A SALVE FOR A SICKE MAN or A treatise containing the nature differences and kindes of death as also the right manner of dying well And it may serue for spirituall instructruction to 1. Mariners when they goe to sea 2. Souldiers when they goe to battell 3. Women when they trauell of child Printed at London by IOHN LEGAT Printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge 1611. And are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Crovvne by Simon Waterson To the right Honourable and vertuous Lady the Lady Lucie Countesse of Bedford THe death of the righteous that is of euery beleeuing repentāt sinner is a most excellent blessing of God and brings with it many worthy benefits which thing I prooue on this manner I. God both in the beginning and in the continuance of his grace doth greater things vnto his seruants then they doe commonly aske or thinke and because he hath promised ayd strength vnto thē therefore in wonderfull wisedome hee casteth vp them this heauie burden of death that they might make experience what is the exceeding might and power of his grace in their weaknes II. Iudgement beginnes at Gods house and the righteous are laden with afflictions and temptations in this life therfore in this world they haue their deaths and hells that in death they might not feele the torments of hell and death III. When Lazarus was dead Christ said He is not dead but sleepeth hence it followeth that the Christian man can say My graue is my bed my death is my sleepe in death I die not but onely sleepe It is thought that of all terrible things death is most terrible but it is false to them that be in Christ to whome many things happen farre more heauie and bitter then death IV. Death at the first brought forth sinne but death in the righteous by meanes of Christs death abolisheth sinne because it is the accomplishment of mortification And death is so farre from destroying such as are in Christ that there can be no better refuge for them against death for presently after the death of the body followes the perfect freedome of the spirit and the resurrection of the bodie V. Lastly death is a meanes of a Christian mans perfection as Christ in his owne example sheweth saying Behold I will cast out diuels and will heale still to day and to morrow and the third I will be perfected Now this perfection in the members of Christ is nothing else but the blessing of God the author of peace sanctifying them throughout that their whole spirits and soules and bodies may be preserued without blame to the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. Now hauing often thus considered with my selfe of the excellencie of death I thought good to draw the summe and chiefe heads thereof into this small treatise the protection and consideration whereof I commend to your Ladiship desiring you to accept of it and read it at your leisure If I bee blamed for Writing vnto you of death whereas by the course of nature you are not yet neere death Salomon wil excuse me who saith that wee must remember our Creatour in the daies of our youth Thus hoping of your H. good acceptance I pray God to blesse this my litle labour to your comfort and saluation Septemb. 7. 1595. Your H. in the Lord W. Perkins Eeclesiastes 7.3 The day of death is better then the day that one is borne THese words are a rule or precept laid down by Salomon for weightie causes For in the Chapters going before he sets forth the vanity of all creatures vnder heauen that at large in the very particulars Now men hereupon might take occasion of discontentment in respect of their estate in this life therefore Salomō in great wisdome here takes a new course in this chapter begins to lay downe certaine rules of direction and comfort that men might haue somwhat wherewith to arme themselues against the troubles and the miseries of this life The first rule is in this third verse that a good name is better then a pretious ointment that is a name gotten and maintained by godly conuersatiō is a speciall blessing of God which in the middest of the vanities of this life ministreth greater matter of reioicing and cōfort to the heart of man then the most pretious ointment can doe to the outward senses Now some man hauing heard this first rule concerning good name might obiect say that renowne good report in this life affoardes slender comfort cōsidering that after it followes death which is the miserable end of all men But this obiection the Wise man remooueth by a second rule in the wordes which I haue in hand saying that the day of death is better then the day that one is borne That wee may come to the true proper sense of this precept or rule three points are to be cōsidered First what is death here mentioned secondly how it can be truly said that the day of death is better then the day of birth thirdly in what respect it is better For the first death is a depriuation of life as a punishment ordained of God and imposed on man for his sinne First I say it is a depriuatiō of life because the very nature of death is the absence or defect of that life which God vouchsafed man by his creation I adde further that death is a punishment more especially to intimate the nature and qualitie of death and to shewe that it was ordained as a meanes of the execution of Gods iustice iudgment And that death is a punishment Paul plainely auoucheth when he saith that by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne And againe that death is the stipend wages or allowance of sinne Furthermore in euery punishment there bee three workers the ordainer of it the procurer and the executioner The ordainer of this punishment is God in the estate of mans innocency by a solemne law then made in these very words In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Gen. 2.17 But it may be alleadged to the contrary that the Lord saith by the Prophet Ezechiel that hee will not the death of a sinner therefore that hee is no ordainer of death The answer may easily be made that sundry waies First the Lord speakes not this to all men or of all men but to his owne people the Church of the Iewes as appeares by the clause prefixed Sonne of man say vnto the house of Israel c. Againe the words are not spoken absolutelu but onely in way of comparisoy in that of the twaine he rather wills the conuersion and repentance of a sinner then his death and destruction Thirdly the very proper meaning of the words import thus much that God doth take no delight or pleasure in the death of a sinner as it is the ruine and destruction of the creature And yet al this hinders not
but that God in a newe regard and consideration may both will ordaine death namely as it is a due and deserued punishment tending to the execution of iustice in which iustice God is as good as in his mercie Againe it may be obiected that if death indeede had beene ordained of God then Adam should haue bin destroied that presently vpō his fal For the very words are thus Whēsoeuer thou shalt eat of the forbidden fruite thou shalt certenly die Ans. Sentences of scripture are either Legall or Euangelical the law the gospell beeing two seuerall and distinct parts of Gods word Now this former sentence is legall must be vnderstood with an exception borrowed from the Gospel or the couenāt of grace made with Adam and reuealed to him after his fall The exception is this Thou shalt certenly die whensoeuer thou eatest the forbidden fruite except I doe further giue thee a means of deliuerance from death namely the seede of the woman to bruise the serpents head Secondly it may be answered that Adam and all his posteritie died and that presently after his fall in that his bodie was made mortall and his soule became subiect to the curse of the law And whereas God would not vtterly destroy Adam at the very first but onely impose on him the beginnings of the first and second death he did the same in great wisedome that in his iustice he might make a way to mercie which thing could not haue beene if Adam had perished The executioner of this punishmēt is he that doth impose and inflict the same on man that also is God himselfe as he testifieth of himselfe in the prophet Esai I make peace and create euill Nowe euill is of three sorts naturall morall material Natural euill is the destruction of that order which God set in euery creature by the creation Moral euill is the want of that righteousnesse and vertue which the law requires at mans hands that is called sin Material euill is any matter or thing which in it selfe is a good creature of God yet so as by reasō of mans fall it is hurtful to the health life of man as henbane wolfe-bane hemlock all other poisons are Now this saying of Esai must not bee vnderstood of morall euils but of such as are either materiall or naturall to the latter of which death is to be referred which is the destruction or abolishment of mans nature created The procurer of death is man not God in that man by his sin and disobedience did pull vpon himselfe this punishment Therefore the Lord in Oseah O Israel one hath destroyed thee but in me is thine helpe Against this it may be obiected that mā was mortall in the estate of innocencie before the fall Answ. The frame and composition of mans body considered in it selfe was mortall because it was made of water earth other elements which are of thēselues alterable and changeable yet if we respect that grace and blessing which God did vouchsafe mans bodie in his creation it was vnchangeable and immortall and so by the same blessing should haue continued if man had not fallen and man by his fall depriuing himselfe of this gift and blessing became euery way mortall Thus it appeares in part what death is yet for the better clearing of this point we are to consider the difference of the death of a man and of a beast The death of a beast is the total and finall abolishment of the whole creature for the body is resolued to his first matter and the soule arising of the temperature of the bodie vanisheth to nothing But in the death of a man it is otherwise For though the bodie for a time bee resolued to dust yet must it rise againe in the last iudgement and become immortall and as for the soule it subsisteth by it selfe out of the body and is immortall And this being so it may be demaūded how the soule can die the second death Ans. The soule dies not because it is vtterly abolished but because it is as though it were not it ceaseth to be in respect of righteousnes and fellowship with God And indeede this is the death of all deaths when the creature hath subsisting and beeing and yet for all that is depriued of al cōfortable fellowship with God The reason of this difference is because the soule of man is a spirit or spirituall substance wheras the soule of a beast is no substance but a naturall vigour or qualitie and hath no being in itselfe without the bodie on which it wholy dependeth The soule of a man contrariwise being created of nothing breathed into the bodie and as well subsisting forth of it as in it The kindes of death are two as the kindes of life are bodily and spirituall