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the more folemn completion of that which we practised daily in our health. And most of us have fo much to rectify, and all have fo much need to do it well, be it more or less, that we fhould not fail to take the earliest and fureft time for it; when it will be moft acceptable to God, and most advantageous to our own fouls; when there will be least ground for doubt and scruple afterwards, whether we left our fins, or they left us; whether we acted on ingenuous, or fervile motives. But whatever we have unhappily omitted till fickness calls, let us then at least set about it inftantly; not be ashamed of repenting, or being known to repent, for it is in finning that the only fhame lies; not be fatisfied with feeling, and owning to men a fenfe of our guilt, as far as it relates to them; but confefs to God our difobedience and ingratitude to him, with the deeper contrition, the longer we have neglected it. Hezekiah's prayer indeed hath no confeffion of fin, but his thanksgiving afterwards hath a very strong one: Thou haft caft all my fins behind thy back. And therefore, when he pleaded at firft, Remember, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee with a perfect heart, and done that which is good in thy fight †, we should understand him to mean, that as a king he had been zealous for God's true religion, to which confequently his life was of importance; not that as a man he had not deferved death, which all men have. And if we are convinced in any due degree what our deferts have been, we fhall entreat the divine mercy, not for the merits, I said it before, and I say it again, not for the merits of our good actions, for the best of them are faulty; not for the fake of our repentance, which in ftrictness undoes nothing that we have done amiss, and therefore (though our natural power extends no further) cannot intitle us even to exemption from punishment, much lefs to eternal rewards; but folely through his fatisfaction and interceffion, who died to obtain both for us.

A just sense of this invaluable bleffing will effectually incline us to join with our thankful humiliations, a zealous performance of whatever duties are oppofite to our past fins, and whatever mortifications are proper to correct our prefent evil tendencies. But no ufelefs and fanciful obfervances, nor any aufterities, calculated only to give uneafinefs for the fake of giving it, VOL. I. L1 fhould

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should ever enter into a chriftian's penitence. For fuch things take off the attention from real obligations, and fix it on them, felves, as matters of the greatest moment: whence the punctual performers of them are tempted to fpiritual pride; and others, who see this great stress laid on them, are induced either to esteem them without cause, or to disesteem religion, falfely fuppofing it to enjoin them. Therefore the fcripture directs returning offenders neither to empty forms, nor to the rigours of corporal discipline, any farther than to fuch occafional use of fafting, as may be found beneficial, but to do juftly, and to love` mercy, and to walk humbly with their God *. And leaft of all fhould the fick be harraffed with needlefs burdens. For they have one already, of no fmall weight, laid on them by God himself; I mean the disease which he hath inflicted, and bearing that as they ought, will feldom fail to be labour fufficient. Merely feeling the preffure of it indeed will do us no fervice, without attending properly to him from whom it comes. On the contrary, when God faith, In vain have I fmitten your chil dren, they received no correction †, it implies that they were hardened in wickedness; whereas, when the voice of the Lord. crieth, the man of wisdom will hear the rod, and who hath appointed it . Yet ftill worfe would it be, if, perceiving whence our fufferings proceed, we fhould be wrongly affected towards the author of them; either with their blafphemous vehemence, of whom the scripture foretels, They shall fret themselves, and curfe their God, and look upwards §; or with his profane defpondency, who faid, This evil is from the Lord, why should I wait for the Lord any longer ¶? But if we apply to him with humble confeffion, and fincere amendment, like Ephraim in Jeremiah, thou haft chaftifed me, and Iwas chaftifed; after I was inftructed, I fmote upon my thigh, I was afhamed, yea, even confounded**: we fhall have cause to say with the Pfalmift, It is good for me that I have been in trouble, that I might learn thy ftatutes. We fhould learn our duty from God's mercies, but if these make us forget him, chaftisement is fitly employed to make us recollect him. I will caufe you to pass under the rod, and bring you into the bond of the covenant;-and ye shall remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled:-and ye shall loathe your felves

Mic. vi. 8. 12 Kings vi. 33.

† Jer. ii. 30. Mic. vi. 9.
Jer. xxxi. 18. 19.

SIfa. viii. 21. tt Pfal. cxix. 71.

