ii. 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.

MEMB. III.
_Whether it be lawful to seek to Saints for Aid in this Disease_.

That we must pray to God, no man doubts; but whether we should pray to
saints in such cases, or whether they can do us any good, it may be
lawfully controverted. Whether their images, shrines, relics, consecrated
things,