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RECOVERY FROM SICKNESS:

A

PRESENT

TO ONE

RAISED FROM A

DANGEROUS DISORDER:

CONTAINING

SERIOUS REFLECTIONS,

RESOLUTIONS AND DEVOTIONS,

SUITABLE TO THAT OCCASION.

[THE THIRD EDITION PRINTED 1761.]

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RECOVERY

FROM SICKNESS.

THROUGH the great mercy of Gon toward

me, I am now recovered from a dangerous distemper; I drew near to the grave; dark and gloomy shades began to stretch themselves over ine, and to compass me around; and I received within myself the sentence of death.-But behold! GOD hath turned again my captivity; he hath raised me as from the dead; HE hath caused the light of life again to shine upon me; and hath brought me, as it were, anew into the land of the living. What now becomes me upon such an occasion? It is surely most fit that I should take this first opportunity of retiring myself, of bowing down, and adoring my Almighty Deliverer; and of making my most humble and most thankful acknowledgments at the throne of his grace. It most highly becomes me thus to dedicate the first fruits of this new life he has given me to his honour and worship; and to spend, at least, this one hour in serious and devout reflections suitable to my present case.

I. The first thing I have to do on this occasion, is to endeavour to affect my mind with a very clear and lively sense of the concern which God has in the affair of our sickness or health, of our life or death to be fully persuaded that

our times are in his hands; and that he either shortens or prolongs them; casts down or raises up according to his pleasure; and that distempers come upon us, or forsake us only at his permission or command. See now that I, even I am he, and there is no God with me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

This sense of God's immediate agency and concern in my late sickness and recovery, is to be laid down as the foundation upon which my pious and devout reflections are entirely to rest; let me be careful then to lay it well: let me very attentively remember, that one of his glorious titles is God who quickeneth all things; and that in and by him all live, and move, and have their being : -That it is only by his ever-present influence and operation that the seasons change, the clouds move, the rains fall, and the flowers grow; that he is the life of the universe; from whom, all its motions and parts originally sprang; by whom, they are all continually directed and preserved; and without whom, not a sparrow falls to the ground. This sickness therefore could never have .seized, and brought me so low, had not God given leave; and having seized, would never have left me, until it had lain me in the dust, had not God checked its power, and said, hitherto-and no farther.

My pulse now beats; and my blood flows regularly through all its infinitely fine and numberless canals, which lately was all ruffled, tumultous, and disturbed. The springs of life which seemed broken, are afresh strengthened and wound up all the movements and parts of this my wondrous frame are restored to their proper order, and keep their appointed course. But WHO is it presides over, directs and preserves all these

:

infinitely various motions and springs upon which my health and vigour depend? It is not I myself. I am conscious of no share, nor immediate concern therein: no; it is some invisible, Almighty, ever-present power, in whom I live and move it is GOD, the fountain of life. If he hideth his face, I am troubled; if he suspendeth his influence, I languish; and if he taketh away my breath, I die. Of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to him therefore be all glory, and homage, and praise.

II. Having thus clearly settled it in my mind, that nothing comes by chance; and that neither my late sickness, nor recovery, are principally to be ascribed to any, what are commonly called accidents, nor yet to any will or power of man; but to the allwise permission, or power of God; I am next to settle it as a point equally clearThat an allwise and good God would never have sent this affliction upon me, but for some gracious and kind design; intending my good.

He never afflicts willingly: nor brings us into heaviness, but when it is needful for us. And when the blessed father of our spirits lays any corrections on us, it is not for his own pleasure, but only for our profit, that we may be made partakers of his holiness. Both reverence then to the Almighty Sovereign, and a regard to my own happiness, oblige me with great humility and attention to enquire-What the wise and kind design of divine Providence might be in this visitation? Was it,

1. For the trial of my virtues? To prove my faith in God; my hope in Jesus Christ; my patience and christian fortitude; my mortification to the present world; and my victory over death? Was it to give me an opportunity of exercising and shewing forth these worthy dispo

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