only cutting off judgement, by shortening the time of our transgression, but by our times shortening, and healths vn●…, deterring us from sin. He that dareth evil in the way to the judge, in an health so 〈◊〉, a life so short, what would he not dare, if he were sure his judgement were far off? You have seen what our health is. See from whence.  
God is the giver of health, he saith it: I am the Lord 
A quo sanitas.  that ●…ealeth thee. Again, he healeth all thine infirmities; 
Exod. 15. 26.  
Psal. 103. 3.  of Soul, remitting all sins to one; of Body, he is a preserver as well as a Creator: and though second ●…ses have their place, yet till he say, I will he 〈◊〉 cleansed, 
Matth. 8.  be thou sound, no means can be effectual. 〈◊〉 is the 
Ambr.  true Physician, whose Cures are not of 〈◊〉 Art, but 
Mal. 4. 3.  certain Power: Health is under his wings, and 〈◊〉 Cures free. Good Physicians are God's Vice- 〈◊〉 towards 
jul. dixit de art. medic. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 le. 〈◊〉 med.  the Body, their skill is sacred; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, who disclaimed to be the Lawyer, 〈◊〉, who made me a 〈◊〉? honoured the Physician, in many 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 himself a Physician: therefore they are worthy of honour and reward. 〈◊〉 may teach the unthankful so much: but they (should there be any such) who betray 〈◊〉 ●…ents health to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 
Plin.  〈◊〉 fatis, 〈◊〉 a poor remainder of a 〈◊〉 life to the grave, that they may take the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 
Mortis 〈◊〉.  death; they are but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 car●…, to 〈◊〉 upon them: the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a 〈◊〉 Profession: they have not learned of Christ the compassion he had on all that came unto him. The poor Haemorrhois had experience perhaps of both: when she had spent all on Physicians, she but touched the hem of Christ's garment, and was healed. He proved himself 
Matth. 11. 3.  the Messiah by this argument to john's Disciples; the 
Si vulnus curare desideras medicus est, si graveris ini●…, iustitia est, si mortem times vita est- De Virg: l. 3.  lame are made found, the blind see, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear. I conclude with Ambrose words, We 〈◊〉 all things in Christ: if we are sick, he is a Physician; if sinful, he is righteousness; if we fear death, he is life.  
We must used this Lesson thu●…; in all our sickness to have recourse to God through Christ jesus: he hath not left off the care he had of his; if in his state of humility he was so powerful, fear not, now all power is committed to him: he keepeth the very bones and dust of the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: is 〈◊〉 God of the dead, and not of the living?  
There are three ●…orts of people which have need to learn 〈◊〉 Lesson.  

1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so impatient, that if God answer not when they would, they will with S●…l to Endor, with A●… to 〈◊〉, to the Devil, to healing Witches 
2. King. 1. 2.  for help. It is true, Satan is a cunning Mountebank, and Wizzards and good Witches keep his shops, who to kill a superstitious Soul, are suffered to cure the Body. These may be admired like the Peloponnesian Physician 
Trans●…t: nomen in carnificem. Plin.  at Rome, for his first Cures, but experience will name them 〈◊〉, cruel Butchers. I may say as he of the 
M. Cato. de Medic. Athen.  Athenians, they have sworn to kill all their patients with Physic.  
2. Others Asa like neglect God, and trust to the Physician: though such men use lawful means, yet they err as the former, but with this difference; they made the Devil their God; these, other Creatures.  
3. Others neglect the good means which God hath given, and so tempt God in the foolish hazard of their life. They say their days are numbered; so were Saul's & judas days, yet they were guilty of murder: and if not to save, be to kill, what are they less who obstinately refuse probable means of recovery? Some say, because they are not certain: they must know there are many reasons why the same means obtain not always the like good effect.   
First, if none should fail, too many would ascribe their health to the creature.  
Secondly, God reserveth some Cures, in which he will more immediately discover his own hand: there were many Widows in Israel in the days of Elisha, but only unto one was the Prophet sent; many lepers in Assyria, but Naaman only healed; many here sick, and of diverse diseases, 
Chrysost. to. 3. hom. 35.  but this one cured by Christ; God seeth good to show his presence in few.  
Thirdly, to some he giveth not health presently; too others, 
Quod longinquitatis curatione memoriam eius altius in animis nostris impressam velit, Basil. ●…reg. fus. disp. c. 55.  not at all: either by the difficulty of the cure to leave a deeper impression of his mercy; or to exercise them who are not yet of patience proved and approved: they will have an hundred medicines, and none endured an hour; they will be of Naamans' peevish temper, to prescribe God and the Physician; they will be well, how, and when they list, or else they cry, Are not Abanah and Pharpar, Rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? they will repine and murmur against God himself.  
For these and the like causes, God giveth not the like effect to all; yet that exempteth none from the lawful use of his Ordinance: he heareth not all, yet all must pray; the Word profiteth not all, yet all must hear; God is displeased, if the means he hath prescribed be neglected: albeit by the powerful effects of his hidden judgements he teach us to distinguish betwixt the first cause and the second; that to be trusted to, this to be used. God gave health to Hezekiah, yet the Prophet applieth the plaster. What is lordan to a leprous 〈◊〉? What, Siloam? What, a troubled Bethesda to every disease? The Angel stirred, but God healed, his Ministry, God's power. It 
Curando per modum imperii Aquin. part. 3. q. 44. a. 3.  is to be observed, that Christ in his healing did not only use his Divine power, but opposed something belonging to his Humanity: to teach us, that we must neither neglect the means, nor forget God, the giver of Health. Which leadeth me to my last consideration of Health.  
The true use of Health is with every faculty of Body 
3. usus, salutis.  and Soul to honour God: Praise the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me praise his holy Name. So David: 
Psal. 103. 1.  The Lord was 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 me, therefore we will sing my Song all the days of our life in the House of God. So said Hezekish; by this means we shall lay up a good provision (the treasure of a good conscience) against the time of Sickness, as joseph stored up in plenty against a Famine.  
There are two Nations of fins, eternal foes to the people of God, like Moab and Ammon, begotten of 
Gen. 19 35. 36.  those two base Daughters of Health in their Father's forgetfulness, Drunkenness and Lust: of either of them may be said that of Ambrose concerning her dancing, 
Quanta in uno facinore sunt crimina, l. 3. de virgin.  How many faults were in that one Wickedness? Many think their health given them, to make them able to pour in much strong d●…inke▪ and themselves borne to 
Tanquam ad perdendum unia geniti etiam premio invitatur aebrietas.  devour Wine, and eat up the fruits of the Earth. When Nilus 〈◊〉, it maketh▪ Egypt fertile: Gluttony and Drunkenness is our Nilus, which (saith Basil) like a dispersed River overflowing her Banks, pubescere facit peccata, doth ripen sin. We might have instance 
Nos numerus sumus & fruges consumere nati.  in No, Lot, Esau, Israel, but that this Age, robbing the Dutch of their intemperance, as all other Nations of their once-esteemed proper vices, aboundeth 
Serm. de abdi: rerum.  with example. We lack, in eue●…ie corner of the Land, an Academic of Cynics, to be angry with the 
Laert. l. 6.  betrayers of their strength, destroying their own health in sacrificing to others. It was but a fable of Circe's, which this monstrous age maketh true. Intemperance is our Circe's which transformeth men into variable sorts of beasts: which like the 〈◊〉, do fight and kill with their cups, the bloody enemy not destroying so many as the drunken friend. One said drunkenness is the death of the memory ●…he spoke enough, the drunkard forgetteth his friend, his state, his health, his reason, himself, his soul, and God not his. How should he then remember 
Prou. 23. 29. 32.  the end, woe and sorrow. It goeth down pleasantly but in the end it will bite like a Serpent, and hurt like a Cockatrice whose deathful eye if thou foresee not will kill thee.  
Others give their healths to harlots: among all the Idiots the wise man considered, this one void of understanding▪ 
Pro. 7. 23.  going like the fool to correction, like the Ox to the slaughter: ambitiously begging, and dear buying repen●…ance at the best, or going on till a dart strike through his liver. The Ambassadors replied wisely to Lysimachus 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Demosth.  showing in his arms, the wounds he received when he played with a Lion, Demetrius hath more dangerous marks in his neck which Lamia gave him; no beast so cruel as an harlot, none other can bite the soul: I find 
Eccles. 72. 8.  more 〈◊〉 than death, the woman whose heart is as nets and snares▪ the curses of the damned, and malice of the devil, are not so hurtf ll, as the flattery and love of a whore: she consumeth the estate, rotteth the body, killeth the soul: she bringeth a man to a morsel of bread, shame and dishonour, she causeth many to fall down wounded, and the strong 
Prou. 7. 26. 27  men are all 〈◊〉 by her, her house is the way to the grave, which goeth down to the cham●…ers of death. This is the fire which 
job. 31. 12.  devoureth to destruction: God wi●…l judge them, they shall not 
Heb. 13. 4.  inherit heaven, but the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. 
