Ezekiah call thy self to an account for all thy sins mourn for them in the bitternesse of thy soul confesse them to God and ask forgivenesse 2. Send for thy Minister To whom if need be make a speciall confession and take along with thee the benefit of his absolution Whos 's soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained John 20.23 If I forgave any thing to whom I forgave it I forgave it in the person of Christ 2 Cor. 2.10 Secondly let thy Minister pray over thee Is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him If he hath commited sins they shall be forgiven him Jam. 5.14 15. Thirdly let him give thee the Sacrament of the Lords Supper This is the best viaticum and provision for so long a journey I may say to thee as the Angel to Eliah Arise and eat for the journey is too great for thee And if with Eliah thou dost eat and drink thou maist travell in the strength of this meat to Horeb the mount of God 1 Kings 19.7 8. This is the bread that came down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6.51 54. V. Euseb hist l. 5. c. 45.3 Set thine house in order 2 Kings 20.1 This will not make thee die more quickly but more quietly 4. Remember the poor When we have beene kindly entertained at a friends house it is good manners to give the servants something when we goe away Blessed is he that considereth the poore the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing and will make all his bed in his sicknesse Psal 41.1 3. 5. If thou beest a father or mother of children call them before thee and blesse them So did Jacob when he departed Gen. 49.1 6. Make restitution if thou beest able to such as thou hast wronged and defrauded Without restitution there is no remission Enquire with Samuel whose oxe thou hast taken or whose asse thou hast taken whom thou hast defrauded whom thou hast oppressed or of whose hand thou hast received a bribe and restore it Send for them who have offended thee and forgive them and for those whom thou hast offended and ask forgivenesse Lastly resign and give over thy self to God Behold here I am let the Lord do to me as seemeth good to him 1 Sam. 15.26 Not my wil but thine be done And if thus thou beest prepared at the day of death oh well is thee and happy shalt thou be Psal 128.2 Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall finde thus doing thus dying Mat. 24.46 A short prayer for a happy departure O Most glorious Lord the GOD of the spirits of all flesh in whose hands are the times of all men and the keys of the Grave I most meekly beseech thee of thy goodnesse to pardon and forgive me all my sins and to make me ever mindfull of my mortality Lay often before mine eyes by thy remembring spirit that the days of my pilgrimage are but few and evil that I have here no abiding and continuing City that all flesh and the goodlinesse thereof is but a flower that fadeth a shadow that vanisheth away that so numbring my days I may apply my heart to wisedome and with the wise Virgins provide Oil in my Lamp and make my calling and election sure before I go hence be no more seen And when it shall please thee to cast me upon the bed of sickness and to compasse me about with the sorrows of the grave I beseech thee for thy names sake for thy mercies sake for thy Son Jesus Christ his sake not to be far from me in that needfull time of trouble when I shall finde heavinesse in my flesh and there be none to deliver me But draw near unto my soul and be about my bed to pardon my sins to pacifie my conscience to strengthen my faith to mitigate my pains to receive my soul when it shall be commended unto thee Receive it O God the Father for thou hast created it Receive it O God the Son for thou hast redeemed it Receive it O God the Holy Ghost for thou hast sanctified it Receive it ô holy blessed and glorious Trinity that being translated out of this vale of misery it may raign with thee one everliving and immortall God in the Kingdome of Glory world without end Amen SECTION I. Of the day of Judgement CHristian Reader let my Meditations now passe as thou thy self must from the day of death to the day of Judgment For it is appointed for all men once to die and after that to come to judgment Heb. 9.27 CAP. I. There shall bee a day of Judgment IT is an Article of our faith that CHRIST who nâ—w sits at the right hand of his Father shall come from thence to judg the quick and the dead Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of it saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints To execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against hâ—m Iude 14 15. God shall bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill Eccles 12.14 I saw the dead small and great stand before God The Sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to his works Rev. 20.13 It is very observable that all other Articles of the Creed have been opposed by Heretiques either in whole or in part but no Heretique denied a day of judgment Vide Danaeum in his Cat. of heresies against the Creed In this world Solomon says no man can know love or hatred by all that is before them For all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Eccles 9.1 2. Now shall not the Judge of all the world do right Gen. 18.25 There must be a day wherein the wicked shall be punished and the vertuous rewarded A day wherein God will put a difference betwixt an Israelite and an Aegyptian betwixt a Sheep and a Goat betwixt wheat and tares There shall be a day when I will make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God
