or infidelity or any other grievous sin but may be able to stand stedfastly through thy supporting and to walk on constantly in the way of Piety and of Patience till by thy good guiding and conducting I may at last come to the life everlasting As thou still holdest open the eyes of my weak body to behold the light of nature so be pleased daily more and more to open the eyes of my sinful soul to behold the light of grace till thou bring me to enjoy the light of glory there to glorifie and praise thee for ever Amen The sick mans Collect for Peace O God which art the Author of our peace for thine own Mercies sake but the Author of our troubles only for our sins Give unto me thy unworthy servant that peace which this wicked world cannot give and which this tumultuous and troublesom world cannot take away and defend me in all the assaults of my afflictions both corporal and spiritual that I surely trusting in thy defence and wholly submitting to thy providence may not fear the power of any adversity whatsoever through the might and for the mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The sick mans Collect for Grace O Lord our heavenly Father Almighty and everlasting God which hast safely brought me through many dangers and troubles and diseases to the beginning of this dangerous and desperate sickness defend me in the whole continuance of the same with thy mighty power and grant that herein I may fall into no sin neither run into any kind of danger whereby I may become either impenitently sinful or uncomfortably miserable But that all my doings and all my sufferings being ordered by thy Governance I may alwaies do that which is righteous in thy sight and suffer that which may be profitable for mine own salvtion through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The sick mans Letany O God the Father of heaven and of all Mercies have Mercy upon me a miserable sinner And grant that in the greatest extremities and anguishes of my body I may find the greatest comforts and refreshments of my soul Grant that when I am most tormented in my flesh I may be most relieved in my spirit That though my loins are filled with a sore disease and there is no whole part in my body yet my soul may magnifie the Lord and my spirit may rejoyce in God my Saviour for he hath regarded my low and miserable estate and he will relieve it O God the Son Redeemer of the world and of my sin-sick and sinful soul have Mercy upon me a miserable sinner and take away all my sins that thou mayest take away all my miseries As thou hast made me a happy Believer so also make me a joyful partaker of thy Redemption and then most especially when I shall most feel my self as it were swallowed up of grief and destruction through the pains and torments of my increasing sickness or the pangs and horrours of my approaching death Be thou my comfort in distress my strength in weakness my health in sickness my joy in sadness Be thou my life whiles I am living and my Resurrection from the dead that though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I may fear no evil for thou art with me to conduct me through the dangerous downfalls of that valley to direct me through the dismal darknesses of that shadow and to sustain me in the dreadful dissolution of that death O thou who now sittest on the right hand of God making intercession for me reject me not when I am making intercession for my self for through thy death I hope for life through thy life I hope for glory through thy glory I hope for eternal glory And in that hope do I now commend my spirit into thy hands for thou hast redeemed me O God thou God of truth And thou wilt save me O God thou God of Mercy because I have believed thy truth and do rely upon thy Mercy Therefore do I wholly resign my self body and soul unto thee submitting them both to thy good will and pleasure either for life or death beseeching thee to Receive my soul and to Restore my body and to grant that I may be able to stand upright in the dreadful Judgement being supported by the arm of thy All-sufficient Merits and All-saving Mercies to bless and praise thee O my blessed Redeemer world without end O God the Holy-Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have Mercy upon me a miserable sinner and give unto mean assurance of thy Mercy that thou mayest give unto me an abatement of my misery O thou which art the Comforter of thine Elect give unto me daily more and more the heavenly comforts of mine Election and in the greatest agonies and distresses of my body transfix my soul with the most joyful apprehensions and the most firm perswasions of thine everlasting Love and undeserved Mercies towards me in Jesus Christ That neither the apprehensions of a sad and miserable life nor the fears and terrours of an uncomfortable death may ever be able to affright my soul nor to disturb that sweet peace resâ—… and repose which my spirit now hath and desireth to have in thee the God of spirits who givest unto those souls that are oâ—… thy Communion the antepast of eternity the blessed anticipation of immortal joy 〈◊〉 O my God my Stay my Comforter unto thee do I flie for the comforts of immortality Like as the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God even for the living God when shall 〈◊〉 come to appear before God when shall I drink my fill of the waters of life to quench my thirst O let my tears no longer be my meat day and night whiles mine own troubled thoughts say unto my soul Where is now thy God for surely my God is in heaven whatsoever pleaseth him that doth he in heaven and in earth 〈◊〉 and though for a while in the evening of this life I have sadness upon earth yet in the morning of eternity I shall for eveâ—… have joy in heaven Amen O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity three persons and one God have Mercy upon me a most miserable and wretched sinner and therefore most miserable and wretched because a sinner because I have sinned against heaven and against thee the God of heaven But since thou hast given me grace through the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity I beseech thee that through the stedfastness of this faith I may be absolved from all my sins and also be defended from all adversity which livest and reignest one God world without end Amen Remember not Lord mine offences nor the offences of my fore-fathers neither take thou vengeance of my sins spare me good Lord spare me thy most afflicted but most unworthy servant whom thou hast
thoughts that I may often feel the influence of thy mercy in heavenly joyes I have many sad and dismal sorrows from my self O give unto me true comfort in my Saviour let my trouble be in the day when thou wilt hear me and not in the day when thou wilt Judge me There is no trust but may deceive me save only my trust in thee there is nothing in which I may not miscarry but only thy Mercy O Lord let my trust be so in thee that though I have miscarried in all the desires and designs and delights of this world yet I may not miscarry in thy Mercy but may have the joyes and delights of the world to come through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 37. Be thou exalted Lord in thine owâ—… strength so will I sing and praise thâ—… power Thy strength is that whicâ—… strengthens souls and thou lovest to shew thy strength in our weakness Lord let thy strength be made perfect in my weakness so shall I most gladly rather glory then repine in my infirmities whiles the power of Christ doth-rest upon me and my soul doth rest upon thee and thy Mercies in Jesus Christ. 38. O Lord who forgivest the sins of the penitent and coverest those sins which thou forgivest I beseech thee to accept my repentance and to cover all those sins which I desire thee to forgive That I may have the blessing of him whose unrighteousness is forgiven and whose sin is covered For if my sins should be all discovered to my self they would fill me with fear if they should be discovered to others they would fill me with shame And how wilt thou discover them either to my fear or to my shame since thou canst not forgive them unless thou cover them O then be pleased so to cover my sins here as not to discover them again hereafter so to hide my transgressions in the day of thy Mercy as not to lay them open in the day of Wrath Or if thy Justice shall require that all my sins be revealed in the day of the revelation of thy righteous Judgement let the atonement also for my sins be then revealed which I have laboured to make and thou hast promised to accept through the Merits and satisfaction of thy Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ. 39. O thou who art gracious and righteous and in thy righteousness teachest the upright the way of innocency and by thy grace leadest sinners in the way of repentance Have mercy upon me thy most unworthy servant and grant that my great defects and wants of the first righteousness that of Innocency may be supplyed by the fulness of the second righteousness that of Faith and Repentance And make mine eyes look so diligently to thee that I may never again want care in looking to my self Order my steps in thy Word and so shall no wickedness have dominion over me Order my heart in thy Faith and so shall I have dominion over all my wickedness for though my fears shall force me to say O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death yet my Faith will be able to suppress that saying and suggest unto me this heavenly comfort and triumph I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 40. O Lord I am in the midst of many troubles and sorrows by reason of my sufferings and much more by reason of my sins but thou hast promised that the righteous shall rejoyce in the Lord and put his trust in him and all they that are true of heart shall be glad Psal. 64. 10. O then make me true of heart that I may trust in thee and be truly righteous And give unto me true righteousness that thou mayst give unto me true joy There is no true righteousness but the righteousness of thy Son There is no true joy but the joy of thy Spirit O thou Father of Mercy give unto me the righteousness of God the Son my Redeemer that thou mayst give me the joy of God the Holy-Ghost my Comforter to be with me and to remain in me for evermore 41. O Lord thou hast brought upon me so much misery that I cannot love my condition And I have so much sin that I cannot love my self Wherefore I beseech thee to fix my love wholly upon thee that my soul may thirst for thee and my flesh also may long after thee in this barren and dry Land where no water is either to cleanse or to refresh or to revive me That looking for thee in holiness I may behold thy power and glory For my soul cannot truly thirst for thee till my flesh also long after thee since whiles my flesh is in love with the profits and pleasures of this life my spirit cannot but lose the desire and neglect the pursuit of the life everlasting O Lord thou hast taken away from me most of the profits and all the pleasures of this life O take from me also the love of it That I may not fear to lose that life which I do not love nor love that life which I am sure to lose but let me so love thee as to live in thee that I may not fear the loss either of my life or of my love 42. O Lord I am assaulted by vexations without and by temptations within and to whom should I flie for succour but only to thee who art not so displeased for my sins but that thou wilt be appeased by my repentance O give unto me that repentance which thou wilt accept and take from me that displeasure which I so fear Thou canst defend me with thy favourable kindness as with a Shield O Lord I ask no other defence but only this defence of thy Mercy to defend me from my self and all my sinfulness to defend me from thy wrath and from all the punishments of my sins Though thou leave me destitute of all other defence yet let thy loving-kindness evermore defend me according to that eternal love wherewith thou hast loved me in the Son of thy love our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 43. O Lord thou hast hitherto guided me by thy counsel and thou wilt hereafter receive me with glory Therefore have I none in heaven but thee because none else can receive me with glory and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee because none else can guide me with true counsel O Lord pardon my strayings from thy directions as thou hast been my guide that thou mayst receive me into thine habitation and be my glory for Jesus sake Amen 44. O Lord make my soul willing to depart and go from hence because it here dwells among the enemies of my peace even among mine own sins and fears which disturb the peace of a good conscience here and threaten to destroy the peace of a blessed eternity hereafter Make me to long for that blessed minute which will restore to me perfect innocency and will transmit me into everlasting peace
take heed he forsake not thee Wonder not then if you find many of Samuels words that is much of the Churches dictates in these Devotions but know it is because God hath taught Samuel to pray that he might teach you And having taught you to pray by Samuels Devotions may perchance not hear your prayers eveâ—… as he accepted not Sauls offering out oâ—… Samuels Communion However you may certainly by this gleaning of some few grapes see what store of good wine was and is in thâ—… whole Vintage And I hope you will noâ—… have good wine only to see and to look upon but also to tast and to make good use of it Or confess it is your own wilfulness thaâ—… you I will not say your prayers are either Faint or Dry for not tasting it The sick mans confession of his sins I Confess unto thee O Lord God Almighty and most merciful Father that I have sinned against heaven and against thee and am not worthy to be called thy Son nor to have any portion in thine inheritance because I have been hitherto so unthankful for thy Mercy so unreverent towards thy Majesty and so undutiful to thine Authority wherefore innumerable troubles are most justly come upon me and my sins have taken such hold of me that I am not able to look up yea they are more in number then the hairs of my head and my heart hath failed me But O Lord let it be thy pleasure to deliver me make hast O Lord to help me and comfort the soul of thy distressed servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul gasping for that Mercy and Forgiveness which thou hast promised to Repentant-sinners for the Merits of thy dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Or this Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Maker of all things Judge of all men I acknowledge and bewail my manifold sins and wickedness which I from time to time most grievously have committed by thought word and deed against thy Divine Majesty provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against me I do earnestly repent and am heartily sorry for these my mis-doings the remembrance of them is grievous unto me the burthen of them is intollerable Have Mercy upon me have Mercy upon me most merciful Father for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christs sake forgive me all that is past and grant that I may ever hereafter serve and please thee in the newness of my life or in the contentedness and patience of my death to the honour and glory of thy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The sick mans Absolution or Remission of sins to be pronounced by himself alone when he cannot have the benefit of a Minister to absolve him HAve mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sins and absolve me from the guiltiness of all my transgressions according to the Promise of Mercy by thy Word the Purchase of Mercy by thy Son and the Pledges of Mercy by thy holy Spirit made and given to repentant-Repentant-sinners in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy-Ghost Amen Or this Almighty God our heavenly Father who of his great Mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them which with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him have Mercy upon me pardon and deliver me from all my sins confirm and strengthen me in all goodness and bring me to everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Then likewise he shall say O Lord open my heart that thou mayest open my lips O Lord open my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise O God make speed to save me O Lord make hast to help me That I may with a thankful heart and with a chearful voice sing and say unto thee 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 Praise ye the Lord I praise the Lord. The sick mans Psalm Psal. 6. 1. O Lord rebuke me not in thine indignation neither chasten me in thy displeasure 2. Have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed 3. My soul is also sore troubled but Lord how long wilt thou punish me 4. Turn thee O Lord and deliver my soul O save me for thy Mercies sake 5. For in death no man remembereth thee and who will give thee thanks in the pit 6. I am weary of my groaning every night wash I my bed and water my couch with my tears 7. My beauty is gone for very trouble and worn away because of all mine enemies 8. Away from me all ye that work vanity for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping 9. The Lord hath heard my Petition the Lord will receive my Prayer 10. All mine enemies shall be confounded and sore vexed they shall be turned back and put to shame suddenly Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The sick mans first lesson Job 19. 25 c. I Know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me His first Canticle I praise thee O God I acknowledge thee to be the Lord. O praise our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard Which holdeth our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to slip I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings and will pay thee my vows which I promised with my lips and spake with my mouth when I was in trouble O come hither and hearken all ye that fear God and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul. I called unto him with my mouth and gave him praises with my tongue If I encline unto wickedness with my heart the Lord will not hear me But God hath heard me and considered the voice of my prayer Praised be God which hath not cast out my prayer nor turned his Mercy from me Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name Which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities Which saveth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with Mercy and loving-kindness Praise the Lord O my soul whiles I live will I praise the Lord yea as long as I have any being I will sing praises unto my God Lord make me so to praise thee here whiles it is my duty that I may exactly know how to praise thee hereafter when it shall be my reward For therefore with Angels and Arch-angels and with all the company of heaven do I now laud
of His mercy Psal. 130. 4. But there is forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared The Unregenerate fears God for his Vengeance but the Regenerate fears him for his Forgiveness He looks not on God as he is in himself A consuming Fire but as He is in His Son a still small voice God is a still small voice only in his Enternal Word In him he wil speak Peace unto his People and to his Saints Psal. 85. 8. But if he speak not in His Son Then he is a God speaking out of the midst of the Fire Deut. 4. 33. And his Voice is accordingly with Thunderings and Lightnings a voice great in Power and full of Majesty such as breaketh the Cedars of Lebanon Psal. 29. and is able to rend our stony Hearts but by no means to comfort and raise up our dejected Souls Wherefore the true Believer looks upon God in Christ where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God The right hand of God is terrible in it self but not now Christ is sitting at it The Psalmist cals upon God to pluck His right hand out of his Bosom to consume his Adversaries and his blaspheming Enemies Ps. 74. And which of us is not so much Gods enemy as to be speedily consumed Did not the son of God our blessed Saviour sit on his Fathers right hand to keep him from plucking it out of his Bosome to consume us Or when he plucks it out to interpose betwixt us and it That God cannot strike us but through the loins of his only begotten and only beloved son So secure is that Soul which is in Christ That it may draw neer with a true Heart in full assurance of Faith Heb. 10. 22. Even to the right Hand of God T is an orderly motion of the Soul Going to God in Christ That is the fourth If your Affections carry your soul to God thus Voluntarily thus Universally thus Judiciously thus Orderly T is an invincible argument an undeniable Proof that your soul lives in God and therefore may comfortably from him expect Everlasting Life For you may then say with Saint Paul Gal. 2 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me And the life which I now â—…ive in thâ—… Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me Many men have measured their Faith by the strength of its perswasion and have mistaken Themselves for they have taken Phancy for Faith but never was any man mistaken in his Faith who measured it by the strength of its Affection This is the surest way to know whether you have a true Faith in Christ and whether your soul doth truly live in him by that Faith And if you shall yet further ask what degree of Faith is required to make the soul ascend up unto its Saviour I must answer it is not the measure or the Degree but the Sincerity of Faith that maketh it a saving Faith and placeth the man that hath it in the state of Salvation wherein we may see the infinite Goodness of God towards the souls of men For were such or such a degree of Faith required to justifie a Sinner no man could ever have any comfortable Assurance of his Justification for no man can exactly know the Degree of his own Faith And he that believes the most stedfastly had need to say Lord I believe Help thou my Unbelief Mar. 9. 24. He may undertake for the Sincerity He cannot for the strength or measure of his Faith But now since it is the True and Lively Faith that justifies it is enough that a man only know he doth truly believe and so rest and rely upon the merits of his Saviour for his justification For this is the Apostolical Benediction Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Eph. 6. 24. Sincerity not sufficiency of love is the Touchstone to try the Soul whether it be in the state of Grace The Apostle saith not in Abundance for fear of disturbing the Peace of souls for who can tell when he loveth the Lord Jesus Christ abundantly considering how often He sins against Him But He saith In sincerity to establish and confirm the Peace of Souls For every one that Loveth knoweth the sincerity of his own love the Soul being an Infallible judge of its own Act in the Quality when it may easily be mistaken in the Quantity Saint Peters threefold denyal of his Master had stopped his mouth from Professing the Abundance but not from Professing the sincerity of his Love Yea Lord saith he Thou knowest that I love Thee Iohn 21. 15. He knew well the sincerity of his own Love or He durst not have appealed to the Searcher of Hearts to be Judge of that Sincerity As if he had said Though I do not know That I love thee sufficiently yet I do know That I love thee truly and sincerely And thou knowest it too nor could 〈◊〉 truly say Thou knowest that I love thee if I did not know it my self O happy man whose conscience bears him witness That he Truly Repents Truly Believes and Truly Loves For He can promise to himself not only Admittance to God but also Acceptance with Him For if he can say from the bottome of his Heartâ—… Lord I repent He must be comforted iâ—… This That He who came to call sinners to Repentance Mat. 9. 13. will not reject a Sinner that is Repenting He thaâ—… promised to spare a whole Nation for one Converts sake Jer. 5. 1. if but one of them did Seek Truth who had formerly despised it will much more spare that soul in which himself hath wrought a true Conversion For he cannot despise the works of his own hands though he cannot but despise and abandon the works of Ours Those words then of the man that was born blind God heareth not sinners had little reason to Trouble Saint Augustine for fear no mans Prayers should be heard for that all are sinners which made him find out this exception rather then exposition Verbum coeci adhuc inuncti i. e. nondum illuminati ideò non est Ratum This was the saying of a blind man before his eyes were fully opened to see or his heart was illuminated to know the truth and therefore it holds not But we need no such exception for this is one of those common Notions which the Devil and Sin could not blot out of the hearts of men and therefore we find it in effect avowed by a Heathen Poet Hom. Il. a. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God heareth those that obey him and consequently heareth not the disobedient and unrighteous which is all one with this God heareth not sinners and this may be verified saith Aquinas de Peccatore in quantum est peccator 22 ae qu. 83. art 16. Of sinners as far forth as they are sinners for so God heareth them not yet he may and doth hear them