1. Cor. 6. 9  
Revel 21. 8.  Such is the reward of them which abuse their health: some think if they follow such pleasures as the world calleth lawful, they owe God no tribute for their health. Pleasure like jonahs' gourd is of a short & pleasing growth but when God hath provided the worm to bite the root where is then Joseph's provision? Some sacrifice all their time to Mammon: but take such a man on his death bed, shall thy wealth now deliver thee from hell? Where is Ios●…phs provision now? the cause why many are so comfortless in their sickness, is because they make no good use of their healths. If thy health did not cor●…upt thee, thy sickness could not dismay thee: but so easily doth the body's health make a diseased soul, that some call it 
Aduersitas nulla confringit, quem fae. licuas non corrumpit. Aug.  not amiss a vicious health: multi tutius aegrotassent, Sickness had been more safe for many. How much better had it been for David to have been sick in bed, then sending his eyes, such unlawful embasses to Barthsheba. How much better for them (which now tormented in 
Vitiosam sanit atem. Orig. hom. 1. in Psal. 37.  hell fire wish it too late) never to have been free from sickness, that at least, their torments might have been less: Learn by their evil, how to use the good thou hast; let this part teach theethes next: Sin no more le●…t a worse come unto thee.   

THE THIRD SERMON.  Si●…ne no more. 
Physicians forbid that diet which caused 
Causa morbi inventa curationem inventam esse putant. ●…ic.  the disease; and the cause found, they esteem the cure found. By this admonition than we learn; that, Sin 
Basil. serm. quod Deus non sit author mal:  is the cause of sickness: death entered into the world through sin, and sickness foreran death in the same passage. It was never said before, C●…rsed be the earth for thy sake, 
Gen. 3. 17.  in sorr●…w shalt thou eat thereof. Never did any hair I will greatly increase thy sorrows: sin like the Grecian stratagem, though it were let in by a small-seeming breach, yet her bowels were laden with a world of armed mischiefs, which set open the soul's gates to the destroyer: & 
2. King. 5. 27.  sins infection is stamped as deep as Gehaza's leprosy, to 
Ipsi nobis vincula nectimus.  thee and to thy seed for ever: so that we have framed our own snares, we walk in the fire we have kindled, for the 
Ambr. de paen l. ●…. c. 14.  wickedness of jacob is all this. Michai 1. 5. Therefore 
Mich. 6. 13  will I make thee sick in smiting thee, because of thy sins. 
Scot sup s●…c. sent. dist. 31.  Sin is that morbida qualitas: the infection of the soul and body. David was sick for it, there is no sound part 
●…. Chron. 21. 12. 19  in my flesh because of my sin. Much more jehoram his bowels fell out for his his sins. Misery cometh not forth 
job. 5. 6.  of the dust, To sickness and all those previous dispositions of death, in labour, weariness; in old age, faintness; and as many more as are allied to sickness 
Paena non potest esse sine culpa, 〈◊〉 innocentia, non accidissetmors quilibet translatus esset in Paradisum.  sin gave being: for the punishment could not have been without the crime. All miseries are the undoubted child: est of sin; sin is that Eve, that grandmother of every malady: sin is that world envenoming Dragon, not so little as that whose tail swept over a third part of heaven. Great was the inf●…ction of Egypt, on the land, on 
Scot ib. dist. 19  the waters, on the trees, on the corn, on the field, on their houses, on the earth, on the air, on man, on beast, but still 
Reu. 12. 4.  G●…shen was excepted; but sin went over all. For sin the earth is cursed, it is her sickness, every creature groaneth and traveleth in pain, a general contagion. The mischief stayeth 
Rom. 8. 22.  not here, but flieth up to the clouds, and there sometime lxion-like begetteth monstrous Centaurs, fiery eruptions, 
josh. 10. 11.  air infecting meteors, thunders, storms, tempests: 
Psal. 18. 13.  ●…ometime it maketh that dewy region of clouds like Abimelech: house barren, every womb shut up: then 
Gen 20. 18.  our heaven is as brass and our earth iron, than the Lord 
Deut. 28. 23. 24.  giveth us dust & ashes for rain. All is little that can be said to this one thing. Christ's soul was very heavy even unto 
Mat. ●…6. 38.  the death for sin. He was wounded for our 〈◊〉, 
Isai 53.  and broken for our iniquities: all his sorrow was for sin, not his, but ours. All our debt hath been paid by obedience of sufferings, not ours but his; yet we suffer because we sin yet. Christ who for us over came the malice of sin, prescribeth sin no more. It was sin made thee sick, when he said, thy sins are forgiven thee, he began the cure where 
Mat 9 2.  the malady began.  
We often put the fault on guiltless nature: we think 
Use.  why were we borne to miseries? we blame our bodies constitu●…ions: Ahab imputed his fault to the Prophet, but it is thou Ahab, thou sin and thy father's house, the devil's ugly family, which trouble all Israel. We accuse the distempers of the years: But man suffereth for his sin, hast 
Lament. 3.  thou not procured this unto thyself? Diseases are all begotten 
jer. 2. 17. 29.  of that misshapen hag and fearful Incubus sin. 
Ex peccatis morbi generantur▪ Chrys. ho. 37. in joh.  Shall I then be discouraged in my sickness, or judge others plagued of God in theirs? not so, all are not in firm for sin, though none without: some against sin, some for probation and exercise, as job whom God pronounced 
Propter peccata languebat. Bed.  just: Some that the glory of God might appear. Therefore they asked amiss who had sinned, john 9 
Ne extollantur in donis Dei. ibid.  Neither he nor his parents had sinned, which must be referred to the immediatnesse of his maladies cause. He had 
Veniunt & probandae patientiae causa Chrys▪ ib.  deserved the evil, but God aimed especially at his own glory in the cure: Seest thou a man afflicted? leave him to God who best knoweth why he striketh: his judgement is always just, though oft●…n secret. Seest thou a 
Ambr. l. 9 〈◊〉. 75.  wicked man healthy and strong, envy him not, his misery 
Bed. Saepe occulto hominibus iudicio sed nunquam iniusto.  is to come, but when we are chastened, we are corrected; that we might not be condemned with the world. Art thou afflicted? ever think thou sufferest less than thou hast deserved. 
1. Cor. 11. 32   
To conclude; this one lesson well learned, would be a 
Si penso malum quotidie quod feci non est tantum quod patior gravius est quod commisi levius quod tolero. Aug. med. e. 38.  good means to prevent many errors, many evils of body and soul: you shall have some man, if his body be never so little dis-affected, send in as much haste for the Physician as Gehazi ran to the Shunamites son, (if thou meet any salute him not) if he sin, he deferreth, dissembleth, or perhaps it hath a noli me tangere, none may touch it: if he sin it pleaseth him, if he be sick nothing can comfort him: O perverse affection of the ignorant man, his body is to him as David's beloved child, bewailed with tears; his soul like the jews friends▪ whose death they solemnized with instruments of music: the reason is, they observe not what dangerous: effects sin worketh to body and soul: therefore they strive with the effects, but touch 
Neglecto sonte malorum rivulos purgare conantur.  not the cause. Wilt thou be healed? remove the cause, the effect will cease: sin is the fountain of evil, first cleanse that, Sin no more, for God smiteth for sin; which 
Chrys. in Ma●… 4. hom. 14.  bringeth me to a second consideration of sickness.  
God smi●…h with sickness thereby to restrain the fury 
Cur D●…us immittit morbos?  of the wicked, and to instruct the righteous: Egypt's 
Exod. 9 10.  plagues, the pestilence in the camp of Israel, the murmurers, 
Num. 16 49.  the Philistim; Emerods', Gehazi●… leprosy, Herod's 
1. Sam. 5. 9  worms show the one, job, David, H●…zekiah, with many 
2. King. 5. 25.  others like this present instance, marked with an 〈◊〉 sanatus 
Act. 1●…. 22, 23.  
job. 42. 5, 6.  es, Sin no more, prove the other. My discourse is especially 
Psal. 119. 71.  addressed to this. 
Isai 38. 20.   
Affliction hath three daughters; like jobs last three given 
job. 42. 14.  him after his trials, more beautiful than the former: Exercise, purging sin; Prob●…tion, giving approbation; and Reward crowning our labours.  
God gave a life free from all sickness and p●…ine: when man abused that gift, he afflicted him with many i●…firmities, by correcting the body, the base part to amend the more excellent: like a good Physician; if an obstinate disease, 
Extrinsecus ferro & igni utitur. Chrys.  the Spleen, or Dropsy, will not be cured with potions and light medicines, he useth lancing and cauterizing 
joh. ●…. 15. 〈◊〉  without. So are our sicknesses like Christ's Scourges, which he made to drive the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, I mean those cursed Brokers, which sell us to Sin, Security, and Neglect; in which our luxuriant 
1. Sam: 26. 11, 13, 14.  minds full fed, soon fall asleep: then comm●…h God, as Daui●… to Saul sleeping, and taketh away the spear and pot 
No●… ultionis exequtio, sed absolationis operatio. Amb. de poen. l. 1. c. ●….  of matter, our strength▪ and nourishment; but ●…lling to us a far off, showeth plainly he did not take advantage to kill, but to awaken us. Do I desire the death of a sinner? Why will ye die, O house of Is●…e? Look how a father pitieth 
Cu●… morbo no●… cum aegro di●…icat. Basi●….  his own child, so is God merciful to his: he correct●…th, but his indi●…ation is not execution of reueng●…, 
Qu●…d Deus no●… sit auth. malorum.  but working of p●…rdon: Like a good Physician, he fighteth with the disease, not the diseased. Christ wept for jerusalem, before he took up the Rod. Look how wise 
Luk. 19 41.  
