commit these impieties may deceive men but God they cannot who is the sole searcher of the heart Act. â— 44 And from whom nothing is hid Hee will disclose them in due time for there is nothing so secret Matth. 10.26 which when he please shall not come to light and be published even upon the house tops yea when there is the least appearance And he will one day say unto them it may be much nearer then they think if they repent not speedily no longer abusing his mercy Matth. 25.41 Goe ye cursed into eternall fire which is prepared for the Devill and his angels And in vaine then shall they cry Lord Lord Esa 2. For he will answer them I never knew you you workers of iniquitie that have loved better the praise of men then of God O how fearefull a thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God he who not only sees our actions but also is judge of our intentions and in a word he unto whose eyes all things are knowne and open let us not defer then to repent let us seek to do good as having to walk before the Lord Psal 44. Who beholdeth all our actions yea who searcheth our reines and examins our thoughts Proverb 21. there being no wisedome strength prudence hid retired nor shrouded from him knowing that it shall not be any deale the better for us for having our iniquities concealed from men which ordinarily seemeth to suffice us and so we take no further care And in all feare let us apply and imploy our our members unto righteousnesse and according as Saint Paul exhorts us Rom. 12.1 Let us offer up our bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable serving of him Let us not any longer remaine asleepe in our vaine conversation from the which we were redeemed neither with gold nor with silver but by the most precious bloud of the Son of God And let us awake up let us awake I say unto holines of life lest it prove the sleep of eternal death let not the world nor the things of the world any longer retaine our affections to enforce us any longer to continue in this horrible hypocrisie being content with that condition whereunto it shall please the Lord to call us seeing all things turne to the good of them that feare God Rom. 5. And so then that poverty make us not afraid when it shall find us that persecution daunt us not when as for the Name of the Lord it must be undergone but let us suffer chearefully with Christ that we may raigne with him Heb. 11. Wisd 2. Let the dis-reputation and dishonour wee shall reape from worldlings grieved because we will not follow their traine be sleighted of us To conclude let nothing no not the losse even of life it self make us warpe or decline from the wayes of the Lord For the sufferings of the time present are not to be paralelâ—d with the good things to come which are laid up for us in Christ Philip. 1.21 Who iâ— gaine unto us not only living but even also in death And in our necessitie let us have recourse no more unto unlawfull meanes to shelter our selves under but unto God alone who giveth both good and evill to wit the evill of punishment life and death poverty and riches Eccles 11.14 Vnto him I say who having so much loved us as to give his onely begotten Sonne unto death for us Rom. 8.31 Will not let us want any thing though never so small as farre forth as shal be expedient for our good Yea hee Whose ever watchfull eyes O're his beyond all hope Their needfull wants in time supplies His feare his glory is their guide their scope He still their life exempts From what even death it selfe attempts And fils them with the things they want When times of famine brings them scant And by his bounty still recals The Lord his owne backe from their falls To wait on him in their distresse To him to make their firme adresse Who ever is sure castle prop and stay To those that wander not from out his way And let us remove farre away from us all vanitie let us strip and quite disvest our selves of this foolish and cursed confidence and reliance which we ordinarily have in the arme of man and in riches And henceforth for the remainder of our course of this earthly pilgrimage let us not seeke but to glorifie God to the edification of others and in him let us place our whoâ—e expectation for as David saith Psal 40. Thrice happy hee his trust doth place In God the giver of all grace And him alone his refuge makes And not vaine man for patron takes Renouncing our owne wisdome Esa 5.21 which is but foolishnes Besides the Spirit of God pronounceth a curse upon those t at are wise in their owne eyes and prudent in their owne conceits And let us not any more imagin our happines to consist in affoording our selves the fruition of our carnall lusts the totall of bruit beasts whose bodies and soules both die together For there is a soveraigne eternall happines for him that walks in the feare of God let us value it above aâ—l things knowing that the world and the concupiscence thereof passeth away And that all the glory of man is fallen Psalm 62. But that the Word of God abideth for ever And therefore let us say with David That our soule resteth onely in God for in him onely is our salvation Remembring daily this prayer Psal 90.12 Instruct us Lord to know and trie How long our dayes remaine That thus we may our hearts apply True wisdome to attaine Then teach us so our dayes Our wasting yeares to count That wisedome true our thoughts toward thee Our endlesse end may mount Attending and expecting to be fully endowed and possest of all the benefits which are purchased for us by the death and resurrection of Iesus Christ unto the participation of that eternall blessednesse and of that union which we have thorow him with God To whom only wise onely good onely mighty infinite and true our Creator and gracious benefactor be all glory and honour for evermore thorow the same Iesus Christ his Sonne our onely Saviour who in the unity of the holy Ghost liveth and raigneth with him eternally Amen A FAMILIAR INSTRVCTION to comfort the Sicke With many Prayers on the same subject Philip. 1.21 For to me to live is Christ and to die is gaine LONDON Printed by G. MILLER for GEORGE EDWARDS dwelling in Greene-Arbour without New-Gate at the signe of the Angell 1630. To the Reader COurteous Reader impute not unto my rashnes either the Title or Subject of this Booke as if I undertooke to give instruction to those from whom I ought to receive the same I had not writ it at first but in the behalfe of my deare brethren the Elders of the Church unto the guiding of whom God hath called me In regard
