lose them again That being made whole once it nearly concerns me to sin noe more lest I fall under something worse And that as I have now received them again from thee I ought above all things to Devote them to thee and that whilst they are in the way of pleasing thee they are surely in the best way of Benefitting and Comforting me And Lord have Pity upon others who are uncomfortable blinde as I was Hear their Cryes and Lighten their Darkness as thou hast Done mine Oh! that seeing what thou hast now done for me they may hold fast their hope and trust in thee And that all thy Servants may Praise and Magnifye thy Goodness which gives Sight to the Blind and raiseth the Poor out of Misery to be a Liveing monument of thy mercy and to Give thanks and Praise to thee thro our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Our Father c. IV. Prayers for a Sick Child 1. Out of the Office of Visitation of the Sick O! Allmighty God and most Mercyful Father to whom alone belong the issues of Life and Death look Down from Heaven we humbly beseech thee with the Eyes of Mercy upon this Child now lyeing upon the Bed of Sickness Visit him O! Lord with thy Salvation Deliver him in thy good appointed time from his Bodily Pain and save his Soul for thy Mercyes Sake That if it shall be thy good Pleasure to prolong his Days here on Earth he may live to thee and be an instrument of thy Glory by Serveing thee Faithfully and Doing Good in his Generation or else Receive him into those Heavenly Habitations where the Souls of them that Sleep in the Lord Jesus enjoy Perpetual Rest and Felicity Graunt this O! Lord for thy mercyes sake in the same thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ who liveth aud reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever one God world without end Amen 2. Another Prayer for the same LOrd Pity the troubles and weakness of this Poor Child and Pity our Sorrows who are afflicted with it and for it Ease it of its Pains and strengthen it when it lyes struggling for Life and raise it up again if it may please thee to grow in years and stature and in Wisdom and thy Fear and thereby to comfort us and Glorifye thee We beleive O! Allmighty Father that thou knowest best what is fit both for it and us and wiâ—t Doe what is best for both And therefore we leave it to thee to dispose of as thou pleasest But whether it be to Life or Death let it be thine in both and either preserve it to be thy true and Faithfull Servant here on Earth or take it to the Blessedness of thy Children in the Kingdom of Heaven thro our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Our Father c. A Thanksgiving for its Recovery BLessed be thy Name O! Father of mercyes for that thou hast heard us concerning this Child and raised him up for thy Service and our Comfort And Lord fill his Heart with Grace as thou hast done ours with joy Let Wisdom and Goodness still grow up with him and as fast as he grows capable thereof make him willing and carefull to Honor and obey thee Let not Company corrupt him nor youthfull Lusts as they come on prevail against his Soul But as now thou art the Preserver of his Life be ever henceforward the Keeper of his Innocence that whensoever thou shall call him again in thy Due time to meet Death he may have Comfort in the Remembrance of a Godly and well spent Life and sweetly fall asleep in thy Peace thro the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Our Father which art c. V. Prayers in times of common Infection Scriptures THe Lord killeth and he maketh alive he bringeth Down to the Grave and he bringeth up 1 Sam. 2. 6. And is there any Evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3. 6. But in his Wrath he remembreth mercy Hab. 3. 2. Oh! then let us come and return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal as he hath smitten and he will binde us up Hos. 6. 1. And make thy Dwelling in the secret Place of the most High and thou shalt abide under the Shadow of the Almighty He shall cover thee with his Feathers and his Truth shall be thy Shield and Buckler And then thou shall not be afraid for the Terror by night nor for the Arrow that flyeth by Day Nor for the Pestilence that walketh in Darkness nor for the Destruction that wasteth at Noon Day A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy Right Hand but it shall not come nigh thee There shall noe Evil befall thee nor shall any Plague come nigh thy Dwelling For he shall give his Angells charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways And that because thou hast made the Lord which is my Refuge even the most High thy Habitation Ps. 91. 1 4 5 6 7 9 10 11. Glory be to the Father c. Prayers I. O! Almighty God just art thou in visiting us of this place with this infectious Disease which takes away not only the injoyments of Health but alsoe the sweetest earthly Comforts and Supports of Sickness and Deprives us whilst we Live of the Help and Company of our Friends We justifye thee and thy judgements and confess that our miseryes are still far less than our Sins But whilst it comes to chastize our wickedness let it cure it too O! Lord. Take from us the Plague of an Hard Heart and make us tremble at thy word And purge away all our Sins for I fear them more and am more Desirous of their Cure than of the Cure of any Bodily Maladyes And they are truly our Plague which has infected our whole Nature and wherewith we Dayly infect one another And when they have showd us our wickedness let thy judgements cease from us and be intreated from this miserable Land for thy Dear Son our Saviour Jesus Christs sake Amen 2. O! Righteous Lord thou hast showed thy People terrible things and Given them a Drink of Deadly Wine Thou terrifyest us with thine Arrows which wound secretly and Walk in Darkness And with a Destruction which wasts at Noon Day But this deadly infection tho it be very spreading can invade none O! God without thy Commission Nor kill those whom it doth invade till thou biddest it Soe that our Life and Health is not left at the mercy of raging infection but is still bound up in thy Hand And they who have thee for their Sanctuarye in the most Contagious time may Dwell in Safety For thou givest thy Angells charge over them that noe infection can touch or Destroy them And under thy wings O! Lord doe I seek for shelter for my self and for my Family We have noe Preservation against these Dangers but thy Good Providence And the
DEATH MADE Comfortable OR The Way to Dye Well Consisting of Directions for an Holy and an Happy Death Together with An Office for the Sick and for certain kinds of bodily illness And for dying Persons And proper Prayers upon the Death of Friends By IOHN KETTLEWELL a Presbyter of the Church of England LONDON Printed for Robert Kettlewell And are to be sold by Sam. Keble at the Turks head over against Fetter-Lane in Fleet-street MDCXCV THE PREFACE EVery Person who comes into this World under the Guilt of Sin is a Debtor to Death And this Debt sooner or later all must pay even they who fence themselves about with the strongest Armies or heap up Riches as if they were always to possess them or whose daily Business it is to drown all Thoughts of Death in the Noise of Mirth and Pleasures In the midst of all their Care and Labour to avoid him Death will surely meet them and spoil all their Glory and Iollity and that commonly when they least expect him And then he makes them see their own Vanity and the Vanity of all earthly things which nothing else could teach them to consider of For he shews us the Shame of our Bodies and makes the Pride of Human Greatness to become an easie Conquest and inglorious Prey for Worms and brings all earthly Hopes and Projects to end and hide themselves in Dust. This is a thing which all Men know and all Men fear And they who study most to keep the Thoughts of Death far from them do yet certainly know that it will come And happy then is he whose Mind is so well prepared and â—ortified that it can neither fright nor hurt him who has disarmed this King of Terrors and made this great Enemy of Nature to become a Friend All this Religion will do if we will make a right use of it For the sting of death is sin and true Repentance takes that out And if we take care that our Life contain nothing terrifying our Death need not And the compleatest Victory over Death is Eternal Life and the same Repentance secures us thereof And Trust in God fortifies us against Fear and Patience makes our Pains lighter So that whilst by true Devotion we are spending our selves in these Exercises we are dressing our Souls in Armour which will not only sustain the Shock of Death but conquer it with all its Strength and Terror And the business of these Papers is to furnish out thoughts for all those who are willing and dâ—sirous to use the same whereby all this may be done And whereby we may receive Sickness and meet Death so as at the same time to have enough under them to support and comfort us and in the end to be made better by both And all this I treat of not as a man who is preaching to men at ease who must be diverted and entertained with nice inquiries and fine discourses and speculations about Death But as one who is called to sick and dying Persons who desire to be helped and directed in things of use and told those matters which are fit to support and ease their weary Souls and to dress them in such habits as are the best defence both against the sting and terror of their approaching Enemy I have first according to the best of my skill given them directions what to do and wherein to spend their care thro all the steps and progress of their sickness from its first seisure to their departure I show them what will render their sick-bed carriage rewardable and its Sorrows â—olerable and comfortable How they are like to be most easie to themselves and may most profitably chuse or improve the Company and employ and receive the services and kind Offices of others What they are to do that they may dye well and be happy and full of Comfort in their Death and after it and how it is fit for them to part with all men and take a decent and a Christian leave of this World And in regard Devotion is the chief work and the best support of sick and dying Persons to these directions I have added Offices of Devotion In these I have made collections of select and proper Scriptures upon the several duties and necessities of sick or dying Persons which I have ranged and put in order the best I can for their comfort and instruction And these they may resort to as a Storehouse of Divine Sentences fit to direct their practice in the virtues and to cheer and revive their Spirits under all the sorrows of their Affliction How forceable are right words says Job under the bitterness of his sorrows Job 6. 25. And heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop but a good word maketh it glad says Solomon Prov. 12. 25. But the good words which God himself speaks to us do leave a much stronger impression and give more ease and do more revive and make glad the Heart than any others And after these collections of Scriptures I have furnished them with variety of fit and proper Prayers upon their several Duties or Needs in that condition And as I was able I have stored those Prayers with such proper thoughts and considerations as may serve at once both to express and put up to God the several bounden duties and tempers required of us and also to ingenerate and increase the same in our own minds And to these for sick and dying Persons I have annexed like Devotional helps for Women with Child or in Child Birth and for some other cases of Bodily distempers and Calamities And to conclude all I have added Devotions on the Death of Friends and made particular Prayers for those cases which usually are most affecting and provided them with such considerations as seem to me to be most proper and of greatest force to support and comfort us under such mortifying and afflictive losses And in all these Prayers I have taken care to be as instructive as I can in the several States and Cases they refer to that we may see what our work and wants are under them and know what we have to mind and do therein better than we knew before And so likewise in the several duties which the Prayers are made upon For I have endeavoured therein especially in the Prayers about Trust in God and about Patience which are the virtues most tryed on sick-beds and indeed of most general use thro the whole course of our lives to set off the several Acts wherein we are to exercise and show forth those Graces and the most proper and important helps and considerations whereby we are like to be most quickened and best assisted in our performance of them And therefore when any are desirous to encrease knowledge and improve their understandings therein they may read the Prayers or have them read to them tho not in way of Devotion but as Discourses upon them And these Offices for sick or dying Persons should
giveâ—t me better things than thou takest away The bringing down my Body is for the inrichment of my Soul which is my better part And this smiting and wounding of my Flesh is for the healing and binding up my Spirit which is the truest way to do me good Oh! then that instead of dreading thy Visitation as my Scourge I may receive it as my Medicine That I may not repine at its making me weak in Body but rather rejoyce that it makes me strong in Spirit And give thee thanks for thy kindness and my comfort in thy Corrections which are to make me good that thou mayest make me happy and give me everlasting Rest and Bliss with thee thro' Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen IX Prayers for the Bodily Needs and Desires of Sick Persons 1. For Ease when Sickness grows very painful or troublesome 1. LORD look upon mine Adversity and Misery which call aloud to thee for ease For I am wither'd like grass and my Bones will scarce cleave to my skin My heart panteth and my strength faileth me and mine eyes are grown dim And there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger nor rest in my bones because of my sin Yea my bones are burnt as an Hearth and I go mourning all the day long and wearisom nights are appointed to me and I am full of tossing to and fro unto the dawning of the day This thou knowest O! My God for my groaning is not hid from thee Oh! Be not wroth very sore nor remember iniquity for ever Cast me not off when I need most to seek to thee nor forsake me when my strength faileth me But hear me and ease me O! Lord for thou delightest in Mercy Hear me for I cry unto thee yea I cry unto thee all the day Hear me speedily for I am brought very low and make no long tarrying for mine eyes long sore for thy word saying when wilt thou comfort me And though my flesh and my heart fail me yet let not thy Mercy and thy Word fail me For I still resign and trust my self to them and in my greatest weakness and extremity thou O! Father art my strength and my portion for ever thro' Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 2. O! Most Gracious God my pains are extreme and too heavy for me have pity upon me and lighten them Correct me in measure and consider that I am but a feeble and frail Creature In thine anger remember mercy for I humbly submit my self and return to thee And Oh! Give me that tractableness and ingenuity of Spirit that will be check'd with a word and easily call'd off from evil and will not need any long or sharp methods of correction to reclaim me I have waited for thy Relief O! Father give me the comforts of it Yea Mine eyes long sore for thy word and are even wasted away with looking for thy saving health let them see it and be satisfied therewith Oh! shew me thy mercy and that soon for my need thereof