Law to doe them Quest 4. Good Lord if this bee true then what a miserable case are all wee in beeing wicked and cursed creatures Answ Truely our state indeede is wretched and damnable and but that God of his infinite goodnes hath prouided a salue for this sore we should vtterly perish and then were 1. Cor. 15. 19. we of all men most miserable Quest 5. Do you beleeue then that there is a salue for so grieuous a wound and a remedy for so great a mischiefe Answ Yea verily I firmely beleeue and know it or else I could not with so cheerefull and patient a minde beare this crosse which God hath now laid vpon me Quest 6. I pray you what remedy is there against the sting of sinne and the curse of the Law Is there any thing in the world that can pacifie Gods wrath and mooue him to such mercy as may cause him to take away this deadly curse and giue vs a blessing Answ Yea God bee thanked that there is I can tell you so much though I be not Booke-learned yet I haue heard it and I doe vndoubtedly beleeue it because Gods Word doth teach it That when there was no means to be found for man to be saued neither in heauen nor earth it pleased our heauenly Father of his meere mercy to send his only begotten Sonne Rom. 8. 3. into the world to the end that all that beleeue in him should not perish but haue life euerlasting So that that which was impossible to the Law in as much as it was weake because of the flesh God sending his owne Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh I doe therefore beleeue that this Sonne of God Iesus Christ hath quite taken away the curse of the Law Col. 2. 14. and nayled it vpō the Crosse Quest 7. These are good words indeed and generally spoken to all sinners but how can you apply this to your selfe Answ Because I know assuredly that I am Christs and haue the testimonie of the Holy Ghost in mee comforting mee and bearing witnes to my Spirit that I am the child of God and therefore may boldly cry Abba Father Gal 4. 6. c. Quest 8. Then I perceiue if you bee thus faithfully minded as you do professe that you are not afraid to dy neither is death so dread full vnto you as it is to many in these sinfull dayes Answ Although indeed death seemeth detestable to the most part of men especially to impenitent sinners and such as haue the wealth of the world at will Yet notwithstanding I see no reason why any wise man should feare that which cannot be auoided but rather all things considered aright they haue cause to couet it with the holy Apostle Saint Paul who desireth to be loosed and Phil. 1. 23. to be with Christ which is best of all because death is the doore to eternall life for we connot liue for euer but first we must dye And therefore the godly man after he is mortified heere by crosses and griefe of sicknes may cheerefully sing and say with the same Apostle Christ is to mee Phil. 1. 21. both in life and death aduantage And most comfortable to a good conscience is that sentence of Ecclesiastes A good name is better then a Eccl. 7. 3. good oyntment and the day of death then the day that one is borne The Preacher spake not this without booke nor without reason for then we change sicknes for health woe for wealth transitorie vanities for perpetuall ioyes and earthly trash for heauenly treasure c. Quest 9. You are in the right of it and haue hit the naile on the head in this point keepe you there and my life for yours But because I finde you in answering both wise and willing it incourageth mee to bee bold in questioning Doe you beleeue all the Articles of the Christian Faith which the true and Catholike Church doth hold at this day and all other Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the very and liuely Word of God the foode of your soule and the perfect way to eternall life and that there is sufficient matter contained in them to establish your minde and conscience to saluation according to the consent of Christs Apostles in the Primitiue Church Answ I constantly and vnfainedly beleeue all this you haue said to bee true and grounded vpon the Word of God as vpon a sure foundation which shal neuer faile nor fall And therefore it is called the Word of Life the Word of Rom. 3. 16. Grace the Word of Truth and the power of God to Saluation to euery one that beleeueth Quest. 10. Doe you detest and abhor all Idolatry Heresies errors schismes innouations and opinions which in any point do dissent or disagree from this liuely Word of GOD and the ancient Catholike and Primitiue Church Answ As these enormities of themselues are detestable and damnable euen so I do from my very heart detest and abhorre them all and most ardently I imbrace the Truth of Gods Word with all due reuerence to the same as to the heauenly will of GOD therein specified and reuealed to vs by his Seruants the Patriarks and Apostles of God and his Sonne Christ Iesus our Sauiour the Head of the Church And I am desirous to die a member of the same Church beeing the bodie and Spouse of Christ Quest 11. And do you euen in heart reioyce to liue and die in this Christian Faith and in the vnitie of this true ancient Catholique and Apostolique Church militant heere on earth which is and shall be the Communion of Saints the triumphant Church of God in Heauen Ans I reioyce in nothing so much for I know that out of the Church there is no saluation or safetie Those in old time that were found out of Noahs Arke being a Type of the Church perished by water but they which are not of the Catholike Church of Christ shall be tormented in Hell fire which shall neuer bee quenched Quest 12. Good Lord mee thinke it is a fearefull thing that the wicked should enter into euerlasting paine and vnquenchable fire And the words which are vsuall in the Scriptures are able to make any man tremble euen at the heart as Hell Mat. 8. 