Bodily death is nothing else but the separation of the soule from the body as bodily life is the conujnction of bodie and soule and this death is called the first because in respect of time it goes before the second Spiritual death is the separatiō of the whole man both in body and soule from the gratious fellowshippe of God Of these twaine the first is but an entrance to death and the second is the accomplishment of it For as the soule is the life of the body so God is the life of the soule and his spirit is the soule of our soules and the want of fellowship with him brings nothing but the endles and vnspeakable horrours and pangs of death Againe spirituall death hath three distinct and seuerall degrees The first is when a man that is aliue in respect of temporall life lies dead in sin Of this degree Paul speakes when hee saith But shee that liueth in pleasure is dead while shee liueth And this is the case of all men by nature who are children of wrath and dead in sinnes and trespasses The second degree is in the very end of this life whē the body is laide in the earth the soule descendes to the place of torments The third degree is in the day of iudgement when the body and soule meete againe and goe both to the place of the damned there to bee tormented for euer and euer Hauing thus found the nature and differences and kindes of death it is more then manifest that the text in hand is to be vnderstood not of the spiritual but of the bodily death because it is opposed to the birth or natiuitie of man The words then must cary this sense the time of bodily death in which the body and soule of man are seuered asunder is better then the time in which one is borne and brought into the world Thus much of the first point now followeth the secōd that is how this can be true which Salomon saith that the day of death is better then the day of birth I make not this question to call the scriptures into controuersie which are the
almost shal we finde the practise obedience of it in mens liues conuersations Alas alas to lend our eares for the space of an houre to heare the will of God is common but to giue heart hand to doe the same is rare And the reason hereof is athād we are al most grieuous sinners euery sinner in the tearmes of Scripture is a foole and a principall part of his folly is to care for the things of this world and to neglect the kingdome of heauen to prouide for the body not for the soule to cast and fore-cast howe we may liue in wealth and honour and ease and not to vse the least fore-cast to die well This folly our Sauiour Christ noted in the rich man that was carefull to inlarge his barnes but had no care at all for his ende or for the saluation of his soule Such a one was Achitophel who as the Scripture tearmes him was as the very oracle of God for councell being a mā of great wisedome forecast in the matters of the cōmon wealth and in his owne priuate worldly affaires and yet for all this he had not so much as common sense and reason to consider howe he might die the death of the righteous come to life euerlasting And this folly the holy ghost hath noted in him For the text saith when he saw that his counsell was despised he sadled his asse and arose went home into his cittie and put his houshold in order and went and hanged himselfe And the fiue foolish virgins contented themselues with the blasing lamps of a bare profession neuer seeking for the horne of lasting oyle of true and liuely faith that might furnish and trimme the lampe both in life and death But let vs in the feare of God cast off this damnable folly first of all seeking the kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and leading our liues in faith and obedience that we may die accordingly And thus much of the first point of doctrine namely that there is a certen way whereby a man may die well now I come to the second Whereas therefore Salomon saith that the day of death is better then the day of birth we are furder taught that such as truly beleeue themselues to be the children of God are not to feare death ouermuch I say ouermuch because they must partly feare it and partly not Feare it they must for two causes the first because death is the destructiō of humane nature in a mans owne selfe others and in this respect Christ feared it without sinne and we must not feare it otherwise then we feare sicknes and pouertie and famine with other sorrows of body and minde which God will not haue vs to despise or lightly to regard but to feele with some paine because they are corrections punishments for sinne And he doth therfore lay vpon vs paines torments that they may be feared and eschewed and that by eschewing them we might further learne to eschewe the cause of them which is sin and by experience in feeling of paine acknowledge that God is a iudge and enemie of sinne and is exceeding angrie with it The second cause of the feare of death is the losse of the Church or Common-wealth when we or others are depriued of them which were indeede or might haue beene an helpe stay comfort to either of them and whose death hath procured some publike or priuate losse Againe we are not to feare death but to be glad of it and that for many causes First of al in it we haue occasion to shewe our subiection and obedience which we owe vnto God when he cals vs out of this world as Christ said Father not my will but thy will be done Secondly all sinne is abolished by death and we thē cease to offend God any more as we haue done Thirdly the dead body is brought into a better condition