nor my tongue begged pardon Good Lord deliver me From the whole corruption of my nature from all the temptations of the Divel from the allurements of the world from the lusts of the flesh and eyes Good Lord deliver me From all vanity of minde dulness of understanding perversnesse of will crookedness of affections deadness hardness of heart and from a benummed blinded or seared conscience Good Lord deliver me From all wandring imaginations from all loosness of desires from all transgressions of thy holy and just commandments and from the first motions to any sin against thee or my neighbour Good Lord deliver me From relapsing into the sins that I have repented from turning thy grace into wantonnesse from treading under foot the bloud of thy covenant from neglect and contempt of the meanes of salvation Good Lord deliver me From all schism heresie from infidelity and apostasie from the sin against the holy Ghost Good Lord deliver me From famine scarcity from plague and pestilence and from all other thy sore and heavy judgements at this time and ever hereafter Good Lord deliver me From poverty and extreme necessity from sickness and diseases in my body from grief and vexation of mind from losse of liberty goods or friends from blemish and scādal of my good name Good Lord deliver me From giving offence unadvisedly and from taking offence unjustly Good Lord deliver me From thy wrath and indignation from final despair of thy grace and pardon and from sudden death Good Lord deliver me From the sentence of condemnation from the Lake of brimstone from the chains of everlasting darkness from the worm that dies not and the fire that shall never be quenched Good Lord deliver me O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul Psal 116.4 Amen Amen And that for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most blessed name and words we conclude these our imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught us OUR Father which art in heaven c. Morning Prayer O Lord our heavenly Father almighty everlasting God which hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day defend us in the same with thy mighty power grant that this day we fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance to doe alwayes that is righteous in thy sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Evening Prayer LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only Son our Savior Jesus Christ Amen THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen III. SUPPLICATION SUpplication is another branch of praier whereby we intreat of God that hee would give us such blessings as we want or continue and inlarge such blessings as we have received And these blessings are either corporal or spiritual temporal or eternal For such blessings as are spiritual and accōpany salvation pray for them in the first place First seek the Kingdom of God the righteuosness thereof we may pray for them absolutely for the other we must pray conditionally with a reference submission of our will to Gods will who best knows what is good for us Not my will but thine be done Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven O Thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come Psal 65.2 Lord hear my voice let thine eares be attentive to my supplications Psal 130.2 Behold now that I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord who am but dust and ashes O let not the Lord bee angry and I will speak THE LETANY of Supplication THat it may pleafe thee to fill mine heart and my mouth with thy praise all my life long for all thy faithfulnesse and truth and loving kindness shewed to me in the land of the living I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to give me a clear judgment to see my sins holy affections to hate and abhorre them true repentance to bewail and forsake them with a stedfast purpose and resolution against them for the time to come I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to wash mee throwly from mine iniquities and to cleanse me from my sins that I may be whiter then snow I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to apply to my conscience the obedience of the life and the sacrifice of the death of Jesus Christ for the assurance of thy favour and my pardon I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to create in me a clean heart to renew a right spirit within me to give me truth in my inward parts and to establish me with thy free Spirit I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to give me such graces as I want and to increase those which I have that I may grow frō strength to strength till I become a perfect man I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to make me an instrument of thy glory to direct all my thoughts words works for the inlargement advancement of thy Kingdome I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to establish in mee the Kingdome of thy power to rule and awe me and the Kingdome of thy grace to sanctifie me to the knowledge love and obedience of thy will I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to enable me to doe thy will with chearfulness alacrity with perseverance and constancy as thy blessed Angels and Saints in heaven do it I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to open thy full hand to bestow upon me the necessaries of this life the fruits of the earth in due season with the continuance of health liberty and peace I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to give me thy blessing with them that I may use them wisely soberly justly charitably thankfully and contentedly I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to blesse me in all the works of my calling with grace and strength to obtain to keep and to use a good conscience towards thee my neighbours to my lives end I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. That it may please thee to sanctifie my life to sweeten my death and to raise up my body in the day of the Lo Jesus I beseech thee to heare me good Lord. Finally that it may please thee to give me my masters joy my fathers inheritance the Crown of righteousness the glory of the new Jerusalem to satisfie me with that fulness of joy which is in thy presence I beseech thee to heare me