Ecce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. jun. &. Trem.  parents punish their children's fa●…ks, but suffer with their persons, how anger goeth betwixt the child and the fault like the s●…king 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 l●…pe betwixt Abraham's 
Gen. 15. 10, 17  divided Sacrifice: which Gr●…gorie expresseth thus; 
Sic culpam ●…uam in●…equor, ut te diligam, ●…ic personam diligo ut culpae viti●… non amplectar. l. 1. ep. 33. Venantio.  I repreh●…d thy faul●…, that I may lo●…e thy person, s●… l●…e thy person, that I may not be guilty of thy crime: So God sendeth sickness, yet as David his battles against Absolom, with this charge, Deal gently for my sake with the young man. God correcteth his, but often as the Persians beat their Prince's Clothes, not their Princes. Infirmities are Gods 
2. Sam. ●…8. 5.  well-ordered troops, which strongly charge the disorderly affections of a rebellious mind: yet to these he saith as concerning job, Lo he is in your hand, but save 
job. 2. 6.  his life.  
Sin is the water as in a Pericardium compassing our heart, which should be the Altar of God; sickness like Eliahs' fire sent from Heaven, licketh it up, consuming that 
1. King. 18. 38.  fomitem peccati, abounding in a full and healthy body: Therefore he giveth a lit●…le rebated sorrow, as Physician's 
Plin.  
Venenum hoc remedia secum habet, l. 11. c. 35  poison; which, as one saith of the Cantarides, carry a remedy with them, and is an external antidote against eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth: so sovereign a medicine, that even the weak have desired it; Reserve me 
In Psal. 37. ●…om. 1.  not to utter darkness (said Orige●…) rather correct me, O Lord.  
Mauritius guilty of the blood of twelve hundred soldiers (through his covetousness unransomed and put to the sword) having been terrified with many ●…arefull predictions, and ghastly apparitions; humbly be●…ought the Lord, that he might have his punishment in this life: which he obtained, not in a little sickness; but first seeing the Empress his Wife and dear Children butchered at Phocas command, he only said, Righteous art thou, O Lord, and just is thy iudgeme●…t: and 
Iu●…us es domine & rectum iuditium tuum  with the like constancy himself soon after suffered death. Good men do so much love God, and hate sin, that they had rather suffer famine to beat down their bodies, ●…icknesse to weaken them, heavy afflictions to bruise them, than sin should reign over them: men willingly drink a bitter draught to cure them: 
Vt per amarum poculum ad dule edinem aeternae salutis redeant. Greg.  Therefore said Ambrose, blessed be God who vouchsafed to correct his servants, that he destroy them not: and concerning Gods words of job, he saith resolvedly, Let the Serpent eat my flesh, let him grind my body, only let God 
Qui vult servulos suos castigare 〈◊〉 perdat. l. 1. ep. 28.  say of me; I deliver him into thine hands only, keep his soul. Such is the power of Christ, at his command the ravenous Lion must keep his own prey in safety betwixt 
Conterat corpus dicat & de me trado tibi & tantum modo animam eius custodi. ib  his teeth, he may ulcerate the flesh, but he must keep the soul. Let him be always ●…uill, that God may be ever gracious, who turneth that malice into our good: who thereby killeth our sins.  
Shall I then repine at mine infirmities? God sendeth 
Carnen ulcerat sed custodit animam. ib.  sickness against sin as joab besieged Abel, only for the traitor Sheba, whose head thrown over the wall the 
Use.  war was end●…. Sin is the Sheba which God pursueth, 
2. Sam. 20. 20. 21.  if we deliver it up God will soon raise the siege. Fear not affliction if thy ●…nne hurt thee not: Bubbles filled with air break themselves, it is their weakness; beat 
Nulla nocebit adversitas si nulla dominetur iniquitas.  an Adamant with an hammer, it breaketh not: a small affliction breaketh the heart of a wicked man, but nothing can destroy the righteous: no affliction shall hurt where 
Nemo laeditur nisi à seipso.  no iniquity reigneth. So true is that no man is hurt but by himself: Or●…gen thus saith of the enemy, Sin 
Chrys. To. 5. Peccata vires hostibus prebent. ●…. judic. hom. 3.  giveth him a breach to enter, and power to kill. Sin is that Delilah, which cutteth off our strength, and delivereth us into the power of affliction, it is the souls traitorous Catiline, O happy state, this heap of mischief 
O fortunam rempub. si quidem hanc sentinam huius v●…bis e●…cerit.  cast out, one only Catiline drawn out, the Citi●… seemeth eased and refreshed. What evil or impiety can be devised or thought of, which he conceived not? Against such danger God fore-armeth 
Cicer. Orat. 2. in Catiline.  us by sickness: Every father can tell why he useth the Rod: Correct thy so●…ne, and he will give thee rest, 
Prou. 29. 17. Heb. 9 4.  he will amend his faults: before God's Ark were laid up Mann●… and the Rod, not Manna without the Rod, mercy without stripes; for his stripe●… convey his mercy to us by amending us. Such wanton Adoniahs, who from their youth must not have so much said to them, as, Why have ye done so? may prove fair, but very seldom good. 
1. King. 1. 6.  David was better instructed with the terrors of God from his youth up; therefore confesseth, It is good for me that I 
Psal. 119. 71.  have been afflicted, that I might learn thy Statutes. You see the first daughter of Affliction.  
The next is Approbation. God giveth his children 
Plin. 7. c. 2.  such trials, as the Psylli in Africa were said to cast theirs 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  before Serpents, which hurt them not, if they were legitimate; or as they were reported, to throw their infants upon the Rhine, which drowned the adulterate blood, but rendered the unstained to the careful mother again: 
jul. ep maxim▪  so God proveth us, that he may approve us, to the intent, 
1. Pet. 1. 23.  that we might know what he knew before all Worlds, 
Rom. 8. 35.  that we are borne of an immortal seed, and no affliction 
Dum tenuitas in corpore pallor in vultu, virtus patefacta est. Tho. Aquin. in Mat.  can separate v●… from him. Night putteth not out, but more clearly showeth the stars: a thin and sickly body showeth the patience of the godly, so are our losses gainful.  
Cast all thy care upon God: thou art in the hands of a 
Use.  faithful Creator, who will not deal over-roughly with thee. He said of Israel, in all her troubles he was troubled, 
Isai▪ 63. 9:  and that he bore them and carried them continually. Again, as an Eagle stirreth up her nest, ●…uttereth over her birds, taketh 
Deut. 32. 11; 12, 13.  them and beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone 
Sentientem quid rapiat in Ganymede, & cui ferat, parcentem unguibus etiam per vestem: Plin. l. 34. c. 8.  carried them on the high places of the earth, but as Leocras made the Eagle, carrying ganymed so tenderly, as if he had known what she was carrying, and to whom, onel●… gripping his clothes with her talons. Sickness and pains are the sharp talons, in which God taketh us up to prove us, but so gently, that he hurteth not. That maketh the experienced Saint entertain God's corrections with alacrity, 
o si mihi levi daret salutem vulnere. Amb. de virg. l. 3.  whilst to the wicked man they are as dreadful as some inexorable Sergeant to a bankrupt Debtor. David saith God shall suddenly shoot at them, and they shallbe wounded, but the good man shall not be afraid for any evil tidings, nor for the flying arrow. Though the good & bad indifferently seem the mark at which death shooteth, sickness, yet to the good man's heart the Lord saith as the Prophet to Ioas●…, Behold the arrow of the Lords deliverance; 
2. King. 13. 17.  pains are to them the arrows of the Almighty, (David and job were very sensible of them) but like Jonathan's 
1. Sam. 20:  arrows, shot to warn, not to wound. Blessed is the just (mark the man) what ever he suffer, his end 
Psal. 37. 37.  shall be peace: he is comforted in his body's infirmity 
2. Cor. 4. 16.  and decay, by the sense and assurance of his inward 
Barba comaeque canitie posita nigrum rapuêre colorem: pulsa fugit macies, abeunt vallorque situsque met. l. 7.  man's renewing: death to him is but like 〈◊〉 sword in old Aeson's throat, letting cut the old blood to renew his age, an age which in spite of time shall never be old.  
The good and bad must be sick, and dye, and both return out of deaths sightless prison, but like Pharoahs' 
Gen. 40.  servants, one to honour the other to execution: even death approveth the righteous, wherein Christ is our advantage, 
Phil. 1. 21.  and death so bitter-sweet a gain, that even they which fear it, desire it: Let me die the death of the righteous, and 
Numb. 23. 10.  let my last end be like his, said the unrighteous Prophet. Sickness is the suburbs of death, death the gate of Heaven (a loathed Gate to so desired a City:) Opinion and humane failtie for a time shutteth the Saint from his desires, but when the Angel of the Lord shall call us, as Peter out of prison, these chains shall fall off, and those 
Act. 12. 7. 10.  Iron Gates which lead to the City, open by it own accord, and give an easy passage. Then especially shall God approveus: then we shall know, that all these bodily pains are like the Babylonish fire, in which the Children 
Dan. 3. 22. 27:  walk safely, and their Tormentors only perish; and like the Red Sea, in which the Egyptian is drowned, 
Exo. 14. 28, 29  but the Israelite passeth thorough them, to his long desired rest.  
Here is Afflictions second daughter; a Naomi, though 
Ruth. 1. 20.  she would be called Marah: the reward is next, the joys which grow among the thorns of sorrow; and they are seven sweet Babes of an ill▪ looking Mother.  
