nor my tongue begged pardon Good Lord deliver me From the whole corruption of my nature from all the temptations of the Divel from the allurements of the world from the lusts of the flesh and eyes Good Lord deliver me From all vanity of minde dulness of understanding perversnesse of will crookedness of affections deadness hardness of heart and from a benummed blinded or seared conscience Good Lord deliver me From all wandring imaginations from all loosness of desires from all transgressions of thy holy and just commandments and from the first motions to any sin against thee or my neighbour Good Lord deliver me From relapsing into the sins that I have repented from turning thy grace into wantonnesse from treading under foot the bloud of thy covenant from neglect and contempt of the meanes of salvation Good Lord deliver me From all schism heresie from infidelity and apostasie from the sin against the holy Ghost Good Lord deliver me From famine scarcity from plague and pestilence and from all other thy sore and heavy judgements at this time and ever hereafter Good Lord deliver me From poverty and extreme necessity from sickness and diseases in my body from grief and vexation of mind from losse of liberty goods or friends from blemish and scādal of my good name Good Lord deliver me From giving offence unadvisedly and from taking offence unjustly Good Lord deliver me From thy wrath and indignation from final despair of thy grace and pardon and from sudden death Good Lord deliver me From the sentence of condemnation from the Lake of brimstone from the chains of everlasting darkness from the worm that dies not and the fire that shall never be quenched Good Lord deliver me O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul Psal 116.4 Amen Amen And that for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most blessed name and words we conclude these our imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught us OUR Father which art in heaven c. Morning Prayer O Lord our heavenly Father almighty everlasting God which hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day defend us in the same with thy mighty power grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance to doe alwayes that is righteous in thy sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Evening Prayer LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only Son our Savior Jesus Christ Amen THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen III. SUPPLICATION SUpplication is another branch of praier whereby we intreat of God that hee would give us such blessings as we want or continue and inlarge such blessings as we have received And these blessings are either corporal or spiritual temporal or eternal For such blessings as are spiritual and accōpany salvation pray for them in the first place First seek the Kingdom of God the righteuosness thereof we may pray for them absolutely for the other we must pray conditionally with a reference submission of our will to Gods will who best knows what is good for us Not my will but thine be done Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven O Thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come Psal 65.2 Lord hear my voice let thine eares be attentive to my supplications Psal 130.2 Behold now that I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord who am but dust and ashes O let not the Lord bee angry and I will speak THE LETANY of Supplication THat it may pleafe thee to fill mine heart and my mouth with thy praise all my life long for all thy faithfulnesse and truth and loving kindness shewed to me in the land of the living I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to give me a clear judgment to see my sins holy affections to hate and abhorre them true repentance to bewail and forsake them with a stedfast purpose and resolution against them for the time to come I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to wash mee throwly from mine iniquities and to cleanse me from my sins that I may be whiter then snow I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to apply to my conscience the obedience of the life and the sacrifice of the death of Jesus Christ for the assurance of thy favour and my pardon I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to create in me a clean heart to renew a right spirit within me to give me truth in my inward parts and to establish me with thy free Spirit I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to give me such graces as I want and to increase those which I have that I may grow frō strength to strength till I become a perfect man I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to make me an instrument of thy glory to direct all my thoughts words works for the inlargement advancement of thy Kingdome I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to establish in mee the Kingdome of thy power to rule and awe me and the Kingdome of thy grace to sanctifie me to the knowledge love and obedience of thy will I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to enable me to doe thy will with chearfulness alacrity with perseverance and constancy as thy blessed Angels and Saints in heaven do it I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to open thy full hand to bestow upon me the necessaries of this life the fruits of the earth in due season with the continuance of health liberty and peace I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to give me thy blessing with them that I may use them wisely soberly justly charitably thankfully and contentedly I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to blesse me in all the works of my calling with grace and strength to obtain to keep and to use a good conscience towards thee my neighbours to my lives end I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to sanctifie my life to sweeten my death and to raise up my body in the day of the Lo Jesus I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. Finally that it may please thee to give me my masters joy my fathers inheritance the Crown of righteousness the glory of the new Jerusalem to satisfie me with that fulness of joy which is in thy presence I beseech thee to heare me
bring forth Prov. 27.1 If not an end of thy sins it may be an end of thy life If it bring not forth conversion it may bring forth confusion Go to now ye that say To day or to morrow we will do thus or thus whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life It is even a vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away I am 4.13 14 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave whither thou goest Eccles 9.10 We are but tenants at will and we know not how soon our great Land-lord may discharge us Doe therefore as the wise Steward before thou beest turned out of this house make sure of another Luke 16.4 CAP. III. The place uncertain DEath surprized Abel when he was walking in the field Gen. 4.8 Eli when he was sitting at his doore 1 Sam. 4.18 Jobs children at a feast Job 1.19 Eglon in his summer parlour Judg. 3.20 Zacharias betwixt the Temple and the Altar Mat. 23.35 Senacherib in the house of Nisroch his god Isa 37.38 Ishbosheth whilest hee slept in his bedchamber 2 Sam. 4.7 The Philistims whilest they were sporting in the Theatre Judg. 16.30 Herod whilest he fate upon his throne Act. 12.23 Expect that therefore in every place which in every place expects thee And let not the place of thy death trouble thee for the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof CAP. IV. The manner uncertain THere is a naturall death when a man dies as a lamp goes out because there is no more oile to feed it And there is a violent death when the soul is thrust out of doors and the lamp of life not burnt but blown out There is a timely death when a man comes to his grave in his full age as a shock of corn cometh in in his season Job 5.26 And there is an untimely death when a man is cropt as an ear of corn before it be white unto the harvest There is a lingring death when the soule is besieged with sicknesse and as it were starved and tired out of her habitation And there is a sudden death which strikes without giving warning There is a quiet death a departing in peace when the soul doth as it were steal out of the body unperceived And there is a death accompanied with raving madnesse and distemperature Now who knows which of these deaths are appointed for him Josiah dies by the hurt of an arrow 2 Chr. 35.23 A Prophet of God by the teeth of a Lion 1 Kings 13.24 Abimelech by the fall of a stone Judges 9.53 Jezabel is eaten up of dogs 2 Kings 9.36 Two Captains with their fifties are consumed by fire from Heaven 2 Kings 1.14 There are ten thousand diseases in the world and no man in his health knows which shall make an end of him For unto God the Lord belong the issues of death Psal 68.20 SECTION III. NOW because Death is the King of terrors and of all terrible things the most terrible so that the very thought and remembrance of it is as bitter to flesh and bloud as the waters of Marah I thought good to cast in these Meditations to sweeten it CAP. I. Death is a sleep SLeep is nothing else but a short death and death what is it but a long sleep Hence antiquity made these two brethen Lazarus our friend sleepeth John 11.11 And when Stephen had said thus he fell asleep Acts 7.60 Brethren I would not have you ignorant concerning them that are asleep 1 Thes 4.13 The places appointed for buriall were called Coemeteries that is sleeping places Now the sleep of a labouring man is sweet Eccles 5.12 Lord if he sleep he shall do wel Joh. 11.12 Hence also is it that our graves are called onr beds They shall rest in their beds every one walking in his uprightnesse Isa 57.2 Jobs bed was full of tossings to and fro Job 7.4 Davids bed was watered with tears Ps 6.6 Nebuchadnezzars bed affrighted him with troublesome thoughts fearfull dreames and strange visions Dan. 4.5 But this bed in the Hebrew tongue is called Dumah because it is a place of rest and silence I will lay me down in peace and take my rest Psal 4.8 In vita vigilant justi ideo in morte dicuntur dormire Aug. CAP. II. Death hath no sting DOgges that have no teeth may bark at us but they cannot bite us Serpents that have no stings may hisse at us but cannot hurt us Bees they say when they have lost their stings become droans ever after Death lost her sting in the side of our Saviour and though it still leap upon us we may shake it off as Paul did the viper without hurt Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you Luke 10.19 Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting Thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56. CAP. III. Death is good for us WEE may say of death as David did of Ahimaaz He is a good man and bringeth good tidings 2 Sam. 18.27 First the death of the body frees us from the body of death the Law of the members the prick in the flesh the relicks of corruption The good which I would do I cannot do and the evill which I would not doe that doe I Rom. 7.19 I see a law in my members warring against the law in my minde Rom. 7.23 This makes every child of God cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me Why Death doth it for he that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 Secondly it frees us from the miseries and incumbrances of this life So many are the miseries and calamities of this life that were it not for the hope of heaven it would not be much better then hell Crosses come as thick upon us as Jobs messengers The life of man is a winters day very short and very cloudy Few and evill have the days of my life been Gen. 47.9 Man that is born of a woman is of few days full of trouble few are our days but many our troubles Job 14.1 The day of death is the year of Jubilee and frees us of all these evils There the wicked cease from troubling there the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together and heare not the voice of the oppressour The small and great are there and the servant is free from his master Job 3.17 18 19. Hence the Heathen said it was the best thing not to be born at all and the next to that was to die quickly It was the custome of many nations to weep at the birth of their friends and to rejoyce at their burials and not unwisely says Ambros in orat de fide resurr