thou hast broken rejoyce As then thou didst that favour unto the Israelites even then when they were in the desarts to make them to tast of the fruits of the terrestriall Canaan to the end to incourage them to make them to walk on forward with boldnesse towards the Land of Promise So Lord give unto this sick person and unto us that are in the wildernesse of this world an assurance of the forgivenes of our sins in the bloud of thy Welbeloved who was wounded for our trespasses and bruised for our iniquities peace in our consciences a continuall acknowledgment of thy favours a firm reliance on thy love and joy in our soules which are the fruits of the Celestiall Canaan to the end that relishing that sweetnes we may aspire with zeale and courage towards the end of our Spirituall Calling in Iesus Châ—â—st to be filled not with 〈◊〉 and hony but with 〈◊〉 beams of thy glorious 〈◊〉 and with the rivers of thâ— pleasures with thee for evermore For in possessioâ— of thee great God we shall possesse all things and in thee and thorow thee we shal be all radiant with thy glory and shining as the brightnes of the firmament and as the Sun which shineth in his strength And during this small time which remains for us to live in this world give uâ— grace that thorow good works we may make sure 〈◊〉 Vocation and Election to the end that thus doing 〈◊〉 â—ntrance into the eterâ—â—â—â—â—ingdome of our Saviour Iesus Christ may be abâ—ndâ—ntly accommodated unto us bearing evermore in â—â—nd those words of thy Sonne Iesus Christ that he that shall persevere and shall overcome shal be clothed with white garments and I will not blot his name out of the booke of life But I will confesse his name before my Father and before his Angells And to the end we may receive death which is the end of our miseries in good part make us seriously to think on the future resurrection of our bodies for as this day according as thy Prophet Amos teacheth us shal be a day of darknes not of brightnes of heavines not of joy of destruction not of salvation to the wicked so shall it be the acceptable day of the Lord for the good for as thy Son our Saviour teacheth us we ought to lift up our heads and to rejoyce in that day because our redemption is neare In that day shall it be according to thy Prophet Malachie that the register or book of remembrance which is written before thee of them which think of thy Name shal be opened If King Assuerus had in his Palace a Booke of the worthy exploits of his subjects wherein he found written the good deeds of Mardochâ— to recompence it and shalt not thou have O great King by whom the Kings of the earth raigne Thy book of life and retribution wherin are writ the names of thy children whom by a singular prerogative thou hast adopted for such in thy Son Iesus Christ David surely knew this mysterie when as in his sorest afflictions he said unto thee Lord thou tellest my wanderings my tears are in thy bottle are they not in thy Book Now to the end we may bee acceptable to thee whilst we are incompassed with this mortall flesh graunt us the grace to live in this present world soberly justly and religiously expecting that happy day of the last resurrection and appearing of thy deare Son our Saviour Iesus Christ who in the same shall transforme our vile bodies to the end they may be made like to his glorious body according to the effectuall power wherby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Vnto thee O great God thorow thy Son Iesus Christ in the Vnity of the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen 2. Another Prayer when the sicke is neare unto death 35. O Lord our good God and Father who out of thy great goodnes daily showrest downe upon us a sea of bounty and blessings and who hast in thy hand rest and labour health and sicknes life and death We poore sinners setling our selves upon the assurance of thy goodnes which is continually ready to relieve those that resort thereunto in the interim of their grievous assaults unto the blessed haven of thy sacred mercy We are bold in the name of this sick person who fighteth against death to lift up our hearts and our eyes towards thee to the end that thy favour and grace may serve unto him for a starre of light and a guide in that voyage which his soule maketh from earth to heaven and from this mortall life unto the immortall to persist firmly in the faith even unto the end without being terrified or shaken by temptation illusion or by any other stratageme of the enemie Thou art O great God the light of all them that hope in thee and who leddest thy people Israel thorow the ghastly wildernes by a pillar of fire in the dark night therfore we beseech thee to enlighten with thine assistance and holy protection this thy childe in the darkesome passage of death And surely Lord experience shewes us that when humane means seeme most to faile us then is it that thou keepest nearest unto thine to comfort them with thy right hand handling them with thy helpfull hand with gentle and cherishing fomentations and that thou makest them sensible that the point of their extreame need is the opportunitie of thy succours And therefore is it that now the heart of this sicke person sobbeth that his eyes are duskish and heavy his eares deafe his mouth dry and juycelesse and as the outward man falleth in him it would please thee to give him strength in his inward man and to fill his soule with gladnes and joy in that last conflict making him powerfully to relish those celestiall gifts which are laid up for us in heaven by the merits of thy deare Sonne our Saviour who to make us to live againe in heaven after he had by his death reconciled us unto thee ascended into heaven there to prepare a place for us In the interim then of this small time which remaines for this thy child to live in this world give him grace that his spirit may alwayes acknowledge thee that his heart may adore thee whilst he shall breath that he may be assured stedfastly that in the end of his mortall sweat he may find unspeakable happines with his bride-groome Iesus Christ unto whom with thee in the unitie of the Holy Ghost be honour and glorie for ever Amen 3. Another prayer in distres 36. LOrd God and Father of all mercy that sentest from heaven an Angell to comfort thy Son when in the depth of his Passion bearing our sorrowes and loaden with our griefs wounded for our offences and bruised for our iniquities his soule was heavie even unto death We beseech thee from the bottome of our hearts to comfort this thy sick child whom thou hast regenerated and incorporated
