improve my Spirit And oh that this succession of my Losses may serve to perfect me in Patience and to wean me more thoroly from all earthly Supports Oh! that it may temper my worldly Complacencyes and guard me against all excess therein And call me to take Delight and seek Comfort in thee instead of seeking it in them and to look more at the joys of thy Kingdom where our Comforts shall succede one another infinitely faster than our Sorrows do here and where we shall for ever injoy thee thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For supplying the want they have of their departed Friend by other ways of Gods good Providence they may use the two Prayers for the Widow and Orphans c. p. 158 156 and 157. 6. A Prayer for Learning by these Losses to sit more loose to the World and to fix our Hearts more on the Love of God THou hast sent me this Thorn in the flesh O! Blessed Lord to cure my inordinate Fondness for fleshly Delights and to keep me from being too much exalted with them For I pleased my self too much with worldly Comforts and to take my Heart off from them thou hast now embitter'd them to me with these Sorrows And Oh! doe thou teach me thereby to Delight more in thy self and less in Earthly things Enable me to make a Good Conscience and a comfortable sense of thy Love and Hope of thy Promises and of Heavenly joys my most beloved pleasures And Lord let me never call my self unhappy whilst I can injoy thee But make me account the Loss of all things else to be made up to me in thy Love and never repine or complain of other wants whilst thou art left me and I can comfortably look up to thee as my Bosom Friend and my tender Father as my Life and my Health my Rest and my joy thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen â— A Prayer when a Friend is taken away in his Prime THou art pleased to Cut off my Dear Friend O! most Righteous Lord in the midst of his Days before he had passed thro the several stages of Life and accomplished the Number of his Years But I will remember O! my God that it is not the Lenth of Life but the Goodness of it which thou lookest at And that he has lived long enough who has lived to be fit for thee and to Dispose his Soul for thy Mercy The blessed Mansions above are infinitely the best place to prolong and injoy Life in And therefore if thou O! Father art graciously pleased as I hope thou art for the Merits of our Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to accept of the innocence and obedience of his Life neither he nor we have any cause to complain of the shortness of it And if we who are left behind him may have the Grace first to live holily we will thankfully think and own to thee that we have lived long enough whensoever thou seest it Time we should Dye And as my Dear Friend is taken away in the Prime of his Strength soe I must Consider O! Lord that he is taken away withall in the Hight of his Toyls and out of the greatest Hurry of his Busyness and Temptations Thou hast thereby kept him from trying how strong he could be to bear Sorrows and Vexations and from lamenting to finde his Strength too often turn'd into weakness And oh that we who survive him may at lenth attain by thy Grace to have all our temptations end in a perpetual security and undisturbedness to have all our Sorrows turned into joys and our Days of Labor happily exchanged for Days of Rest and Peace for the Merits and Mediation of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 3. Prayers when a Friend is taken away by a violent untimely Death I. A Prayer whilst the Person yet liveth to be said either by himself or by his Friends for him O! Allmighty Lord thou art pleased by a violent and hasty Stroke to hurry me thy unworthy Servant out of this World For thou didst Deliver me into the Hands of him that Smote me and how unjustly soever my Death comes from him yet it is most just from thee I fully justify thee and freely forgive him and oh that he may truely repent thereof in Time that thou mayest freely forgive him too But as I am like to be snatched away thereby from hence in hast O! my Dear God Give me Great strength of Grace to do much towards finishing my Peace with thee in a little Time If thou art pleased to shew it thy Grace can perfect my Repentance in few hours yea in a few minutes as well as in many It wrought it in the Thief upon the Cross in his last Agonies And some who had tarryed till the last hour of the Day are made acceptable thereby in thy Service Oh! let it be mighty towards me in this my necessity as it was towards them in theirs and take me not hence till it has made me a Penitent fit for thee to accept of Oh! Remember not my great and manifold Sins in Wrath but only to send Grace sufficient to Cure them and to shew Mercy on me for the same And as I am hereby Chastned for their Cause Lord let it be that I may not be Condemned with the World Let all my Punishment or Portion of Pains be here but Give me Peace and Favour with thee hereafter And Spare me a little Good Lord Spare me if it may seem Good to thee that I may recover some Strength and Dress my Lamp and supply the Great Defectiveness of my Duty towards thee before I 〈◊〉 But if thou hast otherwise Decreed and I must Dye suddenly then magnifye thy mercy O! my God inâ—escueing me from the near approacâ— of Eternal misery and let thy Displeasure end in my Death but after that receive me among the meanest of thy Servants to Everlasting Life thro the merits of my Blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ Amen 2. A Prayer of his Friends after his Death O! Blessed Father it has seem'd Good to thy wise Providence to tear this Dear Friend from us by violence and to send him untimely to his Grave I own thy Justice herein and Dâ—sire to shew Reverence instead of murmuring because it is thy Doing And my Hope is O! Lord that thou doest and wilt remember the Pious Study and bent of his former Life in mercy and graciously accept him as one Dying in thy Fear And whilst I have this Hope to Comfort me I will not Complain of any violence or Accidents which hurryed him away from us to injoy thee When it has been the business of a mans Life and his dayly Study and Care O! God to serve thee tho Death comes on the sudden yet it will not come too soon for him And I will consider allsoe that if thou surprizest him with the suddenness of his Death thou sufferest him not to be
I will neither be afraid nor unwilling to go to him For whom have I in Heaven Lord but thee And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Ps. 73. 25. I desire to be Dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Sweet Jesu come quickly Amen Rev. 22. 20. Yea as the Hart panteth after the Water-Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O! God My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Ps. 42. 1 2. Lord I come to thee receive me out of thine abundant Mercy I come to thee and him who cometh unto thee thou wilt in no wise cast out Jo. 6. 37. Lord Jesu receive my Spirit Amen Acts 7. 59. Receive me according to thy word and I shall live and shall not be disappointed of my hope Because I live ye shall live allso Amen Jo. 14. 19. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find watching Luc 12. 37. All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come Job 14. 14. O! Father pity me as a Father Pityeth his Children and receive me for whom thou hast laboured and hast made me what I am O! Jesu Saviour of Sinners save me whom thou hast Redeemed with thy Blood which is too dear a price to be thrown away in a lost Purchase O! Holy Ghost the Sanctifier and Comforter now finish in me thine own work and comfort up my fainting Spirit O! Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity I have humbly served and feared thee tho' in much Frailty all my Life receive and comfort me now at my Death Amen CHAP. VI. Of Care and Treatment of the Dead AS soon as the Dying Person has breathed his last his surviving Friends especially they whom he has intrusted with the care and Disposal of his Body must be very careful to Dress and treat it Decently till it be Decently interr'd Let it not lye too open to the Inquiries of the Curious nor let any thing of it be exposed which the Person if alive would blush at If he gave Orders for his own Funeral those Orders are a Trust which are Religiously to be observed But if he has left it to them they must Order the same with as Prudent a Regard to his circumstances and worldly Estate and with as much Decency and wise expression of Love and Respect to him as they can And lay out what is fit in Dressing out the Body and interring it in shewing Respect and Kindness where he bore them or where he ought them and in Doles and Deeds of Charity to the Poor and Needy In these layings out they should not spend more than is meet nor lavish any thing away vainly or imprudently And on the other Hand they need not Scruple some well chosen instances of expence which are rather Honorary than useful if there be Estate enough to bear them and good Reason for them and Moderation and Discretion shown in them For tho' this cost doth the Poor no Good as Judas once objected yet it expresses their Love and Respect to the Dead and such expressions of esteem and kindness to them who have Greatly deserved it and can now make no more Returns of it are Religious and well approved of both by God and Men. Our Blessed Lord himself very kindly receiving the cost of the Rich Oyntment which Mary Lazarurus's Sister poured upon his Head because she did it for his Burial At the Funeral when a Refection is brought according to the Custom of the Place to the Friendly Attendants of the Body before it is carried forth to relieve their waiting or their weariness let it be Dealt among them with Great Moderation Remembring that these Guests come not to gratifie and please their Palates but to bear their Part in a Scene of Grief and attend as Mourners And let all who meet there Remember that they are come to mourn with those that mourn and bear a part with the afflicted and be careful to shew themselves sensibly and seriously affected with their own or the surviving Relations Loss according as there is just cause however with the loud Warning and Alarm to themselves which is in these Providences Let them not talk lightly or Pleasantly nor fall into Discourses of News or Markettings or of other Worldly business For these neither suit with the Friendly Sadness nor with the Religious Seriousness of that occasion and shew them to be little touched either with their Friends Death or with Thoughts and Expectations of their own But instead thereof let them study each to employ themselves and entertain their Company with Thoughts and Discourses about the Vanity and uncertainty of all earthly Things about the Sorrows and benefits of Sickness about the Troublesomeness and Shortness of Life the certainty that we shall all Dye and the uncertainty of the Time when and the Suddenness many Times of these Changes and the Great need we all have constantly to