when â—…we meet with such Preachers we have reaâ—…on to be afraid of such Doctrine Souldiers can easily teach others to serve them but they can hardly teach themselves much less others to serve God And now you may also if you please see a third Quake more terrible then the other two not a quaking of Earth nor a quaking of bodies but a quaking of souls in the first Sect of Quakers They who before quaked for fear of an Angel now much more quaking for fear of Devils But be not you O Christian Souls afraid of that sight The Angel himself saying Fear not ye for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified Mat. 28. 5. not seek much less help to crucifie him This reason doth no less concern all other seekers that seek Jesus which was crucified then it did the women They may well seek without fear for they are sure to find with joy They shall find that their Lord is risen and calleth them to rise with him Immediately in their souls Immortally in their bodies Incorruptably both in souls and bodies This will be thâ—… best exercise of thy hope that Christ thâ—… Head being risen will make thee his member partaker of his joyfull Resurrection which consideration made our Church compose a choice Hymn of purpose for Easter day to express the joy and exultation oâ—… true Christian souls for the Resurrection of Christ And I suppose none will condemn her of singularity or novelty concerning that Hymn although it is not to be found entirely either in Greek or Latine Liturgies for there is no doubt of her communicating with the Church of Christ whiles she communicates with the Spirit of Christ And in this Hymn she immediately communicates with the Spirit of Christ because it is all taken out of his Word Rom. 6. 8. and 1 Cor. 15. 20 c. And though the Hymn it self may possibly be taken out of good Christians mouths yet surely the Joy of it can never be taken out of their hearts That Christ Rising again from the dead now dieth not Death from henceforth hath no power upon him and in that it hath no power upon him I am sure it shall not long have a power upon me And that other Christ is risen again the first fruits of them that sleep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theophil He that goes first sure hath some to follow him There cannot be first-fruits but there must be after-fruits This is my Hope the head being risen will not leave his members for ever in the dust My soul and my body cannot be now so unwillingly parted in the Death As they shall hereafter be joyfully United in the Resurrection from the dead Lastly Thy love and charity will best exercise it self about his glorious Ascention Thou wilt there see hin attended on Earth by his Disciples ready to receive his Instructions Thou wilt there see him attended in the Air by a Cloud ready to receive his Person Thou wilt there see him attended in heaven by millions of Angels and glorified Souls ready to congratulate his reception If these considerations will not make thee love the Christan Faith that teacheth such heavenly mysteries it is because thou hast dull affections If they will not make thee love thy Saviour Christ who hath prepared such heavenly mercies it is because thou hast no affections This will be the best exercise of thy love to inflame thy soul with the contemplation of those Unspeakable joyes which cannot more Inflame then they will content it Christ ascended into heaven What hast thou to do but in heart and mind thither to ascend after him that thou maist continually dwell with him He is gone to prepare a place for thee what hast thou left to do but to prepare thy self for that place and beseech him to assist and bless thee in that preparation SECT II. The soul Divided from the body when it dies by a violent separation THE Soul of man had no subsistence before his body and is therefore unwilling to have a subsistence without it Creatio infusio sunt simul respectu animae is the Tenent of the School The soul is not created till the body be fitted to receive it so that in the same instant wherein it is Created it is also received into the Body And that 's the reason That coming cloathed into the world she is so much troubled to think that she must at last go as it were naked out of it Hence it is that though we groan in this tabernacle being burdenâ—…d with the miseries and much more with the sins of our Flesh yet we do not desire to be Uncloathed but cloathâ—…d upon that mortality might be swallowed up of Life 2 Cor. 5. 4. That is we would so lay aside our burden as not to lay aside our Flesh and would have our mortal bodies not by Death put off their mortality but by a change put on Immortality Wherefore the Union of the soul with the body being altogether natural the separation of the soul from the body must needs be against nature Consequently it is not possible that a meer natural man should deliberately desire to die for nature cannot desire its own destruction and therefore a deliberate desire of Death cannot possibly proceed from nature but from grace which alone can make a man both live contentedly and die comfortably where there 's a great measure of grace there is also a great measure of contentment in life and of comfort in death In so much that if we do not wilfully shut our eyes we cannot but see if we do not wilfully shut our hearts we cannot but believe if we do not wilfully shut our mouths against the truth we cannot but confess that Godly and Religâ—…ous men do continually dye with more Pâ—…tience and comfort then we dare live bâ—… the original of this Patience of this Comfort is not from the man but from thâ—… Godliness For thereby alone he is able tâ—… say with Saint Paul For me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Phil. 1. 21. To me tâ—… live is Christ for I die unto sin to me tâ—… die is gain for I have lived unto righteousness Or else as Beza expounds that place mihi enim est Christus in vita in morte lucrum Christ is a gain to me both iâ—… life and death To talk of gain in death to a natural man were to make him mad or to think you so for he loseth his soul he loseth himself but to talk of gain iâ—… death to the spiritual man is to make him the more sensible of his spiritual comfort and Condition for the less he hath of the Flesh the more he hath of the Spirit So that though death takes from him his Body yet it gives him his Soul though it take from him his Soul yet it gives him his Saviour Be it then that death takes from him all things but his God yet
A Christian Legacy Consisting of two Parts I. A Preparation for Death II. A Consolation against Death Nullum sacrificium est Deo magis acceptum quam Zelus Animarum Greg. Mag. 1 Cor. 10. 17 18. He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord for not he that commendeth himself is approved but whom the Lord commendeth By EDWARD HYDE Dr. of Divinity and late Rector Resident of Brightwell in Berks. Printed by R. W. for Rich. Davis in Oxon. 1657. To the Reader Christian Reader WHen first made a Member of Christ though it were at the very entrance of your life you did then receive your summons for death for you were baptized into the death of Christ buried with him by baptism into death Rom. 6. 3 4. And that same Baptism as it still gives you a Rejoycing in Christ Jesus our Lord so it bids you by That rejoycing to die daily 1 Cor. 15. 31. And indeed you are not fit to live till you are prepared to die You are not truly fit to live unless you live to God and if you live unto him you cannot be unprepared to die unto him The Man lives to himself and dies as he lives to his own corruption but the Christian lives to his Saviour and accordingly dies to his glorious Resurrection For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord And whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords Rom. 14. 7 8. It is a great priviledge to live to Christ but a far greater priviledge to die to him By living to Christ you get the victory over your enemies and the terrours of their insolency but by dying to him you get the victory over your self and the terrours of your own conscience By living to Christ you get the conquest over life but by dying to him you get the conquest over death Neither shall the world be able to make you live unquietly nor the Devil be able to make you die uncomfortably So that if you do not want the preparation for death you cannot want the consolation against death And in this respect it were much to be wished That all the Lords people were Prophets or if they had rather Preachers to reason with themselves as S. Paul reasoned with Faelix of Righteousness Temperance Judgement to come Act. 24. 25. That all their Trembling or Quaking might begin and end here and none remain till hereafter The reasoning about Righteousness how it would confound our misdemeanours against our Brethren The reasoning about Temperance how it would confound our misdemeanours against our selves The reasoning about Judgement to come how it would confound our misdemeanours or rather outrages against our God All these would be speedily confounded by such kind of reasonings though all have been such as have affrighted Earth and amazed Heaven And truly much better were it that our reasonings should confound our misdemeanours then that our misdemeanours should confound us and make us even ashamed with Josephs Brethren to see the face of our own Brother in this world and much more afraid with Israels enemies to see the face of God our Father in the world to come However whether we will thus turn preachers or not unto our selves yet it is not to be denyed but there are some men who are bound to preach not only to themselves but also to others according to that charge committed to them and that trust reposed in them Luk. 22. 32. Et tu conversus confirma Fratres And when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren For that Minister is not truly thankful to God for his own conversion and confirmation who makes it not his chiefest business to convert and to confirm others Knowing therefore the terrour of thâ—… Lord we perswade men 2 Cor. 5. 11$ They that most know the terrour oâ—… the Lord ought most to perswadâ—… men to be ready to appear before him that they may not be terrified at hiâ—… appearing and they most know thaâ—… terrour who most know it not only Rationally or Doctrinally by their stâ—…dies and contemplations but alsâ—… Experimentally or Practically by theâ—… summons and by their sufferings Foâ—… as sickness is a summons unto death 〈◊〉 is suffering an experimental dying 〈◊〉 Those therefore who have most feâ—… either sickness or suffering have in aâ—… probability most known the terrouâ—… of the Lord and they ought most 〈◊〉 perswade men Under the notionâ—… sickness the Author of this small Treâ—… tise may own to know the terrours oâ—… the Lord for he looks on himself 〈◊〉 one newly come from the dead anâ—… yet still going to the dead and therefore the fitter to put others in mind of dying nor is he troubled that his writing is so full of weakness and infirmity which is the Indisposition of his body if it may be thought full of conscience and empty of curiosity which is or should be the Disposition of his soul For it is proper for a sick mans hand to sympathize more with his heart then with his head and to delight rather in lineaments of reality then of phansie Wherefore you may here expect such a hand-writing as appeared to Belshazar Dan. 5. which sets down nothing but Numbering and Weighing and Dividing Numbering of your daies Weighing of your sins and Dividing of your self This is like to be the main subject of the first part of the Legacy which is to be the preparation for death after these God enabling shall follow several comforts and consolations 1. Against sickness which numbereth your daies 2. Against Judgement which wilâ—… number your sins 3. Against Death which will divide your soul from youâ—… body and bring it to Judgement And these are intended for the second part of the Legacie as the Consolation against death God make both these aâ—… they are intended to him that writeâ—… them and to those that shall reaâ—… them So prayeth Yours in our common Saviourâ—… E. H. Errata PAg. 4. l. 6. studâ—…es r. studie p. 10. l. ult man r. for man p. 73. l. 21. Scil. Bonam r. saâ—… Bonav sc. Bonaventur p. 128. l. 12. cuie r. curâ—… p. 190. l. 24. to him r. to have p. 231. l. 13. 20. now here r. no where p. 345. l. 18. but most 〈◊〉 worthy r. but more unworthy p. 364. l. 13. Tâ—… Common-Law r. The Canon-Law The Preparation for Death consisting of Three Chapters Mene Tekel Peres Mene or Numbring of your Daies Tekel or Weighing of your Sins Peres or Dividing of your Person CHAP. I. Mene or Numbring of your Dayes Consisting of four Sections 1. Of mans Mortality and Immortality 2. Of the Knowledge of mans mortality 3. Of mans Vanity and the Knowledge thereof 4. Of the Difficulty Necessity and Excellency of that knowledge SECT I. Of Mans Mortality and Immortality MANS Life is but a Race of mortality and is then only well Run when it comes to a blessed
Where it is evident that if Man were put in one Scale and Vanity in the other Man would be found lighter then Vanity it self O my God weigh not my best Righteousness in the Ballance of thy Sanctuary without putting my Saviours merits into the Scale For if I be lighter then Vanity How can I hold weight with a blessed Eternity The Jews observe that the Father spake one thing concerning mankinde which he left to his Son to explain after him and that was this Psal. 144. 4. Man is like to Vanity for he tells us not to what Vanity whether the greater or the lesser but his Son comes after and explains him saying that he is like to that Vanity which is most Vain of all others Similis Vanitati Vanissimae like to that Vanity which is Vanity of Vanities Again the Son spake one thing of man-kinde which is best explained by the Father to wit that of Eccles. 6. 12. All the daies of his Vain life which he spendeth as a shadow For he telleth not what shadow but here the Father explaineth the Son saying A shadow that passeth away Psal. 144. 4. His daies are as a shadow that passeth away Both Father and Son agree in this that man is Vanity in the highest degree so that no words are able sufficiently to express it and no Heart able sufficiently to conceive it He lives in the shadow of Life and that shadow of Life is quickly and easily changed into the Darkness of Death In the midst of Life he is in Death and had need take care lest in the midst of Death he be in Hell In the midst of Life he is in Death through the Vanity of his Condition and had need be the more carefull lest in the midst of Death he be in Hell through the Vanity of his Affections and of his Actions For it is a most terrible expostulation which remains upon the File against all men whatsoever whiles they shall remain in their own Vanities Jer. 2. 5. Thus saith the Lord What Iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they are gone far from me and have walked after Vanity and are become Vain This walking after Vanity as it is the great Sin so it should be the great Vexation of our souls not only that it makes us become vain but also that it casteth an Aspersion of Iniquity upon our God according as Saint Basil hath spoken most divinely in his Sermon concerning the love of God and our Neighbour The Devil will at the last day object it as matter of Reproach against our Lord and Saviour that we have Despised and Disobeyed him and will very much Boast that he neither created us nor dyed for us and yet that we have been his diligent followers in the breach and contempt of Gods Commandments And this Reproach saith he against my Lord is more dreadful to me then the Torments of hell that I should give the enemy of the Lord occasion to Blaspheme him who Dyed for my sins and rose again to make me Righteous SECT IV. Of the Difficulty Necessity and Excellency of this knowledge of Mortality IT neerly concerns man to know Vanity That he may know himself and much more that he may desire to know his Saviour And therefore it is no wonder that this knowledge is invested with very great Difficulty For our Mortal having put on Sin cares not to put off it self David had been long pursued and was like to be cut off every moment by his rebell Subject and ungracious Son before he learned this Prayer Lord let me know mine end And though when he heard of Absoloms death he said Would God I had dyed for thee O Absolom my son my son yet he did not thereby so truly shew a desire of his own Death as a Horror for his sons Damnation He knew that a wilful Rebel dying in his Rebellion was not to be punished only with one death but was to undergo a second death The like is to be said of dying in any other wilful sin whatsoever unrepented And therefore it is not possible for any man to desire God to part his Soul from his Body that he may Die till he hath parted Sin from his soul that he may not be afraid of the second death for he cannot but say Leave not my soul destitute or naked and bare Psal. 141. 8. But let it still be clothed with my Flesh and its Insirmity till thou shalt be pleased to cloath it with my Saviour and his Righteousness For better is it for me to Live in misery then to dye in it Better for me to live in the Infirmities of my Body then to dye in the Iniquities of my Soul Hence proceeds the great Difficulty of learning this lesson because our own fear makes us unwilling to learn it But this same knowledge as it is opposed by great Difficulty so it is extorted by a far greater necessity for our Mortal must put off both its sin and itself nay must therefore put off its self that it may put off its sin Excellently Theodoret and most like a Christian Divine in his Questions upon Genesis saith God would not suffer Adam to eat of the tree of life after he had eaten of the forbidden fruit that he might not suffer sin to be Eternal Therefore death is to us a Remedy not a Punishment it is a Medicine to cure us of our sins rather then a Judgement to corment us for them Our Flesh is not so neer our Body as our Sin is neer our Flesh and therefore God hath in mercy appointed us to put off our Flesh that with it we might put off our Sin Thus is it most necessary for us to know our Mortality That we may know an end of our sin and misery and this knowledge as it hath a great necessity so it hath yet a greater excellency For he that knows truly how to put off himself cannot but also know how to put on his Saviour And sure there can be no knowledge of like necessity with this and much less of like excelleny with it yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of thâ—… Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord saith Saint Paul Phil. 3. 8. And let my souâ—… say so too For all other knowledge iâ—… excellent either from the Object or from the Subject but this only is excellent from the term or end of it one knowledge is more excellent then another either for the exactness and perspicuity of the Demonstration saith Aust. 1. de An. c. 1. or for the height and sublimity of the notion either for the certainty of the Subject or for the excellency of the Object In the knowledge of earthly things the science hath its excellency from the Perspicuity of the Demonstration In the knowledge of Heavenly things thâ—… science hath its excellence from the Sublimity of the Notion Thus far Aristotle could go but no further That somâ—… sciences were more excellent ratione
