MEMB. II.
Lawful Cures, first from God.
Being so clearly evinced, as it is, all unlawful cures are to be refused,
it remains to treat of such as are to be admitted, and those are commonly
such which God hath appointed, [2808]by virtue of stones, herbs, plants,
meats, and the like, which are prepared and applied to our use, by art and
industry of physicians, who are the dispensers of such treasures for our
good, and to be [2809]honoured for necessities' sake, God's intermediate
ministers, to whom in our infirmities we are to seek for help. Yet not so
that we rely too much, or wholly upon them: a Jove principium, we must
first begin with [2810]prayer, and then use physic; not one without the
other, but both together. To pray alone, and reject ordinary means, is to
do like him in Aesop, that when his cart was stalled, lay flat on his back,
and cried aloud help Hercules, but that was to little purpose, except as
his friend advised him, rotis tute ipse annitaris, he whipped his horses
withal, and put his shoulder to the wheel. God works by means, as Christ
cured the blind man with clay and spittle: Orandum est ut sit mens sana
in corpore sano. As we must pray for health of body and mind, so we must
use our utmost endeavours to preserve and continue it. Some kind of devils
are not cast out but by fasting and prayer, and both necessarily required,
not one without the other. For all the physic we can use, art, excellent
industry, is to no purpose without calling upon God, nil juvat immensos
Cratero promittere montes: it is in vain to seek for help, run, ride,
except God bless us.
Dulcem elaborabunt saporem.
Non animum cytheraeve cantus.
[2812]Non domus et fundus, non aeris acervus et auri
Aegroto possunt domino deducere febres.
[2813]With house, with land, with money, and with gold,
The master's fever will not be controll'd.
We must use our prayer and physic both together: and so no doubt but our
prayers will be available, and our physic take effect. 'Tis that Hezekiah
practised, 2 King. xx. Luke the Evangelist: and which we are enjoined,
Coloss. iv. not the patient only, but the physician himself. Hippocrates, a
heathen, required this in a good practitioner, and so did Galen, lib. de
Plat. et Hipp. dog. lib. 9. cap. 15. and in that tract of his, an mores
sequantur temp. cor. ca. 11.. 'tis a rule which he doth inculcate, [2814]
and many others. Hyperius in his first book de sacr. script. lect.
speaking of that happiness and good success which all physicians desire and
hope for in their cures, [2815]tells them that it is not to be expected,
except with a true faith they call upon God, and teach their patients to do
the like. The council of Lateran, Canon 22. decreed they should do so: the
fathers of the church have still advised as much: whatsoever thou takest in
hand (saith [2816]Gregory) let God be of thy counsel, consult with him;
that healeth those that are broken in heart, (Psal. cxlvii. 3.) and bindeth
up their sores. Otherwise as the prophet Jeremiah, cap. xlvi. 11.
denounced to Egypt, In vain shalt thou use many medicines, for thou shalt
have no health. It is the same counsel which [2817]Comineus that politic
historiographer gives to all Christian princes, upon occasion of that
unhappy overthrow of Charles Duke of Burgundy, by means of which he was
extremely melancholy, and sick to death: insomuch that neither physic nor
persuasion could do him any good, perceiving his preposterous error belike,
adviseth all great men in such cases, [2818]to pray first to God with all
submission and penitency, to confess their sins, and then to use physic.
The very same fault it was, which the prophet reprehends in Asa king of
Judah, that he relied more on physic than on God, and by all means would
have him to amend it. And 'tis a fit caution to be observed of all other
sorts of men. The prophet David was so observant of this precept, that in
his greatest misery and vexation of mind, he put this rule first in
practice. Psal. lxxvii. 3. When I am in heaviness, I will think on God.
Psal. lxxxvi. 4. Comfort the soul of thy servant, for unto thee I lift up
my soul: and verse 7. In the day of trouble will I call upon thee, for
thou hearest me. Psal. liv. 1. Save me, O God, by thy name, &c. Psal.
lxxxii. Psal. xx. And 'tis the common practice of all good men, Psal. cvii.
13. when their heart was humbled with heaviness, they cried to the Lord in
their troubles, and he delivered them from their distress. And they have
found good success in so doing, as David confesseth, Psal. xxx. 12. Thou
hast turned my mourning into joy, thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded
me with gladness. Therefore he adviseth all others to do the like, Psal.
xxxi. 24. All ye that trust in the Lord, be strong, and he shall establish
your heart. It is reported by [2819]Suidas, speaking of Hezekiah, that
there was a great book of old, of King Solomon's writing, which contained
medicines for all manner of diseases, and lay open still as they came into
the temple: but Hezekiah king of Jerusalem, caused it to be taken away,
because it made the people secure, to neglect their duty in calling and
relying upon God, out of a confidence on those remedies. [2820]Minutius
that worthy consul of Rome in an oration he made to his soldiers, was much
offended with them, and taxed their ignorance, that in their misery called
more on him than upon God. A general fault it is all over the world, and
Minutius's speech concerns us all, we rely more on physic, and seek oftener
to physicians, than to God himself. As much faulty are they that prescribe,
as they that ask, respecting wholly their gain, and trusting more to their
ordinary receipts and medicines many times, than to him that made them. I
would wish all patients in this behalf, in the midst of their melancholy,
to remember that of Siracides, Ecc. i. 11. and 12. The fear of the Lord is
glory and gladness, and rejoicing. The fear of the Lord maketh a merry
heart, and giveth gladness, and joy, and long life: and all such as
prescribe physic, to begin in nomine Dei, as [2821]Mesue did, to imitate
Laelius a Fonte Eugubinus, that in all his consultations, still concludes
with a prayer for the good success of his business; and to remember that of
Creto one of their predecessors, fuge avaritiam, et sine oratione et
invocations Dei nihil facias avoid covetousness, and do nothing without
invocation upon God. |