The first is, Sickness weaneth us from the love of the World: Israel loved her bondage too well, though she groaned under it; God suffered her to be afflicted, to 
Ecce mundus turbat & amatur, quid si tranquillus esset?  force her to seek a better rest. We find many inconveniences in the World, yet we cleave to it; what would we do, if there were none? How would they love a fair Rahel, who 〈◊〉 so much on a blear-eyed Leah? extremity of pain is the only Wormwood which God layeth to the breast, to draw our loves from this infected Nurse, the World, which we only enjoy in health; without which, all earthly joys are but as Messes of Meat set 
Ecclus. 30. 18.  upon a Grave.  
Secondly, it bringeth us more acquainted with death, and maketh him less feared, by how much more familiar: how bitter is the remembrance of death to the always healthy? health and prosperity make us desirous to live. Antigonus' soldier healed of a long-felt infirmity, proved a very Coward; for which being reproved, he replied, Thou, O King, hast made me so, who by giving me 
Tu me minus audacen 〈◊〉 quod iis malis me vindicasti quibus à me vita contemptui habebatur.  health hast taken away the contempt I had of life. Discontents have strange power to make us love death (so through a dark and false Medium, the ugly may seem fairer:) 〈◊〉 desireth the death from which he fled; a little heat made jonah wish to die: short p●…nes have so overcome the wicked, that they have changed them for death eternal; and so much discovered the Saints infirmities, that they have loathed not only their present being, 
jer. 20. 14.  
job 3. 3.  but what they have been. Death seemeth better 
Ecclus. 30. 17.  than a bitter life, such force have short pains: but who 
Subire semel satius, quam cavere semper▪ Suet vit. jul.  was ever so fearful, that he had not rather once fall, then ever hang by the hands; once dye, than ever fear death, and live in pain?  
Thirdly, it maketh God's mercy in health better understood: if all were day, the light; if all Summer, even that season would be unpleasing to us: the good we 
Aug. de Ciu. Dei, l. 14. c. 17.  have, is commended by some annexed contrary: the pain of the disease known, the pleasure of health is sweeter. We never rightly account what we owe to God for health, save when we beg it in sickness.  
Fourthly, it bringeth us to God in amendment of a misspent life: we have instance in many, of whom I may fay, their extremities amended them, their prosperity 
Confessus in fluctibus negavit in terra emendavit aque quem terrena deflexerant.  corrupted them. As Ambrose saith of Peter and jonah, he confessed Christ on the waves, but denied him on the land; and jonah fled God's presence, seeming safe, but found a Chapel to pray and praise God in the belly of the Whale. Many being in health, endeavour to fly from God, but in some desperate sickness they learn to sing 
Aegra anima deo propinqua Greg. Naz. ep. 190:  their De profundis; sickness mendeth that good man, whom health marred: When I afflict them, they will seek me early. Ephraim bemoaned himself, Thou hast chastened 
Host 5. 15.  me, surely after that I was instructed, I repented. God 
jer. 31. 18, 19  cureth a dissolute heart as the Prophet did jerico Waters, 
2. King. 2. 20, 21.  by ●…asting in salt, sharp, biting remedies.  
The fifth is Patience: which as one said of Learning, is 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  an Ornament in prosperity, and a Refuge in adversity. It is good for a man (saith the weeping Prophet) to bear the yoke 
Arist.  in his youth: he putteth his mouth to the dust, if there may be 
Laert. l. 5.  hope; he giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him. It seemeth 
Lament. 3. 27.  a strange saying: Is it good to be afflicted, that I may learn patience? see the reason: It is a rare thing to see a man externally prosperous, patient; I grant he may have a disposition to patience, he may discourse like some bookish soldier of the wars, which never saw fight: but patience is the child of adversity: and considering the manifold calamities to which every man in this life is subject, no ways to be avoided, but by patient bearing them, it seemeth to me no paradox, that without outward or in ward adversity, it is not easy for a man to be happy. They judge amiss, who think a man can be patient without trials, or happy without patience: that such a man may seem happy, we know; that he is generally unhappy, we may learn. Chrysostome saith well of prospe●…tie, 
De amore De & 〈◊〉, To. 5.  It hath brought in grievous Masters and Tyrants to the 〈◊〉. To omit the multitude, and speak of this one, 
〈◊〉 animae suae heros tyrannosque invexi●….  Impatience is a very Tyrant, worse than 〈◊〉 and his Taskmasters, for it suffereth not a man to ●…nioy any thing he hath: Hath the impatient man riches? he enjoyeth them not, who is impatient for that 〈◊〉 hath no more: hath he friends? either he loseth them by his impatience, or else enjoyeth them not with whom he is displeased 〈◊〉 hath he a fair and prosperous estate? what is that to him who is not pleased with it? hath he health? his mind's distemper robbeth him of the use of it. In a word, the impatient man possesseth nothing (except he possesseth other things which possesseth not himself:) Christ saith, By your patience 〈◊〉 your souls; without 
Luk. 21. 19  patience you cannot enjoy yourselves: such is the impatient man's case. Mark the man: neither understanding, will, memory, neither hand nor tongue serve him, all are 
In homine impatiente dominatur ira & furor, & eum possident 〈◊〉. in Luc part. 2.  slaves to passion; and whilst he thinketh he hath all things in having his froward humour, indeed Impatience hath him, but he hath nothing, not so much as himself. Now trials bring forth patience, and the quiet fruits of righteousness; which follow in the next place. 
Rom. 5. 3.   
Sixtly, it worketh to the children of God a peace passing all understanding of a natural man; that is, a calmness and quietness of mind in the experience of God's mercies. Where the seditious Gra●…us was slain at 
Aug. de Ciu. Dei, l. 3. c. 25.  Rome, the Temple of Concord was built: so, there God foundeth in our hearts the Temple of Peace, where our peaceless sins are buried with Christ, and our impatience in our sufferings.  
Seventhly, the last is the reward, whereof this life tasteth only first fruits, a cluster from Eshcol; the assurance of a 
Numb. 13. 24.  better life in this lives decaying: Our light afflictions for a 
2. Cor. 4. 17.  moment causing unto us a greater weight of eternal glory.  
As Samson said of his Lion of Timnah, Out of the eater 
Use.  came meat, and out of the strong came sweetness: So will I 
judg. 14. 14.  conclude this point: What stronger than Sickness, or more devouring than Death? or so sweet as Heaven? Behold, Happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore 
job. 5. 17, 18.  despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty, for he maketh sore, and bindeth up, he woundeth, and his hands make 
Salus cum gemitu coniuncta est. Greg. Naz. orat. 17.  whole. He maketh whole by wounding. It is for children and fools to imagine Frosts, Storms, and Rain, either the offspring of Chance, or useless effects of Nature: the wiser know, that milder Winters are the undoubted Parents of sterility and contagion: Storms, which seem the Diseases of a distempered Sky, do purge the Air; and the dewy Clouds are Gods Clepsydra, his Bottles to water the Earth: so is it in man. And the Saints weeping eyes are Gods Clouds, to make fruitful a penitent heart. Faint not at thy trials, but be zealous, 
Re●…. 3. 19  and amend. Sin no more.   

THE FOURTH SERMON.  Sin no more. 
WE have considered in the last place, the cause of Sicknesses, and the reasons why God afflicteth with them; as also what effects they work in them to whom they are sanctified: It remaineth, that I also show the end why God delivereth, and bestoweth health upon us.  
God delivereth from Sickness, that being thereby warned, we might sin no more. There are many reasons dissuading from sin: let us consider a few of many. Let the first be this present Doctrine.  
First, God giveth us health, that we might avoid sin.  
Secondly, there is nothing of it own nature evil, but 
Gen. 1. 31.  sin: ere sin was borne, God saw all his Creatures, 
Contrary to the dream●… of the Manichees.  even the Angels, which falling, became damned Devils, the Beasts, the Serpents, and all that he had made, and lo it 
Aug. de Ciu. Dei, l. 11. c. 22.  was very good: nothing created, is evil; sin is a non en●…, a privation of the good was made. 
Malum itaq●…e propriê tantum est peccatum. Basil. Quod Deus non est author malorum.   
Thirdly, only sin is against Nature, a very Monster of the Soul, as Monsters are said by the Naturalist to be the error●… of Nature: our nature, which sin corrupted, is (of itself) good; and to good: nothing but 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  evil is contrary: Sin therefore primarily being the only ●…uill, is so on●…ly co●…trarie, and destructive to Nature.  
Fourthly, Sin i●… cont●…ie to God: nothing of that he made, is contrary to him, for all beings are in him; and God made all, sin only excepted: by sin we oppose God's soueraign●…e, not by nature, but by 
Aug. de Ciu. Dei, l. 12. c. 3.  corruption of will; having no power to hurt God: our will to hurt maketh us Gods f●…s: our nature therefore it is not 
joh. 8. 44. 1. joh. 3. 8.  but our sin that contrarieth God, evil only being contrary to good.  
Fiftly, it maketh us children of the Devil, not 
Non carnis originem ducendo, sed per imitationem▪ Bed.  by Propagation, but Imitation; not by Generation, but by doing his works of Rebellion against God.  
Sixtly, Sin only hurteth us: the vice that ●…aketh 
Aug: quo sup. l. 12. c. 3.  us oppose God, is only our own hurt, no ways Gods; because it corrupteth our nature, of itself good. Sin 
Mark. 9 18. 22.  is like that evil Spirit in the possessed, tearing and raging, 
Isai 64. 5.  and ●…asting us into the fire. Infinite are the miseries 
Isai 59 2.  borne of sin: it maketh God angry with us, 
Prou. 3. 33.  it separateth us from him, it draweth the Curse of the 
Isai 1. 15.  Lord upon our Houses, it shutteth out our prayers 
Deu. 28. 58, 59  from God's ears, it subiecteth us to all Miseries, Sicknesses, Pains, Death: I have not yet said all; 
Doctores Nouatianorum se MUNDOS appellant. Ambr. de poens. l 1. c. 1.  when all Warnings will not serve, a worse thing shall befall the Sinner; which, like Tamerlans ●…able Flag, cometh in the Rear and last part of my Text.  
But is there any perfection in this life? Can any 
Parvulos omnes sine peccato nasci & electos in hac vita tantum proficere posse ut SINE PECCATO exi●…am.  in, this life be without sin? The justiciaries affirm it; the Novatians said they were 〈◊〉; the Pelagians denied Original Corruption, and said, the Elect may be without Sin in this life: a man not sinning, but where shall we find the man▪ Come to the Saint●…, thou shalt hear them crying, 
Bed. exposit, in 1. joh. 1.  enter not into i●…dgement with thy servants O Lord. Again, 
Psal. 143. 1. 2.  we all have ●…one astray like sheep: again, I see another 
Isai. 53 6.  law in my members, Leading me captive unto the law of sin. 
Rom. 7. 23.  There is not a iust man upon the earth that doth good and sinneth 
Eccles. 7. 20.  not: then who can say I have made my heart clean, I am 
Prou. 20. 9  pure from sin? Sin no more. O wretched man that I am 
Rom. 7. 24.  who shall deliver me from the body of this death? How heavy 
Nullus maior est dolor quam is qui peccati mucrone vulnerat co●…scientiam: gravia mi fili, gravia nimis sunt delictorum pondera. Ambr. l. 5. ep. 18.  are the burdens of sin? how smartfull the wounds of a guilty conscience? give me any grief it is easier: it is for thy sake sin the Saint often cryeth, I desire to be dissolved. For the contagion hath i●…fected every part, and dispersed itself through my veins: all my thoughts, wo●…s and works, relish of thee: if I examine my best actions, I find them faulty: in my prayers, suggestions, and profane wanderings fall upon mine heart like the fowls on 
Gen. 15. 11▪  Abrahami sacrifice. In my hearing distraction, in my alms vain glory, or some sinister respect, which like the the worm at Ionah●… gourd, ●…ateth up the life of goodness; as 〈◊〉 men said of the Philistims, Behold we are afraid 
1. Sam. ●…3. 3.  here in 〈◊〉, how much more than if we come to Keilah, against the ●…rmies of the Philisti●…s? If sin assail us in our bestactions, how shall we deal with it in other? how fayst thou then, O Lord, fin no more? Lord thou knowest 
Si peccatum meum esset atra mento conscriptum forsitan delerem: nunc autem scriptum est in stilo ferreo. Origen.  my thoughts, my heart faileth me because of my sins, and I desire nothing in the world like this, that I might sin no more. If my sin were written with Ink, I could perhaps put it out; but now it is written in mine heart like 〈◊〉, with an Iron: pen. Lord if thou wil●… thou c●…nst mak●… me clean.  
The tables of the law were written and broken; and written again by the finger of God. God wrote the law 
s. jer.  in man's heart; sin broke these Tables, and now we are 
Exod. 32. 19  the writing of the ●…ame. God hooing ing●…ueth in the fleshy 
Exod. 34. 1.  Tables of the h●…rt, by the same Spirit of his, whose finger 
Deut. 10. 4.  writing in the dust (where finners are written) did cancel 
2. Cor. 3. 3.  and put out the hand writing of sin, and acquitting of 
jerem. 17. 1●….  others accusations, blessedly dismissed and gave a qui●…tus est neither do I condemn thee: go and si●…ne no more: 
joh. 8. 8. 11.  how did she not sin being humane? how did she fulfil 
Nihil peccare solius est dei.  his command if she did sin? none live which sin 
Ambiguity l. 1. ep. 3.  not. Therefore God's family saith not, I am whole, I need 
Ambr. de paen. l. 1. c. 4.  no Physician, but heal me O Lord, and I shall be whole, save me and I shall be saved. When of old God broke Israel's 
jer. 17. 14.  yoke she said, I will no m●…re transgress; she said it, but as we say it, only as Ambrose said of Calanus answer to Alexander, 
L. 2. ep. 7.  ●…raeclara verba, sed verba, excellent words, but words, excellent constancy, but the constancy of a man: for she did sin more and more.  
But saith he not, Whosoever is borne of God sinneth not: yet there is no man that doth good and 〈◊〉 not. None? 
1. joh. 3. 9  
Eccles. 7. 20  no not one: These two come like Esau and jacob with 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  the face of enmity till they meet, and are reconciled. 
Rom. 3. 12.  All sin, would God we had no proof for it: yet the just sin not: which we understand not as Bede of mortal sins or the violation of Charity, but as the Spirit of God, the best interpreter of himself; If I do●… that which I would not, I consent to the law, that it is good, now than it 
Rom. 7. 16. 17,  is NO MORE I THAT DO IT, but the sin that dwelleth in me. The regenerate in a right sense sin not; they ●…inne not, because they do that they would not, and where they will, they would not will the evil which sin ●…raweth them to. There is a sin then which maketh the saint of God groan, an inhabiting, 
Rom. 8.  
Rom. 6. 12.  not a reigning sin, an inmate, not a king. The righteous 
Psal. 32. 1. 2.  sin not, that is, God covereth their sins, 
Penitus ea tollit ut non sinit quorum memor non erit. Amb. l. 5. ep. 19  and imputeth them not, he taketh them quite away, which he will no more remember, as he said of the Edo●…ites, they shall be as if they had not been, there shall be no remnant of them: though he cast not out these 
Obadia, 16. 18  jebusites all at once: yet sins receiving their deaths-wound, by little and little bleed to death all our life after, like a desperate enemy fight in blood, and striking with dying hands.  
The Separatists seek a spotless congregation, forgetting our mother's confession, I am black O daughters of 
Cant. 1. 5.  jerusalem, but comely. Black, that is dis-coloured with 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  sins, but comely with the beauty he putteth on her 
a 'tis. Laert. l. 6.  who calleth her his fair one. Calisto in the fable fled her fellow Beare●…, forgetting her own ill shapes. They 
Cant. 2. 10, 13.  
Vrsaque, conspectos in montibus horruit v●…sos.  fly us sinners, themselves by so much greater sinners, by how much more forgetting they are ●…nners: they look for a Church not on earth to be found.  
Saul sought A●…ses and found a kingdom: they seek a kingdom not to be found, but shall find, I will only say, men like themselves: God's Church like Jacob's flock consisteth of spotted sheep, saints, but full of blemishes.  
Be not discouraged, if thou see sin liveth: thou canst 
Use.  
Galat. 5. 17  be but partly spirit, and the flesh will lust against it: 
Aug. de civi. dei. l. 3. c. 26.  after the building the Temple of Concord 〈◊〉 Rome, the slaves wars engarboyled their ●…erritories: afte●… we have erected the Temple of peace in a good conscience, and in a good part subjected sin, yet we must look for the slaves wars, the rebellion of inordinate affection, which in this life will never leave us secure conquerors. Our righteousness consisteth (saith Augustine) rather 
Aug. quo. sup. l. 19 c. 27.  in the free remission of sins, then of virtue's perfection, witness that daily prayer which Christ taught us, Forgive us our trespasses. Here some infirmity or other creepeth on the best Conqueror, our sins subdued by a dangerous conflict, deny us all security, and keep us busied in a continual and careful command: And thus concl●…deth, man's justice is to have God his Lord, himself his subject, his soul master of his body, and his 
Phil. 3. 13. 14.  reason over sin, either by subduing or resisti●…g it. Paul said, I count not myself th●…t I have attained to it, but I follow. We but follow perfection in this life we obtain it in the life to come. At Rome the temple of vest was placed out 
〈◊〉 in hac vitâ sequimur, assequimur in futura▪  of the gates: so it is with us, we have here no rest, especially no truce with sin, no rest from it, that is reserved for heaven: he forgiveth here▪ but purgeth from all when he brings us into that life▪ in which the saints neither will nor can sin any more. Death shall end sin: death is a true viper, it ki●…th i●… wicked parents, though God's children (by the me●…s of Christ) like Paul at Melita, shake it off 
In qua pecca●… nec v●…lint vl●…a nec valeant. Bed. e●…. in john. 1.  into the fi●…: sin is death's mother, but the hasty kind 〈◊〉 through her mother's bowels. Sin began death, death endeth sin; death came into the world thorough sin, sin goeth out of the world through 
Act. 28. 5.  death. At death the Lord will tell us as Moses of the revengeful 
〈◊〉. 14. 13▪  Egyptians. Fear not: ●…ohold the deliverance of the Lord which he will show to you this day, the sins ye have seen, ye shall never see them again.  
This sin no more then, seemeth to respect a comparison betwixt his life past and to come; and the same is required 
Cur iustus non sit, qui contra iniustitiam suam iam per lachrymas saevit Bed. in 1. joh. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, post sapio, ut Plat. in Gor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  at our hands, that we sin no more. That is, first that we repent us of our sins, of which I shall hereafter speak. We cease to be sinners when we doctruely repent that ever we have been sinners.  