sure that it gives him Christ is my gain whether 〈◊〉 live or dye For whiles I live I live unto him the only Author Preserver and Redeemer of my life that when I shall dye I â—…ay die unto him the only Joy Comfort â—…nd Repairer of my Death that whether I â—…ve or dye I may still be his Thus did hoâ—…y Job comfort himself against the miseries â—…f his life and the terrors of his death â—…aying I know that my Redeemer liveth Job 19. 25. as if he had said I know that I â—…m as one forsaken and forlorn yet I â—…ave a Redeemer I know that I seem as â—…ne ready to be swallowed up by death yet he who swallowed death it self up in victory he liveth I know that my Redeemâ—…r liveth and hereupon do I ground my Faith my Comfort and my Assurance my Assurance is infallible undeniable for â—…t proceeds from knowledge I know I am as sure that my Redeemer liveth as that I shall die my faith is firm and immoveable for he is mine none shall ever separate me from him he is my Redeemer my comfort is heavenly and immortal answerable to those Divine fountains of Faith and hope from whence it floweth it is the comfort of eternal life for in that my Redeemer liveth I am most confident that in him and by him I shall also live for when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory Col. 3. 4. An assured hope a constant faith an immortal comfort these were Jobs only supports in his greatest afflictions and his were so great that we can scarce imagine but sure we cannot endure greater never was his body in worse case never was his soul in better Afflictions in the body then have the right end for which they are sent when they make our souls magnifie the Lord and our spirits rejoyce in God our Saviour The devil intended to have added to Jobs misery by increasing the Torments of his body but he did indeed add to his happiness by increasing the Devotion of his soul Mans extremity is Gods opportunity he then most helps us when we can least help our selves when I am weak then am I strong 2 Cor. 12. 10. and by the Rule of Proportion when weakest then strongest when weakest in my self then strongest in my Saviour yet dare I not venter to stay till the weakness of my body give strength unto my soul. For had not Job been a man perfect and upright in his health he would scarce have shewed so much perfection and uprightness in his sickness What then should be the work of my health but to prepare for sickness what should be work of my sickness but to prepare death Then shall I so live as prepared death then shall I so die as prepared Judgement then shall I so live and die prepared for Christ and his Kingdom Grace in this world of Glory in the â—…ld to come Let me snatch away this â—…ry from my adversary Kingâ—…odom â—…odom say I have made Abraham Rich. 〈◊〉 14. 23. Lest hell and the grave say I â—…e thrown this man upon his knees no â—…nk to him for his devotion it is bare â—…ed and necessity meer extremity and â—…r that makes him devout Happy is â—…t man whom this worlds Afflictions â—…ve driven neerer to his God but much â—…ppier is he that hath made this approach his maker by voluntarily Afflicting mself for seldom is there so much sinâ—…rity but never is there so much Glory that Repentance and Devotion which oceeds rather from compulsion then â—…om election rather from necessity then â—…om choice Let the mercies of God inâ—…te me to Repentance and amendment of â—…e in my health and let me not expect his â—…dgements in my sickness lest instead of â—…eing amended I be confounded For if be afflicted in the flesh and not comforted in the spirit then will death wâ—… was appointed to the end be but the ginning of my afflictions For what 〈◊〉 we say was Jobs body now becomâ—… most as loathsome as the Dunghil wâ—… he sate upon a fit embleme of Immoâ—…lity and yet whosoever shall look into own soul with an impartial eye will 〈◊〉 there much less hope and comfort of eâ—…nity then Job found in his body 〈◊〉 how then can he contentedly compose hâ—…self for Death I answer he must do as did cast but one eye down upon himselâ—… lift up the other to his Redeemer when looks down upon himself he finds notâ—… but worms to destroy his body v. 26. 〈◊〉 when he looks up to his Redeemâ—… then in my flesh saith he shall I see Gâ—… What a strange contrariety is here Woâ—… and Flesh Death and Life Destructâ—… and seeing God! The Worms are 〈◊〉 loathsome that turn to Flesh The Deatâ—… not terrible that ends in Life The Dâ—…struction is most welcome that ends in â—…ing God but yet still worms in theselves are worms death in it self is deathâ—… and destruction is destruction and worâ—… as worms are loathsome death as deatâ—… terrible destruction as destruction canâ—… welcome and the body is invaded by â—…ms captivated under death and deâ—…ction when the soul is separated from and therefore we cannot but look on 〈◊〉 as a violent separation which comâ—…s a Rape upon Nature and conseâ—…ntly must needs be an unwelcome â—…est such as we are unable to exclude yet much more unwilling to entertain â—…erefore the soul while it is in the state conjunction with the body though it now by reason of sin in a miserable state is that state natural and consequentâ—… desirable nor is it easie to define how it need be made miserable before it can made not desirable for we may easily â—…ern a very great desire of life in most 〈◊〉 because the greatest miseries are not â—…e of themselves fully to expel that desire â—…t the soul whiles it is in the state of sepaâ—…ion from the body is in a state altogether natural or rather contra-natural for â—…s as long as she continues so she hath 〈◊〉 the perfection of her own nature it beâ—… as natural for humane spirits to be with â—…ies as for Angelical spirits to be withâ—… them which Aquinas hath excelâ—…tly proved in this manner Ia. p. q. 89. â—…all Intellectual Substances the Intellective Virtue or Facultie is from tâ—… fluence of the Divine Light which 〈◊〉 the farther it is diffused from God more it is divided in it self and the nâ—… is divided the more it must needs â—…minished Hence it is that those Intelleâ—… Substances which are farthest from 〈◊〉 such as are Humane spirits having thâ—… share of the Divine light havâ—… so the weakest Intellectuals and â—…quently are not able to understand 〈◊〉 by such universal forms and represeâ—…ons by which the Angels are able tâ—…â—…derstand them Therefore it is neceâ—… that the Souls of men be united untâ—…â—…dies thereby to be made capable oâ—… universal forms and representations such as are imprinted in the Angels had God given unto men
no other wâ—… understanding then he hath givenâ—… Angels they not being able to underâ—… distinctly by such universal forms aâ—… Angels could not have had a partâ—… and distinct knowledge of any thing only a general and confused knowleâ—… so it is clearly for the better that Huâ—… Souls be united unto Bodies because iâ—…duceth to the bettering of their uâ—…standing But this reason conceâ—… the soul of man no longer then whiles it is here on earth whereas it is evident that the desire of Re-union with the body accompanieth the soul also in heaven for though she there understand by a far more excellent and noble way without the Body then she doth here in the Body yet doth she still desire Re-union with the Body and not think her own bliss so compleat till she may have it in and with her old companion her first friend and acquaintance Excellently the same Aquinas 12 ae qu. 4. ar 5. Desiderium Animae separatae totaliter quiescit ex parte Appetibilis quia habet id quod suo appetitui sufficit sed non totaliter requiescit ex parte Appetentis quia illud bonum non possidet secundum omnem modum quo possidere vellet ideo corpore resumpto beatitudo crescit non intensive sed extensive The desire of the separated souls that are in Heaven is fully satisfied as to the object or the thing that they desire for they have all the blessedness that they can wish But not as to the subject or their manner of desireing for they have not their blessedness so as they do wish it because it is not yet communicated to their bodies wherefore after the Resurrection of the Body the blessedness of Glorified Souls is said tâ—… increase though not intensively as if tâ—… bliss should be greater in it self for thâ—… are already admitted to the vision and frâ—…ition of God yet surely extensively bâ—…cause it shall be greater in respect of theâ—… that enjoy it when it shall be communâ—…cated from their Souls unto their Bodies And therefore the Glorified Souls of meâ—… do exceedingly desire that their Blessedness should be so communicated becausâ—… their supernatural Bliss doth not extinguish cannot exclude their natural Desire which is to be united to their Bodies Accordingly Aquinas tells us that to thâ—… perfect consummation of mans Bliss is required not only a perfect Disposition oâ—… his Soul but also of his Body and thaâ—… both antecedently and consequently to hiâ—… Blessedness Antecedently or before he iâ—… Blessed for else his Body would clogg hiâ—… Soul and divert it from the Beatifical vision And Consequently or after he iâ—… Blessed for the Soul cannot but communicate her Bliss and Glory to the Body 12 ae q. 4. ar 6. Therefore that which was a Natural Body at the separation shall be made a Spiritual Body at the Re-union and being once made a Spiritual body the Soul shall have Power to keep 〈◊〉 â—…o for ever according to that of Saint Aug. â—…am potenti naturâ Deus fecit Animam ut â—…x ejus plenissimâ Beatitudine redundit in â—…nferiorem Naturam Incorruption is vigor With so powerful a Nature hath God endued the soul of man that when her self â—…hall come to be perfectly Blessed she will be able to Transmit her Bliss and Incorruption to the body Wherefore let â—…y soul be separated from this natural body by which it is corrupted that it may â—…e united to that Spiritual body by which â—…t shall be perfected The Second PART OR The Consolation against Death Preface HE that will fully comfâ—… the Soul of man agaiâ—… Death must comfort against sickness that coâ—…monly goes before it 〈◊〉 against Judgement tâ—… alwaies follows after it So that thisâ—… consolation must branch it self into these tâ—… Chapters The Comforts of the Soul against Sicknâ—… The Comforts of the Soul against Deathâ—… The Comforts of the Soul against Judgment It is as easie for those in health to gâ—… advice to the sick as it is hard for the 〈◊〉 to follow it But every one that can gâ—… Advice to the sick cannot give them câ—… for t in their sickness The best that any of us can say in this kind is The Lord comort you And yet surely there are some men who are obliged if not enabled by their Calling to speak more comfortably then others no less to body-sick then to sin-sick Persons Those men whose peculiar Duty it is to visit the sick and consequently to comfort them For they may not do as Jobs Friends did come to Grieve with him and then help not to Asswage but to Encrease his Grief For they by so doing are lookt upon not as Gods but as the Devils Instruments though they were of the Posterity of Abraham and therefore undoubtedly instructed in the true Relion according to that Testimony given of Abraham by God himself Gen. 18. 19. For I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. Yet these men were so faulty in their conferences with holy Job that God himself saith of them they had not spoken right concerning him and that his wrath was kindled against them Job 42. 7. Whereby it Appears that Jobs former exclamations against them proceeded not from the impotency of his Passion but from the justness of his cause when he said ye are forgers of lies ye are all Physitians of no value Job 13. 4. Medici Idoli so Jarchi expounds the word and parallels it with that of Zach. 11. 17. where we tanslate it the Idol shepheard and may here so too The idol Comforters Men that made a shew of Comfort but afforded none at all no more then if they had been but meer Idols Nay that 's not all they afforded him dicomforts instead of comforts wherefore he calls them also miserable comforters Job 16. 2. Hebrew consolatores molestiae troublesome comforters are you all And sick men may in this Brain-sick age of ours quickly have enough if not too much of such comforters Men that scarce can settle others consciences having so much unsettled their own Which made Saint Paul come with a Benedictus in his mouth and surely it was in his heart before it was in his mouth when he considered what a great mercy it was in God towards those in distress to give either true comforts or true comforters saying Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ The Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our Tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort where with we our selves are comforted of God 2 Cor. 1. 3 4. The Apostle begins here with thanksgiving according to his accustomed manner in all his Epistles but contrary to his custome doth he apply this thanksgiving wholy to himself The reason was saith Beza Because the Corinthians did begin to despise him for his Afflictions the common course of the world to
after Moses did from thence invent some Fable and fein it to have been Acted by some one or other of Jupiters Sons Only The Prophecies about the Cross of Christ they have taken for the ground of no Fable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They have not among their Fictions told us of any one of Jupiters sons that was Crucified that Acted his part upon the Cross. And he gives this Reason for it Because the mysterie of the Cross was so Covertly foretold that the Heathen could not understand it And indeed we do not find in all the Hebrew Bible so much as the direct name oâ—… a Cross or Crucifying There is mentioâ—… made of a Tree and of Wood but not of a Cross of Hanging and of Lifting up but not Crucifying However we may weâ—… suppose that if the Heathen had understood the Prophesies concerning Crucifying the Son of God yet they would have thought such a Disgrace not fit to have been Fastened upon any of the sons of their Idol gods And therefore would rather not have any such Narrative then have the reproach and shame that accompanied it But we Christians see the only Son of the only true God being found in fashiâ—… as a man humbling himself and become Obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. And that for this Reason That all they should follow the example of his Patience who do hope to be partakers of his Resurrection For so himself hath said He that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me Mat. 10. 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that taketh it not of himself without anothers proferring He that taketh it not as a thing belonging to him but rather as a burden imposed upon him He that taketh it not where he finds it but only when it is offered him For that is the proper signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to take a thing of your own Accord whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly to take a thing from anothers hand And it is observable that our Saviour here saith His Cross not My Cross to shew it belongs to us no less then it did to him And without doubt he requires every Christian to take up the Cross so willingly as if it were a matter of choice not of necessity such a Treasure as he would take up of himself if it lay in his way and not tarry till another should bring it him So desirable a thing is Christs Cross in it self though not so to flesh and blood were it only for this Reason that it makes us conformable to himself It makes a man here on eatth conformable unto him who is the very beauty of heaven Insomuch that my zeal to the truth bids me say whiles the Conscience of mine infirmity makes me afraid to say it I had rather with the Martyrs and Confessors have my Saviours Cross then with their Persecutors the Worlds Crown And though I much distrust mine own shoulders yet dareâ—… not disclaim so holy a burden And indeed if I would adore any Reliques it should be a piece of that shoulder which did first help bear my Saviours Cross for that of all others was certainly most like him and therefore most worthy of Adoration But if conformity with Christ in Affliction be not yet surely conformity with Christ in Glory is exceeding comfortable And that is yet a third comfort of the Soul in the sickness of the Body whiles it Afflicteth the flesh because Affliction is a necessary condition of our own Salvation so saith Saint Paul Rom. 8. 17. For in that we are Joint-heirs with Christ we must look to come the same way that he did to this Inheritance That is we must look to suffer with him that we may be glorified with him This consideration alone That Affliction was so necessary a condition of Salvation troubled the most Reverend and most Religious and most Learned Bishop Davenant upon his death-bed A man of singular Uprightness and Integrity and of so exemplary Godliness that thereby he truly honoured God delighted Angels and converted many men yet this man upon his Death-bed having no sin to trouble his Conscience had this Text to trouble it Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth For not being able on the suddain to Recount his own chastenings he had some short doubtings in himself concerning Gods love towards him He thought he had not drank of his Saviours cup and therefore could not see how he should sit with him in his Kingdom And yet surely our Saviours words ye shall indeed drink of my cup Mat. 20. 23. were verified concerning Saint John no less then concerning S. James though but the one was murdered by Herod the other dyed peaceably in his bed For even he also was a Martyr in the Preparation of his Soul as appeared by his Banishment nay indeed he was also a Martyr in the Affliction of his body though not by a corporal Martyrdom in shedding his blood yet by a Spiritual Martyrdom in crucifying his flesh and so being under a continual Death by a daily Mortification Martyrium horrore quidem mitius sed diuturnitate molestius as saith Saint Bernard Which kinde of Martyrdom though it hath less of the Horror yet hath it more of the Trouble For the burning coals were not the less hot because when Tiburtius walked upon them bare-footed he thought himself to have walked upon Roses as saith Aqu. 22 ae qu. 123. art 8. c. Nor is the constant Practise of mortifying the flesh the less to be accounted a Dying daily because Saint Paul looked on it as the work of his Rejoycing in Christ Jesus Excellently Saint Hierom Recte dixerim quod Dei Genetrix Virgo Martyr fuit quamvis in Pace vitam siniverit I may justly say that the mother of our Lord was a Virgin and a Martyr though she ended her daies in Peace For indeed true and constant Virginity is in it self a kind of Martyrdom in that it is a mortifying of our members that are upon earth wherefore Saint Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3. 5. That is make them dead which is yet more express in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom 8. 13. That is Put them to Death And doubtless such a righteous soul that daily chasteneth himself in the school of mortification might have seen Gods Rod chastening him by his own hands but yet he not seeing the Rod in anothers hand to chasten him for he dyed before the late Overflowings of ungodliness made the world so full of misery and yet more full of sin He could not but have some doubtings concerning Gods chastisement and that made him have likewise for a time some Doubtings though no Distrust concerning Gods Love because the Text saith so expresly Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth And why then should not we say O Lord let us taste and see thy chastisement that we may taste and see thy love O taste and see that
