It is good for a Man that he should conftantly hope, and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord; for the Lord will not caft off for ever.

26,

31.

32.

Pfal.ciii.

13.

xciv. 19.

CXXX. 7.

But tho' be caufe Grief, yet will be have Compaffion according to the Multitude of his Mercies. Tea,like as a Father pitieth his ownChildren, even fo is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him. In the Multitude of the Sorrows which I have in my Heart,thy Comforts have refreshed my Soul. For I know,That with Thee there is Mercy and with my God is plenteous Redemption. O remember not my old Sins, but have Mercy upon me,and that foon, for I am come to great Mifery. Heal my Soul, which hath finned against thee, and then let the Lord do what feemeth him good. 18. Glory be to the Father,and to theSon,&c. As it was in the Beginning, &c.

PRAYER.

lxxix. 8.

xli. 4.

I Sam. iii.

Hartend thymidylemedGoodness to me thy poor Servant, Ear me, Almighty and most merciful God and Saviour,

now caft upon this Bed of Languishing,and grieved with Sicknefs. Sanctify, I beseech thee, this thy Fatherly Correction to me, and grant that I may receive it with all the Patience and Submiffion of a Dutiful Child. I defire to acknowledge and adore thy Divine Wisdom and Goodness in every Difpenfation of Providence toward me; and only beg, that thou wouldeft keep me fafe under all, and then ufe what Methods thou pleafeft of bringing me to thy felf. Manifeft thy Strength in my Weakness, make even my feeble Condition an Inftrument of thy Glory; and the more my outward Man decayeth, ftrengthen me, I befeech thee, fo much the more continually with thy Grace and holy Spirit in the Inner Man. Let the Senfe of my Weakness and Strength to my Faith, and Serioufnefs to my Repentance. That if it be thy good Pleafure to reftore me to my former Health, I may lead the Refidue ef

my

my Life in thy Fear and to thy Glory; or else grant me fo to take thy Vifitation, that after this painful Life ended, I may. dwell with thee in Life everlasting. For this, O Lord, is the chief, the most earnest Defire of my Soul, that whether I live, I may live unto the Lord; or whether I die, I may die unto the Lord; fo that living and dying I may be thine, thro' Jefus Chrift, my dear and only Saviour. Amen.

MED. V.

Upon Recovery from Sickness.

I. TF Dangers and Diftreffes awaken our Confideration, the Deliverances from them ought not to pass unobferved. The Judgments of God extort Complaints from us; and fhall his Mercies be received in filence? when he afflicts and wounds, we seek him early; and fhall we forget him, when he refreshes and heals us? That fure were moft unworthy, moft reproachful. The rather fo; because we are able to give our felves a very plain and rational Account, how it comes to pass that we receive Evil at the Hand of God; But the Good he vouchfafes us, furnishes juft Matter, no less of Wonder, than of Thankfulness. Death is the Punishment of Sin; The Diseases and Decays of our Bodies are fo many Degrees of and Advances towards that Death: And our Confciences can find no difficulty in justifying these painful Difpenfations. For none of us can defcend into his own Breast, without discovering infinite perfonal Offences, which might provoke God to take this forfeit Life, and to cut us off in the midst of our Days. But when he forbears to do fo, when he checks his Wrath, and fufpends the Execution of that fatal Sentence gone

out

out against us, We can difcern no reason for This in our felves; but muft refolve it all into the fole, the undeserved Goodness of our compaffionate and longfuffering Lord.

Ija. xxxviii,

And fuch, my Soul, is now thy Cafe. Thou wert haftening apace to the Regions of the Dead, and in fear that thou should'ft be deprived of the Residue of thy Years. But when thou waft almost cut off with pining Sickness, and thine Eyes even failed with looking upward; when thou reckoned ft each Night and Morning, that there would be an End of thee upon Earth; then did the Lord ftand by thee and fave thee, even because he had

a favour unto thee.

12, 13.

Pf. xviii. 19.