truth Jam. 1. 18. And if God be Our Father by Spiritual Generation then are we also his sons by Adoption and can rightly and truly say Our Father and all the Petitions after it without giving the Lie to our own Consciences Whereas a man that is in the state of sin cannot truly say any one Petition of the Lords most Holy Prayer He cannot say Our Father for he will not be the son of God He cannot say Hallowed be thy name for he delights to profane it He cannot say Thy Kingdom come for he fears nothing more then its coming He cannot say Thy Will be done for he resolves against the doing it Wherefore if you ask me how shall sinners not yet converted say to God Our Father I Answer if they truly desire to be converted and to become his children they may say so as the Prodigal son resolving to arise and go to his Father though he were not yet come unto him had a right of calling him Father Luke 15. 18. For an unfained desire of conversion shews a true convert God accepting the will for the deed As working in us to will no less then to do of his own good pleasure And the best man that is will meet with inextricable Difficulties if he Ground the Truth of his conversion upon the Ability of his Performance and not upon the sinceritity of his desire Saint Bernard tells of a very Religious Monk who undertaking to say his Pater Noster without the least A vocation or A version of his thoughts from God which another professed that he could not obtain to do by all the fasting and prayer that he had used for many years convinced and condemned himself by his own mouth before he had gone over half the petitions interposing such an Impertinency in his prayer as plainly shewed that his mind was on earth whiles his tongue was in heaven I conclude then that only those sinners among the sons of men have no right to their Pater Noster but do hypocritically and falsly say the Lords prayer who neither are nor desire to be the children of God who so are sinners as that they also are in the state of sin and desire to continue in that state For how can that man have a right to pray who before he praies hath set his heart against his God and whiles he is praying doth set his own tongue against his heart SECT II. Weighing of our sins EVery man shall bear his own burden saith the Apostle Gal. 6. 5. And it will conâ—…ern every wise man to see he hath no greater burden then he is able to bear Of all burdens none is so heavy as sin â—…or other burdens can only press down to â—…earth but this presseth also down to hell Therefore above all other burdens it is a â—…oint of wisdom to be rid of this burden of â—…in But how shall we rid our selves of it Who will take it from us who will bear it â—…or us The Psalmist hath told us Psal. 55. â—…2 saying Cast thy burden upon the Lord â—…nd he shall sustain thee If it be thy wiâ—…est course to cast upon him the burden of â—…hy Body then much more the burden of â—…hy soul Say then to him as Hezekiah did O Lord I am oppressed Undertake for me Isa. 38. 14. Thou didst bear the heavy â—…urden of thy Cross that thou mightest â—…ear the far heavier burden of my sins This is the burden that most oppresseth me this is the burden that I most earnestâ—…y beseech thee to undertake for me and to take from me thou didst admit of one to help thee bear the burden of thy Cross but of none to help thee bear the burden of my sins Therefore I can flee to none for helâ—… but to thee alone Thou only wert able toâ—… satisfie the Justice of an angry God and 〈◊〉 beseech thee to make me a joyfull Partakeâ—… of that blessed Satisfaction One Angeâ—… was enough to strengthen thee to beaâ—… the burden of the sins of the whole worldâ—… But all the Angels in Heaven are noâ—… enough to strengthen me to bear the burden only of mine own sins therefore I sleeâ—… unto thee to undertake for me Be thou myâ—… Pledge my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pawn Lift for Life soul for soul in my stead That 〈◊〉 who have forfeited both life and soul iâ—… my self may Recover them both in my Pledge in my Undertaker But I may not hope to be so easily rid of my heavy burden by desiring to lay it upon another shoulders unless I first lay it on mine owâ—… Heart For if my Saviour were so exceeding sorrowfull for my sins it is greaâ—… reason I should be sorrowfull for mine own Sins which alone caused his greateâ—… Sorrow And How can I be sorry for my Sins till I know the burden of them How can I know their burden till I have weighed Them in the ballance of the Sanctuary There I shall find that sin is directly opposite to the Goodness of God and therefore must needs be as odious to Him as His own Goodness is amiable to Himself There I shall find that the wilfull Sinner is a Rebell against the King of Heaven doth despise the Golden scepter of his mercy and would put him down from the Throne of his Majesty There I shall find that every Sin Unrepented separates from God Isa. 59. 2. Your Iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God Grieves his Holy Spirit excludes and expels Grace from the soul nay excludes and expels the soul from it self bringing Darkness on the Understanding Perversness on the Will Forgetfulness on the Memory Debility and weakness on the Power of Action So that by Sin the soul is neither rightly Intellective nor Retentive nor Affective nor Active Most ingeniously the Casuist Dicat Saluberrimum Peccavi cujus Singulae literae indices illi esse possunt miseriae in qua constituitur Let the Sinner frequently and Heartily cry Peccavi the several Letters of which word will put him in mind of His several losses and miseries by His sins as for example P Praemiis omnium meritorum privatus e Egestate oppressus c Coecitate mentis percussus c Charitate divina spoliatus 〈◊〉 a Amaritudine repletus v Viam perdiâ—…tionis ingressus i Iram Dei meritus 〈◊〉 Reginaldus de Prudentia in Confessarioâ—… cap. 5. Innumerable are the miseries oâ—… the impenitent sinner yet reducible All tâ—… these seven Heads 1. That he loseth thâ—… benefit of his former righteousness 2. Thaâ—… he is oppressed with many wants anâ—… above All with the want of Repentance 3. That he is smitten with blindness in hiâ—… Understanding 4. That he is out oâ—… Gods Favour 5. That He is full of bitterness 6. That he is in the way of Peâ—…dition 7. That he is under the wrath oâ—… God And the word Peccavi in Latineâ—… will put Him in mind of All these 〈◊〉 and as it will shew him His Disease soâ—… will also Help
Hand O Lord is not shortned that it cannot save and loose me from the burden of mine iniquity as it did her from the spirit of her Infirmity sweet Jesus lay thy mercifull hands on me that I may be Immediately made straite as she was and Glorifie God For this is a grievous and 〈◊〉 deadly burden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A grievous and yet withal A Fatal Burden A Burden that brings grief with it and Damnation after it such is the burden of any wilfull sin whatsoever till Faith and Repentance have unloaded the conscience Most divinely Saint Chrysostom If all my Righteousness be as Filthy rags Isa. 64. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what shall be said of my filthiness and of my unrighteousness Surely if my best righteousness hath the aspersion of sin then are my sins most exeeeding sinfull But we all generally herein are like the Pharisees ready to bind Heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on other mens shoulders Mat. 23. 4. whereas this is a burden that we should â—…her lay every man on his own Heart The evil of our neighbours Heart we cannot know and yet are very desirous to know it though that knowledge tend directly to our damnation either for our malice or our Curiosity The evil of our own hearts we can know yet care not to know it though this knowledge immediately conduce to our salvation either by our Humility or by our Repentance For that man is worse then Simon Magus who is in the very gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity and yet scorns to say to the Successors of the Apostles Pray ye unto the Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me Acts 8. 23 24. For whatsoever God hath spoken in his word against impenitent sinners he cannot but fear will come upon him and it is just he should know it will so that he may not still continue in his Impenitency Sin doth at first grieve the God without us maker of Heaven and Earth but at last it will grieve the God within us our own Consciences It is at first Vastans Conscientiam to waste thy Conscience that from a little conscience thou maist have no conscience It will be at last Aggravans Conscientiam to burden thy Conscience that from no Conscience thou maist come to all Conscience It is best then for the sinner to be his own â—…ndemner that he may not be his own executioner For it is a sign he is in Bethesda in the house of Grace if he find his Conscience like those waters Troubled within him For being Impotent by reason of his sins whether Blind or halt or withered whether Blind in his Understanding or halt in his Affections or withered in his Actions He cannot be healod till He step into the Troubled waters which though they are the worst to let him see his Face for all will appear in broken lineaments yet are they the best to help him heal his soul Be not afraid then to step one step further into these waters as long as it is a good Spirit from God that troubles them The Disciples being in a storm and seeing Jesus walking on the Sea and drawing nigh unto the ship were afraid till they heard and knew his voice then they willingly received him into the ship and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went So when thy soul is in a Tempest though Jesus himself be coming nigh thou wilt be afraid but when he is fully come thou wilt most willingly receive him and immediately upon his reception Thou wilt be at the Haven of a Blessed Rest for himself will say unto thee Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me John 14. 1. A true Believer should not be troubled for by his faith he is more then Conqueror And yet he is often troubled for by reason of his weakness and of his unworthiness he doth sometimes not perceive the conquest of his Faith His own Conscience so convincing him that he cannot but be much troubled at the conviction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle There is a twofold Redargution or Conviction The one proceeding from the Confutation of the Cause the other from the Confutation of the Person The Cause is often overthrown when yet the Person still retains his former confidence The Arguments of men may Confute and yet not Convince they may convince and yet not Extort the acknowledgement oâ—… a Conviction But the Argumentts of the Conscience are truly and fully Convictive because they are truly and fully Demonstrative And that in such a kind of Demonstration of which the Philosophers words are most really verified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demonstration is not to confute the man in his Person for he may be Contumacious and Refractory but to confute him in his Reason and in his Judgement Such is this Demonstration of Conscience It seizeth on the inward man If that plead the Cause if that Dispute and make an instance against the Respondent no sophistry no elusion no evasion will serve his turn but his heart is troubled his countenance dejected and his tongue silenced so that he can say nothing in excuse much less in justification of himself but is forced to flie to his Saviours Al-sufficient Merits and Al-saving mercies and it is a happy violence that so forceth him saying with the blind man in the Gospel Jesus thou son of David have mercy on me And though many charge him that he should hold his peace even very many sins and unworthinesses yet he cries the more a great deal Thou son of David have mercy on me till Jesus stand still and command him to be called and say unto him What wilt thou that I should do unto thee Then will his Answer be Lord that I might receive my sight not so much to see mine own sins as thy mercies thine infinite thine undeserved mercies Thus I would receive my sight to see the light of thy countenance and I shall be whole This was that admirable prayer in the Greek Liturgies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord appease and allay those invisible tumults of mine own breast which so much disquiet and torment my soul Other enimies may be resisted and haply vanquished but this internal enemy is altogether inexpugnable and alwaies gets the victory over us Appease these invisible wars we are much frighted with visible wars but the invisible are infinitely more terrible for these will frighten even the Souldiers themselves who make it their Work no less then their Profession to disturb and frighten others And they are called invisible wars not only because they alone can see them who feel them but also because they are the most fatal and dangerous even as an enemy is most dangerous when he is least seen most to be feared when he is least to be discovered Conscience doth then war most dangerously when most privately most unsuspectedly and