is great And think upon me as concerning thy word for I trust to it to lay no more upon me than I can bear and to send me seasonable help and ease at present and everlasting Rest with thee in the end thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen A short Prayer on receipt of Ease or abatement of Pain or Sickness BLessed be thy Mercy O! my God which pitieth me in my Misery As a Father pitieth his Children when they cry out in the extremity of their pain so hast thou pityed me Thou hast chastned me sore but thou hast not given me over unto death thine anger is turn'd away and thou hast eased and comforted me Lord my Soul shall love thee and sing of thy Mercy And in my Distress I will always trust thee and not be afraid For thou art our strength whilst we suffer and our most merciful Deliverer when we are able to bear no more for our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. A Prayer for Strength under the same GIVE me strength O! Lord to strive with my Disease and to bear the weakness of Nature And strengthen my Spirit to withstand all its Temptations as well as my Body to bear its Diseases O! Enable me to resist the Devil and to suppress all stirrings of sin and folly To beat back all motions of corrupt Passion and not to lose the due Government of my self thro excess of pain but to shew my self mighty thro thee to bear all patiently and to fortifie my weakness by a firm Faith and unshaken Trust in thy Grace and sure Promises Lord if I have no strength but my own every weight will bear me down But if thou wilt support me nothing will be too heavy for me because nothing is too hard for thee But thy strength will be made perfect in my weakness and thy Grace is sure to overcome my Corruptions and thy Comforts to give me Ease thro' my most Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 3. A Prayer for Deliverance from them DEliver me O! my God for I seek unto thee to help me yea I seek unto thee early and continue seeking all the day long Thou delightest in Mercy deliver me for thy Mercies sake Thou hast promised to be with us and help us in trouble Deliver me for thy Righteousness Thou art Glorious in might to help our weaknesses Deliver me in thy strength Thou hast formerly been my succour Oh! be so still And our Fathers hoped in thee and were delivered let not my hope in thee perish or be put to shame more than theirs was Save me O! Almighty Lord and make hast to my help And mâ—n shall know that it is thy hand and that thou hast done it and learn thereby both to give thee Praise and to make thee their strength and confidence thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 4. Prayers for longer Respite and Recovery from Sickness 1. O! Almighty Lord in whose Hands are the Issues of Life and Death look in Mercy upon these Decays of Nature which my Diseases hath made and repair them and spare me a little that I may recover my Health and Strength again I do not desire Health O! my God to consume it in Idleness Nor out of Fondness for the gay Pleasures and Pomps of this World that I may be strong to pursue them For I believe and know them all to be Vanity and Vexation of Spirit I lift my Heart above them and do by no means desire to have this Earth for my home or to take up with them for my Portion For I love thee and thy ways O! Dear Lord above them and their Delights and will harbour no love of them but what is ready to submit them all to thee when thou art pleased to take them away and which will never sin against thy Laws to secure them to my self
improve my Spirit And oh that this succession of my Losses may serve to perfect me in Patience and to wean me more thoroly from all earthly Supports Oh! that it may temper my worldly Complacencyes and guard me against all excess therein And call me to take Delight and seek Comfort in thee instead of seeking it in them and to look more at the joys of thy Kingdom where our Comforts shall succede one another infinitely faster than our Sorrows do here and where we shall for ever injoy thee thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For supplying the want they have of their departed Friend by other ways of Gods good Providence they may use the two Prayers for the Widow and Orphans c. p. 158 156 and 157. 6. A Prayer for Learning by these Losses to sit more loose to the World and to fix our Hearts more on the Love of God THou hast sent me this Thorn in the flesh O! Blessed Lord to cure my inordinate Fondness for fleshly Delights and to keep me from being too much exalted with them For I pleased my self too much with worldly Comforts and to take my Heart off from them thou hast now embitter'd them to me with these Sorrows And Oh! doe thou teach me thereby to Delight more in thy self and less in Earthly things Enable me to make a Good Conscience and a comfortable sense of thy Love and Hope of thy Promises and of Heavenly joys my most beloved pleasures And Lord let me never call my self unhappy whilst I can injoy thee But make me account the Loss of all things else to be made up to me in thy Love and never repine or complain of other wants whilst thou art left me and I can comfortably look up to thee as my Bosom Friend and my tender Father as my Life and my Health my Rest and my joy thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen â— A Prayer when a Friend is taken away in his Prime THou art pleased to Cut off my Dear Friend O! most Righteous Lord in the midst of his Days before he had passed thro the several stages of Life and accomplished the Number of his Years But I will remember O! my God that it is not the Lenth of Life but the Goodness of it which thou lookest at And that he has lived long enough who has lived to be fit for thee and to Dispose his Soul for thy Mercy The blessed Mansions above are infinitely the best place to prolong and injoy Life in And therefore if thou O! Father art graciously pleased as I hope thou art for the Merits of our Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to accept of the innocence and obedience of his Life neither he nor we have any cause to complain of the shortness of it And if we who are left behind him may have the Grace first to live holily we will thankfully think and own to thee that we have lived long enough whensoever thou seest it Time we should Dye And as my Dear Friend is taken away in the Prime of his Strength soe I must Consider O! Lord that he is taken away withall in the Hight of his Toyls and out of the greatest Hurry of his Busyness and Temptations Thou hast thereby kept him from trying how strong he could be to bear Sorrows and Vexations and from lamenting to finde his Strength too often turn'd into weakness And oh that we who survive him may at lenth attain by thy Grace to have all our temptations end in a perpetual security and undisturbedness to have all our Sorrows turned into joys and our Days of Labor happily exchanged for Days of Rest and Peace for the Merits and Mediation of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 3. Prayers when a Friend is taken away by a violent untimely Death I. A Prayer whilst the Person yet liveth to be said either by himself or by his Friends for him O! Allmighty Lord thou art pleased by a violent and hasty Stroke to hurry me thy unworthy Servant out of this World For thou didst Deliver me into the Hands of him that Smote me and how unjustly soever my Death comes from him yet it is most just from thee I fully justify thee and freely forgive him and oh that he may truely repent thereof in Time that thou mayest freely forgive him too But as I am like to be snatched away thereby from hence in hast O! my Dear God Give me Great strength of Grace to do much towards finishing my Peace with thee in a little Time If thou art pleased to shew it thy Grace can perfect my Repentance in few hours yea in a few minutes as well as in many It wrought it in the Thief upon the Cross in his last Agonies And some who had tarryed till the last hour of the Day are made acceptable thereby in thy Service Oh! let it be mighty towards me in this my necessity as it was towards them in theirs and take me not hence till it has made me a Penitent fit for thee to accept of Oh! Remember not my great and manifold Sins in Wrath but only to send Grace sufficient to Cure them and to shew Mercy on me for the same And as I am hereby Chastned for their Cause Lord let it be that I may not be Condemned with the World Let all my Punishment or Portion of Pains be here but Give me Peace and Favour with thee hereafter And Spare me a little Good Lord Spare me if it may seem Good to thee that I may recover some Strength and Dress my Lamp and supply the Great Defectiveness of my Duty towards thee before I 〈◊〉 But if thou hast otherwise Decreed and I must Dye suddenly then magnifye thy mercy O! my God inâ—escueing me from the near approacâ— of Eternal misery and let thy Displeasure end in my Death but after that receive me among the meanest of thy Servants to Everlasting Life thro the merits of my Blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ Amen 2. A Prayer of his Friends after his Death O! Blessed Father it has seem'd Good to thy wise Providence to tear this Dear Friend from us by violence and to send him untimely to his Grave I own thy Justice herein and Dâ—sire to shew Reverence instead of murmuring because it is thy Doing And my Hope is O! Lord that thou doest and wilt remember the Pious Study and bent of his former Life in mercy and graciously accept him as one Dying in thy Fear And whilst I have this Hope to Comfort me I will not Complain of any violence or Accidents which hurryed him away from us to injoy thee When it has been the business of a mans Life and his dayly Study and Care O! God to serve thee tho Death comes on the sudden yet it will not come too soon for him And I will consider allsoe that if thou surprizest him with the suddenness of his Death thou sufferest him not to be
or ungodly Shifts if ever I come to be pinched with Persecution or adversity or to Comply with any things unworthy and misbecoming my Self or Displeasing unto thee And when I can leave noe Children to support my Name and Memory let me have Good Deeds O! Dear God and a Life of unblemish'd integrity and Honor to doe the same for me Oh! that I may be remembred after I am Dead for acts of true Piety and Charity which give the truest and most lasting fragrancy However let me leave behind me the memory of a truely Religious humble and Virtuous Carriage for the imitation of all that knew me Especially O! Holy Father let a Constant course of Obedience and Godlyness recommend me thro the Blood of thy Son to thy Approbation And tho among Men I am quite forgotten yet let me be Graciously remembred and received by thee when thou reckonest up and callest over the Number of thy Children for my Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen Trinuni Deo Gloria THE CONTENTS THe Preface Directions for an Holy and an Happy Death Chap. 1. OF Settling Worldly Affairs and Care of the Body in Sickness p. 1. Chap. 2. Of Securing Peace with God in Sickness p. 10. By Profession of Repentance p. 11. and of Faith p. 14. and of Continuance in the Vnity of the Church p. 17. Chap. 3. Of Carriage under Sickness p. 22. and Particularly of Trust in God p. 23. Of Resignation p. 29. and I of Thankfulness p. 32. Chap. 4. Of Patience under Sickness p. 39. and Spending Sick Bed Hours â—p 51. and ministring to Sick Persons p. 53. Chap. 5. Of Carriage at the Approach of Death and in the last Extremitiâ—s p. 58. Chap. 6. Of Care and Treatment of the Dead p. 68. Devotions for the State of Sickness I. A General Prayer for the Duties and Needs of Sick Persons p. 129. and one out of the Office of Visitation p. 131. and Scriptures about the mercifull ends of Sickness p. 79. II. Prayers and Scriptures for their particular needs and duties I. For Repentance in Sickness and the several expressions of it Scriptures p. 82 c. and Prayers p. 133 c. II. For an Heart to give Alms and at the time of giving them Scriptures p. 85. and Prayers p. 143 c. III. For Trust in God and on the chief aâ—ts and Branches of it and motives to it in Sickness Scriptures p. 88 c. and Prayers p. 147 c. IV. For Faith in Gods Promises under Sickness Scriptures p. 96 c. and Prayers p. 160 c. V. For Resignation under Sickness Scriptures p. 100. and Prayers p. 162 c. VI. For Thankfullness under Sickness Scriptures p. 99. and Prayers p. 168 c. VII For Patience under Sickness both 1. The chief Acts and expressions of it Scriptures p. 100 c. Prayers p. 176 c. 2. the Helps to it p. 186. c. 3. the motives to it Scriptures p. 107. Prayers p. 189 c. And this 1. Towards God p. 175 c. 2. Towards Friends and Attendants Scriptures p. 108. and Prayers p. 180 c. 3. Towards our selves under the Heaviness and Brokenness of our own Spirits Scriptures p. 109. and Prayers p. 183 c. VIII For Spiritual improvements by Sickness Scriptures p. 110. and Prayers p. 196 c. IX For the Bodily needs and Desires of Sick Persons viz 1. For ease under Pains Scriptures p. 111 c. and p. 119. Prayers p. 201 c. and on Receipt thereof p. 117 and 204. 2. For strength under the same p. 205. 3. For Deliverance from them Scriptures p. 115 c. Prayers p. 206. 4. For longer Respite and Recovery p. 207 c. 5. On Taking Physick Scriptures p. 120. Prayers p. 210 c. 6. On want of sleep Scriptures p. 118. Prayers p. 212 c. 7. On excess of sleep p. 214. 8. On their being Light-Headed p. 216. X. For Certain kinds of Sickness viz. I. For Women with Child both Scriptures and Prayers 1. Before Travel p. 218 and p. 222 c. 2. In Travel p. 219 and p. 225 c. 3. After Delivery p. 220 and 229 c. with a Prayer for her Child p. 233. II. On the Loss of Eye-sight both Scriptures p. 235 c. and Prayers 1. For Recovery of Sight p 238. 2. For Patience under the want of Eye sight p. 239 c. 3. For Good use of Blindness p. 243. III. Vnder the Loss of Hearing both Scriptures p. 245 c. and Prayers 1. For Recovery of Hearing p. 247 c. 2. For Patience under the want of Hearing p. 249 c. 3. For Good use of Deafness p. 253. 4. A Thanksgiveing on Recovery from Blindness or Deafness p. 254. IV. For a Sick Child p. 256 c. V. In Times of Common Infection Scriptures p. 259 c. Prayers p. 260 c. VI. In Behalf of Natural Fools and Mad-men p. 264 c. VII For Attendants about the Sick Scriptures p. 122 c. and a Prayer p. 267. XI A Thanksgiveing for Recovery from Sickness Scriptures p. 124 c. and Prayers p. 269 c. Devotions on the Apprehension or Approach of Death I. ON the Prospect of ones own Death Drawing near Scriptures p. 274 c. Prayers p. 283 c. II. On willingness to Dye Scriptures p. 276 c. and Prayers p. 285 c. III. Against Fear of Death Scriptures p. 279. Prayers p. 289 c. IV. Against Presumption Scriptures p. 280. A Prayer p. 293. V. In the last Agonyes Scriptures p. 281. and Ejaculations and Prayers p. 295 296 c. with a Prayer against Sudden Death p. 300. Devotions upon the Death of Friends I. WHen a Friend Dyes Scriptures p. 302 c. and Prayers p. 305 c. A Prayer when they think God is angry at them when he takes away their Friends p. 312. When these Losses come close after one another p. 314. For Learning thereby to â—it loose to the World and be more fix'd in the Love of God p. 315. II. When a Friend is taken away in his Prime Scriptures p. 304. Prayers p. 316. III. When he is taken away by a violent untimely Death p. 318 c. IV. On the Death of Friends who had lead ill Lives and gave noe Comfortable Proofs of Repentance at their Deaths p. 322 c. V. On the Death of a Child p. 325 c. VI. When one is made Childless or is like to Dye without Children Scriptures p. 305. A Prayer p. 328 c. Books ERRATA PAge 14 line 24. read descendedst p. 20 marg r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 21. the word Peace is set after l. 4. which should make the liue before it p. â—â— l. pennlt for put after Sufferings p. 35. l. 3. r. bâ— p. 44. l. 8. after sickness add Amen p. 63. l. 15. r. sense of to the last p. 78. l. 4. r. taken p. 99. l. â—3 r. hast p. 140. l. 12. for my