II. Now tho' this be the Condition common to all Mankind, that we contribute no part to the Efficient or Meritorious Cause of such Goodness; yet in the Final one we may and muft bear a very confiderable part. We could not give the Bleffing to our felves: We could not deferve that Almighty God fhould give it us: But it will lie upon us to take care that fuch Grace be not bestowed in vain. In one refpect indeed, and ftrictly speaking, neither This, nor any other of the Difpenfations of Providence can poffibly be in vain, For fome Effect they will of neceffity have, even with re gard to Us. But if they do not anfwer the good Pur poses for which they were defigned; better were it for Us, that we had never received them at all. The lengthening out our Days, if we do not amend our Manners, is but the miniftring fresh and larger Oppor tunities of adding yet more to our Sins here,and ourTorments hereafter. And happier had it been to have been fwept away with a swift Deftruction,than to be deliver'd from our Fears, and live fuch a Life afterwards, as is certain to render us more miferable in the End. For every Mercy, every Escape must be accounted for, and thofe

which are entertained unthankfully, will at length prove Curfes inftead of Bleffings to us. It will therefore become thee, my Soul, very feriously to confider, wherein true Thankfulness confifts, and what are the Inftances by which it must be exprefs'd.

III. When Men do any fignal Acts of Kindness to each other,the Receiver efteems himself obliged to pay them back again, in fome Service or Benefit as good. This is what Men cannot be excufed from, provided fit Opportunities offer, and their Circumftances enable them to do it. But when the Power of doing thus is wanting, we are fenfible that fo much as falls fhort in procuring a Friend's real Advantage, ought to be made up in all becoming Teftimonies of Refpect; In fuch a Readiness of Mind, às plainly fhews that the Party does not however want the Will and hearty Defire of returning fuch Favours in kind and to the full.

Now the fame Rule of Equity muft needs hold toward our Great Benefactor in Heaven. He is indeed fo great, that his All-fufficiency can neither need nor receive any Addition: And We are fo very Poor and Impotent, that it were the Extremity of Vanity and Madness to imagine our felves capable of adding to him. The utmoft We can do is fo to demean our felves, that He and all the World may plainly perceive us duly fenfible of his Bounty. Now this can only be demonftrated by our Conftant and Zealous Care to please and honour him, by taking delight in the Obedience he hath enjoined us, and teftifying by our Practice that we efteem the Service of fo liberal a Mafter our most reasonable Duty, and perfect Freedom. Altho' therefore our Lips ought to fet forth the Praises of the Lord, and his Kindness fhould ever be in our Mouths; Yet are those Praises never set forth effectually, yet is that Kindness never acknowledged as it ought, except our Lives and every Action publish

it. The Profeffions of Gratitude are of no confideration in any cafe, farther than they exprefs the inward Sentiments of the Heart: That Heart cannot be truly grateful, which does not labour and study by all ргоper Means to approve it felf to the Perfon, whose Debtor it is; And how this is to be done to Almighty God, his own Word hath informed us; by declaring, that the Man who truly honours him will order his Converfation aright; that they who love him will give Teftimony of their Affection, by keeping bis Commandments; that the Goodness and Forbearance of God does (in its natural and defigned Tendency both) lead to Repentance; and even constrains Men to live no longer to themselves, but to him who hath done fo great things for them.

Pfalm 1. 23.

John xiv. 15.

Rom. ii. 4.

2 Cor. V. 15

IV. These are Reflections fo felf evident, fo very obvious and natural to every Man, that seldom are any remarkable Calamities undergone, or Deliverances obtained, without exciting them in our Minds. Few Wretches are fo hardened in Wickednefs, few fo aban doned and loft to all Senfe of God and Goodness, but in the Seasons of Sickness and Danger they fee their paft Follies with Difpleasure, and difcern the Reafonableness of forfaking them. But this is the generalUnhappiness, this the great Fault of moft Men, that this Remorfe quickly wears off, and their Good Intenti ons cool again. The Smart of the Rod ceases, and the Succefs of the Correction is loft with it: The Health of the Body grows more confirmed, and the Confcience hardens in proportion to the Conftitution. And thus the Man returns to his old Vanities and Vices with the fame Unconcernedness as before.

But, O my Soul, let it not be thus with Me. No! Let me look back with great Serioufnefs upon the Vows I made when I was in Trouble; and confider,

that