please God sure do not please him and such as do not please God here cannot enjoy God hereafter such men need no enemy to destroy them they have already destroyed themselves they are buried alive they have changed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and made their body the sepuchre of their soul and therefore saith St. Chrysostome The Spirit of God calls them not Men but onely Flesh Gen. 6. 12. And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh haâ—… corrupted his way upon the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He dotâ—… not now vouchsafe to call them men but onely flesh And doubtless whosoever hath most of the corruption hath most of the flesh and whosoever hath most oâ—… the flesh hath least of the man in him and he that is all flesh and no spirit is in trutâ—… all beast and no man which made oâ—… blessed Saviour in his Sermon concerning the necessity of Regeneration say untâ—… Nicodemus That which is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. 6. so flesh as it is nothing else the unregenerate is nothing but flesh so far from being spirituall that he makeâ—… his very soul carnall Tell me now whether it be possible for any other to be so fatallâ—… mine enemy as is mine owne flesh For other enemies can only hurt my body but my flesh can and doth also hurt my soul making it the soul of a beast rather then of a man And the breath of such a soul is Articulated into a voyce saying Take thine ease eat drink and be merry Luk. 12. 19. If thou hadst the soul of a Hog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Basil what else couldest thou say unto it And as the flesh makes a man here fit company for beasts so it will make him hereafter sit company for Devils of which the Apostle hath accordingly forewarned us Rom. 8. 13. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die ye shall die whiles you live and much more when you are dead you shall now die spiritually but you shall then die eternally The want on widow is dead while she liveth 1 Tim. 5. 6. And much more so is the wanton soul Nay twice dead saith Jude ver 12. Feeding themselves without fear twice dead Feeding themselves after the manner of swine without fear not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Criticks distinguish and fed as swine onely to the slaughter fed not for life but for death Dâ—…plicem hic mortem notari unam in qua nati sint alteram in quam sua defectione inciderint saith Beza Here is mention made of a two-fold death One in which their corrupt nature had plunged them Another in which by a corrupt life they had plunged themselves Carnal men that live after the flesh are twice dead whiles they live and yet after they are dead cometh infinitely a worfer death what a mercy then is it of God to send us sickness to weaken the flesh which is an enemy that cannot be conquered till it be weakened weakened in its affections in its infections in its defections The affections of the flesh are as the sons of Zervia to David too hard for us 2 Sam. 3. 39. Though we be anointed as he was and have received the holy Unction yet they will commit their outrages and it will be a long time before we shall get so much mastery as to slay but onely one of them at the Horns of the Altar The infections of the flesh are to us as the Leprous men were to the Samaritans so exceeding dangerous that we have little reason to endure their company 2 Reg. 7. 3. Onely we cannot do as the Samaritans did shut them out of our Gates they will come in whether we will or no and will bring their leprosie along with them Lastly the defections of the flesh are to us as fatall and deadly as the defection of Abner was to â—…osheth 2 Sam. 3. 10. which translated â—…e Kingdom away from him onely we â—…ve a greater loss by these defections â—…en he had for we lose the Kingdom of â—…eaven The affections of the flesh are â—…isterous the infections of the flesh are â—…ngerous the defections of the flesh are â—…eadly O then for the blessing of a sickâ—…ess to shelter my soul from this storm to â—…eliver my soul from this danger to recoâ—…er my soul from this death SECT III. The third Comfort of the soul in sickness is that it wasts the flesh THe more the body is pampered the more the soul is starved therefore â—…ith St. Paul Flesh and blood cannot inherit â—…e Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ith Epiphanius Haer. 42. He speaks not â—…is of the flesh but of wâ—…cked men in the â—…esh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saitâ—…â—…he same Author in another place Haer. 66. â—…e speaks of the works of the flesh And yet is he not fully satisfied but gives moreover a third exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he speaks not of 〈◊〉 slesh which is sanctified and labouâ—… please God but of that flesh which is 〈◊〉 in sin and seeks onely to please it sâ—… Let me not then complain of the wastiâ—… of my flesh since that so much tends the advantage and improvement of 〈◊〉 spirit For I must decay in my naturâ—… that I may increase in my spiritual strengâ—… be an imperfect man in my self that may be a perfect man in Christ Jesus Ephes. 4. 13. The fulness of Christ caâ—… not well be in me without mine own emâ—…tiness For as in Philosophy there is 〈◊〉 penetration of bodies so in Divinity theâ—… is no penetration of souls If I will haâ—… my Saviour be in me then I must not 〈◊〉 in my self for he hath said If any man wâ—… come after me let him deny himself that is his body and his spirit saith Hugo Corpâ—… in divitiis deliciis Spiritum in intellectâ—… affectu Let him deny his body in noâ—… regarding riches nor delights Let hiâ—… deny his spirit in not trusting to his owâ—… judgement in not following his own affections Let him thus deny himself both in â—…ody and in spirit that he may be fit for my Cross and that my Cross may fit him â—…or me And who will not upon this consideration say with holy Ignatius Epist. ad Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let me be meat for wild beasts so God be a portion for me Let the beasts devour me so my God receive me Let my foul disease destroy my body so as my God receive my soul I will make no provision for my flesh and take no care of it if so be by putting that off I may put on the Lord Jesus Christ the unruliness of the flesh rejects him as a Lord to Govern The uncleanness of the flesh hinders him as a Jesus to save for he is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity Hab. 1. 13. And therefore of purer hands
he hath said it who is able to make good his word Mat. 12. 50. Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven the same is my Brother and Sister and Mother Tell me if there be any Relations nearer and dearer theâ—… these and tell me whether these can be so comfortable in Earth as they are in Heaven What loss is it then to me though Death take from me All while it gives me him who is All in All The Spirit of God saith unto every faithful soul Psalm 4. 5. 10. Hearken O daughter and consider forget also thine own people and thy Fathers house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord God and worship thou him Non est ergo magnum â—…tu obliviscaris dimittas Populum tuum Domum Patris Tui ut te totum ejus servitio submittas Quoniam ipse dimisit Coelum se totum dedit ut tibi serviret saith Hugo He requires no great thing of thee To forgo thy Fathers house on Earth for his sake who did forgo his Fathers house in heaven for thy sake He was thy Lord and yet did that to serve thee Thou art his servant and wilt thou stick at doing this to serve him But you will say Herein consists my greatest perplexity For I know that I must go to him as my Lord to Judge me but I do not know how I can stand in that Judgement that so I may find him my Father to receive me and my God to save me But for this I refer you to another Chapter as being a Piece of Divinity that most concerneth another world CHAP. III. The Comforts of the Soul against Iudgement SECT I. The terrours of the last Judgement THere is a time for a Minister to be a Boanerges a Son oâ—… Thunder to proclaim Godâ—… final Judgement against Impenitent sinners that he may bring them to an earnest Repentance foâ—… that Impenitency is the high-way to damnation But there is also a time for him to be a Barnabas a Son of Consolation tâ—… proclaim Gods mercies to the Penitent that he may bring them to a lively faith for that true faith is the high-way to salvation Galatinus reports That the Jews did use to give a strong intoxicating wine to those that were condemned to die that by disturbing their judgements they might have the less terrible apprehensions of their approaching Death wresting that Text of Prov. 31. 6. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts A miserable way of Comforting was this to take away the pain by taking away the sense and the understanding To quiet the conscience by drowning it Had it not been more mercy in the Jews to have given the guilty a bitter potion to awaken his conscience then a pleasing potion to benum and to besot it For it is good the soul should weep with Mary John 20. 11. when she cannot readily find out Christ because it is sure the weeping soul can never lose him Wherefore it will be requisite that I first set before your eyes the terrours of the last Judgement that you may see your sins and then the comforts against those terrours that you may see your Saviour As concerning the terrours of the last Judgement they are set down in few words but many Frights 2 Thes. 1. 7 8. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe in that day Observe the terrible manner of this Grand-Assizes The Judge shall visibly come down from heaven and bring his Posse Comitatus with him even his mighty Angels to execute his final Sentence which shall be a Sentence for the punishment of sense they shall be punished with an everlasting Destruction and for the punishment of loss from the presence of the Lord. That is A Sentence for all punishment that is imaginable and for more then is endurable And this Judge shall come down in flaming fire a Real a Material a Corporal not a Metaphorical or an Imaginary or a Spiritual fire and this fire he shall bring along with him from heaven not expect it to meet him from hell that shall lose none of its own former flames but receive more and therewith consume this corruptible and corrupted world 2. Pet. 3. 7. And after that throw all the Divels and wicked men into that same fire and then throw the fire it self with them down into hell there to increase the torments of those miscreants for ever that had before fire from hell to torment them but then they shall also have fire from heaven to encrease their torments God as he shall be glorified and admired in his Saints because of his undeserved mercy so shall he also be glorified and admired in those sinners because of his righteous Judgement And therefore though their Judges fire will be so terrible because of the flame yet their own sins will be much more terrible because they alone minister the fuel to that fire For the Books shall be opened The Book of Gods Remembrance and the Book of their own Conscience And they shall be Judged out of those things which are written in the Books according to their works Rev. 20. 12. Then in both Books shall they see such works Registred as call for a Judgement worthy of God because they had not only an Impiety but also an Impenitency unworthy of man And as they shall first see those works to their terrour so shaâ—… they after feel them to their torment noâ—… a work that had putrefaction and corruption in it but shall have its worm after it For corruption of sin begets a worm in thâ—… soul as corruption of Death begets worm in the body Vermis oritur ex putredine 〈◊〉 mordit illud in quo oritur saith Bonaventure A worm is begotten of filthiness anâ—… feeds on that which beg at it so is the woâ—… of conscience it is begotten of corruption even of sin the only corruption of the soul it frets and corrodes and gnaws and bitâ—… that soul which gave it being So that there must needs be all manner of terrours terrours from within where their worm dieth not terrours from without and the fire 〈◊〉 not quenched Mark 9. 46. And to all these terrours we must yet further add this terrible example out of Saint Peter 2 Pet. 2. 4. For if God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto Judgement Here is a kind oâ—… an imperfect speech called ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his passion caused
