THE BALM OF GILEAD Or COMFORTS For the DISTRESSED Both Morall and Divine Most fit for these woful Times By Jos. HALL D. D. and B. N. London Printed by Thomas Newcomb and are to be sold by John Holden at the blue-Anchor in the New-Exchange 1650. To all the distressed Members of Jesus Christ wheresoever whose souls are wounded with the present sense of their sinnes or of their afflictions or with â—he fears OF Death Judgment The Author humbly recommends this Soveraign BALM which God hath been pleased to put into his hands for their benefit earnestly exhorting them to apply it carefully to their severall sores together with their faithfull prayers to God for a blessing upon the use thereof Not doubting but through Gods mercy they shal find thereby a sensible ease and comfort to their soules which shall be helpt on by the fervent devotions of the unworthiest servant of God and his Church J. H. B. N. The CONTENTS Comforts for the sick Bed 1 The Preface Sect. 1. AGgravation of the misery of sicknesse 2 Sect. 2. 1 Comfort from the freedom of the soul. 4 Sect. 3. 2 Comfort from the Author of sickness and the benefit of it 7 Sect. 4. 3 Comfort from the vicissitudes of health 12 Sect. 5. 4 Sickness better then sinfull health 14 Sect. 6. 5 Comfort from the greater sufferings of holyer men and the resolutions of Heathens 17 Sect. 7. 6 Our sufferings farr below our deservings 24 Sect. 8. 7 Comfort from the benefit of the exercise of our patience 27 Sect. 9. 8 The necessity of our expectation of sickness 29 Sect. 10. 9 Comfort from Gods most tender regard to us in sickness 31 Sect. 11. 10 Comfort from the comfortable end of our suffering 34 Sect. 12. 11 Comfort from the favor of a peaceable passage out of the world 36 Comforts for the sick soul 39 Sect. 1. The happiness of a deep sorrow for sinn 39 Sect. 2. Comfort from the wel-grounded declaration of pardon 41 Sect. 3. Aggravation of the grievous condition of the patient and the remedies from mercy applyed 43 Sect. 4. Complaint of unrepentance and unbelief satisfied 47 Sect. 5. Complaint of a misgrounded sorrow satisfied 49 Sect. 6. Complaint of the insufficient measure of sorrow for sin answered 52 Sect. 7. Complaint of the want of faith satisfied 57 Sect. 8. Complaint of the weaknesse of faith satisfied 63 Sect. 9. Complaint of inconstancy and desertions answered 66 Sect. 10. Complaint of unregeneration and deadnesse in sinn satisfied 72 Sect. 11. Complaint of the insensibleness of the time and meanes of conversion answered 87 Sect. 12. Complaint of irresolution and uncertainty in matter of our election answered 87 Comforts against Tentations 101 Sect. 1. Christ himself assaulted Our tryall is for our good 101 Sect. 2. The powerfull assistance of Gods Spirit and the example of S. Paul 106 Sect. 3. The restraint of our spirituall enemies and the infinite power of God over-matching them 109 Sect. 4. The advantage made to us by our Temptations and foyles 113 Sect. 5. Complaint of relapses into sinn with the remedy of it 118 Comforts against weakness of Grace 125 Sect. 1. Comfort from the common condition of all Saints 125 Sect. 2. Comfort from the improvement of weak graces and the free distribution of the Almighty 128 Sect. 3. Comfort from Gods acceptation of the truth of grace not the quantity 131 Sect. 4. Comfort from the variety of Gods gifts and the ages and statures of Grace 132 Sect. 5. Comfort from the safety of our condition even in leasurely progresses in Grace 134 Sect. 6. Comfort from our good desires and endevors 136 Sect. 7. Comfort from the happiness of an humble poverty in spirit 137 Sect. 8. An incitement to so much the more caution and faster adherence to God 139 Comforts against Infamy and Disgrace 142 Sect. 1. Comfort from the like suffering of the holyest men yea of Christ himself 142 Sect. 2. Comfort of our recourse to God 145 Sect. 3. Comfort from the clearnesse of our conscience 147 Sect. 4. From the improvement of our reason 148 Sect. 5. From the cause of our suffering 149 Sect. 6. From our envyed vertue 150 Sect. 7. From others sleighting of just reproaches 153 Sect. 8. From the narrow bounds of infamy 154 Sect. 9. From the short life of slander 155 Comforts against publick calamities 157 Sect. 1. Comfort from the inevitable necessity of changes 157 Sect. 2. From the sense and sympathie of common evils 159 Sect. 3. From the sure protection of the Almighty 161 Sect. 4. From the justice of Gods proceedings 165 Sect. 5. The remedy our particular repentance 167 Sect. 6. The unspeakable miseries of a Civil War 168 Sect. 7. The wofull miseries of Pestilence allaid by consideration of the hand that inflicts it 173 Comforts against the loss of Friends 180 Sect. 1. The true value of a friend and the fault of over-prizing him 180 Sect. 2. The true ground of an undefeisible enjoying our friends 183 Sect. 3. The rarity and tryall of true friends 185 