then euer it was in this life for by death it is made insensible and by that meanes it is freed from all the miseries and calamities of this life it ceaseth to be either an actiue or passiue instrument of sinne whereas in the life time it is both Fourthly it giues the soule passage to rest life and celestiall glorie in which wee shall see God as he is perfectly know him and praise his name for euer keeping without intermission an eternall sabboth therefore Paul saith I desire to bee dissolued and bee with Christ for that is best of all Fiftly God exequutes his iudgements vpon the wicked and purgeth his Church by death Nowe in all these respects godly men haue cause not to feare and sorrowe but to reioyce in their owne death and the death of others Thirdly if the day of death be so excellēt yea a day of happinesse then it is lawfull to desire death and men doe not alwaies sinne in wishing for death Paul saith I desire to be dissolueds and againe O miserable man who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death Yet this desire must not bee simple but restrained with certen respects which are these First death must bee desired so farre forth as it is a meanes to free vs from the corruption of our nature secondly as it is a meanes to bring vs to the immediate fellowship of Christ God himselfe in heauen Thirdly death may bee lawfully desired in respect of the troubles miseries of this life two caueats beeing obserued the first that this desire must not be immoderate the second it must bee ioyned with submission and subiection to the good pleasure of God If either of these bee wanting the desire is faulty therefore Iob and Ieremie and Ionas failed herein because they desired death beeing carried away with impatience On the contrarie also a man may desire a continuāce of life Ezechias praied and desired to liue when he heard the message of present death that hee might doe seruice to God And Paul desired to liue in regard of the Philippians that hee might further their faith though in regard of himselfe to die was aduantage to him Lastly if death ioyned with reformatiō of life be so blessed then the death of the vnbeleeuing and vnrepentant sinner is euery way cursed most horrible Reasons are these First it is the destruction of nature and the wages of their sins Secondly in it there is no comfort of the spirit to be found no mitigatiō of paine no good thing that may counteruaile the miseries thereof Thirdly that which is the most fearefull thing of al bodily death is the beginning of eternall death desperation and infernall torment without hope of deliuerance Therefore as I began so I ende haue care to liue well and die well FINIS An addition of things that came to my minde afterward THe last combate with the diuell in the pang of death it oftentimes most dangerous of all For then he will not vrge men to desperation knowing
themselues reckon a fewe yeares and daies that are able by arte to measure the globe of the earth and the spheres of heauen the quantities of the starres with their longitudes latitudes altitudes motions distances from the earth No verily For howesoeuer by a generall speculation we thinke something of our ends yet vnlesse the spirit of God be our schoole-master to teach vs our dutie wee shall neuer bee able soundly to resolue our selues of the presence and speedinesse of death And therfore let vs pray with Dauid and Moses that God would inlighten our minds with knowledge and fil our hearts with his grace that we might rightly consider of death and esteeme of euery day an houre as it were the day and houre of death The second dutie in this generall preparation is that euery man must daily indeauour to take away from his owne death the power and strength thereof And I pray you marke this point The Philistims sawe by experience that Sampson was of great strength therfore they vsed meanes to knowe in what part of his bodie it lay when they found it to be in the haire of his head they ceased not vntil it was cut off In like manner the time wil come whē we must encoūter hand to hand with tyranous and cruel death the best therefore is before-hand now while wee haue time to search where the strēgth of death lies which beeing once knowne we must with speed cut off his Sāpsons lockes and bereaue him of his power disarme him make him altogether vnable to preuaile against vs. Now to find out this matter we neede not to vse the councel of any Dalilah for wee haue the word of God which teacheth vs plaīly where the strength of death consists namly in our sins as Paul saith The sting of death is sinne Well then we knowing certenly that the power and force of euery mans partirular death lies in his owne sinnes must spend our time and studie in vsing good meanes that our sinnes may be remooued and pardoned And therefore we must daily inure our selues in the practise of two duties One is to humble our selues for al our sins past partly cōfessing thē against our selues partly in praier crying to heauē for the pardon of them The other is for time to come to turn vnto God and to carrie a purpose resolution indeauour in all things to reforme both hart life according to gods word These are the very principall proper duties wherby the power of death is much rebated he is made of a mighty bloody enemie so far forth friendly and tractable that we may with comfort incounter with him preuaile too Therefore I commend these duties to your christian considerations carefull practise desiring that ye would spend your daies euer hereafter in doing of