liueth and raigneth with thee God eternally Amen If the sicke person continue long and still in danger of death it will be conuenient to repeat at times necessary the abouesaid Comforts but especially those which are to assure and fortifie against the temptations and combats of Conscience And if it happen the sicke party be troubled with idle talke or cannot vnderstand a long discourse vse short sentences such as hereafter followeth speaking but at sometimes Sir it behooueth you to take good courage it is the fatherly hand of God that visiteth you for your good and saluation For to those whom God loueth all things worke together for good Lift vp your heart to God and confesse your sinnes and offences and imbrace by faith his mercy in Iesus Christ which hee hath promised to all those that repent and beleeue in him Haue you not alwaies a good assurance in the mercy of God a firme faith in Iesus Christ your Sauiour Patient Yes Doe you not beleeue that Iesus Christ is dead for your sinnes and risen againe for your iustification Patient Yes Doe you not beleeue that hee hath before the Father beene your wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption Patient Yes Doe you not thinke that hee hath freely iustified you by the grace of God through the redemption which is in Christ Iesus Patient Yes Following this your faith doubt not but God will warrant you from all perdition and giue you euerlasting life For God hath giuen his Sonne to the end that whosoeuer shall beleeue in him shall not perish but haue eternall life Ioh. 16. Feare not death seeing by faith you imbrace Iesus Christ who is your life I am saith he the resurrection and the life who shall beleeue in me although he be dead shall liue and whosoeuer liueth and beleeueth in me shall neuer dye Ioh. 11.25.26 If your sinnes doe afflict you addresse your selfe alwaies by faith and runne to Christ Iesus and you shall finde rest to your soule Come to mee saith Saint Matthew 11.28 all you that labour and are ouer-laden and I will ease you Doubt not the rigour of Gods iustice for there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Iesus as the Apostle Saint Paul saith Rom. 8.1 And who is he Rom. 8.32.33 that will bring in accusation against the elect of God God is hee that iustifieth who will be hee that shall condemne Christ is he which is dead and which is more is risen againe who is also at the right hand of God and maketh intercession for vs. Be not sorry to leaue this miserable life which as Saint Iames saith 4.14 is but a vapour which appeareth a little while and afterwards vanisheth besides in exchange thereof euerlasting life shall be giuen vnto you and in that the very height of felicity so great and incomprehensible That eye hath not seene nor eare vnderstood and is not come vp into the heart of man that which God hath prepared for those that loue him When the sicke person is apparantly at the point of death or ready to yeeld vp the Ghost it is necessary to repeat this short consolation following with prayer Comfort your selfe Sir you now approach neare vnto the end of the Combat which cannot be otherwise but happy vnto you assure your selfe the victory is of your side by meanes of your faith which is the victory that ouercommeth the world and the Prince of the world Iesus Christ your head and Sauiour extendeth forth his hand and stayeth for you at the end of the lists to present vnto you the incorruptible Crowne of glory which he hath purchased with the price of his bloud commend your selfe vnto him now with all your heart goe vnto him with ioy throw your selfe into his Armes and say Into thy hands I commend my soule for thou hast bought me O God of truth Psal 31. Let vs againe pray to God that he will giue you his grace A Prayer O Lord Father of Mercy God of all Consolation let fall thy mercies and comforts vpon this occasion vpon this person thy poore childe and seruant Make him now gather and apply vnto himselfe excellent and abundant profit of the holy Instructions which in thy schoole thou hast taught him during the course of his life giue him an inuincible faith in this Combat Arme him with all thy spirituall Armour that hee may resist all the Temptations of Sathan and hauing ouercome all make him remain firme If thy Iustice astonish let thy mercie assure and comfort if his sinnes accuse him let the obedience of thy welbeloued excuse and iustifie him if the apprehension of death trouble him make him contemplate the open gate of euerlasting life to which thou goest to make him enter Thou hast giuen him it in thy Sonne make it perfectly happy to him Hee is of the flocke of this great Shepheard let it not be taken from him Thou hast begun his saluation let not the worke remaine vnperfect And now that thou hast brought him to the end of his sorrowfull course now receiue his soule into thy hands