then I have loved heaven I preferred the preservation of my goods before the setting forth of thy glory earthly repose before eternall happinesse Alas Lord what punishments am I worthy of What torments have I deserved For my conscience accuseth me my sinnes call for vengeance against me and surely if the wages of the least of our sinnes be eternall death and if it be impossible for me to number my sinnes or to conceive the enormiousnesse of them how O thou God of vengeance how whilst I consider my selfe in my selfe shall I expect from thee with unspeakeable feare eternall and infinite punishments Yet O gracious God thy word teacheth us and experience witnesseth to us that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he turne unto thee and live so also hast thou thy selfe found out in thine eternall counsell the meanes of our deliverance and hast in the fulnesse of time sent into the world the eternall Sonne of thy love thy darling even he in whom thou art well pleased thou hast establisht him a Saviour and Redeemer for all those that hope in him by converting them unto thee He was made for us wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption his bloud cleanseth us from all sinne he was despised to raise us unto glory he hath taken our nature to make us partaker of his he was borne the Sonne of Man to make us the Children of God he was full of sorrow to fill us with happinesse he was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities upon him was laid the penaltie which brought us peace and by his bruises are we healed he came into the world to lead us to heaven he died to give us life he rose againe for our justification To conclude Lord thou so lovedst the world that thou gavest that spotlesse Lamb to the end that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have life everlasting And seeing O my God and Father of mercy that out of thy speciall favour it hath pleased thee in the midst of my errour even in mine infidelitie ingratitude to take pitie on me to give me thy knowledg and the resolution to follow thy Gospell seeing thou hast endued me with true faith in thy Sonne seeing thou hast touched my heart wherefore Lord shall I not have accesse unto thee with confidence Why shall I not approch with assurance to the throne of thy grace to obtaine mercy and to be releeved by thee in due time For though I be miserable art not thou mercifull If I be unrighteous wilt thou not cloath me with the righteousnesse of my Saviour Mine iniquitie amazeth me but thy goodnesse assureth me my unworthinesse estrangeth me from thee but the worthinesse of thy Sonne recalleth me back inviteth me and conducteth me to thee unto thee that art the God of my salvation that hast redeemed my soule from death that hast purchased me life everlasting and most happy O my God how great is my comfort how excellent the joy how precious and unspeakeable the repose which my soule enjoyeth in the meditation of these things Vnto thee onely then it is that I now addresse my selfe as to confesse my sinnes so also to acknowledge thy mercie as to condemne my selfe so withall to find absolution in thy Sonne If to be sorrowfull and to grieve for my sinnes so also to rejoyce and to comfort my selfe in thy bounty who shall lay any thing to my charge Is it not thou which justifiest me Who shall condemne me seeing that Christ died for me Seeing he is risen againe seeing that for me he is at thy right hand making request for my salvation and quest conservation Nothing O my God shall separate me from the love thou bearest me and seeing thou hast loved me in thy Sonne I shall in all things be more then victorious But what shall I render unto thee O Lord unto thee that hast delivered my soule from death mine eyes from teares and my feet from sliding Vnto thee O Lord that hast loosed the bands of death which compassed me about Vnto thee that hast converted and turned into joy the sorrowes of the grave which had overtaken me What shall I render unto thee O Eternall Lord for all thy benefits conferred upon me I will take the cup of salvation I will call upon thy Name I will pay my vowes before the people I am thy servant thou hast unloosed my bands I will sacrifice unto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving I will offer unto thee the fruit of my lips I will confesse thy Name thou hast purchased me with a price I will glorifie thee in my body and in my soule I am thine unto thee therefore will I present my selfe as a lively and holy sacrifice that may be pleasing and acceptable unto thee To this end O my God I crave strength from thee the conduct of thy Spirit thou hast already given me a will to serve thee produce O Lord in me not onely the will but withall perfect it with efficacie and according to thy good pleasure Of my selfe I can do nothing to thy glorie I perceive not the things which are of thy Spirit all the imaginations of the thoughts of my heart are altogether continually evill the wisdome the desires of the flesh is enmitie against thee It will not it cannot be subject to thy Law and yet by thy Spirit thou hast already given me the beginning of my regeneration Yet Lord though I will the thing that is good yet find I not the meanes to performe the same I do not the good that I would but I do the evill that I would not do It is to thee then that I have my recourse thou art the Author of every good gift the fountaine of life lyeth in thee in thy cleare light we see clearely and from thee onely is all our sufficiencie illuminate me by thy Spirit that being directed by the same I may render unto thee the service which I owe in the acknowledgment of all thy benefits Give me grace that to serve thee I may do nothing but what may be acceptable to thee that I may frame my selfe not unto mine owne fancie but according to thy will that I may do not what seemes good unto my selfe but what thou approovest that I may performâ— not mine owne designes but thy will not mine owne intentions but thy commandements not my will but thy Word Graunt I may propound unto my selfe for my end not the vanitie of the world but thy glory not my reputation but the manifestation of thy holy Name not my establishment on earth but the advancement of thy truth and of thy Church Give me to serve thee not unwillingly and by constraint but freely and with a good heart that I may be pricked forward not by the rigour of Menaces and the chastisements of thy Law but incited by the sweetnesse of the promises and benefits of thy Gospell that I may be not possessed with the Spirit of
thou hast so graciously preserved us unto this present houre by reason of our sinnes our life is exposed to an infinitnes of inconveniences and in the mean time we still subsist and are filled with thy good things Our being and our welbeing Lord we should hold it of thee we ow it to thy free grace and meere mercy to thee alone for the same be all glory for evermore But O our most gracious God it is most necessary for us that thou continue thy gracious favours unto us otherwise what thou hast hitherto done for us would turn to our confusion Leave us not then for then we shall perish thou hast created and redeemed us not to destroy us but that we might have eternall life Shed forth then upon us thy more especiall favours and above all the grace of thy holy Spirit Thou that hast washt us from our sins in the precious bloud of thy Sonne Sanctifie also our soules by thy Word and according to thy promise For Lord shall we enjoy Iesus Christ and his benefits without our serving of thee without magnifying of thee And what honour shall we render unto thee or what acknowledgment unlesse thou thy self confer upon us both the will and hability of performance The will and desire to honour thee We already have of thy free grace give us also the power of performance Give it us Lord with efficacy and according to thy good pleasure graunt it unto us and at the most humble and fervent request which we make unto thee for the same Give us not over neither to the malice of our enemies nor to our own perversnes let neither of them hinder us in thy service nor let us not give them any subject of dishonoring thee let our example serve for our conversion That they seeing the holines of our lives may lose their wils to hurt us and may gain an affection to know thee aright to acknowledg thee O God according to thy Truth according to their duty Let us not O Lord abuse our health and present prosperity Grant we may imploy them to the glorifying of thee and to the advancement of thy work with faithfulnes and every one according to his vocation whereunto thou hast called us above all that in the midst of our greatest repose we may prepare our selves for afflictions to the houre of death and for the fruition of our eternall rest When thou shalt visit vs with thy rods that it may be in thy mercy and for our amendment when thou shalt call us that it may be in thy grace and for our salvation whether in prosperity or in adversity whether sound or sick whether living or dying we may evermore confesse thy truth and do nothing which may be unworthy of our profession nothing which not seriously testifies our repentance for our sinnes our desire of thy grace our seeking of thy glory the peace of our soules the comfort of our consciences and the assurance of our salvation in thy welbeloved Sonne IESVS CHRIST In his Name we further pray thee to conferre the same good things on all our kinsfolks and friends call unto thee those that know thee not and strengthen those that already have thy feare Establish maintaine every where and make effectuall the Ministerie of thy Word for the conversion consolation of al thine Elect and for the enlarging of thy glory of the Kingdome of Iesus Christ Keep our King and all His grant Him a long Raigne in thy feare and for the good of of thy Church Let his subjects O Lord and above all we who are instructed by thy Gospell render unto him and unto all our Superiours all obedience unto which thy Word obligeth us Make thine own sensible of the bitternes of thine afflictions rejoyce them also in the sweetnesse of thy comforts so moderate and terminate thy corrections that they may be wholsome unto them Above all we beseech thee for them which have need of thy succours in this Church deny them not thine assistance heare their prayers and ours comfort them and deliver them that they and we may praise thee solacing our selves in thy goodnes And because O God it is onely our sins which are able to hinder us from hoping to receive from thee that which we ask of thee as thou pardonest us our sins in thy Son graunt us grace voluntarily to renounce all iniquitie so shal not the course of thy grace be interrupted so shall we have experience both in our prayers of the Truth of thy promises and in our whole life Yea even unto the last gasp therof the continuance of thy fatherly mercy in the same thy welbeloved Sonne in whose Name c. A Prayer for him who after he hath beene worthily prepared to receive the holy Communion approcheth to the Lords Table 9. O My God O my Father I have had experience of thy mercy in the whole course of my life especially since thou gavest me the knowledge of thy Truth and of my salvation and at this present time Lord thou openest before me the treasure of all thy riches thou presentest and offer'st unto me whole Iesus Christ with all his benefits Seeing then O God of my salvation seeing thou wilt that I should obey thy Word that I should draw neare unto thy Table Alas suffer not nor permit that it shal be to my condemnation But O good God far be it from me that I should admit any such feare For thou hast touched my heart with serious repentance I am right sensible that thou strengthenest my faith and reachest forth unto me thy hand thy selfe to receive me this day thou that art the Authour of my salvation O happy day wherein I protest before thee to detest my sinnes to renounce mine iniquity to be admitted unto the participation of the Sacrament of the New Testament Good God give me now the grace to shew forth the death of my Saviour grant that in his sufferings I may discern how great was thy wrath how exact thy justice against our sinnes seeing that to blot them out thou hast not spared thine owne Sonne Graunt also I may acknowledg thankfully thy infinite mercy towards us in that for us thine enemies thou hast given unto death the just thine onely Sonne But Lord give me to admire the never to be paralel'd love which thy Sonne beareth me in that he hath undergone both my sins and thy wrath to affoord unto me the food of eternall life O how wonderfull art thou in thy bounties Seeing that this day thou wilt by visible and sacred signes augment my joy and present to the view of mine eyes thy celestiall and invisible graces At this instant thou wilt give me an assured pledge of my conjunction with Iesus Christ And by him with thee O my Father as also with thy holy Spirit Now shall I be assured that Christ is in me and I in him O excellent Vnion sith it bringeth to passe that I have peace with thee
