N01375:14
Wholesome words. A visit of advice, given unto families that are visited with sickness;…
Wholesome words. A visit of advice, given unto families that are visited with sickness; by a pastoral letter, briefly declaring the duties incumbent on all persons in the families, that have any sick persons in them. : [Two lines of quotations]
Boston: printed for D. Henchman, 1713
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But then, Secondly. Should not this Acknowledgement be accompanied with a suitable Humiliation of the whole Family, when Sickness is in a Family? Tis highly Reasonable that it should be so. Where Sickness comes, the Complaint is that, Psal. CXLII.6. I am brought very Low. Certainly, it becomes a Family to lie very Low before God, when He shall send Sickness into it. Sickness in a Family, does cause no little Sorrow to the Family. Tis an unspeakable Encumbrance unto a Family, to have Sickness in it; it Encumbers a Family with a multitude of Inconveniences. The Pale, the Swollen, the Wasted, & perhaps the Spotted Faces of the Sick in the Family, are such as our Heavenly Father has been Spitting upon: Shall He Spit in our Faces, and shall we not be Ashamed? A Family under the Rebuke of ⟨p. 5⟩God by Sickness, is then to take that Advice, 1 Pet. V.6. Humble your selves under the Mighty Hand of God. No Weary Murmurings, I beseech you, when weary Days, and weary Nights, through' Sickness are appointed for you! Tis GOD, that hath appointed 'em. Humbly own the Sovereignty of God; Say, Lord, Thou mightest have made All Sick, as well as One! Humbly own the Righteousness of God; Say, Lord, We all deserve to be Sick, and are Punished less than our Iniquity's deserve! Humbly own the Wisdom of God, & Submit unto the Sickness in the Family, as a Cross of His lying upon us. The Sickness may be called a Potion, which our Lord Himself has mingled for us: It becomes us to say, The Cup which my Heavenly Father orders for this Family, shall not I drink of it? Imitating the words of the Psalmist, [Psal. XXXIX. 9, 10, 11.] Humbly say; Lord, I will be Dumb, and not open my Mouth, because thou dost what is done in the Family; Tis the stroke of thy Hand, that is upon us in our Sickness; We are consumed by the blow of thy Hand. Tis thy Rebuke, that makes what is desirable here to Melt away!
But then, Secondly. Should not this Acknowledgment be accompanied with a suitable Humiliation of the whole Family, when Sickness is in a Family? Tis highly Reasonable that it should be so. Where Sickness comes, the Complaint is that,