and bring it into thy heauenly paradice into the fulnesse of repose and beatitude into the company of thy blessed Angels and holy soules of thine Elect which thou hast gathered for euer to enioy together the perfection of all ioy which consisteth in the contemplation of his face Heare vs O Father of mercy for the loue of thy welbeloued Son Iesus Christ our Lord who in vnity of the holy Spirit liueth and raigneth with thee God eternally Amen A short comfort for those that are friends of the deceased to be giuen after the body is interred Friends it is needfull in this businesse for you to remember of the holy Christian instruction which you haue receiued in the schoole of Iesus Christ for to make your profit in bearing your affliction with patience and in humility resting in a quiet Spirit at the will of God to which we ought alwayes to be subiect and conformable Our Nature in such accidents leadeth vs to teares but the Spirit of God author of all Regeneration teacheth vs to keepe measure and not to afflict our selues like those that haue no hope 1 Thess 4.13 If we be men in weeping yet wee must shew our selues Christians adorned with faith and hope to assure vs that this corporall death is no other to the faithfull children of God but a happy port to enter into eternall life Ioh. 5.28.29 and as for the body it must remaine in earth vntill that day when they shall heare the voyce of the Lord which shall make them rise out of the graue into the resurrection of life That the deceased is of the number of Gods children the marks and testimonies which God hath giuen him by the good profession of piety and wisedome which hee hath made in the Church vnto the last breath of his life neede not leaue vs in doubt He hath liued to the Lord and is dead to the Lord by consequence is happy and resteth from his labour Apoc. 14.13 by the heauenly testimony of the Spirit of God himselfe You haue no cause to weep ouer him for the condition he is in being in euery kinde thrice happy He hath also a great aduantage of vs that remaine in this world behinde him For he is arriued at the port of saluation where as we are still beaten with the storme and torment of the confused and dangerous sea of this miserable world And therefore it is much better to aspire to go with him then to wish him to remaine here below with vs for the discommodity that you may receiue by his absence it behoueth you to consider that God that gaue him to you remaineth still with you who is enough for vs without all other things whereas all other things without him are nothing It is hee that will continue alwayes ouer you the care of his fatherly prouidence if you continue alwayes to walke in his feare I beseech God to giue you grace and fortifie you with a holy and constant resolution Amen FINIS
by the eare so God hath willed that life should enter in by the same meanes and as man is fallen by beleeuing the word of the Serpent so man should be raised againe by beleeuing the Word of God It is no wonder then if Sathan oppose himselfe at the preaching of the Gospel and enforce himselfe to make it seeme odious because it is the means to diminish his Empire Hee hath stitched the skinne of the Foxe to the skinne of the Lyon adding subtilty to force coupling together with persecution the stings of Philosophy Euen as the Sunne that bringeth in the Spring with Flowers and new Verdure begetting thousands of flies and vermine which serue to no end but losse and dammage Also in like sort so soone as God hath powred out his blessings vpon a Countrey with the Sun-shine of the Gospel presently there ariseth a thousand lyes trickes and conspiracies to extinguish the growing truth and to stifle the Church of God in the Cradle Before the preaching of the Gospell published by the Apostles there was a wonderfull confusion of contrary Religions and yet there was neuer any contention or fighting for Religion amongst themselues When the Romanes conquered any Countrey they carryed triumphantly away with them their Captiuates Gods of strange Religions and made Temples for their imprisoned Gods and so brought in into their Citie all sorts of Religion They neuer differed with any but the Christian Religion onely against it haue they enlighted their fire and vnsheathed their swords for many and diuers lies may dwell together but there is no accord between a lie the truth two false Religions agree much better together then the false with the true Pilate and Herode although they were enemies yet agreed together against Iesus Christ Also one may see at this present in Rome the Iewes who maintaine that Christ Iesus was a dissembler are suffered to dwell there with Greeks and Turks likewise Our Religion onely is not suffered there because that it alone ruinateth the Empire of Sathan professing Iesus Christ onely for the purgation of all our sinnes and