as the last of our dayes shal be the first of our rest Yet that the death of the righteous is the sun-set of their woes and the sun-rising of their felicities but herewithall it may be also unto us an example to contemne this world where we do but offend thee to breath after with our whole hearts the celestiall Ierusalem wherein we shall injoy with Iesus Christ our Spouse unspeakeable and eternall pleasures whose excellencies surpasse all understanding according to that holy promise which he hath made us to be gone up thither there to prepare us a place to be with him injoying eternall glory Expecting then that most happy houre when thou wilt call us out of this world and where our salvation which is shut up in hope shal be fully revealed unto us Inable us powerfully to comprehend the excellencie of our Calling and what are the riches of thy glory in that heavenly inheritance of thy Saints and what the excellent greatnes of that power is to us ward that believe thorow operation of the power of thy strength which thou hast effectually exprest in thy Sonne Iesus Christ when thou raisedst him from the dead and madest him sit at thy right hand in heavenly places above all principalitie and power strength and dominion and above every name which is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come To the end that being strengthened and corroborated in the inward man we might walk on as becommeth that Calling whereunto we are called in all humilitie and meeknes and with a patient mind bearing with one another in deare love being carefull to keepe the Vnitie of the Spirit in the Bond of peace seeing we are called into the hope of our Calling To thee O great God Father of all which art above all amongst all and in us all with thy Sonne in the unitie of the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for ever Amen Vnto him that feareth God to die is to be borne FINIS A PRAYER to be said in the Morning at our Vprising O Most glorious God most gracious Father and most mercifull Saviour seeing it hath pleased thee to graunt me the gracious favour to have passed this night and to come unto this present day be likewise graciously pleased to adde herewith also unto me the benefit and abilitie to imploy the same wholly and altogether unto thy service in such sort that I may neither thinke say nor doe any thing but what may bee well pleasing unto thee And comply with the obedience unto thy blessed will and pleasure That so all my words may tend to the glory of thy Name and edification of my neighbours And as it hath pleased thee to make thy Sunne to shine upon the earth to inlighten our bodies so likewise be pleased by the bright beames of thy Spirit to illuminate my understanding â—nd my heart to direct and guide me in the saving way of thy righteousnesse so that unto whatsoever I apply my selfe evermore my principall end and Intention may bee to walk in thy feare to serve and honour thee expecting all my happinesse and welfare from thy onely blessing that so I may take nothing in hand but what is agreeable to thy blessed Will and Commandements As also that so travelling for the body and this present life that I may ever looke further namely unto that heavenly life which thou hast promised unto thy children Yet so Lord that it may please thee both in body and soule to bee my protector strengthening me against all the temptations of the Devill and delivering me from all dangers which may befall mee And because it is nothing to begin well unlesse it be seconded with perseverance Reâ—â—â—â—me not onely for this day into thy sacred protection but even for the whole course of my life coâ—tinâ—e and daily augment and increase in thee thy Heaâ—â—â—ly Grace â—ntill thou hast brought me unto the full fruition of thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord who is the true Sunne of 〈◊〉 soules that shineth day and night without end and for ever And that I may obtaine these graces from thee bee pleased to forget all my sinnes past and by thy infinite mercies to forgive mee them as thou hast promised unto all them that by faith in Iesus Christ the Sonne of thy love accompanied with true repentant sorrow for their sinnes heartily seeke thy mercie in the pardon of their sinnes by Iesus Christ to whom with thee and thy Holy Spirit one true and everliving God bee all honour and glory now and for evermore Amen A PRAYER TO 〈◊〉 said before going to bed O Lord God sith it hath pleased thee to create the night for the rest of man as thou hast ordained him the day for his travell Graunt me the grace so to take rest this night in body as that my soule may alwayes watch unto thee and that my heart may be raised up in thy love and that I may so cast off and lay asâ—de all earthly cares that I may bee refreshed as mine infirmitie shall require that I never forget thee but that the remembrance of thy bounty and grace may remaine evermore so deepely imprinted in my memorie that by that means my conscience may have as well her spirituall rest as the body taketh his And withall let not my sleepe bee excessive inordinately to please the ease of the flesh but onely to satisfie the frailtie of nature the better to dispose me to thy service Be also pleased to keep me unpolluted in my body as in my minde And to preserve mee against all dangers that my sleep may bee to the glory of thy Name And seeing there hâ—th not a day passed whâ—â—â— I have not many wayes ofâ—â—â—â—â—â— thee according as I am a poorâ— wretched sinner even as all a now covered by the darkenesse which thou sendest upon the earth graunt likewise all my sinnes may bee buried thorow thy mercy that by them I may not bee deprived of the light of thy countenance Heate mee most gracious God and loving Father for Iesus Christ his sake Amen THE MANNER of questioning those that are to bee received to the Supper of our LORD IESVS CHRIST Question IN whom believest thou Answer In God the Father in Iesus Christ his Sonne and in the Holy Ghost Q The Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost are they more then one God A. No. Q Must we serve God according to hi◠〈◊〉 or according to the traditions of â—â—n A. We must serve him according to his Commandements and not according to the commandements of men Q. Canst thou fulfill Gods Commandements of thy selfe A No. Q. Who is it then taht fulfill them in thee A. The Holy Ghost Q And when God hath given thee his Holy Spirit canst thoâ— perfectly fulfill them A. No in no wise Q And yet God curseth and reiecteth all those that doe not perfectly and entirely fulfill his Commandements A. It is true Q By what meanes then canst thou be saved and delivered from the curse of God A. By the Death and Passion of our Lord Iesus Christ Q How by the meanes of his Death and Passion A. Because by his Death he hath purchased us life and hath reconciled us unto God his Father Q. Vnto whom prayest thou A. Vnto God Q In whose name prayest thou A. In the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ who is our Mediator and Intercessor Q. How many Sacraments are there in the Christian Church A Two Q. Which are they A. Baptisme and the Lords Supper Q. What is the signification of Baptisme A. It hath two parts For our Lord doth therein set forth unto us the remission of our sins and then our regeneration or spirituall