Secondly, (as much as possibly we may) we must change the habits of our mind. True repentance is not a bare confession, but a change of our former mind and 
In Graeco sono paenitentiae nomen non ex delicti confession, sed ex animi de mu▪ tatione compo situm est. Tert. advers. Martion 〈◊〉. 2. c. 24.  purpose upon a better consideration: the converted young man answered, his lewd acquaintance well, wondering why he knew her not: she saying, (Ego sum) sed ego non sumego: I am not now my former self.  
Thirdly, we must take heed we fall not back to our 〈◊〉 sins. Sin like Aetna's fire hath some intermissions▪ but when we think it extinguished, it flameth out a fresh: the more we sin, the more difficult the cure, but 
Amb ●…e paen. 〈◊〉: 2. c. 10.  relapses are most dangerous. When the proud Tyrant Amurath, secure of victory thought the battle done, his danger was begun in his lives ending, a Christian soldier 
Interualla sua habet. cum desaevijsse crediter redit.  supposed slain, rose up and struck him to the heart, When we are secure and think right worthily of ourselves, some sin or other, will as it were, rise from the 
Si accidat in eodem vulnere iterum & saepius vnl●…eretur quantis potest cruciatibus medicari. Origen.  dead, and fall upon us dangerously.  
Fourthly, we must be heartily displeased with our sins: sin like the poison of the Asp affecteth with a drowsy delight where it hurteth mortally: some among the Triballs (said Pliny) if they were angry could kill with their eye: that which he said of them, thou shalt thus find 
Non nocet cui non placet peccatum, Greg. l. 7. c. 2.  true of sin: be angry with it and thou killest the heart of it. Sin is a wanton fondling, if it be not loved it will die.  
Lastly, strive against thy sins: if thou yield not thou hast overcome: In God's esteem we cease to be what we unwittingly are: sin leadeth the Saint like a captive 
Nun ita istud est ac si quis captivum victae urbis populum abducat Captiws abducitur, sed invitus. Amb. de paen. l 1 c. 4.  Israelite to Babylon. He goeth but against his desire, he deviseth how he may return; to another purpose saith Gregory, that good soul is gone home, which languished abroad. This is the sum: give not thy consent to sin, but if thou have consented, let it not please thee: if sin have pleased thee, be now heartily displeased, that sin ever pleased thee: in this life God 
Illa bona anima ad suam patriam pervenit, quae in patria laborabat aliena. l. 6. cp. 19 Plut. vit. Brut;  looketh not so much for a man not sinning (such is our frailty, such his mercy) as unwilling to sin, repenting, resisting sin, endeavouring not to sin. As Brutus wrote to the Pergamenians, when they had given his enemy Dolabella money, if you have done it willingly, you confess you have offended me▪ if against your wills, show it then by giving me willingly.  
So saith the Spirit in effect, as ye have yielded your 
Rom. 6▪ 19  members servants to uncleanness; even so now, yield your members servants to righteousness: show that you sinned unwillingly, by serving God more willingly. Sin no more. To which observe these rules of practice.  

1 Remember always thou art in the presence of God. This ●…eple knew him not that healed him; but 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  jesus knew him, and the cause of his disease. The Samaritan 
john 4. 29.  
Cave tibi ob praesentiam eius. jun. & Trem. Exod. 23. 21.  woman acknowledged, he told her all that ever she had done. God told Israel he would send his Angel before them to keep them in the way, but saith he, beware of him, and 〈◊〉 his voice, & provoke him not. Set up the Ark that Dagon may be cast down. Remember that the eye 
Prou. 5. 21.  of jesus is ever upon thee. if thou lookest he should protect 
Eccles. 12.  thee; provoke him not: we forget God when we 
Math. 12.  dare sin: remember ever thy ways are before the eyes of the Lord.  
2 Secondly, remember that all thy thoughts, words, and actions shall come into judgement.  
3 Thirdly, bury not the checks of thy conscience; the conscience is an excellent counsellor, and will deal faithfully: if all the world would flatter thee, thy conscience will neither flatter nor conceal, neither give rest, 
Isai. 48. 22.  till sin, like jonah be thrown out: the devil sleepeth in the sinner's bosom, but giveth no true rest. Ion●…hs sleep was the ships unrest.  
4 Fourthly, guard the passages of thy soul. Keep thine heart with all 〈◊〉. job will teach thee a part, who 
Prou. 4. 23.  made a covenant with his eyes; the Recabites a part who drank no wine: Solomon a part, who said, Consider diligently what is before thee, otherwise thou putst as it were 
Prou. 23. 23.  thy knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to the appetite, be not desirous of dainty meat, for it is a deceivable meat. The 
jud. I 2. 5. 6.  senses (like the passages of jordan taken by the Gileadites) watched by the temperate, would cut off many sins: we must do by sins as with some strong fort, if it cannot be forced we must cut off all foragers, and so stárue 
Sapienter illicita superat qui didicerit non uti concessis. Greg. l. 7. ep. 39  the defendants. Lust and drunkenness live at full tables, pleasure is the Nurse of sin; if there be a famine of temperance they are gone to sojourn also here. He wisely overcometh things unlawful, who hath learned not to use the lawful. Paul will teach thee an excellent part, in avoiding inconvenient talk: our Saviour hath comprised 
Eph. 5 4.  all in this one, Watch that ye enter not into temptation. We perish like Isbosheth sleeping whilst we dream of 
2. Sam. 4. 5. 6.  no danger.  
Fifthly, let every sin be the more heartily repent, by how much oftener it assaileth: if sin will needs dwell with thee, use the deceiver, as Israel the Gibeonites, 
josh. 9 3. 23.  cause it to hew wood and draw water for the house of God; sin draweth water when it maketh us weep bitterly for that we have offended: it heweth wood, when it inflameth us with a zealous anger against ourselves, and with an hearty desire and care to serve God the more, the more we consider we have offended him. Sweet waters kill the Purple, sin is that Purple, and 
Plin. l. 9 46.  tears the purest water: not as if repentance were the primary instrumental cause of our sin's remission. Christ's blood killeth sin to God's judgement, repentance to our conscience, till we repent we shall never be assured of our sin's forgiveness. God for the merits 
Fecisti quod boni parentes ut cito ignoscercs sed OBSECRATVS nam antequam rogareris, non erat ignoscere sed factum approbare. Amb. l. 6. ep. 43.  of Christ forgiveth, but with this condition, that we repent, which he also giveth. That which Ambrose speaketh to Sisynnius will express it: Thou hast done like a good parent, soon forgiving, but being first entreated; for to give pardon before it be asked, is not to pardon but to approve the fact: as father's loves forgive their children faults, yet their submission is expected, that they may say we forgive. So God looketh that we repent that he may have mercy: repentance is the gate of 
janua regni penitentia est.  heaven: a gate leading to the door of life, Christ jesus. 
Ne in ipsa penitentia fiat quod postea indigeat paenitentia.    
But lest we repent of our repentance, observe, that repentance must be done speedily, truly, throughly, and constantly.  
First speedily, in the days of thy youth: sin gaineth 
Amb. de paen. l. 2. c. 11.  strength by age: blessed is he that dasheth her children young as dying A●…rath of Scanderbag: this ●…aytour should have been suppressed in that newness of his estate: give thy sin no time. Repent speedily. 
Amb. 10. l. come in Luc. 22.   
Secondly, repent truly. The more thou sinnest, weep 
Lego quod flevit, non lego quod satisf●…cit.  the more, abyssus, abyss●…m vocat. D●…pth of sin a deep source of tears: as Peter wept; of whom I read he wept, I ●…ead not that he satisfied: as the sinner wept, Luke 7. 
Si eam aequare non possumus scit dominus jesus & infirmis subvenire. Amb. de paen. l. 2. c. 8:  Or if thou canst not equal her, (God knoweth how to supply the weak) yet let thy sorrow be true. Some have tears at command, yet weep like Apollo●… statue without sense: it is not formal penance, (hypocrisy can resemble grace, Vibius may be like Pompey.) It is not a thousand 
Aug. l. 3. de ciu. dei. c. 11.  stripes, not the clothes, nor back, but the heart must be 
joel. 2. 13.  rend. As for the hypocrites which tender God a counterfeit 
Qui foris praetendunt intus oppugnant.  sorrow, God ●…hall pay them with true.  
Thirdly, repent throughly. That is, of every sin. We will be content to leave ●…ome gainelesse sins; but 
Ambr. ●…  we spare one Agag of our Amalekite●… designed to death. In 
2. King. 11. 2.  the slaughter of our sins we snatch up one as Ieh●…sheba caught up loash and his Nurse, with that we run away that it may reign over us: though we hear it reproved and the danger preached, yet of it our heart cryeth, 〈◊〉 Agripine of her son Nero (when the Astrologers told her at his nativity, he should be an Emperor, but should kill his mother) occidat dum regnet; Let him kill me so he may reign. jehu destroyed B●…al out of Israel, but 
2. King. 10. 38. ●…9.  from the sinne●… of jeroboam he departed not: God commandeth concerning sin, as 〈◊〉 by his first edict against the jews, in all his Provinces to 〈◊〉 
Ester. 3. 1●….  out, to kill, and to destroy them, both y●…g and old. 
Quid prodest cuncta ●…unijsse si per unum locum, pernitiosus hosti praebeatur accessus?   