Col. 2.15 dispoiled the principalities and powers of hell which hee openly led in show triumphing over them in the same I doubt not but this enemie of our salvation will performe his utmost against you to astonish and trouble our faith For as S. Peter saith 1. Pet. 5.8 9. Our adversarie the Devill goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devoure But Saint Peter addeth That we must resist him being strong in faith Resist you the Devill the same saith S. Iames ch 4.7 and hee will flye from you Now to resist and overcome him you must be furnished with the armour of God whereof S. Paul speaketh to the Ephesians chap. 6. ver 16. Taking above all as he saith the shield of faith by the which you may quench all the fierie darts of the Devill Against the apprehension of the judgement of God THere remaineth the feare you may happily take of the judgement of God before whom you must appeare But wheron now shall this apprehension be founded Seeing your sinnes shall not be imputed unto you seeing you shall not be condemned thereby unto death seeing it shall be to no purpose for Satan there to accuse you you being there absolv'd and justified by the grace of God This is the doctrine which S. Paul affords us Rom. 8.32.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Thus then you must indeed appeare before God but not as before a severe and rigorous judge but rather as before a mercifull and an appeased Father towards us in Iesus Christ By Iesus Christ I say whom you have himselfe for an Advocat and Intercessor with the Father Now he shall not be denied by the Father in his request for you by Iesus Christ whose member you are Now there is no condemnation to them that are in Iesus Christ saith Saint Paul Rom. 8.1 By Iesus Christ in the end in whom you believe Now he that believeth in me saith he hath eternall life and he shall not come into condemnation but rather is passed from death unto life Is not this then Sir your faith and firm beliefe that by the benefit of our Lord Iesus Christ you have the remission of your sins Iohn 5.24 That you are saved from eternall death and set free from the rigor of the judgment of God and that by consequent Satan cannot prejudice or bring you any hurt by his accusations and temptations and that your bodily death cannot but he happy and profitable to you every way One must also draw from the sicke a protestation of his charity towards his neighbour FInally Sir it being so that faith worketh by charity and necessarily produceth it seeing it hath pleased God that you are at peace with him by faith you must also be at one and in peace with all your brethren and neighbours thorow true Christian charity And therefore tell us if you renounce from your heart all hatred rancour and enmity against all men without any exception and do desire the welfare and salvation of all in generall and of every one in particular as your very owne Yes I do Do you not forgive honestly and with a good heart all them who have any way whatsoever it be offended you as also reciprocally you do ask forgivenes of all them whom you have any way offended Yes Now Sir must we herewithall addresse our prayer unto God to the end it would please him to strengthen you in the faith which he hath given you and to make more and more to abound in you all graces it is your part to humble your selfe with us before him and to lift up unto him your heart to implore his mercy from the depth of your soule A Prayer for the sicke in whom there shal be likelihood of death O Lord our good God and mercifull Father we are indeed every way unworthy to lift up our eyes towards thee for the multitude and grievousnesse of our sinnes and transgressions wherewith we are tainted and blemished before thy face But it is not in the confidence of our owne worthinesse that we dare presume to present our selves at the feet of thy sacred Majestie but rather in the assurance of thy great compassions and the perfect obedience which thy deare Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord hath performed unto thee in our name with whose righteousnesse we beseech thee to cover and adorne us with thy grace that thorow him and in thy favour we may be reconciled and acceptable But now we beseech thee O good God be pleased particularly to impart this great mercy unto this thy poore child and servant cast downe under thy mighty hand a poore sinner indeed and such a sinner as should for ever remaine overwhelmed under the heavy waight and rigour of thy soveraigne justice if thou affoordest not him thy infinite mercy Graunt him grace more and more to enter into a serious examination and acknowledgment of his sinnes that thereby he may conceive a true detestation of them which may beget in him true repentance and may further him and put him on forward unto an entire and absolute deniall of himselfe to have his whole refuge unto thee and to thy mercy in the meane time receive him graciously Lord shew unto him a fatherly countenance establish him and comfort him say unto his soule I am he that is able to ensafe thee dispose his heart to receive patiently and with thankfulnesse this fatherly correction which thou sendest him and to resigne up wholly himselfe into thy hands to range himselfe peaceably unto whatsoe're it shall please thee out of thy sacred wisdome to ordaine for him Lord thou knowest better then he himself or we either whether is more expedient for him that he should live or die If thy good pleasure be he shall live let it be that he may live wholly unto thee So as that having well profited by these thy chastisements he may learn to love thee to honour and serve thee all the dayes of his life in the midst of thy Church by studying perpetually therein to bring forth the fruits of pietie and holines worthy of thy Gospell and beseeming the child of such a Father and the service of such a Master And so thou mayest be glorified in him and his neighbours edified But if otherwise it be thy will to take him out of this miserable world give him assurance that it shal be to put him in possession of thy heavenly kingdome which thou hast prepared for him before the foundation of the world and which thy Son hath purchased for him by the merit of his death To this end O Father of light from whom descendeth every good and perfect gift be pleased to give unto him a true and a lively faith wherewith he may seeke find and lay hold on
thy mercy for his sins and true righteousnes in the obedience of the same thy deare Son Iesus Christ our Lord who was delivered up unto death for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification Yea ascended into heaven to take possession thereof in our name and by that meanes give us accesse and entrance thither whence sinne had banished us Imprint in his heart by the Power of thy holy Spirit a full certainty of all these thy graces that thereby he may be enabled to repose himself peaceably in thy mercy and to overcome happily all temptations and crosses which Satan and his owne flesh would lay before him to trouble the serenitie and cleerenesse of his faith and the tranquillitie of his conscience Let not his sinnes then plunge him into despaire seeing they have been so fully payed and satisfied unto thy justice not by gold or silver but by the precious bloud of thy Christ as by that Lamb without spot and blemish Let not death affright him seeing that sinne being destroyed and abolisht in him which is the sting of death it may remaine unto him disarmed and without power to hurt him Yea that his soule being separated from his body by corporall death it shal be to go unto thee victorious and freed from the captivity of sin therby to tast thorow the fruition of it that blessed life which he hath not tasted of in this world but by hope leaving indeed his body in the earth but not for ever but rather to be refined transformed and made in due time conformable to the glorious body of his head by the benefit of his resurrection Let not Satan daunt him any more seeing he cannot hurt him but by sinne and death the dominion whereof he hath lost in his behalfe Assure him in the end that in vain that accuser shall lay ought to his charge at the throne of thy justice seeing that he being already absolved and justified by thy grace there is no Iudge that can condemn him Let it be thy good pleasure also O good God to shew thy fatherly mercy unto all other sicke persons comfort and strengthen them according as thou knowest they have need thereof And above all graunt them the grace to embrace evermore with a true and a lively faith thy mercie in Iesus Christ that therein they may find all matter of comfort Graunt also unto us all that grace Lord that by this example we may profit and learne to renounce the world and our selves to imploy those few dayes we have here below to live to meditate on thy wisdome to walk carefully in thy feare to weane our hearts from the vanities of this life to raise them up to the meditation and expectation of the celestiall life And to this end to be alwayes prepared and in a readinesse to appeare before thee in assurance to be entertained and received in thy great mercie even for thy deare Son Iesus Christ our Lord his sake In whose Name we beseech thee O Father of mercie to heare us and in all other which thou knowest better then we our selves to be necessarie for us and this for thy poore servant as we pray unto thee in that forme of prayer which he himselfe hath commanded us to offer up unto thee Our Father which art in heaven c. Lord increase that faith which thou hast planted in the heart of this thy servant and child defend him with it as with a strong shield wherewith he may be inabled to quench all the fierie darts of the evill one And graunt that persevering constantly in the same unto the last gaspe of his life he may evermore at the least in heart make thereof unto thee a pure and Christian confession as we will presently do both with heart and mouth I believe in God the Father Almighty c. Such is his Faith Lord as also ours give the grace to live and die in the same thorough Iesus Christ thy Sonne our Lord who in the unitie of the Holy Ghost liveth and raigneth with thee God eternally Amen If the sicke person continue long time and yet alwayes with appearance of danger of death it shal be good to repeate unto the sicke now and then some of the aforesaid consolations but especially those which serve to assure him and to strengthen him against the temptations and combats of conscience And if happily the sicke person bee troubled with raving and fond imaginations or otherwise be not of perfect memorie and good understanding to heare any long discourse in a continued speech there shal not be used unto him other then short sentences such short questions as these here following also such as these or others the like And but talking to him by respits and some pauses interposed SIr you must take a good heart It is the fatherly hand of God which visits you for your good and welfare For unto them that love God all things do work together for their good Lift up your heart unto God to confesse unto him your sinnes and offences and to imbrace by faith his mercy in Iesus Christ which he hath promised unto all those that repent and believe in him Have you not alwayes a good assurance in the mercie of God and a stedfast faith in Iesus Christ your Saviour Yes Do you not believe that Iesus Christ died for your sinnes and rose againe for your justification Rom. 4.25 Yes Believe you not that he hath been made unto you by the Father wisdome righteousnes sanctification and redemption 1. Cor. 1.30 I do Do you not believe that you are freely justified by the grace of God thorow the redemption which is in Iesus Christ Yes According to your faith doubt not but God will free you and securely protect you from perdition and give you everlasting life For God gave his Sonne that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish but rather have everlasting life Iohn 16. Feare not death seeing by faith you imbrace Iesus Christ who is your life I am saith he the resurrection and the life He that believeth in me although he were dead he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me he shall never die Iohn 11.25.26 If your sinnes trouble and disquiet you have recourse ever by faith unto Iesus Christ and you shall find rest for your soule Come unto me saith he Matth. 11.28 you that labour and are heavie laden and I will ease you Feare not the rigour of Gods justice For there is no condemnation to them that are in Iesus Christ So saith the Apostle S. Paul Rom. 8.1 And who is he saith he Rom. 8.32.33 who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifies who is he that shall condemne It is Christ which died or rather which is more which is risen againe who also is at the right hand of God and who maketh intercession for us Be not loath to leave this miserable life which as S. Iames saith chap. 4.14
are the enemies of our soules But following the Apostles counsel to obtaine the victorie in this Spirituall battell we must resist constantly by faith For the victorie which overcommeth the world it is our faith which is a certaine and assured knowledge of the love of God towards us according as by his Gospell he declareth himselfe to be our Father and Saviour by the meanes of Iesus Christ Having then such a firm faith for your principall foundation know ye and confesse unfainedly before the Majestie of God that you are a poore and a miserable sinner conceived and borne iniâ—niquitie corruption prone unto the doing of evill unprofitable unto every good thing and that by your sinnes you have transgressed without end and uncessantly the holy commandements of God In the committing whereof you have purchased and brought by his just judgement ruine and destruction upon your selfe Notwithstanding you are sorry and grieved in your selves for having offended him and do condemne your selves and your sinnes with true repentance desiring that Gods grace may help and relieve your calamitie Pray then in this firm faith if you cannot with mouth speak it in your heart that God our most gracious and most mercifull Father enter not into judgment nor into an account with you but would be pleased to have pitie on you in the name of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord and that he would blot out your sinnes and blemishes by the merit of the death and passion of the same Iesus Christ in whose Name offer up unto him his holy Prayer which he hath taught us saying from your heart Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdome come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as wee forgive them that trespasse against us and leade us not into temptation but deliver us from evill For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory for ever ever AmeÌ„ F. S. N. Acknowledge from the bottome of your heart your unrighteousnes be sorry for your sinnes repent uncessantly and the kingdome of God will draw neare unto you Acknowledge there is no righteousnesse no innocencie nor any good works of yours nor in you But rather as the children of wrath conceived and born in the sinne of old Adam you deserve death and eternall damnation Notwithstanding let not this nor all the sinnes of the world when you should have committed them affright you For Iesus Christ the true Sonne of the eternall God is made true man conceived by the Holy Ghost borne of the holy Virgin to sanctifie and cleanse you He suffered under Pontius Pilate many afflictions injuries and outrages making himselfe a servant and captive to set you in full libertie Iesus Christ was crucified as accursed upon the tree of the Crosse to deliver you from the eternall curse Iesus Christ died shedding forth his bloud his precious bloud to wash you to redeem you to deliver and wholly set you free from the death of hell and from the power of Satan Iesus Christ was buried in the grave to burie all your sins which he tooke away and blotted out Iesus Christ descended into hell insuffering extreame sorrowes to free you from all the paines and sorrowes of death Iesus Christ rose againe from the dead to cause you to rise againe in your owne body and unto glorious immortalitie Iesus Christ ascended into heaven to make you to ascend up thither after him Iesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of God his Father Almighty being your Advocate and Intercessor towards him and the attonement of all your sinnes We look for his comming to judge the quick and the dead to render unto every one according to his works But unto his faithfull ones that believe in him he will not impute their sinnes but having entirely justified them by his grace will make them raigne with him in his heavenly throne for ever F. S. N. Such is the great mysterie of our redemption which by the working of the grace of the Holy Ghost you mâ—sâ— firmly believe was wroughâ— for your salvation And doubt not but that by the merit of Iesus Christ the head of his Church you are a member incorporated into the same returning him thanks in great humilitie that he hath been so gracious unto you to have graunted you the happines to have lived in the communion and company of his faithfull ones for having fed you with his Word with his Body and Bloud acknowledging as being fully assured the great mercy of God in the remission of all your sinnes which is made over unto you in Iesus Christ who will raise you up againe at the last day to make you raigne with him in life everlasting which he hath promised unto all those which believe in him being baptised into his name Now F. S. N. seeing you have this faith doubt you not to receive the promise of Faith for God is true he cannot lie as man Sooner shall heaven and earth perish But the Word of God shall abide for ever God is your Father and Creator you are his creature and the worke of his hands He hath not made you to destroy you for he is the Saviour of all men and will not the death of a sinner but rather that he be converted and live Wherefore I declare unto you in the Name of God that out of his great goodnesse and mercy he gives you full pardon and forgivenesse of all your sins thorow the sole merit of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord in the shedding of his precious bloud for he is the propitiation not only for all your sins but for all the sins of the world F. S. N. Iesus Christ saith with his own mouth that all things are possible unto him that believeth Believe then without doubting at all that Iesus Christ putting on our flesh was made true man wherin he died for you having taken upon him all your sinnes in his body to abolish and blot them out Set before and present unto God the precious death of his Sonne Iesus Christ and for the merit of the same death and Passion ask his mercy in saying from the bottome of your heart in great humilitie and repentance O Lord God Almighty be mercifull unto me a poore and miserable sinner for thy deare Sonne my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ his sake and by the merit of his Death and Passion be graciously pleased to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands F. S. N. Put your whole assured trust and confidence in God For seeing he is for you none shal be against you for Iesus Christ who is the Lamb without spot or blemish hath overcome all for you He offered up himselfe once for you and by the same sole oblation hath wholly abolished all your sinnes He hath abrogated made void and forcelesse your follie unrighteousnesse abomination and obligation With this good Lord Iesus Christ God the
Father hath given you all things F. S. N. Be strong in Iesus Christ who calls and inuites you by his Prophets Apostles and Evangelists to resort and freely to make towards him saying you that thirst come unto the great fountaine come unto me all you that travell and are heavie laden and I will ease you F. S. N. Believe stedfastly that Iesus Christ hath discharged and set you free from all your sins and hath reconciled you unto God his Father Vnto whom in all humilitie and repentance say from the bottom of your heart LOrd God Almighty have mercy upon me a poore miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour his sake and by the merit of his death passion be pleased to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands F. S. N Bee of good hope For assuredly he will receive your soule as his for his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lords sake who is the Saviour and Redeemer of all those that believe in him Moyses and all the Prophets have testified that all Nations shall receive salvation and blessednes by Iesus Christ The Apostles and Evangelists do testifie that Iesus Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and to give his life for the redemption of many for he hath shed his bloud for the remission of sinnes Believe then and doubt not in any wise for Iesus Christ hath made you cleane from all your sinnes having promised that all they that shall believe in him and in his Father that sent him shall have eternall life and shall not come into judgement but shall passe from death unto life Well then F. S. N. take a good courage in Iesus Christ For he hath loved you and washed you from your sinnes in his bloud Have then this stedfast faith to fight valiantly against the adversarie use no other buckler to defend your selfe withall but this precious bloud of Iesus Christ which by vertue of his Death and Passion hath reconciled you unto God his Father unto whom in great humility and repentance offer up this Prayer O Lord God Almighty have mercy upon me a poore miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour his sake and by the merit of his Death and Passion be graciously pleased to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands F. S. N. Let this be your hope stedfast faith that that good God full of all mercy will receive your soule as his into his hands for his Sonne Iesus Christs sake For there is no other Name under heaven given unto men wherby we must be saved nor is there salvation in any other but in Iesus Christ Arme your self then indeed with this gracious Iesus Christ for he hath done all for you he hath fulfilled the Law for you he hath overcome all for you Well then F.S.N. cheer up your self in God be you ever unmooveable in this lively faith follow and imitate you the holy Patriarks Prophets and Apostles who are all saved in this faith who assure you all of them that the adversarie can no wayes hurt you For your suit is won by Iesus Christ who is both your Iudge and Advocat together Wherfore say evermore in this stedfast faith that though I should walke thorow the midst of the shadow of death yet would I feare no manner of evill For thou Lord God art with me F. S. N. Also cease not to say from the bottome of your heart in great humility and repentance LOrd God Almighty have mercy upon me poore miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour his sake and by the merit of his Death and Passion let it please thee to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands So be it A singular Prayer for a person greatly afflicted with sicknes which seemeth to approach nearer to death then to life With a short Catechisme purposely made to instruct the sicke and to make him contemplate by faith the great mysterie of our redemption Eccles c. 18. v. 19.20 Vse Physicke ere ever thou be sick before judgement examine thy selfe and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy NOw the Lord admonisheth us to pray continually especialy when we are touched with his rods wherefore all kinsfolks and faithfull friends that visit the sick person ought not only to visit and be carefull for the body but withall to seek and ask for the spirituall physick for his Soule This must he do by good prayers confession of sinnes and Christian exhortation according to the