expect and prepare for them and about the Hopes and Blessedness there is in Dying well and the Happiness of that State where we shall Dye no more nor ever have the Loss of any Dear Friends to Mourn for They may also Discourse of their Deceased Friends especially when they have things to say of them to their Advantage As how their Patience was tryed and approved in their Sickness how good God was to them and how Submissive and Devout they were towards him what Good words they said or Good works they did or Comfort and Support they found or any thing else belonging to them either Living or Dying for which they are fit to live in our Memory and be examples for our instruction or imitation And when they come thus to take up Good and Heavenly Thoughts and to infuse them into one another they will do Great Good to themselves as well as Honour to their Friend by paying him this last Office and all return better than they came from the House of Mourning When the Relations and Friends mourn and shew Decent sorrow for the Deceased as 't is fit they should to shew they expect to find a want of them or to express their Love and value for them as Jesus wept at Lazarus's Grave to show how he loved him they must be careful to Do it moderately and Christianly And Grieve for him like men who know that God has taken him and who have hope and comfort in Death and after it and believe when a Pious Friend Dyes that the living only have lost but that the Deceased has got by Dying But they must not repine against God who has taken their Friend away nor mistrust his Care to provide for them now their Friend is gone nor grow out of Humour or unthankful for all his other Mercies because they are deprived of this nor let their Grief be excessive or obstinate and refuse to be comforted as they who have no Hope Particularly let
undeserved Comforts Set a watch upon my Tongue therefore O! righteous Lord and suffer it not to vent it self in any fretful or froward Speeches nor to make my Sufferings seem bigger or my Comforts and Supports seem fewer or thy most tender and undeserved Mercies to me in my Distress seem less than they really are But if the painful agitation of my Spirits must issue out in Crys Lord let my Crys be not at all to accuse but only to justifie thy Visitations and to express my own Sorrows and implore thy Mercy and seek help from thy Grace thro' our Lord Jesus Christ Amen 3. For Patience without Dejection of Spirit and without Hastiness for ease AND help me O! Almighty God to bear my Load without being cast down For whatever my Burden be I have thee for my support and therefore should not faint or sink under it Thy sure Promises are my Confidence and thy Almighty power is my defence O! then let not any Greatness of my Tryals or Sense of my own weakness make me afraid And give me long Patience in bearing and waiting O! my God if my relief from thee doth not come suddenly And let me not foolishly prescribe to thee by what means or Medicines thou shalt ease me under my Maladies or deliver me from them or at what time thou shalt do it For 't is more than enough for me if I may be allowed to have these Mercies at all tho' by any means or at any time and it is always best for me to have them in thy way and at thy time Thou knowest best how to succour and save me and when it will most sensibly affect me and serve thee Oh! then that I may six no times of ease to my self but expect them from thee That I may tarry thy leisure and not think thee long That I may Patiently abide if thou delayest and not mistrust thee Yea Patiently abide always and not grow weary but still think with my self yet a little while and he will shew forth his Mercies and fulfill his Promises and I shall find the ease and deliverance which my wearied Flesh desires in the exchange of my Sickness either for the Comforts of health or for the rest and joys of Paradice throâ— my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 4. For Patience with Friends and Attendants I. AND together with this Patience towards thee give me Patience O! merciful Lord towards all those who friendly or charitably minister to me and attend about me Keep me from being humorsome and shewing Crossness to their good Counsels or from being causelesly angry and Exceptious against their kind Services And if any evil Accidents or Indiscretions happen let me not fall unquietly to aggravate them or burst out into any passionate or opprobrious words thereupon But enable me always O! Father to shew my self pleased and obliged with the least kindness which they do for me or about me and to â—nterpret all mis-chances favourably and to pass over things with Ease and Gentleness which are not done for me to my desire And on all occasions to make it my study to give them no more trouble than needs to help me nor any cause to repent of their officious care or to grudge at what they do for me which as I receive with Thankfulness so I humbly beseech thee in thy goodness most mercifully to repay to them and theirs for Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. AND Lord let me ever bethink my self that my own Pains and and Weaknesses will keep me troublesome to my self and that whilâ—t I am so I am in no good Disposition to be pleased with others altho ' what they do for me be really fit to please me were I in a â—emper to be pleased with it as I ought to be And that 't is very hard even for a discreet and kind Care to do all things acceptably to a pained and sickly Body And therefore that I ought to take