12. fire the bottomelesse pit vtter darknes vnquenchable fire perpetuall paine c. where shall bee weeping and Mar. 9. 44. gnashing of teeth where their worme dyeth not and the fire neuer goeth out Mee thinks this word neuer is a long one for if there were any hope that euer the wicked might feele any release or easement of their paine or that the damned might haue any end of their torment yea if it were but after a thousand or a thousand thousands of yeeres there were some comfort to be expected in time to come though it were long first yet time would once make an end and weare
And I beleeue that they which continue in this Church on earth shall after the Resurrection general Iudgement obtaine euerlasting life and rest from their labors which life and perpetuall peace God grant mee and all his children And from this Church I pray God I neuer at any time swarue or decline either in faith doctrine life or Religion but that I may dye liue therin And I humbly beseech God euen w th al my heart to kindle increase this Faith in me that this hope being stedfastly fixed in my heart I may towards mine end cry and call with the Saints of God and with a good Apoc. 22. 20. conscience Come Lord Iesu come quickly and hasten thy Kingdome that wee may raigne with thee in perpetuall ioy in the life euerlasting Amen The protestation of the Sicke I A wretched sinner redeemed with the precious bloud of my Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ do protest here before you all that with a free and franke heart I doe pardon and forgiue all people which by any manner of meanes haue spoken thought or wrought mee iniury either in word writing or deed whatsoeuer Desiring that as I know assuredly in my heart and conscience that I am reconciled to God So in like manner I may bee reconciled to the world And therefore I most heartily pray as wel all you that bee heere present before me as others that be absent to forgiue mee wherein soeuer I haue offended you being most willing to part out of this world in the fauour of God and good men I protest and acknowledge that I haue beene a grieuous and horrible sinner all my dayes both in thought word and deede And that I haue not liued so vpright and holy before my Lord God and the world as I ought to haue done I acknowledge my offences to be mo in number then the Starres of Heauen or the sands in the Sea for my negligence in not doing that which is good and my dayly transgressions in committing the things which are euill are infinite I acknowledge that all my life hath been such as looking my selfe now at last in the glasse of my conscience I find daily confusion and my minde and body so blemished with spots of vncleannes and filthinesse that I may be ashamed to looke God in the face or once to lift vp mine eyes towards Heauen Therefore I fall downe to the earth with the poore Publican and with lowly spirit and humble minde I aske mercie and forgiuenes of my Lord God being sorry in my heart that euer I offended this my deare Father and beeing fully purposed with my selfe if God restore my former health neuer so grieuously to offend him againe but to auoid Vice embrace Vertue yea to hate and abhorre the sinne which before I loued and wholly to conforme my selfe to the will of God in his Word I doe protest that albeit 3 I haue thus grieuously and many wayes offended God yet I doe not despayre nor distrust the louing mercy of my sweet Sauiour and Redeemer Iesus Christ But I hope by the merit of his death and Passion and not mine own merits which are nothing but a loathsome life to be partaker of the heauenly inheritance I protest furthermore that I do beleeue that this holy Passion of Iesus Christ is a sure Rocke Refuge and defence wherevnto I may boldly trust and stay my selfe And therefore in all aduersitie and trouble I set the same against my inuisible enemies as a strong Tower bulwarke or spirituall harnesse wherewithall the faithfull Souldiour and Seruant of Christ ought to bee armed Assuring my selfe that the punishment of all my sinnes is thereby fully discharged the ransome paid and the obligation whereby I was tyed to the Law cancelled and that the vertue of this Passion of Christ pertaineth not onely to others but also to me I protest before the omnipotent God and before all his holy Angels and Saints that I couet desire to end my life in that faith which becommeth a true Christian and the Child of God That is I beleeue all the Canonicall Scriptures mentioned in the Old and New Testament and set downe by the holy Prophets of God and the Apostles of his Sonne Christ as the Pen-men and writers but instinct and prompted by the holy Ghost the finger of God as the