Saviour I get into his Mystical Body and by keeping my hold I continue in it The Syriack translation instead of Confidence here saith The uncovering of the face to shew that there is not left in the true Believer the conscience of any one sin unrepented or unsatisfied through the All-sufficiency of his Saviours satisfaction which may make him cover his face either out of shame or out of fear to look upon God either out of shame because of his own unworthiness for by faith he hath his Saviours worthiness to make him confident or out of fear because of Gods unplacableness for by hope he hath a cause to rejoyce not to fear therefore it is said The rejoycing of our hope And the same Apostle moreover gives the reason of this saying Chap. 4. v. 15 16. For we have not an high-Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need What is the hope that we can rejoyce in but the hope of Eternal Life And we have this hope because we have a great high-Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God v. 14. He is passed in before us to make way for us to follow after him Nor ought we to be dismayed at our infirmities since he is touched with the feeling of them for himself was tempted to strengthen us in our temptations that in his strength we should encounter them and by his strength should overcome them Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace c. Wherein we have set forth the manner and the reason of our going unto God The manner it must be with a holy confidence in the righteousness of our high-Priest Let us come boldly The reason is two-fold the first concerns our God because he hath erected a Throne of Grace to pardon us not of Judgement to condemn us unto the Throne of grace The second concerns our selves That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need What help so welcome as that which helps in time of need What time of need so much wants help as that wherein we can neither help our selves nor have any else to help us the Hour of Death and the Day of Judgement In this time of need it is that our high-Priest doth chiefly help us he will make intercession for us when we shall not be able to speak for our selves at the hour of death he will make answer for us when we shall not be able to answer for our selves at the day of Judgement What though the Devils will then busily accuse me as long as his righteousness shall be interposed in answer for me what if my conscience doth condemn me as long as his satisfaction doth acquit me Why should not my soul joyfully say I will go forth even out of my body in the strength of the Lord God and will mention thy Righteousness only Psal. 71. 16. Though I dare not go forth in mine own strength for fear I should fail in my journey or miscarry at my journeys end yet I dare go forth in his strength Though I dare not mention mine own Righteousness at the Bar of Gods Justice yet I dare mention my Saviours Righteousness I will make mention of thy Righteousness even of thine only Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh and having an high-Priest over the House of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith Heb. 10. 19. Here are three singular benefits that all they have who have Communion with Christ to assure them of their entrance into heaven when they depart from the earth The first is That the door is opened unto them and they have such a right to enter as cannot be doubted must not be denyed Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus The second is That the way which leadeth thither is a safe way keeping all from death that walk in it A new and lively way And also A ready way such as they may hope to walk in notwithstanding their infirmities because he hath made it plain for them for he hath consecrated it for us through his flesh The third is That the House whither they are to go is wholly disposed and ordered by their high Priest who both guides them in the way and is ready to receive them at their journeys end Having an high-Priest over the House of God These being the Premises That the door is open and we have a right to enter that the way is both safe and plain that the House whither we desire to go is wholly ordered by our own high-Priest who guides us thither and is ready to receive us there what else can be the conclusion but comfort and confidence what have we else to do but to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith A true heart that is true to its Saviour by believing in full assurance of faith that is true to it self by drawing near according to that belief And surely the Apostles invitation is as urgent for us to draw near to the Church Triumphant as to the Church Militant because all power is given to our Saviour Christ as well in heaven as in earth Mat. 28. 18. He hath power over the House of God in heaven as well as over the House of God in earth And where he hath power of the House we need not be afraid to enter For as he hath made the passage for us to pass from the bondage of sin and Satan to come into his Kingdom of Grace So much more hath he made the passage for us to pass from his Kingdom of Grace to come to his Kingdom of Glory And if we have already passed from Death to Life much more shall we pass from Life to everlasting Life If we have already passed from Nature to Grace much more shall we pass from Grace to Glory For the distance betwixt Nature and Grace is much greater and harder to be passed then the distance betwixt Grace and Glory for nature scarce affords a capacity of Grace but grace is the very Inchoation of Glory Profitable If thou wilt not help us for our miseries which we have deserved yet help us for thy mercies which thou hast promised For thy Goodness is more willing to forgive then thy power is to punish And thy blood cryeth much lowder for pardon and forgiveness then our sins can cry for punishment Thou hast not yet forgiven so much as thou hast promised and thou hast not promised so much as thou hast purchased One drop of thy blood had been a full and sufficient satisfaction for the
Here is both the good Confidence and the ground of it the good Conscience The confidence is That we may have boldness in the day of Judgement The ground of that confidence is this good conscience Because as he is so are we in this world for this is in effect the Syllogism Whosoever is here like him in Piety shall hereafter be like him in Glory but we that truly believe in him are here like him in Piety therefore we shall also be like him in Glory He that hath that Good confidence upon this Good conscience as he may not be ashamed of his hope so he shall not be disappointed of it for he is sure to stand in the last Judgement because he hath the Eternal Son of God to support him on the one side with his All-sufficient merits on the other side with his All-saving mercies Two such supporters to which he cannot trust too much for which he cannot glorifie Christ enough though he glorifie him world without end Amen Deo Trin-Uni Gloria in secula seculorum Amen A sick mans Cordial composed of three Ingredients I. Contemplations II. Ejaculations III. Devotions Contemplations on Isaiah 53. Verse 3. O MY Beloved Saviour wast thou despised and rejected of men and shall not I learn to despise and reject my self that I may be like to thee approved of thee and received by thee Wast thou a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs who knewest no sin And shall I who came into the world with sin look to go out of the world without sorrow Verse 4. Didst thou so patiently bear the griefs and carry the sorrows that were due for my sins And shall not I patiently bear the griefs and carry the sorrows that are due for mine own sins How could I have sorrows if I had not sins and why should I not have patience now I must have sorrows Wast thou stricken and smitten of God and afflicted who wast his only begotten and most dearly Beloved Son And shall I look to escape the scourge who heretofore have been his enemy and still am his undutiful and unworthy servant Verse 5. I will look upon my wounds and maladies as upon so many cures and remedies Upon my bruise for I am all over nothing else as upon so much soundness since both wounds and bruises are inflicted not as satisfactions for my sins but as checks and amendments of my sinfulness For he was wounded for my transgressions and bruised for mine iniquities therefore my wounds and my bruises are not now to pacifie the wrath of the Father but to make me conformable to the Son And the chastisement of my peace was upon him therefore I will not repine at my chastisement since I have my peace It being indeed but a chastisement to correct the sinner not a punishment to avenge the sin And since I am healed in my soul I will not fear being wounded in my body For with his stripes I am healed and mine own stripes do but make me the more to see the want and the more to crave the benefit of his healing Verse 6 7. I have been a sheep in my strayings for I have turned to mine own waies O make me also a Sheep in my sufferings not once to open my mouth when thou shearest me clipping off all the comforts of my life no nor when thou slayest me bringing on all the torments oâ—… my sickness no nor when thou slayest me bringing on all the pangs and horrourâ—… of my death That as my Saviour was oppressed and afflicted yet opened not his mouth so I may be kept from murmuring and repining in all my oppressions and afflictions For I may well be as he was Meek and Patient since thou hast laid minâ—… iniquities on him but if I follow not his Meekness and his Patience I fear I shall again lay mine iniquities upon my self Verse 8 9. He was cut off from life whose generation was life what can I expect but death who had it in my very birth who was corrupted when I was generated and therefore not only in regard of my death but also in regard of my life it self must say to corruption thou art my Father and to the worm thou art my Sister and my Mother Who shall declare his Generation For he was begotten of his Father before all worlds But who shall declare my corruption for I was corrupted when I was begotten by my Father before I came into the world He was taken away by death but he was taken away from a mortal a miserable and a contemptible life so let me be taken away good Lord from mortality misery and contempt to Immortality Blessedness and Glory My life hath not left much for my death to take away from me Lord let my death take from me all that is left but my Saviour and let it fully give me him He was brought to prison that he might be Judged and he was brought to Judgement that he might be condemned and his death was his Release both from Prison and from Judgement Lord make my death so to me make my death my Release from prison for whiles I am in the body I am imprisoned fettered with the bonds of sin and corruption But bring my soul out of this prison that I may praise thy name then the righteous shall compass me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me Psal. 142. 7. A most happy Goal-Delivery for my soul for then the Righteous shall compass me about and not sinners nay more then I shall be compassed about with Rightousness who now am compassed about with sins and that not so much with other mens as with mine own sins Thus make my death my Release from Prison and make it also my Release from Judgement For thy Son hath been Judged and condemned for me that I might escape the Judgement of thy condemnation Lord I ask not that thou wouldest not Judge me for after death comes Judgement Heb. 9. 27. I ask only that thou wilt not condemn me when I shall be Judged And this is agreeable with thy very Justice though I wholly appeal unto thy Mercy not to condemn and punish the same sin twice Thou hast already condemned and punished my sins in my Saviour O then let me escape thy condemnation and thy punishment He was Judged for mine Unrighteousness O let me stand in the Judgement for his Righteousness For the transgression of my people was he stricken Lord thou hast placed me among thy people and therefore I must believe that he was stricken for my transgressions Nay thou hast brought me nearer to thee and made me one of thine own Family having admitted me thy servant Nay thou hast brought me yet nearer to thee and made me one of thine own Inheritance having adopted me thy child I deserved not to be among thy people and I am placed among thy servants I deserved not to be among thy servants and I am accepted among thy children O then