Sect. 4. It is but a parting not a losse 187 Sect. 5. The losse of a vertuous wife mitigated 189 Sect. 6. The mitigation of the losse of a dear and hopefull Sonn 190 Comforts against poverty and losse of our estate 193 Sect. 1. Comfort from the fickle nature of these earthly goods 193 Sect. 2. They are not ours but lent us 196 Sect. 3. The estimation of our riches is in the minde 198 Sect. 4. It may be good for us to be held short 200 Sect. 5. The danger of abundance 201 Sect. 6. The cares that attend wealth 202 Sect. 7. The imperiousnesse of ill used wealth 203 Sect. 8. Consideration of the causes and meanes of impoverishing us 204 Sect. 9. Examples of those who have affected poverty 207 Comforts against Imprisonment 209 Sect. 1. Comfort from the nature and power of true liberty 209 Sect. 2. The sad objects of a free beholders eye 211 Sect. 3. Comfort from the invisible company that cannot be kept from us 213 Sect. 4. Comfort from the inward disposition of the Prisoner 215 Sect. 5. The willing choice of retiredness in some persons 217 Sect. 6. Comfort from the causes of Imprisonment 218 Sect. 7. Comfort from the good effects of retiredness 222 Sect. 8. The souls imprisonment in the body ibid. Comforts against banishment 224 Sect. 1. Comfort from the universality of a wise mans Country 224 Sect. 2. From the benefit of self-conversation 227 Sect. 3. From the examples of those holy ones that have abandoned society 228 Sect. 4. From the advantage that hath been made of removing 231 Sect. 5. From the right we have in any Countrey and in God 233 Sect. 6. From the practise of voluntary Travail 234 Sect. 7. All are Pilgrims 235 Comforts against the loss of our senses of seeing and hearing 236 Sect. 1. Comfort from the two inward lights of reasan and faith 236 Sect. 2. The supply of
better eyes 239 Sect. 3. Comfort from the better object of inward sight ib. Sect. 4. The ill offâ—ices done by the eyes 241 Sect. 5. The freedome from temptations by the eye and freedome from many sorrows 243 Sect. 6. The chearfulnesse of some blind men 247 Sect. 7. The supply which God gives in other faculties 248 Sect. 8. The benefit of the eyes which once we had 252 Sect. 9. The supply of one sense by another 255 Sect. 10. The better condition of the inward ear 258 Sect. 11. The grief that arises from hearing evill things 260 Comforts against barrennesse 261 Sect. 1. The blessing of fruitfulnesse seasoned with sorrows 261 Sect. 2. The paines of child-bearing 263 Sect. 3. The misery of ill disposed and undutifull children 265 Sect. 4. The cares of Parents for their children 267 Sect. 5. The great grief in the losse of children 273 Comforts against want of sleep 276 Sect. 1. The misery of the want of rest with the best remedy 276 Sect. 2. The favor of freedom from pain 280 Sect. 2. The great favour of health without sleep 281 Sect. 4. Sleep is but a symptome of mortality 284 Sect. 5. No use of sleep whither we are going 286 Comforts against the inconveniencies of old age 287 Sect. 1. The illimitation of age and the miseries attending it 287 Sect. 2. Old age is a blessing 292 Sect. 3. The advantages of old age 1 Fearlesness 295 Sect. 4. The next advantage of old age Freedom from impetuous passions of lust 298 Sect. 5. The third advantage Experimentall knowledge 301 Sect. 6. Age in some persons vigorous and well-affected 306 Sect. 7. The fourth advantage of age near approach to our end 308 Comforts against the fears and pains of death 311 Sect. 1. The fear of death naturall 311 Sect. 2. Remedy of feare acquaintance with death 313 Sect. 3. The misapprehension of death injurious 315 Sect. 4. Comfort from the common condition of men 318 Sect. 5. Death not feared by some 320 Sect. 6. Our deaths-day better then our birth-day 322 Sect. 7. The sting of death pull'd out 323 Sect. 8. Death but a parting to meet again 324 Sect. 9. Death but a sleep 326 Sect. 10. Death sweetned to us by Christ 330 Sect. 11. The painfulnesse of Christs death 332 Sect. 12. The vanity and miseries of life 334 Sect. 13. Examples of the courageous resolutions of others 338 Sect. 14. The happy advantages of death 341 Comforts against the terrours of Judgement 347 Sect. 1. Aggravations of the fearefulnesse of the last Iudgment 347 Sect. 2. Comfort from the condition of the elect 350 Sect. 3. Awe more fit for thoughts of judgment then terrour 354 Sect. 4. In that great and terrible day our Advocate is our Iudge 356 Sect. 5. Frequent meditation and due preparation the true remedy of fear 361 Comforts against the fears of spirituall enemies 364 Sect. 1. The great power of evill spirits and their restraint 364 Sect. 2. The fear of the number of evil spirits and the remedy of it 368 Sect. 3. The malice of the evill spirits and our fears thereof remedied 373 Sect. 4. The great subtilty of evill spirits and the remedie of the feare thereof 376 The universal Reeeipt for all