is deformed so it is also depraved by â—…t Nor may we here alledge as before the necessity of nature for though the deformity of mans flesh may in some sort be ascribed to the condition of his nature yet the depravation of it may not for God may be the Author of a comparative deformity for that is but a lesser good but by no means of a positive depravation for that is in it self an Evill or a Sin and he cannot be the Author of Sin Wherefore it is a dangerous Position which some late Divines have greedily embraced and as violently maintained That there was the same inordinate propensity in the nature of man to the works of the flesh before the Fall as is in it since the Fall Onely then it was restrained and fettered by original justice or righteousness but is now let loose by original sin This opinion is in it self dangerous because it casts a blasphemous aspersion upon God For he is the Author of Nature and therefore the Author oâ—… the necessary conditions thereof as wâ—… those that flow from the matter as froâ—… the Form but in its consequences it iâ—… no less then damnable For if it be granted that the rebellion of the sensitive Appetite against the dictates of Reason dotâ—… flow from the very principles and being 〈◊〉 the flesh then it must follow that it cannot be a sin for what is natural is no sinfull sin being no less a Monster oâ—… nature then a Monster is a sin of nature and consequently that a man maâ—… in and of himself attain to such a perfection of righteousness as to say meerly ouâ—… of humility not according to the truth forgive us our trespasses A tenent anathematized by the second Milevitane Council in which Alypius and St. Augustinâ—… were present as appears by the Synodicaâ—… Epistle in the Canon in these words Sâ—… quis asserat haec verba dominicae orationis demitte nobis debita nostra à sanctis diâ—… humiliter non veraciter Anathema sit the very same with the 117. Canon in thâ—… Council of Carthage as it is set forth bâ—… Balsamon who thus puts it into Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And when yoâ—… see Binius and Balsamon so well agree yoâ—… may look on the Tenent not as Anathemaâ—…ized by one Council but by the Catholick Church Therefore we must conclude that â—…his inordinate desire of the flesh against â—…he spirit in man is not a condition but a â—…orruption of his nature and entered â—…ot into the flesh till sin entered into the spirit Then and not till then did the body refuse to be subject to the soul when the soul refused to be subject unto God then that which before was a body of life was presently made a body of death Rom. 7. 24. Not of Gods but of mans own making God made the body but man made the death The soul in that it is united to the body hath by nature an inclination to the things of the body but it hath onely by sin not by nature an inordinate an unruly inclination to them The desires of the flesh are from nature but it is only from sin there is a depravation and irregularity in any of those desires Thirdly mans flesh is depressed by sin for it cannot be depraved by the guilt of sin and not be depressed by the burden of that guilt Wherefore we may justly complain of a weight that is upon us whiles we cannot but complain of the sin that doth so easily beset us Heb. 12. 1. Man now groaning under a two-fold burden the one of his flesh and the otheâ—… of his sins which is the heavier of thâ—… two and makes the burden of the flesâ—… the more burdensome and unsupportable And as in sin there is macula reatuâ—… poena The pollution the guilt the punishment So in the flesh because of sin therâ—… is Deformity Depravation and Depression Deformity from the pollution Depravation from the guilt and Depression from the punishment of sin I will therefore be glad and rejoyce in the wasting of my flesh as I would rejoyce in the deliverance from my blemish that most deforms me from my corruption that most depraveâ—… me and from my burden that most depresses me It is a sweet contemplation of Aquinas 12 ae q. 42. art 5. That spirituall things the more we consider them the greater they appear so that we may lose our selves in the consideration of them if at least we can be said to lose our selves whiles we seek and finde our God But Corporal things the more we consider them the less they appear and vanish by degrees till at length they are quite losâ—… in their consideration So is it with my flesh the longer I consider it the more iâ—… wasts and becomes less in my opinion And therefore it is but reason that the â—…onger I wear it the more it should wast â—…nd become less in its own substance till â—…t length it come to nothing CHAP. II. The Comforts of the Soul against Death THere is nothing more profitable for us then to think of death yet of all our thoughts that is the least welcome and the most terrible for death is the King of Terrors when nothing else will draw us unto God that will frighteâ—… us to him when nothing else will frighteâ—… us from our beloved sins that will makâ—… us affraid of sinning whence it is the wisâ—… mans advice Remember thy last end anâ—… sin no more Excellent is the Casuisâ—… distinction of Articulus mortis verus 〈◊〉 Praesumptus That there is one point oâ—… death in Truth another in Presumption Articulus mortis non intelligitur solus ilâ—… in quo quis moritur sed etiam ille in quo â—…ori probabiliter timetur saith Navar. The point of Death is not only that whereâ—… a man doth actually die but also that wherein he may probably dye so that any â—…mminent danger any dangerous sickness â—…s to be looked on as the point of Death Nay yet further according to the Christianity though not the Criticism of Caâ—…uisticall Divinity there being not one moment of our life exempted from the â—…anger of Death the point of Death doth 〈◊〉 effect pierce through our whole life â—…uch more should it pierce through our â—…earts As many mischiefs as are in the â—…orld so many dangers as many dangers 〈◊〉 many Deaths Let this wicked world â—…en have this priviledge That though it is â—…e worst that ever was to teach a man to â—…e because its doctrines are so dubious â—…et it is the best that ever was to teach a â—…an to die because its practices are so â—…ngerous Welcome then all ye mischiefs â—…d outrages of ungodly men for their â—…es that suffer them though not for â—…eir sakes that do them We can easily â—…sh the one less sin in their doings â—…t we may not wish the other less beneâ—… in their sufferings See the admirable Providence of God towards his Prophet he
throws him into prison to keep him from starving Jer. 37. 21. for by thaâ—… means he had a piece of Bread when many others had not even till all the bread iâ—… the City was spent He keeps him in prison to keep him from being butchered by the sword of the Chaldeans Jer. 38. 28. Finds out an Ethiopian to be his preserver when the Princes of Judah were his persecutors ver 7. more charity in one Prâ—…selite then in many Apostates yet woulâ—… not let Ebedmelech prevail for his enlargement lest the Prophet should have loâ—… his life as the rest did when the City waâ—… taken by gaining his liberty Carcer 〈◊〉 obsonio pro Asylo quid ni mors 〈◊〉 lucro When his prison was his Granaâ—… and his Dungeon his security tell me whâ—… could be his loss for sure Death woâ—… have been his gain Do your worst theâ—… O ye ravenous Wolves that seek to dâ—…vour the flock of Christ Well you 〈◊〉 deny them a place to live but sure yoâ—… cannot deny them a place to die And thâ—… look upon the troubles and afflictions 〈◊〉 their life as so many Calls or Summons 〈◊〉 Death For God saith unto them moâ—… particularly as he did to his Propheâ—… Jer. 18. 2. Arise and go to the Potters House and there I will cause thee to hear my words They are sent to the Potters House that â—…s they are bid to consider their own frailâ—…ty and mortality that so they may the more attentively hear Gods Word The Word of Piety and Patience that he is preaching unto them and the more benefit by hearing it For many a man that will not hear Gods Word in Gods own House will hear it in the Potters House when he shall consider that his body is no other but a polished Potsheard to day a very weak and brittle and to morrow perhaps a broken Vessel For Theophilus lib. 2. ad Antol. gives us this very similitude As a Vessel in the hand of a Potter when it is faulty in the making is therefore broken that it may be fashioned and formed again till he make it perfect and compleat So is the Vessel of mans body broken in pieces by the hand of God because it is now quite out of order that it may be formed and fashioned again and by that means become a glorious and an incorruptible and an immortal body wherefore it is not amiss going to the Potters House not only for Gods sake but also for our own For we need not fear being broken by that hand which alwayeâ—… mends in the marring Mans hand often mars in the mending brings a Deformation instead of a Reformation but Gods hand alwayes mends in the marring What then have you else to do in this world but to live innocently and to die comfortably that so you may live in the Faith and die in the hope of a better world The day will come when a little innocency will go further with you then the greatest Patrimony therefore keep your Innocency though you lose your Patrimony Facile contemnit omnia qui credit jam se esse moriturum saith St. Hierom He that thinks himself a dying man will be sure to keep himself an Innocent man and will rather forsake all here then carry guiltiness away from hence He can easily contemn the smiles of this world and therefore cannot fear the frowns of it For he believes that Rule of the Casuist to be true though not pleasing Divinity Mortem potius ferre debet quam consentire mortali peccato That he is bound rather to suffer death then to consent to any deadly sin The reason is plain for that the death of the body is as nothing to the death of the soul All death is the privation of some life The corporal death is the privation of the life of nature the spiritual death is the privation of the life of Grace the eternal death is the privation of the life of Glory yet is the Eternal Death not called the third but only the second Death because the spiritual Death is indeed no other then the Inchoation of the Eternal and awaits onely the corporal Death to be its completion Apoc. 20. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power But it hath a power on the rest though it hath not yet the exercise of that power The second death hath power on a wicked man whiles he lives though not the exercise of that power till he dies Therefore the wicked and ungodly man hath great reason to fear the first because he cannot but expect the second Death But whosoever hath his part in the first Resurrection and it is our shame if we have not a part in it for let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. is blessed and holy and blessed in that he is holy His holiness being to him the Inchoation of blessedness and the life of Grace the beginning of the life of Glory such a man hath little reason to fear the first death because on him the second death hath no power and not having power on him while he lives shall much less have power on him when he dies yet do not Divines think it necessary to exempt the most righteous man that is from the fear of death They onely think it necessary that he be furnished with comforts greater then his fears Comforts enough to conquer his fear though not enough to expell it Suarez is of opinion that the blessed Virgin her self received extream Unction and Fillieucius saith positively that if you will suppose a man by special priviledge preserved from all sin yet it will not follow that he should not need extream Unction because he is capable of the principal effect of it which is Confortatio contrâ—… mortem a comforting and strengthening against Death And though many Divines do much doubt whether there be any sucâ—… aertue in extream Unction as to comfort â—…gainst Death yet none do doubt but even â—…he most righteous may need such comâ—…orts Our Saviour himself had an Angel strengthening him Thou hast need of more and blessed be his goodness he hath given thee more Thou hast his Spirit God the Holy Ghost to strengthen thee Nay thou hast his death to comfort thee in thine and that 's the onely reason why when Christ himself so much feared death yet many Christians have willingly embraced it because death was not conquered to him but it is now conquered by him to us yet Not my will but thy will be done is the greatest degree of perfection we can rationally expect when this bitter cup shall come to be tasted For certainly that could not but relish very ill to any mortal palate had not the Saviour of the world himself tasted it and by tasting the bitter Potion therein sweetned the Cup to those that should tast it after him Solus Christus sensit amaritudinem
mortis in cujus anima omnes vires ac Potentiae fuerunt per speciale miraculum conservatae saith Gabriel in 3. sent Dist. 15. Christ alone did feel all the sharpness and tast all the bitterness of Death in whose soul alone all powers and faculties were preserved in their full vigour and sense by special miracle But we will not argue the case whether the pains of death be most felt in the sensitive or intellective parts of the soul and whether they that have the strongest senses have alwayes the strongest pains For sure we are what are the pains of death none do know but those that cannot come to tell us yet we have reason to believe that they are so violent as to be able to shake the tallest Cedar of Libanus much more the shrubs of Carkemish To terrifie men of undaunted resolutions much more such as have too much guilt to have too little fears or else the Church would never have taught us to pray O Holy and mercifull Saviour thou most worthy Judge eternal suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of Death to fall from thee Thou art our Saviour we cannot fall from thee but we must fall from our salvation and the pains of Death will make us fall from thee unless thou shew thy self our merciful Saviour to sustain us in the hour of Death as thou hast sustained us all our life And why didst thou taste the vinegar at thy death and not till then give up the ghost John 19. 30. but to teach me to pray O my God let me not taste the vinegar when I am to give up the ghost since thou thy self hast tasted it for me so saith thy Apostle Heb. 2. 14 15. For he also himself took part of the same flesh and blood that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject to bondage We see here a two-fold effect of Christs death The one was to conquer the Devil that had the power of Death The other was to deliver us that were under the fear of Death and fled to him for deliverance The Devil had the power of Death till he was conquered and he was not conquered till the death of Christ till then he kept the keys of Hell and of death but then Christ took them away from him and doth ever since keep them Apoc. 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keys of Hell and of Death Then let me not fear to pass through the gates of Death whiles my Saviour keeps the keys of it to open the Grave Let me not fear to pass by the gates of Hell whiles my Saviour keeps the keys of it to shut the Gates Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear none evil for thou art with me Psal. 23. 4. Thou art with me to uphold me in that walk that I fail not to direct me in that valley that I stray not To enlighten me in that shadow that I stumble not Christs guidance cannot but afford a very safe conduct which is not unfitly expressed by these four words Educit Deducit Adducit Introducit He brings out He brings on He brings to He brings in First Educit he brings the soul out to wit out of the Body for it may not go till he call and then it must O my soul never be affraid to go from thy body when thy Saviour calls thee to go along with him Secondly Deducit He brings the soul on to wit on the way to Heaven And himself saith Justin Martyr in Tryphon did pray to his Father to guide his soul at his death that we might know how to pray to him to guide our souls Psal. 22. 20 21. Deliver my soul from the sword my Darling from the power of the Dog save me from the Lions mouth He thus prayed on the Cross immediatly before his death for it is the Tradition of the Church That Christ said all the 22 Psalm upon the Cross though the Evangelists mention only the first words of it to teach us to pray when we die That God who alone can would deliver our souls from the Dog and from the Lion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he would turn away the evil Angel who is compared to a Dog for his impudency to a Lion for his violence least he should catch our souls at their going out of our bodies We know the Devil is called the Prince of the Air and we may be sure he would not let any mans soul pass from earth to Heaven were not he ready to convey it thither to whom is given all power in Heaven and in Earth and over Hell Thirdly Adducit He brings the soul to that is to God Man when he dies his body returns to the dust but his spirit returns to God that gave it All spirits return to God at the hour of death either as to a Father or as to a Judge and Christ brings them all to him The spirits of wicked men as to a Judge for punishment The spirits of good men as to a Father for mercy Whence that admirable prayer of our Church for the sick That whensoever his soul shall depart from the body it may be without spot presented unto thee through Jesus Christ our Lord Christ presents all souls unto God but the souls of the impenitent and unbelievers in the spots they have contracted by their sins The souls of those who by Faith and Repentance have laid hold on his Righteousness he presents without spot Those souls that are in their sins shall be rejected those souls that are in their Saviour shall be received There is no man at that day but will be speechless who hath not the Eternal Word to answer for him Fourthly and lastly Introducit he brings the soul in that is into the state of Eternal blessedness to see and enjoy him who is the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto unless Christ bring him in whom no man hath seen or can see to whom be honour and power everlasting Amen 1 Tim. 6. 15 16. No man hath seen him or can see him in this corruptible body but the Saints now do see him in their incorruptible souls and do ascribe unto him his honour and power everlasting Accordingly the Angelical Doctor makes it his business to confute those who said that the souls of the Saints separated from their bodies do not come to their bliss till the day of judgement quod quidem apparet esse falsum autoritate ratione which saith he is apparently false as we can prove both by authority and by reason and all the world is not able to afford better proofs or gain-say them 1. By