all well and not to quarrel with what they do for me which is always well meant and done kindly yea and it may be wisely too tho' it happens not to hit with my diseased Fancy Oh! then Holy Father that I may consider upon every occasion of offence with them that at the best I am very troublesome to them And that all they do for me is out of kindness which should be kindly taken That much of it is pure Charity which in this Estate I cannot recompence to them by taking their troubles upon me as they do mine upon them And that it is a small thing to return Good-will and hearty thanks where I have nothing better to repay And to be pleased with their love and kindness tho' I am not eased by their Performance And to study to please them with my kind acceptance who have no other aim than to oblige and ease me by their friendly and charitable Offices and when they can do no more for me themselves to seek to thee for the rest and recommend me by their Prayers to thy help and mercy thro' Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 5. For Patience with ones self and with the Heaviness and Brokenness of their own Spirit under Sickness I. O! most Gracious God when I am most burden'd with my heavy Load of Pains and Weaknesses give me Grace I humbly intreat thee to gather up what thoughts and powers I have left and to employ them all to bear it Patiently And when I am a little more at ease let me be sure to praise thee for the ease I find and to improve my ease and return thee Thanks in a tribute of Godly Prayers and of holy thoughts and Meditations Make me look upon my Prayers O! Lord as my surest support and as my best Employment And enaable me always to be glad of any helps in them and of any ease and leisure for them and to be sincerely careful then to put them up the best I can But when I do this the best I can let me not fear that it will offend thee or endanger me because in this State of Pain and Sickness I can do it no better For my Bodily indispositions and my troubled Fancy and broken Thoughts O! my God are part of my Disease wherewith thou tryest my Patience And as thou expectest from me that I should bear with them as with an affliction of thy sending so thou wilt Graciously bear with them too for our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. FOR thou O! merciful God considerest our State and makest all just and reasonable allowances for the weakness of it And therefore thou wilt not exact of me to seek to thee with the Vigour and strength of healthy Faculties or with such uninterrupted continuance and attendance as requires the same after thou hast taken my health and strength away But thou dost and wilt accept O! Gracious Lord of a feeble Prayer from a faint and feeble Spirit and of a short one from a mind
55. 22. For in thee O! Lord the Fatherless findeth mercy Hos. 14. 3. And thoâ— hast said Leave thy Fatherless Children I will preserve them alive and let thy Widows trust in me Jer. 49. 11. And I never saw the Righteous forsaken but his seed is blessed Ps. 37. 25 26. The Generation of the upright shal be blessed Riches shall be in his house and his Righteousness endureth for ever Surely he shall not be moved for ever but shall be in everlasting remembrance Ps. 112. 2 3 6. For when their Father and Mother forsake them then doest thou take them up Ps. 27. 10. Even thou who art the Father of the Fatherless and the Judge of the Widows Ps. 68. 5. And as a Mighty Redeemer wilt plead their cause Prov. 23. 10 11. 3. The Benefit of both And he who thus trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about Ps. 32. 10. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the Most High thy Habitation There shall no evil befal thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy Dwelling For he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways Ps. 91. 9 10 11. Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his Mercy To deliver their Soul from Death and to keep them alive in Famine Ps. 33. 18 19. And the Lord is a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him Nah. 1. 7. He Redeemeth the Soul of his Servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate Ps. 34. 22. And they who know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee Psal. 9 10. And Trust him 1. To Temper the Sickness and Sorrows to our Infirmities I will not leave thee altogether unpunish'd but I will correct thee in measure and will not make a full end of thee Jer. 30. 11. and c. 46. 28. And when Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto Death God had mercy on him and not on him only but on me also lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow Phil. 2. 27. In his wrath he will remember mercy Habak 3. 2. And to the Vpright there ariseth light in the darkness Ps. 112. 4. For he will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever Psal. 103. 9. His Anger endureth but a moment and in his favour is life Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Ps. 30. 5. He knows our frame and remembreth that we are dust and pitieth us like as a Father pityeth his Children Ps. 103. 13 14. He remembreth that we are but flesh a wind that passeth away and cometh not again and doth not stir up all his wrath Ps. 78. 38 39. And he is faithful and will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able 1 Cor. 10. 13. 2. To support us under them and help us to bear them The Salvation of the Righteous is of the Lord he is their strength in time of trouble And the Lord shall help them because they trust in him Ps. 37. 