renewing Q. And what signifâ—â—th the Sâ—pper A. It setteth forth unto vs that by the Communion of the Body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ our soules are nourished in the hope of eternall life Q What do the Bread and Wine set forth unto us in the Lords Supper A. They set forth unto us that the Body and Bloud of Iesus Christ have such vertue and strength unto our soules as Bread and Wine have unto our bodies Q Conceivest thou that the Body of Iesus â—hrist is inclosed and contained uâ—der the Bread and his Bloâ—d under the Wine A. No Q Where then must we seeke Iesus Christ to have the fruition of him A. In heaven in the glory of God his Father Q What is the meanes to come unto heaven where Iesus Christ is A. It is faith Q. We must then have true faith before we can have the right use of this holy Sacrament A. So we must Q. And how can we come by this faith A We attaine unto it by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in our hearts and assureth us of the Promises of God which are made unto us in the Gospell FINIS
thou hast begun from their enemies and thine that thy children may be comforted and confirmed in their faith and hope and that the wicked may learne to cease from their blaspheming of thee And that they may know that thou art the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords Lord be mercifull unto us poore and miserable sinners Give gladnesse unto our soules give succours unto thy Church for it is time O God which art the God of Peace and of comfort give us that true peace which is the repose of our consciences In the meane time reforme our disorders and confusions as it shal be expedient for thy glory and our salvation so that avoiding the surprises and practises which may be made against us by our enemies we may serve thee in all security and tranquillity according to thy holy will All the which things we aske and most humbly crave of thee in the Name and for thy beloved Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ his sake praying unto thee as it hath pleased him to teach and shew us how to call upon thee saying Our Father which art in heaven c. An Evening Prayer 13. O Lord God eternal and Almighty Father who hast made formed us with thine owne hands that knowest of what matter we are fashioned and made and reservest to selfe as Lord and Master the prerogative of sounding and searching of the hearts of thy creatures even unto their most retired thoughts We cannot denie before thee this truth namely that we are poore sinners conceiv'd and born in iniquitie and corruption inclined to do evill unprofitable unto every good work and that thorow our vitious disposition wee transgresse continually and without ceasing thy holy and heavenly Commandements in doing wherof we purchase to our selves thy just judgment our utter ruine and destruction Yet Lord we are grieved in our selves for the same O Lord God who hast created the day for our travell and the night for our rest pardon us if we have not imployed the day to thy service in performing thy holy will and ordinance and grant we may passe the night without offending thee even that we may remaine unpolluted both in body and soule to the end that in the morning for our first work we may praise thee and give thanks unto thee and dispose our selves unto thy service And because Lord that in the night season our afflictions presse ordinarily more then in the day and we have lesse succors from men re-inforce Lord thy Guard over us and behold with pitie and compassion all thy poore afflicted persecuted and oppressed ones especially for thy Word deliver them O good God as thou hast begun from their enemies and thine that thy children may be comforted and confirmed in their faith and hope and the wicked may learn to blaspheme thee no more but that they may know that thou art the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Lord be mercifull unto us poore and miserable sinners give joy to our soules give relief to thy Church for it is high time O God which art the God of peace and consolation give us that true peace which is the repose of our consciences In the meane while remedie our disorders and confusions as shall be expedient for thy glory and our salvation So that avoiding the surprises and deceitfull practises which may be made against us by our enemies we may serve thee in all security and tranquillity according to thy holy will All the which things we ask and crave of thee most humbly in the Name and for the sake of thy welbeloved Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ according as it hath pleased him to informe and teach us to pray unto thee saying Our Father which art in heaven c. The blessing of our gracious God and Father the peace and grace of our Lord Iesus Christ remaine evermore with us in the Communion of the Holy Ghost Amen Another Morning Prayer 13. O Lord God and most gracious Father I thy poore creature that naturally am wrapt in darknesse durst not lift up mine eyes towards thee that inhabitest inaccessible light were it not that thy deare Sonne who is the brightnes of thy glory hath made way for me to the Throne of thy Grace by the effusion of his precious bloud And now my God I acknowledge that it is a great benefit that I that am unworthy to live upon the face of the earth and have deserved by my sins to be cast for ever into utter darknes have this happines to see the light of the day and of the Sun and to behold the works of thy hands with the fruition of the good things of the earth which thou hast given me But because O gracious God thy Sun shines as well on the bad as on the good and that this light is but to guide my body be pleased O God that the brightnes of thy face may shine upon me in blessing me and enlighten my understanding by regenerating and sanctifying me that I may walk in the way of thy Commandements that in my Calling I may in such sort carry my self as that all my words deeds and thoughts may be correspondent to thy honour and glory and to the edification of my neighbours Lord thou hast drawne me out of the darknes of idolatrie and ignorance thou hast taken away the vaile of superstition from before myne eyes thou hast also even in my time caused to shine forth and as it were lighted againe that lamp of the preaching of thy Gospell But suffer me not that having eyes not to see with them But Lord inlighten all the parts of my soule and graunt that what ere is in me may be imployed to give thee all honour and obedience that in my Calling thy feare may before mine eyes And because thou esteemest not thy selfe to be loved of us unlesse we love our neighbours imprint in me a faith working by love in such sort that with confidence I may have a good conscience doing nothing to any other but what I would should be done to my selfe Let me have a mercifull and a relenting heart let not my bowels be straitened towards the needy and poore Lastly that seeing the shape of this world to passe away I may use it as a passenger remembring ever that my freedome is in heaven Give me peace in my family give a blessing upon my labour contentment to my mind repose and comfort to the poore afflicted and full deliverance to thy Church by thy Sonne Iesus Amen Another Prayer for the Evening 15. O Lord God thy People Israel offered unto thee Evening and Morning Sacrifices in token of acknowledgment unto thee that keepest us both morning and evening but what more acceptable sacrifice can we offer unto thee then our contrite hearts and tongues to praise and blesse thee Wherefore Lord in all humility and reverence I present my self before thy face beseeching thee thou wilt be pleased not to enter into account nor into judgment with