Word of God without which man cannot live and to this end that all things may be done in good order and with zeale First of all it is meet to cast downe himselfe before the Majestie of God and to call upon him by beginning Our helpe is in the Name of the Lord c. Then to present unto him the generall confession of sinnes and consequently this present prayer as it followeth O Lord God Almighty and Father of mercy we are here assembled together in the Name of thy welbeloved Son our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ thorow whom we are bold to present our selves before thee to call upon thy holy Name having our sole refuge unto thy Soveraigne and transcendent goodnes which we not only desire to be sensible of and to tast in our selves but also in the necessitie of thy poore creature here afflicted with corporall sicknes and with the affliction and calamity of mind We know Lord that justly thou visitest and chastnest him with thyrods to make him to understand thy fatherly affection But thy great mercies which thou hast used towards our fathers are not extinguisht nor exhausted For thou art that great eternall God gracious and mercifull that never changest with whom there is no variablenes nor shadow of change Thy holy Word teacheth us most evidently that the whole earth is full of thy mercies which are farre above thy justice Wheâ—fore Lord mitigate thy rigour towards thy creature have pity and compassion on him for thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lords sake Looke not upon his sins but looke upon the face of thy Christ who hath fully satisfied thee for him by offering up unto thee that great sacrifice of his body upon the Crosse We beseech thee then O most gracious God full of mercy to make him sensible of thy grace which thou hast never denied to thy children And because thou art our eternal Father well knowing whatsoeveâ— is needfull and expedient for our salvation We pray not unto thee to lengthen unto him his life or to abridge it for we repose our selves upon thy holy will whereunto onely we desire to be conformable Thou art wise without counsell to dispose of thy creature according to thy good pleasure That if it shal be thy pleasure to call him hence who is he that shal be able to resist thee But if it be thy good pleasure to send him health againe who is he that shall reprehend
thee For all things are in thy hand and nothing is done without thy will and holy providence Yet Lord if out of thy grace thou prolong unto him his dayes thy rod shall serve him for a chastisement to amend him and to convert him unto thee and we together with him will render unto thee thanks and praises But if thy will be determined to make him passe hence into a better life wee beseech thee for thy Sonne Iesus Christ his sake to forget all his sins and transgressions which thou hast been pleased to blot out and towaâ—â— away by the effusion of his precious bloud be graciously pleased thorow the merit of the Death and Passion of thy Sonne to receive his soule into thy hands when as thou wilt call him out of this world Lord God despise not the work of thine owne hands for behold here thy poore creature as it were wholly overwhelmed who calleth upon thee out of the depth of all these evills presenting unto thee his sad and penitent soule with his dejected and humbled heart which we beseech thee to be pleased to accept as well pleasing unto thee for thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lords sake in whose Name thou hast promised to heare our requests Wherefore Lord we beseech thee to receive us into thy holy protection to illuminate our hearts and understandings to addresse our selves unto thee to call upon thy holy Name as thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord hath taught us to pray unto thee for the relieuing of all our necessities saying Our Father which art in heaven c. Finally O God most gracious Father full of mercy be pleased evermore to support us by thy grace and power that by the infirmity of our flesh we fall not away And because that of our selves we are so fraile that we are not able to continue firm one minute of time graciously strengthen us by thy Holy Spirit and arme us with thy graces that we may bee enabled to persevere constantly in the faith without which it is not possible to please thee Bee graciously pleased then to confirme and establish us daily in the same whereof we will make confession with heart and mouth I believe in God the Father Almighty c. Prayers being ended notice shal be taken how the sicke person doth and hee may bee asked how he feeleth himselfe touching the state of his health with gracious talke and Christian Speeches But if it appeare that he decline and no token of recoverie appeare a while after a fit time shall be chosen to speak unto the said sicke person and to aske him whether he be not willing to heare talk of God and to hearken to his Word Whilst he is still in perfect memorie So that if he be inclinable to entertaine discourse concerning God the short Catechisme following shall be begun A SHORT CATEchisme which is not onely to instruct the sicke but also to refresh his memorie with the great mysterie of our Redemption For the better understanding and retaining whereof in his latter dayes he ought to make confession of his faith before the assistance of the faithfull whereof one of them in the Ministers absence must question him as followeth The Minister F. S. N. EVery man that rightly knows himselfe and is not ignorant of his owne condition and qualitie certainly he ought to acknowledge that although he was created after the image and likenesse of God neverthelesse he is conceived and borne in the sinne of old Adam whereby he is made a poore and miserable sinner ignorant inconstant and full of iniquitie and consequently subject unto all miseries afflictions adversities and finally unto death all which sinne hath caused which God not willing to leave unpunished daily afflicts us for or to speake more properly hee chastiseth us in this world that he might not condemne us with the world Wherefore F. S. N. be patient in your sicknesse and you shall possesse your soule in spirituall ioy Acknowledge your sins and accuse you your selfe before the Majestie of God whom you must looke up unto and behold by faith making confession thereof with heart and mouth before this whole assistance for it is written that wee believe with the heart unto justification and confesse with the mouth unto salvation Hearken then unto the questions which I will now propound unto you and answer them faithfully according to that understanding which you have received of the Lord. Which if you cannot answer by reason of your weakenesse and hinderance of your sicknesse I will answer for you and it shal be sufficient for you to give us to understand your heart and constancie of your faith in which you must live and die Go to then I demand of you wherefore and to what end were you created in this world The Sicke To know God The Minister Was it necessary for youâ—â— know God The sicke Yes verily For seeing he is my soveraigne good without the knowledge of him I had been more miserable then the bruit beasts The Minister Seeing you know God you well know that he is power wisedome and infinite goodnesse one God alone in three persons Father Sonne and Holy Ghost He is that one God whom Abraham Isaac and Iacob worshipped in spirit and truth hee is that one God Eternall who created heaven and earth and all things that are therein not such the knowledge of God which you have The Sicke Yes The Minister But can such and this simple knowledge of God conduct and guide you straight to eternall life The Sicke Very hardly For it is life eternall to confesse and know one onely God and him whom he hath sent his onely eternall Sonne our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ The Minister Why is it necessarie for you to confesse and know the Lord Iesus Christ The Sicke Because in Iesus Christ I must recover all that I have lost in my selfe by reason of the sinne of old Adam in whom I am borne and conceived Wherfore it hath been behooffull for my salvation that Iesus Christ true God and true man being clothed with our flesh should give unto me of his free grace all that which I had lost in Adam The Minister It is very well said Behold why Iesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost borne of the Virgin Mary to purge and sanctifie you For absolutely contrary hereunto him you are conceived and borne in sinne and of sinfull parents Why do you not confesse that without Iesus Christ you had remained a poore miserable sinner in eternall death The Sicke Yes assuredly But I believe and confesse that that good Iesus Christ hath reconciled me unto God his Father The Minister But how hath he reconciled you unto God his Father The Sicke By his Death and Passion in the shedding forth of his precious Bloud for to deliver me from all eternall paines This good Iesus Christ hath suffered for me under Pontius Pilate many afflictions injuries and troubles Iesus Christ it is that was crucified
that Iesus Christ taketh upon him all my evill and bestoweth on me all his benefits that he quickneth me by his Holy Spirit that I am united unto all the faithfull that nothing shall separate me from thy love that none shall pluck me neither out of the hands of my Saviour nor out of the bosome of his Church I feare neither my sins for behold here the bloud of my Saviour which blotteth them out nor thy wrath for loe here the seale of my reconciliation with thee nor the Devill for behold here Christ who hath overcome Nor death for this day I receive the Sacrament of life everlasting this day is promise made unto me and the scale of it is given me that the heavens are opened unto me that my habitation shal be in the house of God for ever Lord increase my faith Lord raise up my heart unto thee graunt that unto thy glory graunt that unto salvation I may comprehend the excellency and the benefit of these things and that thence I may take up a firm resolution to renounce the world to walk therein as a pilgrim as keeping on my way towards my Saviour to draw unto him my neighbours to edifie them by mine example to adhere to thy Truth to continue their profession thereof against the rage and against the subtilties of all the enemies of thy Truth to my singular comfort even unto the last gasp of my life Amen A Thanksgiving to be rendred unto God after we have been partakers of the holy Communion 10. LOrd my God how is my soule ravisht in contemplation of the good things which thou commest to give me thy poore servant Alas Lord I am farr lesse then the least of thy mercies and then all the truth thou usest towards me it is thou that assurest me that thy Sonne that thine onely Sonne died for me It is thou that hast given me the seales of thine inviolable Covenant But what say I the seales O God thou knowest what ardor I feele at this present within me an assured testimonie that Iesus Christ is come to dwell in my heart by the precious faith thou hast given me Yea Lord I feele that he dwelleth in me I feele he engraveth in my heart the efficacie of his death and passion he died once upon the Crosse for my sinnes But he liveth for ever in my heart for my salvation I know it I beleeve it with as much certainty as with truth I have been partaker of the outward signes of thy grace O let my soule enjoy so great repose against her enemies O let it have an unspeakeable contentment in thy mercy As Iesus Christ died for me let Iesus Christ live in me O God it is so for thou wilt have it so for I am sensible of it and my faith is greatly strengthened Surely Lord thou wilt be my God for ever for thou art with me thou givest me the bread of life thou cloathest me with the innocency and righteousnes of thy Son O good God finish in me thine own work thou hast rescued me out of the dangers of eternall death thou hast assured me of most happy rest graunt me Lord yet this period unto my prayer that I may not repay thee with ingratitude that I may not die in sin but may live to righteousnes that I may deny my selfe may edifie my neighbours may consecrate my self to thy glory that in the sobriety righteousnes and religion of my life I may affect nothing so heartily have nothing so often