now Lord what wait Iâ—for truely my Hope is even in thee Ps. 39. 7. My Flesh and my Heart faileth but thou art the Strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever Ps. 73. 26. I Stretch out my hands unto thee my Soul Thirsteth after thee as a Thirsty Land Ps. 43. 6. All my Desire is before thee and my Groaning is not hid from thee Ps. 38. 9. Hide not then thy Face from me and forget not my misery and Trouble Ps. 44. 24. Cast me not off nor forsake me when my Strength faileth Ps. 71. 9. And rebuke me not O! Lord in thine Anger neither chasten me in thy heavy Displeasure Ps. 6. 1. But remove thy Stroke away from me for I am consumed by the blow of thine hand Ps. 39. 10. Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro and wilt thou pursue the dry Stubble Job 13. 25. Oh! Spare me a little that I may recover my Strength before I go hence and be no more Ps. 39. 13. Be not wroth verâ—y sore O! Lord neither remember iniquity for ever Is. 64. 9. But turn from me that I may rest till I accomplish as an hireling my day Job 14. 6. and Ch. 10. 20. 21. Hear my Prayer O! Lord and give ear unto my cry hold not thy Peace at my Tears Ps. 39. 12. Be merciful unto me O! Lord for I cry unto thee Daily And thou art good and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon thee Rejoyce the Soul of thy Servant for unto thee O! Lord do I lift up my Soul Ps. 86. 3 4 5. And hear me speedily O! Lord for my Spirit faileth Ps. 143. 7. And mine Eyes fail for thy word saying when wilt thou comfort me Ps. 119. 82. And make me hear of joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Ps. 51. 8. Glory be to the Father c. II. For Deliverance and Recovery from the same I. IN thee O! Lord do I put my Trust let me never be ashamed deliver me in thy Righteousness Ps. 31. 1. Vnto thee have I cryed O! Lord and in the morning shall my Prayer prevent thee Ps. 88. 13. Hear my Prayer O! Lord and hide not thy Self from my Petition Take heed unto me and hear me how I mourn in my Prayer and am vexed Ps. 55. 1 2. Lord how long wilt thou be angry with thy Servant that prayeth Ps. 8. 4. Save me for thy Names sake and deliver me in thy Strength Ps. 54. 1. Make thy Face to shine upon thy Servant and save me for thy Mercies sake Ps. 31. 16. O! Let it be thy Pleasure to deliver me make hast O! Lord to help me Ps. 40. 13. And send out thy Light and thy Truth and let them lead me and bring me unto thy Holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles Ps. 43. 3. II. What profit is there in my Blood if I go down unto the Pit shall the dust praise thee Shall it declare thy Truth Ps. 30. 9. Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the Grave or thy Faithfulness in Destruction Shall thy wonders be known in the Dark and thy Righteousness in the Land of Forgetfulness Ps. 88. 11 12. The Living the Living he shall Praise thee the Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth Isa. 38. 19. Thou hast been my Succor leave me not neither forsake me O! God of my Salvation Ps. 27. 9. Thou art he that tookest me out of my Mothers Womb thou wast my hope when I hanged yet upon my Mothers Breasts I have been left unto thee ever since I was born thou art my God even from my Mothers Womb. Our Fathers also hoped in thee they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them They called upon thee and were holpen they put their trust in thee and were not confounded Ps. 22. 4 5 9 10. And the Poor shall not always be forgotten and the Patient abiding of the meek shall not perish for ever Ps. 9. 18. O! Then deliver me and let me not be confounded for I have put my Trust in thee Ps. 25. 19. And men shall know that this is thy hand and that thou Lord hast done it Ps. 109. 26. Glory be to the Father c. On Receipt of Ease or any Abatement of Pain or Sickness BEhold God is my Salvation I will trust and not be affraid for the Lord Jehovah is my Strength and my Song he also is become my Salvation Thou wast angry with me O! Lord thine Anger is turned away and thou Comfortedst me Isa. 12. 1 2. He hath chastned me sore but he hath not given me over unto Death Ps. 118. 18. He knows our Frame he remembreth that we are Dust. And like as a Father Pityeth his Children so the Lord Pitieth those that fear him Ps. 103. 13 14. Glory be to the Father c. IV. Vnder the Accidents of Sickness I. Want of Sleep ALL the night make I my Bed to swim I water my Couch with my Tears Ps. 6. 6. For thou holdest mine Eyes waking I am so feeble that I cannot speak My sore ran in the night and ceased not My Soul refused to be comforted I call to Remembrance my Song in the night I commune with mine own Heart and my Spirit maketh diligent search Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his Promise fail for evermore Hath God forgotten to be Gracious hath he in Anger shut up his tender Mercies And I said this is my infirmity but I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old Ps. 77. 2 4 6 7 8 9 10 11. Lord I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches Ps. 63. 6. I have remembred thy name O! Lord in the night and have kept thy Law Ps. 119. 55. Glory be to the Father c. 2. On Excess of pain and weariness Lord thou hast set me as a mark against thee so that I am a Burden to my self In the day time I cry and cease not and wearisome nights are appointed to me When I lye down I say when shall I arise and the night be gone and I am full of Tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day Job 7. 3 4 20. Thou wilt not suffer me to take my Breath but fillest me with bitterness Job 9. 18. O! turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me give thy strength unto thy Servant and save the Son of thine Handmaid Ps. 86. 16. Are not my days few cease then Lord and let me alone that I may take comfort a little Job 10 20. O! spare me a little that I may recover my strength Ps. 39. 13. And lay not more upon me than I am able to bear 1 Cor. 10. 13. My Grace sayest thou is sufficient for thee and my strength shall be made perfect in weakness 2 Cor. 12. 9. And in the multitude of my Thoughts
within me thy comforts Lord delight my Soul Ps. 94. 19. Glory be to the Father c. 3. On taking Physick Man liveth not by Bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Mat. 4. 4. And it was neither Herb nor mollifying Plaster that restored them to health but thy word O! Lord which healeth all things For thou hast power of Life and Death thou leadest to the Gates of Hell and bringest up again Wisd. 16. 12 13. He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from Death Ps. 68. 20. The Lord hath created Medicines out of the Earth and he that is wise will not abhor them And with such doth he heal men and taketh away their Pains For of the most High cometh healing and he hath given men Skill that he might be honoured in his marve lous works Ecclus. 38. 2 4 6 7. My time is in thy hand therefore I trust in thee O Lord Ps. 31. 14 15. Oh! Send thy word and heal me and deliver me from my Destruction Ps. 107. 20. Glory be to the Father c. V. For Attendants about Sick Persons I. HE that is ready to slip with his feet is as a Lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease Job 12. 5. But to him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his Friends Job 6. 14. For a Friend loveth at all times and a Brother is born for adversity Prov. 17. 17. And if your Soul were in my Souls stead I would strengthen you with my mouth and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief Job 16. 4 5. But my Brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook and as the stream of brooks they pass away As Brooks that are blackish with Ice wherein Snow is hid What time they wax warm they vanish when it is hot they are consumed out of their place Now ye are nothing you see my casting down and are afraid Yea you dig a pit for your friend Job 6. 15 16 17 21 27. II. Whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it or one member rejoyce all the members rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12. 26. Distribute then to the necessity of Saints and weep with those that weep Rom. 12. 13 15. And he that sheweth mercy let him do it with chearfulness v. 8. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which ye have shew'd towards his Name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do Minister Heb. 6. 10. I was sick and ye visited me In as much as ye have done it to the least of these my Brethren ye did it unto me Mat. 25. 36 40. And this is pure and undefiled Religion to visit the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction Jam. 1. 27. And the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning for by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better That is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Eccles. 