his death onely for sacrifice and his Word for the onely rule of our faith Now although Sathan worke all that is possible against vs yet shall he neuer come to the end of his purpose For euen as the Rayes of the Sunne cannot be mooued with the winde out of their proper lines because their nature is heauenly so the world and the Diuell neuer extinguish the light of the Word of God because it commeth from Heauen and is of a spirituall nature Hee which could speake of these things with more experience then any other was St. Paul who suffered so many trauailes runne so many dangers endured so many ignominies for the testimonie of the Gospell And being strengthened with vertue from aboue loseth no courage but disgesteth his bitternesse mispriseth their misprises and glorifying himselfe in their contempt of him saying I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ c. The vnderstanding of these words depend vpon the Exposition of three points First what the Gospell of Christ is Secondly what the causes are that make men ashamed of the Gospell Thirdly what haue beene the considerations which haue encouraged our Apostle not to bee ashamed of the Gospell whereof hee propoundeth vnto vs the principall that is to say That it is the power of Christ c. To begin with the first point This word Gospell signifieth a new man and a happy the Gospell of Christ is the good newes which not onely declareth Iesus Christ vnto vs but also is declared vnto vs by Iesus Christ It is a happy newes whereof Iesus Christ is not onely the subiect and the substance but also the bringer and the reuealer To make vs vnderstand what the substance of this good newes is you ought to put for foundation that the good of the Creature dependeth vpon the Creator and that the felicitie of man proceedeth not from his owne proper vertue but from the grace of God which was the cause why God did not create Adam in the earthly Paradise but onely introduced him in to the end hee might learne that he was not heire of Paradise by nature but it was God that by his grace led man in euen as it were by the hand In this earthly Paradise God had planted two Trees which serue for two aduertisements the one setting out human infirmity the other claring the grace of God the Tree of knowledge of good and euill was a figure of the Law which gaue man to vnderstand the knowledge of good and euill and the Tree of life was the figure of the Gospell which presented vnto vs the fruit of life that is to say Iesus Christ as hee himselfe expoundeth it in speaking of his graces Whosoeuer shall ouercome I will giue him to eate of the Tree of life c. Now wee see that if before the fall of man God would by these documents make man know and vnderstand he did not subsist at all by his owne proper vertue but onely by the grace of God How much more must he now subiect and confesse his weakenesse seeing he is fallen away from this grace by his sinnes For if a liuing man subsist not of himselfe much lesse can a dead man raise himselfe vp by his proper vertue whereupon God promised to Abraham the possession of the land of Canaan which was a figure of the Kingdome of Heauen yet he would not put him into the possession thereof although he were the naturall Father of all the people of God to the end man might learne that the possession of the inheritance of Heauen commeth not by Nature but by the grace of God And moreouer God would not that Moses the bearer of the Law should introduce the people into the land of Canaan purposely to declare vnto vs that it is not by the Law or by our workes that wee can come to the Kingdome of Heauen What then The charge to bring in the people of God into the promised inheritance was giuen to Iosuah who was also called Iesus and a Sauiour being onely a figure of Iesus Christ Moses led the people to the borders of the Land and deliuered them into the hands of Iosuah because the law leadeth vs to the Gospell and is a Schoolemaster to bring vs vnto Christ chasing vs on our way by threatnings and representing it vnto vs by shadowes and figures Man then being so cast downe and fallen into death could not get vp againe but by the onely assistance and grace of God Hee that did blow vpon the face of Adam Respiration of life is he onely from whom man can receiue inspiration of spirituall life For as Epiphanius reciteth of those that trauailed by the desarts of Siria where are nothing but miserable Marishes and Sands destitute of all commodities if it hapned that their fire went out by the way then they lighted it againe at the Sunne by some deuice euen so