Father be with us in truth and love A SACRED Spirituall Awakening or Morning Sacrifice to serve for the awaking and rowsing of the carnally secure The eare that heareth the reproofe of life abideth among the wise Pro. 15.31 He that despiseth the Word shall perish by reason thereof Proverb 13. It shall be more tollerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha Mat. 10.14.15 29. IT is our over much stouping unto and our setling upon the lees of our vanities that the foolish affections of the flesh dragge us deeper into their disordered appetites It is our overmuch thinking on the things here below let us remain no longer curb'd on earth let us rouse up addresse our selves toward heaven and let us not defraud it of what belongs unto it shall not the examples of the creatures without reason yea without sense lead us unto this reason We see water commeth forth of the water and returneth unto water the earth drawne from the earth re-inclineth to the earth and so every thing tendeth to his place and shall we that are borne for heaven flie from it The knowledge that our blessednesse is there eternall blessednesse which already we possesse thorow the assurance of our union with Iesus Christ into whose death we have been baptised to the end to participate in his resurrection and to be in time ordained by God fully co-heires of that celestiall heritage ought it not to make us lift up our senses on high and to pluck them wholly from the earth But alas We confesse that this knowledge appeareth to be almost altogether obscured in us for our conversation is like unto that of them that have not knowne God walking as having no feare of the Lord and doing the things which indeed ought not to be so much as thought on or named of us it seemeth to appeare by the course of the most that man is but only for the flesh to the end to glut his disordered passions O wonderfull brutishnes Where then shall this knowledge be Or the feeling or expectation of the heavenly joy Rom. 6. Col. 3. For this union not performing her functions should we not walke in feare and trembling all the course of our life mortifie our old man and corrupt nature Otherwise where shal be the fruit of our baptisme Or the efficacie of the passions and sufferings of Iesus Christ and if we be destitute and deprived of these things abide we not still in death yea eternall death Wherefore let us here enter into astonishment let us be terrified with feare Rom. 2.4 We see the anger of God threatneth us if we turne not away from evill His Patience inviteth us to repentance let us not despise the riches of his mercy Eccles 5.5 He hath borne with us untill this day let us not say any more the mercy of God is great he will have pitie on the multitude of our sins to ad sinne unto sinne and let us not stay till to morrow to convert our selves for mercy and wrath come both from the Lord and his day shal be and will come when it shall not be thought on no man knoweth the houre And this is it which is meant by the Parable of the evill servant who saying in his heart my Master deferreth the time of his comming Math. 24.48 And therefore I will lead an evill life That his Master will surprise him and will come in a day when he looketh not for him and will cast him thither where there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth Let us feare let us feare then such a surprise let us awake thorowly and slumber no longer in our sins O halfe Atheists infamous Monsters that say let us sinne that God may forgive us otherwise what use shall there be of his mercy came he not for sinners Oh how you deceive your selves and those also that glut their brutish and irregular lusts giving the full swing to their foolish desires prophaning likewise the mercy of God promise to themselves afterward to have the same all the course of their lives jollily heaped up their iniquitie to say at their last day a peccavi whereupon they heape and pile up in this manner as much mischief as the most perverse can do As if it were in mans power to have repentance to ask and obtaine mercy at any time or moment hee shall assigne himselfe and as if it were in his own free habilitie and power and not a speciall and singular gift of God as it is manifested unto us in Ieremy 31.8 when he saith Convert mee and I shall bee converted for thou art the Lord my God surely after I was converted I repented That such grace commeth from God alone according to his good pleasure It is the saying of the Holy Ghost Act. 11.18 God gave to the Gentiles also repentance unto life Which is also clearely shewed by Saint Paul charging Timothie to teach those that were contrarily minded 2 Timoth. 1.25 To trie if at any time God would give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth that they may awake and recover themselves out of the snare of the Devill according to that we gather Esay 1.15 That man somtimes cryeth unto the Lord in vaine and without that he answereth him Consider then now unto whom when and how mercy is graunted Psalme 18.41 And we may acknowledge all in that behalfe that we have not the morrow to repent in Let us not grow elder in our iniquitie least as wisdome admonisheth us That malice having taken deep root in us our heart can never be changed Wisdome the 12.10 So the tree long since planted is not easily stub'd up and let us ever beare in mind that threatning Apoc. 3.3 If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what houre I will come upon thee But what shall we not grow wise thorough the frequent examples which daily occurre and present themselves to our view That the lustiest man he that buildeth his designes as it were farre from the grave and who thinketh of nothing lesse then on the tribute he owes to death in the same instant sinks downe And therefore no man knowes the houre nor how he must dislodge from out of this lower earth Every moment both of night and of day shewing that God hath a thousand and a thousand meanes in his hand to cut off when he pleaseth the thread of the soundest and strongest life Whereupon one hath said very well What act what time what place exempt can stand From dreadfull dart of Deaths fell hand Is not unpartiall proofe Pope Adrians flie That laughing eating drinking man may die Stay a little thy mind and thoughts in this place O thou temporiser that deferrest unto another season to amend and become better let not this passe thee without thinking on it and it shal be an entrance unto thee to profit by the admonition which our Saviour Iesus Christ gives us Mat. 24.44 Therefore be