7. 2 3 4. Glory be to the Father c. VI. An Hymn of Thanksgiving for Recovery from Sickness IN my wrath I smote thee but in my favour have I had mercy on thee Is. 60. 10. The Lord hath chastned me sore but he hath not given me over unto death Ps. 118. 18. In love to my soul he hath delivered it from the pit of corruption for he hath cast all my sins behind his back Is. 38. 17. O! Lord my God thou hast considered my trouble thou hast known my soul in adversities Ps. 31. 7. Thou healest the broken in heart and bindest up their wounds Psal. 147. 3. And I cryed unto thee and thou hast healed me And hast turned for me my mourning into dancing thou hast put off my Sack-cloath and girded me with gladness To the end that my Glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent O! Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Ps. 30. 2 11 12. My Mouth shall shew forth thy Righteousness and thy Salvation all the day For I know not the numbers thereof And my Lips shall greatly rejoyce when I sing unto thee and my Soul which thou hast redeemed Psal. 71. 15. 23. O! Sing unto the Lord ye Saints of his and give thanks at the Remembrance of his Holiness Ps. 30. 4. And ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield Ps. 115. 11. To the upright he maketh light to arise in the darkness Ps. 112. 4. For his Anger endureth but a moment in his Favour is Life Weeping may endure for a Night but Joy cometh in the Morning Psal. 30. 5. I will offer the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord Ps. 116. 17. And I will pay thee my Vows O! God which my Lips have uttered and my Mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble Psal. 66. 13 14. I will not hide thy Righteousness within my Heart I will declare thy Faithfulness and thy Salvation I will not conceal thy Loving Kindness and thy Truth from the great Congregation Psal. 40. 10. I will pay my Vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his People In the Courts of the Lord's House in the midst of thee O! Jerusalem Praise ye the Lord Psal. 116. 18 19. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end Amen PRAYERS FOR THE Duties and Needs OF SICK PERSONS I. A General Prayer for things needful under Sickness O! Almighty and most Righteous Lord who makest sore and bindest up and in whose Hands are the Issues of life and death Give me Grace to look upon this my Sickness as of thy sending â—nd to own both the justice and the mercifulness of thy Visitation and of my suffering therein and to look up to thee for strength to bear and for Grace to profit by the same It comes O! My God as thy scourge for my sins which is to make me see them and avoid them And as thy Medicine to cure my Spiritual Diseases and repair in me the Decays of thy Grace And as thy Fiery Tryal which is to prove my Virtues and to purge away my Dross And Lord Let it not miss of serving and effecting in me all these Gracious purposes And make all my thoughts under the same to be only thoughts of Love and Thankfulness of Holy Resignation and Obedience unto thee and of humble hope in thy Mercy And suffer me not to fall into impatience or mistrust of thy Love and Gracious promises or into any evil and indecent carriage which will add to my guilt if I die or to my remorse and shame if I live Temper my Sorrows also O! Father to my weakness and support me under them by thy Comforts And direct and recompence the labours and kindness of
lasting Interests throwing away thy favour and future Joys for empty shows and shadows and a blessed Eternity for moments of Vanity I reflect on all this O! Merciful God with bitterness and with a Spirit wearied with mine own ways I see and lament my own folly and abhor mine own vileness on account thereof I wish with all my Soul that those Sins had never been done and would take any way to undoe them and most earnestly desire and fnlly purpose by thy Grace that I may do so no more God be merciful to me a self-condemning and repenting Sinner 3. LOrd I am burden'd and heavy laden with my Sins Oh! Do thou who callest out to the heavy laden to seek refreshment at thine Hands give me ease I confess them and desire above all things else that I may utterly forsake them Let me according to my Promise find Mercy From mine Heart I forgive all Persons who have offended me even my bitterest Enemies and most earnestly entreat thee that thou wouldst forgive them Oh! Do thou who offerest forgiveness to those who are ready to grant it for Jesus Christ's sake forgive me I repent unfeignedly of all my Sins and am ready to make all just amends at least as far as I am able to any whom I have ever injured whether they be of low or of high Degree or even the highest of all O! God of all Grace perfect my Repentance and accept it and blot out all my misdeeds as thou engagest to do unto all those who sincerely repent of the same I know O! Blessed Jesus that there is no Name but thine whereby I can obtain Pardon And I trust only to the fulness of thy Merits and to the faithfulness of thy gracious Promises and to the abundance of my Heavenly Father's Mercy and Loving Kindness to me a great and miserable but an Humble Contrite Penitent Sinner Forgive them all O! Blessed Father Remembring not my Deservings but the pityableness of my Weakness and thy Dear Sons infinite Merits and thine own boundless Mercies and most precious Promises Let me here have thy Peace and be admitted hereafter to stand for ever in thy â—resence for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake Amen Our Father c. For carrying on this duty of Repentance the sick person may likewise make use of the Prayer for Profession of Godly Sorrow for Sins and of Resolutions of New Obedience and of the Profession of the Fruits of Repentance and the Conditions of Forgiveness and of the Prayer for Pardon of sins in the Office for Penitents And for comforting and quieting his Conscience against Fears and Scruples he may be supplyed with Hymns and Prayers in the Office for Persons troubled in mind all which are in the Companion to the Penitent II. Prayers for an Heart to be Liberal in Alms-Deeds when any Persons are about to make their Will or to accompany Repentance at any time leaving out the Passages within the Hooks which particularly refer to their last Wills I. O! Almighty Father thou gavest me all my worldly Estate that I should employ it for the convenient support of my self and of my Family and of the â—oor and Needy And when I come to thee I can have nothing to carry along with me but a strict account how I have laid it out Give me Grace therefore I earnestly intreat thee after I have made a wise provision for my Family out of it with a free and glad heart to give good Portions thereof to the poor who are thy Receivers or to Religious and Pious uses that when I can no longer possess my Estate I may come with joy to give up my account of it and that when my worldly Goods can no longer profit me my good disposal thereof may thro the Merits of my only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 2. AND whatsoever I give to the Poor or to pious uses for thy sake give me the Heart O! Lord to do it with a good Will and with a Liberal Hand For thou O! My God hast freely given the whole of this Estate to me and therefore it is not for me to be narrow and niggardly in these Returns of a small part thereof which I make to thee And these Pious and Charitable Gifts alas Have been far too few and too poor and slender all my life and therefore I need to supply that Defect by being more liberal therein at my Death And what I thus give out of it O! Blessed Jesu is to thy poor Members who are all my near Kindred and Brethren in the Spirit Yea Lord by such Acts of Mercy I know that iniquity is purged And by this use of the Mammon of unrighteousness I may make my self Friends in thy Presence And the Poors Prayers and Thanksgivings for any relief or comfort which they have received by my means may heap Blessings on my head whilst I live and help much to recommend me to thy mercy and gracious Acceptance when I die So that these Gifts to them O! Blessed Lord are the truest way I have of giving to my self and are much more for my own relief than for theirs And I do and will look upon them as a laying up Treasure for my self in Heaven and making a Return of my wealth for my own use and behoof in another Life And reckon that what I wisely give in this kind I take and carry away with me to stand me in stead in the most needful time of thy mercy thro' Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour Amen â— A Prayer at the Oblation or giving of our Alms or on alloting any sums to charitable or Pious uses O! Blessed Lord I humbly intreat thee Graciously to accept of this poor return of the worldly Substance which thou hast committed unto me I offer it to thee for the use of thy poor Members whom I look upon as my poor Brethren I offer it with an Heart that is truly sorrowful for all my Sins and thankful for all thy Mercies that seeks acceptance for it only for the sake of thy Sons merits and from thy mere Grace and Favour and that is ashamed for its having made the offering no sooner and now for offering no more And all my Alms and Repentance I present and put into thy Hands O! Holy Jesu in the Communion of Saints and in the Unity of thy Holy Church which is thy Body and Spouse and whereto thou hast given the precious Promises of Grace and Pardon and eternal Life O! Father in the Unity of this Body let me find mercy And accept mine Alms as an Oblation of a sweet Savour and supply and perfect all my Wants and purge away all my Sins thro' the merits of my only Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ Amen Our Father which art c. III. Prayers for Trust in God in Sickness I. O! Almighty Lord under all my weakness and pains of Body and uncertain Prospects for my self and for