our hearts out of the earth to lift them vp to heauen Experience teacheth that our affections are but too much rooted and tyed here below whilest we are in health and at our case we would willingly neuer part from it wee would be content that our soueraigne good felicitie were here assigned so stupid and blinde wee are But God who hath destinated vs to a better life maketh vs behold and perceiue how vaine and deceitfull the present imaginary sweetnesses and prosperities are For when hee pleaseth to visite vs with any sickenesse then we begin to consider the many miseries and incommodities that lackey our liues along euen from the cradle to the sepulchre which maketh vs know and cry out with Esay 47. v. 6. That all flesh is like grasse and all the glory of it no better then a flower of the field And Dauid Psalme 90. That the flower of this short life is such that wee are alwayes in paine and Martyrdome And with Iob 14. That man that is borne of a woman is but of short life and full of care Which is the cause wherefore God maketh vs remember principally when we feele our selues sicke or otherwise afflicted to make vs contemne the world and aspire to heauen making this miserable life distastefull that we may by meditation taste of the Heauenly life to the end that where our Treasure is there may be also our heart and that our faith and hope being retyred from the world and from the things of the world wee may be lifted vp where they haue their true obiects that is to God and to eternall life For faith also is not of things visible but inuisible and Hope is not of present goods but of goods to come that is to say of Heauenly and Eternall goods purchased by Iesus Christ goods so great and incomprehensible which as Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 1.9 Eye hath not seene nor eare hath vnderstood nor is not come vp into the heart of man which God hath prepared for those that loue him There is also a third fruit very excellent which God maketh vs receiue of sickenesses which he sendeth vs for by this meanes we come to the tryall and proofe for to purifie and amend our faith making it appeare to his glory and to the edification of our neighbour For as by this meanes our faith is excited and raised vp from the world to God from earth to heauen from this life to the most happy and permanent for euer So is it by such prooues examined and exercised and euen as it were refined and purified like gold that is tryed and purified in the fire as Saint Peter speaketh 1 Pet. 1.7 It is also brought in euidence and to the light with patience constancy and other Christian vertues which God hath put in vs without the which wee should not be knowne of any and so in regard of our neighbours should remaine without all vse or profit And certainely wee should neuer haue knowne what the patience of Iob had beene of Abraham Dauid and many other excellent seruants of God if God had not made them passe through the fire of proofes and temptations and at this day we should not haue had so many faire examples as we haue to comfort and incourage vs to their imitation It is the same of Christian faith and patience as of a Souldier and his valour who neuer seeth well but in the middle of the combat or of the clearenesse of Stars which are not beheld but in the night or the odour of incense which is not smelt till it be cast into the fire So God maketh knowne to our brethren the courage which he hath giuen vs when hee maketh it come to our hands with some rude and violent sickenesse hee manifesteth vnto them the clearenesse of our faith when hee couereth vs with some night of affliction he maketh them smell the odour of our patience when he casteth vs into any fire of aduersity and by this meanes our brethren are not onely instructed edified and comforted by this our good example but likwise led to praise and glorifie God who strengtheneth and sustaineth vs in the feeblenesse of our flesh which demonstrateth and accomplisheth his great vertue in our great infirmitie Now behold the principall and most notable spirituall fruits which God of his bounty propoundeth vnto vs what we may gather of our corporall sickenesses And therefore Sir now that God doth visite you with this maladie and putteth you into this bed of infirmitie it behoueth you to know and to acknowledge that this is his fatherly hand that handleth you after this manner as one of his children and by which he calleth you to reioyce in those excellent fruits and profits which haue beene declared for his glory and for your good and saluation You must likewise acknowledge that he would raise you out of your sinnes and faults and would haue you effectually feele a displeasure within your selfe that you may seeke for true pardon in Christs mercies renouncing withall your heart your former euill life with a sound resolution hereafter to serue him and to walke in his feare with more zeale and affection then you haue done heretofore wholly relying vpon his grace Is not this that you promise Patient It is Also consider it is his will by this meanes to make you feele the miseries of this life that you may