Authority for the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5. 6. Whiles we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord and he gives the reason of that absence in the next verse for we walk by faith not by sight whence it appears that as long as a man walks by faith not by sight not seeing the divine essence he is not yet present with God but the souls of the Saints when separated from their bodies are present with God for it follows verse the eighth We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord whence it is manifest that the souls of the Saints separated from the body do walk by sight seeing the essence of God and consequently enjoying everlasting blessedness 2. By Reason for the understanding in the exercise of its operation needs not the body but only for some phantasms or representations but it is manifest that the divine essence is not to be seen by the help of any phantasm or representation Wherefore since the immediate bliss of the soul consists in the Vision of the divine essence it cannot depend upon the body and consequently the soul without the body may be and is undoubtedly blessed Thus Aquinas 12 ae qu. 4. art 5. Shewing himself in this an exact Scholar of the Text and as great a Master of Reason And truly iâ—… we rightly consider the matter that Christ hath opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers what can shut it against a believing soul departing hence but onely sinâ—… And that cannot shut it neither for its guilt nor for its blemish and pollution For the guilt of sin is taken away from the believing soul by the imputation of Christs Righteousness And the pollution of sin is also daily diminished in it by the operation of Christs Spirit during life and quite taken away from it at the hour of death even at the very instant of its departure This is the judgement of some excellent School-men So Gabriel in 3. Sent. dist 15. Animae in mortis instantia datur impeccabilitas impassibilitas God gives to the soul at the very instant of death impeccability that it cannot sin and impassibility that it cannot suffer O what a happy instant will that be wherein we shall be delivered from our sins and from our sufferings And agreeable to this Alexander Ales our own Country-man of Merton Coll. in Oxford and Tutor both to the Seraphical and to the Angelical Doctor gives the distinction of Gratia Baptismalis Poenitentialis Finalis Par. 4. qu. 15. membr 3. art 3. That some Grace â—…s Baptismal which rules and governs in the soul by vertue of the Sacrament some Poenitential which causeth an imperfect subjection and conformity of the will to God and this takes away all mortal sin And some Final which makes the will and all its faculties wholly subject and conformable to God and this takes away both mortal sin and also venial But this grace is given only at the last instant of our life for which reason happily it is called final Grace as coming only at the end only to men departing hence to fit and prepare their souls for God For nothing impure or unclean can enter into the Kingdom of God and therefore the soul before it can enter in thither must be quite purged from all manner of impurity and uncleanness which is accordingly done saith he by final Grace For though other grace doth conquer sin yet it is only final Grace that quite expels it The soul not being wholly freed from that disorder which it hath contracted from the body till it again depart from the body If this be so what have I to do but to long for a happy departure that is to make the best use I can of Baptismal and Poenitential Grace that my soul may he delivered from the dominion of sin and to expect that final grace which shall deliver it from the very inhaesion of sinfulness To bless God that hath given me grace in life to purge my soul from sin and that will give me grace in death to perfect my soul in Righteousness That he parting all sin from my soul before he part my soul from my body I may at the end of my weary pilgrimage lay me down in peace and take my rest Lay me down in that peace which this wicked world cannot give and this tumultuous world cannot take away the peace of a good conscience here of a blessed eternity hereafter And take my rest in the bosome of the earth my mother but in the arms of God my Father even that Rest of which it is said Heb. 4. 3. For we which have believed do enter into rest A Rest into which neither our disturbance can enter with us nor our disturbers after us unless as they have troubled others by their sins so at length they trouble themselves much more by their Repentance A Rest into which he hath already entred who is both able and willing to keep us in everlasting rest A Rest of a quiet of an uninterrupted sleep For so he giveth his beloved sleep Psal. 127. 2. The Grave is a place of corruption in it self but to the servants of God it is a place of Rest Thence were Church-yards anciently called sleeping places Coemiteria or Dormitoria wherein the bodies of the Saints were laid to their last Rest The Ancients did think fit to name their burying places from the rest not from the corruption that was to be found in them Athanasius tels us that a man may be said to be corruptible both spiritually and corporally Spiritually when he sins as the Scripture saith They are corrupt and become abominable in their iniquities And Corporally when he dies which corporal corruption saith he hath three Names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mors Putrefactio Interitus Death Putrefaction and Destruction The death is when the soul is separated from the body The Putrefaction is when the flesh of the body decays But the Destruction is when also the bones are consumed And he saith that the body of Christ was subject only to the first corruption which is by Death not to the second by Putrefaction and much less to the third by Destruction The like is Damascens Divinity lib. 3. de orth fid cap. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word Corruption imports two things Either the separation of the soul from the body or the Total dissolution of the body for he hath joyned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one From the first the body of Christ was not exempted from the second our bodies cannot be exempt The body of Christ which knew no sin was subject to the first degree of corruption But our bodies that have been all over infected with sin and defiled by that infection are also subject to the other two degrees of it Christ tasted of death Heb. 2. 9. But we must swallow it down He fed on death
for he tasted it at his own pleasure Death feeds on us for we must tast it against our wills and not only tast it but also eat it down Corruption first seized upon our souls and from thence passed to our bodies It was to our greatest disadvantage that it seized upon our souls But it is to our greatest advantage that it seizeth upon our bodies For unless they should be quite destroyed sin which first caused mortality would in the corrupt remainders and Reliques of our bodies it self have a kind of immortality whereas Righteousness alone is and ought to be immortal And therefore it is very probable that those who shall be found alive at the last day of whom the Apostle hath said We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 1 Cor. 15. 51. shall have a change not only Equivalent to a Death but also to a Total Destruction For sin must totally be destroyed And therefore also our bodies that have lodged it and have been defiled by it That there may not be left the least monument of sin in the New World wherein shall dwell nothing but Righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 13. And now me thinks I can find a Paradise in Golgotha ever since my Saviour hath been there and bid hearty welcom to those worms which shall destroy that flesh which would have destroyed me For I can now safely conclude that neither in regard of my soul nor of my body ought I to fear Death which certainly is not so formidable in it self as it is generally in the worlds opinion For if the Rule be true Nomen quasi Novimen The name of every thing is that whereby it is best known and discerned then by the name of death we may best know and discern the nature of it And these are the chief Names whereby the Scripture expresseth it A Sleep A Change A Departure A Dissolution and none of all these Names is terrible and why then should the thing it self be so But if there be any terrour in the thing yet we are sure that in the Text there is a comfort greater then the terrour First Death is called a Sleep Mat. 9. 24. The maid is not dead but sleepeth And though wicked miscreants who believed not the Resurrection laughed at our blessed Saviour for calling death A sleep yet let all good Christians rejoyce that it is so and give him thanks for making it so It is a comfortable Gloss which the third Toletan Council cap. 22. gives upon those words of John 11. 35. Jesus wept For they say Dominus non flevit Lazarum sed ad vitae hujus ploravit Aerumnas resuscitandum Jesus did not weep that Lazarus slept but that he was again to be awakened to see the miseries and feel the mischiefs of this wicked world T was said before verse 11. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth And he that said it having made his death a sleep was troubled that he should awaken him so soon from his sleep In vita vigilant Justi ideo in morte dicuntur Dormire saith St. Augustine The good man when he dieth is said to sleep because he watcheth and waketh all his life but a wicked man sleeps all his life and awakens only at his death Soul take thy rest saith the rich worldling He lulls his soul asleep but what follows Thou fool this night is thy soul taken from thee Thy sleep shall soon be over together with thy life and Vengeance and Death they shall awaken thee For hast thou slept all thy life and wouldest thou also sleep at thy death Hast thou slept all the while thou wert here and wouldest thou also sleep now thou art going hence Hast thou slept when God bad thee awake and wouldest thou also sleep now that he bids thee die No Thou mayest not any longer expect rest ease and tranquillity For thou shalt certainly have disconsolation at thy departure grief in thy passage and shame at thy journeys end when thou shalt appear before Gods Judgement-seat and shalt not be able to give any account at all of thy life no more then the Souldiers could of Christ Mat. 28. for thou wert asleep Thy Death would have been a sleep if thy life had not been so Secondly Death is called A Change Job 14. 14. All the dayes of my appointiâ—… time will I wait till my Change come Thâ—… Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I wiâ—… wait till I be made again If death be thy making Tell me what can be thy marring A happy change doubtless which is nothing but a new making of that which is quite out of Order And thus saith St. Chrysostome did Symmachus expound thâ—… words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my holy Nativity or my holy Naturâ—… come The nature which I now have iâ—… full of corruption full of unholiness so that my own flesh is not so neer me as iâ—… my sinfulness O for a regeneration of my body as well as of my soul that I may be born again in my flesh as I am in my spirit Nor is there any thing that can morâ—… truly sweeten the thought of death theâ—… this consideration that it is a change For we are already in so bad a condition that we cannot well fear our Change should be for the worse And if we be truly sensible of our own condition it is most sure thaâ—… our change will be infinitely for the better For so saith the Apostle Phil. 3. 20â—… 21. For our conversation is in Heaven froâ—… whence we also look for the Saviour thâ—… Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body as if he had said we find nothing on Earth worth conversing withall therefore our conversation is in Heaven we know that our body is now vile and loathsom and therefore we look for the Lord Jesus Christ to Change and Fashion it like unto his Glorious Body Here are two great changes which the men of this world that are most given to change least care for A change of the soul from being on Earth to be in Heaven for our conversation is in Heaven A change of the body from Vileness to Glory who shall change our vile body that it may be like his glorious body Thirdly Death is called A Departure and so doth Abenezra expound the forenamed word in Job 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chaliphathi my change that is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Halicathi my departure For the Jews express mans Birth as a Coming and his Death as a Going So Eccles. 1. 4. One generation goeth or Passeth away and another cometh Generatio vadens and Generatio Veniens The first is put for the Dying the latter for the living Generation of mankind And the first Council of Nice can 13. speaking of Dying men useth a word that only signifieth going forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De iis qâ—… exeunt And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any man be ready to Depart