39 40. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing he will make all his bed in his sickness Ps. 41. 3. And we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Heb. 4. 15 16. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2. 18. And my Grace is sufficient for thee my strength is made perfect in weakness 2 Cor. 12. 9. I said indeed in mine haste I am cut off from before thine Eyes nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cryed unto thee Psal. 31. 22. Even when my Soul fainted within me I remembred thee and my Prayer came in unto thee Jon. 2. 7. Wait thou on the Lord then be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart Ps 27. 14. For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say I will not fear for the Lord is my helper Heb. 13. 5 6. Yea tho I walk thro the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil For thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Ps. 23. 4. 3. To Deliver us from them or make us Gainers by them Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Ps. 50. 15. Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy To deliver their soul from Death Ps. 33. 18 19. He is their strength in the time of trouble And he shall help them and deliver them He shall deliver them because they trust in him Ps. 37. 39 40. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8. 28. And tho' many are the afflictions of the Righteous yet the Lord delivereth him out of them all Ps. 34. 19. For the Lord he kills and he makes alive he wounds and he heals Deut. 32. 39. He bringeth down to the Grave and bringeth up 1 Sam. 2. 6. And that when we have the Sentence of Death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God who raiseth the Dead 2 Cor. 1. 9. Glory be to the Father c. III. They are to be received with Faith in Gods Precious Promises THIS is a Faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. If any man Sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins 1 Jo. 2. 1 2. O! Death where is thy Sting O! Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory thro our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. Who shall lay any thing then to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that Justifieth Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that Dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the Right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8. 33 34. And he hath promised I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13. 5. He will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him Luk. 11. 13. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10. 13. And this is the Promise that he hath promised us even Eternal life 1 Joh. 2. 25. He hath said Repent and
thy word be verified unto thy Servant and let me not be ashamed or Disappointed of my Hope I trust and depend on thee do not thou fail or forsake me Leave me not under my Troubles but relieve and comfort me according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted me and turn my Mourning into Joy that they who love thee may see it and learn thereby to Praise thy mercy and to put their trust in the same thro' Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 6. Prayers of Sick or dying Persons for trusting God with their Friends or Kindred I. LOrd if thou seest fit to call me home to thy self by this Sickness when I am taken from my Wife and Children and from those who under thee depend on me give them Grace I earnestly intreat thee to betake themselves to thee I commit them to thee O! God of mercy and truth for they are thine and with thee the Fatherless find mercy Yea thou art the Father of the Fatherless and the judge of the Widows and will shew thy self might to plead their cause And my Heart is at ease to have them lodged in thy care where they are infinitely safer and will be infinitely happier and better provided for than ever they could be in mine or in any others without thine I freely commit them to it O! Blessed Lord having my self always found the â—lessing of being under it and of trusting to it And I beg no greater Blessing for them than that they may ever have thy good Providence for their Inheritance in this world and thy Peace for their Portion in the world to come for Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. When I am gone O! my dear God they are thrown upon thee who art the Husband of the Widow and the Father of the Fatherless And Lord as thou art their Father provide against all their wants and Protect them from all wrongs Supply to them by thy kind Providence what they want in outward helps And altho' they have none to Counsel them where they are unskilful and unexperienced nor to right them where they are injured nor to furnish and supply them where they are unprovided yet will thy Spirit be the best Guide and thy Care and thy Blessing will abundantly make up all At my Departure O! Father they are bereft of their earthly stay But thou art better than Friend or Husband or Father or Mother Yea than allot her supports put together Oh! then do not thou leave them but when I am gone stay thou still with them And be thou to them whatsoever I would be and more than I could be if I were still employ'd by thee to take care of them And enable them evermore to place their love and delight in thee and to fix their Trust and Confidence in thy mercy Oh! that thâ— Will and Honour may always be their care that so their needs and welfare may always be thine And keep them