22 Fourthly there is required a stedfast purpose and settled resolution against sin for the trme to come The Church in the administration of this Sacrament cals such only as intend to lead a new life to follow the Commandements of God to walk from thenceforth in his holy ways The Paschall Lambe was to be eaten by such only as were circumcised The Manna was to be put into a pot of pure gold The body of Christ crucified was wrapt in fine linnen and laid in a new Spulchre Sorrow for sin without resolution of amendment is like the pumping in a Ship without stopping the leak that lets in the water In the Law if a man held the unclean thing still in his hand he was unclean though he washed his hand never so often Fiftly there is required Charity with all men The Paschall Lambe was to be eaten without leaven The Serpent disgorges his poison when he coms to drink Be as wise as Serpents Let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice 1 Cor. 5.8 If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Mat. 5.23 24. The three wise men went first to Ierusalem then to Bethlehem first to the vision of peace then to the house of bread The cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ The bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ For we being many are one bread and one body 1 Cor. 10.16 17. The signs of bread wine used in the Sacrament may teach us love charity Many grains are kneaded together into one loafe Many grapes are pressed together in one cup. If thus thou hast made thy peace with God and the world draw neare Tast and see how sweet the Lord is Psal 34.8 Eate O friend drink yea drink abundantly O beloved Cant. 5.1 A short Prayer before we receive the Sacrament O Most gracious and merciful Lord God thou hast called all those that are weary heavy laden with the burthen of their sins to come unto thee and hast promised that thou wilt ease and refresh them thou hast invited all those that hunger and thirst after thy Kingdome and the righteousnesse thereof to come to thy Table to taste of thy Supper and hast promised that thou wilt satisfie them In affiance therefore of these promises I come to thee blessed Lord Jesus beseeching thee to ease me to refresh me to satisfie me with thy mercy for my soul hungers and thirsts after thee thy salvation I confesse and acknowledge that my daily sins have made me unworthy of my daily bread much more of this Manna this bread of life which came down from heaven I confesse also that I am not prepared according to the preparation of thy Sanctuary yet for as much as I have this day set my heart to seek thee thou O good God be merciful unto me And though I cannot bring with me a clean heart for who can say his heart is clean yet behold O Lord I bring with me a contrite heart and a broken spirit despise not O God this sacrifice As for the sinnes that I have committed against thee binde them up into one bundle and cast them into the bottomlesse sea of thy mercy bury them in the wounds and wash them away in the bloud of that immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus and for the time to come so sprinkle my conscience with the same bloud that being clensed from dead works I may serve thee the living God in righteousness and true holiness all the days of my life That so this blessed Sacrament may be a means to quiet my conscience to increase my faith to inflame my charity to amend my life to save my soul to assure me that I am in the number of those blessed ones who shal eate at thy table and be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Grant this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I conclude these my imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught me Our Father c. At the receiving of this Sacrament IN the receiving of the Lords Supper many particulars would rather distract us then direct us these few I suppose most considerable First let thine eyes be upon the actions of the Minister observe the breaking of the bread and the powring out of the wine The breaking of the bread will minde thee how the body of Christ was bruised and broken The pouring out of the wine wil remēber thee of the shedding of his bloud It was shed for thee When he was circumcised When he was scourged When he sweat in the garden When he was crowned with thorns But especially to which this Sacrament hath immediate relation When he was nailed to the cross When his fide was pierced The bloud of Christ clenseth us from all sins 1 John 1.17 It speaketh better things then the bloud of Abel Heb. 12.24 It is precious bloud 1 Pet. 1.19 And all this because it is the bloud of God Acts 20.28 Secondly discern the Lords body 1 Cor. 11.29 We must consider the consecrated bread not as the bread of the Lord but as that bread which is the Lord. Not as our common ordinary daily bread but as the body of Christ sacramentally We must consider the wine not as the bloud of the grape but as the bloud of Christ in a true yet sacramentall manner Christ is truly present in the Sacrament it is the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his bloud John 6.56 Not naturally and corporally This is an hard saying who can hear it Joh. 6.60 The flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and life Joh. 6.63 Thirdly receive it kneeling This gesture is most sutable It signifies an humble and gratefull acknowledgement of those benefits we receive in this Sacrament Again the Minister when he gives and we when we receive joyn together in a short but sweet prayer The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee c. The bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee c. No gesture so sutable for prayer as kneeling Again it is appointed ordered by the Church Let all things be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14.40 Though I be absent frō you in the flesh yet am I present with you in the spirit joying and beholding your order Col. 2.5 After the receiving of this Sacrament WHen thou hast been partaker of the Lords Supper First of all give thanks It is a duty which we owe for our ordinary suppers It was called the Eucharist from this duty of thanksgiving It is the cup of blessing God blesseth us and we must blesse God God gives us the cup of
