' Fools for their transgressions are afflicted.'
We by our sins put a rod into God's hand — ' a rod for the fool's back,' as Solomon saith, Prov. xxvi. 3 ; and when we will be fools, we must needs endure the scourge and rod in one kind or other. Those that will sin must look for a rod. It is the best reward of wicked and vain fools, that * make a jest of sin,' Prov. xiv. 9 — as the wise man saith, ' They cast firebrands, and say. Am I not in jest?' Prov. xxvi. 18 — that rail and scorn at good things; that swear and carry themselves in a loose, ridiculous, scandalous fashion, as if God did not eye their carriage ; and yet ' Am I not in jest ?' Well, it is no jesting matter. Sin is like a secret poison ; perhaps it doth not work presently. As there are some kind of subtile poisons made in these days, — wherein the devil hath v/hetted men's wits, — that will work perhaps a year after, so sin, if it be once committed, perhaps it doth not kill presently, but ' there is death in the pot,' 2 Kings iv. 40. -Thou art a child of death as soon as ever thou hast committed sin ; as Salvian saith well, ' Thou perishest before thou perish' (b). The sentence is upon thee. Thou art a dead man. God, to wait for thy repentance, prolongs thy days ; but as soon as thou hast sinned without repentance, thou art a ' child of death.' And as poison, that works secretly a while, yet in time it appears ; so at last ' the fruit of sin will be death.' Sin and death came in together. Take heed of all sin ; it is no dallying matter.
* Their soul abhors all manner of meat.'
This is one branch of the extremity of the sickness, the loathing of meat ; for God hath put a correspondency between food that is necessary for man and man's rehsh. For man being in this world to be supported, the natural moisture being to be supplied and repaired by nourishment, as it is spent by the natural heat which feeds upon it ; therefore God hath put a sweetness into meat, that man might delight to do that which is necessary ; for who would care for meat if it were not necessary ? There- fore, being necessary, God hath put delightful tastes in meats, to draw men to the use of them, to preserve their being for the serving of him. Now when these things savour not, when the relish of a man is distempered that he cannot judge aright of meats, when the palate is vitiated, there must needs follow sickness. For a man cannot do that that should maintain his strength ; he cannot feed on the creature ; therefore the psalmist setting down the extremity of sickness, he saith, ' Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat.' This the great physician of heaven and earth sets down as a
142 A RESCUE FROM DEATH,
symptom of a sick state, when one cannot relish and digest meat. Ex- perience seals this truth, and proves it to he true.
You see, then, the happiness of epicures, how unstable and vain it is, whose chief good is in the creature ! God by sickness can make them disi'elish all ' manner of meat ; ' and where is the siDiimum homun then of all your belly-gods, your sensual persons ?
Again, In that he saith, ' Their soul ahhorreth all manner of meat,' it should teach us to bless God not only for meat, but for stomachs to eat. It is a blessing common, and thei-efore forgotten. It is a double blessing when God provides daily for our outward man, and then gives a stomach to relish his goodness in the creature. Sometimes a poor man wants meat, and hath a stomach ; sometimes a rich man wants a stomach, when he hath meat. They that have both have cause to bless God, because it is a judg- ment when God takes away the appetite, that men ' abhor and loathe all manner of meat.'
Therefore, if we would maintain thankfulness to God, labour to thank God for common blessings. What if God should take away a man's stomach ? We see his state here : he is ' at the gates of death.' There- fore thank God that he maintains us with comforts in our pilgrimage ; and withal, that he gives us strength to take the comfort of the creature.
We see here again one rule how to converse with them that are sick. Blessed is he that understands the estate of the afflicted and sick, not to take it ill to see them wayward. It comes not from the mind, but from the distemper of the body. As we bear with children, so we must bear with men in those distempers, if they have food and yet loathe it. You see how it is with men in that case, ' their soul abhorreth all manner of meat.' It should teach us to sympathise with those that are sick, if we see them in these distempers.
The nest branch of the extremity is,
* They draw near the gates of death.'