Maladies 385 I Have perused this excellent Treatise intituled The Balm of GILEAD containing in it many singular medicines and soverain Salves compounded and made up with so many sweet and spirituall Ingredients of holy and heavenly consolations as may be sufficient and effectual being rightly applied to cure and heal all sicknesses and sores of body and mind caused by the fearfull apprehension of imminent dangers or the sense of present evils unto which I subscribe my probatum est and do allow it to be Printed and Published JOHN DOVVNAME THE COMFORTER Comforts for the sick Bed The Preface WHat should we do in this vale of teares but bemoan each others miseries Every man hath his load and well is he whose burthen is so easie that he may help his neighbours Hear me my son my age hath waded through a world of sorrowes The Angel that hath hitherto redeemed my soul from all evill and hath led me within few paces of the shore offers to lend thee his hand to guide thee in this dangerous foard wherein every error is death Let us follow him with an humble confidence and bee safe in the view and pity of the wofull miscarriages of others § 1. Aggravation of the misery of sicknesse Thou art now cast upon the bed of sicknesse roaring out all the day long for the extreamity of thy pain measuring the slow houres not by minutes but by groanes Thy soule is weary of thy life through the intolerable anguish of thy spirit Of all earthly afflictions this is the soarest Job himself after the sudden and astonishing newâ—â— of the losse of his goods and children could yet beare up and blesse the God that gives and takes but when his body was tormented and was made one boyle now his patience is retched so farre as to curse not his God but his Nativity The great King questioning with his Cup-bearer NEHEMIAH can say Why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick as implying that the sick man of all other hath just cause to be dejected worldly crosses are aloofe off from us sicknesse is in our bosome those touch ours onely these our selves here the whole man suffers what could the body feele without the Soule that animates it how can the soule which makes the body sensible choose but be most affected with that pain whereof it gives sense to the body Both partners have enough to doe to encounter so fierce an enemy The sharper assault requires the more powerfull resistance Recollect thy self my son and call up all the powers of thy soul to grapple with so violent an enemy § 2. 1 Comfort from the freedom of the soul. Thy body is by a sore disease consined to thy bed I should be sorry to say thou thy self wert so Thy soul which is thy self is I hope elsewhere That however it is content to take a share in thy sufferings soares above to the heaven of heavens and is prostrate before the throne of grace suing for mercy and forgivenesse beholding the face of thy glorious Mediator interceding for thee wo were to us if our souls were coffin'd up in our bosomes so as they could not stirre abroad nor goe any further then they are carried like some snail or tortoise that cannot move out of the shell Blessed be God he hath given us active spirits that can bestirre themselves whiles our bodies lie still that can be so quicke and nimble in their motions as that they can passe from earth to heaven ere our bodies can turn to the other side and how much shall we be wanting to our selves if we doe not make use of this spirituall agilitie sending up these spirits of ours from this dull clay of our
bodies to those regions of blessednesse that they may thence fetch comfort to alleviate the sorrows of their heavie partners Thus doe thou my sonne imploy thy better part no paines of the worse can make thee miserable That spirituall part of thine shall ere long be in blisse whiles this earthen peece shall lye rotting in the grave Why shouldst thou not even now before thy separation improve all the powers of it to thy present advantage Let that still behold the face of thy God in glory whiles thy bodily eyes look upon those friends at thy bed side which may pity but cannot help thee § 3. 2 Comfort from the author of sicknesse and the benefit of it Thou art pained with sicknesse Consider seriously whence it is that thou thus smartest Affliction commeth not out of the dust couldst thou but heare the voyce of thy disease as well as thou feelest the stroke of it it saith loud enough Am I come up hither without the Lord to torment thee The Lord hath said to me Goe up against this man and afflict him Couldst thou see the hand that smites thee thou couldst not but kisse it Why man it is thy good God the Father of all mercies that layes these stripes upon thee Hee that made thee he that bought thee at so deare a rate as his owne blood it is he that chastiseth thee and canst thou think he would whip thee but for thy good Thou art a Father of children and