contemne and tread down these worldly vanities vnder foote to the ende that with all your heart you may aspire to the heauenly and eternall life and thereby to answere the dignity of that condition to which you are called to be children of God and not children of men to haue your conuersation as Citizens of heauen and not of earth and to follow after and search as Saint Paul saith for Phil. 3.20 Col. 2.12 The things which are aboue and not those things which are below Is not this also by Gods grace your resolution to doe all the dayes of your life Patient It is Acknowledge in the end that the good will of God is by this sicknesse to examine proue you to the end that your faith and your patience may become more perfect and that they may be seene and manifested to your Brethren and neighbours round about you that thereby they may be comforted and edefied and giue glory to God to see you so patiently and constantly to carry the violences and sorrowes of this affliction and that you esteeme your selfe to rest with a peaceable and quiet minde to receiue whatsoeuer else it shall please God to send vnto you Is not this the resolution which you take Patient It is I beseech God to giue you grace happily to accomplish your holy promises to his glory and your owne saluation also you must with all your heart often beseech him and implore his grace otherwise you shall neuer be capable of your selfe But if you earnestly and ardently desire him with a true and a liuely faith in the
you need not doubt a certaine assurance to be iustified and saued seeing that God hath giuen you this grace to beleeue with your heart to Righteousnesse and to make confession with your mouth to saluation Rom. 1.1 For the sicke person to resolue whether it be for life or death according to Gods will Being thus resolued vpon this firme foundation of faith now you must take a holy resolution constantly to attend without all feare what the Lord will be pleased to send vnto you in this your sicknesse with a firme perswasion that all will goe well with you whether it bee you shall remaine here below or that it be his pleasure to make you more happy If his pleasure be to restore you to former health againe as he is powerfull to draw the dead out of the sepulcher and make them liue againe which will bee if hee please for to make you more affectionate to the honour and seruice of God then euer heretofore you haue beene But if it be his will to leade you by this sickenesse to the end of your course it will be to receiue you into the possession of that perfect felicity which the Sonne of God hath so dearely bought with the price of his blood And therefore goe your wayes vnto him with a holy chearefulnesse in the assurance of his mercies Reioyce your selfe in the happy exchange of your remouing from earth to Heauen from this short and miserable life to the blessed life for euer to endure from these triuiall and perishing goods to those that are heauenly and eternall which eye hath not seene nor eare hath heard which are not yet come vp into the heart of Man which God hath prepared for those that loue him Are you not then well resolued in all this to conforme your will to your Heauenly Father to the end that whether you liue you liue to the Lord or whether you dye you die to the Lord Rom. 14.8 being well assured that Christ shall be alwayes to you to liue or to dye Phil. 1.21 Patient Yes God giue you the grace For to assure and comfort the sicke in the infirmitie of Faith I am not ignorant that your faith how great soeuer it may be yet notwithstanding it is both little in you and feeble for whilest the infirmities of this life remaine the Holy Spirit is not giuen vs but in a certaine measure according to the which we know not but in part and our spirituall renuing is yet but in the beginning it is certaine that here below we cannot attaine to the perfection of faith and therefore I doubt not but that your faith is yet weake and infirme and that it cannot but be moued with diuers temptations and combated with diuers assaults of doubt and distrust But yet neuerthelesse it behoueth you to be of good courage for this combat which you feele in your selfe is the combat which as Saint Paul saith to the Galatians 5. v. 17. is in the soule of euery faithfull betweene the flesh and the Spirit and therefore this is a sure testimony which you haue by faith For as the flesh fighteth in you through vnbeliefe so doth the Spirit fight in you by faith and this faith neuer faileth being fortified by the Spirit of God which maketh a man victorious and whatsoeuer imperfection it hath God will make it sufficient to saluation for it is not said Who shall perfectly beleeue shall be saued but simply Who shall beleeue Moreouer as you perceiue in your selfe your faith feeble and imperfect also I doubt not but you perceiue in your selfe a Holy