before mine eyes as my leaving of this world And whilst thou preservest me therein O God as long as thou keepest me in the same I may expect with all thine Elect the most blessed hope and appearance of the glory of the great God which is our Saviour Iesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory from this time and for evermore Amen A Confession 11. O Lord God Eternall and Almighty Father we confesse and acknowledge unfainedly before thy sacred Majestie we are poore miserable sinners conceived and born in iniquity and corruption inclined unto evill doing unprofitable unto every good work and that by our sins we transgresse continually and without ceasing all thy holy Commandements In doing wherof we purchase to our selves by thy just judgment destruction and utter ruine Yet Lord we are displeased with our selves for having displeased offended thee we condēn ourselves our sins with true repentance humbly praying thy grace may relieve our misery and calamity Have mercy then upon us O God and most gracious Father and full of mercy for Iesus Christs sake thy Sonne our Lord. And blotting out our sins and blemishes inlarge in us and increase daily the graces of thy Holy Spirit that we acknowledging heartily all our unrighteousnes may bee toucht with true displeasure which may beget in us sound repentance which mortifying us unto all sinne may bring forth the fruits of righteousnesse and innocency which may be acceptable and wel pleasing unto thee thorough the same Iesus Christ thy welbeloved Sonne our Saviour Amen A Morning Prayer 12. O Lord God Eternall Father seeing it hath pleased thee to bring us safely unto this present day be pleased also to give us grace we may passe the same without offending thee and what ere we shall do say or think may be to the glory and praise of thy Name and edification of our neighbours And look not Lord upon our infirmities upon our sinnes and on our unthankfulnesse But looke upon thine accustomed goodnes and according to the same turn not away thy face from us but ever hold us up by thy hand that we fall not from thee at all and let not those threatnings which thou hast pronounced against them that have knowne thee and have not glorified thee as they ought fall upon us But Lord hold us ever in thy feare and forsake us not teach us to do thy will and give us the will and the power to do it for without thee we can do nothing Above all Lord make us alwayes with our whole hearts imbrace the memory and the merit of the death of thy Sonne And especially when the houre of our owne death shall come graunt that in the same we may have such faith recourse and assurance that we may be in the ranke of those which die in the Lord. And even then also graunt us that we may leave this world without all discontent thereat and that all our desire may be to be with thee Also Lord thou hast taught us to pray that thy Kingdome may come be pleased to advance forward the same and in so doing touch our Kings heart and the hearts of his Councill and illuminate them with thy brightnesse that thou maist be King and rule every where And that thine enemies may be made thy footstoole looke downe Lord in mercy upon all the poore afflicted ones persecuted and oppressed especially for thy Word Deliver them O good God as
thy statutes may keep thy ordinances may do them and be thy people and thou our God So shalt thou make known the Name of thy holines in the midst of us shalt be sanctified in us in the presence of the Nations and we will consider in our hearts will regard and look on with our eyes will hearken unto with our eares what ere thou speakest unto us concerning all thy ordinances and thy Lawes Save thy flocke that it may not become a prey raise up Pastors thy servants that may feed it with wholsome food And let them whom thou hast set for watchmen in thine house hearken to the words of thy mouth and give warning from thee Give them a mouth opened amongst us that the sheep which are dispersed thorow the want of a shepheard and which are exposed to be devoured and they which err and are strayed out of the way over the whole surface of the earth may be drawn home and gathered in and that thou maiest feed them and give them rest seek out that which is lost bring back that which is driven away bind up that which is broken strengthen that which is sick and those that are afarr off amongst the Nations and those that are scattered upon the earth be thou unto them a safe Sanctuarie in the countries wherein they are Sanctifie thy great Name which hath been prophaned among the Nations let them know that thou art the Lord that thou maist be sanctified among them and that the earth may shine abroad with thy glorie A Prayer to be affected with Spirituall things and to renounce the world 23. LOrd we are rebellious against thy Truth and have not been obedient to thy righteousnes nor have put in practise thy Law whence our condemnation is just Yet Lord saith was imputed to Abraham for righteousnes Graunt it may be so also imputed to us and that we may obtaine mercy Seeing Christ died for us and he is the end of the Law righteousnes unto all beleevers and that whosoever beleeveth in him shall not be confounded And for that they that are according to the flesh are affectioned to the things of the flesh but they that are according to the spirit unto the things of the spirit And in as much as the affection of the flesh is death but the affection of the spirit is life and peace Let thy Spirit dwell in us and let us put on the Lord Iesus Christ and let us not be carefull for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Knowing that Christ being risen againe from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he died he died once for sinne but in that he liveth he liveth unto thee Also we summe up thus our account that we are dead unto sin but live unto thee in Iesus Christ our Lord and that we shall appeare all before his judgment-Seat and that every one of us shall render an account for himself Let then thy feare be before our eyes having in horror all evill cleaving unto that which is good that we lay no stumbling block or occasion of falling before our brother but may walk in charity loving our neighbor as our selves being fervent in spirit serving thee joyfull in hope patient in tribulations persevering in prayer That we may offer up our bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing unto thee which is our reasonable service and let us not fashion our selves unto this present world But let us be transformed by the renewing of our understanding that we may search out what thy good pleasant and perfect wil is And be it that we live we may live unto thee be it wv die we may die unto thee that whether we live or whether we die we may be thine For therefore died Christ and rose againe and returned unto life that he might have dominion both over the dead and over the living We commend unto thee all thy Churches let the weak in faith be strengthened grant there may be the obedience of faith thorow out all nations Let every knee bow before thee and let every tongue give thee praise Let all nations praise thee Lord and let all people celebrate thee Relieve the poore and afflicted and make them partakers of spirituall good things Furnish them with the things of this life assist them in every thing they stand in need of thorow Iesus Christ Grace be with us and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Iesus Christ A Thankesgiving and a Prayer on the same subject 24. O Our God and Father which raisedst from the dead Iesus Christ who gave himselfe for our sinnes to the end that according to thy will he might withdraw us out of this evill world To thee be glory for ever and ever Amen 'T is thou Lord that hast called us by thy grace and hast revealed unto us thy Sonne who hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law when he was made a curse for us that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith knowing that man is not justified by the works of the Law but onely by faith in Iesus Christ in whom we have believed that we might be justified by faith Give us to obey thy Truth furnish us with thy Spirit which may produce thy vertues in us And because we are thy children send the Spirit of thy Sonne into our hearts crying Abba Father so that being thy children we may be thine heires thorow Christ and that we may walk according to the spirit not fulfil the lusts of the flesh because what a man soweth that shall he reape also For he that soweth to the flesh shall reape of the flesh corruption But he that soweth to the Spirit he shall reape of the Spirit life eternall That we may live by the Spirit and may walk also in the Spirit the fruit whereof is love joy peace patience gentlenes goodnes faithfulnes meeknes temperance And as they which are Christs have crucified the flesh with the Iusts thereof that we may be crucified with Christ and may live not now we but that Christ may live in us and that what we now live in the flesh we may live in the faith of thy Son who hath loved us and gave himselfe for us that it might not happen unto us to glory in any thing save in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world may be crucified unto us and we unto the world And that in him we may be new creatures not growing carelesse of well doing seeing we shall reape in due season if we grow not slacke Wherefore whilst we have time let us do good unto al men but especially unto the houshold of faith And all they that shall walk according to this rule peace be upon them and mercy and upon thy Israel O God Work with efficacie by those unto whom the preaching of the Gospell is committed That they which know thee not and who serve those that
Father be with us in truth and love A SACRED Spirituall Awakening or Morning Sacrifice to serve for the awaking and rowsing of the carnally secure The eare that heareth the reproofe of life abideth among the wise Pro. 15.31 He that despiseth the Word shall perish by reason thereof Proverb 13. It shall be more tollerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha Mat. 10.14.15 29. IT is our over much stouping unto and our setling upon the lees of our vanities that the foolish affections of the flesh dragge us deeper into their disordered appetites It is our overmuch thinking on the things here below let us remain no longer curb'd on earth let us rouse up addresse our selves toward heaven and let us not defraud it of what belongs unto it shall not the examples of the creatures without reason yea without sense lead us unto this reason We see water commeth forth of the water and returneth unto water the earth drawne from the earth re-inclineth to the earth and so every thing tendeth to his place and shall we that are borne for heaven flie from it The knowledge that our blessednesse is there eternall blessednesse which already we possesse thorow the assurance of our union with Iesus Christ into whose death we have been baptised to the end to participate in his resurrection and to be in time ordained by God fully co-heires of that celestiall heritage ought it not to make us lift up our senses on high and to pluck them wholly from the earth But alas We confesse that this knowledge appeareth to be almost altogether obscured in us for our conversation is like unto that of them that have not knowne God walking as having no feare of the Lord and doing the things which indeed ought not to be so much as thought on or named of us it seemeth to appeare by the course of the most that man is but only for the flesh to the end to glut his disordered passions O wonderfull brutishnes Where then shall this knowledge be Or the feeling or expectation of the heavenly joy Rom. 6. Col. 3. For this union not performing her functions should we not walke in feare and trembling all the course of our life mortifie our old man and corrupt nature Otherwise where shal be the fruit of our baptisme Or the efficacie of the passions and sufferings of Iesus Christ and if we be destitute and deprived of these things abide we not still in death yea eternall death Wherefore let us here enter into astonishment let us be terrified with feare Rom. 2.4 We see the anger of God threatneth us if we turne not away from evill His Patience inviteth us to repentance let us not despise the