What availeth it to fortify all the Citadel, if we leave open-some postern gate to a vigilant enemy? I conclude as th●… Orator of his Catiline, if of so great a rabble of Traitors, he only be taken away, we may perhaps a while seem freed of fear and car●…: but the danger 
Greg l. 7. ●…p. ●…10.  will reside, shut up in the veins and bowels of the state; so sick men, in their hot fits, at first seem eased 
Cic. Orat. 1. in Catiline.  by a draught of cool water, but afterward more vehemently burn. And this sickness of the Commonweal, eased a little with his only death, shall grow more desperate by his fellow's lives.  
Fourthly, Repent constantly: It is not hanging the head for a day, which God accepteth; as our sins are 
Isai 58. 5.  continual, so must our repentance be: We smite our sins as jehoash smote the ground with his arrows, 
2. King. 13. 19  three times, and so we cease, where we should have smitten till we had consumed them. Sin is an hardy and puissant foe, and will not so be overcome. It is not easi●… (said Amurath to his discomforted souldier●… before Croya) without bloody hands to put the yoke on the fierce enemy's neck. The very cause of our easy falling back into sin, is, that we charge it cowardly, and soon give over the pursuit. In these four Channels, Repentance, like the River of Paradise, watereth a zealous heart; and all make a fifth rule of Practice.  
A sixth is, Abstain from all appearance of evil. The Devil is subtle, and maketh the way to Hell easy. Sin like Eliahs' Cloud on Carmel, is not to be seen at first, when Satan suggesteth, and after it appeareth but in the bigness of a man's hand: but if we fly it not, there is a noise of much Rain: the full Vials of Gods Wrath. Come not near her dwelling, it is ill jesting with sin: as Delilah acted sin, so sin playeth the Delilah: 〈◊〉 maketh love at first, at l●…st she cutteth off our strength, and causeth to be put out the strong man's eyes: so that he that at first was not afraid of appearances of evil, presently groweth impudent, and cannot or will not see the greatest sins.  
Seventhly, Take away all occasions of sin. Moses 
Vt omnia impietatis aboleret ve●…igia.  stamped the Idol into powder, to take away occasion of Idolatry. Not only Ba●…li Image, but the Groves, and 
Amb▪ l. 7. ep. 57  his House, aught to be beaten to the ground: for sin is an importunate solicitor, like Ben-badads crafty Messengers, 
1: King. 20. 33.  it watcheth diligently to catch any thing of us: if we acknowledge the least acquaintance, it not need be entreated to take hold of it.  
When Pharaoh saw there was no remedy, but the Israclit●…s would leave his service: he giveth way, only saith he, leave your cattle behind you. He knew that would occasion their return; but Moses said, I will not leave one hoof: the devil desireth we but leave something to bring us back, though we leave him for a time: But we must resolve with Moses, not to leave the least.  
Origen speaking of the cleansing the Leper, understandeth 
S. Levit. h●…. 8. omne quicquid e mortui operis.  by the shaving the hair, the cutting off all that belongeth to the dead works of sin. All occasion must be cut off, that the soul's leprosy may be cleansed. Theseus' shaved off his comely locks, that his enemy 
Plut. vit. Thes. ne ansam preberet.  might catch no hold. If it be as dear as thine Hand, or Eye, Christ saith cut it off, pull it out, if it occasion thee to offend. There is nothing so dear as Salvation, nothing more dangerous than Opportunity and Occasion. When we have even departed from the danger, and are gone, Occasion cometh posting after, like the old lying Prophet of Bethel, and telleth us, An Angel spoke 
1. King. 13. 〈◊〉 18.  unto him, saying, Bring him back again: but if we go back, God's judgements lie ready in our way to destroy us.  
Eightly, let not thy affections be governors of thy will: It is a weak Master, where Servants rule the Family. The affections are like the Mamalukes, which the Turks in Egypt at first entertained for slaves, to serve them in their Wars; who finding their own strength, abandoned their Masters, and became Lords of Egypt. Affections are like the Fire and Water, necessary and excellen●… Servants, but tyrannous Masters: A man given to passion, and appetite, hath no more rule of himself, than a Drunken or Mad man. Affection is a Lesbian rul●…, it will fit the most crooked design: Ask Affection, it will tell thee, nothing is sweeter than Revenge; it will say, Drunkenness is a pleasant life, Covetousness is Parsimony. Consult not therefore with thy Affections, but rule them by the Word of God.  
Ninthly, resolve every day to win something from thyself. The very Lions are tamed, and by little and little forget their savage mind. Thou mayest say, I am of an intemperate and angry disposition: It were shame to say, thou art by nature worse than a Beast: They are made gentle, or less in industry then their Keepers; even they tame their cursed Masters, and by serving them, at last make them tractable Servants. Some esteem this impossible, because having suddenly assailed to subdue some affection in themselves, they have failed. Be contented, 
Qui jocum summum ascendere nititur gradibus non saltibus elevatur. Greg. l. 9 ep, 71.  gain constantly from sin, though by littles at once: they which climb high, content themselves with small steps: it is no easy leap to Heaven; the foot of Goodness standeth like Jacob's Ladder, on the ground, of little beginnings, though the top reach Heaven. 
Gen. 28.  
Vnde irrepsit morbus inde remedium intret auris prima mortis ianua prima aperia●…ae & vitae. Bern, in Cant.   
●…he last Rule is, Hear the Word, and pray. Among the Ceremonies of cleansing the Leper, Origen observeth, That the right car●…, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot must be touched with the blood of the Sinne-offering; signifying, that all our actions must be holy, and that we must no more run back to the errors of youth: The right ear 
Vt munda sint opera nec ultra lapsus iuventutis incurrat.  must first be touched, that is the means to purify the rest. Whether it signify we must not come to God's Word Malcus-like, with a left ear, an ear not fitted, 
S. Levit. 14.  but a right ear●…, an ear to a prepared heart: 
joh. 18. 10.  Such an ear had Lydia, whose heart the Lord had 
Act. 16. 14.  opened: such had they, who were pricked in their hearts, when they heard Peter: such ears and hearts 
Act. 2. 37.  only are they; to which he saith as to the deaf, Mar. 7. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Be opened: such have they to whom he addresseth his often repeated admonition, Let him that hath 
Reu. 2. 7▪ 11. 17. 29. & 3. 6. 13. 22.  an 〈◊〉 (a right 〈◊〉) hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches; for the words of God are life unto those that 
Prou. 4. 22.  find them, and health unto all their flesh. To this right 
Libellum que insidiarum libellis caeteris.  care we must have a right hand: we must not put the Word into a sinister, a left hand, as C●…sar did the poor 
Quos sinistra manu tenebat quasi mox lecturus. Suet. C: jul. Caes.  man's Petition, discovering the Conspiracy, meaning to peruse it at leisure. We must presently lay it to our Consciences, lest we find not another hour to repent in. We must also have a right foot, lest 〈◊〉 offer the sacrifice of Fools. To such the Word is the 
Eccles. 4. 17.  Fire, to burn out the Dross of Sin; the Hammer 
jer. 23. 29.  
Heb. 〈◊〉. 12.  to break the Heart of Stone; a lively Word, sharper 
Quovis gladio utrinque incidente. Erasm.  than any twoedged Sword, cutting off Sins Hydra head.  
But if the Word have such power, why then (may our Mother now say) 〈◊〉 not the health of the daughter of 
jer. 8. 22:  my people recovered? Is there no 〈◊〉 at our Gilead? Have we no Physician here? The Word is not now locked up in an unknown Tongue: those dumb Astomi, mouthless Prophets, have not now the watch over our flocks. These are the periods of Time, in which the Lord hath poured out his Spirit. If ever Age abounded with Blessings of Peace, and Security, Preaching, and enormous living, for many; then this much more (give me leave, the Lord hath spoken, even 
Amos 3. 8.  of late from Heaven, Who can but prophesy?) the proud still enlargeth his desire as Hell: still the Oppressor 
Habac. 2. 5.  doth store up Violence, borne (as one said of ●…sius) to Pride and Cruelty. The false Weights and 
Amos 3. 10.  Measures are still in our Houses: the horrible abuse of God's blessings, in Surfeiting and Drunkenness, are still amongst us: still the Sweater rageth, and that apish 
Zeph. 1. 8.  affectation of strange Apparel possesseth the giddy multitude, begging from the hands of Time and Oblivion the life of the Oppian Law: such a ripeness of all 
Opius legem 〈◊〉 ne superfluo ornatu mulieres Romanae uterentur. Pompon.  sins, assuring us, the great Harvest of the World is nigh▪ sins most abounding, where God's grace hath most abounded, as if he had not said, ye are healed, Sin no more. Yet all come to hear: why are they 
Laet. de Leg.  not reform? There are many reasons for it. Some are deaf Adders, which cannot be charmed: that Serpent layeth one 〈◊〉 to the Earth, the other he stoppeth with his tail. Preach to the Covetous, one 〈◊〉 is upon the Earth, on his Business: the other a forestalled Opinion hath stopped, and the Sons of Thunder cannot 
Qui malê audit sacrilegium 〈◊〉 solet.  open it. Wandering thoughts are the ●…arings, of which others frame their Idol, and they have no place for the 
Amb. ●…. 7. ep. 56  Ark. To some the Word is a mystery: the God of this World hath made such a Covenant with them, as Nahash 
1. Sam. 11. 1.  the Ammonite offered the Gabesh-Gileadites, putting 
2. Cor. 4. 4.  out their right eye; and they have no understanding for God. Wonder not then, if so many go from Church unmoved. Put a thousand pieces of Metal together, and none will move for the Loadstone, save only the Iron, none other have sympathy with it. Aethiops 〈◊〉 bal●…, 
Lib. 2. ep. Dornit. 101.  saith Gregory, of the unconuerted Persian; he went in black, and black he came out again. It is the misery, the madness of an Age so wicked, to be deaf, lest they should be cured: as Augustus Caesar said of Galb●…'s 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  crooked back, I can admonish, I cannot mend thee: we 
Hippocr. ego monere te possum corrigere non possnm.  can warn; if you will not amend, then go up and pro●…per: but if the end of sin be peace, then say the Lord hath not spoken by us: go on, but a worse thing will happen 
1. King. 22. ●…5. 28.  to you. As they shall not be heard who will not hear, so neither shall hearing profit them which will not pray. Prayer woundeth sin; prayer beat down the Amalekites; prayer is that weapon of Samson, which first layeth the enemy 
judg. 15. 16. 19  heaps upon heaps, and after refresheth us with the waters of comfort.  