art acquainted with thine owne bowels Didst thou ever take the â—od into thy hand out of a pleasure that thou tookest in smiting that flesh which is derived from thine owne loines Was it any ease to thee to make thy child smart and bleed Didst thou not suffer more then thou inflictedst Couldst thou not rather have been content to have redeemed those his stripes with thine own Yet thou sawest good reason to lay on and not to spare for his loud crying and many teares and canst say thou hadst not loved him if thou hadst not been so kindly severe And if we that are evill know how to give loving and beneficiall correction unto our children how much more shall our Father which is in heaven know how to beat us to our advantage so as wee may sing under the rod with the blessed Psalmist I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that of very faith fulnesse thou hast afflicted me Might the child be made arbiter of his own chastisement do we think he would award himself so much as one lash yet the wiser parent knowes he shall wrong him if he doe not inflict more as having learned of wise Solomon Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell Love hath his stroaks saith Ambrose which are so much the sweeter by how much they are the harder set on Dost thou not remember the message that the two sisters sent to our Saviour Lord behold hee whom thou lovest is sick Were it so that pain or sicknesse or any other the executioners of Divine justice should be let loose upon thee to tyrannize over thee at pleasure on purpose to render thee perfectly miserable there were just reason for thy utter disheartening now they are stinted and goe under commission neither can they bee allowed to have any other limits then thy own advantage Tell me whether hadst thou rather be good or be healthfull I know thou wouldst bee both and thinkst thou mayst well be so Who is so little in his owne favour as to imagine hee can be the worse for faring well But he that made thee lookes farther into thee then thine owne eyes can doe he sees thy vigour is turning wanton and that if thy body be not sick thy soul will if he therefore finde it sit to take downe thy worse part a little for the preventing of a mortall danger to the better what cause hast thou to complain yea rather not to be thankfull When thou hast felt thy body in a distemper of fulnesse thou hast gone to sea on purpose to make thy self sick yet thou knewest that turning of thy head and stomach would bee more painful to thee then thy former indisposition why should not thine alâ—wise Creator take liberty to cure thee with an afflictious remedy § 4 3 Comfort from the vicissitudes of health Thou art now sick Wert thou not before a long time healthfull Canst thou not be content to take thy turns If thou hadst had more daies of health then houres of sicknesse how canst thou think thou hadst cause to repine Had the divine Wisedome thought sit to mitigate thy many daies pain with the ease of one hour it had been well worthy of thy thanks but now that it hath before-hand requited thy few painfull houres with yeares of perfect health how unthankfully dost thou grudge at the condition It was a foule mistake if thou didst not from all earthly things expect a vicissitude they cannot have their being without a change As well may day be without a succession of night and life without death as a mortall body without sits of distemper and how much better are these momentany changes then that last change of a misery unchangeable It was a wofull word that Father Abraham said to the damned glutron Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evill things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Oh happy stripes wherewith we are here chastened of the Lord that we may not bee condemned with the world Oh welcome feavers that may quit my soule from everlasting burnings § 5 4 Comfort Sicknesse better then sinfull health Thou complainest of sicknesse I have known those that have bestowed teares upon their too much health sadly bemoaning the feare and danger of Gods disfavour for that they ayled nothing and our Bromiard tels us of a devout man in his time that bewailed his continued welfare as no small affliction whom soon after God fitted with pain enough The poore man joyed in the change and held his sicknesse a mercy neither indeed was it otherwise intended by him that sent it Why are we too much dejected with that which others complain to want why should we finde that so tedious to us which others have wished There have been Medicinal Agues which the wise Physitian hath cast his Patient into for the cure of a worse distemper A secure and lawless health how ever Nature takes it is the most dangerous indisposition of the soul if that may be healed by some few bodily pangs the advantage is unspeakable Look upon some vigorous Gallant that in the height of his spirit and the heat of his blood eagerly pursues his carnal delights as thinking of no heaven but the free delectation of his sense and compare thy present estate with his Here thou liest groaning and sighing and panting and shifting thy weary sides complaining of the heavie pace