thy word be verified unto thy Servant and let me not be ashamed or Disappointed of my Hope I trust and depend on thee do not thou fail or forsake me Leave me not under my Troubles but relieve and comfort me according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted me and turn my Mourning into Joy that they who love thee may see it and learn thereby to Praise thy mercy and to put their trust in the same thro' Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 6. Prayers of Sick or dying Persons for trusting God with their Friends or Kindred I. LOrd if thou seest fit to call me home to thy self by this Sickness when I am taken from my Wife and Children and from those who under thee depend on me give them Grace I earnestly intreat thee to betake themselves to thee I commit them to thee O! God of mercy and truth for they are thine and with thee the Fatherless find mercy Yea thou art the Father of the Fatherless and the judge of the Widows and will shew thy self might to plead their cause And my Heart is at ease to have them lodged in thy care where they are infinitely safer and will be infinitely happier and better provided for than ever they could be in mine or in any others without thine I freely commit them to it O! Blessed Lord having my self always found the â—lessing of being under it and of trusting to it And I beg no greater Blessing for them than that they may ever have thy good Providence for their Inheritance in this world and thy Peace for their Portion in the world to come for Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. When I am gone O! my dear God they are thrown upon thee who art the Husband of the Widow and the Father of the Fatherless And Lord as thou art their Father provide against all their wants and Protect them from all wrongs Supply to them by thy kind Providence what they want in outward helps And altho' they have none to Counsel them where they are unskilful and unexperienced nor to right them where they are injured nor to furnish and supply them where they are unprovided yet will thy Spirit be the best Guide and thy Care and thy Blessing will abundantly make up all At my Departure O! Father they are bereft of their earthly stay But thou art better than Friend or Husband or Father or Mother Yea than allot her supports put together Oh! then do not thou leave them but when I am gone stay thou still with them And be thou to them whatsoever I would be and more than I could be if I were still employ'd by thee to take care of them And enable them evermore to place their love and delight in thee and to fix their Trust and Confidence in thy mercy Oh! that thâ— Will and Honour may always be their care that so their needs and welfare may always be thine And keep them from polluting themselves with any things which may forfeit thy Fatherly Care and Providence and Cry louder against them than their destitute Circumstances do for them Train them up good Lord stedfastly in thy Fear and preserve them from all the Evils and Temptations of this world and bring them safe at last to the Joys and Blessedness of that to come for Jesus Christ's fake Amen 3. Another Prayer for the Widows and Orphans c. for Trusting God with themselves O! Blessed Lord the more we are bereaved of other supports the more do thou strengthen our Faith and Confidence in thy self Make us know that we can never be destitute whilst we have thee to take care of us and that no earthly Provision is or can be so good to us as being intitled to thy good Providence For it is thy Goodness O! dear God that supplys and supports us by any earthly Friends They are only means of thy Providence and Instruments whereby thou takest care of us And thy good Providence which sends us Comforts or supplies by them when it removes them can and will find out other ways and do the same without them So that we are never without Friends and faithful helpers whilst we have thee to stand by us And thou Holy Father still remainest and thy Mercy is still the same altho this most dear and desired means of conveying the Blessed Effects thereof upon us is withdrawn Yea thou art nearer to us and more concern'd to help and provide for us now they are gone Oh! then that we may look up unto thee more than unto them and rest our Hearts more on thy staying with us than on theirs And that being taken off from earthly Dependances we may now depend more intirely upon they Promises and place our chiefest Security and Comfort in thy Love throâ— Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Our Father c. IV. Prayers for Faith in Gods Promises under Sickness I. O! Almighty Lord who relievvest our weakness by the belief and hope of thy Promises under all my weariness I take Comfort and amidst all my Temptations I rest my Soul upon thy word For under the load and guilt of my Sins I trust to the Blood of Jesus and to thy sure Promises of Forgiveness upon our true Repentance And under the Sense of their strength and of my own weakness I trust to the Promises of thy Spirit and Grace And amidst all the Decays and Miseries of this mortal Body I trust to thy sure Promises of â—mmortality I trust to thy Promises O! Father to be with me in all my Sicknesses and Sorrows to temper my afflictions to my infirmities and to give me strength in Proportion to my Needs to ease and rid me of my Pains or to support me under them whilst I live and to turn them all to my advantage in the end and to receive me to thy self when I die for my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. AND Lord let not the Adversary shake my Faith of these Gracious Promises nor let my own weakness ever betray me once to doubt of them For thou art true and canst not deceive us Thou art the faithful God who keepest covenant and mercy for ever Thy Promises are all yea and Amen And thy word is tryed and is a sure Buckler to all who trust to it Even when we think thee far off thou art near at hand to us and remembrest our Sorrows and thine own Promises when we fancy thou hast forgot them Oh! then that I may trust to thy word which shall surely be verified in its time And keep stedfastly in the Expectation that all these Mercies shall be made good unto thy Servant and Patient in waiting till thou graciously and plentifully fulfillest the same for Jesus Christ's sake Amen Our Father c. V. Prayers for Resignation to the Will of God under Sickness I. O! Almighty and most merciful God my Sorrows are great and my Flesh is weak and sore wearied