hence not to deprive him of that necessary Provision which God hath appointed as hiâ—… food for his last journey meaning the Holy Eucharist for though many meâ—… now account it as nothing worth yet the Primitive Church thought there was great danger to that Christian soul that went hence without Receiving it and much more without Desiring it or they would not have dispenced with all their Ecclesiastical Discipline to restore a sidâ—… person to the Communion which they did again deny him upon his recovery till he should give the Church full satisfaction But thus we see they looked upon a Christians Dying only as upon a Going out of his body exit è corpore saith Saint Hierom of devout Lea she is gone out of the body when indeed she was dead And what then though I go out of my self and yet 't is but the worst part of my self as long as I go to my Saviour why should I not joyfully sing with good old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace since I have the very same Ground and Reason of my â—…ong that he had even this For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have seen thy salvation Luk 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do as clearly see thy salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eye of Faith as he did with the Eye of Flesh and so far I have the advantage of him he saw himself embracing his Saviour I can more oversee my Saviour embracing me Fourthly and lastly Death is called A Dissolution Phil. 1. 23. Desiderium habens dissolvi Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Two very great comforts at once the first That I shall be dissolved the second That I shall be with Christ Which two being joyned â—…ogether in All true Christians haply made Saint Cyprian take Saint Pauls Disâ—…olution for an Assumption for whereas â—…he Apostle saith 2 Tim. 4. 6. The time â—…f my Dissolution is at hand The good Faâ—…her recites him saying The time of my Assumption is at hand not to furnish â—…ur Criticks with a various Lection for â—…aint Cyprian was not Pur-blind to read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor hath the â—…hurch been so false as to change the reading but to furnish our Divines with various Exposition For Death as it is Dissolution in regard of the body theâ—… is the first Comfort To be dissolved Soâ—… is an Assumption in regard of the soul there is the second comfort To be witâ—… Christ. For the first let Themistius speaâ—… a Heathen Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we say Thâ—… Death is a Dissolution for the same reason that we call the body a Bond becauâ—… it binds and manacles and fetters thâ—… soul and who would not be Dissolveâ—… or Loosened that is in Fetters and Bonds The wanton desire of imaginarie Liberty hath brought many into Thraldom Aâ—… 't is a wonder if the serious sense of reâ—… Thraldom should not in an ingenuoâ—… soul increase the desire of true Liberty Bring my soul out of prison that I mâ—… praise thy Name Psal. 14. 2. v. 7. 'T is Vassalage a meer Bondage not to praiâ—… Gods Name If others hinder me froâ—… praising it they make me a Bondmaâ—… though they may pretend to have stretchâ—… not only their Purse-strings but also thâ—… Heart-strings and to have expended 〈◊〉 only their money but also their blood the Purchase of my Liberty If I hinder my self whether by my sins or for my pleasures it is I that imprison my self And because my flesh cannot but hinder me it cannot but imprison me for the service of God is perfect freedom and therefore the soul cannot be truly free till she come thither where she shall do nothing else but serve him A privative liberty not to be enthralled in bondage a Heathen could see in Death But a good Christian may farther see also a positive liberty To have his soul and his spirit enlarged according to that of Psalm 119. v. 32. I will run the way of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart when the heart is most enlarged it is most at liberty and the heart is most enlarged when it most runs the waies of Gods Commandments most readily because without the sluggishness of the flesh most speedily because without the â—…og and weakness of the flesh most incessantly because without the weariness of the flesh This is my first comfort in Death that I shall be Dissolved or Loosened from all my Bonds and Impediments and yet this second is far greater then this That I shall be with Christ For Saint Paul spake not these words Personally lest I should think that this Personal priviledge was to pass away with himself according to the rule of the Law Privilegium personale transit cum persona But 〈◊〉 spake them Doctrinally that I should believe what was at that time true Doctrine for his Instruction and comfortable Doctrine for his Consolation was for ever to be so to all true Believers both for their Instruction and for their Consolation For it is evident That the Convert-Thief upon the Cross cannot be looked upon as a priviledged person and yet it was also pronounced concerning him Dying in the true Faith of Christ though he had not lived in it This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He was so to depart from himself as without doubt to be with his Saviour in Paradise not in Purgatory Bellarmine himself confesseth de Purgatorio incertum est And none ever durst say That the humane soul of Christ was at all in Purgatory But sure we are That he is not now there and as sure that they that are dissolved to be with him cannot be where he is not I am unwilling to go from this Argument because I am willing to come to my Death as to my sleep for rest As to my Change for Advantage As to my Departure from all Inconveniences for relief As to my Dissolution from all Impediments for redress The Eyes of my body are content to be closed so as the Eyes of my soul may be the more opened There are two Eyes of my soul as of my body the one of Contemplation which is as the left Eye the other of Affection which is as the right Eye When the Eyes of my body are nearest shutting the Eyes of my soul will be nearest opening and from seeing the light of Nature I shall go to see the light of Glory As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness saith holy David Psal. 17. 15. teaching me to lie down in this faith and again I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness comforting me That I shall rise again in this Vision For if the former part be my faith the latter will surely be my Vision I know that I shall part with my dearest Relations but I also know that I received them upon this condition to part with them And besides there is none of these but will be infinitely bettered to me by losing these for
correct me good Lord as a Father in thy Pitty to amend me not as a Judge in thy Fury to confound me Thou didst redeem me with thine own most precious blood that thou mightest convert me And how then wilt thou Judge me being redeemed with that blood that thou maist condemn me Well may my sins be condemned of thee who art the Righteous Judge for I who have been the sinner and who still am an unrighteous man cannot but condemn them and my self for them But surely thy precious blood can never come under condemnation nor my soul whiles thou lookest upon it as washed with that blood Thus thou hast given me a pledge of delivering my soul from the terrours of my death by conquering them and from the severity of Gods Justice by satisfying it And thou hast also prepared a deliverance for my body for in that thou madest thy grave with the wicked in thy death thou hast sanctified the grave as a Repository for my dead body till my flesh shall be totally wasted therein and with my flesh all the sin and wickedness which hath so long dwelt in it and cannot be destroyed before it And thou wilt at last raise me from thence after thine own likeness that I may come from the grave as thou didst go to it not having violence in mine hand nor deceipt in my mouth nor wickedness in mine heart Lord let it be thy pleasure thus to deliver me Make hast O Lord to help me Take away all my sin from my soul and then as soon as thou pleasest take away my soul from my body That having no unrepented sin in my life I may have no unsufferable sorrow in my death but may find comfort in it deliverance by it and glory after it Amen Contemplations on Heb. 12. Verse 1 2. IN my troubles and distresses either of my body or of my soul I cannot bestow my time better then in looking about me for help And in looking about me for help I cannot bestow mine eyes better then in looking up to heaven For my help cometh from the Lord who hath made heaven and earth Psal. 121. 2. And if I look up to heaven I shall soon spie there a bright cloud even a cloud of witnesses to enlighten me that I stumble not in my waies for any darkness of my understanding And if I look up yet higher through that cloud I shall behold a far greater light even the Sun of righteousness to enflame me and to quicken me lest I should sit still when I am bound to be walking for the dulness of my will and the deadness of my affections for above that cloud dwelleth he who is the brightness of Gods glory and the express Image of his person Heb. 1. 3. Wherefore my sight may not be terminated or bounded by this cloud of witnesses But through it I must be looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of my Faith if I desire the comfort of my faith when I most want it even in the day of my visitation and at the hour of my dissolution And indeed where should a good Christian fix either his eye or his heart but only on Christ And I may here see Christ in his Mystical body that is in his Church the cloud of witnesses And Christ in his natural body that is in himself Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith And the same Christ in either body destitute afflicted tormented O Lord how many arguments are here alledged to perswade me to behave my self with great constancy humility and patience in those conflicts and agonies which I must expect as a Christian unless I will renounce communion with Christ and embrace an unwarrantable and an unprofitable Christianity I think there is a Lyon in the way as said Solomons sluggard ready to devour me and I see nothing but briers and thorns in it ready to intangle my feet and to tear my flesh But God telleth me it is the ready way to heaven and the Race that I must run if ever I hope to get thither Let us run with patience the race that is set before us If it be my race then I must run it if it be set then I cannot remove it if it be set before me then I cannot decline it And truly I cannot deny but it is set before me by the dispensation of Gods Providence and the indispensable Duty of my Christian vocation And therefore I give him hearty thanks that he hath so plainly shewed unto me the manner of running this race and the reasons that I have to run it The manner of running this race is twofold First I must forsake my self and all my selfishness that is all those things to which I have naturally an immoderate desire and in which I have naturally an immoderate delight let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us For what am I or what is my flesh but a weight that doth beset me rather then befriend me even an unprofitable and an unsufferable burthen And what else cometh from me or cleaveth to me but only sin Which living in me cannot but work with me Operari sequitur esse and working with me cannot but defile my purest and my best works Secondly I must fix mine eyes and mine heart only upon my blessed Saviour looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith Looking to and on nothing else either within me or without me but only Christ whether in the way of my sanctification for he is the Author of my faith whereby alone my heart is purified and sanctified Or in the way of my salvation for he is the Finisher of my Faith whereby alone my soul is saved It is he that hath brought my soul from Infidelity to Faith whereby I now see through a glass darkly It is he that will bring my faith to a clear vision whereby I shall see him face to face The Reasons I have to run this race are drawn from that grand Topick which works so much upon all the world that Pelagius thought thereby to shift off Original sin from mans nature and to put it only on his imitation This Topick is the Common-place of example And first I have the examples of all those holy men that were before Christ who through their faith in Gods promises and constancy in their faith possessed their souls in great patience whiles they lived and resigned their souls in great comfort and contentment when they dyed This innumerable company of Saints is here called a cloud of witnesses and it is such a cloud as must needs at some time or other drop down many cool showers able to allay if not to extinguish the flames of my greatest fiery tryals Secondly I have the example of Christ himself he is the Author of my faith he is the Captain of my salvation that marcheth before me to this battle instructing me by his Word encouraging me by his Promises supporting me by his
should I be angry and offended at the effects and tokens of his love For thy loving-kindness is better then the life it self Psal. 63. 3. What then though thou take away my life by thy chastisement if so be thou give me thy loving-kindness which is far better What is my life in it self without thy love O then take away my life as it is in it self and give it me as it is in thy love I desire not to live in mine own life but in thy loving-kindness Secondly because chastisement is a proof of my adoption Verse 7 8. For what son is he that the Father chasteneth not But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye Bastards not Sons If I be not one of his Sons what expectancy can I have of his inheritance And if I be not under his correction how can I be assured I am one of his sons Wherefore let me rejoyce for being under the discipline of his chastisement as for being under the care of his Fatherly protection And let me be afraid of not being chastised on earth in this mortal life as I would be afraid of being bastardized from heaven and declared illegitimate as to the inheritance of immortality Thirdly because chastisement is a testimony of my obedience Verse 9. We have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live Would I be accounted an obedient child I must shew my self so not only by my doing but also by my suffering For my active obedience may be very much for mine own sake because I expect a Blessing but surely my passive Obedience is meerly for my Fathers sake because I know my duty If therefore I desire to be truly dutiful to my Father in heaven let me shew him reverence whiles he punishes me and not only whiles he cherishes me And let me consider him to be the Father of spirits and I shall be sure to shew him this reverence for I shall never deny him the subjection of my spirit and much less of my flesh I shall be willing to trust him with my soul and shall not desire that he would trust my soul too long with my body This the natural man looks on as the high-way to destruction but the spiritual man knows it is the way to salvation for thus did Christ himself pass to life even by being obedient unto the death Let me labour to follow his example for I have no reason to hope to fare better then he did and sure Iam I cannot fare worse Let me accordingly desire to kiss my Fathers hand then chiefly when it holds the rod wherewith he strikes me or rather let me desire to kiss his rod for it is much better for me that his scourging should testifie my obedience then extort it And if my weak and sinful flesh whiles it is yet wedded unto my soul shall deal with me as Jobs wife did with him and say Dost thou still retain thine integrity curse God and die Let me be sure to give her the same answer as he did his wife Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh what shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil Job 2. 10. This is the true way not to bless God and die but to bless God and live for so it is in the Hebrew Bless God and die And Jobs wife speaking in that holy language had her tongue sanctified though not her heart in so much that she did not say Curse God and die though she meant it but bless God and die I say this is the way not to bless God and die but to bless God and live and I may well say it again and again for so saith the Apostle Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live Fourthly Because chastisement is a furtherance of my sanctification Verse 10. For they verily for a few daies chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Good Lord can I not be partaker of thy holiness until thou chasten me then let thy hand spare me no longer for in thus sparing it will most severely punish me since there is no greater punishment either in this world or in the next then not to be partaker of thy holiness Our fathers on earth by chastening us after their own pleasure and not for our profit do often make us partakers of their sin even of that impatience whereby they do either unduly or unmeasurably chasten us But our Father in heaven is never peccant either in the manner or in the end of his chastening not in the manner for he takes no pleasure in scourging us and therefore cannot do it either unduly or unmeasurably Not in the end for he aims only at our profit in scourging that he may brush away or strike off some excrescencies of our flesh or some adherencies to it thereby to make us partakers of his holiness in a far greater proportion and measure then otherwise we could have been Fifthly Because chastisement is a furtherance of my salvation Verse 11. Now no chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards iâ—… yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby If I look no further then after mine own Joy it is most evident that I cannot endure much less desire chastisement because that for the present is not joyous but grievous but if I look after my Masters joy I must enter into it the same way that he entred he entred into his joy by sufferings and so must I. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory Luke 24. 26. He suffered that he might enter into his own glory which was undenyably his from all eternity and shall I hope to enter into that glory without suffering Ought Christ to have suffered and ought not the Christian to expect suffering Surely it hehoved Christ to suffer for these three Reasons Propter Remedium Peccatorum Propter exemplum Virtutum Propter complementum Scripturarum For the expiation and redress of sin by his Merit For the propagation of Righteousness by his Example For the fulfilling of the Scriptures by his Obedience As the Seraphical Doctor teacheth Now tell me which of these Reasons is not a fit and sufficient ground for my sufferings Have I not Brethren to be edified by my example who seeing my patience in the day of my visitation may also glorifie God in the day of theirs Hath not my God a Word to be fulfilâ—…ed which hath expresly said That we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God Acts 14. 22. Have not 〈◊〉 my self much sin to be redressed and amended For though I will gladly impute the expiation of all my sins only to my Saviours sufferings