better life makes us see and feele how vaine and deceiveable are the sweet allurements and imaginary prosperities of this mortall life when it pleaseth him to crosse it thus with sicknes and with so many miseries and discomodities which accompanie us therein perpetually from the cradle to the grave This makes us know yea maketh us cry out with Esay ch 47. v. 6. That all flesh is as grasse and the glory thereof as the flower of the field With David Psalm 90.6 That the flower of this short life is such that men are in perpetuall travell and martyrdome And with Iob chap. 14. That man that is borne of a woman is of short life and fraught with sorrow And this is it God putteth us in mind of chiefly when we feele our selves sick or otherwise afflicted to make us contemne the earth and to aspire up unto heaven to cause us to distast this miserable life to make us earnestly and heartily to relish and meditate on the heavenly life to the end that there where our treasure is there also might bee our heart and that our faith and hope might be weaned from the world and from the things of the world to be raised up thither where they have their true objects unto God and to everlasting life For also faith is not of things visible but of invisible And hope is not of good things present but of good to come that is to say of good celestiall and eternall obtained in Iesus Christ good so transcendently great and so incomprehensible that as Saint Paul saith 1. Corinth 1.6 Eye hath not seene nor eare hath heard nor hath entred into the heart of man that which God hath prepared for those that love him There is yet a third excellent fruit which God makes us reape from the sicknesses he sendeth us that is that by this meanes he puts us to triall and to the touch-stone to purifie and to amend our faith to make it eminently to appeare to his glory and to the edification of our neighbour For as by this meanes our faith is stirred up and elevated from the world unto God from the earth unto heaven from this life unto a life most happy and lasting for ever as also is it by such tryalls exercised and examined and as it were refined and made more pure after the manner of gold which is tryed and purified by fire Even as Saint Peter 1 Pet. 1.7 It is also by this meanes drawn forth into evidence and set in the light with patience constancie and other Christian vertues which God hath infused into us and which otherwise without this would not be knowne of any and thereby would remaine without use and without profit in regard of our neighbours And indeed we could not know what was the faith and the patience of Iob of Abraham of David and of such a number of other excellent servants of God if God had not made them passe thorough the fire of sundry temptations and tryals and we should not have at this day the worthy examples which we have to lead us to conforme our selves unto their imitation It fareth with the faith and patience of Christians as with the courage and valour of the souldier which is not well seene but in the midst of the battell As with the light of the Starres which appeares not but in the night As with the odour and sweet smell of frankincense which is not smelt but when it is cast into the fire Even so doth God make knowne unto our brethren the courage which he hath given us when he causeth us to come into the hands of some rough and violent sicknes he maketh to appeare unto them the brightnes of our faith when he spreadeth over us some night of affliction he maketh them smell the good perfume of our patience when he casts us into some fire of adversitie and by this meanes our brethren not onely are instructed edified comforted by our good example but withall led to praise and glorifie God who it is that sustains and strengtheneth us amidst the infirmities of our flesh sheweth forth and perfecteth his great strength in our great weaknes Lo then the principall and more remarkable spirituall fruits which God of his goodnes propounds unto us to be reaped from our bodily sicknesses And for this cause then Sir now that God visits you with this sicknes and layes you on this bed of infirmitie you must acknowledge that it is his fatherly hand that handles you on this fashion as one of his children and that hereby he calls you to the fruition of these excellent fruits and benefits which have been declared unto you for his glory and for your good and salvation Acknowledge then that he would awaken you from out your faults and sinnes that he would have you to have a feeling of them indeed to breed in you a dislike of them that ye might seek for the free pardon of them in his mercy thorow Iesus Christ that you may renounce them with your whole heart to take a sound resolution to serve him from henceforth and to walk in his feare with more zeale and affection then heretofore thorough his grace Is not this that which you promise Yes Acknowledge further that it is his will to make you by this meanes to haue a feeling of the miseries of this life to contemne and trample under foot the world and the vanities thereof to the end to aspire with your whole heart unto the heavenly and everlasting life and thereby to answer unto the dignity of that condition whereunto you are called to be the child of God and not the child of the world to have your conversation as a Citizen of heaven and not of the earth and thereby to have you to seeke as Saint Paul saith Philip. 3.20 The things that are aboue and not those that are here below And is not this also the thing which you protest you will do all the dayes of your life Gods grace thereunto assisting you Yes Acknowledge you lastly that the good pleasure of God is to trie and examine you by this sicknes to the end that your faith and patience might be made more perfect and that they might be seen and known of your brethren and neighbours that they might thereby be edified and comforted and might thereby give glory to God when they shall see that you shall beare patiently and constantly the sorrow and the violence of this affliction and that you shall dispose and apply your selfe to rest with a calme and peaceable mind in all and whatsoever handling it shall please God to impose upon you with his fatherly hand Is not this also moreover the resolution you take Yes I beseech God give you grace thorowly and happily to accomplish your holy promises to his glory and your owne salvation It is your part also to pray unto him for the same with your heart otherwise you can never be able to performe it of your selfe But if
