moft bitter and uneafy to thee in the day of diftrefs. Keep a narrow eye upon it now; for if once that fin be got vanquished, the reft will the more eafily be put to flight.

5. Be frequently meditating on thy vows, and on the condition thou waft in when they were taken on, and study to keep alive in thy heart the fame apprehenfion of things after fickness, which thou hadft in the time of it. How vain and comfortlefs did the world and its vanities then appear to thee! How awful were the truths of God on thy fpirit! How far preferable was the loving-kindness of God to thee, than life! How precious was Chrift then in thy eyes! O that your judgment, thoughts and impreffions of these things may continue ftill the fame !

6. Keep up the impreffions of the preciousness of time, that you may diligently improve it; and shake off floth and idleness. Remember what a view you got in the time of sickness of long lasting eternity, and what a trouble it was to you to look back, and see how much time you had loft in fin and vanity. When fometimes we are brought to the brink of eternity, the near views we then get of its vaftnefs and unchangeablenefs, are fometimes fo awful and amazing to us, that we are ready to think, though we had Methufalem's years to live, it would be unreasonable wilfully to mifpend one hour of them all. Well then, is fickness over, our time fo fhort, and fo little of it remaining behind? Will we be fo foolish, as to be lavish of it ftill, and trifle it away as before?

7. Set a fpecial mark upon all thefe fins, whether of omiffion or commiffion, that made death look grim and ghaftly upon you in the time of sickness, and against which you refolved; and fee to get every one of them amended and removed. Remember and confider how fad it will be for you, if fickness find you again in the very fame fins which formerly ftung you. What will you fay to confcience, when it fhall challenge you? How will you look death in the face, if it should find you living in the very fame fins you formerly mourned.

for,

for, and promifed against ? death would then be the king of terrors to thy foul indeed.

O then mind thy vows, and fay, with the Pfalmift, Pfal. Ivi. 12. 13. "Thy vows are upon me, O God; I will render praises to thee. For thou haft delivered my foul from death; wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the land of the living?"

CHAP. VI.

Containing Directions to the Unregenerate, when they are rec.vered from Sickness, and reflored to Health.

DIRECT. I. Seeing the afflictions of the wicked are unfanctified, it is neceflary you examine what fort of affliction yours hath been, and what fruits it hath produced in you.

I

HAVE, in the preceding chapter, fhowed that the afflictions of believers are fatherly chaftifements, proceeding from love; that they are fanctified, and yield the peaceable fruits of righteoufnefs. I have given the marks of fanctified afflictions, and mentioned the happy fruits which they produce in the children of God.

On the other hand, it is neceffary to let Christlefs perfons know, that their afflictions are of a different kind; they are even punishments from Ged as a judge, proceeding from wrath: they are unfanctified to them, and produce no fruits, but what are bitter and unfavoury.

Well then, O Chriftless foul, thou haft reason to sufpect the worst concerning thy Gicknefs, that it hath not been fanctified, and its fruits are not good. O then, Jabour to know the truth of the matter, that thoumayeit be humble under a fenfe of thy mifery, and flee

to

1

to Jefus Chrift for relief. And, for thy afifiance in this enquiry, I fhall give fome marks of unfanctified afflictions.

1. If fickness hath not humbled thee under a sense of thy fins, the procuring caufe thereof, nor any wife hath weakened fin in thee, nor reclaimed thee from it, but it remaineth in thee as ftrong as ever; it is a fign thy affliction is unfanctified. This was the cafe of thole of whom God complaineth, Jer. ii. 30. "In vain have I fmitten your children; they received not correction." As if he had faid, the phyfic I gave them did not purge out fin; nor weaken corruption in the leaft. They have been ftricken, bat not grieved for fin: the fire hath burnt round about them, but they have not laid fin to heart, that kindled the flame.