riches of his mercy Eccles 5.5 He hath borne with us untill this day let us not say any more the mercy of God is great he will have pitie on the multitude of our sins to ad sinne unto sinne and let us not stay till to morrow to convert our selves for mercy and wrath come both from the Lord and his day shal be and will come when it shall not be thought on no man knoweth the houre And this is it which is meant by the Parable of the evill servant who saying in his heart my Master deferreth the time of his comming Math. 24.48 And therefore I will lead an evill life That his Master will surprise him and will come in a day when he looketh not for him and will cast him thither where there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth Let us feare let us feare then such a surprise let us awake thorowly and slumber no longer in our sins O halfe Atheists infamous Monsters that say let us sinne that God may forgive us otherwise what use shall there be of his mercy came he not for sinners Oh how you deceive your selves and those also that glut their brutish and irregular lusts giving the full swing to their foolish desires prophaning likewise the mercy of God promise to themselves afterward to have the same all the course of their lives jollily heaped up their iniquitie to say at their last day a peccavi whereupon they heape and pile up in this manner as much mischief as the most perverse can do As if it were in mans power to have repentance to ask and obtaine mercy at any time or moment hee shall assigne himselfe and as if it were in his own free habilitie and power and not a speciall and singular gift of God as it is manifested unto us in Ieremy 31.8 when he saith Convert mee and I shall bee converted for thou art the Lord my God surely after I was converted I repented That such grace commeth from God alone according to his good pleasure It is the saying of the Holy Ghost Act. 11.18 God gave to the Gentiles also repentance unto life Which is also clearely shewed by Saint Paul charging Timothie to teach those that were contrarily minded 2 Timoth. 1.25 To trie if at any time God would give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth that they may awake and recover themselves out of the snare of the Devill according to that we gather Esay 1.15 That man somtimes cryeth unto the Lord in vaine and without that he answereth him Consider then now unto whom when and how mercy is graunted Psalme 18.41 And we may acknowledge all in that behalfe that we have not the morrow to repent in Let us not grow elder in our iniquitie least as wisdome admonisheth us That malice having taken deep root in us our heart can never be changed Wisdome the 12.10 So the tree long since planted is not easily stub'd up and let us ever beare in mind that threatning Apoc. 3.3 If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what houre I will come upon thee But what shall we not grow wise thorough the frequent examples which daily occurre and present themselves to our view That the lustiest man he that buildeth his designes as it were farre from the grave and who thinketh of nothing lesse then on the tribute he owes to death in the same instant sinks downe And therefore no man knowes the houre nor how he must dislodge from out of this lower earth Every moment both of night and of day shewing that God hath a thousand and a thousand meanes in his hand to cut off when he pleaseth the thread of the soundest and strongest life Whereupon one hath said very well What act what time what place exempt can stand From dreadfull dart of Deaths fell hand Is not unpartiall proofe Pope Adrians flie That laughing eating drinking man may die Stay a little thy mind and thoughts in this place O thou temporiser that deferrest unto another season to amend and become better let not this passe thee without thinking on it and it shal be an entrance unto thee to profit by the admonition which our Saviour Iesus Christ gives us Mat. 24.44 Therefore be
you ask it fervently with a true and lively faith in the name of his welbeloved Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord doubt not but that according to his promises he heares you yea from this very time forward he is neare unto you and fils your soule with holy consolations strengthening you with patience and even solacing you as much as he shall know it to bee necessary for you and by that meanes by so much the more will he oblige you to rejoyce and solace your selfe in his goodnes and to glorifie his holy Name by thanksgiving And this is it which he saith himself unto you and unto whomsoever is afflicted as you are call upon me when thou shalt be oppressed and then will I helpe thee and thou shalt honour me for the same Would you not then have us now addresse our prayers altogether joyntly with you that it would please him to assist you with his grace Yes A Prayer for the sicke in whom there shal be no appearance or signe of death LORD our good God and mercifull Father we prostrate our selves in all humilitie at the feet of thy Divine Majestie to acknowledg that which is but too true that we are utterly unworthy of any grace or mercy from thee and are worthy of the lower-most hell if thou shouldst deale with us in the rigour of thy justice by reason of the numberlesse number of our sinnes and offences wherewith we feele and confesse our selves tainted and guilty before thee But we beseech thee that having regard to thy great and infinite goodnes thou wilt be mercifull unto us poore sinners and be mercifull unto us for thy deare Sonne Christ Iesus sake our Lord looking upon us not in our selves but rather in the person of that Sonne of thy love as members of his body reconciled unto thy Majestie thorow the benefit of his death And as thou art the Father of Mercy and God of all consolation rich in compassion and free grace towards all them that call upon thee and put their trust in thee We beseech thee be graciously pleased to shew unto us thy plenteous mercy both towards us and generally upon us all that now call upon thee for thy grace and particularly towards the person of this thy child and servant lying on this his bed of infirmity Give him to acknowledge in the first place that he is not strucke by any other hand but by thine that he may learne to submit himselfe unto and under the same in all humility and obedience And to this end let him remember that it is a fatherly and a sweet hand which strikes not to destroy but rather to save and who after he hath wounded healeth and quickeneth by the same wounds which he hath made Make him to seele that he is a poore and miserable sinner not onely to be issued forth of that masse of corruption out of which we are all sprung in Adam but also and chiefly because that after it pleased thee to give him the grace to know thee the only true God and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ in whom abideth eternall life manifesting unto him by that meanes thy free adoption in thy welbeloved reconciling him to thy self and so having done him the honor to hold the rank and place to be one of the number of thy children and servants in the midst of thy Church he hath not duly acknowledged these abundant riches of thy mercy to love and serve thee with his whole heart as he ought to have done in renouncing the world and in denying himself even as our ingratitudes are infinite by which we fight ordinarily against thy bountifulnes and grace O God and Father touch him then in his heart with a lively sense of all his infirmities and offences that without any way flattering of himself he may escape and be freed from condemnation before thy sacred Majestie may acknowledge that unto thee belongeth justice and to himselfe confusion of face may be altogether displeased at and wholly deny himselfe and may confesse that justly and by good right thou dost lay upon him thy chastisements and that if thou shouldst deale with him according to his deserts thou shouldest utterly overwhelme him under the unsupportable waight of thy justice and shouldst cast him into the bottomlesse depth of eternall death But withall make Lord this acknowledgment to serve onely to humble him and not to precipitate him into the gulfe of despaire and that he being on the one side beaten downe and dejected to the earth by thy mighty hand not so much by the sense of this sicknes as in the sense and feeling of his sins he may on the other side by the same hand of thine be succoured relieved and raised up againe in firm hope thorow the consideration of this thy incomprehensible mercy out of which thou hast given us so precious so rich a pledge as thy deare Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord whom thou hast not spared but rather hast given him up unto death yea unto the ignominious and accursed death of the crosse to redeeme us from the ignominy and curse of sin Graunt Lord that this thy poore servant may have his whole refuge there excite and strengthen his faith by the which he may seek and find in that death and entire obedience of thy Sonne the expiation of all his sinnes and disobediences and may firmely imbrace and lay hold on his perfect righteousnes with the which being prepared and cloathed he may find peace with thee and boast himselfe in and of the hope of thy glory even in the very midst of his troubles And that thus the sorrowes of the curse wherewith thou visitest him in his body may be sweetened thorow the rest and contentment of his soule that if it be thy good pleasure to raise him up againe from this sicknes and to prolong his dayes as thou doest not thereof as yet bereave him of good hope give him grace to use them aright to thy glory and that perpetually nourishing the memory of this gracious favour received from thee it may serve to consecrate the remainder of his life to serve and honour thee with so much the greater affection and zeale And to this end give him to receive this sicknes as a fatherly chastisement comming from thy hand to awaken and to withdraw him from his sinnes and to make him take up an holy resolution by thy grace all the dayes of his life thorowly to make a deep impression in his memory of his duty and of that obedience whereunto hereby he stands obliged unto thee to walk in thy feare more purely and more affectionately for the time to come then he hitherto hath done Blesse unto him the remedies which thou permittest him to use whereby to receive ease in his disease moderate the sharpnes of his griefs and shorten the course of them if thou knowest it to be expedient for him that thereby he may have a subject of glorifying thee and of rendring