Lastly death like the Angell plucks us out of Sodom and conducts us to Zoar a city of refuge and safety It translates us out of a prison to a Palace from a vale of misery to a kingdome of glory from Leeks and Onions to Rivers of Milk and Honey From the Tents of Kedar and Tabernacles of the wicked to mount Sion the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the generall Assembly and Church of the first born which are inrolled in heaven to God the Judge of all to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Testament Heb. 12.22 23. Death is like the common gate of a city thorow which the Malefactor passes to execution but the honest Citizen to his recreation We know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 Where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain Rev. 21.4 These things considered we may with Solomon praise the dead that are already dead more then the living that are yet alive Eccles 4.2 And say with S. Paul To me to live is Christ and to die is gain Phil. 1.21 CAP. IV. There shall bee a Resurrection IT troubles us not to see the Sun set because we know it will rise again the next morning God restored to Iob every thing double but his children they were not amissi but praemissi not lost but laid up and then shall be a day of restitution Though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed in me Job 19.26 27. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the Earth shall cast out her dead Isa 26.19 So then death is but a Parenthesis and the soul and body though disjoyned by it will meet again together Nay the body shall not onely arise but it fares with the body as with old houses which being pull'd down new ones are erected in their rooms better and more stately then the former It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption It is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory It is sown in weakness it is raised in power It is sown a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body 1 Cor. 15.42 43. Thus death like a rare Alchy mist dissolves the base metal of our bodies and converts it to a purer substance The body when it rots in the grave is as linnen worn to rags and cast upon the dunghill but at the resurrection it is like those Rags gathered up and made into paper which many times becomes gilt and capable of noble and divine impressions The fire burnt the bands of the three children but sindged not so much as a haire of their heads Dan. 3.27 Death looses us from the bands of our sins but shall not cozen us of a nail of the hand or an hair of the head for all our hairs are numbred CAP. V. The goodness of God SAint Ambrose being asked by his friends whether he was not afraid to die answered he was not because he had a good Lord. What time I am affraid I will trust in thee Psal 56.3 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill for thou art with me Psal 23.4 Into thy hands I commit my spirit for thou hast redeemed it ô Lord God of truth Psal 31.5 He that hath created our souls after his own Image and redeemed them with his owne bloud will not refuse them when they are commended and given up unto him When Stephen was giving up the ghost he saw the heavens opened and the Sonne of man standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.56 Christ who sits at the right hand of God was then said to stand to shew how ready he is to receive the souls of his servants These considerations being applyed and wrought well upon our hearts will make us cry out with David Oh when shall I come and appear before him Psal 42.2 O that I had wings like a dove that I might flie hence and be at rest Psal 55.6 Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar Psal 120.5 With old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word Lu. 2.29 With Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 With Saint Iohn Come Lord Jesus come quickly Rev. 22.20 SECTION IV. EVery man desires with Balaam that he may dye the death of the righteous and that his last end may be like his and I cannot blame them For to die well is a point of the greatest consequence in the world because eternity depends upon it And as the tree fals so it must ly whether it be to the North of Gods judgment or to the South of his mercy Eccles 11.3 Now this work of dying well cannot be done extempore I have therefore in the last place contracted the art of dying well into a few precepts CAP. I. Live well TO live well is to fear God and to keep his Commandements Eccles 12.13 To love God and our neighbour Mat. 22.37 To deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 To doe justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God Micah 6.8 To repent of our sins to beleeve in Christ to keep his Commandments Who so doth these things shall never fall Psal 15.5 A fair day may have a foul evening but a good life cannot have a bad death Such as the premisses are such will be the conclusion It is said of Moses that he died according to the word of the Lord or at the mouth of the Lord for the Hebrew will bear this reading and the Chaldee paraphrases it He died at a kisse of the Lords mouth God kisses the righteous in their deaths and as it were sucks in those souls which he breathed into them Deut. 34.5 Old Hilarion when he lay a dying bespake his soul in this manner Get thee out of me O my soul get thee out of me why fearest thou that hast served God almost this seventy years Jerom in vita Hilarionis Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Ps 116.15 Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Rev. 14.13 CAP. II. Particular directions IN the time of thy sickness with