2. It is a mark of unfanctified affliction, when it hath no influence upon a finner to bring him to a ferious communing with his own heart concerning the state of his foul, and to enquire in what terms he ftands with God that affl &s him. God's voice by affliction is that in Haggai i. 7. "Now confider your ways." In the day of adverlity confider where you are, what you are, what you have done, what is the meaning of the rod, what will be the iffue of it through eternity, in cafe it hath a commiffion to cut the thread of life. Now when a man remains ftupid and carelefs about thefe important matters, and never noticeth the voice of affliction, so as to enquire ferioufly about his foul's condition: "Am I under a covenant of works, or a covenant of grace? Am I a child of God, or an enemy of God? Have I fled to the city of refuge, or am I till in a fhelterlefs ftate? Am I ftill under a cloud of wrath, or am I brought under the banner of love?" I fay, where there are no fuch enquiries, the affliction is unfanctified.

3. It is a certain fign of unfanctified affliction, when a perfon grows worie by it, and revolts the more he is ftricken, like thefe, Ifa. i. 5.

Quest. "When may it be faid that a perfon grows worle by affliction ?"

Auf

Anf. When the finner's heart turns harder than it was before; fo every plague in Egypt increafed the plague of hardness in Pharaoh's heart. It fares with many hearts as with iron that is often heated in the fire, and quenched in the water, it ftill increafeth in hardnefs. 2. When a perfon giveth way to impatience and murmuring against God while he afflicts him. 3. When the lufts of the heart grow more strong and impetuous, and afterwards rage the more, that they have been stopt in their course by affliction. In fuch cafes a perfon grows worse by the rod.

DIRECT. II. Confider the great danger of not being bettered by fickness, and of not complying with the voice of God's rod.

GOD's voice by his rod doth loudly call finners to repentance, and fleeing to the Lord Jefus Christ for refuge from wrath. Now, when this voice is not hearkened to, but men go on in their secure and finful course as before, God is highly provoked, and the iffue will be terrible: For,

1. Though fickness be removed, and the furnace of affliction be cooled for the time; yet the wrath that kindled it continues ftill to burn. And you have ground to fear left you be ranked among thofe who are the generation of God's wrath, against whom he will have indignation for ever.

2. If leffer rods do not awaken you, you may expect greater and forer judgments are coming on you. Yea, God may cause them to come rolling thick upon you, as waves and billows in a ftorm, one upon the neck of another. The great depths, both above and below, may be opened together; the difpleafure of God, and wrath of men, may confpire and meet to pour out themfelves as water fpouts upon you at once; and, to whom then will ye look for help?

3. The Lord may give over dealing with you, or uling any further means to reclaim you; he may refufe to correct you any more, or beftow a rod upon you for your good, and fay of you, as of Ephraim,

Hof.

Hof. iv. 17." Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone."

4. The Lord may give you up to fpiritual plagues and judgments; and indeed this commonly is the refult of obftinacy and incorrigibleness under outward rods. When Ifrael would not hearken to God's voice, he gave them up to their own heart's lufts, Pfal. lxxxi. 11. 12. Now, these plagues are the fevereft of all others. External judgments are God's rods, but fpiritual judgments are his fwords, which pierce the very foul. Blindnefs

of mind, hardness of heart, fearedness of confcience, vile affections, and a reprobate fenfe, are the very forerunners of hell and damnation. Those who are impatient and unfruitful under outward afflictions, have cause to tremble, left God be provoked to inflict those fpiritual judgments.

God's

5. Be affured, though God fpare you long, yet the glafs of his forbearance will at length run out. patience towards finners hath a term and bound, over which it will not pafs. The time will come when a long fuffering God will at laft fay, My Spirit fhall no longer ftrive; and the angel will cry, as Rev. xiv. 7. "The hour of God's judgment is come." You that abufe God's patience, and prefume upon it, his treaty of peace will end with you in a little, and the mafter of the house will rife up and fhut to the door.

Then

patience will come down, and juftice will afcend the ftage, and trample upon, and triumph over all that abuse Divine patience. Sodom was a wonder of God's patience for a long time, but now it is a lasting monument of his anger.

6. If you be not bettered by God's rods or fparing mercies, then your preservation at prefent will be nothing but a refervation for the day of God's wrath. And the longer your cup of fin is a filling, the fuller fhall the cup of God's wrath be for you: by your impenitence and abuse of God's patience, you treasure up wrath for yourselves against the day of wrath, Rom. ii. 4. And though you be delivered from fome judgments, you are referved for worfe; yea, for seven times worse, according to Lev. xxvi. 23. 24. Nay, there is a ruining blow VOL. I.

R

defigned