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felves in your own fight, and know that I am the Lord*. this fhall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his fins t. When therefore God bideth his face from us, and we are troubled ‡ with uneafinefs of body or mind, though it may be only to make us, like the captain of our falvation, perfect through sufferings §; yet we fhall do well to inquire with humility, though not with causeless terror, whether his purpose is not what the prophet declares in his name: I will go, and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence—in their affliction they will feek me early ¶. If on felf-examination we find little or nothing but common frailties to charge upon ourselves, we shall have abundant reason to rejoice in all our tribulations, and be thankful to his preventing grace. If we discover groffer failings, our concern is, to anfwer the divine expectation, as the next verfe directs: Come, and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn, and he will beal us; he bath fmitten, and be will bind us up **. Such behaviour will procure us the removal, or mitigation of our sufferings at present, if infinite wisdom fees it best for us. But however this be, it will certainly obtain for us that future recompence of everlasting felicity, which the words, that follow there 'naturally exprefs, perhaps with an allufion to the time of our Lord's refurrection, the foundation and firft-fruits of the general one: After two days will be revive us, in the third day be will raife us up, and we shall live in his fight +.

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In thofe days was Hezekiah fick unto death: and Ifaiah the prophet, the Son of Amos, came unto him, and faid unto him, Thus faith the Lord, fet thine houfe in order: for thou fhalt die, and not live. Then Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall, and prayed unto the Lord.

FROM

ROM these words I have proposed to fhew you the duties of fick perfons.

I. Refpecting their fellow-creatures; expreffed by the direction, fet thine houfe in order:

II. Refpecting more immediately God and their own fouls; intimated in the good king's behaviour, Then Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord.

The former of these I have finished, and made fome progress in the latter under which, after setting before you, in general, the neceffity of having regard to God in our fickness; I proceeded to the particular obligations, firft of faith in his word (giving at the fame time directions to those who are disquieted by doubts and fcruples); then of felf-examination in his prefence; then of fuch repentance as our cafe requires. And here I infisted largely on the danger of trusting to a death-bed forrow; and yet the usefulness of feeling and expreffing then, rather than never, a due concern for our paft fins: which, I observed to you, muft always be accompanied with earnest petitions for pardon, offered up in the name of our bleffed Redeemer; and for affiftance from the grace of the Holy Spirit; with rational and fcriptural, not fuperftitious, proofs of our humiliation;

humiliation; and a hearty defire to amend and improve under the difcipline of heaven.

I now go on to remind you farther, that together with thefe, the fick ought to be very conftant in every other exercise of private piety. For as they are cut off from active life, they have more leifure for religious contemplation. And as they want all the improvement and comfort which they can have, fo they will receive the moft of both, by frequent lifting up of their hearts to the God of patience and confolation *, the giver of all good, in addreffes carefully fuited to their prefent condition. But ufually, if not always, the right manner of doing this will be, not to fet yourfelves talks of reading, or meditating, or praying, just so often, or fo long; but to observe with impartiality and discretion, what really edifies, and what only flattens you; as alfo what your ftrength and spirits will permit, without fuffering by it. And if there be need, you should allow other perfons of fkill and seriousness to judge for you in this matter; following their decifions with fome degree of implicit obedience. And fhould it prove, that with your beft management you can neither pray to God, nor think of him, with any thing near the affection and fervency, which you find expreffed in many good books, and fhewn by many good Chriftians, when fick; but in a poor, imperfect, broken, languid manner: bear with yourselves for what you cannot help; and be affured, that your heavenly Father will bear with you, and will accept the service of which your weakness is capable, be it ever so small.

Nay further, fhould your condition be fuch as to require a confiderable share of your hours to be spent in a thoughtless trifling way; fubmit to it, as part of your duty; and do it without fcruple. Were you indeed to make amufements your choice, as the means of banishing ferious thought, that would be a great and dangerous fin. To throw away the time of fickhefs after throwing away that of health; and imagine it too foon for you to think of religion while you are well; and too much for you when you are ill; is a method which must end unhappily. But in the neceffary intervals of attention to better things; when, if you were not to spend your hours thus, you would spend them worfe; when your fpirits would fink,

and

Rypm. xv. 5.

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