Author and Inditer which haue been from time to time and in all ages receiued and beleeued of the true Catholike Church and Congregation of Iesus Christ So that if through the tentation or suggestion of the Diuell or being oppressed with the violence or smart of sicknesse I should thinke speake or doe any thing contrarie to this my confession and protestation made I doe now beforehand vtterly debarre and reuoke the same and doe witnesse and confesse before God and you that by no means I will willingly consent or yeeld my selfe in the knowledge and vnderstanding of my heart to any such thoughts words or workes Finally I protest that I reioyce in Spirit for the sweet mercy and merits which I feele inwardly to bee offered mee by the death of Christ Iesus And I doe giue most hearty thankes vnto God the Father my Creator for his graces offerd vnto me in his deare Sonne my Sauiour by whose vnspeakeable goodnes I trust I shall dye the Seruant of God and into whose holy hands and tuition I commend my body and soule both now and in the houre of my death Amen The second dutie of the sicke Person THe second thing that is requisite in a sicke person is faithfull heartie Prayer to God either for his speedy deliuerance out of all woe and wretchednesse or else for constancie in his conflict and patience in his paine A godly metion or Meditatation before Prayer In which we craue for Grace Faith and Patience O Lord I am very sick my body is weake my strength faileth me my sinnewes shrink my hands and my feete waxe feeble mine eyes dazell and lose their sight all things are vnsauourie to me my flesh putrifyeth my breath stinketh my heart panteth and my life draweth to an end I perceiue there is but one way with me The Lord bee mercifull vnto mee and bee my guide in this my last iourney goe I must death is at doore with his dart readie to strike hee stealeth neerer and neerer towards mee he is euen now at my bed-side ready to worke his feate I cannot preuent him neither can I auoid or flye from him Therefore O Lord I make haste to runne to thee for succour which art the true Physician both of bodie and soule Heale mee O Lord and I shal be whole preserue mee and I shall be safe vnder thy protection for thou beeing my defence and shield I need not to feare the force of any foe But who am I O mercifull God that beggeth so boldly at the doore of thy mercy I am a sinner and in sinne I was begotten of my Father and
conceiued of my Mother I confesse my wretchednesse and my vncleannesse is too manifest both to thee and the world it troubleth my minde and woundeth my guilty conscience woe is mee therefore Yet spare me O Lord I humbly beseech thee destroy me not in thine anger but chastice me in lenitie And albeit I am a grieuous sinner yet I perswade my self I am thy sonne and that thou canst not but haue a fatherly care ouer me for my elder Brothers sake Christ Iesus thy beloued Wherefore arise and help me O Lord arise I say and cast me not away for euer forgiue mee all my sinnes and raise thy poore Seruant out of the dunghill that being released by thee from paine griefe and also deliuered from eternall death I may pray vnto thee faithfully during my life and after death obtaine of thee euerlasting life which thou hast prepared for me by the death and Passion of thy deare Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Sauiour in whom thou art well pleased and by whose stripes I am cured and trust to be saued whose holy name bee blessed and praised now and for euer Amen A fruitfull Prayer for the assistance of God in the extremitie of sicknes O Deare Father of Heauen and Gouernour of the wide world and the worker of our wealth whose goodnes is vnspeakeable and vvhose wifedome is incomparable whose mercy reacheth vnto the Clouds and vnto whose power all creatures are subiect Thou God of the quicke and the dead which hast placed me heere on earth as a pilgrime or tenant at will to remoue at thy pleasure and hast appointed mee and all men liuing our bounds which we cannot passe Haue respect vnto the worke of thy hands bow downe thine eyes of compassion O Lord visit and comfort the pensiue soule of thy poore prisoner Open thy gracious eares and heare my petition thou which art the Sauiour of my soule grant mee pardon of my sinne and patience in my paine that I neuer blaspheme thy holy name but suffer this thy scourge and punishment meekely as becommeth a good Christian and seruant of God So that in this conflict of sicknes when my flesh consumeth away my limmes waxe lame my sight faileth my heart fainteth and all my sences become nummed yea when life death struggle and warre within me for superioritie and I lye linked in woe in the paine and pangs of death receiuing no food taking no rest but being past all recouerie of health to the iudgement of man Then looke vpon me with the eyes of mercy O thou glory of Sion Thou Comfort of Israel and beauty of Ierusalem Then let thy strength help my weakenesse and thy mercy cure my misery Then deliuer poore Ioseph thy Seruant out of Prison Defend thy deare darling from the deuouring Dog Stop the mouth and weaken the force of the roring Lyon and all his diuelish practises that they neuer preuaile against me O Lord haue mercy vpon