yet I may with humility and I hope not without some truth impute the amendment of many of them to mine own sufferings The ground hath been tilled and the tree hath been pruned And why should not this tilling and pruning yield the peaceâ—…le fruit of righteousness unto me that have been exercised thereby I have been â—…ng and often ploughed as it were â—…nd broken up and harrowed by the hand of God and why should I not be somewhat amended and improved by his good husbandry I have been long and often â—…ned as it were in my flesh by his â—…harp knife cutting off my superfluities 〈◊〉 make me the less sinful and the more â—…ruitful And why should I not bring â—…rth good fruits in due season even tâ—… peaceable fruits of righteousness or the fruits of righteousness which bring forth peace the peace of a good conscience here and of a blessed Eternity hereafter Therefore earnestly desiring to walk in this righteousness I will hope to lay me down in this peace And at the end of my wearisom Pilgrimage to take my rest in the arms of Gods Eternal mercy though now I groan under the hand of his Justice For so laying me down to sleep none shall ever be able to take either me from his arms or my rest from me Amen The sick mans Ejaculations To the Reader THese Ejaculations are Eighty in number and they are like mans years in Moses time when they come to that same number full of labour and sorrow though this latter age of the world will not let it self tarry so long for labour nor others tarry so long for sorrow And they are therefore called Ejaculations because they are as it were so many dartings of the soul upon some reflexion or thought either of mans misery or of Gods mercy sent up towards Heaven All aiming at one mark though from several occasions and after several waies That is at the rest of the soul in God Nor may you here look for curious method but for Religious matter sometimes you will find the sick mans soul troubled for fear of death sometimes almost inflamed with the desire of it sometimes bemoaning the disturbance of his body sometimes fearing the distemper of his soul sometimes affrighted with the thought of Judgement sometimes rejoycing against it If you find any thing to comfort you in your extremity thank not me for speaking to my self but thank God for speaking to your soul And be not troubled that your Passions like these Ejaculations are not orderly so as they be Religious Trouble and sorrow cannot look after Order but they must look after Religion And a sick mans expressions are not so much beholding to his head to make them Methodical and Eloquent as to his 〈◊〉 to make them affectionate and devout And God grant your sickness may make yours so Ejaculations 1. GRant Lord that I may be dead unto sin before I am dead unto the world that being planted together in the likeness of thy Sons death I may be also in the likeness of his Resurrection That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so I walking in newness of life may have a comfortable death here and a glorious Resurrection hereafter 2. Destroy in me O God the body of sin before thou destroy in me the body of flesh that I may be justified from my sins whiles I live and freed from my sins when I shall be dead Make me to lie down in comfort because by my death I shall wholly die unto my sins Make me to rest in hope because by my Resurrection I shall wholly live unto my God 3. Make me to look upon my sickness my tedious and terrible sickness as upon thy Visitation that I may bear it patiently Make me look upon my death as upon my Release that I may take it comfortably 4. O thou who wouldst be crucified before thou wouldst be glorified and didst suffer pain to enter into Joy make me submit to thy Cross that thou mayest prepare me for thy Crown Make me contentedly to suffer with thee in this world that I may triumphantly reign with thee in the world to come 5. O Lord I have Judged my self let me not be Judged of thee so as to be condemned for it is agreeable with thy Mercy to save the sinner though thou destroy the sin And it is agreeable with thy Justice not to punish that sin in me which thou hast already punished in my blessed Redeemer 6. O Lord thou didst make thy beloved Son perfect with sufferings and I cannot hope thou wilt let thy unworthy servant be perfected without them O then let not my sufferings betray the imperfections of my flesh but conduce to the perfections of my spirit and make me ever willing to suffer since thou canst and wilt make me perfect by suffering 7. O thou God of peace that broughtest again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant Make me perfect in every good work to do and suffer thy will working in me that which is well-pleasing in thy sight and working for me that which is profitable for my salvation through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen Heb. 13. 20 21. 8. O blessed Jesu the chief Corner-stone on which alone is laid for us the foundation of a blessed Eternity the Rock upon which thy Church is built and all our souls relie Be merciful unto me and give ear unto my prayers and to my sighs and groans when I cannot pray Be unto me a fountain of comfort whensoever my heart is in heaviness and my body is in pain that my soul may have continual health and joy and rest in Thee and in thy Merits and Mercies for evermore 9. Lord make me desire the dissolution of my earthly house of this Tabernacle that I may have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for I know that whiles I am at home in the body I am absent from the Lord Make me therefore willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with thee my God for in thy presence is the fulness of joy and at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore And make me labour that whether absent or present I may be accepted of thee through the righteousness of thy dearest Son my only Lord and Saviour Amen 10. Give unto me true sorrow for my sins that thou mayest give me true comfort in my sorrows Grant I may have peace in thee whiles I have tribulation in the world and make me be of good chear in all my tribulations for thou hast overcome the world and wilt not let the world overcome me 11. O Lord Jesus Christ who hast overcome the sharpness of death opened the Kingdom of heaven to all Believers Make me â—…ot to fear death since thou hast made that â—…n Inlet into thy
heavenly Kingdom My-sins had shut the gate of Paradise against my soul but thy Merits have opened it again O let me earnestly desire to enter in for thou art gone thither before â—…e that thou mightest be there ready to receive me and retain me with thy self for evermore Amen 12. Lord when shall this corruptible put on incorruption and this mortal put on immortality that in me may be brought to pass that saying Death is swallowed up in Victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death was sin till sin was expiated The strength of sin was the Law till the Law was fulfilled But thanks be unto God which hath given me the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ both over my sins and over his Law in this great contestation Having imputed my transgressions unto my Saviour that my sin might be expiated and having imputed my Saviours righteousness and obedience unto me that his Law might be fulfilled Therefore being justified by faith I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also I have access by faith into his grace and rejoyce in hope that I shall at last have access into his glory 13. O Lord Jesus Christ who art the Resurrection and the Life be unto me Life in Death be unto me Resurrection from the Dead and so guide me through Death that it may be my passage into everlasting Life there to see and to bless and to enjoy thee who art the Redeemer and lover of souls and livest and reignest the King of Saints with the Co-eternal Spirit in the glory of God the Father 14. My soul truly waiteth still upon God and still shall wait upon him for of him cometh my help He verily is my strength and my salvation even in weakness and in destruction He is my defence so that I shall not greatly fall And if through mine infirmity I do fall by his power I shall rise again and be able to stand fast being supported through the Merits and Mercies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 15. O Lord see the blood of thine immaculate Lamb which taketh away the sin of the world sprinkled on my soul that thou mayest see no sin in it And when thou seest that blood let the destroying Angel pass over me never to return again and let the Comforter come unto me and remain with me for ever 16. O dearest Advocate be pleased to intercede and plead for me and to answer all the accusations which the Devils will alledge and mine own conscience will witness against me in the day of Judgement That I being made the monument of thy Mercy who am the purchase of thy Blood may bless and praise thee among thy Redeemed in the Land of the living for ever and ever 17. O thou Eternal Son of Righteousness who risest with healing in thy wings heal thou me and I shall be perfectly healed Shew me the light of thy countenance to dispell all the mists and clouds which now threaten to bring darkness upon my soul Turn thy merciful eyes towards me that I may see thy glorious face in thy heavenly Kingdom where no tears shall dim my sight no sighing shall interrupt my speech no fears shall disquiet my heart and no sadness nor amazement shall disturb or discompose the blessed rest of my soul with thee the longing desires of my soul to thee and the infinite delights of my soul in thee and in thine All-sufficient Merits and All-saving Mercies for evermore 18. O Saviour of the world save me who by thy Cross and precious blood hast Redeemed me Help me O my God at all times but most especially at this time now I am least able to help my self or my friends to help me Intercede for me by thy precious death and passion in all my distresses but then most when I shall least be able to speak for my self at the hour of Death and in the day of Judgement Be now and then and ever my defence and make me know and feel that there is no other name under heaven given unto men in whom and through whom I may expect health and salvation but only thy Name O my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 19. O Lord God which art the giver of all good things and never repentest of the good gifts which thou hast given give unto me health and ease as long as they shall be blessings from thee and give me thy grace to desire them no longer And when thou most takest from me these or any other comforts of this mortal life then Lord most increase and multiply upon me the joyes and comforts of a blessed Immortality 20. Lord I am desirous to go out of my self and out of this vale of misery that I may come unto Mount Sion and to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New-Covenant O thou who hast prepared these immortal joyes for my soul prepare my soul for these joyes that being made a Citizen of thy heavenly Jerusalem I may be able to joyn in consort with the Angels thy first-born there and with the spirits of just men made perfect since them who now both together make but one Quire and are alwaies singing Hallelujah and worshiping him that liveth for ever and ever 21. O blessed Jesus thou only comfort of miserable and distressed sinners consider my distress Look upon mine adversity and misery and forgive me all my sin O thou blessed Mediator betwixt God and man intermediate for me Let the unspotted righteousness of thy life be an acceptable sacrifice for the multiplyed unrighteousness of mine And let the bitter pangs of thy death keep from me all the bitterness of the temporal and much more the pangs and horrours of the eternal Death Thou didst taste the gall and vinegar when thou gavest up the Ghost therefore I beseech thee keep me from tasting it Thou didst seem to be forsaken of thy God O let not me bâ—… forsaken of thee But grant that I putting my whole trust and confidence in thy Merits and in thy Mercies â—…ay from henceforth most chearfully serve thee in all holiness and pureness of living and most faithfully persist in thy service by a resolved constancy contentedness and patience of dying That I may yet more and more know thee and the power of thy Resurrection and the fellowship of thy sufferings being made conformable to thy death that so I may attain to a joyful Resurrection of the dead to give praise and thanks unto thy holy Name world without end 22. O thou Eternal Son of God who didst take upon thee the nature of man that thou mightest lead a miserable life and undergo a shameful death I beseech thee sweeten unto me