not be neglected or thrown aside by men in Health as if they were a Study and Employment only for sick-beds For living men must think of Death and prepare for it as well as dying and if whilst health and strength lasts we throw these Thoughts and Preparations by when it comes it will be like to find us unready And then we can neither dye comfortably nor safely For when once the Bridegroom is come as our Saviour tells us in the Parable of the wise and foolish Virgins they that are ready go in with him to the Marriage And if any want Oyle in their Lamps and need to seek it when they should go out to meet him he will enter without them and then the door is shut and will not be opened again for them If they are ready with Oyle in their Lamps when the Cry of the Bridegroom comes they may fall to trim them but they must not have their Oyle to seek or the virtues of a death-bed to learn when they are called forth to show and take comfort in them Besides Repentance and Reconciliation and satisfaction for injuries and settling ones worldly affairs are a work most fit and proper for the best days of life And resignation and trust in God and patience and thankfulness the great virtues and employment of sick-beds are all Duties as necessary and acceptable in Health as they are in sickness Death it self is but the last Act and end of Life And those spiritual exercises which make us at last to dye well and happyly are but the last Acts of those Duties which had made us live well and Holily before Defer not therefore as the wise Son of Syrach says untill Death to be justified But humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew Repentance Before Judgment examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy Ecclus. 18 20 21 22. But when we come to be sick then are we most especially to make such Offices our Employment and to seek to them as our chiefest comfort And each one may pick out Prayers for himself on one Head or another according as those wants shall require which at that time are most pressing upon his body or his spirit or which in the present temper of his Soul he is best disposed for And he may use sometimes more of them and sometimes fewer according as he finds his strength and time will bear And these when he is in strength and circumstances fit for it he may read himself but at other times they may be read to him for his spirit to repeat and send up to God by some religious Friend who attends about him Or they may be read to him as a Chapter of seasonable and needful Doctrine and Direction which will lay such considerations before him as are fit to guide and comfort him in that condition when he is less able to bear the Fatigue and expensive pains of Devotion As for some distempers they are slow and chronical and carry us off by lingring degrees And in these men have time enough to employ if they have but the Will and Heart to employ it in these or such like Offices which teach them both how to sustain sickness and how to prepare for Death Other Distempers indeed are more violent and acute which both carry us off suddenly and whilst we are strugling with them leave us little mental vigor or ability And under these there is less to be done in this way But something may be done tho more short and broken and with more application and liveliness when it pleases God they have intervals of ease or any recruit of spirits And they have great need to make the best of these opportunities and to do as much as they can in their condition and spend as many thoughts in such Devotions as they have leisure and strength for And as for the great defectiveness in exercising these Death-bed Graces which will unavoidably attend this case it will be best provided for by their making these thoughts their great business and familiarizing the same to their minds in time of Health In these matters tho many and the most important things are common to all sick or dying Persons yet some are particular to each and all have not the same wants or complaints And therefore whilst a Prayer descends to particulars to suit and serve one persons case it may contain some clauses or expressions which are not suitable to anothers But in this the Readers themselves are to have and use a discretion and must omit such passages as do not belong to them making use only of the rest which do And think that altho these passges are not for their use yet hitting the case of others who are touched and afflicted in those particulars they may be received and used by them with great thankfulness This Treatise I had begun and had made some considerable progress in it but had laid it aside again by reason of some hindrances But afterwards being brought my self into a state of more uncertain Health and Life by the most wise and good ordering of Almighty God I resumed it and made such haste as the needful attendacne of my health would allow to finish it For I was desirous to have some benefit and help thereby my self whilst I live as well as to leave it to be some way helpful unto others and come in by this means to hear some part of their Burdens if it please God at whose wise and good choice I am and desire to be that I dye of this illness And if any devout Readers receive any comfort or spiritual improvement from this Poor Labour of Love to my Blessed Master and to them as they have the offer of my pains I hope they will vouchsafe me the benefit of their Prayers and that God will have the Glory of all From my House in London August 17. 1694. DIRECTIONS FOR AN Holy and Happy Death In very Particular but Brief instructions how to order and carry our Selves under Sickness and the Several Tryals and Accidents thereof and at the Approach of Death CHAP. I. Of the Sick mans thoughts of leaving the World and setting his Affairs in Order and of the care of his Body WHen God arrests us with Sickness 't is time to think of leaving this World Not that every Man who falls Sick must presently give himself up for Dead but because Sickness puts Life in hazard and brings a Man to Resign himself into the Hands of God whether he shall dye thereof or no. To think of leaving the World is not only profitable but needful at all times For the Great Business we have to do here is to prepare for an happy Departure And if we do not think of it we are like to be very ill prepared for it In our dayes of Health and Pleasure we must call these thoughts to us but when Sickness comes it calls
us to them and Naturally imprints the same And it is our truest wisdom to entertain them in our Sickness For if we dye we shall all judge it was the best way we had to employ our thoughts and that of all things Death should not be met unthought of And they render us fitter to Live if God spare us They make Death Safer but do not hasten or bring it sooner and are no hindrance to our Living longer but a great help if we recover to our Living better In this Preparation to leave the World the Sick Persons first care is to seperate himself from worldly cares and incumbrances of Business Let him look upon himself as one call'd off from the conduct of these matters to the giving a strict account of â—â—â—m And who has work enough cut out for his thoughts and prepare to take a decent leave of this World and to trim up his Lamp and 〈◊〉 his Soul for a better His business now is how to meet Death with most safety and comfort to himself if he dyes as for ought he knows he may dye of this Sickness and to commit no Errors therein because he is to dye but once and cannot afterwards amend them The work and worldly Cares of Life are to be left to those who think of living but how to dye is the Business that lyes before him To cast off these worldly Cares 't is fit he first settle them And that is by setting his House in order and making his â—ill This methinks should be done with great consideration and Men are wanting in that Prudence and Care which they usually shew in their affairs thro all their Lives if this is left to be clapt up in haste at their Deaths When they dispose of a little parcel of Land or of a moderate sum of money they consider well of it before they part with it And if they are thus considerate when they dispose of any single Branch of their Estate must that be left to be the only hasty and unconsidered act when they are to dispose of all When a Person has his Worldly Estate to give away it will take much thought to do it like a wise Man and a good Christian. To consider what Portions are fit to be given to Dependants as Recompence of Diligence and good Services What to Benefactors as respectful tokens of Gratitude for Favours and obligations What to particular Friends and acquaintance as Memorials of Love and Dearness What among Kindred in Declaration of natural Affection for their nearness their deserts or their wants And what to himself for so I more especially call that which is given to Religious or Pious uses since these works follow him and these layings out go along with him to be recompenced and repaid in a better place Such as are all gifts of Restitution when he had wrong'd or defrauded any Persons of equitable compensation where he has taken too great advantage of other Peoples wants or weakness and been too hard upon them and made too great advantage of them in Bargaining or Dealing of Charity or Piety in Gifts or Settlements on the Poor and Needy or for the encouragement and promotion of piety To settle Accounts in Dealing what he ows or what is owing unto him what he has in his hands in trust for others and what he has left in their hands or in trust with them For this disposal he must remember is the Farewel he takes of all the World And when he is parting with Kindred and Relations Friends and Benefactors Servants and Dependants Chapmen and Customers Poor and Rich Sacred and Secular Persons a Wise and Good Man who has carryed it well towards them all his Life should think of continuing to do the same and supplying of former Defects at his Death and study to take a fair and Friendly and decent leave of all Especially to carry it as becomes him towards God and in this great disposal of all his Goods to look at him the Soveraign Donor of them And to do all this with discretion and to a Man's satisfaction will require consideration And therefore is like to be best dispatch'd whilst the Person hath both Ability and Leisure for it And accordingly is always most providently and is like to be most perfectly settled in time of Health However in the beginnings of Sickness e're Nature is weak and Time is short or a Disease is come to Extremities When all his Worldly cares and concerns are thus settled and laid aside having taken this leave of the World he may give himself up to the Will and good Pleasure of Almighty God to dispose of him either in Life or Death and make his Sickness end either in Health or Heaven as he sees will make most for the Sick-mans good and for his own Glory If the Physitians are called in to take care of his Body 't is fit he receive their advice with meekness and thankfulness and willingly follow and submit himself to their wholesome and Reasonable Directions A Prudent and Compassionate Physitian will be tenderly and conscientiously careful of his ease so far as that is consistent with the Care of his Health Especially he will consider well how he proposes and much more how he presses any Medicine which the Patient has an Antipathy against and which is found greatly to disorder him tho' it generally relieve others And when he sends for him he must put his Body into his Hands under God and willingly take such Medicines and submit to such Rules and Restraints as he Judges needful for his Safety or for the Recovery of his Health and not order and tell his Physitian what he shall prescribe to him nor weary him out with importunities to let him have what he himself fancies tho' the other thinks it would be to his prejudice And these prescriptions of the Physitian he must use with looking up to God in the first place for the good effect of all Medicines and without fretfulness and accusations of the means and methods if by the pleasure of God the Disease increase and grow more troublesom in spight of all Remedies and without being too eagerly desirous of Life or ease unless God please thanking his Physitian for the ease which he studies but at the same time submitting to God for the Pains which he sends And let him still remember to make fervent Prayers one ingredient in all his Medicines considering that since it is God who works cures Prayers are as necessary thereto as any thing else He must not like Asa set God a side when he seeks to the Physitians but expect all the Cure from Gods blessing and when it comes give him the chief Honour and Praise for the same and acknowledge that the Prayers of pious Friends have been among the powerfullest of his Medicines If it be thought needful or profitable for the body some times at intervals especially in slow and languishing diseases to divert his spirits
let it not be by reading Plays or Romances or foolish and undue Ideas of Love and Honour which feed or revive vain thoughts nor by Play or other things fit to excite Passion or exercise Covetousness but in pastimes of least lightness and fewest temptations and used with moderation remembring that on a sick-bed when a mans time is almost spent 't is not for him to cast about how to pass away his time but how to redeem and improve it Let the reading which is read to him and the conversation which is held with him be suitable to one in his condition Not light to lessen his seriousness nor in any thing vicious uttering things either against Modesty or against Piety or against Justice or against Charity All which may either leave ill impressions upon him by giving his spirit a tincture of the same or bring him into a snare by thinking that he has been wanting in reproof thereof out of too little respect to God and too much to the speakers by either of which he is the worse for them But let all that passes be fit to suit the seriousness and preserve the innocence and help on some virtues but hinder none that are befitting a Person in his condition Whereof I shall say more in the ensuing directions CHAP. II. Of settling his Accounts and securing his Peace with God by Repentance Faith and Continuance in the Vnity of the Church BUT whilst this care is taken for the Body the chief thing which he has to employ himself in on his Sick-bed after the settlement of his Worldly Estate is to take care of his Soul This must exercise his own thoughts when he is by himself And for this he must call in the assistance of the guides of Souls Sending for the Elders of the Church that they may Pray over him and assist and Comfort him by words spoken in their due Season and Administer to him the Word and the benefit of Absolution and the Holy Communion resolving and assisting him in all things that may be needful for the finishing of his Repentance the support of his Spirit or the Peace of his Conscience And in this Care of his Soul these things are chiefly to employ his own thoughts or his Guides assistance 1. To settle his Account and secure his Peace with Almighty God And in care of this let his work be 1. To finish his Repentance And in order thereto let him carefully review all his past life and the present frame and habit of his Mind And let him diligently observe what is good in either and with all Humility thank God for it and take comfort in it and what is amiss in both and work himself