from polluting themselves with any things which may forfeit thy Fatherly Care and Providence and Cry louder against them than their destitute Circumstances do for them Train them up good Lord stedfastly in thy Fear and preserve them from all the Evils and Temptations of this world and bring them safe at last to the Joys and Blessedness of that to come for Jesus Christ's fake Amen 3. Another Prayer for the Widows and Orphans c. for Trusting God with themselves O! Blessed Lord the more we are bereaved of other supports the more do thou strengthen our Faith and Confidence in thy self Make us know that we can never be destitute whilst we have thee to take care of us and that no earthly Provision is or can be so good to us as being intitled to thy good Providence For it is thy Goodness O! dear God that supplys and supports us by any earthly Friends They are only means of thy Providence and Instruments whereby thou takest care of us And thy good Providence which sends us Comforts or supplies by them when it removes them can and will find out other ways and do the same without them So that we are never without Friends and faithful helpers whilst we have thee to stand by us And thou Holy Father still remainest and thy Mercy is still the same altho this most dear and desired means of conveying the Blessed Effects thereof upon us is withdrawn Yea thou art nearer to us and more concern'd to help and provide for us now they are gone Oh! then that we may look up unto thee more than unto them and rest our Hearts more on thy staying with us than on theirs And that being taken off from earthly Dependances we may now depend more intirely upon they Promises and place our chiefest Security and Comfort in thy Love throâ— Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Our Father c. IV. Prayers for Faith in Gods Promises under Sickness I. O! Almighty Lord who relievvest our weakness by the belief and hope of thy Promises under all my weariness I take Comfort and amidst all my Temptations I rest my Soul upon thy word For under the load and guilt of my Sins I trust to the Blood of Jesus and to thy sure Promises of Forgiveness upon our true Repentance And under the Sense of their strength and of my own weakness I trust to the Promises of thy Spirit and Grace And amidst all the Decays and Miseries of this mortal Body I trust to thy sure Promises of â—mmortality I trust to thy Promises O! Father to be with me in all my Sicknesses and Sorrows to temper my afflictions to my infirmities and to give me strength in Proportion to my Needs to ease and rid me of my Pains or to support me under them whilst I live and to turn them all to my advantage in the end and to receive me to thy self when I die for my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. AND Lord let not the Adversary shake my Faith of these Gracious Promises nor let my own weakness ever betray me once to doubt of them For thou art true and canst not deceive us Thou art the faithful God who keepest covenant and mercy for ever Thy Promises are all yea and Amen And thy word is tryed and is a sure Buckler to all who trust to it Even when we think thee far off thou art near at hand to us and remembrest our Sorrows and thine own Promises when we fancy thou hast forgot them Oh! then that I may trust to thy word which shall surely be verified in its time And keep stedfastly in the Expectation that all these Mercies shall be made good unto thy Servant and Patient in waiting till thou graciously and plentifully fulfillest the same for Jesus Christ's sake Amen Our Father c. V. Prayers for Resignation to the Will of God under Sickness I. O! Almighty and most merciful God my Sorrows are great and my Flesh is weak and sore wearied
Hands as into the Hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour most humbly beseeching thee that it may be precious in thy sight Wash it we pray thee in the Blood of that immaculate Lamb that was slain to take away the sins of the World that whatsoever defilements it may have contracted in the midst of this miserable and naughty world through the lusts of the flesh or the wiles of Satan being purged and done away it may be presented pure and without spot before thee And teach us who survive in this and other like daâ—ly Spectacles of mortality to see how frail and uncertain our own condition is and so to number our days that we may seriously apply our Hearts to that holy and heavenly wisdom whilst we live here which may in the end bring us to life everlasting through the merits of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord. Amen 6. A Prayer against sudden death LOrd they who have lead the best lives are Desirous of some time to prepare for their Death But my Life has abounded in Sins and Frailtyes which make me stand in much greater need thereof Snatch me not away therefore to give up my accounts by the surprize of a sudden Death but Deliver me from an unprepared Heart and an unexpected End As I Sin Dayly O! God let me repent Dayly and stand allways upon my watch that I may be ready for thee whensoever thou callest me But give me time and leasure if it may please thee to put my Spirit in the best order I can for leaving this world and appearing before thee and taking my Leave of all decently that soe with more satisfaction to my Friends and with more settlement of minde and comfort to my self I may yeild it up into the Hands of thy mercy thro Jesus Christ my only Lord and Saviour Amen Prayers and Devotions upon the Death of Friends Scriptures 1. When a Friend dyes IT is better to goe to the House of mourning than to go to the House of â—easting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his Heart Sorrow is better than Laughter for by the Sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better Eccl. 7. 