Tianus, to which the good reader is referred for them.
ADMONITION.
What a Christian is to do when attacked by disease.
When first taken illy lose no time in receiving thy sickness from the Lord's hand, and thank him for visiting thee as a Father visits his son. Nay more, offer thyself up for worse; throw thyself entirely and trustfully into the hands of his Divine Providence, and place not thy confidence in the physiciant the hurtfulness of which to King Asa is recorded in Holy Scripture.[1]
Let a physician, however, be employed, especially for the soul, that is, thy Confessor. For the health both of body and soul is to be provided for with the remedies proper to each; but that of the soul the more in proportion, as it is worse for the soul than for the body to perish.
Moreover, they who love the health of the body should hold nothing dearer than the care of the soul. For the body is often affected by the sins which are the ailments of the soul; and it is through the Providence of God that our limbs are seized with diseases, by reason of the bad passions which affect our souls. First, then, we must put these to flight, and thus we shall expel the more easily the maladies of the body, or (what is equally desirable) bear them with greater profit to the soul.
This method of cure was taught us by our Supreme Physician himself, whose manner it teas, in proceeding to heal the sick, to postpone the necessities of the body to those of the soul.
Let us act as he did, and while we strive to be healthy in body, look first to the health of the soul. But, oh, how stupendous is the stake, where the issue lies between a life that is momentary and a life that is eternal. In the case of the one, we never act otherwise than with earnestness and despatch; in that of the other, we scarcely act at all, and Mien with procrastination and wavering. If thou art wise, dear Christian, let thy first act, when attacked by disease, be to draw near to God, and be reconciled to him. He will either make thy subsequent cure efficacious to the health of thy body, or else the disease, and even death itself, efficacious to the health of thy soul.
- ↑ 2 Par. xvi. 12.,