up into true contrition for the same affectionately bewailing his extream folly and unworthiness therein And let him fix holy deliberate and unreserved purposes against all his former Offences And make all due and reasonable satisfaction for all Wrongs done by him to any Persons by any ways And take care of the payment of all his just Debts And seek Reconciliation where he has given any just Offence And forgive those who have injured or disobliged him And break off his Iniquity by Righteousness or by being more abundant in Alms-Deeds and consummate and finish any good designs which he had piously laid in his Health and would not lose the reward thereof by having them dropt at his Death And in these ways of expiating Sins let him earnestly begg God's Pardon and comfortably hope for the same through the Merits of Jesus Christ. And in the care of paying his Debts and making Restitution or giving Charitable or Pious Gifts if he can let him settle and finish them himself before his own Death and not refer all to a Will and leave the accomplishment and recompence of so rewardable purposes to the contingencies of time and the Fidelity Kindness or care of Executors Sometimes indeed the Surprize of Dying Persons is so great that they must leave these things to others And sometimes the Persons intrusted are fit to serve the Dying Persons ends and really do serve them to advantage But this is not ordinarily to be trusted to if he can help it For why should he think they will make more dispatch or find fewer delays and put offs in doing these things for him than he did in doing them for himself He has a quicker sense of his own burdens and of his own desires and longings than another ordinarily can or will have and if for all that he shall delay to disburden his own Soul and consummate his own desires and purposes when he may why may not they do so too And on this point let him often say A broken and a contrite Heart Lord thou wilt not despise I acknowledge my transgressions and my Sins are ever before me Wash me throughly from mine iniquities and cleanse me from my Sins Amen Lord be merciful to me a Sinner Amen Oh let the Blood of Iesus cleanse me from all my Sins Amen Lord I have Sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants Amen Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us Amen 2. To shew forth his Faith which he may do by often repeating his Creed I believe in thee O God! the Father Almighty and that thou art the maker of Heaven and Earth And I believe in thee O Jesu Christ that thou art Gods only Son and our Lord. I believe that thou wast conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin mary That thou didst Suffer under Pontius Pilate wa st Crucified Dead and Buryed and descendest into Hell That thou dist rise again the third day from the Dead That thou didst ascend into Heaven and there now sittest at the Right Hand of God And that from thence thou shalt come again to Judge both the Quick and the Dead I believe in thee also O! Holy Ghost I likewise believe that my Blessed Saviour had and hath and whilst the World lasts ever will have on Earth an Holy Catholick Church And that in this Church there is to be a Communion of Saints I believe also that therein is to be had Remission of Sins And after Death I believe there shall be a Resurrection of the Body both for good and bad and a Life Everlasting for the Righteous Amen And let him often say Lord I Believe Help thou mine unbelief Amen Lord increase my Faith Amen All this O! Lord I stedfasty believe Oh! keep me from having my Portion among unbelievers Amen Lord I thank thee that I have been instructed in this Belief and Professed it in my Life Amen Lord keep me from wavering or any ways doubting of the same in my weakness Amen Lord give me the comfort of this belief at my death and make me find the Blessing of it after death Amen And if the
receive my Death and think 't is time for me to die if thou doest because Life now is grown very uneasie to me and every day brings much more evil than good and is more my Burden than my Blessing I receive it from thee O! Lord as my passage to a better Life and am not only willing but thankful to change Weariness for Rest and Earthly Sorrows for Heavenly and Everlasting Joys Amen If the Dying persons have lived ill and loosly they have Reason indeed if God please to desire to live longer that they may learn to live better and may be more perfect before they Die Yea and even good persons do many times desire the same since the best may mend and still grow better But let such good Souls think with themselves that if they should live longer yet living on in the same frail Natures peradventure more days would still heap up more Frailties and Infirmities to make them still more afraid of Death and they would be more imperfect and less fit to die then than they are now So that 't is best to let God chuse for them and be willing to Die when he pleases If he would not leave the ordering and Expences of his Funeral to the Discretion of his Friends but is minded to give Directions about the â—â—me himself let him declare where he desires they should lay his Body and who should be desired to accompany it and who to bear it to his Grave and what Tokens of kind Remembrance shall be given to any of them And if he see fit he may order some of the smaller Gifts and Memorials of kindness which I mentionâ—d before at the making of his Will to be given at that time In proportioning the Expences thereof he should have regard to the Estate which he has to leave and to his Rank and Station in the World And in laying cut the same he will most comfort and benefit himself by such ways of expence as best Honour God and profit others such as satisfying the Hungry with Doles and cloathing the Needy with Garments and sending Gifts in Money more or less as he pleases and as suits with his Worldly Circumstances to his own or other adjacent Parishes to be distributed among the â—oor thereof or in such other Acts of Piety and Beneficence as are fit to attend the Body of one who both living in the World and leaving it was studious to be found doing good And when he is near about to leave the World he may take a pious and solemn leave of it Let him call in his Parents if he has any to ask their pardon for any offence he ever gave them and to beg their Blessing and give them his Thanks for all their Love and Care of him And also his Children to give them his Blessing and charge them to keep upright and constant in Gods Fear and in loving and helping one another And likewise his Friends and Family and Dependants to receive his last Farewell Let him profess the great need he has of God's Mercy and the good hopes he has through the Merits of Christ and through his alone to find it Let him profess also that he Dies in the Faith of Christ and repeat the Creed And that he hopes for the acceptance of his Faith and Repentâ—nce in the Unity and Communion of Christs Church in which he Dies and particularly as a stedfast and sincere though unworthy Member of the Church c. whose declared Belief he professes whose way of Worship he heartily receives and in whose Peace and Communion he has hitherto lived and now dies Then let him profess that he takes leave of the World in peace And forgives all both present and absent as he desires himself God would forgive him And that if any have ever taken any thing ill of him he desires they would forgive him After which let him send Messages to any absent Friends whose Reformation he desires whose Peace he seeks or whose Love or Favors he would express either a just thankfulness or a friendly sense of And as for themselves let him thank them all for all their good Wishes and good Services in his Life and at his Death and pray God to remember the same for their Benefit And let him heartily beg their pardon for all the Unreasonable or passionate or unequal usage which he had ever been guilty of towards any of them in his Health for all the unnecessary trouble which he has given to any of them by his weakness but especially for all the provocation and offence which he has given to any of them by his fretfulness and impatience during the time of his sickness And then let him charge all about him to keep constant in the Faith and firm in the Unity of the Church and endeavour to confirm them in the ways of Piety Sobriety Justice Charity and to warn them against falling from any of them for any Intrests or Injoyments of this World or if at any time they do against delaying Repentance or growing hardened and secure under their Fall Then let him exhort them all to keep Peace among themselves especially those who are concerned in the Division of his Estate And desire all their prayers to assist him in his Agonies And so recommend them all to God's Mercy praying that he will keep them all stedfast in his fear and safe under his care whilst they live and give them all comfort when they come into his condition and bring them all at last to meet together again in his Heavenly Kingdom After this he may tell those Friends who attend more about him that in his departure he desires he may have no disturbance to lengthen out his Pains and molest his Passage And therefore if any of them think they cannot contain themselves and govern their Grief nor see him Die without bursting into passionate Out-crys and noisie disturbance to call back his retiring Spirit let him beg them to withdraw when his Death approaches and pray for him and vent their own grief by themselves But if any of them can stand by and accompany him in silence if they happen then to be about him he may desire that they would stay to assist him with their Prayers in his last Agonies and recommend his departing Soul to God at his last Breath After he hath taken such Religious and solemn leave of all his Friends he has nothing left to do but whilst his strength serves to employ his Spirit in Holy Thoughts and Desires as he did before and devoutly and willingly wait God's time for his change And under this expectation let him often say My Flesh and my Heart faileth but thou art the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever Ps. 73 26. Lord strengthen me in my last Agonies and guard me from all Frights and Molestations of the Enemy Amen I have a good Master for Jesus that most Blessed of all Names is my Master and
I will neither be afraid nor unwilling to go to him For whom have I in Heaven Lord but thee And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Ps. 73. 25. I desire to be Dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Sweet Jesu come quickly Amen Rev. 22. 20. Yea as the Hart panteth after the Water-Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O! God My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Ps. 42. 1 2. Lord I come to thee receive me out of thine abundant Mercy I come to thee and him who cometh unto thee thou wilt in no wise cast out Jo. 6. 37. Lord Jesu receive my Spirit Amen Acts 7. 59. Receive me according to thy word and I shall live and shall not be disappointed of my hope Because I live ye shall live allso Amen Jo. 14. 19. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find watching Luc 12. 37. All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come Job 14. 14. O! Father pity me as a Father Pityeth his Children and receive me for whom thou hast laboured and hast made me what I am O! Jesu Saviour of Sinners save me whom thou hast Redeemed with thy Blood which is too dear a price to be thrown away in a lost Purchase O! Holy Ghost the Sanctifier and Comforter now finish in me thine own work and comfort up my fainting Spirit O! Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity I have humbly served and feared thee tho' in much Frailty all my Life receive and comfort me now at my Death Amen CHAP. VI. Of Care and Treatment of the Dead AS soon as the Dying Person has breathed his last his surviving Friends especially they whom he has intrusted with the care and Disposal of his Body must be very careful to Dress and treat it Decently till it be Decently interr'd Let it not lye too open to the Inquiries of the Curious nor let any thing of it be exposed which the Person if alive would blush at If he gave Orders for his own Funeral those Orders are a Trust which are Religiously to be observed But if he has left it to them they must Order the same with as Prudent a Regard to his circumstances and worldly Estate and with as much Decency and wise expression of Love and Respect to him as they can And lay out what is fit in Dressing out the Body and interring it in shewing Respect and Kindness where he bore them or where he ought them and in Doles and Deeds of Charity to the Poor and Needy In these layings out they should not spend more than is meet nor lavish any thing away vainly or imprudently And on the other Hand they need not Scruple some well chosen instances of expence which are rather Honorary than useful if there be Estate enough to bear them and good Reason for them and Moderation and Discretion shown in them For tho' this cost doth the Poor no Good as Judas once objected yet it expresses their Love and Respect to the Dead and such expressions of esteem and kindness to them who have Greatly deserved it and can now make no more Returns of it are Religious and well approved of both by God and Men. Our Blessed Lord himself very kindly receiving the cost of the Rich Oyntment which Mary Lazarurus's Sister poured upon his Head because she did it for his Burial At the Funeral when a Refection is brought according to the Custom of the Place to the Friendly Attendants of the Body before it is carried forth to relieve their waiting or their weariness let it be Dealt among them with Great Moderation Remembring that these Guests come not to gratifie and please their Palates but to bear their Part in a Scene of Grief and attend as Mourners And let all who meet there Remember that they are come to mourn with those that mourn and bear a part with the afflicted and be careful to shew themselves sensibly and seriously affected with their own or the surviving Relations Loss according as there is just cause however with the loud Warning and Alarm to themselves which is in these Providences Let them not talk lightly or Pleasantly nor fall into Discourses of News or Markettings or of other Worldly business For these neither suit with the Friendly Sadness nor with the Religious Seriousness of that occasion and shew them to be little touched either with their Friends Death or with Thoughts and Expectations of their own But instead thereof let them study each to employ themselves and entertain their Company with Thoughts and Discourses about the Vanity and uncertainty of all earthly Things about the Sorrows and benefits of Sickness about the Troublesomeness and Shortness of Life the certainty that we shall all Dye and the uncertainty of the Time when and the Suddenness many Times of these Changes and the Great need we all have constantly to expect and prepare for them and about the Hopes and Blessedness there is in Dying well and the Happiness of that State where we shall Dye no more nor ever have the Loss of any Dear Friends to Mourn for They may also Discourse of their Deceased Friends especially when they have things to say of them to their Advantage As how their Patience was tryed and approved in their Sickness how good God was to them and how Submissive and Devout they were towards him what Good words they said or Good works they did or Comfort and Support they found or any thing else belonging to them either Living or Dying for which they are fit to live in our Memory and be examples for our instruction or imitation And when they come thus to take up Good and Heavenly Thoughts and to infuse them into one another they will do Great Good to themselves as well as Honour to their Friend by paying him this last Office and all return better than they came from the House of Mourning When the Relations and Friends mourn and shew Decent sorrow for the Deceased as 't is fit they should to shew they expect to find a want of them or to express their Love and value for them as Jesus wept at Lazarus's Grave to show how he loved him they must be careful to Do it moderately and Christianly And Grieve for him like men who know that God has taken him and who have hope and comfort in Death and after it and believe when a Pious Friend Dyes that the living only have lost but that the Deceased has got by Dying But they must not repine against God who has taken their Friend away nor mistrust his Care to provide for them now their Friend is gone nor grow out of Humour or unthankful for all his other Mercies because they are deprived of this nor let their Grief be excessive or obstinate and refuse to be comforted as they who have no Hope Particularly let