cooping up of these outward parts that can make thee a Prisoner Thou art not worthy of the name of a man if thou thinkest this body to bee thy selfe and that is onely it which humane power can reach unto Besides art thou a Christian then thou hast learned to submit thy will to Gods Gods will is declared in his actions for sure what hee doth that hee wills to doe If his will bee then to have thee restrained why should it not bee thine and if it be thy will to keepe in what dost thou complaine of restraint § 2. The sad objâ—cts of a free beholder Thou art restrained Is it such a matter that thou art not suffered to rome abroad How ill hast thou spent thy time if thou hast not laid up matter both of employment and contentment in thine owne bosome And what such goodly pleasure were it for thee to looke over the world and to behold those objects which thine eye shall there meet withall here men fighting there women and children wayling here plunders there riots here fields of blood there Townes and Cities flaming here some scuffling for Patrimonies there others wrangling for Religion here some famishing for want there others abusing their fulnesse here schismes and heresies there rapines and sacriledges What comfortable spectacles these are to attract or please our eyes thy closenesse frees thee from these sights the very thought whereof is enough to make a man miserable and in stead of them presents thee onely with the face of thy Keeper which custome and necessity hath acquitted from thy first horrour §. 3. Comfort from the invisible company that cannot bee kept from us Thou art shut up close within four walls and all company is secluded from thee Content thy self my son God and his holy Angels cannot bee kept out thou hast better company in thy solitude then thy liberty afforded thee the jollity of thy freedom robb'd thee of the conversation of these spiritual companions which onely can render thee happy they which before were strangers to thee are now thy guests yea thy inmates if the fault bee not thine to dwell with thee in that forced retirednesse What if the light be shut out from thee this cannot hinder thee from seeing the invisible The darknesse hideth not from thee saith the Psalmist but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and the light are both alike to thee Yea I doubt not to say God hath never beene so clearly seene as in the darkest Dungeons for the outward light of prosperity distracts our visive beames which are strongly contracted in a deep obscurity Hee must descend low and bee compassed with darknesse that would see the glorious lights of heaven by day They ever shine but are not seen save in the night May thine eyes bee blessed with this invisible sight thou shalt not envie those that glitter in Courte and that look daily upon the faces of Kings and Princes yea though they could see all that the Tempter represented to the view of our Saviour upon the highest Mountaine all the Kingdomes of the world and the glory of them § 4. Comfort from the inward disposition of the Prisoner Thou art forced to keepe close but with what disposition both of minde and body If thou hadst an unquiet and burdened Soule it were not the open and free aire that could refresh thee and if thou have a cleare and light heart it is not a strict closenesse that can dismay thee thy thoughts can keepe thee company and cheare up thy solitarinesse If thou hadst an unsound and painefull body as if thou wert laid up of the gout or some rupture or luxation of some limb thou wouldst not complain to keep in thy pain would make thee insensible of the trouble of thy confinement but if God have favoured thee with health of body how easily mayst thou digest an harmless limitation of thy person A wise man as Laurentius the Presbyter observed well doth much while he rests his motions are not so beneficial as his sitting still So mayst thou bestow the hours of thy close retiredness that thou mayst have cause to bless God for so happie an opportunity How memorable an instance hath our age yeelded us of an eminent Person to whose encagement we are beholden besides many Philosophical experiments for that noble history of the World which is now in our hands The Court had his youthful and freer times the Tower his later age the Tower reformed the Court in him and produced those worthy monuments of art and industry which we should have in vain expected from his freedom and jollity It is observed that shining wood when it is kept within doors loseth its light It is otherwise with this and many other active wits which had never shined so much if not for their