me establish my heart that I neuer faint in this my last and bitter death Remember O Lord what metall I am made of that I am but sraile flesh and filthy earth Let it bee thy pleasure therefore O gracious God to forgiue me my sinnes to remit and vtterly blot out of thy reckoning Booke the tenne thousand Talents which I owe thee I acknowledge the debt cancell therefore the Obligation for seeing I am not able to pay the debt I must needs craue a generall pardon or else perish for euer Spare mee therefore deare Father and comfort the soule of thy Seruant which repenteth his former folly and humbleth himselfe here before thy Maiestie O Lord let not the terrour of Hell the feare of death the vexation of minde the bitter torment of sicknes the losse of life or worldly wealth withdraw my soule from thee But as thou diddest create it and breathe it into my body Euen so vouchsafe of thy great goodnes to preserue it during life and after death receiue it with the soules of the righteous into thine owne hands and custody and place it in perpetuall felicitie So that at the generall Iudgement and the glorious Resurrection of all flesh I may both body and soule rise to life euerlasting and praise thee continually with the Angels Saints in Heauen through Iesus Christ our Sauiour to whom with thee and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory world without end Amen A pithy profitable Prayer when wee are in danger of death wherein we commit our selues to God renounce the world craue pardon for our sinnes and forgiue our enemies O Lord my good and gracious God the Creator of Heauen and earth King of Kings and Lord of Lords which hast made me of nothing to thine owne likenes and redeemed me with thine owne bloud whom I a wretched sinner am vnworthy to name to call vpon or once to thinke in my heart Here I prostrate and submit my selfe before thy diuine Maiestie and acknowledge my grieuous sinnes which I haue committed against thee in thought word and deede humbly crauing pardon thereof at thy fatherly hands And I doe also for mine owne part most willingly forgiue all men that haue offended mee euen as I looke to bee forgiuen of thee my louing and mercifull God whose wrath iust iudgement I haue too often and that deseruedly prouoked against me But neuerthelesse howsoeuer I haue liued hitherto in my fraile flesh and in this body of sinne yet I trust that thou of thy gracious goodnesse wilt grant me a happy end for I vtterly renounce the world and the vanities thereof which all my life time hitherto I haue too much coueted and delighted in onely I am now carefull for my soule that it may be saued and my earnest desire is that I may dwell with the Lord in the land of the liuing which I trust to obtaine by the bloud of the innocent Lambe of God Iesus Christ and so to be partaker of the heauenly ioyes and Communion of Saints in the triumphant Church of God In the meane time vvhilest I remain in this earthly Tabernacle I beseech thee O Lord to increase my faith comfort my silly soule lighten my vnderstanding strengthen my feeble body and grant me patience in my paine that my faith neuer faile And I willingly surrender my body and soule to thy carefull disposition and as willingly leaue my goods to the world where I had them Rendring to thee most hearty thanks for the vse I haue had of them hitherto and for all other thy greater benefits and spirituall blessings as my Election Creation Saluation Sanctification Preseruation and hope of Glorification in thy heauenly habitation O Lord thy holy Name bee praised therefore and thy blessed will be fulfilled in me euery way whether it bee by life or by death let it be to thy glory and then I haue my hearts desire for I am in thy hands as the Clay is in the Potters therefore doe with me as best pleaseth thee Make
vpon sorrow and that in fearfull manner Notwithstanding all these calamities What doth this Man of God What bee his words or what answere giueth he to the Messengers in this his misery Doth he despayre of Gods goodnes Doth hee grudge at his losses Doth he fret and fume in himselfe Doth he chide the Messengers for bringing so bad tidings Doth hee rage or blaspheme God No no Iob did nothing spake nothing imagined nothing vnfitting or vnseemely a patient and perfect person In all this Iob 1. 22. did not Iob sinne neither doth he charge God foolishly as the wicked doe But hee humbled himselfe fell downe to the earth and worshipped And then hee cryed and said The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken it Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Thus this innocent and iust man is content to sucke vp his owne sorrow in silence confessing God to be gracious albeit he had laid his heauy hand vpon him and his for after all losses and crosses Iob himselfe was smitten with sore Byles from the sole of his foote vnto his crowne Hee sate in sorrow vpon the dunghill his Wife also Iob 2. 