even that peace of God which passeth all that I do understand and will fullfill all that I can desire Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart to this peace that thou mayest at once deliver me from all my troubles for his sake who hath shed his precious blood to purchase this peace for me Jesus Christ the only righteous Amen 45. Lord give unto me an earnest repentance to cleanse and purge my soul from dead works that thou mayest give unto me a true and lively faith to settle and establish my soul in the light of life That acknowledging and bewailing mine own demerits and unrighteousness I may by the Merits and Righteousness of my blessed Redeemer obtain remission of all my sins whereof I now stand guilty before thy Judgement-seat and the assurance of that remission sealed unto my conscience by the testimony of thy holy Spirit that I may not be terrified with the thought of death being delivered from the terrours of Judgement and having that righteousness interposed in answer for me which cannot but answer all the accusations of the Devils and all the attestations and convictions of mine own conscience O my blessed Advocate do thou come to plead for me and then come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen 46. Lord make me daily more and more to see the manifold miseries of my pilgrimage whereby I am a stranger to eternity and a so journer with vanity burdened and clogged with a heavy weight of flesh and a far heavyer weight of sin That I may heartily pray to be delivered from all those burdens and miseries and not be afraid least thou shouldst hear my prayer but that my soul providing to return into her own Countrey may accordingly have longings and earnest desires after the Land of Promise and after the heavenly Jerusalem and after thee my God who there livest and reignest world without end Amen 47. Lord make me patiently to undergo this punishment of my body but earnestly to long for the deliverance of my soul Make me thankful for that small ease and refreshment thou givest me on earth but much more for the eternal rest thou hast provided for me in heaven grant that though I have affliction in the world yet I may have peace in thee and may rejoyce in that peace for thou hast overcome the world grant that though I am weak in my body yet I may be strong in my soul for thou art the strength of souls grant that though I find pain and anguish in my flesh yet I may find joy and comfort in my spirit for thou art the God of spirits grant that I may not look on thy hand scourging me with an evil eye whiles I believe that the thoughts which thou thinkest towards me are thoughts of peace and not of evil and that though thou givest me a sad beginning yet thou wilt give me an expected end Jer. 29. 11. 48. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him and I may well bear it patiently nay rather take it thankfully since it is his great goodness to punish temporally that he may spare eternally For he will at last plead my cause and execute Judgement for me he will at length bring me forth to light out of this dismal darkness and I shall behold his righteousness and he will not behold mine unrighteousness Then shall I say with great joy Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquities and passeth by transgressions and retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy Therefore he will turn again he will have compassion upon me he will subdue mine iniquities before he suffer death to subdue me and he will cast all my sins into the depth of the Sea before he will cast me into the deep of the earth Mich. 7. v. 9 18 19. 49. Art thou not from everlasting O Lord my God mine holy One and I but only of yesterday and for a moment I shall not die whiles thou art my Resurrection and my Life O Lord thou hast ordained these pains and sicknesses for Judgement and O mighty God thou hast established them for correction O Lord let them prove so to me as Judgements to advise me and as Chastisements to amend me for thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil and therefore sure of purer hands then to embrace it and thou canst not look on iniquity therefore sure wilt not encourage it O then let this thy visitation so purge away all evil and iniquity from me that thou mayest both encourage my soul in my life and embrace it at my death Hab. 1. 50. O thou the high and lofty one that inhabitest eternity whose Name is Holy thou that dwellest in the high and lofty place but with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite one be pleased to look upon the great humiliations of my body and the unfeigned contritions of my soul That thou mayst dwell with me and I may be revived in the spirit whiles I am daily put to death in the flesh And do not contend for ever neither be thou alwaies wrath least my spirit should fail before thee and the soul which thou hast made for the iniquity of my conversation thou wast wrath and smotest me but for the abundance of thine own mercies heal me and restore comforts to me and to my mourners and give unto me true joy and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord Isaiah 57. 15 c. 51. O Lord I have been long cloathed with filthy garmens even by the corruptions and pollutions of the flesh And Satan is standing at my right hand ready to tempt me here and to accuse and torment me hereafter But O Lord I beseech thee to say unto Satan The Lord rebuke thee O Satan even the Lord that hath chosen his servant rebuke thee And take away the filthy garments from me and say unto me behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will cloath thee with change of rayment even with the wedding-garment the righteousness of that immaculate Lamb the Lord Jesus Christ so shall I appear before thee with comfort stand before thee with confidence and remain before thee with joy for evermore Zach. 3. 52. O Lord thou hast left me a Promise of entering into thy Rest O let me not come short of it and not enter into it But since I have a great high-Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God an high-Priest touched with the feeling of my infirmities let me through him come boldly to the Throne of grace that I may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Heb. 4. 53. O Lord my strength and my fortress and my refuge in the day of affliction I desire to come unto thee from the ends of the earth where I have inherited lyes and vanity and things wherein there is
no profit but I beseech thee cause me to know thy hand and thy might and take not away thy peace from me even loving-kindness and Mercies Jer. 16. v. 19 21 5. 54. O Lord the Hope of Israel let no distress whatsoever make me forsake that blessed Hope which thou hast given me for all that forsake thee shall be ashamed and they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord the Fountain of living waters O Lord I have often forsaken thee by my sins yet let me not be ashamed because I return again to thee by my Repentance O Lord I have often departed from thee by my transgressions yet let me not be written in the earth because I now at last thirst for thee the Fountain of living waters Heal me O Lord and I shall be healed save me and I shall be saved so shalt thou be my praise now and for evermore Jer. 17. 13 14. 55. O Lord my soul is heavy and my body is sick unto the death But do thou bring me health and cure and reveal unto me abundance of peace and truth cleanse me from all mine iniquities whereby I have sinned against thee cause my captivity to return and have mercy upon me according to thine infinite mercies in Jesus Christ Jer. 33. 6 8 26. 56. O Lord thou hast added grief to my sorrow for I have fainted in my sighing and I find no rest yet dost thou forbid me to add sorrow to my own grief and to say wo is me now because that which thou hast built thou hast broken down and that which thou hadst planted thou hast plucked up even this whole Land Therefore thou forbiddest me to seek great things for my self for behold thou hast brought evil upon all flesh and how shouldst thou not bring evil upon my flesh which is the most sinful of all O then suffer me not to be a seeker of mine own discontents rather then of thy redresses whiles I look after great and good things in such miserable and wretched times but make me thankful that thou hast hitherto given me my life as a prey unto me in all places whether I have gone that remembering what thou hast given me I may not repine for what others have taken from me assuring my self that there is yet another life to come which thou wilt give me not as a prey that I should fear losing it but as an inheritance that I should long to possess it in thee and with thee for ever Amen Jer. 45. 3 4 5. 57. O Lord bring my soul out of this prison of the flesh and the shackles of sin and misery that I may wholly and entirely give thanks unto thy holy Name for all thy Mercy and great Deliverances and most especially for this the greatest of all That thou wilt deliver me from my self from the burden of mine own flesh from the bondage of mine own corruption from the thraledom of mine own body And wilt set me at liberty that I may do nothing else but serve thee whose service is perfect freedom and whose wages are life and light and joy in beholding thy presence for evermore for I earnestly desire only those Mercies wherein thou dost infinitely delight who lovest to shew Mercy to penitent sinners in the Son of thy love our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 58. O Lord pour not out thine indignation upon me blow not against me in the fire of thy wrath but deliver me from this brutish and burning disease or if thou wilt in thy Justice make my body as fewel for the fire yet in mercy deliver my soul from the everlasting burnings Ezek. 23. 31 32. 59. Grant Lord that I being risen with Christ may seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God that I may henceforth set mine affection on things above not on things in earth alwaies remembering that I am dead and my life is hid with Christ in God and alwaies rejoycing that when Christ who is my life shall appear then shall I also appear with him in glory Col. 3. 1 2 3 4. 60. Lord make my tongue sing of thy praises whiles I have breath and when I shall be breathless make my heart bear two parts to fill up that blessed Harmony that my soul may praise thee whiles it is in the state of union with my natural body and much more when it shall be in the state of separation from it and shall be joyned in consort with the holy Angels and with the beatified spirits And most of all when it shall be in the state of re-union again with that same body being made spiritual That I being at last all spirit both in soul and body neither my heart may be wearied in thinking nor my tongue in speaking thy praises to all eternity Amen 61. I will thank thee O Lord my God with all my heart and I will praise thy Name for evermore for great is thy Mercy towards me and thou hast delivered my soul from the neathermost hell and wilt receive my soul into the highest heavens there to give thee thanks and praises for evermore 62. All the daies of my appointed time will I wait till my change come Job 14. 14. Lord grant I may so wait that I may receive my wages and that my change may come seasonably speedily and happily A seasonable change not to find me unprepared for it A speedy change to deliver me from the pains of sickness and from the pangs of death And a happy change to let me in to the fruition of thy glory and eternal life Amen 63. By thine unknown sufferings O my blessed Redeemer intercede for me in all my pains and sufferings that I may find Mercy and obtain Relief And make me alwaies remember and confess that my sins are far above my sufferings so shall I suffer patiently and that thy Mercy is far above my sins so shall I suffer comfortably and hope for a joyful end of all my sufferings 64. Lord grant that my conversation may from henceforth be in heaven that my soul may be prepared to go thither and know how to busie it self there that I may with joy look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ from thence who shall change my vile body that it may be like his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3. 2. O Lord work that blessed change in my soul to subdue all its carnal affections by a heavenly conversation before thou workest that miserable change in my body to subdue its natural constitution by an unnatural destruction And according to that mighty working whereby thou art able even to subdue all things unto thy self in the first place subdue all my sinfulness 65. Lord speak the word only and thy servant shall be whole speak the word of comfort in my distress and the greatest comfort in my greatest
and magnifie thy glorious Name because thou hast given me an assured hope that I shall with them hereafter evermore praise thee and say Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high The sick mans second lesson John 5. 24. VErily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life His second Canticle Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for calling me to the knowledge of himself and to faith in his Son and to Communion with his holy Spirit Lord I believe help thou my unbelief And grant me so perfectly and without all doubt to believe in thy Son Jesus Christ that my faith may never be reproved and my person and my prayers may alwaies be accepted in thy sight through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Or this In thee O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion but rid me and deliver me in thy righteousness incline thine ear unto me and save me Be thou my strong hold whereunto I may alway resort Thou hast promised to help me for thou art my house of defence and my Castle As for me I will patiently abide alway and will praise thee more and more My mouth shall daily speak of thy righteousness and salvation for I know no end thereof O what great troubles and adversities hast thou shewed me and yet didst thou turn and refresh me yea and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again Therefore will I praise thee and thy faithfulness O God playing upon an instrument of Musick Unto thee will I sing upon the Harp O thou holy one of Israel My lips will be fain when I sing unto thee and so will my soul whom thou hast delivered and ever wilt deliver according to thine infinite Mercies in Jesus Christ. The sick mans Creed or the Confession of his Faith by way of prayer I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth Grant me Lord so to believe in thee my Father that as a Father pittieth his own child so I may find and feel that thou art pittiful and merciful towards me Grant me so to believe in thee as my Lord and my God that I may find the eternal comfort of being thy servant and that as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters even so my eyes may wait upon the Lord my God until he have Mercy upon me Grant me so to believe in thee as my Father God and Maker that I may alwaies rely on thy Fatherly Goodness that I may alwaies submit my self body and foul to thy Almighty power and that I may commit my soul unto thee not only in well-doing but also in well-suffering as to my saithful Creator Grant me so to believe in Jesus Christ thy only Son my Redeemer that from this Jesus I may have salvation from this Christ I may have the holy Unction from this thy Son I may have spiritual adoption Grant me so to believe in God the Holy-Ghost that from this God I may be inspired with true godliness from this Holy-Spirit I may be sanctified and made a member of the Catholike Church and both live and die in the Communion of Saints And that from this spiritual Comforter I may be filled with spiritual comforts and consolations for evermore even with the immortal comfort of the Forgiveness of my sins of the Resurrection of my body and of the translation of my soul to the life everlasting Amen Or this O blessed Lord God who fillest heaven and earth with the Majesty of thy Glory and with the Riches of thy Mercy Let not my sinful soul be empty but let me evermore be filled with dreadful apprehensions of that great and glorious Majesty wherewith thou wilt hereafter come to Judge me And with comfortable apprehensions of that great and gracious Mercy whereby thou hast already come to save me that I may never want grace to prevent and keep me from sinning nor Mercy to pardon and forgive me all my sins nor the testimony of thy holy-Spirit to assure me of that pardon and forgiveness That though thou kill me yet I may put my trust in thee and even at the hour of death may be able to say with a strong heart though with a weak voice I believe in God the Father my Creator in God the Son my Redeemer in God the Holy-Ghost my Comforter That this my Father will provide for me health and ease and all other comforts of this world as far as they shall conduâ—…e to his glory and to my salvation And hath provided for me a Portion and Inheritance in the world to come That this Redeemer hath redeemed my soul from the bondage of Sin and Satan and will also at the last day redeem my body from the bondage of death and corruption That this Comforter will not leave me comfortless when I most want and most ask his comforts but that he will be with me according to his Promise and will keep me in all places whither I go of sickness of life of death and will bring me at last to the Land of Eternal rest for he will not leave me till he hath done that which he hath spoken to me of Gen. 28. 15. till he hath translated me from his holy Church-Militant to his holy Church-Triumphant And to that Communion of Saints whereof he is the only head who is the King of Saints And to that blessed company of sanctified spirits which have mercifully received the forgiveness of their sins do earnestly expect the resurrection of their bodies and do incessantly enjoy the life everlasting Amen The sick mans Collect for the Day O Sweet Jesus who comest from the bosom of thy heavenly Father to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised shew also these thy Mercies at once and together in shewing Mercy on me who am now broken and bruised and under great blindness and captivity The eye of my soul is so dim by reason of my sins and of my sufferings that I cannot clearly see thy Merits The hand of my soul is so weak that I cannot eagerly reach after them nor strongly take hold of them Thus am I a captive under miserable blindness and weakness But shew thou me the light of thy countenance and that will recover my sight and release my captivity For in thy light I shall see the true light everlasting and in thy countenance I shall enjoy it O thou Son of righteousness which knowest not any going down and givesâ—…â—…fe food and gladness unto all things vouchsase to shine into my mind that I may not either through the weakness of the flesh or the assaults of the Devil any where stumble to fall into impatience