2 3. But sorrow not Brethren for them which are asleep even as others which have no hope For if we Believe that Jesus Dyed and Rose again even soe them alsoe which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1. Thess. 4. 13 14. Precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints Ps. 116. 13. And Blessed are the Dead which Dye in the Lord for they rest from their Labors and their works follow them Rev. 14 13. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to Dye and their Departure is taken for misery But they are in Peace and their Hope is full of immortality Wisd. 3. 2 3 4. And here the Righteous shall be had in everlastiâ—g Remembrance and the memory of the just is Blessed Ps. 112. 6. and Prov. 10. 7. Besides when the Righteous Dyes iâ— is often to take him from the evil to come Is. 57. 1. And now he is Dead wherefore should I fast and weep Can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12. 23. Forget it not for there is no turning again thou shalt not do him good but hurt thy self And think thou hearest him say Remember my judgement or the sentence upon me for thine also shall be so Yesterday for me and to day for thee Therefore take no Heaviness to heart but Drive it away and remember the last end And when the Dead is at Rest let his remembrance Rest and be Comforted for him when his Spirit is Departed from him Ecclus. 38. 20 21 22 23. 2. When a Friend is taken away early THo the Righteous be prevented with Death yet shall he be in Rest. He was taken away speedily lest that wickedness should alter his understanding or Deceit beguile his Soul He pleased God and was beloved of him soe that living among sinners he was translated Yea therefore the Lord hasted to take him away from the wicked Moreover he being made Perfect in a short time fullfill'd a long Time For Honourable Age is not that which Standeth in Length of time nor that is measured by number of years But wisdom is the Gray hair unto men and an unspotted Life is old Age. Wisd. 4. 7 8 9 10 11 13 14. And why art thou against the Pleasure of the most High there is noe inquisition in the Grave whether thou have lived ten or an hundred or a thousand years Ecclus. 41. 4. 3. When one is Childless Trust not thou in the Life of Children neither Respect their multitude For one that is just is better than a thousand and better it is to Dye without Children than to have them that are ungodly Ecclus. 16. 3. Better it is to have noe Children and to have Virtue For the Memorial thereof is immortal because it is known with God and with Men. When it is present men take example at it and when it is gone they desire it it weareth a Crown and Triumpheth for ever haveing got the Victory striveing for undefiled Rewards Wisd. 4. 1 2. Prayers I. Prayers when a Friend Dyes 1. O! Allmighty Lord who hast now taken from us our Dear Brother here Departed at thy word we are sent into the Labor of Life and at the same word we return again into the Rest and Sleep of Death And thy Counsells O! God are Secret and farr above out of our sight But they are allways just and leave noe Ground for our Complaints Yea they are allways wise and Good and will appear to have been most Honourable for thee and most fit and Proper for us in the end Oh! then that I may humbly and dutifully Reverence thy Orderings when I can not Comprehend them and bring my will into a quiet submission unto thine and receive my Loss meekly and without murmuring because it is of thy sending Teach me thereby O! Lord to stand in awe of thy justice and to shew a devout Sense of the desert of Sin whose wages is Death and a Decent Sorrow for my own Loss But let my Sorrow be without fixing Faults on what thou hast orderd and without refusing to be Comforted as others who have noe Hope or growing Rebellious or unthankfull unto thee and troublesome to those about me because thou hast call'd my dear Friend away and deprived me of his Company Yea Lord instead hereof keep me thankfull unto thee that I was allow'd to have and injoy this Comfort before I am call'd now to part with it For I have great cause to Bless thee that I injoy'd him at all especially soe long as I did and have noe Cause now to be angry that I can injoy him no longer Nay I should render my self utterly unworthy of any Gift from thee
tormented with any long Fears thereof And that the suddenner the stroke was the less he was like to feel it Or should he have felt it more yet he might not have felt a painfull Disease less had it been his Executioner For altho that would have been more slow it might not have proved less Cruel nor have smarted lighter but only lasted longer And if my Dear and Deceased Friends Paine was more violent O! Lord it was short and thro thy mercy I hope it is the last he had to endure And far be it from us O! God to repine that he was thrown hastily and Headlong into Death especially haveing a Comfortable Hope that the effect thereof is to pass with less Pain and more Dispatch into a better Life and more easily and speedily to take possession of immortality thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 4. Prayers on the Death of Friends who had lead ill lives and Gave noe Comfortable Proofs of Repentance at their Deaths â—N this Case