Paul saith Rom. 8.14 Courage then Sir say boldly with that holy Apostle in the midst of your combats I am assured that nothing shal be able to separate me from the love of God which he hath shewed me in Iesus Christ our Lord To assure the sicke against the temptations and terrors of conscience FOure things there are indeed which in this spirituall combat may give you terror stagger your faith and trouble the peace of your conscience Namely the sense of your sinnes the apprehension of death the feare of the Devill and the horrour of the judgement of God before whom we are to appeare at our going forth of this life But against the feare of al these things the goodnesse of God in the benefits of Christ and in the testimonies he gives us in his Word furnisheth you with good and sufficient remedies thorowly to assure and establish you in invincible constancie Against the terrors proceeding from the sense of his sinnes FIrst for the regard of your sinnes it is indeed very necessarie to have a thorow sensible apprehension and lively feeling of them to humble you before God But in as much as you protest you have a true and serious repentance of them and do seek and lay hold of by faith the satisfaction and expiation of them in the bloud of Iesus Christ assure your self they can in no sort hinder the effect of your salvation If you be a sinner why Iesus Christ also came into the world to save sinners 1. Tim. 1.15 He is that Lamb of God that takes away the sinnes of the world Iohn 1.29 It is his bloud which cleanseth us from all iniquitie 1 Ioh. 1.7.9 And whosoever shall believe in him shall receive remission of his sins thorow his name Act. 10 43. For this cause is it that there should be preached in his name repentance and remission of sinnes Luke 24 47. Yea he himselfe invites us to himselfe to endow us with the fruition of such a good come unto mee all yee that labour and are heavie laden and I will give you rest Matth. 11.28 Go you then unto him if you feele your selfe overwhelmed with the burthen of your sinnes in assurance to find remedie and rest to your soule And for this selfe same cause performes he yet still dayly the office of an Advocat with the Father for us If we have sinned saith Saint Iohn ch 2. ver 1 2. We have an Advocat with the Father to wit Iesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for our sinnes Against the feare of death NOW as touching death why should you feare it seeing your sinnes are not imputed unto you For by sin it is that death entred into the world thus saith Saint Paul Rom. 5.12 and by consequent where there is no sinne there can be no death And indeed as for eternall death which the Scriptures call the second death you have from it a full and a perfect release by the meanes of this faith which God hath given you Verily saith the Son of God Iohn 5.24 I say unto you that hee that heareth my Word and believeth in him that sent me he hath eternall life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death vnto life And as for the death of the body whereunto we remaine still subject it is not unto the faithfull a testimonie of Gods anger upon them as it is ever such unto the reprobate but rather a great and singular favour of his bounty and which bringeth them an infinitenes of excellent commodities First of all it delivereth and setteth us free from all manner of evils and dangers putting an end unto such a number of miseries vexations and griefs which exercise and disquiet us uncessantly both in our bodies and in our mindes during the course of this miserable life or rather of this continuall death wherein we languish here below and by drawing us out of this corrupt world imbrued in malignitie with the corruption wherof we cannot chuse but be infected as with a contagious ayre to see our selves brought to this unhappy necessity of offending daily the goodnesse of our heavenly Father so many wayes as we do Secondly corporall death is an entrance to us into a true life by the benefit of Iesus Christ who hath himselfe passed thorow this death to make the passage happy and dangerlesse unto us it is a safe bridge unto us to passe us and convay us out of the world unto God from earth to heaven and out of the calamities of this transitorie life unto the incomprehensible blessednesse of life eternall unto that fulnesse of joyes which is as David saith Psal 16.11 in beholding the face of the Lord. This is the happinesse which your soule shall injoy even from your very instant departure out of this body And as for your body which shal be put into the earth this shall not be for it there to perish for ever but rather there to rest only for a time in expectation of a blessed resurrection For this cause is it that the death of the faithfull is called a sleepe in the Scriptures and they are called they that are asleepe in regard of their bodies which at the last day shal be awakened and raised up out of the dust to possesse together with their soules glorious immortality being made conformable unto the glorious body of our Lord Iesus Christ Philip. 3.21 He is the head and they are the members And therefore it must needs be that the members be made like and conformable to their head What do you then find now in death which should astonish or affright you seeing it will deliver and set you free from all evill and will mount you up to the highest pitch of all happinesse But rather you shall find in it nothing which makes not fâ—â— your comfort and to settle and warrant you and which for that cause ought not to make you wait for it with resolution and repose of spirit yea to breath and long after it with all your heart when the houre therof shall come And to say with Saint Paul My desire tendeth and endeavoureth to go hence to be with Christ Against the feare of the Devill AS for the feare you may have of the Devill you see now how you have no great subject to fearâ—â—im seeing that death cannot hurt you but by that death whereof he hath the empire and power thereof Now the Apostle witnesseth that Iesus Christ hath not onely by death destroyed death but also him that had the power of death to wit the Devill Heb. 2.14 Our Lord saith himself that the Prince of this world hath nothing in him Nor then hath he ought in those that â—ire his members of the number of whom by the grace of God you are one Besides for us and for our profit it was that the Son of God fought with and hath vanquished and overcome him upon the Crosse upon the which he hath as Saint Paul speaketh
for me As accursed upon the tree of the Crosse to free me from the curse eternall wherunto Adam had obliged me This my Saviour Iesus Christ was truly buried to burie all my sinnes with him to the end they might not be imputed unto me before God It is my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ which went downe into hell suffering extream temporall anguish to deliver me from the eternall The Minister All this that you have now confessed of Iesus Christ was it sufficient to save you The Sicke No According as the holy Scriptures ought in every thing to be fulfilled For what had it profited me that Iesus Christ was borne crucified dead buried and went downe into hell for me only unlesse he had risen againe Wherefore I believe and confesse that my Lord my Head and Saviour Iesus Christ is risen againe from the dead to make me to rise againe with him as one of his meaner members unto life eternall The Minister Consequently it is written that he ascended up into heaven being now set downe at the right hand of God his Father But what doth this his ascention benefit you The Sicke My Lord my Head and Saviour Iesus Christ is ascended up into heaven to cause me to ascend thither after him for where the Head is there are the members also And I believe that being set downe at the right hand of God his Father he is my Advocat intereessor and onely Mediator with him assuring me exceedingly that none can hurt me seeing that Iesus Christ is my Advocate and Iudge both together Wherfore I have no occasion to feare the day of his judgment when he shall come to judge the quick and the dead For I believe and confesse in stedfast faith that there is neither judgment nor condemnation to them that are faithfull members of Iesus Christ The Minister Who hath given you the grace to understand and know all these things The Sicke It is by the grace of the Holy Ghost one only God with the Father and the Sonne by whose means we receive all the goods and gifts which are offered us in Iesus Christ The Minister Seeing you have already confessed that you are a member of Iesus Christ it thence followeth that you are withall incorporated into his Church which you must believe to be Holy Catholique and Vniversall The Sicke I do assuredy believe the Holy Catholique Church washâ— and cleansed with the Precious Bloud of Iesus Christ for the which in the greatest humility I render him thanks that he hath affoorded me the grace to be one of the meanest members of his Church being baptized into his Name he hath made me to live in the communion unity and love of the same by having instructed me in his holy Word and fed me with his true Body steeped in his precious Bloud into the hope of eternall life The Minister Well go to seeing you are so well founded upon the lively Rocke which is Iesus Christ in knowing so well your selfe you must confesse and acknowledge the principall good which you have received from this good Iesus Christ The Sicke It is very reasonable for I would not be ingratefull in not acknowledging the goods and gifts which I have received from God Wherefore I confesse that I poore miserable sinner have offended without end and without ceasing the goodnesse and justice of God having transgressed all thy holy Commandements In the doing wherof I have deserved death and eternall damnation Neverthelesse appealing to Gods mercy I cry him mercy and do believe and confesse without all manner of doubt or wavering that full and perfect forgivenes of all my sinnes is graunted me by the sole merit of the Death and Passion of my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ in the effusion of his precious Bloud wherein I assure my self to be sufficiently and entirely washed and purged which is the most transcendent good and contentment that I could ever have received and such is my faith wherein I will live and die by the helpe of the grace of Gods Holy Spirit The Minister Seeing you have received so great a good from God by the means of his Sonne Iesus Christ it is fitting also that you do his commandement For even as he hath pardonned you and remitted all your sinnes in like manner must you pardon heartily all those which may have offended you Otherwise you walk not according to God Sick In this thing I have knowne the Law of Iesus Christ to be the singular sacred and perfect Law commanding us to love our neighbours friends and enemies as our selves Wherefore I also intreat all those to whom I have done wrong or said wrong to pardon me as heartily as I pardon all them that have offended me desiring to do them all good offices of love and kindnes as to my good brethren and friends The Minister Now sith it is ordained by God that all men shall die we cannot resist his ordinance rather we ought evermore to conforme our selves to his holy will Wherefore my brother you must not think it strange if I declare unto you the same which the good Prophet Esay declared unto King Ezechias saying unto him from the Lord Set thy house in order for thou shalt die not live This good advice ought to stirre you up thorowly to set your selfe in good order spiritually in your conscience And that is first of all to convert and turne you unto God to bewaile your sinnes as that good King did To implore his mercy in begging pardon at his hands and saying alwayes in your heart Lord God be propitious and mercifull unto me poor miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ his sake my Lord and Saviour And then you must not forget your house and familie which you ought so well to set in good order and so to dispose of by a good testament and last will that it may remaine in peace and tranquillitie after you But the better to give you to understand how to dispose aright and to set in order your house it is that you give unto every one what belongeth unto him without defrauding of any man that you leave your wife endow'd with what is due to her your children and kinsfolkes in good agreement and charitie that after your decease they may have no occasion to fall to dissention and division This being done you must quite forget all worldly eares and affection to the world which passeth away withall the concupiscence thereof But he that doth the will of God abideth for ever Touching your children you are only their naturall father for a time but God is perpetually their Spirituall Father having them in his holy keeping and protection to preserve and sustaine them to keep and deliver them from all evill whilst they will but walk in his wayes Besides in that you are a Christian regenerate in the holy Sacrament of Baptisme long since you knew that we have not here any Citie of continuance for we looke for a better
