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The Fifth SERMON. (Book 5)
PART III.
JOHN V. 14.Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
MAN hath not found out more wayes to destroy him∣self, then God hath to save him. You shall find God's preventing mercy; his following mercy;* 1.1 his reviving and quickening mercy; his healing mercy. Here they are all, even a multitude of mercies, Healing, Preventing, Following, and Reviving. Here, I told you, is 1. Misericordia solicita, Mercy sollicitous to perfect and complete the cure. The healing of this impotent mans body was but as a glimmering light, as the dawning of the day. Mercy will yet shine brighter upon him. 2. Miseri∣cordia excitans, Mercy rousing him up to remember what he was by the pool's side, and to consider what he now is in the Temple. And these two we have already displayed before you. 3. The last now sheweth it self in rayes and light and full beauty, Misericordia praecipiens, Mercy teaching and prescribing for the future. I may call it a Logical, Rational, Concluding Mercy, making the miracle as the Premis∣ses, and drawing from it Salvation as the Conclusion; Behold, thou art made whole: Therefore sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
The words are plain, and need not the gloss of any learned Interpre∣ter. And we find that those lessons which are most plain are most neces∣sary; as those things which are most common are most useful. When we are to build an house, we do not go to the mines for gold, or to the rocks for perle, but to the quarry for stone. Corn, which feedeth us, groweth almost in every field; and Sheep, which clothe us, grase in flocks upon the mountains. But those things quibus luxuria Pretium fecit, which would be of little esteem did not our luxury set a price upon them, are remote, and in a manner hidden from us, and we find them out with la∣bour and hazard of our lives. So it is in spiritual matters: Those truths which are necessary lie open and naked to the understanding, so that he that runneth may read them: But more abstruse and subtle speculations, as they are not necessary, so are they set at distance and are hard to find out. For it is not Curiosity but Humility that must build us up in our most holy Faith. And yet, the plainest truths in Scripture require our