them If a man were to deale with a mighty dragon or serpent hand to hand in such wise as he must either kill or be killed the best thing were to bereaue him of his sting or of that part of the body where his poison lies now death it selfe is a serpent dragon or scorpion sinne is the sting and poison whereby he wounds kils vs. Wherefore without any more delay see that ye pull out his sting the practise of the foresaid duties is as it were a fit worthy instrument to do the deed Hast thou beene a person ignorant of Gods will a contemner of his word and worship a blasphemer of his name a breaker of his Sabbaths disobedient to parents and magistrates a murderer a fornicatour a rayler a slanderer a couetous persō c. reforme these thy sinnes and all other like to them pull thē out by the rootes from thy heart cast them off So many sinnes as be in thee so many stings of death be also in thee to wound thy soule to eternal death therfore let no one sin remaine for which thou hast not humbled thy selfe and repented seriously When death hurts any man it takes the weapons whereby he is hurt from his owne hand It cannot do vs the least hurt but by the force of our owne sins Wherefore I say againe and againe lay this point to your hearts spend your strength life and health that ye may before ye die abolish the strength of death A man may put a serpent in his bosome when the sting is out we may let death creepe into our bosomes and gripe vs with his legs and stab vs at the heart so long as he brings not his venime and poison with him And because the former duties are so necessary as none can be more I wil vse some reasons yet furder to inforce thē Whatsoeuer a man would doe when he is dying the same he ought to doe euery day while he is liuing now the most notorious and wicked person that euer was when he is dying will pray and desire others to pray for him promise amendment of life protesting that if he might liue he would become a practitioner in all the good duties of faith repentance reformation of life Oh therfore be careful to do this euery day Again the saying is true he that would liue when he is dead must die while he is aliue namely to his sins Wouldest thou then liue eternally sue to heauen for thy pardon and see that now in thy life-time thou die to thine own sinnes Lastly wicked Balaam would faine die the death of the righteous but alas it was to small purpose for he would by no means liue the life of the righteous For his cōtinual purpose and meaning was to follow his olde waies in sorceries couetousnesse Now the life of a righteous man standes in the humbling of himself for his sinnes past and in a carefull reformatiō of life to come Wouldest thou then die the death of the righteous then looke vnto it that thy life be the life of the righteous if ye will needes liue the life of the vnrighteous yee must looke to die the death of the vnrighteous Remēber this and content not your selues to heare the word but be doers of it for ye learn no more indeed what measure of knowledge soeuer ye haue then ye practice The third dutie in our generall preparation is in this life to enter into the first degree of life eternal For as I haue said there be three degrees of life euerlasting and the first of them is in this present life for hee that would liue in eternall happines for euer must beginne in this world to rise out of the graue of his owne sinnes in which by nature he lies buried and liue in newnesse of life as it is said in the Reuelation He that will escape the second death must be made partaker of the first resurrection And Paul saith to the Colossians that they were in this life deliuered from the power of darkenesse and translated into the kingdom of Christ. And Christ saith to the
promise because for the most part the persons thus annointed die afterward without recouerie wheras those which were annointed in the primitiue Church alwaies recouered Thirdly the ancient annointing serued onely for the procuring of health but this tēds further to the procuring of remission of sins and strength in tēptation Thus hauing seene the doctrine of the Papists I come now to speake of the true and right manner of making particular preparation before death which containes three sorts of duties one concerning god the other cōcerning a mās own selfe the third concerning our neighbour The first cōcerning God is to seeke to be recōciled vnto him in Christ though we haue bin long assured of his fauour All other duties must come after in the second place they are of no effect without this Now this recōciliatiō must be sought for is obtained by a renuing of our former faith repentance and they must be renued on this māner So soone as a man shal feele any maner of sicknes to seaze vpon his bodie he must consider with himselfe whēnce it ariseth after serious consideration he shall finde that it comes not by chance or fortune but by the prouidence of God This done he must go yet furder cōsider for what cause the Lord should afflict his body with any sicknes or disease And he shal find by gods word that sicknes comes ordinarily and vsually of sinne Wherefore is the liuing man sorrowfull man suffereth for his sinne It is true indeed ther be other causes of the wāts of the body of sicknes beside sinne and though they be not known to vs yet they ar known to the Lord. Hereupon Christ when he saw a certaine blinde man and was demaunded what was the cause of the blindnesse answered neither hath this man sinned nor his parents but that the workes of God should be shewed on him Yet