but I am willing to bear them because they are of thy sending Since thou thinkest them fit for me O! my God I will think them so too and will find no fault therewith nor think another State were better for me I humbly yield to thy Wisdom and prefer thy Will before mine own I am content to bear what thou pleasest and to be eased of my Burden when thou pleaseâ—t And desire not only silently to suffer thy Will but in my Will and Heart to be truely reconciled and consenting to it and to see thy Love and my own Benefit in my Chastisement which is sent for my Good and will work good for me in the end thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 2. AND therefore in all that doth or shall befall me in this Sickness thy Will O! Blessed Lord be done Thy Will be done because it is thine and because thou art my Father and nothing can come to me from thee but what is very agreeable with a Fathers Tenderness and Affection Thy will be done because thou knowest best what to chuâ—e for me and because I am well assured that to refer all my matters to thy Choice is the best care I can take for my self For in thy Choice thou hast not less kindness but only more knowledge Care and Providence than I can have in chusing for my self For as for me O! my God I know that I am ignorant and whilst I live in this world shall be ignorant what things thereof or what States and Conditions therein are most desireable for my Self or for my Friends I am foolish in my wishes too oft opposing that which is most safe for me and which is fit or it may be needful to do me good and as often coveting that which is full of Danger and like to do me hurt And therefore I renounce my own Will which is blind and foolish and which if I could have it would too often be to my sorrow and prejudice And instead of that I refer my self wholly to be guided and disposed of by thine which never errs and is always for my real welfare and advantage And my desire is not that my foolish wishes but that thy unerring Wisdom may at all times prescribe me and mine our Portion I trust to thine All-seeing eye to direct what is best and to thy Fatherly love and care to allot it for us And where I do not see how any Orderings of thine should work for mine or for my Families or Friends good yet Lord I will believe that thou doest and that all is both wisely and kindly appointed for us because it is thy doing who bringest light out of darkness and Comforts out of Crosses and makest all things work together for good to those that love thee thro' Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 3. SEnd then O! Father what thou pleasest upon me for thou wilt send nothing but what is most fit for me I heartily submit my self to thy Pleasure for it is always a good Pleasure I wait thy Time for it is always the best time I know not what things to desire in this case for my self nor when to desire them But my safety is that I am in thy hands and that there I desire to be and to have thy Love and Wisdom chuse for me And that I am willing to receive my Mercies and Comforts from thee not when I fancy but when thou seest they will most serve and glorifie thee and benefit me thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 4. UNder my weakness O! merciful God I pour out my Complaints before thee and when I am most pressed by my Pains and Sorrows I am most earnest and importunate in my desires of ease And thou who knowest our Frame and pitiest our infirmities allowest me to be so But amidst all these Cravings and Importunities to have my own Will O! Gracious Father I desire above all things still to be intirely resigned to thine For when my Heart desires ease or deliverance it is with Submission When I ask the same according to to my desire I leave thee O! my dear God to Order for me and to Answer me according to thy most wise and good Pleasure Yea where my Pains and Sorrows are most pressing and I am most earnest and importunate in asking and desiring yet even there would I by no means prescribe to thy Wisdom nor seem to doubt of thy Love For I trust assuredly O! Father to thy indulgent Care and sure Promises of tempering my troubles to my weakness and of giving me all needful Supports under them and of turning all to my Comfort and Advantage in thy due time And I leave thee still to do me good by such ways not as I fancy but as thou seest best for me and most fit to make me sure of thine everlasting Mercy thro' Jesus Christ my Blessed Lord and Saviour Amen Our Father c. VI. Prayers for Thankfulness under Sickness I. O! Almighty and most merciful God tho' I am compassed about with Weaknesses and Sorrows yet I have no cause at all to complain of thee but have still enough to thank thee for and to speak well of thy Name And by thy Grace I will not overlook the endearing Mercies which I have out of Discontentedness for others which I have not nor quarrel with those which are still left me because others are taken away For the least of those I have O! Lord is abundantly better than I deserve And instead of being ungratefully angry for those which I have now lost I most humbly and heartily thank thee that I was allowed to have them and injoy them at all and that I lost them no sooner Yea and even as for my Sorrows themselves O! my dear God I do not only own thy Justice but reverence thy Wisdom and acknowledge thy Goodness to me therein I receive my Chastisements as thy Favours and as Tokens of thy love and means of my own Happiness which come to do me good against my Will and to lead me thro' the Valley of tears to the happy Regions of everlasting Rest and Bliss And tho' affliction it self is not joyous yet the Sense of thy Love and of my Benefit are joyous and to be received not with Complaints but with Thanksgivings Lord my Spirit is willing but my Flesh is weak But let thy Grace be the support of my weakness and the Finisher of my willingness And let the sense of thy Love and the hopes of thy Promises drown the sense of my Sorrows and fill my heart and tongue with Thanks and Praise to thee thro' Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 2. I Bless thee O! Father for all the manifold and great Mercies vouchsafed to me under my Sickness For my affliction is infinitely less than I have deserved And thou dost not send it upon me till I need it Aud when thou sendest it it is all to do me good And in doing me good this way O! Lord thou
of broken thoughts which is soon spent and wearied and cannot attend to any thing long Nay thou Graciously acceptest even of a Sigh or a Groan or a devout Wish or of a sudden Breathing and short Act of holy Love or of humble Resignation of Faith or of Patience when the decays and Drowsiness of a Spirit almost spent and ready to faint will suffer us to put up nothing else Oh! then that I may bear with my self and with the feebleness and faintness of my own Spirit in my religious Services under my Sickness And when I am the most languid and liveless in any spiritual Acts make me remember that 't is thy Blessed Will to send this State of weakness upon me And that all the while I am bearing thy Will patiently I am pleasing thee and that every moments Resignation of my Will thereto is an holy Offering Let me consider that I recommend my self to thee by the patience of hope and by meek Suffering when I have no strength left to do it by Labour and Action Nay that in the hight of my Disability even my weakness and Bodily indispositions are vocal for me and move thy Pity which in thy due time will give me ease and Deliverance from them and Graciously allow for my Faintness and accept of my poor Services under the same thro' the Merits of our most Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 6. A Prayer for the helps to Patience O! Blessed Lord under all my Grief and Misery help me I humbly and earnestly beseech thee to all those good Dispositions and wise Thoughts and Considerations which may make it easie to me Keep me humble O! God and I shall quietly stoop to my Burden and not complain Teach me to deny my self and my own desires and I shall contentedly bear my Cross. Let me have hope in thee as an Anchor of rest and keep me from doubting of thy Love and from mistrusting thy Grace and sure Promises and I shall bear up under my Load yea bear up with Comfort and in thy due time see an happy end thereof Give me Peace in my own mind and I shall be the stronger to endure the troubles of this World and thy Comforts in my Soul shall support and defend me against all the Storms and Tumults that are raised in my Body And Lord let me not stand to reckon up my Sorrows after they are past and to renew them to my Self by calling them over again in a painful Remembrance Especially let me not aggravate them to my Self by envious Reflections and discontented Comparisons with the easier state of others Nor let me anticipate them by frightful Imaginations before they come and when by thy Grace they may very likely never come or any other ways create Sorrows to my self where really thou dost not send them But keep me from all such Reflexion on them as serves not to reform me but only to afflict me and as tends not to enable me to bear my Pains but only to give Strength and quickness to them and Feebleness and Trouble to my self And Grant O! Holy Father that forgetting still what is past I may every moment set my self with all my might to bear what lyes upon me at present And that under the same my thoughts may all busie themselves in justifying thy Goodness and Arraigning mine own wickedness and in casting about how I may bear my Affliction patiently and devoutly and learn Obedience thereby and how I may be comforted under it at present and turn it to my everlasting ease and joy in the end thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 7. Prayers containing Motives to Patience I. LOrd make me Patient under all I suffer because it is thy doing and my Deserving Make me look upon my Afflictions as Tokens of thy Love