my Family I trust intirely to thee who hast Goodness enough to Pity us and Power enough to help and deliver us I trust in thee O! my dear God who hast been my Refuge and Defence in many troubles and art still ready to be so in more who invitest us most Lovingly to cast all our Cares upon thee and hast promised to take care of us who lovest to be trusted and never failest them who trust in thee I trust to thy Wisdom to chuse for me better than I can chuse for my Self I trust to thy Power to help and support me where I am weak and without strength to help and support my Self And I trust to thy Love and Fatherly care to deal out all my Sorrows with tenderness and to turn them all to my good and greater Comfort in the End For I believe and know O! Gracious Lord that thou wilt correct me in measure and consider not what my Sins do deserve but what my Weakness can bear I believe that thou wilt remember Mercy in my Corrections and still make light to arise up up to me out of Darkness and daily relieve my Sorrows with thy manifold and most seasonable Favours I believe that thou wilt not keep Anger for ever but in due time wilt abate my Pains and Troubles or if that be good for me and for thy Glory perfectly remove them however in the End that thou wilt change them all into everlasting Rest and Joy with thee thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 2. For Trust against the Torment and distraction of Fears AND since under all my Sorrows and uncertainties thou art my stay and confidence Lord keep me easie and quiet within my Self I have cast all my cares npon thee and therefore they should not any longer be troublesome or distracting unto me I have put my self into thy hands and thou hast promised to take care of me and therefore I ought to rest assured that all is certainly for my good and is most wisely and kindly Ordered which befalls me Oh! then that I be not disqâ—ieted with fear of Evil since none can happen unto me without thy leave That I be not troubled at the Helplessness of those I am to leave behind me because I leave thee to take care of them Nor frighted with the approach of Pains because thou art to set bounds to them Nor with any evil Tydings or Alarm of Dangers because thou art to govern them Yea that I be not terrified tho' I walk thro' the shadow of Death because Life and Death are both in thy hands Nor even in Death it self because thou wilt most Graciously support me in my Death and make it the Gate to everlasting Life thro Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 3. For Trust against dejection of Spirit and Despondency AND since I rest upon thee as my Rock and stay and have thy strength to Trust to let me not sink under my Burden O! Lord by Dejection and Faintness of Spirit For no Burden is so heavy upon me but thou canst and wilt support me under it and in thy due time which is always my best time deliver me from it Thou hast Promised O! my God not to lay more upon me than thou wilt enable me to bear And thou Holy Jesu art touched with the Sense of our infirmities and wilt inflict no more than thou knowest is proportionable to my weakness Thou hast bore them in thy self and wilt tenderly consider them in thy Members Thou wilt not continue my Smart till I have quite lost my Patience Nor send me Pains and Sorrows without supports and succours And thou dost send and wilt send no evil upon me but what I need or what is for my Good and what thou wilt take off when it has wrought thy gracious Purposes and served my Necessities And therefore when my Pains or Distresses are hardest upon me let me not think or say that I cannot endure them For thou Lord knowest better what I can endure than I do And when I come to it by thy help I shall find my self able to endure more than I thought I could And if thou hadst not known me strong enough thro' thy Grace to endure them thou wouldest not have put me to endure them And even now thou wilt either remove or mitigate the same when I can abide no more Instead of concluding then that I can bear them no longer give me Grace O! Father to set my self resolutely to bear them the best I can And firmly to believe that thou mercifully considerest what I can bear and wilt shew thy Grace is strong where my flesh is weak and wilt be sure to support me at present and to ease and deliver me at last thro' the Merits of my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 4. For Trust against Suspiciousness and finding Fault SInce I wholly commit and trust my Self to thee O! my God let me constantly think well of all that thou dost for me and sendest upon me Let me not think ill of it because I cannot think ill of thee nor fall to Tax it either with unfitness or unkindness or once suspect any therein because it is ordered by thee who canst not order amiss and who in all these things hast not less Love and Goodness but only more wisdom to allot and order for me than I have to order for my self Yea where things are hardest to be accounted for make me still think well of them and believe firmly that thou seâ—st good and kind Reasons for the same tho' my short-sighted and shallow understanding can see none And therefore O! Father when things are hardest upon me in my Condition my Reverence and Confidence in thee shall be stronger than my mistrust of them and by thy Grace I will answer all my own Objections against them by considering they are of thy chusing And whether any evils are sent upon me or any comforts are delayed and withheld from me I will believe still that all is as it should be and will turn to good in the end because all is done by thee who lovest me and hast promised to keep me under thy tender care at present and to receive me to thy Blessed self at last thro' the Merits of my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 5. For Trust for Deliverance out of Sickness or Afflictions LOrd I trust to thee who sendest all these Sorrows upon me to take them off again I trust to thee to take them off because thou takest no delight in the Pain of thy Servants yea because thou art of great Pity and art touched with a Sense of our sufferings because our Fathers trusted in thee and were holpen because I my self have always hitherto trusted in thee and thou hast still delivered me and because thou hast promised in the day of Trouble to deliver those that call upon thee that they may Glorifie thee And now O! my God let
we need these Embitterments of Life to reconcile us to the thoughts of Death and to awaken our Preparation for it That Patience is one of the principal Virtues which we have to learn and exercise whilst we Live And that if the exercise of it is hard it will answerably be exceeding happy and most highly rewarded And let me remember moreover O! Lord that the more Tryal we have here of our own Patience the more Proof we have withal of thy Grace and Faithfulness and the greater is our hope of a more abundant joy and Blessed recompence And that a little waiting and endurance usually lets us see how good and Gracious thou art in removing what lyes hard upon us However that the Rest and Comforts of the next World will abundantly satisfie and make amends for all Yea and even here O! Lord let me consider that Patience under my Burdens makes them lighter and my Condition better giving me present ease in this Life as well as more abundant hopes in the Life to come That 't is best for thy Will to take place of mine and to chuse for me both whether and when and how I shall be eased of them And that if I struggle against thy Will I cannot resist it But by bearing it patiently I do not only submit to necessity but shew an Act of Obedience and Duty which will please thee and in the end will far more profit me than my Pains do at present afflict me thro' my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 4. AND Grant me Grace O! Lord always to bear in mind that I am here but as a Stranger and that these Decays will carry me home That whilst I am here in the Body I am absent from the Lord and still as I am leaving my Body I am hastning to him And that my poor Soul is now a cloggâ—d and a close Prisoner in Flesh and these Pains and Weaknesses are come to set it free And let me remember O! Father that these Sorrows which I endure in my passage to Rest and Peace are common to men Nay they are the Lot of good men who are often exercised with a greater measure thereof because here is all the Place of their evil things They are not only incident to us but Profitable for us and the best have need of them For even the Blessed Jesus himself tho he were a Son yet learned he Obedience by the things which he suffered He bore the Cross before he wore the Crown and we are first to suffer that we may also Reign with him And I willingly submit to follow where my Blessed Lord has lead the way and to take Pain and Sorrow in my passage to everlasting Life and Joy as he has done before me Only O! my God be thou with me as thou wast with him and let me have thee for my Support and Comfort under all my Sorrows whilst I live and for my Blessed Portion when I die thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen VIII Prayers for Spiritual Improvements by Sickness I. O! Most Gracious and Merciful God I receive this sickness as thy Monitor to put me upon considering and amending the Errors of my Life and on making preparation for my Death And let no flattering hopes of life O! Lord delay or slacken my Repentance or keep me from setting my Soul in order But give me Grace to make use thereof as if I were sure it would be what for ought I know it may be a Sickness unto Death And therefore let me now begin to repent of all my sins with that exactness as he should do who thinks this is like to be the last time And to order all my Actions with that uprightness and holy care as befits him who is going to give an account of them And to be so perfect in putting on all the Dresses of a Religious Spirit as he who expects to have no place afterwards for filling up any Omissions And on my Sick-bed Holy Father let Holy Prayers be my Employment and Delight And make me look on shewing Patience and exercising Faith and perfecting Repentance to be my business for those remaining moments which I have still to spend on earth Oh! Let me have as little to do with Vanity and as much intercourse with thee my God and exercise of all Heavenly Thoughts and Virtues as I can that being used to that blessed Employment of Beatified Spirits I may be fit for their Society and prepared everlastingly to injoy thee in Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2. AND Lord do thou whose Glory it is to bring good out of evil and Light out of Darkness turn my sickness which comes as the punishment of my sins into the means of my obedience Make it the instrument of thy Grace to bring me to my self and to call me off from Sin and Folly which have been the Parents of all our pain and misery Let it bring Innocence and Watchfulness to my Spirit and peace and comfort therein and then my Afflictions shall pass for Favours and I will give thee thanks and praise for my Correction When it wasts and brings down my Spirits O! Father cause it also to tame and bring down my Passions and all violent Motions In my low Estate make me meek and lowly And let the sense of my wants and weakness cure me of all Self-Confidence and carry me out wholly to depend on thee Under the Terrors of thy Power possess me with holy awe and fear And whilst my pains make me forgetful of other things let me not remember the wrongs I have received nor be high in resentments of them Let the dulness also of my Senses O God mortifie all Carnal Appetites and the unsavoryness of all worldly Vanities cure me of all inordinate fondness for them Oh! Make my love of Earthly things and all my sinful Lusts and Self-esteem to die before me and let my Sickness kill them and save my Soul alive And grant O! Lord that the trouble which I find there is in wanting thy Mercies may keep me duly sensible of them and thankful for them whilst I enjoy them And let the feeling of these Sorrows in my self touch me with Pity and Compassion for the Sufferings of others whensoever I see them exercised therewith And make me ever think O! Holy Father that I get more in being thus made better and wiser by my Afflictions than in being deliver'd from them And count nothing so good for me as to be brought thus to know my self and to know and serve thee and to be put in the sure way of obtaining thine everlasting Mercy thro my most Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 3. AND if as my outward man decays my inward man be thus renewed I will bless thy Name O! Merciful God for the kindness of these hard Providences and acknowledge to thy praise that thou in very Faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled For thou