Hitherto you have heard the Admonition; the Intermination is next.  
Now as Is●…ai said of David, there remaineth yet a little 
1. Sam. 16. 11, 12.  one, I cannot say the rest: it will prove of a lovely countenance, and comely. visage, because it will present you the fearful end of impenitent sinners, lest a worse thing come unto thee.  
This part cometh like C●…shi to David, and speedily 
2. Sam. 18. 31.  delivereth the message.  
He that is not bettered by light afflictions, but falleth 
Qui suppl●…cio non fit melior tanquam stupidus quidem & contemptor graviorem sibi poenam praeparat. Chrys. hom. 37. in joh. 5.  back to his former sins, shall have greater judgement b●…fall him. God shall wound the ●…irie scalp of such a one as goeth on sti●… in his trespasses. But rel●…pses into sin are most dangerous: The seven worse Spirits entering into the heart, swept with a little formal Repentance, make the end of that man worse than the beginning. God healed Niniveh by the ministry of the Prophet jonah; but presently 〈◊〉 became a Mistress●… of Witchcra●…e, 
Psal. 68 21.  than God utterly overthrew her. When God had corrected Israel, h●… concluded, I said surely, thou wil●… 
Nah. 3. 4. 7.  fear me, thou wil●… 〈◊〉 instruction; but they 〈◊〉 ●…rly, and corrupted all their works: then God determined to 
Zeph 3. 7. 8.  pour upon them his indignation, fierce 〈◊〉, and the fire of his 〈◊〉. If you should run thorough their History, you should find their last plagues greatest: all their Captivities were light to this last disper●…ion of above a thousand and ●…ue hundred years.  
God at first but showeth the Rod; and if a fair Warning will not serve, he striketh, and if the correction of a Father will not avail, he putteth on the person of a severe judge. You may read it at large, Le●…iticus 26. If you will not obey me, then will I also do this unto 
Ver. 14. 19 21.  you, I will appoint over you Terror, Co●…sumption, and the burning Ag●…, to consume the eyes, and make the heart heavy. And if ye will not for these things obey me, then will I punish you seven times more, according to your sins: and if ye walk stubbornly against m●…, and will not obey me, then will I bring seven times m●…re plagues upon you: yet if by these ye will not be reform, then will I mit●… you yet seven times for your sins. Again, Yet if you will not for this obey 
Ver●…. 27.  me, I will also chastise you ●…uen times more, according to your sins. Of the same argument you may read more 
Deut. 32. 34.  Deut. 28. 15. His judgements had such like course with 
Exod. 7. 23.  Phar●…h; when the fair Warnings could not enter into his heart, he cometh near to himself, and firstborn.  
God sendeth judgements as he did his Angel to Balaam: If we will not see him in a broad way, he will yet stand where we pass n●…r him: at first perhaps he but ●…oucheth our goods, if that mend us not, he cometh to our bodies with sickness; if that fair warning will not 
Deut. 32.  serve, he hath heavier judgements stored up, a worse thing to befall us. Immedicable sores must have desperate cures. This worse thing is reducible to four kinds.  

1▪ The same or other plagues more heavily inflicted, as hath been said.  
2. The second is often public shame: sin like Samson spoils the Philistim●…, to pay the Philistims, but with much difference: it robbeth us of the white robe of Christ's ri●…hteousnesse to pay us with shame; shame is the only physic for a proud heart.   
Augustine saith boldly of a more private shame; that too much liking himself was the cause of Ada●…s fall, desiring more he became less. Therefore I dare say, It is 
Aug. de ciu. dei. l. 14. c. 13▪  good that the proud should fall into some broad and disgraceful sin●…e, thereby to take a dislike of themselves, who fell by too much liking themselves. Peter's sorrowful dislike of himself, when he wept, was more healthful 〈◊〉 his soul, than his unsound pleasure he took in himself 
Psal. 83. 16.  when he presumed. Therefore of the enemies he saith, Fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy name O Lord.  
Thirdly, a worse evil may be; a giving over to a reprobate mind, as it falleth to the wicked: or delivering 
Rom. 1.  to some sharp trial for a time; such as God often giveth his dearest children. See it in job, David: Consider it you that are well read in the black characters of a troubled conscience. The worst of evils is the last; the torments of hell, prepared for those who will take no warning: Tophet, set on fire by the breath of the Lord, Lakes of Fire and Brimstone. The torments of Hell are expressed as the 
Reu. 21.  joys of Heaven, not as they are, but as we can for the present understand: only thus much we know, the torments of the damned are pains and miseries of every kind, extensive, without remission, hope, help, or end: Nature and Pain shall hold a continual conflict, and yet the one never overcome the other. In this life's 
Aug. de Ciu D●…, l, 19 c. 28.  sickness either the Pain is Victor, and so Death expelleth the sense of it; or Nature conquereth, and driveth out the pain: but there Pain shall afflict, and Nature suffer ete●….  
This is the woeful effect of sin. Christ wept for others sins, and Elisha for others danger. If we could 
Use 1.  but see as far as Hell, or truly consider the torments of 
2. King. 8. 12.  the damned, we would even weep as oft as we see men sinning. It is a most wicked io●… that some ●…onceiue when they see others sinning: this is to clap hands at the Devil's victories, and to be glad for God's dishonour and our brother●… miseries.  
Trust not sin, she pl●…yeth the Panther, allureth with a sweet breath, but hideth her ugly head: she showeth 
Use 2.  the adulterer fill of love, but hideth the rottenness of 
Pliu. l. 8. c. 17.  the flesh, cas●…ing off to final impenitency, and a worse evil in Hell: she showeth Ambition the large object of his des●…, but hideth the downfall; telleth the Oppressor of goodly Lordships, but hideth the downfall of Heaven: in all, as from our Saviour he would have hidden a part of his scriptum est, so from the 〈◊〉 he concealeth a part of this prohatum est, a worse thing will befall thee. Never flatter thyself then in sin. Thou 
Mat. 4.  hast overcome one sickness, one a●…ction, if that amend thee not, thou but fliest a Lion to meet a Bear, one evil to meet another. 
Amos 5. 19   
It is vain for night watching adulterers to boast of their stolen hours, their judgement sleepeth not vain: for the covetous and deceitful to rejoice of their ill-gotten treasure, they work like industrious Bees, and fill their cells with the sweet savour of gain, and yet shall soon be smothered up with a Sic vos non vobis: yourselves, not for yourselves gotten. It is vain for any to hope the worst shall not come, because it is not yet come. When julius Caesar mocked Spurnia the Augur, (who bade him beware of the Ides of March,) saying the 
Quod sine ulla noxa adessent (respondet) venisse sed non praeterijsse: 〈◊〉.  Ides were come without any harm; he answered, it is true, they are come, but they are not yet gone. The vision is not always of an Almond ●…od: God often expecteth a maturity of sin as in the A●…orites: judgement sometimes followeth sin a loof off. Many years after the 
jer. 1. 11:  Amalakites pay for the evil they did the children of God. 
Gen. 15:  joab & Shimeis hoary heads suffer the worst part when 
1. King. 2.  their parts are almost done. The Ostrich is said to hide her eggs in the sand, & forget them: which hatched by heat of the Sun, she knows to be her own. Long we hide, but our judgements are hatching by the power of heaven, which our conscience shall again acknowledge our own.  
Thou hast been healed; take a fair Warning, Sin no more. Sins after warning deserve greater punishment: Sin no more, Sin is like drunkenness, the merry madness of few hours, but the worst part is eternal. Wherefore make straight steps unto your feet, lest 
Prudenter faciunt qui calamitatibus erudiuntur. Greg. Naz. orat. 17.  that which is halting be turned out of the way. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, who will not justify the sinner. Wise and blessed are they which take his warnings, and profit by their chastisements, who being tried in the furnace, learn of David, it is good for me that I have bee●… afflicted. 
Psal. 119. 71.  
Illic Apostolorum gloriosus Chorus, ill●… Prophetarum etc. Cyprian de mortalitate Revelat. 22.   
Heaven is our country, life a Sea of troubles, affliction the wind which filleth the sails homeward: The patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and holy Martyrs stand on the shore to entertain us. They are secured from mortality, fear, sin, curse, sickness, death: he will open unto us the gates of the heavenly Paradise who hath broken 
Ipse aperiat nobis I anuas Paradisi, qui co●…fregit, portas inferni. Au. Serm. 122. de temp.  the gates of hell, even our Lord and Saviour Christ jesus; To him, with thee O Father of mercy, and the holy Spirit, be all honour and glory in heaven and in earth, for ever and ever▪  
Amen.  
FINIS.