we may put the surviveing Friends in minde of the many other Things which they have to take Comfort in and this I think is all the Ground we have here of speaking Comfort unto them But we can not fetch Considerations of Comfort from their Deceased Friends For such Sinners as would have nothing to do with the Fear and Service of God have noe Reason of Comfort in themselves nor can afford any good Reason of it to their well-wishers And with Relation to them we must not pretend to Preach Comfort I conceive but Submission To help them meekly and patiently to submit themselves to God in these sad Cases the surviving Friends may use Prayer 1. When a Friend Dyes especially if they leave out the Paragraph within the Hooks p. 307. They may allsoe use this Prayer following to Comfort them ANd Blessed be thy Mercy O! most Gracious God which in this sad Case doth not leave me comfortless For if this Deceased Friends Case suggests things full of Greif I have many other Friends who give me great Cause of joy And to Compensate my Trouble in Pity for others by thy Grace I have something to Satisfye and Please me in reflecting on my self For I can look with Comfort on my own Soul and hope thro the merits of my Blessed Saviour to finde Mercy for it and take Comfort in it both Living and Dying I have thee O! Lord for my Portion and nothing Can make my Case Comfortless whilst I am thinâ— and thou art mine and whilst I have thy Power to trust to and thy Love to rejoyce in And under all this Sorrow at present I am sustain'd by the Blessed Hope of being received at last into thy Presence where all Remembrance of former Troubles shall be quite effaced by the abundance of my Present Bliss where I shall have noe Sorrow from the miscarriage of Friends but unspeakable Satisfaction in their well-being and well-doing and where I shall ever Delightâ—in thee and in the Continual Emanations of thy surpassing Mercy thro Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour Amen 5 A Prayer on the Death of a Child O Almighty Father thou art pleased now to turn my joys into Sâ—rrows and to take away from 〈◊〉 that sweet Babe which thou lately gavest me for my Delight and Comfort But I humbly Bow my will to thine and submit my Self to 〈…〉 and without murmuring 〈◊〉 it is thy Doing Thou hast sent this poor Child into the World O! Lord to See and to â—ast Life but hast not allowed it to Stay till it Could rightly understand the end and busyness or relish the Comforts and Satisfactions thereof But I will Consider O! my God that thou wilt not require from it any Services of Life whilst it was not Capable to understand them And that if it Stayed not here to enjoy Pleasure soe neither did it Stay to be pined away with Sorrow and Care It lived not long enough to be versed in all the Vexations of our State nor to run thro that Great variety of miseryes and misfortunes which are incident here to our Nature But went off before it had time to trye how much Evil is to be Endured in this Life yea before it was come to aggravate any afflictions by imagination or to anticipate the same by Fear or to reflect in bitterness of Spirit and lay to heart what it did endure And as it Dyed young O! Lord Soe I have the Comfort to think and hope that therefore it Dyed innocent For it is taken back to thee before it knew Good or Evil or had done any thing to offend thee It has left the World ere it was made the worse by it or had Contracted any of the Wickedness thereof to follow it and fright it at thy Judgement By thy Mercy O! Father it Stayed till it was received for thine own Child by Baptism and was therein assured by thee of remission of Sin and made an Heir of thy Kingdom And by the same Mercy it is now Call'd away ere it had done any thing to fall from that Relation or to forfeit that Blessing So that in this takeing it away froâ— me thou hast translated it O! Father of Meâ—â—yes from the miseryes of this World to the joys of Paradice it is taken from me to be at thy Provision and to be kept for ever safe and Happy in those Blessed mansions which thou hast Provided for thy Children And therefore if I have lost the Comfort of haveing a Child to train up in thy Service in this World it is for the far greater Comfort O! my God of haveing sent one to live with thee and attend for ever about thy Throne in Heaven And there I my self allsoe hope thro thy mercy to be received in thy due Time not only to see and injoy it but what is infinitely above all for ever to see and injoy thee thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 6. A Prayer when one is made Childless or is like to Dye without Children O! Blessed Lord thou art pleased in thy Wisdom to beleave me of my Children and to leave me 〈◊〉 appearance of issue to Sweeten the Cares of Life and to keep up my Memory to Posterity I am content therewith O! my God because it pleaseth thee and comeing from thy Wisdom aâ—d Care of me I will not only own it to be just but Esteem it to be most wise and fit for me And if by haveing noe Children I have fewer Delights I will remember withall O! Father that I have lighter Cares and fewer Sorrows I have not the Torment of seeing them take ill wayes nor of Fearing continually lest they should fall to take them nor shall have the Pains and Trouble of parting with them which Commonly is quicker and more affecting than the Pleasure of haveing them And I may now fix my Love and Care more intrely upon thee haveing no Cares for them to call me off And I have less Temptation to Descend to mean