of those who are feeble and sore smitten as I was Help them to Patience Comfort and sure Trust in thee Be thou their Physitian both of Soul and Body and in thy Due time ease them of their Pains and restore them to Health and Strength as in thine abundant Mercy thou hast restored me and Give us all Hearts therewith Thankfully to adore and Faithfully to serve thee thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2. BUt altho by thy Grace I am now recover'd O! Almighty Lord from this Sickness yet I know that at thy time I must expect to be sick again and shall surely Dye and I know not how soon that time may come And I have found how much need there is under the Terrors of Death to be conscious to our selves of having lead a truly Religious and upright Life and how unfit we are to begin it under the Weaknesses of that State Oh! then that my chief Care may allways be to live with such Good Conscience as I should be willing to Dye with and to doe all those things in the time of my Health and Strength which I shall surely wish I had Done when my last weakness and sickness comes And therefore O! my Dear God I humbly and earnestly Pray thee that I may never fall to admire or grow fond of any of the things of this world by coming again to relish and enjoy them Let me never envy the Wealth of the Covetous nor the Honours and High Places of the ambitious nor the Sensual Pleasures of Licentious men For these things O! Lord can not profit me in the Days of Evil. They are vane Things that pass off in the useing and leave nothing but remorse and and Guilt behind them And the Remembrance of them at the Approach of Death instead of affording ease and Comfort will be the greatest wound and weakning to my Spirit and increase my pains and Terrors instead of any ways asswaging them Nor suffer me O! God to trifle away this time of Respite in things of noe benefit which doe thee noe Honor and my poor Soul noe Good For either to hide my Talents or to misemploy them will inflame the reckoning of my Sins And that will turn this great Blessing of lengthning out my Days into a Curse and make my latter end worse than my beginning was But give me Grace O! Father to Redeem those Precious Hours which I have formerly thrown away on vice or vanities by employing all this small Remainder of my time in seeking thy Glory and in carefully preparing for my change and Religiously and Reverently waiting for it hopeing thereby to have entrance for ever into thy Presence where is fullness of joy thro the merits and mediation of my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Prayers and Devotions on the Apprehension or Approach of Death Scriptures Ps. 49. Ps. 90. to v. 13. Job 14. 1 Thes. 4. from v. 13. to c. 5. v. 7. 1 Cor. 15. Ps. 88. Jo. 5. v. 21. to v. 30. Rev. 21. 1. On the Prospect of our own Death Drawing near IT is appointed unto men once to Dye and after this the judgement Heb. 9. 27. For out of the ground wast thou taken Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return Gen. 3. 19. We are Strangers here and our Days on the Earth are as a shadow and there is none abideing 1 Chron. 29. 15. As Pilgrims we sojourn and have here no continuing City but seek one to come 1 Pet. 2. 11. Heb. 13. 14. Yea the Days of man upon Earth are like the Days of an hireling to serve his appointed time And when his time is up a Servant Earnestly Desireth the Refreshment of the Shade and the hireling looketh for the Reward of his Work Job 7. 1. 2. And as for me I know that thou wilt bring me to Death and to the House appointed for all Liveing Job 30. 23. For few and Evil have my Days been And now behold I seem as one who am going the way of all the Earth Gen 47. 9. Josh. 23. 14. And as I came forth of my Mothers Womb soe naked shall I return to go as I came and shall take nothing of my Labor away in my Hand with me Eccl. 5. 15. I shall Rest from my Labors and nothing but my works follow me Rev. 14. 13. And I must work the Works of God while it is Day the night cometh when noe man can work Jo. 9. 4. Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall â—ind watching Luk. 12. 37. Behold I come as a Thief Bâ—essed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments Rev. 16. 15. Watch therefore for ye know neither the Day nor the Hour when the Son of man Cometh For at midnight there shall be a Crye made behold the Bridegroom cometh goe ye out to meet him And they who are ready with their Lamps trimmd and Oyl in them goe in with him but after that the Door is shut and to those that knock he will Say I know you not Mat. 25. 6 7 10 12 13. And who is that Faithfull and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his Household to give them their Portion of meat in due Season Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find soe doing Of a trâ—th I say unto you that he will make him Ruler over all that he hath Luc. 12. 42 43 44. 2. On Willingness to die O! Death how bitter is the Remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at Rest in his Possessions and that hath nothing to vex him and that hath Prosperity in all things And how acceptable is it unto the needy and to him whose strength faileth that is now in the last Age and is vexed with all things and to him that Despaireth and hath lost Patieâ—ce Ecclus. 41. 1 2. And wherefore is Light given to him that is in misery and Life unto the bitter in Soul Which long for Death but it comes not and Dig for it more than for hid Treasures Which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the Grave Job 3. 20 21 22. Besides whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. And we are confident and Willing rather to be absent from the Body and Present with the Lord. For if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we know that we have a Building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens And in this being burdened we Groan Earnestly Desireing to be Cloath'd upon with our House which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 4 6 8. For to me to Dye is gain And therefore I have a Desire to Depart and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1. 21 23. The Day of Death is really better than the Day of ones Birth Eccl. 7. 1. For the Spirit shall return to God who gave it The Dust indeed shall return to the Earth as it was
Eccl. 12. 7. But there the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at Rest and they hear not the voice of the Oppressor Job 3. 17 18. Yea I will ransom them from the Power of the Grave saith the Lord I will redeem them from Death O! Death I will be thy Plague O! Grave I will be thy Destruction Hos. 13. 14. For he shall change this Vile Body and fashion it like unto his own Glorious Body Phil. 3. 21. And this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality 1 Cor. 15. 53. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all Faces and there shall be noe more Sorrow nor Crying nor Pain but Death shall be swallowed up in Victory Is. 25. 8. Rev. 21. 4. 1 Cor. 15. 54. 3. Against Fear of Death FEar not the sentence of Death remember them that have been before thee and that come after for this is the Sentence of the Lord over all Flesh Ecclus. 41. 3. It is but a going to Rest Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth Jo. 11. 11. And tho therein I leave Dear Friends yet I go to my Fathers Gen. 15. 15. And am gather'd to my People Gen. 49. 33. And the Righteous hath Hope in his Death Prov. 14. 32. For God hath begotten us again to a lively Hope thro the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. And by his Death he hath destroyed him who had the Power of Death and Deliver'd them who all their Life Time were in Bondage to the Fear of Death Heb. 2. 14 15. Sâ—e that now whether we Live or Dye we are the Lords Rom. 14. 8. For he died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him 1. Thes. 5. 10. The Sting of Death is Sin 1 Cor 15. 56. But he is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins Act. 5. 31. And we have such an High Priest as will have Compassion on our infirmities He can mercifully Consider and be touched with them in us having in all points Sin only excepted been tempted like as we are himself Heb. 4. 15. c. 2. 17 18. And therefore Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory of Death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15. 57. And Blessed are the Dead from henceforth which Dye in the Lord Yea saith the Spirit for they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them Rev. 14. 13. 4. Against Presumption LEt him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10. 12. Thou standest by Faith be not high-minded but Fear Rom 11. 20. Happy is the man that feareth always but he that hardneth his Heart against Fear shall fall into mischeif Prov. 28. 14. Work out therefore your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling For it is God that worketh in you of his Good Pleasure Phil. 2. 12 13. Likewise since you must stand before him who without Respect of Persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your Sojourning here in Fear 1 Pet. 1. 17. Tho I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justifyed 1 Cor. 4. 4. The Heavens are not clean in his sight Job 15. 15. He put noe trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly Job 4. 18. When I consider I am afraid of him Job 23. 15. I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever Psal. 52. 8. But will keep withall an humble Spirit that trembleth at his word Is. 66. 2. And serve him with Reverence and Godly Fear Heb. 12. 28. 5. In the last Agonies LOrd now let thy Servant Depart inâ— Peace Luc. 2. 29. Say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation Psal. 35. 3. This Day shalt thou be with me in Paradice Luc. 23. 43. Lord Jesu receive my Spirit Act 7. 59. Into thine Hand I commit it for thou hast redeemed me O! Lord God of Truth Psal. 31. 5. Be with me and Conduct me thro the Valley of the shadow of Death Psal. 23. 4. Send thy Holy Angels to Carry me into Abrahams Bosom Luk. 16. 22. And into the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that Day 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. For if we beleive that Jesus Dyed and rose again even soe them allsoe which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thess. 4. 14. And I know whom I have Believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have Committed to him against that Day 2 Tim. 1. 12. Prayers 1. Prayers on the Prospect of ones own Death Drawing near 1. GRaunt O! Lord that I may end my Life in thy Fear and Favor and that I may Receive my Death which now threatens me not as my Curse but as my Deliverance Let me find it a Rest from my Labors and an Entrance upon a Life without Trouble and without Sin And Blessed be thy Mercy which tho it has seen fit and needfull to Discipline me with Sorrows yet has not made my Sorrows Endless but all to be laid down with this mortal Life and even in my Death has given me hopes of joys without end in a better Life through my Dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 2. O! Blessed Lord now I am hasting on to the End of my Life Remember not against me the Great and manifold errors thereof but let them all be wholly done away by thy Mercyes and my Blessed Saviours merits and my own true Repentance Let me come to my Change without Guilt and foresee its near approach without Fear or impatience And Oh! that I may allways stand ready to give a Good account of my Life unto thee And that I may fight out the Good Fight of Faith with Constancy and Perseverance and finish my Course with joy and never Sleep in Sin nor lye Down in misery and Sorrow And since my Soul is now summon'd to meet the Bridegroom Dress it O! Lord in a Wedding Garment fit to appear in his train Give me Oyl in my Lamp and Grace to trim and light it and keep it allways burning sending up a pure and holy Flame that when the Door opens I may be ready to Enter in with him And enable it to strip it self of all Fleshly affections before it leaves my Body and to be of like mind and Disposition with the Holy Angels and Beatifyed Spirits before it goes to keep them Company And O! my God let me never forgeâ— that this is like to be the last Tryal which thou wilt afford me of renouncing mine own will and resigning my self up to thine and of shewing forth Devotion of Spirit and all Holy Obedience and Patience and Faith and humble Confidence in thee And therefore
make me watch for all opportunityes of exerciseing the same and Doe them diligently as my last Labors for immortality and for secureing thy everlasting Mercy thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen II. Prayers for Willingness to Dye I. O! Most Gracious and Mercyfull Father Give me Grace to be allways fit for thy Mercy that I may not be slow or unwilling to Come to thee now thou callest for me Forgive me all my Sins O! God which are the Sting of Death that I may look on it as an harmless thing which cannot hurt me And make me sensible how I am thereby eased of all those weaknesses and Sorrows which render my Life a burden to me Help me to consider it O! Lord as what comes to give me rest from all my Labours And to take up therewith as with a Shelter against all Injuries and ill usage To look upon it as a Cure of all my Bodily Pains and Sicknesses and as a Remedy of all my Sins and Temptations Sorrows and misfortunes For after once I shall have got to thee O! Blessed Father I shall be out of their Reach and never Come under their Power any more I know O! Gracious God that Heaven is my Country and that I have still more cause to rejoyce and less to repine the nearer I am drawing home That this Death is but the begining of a better Life and a most Desirable exchange of Travail and Misery for Rest and Joy and of a few Days for Eternity And let me not be afraid of that O! my God which is to set me safe in thy Kingdom and to bring me to injoy thee in Everlasting Bliss and Glory thro Jesus Christ my Blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen 2. LOrd now thy messengers are come to Summon me make me reckon that thy Time is best for my Departure and let me not seek about for Excuses and Pretences of Staying longer here Since this Summons is of thy Sending let not me receive it with reluctancy Since thou sendest it for my Good let me not be afraid of it as if it would doe me hurt Since thou Callest me thereby to come to thee let me not come unwillingly or seem forced away Let not my Heart O! God be tyed fast to any Earthly Things and then it will be easy to me to be taken from them Raise it above this world and make it fit and free to trust thee for the next And then O! Jesu Come when thou pleasest and I shall receive thy Call with joy And Grant O! Lord that I may take noe Pretence for my unwillingness because I shall thereby leave some Good Things unfinish'd which I have in hand for my Brethrens needs or for thy Service But remember and Consider with my Self that soe must all they who make it their Care at all times to be Designing and Doing Good And that 't is fittest for thee to Determine wherein or how long thou wilt be served by me in any things which my poor Soul is any ways Capable thro thy Grace to design or Doe for thee That if it seem Good in thy Eyes thy Providence will raise up instruments and supply what I am Designing by other and it may be far better ways And that I have noe Reason to be slow but much infinitely much to be hasty in Coming to thee if from bearing the Heat of the Day and a task of Labor and toyl in thy Service thou shalt be Graciously pleased to call me to Everlasting Rest and Joy in thy Presence thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 3. LOrd in this State I am sore Burdened and Groan Earnestly Desiring rather if thou pleasest to Depart and be with Christ which is far better for me But let me not be weary of my work and station O! my God before thy Time nor hasty in Desires of Death whilst thou seest fit to trye me in the Labors and Patience of Life Keep me Contented to bear my Sorrows whilst thou pleasest and to leave it to thee to Order when 't is fittest for me to lay them Down and to exchange them for Eâ—se and Pleasures in thy Heavenly Kingdom where Death at last shall be swallowed up in Victory and this Mortal shall put on immortality thro the merits of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen III. Prayers against Fear of Death 1. CLeanse me O! Gracious God from Guilt and Sin which are the Sting of Death and then let nothing else make me afraid of it Let me not Dread the stroak thereof as a thing that is hard for me to bear But Consider that it is an hardship Common to me with every mortal Nature That if it is hard it Cures all other Sores and hardships and is it self soon over And that hard and painfull as it is the weakest have born it and can pass thro it Yea and that very frequently the pains of Sickness are much worse than the pains of Death and men ordinarily endure more sorrow before they come to Dye than they feel or show at last in Death it self Nay that as they fall asleep insensibly soe they often seem to dye soe too And whatever pains it would otherwise make to me O! Lord it will be made easy by a clear Conscience and a Comfortable Hope of thy Mercy And let it arm my Spirit against Fear to think that I am coming thereby to a good Master whom as I have ever found most Gracious and Mercyfull all my Life I shall now much more finde soe at my Death thro the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 2. NOr let my Spirit O! God be broken with Fear out of an apprehension of Dying under the load of thy Heavy Displeasure For thou takest Delight in Pardoning those whose sincere Desire and Care has been to please thee and in makeing all fair abatements and reasonable allowances to their forgetfullness and infirmityes I am very sensible alass that I am too Defective in my Duty and Service But make me remember O! Blessed Lord that thou canst and doest bear with some Defects For the best are not free from Faults and Defects enow to humble them and yet they are surely within the terms of thy Pardon Yea thou will bear with many Defects in truely Loveing and Dutyfull mindes and hast not limited thy Forbearance to narrow and scanty Bounds For among those whom thou savest there are many and very Distant Degrees of Virtue and Obedience and the greater measures thereof which are attained by some are still wanting in others of them And these Defects of mine O! God great and many as they are are to be judged of by a mercyfull Saviour who knows our Natural Frailtyes and infirmityes and is ready to allow all that Pity and Favor to them which can be Desired in Reason For he doth not require such exactness of us as is a task fit not for men but for Angells But takes up with such as the Natural and Pityable Weakness