we for our parts who are to goe not by the secret but by the reuealed will of God must make this vse of our sicknes that it is sent vnto vs for our sinnes When Christ healed the man sicke of the palsy he saith Be of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiuen thee and when he had healed the man by the poole of Bethesda that had bin sicke 38. yers he bids him sin no more least a worse thing happen vnto him giuing them both to vnderstand that their sicknes came by reasō of their sinnes And thus should euery sick man resolue himself Now when we haue proceeded thus farre haue as it were laid our finger vpon the right and proper cause of our sicknesse three things cōcerning our sins must bee performed of vs in sicknes First we must make a new examination of our hearts and liues say as the Israelites said in affliction Let vs search try our waies and turne againe to the Lord. Secondly we must make a new confession to God of our new particular sinnes as God sends new corrections and chastisment When Dauid had the hād of God very heauy vpon him for his sins so as his very bones moisture consumed within him he made confession of them vnto God and therupon obtained his pardon was healed The third thing is to make new praier more earnest then euer before with sighes grones of the spirit that for pardon of the same sins for reconciliation with God in christ In the exercise of these 3. duties standes the renouation of our faith repentance wherby they are increased quickned reuiued And the more sicknes preuailes and takes place in the bodie the more should wee be careful to put thē in vre that spirituall life might increase as temporal life is decaied When king Ezechias lay sicke as he thought vpon his death-bedde he wept as for some other causes so also for his sinnes and withal he praied God to cast them behind his back Dauid made certain Psalmes when he was sick or at the least vpon the occasiō of his sicknes as namely the 6. the 32. the 38. the 39. c. and they are al psalmes of repētāce in which we may see how in distresse of the body and mind he renewed his faith repentāce heartily bewailing his sinnes intreating the Lord for the pardon of them Manasses one that fell from God and gaue himselfe to many horrible sins when he was taken captiue and imprisoned in Babylon Hee prayed to the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed vnto him and God was intreated of him and heard his prayer and brought him againe to Ierusalem into his kingdome and then Manasses knew that the Lord was God Now looke what Manasses did in this tribulatiō the same thing must we doe in the time of our bodily sicknesse Here I haue occasion to mention a notorious fault that is very common in this age euen amōg such as haue long liued in the bosome of the Church and that is this Men now adaies are so far from renuing their faith and repentance that when they lie sick and are drawing toward death they must bee catechised in the doctrine of faith and repentance as if they had beene but of late receiued into the Church Whosoeuer wil but as occasion is offered visit the sick shall finde this to be true which I say What a shame is this that whē a man hath spent his life daies in the church for the space of 20. or 30. or 40. yeares hee should at the very ende of all not before begin to enquire what faith what repentance is and how his soule might bee saued This one sin argues the great securitie of this age the great contempt of God and his word Wel let al men hereafter in time to come bee warned to take heede of this exceeding negligence in matters of saluation and to vse all good means before-hand that they may be able in sicknesse and in the time of death to put in practise the spirituall exercises of inuocation and repentance Now if so be it fall out that the sicke partie cannot of himselfe renue his owne faith and repentance he must seeke the help of others When the man that was sicke of the dead palsie could not go to Christ himself he got others to bear him in his bedde when they could not come neere for the multitude they vncouered the roofe of the house and let the bed down before Christ euen so when sicke men cannot alone by thēselues doe the good duties to which they are bound they must borrow helpe from their fellowe members who are partly by their counsell to put to their helping hand partly by their prayers to present them vnto God and to bring them into the presence of Christ. And touching helpe in this case sundry duties are to be performed Saint Iames sets downe foure two whereof concerne the sicke patient and other two
such as be helpers The first duty of the sicke man is to send for helpe where two circumstances must be considered who must be sent for and when For the first S. Iames saith Is any sicke among you let him call for the elders of the Church Whereby are meant not onely Apostles and all ministers of the Gospel but others also as I take it which were men ancient for yeares indued with the spirit of vnderstanding and praier and had withall the gift of working miracles and of healing the sicke For in the primitiue Church this gift was for a time so plentifully bestowed on thē that beleued in Christ that souldiers cast out diuels and parents wrought miracles on their childrē Hēce we may learne that howsoeuer it be the dutie of the Ministers of the word principally to visit and comfort the sicke yet is it not their duty alone for it belongs to them also which haue knowledge of Gods word and the gift of prayer Exhort one an other saith the holy