closeness § 5. Comfort from the willâ—ng aboue of â—â—â—rednes in some persons Thou art close shut up I have seen Anachorites that have sued for this as a favour which thou esteemest a punishment and having obtained it have placed merit in that wherein thou apprehendest misery Yea our History tells us of one who when the Church whereto his cell was annexed was on fire would not come out to live but would die and lye buried under the ashes of that roofe where his vow had fixed him Suppose thou dost that out of the resolution of thine owne will which thou dost out of anothers necessitating and thou shalt sit downe contented with thy Lot § 6. Comfort from the causes of imprisonment Thou art imprisoned Wise men are wont in all actions and events to enquire still into the causes Wherefore dost thou suffer Is it for thy fault Make thou thy Gaole Gods correction house for reforming of thy misdeeds Remember and imitate Manasses the evill sonne of a good Father who upon true humiliation by his just imprisonment found an happy expiation of his horrible Idolatries Murders Witchcrafts whose bonds brought him home to God and himselfe Is it for Debt Thinke not to pay those who have intrusted thee with a lingring durance if there bee power in thine hand for a discharge there is fraud and injustice in this closenesse Feare thou a worse prison if thou wilt needs wilfully live and die in a just indebtment when thou maist bee at once free and honest Stretch thine ability to the utmost to satisfie others with thine own impoverishing But if the hand of God have humbled and disabled thee labour what thou canst to make thy peace with thy Creditors If they will needs be cruel look up with patience to the hand of that God who thinks fit to afflict thee with their unreasonableness and make the same good use of thy sufferings which thou wouldst do from the immediate hand of thy Creator If it be for a good cause rejoyce in this tribulation and be holily proud and glad with the blessed Apostles that thou art counted worthy to suffer shame and bonds for the Name
upon hard and unâ—â—uth voyages Perhaps it is so with thee wherein I cannot but much pity thy mistaking in placing thy contentment there where a greater and wiser man could finde nothing but vanity and vexation Alas what can be our exile if this be our home What woful entertainment is this to be enamoured on What canst thou meet with here but distempered humours hard usages violent passions bodily sicknesses sad complaints hopes disappointed frequent miscarriages wicked plots cruel menaces deadly executions momentany pleasures sauced with lasting sorrows lastly shadows of joy and real miseries Are these the things that so bewitch thee that when death calls at thy door thou art ready to say to it as the Devil said to our Saviour Art thou come to torment me before the time Are these those winning contentments that cause thee to say of the world as Peter said of Mount Tabor Master It is good for us to be here If thou have any faith in thee and what dost thou profess to be a Christian without it look up to the things of that other world whither thou art going and see whether that true life pure joy perfect felicity and thâ— eternity of all these may not be worthy to draw up thy heart to a loâ—ging desire of the fruition of them and a contemptuous disvaluation of all that earth can promise in comparison of this infinite blessedness It was one of the defects which our late Noble and learned Philosopher the Lord Virulam found in our Physitians that they do not studie those remedies that might procure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the easie passage of their Patients since they must needs die thorow the gates of death Such helps I must leave to the care of the skilful Sages of Nature the use whereof I suppose must be with much caution lest whiles they endeavour to sweeten death they shorten life But 〈◊〉 me prescribe and commend to thee my son this true spiritual means of thine happie Euthanasia which can be no other then this faithful disposition of the labouring soul that can truely say I know whom I have believed I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kâ—pt the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day § 13. Examples of courageous resolutions in others Thou startest back at the mention of death How canst thou but blush to read of that Heathen Martyr Socrates who when the message as death was brought to him could applaud the news of most joyful Or of a Cardinal of Rome who yet expected a tormenting Purgatory that received the intimation of his approaching death with Buâ—na nuova buona nuova O che buona nuova è questa Is not their confidence thy shame who believing that when our earthly house of this Tabernacle is dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens yet shrinkest at the motion of taking the possession of it