thy mercy for his sins and true righteousnes in the obedience of the same thy deare Son Iesus Christ our Lord who was delivered up unto death for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification Yea ascended into heaven to take possession thereof in our name and by that meanes give us accesse and entrance thither whence sinne had banished us Imprint in his heart by the Power of thy holy Spirit a full certainty of all these thy graces that thereby he may be enabled to repose himself peaceably in thy mercy and to overcome happily all temptations and crosses which Satan and his owne flesh would lay before him to trouble the serenitie and cleerenesse of his faith and the tranquillitie of his conscience Let not his sinnes then plunge him into despaire seeing they have been so fully payed and satisfied unto thy justice not by gold or silver but by the precious bloud of thy Christ as by that Lamb without spot and blemish Let not death affright him seeing that sinne being destroyed and abolisht in him which is the sting of death it may remaine unto him disarmed and without power to hurt him Yea that his soule being separated from his body by corporall death it shal be to go unto thee victorious and freed from the captivity of sin therby to tast thorow the fruition of it that blessed life which he hath not tasted of in this world but by hope leaving indeed his body in the earth but not for ever but rather to be refined transformed and made in due time conformable to the glorious body of his head by the benefit of his resurrection Let not Satan daunt him any more seeing he cannot hurt him but by sinne and death the dominion whereof he hath lost in his behalfe Assure him in the end that in vain that accuser shall lay ought to his charge at the throne of thy justice seeing that he being already absolved and justified by thy grace there is no Iudge that can condemn him Let it be thy good pleasure also O good God to shew thy fatherly mercy unto all other sicke persons comfort and strengthen them according as thou knowest they have need thereof And above all graunt them the grace to embrace evermore with a true and a lively faith thy mercie in Iesus Christ that therein they may find all matter of comfort Graunt also unto us all that grace Lord that by this example we may profit and learne to renounce the world and our selves to imploy those few dayes we have here below to live to meditate on thy wisdome to walk carefully in thy feare to weane our hearts from the vanities of this life to raise them up to the meditation and expectation of the celestiall life And to this end to be alwayes prepared and in a readinesse to appeare before thee in assurance to be entertained and received in thy great mercie even for thy deare Son Iesus Christ our Lord his sake In whose Name we beseech thee O Father of mercie to heare us and in all other which thou knowest better then we our selves to be necessarie for us and this for thy poore servant as we pray unto thee in that forme of prayer which he himselfe hath commanded us to offer up unto thee Our Father which art in heaven c. Lord increase that faith which thou hast planted in the heart of this thy servant and child defend him with it as with a strong shield wherewith he may be inabled to quench all the fierie darts of the evill one And graunt that persevering constantly in the same unto the last gaspe of his life he may evermore at the least in heart make thereof unto thee a pure and Christian confession as we will presently do both with heart and mouth I believe in God the Father Almighty c. Such is his Faith Lord as also ours give the grace to live and die in the same thorough Iesus Christ thy Sonne our Lord who in the unitie of the Holy Ghost liveth and raigneth with thee God eternally Amen If the sicke person continue long time and yet alwayes with appearance of danger of death it shal be good to repeate unto the sicke now and then some of the aforesaid consolations but especially those which serve to assure him and to strengthen him against the temptations and combats of conscience And if happily the sicke person bee troubled with raving and fond imaginations or otherwise be not of perfect memorie and good understanding to heare any long discourse in a continued speech there shal not be used unto him other then short sentences such short questions as these here following also such as these or others the like And but talking to him by respits and some pauses interposed SIr you must take a good heart It is the fatherly hand of God which visits you for your good and welfare For unto them that love God all things do work together for their good Lift up your heart unto God to confesse unto him your sinnes and offences and to imbrace by faith his mercy in Iesus Christ which he hath promised unto all those that repent and believe in him Have you not alwayes a good assurance in the mercie of God and a stedfast faith in Iesus Christ your Saviour Yes Do you not believe that Iesus Christ died for your sinnes and rose againe for your justification Rom. 4.25 Yes Believe you not that he hath been made unto you by the Father wisdome righteousnes sanctification and redemption 1. Cor. 1.30 I do Do you not believe that you are freely justified by the grace of God thorow the redemption which is in Iesus Christ Yes According to your faith doubt not but God will free you and securely protect you from perdition and give you everlasting life For God gave his Sonne that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish but rather have everlasting life Iohn 16. Feare not death seeing by faith you imbrace Iesus Christ who is your life I am saith he the resurrection and the life He that believeth in me although he were dead he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me he shall never die Iohn 11.25.26 If your sinnes trouble and disquiet you have recourse ever by faith unto Iesus Christ and you shall find rest for your soule Come unto me saith he Matth. 11.28 you that labour and are heavie laden and I will ease you Feare not the rigour of Gods justice For there is no condemnation to them that are in Iesus Christ So saith the Apostle S. Paul Rom. 8.1 And who is he saith he Rom. 8.32.33 who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifies who is he that shall condemne It is Christ which died or rather which is more which is risen againe who also is at the right hand of God and who maketh intercession for us Be not loath to leave this miserable life which as S. Iames saith chap. 4.14