and Care of me which are not sent upon me till they are needful for my good and for thy Glory and which tho' they are troublesome are yet exceding wholsome For they come to keep my Soul from being corrupted and lost by Ease and Pleasures and to cure me of my Errors and earthly Afflictions and of my Forgetfulness of better things and to raise my Heart to thee on whom it should always fix and from whom it should never stray And keep me sensible O! Almighty God that impatience doth only double my Disease That it makes me troublesome to others but most of all unto my self And that it provokes thy wrath instead of diverting it and makes more severity necessary to break my Spirit when less will not suffice to bend it to thy Yoke Whereas humble Submission to thy Will O! Lord is the readiest way to have mine own and my bearing thy Rod with Faith and Patience and hearkning to the voyce thereof is the readiest way I can take of hastning on my own Deliverance For when there is no hindrance thereto from other wise ends of thy Providence thou art wont to grow weary of using the Rod after it has show'd us our Errours and art inclined to spare us when we submit our selves Not smiting us for any pleasure and delight thou takest in the Pains of thy Servants but to bring down our Spirits and to purge away our Sins that we may be fit and duely qualified for thy Love and for our own everlasting Happiness thro' the Merits of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 2. AND tho' my Pain and Sickness is hard to be born O! Gracious God yet keep me ever mindful that there is need of much heat in the Furnace to fine the gold and to purge away the Dross That I need to bear some Hardships to prevent worse and cannot be torn from my Sins and from thy Wrath without some violence Yea Lord that it is a Favour to me and very desireable to be visited with these short Pains which thy Grace and my Patience will turn at last into durable Joys rather than to be let alone in my Sins to lye down without ease or remedy in everlasting Torments And whilst I am bearing my hard Lot make me know O! Father that all thy Promises of Grace and help in time of need are sure and stedfast That thou tenderly considerest my weakness both in sending of my Sorrows and in proportioning of my Succours That thou hearest all my Groans and pitiest them and wilt find a cure or put and end to them in thy due Time And that thou art most ready to accept of my humble Repentance to appease thy wrath making such allowances for my frailty and Forgetfulness as our needs do require and as thine infinite Mercy and Goodness and thy Gospel Promises do bid us comfortably hope for thro' the Merits and Mediation of our only Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ Amen 3. AND whatever my Hardships and Sorrows be O! God of Patience and of all Consolations make me consider that this World is the place of Sorrow and Trouble whereof all must expect to bear their share That
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
one or other whereof may still be recited by her Self or read to her by her Friends as often as she pleases 1. LOrd now my Sorrows have got hold upon me let thy strength come in to support me Oh! let not my Burdens come faster upon me than thy Succours do But give me Patience to bear my Pains and quietly to wait thy time of easing them Give me Faith to relye upon thy Mercy and Promises and to believe that they will be shewn towards me and fulfilled upon me in their Season Give me Comfort under my pangs and after them And as thou hast enabled me to conceive a Child and to bear it hitherto in my Womb so now to Crown those Blessings give me strength to bring it forth at its full time and if it may please thee neither let my Pains be too sharp nor too long before I am happily delivered of the same for my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christs sake Amen 2. O! Almighty God do thou direct the Counsels and Endeavours of those who charitably Minister about me Guide them to ways that are most for mine and my Childs safety and ease and of quickest dispatch Oh! let thy Counsel and thy hand go along with theirs for they can do nothing without thee Let me now be thy Care for thou art my Confidence And save and deliver me for now is the hour of my extreme need and of thy shewing Pity and Mercy on me thro' the Merits and Mediation of my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 3. LOrd I receive these Pangs as the Sorrows which thou hast justly laid upon our Sex for being first in Disobedience I accept them as the punishment of mine iniquity Oh! let that appease and pacifie thee I resist not but submit my self to them meekly Oh! then smite not too sore nor lay too much upon me But proportion both their Degrees and continuance not according to my Sins but according to my weakness and as may best suit with thy tender Mercies thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 4. SUpport me O! dear God for I am weak Support me for I am one that fears thee Support thou me for I trust my Self unto thee and wait on thee and long sore for thy Mercy and my safe Delivery for Jesus Christ's sake Amen 5. MAke hast to help me O! Lord and deliver me speedily for my Spirit waxeth faint This speedy ease my Flesh earnestly desires if thou seest it fit for me But yet I humbly submit the same to thee For be it quicker or â—lower thy time I acknowledge is always best Oh! then deliver me when thou pleasest and give me Patience to wait for my Delivery And delay it no longer O! my dear God than suits best with my weakness and with thy Goodness for my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen Short Ejaculations which she may use in time of her Travel LOrd my Groans are not hid from thee let not thy mercy be hid from me Thy Terrours come about me and threaten me on every side but what time I am afraid I will still put my trust in thee Consider O! my God that I am made of Flesh very sensible of Pains and short in Patience Oh! lay not too much upon me Help me Lord for thou art my hope Make hast to my help for my Spirit waxeth faint Oh! Jesu who wast thy self born of a Woman help this tender Babe strugling for Birth Amen IV. Prayers after Delivery The Collect in the Office of Churching of Women which may be said by some Friend there present O! Almighty God we give thee humble Thanks for that thou hast vouchsafed to deliver this Woman thy Servant from the great Pain and Peril of Child-birth Grant we beseech thee most merciful Father that she thro' thy help may both faithfully live and walk according to thy Will in this Life present and also may be partaker of everlasting Glory in the Life to come thro' Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Other Prayers which may be read to her for her devoutly to offer up to God her Friends heartily concurring and saying Amen with her 1. A Thanksgiving for safe Deliverance O! Father of Mercies what Thanks can I worthily give unto thee for thine unspeakable Goodness to my helpless Babe and me and for the wondrous things which thou hast now done for my Soul For the Pangs and Terrors of Death got hold of me and the mouth of the Pit was opened and ready to shut it self upon me But thou hast Graciously asswaged those Pains and wrought Deliverance and turned my Sorrows into Joys Lord I will ever adore and magnifie thy Mercy which hath dealt so lovingly with me and praise thy Truth and Faithfulness which have not suffered thy Promises or my Hopes to fail I will never forget how mindful thou hast been of me in my low Estate and how thou hast been a present help in the time of my greatest need For I have felt thy Power O! my God in my greatest weakness and have been enabled thereby above my strength I have tasted thy Goodness in the midst of all my piercing Pangs and Sorrows for thou didst comfort and support me under them and dist measure them out to me according as I could bear them and in tender Pity didst send ease yea hast turned those Sorrows into Joys when I could bear no more And oh that all thy Saints may praise thee for the Glories of thy Power and Mercy That they may be encouraged to fear and trust thee for the wonders which thou host wrought for me And that I may never grow weary of waiting on thee remembring how gracious thou art still in the end to me nor despair of thy most seasonable help and merciful Deliverance in my greatest Streights and Difficulties thro' my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 2. A Prayer for Grace and Assistance under the remaining Sorrows and Tryals of Child-bed PErfect Good Lord that Deliverance both to my child and me which thou hast most graciously begun and let us not be â—ost after the Wonders which thou hast already done for us for want of thy doing a little more Continue my Patience O! Father and my Humble dependance and comfortable hope in thee under any further pains and Accidents of my Child-bed Support my Spirit under them and if thou pleasest bring me safely thro' the same and raise me up again in thy due time Thy Mercy and Power are still the same and will be the same for ever Oh! Let them still be shewn for my Recovery as they have already been for my Delivery Let them be shewn upon me that I may still more and more praise thee and because I place my safety in thy love and care and put my hope and trust in thee But if in thy Paternal Providence whereto I willingly commit my self thou hast determined otherwise concerning me thy Blessed Will O! my God be done Dispose of me either