Canst thou with dying Mithridates when he took his unwilling farewel of the world cry out oh light when thou art going to a light more glorious then this thou leavest then the Sun is more weak then a Rush-Candle It is our infidelity my son it is our meer inâ— idelity that makes us unwilling to die Did we think according to the cursed opinion of some fanatick persons that the soul sleeps as well as the body from the moment of the dissolution till the day of Resurrection Or did we doubt lest we should wander to unknown places where we cannot be certain of the entertainment or did we fear a scorching trial upon the emigration in flames little inferiour for the time to those of hell there were some cause for us to tremble at the approach of death But now that we can boldly say with the Wise man ` The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and there shall no torment touch them In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die and their departure is taken for misery and their going from us to be utter destruction but they are in peace Oh thou of little faith why fearest thou Why dost thou not chide thy self as that dying Saint did of old Go forth my soul go boldly forth what art thou afraid of Lo the Angels of God are ready to receive thee and to carry thee up to thy glory neither shalt thou sooner have left this wretched body then thou shalt be possessed of thy God after a momentany darkness cast upon nature thou shalt enjoy the beatifical vision of the glorious God Be not afraid to be happie but say out of faith that which Jonah said in anger It is better for me to die then to live § 14. The happy advantages of death I am afraid to die This is the voice of Nature but wilt thou hear what Grace saith To me to live is Christ and to die is gain If therefore meer Nature raign in thee thou canst not but be affrighted with death But if true grace be prevalent in thy soul that guest shall not be unwelcome Was ever any man afraid of profit and advantage Such is death to the faithful Whosoever he be that findes Christ to be his life shall be sure to finde Death his gain for that he is thereby brought to a more full and neer communion with Christ whereas before he enjoyed his Saviour onely by the dim apprehension of his Faith now he doth clearly and immediately enjoy that glorious presence which onely makes blessedness This is it which causeth death to change his Copie and renders him who is of himselfe formidable pleasing and beneficiall I desire to depart and to be with Christ saith the man who was rapt up to the third heaven Had it been onely departing surely he had had no such great edge to it but to depart and be with Christ is that which ravisheth his soule When the Heathen Socrates was to die for his Religion he comforted himselfe with this That hee should goe to the place where he should see Orphaeus Homer Musaeus and the other Worthies of the former ages Poor man could he have come to have knowne God manifested in the flesh and received up into glory and therein that glorified flesh sitting at the right hand of Majesty could he have attained to know the blessed order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Angels Archangels Principalities and Powers and the rest of the most glorious Hierarchy of heaven could he have been acquainted with that celestiall Chore of the Spirits of just men made perfect could he have reached to know the God and Father of Spirits the infinitely and incomprehensibly glorious Deity whose presence transfuses everlasting blessednesse into all those Citizens of glory and could he have known that he should have an undoubted Interest instantly upon his dissolution in that
counsel of the Wise man My son in thy sickness be not negligent but pray unto the Lord and he will make thee whole Art thou soul-sick pray So did holy David The sorrows of hell compassed me about and the snares of death prevented me In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God Art thou infested with importunate temptations Pray So did S. Paul when the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him Thrice I besought the Lord that it might depart from me So did David Whiles I suffer thy terrours I am distracted thy fierce wrath goeth over me But unto thee have I cried O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Art thou disheartned with the weakness of grace Pray so did David I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart Lord all my desire is before thee Art thou afflicted with the slanders of evil tongues Pray So did David The mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue Hold not thy peace O God of my praise Art thou grieved or affrighted with the Publike Calamities of War Famine Pestilence Pray So good Jehosaphat presseth God with his gracious promise made to Solomen If when evil cometh upon us as the sword judgement or pestilence or famine we stand before this house and in thy presence and cry unto thee in our affliction then thou wilt hear and help and shuts up his zealous supplication with Neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee Art thou afflicted with the loss of friends Pray and have recâ—urse to thy God as Ezekiel when Peletiah the son of Benaiah died Then fell I down upon my face and cried with a loud voice and said Ah Lord God! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel Art thou distressed with Poverty Pray So did David I am poor and needy and my heart is wounded within me I became also a reproach to them when they that looked upon me shaked their heads Help me O Lord my God Oh save me according to thy mercy Art thou imprisoned Pray So did Jonah when he was shut up within the living wals of the Whale I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord so did Asaph Let the sighing of the Prisoner come before thee according to the greatnesse of thy power preserve thou them that are appointed to die Art thou driven from thy Country pray This is the remedy prescribed by Solomon in his supplication to God If thy people be carried away into a Land far off or near yet if they bethink themselves in the Land whither they are carried and turn and pray to thee in the Land of their Captivity If they return to thee with all their hearts and pray towards the Land which thou gavest to their Fore-fathers c. then hear thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication Art thou bereaved of thy bodily senses Make thy addresse to him that said Who hath made mans mouth or who maketh the dumb and the deaf or the seeing or the blind have not I the Lord Cry aloud to him with Bartimeus Lord that I may receive my sight And if thou be hopelesse of thine outward sight yet pray with the Psalmist O Lord open thou mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law Art thou afflicted with sterility pray so did Isaac so did Hannah she was in bitternesse of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore and received a gracious answer Art thou troubled and weakned with want of rest pray so did Asaph I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak I cryed to God with my voice unto God with my voice and he gave ear unto me Dost thou droop under the grievances of old age pray so did David Oh cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth O God thou hast taught me from my youth Now also when I am old and gray-headed O God forsake me not Art thou troubled and dismayed with the feares of death pray so did David My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave I am counted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength Free among the dead thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darknese in the deeps But unto thee have I cried O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Dost thou tremble at the thought of judgement So did the man after Gods own heart My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Look up with Jeremiah and say to thy Saviour O Lord thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul thou hast redeemed my life O Lord judge thou my cause Lastly art thou afraid of the power malice subtilty of thy spirituall enemies pray so did David Deliver me from mine enemies O my God defend me from them that rise up against me Oh hide me from the secret counsell of the wicked Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with cruell hatred O keep my soul and deliver me So did S. Paul pray that he might be freed from the messenger of Satan whose buffets he felt and was answered with My Grace is sufficient for thee so he sues for all Gods Saints May the God of peace tread down Satan under your feet shortly Shortly what ever evill it be that presseth thy soul have speedy recourse to the throne of Grace pour out thy heart into the eares of the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort and be sure if not of redresse yet of ease We have his word for it that cannot not fail us Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie mee Fashionable suppliants may talk to God but be confident he that can truly pray can never be truly miserable Of our selves we lie open to all evils our rescue is from above aud what entercourse have we with heaven but by our prayers Our prayers are they that can deliver us from dangers avert judgements prevent mischiefs procure blessings that can obtain pardon for our sins furnish us with strength against temptations mitigate the extremity of our sufferings sustain our infirmities raise up our dejectednesse increase our graces abate our corruptions sanctifie all good things to us sweeten the bitternesse of our afflictions open the windows of heaven shut up the bars of death vanquish the powers of hell Pray and be both safe and happy FINIS Gen. 48. 16. a Ps. 32 3 Job 10 1. Job 7. 11