good Lord. O Lord hear my praier and let my cry come unto thee Amen Amen And that for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most blessed name and words we conclude these our imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught us Our Father which art art in heaven c. Morning Prayer O Lord our heavenly Father almighty everlasting God which hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day defend us in the same with thy mighty power grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance to doe alwayes that is righteous in thy sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Evening Prayer LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen IV. THANKSGIVING Thanksgiving is a branch of praier which like the Leper in the Gospell turns back to God with a confession and â—â—â—â—â—tiation of what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath done for 〈◊〉 And it is so necessary and essâ—â—tiall a part of Gods woâ—ship that it is the very condition of the obligation wherein God hath bound himself by his promise to hear us Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt praise me Psal 50.15 so that if we praise him not we break the Covenant and are usurpers upon all his blessings and deliverances Thy loving kindness is better then life therefore my lips shall praise thee Psal 63.3 4. Thus will I magnifie thee al my life and lift up my hands in thy Name Seven times a day do I praise thee Ps 119.164 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousnesse and thy salvation all the day long for I know no end thereof Ps 71.15 While I live I will praise the Lord I will sing praises to my God while I have any being Psal 146.2 Blesse the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits Psal 103.2 O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Psal 51.15 THE LETANY of Thanksgiving FOR the grace of Election by which I was chosen according to the good pleasure of thy will My soule doth magnifie thee O Lord. For the grace of Creation by which I was made after thine image in righteousnesse and holiness My soule doth magnifie thee O Lord. For the grace of Redemption by which I was recovered from the guilt dominion of sin from the power of Satan and the second death My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For the grace of Vocation wrought in me by the inward working of thy Spirit the outward ministry of thy holy Word and Sacraments My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For the grace of Justification whereby I am clothed with the righteousness of Christ Jesus My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For my measure of Sanctification by which I am made a new Creature My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For my formation in the womb my birth my baptisme the illumination of my understanding the correction of my will and all the spiritual graces received froÌ„ thee My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For the liberty of thy Word and Sacraments for thy sanctuary and solemne assemblies and for thy gracious presence with us in them My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For thy constant providence in supplying my necessities and defending me from dangers My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For my good parents my education my health liberty and peace for the comfort of my friends for my daily bread and for all thy temporall blessings My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For thy prevention of evils subvention in evils deliverance from evil My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For thy patience in forbearing for thy mercy in forgiving for thy bounty in giving even when I sinned against thee with a high hand My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For my life and the season given me for repentance good works and for thy holy means of grace and salvation My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For the checks of mine own conscience for the instruction of thy word for the motions of thy good Spirit which have either restrained me from sin or caused me to repent of it My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For thy fatherly corrections by some spirituall conflicts with Satan by diseases or hurts in my body by griefs of mind losse of goods molestation of injuries discomforts for or from those to whom naturall civil or Christian acquaintance had indeared me My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For all the holy Patriarchs and Prophets for the ever blessed Mother of our Lord for all the holy Apostles and Evangelists for all the godly Bishops and Pastors of the Church for all the noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors and for all the faithfull that have lived and died in the Lord My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For the happy translation of all Saints departed in peace from this vale of tears to the inheritance of the just My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For thine holy Angels and the charge which thou hast given them to minister unto us to pitch their tents about us to keep us in all our ways and to convey our souls into Abrahams bosome My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For Jesus Christ the author and finisher of our faith and the fountain and foundation of all these favours For his conception birth For his circumcision and baptism For his fasting and temptation For his doctrine and miracles For his agony and bloody sweat For his cross passion For his death burial For his victorious descension into hell For his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven For his sitting at the right hand of God to make intercession always for us For his sending the holy Ghost to a bide with his Church for ever and for his being with us to the end of the world My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For thy blessed Spirit the enlightner of my understanding the sanctifier of my will the helper of my infirmities the comforter of my conscience the pledge and witness of my adoption and the seal of my salvation My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For all my personall particular deliverances for the religion peace plenty strength and honour of the State wherein I live for saving it all times especially from the Spanish invasion and the Popish powder treason My soul doth magnifie thee O Lord. For all the secret favours which thou hast done for us for all the mercies which we have received from thee and are slipt out of our remembrance and for all the goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee and
