quitting testimony of a good conscience, and the secret approbation of my gracious God; who shall one day cause my innocence to break forth as the morning light, and shall give me beauty for bonds, and for a light and momentary affliction an eternal weight of glory.'

THE

BALM OF GILEAD;

OR,

THE COMFORTER.

CHAP. I.

COMFORTS FOR THE SICK BED.

The Preface-Aggravation of the Misery of Sickness.

WHAT should we do in this vale of tears, but bemoan each others' miseries? Every man hath his load and well is he, whose burden is so easy, that he may help his neighbours. Hear me, my son. My age hath waded through a world of sorrows. The Angel, that hath hitherto redeemed my soul from all evil, (Gen. xlviii. 16.) and led me within a few paces of the shore, offers to lend me his hand to guide thee in this dangerous ford, wherein every error is death. Let us follow him with a humble confidence, and be safe, while we view and pity the woeful miscarriages of others.

Thou art now cast upon the bed of sickness; roaring out all the day long,' for the extremity of thy pain, Psal. xxxii. 3: measuring the slow hours, not by minutes, but by groans. Thy soul is weary of life, through the intolerable anguish of thy spirit. Job vii. 11. Of all earthly afflictions this is the sorest. Job himself, after the sudden and astonishing news of the loss of his goods and children, could yet bear up, and bless the God that gives and takes; but when his body was tormented, and became one boil, his patience is strained so far as to curse, not his God, but his nativity. Job iii. 3. The great king, questioning with his cupbearer Nehemiah, could say,

B

Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick;' implying that the sick man of all others, has just cause to be dejected. Worldly crosses are at a distance from us, sickness is in our bosom. Those touch ours only; these, ourselves. Here the whole man suffers: what could the body feel, without the soul that animates it? How can the soul, which makes the body sensible, avoid being most affected with that pain, whereof it gives sense to the body? Both partners have enough to do to encounter so fierce an enemy. The sharper assault requires the more powerful resistance. Recollect thyself, my son; and call up all the powers of thy soul, to grapple with so violent an enemy.

SECTION 1.

The Freedom of the Soul.

THY body is, by a sore disease, confined to thy bed:I should be sorry to say, thou thyself wert so. Thy soul, which is thyself, is, I hope, elsewhere. That, however it may take a share in thy suffering, soars above to the heaven of heavens; and is prostrate before the throne of grace, suing for mercy and forgiveness; beholding the face of thy glorious Mediator interseding for thee.

Woe were to us, if our souls were coffined up in our bosoms, so that they could not stir abroad, nor go any further than they are carried; like some snail or tortoise, that cannot move out of the shell. Blessed be God, he hath given us active spirits that can bestir themselves, while our bodies lie still; that can be so quick and ninble in their motions, as to pass from earth to heaven, ere our bodies can turn to the other side.

And how much shall we be wanting to ourselves, if we do not make use of this spiritual agility; sending up these spirits of ours from this dull clay of our bodies to those regions of blessedness, that they may thence fetch comfort to alleviate the sorrows of their heavy partners! Thus do thou my son, employ the better part; no pains

of the worse can make thee miserable. That spiritual part of thine shall ere long be in bliss, while this earthen piece shall lie rotting in the grave. Why shouldst thou not, even now before thy separation, improve all the powers of it to thy present advantage? Let that still behold the face of thy God in glory, while thy bodily eyes look upon those friends at thy bedside, which may pity thee, but cannot help thee.

SECTION 2.

The Author of Sickness, and the Benefit of it.

THOU art pained with sickness :-Consider seriously, whence it is, that thou thus smartest. Affliction com

eth not out of the dust.' Job v. 6. Couldst thou but hear the voice of thy disease, as well as thou feelest the stroke of it, it saith loud enough, Am I come up hither without the Lord to torment thee? The Lord hath said to me, Go up against this man, and afflict him. 2 Kings xviii. 25. Couldst thou see the hand that smites thee, thou couldst not but kiss it.

Why, man, it is thy good God, the Father of all mercies, that lays these stripes upon thee. He that made thee, he that bought thee at so dear a rate as his own blood, it is he that chastiseth thee: and canst thou think he will whip thee, but for thy good? Thou art a father of children, and art acquainted with thine own bowels: didst thou ever take the rod into thy hand out of pleasure, to smite that flesh which is derived from thine own loins? Was it any ease to thee, to make thy child smart and bleed; didst thou not suffer more than thou inflictedst? Couldst thou not rather have been content to redeem those stripes with thine own? Yet thou sawest good reason to lay on, and not to spare for his loud crying and many tears, Prov. xix. 18; and canst say thou hadst not loved him, if thou hadst not been so kindly severe. If we then that are evil, know how to give loving and beneficial correction to our children; how

much more shall our Father which is in heaven, know how to beat us to our advantage, that we may sing under the rod, with the blessed Pslalmist, I know, oh Lord, that thy judgments are right; and that thou of very faithfulness, hast afflicted me.' Psal. cxix. 75. Might the child be made an arbiter of his own chastisement, do we think he would award himself so much as one lash? Yet the wiser parent knows he shall wrong him, if he do not inflict more; having learned of Solomon, Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.' Prov. xxiii. 14. Love hath his strokes,' saith Ambrose, which are so much the sweeter, by how much they are the harder laid on.'

Dost thou not remember the message which the two sisters sent to our Saviour; Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest, is sick?' John xi. 3. Were it so that pain or sickness, or any other the executioners of divine justice should be let loose upon thee to tyrannise over thee at pleasure, on purpose to render thee perfectly miserable, there were just reason for thy utter disheartening. But they are restrained, and go under commission; neither can they be allowed to have any other limits than thine own advantage.

Tell me whether thou wouldst rather be good, or be healthful. I know thou wouldst be both, and thinkest thou mayest well be so. Who is so little in his own favour, as to imagine he can be the worse for faring well? But he that made thee looks farther into thee, than thine own eyes can do. He sees thy vigour is turning wanton; and that if thy body be not sick, thy soul will. If he therefore find it fit to take down thy worse part a little, for the preventing of a mortal danger to the better, what cause hast thou to complain, yea rather not to be thankful? When thou hast felt thy body in a distemper of fulness, thou hast gone to sea on purpose to make thyself sick; yet thou knewest that the turning of thy head and stomach would be more painful to thee than thy former indisposition. Why should not thy all-wise Creator take liberty to cure thee, with an afflictive remedy?