submit to thee but will still thankfully adore and praise thy Name thro' Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 2. AND I will consider O! Gracious Lord that if my Blindness makes my Soul to have less pleasure in this World it makes it also to have less danger from it For in this World I should see more that is fit to insnare than to benefit my Mind and my Eyes would let in more Tryals than true Injoyments and meet with more to afflict than to delight me And I will thankfully remember O! Father that by thy Mercy I was not born Blind but had long injoyed the use of my Eyes before I lost them yea and after I had most justly deserved to lose them Thou wast graciously pleased to lend them to me till I had been conversant in thy Holy Word to direct and comfort me And till I had seen much of what was to be seen in this World and till more Days would have brought little but the same Sights over again And by thy Grace I had first dispatch'd such Business and Affairs as are of most importance and concern to me in this Life and was come to have much less need of my Eyes before they were taken from me and I was call'd from beholding Vanity to mind thee and make sure the one thing necessary thro my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 3. YEA and still thro' thy Mercy O! Dear God I have my Hearing perfect to supply the want of my Eye-sight And altho' I have now no use of my own Eyes yet I have of others and can still see any thing with theirs And what I once learn from them I now remember much better by thy help than I used to do whilst I had my own Eyes to trust to and am in less need of any Eyes to see it for me over again And therefore instead of repining that I have lost my Eyes I will adore and thank thy Goodness O! Blessed Lord which has so well provided me for this loss and doth now so comfortably make it up to me otherways But above all which gives me an Heart that can still look up to thee and take comfort in thy Promises when my Eyes can no longer look upon this World or delight in its Gayeties And which supports me in my dark estate with the Blessed Hope of receiving Eyes at the Resurrection of the Just which always see clear and never grow dim and which can bear the brightness of thy Presence and shall always Feast themselves in beholding thee and all Heavenly Glories thro' Jesus Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen 3. For Good use of their Blindness and proper Helps under it AND whilst thou takest from me the use of my Eyes O! Merciful Lord take from me also the Lust of my Eyes And let me by no means doat any more on Riches or on Beauty or on the Pomp and Gayety of any Earthly things since now I can no longer Feast my Eyes therewith But instead of coveting and greedily hearkning after the same make me as a Dead Man to them For Death has already invaded my Earthly Tabernacle and is come up at the Windows And I have out-lived my Eyes which as they had commonly been the first inlets of sin so now thy justice has made them the first inlets of Death too And since my Eyes are kept from looking abroad keep my mind from looking abroad too Let my thoughts busie themselves at home in searching out and setting straight mine own ways and in meditating on thy Laws and Promises I cannot say as others may that I am still called off from this good Employment of them by the sight of outward Objects or by the Cares of men of Business Oh! then that I may be more intent therein as wanting much of other Persons hindrances and excuses And make me remember O! my God that thus to know and behold thee is to see with Angels eyes And that altho' Flesh and Blood cannot see God yet Faith doth And that whilst thou art pleased to clear up my Faith which is the eye of my Soul and to make it strong and lively to discern what will please thee and what will save and comfort me in the next World it matters less tho' I remain dark to what is apt to insnare and afflict me in this World And whilst I want my Eyes to inform me at every turn what passes Lord quicken my Attention that I may give the more heed when I am told of the same and strengthen my Memory that I may not need still to be told of it again And now my own Eyes are no longer serviceable to me give me faithful Friends and Servants about me that I may safely trust to theirs And let thy Care and good Providence be to me instead of my Eyes and of all other Comforts and Conveniences which my Blindness deprives me of thro' Jesus Christ my only Lord and Saviour Amen Our Father c. III. Devotions on the loss of Hearing Scriptures WHO hath made mans mouth or who maketh the Dumb or Deaf have not I the Lord Exod. 4. 11. The hearing Ear and the seeing Eye the Lord hath made even both of them Prov. 20. 12. In that day the Ears of the deaf shall be unstopped Isa. 35. 5. And the deaf shall hear the words of the Book Isa. 29. 18. He said be opened and straightway his Ears were opened Mark 7. 34 35. But above all O! Lord give thy 〈…〉 Heart 1 King 3. 9. And that is better whilst the Ears of my Body are shut than to have Ears and not to Hear Ezek. 12. 2. Or Hearing to hear but not to understand Act. 28. 26. And when the Ears of the Body are open the Ear is not fill'd wâ—th hearing nor the Eye satisfied with seeing And the thing which has been heard or seen it is that which shall be heard or seen again and that which is done is that which shall be done and there is no new thing under the Sun Eccl. 1. 8 9. Yea and in hearing much evil is much trouble and just Lot in hearing vexed his righteous Soul from day to day with the unlâ—wful Deeds and filthy Conversation of the wicked 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. Thou shalt not curse the Deaf nor put a stumbling-block before the Blind but fear the Lord Lev. 19. 14. Glory be to the Father c. Prayers I. For Recovery of Hearing O! Righteous Lord mine Ears have been too much inclined and delighted to hear things which dishonour thee and corrupt me And where they were less bent upon evil yet however they were tâ—o easie and complying with it And therefore thou art just in stopping them because I have misused them and I must clear and glorifie thee in taking away my Hearing from me both in deserved Punishment of my having provoked thee and in careful Prevention of my further corruption of my self thereby But Lord in thy just Displeasure remember
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
Chief Antidotes whereon we relye are our Prayers to thee and our Faith in thy Mercy Holy Father I seek to thee let thy Care surround me I make thee my habitation let me find it a safe one I Trust thee with my self and with my Friends to Order what is most Desireable for us and best agrees with the wise Ends of thy Good Providence And tho I doe not absolutely promise my self to be exempt from a Common Calamity yet Lord being in thy Hands where I desire to be I know that I shall be exempt if 't is fit I should be soe and if not that thou wilt turn even my falling sick of it to my Good Soe that under thy Wings O! my God my Hope is allways to have a kind and most thankworthy Ordering and to receive from thee either a Continuance of Health or a beneficial and thankworthy Sickness either the Blessing of a longer Life or the Greater Blessing of an Happy Death thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen Our Father c. VI. A Prayer to be said by Friends for Natural Fools or Madmen SHall not I spare them who can not discern between their Right Hand and their Left Jon. 4. 11. I was found of them that sought me not Is. 65. 1. I was Eyes to the blind and Feet to the lame Job 29. 15. Bear ye one anothers Burdens and soe fullfill the Law of Christ. Gal. 6. 