bring forth Prov. 27.1 If not an end of thy sins it may be an end of thy life If it bring not forth conversion it may bring forth confusion Go to now ye that say To day or to morrow we will do thus or thus whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life It is even a vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away I am 4.13 14 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave whither thou goest Eccles 9.10 We are but tenants at will and we know not how soon our great Land-lord may discharge us Doe therefore as the wise Steward before thou beest turned out of this house make sure of another Luke 16.4 CAP. III. The place uncertain DEath surprized Abel when he was walking in the field Gen. 4.8 Eli when he was sitting at his doore 1 Sam. 4.18 Jobs children at a feast Job 1.19 Eglon in his summer parlour Judg. 3.20 Zacharias betwixt the Temple and the Altar Mat. 23.35 Senacherib in the house of Nisroch his god Isa 37.38 Ishbosheth whilest hee slept in his bedchamber 2 Sam. 4.7 The Philistims whilest they were sporting in the Theatre Judg. 16.30 Herod whilest he fate upon his throne Act. 12.23 Expect that therefore in every place which in every place expects thee And let not the place of thy death trouble thee for the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof CAP. IV. The manner uncertain THere is a naturall death when a man dies as a lamp goes out because there is no more oile to feed it And there is a violent death when the soul is thrust out of doors and the lamp of life not burnt but blown out There is a timely death when a man comes to his grave in his full age as a shock of corn cometh in in his season Job 5.26 And there is an untimely death when a man is cropt as an ear of corn before it be white unto the harvest There is a lingring death when the soule is besieged with sicknesse and as it were starved and tired out of her habitation And there is a sudden death which strikes without giving warning There is a quiet death a departing in peace when the soul doth as it were steal out of the body unperceived And there is a death accompanied with raving madnesse and distemperature Now who knows which of these deaths are appointed for him Josiah dies by the hurt of an arrow 2 Chr. 35.23 A Prophet of God by the teeth of a Lion 1 Kings 13.24 Abimelech by the fall of a stone Judges 9.53 Jezabel is eaten up of dogs 2 Kings 9.36 Two Captains with their fifties are consumed by fire from Heaven 2 Kings 1.14 There are ten thousand diseases in the world and no man in his health knows which shall make an end of him For unto God the Lord belong the issues of death Psal 68.20 SECTION III. NOW because Death is the King of terrors and of all terrible things the most terrible so that the very thought and remembrance of it is as bitter to flesh and bloud as the waters of Marah I thought good to cast in these Meditations to sweeten it CAP. I. Death is a sleep SLeep is nothing else but a short death and death what is it but a long sleep Hence antiquity made these two brethen Lazarus our friend sleepeth John 11.11 And when Stephen had said thus he fell asleep Acts 7.60 Brethren I would not have you ignorant concerning them that are asleep 1 Thes 4.13 The places appointed for buriall were called Coemeteries that is sleeping places Now the sleep of a labouring man is sweet Eccles 5.12 Lord if he sleep he shall do wel Joh. 11.12 Hence also is it that our graves are called onr beds They shall rest in their beds every one walking in his uprightnesse Isa 57.2 Jobs bed was full of tossings to and fro Job 7.4 Davids bed was watered with tears Ps 6.6 Nebuchadnezzars bed affrighted him with troublesome thoughts fearfull dreames and strange visions Dan. 4.5 But this bed in the Hebrew tongue is called Dumah because it is a place of rest and silence I will lay me down in peace and take my rest Psal 4.8 In vita vigilant justi ideo in morte dicuntur dormire Aug. CAP. II. Death hath no sting DOgges that have no teeth may bark at us but they cannot bite us Serpents that have no stings may hisse at us but cannot hurt us Bees they say when they have lost their stings become droans ever after Death lost her sting in the side of our Saviour and though it still leap upon us we may shake it off as Paul did the viper without hurt Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you Luke 10.19 Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting Thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56. CAP. III. Death is good for us WEE may say of death as David did of Ahimaaz He is a good man and bringeth good tidings 2 Sam. 18.27 First the death of the body frees us from the body of death the Law of the members the prick in the flesh the relicks of corruption The good which I would do I cannot do and the evill which I would not doe that doe I Rom. 7.19 I see a law in my members warring against the law in my minde Rom. 7.23 This makes every child of God cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me Why Death doth it for he that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 Secondly it frees us from the miseries and incumbrances of this life So many are the miseries and calamities of this life that were it not for the hope of heaven it would not be much better then hell Crosses come as thick upon us as Jobs messengers The life of man is a winters day very short and very cloudy Few and evill have the days of my life been Gen. 47.9 Man that is born of a woman is of few days full of trouble few are our days but many our troubles Job 14.1 The day of death is the year of Jubilee and frees us of all these evils There the wicked cease from troubling there the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together and heare not the voice of the oppressour The small and great are there and the servant is free from his master Job 3.17 18 19. Hence the Heathen said it was the best thing not to be born at all and the next to that was to die quickly It was the custome of many nations to weep at the birth of their friends and to rejoyce at their burials and not unwisely says Ambros in orat de fide resurr