no profit but I beseech thee cause me to know thy hand and thy might and take not away thy peace from me even loving-kindness and Mercies Jer. 16. v. 19 21 5. 54. O Lord the Hope of Israel let no distress whatsoever make me forsake that blessed Hope which thou hast given me for all that forsake thee shall be ashamed and they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord the Fountain of living waters O Lord I have often forsaken thee by my sins yet let me not be ashamed because I return again to thee by my Repentance O Lord I have often departed from thee by my transgressions yet let me not be written in the earth because I now at last thirst for thee the Fountain of living waters Heal me O Lord and I shall be healed save me and I shall be saved so shalt thou be my praise now and for evermore Jer. 17. 13 14. 55. O Lord my soul is heavy and my body is sick unto the death But do thou bring me health and cure and reveal unto me abundance of peace and truth cleanse me from all mine iniquities whereby I have sinned against thee cause my captivity to return and have mercy upon me according to thine infinite mercies in Jesus Christ Jer. 33. 6 8 26. 56. O Lord thou hast added grief to my sorrow for I have fainted in my sighing and I find no rest yet dost thou forbid me to add sorrow to my own grief and to say wo is me now because that which thou hast built thou hast broken down and that which thou hadst planted thou hast plucked up even this whole Land Therefore thou forbiddest me to seek great things for my self for behold thou hast brought evil upon all flesh and how shouldst thou not bring evil upon my flesh which is the most sinful of all O then suffer me not to be a seeker of mine own discontents rather then of thy redresses whiles I look after great and good things in such miserable and wretched times but make me thankful that thou hast hitherto given me my life as a prey unto me in all places whether I have gone that remembering what thou hast given me I may not repine for what others have taken from me assuring my self that there is yet another life to come which thou wilt give me not as a prey that I should fear losing it but as an inheritance that I should long to possess it in thee and with thee for ever Amen Jer. 45. 3 4 5. 57. O Lord bring my soul out of this prison of the flesh and the shackles of sin and misery that I may wholly and entirely give thanks unto thy holy Name for all thy Mercy and great Deliverances and most especially for this the greatest of all That thou wilt deliver me from my self from the burden of mine own flesh from the bondage of mine own corruption from the thraledom of mine own body And wilt set me at liberty that I may do nothing else but serve thee whose service is perfect freedom and whose wages are life and light and joy in beholding thy presence for evermore for I earnestly desire only those Mercies wherein thou dost infinitely delight who lovest to shew Mercy to penitent sinners in the Son of thy love our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 58. O Lord pour not out thine indignation upon me blow not against me in the fire of thy wrath but deliver me from this brutish and burning disease or if thou wilt in thy Justice make my body as fewel for the fire yet in mercy deliver my soul from the everlasting burnings Ezek. 23. 31 32. 59. Grant Lord that I being risen with Christ may seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God that I may henceforth set mine affection on things above not on things in earth alwaies remembering that I am dead and my life is hid with Christ in God and alwaies rejoycing that when Christ who is my life shall appear then shall I also appear with him in glory Col. 3. 1 2 3 4. 60. Lord make my tongue sing of thy praises whiles I have breath and when I shall be breathless make my heart bear two parts to fill up that blessed Harmony that my soul may praise thee whiles it is in the state of union with my natural body and much more when it shall be in the state of separation from it and shall be joyned in consort with the holy Angels and with the beatified spirits And most of all when it shall be in the state of re-union again with that same body being made spiritual That I being at last all spirit both in soul and body neither my heart may be wearied in thinking nor my tongue in speaking thy praises to all eternity Amen 61. I will thank thee O Lord my God with all my heart and I will praise thy Name for evermore for great is thy Mercy towards me and thou hast delivered my soul from the neathermost hell and wilt receive my soul into the highest heavens there to give thee thanks and praises for evermore 62. All the daies of my appointed time will I wait till my change come Job 14. 14. Lord grant I may so wait that I may receive my wages and that my change may come seasonably speedily and happily A seasonable change not to find me unprepared for it A speedy change to deliver me from the pains of sickness and from the pangs of death And a happy change to let me in to the fruition of thy glory and eternal life Amen 63. By thine unknown sufferings O my blessed Redeemer intercede for me in all my pains and sufferings that I may find Mercy and obtain Relief And make me alwaies remember and confess that my sins are far above my sufferings so shall I suffer patiently and that thy Mercy is far above my sins so shall I suffer comfortably and hope for a joyful end of all my sufferings 64. Lord grant that my conversation may from henceforth be in heaven that my soul may be prepared to go thither and know how to busie it self there that I may with joy look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ from thence who shall change my vile body that it may be like his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3. 2. O Lord work that blessed change in my soul to subdue all its carnal affections by a heavenly conversation before thou workest that miserable change in my body to subdue its natural constitution by an unnatural destruction And according to that mighty working whereby thou art able even to subdue all things unto thy self in the first place subdue all my sinfulness 65. Lord speak the word only and thy servant shall be whole speak the word of comfort in my distress and the greatest comfort in my greatest
distress say effatha to my heart that it may be opened to receive thee say effatha to the heavens that they may be opened to receive my soul yea say unto my soul thou art my salvation for thou only who art All-sufficient canst speak unto my soul and thou only who art All-merciful wilt speak comfort to it And though for my sins thou art justly displeased yet for thine own Mercies thou wilt not long continue in that displeasure for thou hast proclaimed thy self to be the Lord The Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Lord say unto me thy unworthy servant that my sins are forgiven me and that I may go hence in peace for my faith hath saved me even that faith whereby I wholly trust in the Merits and Mercies of thy eternal Son Jesus Christ. 66. Hear my prayer O Lord and consider my desire hearken unto me for thy truth and righteousness sake and enter not into Judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified And let not mine enemy persecute my soul and if it be thy will let not my disease smite my life down to the ground nor lay me in the darkness as men that have been long dead But if it be thy pleasure to torment and to destroy my body yet let not my spirit be vexed within me nor my heart within me be desolate But make me so remember the time and thy works past that I may be comforted in the time and thy works to come that stretching forth my hands and lifting up my heart unto thee I may lay hold on thee by a lively Faith Hope and Love and at last come to enjoy thee by a blessed vision comprehension and fruition And my soul gasping â—…nto thee as a thirsty Land may be satisfied with the dew of thy heavenly blessings for evermore 67. O Lord remember that I am the work of thy hands the image of thy counteâ—…ance the price of thy blood And have mercy on me as thy work as thy image and as thy purchase for the paternal bowels of God the Father that created me for the bleeding wounds of God the Son that redeemed me and for the unutterâ—…ble groans of God the Holy-Ghost that sanctifieth me O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord strengthen me in my sickness receive me at my death and acquit me in the Judgement Amen 68. Hear me O Lord and that soon for my spirit waxeth faint hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit O let me hear thy loving-kindness late in the evening of this life and betimes in the morning of Eternity for in thee is my trust shew thou me the way that leadeth in the truth and unto the life for I lift up my soul unto thee Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies both corporal and spiritual for I flie unto thee to hide me Let thy loving Spirit lead me forth out of this Land of unrighteousness and lead me into the Land of righteousness Quicken me O Lord for thy Name sake and then most when I shall be nearest death and for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of all her troubles that I may give thanks unto thee with those blessed spirits which lived here in thy fear departed hence in thy favour and now are with thee in eternal joy and glory Psal. 143. v. 7 c. 69. Deal thou so with me O Lord God according to thy Name that in the greatest bitterness of my soul I may both see and confess that sweet is thy Mercy O deliver me for I am helpless and poor and my body is tormented without me and my heart is wounded within me Psal. 109. ver 22 23. but be thou ease to my body and joy to my heart in Jesus Christ. 70. O Lord I confess to thy glory and minâ—… own shame that when I call to mind the â—…oulness of mine own transgressions I am â—…shamed when I call to mind the exactâ—…ess and severity of thy Justice I am afraid â—…o lift up mine eyes to heaven or to look â—…owards the place where thine honour â—…welleth But O look thou down upon â—…e with the eye of pity and compassion â—…ho am altogether unworthy to look up â—…nto thee with the eye of hope and confiâ—…ence and relieve me in my sickness and â—…eceive me at my death for thine infinite mercies in Jesus Christ. 71. I will alway give thanks unto the Lord â—…is praise shall ever be in my mouth yea my soul shall make her boast of the Lord â—…or I sought him and he heard me yea â—…e delivered me out of all my fear I had 〈◊〉 eye unto him and I was enlightened I â—…ave tasted and seen how gracious the â—…ord is blessed be my soul for trusting 〈◊〉 him and blessed be his grace for working 〈◊〉 my soul that trust to rely and depend â—…pon his Mercy for evermore Psal. â—…34 72. Lord touch my tongue with a coal from â—…hine Altar to take away the pollution of my lips and touch my heart with the immortal flames of thy love to take away the deadness and dulness of my thoughts that both tongue and heart being purged from the filthy dregs of flesh and sin I may in my greatest infirmities labour to praise thee according to the greatness of thy glories And because I cannot sufficiently praise thee whiles I am in this corrupted and corruptible body take my soul in thy due time away from hence that I may in thy heavenly Jerusalem sing unto thee acceptable and immortal praises for ever and ever Amen 73. Righteousness and equity O Lord are the habitation of thy seat O let righteousness and equity be fixed in my heart that thou mayest therein fix thy habitation Mercy and Truth shall go before thy face O let Mercy and Truth be alwaies in my soul Mercy to forgive Truth to be for given that when my soul shall go out of my body it may joyfully go before thy face and rejoyce in thy presence for ever more for blessed are the people O Lord that can rejoyce in thee they shall walk in the light of thy countenance Lord thou hast given me the first part of this blessing to rejoyce in thee here on earth O give me also the second part of it that when I shall go hence I may walk in the light of thy countenance hereafter in heaven Amen 74. Who am I O Lord God and what is this my house of clay that thou hast brought me hitherto And this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God but thou hast spoken also of thy servant for a great while to come even for the daies of Eternity that thou wilt at last bring me to thy self For thy words sake and according to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant know them and