of our state and of a frail and forgetfull Creature in the midst of a tempting World can bear Oh! then that I may consider thy Mercy to fortifye my minde against Fear And fix my Soul upon the tenderness and Clemency of my judge and Saviour which will embolden me to stand before him without Horror And upon the Condescentions of thy Gospel and the needfull Deductions and Forbearance which it promises to our weaknesses that in this Hour of my necessity I may be guarded against all the suspicions of my own melancholy or mistrusts of thy mercy and may be strenthend with a comfortable Hope in thee thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 3. BUt if after all my Fears shall by times return upon me and prove troublesom to me let it however Comfort me O! Lord to thinke that thou art wont to make better of Humble Souls than they are wont to make of themselves and wilt judge me not according to my Fears but according to thy mercyes A truely Contrite Heart O! God is Safe in thine Eyes even when it gives it self up for lost in its own And as my Fears will be noe Prejudice to my safety soe Grant Good Lord that they may be an Help to my Duty and may quicken and increase my Care and Endeavours to obey thee Make them the Guards of my innocence and a constant Spur to thy Service And then O! Holy Father tho they trouble and Discomfit me at Present Yet they will happily Conâ—ute themselves and recompence me in the end and my sincere Obedience shall make sure thy Gracious acceptance tho I my self dare not beleive it till I come to find and hear it from thee in the other World thro the merits of my only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen IV. A Prayer against Presumption LEt not my Heart Deceive me O! Blessed Lord in judgeing of my self but keep me from Pride and vain Confidence in setting too little by thy Grace and thinking too well of mine own ways Oh! that I may never flatter my self into an Evil Security and an insensibleness of the Great need I have of thy Mercy For thou O! Lord resistest the Proud but givest Grace unto the Humble Thou rejectest the Proud Pharisee who justifyes himself and sees not his own nakedness and Poverty But the very best of us all Doe absolutely need repentance and have but too many Sins to humble us We must throw our Selves upon thy Mercy and can not stand in thy judgement shouldest thou be Rigorous in exacting what we have Done amiss nor appear before thee when thou art angry Thy justice is terrible to the Greatest Saints yea and before thee even the Angels themselves doe cover their Faces And as we can not come off clear in thy judgement but merely thro Mercy Soe neither Can we stand in Obedience to qualifye us for it but only thro Faith 'T is thy Help O! Lord that must support and keep us in thy ways And if it were not for thy Grace and our own Caution and holy jealousy over our Selves we are as lyable to fall as others Oh! then that I may not be high minded and place my Confidence in my self but learn to Fear and shew Care and humble Dependance upon thee and with Godly Reverence look for thy Promises of Grace and Mercy thro Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour Amen V. Prayers in the last Agonies Ejaculations DVst thou art and to Dust shalt thou return Gen. 3. 19. Lord Jesus have mercy upon me O thou Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World Be merciful to me a Sinner Luk. 18. 13. Tho I often offend thee yet Lord thou knowest I sincerely Love thee and hate my self for having displeased thee And can any who sincerely Loves thee Perish Eternally Lord receive me for I am hasting apace to thee I stretch forth my Hands unto thee my Soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty Land Ps. 143. 6. Lord remember me when thou Comest in thy Kingdom Doe with this frail and wearied Body what thou pleasest Only receive my Spirit to thy Mercy in Death and raise up this Corruptible to incorruption after Death And forsake me not O! God now my strength faileth me Ps. 71. 9. Besides which the Dying Persons may use the Scriptures Collected for this Case p. 127. Prayers 1. LOrd Wash my Soul in thy Blood that it may be presented without Spot unto thee And let me Dye in thy Favour and rest in Peace and rise again in Glory Amen 2. STrenthen me O! my God in my Agonies As my strength fails let my pains wear off But when my Strenth fails let not my Faith fail Even in Death let me trust in thee And the nearer I am drawing to thee the more Doe thou manifest thy mercy unto me thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 3. DEliver me O! Lord from Fear of Death and from all violent Disorders of a troubled Fancy or painful Delusions of my Ghostly Enemy Oh! let not him be able now to disturb and terrifye me or any way to prevail against me but Guard thou thy Servant comeing unto thee Amen 4. HAve me in thy Custody O! holy Father for nothing can can take me out of thy Hands And Give thy Holy Angels Charge to stand about me to guard and receive my poor Soul at my Departure and to Conduct and Carry it to the Blessed Receptacles of Rest and Peace Amen 5. COme Lord Jesu Come quickly I Desire and Groan earnestly to be dissolved and to be with thee Into thy Hands I Commend my Spirit and lay Down my wearyed Flesh to Rest in Hope of a Blessed Resurrection to eternal Peace and joy at the last Day Amen 6. LOrd if it be thy Gracious will make my Pains short and my Death Easy at least not extremely tedious or Greivous to me But if thou hast otherwise ordered thy Blessed will be done Only Give me Patience to bear them and Spiritual Comforts under them and at thine own time make my Death my Passage to a Blessed and Eternal Life through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen Out of the Office for Burial ANd O! Lord most Holy O! God most mighty O! Holy and Mercifull Saviour thou most worthy Judge Eternal Suffer me not at my last Hour for any pains of Death to fall from thee Amen And these Prayers may be said for the Dying Person as occasion requires by his Friends who are about him only altering the Persons we for I him for me our for my c. as is requisite upon the change of Persons Likewise they may use for him the recommendatory Prayer for one at the Point of Departure in the Churches Office for Visitation of the Sick O! Almighty God with whom doe live the Spirits of just Men made perfect after they are Deliverd from their Earthly Prisons We humbly commend the Soul of this thy Servant our dear Brother into thy
Hands as into the Hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour most humbly beseeching thee that it may be precious in thy sight Wash it we pray thee in the Blood of that immaculate Lamb that was slain to take away the sins of the World that whatsoever defilements it may have contracted in the midst of this miserable and naughty world through the lusts of the flesh or the wiles of Satan being purged and done away it may be presented pure and without spot before thee And teach us who survive in this and other like daâ—ly Spectacles of mortality to see how frail and uncertain our own condition is and so to number our days that we may seriously apply our Hearts to that holy and heavenly wisdom whilst we live here which may in the end bring us to life everlasting through the merits of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord. Amen 6. A Prayer against sudden death LOrd they who have lead the best lives are Desirous of some time to prepare for their Death But my Life has abounded in Sins and Frailtyes which make me stand in much greater need thereof Snatch me not away therefore to give up my accounts by the surprize of a sudden Death but Deliver me from an unprepared Heart and an unexpected End As I Sin Dayly O! God let me repent Dayly and stand allways upon my watch that I may be ready for thee whensoever thou callest me But give me time and leasure if it may please thee to put my Spirit in the best order I can for leaving this world and appearing before thee and taking my Leave of all decently that soe with more satisfaction to my Friends and with more settlement of minde and comfort to my self I may yeild it up into the Hands of thy mercy thro Jesus Christ my only Lord and Saviour Amen Prayers and Devotions upon the Death of Friends Scriptures 1. When a Friend dyes IT is better to goe to the House of mourning than to go to the House of â—easting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his Heart Sorrow is better than Laughter for by the Sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better Eccl. 7. 2 3. But sorrow not Brethren for them which are asleep even as others which have no hope For if we Believe that Jesus Dyed and Rose again even soe them alsoe which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1. Thess. 4. 13 14. Precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints Ps. 116. 13. And Blessed are the Dead which Dye in the Lord for they rest from their Labors and their works follow them Rev. 14 13. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to Dye and their Departure is taken for misery But they are in Peace and their Hope is full of immortality Wisd. 3. 2 3 4. And here the Righteous shall be had in everlastiâ—g Remembrance and the memory of the just is Blessed Ps. 112. 6. and Prov. 10. 7. Besides when the Righteous Dyes iâ— is often to take him from the evil to come Is. 57. 1. And now he is Dead wherefore should I fast and weep Can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12. 23. Forget it not for there is no turning again thou shalt not do him good but hurt thy self And think thou hearest him say Remember my judgement or the sentence upon me for thine also shall be so Yesterday for me and to day for thee Therefore take no Heaviness to heart but Drive it away and remember the last end And when the Dead is at Rest let his remembrance Rest and be Comforted for him when his Spirit is Departed from him Ecclus. 38. 20 21 22 23. 2. When a Friend is taken away early THo the Righteous be prevented with Death yet shall he be in Rest. He was taken away speedily lest that wickedness should alter his understanding or Deceit beguile his Soul He pleased God and was beloved of him soe that living among sinners he was translated Yea therefore the Lord hasted to take him away from the wicked Moreover he being made Perfect in a short time fullfill'd a long Time For Honourable Age is not that which Standeth in Length of time nor that is measured by number of years But wisdom is the Gray hair unto men and an unspotted Life is old Age. Wisd. 4. 7 8 9 10 11 13 14. And why art thou against the Pleasure of the most High there is noe inquisition in the Grave whether thou have lived ten or an hundred or a thousand years Ecclus. 41. 4. 3. When one is Childless Trust not thou in the Life of Children neither Respect their multitude For one that is just is better than a thousand and better it is to Dye without Children than to have them that are ungodly Ecclus. 16. 3. Better it is to have noe Children and to have Virtue For the Memorial thereof is immortal because it is known with God and with Men. When it is present men take example at it and when it is gone they desire it it weareth a Crown and Triumpheth for ever haveing got the Victory striveing for undefiled Rewards Wisd. 4. 1 2. Prayers I. Prayers when a Friend Dyes 1. O! Allmighty Lord who hast now taken from us our Dear Brother here Departed at thy word we are sent into the Labor of Life and at the same word we return again into the Rest and Sleep of Death And thy Counsells O! God are Secret and farr above out of our sight But they are allways just and leave noe Ground for our Complaints Yea they are allways wise and Good and will appear to have been most Honourable for thee and most fit and Proper for us in the end Oh! then that I may humbly and dutifully Reverence thy Orderings when I can not Comprehend them and bring my will into a quiet submission unto thine and receive my Loss meekly and without murmuring because it is of thy sending Teach me thereby O! Lord to stand in awe of thy justice and to shew a devout Sense of the desert of Sin whose wages is Death and a Decent Sorrow for my own Loss But let my Sorrow be without fixing Faults on what thou hast orderd and without refusing to be Comforted as others who have noe Hope or growing Rebellious or unthankfull unto thee and troublesome to those about me because thou hast call'd my dear Friend away and deprived me of his Company Yea Lord instead hereof keep me thankfull unto thee that I was allow'd to have and injoy this Comfort before I am call'd now to part with it For I have great cause to Bless thee that I injoy'd him at all especially soe long as I did and have noe Cause now to be angry that I can injoy him no longer Nay I should render my self utterly unworthy of any Gift from thee