2. O! Allmighty and most mercyfull Father Pity this thy Poor Creature who knows not his own wants nor how to ask for thy Mercyes But as he is not capable of Doing things to please thee so let nothing which he doth offend thee He is still as an infant O! God not arrived to the use of Reason Oh! Deal with him as thou doest with them and as such admit him into the Kingdom of Heaven He has been received for thy Child in Baptism and has done nothing since to forfeit the Claims of Mercy and Bliss made over to him therein and belonging to that Relation Oh! let them be fullfill'd and made good to him in their time And as his want of understanding unfits him to doe any thing for thee soe doth it likewise to Doe any thing for himself And therefore he needs to have the more done for him by thee and by the Good instruments of thy Providence And let thy Care O! Lord supply the want of his Give thy Holy Angells charge to look to him as they Doe to Helpless Children Give thy Saints and those who are any ways Concerned with him the Heart to be Understanding and Eyes and Feet and Hands to him as to one who is as if he had nothing of these of his own but wants to have them all supplyed out of thy Provision And do thou in thy Wisdom prevent those Evils which he can not foresee and put those by which he wants understanding to Remove Especially O! Lord keep him from Doing any thing that is mischeivous either to others or to himself Oh! thou who art found of them who seek thee not shew mercy to this thy Servant who extremely needs thee tho he can not seek to thee Thou knowest his wants O! Lord tho he is insensible and ignorant of them And tho he can not speak for himself yet his wants speak and Crye aloud for him Oh! Hear their Crye which calls to thee for Pity And hear us for him who is not able to ask for himself And graunt him thy special Care at present and thy Peace at the last thro the merits and mediation of thy Dear Son our only Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Our Father c. VII A Prayer for those who attend about the Sick O! Blessed Lord who callest us to minister and attend about this thy pained and afflicted Servant make us truly compassionate and tenderly Sensible of his Sorrows and studious how to ease them Keep us Gentle and Officious towards him and willing and Diligent to minister to him and above all things to make and continue thee his Friend Oh! that it may be our Care Friendly to admonish him of his Duty and to call upon him to look up unto thee To strenthen his Soul and asswage his Sorrows by Comfortable words to read to him and Pray for him and study in all things to make his sick bed as Profitable to his Precious Soul and as easy and tolerable to his pained and wearyed Body as we can And let us not shew unwillingness O! God in any Services nor be provoked by his impatience or ill reception of our well meant Offices But let us Pity the Disorders of his Spirit under his Anguish and bear the same with that Gentleness and Continued Care to minister Comfort or Relief which his Sorrows call for and which we all Desire may be shew'd towards us when we come as we must expect to come to be tryed with the like weaknesses and Troubles our selves And Grant O! Father that the Sight of his sickness may be a warning to us to prepare for our own Make our Hearts wiser and better by Conversing in the House of Mourning and let it teach us the end of all men and the vanity of all earthly things and put us upon Zele and Diligence in all the ways of qualifying and Dressing of our Souls for a more blessed and everlasting Life thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Our Father c. XIII A Thanksgiving for Recovery from Sickness I. BLessed be thy Name O! God of all Power and Mercy for that thou hast Consider'd my Trouble and known my Soul in my Adversity Thou sentest me all those Helps whereby I was supported and all the intervals of ease wherewith I was releived under my Sickness And now thou hast brought me up again from the Grave and Deliver'd me of my pains and weakness and art become my Health and my Salvation Yea thy Mercy O! Blessed Lord has rectifyed my Spirit and done it Good by my Sorrows which is more to be valued than easing my Body of theâ— For before I was troubled I went wrong but thy Corrections have taught me to see my Folly and this worlds vanity And my Pains which have been my Monitors Day and Night have Caused me to understand Wisdom secretly And for these and all other thy most endearing Mercies I will sing Praise to thee O! Lord my God and Give thee Thanks for ever I will not Conceal thy Faithfullness and thy Salvation but Declare and speak of them that others allsoe may praise thy Name yea in the Presence of all thy People that they may give thee Thanks in the Great Congregation And oh that I may never forget thy Mercyes nor my own Promises of amendment and Holy obedience but cheerfully and Faithfully pay thee my vows and Perform all the Promises and Good Purposes Which I made whilst I was in Trouble And Pity the Pains Good Lord and hear the Cryes
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
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
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
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
Amen 8. A Prayer of Friends for the Sick when they are Light-headed or apprehend danger thereof LORD in this extremity of pain and sickness keep thy Servant in his Senses and let him not want the use of Reason when he stands most in need of its Succors Let not his Disease transport him into vane or violent Ravings And much less let the Enemy abuse his Fancy when he himself has lost all good use thereof and possess it with any frightful or ungodly Thoughts and Illusions But whatever he says or doth amiss or indecent under such Disturbance and alienation of mind impute not the same to him as his sins O! Lord whilst his Reason can neither understand nor refuse them and whilst that which takes away the use of his Reason from him is only his Disease which is of thy sending But impute them to the busie working of the Adversary upon an ungovern'd imagination And give thy Servant his Senses again that he may disclaim all the evil which he said or did whilst he knew it not and that he may watch against the Enemy and may see his own wants and earnestly implore thy Grace and Mercy for the supply thereof through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen X. PRAYERS for certain kinds of Sickness I. For Women with Child Scriptures for Women with Child 1. Before their Travail UNTO the Woman God said I will greatly multiply thy Sorrow and thy Conception in Sorrow shalt thou bring forth Children Gen. 3. 16. For the Woman being deceived was first in the Transgression Notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing if she continue in Faith and Charity and Holyness with Sobriety 1 Tim. 2. 14 15. And when she is in Travail she hath Sorrow because her hour is come But as soon as she is deliver'd she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the World Jo 16. 21. 2. In Travail LORD my heart is sore pained within me and the Terrors of Death are falâ—'n upon me Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me and horror hath over-whelmed me Ps. 55. 4 5. But what time I am afraid I put my trust in thee Ps. 56. 3. Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul Ps. 116. 4. Oh! Be not thou far from me nor seem as if thou heardest not Shew some token upon me for good and make haste to help me O! Lord Ps. 38. 21. 22. and 88. 17. 3. After Delivery she may express her Devotion in one of the Hymns in the Office for Churching of Women or in this following I Love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplicacations Because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell got hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow Then called I upon the Name of the Lord 116. 1 2 3 4. And in the day when I cryed he answered me and strengthened me with strength in my soul Ps. 138. 3. When I sought him he heard me and deliver'd me from all my fears Ps. 34. 4. Oh! Sing unto the Lord all ye Saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness Psal. 30. 4. Ye that fear the Lord praise him For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither hath he hid his face from me but when I cryed unto him he heard me And my praise shall be of him in the great Congregation I will pay my Vows before them that fear him Psal. 22. 23 24 25. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end Amen Prayers for Women with Child 1. A Prayer for a breeding Woman and against Miscarriage to be used at any time before Travel O! Almighty Lord who in thy Mercy hast given me an hopeful Conception carry it on I humbly intreat thee to an happy Deliverance in thy due time Oh! let not my Child fare the worse for mine Offences nor deal with it according to my Deserts but according to thy own tender Mercies Give it its due shapes and full growth and preserve me from all Frights or evil Accidents which may cause me to miscarry and in great Love and Pity both to it and me bring it into the World at its full Maturity And Bless it in mind O God as well as in Body Endow it with an understanding capable to know thee and with an Heart well disposed and strongly bent to fear thee Sanctifie it from the Womb and receive and reckon it for thy Child as soon as it is mine lent to me for my Comfort but ever reserved and employ'd by thee for thy Service and Glory And Lord if it may please thee make it easie to me in the breeding and in the bearing and bringing forth also when the time shall come And grant that in both I may always bear my Burden with Patience and look up to thee with Faith and receive thy Mercies with all Humility and Thankfulness thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 2. A Prayer when the time of Travel draws near GIve me Grace O! merciful God to look for the pangs and throws of Travel which now draw near unto me with holy Fear and humble Confidence in thee Let me not come to meet them O! Almighty Father in a stupid or careless Security as one insensible how much the smart and peril of this State do need thy help and mercy For nothing is fitter to show us our weakness nor calls more for the Succours of thy strength And therefore I disclaim all Confidence in my Self or other humane means and humbly seek to thee and give my Self and my poor Babe up for lost unless thou art pleased to stand by me But when I see how much I need thee let me not mistrust thee O! my God For thou art prone to shew Pity and my pangs will be strong to move it And the Preservation of my sweet Babe which has done nothing against thee will call aloud to thy mercy to deliver me Thou art ready to hear us and to help us O! Lord because of thy Promise And my Trust is that thy Power and Goodness will not be wanting to support and deliver me in this Case because I see thou daily dost extend the same to support and deliver others and because thou hast several times heretofore done the same to my Self And therefore O! Father I cheerfully commit my self into thy hands And look to find mercy from thee as one who absolutely needs thee and humbly trusts to thee For mine eyes are unto thee O! God and to thee alone to give me convenient Courage to meet my pangs and strength to bear them and to give me Patience to wait on thee and a safe Deliverance at thy due time for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake Amen III. Prayers in time of Travel
to Life or Death as thou pleasest only in both to thy Mercy And whether living or dying let me still please thee and be thou my Portion Oh! Perfect my Repentance and purge away all my sins And give me Patience whilst I live and Peace when I die and after that the happiness to see thy Face in a Blessed Eternity which thou hast prepared and promised to all that truly fear thee thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 3. A Prayer for her Child PReserve my tender Child O! Father and let its own weakness and my Cries commend it to thy Blessed Care Preserve it to be regenerated and born again by Baptism and thereby made thine own Child by Adoption which is infinitely a greater Blessing both to it and me than thy making of it mine Keep it also afterwards in Health and Safety And as it increases in Years and Stature let it increase withal in Wisdom and in thy Fear I beg not for it Wealth or Greatness but Wisdom to know and serve thee For O! Lord I do not desire Life either for my self or it but that we may live to thee and grow daily in Love and Thankfulness for all thy Mercies and in Faith and Patience and all holy Obedience which may fit us both for ever to injoy thee thro' Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer Amen Afterwards when she comes to be Churched besides the accustomed Offering to the Minister she may add a Gift of Alms to the Poor as a proper and acceptable Tribute of Thanks and Praise Alms being as fit to attend and recommend our Thanksgivings as they are to inforce our Prayers And let her not forget the Churches Admonition to compleat her giving Thanks by Receiving the Holy Sacrament if there be a Communion that day or so soon as there shall be one II. Devotions on the Loss of Eye-sight to be read to them by some Friends for them to Meditate upon or to joyn in Scriptures I. WHO hath made the Seeing and the Blind Have not I the Lord Ex. 4. 11. And the Lord openeth the eyes of the Blind Ps. 146. 8. He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor and recovering of Sight to the Blind Luk. 4. 18. Lord I grope for the wall and stumble at Noon-day as in the Night I wait for Light but behold obscurity for brightness but I walk in darkness Is. 59. 9 10. Lord I beseech thee that I may recover my sight Receive thy sight thy faith hath saved thee Luk. 18. 41 42. But if I must not receive it in my Body however open the Eyes of my Soul that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law Ps. 119. 18. 2. The Light of the Eyes indeed rejoyceth the Heart Prov. 15. 30. For truly the Light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the Eyes to behold the Sun Eccl. 11. 7. But the Eye is not satisfied with seeing Eccl. 1. 8. For as Hell and Destruction are never full so the Eyes of Man are never satisfied Prov. 27. 20. And the Lust of the Eyes is not of the Father but of the World 1 Jo. 2. 16. So that we need to make a Covenant with our Eyes Job 31. 1. And if thine Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee It is better for the to enter into Life without Eyes rather than having Eyes to be cast into Hell-fire Mat. 18. 9. Besides in seeing much we see much evil and it may be thou shalt be mad for the Sight of thine Eyes which thou shalt see Deut. 28. 34. And just Lot in seeing vexed his Righteous Soul from day to day with the unlawful deeds of the wicked 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. 3. Moreover tho' the Body be dark yet the Eyes of our understanding may be inlightned Eph. 1. 18. For the Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly Prov. 20. 27. And we walk by Faith and not by Sight 2 Cor. 5. 7. And tho 't is pleasant to see the Sun yet 't is pleasanter to see those things which the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1. 12. And to supply our want of Bodily Eyes our Friends and Neighbours may be to us instead of eyes Num. 10. 31. For I was Eyes to the Blind and Feet to the Lame Job 29. 15. And cursed be he that maketh the Blind to wander out of the way Deut. 27. 18. Or putteth a Stumbling-block before him Lev. 19. 14. Glory be to the Father c. PRAYERS I. For Recovery of Sight LORD pity me who have my Eyes always closed and all my Days turned into Night I cannot see what I eat or what I drink and I grope for the wall and stumble in the Light as in the Dark For the Light which maketh all things manifest about us and reviveth and maketh glad both Man and Beast is no Light to me but I am Dark at Noon-Day Oh! Support and comfort me in this my Adversity and restore my Sight to me again if it may seem fit to thee Consider Lord how greatly it serves for my comfort and safety And restore it to me for I seek to thee and thou art prone to pity me and thou only who gavest it canst restore it Yea do thou restore it O! my God that I may again behold the marvelous Greatness and the rich and various Beauty of thy Creatures and devoutly admire and praise the Glories of thy Wisdom Power and Goodness which they set forth daily before our eyes And above all that I may return to read thy Holy Word to instruct and comfort me and to make me perfect in the way of my Duty and of obtaining thine everlasting Mercy thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen II. For Patience under the want of it 1. AND in this state of Bodily Blindness O! Righteous Lord I do not in the least complain of thee for laying it upon me For thou hast continued the use of my Eyes much longer unto me than I have been careful to use and employ them for thee And because I would not take care to govern them virtâ—ously and wisely nor shut them up or restrain them my self thou hast shut them up in Darkness For they had taken me off O! Holy Father from minding thee to mind Worldly Pomp and show and to fix themselves in Clay They were grown greedy and unsatisfied in beholding Vanity They had often made me to offend And 't is better to want Eyes than to be made to offend by them and to enter into Life being Blind rather than having Eyes without Innocence to be cast into Hell fire So that I humbly submit to this Blindness O! my God and meekly accept of it both as the punishment of mine iniquities and as a means to cure and prevent them And if it be thy Pleasure to have me rest under it or whilst it is so thy Blessed Will be done And I will not only