goodnesse most compleat his soule in the innocent bloud of thy deare Sonne in whose wounds and merits we inclose our present and future happines that being made cleane he may keep thee eternally in his sacred celestiall Temple Gracious Lord and full of tender compassion shew not forth thy strength at this time against a languishing body arme not thy selfe unto vengeance against one that can do nothing Crush not in thine indignation him whom thou hast in thy goodnesse created after thine owne image but rather returning thy gracious countenance towards his sorrowes make him powerfully sensible of thy clemencie the mother of our hope and thy love the source of our life Drive away Lord by thy power all dreadfulnesse all distrustfulnes and doubts which Satan our adversarie can present unto this sick person leave not at randome as prostituted unto that roaring Lion this thy creature regenerated and born anew in that great Saviour of the world but rather establish and comfort his soule Strengthen his faith redouble upon him in this last houre of his the forces of his Spirit that with a truly Christian courage he may repell and beat backe thorough thy strength all the assaults and temptations of the enemie by the merit of thy deare Son who was made man to save man and whose soule was heavie even unto death to deliver us from the hell of eternall fire and from the horrour of the deep O God of incomparable bounty the fountaine of joy and of eternall happines ravish the mind of this sick person even unto the heavens and shew unto him the share of those inestimable graces which thy Son our Redeemer hath purchased for us with thee give him grace to die in the hope of the future resurrection of our bodies and powerfully to comprehend how the resurrection of thy Sonne is the bud of our blessed immortality yea the speciall gage of eternall life and of our holy glorification And unto us that shall yet remaine in this world give grace that expecting our last day which shal be the first of our rest and the end of our miseries that our contentment may not be elswhere then under the covert of thy grace let our soules breath nothing but the sweetnes of thy love and let the continuall desire of living in the admiration of the contemplation of thy divine beauties which thou hast reserved for thine Elect. Let it be the fervent desire and the sole vote of our hearts that daily dying in Adam by the mortifying of our flesh to be borne anew in Iesus Christ we may feele more and more by thy grace our carnall concupiscences repressed our faith inflamed and our hearts cheered by thy singular blessings which thou powrest out daily with a hand more then liberall upon them that feare thee Which we crave of thee in the name of thy deare Son O our Father which 〈◊〉 in heaven c. 6. A Prayer directed unto Iesus Christ the Great and Soveraigne Shepheard of our Soules for the Sick that is in extremity 39. LOrd Iesus our sole and only Redeemer who lovest thine with an eternall love and who camest downe from heaven to raise us up to heaven who tookest our humane nature upon thee to make us the children of God Who borest upon thy back the burthen of our sins to discharge us of them and who as a celestiall Pelican after thou hadst pierced thy sides with the edge of thy love to make thy Vermilian Bloud distill forth to heale our mortall wounds and to drowne our sins in the sea of thy mercies callest us to come unto thee promising to ease all those that are heavie laden and travell assuring them they shall find rest for their soules We beseech thee from the bottome of our hearts O Soveraigne Physitian of our soules who camest not for the whole and the righteous but for the sicke and for sinners to strengthen the faith of this thy sick child redoubling the strength of his Spirit to overcome all feares to vanquish all dangers and to repell the Alarums of Satan and all the assaults of his temptations And seeing that the desire of this sicke person is before thee and that his sorrowes are not hid from thee forsake him not and be not farre from succouring of him but turning thy mercifull countenance towards his griefs make him powerfully sensible of thy succours in joy and in salvation that he may dispose himselfe and we also when it shall please thee to call us to die to thee to live againe in thee O God of our deliverance We confesse O thou Soveraigne Redeemer that our sins were infinite because Adam had offended against thee Infinite We likewise acknowledge that for the same there was requisite an infinite satisfaction which neither Angels nor men nor any finite creature could accomplish But thy bloud O Saviour of the world who by thy eternall Spirit offered thee unto God thy Father thy selfe without all blemish and who art of an infinite price art alone able to cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God And seeing that by this inestimable redemption thy Name is unto thy faithfull ones a perfume spread forth abroad and powred out and that thy divinitie joyned unto our humanitie in one person is our sole comfort and the certain pledge of our union and reconciliation with God We beseech thee to present unto thy Father as a sweet odour for this sick person the merits of thy Passion seeing that thy righteousnes wherewith thou justifiest sinners is not only of inestimable vertue to sanctifie us but also thy death is incomparably admirable to quicken us And in as much as the death of thy beloved ones is precious before thy Father when he looketh upon thee We beseech thee to blesse the death of this our brother covering him with the mantle of thy protection a mantle farre more excellent then that of Elias that securely he may passe the torrent and violent streame of this life to come unto thy holy mountaine and to drink of that spirituall sweetnesse with thine Elect of the fountaine of life in heaven O Saviour of the world the lively brightnes of the eternall glory of the Father who camest downe from the highest pitch of the celestiall mountaines to seek the lost sheep and to inclose him after thou hadst found him in the parks of thy sacred custody save now and protect the soule of this thy sheep to the end the infernall wolfe devoure him not but accomplish thine owne desire touching those whom the Father hath given thee seat it and bestow it with thee in the place of consolation to the end that with all the happy spirits which have imbraced the merits of thy Passion it may behold that eternall glory which the Father who loveth thee and who alwayes heareth thee hath given thee before the foundation of the world To thee then the Redeemer of the world with the Father in the unitie of the Holy Ghost be