desire that it may be encreased in you and made stronger and that in your heart you make your prayers to God that it may be so Is it not true Patient Yes But seeing it is so and that this faith and desire may encrease in you and that this prayer which you make to God proceed from the fruit of the Spirit and not of the flesh and seeing these are the fruits which the Spirit of God bringeth forth in you is it not a sure testimony that you are conducted by the same Spirit and so consequently the child of God for all those that are conducted by the Spirit of God are the children of God which Saint Paul saith Rom. 8.14 Be of good cheere Sir and boldly say with the Apostle in the middest of your combats I am assured that nothing can seperate me from the loue of God which he hath shewed mee in Iesus Christ our Lord. For to assure the sicke against the affrights and temptations of Conscience There are foure things to be marked which in this spirituall combat may affright you shake your faith and trouble the peace of your conscience which is the feeling of your sinnes the apprehension of death the feare of the Diuell and the horror of Gods Iudgements before whom wee must make our appearance at the going out of this life But against the feare of all these things the bounty of God in the blessings of Christ and in the testimony of his Word furnisheth you with all sufficient remedies for to assure you and truely to confirme you in inuincible constancy Against feare proceeding from the feeling of sinne First of all for the respect of your sinnes it is very necessary to haue a liuely feeling thereof for to humble your selfe before God but seeing yon protest to haue a serious and true repentance and to search and apprehend by faith the satisfaction and expiation in the blood of Iesus Christ assure your selfe they can no way hinder the effect of your saluation If you bee a sinner So Iesus Christ is come into the world to saue sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world Iohn 1.29 It is his blood which cleanseth vs from all iniquitie 1 Iohn 1.7.9 And whosoeuer shall beleeue in him shall receiue remission of his sinnes through his Name Acts 10.43 And therefore he hath commanded that repentance and forgiuenesse of sinnes should bee preached in his Name Luke 24.47 Hee himselfe inuiteth vs to come to him for to enioy this blessing Come vnto me all yee that labour and are ouer-laden and I will refresh you Matth. 11.28 Goe your wayes then vnto him if you finde your selues grieued with the burthen of your sinnes in assurance to finde remedy for your soules And for that very thing euery day hee maketh himselfe an Aduocate to the Father for vs. If we haue sinned saith Saint Iohn 2.1.2 wee haue an Aduocate with the Father that is to say Iesus Christ the Iust who is the propitiation for our sinnes Against the feare of Death In regard of death wherefore doe you feare it seeing that your sinnes are no more imputed vnto you for sinne was the cause that death entred into the world as Saint Paul Rom. 5.12 and by consequence there where no sinne is there can be no death And indeed concerning death eternall which the Scripture
calleth the second death you haue an entire and full freedome by the meanes of this faith which God hath giuen you In veritie saith the Sonne of God Iohn 5.24 I say vnto you that he that heareth my Word and beleeueth in him that sent mee shall haue euerlasting life and shall not come to condemnation but is passed from death to life And as for the corporall death of which we are assured it is neuer a testimony to the faithfull of the anger of God against them as it is alwayes to the wicked but a singular fauour of Gods bounty bringing an infinite number of blessings with it First of all it deliuereth vs from all sorts of dangers putting an end to so many miseries and griefes which vexeth vs without cease both in our soules and Bodies during the course of this miserable life or rather of this continuall death wherewithall wee languish here below Also it taketh vs away from amidst the throng of this wicked world with the corruption whereof we cannot but be infected and so we come to be freed from this vnhappy necessitie of sinfull liuing and from the daily and hourely offending of our Heauenly Father who is so bountifull and gracious a God vnto vs. Secondly this bodily death is an entrance to the true life by the death of Iesus Christ whose sacred selfe hath passed through this death to make our passage safe and happy vnto vs this is now an assured bridge to passe and make our trauaile from the world to God and from the mischieues of this life to the incomprehensible Beatitude of eternall life to that fulnesse of ioy which is as Dauid saith Psalme 16.11 In the contemplation of the face of the Eternall This is the good which your Soule shall enioy at the departing from your