thou hast broken rejoyce As then thou didst that favour unto the Israelites even then when they were in the desarts to make them to tast of the fruits of the terrestriall Canaan to the end to incourage them to make them to walk on forward with boldnesse towards the Land of Promise So Lord give unto this sick person and unto us that are in the wildernesse of this world an assurance of the forgivenes of our sins in the bloud of thy Welbeloved who was wounded for our trespasses and bruised for our iniquities peace in our consciences a continuall acknowledgment of thy favours a firm reliance on thy love and joy in our soules which are the fruits of the Celestiall Canaan to the end that relishing that sweetnes we may aspire with zeale and courage towards the end of our Spirituall Calling in Iesus Châ—â—st to be filled not with 〈◊〉 and hony but with 〈◊〉 beams of thy glorious 〈◊〉 and with the rivers of thâ— pleasures with thee for evermore For in possessioâ— of thee great God we shall possesse all things and in thee and thorow thee we shal be all radiant with thy glory and shining as the brightnes of the firmament and as the Sun which shineth in his strength And during this small time which remains for us to live in this world give uâ— grace that thorow good works we may make sure 〈◊〉 Vocation and Election to the end that thus doing 〈◊〉 â—ntrance into the eterâ—â—â—â—â—ingdome of our Saviour Iesus Christ may be abâ—ndâ—ntly accommodated unto us bearing evermore in â—â—nd those words of thy Sonne Iesus Christ that he that shall persevere and shall overcome shal be clothed with white garments and I will not blot his name out of the booke of life But I will confesse his name before my Father and before his Angells And to the end we may receive death which is the end of our miseries in good part make us seriously to think on the future resurrection of our bodies for as this day according as thy Prophet Amos teacheth us shal be a day of darknes not of brightnes of heavines not of joy of destruction not of salvation to the wicked so shall it be the acceptable day of the Lord for the good for as thy Son our Saviour teacheth us we ought to lift up our heads and to rejoyce in that day because our redemption is neare In that day shall it be according to thy Prophet Malachie that the register or book of remembrance which is written before thee of them which think of thy Name shal be opened If King Assuerus had in his Palace a Booke of the worthy exploits of his subjects wherein he found written the good deeds of Mardochâ— to recompence it and shalt not thou have O great King by whom the Kings of the earth raigne Thy book of life and retribution wherin are writ the names of thy children whom by a singular prerogative thou hast adopted for such in thy Son Iesus Christ David surely knew this mysterie when as in his sorest afflictions he said unto thee Lord thou tellest my wanderings my tears are in thy bottle are they not in thy Book Now to the end we may bee acceptable to thee whilst we are incompassed with this mortall flesh graunt us the grace to live in this present world soberly justly and religiously expecting that happy day of the last resurrection and appearing of thy deare Son our Saviour Iesus Christ who in the same shall transforme our vile bodies to the end they may be made like to his glorious body according to the effectuall power wherby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Vnto thee O great God thorow thy Son Iesus Christ in the Vnity of the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen 2. Another Prayer when the sicke is neare unto death 35. O Lord our good God and Father who out of thy great goodnes daily showrest downe upon us a sea of bounty and blessings and who hast in thy hand rest and labour health and sicknes life and death We poore sinners setling our selves upon the assurance of thy goodnes which is continually ready to relieve those that resort thereunto in the interim of their grievous assaults unto the blessed haven of thy sacred mercy We are bold in the name of this sick person who fighteth against death to lift up our hearts and our eyes towards thee to the end that thy favour and grace may serve unto him for a starre of light and a guide in that voyage which his soule maketh from earth to heaven and from this mortall life unto the immortall to persist firmly in the faith even unto the end without being terrified or shaken by temptation illusion or by any other stratageme of the enemie Thou art O great God the light of all them that hope in thee and who leddest thy people Israel thorow the ghastly wildernes by a pillar of fire in the dark night therfore we beseech thee to enlighten with thine assistance and holy protection this thy childe in the darkesome passage of death And surely Lord experience shewes us that when humane means seeme most to faile us then is it that thou keepest nearest unto thine to comfort them with thy right hand handling them with thy helpfull hand with gentle and cherishing fomentations and that thou makest them sensible that the point of their extreame need is the opportunitie of thy succours And therefore is it that now the heart of this sicke person sobbeth that his eyes are duskish and heavy his eares deafe his mouth dry and juycelesse and as the outward man falleth in him it would please thee to give him strength in his inward man and to fill his soule with gladnes and joy in that last conflict making him powerfully to relish those celestiall gifts which are laid up for us in heaven by the merits of thy deare Sonne our Saviour who to make us to live againe in heaven after he had by his death reconciled us unto thee ascended into heaven there to prepare a place for us In the interim then of this small time which remaines for this thy child to live in this world give him grace that his spirit may alwayes acknowledge thee that his heart may adore thee whilst he shall breath that he may be assured stedfastly that in the end of his mortall sweat he may find unspeakable happines with his bride-groome Iesus Christ unto whom with thee in the unitie of the Holy Ghost be honour and glorie for ever Amen 3. Another prayer in distres 36. LOrd God and Father of all mercy that sentest from heaven an Angell to comfort thy Son when in the depth of his Passion bearing our sorrowes and loaden with our griefs wounded for our offences and bruised for our iniquities his soule was heavie even unto death We beseech thee from the bottome of our hearts to comfort this thy sick child whom thou hast regenerated and incorporated
into thy welbeloved Sonne acknowledg Lord the mark of thine adoption in him We know O God of inestimable puritie that our sinnes drive us back far away from thee But thy deare Sonne who is made for us by thee wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption not only washeth us with his bloud to becom acceptable unto thee but withall maketh giveth us entrance into thy Sanctuary boldnes by his death to approch with assurance to the throne of thy grace to be heard in due time Graunt grace unto this sick person to free the point of death with an holy and Christian resolution Redouble his courage at that present houre that his soule is upon the point to behold thy face wherein is fulnesse of joy And amidst the violent dartings of those sighs which accompanie the last acts of his life give him perfect clearâ—esse of judgement accompanied with calmenesse of spirit evermore to acknowledge his true and only God that drawes him out of the desarts of this world to live happy in the Heavenly Ierusalem and who withdrawes him out of the bottomlesse depths of wretchednes to bring him to live in heaven heaped with eternall blessings Command thy holy Angels which thou incampest round about those that feare thee and which watch for the welfare and safety of thy children that they beare the soule of this thy servant up into heaven the sacred Temple of thy glory most gloriously resplendant with happinesse and honour where he shall clearely see that which his spirit adores here below and where he shall injoy that divine and celestiall harmonie which the blessed Spirits make unto thee uncessantly and the eternall joyes which cannot be valued and where he shall live in continuall admiration of those incomprehensible bounties in the presence of his Spouse thy beloved Sonne Iesus Christ To whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for evermore So be it 4. Another Prayer to bee said when the Sicke is in extremity 37. O Lord our good God and most mercifull Father who being overcome with the bowels of thy tender mercies hast sent down thy beloved Sonne to save sinners and hast been pleased that this thy Sonne was bound to loose us condemned to absolve and free us that he died to give us life yea that he was made a curse to the end that we might be made a blessing of God in him We beseech thee to graunt this grace unto this sick person to repose and relye himselfe on the certainty of faith for the full remission of his sinnes upon that entire and perfect satisfaction which thy deare Sonne whose bloud was once offered up to abolish the sinnes of many hath made unto theâ— upon the Crosse For it is certaine that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he be converted and live Thou bruisest not in thy displeasure those that thou hast redeemed by his death thou dost not precipitate into that eternall gulfe those whom thou hast ingrafted and regenerated in that great Mediator and Saviour of the world when as calling upon thy mercy they shal be converted with their whole heart unto thee That when Satan our adversarie who like a roaring Lion goeth about us endeavouring to devoure us maketh himself a party against this sick person in this his last conflict setting before him the checkroule and catologue of his sinnes and thy rigorous judgment to astonish and to precipitate him into despaire give him grace to shield and ward himselfe as with a target and buckler to repell and beat back the fierie darts of that enemie with the truth and assurance that the bloud of thy Sonne Iesus cleanseth from all sinne Fortifie then and animate O God of invincible power and our firme hope this thy child with the strength of thy Holy Spirit at this present houre that his soule being disburdened of the miseries which presse him yea set free from the captivitie of his body is ready to go unto thee And in that houre wherin the earth claimeth in his person what we have borrowed of her have pitie Lord on thine owne image and despise not the works of thy hands Behold Lord the teares the plaints the sighes the groanes and the contrition of the heart of this sicke person and our prayers that we may acknowledge in his person thy clemency the mother of our hope thy succours the source of our life and that indeed thou art our sacred and saving refuge And as for us which remaine in this vale of miserie graunt us this grace that as thy people being captive in Babilon had the comfort to direct and lift up their eyes towards Ierusalem the place wherein thou didst manifest unto them thy glorious and gracious presence that even so amidst the captivitie of this world where we see nothing but confusion and where vice raigneth and thy honour is dis-esteemed we may have our eyes towards thee as on the sole object and subject of our joy and rejoycing seeing in thy face is the fulnes of joy and at thy right hand are perfect pleasures for evermore Even so O thou God of inestimable bounty and goodnes and who hast chosen us out of the world to follow thy holy will we beseech thee that when thou shalt call us out of this world to place our soules in the company of those who by faith have overcome Kingdomes have done righteousnesse and have obtained the promises and who are written in the Booke of Life of the Lamb. In the meane time O Lord arme us with patience and in the midst of our troubles make us sensible by a lively feeling that our light affliction which is transient and soone over produceth in us a waight of glory wonderfully excellent and that leaving by death these visible things which are but of small continuance we shall injoy those that are now invisible to our eyes which are abiding for ever in Iesus Christ and by Iesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for ever Amen 5. A Prayer when the sick is in some grievous perplexitie 38. O God and Father of all mercy who art wise in thy counsels true in thy word and admirable in thy works yea who keepest thy deare children as the apple of thine eye In as much as now we see that now it is even at this time that it wil be thy pleasure to withdraw this thy sick child out of this mortall world We beseech thee enter not into account with him to punish him nor reprove him in thy displeasure neither chasten him in thy wrath But remember Lord he hath beene called in thy Church and in the number of thine Elect to be washed and sanctified by thy grace in the name of Iesus Christ thy deare Sonne who took upon him our griefs and hath undergone the burden of our sorrowes that by his wounds we might receive health whereof his baptisme hath beene the badge Wash then Lord who art in