religious education the Seaman with a prosperous voiage the Husbandman with a plentifull harvest the captive with patience and deliverance and all prisoners with repentance and amendment I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to instruct the ignorant to convert the obstinate to confirm the righteous to comfort the distressed to binde up the broken-hearted to rectifie those that erre and to reduce them that wander into the right way I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to remember thine ancient people the Jewes to open their eyes that they may see him whom they have pierced and beleeve in him I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee in thy good time to bring in the fulnesse of the Gentiles and to reveal the glorious light of thy Gospel to such as yet sit in darkness and in the shadow of death I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to forgive those that persecute and speak evil of me those that injure and molest me those that slander and traduce me and to soften the hearts of all those that are mine enemies I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. O Lord hear my praiers for my self O Lord hear my prayers for others O Lord hear the prayers of thy Son Jesus Christ for us all who sits at thy right hand making intercession for us and hath taught me to come to thee in this most perfect and absolute form of prayer OUR Father which art in heaven c. Morning Prayer O Lord our heavenly Father almighty everlasting God which hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day defend us in the same with thy mighty power grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance to doe alwayes that is righteous in thy sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Evening Prayer LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the fellowship of the holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen A peculiar Letany to be used by or for sick persons Collected out of severall places and passages of holy Scripture IN those dayes was Hezekiah sick unto death Then turned he his face unto the wall and prayed unto the Lord. And Hezekiah wept sore And the Lord said Behold I will adde unto thy dayes fifteen years Isaiah 38.1 2 3. THE LETANY O God the Father of heaven whose property it is to kill and to make alive to wound and to heal to bring down to the grave and to raise up again Have mercy upon me Thou who didst heal Naaman of his leprosie David of his noisome disease Job of his ulcers Hezekiah of his desperate sicknesse Have mercy upon me O Christ the Son of God who madest the blinde to see the dumb to speak the deaf to hear and the lame to walk Have mercy upon me Thou who didst cure Peters wives mother of her fever the Centurions servant of his palsie the ten Lepers of their leprosie and didst help such as were possessed with Divels Have mercy upon me Thou who didst cure her that was diseased with an issue of bloud twelve years her that was bowed together eighteen years and him at the pool of Bethesda that had an infirmity thirty and eight years Have mercy upon me Thou who didst restore to life the daughter of Jairus the widows son and raised up Lazarus out of his grave Have mercy upon me Thou who didst bear our sicknesses and sorrows thou who hast styled thy self the Physician of the sick thou who hast called all such as are weary and heavy laden to come unto thee promising them ease and refreshment Have mercy upon me By thy fasting and watching by thine hunger thirst by thy grief and sadness by thy agony and bloudy sweat by thy cries and tears by thy Crosse and Passion Have mercy upon me That it may please thee who diddest cure many diseases by Peters shadow many sicknesses by Pauls handkerchief the eyes of the blind with clay spittle the leprosie of Naaman with the water of Jordan and raisedst up the dead by the bones of thy Prophet to blesse all those means that are or shall be used for my recovery I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to give me grace to submit my self wholly to thy will to take thy visitation with patience thankfulness to drink of this bitter cup without murmuring or repining I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to streng then me against all the temptations of the divel to succour me in all the agonies conflicts of mine own conscience and to lay no more upon me then thou shalt inable me to bear I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to continue unto me my memory and understanding my speech and senses the comforts and graces of thy holy Spirit that I fall not away from thee I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee if it be thy will to give me a longer time of repentance to rescue me from the gates of the grave to spare me a little before I go hence and be no more seen that I may still praise thee in the land of the living I beseech the to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee if thou hast appointed me for death to fit and prepare me for it to strengthen my faith to pardon and forgive me all my sins and to assure me of my salvation that I may render up my soul with comfort and chearfulness I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. Finally that it may please thee when I have rendred it up to receive it into thy hands to deliver me from the pangs of everlasting death and to set open unto me the gates of everlasting life I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. Psal 6.2 4 5. Have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed Return O Lord deliver my soul O save me for thy mercies sake For in death there is no remembrance of thee and who shall give thee thanks in the pit Psal 38. Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore ver 2. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin ver 3. For mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burded they are too heavy for me ver 4. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness ver 5. I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day