or infidelity or any other grievous sin but may be able to stand stedfastly through thy supporting and to walk on constantly in the way of Piety and of Patience till by thy good guiding and conducting I may at last come to the life everlasting As thou still holdest open the eyes of my weak body to behold the light of nature so be pleased daily more and more to open the eyes of my sinful soul to behold the light of grace till thou bring me to enjoy the light of glory there to glorifie and praise thee for ever Amen The sick mans Collect for Peace O God which art the Author of our peace for thine own Mercies sake but the Author of our troubles only for our sins Give unto me thy unworthy servant that peace which this wicked world cannot give and which this tumultuous and troublesom world cannot take away and defend me in all the assaults of my afflictions both corporal and spiritual that I surely trusting in thy defence and wholly submitting to thy providence may not fear the power of any adversity whatsoever through the might and for the mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The sick mans Collect for Grace O Lord our heavenly Father Almighty and everlasting God which hast safely brought me through many dangers and troubles and diseases to the beginning of this dangerous and desperate sickness defend me in the whole continuance of the same with thy mighty power and grant that herein I may fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger whereby I may become either impenitently sinful or uncomfortably miserable But that all my doings and all my sufferings being ordered by thy Governance I may alwaies do that which is righteous in thy sight and suffer that which may be profitable for mine own salvtion through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The sick mans Letany O God the Father of heaven and of all Mercies have Mercy upon me a miserable sinner And grant that in the greatest extremities and anguishes of my body I may find the greatest comforts and refreshments of my soul Grant that when I am most tormented in my flesh I may be most relieved in my spirit That though my loins are filled with a sore disease and there is no whole part in my body yet my soul may magnifie the Lord and my spirit may rejoyce in God my Saviour for he hath regarded my low and miserable estate and he will relieve it O God the Son Redeemer of the world and of my sin-sick and sinful soul have Mercy upon me a miserable sinner and take away all my sins that thou mayest take away all my miseries As thou hast made me a happy Believer so also make me a joyful partaker of thy Redemption and then most especially when I shall most feel my self as it were swallowed up of grief and destruction through the pains and torments of my increasing sickness or the pangs and horrours of my approaching death Be thou my comfort in distress my strength in weakness my health in sickness my joy in sadness Be thou my life whiles I am living and my Resurrection from the dead that though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I may fear no evil for thou art with me to conduct me through the dangerous downfalls of that valley to direct me through the dismal darknesses of that shadow and to sustain me in the dreadful dissolution of that death O thou who now sittest on the right hand of God making intercession for me reject me not when I am making intercession for my self for through thy death I hope for life through thy life I hope for glory through thy glory I hope for eternal glory And in that hope do I now commend my spirit into thy hands for thou hast redeemed me O God thou God of truth And thou wilt save me O God thou God of Mercy because I have believed thy truth and do rely upon thy Mercy Therefore do I wholly resign my self body and soul unto thee submitting them both to thy good will and pleasure either for life or death beseeching thee to Receive my soul and to Restore my body and to grant that I may be able to stand upright in the dreadful Judgement being supported by the arm of thy All-sufficient Merits and All-saving Mercies to bless and praise thee O my blessed Redeemer world without end O God the Holy-Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have Mercy upon me a miserable sinner and give unto mean assurance of thy Mercy that thou mayest give unto me an abatement of my misery O thou which art the Comforter of thine Elect give unto me daily more and more the heavenly comforts of mine Election and in the greatest agonies and distresses of my body transfix my soul with the most joyful apprehensions and the most firm perswasions of thine everlasting Love and undeserved Mercies towards me in Jesus Christ That neither the apprehensions of a sad and miserable life nor the fears and terrours of an uncomfortable death may ever be able to affright my soul nor to disturb that sweet peace resâ—… and repose which my spirit now hath and desireth to have in thee the God of spirits who givest unto those souls that are oâ—… thy Communion the antepast of eternity the blessed anticipation of immortal joy 〈◊〉 O my God my Stay my Comforter unto thee do I flie for the comforts of immortality Like as the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God even for the living God when shall 〈◊〉 come to appear before God when shall I drink my fill of the waters of life to quench my thirst O let my tears no longer be my meat day and night whiles mine own troubled thoughts say unto my soul Where is now thy God for surely my God is in heaven whatsoever pleaseth him that doth he in heaven and in earth 〈◊〉 and though for a while in the evening of this life I have sadness upon earth yet in the morning of eternity I shall for eveâ—… have joy in heaven Amen O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity three persons and one God have Mercy upon me a most miserable and wretched sinner and therefore most miserable and wretched because a sinner because I have sinned against heaven and against thee the God of heaven But since thou hast given me grace through the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity I beseech thee that through the stedfastness of this faith I may be absolved from all my sins and also be defended from all adversity which livest and reignest one God world without end Amen Remember not Lord mine offences nor the offences of my fore-fathers neither take thou vengeance of my sins spare me good Lord spare me thy most afflicted but most unworthy servant whom thou hast
redeemed with thy most precious blood and be not angry with me for ever Spare me good Lord. From this and all other evil and mischief of my body from the more afflictive and contagious sin of my soul from the crafts and assaults of the Devil either against my body or against my soul from the fear of thy wrath and from the sentence of everlasting damnation Good Lord deliver me By thine agony and bloody-sweat help and assist me in all mine agonies By thy Cross and Passion make me conquerer in all my sufferings By thy precious death and burial sweeten my death and sanctifie my grave By thy glorious resurrection and ascention raise me up again at the last day and glorifie me and by the coming of the Holy-Ghost give unto me now amidst the torments of my life and the terrours of my death the immortal comfort of a blessed resurrection to eternal glory And in this my distress by this thy special assistance help and comfort Good Lord deliver me In all time of my tribulation and adversity which thou hast now sent me In all time of my wealth and prosperity if thou shalt be pleased once again to send it me in the hour of my death and in the day of Judgement Good Lord deliver me I that am a sinner do beseech thee to hear me O Lord God And that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church universally in the right way And to deliver this thy distressed and oppressed Church from all her sins and from all her troubles and to restore her to her former Truth and Peace I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand and the Son of man whom thou hast made so strong for thine own self and so will not we go back from thee O let us live and we will call upon thy Name Turn us again O Lord God of Hosts shew us the light of thy countenance and we shall be whole I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to defend and strengthen all Bishops and Ministers of thy Church That notwithstanding the manifold oppositions contempts and persecutions of disobedient and gainsaying people they may still uphold thy true and lively Word and thy holy and blessed Sacraments and by their preaching and administring and their living and dying may set them forth and shew them accordingly I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to be a Father to the Fatherless whom my sins have helped to make so and whom my repentance cannot but thy Mercy can relieve To be a husband to the widow a comfort to the comfortless and to relieve all that be desolate and oppressed and to shew thy pity upon all exiles prisoners and captives especially those that suffer imprisonment and captivity or banishment for the cause of righteousness for the Doctrine of a Catholick Faith or for the duties of a Christian life I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to have Mercy upon mine enemies persecutors and slanderers to turn their hearts and to forgive their sins and to save their souls and to make me forgive as I desire to be forgiven and to make me desire to be forgiven as I stand in need of forgiveness and to make my waies to please thee that thou mayest make mine enemies to be at peace with me I beseech thee to hear me good Lord That it may please thee to give us all true repentance that thou mayest forgive us all our sins not only our negligences and ignorances but also our perversnesses and profanesses and to endue us with the grace of thy holy Spirit that we may lay aside our own animosities self-interests and worldly advantages and joyn together with one heart and mouth to praise thee and to glorifie thy holy Name not looking after fond pretences and fading vanities but looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. Son of God I beseech thee to hear me O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world take away my sins also inwhom alone there is a world of sin and grant me thy peace and have Mercy upon me O Christ hear me and as thou camest to redeem me when I was utterly lost so I beseech thee suffer me not to be lost now thou hast redeemed me Lord have Mercy upon me Christ have Mercy upon me Lord have Mercy upon me And remember me according to the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation that I may once more if it be thy will see the felicity of thy chosen and rejoyce in the gladness of thy people and give thanks with thine inheritance through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The sick mans Benediction BLessed be the Lord God even the God of Israel which only doth wonderous things And blessed be the Name of his Majesty for ever and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty and my soul shall be filled and revived with his Mercy Amen Amen The Lord Jesus be within me to strengthen without me to assist before me to direct behind me to defend and protect beneath me to uphold and sustain above me to receive my soul. Let the power of the Father preserve me the wisdom of the Son guide and énlighten me the operation of the Holy-Ghost quicken and revive me in my passage through the gates of death and bring me into everlasting life The blood that ran from the wounded heart of my blessed Saviour which hath purchased for me abundance of grace in my life of comfort in my sickness and of hope in my death wash my soul from sin and from iniquity that it may be presented without spot or blemish before the righteous Judge of men and Angels in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy-Ghost Amen The sick mans Valediction LORD I am willing to forsake all to follow thee O let me follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth I willingly forgive all men and heartily desire all men to forgive me that though I came into this world hating my God yet I may not go out of it hating my Brother for God with whom I hope to dwell when I go from hence is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 John 4. 16. I follow after to apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus This one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen Phil. 3. 12 13 14. The sick mans Preparation for his Departure I am now ready to be
End Others may run Faster but he makes the best Speed that first gets to Heaven So run that ye may obtain 2 Cor. 9. 24. Now a Blessed Immortality may be obtained two waies 1. In Affection 2. In Fruition This latter is to be expected at Gods leisure but the former cannot be too soon obtained The very first step of Mortality should thus tend towards Immortality For as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death Rom. 6. 3. when we were yet scarce entred into our own Life we were Baptized into his Death which shews that in truth we were not so much born to live as we were born to die Well the man may think himself born to live but sure the Christian that is baptized into the Death of Christ must know that he was born again only to die For thus we all brought a body of death with us into the world Rom. 7. 24. as well as a breath of life Gen. 2. 7. And must therefore learn to dye in the beginning as well as in the end of our daies Saint John saith of himself And when I saw him that is Christ I fell at his feet as dead Rev. 1 17. So is it with us when we truly see Christ we sall down at his feet as dead and yet do not lose our Station but only mend it For whereas before we stood in our selves by thus falling we stand in our Saviour No Christian is a loser by being dead with Christ no more then Christ was a loser by his own death For indeed death is the only way for them both to a Joyful Resurrection I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Rev. 1. 18. The Death was but for a short time but the Life is for evermore This is such a Funeral as ought to be kept without Mourning and is better solemnized with Joy and Triumph then with Sorrow and Lamentation For this Mortal must put on Immortality here on Earth or it will not be fit to put it on hereafter in Heaven This Mortal must put on Immortality before it put off it self Immortality in Affection or it will never put on Immortality in Fruition SECT II. Of the Knowledge of mans Mortality THE Knowledge of Mortality is more then a Science it is also a Sapience O that they were Wise that they understood This that they would consider their latter end Deut. 32. 29. Here is Sapience and Science Joyned both together Sapience is a knowledge of Principles Science is a knowledge of Conclusions This knowledge of Mortality is Both Teaching a man to joyn his last Ending to his first Beginning The serious studies of Mortality will make a man in His Moment to imitate God in his Eternity It will make us Alpha and Omega in our Nothing as God is in his All. So to think of our First as to think of our Last For this is for a man to consider his latter End To know the greatness of Mortality he is under from within him from without him from above him from below him from within him by the contradiction oâ—… his nature those irreconcilable contrarietics in his constitution From without him by the Contentions anâ—… Violences of wicked men his irreconcilâ—…ble Enemies who aâ—… wicked men have their feet swift to shâ—… blood and as Enemies will yet make theâ—… swifter to shed his blood and as irreconcileable Enemies will not give over that swifâ—…ness till they have shed it From aboâ—… him The God of heaven calling for hiâ—… Breath which he did but lend him for tâ—… Run his Race From below him The Dâ—…vils of Hell sorry to see him Running tâ—… wards Heaven if he be Tending thither anâ—… so desirous to interrupt his course or glad of his running towards Hell if his Race tend that way and so willing to Precipitate and Hasten him thither This consideration of Mortality is fully expressed by the Psalmist as it ought to be Practised by us Psal. 39. 5. Lord let me know mine end and the Number of my Daies so the Septuagint The Number of my Daies you cannot know a Number without Joyning the First and the Last unites both together So is it also in knowing the Number of your Daies you must take in your last day or you cannot have your full Number Omnem crede Diem tibi diluxisse supremum But the Hebrew saith The measure of my Daies now a measure is in continued quantity but Number is in discrete quantity It seems it is not yet fully Resolved in the Text by what quantity the length of mans life is to be taken whether by Magnitude or by Multitude For if it be taken by Magnitude it is so small a measure that it may seem almost indivisible but a span long And yet even so it is rather taken by Multitude for what is a span but a Multitude in Magnitude the space betwixt the thumb and the little finger when they are severally extended to make one measure And therefore the Septuagint saith Behold thou hast made my daies old Such as are already past and gone For whiles t is yet passing over it is no day you have but only the present minute of it when you have the whole day you have nothing left it is gone before you can have it So is your life it is but a minute whiles you have it and if it be more you have it not It is gone before it comes to be more or can be more in your Account And therefore in this case of Numbring our Daies we must fetch our Arithmetick from Heaven no Artist on Earth can teach it us but only the Spirit of God so teach us to number our daies Psal. 90. v. 12. A very Unquoth Arithmetick to number that which is not To number daies whiles they are yet Passing which cannot properly be numbred till they are Past And yet without this Arithmetick there is no applying the Heart unto wisdom Diu Fuit non Diu Vixit He had a long Continuance but he had a short Life is true of every one that Numbers not his Daies till they be spent Here must be Numerus Numerans before Numerus Numeratus The Number Numbring before the Number Numbred God Numbreth the stars and calleth them all by their Names Yet the stars first Are before they are Numbred But man Numbreth his Daies before they Are The Number is before the thing Numbred He Numbers not what is past that he may prolong but what is to come that he may Redeem his time And it neerly concerneth him so to do for his Daies are like a shadow that declineth Psal. 102. 11. The shadow when it is declining waxeth longest for the Sun is setting but then presently it waxeth nothing for the Sun is set So is the life of man as a shadow nay as the dream of a shadow it never seemeth long till it is declining and then in a short time it is nothing at
