It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Ver. 8. It shall be health to thy navel.] That is, Thou shalt be in good plight both for the outward and inward man: Thy bones full of marrow, thy breasts full of milk, thy spirit also lively and lifted up in the ways of the Lord. And as it is with children in the womb (for to these is the allusion here), that by the navel nourishment is ministered unto them, yea, even to the strengthening of the inward parts: so the godly in the Church are fed and bred by the faith and fear of God. And as without marrow in the bones, no part of man, no, not that which is of greatest value and force, is able to do any thing: a so the strength that they have from God, is as the marrow which strengtheneth the bones, and maketh them apt to do good things. And as a man that hath his bones filled with marrow, and hath abundance of good blood and fresh spirits in his body, can endure to go with less clothes than another, because he is well lined within: so it is with a heart that hath a great deal of grace and peace; he will go through difficulties and troubles, though outward comforts fail him. It is recorded of Mr Saunders, martyr, b that himself should tell the party that lay in the same bed with him in prison, that even in the time of his examination before Stephen Gardiner, he was wonderfully comforted, not only in spirit, but also in body, he received a certain taste of that holy communion of saints, while a most pleasant refreshing did issue from every part and member of the body to the seat and place of the heart, and from thence did ebb and flow to and fro unto all the parts again.
a Munster, Mercer, T. W., and others, in loc.
b Acts and Mon., fol. 1358.