flesh but upon the willingness of my spirit and so cover all my imperfections with the perfect and absolute obedience of thy dear Son that those Sacrifices which I have offered up unto thee this day may be accepted in and for that sacrifice which Christ Jesus offered up upon the cross for me And as I desire that my sacrifices may be pleasing to thee so let thine ordinances be profitable to me And as thou hast this day sown my heart with the precious seed of thy Word so let neither the fowls of the air devour it nor the cares of the world choak it but let the gracious rain of thy blessing come often upon it that it may bring forth in mee the fruits of repentance and amendment of life And forasmuch as thy Word is an unvaluable inestimable treasure better then thousands of gold and silver sweeter also then the hony the hony comb blessed Lord God be pleased still to continue it to our Land and Nation let not our crying sins of unthankfulnesse impenitency hardness of heart unfruitfulnesse under so great means of grace cause thee to remove thy candlestick or to quench the light of our Israel Inlighten also with the beams of thy Gospel those nations which yet sit in darkness and in the shadow of death adde unto thy Church daily such as shal be saved that so these sinful days being shortned the number of thine elect accomplished we may celebrate that eternal rest and Sabbath of our souls with thee in thy Kingdome Blesse O Lord all the people of this land from the highest to the lowest our King Queen our Prince the rest of the roiall stock our Ministers and Magistrates thy whole Church and every member of it in what place or case soever and prosper all designs and enterprises that are undertaken for the advancement of the Gospel and the inlargement of thy Kingdome Finally O Lord as thou hast been good to me in the passages of this day refreshing my body with thy good creatures and my soul with the spirituall rest of this holy Day so continue thy goodness to mee this night receive me into the arms of thy providence cover me with the feathers of thy wings that I may lay me down in peace and take my rest that being awakened to the comforts of the next day my mouth may be filled with thy praises and I may doe thee service in the duties of that calling wherein thou hast placed disposed of me that so thy good blessing may be still upon me and thou maist never be weary to doe me good all this and what else thou knowest needfull and expedient for me I beg in the name merits mediation and words of thy Sonne Christ Jesus saying as he himself hath taught me Our Father which art in heaven c. Directions for the due receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper WEE may not presume to come to the Lords Table without a due serious preparation That which is holy must not bee given to Dogges neither must pearls bee cast before swine Mat. 7.6 Josiah charged the Levites to prepare themselves and to pray for their brethren and so to kill the passeover 2 Chr. 35.4 6. The neglect of preparation is very dangerous After the sop Satan enters into Judas John 13.27 Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shal be guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.27 Hee that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation unto himself 1 Cor. 11.29 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 1 Cor. 11.30 Now this preparation consists principally in five things The first is a self-examination Let a man examine himself and so let him eate of that bread and drink of that cup. 1 Cor. 11.28 The thing chiefly to be examined is sin 1. In thought The thoughts of our hearts are only evil and that continually Gen 6.5 Out of the heart proceed evill thoughts Mat. 15.19 2. In word Idle words I say unto you that of every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof at the day of judgement Mat. 12.36 Filthy and immodest words Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth Eph. 4.22 Angry and rash words As calling our borther Raca or Thou fool Mat. 5.29 False and untrue words as lies slanders defamations c. Whosoever loveth or maketh a lie is shut out of the new Jerusalem Rev. 22.15 Profane and impious words Against GOD oathes and blasphemies Let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more then these commeth of evil Mat. 5.37 Against our selves or others as curses imprecations c. As he loved cursing so let it come unto him As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment so let it come into his bowels like water and like oyle into his bones Psal 109.18.19 3. In deed This is either of Omission or Commission Both are pointed at in that sentence of the Apostle The good which I would do I doe not But the evill which I would not do that I do Rom. 7.19 Thus you have the thing to be examined Now the rule of this examination must be the Law of God For by the Law is the knowledg of sin Rom. 3.20 I had not known sin but by the Law Rom. 7.7 Hence it is that our Church which hath disposed all things wisely and sweetly in the Liturgy hath appointed the commandments to be read before the admimstration of this Sacrament that men might see their sins in the glasse of Gods Law The second thing required of a worthy receiver is Repentance and Contrition The Paschall Lambe was to be eaten with sowr herbs And Christ our Passeover must be received with a broken and a contrite spirit With a bitter soul With a weeping eye This bread must be eaten with the sweat of our brows i.e. our tears And I may say of the wine in this Sacrament as the Mother of Solomon said unto him Prov. 31.6 Give this wine unto such as bee of heavy hearts And though in the sense of our own unworthinesse we may cry out with Paul Who is fit for these things Yet we may comfort our selves with that of the Psalmist A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Ps 51. The third thing required of a Comunicant is Faith He must beleeve that Jesus Christ is the Messias and Saviour of the world He must beleeve that he was crucified shed his bloud He must beleeve that the merits of his crosse and passion are able to save sinners He must beleeve that these merits are conveyed to him in this Sacrament being rightly administred and duly received For what was bequeathed in the Testament is dispensed in the Sacraments This faith is the wedding garment he that intruded to the feast without it was bound hand foot and cast into utter darkness Mat.