7 rebuking him who 8 should haue relieued him Neuerthelesse Iob regarded 9 not her words but remaineth righteous and saith Thou speakest like a foolish woman What Shall we receiue good at the hand of God and not receiue euill As though he should say Shall wee taste of the sweet and not of the sowre Shall wee alwayes bee merry and neuer sorrie alwayes laugh and neuer weepe Should wee alwayes liue in health and neuer bee sicke Alwayes haue plenty and neuer feele penury Then should we be like Angels in heauen free from all aduersities and not like men on earth subiect to many miseries Behold heere a plaine picture of patience take him for an ensample of suffering aduersitie and of long patience His suffering was intolerable his patience vnspeakable and except Christs incomparable Let no man therefore excuse himselfe and say I cannot be quiet I cannot forgiue I cannot be patient The iniury offered is so great Such slanderous words hard dealing is able to prouoke any man to impatiencie if he were a Saint Soft a little good Brother stay thy selfe Remember iust Iob let him bee an ensample to thee I pray thee had not hee an occasion of impatiencie Yes truely and of vtter blasphemie had not Gods grace preuented mans strength Iob had the whole world Sun Moone and Starres against him heauen and earth against him For first and formost God himself seemed for a season to forsake him and to haue no care of him The Diuell in the meane season neuer ceased to tempt him and that in sundry sorts His Wife that lay in his bosome and should haue bound vp his head and comforted him shee disdained him and vpbraided him euen with his good deeds Shee counselled him to renounce God and to blaspheme him euen to his face What should I speake more of this man Within him he had heauinesse of heart without him his kindred and friends discouraging him on euery side him signes of sorrow His Goods were spoiled his Cattell destroyed his Children sodainely killed his owne body pitifully plagued and no whole part of him from top to toe free from filthy sores and Byles which way so euer hee turned him hee could finde no rest but wallowed in woe and lay in extreme misery Not on soft Downe but on the stinking dunghill tossing and tumbling his loathsome and blistered body in the ashes scrawling and scraping his scuruy and scabbed skin with potsheards O miserable man O meeke minde O wofull wight O rufull and pitifull sight And O spiteful Serpent what hast thou done whom hast thou stinged and so dolefully wounded Doest thou know whom Couldest thou finde no other to spit thy spitefull poyson against but iust Iob and honest man an vpright man both in the sight of God and man the singular Seruant of God and the patientest man that euer the earth did beare O cruell and cursed Wife where is thy naturall affection towards so louing and godly a Husband And O vnnaturall Cousins fained friends where is your comfort and compassion towards your poore afflicted Kinsman But O iust Iob O constant creature O perfect picture of long patience In all this did not Iob sinne with his lips but manfully brideled his affections committing himselfe and his crosse to him that sent it and suffered it And so ought wee to doe in all extremities miseries be it of body or minde losse of goods losse of friends losse of lands or losse of life which is so deare and sweet to some that I feare they neuer looke for any other life they are so wedded to the world and the vanitie thereof as it may easily appeare by their impatiencie if God deale with them as he did with his Seruant Iob that is if hee doe but once touch their goods or bodies neuer so little VVe reade also of godly Tobias notwithstanding Tob. 1. 3. his innocent life his truth almes-deeds iustice and friendly goodwill in burying the dead with perill of his owne life Yet for all that he was led captiue to Niniue where hee was sought to bee slaine and had all his goods confiscate and spoiled So that in heauinesse of heart and sorrow of soule hee was forced to weepe Yet for Tob. 2. 7. all this he continued constant in his goodnes made graues buried the dead if not by day yet by night patiently suffering the mockes and taunts of his spitefull neighbours and nothing fearing death in so good a cause but meekely abode the reproches of his owne Wife who cast him in the teeth saying Where are thine almes and thy righteousnes This moued Tobias no Tob. 3. 1. deale but hee praised God and gaue himselfe to Prayer confessed his sinnes and most worthily in all these assaults acknowledgeth Gods iustice his mercy and truth There bee infinite others Men Women Old and Yong of all sorts and of all ages and degrees which being simple and silly sheepe and yet the faithfull seruants of GOD haue had their bloud sought and suckt whose milde mindes the wicked haue vexed whose godly conuersation they haue falsely slandered whose liues they long lay in wait for and whose bodies in the end they haue most maliciously murthered racked and tormented and that without all mercy and measure As Abel Esau Ieremie c. But I will not trouble the gentle Reader nor weary the attentiue Hearer with many mo examples I will therefore passe ouer the Old Testament and come to the New and there among many set downe one or two for our further instruction And here I may not forget neither omit the pietie and patience of Saint Stephen whose example of suffering may bee a glasse to looke our selues in This holy man and Martyr of God when he should bee slaine of the Iewes and cruelly stoned to death what doth he Doth