Ghost while it is called to day And againe Admonish them that are disordered and comfort those that are weake And indeede in equitie it should be the dutie of euery Christian man to cōfort his brother in sicknesse Here wee must needes take knowledge of the common fault of men and women when they come to visit their neighbours and friends they can not speake a word of instruction and comfort but spend the time either in silence gazing and looking on or in vttering wordes to little or no purpose saying to the sicke partie that they are sorie to see him in that case that they wold haue him to be of good comfort but wherein and by what meanes they cannot tel that they doubt not but that he shall recouer his health and liue with them still be merry as in former time that they will pray for him whereas al their prayers are nothing else but the Apostles Creede or the ten Commandemēts the Lords praier vttered without vnderstanding And this is the common comfort thar sicke men gette at the hands of their neighbours whē they come vnto them and all this comes either because men liue in ignorāce of Gods word or because they falsely thinke that the whole burthen of this dutie lies vpon the shoulders of the minister The second circumstance is when the sicke partie must send for the Elders to instruct him and pray for him And that is in the very first place of al before any other helpe be sought for Where the Diuine endes there the Physitian must begin and it is a very preposterous course that the Diuine should ther begin where the Physitian makes an ende For till help be had for the soule and sinne which is the root of sicknes be cured physicke for the body is nothing Therefore it is a thing much to be disliked that in all places almost the Physitian is first sent for and comes in the beginning of the sicknes and the Minister comes when a man is half dead and is then sent for oftentimes when the sicke partie lies drawing on and gasping for breath as though Ministers of the gospel in these daies were able to worke miracles The second dutie of the sick partie is to confesse his sins as S. Iames saith Confesse your sinnes one to another and pray one for another It will be said that this is to bring in againe Popish shrift Ans. Confession of our sinnes and that vnto men was neuer denied of any the question only is of the manner and order of making confession And for this cause wee must put a great difference betweene popish shrift and the confession of which S. Iames speaketh For he requires onely a confession of that or those sinnes which lie vpon a mans conscience when he is sicke but the popish doctrine requireth a particular enumeration of al mans sins Again S. Iames inioynes confessiō onely as a thing meete conueniēt but the Papists as a thing necessarie to the remission of sins Thirdly S. Iames permits that confession be made to any man by one man to another mutually whereas popish shrift is made onely to the priest The secōd duty then is that the sick party troubled in minde with the memory and consideration of any of his sinnes past or any manner of way tempted by the diuell shall freely of his owne accord open his case to such as are both able willing to help him that he may receiue comfort and die in peace of conscience Thus much of the sick mans duty now follow the duties of helpers The first is to pray ouer him that is in his presence to pray with him and for him and by prayer to present his very person and his whole estate vnto God The Prophet Elizeus the Apostle Paul our Sauiour Christ vsed this manner of praying when they would miraculously restore temporall life and therfore it is very meet that the same should be vsed also of vs that we might the better stirre vp our affection in prayer and our compassion to the sicke when we are about to intreat the Lord for the remission of their sinnes and for the saluation of their soules The second duty of him that comes as an helper is to annoint the sicke party with oyle Now this annointing was an outward ceremony which was vsed with the gift of healing which is now ceased and therefore I omit to speake further of it Thus much of the duty which the sick man owes to God now follow the duties which he is to performe vnto himselfe and they are twofold one concernes his soule the other his bodie The dutie concerning his soule is that he must arme furnish himself against the immoderate feare of present death And the reason hereof is plaine because howsoeuer naturally men feare death through the whole course of their liues more or lesse yet in the time of sicknesse when death approcheth this naturall feare bred in the bone will most of all shew it selfe euen in such sort as it will astonish the senses of the sicke partie and sometime cause desperation Therefore it is necessarie that we shold vse meanes to strengthen our selues against the feare of death The meanes are of two sorts practises and meditations Practises are two especially The first is that the sicke man must not so much regard death it self as the benefits of God which are obtained after death He must not fixe his minde vpon the consideration of the pangs and torments of death but all his thoughts and affections must be set vpon that blessed estate that is enioyed after death He that is to passe ouer some great and deepe riuer must not looke downward to the streame of the water but if he would preuent feare he must set his foote sure cast his eye to the banke on the further side so must he that drawes neere death as it were look ouer the waues of