body And as for your body which shall be put into the earth it shall not be there to perish alwayes but onely for a while to rest attending the happy resurrection which is the cause why death is called in the Scripture A Sleepe and and they are saide to be sleeping in regard of their bodies which at the last day shal be awaked and rise from dust to possesse together with their soules the glorious mortality being made conformable to the glorious Body of our Lord Iesus Christ Phil. 3.21 He is the head and they are the members and therefore it behoueth that the members be conformable to their Head What finde you then in death that may affright you seeing it deliuereth you from all euill and will raise you to the height of all goodnesse Rather you shall not meete with any thing but will giue you comfort and assurance to confirme your attendance with resolution and tranquillitie of spirit euen to aspire with all your hearr when the Houre will â—ome to say with Saint Paul My desire is to be dissolued and to be with Christ Against the feare of the Diuell For the feare that you may haue of the Diuell you see now there is no great cause to doubt seeing that death cannot annoy you but by death by which it domineareth But the Apostle testifieth that Iesus Christ hath not onely destroyed death but him also that hath the empire of death which is the Diuell Heb. 2.14 Our Lord himselfe saith that the Prince of this world hath nothing in him neither hath any thing in those that are his Members amongst which number you are by the grace of God Also this hath beene for vs and our profit that the Sonne of God hath vanquished and ouercome vpon the Crosse where He hath as Saint Paul saith to the Collossians 2.15 ouercome the principalities and powers of Hell which hee hath publikely brought in euidence therein triumphing ouer them I doubt not but the enemy of our saluation maketh warre against you for to astonish and trouble your Faith for as Saint Peter saith 1.5 Verse 8.9 Our aduersarie the Diuell walketh like a roaring Lyon seeking whom hee may deuoure Saint Peter addeth being firme in faith it behooueth vs to resist him Resist the Diuell as Saint Iames saith 4.7 and he will flie from you But for to resist and vanquish him it behoueth you to be defended with the armour of God whereof Saint Paul speaketh to the Ephesians Chap. 6. Verse 16. Taking aboue all as hee saith the Buckler of Faith by which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked Against the Apprehension of the Iudgement of God Now remaineth the feare which you may take of the Iudgement of God before whom you must appeare But whereupon ground you your apprehension seeing that your sinnes shall be no more imputed vnto you seeing you shall be no more condemned to death seeing that it will nothing auaile Sathan to accuse you being thereby absolued and iustified by the grace of God It is the doctrine which the Apostle Saint Paul giueth vs Rom. 8. Verse 32.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that iustifieth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen againe who is euen at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for vs. Euen so ought we to come before God but not as before a seuere and rigorous Iudge but as before a Father that is well-pleased with you through the intercession of Iesus Christ of Iesus Christ I say who is both your Intercessor and Aduocate to God the Father Hee will not be refused of the Father in his request for you by Iesus Christ whereof you are a Member For there is no condemnation to those that are in Iesus Christ saith Saint Paul Rom. 8.1 By Iesus Christ in the end in whom you beleeue But he that beleeueth in me saith he shall haue eternall life and shall not come to condemnation but is passed from death to life Is not this then Sir your Faith and firme beliefe which by the benefit of our Lord Iesus Christ you haue forgiuenesse of your sinnes Iohn 5.24 That you are saued from eternall death and freed from the rigour of Gods iudgements and by consequence Sathan cannot annoy you by his accusations and temptations and that this corporall death can be no other vnto you but profitable and euery way happy Also a protestation of charity must be drawne from the sicke party to his Neighbour As for the rest Sir you know Faith worketh by Charity and necessarily bringeth it forth seeing it hath pleased God to vnite you vnto him by Faith also of necessitie you must be vnited to all your Brethren and Neighbours by a true christian Charity And therefore tell vs if you freely renounce not all hatred rancour and enmity with euery one without exception and desire the good and saluation of all in generall and euery one in particular euen as of your owne Patient Yes Doe you not pardon with all your heart all those that might haue offended you in any sort as you likewise require