purple and fare deliciously every day others lie at the gates and have not so much as the crums of their Tables But in the grave rich and poor meet together and the ulcers of Lazarus will make as good dust as the paint of Jezabel Saul being anointed King over Israel was appointed to go to Rachels sepulchre that the sight of a Sepulchre might allay the haughtinesse of his new honour 1 Sam. 10.2 Kings must pile up gaeir Crownes at the thtes of the grave and lay down their Scepters at the feet of death The daughters of Jerusalem which are haughty walking with stretched forth necks and wanton eys mincing as they goe and making a tinkling with their feet must drop into the grave where in stead of sweet smels there shal be stink and in stead of well set hair baldness Isa 3.16 24. They that glory in their Ancestours in the nobleness of their birth and bloud must make their bed in the dark and acknowledge corruption for their father and the Worm for their mother and sister Job 17.14 I have said Ye are gods and all of you are children of the most high but ye shall die like men Psal 82.6 7. Why then art thou proud O Dust and Ashes Nulla discretio inter cadavera mortuorum nisi quod gravius foetent divitum corpora distenta luxuriâ Amb. Hexam l. 6. c. 8. CAP. II. It is profitable against covetousness THe rich man in the Gospel when he had built his barns and inned his harvest was called away and carries nothing with him of all the store he had provided Luke 12. The Spider spins out her own bowels to make a Cobweb and presently a maid comes with a broome and sweeps it down Horses at night are unladen of their burthens and turned into a dirty Stable with a galled back So are rich men into the grave and for the most part with a galled conscience A Mill wears it selfe with grinding though it turn about continually yet it removes not out of its place It is but in vain for men to rise up early and to sit up late and to eat the bread of carefulness For naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither Job 1.21 I hated all the labour which I had taken under the Sun because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me And who knoweth whether hee shall be a wise man or a fool Yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured and wherein I have shewed my self wise under the Sun This is also vanity Ec. 2.18 19 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather thē Ps 39.6 We brought nothing with us into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out of it 1 Tim. 6.7 Why then art thou coveteous O Dust and Ashes Facile contemnit omnia qui se semper cogitat moriturum Jeron in Ep. ad Paulin. CAP. III. It is profitable against Lust THe Prodigall seeing many spectacles of mortality by reason of the great famine leaves his concubines and riotous living and returns again to his Father Luke 15. One going to the stews meets by the way a dead corps carried to the grave the sight whereof made such an impression in him that he goes back again and ever after lived chast and continent Let not sinne raign in your mortall bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which warre against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 The argument used by these Apostles to beat down in us the lust of sin and the sin of lust is the mortality of our bodies Why then art thou lustfull ô Dust and Ashes Thus we see that the meditation of death is a soverein antidote against all the evill that is in the world For all that is in the world is either the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eyes or the pride of life 1 Joh. 2.19 Nil sic revocat à peccato quam frequens morti's meditatio Aug. SECTION II. THere is nothing more certain then death yet nothing more uncertain in the circumstances of it Certain it is we must all die but where when or how we shall die of all things is most uncertain CAP. I. Death is certain ABraham the Father of the faithfull and the friend of God died Iacob wrestled with an Angel and prevailed yet death was too hard for him David was a man after Gods own heart one that triumphed over ten thousand Philistims yet death triumphed over him Solomon knew the vertues of all plants from the Cedar in Libanus to the hyssope upon the wall yet no plant had this vertue to make him immortall The fathers have eaten Manna and are dead There is but one way into the world but there are a thousand out of it Man when he comes into the world is like an hour-glasse new turned up which never ceases running till it be all out Like Peter and Iohn we run who shall first come at the Sepulchre John 20.4 And they that are there already rot and crumble away to make roome for us that must come after them Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return Gen. 3.19 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Psal 89.48 The dust shall return to the earth as it was the spirit shall return unto God that gave it Eccles 12.7 It is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 We must needs die and are as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again 2 Sam. 14.14 CAP. II. The time uncertain AN infant in the wombe knows not the time when hee shall come into the world and being come knows not the time when hee shall go out of it The rich man promised himself many years but fool that he was that night his soul was fetcht from him Lu. 12. Behold now I am old and know not the day of my death Gen. 27.2 One dieth in his full strength when his brests are full of milk and his bones are moistned with marrow another dieth in the bitternesse of his soul Job 21.23 24. Man also knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evill net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Eccles 9.12 God would have us ignorant of the last day that we might be ready every day Take yee heed watch and pray for ye know notwhen the time is Mark 13.33 To deferre repentance then till to morrow is very dangerous God hath promised thee pardon if thou dost repent to day but if thou dost not repent he hath not promised that thou shalt live till to morrow Boast not thy selfe of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may