redeemed with thy most precious blood and be not angry with me for ever Spare me good Lord. From this and all other evil and mischief of my body from the more afflictive and contagious sin of my soul from the crafts and assaults of the Devil either against my body or against my soul from the fear of thy wrath and from the sentence of everlasting damnation Good Lord deliver me By thine agony and bloody-sweat help and assist me in all mine agonies By thy Cross and Passion make me conquerer in all my sufferings By thy precious death and burial sweeten my death and sanctifie my grave By thy glorious resurrection and ascention raise me up again at the last day and glorifie me and by the coming of the Holy-Ghost give unto me now amidst the torments of my life and the terrours of my death the immortal comfort of a blessed resurrection to eternal glory And in this my distress by this thy special assistance help and comfort Good Lord deliver me In all time of my tribulation and adversity which thou hast now sent me In all time of my wealth and prosperity if thou shalt be pleased once again to send it me in the hour of my death and in the day of Judgement Good Lord deliver me I that am a sinner do beseech thee to hear me O Lord God And that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church universally in the right way And to deliver this thy distressed and oppressed Church from all her sins and from all her troubles and to restore her to her former Truth and Peace I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand and the Son of man whom thou hast made so strong for thine own self and so will not we go back from thee O let us live and we will call upon thy Name Turn us again O Lord God of Hosts shew us the light of thy countenance and we shall be whole I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to defend and strengthen all Bishops and Ministers of thy Church That notwithstanding the manifold oppositions contempts and persecutions of disobedient and gainsaying people they may still uphold thy true and lively Word and thy holy and blessed Sacraments and by their preaching and administring and their living and dying may set them forth and shew them accordingly I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to be a Father to the Fatherless whom my sins have helped to make so and whom my repentance cannot but thy Mercy can relieve To be a husband to the widow a comfort to the comfortless and to relieve all that be desolate and oppressed and to shew thy pity upon all exiles prisoners and captives especially those that suffer imprisonment and captivity or banishment for the cause of righteousness for the Doctrine of a Catholick Faith or for the duties of a Christian life I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. That it may please thee to have Mercy upon mine enemies persecutors and slanderers to turn their hearts and to forgive their sins and to save their souls and to make me forgive as I desire to be forgiven and to make me desire to be forgiven as I stand in need of forgiveness and to make my waies to please thee that thou mayest make mine enemies to be at peace with me I beseech thee to hear me good Lord That it may please thee to give us all true repentance that thou mayest forgive us all our sins not only our negligences and ignorances but also our perversnesses and profanesses and to endue us with the grace of thy holy Spirit that we may lay aside our own animosities self-interests and worldly advantages and joyn together with one heart and mouth to praise thee and to glorifie thy holy Name not looking after fond pretences and fading vanities but looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I beseech thee to hear me good Lord. Son of God I beseech thee to hear me O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world take away my sins also inwhom alone there is a world of sin and grant me thy peace and have Mercy upon me O Christ hear me and as thou camest to redeem me when I was utterly lost so I beseech thee suffer me not to be lost now thou hast redeemed me Lord have Mercy upon me Christ have Mercy upon me Lord have Mercy upon me And remember me according to the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation that I may once more if it be thy will see the felicity of thy chosen and rejoyce in the gladness of thy people and give thanks with thine inheritance through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The sick mans Benediction BLessed be the Lord God even the God of Israel which only doth wonderous things And blessed be the Name of his Majesty for ever and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty and my soul shall be filled and revived with his Mercy Amen Amen The Lord Jesus be within me to strengthen without me to assist before me to direct behind me to defend and protect beneath me to uphold and sustain above me to receive my soul. Let the power of the Father preserve me the wisdom of the Son guide and énlighten me the operation of the Holy-Ghost quicken and revive me in my passage through the gates of death and bring me into everlasting life The blood that ran from the wounded heart of my blessed Saviour which hath purchased for me abundance of grace in my life of comfort in my sickness and of hope in my death wash my soul from sin and from iniquity that it may be presented without spot or blemish before the righteous Judge of men and Angels in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy-Ghost Amen The sick mans Valediction LORD I am willing to forsake all to follow thee O let me follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth I willingly forgive all men and heartily desire all men to forgive me that though I came into this world hating my God yet I may not go out of it hating my Brother for God with whom I hope to dwell when I go from hence is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 John 4. 16. I follow after to apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus This one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen Phil. 3. 12 13 14. The sick mans Preparation for his Departure I am now ready to be
as penitents God heareth not such sinners as are willingly and wilfully under the Power and Dominion of sin such as are habitually sinful and still remain in the state of sin For A man may be a sinner yet not be in the state of sin That notes a Momentany Action but this a standing Relation or a setled continuance status notat Dispositionem cum quadam immobilitate saith Aquinas That makes a man unworthy of Gods Favor but this makes him uncapable of it So saith the Prophet What hath my beloved to do in mine house seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many and the holy Flesh is passed from thee when thou dost evil then thou rejoycest Jer. 11. 15. These words shew the state of sin and the miserable condition of that state The state of sin is the working of lewdness with many and rejoycing in that work neither Reluctancie before it nor Repentance after it And the miserable condition of that state is not to have to do in Gods house i. e. Not to have any right to the Word Sacraments for the Holy Flesh here saith R. David is the Flesh of Gods Altar An Impenitent sinner hath nothing to do with that Holy Flesh and if he will needs intrude himself to have to do with it yet it shall not be Holy Flesh to him he shall have no benefit of its Holiness Nay to him it shall be in its effect what it is already in his account an unholy thing Heb. 10. 29. Impura es ipsa ac proinde non potes non impurare omnes oblationes tuas saith Trem. Thou thy self being in the state of impurity canst not but make all thy offerings impure Thy Prayers will be turned into sin Psal. 109. 7. And how then can thy sin not be turned into Death Therefore he that will offer to God an acceptable offering must first offer himself For if God accept not the person he will not accept the offering The Lord first had respect to Abel then to his offering Gen. 4. 4. Wherefore it neerly concerns every Christian to forsake all his sins and to assure himself that he is in the state of Grace and Acceptance with God for that else he cannot be assured that either his Prayer or his Prayses will be accepted And how shall we better know the state of Grace then from his mouth whose hands nailed to the Cross made it And whose side Pierced on the Cross poured it forth to us And he plainly tells us that our state is either of God or of the Devil John 8. 42. If God were your Father you would love me From whence we may infer they that do love Christ have God for their Father and consequently are in a Good in a Happy state But v. 4. 4. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do From whence we may infer they that will needs do the lusts of the Devil have the Devil for their father Not simply they that do the lusts but they that wilfully do them The Text it self gives us this Distinction saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye will do them For there is a great difference betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Facio and Volo Facere I do and I will do For Saint Paul saith of himself the evil which I would not that I do Rom. 7. 19. and yet proves that he is in the state of Regeneration notwithstanding his doing it Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me v. 21. Sin may dwell in me but I may not dwell in sin If I do that evil I would not it is because sin dwelleth in me But if I will that evil I do it is because I dwell in sin and am one of those of whom it is said ye are yet in your sins 1 Cor. 15. 17. He saith not your sins are in you but you are in your sins not they possessed by you but you possessed by them not they have a being in you but you have a being in them This Regiment of Satan doth not come to Quarter with you against your will but you have made an Invitation to them and Provision for them they find the house swept and garnished and look upon it as their own and so have their Habitation with you as that they also have Dominion over you And in this respect doth our blessed Saviour say to the Jews ye shall dye in your sins That is in the Guilt and under the Bondage of your sins unless by faith in Christ you get out of that Guilt out of that Bondage for so it is said If ye believe not that ' I am he ye shall dye in your sins John 8. 24. To live out of Christ is to live in sin and to live in sin is the way to die in sin and to die in sin is to die eternally For he that dies in sin is an eternal sinner and is therefore justly punished with eternal death Peccavit in suo aeterno saith Saint Greg. He sinned in his eternity and yet his whole life was but a span-long The reason is He that sins impenitently would sin eternally if he might live eternally He sins eternally in his Resolution though not in his Action and shews whose child he is by doing the works of his Father and wilfully doing them The works of your Father ye will do A man may do the lusts of the Devil and yet be the child of God but he cannot wilfully do them and continue in that wilfulness but he must be the child of the Devil He alone hath Right in him and he will claim his Right He will claim him as a Father claims his child For this is the specifical difference betwixt the Regenerate and the Unregenerate Both are sinners but the one sinneth eagerly with desire and Habitually with delight the other desireth not to sin and delighteth not in sinning Though he may sometimes do the work of the Devil yet it is against his will for he Desires and delights to do the work of God And that 's the reason our Blessed Saviour hath taught such a man to call God his Father and he would not have taught him to call God so were he indeed not so For truth teacheth no man to tell a lye much less in his Prayers wherefore in that we are taught to say Our Father it is evident that we are bound to be in the state of Regeneration or we have no right to say our Prayers For we are not taught to say Our Father in respect of our corporal Creation for so God is the Father of the wicked as well as of the Righteous but of our spiritual Regeneration That God is Our Father by spiritual Generation for that according to his Abundant mercy he hath begotten us again to lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. For of his own will begat he us with the word of