should I fall to claim thy Free Favours as my due because thou hast long continued them to me and to thinke thou doest me wrong if at any time thou holdest back thine own and for wise and Good Ends stoppest some stream of thy Free Bounty towards me And let this uncertainty O! God of the dearest Worldly Comforts teach me to fix my Heart on joys which will never fade or perish To take more Comfort in thy self and to look for less in all Earthly things Oh! be thou my Desire and my Hearts Delight and let a Good Conscience be my Treasure and integrity my joy And these will stick to me till Death and follow me beyond it and Give me Rest in thy Presence and Pleasures for evermore thro my Dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 2. LEt not my Grief excede O! Lord or be obstinate against Thoughts or Words of Comfort because I cannot bring him back again and because it can not benefit him but will much hurt me And make me Consider which alass I ought thoroly to have Consider'd sooner that altho he was a very Dear and Great yet he was only a mortal Comfort whose Life would be sure to fail tho his Friendship should not I know my Tenure was only to hold him as thy Giâ—t and to part with him again at thy Pleasure And that as we have the Comfort of injoying Dear Friends or Relations here soe we must be content too to have the trouble and sorrow of parting with them And now Lord when thou hast taken him I know that he is more thine than he is mine and that thou hast the best Claim to him And when thou tookest him from me thou tookest him to thy self And I trust thy taking him is to his unspeakable joy tho it be to my sorrow and that with thee he is now infinitely better than he was or could be here Yea that thou hast taken him to that Place where by thy Mercy I also hope to come and whither in my Order thou wilt likewise take me in thy Due time Soe that thy Grace O! Dear God and a little Patience will bring us together again And Oh! that thou wouldest be pleased to put an End to all our Sins and Sorrows and to hasten thy Kingdom and to accomplish the Number of thine Elect. And mercifuilly to Graunt that all we and all others who either have Departed or shall Depart this Life in thy true Faith and Fear may have our Perfect Consummation and Bliss in thy Heavenly and Eternal Kingdom thro Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour Amen 3. LEt not my Grief for my Deceased Friend excede O! most Gracious God for I hope thou hast taken him for his own Good And that thou hast Comforted his Soul by his exchange and hast only smitten ours leaving us to mourn for our Sins and for our Loss whilst he by thy Mercy is hereby set out of the Reach of Sin and Misery For as he is now removed O! Father from all worldly satisfactions soe is he allsoe from all worldly Temptations And our Comfort is to Hope that he is now at Rest from Labour and has Ceased from Sin and Shame That He is now eased of Pains and is above Misfortunes and has found a Cure for all his Sorrows having Grief and Care for ever banishd from his Heart and all Tears wiped away from his Eyes And that he is gone from the Vale of Misery to the Regions of joy and from Conversing with us to live with thee and the Blessed Jesus and to be a Companion of Saints and Angels Let not self Love then O! Lord and the sense of my own Loss make me repine at that change which I take to be his Happiness Let not that which I hope doth highly please him displease me nor let me refuse Comfort because I trust he is taken for ever to be fill'd with it His Death I humbly hope is the joy of Saints and Angels and the Envy and Grief of Evil Spirits who see him taken up to a State where they can not tempt and to an Happiness which is for ever Denyed to themselves Oh! then that I may not joyn with his utter Enemyes and mine in their Envy but with those Blessed Spirits in their Charity and instead of greiving immoderately or being angry with thee that I may heartily Bless thy Name for turning Death thus into a Blessing and as I trust for accomplishing his Hopes thereby and makeing of him happy And let thy Providence O! Father be a Store-House of Supplyes to make up to me and to all his Friends and Dependants all those Supports and Blessings which we receive from thee by his means Especially let his change put us all upon prepareing Diligently and Carefully for our own Make it raise us up from the Death of Sin to a Life of Righteousness and take us off from all undue esire or Care of Earthly things to minde the one thing necessary which is the Great and most Comfortable Business of Life and which alone will stand us in stead and make us Happy after Death thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 4. A Prayer when any Persons Feed impatience and fix themselves in Greif by Surmizing that God is angry at them when he takes away their Friends O! Blessed Lord let not me make it a Pretence for my impatience that this Loss comes as thy Visitation for my Sins or greive obstinately as fancying that thou takest away my Friend here Departed out of Anger and displeasure against me For thou O! God hast many other Ends to look at besides what Concerns me in these matters And these Providences touch our Friends themselves Directly and Principally and reach us only by the by And when in meer Love and Kindness unto them thou wouldest call them to thy self that must unavoidably take them away from us But if in this change thou dost shew Displeasure against me for my Sins Lord teach me that it is my Part humbly to submit my self to thee and not to be angry or impatient under thy Correction of me but to accept my Loss with quietness as the punishment of mine iniquities And that whilst thou art removeing my Blessings because of my Great Ununworthyness and unthankfullness under them I have the more need to shew my self Thankful for any that are still continued to me and to give up my will in all things to thine to serve and please thee thro our Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 5. A Prayer when these Losses come close one upon another ANd altho these affecting Losses come thick upon me O! Father yet I know all this is for a Greater Tryal of my Patience And I am sensible that I have enough and abundantly too much in me that needs to be punished thereby And that thou hast wise and kinde Reasons â—now thus to Heap upon me these Sorrows tho it were not to punish but only to
tormented with any long Fears thereof And that the suddenner the stroke was the less he was like to feel it Or should he have felt it more yet he might not have felt a painfull Disease less had it been his Executioner For altho that would have been more slow it might not have proved less Cruel nor have smarted lighter but only lasted longer And if my Dear and Deceased Friends Paine was more violent O! Lord it was short and thro thy mercy I hope it is the last he had to endure And far be it from us O! God to repine that he was thrown hastily and Headlong into Death especially haveing a Comfortable Hope that the effect thereof is to pass with less Pain and more Dispatch into a better Life and more easily and speedily to take possession of immortality thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 4. Prayers on the Death of Friends who had lead ill lives and Gave noe Comfortable Proofs of Repentance at their Deaths â—N this Case we may put the surviveing Friends in minde of the many other Things which they have to take Comfort in and this I think is all the Ground we have here of speaking Comfort unto them But we can not fetch Considerations of Comfort from their Deceased Friends For such Sinners as would have nothing to do with the Fear and Service of God have noe Reason of Comfort in themselves nor can afford any good Reason of it to their well-wishers And with Relation to them we must not pretend to Preach Comfort I conceive but Submission To help them meekly and patiently to submit themselves to God in these sad Cases the surviving Friends may use Prayer 1. When a Friend Dyes especially if they leave out the Paragraph within the Hooks p. 307. They may allsoe use this Prayer following to Comfort them ANd Blessed be thy Mercy O! most Gracious God which in this sad Case doth not leave me comfortless For if this Deceased Friends Case suggests things full of Greif I have many other Friends who give me great Cause of joy And to Compensate my Trouble in Pity for others by thy Grace I have something to Satisfye and Please me in reflecting on my self For I can look with Comfort on my own Soul and hope thro the merits of my Blessed Saviour to finde Mercy for it and take Comfort in it both Living and Dying I have thee O! Lord for my Portion and nothing Can make my Case Comfortless whilst I am thinâ— and thou art mine and whilst I have thy Power to trust to and thy Love to rejoyce in And under all this Sorrow at present I am sustain'd by the Blessed Hope of being received at last into thy Presence where all Remembrance of former Troubles shall be quite effaced by the abundance of my Present Bliss where I shall have noe Sorrow from the miscarriage of Friends but unspeakable Satisfaction in their well-being and well-doing and where I shall ever Delightâ—in thee and in the Continual Emanations of thy surpassing Mercy thro Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour Amen 5 A Prayer on the Death of a Child O Almighty Father thou art pleased now to turn my joys into Sâ—rrows and to take away from 〈◊〉 that sweet Babe which thou lately gavest me for my Delight and Comfort But I humbly Bow my will to thine and submit my Self to 〈…〉 and without murmuring 〈◊〉 it is thy Doing Thou hast sent this poor Child into the World O! Lord to See and to â—ast Life but hast not allowed it to Stay till it Could rightly understand the end and busyness or relish the Comforts and Satisfactions thereof But I will Consider O! my God that thou wilt not require from it any Services of Life whilst it was not Capable to understand them And that if it Stayed not here to enjoy Pleasure soe neither did it Stay to be pined away with Sorrow and Care It lived not long enough to be versed in all the Vexations of our State nor to run thro that Great variety of miseryes and misfortunes which are incident here to our Nature But went off before it had time to trye how much Evil is to be Endured in this Life yea before it was come to aggravate any afflictions by imagination or to anticipate the same by Fear or to reflect in bitterness of Spirit and lay to heart what it did endure And as it Dyed young O! Lord Soe I have the Comfort to think and hope that therefore it Dyed innocent For it is taken back to thee before it knew Good or Evil or had done any thing to offend thee It has left the World ere it was made the worse by it or had Contracted any of the Wickedness thereof to follow it and fright it at thy Judgement By thy Mercy O! Father it Stayed till it was received for thine own Child by Baptism and was therein assured by thee of remission of Sin and made an Heir of thy Kingdom And by the same Mercy it is now Call'd away ere it had done any thing to fall from that Relation or to forfeit that Blessing So that in this takeing it away froâ— me thou hast translated it O! Father of Meâ—â—yes from the miseryes of this World to the joys of Paradice it is taken from me to be at thy Provision and to be kept for ever safe and Happy in those Blessed mansions which thou hast Provided for thy Children And therefore if I have lost the Comfort of haveing a Child to train up in thy Service in this World it is for the far greater Comfort O! my God of haveing sent one to live with thee and attend for ever about thy Throne in Heaven And there I my self allsoe hope thro thy mercy to be received in thy due Time not only to see and injoy it but what is infinitely above all for ever to see and injoy thee thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 6. A Prayer when one is made Childless or is like to Dye without Children O! Blessed Lord thou art pleased in thy Wisdom to beleave me of my Children and to leave me 〈◊〉 appearance of issue to Sweeten the Cares of Life and to keep up my Memory to Posterity I am content therewith O! my God because it pleaseth thee and comeing from thy Wisdom aâ—d Care of me I will not only own it to be just but Esteem it to be most wise and fit for me And if by haveing noe Children I have fewer Delights I will remember withall O! Father that I have lighter Cares and fewer Sorrows I have not the Torment of seeing them take ill wayes nor of Fearing continually lest they should fall to take them nor shall have the Pains and Trouble of parting with them which Commonly is quicker and more affecting than the Pleasure of haveing them And I may now fix my Love and Care more intrely upon thee haveing no Cares for them to call me off And I have less Temptation to Descend to mean
8. 26 27. †Ps. 51. 17. * Mat. 21. 16. * Mat. 10. 25. †Matt. 25. 6 7. †Here menâ—iâ—n his 〈◊〉 Church †Ps. 103. 13. †Jor. 4. 10. †or in †Mat. 26. 8 9. Jo. 12. 4 5. * Mat. 26. 7 10 11 12 13. Jo. 11. 2. †Ro. 12. 15. †Jo. 11. 35 36. †1 Thes. 4. 13. * 1 Tim. 5. 4. 1 Sam. 2. 6. †Jam. 1. 12. See more afterwards in Scriptures for Deliverance and Recovery p. 115. c. Ps. 88. 4. 6 7 8. Ps. 69. 1 2 3. †Ps. 7 9. 8. Ps. 86. 3 4 5. †Ps. 4. 4. * Ps. 22. 2. Psal. 103. 3 4. †Joâ— 5. 18. * Ps. 68. 20. * Especially c. here mention Particulars * Matth. â—â— 28. †Prov. 28. 13. * Matth. 6. 14 15. †Acts 3. 19. * Acts 4. 12. * Prov. 16. 6. †Luk. 16. 9. * Mat. 6. 20. * Col. 1. 18. †2 Cor. 11. 2. Eph. c. 23 24 25 32. * 1 Pet. 5. 7. †Ps. 9. 10 34 22. * Jer. 30. 11. †Hab. 3. 2. * Ps. 112. 4. †Ps. 103. 9. †Ps. 23. 4. †1 Cor. 10. 1â— Heb. 4. 15. * Lam. 3. 33. †Heb. 4. 15. * Ps. 22. 4. †Ps. 50. 15. * Ps. 119. 116. †Ps. 90. 15. †Hos. 14. 3. †Ps 68. 5. †Prov. 23. 10 11. This Prayer may be used by the Widows and Orphans themselves omitting the words within the hooks and puting we for they ours for theirs us for them our for their are for am c. †Now thou hast taken away ouâ— â— c. Nameing the Relative †They when the 〈◊〉 ws c. use tâ—is Prayer When â—his Prayer is used by one alâ—ne put I for we me for us am for are my for ouâ— c. †Here they may name the Relative †Or He or She. †Deut. 7â— 9. †2 Cor. 1. 20. †2 Sam. 20. 31. †2 Cor. 4. 6. Ps 112. 4. †Rom. 8. 28. †Heb. 12. 11. †Mat. 26. 41. †Lam. 3. 22. †Ps. 41. 3. †Job 36. 10. †Heb. 12. 7. †Luk. 10. 41 42. †Ps. 119. 75. †Job 1. 21. †Lev. 26. 41. * Ecclus. 2. 5. †1 Pet. 2. 11. * 2 Cor 5. 6 8. †Luk. 16. 25. †Heb. 5. 8. †2 Tim. 2. 12. * 2 Cor. 4. 16. †Ps. â—19 75. These Expressions within the Hooks the sick Person must use or omit as he finds they do or do not suit with his own case * Ps. 102. 4 5. †Ps. 38. 3. 10. * Ps. 102. 3. †Ps. 28. 6. * Job 7. 3 4. †Ps. 38. 9. * Is. 64. 9. †Ps. 71. 9. * Ps. 79. 8. †Ps. 119. 82. †Jer. 30. 11. * Hab. 3. 2. †Ps. 119. 82. 123. * Ps. 103. 13. †Ps. 118. 18. * Is. 12. 1. †2 Cor. 12. 9. * Heb. 13. 5 6. †Ps. 31. 1. * Ps. 54. 1. †Ps. 22. 4. * Ps. 109. 26. †Ps. 39. 13. This clause within the Hooks may be used or omitted as best suits with the petitioner's own case †Luk. 7 7. †Mat. 4. 4. * Ps. 77. 4. †Dan. 2. 1. * Jer. 31. 26. †Ps. 63. 6. * Ps. 77. 6. †or her †or her †This Clause within the Hooks may be left out when he has said nothing amiss under the want of his Senses * Lev. 26. 41. †Ps. 38. 9. †Ps. 56. 3. †Rubrick at the end of the Office for Churching of Women †Eph. 1. 18. †Is. 59. 10. †Mat. 18 9. †This within the Hooks or other Passages the Persons must use or omit as suits with their own case †Deut. 27. 18. †Rom. 10. 17. †Eccl. 1. 9. * 1 King 3. 9. †Mat. 13. 15. †Or Ears †Jo. 5. 14. * Or Deaf †Or open their Ears †Or hearing to the Deaf †Or her †Lam. 3. 38. †Or Place * Ps. 60. 3. †Ps. 91. 5 6. †Ps. 91 11. †Ps. 91. 9. †Or her * Mark 10. 14 15. Mat. 19. 14. * Omit this Clause in case of Madmen who have been mad since they came to the use of Reason †Job 29. 15. * Is. 65. 1. †Or her †Eccles. 7. 2. †Ps. 31. 7. †Ps. 119. 67. †Ps. 51. 6. * Ps. 30. 12. †Ps. 40. 10. * Ps. 116. 18. When they had desired the Prayers of the Congregation in their Sickness they must not forget to Desire them allso to return thankes for them on their Recovery †Ps. 66. 13 14. †Ps. 16. 11. †2. Sam. 7. 12. †Mat. 25 4 7 10. * 1 Cor. 15. 56. †Mat. 20. 12. †2 Cor. 5. 2. †Phil. 1. 23. †1 Cor. 15. 54. †Jam. 4. 6. †Luk. 18. 11. 14. * Vae etiam laudabili vitae hominum si remota misericordia discutias eam Aug. Conf. l. 9. c. 13. †Ps. 130. 3. * Ps. 7 6. 7. †Rom. 11. 20. †Ib. †Jo. 1. 29 †Luk. 23. 42. †Jo. 10. 29. †Rev. 22. 20. ‖ Phil. 1. 23. * Ps. 31. 5. †Or 〈◊〉 †Put we for I and make such other changes of Number as are requisite when several put up this Prayer together †Rom. 6. 23. †1. Thess. 4. 13. †2 Sam. 12. 23. * Or her or it when a Child †The expressions of Hope of the happy Estate of the deceased Person in this and the following Prayers must be left to the Discretion of those who are to use them according as their Friends Life and Death was This Prayer is to be used on the Death of a Pâ—ous Friend †Rev. 21. 4. †Lev. 26. 41. †2 Cor. 12. 7. †Here mention the Relation as Husband Wife c. †Put this thy unworthy Servant for me and likewise him for me his for my he for I c. when his Friends say this Prayer over him * Up to the accident that smote me when he falls by an accident †Luk. 23. 40 c. * Mat. 20. 6 9. †1 Cor. 11. 32. †Change the Number putting we for I c. when several joyn together in this Prayer †〈…〉 me 〈…〉 never had any