give thy self to thy God and it shall be with thee as it was with Cornelius thy Memorial shall be with God thy Comfort with thy self thy Conversation with an Angel No maâ—… can be exempted from the terrours of 〈◊〉 dreadful Judgement but he that dares trust God with his soul and no man dares trust God with his soul that is not either Innoâ—…ent or Penitent And if you will ask me â—…hich of these two dares trust him most 〈◊〉 who my self am laden with sin must say â—…he Penitent For the Innocent offers unâ—… God his own Righteousness but the â—…enitent offers unto him his Sons Righteâ—…sness and certainly he dares most trust â—…od who offers him that Righteousness â—…hich he is sure God can least refuse in â—…dgement SECT III. The best way to expell the terrours of the Day of Judgement THE greatest happiness of a Christian is not to be troubled in Consciâ—…ce but the next to this is speedily to be â—…livered from all his troubles He is hapâ—…st that prevents the terrours of a guilty â—…nscience but he is next happy that exâ—…ls them And we have all most need to â—…k after this for there is guiltiness enough â—…thin the most innocent soul to betray it â—…d open the doors to let in these terrours and therefore we must labour to see thâ—… be faith enough in the guilty soul to expâ—… and thrust them out again And surely the Doctrine of Justification by Work though it pretend to be a great friend Righteousness yet is it in this respect great enemy to the Righteous wâ—… can never attain to that perfection Righteousness as to be able to stand up his own legs in the last Judgement Theâ—…fore Saint Paul imputeth our peace 〈◊〉 God to Justification by faith Rom. 5. Being justified by Faith we have peace 〈◊〉 God through our Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 is a League that cannot be broken a Peâ—… that cannot be disturbed which is throâ—… our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the 〈◊〉 from heaven said This is my beloved Sâ—… whom I am well pleased Mat. 3. 17. 〈◊〉 that voice cannot but speak comfort to according to the Learned Zanchies gâ—… lib. 4. de Tribus Elohim cap. 1. 〈◊〉 beneficia iis paucis verbis docet Paâ—… Christum nobis Communicari Dilectiâ—… Reconciliationis Adoptionis seu Regâ—…tionis Three great blessings inâ—… few words doth the Father himself 〈◊〉 us are communicated by Christ to good Christian the blessing of Love â—…e is beloved in himself we beloved in â—…m the blessing of Filiation or Adoptiâ—…n for he was his Son by nature we his â—…ns by adoption and grace And the â—…lessing of Reconciliation for God is wellâ—…leased with Christ for his own sake and with us for Christs sake For wherefore â—…d there come forth blood and water out of thy side O sweet Jesus was it not that â—…he water should wash my soul and the â—…lood should heal it I confess that I have â—…ierced thee by my sins more deeply then ever the souldiers spears pierced thee yet â—…et me still look on thee by a lively faith that the Scripture may be daily more and more fulfilled which saith They shall look on him whom they pierced John 19. 37. Thus did holy men heretofore look upon thee nor had Saint Bernard any other answer to return to the Devil when he accused him as he supposed at Gods Judgement-seat but only this Fateor non sum Dignus Ego nec propriis possum meritis Regnum obtinere Coelorum Caeterum duplici jure illud obtinâ—…ns Dominus meus Haereditate sc. Patris merito Passionis Altero ipse contentus Alterum mihi donat ex cujus Dono jure illud mihi Vindicans non confundor in vita S. Bernardi lib. 1. cap. 12. I confess that I am not worthy nor can I plead mine own merits why I should obtain the Kingdom of heaven But my Lord having a double right thereto one from his Father by inheritance the other from himself by the merit of his Passions he being contented with one of them hath given the other unto me and I claiming heaven by his gift cannot be confuted and much less confounded in my claim Thus hath Saint Bernard taught me to answer the Devil and sure he is too old too cunning a Sophister to be answered by any Fallacy There is no silencing him but by a down-right Truth whose evidence is undenyable and whose power is unresistable Nay yet more Thus hath Saint Anselm taught me to answer God himself in the form of Visitation of the sick antiently used in this Kingdom for Saint Anselm that used it was Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who after some questions to the dying man concerning his Faith and Repentance thus concludes his exhortation for the quieting and setling of his conscience I will put the words into English as thinking it most reasonable that what equally concerns All should be in a Tongue equally understood by All. Therefore still give him that is your blessed Saviour thanks whiles your breath is in your body that he was pleased to die for you place all your confidence in his death commit your self wholly to it involve your self wholly in it cover your self wholly with it And if God go about to Judge thee say unto him Lord I object the death of my Saviour Jesus Christ between me and thee and thy Judgement If he say That thou hast deserved damnation then say unto him Lord I object the death of my Jesus between me and my evil deservings And I bring with me the merit of his most worthy Passion instead of the merits which I should have had but alas I have not Then let the sick man say thrice Into thy hands Lord I commend my spirit and let those that stand by say so with him and let him die securely for he shall never see the Eternal Death Thus did the antient Church think it not only comfortable but also conformable Divinity That Christ alone should answer all Objections that were made against the soul And yet a Church much antienter then this did believe and teach the same truth even the Church in the Apostles times Heb. 3. 6. Whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing oâ—… the hope firm unto the end Whose house arâ—… we that is all we that are Christians the whole Catholike Church for particular men and Churches are but several stones in this living building it is the whole Christian Church that is the House of Christ And that is his House upon this condition If it hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end as if he had said By the same means that we are built up in Christ we are still preserved in his building By the same means that we are contained we are also continued in his House that is by Faith and Hope in him By holding fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope unto the end By laying hold on my
yet I may with humility and I hope not without some truth impute the amendment of many of them to mine own sufferings The ground hath been tilled and the tree hath been pruned And why should not this tilling and pruning yield the peaceâ—…le fruit of righteousness unto me that have been exercised thereby I have been â—…ng and often ploughed as it were â—…nd broken up and harrowed by the hand of God and why should I not be somewhat amended and improved by his good husbandry I have been long and often â—…ned as it were in my flesh by his â—…harp knife cutting off my superfluities 〈◊〉 make me the less sinful and the more â—…ruitful And why should I not bring â—…rth good fruits in due season even tâ—… peaceable fruits of righteousness or the fruits of righteousness which bring forth peace the peace of a good conscience here and of a blessed Eternity hereafter Therefore earnestly desiring to walk in this righteousness I will hope to lay me down in this peace And at the end of my wearisom Pilgrimage to take my rest in the arms of Gods Eternal mercy though now I groan under the hand of his Justice For so laying me down to sleep none shall ever be able to take either me from his arms or my rest from me Amen The sick mans Ejaculations To the Reader THese Ejaculations are Eighty in number and they are like mans years in Moses time when they come to that same number full of labour and sorrow though this latter age of the world will not let it self tarry so long for labour nor others tarry so long for sorrow And they are therefore called Ejaculations because they are as it were so many dartings of the soul upon some reflexion or thought either of mans misery or of Gods mercy sent up towards Heaven All aiming at one mark though from several occasions and after several waies That is at the rest of the soul in God Nor may you here look for curious method but for Religious matter sometimes you will find the sick mans soul troubled for fear of death sometimes almost inflamed with the desire of it sometimes bemoaning the disturbance of his body sometimes fearing the distemper of his soul sometimes affrighted with the thought of Judgement sometimes rejoycing against it If you find any thing to comfort you in your extremity thank not me for speaking to my self but thank God for speaking to your soul And be not troubled that your Passions like these Ejaculations are not orderly so as they be Religious Trouble and sorrow cannot look after Order but they must look after Religion And a sick mans expressions are not so much beholding to his head to make them Methodical and Eloquent as to his 〈◊〉 to make them affectionate and devout And God grant your sickness may make yours so Ejaculations 1. GRant Lord that I may be dead unto sin before I am dead unto the world that being planted together in the likeness of thy Sons death I may be also in the likeness of his Resurrection That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so I walking in newness of life may have a comfortable death here and a glorious Resurrection hereafter 2. Destroy in me O God the body of sin before thou destroy in me the body of flesh that I may be justified from my sins whiles I live and freed from my sins when I shall be dead Make me to lie down in comfort because by my death I shall wholly die unto my sins Make me to rest in hope because by my Resurrection I shall wholly live unto my God 3. Make me to look upon my sickness my tedious and terrible sickness as upon thy Visitation that I may bear it patiently Make me look upon my death as upon my Release that I may take it comfortably 4. O thou who wouldst be crucified before thou wouldst be glorified and didst suffer pain to enter into Joy make me submit to thy Cross that thou mayest prepare me for thy Crown Make me contentedly to suffer with thee in this world that I may triumphantly reign with thee in the world to come 5. O Lord I have Judged my self let me not be Judged of thee so as to be condemned for it is agreeable with thy Mercy to save the sinner though thou destroy the sin And it is agreeable with thy Justice not to punish that sin in me which thou hast already punished in my blessed Redeemer 6. O Lord thou didst make thy beloved Son perfect with sufferings and I cannot hope thou wilt let thy unworthy servant be perfected without them O then let not my sufferings betray the imperfections of my flesh but conduce to the perfections of my spirit and make me ever willing to suffer since thou canst and wilt make me perfect by suffering 7. O thou God of peace that broughtest again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant Make me perfect in every good work to do and suffer thy will working in me that which is well-pleasing in thy sight and working for me that which is profitable for my salvation through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen Heb. 13. 20 21. 8. O blessed Jesu the chief Corner-stone on which alone is laid for us the foundation of a blessed Eternity the Rock upon which thy Church is built and all our souls relie Be merciful unto me and give ear unto my prayers and to my sighs and groans when I cannot pray Be unto me a fountain of comfort whensoever my heart is in heaviness and my body is in pain that my soul may have continual health and joy and rest in Thee and in thy Merits and Mercies for evermore 9. Lord make me desire the dissolution of my earthly house of this Tabernacle that I may have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for I know that whiles I am at home in the body I am absent from the Lord Make me therefore willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with thee my God for in thy presence is the fulness of joy and at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore And make me labour that whether absent or present I may be accepted of thee through the righteousness of thy dearest Son my only Lord and Saviour Amen 10. Give unto me true sorrow for my sins that thou mayest give me true comfort in my sorrows Grant I may have peace in thee whiles I have tribulation in the world and make me be of good chear in all my tribulations for thou hast overcome the world and wilt not let the world overcome me 11. O Lord Jesus Christ who hast overcome the sharpness of death opened the Kingdom of heaven to all Believers Make me â—…ot to fear death since thou hast made that â—…n Inlet into thy
thoughts that I may often feel the influence of thy mercy in heavenly joyes I have many sad and dismal sorrows from my self O give unto me true comfort in my Saviour let my trouble be in the day when thou wilt hear me and not in the day when thou wilt Judge me There is no trust but may deceive me save only my trust in thee there is nothing in which I may not miscarry but only thy Mercy O Lord let my trust be so in thee that though I have miscarried in all the desires and designs and delights of this world yet I may not miscarry in thy Mercy but may have the joyes and delights of the world to come through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 37. Be thou exalted Lord in thine owâ—… strength so will I sing and praise thâ—… power Thy strength is that whicâ—… strengthens souls and thou lovest to shew thy strength in our weakness Lord let thy strength be made perfect in my weakness so shall I most gladly rather glory then repine in my infirmities whiles the power of Christ doth-rest upon me and my soul doth rest upon thee and thy Mercies in Jesus Christ. 38. O Lord who forgivest the sins of the penitent and coverest those sins which thou forgivest I beseech thee to accept my repentance and to cover all those sins which I desire thee to forgive That I may have the blessing of him whose unrighteousness is forgiven and whose sin is covered For if my sins should be all discovered to my self they would fill me with fear if they should be discovered to others they would fill me with shame And how wilt thou discover them either to my fear or to my shame since thou canst not forgive them unless thou cover them O then be pleased so to cover my sins here as not to discover them again hereafter so to hide my transgressions in the day of thy Mercy as not to lay them open in the day of Wrath Or if thy Justice shall require that all my sins be revealed in the day of the revelation of thy righteous Judgement let the atonement also for my sins be then revealed which I have laboured to make and thou hast promised to accept through the Merits and satisfaction of thy Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ. 39. O thou who art gracious and righteous and in thy righteousness teachest the upright the way of innocency and by thy grace leadest sinners in the way of repentance Have mercy upon me thy most unworthy servant and grant that my great defects and wants of the first righteousness that of Innocency may be supplyed by the fulness of the second righteousness that of Faith and Repentance And make mine eyes look so diligently to thee that I may never again want care in looking to my self Order my steps in thy Word and so shall no wickedness have dominion over me Order my heart in thy Faith and so shall I have dominion over all my wickedness for though my fears shall force me to say O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death yet my Faith will be able to suppress that saying and suggest unto me this heavenly comfort and triumph I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 40. O Lord I am in the midst of many troubles and sorrows by reason of my sufferings and much more by reason of my sins but thou hast promised that the righteous shall rejoyce in the Lord and put his trust in him and all they that are true of heart shall be glad Psal. 64. 10. O then make me true of heart that I may trust in thee and be truly righteous And give unto me true righteousness that thou mayst give unto me true joy There is no true righteousness but the righteousness of thy Son There is no true joy but the joy of thy Spirit O thou Father of Mercy give unto me the righteousness of God the Son my Redeemer that thou mayst give me the joy of God the Holy-Ghost my Comforter to be with me and to remain in me for evermore 41. O Lord thou hast brought upon me so much misery that I cannot love my condition And I have so much sin that I cannot love my self Wherefore I beseech thee to fix my love wholly upon thee that my soul may thirst for thee and my flesh also may long after thee in this barren and dry Land where no water is either to cleanse or to refresh or to revive me That looking for thee in holiness I may behold thy power and glory For my soul cannot truly thirst for thee till my flesh also long after thee since whiles my flesh is in love with the profits and pleasures of this life my spirit cannot but lose the desire and neglect the pursuit of the life everlasting O Lord thou hast taken away from me most of the profits and all the pleasures of this life O take from me also the love of it That I may not fear to lose that life which I do not love nor love that life which I am sure to lose but let me so love thee as to live in thee that I may not fear the loss either of my life or of my love 42. O Lord I am assaulted by vexations without and by temptations within and to whom should I flie for succour but only to thee who art not so displeased for my sins but that thou wilt be appeased by my repentance O give unto me that repentance which thou wilt accept and take from me that displeasure which I so fear Thou canst defend me with thy favourable kindness as with a Shield O Lord I ask no other defence but only this defence of thy Mercy to defend me from my self and all my sinfulness to defend me from thy wrath and from all the punishments of my sins Though thou leave me destitute of all other defence yet let thy loving-kindness evermore defend me according to that eternal love wherewith thou hast loved me in the Son of thy love our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 43. O Lord thou hast hitherto guided me by thy counsel and thou wilt hereafter receive me with glory Therefore have I none in heaven but thee because none else can receive me with glory and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee because none else can guide me with true counsel O Lord pardon my strayings from thy directions as thou hast been my guide that thou mayst receive me into thine habitation and be my glory for Jesus sake Amen 44. O Lord make my soul willing to depart and go from hence because it here dwells among the enemies of my peace even among mine own sins and fears which disturb the peace of a good conscience here and threaten to destroy the peace of a blessed eternity hereafter Make me to long for that blessed minute which will restore to me perfect innocency and will transmit me into everlasting peace