and him that serveth him not Mal. 3.17 18. I confesse the wicked are sometimes punished in this world to assure us there is a God yet it is but sometimes to assure us there is a day of judgment Verily there is a reward for the righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the earth Psal 58.11 CAP. II. An Objection answered IT is certain that the soul so soon as it is separated from the body is presented to God and receives an irrevocable doome either of woe or weal. The rich man died and presently was in hell in torments the begger died and was immediately carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome Luke 16.22 23. So that it may be demanded What need is there of a general day of judgment seeing every man is judged at the day of his death Answ 1. Every man consists of a Soul and a Body The Soul is judged at the day of death the Body also at the day of judgment For as these two doe either sin together or serve God together so they shall either burn together or reign together Every man must receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 Yet because the Soul may and often doth sin or serve God without the Body it may in the state of separation be either punished or rewarded though the Body rest in the grave Answ 2. There must be a general Judgment for the manifestation of Gods Justice God disposes of every man at the day of his death that according to the rule of Justice yet that which he did in secret he will doe in the view of the whole world that so the generall Assembly of men and Angels may give this testimony and applause of his just proceedings Righteous art thou O Lord and righteous are thy judgments Psal 119.137 Answ 3. There must be a judgment besides that at the day of death because men after they be dead may be Instruments and occasions either of vice or vertue of sin or the service of God The Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Fathers of the Church are dead and gone yet still they doe good in the Church of God by their godly examples and holy writings Jeroboam Machiavel Marcion all Heriticks and prophane persons die yet they poison the air with ill example wicked books divelish principles and after their death infect posterity for many generations Their word eats as doth a canker or gangrene 2 Tim. 2.17 Hence it is that as there is a particular Judgment to reward the good or punish the evil they have done themselves in their life time so there shall be a generall Judgment to reward or punish them for that which after their death they have occasioned to be done by others V.S. Basil in l. de vera virginit CAP. III. The Names given to this Day THis day is called in the Scripture The day of the Lord. Alas for the day for the day of the Lord is at hand Joel 1.15 Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night 1 Thes 5.2 Looking for and hastning unto the coming of the day of GOD 2 Pet. 3.12 This life is called Our Day O Jerusalem if thou hadst known at least in this Thy day the things that belong to thy peace Luke 19.42 For we think our own thoughts speak our own words and doe our own pleasure But that shall be the Lords day for the lofty looks of man shall be humbled the haughtiness of men shal be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day Isa 2.11 Secondly it is called a Day of Revelation or Opening Rom. 2.5 Never was there such an opening as will be at that day The heavens shall be opened and those everlasting doors shall be lift up that the King of glory may go forth with his Angels to judge the world and return back again with his Saints when he hath judged it The Earth shall be opened for the stone shall be rolled from the mouth of every Sepulchre and the graves shall give up their dead The Books shall be opened I saw the dead small and great stand before the Lord and the books were opened and another book was opened which was the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works Rev. 20.12 The secrets of all hearts shall be opened There is nothing hid that shall not be manifested neither any thing kept secret that shall not come abroad Mar. 4.22 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospell Rom. 2.16 Hell shall be opened to receive those wretches to whom it shall be said Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the divel and his angels Thirdly it is called a Day of refreshing Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3.19 What a refreshing wil it be when our rotten and worm-eaten carkasses shall rise up in honor and in incorruption as flowers after a long winter What a refreshing wil it be when these two ancient friends the soul and the body after so long a separation shall imbrace and kisse each other What a refreshing will it be to see the Divel our worst enemy and Death our last enemy cast into the lake of fire What a refreshing wil it be to see Jesus Christ the Savior of the world and the head of his Church come in his glory attended with an innumerable company of Angels What a refreshing wil it be to hear those sweet sentences of absolution Well done good and faithfull servant enter thou into thy Masters joy Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you Fourthly in respect of the wicked it is called a day of wrath After thy hardnesse and impenitent heart thou treasurest up for thy self wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 As also a day of darknesse and gloominesse a day of clouds and of thick darknesse Joel 2.2 The Sun is pleasing to a good eye but offensive to an eye that is ill affected The day of judgment is a bath of refreshing to the godly but a burning Oven to the wicked Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an Oven and all the proud yea and all that doe wickedly shall be stubble Mal. 4.1 Fiftly it is called a great day The Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains of darknesse unto the judgment of the Great day Jude 6. The Sun shall be turned into darknesse and the Moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come Acts 2.20 It is a great day indeed sith so many great and notable things shall be done in it For the Lord himself shall descend