The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…

Vers. 82. Mine eyes fail for thy promise, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?

Vers. 82. Mine eyes faile for thy promise, saying, When wilt thou comfort mee?

The next verse hath the same meaning, & the doubling of it, maketh it more weighty. He saith Word or promise, for salvation, to show that the word bringeth, and confirmeth our salvation. When he saith that his eyes and body were troubled, he showeth that the fainting of the soul, is the fainting of the body, to teach us in the diseases of the body, not only to look to natural causes & remedies, but to have an eye to the soul, & remedy that; for a wounded spirit who can bear? The way to cure the body, is to cure the soul first, as Psal: 103. and healed, (Job: 33.) God speaketh once or twice, &c: his flesh shall be as, &c. Example Hezekiah ⟨p. 440⟩was sick, but after his sins by prayer being forgiven, then his disease was healed, Isaiah 28. and Chron. Benhadad was sick of a […] disease, yet for his sins it could not be helped▪ Job was a very Lazar, for the trial of his faith, yet the way for him to recover (saith Elihu) was thus to be humbled for sin; and Elihu for this was not reproved, but the Lord confirmed his words from heaven. Then though Gods children be not chiefly punished for sin, yet because they have sin in them, therefore they must take this way also. As we see Job confessed his sins before he was restored. So Hebrew. 12. 3. You have not fought to blood: meaning that though God might justly punish, yet he will use affliction for our trial, and withal will kill our corruption. Psalm 32. after he had called them blessed, whose sins, &c. he showeth how he was brought to it, first, by setting down the corruption of men, which God must cure with corrections; yea they were so sore on him, that his moisture was turned into drought: but when he confessed his sin, then the Lord forgave the punishment of his sin. Must this man be taught by this means, and have not we need of it? In the book of the Chronicles, Asa is reproved because he sought to the Physicians, & not unto the Lord. His meaning is not that Asa sought not to God at all, but that he sought not chiefly, nor first to God: so that this is spoken by comparison, that he sought not to God so much as to the Physicians. Again, the purpose of Gods spirit is not to disallow the use of Physic: for when Hezekiah was absolved of his sins by Isaiah, then did the Prophet command that fig leaves should be taken, and laid to it: